17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Teenagers and kids discuss your fitness concerns here.

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tlecips
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17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by tlecips »

Hi there

I'm a 17 year old guy from England. For personal reasons I recently dropped out of college and left job so currently I have a lot of free time.
I used to be far less healthy than I am now but I lost weight as I grew older and became more active, however I am stuck in this rut where I am not comfortable with body and wish to lose weight still but I do not know how to begin exercising so that I can get into a routine. I get fairly uncomfortable with public exercising as I have never really done it and I much prefer privacy. I own a heavy punchbag and am open to all suggestions. I want to tone up with all this free time so that I can feel good about myself. Please offer suggestions as to how I can get into this and stay motivated - I'm not too sure of personal ability either so I want to be able to work way into it.

Thanks

T
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Boss Man
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by Boss Man »

Hi Tom, good to speak with you.

This should give you a decent start, as you can do it at home.

Squats, 2 sets 10 reps

Lunges, 2 sets 10 reps

Good mornings, 2 sets 10 reps

Bent over rows, 2 sets 10 reps

Vertical flyes, 2 sets 10 reps

Shoulder press, 2 sets 10 reps

Planks 45 seconds

This could thne be incorporated into a weekly schedule with bag work.

Day 1. Bodyweight workout

Day 2. Bag work

Day 3. Bodyweight workout

Day 4. Day off

Day 5. Bag work

Day 6. Bodyweight workout

Day 7. Day off

As for the diet, what times do you eat and what foods do you eat at these times?
tlecips
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by tlecips »

Thanks for the reply, this looks great. I'll give the workout a try this morning. I do not have any barbells however, only some dumbbells. Does this matter?

diet is good, although could probably be better. I have been very tired recently so sleeping for a good amount of time each day too. In an average day I'll have a small-ish breakfast, perhaps some fruit maybe a piece of wholemeal toast. Lunch I'll usually have a sandwich (always wholemeal) with cold meats and salad. Evening I'll have a normal cooked meal, which varies, sometimes just some pasta with a sauce and some sort of protein but it could be anything, in general I keep a balance of protein/veg/carbs at dinner. If I have a snack at all I'll stick to fruit mainly, sometimes dried with nuts etc. I like rice cakes too but don't really get them that often. I have stopped eating 'bad' foods recently not just for the sake of health but for money's sake too. I drink a lot of water, sometimes mixed with a small amount of juice. Other times I'll drink black tea or sometimes just milk but not that often.

edit: Nice to see Black Sabbath!

T
tlecips
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by tlecips »

Hey Boss Man,

Finished the workout earlier (started on day 3 as if Monday would be day 1) and felt really good. I threw in a couple sets of some crunches and other things as more of a warmup too. Also once I had finished I did a couple of little shadow boxing drills with some smaller dumbbells to use energy while I was still pumped up. The biggest issue for me is thinking about the bigger picture - I know in mind that it'll obviously take a long time for me to feel a complete difference but I can't get out of this '2 days no difference, must not work' attitude and it sucks. After a shower I'm about to eat breakfast- some celery sticks with an apple and some tea. Mainly 'cause I ran out of bread but I've been eating fruit a lot more recently. The diet I previously posted was one I had changed to a few weeks back - before it was far far worse and not very controlled. Seems I have lost about 5ish pounds since with no change to activity levels so I guess things are working after all.

I'll be sure to keep you posted and hopefully you will stick with me on this, I feel really good about it!

Cheers

T
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by Boss Man »

tlecips wrote:Thanks for the reply, this looks great. I'll give the workout a try this morning. I do not have any barbells however, only some dumbbells. Does this matter?

(No it doesn't matter because you can do all those movements with dumbells anyway.)

breakfast, perhaps some fruit maybe a piece of wholemeal toast.

(I'd double the slices of toast and have a couple of scrambled eggs with them, or get rid of one piece of toast and somethin like an apple or a pear with breakfast instead.)

Lunch I'll usually have a sandwich (always wholemeal) with cold meats and salad.

(Not bad)

Evening I'll have a normal cooked meal, which varies, sometimes just some pasta with a sauce and some sort of protein but it could be anything,

(Fine)

If I have a snack at all I'll stick to fruit mainly, sometimes dried with nuts etc. I like rice cakes too but don't really get them that often.

(You could add some more protein in the the snacks, like low fat cheese or peanuts, I:E peanuts and fruit, low fat cheese and soem nuts etc.)
As for the Sabbath, yeah I'm a fan of most forms of guitar music, especially stuff from the 80's going back as far back as 1920's acoustic blues.
tlecips
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by tlecips »

Hey Boss Man,

Worked out on the punch bag for a good 2 hours this morning, felt really pumped and great. The past few days for breakfast I have been eating scrambled eggs on 2pc wholemeal toast as you suggested with cucumber and pepper (would recommend). Finding it easier than before to eat well and it has become more of a habit now than a challenge, so hopefully the same will happen with the exercise. I really appreciate the advice and help you gave me, it was first time trying out a fitness forum for help and I wasn't sure what sort of a response to expect. Props!

Also if you have any ideas or recipes for good stuff to have for dinner, I can cook but since I have been eating healthier I have found it harder to constantly think of new things to try on a budget that are still filled with good stuff. I guess I can just stick to good old stir fries packed with different veg and things but it'd be nice to get a bit of a variety.

Cheers :D
Tom
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by Boss Man »

Stir frys work, or you can also grill lamb and pork chops and chicken, or you could combine beans, rice and grilled mushrooms with or without seasoning, meat and potatoes as examples.
tlecips
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by tlecips »

Alright, sounds good. I'll keep you posted!

Thanks

T
tlecips
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by tlecips »

Hey again,

Diet is easy stuff now, I have been eating well every day without much trouble at all. Workouts have been going great however bodyweight workout feels far less intense than bag work - it feels like overall not much is changing but I don't know if that's just mindset as it has only been a week/half or so. Do you think I should just persist with current routine up to a month or something like that so that I will see some results? Or would it be possible to shift it up a gear, perhaps do the bodyweight workout and bag work 5 times a week? Please let me know as I haven't felt this confident about it before - I am happy to do more work I just don't want to overdo it and I want to ensure that I can lose weight this way if making it harder is not necessary.

Thanks!

T
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by Boss Man »

I'd stick with it and see how it goes, as you have changed one thing for something different so you will feel different.
tlecips
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by tlecips »

Ok cool. Thanks!

T
tlecips
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by tlecips »

Hey Boss Man & Shapefit community

Back for an update after just over a month of this new regime. I am very happy. I have to be honest and say that despite your advice Boss Man, I tried a week of higher intensity (both workouts 5 days a week) and it went great, I think I will continue this from now on as I have seen great results. friends have told me that already I am looking trimmer and am starting to swell out a little, hair is thicker and skin has cleared up and I just feel great really. I am currently losing weight at an average of 1-2lbs per week (I have lost about 8lbs since I started) which I am fairly certain is just about the healthiest weight loss I am going to achieve. I have about 8 months or so until I go back to college and so I am just going to stick with this routine I am in, keep it simple and hopefully look and feel great when it comes to getting back out there in September. I want to thank you for all your help and advice, and will most definitely keep updating you from time to time with how I am getting on. The diet is second nature to me now, and even with exercise I am at a point where even if I don't feel like getting up, I do it anyway and once I am finished I feel great.

If there's any way I can help out the site in return, whether it be a survey or something similar, feel free to give me a shout.

Also if there's anyone out there looking at this any time from now, feel free to also send me a pm if you have any questions about new lifestyle and other things. The mods here will surely be able to offer better professional advice than I ever could but if you want to know anything in particular about routine personally then just let me know. I am not at the computer too often these days (been cutting down and spending more time doing other things) but I will try best to remember to check back on here every couple of days.

Thanks all

T

edit- :D
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Boss Man
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by Boss Man »

WELL DONE mate. At the end of the day it's not job to try and manipulate people into doing what I think is right, but the main thing is it seems to be working for you, however a note of caution would be that the weight you've lost could be water weight, so you need to keep monitoring the weight loss, because if the changes you've made are not going to stimulate much fat loss from here on in, then you'll need to consider making changes.

If that happens go for the diet first, not the training, because you'll have more success tweaking the diet probably and if you change both things, then you could do one thing that isn't necessary, or one thing that counteracts the other causing confusion.

By making one change then if change does or doesn't come you will know.
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by toddhicks209 »

As you prefer to exercise in private, things you can do in the privacy of your own home include using fitness machines you buy, jump roping, jogging in place, briskly walking around in your basement, etc.
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Re: 17y/o guy - help me make a change for the better

Post by Boss Man »

toddhicks209 wrote:briskly walking around in your basement, etc.
Assuming he's got one of course :wink: :wink:
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