Help, Need To Lose Weight

[Lost in LOS]

Help

I am 65yo, in good shape, although need to lose some weight. I am 185.5cm and 96 kilos [6'1" and 211#]. I ride my bicycle 8 kilometers everyday, and weight lift light weights, high reps 3X a week. I drink alcohol at the minimum, dring mainly water, no sodas.

Here is my dilema. Before going on my yearly trip to america I normaly weighed 93 kilos. I eat okay, sometimes good and sometimes bad [my one and only vice is food]. I have a sweet tooth that I have trouble with, and ate cookies, cake or candy daily. With my working out, even with my bad diet I kept to 93 kilos although my optimal weight would be 90 kilos.

When I was in america for two weeks [probally my last trip there] I ate all my favorite foods, and being american food, I gained 3 kilos. I came back to thailand at 96 kilos.

I knew I had to do something and quick so I went on my verison of a diet [that I could live with] for two weeks. No sweets at all except for popcorn at the movies once a week.

for two weeks I ate:

no cookies, candy or cake [extremely hard to do for me] only popcorn twice

breakest as usual: oatmeal/porrage with raisons and a bannana [probally shouldnt eat oatmeal as I am alergic to wheat]

lunch: Ate what I wanted within reason, but cut down on carbs like rice and bread and pasta

dinner: 80% of the time, ministrone soup or Pomelo fruit. 20% of the time eating as before [thai dish and rice or Pizza or pasta]

workout as usual.

After two weeks of this, instead of being the 96 kilos I was before starting this change in eating, I weighed my self expecting to have lost the 3 kilos. I gained one kilo and am now at 97 :-(

Thanks for any Help

[And please remember I really love food and am hungry all day, food is my only real vice]

[geriatrickid]

Have you considered that this weight may be due to;

1. Excess liquids or,

2. Additional muscle mass (from working out)

3. A broken scale?

Give it some more time.

[Lost in LOS]

Have you considered that this weight may be due to;

1. Excess liquids or, liquids same as usual

2. Additional muscle mass (from working out) yes but it still should have gone down some

3. A broken scale? scale top quality and working well

Give it some more time.

[brit1984]

Breakfast: a banana is not enough protein (this is why you feel hungry all day)

Lunch: you don't provide enough detail to comment

Dinner: are you sure about the "20%" pizza/pasta (even 20% is too much if you want to lose weight)

Don't forget one's metabolism declines with age so you need to make adjustments over time

Also, your exercise programme needs to be more focused on high tempo cardio work

[robblok]

Breakfast: a banana is not enough protein (this is why you feel hungry all day)

Lunch: you don't provide enough detail to comment

Dinner: are you sure about the "20%" pizza/pasta (even 20% is too much if you want to lose weight)

Don't forget one's metabolism declines with age so you need to make adjustments over time

Also, your exercise programme needs to be more focused on high tempo cardio work

Your right about breakfast and dinner, not right about high tempo cardio work. That is old school, just lifting weights helps. Its even better to combine them but lifting weights preserves muscle. Loosing muscle means you loose metabolic rate so your in a downward spiral.

I agree he has to give it more time. But the only thing that will really help is really logging the callories. That means weighing and preparing your food.

[filguy]

looks like you love eating..so i suggest you do intense workout with your eating lifestyle..

- lift heavy..do it 6 times a week..do compound exercises like bench press, squat, deadlift..sweat it out on these! and log your workout using www.fitocracy.com ...you can get support from this site.

- watch out your food intake..list down the food you ate and approximate their calories.. reduce your calories about 500 a day.

- drink lots of water before you eat..

- try intermittent fasting..start with 16 hours without food..8 hours with food..try these during weekdays.. basically no breakfast..if you are not hungy, dont eat..if your hungry, drink only water..

hope this help

[Lost in LOS]

thanks for all the replies

suggested breakfast? If not oatmeal and bannana, then what?

[brit1984]

thanks for all the replies

suggested breakfast? If not oatmeal and bannana, then what?

For breakfast I recommend an omelette (or two) and no reason to stop at one banana (unless someone more knowledgeable than me tells us there is health risk from the potassium)

[Lost in LOS]

thanks for all the replies

suggested breakfast? If not oatmeal and bannana, then what?

For breakfast I recommend an omelette (or two) and no reason to stop at one banana (unless someone more knowledgeable than me tells us there is health risk from the potassium)

I have read in many places it is not good to eat fruit with protien together as it makes the fruit rot in the gut? I think I will try just an omelete for breakfast, no fruit, no bread, no potatoes, only coffee and see how that works out

[robblok]

thanks for all the replies

suggested breakfast? If not oatmeal and bannana, then what?

For me oatmeal works quite good. I doubt the statement about fruit and protein rotting. Our body is much more advanced then that. But if you go for an omelet make sure you dont make one with bacon. Make it with as less fat as possible not a Thai omelet soaking in oil.

But in the end its all about calories in and out. You will never know how much you eat if you never log it. There are webapplications for it and apps for phones ect. I have used that for a while and because i eat similar all the time i stopped logging. But if i change it up ill log it again. It does help to weigh everything a few times and see how much your really consuming.

[glbv]

Wow some of the recommendations here.... this guys 65. Now thats not old but lifting heavy 6 days a week? deadlifting benching? Im 100% all for people to hit the gym and im there 5-6 days a week and im 23.

Reduce your calories that's all there is to it, if you want to get serious go to any of the major stores and pick up an electronic scale. Its quite difficult to eat out as often as most bangkokians and lose kilos as thai food in general is very calorie dense.

This guy just wants to lose 6 kilos if i read correctly and thats extremely obtainable in 2 months a maximum.

As fitguy said look into intermittent fasting. Currently im cutting at 2750 calories and i consume 2300 for my dinner. Thats comprised of 3 egg and cheese sandwiches and generally a homemade Indian curry. Im losing 1kg 1 week.

[Lost in LOS]

ate an omelet for breakfast today with coffee, didnt eat the potatoes. I will see how that goes. One of my main problems is my brain never tells my stomach its full, if I like the taste I keep eating. Gotta get less put on my plate, I am old scholll and taught to eat everything on my plate

I gotta try and cut down on the food intake. Hard to do more at the gym, I worked out all my life in sports along with weight training, hard to keep it up mentally at this age. [Most people think I am in my early 50's]

I have an electronic scale, and unfortunatly it doesnt lie

[robblok]

ate an omelet for breakfast today with coffee, didnt eat the potatoes. I will see how that goes. One of my main problems is my brain never tells my stomach its full, if I like the taste I keep eating. Gotta get less put on my plate, I am old scholll and taught to eat everything on my plate

I gotta try and cut down on the food intake. Hard to do more at the gym, I worked out all my life in sports along with weight training, hard to keep it up mentally at this age. [Most people think I am in my early 50's]

I have an electronic scale, and unfortunatly it doesnt lie

I am old school too when its about food. But i found a way to eat less is to eat less then wait say 20 minutes and see if you need more. It takes the brain around 20 minutes to register your full. If you eat fast like i do that will never register.

[filguy]

Wow some of the recommendations here.... this guys 65. Now thats not old but lifting heavy 6 days a week? deadlifting benching? Im 100% all for people to hit the gym and im there 5-6 days a week and im 23.

Reduce your calories that's all there is to it, if you want to get serious go to any of the major stores and pick up an electronic scale. Its quite difficult to eat out as often as most bangkokians and lose kilos as thai food in general is very calorie dense.

This guy just wants to lose 6 kilos if i read correctly and thats extremely obtainable in 2 months a maximum.

As fitguy said look into intermittent fasting. Currently im cutting at 2750 calories and i consume 2300 for my dinner. Thats comprised of 3 egg and cheese sandwiches and generally a homemade Indian curry. Im losing 1kg 1 week.

IF really works for me...required daily calories for me is about 2500..if i fast for 24 hours..then workout for 1 hr (about 800-1000 calorie lost) i can loose about 1 lb since 1 lb is about 3500 calories in 1 day.. I just drink lot of water...i do this once a week..

[filguy]

ate an omelet for breakfast today with coffee, didnt eat the potatoes. I will see how that goes. One of my main problems is my brain never tells my stomach its full, if I like the taste I keep eating. Gotta get less put on my plate, I am old scholll and taught to eat everything on my plate

I gotta try and cut down on the food intake. Hard to do more at the gym, I worked out all my life in sports along with weight training, hard to keep it up mentally at this age. [Most people think I am in my early 50's]

I have an electronic scale, and unfortunatly it doesnt lie

You can do it! just like this..

[robblok]

Great shape for an old guy. I wish i was as ripped.

[rak sa_ngop]

I think the problem is that your metabolism slows down as you get older, but your apetite does not.

Probably a great survival mechanism for a cave man but not so good for modern life.

I have the same problem controlling my weight: 58 years old with a resting pulse rate of 60 or less.

I think the answer is to increase your metabolism combined with controlling your calorie intake. This means regular endurance excercise (fast walking, cycling, running, swimming) as well as muscle building exercises.

Easy to say, but difficult to achieve as you get older.

[Sheryl]

I empathize with your dilemma, same thing happens to me each year when I go back yo the US. it's the pyschology of "this is my only chance to eat XYZ for a year" that does me in.

You need to be realistic in your goals, though. It is likely to take more like 2 months than 2 weeks to lose 3 kg. Keep working at it and you will lose it, but slowly.

[robblok]

I empathize with your dilemma, same thing happens to me each year when I go back yo the US. it's the pyschology of "this is my only chance to eat XYZ for a year" that does me in.

You need to be realistic in your goals, though. It is likely to take more like 2 months than 2 weeks to lose 3 kg. Keep working at it and you will lose it, but slowly.

3 kg in 2 weeks is possible if your real overweight.. but if its only a little bit its a tall order to fill.I know i wanted to loose weight as fast as possible. Now im nearing my goal i want it slower so i can be sure im not burning muscle. I still think i got 3 months to go. Loosing weight is a long term game. Short term loss is hard to if your not really overweight.

[Neha]

You can lose 3 kg by cutting out carbs but that wont' be fat loss, it will be water weight. When you reintroduce carbs, you will gain that weight back.

As others have suggested, I think it's important to have a LOT of protein in your diet. Learn what foods contain protein (meat mostly, dairy a little, egg whites and many more) This will help you feel full throughout the day and protein is an essential nutrient which will help spare muscle as you lose fat. Have lots of fibrous veggies too - like broccoli. This will slow down your digestion. Limit your portions of carbs and fat, but don't cut them out completely. Basically make sure more than half of your calories from the meal are coming from protein.

I see your omelette is fine. However remember that eggs have equal amounts of fat and protein, so you will get for example 5g protein but also 5g fat (unless you are only eating the whites). Protein has 4 calories per gram, fat has 9 calories per gram.

You can use something like fitday.com to track your meals for maybe a week to learn what you are eating and the highest sources of protein.

The bottom line does come down to this - have chicken or fish for every meal with lots of vegetables like broccoli, peppers, cabbage, etc. Have maybe 1/2 cup of rice or potatoes with this. Simplest advice I can give, and it will work if you follow it.

All the best and good on you for making the effort to lose fat.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Neha

[tropo]

and no reason to stop at one banana

I can think of a few reasons...

1. He's trying to lose weight and should avoid simple carbs because they can easily convert to fat.

2. He's 65 and probably insulin resistance.

I would say one would be more than enough.

Edited May 9, 2012 by tropo

[tropo]

Great shape for an old guy. I wish i was as ripped.

It wouldn't be difficult for you if you were using the amount of drugs that old guy is.

[tropo]

Wow some of the recommendations here.... this guys 65. Now thats not old but lifting heavy 6 days a week? deadlifting benching? Im 100% all for people to hit the gym and im there 5-6 days a week and im 23.

I was about to post something along these lines when the site went offline yesterday.

Anyway, 65 is old when it comes to lifting weights and to suggest a 65 year old should be lifting heavy and doing squats, deadlifts and bench presses is absurd. He'll end up crippled and all he wants to do is lose 3kg or so.

[robblok]

Great shape for an old guy. I wish i was as ripped.

It wouldn't be difficult for you if you were using the amount of drugs that old guy is.

I don't know of many drugs that help you shed weight. Just a few the standard ones used in bodybuilder circles but even those are no magic pills, they will help only a little bit at best. Its easier to stay big with drugs then to stay small. But both require a lot of dedication in the gym.

I applaud this guy, can you tell me why you think he is taking drugs, i suspect testosterone replacement

[Lost in LOS]

The omelet thing just wasn't for me, I felt like a pig in the morning, although it did help with the starving at lunch. I am going back to oatmeal, raisins and a banana. Listening to all about protein i will wait two hours and then eat some chicken white meat for a tiny snack of protein. sound right?

[robblok]

You just have to do what works for you. You should never really force food on yourself. If you do that its pretty sure you wont be able to keep to your diet. But i don't see a problem of eating protein with fruit. But yes white chicken meat is great. If you got problems with that you might try protein shakes. (solid foods fill better as protein shakes)

Personally i found 500gram pots of yoghurt that i mix with 100 grams of musli and a scoop of protein powder. That is one of my meals.

[Lost in LOS]

You just have to do what works for you. You should never really force food on yourself. If you do that its pretty sure you wont be able to keep to your diet. But i don't see a problem of eating protein with fruit. But yes white chicken meat is great. If you got problems with that you might try protein shakes. (solid foods fill better as protein shakes)

Personally i found 500gram pots of yoghurt that i mix with 100 grams of musli and a scoop of protein powder. That is one of my meals.

when in America for two weeks a year I eat yoghurt, with fruit and granola for breakfast. Just cant get it where I go in the morning so try the best alternative

[glbv]

Theres a yogurt here called Caroline/Carolina(sp?) 500g blue tub, great ratios for calories and very smooth. I mix x2 scoops of protein and half a packet of fatfree jello pudding mix then chill it for 15 minutes or so in the freezer mixing every once in awhile. Boom protein icecream right there.

In the states I used to use an actual ice cream machine and a mixture of almond milk protein powder and some xantium gum and it was true ice cream.

[robblok]

Theres a yogurt here called Caroline/Carolina(sp?) 500g blue tub, great ratios for calories and very smooth. I mix x2 scoops of protein and half a packet of fatfree jello pudding mix then chill it for 15 minutes or so in the freezer mixing every once in awhile. Boom protein icecream right there.

In the states I used to use an actual ice cream machine and a mixture of almond milk protein powder and some xantium gum and it was true ice cream.

That is the yogurt i use,, too bad its out of stock often.

[tropo]

Great shape for an old guy. I wish i was as ripped.

It wouldn't be difficult for you if you were using the amount of drugs that old guy is.

I don't know of many drugs that help you shed weight. Just a few the standard ones used in bodybuilder circles but even those are no magic pills, they will help only a little bit at best. Its easier to stay big with drugs then to stay small. But both require a lot of dedication in the gym.

I applaud this guy, can you tell me why you think he is taking drugs, i suspect testosterone replacement

He's taking more than "testosterone replacement" amounts. That would be obvious by the amount of muscle he's carrying for his ripe old age.

When you're stripping fat through diet and exercise, the testosterone helps you to hold onto the muscle and even increase it.

The thick vascularity is a sign of other drugs besides straight testosterone. Check out his nipples. I'd put money down he's on GH, testosterone and anabolics. He's not on HRT doses.

It still takes a lot of dedication, but what I was saying is that it would be easier for YOU to achieve your results with the quantity of supplementary chemicals that guy is on.