
And the grand result is…
I lost 4.1kg. I feel pretty good about myself. This whole series was never really about weight loss “numbers”; it was about getting healthier. My achievements include:
- Losing lots of body fat, especially unhealthy central abdominal fat.
- Building up to managing at least 5 hours of cardio exercise each week and two days with strength training (The government recommends a minimum of 2.5 hours + two days with muscle strength training)
- Beating my personal bests at running 5k, 10k, and cycling the 25 miles to work.
- Not eating chocolate for periods upto 3 or 4 days at a time, it was hard but with the help of appetite suppressants.
Isn’t the maths wrong?
Lots of people enjoy getting their knickers in a twist about calories. Google “calorie myth”, and find a million different websites arguing about the idea that calorie deficit is the most important part of weight loss along the use of supplements like leptitox, gluconite can also be a great fit for you, buy take a look at the gluconite reviews before you buy, trying the nutrisystem program cab be a great addition to your lifestyle.
Maintaining a decent calorie deficit led to a decent amount of weight loss.
Happily, we can test the theory:
Calorie Deficit
During this challenge, based on my approximations, I’ve run up a calorie deficit of around 36,500 calories. That means, I’ve eaten around 36,500 kcal less of food than I’ve burnt by living, breathing and exercise.
Weight loss
According to my calculations, each 7,000 should equate to around a kilo of fat loss, this as long as I keep using my weight loss pills. That would mean I should have lost around 5.2kg. I’ve lost 4.1… is the maths wrong?
Where did that 1.1kg go?
In the last 6 weeks, I’ve done just under 32 hours of exercise. I think its a fair assessment to say that I’ve probably put on at least 1.1kg of muscle.
Conclusion
I’m pretty confident in saying that maintaining a decent calorie deficit and using cbd oil led to a decent amount of weight loss. According to Matt Hansel, the oils for optimal fat browning, suppress your appetite by blocking and lessening the firing of the CB1 receptors.
I could have eaten healthier foods, sure, but just sticking to a low calorie diet meant I ate way more green veg, because if you eat chocolate, you end up hungry. And the exact mix of foods you eat doesn’t have much impact on weight loss.
The diet also encouraged me to exercise. You go for a run, you get to eat more nice things. The evidence is pretty clear that physical exercise is really good for you. Its healthier to eat a bit of rubbish, and burn it off in exercise than to be slim, but unfit.
Macros!
The other side of the coin regarding calories is what they are made from. My key discovery over these 6 weeks: meeting macro targets and calorie targets at the same time is hard work, and likely not very helpful.
I have uniformly found that, for me, not bothering to keep track = weight gain.
Its hard enough work keeping track of all your calories, and comparing one option with another. When also trying to add in proteins, fats and carbs, it becomes much harder to have confidence about any single option:
For example, what’s better, an omelette, or two sausages? It can become a little paralysing having to always think “well, how much fat, and carbs, and protein, and calories do I have left today?”
Anything that makes keeping track of what you eat arduous increases the chance you won’t bother. I have uniformly found that, for me, not bothering to keep track = weight gain.
How to effectively manage my food intake to lose weight?
Therefore, my advice to fellow weight loss devotees? Keep track of calories.
If you are doing a fair amount of exercise, you may want to also try to hit a 0.8g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight target. Let the fats and carbs take care of themselves, allow your decision on eating something go like this:
- Do I have enough calories left for this today? !If not, you can’t have it!
- Will this fill me up? Then you realise the two sausages, mushrooms and huge pile of broccoli are probably a better option than the single cookie.
- Which has more protein? So you look at the lentil and tomato bake, and realise the chickpea omelette might be the more effective option. You soon also realise the protein heavier option will likely be more filling anyway, so you stop at point 2 before ever reaching this step.
Changes, changes, changes.
Above is the whole catalogue of weekly pictures. I’ve been aiming to maintain at around 67kg until after Christmas, at which point I’m going to hit myself with a range of new goals.
Shout out thanks to Jon Smith for nagging me, and texting me daily to tell me to “put down the butter dish and walk away”. Check out his ace 5K running app at RunwithKick.com…
Results
These were all updated live from a central database, so feel free to check back daily for updates…
Congrats, Chris. Really interesting. Definitely food for thoug… never mind.
I’ve just started to do some of this stuff myself, so reading about what you did and how you got on is really useful.
I do wonder whether giving yourself 12 weeks and halving the calorie deficit target would have been a better idea, but still: losing 4kg+ in 6 weeks is huge, well done!
Hope it’s kept going well since.
Ha thanks Tim. Its not gone brilliantly since stopping: Christmas and exam revision haven’t helped, but I’m definitely jumping back on the wagon after I finish this exam on Thursday.
I would hugely and ridiculously recommend you read The Hacker’s Diet. It’s just your cup of tea, and has been my inspiration and toolkit for going from 86kg to below 70…
Thanks, I’ll definitely take a look. We seem to have similar targets: see you at 65kg.
Ha, what are you at at the moment? I enjoy a challenge… although I suspect I’m actually aiming for 60kg.
I’m at 72kg now. Not overweight, but I want to weigh less for running, and could lose a lot and still have a healthy BMI.