Best way to drop 12kg of fat = cycling or weight training 3x per week?

[UphillSlowly]

It's no secret that weight loss is all about running an energy deficit; the trick is sticking to it.

I like low / no carb (so Keto, low-sugar, Atkins.. whatever) as it removes the blood sugar spikes that drive the cravings for carb-heavy food. When eating carbs I'm a total slave to the impulse to smash a bag or crisps or bar of chocolate; acting entirely at the whim of my hunger. When off carbs I recognise the physical sensation of hunger, and can just brush it aside and continue with what I'm doing.

It takes a while to get into and probably attenuates, but doesn't eliminate other motives for binging on dompamine-liberating, high-carb foods; such as tiredness or depression.

Low-carb comes with its own set of issues (foord availability, meal planning, logistics) but so far it's the only means I've managed to use with success to lose weight.

A lot of what you say echoes with me, though as a result of this thread I weighed myself and I am down to 70kg from 75 kg over the last 12 months without going low carb. Just been training a lot for an event (688 km and > 9000m elevation in May). Helps to work part time

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Weight gain is rarely a rapid process. Mostly it’s been small cumulative gains over years. You should take the same approach to weight loss. As above, diet is your friend here.

 

[wafter]

A lot of what you say echoes with me, though as a result of this thread I weighed myself and I am down to 70kg from 75 kg over the last 12 months without going low carb. Just been training a lot for an event (688 km and > 9000m elevation in May). Helps to work part time

Great work - I've never managed to lose weight so casually however!

Weight gain is rarely a rapid process. Mostly it’s been small cumulative gains over years. You should take the same approach to weight loss. As above, diet is your friend here.

FWIW I took some comfort in working out that even at my most bingy, I seem to put on weight at about one third the rate I can lose it on low-carb.. assuming I can manage low carb of course.

 

[UphillSlowly]

Weight gain is rarely a rapid process. Mostly it’s been small cumulative gains over years. You should take the same approach to weight loss. As above, diet is your friend here.

My dad was overweight as a child. Partly because of bed rest enforced when having rheumatic fever. There may not have been access to antibiotics. He was fat into his early adulthood. Had a barium swallow (for some reason I forget) and his stomach pretty much filled up his abdomen. The gastroenterologist told him to take as long to lose his weight as he did to gain it. So that's what he did. Slowly lost weight over the next 15-20 years and is still slim at the age of 79. Does his 10,000 steps every day too

 

[bonzobanana]

Do you lose muscle mass when dieting when still exercising? you would normally be building muscle with that exercise? I thought losing muscle mass was when you didn't exercise while dieting.

I think many people go up in weight while dieting and exercising as they are producing more muscle mass while fat is reducing and muscle is denser and is heavier for the same volume. Fat is 20% water. I feel often when you start dieting with exercise initially you may have a few surprise results as you gain muscle mass and after that you start seeing the weight loss. More muscle means your required calories per day goes up too so ultimately if you do exercise and trim your calories then its going to be a win. Also the body is inefficient at converting proteins and sugars to fats and also high fibre food means the carbs/sugars are trapped in the fibres so many of the calories you take in feed your stomach bacteria rather than you. We have so many foods now that the body finds easy to digest because heavily processed going from complex carbs to simple carbs with real food the body has to work much harder so better to have some real fruit rather than some processed fruit juice etc or a steak rather than a burger. Not all calories are the same it is just a simple measurement that doesn't factor in how the body works the food is just burned with the gases and ash measured but this isn't how the human body works. So a meal of simple carbs of 3500 calories could require a meal of complex carbs of 10,000 calories to add the same fat to the human body. Also the complex carbs would create a much higher amount of bacteria which would help break up and push through waste to prevent constipation which helps with weight loss too.

Saying that I'm a huge fan of processed food sadly but the more you can move to natural high fibre food the better.

 

[Baldy]

If you can do 3x 50minutes per week weight training, you can do 3x 50 minutes cardio. Don't increase your calories, cut them to 800 per day (that's not easy). Cycling or running will burn far more fat than weights will ever do.

 

[DogmaStu]

Do you lose muscle mass when dieting when still exercising? you would normally be building muscle with that exercise? I thought losing muscle mass was when you didn't exercise while dieting.

I think many people go up in weight while dieting and exercising as they are producing more muscle mass while fat is reducing and muscle is denser and is heavier for the same volume. Fat is 20% water. I feel often when you start dieting with exercise initially you may have a few surprise results as you gain muscle mass and after that you start seeing the weight loss. More muscle means your required calories per day goes up too so ultimately if you do exercise and trim your calories then its going to be a win. Also the body is inefficient at converting proteins and sugars to fats and also high fibre food means the carbs/sugars are trapped in the fibres so many of the calories you take in feed your stomach bacteria rather than you. We have so many foods now that the body finds easy to digest because heavily processed going from complex carbs to simple carbs with real food the body has to work much harder so better to have some real fruit rather than some processed fruit juice etc or a steak rather than a burger. Not all calories are the same it is just a simple measurement that doesn't factor in how the body works the food is just burned with the gases and ash measured but this isn't how the human body works. So a meal of simple carbs of 3500 calories could require a meal of complex carbs of 10,000 calories to add the same fat to the human body. Also the complex carbs would create a much higher amount of bacteria which would help break up and push through waste to prevent constipation which helps with weight loss too.

Saying that I'm a huge fan of processed food sadly but the more you can move to natural high fibre food the better.

When you diet, you typically lose muscle mass as it converts more easily to energy that fat. However, exercise slows that and fat is consumed. I think - that's what happened with me.

When I diet, I just eat all the same food I normally would, bad and good, but in smaller quantities. It works better for me.

We are all different but the key is the same: finding a diet method that we can stick to more easily and an exercise/diet combo that we actually enjoy doing and have time for.

 

[UphillSlowly]

We are all different but the key is the same: finding a diet method that we can stick to more easily and an exercise/diet combo that we actually enjoy doing and have time for.

This is on of the best summaries so far. May use it with my patients...

 

[kingrollo]

It's all very well saying create a calorie defict- but without structure that's pretty damm hard - especially if you eat moderately healthy anyway.

I've have good results with 5-2 diet and intermittent fasting (20:00. - 1200)

I do break the fast on heavy gym days or early morning rides. However for these times it's generally fruits + oats for breakfast or a protein shake in the gym.

The way bodybuilders do it - is to boost your calorie intake whilst building muscle and take the weight gain. Once the muscles are built strip back the fat !

 

[Dogtrousers]

All these different exercise and diet regimes remind me a bit of "what chain lube" threads.

It doesn't really (within reason*) matter what specific regime you choose as long as you choose something and stick to it.

Whether you use hyperfine nanoparticle sci -fi lube or chainsaw oil, as long as you are lubricating your chain you are doing it right.

The key thing is getting the psychology right so you get into a routine.

*Obviously there are some mad faddy diets that are unhealthy and you shouldn't lube your chain with carpet glue.

 

[Drago]

I went with the basic formula of calories in vs calories out and used a combo of reduced food intake and exercise to achieve my goal.

In January 2019 I weight 86kg. (168m) so on the obese side from years of no exercise. I damaged my knees cycle racing in my 20's/30's.

I saw a physio to work on my knees, bought an e-bike and started doing 50km 6x a week and went to the gym for weights 3x a week.
In addition, I cut back on my calorie intake albeit not hugely, but enough to create a noticeable deficit and used tracking apps.

When I turned 50 in March that year, I weighed 65kg.

3 months using E-bike, Gym, Calorie Deficit to lose 21kg. (25% of my body weight).

2 months later I was on a 29er MTB racing and I've maintained 63-68kg fluctuating since.

I've done the opposite.

I no longer bodybuild as such, but still lift 6 times a week, about 45 or 50 minutes a session. I've tidied up my diet, cut down on the sugars and fats, upped the clean bulk proteins (ie, a lot of grilled chicken and protein shakes! ) and veggies.

I've also backed away from some of the isolation movements and gone back towards more compound work, lighter weights (and out 2/3 one rep max) to exhaustion. I also do about 20 mins on the rower at very high resistance - that is a helluva workout.

I'm now up to 126kg, 19 inch neck, 55 inch chest, 35ish inch waist (I'm 192 tall) and have a very impressive lat spread - my back has always been one of my best points. With my rather long beard ive been told that these days I strongly resemble Odin. Boredom and the gift of a very bloody minded determination once I have set a goal are dangerous things.

I'm starting to find it difficult to get off the shelf clothing. I'm into a bit of lean bulk but also functional strength - I very much follow the Peter Koch philosophy on that score.

https://www.muscleandfitness.com/at...ife-bodybuilding-acting-and-playing-football/

 

[UphillSlowly]

All these different exercise and diet regimes remind me a bit of "what chain lube" threads.

It doesn't really (within reason*) matter what specific regime you choose as long as you choose something and stick to it.

Whether you use hyperfine nanoparticle sci -fi lube or chainsaw oil, as long as you are lubricating your chain you are doing it right.

The key thing is getting the psychology right so you get into a routine.

*Obviously there are some mad faddy diets that are unhealthy and you shouldn't lube your chain with carpet glue.

I thought we were the Popular Front for the Liberation of Chain Oil?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Do you lose muscle mass when dieting when still exercising? you would normally be building muscle with that exercise?

Depends on whether you are still eating enough protein. Exercise breaks the muscle down, and recovery rebuilds it stronger if there’s enough material (protein) to work with.

 

[bonzobanana]

Depends on whether you are still eating enough protein. Exercise breaks the muscle down, and recovery rebuilds it stronger if there’s enough material (protein) to work with.

As far as I understand it which admittedly could be wrong but the human body can't store protein or process it into fat efficiently so you can lose a lot of weight with a diet that is high in protein but very low simple carbs or higher amount of complex carbs. A small amount of fat seems healthy too. So you can have a high protein diet but still lose a lot of weight. It's really fat and carbs you have to worry about. Makes me wonder if you have to worry about the calories in protein at all.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As far as I understand it which admittedly could be wrong but the human body can't store protein or process it into fat efficiently so you can lose a lot of weight with a diet that is high in protein but very low simple carbs or higher amount of complex carbs. A small amount of fat seems healthy too. So you can have a high protein diet but still lose a lot of weight. It's really fat and carbs you have to worry about. Makes me wonder if you have to worry about the calories in protein at all.

Well of course you store protein, it’s called muscle!