Nicke

Aloha, Apologies if I'm repeating what other's have said. Although good comments it took me ages to read... With regards to vegetables; in my opinion the easiest way to make these green things taste good is through a 'stir fry'. Get your veg (just about anything), meat, chicken, beef, turkey and try different seasonings until you find a few you like. Quick, very simple, healthy and it does taste good... As to exercise, the most obvious way is the gym or go for a run but the best way to get exercise is to find something you enjoy doing. This way you'll be much more motivated to keep it up. One of the most important thing with exercise, regardless of what you do is consistency. you're much more likely to keep at it if you're doing something you like; bowling, sports, walking whilst viewing some scenery. Anything! Best of luck bud!

Nice one... Any comments of types of Calories?? I've got to the point where I don't let this dictate my training as long as I'm in a deficit and moving the right direction but yet a ponder these things..

First off, I admire what you do and to prepare yourself as much as possible is not a bad thing... Just be mindful that no training whatsoever could prepare you enough for these places. Some of these people are born out of violence and death which no training can compare with.. I do not agree with violence in any form but been unfortunate enough to be in a few fights and just want to point out that it's so very different from any training you could possibly receive and I've trained in the army learning 'things that work' along with many years of kickboxing, muay thai etc.. Sorry, sounds like I'm 'bigging' myself up which is not my intention. I'm just trying to qualify my response. J-squared got is sussed I think - staying in large numbers etc and putting efforts in to avoidance is your best bet.

Good Morning fellow Martial Arts Enthusiast.. I Hope you're well. I've been a fan for many years whilst breakdancing but only joined a group around 2 years ago (2 gradings). You should definitely give it a go, it's not like the average workout class. Instead you become part of a family. And with your gymnast background you'll pick it up fast and you might be able to teach them a thing or two There seem to be a few capoeira groups around your way to... Mahalo & Aloha... Keep me posted!

Important point... Just come back from seeing my family in Sweden for 3 days. 3 days with no exercise and I must admit I've struggled with getting back into it although fine now... Always need some motivation up your sleeve..

Ok, So I came back from Sweden yesterday and I haven't worked out for 4 days now. And as I celebrated my Bday there there were a lot of festive food and as I normally do I need to eat a load of Swedish chocolate, crisps and so on everytime I go. I didn't go running this morning as I was a bit of a wreck after putting Xmas decorations up yesterday. In summary I think I'll skip weigh in this week... Or maybe it'll be a good idea as it might show how much or little my body is affected by the 4 days of eating and not working out.. I'll reassess on Wednesday.

You may have to do some research as to what suits you. A very generic response to Diets below. Rather than trying to work out how many meals/ day a common starting point is to work out your calorie deficit http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/caloriedeficitcalculator.php . This will basically start by telling you how many calories you burn each day based on your body and training. When you know this you can easily work out how much or little you need to eat to loose x amount of weight. The deficit is the difference between what you consume and burn. for instance you need to burn 3500cal to shed 1lb of fat so 3500 over 7 days =500cal/day. 1lb a week is fairly sustainable.. Sounds complicated but it is simple really, the fact you need to consume less than you burn in order to shed weight. This is just a structured way of quantifying the in's and out's. When you know this look at what foods are good and what they do for you... etc etc... ANYWAYS, I know you didn't ask specifically about this but happy to go on.. World of good and bad foods out there and always tricky to know where to start. Some of the girls and boys on n-fitness has vast knowledge base so just keep asking as long as peeps are responding..

Off to Sweden tonight,.. Back to the motherland for 3 day. As I won't have time for any training I will have to do double sessions today. Strictly speaking, yes, there is time but will definitely spend that with the family and not out running. Weigh in next week will /be interesting even with only 3 days of my mom's cooking...

Interesting indeed.. So how long have you (did you) live in HK? No specific research in on the topic but I'm sure climate plays it's part. I would like to point out that the food is different as well... Even though you're eating the same things they may well be slightly different. Ever seen strawberries grow in Thailand? they swell up to balloons in a day! I'm just pointing out that the climate affects the development and growth of veg and similar as well and a piece broccoli may more nutritious in one part of the world than another. Our metabolism/hormones also changes with age and are affected by stress levels and surrounding factors such as a move abroad and the environment change. Basic I know, but it might be difficult to pin down only the climate change. May be a variety of factors that commonly played your body a prank.. Would be interesting to know how your body reacts when you come back to the UK??? Keep us posted! I 'lived' in Sydney, Australia for 6 months but unfortunately I cant relate as I arrived very skinny due to none existing budget when I set off. Only gained back what I lost in South East Asia. I've moved around a lot in the last 10 years or so but as with my Sydney move, I couldn't really comment as with every move my circumstances changed a lot i.e. diet, training and so on... For the record.. I'm Swedish, but now settled in Swindon, Uk and I miss my cold-icicles-from-goatie-type of winters...!!!

Agree with Scream and David... Just a bit of food for thought, certainly not suggesting you need to change anything as we all need to find something we enjoy. Personally I found it really heard to loose weight and gain muscle at the same time. For me, it was too much to think about and felt like I took on too much and failed, again and again... you get the drift. This time around I decided to shed the extra weight and once fairly lean (got some specific targets) I plan to change my regime in terms of food and training in order to gain the muscle. Finding it easy to stay in control concentrating purely on cardio and I'm now 1-2kg away from my target so by Christmas I'm diverting from weight loss to muscle gain. This may not be for you but would like to emphasize one of 'Scream's' initial points, that don't take on too much too early.. It needs to be realistic although in the end of the day, only you know what's realistic for you. Best of luck bud!

Think we're all on the same page.. Thanks guys! The secret magical ingredient to success... Hard work! Sometimes nice and comforting to ponder these things whilst training though...

Greetings F-Nerds! I've read so many forums and articles regarding this and I must say that it has left me a bit confused as to what is the optimum running pace for fat burn is, or level of intensity for any training. Never mind the time of day or your previous food intake. But would someone (from their perspective) be able to clarify? Underlying thoughts: fat vs glucose to derive energy, higher pace burns more calories/min than lower pace, calorie is a unit measure to quantify energy - fat or glucose? I really do appreciate the efforts put in to research this and to learn it properly but a simplistic clarification would be ideal for me - I'm not out to change the way of training, only to use it for my own benefit. I'm happy to stand on others shoulders to achieve my goals Many thanks! Apologies for all the 'typos'...

So I cheated a little bit today by getting on the scales. (Not suppose to until Thursday) weight shifted between 73.6 and 73.7 which is consistent with my line of progress. I did try a calmer tempo this morning and ran for 46 minutes. I do the same duration at a higher tempo and felt like I could give it another 50% whilst running this morning. Over night I've been thinking about the optimum pace (heart rate) to burn fat. Bit confused now... Also, fat calipers arrived and apparently I'm considered to be lean according to the table.. I've seen 2 table sin circulation where one is based on your stomach/hip measurement and one is based on your stomache/hip (love handles), biceps, triceps, shoulder blade. I assume the latter is more accurate as takes into account your overall body dims. As I tend to gain fat mainly around the belly the latter suits me more anyways.

Since Friday last week, I’ve felt this slight pain in my lower calfs, consistent but not unbearable so I’ve kept running. The pain is different from normal muscle pain, it feels like it’s the tendon as opposed to the muscle itself. I’ve read up with a variety of causes and just checking if anyone have experienced similar pains? and possibly what you did to get your calfs to man up? Thanks!