trying to lose weight.

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by 8limbs38112, Jan 13, 2014.

  1. 8limbs38112

    8limbs38112 Valued Member

    I used to be a skinny guy, but I gained a lot of weight. I am trying to lose weight but have been failing miserably. First time I tried to lose weight I didn't know what I was doing so I ate foods with low grams of fat, took diet pills, and ran 2 miles a day. Big mistake. I learned from someone the correct way to lose weight which is eat healthy well balanced meals, count calories, along with the cardiovascular excersize. When I learned the correct way to lose weight I started losing weight for a short while. But then I hit a stall. I wouldn't lose any weight anymore after that. I asked the person at the YMCA how to break through the stall and he said to add about I can't remember how many minutes to my running and if that doesn't work add more time to my running. Well, I tried that and it still didn't work. I haven't been able to lose weight ever since. I think what killed my ablility to lose weight was when I first started doing it the wrong way, I think I may have lost some muscle mass and I think that may be what is preventing me from losing weight. Does anyone know how I can start losing weight again without having to weight train to gain muscle back in the process. I started a new diet called liquid amino diet, but this diet is too hard to stay on and I don't think I can succeed on this diet. Ive' been unsuccessful with it so far. The food tastes like rubber and you can't eat enough calories.
     
  2. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    The YMCA guy was talking rubbish, funnily enough.

    Ok, you need to stop dieting. Did you know that the word diet comes from the latin for 'wasting your time in a fruitless struggle'?. Ok, that's not true, but it might as well be.

    Any weight loss program that you have to struggle with is going to fail. I guarantee it.

    And jogging for weight loss is a really inefficient way of doing it.

    So. Fat loss (which is what we're really after) requires three key things. A calorie deficit, a calorie deficit and a calorie deficit. That's all.

    So the question becomes, how do you create a calorie deficit that you will find sustainable? This is different for every person. There are a couple of key habit changes that will always help though:
    1) Only eat when you are hungry. When you get hunger pangs, drink some water. If you are still feeling hungry 15 minutes later, you are really hungry.
    2) When you eat, eat slowly. Put your knife and fork down on your plate and chew for 10 seconds before you pick them up again. This way you are giving your body time to send the 'stop eating' signals to your brain when you are full. Every time you've ever felt stuffed to the point of feeling ill has been a result of you eating too fast and eating a lot of food beyond this sated point.
    3) When you are full, stop eating. Seriously. Stop eating the damned food on your plate. Clean plate syndrome is the reason so many people are fat. Leaving food on your plate isn't wasteful. Cooking more food than you need is wasteful.

    Ok, so those 3 things are 50% of the challenge. If you do them, I almost guarantee you will lose fat.

    The other thing you might want to look into is intermittent fasting. This is where you go for a period of between 16 and 24 hours without eating once or twice a week. There are lots of variations on the theme, and you just have to find the protocol you're happiest with. It's hard at first, but it gets a lot easier . There's lots and lots of information about the various health benefits on the web, so you can satisfy yourself that it is a good idea. I've never found a 'diet' easier to follow than occasional fasts. And it will save you money.
     
  3. Unreal Combat

    Unreal Combat Valued Member

    Playing Halo makes fasting easier. :D
     
  4. proteinnerd

    proteinnerd Valued Member

    With the 16 hour intermittent fasting protocol, don't just go from normal eating to 16hour fasts the next day...start with a 12-13 hour fast. Eat at 8pm then go till 9am the next day before eating again. Do this for a week then add another hour, then another. Otherwise the hunger will get to you and you will probably binge eat.

    Dont forget caffeine helps suppress the appetite if you can tolerate it.

    As holy said, weight loss is simple its calories in vs burned but it isn't necessarily easy.

    The other thing, it probably took you years to put on the weight, don't expect to lose it in 1 week, healthy fat loss does take time.
     
  5. Ero-Sennin

    Ero-Sennin Well-Known Member Supporter

    I have a nutritional intake (notice I didn't use the word diet, it's scary sometimes) that generally doesn't change, ever. When I'm training I do tend to eat cleaner foods but it revolves around feeling better vs. cutting food down. I still take in the same amount of calories.

    When I was boxing I was training hard for a good year and maybe lost 10 lbs (I was sitting around 250lbs), I wasn't losing much weight. Then I focused on weight loss and dropped roughly 50 lbs. in a 3-4 month stretch. Crazy thing about this is I started eating -more- calories, I just forced my way into a significant calorie deficit in a very efficient way.

    While I added in workouts at the Boxing gym (Usually there for 4 hours a day, two or three times a day) only about an hour of that time was focused on long duration cardio. The rest of it was just skill work. I do not credit my weight loss to working out at the boxing gym, it's what I did during the day in the form of a very intense workout technique called . . . . . . walking. :p

    I had to do a pedometer program for school which opened my eyes to the joys of weight loss and walking. I realized I was only walking about 3,000 steps a day and went from getting to 10,000 steps a day to hitting around 18,000-25,000 steps a day during the last month. The more physical activity you do (physical activity being anything from cleaning your home to walking) the more calories you burn, and staying active is the key to weight loss vs. the less successful "burn it in the gym" method.

    I started waking up early in the morning and walking for an hour, parked in the furthest parking spot of any destination I was going to, took inconvenient but not time consuming routes to any destination, took the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. A lot of these "little adjustments" only give you 100-200 extra steps, but you'll find you have opportunities to do this multiple times a day. Towards the end I was not only walking an hour in the morning but also an hour at night and 30-45 minutes during a lunch break.

    By doing this I gained an efficient and tolerable way of reaching that caloric deficit and in a way that didn't have a big impact on my endurance levels in the Boxing gym. All it takes is awareness of your activity level and going a little out of your way. I was eating anywhere from 3,000 - 5,000 calories a day (usually a median of about 4,000) and still dropped nearly 50lbs in a few months time.

    Just a suggestion though, one I think that is more practical for people who have busy lives.
     
  6. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    until we see some really good science on the whole fasting fad, maybe recommending it to someone that needs help is not a good way to go. just sayin'. after reading the op, the poster obviously needs lots of help with just having a healthy diet.

    we already know what it takes to lose weight, consuming less calories than what you need based on your activity level. researchers have proven this by eating junk food, and it still worked.

    maybe encouraging a well-balanced diet is a better suggestion?
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2014
  7. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    here's a suggestion, start with this: eat lots of vegetables, some protein, a little fat; avoid highly processed foods including soda pop, candy, bread; exercise. see where you stand after having a real diet for awhile.
     
  8. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

    Figure out how many calories you need. Create a deficit.

    Try to eat clean, balanced meals. But if it's too difficult eat a little of something you enjoy to make it more bearable. Count everything. Drink lots of water. Try to be a little more active than you usually are. If you find yourself sitting for long periods. Set an alarm to at least walk around get up every hour.

    That would be a good start. A better measurement of fat loss in the early stage might not lead to lost weight especially if you are working out and more active than usual as it could mean more muscle. Measure your waist, chest and keep an eye on them and generally how you are feeling also.

    Good luck.
     
  9. 8limbs38112

    8limbs38112 Valued Member

    I have no problem staying on a normal healthy diet to lose weight. it just doesn't work regardless. however the liquid amino diet isn't a normal diet. it is some drops you tale while eating 1000 calories a day of dull food and drinking lots of water. I can do the normal way to lose weight that everyone normally does when they try to lose weight, but it doesn't work for me anymore anyway.
     
  10. Ero-Sennin

    Ero-Sennin Well-Known Member Supporter

    Pay attention to physical activity levels and increase them. The pedometer stuff I mentioned earlier is a great and easy way to do this. Increased physical activity throughout the day is one of the best ways to find yourself in a caloric deficit without doing anything weird.
     
  11. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    actually, it does work. it's been proven scientifically. also anecdotally, i've done it. if you consume less calories than you need, your body will go to fat stores to get the energy.

    maybe ero-sennin's suggestions would help with your plateau. i would also add that you should try to add more muscle. that will help boost your metabolism. just do pushups, pull-ups, abdominals--basic stuff.
     
  12. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    My Sifu was mentioning some discussion with a MA elder in China who does a lot of Qi Gong and health practices. He said that he was told that the western idea of constant small meals does not give the digestive system a rest. It is constantly working, which is bad.

    I found it an interesting concept and have been looking into this short fasting idea.

    I think it is a valid approach to be brought up here in response to the OP question.

    I think a well balanced diet is a good idea, for those days someone isn't fasting. The two are not mutually exclusive.
     
  13. ninjedi

    ninjedi Valued Member

    weight loss comes down to simple math.

    take your goal weight, multiply by 10, and don't consume more calories daily than that number.

    for example, say 170 is your goal weight. don't consume more than 1,700 calories daily.

    that is, food intake and exercise combination. so if you eat 2,000 calories on a given day, be sure you are burning at least 300 calories at the gym that day.
     
  14. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    There's already a lot of good science on the effects of fasting.

    A well balanced diet is harder to achieve than you seem to think.
     
  15. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    Someone on this board (a year or two ago) posted something about how you need to add a lot of muscle mass to get a very small boost in metabolic rate.

    Whilst I agree that adding muscle is a worthwhile goal, it shouldn't be considered part of a fat-loss strategy.
     
  16. CrowZer0

    CrowZer0 Assume formlessness.

  17. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    Forget diet. Change your lifestyle.

    Ditch all sodas and canned juices. Ditch all white sugars. Ditch white bread, ditch white noodles. Ditch white rice. Ditch eating salty foods. Drink lots of water. Move, fidget, run. Eat mostly fruits and veg.
     
  18. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    That's the hardest possible way to go about losing weight. That kind of plan will have a 99% failure rate, which is why fad diets are so popular in the first place.
     
  19. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    I haven't seen the studies. Are there any you can point me to?

    Is a well balanced diet harder than fasting?
     
  20. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    I agree with the sentiment. But would just say don't ditch, but severely restrict those items on the list. Eating mostly plants is very, very doable and warranted.
     

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