*** Big Fat Weight Loss Thread ***
- Thread starter AndyCr15
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Soldato
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Relapse! After nearly 2 months of sticking to a calorie counting diet and shedding a stone I caved in on Sunday and bought a large greasy doner kebab, and ate the lot
I wouldn't worry too much about the odd occasion.
That's why most people fail diets (not that I believe in them either) because many count calories too much, or ban you from any treats/indulgences.
That's why I quick like Joe Wicks. You quite often see him enjoying a G&T, eating chocolate/cakes etc. You can still do that and be healthy, and lose weight.
I ran 28 miles on Saturday and still put weight on between Friday and Monday
Yeah, I can do the same (well, cycle rather than run
) but that's usually temporary and around the actual volume that I eat rather than calories going on as fat. I would never bother weighing myself on Monday or Tuesday and even Wednesday would still often be higher than it really is.
Soldato
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No specific exercise routine in the winter, apart from a daily 30 min walk. I'm doing some DIY building work on evenings and weekends which has certainly burned a few calories by digging holes, filling skips and ferrying about materials.
I would've been laying slabs this weekend but got rained off, plus I'd slept on my arm and for some reason had a stabbing shoulder pain, which has now nearly gone. I think being stuck indoors not doing anything, I just let my greedy urges get the better of me.
Guys, calories v fat question. Myfitnesspal has me down for 1530 calories,191g carbs, 77g protein and 51g of fat max per day. I've been on this diet for 6 weeks and have stuck around 1500 to 1800 calories, mostly closer to 1500, and have lost some pounds, so the diet is working. However, I often get a message in myfitnesspal warning me of my max allowed fat intake and a lot of days it's over 51g sometimes up to 80 or 90g. If I'm within my calorie intake and losing pounds, how much should I be worried about going over the fat intake?
Soldato
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Don't worry about it. If you're happy with the foods that you're eating and your sources of dietary fat are good that's the main thing - if you made a bunch of changes you didn't enjoy in order to get carbs up and fats down from 80-90g fat to 51g then it's more likely your adherence would suffer.
I've not particularly worried about that, as long as calories are low enough. At the same time, I might look at what I'm eating and see if I can change anything about to make it 'healthier'.
Thanks chaps, I won't worry too much about it then. Oh the diet is definitely enjoyable enough and sustainable. I'm doing higher protein than carbs. I'm mostly eating very nutritiously, rotating whole mackerel that I behead, gut, fillet and grill, chicken legs and drumsticks (I always de-skin the chicken) and bolognese with less spaghetti and more minced beef. Mackerel has a high fat content and often takes up most of my fat allocation, but I guess it's good fat. Fresh steamed veg (cabbage, sprouts, carrots, broccoli) and brown rice most nights, 0% fat greek yogurt, fat free cottage cheese, ryvita, celery, high protein low carb bread and fruit. But I also have a chocolate bar and a couple of plain biscuits most nights, and/or a muller light yogurt, and very occasionally, like once a fortnight, have oven chips with sausages or burgers as a treat. So there's also some bad fat in the mix but possibly not enough to be overly concerned. In 6 weeks of dieting, I've gone over and eaten 1900 to 2000 calories only about 4 times.
Nice, yeah, I wouldn't worry about the occasional binge. Having said which, I've been on a bit of a push, removing my Sunday night binge a few times and working hard on the bike. I still tend to eat 2,500 to 3,500 cals a day, but most days I'm burning 700 to 2,500. This morning I weighed in at 15st 0.2lbs. I've weighed that exact amount twice (last Aug most recently) and not been below that since last May. Part of me says I don't need to go lower, enjoy eating some more, thrown in a binge or two. Other part (the competitive part) wants me to see how low I can take it
Perhaps more pleasing, yesterday I tracked my FTP (which is what cyclist use to monitor fitness/power) using stats thinking I peaked last Aug/Sept and actually it's higher now than ever. So, maybe shed a few more pounds while adding some more Watts to my FTP!?
Slightly related to that, I did a gruelling, but reasonably comprehensive cycling fitness test on Monday (4DP). I have great burst power, a reasonable FTP but have a weak VO2, which really surprised me. I know, maybe genetically, that's how I've always been. At school I was definitely a sprinter, but I thought all this cycling in the last 2 years had moved that needle. I guess my VO2 must have been abysmal two years ago?! lol
Perhaps more pleasing, yesterday I tracked my FTP (which is what cyclist use to monitor fitness/power) using stats thinking I peaked last Aug/Sept and actually it's higher now than ever. So, maybe shed a few more pounds while adding some more Watts to my FTP!?
Slightly related to that, I did a gruelling, but reasonably comprehensive cycling fitness test on Monday (4DP). I have great burst power, a reasonable FTP but have a weak VO2, which really surprised me. I know, maybe genetically, that's how I've always been. At school I was definitely a sprinter, but I thought all this cycling in the last 2 years had moved that needle. I guess my VO2 must have been abysmal two years ago?! lol
Soldato
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I don't think I'd survive on 2000 calories a day lol!
But then I am exercising about 10-15 hours a week, so I can't really run on that low calories anyway. Kudos to those that do!
But then I am exercising about 10-15 hours a week, so I can't really run on that low calories anyway. Kudos to those that do!
It's getting almost demoralising constantly bouncing off the 100kg line back to around 103kg, the hunger just goes through the roof and that's with modest calorie deficit and me consuming close to 200% of my recommended fibre intake and plenty of water.
I really need to change something or come up with different strategy because I've failed to get under the 100 for 4 months now.
I really need to change something or come up with different strategy because I've failed to get under the 100 for 4 months now.
Thanks. Well sunday and monday I had more food than I was meant to so not sure if that will have added much when I weigh myself tomorrow, but yeah, not had a gain at all and seen a pound loss each week, last weight was 12 stone 6. Thing is, while I'm losing pounds, I'm not seeing any difference on my stomach since I started, still looks expanded. And that's my main reason for all this. If I get to my target of 11 stone 7 and my stomach is still like this then I don't know, I can only think there's some food intolerance or something else.
I'm wondering the same thing. Having gone from 17 1/2 stone to around 12 1/2 stone, I've still got an unsightly belly and man boobs. I'm wondering if the moobs will be with me forever now but I want to try getting to 10 1/2 stone to see what I look like. That might be low but I'm average height, no muscle and that figure is right in the middle of BMI.
For me, I live on Huel for a fortnight (1200-1600 kcals a day). That seems to break a plateau and gets the weight off and I have to purposefully overeat, like 2x the calories (3000 a day), to gain it back again. But it's really hard, the hunger pangs feels like dying.
Stick with it, 5 stone reduction is amazing. From what I've read, excess fat surrounding vital organs under the abdominal muscles can cause the stomach to swell. So that might be why and I guess we have to continue to reduce what we can't see.
Soldato
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I ran 28 miles on Saturday and still put weight on between Friday and Monday
Most of that will be water and food in the gut. There's roughly 7700 calories in 1kg of fat. If you were 1kg heavier after a weekend then you'd have had to have eaten whatever calories you need to maintain your weight AND that 7700 extra on top of that.
Soldato
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How long have you been dieting? Sometimes if you've been doing it for a while you just need some time off - prolonged dieting makes everyone feel terrible eventually, which is why it can be hard to diet further if you still have fat to lose - and to have a short diet break to dissipate the stresses dieting imposes on the body.
Also this may sound counter intuitive but sometimes people find smaller deficits lead to more hunger and thinking about food than aggressive deficits. Take a couple of weeks off and eat at maintenance then try alternating blocks of 4-6 weeks of a bigger deficit with a 7-10 day diet break. It doesn't need to be 7 days a week either - you can be aggressive 6 days and have a day of normal eating if that helps adherence. Additionally I don't know what your diet is like but picking foods high on the satiety index (e.g. potatoes score more higher than rice) or just upping protein intake within your calorie budget can help too.
Soldato
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The body stores adipose tissue either subcutaneously (under the skin) or viscerally (around the organs) - general diet truisms:
- when you diet a greater proportion of the latter needs to come off before you see more of the former, and the stomach/chest tend to go before places like the love handles, lower back etc.
- people always think they have less fat to lose than they really do to get to a given %
- the less muscle mass you have, the more dieting results in you looking like you're just getting smaller rather than seeing things like abs and muscle striations; two people 175cm tall at 10% body fat will look wildly different if one is 75kg and has a decent amount of muscle mass from training, and the other is 60kg and doesn't.
About a year now, I think one thing I didn't consider though is that my maintenance calories estimate might be too low to begin with. I just got them by quickly looking at an online calculator back then and stuck with 3000 figure.
Got a Fitbit few weeks back and actually looked at all my stats today, according to that my average daily calorie expenditure is between 3400 and 3550 per day. Days when I run and work, I've pushed past 4000 and I know that's probably overestimating but I think I'm running a larger deficit than I thought.
With me not being as chunky as this time last year, I imagine the body is getting more hungry the closer I get to the target. I'll try adjusting calories to the level of activity that day rather than same figure daily and running a low 10% deficit to see how I get on with that.
Thank you for the info. Just to clarify, do you mean that if I continue dieting, any fat around the vital organs will go before I see 'pinchable skin' reduce? I hope that's the case because I want my stomach to deflate. My subcutaneous fat really isn't that much I don't think. I can pinch 2 inches of fat at the front and about 1 inch round the sides/waist, is that a lot?
Weighed myself today and gained a pound. Was 12st 7 today but was 12st 6 last thursday. Amazing, doesn't take much to gain does it.