Getting rid of stubborn weight

[Littgull]

Skipping is a great idea and I would quite fancy incorporating it into my fitness/exercise regime purely for a little off beat variety (not particularly to assist weight loss).

The problem I have is - where can you conveniently skip in relative privacy? My garden is on a slope and is therefore not compatible. To skip in the local park would leave me feeling a bit embarrassed as would skipping outside on the pavement. Skipping indoors at home is not viable due to size of rooms, objects (e.g. lights) in the way.

Any suggestions?

 

[Andrew_Culture]

If you can manage two- x five-minute sessions of skipping a day EVERY day (when it's possible of course) then you will notice a big difference within 3-4 weeks.


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epZjMuRRXLo


Naturally, you need to eat sensibly, too, but I have no doubt that you'll manage that, Crax!

A couple of years ago I decided that every time I went for a wee I would do twenty star jumps (I worked at home). Over the course of a few weeks I gradually upped the number of star jumps I did each time I needed to tinkle. My wife did NOT appreciate the mess I made.

 

[Crankarm]

Eat at start and middle of day, little at end or after 6:32pm. Keep hydrated. Watch portion sizes, exercise harder and more frequently.

 

[uclown2002]

Eat at start and middle of day, little at end or after 6:32pm. Keep hydrated. Watch portion sizes, exercise harder and more frequently.

What happens after 6:32 pm?

 

[ColinJ]

What happens after 6:32 pm?

He eats at 6:30, and bolts his food?

 

[Andrew_Culture]

What happens after 6:32 pm?

Something like wot 'appens in that documentary about gremlins.

 

[PK99]

I appreciate what you are saying and that you've found something that works but I was very careful about how I wrote the OP because, I'm not looking to diet as such, I'm looking to make permanent changes, which you mention. Such changes are the only thing that ultimately works. I think diets work for losing weight and with some luck you learn how to eat better. Some diets don't teach you anything but bad habits, I think fasting verges on this (or could do, maybe not for you but...) and there's already a thread on it so I specifically didn't want to cover it here as I looked at it and decided it's not what I want or need.

Instead I think my activity levels, age and eating habits are the things that I think I need to look at. In particular I need to know how to compensate for the fact my metabolism has changed over the decades. What once worked, doesn't now, in exactly the same way as I realised a few years ago, I can't just pick up exercise after a lay off, I need to be consistent now not indulge in the boom and bust of youth which was my habit through life. I don't expect these changes to be quick, it's taken me two or three years to create new habits already which got me to a stable weight and base fitness.

Fairy nuff!

Going back to your original post,

You say your BMR is 1900 calories, that seems very high if you are 75 kg. I'm 95kg, 6ft 2in and my MBR is around 1900Calories
I used: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

other calculators give the same sort of result.

Similarly how are you calculating your exercise calories? Most calculators I've seen for that are rudimentary.
The Harris-benedict formula seems reasonable
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/
for me 1900*1.55 = 2945.Calories per day

If you are setting a calorie deficit at a certain weight and it works to get you to a new weight, then weight stops reducing, that implies (Ockham' Razor) that your calorie intake is correct for your new weight.

The 5:2 pattern gives me a deficit of 2*(2900-600) = 4600 Calories per week which roughly tallies with the weight loss when I manage 2 diet days a week with no excessive intake days like a night out on the beer or dinner party.

When I have tried patterns of food restrictions every day, it has not worked for long or in the longer term, I suspect because errors in approximating intake are close to the daily deficit number.
Reference back to what works for me, even if i cheat on a diet day and have a mars bar, my calorie deficit is still 2000 instead of 2300. On a 500 calorie a day restriction a few errors and a little cheating wipes out the whole deficit.

You muse about dropping meat consumption and upping fruit and veg - that is a bit like the curates egg.
Our diet has changed over this year:
More protein esp at breakfast, it leaves us feeling fuller for longer with no need of any mid morning boost.
Less carbohydrate: less frequent toast or cereal at breakfast time, protein and salad for lunch, fewer sandwiches, almost unlimited quantities of veg at meal times with modest quantities of starchy carbs.

 

[Venod]

1. Nothing scientific in my weight loss, I was about 77kg( 5' 10 ) in March now I am about 73Kg ( Still 5' 10" ) all that's changed is I have done more mileage this year than ever, I also have a higher cadence than I used to have, I eat loads drink a lot of beer but the cycling combats the calorie intake, I was caught on a ride yesterday ( I was going at a brisk pace, so he surprised me) by a guy who had took up cycling 18 month's ago at 17 stone he was down to 13 and wanted to lose a bit more. So I would say put them miles in at a high cadence and it f you use Strava pick out a segment you would like to improve your time on and make a big effort this varies your riding so things don;t get stale.

 

[Crackle]

If you can manage two- x five-minute sessions of skipping a day EVERY day (when it's possible of course) then you will notice a big difference within 3-4 weeks.


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epZjMuRRXLo


Naturally, you need to eat sensibly, too, but I have no doubt that you'll manage that, Crax!

Thanks Dayvo, I spent a long time studying that video for technique!

Fairy nuff!

Going back to your original post,

You say your BMR is 1900 calories, that seems very high if you are 75 kg. I'm 95kg, 6ft 2in and my MBR is around 1900Calories
I used: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

other calculators give the same sort of result.

Similarly how are you calculating your exercise calories? Most calculators I've seen for that are rudimentary.
The Harris-benedict formula seems reasonable
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/
for me 1900*1.55 = 2945.Calories per day

If you are setting a calorie deficit at a certain weight and it works to get you to a new weight, then weight stops reducing, that implies (Ockham' Razor) that your calorie intake is correct for your new weight.

The 5:2 pattern gives me a deficit of 2*(2900-600) = 4600 Calories per week which roughly tallies with the weight loss when I manage 2 diet days a week with no excessive intake days like a night out on the beer or dinner party.

When I have tried patterns of food restrictions every day, it has not worked for long or in the longer term, I suspect because errors in approximating intake are close to the daily deficit number.
Reference back to what works for me, even if i cheat on a diet day and have a mars bar, my calorie deficit is still 2000 instead of 2300. On a 500 calorie a day restriction a few errors and a little cheating wipes out the whole deficit.

You muse about dropping meat consumption and upping fruit and veg - that is a bit like the curates egg.
Our diet has changed over this year:
More protein esp at breakfast, it leaves us feeling fuller for longer with no need of any mid morning boost.
Less carbohydrate: less frequent toast or cereal at breakfast time, protein and salad for lunch, fewer sandwiches, almost unlimited quantities of veg at meal times with modest quantities of starchy carbs.

You are correct about the calorie intake. I just checked my spreadsheet and 1900 was my starter, reducing to about 1700 but your calculator has it at about 1600. That could well be more accurate and I might plug it in to the spreadsheet later and see if it works better with what I achieved last time. I do recall there was a certain amount of experimentation over a few weeks to get a feel for the correct bmr and deficit.

Typically my diet consists of yoghurt and oat granola with banana for breakfast, soup for lunch or humus or salad and then tea which varies a lot and is the biggest problem as I cook to the lowest common denominator of likes for the family. If I stick to that and do some more preparation at tea then that fits my calorie deficit plans.

1. Nothing scientific in my weight loss, I was about 77kg( 5' 10 ) in March now I am about 73Kg ( Still 5' 10" ) all that's changed is I have done more mileage this year than ever, I also have a higher cadence than I used to have, I eat loads drink a lot of beer but the cycling combats the calorie intake, I was caught on a ride yesterday ( I was going at a brisk pace, so he surprised me) by a guy who had took up cycling 18 month's ago at 17 stone he was down to 13 and wanted to lose a bit more. So I would say put them miles in at a high cadence and it f you use Strava pick out a segment you would like to improve your time on and make a big effort this varies your riding so things don;t get stale.

I typically don't ride a long way. Anything from 15 to 40 miles is normal and often around 25, I rarely feel I have the time to do more and variety is the key to me to keep going, running and mtn biking as well and as I said further up, keeping going has been the achievement of the last few years, I need to try and move on from that. I don't know if I can do it but typing it on here is a bit of a spur and another purpose of the thread. If I tell people I have to commit to it.

Anyway my finger is hovering over committing to the Anglesey half marathon next March and I think the only way I'm going to stay motivated is to sign up to a few things I fancy but that's a separate topic.

 

[michaelcycle]

If you want to take the guesswork out of this have your RMR/BMR professionally tested. It is by no means perfect but it is much better than the usual predictive equations for BMR / TDEE which has a significant margin for error (in my case I really do have a slow metabolism and by BMR was 400 calories less than the predicted values!)

Depending on who you do the test with they should also give you an indication of your RQ (respiratory quotient) which indicates what fuel substrate you rely upon more heavily (fat or sugar) and how to tip that in your favour depending on the types of food you eat.

Whilst metabolism does decline with age the principal reason for creeping weight gain is simply people become more sedentary and tend to eat more (especially on an unconscious level).

 

[Venod]

Thanks Dayvo, I spent a long time studying that video for technique!


You are correct about the calorie intake. I just checked my spreadsheet and 1900 was my starter, reducing to about 1700 but your calculator has it at about 1600. That could well be more accurate and I might plug it in to the spreadsheet later and see if it works better with what I achieved last time. I do recall there was a certain amount of experimentation over a few weeks to get a feel for the correct bmr and deficit.

Typically my diet consists of yoghurt and oat granola with banana for breakfast, soup for lunch or humus or salad and then tea which varies a lot and is the biggest problem as I cook to the lowest common denominator of likes for the family. If I stick to that and do some more preparation at tea then that fits my calorie deficit plans.


I typically don't ride a long way. Anything from 15 to 40 miles is normal and often around 25, I rarely feel I have the time to do more and variety is the key to me to keep going, running and mtn biking as well and as I said further up, keeping going has been the achievement of the last few years, I need to try and move on from that. I don't know if I can do it but typing it on here is a bit of a spur and another purpose of the thread. If I tell people I have to commit to it.

Anyway my finger is hovering over committing to the Anglesey half marathon next March and I think the only way I'm going to stay motivated is to sign up to a few things I fancy but that's a separate topic.

I also run and MTB (Orienteering mainly) I find that entering an event does give you the motivation required, so committing to the Anglesey half could be a good move.

 

[Crackle]

If you want to take the guesswork out of this have your RMR/BMR professionally tested. It is by no means perfect but it is much better than the usual predictive equations for BMR / TDEE which has a significant margin for error (in my case I really do have a slow metabolism and by BMR was 400 calories less than the predicted values!)

Depending on who you do the test with they should also give you an indication of your RQ (respiratory quotient) which indicates what fuel substrate you rely upon more heavily (fat or sugar) and how to tip that in your favour depending on the types of food you eat.

Whilst metabolism does decline with age the principal reason for creeping weight gain is simply people become more sedentary and tend to eat more (especially on an unconscious level).

Who and where does that kind of testing. I never knew that could be tested?

 

[michaelcycle]

Who and where does that kind of testing. I never knew that could be tested?

Many universities who have sports science facilities will do RMR / metabolic testing as well some private companies who specialise in training.

 

[Rob3rt]

I wouldn't bother paying for such testing and the studies that get you free "treatment" usually involve taking something, or doing something none representative of your sport, so the results are not that relevant to you, only to the researcher!

 

[Ruary]

I'd personally recommend some form of resistance training, not talking about olympic lifting but it's amazing the transformation a couple sensible gym sessions a week can make, compount exercises (squats, dip, lunges etc) that activate multiple muscle groups and really work the stability/core muscles are great and I've found them benificial for cycling as well, it's amazing how much power increase you can get through a little bit of training.

If not then it's good old intervals, I like to do mine on a rowing maching just for a change from hill reps on the bike.