2014-2015 Slimming Thread

As I had my photo taken today I thought I could at last post a before and after. I still have more weight to lose, but I am just over my 80kg target for the end of September and still hope to make it in time - just. A 60 mile bike ride tomorrow should help finish the job for this month.

Here is a photo from July last year and another from today....

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My final weight will lie somewhere between 70-80kg, probably about 75kg as a fair guess, but I'll go as far as I need to until the blubber is gone.

EDIT - I actually hit my 80kg September target this morning (28/09) and then went for a 65 mile (3200 calories) bike ride. Spookily I still weighed 80kg when I got back. Fingers crossed that some weight disappears overnight.
 
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Down to 77kg by the end of October, completing 40kg lost since April and this morning set my 6th PB in seven Parkruns to date, shaving 1:10 off my previous PB and missing the 30 minute mark by just six seconds.

Unfortunately, despite beating high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol through diet and exercise, I have now been diagnosed as anaemic, which might help explain my poor running performance to date. Iron and folic acid levels are good, so cause currently unknown. More blood tests taken last week with result to follow in a week or so. Weight loss to continue, gradually.
 
Nice work mate. If you've lost that much in that amount of time, you've restricted your calories significantly. You probably haven't been getting your optimum daily requirement of B12, which can cause an anaemic state. You should have been finding yourself quite tired for no apparent reason I would imagine?

Try supplementing with some B-complex vitamins for the time you intend on staying low in calories.

You might find that to be the cause...
 
Thanks for the tip, Phil. B12 is folate, for which the doc said my levels were good, along with my iron levels. Maybe it was folate the doc mentioned rather than folic acid I stated above.

I take a double dose daily of multi-vitamins and minerals, as well as what I would consider to be a good diet. The vitamin tablets alone give me 80% of B12 RDA and 200% of iron. Current daily calorie target is 1660, which is equal to my current BMR and the highest target since starting dieting and will be revised downwards with further weight loss. That way any activity at all beyond lying down should in theory secure further weight loss, but at a more modest rate than previous months. Of course, calorie targets, just like speed limits, might not always be adhered to. ;-) However, I closely monitor calories out as well as in, so I am in control of the overall calorie balance. A weekly 2,500 calorie bike ride, plus daily dog walks and my weekly Parkrun helps counter any occasional overindulgence.
 
Fair dos. I should obviously pay greater attention. I'm away all next week so won't get results for a while. Then I might at least get my facts straight. :-D
 
Should really post this in the fitness thread. My weight has crept up slightly from 79kg to 81kg. I've lost half an inch off around my waist. I'm regaining some of the muscle mass I lost. I found it embarrassing after all that weight loss that my mother could lift a 30kg sack of flour and I couldn't! After being at 1200kcals/day for so long, I struggled to eat more. Lifts are slowly improving.
 
I beat my 30 minute 5K target yesterday, setting my 7th PB out of 8 runs so far....

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Weight is hanging around the 78kg mark as I was on hols last week and took my eye off the ball a bit, diet wise, and didn't exercise during the week. Now I'm back home I'm back in control again and expecting to resume the gradual weight loss.

Today I cycled a little over 50 miles, but my improved fitness means the calorie burn rate is decreasing and I only burned 1900 calories, less than 40 per mile. It was more like 50 per mile a couple of weeks back. All in all I'm quite happy with the way things are going regarding weight and fitness.

Not too sure about the blood tests though. The doc wants to see me, but my appointment is not until the 18th.
 
Well 2014 didn't pan out the way I planned in terms of fitness/weight loss.......

When my daughter was born in June, I briefly dipped below the 15st mark, very nearly down to my optimum (well IMO anyway) weight of 14st 7lb - 14st 10lb.

Without using my daughter as an excuse, my whole routine of eating, sleeping and exercise changed. Whilst I did manage to keep a bit of a rein on the eating, sleeping & exercise took a hit.

Up until the beginning of December, I'd managed to keep under the 15st 7lb marke, however the scales are telling a different story now :( I'm a bit disappointed with myself but I'm in a better position than I was this time last year where I was over 16st.

So, cleaner eating starts today and I'm also going to start the Insanity workouts again. Not going to follow it completely as I like to spend time with my daughter when I get home from work so I'll be doing the 30min Fast & Furious workout as often as I can and then add in some of the full workouts when time permits.

My target weight remains the same as last year (14st 10lb) with anything less being a bonus!
 
Xmas took its toll on my waistline, with almost 6000 calories consumed on Christmas day. However, now the new year is upon us I've been righting my wrongs and weighed in this morning at 77.2kg. Mind you, I was only 75.6kg on Christmas Eve, so I still have work to, but I'm eating more and exercising harder, which is a more fun way of tackling the calorie balance.
 
I gained 4kg over the last three weeks. Time to reign in the diet and got back to what I was.
 
Lost over 3 stone over the last year or so and been maintaining very well.

But xmas has hurt lol. Put on some podge. Have to sort that out.
 
Mind if i join in?

I decided in September to seriously loose some weight, for the last few years i've been around 16.5 Stone but managed to go upto 17.8 :(

We have a free gym at work so using that everyday along with a low carb diet i managed to get down to 15 stone.

Hoping to get down to 14 as I'm getting married in June
 
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First time poster in this thread, I'm only fairly young at 31 but after a couple of minor knee ops I can no longer run for fitness and wanting to lose a bit of weight this year.

I'm just short of 13stone and my diet is the main problem, I don't pig out etc but my intake of fruit and veg is close to zero. I just don't enjoy the taste and textures of most of it.

So to correct this I bought myself a Nutribullet and since the turn of the year have had my 5 a day before 10am, I actually crave one on a morning. I buy frozen fruit and then mix it with different veg and a splash of fresh juice and I'm on my way to work with a pint of it, lovely!

I've also got my first ever road bike arriving next week, hoping that will be my main source of serious exercise this year, other than the golf I play.
 
The biking should be good for you with it being low impact.

With the diet the biggest difference I found was cutting down on the carbs
 
Rovers_Andy said:
The biking should be good for you with it being low impact.

With the diet the biggest difference I found was cutting down on the carbs
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I'm not massively overweight, just need to lose a bit so cutting carbs maybe a bit ott.

Don't know what I'd eat if I was to cut carbs tbh.
 
Just eat your carbs up up midday, then protein and veg in the evening
 
Hi Phil good point and being away for long periods with work i'm on an enforced diet, lots of steamed veg, grilled chicken and salad as the only other options are deep fried.....
 
Phil, whilst burning more calories a day than you consume will result in a weight loss there is a little more science behind it. OK if you just want to lose weight then that will work however if you don’t eat smart you’ll just end up losing muscle and not fat and I would think that most aim to lose the podge over muscle. Whilst you can keep it as simple as cals burned must be more than cals consumed this could end up with people becoming disappointed with their results.

It would be very simple to say that a high protein low carb life style would be best however every person is different and their bodies will respond differently to the same food intake. Each will have to discover which works best for them. MyFitnessPal is a very useful tool online if you are brutaly honest with your food intake and amount of / intensity of exercise you do each day. It not only counts cals but will give you a breakdown of ideal protein, carbs, sugar, sodium intake to meet your goals.

So whilst concentrating on calories to lose weight is important it is still also very important choosing what food types to get those calories from as your body metabolises different foods differently. For example if someone’s BMR is 1500cals per day they could eat 1400cals of crisps per day and lose weight. Would that be a good idea? Well they’re losing weight but not giving their bodies any of the nutrients that it needs and whilst they’re losing weight they’d maintain quite high fat levels. Fat is lost in the kitchen, toning muscle is done in the gym. If you don’t eat right you won’t get the fat levels down, you’ll just become a skinny fat person who inside is just as unhealthy as an all over fat person, they just don’t have the weight load on all of their joints and organs.
Body composition should be monitored as well as all out weight loss.
 
My weight loss success is down to careful monitoring of calories in and out as well as choosing healthy foods with a bias away from sugar/carbs/fat/salt and embracing protein and fresh fruit and steamed green veg. A typical day's consumption for me in diet mode during winter would be....

Breakfast - mixed porridge(30g), oat bran(30g) and bran flakes(30g) with skimmed milk (330g) and a cup of tea with skimmed milk (462 calories)
Lunch - tin of low salt and sugar baked beans, tinned tuna in spring water, banana, cup of tea with skimmed milk (609 calories)
Dinner - steamed salmon fillet (120g) or roast skinless chicken breast (150g) with 450g steamed broccoli, green cabbage and beans or asparagus, fat free yoghurt or an orange and a cup of tea (354 calories)

Total for the day = 1425 calories. Depending on your daily calorie target (2,000 calories for me now) this is either a complete day's food or makes a generous allowance for bigger portions, snacks like fresh fruit, nuts or more cups of tea. Tight calorie control was essential to my success.

Now I can afford the occasional indulgence, or even to depart the rails completely for a meal (e.g. all you can eat buffet or a dinner party), as I know that through exercise (~130 miles road biking per week plus dog walking five days a week) I can burn off any greedy treats and still build and maintain fitness and strength. Here are my riding stats for January....

JANUARY BY THE NUMBERS
NUMBER OF RIDES
TWENTY-FOUR (some days are split into three rides)
TOTAL TIME RIDING
1 DAY 20 HOURS
DISTANCE TRAVELED
529.7 MILES
AMOUNT CLIMBED
24,734 FEET
BURNED
31,924 CALORIES

That sort of burn rate means that I can now maintain weight without following a rigid diet. Nonetheless, I still eat healthy foods, count calories and weigh in most days to make sure I never lose sight of where I am and where I'm going. If the weight creeps up I fix it.
 
RoddersUK said:
Phil, whilst burning more calories a day than you consume will result in a weight loss there is a little more science behind it. OK if you just want to lose weight then that will work however if you don’t eat smart you’ll just end up losing muscle and not fat and I would think that most aim to lose the podge over muscle. Whilst you can keep it as simple as cals burned must be more than cals consumed this could end up with people becoming disappointed with their results.

It would be very simple to say that a high protein low carb life style would be best however every person is different and their bodies will respond differently to the same food intake. Each will have to discover which works best for them. MyFitnessPal is a very useful tool online if you are brutaly honest with your food intake and amount of / intensity of exercise you do each day. It not only counts cals but will give you a breakdown of ideal protein, carbs, sugar, sodium intake to meet your goals.

So whilst concentrating on calories to lose weight is important it is still also very important choosing what food types to get those calories from as your body metabolises different foods differently. For example if someone’s BMR is 1500cals per day they could eat 1400cals of crisps per day and lose weight. Would that be a good idea? Well they’re losing weight but not giving their bodies any of the nutrients that it needs and whilst they’re losing weight they’d maintain quite high fat levels. Fat is lost in the kitchen, toning muscle is done in the gym. If you don’t eat right you won’t get the fat levels down, you’ll just become a skinny fat person who inside is just as unhealthy as an all over fat person, they just don’t have the weight load on all of their joints and organs.
Body composition should be monitored as well as all out weight loss.
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Mark, I'm more than happy to discuss this science. I'm quite aware of all the modern thinking so I can guess where your thinking is and what you believe is the correct way to reduce body fat but before we do, let me put this real scenario to you...

Back in 2013, I wanted to expel some of this thinking with a diet derived solely from human anatomy & biochemistry. I hypothesized that I could reduce my body fat by 1.5%, each week, consistently whilst on a diet consisting of 80% carbohydrates, not excluding sugar & no exercise. In the 10 weeks that followed, I had reduced my body fat by approximately 13% and my lean body weight stayed the same. This was all measured with scales and a 7-site caliper test. Literally every pound I lost was fat. This contradicted modern thinking and even though the evidence was there, the ignorance that stems from hard belief was too much and few people would accept the results.

There is no argument from me about micro-nutrients and I would go so far as to say most weight loss diets will not supply optimum micro-nutrient requirement. If lean body weight is lost, it will be minimal to within a few KG's.

Like I said, happy to discuss the science you speak of if you want to but ultimately, it boils down to calories in calories out.
 
Just getting back in to the forum myself but I started losing weight at the start of April last year.

After finishing university and failing to get a job using my degree I ended up getting quite down. I ballooned up to a peak weight of 21st 1lb. Disgusting, I know.
As of this week I'm weighing in at 15st 2lb giving me a total loss of 5st 13lb in just under 10 months. I've still got a little way to go but overall I'm happy with the journey.

Now it's just time to re-focus myself on securing myself a career I am happy in and I'll be just about set.
We can all do it. But it just takes time.

Tom.
 
Just managed first 20km run tonight in 1hr 22mins 1112 Calories burnt, average hr 152, peak hr 167. If anyone had told me i could do 20km without stopping in September i would have laughed at them. Really can't believe i managed it!
 
Phil Young said:
Mark, I'm more than happy to discuss this science. I'm quite aware of all the modern thinking so I can guess where your thinking is and what you believe is the correct way to reduce body fat but before we do, let me put this real scenario to you...

Back in 2013, I wanted to expel some of this thinking with a diet derived solely from human anatomy & biochemistry. I hypothesized that I could reduce my body fat by 1.5%, each week, consistently whilst on a diet consisting of 80% carbohydrates, not excluding sugar & no exercise. In the 10 weeks that followed, I had reduced my body fat by approximately 13% and my lean body weight stayed the same. This was all measured with scales and a 7-site caliper test. Literally every pound I lost was fat. This contradicted modern thinking and even though the evidence was there, the ignorance that stems from hard belief was too much and few people would accept the results.

There is no argument from me about micro-nutrients and I would go so far as to say most weight loss diets will not supply optimum micro-nutrient requirement. If lean body weight is lost, it will be minimal to within a few KG's.

Like I said, happy to discuss the science you speak of if you want to but ultimately, it boils down to calories in calories out.
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Phil, would love to pick your brains about this as i'm determined to reduce not only my weight but body fat
 
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I lost about 5 stone over 3 years.....but then last year had lots of back trouble and my exercise stopped, my eating got worse, I got bigger, which led partly to being more depressed, so I ate more, got bigger, got more depressed - It's a viscous circle. I can exercise again now and walk every day, usually with my camera of course! What I mean is that I take my camera, not that my camera is my exercise buddy - That would just be weird. *grin* Last thing I need is advice on how to lose weight by the way. I just need to feel better about life and that gives me motivation. Ok that's my little story for you all to read while enjoying your eggs and toast this morning. :)
 
Cycling is my solution. I've had two bikes in the garage doing little for several years and last summer I joined a local cycling club for Sunday leisure rides. Since then I've joined another club for rides during the week and I will also go out alone. Typically I cycle over 100 miles per week and that exercise alone despatches around 5,000 calories or more per week. It's improved my social life, lost me weight, improved my fitness and shown me some lovely parts of the county I never knew existed. This coming Sunday I'm riding in a 75 mile timed event with some new chums. Six months ago I hadn't cycled anywhere for years.

Even if you are overweight, at least cycling is low impact and there is no pressure to ride at crazy speeds. Just get out there and enjoy living. Camera optional. :)

Edit : Today (17/2) was a beautiful, sunny day and it would have been rude not to pop out or a few training miles in preparation for Sunday's 75 miler.....

Cycling.JPG


Over 2,500 calories burned during the ride (plus a 2.5 mile walk as a warm down afterward) puts me on target for a total calorie burn of about 4,400 calories today. Nice!
 
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tdodd said:
Cycling is my solution. I've had two bikes in the garage doing little for several years and last summer I joined a local cycling club for Sunday leisure rides. Since then I've joined another club for rides during the week and I will also go out alone. Typically I cycle over 100 miles per week and that exercise alone despatches around 5,000 calories or more per week. It's improved my social life, lost me weight, improved my fitness and shown me some lovely parts of the county I never knew existed. This coming Sunday I'm riding in a 75 mile timed event with some new chums. Six months ago I hadn't cycled anywhere for years.

Even if you are overweight, at least cycling is low impact and there is no pressure to ride at crazy speeds. Just get out there and enjoy living. Camera optional. :)
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Hi Tim, I've been reading through the thread again after an aborted effort to get going myself previously and just wanted to say thanks for sharing it's truly inspirational to read.

I'm about 4 weeks back into starting and hope to make a good go of it this year. I've only lost 2kg so far but I'm quite pleased with that and I feel a lot better. Started at 96kg, just under 94kg now. Not sure how accurate my weighing machine is, but it has my BMI at 29. I think my ideal weight is around 75kg-80kg - I'm 40 this year.

For me, with two young children (aged 4 and 1) and an at times pressurised job meaning working quite a few nights from home, I was feeling fairly permanently tired. This led to drinking far too much coke and red bull at work and at home (I know...) and eating badly - sandwiches for breakfast, takeaways evenings late etc.

I've now cut out soft drinks entirely (bar a relapse yesterday and my first drinking night out for a while and a killer hangover). Having cereal for breakfast, just one sandwich for lunch instead of 2, and trying to get home in time for dinner with the kids who always have fresh healthy food.

Other than tonight generally going to bed earlier which in turn helps with the no soft drinks at work or home, and cycled to work week before last (was ill last week so could not) and will cycle again next week 4 days (only 6-7 miles each way though). Hope to start swimming also.

For me I need to tie working out with changing my diet - in a bizarre way psychologically I think I find it easier to eat better and control portions more when I know I am also exercising.

I will try and update as I go along.

Thanks Phil for starting the thread!
 
Akr. Keep going :) I Found it took me 2-3 weeks to stop craving sweets,chocolates,biscuits etc I also found my metabolism changed and I was able to still have some treats
 
Rovers_Andy said:
Akr. Keep going :) I Found it took me 2-3 weeks to stop craving sweets,chocolates,biscuits etc I also found my metabolism changed and I was able to still have some treats
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Thanks Andy. I've found my craving for soft drinks has now completely gone. I'm not ruling out treats as such completely my plan to start off with really is to rule out most of the 'bad food' I had and reduce on excess portions and then see where that leads me. I'm not going to stop the odd night out for now or anything else, but takeways will generally be offlimits and soft drinks will remain so.
 
I've been trying to lose some weight since mid January. I'm 6'2" and my post Christmas weight was 16 stone, I'm currently at 14 stone 11 pounds and I'd ultimately like to be down to about 14, perhaps a bit less. My technique thus far has been trying to generally eat better food at regular times (I never used to eat breakfast, meaning I'd get very hungry mid morning and snack on things like crisps, then also eat a lot for lunch), minimising carb intake and doing a lot of walking. It seems to be working well for me so far, mainly because I enjoy the walking and I don't necessarily limit myself in terms of food, I'll still often have a beer when I get home, etc. Cutting out the majority of carbs hasn't really effected me in any noticeable way, I don't tend to crave them.
 
Updated the title as I just spent ages looking for the 2015 thread hahaha

If I wanted a meal replacement shake for breakfast. What would be the best one for me to get? I really can't stand yoghurt or porridge and I struggle to get a breakfast in me. I just tried the H.erbalife trial and the shakes type concept really works for me.
 
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