Lose >6kg over Lent

Hungrycol

Commencing on the morning of 22nd February for 40 days and 40 nights my plan is to lose 6.35kg (1 stone) by Easter. In other words lose the weight of the min limit of a UCI legal bike* in 40 days.

I know this is 6.8kgs but 1 stone will do me!

bcmf

Well Good luck. What exactly are you giving up for lent?

Hungrycol

Everything! For me it all about the food, portion sizes mainly and snacking in the evening. While I can't get much more cycling in during the week other than to and from work I may try the turbo at the weekends if I can't get oot da hoose.

smacl

Good luck with it! Doing something similar and dropped about a stone since Christmas. Would be more but I'm allowing Sat+Sun as dirt days. I find the turbo in the evening makes a big difference, not just in the calories burnt but also that you're knackered and tend to hit the hay earlier and hence less likely to hit the late snacks.

bcmf

Yeah portion sizes are everything. As a rule we eat double of what we should.
I dropped almost 7kgs since early Jan but by making choices.
Cut down to a min bread. Cut out almost completley cheese and beer.A glass of wine here or there doesnt do any harm.
Small portions but dont be afraid to snack healthily as it keeps your metabolism moving. Letting yourself get hungry puts your metabolism into slow down mode and more prone to 'slip' into a a quick binge.
Find out what fills you up at use that.
No eating after 9.
Hope it helps you some of the way.

Wheely GR8

I cut out bread completely and started using pitta breads instead ,they are an easy way to calorie count and don't need any butter. I usually stick some turkey and tomatoe in them for my lunch in work and two do me from 8.30am till 6pm and adds up to about 350 calories or less.

I spent about an hour rigorously shopping for the best food a few months back and then just stuck with it as I knew it was the best quality.

Calorie counting seems to be the easiest way to know what your eating ,certain foods are easy to count and control.

Good luck !

chakattack

Wheely GR8 wrote: »

I cut out bread completely and started using pitta breads instead ,they are an easy way to calorie count and don't need any butter. I usually stick some turkey and tomatoe in them for my lunch in work and two do me from 8.30am till 6pm and adds up to about 350 calories or less.

I spent about an hour rigorously shopping for the best food a few months back and then just stuck with it as I knew it was the best quality.

Calorie counting seems to be the easiest way to know what your eating ,certain foods are easy to count and control.

Good luck !

350 cal is nothing! Do you cycle to work?

You need to listen to this guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbQr-pE_KQU

Wheely GR8

chakattack wrote: »

350 cal is nothing! Do you cycle to work?

You need to listen to this guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbQr-pE_KQU

Why do I need to listen to him ?
I've lost almost four stone and have people telling me I look ten years younger. My cholesterol is down from almost 8 to 4.3.
I cycle hard when I cycle and eat some carbs when I do. When I want to loose weight ,I eat properly and try and keep myself on my toes by eating small portions.

Everyones metabolism is different ,so bionic aussie guy is doing whats right for him.

chakattack

It was tongue in cheek but there's a grain of truth it.

All the same, well done on losing 4 stone, I'm just trying to caution that it's probably not sustainable to eat like that

Depends on your goals but if you want to cycle well and be well you need more than 350 cal over 9 hours. Eating the same stuff everyday because you know how many calories are in it isn't a great idea. You need diversity to make sure you get all the nutrients you need and to keep you sane.

.

Beasty

I think you're going to be going hungry Col

Hungrycol

Weigh in 22/02/2012 - 93.6kg (14st 10.5lbs approx)
Target by 06/04/2012 - 87.3kg (13st 10lbs)

RobFowl

I've dropped from 90kgs (1st Jan 2012) to 80kgs (yesterday) by cutting out all the snacks, crisps etc. Bringing a packed lunch into work so I know in advance what/how much I'll be eating. Not eating after 8pm. Cutting out beer/wine. And being more disiplined about an exercise/training schedule.

None of it rocket science but working for me...

smacl

As per Wheelygr8 and RobFowl, I think planning what you eat makes a big difference, which includes shopping carefully (and not nicking the kids treats on the sly)

I like my food, and wouldn't give up eating food I enjoy where possible. For me this includes a tasty beverage in the evening alongside tasty and varied food, the odd snack here and there, and enough to keep me going during the day without becoming a grumpy b'stard. A bit of thoughtful substitution comes into play here. Out goes the big roasts, creamy gravies, and chorizo laden Spanish casseroles, and in comes veggie heavy spicy Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. The beer gets replaced by diet tonic water with fresh squeezed lemon or lime. The crisps and sweets get replaced with fruit and currently mackerel pate on brown bread. I start the day with porridge laden with cinnamon, but then I quite like porridge. According to this site, for me, anything less than 2,000 calories a day equates to fat loss, with 2,500 being the break even point. The turbo and other training (6 days per week total) conservatively amount to about 600-700 kcals per day, and the diet changes about another 800 kcals. Diet would contribute more, but the rules relax quite a bit at the weekends. This all adds up to about 1kg per week with a reasonably relaxed sustainable regime.

Coming from a martial arts background that involved competing by weight category, I found the following book invaluable, and still refer to it.

El Vino

See if you can find a copy of the iDave diet online, the guy who wrote it was David Millers coach - don't worry it doesn't contain EPO. I have lost 2 stone on it - funnily enough Spanish Chorizo & bean based stews form a large part of my diet, Asian food containing lots of white rice, noodles and often sugar are out! - you also get a day off every week to eat what you like. Combine with interval training on the turbo and the weight will melt off.
PM me if you want a PDF copy

smacl

El Vino wrote: »

Spanish Chorizo & bean based stews form a large part of my diet, Asian food containing lots of white rice, noodles and often sugar are out!

Man I love those chorizo and bean stews, though that bright red oil bubbling to the top spells trouble. Maybe my chorizo to bean ratio is a bit generous. The type of stuff I'm cooking now would include a large bulk of vegetables, which are less calorie dense by volume. That said, even a small bit of the old chorizo adds a lovely flavour to the stir fried cabbage. And fats are still a very necessary part of the diet after all...

ROK ON

Hungrycol wrote: »

Weigh in 22/02/2012 - 93.6kg (14st 10.5lbs approx)
Target by 06/04/2012 - 87.3kg (13st 10lbs)

Col.

Very best of luck.

I have lost just under 6kg since Christmas, and my current weight is your current weight.

My target is similar.

In past few weeks I reduced carb intake. Problem is that I still eat too much in terms of portion size.

For lunch I treat myself to a nice sandwich in a local restaurant once to twice per week.
Other days I have homemade veg soup, or else sardines etc.

I eat a lot of fruit anyway, but I also eat a crazy amount of choclate which I have not been disciplined in removing or reducing from my diet.

The way I see it , I am doing 8 hours on the bike, so that is burning approximately 4000 - 5000 calories per week.

I reckon the weight will simply fall off if I eat 200 calories per day plus an amount less than the amount I burn. Problem is that I am consuming over half of what I burn.

Hungrycol

Thanks ROK ON.

I'm not going to try the calorie counting just yet. I don't eat much during the day anyway, my vice is portion size and grazing in the evening. My plan is basic for now, reduce portion size, cut out sweets and beer and drink more uisce and do some ab exercises. I'll see how this goes for two or three weeks and if I'm struggling I'll give El Vino's trageted food approach a go. I'll have a weekly weigh in to monitor progress.

(Hot cross buns in the office today, THE BASTAR*S. It's only day 1 FFS. I have resisted)

El Vino

In my opinion Abs exercises are a bit of a waste of time if your body fat is above 15%, I've never done a sit up in my life and now have a reasonable 6 pack. The key was shifting the 20kg of pure fat that was hiding the abs.

Hungrycol

El Vino wrote: »

In my opinion Abs exercises are a bit of a waste of time if your body fat is above 15%, I've never done a sit up in my life and now have a reasonable 6 pack. The key was shifting the 20kg of pure fat that was hiding the abs.

Funny you should mention that cos just discussing it with my wife last night. She was of the same opinion as you, cardio is the fat burner. I thought it would help strengthen my core, slow pliates type exercises. I can certainly feel my abs under my jelly belly! Anyways was watching the Obese - A Year To Save My Life fella on telly last night and while he was doing loads of cardio it look like he was also doing a lot of weight training. I concluded that you need both, cardio and non-cardio.

Hungrycol

Double post

reilig

Hungrycol wrote: »

Anyways was watching the Obese - A Year To Save My Life fella on telly last night and while he was doing loads of cardio it look like he was also doing a lot of weight training. I concluded that you need both, cardio and non-cardio.

The weight training that he was doing was not designed to build up huge muscle mass. He was lifting light enough weight for a lot of reps as opposed to lifting heavy weights for a small number of reps. This will burn a lot of calories during the weight liftung session but it will also increase the demand that your muscles will have for calories when you are not working out IYKWIM

seamus

In those kinds of programmes they're also doing quite high intensity training schedules of 3-4 hours a day.
So they'll interchange between cardio and weight lifting to give the body a chance to recover between sessions. That is, it's easier to go from 30 minutes on the treadmill, so 30 minutes weight lifting then to 30 minutes cycling, rather than straight from treadmull to bike.

smacl

El Vino wrote: »

In my opinion Abs exercises are a bit of a waste of time if your body fat is above 15%, I've never done a sit up in my life and now have a reasonable 6 pack. The key was shifting the 20kg of pure fat that was hiding the abs.

Depends on whether you're after functional core strength or aesthetics. You want functional core strength you do plenty of core exercises, but as you say you'll only get the aesthetic benefit after removing the fat. My experience suggests that good core strength helps most kinds of other exercise, YMMV.

And fair play shifting 20kg of fat, no mean feat! You're probably ripped from having to lug it around all the time.

Liamo08

I'd strongly recommend reading the following stickies to help you improve your diet so you hit your target, some great information in both threads:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055963342

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055157091

Hungrycol

Weigh in 29/02/12

92kg.

Hungrycol

Weigh in

91.1kg.

A little disappointed but it's going in the right direction and I'm not even half way there. I definitely feel I have lost overall mass. Going to try and start some pilates at home in the evening, cycling related if I find any!

Hungrycol

Weigh in

91.4kg. plus 300 grammes from last week.

Not too disappointed because I binged at the weekend after a) commuting bike being nicked on Friday night and b) crashing on Saturday's race. Saturday = Beer, Indian takeaway, Twirl bites, Sunday = lunch and apple tart in me Ma's. Taking it slowly this week and not cycling to allow wounds to heal. Need to get race bike checked over and buckle taken out of back wheel.

Hungrycol

Weigh in

90kg.

Quite astonising it's gone down considering I've been off the bike for a week and a half after the crash. Although I did leave a lot of skin behind in Clonard! I also packing in the "being good" with food over during this bike absence too! Good motivation that I'm nearly on target but importantly that I haven't stepped backwards. Final push for the next two weeks.

nilhg

Hungrycol wrote: »

Weigh in

90kg.

Quite astonising it's gone down considering I've been off the bike for a week and a half after the crash. Although I did leave a lot of skin behind in Clonard! I also packing in the "being good" with food over during this bike absence too! Good motivation that I'm nearly on target but importantly that I haven't stepped backwards. Final push for the next two weeks.

You must have had a lot of bruising and swelling after the crash, there would have to be a lot of fluid retention with that. Hope you're coming right now.

Hungrycol

Weigh in

89.5kg.

Weekend wasn't good food wise (six pack of cream eggs , Sunday Carvery, etc) but back on the bike this week so the motivation returns. 3kg by Easter Sunday might be a tall order but considering in the last two weeks I haven't put any weight back on I will keep trying.

Hungrycol

Weigh in

89kg

Doesn't look like I'll hit my 87kg by Sunday. 89kg is a piss past 14st so I'd be happy if I see 13st 13lbs on Sunday morning (88.5kg, 1.2kg's off target). Can't remember the last time I saw a 13st reading on the scales.