2012 Weight Loss Thread
- Thread starter ic1male
- Start date
Soldato
I was very lucky really, whilst I was / am overweight I never ate much sugar etc anyway and I was always within normal blood sugar levels.
Tbh I didn't really eat much more than I do now it was mainly down to booze and being a lazy git with a sedentary job / lifestyle made worse when I went self employed and my commute to work involved a walk across the landing.
Tbh I didn't really eat much more than I do now it was mainly down to booze and being a lazy git with a sedentary job / lifestyle made worse when I went self employed and my commute to work involved a walk across the landing.
Associate
Would appreciate some advice from you guys here on diet really. Have been a couple of stone overweight for a few years and did nothing for a couple of months after football season ended, decided to lose weight and get in shape for the new season. Have started ok, was 92kg (i'm 5' 11") about six weeks ago, currently down to 83.5kg. Goal weight is probably 75-76kg.
I've been running 3/4 times a week 5K each time, just started pre season training and had first preseaon friendly last night and was pretty happy with my fitness (played for 60mins without problems and was still feeling pretty good towards the end). I have noticed a reduction in my beer belly but I still have a bit to go and want to lose a fair bit more from my thighs and backside.
I struggle a bit with my diet, I love bread (warburtons especially) but realise its pretty terrible for me, I have stopped eating it during the week and only have the seeded batch variety for my lunch on the weekend. I also tend to have a friday or saturday night out and would have a few pints or a bottle of red wine as well as a meal out, but that's not something I want to stop doing anyway and I see one night a week as ok, I used to have a couple of beers on a night after work but have cut that out.
My diet mon-fri tends to be:
Breakfast:
Porridge with skimmed milk
Blackberry & Vanilla Yoghurt
Orange Juice
Coffee with skimmed milk.
Lunch: (in the abscence of bread this is a struggle for me to find options as I am a slightly fussy eater - I sometimes have a jacket with beans from work canteen)
Baby Leaf Salad with slices of chorizo and light salad cream
Dinner:
Chicken/Turkey in breadcrumbs or similar
Jacket potato/sweet potato mash
Broccolli, Carrots, Fine Beans
I would also have a few cups of coffee (with semi skimmed as that's all they have at work) during the day and a couple of kiwi fruit. I have been trying to drink at least 2L of water a day, outside of that I drink a fair bit of diet coke.
On a weekend it will be something similar for breakfast, but I would have a couple of grilled cheese & ham sandwiches/beans on toast similar for my lunch and go to my mums for a roast on one of the nights.
I am reasonably happy with my progress, however, I use MFP to track my calorie intake, but on the days where I do my cardio it seems to suggest I am not taking in enough calories and that may slow down my metabolism. I come in at about 1500-1600 before cardio.
I don't really want to increase my late night intake as I eat about 7:30 as I have a 50mile commute. Would say eating a cereal bar or two during the day help? Is there something healthy I can add to my lunch (that doesn't require preparation?). Would I be loading up too much in the morning if I had scrambled eggs as well as porridge? I have a feeling I should be at about 1800 calories but not sure where to add the extra 300ish
I've been running 3/4 times a week 5K each time, just started pre season training and had first preseaon friendly last night and was pretty happy with my fitness (played for 60mins without problems and was still feeling pretty good towards the end). I have noticed a reduction in my beer belly but I still have a bit to go and want to lose a fair bit more from my thighs and backside.
I struggle a bit with my diet, I love bread (warburtons especially) but realise its pretty terrible for me, I have stopped eating it during the week and only have the seeded batch variety for my lunch on the weekend. I also tend to have a friday or saturday night out and would have a few pints or a bottle of red wine as well as a meal out, but that's not something I want to stop doing anyway and I see one night a week as ok, I used to have a couple of beers on a night after work but have cut that out.
My diet mon-fri tends to be:
Breakfast:
Porridge with skimmed milk
Blackberry & Vanilla Yoghurt
Orange Juice
Coffee with skimmed milk.
Lunch: (in the abscence of bread this is a struggle for me to find options as I am a slightly fussy eater - I sometimes have a jacket with beans from work canteen)
Baby Leaf Salad with slices of chorizo and light salad cream
Dinner:
Chicken/Turkey in breadcrumbs or similar
Jacket potato/sweet potato mash
Broccolli, Carrots, Fine Beans
I would also have a few cups of coffee (with semi skimmed as that's all they have at work) during the day and a couple of kiwi fruit. I have been trying to drink at least 2L of water a day, outside of that I drink a fair bit of diet coke.
On a weekend it will be something similar for breakfast, but I would have a couple of grilled cheese & ham sandwiches/beans on toast similar for my lunch and go to my mums for a roast on one of the nights.
I am reasonably happy with my progress, however, I use MFP to track my calorie intake, but on the days where I do my cardio it seems to suggest I am not taking in enough calories and that may slow down my metabolism. I come in at about 1500-1600 before cardio.
I don't really want to increase my late night intake as I eat about 7:30 as I have a 50mile commute. Would say eating a cereal bar or two during the day help? Is there something healthy I can add to my lunch (that doesn't require preparation?). Would I be loading up too much in the morning if I had scrambled eggs as well as porridge? I have a feeling I should be at about 1800 calories but not sure where to add the extra 300ish
Soldato
A slow down of metabolism will happen (if at all) over a much longer period of time than 1 day so I wouldn't personally worry about it. Mine personally sometimes shows a negative for the day because my cardio totally wipes out the calories than I manage to eat in a day.
From the quick skim of your diet the first thing I would say is ditch the diet coke.
If you can try and squeeze some mackerel in there (excellent in a salad). Its rammed with calories and fats but for the most part they are all good
From the quick skim of your diet the first thing I would say is ditch the diet coke.
If you can try and squeeze some mackerel in there (excellent in a salad). Its rammed with calories and fats but for the most part they are all good
Last edited:
Soldato
I know the feeling.
I'm 5"11 & down to 13st 5 pounds, started out at 15.5 - at the time I thought, "Ahh, 13.5 will be enough" - wrong, I under-estimated how much I had to lose to get rid of my gut.
I'm pretty broad & I've been doing weight training for the last good few months - I think I'll have to hit 12stone to get rid of this gut totally.
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Jan 2006
- Posts
- 4,611
I started the process without the word "diet" in my head, what I needed was a lifestyle change so I've not considered myself to be on a diet this whole time. I started to eat like a "normal person" does, no normal person was chomping through his home cooked meals then going out to get pizza and chips/cheese washed down with 2 litres of fizz from the local fast food! So to that extent I don't consider what I'm doing as a diet. As such I act like a "normal person" at the weekend where I will eat chips, pizza, chocolate, drink fizz and alcohol - without this I don't think I could be so strict on myself during the week.
I started adding exercise earlier this year as things started to plateau a little, I'm now down to 15st exactly at 6ft 4 and losing about 1lb a week so things are still going well!
8st lost in total now
Last edited:
Associate
Down from about 17stone to 15'10 in the last 2 weeks or so. Not really on a diet per say, just been exercising more and cutting right back on dairy and bread/pasta/rice.
Need to get down to about 13 at least if not 12.
Need to get down to about 13 at least if not 12.
Soldato
Yeah I'm targeting around 12 and a half stone and hopefully that should take my body fat percentage down low enough that I'm happy.
Soldato
I'm 5'11 and down from 93kg to 74kg (just over 11 and a half stone) and sadly still have some belly fat to lose. I've lost a lot pretty much all of the offensive fat on my arms, legs, face, etc but the belly fat seems to be clinging on!
I'm taking a different approach and working on building muscle in addition to doing cardio and that is helping as there is now visible muscle under the flabby coating but I think it'll be a few months before it's truly gone.
Will post some photos soonish of before and after for the strong of stomach!
I'm taking a different approach and working on building muscle in addition to doing cardio and that is helping as there is now visible muscle under the flabby coating but I think it'll be a few months before it's truly gone.
Will post some photos soonish of before and after for the strong of stomach!
Soldato
I'm 15st dead. 14lb lost so far, another 23lb to go... or like you guys have said above, that will take me to 13st5 but no doubt I will still have a gut then as well, so on wards we go!
A stone is a nice mini target hit to keep me on track.
A stone is a nice mini target hit to keep me on track.
Soldato
Yeah, but it's a gut which isn't as noticeable, so a good target
.12 & a half stone seems a good target for around the 5"11/6" mark - but much better to take it slow with weights/exercise & a healthy diet - no stupid fad diets in which people expect to lose 5 pound a week
Soldato
As promised, some progress comparisons (from December until today). Excuse the chopped nature of the first ones, they're taken from photos from a mole mapping I had done as I didn't get my backside into gear and taken photos at the time.
Still working on building up more muscle and shedding another kilo or two of fat but surprised myself a little with the difference
Still working on building up more muscle and shedding another kilo or two of fat but surprised myself a little with the difference
Soldato
That's fantastic progress Ricky! What's your routine been like? Sorry if you're repeating!
Soldato
No worries repeating it, will keep it short but just shout if you want more detail. I started all changes in early November, weighed in at 93-94kg (I was about 90kg in the first progress photos above).
Diet changes were the simplest, I cut out all the really bad stuff (pork scratchings, crisps, pies, most sweets, etc), I reduced my portion size to sensible amounts which meant I felt hungry for about a week or two but that passed and I still ate well. I didn't count calories as I felt the time was better spent exercising and I knew what was good/bad food. I made a point of eating more veg and drank a lot of water and tea, both of these fill you up so you have less room for stuff that's more calorie-laden.
In terms of exercise:
November - 45-60 minutes every day (including weekends), this was mostly cross-training with some cycling, I did some dumbbell curls but that was a waste and I wouldn't bother doing that if I had to do this again since a proper weight routine works better (see later notes)
December - 45-60 minutes every day, again mostly cross-training with a bit more cycling and running on a treadmill for 5-10 minutes.
January - 45-60 minutes every day, 10-15 minutes on the treadmill first and the rest cross-training and cycling.
February - 45-60 minutes every other day doing cardio in the gym, started running outside on the other days, initially doing only 1-2km, working up to about 5km.
March - Decided in a moment of madness to run a half marathon in June so changed my routine to 5km run on Tuesday, quicker 5km run on Thursday and a slower 6-7km run on Sunday. Increased distance slowly each week. I went to the gym for light cardio on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, mostly doing cycling and started doing some push-ups and trying chin-ups (pull-ups not possible!)
April-May - Same routine as above, increased distances until I was running about 30km per week and also managed to do 10+ chin-ups at a time and a few pull-ups (but not in any elegant way).
June - Ran half marathon in 1:54, very pleased! Took a week off to let my body recover, my feet in particular were quite unhappy. Decided to start Stronglifts 5x5 program on Mon/Wed/Fri and do cardio at gym on Tues/Thurs/Sat.
July - Same as above, I'm doing some short (5km) runs on the cardio days as well as some cycling/rowing (machine) and working through Stronglifts still
Things that have helped me:
Using tracking tools for my weight in the first 4-5 months really helped, when you're fat it's hard to see a difference as you still don't like your appearance even if it's better than it was when you were even fatter. I set minor goals, working on losing 2kg at a time.
Listening to audiobooks when exercising, I found this much more interesting than listening to music and on long runs it makes the time fly by.
Set a routine and stick to it, the first few weeks I knew I would have excuse after excuse lined up so I set reminders on my phone ('Get to the gym you fat git') and told my missus she had permission to nag me until I left the house.
Running has been the key thing for me as I have gone from hating it to loving it, I enjoyed every minute of the half marathon and I love getting out in the fresh air and not thinking about work or any other issues, for me it is a chance to unwind.
It's hard for me to overstate just how much better I feel and the difference it's made to my happiness. I set out to make sustainable changes, to lose weight but more importantly to get healthy and for me it was exercise that drove the process. Don't get me wrong, if you eat badly then exercise won't lose you weight but it was exercise that made me more determined to eat well whereas eating well didn't make me determined to exercise.
Anyway, there's a lot of ramble above but short version - make a sensible long term plan and ensure you stick to it. If you can't see yourself still doing it in 3/6 months then you'll be back where you started in 12 months.
Soldato
Really frustrating week for me so far, currently +2 lbs on last Saturday morning, that's after upping the exercise and achieving 22 miles of running, walking and biking since Sunday last week. And that's with calorie counting on 1700 a day.
But I have dropped 35 lbs since 16th April this year so I cant be too down.
But I have dropped 35 lbs since 16th April this year so I cant be too down.
Soldato
I know some recommend against it but this is why I weighed myself each day, you soon realise your weight can fluctuate by 1-2lbs day to day and by weighing each day you avoid nasty surprises at the end of what you thought was a good week.
I think my biggest variation was about 3lbs from one day to the next and I'd done nothing different but I guess I was dehydrated one day and full of water (or a huge poo!) the next. As long as the trend is down then you know you're on the right track
On a side note, I weighed myself before and after a 20km run a while ago (when it was warmer) and had lost 2kg (4lbs) in sweat so water can be a big difference!
Soldato
I know some recommend against it but this is why I weighed myself each day, you soon realise your weight can fluctuate by 1-2lbs day to day and by weighing each day you avoid nasty surprises at the end of what you thought was a good week.
I think my biggest variation was about 3lbs from one day to the next and I'd done nothing different but I guess I was dehydrated one day and full of water (or a huge poo!) the next. As long as the trend is down then you know you're on the right track
On a side note, I weighed myself before and after a 20km run a while ago (when it was warmer) and had lost 2kg (4lbs) in sweat so water can be a big difference!
Same here, I weigh daily for exactly the same reasons. Water levels can make a massive difference. I also weigh more when its hot for some reason.
Soldato
Well I do tend to weigh each day so I can see what food has been bad for me but to make things worse I was down 3lbs around Wednesday, fast forward a few days, just weighed in and have stayed the same.
Just feels so wrong, I am eating between 1500-1700 cal a day when the advice is 2500. 2500 a day should give me a 2lb loss a week, 1700 should give me 3lbs. I am not eating any extra food on the days I run or go to the gym so it should be falling off.
Just feels so wrong, I am eating between 1500-1700 cal a day when the advice is 2500. 2500 a day should give me a 2lb loss a week, 1700 should give me 3lbs. I am not eating any extra food on the days I run or go to the gym so it should be falling off.
Soldato
Got down to my target weight so lost 2 stone in all. Been on hols this week and put 4.5Lbs back on!! lol
Soldato
The numbers you quote are based on an 'average' person, if you haven't been exercising much before then your body may be used to ticking over with little activity and hence your metabolic rate might be lower. There's also natural variation from individual to individual and also factor in what you do when you aren't exercising, if you have an office/desk job then you'll be using less calories than that 'average' person.
Also, you're probably putting on muscle which weighs more than fat so that might be skewing things. Perhaps try measuring your waist/chest/arms and see if you get a difference there. As my BMI dropped below 25 I found that my weight loss slowed but my shape was still changing significantly. Dropping from 93kg to 80kg dropped me from 38" to 34" jeans, the drop from 80kg to 74kg has seen me fit into 30".
Most importantly, even if you have a week without weight loss, you are still healthier and fitter which from a well being point of view is just as important. The fitter you are, the more exercise you can do (or the more intense you can do it) so you can burn more calories, just keep positive, keep exercising and eating sensibly and it'll come together.
The photos I posted above are 7 months apart and in that time I have only had about 10-15 days without exercise so it can take time to reach your goal but that doesn't mean it's not worth it