That’s brilliant Jay - well done👏. I definitely feel stronger for running & have been far more disciplined with my eating. Still have 2 stone to lose but clothes feel less snug & I like eating better - most of the time😉.
I'm so pleased for you Jay! That is a fantastic loss just be prepared for it to slow a bit in the coming weeks. When you first put yourself in a deficit there can be quite a big waterweight loss. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll definitely get there x
Yeah I’m expecting this to slow down to around half a kilo or a kilo a week at best. But it’s a good boost. I’m trying to stick within the MFP calorie limit (just over 1800) rather than the NHS BMI one (roughly 2200-2800) when I can.
Just over 1800 sounds good if you're not too hungry on it. You've got some leeway there to play around with if you find you want to eat a bit more. Good luck with it x
(I did the 5:2 fasting diet very successfully for a year and know I could do that again if I had to. It’s just not fun and wouldn’t be easy to fit around work and running.)
I'm doing the same, Jay, with myfitnesspal and have a similar amount to lose too. We're running with all that extra weight on/in our bodies, so even more reason to celebrate the wins!
Likewise! I've seen RAF/Army guys running with backpacks in training. I used to lug 20kg sacks of horse feed about until recently - and they are heavy!!! Every time I start beating myself up about not being as good as some of the more athletic types, I remember that I'm doing all that muscle and strength work on inclines and declines, as well as aerobic exercise.
I’m a long term fan of intermittent fasting too but sometimes I struggle fitting it in with the running too especially at the end of a fast day or the morning after one if I don’t have a snack first. I’ve decided to give the eating window method a try instead, fast for 16 hours every day and only eat during an 8 hour window, haven’t weighed myself since but I’m finding it easier to manage so far.
First of alL: great work. You should be proud of your achevement and you clearly have a good attitude towards it.
Two things though: 1.) whilst. as Pianoteacher pinted out, a sharp initial loss is often water loss, and as you very sensibly expect to taper to 0.5 to 1kg a week, keep in mind that about 1kg a week is close to the max you can lose in fat. Much over that and you are losing lean mass, which is not the desired outcome at all. You want to preserve as much muscle tissue as possible and lose as much adipose tissue. Skewing your diet towards a hgher protein intake and doing regular resistance exercise will greatly iprove this. You don't have to become a bodybuilder (although why not?) but you should keep your muscles pushed just to their limits every day so they are incentivised to maintain.
2.) 1800 calories sounds very low for an adult male who is, if I read your post correctly, 25kg overweight. Unless you are 4 foot 2, I would think the NHS estiate sounds much closer. The 1200 for women and 1800 for men that MFP spits out is just a generic number, not calculated on weight/height/activity. I would strongly suggest you go to tdeecalculator.net/
and recalculate. there are options on there for lose/maintain/build and also macro split sugestions for carb/protein ratios etc. It is a much more accurate way of doing things.
Cuuting calories more than 500 below maintenance is not a sustainable healthy way of losing fat and keeping it off, especially f you are running.
for comparison, I am six foot and am losing weight at the moment. I reduced my calories to 2500 for the first six weeks and have now cut again to 2200. I don't envisage going much lower than that but might possibly drop to 1800 for a couple of weeks right at the end just to get the final striations, but that would be for sub 10 percent bodyfat, and I would not expect to sustain it for long
Really helpful, thanks. That gives me a goal of 2244 cals as 500 under what I need.
MFP “gives back” the calories for exercise and this formula takes into account your exercise. So do I just ignore the added back calories and stick to 2244 regardless of exercise in any day?
It is averages over a period of time that make the difference. If I have a rest day, after skating over the ice in Hell and avoiding the flying pigs, I tend to eat a little less: I don't chug the post workout protein shakes if there is no workout, but I do not use extra exercise as permission to add calories.
MFP is very useful for tracking (although beware as all the data is user inputted there can be massive variations on foods) but I don't pay it much heed otherwise. I don't know anyone (athletes, bodbuilders etc) whose results are critical to their performance who go by MFP suggestions.
Also I would reccomend teh Evolve app: it is essentially exactly the same as MFP for your phone but you can enter dat by just speaking into it, whch saves so much time and makes the process so much more painless
I’ve noticed the variations. And how barcode scans can take you to the wrong data (or misleading data re portion sizes). I’m being careful where I can to check with the data on a pack (where appropriate).
Well done. It can be those early kilos falling off that give the incentive to continue on what can often feel like a tedious yet important lifestyle change. I had great success with myfitnesspal when I needed it; great to hear you've had a similar experience so far. If nothing else, it made me more mindful about what I was eating and make better choices as to where I got my calories from.
That’s fantastic Jay!! Well done. To build up your running while also losing weight takes some serious willpower! Well done that man. You must feel great 💪👍
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