Learn me - Weight loss

spitfirebill wrote:

Wall-e wrote: I had really good luck with Weight Watchers. I went from 397 to 308 in about two years. My problem is sticking to it if I don't go there and get weighed regularly. It doesn't really make sense but I stopping going about a year ago when my wife got hurt and I started gaining it back again.

My wife has been very successful with Weight Watchers. As you said, you have to keep going. She has been doing WW for maybe 40 years off and on and the weigh has been up and down. WW is nothing more than sensible eating. I went to the doc yesterday and he said I have a fatty liver. Need to lose weight (no surprise) and cut out the fried foods, butter and dairy. I don't think cereal with water isn't going to be too good.

fatty liver is no good. You gotta fix that. That means drastic changes to the diet, now.

Lots of good advise given so far. I'll add that it can be pretty incredible how many calories we consume via liquids each day. In many cases, just replacing calorie laden beverages with water can make a pretty noticeable impact. Bonus: it helps to flush out toxins, and can help to combat hunger, while also speeding up your metabolism. Start each day with a glass of water to rehydrate from the night before. Carry a refillable water bottle with you as much as possible and nurse it all day. Bonus: more trips to the bathroom = more activity = more calories burned.

Make sure you're centering each meal around a lean protein and eat that part of the meal first. It will fill you up sooner, and it's more important than carbs. Make sure that the calories you are consuming are decent calories that will fuel your body and not empty calories that come in junk food.

spitfirebill wrote: I went to the doc yesterday and he said I have a fatty liver. Need to lose weight (no surprise) and cut out the fried foods, butter and dairy. I don't think cereal with water isn't going to be too good.

Frankly, this is ignorant advice disguised as good advice. Eating a diet high in fats (by %) does not make you fat, nor make your liver fat. It's excess sugars in your body that get converted to and stored as fat.

Cutting down on oils/fats may be good for your overall health, but it's cutting down on carbs that will have the most direct effect on your waistline and your liver. I.E.- You're better off sticking with the milk and giving up the cereal instead.

Cal In less than Cal Out really is all there is to it, if you can remember a number and do 4 figure addition in your head you don't even need an app or whatever. Estimate your daily expenditure, (there are plenty of calculators online that will get you close enough to get started). Subtract 500 to 1000 (-500=~1lb/week) from that number, and don't eat more than that more than once a month. Weigh food for max accuracy. Drink a lot of water. You will quickly discover the sort of food you should be eating, as you'll only feel like crap running a deficit if you are eating poorly e.g. processed stuff, sweetened drinks, carb heavy food, a lot of alcohol, etc. Diet is far more important than exercise, it's hard to outrun a fork.

Source: Was 235 in March, am 195 now, it wasn't difficult.

BrokenYugo wrote: Cal In less than Cal Out really is all there is to it, if you can remember a number and do 4 figure addition in your head you don't even need an app or whatever. Estimate your daily expenditure, (there are plenty of calculators online that will get you close enough to get started).

I guess my question would be why NOT use an app? They are (mostly) free and remove the guesswork involved in what foods have what calories, etc. With MFP I can scan the barcode on a food package and immediately have all the nutrition info entered into my daily log. If you are going to use an online calculator, why not do it on your phone that you have with you all the time?

Disclaimer: Assuming you have a smartphone, which most folks do these days.

How well do you sleep?

I was having fatigue issues and was a bit overweight and just couldn't get rid of my beer belly. My doctor prescribed Trazadone to help me sleep and I dropped 10 lbs in 3 weeks. I even went from not drinking during the work week (for weight loss purposes) to averaging 1 per day during this time too.

A ton of good info in here. I have been fortunate to never have an issue with being overweight, but both my wife and I are into bodybuilding (in fact she's prepping for a show), so nutrition and exercise are very key parts of our lives.

Yes, at its' core, calories burned > calories in = weight loss. However, it doesn't mean eat 2000 calories of potato chips and burn 3000 calories exercising. It's common sense. A good balance of proteins, fats and carbs. Yes, your body needs carbs...but not in massive quantity. You may not like greens...they're not my favorite either, but if you want to lose weight, you're going to have to try to incorporate some of that into your diet. You just will. There are plenty of foods I don't really like, but I eat because of my goals. Examples are greens, no-fat greek yogurt, albacore (tuna). I don't like them, but they're part of my regular nutrition. If you truly set yourself a steady nutrition plan...I hate the word "diet"...and are honest with yourself and stick to it, then even when trying to lose weight, you can allow yourself one cheat meal a week. I have mine every Friday, and let me tell you, I pig out for dinner. It gives me something to look forward too all week. And like others said, watch your liquid intake. I typically only drink water or the occasional diet and caffeine free soda (0 calories). I don't drink alcohol or sugared drinks. At the end of the day, you have to be honest with your own nutrition. If you cheat on your plan, others may not know, but your body will.

Muscle burns more calories than fat. So don't think 100% cardio at the gym is the way to go. It's not. Center around weight training and throw some cardio in to exercise your heart. Doesn't mean you have to lift hard to try to max out, but use weight training. The more muscle you build, the faster your weight loss will happen.

Really, IMHO, the hardest thing about all of this is just getting into a habit and routine. Change is hard. Totally transforming your nutrition intake (I'm guessing it's not very good right now) and exercise plan is not easy to do. Find your motivation...I'd say being a father should do the trick...and let it fuel you. Come up with a plan that is realistic and achievable, but make no mistake it will be hard work. Also, remember that there is no magic bullet. You didn't gain all the weight overnight, so don't expect to lose it overnight. Once you've made the changes part of your routine, it'll get much easier. My wife and I get up at 4am every day and are in the gym at 4:40am. It's just what we do. Yeah, I'm a bowl of jello by 9pm, but that's the lifestyle I chose because I'm committed to getting results. Eating those foods I'm not fond of is also just part of my normal day. I don't think much of it anymore...except that every day gets me one day closer to Friday.

In actuality, don't think of it as "weight loss", so much as it is reshaping your body. It's more about body fat % than the actual number on the scale. If you're 220lbs and 18% body fat, that's a heck of a lot better than being 200lbs and 33% body fat. Typically, yes, a fit person will weight less than someone very obese, but muscle is much denser and heavier than fat per square inch, so don't get too focused on the number on the scale. I weigh myself from time to time as a curiosity, but I'm much more interested when I do my body fat % testing.

Sorry, didn't mean to throw so much at you, but I'm pretty passionate about this stuff. Hope it helps.

Tom_Spangler wrote: I guess my question would be why NOT use an app?

By all means use an app if you like, I probably would if I carried a smartphone (too much of a distraction box for me). I'm just saying it's simple enough you don't need one to be successful. I don't exercise a lot so I figure anything on top of my usual day is just bonus loss, so my daily target is fairly static.

What do you like to do for fun? I'm an outsider looking in since I've never been overweight but my thoughts are diets don't seem to work. You need a lifestyle change. Most people look at calorie intake and that certainly plays a big role (cutting out sugary drinks is HUGE here) but I wonder if people overlook the exercise portion too much. I love to ride bikes. I can ride my old Peugeot for miles for fun. Put me in a gym and I get bored in 30 minutes.

Do you have any interests that can get the blood pumping? Surfing/biking/kayaking/ball sports etc? My thoughts are if you can do more of something fun like that it may be more sustainable than eating kale everyday.

Although I wasn't obese, I decided to lose weight and get healthier recently. Since March, I've gone from 186 to about 155 and I feel faster!

I drastically reduced how much I eat, and what I eat, and I began exercising more....much more. I picked up one of those incline push-up bars at a garage sale for $10, (see pic---no that's not me!) and I now do about 100 push ups a day. I'll get up, crank out 15 push ups, take a shower, do 15 more, get dressed, do 15 more, and then go to work. When I come home for lunch I'll do 30 more, and when I get home I'll do 3 or 4 more sets-- using different hand holds and portions of the bar to work different sets of muscles. The change has been pretty astounding....the human body is an amazing thing.

Diet wise I took a page out of Les Stroud's book. (Survivorman) I noticed he'd be in the wilderness for 7 days, eating basically nothing. It occurred to me that I was eating WAY more than I needed to.....so I cut back, way back. Some pineapple for breakfast, a salad with blueberries, strawberries and mandarine oranges for lunch, and then maybe ahi tuna for dinner to get some protein. I wouldn't eat the same thing each day, but it is always healthy. No soda, no fast food, no stuffing myself into a food coma.

You know what.....I don't miss the crappy food or overeating.....at all. Once your body gets used to eating less, it adjusts and you aren't as hungry anymore. I've stabilized at a weight I'm good with, so now I"m eating a bit more--- still lots of fruit and no crap.

Like quitting smoking, or any other addiction, you need to really want it. It's far too easy to slip into bad habits. When it's early and you are tired, and you really don't want to get up to exercise, think of your kid, think of getting older with him---- now think of you not being there for him. That should help to motivate you.

Good luck!

Calories in vs. Calories out is a bit of an oversimplification, but it holds true. I like to think of it more as weight in vs. weight out. I'm not suggesting you weigh your pee and poop, then weigh your food (especially not on the same scale), but that's how it works.

If you eat a pound of rocks, you'll gain a pound. When you poop them out, you'll lose a pound. This is the basis for how just counting calories doesn't work. Its what your body does with calories. Insoluble fiber has calories, but it won't cause you to gain weight. It just goes straight through. On the other hand, the same number of calories as sugar gets almost totally absorbed and your body uses some as energy and some stores as fat. So counting calories doesn't do the trick because some calories trigger your body to store fat, others don't. The type of calories is very important, not just the number.

I can't speak to your specific profile, but I know mine is pretty whacked. I'm 6' 1" and 230 lbs (down from 270 at my highest). I really should drop another 20 lbs. One of my issues is (seemingly aggravated by genetics) is the high percentage of visceral fat. My gut has almost no flab on it; maybe 1/4". But I have a big gut because of excessive Cortisol production that triggers my body to store it viscerally instead of subcutaneously. That is a long way of saying that if you butchered me, my bacon would be nicely marbled. I also have incredibly high levels of estrogen, so avoiding alcohols and soy products is key for me.

I would suggest some help from a dietician, doctor, or expert. Its not that weight loss can't be done at home, its just that knowing your blood lipid levels, hormone levels, and other indicators can really help you hone in on what calories are good and which ones are bad for YOU.

I had restricted salt in my diet for years because I have mild high blood pressure issues. Turns out, I'm a little sodium deficient. The doctor told me to eat as much salt as I like. That's a good example of having the expert help instead of just assuming it is what you need. Just eating less could stunt your progress if you're eating less of the wrong thing.

It doesn't have to cost anything really. Just at your next physical, ask your doctor to run a few extra tests on the blood. Then you can take his/her advice (and take the blood test results to a dietician for a second opinion) and go from there. A good allergen profile can't hurt either. Eating something to which you're sensitive can spike histamine and cortisol levels causing you to store fats disproportionately.

I'm a big fan of the breakfast smoothie. It usually has fruit, some kind of protein powder, and a mix of other stuff. Mine has spirulina, chia seed, flax seed, agave sweetner, and a probiotic. Sounds awful, but it really tastes like a raspberry milkshake. Its quite delicious. A dietician can help you pick what should go in yours.

Joe Gearin wrote: "think of your kid, think of getting older with him---- now think of you not being there for him. That should help to motivate you."

The wife said exactly this a few days ago, which is really what accelerated this whole thing. I'm 29 and damn near morbidly obese, that's not acceptable. The advice here is really great, so my plan is as follows -

• Limit calories and track calories.
• Eat smarter and introduce foods I wouldn't usually eat.
• Exercise at least 30 minutes a day minimum.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

An app is a big help for me. I can eat mindlessly all day without paying any attention to it. By having to look things up and keep track of them it makes me aware of what I'm having.

I lost 40 lbs eating basically a paleo diet and some light weight lifting. More muscle mass means you burn more calories even just sitting.

The plus side is I pretty much love steak, rasperries and almonds so the diet was painless

My theory is I can eat whatever I want. What I can't do, is eat however much I want. If I want ice cream, I'm having ice cream. But only a baby cone, and only once a month. It's the old, everything in moderation concept.

Also, the way I view gym vs diet is gas tank size and back seats vs body work and engine swap. If you want a car to weigh less, stop filling the 100 gallon tank. Then, if you want a car to look and perform better, do the body work and engine swap. Putting a v8 in a Miata won't make it weigh less, possibly even more, but it will increase its strength, just like muscles on your body. And if you only use 9 gallons of gas a week, and you keep putting in 10, after a while you start filling up that 100 gallon tank with a surplus of fuel!

I don't know if hat make sense but it does in my mind.

Don't eat packages or processed anything for a month. They weight will drop off as all the added sugars leave your diet. Cut out any "white" carb and eat more veggies. No sauces on foods also helps. Tones of added sugar in that stuff.

Lots of good advice in this thread. The only thing I have to add is that you are going to be alive for the rest of your life. So you don't have to change everything today. For example:

August goal: pick up some fresh produce you've never tried before, each time you go to the store. Find something you like.

September goal (on top of what you did in August, which is now part of your routine): walk out the door for work 10 minutes earlier, and walk for 10 minutes before getting in the car. Breathe deeply. Inhale the new you, exhale the old you.

October goal, on top of the new routines you implemented in August and September: quit drinking sugar drinks, replace with water.

Etc.

It probably doesn't help much, but I lost a little over 30lbs in the last 8 months after I went from a desk job to a pretty physically intense job. Something about working hard for 8+ hours a day made me lose weight while eating more than ever.

In reply to AngryCorvair: I really like that idea, it's definitely going to be a slow burn for me, the monthly goals will give me something to work towards. I've cut out soda with the odd exception of a real coke, that just hits the spot when it's 110 in Austin, but that's a rare occasion. I switched to a desk job 8 months ago, when I worked at CarMax on auction days I was walking 6+ miles a week, so in lieu of that I do get up and walk around the office frequently but it's definitely not enough movement. Dammit someone just walked into the office with Krispy Kreme donuts..must resist temptation!

Fruit man, fruit. An apple will kill that sugar craving for only 100 nutrient laden calories.

In reply to MrJoshua:

That's the best part of my new job, fully stocked kitchen with loads of fresh fruit. Grapes and apples are a lifesaver.

Having a desk job certainly lowers your calorie burn per day. However, a lot of people think that just getting up and walking around, or taking a stroll at lunch, will do the trick. It won't. Yes, any movement is good movement, so I'm not implying it's a bad thing. But if you really want to lose weight, it's going to take a lot of true hard work beyond just taking the steps instead of the elevator.

In reply to Klayfish:

For sure, I plan on dedicated exercise for at least 30 minutes a day to start.

foxtrapper wrote: Calories consumed < calories burned = weight loss

But that's not the whole story. If you have fresh whole fruit, all the sugar that's in it will get digested with all of that fiber, and that's a good thing. If you subtract the fiber calories from the fruit (like juicing it) it's actually worst than just eating the higher calorie fruit.

nderwater wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: I went to the doc yesterday and he said I have a fatty liver. Need to lose weight (no surprise) and cut out the fried foods, butter and dairy. I don't think cereal with water isn't going to be too good.

Frankly, this is ignorant advice disguised as good advice. Eating a diet high in fats (by %) does not make you fat, nor make your liver fat. It's excess sugars in your body that get converted to and stored as fat. Cutting down on oils/fats may be good for your overall health, but it's cutting down on carbs that will have the most direct effect on your waistline and your liver. I.E.- You're better off sticking with the milk and giving up the cereal instead.

I think you're still being ignorant to some extent, to be honest and with no disrespect, but it's not your fault. The Sugar Association has known the issues with excessive sugar in our diet and has been blaming (blaming: funding contrary studies, burying 'sugar is bad' studies, discrediting professionals...etc) other things for decades just to keep up sugar sales. Remember when low fat showed up in the supermarket? Blame the Sugar Association. Same thing with blaming carbohydrates, because there are healthy carbs just like there are health fats. /remove tinfoil hat

Portion control, limited added sugars or naturally occurring sugars without fiber, portion control and exercise are the major items. Juice is soda pop without the fizz, and unnatural sweeteners are just that, unnatural. But I'm not a nutritional scientist or dietitian. So these are my opinions and what I'm personally doing to try to keep from gaining weight.