Fat dude reporting in. (But not so fat now)
I've been trying to shed flab and improve general fitness for a few months now, and making some damn good progress:
Oct 2010 - 16 stone 6 lbs
Apr 2011 - 11 stone 10 lbs
That's over 4.5 stone in 6 months.
Losing weight doesn't happen without change, so you need to take control of things and understand what you need to do to lose the weight. There's a science behind it all and it's fascinating.
I tried the old 'eat more healthy food' regime before and always got frustrated when it never worked, turns out I simply ate too much.
What worked for me:
- Keep daily spreadsheets of what you eat (Google docs), and calorie count everything, being honest
- Pick a calorie target and stick to it (vary it as needed)
- Exercise - find something you enjoy, so you don't just give up
- Keep speadsheets to log exercise and record performance
I picked running, it's outside, free, doesn't have to be competitive and you don't need to socialise. Followed the Couch to 5k plan, which got me for running 30 minutes from nothing at all in 10 weeks without injury. I've been slowing adding distance since and can now run for 10 miles solid, and generally run 20-25 miles a week.
Keeping track of what I ate and did was key for me, being able to monitor performance, track weight loss and correlate the two with how I was feeling appealed to my nerdy side.
I've been trying to shed flab and improve general fitness for a few months now, and making some damn good progress:
Oct 2010 - 16 stone 6 lbs
Apr 2011 - 11 stone 10 lbs
That's over 4.5 stone in 6 months.
Losing weight doesn't happen without change, so you need to take control of things and understand what you need to do to lose the weight. There's a science behind it all and it's fascinating.
I tried the old 'eat more healthy food' regime before and always got frustrated when it never worked, turns out I simply ate too much.
What worked for me:
- Keep daily spreadsheets of what you eat (Google docs), and calorie count everything, being honest
- Pick a calorie target and stick to it (vary it as needed)
- Exercise - find something you enjoy, so you don't just give up
- Keep speadsheets to log exercise and record performance
I picked running, it's outside, free, doesn't have to be competitive and you don't need to socialise. Followed the Couch to 5k plan, which got me for running 30 minutes from nothing at all in 10 weeks without injury. I've been slowing adding distance since and can now run for 10 miles solid, and generally run 20-25 miles a week.
Keeping track of what I ate and did was key for me, being able to monitor performance, track weight loss and correlate the two with how I was feeling appealed to my nerdy side.
So no more loading cash on to my work card; there's a bakery on the way to the station that does nice salads as well so I'll get my lunch from there most days. Also I love my beer so will drop that down to 2 nights a week max, and also NO TAKEAWAYS except for once a fortnight as a treat. 
