Hi
New to the Forum just looking for some information to help lose weight i.e any good quick exercise routines or diets ?
Currently:
Age 52
Height 177cm
Weight 72-74 kgs (approx 12% body fat)
Around 9 years ago I was 94 kilos and technically obese. Then I watched a program on the BBC called Eat, Fast and Live Longer, presented by Michael Mosley (still available on iPLayer). Basically he ate around 600 calories for two non concecutive days and week and then ate noramlly for the other five. After 5 or 6 weeks he lost a stone and lowered his cholesterol as well as significantly lowering blood sugar and IGF levels.
So I decided to give it a go.
First off I switched from drinking tea with milk and sugar to drinking tea without milk and then without both. This was simply because |I didn't want to waste fast day calories on drinks and after a while I switched to black coffee instead.
Once I was happy to not be drinking calories I did some research into what kinds of foods or meals I could eat for 600 calories. For me this means I don't eat breakfast, I have two boiled eggs for lunch (approximately 150 calories) and my evening meal will be something like a single serving of pasta with a half a jar of Loyd Grossman tomato & Chargrilled Vegetables sauce. Or I share an Aldi Meal kit with wife and have a single portion of rice. Or a piece of fish with some boiled potatoes and salad.
For the rest of the working week I'll take a 500g pot of Greek Yogurt mixed with 30g of oats, 100g raspberries, a few walnut halves, a tbsp of maple syrup and eat half for breakfast and half for lunch. Plus a boiled egg at breakfast and lunch.
Evening meals will be a variety of home cooked foods but generally they'll be in the 800-1000 calories range.
Weekends I relax and we generally eat have a curry or a steak on Friday, as well as a few beers (3-4) and share a tub of Pringles or something. Saturday's I generally have a late breakfast or early lunch that might be beans on toast or egg on toast or even a bacon and egg sandwich, plus a takeaway in the evening followed by beer and Pringles again. Sunday will be no breakfast but a full traditional Sunday roast and maybe a small pizza in the evening, as well as anything from 4-7 beers over the day and maybe a third tub of Pringles shared.
TLDR;
I went from 94kgs to 80 kgs in 6 weeks on the 5/2 fasting diet, with no exercise.
To get from 80kgs I did restrict my calorie intake further on my normal eating days to around 1600 a day, even on weekends and started to exercise (jogging) as well. This was for around six to eight weeks before I got married in August 2013 with a target of 70kgs. After that I went back to eating normally on my non fast days and did start weight training at the gym instead of jogging. Since then I've maintained my weight of between 72 and 74kgs. The fast days are generally easy to do now without it even bothering me.
The biggest thing I have found with loosing weight and maintaining it is excerise isn't really required, it helps with the change in lifestyle that 5/2 fasting is, but it doesn't do much to loose any additional weight.
To put that into context: For me a 3km walk to the gym from my house at a pace 7.5 km/hr takes around 24 minutes, during which my heart rate averages 135 b/m.
According to my fitness tracker this burns just 240 calories
Or 3 chocolate digestive biscuits.
So for me I'd rather not eat 3 chocolate biscuits than have to spend 24 minutes walking at my maximum walking pace to burn them off.
Or in another context.
For 4 weeks straight after my summer holiday I went to the gym every day and weight trained for 35-45 minutes, walked to and from the gym every day, as well as a morning walk of around 3km at 7.5km/hr.
My eating stayed the same and so did my weight. I didn't loose any weight, nor did I loose or gain any inches.
For the last 4 weeks I've gone back to going to the gym 4 days a week for 40-50 minutes.
My eating stayed the same and so did my weight.
TLDR;
Diet wins over excercise for weight loss by a country mile.
