Dappered Weight Loss Club Anyone?

[Fantasma]

Coming in late to the game--weighed myself this morning and was 187.8 at 6'1" and 29 years old. I actually was inspired to start cutting after a trip to NOLA two weeks ago and I weighed 192. My goal is 170-175. Once I'm in that range, I want to get my body fat measured and focus on muscle building.

My plan for weight loss is definitely focusing on diet through calorie restriction but also working out. Right now, I do dumbbell workouts three days a week, but I know I can do more. I was good shape in high school and college, but let things drop off after that. I want to be stronger, but also lead a more active lifestyle in general.

In my experience with weight loss (I wrestled throughout high school, and have weighed between 160-190 at different times since), the best strategy is calorie restriction while eating healthily. The calorie counter apps are great for this. Diet always trumps working out unless you run a crazy number of miles per week. That said, fitness is still important for overall health, and that's my main goal in this.

[Gradstudent78]

In my experience with weight loss (I wrestled throughout high school, and have weighed between 160-190 at different times since), the best strategy is calorie restriction while eating healthily. The calorie counter apps are great for this. Diet always trumps working out unless you run a crazy number of miles per week. That said, fitness is still important for overall health, and that's my main goal in this.

Also if you work out super intense it's really going to up your appetite and increase your injury risk. Moderate level of exercise (with increasing general activity like walking more) combined with caloric deficit is probably best at least to start out.

[LesserBlackDog]

Good tips gents! I like the idea of logging what I'm doing/eating. I am going to use MyFitnessPal for this. I can use the app to track my workouts as well as all of the food I'm eating. I realize from using it in the past that sometimes I have to make a 'best guess' as to what the calorie count was, but I usually err on the higher side.

And I definitely going to cut down the amount of beer that I'm drinking. It's a) getting to be habit which is starting to cause me some concern and b) it is just empty calories! I'm not giving up beer completely, but maybe stopping consumption during the week.

One thing to keep in mind with any sort of calorie tracking app - many of them allow you to log workouts and basically give you free calories by estimating how many calories you've burned in that workout. So if you set your calorie limit as 1800 per day, and then log a forty minute jog as a workout, you might suddenly find the app increases your daily calorie limit to 2200.

I would caution you from relying on this feature. Most apps seem to overestimate the number of calories you would burn in any particular workout. I think it also conditions you to think of food as a reward for working out, which is usually counterproductive and will cause you to overeat. Unless you are eating to fuel intense, multi-hour training sessions every day, eating more will only ever be counterproductive to your weight loss goals. Whether you are working out on any given day may affect the timing and type of food that you eat (e.g. a small snack of simple carbs, like a banana, before a workout, and something with some protein to help aid in recovery afterward), but it shouldn't generally affect the quantity or quality of food you're consuming on any given day.

[Nandyn]

Use smaller plates and bowls for all your meals. You eat with your eyes first so a full plate/bowl will seem like a large meal even when the portions are smaller once you get used to eating less.

[Bobbumman]

One thing to keep in mind with any sort of calorie tracking app - many of them allow you to log workouts and basically give you free calories by estimating how many calories you've burned in that workout. So if you set your calorie limit as 1800 per day, and then log a forty minute jog as a workout, you might suddenly find the app increases your daily calorie limit to 2200.

I would caution you from relying on this feature. Most apps seem to overestimate the number of calories you would burn in any particular workout.

Absolutely - fitbit (which I use more out of convenience than anything) is one of the worst offenders for that.

My work-around is set it to "sedentary" and then set a cap of 2000/2200 calorie max. What that means is it forces me to go be active if I want to eat past lunch (i would obviously eat anyway, but then i know what's happening).

It's far from a perfect system, but its worked for me in the past.

[BillN]

Okay, I'm at 197.5 today (Monday)--which is freaking odd, because yesterday morning I was at 192.6, and I monitored my calories and ate only about 2,200 yesterday, which is a maintenance amount for me (also ran 4 miles on Saturday and walked 2.5 yesterday).

My goal is 185 and I've been working on it for about four years now, when I had a heart attack and was at about 217.

The ugly part of this is that we're going to New Orleans in two weeks. I gained 7 pounds in 4 days last time I was there. I don't know how I'm going to avoid that.

Well, the nice thing is that it's physically impossible to gain five pounds in a 24 hour period. This is normal variation based on water intake, sodium intake, alcohol consumption, etc.

[C.Dubs]

Well, the nice thing is that it's physically impossible to gain five pounds in a 24 hour period.

[mebejoseph]

Well, the nice thing is that it's physically impossible to gain five pounds in a 24 hour period. This is normal variation based on water intake, sodium intake, alcohol consumption, etc.

Which explains why I'm at 192.6 today, I guess.

[Creature]

I am just seeing this thread and want in on it. I’m 6‘4“ him probably around 215 right now. My “fighting weight“ is 205. Here is my unsolicited advice:

I want to bring up something I haven’t seen mentioned yet first. Weight is not everything. Body composition plays a huge factor in this. E.g. If you’re someone who has not done a lot of weight training and you start weight training to lose weight you’re likely going to put on pounds from building muscle.

I would highly recommend people either take body fat measurements or take pictures to help track the type of weight that you’re losing. A cut I did a few years ago, over a few months time my weight went from 208 down to 206, but my body fat percentage went from 9 to 6. Not much difference on the scale, but the before and after pictures are much different.

I totally agree tracking your food and being consistent are key. If you’re going to track things, make sure you weigh them until you have a good understanding of how much your serving sizes are. A lot of people just estimate when tracking their food in there guesses are way off. Make sure you’re eating enough while keeping a small caloric deficit, starving yourself will do more harm than help. Eat real food whenever possible. Maybe try eating a little bit more around structured activity and a little less when you’re not doing physical activity.

Get as much activity in as you can throughout the day (going on walks, using the stairs, even using a basket instead of the cart at the grocery store), don’t just rely on a few gym sessions throughout the week. I’m a huge proponent of weight training, GPP and playing sports. I’m sure long-distance running works for some people, just not something I enjoy.

Have fun!

[KAHicks]

I would like to join in if no one objects. I am 6'3" and 222 right now. I was over 230 five months ago but have started running and swimming 4-5 times a week during my lunch breaks, which has definitely helped. I am not looking for a specific target weight, but I want to keep working on my body fat percentage due to some concerns with family history.

I've been a Dappered reader since around 2009 or 2010 but have never joined in on Threads until now, so thanks for pulling together a discussion that pushed me to join.

[calexako]

I lost 65 lbs this year. I would be happy to answer any questions, share my philosophy (sorry for using large words, I'm greek and we love using our words in other languages) and help out any way that I can.

[Brent k]

I haven't been here since early 2016 but I saw this on the main site. While I'm not trying to get involved with the style aspect anymore I realize I should probably drop some weight. Current stats

Age - 32
Height 5'10" barely
Weight - 234lbs

My strength is back and up pretty well but I am soft in the mid section and my face stores my fat. I still stay pretty active but I feel sugar and white carbs to include booze are my main down falls. Will type more when I have more free time.

[Brent k]

I lost 65 lbs this year. I would be happy to answer any questions, share my philosophy (sorry for using large words, I'm greek and we love using our words in other languages) and help out and help out any way that I can.

Did you have a specific plan you followed?

[DocDave]

I would like to join in if no one objects. I am 6'3" and 222 right now. I was over 230 five months ago but have started running and swimming 4-5 times a week during my lunch breaks, which has definitely helped. I am not looking for a specific target weight, but I want to keep working on my body fat percentage due to some concerns with family history.

I've been a Dappered reader since around 2009 or 2010 but have never joined in on Threads until now, so thanks for pulling together a discussion that pushed me to join.

Welcome to the forums! Glad to have you aboard the weightloss train with us

I lost 65 lbs this year. I would be happy to answer any questions, share my philosophy (sorry for using large words, I'm greek and we love using our words in other languages) and help out and help out any way that I can.

Yes! I have some questions. Mainly how did you go about doing it? Did you join WeightWatchers? Change up your diet completely (i.e. go paleo or something like that)? And if you're Greek I know the Greeks love their food, so losing the weight must have been hard for you. Again, I'm interested in hearing what you did you loose the weight.

I haven't been here since early 2016 but I saw this on the main site. While I'm not trying to get involved with the style aspect anymore I realize I should probably drop some weight. Current stats

Age - 32
Height 5'10" barely
Weight - 234lbs

My strength is back and up pretty well but I am soft in the mid section and my face stores my fat. I still stay pretty active but I feel sugar and white carbs to include booze are my main down falls. Will type more when I have more free time.

Brent! Welcome back. Glad we found a topic to pique your interest Seriously though, I have similar weight issues to you. My mid section is pretty soft. I need to start working on stomach muscles to bring some definition there. The difference between you and me though is I store fat/weight around my gut not my face.

[calexako]

So my original stats were:

Weight-266lbs (121kg).
Height-6'-2 (1.89m).
OG Body fat- 31%

I started working out in July of 2017, doing it 3 times per week. Up until January, even though i had lost a lot of body fat and built some muscle I was pretty much the same weight, roughly at 261 lbs

The reason behind it was that my diet was pretty much crap. I never cooked and ate out 90% of the time. Gyros, pizza, burgers, subway,potbelly etc were pretty much. I found my daily caloric maintenance standard and started tracking my calories and cooking my food. I tried to keep a net negative on calories in vs calories out. After regulating my calories, and continuing to work out, i could see my body changing. I dropped the weight pretty easily after that. My diet consisted of what I could cook, which was sweet potatoes, rice, chicken, salmon,steaks, salads. I am not the best cook but the use of spices has helped me a lot to make my food taste better.

All in all, in my opinion it is important to track your calories and be in a caloric deficit. At the bare minimum, it will help you understand how many calories are in your food, especially junk food. What i found out is that it is all math and willpower.

Current stats:
Height-6'2"
Weight-203 lbs
Current Body Fat-17.8%