Well done Rastus! Going down a notch in the belt feels great! btw the Fitbit's synch with MFP automatically so they will do the calorie adjustment automatically. It is quite enlightening when you see where the calories come from.
Lots of great stuff here! Couple things to address based on what people have said. For the heart rate being at 70-80%, a lot of people have told me to do high-low intensity cardio, that is walk for a few minutes to warm up, than run to get the heart rate up, than go at a steady walk / fast walk until it starts to settle, than run again to keep it up. I've been doing this for the last few days of walking / jogging on my tread climber and it seems alright. I also did this at the gym on the elliptical a few years ago and saw other people doing this who would just go and run for an hour. Another point, though fruits have natural sugars, isn't sugar bad for certain things in your blood levels? From the book I was reading it said to avoid fruits and just stick to vegetables because of all the sugar from the fruits. I'm really looking forward to the summer, I find the tread climber to be very boring, so once the weather warms up I can start cycling again, running outside (far more interesting), playing tennis and basketball. Last summer I played tennis roughly 3-4 times a week for 1-3 hours regardless of temperature (sometimes as hot as 30 degrees Celsius plus humidity, don't worry, I bring lots of water to stay hydrated) and we'd usually play basketball 2-3 times a week for roughly 2-3 hours, regardless of temperature also. I find both to be a good way to get a nice sweat on, plus I get out with friends. I also have biked to the courts to play, which is a 10-15 minute bike with a faster pace or 15-20 if I go slower, so it's a nice warmup / more exercise. The issue I had was after playing anything I'd go home and snack, which this time around I won't be doing. As to the scale debate, I think they are of some importance but you can't obsess over them, they aren't very accurate and they don't consider muscle mass vs fat, which is why body fat % would be more useful (though someone brought up the point of how some of the more convenient sample methods are inaccurate) but I also think measuring with a tape is very useful, tracking the inches you've lost as a pose to weight, though it also depends on what activities you are participating in. On top of weight goals, I like to set small incremental goals with my activities, today I wanted to beat my 1 mile record so I pushed myself harder, and I've beat it. Small victories like that really help keep the attitude positive and I'm happy with how I'm progressing so far.
You want to keep in the far burning zone and not the cardio zone. The only reliable way of doing this is using a heart rate monitor. The other half has an entry level Polar heart rate monitor and when you have set it up correctly with your measurements it will give you a pretty accurate calorie burn. Personally I think this is where people (and bloody nutritionists especially) complicate things. Sugar is sugar regardless of where it comes from, calorie wise its all the same and there is no such thing as good and bad sugar. So to keep it simple track calories. Sites like My Fitness Pal will also track your sugar intake btw.
Fat is a very good store of energy. About 8,000 calories per kg. 5kg is about 40,000 calories. So about a 900 calories deficit a day. You can't really expect to go much faster than that. There's no quick and easy method.
Aye, my dog walk each evening is at least 2.5 miles - once the nights become lighter it'll be back to 3 miles. I used to stove my face with a packet of biscuits in the evening but if I feel peckish, some toasted wholemeal bread with light butter on does the trick. I've also swapped from drinking fizzy pop with each meal to fresh orange juice, just to get some Vit C in there. I don't eat really crap but it's not the best diet I suppose. It's mostly pop it in the oven for a bit or microwave meals (Indian/Italian). An example would be a fishcake in the oven and 2 minute microwave flavoured rice. Or a Tikka Masala in the microwave and Onion Bahjis in the oven. Something quick and simple as it's just me on my tod. I have, however, looked at the calories and choose those with less. I go for fish or chicken dishes. I can't remember where I found the info now but I've still got it on a piece of paper on my desk. With my 'a bit improved' diet it was giving me enough calcium and iron, cholesterol was ok as well as carbs and protein. Vitamin C was okay but Vitamin A was low. Potassium was very low. Sugar could do with taking down a little as well as unsaturated fat and sodium was a little low. I'm not sure what to do about potassium and Vitamin A though. What would be a good thing to introduce into my diet? I'd rather not have supplements as I'm crap with taking tablets, memory like a sieve.
I'm actually in the process of deliberately gaining weight atm. I usually do this over the winter months, as my waterskiing takes up pretty much the whole summer, so I don't get so much opportunity to get to the gym. I'm 6'2" and currently weigh 93kgs (205lbs), with 9% body fat. The aim is 95kgs by the summer, with my current level of body fat. I lift heavy in the gym 5 days a week, so it is hard work, but then the same goes for people trying to lose weight. For those trying to lose, it's best to do it through exercise while maintaining a "normal" diet in the process. Your muscle tissue is a more available source of energy than body fat, so people who adopt extreme diet plans always end up losing a load of muscle and looking incredibly gaunt. If you consciously make the lifestyle change to adopt a healthy diet and exercise regularly, not only do you feel a lot better in day to day life, but it actually becomes very easy to maintain a healthy weight.
Quick comment on this: Dead Beat makes somewhat of a point. Not sure of the energy resources bit, but my experience is that you shouldn't push hard at the gym AND diet at the same time. Your body does need some time to adopt. I have seen great results in my surroundings just by diet changes: White bread out, Whole grain in. Shitty oils out, Olive oil in. Shitty pans out, good non-stick options in (thus reducing the amount of fat needed). that kind of stuff. More salads, more veg, less bread, less potatoes, less butter. Frozen pre-cooked veg out, fresh veg in. That said, once you're on a healthy diet and have been for a while, I don't see a reason not to exercise... exercise good.
I am not in anyway disputing that exercise is good for you but loosing weight purely by upping exercise levels is going to take a long, long time. Why are you over weight in the first place? Your probably going to have to make some kind of behavioral change to your diet and I would never advocate an extreme diet plan in the first place. Lets put it this way if your over eating by 500 calories a day you would have to up your exercise levels enough to burn those 500 extra calories just to maintain your current weight and then more to create a calorie deficit to actually loose some weight. I will use myself as an example when I started my weight loss program the initial target was to loose 2lbs a week which is regarded as a safe and sustainable rate of weight loss. My calorie target went from from 2,500 to 1900 then as I got nearer to my target it gradually reduced to 1300 calories a day. Assuming I was eating 2500 calories a day and was not over eating I would have to be burning 1200 calories a day in the gymn. That is a lot of exercise! This is why I made it clear in my first post that IMO you concentrate on one goal at a time. Also none of us here are medical professionals or weight loss experts so we should be wary on how we word our experiences.
I think we've crossed wires here at some point. I think that deadbeat mean about comparing/combining starvation diets with gyming. His point was we're supposed to eat around 2500 cal a day but if you're exercising another 500 away you don't want to drop to a 1000 cal diet. And that exercise is a healthier way to loose weight. However as you have suggested overeating while exercising will mean you remain fat. It's all about balance. I exercise more than most but am putting on weight because I eat too much. Simple.
According to the myfitnesspal app to lose 2 pounds a week I need to consume 1530 calories a day without exercising. We shall see how this goes, breakfast was only 350 or so, and it's what I've been eating every day for the last 3 weeks.
Breakfast like a king. Lunch like a Prince. Dine like a pauper. Also, fresh celery is amazing. Love eating that stuff. Also you can pretend to be Buggs bunny, because it has the right crunch.
Try a marriage breakdown... did wonders for me. I eat breakfast biscuits in morning, a small bowl of homemade soup for lunch and I eat about 2/3 of my usual portion for tea. Lost 3/12 stone in 4 months. I also swapped out all crap for fresh fruit when I need a snack. I still eat "badly" when I feel like it, just not too often. I now go the gym 4 nights a week which is helpiing the beer belly to go, but funnilly enough im gaining weight again (presumably muscle mass). Oh and cut out the beer or you WILL fail.
According to myfitnesspal, my calorie goal without exercise and to loose 2lb a week is 1950, not bad, easily doable I reckon if it wasn't for left over pizza lunch, oh and the 650 calories in tonight's bottle of vino And you'll loose loads of weight as you'll only be eating through a straw if you eat that bloody noisy stuff near me
Liking the app. It also gives a breakdown of nutrients and all that under the daily tab which can be very useful. I didn't eat lunch today and got about 400 calories burned in a workout (the machine said 430 but let's assume its wrong) but had a somewhat poor dinner, mashed potatoes had a lot of calories. With that, and my workout I still have 752 calories remaining; if I don't include my exercise I still have about 380 calories left. If I had a more appropriate dinner that would be even greater. My daily count is supposed to be 1530 if I want to lose 2 pounds a week. Count is a bit on the low side but achievable, especially if I keep up with my exercise daily. The app makes tracking everything so simple, and with the ability to save custom meals, it makes it easy to quickly add your standard breakfast or food to your daily count. A very good tool, so thanks for suggesting it!
Just be careful because being too extreme can mean you don't settle into your regime and just backfire. Ideally you want something that you can keep going for the rest of your life because a lifestyle change is the best win you can do. Also remember that exercise releases endorphins that dieting just doesn't. But if this is working for you mansuetp dude go for it. Well done, what did you do to earn 400 cal?
