If I was a classic car...

Myrddin

...I'd be a 'barn find'. In other words, worn out, clapped out, & in need of a lot of work in order to get back to being in good condition!



Ok, changes had to be made. I was a lover of white bread, fizzy drinks, biscuits, chocolate...all the usual temptations. Couple that with a few years of unemployment/inactivity, & things had really caught up with me. I'm the heaviest I've ever been, & that has to change. My approach to this has been with slow steps. I started about five/six weeks ago literally by just thinking about it, thinking about my food habits (do I really need 6/8 slices of bread a day etc), thinking about my lack of activity...& for want of a better term, exposing my shortcomings to my own brain.

Once I was happy with what I needed to change, I started by eliminating white bread & fizzy drinks. I'd say I'm about four weeks now without having touched either of them. I drink water now with a slice of lemon in, & the only bread I'll eat now is wholemeal pita bread. I then set about educating myself in terms of what I was actually eating, its nutritional value, how many calories are in it, what could I eat instead of it etc. I've been training my palette to get used to a lot less sugar too.

In terms of fitness, I went ahead & bought a treadmill. I know some/most maybe here will roll their eyes at that, as people seem to have a high drop out rate when it comes to treadmill use. I'm pretty strong willed though, & have been using it for the last two weeks without fail. A bit of music on & the time flies by, so I'm not concerned with dropping out in this case. In my mind it's what I have to do, so I just do it, regardless. I started out slow for a few days, ten mins probably, just to get the ankles, joints, knees etc all used to working again. As it stands, I'm up to a 30 min stint a day on it now (3 mins @ speed 2, 3 mins @3, 3 mins @6, 3 mins @3, 6 mins@6, 3 mins @3, 3 mins @6, 3 mins @3, & 3 mins @2 all with varying incline). It works out at about 2km in the 30mins.

My lung capacity is shot to hell, so even the above which is a baby class in treadmill use, is hard going for me. By the end of it I'm sweating heavily, & have to control my breathing (:o), but hey, it's a start! I think I'm finding it easier though as the days go by.

So, the embarrassing bit:
Male, 32, 5'11, & as of a week ago, 220lbs (15st 7lbs), BMI of 30.8 (Obese) (:o)

Over the last two weeks or so, my daily intake would be approx to:
Breakfast: 30g Easy Oats (no sugar), 200ml full fat milk
Lunch: Wholemeal pita bread, lettuce, tuna/ham, 1/2 slice of cheddar cheese
Dinner: Mostly home cooked dinners (potatoes, lamb chops/liver/breast of chicken, veg
Drinks: As much water as I want, with a slice of lemon in the glass. Cup of tea every two days or so if I want one.
Fruit: An apple usually

I know that prob doesn't seem like enough food/calories, but bear in mind I'm not that active throughout the day. I doubt my calorific requirements are the average.

I don't have a treat really, because I don't want to make a habit of treats. I know I'm probably pushing it, but if I have the odd treat well & good, nothing regular though. But the thing is, the more I get used to going without treats, the less I actually want them. It's mad, a year ago I'd have said "feck that, I'd rather be fat"...but today it's like better you eat, the less bad stuff you actually want.

I have one take out a week, & I 'm not giving that up! Friday night, usually a chipper, & it wouldn't be scrimping, donor kebab & chips or something. I need it though, I don't smoke & don't drink regularly so this one thing is my vice (Cannot wait, one more day!!)

As of right now, the scales is telling me 212lbs. That's a loss of 8lbs in a week, surely that can't be right? It's the same scales I used last week. Unless that a lot of water retention gone? There's no way I've lost that much, I do feel like I've made progress, but that has to be unrealistic.

So I've a few questions:

In terms of calculating my calorific requirements, there's a post here which describes the process very well. The thing is, I'm getting some odd results. According to the treadmill, I'm burning about 60cals per session (could be accurate, might be wildly off, I don't know), are treadmills accurate in that respect?

According to the numbers, my calorie needs every day are 2851 cals, & to lose weight, I should be eating 2423 cals...is that right??? Seems very high for someone who isn't really active?

Alf Veedersane

Myrddin wrote: »

In terms of calculating my calorific requirements, there's a post here which describes the process very well. The thing is, I'm getting some odd results. According to the treadmill, I'm burning about 60cals per session (could be accurate, might be wildly off, I don't know), are treadmills accurate in that respect?

According to the numbers, my calorie needs every day are 2851 cals, & to lose weight, I should be eating 2423 cals...is that right??? Seems very high for someone who isn't really active?

The calorie counters on treadmills, cross trainers etc are always pretty off. I wouldn't use them at all.

The bigger you are, the bigger your BMR (the number of calories your body burns at rest) will be higher so your calorie needs aren't excessive at all.

The 8 lbs could be water weight. If you start from a higher point, you'll have biug losses in the early weeks. It's going in the right direction, which is the important thing.

Well done on making some big changes. Some great progress has been made

atilladehun

Fair play

Myrddin

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The bigger you are, the bigger your BMR (the number of calories your body burns at rest) will be higher so your calorie needs aren't excessive at all.

Ah! Makes sense I suppose. So is it a bad thing to go significantly under my daily calorific requirements in that case yeah?

The 8 lbs could be water weight. If you start from a higher point, you'll have biug losses in the early weeks. It's going in the right direction, which is the important thing.

Well done on making some big changes. Some great progress has been made

Cheers

Alf Veedersane

Myrddin wrote: »

Ah! Makes sense I suppose. So is it a bad thing to go significantly under my daily calorific requirements in that case yeah?

Your BMR is the calories you burn purely through your body functioning so don't go under that. Your TDEE is your BMR plus the calories you burn through your daily activity and from what you've said, your TDEE is 2851. I'm assuming the calculated BMR is lower than 2423 (i'm guessing it might be of the order of 2000-2200) because you should be somewhere between the BMR and the TDEE to lose weight.

What will help in alll of this is concentrating on improving the quality of food you eat. Reduce the amount of processed food in favour of real food and it all becomes a lot easier.

Myrddin

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Your BMR is the calories you burn purely through your body functioning so don't go under that. Your TDEE is your BMR plus the calories you burn through your daily activity and from what you've said, your TDEE is 2851. I'm assuming the calculated BMR is lower than 2423 (i'm guessing it might be of the order of 2000-2200) because you should be somewhere between the BMR and the TDEE to lose weight.

What will help in alll of this is concentrating on improving the quality of food you eat. Reduce the amount of processed food in favour of real food and it all becomes a lot easier.

Using the method I linked to in the first post:

99.8kg x 11.6 + 879 = 2036 BMR
(daily activity needs) = 2036 x 1.4 = 2850
(daily exercise expenditure) 70cals going by what the treadmill is saying. I gather it's off though?. So 2850 + 70 = 2920

So I need 2920 cals a day based on the above. Remove 15% then is 2482 in order to lose weight. Seems a lot for someone who isn't active, but as you mention, the larger the BMR then larger the requirements. Would the above be correct?

Alf Veedersane

Myrddin wrote: »

Using the method I linked to in the first post:

99.8kg x 11.6 + 879 = 2036 BMR
(daily activity needs) = 2036 x 1.4 = 2850
(daily exercise expenditure) 70cals going by what the treadmill is saying. I gather it's off though?. So 2850 + 70 = 2920

So I need 2920 cals a day based on the above. Remove 15% then is 2482 in order to lose weight. Seems a lot for someone who isn't active, but as you mention, the larger the BMR then larger the requirements. Would the above be correct?

Is the 70 kcals based on burning 70kcals every day for 7 days, i.e. a total of 490? if it was 5 sessions in a week, you'd use (70*5)/7 which would be an exercise expenditure of 50 for your daily total.

But it doesn't matter hugely. I'd have said that for a 30 minute/2km stint on the treadmill, 70 kcals would be an underestimation but, to be honest, you're better off underestimating than overestimating.

I'm not going to ditch the Friday takeaway because you're going to find yourself wanting to reduce it more and more in time

conzy

Fair play and best of luck with the journey, your the same height as me and the same weight as me when I began my fitness journey. Enjoy the treadmill, if you have netflix or similar you'll spend all day on it :pac:

My number one piece of advice would be to educate yourself on nutrition now and be consistent. Nutrition / diet is whats going to get you to your goal not the hours on the treadmill. The "healthy" diet that we glean from the media is anything but healthy and if you educate yourself and know your BMR and have an idea of your calorie intake you will be surprised how much delicious food you can eat. You don't ever need to be hungry

Myrddin

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Is the 70 kcals based on burning 70kcals every day for 7 days, i.e. a total of 490? if it was 5 sessions in a week, you'd use (70*5)/7 which would be an exercise expenditure of 50 for your daily total.

But it doesn't matter hugely. I'd have said that for a 30 minute/2km stint on the treadmill, 70 kcals would be an underestimation but, to be honest, you're better off underestimating than overestimating.

That's right, 70kcals is based off what the readout on the treadmill is telling me. I do it every day, seven days a week (again because I don't want to get into the mindset of 'off-days' etc.) I'm happy doing it every day, & it flies in. So 490/7=70. It's not much, but from what I'm reading, diet plays the biggest part & exercise plays second fiddle (but with other added advantages).

I'm not going to ditch the Friday takeaway because you're going to find yourself wanting to reduce it more and more in time

Trust me, that will never happen :P I LOVE my friday chipper, I can do without daily snacks of biscuits etc, but my Friday ritual shall forever remain in tact!

conzy wrote: »

Fair play and best of luck with the journey, your the same height as me and the same weight as me when I began my fitness journey. Enjoy the treadmill, if you have netflix or similar you'll spend all day on it :pac:

My number one piece of advice would be to educate yourself on nutrition now and be consistent. Nutrition / diet is whats going to get you to your goal not the hours on the treadmill. The "healthy" diet that we glean from the media is anything but healthy and if you educate yourself and know your BMR and have an idea of your calorie intake you will be surprised how much delicious food you can eat. You don't ever need to be hungry

Cheers My ethos is - real food, minimize sugar where possible, awareness of nutritional values, & as you say, calorific intake/requirements. I'm not even calling it a diet, because I'm still eating what I class as tasty food (I've really took to the porridge with no sugar even). It's a lifestyle change, nothing more

Alf Veedersane

Myrddin wrote: »

Cheers My ethos is - real food, minimize sugar where possible, awareness of nutritional values, & as you say, calorific intake/requirements. I'm not even calling it a diet, because I'm still eating what I class as tasty food (I've really took to the porridge with no sugar even). It's a lifestyle change, nothing more

You might wanna get on this for food ideas.

Conzy is a (clean) food alchemist.

I've already got protein jelly NOMs.

Myrddin

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

You might wanna get on this for food ideas.

Conzy is a (clean) food alchemist.

I've already got protein jelly NOMs.

I've actually been checking out his channel there, great stuff. Love that sugar free jelly & yogurt idea!

Alf Veedersane

You're good to go so.

Won't be long before they be 'mirin Myrddin.

Myrddin

No doubt a stupid question folks, but when considering cardio exercise, is it best to eat before or after a short cardio session? Or does it even matter?

Alf Veedersane

Myrddin wrote: »

No doubt a stupid question folks, but when considering cardio exercise, is it best to eat before or after a short cardio session? Or does it even matter?

I've never found it matters hugely though I'd bit a bit less blasé about it if I had a match or a race.

I've often gone for a run first thing with nothing on board.

It depends what you're doing and when you're doing it but I'd be ok with a banana maybe half an hour before a 5k run first thing in the morning.

Myrddin

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I've never found it matters hugely though I'd bit a bit less blasé about it if I had a match or a race.

I've often gone for a run first thing with nothing on board.

It depends what you're doing and when you're doing it but I'd be ok with a banana maybe half an hour before a 5k run first thing in the morning.

Ah it's nothing so ambitious, I'm just trying to maintain a calorie deficit, so sticking where possible to fixed meal times...while fitting in a 30 min session on the treadmill twice a day. I've been wondering about where to slot the treadmill work in, ie before or after meal times etc

I much prefer going on an empty stomach
Usually don't eat before any gym stuff in the morning
Figure out what suits you, some people also have to wait hours after eating some need the fuel, etc

Myrddin

bluewolf wrote: »

I much prefer going on an empty stomach
Usually don't eat before any gym stuff in the morning
Figure out what suits you, some people also have to wait hours after eating some need the fuel, etc

Cool, so it's more down to the person than say a right or a wrong way?

Yeah I think so

Alf Veedersane

Myrddin wrote: »

Cool, so it's more down to the person than say a right or a wrong way?

At a higher level it might make a difference but for Joe and Josephone Soap who are doing a bit of cardio it won't matter hugely.