Weight Loss Discussion Thread

[Oscar's dad]

It's not all bad news.  We did just shy of 110km on the tandem over last weekend with full camping kit onboard.  We had a head wind both days and I'd forgotten just how hilly the Essex / Suffolk border can be.  I was properly knackered by the time we got home.

Then on Tuesday night I did 55km on my road bike in the Berkshire Downs.  The 55km included 1000m of climbing.  I flew up them there hills.  So, it would appear that the fitness is returning.

[Wowbagger]

I think there's something to be said for exercise causing weight loss if you start from a totally idle and lardily overweight baseline.

When I returned to cycling about 8 years ago I lost two stone without any conscious effort at all on the diet front. I just went from minimal exercise to about 6000 miles per year almost overnight. Indeed, I suspect I might actually have increased the food intake but there's a physical limit to what a chap can stuff down his gullet and still be able to move afterwards.

[CrinklyLion]

Yes, when we had a gym/pool that I could afford nearby and I had sufficient time to go lots I lost a shedload of weight - a generous 3 stone - without paying any attention at all to diet, and still eating rather a lot of cake and chips.  But I did swim many miles and go to at least half a dozen aqua classes and spend between 5 and 10 hours in the gym every week...  and I was extremely cheerful, what with the loving my job at the time and the masses of exercise-induced happy hormones swilling about, so didn't do negative eating.

[Jakob]

Yes, when we had a gym/pool that I could afford nearby and I had sufficient time to go lots I lost a shedload of weight - a generous 3 stone - without paying any attention at all to diet, and still eating rather a lot of cake and chips.  But I did swim many miles and go to at least half a dozen aqua classes and spend between 5 and 10 hours in the gym every week...  and I was extremely cheerful, what with the loving my job at the time and the masses of exercise-induced happy hormones swilling about, so didn't do negative eating.

Well, as long as you spend more energy than take absorb, you'll lose weight....but as you lose weight and do the same level of exercise, the amount of energy you spend will decrease.
This is where resistance work and HIIT comes in. It's always hard and will always push you to the max, regards of your weight.

[DrMekon]

Well, I think I must get one chest infection a year. This looks to be my big one for the year. And as usual, my body eats itself.

Another kilo off in the last 3 days. That's 2.5kg in a week. Dunno if the steroids are doing it, but HR feels way up. Not sleeping; doing that horrible greasy sweating thing, and smell really ill. Wife has it too, but she is sleeping - was out for the count by 8pm. It's ripped through the school our kids are at, where it's being called "the KS1 flu".

New bike has been here for a week now, and rubber still hasn't touched tarmac. 

[hellymedic]

Well, I think I must get one chest infection a year. This looks to be my big one for the year. And as usual, my body eats itself.

Another kilo off in the last 3 days. That's 2.5kg in a week. Dunno if the steroids are doing it, but HR feels way up. Not sleeping; doing that horrible greasy sweating thing, and smell really ill. Wife has it too, but she is sleeping - was out for the count by 8pm. It's ripped through the school our kids are at, where it's being called "the KS1 flu".

New bike has been here for a week now, and rubber still hasn't touched tarmac. 

Get well soon, Family Mekon!

Hope that new bike feels the tarmac soon!

[Oscar's dad]

Half a pound gained over the last week. And tonight we are having a fine dining experience at the establishment of a certain Mr Blanc. That's going to really help!

[hellymedic]

Think of indulgent dining experiences as something which means you'll have to be 'dieting' for a few more days. That is all.
Says she who had a very fatty meal at Côte last night.

Enjoy your meal!

You will enjoy these things much more when they are 'special'.

Getting truly stuffed is often not enjoyable; avoid doing anything food wise you don't enjoy.

[caerau]

Why does the Nintendo Wii fit board/software not have a category of


"I did a shed load of exercise two days ago, lost a lot of water and then rebounded"  When it asks me to explain why I put on six pounds in weight after losing about 8 pounds the day before through audaxing


?


I know I shouldn't let the thing get on my nerves but the nagging it gives you in a very patronising cheerful way gets right on my goat sometimes.


I should just get a normal pair of scales.

[hellymedic]

Don't use the scales too often! Do use ordinary scales but understand, as you do, that water is not fat!

A tape measure is your friend; measure you waist and bum regularly. Your waist will vary with fluid, food and digestion but regular measurement will inform without patronising.

[caerau]

Ah I like to follow the daily fluctuations.  It has a nice reassuring regularity to it - almost a circadian rhythm. 
When I stopped looking daily, I put weight on  - says something about my psychology that I think.



What I just don't like is the high-pitched "So, let's talked about your diet..."  rubbish that the Nintendo people have built into their software.
Interestingly you rarely get any kind of congratulations off of it.  If you lose weight you get a telling off for losing it too fast ("I'm worried about your health David...").
It's a harsh mistress really 

[hellymedic]

It is not the act of stepping on scales that causes or reverses weight loss...

[caerau]

Depends how many times you do it a day

[Oscar's dad]

OD - look up "Banting's Letter on Corpulence", dated 1864.

"I consulted an eminent surgeon, now long deceased —a kind personal friend,—who recommended increased bodily exer­tion before my ordinary daily labours began, and who thought rowing an excellent plan. I had the command of a good, heavy, safe boat, lived near the river, and adopted it for a couple of hours in the early morning. It is true I gained muscular vigour, but with it a prodigious appetite, which I was compelled to indulge, and consequently increased in weight, until my kind old friend advised me to forsake the exercise."

Exercise is great for all manner of reasons - but weight loss isn't one of them. Exercise makes you hungry, and there's a bunch of science about how and why, and the human mind is sneaky in the extreme about how it gets you to address any imbalance.

Being overweight is not a new thing (although the sheer numbers are - obesity in Banting's time was a rare metabolic disorder) - and up until the 70s, we knew what to do about it.

I've been thinking about this.  Unless it's loads of trouble and overly time consuming please could you point me in the direction of some of the science you mentioned?  Perhaps the bits summarized in lay person's term?

[citoyen]

I can relate to Banting's sentiment. There's a vicious circle effect - the more you exercise, the more you need to eat, the more you need to exercise... it's easy to stop exercising, but it's not so easy to reduce your appetite accordingly. You don't really need the science - just look at the way many pro sportspeople's waistlines balloon very quickly after they retire.

[citoyen]

Depends how many times you do it a day

Place the scales on a high step for added benefit. 

[caerau]

I can relate to Banting's sentiment. There's a vicious circle effect - the more you exercise, the more you need to eat, the more you need to exercise... it's easy to stop exercising, but it's not so easy to reduce your appetite accordingly. You don't really need the science - just look at the way many pro sportspeople's waistlines balloon very quickly after they retire.

I would counter the Banting stuff with the massive weight loss I have had actually a few times in my life from doing lots of exercise. I do not put on weight when I exercise.
I do tend to spend the intervening years being sedentary though.  Seeing as I am now a committed cycling commuter I hope this does not happen this time.
I am 4 stone lighter than I was eighteen months ago before I started cycling.


What you do do of course is eventually reach an equilibrium with your intake and stop losing which is what has happened to me basically since January-ish.  THEN you definitely need to look at your diet.  *Sigh* why do I like food so much?

[citoyen]

What you do do of course is eventually reach an equilibrium with your intake and stop losing which is what has happened to me basically since January-ish.  THEN you definitely need to look at your diet.  *Sigh* why do I like food so much?

There's the crux of the matter. I lost nearly three stone in two years by exercising lots, but then I hit a plateau and have found that even with the same level of exercise, it's far too easy to pile on the pounds again and a constant battle of willpower to keep my food consumption at "equilibrium" level.

[Chris S]

What you do do of course is eventually reach an equilibrium with your intake and stop losing which is what has happened to me basically since January-ish.  THEN you definitely need to look at your diet.  *Sigh* why do I like food so much?

Possibly, because you exercise a lot. HIIT reduces desire to eat, but only briefly - generally, the more you exercise, the more you have a drive to eat and the more you will crave food, and more you like food. The studies I've seen (OD - I'll try and dig out some links - but for now, just go on Google Scholar and search "exercise and appetite") suggest this effect is stronger in women than men.

I believe DrMekon is something of an expert in this area.

If you can put up with being hungry, or you're lucky enough to be someone who doesn't get hungry after exercise, then exercise induced energy deficit probably works as a weight loss method. It didn't work for Banting, and it certainly doesn't work for me, at least, not when I'm on a Normal Western Diet (high carb) - the day after an audax, and I most definitely have Teh Hunger.

[clarion]

Exercise by itself is not sufficient for weight loss.  However, my forced periods of inactivity last year and this have, despite eating less, led to my putting on weight.

[caerau]

I'm pretty keen on food when I'm not exercising too sadly. 

[zigzag]

If you can put up with being hungry, or you're lucky enough to be someone who doesn't get hungry after exercise, then exercise induced energy deficit probably works as a weight loss method. It didn't work for Banting, and it certainly doesn't work for me, at least, not when I'm on a Normal Western Diet (high carb) - the day after an audax, and I most definitely have Teh Hunger.

another term is SAD (standard american diet), a diet mainly consisting of processed food and sugar

i hope people on here are more conscious of what they eat, compared to a typical american

[simonp]

I'm waiting for this book to be published:

http://www.amazon.com/Diet-Cults-Surprising-Fallacy-Nutrition/dp/1605985600/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380111210&sr=1-8&keywords=matt+fitzgerald

[DrMekon]

I believe DrMekon is something of an expert in this area.

Nah, just work in a dept with two people who are - him and her.

Marion did her PhD with Barbara Rolls, who came up with the Volumetric diet, which I kinda use. I'm working with Graham on exercise stuff. The testing suite is mega - loads of kit. Getting VO2 max, lactate threshold, etc for myself soon

[Chris S]

If you can put up with being hungry, or you're lucky enough to be someone who doesn't get hungry after exercise, then exercise induced energy deficit probably works as a weight loss method. It didn't work for Banting, and it certainly doesn't work for me, at least, not when I'm on a Normal Western Diet (high carb) - the day after an audax, and I most definitely have Teh Hunger.

another term is SAD (standard american diet), a diet mainly consisting of processed food and sugar

i hope people on here are more conscious of what they eat, compared to a typical american

I think there is a distinction to be made between a "normal" diet in the UK, and that in America - largely because we thankfully (mostly) missed out on the dietary disaster that is High Fructose Corn Syrup.