Korean Job Discussion Forums

Homer · Guest

and then when the "diet" is over and the person resumes normal eating patterns the weight comes back on...sorry but dieting is not the answer. You need to change your eating habits and exercise if you want real change not to crash for a bit to lose weight.

SirFink · Joined: 05 Mar 2006

Sleepy in Seoul · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 4:36 am Post subject:

A few years ago, a good friend of mine, and the manager of a gym I used to go to, gave me this eating plan:

breakfast - small serving of low-fat cereal with skim milk OR 1 ~ 2 pieces of toast with vegemite or low-fat spread

morning tea - 1 small tub of non-fat yoghurt or 1 piece of fruit

lunch - 1 piece of fish OR 1 skinless chicken breast fillet, steamed or grilled only, with small serving of rice OR pasta, and salad

afternoon tea - same choice as morning tea

tea - same choice as lunch

No oils, no fats, no butter and no alcohol. One meal every week can be a normal meal, but don't go silly - no fast-food.

I trimmed this down to low-fat cereal for breakfast, yoghurt for morning and afternoon teas, and pasta and egg-whites for lunch and tea every day for 10 weeks. While I was doing this, I was going to the gym 3 or 4 days a week, lifting heavy weights. In that time, I only lost about 3 or 4 kgs, but I lost a lot of body-fat and went from benching 32.5kg dumbells to benching the 50kg dumbells. Also, I was having a lot of protein powder.

Basically, eat often, eat little and exercise. Or, as Billy Connelly says, "Eat less and move more".

Trespasser · Joined: 25 Apr 2006

Porter_Goss · Joined: 26 Mar 2006 Location: The Wrong Side of Right

Don't buy a / sell your car.

I walk my happy ass everywhere and on the weekends I give free ass-whoopins' to Korean kids who have the audacity to challenge a 미국인 to a game of basketball.

seoulsucker · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 7:05 pm Post subject:

rothkowitz · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

Getting a beer pot over the world cup period could be a worry.Soju isn't a great option either.

Hmm......try a big bad ass lunch and then a very small dinner.Eat well during the day to keep your metabolism up.Then burn off more in the evening...

I've gotta lose some weight before my wedding this summer.Think I've lost a good 2kg already.

Homer · Guest

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

blunder1983 · Joined: 12 Apr 2005

There are some interesting pieces of advice here but I'm with TUM. Its not what you eat its how much you eat.

You go on ANY diet, they'll tell you KFC is bad, yet I have it once a week (sometimes twice!) and have on average lost about 1kg a week for the last month. I go to lotteria and get two crispy chicken strips, and have it with a salad. Sometimes, if I'm really hungry, I have it in a tortilla.

Diets don't work, psychologically depriving yourself of something makes you want it more. Just reduce your eating and go to the gym more it starts hard but in the end it becomes second nature. I got given a cake by my kids today, when I first got here, I'd have eaten a load of it, mebbe even taking it home. Today I had a small piece and then let the kids dig in. I had tried it and they got to enjoy it too Smile

Finally, two things I read above I believe to be inaccurate.

First "toning muscles" if you do a tonne of reps it becomes more caridovascular than anything. If your muscles are at the size that you want, toning them wont improve definition, removing the sheath of fat surrounding them will. Thats done through CV and eating less. IF you wanna build muscle, then do hard weights a few times.

Second, weightloss and muscle building. Seem to me mutually exclusive. Muscle building requires an abundance of protein in your diet, weight loss requires you to be restricting your intake of all foods across the board. I mean eating tuna and skinless chicken boobs will help, but dont expect to be muscle man if your looking to loose weight. Loose the weight first then workup the muscles.

I dont know if my statements are entirely accurate, but its all stuff I've read.

Finally, how bad is Korean bibimbap? One of my mates says its 1100 calories a bowl, but I cant believe that.

kermo · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 4:19 pm Post subject:

Blunder has lost a ton of weight- the man knows what he's talking about, except for that bit about the muscles. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns on a daily basis. You'll still see a net loss, though it might not be as dramatic as if you refuse to do weights, but a) muscles do contribute to your weight loss in the long run b) they'll make you look fitter overall and c) it's really really hard to build up huge muscles. Don't even worry about it. Challenge your muscles-- don't just wave that dumbbell around worrying about He-man bulges.

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

I agree with Blunder's general philosophy. Weight loss shouldn't be a short term goal, but a long term change in behavior. Most of my workouts were at best 1/3 cardio. The rest of it was weight training and diet.

But in the end a lot of it comes down to body type. When I put my mind to it, I lost the bulk of my weight in 2-3 months (almost 20kgs!). I might have been hugenormous (will dig out some big CLG pics) but underneath my flab, I always had the althletic body type. It really wasn't that hard once I decided that I was going to do it.

My problem was motivating myself to do it rather than actually losing the weight. However having a friend go with me, was really important. We'd keep eachother motivated, as it's easier to blow off the gym when there isn't some there waiting for you. But everyone just needs to work out a way to incoporate exercise and a healthy diet into their own routines. I allow myself one 'treat' a week like waffles on sunday or nice dinner out, but for some it might be a smaller treat more frequently (a snack size chocolate bar once a day). I've made going to the gym my morning ritual, for some it might a lunchtime or evening one.

Yo!Chingo · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: Seoul Korea

TheUrbanMyth · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Location: Retired

Natalia · Joined: 10 Mar 2006

Eat good, healthy food and only splurge occasionally.

Exercise - do something you like or otherwise you'll get bored, hate it, and never do it.

The more obsessed a society gets with counting carbs, protein, whatever, the more people in the society have weight problems.

I come from a background of eating problems (more along the lines of not eating enough, exercising too much), and I've been to every nutritionist under the sun. The best way is to exercise some common sense.

I know it sounds boring and too simple, but the more you worry about counting things and limiting things, the more likely you are to end up confused and in a mess.