A Question Regarding Weight Loss

Ian

Ian

Ian

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Is it possible for someone who should be consuming around 4300 calories a day (according to Gordys thread) to actually lose weight when they have only been eating 1500 or so for at least the last 7 months?

Or is it a case of your body being so used to not getting enough food for about 5 years that it is hanging onto every last bit of fat it can?
 
i would just double the calories for while and see how you get on,it depends on how much energy you are expending in your excercises,everyone is different so you will have to find your own happy medium,personally i think a lot of ppl that are new to training eat way too many calories+protein ,tbh that much of a jump in food intake would probably leave you bloated and make you not feel like training at all unless you intend to do it all with weight gain drinks, i think its better to have a small loss in intake to avoid laying fat on thro overeating,if your body needs more food you will know, in my experience muscle is easier to build than fat is to get rid of.
 
Doubling it was my latest theory. However ive been a bit reluctant due to possibly putting on even more weight.

Up till a few weeks ago i had only really been walking. Then started doing 30-40 miles on the mountain bike and a few hours of badminton a week. But havent really seen any loss from that either

Considering how much im actually eating under my daily requirements, wasnt sure if the extra cardio was making things worse?
 
Five small.

Although i only started the 5 small thing a couple of months ago, prior to that it was the usual breakfast/lunch/dinner.

I also drink nothing but water :)
 
what are your aims? to put size on what you are doing is no good tbh ,you want to do basic compound execises to build muscle ,30/40 miles on a bike and a few hrs of badminton would make anyone thin i would think :p ,you should be able to roughly work out how many calories you are burning doing those sports ,i.e if biking burns 350cal per hr you need that just to do the excercise ,thats without calories needed for recovery ,badmington 270 to 450 cal ,so if you bike twice a week and badmington twice aweek thats roughly 1500 cal needed just to do the excercise in the first place without the standard calories needed just for a normal day,if not enough calories are taken in then you will lose weight as your body uses muscle for fuel when it runs out of fat, ive not read gordys sticky but it should contain all the info you need.
 
at this stage, all i want to do is lose weight. im around 22 stone and really want to shift it.

have never been much of an eater, hence the 1500 calorie thing. but considering thats all ive been eating for at least the last 7 months i dont really understand why virtually none of it has shifted.
 
I'm finding it hard to believe that you can be 22 stone, eating 1500cals a day for the last 7 month. Before anyone says "his body is in starvation mode so it doesn't use as much" there is a limit to how much the body can reserve when it is being staved. If it has been starved for 7 months it has to start burning off something.. whether it be fat or muscle.
 
Simple fact is, what exactly would i gain by making any of this up? The whole point of this thread is to attempt to get to the bottom of what is going on. Lieing about it wouldnt help me in the slighest.

OK, basic list of what ive roughly eaten over the last seven months:

8am) couple of crumpets with a bit of flora - 250 cals ish

11am) wholemeal salad pitta with either tuna/mackeral/chicken/turkey - 250/300 cals

2pm) another pitta - 250/300 cals

5pm) 10 seafood sticks - 160 cals

8pm) lean mince bolognese or chicken with pasta and sauce etc. somewhere in the region of 300-400.

A bit different at weekends since its harder to stick to the 5 meal thing. but its usually the same combination. Obviously that isnt what ive eaten everyday for the last 7 months, but ive tried to stick to 300 cals or less for each meal.

The seafood sticks were an addition when i started the five meal a day plan. Prior to this i would have had crumpets for breakfast, lunch at 2pm which was the two pittas combined and then the same dinner...only earlier.

For the last 5 years or so that hasnt really changed either tbh. just used to skip breakfast and not have lunch till 3/4pm. Lunch then was always a sandwich and whenever i bothered with breakfast, that was most likely a sarny aswell.

Have never eaten chocolate or anything sweet, since i simply cant stand it. Was a time when i had 5 cans of irn bru a week, but stopped that a few years ago.

Its taken a hell of a lot for me to post this thread. Seven months ago i would never have considered it. However at this stage I am at a complete loss as to what is going on and what i need to do to solve it.
 
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Im pretty sure that diet is over 1500 cals but I could be wrong... Try cutting down on the carbs. There is a lot of carbohydrate in your diet and certainly cut down on the carbs in the evening.

Here is a decent meal plan for a day:

Breakfast: Branflakes with skimmed milk and a banana
Snack: Handful of almonds
Snack 2: Apple
Lunch: Tuna sandwich on wholemeal bread with salad
Snack 3: low fat yoghurt
Dinner: Grilled chicken breast with steamed veggies

I have a thread here on weightloss that may help you. It is designed to help you lose bodyfat and put muscle on for beginner gymgoers. The diet is for someone who is working out a lot so do not follow it without the workouts or you will put weight on.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17580887

Good on you for posting and having the comitment to stick to a diet though mate, that's hardest part. And if you want any support, encouragement or advice feel free to give us a shout!
 
Ian said:
OK, basic list of what ive roughly eaten over the last seven months:

8am) couple of crumpets with a bit of flora - 250 cals ish

11am) wholemeal salad pitta with either tuna/mackeral/chicken/turkey - 250/300 cals

2pm) another pitta - 250/300 cals

5pm) 10 seafood sticks - 160 cals

8pm) lean mince bolognese or chicken with pasta and sauce etc. somewhere in the region of 300-400.
Click to expand...

Your diet is poor. How much do you weigh and how tall are you?
 
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The evening carb thing ive avoided basically by just having the lean mince and bolognese sauce. No pasta :)

around 6 ft tall and as already mentioned, 22 stone ish

Could all this really be caused by a few too many carbs during the day, which is basically just a couple of wholemeal pittas?

Calorie counts are based on the packet information btw :) However even if it isnt overly accurate, its nowhere near the 4300 i should be consuming. Surely that in itself should be enough to lose the weight?
 
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Normal recommended calories for a male is 2500. You go over this if you want to bulk up and below this if you want to lose body fat. Sure there are variations for different people but 4300 is a heck of a lot for a maintainance level.

I just did a bit of calculation and your diet is prolly circa 2000 calories so yeah, it should cause you to lose a couple of lbs a week.

Two bits of advice I can give.

1. Don't get disheartened. When I first started going to the gym and eating sensibly not a lot happened for 6 months. All of a sudden things started.

2. As I said before, you have done the hardest part of it all and that is to make the decision to do something about it and see it through.

Exercise and dieting is a funny thing. What works for one person may not work at all for another. Finding what works for you is the toughest bit. Carbs really are a killer if you don't exercise enough to burn them off.

Perhaps try 4 weeks on the diet and exercise plan I have detailed if you have access to a gym and see if that works. If nothing happens from that plan then we can look at things then.

Keep going at it mate, if you can manage 7 months then you can do 4 weeks.

Best of luck!
 
Thanks for all the replies so far btw :)

I was basing the 4300 on Gordys thread, and calculators such as:

http://www.medicdirect.co.uk/self_Exam/default.ihtml?step=5&cid=28

Although that one is a little different, even with activity set to the lowest (which im not) it suggests my daily intake should be around 3800.

I dont have access to a gym unfortunately. But have no problem doing the cardio (hence the cycling and badminton)

Carbs could be my problem food, since over the years every meal has either been a sandwich or something with pasta/rice/spaghetti.

At this point ill do anything tbh, since i simply dont understand why im this size or why the smeg it wont shift.
 
Ian you could try some HIIT, it is a beast at getting rid of fat. Now seeing you are fairly heavy, how are your knees when you do running? HIIT basically involves jogging for 4 minutes as a warm up then doing a 30 second high intensity run followed by a couple of minutes of light jogging then repeating the run again. It's a very successful way of getting rid of fat without muscle loss.
 
Yep I think you're probably underestimating you daily calorie intake somewhere along the line.

But even so at 6 foot and 22 stone, assuming you do any exercise at all during the day, and your calorie intake isn’t massively underestimated it seems strange not to lose any weight for 7 months.

I’d be tempted to say go to a doctor and get checked out.
 
That is honestly all i eat. There arent any secret midnight feasts or crisp/chocolate/biscuit snacks during the day. Dont drink tea or coffee so dont have any extra sugar either.

Ive been to the doctor. Went for a couple of blood tests to check for diabetes etc, but the best that idiot could come up with was exercise more. Prat. Have also been trying to get a dietician appointment with them since April, bit it isnt going well. They appear to have lost me in the system somewhere :)

HIIT i looked at a couple of weeks ago. Found a site that suggested it could also be done through cycling, but just increase the duration of the sprints since it is easier than running. Only times I run around is at badminton, and dont have any knee issues with that however i realise its not the same as proper running :)

May change my cycling routine for a few weeks to dump the mileage and do some HIIT.

Or im just gonna stop eating altogether. **** it
 
forget a dietician on NHS, goto a gym and get a routine and diet plan worked out. the diet will complement the exersice plan that you will have.

as already mentioned, there is no 1 thing that will work for everyone (ok there is 1 thing, liposuction, but that doesnt count), not in diet or in exercise. Its about finding what it best for you, and 7 months of no progress says what you are doing now is not right for you.

im sure you will find something that works tho, good luck :D
 
the heavier you are the more cals your body needs to maintain its weight, to say you are 22st and have been eating 1500 cals per day for 7 months sounds as if something is wrong somewhere.
 
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