Please help, struck in a rut.

DrunkenNinja

DrunkenNinja

New member
I am 175cm and weigh 193Lbs

My weight can fluctuate from 185 - 195Lbs.

I have a coffee in the morning (no breakfast), A take away lunch, and generally a small meal in the evening.

My calorie intake is probably quite good, but I drink less than 2 litres of any fluid a day, most days probably less than a litre, I rarely snack or eat any fruit of veg.

I did a cardio exercise routine for a month and a half but saw no improvement so gave it up, I was probably burning around 200 Kcal every couple of days.

Please advise what changes I should make to my life to lose that extra weight.

I really think I deserve this and am determined to get my life back and start playing sports again.

A very BIG thank you, :cheers2:
 
DrunkenNinja said:
My calorie intake is probably quite good, but I drink less than 2 litres of any fluid a day, most days probably less than a litre, I rarely snack or eat any fruit of veg.

I did a cardio exercise routine for a month and a half but saw no improvement so gave it up, I was probably burning around 200 Kcal every couple of days.
Click to expand...

There are your problems. You need to watch your calories. If you only think you are eating the correct amount, you probably aren't. You also need to drink more water! Plus, not eating breakfast and getting takeout everyday can hurt.


"Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est."
 
imaninjadangit is exactly right. You don't know your calorie intake (most people are horrendous at guessing), you don't have a healthy diet (fruit and vegetables are essential), you're not drinking enough (while that won't necessarily help/ hinder weight loss, it's not good for you- living in the Med you should be drinking at a minimum 2 litres a day, a little more if it's tea/ coffee or you're outside/ sweating a lot)

Step one: count your calories. Work out what it is that's going into your mouth for a week. Record everything. Use a calorie counting program like fitday, myfitnesspal, or the one I use, cron-o-meter (all free- cron-o-meter apparently isn't free as a web app but you can download a program)

Step one (a): calculate your calorific needs. Use this website: Compare your calories calculated to what you're eating and what you need to lose.

Step two: try to eat breakfast. Studies have shown that people who eat breakfast on average consume less calories during the day.

Step three: try to cut that takeaway. It's probably of zero or close to zero nutritional value, loaded up with fat and salt, and a calorific nightmare (some takeaway meals can be over 1500 calories). If you can't cut it, try to work out how many calories are in it and/ or find a healthier option.

Step four: drink more. It doesn't have to be water, but keep in mind the calories of everything except water (and black/ green tea with no milk/ sugar/ anything else added).

Step five: get back into exercise. The reason why you weren't seeing any difference is probably that weight loss is 80-90% nutrition, and it looks like you have a lot of work to do there. (Also, don't trust the readings on the machines- they're usually horrendously unreliable. Use a calorie calculator that increases your allowance based on estimation of exercise)

Step six: revamp your diet on the basis of your results. I calorie count, but a lot of people don't want to do that- but you at the very least need to have an awareness of how many calories are in certain foods so you can make smarter choices.

Read around the forum: in particular the stickies, which give you a lot of information, but also other things like the diaries which show you how other people get by on a diet (and what their results are). I'd also recommend setting up a diary in the appropriate subforum and tracking your results there. You'll get a lot of accountability that way (it's been enormously valuable to me).

Edit to add: not crucial for weight loss, but important for other reasons- you need to make sure your nutrition is right. This pamphlet gives a very simple but clear idea of the NHS guidelines on what you should be eating:
 
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If you let us know how you get on we can help you make adjustments to your diet. Hope this has been of some use.
 
Breakfast has never been my thing, it actually makes me feel ill in the morning :(

I guess after so many years of abuse it's what my body is used to, normally my 1st meal is at 13:00.

Anyway I'm thinking I could handle one of those herbalife coffee shakes in the morning instead of my coffee, so I will probably do that.
 
Don't bother with herbalife, you don't need it (and it seems to me to be a complete scam. It says "combine with diet and exercise"- it's the diet and exercise that does the job!). I've lost nearly 10 pounds in 5 weeks without any sort of program, and I have a couple of medical issues which together greatly increase my chances of obesity.

If breakfast makes you ill, you don't have to have it- the principle here is burning more calories than you eat (to a point- you don't want a deficit too deep or you'll slow your metabolism). I'd recommend trying something- an apple? something similar to that?- to keep your blood sugar levels up- but if you can't, you can't.

My way of looking at weight loss is that you need to do what works for you. So many people have "gospels"- "eat 5-6 meals a day", "never combine protein with fruit", "don't eat after 7pm", "never ever snack", "you can never eat chocolate again". Forget all of that. All that matters are the calories (and the nutrition, but for different reasons). If you have a daily calorie requirement of 2500 calories a day (I made that number up), then eat 2000, and you should lose weight (theoretically a pound a week). The more you exercise (to a point, overtraining is bad), the more calories you can eat (so if your sedentary requirement is 2500, if you exercise 5 times a week it might jump to 2800, so you can eat 2400 to lose a pound a week). Find food that you enjoy, that's filling, that meets your nutritional requirements, and eat it in a way that suits you. (For example, I snack a lot, as my blood sugar drops if I don't eat at least every couple of hours, but I try to make it healthy low calorie choices such as fruit or rice cakes. I also have no desire to cut chocolate out of my life, so I have it in very small amounts and fit it into my calorie allowance)
 
Breakfast doesn't have to be as soon as you get up. I get all icky if I eat within an hour of waking up. I normally eat between an hour and two hours after waking up. Then, I eat a snack...usually an apple. I eat a good lunch...brown rice, green veggie, and chicken. If I can fit something in for dinner, I do. I work midnights, though...so, it's a little different for me. I also take a OneADay vitamin, plus drink tons of water. I take a little to go packet of Crystal Light with me to work, so I have some variety. What I have found that works for me is keeping two meals the same everyday. No, it doesn't work for everyone, but I have found that it keeps me honest. I also know how many calories those meals are, so I can vary the rest of my day. I've lost 10lbs since May 1st doing this. No fad dieting, no diet pills. I walk whenever I get the chance...not around the block, but at work, or I park very far away at the store. I exercise at home. I tighten my abs whenever I walk. I'm doing every little thing I can, without it completely taking over my life. I just know that if I do this now, I can fix this problem for good. In a year, I can relax, and have good habits formed to keep me healthy. It's just developing those habits. :hurray:
 
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