Strategies Please - 11 kg down....another 15kgs to go!!!

Aira_Ruwenzor

Hi All,

I keep popping up every now and then to give status updates and find new ideas or motivation to keep this journey going!!

Start date: 01/03/2023
Start Weight: 89 kgs / 196 lbs

Weight after 6 months: 81 kgs / 178 lbs

Initial Diet Intake: Daily Calories between 1400-1600 for the first 6 months.
Initial Exercise: Min 10,000 steps every day (usually achieved by 90 mins of walking every day) for the first 6 months.

Current weight: 77.5 kgs / 170lbs
Current Diet Intake: Daily calorie intake of 1200, low carb focused, 16-hour Intermittent fasting.
Current Exercise: Continued target of 10,000 steps daily - however I have started jogging for 30 minutes every day (this has been going on for the last 9 weeks)

Given the above progress, I am a bit skeptical about reducing my calorie count any further. But I still have a long way to go - I understand that it becomes even more difficult to lose weight once you have lost some initially and I am interested in knowing what other strategies there may be to reach my target of 63 kgs. (Bear in mind that this is the max weight I need to be at for my age, height and lifestyle).

I have been told that one strategy may be strength training - but don't know where to start or what workout to follow. Any other ideas or personal experiences that have helped you would be much appreciated!

Thanks All.

PAV8888

Why did you increase your deficit?

You get no prize for finishing faster. You also get no prize for making things harder. Arguably you DO get a prize for setting up long term patterns you can keep to... for YEARS not months. Especially in the immediate aftermath of weight loss.

Sure. if you eat the same and you do the same exercise (but you aren't--you did mention that you've increased intensity)... your loss would slow down as your body becomes smaller and there is less of you to mvoe around.

But (see above) slower weight loss is not a crime. AND squeezing BOTH ends (burning both ends of the candle) by BOTH eating less AND exercising more to accelerate losses... THAT is not a sustainable strategy.

Now do go back to doing things you can do for "years" not just months.

Sustainable is good. Long terms adherence. That kind of thinking...

collinsje1

I have no idea what your other stats are, but I would not suggest that you reduce your calorie intake less the 1200 per day. As the above poster asked.... Why did you reduce your calories from 1400-1600 in the first place? If you were losing weight on that calorie intake. I would go back to that. And continue the added exercise.

If you're interested in weightlifting/ strength training. GreyskullLP and Stronglifts 5X5 are good beginner programs to follow and they are very simple. They are basically just different variations of a linear progression program. Google has a ton of printable program sheets on these two programs. There are also a couple apps that have them. And some excel google docs that allow you to track your progression through the program.

AnnPT77

Aira_Ruwenzor wrote: »

Hi All,

I keep popping up every now and then to give status updates and find new ideas or motivation to keep this journey going!!

Start date: 01/03/2023
Start Weight: 89 kgs / 196 lbs

Weight after 6 months: 81 kgs / 178 lbs

Initial Diet Intake: Daily Calories between 1400-1600 for the first 6 months.
Initial Exercise: Min 10,000 steps every day (usually achieved by 90 mins of walking every day) for the first 6 months.

Current weight: 77.5 kgs / 170lbs
Current Diet Intake: Daily calorie intake of 1200, low carb focused, 16-hour Intermittent fasting.
Current Exercise: Continued target of 10,000 steps daily - however I have started jogging for 30 minutes every day (this has been going on for the last 9 weeks)

Given the above progress, I am a bit skeptical about reducing my calorie count any further. But I still have a long way to go - I understand that it becomes even more difficult to lose weight once you have lost some initially and I am interested in knowing what other strategies there may be to reach my target of 63 kgs. (Bear in mind that this is the max weight I need to be at for my age, height and lifestyle).

I have been told that one strategy may be strength training - but don't know where to start or what workout to follow. Any other ideas or personal experiences that have helped you would be much appreciated!

Thanks All.

The bolded isn't necessarily so. Yes, if a person eats too little, they will get fatigued (possibly in subtle ways) so move less and require fewer calories than if they had been more moderate. Yes, as a person gets lighter in weight, they require fewer calories at rest.

But some people find that if they lose weight at a sensibly moderate pace, they actually have more energy as they get lighter, burn more calories through daily life movement (not even necessarily exercise), so can lose at a sensible pace on more calories than they would've expected.

Your best bet IMO would be to pay attention to your own weight trends, looking at 4-6 week average loss. If you lose at more than 0.5-1% of current weight per week, eat more. (I'd suggest going with the 0.5% unless severely obese, or under close medical supervision for nutrient deficiencies or health complications, because those are very real risks from fast loss). If you're losing more slowly than that, sure, you can reduce calorie intake, or increase daily life movement (or exercise), but it's also fine to lose more slowly if it makes loss more achievable as a practical thing.

IMO, the real goal is finding new habits that not only get you to goal weight, but let you stay there almost on autopilot when other parts of life get demanding . . . because they will.

If weight loss stalls suddenly at some point, maybe go to estimated maintenance calories for a couple of weeks, then go back to the deficit. Sometimes there's subtle fatigue or stress-related water retention that means we need a break.

I lost at a good pace all the way through a year of loss from class 1 obese (183 pounds/83kg) to a healthy weight in the 120s pounds (around 56-57kg), and actually increased calories in order to slow down my weight loss to a sensibly moderate pace as I got lighter. That won't happen for everyone either.

Use your own weight loss rate to guide you.

Losing slowly will help with muscle maintenance and muscle mass gain, too. Others have given good advice about strength training.

Aira_Ruwenzor

Thank you all for your input. I will go back to increasing my calorie intake again (carefully of course) - the reason I had reduced it was because I had stagnated at 81 for about 3 months.

I thought I needed to change something in order to go past that plateau. Consistency and patience are necessary... I have had this feedback multiple times therefore I am not in a rush but I guess I haven't figured out what my body responds to yet.

So just was wondering what's worked for those who have had to lose a lot of weight.