Reply With QuoteAnd sustainable too by the sounds of it...!Originally Posted by Ruggertech
That is excellent progress indeed. It sounds like you have a very healthy approach to dieting, and I mean healthy as in mental health not just the obvious physical side of it.
And sustainable too by the sounds of it...!
Especially with the odd pint and kebab thrown in :)
Many thanks for all of your kind words and the encouragement they bring, the downside of course being that it plays havoc with your wardrobe. That said, there are much worse problems to have!
I love the fact that I can pop to the pub after work for a pint or 2 of Guinness without feeling too guilty about it; just as I did last night in fact - a pint of Guinness is 199 kcal for those of you wondering
Good man MST, pleased for you
I have used MyFitnessPal fairly successfully in the past. Is Nutracheck similar?
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Yes, very similar but better. I can't qualify exactly why it's better because that's just what I'm told by Mrs. MST and it doesn't pay to disagree. However, I gather it's to do with the accuracy and range of the nutritional data held within their database.
You can use Nutracheck for free but we pay a £23.99 PA subscription for full access to the app and all of its features, worth its weight in gold and a bargain when you compare it to the subscription costs Slimming World, Weight Watchers and the like - to say nothing of the results it has yielded (for us at least).
I always feel I must say that there is no referral bonus with Nutracheck, at least not as far as I'm aware, I'm just genuinely enthusiastic about it and would encourage anyone to give it a go.
Thanks, will check it out
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Yes, it’s very real, barring any illness or specific conditions. It’s more within a range, but rather than weight, it is based on a your lean body weight. If you put on muscle your body produces Leptin and reduces Grehlin, to try and get you to decrease your food intake. The opposite effect is seen when you lose lean body weight. I read an interesting study that recreated close to a starvation diet and was able to recreate the effects quite easily.
The problem with this is that, when you increase your food intake because of an increase and decrease in hormones, these days (again speaking about the masses rather than anyone controlling their intake) you aren’t eating a nice lean high protein meal, rather you’re eating fairly high calorie high fat foods, which in general leads to faster fat accumulation, until such time as you finally reach your natural lean body weight again, whilst hiding it under your new additional layer of fat. That’s why yo-yo dieting is the absolute worst possible thing. Maintaining as much muscle/lean body weight as possible has got to be the highest priority in any effective dieting.
Interestingly, many years ago I read a study where they placed a cross section of subjects, some with very fast metabolisms, and some with medical conditions that reduced metabolism, and measured their oxygen usage under exercise - one of the best ways of actually measuring metabolism. Two main points stood out to me, there was approx. 10% difference between the fastest and slowest subjects, which doesn’t seem that big a difference and could easily be offset by actually measuring your own needs - but left unchecked, and using simple maths and an average 2000 calorie daily intake would result in something like a 21lb weight difference between the two extremes in just one year. Over the course of primary school or secondary school that would make a significant difference. It just highlights that we need to look at our personal calorie requirements, and that of our children, and adapt our intakes, and or activity levels accordingly, if we want to take some personal responsibility for the outcomes.
It's just a matter of time...
Congratulations to all those that are losing weight. It’s a pretty tough job! I had a fairly serious accident about 15 months ago, which lead to a pretty long period of time in recovery where I simply wasn’t in a position to do any exercise (Multiple arm fractures, broken ribs, damaged hip etc) and well wishers kept sending chocolates and all manner of comfort foods that I of course felt obligated to eat, all a part of that long road to recovery!
From June last year I decided to unravel all my poor habits. I changed my diet completely and ramped up exercise using Zwift (My accident involved a head on collision on a bike with a car), I started with an easily achievable goal of 50km per week with a view to increasing that distance gradually as fitness levels improved, I then moved onto 100km per week still maintaining a healthy eating diet and I’m now managing 150km to 200km per week. It’s just become part of my normal daily routine now. As clothes became too big, they went, removing the ‘If I fail these can be used again in the future’.
At the moment weight loss is circa 3 stone, it’s been hard work, but definitely worth persevering with. This week will be the first week I’ll be breaking through the over 200km barrier on Zwift in 7 days.
Last edited by neebsta; 14th January 2022 at 22:29.
Getting rid of loose clothing is a great feeling, isn’t it? When I was losing weight, I went from large to medium then small for casual and from classic to slim then extra slim and finally settling at super slim fit for smart shirts. Been stuck at my current shape for 2+ years now but people regularly noticed and commented while I was trimming which was also an excellent motivator.
Personally I think 95% of weight loss is down to diet. Exercise is important for lots of reasons but don't think the "burning calories" concept really stacks up.
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You’re right, it’s a great feeling. It’s been a bit of a cycle for me. I’d lost 3 stone prior to my accident, then put it all back on again recuperating. I’m now back to pre accident weight and I have no intention of putting it back on again.
Last edited by neebsta; 14th January 2022 at 22:31.
I totally agree!
I'm no expert but to my mind losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise, it's important to remember that weight loss does not equal increased fitness. As long as you are in a calorie deficit you WILL lose weight, how you achieve that deficit is irrelevant but obviously exercise will contribute to it.
Last edited by MST; 14th January 2022 at 22:41.
Your numbers are off but your theory is right.
Hence the saying “You can’t out-train a bad diet”
Following the posts here re Nutracheck I'm eschewing keto for now and have been on Nutracheck for the last few days. For me keto is absolutely the quickest way to lose weight but it is such an antisocial diet and I like the fact that Nutracheck enables you to eat many of the foods you enjoy as long as you keep to your overall goals. A few days isn't enough time to see impact- I did put 1.5 kilos back on straight away as I went out of ketosis but that's just water.
I'm also combining Nutracheck with 16/8 - basically skipping breakfast which makes it a breeze to keep within the calorie target and I eat between 1pm and 9pm which is totally reasonable and hardly a restriction.
I'm really pleased to hear this, other methods may be quicker but I've found using Nutracheck to be both sustainable and, dare I say it, even a little enjoyable!
Rightly or wrongly I either skip or have a very, very low calorie lunch (sub 200 kcals), but usually have a low calorie breakfast that will keep me going with multiple cups of tea and the odd snack throughout. I then enjoy a big meal in the evening and have enough left for a treat or several - Cadbury Orange Twirls are a particular favourite at the moment.
My current daily calorie target is 1,980 with a view to losing 2lb per week.
And thank you for the heads up.
I find the nutritional breakdown very useful as well (top right-hand corner of the app) and am astonished how much my salt intake is- salt seems to be in everything and whilst I'm on track with all the other measurements like fat, fibre etc I'm frequently nearly 200% of the daily salt intake.
The only things I would say are keep an eye on what the app is saying vs what it says on the packet, menu etc. in terms of nutritional value and also keep an eye on weights & measures. For example, the app says 2 Cadbury Orange Twirl fingers are 228 kcal but when you weigh them the figure comes closer to 250 kcals.
Alternatively just cut out all of the unhealthy stuff. I haven’t eaten chocolate, takeaway, carbs, drunk alcohol etc in over 7 months. Supplemented with exercise. It’s very liberating.
Personally, I wouldn’t. I did that for around 7-8 years. I’d never go back. I might not ever get into that kind of physical shape again, but I feel a whole lot better and less restricted.
I think having a better understanding of food, macro and micro nutrients is the key.
I’m glad you have recovered well, and made a huge difference so far :)
It's just a matter of time...
A less extreme version of this, cut out excessively processed stuff, stuff that comes out of shiny packets, cut back on the booze etc
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Thank you. This process was driven by a few things, my accident made me increasingly aware of how life can unexpectedly change in an instance. During my recovery I lost an old school friend to cancer. I also coach my lads football team, which I have done for the last 6 years. One of the coaches from the age group below mine had a stroke, he’s the same age as me and we did our FA coaching badges together. These 3 events gave me a kick up the backside, which was probably long overdue. It’s a bit of an extreme process, but at 47 I’m now probably the fittest I’ve ever been. My FTP (Functional Threshold Power) which is a good metric in cycling has increased from 220 to 365. My ultimate goal is to do some long distance bike rides for Charitable causes, probably head trauma, as I lost my Mum whilst she was fairly young to a brain haemorrhage.
It’s good to have something to strive for as a general goal/principal - rather than something like attaining a specific weight - as what do you do once you’ve achieved that.
I love the idea of a bike ride for charity in memory of loved ones. Let me know when you are doing it and I’ll make a donation to the cause you choose.
In my late 40’s I’ve given up any hope of being in the best shape of my life, having both the benefit of and then a little guilt of having been incredibly fit and lean in my younger years.
Unfortunately, I don’t I’ll ever be physically capable of even something like a half marathon again. Many many years ago, I had an entry for and was preparing for Kona Coast Iron Man before being hit badly by a flu type virus. I don’t think I’ve ever properly recovered though. Ended up being unable to walk more than about 2.5-3 miles at a time before experiencing chronic fatigue. When I’d recovered enough to consider training again (some three years later!), the entry requirements had changed to really quite challenging (or for me at that stage virtually impossible) qualifying times. Times which I might have been quite capable of years earlier, but I’ve never been that close to post illness.
These days I like to try and get to the gym 2-3 times a week, but suffer (and need a week or two away from any physical exercise) if I try to do too much.
I have an exercise bike, rower, and pull-up/dip station at home which I don’t use enough, but I have planned out a 91 day kick start for 2022.
I’m lucky that I have some close friends who still compete, or train competitors for physique competitions, and also island games athletics. But unfortunately we can’t pay someone to do the exercises and workouts for us :(
It's just a matter of time...
Two and a half weeks of 1) no booze 2) no crisps 3) no desserts 4) a bit more walking (on top of my usual squash / golf) and 5) much more veg and water = 1.5kg weight loss and feeling considerably better in myself.
It really is quite an eye-opener and very encouraging. Keep going everyone
My weigh-in day is Monday, unless of course I bring it forward for whatever reason e.g. going out for drinks the night before, dinner out etc. I'm hoping I'll be under 17 stone tomorrow morning when the time comes.
I obviously track it myself but are there any objections to me posting a weekly update here in this thread?
Of course not. Quite the opposite if it can add to your motivation. It will certainly help others.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
^^^ yes this!
I didn't think so, but you never know. Standby for an update in the morning.
Great idea. We should share anything positive, weigh ins or our non scale victories.
Here is a post I put up on my Insta earlier. Just trying to keep myself accountable. My weigh in day is Sunday (today), the graph is from MyFitnessPal. For context I have been pretty Coronaphobic and used to go to the gym as my main hobby. When the pandemic hit I stopped exercising and put on about 2.5 stone, then June last year I started getting my diet and exercise back on track. I had been doing well, then early September I caught Covid and suffered long Covid giving me massive fatigue and I turned to food and booze for comfort. Only around Christmas did I start feeling myself again; almost, still a little fatigued but nothing compared to much of the past five months. So that is my weight tracking for the past six months. Still a long way to go, but 2lb off this week. 7lb since Christmas. Who knows, I might get the beach body back for the Summer?
Keep up the good work all.
Today's nutricheck record. Today was a disaster from a health perspective however I was within the calorie guide and therefore should lose weight!!!! 0 portions of fruit and veg though!
Good God man! However, you're still in a calorie deficit...Today's nutricheck record. Today was a disaster from a health perspective however I was within the calorie guide and therefore should lose weight!!!! 0 portions of fruit and veg though!
Unfortunately this is one of the biggest misunderstandings for most people - you might lose "weight", but you're unlikely to lose fat. You may even put on some water weight with those carbs and salt intake.Today's nutricheck record. Today was a disaster from a health perspective however I was within the calorie guide and therefore should lose weight!!!! 0 portions of fruit and veg though!
A deficit is not always a good thing if you're not not also hitting you're minimum levels of protein (good fats too) and required vitamins and overall micronutrients.
It's just a matter of time...
I agree. I used to struggle but once I ate around 1.8g Protein per KG of body weight and increased my strength training I reached 10% body fat. This might help. Hitting your calories is really important, but getting your Macros (protein, carbs and fats) right and you will be flying
Yep today was a huge outlier. I've attached the macros for Friday and Saturday which show a much better mix - one thing is I'm struggling to get salt intake down but I figured salt isn't really so much of an issue.
Salt is an issue. Super Size Me is worth a watch if you haven’t seen it already. McDonald’s isn’t the best place to be eating if trying to lose weight (I love a Double Quarter Pounder I must admit!)
I’ve somehow managed to put on 4 lbs this week, even though I ran 16 miles and played two games of football and ate reasonably well. So what do I know.
Last edited by demonloop; 17th January 2022 at 08:13.
To work out how many calories per day you need to consume to maintain weight, is it BMR or TDEE you need to calculate?
This morning I weighed in at 16 stone 12.75 pounds, down from 17 stone 1.9 pounds last week. I'm quite happy with the loss and am on my way to treat myself to breakfast at the cafe!
I've included a screenshot of my macronutrients for the last week, which I must confess isn't something I'd paid that much attention to prior to reading some of the posts in this thread, but it doesn't look as though I've done too badly.
Supersize me was a Joke! Not in the funny sense. It’s been replicated by making people eat the same additional amounts of so called healthy food - so it’s complete bollocks in its application and a dig at an industry when people can diet on just about anything, include Macdonalds…
TDEE, Katch-Mcardle is likely the most accurate, but you’d need to know your body fat and those readings are so inaccurate it’s untrue - mines coming in at 14% at present on both bio and callipers - it’s not, I’m a little higher. But… once you’ve got the rough readings though you just tailor the overall intake based on the changes. If you’re macros are good and your gaining weight, you need a reduction. If you’re losing too fast (after a couple of weeks of allowing adjustments for lowering carbs and losing water weight) then increase calories slightly.
I’m aiming for 0.5%-0.75% body fat loss a week on average over a 91 day plan that I’ve put together. I start introducing some cardio after 21 days, and reduce calories by 250 cals a day every 3 weeks to compensate for weight loss.
I’ve dropped from just under 108kg (some of that from a bad reaction to the booster jab though!) to 102kg since 17th Dec. Around another 7kg to go…
It's just a matter of time...
Lock down, working from home and lowering my activity combined with lounge pants with an elastic aged waist meant my weight snuck up slowly.
Heaviest I’ve ever been at 87.5kg saw me finding when I did go out that all my jeans and shirts are far too tight. Refusing to buy big clothes, so I am uncomfortable when I go out.
Dropped 2kg in the last 2 weeks, and this is with still enjoying food & drink Friday to Sunday. The remaining 4 are low calorie Tom kerridge recipes, his soups are really rather good.
My old Omron body scales died at the weekend, so got some new Renpho ones. The change in tech is pretty impressive with everything it measures and informs you of.
Want to get to 76kg again and stay there. Still a little heavy for my height, but at 72kg which was my lowest people kept telling me I looked sick
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Your progress is fantastic, and the goals seems well within the time and progress. Awesome!This morning I weighed in at 16 stone 12.75 pounds, down from 17 stone 1.9 pounds last week. I'm quite happy with the loss and am on my way to treat myself to breakfast at the cafe!
I've included a screenshot of my macronutrients for the last week, which I must confess isn't something I'd paid that much attention to prior to reading some of the posts in this thread, but it doesn't look as though I've done too badly.
I'm really not a fan of that macro profile, or Ryan's.
As a very simple plan I’d have calories around a third from each main macro. But being a little more scientific, I'd err on the side of caution. Protein would be at least 1g per pound of lean weight (I’d go slightly higher), fats would be 0.5g of lean weight (up to 200lbs, then 0.25g for anything over that. Carbs would make up the rest.
so…
my macros would look something like
225g Protein - 900 cals
95g fats - 855 cals
250-300g carbs - 1000-1200 cals
So, 2755-2955 cals a day. That’s down from my usual 3250 cals.
I’ll drop the carbs down every 3 weeks on this plan (protein and fats will remain exactly the same regardless while I’m losing weight, and I’ll up it very slightly when I increase the calories again), so I’m only on what I’d call really low calories for the last week (1755 cals!!!), before going back to a 2250, and then slowly build back to around 3250 cals using the same 3 weeks between increases, but keeping around 50% of the cardio from my plan.
It's just a matter of time...
I must admit I don’t get most of the science around this. I just eat lower fat meals through the week, no junk (at all) and up my water intake.
Less alcohol at the weekends, and no crisps when having a pint. Seems to work for me.
Many thanks, I'll get there eventually - wherever there is!
I wouldn't have a clue how to implement the macro profile you propose, though I am very grateful for you taking the time to set it out. How could I implement such a profile in tandem with an app like Nutracheck? I'm not even sure whether the app would let me create a custom profile.
P.S. The fry up this morning was bloody lovely, won't be showing you my macros for that!
I’d love to know the “how to make it into food” as well from that. I’m getting too old to it get it right and my days of food education are long behind me.
86kg want to loose 10kg, 176cm and a shocking bmi.
And this why apps like Nutracheck work so well, you input your details, how much you would like to lose and at what rate and it works it out for you.
I assume this app is similar to MyFitnessPal ?
Yes, along the same lines but having never used MyFitnessPal I wouldn't like to say how they differ.
I love a fry up, and fit one into my macros every week. When I’m not cutting I’ll have two a week.
Macro profile…. Well I cook up at the start of each week and then again on a Wednesday. I’ll do a joint of lean beef 1.5kg+, a 500-750g turkey breast joint, or similar with chicken, and I’ll usually have a similar size ham, and a pack of approx. 10 chicken breast in, along with 12 eggs, and a couple of cartons of two chicks egg white. Plus a large 5% minced beef, and 12 3% fat burgers from M&S for snacks. Lots of chopped tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. I like to add a jar of Lloyd grossman tomato and chilli to my mix, which is 500g mince (made up twice a week), a red pepper, onion, chopped up Polish gherkins, jalapeños, the chopped tomatoes, a little purée, sundried tomatoes, some spiracha, salt pepper and whatever herbs and spices you like.
Breakfast, either an egg white omelette, with one whole egg, sliced tomatoes, ham, lean bacon or turkey bacon, a little added salt and extra virgin olive oil, and a large glass of milk; or
75g 97% whey isolate, 25g 95% chocolate milk whey isolate, 5g creatine, 75g porridge oats, pint of milk, half to one whole banana, split into two and I have half before my morning work out and half after. I’ll add a few other things in the shake to increase my fibre intake some days.
At weekends it could by avocado, chicken, bacon, with peppers and sundried tomatoes, or some poached eggs with bacon and chicken. Always with a large glass of milk ;)
Then a a 250g tub of plain quark as a snack.
I make up trays (the larger take away carton size is pretty good) with around. Then I’ll add 100-200g jasmine rice, 150g-250g mixed boiled veg, 200g minced meat mix, some sliced beef, sliced turkey, sliced chicken breasts and sliced ham. Topped with a little eat lean cheese. I’ll have two of those each work day.
Snacks are the M&S burgers, sometimes with some eat lean cheese.
Evening meals are usually something like chicken and beef, with broccoli and cauliflower, with the mince sauce that I make up or if I’m feeling a little tired I’ll add up to 125g rice to the veg.
Evening snack, if I have enough calories or feel like I need it is Quark and a teaspoon of honey.
That’s a typical day, but I also make a mix based on lemon chicken, or sweet and sour, and use those as a base. It’s a little bit lower carb based at the minute depending on how much rice I have per day, as I’m aiming to lower my carbs throughout the process, and it’s easier to just drop some grams of rice from each meal, but usually I’d maybe be having something like a lean bacon bagel with my omelettes, especially when I have 3250 calories to play with. I just add a little or take away a little from the overall ingredients until my macros are right for the day.
My local weekend fry up do me 4 sausages, 3 bacon, 2 eggs, a black pudding, beans, and toast ( I drop the fried mushrooms, hash browns and the tomato - only because they replace them with the extra sausages and bacon for me) - it’s delicious, and I’ll enjoy it when I can have it again, but I’m sure there’s more than enough calories in it ;)
Last edited by Omegamanic; 17th January 2022 at 23:50.
It's just a matter of time...
I’ve never used Nutracheck, but on my fitness pal you can choose your total intake and change the percentages around. Mine looks a little like 35% protein, 40% carbs, and 25% fats, but that will start to change as I start to drop more of the calories from carbs in the next week, and at some stage I’ll probably be as low as 70g, or only 280 calories from carbs in my last week, which would look like - Protein 45%, Fats 38.5%, and carbs 16.5% - but that’s is just for one week, and along with some water manipulation. I may even have a few photos taken if it goes to plan - bloody groin strain isn’t helping matters, and I’m due to start some light cardio soon lol
It's just a matter of time...
Well…
Almost miraculously I’ve hit just under 100kg. I shouldn’t really have doubted the process, but I’ve felt like I’m eating a lot of food over the month to date (I feel like I’m eating more food in general, and probably am volume wise, but it’s cleaner and no processed foods - so less calorie dense for the most part. Although I am going through a fair amount of EV Olive oil), and only reduce my food intake by 250 cals a day tomorrow.
I hope everyone else is staying healthy, injury free, and heading in the right direction!
Last edited by Omegamanic; 21st January 2022 at 11:14.
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