How to lose weight?

Triathlon Forum
41

I think I’ve lost more weight than anyone I’ve ever met. However this is not necessarily a good thing. It means (up to 4 years ago) I ended up putting it back on. That is very unhealthy and you should avoid at all costs. My excuse is that I’m bipolar. I’d lose weight during my manic periods and put it back on during my depression periods.

What worked for me is long duration moderate intensity exercise (3 hours a day at 60% to 70% effort). I maintained a 1200 calories/day diet with, heavily weighted toward high protein, very low fat and low sugars (except fruit). I used this to get down to my current weight of 175. When I last had to lose a lot of weight (and it will be the last time I have to) I started out at 215 the heaviest I had ever been by a good 10 lbs.

My maintenance diet is similarly weighted but calories are much higher (depending on how much and how hard I train). I find the harder I train the hungrier I get and the more I need to prevent from overtaining. If I overdo the training/diet equation the wheels come off the bus. My training suffers and I eat more than I need. I find for me that if I am out of shape and am trying to lose weight “intensity is my enemy”. It just leads to injury, overtraining or both. Good luck.
You worked out 3 hours per day and maintained a 1200 calorie diet; you had to of burned at least that many calories during exercise alone. How did you function on that or are you not including calories you ate during exercise?

At 60% to 70% PE I guess (I think that is the right word) I probably only burn 800 to 900 calories. Maybe I “perceive effort” higher than it actually is. Basel metabolism for a 40 y/o male is about 2000 calories (less if you are an old fart like me). that gives me about
1200 - 900 = 300
2000 - 300 = 1700
a pound of fat = 3500
3500 - 1700 = 1800
1800/3500 = 1/2 pound fat per day

Of course many days you end up eating 1500, but the formula still works. Ultimately the time exercising is most helpful in keeping your basel metabolism up and prevent loss of muscle. You emerge lighter, and then you start building strength while increasing your calories appropriately.
Uhm…

1200 calories a day is a starvation diet. That’s not even enough to sit on the couch and breath in and out. I call bullshit, there is no way that you exercised 3 hours a day on a 1200 calorie diet without medical supervision and without ending up in the hospital. Even for a light cycling effort (~ 12 mph), a 155 lb person burns ~ 500 cals/hour (And you were way above that, I’m assuming). Your calorie intake wasn’t even enough to fuel your rides, much less the rest of your day.

John

42

There are some good post and points on here and there are alot of smartazz comments also. First of all you have to be committed to a lifestyle change plain and simple. As a small fellow 5’4" I got to approximately 210 pounds a few years after college. Its seems that eating and not playing soccer anymore didn’t go hand in hand. One night I walked in my house and I looked at my wife and 1 year old daughter sleeping and I knew I had to change something. I started walking twice a day for at least 30 min. at a time and completely change what I ate. Started trying to eat healthy and I recorded my weight every day and LOGGED it. I got encouraged as I saw progress and it just motivated me more. Over a span of about a year I dropped to 150 #'s but here is the kicker. I slowly stopped exercising as much and started old habits. Last Feb. I was back up to 167. I had a couple friends talk me into doing a sprint triathlon and I have now found the lifestyle I have been looking for. Currently around 140 and would like to loose a few more but I feel like a kid again, the sport gives me personal goals to look forward to and my competitive nature from my high school and college soccer days are back in me. I have a half IM this year booked and hopefully next year I am planning on tackling an IM.

You know what else is inspiring, now I got a 4 year old little girl that is running and biking all around the house and tells everybody she will be an IRONGIRL (hehe) we she grows up. My wife is exercising and the lifestyle has changed my whole family. I love running, like biking and with some help and alot of time this winter have starting to enjoy swimming. It’s awesome, good luck in your quest.

43

I think the progress you made is great, and it looks like you’ve made the necessary changes in your lifestyle to sustain it. Just work to keep your focus.

As for me I, I am 5’ 10" and had stopped weighing myself at 215. I don’t think I went more than a few pounds higher but it meant I had given up. I still put on a few pounds every winter, but I don’t freak out because I get it off by mid-March - I am ahead of schedule this year. There were 2 things that helped me lose the weight (again) and keep it off.

The first is that my wife and I adopted an 8 month (now 8 years old) old boy from Russia that was growing up and VERY active. I wanted to be fit enough so when he grew up I can be an active part of his life. I also have 2 grandchildren through my wife’s daughter from a prior marriage.

The second and more urgent is that I went to see my father in the hospital. He was very ill but as I looked at him I saw my own body. It shocked me into realizing that I didn’t want to spend my last 25 years inactive as he had been (actually for most of his life). I keep this image in my mind. It helps me sustain my new lifestyle. I’m 56 and the starts and stops of an active lifestyle over the years could go on no longer. I only wish I could get my wife on board.

Which brings me visualizing success. I think it is absolutely critical success in weight loss, sports and life. So hold onto the image of your daughter and the active things you will be doing with her. I think it will help. Continue to chart your success to provide positive reinforcement.

As for the call of BS by the other party, ignore him. He probably has no experience with losing substantial weight, although I suspect he understands the importance of visualizing success in achieving your goals.

44

Eat less, move more.

In particular…

Move more - First thing in the morning. Wake up even 10 minutes earlier and do 10 minutes of cardio, it will help “wake up” your metabolism and you’ll start burning calories earlier in the day.

Eat less - In the evening. You don’t need a massive dinner, you’re about to lie down for 7 hours.

In general… EAT LESS, MOVE MORE
More on ‘Moving more’… Just incorporate regular everyday tasks such as using the stairs instead of the escalator/elevator, or skipping those retarded moving sidewalks at the airport (seriously, I can’t believe our society has wasted that amount of engineering/manufacturing investment on something so worthless), stuff like that. My father-in-law is one of those guys who’ll drive around a crowded parking lot for several minutes to score a parking space closer to the door instead of just taking the first available spot and walking an extra 20 seconds, even when it’s not raining. Surprise, he’s fat. It’s small stuff, but if you add it all up every day that not only burns more calories it just helps with the mindset of being lean and mean and no longer part of the slothful masses.

45

I have tired it all and almost gave up!!! I have been racing at 183ish for 5 years. Today i am 173 and in Janurary I was 187 (off season weight). So How did I do it on a frame already pretty fit? COUNTING CALORIES under this forumla It works first two weeks suck like hell but then it works. My wife is doing it as well (actually how this started she is not a triathlete and I was doing this to support her then i realized damm I am eating alot). KEEP A LOG BOOK a pen and book equals lots of weight loss!!! Lastly eat breakfast like a KING, LUNCH like PRINCESS, DINNER like a Papuer (unless you workout in the pm then vary just a little)

your weight mine is 173
plus a 0 at the end
1730 that is my base number to eat that day without workouts
add any workouts like today 974 for my bike ride this morning (polar watch)
2704 if I want to maintain my weight the trick is to take away 500
so 2204 would be what I could eat today and if I do that 7 days in a row IE 500 calories short then I lose a pound sometimes 1.5 pounds.

PS on non workout days eat around 1500 but bottom line I dont have many complete non workout days even a walk will get you .

I have done the HIGH PROTEIN diet (did not work) done the eat only healthy whole food stuff (did not work) I ate too much. I now eat GOOD FOOD and DRINK lots of WATER!!! SECERT foods, CHICKEN, FISH, ALMONDS, CARROTS, CELERY!!! LASTLY going out to EAT SUCKS because 70 percent of resturants dont have a calorie guide so only do that once a day!!!

46

You know I love how this whole thread (and a bunch of serious replies, among the smartass ones) was started by a troll as a lead-in for a website spammer (posts 1 & 2 here). Me, I’m going on the Purina diet.

47

Go to a trailer park.
Look for someone cracked out.
Buy some meth.
Google “How to consume Meth”.
Pick some method.
Do it often.
Lose weight

Two thoughts: (1) The first page of this thread is much funner than the second page. (2) Dude! This is Slowtwitch, it is way more upscale than trailerpark meth, coke is much more acceptable to the demo.

48

As for the call of BS by the other party, ignore him. He probably has no experience with losing substantial weight, although I suspect he understands the importance of visualizing success in achieving your goals.
Nope. The most I’ve lost is 25 lbs, from a high of ~200 down to current of 175. My call of BS comes from a knowledge of physiology. No way you truly only consumed 1200 calories a day while maintaining an exercise level that uses more calories than you intake on a given day.

You stated somewhere in here that your basal was ~ 2000. 3 hours of exercise (even at a generous 155 lbs, easy-moderate pacing, such as 13 mph on the bike) is 1500 calories. And you want us to believe you subsisted on a calorie deficit of ~2400 calories a day without medical issues?

Again, bullshit.

John

49

I didn’t think about that. With the median tri-athlete income being over 100K, coke would probably fit better within the demographics.

50

There is a book, I think it’s called the Omnivores Dilemma. It just talks about how we eat things now that our grandparents wouldn’t recognize as food. If you stick to plants and nuts and more things that aren’t processed or created in a lab you will start to lose weight… in a healthy manner.

51

My call of BS comes from a knowledge of physiology. No way you truly only consumed 1200 calories a day while maintaining an exercise level that uses more calories than you intake on a given day.

You stated somewhere in here that your basal was ~ 2000. 3 hours of exercise (even at a generous 155 lbs, easy-moderate pacing, such as 13 mph on the bike) is 1500 calories. And you want us to believe you subsisted on a calorie deficit of ~2400 calories a day without medical issues?

Again, bullshit.

John

An “accurate formula is the Katch-McArdle formula based on lean body mass:
P= 370 + ((21.6 X LBM)/1kg)
where LBM is the lean body mass in kg. According to this formula, if the woman in the example has a body fat percentage of 30%, her BMR would be 1263 kcal per day.
To calculate daily calorie needs, this BMR value is multiplied by a factor with a value between 1.2 and 1.9, depending on the person’s activity level.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_rate

Weight loss in Calories per Hour:
Cycling at a leisure rate for a 200lbs man 364
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109

60% - 70% for me is a bit higher than a leisure rate (closer to 50%).

Do the Math

52

My call of BS comes from a knowledge of physiology. No way you truly only consumed 1200 calories a day while maintaining an exercise level that uses more calories than you intake on a given day.

You stated somewhere in here that your basal was ~ 2000. 3 hours of exercise (even at a generous 155 lbs, easy-moderate pacing, such as 13 mph on the bike) is 1500 calories. And you want us to believe you subsisted on a calorie deficit of ~2400 calories a day without medical issues?

Again, bullshit.

John

An “accurate formula is the Katch-McArdle formula based on lean body mass:
P= 370 + ((21.6 X LBM)/1kg)
where LBM is the lean body mass in kg. According to this formula, if the woman in the example has a body fat percentage of 30%, her BMR would be 1263 kcal per day.
To calculate daily calorie needs, this BMR value is multiplied by a factor with a value between 1.2 and 1.9, depending on the person’s activity level.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_rate

Weight loss in Calories per Hour:
Cycling at a leisure rate for a 200lbs man 364
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109

60% - 70% for me is a bit higher than a leisure rate (closer to 50%).

Do the Math
Lets. I am assuming that you were about 25% bodyfat when you were at 215 lbs. That gives you a basal rate of 1953.18 according to KM. That already puts you at a 750 calorie deficit, which is considered a moderate to severe fat loss restriction. Now add in 1310 (Given your posted link of 364 cals per hour of cycling, times 1.2 to account for your stated higher exertion rate. It would be much simpler if you could just say what mph you rode), and you are at a calorie deficit of 2060 a day.

2000+ calorie deficit diets are severe calorie restrictive diets, and require close medical supervision. Unless you had that, or had medical problems you aren’t revealing, you either ate more than you thought you did, or exercised less than what you’re telling us.

John

53

My call of BS comes from a knowledge of physiology. No way you truly only consumed 1200 calories a day while maintaining an exercise level that uses more calories than you intake on a given day.

You stated somewhere in here that your basal was ~ 2000. 3 hours of exercise (even at a generous 155 lbs, easy-moderate pacing, such as 13 mph on the bike) is 1500 calories. And you want us to believe you subsisted on a calorie deficit of ~2400 calories a day without medical issues?

Again, bullshit.

John

An “accurate formula is the Katch-McArdle formula based on lean body mass:
P= 370 + ((21.6 X LBM)/1kg)
where LBM is the lean body mass in kg. According to this formula, if the woman in the example has a body fat percentage of 30%, her BMR would be 1263 kcal per day.
To calculate daily calorie needs, this BMR value is multiplied by a factor with a value between 1.2 and 1.9, depending on the person’s activity level.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_rate

Weight loss in Calories per Hour:
Cycling at a leisure rate for a 200lbs man 364
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/SM00109

60% - 70% for me is a bit higher than a leisure rate (closer to 50%).

Do the Math
Lets. I am assuming that you were about 25% bodyfat when you were at 215 lbs. That gives you a basal rate of 1953.18 according to KM. That already puts you at a 750 calorie deficit, which is considered a moderate to severe fat loss restriction. Now add in 1310 (Given your posted link of 364 cals per hour of cycling, times 1.2 to account for your stated higher exertion rate. It would be much simpler if you could just say what mph you rode), and you are at a calorie deficit of 2060 a day.

2000+ calorie deficit diets are severe calorie restrictive diets, and require close medical supervision. Unless you had that, or had medical problems you aren’t revealing, you either ate more than you thought you did, or exercised less than what you’re telling us.

John

Thanks for doing the math. I didn’t. Didn’t need to.

First you assume the person stays the same weight. I went from 215 to 175.
Second you assumed I did it cycling. I have done it cycling both on & off the trainer so I can’t give you a speed - which helps little unless you assume no hills or head/tail wind., but the last time I did it it it was walking at first then walk jog, then jog.

Also I did record my weight loss at 1/2lbs a day. My typical result was 20lbs over 8 weeks although I once did 30lbs over the same period once.

As far as being impossible, that’s what they said about a sub 4 minute mile. As for medical problems, since I did not have any problems, where did you get your data. Did 100% of those participating in the study suffer medical problems?

54

**Thanks for doing the math. I didn’t. Didn’t need to. **

First you assume the person stays the same weight. I went from 215 to 175.
Second you assumed I did it cycling. I have done it cycling both on & off the trainer so I can’t give you a speed - which helps little unless you assume no hills or head/tail wind., but the last time I did it it it was walking at first then walk jog, then jog.

Also I did record my weight loss at 1/2lbs a day. My typical result was 20lbs over 8 weeks although I once did 30lbs over the same period once.

As far as being impossible, that’s what they said about a sub 4 minute mile. As for medical problems, since I did not have any problems, where did you get your data. Did 100% of those participating in the study suffer medical problems?

Disregarding the theater of the absurd with the 4 minute mile comment, it wasn’t from a study. It is from commonly accepted medical knowledge regarding nutrition and calorie restrictive diets. Extended diets like you describe are debilitating and extremely hard on the body, and usually only prescribed as a last resort before surgical intervention or similar, with carefully thought out and prescribed diets.

If you didn’t do the math, how do you know that you were consuming only 1200 calories? Or what you were burning? If you weren’t writing everything down, then you were guesstimating. Either you were overestimating the calories burned, or underestimating calories consumed, or both. (I’m betting on both.)

If your weight loss was 1/2 lbs per day, it would only take you 10-20 days to lose 20 lbs. What did you do for the other 5-6 weeks? And, if you shed 20 lbs, then again shed 30 lbs, and you were only 215 to begin with, either you’re about 4’0 or you are yo-yo dieting and it’s all coming back again anyway. (Which is also medically unsound).

John

55

very simple. Primal Blueprint…mark sisson’s

http://www.marksdailyapple.com

…and triathlon training…as sure as the sun rising in the east

56

It is from commonly accepted medical knowledge regarding nutrition and calorie restrictive diets. Extended diets like you describe are debilitating and extremely hard on the body

I agree. But as I said I am bipolar. When I was manic I exercised a lot and lost weight. When I was depressed I didn’t exercise and I ate a lot. It wasn’t diagnose until my mid forties. Then I was on meds where a major side effect was weight gain. I did use drugs which listed weight loss as a side effect, but I always ended up with one of the others like developing a third eye in the middle of my forehead or growing a foot up my ass, or was it a head - either way it was very uncomfortable. Thankfully they went away when I went off those drugs.

If your weight loss was 1/2 lbs per day, it would only take you 10-20 days to lose 20 lbs. What did you do for the other 5-6 weeks?

John

I can see this is all my fault and I am sorry.
You calculated 1/2lbs X 10 days = 20lbs
or in your alternative scenario 1/2lbs X 20 days = 20lbs.

Clearly when I told you to do the math, I should have said Do the math CORRECTLY.
My bad. :slight_smile:

57

hahaha yeah i was looking at that too. let me slow it down for myself and see if i follow…

0.5 lbs a day…

how long til you lose 20 lbs?

40?

how on earth did he come up with 10-20 days(regardless that the difference between 10 and 20 is massive in this senario)

maybe he knows something i dont.

58

I recall reading a post that read something like this:
eat like a king in the morning
eat like a prince in the afternoon
eat like a pauper in the evening
I dont recall the author but these simple words seem to work pretty well.
I dropped 25lbs.

59

It is from commonly accepted medical knowledge regarding nutrition and calorie restrictive diets. Extended diets like you describe are debilitating and extremely hard on the body

I agree. But as I said I am bipolar. When I was manic I exercised a lot and lost weight. When I was depressed I didn’t exercise and I ate a lot. It wasn’t diagnose until my mid forties. Then I was on meds where a major side effect was weight gain. I did use drugs which listed weight loss as a side effect, but I always ended up with one of the others like developing a third eye in the middle of my forehead or growing a foot up my ass, or was it a head - either way it was very uncomfortable. Thankfully they went away when I went off those drugs.

If your weight loss was 1/2 lbs per day, it would only take you 10-20 days to lose 20 lbs. What did you do for the other 5-6 weeks?

John

I can see this is all my fault and I am sorry.
You calculated 1/2lbs X 10 days = 20lbs
or in your alternative scenario 1/2lbs X 20 days = 20lbs.

Clearly when I told you to do the math, I should have said Do the math CORRECTLY.
My bad. :slight_smile:
My bad for assuming that you could interpret and using the wrong symbol. 1-2 lbs per day, as in 1 to 2 lbs per day.

60

I recall reading a post that read something like this:
eat like a king in the morning
eat like a prince in the afternoon
eat like a pauper in the evening
I dont recall the author but these simple words seem to work pretty well.
I dropped 25lbs.
Also, DD’s 8 rules:

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=1192024;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

John