weight loss group

[Big Al]

3500 calories are regarded as 1 pound of fat over a week or 500 per day which is as little as 4 slices of toast without marg or 3 eggs or 6 plain digestive biscuits or 4 thick cut rashers of bacon. So for eco mick who is a trucker, 1 egg sarnie and one bacon sarnie missed per day is your goal [ i mean punishment, sorry].

You seem to know lots about it - so I guess you'll be keeping us on track!

I was supremely fit, in the army, ran 25 miles a day, cycled 30 + miles a day got my wings and then started training to join with some " other blokes". I started to do halo jumping and then I broke my back and my life ended at 23. for the last 1/4 of a century I have been fighting with my weight and other things so yes i do know a lot about weight loss ( or the theory behind it ) but now is the time I need to practice what I can preach. If I can be of help then that's ok if not then that's ok too.

PBF, new year new change. Either put less on your plate and eat all of it or use a smaller plate. To give my darling Mrs BA it was her idea on the smaller plate and it really, really does work.... just don't pile it high in the middle of the plate,

Penny lane,

Don't need to buy new scales. Many doctors will now have scales in their surgeries or waiting rooms for patients use free of charge. They also have nurses who should be available to weigh you each week, fortnight, month etc if you ask them to. Another way is to measure your body with a tape measure. Good points to measure at are WAIST at the belly button, CHEST at the nipples [ men and women] BICEPS mid way between elbow and shoulder, THIGH mid way between knee and hip and CALF mid way between knee and ankle. write these down and you can measure at monthly intervals.
Another way is by the way your clothes fit or hang on your body. Your belt having to be fastned on a tighter belt hole.

Another tip for the fitter people is to find a hill near where you live or work and take three points. One at the bottom, one mid way, one at the top. Walk up it as fast as you can and time your assent. Also write down how easy it is / how you feel. repeat either weekly, two weetkly or monthly etc and compare the differences.

Weight loss is only good if you are aiming for this. For me body composition is more important. I don't mind being 20 stone provided it is muscle and not viserol fat etc.

Hope this helps a bit.

[greenorelse]

as for the keeping you going at work have you tried munching on trail mix? not every ones cup of tea but the nuts and raisins contain a fair bit of energy and surely that has to be better than bleached sugar?

Or one of my favourite combinations, dates and pecans, yum.

[Big Al]

I've put up a disclaimer on the first post. Can you all read it please.

Not been asked to by admin etc but just to cover my fat [ soon to be skinny ] bum.

[Mr and Mrs luvpie]

gah what a rubbish day, we got biscuits to cheer ourselves up, we had just been told that the family car is going to cost £300+ and when we went to pick it up the clutch on robs car has gone so now waiting for the breakdown swervice to collect it and take it to the garage so we can pick up the other one.

on a plus side has made us thin about going down to one car so will mean rob using it for work and me doing lots more walking!

[crowsashes]

I tried them before as not keen... but tastes changed since I did it last 4 years ago.. Where can I find Yogi teas in shops? Gerenally it would be nice to find a selection box of different flavours so I can try each one (waste buying a box of 40 and only use 1?)

try the twinings site, they usually send out free samples send offfor some and maybe send one to a friend/family member who will happily let you do it so you can try a wider sample.

[crowsashes]

oh and another point on portion control - really consider investing in a set of cup measures . i only have 1 half cup measure as the rest have gone walk about.

1 cup is the average portion for uncooked porridge and rice for example. im sure with a bit of research the ideal portions in cups could be found.

it does help make sure you dont over fill when cooking leaving less chance to overeat once its cooked AND you dont have to mess about with scales weighing stuff!

[fran]

I'm in I had two and a half stone to lose last Friday, but I have been on a sensible diet and have lost 2lbs so far
Next weigh-in will be Friday.

[Helsbells]

I am in too, I am currently 12 stone and about 3lbs. I really need to do exercise, I just can't motivate myself.

[Big Al]

I am in too, I am currently 12 stone and about 3lbs. I really need to do exercise, I just can't motivate myself.

Welcome to the group. Who needs SW or WW when you have ishloss. Obviously there are two groups when it comes to fitness and exercise. Those like me who would willingly thrash their bodies to within an inch of their lives and those who don't like it. Both have their problems but for the non starters it is easier to start slowly and find something you like to do. What do you like to do hellsbells?
What do others like to do?

As for motivation think of a picture of you in a slinky dress getting admiring looks etc if you lose the few pounds you need to then this dress idea might be possible. That might be a motivator. health for me is a motivator. I will be diabetic some day but the longer I can postpone it the better. Also I would love to shop at "normal shops" that do clothes in waists sizes of less than 38".

Motivation can be as simple as treating yourself to a bar of chocolate when you lose 7 pounds or getting into clothes you haven't worn for years. It's very easy to say I can't be bothered but think of the positive things losing weight can do for each of us and use that as a motivator. Think of the phrase CANEI [ pronounced can I ] it stands for consistant and never ending improvement. Put up old pictures of you when you were slimmer or younger on the cupboardss, pictures of dresses or suits you would like to wear, pictures of physical muscles if you want to be a body builder eventually.

If you use a bus get on a stop later or off a stop earlier and walk. If you use a car, park it in the furthest corner away from where you want to be but pay attention to the time of departure as it needs to be safe to return to your car. carry shopping bags with your hands and not your wrists also if you hold the bag in your hand and raise your hands so the arm is bent slightly, say at 135 deg or between horozontal and straight down. this brings into play the biceps muscle and tones them up for nothing.

Buy a 2 pound bag of sugar and look at it every day and tell yourself that you WILL lose this each week. If you don't then don't be down but redouble your efforts to get back on track. Any activity is good for you so don't be hard on yourselves. if you are going upstairs to put the washing or ironing away do it in 3 or 4 goes instead of carrying one big load up. walk the dog a bit longer or a bit faster. The advice is to be slightly out of breath but still able to hold a conversation. [ just watch out for odd looks if you have a conversation with yourself] the spring will soon be here so those who dig can get exercise that way. everyone should keep a patch of earth that needs digging over. good exercise and a proven stress buster as it releases endorephins. maybe have a go at making bird boxes or hedgehog houses but use a manual saw rather than a power tool.

What do other people use to motivate themselves when they can't be bothered?

[eco-mick]

Well I popped on the scales this morning and was 3lb lighter

See it though to the next bit.. now my feed for the day was as follows: (Gone cold turkey on the tea/sugar front )

Brekkie - 2 slices of toast and glass of orange juice
Dinner - Some fruit and a glass of milk
Tea - Oven Baken Sea Bass (with herbs) on a bed of rice/peas - pud is 3 spoons of Organic Ice Cream as a treat for the work done in the garden today - 2-3 hours of work digging etc.

Tea was bloody lovelly as I ain't had sea bass since I went to Rhodes 3 years ago - cooked off another fish with it at the same time which I will have tomorrow at dinner. But tomorrow evening I will be cooking up a fish pie with prawns (as I am eating my way through the freezer as got far too much in there lol)

For those who got smart phones, I have downloaded a weight reminder that asks me to put in my weight once everyday and it plots it out on a graph on the phone. Think its a good idea :D

[sleepyowl]

any ideas for a high protein low fat diet & I don't mean the atkin's diet either, I tend to find too much meat doesn't agree with me, as does an absence of it. (I decided to go veggie once & my body pretty much told me where to get off)

[Big Al]

Well done ecomick but I'd be careful of weighing yourself every day. Once a week is well enough because you might have had a good few days then your body kicks off and you put on more than you have lost in the previous days and get dispondant. Then the next day you get rid of a load of rubbish and you are back feeling good. Too many negative days and you will give up.

What was the calories in your meals yesterday?

Sleepyowl,

Higher protien meals keep the hunger pangs at bay longer so you might like to try for breakfast : 2 rashers of thick cut bacon, 2 slices of brown bread, 1 or 2 eggs [ bearing in mind for choresterol you should have no more than 3 eggs per week] and trea or coffee / fruit tea bags with no sugar.


Lunch how about chicken breast butterflied then place a few slices of lemon on the breast, roll up and wrap in clingfilm and steam for a few minutes. Serve with a large salad and a cinnamon and raisen bagel with a small scrape of marg.

For Tea,
6oz stewing Steak slow cooled with onions, mushrooms, sweet peppers, garlic and seasoning. Served with mashed potatoes and 4 veg of your choice.

That lot is around 1600 calories but if you are doing this you might want to slice the chicken breast in half and mix it in the salad and keep half for the next day. Likewise the steak double the quantity and freeze a portion for another day.

Veggies can use torfu in place of chicken, veggie bacon and or sausages for breakfast and quorn for the evening meal allthough I don't know the calories for these.

[eco-mick]

Well done ecomick but I'd be careful of weighing yourself every day. Once a week is well enough because you might have had a good few days then your body kicks off and you put on more than you have lost in the previous days and get dispondant. Then the next day you get rid of a load of rubbish and you are back feeling good. Too many negative days and you will give up.

What was the calories in your meals yesterday?

Intersting you mention about not weighing everyday as that my thoughts too.. but this smart phone app promts a weigh in every morning to build up the graph (data tables). Will give it a go and see where is heads. I understand ups and downs but the guide did say when you see a jump up it focus the mind and makes you think.. oh what did I do wrong today and battle on that front. To make sure I am not missing out vital stuff in the diet I will be using supplements that I got last year on clearance where I work (all in date etc)

Have tapped in all what I've eaten last night into the app on the phone and it say I've eaten approx 1300cal in meals alone and what I did yesterday to stay alive burnt 4150cal so I am down approx -2880 cal (not going to work it out regarding fat loss as its too early)

Another 3 hours of gardening today to be done

[prison break fan]

Enjoying reading everyones' efforts. i think it really helps to share ideas and tips. I think you can become too obsessed with what the scales say. I would rather just check my waistband! Anyway, keep up the good work all, and Big Al, I had beans on toast for lunch! pbf.

[Milims]

Having read BA's thing about the fact that 500 calories is about 1Lb fat - or something like that - I looked up that calories in wine - it's somewhere around 500 calories - give or take. So last night in the stupormarket I contempated buying a bottle of wine, but imagined it in lard form instead - put me straight off the idea!