Why haven't I lost any weight
Discussion
I work offshore for five weeks at a time, and because I'm a bit of a 48 year old porker, stocky but fat, I decided to seriously attack my weight over the last month I've been out here. I've always been of the school of thought that people are fat simply because they eat too much and don't exercise, so I've exercised every day for an hour, cardio, treadmill, rowing machine, fast walking on the helideck etc. No weight training though, that bores me nowadays.
I ate a bowl of breakfast cereal first thing in the morning, had a smallish standard meat and two veg meal for lunch, then for an evening meal, after exercise, I'd usually have a bowl of 'healthy' breakfast cereal or a pack of Ritz crackers and a chunk of cheese (maybe 3 cubic inches).
Plus a bit of fruit occasionally.
Today I weighed myself and I still weigh 103 a fat and flabby kilos.
Somebody has now told me I might be eating all the WRONG things. Feck me, how hard can it be to drop a few pounds!!!!
What SHOULD I be eating different than I do?
I can't really follow any '1 grilled Avocado for breakfast' stuff because we're limited to the crap that is served on board.
I ate a bowl of breakfast cereal first thing in the morning, had a smallish standard meat and two veg meal for lunch, then for an evening meal, after exercise, I'd usually have a bowl of 'healthy' breakfast cereal or a pack of Ritz crackers and a chunk of cheese (maybe 3 cubic inches).
Plus a bit of fruit occasionally.
Today I weighed myself and I still weigh 103 a fat and flabby kilos.
Somebody has now told me I might be eating all the WRONG things. Feck me, how hard can it be to drop a few pounds!!!!
What SHOULD I be eating different than I do?
I can't really follow any '1 grilled Avocado for breakfast' stuff because we're limited to the crap that is served on board.
people are often frustrated when they begin to diet and exercise when they don't lose any weight initially. Firstly, remember that muscle is denser than fat so it takes a while for the muscle/fat ratio to reduce your weight.
It may take a while for your body to change the way it processes food too
You are still eating too much of the wrong things and too often.
The cheese is particularly bad and I just measured a piece of chese in the fridge that is 3"x3"x1.5" and that's 250g so if you are eating 3 cubic inches of cheese that about half a kilo! No wonder the flab is staying!
Lose the cheese and eat fruit instead.
It may take a while for your body to change the way it processes food too
You are still eating too much of the wrong things and too often.
The cheese is particularly bad and I just measured a piece of chese in the fridge that is 3"x3"x1.5" and that's 250g so if you are eating 3 cubic inches of cheese that about half a kilo! No wonder the flab is staying!
Lose the cheese and eat fruit instead.
Edited by tyre_tread on Sunday 13th July 13:15
King Herald said:
I've exercised every day for an hour, cardio, treadmill, rowing machine, fast walking on the helideck etc. No weight training though, that bores me nowadays.
You might well find that although you haven't lost weight you might have lost fat and gained muscle instead(muslce weighing more than fat) ,all depends on what you did exercise wise before this month though MrV said:
King Herald said:
I've exercised every day for an hour, cardio, treadmill, rowing machine, fast walking on the helideck etc. No weight training though, that bores me nowadays.
You might well find that although you haven't lost weight you might have lost fat and gained muscle instead(muslce weighing more than fat) ,all depends on what you did exercise wise before this month though thehawk said:
MrV said:
King Herald said:
I've exercised every day for an hour, cardio, treadmill, rowing machine, fast walking on the helideck etc. No weight training though, that bores me nowadays.
You might well find that although you haven't lost weight you might have lost fat and gained muscle instead(muslce weighing more than fat) ,all depends on what you did exercise wise before this month though I would like to add, don't give up, at least you haven't gained weight, take this as a genuine positive.
You should try and eat a bit more fruit, natural sugars etc. Do you take sugar in your tea/ sugar, try sweeteners. Drink lots of water. Check the meat you eat is a lean as possible, if shift working it can be hard but try not to eat too late at night. Eat 2-3 protions of fish per week. Keep fgoing with the exercise and good luck. It definitely gets harder to shift as you get older but it can work
MrV said:
You might well find that although you haven't lost weight you might have lost fat and gained muscle instead(muslce weighing more than fat) ,all depends on what you did exercise wise before this month though
There is some definite truth in this - if your main aim is to lose weight and not particularly tone up (which if you are overweight is the correct thing to do - putting muscle on underneath fat will make you look fatter) then you should stick to very low resistance exercise - ideally walking initially.Since last October I've lost 7 stone and to some extent it has been a simple calculation of calories consumed - calories exercised and bringing this total to under 1000 every single day. There are many theories about what you should/shouldn't eat etc but I found that at the end of the day if your net intake is <1000 kcals then you will lose weight regardless of what you eat, but you must achieve this through eating 1500 cals and exercising off the rest, preferrably low-impact stuff (I walked 6 miles, every day - rain, hail, snow, sunshine - from -30C to +45C temperature ranges)...its really what your mother used to tell you, eat less and get some exercise.
Other general rules - weigh yourself every day (if possible) and understand the patterns of weight fluctuation and also the impact stuff like 1 night on the piss can have. Also try not to eat late at night to make sure you're burning off your meal before going to bed. I also didn't drink tea, coffee or alcohol (except when deliberately out for a drink).
Breakfast cereal should be avoided at all costs - healthy it may be but its packed full of calories - even if the box says its low calories its usually for about 30g of cereal - have you ever weighed out 30g of cereal, a hamster eats 30g a day - a human with a decent bowlful you're looking at two to 3 times that, so add to that some semi-skimmed milk and some sugar on top and you've eaten half a days intake in one shot.
GreigM said:
MrV said:
You might well find that although you haven't lost weight you might have lost fat and gained muscle instead(muslce weighing more than fat) ,all depends on what you did exercise wise before this month though
There is some definite truth in this - if your main aim is to lose weight and not particularly tone up (which if you are overweight is the correct thing to do - putting muscle on underneath fat will make you look fatter) then you should stick to very low resistance exercise - ideally walking initially.Since last October I've lost 7 stone and to some extent it has been a simple calculation of calories consumed - calories exercised and bringing this total to under 1000 every single day. There are many theories about what you should/shouldn't eat etc but I found that at the end of the day if your net intake is <1000 kcals then you will lose weight regardless of what you eat, but you must achieve this through eating 1500 cals and exercising off the rest, preferrably low-impact stuff (I walked 6 miles, every day - rain, hail, snow, sunshine - from -30C to +45C temperature ranges)...its really what your mother used to tell you, eat less and get some exercise.
Other general rules - weigh yourself every day (if possible) and understand the patterns of weight fluctuation and also the impact stuff like 1 night on the piss can have. Also try not to eat late at night to make sure you're burning off your meal before going to bed. I also didn't drink tea, coffee or alcohol (except when deliberately out for a drink).
Breakfast cereal should be avoided at all costs - healthy it may be but its packed full of calories - even if the box says its low calories its usually for about 30g of cereal - have you ever weighed out 30g of cereal, a hamster eats 30g a day - a human with a decent bowlful you're looking at two to 3 times that, so add to that some semi-skimmed milk and some sugar on top and you've eaten half a days intake in one shot.
KH, don't give up!!
I am in a similar situation as yourself and can find the off hours drag leading to raids on the rations through boredom- DON'T!!!-use the force!!!
It might be worth having a chat with your GP and having some bloods taken, my problem was traced to the "JOCK" gene along with a slightly under active thyroid, all perfectly treatable and no cause for alarm (well now anyway!!)
Diet wise, sugar HAS to be the No1 reduction target, followed very closely by spuds in any form and surprisingly white bread/rice! If you have a medic or if you can talk to the cooks ask for advise on LOW GI foods, however this is not a plan to turn you into a raving lentalist (actually brown lentils with a small knob of butter are very nice and extremely good at taking the place of the potato) but a plan to draw you away from REFINED foodstuffs (like foods made from or containing white flour, white rice, refined sugar etc, etc) and one of the benefits are nice big juicy red steaks (fat trimmed off)!! and making your own curries (brown rice only!)
Good luck
MoJo.
I am in a similar situation as yourself and can find the off hours drag leading to raids on the rations through boredom- DON'T!!!-use the force!!!
It might be worth having a chat with your GP and having some bloods taken, my problem was traced to the "JOCK" gene along with a slightly under active thyroid, all perfectly treatable and no cause for alarm (well now anyway!!)
Diet wise, sugar HAS to be the No1 reduction target, followed very closely by spuds in any form and surprisingly white bread/rice! If you have a medic or if you can talk to the cooks ask for advise on LOW GI foods, however this is not a plan to turn you into a raving lentalist (actually brown lentils with a small knob of butter are very nice and extremely good at taking the place of the potato) but a plan to draw you away from REFINED foodstuffs (like foods made from or containing white flour, white rice, refined sugar etc, etc) and one of the benefits are nice big juicy red steaks (fat trimmed off)!! and making your own curries (brown rice only!)
Good luck
MoJo.
tyre_tread said:
The cheese is particularly bad and I just measured a piece of chese in the fridge that is 3"x3"x1.5" and that's 250g so if you are eating 3 cubic inches of cheese that about half a kilo! No wonder the flab is staying!
Lose the cheese and eat fruit instead.
Well, cheese is one thing an 'expert' out here told me is good, as it is protein. Besides, 3 cubic inches is 3" x 1" x 1". 3" x 3" x 1.5" is 14.5 cubic inches. I WOULD be getting fatter if I ate that every day.....Lose the cheese and eat fruit instead.
MrV said:
King Herald said:
I've exercised every day for an hour, cardio, treadmill, rowing machine, fast walking on the helideck etc. No weight training though, that bores me nowadays.
You might well find that although you haven't lost weight you might have lost fat and gained muscle instead(muscle weighing more than fat), all depends on what you did exercise wise before this month though I can bang out 5km on the Concept 2 rowing machine in 21 minutes, which is faster than anybody else on board, so I'm not a total flab monster.
becksW said:
thehawk said:
MrV said:
King Herald said:
I've exercised every day for an hour, cardio, treadmill, rowing machine, fast walking on the helideck etc. No weight training though, that bores me nowadays.
You might well find that although you haven't lost weight you might have lost fat and gained muscle instead(muslce weighing more than fat) ,all depends on what you did exercise wise before this month though I would like to add, don't give up, at least you haven't gained weight, take this as a genuine positive.
You should try and eat a bit more fruit, natural sugars etc. Do you take sugar in your tea/ sugar, try sweeteners. Drink lots of water. Check the meat you eat is a lean as possible, if shift working it can be hard but try not to eat too late at night. Eat 2-3 portions of fish per week. Keep going with the exercise and good luck. It definitely gets harder to shift as you get older but it can work
I drink coffee mainly, no sugar, but about 10 cups a day. Would that make any different, appetite stimulator, metabolism suppressor maybe?
GreigM said:
Breakfast cereal should be avoided at all costs - healthy it may be but its packed full of calories - even if the box says its low calories its usually for about 30g of cereal - have you ever weighed out 30g of cereal, a hamster eats 30g a day - a human with a decent bowlful you're looking at two to 3 times that, so add to that some semi-skimmed milk and some sugar on top and you've eaten half a days intake in one shot.
That is an interesting point, as I sometimes have two bowls in the evening, three hours before I go to bed. 
Plus it is an American 'healthy breakfast cereal'.....
tyre_tread said:
The cheese is particularly bad and I just measured a piece of chese in the fridge that is 3"x3"x1.5" and that's 250g so if you are eating 3 cubic inches of cheese that about half a kilo! No wonder the flab is staying!
Slightly wrong Maths there TT, 3*3*1.5 is 13.5 cubic inches
3 CI would be a pice 3"*1"*1" or 3 off 1" cubes...King Herald said:
I work offshore for five weeks at a time, and because I'm a bit of a 48 year old porker, stocky but fat, I decided to seriously attack my weight over the last month I've been out here. I've always been of the school of thought that people are fat simply because they eat too much and don't exercise, so I've exercised every day for an hour, cardio, treadmill, rowing machine, fast walking on the helideck etc. No weight training though, that bores me nowadays.
I ate a bowl of breakfast cereal first thing in the morning, had a smallish standard meat and two veg meal for lunch, then for an evening meal, after exercise, I'd usually have a bowl of 'healthy' breakfast cereal or a pack of Ritz crackers and a chunk of cheese (maybe 3 cubic inches).
Plus a bit of fruit occasionally.
Today I weighed myself and I still weigh 103 a fat and flabby kilos.
Somebody has now told me I might be eating all the WRONG things. Feck me, how hard can it be to drop a few pounds!!!!
What SHOULD I be eating different than I do?
I can't really follow any '1 grilled Avocado for breakfast' stuff because we're limited to the crap that is served on board.
Do Interval trainingI ate a bowl of breakfast cereal first thing in the morning, had a smallish standard meat and two veg meal for lunch, then for an evening meal, after exercise, I'd usually have a bowl of 'healthy' breakfast cereal or a pack of Ritz crackers and a chunk of cheese (maybe 3 cubic inches).
Plus a bit of fruit occasionally.
Today I weighed myself and I still weigh 103 a fat and flabby kilos.
Somebody has now told me I might be eating all the WRONG things. Feck me, how hard can it be to drop a few pounds!!!!
What SHOULD I be eating different than I do?
I can't really follow any '1 grilled Avocado for breakfast' stuff because we're limited to the crap that is served on board.
Don't eat after 6pm
No bread, no pasta, no dairy
Don't drink too much fruit juice
Lifting weights burns more fat than Cardio (once your heart rate is up)
Get more protien
Edited by stimmers on Sunday 13th July 14:06
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