The Weight Loss Thread

[Alien]

...or losing pounds & trying not to find them again.

Someone suggested the idea of starting a weight loss thread, so here it is. I figure people can post what does & doesn't work for them, as well as acheivements, etc.

As weight naturally tends to fluctuate up & down a couple of pounds on a regular basis, it's too soon to know if the nice surprise I got when I weighed myself a few minutes ago is worth celebrating yet. Having said that, so far this year I've lost about 1/2 a stone.

[lauzjp]

amongst other things - I had a fried egg sandwich yesterday. very bad. (very yummy though!) unless I say I'm going to go atkins again... lol. must go fill out my fitday thingy.

& must get on the rower before my mum comes up to visit today.

best of luck to all fellow dieters - how do you all cope with cravings and hunger pangs?

[Ramrod]

Take in a little less energy than you expend and you will slowly lose weight

[Pia]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

Take in a little less energy than you expend and you will slowly lose weight

You skinny people make it sound so easy

It is that simple. www.fitday.com will give you a figure that is your burnt calories per day. This of course depends on certain factors the most important one is breakfast if you do not have it your metabolic rate slows so you body uses less energy all day so always have breakfast.

At 23 stone my body was burning well over 3000 calories a day and the heavier you are the more energy your body needs to literally do nothing. So by consuming 1500 calories a day I was burning 1500 a day in fat . 4000 calories = 1 lb of fat so in about 2 and half days id lost a lb.

My breakfast.. Every day I have a smoothie. In the summer I just blend fresh fruit and drink it about a pint. This will provide a good carb load and kick start the body on a daily basis. Over the winter ive adapted it. Basically I cook the fruit. An Apple a Pear a banana some strawberries cooked in the microwave for 5 mins and then blended . This is very nice

Lunches . Well a salad obviously is a good choice but a couple of slices of toast or a low fat soup would be fine.

Dinners. I basically buy large amounts of boneless skinless chicken breasts and freeze it in 300 - 400 gram bags . I cook a portion of this in either a weightwatchers soup or Asda low fat varients with a few mushrooms onions or anything you fancy. The soups make these meals although similar but taste totally different so you do not get bored,just simmer in a pan till all is cooked simple and serve with a small amount of rice or pasta.

Snacks. Fruit as much as you want I also bought the low fat asda desserts or weightwatchers. Skinny cow ice creams are all less than 100 cals per treat and they are a treat very nice,Eat a few dont feel guilty

The worst thing you can do is repress yourself if you do you will fail you will crave foods and eventually you will crash and burn so if you fancy a treat have a treat just make sure you have healthy goodies in the house and reduce the amount of high fat high calorie treats in the house. I knwo this is hard with kids but having healthy treats in the house will help with the kids diet as well


This is the Zing diet it works some guys in the NTHWCLAN know how big I was and Bopdude and Stu have seen me since I lost a lot of it so my diet does work.
I have not mentioned exercise I deliberately didnt because a lot of people just do not want to do any. If you do then of course it will help but simple steps can be made walk a bit more use steps instead of lifts this will make a difference. Good luck to anyone wanting to lose weight . I can tell you once you cut out the rubbish in your diet you will feel so much better even without having lost a lot of weight.
I feel like a different person to what I did

[Delta Whiskey]

The Paul McKenna Diet is interesting, it boils down to this:
Eat only when you are feeling hungry (drink some water first to see if it really is hunger). If you are really hungry eat whatever you want, but put your fork down after each mouthful, chew slowly and savor everything.

The one thing I've learned is you mustn't crash diet, aim to lose a maximum of 2lbs per week. Anything more than that is not fat loss but lean muscle loss, you're body goes into starvation mode and starts storing fat, the very opposite of what you're trying to achieve.

DW

[andygrif]

I can say what worked for me.... be anal about the amount of fat you eat to lose weight. I lost a stone a month over two months. I was manic, even rejecting low-fat margarine (which isn't low fat really at 20% fat) in favour of Philadelphia Extra Light, used instead of marg (4% fat).

What I didn't change much was sugar intake...I continued to drink coffee with Semi Skimmed milk, not skimmed, and I still put a teaspoon of sugar in.

The other thing that kept me sane was a treat once a week - usually a take away, but not going mad...chinese with boiled rice etc.

I went back to eating normally (although a lot less, as my stomach had shrunk) at the end of the two months, and I have not put the weight back on - that was five years ago. And I'm no health freak...I don't exercise that much and I often eat junk food due to my lack of time to cook.

Here's a typcial day's intake:

Breakfast - Cereal bar - <1g fat.
Lunch - Sandwhich (usually chicken or ham salad) - 6g fat (inc bread)
Dinner - Approx 10-15g fat.

Given that they suggest you intake 70g a day (for a man) for weightloss, this is obviously quite a lot less, but I rarely got very hungry, and if I did I ate some fruit or one of those zero fat crispbake things.

Good luck to those who are trying now.

imm addicted to philli xl

[Maggy J]

Originally Posted by Pia

You skinny people make it sound so easy

Ok Pia please tell me or pm me your weight,height,age and dress size and we will see who is truly fat..I supect that it isn't you.

[Pia]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Ok Pia please tell me or pm me your weight,height,age and dress size and we will see who is truly fat..I supect that it isn't you.

lol well i've seen bigger people, but i'm still overweight!

Then again, i can't be bothered to start on a diet, and actually thinking about what i eat cos i don't eat excessively as it is so i'll accept being a stone or so overweight for now

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by Pia

You skinny people make it sound so easy

[Alien]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

It is that simple. www.fitday.com will give you a figure that is your burnt calories per day.

Hmm... I just had a quick look, & it does look interesting, I may even give it a go some time soon. I like that they have a bit of software for a low 1-time fee, though I'd like it more if there was a [for example] 30 day trial of it, but considering the price & the exchange rate I guess it's not so bad.

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

At 23 stone my body was burning well over 3000 calories a day and the heavier you are the more energy your body needs to literally do nothing. So by consuming 1500 calories a day I was burning 1500 a day in fat . 4000 calories = 1 lb of fat so in about 2 and half days id lost a lb.

That's the prob I have with the calorie part of my treadmill's computer, it doesn't ask for height, weight, or age, just gives a reading based on time & speed. Last nite it reported I'd burnt 321 [86+235*] calories, although if I understand the way things work correctly it'd be a bit more than that.

*I say that because I initially set it for 1.5k [you can set a countdown alarm type thing for time, distance, or calories], but after about 16mins/1k I decided I was gonna go for a full hour, but to change the countdown thingy you have to reset it. I set it for another 44 mins, but to do that I had to reset it which clears everything. The problem with that is, IIRC, the rate at which calories are burnt goes up after about 20 mins.

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

My breakfast.. Every day I have a smoothie. In the summer I just blend fresh fruit and drink it about a pint. This will provide a good carb load and kick start the body on a daily basis. Over the winter ive adapted it. Basically I cook the fruit. An Apple a Pear a banana some strawberries cooked in the microwave for 5 mins and then blended . This is very nice

I've considered the idea of smoothies, but I don't think I could hack it. I'm very much a creature of habit, so if I change anything it has to be bits at a time. For years now my breakfast has always been a mug of orange juice, some form of cereal or whatever, & a coffee. It used to be cornflakes with milk & sugar, but now it's Oatso Simple [plain, not 1 of the flavoured varieties], made with water instead of milk, & a dollup of honey.

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Lunches . Well a salad obviously is a good choice but a couple of slices of toast or a low fat soup would be fine.

No wonder you lost weight so fast.! I like a salad now & then [with salad cream, of course ], but my "lunch" [to me, lunch carries with it an implication of a time of day as well, & with me it can vary widely] consists of sandwiches [1x marmite, 1x peanut butter, & 1x mashed banana], a pack of crisps, & a cup of tea. I used to have blackcurrant jam instead of banana, but that's like 60% sugar, & mashed banana is fairly sweet anyway, so I figure the banana's better. Oh, also, I don't have marge or butter in my sarnies - it's just bread & the filling, marge seems to spoil the taste of the filling for me.

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Dinners. I basically buy large amounts of boneless skinless chicken breasts and freeze it in 300 - 400 gram bags . I cook a portion of this in either a weightwatchers soup or Asda low fat varients with a few mushrooms onions or anything you fancy. The soups make these meals although similar but taste totally different so you do not get bored,just simmer in a pan till all is cooked simple and serve with a small amount of rice or pasta.

Dinner is my failing point, sort of. Remember what you said about missing meals & the metabolic rate? Well, I sometimes miss my evening meal, so that's probably played a part in my weight gain, so I'm trying a bit harder with that. Usually I have a couple of vegetarian "vegetable quarter pounders", mash & 225g of Tesco Special mixed veg.

As for the veggie burgers, I was having the Tesco ones, but the Co-op near me recently started doing a brand called Grassingtons, which taste pretty much the same, but are made with sunflower oil instead of HVO [hydrogenated vegetable oil], which is what the Tesco ones have]. Anyone wanting to lose weight should try to reduce the amount of HVO they consume. If you don't want to miss out on a particular food item, just find a brand that uses normal vegetable, sunflower, etc oil instead of HVO.

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Snacks. Fruit as much as you want I also bought the low fat asda desserts or weightwatchers. Skinny cow ice creams are all less than 100 cals per treat and they are a treat very nice,Eat a few dont feel guilty

I generally tend to avoid treats, & actually manage it about 1/2 the time.

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

The worst thing you can do is repress yourself if you do you will fail you will crave foods and eventually you will crash and burn so if you fancy a treat have a treat just make sure you have healthy goodies in the house and reduce the amount of high fat high calorie treats in the house.

As long as I don't go shopping when I'm hungry [always a bad idea if it can be avoided], I usually manage to avoid buying things I shouldn't [like those sinfully gorgeous little chocolate pudding things they do in the Co-op - 250 calories each! ].

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

I have not mentioned exercise I deliberately didnt because a lot of people just do not want to do any. If you do then of course it will help but simple steps can be made walk a bit more use steps instead of lifts this will make a difference. Good luck to anyone wanting to lose weight . I can tell you once you cut out the rubbish in your diet you will feel so much better even without having lost a lot of weight.
I feel like a different person to what I did

I'm not really an outdoor sort of person, which is why having the treadmill helps, as I can just have the lights low [me & bright light do not mix well], music on, let my eyes go out of focus & just sort of put my brain on auto-pilot.

Originally Posted by Delta Whiskey

The one thing I've learned is you mustn't crash diet, aim to lose a maximum of 2lbs per week. Anything more than that is not fat loss but lean muscle loss, you're body goes into starvation mode and starts storing fat, the very opposite of what you're trying to achieve.

I'd like to lose more than 2 pounds a week, but I'm aiming to do it from exercise, not dieting.

Originally Posted by andygrif

I can say what worked for me.... be anal about the amount of fat you eat to lose weight.

That reminds me of a joke about a monkey who used to eat anything, but became a bit more cautious after eating a pool ball.

Originally Posted by andygrif

What I didn't change much was sugar intake...I continued to drink coffee with Semi Skimmed milk, not skimmed, and I still put a teaspoon of sugar in.

Yeah, I couldn't have my coffee without sugar. Also, I don't use milk, I use a slightly-less-than-heaped teaspoon of Coffeemate.

Originally Posted by andygrif

The other thing that kept me sane was a treat once a week - usually a take away, but not going mad...chinese with boiled rice etc.

I'm kinda the opposite in a weird sort of way. I don't usually need treats [unless I'm having a really bad day], but rely more on having the stuff I normally eat - if I forget to get something from the shops, or run out, then that can tend to throw my discipline out of the window.

Originally Posted by Pia

lol well i've seen bigger people, but i'm still overweight!

Then again, i can't be bothered to start on a diet, and actually thinking about what i eat cos i don't eat excessively as it is so i'll accept being a stone or so overweight for now

You're moaning about those "skinny people" and you're only a stone over weight?!?! Why I oughta.... Flippin' cheek!

[peanut]

I'm 35 years old, (male), 5ft10in and I weigh just over 8st on a good day. I'd love to be able to put weight on and 'look' a bit healthier. I have to eat just to stay visable (and alive).

Being overweight a few pounds here and there is fine, When people moan becuase the are over weigth by a pound or two is just being stupid.

I sympathise with people on the opposite scale of myself, that have to watch every single thing they eat, that must be a nightmare.

Drink plenty of water, it works wonders!

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by peanutkp

I'm 35 years old, (male), 5ft10in and I weigh just over 8st on a good day. I'd love to be able to put weight on and 'look' a bit healthier. I have to eat just to stay visable (and alive).

Being overweight a few pounds here and there is fine, When people moan becuase the are over weigth by a pound or two is just being stupid.

I sympathise with people on the opposite scale of myself, that have to watch every single thing they eat, that must be a nightmare.

You could always try 'eating' a milkshake