PH Losers 2019 - Anyone want to join me?

[Mr Trophy]

Great reading with some real encouragement.

I started just after January and around 8 pounds down. Nothing crazy, still having chocolate and crisps, but this time in moderation.

Hitting around 1800 cals a day (work in IT, so don't move) and it's slowing coming off. My macs are:

Protein - 136
Carbs - 180
Sugar - 76
Fat - 60
Sat fat - 22

I go over these most days, but ensure I hit the 1800 a day.

[J4CKO]

You don’t need to be in “Keto” to lose weight, eat less crap and move more, doesn’t need to be painful or a short lived Herculean effort.

I am down six or seven pounds, just need to consistently eat less, you don’t need to be hungry, if you are truly eating less than you lose you will
Lose weight.

It’s not even though, you can plateau for days, weeks even, you just need to be honest about what goes in your gob and accept it’s going to take a while.

Your body can’t defy physics, it either just seems like it or you are eating too much, so many factors at play that affect weight and it means you sometimes can’t see the wood for the trees.

I reckon to get to my 200 pound target it will take me six months and then a lifetime to maintain it.

Cutting carbs is a good move but don’t go too mad if you want it too be sustainable as you end up feeling grim, just watch the portions and make them good carbs like a baked spud, at least you get the fibre.

[LordGrover]

Phil. said:

Guys!
...

I happen to agree with you, but fear you're pissing in the wind.
Most people accept that eliminating refined and processed carbs is wise, but when it comes to their 'healthy' brown rice and jacket taters they throw up their arms in despair crying Fad!
I really don't know what can be done to staunch the pro-fruit and veg dogma that afflicts esp. Western society. Some fruit marketing company in the US comes up with a new motto; "Five a Day" and somehow it became set in stone.
Eat less, move more is just nonsense for a large proportion of those suffering excess weight and/or metabolic disease.
As for 'eat more fibre'...

[HarryFlatters]

LordGrover said:

Phil. said:

Guys!
...

I happen to agree with you, but fear you're pissing in the wind.
Most people accept that eliminating refined and processed carbs is wise, but when it comes to their 'healthy' brown rice and jacket taters they throw up their arms in despair crying Fad!
I really don't know what can be done to staunch the pro-fruit and veg dogma that afflicts esp. Western society. Some fruit marketing company in the US comes up with a new motto; "Five a Day" and somehow it became set in stone.
Eat less, move more is just nonsense for a large proportion of those suffering excess weight and/or metabolic disease.
As for 'eat more fibre'...

While I do agree, I think I'd rather carry half a stone extra ballast than give up chips, beer and bourbon altogether.

[LordGrover]

[22]

I'm close to a stone lost this year on slimming world. Tons of pasta, spuds, fruit & veg with some nice meals, just a few naughty bits cut out.

No idea if it's 'healthy', but I look better, feel better, and it's working with very little exercise.

Surely more than one way to skin a carrot?

[Phil.]

LordGrover said:

I happen to agree with you, but fear you're pissing in the wind.

........

Eat less, move more is just nonsense for a large proportion of those suffering excess weight and/or metabolic disease.

J4cko above has just proved you to be correct Obviously he’s not insulin resistant so calories in-out works for him and ‘obviously’ that MUST work for EVERYONE else (NOT).

If anyone wants the debate about calories in-out versus insulin resistance then there is a separate and long thread for that, so I won’t be debating/repeating here.

PS My original post was aimed at those who are NOT losing weight doing calories in-out and there are a lot of those on this thread. For all those happy with their weight loss or method of weight gain, feel free to ignore.

Edited by Phil. on Thursday 24th January 10:10

[Robmarriott]

Phil. said:

It’s probably why you are overweight now.

Nah, it's because I used to eat two pizzas if there was an offer on when I was married and my ex didn't understand portion control...

For some of us, cutting carbs out is difficult, fresh produce is expensive and doesn't keep, cooking from scratch every day is also fine if you can cook but if you can't (like me) you rely on stuff which is cheap, quick and easy, which tends to mean carbs.

Lunches, particularly while at work, are difficult because shops sell either sandwiches, pasta, tiny little salads or ready meals, 3 of which are carb heavy.

I, for one, can't afford to buy stuff for salad every 3 days and only use half of it, as much as I'd like to, my wages don't stretch that far.

[J4CKO]

Phil. said:

LordGrover said:

I happen to agree with you, but fear you're pissing in the wind.

........

Eat less, move more is just nonsense for a large proportion of those suffering excess weight and/or metabolic disease.

J4cko above has just proved you to be correct Obviously he’s not insulin resistant so calories in-out works for him and ‘obviously’ that MUST work for EVERYONE else (NOT).

If anyone wants the debate about calories in-out versus insulin resistance then there is a separate and long thread for that, so I won’t be debating/repeating here.

Ok, I am sure that its a thing, but I do wonder how many people are officially, actually insulin resistant ? are people getting diagnosed or just deciding what they are doing isnt working so that must be it ?

I sympathise if the normal routes dont work, i dont find it easy but I know what works.

[HTP99]

Robmarriott said:

Phil. said:

It’s probably why you are overweight now.

Nah, it's because I used to eat two pizzas if there was an offer on when I was married and my ex didn't understand portion control...

For some of us, cutting carbs out is difficult, fresh produce is expensive and doesn't keep, cooking from scratch every day is also fine if you can cook but if you can't (like me) you rely on stuff which is cheap, quick and easy, which tends to mean carbs.

Lunches, particularly while at work, are difficult because shops sell either sandwiches, pasta, tiny little salads or ready meals, 3 of which are carb heavy.

I, for one, can't afford to buy stuff for salad every 3 days and only use half of it, as much as I'd like to, my wages don't stretch that far.

I don't buy the whole argument that fresh food is expensive, it isn't, it is a cop out argument.

I take salad to work daily, a bag of salad from Aldi which lasts 2 days is 80p, a pepper is about 50p or 3 for £1.00; I use a third of a pepper a day, a bag of red onions is about a £1, at a guess there are 10 onions in there and I use a quarter of one a day, cherry tomatoes are about 80p a bag; 20 or so in there and 5 a day, chicken breast is about £3 per 500g; 100g per day so that lasts 10 days, a bit of dressing; 10p per day so my salad has cost me just over £1.00.

You don't need to know how to cook to make a chilli or bolognaise as you just pretty much chuck everything in; ingredients for ones that I make work out at approx £2.50 per person; chilli is 330 calories, bolognaise is 362 calories, plus the rice and pasta (both cheap).

[J4CKO]

Robmarriott said:

Phil. said:

It’s probably why you are overweight now.

Nah, it's because I used to eat two pizzas if there was an offer on when I was married and my ex didn't understand portion control...

For some of us, cutting carbs out is difficult, fresh produce is expensive and doesn't keep, cooking from scratch every day is also fine if you can cook but if you can't (like me) you rely on stuff which is cheap, quick and easy, which tends to mean carbs.

Lunches, particularly while at work, are difficult because shops sell either sandwiches, pasta, tiny little salads or ready meals, 3 of which are carb heavy.

I, for one, can't afford to buy stuff for salad every 3 days and only use half of it, as much as I'd like to, my wages don't stretch that far.

The Pizza thing is what I call an overshoot, if its there and you are hungry, especially if you are a pig like me that crams food in and eats really quickly its so easy to do.

The whole way our digestive system works doesn't suit me, 20 minutes to register having eaten, I can have troffed 5000 calories in that time !

If I am hungry I will just eat, but have learnt to just have one item and then wait a bit, had one of those NAKD bars yesterday as was ravenous, could have got a bag of crisps, another bar and a jam butty in the time but just that, and then waiting and it did the trick, taken me 40 odd years to get my head round that.

As for expensive, my missus is an absolute Demon with her eating, she got to 12 stone and then lost three, that was two years ago and she maintains in a 3 or 4 pound range and backs off or eats more dependent on where she is in that range, trouble is she eats salad every day, with stuff like Avacados, Smoked Salmon, Bacon, Cooked Meat, Fresh Fish, Prawns etc, I have Porridge if I eat breakfast, cost is pennies, she has half a £5 pack of Salmon !

[Riley Blue]

As we're touching on diabetes, here's what I wrote in the 'Reversing Type 2 Diabetes' thread earlier:


"A while back I was warned about the risk of diabetes and should change my diet, lose weight, try to exercise more (arthritis makes that difficult) so I focussed on diet, not necessarily to lose weight but to get my HbA1C down. In November 2017 it was 6.6% (diabetic), in August 2018 it was 6.2% (prediabetes). in December 2018 it was 5.5% (normal).

How I did it was by reducing alcohol, cutting out snacks, eating more fruit and vegetables, reducing portion sizes - nothing extreme at all. I log everything I eat in the 'Lose It' app and doing that several times a day makes me think much more about what I'm eating, how much I'm eating and what it contains. A side benefit is that I'm gradually losing weight and that, in turn, is helping my arthritis. Very much a win-win situation."


It's not just about weight loss, there are other health benefits too

[Phil.]

J4CKO said:

Ok, I am sure that its a thing, but I do wonder how many people are officially, actually insulin resistant ? are people getting diagnosed or just deciding what they are doing isnt working so that must be it ?

Insulin resistance and over consumption of carbs is the main reason behind the massive increase in obesity and diabetes in the western world over the past 30 years. It is rife but people don’t understand it and the government (NHS) are only just beginning to respond to it.

If in doubt check your blood sugar 2 hours after a meal with carbs. Broadly, if it’s above 7.0 mmol/L then it’s too high and you are probably on your way to diabetes unless you change something. I emphasise this is a benchmark test only. A blood test by your doc is the only reliable test.

[Robmarriott]

HTP99 said:

I don't buy the whole argument that fresh food is expensive, it isn't, it is a cop out argument.

I live alone, going to a shop every two days to buy something which may or may not last that long becomes expensive. I absolutely love salad but buying enough to make it varied enough to be interesting means some of it does end up in the bin (celery, for example, half of it always ends up binned because it goes soggy before I've been able to eat all of it, same with radishes, normally cucumber...)

Call it a cop out argument if you like but without knowing everyone's financial and personal situation, it's probably best if we just agree to disagree on the subject.

Anyway, I didn't come into this thread to argue, just to get some praise and encouragement from people for losing weight at or greater than a rate I'm aiming for, as there's nobody else telling me I'm doing a good job if I am...

(as an aside, eating less and moving more is currently working for me)

[J4CKO]

Riley Blue said:

As we're touching on diabetes, here's what I wrote in the 'Reversing Type 2 Diabetes' thread earlier:


"A while back I was warned about the risk of diabetes and should change my diet, lose weight, try to exercise more (arthritis makes that difficult) so I focussed on diet, not necessarily to lose weight but to get my HbA1C down. In November 2017 it was 6.6% (diabetic), in August 2018 it was 6.2% (prediabetes). in December 2018 it was 5.5% (normal).

How I did it was by reducing alcohol, cutting out snacks, eating more fruit and vegetables, reducing portion sizes - nothing extreme at all. I log everything I eat in the 'Lose It' app and doing that several times a day makes me think much more about what I'm eating, how much I'm eating and what it contains. A side benefit is that I'm gradually losing weight and that, in turn, is helping my arthritis. Very much a win-win situation."


It's not just about weight loss, there are other health benefits too

Good going, someone said to be that diet is the main aspect with weight and health, like 80 percent about diet and 20 percent exercise.

I do exercise, however I was wanting to take up running but every time I run my feet end up really sore, I think sometimes its just a case of accepting that perhaps that avenue isnt going to work, do a bit of research and try and find out why but be prepared to try a new tack.

Its a shame as I don't mind running, quite happy with the discomfort of running but if I cant put any weight on my foot the next day that's a deal breaker, wasn't after running marathons, just doing a mile or two at a good pace, still plenty of other stuff I can do. Its a shame as you don't need any gear other than trainers and its a really good exercise.

[J4CKO]

Phil. said:

Insulin resistance and over consumption of carbs is the main reason behind the massive increase in obesity and diabetes in the western world over the past 30 years. It is rife but people don’t understand it and the government (NHS) are only just beginning to respond to it.

If in doubt check your blood sugar 2 hours after a meal with carbs. Broadly, if it’s above 7.0 mmol/L then it’s too high and you are probably on your way to diabetes unless you change something. I emphasise this is a benchmark test only. A blood test by your doc is the only reliable test.

Been tested a few time for diabetes, think if the doc sees you are packing a few extra pounds they do the test, one doctor had me pee in a jar thing, then knocked it all over her desk, have had the fasted blood test test a fair few times and thats always been ok

But cant get complacent with it, you arent until you are.

[Phil.]

J4CKO said:

Been tested a few time for diabetes, think if the doc sees you are packing a few extra pounds they do the test, one doctor had me pee in a jar thing, then knocked it all over her desk, have had the fasted blood test test a fair few times and thats always been ok

But cant get complacent with it, you arent until you are.

Good for you. It doesn’t hurt to be tested and you don’t appear to be insulin resistant but I suspect many people posting on this thread are and they don’t know it, or how to deal with it.

I now only count carbs. I keep an eye on calories and when I want to lose weight quickly I keep them around 1500 per day but it’s keeping the carbs below 20g per day that is important.

Out of interest, carbs are the only macronutrient that the body does not need to consume. It will produce glucose if it needs it. You only need fat and protein to live healthy. It’s just that carbs are so tasty and easily available.

[geeks]

As I missed my weigh in yesterday I almost forgot to weigh myself this morning, however I remembered after my first coffee.



Another 1.4kg off pretty pleased with that as my activity is a little down for the week and I did over do the snacks one evening (well, dried fruit and popcorn).

Ref buying salad items: Always (where possible/practical) buy unwashed, stuff that isn't bagged/packaged. When you wash salad you start a countdown and it doesn't last anywhere near as long as it should. Also with stuff like spinach when it goes a bit limp or soft then it's perfect for throwing into things like scrambled egg etc rather than putting into a salad you wont enjoy because its a bit limp.

As for the keto stuff, I am not keto and I am losing weight, just saying

[emicen]

Phil. said:

Insulin resistance and over consumption of carbs is the main reason behind the massive increase in obesity and diabetes in the western world over the past 30 years. It is rife but people don’t understand it and the government (NHS) are only just beginning to respond to it.

If in doubt check your blood sugar 2 hours after a meal with carbs. Broadly, if it’s above 7.0 mmol/L then it’s too high and you are probably on your way to diabetes unless you change something. I emphasise this is a benchmark test only. A blood test by your doc is the only reliable test.

Is this a testing kit type thing available from pharmacies?

I can shed weight via the usual in<out channels, my Mrs is getting rather disheartened at the lack of progress despite being on a similar calorie reduction.

I have actually spoken to her about carb reduction before but might have better traction this way.

[MB140]

I for one am just following calorie counting. I had my aviation medical this week and am not pre-diabetic. My SMO just politely said your fat. Eat less do more.

My wife is a huge fan of a guy called James Smith. Calls it how he sees it.

He has a Facebook page and vlogs most days about stuff, no way am I suggesting people sign up or pay for his PT stuff. He’s just quite funny to follow.

Anyway breakfast today - 40g oats with 150g fat free yogurt.

Snack this morning - Banana

Lunch - Brown sandwich thin. 2 thin slices of turkey No spread

Afternoon snack - 200g strawberries

Tea - chicken breast dry fried with 1 pepper, 1 onion coated in my homemade Mexican dry spice maybe in a wrap or just with a side salad.