Weight Loss (Problem)
- Thread starter MikGriff
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Soldato
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So not enough food / more protein / cardio (which im doing!) Is the basic gist?
If you're still getting hungry, eat a little bit more food, but remember that your ultimate goal is weight loss rather than gain
Well after getting on the scales just now, I'm slightly under 17 Stones, I feel awesome!
This week was a good week !
Good skills sir.
Was 19 1/2 stone at my heaviest. 17 1/2 ish now but the heaviest point was a couple of years ago and I've hit a lot of walls, given up and the weight's crept back on a few times.
Here's to not re-visiting old habits!
Soldato
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Remember, that as your weight drops and drops, you need to slightly decrease the calories in order to maintain that consistent weight loss 
either that or do a little bit more cardio each weak
either that or do a little bit more cardio each weak
Not sure it's been mentioned but if you're having hunger issues up your fat intake as this will keep you feeling full up for longer as it will slow the digestion of any protein that you've eaten it with, peanut butter, olive oil, fish oil are all good sources of this.
As for the above post this only needs to be followed as and when you plateau.
As for the above post this only needs to be followed as and when you plateau.
Soldato
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You need to eat more protein man, there's calculations online that work out how much you need based on your heigh, age, size etc which are pretty accurate.
Look at me for example, I am 6,4, currently 18 stone, was 24 stone, 15% body fat, I eat 350g of protein a day. the more protein you eat the better, protein = fat loss, its that simple. protein is the key.
Keep calories low, keep bad carbs low, eat only good carbs if you can, eat good fats, eat your vitamins everyday, eat your fruit and veg and plenty of pasta/rice and potatoes.
But I reckon you prob eat less then 100g of protein a day, and I bet you need atleast 250g.
Its hard to get all the protein you need without a protein shake, so therefore I'd say just buy a protein shake, buy "whey protein" shakes, they have less carbs/calories/sugar then the other kind.
Diet is a big part of losing weight, you have to eat right and sleep right otherwise going to the gym and exercising is pointless so sleep 7 hours a day and eat loads of protein and go to gym atleast 3 days or more every week without fail.
Look at me for example, I am 6,4, currently 18 stone, was 24 stone, 15% body fat, I eat 350g of protein a day. the more protein you eat the better, protein = fat loss, its that simple. protein is the key.
Keep calories low, keep bad carbs low, eat only good carbs if you can, eat good fats, eat your vitamins everyday, eat your fruit and veg and plenty of pasta/rice and potatoes.
But I reckon you prob eat less then 100g of protein a day, and I bet you need atleast 250g.
Its hard to get all the protein you need without a protein shake, so therefore I'd say just buy a protein shake, buy "whey protein" shakes, they have less carbs/calories/sugar then the other kind.
Diet is a big part of losing weight, you have to eat right and sleep right otherwise going to the gym and exercising is pointless so sleep 7 hours a day and eat loads of protein and go to gym atleast 3 days or more every week without fail.
Unless your doing an extremely intensive routine then 1g per lb is perfectly acceptable for most people, eat high protein and high fat meals together and in big portions, not smaller more often. Try and have 3 meals a day that cover all of your calories, protein and fats. Carbs are best from low gi foods or even better lots of fruit and veg.
Even by doing this, if your body is still hungry then feed it, just keep between the rules above.
Even by doing this, if your body is still hungry then feed it, just keep between the rules above.
Quick Update!
Bought a bike on Monday, so have been using that instead of the Cross-Trainer (Which bores me right now tbh!) Did 8.25 Miles today on the route I recorded (Cardio Trainer - on my HTC Desire) Which burned 555 Calories, My arse is a little sore atm but I'm sure I'll cope
And as for the weight, 16½ Stones. Chuffed
Bought a bike on Monday, so have been using that instead of the Cross-Trainer (Which bores me right now tbh!) Did 8.25 Miles today on the route I recorded (Cardio Trainer - on my HTC Desire) Which burned 555 Calories, My arse is a little sore atm but I'm sure I'll cope
And as for the weight, 16½ Stones. Chuffed
Hi Mike,
As you have seen from your experiences, the human body is a wonderful thing and it has taken your initial diet and 'tuned' itself to enable you to perform your exercise on those calories. Hence you hit a wall.
As you can also see, there is lots of information out there about other things you can do to get over that wall. Some of the information is conflicting but here's the thing... not everyone is the same and so different things may work better for different people.
Now, with that said, as you have seen, changing from the cross trainer to a bike is starting to show results again. Then body is tuned for the work required in the movement of the cross trainer and you have now thrown a different requirement in there so it needs to re-tune again, hence weight loss until it can do this. To keep the body guessing you could throw another exercise like rowing, jogging or hill walking in there to help delay the speed the body can adapt at. Varying the timing of your exercise can also help some people.
For the diet, if you don't really like red meats or fish, you could try turkey which is fantastic and doesn't have to be dry and flakey like left over Christmas dinner, cottage cheese is very good as is bean curd (tofu). Get some eggs in there if you like them, quick and easy to cook, nutritious and can be had with or without the yoke. Don't forget the veg whether it is snacking on salads or frozen veg with an evening meal. Seeing as you are eating under your bodies requirement, you may want to look in to having an all in one vitamin tablet to supplement what you are getting from food. Without the right vitamins etc your body cannot function as well as it could for exercise or just living. Remember to keep the water intake up. Lay off the beers etc as there are plenty of calories in there. The only other supplement I would personally recommend if you with to boost your protein intake would be whey powder but it should be used only as a supplement and not as a meal replacement. There are low carb versions so look for one of these if you wish to use it, you may find it advantageous to considering your dislike of red meat and fish. Also have a look at fish oil capsules as these have multiple advantages including joint lubrication and skin health. If you don't like fishy burps then eat with other food or freeze them (little time I received from others on this forum).
Less calories in than used = weight loss regardless of if they are made up of protein, carbs or fat. High protein and low carbs is good generally along with good fats but if you had enough protein to push your calorie intake over your bodies usage you would start to gain weight.
Last thing. Don't get too hung-up on weight as this really is not such a good measurement due to a number of factors including new muscle growth along with fat loss maybe showing no weight change. Body fat percentage is a much better indicator. I would imaging you can get checked by the doctor, get an assessment from a local gym trying to sell you a membership or buy some calipers and read up on using them to measure yourself. Alternatively you could just use one of the formulas on the 'net which try to work it out based on size, age etc. These are really just as a very rough guide but can be of use starting out.
Ok, I lied, very last thing, congrats on your weight loss and on now moving beyond the wall to the next stage.
Keep us all updated.
RB
As you have seen from your experiences, the human body is a wonderful thing and it has taken your initial diet and 'tuned' itself to enable you to perform your exercise on those calories. Hence you hit a wall.
As you can also see, there is lots of information out there about other things you can do to get over that wall. Some of the information is conflicting but here's the thing... not everyone is the same and so different things may work better for different people.
Now, with that said
, as you have seen, changing from the cross trainer to a bike is starting to show results again. Then body is tuned for the work required in the movement of the cross trainer and you have now thrown a different requirement in there so it needs to re-tune again, hence weight loss until it can do this. To keep the body guessing you could throw another exercise like rowing, jogging or hill walking in there to help delay the speed the body can adapt at. Varying the timing of your exercise can also help some people.For the diet, if you don't really like red meats or fish, you could try turkey which is fantastic and doesn't have to be dry and flakey like left over Christmas dinner, cottage cheese is very good as is bean curd (tofu). Get some eggs in there if you like them, quick and easy to cook, nutritious and can be had with or without the yoke. Don't forget the veg whether it is snacking on salads or frozen veg with an evening meal. Seeing as you are eating under your bodies requirement, you may want to look in to having an all in one vitamin tablet to supplement what you are getting from food. Without the right vitamins etc your body cannot function as well as it could for exercise or just living. Remember to keep the water intake up. Lay off the beers etc as there are plenty of calories in there. The only other supplement I would personally recommend if you with to boost your protein intake would be whey powder but it should be used only as a supplement and not as a meal replacement. There are low carb versions so look for one of these if you wish to use it, you may find it advantageous to considering your dislike of red meat and fish. Also have a look at fish oil capsules as these have multiple advantages including joint lubrication and skin health. If you don't like fishy burps then eat with other food or freeze them (little time I received from others on this forum).
Less calories in than used = weight loss regardless of if they are made up of protein, carbs or fat. High protein and low carbs is good generally along with good fats but if you had enough protein to push your calorie intake over your bodies usage you would start to gain weight.
Last thing
. Don't get too hung-up on weight as this really is not such a good measurement due to a number of factors including new muscle growth along with fat loss maybe showing no weight change. Body fat percentage is a much better indicator. I would imaging you can get checked by the doctor, get an assessment from a local gym trying to sell you a membership or buy some calipers and read up on using them to measure yourself. Alternatively you could just use one of the formulas on the 'net which try to work it out based on size, age etc. These are really just as a very rough guide but can be of use starting out.Ok, I lied, very last thing, congrats on your weight loss and on now moving beyond the wall to the next stage.
Keep us all updated
.RB
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It's not just about calories, it's about what type of calories. Carbs are the body's #1 source of energy, if you deplete it of that, it goes for source #2 which is fat.
Hi FF,
Yeah sure but trying to keep it on the 'protein = fat loss' level level of simplicity....
From what I understand, it generally takes 20-30 minutes of activity (constant exercise) for the body to switch to fat burning. What is used if the body runs out of glycogen and available carbs (low carb or Keto type diet) before the 20 - 30 minutes has been reached.
So does it also mean that you can eat as much protein as you want and not fail to loose weight if you are on a low carb diet and have fat stored ?. What about if you have a low body fat percentage or if you are oversupplying the volume of protein the body requires so it has a surplus.
Genuinely interested as it is an area I have not covered in detail for a while. A refresher never hurts.
RB
Yeah sure but trying to keep it on the 'protein = fat loss' level level of simplicity....
From what I understand, it generally takes 20-30 minutes of activity (constant exercise) for the body to switch to fat burning. What is used if the body runs out of glycogen and available carbs (low carb or Keto type diet) before the 20 - 30 minutes has been reached.
So does it also mean that you can eat as much protein as you want and not fail to loose weight if you are on a low carb diet and have fat stored ?. What about if you have a low body fat percentage or if you are oversupplying the volume of protein the body requires so it has a surplus.
Genuinely interested as it is an area I have not covered in detail for a while. A refresher never hurts
.RB
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Hi,
No clearly eating too much protein and too much fat will of course result in you putting on weight and/or fat.
Proteins can turn to glucose fairly easily as well.
As I said carbs are the #1 fuel for our bodies. Just by you moving around working, and generally being alive. Digesting/exercising and so on, your body needs to fuel your muscles and your brain and your organs. That's what generally people call minimum calories or RMR, basically what you need to keep your body ticking over.
Your body looks around for carbs stored as glycogen because the conversion process of carbs to energy is very very easy for the body to do (easier than converting fat and proteins to energy). SO there you have it, already, the body doesn't want to use the fat since the carbs are there happy to be used. Our bodies have designed to hold onto fat in case of famine, and lack of knowing when our next meal will present itself to us.... Bloody thing hasn't evolved yet.
Once the body has used the carbs (as you say the 20-30 mins usually), it has converted all the reamining glycogen in your muscles and your liver back into glucose and the body is on empty. Now it is forced to get it's energy from elsewhere so it turns to the fat cells. Hoorah!
Lipolysis (fat breakdown) and beta-oxidation occurs within the mitochondria. It's a cyclical process (citric acid cycle IIRC - don't quote me on that) where two carbons molecules are removed from the fatty acid every cycle into something called acetyl CoA, this oxidisation process carries through the Krebs cycle to produce ATP, CO2 , and water.
This hormonal response induces the fat cells to realease fatty acids and glycerol. These 2 compounds end up in the liver where they are turned into glucose our body's favourite energy source.
As we use up the glucose we start using more fat etc... The cycle continues. Clearly if you don't give your body enough carbs or fats to use it will start breaking down your muscles - however the old wives tale of your body using muscle first is wrong, if you eat well and not reliant on carbs this is what happens.
I can go into a more in depth explanation about metabolism in due course if it interests you - but I might do it in the main thread.
Does that help?
No clearly eating too much protein and too much fat will of course result in you putting on weight and/or fat.
Proteins can turn to glucose fairly easily as well.
As I said carbs are the #1 fuel for our bodies. Just by you moving around working, and generally being alive. Digesting/exercising and so on, your body needs to fuel your muscles and your brain and your organs. That's what generally people call minimum calories or RMR, basically what you need to keep your body ticking over.
Your body looks around for carbs stored as glycogen because the conversion process of carbs to energy is very very easy for the body to do (easier than converting fat and proteins to energy). SO there you have it, already, the body doesn't want to use the fat since the carbs are there happy to be used. Our bodies have designed to hold onto fat in case of famine, and lack of knowing when our next meal will present itself to us.... Bloody thing hasn't evolved yet.
Once the body has used the carbs (as you say the 20-30 mins usually), it has converted all the reamining glycogen in your muscles and your liver back into glucose and the body is on empty. Now it is forced to get it's energy from elsewhere so it turns to the fat cells. Hoorah!
Lipolysis (fat breakdown) and beta-oxidation occurs within the mitochondria. It's a cyclical process (citric acid cycle IIRC - don't quote me on that) where two carbons molecules are removed from the fatty acid every cycle into something called acetyl CoA, this oxidisation process carries through the Krebs cycle to produce ATP, CO2 , and water.
This hormonal response induces the fat cells to realease fatty acids and glycerol. These 2 compounds end up in the liver where they are turned into glucose our body's favourite energy source.
As we use up the glucose we start using more fat etc... The cycle continues. Clearly if you don't give your body enough carbs or fats to use it will start breaking down your muscles - however the old wives tale of your body using muscle first is wrong, if you eat well and not reliant on carbs this is what happens.
I can go into a more in depth explanation about metabolism in due course if it interests you - but I might do it in the main thread.
Does that help?
Hi,
No clearly eating too much protein and too much fat will of course result in you putting on weight and/or fat.
Proteins can turn to glucose fairly easily as well.
As I said carbs are the #1 fuel for our bodies. Just by you moving around working, and generally being alive. Digesting/exercising and so on, your body needs to fuel your muscles and your brain and your organs. That's what generally people call minimum calories or RMR, basically what you need to keep your body ticking over.
Your body looks around for carbs stored as glycogen because the conversion process of carbs to energy is very very easy for the body to do (easier than converting fat and proteins to energy). SO there you have it, already, the body doesn't want to use the fat since the carbs are there happy to be used. Our bodies have designed to hold onto fat in case of famine, and lack of knowing when our next meal will present itself to us.... Bloody thing hasn't evolved yet.
Once the body has used the carbs (as you say the 20-30 mins usually), it has converted all the reamining glycogen in your muscles and your liver back into glucose and the body is on empty. Now it is forced to get it's energy from elsewhere so it turns to the fat cells. Hoorah!
Lipolysis (fat breakdown) and beta-oxidation occurs within the mitochondria. It's a cyclical process (citric acid cycle IIRC - don't quote me on that) where two carbons molecules are removed from the fatty acid every cycle into something called acetyl CoA, this oxidisation process carries through the Krebs cycle to produce ATP, CO2 , and water.
This hormonal response induces the fat cells to realease fatty acids and glycerol. These 2 compounds end up in the liver where they are turned into glucose our body's favourite energy source.
As we use up the glucose we start using more fat etc... The cycle continues. Clearly if you don't give your body enough carbs or fats to use it will start breaking down your muscles - however the old wives tale of your body using muscle first is wrong, if you eat well and not reliant on carbs this is what happens.
I can go into a more in depth explanation about metabolism in due course if it interests you - but I might do it in the main thread.
Does that help?
That is useful to know. I'd like to her more about how the metabolism works. The more I understand the processes my body goes through, the easier I'll be able to adjust to a leaner lifestyle.