Okay, here is the thing, iam trying to get in shape and I like outdoor activities rather than hitting a gym. I have been riding a bike for about 40 minutes 5 times a day but i do not see much change. Should i go back to walking instead? Does walking for 40 minutes burn as much calories as cycling for 40 minutes or does it burn more calories?

walking for 40 mins = 150- 200 calories loss

bicycling for 40 mins= 200- 300 caloris loss

so definetly bicycling burns more calories.. but u need to change ur exercise cuz ur body gets used to just one type of exercise and it doesn't do much.. Try to do 45 minutes of cardio  everyday like running, jogging , playing sports , bicycling , power walk etc.. then add 15 mins of muscle tonning..

Try to watch what you eat but dont do fad diet its not healthy... and be patience .. u will look better right way and in right time.. Trust me there are no faster or easy way.. :):)

Teena,

How fat are you? I mean, you only told us what you do and didn't tell us anything about your physical appearence.

As Gyanguru said, "What do you mean by getting int shape? Does that mean loosing some weight?" Otherwise, for some people getting into the shape means loosing weight and for some creating a sexy, curvy body. Thus, be very concise when you ask such questions so Sajhaites can give you good suggestions?

Teena,

Space out your meals and eat smaller portions. Reduce carbohydrate intake, and eat most of your carbs early in the day. Drink lots of water. Look up HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) on the internet, that might help. Walking for 40 minutes is good for general well-being, but it will do very very little in terms of fat-loss. The key is that you should focus on fat-loss rather than just "weight" loss. You can also go to bodybuilding.com, and there is a section called Transformations, which shows how people have transformed their bodies with dedication, and a healthy diet and exercise regimen.

Best of luck.

Lot of people will tell you do this or do that, eat this or eat that... but no ones motivated all the time..so even though those advices sounds good right now, in about a month when you are more likely to feel less motivated, they are gonna fly right out the window.
Here's what you need to do:
1) Plan simple
 be it working out or eating right, make it simple.Choose few good exercises, and few good types of food that you can memorize in your head.These workouts and foods should be easily accessible, and not at all complicated to prepare. You should however be prepared to eat same kind of  food more than few times a week, or at least until you get that habit sunk in your head.

2) Be consistent:
This wisdom is all you need. But the thing is its easier said than done. So keeping it simple helps you become consistent. You need to follow your simple plan regularly for at least 3 months.

Exercise is great overall, but if you want toned body, a good diet is much more important . If only I had a penny each time I saw some  Nepali dude with big biceps and a big belly walking down in New York!!

You can  go 2 ways right now:
1)Start out by eating a little less than what you are eating right now but the same food , and drink extra glass of water to fill up that space.
2) you control your breakfast and dinner by eating it at home or carrying with you to work.
These have to be healthy . Low fat, high protein, and some carb. However, you can eat whatever you want  for lunch, and maybe even sneak in some ice cream.

Again, keep it simple.

i run 2-3 miles a day in fitness center, i lost 11 lbs in less than 1 months. I was 184 when i started and now i am 173. Run and eat food with less calories. Don't eat oily or fast food.

 

Teena,

It's obvious that everyone wants to be fit and look sexy always.

1. Always go for healthy food : Junk foods and high sugary foods are unhealthy however they contain a lot of calorie, sometimes a single menu may contain the calorie you need it for the whole day. These foods makes you full for few hours, but then you fell mpre hungry after that.

2.Concentrate on food while eating : Watching movie, reading books while eating also leads to eat you more than you actually need. If you concentrate on food and enjoy what you eat then stomach will signal you when you are full not when the plate is empty.

3.Metabolism: People have different metabolism rate. So, if you are one among that try to develope a routine. People wiht low metabolism rate tend to have thick waste line.

4.Keep yourself busy : Especially in US what happens is you have lots food stuffed at home, so whenever you are free... you grab sth to eat wheather or not you are hungry. So try to keep yourself bg and enjoy what you do. As said by one of the earlier friend study has shown that usually in girls, who think they are not beautiful tend to be more fat due to emotional problem.

So, out of these I have always gone for no 1. and usually no 4 too. Thats working for me so I don't need to worry right now. Disclamer : I am 5'4' and 110lbs.

Anyways, good luck !

Sampada

dear teena, if you wanna follow my advice "eat as much as you can , run as many miles as you can" thats the way doing thing right, thats the way doing it best and the god will take care of the rest

"Do not skip breakfast", if you do not  practice of breakfast make it . Avoid heavy dinner, now we have new theroy. Light dinner, moderate lunch and heavy breakfast.

Good thread and excellent openions.  Teena, to be in shape what ever you doing is fine. For those who do not have enough time, may go with YOGA 10-15 minutes every day.

I am very conscious about my physique.  I always avoid chocolates, chips, sodas as much as i can, beers, icecreams, cakes, fries and so on.  basically i try to avoid food with lot of sugar and oil.  i however drink juice, which has sugar in it.  it is suggested to eat in every four hours if possible.  like somone mentioned above, take heavy breakfast, then lunch and take light dinner, at least 2 hrs before you go to bed. 

you need to watch what you are eating and then follow some exericise.  in my case, i try to work out at least 2-3 days a week.  i am keeping my body in pretty good shape until now and i am happy with it. 

i know we all are busy so we need to look at what is possible for us to do.  so, best advise would be right food and little bit of exercise in your free time. 

RUN TEENA RUN!

 

I forgot one important aspect:
Alcohol is the second in the list of energy dense foods after fat.
Drink as less as you can. Keep it under the reccomended limit of 14 units a week. (UK reccmendation)

kamasutra can be very helpful, why won't you a try with my support ?

kamasutra can be very helpful, why won't you a try with my support ?

kamasutra can be very helpful, why won't you a try with my support ?

kamasutra can be very helpful, why won't you try with my support ?

Thanks for all the info, I have started being concerned about my diet and exercises lately( not obsessed though). I am about 5, 3 in height and weigh 50 kgs, so i guess im average in size.I avoid sugary juices and sodas but im not doing some of the things rt, like i skip breakfast and i dont include lots of fibres in my diet, iam too lazy to cook and i usually eat frozen food for dinner. I do try to eat salads and fruits for lunch atleast 3 times a day. I heard that lower intensity exercises like walking is better than running, if you run a mile, the body just uses carbohydrate to burn blood sugar and not fat wheras if you walk a mile, it consumes more time than running but it burns off more fat and thus, is more effective. I might be wrong but its great news for lazy people like me. I am still debating betn whether to walk or cycle.

you can cycle one day and walk the other day .. :)

On top of these i would like to add a few more things:

- Do your cardio training(running, swimming, cycling) training, the very first thing in the morning (if possible) in an empty stomach. If possible drink a cup of black coffee(no sugar and make it more strong) coz coffee contains caffeine which helps to energize your body as well as it helps in burning body fat.

- try HIIT training method(High Intensity Interval Training) which is let's say you are running in a 400m track race, then you SPRINT for the first 100m, then JOG/WALK for the second 100m, then again SPRINT for the third 100m and then again JOG/WALK for the final 100m. You can do it minute wise, as well, WALK/JOG for 1 min, then SPRINT for another 1 min, keep on repeating this step for at least 15minutes.

- go "CARB LESS" for at least 2 consecutive days in 2 weeks time frame. In those 2 days, limit your carbohydrate intake to less than 100g. 

- DONT take carbohydrates 3-4 hours before bedtime. Especially we nepali always have daal bhaat, before bed, even if you take this make sure you don't take it just before bed time. 

Hope it helps. It worked for me, i went from 178 to 150 in 2 months.

I do not agree with Biki....
go "CARB LESS" for at least 2 consecutive days in 2 weeks time frame

Its completely wrong. If you do not have Carbohydrate at all.. think of your blood glucose level... you need to keep blood glucose level to certain standard.... so stopping carobydrate may loose weight fast...... there are a lot of complication ... which may not be seen in short term... but think of long term.... fluctuationg blood glucose level is dangerous....

I remember of Aitkeins diet when Biki told about CARB LESS....  Depending a lot upon protein for ur diet as a replacement to your CHO puts a lot of pressure of your liver.... .. so I do not ever advocate CARB LESS DIET at all... However,, Aitkins Diet  will loose your weight drastically.....

Weird as it may sound, but drinking more water decrease weight.  Here is the scientific explanation.

To decrease weight you need to burn fat fast. However, when fat of your body is burn it produces toxic substances which is stored in kidney  and filtered out by it.  If you dont drink water these substances are kept stored in kidney. If these substances are stored in large proportion it may damage kidney. So our body automatically slows down burning of fat so less of this substances are produced. And thus slow burning of fat causes you to gain weight.

If you drink enough water you will be filtering these substances fast out of the body so that body is ready to burn fat more quicker.