Help - I need to lose weight, fast!

[e-rider]

I'm a real fat ba$tard at 17.5 stone but luckily I'm 6'2"

However, I want to lose 4 stone in total and 1 stone very soon as I'm riding the Norwich 100 in 2 weeks and my favourite cycling shorts don't fit me now .

What should I be doing?

I cycle about 100 miles per week and do the occasional swim and slow jog, so my exercise schedule isn't too bad.

 

[rogersavery]

eat less

move more

and buy some bigger shorts for the Norwich 100

 

[Alan Whicker]

When I stopped eating bread I lost about a stone very quickly - within 3 weeks.

 

[e-rider]

That's interesting. I do eat lots of bread. OK, I'll stop the bread today and see what happens over the next 2 weeks.

Cheers

 

[benb]

When I stopped eating bread I lost about a stone very quickly - within 3 weeks.

What did you eat instead of sarnies? I do like a cheese and marmite sandwich.

 

[Crackle]

When I stopped eating bread I lost about a stone very quickly - within 3 weeks.

I'll second that. Since ditching bread weight control is easier, well it would be if I was trying to control it but bread definetly seems to send me over the top as well as making me feel bloated. Also eat more rice and try quinoa.

On ditching bread, I have soup for lunch or eat rice cakes, cucumber and houmus, that kind of thing. I save bread for the odd bacon and sausage butty

 

[Alan Whicker]

What did you eat instead of sarnies? I do like a cheese and marmite sandwich.

Instead of a sarnie, I tend to take soup to work for lunch, or a something like a home-made chilli. I'm still a tub of lard due to my love of real ale, just not quite such a tub of lard. I usually have a one of Pret's posh cheese and pickle baguettes on a friday before I go to the pub and a bacon sarnie at the weekend.

*edit* And it may sound daft - but I started to use smaller plates. I sort of realised that our plates were massive gastropub-type things and I was probably having portions that were twice as big as they should be.

 

[yello]

When I stopped eating bread I lost about a stone very quickly - within 3 weeks.

Starchy carb... best avoided if you want to loose wait. Moreover, if you can go carb low, protein rich (like Atkins) then weight loss should follow. Also, be generally active but avoid high intensity exercise. The latter, whilst burning calories, makes weight management difficult and not just because it can bring on the munchies!

 

[Speicher]

I have started to eat brown basmati and wild rice instead of white rice, is the former a slow release carbohydrate? Does that make a difference? I have porridge for breakfast made with jumbo oats. Felt daft the other day having porridge in the summer, but all the other cereals look over-processed, and I do not like muesli very much.

I like roast potatoes, usually at the weekend. Other than that I would be happy to give spuds a miss. Are there any other changes to make with regard to carbs?

Like others on here I have some lots of weight to lose. Unfortunately we do not have a local women's rugby team that is short of a prop forward.

 

[yello]

Generally speaking, cereals are carb-high too (high in salt too it seems). Even muesli can have a high sugar content. Slow release carb is still carb, albeit a less disruptive source, so something to be aware of rather than avoided (unless you're really keen to loose weight!) Use the GI (glycaemic index) value of food as a guide.

Swap the potato for something else... avocado? Not roasted perhaps (!) but I like them!

I was astounded to read recently that the body's absolute dietary requirement for carbohydrate is zero! Protein and fat, on the other hand, it needs.

 

[Speicher]

So I could have tuna (protein) on its own for lunch with fruit as dessert.

I have cut down considerably on cheese, as most of them I find very salty. Not surprising as salt is used in the process of cheese making.

When I have an attack of the late night munchies, I now try to have raisins and a glass of skimmed milk (instead of hot buttered toast).

Protein and fat, is that what is in peanut butter. I like raw carrots with a very small amount of peanut butter as a "dip" for lunch. I could add cucumber to that, and iceberg lettuce.

 

[yello]

Don't be afraid of fat. Despite its name, it does not make you fat. Whilst being more calorific gram for gram, fat is more appetite sating than carbohydrate so you tend not to eat as much. That's not a pass to go and pig out on McD's though!

Nuts are a good fat source that are surprisingly good at sating an appetite. I personally like almonds (and eat a couple of handfuls a day) and they tide me over between meals.

 

[Speicher]

I like nuts, particularly brazils, and almonds and hazelnuts and especialy pecans, but preferably in pecan plait (aka puff pastry with honey, and pecans).

So I do not need to avoid proper butter on the rare occasion I have it. I do not like any of that over-processed melange trying to do an impression of dairy spread.

As regards the fat, I prefer tuna in light oil, instead of in spring water or brine. So I can continue with that, I take it. Hopefully all these tweaks of the diet will have an effect when combined with some more exercise.

 

[Speicher]

As regards Mucky D's or any of that ilk. I avoid it as far as possible. The only ones I have been into in the past decade would be Dusseldorf and Basel, when travelling with people who like that sort of thing.


Thank you Yello for your guidance on this, and apologies to Tundragumski for taking over this thread.

 

[Rob3rt]

May I advise looking at the book Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. It proves to be a very interesting read, and will help you to realise some realistic goals for yourself for a given timescale. It includes nice recipes too (although not that many of them). At times it over advertises training peaks etc but on the whole I found it an interesting read.

His emphasis on body composition rather than absolute weight is also somewhat refreshing.