Hi all

I'm a personal trainer and weight loss coach based in the UK. I'd be delighted to give any of you guys some expert advice on how to achieve your weight loss goals... just let me know!

Catch up soon

Liam

I look forward to seeing the advice you have to give. Feel free to check around and respond to people's questions where you feel appropriate.

I wud luv for you to be my mentor on my journey path to losing weight. I think it would really help me focus and keep on track. Hope to hearing back from you soon.

I'll give you as much advice and support as you need! Any questions just let me know!

Here's a question for you Liam - I know I need to exercise to help my weight loss and tone my body, but I really struggle to do any because I have a damaged right knee that is painful most of the time.

I don't have time to go to a gym because I work full time and run my own business around that.

Any advice?

Firstly, have you sought any expert advice for you knee (doctor, physio etc)

If you have, and the damage/pain is long term then you'll have to work around the knee problem as best you can. Not being able to get to the gym isn't a problem, home exercise is just as effective and is far less likely to get skipped if you're busy!

If you let me know your weight loss target and what you are capable of with your knee then I can better advise you!...

Liam

Yup, the doctor said the predictable "lose weight".

The damage is due to a motorbike crash some years ago, but the additional weight hasn't really helped.

My current weight loss target is just simply as much as I can until my wedding in October - at the moment I'm 16st 8lbs. Really I just want to be comfortable and able to do the things I like without finding it too much of a struggle. I have no desire to be skinny - I am a woman, and I like my curves

Melanie.

Although I don't know your height or bodyfat %, at 16st 8lbs I'm guessing you are quite a bit above your 'set point' weight, which means you should be able to make a lot of progress just focusing on your nutrition. Exercise becomes a lot more important if you're trying to get under your set point - i.e. to be really skinny which isn't nice anyway!

Nevertheless, exercise will help and speed up the process, but don't think you have to do hours! Even 10 minutes of light aerobic exercise 3 or 4 times a week will make a difference... do you have any home exercise equipment of any kind? or some light dumbbells?

What are you doing diet wise to help get your weight down?

Liam

I'm 5'5", so quite a huffalump.

The only thing I have at home is a Reebok step, but I can't manage more than about 10 minutes on it before my knee starts to complain.

Diet-wise I've cut out all the nosh and snacking and takeaways and most alcohol, except on special occasions, and eat fairly sensibly - bran flakes for breakfast, a salad with no dressing for lunch and a light meal for supper. I've mostly cut out bread and potato - not totally, I still eat a little - and replaced my chocolate bars with fruit salad, cucumber and plain nuts.

Melanie.

Melanie it sounds like you've got it cracked to me! Your nutrition sounds great, as long as it is sustainable! What kind of weight loss are you seeing with that nutrition?

I cannot emphasise enough how good 10 minutes of stepping is... I think people have a mistaken belief that they MUST do 30 mins to an hour to get any benefits. 5 - 10 mins a day would make a huge difference as long as your knee can handle it. You could probably do with getting hold of some dumbbells to do some toning exercises as well...

Liam

Usually around 2.5lbs a week. Some weeks are better than others And its quite easily sustainable because I get my salads from the sandwich van at work. Yes I know I could mke them for myself at home for a fraction of the price, but I usually don't have the time.

So what sort of toning exercises with dumbells? I really don't understand most of the exercise jargon people use.

Melanie.

It's great that your weight is coming down but be careful not to lose it too fast... especially if you want to keep the weight off long term!

An important thing to remember is that it's very hard to lose more than 2lbs of fat in a week, so if you're losing 2.5lbs of weight a week then at least 0.5lbs of what you're losing is good stuff (muscle tissue). This article explains all...

(REMOVED SPAMMING LINK)

If you PM me your email address I could send over some toning exercise pictures!

I'm sure that given another month and the weight loss will have slowed down to 1lb per week. At the moment I want to lose it for my upcoming wedding - that is my main motivator - and I have a feeling that after the wedding some will go back on, but then I'll get myself back onto the salads and maintain the lower weight.

Have pm'd you

Hello Liam,
Thanks for your kindness here on the site, i am starting my diet on Monday and have bought special k, i hate cereals but i will need to cut down on my bread. I eat it morning noon and night with most things eg if i make homemade soup i eat bread, when i do my evening meal i make so much sauce so i can dip my bread in the sauce but some how think it is soup and i always go back for a midnight mop up. I need to know if cereals is better then bread? Also i didnt know but special k recommend you eat special k for breakfast as well as lunch and then a proper evening meal. Is this the best way to start Liam? what shall i do if my body craves a certain food? will the cereal give me that full feeling? i really dont want to fail Liam, i want to get it right the first time round. Thanks for sharing and listening.
caroline

Hi Caroline. Here's a piece I've pasted from an article in the Guardian last year on Cereals. The full article to too long to post here but I'll and get a link for it.

-Rob

“That processed cereals had become little more than sugary junk with milk and vitamins added was an accusation made as long ago as 1970, when Robert Choate, an adviser to President Nixon on nutrition, told a congressional hearing into breakfast cereals that the majority “fatten but do little to prevent malnutrition”. Choate was outraged at the aggressive targeting of children in breakfast cereal advertising.

He analyzed 60 well-known cereal brands and concluded that two-thirds offered “empty calories, a term thus far applied to alcohol and sugar”.

Rats fed a diet of ground-up cereal boxes with sugar, milk and raisins were healthier than rats fed the cereals themselves, he testified to senators.”