Getting thin!

[Guest Hobo]

Hmm

I'm tempted to post pics of when I was 26, 23, 18 stone and how I am now.

Drink plenty of water - cut down on salt

When you are chronically dehydrated your body stores more water than it would normally this is a survival mechanism of sorts. Find a tea you like. I'd recommend redbush and vanilla(caffine free). Get a teapot which holds about 3 mugs and have a whole pot whenever you feel thirsty. It will take about 2 weeks for you to notice decreased weight this way. Your bodys starts thinking it doesn't need to hold onto as much water since it has a more regular supply. Salt aids dehydration.

Stop Drinking! or Stop Drinking as much

Alchohol is full of calories which you will most likely not burn off because the majority of us drink before bed. It can also help cause chronic dehydration which is why if you continue to drink you should up your water/tea input.

Excercise More

See that lift? its making you fat. Take the stairs. It does take a lot of self control but once you get into the habit of taking the healthy option you feel a lot better.

Excercise in the morning, before or after work to relieve stress, wake yourself up, or help yourself fall asleep - the effect it has depends on the time of day and your regular schedule.

If you can take up a sport. I took up cycling. Instead of meeting your friends in town cycle to see them. Make a day of it go from one friends to anothers just saying hello and having a cuppa. If you live in town and your parents live outside cycle to see them. I have a 20 mile round trip to visit mine and try to cycle there every weekend. Perhaphs we could all start a sports club or something, footy down the park anyone?

Got space on the floor? do some pushups, situps, crunches

CARDIO makes the weight come off

Feeling down? Go for a walk, dance inside your house to some music you like I guarantee after about 15 - 20 minutes you will feel more upbeat and relaxed

Eat less sugary/fatty foods

Every week go to the local supermarket, I find sainsburys, M&S, ALDI and LIDL the best for fresh fruit. Buy some sweet fruits. Bananas, plums, oranges, kiwi fruit, tangerines buy them individually as its usually cheaper and cuts down on waste. Dates are a good replacement for a sweet tooth. Holland and Barratt(go here for nuts and dried fruit) 1.39 for 1kg whereas you are about that price for a pack of 12 from morrisons o_O. If you fancy a snack wash the fruit, cut it up and have it mixed on a plate with some nuts. Eat all fruit and veg with the skin(not peel) on, its full of fibre

Eat more fibre

Yes, eat more fibre it will help you poop more and help to clear out toxins(as will drinking more water). A bowl of porridge in the morning sprinkled with raisins, sultanas or nuts is good.

Cut down on dairy products and bread product

Dairy is full of fat and the majority of us become lactose intolerant at some point in life. Try switching to goats milk you might be pleasantly surprised. Cutting down on bread type products can clear your complexion.

Stock up on fish, herbs and spices

Start eating more salad. Salad is bland I know but it doesnt have to be those herbs and spices? Not just for putting in sauces. Try for example a salad with lettuce, tomato, onion, celery and carrot. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper, mixed dried herbs, turmeric and the god of all flavoured spices(cumin) it adds a nice flavour to anything i would say it is the essential savoury herb.

The more muscle you build....

The more fat you will lose by excercising. To help with the buidling of muscle eat a high protein meal immediately after weight training

Make simple changes/exchanges

Dates for sweets, nuts for crisps, pepper for salt, sweet potatoes for potatoes(thems good baking). Simple things

Pure fruit juice?

Because pure fruit juice nearly alwas has the plant fibres removed it is not nearly as good for you as you are told. Try taking 1 quarter glass of pure juice and having the other 3 quarters water.

Its hard work but the longer you stay on track the easier it will be to keep the bad habits in check. Sometimes you HAVE to force yourself

Good things related to this are(goals): Clearer complexion, better health, more girls/boys, bragging rites, more opportunities work wise, more respect both self and from others.

ok im done before my fingers fall off

[stuartmaxwell]

can only really echo whats been said on here, it really is about getting into a mindset where a regime becomes force of habit, its tough for the first 2/3 weeks but you become accostomed to it eventually

I went from doing no excercise, drinking too much and eating too much to playing footy 5/6/7 times a week (sometimes twice a day), hitting the gym a few times a week and having a rest day.

When I was being strict, I kept away from pasta, pizzas and pints of beer (bottles or jack diet cokes) and kept an eye on my calories. 3000 calories = 1lb in weight, therefore I set myself goals of eating 900 a day to begin with and working out a lot, walking instead of car, taking the stairs and the like. I made it a game where I new that I could lose a pound per 3000 calories. so if i took in 800 a day, id burn 700 sleeping, 200 walking, 400 exercise, 30 driving, etc etc and keep to that for a good few weeks. then id up my calorie intake to around 1000 etc etc so that I didnt become weak / ill etc.

I havent lost a great deal of weight at 2.2 stones and I still have a bit to go (not too fussed tbh), but I feel infintely better for it and nothing felt better than clothes becoming too big for me and people stroking thy ego. My quality of life is genuinely better now than it was before.

Good luck!

[Old Gold]

I recently shifted a fair bit of chub by replacing beer with cider and cutting out potatoes, pasta and wheat-based beer (initially all beer). You can make some truely amazing salads with a bit of imagination... best avoid houmous though.

Eating well is expensive, but that works in your favour. Buy the best you can afford so your meal will be extra delicious, with the added bonus that you won't feel so inclined to fill your basket with tonnes of mars bars.

Finally, I find muller-light yoghurts and really dark chocolate to be good for the munchies.

[Guest idol_wild]

can only really echo whats been said on here, it really is about getting into a mindset where a regime becomes force of habit, its tough for the first 2/3 weeks but you become accostomed to it eventually

I went from doing no excercise, drinking too much and eating too much to playing footy 5/6/7 times a week (sometimes twice a day), hitting the gym a few times a week and having a rest day.

When I was being strict, I kept away from pasta, pizzas and pints of beer (bottles or jack diet cokes) and kept an eye on my calories. 3000 calories = 1lb in weight, therefore I set myself goals of eating 900 a day to begin with and working out a lot, walking instead of car, taking the stairs and the like. I made it a game where I new that I could lose a pound per 3000 calories. so if i took in 800 a day, id burn 700 sleeping, 200 walking, 400 exercise, 30 driving, etc etc and keep to that for a good few weeks. then id up my calorie intake to around 1000 etc etc so that I didnt become weak / ill etc.

I havent lost a great deal of weight at 2.2 stones and I still have a bit to go (not too fussed tbh), but I feel infintely better for it and nothing felt better than clothes becoming too big for me and people stroking thy ego. My quality of life is genuinely better now than it was before.

Good luck!

Brilliant post, chum.

Excellent advice.

[Guest idol_wild]

I recently shifted a fair bit of chub by replacing beer with cider and cutting out potatoes, pasta and wheat-based beer (initially all beer). You can make some truely amazing salads with a bit of imagination... best avoid houmous though.

Eating well is expensive, but that works in your favour. Buy the best you can afford so your meal will be extra delicious, with the added bonus that you won't feel so inclined to fill your basket with tonnes of mars bars.

Finally, I find muller-light yoghurts and really dark chocolate to be good for the munchies.

Fuck it, also an excellent post.

[Chris]

If you like gherkins then they're a good snack if you're losing weight, popcorn too (though it depends what you add to it). Both are pretty much 0% fat.

At the end of the day though it's small, permanent changes that will work in the long term rather than extreme short term diet plans.

[Guest treader.]

I could write you up a pretty sweet fitness programme/diet thats not too hard to do?

Least I could do, as you gave me your bike.

Im quite into my fitness and weight lifting etc, wrote one for my dad and he now weighs 18stone (having weighed 29 stone 18 months prior)

Go on then! Bear in mind I'm a vegetarian so the diet has to suit it.

But yeah, that would be really cool of you if you could do that. How is the bike anyway?!

[Dan G]

Ignore who ever said do sit-ups.

You can only lose fat 'generally', not from a specific part of your body - so although you might build muscle around your abs, the fat loss would be almost non-existent as sit-ups burn very few calories compared to cardio or compound muscle moves such as squats and deadlifts. At the very best, doing a 1000 sit-ups a day would give you a six-pack that no-one could see until you lose every inch of the fat covering it.

This is probably just re-iterating what other's have said, but a few very important tips would be:

Eat 6 smaller meals a day, rather than three larger ones. Fruit, nuts and fat free yogurts being good "smaller" meals. Your motabolism gets a 10% increase when you eat, and this way you are constantly fuelling your body, rather than overloading it with energy it doesn't need.

Replace white bread/pasta with wholemeal.

Eat foods high in mono/polyunsaturated fat - eg nuts, olive oil, oily fish. Although high in calories, it actually breaks down saturated fat stored in your body.

Drink more water.

At least 7-8 Hours sleep a night.

When running, rather than just jogging for 10-20 minutes; do 2 minutes at 40% followed by 30 seconds of 80% maximum exertion. Repeat 5 times. The "sprints" really get your motabolism and heart working more than going at say a 50-60% constant speed.

Ultimately it's maths though - burn off more calories than you consume and you WILL lose weight. However, don't do this through starvation as the human body is very good at adapting - so if you cut your intake down to 1000 calories a day, your body will soon adapt to being able to live off this and not lose weight.

I'd aim to be eating 2000 calories through a balanced diet, with an hour of excerise 4 days a week.

[Lemonade]

At least 7-8 Hours sleep a night.

How does that help you lose weight?

[scottyboy]

Ignore who ever said do sit-ups.

You can only lose fat 'generally', not from a specific part of your body - so although you might build muscle around your abs, the fat loss would be almost non-existent as sit-ups burn very few calories compared to cardio or compound muscle moves such as squats and deadlifts. At the very best, doing a 1000 sit-ups a day would give you a six-pack that no-one could see until you lose every inch of the fat covering it.

Agree with this. Sit-ups don't really work your abs. Crunches are better but still not very effective. Much better to do stuff like squats and deadlifts, which are more efficient and work pretty much everything.

[Scootray]

It gives your body a chance to recover properly for the next day.

EDIT: That was in reply to Lucky Rathen.

[Guest Hobo]

How does that help you lose weight?

Your body does most of its repairs during sleep. When you are excercising you are creating tiny rips in your muscles which are repaired during sleep.

Protein helps the repair process which is why you should eat a high protein meal after weight training

Too little sleep is bad

Too much sleep is bad

I find having a nap of maybe 30 mins to an hour at about 6pm helps

and what tubthumper said

[girl anachronism]

What kind of meals were you eating?!

I'm a vegetarian and I usually find I'm still hungry after meals so I eat crisps and chocolate and all that blah de blah.

Dude, if you like mushrooms then I recommend putting them in dishes if you're feeling hungry, I feel they fill me up a heck of a lot more than tofu or whatever if I'm substituting for meat in a dish. Some nice chestnuts, porcinis or portobellas.

I've lost quite a bit of weight since I turned vegan 'cause I really started to think about what I was eating and had to cook for myself. Can send you some recipes if you like. Good luck!

[Indie King]

eat apples.

if you're hungry between meals, eat an apple. great to keep the hunger at bay (for a while anyway). I read somewhere once that when you eat an apple you burn more calories than the apple contains. magic way of weaning yourself from snacking between meals.

[Guest treader.]

same goes for celery and green tea. more calories to digest it than it contains.

shame i dont like celery or green tea.

[Indie King]

same goes for celery and green tea. more calories to digest it than it contains.

shame i dont like celery or green tea.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm celery sticks....

i'd rather not eat to be honest!

thankfully apples taste good. there's loads of lists of similar foods that use more calories than it contains - probably worth a look.

[Ollie]

Hi,

I've started running around a track and walking a lot ( 1hour and a half walk every day). I have found that keeping active and keeping the beer intake as low as possible helps. Find stuff to do.

But being 'thin' is not everything - feeling healthy is. If you are slightly overweight don't worry. Try and eat good food and stay off the beer. I am trying to use Vodka and Soju (Korean rice wine) as a substitute to beer. I don't know if vodka has many calories though.

Ollie out

[Guest treader.]

According to my BMI, I'm only slightly overweight, which is sorta comforting.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

According to my BMI, I'm only slightly overweight, which is sorta comforting.

How do you work this out? I'm pretty sure I'm at about the correct weight, but would be good to find out....

[Guest treader.]

google "BMI calculator" and then punch in your height and weight and whatever else it asks.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

google "BMI calculator" and then punch in your height and weight and whatever else it asks.

hmm - what else may it ask? Sexual preference etc?

I actually found it on the BBC website after my post. Turns out I'm in the "healthy" bracket. Strangely, I can be "healthy" if I'm anything between 9 stone and 12 stone. Comforting to know I can pile on a stone and a half and still be healthy. Bring on the xmas season......

[Scootray]

BMI is a load of pish.

It takes no account of muscle mass whatsoever.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

BMI is a load of pish.

It takes no account of muscle mass whatsoever.

Kind of thought that. My mum's a practice nurse and I remember her years ago telling me how she had to keep telling this guy who came in for check ups that he was clinically obese, but then telling him to not worry about it because he was quite clearly not obese - he was a bodybuilder, and well, muscly as fuck, not a pinch of fat on him.

[Guest treader.]

Yeah, and pretty much every rugby player ever would be super obese.

Anyways, it says I'm JUST overweight so I'm sticking with it. !!!

[Dan G]

same goes for celery and green tea. more calories to digest it than it contains.

shame i dont like celery or green tea.

This "fact" is actually completely wrong.

Celery has very few calories, but it is a total myth that it burns more calories digesting it.

I read somewhere once that when you eat an apple you burn more calories than the apple contains. magic way of weaning yourself from snacking between meals.

And this is DEFINITELY wrong.

Apples are full of natural sugars, which is effectively carbohydrate. There is about 50 - 80calories in an apple, which is roughly the same as half a can of coke.