How I Lost the Fat
paxbfl
Posts: 391 Member
An MFP friend asked me how I lost weight and I sent him this. I thought others might enjoy reading it also.
Following this, I lost over 40 pounds in 4 months. I'm now hovering around my ideal weight and in muscle-building mode (so if you look at my diary, I'm eating and lifting more!).
HOW I LOST THE FAT
First, make sure you know your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories your body needs to function) and TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure - how many calories you burn in a day). Try this calculator:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
I used "Desk Job Without Exercise" and then factored my exercise in separately. My BMR was about 1900 and my TDEE was 2300 without exercise.
* 6 days a week, eat just over your BMR. My BMR is 1900, so I tried to stay under 2000 calories every day before exercise.
* Do cardio 6 times a week. I aimed for at least 500 calories a day. Some days I hit 750, a few days I hit 1,000.
* If you can work out first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, I recommend it. Supposedly this encourages your body to burn fat for energy. I don't know if this is true, but it seemed to work for me.
* Do NOT eat back those exercise calories!!!! Try to stay just over your BMR. If you work out hard and feel especially tired or really, really hungry, then it's ok to eat a bit more. Just make sure you stay well under your TDEE in order to lose weight.
* Eat 5-6 mini-meals instead of 3 larger meals. I ate 6 meals of about 300-350 calories. To put that into perspective, that's a McDonalds EggMcMuffin or a Subway 6-inch turkey sandwich. It's a decent amount of food. You won't starve. You'll be eating every 2-3 hours, so you won't have to wait long to eat. Eating this frequently helps keep your blood sugar stable so you don't have cravings and energy swings. If you know you're going to have a bigger dinner, just skip one of your mini-meals and double up with a 600-700 calorie dinner. With a little effort, you can do this at most popular restaurants without too much suffering.
* At each meal, eat a lean protein (chicken is great) and a complex carb - whole grains. NO SUGAR! No pasta, no white bread. Add veggies as much as you want (but count the calories). Fruit counts as your carb. Count every calorie on MFP.
* Try to avoid liquid calories! If you do have them, log it! I was guilty of having an occasional beer, and I still lost weight. But I usually burned 750-1000 calories at the gym on those days!
* Log everything religiously and carefully. Measure your food if you're not sure how much you're eating. Most people underestimate - I definitely did.
* Lift 3 days a week - alternate upper body and lower body. You will lose muscle as you're losing fat, but lifting will help limit the damage. You want muscle because it helps keep your metabolism up.
* On your lifting days, follow the lifting with moderate cardio - 30 minutes on an elliptical or a easy jog. I aimed for 300-500 calories burned on these days.
* The other 3 days, do HIIT - high intensity interval training. Google it for details. Basically you do intervals of walk, jog, run, sprint. I did mine on the treadmill but you could do it on an elliptical, stairmaster or bike. I do 1 minute each then repeat 6 times... warmup and cooldown for 30 minutes total. If you feel ok afterward, grab a drink, stretch and then do some moderate cardio for as long as you can. I aimed for 500-750 calories burned on these days, and a few days I hit 1,000.
* Pick one day as your rest day. On this day, no workouts, no logging, no restrictions on what you can eat. I log "Free Day" into MFP in the morning with 3500 calories and just hit "Logging Complete". This gives you a physical and mental break and helps you not feel deprived. After your free day you'll likely feel like crap and be very motivated to get back on the program. I always am.
This basic workout (with the MFP stuff added) is from a book called Body For Life. I strongly recommend it - it's got some very good stuff in it (and lots of inspiration and encouragement).
Hope that helps!
Following this, I lost over 40 pounds in 4 months. I'm now hovering around my ideal weight and in muscle-building mode (so if you look at my diary, I'm eating and lifting more!).
HOW I LOST THE FAT
First, make sure you know your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories your body needs to function) and TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure - how many calories you burn in a day). Try this calculator:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
I used "Desk Job Without Exercise" and then factored my exercise in separately. My BMR was about 1900 and my TDEE was 2300 without exercise.
* 6 days a week, eat just over your BMR. My BMR is 1900, so I tried to stay under 2000 calories every day before exercise.
* Do cardio 6 times a week. I aimed for at least 500 calories a day. Some days I hit 750, a few days I hit 1,000.
* If you can work out first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, I recommend it. Supposedly this encourages your body to burn fat for energy. I don't know if this is true, but it seemed to work for me.
* Do NOT eat back those exercise calories!!!! Try to stay just over your BMR. If you work out hard and feel especially tired or really, really hungry, then it's ok to eat a bit more. Just make sure you stay well under your TDEE in order to lose weight.
* Eat 5-6 mini-meals instead of 3 larger meals. I ate 6 meals of about 300-350 calories. To put that into perspective, that's a McDonalds EggMcMuffin or a Subway 6-inch turkey sandwich. It's a decent amount of food. You won't starve. You'll be eating every 2-3 hours, so you won't have to wait long to eat. Eating this frequently helps keep your blood sugar stable so you don't have cravings and energy swings. If you know you're going to have a bigger dinner, just skip one of your mini-meals and double up with a 600-700 calorie dinner. With a little effort, you can do this at most popular restaurants without too much suffering.
* At each meal, eat a lean protein (chicken is great) and a complex carb - whole grains. NO SUGAR! No pasta, no white bread. Add veggies as much as you want (but count the calories). Fruit counts as your carb. Count every calorie on MFP.
* Try to avoid liquid calories! If you do have them, log it! I was guilty of having an occasional beer, and I still lost weight. But I usually burned 750-1000 calories at the gym on those days!
* Log everything religiously and carefully. Measure your food if you're not sure how much you're eating. Most people underestimate - I definitely did.
* Lift 3 days a week - alternate upper body and lower body. You will lose muscle as you're losing fat, but lifting will help limit the damage. You want muscle because it helps keep your metabolism up.
* On your lifting days, follow the lifting with moderate cardio - 30 minutes on an elliptical or a easy jog. I aimed for 300-500 calories burned on these days.
* The other 3 days, do HIIT - high intensity interval training. Google it for details. Basically you do intervals of walk, jog, run, sprint. I did mine on the treadmill but you could do it on an elliptical, stairmaster or bike. I do 1 minute each then repeat 6 times... warmup and cooldown for 30 minutes total. If you feel ok afterward, grab a drink, stretch and then do some moderate cardio for as long as you can. I aimed for 500-750 calories burned on these days, and a few days I hit 1,000.
* Pick one day as your rest day. On this day, no workouts, no logging, no restrictions on what you can eat. I log "Free Day" into MFP in the morning with 3500 calories and just hit "Logging Complete". This gives you a physical and mental break and helps you not feel deprived. After your free day you'll likely feel like crap and be very motivated to get back on the program. I always am.
This basic workout (with the MFP stuff added) is from a book called Body For Life. I strongly recommend it - it's got some very good stuff in it (and lots of inspiration and encouragement).
Hope that helps!
0
Replies
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This sounds like a recipe for disaster, personally I'd be knackered after a week living like that and complete overkill imho.
I lost 30 lbs in 3 months, (170>140 lbs) by sticking to eating a deficit. Thats it.
I walked now and then and did a few pressups, situps to keep active and always ate back my calories to compensate for the energy used. I didn't give up any type of food or beer, just ate them in moderation. You really don't need to cut sugar, pasta or white bread or anything else for that matter. Doing cardio 6 times a week is just insane and completely unessessary, I mean kudos to you for doing all that exercise but unless you really enjoy it, its a bit of a waste of time.
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great job good for you... i hope to loose it that fast...but I am a woman over 40 does that count0
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This to me actually made alot of sense!! It may not be for every one but I get where youre coming from on it. The cardio could be a bit OTT for some especially HIIT as that in itself can be hard for some. But 'proof is in the pudding' as my mum says and it clearly worked for you!! Well done
and thanks for sharing 0 -
You definitely had amazing results, so congrats on that. Some of these, I can adopt and/or modify for my life.0
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bump0
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Excellent write-up. And well done with 40 lbs in 4 months and sharing your method.0
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This sounds like a recipe for disaster, personally I'd be knackered after a week living like that and complete overkill imho.
I lost 30 lbs in 3 months, (170>140 lbs) by sticking to eating a deficit. Thats it.
Congrats on your loss.
In order to lose weight at the same pace I did (10 pounds a month) without the cardio I did, you must have eaten at a pretty significant deficit.
Figure 2.5 pounds per week, that's an 8750 calorie deficit. So you'd have to eat at a 1,250 deficit every day off your TDEE. My TDEE was 2300, so that would leave me at just 1050 calories a day - plus the walking you mentioned.
To me, that's also extreme - and I definitely couldn't have done it. For me, I'd rather eat more, exercise hard and feel energized and strong.
A better argument would be to lose the weight slower, which anyone could do with diet alone (although you wouldn't get the fitness benefits I've received). But I was committed to this and I wanted the weight gone FAST.0 -
great work! bumping this 0
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Great job0
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Thanks for posting this it helps. Congrats! By the way, i would rather exercise and eat more than eat 1200 calories a day. I am doing circuit training to Jillian Michaels 30 day shred...I do get REALLY hungry after though 0
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This sounds like a recipe for disaster, personally I'd be knackered after a week living like that and complete overkill imho.
I lost 30 lbs in 3 months, (170>140 lbs) by sticking to eating a deficit. Thats it.
Congrats on your loss.
In order to lose weight at the same pace I did (10 pounds a month) without the cardio I did, you must have eaten at a pretty significant deficit.
Figure 2.5 pounds per week, that's an 8750 calorie deficit. So you'd have to eat at a 1,250 deficit every day off your TDEE. My TDEE was 2300, so that would leave me at just 1050 calories a day - plus the walking you mentioned.
To me, that's also extreme - and I definitely couldn't have done it. For me, I'd rather eat more, exercise hard and feel energized and strong.
A better argument would be to lose the weight slower, which anyone could do with diet alone (although you wouldn't get the fitness benefits I've received). But I was committed to this and I wanted the weight gone FAST.
Sorry I wasn't trying to crap on your success, congrats on the loss too
I did 12 weeks at 1200 cals. If I did any exercise I would always eat it back, so when I burned 400 cals I ate 1600 etc
I didn't find the dramatically reduced intake that challenging, and knowing I was only doing it for a set time gave me a clear goal and focus. I found the experience very positive and learnt to cook in new ways making my food balanced and starting a new way of looking at food in moderation. I definitely appreciate that its not a method most would enjoy or choose.
Whilst I knew a slower deficit would have resulted in less muscle lost, I was after fast results. I always recommend a TDEE-20% is the best approach to anyone (even if its not what I followed)
After dropping to 140 I maintained for a while and then decided to lower my BF down to 10%, this time taking it slow at 100 cal deficit. I'm now getting close to breaking into 12% which seems a long way now. It may take me a year to get there but I'm fine with that. I couldn't have waited longer than 3mths when I had a bf of 27%+, something clicked when I realised I had eaten around 3500 cals in a day and saw a depressing beer belly in the mirror. I wanted it instantly gone!
Returning back to my main points I was making was that you don't need excessive amounts of exercise to lose weight, but I'd agree a small regular amount can improve your physical appearance and minimise the amount lost with fat. HIIT and increasing daily NEAT is definitely the best approach to staying fit.
The key thing I have to push is no food should be cut, even mars bars have their place, its all about moderation rather than cutting them. Its all about calories at the end of the day. As long as your not eating a loaf of bread a day, a couple slices in a nice sandwich is perfectly fine. Its much more to do with the deficit than the breakdown of carbs fats and protein when it comes to losing weight. Denying yourself something is just as bad as eating too much of it imho.0 -
Good post but that is alot of exercise. I'd be exhausted and to be honest that would just put me off the whole thing. I lift heavy the last thing I want to be doing after a very heavy lifting session is half an hour of cardio but I guess it works for some.
Well done on your success thus far.0 -
Sorry I wasn't trying to crap on your success, congrats on the loss too
Thanks! You and I did it differently but we both got it done. That's what matters.
Good job on the body fat %. I'm currently lifting heavy to gain some muscle, then I'm going to lose a bit more fat to get "cut". I want to be 12% but with more muscle than I currently have. But like you, it's all a slow process. Healthier and easier that way!The key thing I have to push is no food should be cut, even mars bars have their place, its all about moderation rather than cutting them. Its all about calories at the end of the day.
I find it difficult to moderate sugar and simple carbs. There's a physical reason for this, because of how these foods affect blood sugar. They cause a spike and then a subsequent crash. After the crash, I really crave those foods again. When I'm trying to stay under, it's just easier for me to avoid them altogether. If I'm craving something I just enjoy it in moderation (with no guilt) on my free day.
It's not like I'm giving up something that's healthy for me. I just get my calories from healthier food sources.0 -
Bump! I agree with all of this, as it has been generally what has worked for me (of course numbers adjusted for a 140lb female rather than a 200 lb male) thank you for the encouragement towards upping my exercise, I know I have needed to step it up in that department, and I am ready!
Great job, thanks for sharing!0 -
Good post but that is alot of exercise. I'd be exhausted and to be honest that would just put me off the whole thing. I lift heavy the last thing I want to be doing after a very heavy lifting session is half an hour of cardio but I guess it works for some.
I'm lifting heavy now too, and I agree with you. I can't do the cardio like I used to after a heavy lifting session. I think you have to decide what your priority is - losing fat or gaining muscle. For me, it was losing fat.
But now, I'm working to gain muscle (thus the heavy lifting). After a few months of gaining muscle I'm going to do another cycle of fat-burning to get lean - and up the cardio again. During that time I'll lift to help maintain my muscle gains but not at the intensity I'm currently doing.
It's a process that will take a while to get where I want to be but it still feels good to have made so much progress so fast.0 -
Congratulations on you weight loss and increased fitness level!
I, too am following a similar structure as you, except for the cardio. In a normal day, I will burn 800-1200 calories. I eat around 1500-2000 calories a day. I have also started doing stronglifts 5x5. I intend to keep my cardio up as i really want to be able to RUN a whole 5k and work up to a half marathon (Full marathon is a long term goal.). I am losing weight quickly right now, but I am planning on bulking once I get around 200lbs, and then back to cardio and mx lifting.0 -
Congrats on loss!
Everyone is different and same diet/exercise plans don't nessesarily work across the board. I myself am really just starting to get into the weight loss and find my motivation and what works for me. Thank you for sharing this post.....definately a few points I have picked out that I will try and adopt for my plan 0 -
Great Post! Thanks for the details!!!0
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waste of time? never!This sounds like a recipe for disaster, personally I'd be knackered after a week living like that and complete overkill imho.
I lost 30 lbs in 3 months, (170>140 lbs) by sticking to eating a deficit. Thats it.
I walked now and then and did a few pressups, situps to keep active and always ate back my calories to compensate for the energy used. I didn't give up any type of food or beer, just ate them in moderation. You really don't need to cut sugar, pasta or white bread or anything else for that matter. Doing cardio 6 times a week is just insane and completely unessessary, I mean kudos to you for doing all that exercise but unless you really enjoy it, its a bit of a waste of time.0 -
bump
thanks for this and congrats!0
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