Would a bar of choc a day really hinder weight loss that much?

tonto24

Im 28, 5ft 10, 200lbs, great midweek diet, weekends are only ok, do usually have a takeaway on a sunday eve.

Gym normally 4 times a week. 90% weights the rest cardio in between sets.

The problem is I cant help myself having a bar of choc with my lunch r at my 4 o clock slump.

Is it really that bad for me?

GalwayGrrrrrl

If you want to lose weight it's a matter of calories in vs calories out. If you burn off 2000 calories in a day but eat 1500 calories you will lose weight. It doesn't matter whether those 1500 cals come from chocolate or carrots. If you can't live without the choc then cut back somewhere else (less potatoes? Cut back on takeaway?).

Oryx

If you are having a 4 o clock slump look at things like what you eat for lunch and the amount of water you drink.

Wesser

Yes it would. If you want to loose weight, it's all about what you eat, not about how much excercise you do. You cannot outrun a bad diet, point. A bar of chocolate contains about 500 calories? Would take hours at the gym to burn off. More importantly it's 500 calories that won't fill you like a substantial meal will. So they are empty calories.

try to substitute with an orange or some strawberries or an apple or something else sweet. At the beginning you'll hate it but if you don't eat any sugar for a while, you won't crave it anymore, it's like your tastebuds forget about it.

Señor Fancy Pants

I think there's 205 calories in a Lion bar.

It's said that there are 3,500 in a lb of fat. That equates to about 17 Lion bars.

Soo, after 17 days of having this type of bar a day, you are theoretically up 1 lb of fat.

If you did burpees for about 18 minutes, that would burn off about 205 calories.......so over 17 days, that's about 5 hours of burpees....just to stay the weight you are now.

That's all very rough. If you take in less calories than you need, you will lose weight. Just eat healthier and move more.

liam24

Try buying those 100 calorie bars you can get like mini-KitKats or Club Milk - that sort of thing. And eat 100 calories less for your breakfast. Also try drinking Coke zero and eating sugar-free jelly. Almost no calories in that.

caviardreams

Señor Fancy Pants wrote: »

5 hours of burpees

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Señor Fancy Pants

caviardreams wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Ha yeah, but....17 Lion bars would be worth it! Yum!

Caliden

Between a takeaway every Sunday and a chocolate bar everyday I wouldn't say you've a good diet.

You're undoing any good with that sort of diet mate and asking us if eating a chocolate bar is ok means you know that it isn't but you want some sort of validation from internet strangers so you feel better.

tonto24

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

If you want to lose weight it's a matter of calories in vs calories out. If you burn off 2000 calories in a day but eat 1500 calories you will lose weight. It doesn't matter whether those 1500 cals come from chocolate or carrots. If you can't live without the choc then cut back somewhere else (less potatoes? Cut back on takeaway?).

So my Q is how do u calculate calories out?
I dont eat many carbs at all tbh. Maybe a small portion of sweet potato/brown rice/quinoa with my dinner.

Oryx wrote: »

If you are having a 4 o clock slump look at things like what you eat for lunch and the amount of water you drink.

Well my lunch is nearly always 1 of 2 things, a salad (lettuce, rocket, carrot, sweetcorn, red onion, chicken, tomato, cucumber, hellmanns fat free vinaigrette) or a chicken wrap (brown wrap, chicken, lettuce, sweetcorn, salsa)

Water intake is pretty good, on a bad day I still drink at least 2litres a day. Thats not including water intake at the gym.
On a good day I could drink up to 4 litres, again not including water at gym.

Wesser wrote: »

try to substitute with an orange or some strawberries or an apple or something else sweet. At the beginning you'll hate it but if you don't eat any sugar for a while, you won't crave it anymore, it's like your tastebuds forget about it.

Iv tried this, now I have an apple/orange at 11am and another with my lunch. Being honest i am defo not a massive fruit person and 2 pieces a day is more than enough for me.


I have met a dietitian before: https://www.facebook.com/mi.diet
He gave me a very high protein diet. I couldnt stick to it tbh, 150g of protein shakes a day on top of high protein meals was just too much for me.

I'm no health freak or genius buys imagine that your body is waitin for the bar, like if you get one everyday, you'll feel lethargic because your craving it..... Ignore the lethargism and have an apple or something, in a week or two you'll forget all about the bar... What would you preference, to lose weight, or a square of dairy milk

Typer Monkey

Sugar is a carb, so the fruit you're eating adds into your carb total. The wrap at lunch is a carb too. Carbs aren't bad, that's not my point but your monitoring of your intake may not be great. Have you used myfitnesspal to track your intake at all?

VisibleGorilla

With those stats your TDEE is around 2600. So that's 2600 calories a day to stay the same weight. To lose 1 lb you'll have to have a deficit of 3500 for the week. Dropping to 2000 a day will achieve this. If you're serious about any changes you'll drop both the chocolate bars and any take aways at all.

You can completely un do any work done during the week if you binge at the weekends, you'll easily start to gain even more weight just from weekend calories.

You are severely under estimating your calorie intake

Wesser

I suppose the ultimate answer to your question is..... Are you loosing weight?
If you are loosing weight with your current regime then stick at it. If not then change it. The answer to the question is within you!!!! I suspect that by even posting this question you are not loosing weight and therefore you know the answer to your question.

To calculate how many calories you burn every day, use an online calculator to calculate your basal metabolic rate, plus some for going to work / being out and about/ plus some for excercise in the gym.

Suggest.... Joining slimming world .....it's brilliant I've lost over 3 stone with them.

rubadub

Wesser wrote: »

A bar of chocolate contains about 500 calories?

250kcal is more standard these days. In recent times Cadburys and others reduced many bars down to 250kcal, lots of people were moaning about them ripping off people on the sly. Some bars reduced in weight more than others, double deckers already were around 250kcal.

Some did not change, like bounties as the size is sort of set in stone.

There are also smaller sizes too. Tesco currenty have 3x3packs of cadbury caramel for €3. These are only 37g and 179kcal. A regular retail bar, like in a newsagents, is 45g.

Others are full of air and always were low weight and lower calorie, like aero, matleasers, wispa. Some like to eat what appears to be a more substantial bar.

Some will eat high cocoa chocolate as its hard to scoff down a full bar.

colossus-x

tonto24 wrote: »

Im 28, 5ft 10, 200lbs, great midweek diet, weekends are only ok, do usually have a takeaway on a sunday eve.

Gym normally 4 times a week. 90% weights the rest cardio in between sets.

The problem is I cant help myself having a bar of choc with my lunch r at my 4 o clock slump.

Is it really that bad for me?

Look face it. You said it yourself you 'can't help youself'. Your clearly addicted to sugary foods and the times of day you eat it ( after meals ) are your trigger points.

There is only one way you can get over this and that is to give up sugary foods completely - in exactly the same way a smoker gives up cigs who can't help smoking one after every meal. I'm afraid I don't believe in having junk food 'once in a while' as just like smoking you'll go back on it full time eventually.

Giving up sugary food is easy in comparison to cigarettes and once you do it you'll look back and feel sick at the thought of eating all that junk all the time. If you don't you'll just end up eating more and more of it over the years. Nip it in bud now before it gets worse. Sorry if I come across as a Nazi about it but I found myself giving it up altogether was the only way forward when I realized I was an addicted to eating chocolate/biscuits/bars every day. What's even better is I don't miss it whatsoever. When I pass the sweet isle in the supermarket now I just think to myself 'YUCK'. All that hydrogenated fat and refined sugar is soooo bad for you.

Mr. CooL ICE

colossus-x wrote: »

Giving up sugary food is easy in comparison to cigarettes and once you do it you'll look back and feel sick at the thought of eating all that junk all the time. If you don't you'll just end up eating more and more of it over the years. Nip it in bud now before it gets worse. Sorry if I come across as a Nazi about it but I found myself giving it up altogether was the only way forward when I realized I was an addicted to eating chocolate/biscuits/bars every day. Whats even better is I absolutely don't miss it whatsoever. When I pass the sweet isle in the supermarket now I just think to myself 'YUCK'. All the hydrogenated fat and refined sugar is soooo bad for you.

I loved the scene in Schindler's List where the Waffen SS blitzed through the jewish district, confiscating lion bars and purple snacks

Augme

I'm going to go against the grain a bit here. How much weight are you looking to lose and what are your goals? While technically it's correct to say that not eating chocolate and dropping the take-away will be better I disagree with the premise that you'll never succeed by eating these or that it means you have a poor diet.

Firstly figure out why you want to lose weight and why you go to the gym. One of the reasons I like exercising is because I can then eat unhealthy foods without turning into a fat bastard. I have zero interest in losing a lot of body fat so I can spend my time in the gym checking out my abs in the mirror. The idea of training a lot and then not indulging in nice(unhealthy) food just makes zero sense to me. Everyone is different though and has different goals.

As has been said, it's simply calories in vs calories out so track your food if you're not doing it. I find a lot of people worry/panic about the 250kcal chocolate bar and then in the evening don't bat an eye-lid about eating lots of pasta/lasange/potatoes/rice.

MartyMcFly84

What works for me is I have my main meal at lunch time, push lunch till 1 or 2 instead of 12.00. So "Dinner" at lunch, then after training I have a shake and a small meal when I get home before.

If I only had a salad or wrap at lunch time I would be ravenous by 4-5 o'clock. No wonder you feel like snacking.

You could try a healthier alternative like a Quest protein bar or even a small sandwich or something.

But for me having a larger meal at lunch saves me snacking and keeps the hunger away until after training.

Try it out. After living on the continent, I find it strange how little some people eat for lunch, then snack with junk throughout the day. We need more calories during the day then in the evening. So it makes sense to eat your larger meals earlier.

GalwayGrrrrrl

Typer Monkey wrote:

Have you used myfitnesspal to track your intake at all?

Myfitnesspal calorie calculator app is brilliant for counting your calories in and out. You scan in all your food, then add in exercise. It then calculates your calorie deficit for you. Just be careful not to get in the habit of adding loads of normal daily activities as extra exercise -eg light cleaning!

Alf Veedersane

MFP is brutal for overestimating calories burned at exercise.

To be fair, it's not alone in that. Don't bother trying to account for calories 'earned' exercising.