LoveHandles Lose 45kg's in 1 Year Challenge!!

LoveHandles

New member
Male, 27 years old, been yo-yo dieting since i was about 16/17. I'm 5"10 and ideal weight is about 74 kilos.
At the age of 19 i hit 95 kilos and it was a huge shock, i went on a really strict diet and lost about 22 kilos in like 2 and a half months through a practically starvation diet and working manual labour 6 days a week. Though i was happy with the weight loss, i didn't hit any definition bodywise and i certainly didn't pick up any sustainable habits. After that i made 85 kilos a ceiling, so through weighing myself pretty regularly (once a fortnight) if i ever ventured over 85 kg i'd go on a semi-starvation diet. The classic yo-yo effect....
Well, after i got together with my ex, i didn't weigh myself for about 2 years, and when i did i was in for a big shock- 107 KG's!! Mentally this was tough, i was 12kg's over my highest weight ever and 22kg's over my ceiling :(
In the past i always thought i could lose the defecit if i needed to, but over 30kg's was just too big a mountain. I think the best i've managed was down to 95kg's but have since put it back on and some more!
The last 15 months, been working a fulltime job and trying to set up a business, so been stressed and busy and not put any effort into my weight at all.
The feeling i've always had is that i'm a thin(average-weight) man in a fat mans body, i will never accept being fat and after deciding to quit my business i now find myself faced with some freedom again and you know what? i'm gonna try and do this properly once and for all, an end to yo-yoing for me.

Having always set myself over-optomistic goals when it comes to weightloss/exercise, the first thing i'm gonna do is be realistic with myself. I want to do this for life and i believe the only way i can do that is by learning to cook and be passionate about cooking and to be passionate about exercise.

Well, 1st of March i get a raise at work, so i've already set myself a goal of clearing my £5k bank/credit cards debt by Feb 2010. I'm going to do my weight loss plan concurrently with this. March the 1st is the first day of the rest of my life! :D

I will have to get more specifics when i start but for the moment i'd say(worse case scenario) i'm 120kg's. I want to get to 75kg's(this may raise if affected by muscle). So that's 45kg's, this is a one year aim, so i'm gonna say i need to be losing on average, 1kg/week, which allows for any anomolies.

My setup..... i've sold the car and bought a good pushbike, i've kitted out my flat with a weight bench, dumbells, barbell, a cruncher, an exercise mat, i have a punchbag :D, a pull up bar, even one of those beachball things.

Diet Plan: To be filled in later- I want to find a realistic plan that allows me to have maybe a weekly blow out, but cuts down in sugars and breads. I think one of these eat 6 small meals a day substituting one meal for a protein shake should do the trick. I'm gonna probably plan my meals a month in advance. One plus-point of the last year is that i've practically quit drinking alcohol, having previously drunk at least 2 nights a week. To be continued....

Exercise Plan: it's not detailed at the mo, just the structure
M 15min Cycle to work, 30min treadmill before work, 15min Cycle home, pressups/situps at home
T 15min Cycle to work, 30min treadmill before work, 15min Cycle home, pressups/situps at home, weight training
W 15min Cycle to work, 30min treadmill before work, 15min Cycle home, pressups/situps at home
T 15min Cycle to work, 30min treadmill before work, 15min Cycle home, pressups/situps at home, weight training
F 15min Cycle to work, 30min treadmill before work, 15min Cycle home, pressups/situps at home
S pressups/situps at home, 30min punchbag workout, weight training, 40-60min cycle
S pressups/situps at home, 30min punchbag workout, weight training

This might seem a lot and unrealistic, but i think it's plausible. The cycling is a given, 30min treadmill isn't much and i start work at 10am. If i can get into a routine for the home training then hopefully as i build up reps i'll get more and more motivated. As i've been basically working every waking hour for last year my social life has become non-existant, i've peed off a lot of friends but i've almost totally cutout drinking which has always been my biggest hindrance when trying to diet. Focus is going to be key to my cause and i'm confident that i can stick to a routine like this for at least a year. In the past there's always been upcoming events(excuses) as to why i couldn't stick to a long term plan, so i'm gonna be pretty antisocial for the next year, but will still make weekly poker nights with my mates- so not too bad!

Going into 2010 almost debt free and almost flab free would be a dream, happy at work, i've got the setup, so now it's down to me!

Not sure anyone will get this far but my reasons for doing a diary are firstly because i think it'll be key to staying motivated, getting peoples feedback, discussion etc and i'll feel part of the community by updating and commenting on other people's plans. Secondly i hope that i keep this up and am successful and so then go on to show a detailed plan of how it's done so can serve as a guide for others. I think my weights pretty bad and i'm sure there's others who feel as deflated as me when they look at that 20-45kg mountain! When i've read other people's diaries (not on here, i'm writing this before reading anything else) i've never really come across anyone in the exact same boat as myself(if they were we'd probabaly sink ;)) because i've always wanted someone to have a successful plan laid out there that i can copy exactly in terms of diet and exercise, so hopefully i am successful and there'll be people in similar setup to me. I've forked out about £400 on all the exercise equipment and bike, so not too much outlay, and i'll be spending £30/month on an offpeak gym membership, just 30mins a time is doable in my opinion, i hate spending longer at the gym.

So, i will be generating my detailed March Diet and Exercise plans over the next week and a half and will update with those before the big day! I'll then try to update as often as possible with detailed stats etc.

If you've made it this far, thank-you and good luck!! :cheers2:
 
Hey great you joined ;)

Although your plans sounds really nice....I don't know if its doable. The eating and training thing is doable but I don't think that is possible to loose on average 1 kg per week...thats to much. If you want to loose weigth in an healthy way you will loose on average 2 kg per month (if you cut your caloric intak for 500 kalories each day....1kg of feat consist aproximately out of 7000 calories, so if you cut 500 each day, you have 3500 saved in one week, so aproximately 0,5kg loose per week).
In the begining it migth get faster and there will be times when you loose nothing although you sticked to the plan....but that's how it works.
I mean loosing more is not bad, but by reading your plan I thougth of:
Won't he be frustrated if he will "just" lose about 30kg in one year? (which is obviously a lot....take 30 1kg packets of sugar ooor even better 120 250g packs of butter....it is really a lot) And frustration leads in my case to quitting the new eating habbits and starting to eat more....which again leads to frustration...and so on!

However...a lot of success with your diet...keep the motivation ;)
 
Hi,

Thanks for replying, to be honest i have plucked 1kg/week out of the sky as a figure, but i did think it quite reasonable based on past diet experience, although i am totally open to being wrong :D

I guess what i would do is re-evaluate my goals and adjust where necessary as time went by, if i was totally off the mark. i know what you mean about setting oneself up to be dissapointed, but i think if was consistantly losing weight over a period greater than 3 months and didn't feel like i was just depriving myself, then i'd be happy no matter what.

If i could go into 2010, exercising regularly, feeling fit and with some better eating habits then i'll be over the moon.

I guess in the grand scheme of things i can't really put a time limit on it, because this has to be a total change for life. For the first time in my life a year doesn't seem like too long to wait for a dramatic change in my weight, i'm actually looking forward to the long process.
 
hmmm, trying to work out what to do about smoking, i've been smoking for 10 years (quit 1 year in the middle). At the moment i don't smoke till after 6pm on a work day, but then smoke quite a lot as i'm playing online poker and it seems to cause a lot of chainsmoking :sifone:

in the longterm i do want to quit, but not right now, it's my only vice if i'm not drinking or eating bad but i'm trying to work out a way to cut down.

Maybe if i only allow myself one ciggy an hour, so that would mean a maximum 5 on a weekday, weekends if i set a time that i couldn't smoke before, like 1pm, then i'd smoke a maximum 10. I think that's a pretty good starting point and i would hope that as i build up my fitness i'll naturally want to cut down as i notice the bad effects it's having on me.

For some weird reason i do love a smoke after an exercise session!?! is that just me?
 
right, i spent yesterday(at work) tailoring my workout schedule, i love the fact that you can watch a vid of different exercises on youtube to get the proper form :)

I'm gonna write out my workout schedule below, which i'd expect to do indefinitely, maybe tweaking things as i progress. Then today i'm going to try and tailor my first month's diet, i'll do it by month so i can buy in bulk and save some moolah!

Workout Schedule:

Mon: am 15min road cycle
30min treadmill run
pm 20min cycle
CHEST: 4 sets Bench Press, 2x Incline Barbell Press, 2x Dumbell Flyes
TRICEPS: 2x Close Grip Barbell Press, 2x Weighted Dips

Tues: am 15min road cycle
30min treadmill run
pm 20min cycle
LEGS: 4x Squats, 2x Leg Ext, 2x Leg Curl, 5x Standing Calve Raises
ABS: 3x Ab Roller, 3x Standing Dumbell, 3x Serratus Crunch, 3x Jacknives on ball

Wed: am 15min road cycle
30min treadmill run
pm 20min cycle

Thurs: am 15min road cycle
30min treadmill run
pm 20min cycle
SHOULDERS: 4x Seated Military Press(dumbells), 3x Lat Raises, 3x Shrugs
ABS: 3x Ab Roller, 3x Standing Dumbell, 3x Serratus Crunch, 3x Jacknives on ball

Fri: am 15min road cycle
30min treadmill run
pm 20min cycle
BACK: 3x Deadlift, 3x Lat Pull Down, 3x Bent Over Barbell Row
BICEPS: 3x Standing Barbell Curls
1x Preacher Curls (dumbell)

Sat: 1 Hour Cardio from squash/punchbag/football/cycling
ABS: 3x Ab Roller, 3x Standing Dumbell, 3x Serratus Crunch, 3x Jacknives on ball

Sun: 1 Hour Cardio from squash/punchbag/football/cycling

Cycling will be to and from work, Treadmill will be at the gym before work, all the weights workouts will be at home. Once i'm comfortable enough with my weight to go swimming then i'll incorporate swimming in somewhere, but that won't be for a long while yet ;)

Getting excited about this now, my muscles are all twitching in anticipation but i've got lot's to still setup before i start, March 1st is the beginning!
 
Last edited:
Also thought hard about my smoking and basically have decided on some paramaters to help me cut down, so will end up on 5 a weekday max and 10 a day on the weekend. Will look to decrease that as i progress, but gotta be realistic!
 
starting next week but after designing my workout i've been itching to give it a try, so starting my weight training this week and i'll tell you what, my first session felt great. Have to say, all you need is a weight bench, barbell, dumbbells and exercise matt to do all the weight training you need. I spent a total of £150 on all of those (then you just need space for the bench ;)), it feels much better to do weight training at home rather than at a gym, because you feel less pressured to use equipment quickly, you never have to wait and you don't try and do too much thinking someone might notice you're only lifting the barbell bar with no weights! :p
I will be doing my cardio at the gym, 30mins treadmill a day until i build it up enough, then i'll hit the road because no-one wants to see my panting shuffling love handles :eek:
Also my appetites gone down a bit, i'm not sure if in anticipation or what....

Monday 23rd Feb

Chest:
4sets 10reps Bench Press 30kg
3sets 8reps Incline Barbell Press 30Kg
3sets 8reps Dumbbell Flyes 7.5Kg
Triceps:
3sets 8reps Close Grip Barbell Press 30Kg
3sets 8reps Dumbbell Crossface 4kg

(none of these weights include the bar)

:jump:
 
decided i'm not gonna have a cheat day as posted in my intro, it's called cheat day for a reasonand if i want to do this for life then i have to embrace it and make the healthy food my eventual cheat food :eek2:

designing my diet now, for my weight and the activity levels i'll be doing the calorie calculators are telling me i'd burn 3500 calories a day, which sounds a bit much, they say you shoud reduce by 500 calories for a good diet. I think i'm gonna make 2000 calories my daily limit, that seems like plenty so shouldn't feel deprived by it. Will review the diet after a few weeks anyway and see....
 
Right, i've come up with daily diet structure and lifted some recipes off this site. Will have the same each day except for my 16.30pm meal, obviously water is a given, need to research on tea because do enjoy a nice cuppa

Now got to do the arduous task of working out exact amounts of the meals to meet my requirements :( still not sure if to go for 2k calories or more....

So below is my 1st months diet plan, i plan to cook it all on a Sunday and freeze or refridgerate the meals, hence the egg-based dish on the Monday ;)


Monday:

10am Protein Shake
12pm Banana + Nuts
14.15pm Ryvita + Cottage Cheese
16.30pm Recipe: Baked Omelet with Zucchini, Leeks, Feta, and Herbs - Healthy Recipes, Low Fat Recipes, Diet Plans, Healthy Living, Meal Ideas, Healthy Meals
19.30pm Protein Shake

Tuesday:

Recipe: Curried Humus - Healthy Recipes, Low Fat Recipes, Diet Plans, Healthy Living, Meal Ideas, Healthy Meals

Wednesday:

Recipe: Italian Meatballs - Healthy Recipes, Low Fat Recipes, Diet Plans, Healthy Living, Meal Ideas, Healthy Meals

Thursday:

Recipe: Red Pepper and Fennel Soup - Healthy Recipes, Low Fat Recipes, Diet Plans, Healthy Living, Meal Ideas, Healthy Meals

Friday:

Recipe: Couscous and Summer Vegetable Sauté - Healthy Recipes, Low Fat Recipes, Diet Plans, Healthy Living, Meal Ideas, Healthy Meals

Saturday:

Recipe: Asparagus-Zucchini Frittata - Healthy Recipes, Low Fat Recipes, Diet Plans, Healthy Living, Meal Ideas, Healthy Meals


Sunday:

Recipe: All-Star veggie burger - Healthy Recipes, Low Fat Recipes, Diet Plans, Healthy Living, Meal Ideas, Healthy Meals


I think i could manage quite well on those meals, especially seeing as you can have a weekly healthy burger and i bet it tastes better than the fast food crap.

Right so need to research what nuts, is tea ok to drink and then work out portion sizes- the boring part :leaving:
 
Good luck! Seems like a good food plan, wish I liked half the stuff you'd mentioned sounds so nice but I'm fussy.
 
gawd, the week before i was due to start i found a lump (which turned out to be nothing) on my lower side/back and doc said it was nothing. Then night before i started had pains round the lump and was up all night, so didn't start the new regime :( went and saw different doc who also said it wa snothing but sent me to blood tests as he said i'd obv pushed myself with stress etc. Blood test next morning, then later that day felt really dizzy(i put down to blod test), then thurs felt dizzy all day which was odd, the woke up friday dizzy so went docs (again!!) and they said my blood tests were all fine except cholesterol was quite high at 6.5. The dizziness was down to anxiety and stress, thank god it wasn't diabetes, i really thought i'd shot myself in the foot. So just started to feel normal again over the weekend just passed and so got my mind back into starting my challenge..........

So starting a couple of weeks later than planned, but better late than never!

I smoked my last ciggy last night (am going to read that famous book this week that apparently has 70% success rate) and dusted off my bike this morning to cycle into work. Thanksfully it's a beautiful day here in the UK, looks like sprintimes on it's way :D

will update with today's diet and exercise later.
 
Good luck! Seems like a good food plan, wish I liked half the stuff you'd mentioned sounds so nice but I'm fussy.

thanks! I'm not actually gonna use the diet i put above :p because after some research found a pretty good guide of what your diet shoud consist of and have now designed a proper diet taking that into consideration.

Basically because i'll be doing cardio and weights, i first need to lower my daily maintenence calorie level by 500. Some online tools tell me this would be between 3000-3500 calories, so i'm gonna design my diet on 2500 calories to start off with.....
now onto protein, carbs and fat
1g protein = 4 cals
1g carbs = 4 cals
1g fat = 9 cals
i was 260 lbs when started so i need to have 260g protein/day = 1040 cals
25% of cals should be fat, so 25% of 2500 is 625, divided by 9 = 69g
rest should be carbs, so 2500 - 1040 - 625 = 835, divided by 4 = 209g

Protein = 260g, 1040 cals
Carbs = 209g, 835 cals
Fat = 69g, 625 cals


09.00am 45 min cardio
09.45am Protein Shake
11.45am Chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olive oil/vinegar dressing
14.00pm Activia Yoghurt, banana, mixed seeds, cashews
16.30pm 5 Ryvitas, tin of tuna, 3 egg whites
18.00pm 15 min cardio, 60 min weights (except wed, sund)
19.30pm Protein shake, banana
21.30pm Dried Apricots/Dates, Special K bar
3 cups of tea in the day

I reckon that's quite a lot and it fit's my requirements perfectly. I don't have all the ingredients yet but have started with what i do have (paydays 27th :() will tweek it when i get bored with things

Only 3 days in and feeling good already, still not smoked, cycling hurts but will get better and satisfied with the food!

Weighed myself this morning: 116.5kg
first time i've weighed myself at that time and with no clothes so will use this as my starting weight..... :auto:
 
yesterdays exercise/food menu was:

12min cycle to work
9.45am Protein Shake & Banana
12.30pm Chicken breast, lettuce, red pepper, cucumber, tsp oil tsp vinegar
14.00pm banana
16.30pm 5 Ryvitas, 1 eggwhite, 1 tin tuna in brine:)puke: never again, tuna in sunflower/olive oil from now on)
15min cycle home
18.30pm Protein shake
19.30pm Special K bar & Actimel mini yoghurt drink

ok, that's not exactly what i need to have but haven't yet got all the ingredients, so at least i'm sticking to it

calorie wise i work that out as only 1580 which is not good, supposed to have 2500 :( well that explains why i'm down half a kilo on todays reading. Shopping at the weekend so at least next week i'm getting bang on 2500.

Still haven't smoked:D:D every day i yearn for one when i start my cycle home, but after the cycle my lungs feel so bad that it puts me right off them. Also half way through the Allen Carr book, i like what i've read so far but the problem i forsee is that as soon as i drink again i'll want to smoke, so hopefully the second half deals with that side!!

weighed in at: 115.9kg this morning
 
Last edited:
yesterdays menu was

15min cycle to work
9.45 Shake (banana)
11.45 chicken salad
14.00 shaved almonds(not ideal but all that was on offer), Activia yoghurt
16.45 4 rice cakes with tin of tuna and 2 eggwhites
18.00 20 min cycle
20.00 shake, banana
21.30 Actimel

today's weight is 115.3kg, which is a 0.6kg drop from yesterday
i'm well aware that you always lose a lot to begin with so not getting excited
still no ciggys and i feel a million dollars, it's amazing how different i feel after only 4.5 days of this new regime. I'm now waking up at 7.30am and wanting to get up and do things rather than before when i had to get up at 9.30am feeling like death. Bags of energy already, awooga!
:hurray:
 
weighed 115.1kg today, been sticking to everything, went nando's yesterday and had a chicken salad, was horrible, never nando's again :(

the weight workouts are tough at the mo due to pains and my legs tighten up as soon as i start cycling every day now, but i just use the thought that eventually will get easier and my tightness will loosen up. I feel great most of the time, except had a toothache sat night/sun morning - typical, sod's law

wake up a lot earlier naturally now and just wanna jump up and get out there which is brilliant, haven't had an urge for a ciggy at all :sifone:

Just bought a nintendo wii with wii fit, so will have that set up later on in the week, hope it's a good workout!

Anyway, 115.2kg was my target for today and i've hit it, next target is 114.5kg by next monday!

Oh and btw, i don't feel like i'm depriving myself at all with this 'diet', i could happily eat a pizza :D but i don't mind if i don't
 
Last edited:
114.7kg today, although not sure my digital scales are always accurate, but i'll take that ;)

Seeing Doc tonight to go over my bloods, he should be impressed that i've quit smoking and started exercising plus eating healthily.

Did my weights last night, i'm determined to get to a stage where doing the weights doesn't hurt in the wrong places, ie my back when getting up off the bench,etc

grrr, toothache still :banghead: usually i'd smoke to compensate for the misery but don't feel the urge to at all
 
set up wii fit and weighed myself on the board, says just over 115kg's so i'll use that from now on to judge my weight.

Toaster at work caught fire and i had to deal with it with a damp cloth, now have inhaled quite a lot of toxic smoke and am coughing a fair bit, typical, 9 days after i quit smoking this happens :cuss:
 
Wii says 114.5kg this morning, steadily getting there, diet's good, cardio and weights is good. Got all my supplements in today - whey protein, omega 3, creatine and glutamine - feeling good
 
Last edited:
well, on saturday went gym and did 45mins on the x-trainer at level 7 (there's 25 levels), it felt good so gonna try and do it every saturday, maybe every sunday as well but costs £5 per visit so bit too expensive. Came out of the gym and bike broke on cycle home :(

i thought i'd fixed bike but it broke again on way to work on monday :( so had to go by train mon-wed. Then on monday night after workout my back started to hurt, tues and wed my back was in agony :cuss:

i saw all this as God's way of testing me (i'm atheist but you know what i mean;)) so although couldn't exercise i stuck to my diet plan. Anyway got bike fixed and rode in today, back feeling a lot better although still some pain.

Have been doing about 30 mins of yoga/balance on the nintendo wii every night, i want to improve my posture and flexibility as i lose weight and this is best way to do it imo, bar going to an actual yoga class and looking like a fool :D

Anyway, weights still dropping quite fast at the moment, annoyingly i don't yet have all the ingrediants to eat my full diet, so hope some of the weight loss isn't false and just down to eating way too little.

and i'm definitely not drinking enough water, i only drink water but not the amounts i've seen recommended, you'd think consumption would be the easy part of a 'diet' :smilielol5:
 
just had a week off training because of my back ache :rant:

not been overeating, but don't have everything to do my proper diet, so have undereaten a bit. Really annoyed about back, has made me immobile :(

and today i'm in the realms of my first cheat day.....:reddevil:

so far i've had....

a cereal bar, 2 sticks of a kitkat, 3 choccie biscuits, and 2 slices of bread with houmous :( not good, do not want this to be the end, so will alow myself a fe more things today and then gonna have to work hard on sticking to diet from tomorrow

down to 112kgs which is good, the being immobile has just depressed me a bit because i was flying beforehand, now need to start building up my fitness from scratch again. Least i haven't smoked though

sigh....
 
Back
Top