The *Official* FretBoard Celebrity Fat Club Weigh In and Diet thread.

Handsome_Chris

So this "Don't eat before bed" talk is all cobblers?!

octatonic

Handsome_Chris said:

So this "Don't eat before bed" talk is all cobblers?!

It has been debunked, yes.

That said, a lot of people exhibit poor executive control in the evenings.
If they are calories you wouldn't eat otherwise and take yo over your TDEE then I'd avoid them.

If you are eating, say, 2000 calories a day and can stay disciplined then it is unimportant when you eat them.

Handsome_Chris

Thanks buddy.  

Handsome_Chris

@EricTheWeary and @axisus , kudos to you gentlemen for your results this week.  It's great to see a lot of positives coming from this thread. 

thecolourbox

I'm a bit late to the party but started a health kick on Friday because:
 
1. I'm the heaviest I've ever been (although confusingly I still have a 29" waist which is annoying for trousers sizing),
2. I'd let my swimming slip and that's the only real exercise I do other than running for the train, and
3. I've been suffering with anxiety and exhaustion a lot lately because of work and I can't cope with feeling ill all the time. Best way to help that if I can't change work is to eat less crap and exercise more. So here goes:

Post weight = 12 stone 10 (as of Saturday 3rd June)
Post target = 10 stone 7
Post your planned diet = cut out the chocolate and sweets binges and replace with fruit, I shall be keeping food diaries and aiming for 2000 calories per day as NHS say that should do me for 1-2 pounds per week.

I've been below 2000 every day so far, yesterday after subtracting my exercise I was at 496 calories for the day as I did an hour swimming front crawl pretty quickly. Ate 1000 calories roughly because I couldn't eat a proper dinner as I got back after 10pm, and swimming came out at about 500 calories burnt (i always understate the time spent on that). Not sure if that is beginner's luck and if that is sustainable realistically, but I do aim to swim twice a week at least (been three times since Friday) so hoping that'll do the job. So far I don't feel any better as I now have mouth ulcers, tonsilistis, a cold sore and the associated head cold, but hopefully in time it'll help. But even if I still feel crap in time, hopefully I'll be skinny and miserable!

Handsome_Chris

@thecolourbox , would you rather be good looking and miserable, or fat, self-pitying and and miserable?

Why can't you eat a proper meal after 10pm?

thecolourbox

Handsome_Chris said:

@thecolourbox , would you rather be good looking and miserable, or fat, self-pitying and and miserable?

Why can't you eat a proper meal after 10pm?

I already am good looking and miserable

I can't eat a proper meal after 10 because I go to bed at 10:30! I just had a salad with some chicken as I can't go to bed on a full stomach

thecolourbox

Forgot to say, well done to all you lot who've been on this for ages - it's easy to overlook success in the quest to lose more and more but sounds like some of you lot have done brilliantly

axisus

octatonic said:

Handsome_Chris said:

So this "Don't eat before bed" talk is all cobblers?!

It has been debunked, yes.

That said, a lot of people exhibit poor executive control in the evenings.
If they are calories you wouldn't eat otherwise and take yo over your TDEE then I'd avoid them.

If you are eating, say, 2000 calories a day and can stay disciplined then it is unimportant when you eat them.

I'd like to see evidence of that. I'm not saying that I don't believe as such but I thought it was accepted so it would be good to read something from a reliable source. I'll have a search a bit later.

octatonic

axisus said:

octatonic said:

Handsome_Chris said:

So this "Don't eat before bed" talk is all cobblers?!

It has been debunked, yes.

That said, a lot of people exhibit poor executive control in the evenings.
If they are calories you wouldn't eat otherwise and take yo over your TDEE then I'd avoid them.

If you are eating, say, 2000 calories a day and can stay disciplined then it is unimportant when you eat them.

I'd like to see evidence of that. I'm not saying that I don't believe as such but I thought it was accepted so it would be good to read something from a reliable source. I'll have a search a bit later.

Nope not any longer- to clarify, there is no solid evidence that meal timing aids weight loss.
There are a lot of studies that show clashing or contradictory data.
Some studies say one thing but other studies show the opposite.

Have look at the many links at the bottom of this page for a hell of a lot of information: 
https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-eat-six-times-a-day-to-keep-my-metabolism-high/

Also have a read of all of this:
 
http://www.livestrong.com/blog/eat-three-nutrient-timing-myths-busted/
http://www.foodforfitness.co.uk/blog/Debunking-The-5-Most-Common-Myths-About-Meal-Timing
https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/10-nutrition-myths-debunked.html

monquixote

It's one of those urban myths like only using 20% of your brain.

Studies have repeatedly shown it too be false.

Handsome_Chris

@octatonic , once again I thank you.  I am actually getting smarter and healthier just by knowing you, @Clarky and @monquixote .

Does this mean that if I listened to @Emp_Fab I'd be as dumb as an ox,  morbidly obese, and have anger problems?

:P

monquixote

Here is chapter and verse on the breakfast thing:

https://examine.com/nutrition/is-it-really-that-bad-to-skip-breakfast/

Handsome_Chris

The last few weeks have been an education for me.  I've learnt about diet and running.  I've also learnt that I can enjoy both.  I've started to build habits where I actually want to eat what I need, as opposed to just filling my fat face and drinking booze all the time.  I want to do my run tomorrow, because I know that I'll feel bad if I don't do it.  Clothes are starting to fit me (again) and I feel more energised.

Guys, thank you.

Clarky

Handsome_Chris said:

The last few weeks have been an education for me.  I've learnt about diet and running.  I've also learnt that I can enjoy both.  I've started to build habits where I actually want to eat what I need, as opposed to just filling my fat face and drinking booze all the time.  I want to do my run tomorrow, because I know that I'll feel bad if I don't do it.  Clothes are starting to fit me (again) and I feel more energised.

Guys, thank you.

so.. you're not on a diet.. you're not going through a bit of a fitness thing..

you're changing your lifestyle.. and that will stick..

GuitarAndy2

Count me in, I'm currently 12 stone 6 which is about the heaviest I've ever been and it has been niggling away at my self confidence. Properly toned & in shape I should be around 11 & a half, my diet isn't that bad overall but I've a tendency to over indulge every once in a while and then guilt has me over compensate for several days afterwards, so looking to curb falling into that binge & purge mindset. More of an issue has been a lack of a regular exercise routine for the past 9-10 months. I used to play squash or tennis once a week and/or go swimming as well, but irregular shift patterns broke said routine. Want to turn that back around, even if it's just swimming once a week to begin with.

This was my original post from TheFB FatClub thread, dated April 17th. As of this evening I weighed in at 12 stone 3, so less weight loss than I would like in that time overall. Factored into that would be some over indulgence the last two weekends, visiting friends in Warwick last weekend and attending the christening of a nephew of the better half the one before. I have also managed to go swimming every week, having built up to doing 50 lengths in as many minutes the last time around, so some progress has been made.

Handsome_Chris

@GuitarAndy2 , nice work mate.  

I think @octatonic was telling me that scales only tell one side of the story.  In other words scales only indicate your weight: not how that weight is made up.

With the swimming you may be putting on "muscle weight" while losing "fat weight".  Of course  the weight may come off faster if you didn't have indulgences, but do you want to do that.

The bottom line is that you've made some progress, it's still progress. Be happy, you're moving in the right direction.

octatonic

Handsome_Chris said:

@GuitarAndy2 , nice work mate.  

I think @octatonic was telling me that scales only tell one side of the story.  In other words scales only indicate your weight: not how that weight is made up.

With the swimming you may be putting on "muscle weight" while losing "fat weight".  Of course  the weight may come off faster if you didn't have indulgences, but do you want to do that.

The bottom line is that you've made some progress, it's still progress. Be happy, you're moving in the right direction.

To clarify, exercise does build muscle but you might have to exercise for a full year to gain about 5kg in muscle and you would need to lift weights.

This brings me to the issue of 'scale weight'.
It is fairly meaningless.
What matters is body composition.
You can be 100kg and look awful at 40% body fat or look awesomely muscular at 6% body fat.
The difference between those two bodies is a ridiculous amount of dedication and a strict diet.
You will fluctuate about 2kg day to day depending on what you eat.
Weighing yourself daily is going to be counterproductive and will knock your confidence.
Trust me, I've been there.

Advice for normal people who want to get healthy, drop weight and then stay healthy- throw away your scales!
Or at least only get on them a couple of times a month.
It doesn't matter what you weigh from day to day- it matters that you are losing body fat and that doesn't have much to do with what the number on the scale says.
You are going for a look, not a number- look in a mirror, notice how tight or loose your clothes feel.
At 3-4 months of doing this if you have the right approach then you will need new clothes- that is a measure of success, not the number on a scale.

Just eat 1700-2000 calories a day, eat a lot of vegetables, exercise regularly, stay away from alcohol and junk food and be patient.
I give a range of calories because IMHO you should tailor your calorie intake to your activity.
Are you exercising today- then go for 2000.
Not exercising today, then eat 1700.
(if you want you can load calories the day before you exercise, so 2000 today if you are exercising tomorrow but that is an extra layer of complexity that most people can't cope with).

It took a long time to get into the condition that caused you to feel as though you had to lose weight- it will probably take about at least half that time again to lose the weight.

Look at it as a 2 year personal project.
It took me about that long to get most of the weight off me once I finally buckled down and stuck to it.
It took me about 8 years of trying though to get to that point.

ThePrettyDamned

Weigh day tomorrow. Not expecting a great result as I celebrated last night with a pudding, and today I celebrated with wine and a piece of cake, and am having slow cooked lamb for dinner... And tomorrow I'm having a BBQ, with a bottle of Brecons gin and some tonic water. 

But no regrets. From Monday I'll be walking 8 miles a day and should be back on it I want to enjoy myself for a few days though. 

GuitarAndy2

@octatonic I've also done the daily weighing thing in the past and with my personality it became a really bad thing, had a period in college where I dropped below 9 & a half stone because of how obsessed I became with what the scales said. My target weight is largely based off past experience; pretty much all the additional weight I've gained is on my midrift so it's more looking better in my existing clothes than dropping down a size.

Spent most of my adult life in a 29-30" waist when often on the overly skinny end of things, so increasing to a 30-32" in my 30s doesn't bother me provided I'm fitting comfortably into those as opposed to being overly snug at the waistband.

@Handsome_Chris Thanks for the encouragement, any additional positive motivation helps when self destructive tendencies start to rear their head.

I'm not going to beat myself up too much about those occasional indulgences, just need to make sure they stay occasional and don't slip towards becoming a regular thing. I've largely cut out unhealthy snacks by just not having them in the house to begin with. Losing the weight & keeping it off is something I'm prepared to be patient with, as long as I'm continuing to make progress.

My aim is largely to do this whilst also avoid putting on too much additional muscle, my dad's side of the family always manage that easily if pushed in that direction, but I want to avoid the triangle/bouncer issue where you just look uncomfortable in a suit. Building core strength and gradual toning of what's already there.