hamlet1222 Member

don't eat maintenance for your current weight, eat maintenance for your desired weight. This is how you'll have to eat eventually (if you don't want to get overweight again), so may as well get used to it now.

Thanks, I guess I'll have to experiment, starting with just one in the morning

obvious question, but did you stop putting sugar in your coffee, and find it less enjoyable as a result?

I have one at the gym and use it sometimes, not really sure I get any benefit from it, and I can't seem to endure more than 5 minutes in there (is it really doing me any good if I'm describing it as something I 'endure'?). Does you gym have a steam room too? They seem a bit less painful than a sauna.

blended frozen banana post workout - tastes like ice cream!

There seem to be dozens of little tweaks you can do regarding what you eat and when, but it'd be a huge effort implementing all of them. Much easier to just have a simple daily calorie goal. I like to be fully carbed-up before working out (workouts so much more enjoyable), so won't be worry about this 8% less fat I'm not…

smoking will be more effective than ephedrine. Either way, are you prepared to take these forever to stay the weight you want? At some point you'll have to develop the discipline of eating the right amount, may as well develop it now.

I just track calories and have a minimum protein target, leaving carbs and fats to take care of themselves. Not found any issues with this approach.

Every morning, I find it interesting how my weight can fluctuate one day to the next, often + or - 0.5 kg. I only worry about upwards or downwards trends over a week though.

It's normal to feel the need 30 minutes to an hour after waking up, whatever you drink or eat, it's more likely your body clock than the coffee. All Bran does the trick for me, there's no getting away from eating fibre I'm afraid.

I get it, I spent 2010 eating as much as I wanted as an experiment, I stabilized at 94kg - so my natural calorie counter 'wanted' me to be 15kgs overweight. Now I'm maintaining around 78kg, and on 2000 calories a day I never feel stuffed, nor starving, so I stopped counting calories and just rely on those sensations.

that's a tough one and I sympathize, for me it's pretty much either visible abs and a gaunt skinny face, or a 'healthier' looking face and a bit of belly fat. Have you checked your body fat %? You need around 10% for visible abs. I recommend the mike matthews videos on youtube, he advocates cycles of cutting down to 8%…

I suspect most vegans consume way more than 45g of sugar a day, and I've never seen a fat vegan. Given your family history though I would get your fasting blood glucose level tested.

best to start with the target you have, and take it from there. Add 100 calories if losing weight too fast, subtract 100 if not losing any, and so on. 0.5kg per week of weight loss is considered optimum (any more and you're probably losing muscle).

I experimented on myself a few years back, stopping lifting for several months, but testing my 3 rep max every two weeks. I found it took a couple of months before significant loss in strength - no big deal. Of course my twice monthly three rep max test will have provided a bit of training, but unavoidable. Enjoy your…

Well I've seen it claimed that 80g per day of protein is not enough to build muscle, just wondering what people have found they can eat and still gain.

I would plan to move the equipment to the garage once your child can crawl. Kids can injure themselves in all kinds of unexpected ways, so don't be adding weights and bars to the list of things to worry about.

Over 6 months my quads, biceps, shoulders, and pecs all looked and felt bigger, others also noticed and commented. My clothes also told me! Didn't need any equipment to observe it.

This is exactly the bit about low carb dieting I don't understand. Surely surplus calories from fat are also stored as fat, and the chemical process to store dietary fat on the body is probably more efficient (i.e. requires less calories to do) than converting sugar to fat. So I suspect a surplus calorie from fat will make…

I wonder how many of these atkins advocates have ever travelled? Rice, grain, and potatoes are staple foods in so many countries: Vietnam, china, india,... and you try telling an italian that their bread and pasta will lead them to an early grave. If everyone followed the low carb approach the price of meat would go…

beans and lentils are overrated - the ones I've looked at in the supermarket are around 10% protein - similar to bread and cereals. Seeds and nuts are higher protein, but they are also high fat and therefore high calorie, so you can't have too many to stay in your calorie deficit. I try to be vegetarian most days, and…

I avoid sugary drinks like coke and fruit juice, but do add sugar to my coffee, tea, and breakfast cereal. I think it comes down to GI more than anything else, low GI foods I find keep my energy levels more stable, but I'd miss sugar too much if I cut it out completely. On the issue of being a brain surgeon, I'm actually…

fat has over double the calories per gram of carbs or protein, and I find I feel pretty stuffed on a baked potato and beans lunch - a very low fat meal. I put the atkinsers claims to the test once and tried a greasy three-egg omlette for lunch once and felt rough all afternoon - and with that horrible greasy taste in the…

Not being a big meat eater I too struggle hitting the protein target and depend on whey shakes to get there. Before I started tracking my macros I only tracked calories, and mistakenly thought I was getting enough protein from cereals and dairy (which are the biggest single constituent of my diet). Once I started tracking…

I built some awesome legs only from running a 3 mile hilly off-road circuit near my home in around 20 minutes, several times a week. I actually built muscle. I think you only lose muscle if you do long distance and don't get enough calories.

We're frequently told to steam our vegetables instead of boil them, as so many of the micronutrients get poured down the sink when draining them. The way I see it, tea is the opposite, you throw away the vegetables and drink the water :-)

How do you actually feel when you drink milk? I find too much milk does upset my stomach a bit, so wonder if there is a sliding scale of lactose intolerance. Whey protein isolate with water could be a good option.

I find the traditional 3 main meals + afternoon tea does the job. This is my typical eating plan, which I find allows me to hit my macros and calorie goal without too much hunger or low blood sugar 'shakes': 8 am Breakfast - cereal, coffee, protein shake - 500 calories 10:30 am Cappuccino - 100 calories 12:30pm Lunch -…

Probably the theory about carbs causing a rise insulin, which tells your body to store fat. That does make sense, but it's only single piece of the puzzle. What doesn't make sense to me about some low carb diets (atkins) is that they ignore these points: 1. if there aren't any excess calories to store as fat (because…

It's not fair, don't rub it in, we only get the excuse for slapup feasts and lots of goodies xmas and easter in the UK.