oh and a few questions, you said to run 3 times a week for 20 minutes on the treadmill.....how fast should i run? can i run the 20 minutes seperately or not?

I would NOT suggest going to extremes on any one thing…for example starvation dieting

I would suggest taking a more balanced approach as outlined in the following tips.

Number One: Lift Weights.

“Lifting heavy weights increases resting metabolic rate higher and keeps it at the elevated rate longer then lifting lighter weights.” Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education (Oslo) Borshein, E., Bahr, H. Sports Medicine 33 (14): 1,037-1,060.

Number Two: Eat frequent, small meals.

“The body responds to long gaps between meals by storing up energy. But a routine of six or more meals a day encourages steady metabolism.” Kay-Tee Khaw, Institute of Public Health in Cambridge in Nov 2001 British Medical Journal.

Number Three: Eat Protein

“Scientists from Arizona State found that metabolic rate was 2 ½ times higher on a high-protein diet than on a high carbohydrate diet.” Johnston, C. S. et al. Post prandial thermogenesis is increased 100 percent on a high protein, low fat diet versus a high carbohydrate, low fat diet in healthy young woman”. J. Am Coll Nutr 2002 21: 56-61.

Number Four: Eat Fibre

“As fibre intake increases body fat decreases.” Study conducted at Brigham Young University, Study presented at the 2002 American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting in St. Louis.

Number Six: Drink green tea

“Green tea has been shown to focus your body on burning fat rather than carbohydrates or muscle.” A.G. Dulloo, et al., “efficacy of a green tea extract rich in cetechin polyphenols and caffeine in increasing 24-h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans” Am. J. Clin. Nutr 70.6 (1999): 1040-1045

Number Seven: Relax

“Stress contributes to abdominal fat accumulation.” Study conducted at Yale University by Elissa Epel, PhD, published in the September/October 2000 edition of the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Number Eight: Sleep

Sleep deprivation may promote weight gain. Study conducted by Eve Van Cauter, professor of medicine and the University of Chicago.

Good Luck – www.geocities.com/researchbasedbodybuilding

Great post R.B.B. All these thoughts are alive on the forum but nice to know the sources and that they have been well studied.

Once again I am going to say that it is your call, though I generally encourage people to either work out with intensity and passion and fury or just not bother- You choose your own level of involvement and it will all help. You are still very new to this and you will find many problems in whatever it is that you choose to do. That is why I have left things very general (yes this is all quite general to those who have been at this for a long time).

When you feel uncertain about somthing or run into a problem with what you are doing come on back but first thing is first- you need to get started.

i can almost gaurentee you will be doing all kinds of things wrong for at least the first year. Same with everyone else on this board. Trial and error is a huge help for all of us. But don't take my word for it. You need to start making your own mistakes and then questioning those mistakes and improving.

Do not fall into the trap of many retired nutritionists and PE teachers who know everything they need to know to get in shape but live in front of their TVs.

Try working out for a bit and let us all know how it works out. And if you run into any more problems from there, just let us all know.