Born again weight loss newbie checking in

[trw1972]

Hey all

After staying at my ideal weight for some time (12st) i had a training injury and ballooned back up to 14st 6 at 5ft 11 (im male) before finally deciding i had to do something about it.

Checking in here, im hoping a diary will help me motivate myself to stick with it

I started my weight loss plan on 17/7/17- moderate calorie deficit with heavy weight training and at the moment no cardio. My daily food nowadays is greek zero fat yoghurt (its pure protein), oats, sugar free beans, nuts, chicken breast, veg, fruit etc - quite a dramatic change from my previous bacon sarnies and chinese takeaways!

So far ive lost 6lbs, which is no doubt mostly water so my current weight is 14st

Will come back in two weeks for a progress report and probably bore you all to death

Good look to everyone else

 

[trw1972]

Thanks for the support! and ill go hunt for your diary
I think the odd beer or glass of wine is ok if counted as part of the calories, but know it is easy for 1 to turn into 3 or 4

Not sure if my diet is healthy really, today was pretty typical

I had zero fat greek yoghurt for breakfast (they are low sugar and less than 100 cals for a big pot, pure protein)
Then at 8am i had a handful of chia seeds for the fibre
Then at ten i had half my sarnie (turkey breast on wholemeal)
Then at 12.30 i finished my sarnie, and a few peanuts
Then a whey protein shake
THEN a pot of rasberries and strawberries
Then i had chicken breast and an absoloute tonne of low carb veg for tea

And believe it or not that was 1700 calories so i had another whey shake after gym

It seems an awful lot looking at it now

 

[tipperary]

Sounds very sensible.....I find sensible very hard to do.

 

[fit4hols]

Good luck, your diet sounds good and healthy, and if you're losing weight then it's obviously right for you! I eat a tonne of veg too - I find spinach particularly is good for a filling food, I guess because of the protein.

 

[trw1972]

Checking back in, had my first cheat day in a little while (bad i know!) had a chinese and a fair few beers.

Bam next day i am 5lbs heavier . I know it is all the salt in the chinese causing water retention and some of my glycogen stores replenishing
though so i expect to see it disappear in the next couple of days

Back to healthy eating today, chicken breast sarnies, chia seeds, strawberries and rasperries, greek yoghurt and chillied kidney beans on toast.

 

[trw1972]

Update 1

Not a good start to this last 7 days, i had a major cheat day (lots of bad high sodium food, beer etc) and have pulled my elbow and knee so having to take time off the gym.. Im also craving chips, burgers etc.

The sudden 5lbs gain from the high salt meal was gone by monday, and after todays weigh in i am now 13st 12lbs, so 2lbs lost this week, 8lbs in one month.

Todays food has been odd, but not to bad i guess

Porridge for brekkie
Chia seeds about 8.30am
Some peanuts at 10.00am
Tuna salad for lunch
And will be having 'no added sugar' beans on toast tonight with a sprinkling of half fat cheese

Totalling 1800 calories

 

[Emmaline]

Hi TRW ..Quite honestly I think you are not eating enough especially as you are going to the gym on a regular basis .. that spells disaster from the get-go!
Have you a specific amount of total calories, carbs and protein allocated for each day?

 

[trw1972]

Hi Emmaline,

Whilst training i aim at 1800 calories, and 120g protein a day, 30g fibre- weight training doesnt burn many calories im mainly doing it to keep LBM

My strength is actually going up (my deadlift has gone from 100kg to 150kg) but as mentioned ive got minor tendon issues after going for a new top weight (age a factor i think) so taking a week off

As i am out of the gym this week ive been less religious about the protein, but still got about 105g protein today-it was a big bag of peanuts and a lot of the stuff i eat (nuts, seeds, dried fruit etc) are nutritious but incredibly calorie dense.

Ive actually decided not to do cardio, as i felt 700 calories is as big a deficit i can manage whilst maintaining LBM.

Do you think 700 too big a deficit?

 

[trw1972]

Had a bad week dieting wise, two nights out- both with lots of food and beer, i am kind of dreading weekly weigh in on tuesday


The oddest thing though is the increase in calories led to a very noticeable increase in strength at the gym

 

[Passion fruit]

I'm counting cals and doing weight resistance, keeping protein high too, mine is 1200-1500 so a 700-1000 deficit and I have a refuel day where I go up to 2000 so my body doesn't get used to the low intake. Might be useful for you to think about so you have continued loss

You might want to go steady with the beer as it's packed with sugar and will stop your fat burning and you don't want to undo all your hard work I had some alcohol the other day and I noticed the 2 following days my cravings were through the roof!

 

[trw1972]

Hey Passion Fruit, yup its amazing how much my strength went up from 2 days of a calorie surplus, i deadlifted 180kg, a new best for me so not all bad

And i hear you on the beer, social events are a pain while dieting for sure

 

[Passion fruit]

Wow 180kg ! Well done

 

[trw1972]

Its a bit sad really, i am so so into my weight training that i tend to forget it is about changing body competition.

I do get 'old man aches' from it, but i treat myself to a sports massage once every 3 weeks and it does wonders for aches

 

[fit4hols]

Yeah, I agree with @Passion fruit - I've always found the odd refuel day helps in keeping the weight going down *and* helps with motivation. There are always days when you're hungrier than others anyway! And 180kg weight training? Crazy... People do that for fun?

 

[trw1972]

Its hard to explain the buzz from lifting heavy weights successfully i guess it seems crazy

Anyway a bad couple of weeks for me (meals out etc) and was dreading the weigh in, but- ive lost more weight

Weight is now 13st 8 so i have lost 12lbs since 17/7 - its working out at 2-3 lbs a week but as i get closer to my target (12 stone) i suspect it will get harder.

 

[trw1972]

Hit an impasse, my OH thinks i am now to thin, i want to slim down further, but she thinks i am a 'rake'

Still got a tum though? (attached) but finding balance between what i want and what OH wants is a challenge

 

[Passion fruit]

Looking good to me, I can't see the 'rake', but maybe your OH is used to you being bigger and will take a little time to adjust to the new you

 

[Razorbill]

I'm not seeing much of a tum or a rake I don't think.

 

[trw1972]

Thanks all, your right cynicalgirl its for me, but my OH has to look at me so i do have to consider her complaints

Ill carry on losing weight, but more slowly, see if i can put a little muscle on at the same time.

Cheers all.

 

[Razorbill]

Building muscle is always a good thing, I'm thinking of getting myself a wee set of weights for the house so I can do a wee workout while my partner is either inventing stuff or playing his computer games. I'm sure I read something that the more muscle you have the more efficient you are at burning calories but that might be nonsense as I can't remember where I read it.