Hey guys ... two years ago I decided I needed to lose some weight ... I was 43 years old and getting bigger year on year. I had a size 40 waist and I am only 5ft 7 so not the tallest!.
I decided to start running to try and lose the weight I had built up. Initially I could barely run to the end of my road without being absolutely worn out!. Slowly but surely I have built this up and have now ran 3 half marathons and will soon be training for my first full marathon.
Over the last two years I have lost over two stone and added on 10lb of lean muscle. I have learned so much about how to fuel myself maintain my weight and get the best out of me.
I am not posting this to impress you but to impress upon you what you can achieve. It's not easy it will be hard but the results are so worth it!
Good luck everyone and I look forward to speaking to some of you more as time goes on 😊
Written by
fatboytorunner
2 stone
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Hello fatboytorunner and welcome to the Weight Loss Forum
Very well done on the running and improving health and fitness . 2 stone is quite and achievement, not to mention shrinking waistline 😀
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Have a look at the NHS 12 week plan, as many people have had success with it. Also use the BMI checker to find your target calories, it's important to eat enough. This was a major turning point for me, realising I could eat anything I wanted as long as the calories are accounted for
Don't forget to take your starting measurements and a 'before' picture, as they can be very motivating on days that the scales refuse to co-operate
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You'll notice a grey box next to people's names, these are achievement badges, and as a new member you usually have a 'Newbie' badge but I'm giving you a 2 stone badge to reflect your success so far 😀
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I used to really like running, it was such a quick way to raise the heart rate and burn some calories but then 10 years ago I developed painful hips which a physio said was bursitis over my greater trochanter (probably spelt wrong - hip joint anyway) which is still there but has not got any worse. She advised me to stop running and gradually the weight piled on. More recently another physio suggested that I could start running again and very gently I have introduced gentle jogging to my serious walking habit. The joy of being able to run again is fantastic. Last Sunday I was in Portugal and did a 8 km run along the River Tegus. I love walking but running is the biz! I am nearly 65 and hope I will be able to keep on running for many years to come. I am very slow and have no ambitions regarding marathons - I just want to be able to exercise. Daisy1925
Amazing daisy!! I was in morocco last week and ran every other day it's an amazing way to see a new country ... I hope to still be able to do the same at 65 ... 😊
You should be very proud of yourself, and I most certainly do not see it as boasting!
Lots of people can put off making changes to improve their health, but we all have to start somewhere!
I too try to share with others the things that I used to lose my weight and I have become far more aware of what I put into my body. My calorie allowance is only 1300 (maintenance calories) and I try to ensure that I use them wisely...
Exactly I attend a running club where I am lucky enough to have been asked to be a team leader and I love helping people and sharing my experience with them ... we all had to start somewhere and it's great to realise what people can do in a relatively short space of time too 😊
I had lunch today with a friend who is very excited as she's just managed to improve on her personal best for doing a 5K in less then 30 minutes (3.25 miles in old money). She's been doing interval training (running as fast as she can for 2 minutes and then jogging for 2 minutes - or something like that!)
Intervals are good for improving speed ... a quick 5k is a hard thing to do! I am trying to get under 25 mins at the mo and it's hard! Got to 25.25 but can't seem to go any quicker! Sure it will happen eventually!
I've just posted questions about running and weight loss. I'm happy to eat healthily and actually find I have a reduced appetite when exercising regularly. I'd love to hear your experience if you wouldn't mind sharing it. 😊
Absolutely .... I started with the 8 week blood sugar diet ... my wife had a health assessment and was told that she was pre diabetic so we both went on this diet together .... it focused on reducing sugars and more importantly hidden sugars in food I.e sauces etc that you don't always think about .... I had started running also and between the two the weight started to come off around 1lb a week ish ... I have taken around 18 months to lose just over two stone .... also I don't eat a huge amount of bread pasta rice as it tends to play me up but I was ignoring it before eating it and suffering the consequences ... how stupid was I!! ... I used Herbalife products for a while as breakfast is not always my favourite thing so I was replacing it with a shake which I also found worked for me as rather than not eating at all then eating the wrong thing this kept me full for up to 3 hours .... I completed the couch to 5k programme and then started running every other day ... I stopped using Herbalife products and started to focus on my diet more simply because my hours of work changed and I was better able to eat at that time of the day ... this is what I have had today as an illustration for you
2 x weetabix with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, handful of mixed nuts, cup of tea
2 x rice cakes with peanut butter mid morning
Salmon salad with avocado and a small amount of salad cream, banana and small tangerine
Protein shake mid afternoon handful of mixed nuts
Chicken salad for dinner with a stuffed mushroom
I tend to eat every three hours and make sure I drink plenty of water through the day. I don't drink tea or coffee all that much apart from with breakfast and I have cut down my alcohol intake over the 18 months quite dramatically.
My running has slowly but surely increased over time but I am convinced it helped me to lose weight ... I started couch to 5k in October 2015 by April 2016 I was up to 4 miles ... I decided I wanted to do a half marathon and just booked it for October 2016 .... once I started to up my miles the weight started to come off quicker again. I competed my first ever half in 2 hours 17 mins.
I made a lot of small changes rather than major overhauls and the total of the small changes long with the exercise really helped me. Running helped me also with my mental health I was quite stressed and aggy with my family and it helped to chill me out and give me headspace and a release of my frustrations ... I think my mental
Boost also helped my weight loss as I was feeling better about myself all round ... not sure if without the running and the mental boost of my weight loss would have done so well.
Now I run every other day and do body weight exercises every other day with two days off a week which I vary. I do hiit sessions sometime also on non running days.
I have found consistency is key make it part of your routine and you will keep it going.
Hope that helps. Sorry it's a bit long winded! Haha!
Fantastic! Your diet sounds great. Some might think it low on carbs but your fruit is plentiful and will give you that. I did a strict clean eating programme a couple of years ago and lost 2 stones in 3 months. It was too strict though. I enjoy my social life and friends got irritated with my constant refusal to eat Chinese. I try to be more flexible these days but I have put some weight back on and would love to shed it again. Quitting sugar is the ibvious thing to do as I can be a bit of a sugar fiend. However, I'm not craving sugar so I'm taking full advantage of that situation and not eating any. For me that will mean no processed food, alcohol or refined sugar. I'll also ditch white flour and stick to whole grains. Reading about your journey has motivated me so thank you!
Keep up the good work and thank you so much for sharing your experience. 😊🤞
You are more than welcome .... glad to hear it's been of use... I have gone with what works fpr me may not work for everyone but it gives you an idea 😀 good luck 😀
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