I have lost 20kg in 8 weeks but worried i have done too much

[Dayvo]

I have lost 20kg in 8 weeks and i feel great about it but i am worried I have been doing too much and so in order to maintain my weight loss i will have to do even more. I will tell you a little bit about myself first. I am 6ft tall and 8 weeks ago i weighed 132kg but Alot has happend in my life since then. 9 weeks ago I use to work 2 jobs 51hrs a week which left me with very little time to work out, be sociable, spend time with loved ones and basically just be active and lead a normal life.

The change in my life came when I got a new job. I work 31.5hrs a week now and as you can imagine I have a lot more time to do what i want. The first thing i did was join a gym. I started off slow doing an hour on the treadmill at 9.6km and running 6mile 4 times a week and it was hard at first and i was happy with the initial results, but i wanted to up my game and so increased the distance i ran (not the speed) each day that achieved again good results. I felt fitter and happier than i have ever done before. All of a sudden i am happy with life and everythings great but this was not without consequences. my girlfriend was not as happy as i, we constantly argued over money and not doing enough together so we split up 5 and a half years disappeared in an instant. It was a lot to take in at the time but looking back from where i stand now it was one of the best things that could of happened to me. It spurred me on, extra motivation to make a huge difference in my life and a difference it has made. I moved back home with my parents and can now focus on just me.

So i kept that steady pace on the treadmill upping the distance every session and then one day i thought to myself I can run 10 miles here easily, so i knocked the speed down to 8km and ran for 2 straight hours on the treadmill it was tough but i did it and it felt amazing, id never ran that far in my life before and naturally i wanted to do it again but what you dont realise at the time is that if you ran 10 miles one day the next day is not so easy to do it again, so i tried and failed. I was soo disappointed in myself but i picked myself up took the next day off and gave it another try on my return and to my surprise did it in 1hr45mins was wonderfull feeling. so learning from my mistakes i did 10mile one day the next off 10mile the other day took the next off for that next week always improving my time 1hr40 then 1hr36. the next step was to do that everyday and then getting my time under 1hr30. So I did 10miles everyday and well as you can imagine the weight has fell off me. I have lost 20kg in 8 weeks and i know that isnt supposed to be healthy for you but i feel fantastic. I do 5days at the gym and twice a week i play 5aside football with my friends.

Another lesson i have learnt throughout this whole process is that you can do too much. About 3weeks ago I did my regular 10 mile run I then went and played 5 aside football for an hour. not a good idea the next day i did the same, thinking ive done it once it must be good for me but it wasnt. when i got home that night i could barely move and when i was going to bed i went to the bathroom and my urine was red I had definitely done some serious damage to myself, so the next day i went the hospital and thankfully the news wasnt too bad, basically my muscle was breaking down into my blood stream and the kidneys didnt like it but i jus needed a rest for little while. I took the week off and im all better now but it scared me into not pushing myself as hard as i was doing and thats why i dont go the gym n play football on the same day now.

So now you are up to speed on who i am and what the past 8 weeks have been like. I am 112kg now and feel fantastic my resting heart rate is 51bpm which i am told is pretty good. however I am a little worried. I am doing alot as you can see and i love doing it but will there come a time where the weight will stop coming off me? My goal is about 90kg and that will be the lightest i have been in all my adult life so i was just a little concerned because i have done so much early on will I have to do even more to keep seeing results or could i just keep doing the same as i am now and still maintain these results?

Thank you for taking the time to read all of that. I was hoping it would be of some help to people whilst also addressing my concern. and again thank you for your time.

 

[chezz]

hi dayvo
im glad i read this i myself do not run but do a walking dvd 2 miles and i have been lacking and wow dont i know it the weight jumped back on so thanks for the kick up the bum
i feel you have answered your own problem cut the gym down a little keep in shape eat healthy and find the new you the weight is moving now you need to get know you the man in the body
good luck on your journey xxx

 

[Dayvo]

Hi chezz

Thank you for taking time to read my post i know it was a long one haha. And I am glad to hear it has helped you out. some advice i can offer you is that whether you run 10 mile each day or walk it you still burn the same amount of calories, it obviously just takes a longer amount of time to reach the 10 mile mark, but you dont have to do 10 miles everyday to see results. i started on just doing 5miles each day i ran for an hour but it was more of a fast walk or slow jog. doing that for a couple weeks you will be surprised how much fitter you feel.

Thats when you challenge yourself to do a little more try 6mile in an hour but listen to your body it is difficult so you are going to feel a little stiff or sore at first but that soon goes as your body adjusts to your new regime. What you should look out for is little ankle strains and knee pain that is when to take a 1 or 2 day break. and just keep increasing your pace when you feel your body can handle it and dont be afraid to knock your speed down if you feel you need to catch your breath. the way i do my runs now are in intervals 12km for 15mins then 2.5mins at 6.4 and repeat until you reach 16km (10miles). I will soon start doing 20mins then 2mins break when i feel my body can perform it comfortably and looking further down the line i would like to keep this pace with no breaks at all.

When i first decided to do 10 miles it took me 2hrs and i was overjoyed and motivated to do it more often. And i was a 20stone guy so if you think about a regular sized person, you are basically doing twice as much as them because of the extra weight. but as you lose weight the runs become easier and naturally you can perform faster times. keep it up and keep on pushing yourself because the rewards are as much mentally as they are physically.

But i am still worried that it will just stop coming off me one day and because i have been doing so much I would need to do even more to maintain these results. but then again if thats what it takes then thats what i will do.

Thank you for you reply and good luck in everything you do.

 

[elm]

You'll also get results if you don't do as much, you just won't get to see them as fast. Which is ok, because you caused your body a lot of damage that you even had to go to the hospital. It's not worth it.

Congrats on your success and I wish you the best!

 

[Dayvo]

Hi Elm

Thanks for reading this post, When i started working out I didnt have a goal or target weight, as i mentioned in my first post i use to work 50+ hours a week and so just wanted to get home and relax. As soon as i got my new job i had 20hrs more a week to do something different with my life and so I chose to fill my time with something that would improve me. So i was happy at first to just do a slow 6mile evereyday after work and immediately felt better in myself. When i split up with my girlfriend I had even more time but not much else to do with it so i just started staying at the gym longer. Maybe it was to fill a void or distract myself from the pain but it was never a chore.in I enjoyed spending more time at the gym and still do now. And i know that was probably the root of the problem over exerting myself and having to take a trip to the hospital but i dont regret it. It was a little scary but there was no lasting damage and I learnt a valuable lesson too.

My point is im not trying to lose weight faster that was never my intention at the start and it isnt now. and if I want to put a time scale on it, I have about 6months before the summer to get down to 90kg which would be the weight i was when i was 16yrs old and in great shape. so being 111kg as of today thats 21kg to lose, definately acheivable i know but my intention with this post was t seek some advice. And i appreciate what you are saying about easing off a little bit but by doing that i would feel like im cheating myself. My question I should of made clearer at the start was, if i carry on doing what i am doing now (10miles 5 days a week under 1hr30mins and 5aside football/soccer twice a week) will i still carry on losing weight or will it eventually just plateau? and so would I have to more at the gym?

I know diet has a big impact on weightloss and mine is fine at the moment, it could definately be improved with for example more veg and more variety. but I eat plenty of carbs like spaghetti and protein such as chicken, wholemeal bread for fibre, bananas etc. and so with a little tweaking im sure it could be a great balanced diet.

I intend to start doing some weight lifting in the near future which will increase my muscle mass and help speed up my metabolism which will again help maintain my weightloss im sure. So I have a pretty decent plan if worse comes to the worse and i plateau before i reach my target weight but i still worry about it haha.

Thanks again Elm, looks like your doing great too and i wish you all the best or the future

 

[Weathergirl986]

My question I should of made clearer at the start was, if i carry on doing what i am doing now (10miles 5 days a week under 1hr30mins and 5aside football/soccer twice a week) will i still carry on losing weight or will it eventually just plateau? and so would I have to more at the gym?

Lol Dayvo let me have a go - health warning here though, I have no medical training or experience just a lifetime of dieting and reading up on how our bodies work so what I'm about to tell you might be complete rubbish but it's my understanding of how bodies react - ok - and I also have the added qualification that I've never been daft enough to end up in hospital with blood coming out in my pee hehe!

So are you sitting comfortably? The first thing is that it's impossible to predict how your particular body is going to react especially since you've shown it no mercy over the last few weeks however it is usually a simple calculation - to lose one pound of fat you need to either reduce your intake (food) by 3,500 calories or increase your output (exercise) by 3,500 calories or a combination of the two.

Depending on the amount of calories you are taking in, then the amount of exercise you are doing should keep the weight coming off. Apparently Usain Bolt eats 5,000 calories a day and there isn't an ounce of fat on him is there? That must be what he has to eat to sustain his muscle mass and the level of training he does.

Now in terms of your continued weight loss, we have to assume that your body is still in shock from couch potato to Olympic athlete in 8 weeks and there is a chance that it may suddenly think 'whoa fella' with all this increased output and no increased input maybe I need to try and conserve what reserves I have - at which point it will switch to starvation mode and the weight will stop coming off. It might not happen, you might glide smoothly to your goal, with no more hospital visits, and then jog along in maintenance but best be prepared for the alternative.

What people forget is that it takes more calories to fuel and move around a big body than a small one so when they get to their goal weight they go back to the calorie and exercise level they were at before and which made them fat before and then they wonder why they can't keep the weight off! Fortunately by increasing your muscle mass you should end with a leaner, more efficient body which will burn more calories at rest and as long as you maintain the balance between input and output (i.e if you don't want to exercise then you'll have to live on lettuce leaves or if you want to run 10 miles every day then you'll be able to have more choice).

if your body does go into starvation mode then you have just keep powering on (much much more easily said than done) and remember that your body thinks you will die if you keep the same input/output balance ( which you would if you carried on) but we know something your body doesn't know which is that when you reach your goal you will either reduce your output or increase your input so that you don't die. So you have to keep going (and it could take weeks for your body to give in) until your body allows some more of the weight to drop which it may do for a while and then drop into starvation mode again but as long as you are prepared for it and you can school yourself to not care that your body is holding onto those pounds knowing that it will have to give them up eventually and then when you work out your average weekly weight loss it will still be amazing!

Now when it comes to maintaining your weight that's going to be a juggling exercise to see how much you want to exercise (and make it fun stuff, football, poncing around flashing your muscles in the gym - anything that is fun you will keep doing) and how much you want to eat so you may decide to cut down on the carbs and go more down the protein route - don't succumb to the shakes though, fresh meat and veg and no processed rubbish or chemicals and you'll be ripped and healthy!

In terms of easing off, I'd say keep doing exactly as you're doing, don't get disheartened if you hit a plateau just power through doing the stuff you enjoy and you'll be at that target in much less than 6 months. So I'm hoping that answers your question, I've written all of this and the short answer actually is who knows what's going to happen? Lol

I must say though, you have inspired me, I've had to take a break of a few days due to a rotten cold impairing my breathing but I'll be back on that treadmill walking and challenging myself, it's much better to have a goal to push for isn't it?

Anyway hope that helps and I'm not going to apologise for calling you a numpty for getting yourself admitted to hospital, oh did I not say it, well I definitely thought it lmao!

WG x

 

[Dayvo]

Hi Weathergirl

I must say all you ladies have been lovely to me, thanks for making me feel so welcome.

And that Weathergirl was fantastic and it looks like you put a lot of time and effort into it and i appreciate that so much. A little bit of hidden information I can give you about myself is that this time last year i was 142kg . and so between last January and the end of this October I lost 10kg. That was mainly just due to being poor haha. let me explain, last February I moved out of my parents house and in to my first very own home with my aforementioned ex girlfriend. the cost of living was a lot more than we anticipated, and so many months we had very little money between us for much food but also as a result i would everyday walk a mile to my first job, then 2miles to my second job and then finally 3 miles home all because i didnt want to waste money on buses so that we had a little extra cash to live on. But i wasnt complaining exercise wherever you can get it is worth it.

So I guess the point i am trying to make is that i didnt actually go from zero to a 100 right away and i suppose that has definitely helped me sustain my current level of fitness and perhaps the reason why i havnt quite dropped dead yet.

Let me think about the amount of calories i eat and the amount i burn off a minute, the calories i burn should be simple enough to workout but my intake differs from day to day. lts start with my burned off calories per day. On the treadmill it says i burn 1,100 after a 10mile run now i assume because i didnt enter a weight into the treadmill that is based on a regular sized person and from what ive heard most treadmills are based around a person of 150lbs which means i have to do a simple calculation so my weight being 242.5lbs i divide that by 150lbs and time it by the number of calories displayed (242.5/150x1,100) which equals 1778.3 calories. now obviously this is a rough estimate because without knowing what the treadmill is based on it is impossible to be accurate. but its a good guess i think. so that being the case the other value i need to consider is my walk from my work to the gym and then the gym to my house which is approx. 3miles. i can simply use the some above to help me with this equation 1778.3cals/10miles = 177.83 per mile x 3 = 533.5. so 1778.3+533.5= 2331.8 calories is what i burn on a typical day not everyday, the days i play football im sure i burn a lot less. but 5 days a week i burn 2331.8 calories and if naturally as a male I burn 2,500 calories by doing nothing that is a staggering deficit of 4,811.8cals a day or as Weather puts it about as much as usain Bolt eats haha. thats really surpried me actually without going into all the details cos as i said my intake varies from day to day i eat about 2000 calories a day tops. which gives me a calorie deficit of -2,811.8 calories and so if to burn a pound is 3,500calories that means im losing about 5.5lbs a week which makes sense because i have lost about 42lbs in 8 weeks. wow the beauty of maths ey, it all makes sense haha.

So thank you very much Weather you have made me use my brain to actually make some sense out of my weight loss. And what is more i can now use this calculation to develop a strategy if i ever reach a plateau. I understand that as i lose more weight the calories i burn will be fewer and so that 5.5lbs a week if i dont change anything will decrease but thats fine by me because i beleive the recomended amount to lose a week is about 2lbs right so im doin nearly triple that at the moment but it will eventually even out but i would say that is a few months down the line yet and by that time i should be well below the 90kg i wana reach .

Wow that was fun, Thank you so much girls and i am not going to claim this is a proven scientific formula but it makes a lot of sense and the values i reached in the equation equaled the weight i have lost so must be something to it haha. And thank you weather for inspiring me to work all this out I will carry on with what i am doing at the minute i feel great, im not dying and i can now actually estimate the time i should be 90kg and it works out to be if all is well about ofcourse the middle to end of march hehe fingers crossed.

Thank youuuu and i guess i can if you want put a before and after picture up tomorrow,let me know if you think that is a good idea and all the best with everything you do

 

[Renson]

Wow! What impressive results! That weight loss must be so mentally thrilling! I really hope that you can continue positively! Well done!
My only advice is to watch out for injuries. I (at 120.9kgs) worked myself up to jogging for 20mins at a time and was so proud and motivated. A hip injury from jogging lead to a lower back injury and my life was put on hold for at least six months. Depression set in as did a heel spur. Six months of what felt like hell to me. Finally I'm starting to fight back. I was told that someone of my size should never push myself to such intense working out because my joints will not hold out. I'm now on the exercise bike for an hour everyday and have lost 7kgs. I have a sore bum however my joints seem to be happy with me

 

[Dayvo]

Hi Renson or should i say g'day

thanks for your feedback and the heads up. looks like we have had similar success in such a short period of time congrats to you keep at it and you will get your rewards as you have done so far. Im sorry to hear about your injurys and how it affected you and i know i would feel the exact same. I guess i have just been lucky so far, if you dont count my lil trip to the hospital haha. My hips are fine my back is fine. the two problems i have encountered were a strained ligament in my left shin/ankle and occasional very mild sore knees when i have been running 10mile 4 days straight but other than that i have been all good and fingers crossed i can keep it up without any setbacks. once i reach my target i will ease off and just do an hour or so at the gym mixing weights and cardio up a bit. And you can tell that person who said you shouldnt push yourself to intensely because your joints wont hold out that you know at least one person who has been fine doing so, unless that person was a doctor or physio then they are most likely right and eventually my knees will pop out haha, but for the moment I feel great both mentally and physically and i trust myself enough that if somthing didnt feel quite right i would take a break for a day or 2.

Thanks for the advice and support and I will keep you updated.

 

[Weathergirl986]

Thank youuuu and i guess i can if you want put a before and after picture up tomorrow,let me know if you think that is a good idea and all the best with everything you do

You're actually quite a sweetie, aren't you? And you've completely got the concept - I like the website called Calories Per Hour . Com and I just know you'll love it, it's all about how many calories are burned off doing various exercises and teaches you how to make it specific to you.

I'm busting to see your photos! Get posting!

It's funny you know how people perceive weight loss - you said you lost 10kg (whatever that is! lol) by being poor and yet so many people say they can't lose weight because they can't afford it! They need to bin the commercialised diet food, get their shoes on and start walking!

Drop in and see us in the Tough Love thread, there's no fluffy back patting just the truth running around naked!

I'll watch out for the photos tomorrow and well done you for completely getting what I was clumsily trying to explain.

WG x

 

[steff79]

hey hun have spent alot of time excersizing hill walking with my other half before the weather got bad now addicted to the gym trying to actually stay where I am now in weight and not lose anymore but love the gym so dont want to cut down too much.. in actual fact have a double spin session tomorrow night!! so guess eat more on gym days? my diet is far better than it was less fat more vegetables.. btw you have done incredible!! I did guess my body would just stop losing naturally but with the gym activity thats not happened so have been weighing daily to keep an eye on it.. origonally when I wanted to lose weight in August I never imagined I would get down to 8st!! btw am only 5ft 2 so dont worry it's still within my healthy range for my height but realistically am happy where I am and need to get the hang of staying the same!! seems to me I got quite good a steadily losing 2 or 3 pounds a week stopping is actually harder you know without stopping doing the things I love at the gym or adding calories in chocolate biscuits!!

 

[Dayvo]

pics dnt work

 

[Dayvo]

Hi Stef

Thanks for reading and thank you for the support, I know how you feel if i have day off from the gym or miss it for some reason I beat myself up about it. I feel like my own personal trainer at times with my inner dialogues haha I have to make excuses with myself "err my legs need a rest ive been running for 4 days" where as the other half of me is like "well its your fault if you get fat again" or "should you be really eating that extra peice of bread you havnt been the gym today remember" and of course inner personal trainer is always right so i keep it up to keep him happy and as a result the other part of my brain is happy with the results haha you can even see the weight ive lost since my first post i was 112kg on New years day and ive ran 40mile and walked 9mile since then and as of today im 108kg so my inner personal trainer has done his job.

And its also encouraging to see that you are still losing weight even at the healthy level you are now, i dont think ive ever been 8stone even at birth haha. But that was my fear at first reaching a plateau before my target weight and it seems as though with help from WG and the maths i did in a previous post that hopefully shouldnt happen.

Hope the weather clears up for you and good luck on your journey

 

[upndown]

hi - amazing results - you really are turning your life around - looks as if 2014 is going to be your year! As you say you have been extreme but recognise it and making sensible changes. You ask if the weight loss will continue - well like everyone - it's not likely to come off at the same rate as the beginning - most of us are really strict at the beginning then eat a little more so the weight loss slows down a bit - probably a healthy thing.

Now you've sorted the exercise side of things - perhaps you could think about how you'd like to carry on with your eating - I'd suggest that you choose an eating plan that you can realistically keep up long enough to lose the rest of the weight - which I think is about 39 lbs from your stats - as most men lose weight faster than women - even on a sensible diet you could do that in about 3 or 4 months - which is probably the least amount of time to be healthy and gives a chance for your skin to adjust as well as other parts of your body.

Another thing about dieting that the experts say you probably know - is that fast weight loss can be ok at the beginning because it gives you a lift and spurs you on but it's not easy to maintain - Ive done that so many times only to give up cos I'm disappointed when the weight slow down or because I can't keep up a strict eating plan. I'd suggest that you need to think about what kind of diet will suit you until you're happy with your weight and then try that for a couple of weeks and see how the weight loss goes - then adjust things as you need - then I think it'd be a good thing to think about how you're going to manage your fitness programme and eating for the rest of your life.

You've had a fantastic start - don't be disappointed when the rate of the weight loss drops a little - it happens to us all - scientists say that a fair bit of the initial weight loss is water (who cares? at least that number on the scales is going in the right direction!) Well done and good luck!

 

[Dayvo]

Hi Upndown

I understand completely diet is key to any sort of weightloss and i would recomend to anyone starting out on there journey to get their diet sorted out first. Even if it is by changing one thing: portion size is probably the easiest thing to do. A nice little trick i discovered was to just use a smaller plate. another little tip I would vouch for is spacing your meals out if you can. little and often I know thats what everyone says but it has definitely helped me.

You have to think of your body as an engine or a better analogy would be an open fire. you can throw all your logs of wood on at 3 set times a day and it will burn for a while but eventually fizzle out. or you can put a few logs on every 4 hours to keep it a nice even flame. so instead of that immediate intense burst of energy and then a slow dwindle before another intense burst of energy, you keep your body and most importantly your metabolism at a nice even keel. I understand fitting all these small meals in your day isnt easy but i will tell you how i manage it.

I try to eat every 4 hours so i wake up at 8am and have my breakfast nothing to large maybe some cereal, or scrambled egg, or beans on toast, or maybe some bacon if i need a bit of a meat boost. I only ever drink no added sugar orange juice throughout the day and take 4 sandwiches to work made with wholemeal bread because its a great source of fibre and usually fill it cheese and lettuce or tomato or onion or ham. I will have 1 sandwich and a banana at 11.30am, then 2 for my dinner at 2pm and then the final one at 430pm with another banana. I will then go to the gym for a couple hours and do my usual 10mile run before getting home for about 8oclock or just after and i will have my final meal of the day then but that also varies. so a few examples would be couple of chicken burgers or oven chips with or spaghetti bolognese or whatever really ive just ran 10miles so i can eat what i want haha the only rule i give myself is that it has to be under 600calories.

And so there you go I am not and would not claim this is ideal or the right way to go about it. Im not a dietician or doctor im just telling you what has worked for me so far and if it helps even just one person out then it was worth it.

Thanks for the support upndown

 

[Weathergirl986]

Hey Dayvo,

I'm gutted, I can't see the photos! Maybe it's because I'm on a mobile so I'll try again when I get to work and have a look there.

Patience is a virtue isn't it?

WG x

 

[Weathergirl986]

Well I've tried on my PC and it still isn't happening - why can't I see the photos??

WG <~ still gutted

 

[Dayvo]

Haha, i have no idea i can see them.

 

[Mad Max]

I'm gutted that I have the attention span of a goldfish or is it newt, and could not be bothered to read the long post and even longer reply's, sorry long Post's are not my thing

 

[Dayvo]

Well thanks for commenting anyway haha

I can give you a more condensed version if you want. basically 9weeks ago i was 132kg and as of today I am 108kg = a loss of 24kg. I was worried that if i carry on doing what i am doing now (10miles 5 days a week under 1hr30mins and 5aside football/soccer twice a week) will i still carry on losing weight or will it eventually just plateau? and so would I have to do even more?

The wonderful people on here convinced me otherwise and have been very supportive. I have posted a formula that will help me keep tabs on the amount of calories i burn a session and the amount of calories i consume a day and from that can calculate likely future weight loss. And I have also posted my diet, so if any of that interests you take a look