Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
sort your diet out, do cardio and weights, simple as that really
Surprisingly quick initial weight loss
- Thread starter Uriel
- Start date
Quick update. Morning weigh in puts me at 16 st 2. That puts me at a BMI of 29.95. That means for the first time in 10 years I am not obese (according to BMI classification). That's after going to a barbecue last night, which involved burgers and cake.
A minor moment of triumph
Onwards and downwards...
16 St 0.6
That took a lot longer than I was expecting!
As someone who lost a lot of weight slowly, and still ended up with tonnes of loose skin I wouldn't worry. 19st @ 6'1" isn't that huge tbh so think he'll be ok.
I was 136kg @ 5'9" -> 72kg at my lowest, took about 3 years. Still got dat dere skin. Back up to 95 ish now because I'm lazy.
Are you serious? The way you worded this suggests you have some understanding so surely you know your body stores varying amounts of water and what you eat has an affect.
Have you never restricted carbs and lost noticeable amounts of weight in a couple of days?
I tend to lose about 6-8lbs in the first 5 days of dieting with restricted carbs and it certainly isn't fat.
Slowing down now. Been fairly consistent with controlled eating and training for a bit over a year and managed to keep up around 1 lb a week weight loss for most of that time.
Recently it's been more like 1-2 lbs a month. 15st12 on Saturday, which makes around 48 lbs since Semtember 2014. I've generally been having no eating restrictions at weekends. Perhaps it's time to control sugar intake on one or both those days too?
Exercise has mainly been running or cross trainer (technogym vario) with bodyweight resistance training (press ups, sit-ups, pistol squats and stuff the physio has had me do for back and achilles injuries). I may be looking to incorporate some more dedicated lifting in soon (depending on physio's advice).
Body fat now 29% (down from 40%, according to my BIA scales - using US navy tape measure method it's much lower - maybe 24%). BMI down from 35.4 to 29.2.
Some potentially useful health benefits. Blood pressures's down from about 140/90 to about 115/72. Resting heart rate down from about 60 to about 50 (techically a little low but no complications). I suspect the weight loss has been a big contributor to getting back to running (although physio probably also helped) after about a year out with an achilles injury. The achilles isn't completely free of discomfort but I only feel it while running now - last year I'd be limiping the next day.
Running times getting close to what they were in 2010. Mile and a half in 11.5 minutes the other day (I was running 11 at a slightly higher weight 5 years ago). Would likek to get it under 11 minutes, as for some reason I decided to take one of the military fitness tests as an arbitary target. The relevant press-up (44 in 2 minutes) and sit-up targets are no problem (50 in 2 minutes) and I easily exceed both.
Recently it's been more like 1-2 lbs a month. 15st12 on Saturday, which makes around 48 lbs since Semtember 2014. I've generally been having no eating restrictions at weekends. Perhaps it's time to control sugar intake on one or both those days too?
Exercise has mainly been running or cross trainer (technogym vario) with bodyweight resistance training (press ups, sit-ups, pistol squats and stuff the physio has had me do for back and achilles injuries). I may be looking to incorporate some more dedicated lifting in soon (depending on physio's advice).
Body fat now 29% (down from 40%, according to my BIA scales - using US navy tape measure method it's much lower - maybe 24%). BMI down from 35.4 to 29.2.
Some potentially useful health benefits. Blood pressures's down from about 140/90 to about 115/72. Resting heart rate down from about 60 to about 50 (techically a little low but no complications). I suspect the weight loss has been a big contributor to getting back to running (although physio probably also helped) after about a year out with an achilles injury. The achilles isn't completely free of discomfort but I only feel it while running now - last year I'd be limiping the next day.
Running times getting close to what they were in 2010. Mile and a half in 11.5 minutes the other day (I was running 11 at a slightly higher weight 5 years ago). Would likek to get it under 11 minutes, as for some reason I decided to take one of the military fitness tests as an arbitary target. The relevant press-up (44 in 2 minutes) and sit-up targets are no problem (50 in 2 minutes) and I easily exceed both.
Last edited:
Increasing the exercise load maybe easier than further calorie restriction.
Taking my running to the next level is what saw me loose a lot of weight weight and then continue to loose weight while eating more and more. Exercise pretty much allows me to eat Gargantuan proportions of my favorite foods and still loose weight.
In time you can be burning over 1000 calories a day, at that point you are really trying to prevent too rapid weight loss. And it is way more fun than cutting out more food and feeling hungry.
Your progress seems great. My only advice would be for your running you seem fairly focused on getting faster but personally I would put more focus on endurance and staying injury free. The faster you run the ore stress you put on bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons, the higher the risk of injury. It is generally considered best to do about 80% of your running at a slow aerobic speed and 20% at a high intensity, but only when you are sufficiently fit.
Apart form a lower injury risk running slower you will be able to burn a greater amount of calories in total. Moreover, many of the very good physiological adaptions occur when running slow, not fast. You build better blood capillaries, higher endurance slow twitch muscles, better cardiovascular efficiency, increased ability to burn fat for fuel, etc. All of these changes will actually make you run faster and recover faster, and run at a faster rate for further distance.
I don't want to tell you what to do but if i was you I would set a goal for like a half marathon (or 10k) in a years time and very slowly build up the miles. With good endurance then speed specific work out can become more important but will also carry much less risk when all the bones and ligaments are strengthened and adapted to the task of running.
Taking my running to the next level is what saw me loose a lot of weight weight and then continue to loose weight while eating more and more. Exercise pretty much allows me to eat Gargantuan proportions of my favorite foods and still loose weight.
In time you can be burning over 1000 calories a day, at that point you are really trying to prevent too rapid weight loss. And it is way more fun than cutting out more food and feeling hungry.
Your progress seems great. My only advice would be for your running you seem fairly focused on getting faster but personally I would put more focus on endurance and staying injury free. The faster you run the ore stress you put on bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons, the higher the risk of injury. It is generally considered best to do about 80% of your running at a slow aerobic speed and 20% at a high intensity, but only when you are sufficiently fit.
Apart form a lower injury risk running slower you will be able to burn a greater amount of calories in total. Moreover, many of the very good physiological adaptions occur when running slow, not fast. You build better blood capillaries, higher endurance slow twitch muscles, better cardiovascular efficiency, increased ability to burn fat for fuel, etc. All of these changes will actually make you run faster and recover faster, and run at a faster rate for further distance.
I don't want to tell you what to do but if i was you I would set a goal for like a half marathon (or 10k) in a years time and very slowly build up the miles. With good endurance then speed specific work out can become more important but will also carry much less risk when all the bones and ligaments are strengthened and adapted to the task of running.
Man of Honour
It's still a balancing act, you cannot out train a bad diet. Believe me I've tried.
Off course diet is very important and you can't ever ignore it. However, eventually it gets very hard to loose significant weight from calories deficit alone, your body adapts its metabolic rate and you see rapidly diminishing returns. Psychologically it is also much easier for me to exercise away 200 calories than cut out a further 200 calories. Feeling hungry is horrible, feeling well exercised is fantastic.
A friend lost around 70lbs over 18 months from diet alone, and given his weight and lack of sporting history diet was the best thing to do. he still wants to loose like 30-40lbs and get healthier but his weight just plateaued. he was cutting more and more calories to the point he was almost malnourished, completely lethargic and lack of energy and the weight just wouldn't shift like it used to. He started working out, first walking, then gentle running, elliptical, exercise bike and swimming all while consuming at least 300 calories a day more than he was in the previous months, the rapid weight loss resume and he feels so much better for it and gets to far more treats and relax his diet substantially so he gets more enjoyment from eating again.
Personally I lost around 8lb by diet alone, it was pretty miserable feeling hungry and skipping some favorite foods, my weight then wouldn't shift at all. At that point I started training much harder and reverted back to my pre-diet eating and the weight dropped right off and i felt great doing it. I love the fact that during peak training I can eat well over 3000 calories a day and watch the scales drop by a pound a week! I can enjoy big bowls of ice-cream, pizza, beer, giant plate of fresh pasta with no guilt, no concerns and 100% satisfaction. That s priceless
t does take time to get there though and if you are overweight diet should be the dominating factor in determining weight loss. A rapid increase in exercise can lead to injury and a major set back.
Last edited:
I have little desire to up the running distances, mainly because I already devote about as much time to exercise as I can fit in around work and family life. Extra distance means more duration and at the moment I'm fitting in runs and gym visits after the kids have gone to bed.
Having said that, I did do my first Parkrun today (5k). 28 mins 15 seconds on a fairly hilly route. That's around the 5k times I was getting 5 years ago.
Having said that, I did do my first Parkrun today (5k). 28 mins 15 seconds on a fairly hilly route. That's around the 5k times I was getting 5 years ago.
What does 1,000 calories worth of exercise look like?
Running for a little over an hour, depending on wight, speed, heart rate and hills.
If I stick the cross trainer in the Contestant Pulse Rate mode (asking it to keep me at about 167 bpm), it'll tell me I've burned 1000 calories after about 37 minutes.
Always take what cardio machines tell me with a pinch of salt though.
Always take what cardio machines tell me with a pinch of salt though.
Man of Honour
As you say, massive pinch of salt with that figure.
Try more like a bucket of salt.
Thanks. I use the cross trainer and it says I burn about 250 calories in 30 mins. This seems about right to me but I may have to start using the treadmill instead if I'll burn significantly more calories.
Man of Honour
You may want to get some kind of HRM setup if you want to get a better idea of kcal burned. Exercise machines tend to overestimate massively (as does MyFitnessPal if you feed times/exercises into that).
I am using a HRM. It's just a very basic Polar Unit I've had for years though.
That's how the CPR mode works on technogym cardo machines. Picks up the signal from the HRM and then adjusts the speed, load or whatever to get you to the target heart rate.
I really liked the Vario Cross Trainer with that mode but I've pretty much maxed it out. The resistance won't increase above the intensity it needs for about 300 watts and I can no longer get near my target heart rate using it. If I go on the treadmill first and pre-fatigue it still does the job.
That's how the CPR mode works on technogym cardo machines. Picks up the signal from the HRM and then adjusts the speed, load or whatever to get you to the target heart rate.
I really liked the Vario Cross Trainer with that mode but I've pretty much maxed it out. The resistance won't increase above the intensity it needs for about 300 watts and I can no longer get near my target heart rate using it. If I go on the treadmill first and pre-fatigue it still does the job.
Man of Honour
I was referring to Kris_90 with my suggestion to be honest.
1000 kcal in less than 40 minutes would take some doing. When using my turbo trainer with pretty accurate power-based kcal estimates and a fairly high FTP (sadly my body weight is high enough that my w/kg ratio isn't all that) I get burns closer to 1000 in an hour when performing sweet-spot/threshold intervals - and as said, that's pretty high for cycling.
In fact, some would say that these figures are high enough to take with a pinch of salt too.
edit:
Some recentish examples:
https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2576368-Seneca-Rocks
https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2567061-Galena
1000 kcal in less than 40 minutes would take some doing. When using my turbo trainer with pretty accurate power-based kcal estimates and a fairly high FTP (sadly my body weight is high enough that my w/kg ratio isn't all that) I get burns closer to 1000 in an hour when performing sweet-spot/threshold intervals - and as said, that's pretty high for cycling.
In fact, some would say that these figures are high enough to take with a pinch of salt too.
edit:
Some recentish examples:
https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2576368-Seneca-Rocks
https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2567061-Galena
Last edited:
As I said - pinch of salt.
It annoys my gym-buddy no end though. I think the heart rate monitor skews the calculation somehow. At top whack it's telling me I'm pushing 30 kcal a minute.
Running wise - most calculators put me a bit over the equivalent of 1000 kcal per hour. Weight is a big factor in the calculations and you notice the difference when you drop about 20 kg over a year,
This calculator http://www.runnersworld.com/fitness-calculators/calories-burned-calculator has me at the equivalent of 1300-1400 kcal per hour based on my 1.5 mile times. My recent 5k is a little over 1000 kcal / hour.
Of course I'm not sustaining those speeds for an hour. Last time I did a 10k it took me nearly an hour and I was a lot lighter.
It annoys my gym-buddy no end though. I think the heart rate monitor skews the calculation somehow. At top whack it's telling me I'm pushing 30 kcal a minute.
Running wise - most calculators put me a bit over the equivalent of 1000 kcal per hour. Weight is a big factor in the calculations and you notice the difference when you drop about 20 kg over a year,
This calculator http://www.runnersworld.com/fitness-calculators/calories-burned-calculator has me at the equivalent of 1300-1400 kcal per hour based on my 1.5 mile times. My recent 5k is a little over 1000 kcal / hour.
Of course I'm not sustaining those speeds for an hour. Last time I did a 10k it took me nearly an hour and I was a lot lighter.
With cycling since your entire body is stationary and support the calorie burn is a little lower than some other sports (but still right up there). With running you burn calories just standing still fighting gravity, when moving your upper body and arms are all involved. There are of course even better sports for burning calories but running is pretty good.
One 'unfortunate' thing is the lighter you are the less calories you burn, and the more you run the better your efficiency and the less calories get burned. Still, I think it is not too hard for soe one to burn 1000 calories in an hour running once they have trained for a good bit. 100 calories a mile is about the average, but fast running is around 120 an hour.
A big negative of running is training too hard can quickly lead to injuries. Things like cycling, swimming, rowing, elipitical tend to be safer.
And with all exercise if you have a really intense workout then you probably can't sustain it so long, so you may be better training slower and longer.
Last edited: