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Advice on losing weight

I'm expert so all I can tell you is how I have lost a fair bit of weight.

First I roughly calculated my base metabolic rate and subtracted 500kcal from it, I then changed my daily diet so that I always consumed near enough exactly that amount but spread over 5 small meals.
I also upped the amount of exercise I did per week but not overdo it.

As well as that , each day I would read about nutrition and about the human body, learning as I went along.

It worked great and I have lost a fair bit of weight. (although I have had a couple of hiccups because of ignorance such as stalling my weightloss through undereating )

6 weeks ago I changed to a cyclic keto diet, i'm still consuming the same amount of calories each day but now I eat a ratio of protein, fat & carbs, I'm still losing weight at about 1lb a week but most of it is fat.

I'm in good shape, I look a hell of a lot better, some old clothes fit me again and I feel great too :)
 
dark_shadow said:
You may find the following useful/inspirational:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14063097&postcount=928

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14082786&postcount=955

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14331004&postcount=1221

I came down from 205lb to 154lb. No cardio - just weights.
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Hats off to you that is one hell of an achievement. And thank you for the links.

Once I have lost the weight I am after I would like to get in touch with you for a bit more personal advice (around September time) if thats alright with you.

I would like to take just the step of loosing the large amount of weight in the short space of time and then build on it to something similar to how you have done. Granted to say this and do it are totally different but your a fine example of someone who has gone out and done it.
 
Guzzidom: Thank you for your post, it is quite helpful to see a specific day of what someone will eat to lose weight.

When I have lost weight in the past I have cut out the (what seemed to me) the obvious foods white bread for example which I would tend to eat in the evenings with most meals.

At the moment I'm clearing the freezer/fridge out this week and will be shopping with the wife on Friday. Fish and meat are definatly on this list, I have always known I should eat more of this but what I am thinking about to myself is how will I eat a lot of this each week every week. I need to come up with some variety.

Having picked up on using weights to speed up my metabolism I would like to ask OcUK (rather than google it for now) which is more beneficial for weight loss and for increasing my metabolism.

Less reps heavy weights? or lots of reps and lighter weights? I know using heavy weights and less reps will build muscle so I presume the lighter weight but I would like to confirm this.

Also I need to buy a small set of weights to use in my apartment, bare in mind I do not need any large equipment, I have free gym membership in my apartment building. The reason I want some small weights for my own is for personal use during the next 3 months of weight loss. I would prefer to do it on my own rather than in the gym.

I will be running for upto an hour in the mornings before work. I believe cardio is the best method to loose such a large amount of weight in a relative short amount of time. But as I said I would like to bring weights into this to increase my metabolism and keep my fat into proportion while I am loosing the weight.

I will be posting every week in this thread to let people know how its going. I am a little suprised by the large amount of comments and some of them have been extremly helpful and enlightening.
 
Have a feeling you don't want to hear some of this :)

You should be aiming to do 8-12 reps on pretty much every exercise as heavy as you can go. If you're able to do 15-20 then it's too light and likewise only 1-2 is too heavy.

In terms of the gym - I would definitely recommend going to one especially if you have free membership at your apartment complex. Why? Basically because it's always better to get advice on technique in person rather than over the net and it'll be expensive (and requires a fair bit of space) to get yourself kitted out in your own home.

Cardio isn't the best way to lose weight for the reasons I explained before although it can definitely help if it's done right. Google HIIT and do that if you really must do cardio. Steady state cardio e.g. jogging for an hour will only burn a small amount of calories and does not increase your metabolism in the way that weight training and HIIT does.
 
~EDIT - Fluffmcts advice is essentialy how ive been doing it. HIIT is your friend. Although I couldnt walk properly for a week after the first time. Thatll teach me to streach properly~

Hello,

Ive just lost 31lbs since 6th March.
I Wouldnt recomend following my Diet as I think that I restricted calories a bit too much.
However I did like my routine.

I found Heavy weights made me get a sweat on and raised my heart rate.
Also means that allthough my muscles havnt gotten any bigger (you cant build muscle while on a calorie restrictive diet) they have much firmer and im able to lift much more, which may be beneficial if you are planning to carry on once you have lost the weight.

I did Cardio but tried to keep it to maybe 20mins walking and then 20 jogging or 20 minutes of Interval training.

That coupled with a brisk walk home from work (2.9 miles) has helped me a lot and doing the smaller chunks helps you stop getting bored.
an Hour walking or running on a treadmill can drrrrrrraaag

-G
 
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fluffmct said:
Have a feeling you don't want to hear some of this :)
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Quite the opposite :) When I was doing weights I always preffered lifting heavy weight over light weights, I would wake up the next day feeling tension in my arms or chest and that would give me a sense of achieving my goal.

Don't worry about the number of reps ;) My father taught me all about that when I first took an interest.

I generally do 3 sets and about 10 reps and take a 90 second break inbetween each set I do.
 
TheCybermonkey said:
I found Heavy weights made me get a sweat on and raised my heart rate.
Also means that allthough my muscles havnt gotten any bigger (you cant build muscle while on a calorie restrictive diet) they have much firmer and im able to lift much more, which may be beneficial if you are planning to carry on once you have lost the weight.
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Not strictly true. If you are just starting out then it's very possible that you will lose fat and gain muscle mass at the same time. What you describe as you muscles being firmer (some people say toned aarrghhh) is your body losing some fat and letting you see and feel the muscle easier. Your muscles have probably have increased in size as well, but your arms for example might measure the same because you've lost fat on them too. This is why I recommend a mirror for measuring progress rather than scales, particularly when just beginning.

PS awesome progress mate :)
 
I started thinking it was easy...

It's so technical once you get into it...

I'm not even sure where I want to end up, but I have seen improvements, I might not look the must buff guy ever but I can definitely tell when I'm at the gym actually lifting weights.

I just love the feeling of doing it, I'm not even sure I have a target, as long as I enjoy doing it I won't stop.

I do love running though, but it's really hard at the moment for some reason, I've never run further than 10k, one of these days I'm just going to do a forrest gump :) then ill retire my running days
 
fluffmct said:
Not strictly true. If you are just starting out then it's very possible that you will lose fat and gain muscle mass at the same time. What you describe as you muscles being firmer (some people say toned aarrghhh) is your body losing some fat and letting you see and feel the muscle easier. Your muscles have probably have increased in size as well, but your arms for example might measure the same because you've lost fat on them too. This is why I recommend a mirror for measuring progress rather than scales, particularly when just beginning.

PS awesome progress mate :)
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I was trying to avoid the T word myself :)

Thanks for clarifying the point regarding muscle growth when starting out.
Wouldnt want to start leading people down the wrong path.....so many misconceptions and minefields with the whole losing weight and weight training without me adding to it :)

Out of interest, when you say that its possible to gain muscle when starting out....how long would you consider "starting out" ? Would you expect to gain a little muscle for the first 1 or 2 weeks or are we talking 1 or 2 months or even longer than that?

-G
 
TheCybermonkey said:
<snip>

Out of interest, when you say that its possible to gain muscle when starting out....how long would you consider "starting out" ? Would you expect to gain a little muscle for the first 1 or 2 weeks or are we talking 1 or 2 months or even longer than that?

-G
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Often referred to as the 'Honeymoon' period and it differs from person to person. I class it as a period of time when fat loss and muscle gain seem to go hand-in-hand during training even though both are normally mutually exclusive during either the 'bulking' or 'cutting' phases of an exercise program, hence you are either training for muscle mass or for fat loss.

However, as I found out during the initial period of training from relative inactivity the body has an unusual knack of knocking off the fat while maintaining or even adding muscle mass and for me lasted a good few months before I started to level out.

At the moment i'm training for a half-marathon so i'm trying to limit muscle loss while improving cardio fitness (not that i'm a massive bloke, but I do like the extra muscle i've gained and don't want to see it dissapear!)
 
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Adding lean mass will give the visual effect of looking like you have lost fat. This is because you are lowering your bodyfat %. This you can do while bulking.

Losing fat (amount in terms of weight) while adding mass is the hard part
 
Morba said:
Adding lean mass will give the visual effect of looking like you have lost fat. This is because you are lowering your bodyfat %. This you can do while bulking.
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That my friend has just made the penny drop.
Wasnt thinking about the fact that you can lower body fat % but increasing lean muscle rather than lowering the actual amount of fat on you.

On a side note...Ive just started to eat more over the last few days.
Does anyone else find that eating more often and eating lots of protein gives them really bad wind?

Honestly, the misses cought a wif last night and she almost passed out :D

Also...
Swear my stomach and chest are getting hairy aswell...Im 27. Figured if I was ever going to turn into a gorilla, it would have happened before now.

-G
 
TheCybermonkey said:
That my friend has just made the penny drop.
Wasnt thinking about the fact that you can lower body fat % but increasing lean muscle rather than lowering the actual amount of fat on you.

On a side note...Ive just started to eat more over the last few days.
Does anyone else find that eating more often and eating lots of protein gives them really bad wind?

Honestly, the misses cought a wif last night and she almost passed out :D

Also...
Swear my stomach and chest are getting hairy aswell...Im 27. Figured if I was ever going to turn into a gorilla, it would have happened before now.

-G
Click to expand...

Yep a lot of people get the lovely protein farts when they change their diet, they should begin to dissapear once your body gets used to it. Also if your doing more training you could well be raising your test levels causing an increase in body hair
 
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TheCybermonkey said:
That my friend has just made the penny drop.
Wasnt thinking about the fact that you can lower body fat % but increasing lean muscle rather than lowering the actual amount of fat on you.

On a side note...Ive just started to eat more over the last few days.
Does anyone else find that eating more often and eating lots of protein gives them really bad wind?

Honestly, the misses cought a wif last night and she almost passed out :D

Also...
Swear my stomach and chest are getting hairy aswell...Im 27. Figured if I was ever going to turn into a gorilla, it would have happened before now.

-G
Click to expand...

Remember too, that the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn just doing the everyday things, that's why real muscle mary's like Frank Bruno ran out of steam after the fifth round and you don't see the false tan and posing pouch Mr Universes in the Worlds Strongest Man. Their calorific burn is massive and therefore energy levels drop faster.
This can be used to your own advantage, some good, heavy free weight training on your larger muscle masses, bum, thighs, biceps, triceps, pecs, abs and shoulders for 2 months will give you a 10% larger engine (to use a motoring analogy) which will, in turn use 10% more fuel to run, resulting in a higher calorific burn all the time.
Of course this will slow things down on the scales a bit but should result in a better look and will assist in keeping the blubber off long term.
As for getting hairy, that's your second adolescance, the one they don't bother telling you about at school, in the next 5-10 years you can look forwards to strange hairy patches on your back, bristles appearing up your nose and in your ears, your eyebrows getting long and mad and absurdly, by the time you are 45 your calves starting to go bald.
God knows why a diminishment in testosterone as you age seems to make you more hairy as opposed to less.
 
you dont see the Mr Universes in WSM because on the stage they are very unhealthy, in a very dehydrated state. They have just about the energy to get on stage and pose, thats about it.
they have trained a certain way to build as much mass as possible, not be functional with it.

Now, a little more fat and in most cases a lot more muscle mass and you have a WSM, time and time again.
Mariusz has an awesome body, as does Arild (though he has started boxing), a lot of the more recent top level strongment all have good shape as well: poundstone etc.
 
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i'm getting more hairy recently, specifically shoulders and upper back. its horrid!

will be time to get it shaved off soon!
 
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