How Did You Loose Wieght ?

[Guest]

now that its the summer i'm going for it this time. how have you lost weight quick ish

[JD™]

Eat less. Move more.

[Sam Nichols]

Cocaine..

[Krisboats]

Eat less. Move more.

Eat healthy while doing this. Don't eat less as in only 3 chocolate bars a day, have some cereal, sandwiches for lunch and a decent meal for dinner. Drink plenty of water... jobs a good one.

[Connor Powell]

Never put it on in the first place.

[Guest]

From not riding, my metabalism has lacked gone down dramatically

[Davetrials]

This really is all you need to know.

Thread/

There have been a few nubie threads in the losing weight forum recently that have seemed particularly clueless so I thought it would be a good idea for us to put together a sticky covering the basic principles of frequent small meals with protein, full body weights routines and HIIT for fat loss. A lot of this is touched on in Neil’s Beginners FAQ sticky on the Starting Out board, but people looking to lose weight don’t seem to be finding it there.

I reckon this post by BlubbaX is a good foundation to build on (if that’s ok with you, Blubba)… we could perhaps expand on it with more diet plan ideas (including a vegetarian one); include a para on HIIT vs steady state cardio (though this may be controversial!) and a note about not being afraid of good fats; and add a few links to things like foodfocus or other calorie-log sites and the best site to work out your caloric requirements and macro breakdowns (I know of this one: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa64.htm …but there may be a better one).

Here’s BlubbaX’s post… if anyone has ideas of things to add, or a good paragraph on HIIT or 'fat doesn't make you fat' for example, please post below and we’ll see if we can put something definitive together!

***

Summary: less carbs (especially refined ones), more lean protein, more non-starchy veg and healthy fats combined with some resistance based work. Diet for fat loss. Exercise to keep muscle.

This is in contrast with the old advice of low-fat, high carb combined with cardio which supposedly results in skinny-fat people and yo-yo dieting.

This is not a no-carb or very low-carb diet like Atkins etc. Those are hard to follow for any length of time, may well be unhealthy and appear to result in muscle loss. You should be able to stick to this diet in a loosened form forever.

Studies show that people tend to eat a lot (i.e. way more than they need) of refined carbs and it’s linked with obesity, diabetes and subsequent heart disease. Carbs are easily turned to fat by the body, proteins take more effort. A higher protein:carb ratio in the diet leads to a better body composition in terms of muscle:fat, when combined with resistance exercise. Other advantages of protein over carbs are that they require more energy to metabolise and tend to be more filling for longer. Vegetables are required as they are healthy, fibrous and filling.

To lose fat you have to go into calorie deficit. When in this state you also tend to lose muscle unless you take steps to prevent it. Muscle burns more calories than fat so the less muscular you are the easier it is to regain weight after the diet. Hence people who cut their cals, eat a lot of carbs and don’t do resistance work lose fat and muscle and then put the fat back on as they are burning less calories than they were before they started.

But if you eat plenty of protein throughout the day (so that blood protein levels are high enough for the body to get it’s protein from there, rather than your muscles) and do resistance exercise (which stimulate the growth of muscle), you can not only prevent muscle loss but actually gain some even whilst dieting. So you get leaner, stronger, more muscular whilst feeling fuller and get all the benefits of the various nutrients in veg and fruit.

Diet Rules:

1. Eat lean protein with every meal.

2. Eat non-starchy veg at lunch and dinner (and breakfast if you can work that into it, I can’t)

3. Don’t eat more carb-foods in one meal than the equivalent of 1 slice of bread, a couple of tablespoons of cooked rice, a small potato (size of a snooker ball) and even then for only 2 of the 3 main meals

4. Ideally reserve most carbs for breakfast or for post-workout.

5. When eating carbs, eat unrefined carbs – brown rice, wholewheat products and the like.

6. Avoid fruit-juices, sugary drinks and snacks.

7. Only eat a moderate amount of fruit – a couple of pieces day or less - focus on veg rather than fruit.

8. Don’t get properly hungry – eat if you need to, just stick to the formula

9. Start meals by eating veg (a salad starter is perfect, or just start on the veg bits first), if you start getting full before you’ve finished the meal don’t feel the need to finish it. Save some for later or chuck it. A study showed that people who started meals with a salad tended to lose weight with no other diet intervention simply because it lengthens the meal allowing the hunger urge to catch-up with you wolfing the food down. The other option is to eat more slowly.

10. Keep the booze to the weekend and not too much of it. Spirit + diet mixer is the best. Wine is 2nd best. It’s hard to lose weight if you get pissed up every week unfortunately – unless combined with speed of course.

11. Cut out drinks with sugar in them if possible. Just one if you can’t.

Example diet meals:

Breakfast examples:

- A small protein shake plus a small bowl of low GI cereal (all-bran, something oat-based, weetabix, shredded wheat. Not coco-pops)

- 2 poached eggs on toast

- Yoghurt or two (low sugar) and an apple

Breakfast can be the hardest meal to get protein into since we are so schooled into eating cereals by the manufacturers and tend to be in a rush, hence the protein shake for me. You’d lose just as well skipping the shake but it’s perfect if you are doing exercise and need the protein. However it's not vital.

Lunch example:

- A salad (this can contain beans, pulses, peas, lentils, sweetcorn etc to make it more interesting and carby), wow-fat dressing plus a decent portion of baked chicken, tuna, lean ham, cottage cheese

Dinner examples:

- Grilled salmon with veg and a few new potatoes if this fits with rule 3

- Chicken curry with small portion of rice (rule 3) and broccoli and carrots

- Chilli con carne made with 2-4 times the amount of beans served in a tortilla wrap with salad

It is fine to have a snack or snack-meal between meals as long as they are appropriate.

Snacks – ideally containing protein but this can be impractical at work. A ryvita with cottage cheese is good. But piece of fruit or a small handful of nuts is fine. If you need something more substantial then just add a small meal following the rules. Better to eat healthy than get hungry and lose the plot later on.

Cheats – the odd sweet, square of chocolate or small glass of wine won’t kill you but the more you cheat the worse the results.

Portions of protein are like a can of tuna (not in oil), a chicken breast, ½ tub of cottage cheese, 3-4oz of lean ham. Do a big cook once a week and freeze portions for lunch if it suits.

If you feel you need bigger portions of lean protein because your portion of rice or potatoes is small then go for it.

Fish is lean protein. Battered cod is not. Chicken is lean protein. KFC is not. You get the idea.

If your diet doesn’t contain much in the way of healthy fats (fish, olive oil, nuts) then take some fish oil caps.

Exercise:

Do resistance work three times a week ideally. Twice will do at a push.

By that I mean a full-body workout of weights or bodyweight exercise working all the main muscle groups. Do reps in the 6-12 range ideally. If you can do more than 12 reps then add weight (even if it’s to press-ups). You can go up to 20 reps for legs. Do 2-3 sets per exercise. Note the reps and weights used. Improve on it each week, ideally by adding more weight but adding reps is fine as long as they don’t go over the rep range outlined. If doing weights then do compound moves rather than isolation moves (e.g. do leg press rather than leg extension machine). Train with a weight that makes the last rep of the last set very hard to complete – i.e. you simply cannot complete it or couldn’t do another. Rest 1-2 mins between sets.

The key to this is to train for strength and size, not endurance – hence the rep ranges used. You must try to build your strength (and hence muscle size) over the period. This is what stops you losing your muscle. You are not exercising to burn calories, although you will. Diet for fat-loss, exercise for muscle retention.

Try to make sure you have protein and carbs in your body directly after exercise. Ideally time your exercise so it’s before a meal and put some carbs into that meal. If this isn’t possible then add a small whey protein shake to the diet to drink after your workout (20g-30g in skimmed milk or water. If you can exercise directly after a meal this will do but you might be sick!

Example exercise programs:

Weights:

Dead-lifts

Squats or leg-press

Pull-ups or lat pull-downs

Bench press or dumbbell press

Seated row

Shoulder press

Abs work

Bodyweight:

One-legged bodyweight squats (hold a weight if you need to)

Glute-ham raises or glute bridges

Press-ups

Pull-ups

Handstand press-ups

Abs work

Some Argos dumbbells can be used to supplement home bodyweight work or you can combine weight and bodyweight

If you want to do some “cardio” work (running etc) then try to do it on other days as this can hinder muscle gain.

If you want to increase fat burning then do the exercises in a circuit with 60 seconds or less of rest between sets. You'll find it gives you a severe cardio workout.

Other stuff:

If eating out go for salads and tell them you want to dress if yourself. Failing that just go for a low/medium fat, high protein option ask them to hold the carbs and replace them with other veg.

If there are no sensible choices then ask for a smaller portion of whatever they serve with extra veg.

A bottle of beer or small glass of wine sort of counts as a carb portion. So if you know you will be drinking then cut down the carbs that day. It also means you get pissed more quickly which is good or bad depending on your point of view.

If the diet doesn’t work from the off then you’re eating too much.

If the diet stalls after a couple of months then this is fairly normal. Your metabolic rate will drop when dieting. However it’s not permanent and will go up again. So up your carbs a bit to the point where you don’t lose or gain weight (maybe gain a very small amount). After 2 or 3 weeks go for it again.

If your weight-loss allows it, have a cheat day e.g. Sundays- eat your (slightly smaller roast dinner), have a bit of ice-cream, more wine etc. Don’t go mad, keep things small etc but a bit of a refuel can keep things on track metabolically and mentally.

Keep the fibre levels up.

Drink enough water but don't get obsessive about necking multiple litres a day.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Davetrials

[JD™]

From not riding, my metabalism has lacked gone down dramatically

Just because I live my life by it I'm going to try to ignore who I'm giving this advice to.

You will greatly increase your metabolism during the day by kicking it into action in the morning by getting your heart rate up. Star jumps, a run, whatever. Just get your heart rate up and keep it up for about 10-15 minutes. Then have a cup of coffee.

I've seen people who have struggled to get weight off for years suddenly start to drop it after doing this. Your metabolism will stay high throughout the day once you've kick started it in the morning.

Kris is right about the eating right while eating less. Personally I don't bother when I'm not training for a specific event, but that's because I'm already toned to f**k lol

[Guest]

Thanks JT and Dave

[mr_malcolm]

the other one is eat more often but eat less. instead of having all of your lunch at once spread it out, so you are eating like ever hour and a half this way your body is constantly digesting food and this will in turn increase your metabolic rate.

Go to the gym as well and burn of that fat do a lot of c.v work then light weight training for a bit of toning then back to the c.v i dont this for about 2-3 months went from just under 18 stone down 15 stone and im now hovering around 15 and a half.

[Guest]

The only gym near me is David lyods/loyds ? thats stupidly expensive... i like the idea of a jog/ run in the morning sounds good.

[mr_malcolm]

well do it then. The harder it is to lose weight the more likely you are to not put it back on again.

[Davetrials]

YOu dont need a gym, just ride!!!, its suprisingly good for you!

[Christophe']

YOu dont need a gym, just ride!!!, its suprisingly good for you!

he speaks truth

[JT!]

Thanks JT and Dave

You're welcome.

[adamtrials]

I used to weigh around 16-17 stone, 5 foot 11.

This was before I really got into masturbation, we're talking like once every hour or two at least.

Obviously just excercising the one arm isn't gonna do much good, so you've gotta be inventive, left arm, hip thrusts between the mattress, that kinda shit.

I'm now down to 9 stone and no matter what I eat my weight doesn't change. *

*The above post is a lie. I've actually never had more than 10% body fat...

[Haz]

Eat little, lots.

[lankyri]

just general excersise everyone thinks i just drink and smoke but you would be wrong,

i go kick boxing twice a week and train but i also practice at least an hour a day and if im working im moving all the time and then riding on top,

just eat healthy keep your body hydrated and dont eat crap like crisps and chocolate all the time, every night i do 50 sit ups n bit of training and it helps especially if you been on the beer haha

[An_toin3]

Well, easiest way i found was to do a shitload of bike, like 1 hour 4 or 5 days a week, i was doing stationnary bike the whole winter thanks to a meniscular tear and snow outisde !

Also, stop eating fast food crap, fries, chips, chocolate, stop it, eat healthy stuff, do not cut on eating as your body will just feel always tired, you won't have any energy at all. trust me I tried it, not a good plan, so I was still eating normally but in a more healthy way, fruits are awesome for that ! I was also doing some push-ups, situps, pullups on spare time !

I can assure you that it works..

I used to be around 190 pounds = 13.57 stone and I am now at around 150 pounds = 10.71 stone !

Can show you some picture if you want ?, the difference is amazing that was all done in 8 months or so, you just need the "will" to do it !

I guess in your case, it's just some extra weight you gained due to not riding for a while ? if so, bike, eat some good stuff and you should see some result soon enough

Edited May 22, 2009 by An_toin3

[Dave Anscombe]

Cocaine..

Yeah if your loaded

SPEED

[JD™]

You're welcome.

Lol, I wonder how often we get tarred with each others brushes... Probably never except by this sort of person.

[Guest]

I meant JD :$

i went for a jog this morning weighted, only walked partially. i had weights on my arms and kick started the day with a load of water lol.

[JD™]

I meant JD :$

i went for a jog this morning weighted, only walked partially. i had weights on my arms and kick started the day with a load of water lol.

Unless you've been running for a while, don't do that again. You'll do yourself more harm than good. Weights = Good. Running = Good. Weighted Running = f**ked Joints (if you've not been running long enough to build it all up).

[Guest]

so just normal running then, then when should i add the weights ?

[JD™]

so just normal running then, then when should i add the weights ?

There's no real reason to ever add weight, just add more hills! But if you must, do it in a rucksack and add the weight gradually. Put it this way, I've been running seriously for a year and I'm only just adding weight and that's only because my Dad is insisting we do Tough Guy with packs on, otherwise I wouldn't be risking it.