Moderator Edit: This thread was split from here: http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=95157

No ice cream for me! I have successfully lost 30 pounds in the last 12 months and I plan to do it again this year. Basic belief: I won't last to see 70 years old if I still weigh 220 pounds. I'm headed for 160.

Besides, I don't look good with boobs.

 

No ice cream for me! I have successfully lost 30 pounds in the last 12 months and I plan to do it again this year. Basic belief: I won't last to see 70 years old if I still weigh 220 pounds. I'm headed for 160.

Besides, I don't look good with boobs.

Congrats! I have recently become more interested in my own health as well. I want to make sure I'm around for my kids as long as possible. No cigarettes in ~3 weeks.

I'm currently wearing around a heartbeat monitor/calorie calculator 24hrs/day to figure out how many calories I burn in an everyday 24hr period and then I'm going to ingest ~25% less than that every day. The gadget says I burned 4700 calories yesterday, with no dedicated exercise routine; that's calories burned just by being fat but not sedentary. If the numbers I'm seeing so far are accurate, this diet shouldn't cramp my style too much. I should be able to eat 3000+ calories daily and still get down from 205 to 160 in less time than it took my wife to grow a baby.

Then, if I have the will to pursue higher goals, I will start weight training and bulk back up with muscle instead of fat.

 

My philosophy is that I didn't get fat in a year and I'm not going to get skinny in a year. My target is 3 pounds a month. That won't trigger a starvation reaction in your metabolism, and for me, I don't feel deprived, so I don't sabotage myself. Besides, 2 years of habitually eating the right amount creates a habit of eating the right amount. The psychological component is incredibly important in the long run!

Your target looks like 10 pounds a month. Let me know how that works out.

 

45lbs/ 9 months = 5lb/month

 

Include me if anyone wants to start a weight management thread - I seem to know how to do many things and solve many problems, I just don't seem to have the desire or skills to solve the weight thing. I'm 255 and seem to be going up about 3 to 5 pounds per year over the past 10 years. The eating out during business travel, vending machine pit-stops when I am stressed at work and a wife with great cooking skills seem to be my downfall. I really need to get below 200!

 

From a high of 270 I made 160. I'm slowly gaining, I'm up to 174. When the weather warms up it's 10 mile walks for me.

 

Include me if anyone wants to start a weight management thread - I seem to know how to do many things and solve many problems, I just don't seem to have the desire or skills to solve the weight thing. I'm 255 and seem to be going up about 3 to 5 pounds per year over the past 10 years. The eating out during business travel, vending machine pit-stops when I am stressed at work and a wife with great cooking skills seem to be my downfall. I really need to get below 200!

I'm in. Bill, can we split this sucker off @ post #26?

 

I am at 217 and need to be at 178.

Electronic Weight Watchers for me; I'm in.

And I need to be there on September 26, 2014.

Let's see...that's 39 pounds in 29 weeks...should be reasonable.

That's only 3 ounces per day. Piece of cake...no, wait...NO pieces of cake.

 

I have done weight loss before. Started a thread back in 2011 about the diet I tried. I lost a lot of weight rapidly on a no/very low carb diet. 20lbs in 3 weeks. Then I couldn't take it any more. I was sick of meat, eggs, and cheese. It was not healthy; I had no energy and really didn't feel good. I do not recommend that diet. I caved, and quit the diet. I have been steadily gaining it back, plus some. I have gained 35lbs since quitting that diet.

What #12 said is a good point. Don't make your diet too much of radical change. If it is too hard or too uncomfortable, you will cheat, or quit.

The diet I'm about to start is based on the law of conservarion of mass and energy. If I consume less calories than what my body burns throughout the day, I am losing weight. It is impossible to not lose weight. In order to ensure that the majority of the weight I lose is fat and not muscle, I will make sure to eat as much protein as possible.

Here is some good reading:
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/daily-calorie-intake-calories-in-vs-calories-out/
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat-without-losing-muscle/

 

What? I had a good idea?

strantor: (4700 calories/4 x 30 days)/3500 calories per pound = 10 lbs.
Just showing you the math.

 

What? I had a good idea?

You have lots of good ideas.

 

strantor: (4700 calories/4 x 30 days)/3500 calories per pound = 10 lbs.
Just showing you the math.

ok, I see what you're talking about. I thought you were addressing my claim of 45lbs in 9 months, not the actual calories involved (which is a pretty stupid assumption, since I was the one talking in terms of calories).

Since I'm basing my diet on a percentage of calories burned, the diet will be an evolving diet. As I lose weight, I will burn less calories in the course of everyday being alive. In order to still be burning 4700 calories/day by the time I get down to 160, I would probably have to spend several hours each day in high intensity cardio, and that's not something I plan to do. My claim of 5lbs/month was based on my estimate of 45lbs in 9 months, and was misleading; it will be more of a negative exponential curve. My estimate of 45lbs in 9 months mostly pulled out of my butt, but was based loosely based on what I read here.

 

The other part of my diet is this wristband and heart rate monitor. I am wearing these devices 24/7 for 1 week to get a feel for my average daily calorie burn, and how much it fluctuates day-to-day. After 1 week I will remove the chest strap and keep the wristband. In the future I will periodically wear the chest strap for 24-48hrs to evaluate whether or not I need to adjust my diet.

These devices may seem (may be) silly, trendy, and unnecessary, but I don't care. I think they will help me to achieve my goal. I feel a bit silly walking around with a heart rate monitor strapped to my chest, but if it helps to achieve my goal then it was worth it. If not, then I'm just a garden variety dumbass; oh well.

The wrist band gives you alerts when you have been inactive for too long, and suggestions of how to meet your daily goal. I have never seen any of these alerts, and the suggestions have always been moot since I achieve the activity/calorie goal (set by the device, not by me) around 1PM and by the time I sleep, have exceeded the goal by 100-150%. I don't like that I can't set my own goals, but now I'm getting into a product review. I'll stop there, unless anybody expresses more interest in the device.

 

I was 170-175 lbs most of my life (I am 6'1" so you can imagine). One day I stepped on the scale and I weighed 210lbs!

I decided to do something about it so I went out and bought a bicycle. I really watched my diet and by end of that summer I was down to 180lbs.

The next year when I got back from my tour bicycle of Italy, I stepped on the scale and was down to 170lbs.

Now I haven't seen 170 since then but during the summer I am usually 180lbs. I think a manageable weight for someone 6'1". During the winter I creep up to above 190.

I could do a better job on eliminating sugar like sodas etc. It is difficult.

If you want to loose weight I recommend buying a bicycle. Low impact and lots of fun. I got into touring and it has opened a whole new world for me. I met lots of interesting people from all over the world. Had a lot of really interesting things happen to me. Saw a lot of beautiful places. Experiences that I would not have it it weren't for my bicycle. All the while staying fit.

I highly recommend it.

 

Those calorie counter things just got me to focus on food all the time, running math in my head, looking up calorie charts, reading labels, etc. The wrong method for me is, "My stomach isn't full. I can fit more yummies in there now. "

The right method includes ideas like:

Don't feed your stomach until it threatens you, and then, just give it enough to fool it. (I just ate 4 ounces of lean chicken and that will hold me for several hours.)

NEVER EAT UNTIL YOU ARE FULL! Never have a full stomach. How's it going to shrink (and stop complaining) if you keep filling it all the way?

Coffee helps a lot. That afternoon blah isn't caused by, "hungry", it's caused by , "tired". Sit back and have a cup. It only lasts 3&1/2 hours, but that's 3&1/2 hours that I didn't eat calories.

Real hunger is based on nutrition fulfillment. Take a vitamin pill every day. Junk food will not satisfy real hunger. Three Snickers bars won't do anything about my real hunger today. I will be back in the kitchen seeking real nutrition an hour after I wreck my diet with candy. Just eliminate junk food. You'll actually feel better in an hour, and stay that way longer, if you eat real food.

That's my personal method.

 

260#'s here but I am 6' 3" with a muscular farm boy build and to be honest when I go scuba diving I still float about as well as a stone.

If I ever get down to 160 the odds are I am either dying of a horrible disease or have already been dead for a few years.

 

So...how are you going to help with a weight watcher's thread?
Recommend getting 5 inches taller?
Going back 60 years and growing up on a farm?

 

I'm going to eat a handful or two of gummy bears and then go to bed and watch cartoons on my laptop until I fall asleep.

I've been in the same weight range now for over a decade despite having an average calorific intake of around 4000 calories a day for longer than I can remember. So no I do not have any dieting advice.

 

I've been in the same weight range now for over a decade despite having an average calorific intake of around 4000 calories a day for longer than I can remember.

This is an epiphany I had, related to what I said in post #12. The bigger/fatter you are, more calories you burn, just by being alive. I wondered why my weight gradually increased to the ~200lb mark and then steadied off. I have been bouncing from 195 to 205 and back, for a year now. I wondered why it did that, instead of continuing to increase; I did not taper off my food consumption when I hit 200, so what gives? I think what happened is that, given a more-or-less constant caloric intake, I was in a caloric surplus until I hit 200. Once I hit 200, the increased calorie demand for just being alive became equal to the amount of calories I was ingesting. I reached the point of equilibrium. In order to get fatter, I would have to go out of my way to eat even more than I eat now.

tcmtech, you probably burn 4000 calories every day just by being alive and doing whatever you do every day, and your 4000 calorie intake puts you in equilibrium. If you weighed less, you wouldn't be able to get away with eating as many gummy bears before bed without putting on weight.

In light of this equilibrium epiphany, I would say that despite being overweight, my metabolism and my level of daily activity must be pretty impressive considering since I was born (with the exception of a couple of failed diet periods) I have been eating however much of whatever I want, whenever I want it, and often gorging myself to the point of discomfort, and found a point of equilibrium at a mere 200lbs. My eating patterns are what lead many unfortunate folks to the point of deadly obesity, but I have managed to stave that off. I do not expect that pattern to continue as I get older; my metabolism will likely slow down and I will get fatter and fatter. and This is a great reason to get in shape now, instead of when I get older - it will be harder to lose the weight. Also, being in great shape starting 2015, instead of starting 30 years from now, should add some years to end of my life and make my last years more enjoyable.

 

I've been in the same weight range now for over a decade

I was in the same weight range for about 30 years...150 to 165...but age eventually gets into an argument with the eating habits from 30 years ago.

All of my young life, I ate all I could at any meal, and I did it in 10 minutes. It was merely a necessary maintenance function like showering or brushing my teeth. I took no interest in what I ate or how much, and my body self-regulated. Now, every day is a balance between how much I want to do and how much I am willing to ache. I don't just bounce out of my chair every time I get an idea. I don't have to fix much around here. I have the luxury to do what I want, when I want to, most of the time. The luxury I don't have is to graze for the rest of the day when my chores are done. I have to choose real food and eat less than I used to. I have to recognize the difference between being tired or being hungry. I have to, at least vaguely, remember what I ate today, because my stomach will be empty when my gut is already loaded with enough calories for the day. My stomach is a liar. It wants to be the center of attention. It doesn't have the wisdom of age. I'm going to have to use my brain for that function now.