How long will it be till I look like the old me? #weightloss

[Fish22]

I've started this as part of a weight loss journey, in the last 8 months I've put on a stone, I really want this to help me shift that weight, anyone had any results to help keep me motivated? I'm only a couple of weeks in.

[damienair Graduate]

I’ve been running over 2 years now. First year I was running on and off and not paying much attention to what I was eating. I lost no weight, actually gained a few pounds. You only burn about 400 calories by running 5K.

This year I really focused on my running. Since then I have not missed one week where I have not run. I also focused on what I was eating, greatly reduced bread, stopped eating sweet treats and just had 3 healthy meals per day where breakfast and lunch comprised of fruit, salads , omelette etc and a regular dinner.

Guess what? It worked. I lost 2.5 stone. I am now in a healthy BMI range for the first time in 20 years. I’m feeling healthier and happier and running has become so much easier.

Weight loss is 90% food related and 10% exercise.

Damien

[Fish22 in reply to damienair]

Thankyou so much for this! It was a massive help!

[Emilycowell94 Graduate]

I have completed couch to 5k and also been cutting down on what I eat, I set my daily calorie intake to 1200 and so far I have lost 18lbs this is since 14/7/19

[Fish22 in reply to Emilycowell94]

Amazing!!!

[LeeU Graduate]

Any activity that causes a calorific deficit will help you loose weight BUT there are loads of other factors that you need to take into consideration and there can be differences in these depending on what sex you are.

First off, if you want to lose weight, get an app like My Fitness Pal and log what you eat, don't miss anything off of it, add everything and don't under estimate either.

This will give you your calorie and macro intake for every day which is important (it's better to view these on the website not the app)

Let me state for the record I'm not a dietician, I've read a lot of different articles and tried a lot of diets.

Not eating enough can be worse than over eating and can lead to serious health issues!

The idea of three meals a day isn't a natural one, it fits in with the working day. When you look at other sports people are eating up to 6 times a day, smaller meals more often as it helps keep the metabolism going.

No white bread or anything that is heavily processed, go for simpler things, vegetables, chicken, fish (not fried), lean meats, change potatoes for sweet potatoes or miss them out altogether.

I, personally aim to eat 1500 calories a day, sometimes I go slightly over sometimes I'm slightly under.

When I run, I'm over 21 stone, I burn 400-500 calories for a 30 minute run on the treadmill, a brisk walk outside at 3mph burns 430 calories over 40 minutes (2 miles).

The think here is the more you weigh, the more calories you WILL burn when exercising, I ran for 60 minutes recently and burnt 970 calories.

Heres a very important bit when it comes to dieting, for me anyway, eat what you want (within reason) but have smaller portions and don't forget to have the odd treat.

This approach has worked for me, since May I've lost around 4 stone.

[Doddery123 Graduate in reply to LeeU]

Great post. Well done you.

[Fish22 in reply to LeeU]

Omg I can't belive how much you put in here thankyou! This is brilliant!

[Doddery123 Graduate]

The maths are simple. Do more, eat less. But of course it is harder than that. I have found losing weight harder than stopping smoking. At least with stopping smoking you don't have to do anything! We all have to eat. Lots of tasty foods. I have been doing weight watchers. It's focus now is on wellness and well being not just weight. It's worked for me (other diet clubs are available).

[Hidden]

Losing weight is more to do with your diet, the running will help but concentrate more on how much you are eating.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Welcome to the forum and well done on getting started.

This guide to the plan is essential reading healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

The plan is not a weight loss plan.........but you will lose inches.

To lose weight you need to address your diet.

Enjoy your journey.

[islandrunner Graduate]

To add some scale to the other posts here. I'm about 15lbs overweight (just below halfway in the overweight category on the BMI scale). For me, a 30 minute run burns about 200 calories.

As others have said, losing weight is about what we eat, exercise is about fitness. Since restarting running, and calories counting EVERYTHING I eat, and making sure I have a calories deficit, I've lost 16lbs.

[LittleSallyRacket Graduate]

The running probably won’t make a huge difference to weight but if use MyFitnessPal etc to keep an eye on calorie intake as well, you should see results.

Make sure you aren’t undereating too as very low calorie diets tend to make you lose muscle rather than fat - people see results on the scales (because muscle is heavier per unit of volume than fat) but ultimately they’re just slowing their metabolisms and their body fat percentage will actually increase.