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Losing weight

B

BigT

TS Member
Ok ok I thought I'd post a lighter hearted topic for once in CC.

Well I'm getting on a bit now and have spread a little around the middle.
I get bored easily so anyone know of an interesting way of loosing weight that will keep my attention?
I'm open to suggestions and will keep a running commentary on here of how it goes.
At the moment I weight 112kg and would like to get to 85.
 
It's as boring as eating less and moving more. I started losing weight last June and have lost over 6 stone thus far... and I was a fat boy for a long time before that.
 
The way I lost so much weight over the past few years is by two simple methods:

1) Reduce snacking - being realistic, everyone snacks from time to time. But it is possible to cut out snacking for most days of the week. We often snack when we do little, so it's unneeded food anyway.

2) Increase exercise - even something as gentle as walking can make a world of difference. Since moving to London I've found myself walking a lot more than when I had a car and would drive even short distances, and even this more relaxed excercise (which is usually all I have time to do as I hate running and aren't signed IP to any clubs due to my work rota) can do wonders. By 'walking' I mean walking for miles on end, not just to the shops and back of course, although every little helps!

If you try and find a 'fun way' of losing weight you'll no doubt tire of it fast. I've found it easier to make changes in my lifestyle, and I'm better for it.
 
Bear said:
Bingo. It's about fundamentally changing how you see food and your health.
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It's why most diets fail - people try too hard, and when they finally slip and eat a slice of pizza they give up.

You can lose weight and still eat burgers and pizza. But just be sensible!
 
Duct tape. One strip applied to the mouth.

Seriously there is no easy way to do it. I dont believe in diets as people tend to yo yo.

Judt start by doing 30 mins walking 3 times a week and go from there. Increase the time or fequency as you feel it might be needed.
 
Jem8472 said:
I dont believe in diets as people tend to yo yo.
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Some, what I believe to be facts.

DO NOT "DIET", if you start eating less without exercise, all you do is lose muscle mass. That's not good, because muscle burns of quite a bit more calories even at standing. Yes that means even sitting down you burn more calories. You can find 5 or 10 minute high intensity routines (careful when starting) per day that can actually gain some impressive results.

The fastest way to lose weight, is actually to gain it (I'm going somewhere with this lol).

Muscle weighs more than fat, hence super built people have ludicrously high BMIs, yet they'd uber fit!

Weight is nonsense, it's all about tone. Lean muscle mass.

Another peculiar one? Eat peanut butter (or some peanuts), especially before bed lol. Speeds up the metabolism eating a hit of protein and helps you sleep believe it or not.

Drink vegetable juices, fresh ones, find ones you like, sweeten with an apple/ginger etc - and begin your day with a glass of water, a relatively big one, to give your metabolism a boost.

Avoid wheat products where possible.

Green Tea.

These are all surprisingly easy changes to make. If you take sugar in your drinks, reduce it by one, gradually you don't notice it and when you fancy a sweet one to give you a hit of sugar on a heavy day it's proper lush!

That's the key I think, just make gradual steps, make that step a habit, then add another.

Habits take a couple of weeks or so to form due to the rebuilding of your neurological functioning, however, they then become the new habits. That's why the first couple of weeks is always so difficult, and why when people try to change too much too fast, they often fail and "yo yo".

If you're serious dude, small steps mate, don't make it a huge mission, and try and find some stupid things to do that actually aren't too bad.

It isn't all Rivitas and Weight Watchers meals lol!
 
^ You forgot to add "wear sunscreen". ;)

The only time in my life I've not been overweight was in my late teens when I'd spend 8 hours raving my tits off every friday night.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
^ You forgot to add "wear sunscreen". ;)

The only time in my life I've not been overweight was in my late teens when I'd spend 8 hours raving my tits off every friday night.
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That's definitely a fun method!
 
I've used MyFitnessPal to keep a track of what I eat and the exercise I've done. Eating less and exercising more seems to be doing the trick, I'm down nearly 3 stone so far.

You get out what you put in. If you eat one less chocolate bar a week, you won't see much change but if you eat one less a day, you'll see more of a change. Bear has been more disciplined than me and he's rightly seen more of a loss.

TheMaus said:
Muscle weighs more than fat, hence super built people have ludicrously high BMIs, yet they'd uber fit!
Click to expand...

A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat, it's just denser :p

Don't pay attention to BMI, it's meant for tracking population health and breaks down as a reliable analysis method at the individual level!

:)
 
My wife has used an app called Couch to 5k. It gradually builds you up over 8 weeks to get you being able to run 5k. She has done and and seems to enjoy it.
 
I total get the put in less and exercise more argument and I've done that before but I always end up putting it back on when I get bored.

I think one of these apps might be the way to go, that might keep me motivated.
 
I lost a load of weight when I was 16/17 and have maintained that since, but around the end of 2013 I wanted to get fitter so I got an app called Runkeeper. For some reason, I have so much more motivation to go running using an app like that as opposed to a treadmill at the gym. I'm training for a half marathon in March and it's weird how an hour of 'proper' running feels like 20 minutes on a treadmill.

A decent app may help, as you can set yourself goals and it feels good when you achieve them.

Also worth noting, I wouldn't say I eat that well, I eat lots of fruit but I also eat lots of carbs, chocolate, dairy etc. Thankfully exercise doesn't make that noticeable!

Avoid dieting as I personally believe it doesn't promote a balanced diet. And do you really want to be miserable from missing your favourite food all the time?
 
When I was growing up I seemed to stay at 9 and a half stone for years, then when I hit 16 I started putting on weight till I was 15 stone at 21. Two years ago I went on a diet and exercised regularly and managed to get down to 12 and a half stone. Then in October 2013 something happened, and I don't know what - I slipped of the healthy lifestyle and back onto the bad. Currently I weigh 15 and a half stone and hope to go back to my early 2013 lifestyle. I was much more happier, had more energy and just felt great. I must admit 2014 was one of my worst years for things happening and during that time I have had more takeaways/crap than I have the whole of my life and in doing so have piled on the weight.

I'm 5' 10" and would love to be around the 12/12 and a half stone mark by the end of this year. I feel that would be my perfect weight for my height even though on BMI charts I would just be near/tipping into the overweight section. But anything less than that just wouldn't be right for me because of my build type and I don't believe in the BMI chart anyway.

Now when I lost my weight in 2013 I did a number of things that may help you. I used an app called 'MyFitnessPal' which helped me log my meals and kept me on track and I highly recommend it as I see others above have. My workouts consisted mainly of cardio but a little weight training too. Near the end, during the summer I started the Insanity program and found that helped me too. One thing to remember is too eat properly, but don't cut out everything - after all it is about having a balanced diet. Don't ever skip meals, instead of eating three meals a day maybe try more but of smaller portions. When I was dieting I had six meals spread out over the day. The times were:

7:00AM - 8:00AM - Breakfast
10:00AM -10:30AM - Snack
12:30PM - 1:30PM - Lunch
3:30PM - 4:30PM - Snack
6:30PM - 7:30PM - Dinner
9:00PM - 10:00PM - Protein Shake

But my Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner meals weren't big meals, just enough to make me satisfied. I usually had around 1400 Calories - 1800 Calories a day - obviously your times and calorie intake will be different from myself as it's all down to your lifestyle, weight/height and what you want to achieve, respectively. Another thing is to not weigh yourself constantly as this will dishearten you and will make you think nothing is happening when it takes time. I found weighing myself ever other Monday three different times throughout the day to take the average and to keep a diary helped me stay focused.

Two major final points. One that will help tremendously is to do you weight loss dieting with someone. Having someone else to do it with will keep you interested and focused on what you want to achieve - it also keeps it fun. Secondly, have 'treat' days ever set length of time (up to you) as it will keep you looking forward to something - this doesn't mean go stupid and eat a load of food, but have something that you enjoy - be it chocolate, your favourite meal, etc.

Hope you find something that helps and happy dieting :)
 
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