General weight loss thread

[Jack Shaftoe]

The only thing that works for me is a calorie-counting app and weighing myself every day. Lost 10lb since last Christmas, very gradual, but I know without logging the stupid calories every day I'd have got distracted and wandered off back to multipacks of crisps months ago. I like checking every day, although I try not to get too invested if it suddenly goes up or down a lot.

I've gone from 15st 3 to 14st 5, trying to get to just under 14st and just stay there. Being six foot, I can put on/lose quite a lot of weight without it really showing for ages, and then suddenly you're a fat bastard/gaunt victim of the pogroms, so that's fun.

The only slight disappointment is a vague assumption that when I lost a stone I'd look like I did when I last weighed that much, but it turns out I'm still in my late forties and not actually thirty two any more.  A crushing blow.

[NattyDread 2]

I'd be interested in calorie counting as an experiment, as mentioned. How would it work when you cook most meals from scratch for four people, two of them kids. I'm guessing you'd have to weigh out all the ingredients and estimate or weigh portion sizes? Sounds like a bit of an arse-ache.

[stonkers]

Dunno about other apps by My Fitness Pal lets you create dishes on it by adding ingredients together. Yes you need to weigh the ingredients for that to be accurate but you should only really have to do that once, and if you're watching your diet you'll probably be eating the same things repeatedly. If you are splitting it between eg. 4 people then yeah you would need to work out the portion size.

[MojoJojo]

Maybe every two days, then?

I suppose ideally you'd have Internet connected scales, weigh yourself everyday, but only actually look once a week. AFAIK, no app supports this without you closing your eyes.

[Jack Shaftoe]

I use the Fitbit one, which has quite a comprehensive list of stuff already in there, and saves stuff you eat regularly as favourites, which saves time. You can also add meals of your own. I make most meals from scratch for my family too, so I usually find something similar on the list and say it's that. I recently realised you can put in proportions of stuff too, so you can put something in as 0.5 of a serving or whatever, if you only had a small amount.

[thenoise]

Everyone loves giving advice. I'll keep mine short: if your breakfast involves a slice of toast with butter, consider ditching the toast and putting the same amount of butter directly into your coffee ☕

Sounds crazy, but if you are rational about it, it's no different to a coffee with heavy cream. But butter is better than heavy cream for keeping hunger at bay.

This is known as "bullet-proof coffee" for some reason and originated with the keto people. But every kind of dieter can benefit from it as a breakfast substitute.

Do you at least by unsalted butter? I know salt is having a bizarre revival at the moment but the idea of salty coffee makes me retch.

Edit: quick Google and, yup, salting your morning coffee is the latest trendy 2021 thing to do and I'm the weirdo for not doing it. Fuck's sake.

[madhair60]

Might have a proper go at this and use CaB as my journal so you can all fat shame me

[jobotic]

Can we DESTROY you?

[touchingcloth]

Dunno about other apps by My Fitness Pal lets you create dishes on it by adding ingredients together. Yes you need to weigh the ingredients for that to be accurate but you should only really have to do that once, and if you're watching your diet you'll probably be eating the same things repeatedly. If you are splitting it between eg. 4 people then yeah you would need to work out the portion size.

Rather than counting calories, I find it easier to keep an eye on the total glycemic load of foods I'm eating, as this should keep blood sugar and insulin levels under control, which reduces the risk of diabetes and has an indirect effect on weight loss by flattening out the peaks and troughs of sugar rushes meaning that the urge to snack between meals becomes far weaker.

It sounds a bit scientific compared with totting up calories, but the foods which raise your blood sugar most - potatoes, bread, pasta, and, er, sugar - tend to be the kinds of staple foods that we're used to eating in large quantities. I try and keep my total carb intake under 100g a day, which is less than a fist-sized potato. Once you cut the carbs down you inevitably end up replacing them with "better" stuff, though it does take a little while to get used to the hunger pangs, especially if you're anything like me and can routinely inhale enormous bowls of pasta and still ask for more. I hate what I've become, but spiralised courgette is a very acceptable stand in for spaghetti in lots of recipes, but it doesn't do the thing that pasta does to me of switching off my ability to feel full even after housing kilograms of the stuff.

[shiftwork2]

On the topic of measurements and their frequency, I have scales that will attempt to estimate fat % and lean body mass by some impedance witchcraft.  The results are much more variable day-to-day than weight but averaged out over a month they have some value.  I am now down from 33% fat to 31% fat, which is about the same as a Quaver.

[badaids]

Used to love doing a massive piss before a weigh-in and laughing about the 1/2 lb I was about to cheat on my graph.

And my graph had no idea! Superb.

In reality I always weigh myself before and after my daily training session to which I time my ablutions so I can get a good idea of how much I am ejecting daily. I plot this on a chart. It's one of the tools I use to motivate myself to go through the horrible and painful process of exercise and stave off being an RFC.

[The Bumlord]

A friend of mine has lost a huge amount of weight through barely eating and giving up booze.


That's no fun.

[poo]

215lb "titted hulk" aiming to get down to 194lb ripped cum machine for a big group camping wank end of Nov. Will post updates, which I'm sure you'll find very interesting.

01/09/2021 -  215lbs

[Echo Valley 2-6809]

https://streamable.com/jnjczq

[touchingcloth]

215lb "titted hulk" aiming to get down to 194lb ripped cum machine for a big group camping wank end of Nov. Will post updates, which I'm sure you'll find very interesting.

01/09/2021 -  215lbs

Helen Fielding considers re-gendered rewrite.

[thenoise]

Going to lose all my body weight by drinking salty fucking coffee and losing the will to live and jumping into a vat of acid. Salted fucking coffee. Jesus wept.

[jamiefairlie]

Rather than counting calories, I find it easier to keep an eye on the total glycemic load of foods I'm eating, as this should keep blood sugar and insulin levels under control, which reduces the risk of diabetes and has an indirect effect on weight loss by flattening out the peaks and troughs of sugar rushes meaning that the urge to snack between meals becomes far weaker.

It sounds a bit scientific compared with totting up calories, but the foods which raise your blood sugar most - potatoes, bread, pasta, and, er, sugar - tend to be the kinds of staple foods that we're used to eating in large quantities. I try and keep my total carb intake under 100g a day, which is less than a fist-sized potato. Once you cut the carbs down you inevitably end up replacing them with "better" stuff, though it does take a little while to get used to the hunger pangs, especially if you're anything like me and can routinely inhale enormous bowls of pasta and still ask for more. I hate what I've become, but spiralised courgette is a very acceptable stand in for spaghetti in lots of recipes, but it doesn't do the thing that pasta does to me of switching off my ability to feel full even after housing kilograms of the stuff.

Yup, that's the way to do it. One thing you need to get your head round, to get health benefits you need to restructure your diet and lifestyle forever. You can't get there cutting down a bit and doing g a bit more. The shit truth is you have to say goodbye to the old habits.

[jamiefairlie]

Everyone loves giving advice. I'll keep mine short: if your breakfast involves a slice of toast with butter, consider ditching the toast and putting the same amount of butter directly into your coffee ☕

Sounds crazy, but if you are rational about it, it's no different to a coffee with heavy cream. But butter is better than heavy cream for keeping hunger at bay.

This is known as "bullet-proof coffee" for some reason and originated with the keto people. But every kind of dieter can benefit from it as a breakfast substitute.

Technically it's MCT oil you add for BP coffee.

[Schrodingers Cat]

The difficult thing about losing a significant amount of weight is not how to do it. We all know the basics of a healthy diet, and unless you're training to be a high performance athlete, the basics are all you really need. The hard bit is how long it takes you. Having to do the right things every day for weeks and weeks. That's where more people mess up - they either don't make the progress they expect after a few days/weeks and slip into bad habits, or start to make progress, see how much farther there is to go and then lose focus/just feel overwhelmed by it.
What helped me was setting targets at regular timescales. So the overall target was about 35kg, so that became lose 5kg every 5 weeks or thereabouts, then reassess. That felt so much more manageable than 35kg. Plus as I was ahead of target it felt even better to track how I was doing.
Oh and as no one else has dared yet: ;)

[jobotic]

Tidy your room!

[Schrodingers Cat]

Make me!

[poo]

Nice work 👍👍👍

[thenoise]

I mean, coffee is a diuretic anyway, right? And now we are adding salt to that shit. Am I going to have to drink water the rest of the day just to make up for my morning coffee? That i put salt in like a fucking idiot, instead of delicious milk and lovely sugar like a normal human being? Christ on a bike.

[Jack Shaftoe]

Yesssss, down to 14st 4 (from 15st 3 last Christmas) for the first time in years without the aid of Covid or weird stomach bugs. Ridiculous that the big thing (apart from calorie counting app) has been not having a hot chocolate in the evening, which inevitably led to a couple of slices of toast, and probably a bowl of cereal or summat.

[holyzombiejesus]

I found that just having a relatively healthy cereal for breakfast, avoiding bread whenever possible and replacing the usual evening meal with (more) cereal, soup or some spiralised stuff instead of pasta worked well. A ready supply of decent apples and chewing gum helped stave off cravings for snacks during the day.
I also looked at my weekly routine and worked out where I could make small improvements, like cycling a longer, nicer route home or walking to the shops. It doesn't feel like it's making any difference at the time but one day you notice your back feels a bit slimmer and stuff like that.
Lunch is the trickiest for me as I'm often out on visits for work so a meal deal is the easiest option.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

for the first time in years without the aid of Covid or weird stomach bugs.

I've got Covid right now, and one weird side-effect I'm experiencing is that my appetite is through the roof. Which is a pisser, because earlier this year - and your phrase "for the first time in years" is apposite here - I was the right side of 100kg. What makes it even more frustrating is that my sense of taste and smell went yesterday, but I still want to pig out. I can't even enjoy it, now, just mechanically chomping away with the best I can hope for being a bit of interesting texture.

[thenoise]

I ask you. What's next pepper in tea? Sprinkle of mustard powder in your cocoa? Is nothing sacred to these people?

[Sebastian Cobb]

Technically it's MCT oil you add for BP coffee.

The recipe I've used used both coconut oil and a bit of butter.

It is quite interesting how it seems to work really, a kick up the arse from the coffee and then a slow burn from the fat.

[itsfredtitmus]

Pizza

[jamiefairlie]

The recipe I've used used both coconut oil and a bit of butter.

It is quite interesting how it seems to work really, a kick up the arse from the coffee and then a slow burn from the fat.

Pretty much. The MCT is easier for your body to convert to ketones so if your blood sugar is low and glycogen levels in your cells are too, you should start to use ketones for energy instead and go into ketosis.