I know a couple guys on here have lost some serious weight and I figured any tips on achieving goals and keeping it off might be helpful.
I played football in high school and did some power lifting in college and had a nice cardio routine going, but once I started a real job free time was at a premium. Going to the gym turned into the bench and weights I had at the house. While benching 315 for 12 reps is fun, it doesn’t burn enough calories.
3 months ago today I purchased a LifeFitness elliptical and decided I no longer had any excuses to not get healthier. Changed up my diet, ditched the heavy lifting and went to lighter weight higher reps and doing cardio 7 days a week. As of this morning I am down 50.1 lbs. I still got a ways to go but at least I am heading in the right direction.
I know this current rate of over half a pound a day won’t last forever, what are some tricks you guys used when it stalls? I think the life changes I have made can be something I can sustain once I hit my goal, so hopefully I can stay there once I get there.
Weight Watchers…It works.
Low Carb diet
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Low Carb diets SUCK for energy. I was on one for 6 months and lost a shitty 10lbs while being overly tired during the day and at the gym. I went on a low calorie diet (1500/day) and ate whatever I wanted within that moderation and dropped 30lbs in 2-3 months (205lbs-175lbs) eating 3-4 meals a day.
Eat fewer calories than you burn.
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you obviously were doing the diet wrong. Gym energy definitely suffers but to only lose 10 pounds in 6 months is obsurdly low. I’ve lost about that much in 1 month. I’ve tried low calorie diets, the meals don’t fill me up and you can only eat bland crap.
I love low-carb because creativity allows you to eat some REALLY tasty stuff. It helps that I’m an awesome cook too.
Brocaine and cigarettes
in the words of fry, eat less, play more.
about a year ago I was at a personal worst of 230lbs. I weighed 157lbs when I graduated in 2004. I finally decided to make changes and I’m down to 205, but have been stuck here for 5 months. I cannot seem to lose any more weight than I have despite changing workouts, going on a cutting diet, and increasing cardio…
I’m at a loss of what else to try at this point.
substitute water in for all your drinks. that will help lose a few pounds weekly by itself which will add up over time. all i ever really drink now is water and then beer on the weekend if i go out. but while i have only lost 6 lbs in the past month while going to the gym doing 1 hr of cardio per day and lifting for another 1/2 hour. my pants are about falling off me at the moment…
that and i have been eating 3-4 meals per day. just keeping it around 2000 calories. not really eating anything really shitty like pizza or cheeseburgers though
Rather not pay for something I can figure out myself. Plus I know a bunch of people that hit their goals and go off the program gain it back and enroll again a year later.
I want to do something I can maintain after I hit my goal. I have reduced my carb intake, but no where near what is suggested in those type of diets.
Yeah that is pretty much the plan. 1,600 to 1,800 a day with cheat days on occassion which usually result in hour long cadio sessions.
Liquid calories were killing me. I could down 4 cokes at lunch. I switched it over to Pepsi Max which doesn’t taste as good but not a horrible alternative.
MediumRon
I hardly found chicken, salmon, tilapia, catfish, fajitas… etc etc bland?
Fact is, your body needs certain healthy/natural carbs. Perhaps I was doing it wrong but as Walter stated burn more calories than you eat which is very easy on a low calorie diet.
I clearly did the low calorie correctly. I had lost 20 of the 30 lbs in the first month. I was hungry for the first couple weeks but once you get into the routine and used to cooking, it becomes much easier. When you feel like a snack, just munch on some celery with a bit of peanut butter.You need to also consider that I am not fat at 205lbs so cutting me down to 175 made me very lean, the leanest I had been since high school (6+ years ago)
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That was one of my biggest problems was the liquid calories also. A bit of crystal light in a bottled water does wonders. As does diet coke for me (obviously pepsi max for you). I used to despise the taste of diet sodas, but now when I drink a regular soda it tastes like pure syrup to me and I find it awful. Hell even if I have a drink it’s a Jack and diet now haha. Counting calories becomes simple after a while. I would take a once a week cheat meal.
People don’t realize how many calories they take in when they go out drinking too (alcohol obviously). Yea it can be burned off as water weight, but one good night of drinking for me and I will have an extra 5-6lbs on me for 2-3 days
Well when I saw Newman posted in my weight loss thread I thought I was in for something, but a light hearted joke I was not expecting. Actually made me laugh.
I doubt I will ever be a medium/small guy, I remember doing the calculation of taking my % body fat and subtracting the amount from my total weight and realizing there was over 225 or 235 lbs of bones/muscle/flesh/etc.
Not a bad Idea for a diabetic, but for weight loss it doesn’t make sense. I’ve had registered dietitians say the same thing.
This is basically the key.
That could be said for any diet. People lose the weight then stop and wonder why they gain it back. Basically the purpose of WW is to limit how much you eat in a day without restricting WHAT you eat. My fiancee is on it now and has lost 40lbs to far and is still going strong. A lot of what she does is just use substitutes for high calorie/fatty foods. Like using low fat cheese instead of regular, instead of burgers she’ll do eggplant or boca burgers. I’m a big time asshole when it comes to food. I like my name brand high fat/sugar/calorie foods, but the stuff she makes you can almost never taste the difference. Throughout High School and Most of College I was around 150 (6’ Tall), since then I’ve gotten a full time job and about 40 lbs to go with it. I really do need to go to the gym or running or notsittinginfrontofcomputersallday but I really don’t have anyone to go with, nor do I know shit about lifting and the gym. Anyway the point was you’re already exercising and it seems like you just need to alter your eating plan. Good Luck!
I don’t think I need to alter anything, yet. The weight is still coming off at a good clip.
No doubt WW is good for some people but I seem to be able to find good meal ideas online and the “lose it” app on the iphone makes it real easy to count calories and track results.
Low carb is perfectly healthy and it’s actually a really sustainable long-term solution. It takes dedication, but all diets do. If you have never done so, you should read up on Atkins or South Beach diet. South Beach is a low-carbish diet that is more lenient than Atkins. The goal is to lose a lot of weight short-term by cutting out carbs, then to build youself back up to a point where you are eating the RIGHT amount of carbs to maintain your weight.
Trust me, it works wonders and once you are maintenance mode, you can find TONS of good foods to eat. Especially with a lot of ‘cutting edge’ stuff like zero carb pasta, low carb ice cream (I have breyers bars that only have 5 net carbs per bar). These are GREAT products for the ‘ongoing weightloss’ phase and maintenance phase.
At least do yourself a favor and do some reading.
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LOL, makes perfect sense to…seeing as how I lose weight FAST on it and still enjoy my meals. I’ve never felt healthier.
My old man was on a low carb diet per his Cardiologist to lose weight, and it really did nothing. He stuck to it and cut out a lot of high carb foods. He is still on it and not really making any progress. It just doesn’t seem healthy to cut out carbs.
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He’s obviously doing it wrong
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Explain to me how it is unhealthy
OK, I’ll elaborate on why it isn’t unhealthy
- no processed grains. Pasta, bread, rice, dough, etc… are all man made products from another source. It’s not a natural substance that our bodies have evolved to use efficently
- no sugars. duh, these are bad
- if you look at the diet, and see what the suggestions are, you will notice that you are allowed to eat any carbs that come from FIBER. These are GREAT carbs to be intaking. They are good for your body, and also help slow down the motabolism. win/win. So, what this means, is that almost any green vegetable is GREAT for you on this diet. Broccoli, spinach, lettuce, colliflower, peas, beens, etc… hmmmmmm, this all sounds like pretty healthy stuff
- It is a common misconception that you should just eat steak and bacon 24/7. Any idiot can tell you that’s not healthy. It is true that you still need to intake a lot of fat with this diet, but there is a point where it is too much, and fat grease is not a ‘healthy fat’ (yes healthy fats exist). Eating lean meats like chicken and turkey is a GREAT way to get lean protein into your system without skyrocketing your cholesterol or blood pressure.
I would think a low-carb diet would be self-sustaining just because of the looming threat that if you get off of it you’re going to be hypersensitive to carbs and pack everything back on.
I was half serious with my brocaine and cigs comment…with my metabolic issues I seriously think that’s what it would take to lose over 20lbs on a 200+ frame 
I plateau like a champ, fuck you very much HGH deficiency