Creating a workout plan - any ideas?

Hi everyone,

I'm such a loser! I keep on starting back on a diet and then stopping again. I think it's because my wedding has now been and gone - but now I have more to look forward to. I have another holiday in September (and a city break in April). I still want to lose 40lbs ideally by September which is just under 2lbs a week.

Anyway - to the point! My gym opens on the 23rd March (finally), so I now need to start preparing for my gym routine. I want to really get into the gym so I can continue a healthy lifestyle. I want to enjoy the gym. So I need a routine for the gym. Cardio days, weight training, the whole shebang really!

There's no limit to how often I can go - it's on my way home from work so going after work isn't a problem.

Also, any ideas on food to eat before or after going to the gym would be great.

I plan on going to the gym at least 3 times a week to beginning with. Probably for around 45 minutes each time. Once I build up my fitness a bit more, I can go for longer.

Thanks everyone!

hi

i'm sure your gym will give you an induction and tell you what to do based on what you want. however, if they don't. think fat burning. if you want to loose weight then that's the way to go. stick with lean proteins and not too many carbs. after exercise i'd recommend a glass of skimmed milk. this is what is recommended after a run as it replaces everything you need it too and stops you snacking.

as far as a workout goes. if you want to burn fat you must sweat and get your heart rate up enough but not too high. i've already recommended interval training and i will to you too. it's great at fat burning.

i also find that running is a good fat burning. you can start out interval training with this too but looking at running and walking. running for 30s or if you can 1 min. then you can walk for 1-2 mins to recover and lower your heart rate again. you don't want it too high for fat burning as the high heart rate levels as used for building up your stamina and heart conditioning fitness levels.

bike on a hill programme.

maybe do 30 mins on cardio and then do some weights for toning. with this you can do squats, lunges for legs one day and then the next focus on arms so bicep and tricep work, then another day do chest exercises so chest press machine etc. then on the 4th day abdominal work. think of not working the same muscles all the time. do one area at a time. so that it has time to rest and build the muscle up.

remember if you want to loose weight and tone you must take your measurements as sometimes you will not loose weight but you will tone up so your measurements will go down. this is because with building muscle it weighs the same as the fat you are replacing but it doesn't take up as much room in your body as the fat does and therefore you will get a slimmer look even if you've not dropped a single pound in weight.

i hope this helps you.

Wow GT! Thanks so much for all of this information - you seem like quite an expert! I like the idea about drinking milk - I'll have to give that a try!

Thanks again!

milk's good especially skimmed milk as it's low fat but has all the nutrition in it that your body will need. you don't need the sports drinks