I've just watched How to get fit fast on channel 4, one comment that I have wondered about that it's 80% diet and 20% exercise, Could this be right? I was under the impression it was about 50/50 has anyone any thought on this topic???
How to get fit fast: I've just watched... - Weight Loss Support
How to get fit fast
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bulge1
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I have been great with my diet and not good with exercise but having losing weight well so I know food is really important. I think you would have to do so much exercise to burn off calories from overeating that while you might maintain you would be less likely to lose. Don't they say a deficit of 3500 calories to lose a lb?
Yes it was 3,500 calories to lose a lb with 2 st to lose it's seems quite a challenge...
I think if it a choice between eat well or exercise well then I choose eat well. I know I do need to do more exercise as well. Some people eat a lot, go to the gym for an hour and wonder why they haven't lost weight - I count the biscuits they eat even if they don't seem to!
If you're a little short sedentary (disabled) person like me, then the challenge becomes even greater. 3,500 deficit to get rid of a pound... that's 500 calories below what you consume a day.... My maintenance calories are only 1,500 (so my calories to lose 1lb a week = 1,000 a day)
Was easier when I weighed more as I got more calories! Now I am close to goal, it's a real struggle.
Hi Pineapple27 how do you work out your maintainance. calories I've been doing this since oct 20/16 I've lost 4st but I'm getting tired and feel my body is letting me down i'm 5ft 4 and 12st12lb and if i want to lose weight i have to eat less than1200 cals i can't excercise due to health problems. I have so much respect for you and the weight you are losing, you always sound so cheerful and positive. I'm sorry my post is so long 😁😁
I use a weightloss website: weighlossresources.co.uk You input all of your data - age, sex, weight, height, how active you are and how much you want to lose each week. It then very cleverly works it all out for you. It deducts calories from "maintenance" as your weight goes down (less weight to carry around means you burn less of what you eat). I can also add any calories earned through exercise. These are never that many, but it all helps.
I have to pay annually to be a member (think it's about £80?) but it's an absolutely crucial tool to assist me in my weight loss journey, and I don't have expensive gym membership (all exercise done at home) PLUS no eating out as often has to have meant a huge saving!
And I'm actually worse off than I stated above! My maintenance calories are presently only 1,330!
I am doing the Blood Sugar Diet at the moment, so my calories consumed are usually between 800 and 1,200 a day.
Still managing to lose....
Thank you for getting back to me Pineapple27 i appreciate it i will try the link that you've given me 😁
That's a really interesting website Pineapple. Have signed up for their newsletter and will do the 24hr free trial when I can give it my attention.
This forum is just full of useful information, thank you.
It's worked well for me! It's like having access 24/7 to weight loss support! If you do join, come and find me - I'm Pineapple27 on there and usually post on the Advice and Support forum thread each day about the BSD (blood sugar diet).
Just seen that you say you've lost 4 stone since October of last year - That is amazing!
The other thing I'd add is - change something! There's nothing quite like changing what you are doing to shake up your body a bit (gets it guessing!) and getting the weight moving downwards again. Have you considered the 8 week blood sugar diet?
I've never really looked at any other diets this is the longest I've cut it's been 16mths and i think i'm just getting tired. My fibromyalgia and cervical spondilitis always gets worse at this time of the year, I've even thought about having a break but i don't know if i would be strong enough to get back on the wagon. I'm sorry for the moan i guess i'm just feeling a bit down thanks for listening😳
Wow I've just noticed i said20/16 i meant15 my fibro fog must be worse than i thought 😳😳
That's still very impressive! Spring is on the way, the lighter evenings and hopefully some sunshine.... keep it up! Have you considered the Blood Sugar Diet? I'm on the BSD FaceBook page and may sufferers have said that way of eating has really helped their symptoms?
Thank you i will have a look i hope you enjoy your weekend😁
Hi Pineapple I am too so limited exercise some days none I have Just started this plan 2wks ago. I am 5ft 2 inches and weigh 12.7 I did my age weight etc & it recommended 1400 cals. My stepdaughter suggested I put the carb,fats,protein differently in MyfitnessPal and put it up to 1500 and changed the carbs protein & fats. My question is how did you eat and manage to lose so much weight & congratulations btw I would love to get down to 11.5 or 11 stone it would help my back & bones ie Arthritis. I find it all very confusing especially at this time of year weather it's snowing herein Essex. Take Care Kazzy xx
(1) February 2012 Joined an on-line weightloss website (weightlossresources. co.uk). Still a member!
(2) Using the site, worked out how many calories I needed to eat to lose ONE pound a week (based on my TDEE)
(3) Started to weigh and log everything I ate, every day. Still do to some extent....
(4) Planned and cooked healthy meals from scratch, using the recipes on that website and others I found on-line (you have the ability to create recipes using that website, so you know how many calories per portion a recipe is)
(5) Only started to exercise once I had lost 2 stone (swimming for an hour once a week at a disabled swimming session) built up gradually to doing stretches, exercises sat on gym ball, walking on a treadmill
(6) From about 2013, used 5:2 Fasting as an additional tool, which helped me to conquer the mental hold that food had on me - I worked to make myself stronger than the food! I would conquer a Fast Day and not let the food ruin my efforts!
(7) More or less gave up alcohol completely (nowadays, I've actually gone off the taste of wine.... very sad!)
(8) Started to increase the amount of exercise I did. Used a personal trainer for a few sessions to identify exercises that I was able to do, and also learned about HIIT training (high intensity, short bursts of activity, which brings your heart up to aerobic level and back down)
(9) Recognised that I cannot eat out every week.... I used to plan every trip out of the house to include some food, ie, trip to town = lunch in a pub, trip to the garden centre = cake and coffee. Rarely eat out now, it's an occasional treat for a celebration. Never have take-aways (actually now prefer things we make at home, stir-fries, curries, etc)
(10) More recently, I have used the 8 week Blood Sugar Diet. This way of eating was developed for and aimed primarily at those with diabetes or who are pre-diabetic. It's follows the principles of the Mediterranean Diet, but aims to cut out grains (no bread, oats or rice), potatoes, pasta, sugar and sugar products, fruit which is high in sugar (think tropical). Also cutting out processed foods which contain a lot of added sugar (lots of ready made sauces, condiments), bread, cakes.
It's undertaken in 8 - 12 week "rounds" where calorie intake is limited to just 800 a day. Not as difficult as it sounds, as because you are eating foods containing lots of "good fats" which keep you feeling fuller for longer, you don't need to eat as much quantity wise!
Read more here: thebloodsugardiet.com/
(11) Just kept on going and never gave up, even though I've had holidays where I've piled the weight on, and we (myself and my husband) had his terminally ill mother living with us for over a year who required significant care towards the final months of her life.... I JUST KEPT ON GOING. Any loss, however small, is a move in the right direction. Recognised that this will be something I need to do for the remainder of my life if I'm not to put all the weight back on again!
Hope this helps! 
Thank you so much for all this info will have a look at the website's & 5-2 that is the Philip Schofield did I think? I lost my Mum Christmas Night so my emotions etc are running high and I am doing a little comfort eating as well. I will have a large bowel of cornflakes and skimmed milk about 9pm which I know is naughty & toasted cinnamon bagel thin at 4pm with a decaf earl grey. I have been cooking mostly from scratch having chicken & turkey skinned and boned. making my own sauce well Campbell condensed chicken or Mushroom soup as a sauce adding a bit of paprika etc or Worcester sauce for me and hubbie. He has been poorly and waiting for next hospital appointment so lot's of stress.But I know I need to shift this for my body. I suffer with Angiodema & Urticaria so no spices garlic etc so curry is out as well. When this happened in 2014 I went on a low histamine diet and went down to 11.9 felt so much better but once the hospital allergy clinic changed my meds I piled it back on plus antidepressants do not help with weight. Just had my thyroid thyroxine upped so that might help me a little with the extra pounds, I sound like a walking disaster so sorry. I WILL KEEP ON GOING PROMISE 
Thanks again. xx
Not a walking disaster... just someone who like many on this site faces additional barriers to your weightloss!
That is so helpful and encouraging Pineapple. Gives me real motivation. You are right we can all do this if we want it enough. You give such sound advice based on your experience and it is for others, well me, to pick and choose what to do whilst recognising that there is only one track to follow and that is the lifestyle change track.
I have also gone off the taste of wine, probably a good thing! Thankfully enjoyed a glass of champagne last week so all is not lost. Holiday in a couple of weeks so I will just have to drink champagne between long walks!
Dont try to lose 1 lb a week, it wont be sustainable. Half a pound every week or two is more achievable and take it slowly. Evidence shows that slower weightloss is more likely to stay off longterm. I can vouch for this, I took over ten months to lose 2st but have kept it off since Apr2015.
Great advice elliebath !! My 4.5 stone was lost at an average of less than half a pound a week... Half a pound sounds nothing, but all those half pounds over time add up to stones!
Thanks Elliebath xx
Im sorry, I just re-read your post about losing your mum. Im sorry you've had a tough time so just keep eating healthy foods and look after yourself. It really doesn't matter if the weight stays the same for a bit, things will probably seem easier all round in the spring . I started my journey one april, it just felt right at that time and I was inspired by pretty spring bulbs, and summer clothes ....x
80/20 is pretty much right. Three years ago I also had 2 stone to lose , which I achieved on around 1300 -1400 cals a day over ten months ( an average, didn't manage it every day) . My exercise was just a walk most days, or if I couldn't manage that, then an hour or two walk at weekends. In my case no gyms cuz i hate them. I have kept the weight off since April 2015 ...and I'm in my sixties so have a lower metabolism than I used to. IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN ANYONE , GOOD LUCK 😊
Me to I'm 64 thanks for the encouragement I really mean that I need it right now. I suppose wrong time of year to start but better than never. xx
Thanks Ellibath, that is encouraging. I am also in my early 60s, recovering from an operation and seem to have ruined my metabolism by losing two stones in about six weeks while acutely ill over Christmas. Once I started being able to eat again I was desperate not to put all the weight back on again as often happens. So eating healthily, cooking from scratch (no hardship I love cooking) and trying to walk at least 5 days per week. I can see that I am going to have to start thinking in the half pounds rather than whole pounds. Hey Ho! My life is worth it.
Sounds like you had a difficult few weeks after your op.
If you now like your current weight, all I can suggest is that you recalculate your current TDEE ( your calorie needs to maintain , use an online calculator ) and plan your meals around that. Hopefully you shouldn't regain!
Then, once you've cracked that, just recalculate what it takes to lose a bit more (if you need to) .
Thanks elliebath. Unfortunately I need to lose four stones to keep the BMI monster happy-it will be better for me too! I am trying not to get neurotic if every morsel that goes into my mouth is not super healthy and super good for me. Still, I am enjoying the journey (mostly) because of finding the forum, the encouragement, the chit chat etc. This is the only social media involvement I have so it is pretty special.
I eat healthily now after losing over 3st and have maintained for 8 months now, for me the 80/20 makes sense. If you can do moderate exercise is makes you feel good and obviously keeps you reasonably fit, but it is all about what you eat and drink in my opinion, I used to swim 3 miles a week, did a lot of walking and had to stop due to an injury/illness (long story), thought weight might shoot up, but it hasn't at all, slightly cut back on calories but not as much as imagined. I think if you do a lot of exercise subconsciously you treat yourself to more food as reward, also have a bigger appetite. You have to do a LOT of exercise to lose the calories in a take away!
I have never enjoyed exercise apart from walking the dog for half an hour a day, which I love. But gym, swimming, running, no thanks! I have always found I can lose weight by restricting calories, nothing else. .
Yes 80/20 is correct. You can study more about it on the Internet if you like.
bulge1• in reply to
Thank you
Food is what builds your cells! Healthy food = fit cells. The cells are the building blocks of the body and constantly re-generating.
I know a few people who complain constantly that they don't understand why they are still so over-weight when they exercise so much! The answer is simple! (They clearly still eat more than they burn....)
Yes, diet and calorific intake remain paramount in allowing individuals to attain their respective goals.
Look at the example of the male fitness model, who was eating over and above his recommended allowance (TDEE), so that he could add size and mass.
In order to repeatedly encourage progressive overload of muscle fibres (adding more weight to the bar), his daily calorie intake needed to increase to support his aim (bulking).
For an individual who wishes to reduce body weight, (cutting) a calorie deficit needs to be introduced from TDEE, encouraging the body to burn calories stored in fat as energy.
The calories burned through exercise when running a deficit simply serve to increase the amount of weight loss enjoyed each week, by virtue of the calorie deficit introduced.
Regardless of the method chosen to manage weight, the following remains true:
To burn fat, a daily calorie deficit must be introduced, to maintain current weight, intake shouldn’t exceed TDEE and if daily calorie intake routinely exceeds TDEE, then weight will be gained.
Wow. What a lot of confusion. The 80/20 is another way of saying you can't out exercise a bad diet. It is correct that you need to drop 500 calories a day to lose a lot pound in weight. Trying to burn 500 call a day from exercise would be a challenge because you have to do it every day! However where you are all struggling is what number to take the 500 calories from and what is the macronutrient breakdown. The number of calories you can consume in a day is called you Basal metabolic rate or BMR. There are a load of sites that can work this out for free. But this is just the number to sit in bed all day this is NOT the number you take 500 calories from. You need to add a factor to take into account your activity. Eating 1200 calories a day IMHO is not enough food for an adult. Sure you will lose some weight over the short term but not a lot of fat as the body will go into starvation mode. Most of my clients lose FAT because they exercise properly and eat the correct constantly adjusted calorie number and get their micronutrient percentage spot on. Then when you hit the weight you want to be just add back the 500 calories and maintain that weight forever. Or add an extra 500 and put on some tasty muscle.
Hi Keith. I'd have to disagree slightly and say that 1200 calories is not enough for MOST adults!
My height doesn't even appear on most BMR charts (4ft 9") and I am missing some of the larger muscles (thigh, arms) because of my disability.... these big muscles are the real calorie burners!
Unfortunately I do have to eat under 1,200 to continue to lose weight but haven't gone into starvation mode. I concentrate on eating foods that will keep me feeling satiated for longer so less quantity, more quality.
Aaah. I see what the problem is here. Its the same thing that MummyPhus is talking about. Your BMR is NOT the number you should be taking the 500 calories off. This is your Basal Metabolic Rate, just the food to keep you sitting in bed 24/7 with the occasional walk of the dog. If you calculate your BMR it should give you a figure. For Instance someone who is 41, 5ft tall, who weighs 15 stone and is sedentary will have a BMR of about 1650 calories. However their recommended daily calorie intake (the number that gets your out of bed and living) is 1984. This is the number you should be knocking 500 calories off of. Most of my clients who are mostly active find they do not lose weight when they eat too few calories. When they eat the right amount and to the correct macro amounts they do lose weight.
Of course you can lose weight by doing excessive amounts of exercise. If you watch the MTV show I used to be fat, you will see Obese people doing exercise well above and beyond what they should be doing and being pushed way past the comfort zone.
Look what we should be talking about is sustainable weight loss by changing your lifestyle to eating correctly and having a goal that is achievable. These short term weight losses will mostly come straight back on because you have not dealt with the issues that are making you fat in the first place. So as soon as you go back to that lifestyle, boom you put the weight back on. The BEST way to lose weight is in a controlled slow manner. We are talking about something that will last you the rest of your life! Not just till holiday then we pile it all on again.
The best way to see if this works is to start on Sunday, weight yourself and measure your waist and hips, eat your calories for the week, use an app like myfitnesspal and record every thing you eat. Come Sunday weight yourself again. Did you lose weight? did you lose Fat? (the waist measurement will tell you or if you have those fancy scales) If you lost both fat and weight you are doing the right calories if you just lost weight review the calories and macro's
and see if you might need to eat a little more.
Hi Keith. Thanks for the helpful response. Did you watch the programme about Super Slimmers on Channel 4 last night? All of them had lost significant amounts of weight quickly.... and all had regained some, all or even more weight! You may want to watch it on catch up TV.
I've come to believe that it really is 80% diet or very close to that. I've had weight loss surgery and I've had a personal trainer who taught that diet was about 80% of weight loss and both scenarios proved true. I lost weight with dramatic changes in eating habits with both surgery and the trainer. With the surgery I lost 21 lbs. in the 1st 21 days. I was hungry during that time but just couldn't always eat because I was busy caring for a husband with cancer who generously didn't want me to cancel my surgery. Then I had very limited food, baby food really, and the weight came off easily. I must have lost about 60 lbs. before I could work exercise in. And still I didn't lose much when I exercised---maybe 2-3 lbs. I think I ate a little more calories when I started exercising.
With the trainer I could see and feel the weight come off but I was working on my core for a long time and the big change was me eating small servings of meat and 11-14 servings of raw veggies and fruit daily. So diet was a big change and I could feel it was diet when I was losing weight. It's hard to describe when I say I could feel it but I could. I wasn't doing lots of aerobics or weight loss type of exercise, I was doing strength training and core exercises with a little aerobic stuff.
Thanks for this SueSz, a big help for me today.
My weight loss doctor says something you don't hear much: eat high protein for weight loss because protein doesn't turn into fat if you eat too much. Carbs do.
There is sense in that. We do need some carbs , but not processed carbs, and generally speaking more protein satisfies the appetite. I didnt realise this until I started a weight loss journey, and found that eggs for breakfast kept me going for several hours, unlike my previous toast/cereal etc
As someone who exercises a fair bit, here are my thoughts...
If you've worked out the calories you need to MAINTAIN your weight with no exercise (=BMR x 1.2) and you stick to this, then add exercise, you're going to lose weight. For example, I am 5ft 8ins and weigh 9st 12lb, so my BMR = 1387 calories per day, multiplied by 1.2 = 1664, which is the number of calories I need to maintain my weight with no exercise.
If I wanted to lose a lb per week, I'd need to eat 1164 calories per day.
If I go for a run for half an hour at 10 min/mile, I burn around 300 calories.
If I walk the dog for 20 minutes at 3.5mph, I burn around 120 calories.
So if I do a 30 minute run 4 times per week and walk the dog for 20 mins twice per day for a week I will burn around 2880 calories in that week. In this case, I can actually INCREASE the number of calories I can eat per day and still lose weight.
The problem comes when people exceed the calories required to maintain their weight, exercise and then "treat" themselves for exercising. In actual fact, my average calorie intake is 2,000 per day and I am maintaining my weight. I do walk my dog twice-three times per day and I am training for a half marathon (3 short runs plus one longer run per week).
You can lose and maintain weight loss by diet alone, but exercise is really important for being healthy - someone suggested ITV Tonight: The Truth About Exercise (available on ITV Player) and it's definitely worth a watch.
All the best
• in reply toMummyPhus
Yes, this is what works for me too. And it's why I use MyFitnessPal and add the exercise rather than go with the NHS figure as my exercise varies daily.
MummyPhus• in reply to
Yes, MyFitnessPal is great (and free) - I have it linked to my FitBit HR so hopefully my calories from activity are pretty accurate. I set my activity level to the lowest possible.
If your TDEE maintenance level is 1664 are you sure you need to drop to 1164? I think the 500 deficit is based on the TDEE of an average woman ( 2000.) Generally I think the advice is to reduce by 20% , so for you a reduction of 332 =1332... plus any calories earned by exercise.
The 500 deficit would be to drop 1lb of fat (3500 cal) per week. My point was that exercise "earns" a decent number of calories as long as people are sticking to a sensible diet, meaning that you don't need to drop your calorie intake by so much if you're exercising.
What my calculations also show is that if I were sedentary and following generic guidelines, eating 2000 calories per day would cause me to gain wait not maintain it.
That's a really useful illustration to help people understand the exercises / calorie issue!
I burn a lot of calories just by walking (because of my disability.... it needs a lot more effort). My heart rate when I walk gets up to 160 bpm! So a walk for me is an aerobic workout! I get more calories by walking on my treadmill at 2.5 mph than able bodied people get through running!
Just out of interest and to illustrate my point, I walked along the riverbank for 1hr 16mins. My heart rate average was 115 bpm (measured wearing a Polar HRM) and my maximum was 145 bpm. In the time I was walking, I burned 734 calories!
That would have included some rest stops. I can't walk for very long at a time.
Another day I mowed the lawn (petrol self-driven mower). Spent 1hr 02mins, max heart rate 139bpm, average 123bpm. Burned 674 calories.
I deduct my background calories from that (the calories I would have burned anyway, just breathing).
My HRM is a massive incentive to get moving more. Activity bands don't work as well - for example, they don't pick up me going up and down stairs which I do once a day at a very slow speed. It gives me steps for doing my stretch exercises which are done seated!
My husbands ex is a big lady who has diabeties 2 and drives to the gym 10 minutes walk drives home does an hour at an expensive gym and eats what she likes hence no weightloss sadly she's teaching her children this too which has lead to her children being very overweight my stepdaughter is 2-3 stone over weight aged 10 we have tried our hardest to explain to her why and what's best but she has her mum saying eat what you like if you exercise
The old saying is
You can't out run your diet
Cooper27• in reply to
The things people teach their kids is so frustrating! She'll twig onto it one day!
Maybe you could try explaining to her in terms of how much exercise you need to do to burn off something? I'm thinking you could take her out for a 4 hour walk and then offer her a krispy kreme (probably more like half a krispy kreme!) and explain that's how much exercise is needed to burn one of them off. She might not listen now, but it will stick with her some day.
This once got a huge rant out of me at work! Someone somewhere came out with this term, and said it with enough confidence, that enough people started spreading it, and now everybody that goes near a gym uses it with the same confidence in the hopes they sound like they have a clue what they're talking about! It doesn't mean anything though. What are they even measuring? They are completely arbitrary!
Sorry, I'll step down from my rant now!
Essentially this has become the new way of saying 'you can't outrun a bad diet', but it is still important that you do exercise. If you're going to be a body builder, then what you eat will become a lot more important, but we're all here simply to find the balance that works best for us. If a 50:50 split feels right for you, and you lose weight doing that, then go for it!
Dietbunny27lbs
This was a really interesting thread, thank you everyone for your thoughts and to you bulge1 for posting it!
That's why I eat raw carrots, concerned!
😂😂😂😂 noooooo!
Yeah you live on raw carrots are you orange ? 😂
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