Diet to lose weight - Advice?

Flukester said:
as others have said here.... diet sure, but my advice would be keep tabs on cals during day (keep cals lower than cardio), no snacking, drink a few pints of water. Eat normal in evening.... but......

CARDIO

Burn 800-1200cals a day cardio exercise and the above will just work for you


Oh, and have weekends off, eat what you want :)


With the above I lose 1-2lb a week without fail .....though got to a stage now where I have to increase food intake to maintain

Withhout cardio and diet alone you will yoyo forever...
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800-1200kcals a day in cardio is a lot of cardio!

There is absolutely no need to include cardio to lose fat.
 
NexusK said:
Was gonna say, the machines usually tell me i've burned around 5-600 kcals in 45mins, bugger doing an hour and a half every day.
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Those machines are probably overestimating too.

I burn over 1000 per day with cardio regularly but that's riding to and from work twice per day, along with extra miles where I can fit them in. It's very time consuming and I can completely see why it would be impractical for a lot of people.
 
tom_e said:
800-1200kcals a day in cardio is a lot of cardio!

There is absolutely no need to include cardio to lose fat.
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I guess... but I'm sure it will help to maintain rather than yoyo diet. Plus surely better to get fit at same time as losing fat ?


With me swimming gets me 800 cals burnt and fit at same time for about 50 mins odd work.... as the fat goes you are left with some decent tone in body from the swimming and hopefully a fitter heart.
 
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Flukester said:
I guess... but I'm sure it will help to maintain rather than yoyo diet. Plus surely better to get fit at same time as losing fat ?
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There's no need to use cardio to maintain a weight or get fit either.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Cardio isn't the be all and end all a lot of people think it is for losing fat or getting fit, resistance work is just as effective and more enjoyable for many than just endless cardio for hours.

It also avoids you falling in to the trap of just ending up looking like a smaller still fat version of yourself.
 
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tom_e said:
There's no need to use cardio to maintain a weight or get fit either.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Cardio isn't the be all and end all a lot of people think it is for losing fat or getting fit, resistance work is just as effective and more enjoyable for many than just endless cardio for hours.

It also avoids you falling in to the trap of just ending up looking like a smaller still fat version of yourself.
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I'm swimming which is cardio, but it's also resistance.. my head hurts :)


edit: thinking about this are you not going to burn more fat (while on a calorie restricted diet) by upping your metabolic rate by tons (cardio, or even better cardio interval training) than just using some resistance training ?

When swimming my heart is thumping out of my chest and I'm constantly short of breath....
 
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Resistance and good diet is definitely the way to go. Nothing wrong with adding cardio if you enjoy it of course (and I use mine as an excuse to have treats :p (but again, if you do this, you need to be aware of your diet so you're not overcompensating/eating)).
 
Calories is king (macros is queen) to gaining or losing weight.

Having an understanding of proteins, fats and carbs will greatly assist you in diet manipulation but ultimately calories is where you will see the drop in weight and will be the biggest difference. Exercise can play a small part, but people can just as easily lose weight simply by going into a calorie deficit (even a minor one) and zero exercise.

I personally don't limit myself to any types of food, even sugar. There isn't any need but moderation is the key part. I'm sure many people have heard the phrase 'if it fits your macros'.

Good luck with your goals.
 
I usually just do cardio as that's all that's available in the gym unless i go in at the crack of dawn. There's always a bunch of big guys already at the proper weights which is annoying, i've yet to use them once and i've been a member since last year. At the other end there's weight machine things that use ropes instead of chains and metal bars though, i might give them a bash when the grannies aren't on them :p

I quite like doing interval on the treadmill but i get bored really quickly on the rowing machine.
 
chroniclard said:
No point getting into a cardio vs resistance debate, either form of exercise will benefit you in various ways. Just do whichever you enjoy, even both. Personally I enjoyed weights more.
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I don't think anyone has said that cardio is pointless.

I do both and I enjoy cardio (in the form of cycling) a lot more. I definitely feel better about things if I'm lifting weights regularly however.
 
In much the same way as a diet is useless if you hate it and therefore won't stick to it, so is doing an activity you don't enjoy.

If someone told me I either had to take up running and no other exercise I'd never exercise, whereas there's plenty of people who feel exactly the same about lifting weights.

Find something you enjoy and stick with it, my initial point was that either will work at a simply calorie burning level.
 
I think I will stick with exercise bike for cardio once a week or something just to add to the lowering of my calorie intake - I do understand the idea of getting a toner body though whilst losing weight so I could do some reps on my weights a couple of nights a week as well.

Then im still dieting and not depressing myself working out all the time.

I love swimming but covered that in my first post I think.

Last couple of days been going good - My calorie intake according to MFP to reach my goals is 1500 a day and im sticking to it so far whilst detailing everything I eat and drinking loads of water.

Having the MAC B stuff and its apparently little to no sugar - MFP isnt throwing any warnings up either about it - I have not drank so much water in ages forget the effect it has on going to the toilet so often :D At least its making me get up of my backside and move

No junk food during the day, have some nuts to eat if I feel peckish at any point but only 1 or 2 then some water, having my lunch - Today was sweet and sour chicken with some rice and have a yogurt for later in the afternoon if I feel really gutting.
 
SF4AE1 said:
Aaa so the flavored water isn't quite as good as I thought it was - What about the flavorings you can get to put in normal water is that just as bad?
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All flavourings added to water are basically sugars. Plain bottled waters do taste different. Try it for a while as your taste buds adjust then if you try flavoured water again you will taste the difference, they seem horribly sweet.


Do ron ron I hope you are now happy and healthy.
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Best health of my life. Wish I had had this shape when I was younger.

I may need to look into a spreadsheet and making a diet plan or something as motivation of keeping things going is what can kill me - But I suppose that is where not trying to do everything at once comes in.
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When you do exercise, especially in the gym, start comfortably and slowly build up. E.G. I started off doing 5 mins on a fast walk then built up over months to 2 X 30 mins fast walk/jog. Ditto weights. If you don't go to a gym do the same on a walk, try to find somewhere where there are hills to vary the walk.
 
tom_e said:
800-1200kcals a day in cardio is a lot of cardio!

There is absolutely no need to include cardio to lose fat.
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You don't need to to but its a lot of fun and makes the dieting less painful because you can eat bigger plates and still run a calorie deficit.


That is what I do, 800-100 calories a day at least, with some days up to 2500. You can eat like a king then.
 
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