boring questions about losing weight

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Johnny Dangerous
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boring questions about losing weight

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

So I need to lose probably about 30 pounds. Most people's health would not be effected by the amount of extra weight I have, but with me it puts me in the danger zone for metabolic syndrome as I age.

I turned 42 today, it's getting very difficult to eat so little, my metabolism has significantly slowed down, even in the past few years. I exercise quite a bit, heavy exercise too, stuff like martial arts and climbing. However that makes no real difference to the weight anymore, it's clear I can't exercise my way into weight loss.

I am trying to simply cut down on portions, but having a tough time. Have any of you lost and kept off a significant amount of weight, any tips?

I know diets generally are BS, so I want to stay away from them.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by amanitamusc »

Soups are great!
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Mantrik »

Johnny Dangerous wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:08 am So I need to lose probably about 30 pounds. Most people's health would not be effected by the amount of extra weight I have, but with me it puts me in the danger zone for metabolic syndrome as I age.

I turned 42 today, it's getting very difficult to eat so little, my metabolism has significantly slowed down, even in the past few years. I exercise quite a bit, heavy exercise too, stuff like martial arts and climbing. However that makes no real difference to the weight anymore, it's clear I can't exercise my way into weight loss.

I am trying to simply cut down on portions, but having a tough time. Have any of you lost and kept off a significant amount of weight, any tips?

I know diets generally are BS, so I want to stay away from them.
My metabolism hit the buffers at around 30 years old and suddenly the weight appeared.
Exercise for fitness and to feel good, not to lose weight - it has a very marginal effect unless as a support for healthy eating.
The key is to change lifestyle forever...........and that's what hurts.

It's not a matter of 1,5000 calories a day as a blitz diet and then back to 3,500, but of maybe, according to your size, go for a steady 2,500 calories a day average for the rest of your life.

The 'enemy' has flipped to sugar, but recent research blames fat intake for obesity once again. Ignore such faddism and just go for a balance over the week. Alcohol is a massively easy way to consume thousands of calories a week, which people sometimes ignore, so that has to be within the sensible calorific intake.

If you go to the gym and burn off 500 calories of that (one hour intensive will do that) a few times a week the weight will drop off and you will be able to sustain the lifestyle without feeling hungry etc.

I've seen that work for quite a few people and it worked for me, but I have to admit to backsliding at a time of crisis and having to start again.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by PSM »

I lost just over a stone from 14th June til now - that was the delivery date of a set of new bathroom scales :pig: I'm 39.

Best advice I can give you is to read the book "Deep Nutrition", keep lifting weights, use My Fitness Pal to track calories, and stay away from anything processed - no sugars and no vegetable oils with any trans-fat content.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by MiphamFan »

Try fasting.

I tried 16-8 intermittent fasting before but ended up eating a lot during my eating hours which defeated the point. I extended the fast to 24 hours, and then ate a small meal; this worked for a while but I plateaued. Finally I started doing 36 hour fasts twice a week then thrice a week.

I still drink water and tea, just nothing with calories at all during my fasts

Currently I am still fasting 36hrs 3x a week and losing weight. This is the lightest I have been in years and I am aiming to hit visible abs in 2 months.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Wayfarer »

Look into the Blood Sugar diet, Michael Mosley. He’s an English dietary scientist and media figure. It’s a program designed to help you lose weight and also rein in blood sugar [as the name implies]. But it’s the real deal, not a fad diet. I signed up for it Oct last, it had a big effect in Oct-Nov, although I’ve kind of stabilised at a slightly lower weight and really ought to re-double my efforts to go the extra mile. But I did loose around eight kilos after having been informed by the doctor that I was heading for diabetes.

He is also the guy behind the two-five diet where you eat drastically less for two days per week. But again not a fad diet.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Motova »

I need to lose some weight as well, good luck buddy! :smile:
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by shaunc »

There's no silver bullet. The only way to lose weight and maintain that weight is through diet and exercise. By what you wrote in your opening post, you've got the exercise covered which only leaves the diet. Cut back sugar and carbs, you can't outrun a bad diet.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Könchok Thrinley »

I really enjoyed a book called "Buddha's diet". It is basically 16/8 intermittent fasting but from a buddhist perspective. Quite a nice read and also great form of eating to stay healthy I'd say.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by mechashivaz »

Calorie counting is a tried and true method, I lost 20 lbs over 2 months on a pretty balanced macros of 40℅ protein and 30% fats, 30% carbs. Other folks may find they respond better to different macro ratios. In the realm of exercise strength training with weights has proven to be very effective as well, the more muscle mass one has the higher their resting metabolism, hence burning more calories doing nothing. You can also do HIIT (high intensity interval training) which is basically sprints or something similar where you use explosive force as hard as you can for a short period then rest say 5 mins and repeat a few more times depending on one's ability. This has been shown to really kick the metabolism into high gear for up to 24 hours as well as being great for building muscle. Not all exercise is created equal. Good luck!
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by boda »

I gradually lost 15 lbs over the last year without really dieting by loosely counting calories and not going over 2000 a day, and burning 300-500 on most days.

As mechashivas mentions, strength training or building mussel can be good for weight loss because mussel consumes calories just by being in your body.

Avoiding sugary foods and consuming foods that are high in fiber is not only healthy but will also reduce food cravings. Fiber in the gut basically makes you feel full. Sugar throws the whole system out of wack. Occasionally I’ll have a desert but then I’ll have to deal with cravings for the next day or two.

Over the last four moths I doubled my sitting time to about 45 minutes a day and for whatever reason this also seems to help reduce cravings.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Ayu »

One has to change one's taste. Get used to healthy food, learn to avoid sugar, learn not to overeat,...
Don't bother too much about food...

And it is really helpfull to avoid starches and sugar after 12 o'clock a.m.
I once lost 32 pounds within one year by eating vegetables for dinner only.
But when I stopped this habit out of psychological reasons, I gained those 32 pounds again within five years.

Now I believe, having a good breakfast and then stopp bothering about food for the rest of the day is a good attitude.
Oats are fine, vegetables as well. No drinks that contain sugar.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Jesse »

Johnny Dangerous wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 7:08 am So I need to lose probably about 30 pounds. Most people's health would not be effected by the amount of extra weight I have, but with me it puts me in the danger zone for metabolic syndrome as I age.

I turned 42 today, it's getting very difficult to eat so little, my metabolism has significantly slowed down, even in the past few years. I exercise quite a bit, heavy exercise too, stuff like martial arts and climbing. However that makes no real difference to the weight anymore, it's clear I can't exercise my way into weight loss.

I am trying to simply cut down on portions, but having a tough time. Have any of you lost and kept off a significant amount of weight, any tips?

I know diets generally are BS, so I want to stay away from them.
Yea, it gets harder to keep weight off the older you get. I'm actively trying to lose weight as well. Aside from exercise, and calorie counting the best thing's are to stay away from condensed empty calories. Stuff like Soda, not only are the calories empty, but they cause weight gain because of the type of calories they contain.

It's trickier than simply cutting calories because thing's like blood sugar, insulin, etc come into the picture and have pretty drastic effects on your body.
The Vicious Cycle, Explained
Every time you eat, your pancreas produces insulin. This hormone helps your body harness the energy provided by food by "unlocking" your cells, helping to move sugar (aka glucose) inside each one, where it's used for fuel.

The problem starts with insulin resistance, in which your cells no longer respond to the hormone. Weight gain can bring it on, especially if you add visceral fat (the kind around your abdominal organs) because it churns out inflammatory chemicals that harm cells' response to insulin.

Since it's tough for insulin-resistant cells to take glucose from your blood, sugar levels build up. Over time, this may lead to diabetes, which can damage your blood vessels and yield more weight gain. That's because extra blood glucose signals to your pancreas: "Make more insulin!" But the more you churn out, the easier weight piles on because insulin also encourages your body to store the extra sugar as fat.
from: https://www.health.com/health/article/0 ... 24,00.html

So changing the type of foods you eat is one trick. Aside from that, WHEN you eat, the order in which you consume food containing different things(sugars/starch/fats), and how many times per day you eat also have a big effect. Rather than eating 3 larger meals per day, it's been proven that eating 5 or so small meals per day is much more effective for losing weight.

At the outlet of your stomach is a muscular ring, the pyloric valve. It regulates the speed at which food leaves your stomach and enters your small intestine. This valve is all that stands between the ziti in your stomach and a surge of glucose in your bloodstream. But you can send your pyloric valve a message to slow down.

Fat triggers a reflex that constricts the valve and slows digestion. As little as a teaspoon of fat, easily provided by a handful of nuts or a piece of cheese, will do the trick, provided you eat it before your meal.
Slowing down your digestion might seem counter-intuitive, but it works because it causes sugars to be processed more slowly, and as such doesn't cause insulin to spike in your blood, and has the effect of not storing calories as fat, but instead using the calories immediately.

https://www.today.com/health/block-suga ... -1C9381792

and here is an article on how when you eat effects weight loss:

https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/health/w ... index.html

And one about eating 5-6 meals per day.

http://www.idealshape.com/blog/eating-5-meals-a-day/

If exercising isn't causing you to lose weight, even if you are consuming fewer calories than your using then you probably have insulin/blood sugar issues. You could speak to a doctor about checking into it.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Lindama »

Calorie counting does not work in the end. Exercise is always good but not reliable for weight loss. Detox can eliminate toxins which are held in body fat. Stay away from all vegetable oils except olive oil, no bottled salad dressings, low carbs. Butter, coconut oil ok. 5-6 meals a day is a stress on the pancreas, don't do it. Incorporate as much raw as you can. Fasting is good, but need to know what you are doing or get supervision. Avoid insulin spikes. Make sure your digestion and elimination pathways, including lymph, are working properly. The weight will come back with extreme dieting. As with meditation, don't force it.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by PSM »

Lindama wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:49 pm Stay away from all vegetable oils except olive oil, no bottled salad dressings, low carbs. Butter, coconut oil ok.
This is very important. :soapbox:
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Rick
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Rick »

My vote: Mediterranean-ish diet (olive oil, wine, tons of fresh veg/fruit, less meat/protein), calorie-counting (but not obsessive, ime the online weight-loss calorie calculators work surprisingly well), eating the right foods at the right times (biggest meal midday, don't eat heavy foods late), daily exercise (but fewer calories is imo much more effective for weight loss).

I wouldn't go for the extremes: Atkins (or very low carbs), buncha fasting, any kind of fad. Figure you're in for the long haul, choose something you can live with for the next 50 years. :-)
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by DNS »

The one meal a day program is fairly popular among Theravadins:
https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=3045

I've been doing that for about 20 years with no ill effects. For the last 5 to 10 years or so I've been at my ideal weight or even below it.

It is a lifestyle change, so it's not a crash diet. I'd call it more of 23/1 fast. You eat all your calories in about an hour (around lunch time). You have to eat a larger meal, but it need not be a gorge fest of thousands of calories. At first I was eating too much and was a little over weight. Later I realized just how little calories a human body needs and even with only one meal you can gain weight, if you eat too much. But for the most part, most of us can only eat a certain amount in one sitting, which makes this diet ideal as then you have the rest of the day to burn off the calories and maintain your ideal weight.
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Rick »

Sounds very ascetic to me. I'm guessing only a small % of humans could manage it. For a nosher with a tendency to low blood sugar like me it would be nigh unto impossible!

Did you have a hard time getting used to it? Do you ever have a hard time staying on it? (Do you cheat? ;-) )
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by mechashivaz »

Lindama wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:49 pm Calorie counting does not work in the end. Exercise is always good but not reliable for weight loss.

Incorporate as much raw as you can.
How do you figure cal count "does not work in the end"? Once one reaches their ideal weight it's very easy to maintain if one isn't going off the deep end with food. After that long of cal counting one gets a sense of food values and it's not hard to make pretty accurate guesses on how many cals are in the dish you're about to eat. If you're exercising adequately with proper diet you will lose weight, it's as simple as cals in vs cals burned.

Raw foods, especially veggies, cause more gastrointestinal stress. Cooking is what makes the nutrients more bioavailable and the fibers easier to digest, this especially true with greens.

I mostly agree with the rest ☺
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Re: boring questions about losing weight

Post by Karma Dorje »

I managed to lose 30 lbs. over a period of months by cutting down on high calorie starches like potatoes and bread and cutting sugar out. It's really important to just drink water or unsweetened tea rather than juices or sugary drinks. That one vector alone can account for a huge amount of calories that one doesn't think much about.

Weight lifting is good as the extra muscle mass requires more calories to maintain, but most of the research I have seen advises that you need to do an hour a day of strenuous physical activity five days a week to appreciably change your basal metabolic rate. This can be as simple as doing interval training on a stationary bike.
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