*** Big Fat Weight Loss Thread ***

AndyCr15 said:
Yeah, good point. I'm currently down at 96kg. (Started at 138)



I do understand this argument, I guess I feel it's an odd angle to come at it if your main purpose is to lose weight. It's almost like trying to improve your cars mileage by removing the spare tyre from the boot. It's a very small lever when there are much bigger levers to pull. I do totally understand there are many other benefits to lifting though (I went myself this morning, for example).

Some really good and interesting discussion though, nice :)
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Use that BMR calculator I linked to.

Even if you're sedentary at 96kg I would guess 1600-1800 calories is too big a deficit to be sustainable.

At the end of the day the best diet for anyone, is the one they can stick to. If cheat days or diet breaks or a smaller daily deficit helps you stick with it then do it. It just means you'll take a little longer to loose what you want to.

 
barmyllama said:
Use that BMR calculator I linked to.

Even if you're sedentary at 96kg I would guess 1600-1800 calories is too big a deficit to be sustainable.

At the end of the day the best diet for anyone, is the one they can stick to. If cheat days or diet breaks or a smaller daily deficit helps you stick with it then do it. It just means you'll take a little longer to loose what you want to.

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I track calories monday to Friday with my fitness pal

Sat and Sun I eat anddrink what I want, no tracking.
 
Ultimately as long as your regime/routine is offering you the results that you want then it must be working. However, plateaus do happen, and that's where different techniques help, i.e. carb cycling, intermittent fasting etc... I use a variation of these to avoid metabolic adaptation.

My current status I posted here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/35479453

I do want to get a bit leaner I'm 98kg so can afford to lose 5kg at least, but there will be muscle loss in that too unless I train exceptionally hard which I'm not able to (work, kids etc...). It's about managing your mental health / issues that you have with how you look/feel. I know I can run for 5k in 30 mins, I can swim 1km just over 25 mins - but I'm not always happy with how I am.

I think we all have these journeys we're taking, either to lose weight for health, feel better, be fitter, be able to run after the kids, or a feeling of self worth and/or many other reasons. It's hard to "achieve" a goal, as there's always something else that you want to achieve.

It's so important to reward yourself and appreciate that it's not an overnight success, and it takes time - this is something I frustrate myself with as I'm sometimes impulsive and impatient.
 
AndyCr15 said:
When you say you can't maintain it, you mean you keep eating over? To me that seems really low? Especially if you're still gaining weight?! Are you sure it's accurate? Are you weighing portions? Counting everything (you know, milk in tea etc). When I was down at that amount I was losing a stone a month.... (I cycled most days too, but only about 40 minutes)
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Yes, after a few days or best-case scenario, two or three weeks, I find myself eating over.
I don't gain weight on that amount, I lose it, though, when I eat over, progress is impeded,
which is why I think it's not enough to maintain for the long term. It's taken me a while to realise. :D
Yes, all food is weighed out.


barmyllama said:
You just have swap highly refined foods for lean protein, vegetables, whole grains, berries and nuts and other whole foods.

Generally the brain doesn't know the difference between hunger and thirst. So water can be a good appetite suppressant.

Also try drinking water, black coffee or tea, thirty minutes before you eat. That helps to stop overeating at meals. And don't drink with your meal as it reduces the feeling of fullness.

If you're on a reasonably strict calorie diet, then have a cheat day once a week. Or take diet breaks, were you diet for 4 weeks then eat maintenance calories for a week or two.

You can work out your maintenance calories via a BMR calculator.
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I eat practically nothing but whole foods at home and the level of processed food overall is very low.
I didn't realise that part about the brain re hunger and thirst. :)

I don't drink much of anything when eating as it could affect digestion and I generally feel better for not doing so.
Yes, the suggestion of a cheat day or eating for maintenance is another good idea, I think I've been restricting myself
too much. Cheers for the link to the BMI calc.


subbytna said:
Thank you

I started off at 2100 and tracked my food, weighed myself every day and averaged the 7 weights into one weekly weight. Did this for a couple of weeks and watched what the weight was doing. It was staying similar so upped the calories to 2200 a day (frogot to mention that I'm on 40% protein, 30 carbs and 30 fats as my daily food intake macros) I did the same, tracked what I ate and watched the weight...no real change so upped the calories again to 2300. At this point I saw the weight starting to creep up a bit. I used this as the basis to bulk and gain muscle mass. When I start my cut at the end of March, I'll drop the calories down again to beneath 2300 and let the deficit take the fat. I'll watch and see what calorie amount I@ll need to sustain an easier drop in body fat, than crash cutting and not be able to sustain it.
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subbytna said:
My wife is on more calories than (~1700/1800 ish). :eek:

Without coming across as a dork....you're not female are you?

I'd say you need to workout your calories again. Or better still, get a couple of hours personal training and part of that will be nutrition. Any decent PT will be looking at nutrition first, before any workouts.

If you eat a lot of carbs, try and have them before 6pm. After that, your body will have the carb energy and if you don't use that energy from the food, it'll be stored in the body as fat. I train in the evening so after a workout, I have a protein heavy meal like chicken or steak, with minimal carbs.


Proten keeps you feeling fuller, for longer. I'm at 40% of my daily food intake being protein.

If you're in the gym, do compound weight lifting. It'll use more muscle groups and those will burn more calories, than doing isolation exercises only. Squats, benchpress, deadlifts, etc.

***DO NOT MISS OR SKIP LEG DAY IF YOU'RE TRYING TO LOSE WIEGHT***
Yes it's hard but the glutes and quads are two of the biggest muscles in your body. Work them out and they burn much more calories than just biceps and bicep curls. Again, squats and deadlifts will work them both.
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No, I'm a bloke. :) Yep, I'm looking at raising the calories and then, as you did, see how I get on and gradually find the sweet spot.
I don't eat complex carbs in the evening anyway as one of the best things I found that benefits me well is food combining, though once in a blue moon,
I'll make an exception to that if making a homemade curry.

I'm only just starting to up the amount of weight training as I've been pretty much unable to train my upper body for the last four years due to knackering both rotator cuffs.
 
Hopefully this isn't an overly repeated post, I did a quick search but obviously in a thread like this the results return so much I thought it would be easier to ask.

What scales are recommended for tracking weight. I have a set of etekcity scales that have stopped recording anything but weight and it feels like the accuracy has gone on them. Before they used to be good to 0.05kg but now the jumps between weight bands seems to be more like 0.25-0.35kg.

So recommendations please :D
 
I just have some Xiaomi Smart Scales 2 from Amazon which were £16. I'd love the Garmin ones for the integration, but the thought of spending £130 on some scales doesn't appeal!


Also, ever wondered what happens when you eat a Korean BBQ bake thing, most of an 18" garlic bread and 18" pepperoni pizza from Costco in a single day?

I think MFP puts it around 700 a slice for the pizza/garlic bread and i ate around 8 slices. The Korean bake thing was around 600 and previously in the day i'd had a grilled cheese and a few beers. Then finished off with wine.
It was a good day :D

FPDdseT.png
 
Freefaller said:
Ultimately as long as your regime/routine is offering you the results that you want then it must be working. However, plateaus do happen, and that's where different techniques help, i.e. carb cycling, intermittent fasting etc... I use a variation of these to avoid metabolic adaptation.

My current status I posted here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/35479453

I do want to get a bit leaner I'm 98kg so can afford to lose 5kg at least, but there will be muscle loss in that too unless I train exceptionally hard which I'm not able to (work, kids etc...). It's about managing your mental health / issues that you have with how you look/feel. I know I can run for 5k in 30 mins, I can swim 1km just over 25 mins - but I'm not always happy with how I am.

I think we all have these journeys we're taking, either to lose weight for health, feel better, be fitter, be able to run after the kids, or a feeling of self worth and/or many other reasons. It's hard to "achieve" a goal, as there's always something else that you want to achieve.

It's so important to reward yourself and appreciate that it's not an overnight success, and it takes time - this is something I frustrate myself with as I'm sometimes impulsive and impatient.
Click to expand...
Not quite sure how I missed your updated picture of yourself!!

Definitely very fine and fit indeed. ;)
 
Syla5 said:
Hopefully this isn't an overly repeated post, I did a quick search but obviously in a thread like this the results return so much I thought it would be easier to ask.

What scales are recommended for tracking weight. I have a set of etekcity scales that have stopped recording anything but weight and it feels like the accuracy has gone on them. Before they used to be good to 0.05kg but now the jumps between weight bands seems to be more like 0.25-0.35kg.

So recommendations please :D
Click to expand...

As I'm sure you know weight tracking doesn't give the whole picture - but it can give you an indication.

I personally use some workout tracking aps which sync to google fit - I then often enter my details into there so I can get yearly/monthly trends.



That's what my "smart" scales tell me, apparently my bodyfat is 27%... which it isn't and my muscle mass is 38%... which it isn't! So just be wary of those numbers.

I think if you use that with tracking apps for workouts like I do (yes you have to pay for them) then they can link everything together.

Plus you get nice charts like this:



Alice In Wonderland said:
Not quite sure how I missed your updated picture of yourself!!

Definitely very fine and fit indeed. ;)
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I've been at this for a few decades - but I let myself go after the kids were born focussing on career and not looking after myself as much - I've picked up the pace a little and the effort. I'll never be "skinny" nor would I want to. However, I've struggled with being happy with not only my gym performance but my general fitness. The last 3 years I have managed to transform myself back to where I wanted to be, but with some work yet to be done. This thread, and although I have posted ina while, have been super helpful for me to realise that this is a challenge a lot of people face. Some people say, you look great shut up, stop seeking attention, however what people see and what I feel in my head/mind are 2 different things entirely. But people like Subby and Andy and others have shown me that actually as long as you're progressing that you shouldn't feel you're seeking attention, after all we all have different goals and perceptions.

I do want to lose a little bit of weight (99kg this morning) which I know I can do, I just need to realise it's ok to be slim - ******** all over the place though. I guess that's what dozens of years playing rugby with tanks does to you.
 
Freefaller said:
As I'm sure you know weight tracking doesn't give the whole picture - but it can give you an indication.

I personally use some workout tracking aps which sync to google fit - I then often enter my details into there so I can get yearly/monthly trends.


That's what my "smart" scales tell me, apparently my bodyfat is 27%... which it isn't and my muscle mass is 38%... which it isn't! So just be wary of those numbers.

I think if you use that with tracking apps for workouts like I do (yes you have to pay for them) then they can link everything together.

Plus you get nice charts like this:

Click to expand...

Ha, yeah, I only like the extra metrics due to my nerdy data analyst brain. It also bugs me that when my scales only record the weight and then the app tells me its only recording the weight and to try again.

In terms of progress tracking, I don't only use weight as an indication, I know how important the mirror and other metrics are. however I'm pretty sure these current scales are at the end of their useful life and I would rather a more consistent set. Also I seem to have a very tight tolerance on calories before going from losing weight to gaining weight and a more accurate set of scales would help reduce some variance noise that isn't needed.

I plan to make a little more of a detailed post in here soonish when I've reached a milestone I'm happy with, or in the gym rats thread.

In terms of tracking apps, I've really not found one that I like the process of using, I guess there's nothing quite like the pen and note pad for me...although this is something I am exploring, I don't think I will ever pay for one when I know I could just spend some time building a google sheet which I can update from my phone anyway.
 
AndyCr15 said:
That's nice to read. I'm glad this thread helps :)
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We're all on different stages of our journeys and ultimately there are many roads to take us to where we want to go. It's just nice to see what is achievable, even if I or others may seem to be ahead we're all doing our bits to improve our lives and this thread is a great way of sharing ideas, supporting one another etc.
 
I was hoping to hold off any kind of write up until I was further in to my journey but I'm seeking advise now so I guess more info will help.

Diet dilemma, I'm up to 12.5 weeks in now and the weight/fat is still dropping, however I'm starting to feel the build up of diet fatigue. I've seen advice that 12 weeks is a good first phase and that I should be looking to switch to a maintenance phase before recommencing another fat loss phase.

Some stats:

  • Height: 5'7"
  • Start weight: 171lb / 77.9kg / 12st 3.7lb
  • BMR: 1650
  • Activity adjusted Maintenance cals: 2250-2350
  • Average Calories: 1850 (400-500 daily deficit)
  • Start date: 13th December 21
  • Current weight: 159lb / 72.15kg / 11st 5lb
  • Target weight: 145lb / 65.77kg / 10st 5lb (this goal is to allow for a 2-3% rebound to my actual desired weight once i get back to maintenance)


I started the diet out and also started training again, I've been consistent and done 4 weight sessions per week since the start, except for 1 week where I got COVID in the last week of 2021. Since the 14th Jan I added in daily walking and actively aimed to up my daily step count, now hitting a minimum of 8k steps per day, so 8 weeks of my 12 have included this walking.

I have maintained a very stable calorie level and macro breakdown during this period averaging 1850 cals per day from the start. My calculated BMR is 1650 and accounting for activity my maintenance cals should be 2300, so I've been in a rough daily deficit of ~450cals. my concern about dropping cals further is I'm going to drop below my BMR which just doesn't seem logical to me?!

Depending on how i view it I'm about 30-40% of the way to my goal weight, before I wanted to start a maintenance / bulk phase again.

Im starting to feel a bit of a build up in what I believe is diet fatigue though, recovery from workouts is a little slower and while I'm feeling good, I'm not definitely not feeling fresh, hence this post.


So my options / questions are:
  • Should I actually see my diet as more like 8 weeks in then 12 weeks as prior to walking daily my maintenance level might have been a little high and my deficit smaller then I thought?
  • Drop cals further and push for a few more weeks, but still not hit my goal weight?
  • Shift to a maintenance phase of at least 6-8 weeks before going back on to a diet phase again?
  • Keep going at current calorie amounts, maybe have a re-feed day or two at maintenance to help combat the diet fatigue?
 
I'm guessing, losing weight isn't your only objective though or you would be doing cardio instead of lifting? So, I personally would probably stick at what you're doing. I would be worried about losing muscle mass if you go for a bigger deficit. As asked above, do you have the occasional day where you go a few more cals? I like to, maybe once a week, have a day where I see myself as filling up the tank again. I'm no expert though, just my thoughts :)
 
In terms of weight loss I was under the impression that lifting is actually a very good tool for it! You are correct, my goals are not just losing weight, but my focus at the start of my 2022 journey is to get rid of as much of the excess fat, and get down to a true baseline where i want to start from, before trying to actively gain.

I would much rather sit in the 150-155lb range then where i have been which is the 170-175lb range.
 
Yuk - barely cycled since September and back to 100kg. Last winter I didn't care about the weather, still cycled - this year I'm sure a fair weather cyclist. Going to mix it up with some living room weights, VR and Ring Fit :D.
 
Syla5 said:
I was under the impression that lifting is actually a very good tool for it!
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I think it's an interesting discussion, I would love to see a study on it if it's taken place. I think (as stated recently in this thread) the logic is bigger muscles take more calories to maintain, so you burn more day to day. Personally, it seems a rather roundabout way to do it. For purely losing weight, I can't believe an hour lifting is as beneficial as an hour on the indoor cycle trainer on an intense workout. Throw in the added fitness gains from cycling (or running) and it just seems to make sense to me. It's also great that, again personally, I can cycle for 4 or 5 hours and really enjoy it at the same time as burning up to 3,000 calories in a morning.

For the record, I lift too, once or twice a week, but for losing weight I think cardio is the faster way to go.
 
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