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Practically every point you mention is either a fantasy, lie or misconception. Other than that-- Great Post!
Seriously-- As I've outlined here many times before-- One pound of stored fat contains a liitle over 4000 cal....Vigorous exercise burns calories at only ~500 cal/hr...and that's probably more vigorous than you can do at age 60....Exercise won't help you lose muxh weight, but it will help prevent more weight gain by giving you a little "cushion" of extra calories taken in without turning it into fat.
One problem with exercise & diet to lose weight-- as your body realizes you're torturing it, it shifts metabolism to "starvation mode". That's kinda like getting in shape-- When you are "in shape" it takes more exercise to get you short of breathe, and with starvation, you start getting more mileage out of each calorie.
You don't have one weight-- Your weight ranges aboout 3-5 lb/day, depending on when & how much you eat, drink, move your bowerls etc. Weigh yourself at the same time every day, in the same clothes for best comparisons.
Types of food-- technically, it makes a little difference-- carbs are either burned right away or stimulate fat deposition,...Fat taken in turns down the knob on fat deposition. Eating certain fats does nothing else to the liver....Your liver does all the processing first-- it doesn't know if that glucose coming in came from kale, apples or Twinkies, and the fat from olive oil is treated just like lard from a hog.
The real important factor is total calories tsken in. Eat whatever you like, but count all the calories. It takes ~10 cal/d to maintain each lb of body weight. (Everybody is a little different, but that's a good starting point for reference)....You started at 194. Let's say you want to get down to 180-- a 14 lb loss. Eating 180 x 10 = 1800 cal/d, and you were eating 194 x 10 =1940 cal/d (theoretically)... a dif of only 140 cal a day (!!)--> @4000cal/lb of fat, then 4000/140 = 28 days to lose the weight.
You can see the problem-- the dif is only 140 cal /d-- a couple slices of bread or a few cookies or one cocktail extra and the day is shot for weight loss....That's where the value of a little exercise comes in.
editied to add-- that 1800 cal/d diet is maintenance. You will lose the weight gradually, then continue that di et forever to remain at 180lb. You can cut down more (hard to do) to lose faster, if you need to weigh in for a wrestling match or something, but hten go back up o the 1800 for maintenance.
This was an overall excellent post with the exception of the highlighted part. You made a major error in your math. Cutting back 140 calories a day for 28 days will result in the loss of of only 1 pound, not 14.
28 x 140 = 3,920 calories (or roughly 1lb.)
If the OP wants to lose 14lbs, he would need a caloric deficit of 56,000 calories (assuming 4k = 1lb). If he reduces his caloric intake by only 140 calories a day, it would take 400 days or roughly 13 months to lose those 14 pounds, not 28 days.
A lifelong weight-watcher, dieter. Female, late 60's now. I weigh the same as I did decades ago. Here are the main things I've learned about losing or maintaining weight (although 190 for 5'10" male isn't what I'd call "fat" or very overweight).
1. Don't eat after 7 p.m. or before 10 a.m. This is called intermittent fasting. Anything you eat at night w/in hours of going to bed is more likely to lay on your body as fat. Some don't believe this, but trust me...this is true. It is for me, anyway. Besides, food is energy. You don't need to take in food/energy at night. Eat a large breakfast and lunch, and enjoy.
2. It's mainly what you eat, not exercise, that causes loss of fat on the body. Eating just one piece of cake (about 450 calories, depending on the size and type) could take you HOURS to make up for through exercise, depending on the exercise. You can lie in bed for days and eat very little, and will lose weight (altho that's not healthy & I don't advise that).
3. I love walking. It relieves stress, lowers blood pressure, is pleasant on a pretty day, lowers cholesterol for some, but what it does not do is assist with weight loss. I was on a walking program for a few years, where I walked 5 days a week, with 7 days/wk sometimes. I walked 20 - 30 minutes. I didn't lose one pound, or part of a pound, and didn't expect to. But walking is fantastic for health.
4. Working out with weights helps with FAT loss. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so adding muscle uses more calories. You may have to measure to see the fat loss, since you may not lose weight, or as much weight as you lose fat. My experience has been that adding muscle does a lot more controlling fat than any cardio.
5. Eat plenty of protein. Look up how many grams of protein you need, and track the grams of protein you eat every day, for a month or so, to get an idea of how much protein you eat, on average.
6. Don't eat white foods. White bread, white rice, white potatoes, white pasta, etc. You can Google those things to see why. There are whole grain or other variants of white foods.
Regarding weighing, everybody's body responds to losing weight differently. For me, I had to lose 25 or so pounds I'd gained decades ago after quitting smoking. I joined Weight Watchers and got very discouraged from losing little to nothing each week, after being very good on eating plan, etc. What I learned eventually was that my body was logging the fewer calories and increased activity, but my body wouldn't let go of the weight immediately. I'd go along with the loss of 1/4 lb, or no loss....and then bam, I'd drop 2 lbs one week in which I hadn't even been that faithful to my eating plan. That's how my body handles weight loss.
As for weight, the sodium I ate the day before has an impact on my weight the next morning.
And remember....if I'm losing FAT but adding a bit of muscle, my weight won't go down as much as, say, my waist measurement. So consider that.
The less overweight you are, the slower the fat/weight loss. Your weight doesn't seem like you're very overweight to me. My bf is about 5'10' and weighs about 185-190. I wouldn't say he's "fat." He has a slim build, so has put on a round belly all in front, and not on the sides or back. He wouldn't drop weight like a moderately obese man with fat on his sides, back, arms, etc.
Any loss of fat or weight is a LOSS. Give yourself credit for that. It would've been a gain in your pre-diet days.
Weight/fat loss SHOULD be slow, for it to stick and for your habits to change. It took me a full year to lose about 15-20 lbs, and a second year to lose the rest of wt I'd gained from quitting smoking. I persisted, although got more lax in 2nd year, and despite my discouragement time and again. By the time I got my weight down to normal (for me), my dietary habits had changed. I've never gone back to those bad diet habits since. I love the way, and what, I eat now.
When I was losing that weight 20 yrs ago, I ate at night...I got home from work about 6:30. If I'd known about intermittent fasting back then, I have no doubt the weight would've come off a lot faster.
OP, I lost 120 lbs over 11 months and walking was a huge portion of that.
My diet was simple. Two cups of coffee in the morning then water only after that. Breakfast was a diet shake, lunch a salad w/chicken, dinner was lite and early. No snack/junk food in the house.
A huge key was measuring activity.
I tracked weight at least every other day, weigh myself same time every morning, right out of the shower.
Apple Watch allowed monitor of my exersize progress, not just distance but pace and heart rate. I started at 1.5 miles at 20 minutes a mile, extended to 2 miles, 2.5 etc, now I do 3.4 in under 55 minutes, most miles are under 16 minutes.
A lifelong weight-watcher, dieter. Female, late 60's now. I weigh the same as I did decades ago. Here are the main things I've learned about losing or maintaining weight (although 190 for 5'10" male isn't what I'd call "fat" or very overweight).
You and I wouldn't, but according to Body Mass Index (BMI) charts, the government and healthcare professionals would. In fact, anything over 167 would be considered overweight for a 5'10" man, which is ridiculous. I'm 6'4" and an athletic 235, which makes me almost obese according to the BMI chart, lol. I'm apparently supposed to weigh no more than 197. The last time I weighed less than 200, I was on chemo and looked like I had just walked out of a Nazi concentration camp.
You and I wouldn't, but according to Body Mass Index (BMI) charts, the government and healthcare professionals would. In fact, anything over 167 would be considered overweight for a 5'10" man, which is ridiculous. I'm 6'4" and an athletic 235, which makes me almost obese according to the BMI chart, lol. I'm apparently supposed to weigh no more than 197. The last time I weighed less than 200, I was on chemo and looked like I had just walked out of a Nazi concentration camp.
You are right. I’m a 5’10” woman and I’m always off the charts too. But OP is not happy with his weight, so he wants to lose. If I were him, I’d just buy 36” pants, but that wasn’t his question.
You are right. I’m a 5’10” woman and I’m always off the charts too. But OP is not happy with his weight, so he wants to lose. If I were him, I’d just buy 36” pants, but that wasn’t his question.
My response was actually directed to bpollin's comment about her BF.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bpollen
My bf is about 5'10' and weighs about 185-190. I wouldn't say he's "fat." He has a slim build, so has put on a round belly all in front, and not on the sides or back. He wouldn't drop weight like a moderately obese man with fat on his sides, back, arms, etc.
For one thing, fruit and gnocchi are all carbs. If you give your body carbs it will burn them before fat.
Cut out white flour and sugar, and watch your portions and you will lose.
Exactly. You mention the gnocchi are low fat, but then you're adding in coconut oil, which is pure fat.
Eating "fruit all day until dinner" is going to be loads of carbs and calories, way more than walking will burn off.
It sounds like you're doing a little bit of low fat, a little intermittent fasting, a lot of carbs, then you're adding the coconut oil because it helps burn fat...
You need to learn about different eating plans, pick one, and stick with it.
But not everyone responds the same way to every eating plan, so if it doesn't work for you over a few weeks, try a different plan.
Mixing them up isn't going to get you where you want to go, and what you're currently doing isn't working.
Thanks for all of the info from everyone. There are so many variables that most do not apply to everyone. When I was 30, the same thing happened. I hit 190 for the first time and freaked out. Stopped everything cold turkey. Started eating 30 gms of fat per day and unlimited carbs, based on a book I read called the T Factor Diet by Dr Martin Kataan. According to his research, we could eat as many calories as we wanted but never more than 30%of them being fat. So, my normal day was a bagel for breakfast (no butter or cream cheese).a loaf of Italian bread (nothing on it) for lunch with some kind of salad (no fat dressing). Chicken breast and spinach for dinner (no skin on the chicken. All fat). At night, I would go to a bagel shop around midnight and buy a dozen (eat 2 right there) and finish them off over two days. I would only eat Rice, potatoes, vegetables, bread, chicken, eggs but only one yolk at a time (5 grams of fat in the yolk). I did that every day and walked 2 hours straight every day for over a year no matter the weather. Never missed a day with my friend. I lost 30 lbs in 2 months and he lost 50.
I maintained that for nearly 20 years. I didn't start creeping up til I got married and had two kids. Then, I was always staring at plates of uneaten or half eaten mac and cheese, pizza, etc and didn't want to throw it all out so I would eat some. So, that is what worked like a charm for me. The complete opposite from an atkins diet nd it worked great. I was beginning to do the same thing now but not getting the same results. I will wait it out and see what happens. And yes, I consider myself a fat piece of garbage. I had to go to a funeral two weeks a go and the suit pants I wore in 2015 were so tight, it was 2" away from buttoning it. I had to rely on my belt to hold them up unbuttoned! That is embarrassing. I don't want to be seen in public any more than I need to. I will not look in a store window or mirror if possible. When I am next o my wife, I look like a giant ZIGGY. I know I am fat. My two kids tell me and my wife says it too. I don't care. I am happy for the honesty.
Just giving you my story and what works for me. The woman that lost nothing from walking is her experience. Mine is very different. I will stop the white carbs but am still sticking toward the low fat side of things. Fat is fat and stays fat. I will have to up the proteins. I will keep you all posted.
This was an overall excellent post with the exception of the highlighted part. You made a major error in your math. Cutting back 140 calories a day for 28 days will result in the loss of of only 1 pound, not 14.
28 x 140 = 3,920 calories (or roughly 1lb.)
If the OP wants to lose 14lbs, he would need a caloric deficit of 56,000 calories (assuming 4k = 1lb). If he reduces his caloric intake by only 140 calories a day, it would take 400 days or roughly 13 months to lose those 14 pounds, not 28 days.
Thank you for the correction...(I was just trying to see if anyone paying attention).
You're right 14 lb would take 28 x14 = a year & 12 months
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