[TiltedBrain]

Hey guys,

Hope this is the right place for this thread,

I've recently ended a long term relationship, and found myself with a lot of spare time on my hands, and a general downhearted feeling,

Anyway decided to use this constructively! So i started my change in diets bout 3 weeks ago, and a program to get back to generally good fitness,

Weighed myself 2 weeks ago and i was 248 lbs quite overweight! i'm now down to 235 lbs, and losing more every day , I do have a few concerns, thats one of the reasons i'm posting here, i'm also looking for any tips or advice in the area of diet, nutrition and fitness,

So on the diet, I decided to irridicate Carbs! from reading alot of these threads, they seem to be the worst group to be consuming when trying to lose weight, i was the prime carb offender, i'd have white bread for breakfat, lunch, with maybe noodles, and potatoes for dinner! so thats all changed now, i'm intaking mostly protein in the form of eggs for breakfast, Nuts for snacks, meat for dinner, with as many high fibre vegetables as possible.

On the fitness side of things, after breakfast i try do a full body strech, then 4 days of the week, round 12, i play squash for 45 - 60 mins, if its a short game like under 45 mins, i'll try jog for 15 - 30 mins, but my fitness is quite low so that involves a bit of walking,

After lunch then i'll try fit in some weights, 15 - 20 mins, with some streches, in the evening then i'll bring the dog on a 3-4 mile walk, roughly an hour,

I also started back soccer training last night, so thats gonna be 2hr sessions by 2 nights a week, found that quite difficult to keep up with the pace last night as my fitness is quite low, as said,

So one of my worries is, i can only run maybe a 1km or 2 before getting tired, would this be a result of the low carb intake?

any other tips on weight loss, building fitness, etc are more than welcome,

Thanks.

[Dixie Chick]

Hello

Well done on making the decision to get serious about your weight! If you are doing as much exercise as you have listed then i think it would be no harm to get in a few really good carbs, like porridge in the morning and maybe some really good quality wholemeal/ rye bread. You will need fuel to get through the day especially the days where there is a lot of exercise happening.

There are lots more qualified than me to answer here but thats my 2c

[TiltedBrain]

Thanks for the reply,

my biggest concern is that when i take the carbs in, wont my body burn them instead of burning any fatty tissue? making the workout pointless?

[Dixie Chick]

My understanding is that if you go too severe on not eating carbs your body will think its going into famine mode and cling to fat. I think thats actually for too little calories as well. All i know is that personally i eat two carbs a day and 3 the days i have a very heavy exercise load and its the lack of junk food that has caused me to lose.

Edited to add, a workout is never pointless ! :-)

[TiltedBrain]

I dont think i will increase my carb intake for now, for the 1st week after kicking the carbs I had big cravings for them, the cravings have now passed, and hopefully the vegetables i'm eating have sufficient amounts of carbs to keep me going,

its pretty hard to go back on them, after such changes after 2 weeks,

[El_Dangeroso]

You could use coconut oil, it releases energy very quickly so acts sort of like a carb. I add coconut milk into protein shakes myself, keeps me going for ages.

[TiltedBrain]

Originally Posted by Temple_Grandin

You could use coconut oil, it releases energy very quickly so acts sort of like a carb. I add coconut milk into protein shakes myself, keeps me going for ages.

Again wont this stop my body burning fat?

[El_Dangeroso]

Originally Posted by Horgan

Again wont this stop my body burning fat?

You don't do much of the fat burning when you're exercising, you burn the fat when resting, if you are doing the kind of exercise that lowers the body-fat set point that is.

[Getwellsoon]

Well done on changing your diet! Looks like you've made the change over to a sensible diet really well, as it looks great and very well balanced Also good that you are exercising and having fun while doing it. It will pay off and in time you WILL get slimmer and fitter, it just takes a while and you will see your fitness begin to improve - Good luck!

[catthinkin]

if you are gaining muscle by weight training your body will need food to create and maintain this . keep training and take it easy you should be eating protein more than carbs and fat and well done !

[TiltedBrain]

Alright so,

Time for a bit of an update, weigh in this morning was 232 lbs, the last 7 days have been slower to lose weight despite not changing my diet, still high in protein at least 50% and carbs under 20%,

Still soccer training, my squash partner has found work, so thats hampered that a bit, but i'm running instead now, but i dont think thats burning as much calories.

as an aside, some things i've notice since i've changed my lifestyle :

I'm very tired in the morning, it seems to be extra hard to get out of bed!

My sleeps are kinda restless, i awake at least once for around a 1/2 hour some nights,

My fitness has improved 200-300%!!

The belt is down 2 notches, and a couple of people have asked me have i lost weight!

[TiltedBrain]

Time for another update so,

current weight is now 228lbs, so thats about 4 lb lose since my last update, ive been doing a nice bit of weight training so hopefully i've put on some muscle mass.

Soccer training twice a week, squash at least twice a week, running if theres no squash or soccer on that day, and as i said nice bit of weight training.

as i mentioned in my last update i'm very tired in the mornings, could do with 9 hours sleep, i think is any number of issues, possibly not enough calories being taken in, or the extra exercise im doing, i also think my sleep is quite restless so its probably related to any of them,

apart from that thou, Feeling good!

[koHd]

Originally Posted by Horgan

as i mentioned in my last update i'm very tired in the mornings, could do with 9 hours sleep, i think is any number of issues, possibly not enough calories being taken in, or the extra exercise im doing, i also think my sleep is quite restless so its probably related to any of them,

I've had similar days like that. Sometimes ten hours sleep and it's still hard to pull myself outta bed.

I'm starting to keep a note of what days it's happening from now. I already have a food and fitness journal online, so I'll be checking what I'm doing and eating the days before I have a hard time waking up/hard time sleeping properly. Maybe try that out to help you find the source of the problem?

[Lantus]

Carbs, where to start....... they are the 21st century equivilant of the bad boy fat that we told not to eat in the 80's that spawned a whole range of low and no fat foods. But it didn't work because that generation has become pretty big!

Today carbs are getting the bad knock and already food manufacturers are lining up to sell us low carb foods as part of the new craze.

Moderation is always the key to anything successful. 20% of your total calories from carbs is too low and will leave you feeling tired and run down. The best place to start is around 35/50/15 Protein/complex carbs/ good fats. You could then reduce the carbs over time if your not losing weight with the exercise.

Remember if it took you years to put that weight on it will take just as long to get rid of it all. Don't wory about trying to run, in fact I'd suggest you don't. Walking burns just as many calories (you just have to do it a little longer, but a mile walk and run burn all in all the same.)

Scale back your carb intake in the evening as you become more sedentary then but don't fear goodcomplex carbs in the morning or lunchtime as this is when your most active and will burn them off.

[El_Dangeroso]

Originally Posted by Lantus

Carbs, where to start....... they are the 21st century equivilant of the bad boy fat that we told not to eat in the 80's that spawned a whole range of low and no fat foods. But it didn't work because that generation has become pretty big!

Today carbs are getting the bad knock and already food manufacturers are lining up to sell us low carb foods as part of the new craze.

Moderation is always the key to anything successful. 20% of your total calories from carbs is too low and will leave you feeling tired and run down. The best place to start is around 35/50/15 Protein/complex carbs/ good fats. You could then reduce the carbs over time if your not losing weight with the exercise.

Remember if it took you years to put that weight on it will take just as long to get rid of it all. Don't wory about trying to run, in fact I'd suggest you don't. Walking burns just as many calories (you just have to do it a little longer, but a mile walk and run burn all in all the same.)

Scale back your carb intake in the evening as you become more sedentary then but don't fear goodcomplex carbs in the morning or lunchtime as this is when your most active and will burn them off.

I'm pretty sure the low-carb 'craze' ended back in 2004. There's little to no low-carb processed food in mainstream supermarkets anymore (though I agree that they were a terrible idea), most supermarket products boast about the low-fat percentage.

15% fat IS low fat by the way, no-one in the world eats a natural diet that low in fat, except fat people funnily. Plus just because a carb is 'complex' doesn't automatically give it a halo of health. Loads of complex carbs are complete junk. There are also simple carbs that ain't too bad either.