Is 'losing' weight really the difficult part?

[NotSoBigBen]

To my mind, and believe me my wife and her mates get mad at me, losing weight is really not that difficult 

 

I mean how to do it is well recognised and most people know that if you 'eat less and poo more' (as copyrighted by Gnarly) you will lose weight.

 

The keeping it off and making it a lifestyle is the hard part ..... many get to their perceived 'goal' weight and then want to go back to some kind of normal diet which, at least to me, is a slippery slope.

 

I have come to terms with the fact that I will need to stay on my current eating plan forever, so I have had to give up lots of stuff but you know what I am OK with that!

 

So what is your strategy to keep it off?

[DIPSLICK]

notSObig how beeeeg, are u now,,,,,and how BIG were you before, and how long has it taken you, lastly I am guessing you working on a low calorie diet???

[velomonatiCT]

To my mind, and believe me my wife and her mates get mad at me, losing weight is really not that difficult 

 

I mean how to do it is well recognised and most people know that if you 'eat less and poo more' (as copyrighted by Gnarly) you will lose weight.

 

The keeping it off and making it a lifestyle is the hard part ..... many get to their perceived 'goal' weight and then want to go back to some kind of normal diet which, at least to me, is a slippery slope.

 

I have come to terms with the fact that I will need to stay on my current eating plan forever, so I have had to give up lots of stuff but you know what I am OK with that!

 

So what is your strategy to keep it off?

 

the REAL question is ...

 

whats normal ?

 

in this age of sugar in everything and processed frankenfoods  

[NotSoBigBen]

notSObig how beeeeg, are u now,,,,,and how BIG were you before, and how long has it taken you, lastly I am guessing you working on a low calorie diet???

 

I was at 103.2 on the 10th of March, been down to about 82.x but have stabilized at between 83 and 84 which I am happy with ....

 

I eat mostly protein with very very little carbs!

[Disher]

So basically banting then?? I am of the opinion that the weigh (pun) to keep it off is to eat less in general. Consider your portion sizes and cut out the crap snacking in front of the tv. Want a glass of coke, have water instead.... look at the menu will a 350g steak really be better than a 200g steak...??

Try and get all the eating done before 7pm and most importantly breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.  Working for me albeit a tad slowly, but I also believe that rapid weight loss is also a slippery slope..

[Barker]

Its is easy up to a point. The bigger you are the easier it is in the beginning. I was 122kg then went down to 88kg now sitting at 92kg. It is really difficult for me personally to get below 90kg and maintain - One eventually gets to a point where you ask yourself...do you really need to lose more weight.

 

Example - I cycle 158km a week in 3 rides burning +- 2500 Cal a week and I follow a pretty strict but balanced diet of 4 meals a day. A few weeks ago I started doing some weight training once a week and a 10km sundy walk. 

 

Basic meal schedule for me:

6am Breakfast - 2 eggs with 500ml of water. 

10am - Coffee no sugar                 

12am Lunch - 150g-200g of protein (steak or chicken)
             60g of Broccoli or peas and 2 glasses of water.

1pm - Tea no sugar

3pm - slow release protein shake 

6pm - Mostley protein, some vedge + 500ml of water

Snacks - Cheddar cheese, High in protein and fat - low carbs

 

- No bread, No sauces, No deserts

 

My weight fluctuates up and down with 1 or 2 kg a week and I every now and again I go below 90kg. For me to lose more weight ill have to cut my portion size and I don't want too...cause what is the point of living then. lol 

 

I track my body fat and body dimensions on a weekly basis.

 

Legs are indecent shape but I have tube around my waist that doesn't want to go and with the body fat caliper measurements it is easy to see that that is where my body fat fluctuates the most.

 

So how difficult can be to loose weight - pretty difficult in my opinion.

[HOEKVLAG]

 

The keeping it off and making it a lifestyle is the hard part ..... many get to their perceived 'goal' weight and then want to go back to some kind of normal diet which, at least to me, is a slippery slope.

 

I have come to terms with the fact that I will need to stay on my current eating plan forever, so I have had to give up lots of stuff but you know what I am OK with that!

 

So what is your strategy to keep it off?

I agree 100%. I went from 96 to around 74 a couple of years ago. The thing is if I'm really strict with my diet my weight goes down consistently. Then if I feel I am where I want to be I'll start indulging again. This starts off slowly and (apparently) doesn't affect my weight. Before I know it, however. I'm back into my old eating - and drinking - habits and the weight goes up again!

 

Currently I'm around 80 and trying to get back to around 75. My (new) strategy is to be fairly strict at the moment - no alcohol for example. When I reach the goal I'll set some limits and allow myself to move outside the current eating plan when within those. The plan for now is just to avoid sugar (including alcohol...) and reduce carbs - although I do incorporate it in the total calories (and it's more than Banting would approve).

[jcza]

Watching my calorie intake, not important what the macro-nutrient split is unless I'm training or racing when I aim for 60% from carbs. 

 

I find that during rest week I need to be careful what I eat as it is easy to eat too much. During hard training weeks I battle to eat enough. 

 

Summary: Ride more 

[HOEKVLAG]

Neglected to add that (for me) it helps to have a goal to work towards. E.g. I joined up with a really strong partner for the Sani next year. I know that I will have to be really fit and as light as possible to keep up with him. In the past I went with partners that were slower than me so there was no real motivation to keep the weight down.

[Wayne Potgieter]

was 92kg.

 

Then dropped to 78 and stayed there for a while.

 

Now down to 73.5 (this morning)

 

aiming for 70kg.

[DIPSLICK]

Watching my calorie intake, not important what the macro-nutrient split is unless I'm training or racing when I aim for 60% from carbs. 

 

I find that during rest week I need to be careful what I eat as it is easy to eat too much. During hard training weeks I battle to eat enough. 

 

Summary: Ride more 

didnt work for me when i was commuting and riding long kms. me thinks diet kills weight much more than cycling then again im not cycling AT THE MOMENT and lets not even go near the weight issue  

[DIPSLICK]

I was at 103.2 on the 10th of March, been down to about 82.x but have stabilized at between 83 and 84 which I am happy with ....

 

I eat mostly protein with very very little carbs!

well done thats a 5 year old you have lost,,i would be a uni baller to weigh in the 80s

[NotSoBigBen]

didnt work for me when i was commuting and riding long kms. me thinks diet kills weight much more than cycling then again im not cycling AT THE MOMENT and lets not even go near the weight issue  

 

As the saying goes you can't exercise yourself out of a bad diet, I have been fat and fit .... so I tend to agree with that

[jcza]

didnt work for me when i was commuting and riding long kms. me thinks diet kills weight much more than cycling then again im not cycling AT THE MOMENT and lets not even go near the weight issue  

 

 

DIPS with all due respect 30km is not far enough and you still need to measure your intake. 

 

You cannot gain weight by consuming less that you expend. Have you ever seen a hunger striker pick up weight? 

[Ratty]

I use to be one of the people that couldn't understand why people "let" themselves get fat. 

 

Then I picked up weight during my pregnancy and even more afterwards and 7 years later I was still 3 kgs more than my maximum pregnancy weight.   I thought it would be easy to lose, but was very wrong.  When things like hormones, cortisone injections etc get in the way its not so easy.  You never know the reasons behind someone being overweight and I know now its not just because they are lazy or don't have will power.

 

Finally now in the last 6 months I have started losing the weight.  This is mostly due to me starting swimming squads.  I lose more weight doing a 40 minute swimming session once a week than doing a few hours of cycling. 

 

For the first time in 8 years I have dropped under 70kg's and I am stoked.  Once something starts working, the motivation increases.

 

I think because I haven't made drastic lifestyle changes, keeping it off shouldn't be a problem.  Just trying to cut out the bad stuff and exercise more.  I find the more I do this the more energy I have which means the more I can exercise. 

[DIPSLICK]

DIPS with all due respect 30km is not far enough and you still need to measure your intake. 

 

You cannot gain weight by consuming less that you expend. Have you ever seen a hunger striker pick up weight? 

your a funny guy, our commute was 60-80km a day then 3-4 hour rides weekends,,,,but this you know

 

I was once told by a mate "if you go on a hunger strike you will die of boredom"