A/R New Years Resolutions Weight Loss Thread...

tHE vAGGABOND

So I have done virtually nothing since DCM, and ate and drank more over this Christmas period that I have done in YEARS! So the idea of stepping on a scales scares me, but I need something to get me focused, and keep me honest in first few months of new year. I have taken part in some of these threads in years gone by, and taking weight and measurements and posting here keeps ya honest.

My own background, I got into running before/during a process where I lost over 6 stone, and have been around the same weight for 4 or 5 years at this stage I]*a story I have heard a version of from A LOT of boards runners I have met in real life, so Im sure many people reading this can identify*[/I. So have learned a lot of lessons loosing the weight, and then more importantly, keeping it off. Basically its not rocket science, we all know what to do, eat less rubbish [and limit crappy calories] and move more, generally will bring good results.

Some people will be fans of various diet plans, be that Atkins, Weight Watchers, Paelo etc - but I don't think we should push any of them, but offer advice and let people make their own choices..

I am therefore going to steal from previous threads, and make no apologies from that, but if its not broken...

First, read this brilliant sticky, from fitness forum

Next, read these, stolen from a number of posts of Gem's from a couple of years ago..

• How to Prepare
• Measurement Guidelines
• Your Diet: Much More Than Half The Battle Part I
• Your Diet: Much More Than Half The Battle Part II
• Your Diet: Much More Than Half The Battle Part III

Here are the guidelines [By and large, stolen from Elivs Jones thread from last year]

1. Eat healthy - take the healthy option when possible. [eg: Your out at a restaurant, think of the "best" option, something like that a tomato based sauce is likely good, and a cream based sauce based food is often worse].

2. Best advice I ever got when I was loosing weight myself, was that if your great grand parents could have eaten it, its likely ok; ie: Modern processed food is bad!

3. IMPORTANT : Limited booze and junk food.

4. Not all fat is bad, and not all carbs are good! Be sensible. Don't blindly follow 30 year old [bad] advice!

5. Think about portion control. Your stomach is about the size of your closed fist, so eating a portion of anything the size of your head is generally not a great idea!

6. Aim for 7 to 9 portions of fruit and veg per day [forget 5 a day, that is aimed at "lowest common denominator" not athletes].

7. Keep well hydrated, have water with you at home/school/college/work.

8. Think about keep a food diary and read labels on food to see what in your food. [I use MyFitnessPal on my phone, for this].

9. Don't starve yourself the day of/before a weigh in.

10. IMPORTANT : Measure your body as you can stay the same on the scales but can loose inches.

11. Weigh yourself at the same day and time each week were possible as your weight can change a lot during the day.

12. Your only in competition with yourself so jut because someone loses 2 pounds more than you don't get down over it.

13. Share your experiences, good and bad. They can help others and we can help you.

14. A personal choice, but Im a big fan of "cheat" meals, where once a week you can go a bit mad. As long as your cheat meal is not 3 extra large pizza's but something like steak and chips or whatever. Think that if your good 85% of the time, you can be bold around 15% of the time [I often schedule cheat meals the day before a planned hard session, for what its worth]

15. If you fall off the plan, and are bold on a day, forget about it, move on. Don't try and compensate or make up for it.

You can join in anytime over the period and remember your doing this for yourself in the long run ( excuse the pun )



Here is the spreadsheet to log and keep track...

Comments or suggestions to tweak and change are always most welcome.

rom

I fix it.

drquirky

TBH the easiest solution to losing weight is pretty basic. Run more miles. Add some intensity as well (intelligently). It really is that simple.

rom

drquirky wrote: »

TBH the easiest solution to losing weight is pretty basic. Run more miles. Add some intensity as well (intelligently). It really is that simple.

I disagree. Eating less and better food is the simple way.

pistol_75

rom wrote: »

I disagree. Eating less and better food is the simple way.

Have to agree. It's not just a simple case of running more. It's at least 70% what you eat or fuel your body with if your trying to lose weight/fat.

You won't out train a bad diet.

tHE vAGGABOND

There is a lot of evidence that "fit" people can be [very] unhealthy, as they can eat utter crap after a run or a trip to the gym, as they think the workout gives them carte blanch to put anything in their mouth

rom

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

There is a lot of evidence that "fit" people can be [very] unhealthy, as they can eat utter crap after a run or a trip to the gym, as they think the workout gives them carte blanch to put anything in their mouth

However a non-fit person eating the same is going to be even worse. Lets get running. God I hate xmas food.

Being fit doesn't mean healthy. It is just a factor of health. Weight, Food, Sleep, health etc all being factors.

average_runner

rom wrote: »

However a non-fit person eating the same is going to be even worse. Lets get running. God I hate xmas food.

Being fit doesn't mean healthy. It is just a factor of health. Weight, Food, Sleep, health etc all being factors.

Slimming world has a good system. Wife did it successfully.
Food is great and the healthy taco fries is unreal:)

vitani

Will add myself later. I don't have much to lose - there's 10lb gone since taking up running last year - but could do with improving my diet and toning up.

huskerdu

rom wrote: »

However a non-fit person eating the same is going to be even worse. Lets get running. God I hate xmas food.

Being fit doesn't mean healthy. It is just a factor of health. Weight, Food, Sleep, health etc all being factors.

True,

Being fit, being healthy and needing to loss weight are related but are different things and cant be lumped together.

If you are overweight and need to lose weight, increasing exercise and not changing your diet is not a good solution for the majority of people.

rom

huskerdu wrote: »

If you are overweight and need to lose weight, increasing exercise and not changing your diet is not a good solution for the majority of people.

Totally. I did this for a long time myself. Lots of hard work and getting nowhere. 60 mile weeks and gaining weight

token56

Been out of the running game for quite a whille and 3 months into my rehab from an acl reconstruction. The weight has steadily pilled on over the past few years. I'm about to start properly the cardio section of my rehab and lowering my weight in general would help greatly with recovery so this is perfect timing for me. I'm away for the new years but will certainly add myself to this once I get a chance to correctly weigh and measure myself.

drquirky

pistol_75 wrote: »

You won't out train a bad diet.

Very few (if any) people regularly running 50 plus miles a week are fat. Hence I disagree with you. Ever seen Michael Phelps diet?

average_runner

drquirky wrote: »

Very few (if any) people regularly running 50 plus miles a week are fat. Hence I disagree with you. Ever seen Michael Phelps diet?

And what damage is that diet doing to his arteries and heart?
You can be skinny and have a bad diet, but you are paying for it on the inside

LaHaine

In like flynn.

Want to get back into running and finally get rid of the spare tyre.

Stroke Politics

Delighted to see this on boards for the after-Christmas binge. The last one kick-started one of the healthiest periods of my life, did really well until last summer when I put on weight after getting the snip, and then after I had to get my gall bladder out in October. Started back plodding on the road in early November, hopefully this will keep me on track after the festive season! Weigh in and spreadsheet update later in the week for me....

Extrasupervery

In. Have a healthy BMI but have been at the same weight for years despite an increase in exercise. I find that the more I run the more crap I allow myself to eat. It ain't good! Gonna see if I can up the ante.

thewolf_ie

average_runner wrote: »

the healthy taco fries is unreal:)

Where do I find these?

average_runner

thewolf_ie wrote: »

Where do I find these?

http://www.magicmum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=219&t=465387&sid=f1a4b82afddf1702b85cb2748570a05c

http://thisismeandfood.com/2013/01/09/taco-fries-updated/

There is another recipe called big mac in a bowl. Look it up:)

LaHaine

Does anyone have any tips on finding out what sort of weight you should be? Your ideal running weight if you will. Obviously I mean for the average joe not a pros racing weight.

For example im male, 30, 5'9 and 13 stone. Id imagine I need to lose a stone at least?

seamus

Bit of a loaded question. As much stick as BMI gets, it's a good rough measure for 95% of the population.

Chances are, your ideal running weight is "lighter than I am now". Different running disciplines (e.g. 100m -v- Marathon) benefit from having different amounts of muscle (and therefore different weights), but in all cases carrying extra blubber will hamper your running, so aim to lose the fat regardless.

In general, aim for a BMI under 25. If you feel then that you're still carrying extra fat, then keep going. Eventually you'll find yourself at a place where you don't wobble (well, don't wobble a lot) and then you can look at things like body fat %, muscle mass, etc.

ger664

Krusty Clown came across this site which is very good as it has most foods you will buy in Irish Supermarkets. Watch the calories from exercise as they are gross so you need to subtract/adjust so that they dont include RBMR calories as well.

seamus

ger664 wrote: »

Krusty Clown came across this site which is very good as it has most foods you will buy in Irish Supermarkets.

Which I discovered last night has a barcode scanner on the iPhone/Android app which makes it a million times easier to see exactly what's in a portion and add stuff to your log.

RunRoryRun

I'm in. Made some good progress last year so will try to continue that in 2014!

rom

seamus wrote: »

Which I discovered last night has a barcode scanner on the iPhone/Android app which makes it a million times easier to see exactly what's in a portion and add stuff to your log.

Eat stuff that don't have barcodes and you will lose loads of weight

KillianByrne

Good stuff, I'll throw my hat in the ring too.
History...
Was fat, started running & lost it. Got injured & put some back on. Losing it again.
Just started running again after 7mths. Looking to shift at least another stone.

I'm also a believer in eat more often, eat healthy food, exercise more. Portion control is a big thing for me.

fruit salad

Be stricter with my running routine and diet. As some other posters mention when I run more I tend to overcompensate with eating so am not getting the full benefits
Include more core work and some yoga.
Have more confidence in myself.
Live, laugh, love. All the best for 2014 everyone!

rom

If you are not going to stop drinking then schedule it into your training plan so you don't end up drinking night a week. Also in this way your making it easier as you can have a drink at that important occasion etc and look forward to it. Steve way uses the same process in scheduling a night on the beer into his training program. http://www.steveway.co.uk/?page_id=2

LowOdour

Im not a runner, but over the years ive depended on treadmill to lose weight. Lost close to 16lbs in the run up to xmas using a fitness plan that involved less running, more strength work but i still done small jogs on it.

On xmas eve, i jogged for 40min straight on said treadmill which was a major achivement for someone who used to run 5 min, walk 5 min, run 5, walk 5 etc to make up 30min. think i managed 10 minutes once and nearly killed me!

So new year goal is to get outside for my running...done 10 laps on football pitch last monday and found it hard to catch my breath. Would love to aim for a 5k run this year but keeping fit, looking good in my clothes and keeping up with this new found energy the wife as for me (ha ha) are the most important things.

So, hopefully this thread will provide some good information when i start back into training

KillianByrne

It sounds silly but the simple ideas are usually the best & most effective.

For me, the single biggest change I made was switching to using smaller sized serving plates. The change from dinner plates to salad plates dramatically reduced the portion size in our house.

skittles8710

fruit salad wrote: »

Be stricter with my running routine and diet. As some other posters mention when I run more I tend to overcompensate with eating so am not getting the full benefits
Include more core work and some yoga.
Have more confidence in myself.
Live, laugh, love. All the best for 2014 everyone!

That's me (^^) New Year - New Name.

Should have mentioned weight loss goal. Currently 63kg, would like to get down to around 58/59 in time for my first marathon planned in June.

Stroke Politics

I'm de-Christmassing the kitchen this morning, there's a mountain of chocolate to be dished out, and just a small bit of butter left in the fridge. Had hoped to take a spin out on the bike today, but the weather here is cat melodeon altogether. Good luck to all over the next few months....

martyboy48

I'll join in this... Will update table later on when I get sorted...

A Neurotic

I'm in. I'm a healthy weight for my size, but really want to get a bit slimmer and lighter.

Had a decent enough couple of months in 2013 where I organised something of a diet and exercise plan, lost about 7 or 8kg, but it fell to sh*t at summer exam time and I never got back into it. Looking forward to giving it another crack!

cailineile

I'm in. Will post details later tomorrow. Recent runner who has entered half marathon and losing a few pounds will help. Make me a bit quicker I hope.

Con62

Hi, I'm a novice on Boards, the practical advice and common sence posted, I'm in. Here goes, 52yrs old, 5-10. Weighting 13st 8lbs.Ran 10k on Stevens Day 48.50 Castletown, hilly course. 10ml 1hr 40, Jogging 18 months, walking 6months. Weight lose in total 2st 7lbs. But seemed to have stalled, with small weight gain over the holiday. Run three times a week averaging 30k and hillwalking on Sunday, fitness is not my issue, my eating habit is. I'm a comfort eater...

KillianByrne

I've done my measurements. Perhaps I could do with losing about 2 stone

According to the internet, 85kg gives me a BMI of just over 25, I've always thought that to be a step too far but dream big and all that stuff.

dechol

I'm in too. Have lost about two and half stone after taking up running and changing my eating habits. Haven't run since October as have knee problem. I cycle in and out to work about eight miles a day so that seems to have kept weight in check....all was good till Christmas when I went crazy with food and wine. Ideally would love to be another stone down by summer. Want to get back running too as really miss it.

seamus

rom wrote: »

Eat stuff that don't have barcodes and you will lose loads of weight

You mean like McDonalds and Domino's and stuff? Gotcha

In all seriousness, unless you're going to get up every morning and shop in your local farmer's market, then chances are all of the decent food you're buying, like a pint of milk, has a barcode on it.

Cabaal

I'm in on this also, could do with loosing a few lbs

rom

seamus wrote: »

You mean like McDonalds and Domino's and stuff? Gotcha

In all seriousness, unless you're going to get up every morning and shop in your local farmer's market, then chances are all of the decent food you're buying, like a pint of milk, has a barcode on it.

More like saying stuff that is not from a packet. with myfitnesspal when you buy a fruit or veg or meat the barcode is not scan-able with it was more my point.

pistol_75

Will sign up for this tomorrow. Will also put up details from a friend of mine regarding a 19 day detox if anyone is interested in getting a good boost at the start. It might be too severe for some but I suppose the main thing is it involves eating real foods and eliminating sugar from your diet. Along the lines of Paleo I suppose some would say.

Younganne

I'm in too...I always need to lose a (good) few lbs...and this helped me stay on track last year!!! Oh and I have a beer baby I need to get rid of before people start asking me when am I due!!!!!

CR 7

Said I might as well sign up too. Have to get a tape over the next few days for measurements. I'll be continuing with starting strength at the same time so the weight alone probably won't give accurate results.

Have been eating fairly primal-ish for the last year and a half, so I'll try to be a bit more strict.

coolhandspan

:pac:okay I,m up on spread sheet. best of luck to all participants....:eek:

pistol_75

pistol_75 wrote: »

Will sign up for this tomorrow. Will also put up details from a friend of mine regarding a 19 day detox if anyone is interested in getting a good boost at the start. It might be too severe for some but I suppose the main thing is it involves eating real foods and eliminating sugar from your diet. Along the lines of Paleo I suppose some would say.

Sorry I'm a bit late getting back to this but here you go:

--THE FIRST 7 DAYS--

There are certain foods you will not be consuming on the first 7 days of the 19 day detox plan, these are:

-No Alcohol...
-No Wheat Products
-No Dairy
-No Sugars
-No Processed Foods
-No Caffeine
-No Sweetners

You will feel less sluggish and have more energy in next to no time!

If your body has been used to all of the toxins above be prepared for the 'detox hangover', don't worry its perfectly normal and will pass.

To help you through the detox hangover make sure you drink plenty of water and herbal teas, get lots of fresh air and stay away from temptations.

Drink as much herbal teas as you like, but remember NO CAFFEINE (green tea being the exception) and that goes for decaf products too.

Its vital you drink enough water, aim for 2.5-3lts per day.

Try buy organic/free range where you can.

Pile your greens high and keep their cooking to a minimum, watercress, spinach, rocket and brocolli are your new best friends here!!

Proteins - Meat/Fish: Beef, Turkey, Lamb, Chicken and wild meats like venison, boar and so on. Cod, salmon, halibut.

Veg, all green and leafy: Brocolli, spinach, watercress, rocket, sprouts, lettuce, peppers, kale, cellery, cucumber, leak, cabbage.

Try add in as much herbs and spices as you can, these are excellent for weight loss and adding flavor to your meals.

Fruits: all berries are good...limit or better yet eliminate strawberries (to much sugar). Lemons & limes added to water are super.

Cooking: use extra virgin olive oil or better yet coconut oil.

Steam veg where possible


After having a good blowout myself over the last month or so I will be giving the above a go for a couple of weeks anyway. Different foods will be introduced again after the first 7 days I believe. I will post the updates if anyone is interested.

Stroke Politics

Back on the road since last Sunday (6th), got to go out 4 mornings this week and have run 12k. Logging everything I eat every day on myfitnesspal. Lovely app, east to use, and I can find everything that we buy to check the nutritional details. Drinking 2.5 litres of water every day. Down 2.24k already, and very happy....

RedRunner

Added myself to the spreadsheet in a bid to keep myself honest as I train for London marathon(13th April). I've got a huge sweet tooth and am one of those people who tend to allow themselves eat the bad stuff because they are out there running. Trying to be a bit more sensible about that in this training block.

Need to get my hands on a measuring tape but in meantime have put in my jeans waist size.:)

What has worked for me in the past is increased exercise (thats the easy bit), drink more water and eat more whole foods and cut down on sugar,processed foods and alcohol. So that's what I'll be aiming to do over next while.

grimbergen

pistol_75 wrote: »

Sorry I'm a bit late getting back to this but here you go:

--THE FIRST 7 DAYS--

There are certain foods you will not be consuming on the first 7 days of the 19 day detox plan, these are:

-No Alcohol...
-No Wheat Products
-No Dairy
-No Sugars
-No Processed Foods
-No Caffeine
-No Sweetners

You will feel less sluggish and have more energy in next to no time!

If your body has been used to all of the toxins above be prepared for the 'detox hangover', don't worry its perfectly normal and will pass.

To help you through the detox hangover make sure you drink plenty of water and herbal teas, get lots of fresh air and stay away from temptations.

Drink as much herbal teas as you like, but remember NO CAFFEINE (green tea being the exception) and that goes for decaf products too.

Its vital you drink enough water, aim for 2.5-3lts per day.

Try buy organic/free range where you can.

Pile your greens high and keep their cooking to a minimum, watercress, spinach, rocket and brocolli are your new best friends here!!

Proteins - Meat/Fish: Beef, Turkey, Lamb, Chicken and wild meats like venison, boar and so on. Cod, salmon, halibut.

Veg, all green and leafy: Brocolli, spinach, watercress, rocket, sprouts, lettuce, peppers, kale, cellery, cucumber, leak, cabbage.

Try add in as much herbs and spices as you can, these are excellent for weight loss and adding flavor to your meals.

Fruits: all berries are good...limit or better yet eliminate strawberries (to much sugar). Lemons & limes added to water are super.

Cooking: use extra virgin olive oil or better yet coconut oil.

Steam veg where possible


After having a good blowout myself over the last month or so I will be giving the above a go for a couple of weeks anyway. Different foods will be introduced again after the first 7 days I believe. I will post the updates if anyone is interested.

Can see the benefit of most of this except the "buy more organic/free range where you can" - absolute bunkum. Always grates me that organic/free range is spun as having human health benefits when it has nothing of the sort.

If your health/diet is your main concern, people should be encouraged to eat the right type of food, irrespective of the production method which is irrelevant. It's unfair to place these much more expensive foods at the centre of an improved diet (not thats the case so much ere but it does happen a lot elsewhere).

KillianByrne

Midweek day to day diet is just fine - weekend is a bit off the rails.
I need to up my game.

vitani

My day to day diet is grand, although there's a little too much bread etc and not enough veg - my main problem though is all the extra 'treats' I add in because I think I can get away with them.