Thanks SS! <3

And having a curry each week ain't gonna help is it?

I intend to have curry most evening and this will be the key to my weightloss and my secret weapon!

& SS got your email and I'll set something up

A dodgy curry would probably work wonders … 😉

(Virtually) No Fat Curry

Fry 2 massive onions chopped into big(ish) pieces in as little oil (teaspoon?) as you dare. If you’ve got some garlic through that in as well, can't hurt, and when you think they are looking nice, add a bit of water to the pan. They should be sort of brown(ish) and soft.

Chuck in some tinned tomatoes, 2 or 3 tins usually does it, (depends on how tomatoey you like it).

Chop up 2 Butternut Squashes in to pieces that are a bit bigger than an oxo cube and throw them in the pot.

Slice up 3 red & 3 green chilies

Some mixed herbs and a bit of paprika go in

Peas, peppers, raisins, apple all seem to work well.

Throw in a liberal amount of curry power (half of one of those Tesco pots usually)
Simmer for about an hour to break down the squash and thicken.

And because you've made loads put into old chinese tubs and freeze. Easy dinner when your knackered and fancy a takeaway.

Tastes good, eat with brown rice add a bit chicken do what you like, no rules

Apart from 1 teaspoon of oil and curry powder everything that goes in is just veg & very good for you

I got riding twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday) and football twice a week (Monday and Thursday). Is there a recommended day I should have my 'off' day?

"Not confident enough to try any biking events"

"OH and I were training for the OMM last year…"

❓ You were planning on doing a two day fell running race, but you won't do a 50km mountain bike marathon ?

****, just weighed myself 13.5st, not good as a shortarse at 5'8. Looks like I need to get out on the bike more.

Target 11st! (I was only 11.5st before breaking my leg in March so def achieviable).

MidlandTrailquestsGraham: fair one, I've done mountain endurance stuffon and off over the past 15 years (on foot) but never on a bike … I'm not sure I have the technical skills, but maybe I should try 😳 I've always regarded MTB as a bit of fun when off on my own for a day, as OH can't ride a bike properly.

OMM was going to be more of a fast shuffle/bog-trot than a run!

Frodo: you need to join our motivational club 😉

Best thing you can possibly do is look at what calories are in everything.

I know a lot of people go "Oooh, Calorie Counting" and assume you must be an anorexic for going to such lengths, but it makes a huge difference to what eat and how you lose weight. A lot of flavourless "diet" foods are no less calorific than the nice equivalent, and are far less satisfying.

Say, Special K Bar VS a 2 finger Kitkat or Blue Riband. The Spesh bar is foul, the other two seem like quite a nice treat. All contain more or less the same calories.

Tiger6791, the point isn't necessarily what's in the curry that's the issue, it's the amount on the plate. It's JUST about the calories…That's the only thing that matters when you're trying to lose weight. If you had your lovely curry (and it's does sound like a lovely curry BTW) and let's for argument say a plate with rice is 800-1000 calories*, and I have a couple of doughnuts and they're 500 calories…I'll be the one losing weight…

Losing weight is a numbers game. End of discussion.

SS you say you understand the science, but you also say you always seem to be looking to lose that last extra little bit, then the answer is: Apply your knowledge. It's empowering once you understand it IS actually about what goes in the hole between your nose and chin…

* I'm not suggesting that a plate of this would be 800-1000 calories, OK, just making the point.

while calorie counting is not the way to go about it, bear in mind the 'effort cost' of calories. Which is 'easier' – not eating a mars bar, or running for 45 mins?

Just been harvested for platelet today but was told to stop eating the delicious lard due to high visible fat in my platelet … errmmmm … might be high cholesterol. Made the mistake of eating some good nice poach eggs, all butter croissants and more butter bread this afternoon. Damn.

In an ideal world, I-Dave, you'd eat the mars AND run the 45 minutes….

"… I'm not sure I have the technical skills…"

Don't let the constant talk of "technical skills" on this forum lead you in to believing that they make any significant difference in the real world.
Just get on yer bike and ride. When you come to the risky looking bits, get off and walk. That's what I do.

Tiger6791, the point isn't necessarily what's in the curry that's the issue, it's the amount on the plate. It's JUST about the calories…That's the only thing that matters when you're trying to lose weight. If you had your lovely curry (and it's does sound like a lovely curry BTW) and let's for argument say a plate with rice is 800-1000 calories*, and I have a couple of doughnuts and they're 500 calories…I'll be the one losing weight…

Losing weight is a numbers game. End of discussion.

SS you say you understand the science, but you also say you always seem to be looking to lose that last extra little bit, then the answer is: Apply your knowledge. It's empowering once you understand it IS actually about what goes in the hole between your nose and chin…

* I'm not suggesting that a plate of this would be 800-1000 calories, OK, just making the point.

Fair point but look at it from a common sense point of view.

Yes it's all just calories but there are good calories and bad ones. You could eat 2000 cals of lard everyday and nothing else or you could eat 2000 cals from bananas. Both will have exactly the same energy but I think it's more complex than the ton of feathers or ton of bricks analogy.

The curry's bulk is butternut squash, now a kilo of this stuff is 380 cals, you try eat a kilo of it!

So yes it is down to quantity but real world is that 350g of the curry above will be about ~

curry 350g – 150 cals
rice 125g – 201 cals

so nearly half a kilo of food and your @ 351 cals with virtually none of it from fats

add in chicken 100g – 113 cals

So big fat meal with loads of veg, rice, and chicken. infact 575g worth of carbs and protien is going to fill you up be good for you and give you about 465 cals

now your dohnut will be about 75g and ~250 cals with little protien, so you could have 2 dohnuts for about the same cals

There are good calories and bad ones.

Bitchin'

I'm not the one trying to lose weight.

I know the theory bit, but don't profess to know the science. Is it that simple, though? I'm sure I've read/heard somewhere that after dieting for a while you can "plateau", i.e. still taking in reduced calories & exercising the same, but the body adjusts ("starvation effect") and then weight loss can taper off.

As I say, I don't understand the actual science bit, other than in simple layman's terms, but I suspect there may be a little more than just reducing calories, in that any adjustment the body makes needs to be countered and you need to avoid losing muscle (so it's good to keep up exercise, which also means keeping up enough calorie intake to have enough energy to exercise too).

I'm sure someone will come along and correct me!

The BBC programme that did a bit to debunk calories in – calories out from last year is now on youtube.

STW thread here.

When you come to the risky looking bits, get off and walk. That's what I do

not sure I'd recommend that. I tried it once, in the wet. Ended up in hospital for a few days with this:

lost 2.5 stone to date…………slowed down now.
19.5 stone now. 8)

Right, just a quick question…
Before hitting a trail centre, we drink a bottle of lucosade sport…
On the iDave plan, this would have to be knocked on the head?
I was on the understanding that on a long ride, you carry a litre per hour water and a fructose/ salts based isotonic type drink.

Also what's the script on Gels, bars?
TBH, i have resisted using the energy products in my pack of late, figuring as fubard as i am, i am carrying round ample energy stored around my midriff..

Goodness me, how difficult do you want to make it ?

Just read the guide, use some CS and get on with it. Simples !.

Ton.
I think you've been following a different eating guide IIRC, but good on you for keeping with it and congrats on the weight loss.
I hope you're happy with the results so far.
😉

Hi,

Can someone please email me the iDave doc? email in profile.

Currently hovering around 18st. Shape changed a lot since doing more biking but really keen to get get shifting some blubber 🙂

Thanks in advance

Chris

I'm very healthy and marathon ready! Can't wait till the next race! I'll race you too the cake stand.

what is this idave plan all about? can someone mail me if it is a secret.

I wonder how many curries the staff in the local Indian eat per week – and they are nearly universally skinny.

Try not eating after 8pm for a start – Sumo wrestlers eat after 8pm just so they will put weight on. A rider in our group is trying this and it is helping a lot with weight loss.

Get somewhat aerobically fit – I find that this stops the grazing urge a lot.

Ensure that you are slightly hungry before each meal – if you are not start reducing the portions in the previously scheduled meal.

As a bloke I find weighing myself every morning is a good way to keep everything in check, but it probably doesn't work for a girl.

I also find eating turkey and baked potatos (even with loads of butter) works for me.

Erm I had three large helpings of homemade chicken stew last night.

I thought 'its the second night, might as well finish it off'…..and it kept on coming 😐

if anyone fancies sending me the iDave diet document i'd be really thankful!

i've been making an effort to "change my diet" rather than "go on a diet" that way after i've lost some weight i wont be going back to "normal eating" and put it back on again.. i can just carry on as i am.

my plan at present basically involves eating breakfast (first time for about 15 years) each morning, wiping out white bread and replacing it with healthy living cardboard-wholemeal type stuff, snacking on cucumber, baby tomatos and celery between meals, not eating after 6pm unless its a special occasion or a little bit of fuel on a ride. i'd say once a week i break the rules and share a curry or have a couple of slices of pizza with the other-half. the hardest thing is saying no to all the sweet stuff my housemate and other-half fill the house with!

i dont really drink alcohol.. maybe about 2 units a month on average over the year so havent had to change that.

riding has definately helped shift some weight, i'm hoping to pick up a cheap second hand exercise bike to use on the nights we cant get out on the mtb… even if its only 20 minutes it'll help boost the metabolism 🙂

i dont really eat much meat anymore, if i do then its chicken breast or a thin slice of ham (fat cut off) so hopefully i'm doing the right thing in general!

of course any hints and tips would be welcome 🙂

good luck everyone on their efforts!!

Yes it's all just calories but there are good calories and bad ones

Calories is a unit of energy, simple as that and as such there are no "good" or "bad" calories in terms of energy. Granted there are other health issues that can result in getting all your energy from lard as opposed to complex carbohydrates or fruit or veg but energy is energy.

As for debunking calories in – calories out, that's is an application of the laws of thermodynamics and these laws apply to all systems where energy is transferred. I'd love to see a diet whereby weight was lost by increasing the amount of energy consumed without a commensurate increase in phycial activity.

There are undoubtedly many mechinisms to make the whole calories in- calories out easier to achieve but in essence that is all that any successful diet will do. Although if someone can present real data to say otherwise then I'd love to read it.

gonefishin, I'd stop now if I were you chap, no one wants to hear that you have to eat less.

Never fails to amaze me the hoops that fast arsed sofa dwellers will jump through to convince themselves that if they don't have 3 squares a day plus in between snacks that they'll die horribly in some bizarre lack of food driven nightmare, and no one wants to break into a sweat, or has time for it, and they still want to have a curry or two every week, and lose 3kg by this time next Wednesday…

SS google images from the Ethiopian famine (because I can't be arsed to post them here), and try to work out if any of them have 'plateaued' yet.

Well first day proper of trying the plan, breakfast of omelette and ham instead of the usual water porridge wi salt in…

Anyone wanting the plan, drop me a mail in my profile..

In fairness I should add that I've taken on board a some of what iDave said about dieting like cutting out spuds and pasta and replacing them with beans and other pulses as I'm overweight (from too much food and not enough exercise). So far it seems to be working, although bringing in my own lunch and not eating canteen food is probably helping as well. Keeping busy in the evenings is another thing I'm trying to do, DIY gardening and the like. On it's own it won't help loose weight but if I'm not sat in front of the TV then I'm less likely to snack on food becasue it's there rather than because I need to eat.

Thats true, a lot of snacking out stems from boredom, in the evening if i cant get on the bike i just hit the weights machine in the bedroom for 10 or 20 minutes (now i can actually get near the bloody thing, it turned in to a suitcase holder when we got back off our hols in july!)

I'm not sure I have the technical skills, but maybe I should try I've always regarded MTB as a bit of fun when off on my own for a day, as OH can't ride a bike properly.

Most of the marathons I've done aren't that technically complicated – realistically, they can't be:
* you've got a public event, and you can't guarantee the technical ability of the participants
* as you get tired your technical skills get worse, and marathon events are tiring

So, OP: sign up for a marathon. Having a target is a wonderful motivator, especially as summer draws to an end and the weather gets worse!

by the way, the plan suggests three weeks but it's not a three week 'diet' – it's a case of if you're going to try it give it three weeks minimum before you decide if it's for you. i see it as a change in eating habits, full stop, not three week weight loss plan.

Cheers iDave – this is an interesting plan, and anything that encourages a healthier diet has to be good. I think that over the years I've got used to eating "well" (mostly healthy stuff), but the amount of exercise has dropped off a bit with more commuting and … I'm getting a bit older too. Not really excuses but reasons that affect a lot of people, and before you know it you're a stone heavier and unfit with it. As my husband says, "No one wakes up fat" … but reversing it takes a lot more effort!

Time for a rethink, but this thread has definitely helped me to get back on the right track, and hopefully one or two others too.

Day 2 …

i see it as a change in eating habits, full stop, not three week weight loss plan.

Same here, been on a version of it now, for around 2 months-ish.
I do not intend to stop eating the things I do now.

😉