Dieting & Weight Loss

[MooseBreath]

Is sugar that bad?

Sugar is about the worst thing you can consume. It is purely empty calories, no nutritional value whatsoever, and is converted to energy quickly so if you don't burn it, you're storing it as fat. Are you counting that sugar in your daily calorie total? If not, you should be. Literally everything that you consume needs to be counted, otherwise you are cheating youself.

You can pretty much ignore all of the finer points in this thread. A lot of people are reporting things they've heard at the gym or read in an online article or magazine as fact, when they're anything but. For every '6 meals a day' article there is an equally convincing '3 meals a day' article and likewise for everything you are reading such as carbs/no carbs, normal cardio/fasted cardio, normal protein/high protein, HIIT/LISS etc etc etc etc etc etc.

These things might be useful if you're a natural bodybuilder looking to shed that last 0.3% of bodyfat before your competition but for your everyday fat loss fan you can safely ignore it all. Just count you calories honestly, be consistant with your exercise and all will be well.

[pSinatra]

Can someone anyone offer any advice in the opposite direction?

I'm not saying this to annoy anyone & I am particularly hated by women!!

I really struggle to maintain my weight & it doesn't matter what I eat I hardly ever put any weight on. Most people would consider this to be a good thing, but I don't. I'm 5'9" & I probably average around 9 & a half stone. I'm too skinny!!

I eat like a horse & sometimes I feed on total crap. I generally eat quite healthy at home, but when I'm out working I will regularly eat cakes, chocolate, fatty foods, etc. I don't pay any attention to calories but tend to cook using fresh ingredients & think nothing of using things like butter, sugar & cream. I do a very physical job & I may tend to put a little weight on in the winter when my workload drops a little & I'm tucking into the Quality Street. But by the spring I go straight back to my normal weight.

I'm quite happy with my fitness & my body in general as I'm pretty well toned & in good shape for my age. I do get comments made about how thin I am & I would like to bulk up a bit. I tend to snack all day & then have a giant meal in the evening. I don't eat take-aways & I barely drink alcohol.

I would assume that it's a case of taking in more calories than I am expending......but I don't seem to be able to do that. I would like to bulk up, but do it right & not cause my body any damage. I have considered those milkshakes but they don't appeal & can be very expensive. I don't know anything about nutrition & have little knowledge of what a carbohydrate is.......but there seems to be a lot of people on here who do.

Is there a diet or anything I can do to bulk up apart from eating pure lard for breakfast, lunch & dinner?

[Unabomber]

youv'e just told me that eating carbs at night doesn't lead to weight loss? are you well?

as for 6 small meals a day it controls hunger and blood sugar levels along with hormones. A lot of fat loss is a result of a good proportion of extra protein in the diet to supplement carbs, therefore to reach the requirements you would need to eat 6 small meals a day.

You know nothing

If you are a WUM then i'm not going to listen to you and have not got time for you

I am not a WUM, I have personal experience through myself losing 6 stone of fat, and now training my mate who has lost 2 stone so far by following my guidelines and advice.

A lot of the weight came off for myself while following intermittent fasting (eating in an eight hour period) this lead to reduced hunger due to actually eating satisfying meals while always staying in a calorie deficit. I have been studying nutrition in my own time for the last 3 years.

Also I didn't say eating carbs at night doesn't lead to weight loss, I said it doesn't matter when you eat carbs, if you are eating in calorie deficit you will lose weight. How can you say that for example if a person needs 3000kcals a day to maintain their weight and they eat 2000kcals a day with 400 of these calories coming from carbs at night, they will gain weight?

I would strongly recommend reading the article below as it debunks a lot of the myths that plague the dieting world

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

[JonnyBoy]

Can someone anyone offer any advice in the opposite direction?

I'm not saying this to annoy anyone & I am particularly hated by women!!

I really struggle to maintain my weight & it doesn't matter what I eat I hardly ever put any weight on. Most people would consider this to be a good thing, but I don't. I'm 5'9" & I probably average around 9 & a half stone. I'm too skinny!!

I eat like a horse & sometimes I feed on total crap. I generally eat quite healthy at home, but when I'm out working I will regularly eat cakes, chocolate, fatty foods, etc. I don't pay any attention to calories but tend to cook using fresh ingredients & think nothing of using things like butter, sugar & cream. I do a very physical job & I may tend to put a little weight on in the winter when my workload drops a little & I'm tucking into the Quality Street. But by the spring I go straight back to my normal weight.

I'm quite happy with my fitness & my body in general as I'm pretty well toned & in good shape for my age. I do get comments made about how thin I am & I would like to bulk up a bit. I tend to snack all day & then have a giant meal in the evening. I don't eat take-aways & I barely drink alcohol.

I would assume that it's a case of taking in more calories than I am expending......but I don't seem to be able to do that. I would like to bulk up, but do it right & not cause my body any damage. I have considered those milkshakes but they don't appeal & can be very expensive. I don't know anything about nutrition & have little knowledge of what a carbohydrate is.......but there seems to be a lot of people on here who do.

Is there a diet or anything I can do to bulk up apart from eating pure lard for breakfast, lunch & dinner?

ok, could have a field day on you

going to try and simplify it...

seems your a hard gainer like myself,

1st rule: don't spend more than 45 minutes in the gym at a time, working out uses calories in which you need to build muscle

You will get bicep bandits at the gym who will take their phones in with a group of mates (always have a shaker bottle with them) and spend around 2 hours and wonder why they don't get results

The exercises you do need to be COMPOUND exercises, these use more than one muscle group. These will stimulate more testosterone and put greater stress on the body and therefore stimulate your body to change. Examples of these exercises are SQUATS, DEADLIFTS, BENCH PRESS, PULL-UPS etc. For the first 6 months of training i wouldn't even do your arms, that's for later when you manage to achieve a decent frame on you. For example, biceps are so small you will train them with squats and deads..

Its all well and good doing what iv'e just said but you need to realise what you do in the gym is 20% and nutrition is around 80%, CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT NUTRITION IS WHEN BUILDING MUSCLE.

You need to feed your muscles throughout the day by eating around 6 -8 meals a day in order to eat more than you burn to begin repairing the muscles.

I could go on for ages about what foods to eat but i really could go on, i mean about 2000 words about it!

I personally would do an between clean and dirty bulk as those extra calorie dense foods will aid you in achieving a greater calorie surplus, You need to firstly find out how much your resting metabolic rate is though first and for the first two weeks add 300 calories on top then the next 3 weeks after up it too 500 calories more etc etc until your building significant muscle BUT MAKE SURE YOUR NOT GAINING MUCH FAT if you see you are cut down the calories to find your optimum for clean muscle growth.

STAY AWAY FROM CARDIO, this uses up calories and for a hard gainer you can wave goodbye to muscle growth. Only incorporate HIIT when you are looking to cut (drop body fat)

drink lots of whole milk

get 8 hours sleep a night

Personally i would recommend a weight gainer (optimum nutrition) just so you can get the extra calories if you are in a rush, but remember this is a SUPPLEMENT so dont just have these all day, have them on top of your food unless you want to piss money out for fun.

make sure your hitting your protein requirements, cant remember the exact figures but your looking at around 1.5g of protein per pound of weight

research creatine, this will help you

Any other questions p.m me, please don't ignore my advice, if you wish too then its your own downfall as i know what i'm talking about which is more than i can say for alot of people on here

If you were to eat alot of calorie dense foods then you will for sure get bigger, but gain alot of fat, do you really want to be one of those people who are just big and fat with no definition and will probably encounter a heart attack in the next decade, i know i dont

[ADK]

Weight loss is simple, eat less calories than you burn. Dosn't matter what those calories are or when you eat them.

[Tommy G]

Lads who take Shaker bottles in the gym and fill them with water?

Could happily tread on their heads all day. Do 3 bicep curls then go on BBM on their phone for the rest of the session

Waste of air

[Haydos]

Are the shakes you can get any good? Nutritionally sound?

I've never had one and they don't particularly appeal, but one of my mates swears by them.

I think we had the weightwatchers ones, but there are plenty available.

You said you were on 1000kcals per day at the mo. You've also said you have up to 10 cups of tea a day with half a teaspoon of sugar. That could be upwards of 50g of sugar which is 200kcal by itself, not including any milk. I'm having a hard time believing you're counting calories correctly from this little anecdote alone.

[Alexikokopops]

Woolers - get the My Fitness Pal app for your iPhone and record EVERYTHING you have on there, including the cups of tea. That's the easiest way to calorie count if you want to. You can use the barcode scanner to make things easier, and add in meals/recipes of things you have regularly.

[Tommy G]

You said you were on 1000kcals per day at the mo. You've also said you have up to 10 cups of tea a day with half a teaspoon of sugar. That could be upwards of 50g of sugar which is 200kcal by itself, not including any milk. I'm having a hard time believing you're counting calories correctly from this little anecdote alone.

I'm not quite sure what he is using to count calories either, whatever it is is wrong!

800 cal from solid foods alone? I wouldnt make it to 3pm with that without feinting

Also how are you getting all your essential nutrients with just 800 cals a day. If there isnt a rush I'd try to lose a pound a week, therefore after 3 months with a bit of luck you'll have lost a stone

[Finnegan]

Woolers - get the My Fitness Pal app for your iPhone and record EVERYTHING you have on there, including the cups of tea. That's the easiest way to calorie count if you want to. You can use the barcode scanner to make things easier, and add in meals/recipes of things you have regularly.

... You are so ****ing metro.

[Durnerz]

I've recently decided to get back on the weight-loss and exercise after irregular shifts and poor eating plus giving up playing football to concentrate on my career has left my body in a right state.

3 weeks in and half a stone off through cutting out fizzy drinks (was drinking a LOT of coca cola) eating three meals a day without snacking (if i miss breakfast for example i'd allow a heavier lunch) and concentrating on coming in under 1,000 calories a day. I'm quite decent in the kitchen and like to make my food from scratch, this has been essential for the weight loss from the diet perspective as I can eat what we both enjoy yet regulate the amount of salt/sugar/oil in the meals.

Exercise-wise due to the weather i've mainly been doing 20mins rowing daily combined with 25-50 sit up's and 'leg lifts' (from the england rugby union conditioner to aid abdominal exercise) I have done one three mile run but plan to do 2 miles daily once the pathways are a lot safer.

The key i've found is keep the diet exciting, try new things, japanese food has been an awesome discovery,as has making a lot more thai and mexican. Exercise, set a time for when you are going to do it, keep a food diary and add your mood to it as you will see a correlation between what you eat and how you feel.

[Alexikokopops]

... You are so ****ing metro.

I can't even attempt to argue with that.

Woolers, another thing, before my running days when I got a bit tubby I managed to lose 1-2 pounds a week by eating 1500-1800 calories so sub 1000 sounds ridiculous.

[The People's Hero]

You said you were on 1000kcals per day at the mo. You've also said you have up to 10 cups of tea a day with half a teaspoon of sugar. That could be upwards of 50g of sugar which is 200kcal by itself, not including any milk. I'm having a hard time believing you're counting calories correctly from this little anecdote alone.

I can assure you its correct. I have allocated 25 cal per cup of tea, but I should have said recently I've not been having any sugar in my tea for the past 10 days or so. I'm not sure if I omitted to mention this or not, but thought I had elsewhere in the thread. I allocate 25 cal per cup of tea since we often have full fat milk at work, but I still don't have mine sugary.

I do eat a lot of fruit though, which contains natural sugars.

I have a list of everything I've consumed for the last couple of weeks, some days its been as high as 1200, but ordinarily circa 950/1000. One day when I was particularly busy at work, it was about 820.

[The People's Hero]

I can list my breakfast/lunch for the past 2 weeks quite easily.

Every morning - Bran Flakes with skimmed milk.

Sometimes - adding one yoghurt drink (supermarket equivalent of yakult - but v low fat version, sure it says zero fat in fact)

One x berocca

Nothing till lunch

Lunch - half a pot of skinny soups from some brand in plastic pots. They are lovely. I like the butternut squash one but they are all nice (and on offer at Morrisons) - these are 100 calories (ish) for half a pot. Half a pot is fine for me with....

One small box raisins (circa 100 calories)

All of which leaves me enough calories for a salad with a low fat (balsamic dressing) in the evening, with either lean ham, tuna, mackerel, whatever.

If still hungry I have wholegrain ryvita with low fat cream cheese OR humous

OR raw carrot/celery with low fat humous.

Add in the usual of say 5 cups of tea with no sugar, a glass of smoothie and otherwise water and that's me.

Sub 1,000 calories.

[MooseBreath]

Lads who take Shaker bottles in the gym and fill them with water?

Could happily tread on their heads all day.

Waste of air

I do this

Why would i take a separate water bottle when the shaker works perfectly well?

[Charl91]

I do this

Why would i take a separate water bottle when the shaker works perfectly well?

This.

Why does it matter what they fill with water. Seems like a bloody stupid complaint to me.

[leicesterisme]

This.

Why does it matter what they fill with water. Seems like a bloody stupid complaint to me.

Same here, not going to go out and buy a bottle of water when I can easily fill my shaker with water.

Never knew you were judged on what you drink water out of

[FoxyPV]

TPH - it's easier to make your own soup if you're on a diet as you then know exactly what's in it.

It only takes around 30mins and you get a couple of lunches of it.

[Lobsterboyuk]

I can assure you its correct. I have allocated 25 cal per cup of tea, but I should have said recently I've not been having any sugar in my tea for the past 10 days or so. I'm not sure if I omitted to mention this or not, but thought I had elsewhere in the thread. I allocate 25 cal per cup of tea since we often have full fat milk at work, but I still don't have mine sugary.

I do eat a lot of fruit though, which contains natural sugars.

I have a list of everything I've consumed for the last couple of weeks, some days its been as high as 1200, but ordinarily circa 950/1000. One day when I was particularly busy at work, it was about 820.

I'd always understood very low calorie diets to be very dangerous to general health. How long are you planning to do this for?

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/very-low-calorie-diets.aspx

[JonnyBoy]

This.

Why does it matter what they fill with water. Seems like a bloody stupid complaint to me.

i once saw a lad with a tornado shaker and he dropped his weight on it, a mix of water and protein flew everywhere, he looked like an absolute idiot. Funniest moment in the gym i have ever witnessed.

Whats wrong with a normal water bottle? save your shaker bottle till after

it is pretentious, the only time i think it looks fine is if the person is shredded, otherwise you look like a gimp

[Captain...]

I think the obsession with calories is a bit of a falsehood, you can consume as many calories as you want as long as you burn them off, I think you need to be more aware of the amount of fat you consume, that is really the problem, being too fat, I know calories lead to fat, but so does fat, I get pissed off when I see low calorie options that are actually very fatty.

I'm currently trying to shift a couple of pounds, but by changing my habits, such as stopping snacking on cheese and bread, and eating smaller portions and cooking more from scratch and doing more exercise.

[acooling08]

I'm naturally very thin - too thin - so I've never had to consider eating healthy.

However a few family members are doing the 2-5 diet. Have 5 normal eating days and 2 days where you have a small amount of calories in 1 meal only. You have to strave yourself the rest of the day. There are supposedly big health benefits from doing this too.

[Voll Blau]

Just eat less and exercise more, worked for me.

It's not difficult.

[MooseBreath]

i once saw a lad with a tornado shaker and he dropped his weight on it, a mix of water and protein flew everywhere, he looked like an absolute idiot. Funniest moment in the gym i have ever witnessed.

Whats wrong with a normal water bottle? save your shaker bottle till after

it is pretentious, the only time i think it looks fine is if the person is shredded, otherwise you look like a gimp

Personally I think it's a lot more pretentious to stand around judging people based on which container they use to carry water. I've been doing it for years without giving it a second thought. It makes perfect sense to use a bottle designed to drink out of for drinking. I can't fathom why anyone would even notice, much less actually judge someone for it. You guys must be spending a suspicious amount of time eyeing up the other men in the gym for it to be a problem. And its ok for shredded guys to do it? Why's that, because you think they're hot? Blatant faggot is blatant.

[Charl91]

i once saw a lad with a tornado shaker and he dropped his weight on it, a mix of water and protein flew everywhere, he looked like an absolute idiot. Funniest moment in the gym i have ever witnessed.

Whats wrong with a normal water bottle? save your shaker bottle till after

it is pretentious, the only time i think it looks fine is if the person is shredded, otherwise you look like a gimp

No, the people who stand around making sure everyone can see that they are drinking their uber-protein mega shakes are pretentious. I'd say the people who are drinking water are the normal ones.

I bought protein powder once (before I realised I didn't need it - I can put on muscle fairly easy), and it came with a free bottle. I don't know where it is, but I would certainly use it as something to drink water out of if I knew where it was - sure beats the empty powerade bottle I've been using these past 5 months. Why buy a water bottle if you already have something to drink out of? Makes no sense.