*** Big Fat Weight Loss Thread ***

[AndyCr15]

Want particularly my point, I was more wondering why you needed to replace it at all, but a quick Google did show me this -

We haven't found any solid evidence to support the idea that excess protein is turned into glucose.

 

[AndyCr15]

That's fine. I did that all through the 7 months, every Sunday night, in which I lost 6 stone...

Mind you, I was cycling a lot. Do you exercise?

 

[AndyCr15]

I ran 28 miles on Saturday and still put weight on between Friday and Monday

Yeah, I can do the same (well, cycle rather than run ) but that's usually temporary and around the actual volume that I eat rather than calories going on as fat. I would never bother weighing myself on Monday or Tuesday and even Wednesday would still often be higher than it really is.

 

[AndyCr15]

I've not particularly worried about that, as long as calories are low enough. At the same time, I might look at what I'm eating and see if I can change anything about to make it 'healthier'.

 

[AndyCr15]

Nice, yeah, I wouldn't worry about the occasional binge. Having said which, I've been on a bit of a push, removing my Sunday night binge a few times and working hard on the bike. I still tend to eat 2,500 to 3,500 cals a day, but most days I'm burning 700 to 2,500. This morning I weighed in at 15st 0.2lbs. I've weighed that exact amount twice (last Aug most recently) and not been below that since last May. Part of me says I don't need to go lower, enjoy eating some more, thrown in a binge or two. Other part (the competitive part) wants me to see how low I can take it

Perhaps more pleasing, yesterday I tracked my FTP (which is what cyclist use to monitor fitness/power) using stats thinking I peaked last Aug/Sept and actually it's higher now than ever. So, maybe shed a few more pounds while adding some more Watts to my FTP!?

Slightly related to that, I did a gruelling, but reasonably comprehensive cycling fitness test on Monday (4DP). I have great burst power, a reasonable FTP but have a weak VO2, which really surprised me. I know, maybe genetically, that's how I've always been. At school I was definitely a sprinter, but I thought all this cycling in the last 2 years had moved that needle. I guess my VO2 must have been abysmal two years ago?! lol

 

[AndyCr15]

It's getting almost demoralising constantly bouncing off the 100kg line back to around 103kg

Days when I run and work, I've pushed past 4000 and I know that's probably overestimating but I think I'm running a larger deficit than I thought.

If I eat 4,000 cals I consider that a really bad day... Not that I don't have them, but I don't really want to go over 4,000 twice in a week. How many are you aiming for now? I'm almost the same weight as you and I aim for 3,000 a day and average perhaps 1,000 a day burnt in exercise. Doing this I'm currently loosing about 1lb a week.

Honestly, if you really want to break through that 100kg barrier, I would be aiming around 2,000 cals AND running each day. It's nasty, but I did it for a month or so (although I was up at 138kg at the time) and it shifted at a stone a month. I gradually then increased up through 2,500 cals, but was exercising more then too.

 

[AndyCr15]

Just to check, you're frustrated your not losing weight any more, so you're going to eat a few hundred calories more a day? Or are you saying your bigger concern is now the feeling of hunger?

If the weight loss stopped, I would suggest the deficit isn't there at all, let alone be bigger than you thought, surely? Am I missing something? All this maths we do is still rather grey IMHO and the bottom line is what the scales tell us...

 

[AndyCr15]

I watch too much YouTube and Netflix

You know those are 'on demand' though, so you can watch them whenever you want, it doesn't have to be 2am?!

 

[AndyCr15]

I seem to be hovering around 14st 11 / 12, which is basically as light as I've ever been. There was a week last May that I think I touched into the 14st 10 region, but recently I would have said my weight had stabilised at 15st 2, so definitely down a few lbs on what I had been. I think it might be muscle loss though, having not been to a gym for a few weeks. At the same time, I think my legs are as strong (maybe big?) as they've been in a long time, due to the fairly intense cycle training I've been doing.

 

[AndyCr15]

Nice

No gyms? Back garden. Raining outside? Get wet. No time to go for the pre-work run? get up earlier.

For me, this is key. It was actually around learning a new language, but I remember someone saying it's never that you don't have time, everything is around priorities. Getting up a bit earlier is a perfect example. It's all priorities. Some would prioritise sleeping over bettering themselves. Some would prioritise seeing their mates or going to the pub over a run or workout, that's just a matter of priorities.

 

[AndyCr15]

Personally I'm not much of a believer in the IF thing. I believe it perhaps just helps some people create the deficit. I can't sleep well if I don't eat quite late and I can't cope without breakfast either. I still dropped 6½ stone in 7 months, just making sure I had a good deficit.

 

[AndyCr15]

It's been an odd week or two for me. I've cycled more in the last 3 weeks than I ever have before (600+ miles) but almost intentionally eaten more calories, not silly amounts, but up around 3,500 cals. My weight has gone up, just peaking over 15st again (so up around 6lbs) while my body fat has stayed down below 20%, so I think the extra weight might literally be the food in my system?!

Gym's re-open today, so I plan to head down shortly. That will be interesting. I might add some weight with muscle hopefully coming back and I also might cycle a bit less now the gym is an option again. We'll see I guess

 

[AndyCr15]

To track what you eat (the calories) you can't go wrong with MyFitnessPal. For exercise, for me and many others, everything flows through Strava, but it really depends on what motivates you. Stats, numbers and competing motivate me, so Strava is great for that.

 

[AndyCr15]

My biggest struggle is the last couple of hours before bed watching TV, the rest of the day I find easier to restrict my eating.

Something else we share then. I was sure I posted about this in this thread, but having a quick look, I don't see it. Maybe like you, my routine has me watching TV for the last hour or hour and a half before bed and this is when I tend to succumb to hunger and can often eat 1,000-1,200 cals while watching. Knowing this, I will sometimes try and keep lower cals during the day, so it's okay for me to do this at the end of the day.

I'm also using Musclefood for a lot of prepped meals, I haven't gone with their dedicated plan, just their 'buy 7 meals, get 7 free'.

I keep a back stock of their 'prepped pots' in my freezer, basically frozen microwave meals between 310 and 350 cals each and generally very tasty when you find the ones you like.

 

[AndyCr15]

weight can fluctuate up and down by around 2.5kg day to day, i've witnessed it myself. For this reason I try to do a single weigh in a week

For me this is the reason to do regular weigh ins. If I do just one weigh in a week, as you say it can fluctuate so much, I wont really know what my weight is! If I weigh regularly I can see where the trend is... if that makes sense?

 

[AndyCr15]

I think my ideal BMI weight is something like 82kg, and people have said I look too skinny at 95kg so to be in a healthy BMI I think i'd have to be nearly dead!

Yeah, I'm the same, definitely don't bother with BMI. Waist and body fat % are much better measures to pair with actual weight

 

[AndyCr15]

Oh dear...

BMI isn't great but unless you are a proper bodybuilder it's probably not wrong.

It really is. I'm no body builder, but it has me overweight.



I'm around 94kg, about 6'3, with a BMI of about 26.5...

Or actually, I found this, I think from the start of last years lockdown. I was probably in slightly better muscular shape than now (gyms having been closed for 4 months and all), but similar numbers -



Yes, there is some fat, but 'overweight and fat'? I'm not concerned...

 

[AndyCr15]

Again you also iirc made the mistake in GD when I said before that losing weight is 90% diet and 10% physical activity and questioned the legitimacy until loads of others also piped in.

I don't think that was me, given my big loss is around both cycling and eating better. It kind of annoys me a little when people try and lose weight just by dieting. That's a rather lazy way to do it I guess.

Being slightly overweight doesn't mean that you are unhealthy. You are confusing the two.

I personally don't think I am. We're discussing how much use BMI is, I still say 'not a lot', your waist measurement and body fat % are much more useful.

You may as well be using magic if you are using scales to measure body fat.

Again, I disagree. Yes, they might not be all that accurate, but they will still give a reasonable indication. I didn't loose fat and the body fat % went up, for example. Even if they might be 20% inaccurate, that's still a pretty good indication. For me, it's more about checking which way things are going rather than knowing a super accurate body fat %

 

[AndyCr15]

Lol eating better is lazy way to lose weight.

Not exercising is kind of the lazy way. Apparently I'm the one that's mixing up weight and health though, right?

I'm out.

There's a relief, I enjoy this thread.

 

[AndyCr15]

I thought you were done in here? I'm not bothering to discuss it with you as basically, I post something and then you make something up based slightly on that...