Need to lose weight, advice please.

Ayahuasca said:
When do you need to shed 1.5 stone by or is there no time constraint?

Edit: Noticed above you said 12 weeks, that's easily doable, 1.75 lbs a week you could do that on a very small calorie deficit.
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I'd like to lose that by the middle of June, eating around 1500 calories a day mainly made up of porridge, eggs, tuna, fish, steak, chickens and loads of veg and fruit rotated over the week. I'm also training with a kettlebell using iPad app videos to teach me how do it properly. Cheers
 
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amigafan2003 said:
Knowing how to lose weight is really easy - just eat less calories than you need to maintain your current weight. Having the will power to restrict your calorie intake, well that's up to you.

Track your calorie intake with something like myfitnesspal.
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Myfitnespal is excellent, thanks for the tip.
 
meade16 said:
Myfitnespal is excellent, thanks for the tip.
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Just don't fall into the trap of thinking "I'll skip dinner then I can have that grab bag of Doritos later". MyFitnessPal is a great app at opening your eyes to calorie laden foods (i.e. nuts, pasta, rice, Starbucks coffees etc) and surprisingly calorie light foods (ricotta cheese, some fruit etc) but it's not all about calories - pay attention to the macros as well.

Don't focus on just restricting calorie intake, make sure those calories are coming from "good foods" (yup, that includes fats). Combine good eating with calorie restriction and you'll shift the weight.
 
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Definitely one step at a time with MFP but once you're comfortable with it amigafan is right on the money. It's a trap I've fallen into myself a few times though it's also been nice when the reverse has happened - I've eaten what I thought was awful and ended up realising after logging it that it really wasn't that bad.

Macro-wise I tend to try and just make sure I hit a little over 100g of protein per day. The rest I don't care about too much though I do try to make sure the sources of fat are good ones.
 
amigafan2003 said:
Just don't fall into the trap of thinking "I'll skip dinner then I can have that grab bag of Doritos later". MyFitnessPal is a great app at opening your eyes to calorie laden foods (i.e. nuts, pasta, rice, Starbucks coffees etc) and surprisingly calorie light foods (ricotta cheese, some fruit etc) but it's not all about calories - pay attention to the macros as well.

Don't focus on just restricting calorie intake, make sure those calories are coming from "good foods" (yup, that includes fats). Combine good eating with calorie restriction and you'll shift the weight.
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Cheers for the info. I have ditched all the junk food completely. Walking much more and drinking loads of water. I though it would be hard to live on 1500 calories a day but It's not that bad. I'll check out the macros in the app.
Cheers
 
FrenchTart said:
Definitely one step at a time with MFP but once you're comfortable with it amigafan is right on the money. It's a trap I've fallen into myself a few times though it's also been nice when the reverse has happened - I've eaten what I thought was awful and ended up realising after logging it that it really wasn't that bad.

Macro-wise I tend to try and just make sure I hit a little over 100g of protein per day. The rest I don't care about too much though I do try to make sure the sources of fat are good ones.
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Having the barcode scanner on MFP is great. The support forums are good and there's some great info.
 
Yeah I love MFP. Makes logging calories much easier. Only thing I struggle with is accurately logging calories in meat as the labels are all over the place.

Sometimes the calories are based on the cooked weight, sometimes raw(my preferred). They've also started to try and make it easier by saying xx kcals in one fillet. But this is based on it being a certain weight. I had a pack of 6 chicken breasts and I weighed them all individually out of curiosity. They ranged anywhere from 100 - 170g. :(
 
spengos said:
Yeah I love MFP. Makes logging calories much easier. Only thing I struggle with is accurately logging calories in meat as the labels are all over the place.

Sometimes the calories are based on the cooked weight, sometimes raw(my preferred). They've also started to try and make it easier by saying xx kcals in one fillet. But this is based on it being a certain weight. I had a pack of 6 chicken breasts and I weighed them all individually out of curiosity. They ranged anywhere from 100 - 170g. :(
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ALWAYS go by raw weight, since how you cook it will change the amount of water retained considerably. The main thing though is just to be consistent - if you log 100g of raw skinless chicken breast as 21g protein, 2g fat, always use that - even if it's technically not 100% accurate, your inconsistency is consistent, and unless you're caning massive amounts of meat a day is unlikely to be innaccurate enough to make a difference to how successful your weight/body composition goals and progress go.
 
Somnambulist said:
ALWAYS go by raw weight, since how you cook it will change the amount of water retained considerably. The main thing though is just to be consistent - if you log 100g of raw skinless chicken breast as 21g protein, 2g fat, always use that - even if it's technically not 100% accurate, your inconsistency is consistent, and unless you're caning massive amounts of meat a day is unlikely to be innaccurate enough to make a difference to how successful your weight/body composition goals and progress go.
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Thanks for the tip.
 
I bought a nice mountain bike off a mate which i use to cycle to work now....i do weights 4-5 times a week with it too and bodyfat is dropping really good.(i am eating pretty good now which is obviously helping the most)

Try it, buy a nice bike off some sale site and cycle 3-5 times a week with weight training.

Doing compounds galore with supersets will remove fat fast too and short rest periods.
 
a little shocked that no one asked about weight. I mean losing 1.5 stone in 12 weeks is very doable but if you're only carrying a little extra weight then not so much. like being 6ft 13 stone and trying to get to 11.5 would be a very rough 12 weeks, going from say 15 stone to 13.5 really really easy by comparison
 
I'd recommend doing fitness classes at your local gym if you can afford a membership. Normally classes are free if you're a member, but even if you're not you can often still try them for some fee so you can assess whether that's something you want to do without committing to a membership.

I suggest this because I believe it's what's helped me keep going. I've lost some 18kg or so since mid January, mostly because I've been doing tonnes of classes. I'm pretty sure I've also increased in muscle mass, so I guess I lost more than 18kg of fat. I just find the solitary gym thing or working out alone at home pretty boring and I'd often stop after some short amount of time. When going to a class you're with other people, and while you're free to leave at any point, you're less likely to stop until you're "done" - as in, there is no set "done" time when you're doing stuff alone, but there is when you go to a class. And generally speaking you won't leave until the hour, or however long the class is, is over. Also there's the people that you eventually start to get to know if you go the same classes week after week, so there's some social aspect to it too.

Also, just eat healthy and keep in mind that even though it's healthy, you can't just eat however much you want. I can't be bothered counting my calories because I almost never eat or drink packaged things anyway, it's too much effort weighing how much chicken I'm putting in a wrap and stuff like that. With that said, counting calories is probably a good idea, I'm just lazy.

Personally think you should try to be stricter with yourself when it comes to the weight loss phase. There will be a maintenance phase later, and then you can allow yourself more freedom. Honestly I don't miss the crap I used to stuff my face with anyway, so I'm pretty sure I could keep up my current diet with minimal effort for years. Obviously indulge from time to time but I think eventually you'll stop craving the chocolate, the crips, the sweet chilli, the mayo, the sweets, all that crap.

Avoid alcohol like the devil. I lost about 2 weeks of progress because I thought it was just a one off and it was someone's engagement party so I figured I should drink. Big mistake. You live and you learn, I guess.

I wanted to lose weight for years but the weight just kept piling on instead. This is how I've managed to motivate myself to keep going. I have classes almost every day right now and I feel great. This is what's worked for me though, and it might not work for you, but I figured I'd share my experience anyway. Stay strong!
 
sneakysnail said:
a little shocked that no one asked about weight. I mean losing 1.5 stone in 12 weeks is very doable but if you're only carrying a little extra weight then not so much. like being 6ft 13 stone and trying to get to 11.5 would be a very rough 12 weeks, going from say 15 stone to 13.5 really really easy by comparison
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Indeed. What is OP's starting weight?
 
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Intermittent fasting, lots of protein, a balance of fats, and no refined carbs. Occasionally steel cut oats or very high fiber homemade bread. And black coffee while fasting. And lots of different fiber and probiotic foods (kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut). And lots of polyphenols.

For example,

7am: contrast shower.

8am: coffee and a polyphenolic herb (ashwaghanda, eleuthero, rhodiola, or schisandra).

10am: exercise (preceded by high UVB tanning bed session twice a week).

12pm: coffee and a herb.

2pm: baked sweet potatos with butter and cinnamon, spinach, fish/meat, some nuts and a glass of plain kefir.

5pm: A diverse salad with beans and meat on it and homemade dressing, or a green smoothie (kale, chard, carrot, apple, blueberries, avocado, flax milk, garlic, ginger root). Or a protein smoothie (coconut milk, whey, a bit of pineapple and potato resistant-starch).

8pm: Meat or eggs, broccoli, an unripe banana and some dark chocolate. Herb #2 (usually phytosome curcumin or something that needs to be taken with food).
 
Quick update, lost 1.2 stone, I was hoping for 1.5 but I'm well chuffed and with not much to go the finishing line isn't far away. I have made lifestyle changes and sticking to them well.

Thanks for all the replies to my posts.

Edit: My starting weight was 13.5 btw.
 
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