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[Noob_Lee]

Hi,

It is not possible for me to join a gym for 1-2 months. I would like to lose 1-2 stone as quick as possible and also get started building muscle.

What is the best way to do this and build muscle at home with no equipment? All I have is a running machine and nothing else.

 

[Throttle]

hmm. we used to have some good threads around here about both adding weight to bodyweight exercises and putting together useful workout gear from cheap stuff--sandbags, etc. a well-composed article on this would belong in the vault, since about twice a week somebody whines about how expensive gyms are.

actually, there's another vault-worthy topic--how to find a cheap/free gym that actually has what you need.

 

[Hughman]

Plenty of stuff on here and the 'net, but here's a summary:

Cut out 80% of your refined sugars and booze, keep a little so you don't go totally mad. Slash your fat intake by half, and the more saturated fats you can remove from your diet, the better.

Run 20-30 mins every second day, and I mean running, not half-arsed jogging. Sprint training can also be done. On the other days, try to cycle or swim for 1h. Have 2 rest days a week so you don't bust something.

Press-ups, sit ups, crunches, 6 inches, planks - they don't require anything more than a comfy floor. Skipping is also a real good way of working up a sweat.

It is probably worth investing a basic dumbell set - you can get them off ebay for like £20 in the UK, so I imagine it would be like $30-40 in the USA.

 

[Quagmire911]

and the more saturated fats you can remove from your diet, the better.

What utter balls. This s*** has to stop.

 

[Throttle]

Cut out 80% of your refined sugars and booze, keep a little so you don't go totally mad. Slash your fat intake by half, and the more saturated fats you can remove from your diet, the better.

no. better to cut all the sugar and booze, and keep the fat intake up. if you can't cut all the sugar and booze, cut as much as possible.

It is probably worth investing a basic dumbell set - you can get them off ebay for like £20 in the UK, so I imagine it would be like $30-40 in the USA.

[/quote]

for the purpose of what? better to save that as a down payment on a gym membership.

also, to the OP, there's a world of difference between losing a stone or losing two. the former is quite easy, and even possible to keep off. the second requires much more dedication.

 

[Hughman]

What utter balls. This s*** has to stop.

Why is utter bull****? You only need a small amount of saturated fat in your diet.

 

[Hughman]

As to Throttle: I agree, if you have the dedication to cut all sugar and booze, then brilliant, but most people don't, will give up the change in diet and regain the weight, and probably more as their metabolism has slowed down. So it's best to just cut back, but not remove it. (that's also the reason for the weights - increases your muscle mass which has a higher basal metabolic rate than adipose tissue - the original poster can't join a gym)

 

[Throttle]

cutting down or eliminating sugar and booze never slowed anyone's metabolism.

 

[Hughman]

cutting down or eliminating sugar and booze never slowed anyone's metabolism.

Reducing sugars will have a knock-on effect to your metabolic rate for the worse.

Cutting booze is actually a good thing - your ability to burn fat is reduced by 1/3 if you have 3 units of alcohol in a day. So I'll grant you that.

 

[Throttle]

where on earth are you pulling these 'facts' from?

 

[Hughman]

where on earth are you pulling these 'facts' from?

It's in my medical textbooks, and you can find it all online. Here are a few links for you:
http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Food-...ol-intake-interferes-with-retinoid-metab.html
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=290732&blobtype=pdf
http://ajpregu.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/287/6/R1306

Fasting/reducing your energy intake will slow down your basal metabolic, it's a basic reaction to a lack of energy. Think about bouncing back after a diet, even though your post-diet diet (tautological I know) is the same as your pre-diet diet (above link demonstrates that)

Equally, the metabolism of alcohol 'uses up' certain chemicals involved in metabolic pathways, which are also required for fat metabolism. Metabolism of alcohol takes priority over fats. Think about why livers of chronic alcohol abusers literally swell with fat, or why the 'beer gut' exists.

 

[speed dawg]

Think about why livers of chronic alcohol abusers literally swell with fat, or why the 'beer gut' exists.

You're an idiot.

Stop giving completely retarded advice.

 

[Hughman]

You're an idiot.

Stop giving completely retarded advice.

Cool, and what makes it retarded exactly?

 

[Throttle]

this entire discussion of metabolism is misplaced. by definition, eating less sugar (all else equal) slows one's metabolism. however in nutrition all else is never equal--that's why we have such a hard damn time making sense of any of it. stopping eating one thing and you'll start eating more of another. if you tell someone to eat less fat & sugar, they're going to add more starches, because they certainly can't eat enough protein to make up the difference. that or, as you say, their metabolism will slow.

the part of your original advice about cutting fats is and remains stupid, bad advice, which is not what your medical textbook tells you, but it's true. and it is not true that we only require a little bit of saturated fat--not if we're looking to add muscle. get out and live a bit and you'll find that not everything in your textbooks is true.