Weighty issues

Rocker

I have always believed that we are products of our parents, grandparents and ancestors.  This applies to our height, weight etc.  We are what we are.  

Post Christmas most people feel the need to lose a few of the Kgs they put on over the festive season.  There are many diets, all promise to get you to a target weight.  And if followed to the letter, they will achieve that.  Or rather you will.  The major problem then is staying at that weight.  This is where most people fall down.  Within a couple of months, they are back, weight wise, where they started.

Harking back to the who we are intro, all of us have a 'natural' weight.  Usually little to do with BMI, but for some the BMI figures will be spot on.  If you are over your natural weight, you will know it.  So my suggestion is how to get to your natural weight and stay there.

Eat a normal breakfast.  And a normal lunch.  And eat a little less potatoe/rice/noodles/bread for your dinner.  Less is around 10% less, a spoonful at most.  But eat your normal vegs and meats for dinner.  Stop eating the garbage foods: breakfast bars, crisps etc.  Also stop drinking sugar rich fizzy drinks.  Do drink plenty of water each day.

Forget the bathroom scales.  I did this since Christmas and my trousers is looser around the waist and especially so at the thighs.  And I feel better too.  No dramatic weight loss.  No cravings.  Definitely worth a try.

Lestratcaster

Been cutting out fizzy drinks/chocolate and general sugar for a while. Those supermarket sold snack bars can contain a lot of sugars so I avoid those at all costs. My problem is I'm not active enough to burn all the carbs I eat, trying to cut down on evening carbs in particular.

I have 3 main meals a day and usually snack on fruits and low sugar protein bars between. Seems to be keeping my weight stable but need to lose another couple of stone to be happy.

monquixote

It's not so much that you have a genetic "natural weight" your fat cells release grehlin when you lose weight which makes you crave food. This is why people tend to spring back. If you keep the weight off for a while your body resets and the craving goes away.

VimFuego

since xmas I have been a bit concerned about my weight, but since increasing my intake of pies, pasties and beer I'm a lot more relaxed about it.

duotone

Been forcing myself out in the evenings to go to the gym. It’s just a 5 minute walk away so there not really a good excuse to not bother.  Usually download a podcast and that keeps me entertained while I am up there. 

Ravenous

I lost half a stone to man flu a few weeks back, which was nice.  (Already put about a quarter of a stone back on again though!)

duotone

Ravenous said:

I lost half a stone to man flu a few weeks back, which was nice.  (Already put about a quarter of a stone back on again though!)

Had the flu for 2 weeks in November, I lost 9lbs!

Sassafras

I'm the ideal weight for a 9.5 foot tall man.

boogieman

duotone said:

Ravenous said:

I lost half a stone to man flu a few weeks back, which was nice.  (Already put about a quarter of a stone back on again though!)

Had the flu for 2 weeks in November, I lost 9lbs!

I’m still getting over the flu. It kills your appetite don’t it? I’ve lost about half a stone. 

munckee

I find not eating anything other than meals keeps me at a decent weight with a bit of exercise.  When my wife diets (and therefore I do) after a while when I have shed the half stone over my natural weight I usually seem to be at, I have to eat additional food to maintain my weight and not look like I live in a concentration camp..

Deadman

I just drop the calories, plain and simple (whilst avoiding eating crap). Also running 4-5 days a week. Result? Narrowing waist and feeling mentally healthy.

RandallFlagg

Sassafras said:

I'm the ideal weight for a 9.5 foot tall man.

I'm the ideal weight for 2  x 9.5 foot tall men

BigBearKris

RandallFlagg said:

Sassafras said:

I'm the ideal weight for a 9.5 foot tall man.

I'm the ideal weight for 2  x 9.5 foot tall men

You want 2x likes don't you? ;-)

jonnyburgo

I’ve dropped fizzy drinks biscuits and chocolate and crisps and lost 1/2 stone since xmas. Aldi do some excellent raw fruit and nut bars that stave off a sweet tooth and they don’t contain any sugars other than the naturally occurring ones. Increased my exercise and don’t get any mid day / early evening energy dips like I used to. Shoving biscuits into my face when hungry and unable to cook was a massive problem. Feel so much better for it. Weight loss seems to have stalled a bit but more exercise should sort that.

RaymondLin

I once lost 4 stones without stepping foot in the gym in about 8 months, I didn't really cut out anything, I just ate less and calorie counted roughly.  I had fruit for breakfast, tuna salad for lunch and a full size normal meal for dinner, be it steak or pasta.

duotone

jonnyburgo said:

I’ve dropped fizzy drinks biscuits and chocolate and crisps and lost 1/2 stone since xmas. Aldi do some excellent raw fruit and nut bars that stave off a sweet tooth and they don’t contain any sugars other than the naturally occurring ones. Increased my exercise and don’t get any mid day / early evening energy dips like I used to. Shoving biscuits into my face when hungry and unable to cook was a massive problem. Feel so much better for it. Weight loss seems to have stalled a bit but more exercise should sort that.

Yeah dropping those will help a lot.

Have been watching Tom Kerridges Lose Weight For Good cookery programme & tried a few recipes from it

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b09l5mdv

menamestom

I don't have much weight to lose, but I'm a bit over my fighting weight.

I've been roughly following the leangains fasting schedule.  Basically you east for 8 hours in every 24.    Works great for me.  Have dinner about 7pm, then don't eat again for 16 hours.  First thing is I've found pointless evening munching easy to stop.  There's no, 'I've got 100 calories left' bollocks.  I've had my tea and don't need anything else that evening, so it takes away the temptation.  (Great to stop me coming in after gigs as well and stuffing my face and having a few wines before bed.)

Then in the morning, I'm never hungry first thing, so it save's me trying to force breakfast down that I don't need.  Get hungry about half 9 but have a coffee then have a snack about 11 or 12.
Then just eat what I want over an 8 hour period, which is reasonably sensible in line with rockers post at the top.  

Anyway, feel great, lost half a stone, body fat has gone down from 18.5% to 17%.  Main thing is though I'm susceptible to the odd low sugar episode, to the point of sweats and almost dropping down, but that's completely gone.   I think i's possibly to do with insulin sensitivity although not completely sure of the science or validity of the studies relating to fasting.  Either way I want to keep this going, I like it.

hassleham

If anyone hates the gym and running (like me!), I can 100% recommend rock climbing as a good way to exercise

DrCornelius

Any of you tried Michael Mosely’s 5 minute HIT  workouts ? I’m getting increasingly fed up with the gym so am trying to find alternatives. I’m playing badminton with my Mrs once a week, I run a once a week gym group for work which is actually fun as there’s around 10 of us so it’s nice and social. In between I’m doing these 5 minute workouts and I certainly feel disproportionately knackered after them, it’s early days but I feel fitter and it’s not costing me £35 per month.

Chalky

Having spent the last year on a dairy and gluten free diet under my doctor's instructions, my experience is:

Exercise does bugger all for losing weight.
Not eating breakfast and only eating between 12 noon and 8pm is very very effective.
Having lost weight, I've also lost my store of energy so when I do need to eat its far more urgent.
Gluten and dairy free automatically cuts out a lot of bad food.

Maybe thats just my body type. YMMV

fields5069

I think we have a natural weight based on the food available today, but I also think most of us are completely out of kilter with what is healthy. I don't believe our bodies react well to an average modern diet. It's no secret that so-called "starvation" diets can lead to a longer life, better overall health etc.

Having said that, I'm not about to stop eating carbs, sugars and fats because I like them too much.

The answer is probably a fasting diet, but a lot of the time it is a tough ask. If I was out and about all day with no time to stop to eat until the evening, I guess I would naturally lean towards such a diet. The key, apparently, is to leave enough time between 2 meals (more than 8 hours) so that your body can complete all the digestion stuff and move on to concentrating more on repair and fat burning.

Exercise absolutely helps towards weight loss. How can it not? But I'm thinking about large amounts of gentle-ish exercise. Caveman analogy = running down an animal so that it overheats and dies, that sort of thing.