How I lost 70 lbs in a year.

B

Bricka

New member
I have seen a few people on the newcomers thread asking for advise on how to lose weight etc. I'll admit I am a newcomer to the site, but this is after a successful year of 5 Stone (70 lbs). I have joined this site to try and help others, as well as pick up more advise along the way (I am by no means finished in my weight loss program. I thought I would give a quick "basics" program to follow to get them started.

Over the next few months I intend to compile a full guide to burning fat and reaching target weights etc. This is just a taster. If you want to know more, I am more than happy to discuss.

1) Read Tom Venuto - Many of my successes are down to this man. I read his book and saw a great deal of fat burning success. Most of my advice is taken from him. So I would rather acknowledge him instead of steal his work!

2) Set a year goal, divided into 6 months, 3 months, 2 months, 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week.

3) Be strict with nutrition. Since I started losing weight, I feel that I have not stopped eating! But it is through eating the right food. I eat 3 meals a day with 2 snacks (meals 2 and 4) Keep these light. follow this small tip for quantities of food.

Breakfast like a king
Lunch like a prince
Dinner like a pauper

Eating more throught the day results in feeling fuller later in the day, meaning you won't be tempted by late night snacks etc.

4) These are the food groups you want to stick with

Protein (Lean meats, fish, legumes, beans, quorn, cottage cheese, protein powder)

Carbs (Fruit, vegetables, brown foods (rice, pasta, bread etc)

Good fats (nuts, hummus, fish)

If you combine the above with each other over your meals, you are onto a winner.

5) Weights over cardio - You may think that an hour on the treadmill will get the results you want, but without going into too much detail, this is actually detrimental to your health. High Intensity sessions over a short time is best. Weights burn calories AFTER you have finished exercising. Weights also tone your body up.

6) Believe you can do it. Nothing works more than mental strength.

This is a very basic guide, which I am happy to discuss with you in due course. Feel free to DM me for advice. If any people feel my advice is wrong, please tell me.

This is my first thread, I look forward to discussing this subject with you which I am very passionate about.
 
Weights over cardio - You may think that an hour on the treadmill will get the results you want, but without going into too much detail, this is actually detrimental to your health.
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Hi there..Could you elaborate on this possibly?
 
Hi Sunflower, I can elaborate, but not right now as I am I work! Will get back to you this evening (I'm in UK)
 
Hi. That's me home!

Just to clarify, there are obviously health benefits from prolonged exercise. Proportionately, your calorie burning gets higher the longer you exercise.

However, if your body is an a great amount of stress over a long time, it produces a hormone called Cortisol. When your body goes into that "fight or flight" zone, it starts to produce the cortisol.

As the body is under great stress, the body needs quick recovery. When the cortisol is pumping, it transports important nutrients from your muscles (protein, fat, glucose etc) into your bloodstream. In other words, it coverts lean muscle tissue into glucose (energy needed to combat the energy expenditure caused by the stress).

A spike in insulin encourages a breakdown of the muscles' protein and inhibits the protein synthesis.

Protein is the building block of all your cells in your body. It is paramount for recovery after a great stress on your body for so long. With plenty of protein, your body grows back bigger and stronger muscles (this rebuilding of muscle uses up more calories).

There are other claims that high cortisol results in abdominal fat increase. You would benefit from researching cortisol and it's effects on health and fitness.

Hope that's helped clear it up for you and that's it not too much jargon. Any other questions, please ask.

Thanks.
 
Thank you.

Retrospectively, I feel my post was trying to cover too much in a short space.

From reading Tom Venuto, subscribing to Men's Fitness magazine and general research, I feel I have a not too bad knowledge on the subject of weight loss. If you have any specific queries, please feel free to ask.
 
Sounds like the exact advice my Personal trainer gave me. I was trying to do a lot of cardio, and was struggling due to really bad arthritis. She said, no...weights will do more for you. I have to say my legs are freakin' amazing right now. Pretty much solid muscle & I am a BIG girl. I still am working on fat loss, and building muscle in my upper body. I have to go slower there because "no pain, no gain" can NOT be my mantra unless I want to hurt myself badly. But, in 2 months I have gone from 2 lb. weights to 25-30. Not too shabby.
Your diet is 100% spot on. Whole foods....no or low processed. watch the sugar & sodium.
 
Thanks Sunflower :)

Leggedegg, in the summer of 2009, I suffered a bad injury to my knee whilst playing football (the real sport with a spherical ball, for those of you across the pond ;-) )

I was limping for weeks afterwards and when in a bent position, it would seize up with real pain. I'll admit I was ignorant in not getting proper treatment. But anyway - I started doing weights in early 2010, with lots of leg work. In a couple of months, my knee was much much better due to 2 reasons: I had strengthened the muscles around my knee, and the knee didn't have to carry so much weight.

******* NB: leg work is important for fat loss. Not only will squats etc NOT result in pencil legs, but they are big muscles which require lots of calories to be burned during muscle repair, AND squats release a hormone which promotes fat lass all over re body. So get-a-squatting!
 
About cortisol

Physical Activity
Physical fitness is good for us, but it can also cause some overlooked consequences. As athletes begin to step up their mileage and their work-outs, the production of cortisol is also stepped-up. It's believed that this is the body's response to coping with the stress that is placed on the body of an athlete that is highly trained. (my emphasis)Conversely, mental and emotional exhaustion has also been known to stimulate the over-production of cortisol into the blood. It's for this reason that many with panic disorders and depression are also known to have high levels.

Read more: Causes of High Cortisol Levels | eHow.com
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I am skeptical about bricka's argument so i had a quick scout around for more info on cortisol. Yes i have heard of cortisol before and as i suffer depression i am aware of the level of stress required when cortisol is more likely to be produced. Finally i know how to avoid negative psychological stress. I was not aware of it being related to physical stress before. But i contest that cardio when it is done by most people like us are going to suffer much cortisol reaction. Most of us do not stress our bodies to that extent. An hour a day - if we were really putting it under stress is probably not that much. But most of us wouldn't do it for an hour a day on a daily basis for long enough to cause a disease anyway.

Note in the above quote that the emphasis is on an athlete. These athletes do enormous amounts of exercise and for years on end and push their bodies to their limits on a regular basis. If you are pushing your body to its limits, and you are not an athlete, then perhaps you would also experience this cortisol release to the extent that it is a problem. If you are just running or walking on a treadmill and unless you are struggling, you're body is not going to be under enough stress to even produce this hormone. Good sleep, good diet, and starting at an approrpriate rate and only gradually increasing your intensity can avert the stress that cardio is being accused of.

When you jog, you should not be puffing and struggling for breath. If you are, you are pushing yourself too hard. Jog more slowly. You want to raise your pulse but not the extent that you are struggling all the time. However, when you first start exercise and if you are coming from a really low base of fitness, you will puff and suffer a bit. If you do a bit regularly, gradually pushing out your boundaries, you will get fitter and not cause your body undue stress. If you do a race, you are of course going to stress your body, if its a long race. Cardio is good for the body. I just read the other day that it gives elasticity to the arteries and other blood vessels. This is good for heart health. So cardio is not the demon that you seem to be making it out to be. A combination of cardio and strength training is generally said to be the best. Each has their good points.

So you see, i think that guy has oversimplified things somewhat. If you doubt what i am saying, go and find out more about cortisol.

All that said, its great that you have lost a lot of weight in a year and been able to stick with the weight loss program for so long without losing motivation. I am sure you will be able to help many around here.

As to methods, there are a number that work and we all have to find our own way. Sometimes it takes a while to find what works best for you or to really be open to some good methods. For example, when i arrived on this forum, i wasn't ready to swap my coffee consumption to water consumption but i switched within a day. Others here aren't ready to quit their peanut butter habit, their protein non-food habits, their high fat, high sugar energy bar habits, their cheat day habits, their no vegetable or fruit habit, their vitamin pill habit and so on. One day they may come around. In the meantime, they may or may not have some success doing what it is they are doing.

Just the other day i read an argument against the breakfast like a king scenario. I think that idea has been around for a while. He probably didnt' invent it. I like a good breakfast but i've grown up eating a good meal



this is a really interesting article about cortisol, exercise and weight gain. I urge all here to read it.

Beyond that, it indicates that it matters not what type of exercise you do but how you do it. I think that is the important point with regard to cortisol.
 
Hi fortyfour

You have posted lots of good links regarding cortisol. I will be honest and have read not so many articles on cortisol and its effects, so I will look into these.

You do have a point, not many of us are going to put ourselves under so much stress for so long.

I would say it would more towards weight training that this would happen. Doing intense weight training for an hour plus is bound to cause stress on your body. To combat that, you would need lots of nutrients to help your body repair.

I am happy to debate issues with people, however I try my best to not come across that what works for me is gospel and its what you should all do. Just some tips here and there.
 
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