Author Topic: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?  (Read 10775 times)

SotI

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #50 on: May 03, 2020, 01:06:57 AM »
Well, I am not the OP but as I indicated in this thread that I am facing the same challenge, let me share this with you:

Starting last week pretty much with this thread, I have tracked every bit I eat in a food tracker. My daily calorie reduction over the past 7 days was around 400 calories per day below my "recommended" calorie level. That led to a drop of 1.4 kg in scale weight until yesterday, most of which was cleary reduced water retention.
Today, my weight was up by 1.8 kg. So, weight-wise, I even "gained" 400 g more weight than before.

So, let's have a look at the food composition:  most days, my carbs were below 40% of nutritional value (typically one third, low glycemic values). Apart from Friday, which was very veggie-centric. There my carb ratio was a bit above 50%.

So, it's just anecdotal at this stage, but I reckon today I am seeing the water-storage effect of Friday's carbs. But I also see why people find dieting a tad frustrating ;-)

Side-note: I am middle-aged female of normal weight. I have not really been overweight or diet-prone in the past, so I normally have a balanced enough nutrition intake without having to think about it.  I just want to fit back into my clothes after the lock-down which clearly has messed up my natural balance. I admit to not being a sports crack (160 km on the bike would probably kill me, I am done after 30-40 km a day), but I do regular yoga for mobility purposes.


My conclusion from this week, btw, is going low carb for a month or so (maintaining the 400 cal deficit) and see if this works.


Spud

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #51 on: May 03, 2020, 01:47:17 AM »
I went on a 160 km bike ride today and lost 8 lbs.  :P

How long does the 160km ride take you? What's the total time you spend riding each week?

Metalcat

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #52 on: May 03, 2020, 06:18:59 AM »
Well, I am not the OP but as I indicated in this thread that I am facing the same challenge, let me share this with you:

Starting last week pretty much with this thread, I have tracked every bit I eat in a food tracker. My daily calorie reduction over the past 7 days was around 400 calories per day below my "recommended" calorie level. That led to a drop of 1.4 kg in scale weight until yesterday, most of which was cleary reduced water retention.
Today, my weight was up by 1.8 kg. So, weight-wise, I even "gained" 400 g more weight than before.

So, let's have a look at the food composition:  most days, my carbs were below 40% of nutritional value (typically one third, low glycemic values). Apart from Friday, which was very veggie-centric. There my carb ratio was a bit above 50%.

So, it's just anecdotal at this stage, but I reckon today I am seeing the water-storage effect of Friday's carbs. But I also see why people find dieting a tad frustrating ;-)

Side-note: I am middle-aged female of normal weight. I have not really been overweight or diet-prone in the past, so I normally have a balanced enough nutrition intake without having to think about it.  I just want to fit back into my clothes after the lock-down which clearly has messed up my natural balance. I admit to not being a sports crack (160 km on the bike would probably kill me, I am done after 30-40 km a day), but I do regular yoga for mobility purposes.


My conclusion from this week, btw, is going low carb for a month or so (maintaining the 400 cal deficit) and see if this works.

Yep. Weight over the short term is actually a terrible measure of duet success. Really, anything is.

I lost weight at a relatively steady pace for 4 years and tracked it closely. What I found was that I saw the effects of my eating a good 2 weeks afterwards.

So for example, if I was eating an excess for a length of time, say Christmas, then I wouldn't see any gain on the scale and think "wow, I didn't gain anything!" Then I would get my diet back in line and be quite strict for the next few weeks, but the scale would steadily climb. I would get frustrated and think "I don't gain when I eat like crap, but then I do gain when I maintain a calorie deficit, this is bullshit!"

After awhile the pattern became quite evident, and I became very patient. Figuring out that water fluctuations are hugely obscuring of results within the 2-4 week time range, I started looking at results on a longer time scale and stopped relating what I ate recently with the feedback numbers I was getting.

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #53 on: May 03, 2020, 08:14:20 AM »
I went on a 160 km bike ride today and lost 8 lbs.  :P

How long does the 160km ride take you? What's the total time you spend riding each week?

A touch under 6 hrs, and between 3 - 12 hrs a week (I do more weight training and less cycling in the winter, more cycling less weights in the summer).  I commute by bike twice a week minimum year round which works out to 3 of those hrs which would otherwise be spent in the car.

pecunia

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #54 on: May 03, 2020, 02:01:50 PM »
A century in 6 hours.

100 / 6 = 17 mph  That is moving.

Eight lbs X 3500 calories / lb = 28,000 calories

153 calories in a 12 oz beer (depends on brand)

28,000 calories / 153 calories per beer = 183 beers

Good reason to bike!

You could even have Pizza with the beer.

You've convinced me.  Maybe, I'll even join the League of American Wheelmen or whatever they are called.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #55 on: May 03, 2020, 03:19:09 PM »
No one is burning 28,000 calories during a 6 hour bike ride LOL.

Water is heavy, you're welcome.

I saw this and had to peek in to see if OP returned with an update.



« Last Edit: May 05, 2020, 06:50:31 AM by 2Birds1Stone »

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #56 on: May 03, 2020, 05:10:20 PM »
Oh, absolutely that's not all fat.  I'd guess about 5 lbs is water (and will be regained in a day or two).  But that's why a goal like weight loss is kinda silly to begin with.  You can lose water by not drinking.  You can lose muscle quickly by radically reducing your calorie intake.  Neither makes you healthier though.  Weight is bad thing to target.  Aim for performance goals so you can see your progress as you strengthen.

Spud

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #57 on: May 04, 2020, 12:34:21 AM »
A century in 6 hours.

100 / 6 = 17 mph  That is moving.

Eight lbs X 3500 calories / lb = 28,000 calories

153 calories in a 12 oz beer (depends on brand)

28,000 calories / 153 calories per beer = 183 beers

Good reason to bike!

You could even have Pizza with the beer.

You've convinced me.  Maybe, I'll even join the League of American Wheelmen or whatever they are called.

This is the kind of broken thinking that what I'll call the "popular fitness media" loves, because it sells running shoes, running clothes, sunglasses, hats, mp3 players, drinks bottles etc. Billions of dollars of merchandise hanging off the idea that physical activity burns a significant amount of calories per unit of time. It doesn't.

When I fill my car up at the gas station, it takes me just under a minute to put enough gas in the car to travel 180 to 200 miles. Travelling that distance, in a pre-COVID-19-lockdown world, the way my life worked, it took about 8 or 9 hours which was 3 journeys per week spread over 3 weeks. The key point here is that it's ~60 seconds putting the fuel in, and between 28,800 and 32,400 seconds burning it off. The numbers and the exact ratio are not important. It's the size of the disparity I want to focus on.

The same thing applies to food and exercise.

Imagine a donut. One of those large, glazed affairs with a gooey filling and sprinkles on top. How long does it it take someone to eat one of those? Let's exclude breaks in eating (maybe they're at their desk in the office and they're interrupted by a phone call etc.) and focus on the cumulative time spent biting, chewing and swallowing.  It takes them 5 minutes to eat the donut if they're slow about it. I'd demolish one of those things in less than 2 minutes, no problem.

How long would it take a person to burn off the number of calories contained in the donut by running on a treadmill in a gym? Probably a couple of hours running at a pace fast enough that you were unable to talk.

Eating the donut is like fuelling the car. A few seconds or perhaps minutes to put the fuel in, but HOURS or DAYS burning it off.

How long does it take to not eat a donut? Zero seconds.

Yeah sure we can go down the rabbit hole of looking at how the skinny, lean, experienced female runner who is 5' 4" and weighs 110 pounds will burn less calories in that time than the massively fat 6' 3" guy who weighs 260 pounds who has only been running for a week or two, or that rowing might burn more calories than running because you're using more muscle etc.

It's still not going to get anyone to a point where the 3 minutes of eating a donut can be undone by running for just 10 minutes on a treadmill. If it was that easy, we'd have very few obese people on the planet.

I had a friend years back who was a personal trainer who was focused on food intake and weight training, no cardio. He'd prove this point by getting people to run on a treadmill. He'd give them a banana to hold in one hand like a relay baton as they ran. He'd leave them running for 5 minutes. He then come back to them, take the banana from them, peel it, just little bit, bite a quarter or so of the banana off the end, eat it in front of them, and then give the rest of the banana back to them to hold. They'd keep on running, getting really tired now and at that point he'd tell them:

"The amount of banana I just ate represents the amount of calories you've burned in the last 5 minutes. Do you want to try and burn the whole banana?"

Nobody wanted to burn the whole banana.

Usually when I bring this up, someone is always really quick to jump in and say that exercise is more than just about losing weight it has a myriad of other benefits too etc. Sure. I agree with you. I'm not arguing against that and saying that you should be some sedentary weirdo. I'm saying that controlling the amount of stuff going into your pie hole is the ONLY thing that really controls your bodyweight.

There are millions of misinformed people across the developed world whose primary reason for performing some kind of exercise is that they want to lose weight. They look in the mirror in the mornings and see this huge amorphous blob of a person and they want to change so they start running or some nonsense. Sure they tighten up their diet and they lose the first 20 pounds or whatever but even after that they're still very obviously fat. They persist a bit, but they begin to fall into the mindset of justifying eating the donut because they worked so hard in the gym earlier today, or to flip the thing on its head, they justify that they can eat the donut now because they'll just burn it off later in the gym.

The fact is, they won't even come close to burning off the donut, and we all know these people are eating more than just the donut. By the time you add up all the candy, pastries, ice cream, cookies here, soda there, it's got to the point where running a marathon every day might do the trick. Maybe. But do you have time for that?

Final analogy. Burning calories through physical activity in the hope of losing weight is like trying to empty a swimming pool with a coffee cup. Theoretically it's possible, but you're going to quit long before you've achieved any appreciable results because you'll be bored, tired and frustrated.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6914918/?fbclid=IwAR02MB4IKeBT6LJ6QHdV1y98TrDboDRdNgC1Q18azUow_IPkc7Hhthbid5k
« Last Edit: May 04, 2020, 02:53:54 AM by Spud »

Kem

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #58 on: May 04, 2020, 05:44:06 AM »
I concur @Spud.    Nutrition control represents likely 80-90% of the success of fat loss.  Proper sleep, stress mitigation, and increased energy expenditures is the rest. 

Exercise (specifically resistance) represents 90-100% of muscle retention when eating fewer calories than daily average expenditure. 

A minimum level of Strength/muscle in turn makes daily life easier, aging more graceful, and helps eventually grant that toned look most folks wanting to loose weight are really after.  Increased muscle makes keeping fat levels low or loosing fat so much easier.

After dropping from 250# to 165 as a 6' man, I didn't look toned.  My face looked skinny and my belly lacked any definition - the loose skin didn't help.   Now at 195# and a good bit more muscle strength my physic looks well rounded.  Chronic pain is gone.   Most of this training has been strength training, not mass training - but it still required insane levels of calories to grow those fibres' density.

My point here is, the weight training, for most folks, isn't going to bulk them up - it will assist in not loosing muscle weight durring weight loss.  As a side benefit they may gain a little strength (mostly through neurological improvement) , resilience, and flexibility while burning a scant few extra calories. 
« Last Edit: May 04, 2020, 05:45:50 AM by Kem »

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #59 on: May 04, 2020, 08:01:16 AM »
I had a friend years back who was a personal trainer who was focused on food intake and weight training, no cardio. He'd prove this point by getting people to run on a treadmill. He'd give them a banana to hold in one hand like a relay baton as they ran. He'd leave them running for 5 minutes. He then come back to them, take the banana from them, peel it, just little bit, bite a quarter or so of the banana off the end, eat it in front of them, and then give the rest of the banana back to them to hold. They'd keep on running, getting really tired now and at that point he'd tell them:

"The amount of banana I just ate represents the amount of calories you've burned in the last 5 minutes. Do you want to try and burn the whole banana?"

Nobody wanted to burn the whole banana.




The average weight for a man in the US is 197 lbs.  (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320917)

Average jogging pace (not running, which is of course higher) is 4-6 mph (https://www.healthline.com/health/average-jogging-speed)

Which means . . . using this handy dandy calculator (https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-running/) we find out that the average person burns 47 - 77 calories in 5 minutes.

A medium sized banana contains 105 calories.  (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/bananas-calories-carbs)

So after 10 minutes, the average person going average jogging pace has burned off the banana.  I mean, it's a fun story . . . but your friend is lying to these people (I'm assuming that he's not so stupid he didn't take the 10 second it took me to actually look up the information).  And you appear to have bought into these lies, which is sad.  (Your friend is also ignoring the calorie burning effect of exercise after exercise has ceased - people have a heightened metabolism for several hours after completing a hard workout - but that's going off into another direction here.)

Diet is important - sure.  But do you really believe that lying to people about the effects of exercise is going to help them to be healthier?



Usually when I bring this up, someone is always really quick to jump in and say that exercise is more than just about losing weight it has a myriad of other benefits too etc. Sure. I agree with you. I'm not arguing against that and saying that you should be some sedentary weirdo. I'm saying that controlling the amount of stuff going into your pie hole is the ONLY thing that really controls your bodyweight.

So, why do I steadily lose weight all summer long . . . while increasing the quantities that I eat - pretty much across the board?  Is it magic, or does maybe exercise really make a big difference?



There are millions of misinformed people across the developed world whose primary reason for performing some kind of exercise is that they want to lose weight. They look in the mirror in the mornings and see this huge amorphous blob of a person and they want to change so they start running or some nonsense. Sure they tighten up their diet and they lose the first 20 pounds or whatever but even after that they're still very obviously fat. They persist a bit, but they begin to fall into the mindset of justifying eating the donut because they worked so hard in the gym earlier today, or to flip the thing on its head, they justify that they can eat the donut now because they'll just burn it off later in the gym.

The fact is, they won't even come close to burning off the donut, and we all know these people are eating more than just the donut. By the time you add up all the candy, pastries, ice cream, cookies here, soda there, it's got to the point where running a marathon every day might do the trick. Maybe. But do you have time for that?

I agree with you here.  Exercising doesn't (usually) give you free reign to eat garbage.  If your diet is chocolate cake and ice cream . . . you're going to get fat no matter what amount of exercise you do.  Maybe I'm completely out of touch with people here, but is there really anyone stupid enough to believe this?

The vast majority of folks I've known who are trying to get into shape are limiting their calories too much and then adding exercise.  Then they lose a little bit of weight, get burned out quickly, and quit exercising because of the constant exhaustion they feel from the restricted diet.  Then they lose a little more muscle mass by dieting without exercise, but eventually they can't keep up with whatever crazy diet numbers they've set themselves and stop seeing weight come off . . . head back to eating the unhealthy way they were before trying to get into shape and end up gaining more weight than they had originally - because now they have reduced their metabolism by dieting away their muscle.

The problem of course, isn't that dieting is a bad way to lose weight . . . it's that focusing on diet too much and in an unsustainable way is a bad way to lose weight.  If you're hungry all the time, you will struggle to lose weight and you will suck at whatever physical activity you try to do.  That doesn't mean that diet isn't important, or that you're naturally not athletic . . . but people often get overly carried away with counting calories to their detriment.  Fill half your plate with raw vegetables, a quarter of your plate with carbs (ideally not white pasta/white bread/white rice), and the rest with a mix of fruit, meat, and dairy products.  Don't eat any garbage food (cake, ice cream, cookies, brownies, twinkies, candies, potato chips, donuts).  You'll find it really hard to overeat when doing this - because the sheer bulk of the amount of vegetables that you're eating will make your stomach feel full before you're able to consume too many calories.
« Last Edit: May 04, 2020, 08:10:26 AM by GuitarStv »

Metalcat

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #60 on: May 04, 2020, 09:32:29 AM »
I agree with you here.  Exercising doesn't (usually) give you free reign to eat garbage.  If your diet is chocolate cake and ice cream . . . you're going to get fat no matter what amount of exercise you do.  Maybe I'm completely out of touch with people here, but is there really anyone stupid enough to believe this?

The vast majority of folks I've known who are trying to get into shape are limiting their calories too much and then adding exercise.  Then they lose a little bit of weight, get burned out quickly, and quit exercising because of the constant exhaustion they feel from the restricted diet.  Then they lose a little more muscle mass by dieting without exercise, but eventually they can't keep up with whatever crazy diet numbers they've set themselves and stop seeing weight come off . . . head back to eating the unhealthy way they were before trying to get into shape and end up gaining more weight than they had originally - because now they have reduced their metabolism by dieting away their muscle.

The problem of course, isn't that dieting is a bad way to lose weight . . . it's that focusing on diet too much and in an unsustainable way is a bad way to lose weight.  If you're hungry all the time, you will struggle to lose weight and you will suck at whatever physical activity you try to do.  That doesn't mean that diet isn't important, or that you're naturally not athletic . . . but people often get overly carried away with counting calories to their detriment.  Fill half your plate with raw vegetables, a quarter of your plate with carbs (ideally not white pasta/white bread/white rice), and the rest with a mix of fruit, meat, and dairy products.  Don't eat any garbage food (cake, ice cream, cookies, brownies, twinkies, candies, potato chips, donuts).  You'll find it really hard to overeat when doing this - because the sheer bulk of the amount of vegetables that you're eating will make your stomach feel full before you're able to consume too many calories.

I think that whether focused on diet or focused on exercise, trying to lose weight too quickly is the main culprit of people burning out and giving up, whether it be excessively restricted calories or pushing way too hard at exercise, doing anything outside of capacity is not sustainable for very long.

I've helped a number of people lose and keep off substantial weight, and I get them focused on lifetime goals, such as visualizing what it takes to be fit and lean at 75, not just this year.

JoJo

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #61 on: May 04, 2020, 10:00:40 AM »
Scale this morning:  19 pounds lost since the start of the isolation.

I'm having some loose skin, and was researching non-surgical solutions.  Has anyone tried collagen peptides?  It looks like you can put a couple scoops in morning coffee, supposed to help skin, nails, hair, joints.   A good source of some protein calories too.

mm1970

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #62 on: May 04, 2020, 10:41:28 AM »
Quote
So, why do I steadily lose weight all summer long . . . while increasing the quantities that I eat - pretty much across the board?  Is it magic, or does maybe exercise really make a big difference?

It's probably due to the sheer volume of exercise you get.  Most people don't (and likely can't) get that volume.

For the most part, typical exercise doesn't help much with weight loss.  (Though it does help me eat more to maintain weight.)

I would say that in your case, or the case of professional athletes, and also in the case of the Amish - that is the level of fitness/ exercise required to be able to "eat what you want'.

I have a local friend, in her 60s, and she once told me that she could eat whatever she wanted.  Oh, she didn't live on junk or anything like that.  She just didn't know how to drive.  When her (newly adopted) younger kids were little, she walked them to the park to play every day (2 miles each way, big hill).  She was in her 50s then.  Grocery store?  1.25 miles away, up another big effing hill.  She walked tens of thousands of steps per day.

She STILL looks great, even though she's dialed it back.  Kids are older, her older daughter moved nearby and can drive her places, and she bought an  electric bike.

As I talked with the guys at the pool years ago...one of them (about my age) said it's not about what you eat.  Look at these professional swimmers and cyclists!  They eat a ton!  Yes, and they swim/cycle hours a day.  Your typical human can't do that.  We have kids, and jobs.  And honestly, at my age, I cannot do that many hours.  After about 40 min of swimming 2x a week, my shoulder starts to ache.  I can run 3x a week, and one of those days can be 8-9 miles, but at about 7-8 miles the hips get really sore.  I love weight lifting, but have issues with one shoulder and the other elbow.  This guy, a few months later, ended up having shoulder surgery (he was swimming an hour a day, at almost 50).  So...I think he gets it now.  The ability to put in the hours required to "eat what you want" varies with age and from person to person.

mm1970

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #63 on: May 04, 2020, 10:51:24 AM »
I wanted to add... this idea of "exercising to lose weight" is a common thought around many groups of people.

I first went on weight watchers at 31.  I had gained a bunch of weight after getting married and getting out of the Navy and I still exercised a lot.  WW definitely worked like a charm for me, and I didn't think it would.  I had many friends who were much older than me also on WW and they were surprised that I dropped weight faster, but I was in my 30s and exercising (had been already) and they were in their 50s and 60s.

My FIL, at the time, wanted to lose about 10 lbs and just talked about "exercising it off".  My best friend, same.  She wanted to lose weight?  She was 30, she just started running a 10k...every day.

Thing is, as I pointed out to FIL (in his 60s) - "you can't outrun a bad diet - eventually".  Exercising to lose weight sometimes works, especially if you are young, and either partially fit or used to be fit (muscle memory).  At some point, just adding or increasing exercise doesn't work anymore.  When that happens is variable.  For me, that was age 24.  For some people, it's 40, or 60.  For my FIL, it was his early 60s.  For my best friend?  Around 38.

Men tend to have a longer "runway", so to speak, than women.  But it happens to almost everyone, eventually.

Wolfpack Mustachian

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #64 on: May 04, 2020, 11:28:09 AM »
Everything anecdotal is just that, anecdotal. Firsthand experience for me though. I went hard at 1200-1400 calories per day for months. I dropped from probably 255-220. I also added running and strength training. Now, I'm doing maybe 2-20 minute sessions of running each week, and maybe 1-1.5 hours of weights/body weight exercising. I've plateaued, because I have upped my calorie intake. A couple of my observations from it. I don't think I would have dropped like I did without the caloric restrictions, even if I had exercised more. However, exercise, even very limited, has enabled me to eat not quite as many calories as I was at 260 but similar and still maintain 220-225. I doubt it's actually burning off calories since my exercise time is so low. I believe it's having a body with more muscle mass and less fat. So my personal experience is that exercise helped lose weight although not by itself but has significantly helped in maintaining a lower weight even with more calories than I should be able to get by standard numbers as best I can tell.

SuperNintendo Chalmers

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #65 on: May 04, 2020, 06:17:13 PM »
Lots of discussion in this thread about the benefits of building muscle in terms of expending more calories at a baseline level, and thus losing weight.  I don't disagree with that or any of the science behind it. 

It has always intrigued me, however, that in my almost 20 years of going to gyms, training, racing, competing, and just general observation, the people with the most muscle mass are usually always the ones with the most apparent* body fat.  I mean, I could probably count on two hands the number of people I've noticed in daily life who have lots of muscle mass who are also legitimately cut.  Usually it's the endurance type athletes with small muscle mass that have the lowest apparent body fat, which seems counterintuitive to the "more muscle burns more calories = easier to lose weight/fat". 

Now I know there is a number of possible reasons for this, including: 

  1.  People who are training to maximize strength need lots of calories and often are not interested in losing weight/fat (e.g., powerlifters, NFL linemen, but also a lot of gym rats).
  2.  Genetics are different - these folks might be "easygainers" as opposed to "hardgainers," with both types drifting towards sports/training that plays to their strengths (heavy focus on strength/mass for easygainers, cardio-based sports for hardgainers)
  3.  As noted in the above discussion, people generally underestimate the importance of diet in losing weight as opposed to training (e.g., think they can eat much more because they lift a lot, leading to muscle building but also weight gain)
  4.  *Looks are deceiving (really muscle-bound people may look "fat" but actually may have relatively low body fat %)
  5.  And of course there are many many exceptions to this (bodybuilders, people who are successful balancing increases in muscle with loss of body fat, etc.)

For me personally, back when I was at my strongest/most muscle-heavy, I also had a pretty high bodyfat %.  I look back at pics from that time and think, wow, I look bloated.  It was only when I took up triathlon/OCR that I lost a lot of weight/fat. 

Again, I'm not questioning the benefits of weight training, which I love and still do regularly and agree is outstanding for overall health.  In particular I think complex movement/performance-based strength training is outstanding.  Nor am I advocating any particular type of training over another.  I'm just surprised how in daily observation there at least appears to be a strong correlation with lots of muscle mass, greater fat, at least at a superficial level.   

(Also, to be clear, I'm not making any value judgments on any of this.  You can be fat or not fat, fit or not fit.  Everyone has different circumstances and no judgments here.  Just an observation.)


GreenSheep

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #66 on: May 04, 2020, 07:17:58 PM »
Dr. Michael Greger's recent book "How Not to Diet" is full of evidence-based tips and tricks for losing weight and/or maintaining a healthy weight. He discusses not only what to eat but also some more esoteric things like how your circadian rhythm affects your body's use of food, etc.

Catica

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #67 on: May 05, 2020, 04:28:01 AM »
Ah, tried on some work clothes today and realized I had gained a ton of weight during quarantine - 17lbs!  I cannot buy a new professional wardrobe plus I'm partially in sales so I need to get back to my old weight asap.  What is the best way to lose a minimum of ten pounds by the end of May?  I've been trying the eat once a day fasting for the last week and don't seem to be budging.  30 year old female.

Things I can't do:
-Can't eat a lot of fresh things since we only grocery shop once a month during the quarantine.  We do have frozen vegetables though.
-I have absolutely no time for exercise as I am working full time but I walk around my twenty acres for at least an hour chasing my toddler around.  I'm pretty winded after having to carry him around up hills when he gets tired.
-I can't do something not feasible like not eating for multiple days in a row.

Things I can do:
-I can do keto/intermittent fasting/eat a low variety of diet.  I can do anything needed for a month to lose the weight and then hopefully by then we're back at work and I can go back to my usual routine.  What is the healthiest and most efficient way to get this goal accomplished?
-I have a lot of frozen chicken and meat and we have chickens/ducks so lots of eggs available.
-My choice of liquid is green tea with stevia so I don't drink any calories.

Suggestions?  Help?

Thank you!
You didn't say what you did that you gained 17lbs in such short period of time.  What changed?  Being in quarantine is not an answer.

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #68 on: May 05, 2020, 06:09:51 AM »
Dr. Michael Greger's recent book "How Not to Diet" is full of evidence-based tips and tricks for losing weight and/or maintaining a healthy weight. He discusses not only what to eat but also some more esoteric things like how your circadian rhythm affects your body's use of food, etc.

While I don't agree with a lot of what Greger says (he has a habit of lying through omission in his zeal to crusade for all things vegan), his advice of eating vegan is generally pretty good for weight loss.

pecunia

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #69 on: May 05, 2020, 06:46:00 AM »
Damn!  I was looking forward to those 183 beers too!  Hey!  You said the weight loss was mostly water.  Beer is mostly water too.  Maybe the math didn't lie after all.

One thing I don't think folks mentioned in this discussion is resting metabolism.  People who build muscle burn more even while they are doing the couch potato thing.  Why?  The body uses fuel to maintain muscle.

Here's another thing I've wondered about.  Ever get some exercise and you notice that your body doesn't immediately go into a resting state?  You can feel warm for quite a while after the exercise.  I figure this after effect must be a bonus burn to the exercise.  Sometimes, you feel the burn in a couple of ways the muscle burn and this after effect.

You guys are inspiring me to get out and do the exercise thing this Summer.  Thanks.

GreenSheep

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #70 on: May 05, 2020, 08:19:44 AM »
Dr. Michael Greger's recent book "How Not to Diet" is full of evidence-based tips and tricks for losing weight and/or maintaining a healthy weight. He discusses not only what to eat but also some more esoteric things like how your circadian rhythm affects your body's use of food, etc.

While I don't agree with a lot of what Greger says (he has a habit of lying through omission in his zeal to crusade for all things vegan), his advice of eating vegan is generally pretty good for weight loss.

Yeah, I suppose I should put my usual disclaimer here, which you're likely well aware of, too... "vegan" does not always equal "healthy." Maybe it did 200 years ago, when there was no vegan junk food. But today... French fries and a Coke are vegan. But a diet that focuses on whole foods, at least primarily coming from plants, is naturally dilute in calories and can help with achieving/maintaining a healthy weight. One thing about whole food plant-based eating that seems to appeal to lifelong dieters is that they no longer have to count calories or control portion sizes. You can stuff yourself with fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, and your calorie intake will naturally remain pretty low.

mm1970

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #71 on: May 05, 2020, 10:28:21 AM »
Quote
It has always intrigued me, however, that in my almost 20 years of going to gyms, training, racing, competing, and just general observation, the people with the most muscle mass are usually always the ones with the most apparent* body fat.  I mean, I could probably count on two hands the number of people I've noticed in daily life who have lots of muscle mass who are also legitimately cut.  Usually it's the endurance type athletes with small muscle mass that have the lowest apparent body fat, which seems counterintuitive to the "more muscle burns more calories = easier to lose weight/fat".
Even people who compete because - well, that's how you get stronger.

First, bulk = eat more, add weight (muscle and fat), get stronger
Second, cut = cut calories and carbs, maintain strength, lose fat

(My niece is a power lifter and used to compete.)

Malum Prohibitum

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #72 on: May 05, 2020, 11:10:16 AM »
I went on a 160 km bike ride today and lost 8 lbs.  :P

How long does the 160km ride take you? What's the total time you spend riding each week?

A touch under 6 hrs, and between 3 - 12 hrs a week (I do more weight training and less cycling in the winter, more cycling less weights in the summer).  I commute by bike twice a week minimum year round which works out to 3 of those hrs which would otherwise be spent in the car.

And here I thought my 10km rides were really something.   Along comes GuitarStv to smash my delusions into little bits!   

Malum Prohibitum

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #73 on: May 05, 2020, 11:15:52 AM »
Quote
It has always intrigued me, however, that in my almost 20 years of going to gyms, training, racing, competing, and just general observation, the people with the most muscle mass are usually always the ones with the most apparent* body fat.  I mean, I could probably count on two hands the number of people I've noticed in daily life who have lots of muscle mass who are also legitimately cut.  Usually it's the endurance type athletes with small muscle mass that have the lowest apparent body fat, which seems counterintuitive to the "more muscle burns more calories = easier to lose weight/fat".
Even people who compete because - well, that's how you get stronger.

First, bulk = eat more, add weight (muscle and fat), get stronger
Second, cut = cut calories and carbs, maintain strength, lose fat

(My niece is a power lifter and used to compete.)

Bodybuilders = same.  They are typically only at the 3.5-6% body fat level for a few short days around the competition.  Then its back up to somewhere between 8-13%. When you see a big guy in the gym at 13%, it's a lot of fat.  He'll take 14-16 weeks to diet that off for competition, but in doing so will drop to body fat percentages few non-competitors will ever see in their lifetimes.

The observation about large, puffy guys in the gym is an accurate one, however.  Most guys in the gym never compete and never drop below about 12% body fat for fear of losing muscle.  Even a drop in scale weight causes some of these guys to panic and eat more.

Metalcat

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #74 on: May 05, 2020, 11:28:59 AM »
Quote
It has always intrigued me, however, that in my almost 20 years of going to gyms, training, racing, competing, and just general observation, the people with the most muscle mass are usually always the ones with the most apparent* body fat.  I mean, I could probably count on two hands the number of people I've noticed in daily life who have lots of muscle mass who are also legitimately cut.  Usually it's the endurance type athletes with small muscle mass that have the lowest apparent body fat, which seems counterintuitive to the "more muscle burns more calories = easier to lose weight/fat".
Even people who compete because - well, that's how you get stronger.

First, bulk = eat more, add weight (muscle and fat), get stronger
Second, cut = cut calories and carbs, maintain strength, lose fat

(My niece is a power lifter and used to compete.)

Bodybuilders = same.  They are typically only at the 3.5-6% body fat level for a few short days around the competition.  Then its back up to somewhere between 8-13%. When you see a big guy in the gym at 13%, it's a lot of fat.  He'll take 14-16 weeks to diet that off for competition, but in doing so will drop to body fat percentages few non-competitors will ever see in their lifetimes.

The observation about large, puffy guys in the gym is an accurate one, however.  Most guys in the gym never compete and never drop below about 12% body fat for fear of losing muscle.  Even a drop in scale weight causes some of these guys to panic and eat more.

Body dysmorphia is a very real and very powerful thing.

slappy

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #75 on: May 05, 2020, 11:42:30 AM »
Scale this morning:  19 pounds lost since the start of the isolation.

I'm having some loose skin, and was researching non-surgical solutions.  Has anyone tried collagen peptides?  It looks like you can put a couple scoops in morning coffee, supposed to help skin, nails, hair, joints.   A good source of some protein calories too.

I'm drinking collagen in my tea as we speak. But I've only been doing for a few days, so I can't really say whether it works. The one thing I will say is that it's not as tasteless as they would have you believe. It's not terrible, but I definitely notice it's there.

JoJo

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #76 on: May 05, 2020, 12:53:13 PM »


I'm drinking collagen in my tea as we speak. But I've only been doing for a few days, so I can't really say whether it works. The one thing I will say is that it's not as tasteless as they would have you believe. It's not terrible, but I definitely notice it's there.

It would be awesome if you report back.  I'd suspect the stronger flavor of coffee may mask the flavor better.

Malum Prohibitum

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #77 on: May 05, 2020, 02:55:00 PM »
Quote
It has always intrigued me, however, that in my almost 20 years of going to gyms, training, racing, competing, and just general observation, the people with the most muscle mass are usually always the ones with the most apparent* body fat.  I mean, I could probably count on two hands the number of people I've noticed in daily life who have lots of muscle mass who are also legitimately cut.  Usually it's the endurance type athletes with small muscle mass that have the lowest apparent body fat, which seems counterintuitive to the "more muscle burns more calories = easier to lose weight/fat".
Even people who compete because - well, that's how you get stronger.

First, bulk = eat more, add weight (muscle and fat), get stronger
Second, cut = cut calories and carbs, maintain strength, lose fat

(My niece is a power lifter and used to compete.)

Bodybuilders = same.  They are typically only at the 3.5-6% body fat level for a few short days around the competition.  Then its back up to somewhere between 8-13%. When you see a big guy in the gym at 13%, it's a lot of fat.  He'll take 14-16 weeks to diet that off for competition, but in doing so will drop to body fat percentages few non-competitors will ever see in their lifetimes.

The observation about large, puffy guys in the gym is an accurate one, however.  Most guys in the gym never compete and never drop below about 12% body fat for fear of losing muscle.  Even a drop in scale weight causes some of these guys to panic and eat more.

Body dysmorphia is a very real and very powerful thing.

I was guilty of it myself when I was younger.  I found dropping bodyweight once a year or so actually helps gains.

It is also a fact that stripping off fat makes one look bigger.  If I strip off 15 pounds of fat, invariably persons make comments that I have bulked up and gotten bigger, which obviously the scale reveals is not true.  Leaner muscles do look larger.

Loretta

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #78 on: May 05, 2020, 08:35:58 PM »
so @MrsSpendyPants , how have you attacked this problem? When I teleconferenced with my mother earlier this week she unboxed some jeans she’d bought on EBay in a larger size than she was wearing in April, which made me think of your post. 

If you have a steady stream of eggs into your life, maybe try an omelet for one meal per day.  Lots of good protein and lean if you use the right fillings. 


Ah, tried on some work clothes today and realized I had gained a ton of weight during quarantine - 17lbs!  I cannot buy a new professional wardrobe plus I'm partially in sales so I need to get back to my old weight asap.  What is the best way to lose a minimum of ten pounds by the end of May?  I've been trying the eat once a day fasting for the last week and don't seem to be budging.  30 year old female.

Things I can't do:
-Can't eat a lot of fresh things since we only grocery shop once a month during the quarantine.  We do have frozen vegetables though.
-I have absolutely no time for exercise as I am working full time but I walk around my twenty acres for at least an hour chasing my toddler around.  I'm pretty winded after having to carry him around up hills when he gets tired.
-I can't do something not feasible like not eating for multiple days in a row.

Things I can do:
-I can do keto/intermittent fasting/eat a low variety of diet.  I can do anything needed for a month to lose the weight and then hopefully by then we're back at work and I can go back to my usual routine.  What is the healthiest and most efficient way to get this goal accomplished?
-I have a lot of frozen chicken and meat and we have chickens/ducks so lots of eggs available.
-My choice of liquid is green tea with stevia so I don't drink any calories.

Suggestions?  Help?

Thank you!

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #79 on: May 05, 2020, 11:25:04 PM »
I think OP is probably procrastinating their response due to inaction.

Prove us wrong ;) 

Malum Prohibitum

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #80 on: May 06, 2020, 02:49:01 PM »
I think OP is probably procrastinating their response due to inaction.

Prove us wrong ;)

LOL!  Rough crowd, here!

GuitarStv

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #81 on: May 06, 2020, 02:51:18 PM »
Think positive, OP could still be out on a very long ride . . .

dclarke1

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #82 on: May 07, 2020, 03:57:11 PM »
This is the way I think about it:

Based on the first law of thermodynamics, if I am burning more energy through exercise, breathing, muscle maintenance, etc. than I am taking in through food, then I must get that excess of energy from burning existing body fat, or muscle. In that case, unless I am adding weight from water, then I must also be losing body weight. I can't see any way around that.

Then a moderate calorie intake, plus regular biking or running should help.

GreenSheep

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #83 on: May 07, 2020, 05:07:13 PM »
This is the way I think about it:

Based on the first law of thermodynamics, if I am burning more energy through exercise, breathing, muscle maintenance, etc. than I am taking in through food, then I must get that excess of energy from burning existing body fat, or muscle. In that case, unless I am adding weight from water, then I must also be losing body weight. I can't see any way around that.

Then a moderate calorie intake, plus regular biking or running should help.

I think this is true, but the problem is that it's easier said than done. White-knuckling it only works for so long. Humans are designed to eat when there's food available, which kept our ancestors from starving for millennia when food was often scarce, but now that we're surrounded by (often unhealthy) foods, a well-designed body finds itself malfunctioning when placed in the "wrong" environment. This is why I think one of the easiest ways to lose weight is to increase one's intake of calorie-dilute foods -- for example, a pound of strawberries contains fewer calories than a pound of potato chips, but they both satisfy hunger.

mm1970

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #84 on: May 07, 2020, 06:56:36 PM »
This is the way I think about it:

Based on the first law of thermodynamics, if I am burning more energy through exercise, breathing, muscle maintenance, etc. than I am taking in through food, then I must get that excess of energy from burning existing body fat, or muscle. In that case, unless I am adding weight from water, then I must also be losing body weight. I can't see any way around that.

Then a moderate calorie intake, plus regular biking or running should help.
The body is remarkably resilient, and has set points.  Meaning, it likes being at certain weights, and it will adjust how much energy is uses to stay at a particular setpoint.

You think "hey, I'm burning 250 calories more a day", but the body adjusts so you are burning fewer calories at rest.

That's why the "3500 calories per pound" is really a fallacy.  In order to lose a pound, most people have to cut far more than that amount (conversely, to gain a pound of actual fat, generally takes more than that.)

MrsSpendyPants

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #85 on: May 10, 2020, 05:36:11 PM »
Hi everyone, OP here!  No I haven't done anything!  Found out I was supposed to be laid off a few days after I posted this and it has yet to happen but I've managed to stress eat and drink my way to even more weight in the meantime.  140 lbs now at 5'4".  Feeling absolutely  terrible with no energy.  Anxiety is certainly terrible for my diet.  Hoping to get a hold of it this week and make a difference.  Fingers crossed.

Metalcat

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #86 on: May 10, 2020, 05:49:35 PM »
Hi everyone, OP here!  No I haven't done anything!  Found out I was supposed to be laid off a few days after I posted this and it has yet to happen but I've managed to stress eat and drink my way to even more weight in the meantime.  140 lbs now at 5'4".  Feeling absolutely  terrible with no energy.  Anxiety is certainly terrible for my diet.  Hoping to get a hold of it this week and make a difference.  Fingers crossed.

I've often said that the best diet is a good therapist.
Take care of yourself, look for whatever supports you need to handle the stress. I gained nearly 70lbs during my doctorate, stress can do brutal things to your body.

aceyou

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #87 on: May 13, 2020, 07:55:15 PM »

To the OP - I would suggest reconsidering the "no exercise" rule.  Weight lifting can reshape your body really quickly, and contrary to most views women aren't likely to significantly bulk up even if they do a *lot* of weight training.  Rather, weight training will tend to have a toning and slimming effect unless it's taken to extremes for the vast majority of women.  If I wanted to try to transform my body shape in 4 weeks I'd do most of what's already been suggested - zero alcohol, zero extra sugar or fake sweeteners, but add plenty of weight lifting.

This.  Lifting weights is so beneficial, but there such a lack of understanding on how to do it properly, and about what it will do to your body, that people struggle with it.  Lifting weights doesn't make you bigger...technically, it makes you literally smaller since it burns calories.  When you eat food, the first thing it does is supplies energy for your bodies normal needs.  After that, the body needs to make a decision about how to spend the extra calories.  If you lift weights, your brain will tell your body that it's better off allocating most of the extra calories to extra muscle mass, since apparently lifting heavy things is now on our bodies to-do list.  If you don't lift weights, your brain will tell your body to store extra calories as fat in case of famine.  I prefer my brain tells my body to send my extra calories to my muscles, so I choose to lift regularly. 


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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #88 on: May 13, 2020, 08:18:25 PM »
Hi everyone, OP here!  No I haven't done anything!  Found out I was supposed to be laid off a few days after I posted this and it has yet to happen but I've managed to stress eat and drink my way to even more weight in the meantime.  140 lbs now at 5'4".  Feeling absolutely  terrible with no energy.  Anxiety is certainly terrible for my diet.  Hoping to get a hold of it this week and make a difference.  Fingers crossed.

I suggest starting small at this point.  Consider any extra movement you do to be a "bonus" - something extra you did for yourself.  Have 30 seconds while you wait for water to boil?  Do some jumping jacks, or 5 pushups with your knees on the floor.  Outside in your yard?  Do some goofy light "sprints," and enjoy the feel of moving.  All of this is a bonus!

You don't have to have results now.  Just enjoy any extra movement you can do, and feel the benefits of getting the blood moving.  Once you get going, you'll likely find it less daunting--and more fun--to build little by little on that.   

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #89 on: May 13, 2020, 08:59:57 PM »
This is the order of operations.

1) full sleep
2) exercise
3) diet


If you do it backwards by focusing on diet and neglecting the first two, it will be very difficult, if not impossible. For exercise, you do not need to go to the gym. You just need movement.

mm1970

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #90 on: May 14, 2020, 02:25:44 PM »
Hi everyone, OP here!  No I haven't done anything!  Found out I was supposed to be laid off a few days after I posted this and it has yet to happen but I've managed to stress eat and drink my way to even more weight in the meantime.  140 lbs now at 5'4".  Feeling absolutely  terrible with no energy.  Anxiety is certainly terrible for my diet.  Hoping to get a hold of it this week and make a difference.  Fingers crossed.
Heck that's what I weigh and I'm 1.5 inches shorter!  I've got big hips and a lot of muscle though.  If I lost 10 lbs I'd be looking pretty scary.

Listen to @Malkynn and take care of yourself.  Also, this, from @clarkfan1979 :

Quote
This is the order of operations.

1) full sleep
2) exercise
3) diet


If you do it backwards by focusing on diet and neglecting the first two, it will be very difficult, if not impossible. For exercise, you do not need to go to the gym. You just need movement.

Sleep and exercise are crucial for my mental health.  The worst is those days due to stress or hormones that I don't sleep, then I skip my morning exercise.  I'm a hot mess on those days.

Honestly, some people do best with working exercise into their day as they have time (5 min here, 5 min there). For me, I'm a total scheduler.  I'm scheduled out through the first week in July.

But sleep is more important.

electriceagle

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #91 on: May 16, 2020, 10:18:52 PM »
1. Stop eating junk calories. These are calories that contain few nutrients. They include soda, cake, white bread, etc.

2. (Presuming that you have no cardiovascular issues) do interval aerobics. Run as hard as possible for 30 seconds, then walk gently for 2 minutes, then repeat. Your body will think that you regularly get chased by bears and slim you down.

The rest is optional optimization.

pecunia

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #92 on: May 17, 2020, 02:08:08 PM »
You know - try to make the exercise things that you like to do.  Otherwise, you just may not do it.  Long walks on sunny Spring days don' t seem as much like exercise.  Yet, long walks are good exercise.

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #93 on: May 18, 2020, 09:32:04 AM »
1. Stop eating junk calories. These are calories that contain few nutrients. They include soda, cake, white bread, etc.

2. (Presuming that you have no cardiovascular issues) do interval aerobics. Run as hard as possible for 30 seconds, then walk gently for 2 minutes, then repeat. Your body will think that you regularly get chased by bears and slim you down.

The rest is optional optimization.

Step 1 is huge. I feel MMM aligns very well with dieting in this regard. You attack things methodically. It reminds me of when MMM (I believe it was him) talks about eating more frugally. You add in lower cost per calorie foods, and you'll eat for less. For dieting, you remove junk food that wastes calories on a nutritional standpoint. When you're hungry for snacks, you eat an apple instead of a candy bar or raw vegetables plain instead of chips. Then work on your actual meals in a similar vein. Eventually, you're eating a much healthier diet that probably takes a lot of volume of intake for the calories compared to before, and you're healthier and losing weight.

pecunia

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #94 on: May 18, 2020, 06:56:54 PM »
Can it be a chocolate covered apple?

GreenSheep

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #95 on: May 18, 2020, 08:04:24 PM »
Can it be a chocolate covered apple?

I'm no expert, but I bet even an apple dipped in chocolate (provided it's not a large amount) would be healthier than most of the junk food snacks out there! :-)

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #96 on: May 20, 2020, 03:50:02 PM »
Dr. Michael Greger's recent book "How Not to Diet" is full of evidence-based tips and tricks for losing weight and/or maintaining a healthy weight. He discusses not only what to eat but also some more esoteric things like how your circadian rhythm affects your body's use of food, etc.

I recently read this book just because I am a Dr. Greger fan (I don't need to lose any more weight).  It's a good book.  BUT his How Not to Die is just as good (although without the "tips & tricks").  Loosely following his dietary guidelines is how I lost 20% of my body weight over 18 months.  By "loosely" following I mean I ate SO MUCH fruit & veg & whole grains & legumes & nuts as he recommends, and didn't eat sugar & processed foods, also per his guidelines.  But I did add some low-fat dairy and meat.  Typically 1 or occasionally up to 2 servings a day.  So I might eat greek yogurt with muesli & fruit for breakfast, or have 3 oz of chicken breast on a salad.

What worked for me was
1. Dr Greger's dietary guidelines (except not completely vegan)
2. Cardio (about 6 hours/week)
3. Weight training (about 2 30 min sessions/week)
4. Tracking everything. 

GreenSheep

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #97 on: May 20, 2020, 04:49:48 PM »
Dr. Michael Greger's recent book "How Not to Diet" is full of evidence-based tips and tricks for losing weight and/or maintaining a healthy weight. He discusses not only what to eat but also some more esoteric things like how your circadian rhythm affects your body's use of food, etc.

I recently read this book just because I am a Dr. Greger fan (I don't need to lose any more weight).  It's a good book.  BUT his How Not to Die is just as good (although without the "tips & tricks").  Loosely following his dietary guidelines is how I lost 20% of my body weight over 18 months.  By "loosely" following I mean I ate SO MUCH fruit & veg & whole grains & legumes & nuts as he recommends, and didn't eat sugar & processed foods, also per his guidelines.  But I did add some low-fat dairy and meat.  Typically 1 or occasionally up to 2 servings a day.  So I might eat greek yogurt with muesli & fruit for breakfast, or have 3 oz of chicken breast on a salad.

What worked for me was
1. Dr Greger's dietary guidelines (except not completely vegan)
2. Cardio (about 6 hours/week)
3. Weight training (about 2 30 min sessions/week)
4. Tracking everything.

That's true, his "How Not to Die" is also an excellent book. I'm very much in the "you don't have to count calories if you eat whole food plant based" camp, but I do think it's helpful for someone who has never looked at that to just track it for one day. It's good to see what types of food have a lot more calories than other types of food. It's also reassuring for the "but where will I get my protein?" crowd to see that you won't come up short.

Freedom2016

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #98 on: May 20, 2020, 07:37:18 PM »
The observation about large, puffy guys in the gym is an accurate one, however.  Most guys in the gym never compete and never drop below about 12% body fat for fear of losing muscle.  Even a drop in scale weight causes some of these guys to panic and eat more.

Speaking of puffy physiques, I couldn't resist:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-qEW_6Jrf8/?utm_source=ig_embed

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Need to lose a minimum of ten pounds in May! Help?
« Reply #99 on: May 21, 2020, 05:02:40 AM »
None of this is going to help the OP if she refuses to take the first step....

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!