Taking a step onto my scale for the first time in years was quite a shock...
While I've never been athletic, I was overweight for only short periods of my life and have mostly been able to maintain a constant state of reasonable fitness. Over the last two years this has changed and - due to various reasons - I began gaining fat. It was visible, but nowhere near alarming - I thought. Considering that I don't lift weights, I always had pretty broad shoulders and a pretty bulky chest - a fact that offset the visual estimate of how much fat I actually gained. Since I did not weigh myself as a principle^1, the visual state of my body was the only measurement I had at hand.
Yesterday, for the first time in maybe 5 years (I'm 27y/o), I did step on the scale and was pretty shocked. While I was - visually - clearly overweight and at an all-time maximum, I heavily (pun intended) underestimated my actual weight. Turns out that I actually weigh 99kg at a height of 181cm (or 218 lbs at a height of 5ft 11in). That puts me at a BMI of 30.2, moderately obese. I don't even want to know how much I weighed in early December, just before I picked up a strict workout routine again.
Lessons learned: Even though I found body weight to be a less than ideal guidance for my fitness level, relying on my visual appearance alone did fail me and hence has to be changed.
My goals: Losing weight is not my primary goal. Rather I want to regain a reasonable fitness level and additional core strength to support my back during my working day. That being said, losing weight is obviously a necessary (but not sufficient) requirement that has to be met to achieve this goal. Since weight (and hence BMI) is very easy to track, I therefore declare a BMI of < 25 as the official goal for this personal mission.
My approach: I am in a quite unusual situation here. Since I already knew that I was overweight, I started and kept track of a workout routine back in early December. Most of my workout, for now, will be cardio and most of it will be on an elliptical trainer. I do plan on rotating my cardio workout every other month though and next I'd like to switch to a rowing machine. Other than cardio, I need to redefine my diet. I've been vegan for quite some time but switched to being vegetarian roughly at the same time I started gaining weight. This is not at all a coincidence as being a vegetarian led me to consume way more chocolate/candy bars/desserts - simply because of their availability. Or rather, as a vegan there simply were not desserts/sweets to be had, unless I consciously decided to buy them for myself. Hence the easiest step towards my goal is to stop eating sweets and desserts. Other than that, I will decide what to eat on any given day at least 24h in advance (allowing for very few exceptions) so that I can consciously decide which meals to eat instead of blindly satisfying my cravings. I will, however, only start counting calories^2 in case this approach doesn't lose me at least 3lbs within the next month. Losing weight, while necessary, is not a priority. Instead I want to reorganize myself as to promote a healthier life style which I can easily maintain for years and decades, not months. Counting calories is just too annoying and I cannot imagine doing that for the next 10,20,50... years.
Finally, let me share a graph of my HIIT cardio workout on the elliptical machine for the last couple of weeks with you: http://imgur.com/o2WSZnw
As you can see, there are only two entries of my BMI thus far. But, from now on, I will track its bumpy decline...
^1 one that I now dropped
edit: ^2 Alright, you convinced me. I will - beginning today - count all calories I am consuming. Following your suggestions, I created an MFP account and I'd now like to hear suggestions on my caloric allowance per day. To summarize the relevant data: I plan to have 5 sessions of cardio per week (I'm not entirely set on the duration, but for the last 6 weeks it has been 32minutes per session), I am 181cm tall at 99kg (5ft 11in at 218lbs) and I want to reduce my weight to 80kg (176lbs), let's say over the course of 10-12 months.
Posted Jan 18, 2017, 12:14 PM UTC · edited
First of all, it is generally very difficult to lose weight if you refuse to count calories. I would recommend the following.
Read the FAQ. Calculate your TDEE (which you may already have done). There is a link to one in the FAQ or you can search up one on Google. There are tons of them.
Download MyFitnessPal (an app) to track your caloric intake and your macros (carbs:protein:fat consumed). To start, just focus on calories, but if you want to track your macros, I would recommend starting with a 50:20:30 ratio. Other alternatives to MFP include TactioHealth and the FitBit app.
Give us your stats by updating your flair with your height, gender, current weight, starting weight, and goal weight.
Once you calculate your TDEE, I would suggest starting by eating at a 500 calorie deficit. This equals one pound per week of weight loss (it will be more at first, but it will slow down to that).
Eat your veggies. They fill you up because they are a high volume/low calorie food and are VERY nutritious. Fruits are also a good option.
Also stock up on protein from a variety of sources. This should be a mix of plant and animal proteins (unless you are a vegetarian, of course). Good choices include chicken breast, fish, beans, lentils, eggs, tofu, nuts, and seeds. Try to stick mostly to white meat rather than red meat.
If you're going to exercise, I would recommend Simply Protein bars/chips. That's right, protein chips. Yummy. They have a really high protein to calorie ratio too (better than most protein supplements). There is also a company called Melaleuca. You have to order from them online, but they have some really good protein supplements (they also have chips, bars, and shakes). Other brands that I have tried and liked include Epic Protein, PlantFusion (really high protein/calorie), and Vega One. The last two are vegan for sure, if that is a factor for you, but I'm not sure about the other ones. If those are too pricey for you, throwing some hemp seeds into a smoothie works quite well too.
Don't be scared of fats. They should account for at least 15% of your macronutrient intake. There are healthy fats and unhealthy fats. Unhealthy fats include trans and saturated fats. They can be found in deep fried foods, fast foods, meat (esp. red meat), potato chips, and other junk food. Healthy fats include monounsaturated fat and omega-3s, among others, and can be found in nuts, seeds, fish, avocados, etc.
Head over to r/1200isplenty or r/vegan1200isplenty (vegans tend to have a lot of low-calorie meal ideas ;).
You don't need to exercise to lose weight, but cardio really helps keep your calorie total down and strength exercise will give you a toned body rather than a flabby stomach when you hit your goal weight. For cardio (such as elliptical, treadmill, stationary bike), if you're a beginner, I would suggest starting with 15 minutes at least 3 times per week and increasing as you go along. For strength, go to a website called DARABEE, go to their exercise programs, and start with the Foundation or Foundation Light program.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but a lot of people come here looking for a quick fix or expecting this to be easy. I'm warning you right now that it's not. Your motivation will die down and you will be forced to rely on discipline. Weight loss is hard work, and you will have bad days. With determination, you can push past them and be successful, but again, there is no easy way out.
Again, READ THE FAQ. If you have questions or I haven't covered something, let me know.
I appreciate your comment, although I must admit that it clearly being a standard response you pasted here felt a bit weird. And yes, I fully acknowledge the amount of work it will take to achieve my goal. That is precisely the reason I don't consider this to be a dash to some virtual finish line but an overall change of my lifestyle. Let me also say that I carefully read the FAQs before posting and that I did my research. I do think that I designed a pretty reasonable method to achieve my goals which - guided by the data points I will track - will be adapted on a monthly basis. If it turns out that counting calories is necessary, I will do that. Until then, the sheer horror of this perspective will serve as additional motivation.
In defence of snowflake, a standard response works because all bodies fundamentally work based on the same principal laws of physics. I'd actually reckon that's the comedy of his/her name - (s)he is the 25911th special little snowflake, distinguishable only in number.
In defence of Calorie counting, I probably spend a cumulative 10 minutes per day on it, and that's entering complete and often-complicated recipes. It's minimal effort, the biggest difficulty is the fact that you have to hold yourself responsible for everything.
Don't get me wrong. I did mean it when I said that I appreciated their comment, i.e. there was absolutely no sarcasm intended. It seems like a very good idea to have some comment among those lines as a respond to a any new member. But it did make me feel weird and the reason for that is a discrepancy in the amount of research their comment assumes I have done (or rather that I have not done) and the actual amount of research I did. I would have been much more pleasant for them to ask me if I knew this and that, rather than to assume that I didn't. Clearly, this 'ideal' response does take more work and is less practical, which is the reason I do not want to complain about it. But I also didn't want to hide the fact that it did make me feel slightly uncomfortable.
i have no idea why u feel weird about getting great advice from an internet stranger. the information works well for most new people on this sub and the post covers stuff that probably the FAQ doesn't even cover. no offence or anything but saying that u feel uncomfortable is pretty rude towards them. i'd comment myself but it looks like other people have already summed it up. it's great that u want to cut down on desserts, but too many calories = no weight loss = bad for your health. it's also worth noting that diet typically impacts weight loss more than exercise. it's something like a 70/30 split (someone can correct me if I'm wrong).
U need to count calories, plain and simple. if youre exercising that much then i would recommend tracking your protein consumption as well. both can be done easily using MFP.
Hmm... I've actually never though of my username that way before, but I think I'll steal your interpretation if that's OK with you!
Yeah, basically I have a standard response and take out points that don't apply to a particular person. It's easier than rewording the same information time and time again and it covers a lot of the questions that this sub typically sees from newbies. I didn't mean for it to be rude, it's just easier and better than just referring them to the FAQ.
Like I said, I second CICO. It is pretty simple, but I agree that it makes you accountable to yourself, which isn't a bad thing.
It's certainly okay with me! Sorry, I seem to always try to find patterns and poetic language where there often is none - DAMN ENGLISH CLASSES!
Fair enough, just be aware that, generally speaking, most people on this sub are pro CICO (acronym for calorie counting) because most, including myself, have tried to lose weight by just eating healthy and been unsuccessful. This is for two reasons. First of all, you can overeat been if the foods that you are eating are healthy, and most people underestimate how much they are eating. For example, a handful of nuts can have over 300 calories even though nuts have healthy fats, etc. Weight loss depends on quantity. The media likes to portray weight loss as being the sum of little tweaks here and there when in reality it is, for the most part, a concerted, religious effort. Second, most people who make lifestyle changes with weight loss in mind can't stick to it because it's too much change too quickly. Some people are "cold turkey" people, and that's fine, but most people are more successful when they take it one step at a time. Usually, they will start by counting calories, then start focusing on things like veggies and protein, and progress from there. When people try to change everything at once, they become discouraged and have the tendency to go back to old habits. If you are successful, then great! We are happy for you. Just keep CICO in the back of your mind.
I see what you're trying to accomplish, but u/snowflake25911 is bang on. A LOT of people come to this sub thinking that calorie counting isn't that important. Granted, some of them are successful, but the majority aren't. I wasn't. I just thought that if I started eating my veggies and traded in my morning bagel for a healthy yogurt, the weight would slowly but surely come off. I did end up eating a lot healthier than I had been before, but I'm pretty sure that during that attempt I actually gained a couple of pounds :/.
Long story short, you need to track your calories if you want to lose weight. Good luck.
While I am not exactly thrilled about counting my calories, I am convinced that your opinion (i.e. the opinion of r/loseit ) is the superior one. Hence I decided to reconsider my initial plan, incorporate counting calories into it and set up a MFP account. I'm now asking for advice about the caloric goal I should set for myself. Please see the edit of my initial post.
http://www.calculators.org/health/weight-loss.php
This is a good calculator, as is the one linked in the FAQ, which again, explains how calorie deficits are calculated. You can enter your stats and goal date and it will give you an estimation of how many calories you should consume. Just remember to put "desk job" in as your activity level.
Thanks. Earlier today I talked to people in the #loseit IRC channel and they helped me to check few key aspects of my updated approach. We calculated a caloric allowance of 1790 kcal per day that is intended to be updated every 10lbs of weight loss. I redid the calculation with the calculator you provided and they both agree (with a negligible difference of 50 kcal).
Excellent. If I were you, I'd start with 1290 per day and adjust from there depending on whether that's easy/hard for you to maintain and how quickly you want to lose. Also, since your budget will be around 1200, I would again recommend r/1200isplenty and r/vegan1200isplenty.