weight loss

[Erik A]

So i have finally put down my bad erg form at the moment to my weight.
when i did my arm injury i weighed in at roughly 112kg (down from roughly 130kg). this was after a period of cross fit (also included diet )and then sustained erg program.
after i did my arm i quickly popped back up to 126kg and sat there for roughly 9 months until i got clearance to get back on the erg and have since struggled with motivation etc along with some other health issues.
well im currently doing a 30 day challenge with my wife , two sisters and a brother in law.
just watching what i eat ie low to no carbs, 2 meals a day and no to very low sugar
weighed in at 126.4 kg on day 1.
after week 1 i weighed in at 120.9kg so a loss of 5.5kg or just over 12lbs
my goal is to get to under 100kg
with the weight reduction i am looking forward to better erg form and times

[thomasbaerten]

You should not avoid carbs. You'll lose weight on the short term, but on the long term your metabolism will slow down and the weight will come back.

You lost 5,5 kg on 1 week. That is WAY too much.

You can start with https://tdeecalculator.net/. It will estimate the amount of calories you need to keep the weight your have right now. Aim at 300-500 calories below this for a reasonable calorie deficit. It will allow you to lose the weight at healthy speed. (0.5-1 KG per week).

Use myfitnesspal to monitor what you eat. Or just be sensible when it comes to eating carbs and food in general.
A plate of pasta with chicken and some vegetables isn't bad. Just don't go for seconds or thirds on the pasta.

Good luck!

[8sWwr2]

Cutting carbs and sugar is the way to go. Another side to what you eat, is when you eat. Compressing your eating schedule, skipping one of the meals at the ends (breakfast, or dinner) increases your fast from the last meal of the day until the first meal of the next day. The one two benefits of both of those will work. Look up time-restricted eating.

[estragon]

You should not avoid carbs. You'll lose weight on the short term, but on the long term your metabolism will slow down and the weight will come back.

You lost 5,5 kg on 1 week. That is WAY too much.

You can start with https://tdeecalculator.net/. It will estimate the amount of calories you need to keep the weight your have right now. Aim at 300-500 calories below this for a reasonable calorie deficit. It will allow you to lose the weight at healthy speed. (0.5-1 KG per week).

Use myfitnesspal to monitor what you eat. Or just be sensible when it comes to eating carbs and food in general.
A plate of pasta with chicken and some vegetables isn't bad. Just don't go for seconds or thirds on the pasta.

Good luck!

It''s horses for courses, Thomas. The mountain of evidence in favour of low carb diets keeps growing. And not just for weight loss. Personally, I've found a low-carb regime to offer a significant boost to motivation, energy and clear-headedness. Many people report an improvement in other health conditions, notably Type 2 Diabetes. A strict low carb diet can actually reverse Diabetes, as has been shown in many studies. Remember that low carb does not mean 'no carb'. Apart from the first 2 weeks or so, when you're advised to stick below 20g of carbs a day, all low carb diets include carbs. But it's true that some very high carb foods like pasta, bread, potatoes, beer etc. are not advised. And processed foods are mostly out the window. But most veg contain some carbs and most veg is allowed, in fact encouraged.

I'm not a doctor or sports scientist but I'm guessing there are benefits for 'normal' sized athletes in eating carbs after exercise. But for weight loss, there are few better regimes to follow than a low carb, high fat diet, especially to shift a lot of surplus weight. The results can be amazing. If you weigh 126 kg, as Erik did, there's nothing remarkable about losing 5.5 kg in week one. Obviously that won't be repeated in week 2 or beyond, but can easily become a steady 1-2 kg a week for quite a few weeks.

[Erik A]

i have had a month or so doing a diet log on myfitness pal and have also done the calories per day thing to sustain my weight.
going over my food log the glaringly obvious food to me was way too much sugar and way too much carbs so i cut them down to size. i am now into my second week of this and have had a a side effect of being very tired over the last couple of days. i put this down to the reduction in sugar more than anything else (could be the alcohol overload on friday night ). it will be interesting to see what my drop is this week but as mentioned i doubt it will be as large as the first weeks. I am a great believer in moderation in diet rather than any specific diet but while i understand this i tend not to follow it and indulge a bit at times.... well ok a lot.
time to get it under control and feel and perform better for the long term

[thomasbaerten]

It''s horses for courses, Thomas. The mountain of evidence in favour of low carb diets keeps growing. And not just for weight loss. Personally, I've found a low-carb regime to offer a significant boost to motivation, energy and clear-headedness. Many people report an improvement in other health conditions, notably Type 2 Diabetes. A strict low carb diet can actually reverse Diabetes, as has been shown in many studies. Remember that low carb does not mean 'no carb'. Apart from the first 2 weeks or so, when you're advised to stick below 20g of carbs a day, all low carb diets include carbs. But it's true that some very high carb foods like pasta, bread, potatoes, beer etc. are not advised. And processed foods are mostly out the window. But most veg contain some carbs and most veg is allowed, in fact encouraged.

I'm not a doctor or sports scientist but I'm guessing there are benefits for 'normal' sized athletes in eating carbs after exercise. But for weight loss, there are few better regimes to follow than a low carb, high fat diet, especially to shift a lot of surplus weight. The results can be amazing. If you weigh 126 kg, as Erik did, there's nothing remarkable about losing 5.5 kg in week one. Obviously that won't be repeated in week 2 or beyond, but can easily become a steady 1-2 kg a week for quite a few weeks.

True, but since he said "low to no carb" it just wanted to clarify that no carbs is not optimal. As you said there are benefits in eating carbs after exercise, especially for athletes. And since he is rowing...
Also, I also don't suggest drinking beer to meet your carb needs. Whole grain pasta is a better choice

I also did a low carb period but found it did't work well for me. Now i'm eating a oatmeal 3-4 times a week and pasta/rice 2-3 times a week. In moderation. My training has improved and the weight/fat is slowly coming off.

Either way, as long as you feel healthy: keep going!

[jamesg]

I find best the mediterranean diet but not too much of it. It's not only quality that governs, but also Thermodynamics. In the West we have available something like 4000 kCal per head per day average; but to need that amount we'd have to row maybe 3 hours a day or something similar.

[Erik A]

as expected i had a small gain on the second week... that carb and sugar overload from the alcohol must have been more than i thought
beer and Schnapps hurt a lot after a hard night . anyway this week im back on track and down a couple of kgs but will confirm that at the weigh in tomorrow morning. its a long path to get to the end. and i have the added excitement of an exercise ECG this week to check my heart again after a suspect week with funny goings on.

[nates]

My grandma passed away years ago, but I got her cookie jar, and it sits on top of my fridge. And whenever it rattles I long for it to be filled with ginger snaps like when I was a kid. (As good as they are in milk, they're incredible in Dt Mt Dew.) But I missed working out a couple days this week. And also slacked off a bit on the diet end. So not this week.

[Gabe_G]

You can't out train a bad diet. You can't even out train a good diet if you are eating too much, although this is more difficult to do if you avoid caloric dense foods. One of the most important things I ever learned (through self experimentation - slow learner here) was that you shouldn't abuse exercise as a means to eat more food. It may work at first, but eventually you start over training (or under recovering) and you start a domino effect. 500kcal of exercise can become 750, because "Then I can eat more!" and bad things start to happen. You can easily drop body fat by just lifting a few days a week and nothing else, if your diet is in check. Of course, we still want cardio to keep the heart healthy, but we don't want to overdo it. At least, not unless you are training to be an ultra endurance athlete.

Best advice I can give is that you should learn to love non-starchy vegetables and make them a staple of your diet. Provided you don't over-compensate by eating a bunch of caloric dense foods (usually junk food), you should have no problem being comfortable while losing fat.

I also second the advice of the person that advised against cutting out all carbs. This is not a good strategy if you plan to train with some amount of intensity. If you only lift weights, you can get away with this just fine, or if you keep intensity very low on your cardio sessions. But if you ever want to do a few HIIT sessions, or just HIT in general, your top end will be missing that extra gear. From my personal experience, Keto isn't any better than other caloric restriction diets. As long as the protein is sufficient, the other two macro nutrients don't seem to have much impacts when it comes to actual fat loss. Keto does, however, drop a ton of water weight. But this can actually make you look worse, as you drop 70% of muscle glycogen over a short period to operate in essentially a "depleted" mode. If you train like that, expect to get comments from people who see you regularly, saying how "gaunt" you look.

I don't bash Keto, I think it is a viable way to lose weight (ultimately through caloric restriction), because the body is so complex and versatile, that it knows what to do in each situation; it cane make the best of a bad situation. Unfortunately there is a lot of dogmatic thinking in fitness circles that often times "optimal" is relabeled as "The only way!". In other words, you can make Keto work, but it might not be the best way. But if it works for you, great. I love the rule of individuality. If you are getting results, it doesn't really matter if you are outside of the theoretical optimal circle of fitness experts.

[Johnny6162]

So i have finally put down my bad erg form at the moment to my weight.
when i did my arm injury i weighed in at roughly 112kg (down from roughly 130kg). this was after a period of cross fit (also included diet )and then sustained erg program.
after i did my arm i quickly popped back up to 126kg and sat there for roughly 9 months until i got clearance to get back on the erg and have since struggled with motivation etc along with some other health issues.
well im currently doing a 30 day challenge with my wife , two sisters and a brother in law.
just watching what i eat ie low to no carbs, 2 meals a day and no to very low sugar
weighed in at 126.4 kg on day 1.
after week 1 i weighed in at 120.9kg so a loss of 5.5kg or just over 12lbs
my goal is to get to under 100kg
with the weight reduction i am looking forward to better erg form and times

How's things Erik?

I wandered away from rowing but came back about a week ago! All is going well.

[Erik A]

So i have finally put down my bad erg form at the moment to my weight.
when i did my arm injury i weighed in at roughly 112kg (down from roughly 130kg). this was after a period of cross fit (also included diet )and then sustained erg program.
after i did my arm i quickly popped back up to 126kg and sat there for roughly 9 months until i got clearance to get back on the erg and have since struggled with motivation etc along with some other health issues.
well im currently doing a 30 day challenge with my wife , two sisters and a brother in law.
just watching what i eat ie low to no carbs, 2 meals a day and no to very low sugar
weighed in at 126.4 kg on day 1.
after week 1 i weighed in at 120.9kg so a loss of 5.5kg or just over 12lbs
my goal is to get to under 100kg
with the weight reduction i am looking forward to better erg form and times

How's things Erik?

I wandered away from rowing but came back about a week ago! All is going well.

Been a year of trials what with my arm injury then masses of work stress then what appeared to be heart issues but may just be stress related. So just getting back to a more manageable weight and trying to get some erging in along the way. Down to 118kg at the moment still got a way to go.

[Johnny6162]

My stats need updating too. 53 years old now but happily 107kg now. Aiming to drop under 100kg

[Erik A]

nice ... i really struggled after getting back from my arm issue (partially tore my bicep tendon) total loss of strength. went from doing 40,50 and 60 min sessions at around 1:55 splits to struggling to do 15 mins at better than 2:10. ended up doing 6 or 8 5 min with 2r to manage my lack of fitness and strength.

[Dangerscouse]

My stats need updating too. 53 years old now but happily 107kg now. Aiming to drop under 100kg

Sounds like a good sustainable weight loss too, which is important