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[tim2000s]

Not only that, but at 1500 calories,  your body will use your muscles as an energy source and you'll lose both fat and muscle mass,  which you don't want to do.

[King pair]

Hmmm, i might up it then, im going hard at it for a month to drop fat and then after that i will up my cal intake and start the protein shakes i used to have to build some muscle. my first port of call is mainly drop the horrid belly and back fatty i have developed.

[imran75]

With the whole calorie intake thing - it pays to be a little careful. Losing weight too quickly can result in a greater loss of muscle mass than if you were to lose the weight more slowly (as tim2000s says). The recommended weight loss to maintain the maximum amount of muscle mass is around 1-1.5 lbs a week. Very roughly, to lose a pound of fat, you need to drop 3500 cals a week - or 500 per day. So, really it should be your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) - 500cals. That's without doing any exercise. If you exercise, you need to take that into account in your calorie  intake.

However, you need to know what your BMR is before you can work out the number of calories you need to consume. You can plug numbers into online calculators like: http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ - I'd suggest saying that your activity level is "sedentary" for this, and then adding calories burned as and when you burn them.

 

[Stuey]

I'm still working almost daily on Pavel Tsatsoulines Simple and Sinister programme (10x10 kettlebell swings and 10x1 alternate TGU's), currently progressing with 32kg bell, hoping to own it by the season and bring in the 40kg bell. I usually start weekly hill sprints around Feb and a few 400m runs leading up to the season, just planning how to fit these in witha new baby due in Feb.

[ijmorgan]

All good advice above biggest mistake people make is to drop a 1000 calories a day and hit the gym and wonder why they get nowhere.

[Kieron_BT]

As a bit of a different take on this subject, how do you guys 'reward' yourselves or have a 'cheat' meal etc.?

Do you have something once a week/once every 2 weeks/not at all/per stone lost etc.?

Interested to here peoples views on this side.

My parents a couple of years back list 18 stone between them in less than a year, they had a cheat meal every week without missing. They pretty much swore that it helped kick-start their metabolism every week while just giving you the feeling of getting through the week dieting.

[ijmorgan]

Nothing wrong with a cheat meal would probably hold off for the first 3-4 weeks to get your body in tune with the new diet. but once the training and dieting has started the body won't have a problem metabolising the one meal once a week, obviously don't eat a bag of sugar or drink 10 litres of coke as the cheat meal and you should be fine. On a side note my vice is a glass of wine, of which i'm staying off while training but if i do really fancy one i won't deny myself, as with all diets  it's just a lot of common sense really.

[GarrettJ]

i have a love for TOBLERONES ........... the large ones

[Stuey]

Doombar 

[tim2000s]

When I did the first phase of this last year, there were no cheat meals, just a carb reload at 15 days, which was sweet potato and brown rice! The "sweet" things were the practically carb free protein shakes in caramel flavour after the gym sessions. I also didn't touch alcohol for two months. The effect was a weight loss of 26lbs.

[Kulli]

Yeah, bit of weights, no or very limited booze and just not eating to much absolute trash is the real basics to it.

I've gained a whopping 1.5kg's since the end of the season, but I reckon I must have lost a couple more of fat to muscle, just really struggle to eat more than about 2400 calories a day no matter what I do.

[Northern monkey]

Just got over a bad virus,,moving house,,etc etc
But managed to lose a little bit of my belly, due to not being sat on my (No Swearing Please) for three weeks while off on leave

Will start training tonight, with my new 'outdoor' gym,,as I've lost my garage!

Body weight squats
Press ups
Various shoulder exercises with dumbells
Will start the kettlebells soon

I'm hoping to fit into 32 inch waist clothing again!ha

[WalkingWicket37]

Quick revival for this thread!
Since mid January i've lost 6lb and am going to start making a proper effort to shift my spare tyre.

No more excuses and a target to lose 2 stone!

[Stuey]

I'm still progressing with my almost daily Kettlebell Turkish get ups and swings. I feel trim, fit and strong going into the season (even with the sleep deprivation that comes with a newborn baby). I'm finding I'm able to stay more stable and get more power in to my shots in practise. I'm also able to get more rotation and pace on my part time offies.

If any one is interested here's a good article on why KB swings and TGU's carry over to playing sport, this pertains to Golf, but I find the same for cricket.
http://www.strongfirst.com/strongfirst-for-golf/

[uknsaunders]

Still progressing well, total lost so far this winter is somewhere around 25 lbs, so another 10 lbs since end of November. No real secret, tried not to eat rubbish or overeat, hit the gym alot and done plenty of gardening inbetween. The latter can burn plenty of calories, try pulling up bushes and tree roots, lifting and laying 20kg rolls of turf,hammering down borders, cutting down branches and you won't need a gym session afterwards! Currently I'm the lightest I have been for a good 10-15 years, my back feels good if not 100% just yet and fitness is improving all the time.