Weight loss tips?

As the saying goes - a good body is built in the kitchen, not the gym. By all means cut out bread/sugar/blahblahblah but what's most important is that you're making a consistent cut in your daily calorie intake. Meal timings and such like are irrelevant if you ignore the following simple principle:

Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which is the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day. Try http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/. You then need to multiply that figure by your activity factor (Google Harris Benedict equation) to find out your total calorie requirements for the day. If you take 500 calories per day off this figure, you'll create a 3,500 calorie defecit over the week which will result in 1lb of weight loss. A sensible and highly sustainable figure - win! Most over weight people get a bit of a shock when they a) calculate their daily calorie needs and b) add up what they're actually eating compared to that figure...
 
Mowflow said:
Everyone knows what they should and shouldn't eat and drink. A lot of these fad diets often over exaggerate 1 element of a healthy diet to give people really fast results. They are rarely sustainable (along with the results) as a normal healthy diet. Just Don't eat the crap you know you shouldn't and exercise.

So many fad diets don't mention exercise. Little tricks like doing slow steady state cardio such as a 30 minute walk before you have breakfast will help. I also found that high intensity interval training is far better for weight loss than slow steady state stuff (plugging away on a treadmill for an hour). It's also a hell of a lot less boring. Another good tip is to lift heavy weights. Muscle mass helps you lose weight and don't worry about looking like Arnie ( I hear so many people say they don't lift heavy because they don't want to get all bulky) it takes years and years of extremely heavy lifting, diet control and quite possibly steroids to get anywhere near what would be considered big.

Oh yeah,drink lots of water if you don't already. Aim for 2 litres a day, more if you can. Your bladder will adjust in time :rofl:
Click to expand...

Agree mowflow 100%.

Diets on their own are a waste of time and weight loss will be temporary. So many people either don't read or don't understand food labelling either. I found keeping a food diary for a week, eating and drinking what I considered to be a normal intake, was illuminating. You will be surprised at the results. Try an app like myfitnesspal or similar on a smartphone to help too.
 
original guvnor said:
Mowflow said:
Everyone knows what they should and shouldn't eat and drink. A lot of these fad diets often over exaggerate 1 element of a healthy diet to give people really fast results. They are rarely sustainable (along with the results) as a normal healthy diet. Just Don't eat the crap you know you shouldn't and exercise.

So many fad diets don't mention exercise. Little tricks like doing slow steady state cardio such as a 30 minute walk before you have breakfast will help. I also found that high intensity interval training is far better for weight loss than slow steady state stuff (plugging away on a treadmill for an hour). It's also a hell of a lot less boring. Another good tip is to lift heavy weights. Muscle mass helps you lose weight and don't worry about looking like Arnie ( I hear so many people say they don't lift heavy because they don't want to get all bulky) it takes years and years of extremely heavy lifting, diet control and quite possibly steroids to get anywhere near what would be considered big.

Oh yeah,drink lots of water if you don't already. Aim for 2 litres a day, more if you can. Your bladder will adjust in time :rofl:
Click to expand...

Agree mowflow 100%.

Diets on their own are a waste of time and weight loss will be temporary. So many people either don't read or don't understand food labelling either. I found keeping a food diary for a week, eating and drinking what I considered to be a normal intake, was illuminating. You will be surprised at the results. Try an app like myfitnesspal or similar on a smartphone to help too.
Click to expand...

Myfitnesspal is a very good app, I use it to track my intake when I start training for competitions as it makes adjusting to drop weight in the 2 weeks prior to competing much easier.

Using an app like this along with the advice that Bradders has given regarding creating a calorie defecit will se you drop weight. Just make sure that you lower the calories by improving your diet rather than still eating the naughty stuff but just eating less of it.

It's true that you can drop weight without doing any exercise but it will depend on how over weight you are to begin with. Doing something physical will only help your cause and as aquazi has said it doesn't need to be running a marathon. Find a sport or circuit class or something that you enjoy as training with others will help to keep you motivated and is way more fun than going to the gym on your own.
 
There's the banana diet.

Have a decent breakfast & lunch, though every other time you feel hungry eat a banana & drink water...
 
Ye regular exercise and healthy eating. I think eating foods that are low in cals but make you feel full are great.

With exercise 20 minutes will burn off your instant energy then after that period its burning reserves so I would say an hour a day. :thumbsup:

Good sources are swimming and cycling. Running too but people find this more strenuous and injury is more frequent down to bad technique (knees etc) but competitive sport is also a good way of keeping you entertained. Being in the gym can be very boring and can make it easier to skip and then becomes a habit. I for one find it very boring, and much prefer being outside but am active in other ways playing football, squash and cycling :) also if you struggle with bad moods then exercise can be good as it releases endorphins makes you feel good :) sounds silly but can really improve home and work life.
 
Wow, totally impressed with all the knowledge on here! I suppose a lot of it does come down to common sense.... I think for now I'm going to work on eating a little bit less, and will start up an exercise programme when I've finished the course and have a bit more time, if I survive the next two months, that is!

Thanks to all! :)
 
Cassie-UK said:
Wow, totally impressed with all the knowledge on here! I suppose a lot of it does come down to common sense.... I think for now I'm going to work on eating a little bit less, and will start up an exercise programme when I've finished the course and have a bit more time, if I survive the next two months, that is!

Thanks to all! :)
Click to expand...

ahhh there is an issue.... "when youve finished the course"
start NOW...there can be no excuses....
when we do pt sometimes the PTI will absolutely beast us, and we will all be in pools of sweat, even when we do phys with the marines etc...
and at our last one we were all in bits, and he said "guys we've only been going 12 minutes...so now you know that you will ALWAYS have enough time to destroy your body in the gym no matter how busy you are" made absolute sense
obv dont annihilate yourself but just start slowly build up, even if its just going for a 10 min walk every day :thumbsup:
 
Woots said:
Cassie-UK said:
Wow, totally impressed with all the knowledge on here! I suppose a lot of it does come down to common sense.... I think for now I'm going to work on eating a little bit less, and will start up an exercise programme when I've finished the course and have a bit more time, if I survive the next two months, that is!

Thanks to all! :)
Click to expand...

ahhh there is an issue.... "when youve finished the course"
start NOW...there can be no excuses....
when we do pt sometimes the PTI will absolutely beast us, and we will all be in pools of sweat, even when we do phys with the marines etc...
and at our last one we were all in bits, and he said "guys we've only been going 12 minutes...so now you know that you will ALWAYS have enough time to destroy your body in the gym no matter how busy you are" made absolute sense
obv dont annihilate yourself but just start slowly build up, even if its just going for a 10 min walk every day :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

orrr buy the insanity workout dvd..

:thumbsup:
 
Woots said:
Cassie-UK said:
Wow, totally impressed with all the knowledge on here! I suppose a lot of it does come down to common sense.... I think for now I'm going to work on eating a little bit less, and will start up an exercise programme when I've finished the course and have a bit more time, if I survive the next two months, that is!

Thanks to all! :)
Click to expand...

ahhh there is an issue.... "when youve finished the course"
start NOW...there can be no excuses....
Click to expand...

This ^^! Don't you dare give us the 'in a few months line' - strike while the iron is hot. If you haven't got much time, look up HIIT. Surely you can spare 10 mins a day? :poke:
 
Jan 2011 I was 17st 9lbs and decided to do something about it.

I installed an app on my phone that allowed me to record all the calories I was taking in and what extra calories were burnt during the day. I set myself a goal of 1600 calories a day and after six months, I'd lost 3 st.

I also made sure I was eating regularly during the day so breakfast at 7:00ish, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner, late evening snack. The snacks were typically around the 50-60 calorie mark (Snack a Jack rice cakes).

Add into the mix a little bit of exercise 3 times a week and it can work for you. I still went out for meals, I still had treats, but they weren't that often.

The key thing to it all though (and this has been said before) - you have got to want to lose weight and you have got to throw yourself 100% into the weight loss mindset.
 
Mrs Lozzer recently suggested that we should "exercise together regularly" to lose weight.

I don't mind admitting that I was very enthusiastic about her suggestion. Turns out that she had something completely differen in mind to me... :(
 
jakethecatuk said:
Jan 2011 I was 17st 9lbs and decided to do something about it.

I installed an app on my phone that allowed me to record all the calories I was taking in and what extra calories were burnt during the day. I set myself a goal of 1600 calories a day and after six months, I'd lost 3 st.

I also made sure I was eating regularly during the day so breakfast at 7:00ish, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner, late evening snack. The snacks were typically around the 50-60 calorie mark (Snack a Jack rice cakes).

Add into the mix a little bit of exercise 3 times a week and it can work for you. I still went out for meals, I still had treats, but they weren't that often.

The key thing to it all though (and this has been said before) - you have got to want to lose weight and you have got to throw yourself 100% into the weight loss mindset.
Click to expand...

Good inspiration and well done :thumbsup:

Out of interest (and sorry if this is personal) but what are you like now, some 18 months on from Jan 2011? Do you still watch the calories or is it now a way of life? I only ask because having turned 40 a week ago I have also decided to make a change, I currently weigh around 105 kg's at 6 ft (16 1/2 stone) and whilst reasonably fit (built more like a rugby player than a footballer) would like to be closer to 90 kg's.
I downloaded the app mentioned earlier in this thread and have started the food diary. It's amazing how guilty you feel when having to record it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom