Hi all,

I've not done any real form of exercise for over 8 years now and am really wanting to try and increase my fitness, overhaul my diet and get myself back on track.

What I would like help with is constructing a full strict diet, that will promote a healthy lifestyle, help me shed body fat without looking like I'm in desperate need of a good feeding and give me the go to be active throughout the whole day. As I'm currently getting up at 11am, sleeping early evening at between 6-7 for a couple of hours then being awake till 3am, I really would like to be able to get through the whole day without sleeping during the evening.

My current diet is a bit of a sham, I'm currently a student so have been eating all the junk food you can think of as well as excessive amounts of alcohol. I stopped drinking from 1st september so wont have to worry about that anymore but would like a structured diet which I can then purchase a set, strict range of foods which will only be used specifically for each of the meals I have.

Secondly we have a garage at my current address that is totally empty and my house mates and I were considering converting it into some form of home gym. I personally would prefer cardio work to weight lifting, what cardio equipment should I be looking at investing in? My max spend would be up to approx £1000 so have to make it quite cheap and would like to have a range of different cardio activities that are going to give me a whole body workout.

Finally once I've got my diet on track and have increased my general fitness so that I'm actually able to walk/run several miles without being out of breath in the first two minutes. I would like to work on muscle definition, I've got a small build and dont want to bulk up too much so what would be most advisable to do this?

Looking forward to some advice.

Thanks,
DS

the cheapest form of cardio is to walk/jog/run around your neighborhood I mean it is free, second if you want get a bike, an eliptical might be expensive. swimming if your school has a pool. you can also lift light weight but do more reps in a period of say a minute to get your heart rate up instead of lifting for max weight. to make it easier you might just want to join a gym. there are some gyms here in the states that are cheap as 20 bucks a month.

as for eating healthy eat 5-6 times a day, HEALTHY FOOD!! not chips shakes, fast food, etc. watch portion size, eat lean meat, more chicken (no skin) and fish then steak. write down what you eat throughout the day to keep track so you can see how you did throughout the day.

Thanks for the reply!!

Well theirs 6 of us sharing our house so we would prefer to have a home gym rather than to all have to pay to go to the local gym (the local gym costs £312 a year ((including administration charges and induction fee)) and is approx 1h 40m walk from where we live). Between the 6 of us were able to spend up to £1000 on gym equipment and we would prefer to do this than to all have to sign up for year memberships at the local gym.

What types of cross trainer should we be looking at? And in addition to that what other equipment?

We have already purchased a set of York dumbbells with changeable weights with up to 40kg of weight. I assume these are the right kind?

For my diet I was looking at the following, or minor variations of to offer some variety. But I'm no dietitian, wouldn't know if this would meet my daily requirements or anything so really need some good solid advice for this one.

Breakfast
Option 1: Weetabix x2 - semi-skimmed milk - 1 banana
Option 2: 1x Apple, 1x Banana, 1x Pear and 1 pot of low fat yoghurt
Option 3: 2x slices of whole-meal toast - 1tbs strawberry jam

Snack = 1x piece of fruit

Lunch
Option 1: Chicken salad sandwich - whole-meal bread - no sauces
Option 2: Tuna salad, including tomatoes, cucumber - no sauces
Option 3: Jacket Potato with 1x tin of tuna or cottage cheese
Option 4: Pasta with tomatoes, onions, peppers, sweet-corn and mushrooms

Snack:
Option 1: 2x Cracker-bread with low fat cottage cheese
Option 2: 1x Banana

Evening meal
Option 1: Steamed vegetables (carrots, sweed, potato, cabbage and broccoli) and 1x chicken breast
Option 2: Jacket Potato with cottage cheese or tuna
Option 3: Boiled rice, chicken breast and curry sauce (made from water and curry powder no milk or cream)

Snack before bed:
Option 1: 1x piece of fruit
Option 2: Low fat yoghurt
Option 3: 1x cracker-bread with cottage cheese


That would be kinda what I would try and stick to, but I really need more advice on what things I can/can't eat and especially more recipe options for my two main meals of the day otherwise I'll get sick of always having the same things day in day out. If it makes any difference at all I'm 5ft 6" tall, weigh approx 9st 7lbs, I can pinch a good three inches or so around my middle although I assume this to be loose skin as well as fat rather than just fat.


I would love to try swimming as I've not been since I was a kid, however I'm not confident enough in my body to put on my shorts and give it a go. Hopefully within the next two to three months I'll be confident enough to after getting my diet sorted and hopefully increasing my general fitness some what.

Not sure if anyone will be able to offer me some advice but I hope so!


Regards,
/DS