Losing weight and becoming healthier-any tips?

[PipPip]

In 2016 my wife and I decided we would cycle up Mount Ventoux and do some other Alpine climbs. I trained more on my bike (mostly on a turbo trainer) but also ate a low carb Mediterranean diet. I dropped from around 85kgs to 70kgs in 6 or 7 months. Tracking my weight on a spreadsheet helped motivate me. I went a bit too far as people were asking if I was ill and telling me to eat a burger. I’m back up to around 80kgs now and will aim for 75kgs by June.

[Pubdweller]

As others have said, diet is key.
Download the my fitness app, it's great for letting you see just how much you consume..you type in the product and it gives you the breakdown split protein / fat / carbs.

Gyms are all very well but it's finding the time to do it..especially after a long day in the office.

I too bought a kettlebell (8kg) and use this at home as well as doing some skipping..5 x 3 min rounds.

The advantage of this is you can do 15 mins each night and that is all it takes..no 20 mon drive to gym , workout, 20 min drive back etc..it's a lot easier to stick to it because of that

Good luck!

[proby24]

As others have said you are a step ahead as you have identified your weakness and you are addressing your diet.

I will add a few thoughts. Two inexpensive additions to the training kit are a pull-up bar and a skipping rope (both about 10 quid at Argos). The bar will add muscle (and is good for the back and reducing risk of back pain), the rope will help you drop weight.

On the diet side I also recommend doing a kitchen sweep. Be ruthless, throw out all junk food/temptation. Throw out anything that has any e-numbers. Learn a few basic recipes. Once you start cooking, you'll start understanding exactly what is going into your body. Eat greens and eat a hell of a lot of them. There are many good cooking books out there, this is one I recommend for easy recipes:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/30-Minute-C...inute+cookbook

One final idea, buy smaller plates and bowls. I find this really helps with portion control.

[wileeeeeey]

Cut out fizzy drinks, eat lunch at a reasonable time (before 2pm if working regular office hours) and get a good nights sleep every night. Works wonders.

[robcat]

I’m on my annual post Xmas heath-kick, which I’ve probably done for about 12 years now. I was about 3st overweight then - not really fat, but looking pretty out of shape - so at the fork in the road. I could’ve got pretty fat if I hadn’t reined it in.

As some have said, there’s no substitute for cutting calories - exercise helps as it increases metabolic rate, but you’ll never burn enough calories to lose weight unless you spend all day exercising.

I always say cut out booze (but OP doesn’t drink), as that’s 1000s of calories a week, even for a moderate drinker.

Apart from that, I find intermittent fasting (or approximations of) work best. I’m not convinced there’s anything magical about it, it’s just easier have days of not eating very much, interspersed with days of eating normally - it’s more tolerable than punishing yourself 7 days a week, but you’re running at an overall calories deficit.

Key is is to be pretty harsh on the fasting days (which not everyone can do - you end up feeling bloody hungry), and not getting too carried away on the normal days.

Simples. (In theory, bloody difficult in practice).

Good luck.

[tertius]

Everyone has said it already but two key points I think:

1. It is almost impossible to exercise away eating too much, so sort your diet first and foremost - certainly cut out the take aways, freshly prepared home cooked food will be a million times better for you; might not work for you but we get a (slightly) random box of fresh veg every week and we treat it as a challenge to find and use new recipes that will use it all up (except the bl**dy courgettes!)

2. Whatever exercise you do it has to be one you enjoy and really *want* to do. I’m lucky in that I’ve been rowing since since I was a school boy and it’s a sport you can continue right into old age, plus I love it. So finding that sort of activity is a huge help.

[Yeti]

Started my first day of cutting the rubbish out today, feel better already. I’ve had two weetabix and a banana for breakfast, lunch were some prawns and for dinner I’ve had a small portion of bubble and squeak and two eggs. Drunk water all day. Popped over to the doctors and weighed myself and got my BMI. Going to go back in two weeks and see if there’s any improvement. In the meantime I’m aiming to do more exercise and generally try and keep the diet relatively clean. Here were the depressing stats if anyone’s interested;

Height: 5ft 9
Weight: 14st 6.11lb (91.8kg)
Bmi: 29.6 kg/m2

Thanks to everyone who has replied, some very good advice and it’s been much appreciated. Il update this in two weeks from today, let you all know if I’ve managed to lose anything!

[PipPip]

Good on you. Keep going and just take it a day at a time. I would take your blood pressure too and whack all this in a spreadsheet. As the weight comes off the blood pressure usually follows. My biggest challenges are 11am and 4pm in the office where my very naughty team always has piles of sugary snacks on hand. When I’m being good I take a pot of almonds and make sure I’ve got a bag of mandarins on hand.

[bootneck]

I started yesterday actually paying attention to those rings on my Apple Watch with the aim to close them every day. I’ve ordered some new scales because I must have broken the old ones lol (lcd has given up) so I’ve gone for some of these smart ones that record your stats etc (Nokia body +) and send it to your phone. Updating my fitness pal regularly and generally giving it a good go

[ArcofZen]

Just get this horrific flu/virus thing thats been going around. I did, and haven't eaten in days!

[forpetesake]

1. Large bowl of sweetened porridge or quality oat based muesli for breakfast.
2. Skip lunch by keeping occupied.
3. Have a piece of fruit mid-afternoon.
4. Drink tea.

Works for me.

[Gunscrossed]

Join a CrossFit 'box' and possibly consult a nutritionist but if that's out of the question and you fancy investing in a machine get a Concept2 rower and sign up for their online 'logbook', loads of online challenges throughout the year.
If you want more there are various apps etc that program workouts such as RowingWOD and liveRowing.
Good luck!

[Gunscrossed]

I’ve had two weetabix and a banana for breakfast, lunch were some prawns and for dinner I’ve had a small portion of bubble and squeak and two eggs. Drunk water all day.

Don't want to sound negative but put that into MyFittnessPal and see how much cholesterol you had.

[Yeti]

Don't want to sound negative but put that into MyFittnessPal and see how much cholesterol you had.

Well it’s better than the Greggs pasty/sausage roll for breakfast, followed by takeaway for lunch and then another heavy meal at home for dinner.

[woodacre1983]

I know Christmas hasn’t even finished yet but after reading another thread this morning about a young man who was as fit as a fiddle but sadly lost he’s battle with cancer, it’s prompted me to look at my own lifestyle. I’m 34 in March, haven’t been in a gym in a few years, even then it was an occasional swim and steam/sauna. I’m 5’8 and 14.5 stone. I need to lose weight as I’m lethargic and unhappy about being a fat f**ker. I don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke and don’t take drugs. I’ve kidded myself for years that because of the above, my pleasure/vice has been food. 3 takeaways a week regularly? Yep. Large portions after work at home full of carbs? Yep. Every condiment going? Yep. My diet is crap. I know it is and I know what I’m doing wrong. Luckily I don’t drink the fizzys often, maybe one or two a week. Mostly water on a day to day basis. I’m not going to lie, I’m so busy with work, kids etc I can’t get to a gym (don’t want to either to be honest). I have been seeing a lot of people using WATT bikes on the internet, tv etc. They are about £2k but a decent gym membership is £1k a year so I’m happy to invest in one as after 2 years of gym membership I’d have nothing tangible to show but at least with the watt bike I’d still have possession of the bike. Now my question is to you all, if I were to buy a bike and made some serious improvements to my diet, coupled with an hour a day on the watt bike, do you think I could lose weight solely through the bike trainer? I’ve never jogged and don’t feel comfortable starting this until fitness builds up so I’m concentrating solely on the bike as my sole means of losing weight/building fitness. Is this possible or do I need to incorporate other training in order to lose the weight? Cheers guys, I hope I haven’t dampened your Christmas spirits!

With the bike you can do so much. Plus the weight loss is 80% diet as well. You don’t drink that is huge plus you have little fizzy pop that is good too. Lose the takeaway or control it to an occasional treat plus the bike where you can do steady cardio for a long time then another day mix it up with HIIT (high intensity interval training) you can lose loads. Any help mate please pm me.


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[JamesC]

Started my first day of cutting the rubbish out today, feel better already. I’ve had two weetabix and a banana for breakfast, lunch were some prawns and for dinner I’ve had a small portion of bubble and squeak and two eggs. Drunk water all day. Popped over to the doctors and weighed myself and got my BMI. Going to go back in two weeks and see if there’s any improvement. In the meantime I’m aiming to do more exercise and generally try and keep the diet relatively clean. Here were the depressing stats if anyone’s interested;

Height: 5ft 9
Weight: 14st 6.11lb (91.8kg)
Bmi: 29.6 kg/m2

Thanks to everyone who has replied, some very good advice and it’s been much appreciated. Il update this in two weeks from today, let you all know if I’ve managed to lose anything!

Good stuff but don't take to much notice of the bmi.
As you do more exercise you will loose fat but also gain muscle which weighs more than fat so this can throw the bmi out.
For example I'm 6'5" weigh 100kg with 15% body fat and my bmi puts me in the overweight category which is obviously a load of rubbish.

One of the best ways to gauge fat/weight loss, body change is how your clothes fit you. So when they get to big your know your on a winner.

Hope that make sense


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[davidj54]

People have probably said it already, but a few key things

1. Losing weight and getting fit is much more about what you consume than how much you exercise. Cut out the crap, we all know what it is I don't need to list it as you already have. Still have treats though, a takeaway curry on payday isn't going to hurt you, living like a complete monk will demoralise you and make you more likely to quit.

2. Exercise - sensibly. Don't go gung ho if you're not used to it, don't go crazy doing it 7 nights a week in Jan - 3 evenings a week combined with a sensible diet is plenty, and don't do exercise you dislike; don't go to the gym 5 nights a week if you hate the gym, you'll soon find excuses to quit.

Most of my exercise comes through participation sports - squash, football, bit of martial arts. Sometimes go circuit training or to my mates running club. It's all pretty intense but you're focused on the game or the participation, it's fun so you forget you're exercising. If you're on a cross trainer or treadmill for 45 minutes it soon gets tedious. I only really go to the gym if I have no other options.

An exercise bike is great as you set them to do interval training like in Spin classes which is brilliant for fat burn and cardio fitness so if that's what you wanna do go for it. If you'd like to jog but don't feel comfortable try a running club. You get people of all standards, the people that run them are great and really motivate you and support you to keep going and improve. Running in a group makes it easier and it's very sociable. My wife joined one two years ago, she hated the thought of running but wanted to get fit after our second child. Now she's running sponsored 10k's and half marathons, is lean and mean and has met a nice group of people.

Other tip would be portion control. My friend is a personal trainer and he always says you need a portion of carbs the size of your own fist, a portion of protein the size of your own fist and a portion of veg the size of two fists. Just be realistic about what you want to achieve, be patient - it takes months to start seeing the benefits of a lifestyle change so don't quit too soon, and give yourself a break; the odd takeaway, cream cake or heavy night in the pub is fine if most of the time you're eating sensibly and exercising regularly.

Sorry for the long post, best of luck 👍

[Foxy100]

Some good tips on here, thanks all!

[SimonH]

Well it’s better than the Greggs pasty/sausage roll for breakfast, followed by takeaway for lunch and then another heavy meal at home for dinner.

Don't worry about it, e.g, see here https://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...rol-myths.aspx

Also note the reference to Ancel Keys, google him for some eye opening stuff. Multi billion dollar industry based on low-fat "healthy" food over decades based on duff research is hard to get out of,

Two years ago I was 93kg yet I didn't eat that much and I exercised a fair bit. Thank God I learnt the the true correlation between heart disease and obesity is consumption of sugar and refined carbs*.

Now I eat low (not no!) carb, but I don't consider I am "on" a diet it's just how I eat these days. Now I'm 75kg, the weight hasn't exactly dropped off, and goes strangely spits and spurts but it has worked. You have to be a bit sensible about its if you eat a 500g steak and 5 eggs each meal you're going to put on weight irrespective of carbs.

I'm not silly about it e.g. going out for a meal I'll have what I want but generally I stick to it. I have the advantage I guess that I really enjoy a steak and a salad for example.

*Caveat. I do believe one of the the problems with all this is the one size fits all approach. So what works for me may not work for you. E.g. I'm into cycling and sometimes look at Teyvan Petting's blog. Now this is a guy who is 6'4'' weighs 60kg and can pump out serious power on a bike. Yet he can eat what he wants and simply cannot put on weight. Clearly, he and and I are genetically poles apart, and the "dieting is easy just eat less" brigade need to to keep that in mind. That said, most people I know who are overweight do seem to eat a lot of pies and cake ;)

[Senninha]

Don't want to sound negative but put that into MyFittnessPal and see how much cholesterol you had.

I wouldn't worry about cholesterol - there's no positive correlation between cholesterol level and adverse health outcome. Indeed the strongest correlation is that lower correlation is worse for all-cause mortality. Plus it's absolutely essential in the body for a multitude of purposes.

EDIT: I should also add that there's no correlation between amount of cholesterol eaten in the diet, and cholesterol level in the blood. Our liver makes the vast majority of cholesterol in the body, and raising or lowering cholesterol in the diet has no impact to that.

[100thmonkey]

A classic mistake people make is they set about a new regime to lose weight and combine exercise with diet, often for many who have exercised for years the body starts to build lean muscle which is heavier than fat so it can be disheartening when the weight doesn’t change. To counter this you should either measure yourself, or just stay confident. If you are using myfitnesspal and have entered all foods into it then the goal weight will be achieved just stay on track.

The fitness and diet industry is awash with the latest and greatest ways to lose weight, gain muscle etc etc but bottom line is put good food in below a daily requirement and you will lose weight..FACT

[vinstink]

Been using weight watchers online on and off for a while.
Just use the app on the phone.

Find it easier to use than myfitnesspal (for me anyway)

Ive cut out beer and stuck to the limit on the app and stopped snacking.

Lost 3pounds since the first, I know it wont keep on with that rate, but its a good motivator.

Hoping to lose a stone in Jan and then slowly lose another couple over the year.

I did the "sober for october" a year ago and lost a stone just with no booze, so I know its doable!

Good luck to anyone trying. It is hard!

[smokey99]

I was in a very similar situation around 11 years ago and I'm 46 now.

We'd just had the 2nd child and due to a lack of real exercise and comfort eating my weight had crept up to 14st 7lb and I'm 5'9".

I'd always played sport and to a decent level including football, rugby, tennis, badminton but when all that stops its tricky to burn off those treats as you get older.

But in the end it was quite simple and luckily you should be young enough to make a difference with a few changes in lifestyle.

I didn't drink a lot and and have never smoked so it came down to two things. Diet and exercise.

Breakfast - I was eating a large buttered scone or peanut butter on toast from the cafe next work. That went.

Lunch - Most days was a large bap filled with some sort of mayonnaise mix sandwich filler, crisps and a can of fizzy pop. That stopped.

Dinner - Often home cooked stir fry which sounds OK until you realise I was eating at least two people's size portions of white rice with my dinner. That stopped.

Gym - Despite always being sporty I always disliked running and to be honest I still do. But I bit the bullet and joined the gym and along with a sensible weights program starting running.

Slowly building up the distance on the treadmill was a revelation. I'm no runner and still don't run outside but to go from hating the 800m at school and soon doing a couple of 5k runs a week was the norm.

Within 6-9 months I'd dropped a stone and a half and body shape had improved.

11 years on its slightly worse but that's a busier lifestyle and natural ageing. I imagine I should now be doing more yoga now but overall that approach still works.

Good luck.

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[julian2002]

My most successful weightloss was 25 stone down to 14 (i'm 6ft 2) using Atkins, HIIT on a stationary bike and then mountain biking and weights once my fitness improved. Unfortunately Atkins is a pig to maintain if your family aren't able to do it as well and the weight goes back on quickly if you drop out of ketosis.

I'm currently seeing a modicum of success using a fast style diet. No breakfast, just coffee and water until noon. Hit the gym around 10.30 / 11am and concentrate on 2/3 rds cardio to 1/3 strength, try to skew towards protein for a midday meal and then a 'normal' dinner. This works for me as it introduces a calorie deficit, increased protein intake and muscle building exercise to increase metabolic rate long term (more muscle burns more calories). Don;t skip leg day, your leg muscles are the biggest muscle group in your body and the biggest 'win' when exercising to burn calories.

The real trick is to find something you can maintain and then build a habit around this. If you fall off the horse (diet or exercise) get back on straight away as if it didn't happen otherwise you'll snowball back to pizza and the couch in no time - at least I do anyway. Just find something that works for you.

[Evanssprky]

A guy I know, mid fifties, football referee, and therefore pretty fit. But he has no idea what he weighs (I'd guess about 11-12 stone and 5'11" tall). All he does is eat a little less and jog a little more when his favourite belt on its usual tang hole starts to get tight. Very relaxed and simple, but it works for him