Author Topic: Losing weight!  (Read 2826 times)

Forkbeard

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Losing weight!
« on: 23:51:04, 18/02/18 »
I've been ill since November and had a knee problem before that and have ended up pretty disheartened wit the amount of weight I've gained  while not walking (or much working). I need to go on a diet and do some exercise at home. I'm back up to doing a bit of walking but am not happy that I don't fit into some of my walk in gear anymore! So feel a bit uncomfortable going very far at the moment.


In a nutshell I need some advice on diet and exercise for weight loss. Can anybody help out?

tom83

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #1 on: 01:28:16, 19/02/18 »
In a nutshell, eat less and move more.


I know your situation, as Im around 1.5 stone over what I would like to be, but Ive actually lost a stone since January 1st. First off, work out a maximum daily calorie intake for yourself. The average male's daily recommended calorie intake is 2500, I set myself a limit of between 1700 and 1900 and stuck to it (with the occasional cheat day thrown in).


The hardest part is planning meals, and breaking habits. I found Stir Fry's a quick meal fix, especially as you can mix them up a bit with different flavours,  vegetables and meats etc.


Basically if you cut your daily calorie intake down, you don't need to exercise as much to lose weight, but don't cut your calorie intake down too much as this can have negative effects, such as fat storage (where your body goes into starvation mode, and stores calories as fat), and worse conditions that actually cause ill health.


To summerise, plan your meals weekly, count the calories, no snacks, take into account drinks too. and keep as active as you can. The weight will come off.


Hope that helps.

RogerA

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #2 on: 08:59:54, 19/02/18 »
I've spent most of my life being overweight and much of the past few years dieting - I'm not sure whether that makes me an expert dieter as I've done so many or really rubbish because I've needed to.

I lost about 5.5 stone last year so it can be done but then put about a stone back on this year so also know its hard to make weight loss stick.

What I find works for me is to keep it simple and to keep control of what I eat - something I find difficult to do and know how to handle when I get home from work to be presented with a 3000 calory laden favorite meal cooked for me with love.

Eat less move more is wonderful advice from tom83 - very simple very true.

I find that for me that to stay the same weight I can eat 2200 calories a day if my activity is about 5000 steps. (Everyone is slightly different).
What I've worked out is that if I eat about 35000 less calories/year which is ~100 less calories/day every day then I should lose about 1 stone over the year.
Similarly If I walk an extra 700000 extra steps/year which is  ~1 extra mile/day every day then I should also lose about 1 stone over the year.

The point being that little changes, stuck to rigidly over a long period of time can be effective. Also probably more healthy than a quick fix big loss over a short time diet.

I aimed for 1700 calories/day and an extra 3 miles/day for a whole year which should have lost me 8 stone which means either my numbers are wrong or I didnt stick to it as rigidly as I would have liked to - perhaps some of both.

Tracking weight and calory intake can also help, I also find taking a photo of my face every month is a very visual track of progress.

Best of luck,

Islandplodder

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #3 on: 10:54:37, 19/02/18 »

Walking does help a surprising amount.
Another thing I have found is that if you really cut down on anything with sugar in it only takes a few days to lose your 'sweet tooth' and that makes it much easier to keep the calories down as cakes and sweets really do look less attractive.
Eat slowly, and if you still feel hungry at the end of a meal wait 15 minutes before you have anything else, you often find you can manage quite happily without it, it's as if your stomach needs time to tell your brain you've had enough.
Drink lots of water, sometimes when you think you are hungry you are really thirsty, and also water fills you up a bit.
I have also found, though it's a bit counter-intuitive, that if I'm not getting enough exercise I tend to eat more, it's as if I am out of balance.
All of which wisdom should suggest I am as thin as a rake, which I'm not, but slimmer than I was a few years ago.  I don't manage to take all of my own advice.....

gunwharfman

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #4 on: 12:12:33, 19/02/18 »
If you graze througout the day, try going back to set mealtimes only.

I lose weight easily, my wife hates shopping so we are often opening cupboards and all that's there are crumbs. Sometimes not even crumbs!

Eat lots of fruit and veg raw.

Cheap psychology I know but I think using a smaller plate might be of help?

Get out of the house everyday and walk, daily if you can and at a brisk pace.


ninthace

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #5 on: 12:38:47, 19/02/18 »
Hiking is not a great way of burning off calories compared with other activities but it has many other benefits.  I found these calculators which may be interesting:
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calories_burned.asp?exercise=208
https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-hiking/


The latter is more plausible but I think they are both optimistic in terms of calories burnt IMHO.  There was an interesting article in the Daily Telegraph today saying that people tend to underestimate their calorie intake by 50%. Unsurprisingly the fatter people were, the more they tended to underestimate their intake. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/19/fat-britain-average-person-eats-50-calories-realise/
« Last Edit: 13:20:44, 19/02/18 by ninthace »
Solvitur Ambulando

jimbob

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #6 on: 13:55:49, 19/02/18 »
Current thought on exercise is that short , extremely sharp bursts (to the point of exhaustion) do more to bump your metabolism than long "casual" forms of exercise. When losing weight I tend to eat a lot of cabbage, which I like as it fills me up and keeps visitors away, thus less temptation to eat biscuits, drink tea(beer) and sit on my backside.
I try to walk 4 miles a day as advised by my cardio nurse. But I am sure she would not be too happy at the speed I do it at. However it does help with my fitness, if not my weight.


Good advice on the sugar by the way, chuck this out of your diet and you will not feel so hungry. Watch out for food which uses sugar as a preservative such as shop bought pizzas, because they also add a huge amount of salt to cover the sweetness. most supermarket ready meals have high sugar ( or fructose or artificial sweeteners). My cardio advice sheets were a complete eye opener as to what they add to modern foods. I was advised to use butter rather than spread, for instance, as they know what is in butter and how it affects the body, since they stopped selling margarine. Using spreads, which are not legally defined in its chemical make up, they have no idea how it affects the body yet. I had not realised that margarine, which makeup is legally defined, had disappeared altogether from shops. Spread and Margarine are not the same.
 Mind you I was told to ensure the butter was warm before use, so as to use as little as possible.
Too little, too late, too bad......

tom83

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #7 on: 13:57:26, 19/02/18 »


Cheap psychology I know but I think using a smaller plate might be of help?



This is sound advice, you can actually trick your brain into thinking your eating more than you are, and feeling fuller whilst lowering calorie intake.

RogerA

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #8 on: 14:17:12, 19/02/18 »

This is sound advice, you can actually trick your brain into thinking your eating more than you are, and feeling fuller whilst lowering calorie intake.

hmm ... we're all different ... different things work for different people ... this dosent work for me ... great if it works for you

Forkbeard

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #9 on: 15:01:09, 19/02/18 »
Thanks for the replies.


Most of them make sense and I definitely need to cut out the sweet stuff; I never used to have a sweet tooth and it seems to be a problem since I've got a bit older. I'm also going to aim for 1700 calories per day and get out walking every day again, even if it's a couple of miles at a time - luckily I only have one speed and it's full speed ahead, so that should help get my heart rate up. I have cut down on junk but still need to cut out the snacky stuff and eat smaller portions of what I do eat.


Since I've not been working I've been getting up at different times and eating whatever at whatever time, I need to get a daily plan worked out food-wise, back at work or not.


I've not got off to a bad start today, done 1.5 miles and had about 600 calories - a 3 egg mushroom omelette, granola bar and a bit of fruit (and coffee, skimmed milk, no sugar). We're going shopping later so I can get some decent food in and walk there and back.

Forkbeard

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #10 on: 15:05:56, 19/02/18 »
If you graze througout the day, try going back to set mealtimes only.

I lose weight easily, my wife hates shopping so we are often opening cupboards and all that's there are crumbs. Sometimes not even crumbs!

Eat lots of fruit and veg raw.

Cheap psychology I know but I think using a smaller plate might be of help?

Get out of the house everyday and walk, daily if you can and at a brisk pace.


The small plate thing might be a good idea, or at least try and measure out foods such as pasta/other carbs. I eat too much of these, especially in the winter as a comfort food type thing. I've been looking at the bupa website and their recommended portion sizes of carbs are tiny compared to what I eat.

gunwharfman

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #11 on: 15:50:29, 19/02/18 »
Another suggestion, go back a few years and read Susie Orbach's (I think its spelt correctly?) book, 'Dieting makes you fat'.

I've never dieted myself, although at times I eat less food, it all depends on my mood. Is this dieting? Never really sure what 'to diet' actually means?

My GP, who's retired now, always told us that the most dangerous stuff, in his opinion, is salt and sugar. My wife and I havn't bought such items, except on odd occasions when we have had work done in and/or on our house, just to keep the staff happy, or when visitors come and obviously can't live without it. Why do so many tradesmen have one to three teaspoons of sugar in their coffee or tea? I suppose its the same as asking why do so many off them read the Sun as well? When they have finished their work and have gone we just flush the rest away. Likewise, fish and chips, we never have salt on them, only vinegar.

Sorry but I only ramble on like this because to achieve a 'genuine and lasting' weight loss, I suspect it is much more comlicated than capitalism wants us to believe. Obviously for them its a cash cow! The observation I made years ago and I'm still of the same opinion now, is that there is a vast world wide industry out there, enticing people to spend and diet in all sorts of ways. They were there when I was young and they are still there selling their ideas (nonsense?) but interstingly people are still fat! My conclusion as a simple member of the public, is that dieting does NOT work! It may appear to work, peoples do notice when their weight drops, but as soon as they realx, there weight goes up because most people I think just go back to their old life and eating routine.

I get emailed hassled by something call Jane Plan, I've no idea who they are or what their selling, but the emails come to me most day. I just delete them.

jimbob

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #12 on: 16:42:48, 19/02/18 »
Oh and another thing is that if you have a big garden start to grow your own veg. If not try and get a half or quarter allotment.  I tend to grow most of my own veg, seasonal gluts yes, but we have a big freezer. About the only veg we buy are the the out of season stuff. i.e. courgettes in winter time.  A couple of square metres can grow a huge amount of grub if you throw away the planting guides and just pack it in.  Veg tends to be healthy calorie wise , fresh veg is healthier, seemingly. But the exercise involved is not using the same muscle groups continuously like walking, but the bending, lifting, carrying etc can make for a more complete form of exercise. 
In the past I had a set of scales and a notebook with me at all times. Over the last few years I have come to recognise (and frequently ignore) the correct portion sizes.

My main interest in losing weight is that it makes walking distances easier if I am not carrying a lump of weight around my belly. Saves kneews, hips and back by being lighter.
Too little, too late, too bad......

forgotmyoldpassword

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #13 on: 16:53:07, 20/02/18 »
The reason being in shape is coveted is that it takes effort and dedication to achieve - anyone is able to eat more than they need and carry around a couple of spare tyres - but being purposeful with losing weight is all about self control.  I'm not going to tell you to start an allotment (even though it may be a good idea), but I'll throw in a few useful ideas for time sensitive health gains.


- Sugar, cut it out, if you must indulge, buy fruit instead to satisfy this urge as it takes longer to eat and generally comes in smaller portions
- Again, replace sugar for sweeteners if you are partial to cake/etc.  I'm not going to say exist on a diet of celery, but realistically you're more likely to stick to a healthy eating plan if it contains some things you enjoy eating (just healthier version of it).
- For exercise, the current thoughts are that provided you don't have any underlying health problems, HIIT is the most effective method of working out to strengthen the heart, with a cost of 20-30minutes 2-3 times a week.
- The 'cost' of gyms or equipment isn't a barrier to entry.  Walking somewhere is free, and I personally use a skipping rope for cardio if the weather is dreadful.
- Consider apps like myfitnesspal for food consumption, it's very easy indeed to eat 'dead calories' and exceed your goal, then wonder why you never seem to feel healthier.

gunwharfman

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Re: Losing weight!
« Reply #14 on: 17:45:02, 20/02/18 »
I like the skipping rope idea. Haven't had a go at that for years. I wonder if I still could?

 

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