[Drop the hammer]

Also when eating out, order all sauces or dressings on the side and just dip the occasional bite into it. Or eliminate altogether if you can. The dips, sauces and dressings make healthy food turn into really unhealthy food. Plus adding huge calories. Once you get used to real food flavour and not the sauce flavour, you will get used to it . Then you will realize how sugary many dressings are. You’ll also uncover how many restaurants serve lower quality meats and unripened veggies and just hide the poor flavours with a sugary fatty sauce.
I do enjoy a lot of hot sauces though!

[MitchLucker]

fewer calories and more cardio workouts. Now the gyms are closed, you can order equipment for home, for example, an elliptical trainer.

[unluky]

I spend most of my youth and my late 20's to 35ish being 20-40 pounds overweight. I worked out a lot and felt like that was just "me". I ranged from 200-230 and am also 5'10". I did carry a little muscle (blessed with that), but I was certainly fat.

I can now say 1000% it was my diet the entire time. I have never been a big eater and even as a kid rarely ate breakfast as I just was not hungry - sounds like you.

I was way behind the fad - but I finally tried the Adkins/Keto/whatever diet and it literally changed my life. I started semi following the Adkins induction phase and when it worked so well I read a lot of books on it and how/why it worked and then started morphing it to my tastes. I lost about 50 pounds over 2 years of not hard dieting, but just modifying my diet. I got down to about 165 gradually, had semi abs for the first time in my life, all without working out more than I used to.

I turned 50 in Feb and sit at 177 this morning. I have never been back above 190 again and rarely bump into the low 180's even during the winter lazy months. Usually hover in the low to mid 170's.

If I control my carbs - everything else takes care of itself. I don't eat zero carbs, I just got in the habit of selecting far fewer carbs on average and the weight just came off and stayed off. 3-4 of my work friends saw what I was doing and tried it as well and they all also dropped 20-30 pounds a piece as well. It worked well for us and makes it easier when several of you are finding new things that work and we all ate lunch together a lot as well. Not only with the weight lose, but I need less sleep and sleep better when I do need it.

They say diet is 80% of weight loss. I feel it is closer to 90! LOL

You have to find what works for you and this just happened to work well for me. Changed my life - no doubt about it. I wish I would have this when I was your age, in my prime, and worked out much harder then. I would have been ripped.

[Megabrode]

OP, please forgive my length, but I have a ton of experience on this topic (it's a pun if you want it to be). I was where you are, and I hope my story helps you.

As a high-school left tackle, I was 6'1" and 290 lbs. I told myself and others I weighed 250. One memorable day, got a 1000-watt shock when I stepped on the scale in a drugstore. My vintage home scale only went to 250.

Over the next two years, I got down to 165 -- a loss, do the math, of 125 lbs. I was truly thin. One day, age 25, after running, I weighed 158. That was unhealthy.

To lose that much weight, you need enduring motivation, in my case the Pill had been invented, and it dawned on me that only fat girls are interested in fat boys.

My method at that time: I ate very little, mass-market crap for the most part, and played lots of indoor sports. I did suffer health consequences (mono, frequent lung infections, kidney stones) but as a young man didn't care. Or I couldn't put two and two together.

For the next 25 years, despite an occasional temporary 15-lb. gain, I stayed between 165 and 175.

Method: a balanced diet in moderation, no snacks, tennis 5 or 6 times a week, weigh myself every day and make eating adjustments.

I kept the weight off even after marriage at 30. Then we started having children, and my weight started moving south. Or north. My real downfall was a six-month book project that involved writing every day in a shed behind my house, tennis in hibernation, beer every day, and eating what the kids ate (was it mac & cheese EVERY night?). By the time the book hit the bookstores, I'd gained 37 lbs and given up trying to keep it down.

Over the next 20 years, I put on 100 lbs, very sad, and only got weighed in the doctor's office. Two years ago, I weighed 265.

When my wife died, I ate poorly again, but with no conscious effort gradually lost 20 lbs. Then, a year ago, I decided to get back to my youthful weight, or close to it. This morning I weighed 189.8 on my fancy digital scale. My doctor-approved target is 180.

Motivation: Match.com, mainly, and also I wanted to get off of blood-pressure medication, which I have done.

Method:

• Eat sensibly -- almonds, yes, eggs, fruit, minimal bread, non-fat milk, yoghurt, instant oatmeal, lean ground turkey, cheese in moderation, never eat after 7:00 pm, and avoid snacks between meals. (I could definitely add more leafy greens.)
• Play tennis 3-4 times a week.
• Know the rough calory count for foods I eat and keep a daily mental tally, under 1200 to lose.

The payoffs: My daughter-in-law picks out my clothes now (36-inch waist, down from 44), so I look pretty hip for a geezer. At my 55th high-school reunion last summer -- my first in 50 years -- people were astounded. I ended the evening at a table with 5 unattached, still-attractive former classmates, out of reach when I was 18, one of whom kept ordering rounds of Jameson on the rocks. One of them keeps texting me (going nowhere).

What I've learned in 65 years of yo-yo weight:

• There's no big secret and no foolproof fad diet (the Atkins diet gave me the kidney stones).
• It's willpower, dude, which only emerges from enduring motivation to lose and keep it off. Find your motivation. Mine was and remains, frankly, heterosex.
• It's eating healthy food you enjoy -- in moderation and on a regular schedule (some kind of breakfast helps).
• And it's finding a form of exercise you enjoy and look forward to (as I say, tennis in my case).

These days, when someone asks how I did it, I say, simply, "Eat less, move more."

Good luck and stay healthy,

— Craig, age 74

[Sternshade]

I just applaud to you, men. Such a great job done!
I've also read about importance of controlling carbs. But a breakthrough for me was a NEAT activity. As Craig mentioned above, moving more is crucial.

[335xi Beast]

Originally Posted by Drop the hammer

Also when eating out, order all sauces or dressings on the side and just dip the occasional bite into it. Or eliminate altogether if you can. The dips, sauces and dressings make healthy food turn into really unhealthy food. Plus adding huge calories. Once you get used to real food flavour and not the sauce flavour, you will get used to it . Then you will realize how sugary many dressings are. You’ll also uncover how many restaurants serve lower quality meats and unripened veggies and just hide the poor flavours with a sugary fatty sauce.
I do enjoy a lot of hot sauces though!

OP go here : www.bodybuilding.com and spend a few hours on this site. It talks about everything you need to know to start understanding in DETAIL what you need to do.

1) Find your daily maintenance caloric intake to maintain your CURRENT weight.

2) 99.9% of people don't weigh and measure their food they eat so they have NO IDEA how many calories they are intaking. People are lazy and stupid and just lazy. We all know that...people smiling right now I'm sure as we always laugh it off. Human nature because we're all guilty of it.

3) Don't think CARDIO. Think proven weight lifting program - MOST IMPORTANT! Build muscle, burn fat, look and feel 100% better!!

4) Hydrate sufficiently daily
5) Get plenty of rest

Now that you have general ideas listed above here is what you need to do.

CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE and MAKE A GOAL! First and most difficult step. Here is the solution- follow along- Bodybuilders workout almost daily, they lift weights for a reason. Take a look at their bodies... All muscle and little fat. Why? Forget steroids for a second, that's for the professionals. They are eating at a surplus (above maintenance level) to build muscle which is what you HAVE to do to build muscle for starters. Knowing what MACROS are. Protein, Carbs and Fat intake. How much? Example- male weighing 185 pounds must take in at least 185 grams of protein to have a chance of building muscle because protein builds muscle. A MUST! Carbs are for energy and GOOD FAT (fish, nuts are essential) . So your DIET is key!! Quit eating processed crappy foods. Whole foods only! Clean up your diet. No more pizza, burgers, chips, soda, beer, etc. CHANGE your lifestyle!! Eating out is the worst! SALT CITY! Terrible!

I failed badly when I started several years ago. Starved myself because I cut my calories far to low (felt like shit) and just did CARDIO. I was always hungry because my metabolism was going 100 miles an hour and I was not eating enough because I was stupid and uneducated about this. I lost 35lbs which made me look like shit. Still no muscle...skinny fat. SO I got on the website and studied. THen it started to click.

Proven weighlifting program, caloric intake corrected, macros dialed in, diet corrected, weighed and measured my food until I knew almost exactly how many calories I was taking in daily to adjust my diet along the way if need be. To build muscle you must eat at a surplus. You will gain muscle and a little fat if your diet if spot. Its called BULKING. Eating below is called CUTTING. Right now I am on a CUT. I am losing a pound a week which is a slow CUT which means I am eating about 200 calories below my daily maintenance level so I dont lost muscle mass which is what happens if you drop calories too low and insufficient macros. My workouts have adjusted because the lower caloric intake the less strength you have so you can't lift as heavy as when you were eating at a surplus so I can increase my sets and lower the amount of weights per set. Hypertrophy is what I'm focused on.

My goal is get between 10-12% bodyfat and maintain my current muscle mass. I want to get ripped as they called. 6 pack, etc. This take a while!!

Bottom line is Cardio is good for the heart and lungs. Sure it burns calories. Great! But as we get older our metabolism slows down, we lose muscle mass and look like skin and bones. NO MUSCLE!! I don't care how old you are people need to do weight training . If you do this then the more muscle you build burns more calories while youre sleeping!! You look and feel better. The mirror never lies!! Seth Feroce says LOOK GOOD NAKED! Look him up on YouTube. Great guy, no nonsense approach!

This should get you started in the right direction but YOU and ONLY YOU have to make the lifestyle change. Once you set your mind to it you can do anything. Stop being a lazy sob like everyone else and come up with the usual excuses that you don't have time. BULLSHIT! Suck it up and do it if you really want this. I did and I couldn't feel better!! I'm up at 6 am every day, do to the gym to do something! 5 days of weight lifting, split in between. Off days I'm working on my core and light cardio just to keep burning calories and stay active. GETR DONE!

[princer]

For me, the only thing that worked to get 2 stone off is the 5-2 diet, I still do it to maintain as I eat a lot still.

I do Mondays and Tuesdays, and eat just 600calories a day, it’s a bit hard sometimes but I’m at work on both days, so I take a chicken breast and a small bowl of cereal, which is 300 calories, then I have a 300 calorie meal in the evening

[335xi Beast]

Originally Posted by princer

For me, the only thing that worked to get 2 stone off is the 5-2 diet, I still do it to maintain as I eat a lot still.

I do Mondays and Tuesdays, and eat just 600calories a day, it’s a bit hard sometimes but I’m at work on both days, so I take a chicken breast and a small bowl of cereal, which is 300 calories, then I have a 300 calorie meal in the evening

Sorry but you're going about this ALL WRONG. Why? Incorporate a lifestyle change! Start lifting weights, doing body exercises and EATING PROPERLY. Worse thing to do is cut your calories back drastically. You will end up gaining weight! Why? Because once you're starving yourself you will automatically overeat eventually because you're miserable, no self discipline and crap food creeps back into your life.

Figure out your daily maintenance (CALORIE COUNTER), plug in your age, height , gender, daily exercise level and you get a good idea of calories to maintain your current weight.

Drop calories by 100 first week, reassess, same weight, lower by 200 calories, reassess, do this until you start losing weight just so you know where you actually are in daily calories. If you get this wrong you will fail every time. Start lifting, do very little cardio (waste of time), build muscle burns more fat!!! You look much better, more tone and get stronger.

[JasonDot]

OP, how is the journey going so far?

[atzepeng1984]

Figure out your daily maintenance (CALORIE COUNTER), plug in your age, height , gender, daily exercise level and you get a good idea of calories to maintain your current weight.

Drop calories by 100 first week, reassess, same weight, lower by 200 calories, reassess, do this until you start losing weight just so you know where you actually are in daily calories. If you get this wrong you will fail every time. Start lifting, do very little cardio (waste of time), build muscle burns more fat!!! You look much better, more tone and get stronger. [/QUOTE]

Totally agree with this! Now I don't know about the absolute exact number of calories you should drop, but I can definitely definitely recommend using a calorie counter -there's countless easy to handle apps for this- it makes all the difference. When I started losing weight I just had no idea what amount I was meant to eat, what amount I actually ate and what types of food would take up my fool daily limit in like half an hour.
Losing weight is a real challenge cuz it means changing your life style (if you wanna lose loads) you're gonn ahve to learn a lot about yourself. Calorie tracker for me was one of the simplest yet most effective things on the way!

[Dlpfcb]

Everyone has made a ton of great suggestions. I can chime in here on something that truly stuck with me a long time ago after a ton of research which is the 90/10 rule. 90% of your entire weight loss goal is related to food and only 10% is related to the workout portion. This has a lot to do with why people start working out and don’t lose weight so they quit. Well that’s only 10% of it, it is mostly related to what you eat. I am 5’7 and about 115 lbs. I know I know that’s crazy, I am a competitive runner and average about 60-75 miles of running a. Week.

I will tell you though just because I run a lot, I could eat almost anything I wanted but I don’t. Food is your performance and energy, so I try to always keep it on point.

Something for you I would watch is all the animal products. I’m not saying all animal products are bad as I eat them too but I eat them in moderation. Meat is always my smallest weighted item on my plate while vegetable, fruits and REAL grains and beans out weigh everything. These are the vitamins and fuel you need. Too much animal products regardless of the cut of meat, type of meat etc is packed with lots of hidden salts and fats.

The advice is always give is to just eat clean, and I will say meat products, dairy and cheese are not exactly clean. Also look at the hidden calories you can find. A cheeseburger for example, sounds good sometimes. Did you know 1 Tablespoon of Mayo is 120 calories and the slice of cheese is another 120. Just taking those off makes it 250 calories less. Flavored coffee creamer....I see this one a lot, it has 50 calories in 1 Tablespoon. Crazy I know and I see people dump 8-10 TB os this stuff. So starting your day your coffee has more calories than your breakfast.

Just stay mentally strong, stay active to create that calorie deficit and you will succeed. And remember vegetables are basically free calories and energy at the same time.

[tcphoto]

I think that people overcomplicate the process. What are you eating habits? If it's processed foods, it may be time to eat more foods from the Produce Dept. Processed foods may be infused with vitamins and minerals but nothing replaces the natural sources. Weight lifting over cardio is not the way to do it either, it is a good way of building muscle but it does not improve ones cardiovascular health. Everyone's body responds a little different, it's important to find what combination works for you and make it a program that you enjoy and will stick with.

[Philip2342]

I often take heavy food in breakfast, because it keeps my energy level up for the whole day. In my routine there is less food at night, which ensures me a good sleep and awaking fresh in the morning.

[GTBrandon]

It’s all diet, I can drop or gain 20lbs in a month with just my diet.

Two suggestions:

Intermittent fasting, as it sounds like you do this sometimes already. I did in college as it just worked out with my schedule for eating after my class.

Vegan, it’s what I’ve switched to for more energy, better health, and lower impact on the environment. Look at the studies but the data has shown this to be one of the most effective ways to lose weight and then KEEP it off. Also with this diet you can indulge as much as you want, as plant foods will fill you up quicker, and then take more calories to digest (a win, win).

Last suggestion if you want to be anal, cook your own food. Going out to eat leads to a lot of things cooked in oils/fats because it just tastes better. That stuff adds up quick when you’re trying to lose weight, and you can make it at home in a healthier and tastier way.

Just my 2 cents

[GOLFFRR]

anyone who is interested, I started my fitness journey about 3 years ago been super into it ever since. the thing that changed everything was getting someone to dial in my meals. I hired a nutritionist who created all my meal plans down to the grams. diet as we all know is 90% of the results. IF you are interested Ive been using this guy for 3 years its super cheap and he breaks it down anyone can follow it. Does weekly check in and its all done through an app. Sent over 10 people to him all of which made drastic changes.

https://nicpalladino.com

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by JasonDot

OP, how is the journey going so far?

yes greeney tell us how much you weigh now after 11 YEARS

[sspade]

The concept is very simple. Burn more calories than you consume.

If you can’t keep your fat ass from eating 3,000 plus calories a day... you’ll need to spend a lot of time on the treadmill.

If you aren’t into fitness then start cutting back on calories big time. That includes drinks and condiments, which are the silent diet killers.

+1 on intermittent fasting. Stop eating by 7pm and do not eat again until at least 9-10am the next day (except for morning coffee).

[JasonDot]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

yes greeney tell us how much you weigh now after 11 YEARS

It'd be one hell of an update.