cheers but doesnt really help with fat loss?
i mean would sit up etc get rid of the fat around my stomach area as it getting really bad lately and would prefer a much more tonned stomach that doesnt like wobble around wen i run around the rugby pitch 

No fat loss cannot be targeted, so you wont loose stomach fat by doing sit ups, however, by doing ab crunches and sit ups, you will strengthen the abs which can tone your stomach up more which will give an impression of weight loss even without loosing any.

The best way to loose weight is in pauls weight loss thread the man knows his stuff.

Basic tips are stick to big compound lifts and cardio, big lifts will strengthen your whole body and burn calories/build muscle, further, the more muscle you build the more calories youll burn.

look at squats, deadlifts, benchpress, overhead press, press ups, ab crunches (variety of ways), pull ups, push ups

Dont go starving yourself either that makes you more likely to burn away muscle and make you store all the food you do eat as fat.

eat atleast 6 small meals a day, stick to main food groups... protein (fish, meat, eggs, dairy), simple carbs (brown rice bread etc), healthy fats olive oil etc (in moderation) and fruit and veg, try to get a high protein intake and eat protein with every meal. this is one of the bigest and best changes you can make, cutting out any junk food and eating well so its important to get this right, its far better to do this than drink protein shakes, a shake is a suppliment and should only be used a long side a good diet, it wont work miricals, most are full of marketing bull too so to my knowlege whey protein is the best to get if at some point you want to suppliment your protein intake.
its a good idea to say have a protein shake and a banana or somthing post work out to get protein straight to the muscles and get your post work out carbs.

Cardio is also going to be good as you want to lose weight, two of the best ways to burn fat is HIIT high intensity interval training (search it) and cardio on an empty stomach (morning). low intensity cardio will also be good but has a tendency to burn muscle aswell (i belive this is not the case in morning cardio due to glycogen levels or some kind of thing i cant remember right now  )

anyway i know some of this may or most likey is repeated but heres what you basicaly need to know in one place

Its may seem like a lot to take on but once you get used to it it realy isnt too hard to maintain, you may even find you get a bit addicted to going down the gym and notice that eating good leaves you generally feeling better so its well worth doing. Just dont forget that any change towards this is a positive step aswell, dont go for a massive change if you dont think you can handle it either you're more likely to snap and give up all together if you take on too much too fast.

hope that helps

im sure paul will have some imput on that aswell

I'm 9.5 stone and 5'10" at 22 years old. I'm definately fit, but bulking up is hard work!!!

I'm gonna start the eating every 3 hours (sounds horrible  ) and I'm well into 3000 calories a day at the moment. The old student loan is gonna have to be stretched a bit further to get to 4000!

Thanks for all your advice!

Will

I used to drink a protein shake about 30minutes before going to bed under the impression that this might help stop my body from moving into catabolic overnight. Or at least minimise it.

But I read or heard someone say recently that drinking protein before you go to bed means you blood goes to your stomach rather than your muscles and can actually slow muscle growth down.

Is this true? I'm trying to gain weight at the moment, so which is better for bulking up?

Thanks

preotein shake is fine before bed. one with casein in, a slow release part of whey, or cottage cheese is better as they release protein slower meaning you are catabolic for less time.
If you eat/drink a protein shake before bed or any other time it will go to your stomach before it goes anywhere else.