Weight loss

Hi
I’m a 30 year old male wondering if any one has any suggestions, ideas on how I could lose a couple of stone before Christmas. Wonder what works for other people ideally don’t want to spend any money on achieving this.
Thanks

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You need to have a look at your diet, if you are snacking a lot or eating takeaways regularly then cut down- don’t stop because you won’t stick to it!
And exercise. Depending how active you are now start gentle. Walking is good for weight loss or if you want to be a bit more intense there are loads of videos you can stream. Joe wicks was doing PE everyday during lockdown and he’s got loads of content online.
Don’t go from 0 to 60 in one go. Take a bit of time to adjust to it or you just won’t stick to it

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Cut out sugar where you can, eat less processed foods, and exercise a little! Doesn’t need to be much, even just a 30min walk per day and you’ll notice the difference in a couple of weeks.

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For me, it’s a combination of both diet and exercise, neither alone works for me. For exercise, brisk walking is usually enough for me, I put a wireless headset on, and go walking in the woods, with Hector (dog) if he happens to be with me on that day, alone otherwise. I listen to the latest TWiT podcast, as it’s usually about 90-120 minutes, and interesting enough to me to distract from the otherwise boring activity of just walking. For food, I just try to avoid snacking, force myself to eat fruit when I want a chocolate bar or packet of crisps, and drink plenty of water (often in place of coffee), I don’t tend to go in for the fad diets, there is usually little science, if any, behind them and what little there is changes from day to day anyway.

In short: Do stuff, eat sensibly.

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Give up bread. :+1::slightly_smiling_face:

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I couldn’t afford booze during furlough and lost a stack - and I didn’t have much to loose to begin with

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Or if you can’t face that (or shouldn’t do so for medical reasons), make sure the bread you eat is best quality stuff. Proper bread, no supermarket crap. Find a real baker and buy wholemeal and/or sourdough.

…or save a ton of money by baking your own! Soda bread is dead easy to make and totally delicious. No faffing about with yeast. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Mrs S and I changed what we ate a few years ago when we saw our weight slowly creeping up. A permanent change rather than a short term diet plan. Low carbohydrate, high fat works great for us, avoiding bread, sugar and processed foods. We do eat a bit of that stuff now but check our weight daily and make up for any slips.

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Simple calorie counting is the most effective. Don’t fall for fad diets or ones that act as quick fixes your see on tv or online.

Stores like Holland and Barrett often market herbal pills and green tea as weight loss aid and they don’t work lol

There is a lot of calculators online including nhs that will tell you a daily calorie limit to loose 1-2 pounds a week even if you don’t exercise.

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It’ll work for a while, months maybe, but the body is clever and will slow its metabolism to burn fewer calories, become colder and more lethargic so can’t be continued indefinitely. Just be careful not to put the weight back on when the diet ends.

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When diet ends you can often find your calories to maintain your current weight.

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Totally agree with @Justthe2ofus2007 I use my fitness pal and I get my calorie intake off Mike Matthews macro nutrient calculator, It’ll tell you how much carbs fats and protein you should have aswel but you don’t have to follow them, my brother has just started calorie counting, he just sticks to his calories not focusing on his macro nutrients and he’s been losing a lb a week

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I’m currently trying to lose another 3 stone asap to meet up with a new partner, i’m sticking to 1000 calories a day with a lot of protein yogurts to fill me. I’m a stone and a bit down since start of sept.

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People have their own go-to methods but for me and my wife Slimming World worked brilliantly. I lost 5 stone over 15 months and my wife lost 3.5 stone in less than a year.

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Have you tried replacing items in your diet with healthier alternatives? Milk to almond milk, fizzy drinks to water or green tea, snacks to fruit for example?

Do you have a place you can exercise at home? Dancing in my kitchen like a clown works well for me :grin:. It’s fun and doesn’t feel like I’m working out. There’s plenty of tutorials on YouTube for certain things and it’s rewarding to complete them. If you have any exercise equipment, keep them in sight so you don’t forget about them.

Good luck :+1:

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We used slimming world, I lost 3.5 stones in 6 months and Bunny lost 1.5 in the same time. Its just all about balancing your diet.
You can do it for free by following pinch of nom on social media. Lots of gorgeous meal ideas.
(Personally I don’t tend to use online recipes as I’m a fussy eater, but people in our group used them all the time)…

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It definitely depends on each person and their body. For me, slimming clubs and calorie counting just made me obsess about food, and had the wrong effect (then blamed me for it - ho hum).

What works for me is permanent lifestyle changes.

  1. Cut processed foods. Please note processed foods include things like pre-chopped onions as well as ready meals. If you can make it yourself at home, then it is best to do so.
  2. Cut carbs. Particularly hidden carbs in foods that have no business having them. Again, cutting processed foods will help with this. Sugar is carbs, but is not the only carbs that needs cutting. Cereals and grains are a massive source of carbs, and therefore are avoided. (Who knew a fry-up is better for you than a bowl of cereal!) We do have sugary treats, but we make them good ones (not wasting the sugar on crap ones).
  3. Don’t go mad, but don’t worry about fat. Fat is not the devil the food industry makes it out to be.
  4. A bit of exercise. 20 minutes 5 days a week is enough, if you do it right. You don’t need to go to a gym to get exercise. There is plenty to be done in your own home.

In summary, each proper food, not food products that the food industry will try to sell you. Do a bit of exercise. Make it permanent changes rather than a “diet”, which will likely unravel once you stop doing it.

Edited to add: Using this strategy, I went from a Size 22 to a 14 (and am on the verge of being a 12 now). Took a little time, but I feel soooooo much healthier.

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Well done will definitely give it a try thanks.

I try to focus less on losing weight and more on building muscle/trimming fat and being the healthiest/fittest version of myself. Weight loss is a temporary goal but fitness is a lifestyle.

Step one to being healthy is to manage your diet… duh. To do this I cut out processed carbs (your bread/pasta/rice) and only allow myself 200g of potatoes in an evening meal- which is plenty for me (your allowances will be higher as you’re male). I try to track what I eat by using myfitnesspal and make sure I’m not exceeding a calorie goal (or at least not on the regular) and watch portion sizes of meat and potatoes, filling your plate with veg is the way to go. Tend to avoid red meat/pork as they’re not particularly good for you, but I will have chicken or fish every day. If I’m hungry between meals I’ll try to go for fruit, veg or yogurt as a snack. If I don’t buy chocolate, biscuits or crisps I can’t eat them so I won’t even put them in my shopping basket. I will treat myself occasionally, if I’m going out with my pals for a meal or drinks I’ll not worry about what I’m eating/drinking.

Step two is exercise. I pay for one exercise class a week but wouldn’t even need to do this if I didn’t want to spend any money. Loads of influencers and fitness bloggers actually post home workout videos and calendars for daily workouts and it’s easy to find programs to follow. I do 2 days of cardio a week where I do aerobics or go for a run, then 2 days working lower body, 1 day working arms/back, 1 day doing core and then one rest day where I do yoga to stretch out.

Takes me about 2 months of being strict to see results, but I always feel so much fitter, healthier and more trim afterwards.

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Good luck with it all. Im trying to losse wieght at the moment ive lost a stone so far but im unwell at the moment and I can’t excerise how I used to so im watching portion sizes and counting calories using my fitness pal

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