Hi all,
Well to be honest I've never been entirely conventional about weight loss, at least for myself anyway. Why? Because not every system, whether it be diet or exercise, works for every person.
As such I've had to find my own way, and after a bit of a lucky accident I decided on the Bacon and Burgers diet. Sounds strange I know, but yes I do actually eat bacon and burgers. Not all the time obviously, but I'll come to that.
My original reason for losing weight was to go on a glider experience day. I had discovered the first time I went to it that I was well over the 16 stone weight limit, and a year or so later I wasn't going to miss it again.
I started using MyFitnessPal again after several years away from it, and found it was a lot better app than it was originally, so I started tracking my calories and exercise. For the latter I used my Samsung Gear Fit 2, which I love. Best free gift ever. Thanks Samsung. :)
As for the diet though that started by accident, and was after I'd started losing weight.
It was a balmy (not) summer's day in June 2017 when I was on a late start at work. I'd forgotten to get anything for breakfast or lunch or anything, so I grabbed a couple of bacon rolls with beans out of the canteen, and decided I would get something later on.
The thing was that the something later on never came.
So the next day I decided to try the trick again. And again I was perfectly happy having the bacon rolls with beans, and then nothing else till I had my tea.
"Interesting" thinks me, and a plan was hatched.
Now for the burgers. In all honesty it was just because I had some in the house, and I love them on soft white rolls with some tomato sauce (ketchup for those of a non-UK affiliation). I did some calorie counting and discovered that this came to about 780 calories, which isn't terrible for a main meal (imo obviously).
And so my very own diet was born. However there was more. You see I like my coffee sweet, and I did try cutting it down, but nah it just tasted crap. Also I like my proper Coke, and if I stop drinking that I end up going mental and binging on it.
So I set out my plans for what my diet would encompass in terms of tenets:
1. Everything in moderation (thanks Mum)
2. Don't make yourself miserable.
3. Figure out when your body "needs" and when it "wants".
4. Give yourself a treat or a day off every so often.
5. One bad meal doesn't make you fat, and one good meal doesn't make you thin. (Thanks Laura)
Once I had those things in place I worked out what effect the various things I was eating and drinking had, in terms of calories mostly. I have four sugars in my coffee, and seven of them in a day, and I give myself two 330ml glasses of coke a day (sometimes 3).
Now there is actually another part to this "diet" that I haven't mentioned. The Need and the Want.
I had an issue a number of years ago where every evening when I came home I would need a bowl of cornflakes, with milk and lots of sugar. It got to the point where I would come in actually gagging for it, and I would feel faint unless I partook of the sweet cornflakey nectar. :D
However after a while of this I ended up starting a period of going to the gym on a regular basis, and the first time I went I was thinking "But what about the faint feeling if I don't have the cornflakes?". I just had to suck it up and see.
So I went off on my merry way, and after I got there I got myself ready. While I was doing so my stomach was rumbling and I started to feel rather crap.
Then I stepped on the treadmill...
And the feeling went away.
?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Yes it just vanished like it had never existed. I realised at that moment that my body had been fooling me into feeding a craving. A "Want".
That's a big weapon when losing weight (imo again), as it means you can better fight the times when your body is being a dick.
When it happens to me after I get home now I feed it a raw carrot. That's not a punishment, as I do like a raw carrot, but rather a brusque "Sod off" to the cravings. I do like raw potato as well, but it's really high in calories compared to carrots and I am trying to be a bit sensible.
So with all of this knowledge and a handy-dandy app I went off into the world to lose weight.
I have my app set to lose two pounds a week, however I did check what break even would be for me so that if I had a bad day I knew how much I could go over without actually putting on any weight.
I discovered a burger that was about a hundred calories less per burger than the ones I was having before, so I could concern myself a little less about that, but to be honest I have a variety of things. I just make sure to stop counting if it goes badly wrong.
And that is pretty much the point of this article. You might well need to have the exact measures of 850 calories a day, plus a marathon run, to lose weight. However it ain't necessarily so. Listen to yourself in terms of how your body craves (or doesn't) and make sure you don't starve it of the things that it likes too much.
For reference when I started in mid-June I was 16st 4lbs, and when I went on the glider flight I weighed 15 and a half stone fully clothed. :D
At the end of the run I got to 14st 9lbs, but I fell off the wagon after that and put on 11lbs from October to the start of January. Partly Christmas but not all of it, and some of it was the awesome baguettes the canteen at works does. I do like one every so often still, but I was having them every day.
Anyway I digress and ramble.
So my advice if you want to lose weight is to listen to your body's requests for food, and then ignore the ones that are garbage. And then find ways to include the things you like while being sensible.
And as far as exercise goes I have one HUGE tip, mainly for car drivers:
Park a mile away from work. That way you have an extra two miles of walking a day done without even having to think about it. Admittedly it's a bit rubbish when it's raining but that's what they invented brollies for. ;)
Good luck and good hunting.
Arvelayne,
unskinny alt.