*** Big Fat Weight Loss Thread ***

Soldato
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That’s a good achievement. I recall you were similar to me a while back but I’m still hovering around the 94kg mark.

I’ve not been good at all recently. Had an Indian on Sunday and a chicken kebab on naan tonight.

Also increased my drinking.


We’ve just booked a trip to Spain in late September so the wife is keen to get back on it after a few months of plateauing so will see how that goes.
 
Caporegime
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That’s a good achievement. I recall you were similar to me a while back but I’m still hovering around the 94kg mark.

I’ve not been good at all recently. Had an Indian on Sunday and a chicken kebab on naan tonight.

Also increased my drinking.

Thanks, I'm lucky that I'm not really bothered about alcohol. I love a good beer with my curry but they've been off the table as well. I'm letting myself have a once-a-month binge, which is next Wednesday, so I plan on having a lovely chicken tikka or something that night with a beer and ice cream.
 
Soldato
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Yeah we really cut down but it’s gone from once a month to once a week and now occasionally more than that!

The daft thing is we both notice it more in our energy levels etc too but laziness breeds laziness!

The issue my wife has is that I run a lot. On Saturday I did about 20 miles plus a few miles dog walking. So burnt around 4000 calories.

My wife doesn’t do that much but then gets caught up with me eating a lot!
 
Soldato
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Not really changed anything my end apart from dropping total intake from about 1800 to about 1600 kcals. It seems to have done the trick, this morning touched 86.9kg on the scales so managed to break through that stubborn 90kg barrier.

That's some great work! Well done!

I've definitely been eating more over the last few weeks and have put a few lbs on, I was 6lb up on my lightest a few days ago. I'm happy with my weight though, still cycling a lot and still have a good shape. I'm hoping fuelling my training with more calories is meaning I'm putting a little muscle mass back on too as part of the weight gain.

I think my problem was, when I had a cheat meal, I was going way too over the top and just kept eating... I've cut my cheats back, so still twice a week I will let myself eat a little more, one of those is still my Sunday night kebab meat and chips, but for a few weeks I'd changed it to a mixed kebab and chicken and chips... basically two meals and then whatever I fancied for dessert.

This morning I was 211lbs, which I'm fine with, but annoyingly my body fat percentage is still over 20%, when it had previously been around 19.5. It just doesn't seem to want to come back under 20! :(

Strava tells me I'm still getting faster on the bike though, which is interesting, even when I had the few extra lbs on I'm breaking quite a few PR's each time I ride, which is good to see. That might be interesting, when my weight is plateauing (as it kind of is) and I stop getting faster... will I keep myself motivated to keep cycling as much?
 
Soldato
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Might be a place for me to start posting. For about 9 months now I've been injured, so haven't been able to play rugby, or now with covid, do much exercise at all. I work from home (did so before the virus). Before the virus, I was at least still walking my boy to/from school 6+ times a week, at about 2.5 miles there and back.

I'm 175cm and was about 98kg. Definitely fat, but fairly heavy set too. Play prop, so a big arse and powerful legs help.

Once schools shut, I realised I'd need to do something otherwise I'd be in big trouble. Started on the 5/2 diet. And since late march I guess, I've dropped down to 90kg. If I can get below 88kg, that'll be less than I've been for a very long time.

Not sure what my target weight is, if I ever get back to rugby, I'm not sure I can afford to be too light and still play prop! Though I'd be happier if I could put it back on with muscle mass. That'll be another thread though.
 
Soldato
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How have you been finding that? Whenever I did the 800kcal day and then went running next morning, I'd feel totally knackered.

No exercise, so no issue with running :D.

I try and really go as minimal as possible on the fasting days. I've set myself out about 600 calories, but rarely "use" it all. Normally have 200 calories worth of milk and cereals, a pot of olives at about 70 calories, and a babybell before bed. Maybe a carrot etc. So I have plenty of unused spare as such.

Feel hangry in the afternoon/evening, and if not hangry then certainly lacking patience, but my family are aware, and I try and keep to myself. It's much more effort to do my physiotherapy stretching etc at the end of the day. Go to bed excited about breakfast :D.

It took me a while to get used to though, and doing it regularly. I tried a few times but dropped off at first, but that was before covid. Now I've found it's benefits are double. First, when it's not diet day, I eat what I wish. Biscuits, crisps, kfc etc etc. However, the second benefit, is that my appetite has decreased (stomach shrunk I guess), so I eat smaller portions for the most part, and don't pig out on the biscuits as much. It probably took a few weeks before that 2nd benefit kicked in, but I guess it helps even more with the weight loss.
 
Soldato
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From a logical point of view, that diet seems a little weird to me. Eat 600 cals one day, then maybe 4,000 the next? Or when you say eat what you want do you still limit yourself to a certain 'volume'? Surely a more sensible approach would be 2,400 of good calories everyday? Then no need to have those horrible 600 cal days? Bottom line is still cals in against cals out over a prolonged period of time.

Obviously it's working for you though, so well done :) Just seems an odd route to go?
 
Soldato
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Can be easier for some from mental point of view as it allows more "cheats" and calories in. That and added benefit of fasting, etc

Essentiallly a more extreme version of zigzag caloric cycling. Although still requires good strategy, plans that just dictate "eat what you want" are a bit pointless IMO because as you say it's all about the calories in and out end of the day.

When you have someone with my apetite, I can easily put away a scary amount of calories in one day, particulary post fasting day which would just bring me to maintenance calories anyway :D
 
Caporegime
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This Garmin outage is really annoying. I like poring over my daily stats in Garmin Connect but apparently all their systems have been encrypted by a ransomware hack and nothing works since yesterday morning.
 
Soldato
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Can be easier for some from mental point of view as it allows more "cheats" and calories in. That and added benefit of fasting, etc

Essentiallly a more extreme version of zigzag caloric cycling. Although still requires good strategy, plans that just dictate "eat what you want" are a bit pointless IMO because as you say it's all about the calories in and out end of the day.

When you have someone with my apetite, I can easily put away a scary amount of calories in one day, particulary post fasting day which would just bring me to maintenance calories anyway :D

That's how I started. After a fasting day, I'd eat a big bowl of cereals after getting up especially early, then a few biscuits, big lunch, more snacks, big dinner etc. I still don't limit myself in any way now, but my appetite has dropped. I simply can't eat as big a bowl of cereal, I feel absolutely stuffed. Even if I do manage to squeeze in a few biscuits after, it's less than before etc. It didn't happen straight away, but after sticking to it for a few weeks, my appetite simply shrank. I don't want to eat as much as I did, even on the non-diet days. Took a few weeks for that to kick in I believe.

It works for me because I simply eat as I wish 5 days a week, no mental struggle, no calorie counting, no worries whatsoever about my weight etc. Go out for dinner, have a huge rack of ribs followed by a massive desert, no worries (obviously don't do that more often than before but I don't feel I'm missing out). I obviously don't make a deliberate effort to eat even more, because I'd had some diet days before, but I don't deny myself anything that I'd have normally eaten before I started.

On diet days I'll drink water (maybe a splash of juice in a pint of water once or twice during the day). Eat between 300-450 calories I guess, but know that if I need to, I can open up a can of tuna and have a basic salad, though I've never actually needed to.

I was never a monster eater in general, but I guess I could eat 15-20 biscuits of various kinds, in amongst a large bowl of cereals, many coffees, 4 pieces of cheese on toast for lunch, then a large dinner, so certainly not light in calories. Now I simply don't feel like the biscuits on the same level, and usually after 2-3 I stop, rather than 5-6 :D. 3 bits of toast will do the trick, sometimes 2 if I still feel quite full from breakfast, and often less at dinner.

Now I'd still happily eat a 750g steak, but unlike before, I think I'd probably not feel like I could comfortably get at least halfway through a second.
 
Soldato
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This morning I was 211lbs, which I'm fine with, but annoyingly my body fat percentage is still over 20%

Looking back at my records, according to my scales my fat mass was 3st 2lbs on the day I posted that. I weighed in at exactly 211lbs this morning too, but I've been working harder in the gym the last 3 weeks or whenever they reopened and of the 211 lbs (15st 1) the scales tell me this morning 2st 13 of it is fat. Now, the level of accuracy could be poor enough to say that's not a big enough difference to be significant, but I feel like I'm a better 211lbs right now, so pleased with that. I'm eating around 2,900 to 3,300 calories most days and 6 days out of 7 I'm doing some kind of exercise, burning between 600 and 2,400 calories. What I feel good about is I've pretty much cut out the binge eating. :)

There is a part of me (the competitive part I guess) that wants to make a push for 14½ st. Another part of me says, don't do it, work on putting some muscle mass back on... The latter means I can keep eating more (and it's generally 200+g of protein a day) so that's the one that tends to win out.
 
Soldato
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Good job, I myself upped the resistance training albeit with kettlebells and bodyweight exercises but can see a difference already in a few weeks. Should be starting gym some time next month so hopefully see even better results.

Have also been very strict with calorie tracking this month and have hit below 110kg for the first time in I don't even know how many years. Hell, even saw glimpses of 108kg after a run but a glass of water solved that :p

210lb is my long term goal but would be very happy if I can get to 220 by the end of this year. I doubt I'll get to the 200 mark of my glory rugby days, but hey see what happens when I get to my target first :D
 
Soldato
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It's not even settling for 200, I had a six pack at that weight at 19 :D

It is amazing how much difference height can make though to your weight and that's for a similar body composition to someone who is shorter. In fact funnily enough, was reading about height in the running world last week:

“As height increases linearly, body weight increases exponentially.” According to Martin and Coe, if a 5-feet-6-inch elite weighs 120 pounds, a similarly built runner who stands 6-feet-0.5-inches, or 1.1 times taller than the first runner, would weigh 156 pounds, or 1.3 times more than the shorter runner. That is, the taller runner is heavier not just in absolute terms, but also proportionally.[/quotee]

Seems it is a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to more endurance sports so take solace in that you're evolutionary better suited for survival and running away from lions :p

Still not complaining though, once I get to the target weight, so long as I continue the exercise I can pack away a decent amount of food for maintenance.
 
Caporegime
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so take solace in that you're evolutionary better suited for survival and running away from lions :p

Funny you should mention that. I'm giving my 30 min/5K jogging a break for now and going to try sprint interval training instead. Dunno whether it's a load of guff or what as it seems you do hardly any work for the supposed benefit. I've started to notice a niggle in my hip so more walking might be better for me than long bouts of running.
 

B&W

B&W

Soldato
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Birmingham
I was 16 8 about 5 weeks ago. 6 ft 3. I was doing weights at home for around 4 months but never lost any weight, maybe even put on a bit. Joined the gym start of August and trying to eat less now, trying to get that step count up and walks if i have the time. Still doint only weights at the gym but have upped it to 4 times a week.

16 2 now.

Are these fitbits any good for tracking your daily exercise level? I am tempted to buy one (just feel like buying a new toy..) but I cant see any practical benefits, my smart phone already counts steps. And I dont do running.
 
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