Middle aged bloke problem...
Discussion
chris watton said:
For me, when I first started, the My fitness pal app was a true eye-opener regarding calories and sugar content in everyday foods. One I educated myself, I swore to consume as little processed/fast foods as possible, and stick to foods your own body recognises when broken down.
Yup, I dropped an easy 300 calories every day just by changing my breakfast around a little. I *thought* granola, orange and yoghurt was a sensible choice but boy was I wrong when I weighed it out.I swapped to porridge with raisins and fresh honey and dropped almost one day's food per week with zero effort.
MFP really does show you where to find the biggest losses easily
Work out what your biggest food 'weakness' is. Tackling this will make the biggest difference to your energy input / output equation.
Chocolate? crisps? sweets? sugary drinks? Like a lot of blokes, mine's beer. The rest of my diet isn't too awful, but I'm a proper beer geek and I just love the stuff. When I need to lose some weight, it's always the first thing to go, and stopping drinking makes a noticeable difference.
Chocolate? crisps? sweets? sugary drinks? Like a lot of blokes, mine's beer. The rest of my diet isn't too awful, but I'm a proper beer geek and I just love the stuff. When I need to lose some weight, it's always the first thing to go, and stopping drinking makes a noticeable difference.
Bradgate said:
Work out what your biggest food 'weakness' is. Tackling this will make the biggest difference to your energy input / output equation.
Chocolate? crisps? sweets? sugary drinks? Like a lot of blokes, mine's beer. The rest of my diet isn't too awful, but I'm a proper beer geek and I just love the stuff. When I need to lose some weight, it's always the first thing to go, and stopping drinking makes a noticeable difference.
I can drink beer at the weekends if my diet is on point Monday-Thursday. I was drinking beer all summer and had pretty low body fat (I am over 50 too). But if I eat bread and sweet sugary foods in my diet I put on fat very quickly.Chocolate? crisps? sweets? sugary drinks? Like a lot of blokes, mine's beer. The rest of my diet isn't too awful, but I'm a proper beer geek and I just love the stuff. When I need to lose some weight, it's always the first thing to go, and stopping drinking makes a noticeable difference.
You have to make a lifestyle change with your food intake. Read this thread all the way through and if you change to the recommendations I guarentee you will feel better, lose weight, almost certainly avoid diabetes, sleep better and eventually (at target weight) take some alcohol. http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I do it and find it pretty easy, I cannot see me going back to bread and cakes any time soon!
I do it and find it pretty easy, I cannot see me going back to bread and cakes any time soon!
A happy lifestyle is to eat and drink what you want.
Exercise with as much vigour and enjoyment as you do when you eat will make you question your choices when it comes to eating - if that makes sense.
I love a curry and a few beers or a Steak and wine dinner, and I also love a fry up on a Friday morning and the odd Kit-kat and Costa and I will not restrict myself too much when it comes to eating these things. Live your life at the right speed and with the right intensity and you will be surprised what you can eat and still be in shape.
Balance is everything.
Exercise with as much vigour and enjoyment as you do when you eat will make you question your choices when it comes to eating - if that makes sense.
I love a curry and a few beers or a Steak and wine dinner, and I also love a fry up on a Friday morning and the odd Kit-kat and Costa and I will not restrict myself too much when it comes to eating these things. Live your life at the right speed and with the right intensity and you will be surprised what you can eat and still be in shape.
Balance is everything.
Some really interesting (and good) advice here which I will take on board.
I have already cut my 'bad' food intake and have not missed snacking. I'm trying to cut as much sugar as possible and not graze all the time. I used to have at least a packet of crisps and some chocolate daily as I always felt hungry.
Considering the 'couch to 5k' thing but am worried that I'll hurt myself doing it so will simply up the walking and try to lose a bit of weight first before I get the trainers on. I already had a good hard walk for an hour today which I can do easily as I'm blessed with some decent circular hilly country walks on my doorstep.
I even drank soda water last night at the bar, it's getting serious!
I have already cut my 'bad' food intake and have not missed snacking. I'm trying to cut as much sugar as possible and not graze all the time. I used to have at least a packet of crisps and some chocolate daily as I always felt hungry.
Considering the 'couch to 5k' thing but am worried that I'll hurt myself doing it so will simply up the walking and try to lose a bit of weight first before I get the trainers on. I already had a good hard walk for an hour today which I can do easily as I'm blessed with some decent circular hilly country walks on my doorstep.
I even drank soda water last night at the bar, it's getting serious!
4 years ago age 46 I lost 2.5 stone through cutting out the booze and junk food then introducing moderate exercise - this took about 12 weeks.
Most of the weight loss was due to coming off the booze - the weight literally just fell off when I stopped and I also chased it down on the scales lb by lb daily. Another lb another 'win'!
If I can do it anyone can and being thin and (now) fit is a good feeling - should have done it much earlier!
Most of the weight loss was due to coming off the booze - the weight literally just fell off when I stopped and I also chased it down on the scales lb by lb daily. Another lb another 'win'!
If I can do it anyone can and being thin and (now) fit is a good feeling - should have done it much earlier!
Rather than going from where you are now (very little exercise) to running, might I suggest you pick up a set of dumbbells to start with?
Running is tough on the body, especially the joints, especially if you're overweight.
Also, it's winter: the weather is crap and daylight hours are limited.
Weights are cheap to buy, their use is not weather/light dependent and you can decide what kind of exercise to do with them (cardio > muscle-building > strength).
In the spring, should you decide to go running, you'll be in better physical condition, you'll have a better mindset, plus the weather will be improving.
Just my opinion.
Running is tough on the body, especially the joints, especially if you're overweight.
Also, it's winter: the weather is crap and daylight hours are limited.
Weights are cheap to buy, their use is not weather/light dependent and you can decide what kind of exercise to do with them (cardio > muscle-building > strength).
In the spring, should you decide to go running, you'll be in better physical condition, you'll have a better mindset, plus the weather will be improving.
Just my opinion.
pitchfork said:
Rather than going from where you are now (very little exercise) to running, might I suggest you pick up a set of dumbbells to start with?
Running is tough on the body, especially the joints, especially if you're overweight.
Also, it's winter: the weather is crap and daylight hours are limited.
Weights are cheap to buy, their use is not weather/light dependent and you can decide what kind of exercise to do with them (cardio > muscle-building > strength).
In the spring, should you decide to go running, you'll be in better physical condition, you'll have a better mindset, plus the weather will be improving.
Just my opinion.
Running is harder and harder on the body than most people think. It certainly isn't a pastime for those majorly overweight.Running is tough on the body, especially the joints, especially if you're overweight.
Also, it's winter: the weather is crap and daylight hours are limited.
Weights are cheap to buy, their use is not weather/light dependent and you can decide what kind of exercise to do with them (cardio > muscle-building > strength).
In the spring, should you decide to go running, you'll be in better physical condition, you'll have a better mindset, plus the weather will be improving.
Just my opinion.
13m said:
pitchfork said:
Rather than going from where you are now (very little exercise) to running, might I suggest you pick up a set of dumbbells to start with?
Running is tough on the body, especially the joints, especially if you're overweight.
Also, it's winter: the weather is crap and daylight hours are limited.
Weights are cheap to buy, their use is not weather/light dependent and you can decide what kind of exercise to do with them (cardio > muscle-building > strength).
In the spring, should you decide to go running, you'll be in better physical condition, you'll have a better mindset, plus the weather will be improving.
Just my opinion.
Running is harder and harder on the body than most people think. It certainly isn't a pastime for those majorly overweight.Running is tough on the body, especially the joints, especially if you're overweight.
Also, it's winter: the weather is crap and daylight hours are limited.
Weights are cheap to buy, their use is not weather/light dependent and you can decide what kind of exercise to do with them (cardio > muscle-building > strength).
In the spring, should you decide to go running, you'll be in better physical condition, you'll have a better mindset, plus the weather will be improving.
Just my opinion.
Edited by chris watton on Sunday 13th December 16:05
Agree about the running when you're overweight, not really a good idea until you're already making good progress with weight loss. Beer seems to be the most common problem for men though anything involving cakes, biscuits,, bread, sugar, chips etc will also be a significant factor. Carry on with anything that you feel is absolutely essential to your happiness and general lifestyle, but cut the portions down. Ideally then move on to drop these 'problem' foods out as much as possible, as part of a full change to your long term eating/drinking habits.
I thought I'd add my own experience, as further evidence of the lifestyle requirements. Just over a year ago I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic with high blood lipids. Cholesterol was fine. Advice was to leave out the sugary and processed fatty foods, such as sausages (and I bloody love sausages!) I looked at what I was eating and how, and decided the best way was cold turkey on all the snacks such as biscuits, and processed fatty foods.
I looked for substitutes though to help with the habitual nature of the snacking, and took up eating nuts. Lots of nuts. And I mean lots. I bought, and still buy, kilos of mixed natural nuts and have them ready-mixed in bags for any time I feel like a snack. Seriously helped me a lot. As did having lots of carrot and celery with dips such as hummus, and having plain yoghurt. Main meals became loaded with fresh veg and lean meat. Breakfast is plain muesli with low-sugar weetabix and milk.
I also try to go 12 hours without food overnight, every day. Part of the theory behind the 5:2 diet is that the body needs a rest to deal with what its got, and frankly, I'm sure I don't need the calories coming in sooner. That means dinner finished by about 20h30 and breakfast after the kids are at school or I'm at work, or even waiting until lunchtime. It hasn't killed me yet.
My blood readings fell to healthy within 3 months, and at the last test a couple of months ago, are still where they need to be. However, the interesting part for me were the side effects...
Weight loss - 5kg/11lb just fell off - portion size and calorie content both responsible - and are still off.\
Blood pressure - usually high side of healthy, now well within healthy
Sleeping - used to have a problem dropping off, now sleep well each night and manage on about 6 hours fine
Lifestyle - this is the thing that has mattered - the first few weeks were hard, genuinely missed my snacking, but after about 4 weeks or so, that went, and now its all part of normal. I think that's what helps.
Exercise - I've always cycled, but have had less opportunity over the past year or so for a variety of reasons, however I've also gotten used to cycling fasted - can manage about 3.5-4 hours OK. I've cut out the muffin that went with the coffee!
Should add I'm 43, 6'2", 13st8, have three young kids, and run my own business - so not exactly a stress-free life!
Anyway, hope that helps - I found it helpful to hear what others had actually done, rather than just read the theory - we're all different.
I looked for substitutes though to help with the habitual nature of the snacking, and took up eating nuts. Lots of nuts. And I mean lots. I bought, and still buy, kilos of mixed natural nuts and have them ready-mixed in bags for any time I feel like a snack. Seriously helped me a lot. As did having lots of carrot and celery with dips such as hummus, and having plain yoghurt. Main meals became loaded with fresh veg and lean meat. Breakfast is plain muesli with low-sugar weetabix and milk.
I also try to go 12 hours without food overnight, every day. Part of the theory behind the 5:2 diet is that the body needs a rest to deal with what its got, and frankly, I'm sure I don't need the calories coming in sooner. That means dinner finished by about 20h30 and breakfast after the kids are at school or I'm at work, or even waiting until lunchtime. It hasn't killed me yet.
My blood readings fell to healthy within 3 months, and at the last test a couple of months ago, are still where they need to be. However, the interesting part for me were the side effects...
Weight loss - 5kg/11lb just fell off - portion size and calorie content both responsible - and are still off.\
Blood pressure - usually high side of healthy, now well within healthy
Sleeping - used to have a problem dropping off, now sleep well each night and manage on about 6 hours fine
Lifestyle - this is the thing that has mattered - the first few weeks were hard, genuinely missed my snacking, but after about 4 weeks or so, that went, and now its all part of normal. I think that's what helps.
Exercise - I've always cycled, but have had less opportunity over the past year or so for a variety of reasons, however I've also gotten used to cycling fasted - can manage about 3.5-4 hours OK. I've cut out the muffin that went with the coffee!
Should add I'm 43, 6'2", 13st8, have three young kids, and run my own business - so not exactly a stress-free life!
Anyway, hope that helps - I found it helpful to hear what others had actually done, rather than just read the theory - we're all different.
13m said:
PomBstard said:
Should add I'm 43, 6'2", 13st8, have three young kids, and run my own business - so not exactly a stress-free life!
You're doing well, But stress is a biggy for making us fat. Its worth noting that I've lost weight whilst going through periods of less exercise. Whilst I was 16st I was fit and agile - playing 5-a-side football 2-3 times a week - an hour each time - plus badminton once a week, plus weight training, plus cycling if I could. It was the lifestyle, diet and the beer wot did it!
The dietary things I've learned are very simple - keep as close to natural state as possible, keep a wary eye on the amount of sugar, don't worry about the fat, eat fewer carbs in total, eat less calories that I used to.
PomBstard said:
Thanks, though Mrs PB does a lot too, even if she works away for 2-3 nights a week...! Stress can be a lead to behaviour that increases weight, which is why I've concentrated on making changes that can be sustained. This is my second lifestyle change since the age of 30, and its brought my weight down overall from 16st. Not a huge drop, especially compared with some of the lives on here and elsewhere, but significant enough to me.
It's not just the change in behaviour that leads to fat storage. That is just an unpleasant double whammy, for some people. Though others go the other way. Storing fat is the body's natural response to stress.swerni said:
I'm with dopey.
Walking the dog and playing golf do very little to raise your heart rate.
Get a bike, eat a little healthier and the weight will fall off.
Depends how fast you walk, if you can get the pace up to, say, 12 minutes 30 seconds to a mile, and sustain it (for say an hour, which is quite hard going), your heart rate will be reasonably quick. Walking the dog and playing golf do very little to raise your heart rate.
Get a bike, eat a little healthier and the weight will fall off.
Calorie burn at that pace isn't that much different than cycling for an hour, as you can't rest going downhill like you can on a bike.
It's easier to achieve, less painful and much less expensive than cycling, as you just need a comfortable pair of trainers. And the dog will like it
It also depends how far you walk, even at a brisk 15 minute mile, one hour isn't really a great deal, get it up to two hours (7-8 miles or so) and you'll make a huge difference. Again though, doing it once a week isn't good enough, it needs to be every single day, even just an hour a day will be worth 4-500 calories.
I'm 49 & 6"1'.
Sept 1st I weighed myself after coming back from 2 week all inclusive and feeling a bit porky. Hadn't weighed myself for about 4 months. 97kgs .... Heaviest I've ever been.
Since then I've changed breakfast from massive bowl of cereal to a bowl of yoghurt with fruit. Cut back a bit on the wine at the weekend. Then just portion size...I already had 3/4 size dinner plates so I just use those instead of normal size for evening meal and weekends....and eat the same stuff. Lunch I used to have some soup & a sandwich...now I have one or the other. This morning I am 90 kgs and will start couch to 5k in the New Year + maybe 100 press up challenge.
I'm just trying to re-train myself for what normal is in terms of how much to eat...so far, I've hardly noticed a difference (felt hunger a couple of times initially but usually a drink of water or tea helped). 7 kgs in 3 months isn't much but then I'm not dieting, I'm retraining.....and once I start to up th exercise aswell I think I'll be on the right track.
Good luck OP
Sept 1st I weighed myself after coming back from 2 week all inclusive and feeling a bit porky. Hadn't weighed myself for about 4 months. 97kgs .... Heaviest I've ever been.
Since then I've changed breakfast from massive bowl of cereal to a bowl of yoghurt with fruit. Cut back a bit on the wine at the weekend. Then just portion size...I already had 3/4 size dinner plates so I just use those instead of normal size for evening meal and weekends....and eat the same stuff. Lunch I used to have some soup & a sandwich...now I have one or the other. This morning I am 90 kgs and will start couch to 5k in the New Year + maybe 100 press up challenge.
I'm just trying to re-train myself for what normal is in terms of how much to eat...so far, I've hardly noticed a difference (felt hunger a couple of times initially but usually a drink of water or tea helped). 7 kgs in 3 months isn't much but then I'm not dieting, I'm retraining.....and once I start to up th exercise aswell I think I'll be on the right track.
Good luck OP
HarryFlatters said:
minghis said:
Less food seems to be the cure, so as I love all the wrong foods has anyone any good ideas how to lose some weight without living off salad and water? There must be a way of doing this while still enjoying nice food.. is it really a case of just eating smaller portions of what I usually eat?
Simplistically, your choices are to either eat less or move more.I was 6' and 16 stone, so I couldn't be arsed moving more, so I ate less. I'm now 13 stone.
First off, I worked out my basal metabolic rate. This is the number of calories that you need to eat per day to maintain your current weight. I decided to eat about 3/4 of that amount.
I still eat the things I like, I just have them less often. And it's not like the things I eat daily are disgusting. Seriously, porridge, while not as nice as sausages, is still nice for breakfast. Soup, while not as nice as a steak bake, is still nice for lunch.
For dinner ideas, have a look through Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meal recipes. Whilst he's an over-tounged, mockney tossbag, these recipes are low calorie and pretty tasty.
One last piece of advice, don't think of it as a "diet", because "diets" are temporary and you'll cheat. If you think of it as a change of lifestyle, on a permanent basis, you're more likely to succeed.
Good luck
Burwood said:
A good starting point right there, sensible advice from Harry. Dietittian, lol. I'm sure everyone knows the difference between a piece of fruit and a twinkly.
Like everyone understands BMR.Except they don't and sometimes, no actually often, people need the bleedin obvious pointed out to them.
I had a similar problem, managed to solve it by making some changes. I lost 3 stone over a year doing this , once I got to a weight I was happy with I relaxed the rules a bit and now have more snacks and dont worry so much about healthy lunches.
Eat a healthy breakfast. I never used to have breakfast and just this one change made quite a difference, something to do with waking up your metabolism in the morning. I have shredded wheat or mini shredded wheat, its the only cereal I could find that doesnt have added sugar.
Cut out sugar. No sugar in tea or coffee, stop drinking fruit juice and fizzy drinks. It sounds extreme but after a few weeks of it you dont miss it
Have a healthy lunch. Have a sandwich without butter or mayo and dont have crisps but pick something tasty. I tend to look for ham or chicken salad type sarnies.
Eat a Normal Dinner. Just have whatever you normally have in the evening but dont go bonkers and try to compensate for the rest of the day by having an extra large meal.
Healthier snacks. If you must have crisps choose a baked or lower fat version - they are still bad for you but if you are going to do it anyway just reduce the impact
Skimmed milk. Have skimmed milk, that alone makes a big difference and you quickly get used to the taste.
Exercise. I do just 10 minutes twice a day (morning and early evening). Nothing complicated , a few sit ups, the plank, step ups and a a few reps of weights. It really peps you up.
The biggest motivator for me was actually starting to look at the calories in the things i was eating and realising that many of the things that are supposed to be 'healthy' are anything but !. You can easily hit 1500 with just a sandwich and bag of crisps, add in a fizzy drink and choccy bar and you are heading towards your full recommended 2500 with one meal!
Eat a healthy breakfast. I never used to have breakfast and just this one change made quite a difference, something to do with waking up your metabolism in the morning. I have shredded wheat or mini shredded wheat, its the only cereal I could find that doesnt have added sugar.
Cut out sugar. No sugar in tea or coffee, stop drinking fruit juice and fizzy drinks. It sounds extreme but after a few weeks of it you dont miss it
Have a healthy lunch. Have a sandwich without butter or mayo and dont have crisps but pick something tasty. I tend to look for ham or chicken salad type sarnies.
Eat a Normal Dinner. Just have whatever you normally have in the evening but dont go bonkers and try to compensate for the rest of the day by having an extra large meal.
Healthier snacks. If you must have crisps choose a baked or lower fat version - they are still bad for you but if you are going to do it anyway just reduce the impact
Skimmed milk. Have skimmed milk, that alone makes a big difference and you quickly get used to the taste.
Exercise. I do just 10 minutes twice a day (morning and early evening). Nothing complicated , a few sit ups, the plank, step ups and a a few reps of weights. It really peps you up.
The biggest motivator for me was actually starting to look at the calories in the things i was eating and realising that many of the things that are supposed to be 'healthy' are anything but !. You can easily hit 1500 with just a sandwich and bag of crisps, add in a fizzy drink and choccy bar and you are heading towards your full recommended 2500 with one meal!
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