PHAT fighters Q1 Weight Loss Challenge

[giblet]

J4CKO said:

1000 calories, how long you in the gym for ?

Seems to take me 1h30m or thereabouts to reach the 1000 calories mark. Measured using a Polar FT7 watch with HRM. 30 mins on the cross trainer, 30 on a bike and then usually 10 mins each on the rower, stepper and treadmill. Trying to get into running but treadmills ruin my back. I did a 10k back in September with sod all training, took me 1h23m though.

Set myself a goal of 500 calories minimum when I'm in the gym. Anything in the 700-800 mark is classed as an OK workout and 1000+ is classed as good by the goals I've set for myself.

Let's see how long I can keep the gym trips going. Last time round I was motivated by wanting to ask out a lass at work. That went nowhere but at least I shifted some timber!

[HTP99]

giblet said:

J4CKO said:

1000 calories, how long you in the gym for ?

Seems to take me 1h30m or thereabouts to reach the 1000 calories mark. Measured using a Polar FT7 watch with HRM. 30 mins on the cross trainer, 30 on a bike and then usually 10 mins each on the rower, stepper and treadmill. Trying to get into running but treadmills ruin my back. I did a 10k back in September with sod all training, took me 1h23m though.

Set myself a goal of 500 calories minimum when I'm in the gym. Anything in the 700-800 mark is classed as an OK workout and 1000+ is classed as good by the goals I've set for myself.

Let's see how long I can keep the gym trips going. Last time round I was motivated by wanting to ask out a lass at work. That went nowhere but at least I shifted some timber!

Sounds about right if you push hard, I do two 45 minute bootcamp sessions a week generally burning between 450-550 calories a session, depending on how hard it is.

[Vocal Minority]

When on the bike and working hard (not just coasting at 10 mph) I budget for about 100 kcals every ten minutes.

So I can believe the 1000 kcals thing

[giblet]

I have no reason to doubt the figures from the Polar. I've tested a few different HRM methods and the Polar seems to be the most accurate. I had nearly five years of going to a gym and doing sod all. It was only when I started to put some effort in that I noticed a difference.

Managed 900 cals in 67 mins today, didn't have enough time to get to 1000 again but I've not eaten much today. Off to have a post workout snack as according to MFP todays intake was sub 1200 calories which isn't healthy.

Edited by giblet on Thursday 5th January 23:38

[Vocal Minority]

So you're net 300 kcals?

You know when I said we're all grown up enough to do this responsibly......,

ETA - I didn't see your edit. I am keeping my net at 1300-1500 including exercise for now

[williamp]

So far 15km run....and 1kg up!!! Not fair...!

[K50 DEL]

K50 DEL said:

I'm in on this one as well as dry Jan, my sweet tooth and hatred of veg and salad has seen me struggle with my weight all my life, as an adult, my heaviest has been 98Kg, lightest 74kg, now back to 92Kg

Would love to be 70Kg but suspect progress may be limited by my lifestyle so in the spirit of the thread, aiming to be 86Kg by April

Can you change my original weight to 90kg please, I'm 89.2 this morning and no way have I lost that much, I think my original scales were duff.

[Vocal Minority]

Good man - changed.

32 of us enrolled! Good going!

[Smitters]

I'm finding My Fitness Pal helpful. I'm aiming for a net 1400 calories - that's to say on a rare day I don't exercise, I have a limited diet (and no treats), but since I typically burn 300-600 cals in exercise, my intake is a more reasonable 2000 cals or so per day. This is mostly very healthy food, fish, veggies, fruit and so on, but leaves room for the odd treat left over from Christmas to keep me sane.

Sobering to know that two praline chocolates is 20 minutes of circuits...

[p1stonhead]

No way I could count calories (or even be bothered to try) without MyFitnessPal.

[Pete102]

Hi All

Can I jump in on this? Weighed in at 17st 8 1/2 lb on NYE.

Following low carb (used it before with success).

Good luck / well done everyone else.

[Patch1875]

Not having a good first week, my daughters school doesn't go back until Monday so still in holiday mode. Out for lunch and dinner yesterday(it was her birthday) just hoping I don't end up heavier

[J4CKO]

p1stonhead said:

What annoys me with trying to do this is how different I can feel on different days despite doing the exact same things.

Today - 4 weetabix for breakfast at 8am, nothing else so far and feeling fine.

Yesterday - same breakfast, DYING by 12pm so ate a chunky (500calorie ) sandwich and bag of crisps!

Try Eggs for Breakfast, then a salad with meat and cheese for lunch.

I am doing without breakfast and it doesnt bother me one iota, I am focusing on the three egg Omelette I will make (Working at home today) at noon, with ham and cheese, prob 600/700 calories or thereabouts but it will carry me through until dinner where I will have maybe 900 calories, going to the gym at 5 ish for an hour so may have something beforehand.

Breakfast cereals, white bread and crisps arent going to allow you to lose weight, it isnt the calories in the meal so much as you end up riding the blood sugar rollercoaster which means you are ok for a couple of hours and then ravenous and have to eat, it makes you eat more of the same, quickly, going for more protein and fat based meals means they take longer to digest and you dont go into that blood sugar drop and gnawing hunger.

It was a big realization for me that I dont need a big portion of carbs with every meal, I have not gone really low carb but when I take a salad it is literally devoid of carbs, no bread with it, the world does not end, think we have got so used to small portions of meat, veg with a huge lump of carbs, chips, rice, pasta to fill us up, just a case of altering the ratio.

i find meals used to have to look a certain way, now I just use food as fuel, lunch can be a packet of cooked chicken, it doesnt have to be in a sandwich with anything else but it is better than getting those pre packed sandwiches if you are trying to lose weight.

Dont want to sound preachy, just trying to help with the realizations I have made over the last few months of what appears to be working for me, and your post sounded like how I used to eat and the disappointment it brings when trying to lose weight.

[HTP99]

J4CKO said:

p1stonhead said:

What annoys me with trying to do this is how different I can feel on different days despite doing the exact same things.

Today - 4 weetabix for breakfast at 8am, nothing else so far and feeling fine.

Yesterday - same breakfast, DYING by 12pm so ate a chunky (500calorie ) sandwich and bag of crisps!

Try Eggs for Breakfast, then a salad with meat and cheese for lunch.

May last year I went from a sugar free muesli for breakfast and sandwiches and crisps for lunch to 3 eggs scrambled (no toast) for breakfast and home made salad with chicken for lunch.

With the cereal for breakfast I was ravenous by 10:30 and had usually eaten my lunch by 11:00 and then of course by 14:00 or so I was hungry again so would go to the shop for rubbish.

Now 3 eggs easily sees me through till lunch time and the salad and fruit would see me through till evening meal, I lost 5kg quite quickly but as soon as I saw that loss I became a bit lazy and then hit the biscuit tin at work, the weight remained steady but I didn't lose any more, then the summer came and I pigged out on holiday and then Christmas was appearing etc so I actually gained that lost weight, but still remained on the eggs and salad.

My problem is that I can be complacent and then I become weak, there are always biscuits at work and it is amazing how many calories are in a chocolate digestive, plus my drinking increased from my dry January, as did the calories.

I am back on the biscuit abstinence and not drinking, I know I have lost weight since my weigh in on the 1st, I will update tomorrow.

[J4CKO]

HTP99 said:

J4CKO said:

p1stonhead said:

What annoys me with trying to do this is how different I can feel on different days despite doing the exact same things.

Today - 4 weetabix for breakfast at 8am, nothing else so far and feeling fine.

Yesterday - same breakfast, DYING by 12pm so ate a chunky (500calorie ) sandwich and bag of crisps!

Try Eggs for Breakfast, then a salad with meat and cheese for lunch.

May last year I went from a sugar free muesli for breakfast and sandwiches and crisps for lunch to 3 eggs scrambled (no toast) for breakfast and home made salad with chicken for lunch.

With the cereal for breakfast I was ravenous by 10:30 and had usually eaten my lunch by 11:00 and then of course by 14:00 or so I was hungry again so would go to the shop for rubbish.

Now 3 eggs easily sees me through till lunch time and the salad and fruit would see me through till evening meal, I lost 5kg quite quickly but as soon as I saw that loss I became a bit lazy and then hit the biscuit tin at work, the weight remained steady but I didn't lose any more, then the summer came and I pigged out on holiday and then Christmas was appearing etc so I actually gained that lost weight, but still remained on the eggs and salad.

My problem is that I can be complacent and then I become weak, there are always biscuits at work and it is amazing how many calories are in a chocolate digestive, plus my drinking increased from my dry January, as did the calories.

I am back on the biscuit abstinence and not drinking, I know I have lost weight since my weigh in on the 1st, I will update tomorrow.

Yeah, got to be a permanent thing, with the odd lapse, not a slide back into old habits, Chocolate Homewheat are utterly amazing, I can eat six or more in a go, at 86 calories each, i just had to accept that stuff like that is an occasional treat and not part of my normal diet.

When down to my target, I can probably add 500 calories back in, but it wont be 6 biscuits.

it feels, when eating stuff like that, its like putting paper on a fire, lot of heat and flame but goes out quickly, where the Eggs and stuff are more like putting a log on that will smoulder for ages, does that make any sense whatsoever ?

Its 11:20 now, not eaten since about 8 PM last night, just had a couple of coffees and am ready for something to eat, but not exactly starving, its a bit like when you go for that first piss when out on the beer, eating your first food of the day, you are then off and running, "breaking the seal".

For me, its using these kind of factors, which I appreciate may be different for different people to my advantage, focus in on them, how is it I can go 16 hours without food quite happily, yet if I ate a big bowl of Frosties or whatever at 8am I would be climbing the walls with hunger by now ?

[Vocal Minority]

I think the issue for me is - and I need to find a happy middle ground really - is that I can't get into the mind set of seeing food simply as fuel.

Scrap that - I won't see food simply as fuel and none of you bds can make me

I am afraid I like things like biscuits, pizza and all that kerfuffle. I see people on here (the wider forum rather than the thread)saying stuff like, its all empty calories and what nutrition is there etc and I just think 'oh do stop being so tedious and mechanical (sorry).

Yes wine is empty calories - but it is also nice

However.....I have turned into an over-weight tub-monster and need to accept that these must be in moderation. I will still have my treats and will still enjoy them and I will still have an occasional takeaway because fk yeah, that's why

I was going to say that I wish I could be like J4CKO and just be happy to look at it all like that - but that would be a fib. (In no way having a go at you by the way, happy days that you have gotten into a groove you like).

Can you tell I have been musing on the subject a lot this week!

Anyway - will be accepting new weights from tonight - sounds like people have gotten off to a flyer

Edited by Vocal Minority on Friday 6th January 13:53

Edited by Vocal Minority on Friday 6th January 14:05

[J4CKO]

Dont get me wrong, I am an enthusiastic lover of delicious bad food and booze, however, this is why I am overweight, most meals should be just decent food and dont need to be an event, even a cohesive meal or end with something sweet, I enjoyed my Omelette at lunchtime but am now used to not following it with sweet stuff, as I dont need it despite it being nice and it detracts form my purpose, which now is more important to me than a few biscuits, its a permanent and valuable change in exchange for many fleeting moments of enjoyment.

It is empty calories, i.e. booze and stuff, and people who are a healthy weight can have it, currently I cant, I kind of see my fat gut as being like an overdraft at the bank, I have already had those nice things and I need to pay back the calories, the more fun stuff I have, the longer that takes, the longer I feel crap and look rubbish and the longer it takes a toll on my health.

So, pay back the "overdraft", then can be a bit more free and easy, but not too much to avoid that situation in future, keep an eye on the balance (weight) and life will be better overall.

[AndStilliRise]

Its not about the diet. It is all about how hard we work. In general I eat anything/everything i like. But i work hard at running, although I am slow. And hard on a bike, although i am slow.

There are two parts to this:
1) Eating a sustainable amount of food so you don't put weight on
2) Reducing fat

Getting #1 correct is key. If I can eat enough to sustain myself for the day and my weight does not go up, then i know how much food i need. In order to do #2 I need to run/cycle when i am hungry. Then i know i am burning fat reserves.

If anyone has read the book The Secret Race (Tyler Hamilton) it shows you how far and how hard TDF riders are willing to push. IIRC he said that they would go training, 2 sleeping pills and bed. Repeat the next day. He said he was so thin at some stages he could see his organs!

Although we are far away from this level, it should give us an idea of how we are in our lives. Most of us can not walk down the road without going into Costa!!

[NordicCrankShaft]

When is the ideal time to weigh in?

I feel like weighing in the morning is cheating. However since joining this and starting back to work mon day I'm down to 93kg exactly.

I start at 7am so I don't eat breakfast but chug a pint of water. Lunch break in work is 11-1130 which I normally take in porridge made with water, cinnamon, raisins and honey or boiled eggs/tuna with extra light mayo on wholemeal crackers. Evening meal then is between 5-7 and we've both tried to eat as low carb as possiblever, tonight is bacon, cauliflower and cheddar chowder. Drinking plenty of water around 2.5-3ltr a day as my job isearch a little physical.

Quite happy so far!

Edited by NordicCrankShaft on Friday 6th January 18:03

[HTP99]

I don't think it matters when during the day you weigh yourself, as long as you do it at the same time of day whenever you do weigh yourself; for an accurate representation of weight loss, or gain.

I always do it first thing after a wee and a poo and before I have eaten anything, sure I'll be lighter than just before I go to bed, but I doubt there is an optimal time of day to do it.