Guys (or anyone knowledgable about weight loss w/ men), what method did you lose the most weight with?

I'm getting so much contradicting info I'm not really sure what to do and when I'm not sure what I'm doing 100% then I can't do it 100%.  I'm 22, 5'9 and 230 pounds. I want to lose around 30 pounds as my first goal.  Should I eat between 1200 and 1500 calories a day or should I eat more than 2000 like sites tell me to do to "keep my metabolism up and have a defecit of 500 calories a day". I'm at the point where I don't care if I lose weight in an "unhealthy way". I just want to lose weight. I'm getting married next August.  Should I cut out carbs? Run for 30 - 50 minutes? walk for 30-50 minutes? Weight lifting more important than straight up cardio? Any help to get me in the right direction would be amazing. Thank you

Jeff

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anything else?

Because you're only 22 and you're quite overweight aim initially for around 2200.  (The CC calculator can understate targets for very young people)  

At the same time, improve your diet.  Eat 'better' rather than simply eating 'less'.  That doesn't mean cutting out carbohydrates but choose the wholegrain, unprocessed, whole kind of carbohydrates rather than the sugary, starchy type.  200 cals of wholemeal bread is giving you plenty of fibre, B vitamins and other nourishment.  200 cals of white bread wouldn't be as nutritious.   And that 'nutritional bang for your buck' idea works across the piece - making your calorie intake work as hard as possible.  Be very selective about your food choices, cook your own food, base your meals around vegetables and wholegrains, get a good balance and what you eat will be satisfying and keep you in good shape.

I know you're feeling desperate but if you lose weight in an unhealthy way i.e. too fast or with a fad/crash diet, all that will happen is you regain it in half the time it took to lose it.  And that's miserable.  You've got almost a year to lose the weight.  It's not a race.

Try to get half an hour to one hour of any kind of exercise a day and set your activity level on CC to at least 'light'.  Running, weights, cycling, swimming, dancing, archery, trampoline ... it really doesn't matter as long as you're burning energy.  Rather than relying on formal exercise alone, also try to work more activity into your day in general.  Rather than sitting in front of the TV in the evening, do something mobile.  Park your car a little further from your destination.... or walk/cycle there instead.  Take a walk at lunchtimes. Use the stairs instead of lifts.  A good indicator is to get hold of a cheap pedometer and clock the steps.  10,000 a day would be a good target.

Don't panic but take it steady because what you do now must be things you adopt for life.   'Success' would not solely be if you were  closer to 160-170 lbs on your wedding day but if you were still a healthy weight on your 20th anniversary.

definitely dont go less than 2000 lol remember if ur lean weight is say something around 170lbs youve got about 60 lbs u gotta carry around your body, heavier people have a way higher metabolism than skinny people. Most skinny people i know are skinny because they take like 2 bites of a slice of pizza and theyre full for the day ( one friend had a problem with his stomach not being able to stretch properly and he would throw up if he ate more than like 1.5 cups of food)

The "CALORIES" should come 50% from carbs, 30% from protein and 20% from fat ( not volume or weight but calories). I would first try to retrain urself to eat properly its to eat small sized meals  not MIDGET SIZED MEALS. For example if after 30-45 minutes after a meal u feel hungry you may not have eaten enough. The portions of carbs and proteins may seem small but if u load up on veggies itll help u to feel satiated (~.5-1.5cups of carbs, deck of card size of protein, and 1-2cups of veggies however for veggies i just eat whatll fit in my hand making a claw as if holding a tennis ball). Upon eating it you will still feel hungry but wait 20-30 minutes you wont feel hungry for 2-5 hours, plus you wont have to eat just cause its dinner time but because your hungry.

Exercise, exercise, exercise and don't eat more than you burn.

If you are new to getting in shape keep it simple, but do the work to gain knowledge. I had the benefit of haveing a dietitian for a mother (that tape in my head never goes away) But nobody taught me how to live an active lifestyle, that I had to learn myself and it didn't come quickly. I didn't just start going to the gym, running and cycling on Aug 3, 1996. I started and then slacked off, then I came back to the things I liked and started again, then stopped, and I did this over and over until it became a part of my life.

The worst thing you can do is to change a thing like your weight before you get married without changing yourself and your lifestyle first. It's like quitting drinking or smoking because you're getting married, it's a lie and it's for the wrong reasons. Most of us are over weight for reasons that have zero to do with our genes, or a physical condition. It's all in our heads, and until we figure out ourselves we are going to repeat the same mistakes. This takes time and a lot of work, you're getting married, your fiance loves you now, and you are overweight. Did you ever consider that she might not love a neurotic guy obsessed with dropping just 5 more lbs? Weight loss isn't a fix. And it sucks to look at wedding pictures of yourself 60lbs lighter than you are 3years after you're married and you gained all that weight back.

If this is an honest goal, you will be willing to take it slowly and accept the ups and downs.

Your milage may very. Good luck!

Move your body more; eat less but better. 

And whatever you do, DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF!

As far as calorie deficit goes I started with 500 but set my activity profile to sedentary and I don't include exercise.  I won't add calories unless I really need to (like a couple tablespoons of peanut butter if I'm getting light headed after a run).  That way I'm up to about an 800 calorie deficit on running days.  I've had some non-deficit and surplus weekends and yet still manage to drop over 2 lbs a week, so I'm with you on the not-to-concerned-about-the-healthy-approach.& nbsp; It feels good and my appetite is much more controllable now. 

For exercise I do a 5k run (had to build up to that, started with 3) once a week and some interval sprinting (which has been shown to have twice the cardio benefit as long distance recently) on a different night.  2 15 minute workouts (abs, martial arts) on my coffee breaks at work on weekdays, and short workouts on every other night - chest and shoulders or biceps and back...legs are fine with sprinting and running.  This amounts to fast enough progress that encourages you to keep with it.  I weigh myself every morning and chart it, and the up days are quickly show to be just bumps on a downtrend graph...very very encouraging!

Good luck!

My original goal is to get down to 235 by my b-day next year. so far i have lost 25 lbs and have another 40 to go. I am about 6'4. And even when i get down to that i read that i would still be considered overweight.

If you want something to help you out for workouts ive been following the one that is on the this site.

http://caloriecount.about.com/article/partner /exercise_plan

For nutrition it i try to stay within the 2000 - 2500 range.. and if i go over i try not to worry about it too much. and for the last 2+ months my weight has been steadly gone down.

Well, here's my story.  Keep in mind I'm a 42 year old guy, so what worked for me might not work for you.

I started off at 207, on March 10.  At that point, I turned my eating habits on their head.  Prior to that, I was a desk jockey all day, sedentary at home, ate whatever I liked whenever I liked.  38" waist.  My first goals were to "get in shape" so I could go on hikes with my kids when we went camping, to get under 200 pounds by my holidays at the beginning of May, and after that, to get to a healthy BMI of 185 pounds (6' guy).

No more junk food, no more coffees with double cream, double sugar, no pop...  I ate 5 or 6 times a day (sometimes missing a snack if I wasn't hungry), and I cut out the frozen lunches.  No more beer or other alcohol either.  I also subscribed to the "if it's white, it's not right" theory, and switched to whole wheat in all baked goods, and brown rice.  In general, as little processing on my food as possible.

I also started swimming.  3x a week, started with 20 minutes (750m or so), bumped that up to 45 to 60 minutes by the end of March.  I picked swimming because I used to be a swimmer, not because it was the best thing to help with weight loss.

By the end of the first month, I was down 11 pounds.  The next month was pretty much the same nutrition-wise, and I was still swimming.  By the end of that month, I was down to 191 pounds, a total of 16 pounds.

After that, I relaxed some of my dietary restrictions.  Occasional beer and coffee, adding some treats (chocolate, in particular).  Went on holidays, and didn't count calories the whole time I was gone.  I also added strength training after my holidays in May, and in June, started running and biking (and cutting down swimming).  At this point, I found my weight loss slowed down, regardless of my extra exercise.  I was often doing two workouts a day; swimming or strength in the morning, biking or running in the evening.  No biggie, I was still getting in shape, even if I wasn't losing weight as fast.

Anyway, by the beginning of August, I was down to 170 pounds, which I ended up settling on as my goal, even though I had no clear goal to begin with.  Size 32" pants, which was the same size I wore back when I got married 17 years ago.  I also did a sprint triathlon in the first part of August, and a 5k race in mid August.

Throughout all this, I tried keeping my calories at 500 to 1000 calories under my burn rate.  So if I needed 2000 to maintain my weight at a sedentary lifestyle, and I did 500 calories worth of exercise that day, I could eat UP TO 2000 calories.  I'd typically start with 1800 for the day, and adjust that up depending on what my activity level was for the day and how hungry I was.  I had some cardio days where I'd burn 1000 calories biking to work, and those days in particular I might eat a bit more.  But I had many days that were 1000 calorie deficit days.

Strength training is a good thing to start ASAP, even if it's not your only exercise.  It will help keep your muscles even as you lose weight.  Also, I ate a relatively high protein diet; my carb/protein/fat percentages were 50/30/20 pretty consistently.  For me, though, strength training was in addition to my regular workouts.  It wasn't my primary exercises.  But that was a personal choice.

Some hints I can offer are to get a food scale, and weigh/measure as much as possible.  Obviously, if you're eating out, that's not an option.  But at home, I still weigh/measure most of my food.  Also, take measurements and keep a record.  I measure shoulders, chest, waist, hips, butt, thigh, calf, biceps, forearm, and neck.  Pictures are also nice to have as a motivational tool.

If you have specific questions, just ask!  Most of my "journey" is on my journals, as well, but I didn't start posting till the last part of my changes.

Do some strength training, unless you want to look like me. lol

UD

Jeff -

I am 5'7".  I have dropped from 208 down to 174 since June.   My average weight loss per week is 2.5 pounds.   My goal is 150 pounds, which I hope to reach in mid-December.

My approach has been two pronged - eat a sensible diet and exercise daily.

My calorie goal is 1800 per day.   Some days I go slightly over, and some days I go slightly under, but I average 1800.  I use the CC food log and enter everything I eat.  This also means that I have to weigh all my food.  Yes, that is a pain.  Yes, that makes eating out difficult.  However, knowing exactly how much I am eating makes a huge difference.

I will admit - the first week was difficult.  I felt hungry all the time.  After one week, I adjusted to the 1800 calories, and the gnawing hunger went away.

I try to eat 300 calories for breakfast, 700 for lunch and 700 for dinner, plus a 100 calorie snack during the late afternoon.  This intake level keeps me satisfied.  Within an hour before a meal I will start to get hungry, but I am not overly hungry between meals.  If so, I will eat a small snack.

In terms of food, my goal is to minimize saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.  I have stopped eating red meat, I do not eat sweets, I do not eat whole dairy (cheese, sour cream, etc.), and I am not drinking alcohol (probably the most difficult thing of all).

My average breakfast – 3 pieces of wheat toast, 3 hard boiled egg whites (I throw the yellow away), and an 8 oz glass of skim milk or orange juice.

My average lunch – sandwich with 2 pieces wheat bread and 5 ounces turkey breast/chicken breast, 2 ounces baked lays, ½ can black beans, and 8 ounces strawberries. 

My average dinner – 5 ounces chicken breast, 4 ounces brown rice, 4 ounces vegetable, ½ can beans, 8 ounces blueberries/raspberries/banana. 

My average snack – 1 ounce peanuts or 1 ounce wheat thin crackers.  My favorite at night if I have enough calories left on my daily budget – Orville Redenbacher low fat popcorn (comes in 100 calorie bags) and a coke zero.

At every meal, I drink 2 large glasses of water.  The water on top of all the food makes me feel very full.  After that typically I am not hungry again for at least 4 hours.

I exercise every day.  My normal workout – 20 minutes on treadmill to warm up, which burns 110 calories.  Then I hit the elliptical for 45 minutes, which burns 590 calories.  Total calories burned – 700.  From the time I leave for the gym to returning home – 90 minutes.

My weight loss "math":

• My average calories burned: 174 (current weight) * 13 + 700 (through exercise) = 2962.
• My average calorie intake: 1800.
• My daily calorie deficit: 2962 – 1800 = 1162.
• Weekly calorie deficit: 1162 * 7 = 8134 calories.
• Pounds lost per week = 8134/3500 (calories in 1 pound) = 2.3 pounds, which is pretty close to the 2.5 pounds I have actually averaged per week.

This program works well for me.  I would be miserable eating any less than 1800 calories per day.  My 42 year old body can only handle so much exercise without leading to over-use injuries, so the 65 minute workout I do every day is perfect.

My program might not work well for others.  Hence, you need to settle on a program that works well for you.

My recommendations:

• Before you start this, go to your doctor and get a full physical. 
• Determine a daily calorie budget that you can live with.  If that is 1800 like me, great.  If that is 2500, because you need that much to avoid constant hunger, great.
• Record everything you eat in CC.  This will force you to stick to your daily budget. 
• Find some sort of exercise you enjoy.  Enjoyment is the key.  Make sure you know how many calories that exercise burns.
• Record your physical activity in CC.
• Get a scale.  Weigh yourself daily.  Enter your weight every day in CC. 
• Do the math, similar to what I did above.  This will give you a rough idea of how much weight you will lose per week.  You can reasonably expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week, depending on the daily calorie deficit you generate.

I guarantee that if you follow these recommendations, you will lose the 30 pounds in plenty of time before your wedding.

Best of luck!

Scot

I believe the rationale behind the 500 Calorie deficit is that in a week you will have burned a combined 3500 Calories.  *Generally* 3500 Calories translates to a lbs, but I am not sure whether this is a lbs of fat or a lbs of mass.  You see where the problem comes in if it's the latter.

If you instead of cutting 500 Calories from your diet you cut 250 Calories and burn 250 Calories per day, you can continue to cut 250 Calories per week and add 250 Calories of exercise per week without straining your body.  I am not sure if you can keep up such a program so perhaps every 2 weeks might work.

My friend lost a lot of weight and her change at the onset is astounding.  I don't recall the whys but it's easier for somebody who is hugely overweight to lose (say) 30 lbs than it was for me to lose 25 lbs. 

In short, eat healthily and less, and exercise.  Good luck

I was 5' 10" and 240 at one time.  I'm down to 182 now.  I'll tell you what's worked best for me in the order of importance I think.

1.  Eating whole foods.  I cut out most processed foods and eat only lean cuts of meat (sparingly), fish, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds etc.   Whole foods are healthier, have more fibre and nutrition than processed foods, are cheaper and you'll feel much better physically.

2.  Eating protein with every meal.  Protein needs about 30% of it's calories just to process in the body so 100 calories of protein is really 70 net.   It also helps you feel fuller, longer.

3.  Strength training.  I used to do a lot of cardio, running 12-15 miles a week and circuit training.   A few weeks ago I started a strength training program and realize now that if I had done this a couple of years ago, I'd have been far better off.  I am much stronger, I look better, I've lost 14 lbs in 6 weeks and the workouts are much more enjoyable.  I found cardio pure drudgery.  I do 15-20 minutes of HIIT after my weight routine and I think that's plenty. 

4.  Attitude.  Weight, health and fitness are a marathon, not a sprint.  If you want to lose it quickly at any cost, you'll gain it back just as fast.  All the people I know that have lost weight and kept it off, did it over a long period of time, months or years.  Make it your passion, not your worry.  Enjoy it, revel in it, don't punish yourself over it and look forward to learning new and exciting things about food and fitness.

I am 37, 5'6 and went from being 251 on December 15, 2008 to being 156 sometime in June. I've been maintaining since then.

Very quickly, here's how I did it. I averaged 1800 calories a day. I used the zig zag method of eating more some days, and less on others. But the average was 1800.

I worked out for 60 mins a day on my elliptical cross trainer for 6 days out of 7. Why? Because it was the one workout I would actually do. The key is getting your heart rate up to around 80% of max. That burns calories.

My deficits went from being over 1000 a day to less than that as I lost weight...you burn less when you weigh less. I chose not to change my program as I lost, and it worked out fine.

These days I average 2575 calories a day, and workout for 45 mins 5 days out of 7. This is my current sweet spot.

We are all different, and we all have to find our own ways of dealing with our own situations and our own weight issues. The good news is men generally have an easier time with it than women. Good luck! Don't be a stranger.

Oh yeah...if you don't have a food scale get one, and if you are guesstimating your calories stop it...we humans almost always underestimate the number of calories we eat. Something to do with evolution...

I agree with freakbunny 100% on the food scale, which I use as well.  Hugely important.