I cant belive iv lost over 25 pounds so far...

[antidonkey]

My friend told me a lot about eating and such like not eating in morning when you get up and eating before bed is super bad for you so I now eat right and did a little bit of research. It also helps speed up my matabalism which is extremely slow atm but its getting better.

Yeah, that's pretty much a myth. You can eat any time you feel like it. The only thing that really matters is what you eat and how much. Exercising is probably what's increasing your metabolism.

Anyway, great job and keep it up! Just be careful so you don't burn yourself out on the gym. 5 times a week is A LOT.

Green tea extract has even made it into the bodybuilding world as a supplement that you can take in pill form, due to the benefits it has for energizing your metabolism.

Also pretty much a myth. Most studies have failed to conclusively prove any effect on metabolism caused by green tea, except for a possible minimal increase for morbidly obese people. Either way, tea is pretty awesome, and it sure as hell won't hurt you.

Hmmmm.....how very odd. Pretty sure I've never mentioned green tea in this thread until just now. How dare that broken quote button make me look bad!!!!

I think I may try to pick up a recumbent exercise bike. Should be easier on my hip than my elliptical and take up less space. I have a friend that loves his. The problem is I have no space for it until I ditch the elliptical. It's cheap and been welded back together in one spot that broke but it's still functional. I'm sure someone will take it off my hands for $50 or less.

 

[chikusho]

Hmmmm.....how very odd. Pretty sure I've never mentioned green tea in this thread until just now. How dare that broken quote button make me look bad!!!!

Sorry, don't know HOW that happened. The quote was from

this guy

 

[Gorrath]

The palate shift from giving up sugar also makes a lot of food more delicious than it was; it turns out consuming tons of sugar blunts the palate so that you only like something if it's ridiculously sweet. Even if sugar didn't make me sick, I wouldn't go back; it's just a healthier, better way of eating, and it's delicious too. Granted, I'm having to learn to cook all over again in a lot of ways, but it's completely worth it.

Interesting stuff. Having spent a fair span of my years in Europe, I was not accustomed to the jaw-dropping levels of sugar in the typical American diet. I still find a great deal of things Americans eat to be far too sweet for my tastes. I can certainly see what they mean by sugar blunting the palate and making one so accustomed to sweets that you begin to crave them. Never having developed a taste for sugary sodas has been a great boon to me.

 

[Stu35]

I'd say that losing weight is mostly down to diet. Exercise is still important if you want much faster results, but I'd say it's 60 - 70% diet.

I'd agree. If you think about it in terms of energy in, energy out, it's so much easier to control your food intake than the amount of calories you burn. Exercise is important, there is absolutely no denying that, but the effort involved in burning calories is much higher than the effort required to simply not eat as much. And if you're not putting as much in, you don't need to burn as much out either.

Just to be controversial: I disagree.

I find it considerably easier to do Phys on a regular basis and then just eat what I want, than try to constantly moderate what I'm eating and how much.

Playing/training for Rugby 3 times a week, playing/training for Ice Hockey once or twice a week, throw in a couple of runs (usually at least one hard sprint session a week) and some swimming, and I find my body more or less regulates itself regarding everything else.

Furthermore - I enjoy eating food. I really enjoy eating food that's terrible for me - Pizza, Burgers, you name it it's going down my grid.

I also enjoy Sports, as well as doing Phys in general. So I think it'd be highly counter-intuitive of me to restrict one thing I enjoy so I don't have to do another thing I enjoy quite as much.

That's my personal feelings of course, and I say to each their own when it comes to achieving a reasonable degree of fitness and health.

 

[grey_space]

Congratulations Op keep up the good work!

It's a really hard road with lots of sacrifices, but enjoy your cheat day every week (YAY! cheat day! nobody understands cheat days unless you are on a diet that has cheat days ) because you've earned it!

I'm trying to lose a certain amount of weight for a pretty big competition in June, where you can literally lose a fight if you are heavier than the other guy. I'm counting calories and weighing my food and all that and it really sucks but I'm steadily losing about 1 kg of shite a week.

I measure my weight (Bodyfat percentage and all, sometimes if you are gymming hard your weight can actually go up because you are gaining muscle) every two weeks and to see the steady changes are really gratifying.

If you end up plateauing with the weight loss, or just get bored with what you are doing in the GYM, give me a PM if you want. I know plenty of hints and tricks



Good work again!

 

[Benny Blanco]

Woah... I thought for a minute I had logged into Fitocracy, not the Escapist. Still, congrats to the OP and everyone else getting healthier.

I'm reasonably healthy and stay active but have always had trouble maintaining a healthy weight: I'm 6'0 and have fluctuated during my adult life between 12 1/2 stone (175 lbs) & 16 stone (224 lbs) but the easiest/most effective calorie cut for me was booze, as I don't drink much soda (I hate the taste of cola, which somehow became the ubiquitous flavour for sodas because(?)) so the biggest source of empty calories in my life was beer, at 200 calories a pint. Now I only drink at weekends, which not only gives me a cheaper buzz (because of alcohol tolerance) but stops me having a gut...

I have also had success with IF. There's something inherently morale-boosting about cheat days, as opposed to the depressing knowledge that your carefully budgeted moderate diet WILL BE IN PLACE UNTIL YOU FAIL OR DIE.

I hear great things about the Paleo and Dukan diets, but I think they're... tricky. If you live with someone who adheres to the diet and give each other psychological or logistic support, you've got a better chance of making it. Personally I like rice, cheese and bread too much to go Paleo.

Someone in the thread said they think diet makes up 60-70% of weight loss, with the remainder dictated by exercise, but I'd go so far as to reverse that ratio- exercise boosts metabolism, as well as burning calories, which is essential if you want to stop your body from slowing metabolism in response to decreased caloric intake. More importantly, it also improves your mood, which in many cases (certainly mine as a teenager) can affect the degree of "distracted" or "comfort" eating.

Diet and exercise are both important, but don't forget the importance of your mood and the strength of your support network- in this case their ability to positively influence your habits in regard to diet and exercise.

 

[alandavidson]

Ever sense I changed how I eat and started going to the gym iv been dropping weight like mad and im enjoying it so much

I eat several smaller meals over course of day starting with large and decreasing with each meal

on Monday I can eat freely and not just better food so yay for cheat day also its got other reasons for it other then being a cheat day :3

I go to the Gym 5 times a week for 2-3 hours


It has been a hard path tho giving up so many tasty foods and killing my soda/caffeine addiction but it feels like its been worth it. Its still a long road ahead for my weight tho as I am atm 296 Pounds and my Goal is to get 180 if possible.


So has anyone else had any success with stuff lately weather it be with changing your life style or getting something great to happen in life?

That's awesome! Congratulations.

If you haven't yet, meet with a personal trainer. They can be expensive, but they are trained to spot muscle imbalances, injuries, and body disfunction, and teach you how to correct them through exercise.

There are a lot of online resources for diet and training programs.

If you have any questions about diet, exercise, etc, let me know, I'll be more than happy to help!

 

[Seydaman]

Awesome job!

I've lost a lot of weight recently as well, at about 159 or so down from 220

None of my clothes fit well anymore, jeeze...

 

[Techno Squidgy]

I'd say that losing weight is mostly down to diet. Exercise is still important if you want much faster results, but I'd say it's 60 - 70% diet.

I'd agree. If you think about it in terms of energy in, energy out, it's so much easier to control your food intake than the amount of calories you burn. Exercise is important, there is absolutely no denying that, but the effort involved in burning calories is much higher than the effort required to simply not eat as much. And if you're not putting as much in, you don't need to burn as much out either.

Just to be controversial: I disagree.

I find it considerably easier to do Phys on a regular basis and then just eat what I want, than try to constantly moderate what I'm eating and how much.

Playing/training for Rugby 3 times a week, playing/training for Ice Hockey once or twice a week, throw in a couple of runs (usually at least one hard sprint session a week) and some swimming, and I find my body more or less regulates itself regarding everything else.

Furthermore - I enjoy eating food. I really enjoy eating food that's terrible for me - Pizza, Burgers, you name it it's going down my grid.

I also enjoy Sports, as well as doing Phys in general. So I think it'd be highly counter-intuitive of me to restrict one thing I enjoy so I don't have to do another thing I enjoy quite as much.

That's my personal feelings of course, and I say to each their own when it comes to achieving a reasonable degree of fitness and health.

Differences in lifestyle I guess. I'm no way near as active as you are, so I find it easier to just not eat so much. No calorie counting or strict diet, just generally being mindful of what I'm putting into my body.