Weight / Fat loss

The only 'good' bar I've found is Vive. Minimal artificial shit, too.
But you should not be using the bars in any case as they predominantly seem to contain a 'fibre' which is actually a relatively easily digested long chain starch, alongside all that sweetener crap.
Its way better just to have a high protein yog instead.
When I got lean- I cut them out of my diet and the difference was almost absurd...

I'm going back to the absurd diet for 1 month now, and we'll see what I can acheive.

Sadly- I put the weight back on and have been essentially on a bulk pattern recently.

Lots of mentions of brain fog as a by product of eating a processed food/carb heavy diet by those who favour a LCHF diet.

I never would have believed it until going on LCHF.
When I was in keto I definitely felt more alert.
Maybe ketones are better fuel for brains than carbs?

Lost a pound shy of 2 stone since November 18th on the 5 2 diet

Now to commence tone up and muscle build

That’s huge! Congratulations!

I’m hovering around the weight I want to be when I started paying an interest in what is ate and portion sizes 9 months ago (lost a stone and a half). My question is, what sort of foods do I need to eat/avoid to lose body fat whilst keeping this weight?

Also, my fitness pal has given me a maintenance calorie goal. Should I eat back to the calories I burn while exercising to stay this weight but burn fat?

That’s huge! Congratulations!

Thanks. Cutting out snacks and beer in the week has been the key I think. The fast days are actually OK too, I got used to them.

I think the brain prefers glycogen to anything but in it's absence ketones are produced/used. IANAD but I think that they a more steady form of fuel for the brain. Unlike glycogen/carbs you don't get that rise and fall of energy. That steady flow was one of the best things I found about being low carb/in ketosis.

Do you mean to keep losing body fat?

Yes, sorry I was a bit unclear.

So I now have a recipe for you to try if you should wish.
Makes a large amount of 'clean' protein bars- you decide sizing, but calories based on what I have here.
Ingredients:
2 x large bananas (350g with skin on) [175 calories, ish, 50g carbs]
350g smooth peanut butter (Excess oil removed from initial opening of pot- reserved for cooking ftw) [2100 cal, 130g Fat, 35g Carb, 105g protein]
40g Coconut Oil [40g fat, 360cal]
150g Vegan Protein without artificial sweeteners (again I use Vive or Amazing Grass- vive chocolate works best) [ 525 cal, 110g protein]
2 egg or chia replacement [120 cal, 6g fat, 6g protein, 10g carb -ish]
Cinnamon x lots.
Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
(optional: 1 desertspoon of cocoa powder).
Mush bananas, mix everything together. You want a batter thats not dry nor wet, kinda like gingerbread mix.
Divided into Tablespoon cookie size:
Bake at fan 17o for 8-10mins on a lightly sprayed baking sheet/ foil. Let cool.
they should hold together and pop off the pan easy.
Total macros: (roughly and rounded up
2900 cal. 100g Carbs. 180g Fat. 220g protein.
I tend to make 25-30 little tiny cookies:
120 cals, 10g Protein, 7g Fat, 4g Carb.
Divide it how you like, I think I could reduce the PB- swapped for almond/coconut milk- and will try in the next batch and post results.

I was lacking exercise in the first half of jan due to knee pain, so I spent that time putting together a spreadsheet schedule of exercise - to try and be sensible about ramping up riding and running to prevent injury. I'm really bad at this.
Knee pain has now cleared up, did my first yoga session of the year yesterday (am ruined today ofc), am back running, and back commuting by bike, and the numbers are going in the right direction. Weekend at my parents this weekend which should curb drinking but encourage biscuit-eating.

Sounds great, may give that a try.

I tend to use sedentary, then eat back my calories when I walk/cycle.

That of course keeps me at my weight, if you want to burn more then set a goal (500 kcals less than maintance, whatever) and then eat back your calories from exercise.

After 3 months of cutting fat, I recommend finding your maintenance and staying there, then cut again. Constant fat loss, unless you are really mega lardy, is not needed and learning maintanance is also important.

As for the foods, eat your fruit/veg and get 1.3 grams protein per kg bodyweight as a minumum.

And cut down on alcohol, junk food, sweets but don't worry too much about details. Even the BBC is full of "eat this, not that" but in the end perfection can be the enemy of good.

Also great going! :)

Lost my christmas lard, measurements the same as 6 months ago, back to maintenance. Which is good, cos I wasn't too hungry, but also a bit tired and my bench press goes down when I diet.

Cheers!

Not boozing this month has definitely helped!

Thanks mate - I think it'll be difficult on upping the proteins and fat but I will give it a go.

I'm probably going to cut right down on carbs (including beer) in the new year, otherwise I'm not going to make it under 80kg for April.

31/12/19: 96.15
7/1/19: 94.1
14/1/19: 94.65
21/1/19: 94.2
28/1/19: 93.2
6/2/19: 92.6

Slightly behind schedule (plan is 92kg today and 1kg per week) but Thursday morning tends to be lighter. Just need to keep it going...

1kg / week is probably too fast a loss for sustainable loss. I’d be kinder to yourself if you can be.

I've done it before and although it can be hard work it's doable. End goal is to be under 80kg for the marathon in April so I have plenty of motivation (last two marathons were done at 85kg and 88kg, said I wouldn't do the next one unless I was 7x.x kg). When I get under 90kg the running gets noticeably easier too, which means I'm more likely to stick at it, cycling feels easier too unsurprisingly.

Half of the weight loss is 'free' as I'm still off the booze (which was close to 3500kcal per week, so 0.45kg right there) and will be (except for holidays) until the end of April.

Also, stripping weight off when officially 'obese' (BMI > 30) is considerably easier than when it is lower. Even when I get down to 80kg I'll still be 'overweight' according to BMI but at least I can ease off and aim for a gentler 0.5kg/week. Haven't been 'normal' BMI since I did London-Edinburgh-London in 2009. Once the marathon is done I'll be focusing more on cycling (especially if I get a Ride 100 place just got the 'Commiserations' mag) and then later in the year the primary focus will shift to swimming (have two 10k events in Sep/Nov).

Most importantly I want to break the yo-yo weight cycle. Down to under 76.2kg (12st) and then keep it there, and see where it goes when I keep up moderate run/cycle/swim.

After 5 days in Italy - I managed to not put on any weight 😬😬. Went running twice but otherwise ate all the food. Is it possible that my metabolism or whatever could have sped up? I’m sure previously I’d have stuck on a few pounds

I've just tried on a pair of trousers I used to wear all the time, a few years ago. That was a mistake.

I'm surprised I can still fit through a doorway. Time to up the running a bit.

I had done well last year dropping from roughly 91 to an average of 86 the best was
83 kgs. but since Xmas I have got back in to bad habits and a dropped my excersise and it's all come back on and v quickly. I need to get motivated again.

Currently at 65.4kg after some weight loss effort post Christmas and Ski trip binging.

Really happy with progress:
Started 2018 at 79.5kg
Started 2019 at 68.1kg
Now at 65.4kg

I’ve lost 17.7% of my body weight in about a year which I attribute to the following:
-regular accurate food diary
-increased sport activity
-1500 average calories per day - for roughly 500 cal deficit per day
-cheat day once a week, but not going nuts
-batch cooking lunches at start of week and taking the stress of good food choices out of the day
-pickles, kimchi, ham as savoury low cal snacks when hungry for no reason.

Revised aim now of slowly shredding some fat and body recomposition to get to 63.5kg (140lb)

2/2/18 103 kg
9/2/18 102.1 kg
15/2/18 100.1kg
23/2/18 101.8kg 33.7 BMI
09/03/18 104.5kg 33.6 BMI
07/04/18 108.2kg 30.7 BMI
06/06/18 99.7kg 29.8 BMI
15/6/18 98.8kg 30.2 BMI
20/7/18 95.4kg 31.2 BMI
17/8/18 90.5kg 29.5 BMI
14/9/18 88.2kg 28.8 BMI
12/10/18 89.0kg 29.1 BMI
09/11/18 86.5kg 28.2 BMI
12/1/19 89.2kg 29.1 BMI
2/9/19 87.5kg 28.6 BMI

15.5kg yearly loss! 😁

Solid month of turbo-training has quite an effect. Don't think I've been under 74kg in the last couple of years.

1 Attachment