Live and Let Diet

[AUTiger1]

I run 40-50 miles a week. That's my workout. I haven't touched a weight in over a year. I also run anywhere from 10-15 5k/10k races per year which keeps me going during the week knowing I have to stay in good shape. I'll do the occasional half marathon or triathlon maybe once or twice a year.

 

You know that you are born with a predetermined amount of heartbeats and you are just using them up with all that running, right? 

[Ogre]

I dropped 45 lbs in about 4 months last year (from 210 to 165) and have been able to keep it off for a year now.  Basically the secret has already been revealed a couple of times in this thread - burn more calories than you consume. 

I had a very strong advantage from the start because I quit drinking alcohol, and as a lot of you can attest, I was a heavy drinker.  By removing literally thousands of calories from my diet from the lack of alcohol, and then only taking in between 1600-1800 calories a day, I was able to drop the weight rather easily.  I also started running.  Got up to 6 miles a day and then tweaked my knee last June.  Now I can only run about a mile before the knee gives out, so I've gone to doing a simple push-up/sit-up/crunch routine that I can do anywhere (since I travel a lot with work).  Eventually I will have to get the knee seen about but it's something I keep putting off.

I found that my metabolism kicked into a higher gear and has pretty much stayed there.  There have been some weeks where I have eaten horribly and not exercised and I've not gotten over 172 lbs.  Then I take a day or two and get back on the routine and it falls right back off. 

[GH2001]

A lot depends on your activity level, age, current wt. etc.  Most men can lose wt at between 1750-2250 per day.  You're probably on the lower end.  You can eat more if you exercise of course.  If you want to lose faster, take in 1500 a day net.  Those numbers are for sedentary or lightly active (desk job with no other exercise) people.  It takes a net deficit of 3500 calories to lose one pound.  And no matter how you do it, it's calories in vs calories out.  My loss is slowing, so I either need to add the exercise or gear down to 2000 calories a day.  I like to eat, so I'm going to hit the treadmill.   

Wow, popular topic THS.

Remember too guys, not all calories are equal and burn off equal. THS posted a great guide on page one on what to eat and how often to eat it. That is a great guide and spot on. Let me add to that too, darker fruits are usually better. It is sort of related back to the alcohol thread with the antioxidants and polyphenols that exist in grapes (even more in Muscadines). Acai, Pomegranate, Mangos, Kiwis, Grapes, Muscadines - all fantastic nutritionally with simple fruit sugars that your body will break down easily.

[GH2001]

You know that you are born with a predetermined amount of heartbeats and you are just using them up with all that running, right?

HA!

The good thing is that at rest, my heart rate is about 47-55 beats per minute. My dr said that was a good indicator that I had an efficient pumper. I am heading to the Dr next week for annual check up and bloodwork so we'll see if the ticker is still "efficient".

[Buzz Killington]

P90X.  Shit is for real and it works.  235 down to 205 60 days into it.  Do the lean program.

I have been debating about that for a few weeks now.  Kind of torn between that and Insanity though.  60 days of killing myself > than 90 in my book.

[GH2001]

I dropped 45 lbs in about 4 months last year (from 210 to 165) and have been able to keep it off for a year now.  Basically the secret has already been revealed a couple of times in this thread - burn more calories than you consume. 

I had a very strong advantage from the start because I quit drinking alcohol, and as a lot of you can attest, I was a heavy drinker.  By removing literally thousands of calories from my diet from the lack of alcohol, and then only taking in between 1600-1800 calories a day, I was able to drop the weight rather easily.  I also started running.  Got up to 6 miles a day and then tweaked my knee last June.  Now I can only run about a mile before the knee gives out, so I've gone to doing a simple push-up/sit-up/crunch routine that I can do anywhere (since I travel a lot with work).  Eventually I will have to get the knee seen about but it's something I keep putting off.

I found that my metabolism kicked into a higher gear and has pretty much stayed there.  There have been some weeks where I have eaten horribly and not exercised and I've not gotten over 172 lbs.  Then I take a day or two and get back on the routine and it falls right back off.

Good to hear man. Part of the key to staying there is getting ahead of the 8 ball.

[Vandy Vol]

The way I've discovered to break the plateau, is to eat a little more for a day.  Use that plateau to give in to a craving or 2, and jumpstart your metabolism. 

Here is the site I use, that has a compatable smart phone app: http://fatsecret.com/

This one is probably a little better, but I'd already gotten used to the one above when I found this one: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Both are free, there's no trying to sell you anything either by a barrage of emails.  Both have compatible synced phone apps.

I've seen people use those apps, and they are very convenient.  The nerd in me, however, likes to keep up with that sort of stuff in Excel so that I can add and remove functions, categories, etc.  For instance, I've added a chart which shows my average weight for the previous five days.  The reason for doing so was because of weight fluctuations that occur from day to day, mostly due to water retention or lack thereof.

For instance, even though I haven't actually burned 7,000 calories since yesterday, my weight today is 2 pounds lower than what it was yesterday.  In order to account for these fluctuations and to see exactly what it is that I am losing on average, I take into account my five day averages so as to see the overall loss trend more easily without seeing a variety of fluctuations.

There may be an app that does something like this, but I just like the ability to control how I organize my data with Excel.  Again, it's the nerd in me.

[Snaggletiger]

I'm sexy and I know it.  I work out.

[AUTiger1]

I have been debating about that for a few weeks now.  Kind of torn between that and Insanity though.  60 days of killing myself > than 90 in my book.

I see the advantages to both.  One you have to have equipment, the other you don't.  I am a believer in HIT training to lose weight.  I like on P90X how he gets your heart rate up to start with, gets it in that fat burning zone and then kicks it in overdrive to finish off with.  I have talked to a couple of people who have done both and they have said that it's going to give you pretty much the same results.  The thing that got me with P90X was that a couple of them were actually fun.  Kenpo, and Cardio were actually enjoyable.  Plyo was teh suxor!

[AUTiger1]

I'm sexy and I know it.  I work out.

I'm sexy and I know it.  I don't need to work out.

[Buzz Killington]

I'm sexy and I know it.  I work out.

I know.  My brother in law has these pictures...oh wait.

[AUTiger1]

I know.  My brother in law has these pictures...oh wait.

 

[Snaggletiger]

What are you laughing at, Bourbon boy?

And for your information, he does have a few still shots.

[AUTiger1]

What are you laughing at, Bourbon boy?

And for your information, he does have a few still shots.

Post them or you're ly......wait, I mean you sick bastard! 

[Buzz Killington]

What are you laughing at, Bourbon boy?

And for your information, he does have a few still shots.

The painting was a gift, Snags.  I'm keeping it.

[Vandy Vol]

Remember too guys, not all calories are equal and burn off equal.

True, but those that don't burn equally actually burn quicker.  At least, that's what I've always heard, and this is why:

Your body must expend energy in order to store calories as fat.  Expending energy will burn calories, even though it's a small amount.  So, even by simply eating more you are causing your body to burn more calories.  That's my understanding as to why your metabolism increases with the more you eat.  Ultimately, it's not going to burn enough to counteract the increase in ingested calories, but it does take energy to convert and store calories as fat.

The amount of energy it takes to store calories as fat depends upon where the calories came from.

If you have excess calories from fat, your body doesn't have to do much in order to store those extra calories as fat.  My recollection is that 2-3% of the ingested calories from fat are expended during the conversion and storage of the excess calories as fat.  So, if you ingest 100 excess calories from fat, then 97-98 calories will be stored as fat, and 2-3 calories will be burned in the process of converting those calories for "storage."

On the other hand, if you have excess calories from carbohydrates, your body has a lot more to do in order to convert and store that as fat.  Calories from carbohydrates have to be processed by the body in order to be changed into a triglyceride, and this uses up around 25% of the ingested calories.  So, if you ingest 100 excess calories from carbohydrates, then about 75 calories will be stored as fat, and 25 calories will be burned in the process of converting the calories into triglycerides, and then readying those triglycerides for "storage."

The same goes for calories in alcohol and proteins:  the amount of energy required to convert those calories into storable fat is greater than the amount of energy required to convert calories from fat into storable fat.

Regardless of the source of calories, you will always store less than you consume, as energy is required to store those calories.  So although calories do burn differently, you can never store more than you ingest, and thus as long as you keep your caloric intake below what your metabolism burns daily, you will lose weight.

Now, if you ingest the majority of your calories from carbohydrates rather than from fats, then in theory you should lose weight more quickly due to the energy that your body has to expend in converting the calories from carbohydrates.  But either way you lose weight so long as calories in < calories out.

That's my understanding on it, anyhow.  I'm not a dietician and only go by what I've read since doing this diet for the past few months, so it's very possible that I'm missing or misunderstanding something.

[AUTiger1]

With teh butt secks you should really have a problem losing weight should you?

[ssgaufan]

I have P90X and plan on starting this Sunday so Saturdays will be my off day.  If you don't hear from me, I probably died.

[Buzz Killington]

TL;DR

[AUTiger1]

I have P90X and plan on starting this Sunday so Saturdays will be my off day.  If you don't hear from me, I probably died.

The first week or two you will be telling yourself that you are content with being fat, drunk and stupid.  After that it gets better.  Then you will be just drunk and stupid and contrary to popular belief, that is a good way to go through life.