Burning calories...

bobbysands81

I tend to do a few thorough workouts a week in the gym as I'm trying to reduce my girth!

Usually, going by the counters on the machines (which I know are not great) I burn approx 1,300 calories a visit to the gym. Will this, coupled with a much improved diet, enable me to lose weight?

I am trying to cut down on drinking as well, but still want my one big 10+ pints night, is it possible to do this AND lose weight?

irlirishkev

bobbysands81 wrote:

I tend to do a few thorough workouts a week in the gym as I'm trying to reduce my girth!

Usually, going by the counters on the machines (which I know are not great) I burn approx 1,300 calories a visit to the gym. Will this, coupled with a much improved diet, enable me to lose weight?

Yes. The more calories you burn, compared to how many you take in, the more weight you will lose.

I am trying to cut down on drinking as well, but still want my one big 10+ pints night, is it possible to do this AND lose weight?

10+ pints in one night? Binge drinking to that extent won't help your weight loss much. You'll probably develop a beer gut and man-breasts aswell, if you haven't already. And if you have, then you'll find it very hard to shift them while drinking that much.

Red05

On the subject of calories and not wanting to create a new topic.

I'm trying a diet where you count calories (as suggested by rubadub). In the last few days I've reduced my calories to about 2000 and taking 6 meals.

The thing I dont get is, and this will sound stupid to people who know, what am I reducing them against? I know I have to create a deficit, but against what?

Also whats the best way to count calories/portions? Especially for homemade meals like shepards pie, spag bol etc?

Cheers for any help and apologies for hijacking the orginal topic. By the way, and I'm in NO position to judge, and I am NOT judging, but if you want to lose weight, surely you've got to cut out the drink. If I'm right 10 pints a night is more than 2000 calories.

brianthebard

The "average" male, being about six foot and 13st, uses 2500 calories a day, by living and stuff. So reducing calorie intake is creating a deficit compared to that number. However if you are considerably shorter than six foot there's a chance that you use less calories than 2500 anyways, although I don't know how to calculate how many you would use.

Regards calorie counting, cook books usually give you a calorie per serving breakdown, plus you can google for a calorie calculator which will help you figure out how much is in what.

Superdub2

brianthebard wrote:

The "average" male, being about six foot and 13st, uses 2500 calories a day, by living and stuff.

Since when is the average male 6 foot and 13 stone??

brianthebard

Superdub2 wrote:

Since when is the average male 6 foot and 13 stone??

Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just saying what I've read. I did put average in inverted commas, thought it may have been clear that I didn't exactly agree, it was just to show the previous poster what the calorie deficit was about...

Red05

Ok the deficit is against the calories your body uses. Sounds obvious now! I'm an idiot. Thanks for that.

g-punkteffekt

I lost about 2 stone a few years ago to go from 15 to 13 stone. I did more exercise ate really well but I didn't stop binge drinking. I think if you get the diet and exercise right you'll still lose the weight while binge drinking. I did anyway.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Actually does anyone know or can anybody recommend a good low calorie drink? I've been on the bud light to lessen the amount of calories I take in on a night out... Although im not even sure if this is low calorie

brianthebard

http://www.annecollins.com/calories/calories-light-beer.htm

I'd go for a whiskey and ginger ale personally, only about 75 iirc, and bloody gorgeous.

davyjose

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html This will tell you how many cals u burn, just being you for a day

bobbysands81

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote:

Actually does anyone know or can anybody recommend a good low calorie drink? I've been on the bud light to lessen the amount of calories I take in on a night out... Although im not even sure if this is low calorie

I have a pal that lost stones and stones and changed from drinking Guinness to Coors Light - apparently there's only half a point per bottle.

g-punkteffekt wrote:

I lost about 2 stone a few years ago to go from 15 to 13 stone. I did more exercise ate really well but I didn't stop binge drinking. I think if you get the diet and exercise right you'll still lose the weight while binge drinking. I did anyway.

Cheers mhate - I will only be binge drinking one night a week so I'd say I can burn off the excess, I do have terrible trouble breathing the day afetr drinking though.

I've been off alcohol 2 of the last 3 months and will hopefully be giving it up for another 6 months this year.

justsomebloke

pah screw your girly light beers, straight whiskey FTW, or even better straight white spirits (but at this point you are starting to be a bit girly again:D )

rubadub

bobbysands81 wrote:

I have a pal that lost stones and stones and changed from drinking Guinness to Coors Light - apparently there's only half a point per bottle..

In the beer forum one guy quoted guinness as having less calories than coors light. Be careful when looking at calories with drink. A pint is 568ml and a bottle is 330ml, so if looking at a bottle vs pint of course the bottle will usually have less calories.

Also be careful with prices for the same reason!, some of my mates question be buying seemingly expensive pints of german beer, while buying bottles of heineken or miller at €4.50 a pop, equivalent to paying €7.75 for a pint!

madhitchhiker

Burning calories...i wish i don't.:mad: My metabolism is too fast it's hard for me to gain weight!:mad:

rubadub

bobbysands81 wrote:

Usually, going by the counters on the machines (which I know are not great) I burn approx 1,300 calories a visit to the gym. Will this, coupled with a much improved diet, enable me to lose weight?

I am trying to cut down on drinking as well, but still want my one big 10+ pints night, is it possible to do this AND lose weight?

How long do you spend in the gym? most machines overestimate the calories burned.

It is simple maths, if you ingest less calories than you use up you will loose fat, your body will use the fat instead of food as fuel. 1lb of fat is equal to about 3500kcal. I think most moderate exercise will use about 500kcal per hour.

Many sites will do estimates, say 500kcal per 10 miles of cycling. But they do not take into account weight. I lost 20kg and cycle the same distance to work. If I put a 20kg in my bag I will use up far more calories.

The handy thing is when you loose weight you have to drink less to get the same level of alcohol in your blood. Also if you are on a calorie deficit there is usually less food in your stomach so absorb the alcohol more quickly. I drink almost half of what I used to 2 years ago, and get to the same "state"

rubadub

Red05 wrote:

In the last few days I've reduced my calories to about 2000 and taking 6 meals.

The thing I dont get is, and this will sound stupid to people who know, what am I reducing them against? I know I have to create a deficit, but against what?

2000kcal is a good start. I aimed for 1500-1800kcal knowing I would get the odd sly bit extra in during a day and end up 2000kcal. The average sized man doing a moderate 30min of exercise will use 2500kcal per day. The bigger you are the more calories you need just to survive. So a 7ft man will need more than a 5ft man just sitting around. Also a 6ft man with lots of muscle will need more than a lean 6ft man, he has more meat to keep warm and feed. Also a fat 6ft man will need more than a skinny 6ft man, but muscle needs more energy to "keep alive" than fat. So if a 6ft bodybuilder weighs 20stone he uses more calories than a 20stone fat bloke.

You will notice that most people weight stabilises according to what they eat. A fat person may eat 3500kcal per day, get to 18stone and stabilise. A fat person needs more calories, also just walking around it is like they are doing weight-training all day long! so they need 3500kcal per day so put on no more fat.

I would imagine 1500kcal per day is about the lowest men should go, any less and you will risk going into starvation mode and slowing your metabolism. That is a deficity of 1000kcal per day. 7000kcal per week which should result in a 2lb fat loss per week, which is usually the upper limit recommended to loose (I think truely obese people can loose it faster, hence they can go on lipotrim 500kcal per day diets since immediate weight loss may be medically recommended by a decent doctor)

Red05 wrote:

Also whats the best way to count calories/portions? Especially for homemade meals like shepards pie, spag bol etc?

I am afraid you have to do the math! most microwave versions of spag bol etc are heavily watered down so do not just read the packs and calculate by weight that way. I cook up batches and used to calculate the recipe once.
e.g. get 800g of mince, get the calories from the pack. Fry it in no oil (usually has enough fat in it). Add my 2 jars of sauce say 400g eachand read the calories on the jar. Weigh out 300g of dry pasta cook it, then weigh again and calculate the water (no calories). i.e. 300g dry can be say 900g wet, so 600g is water
If you use fresh veg you must get averages from a book or online and calculate per 100g from that.

I would add all my calories up, and all my weights up. Say from above
800g mince, 800g sauce 300g pasta 600g water=2500g
8x200kcal per 100g, 8x100kcal per 100g, 3x350kcal per 100g, 600x0=3450kcal

So if I want portions of 345kcal each then I divide it into 10 portions, each of 250g each. My batch has 138kcal per 100g (3450/2500) so I can work out any portion size I want.

rubadub

madhitchhiker wrote:

Burning calories...i wish i don't.:mad: My metabolism is too fast it's hard for me to gain weight!:mad:

Have you counted how many calories you eat per day? There was an interesting program on BBC2 a week or so ago about 2 female friends. One tall & skinny, one short and a bit fat. They said they couldnt understand it since they ate and exercised about the same. They made them drink this special water that allowed exactly, in calories, what they ate to be analyzed. Ended up the fatter one was consuming 50% more calories. Add to that the fact she is tall so should need more calories too. Most of this can simply be down to portion size, thats why I always question people who post diets here but do not put down calories, a bowl of weetabix could be 150kcal or 1000kcal.

I know guys who are thin and say the same thing, one guy used to order stuff in takeaways and never finish it, or infact give it to a hungry (and usually fat) mate to finish, so they might order the same but one eats far far more.

bobbysands81

rubadub wrote:

How long do you spend in the gym? most machines overestimate the calories burned.

My usual workout is as follows:

Exercise bike - 33 minutes on a medium setting - usually approx 17kms - 450 calories (calories are based on a 150 pound person I think).

Walk for 20 minutes or so on a fast setting and a high gradient - 200+ calories.

Cross Trainer - 35 minutes medium gradient and resistance - 550 calories.

Walk as a cool down for about another 10 minutes.

rubadub

bobbysands81 wrote:

My usual workout is as follows:

Exercise bike - 33 minutes on a medium setting - usually approx 17kms - 450 calories (calories are based on a 150 pound person I think).

Walk for 20 minutes or so on a fast setting and a high gradient - 200+ calories.

Cross Trainer - 35 minutes medium gradient and resistance - 550 calories.

Walk as a cool down for about another 10 minutes.

They do all seem high estimates to me. I cycle about 17km and would reckon I burn about 400kcal in that time, from calculators I have seen.

But that is cycling on a road, where far more energy is used, fighting wind, and stopping and starting. If I did that in a gym with no change to momentum I reckon it would be far less.
Most estimates I have seen are about 500kcal per hour for any moderate exercise.