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[imran75]

Well ultimately the aim is to drop your maintenance calories, i phrased it completely wrong, what i meant is that your metabolism will slow right down which can mean that even if you're eating less you gain weight anyway as your calories in become higher than your calories out due to the drop in metabolism.

Ah, that makes sense and yeah that is a danger. Like you say, it's best to drop calories gradually and judge how effective it is from what the scales say.

[TheBiologist]

Evening all

My dilemma
As I'm aware I'm a bit on the chunky side.

The basic aim
Enough is enough (unless there's a slice of cake going) and I've decided to try and lose a bit of weight. That's the simple bit.

The catch (not the kind that can be cooked and eaten unfortunately)
No gym memberships as I can't afford to spend money on procrastinating about going to the gym.

The godsend
I've got a concept 2 rowing machine at home - free to use

The question
A very open question.
I want to lose a lot of weight - any tips?

The goal
My Mum has entered for the Great South Run this year.
If she can do it so can I! Not fussed about times, I just want to enter and finish so I can say I've done it.

Over to you guys
Any tips, workout plans or whatever else you've found worked would be great if you're willing to share.
Thanks in advance guys.

Not going through the other posts, but this is what I did and do. The first thing that I did was that  I stopped eating all sorts of junk food. And I made sure that I rarely eat outside. If I do have to eat outside then it is always a healthy choice like a low fat steak (no rib eye or porterhouse) or salmon.

Eat a ton of vegetables, drink a cup or two of whey , eat only whole foods like whole wheat bread, old fashioned oats and cut all sorts of processed food from your diet. Do not eat processed/junk food no matter how tempted/hungry you are. Starve yourself rather than having to eat that junk. Once you do it for a while it becomes a habit and you will feel really bad if you have to eat processed food.

And if you play 40 over cricket then start bowling (pace as spin lacks the physical intensity). I maintain a really strict high calorie diet (~2700 calorie or so) during summer and bowl myself to the ground during practice, twice a week in practice and once on game days. This is probably the best way to get all your cardio needs in. Also swim once/twice a week if possible.

Get an account on bodybuilding.com and read a few stickys regarding nutrition, especially the IF IT FITS YOUR MACROS rule. That forum is a gold mine when it comes to information regarding training and nutrition. Most people are fat (even the fat gym rats that you see working out 6 days a week) because they don't understand proper nutrition. Bodybuilding.com has literally changed my life and outlook to fitness. Hence I highly recommend spending some time on it. I was lazy for a long time.

If I can so can you. Let me know if you need help with diet plans. Good luck and keep us posted! :-)

[Bruce]

IIFYM isn't a diet.
It promotes an unhealthy relationship with foods.

[TheBiologist]

IIFYM isn't a diet.
It promotes an unhealthy relationship with foods.

What kind of unhealthy relationship are you talking about ? IIFYM definitely deters me from having a chunk of pork fat or a slice pizza because I know that if I go for it it will fulfil all my fat needs for the day.  Just curious to know what you think.

[PaceKing29]

What kind of unhealthy relationship are you talking about ? IIFYM definitely deters me from having a chunk of pork fat or a slice pizza because I know that if I go for it it will fulfil all my fat needs for the day.  Just curious to know what you think.

Slice of Pizza will fulfil all your fat needs for the day, you weren't being serious right?! LOL

[WalkingWicket37]

Slice of Pizza will fulfil all your fat needs for the day, you weren't being serious right?! LOL

As the fatty who started this topic in well and truly stuffed (as is the crust o my favourite pizza). I work for a well known pizza company so get a slice or two free, per shift... 

[PaceKing29]

As the fatty who started this topic in well and truly stuffed (as is the crust o my favourite pizza). I work for a well known pizza company so get a slice or two free, per shift... 

10g of fat per slice of pizza, hardly the end of the world

Anyway, perhaps portion size maybe something to take a look at...eating too much of even the right "stuff" can lead you to put on weight

[Bruce]

What kind of unhealthy relationship are you talking about ? IIFYM definitely deters me from having a chunk of pork fat or a slice pizza because I know that if I go for it it will fulfil all my fat needs for the day.  Just curious to know what you think.

For me as a big lad,
IIFYM is no good. It lets me think I can eat rubbish but then eat make it all better by eating something that fits macros.
When I'm trying to lower my body fat- like I am currently I need it to be controlled and measured.
I'm currently giving carb back loading a go.
I like it, my body doesn't handle carbs well so getting carbs in immediately before a work out and after a workout fits my working 830-530 life style.

[TheBiologist]

10g of fat per slice of pizza, hardly the end of the world

Anyway, perhaps portion size maybe something to take a look at...eating too much of even the right "stuff" can lead you to put on weight

I try to keep my fat intake around 60 grams per day. Start my day with 5 whole eggs and by mid morning I have a chunk of salmon with rice. Once slice of pizza and I can kiss my chicken curry (one pound cooked with 5 g of oil) bye bye. :-)

My personal belief is IIFYM helped me get some discipline in my diet and lifestyle. Sure I could eat that slice of pizza early in the morning and forgo my boiled eggs and my fat intake will be the same but my protein intake will go down by 30 grams or so. But when one is worried about macros, caloric intake in check and not eating any sort of junk food, it is unlikely that the person is going to go for pizza.

Hope this clears. :-)

[PaceKing29]

I try to keep my fat intake around 60 grams per day. Start my day with 5 whole eggs and by mid morning I have a chunk of salmon with rice. Once slice of pizza and I can kiss my chicken curry (one pound cooked with 5 g of oil) bye bye. :-)

My personal belief is IIFYM helped me get some discipline in my diet and lifestyle. Sure I could eat that slice of pizza early in the morning and forgo my boiled eggs and my fat intake will be the same but my protein intake will go down by 30 grams or so. But when one is worried about macros, caloric intake in check and not eating any sort of junk food, it is unlikely that the person is going to go for pizza.

Hope this clears. :-)

Cleared , i'm on 180 carbs 60g fat and 200 protein at the mo and agree with you those 60g fats go so darn quick lol!!

[george_parv]

Stay away from really fatty foods, eat soup for lunch and exercise a lot. Maybe try cycling to local places such as the bank, post office, grocery store rather than driving. My top tips aha

[Slyboogy]

Whatever you do, don't stop it completely, I made that mistake when I had to quit the gym as it was becoming a bit expensive for me as I had to travel with the car and back, with membership on top of that.

Once I stopped, I went back to my normal way of eating, also me working 4-5 times a week certainly hasn't helped compared to the 2 days I was doing before. Working an 8 hour shift or more ruins your diet, especially if like mine it's 3:30pm to 11:30pm.

It's not that hard to cut out snacks, just replace them with healthy ones. Instead of a chocolate bar, get a Weetabix bar, instead of McCoys crisps, get one of the lighter baked ones that you can now find. Innocent smoothies can be helpful too, as 250ml worth counts as two of your 5 a day,

I used to go to the gym every week and do three 10 minute bursts on the bike, and then some lightweight training, and then 25 minutes or so on the treadmill, not an intense workout but good enough,

Whatever you do, try and drink plenty of water, not only does this help you feel full and eat less, it has no calories.

People have different systems to lose weight, pick one which that suits your lifestyle. Or you can create your own, it's what I did randomly after messing around in the gym for a couple of weeks.