Drink a pint of water before every meal – seriously!

It helps you feel fuller sooner (thus stopping you going back for seconds) and you hydrate at the same time

Everyone’s a winner 😛

I already do quite a bit of fasted riding including the commute to work and usually a weekend ride which is rarely under 50 miles and often nearer 100 so dont get me wrong Im not massively overweight I lost 15kg last year pretty much just by cutting down on sugar but putting a bit back on over Christmas leaves me @ 95kg/182cm. The reason to lose more is improve cycling performance.

Sorry, but at +100kg (last year) and only 182cm I’d suggest you were ‘massively’ overweight – in fact BMI suggests you were ‘obese’.

Eat less (rubbish) is always easier than exercise more.

I use MFP on my fasting days on the 5/2 diet. I lost a stone last year.

This year, with a cocker spaniel to walk, 3 fitness events per week, and the 5/2 I’m looking to lose another.

Thanks for encouragement br , I’m happy to take a little bit of tough love but using my weight last year to contradict a statement I clearly made about my present self is a little harsh!

I know the target weight range for me is under 82kg so setting myself a target of 85kg is a bit soft but I spent much of last year around 90kg so it’ll be an improvement on that. I’m also pushing 50 and at the risk of starting another discusion doesn’t age allow you a couple of extra inches around the waist?

Btw my best time last year for 100 mile was 5h27mins that was at 92kg so not too bad for an obese old bloke?

Blimey there’s some judgemental nonsense on this thread. I used MFP extensively. It’s an app that’s easy to hate 😉 I’d had a massively busy year and not ridden as much as I normally do (2/3 times a week). Jan 1,2013 I was 83kg. March 30, I was 72kg so that’s close to what you are asking for. To do this, we (my wife somewhat grudgingly joined in even tho she doesn’t drink and didn’t need to lose hardly any weight!)

– used MFP every day for three months It’s a bit time consuming but, as said on this thread, if you make some assumptions and are honest, it’s a proper eye-opener. When you know a Roses Chocolate has the calorific equivalence to half of a 20 min dog walk, you just put it back!

– Started cooking better food. We bought the Hairy Dieters book(s) and we found those meals tasty/easy to cook. Kids didn’t always go for it, but hey we were broadening their pallets!

– Gave up Cake, Cheese, Booze, Crisps, Sweets etc in the week. Except for ride night when I’d have one pint.

– Rode loads, walked loads, ran up lots of stairs (now I go to Spin twice a week which works well), etc

Then mostly stuck with that. I had one ‘bad’ day a week where I’d crack open a bottle of wine and chug down some stilton. I used to so look forward to that day 😉 But what really helped was not thinking of it as a diet, more of a lifestyle thing. I’ve not put the weight back on, mainly because I’ve kind of turned all the nice/unhealthy stuff into treats and cooked better/healthier food the rest of the time.

I was running to 1800 calories (+ whatever I made up in exercise using a proper HRM not Endomondo’s amusingly creative numbers) and was hungry quite often, esp at the start. Now I have a mental limit of about 2200 which means I don’t put any weight on.

As someone said, it’s more mental than anything else, and just being honest about how much you’re eating.

Best of luck!

Fired up MFP yesterday for another look, came in under target just, but those 8 savoury crackers I snacked on from the Christmas selection box whilst my dinner was cooking were nearly 300 calories, almost an extra meal! My entire breakfast was 380 and dinner only hit 430!

Good post alex .. I am currently trying to run at 1800 with 2200 as the steady state too

I did find 1800 hard, especially at the start. Even stuff that you think is ‘healthy’ like fruit has loads of calories in it. It’s not an exact science, I’d rather have fruit than something processed even if it has more calories tho.

My one bad day a week, I definitely blew the budget. But I recorded it properly. Amazing what a few beers/glasses of wine + some unpasteurised cheese will do to the numbers. It made me realise – or at least accept, as I think I already knew – that Alcohol especially has many ‘stealth’ calories, and really should be included in the ‘treats’ bucket!

I’m making a big effort to lose weight over the next few months – a bit more than the OP. It’s scary how much I’ve put on since I stopped racing and somethings got to change as riding/running are no fun any more and I make effort noises when I get off the sofa. I’m using mfp and the very act of ‘having’ to log everything I eat drink has me thinking twice before I absentmindedly nosh on something.

I’m also having a crack at the 5:2 bobbins and did my first fast day yesterday. It was very revealing how much eating has become my default boredom activity, constantly giving myself a mental slap as I subconsciously opened the fridge and having to make myself do something else to break the habit. I can’t deny I was flipping hungry most of the day and I’m not sure I could ride on a fast day which could ultimately make it rather counter productive but it was also strangely empowering in a masochistic kind of way – it’s been years (since my racing days trying to lose a few more lbs before the season with a single figure body fat percentage) that I have actually felt hungry and not done anything about it.

I started on the 1st November lost 2 kg by Christmas but then slacked off and put 3kg on over the festive period (despite doing the festive 500 so getting alot of exercise in) so need to get back on it. Going to do the 5:2 as that was what was working before Christmas but also cut some of the crap out i eat on non fast days.

I havent found riding on a fast day a problem (under a couple of hours anyway) it is more of an issue the day after.

Downloaded MFP last night it gave me 2400 calorie daily allowance, adding yesterdays intake came to 2200 and that was consumed before I knew I was recordiing it.

This mornings weigh in was 95.6kg so still going the wrong way atm. I’m going to add Alex’s one bad day to the plan which seems sensible and try a bit harder on the remaining days. Good luck all.

I havent found riding on a fast day a problem (under a couple of hours anyway) it is more of an issue the day after.

Interesting – what did you have in your bottle/camelbak – I’m guessing just water.

Interesting – what did you have in your bottle/camelbak – I’m guessing just water.

Yeah just water. In some respects i find exercising makes the fasting easier as it takes my mind off feeling hungry!

Downloaded MFP last night it gave me 2400 calorie daily allowance, adding yesterdays intake came to 2200 and that was consumed before I knew I was recordiing it.

How did it give you that many calories? I’m only a little bit shorter than you (180cm) and I got an allowance of 1530 (not counting exercise), for a 0.5kg/wk loss.

Stayed below 1800 (MFP) but added 2lbs last night. The difference? At work, no execise, late meal. Hmmm,

Hopefully a late run.swim tonight and no carbs – currently 70% carb today, ouch!

How are you all getting ~2k daily calories on mfp? I’ve just restarted mine and it’s giving me 1500 calories a day (75kg to 65kg, losing 0.75kg/week).

With so many people using MFP, has anyone considered setting up a STW group on it?

My target is 2220, at 5’11” starting at 76kg aiming for 66kg at -0.5kg per week. However my activity level is active as I am on my feet all day at work. Thats before any exercise allowances.

My target is 2220, at 5’11” starting at 76kg aiming for 66kg at -0.5kg per week. However my activity level is active as I am on my feet all day at work. Thats before any exercise allowances.

Ah, that would explain it – my job is 100% sitting in front of a computer screen.

Just downloaded MFP – the scanning thing is brilliant. But who the hell ever input all that information ?

1780 and starving!!!!! Can I resist anything now?

It asked me if I was active, I didn’t read the descriptions of the options but picked fairly active based on commuting by bike, walking about quite a lot and frequent long bike rides.

My job is sedentary but I try not to spend too much time on that!

2000 again today without any effort.

Edit: changed from active to lightly active and the allowance has dropped from 2420 to 2050.

97 down to 90kg goal. Target of 1880 cals per day and I’ve managed 1200 for each of the first 2 days. I’m sat at a computer all day and mostly work from home so sedantry.
Fighting the evening hunger whilst my stomach shrinks is not easy.
I know I can lose the weight not reverting to the midweek drinking and junk snacks Will be the challenge.

@everyone, it might not seem it, but trying to lose 1.5lbs per week is pretty sharp

It’s amazing how good you feel when you start to loose weight and it has so many advantages including,better performance on the bike,you generally feel happier,I’ve started controlling what I eat as from the start of this week,I like a challenge so I see how much I can lose every week but no fasting or cutting out anything I like,I just make sure I have 3 meals a day and smaller portion sizes,everyone is different however,hope you do well OP,good luck.

@soobalias yea I think that 0.5kg would be a more sensible target. I’m interested to see how well I do though because I know I often eat and drink too much.

Fighting the evening hunger whilst my stomach shrinks is not easy.

Eating low GI *really* helps this.

I put myself down as mildly active on MFP, because I’m on my feet at work, but I can’t commit to any proper exercise. 76kgs, 5ft 10in, 48yo. I want to get to 70/72kgs by Spring. I’m working on a target of 1750 kals per day for losing 0.5kgs per week, but assume I can do the odd 2500kals days and not gain weight. I intend to get out jogging/walking a few times a week with the odd mtb on a Sunday. I’d be up for joining a STW group on MFP.

There has been an STW group on MFP for years

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/8827-stw-myfitnesspal

The activity level is your background activity. Any proper exercise can be input on the diary and it will account for it that day. I think it links with strava too

I think it links with strava too

It does, my run yesterday was automatically uploaded.

Just downloaded MFP – the scanning thing is brilliant. But who the hell ever input all that information ?

I added a bunch of meals to the app as we eat those regularly. Most of the rest I tend to find in the database (although sometimes the values are a bit dodgy) especially if made from popular cook books.

Low Gi interesting study.

and another one about calories not being equal..

It asked me if I was active, I didn’t read the descriptions of the options but picked fairly active based on commuting by bike, walking about quite a lot and frequent long bike rides.

My job is sedentary but I try not to spend too much time on that!

2000 again today without any effort.

Edit: changed from active to lightly active and the allowance has dropped from 2420 to 2050.

Surely if you describe your job as sedentary you need to change this setting to sedentary and suck up the extra 200 calorie a day loss. I’d like to say my job is Lightly active and some days it can be but mostly it’s sat at a desk.

I used MFP a couple of years back, but found it quite time consuming as cooking mainly from scratch it meant a lot of weighing and measuring and constructing meals from scratch. But it did give me a good view on what foods are calorie rich and which are not, which stood me in good stead as i moved onto 5:2 (with great results). i might try again and see if it’s improved in 2 years.

My obs from that time would be that you need to put your lifestyle as it is and then log all your exercise, rather than suggest you have an active lifestyle because you commute by bike. Doing exercise gives you a calorie balance back related to the exercise done rather than a mild rinse over. It means you start from lower* but i found it worked better for me to do it that way.

(* of course if you genuinely have an active job, then put active. But then you wouldn’t be on here in the daytime anyway)

And aim realistic. Better to do 1lb a week as a target for 14 weeks and stick to it, rather than aiming for 2lb and giving up after 3 weeks because you can’t hack it.

Lastly – i found 5:2 worked better for me because 1/ it fitted lifestyle / work travel better; 2/ I found it psychologically easier to be proper hungry** two days a week than constantly hungry for 7, plus if I had a meal out with work and fancied a beer or a wine I didn’t feel like i’d failed for doing it.

** and you can cope with this too, you’re supposed to be hungry so suck it up. Go and find something interesting to do so you aren’t sat thinking about it. Make your pre-fasting day meals high in protein which makes you feel fuller for longer and when hunger strikes drink hot water / with a half oxo cube for flavour if needs be, the hot water triggers a full reflex. And if all else fails, bin it and do it another day.

This could be massively patronising, or somewhat helpful, you can decide. 😆

I’m 69kg and have been for ages, I notice things about my eating habits that differs from folk wanting to loose weight.

1. I’m a veggie.
2. I don’t eat pasta, fresh or dried, or rice, or spuds or routinely; bread (if I want bread I make it myself)
3. I don’t eat cereal for breakfast (eggs most days or nothing) I don’t drink juice.
4. I don’t keep crap food in the house (sweets, crisps, biscuits, cake etc) and I don’t buy it either. my luxuries are red wine, and dark choc for something sweet to have, I do have cake, but I make it myself and not often.
5. I make massive portions of veg to eat daily as an evening meal, I really make sure I’m full.
6. I weigh myself routinely
7. I do about 4 to 5 hours of exersize a week running and cycling mainly.

Nothing surprising at all when one writes it all down.

Just to stick this somewhere public for accountability. I’ve started a 16:8 intermittent fast diet with regular rides (at least 3/week). My end goal is to get below 70kg for the first time in years and a final target weight of 65kg.

Just started on MFP, I’ve always eaten as much as I wanted, often 6 full meals a day and a LOT of beer over the weekends, and never put any weight on. However over the last year and a half it has started catching up so am aiming at getting back to 72kg from my current 84.

My target is 2200 for a 0.75kg a week loss, but the most interesting info I have got so far is that I only get 10% of my iron and calcium GDAs a day according to MFP.

Would like to keep off the carbs and on the protein but being a veggie with a busy lifestyle for me means lots of bread, lots of pasta and lots of potatoes.. Anyone have any easy substitutes for such things? Bought some massive mushrooms to use as rolls for todays lunch but that looks like it might get expensive!

Would like to keep off the carbs and on the protein but being a veggie with a busy lifestyle for me means lots of bread, lots of pasta and lots of potatoes.. Anyone have any easy substitutes for such things? Bought some massive mushrooms to use as rolls for todays lunch but that looks like it might get expensive!

Do you have a microwave at work? Tupperware + curry/dal would seem to be an obvious choice. You don’t have to have rice/naan with your curry!

I generally make 3kg of chilli or curry and freeze it but when I haven’t had the time to make either I just make sandwiches or rice with tomato, which isn’t ideal for weight loss..