*** Big Fat Weight Loss Thread ***

Josh said:
I am hitting a big plateau and it's annoying me, hoping that if I write it down I can spot the issue.

May 2021 - 19st2
Today - 16st 5

Seems I've have been bouncing around there for about 8 weeks now, was steady loss until then now it's either down to 16st2.4 or settled around 16st5. I've not lost any strength in the gym which is good but I'd like to be around 14.5/15 stone as a maintained weight.

I've changed from bro split at the gym with 18/6 fasting (gym at 6am, first meal at 1pm) but I'm in dire need of food by that point, was good to start with but then I liked having a recovery shake post workout so I'm now doing a PPL with no fasting. I'm no great with food and have MFP set to 2lb deficit so I get around 1820cals per day.

Might shock my system by doing PPL with an 18/6 fast for a couple of weeks, I don't lift heavy heavy like some of you chaps or generally go for 1PM training but I can see muscle mass which is nice and I can shift some good weight I think, I don't want to lose that but have this arbitrary 14.7st figure in my head so...

Yeah.
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As already suggested by others and what I'm actually doing myself now.

Try a diet break or eating maintenance calories for a week or two. Add some walking to your daily routine or some cardio to beginning or end of your weight training session.

I'll let you know at the end of March if it worked. Currently not weighing or measuring myself.

As for fasted training. There's newer research that suggests there's no real long term benefit versus fed training. It's more of a case of if it suits your schedule then either is fine.
 
Cheers @tom_e & @barmyllama sound advice, I'll try anything to see how I fair, eliminated dairy last year which sorted out some internal health issues so now it's onto my physical health.

@AndyCr15 I don't avoid cardio as such, but I get limited time in the gym before work so I focus on weights more, will start to throw in some walks at lunchtime during the week - I usually walk about 8km on a Saturday golfing but if I don't get any other cardio I kid myself that that will be enough!

@Martynt74 - haven't heard of doing that before, I like the sound of it! Food for sure needs to be looked at - I'll track everything for a few weeks and see how I fair and if that doesn't get my into the 15s I'll try a reset week, defo need to up my protein though.
 
Good for you Josh. Dairy is not overly good for you. Not particularly bad, but humans are better off without it.

Don't worry too much about long bouts of steady state cardio, high intensity cardio is actually far more effective but far more difficult. It can either be HIT or HIIT 2 slightly different approaches to it. I'd look into that as a way of mixing it up. Depending on your diet high intensity training can actually prioritise adipose tissue for energy whilst minimising catabolic effects that cardio necessarily brings.
 
This popped up on my youtube last night - nice to see multiple opinions in a single video and a host who can let the guests talk and put their points across, no clickbait nonsense.

Not taking it all as gospel but always good to get more sources of information in the battle for fat loss.

 
I used to watch quite a lot of Jeff's videos as I like the way he usually includes scientific evidence or studies in what he talk about.

A good video, but at the same time, nothing particularly ground breaking/surprising, I wouldn't say?
 
AndyCr15 said:
I used to watch quite a lot of Jeff's videos as I like the way he usually includes scientific evidence or studies in what he talk about.

A good video, but at the same time, nothing particularly ground breaking/surprising, I wouldn't say?
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Certainly agree, It's mostly nothing new but for some people who are starting out, could be helpful. It cuts through all the crap you get in most clickbait stuff in youtube which is why I posted it. Also new to his content but he got an instant sub from me.
 
I recently started watching Jeff's channel. I also like that he includes the actual scientific studies and data behind the points he makes. He also doesn't seem to push his own agenda or opinions too much and will say, if it works for you then that's fine. Even if the science says it probably doesn't.
 
barmyllama said:
I recently started watching Jeff's channel. I also like that he includes the actual scientific studies and data behind the points he makes. He also doesn't seem to push his own agenda or opinions too much and will say, if it works for you then that's fine. Even if the science says it probably doesn't.
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I watched a few more of his videos last night, quite a refreshing content creator. I'm a bit burnt out on repetitive Athlean-X 'something is killing your gains' videos ;)
 
Which fads are popular these days? Gained about a stone during the lockdowns and then kept it from going further up for about a year during the last year or so, keen to lose this stone and go back to maintaining. If I could do some diet for 3 months, lose this and go back to my normal maintaining eating that'd be cool.
 
AndyCr15 said:
You're specifically after a fad?!

My suggestion, the good old fashioned 'move more, eat less'... :)
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I've tried different fads on various occasions, they work in the short term, which is what I need as I'll be off it as soon as I lose a stone. Good old fashioned stuff works too, just a bit boring. I want something fancy and exciting to keep myself interested and stick to it for a couple of months, haha.
 
HACO said:
I've tried different fads on various occasions, they work in the short term, which is what I need as I'll be off it as soon as I lose a stone. Good old fashioned stuff works too, just a bit boring. I want something fancy and exciting to keep myself interested and stick to it for a couple of months, haha.
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3 months isn't really short term, and approaching weight loss with the aim of a fad in mind isn't setting you out on the right foot to start.

Consider that you've gained the weight during lockdown, the likely cause of this is not solely food related, activity probably dropped and so this might not just be a case of diet then go back to maintenance, if you don't adjust other lifestyle changes that have happened for you to increase the weight in the first place.

The biggest and simplest things you can do for yourself is determine what your calorie requirements are and then track your calorie intake honestly, so that you can see where you are at. To lose weight be below your calorie requirement, either by decreasing calories in, or increasing activity levels.
 
Syla5 said:
3 months isn't really short term, and approaching weight loss with the aim of a fad in mind isn't setting you out on the right foot to start.

Consider that you've gained the weight during lockdown, the likely cause of this is not solely food related, activity probably dropped and so this might not just be a case of diet then go back to maintenance, if you don't adjust other lifestyle changes that have happened for you to increase the weight in the first place.

The biggest and simplest things you can do for yourself is determine what your calorie requirements are and then track your calorie intake honestly, so that you can see where you are at. To lose weight be below your calorie requirement, either by decreasing calories in, or increasing activity levels.
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You see the right foot never works for me. I'd rather do something extreme for a while than something reasonable for longer.
 
HACO said:
You see the right foot never works for me. I'd rather do something extreme for a while than something reasonable for longer.
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Do you have a history of gaining and dumping weight then? Or is this the first time you've gained unwanted weight and want to ditch it. Long term study's have proven time and again fad diets work initially to get the weight off but the rebound rates are so high its almost pointless unless you want to enter in to an unending cycle of gain a stone lose a stone.
 
Syla5 said:
Do you have a history of gaining and dumping weight then? Or is this the first time you've gained unwanted weight and want to ditch it. Long term study's have proven time and again fad diets work initially to get the weight off but the rebound rates are so high its almost pointless unless you want to enter in to an unending cycle of gain a stone lose a stone.
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This is the third time in the last 20 years. The other two times I did some diets that were in fashion and I lost what I needed within a couple of months and maintained for years (until the next major gain years later), so no issues with rebound. Happy to do them again but was thinking maybe there's something more exciting this time around.
 
Fads basically just put you in a calorie deficit without you realising thats exactly what they are doing. Maybe try intermittent fasting, it makes skipping a whole meal a day quite easy.
 
Syla5 said:
Fads basically just put you in a calorie deficit without you realising thats exactly what they are doing. Maybe try intermittent fasting, it makes skipping a whole meal a day quite easy.
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That's exactly what I want from a fad diet, to put me in a deficit without me even knowing, even adding some excitement to it as I'd be experimenting with new food.
 
They dont teach you about control or whats important/key to fatloss, and if you dont track, even then you can fail. Anyway, IF just gets you on to an eating routine which helps you more easily skip the occasional meal rather than dictate what you eat.
 
Syla5 said:
They dont teach you about control or whats important/key to fatloss, and if you dont track, even then you can fail. Anyway, IF just gets you on to an eating routine which helps you more easily skip the occasional meal rather than dictate what you eat.
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I don't need them to teach me about control though, I know how to maintain (with the occasional slip-up every few years). I just need it to reset me back to my normal weight, and I can take it from there :p

Thanks for the replies.
 
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