2014-2015 Slimming Thread

Just update me - on my 3rd day now of being strict and in my experience making past those and breaking those bad habits is part.

Best of luck to those recently joined the mission, please update with anything as often as you can - it will help!
 
Donnie said:
Cheers Phil, have to admit to having done the atkins a couple of years ago and actually enjoyed it and even lost a stone in a month but theres a lot of pros and cons to it.
Click to expand...
More cons tbh. Don't forget Dr Atkins died of cardiac arrest!

The goal is to use fat, not put it back in...from a biological point of view, I can't understand diets that do this, very inefficient.

Do you HAVE to follow a diet? (Do you know about calories and fats, what carbohydrates do etc - and do you think you could follow your own doet just keeping to low calories and being aware of what you're eating?)
 
yeah, i know about it, it's the will power that lets me down plus difficult as I do 12.5 hour shifts 3 times a week too, sometimes nights.

I think i'll start this week with building up some walking and looking at my calorie intake and seeing what I can do to reduce it.
 
To be fair, we all die of cardiac arrest. The question is the cause leading up to it. I recall that Atkins slipped and fell and bashed his head. A quick look on that oh-so-reliable font of knowledge that is wikipedia shows that he died from complications from his head injury.

But Atkins was morbidly obese at the time of his death.

I do feel that Phil is correct. IIRC, there are tribes in the (?amazon) forests that are not overweight. They don't really burn much in the way of calories - it's comparable to most people. But they eat comparatively little and that's the key.

I know I did the 5:2 diet and people talk about it being OTT but one of its greatest benefits for me was the return of the sense of feeling full. Prior to this, I could eat until I had food in my gullet and I still didn't feel full. The return of the sensation meant I controlled my portion size and my calorie intake. As an example, I used to be able to eat a large Dominos pizza in one sitting. Now I cannot manage more than four slices.
 
I'm taking it a kilo at a time for now as I lost most of my weight throughout 2013 so just need to find my happy place. I'm now mixing in toning exercices to help with the stubborn areas. I think i'm just a maximum of 4kg left to shift.
 
I stand corrected - Atkins apparently suffered from cardiomyopathy, which would explain his heart attack, heart failure & hypertension (high blood pressure). In any case, a high amount of saturated fat in the diet also means a high amount of fat in the blood - which thickens the liquid (blood) and puts more strain on the heart - this would lead to higher BP and that's like cruising your car at 6k revs instead of 2.5k

omens said:
I do feel that Phil is correct. IIRC, there are tribes in the (?amazon) forests that are not overweight. They don't really burn much in the way of calories - it's comparable to most people. But they eat comparatively little and that's the key.
Click to expand...

I welcome hearing from the person that can give me an answer to how it helps exactly. The health & fitness industry is worth £3.92 billion - that's a lot of money coming in because people believe it's helping them to lose weight...what people really need to do is lower their intake and the energy used to function daily will be derived more from stored fat. Over time, if this continues to outweigh the amount going in, you will lose weight. Nothing to do with exercise and hormone manipulation (which is big nowadays), just very simple - if the body doesn't get it's requirements, it will make it's own energy...

Anyway, I won't be changing my exercise for my weight loss, I'll stick to 1-2hrs a week and just adjust my diet.
 
So I went to try the third run of week 5 which was an uninterrupted 20 min run. Couldn't do it. Had to stop after ten mins (which is my longest continuous run tbh). Had to have a 2-3 min break and run but could only manage about 6 mins. Gonna try two 10 min runs with a 5 min walk and see how it goes.
 
Go on then I will join in. I'm starting today and aim to get as much weight off as possible by mid march to start with. I race motocross and trials and the season kicks off around mid march.

I'm currently 12, 10 and this had gradually crept on over the year.

I am aiming to be 11 stone by mid march.

I aim to do this with high intensity cardio and a nice clean diet. I need to be at my best I have ever been come race 1 that includes fitter than I ever have too.

I seemed to have gained all my weight on the stomach and chest. My diet is terrible and all training has stopped around 8 month ago due to retirement from racing. However I'm ready to go now and with 3 sponsors for next year I have the motivation I need.

Great thread and hope I can make some progress!!
 
Hi.... my name's Russ and I'm an alcoholic..... ooppps sorry wrong thread :LOL:

Fell off the fitness wagon in September (see Fitness thread) and the excesses of Christmas has seen me hit numbers on the scales I've never seen before. I'm 5ft 11in and am fairly muscular but I'm weighing nigh on 16st at the moment which is over a stone more than want to weigh.

I'm firmly back into 38in waist trousers and some of them are getting a little snug.

My target over the next few weeks is to cut a lot of the crap/nice things from my diet and start exercising more as I feel fat and very unfit at the moment. My initial target is to get to under 15st 7lb.

In the longer term I want to lose my belly which is now very noticable, fit comfortably back into 36" waist trousers and by that point I hope to weigh around 14st 10lb which is what I weighed when I got married nearly 2 years ago.

We're expecting our first baby in July so my aim is to be fitter and healthier by the time he/she is born which will hopefully help me cope better with sleep deprivation and looking after my wife & baby :)
 
Last edited:
No one for any updates??

I'm at 73.4 (from 76 Kilos) but one of those kilos would have been water and glycogen (stored sugar) so probably a total fat weight loss of 1.5 kilos or something. I'll do another test at the end of the month.

First couple of days were a bit frustrating because I wanted treats and sweets etc but now I'm back into old (good) habits, it's fine.

I always find that getting past them 2-3 days initially is the hardest.
 
Following the thread with interest, but im not sure why you say that exercise doesnt help with weight loss...

Im no expert, but surely you burn calories by exercising?
 
Nikon_Nick said:
Following the thread with interest, but im not sure why you say that exercise doesnt help with weight loss...

Im no expert, but surely you burn calories by exercising?
Click to expand...
You're burning calories all the time Nick, you don't need exercise for that :)

Take a read of my link, it will explain. It's important to exercise for a number of reasons - just do what you enjoy (because that's what you're more likely to stick with).

http://www.philyoungpt.co.uk/#!exercise--weight-loss/c15ws
 
I'm not so much after weight loss, more about improving definition and the bit of fat that sits on my lower back. I'm 5'8" and weigh in at 94kg. Waist is 31", so I'd hope to get that down to 30". I'd like to get a bit more muscle mass in my legs, by no means are they skinny, just need developing more to tie in with upper body mass. I'm now at a loss on how to increase my muscle mass in my legs but still reduce body fat.
 
No photo, I'm afraid, at a guess I'd say bfp was around 12=14%
 
Phil Young said:
#1 priority? Body fat reduction or building muscle size? (Both isn't an answer ;)
Click to expand...
I wish both was an answer.:) I suppose at the moment I'd go for muscle mass, as I'd like to balance out my leg proportions to upper body. For some reason my legs are slower to respond compared to upper body. The workouts I'm doing are supposed to be for building muscle mass whilst reducing body fat due to the short rest periods between sets. Muscle mass certainly increased and there was a reduction in body fat percentage over my previous workouts, but I can't seem to shift more of the body fat from my lower back.
My current daily diet Monday to Friday (training days) consists of
  1. Protein shake 1hr prior to 3/4hr-1hr workout
  2. At least 1L water during workout
  3. Protein shake straight after workout
  4. 15-30mins after workout, breakfast - Porridge (3-4 table spoons of oats), handful of unsalted mixed nuts, handful of blueberries and raspberries, scoop of protein powder with hot water. (no milk)
  5. 3hrs later, small bowl of cornflakes, handful of fruit (as above) protein powder and water instead of milk.
  6. 2hrs later repeat of cornflakes etc. or noodles and small tin of tuna with protein shake.
  7. 3hrs later - protein shake
  8. 2hrs later - small dinner consisting of chicken breast or salmon steak, veg, handful of low fat oven chips or similar sized serving of mashed potato (not buttered)
  9. 2.5hrs later - cornflakes again or just a protein shake depending on hunger.
  10. 1.5hrs later last protein shake about 1hr before bed.

Saturday and Sunday non training days appetite goes down so remove 2, 3, 5, 7 from diet intake.

I don't drink anything apart from protein shakes or water so if it's not time for a protein shake and I'm thirsty, I will drink around 25cl of water.
 
Leg size.
I currently do 4 sets (10reps) of 180-190kg squats after warm up set of 15 reps at 100kg, on non leg training day once a fortnight, but on legs day 2 days later its, 5 sets of seated or horizontal leg curls (individual legs 15 reps on first set down to 8 reps on last set whilst increasing weight on sets 3 and 5) followed by 5 sets of leg raises (individual legs, same set routines as leg curls) followed by 5 sets of 10 reps incline leg press. I start off with a warm up set of 160-200kg, increasing the weight for each subsequent set up to 400kg for last set, I have managed about 420kg for the last set but I can only do this when the gym's relatively empty and I don't have to share the weights with other people. :) I seem to have gained strength on the leg press of late so perhaps increase in leg muscle mass will soon follow.
 
nilagin said:
I wish both was an answer.:) I suppose at the moment I'd go for muscle mass, as I'd like to balance out my leg proportions to upper body. For some reason my legs are slower to respond compared to upper body. The workouts I'm doing are supposed to be for building muscle mass whilst reducing body fat due to the short rest periods between sets. Muscle mass certainly increased and there was a reduction in body fat percentage over my previous workouts, but I can't seem to shift more of the body fat from my lower back.
My current daily diet Monday to Friday (training days) consists of
Click to expand...

Protein shake 1hr prior to 3/4hr-1hr workout
Apologies in advance - this is going to be a bit of a kick in the teeth...
Whey protein mixed with water turns into being a big waste. Protein digesting enzymes are found in the stomach - it needs to stay here to be digested before passing through the small intestine for assimilation. If there is nothing in the stomach to keep the water & whey mixture there, it will pass straight through to the small intestine where it cannot be digested (unlike carbs, which are digested here). Because it doesn't get digested, most of your whey protein will exit the body as waste. The other thing to consider is this...exercise requires energy. Energy comes from glucose, which comes from carbs / protein or fat - if none are present in the diet (which in this case, they aren't), the body will turn to it's stores of glucose - glycogen (which you don't have since your meals aren't large enough & you don't have any carbs for breakfast), the body will then make it's own glucose from ingredients. Those ingredients consist of fat & amino acids (from your own muscles). This is now very inefficient since your goal is to build muscle, not break them down.
At least 1L water during workout
Good stuff.
Protein shake straight after workout
On it's own with water right? - Please see above :)
15-30mins after workout, breakfast - Porridge (3-4 table spoons of oats), handful of unsalted mixed nuts, handful of blueberries and raspberries, scoop of protein powder with hot water. (no milk)
The nuts keep everything in the stomach for a while - this is good for protein digestion. If someone was doing this for fat reduction, I'd say lose the unnecessary fat from the nuts though and advise a different protein product such as lean meat...
3hrs later, small bowl of cornflakes, handful of fruit (as above) protein powder and water instead of milk.
All of that will go straight to the small intestines - see above. Good for energy, bad for muscle building.
2hrs later repeat of cornflakes etc. or noodles and small tin of tuna with protein shake.
The tuna will keep everything in the stomach where it can digest the protein meal.
3hrs later - protein shake
Repeating the digestion problem...I bet you feel quite hungry after this...
2hrs later - small dinner consisting of chicken breast or salmon steak, veg, handful of low fat oven chips or similar sized serving of mashed potato (not buttered)
Cool.
2.5hrs later - cornflakes again or just a protein shake depending on hunger.
Cornflakes would be beneficial now, in fact - quite good to have carbs before bed since it will stop muscle breakdown while you sleep - remember the priories (diet, glycogen, amino acids)
1.5hrs later last protein shake about 1hr before bed.
See above.

So in summary;

-You can't grow because your calories & protein intake (assimilation) aren't up where they need to be.
-If your weight isn't going down then you are eating at maintenance as an average and need to address that.

If you want to;

Increase size - more calories from carbs and protein. You can't grow muscles if you're losing a lot for energy. Get those carbs up and glycogen levels higher.

Reduce body fat - you need to choose per meal, protein based or carbs based? Too much and excess will be stored as glycogen, slowing down the amount of fat used to fuel the body.

Hope that helps :)
 
Last edited:
OK Phil...... here's a challenge for you, my daily diet consists of:

06:30 - 4 weetabix with semi-skimmed milk (nigh on a pint), tea with 1 sugar
10:00 - 11:00 - Instant oats with water
Midday - Banana

I've started going to the gym at work around 12:30-12:45 and do 30-40mins cardio at varying intensities.

13:45-14:00 - 4 ryvita with a slice of chicken, Mugshot (cuppa soup/noodle thing), banana
17:00 - May have a handful of peanuts when I get home if I'm hungry
18:00 - 19:00 - Meals vary but will usually consist of chicken & veg with some form of potato, rice or pasta.

During the day at work I'll tend to have a black tea from the vending machine first thing but drink 2-4 large glasses of water through the day plus 500-700ml of water while exercising.

My "vice" is coke zero and I'll have a couple of glasses during the evening.

Other than that I do have the occasional biscuit with a cuppa after dinner, at the moment there's chocolate in the house post-Christmas but I'm doing my best to resist.

One of the biggest problems for me when it comes to diet is it's quite limited.... I don't like fish or salad which I suppose are traditionally associated with healthy eating.

Any suggestions as to how I can tweak the above to make it more "efficient" (for want of a better word).
 
Russ77 said:
OK Phil...... here's a challenge for you, my daily diet consists of:
Click to expand...

Russ,

Your biggest problem is portion sizes – you are eating until you feel satisfied plus more. To use fat as a main fuel efficiently you need to have enough of a reduction in calories that there isn’t anything else (glycogen – stored blood sugar) that can be used without tapping into reserves. The biochemistry of fat to energy means that it also needs something else to be present. This ‘ingredient’ comes from carbohydrates or protein (diet / muscle breakdown). Therefore, whilst it is important to reduce calories, it’s also very important to ‘trickle’ food in the body in small enough amounts to ensure that;

-You are not storing too much glycogen (excess food).

-You continue to use fat as a result of the above.

-You don’t lose too much lean tissue through being hungry majority of the time.

If you over indulge often enough, all that will happen is you will continue to feed in calories that aren’t going to be used. This keeps glycogen levels topped up and in the end, your day will end up close to maintenance level and you won’t lose enough to make a difference. Now to you, over-indulge may mean something but to your body, it’s any calories that are unnecessary for fuelling activities. You also need to eat to your activity – more energy out (workout) means more energy in (food).


06:30 - 4 weetabix with semi-skimmed milk (nigh on a pint), tea with 1 sugar

Too much – try half of that and if you’re hungry in a couple of hours, eat again. This way, you won’t be storing so much in one go and fat is a major source of fuel and if you time it right: you shouldn’t get hungry.


10:00 - 11:00 - Instant oats with water
Midday – Banana

Banana, not needed. Have at 1pm instead (when not working out).

I've started going to the gym at work around 12:30-12:45 and do 30-40mins cardio at varying intensities.

What’s your favourite sweets? Have 65g of these 45mins before training.

13:45-14:00 - 4 ryvita with a slice of chicken, Mugshot (cuppa soup/noodle thing), banana

Banana, probably not needed. This can be pushed back to 5pm.


17:00 - May have a handful of peanuts when I get home if I'm hungry

Forget these. The goal is to get fat out – no point munching on a source of fat and putting more in. “but nut’s are good fat?!” – they aren’t “good” they are “less bad” than something like bacon fat J Plus, you won’t be hungry because you've had the banana :)


18:00 - 19:00 - Meals vary but will usually consist of chicken & veg with some form of potato, rice or pasta.

Whatever you have at the moment: cut it in half. I can safely say that J Take a photo of your next meal and post it with something to scale, I’ll let you know if you’ve got the portion size right or not.

During the day at work I'll tend to have a black tea from the vending machine first thing but drink 2-4 large glasses of water through the day plus 500-700ml of water while exercising.

Fine.

My "vice" is coke zero and I'll have a couple of glasses during the evening.

No effect on fat reduction. The phosphoric acid may harm the teeth enamel over time and there's some cancer stuff going round on aspartame but then...doesn't everything cause cancer anyway ;)

Other than that I do have the occasional biscuit with a cuppa after dinner, at the moment there's chocolate in the house post-Christmas but I'm doing my best to resist.

Just keep these to a minimum or take it out of a 1500 calorie "treat allowance" per week.

One of the biggest problems for me when it comes to diet is it's quite limited.... I don't like fish or salad which I suppose are traditionally associated with healthy eating.

You'll survive :) I very rarely eat fish and veg either but the foods I do eat contain a variety of everything needed.

Any suggestions as to how I can tweak the above to make it more "efficient" (for want of a better word).

Hope that helps :)
 
Cheers Phil! Will give it a go! :)

With regards to the weetabix in the morning........ I'm normally hungry again by 09:00 - 09:30 but hold off until 10:00 so I don't get hungry again until "lunch".

When you say favourite sweets.... could that be 65g of chocolate? :p
 
Russ77 said:
Cheers Phil! Will give it a go! :)

With regards to the weetabix in the morning........ I'm normally hungry again by 09:00 - 09:30 but hold off until 10:00 so I don't get hungry again until "lunch".

When you say favourite sweets.... could that be 65g of chocolate? :p
Click to expand...
See how you get on and forgrt how you normally feel, I've just changed things for you :)

Can't be chocolate - that's adding fat. The point of the sweets if to provide glycogen when you will use during your workout (glucose from glycogen requirements goes up).

The sweets are great for this. Chocolate too but then you're just adding in fat so no point...
 
OK.... I think I'm getting it now..... The principle for weight loss is low fat intake and smaller but more frequent portions?

On that basis, if I'm feeling peckish a couple of hours after 2 weetabix I could have another 2 or an instant oats shake?

With regards to the sweets, would something jelly based like haribo be OK?
 
Russ77 said:
OK.... I think I'm getting it now..... The principle for weight loss is low fat intake and smaller but more frequent portions?

On that basis, if I'm feeling peckish a couple of hours after 2 weetabix I could have another 2 or an instant oats shake?

With regards to the sweets, would something jelly based like haribo be OK?
Click to expand...
Yes to all of those :)
 
Hi can I play ( hmm not playing ths time ) I am 44 ,15st 9lband 5ft 7" .
Ideally I would like to get to 11stone .
I am hoping to lose one stone by Feb half term ( i know poor goal but really dont know what else to put ... I want to be less blobby than i am now by feb ?? ) . Ater that take one ste p at a time till i reach my goal

Have joined WW and a gym induction on Friday so until them I am swimming every other day and walking to school when its dry ( I dont like being cold and wet )
I have stopped drinking ( not for good just at home and for January to start)

waist 44
hips 50
bust 47
thigh 26
arm 15
 
Last edited:
bobsbabes said:
Hi can I play ( hmm not playing ths time ) I am 44 ,15st 9lband 5ft 7" .
Ideally I would like to get to 11stone .
I am hoping to lose one stone by Feb half term ( i know poor goal but really dont know what else to put ... I want to be less blobby than i am now by feb ?? ) . Ater that take one ste p at a time till i reach my goal

Have joined WW and a gym induction on Friday so until them I am swimming every other day and walking to school when its dry ( I dont like being cold and wet )
I have stopped drinking ( not for good just at home and for January to start)

waist 44
hips 50
bust 47
thigh 26
arm 15
Click to expand...
Welcome to the game! The winner is anyone that doesn't quit ;)
 
Was gonna delete my post :( sheesh heart attack waiting to happen :(
 
Not chocolate lol :) just everything else lol
Cheese .. thats gone and i wont buy any apart from boring cheddar
crisps will buy nasty supermarket cheap ones for kids as I wont eat them
Portions is my biggy and too many carbs

I'd take a pic and put up of me but I dont have a camera ;)
 
Last edited:
Russ77 said:
OK Phil...... here's a challenge for you, my daily diet consists of:

06:30 - 4 weetabix with semi-skimmed milk (nigh on a pint), tea with 1 sugar
10:00 - 11:00 - Instant oats with water
Midday - Banana

I've started going to the gym at work around 12:30-12:45 and do 30-40mins cardio at varying intensities.

13:45-14:00 - 4 ryvita with a slice of chicken, Mugshot (cuppa soup/noodle thing), banana
17:00 - May have a handful of peanuts when I get home if I'm hungry
18:00 - 19:00 - Meals vary but will usually consist of chicken & veg with some form of potato, rice or pasta.
Click to expand...
Word of warning about the bananas if you're prone to the odd migraine. I used to eat 2 bananas a day on my 5 training days each week. after about a month I started to develop a very bad migraine, worst I ever had, enough to make me physically sick and the slightest movement, my head felt like someone was tightening it in a vice and it lasted for 5 days even with medication. Too much chocolate had always been my migraine trigger and bananas are likely to affect anyone with the same chocolate trigger.
 
Phil Young said:
Hope that helps :)
Click to expand...
Cheers Phil, forgot to add the pre workout protein shake contains the following

Protein : 60g
Carbohydrates: 20.3g
Fat: 2.5g
Also
HMB: 1.5g
Creapure®: 5g

The post workout shake contains the same as above plus about 10g of maltodextrin.
Would you recommend increasing the maltodextrin in the post workout shake and also add some to the pre workout shake too? At the moment I'm training at 6:00am so eating before the workout isn't an option. In a few weeks however I'll be training mid morning or mid afternoon so will have eaten before hand.
 
Maltodextrin is great for pre workout as it's the fastest digesting carb so I'd go for about 45g worth pre workout (30mins).

Only that, water and whey doesn't really make sense from a biology point of view, even though that's ALL protein powders...If the stomach is empty, all that will happen is the whey / Maltodextrin / water mixture will go to the small intestine where the protein isn't digested. It's actually a bit of a pointless exercise taking whey; for you to digesr it, it needs to stay in the stomach. For that you need solid protein such as chicken, which of course then defeats the object of having the whey...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top