Losing weight?

[GadgeS3C]

Thinking about what you eat and adding up the calories can be helpful. If you convert the calories into exercise it concentrates the mind. Many years ago I converted a Snickers bar into minutes on a treadmill. Thinking 30mins running for the calories made it much easier to resist!

Easy to forget though - with Christmas I've been eating a few mince pies and drinking more than usual. A few sums earlier made me realise I was probably getting 5,000 calories a week extra

[pistonchris]

Thank's for all the advice chaps.
On a average day i have
NO breakfast
A sandwich a pack of crisps a fizzy drink and a chocolate bar for lunch.
Dinner is usually chips and frozen crap are sometimes or sunday dinner type meal
Then a couple of pint's and a few brandys.
And no exercise.


SO going to cut all alcohol out and fizzy drink's
Change my lunch to fruit are some healthy snack.
Change my dinner to meat and steam veg are some of the suggestions ive seen on here.
And thinking of getting a push bike.
Should make a big difference to my health and fitness.

[dean350z]

pistonchris said:

Thank's for all the advice chaps.
On a average day i have
NO breakfast
A sandwich a pack of crisps a fizzy drink and a chocolate bar for lunch.
Dinner is usually chips and frozen crap are sometimes or sunday dinner type meal
Then a couple of pint's and a few brandys.
And no exercise.

Blimey.....without wishing to sound rude that explains the 40 inch waist.

Whatever you do make sure that it is something you can sustain long term.

Good luck.

[Hoofy]

pistonchris said:

Thank's for all the advice chaps.
On a average day i have
NO breakfast
A sandwich a pack of crisps a fizzy drink and a chocolate bar for lunch.
Dinner is usually chips and frozen crap are sometimes or sunday dinner type meal
Then a couple of pint's and a few brandys.
And no exercise.


SO going to cut all alcohol out and fizzy drink's
Change my lunch to fruit are some healthy snack.
Change my dinner to meat and steam veg are some of the suggestions ive seen on here.
And thinking of getting a push bike.
Should make a big difference to my health and fitness.

Current daily intake at a guess: 400+150+200+400+700+500+300+300 = ~2950 depending on how big your chip portion is, number of brandies and pints and how well your sandwich is loaded at lunchtime.

Planned intake: 300+200+200 = ~700. Assuming I read correctly that you're now skipping breakfast and lunch is just a couple of fruits? My advice would be eat slightly more, enjoy the odd pint or brandy and the occasional portion of chips otherwise you'll be back to your original intake by February and angry with everyone.

[mattikake]

pistonchris said:

Thank's for all the advice chaps.
On a average day i have
NO breakfast
A sandwich a pack of crisps a fizzy drink and a chocolate bar for lunch.
Dinner is usually chips and frozen crap are sometimes or sunday dinner type meal
Then a couple of pint's and a few brandys.
And no exercise.


SO going to cut all alcohol out and fizzy drink's
Change my lunch to fruit are some healthy snack.
Change my dinner to meat and steam veg are some of the suggestions ive seen on here.
And thinking of getting a push bike.
Should make a big difference to my health and fitness.

Not bad but needs some better choices and sometimes big changes require big will power. Most people don't have this. Make it easy on yourself.

Simple version:
Carbs for breakfast.
Balanced healthy lunch (you know what this is).
No Carbs in your last meal.
Walk 5km per day, 5 times a week (this is about 45 mins of walking during a 9-5 job lunchbreak. Easy)

Long(er) version:
Bikes are crap for burning fat, great for fitness. Walking is great at both.

Swap red meat for fish.

Grill, steam, boil only.

Like many things, it's not just about what you eat but how you eat it and how much you have. E.g. You don't need to cut alcohol to lose weight. Alcohol in Beer in a crap idea, Alcohol in Red Wine with it's metabolism and fat balancing plant sterols, is a good idea. 1 glass of Red a day is a good idea, 3 bottles a week is a bad idea. etc.

Avoid temptation and/or prelonging your sugar/fat addictions by emptying your cupboards of crap right now. (you know what the crap is)

If you're not sure what exercise to do or how hard to work (or in other words, you are lazy), see a PT and let them decide all that for you. A decent one will push you, and keep it fun and varied.

Learn to listen to the dumb animal part of your brain, instead of doing what it says. (This is the same dumb animal that got you into trouble in the first place) This dumb animal is addicted to crap food and lazy behaviour. It speaks in the voice of excuses. Recognise the excuses for what they all are - pathetic and obvious. It's ever-inventive with the excuses - toilet break, work issues, boss is pestering, feeling off colour, something on TV, a twinge in your knee, need to do shopping, got to paint the fence, wife needs attention, need to pick my nose, must text Dave, McD's is on the way, I can't just throw crap food away (give it to someone else then!) etc. For the first few weeks it will never stop finding excuses to not change it's behaviour. Don't get beaten by a dumb animal, it's embarrassing.

[okgo]

Bikes are crap for burning fat?

Lets hear the rationale for that then, should be interesting given the typical physique of a decent cyclist

[mattikake]

Cycling is 2.5 - 3 times more energy efficient than walking.

HTH

[okgo]

mattikake said:

Cycling is 2.5 - 3 times more energy efficient than walking.

HTH

Probably 10x as interesting though, and also isn't that assuming you don't make any effort at all?

[captainzep]

mattikake said:

Cycling is 2.5 - 3 times more energy efficient than walking.

HTH

Over a given distance.

But many exercise because they have half-an-hour or an hour spare. Plus half the battle for those who are inactive is to find something, anything that is fun and they enjoy. I remember getting back on a bike and feeling like a kid again. It was much more fun than walking. Before long I was out on 20 mile rides and burning plenty of calories.

[djfaulkner]

Some good advice in here.

I'm looking to shift a bit of weight this year. I'm sort of doing Slimming World with the wife, but she is going to the group sessions.
We have done it before it changed our eating habits, we were cooking dinners from scratch, rather than buying from the supermarket.

It was suprising what we could eat without using too many 'syns', for example we could a massive breakfast of:
Fried Bacon - Cutting the rind off and using Fry-Lite
Quorn Sausages - Grilled
Fried Egg
Beans
Chopped Tomotos
Mushrooms
Toast

I walk between 2 - 4 miles a day (depending if I get a lift from the station) so I'm hoping the change of diet and the walking will starting making a difference, then I will starting running.

[dean350z]

djfaulkner said:

Some good advice in here.

I'm looking to shift a bit of weight this year. I'm sort of doing Slimming World with the wife, but she is going to the group sessions.
We have done it before it changed our eating habits, we were cooking dinners from scratch, rather than buying from the supermarket.

It was suprising what we could eat without using too many 'syns', for example we could a massive breakfast of:
Fried Bacon - Cutting the rind off and using Fry-Lite
Quorn Sausages - Grilled
Fried Egg
Beans
Chopped Tomotos
Mushrooms
Toast

I walk between 2 - 4 miles a day (depending if I get a lift from the station) so I'm hoping the change of diet and the walking will starting making a difference, then I will starting running.

In all honesty I would step away from slimming world, weight watcher style diets with their 'sin' points etc, while they to bring results for many you really can not beat plan old fashioned clean eating...you will get better results on a long term basis with simple healthy eating, there really is no need to go the fad route....in my opinion they are nothing more than a well packaged, well marketed, money making schemes...if it comes out of the ground it is good.

[mattikake]

okgo said:

mattikake said:

Cycling is 2.5 - 3 times more energy efficient than walking.

HTH

Probably 10x as interesting though, and also isn't that assuming you don't make any effort at all?

Yes. See the OP. Is there anything to suggest he likes hard physical effort?

Even "10x as interesting" is subjective. I find walking more interesting than cycling because my mind wanders bigtime and I get some good thinking time. You also get more time to see sights when you're walking. So when I'm cycling I may see more sights in a given time, and apart from dodging cars or insect swarms, the inevitable pain of an inevitable hill climb means you have to concentrate more on what you're doing. There's also less incentive to stop and check some wildlife out. Personally I find losing your momentum is an rse on a bike.

"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking" - Nietzsche. Or as I say to clients "Good walking frees the mind to be a good mind walking free"

I often prescribe walking because it takes no special equipment, it's the most versatile form of exercise - it needs no special equipment so you can do it in the office, at lunchtimes, at home, to the supermarket etc. - and it's painless. This makes it easy to stick at. All you need is time.

Also walking promotes an upright posture and sound core balance (particularly if you walk like Prince Phillip with your hands behind your back). Most people, especially the unfit/overweight, have posture problems usually brought on my too much sitting (4 hours+ per day). Cycling essentially exacerbates the sitting desk posture problems by keeping your hip flexors contracted/shortened, putting more pressure on your vulnerable Lumbar spine.

Walking is also something we're physically designed to do, so the natural biological mechanics are already present for a perfect response to this form of exercise.

Edit: btw, I cycle more than I walk. Last week before xmas I biked 95Km and Walked 10Km. Cycling always trumps walking when you have somewhere you have to go!

Edited by mattikake on Thursday 3rd January 14:09

Edited by mattikake on Thursday 3rd January 14:10

[InertialTooth45]

mattikake said:

Walking is also something we're physically designed to do, so the natural biological mechanics are already present for a perfect response to this form of exercise.

I disagree with this, we're biomechanically designed to run not walk.

[djfaulkner]

dean350z said:

In all honesty I would step away from slimming world, weight watcher style diets with their 'sin' points etc, while they to bring results for many you really can not beat plan old fashioned clean eating...you will get better results on a long term basis with simple healthy eating, there really is no need to go the fad route....in my opinion they are nothing more than a well packaged, well marketed, money making schemes...if it comes out of the ground it is good.

See your point... The plan is by the time I/we get down to our ideal weights cooking everything with be second nature.

To me its more of a kickstart.

[mattikake]

InertialTooth45 said:

mattikake said:

Walking is also something we're physically designed to do, so the natural biological mechanics are already present for a perfect response to this form of exercise.

I disagree with this, we're biomechanically designed to run not walk.

You've been watching Horizon by yourself again haven't you?

Well, splitting a hair we're designed to do both, but the "discussion" was walking v cycling, not walking v running.

...unless of course you're suggesting that this mammal *only* runs and never walks?

[InertialTooth45]

mattikake said:

InertialTooth45 said:

mattikake said:

Walking is also something we're physically designed to do, so the natural biological mechanics are already present for a perfect response to this form of exercise.

I disagree with this, we're biomechanically designed to run not walk.

You've been watching Horizon by yourself again haven't you?

Well, splitting a hair we're designed to do both, but the "discussion" was walking v cycling, not walking v running.

...unless of course you're suggesting that this mammal *only* runs and never walks?

Ok ok we were designed to walk, and then we evolved to run. :P

[LordGrover]

'We' were designed to swim then evolved to crawl, surely?

[Hoofy]

Dunno about you neanderthals but I was designed to drive powerful sports cars without any form of traction control.

[LordGrover]

I rapidly developed the skills required when I took ownership of the Griff.

[Hoofy]

LordGrover said:

I rapidly developed the skills required when I took ownership of the Griff.

I think we've proven the creationists wrong on two counts then:
1) Evolution doesn't take place over millions of years.
2) (Driving) gods exist.

My Work is done.