Just realised, I can just snap a screenshot and share my actual (macro)nutritional intake: That's averaged out over the last four weeks, and doesn't include my blowout. I'm usually a little under the caloric target, keeping the salt low (not that it's making knack-all difference to my blood pressure), high fibre (thanks, massive plates full of veggies!), high protein, sugar's a bugger, low saturated fats but a decent hit of unsaturated fats. I reckon that's a pretty decent diet, right there.
Back at my lowest weight since I started tracking it. It's unbelievable how much easier things have been since living in my own house most of the week. My diet is completely controlled, there's no temptations in the house and no random "fancy takeaway tonight" Last year: All time:
Not sure if you said what you’re taking, but 2.5mg ramipril straightened my blood pressure right out. Dropped from a baseline of about 135-145 over 85-95 to 120-125 over 75-85. My BP still reads a little high these days, but that’s because I take ADHD stimulant medication. Without the ramipril, the ADHD meds took me to around 140-150 over 80-95. With ramipril and Elvanse, it’s settled in around 125-135 over 75-85. Very thankful for ramipril; without it I couldn’t take Elvanse, and effective ADHD medication makes a huge difference to day-to-day cognitive function and well-being.
100% this. It's widely known that crash dieting is not a sustainable way to keep your weight down, and it's much better to focus on lifestyle improvements like regular, intense exercise (walking alone isn't enough), drinking less caffeine, not napping or snacking during the day, etc. When I lost a pile of weight a couple of years back, this was how I did it latterly. I ate chocolate every day, had cream in my coffee, and so on, but I was disciplined and didn't graze, and I ate small portions at every meal time, and I was very active. For the past six months I've been inactive and undisciplined, so needless to say I've put a lot of the weight back on, and really need to lose it again...such is the circle of middle-aged-man life.
I disagree. Not in terms of general health, that's fantastic for general health, but purely in terms of weight loss calorie control is the way to go, there, and it's easy to demonstrate: A seven-minute HIIT workout burns 85 calories, per here. I can drop roughly the same number of calories from my intake instead... by simply not eating one pack of Walkers French Fries Cheese & Onion. A 45-minute spin class burns 400-600 calories, per here. I can drop roughly the same number of calories from my intake instead... by simply having a home-made chicken and vegetable stir fry instead of a takeaway version. One takes effort, one takes willpower. I'll be honest, I've not that much of either - but I'll happily take the route of less effort!
From your link: "While a leisurely bike ride outside isn’t likely to help you lose significant weight, indoor cycling can." When I was cycling and time-trialling, I had a turbo trainer for home use but, found it much easier to put in the effort out on the road. This was helped by living on the Mendips, so always a hill to climb.
Any exercise can. It's physics: if energy out is higher than energy in, the total energy in the system decreases. If you're exercising to burn more calories than you're taking in with your food, you'll lose weight. I'm not denying that fact. What I am saying is that I'm currently on a ~600 calorie deficit, which through exercise alone would require me to do a high-intensity 45 minute spin class *every single day*. Which... No. I'd die. I'd die thin, maybe, but I'd die. Whereas by simply eating less (and better), I can achieve exactly the same caloric deficit... And I get an extra 45 minutes a day (plus warmup, plus cool down) to do whatever I want. Will I be as fit as the spin-class-addict? No. Will I lose weight at the same rate? Yes. (Well, no, I'll lose weight faster, 'cos the cycle nut'll be putting on a massive amount of heavy muscle, but let's not get technical here...)
The only way to lose weight is to have a calories deficit: burn more calories than you consume. How you go about doing that is the hard part. A well balanced diet and active lifestyle is a good idea for overall health but, as @Gareth Halfacree said, it doesn’t inherently lead to weight loss. It also doesn’t help if there’s some other issue going on in your life that drives an unhealthy relationship with food. In my case that’s exactly where I am. I’ve been using food, caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine as coping mechanisms to get through day to day life. No amount of “discipline” or “willpower” will change it - believe me I’ve damn well tried, probably more than most people will ever need to. The harder I try to be “disciplined” the worse I feel when I “fail”, which makes it far more likely to just say “balls to this nonsense”, and we’re back where we started. In my case it’s basically a result of untreated ADHD and the decades of self-loathing that has come with it. I’m not going to get into the detail or I’ll be here all day, but personally it’s been a hell of a learning experience over the last year or so. The reason I drank 4 cups of coffee a day is because daily life is so exhausting and I needed the fuel. The reason I ate unhealthy-but-nice-tasting junk is because nice-tasting things make you feel good, and the prospect of preparing a meal from scratch when you’re already utterly drained is too much to bear. You start to learn why you seem to “spiral”, and why something that used to make you feel good doesn’t really do it for you any more. ADHD medication doesn’t fix things overnight and it doesn’t make all the bad things go away. I’ve still got a lot of work to do. But without addressing these underlying problems, nothing is going to change in the long-term and I’ll end up dead at 55 from some kind of preventable health condition.
damn. That hits far to close to home. I don think i have ADHD, but replace coffee for fizzy drinks and you're bang on the nose. Only reason i eat even vaguely healthy foods is i have a wife and two kids. I eat when i'm stressed. I eat whem i'm bored. I eat when i'm depressed. I eat when I'm celebrating. Last week, i cut back on the extraneous food; reduced how much i drank (fizz) and was sensible at meal times (i.e. didnt devour the kids leftovers :/ ), even went for a 5km walk three lunchtimes out of 5. My Weight? jumped by another 4kg :'(
@Gareth Halfacree I think you misread my post - I'm talking about sustaining a particular way of living after having lost weight, hence the reference to crash dieting, which absolutely works. As Byron C said, there are numerous ways to do calorie control, and what works best for me is intermittent fasting. It's much easier than calorie counting IMHO, but still takes discipline. That's probably the way I'll go in the coming weeks, once the motivation kicks in (it's currently on holiday)
Ah, then I did indeed misinterpret! I've read a number of benefits for IF, but when I hit maintenance (I mean, *if*, but it's going well so far!) I'll probably just go for not counting calories any more but watching my weight. If it starts going up again, I know I need to eat less. If it starts going down, I know I need to eat more. If it goes too far in either direction, that's when I'll start counting individual calories again!
I think Gervais said it best… “I’ve lost a lot of weight…. No don’t clap! I just started eating what my body needs and not stuffing my face”.
Tis true. Almost all studies suggest exercise makes bugger all difference to actual weight loss and it's what you put in your gob that does the hard yards.
I heard it described as a two "hole" energy equation. This resonated with me. To loose weight, "what ever energy goes in the top hole, should be less than the energy needed to move it to and out the bottom hole." As Gareth says putting less in is one way (easiest for some) or moving those two holes around more is the alternative (easier for others). Side note: Be careful when searching for common terms for these two holes on google, especially with picture search.....
Long time lurker on this thread. Well done all for your progress. For me, I have been exercising for a year. I've lost a stone or so, which is good. But more importantly, while I've put on muscle, my body has changed shape. I'm not thin, not properly fat either, but I've lost at least a t-shirt size and a couple of inches off my waist (had to carve a new hole in a belt - which was definitely a happy day). More importantly, overall I am fitter and feel far better mentally. All of this is while not really changing my diet (my wife is on slimming world pretty much all the time, so we eat pretty well overall). I do appreciate that you cannot train with a bad diet though - not that I would count myself as training at the gym either. Cutting down on the booze has helped as well of course. I'm far too old to worry about being the complete body beautiful, and given the way people in my gym pose instead of working out then screw that for a way to live. More energy out than in is definitely the way to go. I see no point in living a life completely slaving to a diet plan and exercise, but equally just sitting on the couch eating badly is not something I want to do either. So a bit of balance, while erring more on the exercise side, I'm good with that.
For me at least, the benefits of exercise aren't really about any impact on weight, they're about the impact on my mental health and general sense of well-being. I feel so much better if I'm getting at least a couple of days of moderate exercise a week (in my case, this is generally commuting to and from the office by bike, which is about 6 miles each way). And hopefully there are some physical benefits on top too - pre-lockdown I was cycling to and from the office 5 days a week come rain or shine, and it certainly got me fit.
