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Daily Multi-Vitamin.

Eat a meal within 30-45 minutes of your workouts.

Eat lots of fruit, balance all your meals (carbs protein and fat). I could go into more detail, but it comes down to your specific goals, diet, exercise and sleep routines.

You haven't got a diet that is right for you so your body isn't getting the fuel it needs. After a work out (though walking a little isn't really a work out) you want salted goods (after the gym we tend to get a bag of chips with salt, but ready salted crisps work just as well).

Also you want to drink electrolytes when working out not just water. Most sports drinks have them in it, but I'm sure a little googling will come up with a list of drinks with electrolytes.

Gatorade/Powerade sports drink only really if your workout goes 30+ minutes.

I can't say I'd recommend salty chips as a post workout meal. Americans consume way way too much salt and would be better off cutting salt intake in half (not sure about the rest of the world). Athletes who train for long periods of time (i.e. 2+ hours) benefit most from sports drinks.

But yea, headaches tend to be a sign of dehydration. If your drinking lots of water your may be low on salts.

Multi-vitamin, look up everything you eat. I believe almost everyone will still benifit from a multi-vitamin.

If you are looking to get in shape, add just a little light weight/resistance exercise to your walking. The combination of aerobic (walking/running) with anaerobic (weights) is proven to be better at burning fat/boosting metabolism than aerobics alone.


Edit - Try drinking a sports drink after you work out rather than eating chips.

Quote from srdsprinter :

Gatorade/Powerade sports drink only really if your workout goes 30+ minutes.

I can't say I'd recommend salty chips as a post workout meal. Americans consume way way too much salt and would be better off cutting salt intake in half (not sure about the rest of the world). Athletes who train for long periods of time (i.e. 2+ hours) benefit most from sports drinks.

But yea, headaches tend to be a sign of dehydration. If your drinking lots of water your may be low on salts.

Multi-vitamin, look up everything you eat. I believe almost everyone will still benifit from a multi-vitamin.

Well we mostly eat relatively healty meals, but after going to the gym cooking anything is too much hardwork, so it is a stop at the chippy on the way back. People are getting too much vitamins from pills and such they are pissing away most, and it makes some people unhealthy. When it comes to a diet one should really see a dietitian to get the right balance.

Quote from CSU1 :

...yeah I know walking a lil bit is no workout but I'm really unfit so it's the only way I can start I'll try eating crispd...will that stop tiredness+headache

The crisps will put back salt which you lose when you sweat, so it'll help stop the headaches.You only really need one packet.

I'm planning to get fat, what's your secret?

Quote from CSU1 :

@ P5YcHoM4N, cheers mate, I'll put a tube of Pringles on the end of a stick and put it on my head lika mule...when I finish I get to eat them

Try a packet of Walker's (Lay's to the rest of the world), normal size bag, Pringles are loaded with sugar and other such junk.

Some people can't get fat.. not that I'm one of them.. I ruined myself a couple of years ago.

But salt certainly isn't good and energy drinks are even worse. A light sports drink if you're workin hard and water if you're walkin :P.

Quote from CSU1 :

I seem to be getting very tired after working out and I'm getting a very bad headache too.

What kind of fitness level were you starting from, body shape/size/weight etc? Ignore the question if it's too personal.

But I can't see why you'd be getting headaches from such relatively light exercise - you definitely drinking enough? (Water, that is, not alcohol beverages. )

I do spinning classes a couple of times a week and soon learnt that drinking Lucozade Sport helped stop the occasional cramps in my calf/foot that water couldn't prevent, as it was the minerals and salts getting sweated out that water can't replace.

Eat plenty veg, a moderate amount of carbs (eat more meat if you start doing weights), drink at least 2 litres of water a day, and start any exercise gently while building it up over a few weeks, and you can't go far wrong imo.

How old are you and what is your resting blood pressure? 12.3 stone is around 172 lbs, so 5-10 & 172 isn't dreadfully "over weight".

What are your long term fitness goals are you trying to lose fat (incr metabolism), get stronger, or just plain "feel better"?

When does the headache start in relation to your workouts and how long does it last?

... Do you ever see a chiropractor?

It sounds to me like you basically might be overtraining at this point. If you do choose a vitamin, be sure to spend on something that actually works (i.e., is absorbed) and don't overdo those either. If you're not cramping I doubt it's dehydration, but who knows. Varying your activity level and duration is a great idea as well. For general fitness, introducing some weight training is a good idea since added muscles mass will increase your Resting Metabolic Rate, which will eat up that beer belly and lower your BF%.

Too big of a topic without a LOT of details

If you want to get fit, go to a MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) gym, sign up and tell the instructor your goals. You'll be sure to get a brilliant fitness regime that will help you in no time at all.

Quote from CSU1 :

@ STROBE , atm Im 5'10" and weigh 12.3 stone which is about a stone overweight for my height. Anyway I dont really think this whole height to weight ratio/BMI is that accurate as everyone is different.

I think starting off I may need to rest for a day because my breathing and heart rate is getting better the more im walking but the muscles in my legs seem to be getting worse(working from distance avg's.). Im eating baked potatoe an hour b4 walking and a propper meal later...I may just need to vary my excersising from walking to something else different days of the week.

No, BMI isn't something to be taken as gospel - it doesn't take into account an individual's natural build, lifestyle, or even gender. Guys who push a lot of weights in the gym get classed as overweight on the BMI scale, because BMI assumes that any significant extra weight is fat, not muscle. It's just a guideline for an "average" person.

At 5'10" and just over 12 stone I wouldn't say you're significantly overweight if you're of average build, but if you've done jack shit for the past three years then I wouldn't suggest exercising every day. Do something more intensive, maybe a brisk walk interspersed with quick jogs (and keep a rough idea of how long you can jog for in one go to give you an idea of your progress), but do it 3 times a week rather than every day. Make sure you have a rest day inbetween. Also, as someone who gets to the gym four or five times a week, I'll urge you not to underestimate the importance of a good solid night's sleep. Not always practical or possible depending on work, stress, noise levels, love life, neighbours, emotions, etc, but an extra hour's sleep gives me twice the energy the next day.

Once you get to the point where you can sustain a single walking/jogging session for longer than you have time for it (eg. you've got an hour spare in the evening, and after an hour of alternating jogging/walking you still feel like you could go a bit further), them imo that's the point to take it to 4 times a week, and so on from there.

And feel free to shake things up a bit too. It shocks your body into improving faster, because it gets used to the same routine. Throw in a few random 30 second flat-out sprints, or take a hilly route one day, and so on.

P.S. Forgot to mention reading a report a short while ago suggesting that walking alone isn't intensive enough to produce noticeable health benefits if used as an exercise regime for the normal person (i.e. not the hugely obese). Bump up the intensity and for the time being decrease the frequency as suggested above.

Meh, I think he should just forget about the scale, and look at the mirror. It's the mirror that counts, not some numbers on a scale. I'm 5'8" and weigh 12.1 stone. I look just fine when I look at myself in the mirror, and my physical conditioning is well above average.

Eek, now I feel underweight, I'm 6'1, and 10.7 stone, and all I do is sit around and eat. MAybe I need to build muscle.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Eek, now I feel underweight, I'm 6'1, and 10.7 stone, and all I do is sit around and eat. MAybe I need to build muscle.

Like a rake ...If your fit then thats just your natural metabolism...my father and bro are the same, very tall and slim and eat like horses. Bastards

I am fit, but I don't know why, I only play sports for 9 months of the year, the other 3 are spent sitting in my computer chair.

6'0 and 18 stones, used to be 20 stones. No beer belly though.

im 6'1 and 13.5 stonnes , i jog about 5-10 miles weekly ( when im not working or getting flamed )

fitness is important to me even though i smoke quite alot

i hope to actually get fit again before the winter time

You could try HIIT. I hear you will lose a lot of weight in a short time and it doesn't even take much time of your day.
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

I'm 11 stones and 5'8. Swimming seems to work well, the problem is, it sucks up a lot more time than you expect. 10 hours of swimming a week for 10 months a year seems like forever for me. If i didn't eat so much i could probably lose 5 kilos a month.

Tuna or some Omega3 pills can help a bit (it has multiple effects, blood runs better and brain gets important fats that we don't get as much as we should), eating lightly at evening helps for next day too. Also make sure you get enough energy, sugar is not bad if you get it right amount etc.

Diets are usually quite bad, just use common sense in what you eat and how much you do eat, there is nothing good workout can't cope with that way

Quote from CSU1 :

...don't be fooled into thinking eating less and working out less can loose you weight or sustain fitness, it can't. The less you eat the slower you're metabolic rate runs resulting in less energy to excersise. Same with chicks with diets, they think the less they eat the more they loose, which is'nt the case.

I swam for 15 years year round, the last 8 were 20+ hours a week, 50 weeks a year. I got up to 14.3 (200lb) stone when I was 18, eating ~5-6000 calories a day. At college, I trained harder ate a bit less, and lost about 25 pounds in just a few months. Swimming is an amazing sport, so yeah, the possibility of loosing too much weight exsists.

Been out of swimming 15 months, working out 4 times a week, swimming 2 and I'm close to 14.3 stone, but with more muscle than I could ever get doing so much cardiovascular stuff. 6'2".

Quote from geeman1 :

You could try HIIT. I hear you will lose a lot of weight in a short time and it doesn't even take much time of your day.
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

definitely not something you should do if youre as untrained as he is