Our system detected that your browser is blocking advertisements on our site. Please help support FoxesTalk by disabling any kind of ad blocker while browsing this site. Thank you.
Jump to content
Haydos

'DIETING/GETTING IN SHAPE'

Recommended Posts

Ive never been a fan of diets etc. The way I see it, is that you can eat what you want, but you have to be prepared to put work in to work it off.

Saying that though, over the last couple of weeks Ive halved my alcohol intake and almost doubled my exercise. Not really on purpose, just from playing for an extra football team, and Ive not fancied a beer because of it. Its amazing how much fitter and all round better you feel after just one week, which is a massive encouragement to keep going.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My son is into weight training and is a keep fit fanatic. He always tells me to be careful of the high protein shakes. If you take them regularly and then don't work out hard enough to burn them off, you will apparently gain weight.

Yeah, same thing happened to me in my first year of university, though that was probably also due to my crappy diet as well. Put on a fair bit of muscle, but also a lot of fat. After a while, I figured it was pointless for me - unless you struggle to put on muscle at the gym, then that sort of stuff probably unnecessary. Putting on muscle is easy for me, it's keeping the fat off which is a bitch :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just eat fewer calories than you consume, there is no need whatsoever to restrict certain food groups or individual foods. You can lose weight eating whatever you like as long as you burn off more calories. And Haydos you mentioned eating below 1200kcals, what are you doing there?? That is starvation stuff! Over 6ft you can be eating over 2000kcal and still lose weight at a good pace. I lost 100lbs a few years ago eating a high protein, moderate carb, moderate fat balanced diet and working out, the most important thing is to be consistent.

With regards to protein shakes they have no special benefit other than making it easier for people to consume enough protein. They don't make you bigger or anything, they are just a protein source similar to eggs, chicken breast, steak etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone tried intermittentant fasting? It's supposed be very effective. I tried it for a day but felt sick because I was so hungry and couldn't sleep.

I find sugar free diets are the easiest way to lose weight. It's quite easy to eat a calorie deficit once you remove all the unnecessary empty calories you get from sugar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be honest i dont really have a specific diet, i just make sure that i dont eat anything thats stupidly unhealthy - ie, crisps, chocolates, sweets and also ready meals

Do that with quick 20 mins high intensity workouts once/twice a day and that seems to be enough for me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just eat fewer calories than you consume, there is no need whatsoever to restrict certain food groups or individual foods. You can lose weight eating whatever you like as long as you burn off more calories. And Haydos you mentioned eating below 1200kcals, what are you doing there?? That is starvation stuff! Over 6ft you can be eating over 2000kcal and still lose weight at a good pace. I lost 100lbs a few years ago eating a high protein, moderate carb, moderate fat balanced diet and working out, the most important thing is to be consistent.

Speaking from experience, 2000kcal is still a lot of food, especially when you eat healthy, drink water instead of fruit juice and sugary drinks and cut out processed foods and sat fats. Like I said earlier, I started eating healthier and cut calories to around 1800kcal a day and even with exercise did not see too much weight loss over 2/3 months. Again, this is something I've found personally.

For example, I might have a bacon and cheese omelette for breakfast (around 550kcal total), usually a snack of some nuts and/or beef/pork/chicken at lunch because breakfast keeps me quite full til the afternoon (around 150kcal) and a chicken breast and some green veg + mushrooms in the evening (450kcal). This comes to a total of 1150kcal which you say is 'starvation'. I have 2 biggish meals and a smaller lunch and drink plenty of water, trust me, there's no starvation about it, it's just eating lower calorie, healthier, filling foods.

I'm not saying it's for everyone, but I feel fuller, I boredom eat less, I have less energy spikes/crashes, I've cut a tonne of sugar which I used to overeat on.

Look up intermittent fasting, that's starvation stuff and there seems to be a lot of support for it at the moment (think it shares some stuff with the paleo diet. The theory that we have evolved without eating regular meals every couple of hours despite not being hungry etc. And we don't need even close to the amount of food the government tells us we do.) Some call things like these 'fads' for some reason, they just interest me because I study nutrition on my course and I personally find the 2500kcal/2000kcal + macronutrient recommendations outdated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With regards to starvation I don't mean not eating for periods of time (I have used intermittent fasting when cutting fat) I mean total calories over a 24 hour period not being sufficient. I also am not talking in terms of volume, ofcourse 2000 calories of lean meat,vegetables,and fruit is going to yield more volume than 2000 calories of fast food, I am talking about calories which you body requires. A child would eat around 2000kcals a day and maintain their weight, for an active adult who is over 6ft eating 1200kcals is far to little and if you are not losing weight on 1800kcals then your metabolism is ruined because your body is not getting enough calories. Most adult males BMR is around 1800kcals and that means you need that much to maintain if you were to lie in bed 24 hours a day.

I was losing .5lb a week on 2500kcals while being very sedentary apart from lifting 3 x times a week, I am now gaining muscle slowly on around 3200kcals. I think you should check out a calorie requirement calculator.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking from experience, 2000kcal is still a lot of food, especially when you eat healthy, drink water instead of fruit juice and sugary drinks and cut out processed foods and sat fats. Like I said earlier, I started eating healthier and cut calories to around 1800kcal a day and even with exercise did not see too much weight loss over 2/3 months. Again, this is something I've found personally.

For example, I might have a bacon and cheese omelette for breakfast (around 550kcal total), usually a snack of some nuts and/or beef/pork/chicken at lunch because breakfast keeps me quite full til the afternoon (around 150kcal) and a chicken breast and some green veg + mushrooms in the evening (450kcal). This comes to a total of 1150kcal which you say is 'starvation'. I have 2 biggish meals and a smaller lunch and drink plenty of water, trust me, there's no starvation about it, it's just eating lower calorie, healthier, filling foods.

I'm not saying it's for everyone, but I feel fuller, I boredom eat less, I have less energy spikes/crashes, I've cut a tonne of sugar which I used to overeat on.

Look up intermittent fasting, that's starvation stuff and there seems to be a lot of support for it at the moment (think it shares some stuff with the paleo diet. The theory that we have evolved without eating regular meals every couple of hours despite not being hungry etc. And we don't need even close to the amount of food the government tells us we do.) Some call things like these 'fads' for some reason, they just interest me because I study nutrition on my course and I personally find the 2500kcal/2000kcal + macronutrient recommendations outdated.

If it works for you then fine. I am trying to lose weight and also did a 1200 calorie diet for a few weeks but found it impossible to stick to. It is true that you can lose weight easier by cutting back on calorie intake than by exercising and if you don't feel hungry or tired by doing that then it will work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With regards to starvation I don't mean not eating for periods of time (I have used intermittent fasting when cutting fat) I mean total calories over a 24 hour period not being sufficient. I also am not talking in terms of volume, ofcourse 2000 calories of lean meat,vegetables,and fruit is going to yield more volume than 2000 calories of fast food, I am talking about calories which you body requires. A child would eat around 2000kcals a day and maintain their weight, for an active adult who is over 6ft eating 1200kcals is far to little and if you are not losing weight on 1800kcals then your metabolism is ruined because your body is not getting enough calories. Most adult males BMR is around 1800kcals and that means you need that much to maintain if you were to lie in bed 24 hours a day.

I was losing .5lb a week on 2500kcals while being very sedentary apart from lifting 3 x times a week, I am now gaining muscle slowly on around 3200kcals. I think you should check out a calorie requirement calculator.

I am very aware of the facts regarding it and I know that 1200kcal is very low. I'm not going to eat when I'm not hungry though. This has turned into me trying to justify myself which I didn't want it to be but I feel like I need to now :P

I'm surprised by the outcome of what I've done so far. I thought I'd feel more lethargic and tired but I don't, I feel healthier and if anything, more energetic. I just don't see the point in eating more than I need to. Also, i'll be coming off this in 2 months tops and rethinking my diet. I'm sticking to it for now though, I was just wondering if anyone else had had trouble losing weight and tried anything 'different'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With regards to starvation I don't mean not eating for periods of time (I have used intermittent fasting when cutting fat) I mean total calories over a 24 hour period not being sufficient. I also am not talking in terms of volume, ofcourse 2000 calories of lean meat,vegetables,and fruit is going to yield more volume than 2000 calories of fast food, I am talking about calories which you body requires. A child would eat around 2000kcals a day and maintain their weight, for an active adult who is over 6ft eating 1200kcals is far to little and if you are not losing weight on 1800kcals then your metabolism is ruined because your body is not getting enough calories. Most adult males BMR is around 1800kcals and that means you need that much to maintain if you were to lie in bed 24 hours a day.

I was losing .5lb a week on 2500kcals while being very sedentary apart from lifting 3 x times a week, I am now gaining muscle slowly on around 3200kcals. I think you should check out a calorie requirement calculator.

Those recommended calorie numbers don't really mean anything. Every body is different. Personally I won't lose any weight unless I go sub-1800 and that includes daily exercise. If I ate 3200 I would balloon up like crazy even if I hit the gym for two hours daily. It's all genetics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fad diets like the Atkins are not healthy, Dr Atkins died of a heart attack and was clinically obese at the time.

Did he really ?

"On April 8, 2003, at age 72, a day after a major snowstorm in New York, Atkins slipped on an icy pavement, suffering severe head trauma. He spent nine days in intensive care before dying on April 17, 2003, from complications from his head injury."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did he really ?

"On April 8, 2003, at age 72, a day after a major snowstorm in New York, Atkins slipped on an icy pavement, suffering severe head trauma. He spent nine days in intensive care before dying on April 17, 2003, from complications from his head injury."

Maybe:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/doctor/atkins.asp

It is not provable either way that a heart attack did lead to his death, and it is also questionable that he was obese (when he died he was but he was merely overweight when he had his fall).

He did have a heart attack in 2002, and it was reported that the fall that lead to his death was caused by a heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension, but this cannot be proven.

Anyway, I probably shouldn't have claimed it as fact, but I read it on the internet so I thought it must be true.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, I probably shouldn't have claimed it as fact, but I read it on the internet so I thought it must be true.

Fair point. I believe everything I read on t'internet lol

I did the Atkins in 2003 - well I changed to a low carb diet, not specifically Atkins - and lost 4 stone in a year, from 18 1/2 down to 14 1/2. Eventually dropped to 13 1/2 but now over 15 stone because I got lazy :(

Need to focus again to shift some flab.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This post outlines the slow carb diet - which is more of a food lifestyle than a diet. It all comes back to the same principles of lowering sugar and increasing slow release carbs. I've never had much weight to lose myself but it has worked really well for several friends and relatives.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This post outlines the slow carb diet - which is more of a food lifestyle than a diet. It all comes back to the same principles of lowering sugar and increasing slow release carbs. I've never had much weight to lose myself but it has worked really well for several friends and relatives.

http://www.fourhourw...g-any-exercise/

But it just sounds so dull, I love food, I love experimenting with different food and different tastes, typically the tastiest things are always the worse for you. I can see the benefit of replacing things like pasta and rice with beans and lentils, but I just hate the idea of eating the same thing over and over again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the Atkins a few years ago. It took me 8 months to go from 16 stone to 12. The first few weeks are the worst, headaches, constipation generally feeling awful. Beer is also a no no which is hard.

I'm slowly creeping up again so I might have to dig the book out again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the Atkins a few years ago. It took me 8 months to go from 16 stone to 12. The first few weeks are the worst, headaches, constipation generally feeling awful. Beer is also a no no which is hard.

I'm slowly creeping up again so I might have to dig the book out again.

I must be one of the rare ones that felt no ill effects whatsoever being on the Atkins. In fact, I felt better because I wasn't stodged by Carbs and actually never felt full after a meal.

I ate lots more veg ( but only certain veg) more lean meat and fish. Just did without bread (which I'm sure is a biggy when it comes to piling on weight) and spuds/rice.

As I said earlier, I found I could drink as much lager as ever... It didn't seem to make a difference.

The problem for me was 'snacks'... On the first few weeks of the Atkins, carbs are pretty much out.. So no sugary fruit, biscuits, crisps, sweets etc. That didn't leave much, other than peanuts (did I get sick of bloody peanuts!!) and Atkins bars which cost about a million quid each!

To do the Atkins you have to be really disciplined, look into it well before you start, but in my experience it worked quite dramatically.

Finally, exercise exercise exercise..... You don't want all that fat swimming round in your bloodstream, you need to sweat it out!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I must be one of the rare ones that felt no ill effects whatsoever being on the Atkins. In fact, I felt better because I wasn't stodged by Carbs and actually never felt full after a meal.

I ate lots more veg ( but only certain veg) more lean meat and fish. Just did without bread (which I'm sure is a biggy when it comes to piling on weight) and spuds/rice.

As I said earlier, I found I could drink as much lager as ever... It didn't seem to make a difference.

The problem for me was 'snacks'... On the first few weeks of the Atkins, carbs are pretty much out.. So no sugary fruit, biscuits, crisps, sweets etc. That didn't leave much, other than peanuts (did I get sick of bloody peanuts!!) and Atkins bars which cost about a million quid each!

To do the Atkins you have to be really disciplined, look into it well before you start, but in my experience it worked quite dramatically.

Finally, exercise exercise exercise..... You don't want all that fat swimming round in your bloodstream, you need to sweat it out!

Beer is full of carbs.

I substituted rice/pasta/spuds with greens like cabbage or broccoli which was ok for me as I love my greens. I still eat greens instead of rice and pasta which I was never very keen on and I rarely eat spuds still.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beer is full of carbs.

I substituted rice/pasta/spuds with greens like cabbage or broccoli which was ok for me as I love my greens. I still eat greens instead of rice and pasta which I was never very keen on and I rarely eat spuds still.

I do know that mate... I have a rotund tum to indicate the carb value of beer lol

However, I maintain that beer really did not seem to matter to me personally when doing the Atkins. I think it's because I was disciplined enough such that my carb intake per week was almost only beer. If that makes sense..

And some alcoholic drinks are much worse if you want a low carb diet. Liqueurs, spirits, real ale, cider, wine for instance are full of sugar.

Lager and vodka/gin... Not nearly as much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spirits have no carbs and there are way more carbs in lager than wine.

?

I was always led to believe the dark spirits, like whiskey and dark rum were quite 'sugary' vis a vis the clear spirits like vodka and gin. I may be wrong. I also read if you were going to drink alcohol whilst on the Atkins you were better to go for more clear, watery drinks, like lager (rather than spirits) because you pissed it out quicker?

You may be right, but lager and vodka made no difference to my weight loss when on the Atkins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are some low carb lagers I think. I tried Miller lite but it had no more taste than tap water. I think pils might be low carb.

In the pub I'd drink vodka and slim line tonic which I didn't enjoy. I've since tried Gin and slim line tonic and that's not a bad drink tbf.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...