Diet, Exercise and Weight loss - help!
- Thread starter dwv
- Start date
Instead of the bread why not have something like rice crackers (the large ones) with cottage cheese or smoked salmon?
1200 calories is waaayy too low, especially given what you've come off of.
Boost your veggie intake, maybe instead of yoghurt have some veggie soup or some cut raw carrot, celery, capsicum.
Cut out the sugar at breakfast, also have a look at your "diet" yoghurt - how much sugar (or sugar substitute) is in it? Only yoghurt on the market that is unsweetened are the jalna biodynamic and some of the plain/greek style ones (others have some form of sweetener in them).
You will have plateaus throughout - it's a chance for your body to adjust to what you're doing. Don't be disheartened by them.
Also have you been to your Dr about this? They can most likely provide a good indicator of how to step down your calories correctly.
1200 calories is waaayy too low, especially given what you've come off of.
Boost your veggie intake, maybe instead of yoghurt have some veggie soup or some cut raw carrot, celery, capsicum.
Cut out the sugar at breakfast, also have a look at your "diet" yoghurt - how much sugar (or sugar substitute) is in it? Only yoghurt on the market that is unsweetened are the jalna biodynamic and some of the plain/greek style ones (others have some form of sweetener in them).
You will have plateaus throughout - it's a chance for your body to adjust to what you're doing. Don't be disheartened by them.
Also have you been to your Dr about this? They can most likely provide a good indicator of how to step down your calories correctly.
I think my 5yo niece would starve on that diet let alone a grown man.
I am less qualified in giving dietary advice than I am in exercise advice, but I believe that isn't enough to keep you going day to day.
It sounds reasonably healthy (minus the sugars and depends what type of bread your eating) but I don't think it is enough and I believe it wouldn't be sustainable long term.
I think it would be good idea to review that diet.
WW have no special meals to eat. I know there are a lot of products out there with the company name on them, but you don't have to buy ANY of them. They are there to provide alternatives for people (and of course make a little money
). There are heaps of recipe books, or you can convert your old recipies and make them healthier or find out the points values of them. Basically you can eat whatever you want so long as you stick to your daily points allowance worth of food. (I'm actually having KFC for dinner tonight, after I attend a work meetin ). It really is about moderation and keeping yourself accountable.Regardless, I wish you luck with this, It sounds as if you are trying to do things sensibly.
One thing I have observed through my work is the different ways men and women target weightloss. Women tend to focu on the food and forget the exercise, whilst men tend to focus on the exercise and forget the food. The truth is you need to focus on both. Also if you are doing HUGE amounts of exercise you will need to eat more, to sustain your body and maintain your weightloss. I have had members who have been training for marathons who have had to eat nearly 2 times to amount of food as other members the same weight, height and age - because otherwise their body stops functioning properly and they can actually stop loosing weight.
Weight bearing exercise is impportant. Muscle burns kj's at a faster rate then fat does (it also looks nicer). But Cardio workouts are best for fitness and weightloss as a general rule (Heartrate should be around 60%), because it burns fat more efficently and gets the heart, lungs and circulation going properly. But when it comes down to it, so long as you are doing any kind of exercise you are on the right track.
I've removed cakes, fruit juices/softdrinks, rice, 2-3 coffee + creme + sugar, cups of rice, chips and chocolates from my daily diet so I think the 1/2 tbsp sugar and the sugar from the yoghurt is enough at the moment to to ease my craving.
. I eat wholemeal or multi-grain bread...Hi DWV, I work in the field and am interested in what professional advice you have sought to date. I'd also be interested in where the 2500-3000 Cal intake and 1200 recommendation came from. I'd also be interested to know if anyone has worked out your average daily energy expenditure.
Some points.
Protein
While it is true for many people who have struggled with weight, that higher portions of protein help them feel satiated for longer, higher protein invariably means more animal sourced food (flesh, dairy, eggs).
Unfortunately, this type of food has a strong positive correlation with cardiovascular disease. Even if you go for lean cuts, the latest scientifically based recommendation is that anything over 300g a week of red meat significantly increases risk of c-v disease and certain cancers.
Carbs
Atkins and segments of the bodybuilding and fitness industry have extreme views about carbs. I have had many clients put on next to no carbs by personal trainers and body builders, only to have dramatic loss of energy within 4-8 weeks. Much of the wt loss benefit of extremely low carbs is that this depletes the body's glycogen stores. And glycogen stores bond to 3-4 times their weight in water, ergo a v. low carb diet will make you lose weight in the early stages, but much of it is water, not fat.
Nevertheless, it is true most of us eat too many carbs....and really I should be saying starchy carbs (grain based stuff like pasta, rice, bread). carbs include fruits (simple carbs) and vegetables (fibrous carbs) and these are the best diet food. So it is a good thing to cut back on your rice intake, but not to exclude it altogether.
Why do we overeat starch? they are a substrate for serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain. low levels make us feel depressed/unhappy. a hit of starch makes us feel better for a bit. but big hits of starch can also crash our blood sugar and have us craving more 1-2 hours later.
Fibrous Carbs
Perhaps the most important principle of safe and comfortable weight loss is to increase your intake of veges and salad, (and water). These have much more bulk per Calorie, and lead to a sense of fullness before you overeat. Further, they trickle feed glucose to the blood stream over 2-4 hours, thus avoiding sugar swings which trigger appetite. Apart from that, vege have essential vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants that cannot be attained elsewhere.
Simple Carbs
Many advocate not eating fruit on a diet, but unless you are pre-diabetic whole fruit (not juice) is fine. Some fruits have much higher sugar content, and these are better avoided. Berries and melons generally have less sugar per gram, whereas bananas have amongst the highest sugar content.
Low Carb Diet Success
The success of these diets is often attributable to factors not openly acknowledged by their proponents.
Firstly, decreasing starch is a good thing but that doesn't mean dropping it to extremes is a better thing.
Secondly, the satiation and stable blood sugar one feels on low carb diets is often more a result of upping one's intake of fibrous carbohydrates, increased water, and increased activity levels......success is not necessarily due primarily to the larger serve of protein and fat.
Exercise
You will struggle to burn off Calories by exercise alone. Your diet will be responsible for 80-90% of your weight loss success. For each cup of cooked rice you eat, you will have to walk very fast for 40 minutes, which will be about 4km.
Energy Dense Nutrient Poor Foods
This table shows how there's no place for convenience foods when trying to lose weight.
You really do have to go back to the foods your grandparents ate, but less of them if you aren't doing the same degree of manual work they probably did.
Energy Intake/Expenditure
Finally, it helps heaps to know how many Calories you burn. The pic below is of a spreadsheet I use to measure this for athletes. Am happy to share it with you if you PM me.
Finally, I'd recommend you read the diet program of one the world's foremost authorities on diet and health, Dean Ornish, in a book called The Spectrum
Some points.
Protein
While it is true for many people who have struggled with weight, that higher portions of protein help them feel satiated for longer, higher protein invariably means more animal sourced food (flesh, dairy, eggs).
Unfortunately, this type of food has a strong positive correlation with cardiovascular disease. Even if you go for lean cuts, the latest scientifically based recommendation is that anything over 300g a week of red meat significantly increases risk of c-v disease and certain cancers.
Carbs
Atkins and segments of the bodybuilding and fitness industry have extreme views about carbs. I have had many clients put on next to no carbs by personal trainers and body builders, only to have dramatic loss of energy within 4-8 weeks. Much of the wt loss benefit of extremely low carbs is that this depletes the body's glycogen stores. And glycogen stores bond to 3-4 times their weight in water, ergo a v. low carb diet will make you lose weight in the early stages, but much of it is water, not fat.
Nevertheless, it is true most of us eat too many carbs....and really I should be saying starchy carbs (grain based stuff like pasta, rice, bread). carbs include fruits (simple carbs) and vegetables (fibrous carbs) and these are the best diet food. So it is a good thing to cut back on your rice intake, but not to exclude it altogether.
Why do we overeat starch? they are a substrate for serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain. low levels make us feel depressed/unhappy. a hit of starch makes us feel better for a bit. but big hits of starch can also crash our blood sugar and have us craving more 1-2 hours later.
Fibrous Carbs
Perhaps the most important principle of safe and comfortable weight loss is to increase your intake of veges and salad, (and water). These have much more bulk per Calorie, and lead to a sense of fullness before you overeat. Further, they trickle feed glucose to the blood stream over 2-4 hours, thus avoiding sugar swings which trigger appetite. Apart from that, vege have essential vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants that cannot be attained elsewhere.
Simple Carbs
Many advocate not eating fruit on a diet, but unless you are pre-diabetic whole fruit (not juice) is fine. Some fruits have much higher sugar content, and these are better avoided. Berries and melons generally have less sugar per gram, whereas bananas have amongst the highest sugar content.
Low Carb Diet Success
The success of these diets is often attributable to factors not openly acknowledged by their proponents.
Firstly, decreasing starch is a good thing but that doesn't mean dropping it to extremes is a better thing.
Secondly, the satiation and stable blood sugar one feels on low carb diets is often more a result of upping one's intake of fibrous carbohydrates, increased water, and increased activity levels......success is not necessarily due primarily to the larger serve of protein and fat.
Exercise
You will struggle to burn off Calories by exercise alone. Your diet will be responsible for 80-90% of your weight loss success. For each cup of cooked rice you eat, you will have to walk very fast for 40 minutes, which will be about 4km.
Energy Dense Nutrient Poor Foods
This table shows how there's no place for convenience foods when trying to lose weight.
You really do have to go back to the foods your grandparents ate, but less of them if you aren't doing the same degree of manual work they probably did.
Energy Intake/Expenditure
Finally, it helps heaps to know how many Calories you burn. The pic below is of a spreadsheet I use to measure this for athletes. Am happy to share it with you if you PM me.
Finally, I'd recommend you read the diet program of one the world's foremost authorities on diet and health, Dean Ornish, in a book called The Spectrum
want my advice? stop counting calories.
I used to be 85+kg and 34 waist (i am 183cm) with no muscle. If you starve yourself count every last grain of sugar then you are not going to enjoy weight loss and will probably find it all to hard.
Before you eat something ask yourself, "Do i really want to eat this?"
Start doing some solid weights training the more muscle you have the more your body will burn even in rest state, and the best part is you feel better when you go to do tasks and can actually do them.
Try interval training at 100kg plus you probably won't be able to sprint but go for a brisk walk for 5 minutes, then as fast of a jog as you can maintain for 30 seconds, then brisk walk for a minute 30, then repeat the jog. Your end state is to aim for replacing the word jog with sprint and brisk walk with jog. When i do intervals i just want to eat and eat the next day my body loves the kick start, i just make sure i have some good solid stuff to go back in rather than packs of chips from the vending machine.
Eating
I aim to eat unprocessed, sugar and fat light, protien heavy and raw carbs in moderation. This is what i get to eat on a daily basis.
Morning oats with a tri slow release protien poweder
Snack Kiwi Fruit
Lunch salad and tuna or canned chicken
Snack Banana
Snack Tuna or canned chicken
Red meat, chicken or fish
(this part is great yesterday i had manga/tomato salsa over 300+ gram blue grenadiar, day before was a nice T-Bone) I try and eat dinner earlier and have a small snack of some chili mix or a protien shake closer to dinner.
Maybe another protien shake if i am hungry before bed.
If i work out i will normally sandwich a protien shake which ever side the meal isn't.
I used to be 85+kg and 34 waist (i am 183cm) with no muscle. If you starve yourself count every last grain of sugar then you are not going to enjoy weight loss and will probably find it all to hard.
Before you eat something ask yourself, "Do i really want to eat this?"
Start doing some solid weights training the more muscle you have the more your body will burn even in rest state, and the best part is you feel better when you go to do tasks and can actually do them.
Try interval training at 100kg plus you probably won't be able to sprint but go for a brisk walk for 5 minutes, then as fast of a jog as you can maintain for 30 seconds, then brisk walk for a minute 30, then repeat the jog. Your end state is to aim for replacing the word jog with sprint and brisk walk with jog. When i do intervals i just want to eat and eat the next day my body loves the kick start, i just make sure i have some good solid stuff to go back in rather than packs of chips from the vending machine.
Eating
I aim to eat unprocessed, sugar and fat light, protien heavy and raw carbs in moderation. This is what i get to eat on a daily basis.
Morning oats with a tri slow release protien poweder
Snack Kiwi Fruit
Lunch salad and tuna or canned chicken
Snack Banana
Snack Tuna or canned chicken
Red meat, chicken or fish
(this part is great yesterday i had manga/tomato salsa over 300+ gram blue grenadiar, day before was a nice T-Bone
) I try and eat dinner earlier and have a small snack of some chili mix or a protien shake closer to dinner.Maybe another protien shake if i am hungry before bed.
If i work out i will normally sandwich a protien shake which ever side the meal isn't.
Your carbs, other than the oats, are either too starchy or have too much sugar. A slice of bread and a carrot for a snack is not the best. A general rule of thumb is to have protein with EVERY meal/snack. Increase the protein amounts for lunch and dinner. For breakfast maybe include an omelet as well - 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg. Add some salsa for taste - YUM.
If you have rice, don't have a piece of friut as well. Just have 1 source of carbs per meal and vegies.
For yoghurt get the yoplait fat free yogurt. Each tub has less than 10g of carbs. Definately have apples over bananas. Other good fruits are berrys, melons and pears. Don;t forget to add legumes to your diet. Along with lean protein (not processed) and vegies this meal combination releases energy slowly and keeps you full for ages. Having a slice of bread and a carrot (i hope the bread is wholemeal) will make you hungry within 90 mins! Your cholesterol will go done automatically.
Get some lean turkey breast from a butcher. Goes great in a sandwich if bread is a must for you.
Substitute sweeter for sugar.
I've removed cakes, fruit juices/softdrinks, rice, 2-3 coffee + creme + sugar, cups of rice, chips and chocolates from my daily diet so I think the 1/2 tbsp sugar and the sugar from the yoghurt is enough at the moment to to ease my craving.
I feel your pain
I too have a sweet tooth and crave sugar. But as my wife keeps reminding me you also have to account for all the natural sugars in the fruit you eat as it all adds up. . The 1/2 teaspoon of sugar probably is ok, but your portions of protiens, carbohydrates, vegetables and sugars need adjusting I would think. As you learn and gain knowledge about your nutritional needs adjust your diet accordingly.
When I started looking at what I was eating I found that I had very little knowledge about what was a healthy nutritious diet. The more I question and ask for advice from those with experience the better my diet gets. I got most of my knowledge from books and friends who are health/sport nuts.
You are on the right track. Just keep at it the more you work at it the more you will learn and the better your body and mind will feel.
Someone mentioned visiting the GP to get feed back and advice, most good GP's will also be able to recommend other resources such as nutritional advice.
The following is what I have personally done to lose weight, although not everyone is the same, I think you will see results;
Cut out bread altogether for about a month...
Cut out wheat altogether for about a month...
Limit dairy intake...I changed to soy and have not looked back!
Get yourself a good Pea protein isolate powder and have it twice a day as two separate meals. Maybe once for morning tea with an apple, and then at about 3 in the arvo with a small handful of almonds as afternoon tea.
Make sure you have 6 small meals per day, small portions, with lean protein, carbs and fats all represented in every meal, as well as plenty of vegies, eat as many of them as you can. At the start of this process, you will feel like you are forever shoving food into your mouth, and should not feel hungry.
To get rid of fat the most efficient way, as others have mentioned, you need to do a combination of weight training and cardio. Running is the best cardio there is, thats why it is so hard to do at the beginning. Start slowly and work your way up. Just make sure you stick with it and you will see results, definately!
If you are after something with less impact, try swimming laps or riding your bike. Even better - join a triathlon club and strain in a squad, you will be suprised how training with othere helps as it can sometimes keep your mind off the pain you are putting yourself through!
I'm also a fan of having a day off every week that I can eat whatever I want (usually pizza - the best food in the world!)
It is important to make your changes in diet and exercise sustainable, otherwise more often than not, you will just go back to your old ways.
Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!
Boods
Cut out bread altogether for about a month...
Cut out wheat altogether for about a month...
Limit dairy intake...I changed to soy and have not looked back!
Get yourself a good Pea protein isolate powder and have it twice a day as two separate meals. Maybe once for morning tea with an apple, and then at about 3 in the arvo with a small handful of almonds as afternoon tea.
Make sure you have 6 small meals per day, small portions, with lean protein, carbs and fats all represented in every meal, as well as plenty of vegies, eat as many of them as you can. At the start of this process, you will feel like you are forever shoving food into your mouth, and should not feel hungry.
To get rid of fat the most efficient way, as others have mentioned, you need to do a combination of weight training and cardio. Running is the best cardio there is, thats why it is so hard to do at the beginning. Start slowly and work your way up. Just make sure you stick with it and you will see results, definately!
If you are after something with less impact, try swimming laps or riding your bike. Even better - join a triathlon club and strain in a squad, you will be suprised how training with othere helps as it can sometimes keep your mind off the pain you are putting yourself through!
I'm also a fan of having a day off every week that I can eat whatever I want (usually pizza - the best food in the world!)
It is important to make your changes in diet and exercise sustainable, otherwise more often than not, you will just go back to your old ways.
Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!
Boods
I'd assume you didn't get fat fast, so why the need to loose the fat at a much faster rate than you gained it?
To lose 20kg in 8 months is 866g/week, I would be a little more conservative and just go for 500g/week, otherwise you would most likely be losing more than just fat alone, and you can't afford to lose any muscle mass as it's unlikely you have much right now to start off with.
Hit the weights, heavy compound movements to build some muscle mass.
With good diet, heavy training with some cardio will deliver a great body recomposition, but don't try to go too fast or you will fail.
To lose 20kg in 8 months is 866g/week, I would be a little more conservative and just go for 500g/week, otherwise you would most likely be losing more than just fat alone, and you can't afford to lose any muscle mass as it's unlikely you have much right now to start off with.
Hit the weights, heavy compound movements to build some muscle mass.
With good diet, heavy training with some cardio will deliver a great body recomposition, but don't try to go too fast or you will fail.
Hah. I'm gaining weight but trying to limit it to 1kg a month. I'm basically eating exactly what I feel like, which runs kinda:
breakfast:
2 weetbix, fullcream milk, large pile of fresh fruit on top (currently figs)
Without the fruit I am ravenous by 10am and need a major snack in between breakfast and morning tea snack.
snack:
Handful of nuts or more fruit or cheese on crackers or or a boiled egg or a homemade muffin
lunch:
Usually leftover dinner. Otherwise, cheese and tomato on toast, or sardines (in spring water, + salt, pepper, lemon) on toast, or a fried/poached egg on toast. Seeing a theme here? Go easy on the cheese or go fetta or something if you're anti-fat.
snack: same as morning tea time. And again late afternoon if lunch was too small. Mmmmm muffins.
Dinner:
pasta or rice or mashed potato with
some kind of meat product, not the largest component of your meal though with
large blob of salad or veggies
snack: chocolate. Or muffins. Or both.
You might want to skip the snacks and regular cheeses and full cream milk if you're not me
I think the key is just to not eat ridiculously fatty foods and adjust serving sizes to hunger levels. Eat slow. Don't eat too much. I'm quite happy I've 'only' gained 8kg ... problem is now all my normal clothes are too small and all my fat clothes are too big *sigh*
breakfast:
2 weetbix, fullcream milk, large pile of fresh fruit on top (currently figs)
Without the fruit I am ravenous by 10am and need a major snack in between breakfast and morning tea snack.
snack:
Handful of nuts or more fruit or cheese on crackers or or a boiled egg or a homemade muffin
lunch:
Usually leftover dinner. Otherwise, cheese and tomato on toast, or sardines (in spring water, + salt, pepper, lemon) on toast, or a fried/poached egg on toast. Seeing a theme here? Go easy on the cheese or go fetta or something if you're anti-fat.
snack: same as morning tea time. And again late afternoon if lunch was too small. Mmmmm muffins.
Dinner:
pasta or rice or mashed potato with
some kind of meat product, not the largest component of your meal though with
large blob of salad or veggies
snack: chocolate. Or muffins. Or both.
You might want to skip the snacks and regular cheeses and full cream milk if you're not me
I think the key is just to not eat ridiculously fatty foods and adjust serving sizes to hunger levels. Eat slow. Don't eat too much. I'm quite happy I've 'only' gained 8kg ... problem is now all my normal clothes are too small and all my fat clothes are too big *sigh*
http://www.bodyweightculture.com/
Stop wasting time and money at the gym. Also, forget all the high carb/low carb/Atkins/lemon juice/blah blah blah diet nonsense. Eat sensibly. Use common sense when doing the grocery shopping.
Losing weight and getting healthy is not rocket science. Be smart about what you put in your body. Also, be patient about losing the gut. It's going to take a while.
Also, have a read of this guys' blog. The free stuff is good, but you have to pay to get the really good stuff. I haven't paid for content yet, but what he says makes sense.
Have a look at this guy - he's 72.
Have a read of this. Some fairly simple, yet common sense tips.
http://www.arthurdevany.com/categories/20091025?
Stop wasting time and money at the gym. Also, forget all the high carb/low carb/Atkins/lemon juice/blah blah blah diet nonsense. Eat sensibly. Use common sense when doing the grocery shopping.
Losing weight and getting healthy is not rocket science. Be smart about what you put in your body. Also, be patient about losing the gut. It's going to take a while.
Also, have a read of this guys' blog. The free stuff is good, but you have to pay to get the really good stuff. I haven't paid for content yet, but what he says makes sense.
Have a look at this guy - he's 72.
Have a read of this. Some fairly simple, yet common sense tips.
http://www.arthurdevany.com/categories/20091025?
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Oh, bragging are we?
I'm a good do-er, like dwv. At least I'll go to my grave knowing that out of the last million years, I was genetically superior to all youse skinny runts for 999,900 of those years. All that time of famine and death and disease and hunting and gathering the very last scerics and crumbs of something to eat, and us good do-ers would have survived and been the right size, and mated and passed on our superior genes, and all you skinny runts would have perished due to your inefficient metabolisms and who would have cared anyways cause youse were genetically inferior.
Does a farmer keep a skinny bull? No. Get rid of them, they're no good.
So you skinnys with the inefficient metabolisms and inferior genes wait till now to be born, the last 100 years of unlimited food, fast food, restaurants, all you can eats smorgasbords, macca's, remote controls and TV's and cars and you skinnys think youse are so flippen good. Your lucky to even be here, imagine if you were born in the other 999,900 years? Eat all you want and stay the right size, and us good do-ers get all fat. It's just luck, that's all it is.
See ya's.
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hi james,
ok, i'll keep that in mind. maybe today will be may cheat day... my friend invited me to their place for his wifes bday party.
i will test my will tonight. i'll eat but i'll watch the portions and pick sensibly. Hi Winston,
Thanks for your input... I haven't read all of it but for sure I'll have a read tomorrow. As for professional advice, I haven't got any
. I just decided to reduce after my annual check-up... I have high blood pressure, cholesterol, uric acid and fatty liver . I only read from the internet but I realised that 1200 is too low and others have confirmed it. Previously, I gorge on sweets and meat... they were a bit lean but the potions were huge.I'll see my doctor again in 2 weeks to have another check-up but I'll ask his advice regarding my diet this time.
