Steps and walking

Iamnobody

Glad the new gym went well.

As well as a smart watch to track heart rate and estimate calories burnt you could buy some scales that measure your body composition.

Massive caveat it’s a guess at best, but it’s a baseline to work from and you’ll see any changes reflected in the readings. 

Something cheap and cheerful like this will give you a steer on fat loss/muscle gain etc. As will the mirror to be fair. 

https://amzn.eu/d/9HfqLNf

Lestratcaster

I have a really old set of scales in the bathroom, imperial one. Maybe its not measuring accurately as its so old so might be time to get a new one.

The time of day I weigh myself might be a factor as its different all the time, sometimes its first thing (which is when its meant to be done apparently) sometimes last thing before bed and other times after meals or workouts (not really the best time as there's food and water retention in the body still)

Iamnobody

I tend to weigh myself in the morning and night not daily but regularly enough so I can keep track of how different foods and exercise impact me. 

I’ve got it nailed now and my weight has barely fluctuated more than + - 2kgs over the last 5 years - since losing the initial just over a stone I needed to. 

The app you get with smart scales will let you filter readings by the time of day if you want - so you can get it to just show you your am, or just pm readings for example.

Regularly weighing myself has allowed me to stay on track. It may be seen as a bad thing or obsessive to some - but there’s a lot of value in it to me. By regularly tracking and making adjustments I shouldn’t find myself in a position where I’ve suddenly put half a stone on, I’d notice the upward trend before then and adjust my diet/exercise to suit. 

RaymondLin

I use my Apple watch to work out my walking steps and distances.  I work to work most days, it is 2.8km each way so I hit the 10,000 steps 5 days a week normally.   I also started to watch my calorie intake daily from my Birthday in February.  The numbers gives me the motivation to keep going.  Both my weight has gone down (average 1lb loss per week), and my resting heartrate has also dropped.

Lestratcaster

Iamnobody said:

I tend to weigh myself in the morning and night not daily but regularly enough so I can keep track of how different foods and exercise impact me. 

I’ve got it nailed now and my weight has barely fluctuated more than + - 2kgs over the last 5 years - since losing the initial just over a stone I needed to. 

The app you get with smart scales will let you filter readings by the time of day if you want - so you can get it to just show you your am, or just pm readings for example.

Regularly weighing myself has allowed me to stay on track. It may be seen as a bad thing or obsessive to some - but there’s a lot of value in it to me. By regularly tracking and making adjustments I shouldn’t find myself in a position where I’ve suddenly put half a stone on, I’d notice the upward trend before then and adjust my diet/exercise to suit. 

I don't think I've put on more than half a stone, if half a stone so I'm not doing too bad. Even when we had the thing called Covid 19 and 2 UK lockdowns when the gym was shut I still maintained my figure. Whenever I was allowed outside I would do walk but not the amount of steps I am doing now.

I will look at getting something like that smart scale though.

Lestratcaster

RaymondLin said:

I use my Apple watch to work out my walking steps and distances.  I work to work most days, it is 2.8km each way so I hit the 10,000 steps 5 days a week normally.   I also started to watch my calorie intake daily from my Birthday in February.  The numbers gives me the motivation to keep going.  Both my weight has gone down (average 1lb loss per week), and my resting heartrate has also dropped.

The new gym I'm at is a mile away so that's already 2 miles there and back walking. Also next month I'm reprising my exam invigilator role at a local school which is also about a mile away. Could get my steps in walking down the aisles looking for cheaters haha.

How long does it take you to walk to work? I think I can do 10,000 steps as I walk quite fast anyway, so I'll try and get this within an hour.

RaymondLin

Lestratcaster said:

RaymondLin said:

I use my Apple watch to work out my walking steps and distances.  I work to work most days, it is 2.8km each way so I hit the 10,000 steps 5 days a week normally.   I also started to watch my calorie intake daily from my Birthday in February.  The numbers gives me the motivation to keep going.  Both my weight has gone down (average 1lb loss per week), and my resting heartrate has also dropped.

The new gym I'm at is a mile away so that's already 2 miles there and back walking. Also next month I'm reprising my exam invigilator role at a local school which is also about a mile away. Could get my steps in walking down the aisles looking for cheaters haha.

How long does it take you to walk to work? I think I can do 10,000 steps as I walk quite fast anyway, so I'll try and get this within an hour.

It's up an incline and then down, and it normally takes me 35mins.  I don't walk particularly fast I don't think.

sinbaadi

Steps per day is going to be specific to you.  I'm 6'6" and my loping gate sees me travel a lot further in 10000 steps than my other half does.  In my mind a thirty minute purposeful fast walk is way better as exercise than a day of mooching about, too, if both counted the same number of steps.

snowblind

Iamnobody said:

Whilst I agree with a lot of what you’ve written I don’t think cutting out carbs altogether is good advice. Not all carbs are equal, there’s probably a better argument for a low carb diet. 

Also I’d query your advice on protein  - need less based on what starting point?

There’s a school of thought that most people don’t eat enough - so I’d caution a statement like need less. As we age we lose muscle mass and getting enough protein is very important for maintenance of both muscle and bone, ideally from high quality sources if possible. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4208946/

It is a complex equation for sure and varies greatly from person to person. Loss of muscle is a natural part of aging although continued resistance training can slow or even reverse that process. There are genetic changes involved which makes it harder for the body to build and repair muscle at the same rates as when you are younger. Ultimately it is an input vs output calculation. The problem with excess protein is it can lead to things like gout.

Doesn't help that the modern diet is garbage unless you take a bit of care. Prepare as much from fresh as is practical and you won't go far wrong. Like most things it is often a question of time. Time to get out and exercise, time to prepare stuff to cook, time to sleep and do all the myriad other things that make a up a life. Not enough hours in a day sometimes.

strtdv

I find it impossible to get motivated to exercise after work (including the commute around 11 hours), so I've recently started getting up a bit early and doing 10 miles on the turbo trainer before work. You feel like you've achieved something before work, I do it in a fasted state and then I find I don't feel like eating for a few hours after too. 
At the moment I'm trying to lose weight so I'm fasting until about 12.30 (I get up before 6), have a couple of bits of fruit for lunch, and then eat a normal dinner in the evening, and try to avoid snacking in the evening. 
I'm also off alcohol for the next couple of months. 

The aim is to lose 35lbs in around 9-10 weeks

Lestratcaster

RaymondLin said:

Lestratcaster said:

RaymondLin said:

I use my Apple watch to work out my walking steps and distances.  I work to work most days, it is 2.8km each way so I hit the 10,000 steps 5 days a week normally.   I also started to watch my calorie intake daily from my Birthday in February.  The numbers gives me the motivation to keep going.  Both my weight has gone down (average 1lb loss per week), and my resting heartrate has also dropped.

The new gym I'm at is a mile away so that's already 2 miles there and back walking. Also next month I'm reprising my exam invigilator role at a local school which is also about a mile away. Could get my steps in walking down the aisles looking for cheaters haha.

How long does it take you to walk to work? I think I can do 10,000 steps as I walk quite fast anyway, so I'll try and get this within an hour.

It's up an incline and then down, and it normally takes me 35mins.  I don't walk particularly fast I don't think.

Ah ok, I went on another hourly walk early, managed about the same as on Sunday (6663 steps) so unless I'm jogging its going to be hard for me to do 10,000. I was walking pretty fast for most of it too.

Lestratcaster

snowblind said:

Iamnobody said:

Whilst I agree with a lot of what you’ve written I don’t think cutting out carbs altogether is good advice. Not all carbs are equal, there’s probably a better argument for a low carb diet. 

Also I’d query your advice on protein  - need less based on what starting point?

There’s a school of thought that most people don’t eat enough - so I’d caution a statement like need less. As we age we lose muscle mass and getting enough protein is very important for maintenance of both muscle and bone, ideally from high quality sources if possible. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4208946/

It is a complex equation for sure and varies greatly from person to person. Loss of muscle is a natural part of aging although continued resistance training can slow or even reverse that process. There are genetic changes involved which makes it harder for the body to build and repair muscle at the same rates as when you are younger. Ultimately it is an input vs output calculation. The problem with excess protein is it can lead to things like gout.

Doesn't help that the modern diet is garbage unless you take a bit of care. Prepare as much from fresh as is practical and you won't go far wrong. Like most things it is often a question of time. Time to get out and exercise, time to prepare stuff to cook, time to sleep and do all the myriad other things that make a up a life. Not enough hours in a day sometimes.

I'm lucky as I work from home I can cook my meals fresh from scratch. Every now and then I'll treat myself but for 90% of the time its pretty clean. I've had gout issues in the past so will tread carefully with how much protein I intake. Also I don't have the same metabolism I had 20 years ago so again I have to watch what I eat.

RaymondLin

Lestratcaster said:

Ah ok, I went on another hourly walk early, managed about the same as on Sunday (6663 steps) so unless I'm jogging its going to be hard for me to do 10,000. I was walking pretty fast for most of it too.

I also often do some things that purposely force myself to walk.

1 - I could order things from Amazon and have it delivered to work or home.  But I sometimes have it delivered to a Locker that is 1km away.  Then that is a 2km walk to get it.  

2 - Instead of getting shopping for the week.  I want baked goods for breakfast and I would walk to Lidi in the evening in order to get my croissants.  Again, it's about 1km away too for me.  

Basically, I create situations for myself and reasons for the walk.  Rather than walking aimlessly around, which I do sometimes but if I want to do a quick 2km walk, that's what I do.  I go to Lidi to get 1 thing and then walk home again.

Lestratcaster

RaymondLin said:

Lestratcaster said:

Ah ok, I went on another hourly walk early, managed about the same as on Sunday (6663 steps) so unless I'm jogging its going to be hard for me to do 10,000. I was walking pretty fast for most of it too.

I also often do some things that purposely force myself to walk.

1 - I could order things from Amazon and have it delivered to work or home.  But I sometimes have it delivered to a Locker that is 1km away.  Then that is a 2km walk to get it.  

2 - Instead of getting shopping for the week.  I want baked goods for breakfast and I would walk to Lidi in the evening in order to get my croissants.  Again, it's about 1km away too for me.  

Basically, I create situations for myself and reasons for the walk.  Rather than walking aimlessly around, which I do sometimes but if I want to do a quick 2km walk, that's what I do.  I go to Lidi to get 1 thing and then walk home again.

The Amazon locker thing is a good shout, there's a few dotted around me that are a few miles away I could walk to collect.

My local Tesco superstore is almost mile or so away. Sometimes when my car wasn't driveable I'd walk down there to get some shopping (and walk back).

I took a different route today and its not too bad and near enough covers an hour. I'll probably switch up the routes a few times a week.

RaymondLin

strtdv said:

I find it impossible to get motivated to exercise after work (including the commute around 11 hours), so I've recently started getting up a bit early and doing 10 miles on the turbo trainer before work. You feel like you've achieved something before work, I do it in a fasted state and then I find I don't feel like eating for a few hours after too. 
At the moment I'm trying to lose weight so I'm fasting until about 12.30 (I get up before 6), have a couple of bits of fruit for lunch, and then eat a normal dinner in the evening, and try to avoid snacking in the evening. 
I'm also off alcohol for the next couple of months. 

The aim is to lose 35lbs in around 9-10 weeks

35lbs in 10 weeks?  Is that even possible?

The ideal drop is about 1lb a week so for me, 10lb in 10 weeks is a good rate of weight shift.  You are aiming for 3.5x that.  For that to happen...if I do some maths

It's 3500 cal = 1lb of fat.

So you have to do a negative 12,250 calories a week.  My basic metabolic rate is about 1700 calories, meaning if I eat 1700 calories I maintain my weight.

So for me, if I starve myself for 7 days straight, that is 11,900 calories.

Meaning to lose 35lbs in 10 weeks I have to stop eating, period.

So on paper, to lose 35lbs in 10 weeks, I would have to either starve....not possible, or burn it off.  Meaning if I eat 1700 calories, I need to burn 3400 calories a day, everyday.

I just don't see how this is sustainable?

Rocker

IMHO the only way to reduce weight is to eat less. Much less. This is not easy, it is very difficult, but it works. And it takes time, more time than you might think. But it works. 

distressed

Rocker said:

IMHO the only way to reduce weight is to eat less. Much less. This is not easy, it is very difficult, but it works. And it takes time, more time than you might think. But it works. 

This 100%

RaymondLin

We eat a lot of calories dense food without realising, the biggest help for me is using MyFitnessPal to work out the calories I am eating. This has helped a lot in keeping track to maintain the calories deficit.  

I found myself when I went to the gym I come back really hungry, eating more, more than I burn off at the gym so despite haivng the exercise, which is good for the heart, I wasn’t losing weight.  Which was my first goal.

I found just cutting back my calories and going for walks is the best balance for me. I’m not hungry after a walk and by calorie counting I’m able to still stuff my face with less calorie dense food.  So my stomach is still satisfied from being full but I’m not over eating.

Lestratcaster

Rocker said:

IMHO the only way to reduce weight is to eat less. Much less. This is not easy, it is very difficult, but it works. And it takes time, more time than you might think. But it works. 

Trying to reduce my portion sizes in particular white rice/pasta as they're quite carb heavy but generally my plate's are smaller in size.

ErnestVictory

Cutting carbs is bullshit advice. Calories in, calories out - it’s just thermodynamics. 

Work out your TDEE, track your calories and weigh yourself frequently and regularly, measure your waist and take photos with your top off. Your waist not measuring less, your physique don’t look different and your weight isn’t changing? You’re consuming more than you burn.