If it fits your macros

[UtwigMU]

This year I've embarked on a quest to become physically fitter. For a few years before I wasn't working out and not eating well and results were there. It wasn't so much the weight (although I've put around 10kg /20lb) but the overall lack of energy and stamina. Like getting out of the car slowly, not wanting to walk 1km to store, not going under desk to fix computer by dropping on knees and getting up without using hands. For about 4 months now I'm going to the gym 2-3 times a week. From there and from the things I read and watched online I realized diet is as important as working out. Typical slovenian diet includes bread for breakfast and dinner and potatoes, pasta or rice for lunch and is very carbohydrate rich. It was probably fine when people worked in forests and in the fields but not for sedentary office lifestyle.

On the other hand I was eating very little protein. So for a few weeks now I'm tracking my macros and trying to reach my daily goals. Also I try to eat more fruit and vegetables and prepare food at home more often. Few times a week i manage to precook lunch for the next workday. The main goal is not to restrict myself but to have more scientific approach. For example a bowl of cereals with light milk feels like light food and is even advertised as such but is in fact very caloric. It's fine if you know you'll go for a workout or do physical work but probably it's too muchif added to ham&eggs breakfast. Counting macros is easy as you have phone apps for that. I'm not restricting myself i'm more trying to find enough proteins. I'm like wow, I need like 50g more today and I run out to supermarket, buy a steak and salad and cook it. I realized that for 1.30€ you can have awesome tasty lean turkey steak and tomato salad which is tastier and cheaper than fast food hamburger. Or for example If I'm hungry and I see I need more protein and fat for the day I would go eat some cheese.

I feel better now and have more energy.

[Fat Tone]

Glad to hear that is working for you. I am starting to pay more attention to this myself. Since May 2016 I have lost 52kg, now at 98Kg. I have done that by being low-carb above all else, which also makes you relatively low fat when you aren't having roasted potatoes, chips/fries, pizza etc. I think I will try to level out at 80Kg, which will probably be early next year. I do have more energy, even my golf score is down

A slight bump in the road was getting gall-stones. It actually helped with the weight loss recently as the best way to avoid attacks (usually 5 hours of agony a couple of times a month until it was diagnosed) is to consume as little fat as possible. I had the gall-bladder out a couple of weeks ago via key-hole surgery, so now I have free-reign again

I am now very interested in making sure I lose the right sort of weight, i.e. fat rather than muscle. I took part in a medical study (unrelated) where I was given a body-composition analysis twice, about 8 weeks apart. I had lost 6Kg in weight between the two, 1.7Kg of which was muscle. That was a shock to me. I don't want to end up skinny (ha!) and weak.

So from now on I am trying to get back to low carb (I didn't diet while recovering from the operation) but with a focus on protein, and as soon as I am physically able I will step up my exercise with more swimming and hopefully cycling. I love golf but we are getting to the end of the season. I can't think of anything worse than a gym, sadly. Been there, hated that.

One food I have found that fits well is 'Protein Cheese', which is only 2-3% fat but 37% protein. I don't think I would want it as a sandwich (although you can buy lunch-box portions) but it's great in meals. Also I find home-made pizzas with cauliflower-rice bases can be really tasty and healthy. Protein Cheese is the icing on the cake in terms of keeping it low fat, and you can add a decent amount of protein on top.

[VJ]

I should also get more into sports or stuff like that... Ever since moving to Poland, it got more difficult to fit such things in my schedule. Here in Spain, I am hoping to manage to go to fitness regularly. I haven't managed so far, but the flying club has a fitness club connected. There are some languages issues to join the club, but when that gets settled it really would make sense to optimize the monthly expense by also using the fitness. Still, I do everything on foot, and with the landscape here that probably counts somewhat as exercise. But that should not be an excuse.
Since being in Spain, I've gained around 2-3 kg but I did have some food related problems so that may have contributed. I switched diets to try and isolate the problem and seem to have found that it may be related to lactose (strange, as I did not have problems with that in the past). Keeping milk and related products out of my diet seems to have helped me, but I still feel I need to lose a few kilos. I know it sound weird, as I'm already underweight, but I just feel that I'm now about 2-3 kg above the weight with which I feel good (which is around 58 kg... and I'm 176 cm).

[Fat Tone]

Blimey VJ, you must be a bean pole. You could be in those mythical apartment photographs and we wouldn't notice!!!

Have you ever looked at the BMI charts? They have a big range of weights for a given height. Most medical professionals I know think they need moving up somewhat. According to those you are right on the edge of underweight. My target weight will put me at the top end of the 'Healthy' range and I will be happy with that.

If you are ever going to have a significant illness, it's better to have some reserves to draw on.

[UtwigMU]

I agree on getting sick. This summer I got sick (ate something, likely virus so the doctor said), took my first sick leave in life. I couldn't eat and felt bad for a week. I lost around 4kg in that week. At 79kg (175cm) I'm at the upper healthy range for my weight now. I'm more concerned with building muscle and staying fit than loosing 5kg more. As far as diets go, different countries and their dairy products may have different flora. As far as I read you want the good flora and want to eat healthy stuff vs processed stuff, complex carbohydrates and fast food. Likely Poland may have less industrialized food production than Spain.

My main observation is that once I increased my protein intake - the goal is 170g but often I don't hit it, but I do go to 120-150 which is more than before, my energy level went up, my caffeine consumption went down and my metabolism has probably increased and weight has been very slowly decreasing. I drink 0-2 protein shakes per day but I also eat fish, eggs, lean meat, cheese more often.

[VJ]

Blimey VJ, you must be a bean pole. You could be in those mythical apartment photographs and we wouldn't notice!!!

It does not look that bad as I have very wide shoulders (a problem for buying suits: either trousers are 3 sizes to big or jackets 3 sizes too small) :-)
(I love the "Blimey" )

Have you ever looked at the BMI charts? They have a big range of weights for a given height. Most medical professionals I know think they need moving up somewhat. According to those you are right on the edge of underweight. My target weight will put me at the top end of the 'Healthy' range and I will be happy with that.

I'm actually in the underweight (just barely). However, I just feel not well when I'm more than 61 kg, just as I don't feel well under 55 kg. So for me personally my optimal weight should be around 58 kg. It runs a in the family though, my grandfather also had a similar constitution, as has my brother (he now gained some weight, but for a long time he was around 65 kg for 185 cm). Those scales that determine bodyfat show around 9-12% for me. It was interesting for scuba diving: I could dive in sweet water with a short wetsuit (the wet suit gives buoyancy) and full gear without needing any additional lead weights (with a full wetsuit I needed a few kg). While convenient, I still took some weight as it is safer to have lead (in case of an emergency you can get rid of it for an emergency ascent). By comparison, my instructor needed 32 kg of lead to be able to go under (he was the other extreme).

If you are ever going to have a significant illness, it's better to have some reserves to draw on.

Yes... you are not wrong with that... On two occasions I had food poisoning... first time I went down to 53 kg, and that was really bad and there were problems getting my weight back up... second time round we managed better to prevent the weight loss. So yes, there are problems. But given that I have problems with joints and lower back, being underweight is a good thing for me.

[cjolley]

Must be something in the air. Been doing this for a year and a half.
Practically no carbs at all + exercise.
Good results. I have pretty serious problems in my lower back from years of physical work. Crunches are a god send. I do 20 with 100kg resistance every other day.
I've lost 10kg. But a lot of fat converted to muscle.
Low carb is not that hard. Just takes a bit of planning.

[Fat Tone]

Well done Chuck. A lot of people ask me how I have lost so much (52+Kg is somewhat noticeable!) so I say low-carb and you can see them thinking through what are carbs and what the ramifications are for them. Most say 'I couldn't do without bread' or 'I love potatoes too much'. I agree bread is difficult, mostly from a convenience factor, and then mostly for lunches when out and about. Subway salads are my answer to that. Most other carbs really aren't an issue, although I do love a pint now and again. (FYI a glass of red wine is 2g carbs, but a pint of Guinness is 16g...)

I have a phrase "I wouldn't have lost this much weight if it weren't for my wife's cooking" which always gets a laugh, but I mean it. Her support has been incredible. Potato becomes sweet-potato (net carbs are much lower), rice becomes cauliflower etc etc. We have even tried substituting strips of leek for lasagne sheets! Tonight's meal is cooking now, its chicken supreme and I am actually going to have a little brown rice to help with post-op symptoms while my insides settle in to a new rhythm (IYSWIM).

I actually dug my bike out today for the first time in many years. Cleaned it somewhat, pumped up the tyres and went up and down the street a few times. It has a problem with the pedal arm I need to sort but should be fine. It was certainly a lot easier cycling than I remember it! I plan on doing much more of that.

I'll wait a while before doing things like crunches as my stomach muscles are still a little ginger from the operation.

[Belwarrior]

Crunches may not be the best thing, try swimming or cycling. Just a lazy lap around the pool or a relaxing rides to the convenience store, should be more forgiving on your stomach before you increase the intensity

[cjolley]

It's osteoarthritis. Basically the cartilage is worn off of my lower vertebra. Thing like pedaling a bicycle that rock my spine sideways are very not good. Crunches on a machine are the trick because the machine keeps everything in line, and the crunches pull your vertebra away from each other. I've always had strong stomach muscles, the only reason I'm still at 100kg is that that's as high as the machine goes.

We substitute lettuce wraps using romaine for bread sandwiches.

[Dr Mordrid]

With my bear like build finding clothes can be...interesting, and losing significant weight can make me ill. Been there, doc says not again. He says my 67 year old, 6'2" frame and ridiculous muscle mass comes naturally, along with significant clothing bills. Sill can bench 260+ lbs.

Neck: 22"
Chest: 52"
Upper arms: 17"
Waist: 42"
Thighs: 28"
Shoes: 15 EEE

/sigh