*** Big Fat Weight Loss Thread ***

Bmi is a waste of space as a metric IMO.
*edit even more so if you pound the weights at the gym.
Body fat % much more relevant.
I'm skinny fat at 26% at the moment but down to 77kg.
Yet I'm just in the "normal" range at 25 BMI.
 
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Fuzz said:
Bmi is a waste of space as a metric IMO.
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BMI is a much better metric that its current reputation suggests. It is better suited as a population level measure than an individual one, but still - for most people - it's a good guide as to what is likely to be a healthy range for you. And, sure, if you're heavily muscled, it'll get it wrong but you know whether you're built like a tank or not.

Body fat % much more relevant.
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It is. But there's no good, easily available, way to measure it. Those scales that claim to measure it, for example, are off by between a 20-34% and can both over and under read, so you need equipment you only find in a laboratory to get decent measures of body fat and, equally importantly, where that fat is. BMI is a good enough measure for most people that you can track with measurements you have easy access to and is used because it is correlates pretty well with body fat whilst still being easy to measure. So long as you don't treat it as the be-all and end-all and overfixate on the somewhat arbitrary endpoints of the normal range, it does its job well enough.
 
I generally think BMI is pretty useless, but that's from a point of view of someone who has a rough idea of what's going on. I get it that if you have no idea (which I don't think applies to many in this thread?) that BMI isn't a bad place to start when checking if you're the right weight. I guess it could be dangerous though if you get worried you're overweight when you're not and start dieting yourself to be underwieght, which would show as 'you're fine!' on a BMI scale? (If that makes sense?!)
 
My BMI is 23.3 and I also have visible abs. Most of the online calculators put me at less than 12% body fat.

My waist to height ratio is 0.44, so well within the healthy range.

BMI would also put most professional rugby players in the overweight category, even the backs.

So, for me, BMI is more of a rough guide at best.
 
Been trying to lose a few kg, get down to ~78kg from 86kg. Spend this year trying to do it by having a half decent diet but I've not really been disciplined enough so have gone on the Myprotein Whole Fuel shakes, got a month's worth and will see where I am at the end.

Hopefully it'll get me some of the way, currently on 1200kcals a day, but will have some snacks Fri/Sat night (crisps and humous is my go to!) and one proper meal every weekend so it isn't too miserable a month.

Wish me luck!
 
godinman said:
Been trying to lose a few kg, get down to ~78kg from 86kg. Spend this year trying to do it by having a half decent diet but I've not really been disciplined enough so have gone on the Myprotein Whole Fuel shakes, got a month's worth and will see where I am at the end.

Hopefully it'll get me some of the way, currently on 1200kcals a day, but will have some snacks Fri/Sat night (crisps and humous is my go to!) and one proper meal every weekend so it isn't too miserable a month.

Wish me luck!
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It doesn't have to be a miserable experience.
I would try and cram as many protein calories in as possible, you'll feel a lot fuller and won't be reaching for "empty calories" like crisps.
Buy some cooked chicken drum sticks and use those to nibble on if you really have to.
Personally having now experienced a couple of meal prep services, I would highly recommend you get rid of the snack food in the house, don't buy any more so you can't snack on it and then sign up to one of the prep services. It's not cheap but you don't have to stay on it for months on end. Its filling, whole food ingredients and it's a different meal every day for weeks before you see the same thing again. the only time I reach for things "off plan" is at the weekends now as I only use it Mon-Fri and if you have a nice lie in at the weekend, this also helps you limit the hrs in the day you can stuff your cake whole with the "less good stuff" that's in the fridge/cupboard :D

Tonights meal for me for eg was a Roast turkey slices, roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots and a side of gravy.

JuT1xd9.jpg
 
Fuzz said:
Meal prep and sticking to it works.
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Lots of things 'work' tbf, but not everything works for everyone. e.g. Looking at that photo I can't help but think about the last flight I was served on a plane. It really isn't something I would look forward to... but believe it or not, especially after exercise, I really look forward to a Huel.

Good job on the loss. 15% seems a bold target for body fat? Mind you, I speak as someone approaching 50 (years of age, not %!!!) and coming from 36%, it got a lot slower/harder as I approached 20%. I think the best I could ever claim was 19%, right now I'm 21-22% and tbh I don't have the will at the moment to cut enough calories to drop lower. Well, I think the bigger problem is, cycling 40 to 70 miles two or three times a week gets really hard when you only eat 1,700 cals a day. I think if I didn't have to work and could cycle every day, I could probably get down closer to it, but not at the moment.
 
Thanks @Fuzz. Looks like our goals aren't too dissimilar!

It's just a bit of a kick start for me to be honest, going to stick with the shakes for the month and work on my ongoing diet from there. My diet is usually pretty good to be fair, my main problem is I stress eat on ****** food and that stress isn't going anywhere! My actual meals are usually pretty balanced.

Me and the wife are going to do a paleo(ish) diet with planned meals etc so hopefully that'll do a similar job to the prep services. She's much better at me at eating well, she genuinely loves salad, and doesn't have a sweet tooth at all!
 
AndyCr15 said:
Lots of things 'work' tbf, but not everything works for everyone. e.g. Looking at that photo I can't help but think about the last flight I was served on a plane. It really isn't something I would look forward to... but believe it or not, especially after exercise, I really look forward to a Huel.

Good job on the loss. 15% seems a bold target for body fat? Mind you, I speak as someone approaching 50 (years of age, not %!!!) and coming from 36%, it got a lot slower/harder as I approached 20%. I think the best I could ever claim was 19%, right now I'm 21-22% and tbh I don't have the will at the moment to cut enough calories to drop lower. Well, I think the bigger problem is, cycling 40 to 70 miles two or three times a week gets really hard when you only eat 1,700 cals a day. I think if I didn't have to work and could cycle every day, I could probably get down closer to it, but not at the moment.
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Also nearly 50... or will be in November..
Also above 30% BF last year.

CCoV46K.png
 
Yeah, so you're starting lower than me and doing it in a steadier manner, so it would make sense if you can get lower than me. I'm just warning you, the losses slow down! :p (Or they get harder at least)
 
AndyCr15 said:
Yeah, so you're starting lower than me and doing it in a steadier manner, so it would make sense if you can get lower than me. I'm just warning you, the losses slow down! :p (Or they get harder at least)
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Umm you started this thread in 2020,
Three years two months ago..
Have you been yoyo ing or just not hitting the goals you posted?
 
I'm not sure what you mean? I had to look back to see what goal I'd posted. It was to hit 15st. Yes, I did that. A few pages back I posted my graph...
AndyCr15 said:
Seeing that graph, made me think, for a giggle, lets take a look at my all-time graph...

iywkRIL.png

:eek:

There's nothing like a slow, gradual loss...

:cry:
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I think the big lump around 2021 was Christmas. I ate a lot, put a reasonable bit on. A couple of days ago I weighed in at 15st 3lbs. 2lbs less than when I started this thread and 3lbs above the target I said I would hit.

I guess I'm missing the point you're asking around?
 
I just took everything at face value from what you said recently, about having one ab :cry:, that you were going for a faster reduction than me and then realised the thread was years old, confused me, clearly I missed this bit in the middle :o
:D

Edit to add* the entirety of 2022 was just dietary changes in a normal days eating, cooking meals from the "shredded chef" recipe book in amongst more normal meals and just trying to cut out snacking on junk.
Once I had that mastered I added in weight training in December.. Mid Jan I guess is when I started the meal prep stuff to enable me to dial it in better and I've changed companies for the same reasons.. I've been tweaking the diet this year exactly for the reasons you say... The losses do slow down.
This is how I'm going to get and hopefully stay at 75 ish kg while the BF% comes down..
Once I hit 75 I shall add in a fourth meal and have breakfast at 6am instead of 10am like I am at the moment.
 
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