Weight Loss Tips Please

Over the past 15 months or so my running has been up and down due to injury and a new arrival at home.  I am about 3.5 stone over weight now and would like to lose 3 stone this year. When I am running I average out about 20 miles per week.   I know general diet things but does anyone have any tips or advice?  

Comments

  • Mike how much of 'general diet things' do you know ??

    You may think you are doing the right things, why dont you give us a general idea of what you eat and what you think are the right things so that someone can advise

    I would add that if you are used to running and have been fuelling for that successfully then you may have continued to eat for running when you were injured

  • Cut back on red meats and eat more chicken and fish, cut out snacks and replace with fruit and veg.  I always have either porridge or muesli for breakfast.   Alcohol in moderation. I'm not into take away food or fizzy drinks.

  • 20 miles burns about 2000 calories. So it's easier to control the calories going in - it's a damn sight easier to eat 1000 calories than it is to burn them off.



    Portion size is always a good thing. Work out what a portion should be. Most of us are a bit generous !image
  • Mike - best tip is to count everything honestly. make sure you're eating less than you are spending. To lose 1lb a week you need a deficit of around 3500 calories a week that's 500 a day. So track output and input and keep the right balance.

  • Ian MIan M ✭✭✭

    Use something like http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ for a couple of weeks to track *exactly* what you are eating and drinking and how many calories you're consuming vs. what's needed to loose weight. It should give you an insight as to where the excess is coming from. 

  • Diet is key, without sorting that out you will be swimming against the current weight loss wise no matter how much training you are doing.

    For me it's as cougie says, portion control (do I need that extra spoonful of stew or will 3 suffice?) and I also try to regulate my carb intake to earlier in the day, this way I am not going to bed with lots of un-burned fuel which will just turn to fat over night.

    image

  • Some easy ways to cut junk calories without majorly changing what you eat:



    Wholemeal bread instead of white

    Brown rice instead of white

    Skimmed milk

    Wholemeal pasta

    Chicken or fish when you have meat

    Water instead of fizzy/fruit juice. Even diet drinks and these 'zero calorie' flavoured water are full of crap.



    I lost 40lbs in 8 months by almost completely cutting out the carbs and hitting the gym and pretty much sticking to this probably 5 days out of 7:



    Breakfast - porridge

    Lunch - chicken/tuna salad

    Dinner - chicken/fish & fresh veg

    Snacks - apples, bananas, oranges.



    And that was still going on the piss most weekends like 23 year olds do, just avoiding the 3am takeaway. Good luck!
  • More sleep - it affects appetite and food choices.

    Smaller plates.

    Very little alcohol (it has calories and tends to tip you off the no-pies wagon) - I switched to very nice stuff very occasionally

    Weight training 

    My experience was that although exercise is top for keeping weight off that you have lost, I actually lost it with a slimming club. The one I went to let you go & get weighed for free if you were at your target weight, so I would typically set a target weight 7lbs-1 stone less than current weight, lose that, then keep it off for 4-6 months before trying to lose any more.

  • My Fitness Pal is great - it also allows you to keep an eye on the type of food you are eating.  For a lot of folks - cutting carbs - replacing with lean protein, helps to fill you up a bit better and help the calorie counting feel less harsh.   If you are running 20 miles a week then you don't need a high amount of starchy carbs in your diet anyway.

    Also, no booze or sports drinks etc etc (bit of a no brainer that one). 

    Eat tons of veg - apparently 'we' tend to eat a similar volume of food by habit so if lots of that volume is veg then overall your calorie count will be lower.

     

     

  • write everything down whether in a food diary or something like myfitness.........its the one thing that makes the biggest impact on successful weight loss

  • ^^ agreed it's what Nick said but a bit fluffier

    Eat less than 2000 calories daily and you will loose weight. You might not loose weight in the first day so don't just give up keep going. It's so easy to eat pointless calories without thinking about it,

    any non diet soft drinks are a waste of calories, deep fried anything is incredibly tasty but hopeless for a diet, 

    The hard thing is actually counting all your intake it's far to easy to forget about the odd nibble here n there, some things are awful from a diet perspective a packet of crisps would take up a huge chunk of your daily allowance. 

    if you find it easier don't diet from day 1 but count everything for the first week and then go eek image

    also the calories you earn running don't eat them... If you do then you won't loose weight and running 20 miles a week when overweight might be 2200 calories but if you drink sugary sports drinks 4 or 5 of them would easily match the 2200 calories, that you thought you lost when running. 

     

  • The best thing I learnt on joining weight watchers was portion control, I quickly realised that my portions were to big image

    If we are talking about actual cooking and saving calories tips.... Buy an Actifry or similar it's awesome i lost 6 stone having chips 3 times a week still in the actifry.  It's not as good as chip shop chips, but way better then oven cooked chips, and it's just a splash of oil.

  • I do no exercise at all and can still maintain/lose weight. I eat 5 times a day with plenty of protein but have pretty much stopped eating potatoes, bread, pasta etc. I eat more red meat than ever but smallish portions with lots of green beans, carrots, broccolli, roast squash. I have greek salads regularly for lunch with plenty of cheese and lots of lovely olive oil. I also get through lots of greek yoghurt, mostly the full fat stuff and I also eat loads of eggs. I avoid sugar - virtually no fruit, don't add any to drinks, no fizzy drinks and almond milk on my cereal (almost sugar free so better than cow's milk in that respect) - but I do make an exception for the occasional tipple! I don't measure or weigh my portions - I know what is reasonable and just ensure my plate has far more veg on it than meat. I'm not overweight but just a few pounds up on where I want to be, eating like this will mean a drop of about a pound or so a month, not a lot but that does also allow for the odd weekend binge. Also nuts (plain of course) make a very good snack - filling and plenty of healthy fat - don't avoid fat, just eat the right sort and amount.

  • Yeah but Peter - no exercise at all - that sounds awful. I would be bored rigid.

  • It is boring - it's not by choice!

  • Hello

    Some advice please. 5ft 9, 12, 5st. 4.09 Marathon. I want to lose 5pounds

    Currently average- average drinker, eats averagely healthy. Any tips and retaining enough energy to keep up the running.

    thanks

     

  • Cut out the alcohol?

  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    It depends what you call average drinking and eating averagely healthy diet.

    A little bit less of the bad stuff and a bit more running should help.
  • Hello all, picked up some really good tips and ideas from this - thank you all.  My fitness pal is something I will download.  Really funny, lots of stuff you already know but you just need a little memory nudge.  

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