So… as some may recall, 3 weeks ago I set myself a slightly ambitious challenge to lose 6kg in 21 days whilst my wife was away. Her being away allowed me to remove all possible ‘excuses’ and to be quite strict with myself re. diet and exercise every day.

Started out at a smidge under 97kg (96.8kg to be precise), weighed in this morning pre-gym and I’m 89.1kg, so I’ve made my target of dropping below 90kg! That’d be 7.7kg in 21 days chaps… Who said it couldn’t be done eh? 8)

Now, here’s what I’ve been doing – first step was to boost my exercise quite considerably, at least one session and generally two sessions at the gym, the ‘program’ being around 40 minutes on the bike, 10-15 minutes jogging (started off with 500m intervals @ 11km/hr, now reasonably comfortably doing 2km straight @ 11km/hr, slowly building this distance up) and then into the pool for some laps (started off struggling to do 500m but now comfortably up to 1-1.5km at a nice cruisy pace). I’ve also fitted in 5 longish rides in the 3 weeks (50-70km), mainly round the Surrey Hills but also a bit of road action out to Richmond Park.

Diet wise, it’s been mainly lots of fresh fruit and veg along with chicken breast and salmon and also eggs (done as omelettes). Haven’t really been calorie counting, just been very conscious of not eating big meals and keeping the fat content right down (apart from the salmon, but that’s ‘good’ fat right?). I noticed that within a week or so I stopped feeling hungry and found that a much smaller meal than I’d normally have had would be more than enough to fill me up, guess my stomach shrank a bit eh?

Now for the maths bit, which I don’t really get… 1g of fat is around 9cal right? So if I’ve lost say 7kg, that’d be around 63000cal over 3 weeks, or 3000cal a day? There’s no way I could’ve burnt that much through just exercise is there? Plus, I’ve definitely toned up a fair bit, so my lean muscle has increased, so I’ve probably actually lost more fat than I’m actually accounting for? So, how do the exercise/weight loss gurus explain this? Doesn’t seem to be just a simple matter of ‘less in/more out’ does it?

Anyhoo, quite happy with the results so far, now it’s a matter of continuing with it now my wife is home (though to a slightly less fanatical extent), target weight is now sub 85kg… after that, who knows, maybe I’ll try for sub 80kg (which I haven’t weighed since I was a teenager I wouldn’t have thought!)… then back into triathlon for next year 🙂

you’re simply a very needy kinda guy?

er.. well done?

Congratulations Psychle!

I’ll admit to thinking you were ambitious; I guess now I’ll just accept you as a legend.

fantastic. i said it was possible. so well done for getting stuck in and MTFingU.

It’s not a simple calorie count thing. Insulin responses to the exercise and diet are a big factor.

inspiring. well done.

I thought it was possible too – just not fun !

Well done er Big Guy.

Word of warning though – compulsive dieting can be very dangerous, didn’t work out so well for Karen Carpenter. Know when to stop…

And as for the science well none of the measures are exact when it comes to calorie counting are they ? You have proved that if nothing else.

Well done!

I am no physician but dont assume all that weight loss is pure fat when doing your sums on calorie loss. Some will be gycogen, fluids etc. I will let someone who knows what they are talking about explain it.

cheers

S

Well done, I’ve lost 7kg in 14 days, i know most of it was water loss but back on the way again.

psychle = AWESOME 🙂

Nice one, well done

AWESOME indeed! 😉

3,000 calories a day, not hard when you consider an average non sedentary male will shift 2,000 – 2,500 just going about their daily life. My Garmin HRM thing reckoned I’d shifted 1,500 yesterday on a (quite tough) 23 mile ride. That said, I probably only burnt another 500 for the rest of the day as I was that knacked I didn’t move again 😕

Edit, read post properly next time, you reckon to have burnt 3,000 a day over and above normal? Honestly no idea, but don’t complain!!

Good work psychle. I guess there’s a bit more to it than maths!
(Surprised drinking beer and going for a stroll weren’t in your regime 😉 )

Damn good effort, dude. Wish I had the willpower!

Well done. I might try something similar but less ambitious.

I’m hoping to shred some 5kgs before Xmas. May I borrow your strong will please? Mine is a bit too strong and does whatever it pleases with me 🙁

First week is the hardest mate, just get’s easier from there, honestly! For me, the trick was just to remove all excuses, make it all as easy as possible and then it doesn’t take much willpower at all…

I thought it was possible too – just not fun !

It’s actually been a lot of fun, in a weird kind of way… I think I respond well to ridiculous challenges, must be something about my psyche… so, I reckon I’m going to set a stupid goal of competing in a half-ironman next year, that should get me going! 😆 Thought about aiming for getting on the cover of Mens Health, but that might require a bit more waxing than I’m prepared to undertake!

Word of warning though – compulsive dieting can be very dangerous, didn’t work out so well for Karen Carpenter. Know when to stop…

Never fear mate, I’m not the anorexic/bulemic sort… just be nice to get my body fat down to single figures is all 🙂

Did you weigh yourself on different scales (seriously)?

nope, same scales every day at the gym, digital jobbies… I know they’re not 100% accurate, but an inaccuracy should be consistent you’d think?

I might try something similar but less ambitious.

Just do it man, it really isn’t that hard, honestly! Especially if you already know all the good habits (from days gone by when you were younger/fitter/healthier) and just need to restart them again…

I reckon it should be fairly easy to start with for me as I know my biggest fail factor. Cut out the beer.

I have been doing a bit of stuff down the gym but that was to improve fitness rather than lose weight. From what I saw the exercise I can* do isn’t going to lose me too much weight given the time I can commit.

I notice the increases in duration for exercise at the gym. I was surprised how after just a few sessions I changed from a quivering wreck after 5 minutes on the cross trainer to being able to sustain a reasonable pace for 30-40 minutes. Rode my bike for the first time in ages yesterday and noticed I wasn’t stopping for a quick breather at the top of each hill so something is working.

*recovering from various injuries and carrying permanent damage limits my options for high intensity exercise so I get bored.

you sounds too healthy, get off this forum.

(well done dude! very impressive, very very impressive)

I no longer feel qualified to comment on these threads 🙂

However you may find it interesting to invest in some skin fold calipers…

Aye well done. As a rough guide what Size are you? height/waist. To give a better idea.

And a half ironman isn’t that hard. Try the big Ben tri in fort William. Did that this year as my 1st tri. Half distance but offroad bike and run to the top of Ben Nevis and back. Good fun

some of it’s water innit

Seriously – well done – keep it off

Top f**king effort dude. You must be dead chuffed. I’ll admit I thought you were being ambitious. Don’t stop!!

Just do it man, it really isn’t that hard, honestly!

It wasn’t hard for YOU!

Please note folks it is much harder for some people than others. We’re all subtly different inside, and we’re all starting from different points.

Do try it though, you might be one of the ones for whom it works 🙂 And make sure you give it everything too.

EDIT: damn, I said I wasn’t going to comment..

Out of interest psychle, how old are you?

molgrips – stop it, just stop it.
You went outside STW for advice on something, fair play to you, but don’t come along here with your ‘pro coach’ advice and think you can compete with the expert opinions on here.
What Psychle says about fitness is gospel on here now!
Have you lost 7.7kg in 21 days? Have you??? 😉

You use something like 60% of your calories just living before you even move.

Top effort, well done.

I lost 3kg in 5 days once.

well done psychle.

keep it up.

(do note however that if i weigh myself at different times of the day/week i can comfortably vary by 3kgs. Weigh in day is now Sunday, morning first thing to keep a decent base line)