Weight loss, fasting and exercise

jonnyburgo · September 2023

I have found that fasting makes me lose weight, however fasting and daily exercise, consisting of kettle bell and cycling stabilises my weight as it makes me more hungry for carbs so I eat more. Probably a bit obvious really!

monquixote · September 2023

What type of fasting do you do?

jonnyburgo · September 2023

monquixote said:

What type of fasting do you do?

16/8 when possible, night working makes it a bit tricky sometimes

RobDavies · September 2023

As long as you’re in a calorie deficit, you’ll lose weight. If fasting helps make it easier to achieve that deficit, then it’s all good.

Chalky · September 2023

I've done intermittent fasting long before it was called that! Bear in mind after one or two years your body will adapt and increase calorie intake during your eating window. Get the health benefits from giving your gut and biome 16 hours downtime but recognise that weight loss will stop and weight gain is then likely if IF is your only strategy for losing weight.

monquixote · September 2023

RobDavies said:

As long as you’re in a calorie deficit, you’ll lose weight. If fasting helps make it easier to achieve that deficit, then it’s all good.

While this is true its a bit like saying "If the plane doesn't hit the ground it will fly"

It's still good to know how people successfully go about it.

stevebrum · September 2023

With that routine the quality and quantity of food you are eating will have far greater impact than the timing of when you eat it.

What’s your daily protein consumption like?

Have you tracked calories at all?

Rocker · September 2023

Drink plenty (lots) of water every day. Expelling this from your body uses up a lot of energy and helps reduce weight.

jonnyburgo · September 2023

Rocker said:

Drink plenty (lots) of water every day. Expelling this from your body uses up a lot of energy and helps reduce weight.

I always try to drink 2+ litres of water a day. When I'm on nights though and trying to sleep in the day I'm getting up for a piss all the time

jonnyburgo · September 2023

monquixote said:

RobDavies said:

As long as you’re in a calorie deficit, you’ll lose weight. If fasting helps make it easier to achieve that deficit, then it’s all good.

While this is true its a bit like saying "If the plane doesn't hit the ground it will fly"

It's still good to know how people successfully go about it.

It just comes off, especially noticeable at the start in the first couple of weeks of fasting. Simple fact is I and most of the nation just eat too much, even if you don't think you are doing.

Chalky · September 2023

stevebrum said:

With that routine the quality and quantity of food you are eating will have far greater impact than the timing of when you eat it.

What’s your daily protein consumption like?

Have you tracked calories at all?

This is the key @jonnyburgo , because by the time the intermittent fasting effect wears off and a person's body has adapted to it, they need to have developed the right eating habits based on the right food for their body. Otherwise the weight will return.

menamestom · September 2023

What carbs do you eat?

You don’t really need loads of carbs, the less you eat the leas you crave. Keep the protein and natural fats up and limit carbs to wholegrain with minimal processing - brown rice, home baked wholemeal bread, home made granola etc.

Carbs can cover a multitude if sins but basically try and avoid Ultra Processed and anything that results in a quick insulin spike.

An ideal post workout would be full fat greek yoghurt, berries, granola (not the high sugar shop shit).

Keiko · September 2023

Not a fan of starving myself, I just end up grabbing biscuits or something. I need my 2000 calories from food. I've found what works for me after many years of trial and error and unecessarily 'swimming up stream' trying to burn calories or starve myself of calories. It's basically this:

1) Consistency - do some form of aerobic exercise every day. Eat your maintenance calories (just under 2000 for me), but do some walking, cycling, jogging, or weights to be in a deficit. In reality I give myself a day off or two in the week, but I aim for every day.

2) Do weights 3 times per week. I haven't done weights for donkeys years, but started doing it recently and it really does make a difference if you are trying to lose weight. If you want to look 'toned' then you need the muscle to be there. You won't see your ab muscles if they don't exist.

3) Use a food tracking app. This was a real game changer for me and I started noticing results very quickly. The one I use is called 'my net diary', get it on google play store. My mate also started using it recently and he's lost loads of weight, and trust me if he can do it, anyone can. He's absolutely clueless about food, and refuses to read anything about it.

Focus on not exceeding your maintenance calories (combined with regular exercise) rather than eating less than your maintenance calories and starving yourself.

That's my strategy at the moment anyway. I love cycling but the crap weather means I can't be consistent with it, so that's why I got into walking / jogging instead, they are less weather dependant. Get some wet weather walking gear and you've no excuses.

Sassafras · September 2023

I limit myself to six square meals a day.

I used to eat a lot of bread and pasta. Now I eat rice instead, I've noticed a distinct weght loss and a more energetic feeling in general.

axisus · September 2023

An interesting thing I read once - embrace the feeling of hunger. To me there's a difference between I need to eat now and I really really want to eat now.

tony99 · September 2023

Keiko said:

Not a fan of starving myself, I just end up grabbing biscuits or something. I need my 2000 calories from food. I've found what works for me after many years of trial and error and unecessarily 'swimming up stream' trying to burn calories or starve myself of calories. It's basically this:

1) Consistency - do some form of aerobic exercise every day. Eat your maintenance calories (just under 2000 for me), but do some walking, cycling, jogging, or weights to be in a deficit. In reality I give myself a day off or two in the week, but I aim for every day.

2) Do weights 3 times per week. I haven't done weights for donkeys years, but started doing it recently and it really does make a difference if you are trying to lose weight. If you want to look 'toned' then you need the muscle to be there. You won't see your ab muscles if they don't exist.

3) Use a food tracking app. This was a real game changer for me and I started noticing results very quickly. The one I use is called 'my net diary', get it on google play store. My mate also started using it recently and he's lost loads of weight, and trust me if he can do it, anyone can. He's absolutely clueless about food, and refuses to read anything about it.

Focus on not exceeding your maintenance calories (combined with regular exercise) rather than eating less than your maintenance calories and starving yourself.

That's my strategy at the moment anyway. I love cycling but the crap weather means I can't be consistent with it, so that's why I got into walking / jogging instead, they are less weather dependant. Get some wet weather walking gear and you've no excuses.

Good write up but I'd take issue with point 2: there won't be an awful lot of people who don't have abs. I agree in many cases you can't see them, but it's because they're usually covered by belly fat.

Abs can be built and strengthened by what you do in the gym, but you can only uncover them by what you do in the kitchen!

ThePrettyDamned · September 2023

I never tried fasting, but slimming world is doing great for me.

Although ladyprettydamned has covid this weekend which has led to a few beers and some ice cream, so I'm expecting not to lose anything this week. First time in 12 weeks though!

It is a delicate balance. I went for a massive walk the other day, got home absolutely hank marvin, which led to overeating. Not because I exercised, but because I've not yet learned how much I need having done that exercise, so I gave in to my brain saying "hungry, eat loads, did walk miles".

Best of luck in the journey! Lifting some weights sounds great for health no matter what.

Svartmetall · September 2023

I have, as of weighing myself this morning, now lost 50 pounds since April; I cut out cheese, reduced my meal sizes (I always ate very healthy stuff but had been making too much of it), reduced my beer intake a bit (I mean steady on, no need to go crazy) and most importantly I now go cycling every single day. I'm lucky enough to work from home, so on my lunch break I do a 7km route round a nearby park and flat, straight road, then on days off I try to do a minimum of 10 km.

So the beer means I still get to have some fun - yes, I could've lost it faster, but I watched my mother make herself miserable with diets so I resolved to lose weight as a sustainable lifestyle-change thing, and not be a slave to a bathroom scale - and I feel so damn good. Having lost that much weight in that time period means I can really feel the difference - I have more energy, I'm sleeping way better, and I can get into my favourite shorts that I've not been able to squeeze into for 2 years.

Devil#20 · September 2023

Since supermarket prices have shot up I've decided to just stick to basics and no treats like crisps, biscuits etc and I've cut out eating bread (it's difficult to make yourself a quick butty if there's no bread). Switched to full fat milk and proper butter. I don't eat between meal times anymore. I'm not fat but I've still lost 7-8kg in about 3 months. It's not the much but feel a lot better for it even so. I do exercise daily but I've always done that. I don't miss the snacking between meals and enjoy meal times better.

stevebrum · September 2023

Svartmetall said:

I have, as of weighing myself this morning, now lost 50 pounds since April; I cut out cheese, reduced my meal sizes (I always ate very healthy stuff but had been making too much of it), reduced my beer intake a bit (I mean steady on, no need to go crazy) and most importantly I now go cycling every single day. I'm lucky enough to work from home, so on my lunch break I do a 7km route round a nearby park and flat, straight road, then on days off I try to do a minimum of 10 km.

So the beer means I still get to have some fun - yes, I could've lost it faster, but I watched my mother make herself miserable with diets so I resolved to lose weight as a sustainable lifestyle-change thing, and not be a slave to a bathroom scale - and I feel so damn good. Having lost that much weight in that time period means I can really feel the difference - I have more energy, I'm sleeping way better, and I can get into my favourite shorts that I've not been able to squeeze into for 2 years.

Great work. 50lbs in 6 months sounds perfect to me - just under a kg a week. Nice and sustainable as you’ve already noted. Congrats.

Devil#20 said:

Since supermarket prices have shot up I've decided to just stick to basics and no treats like crisps, biscuits etc and I've cut out eating bread (it's difficult to make yourself a quick butty if there's no bread). Switched to full fat milk and proper butter. I don't eat between meal times anymore. I'm not fat but I've still lost 7-8kg in about 3 months. It's not the much but feel a lot better for it even so. I do exercise daily but I've always done that. I don't miss the snacking between meals and enjoy meal times better.

Nice one.

8 kilos is over a stone and a quarter. Ask any overweight person if they’d like to lose a stone and they’d bite your hand off. (No pun intended).

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