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Gauging Interest in a Weight Loss Challenge.

global_dev said:
Hydration is transient. water weight comes and goes.

Iirc Its the chemical conversion of fat to C02 thats the issue.
Click to expand...
Another thing I probably remember wrong: fat cells don't go away; they shrink. Yet another reason for me to cut down on sugar! And I THINK that a pound of fat requires a mile? of blood vessels to feed it. I'm probably wrong on that. But we are INCREDIBLE machines, designed for great things. We are our own worst mechanics when it comes to maintenance!
 
Factors in dieting

Calories
By far the most important factor in weight loss is simply consuming fewer calories. How you go about it is up to you.
At the simplest level it's just eating less than you were before the diet. And that will work great for many people, especially in the beginning.

You can get more deliberate with calorie tracking as time goes on. There are numerous apps out there to help you get started.

Whatever fad diet promoters may be telling you, the science here is clear, fat is comes from caloric surplus (eating more calories than you are burning), so does muscle, but you generally need to do resistance training to help insure that some of that surplus will turn into muscle. No matter what you do, how hard you train, it will never all go to muscle, fat will come along for the ride, and at best in about a 50-50 ratio.

That doesn't mean fad diets don't work, they do, but it's because they also get you to eat less by restricting certain food groups. No the favorite bad food group is carbohydrates. At the end of the day, pick a diet that you think you'll stick to, the rest is about calorie restriction.

Ideally, you'll just eat a normal balanced diet.

Knowing you're eating enough less food is also simple. Just weigh yourself regularly, ideally at the same time every day.
First thing in the morning, after going to the toilet is best, since it keeps things consistent.

Don't let day to day fluctuations of the scale throw you off, they happen and are TOTALLY normal. It's the average, the trend line that matters.

Exercise
Exercise is far less important that people tend to think. Yes, it's good for you, and recommended, but 30 minutes on the treadmill will only burn a cookie or so worth of calories, so it will never be 'the big gun' like simply eating less will.

However, since when calories are restricted, the body doesn't just loose fat mass, it also looses muscle mass, resistance training of some sort is a good idea, as it sends the body a signal that says 'I need that muscle, burn more fat instead'.

Rate of Weight Loss
Slow and steady really is the name of the game here. Loose weight too fast by making drastic cuts in calories will tend to have two negative effects.

One is you'll loose much more muscle mass than you would on a slower diet.

Two is, you're much more likely to rebound, binge eat, and gain back more fat than you started with, and be left with even less muscle mass, since you lost that by dieting too fast. A double loose deal there.

The Biggest Looser mentality is the absolute worst. People who are in this business hate that show, it's encourages all the worst behaviors.

Typical recommendations are to loose about 0.5-1% of bodyweight per week. The means if you weigh 200 lbs, you'd be loosing 1-2 lbs/ week. Maybe 8 lbs over the course of a month.

Of course if you're quite overweight, faster weight loss in the beginning is ok. And a further compounding factor is you'll often loose a lot of water weight in the beginning of a diet, especially if you're dong a low carb type diet. So what often happens is you'll see a rapid weight loss for a week or two, then a plateau. So it's after those first couple of easy weeks that the scale becomes important, and small reductions in calories if needed.

Diet Duration
Depending on how much you're looking to loose, you might consider breaking your diet up into manageable chunks, going more than about 3 months is mentally really hard, and again can easily lead to the rebound effect.

Maintenance
This might be one of the hardest lessons to learn. When your reduced calorie diet is over, that doesn't mean you go back to where you were before the diet.

Slowly ramp food back up, over a course of a few weeks. Again due to water retention, you may put some weight back on quickly, let it settle and the add more food. If you see the scale go up a little, you know you're past your weight maintenance calories, so just reduce it a touch.

Bonus topic - NEAT

There's a common misconception that some people put on weight more easily. And also that if you loose a lot of weight your metabolism will slow down.

There is SOME truth to that, but it's actually a fairly small contribution.

What winds up being the big factor is Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Another words, just your daily activity, getting up out of your chair, fidgeting you leg while you read this, etc.

As people diet, NEAT tends to go down, sometimes way down. However this activity actually burns a lot of calories, because it's happening all the time. So you might notice that suddenly you don't feel like getting up off the sofa, do listen to that.

If you have one, use a step counter, and get those steps up. They actually contribute way more than you think.

That's the big stuff, hope it helps.
 
Last edited:
HMan said:
Factors in dieting

Calories
By far the most important factor in weight loss is simply consuming fewer calories. How you go about it is up to you.
At the simplest level it's just eating less than you were before the diet. And that will work great for many people, especially in the beginning.

You can get more deliberate with calorie tracking as time goes on. There are numerous apps out there to help you get started.

Whatever fad diet promoters may be telling you, the science here is clear, fat is comes from caloric surplus (eating more calories than you are burning), so does muscle, but you generally need to do resistance training to help insure that some of that surplus will turn into muscle. No matter what you do, how hard you train, it will never all go to muscle, fat will come along for the ride, and at best in about a 50-50 ratio.

That doesn't mean fad diets don't work, they do, but it's because they also get you to eat less by restricting certain food groups. No the favorite bad food group is carbohydrates. At the end of the day, pick a diet that you think you'll stick to, the rest is about calorie restriction.

Ideally, you'll just eat a normal balanced diet.

Knowing you're eating enough less food is also simple. Just weigh yourself regularly, ideally at the same time every day.
First thing in the morning, after going to the toilet is best, since it keeps things consistent.

Don't let day to day fluctuations of the scale throw you off, they happen and are TOTALLY normal. It's the average, the trend line that matters.

Exercise
Exercise is far less important that people tend to think. Yes, it's good for you, and recommended, but 30 minutes on the treadmill will only burn a cookie or so worth of calories, so it will never be 'the big gun' like simply eating less will.

However, since when calories are restricted, the body doesn't just loose fat mass, it also looses muscle mass, resistance training of some sort is a good idea, as it sends the body a signal that says 'I need that muscle, burn more fat instead'.

Rate of Weight Loss
Slow and steady really is the name of the game here. Loose weight too fast by making drastic cuts in calories will tend to have two negative effects.

One is you'll loose much more muscle mass than you would on a slower diet.

Two is, you're much more likely to rebound, binge eat, and gain back more fat than you started with, and be left with even less muscle mass, since you lost that by dieting too fast. A double loose deal there.

The Biggest Looser mentality is the absolute worst. People who are in this business hate that show, it's encourages all the worst behaviors.

Typical recommendations are to loose about 0.5-1% of bodyweight per week. The means if you weigh 200 lbs, you'd be loosing 1-2 lbs/ week. Maybe 8 lbs over the course of a month.

Of course if you're quite overweight, faster weight loss in the beginning is ok. And a further compounding factor is you'll often loose a lot of water weight in the beginning of a diet, especially if you're dong a low carb type diet. So what often happens is you'll see a rapid weight loss for a week or two, then a plateau. So it's after those first couple of easy weeks that the scale becomes important, and small reductions in calories if needed.

Diet Duration
Depending on how much you're looking to loose, you might consider breaking your diet up into manageable chunks, going more than about 3 months is mentally really hard, and again can easily lead to the rebound effect.

Maintenance
This might be one of the hardest lessons to learn. When your reduced calorie diet is over, that doesn't mean you go back to where you were before the diet.

Slowly ramp food back up, over a course of a few weeks. Again due to water retention, you may put some weight back on quickly, let it settle and the add more food. If you see the scale go up a little, you know you're past your weight maintenance calories, so just reduce it a touch.

That's the big stuff, hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Basically, once at “optimal” weight strive for a zero caloric balance. Do the same for getting to that weight but you need to be determined and patient. Then make it habit. Took me a year to lose 30 pounds.
 
Well isn’t that always the case. After a Summer of nonstop NOM-NOM-NOM we started a diet here as Villa S and are down over 20 pounds a piece...even the cat has lost a 1 1/2 pounds. So I’ll be along for moral support as I need a couple of pounds to hit my fighting weight. Diet, exercise and of course following Sam @woodpusher example of no booze during the week and enjoying a dram on the weekend. It has helped a lot Sam! However, we ARE doing Portuguese tarts and a fine coffee you and I if restrictions permit before Christmas!
 
With the crazy numbers we're seeing, Ed, I'll take a raincheck until sometime in the spring.

Weightloss in a nutshell: Take in less calories than you burn.

I'll be happy to put on 10 lbs, as long as it is not on the waistline.
 
woodpusher said:
With the crazy numbers we're seeing, Ed, I'll take a raincheck until sometime in the spring.

Weightloss in a nutshell: Take in less calories than you burn.

I'll be happy to put on 10 lbs, as long as it is not on the waistline.
Click to expand...
No worries buddy we will break bread in the Spring.
 
Cole has a lot of really good info in his post. The one thing that I absolutely love about what he said is find something that you can stick to and then do it. It doesn't do you any good to do a diet and then realize it is so restrictive that you give up on it two weeks later.

We are all very different and there are many paths to becoming healthy. That should be the goal here...to get healthy. Don't get caught up o just the scale. A lot of good things can happen with the body even if the scale isn't moving...or even if it is going the wrong way.

My last go around into weight loss I had wonderful results. But it wasn't because I was focused on losing weight (believe I was excited about that too), but it was because I pulled myself from the brink of that "D" word and healed myself through nutrition and a little exercise.

Here are a couple of things I like to emphasize through my experiences.

You can't outrun the fork! Like Cole said in his post. You can exercise for hours on end, and all that you did was burn off that honeybun you got out of the vending machine. The majority of weight loss happens through diet.

Eat REAL food. Things that are not processed (or processed very little) tend to be better for you. Things out of a box usually contain poor ingredients, Highly Refined Carbs, really bad fats, and tons of sugar. I really like a Paleo type approach to eating...if it didn't grow in the ground or have a face at one time...you probably shouldn't eat it. Obviously there are exceptions. But you get the idea.

I am sure there is a lot more to share with you guys at a later date. Just some things to think about before we kick things off!

One more thing...I highly recommend you get blood work done with your doctor before or just shortly after you start (before would be best). That way you can really see how healthy you are getting in six months to a year when you get another one. I get one every six months. I recommend at a minimum asking your doc to get a Lipid Panel (cholesterol), HBA1C, Fasting Glucose, Insulin, and Vitamin D levels checked. Your insurance should cover all of these. Your doc will want a few other things Like a CBC, Metabolic Panel, and maybe a Thyroid test. Before I went into my journey in 2018...I did this and still do. It proves VERY helpful and educational.

Good Luck Guys!
 
dangerousdon said:
Cole has a lot of really good info in his post. The one thing that I absolutely love about what he said is find something that you can stick to and then do it. It doesn't do you any good to do a diet and then realize it is so restrictive that you give up on it two weeks later.

We are all very different and there are many paths to becoming healthy. That should be the goal here...to get healthy. Don't get caught up o just the scale. A lot of good things can happen with the body even if the scale isn't moving...or even if it is going the wrong way.

My last go around into weight loss I had wonderful results. But it wasn't because I was focused on losing weight (believe I was excited about that too), but it was because I pulled myself from the brink of that "D" word and healed myself through nutrition and a little exercise.

Here are a couple of things I like to emphasize through my experiences.

You can't outrun the fork! Like Cole said in his post. You can exercise for hours on end, and all that you did was burn off that honeybun you got out of the vending machine. The majority of weight loss happens through diet.

Eat REAL food. Things that are not processed (or processed very little) tend to be better for you. Things out of a box usually contain poor ingredients, Highly Refined Carbs, really bad fats, and tons of sugar. I really like a Paleo type approach to eating...if it didn't grow in the ground or have a face at one time...you probably shouldn't eat it. Obviously there are exceptions. But you get the idea.

I am sure there is a lot more to share with you guys at a later date. Just some things to think about before we kick things off!

One more thing...I highly recommend you get blood work done with your doctor before or just shortly after you start (before would be best). That way you can really see how healthy you are getting in six months to a year when you get another one. I get one every six months. I recommend at a minimum asking your doc to get a Lipid Panel (cholesterol), HBA1C, Fasting Glucose, Insulin, and Vitamin D levels checked. Your insurance should cover all of these. Your doc will want a few other things Like a CBC, Metabolic Panel, and maybe a Thyroid test. Before I went into my journey in 2018...I did this and still do. It proves VERY helpful and educational.

Good Luck Guys!
Click to expand...
So true. My exercise regimen of twenty miles walking per week consists of daily visits to the butcher, bakery, and produce store. I also use a PO Box forcing me to walk to pick up my mail. Five mile average per day like the hunters and gatherers of old. Everything is hauled in a canvas ditty bag.
 
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