1 Year weight gain

[IanMachin]

Hi all

So my story began in October 2015, It started with a conversation and a "i could beat your time" challenge for 1.5miles race. Since that day I and this other person ran and challenged each other and i began to feel fit, healthy and was a comfortable 12 stone.

February 2016 I had an operation so was unable to run and be active, I started again mildy in April but had on and off periods due to losing my fitness and drive.
Since October 2015 I have but on gradually 1.8stone in weight and have started running again December 2016 as I have booked a 1/2 marathon in liverpool this year (now i have no choice but to train!)

My struggles with running I thought was because i was unfit from my downtime but turns out after going see the nurse recently the pains in my chest and feeling of someone grabbing my inards and squeezing is actually asthma, I am not fully treated yet we are doing breathing tests to determine what i need exactly, so for now i run uncomfortably with this harsh feeling in my chest.

My diet is good i think, (thought). 

Typically in the week my diet consists of:

Breakfast or toast before work & 1 coffee (5:30am)

Break time Belvita biscuit and muller light yogurt (9.30am)

Dinner Salad(tuna or ham) or a Tuna/ham salad sandwich (12.00)

Break belvita biscut and x1 carton orange or apple juice

Tea time nice meal from chicken tikka to lasagne

In general my dialy calorie intake is 16-1900, my fitbit app says to lose 1lb a week i should be eating 2375 calories per week.

I am still putting around 1lb a week on and i use fitbit scales too.

I am looking for advise on losing 1.5-1.8 stone, not necessarily quickly I am a patient man but would like it by the summer.

If fitbit's advised calorie per day is correct, without having a few beers in the evening i don't know how i can eat that much without eating rubbish.

I hope all that makes sense, any advice welcome 🙂

[_Lilac_]

I am in the same boat as you. I am a very large woman so when I exercise I burn a ton of calories. My typical day I get 10,000 steps at a good clip and fitbit tells me I burn about 3500-3800 calories. With a 1000 deficit for losing 2lb/wk, I should be eating 2500-2800 calories?? I just can't!! That's too much. I am not a huge eater and I eat really good food. I can't justify eating huge portions of food or junk. I am more than comfortable at 1700-1800 intake. 2000 calories is a 'hungry' day for me. I think the numbers are really high. I'm now just sticking with what feels good to my tummy without starving myself, making sure I eat enough protein, carbs, dairy, veggies, fruit, etc. Good luck with the training. Listen to your body as to what is filling and nutritious for you. I really do think the numbers are high.

[IanMachin]

I don't get it, I went for a run today now i need to consume 3225, is that ever right? Trying to lose weight, eat healthy, run but eat more? #confused

By the way, worst run to date since christmas, my chest was so so tight!

My steps per day vary from 6k (new office job, opposed to my previous 13k a day production job)

[_Lilac_]

Fitbit is calculating the amount of calories burned for your amount of activity and heartrate during the run, based on your height, weight, age, gender, etc.  If your chest was hurting and you had a struggle with oxygen due to asthma, your heartrate might have been driven higher. Is your fitbit taking your heartrate? Do you check it during your run?

I have had asthma all my life. I am super sensitive to scented things so I can't use fabric softeners or make-up, perfumes, hair products or even strong anti-perspirants. You could make sure you aren't wearing any of that stuff when you are running to give yourself every chance of having fresh air for your lungs. It might help. 

[A_Lurker]

@IanMachin- I'd look closely at your counting just to make sure that your intake is valid.  It's so easy to be taking in just a little more than you think.  Toast sounds simple, but butter, jam, spread, or peanut butter with that?  I mention that because peanut butter is one of those excellent things to add to your diet, but can be hard to count.  I'm not a fan unless it's on a freshly toasted multi-grain bagel (yum), but if you look on the jar there will be a measurement for 1Tb and then a weight likely in brackets in grams.  Heap it even a little (and lick the spoon) and you can easily double the calories.  Same with coffee - if you're taking it black, no issues.  Adding cream and/or sugar can push up the calories pretty high as well.

Is dinner coming from take-out, frozen dinners, or homemade?  Restaurant foods can be much higher in things like fat and sodium.  Homemade can be tough to calculate, but in the end is better for you.  I'm only saying that because from your list I see a lot of processed foods (especially if the evening meals are frozen dinners). 

I had to look up the Belvita biscuits, and don't get me wrong, I resort to protein bars some mornings myself.  However, if you have the ability to keep your snacks cold, consider googling some recipes for overnight oats to replace the belvita and the light yogurt in the morning.  I'm not a milk/yogurt person, but if I were I would definitely make the swap.  Afternoon snack, keep the biscuits and add some actual fruit.  You're taking apple and orange so there is likely not any added sugar, however, you're not getting the benefit of the actual fruit.

As @_Lilac_ already mentioned, if you're using a fitbit with HR it is generally considered that it may be a little high.  I didn't consider the asthma until she mentioned it, but it definitely could be increasing your burn based on an elevated heart rate.  Step trackers alone may be a little low.  I've been wearing both an Alta and a Charge 2 for a little while now and I'm wondering if my own actual is somewhere in between. 

So, make sure your intake is good, and if you feel that it is then you can adjust to get the result you want.  Just be careful not to eat too little.  It may affect your training and your weight loss as well.  I usually tell people to put their information into here:  http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/bmr/  It will give you a general idea if your daily calorie burns are close.

[GershonSurge]

@IanMachin,

I've never seen the calorie equation fail, and I've heard of few instances where it fails. The reason you gained weight is most likely because you ate more than you burned. One exception is a thyroid condition, but checking for that is a part of standard blood tests.

Personally, I wouldn't be so sure your asthma is a lung condition and not a heart condition. (Don't panic.) Many heart conditions are not caught by EKG's. If your total cholesterol is above 150, and especially if it is above 200, then you likely have the beginnings of atherosclerosis. Same thing if your blood pressure is above about 140/100. Your weight is also a major risk factor. Taking blood pressure drugs or chloresterol drugs have little effect except in rare extremely high values.

You can lose your weight and most likely get all facets of your health back by eating a Whole Food Plant Based Diet high in starches. Don't take my word for it. Here are some references for the experts.

1. I suggest starting with buying and watching PlantPure Nation on Amazon. This is based on the work of Dr. T. Colin Campbell and others. The strong point of this video is the quick positive effect this way of eating had in a week or two for thousands of people.

2. Watch or listen to these 12 videos by Dr. McDougall. He has been studing ways of eating for about 39 years. His strength is in his ability to cover all the science in a relatively short time. His weakness is his manner is sometimes a little brusque. I think it's his frustration showing.

3. This will sound like a lot, but it really isn't. Start listening to this playlist of 200 videos by Dr. T. Colin Cambell. I recorded them, and I listen while I work out or run. They are repetitive, and that's good because the information sinks in. He has been studying ways of eating for about 60 years. (He is 84 last I heard.)

His strength is dispelling the value of reductionist research. This means studying one nutrient at a time outside of the context of the whole diet. It's easy to show some bad diets might improve some health marker while ignoring the fact the diets are killing people in many other ways.

You will also learn how the meat and dairy industry have heavily influenced the design and outcome of various reductionist studies. They are all essentially designed to sell something besides good health. 

This is all I can say to help. Detractors will come along and disagree, and I don't intend to enter that fray. You can listen to the people who have been doing the research for decades, or you can make small changes and get no place.

Good luck,

Gershon

[IanMachin]

Run yesterday soloRun today wife/mum

So here is some data from the run i did yesterday, The HR bit is quite interesting because i never considered checking that while running, im more focused on finishing than fiddling with things. I am running today also with the wife and my mum, big difference in terms of HR i think. I realised on my blaze i can change what is detailed on the watch face so i added my hr on there so will bare that in mind for solo runs.

I found running that slow today though very boring, i struggled on the first mile though felt like i was being stabbed under either side of my chest. after 1 mile that eased.

Some very interesting points in this post, i like it and appreciate all of your efforts. Thanks.

@_Lilac_ I noticed when i tried a summer run once that i ran past some flowers in the local park and i was nearly keeled over, i since just avoided that area in the park. So its interesting what you say about things that trigger you, how exactly do you figure that out? Trial and error? I dont suppose its an easy process?

@A_Lurker I used to have a lot of fruit, i would take about 1/3 of a pack of grapes, 3-4 easy pealers but then found the easy pealers flavour changed and went off them. That's why for now i changed to fruit drinks instead, i know what you mean though. I miss the sweet smell of an easy pealer in the morning 🙂

Great tip about the overnight oats! Just had a quick look and wow some look really nice, i think i will for sure give it a try.

Meals are all homemade with fresh ingredients, costly for a family of 5. Ouch!

One day i had toast with white bread (kids bread, because our's was gone) and ate it, nice, 600 calories for 3! Couldn't believe it. Nice though. 

Penut butter hey, i read about that somewhere too, never been a huge fan of it but well worth giving it a go. Not had any since i was a kid.

@GershonSurge Thank you for your suggestions too i will take everything i see and read on board and at least trial new things.

My bloody pressure was done when i had my initial spirometry test and was fine, not sure what fine was but the nurse said it was okay.

I will definitley look into the ideas you have come up with.

Well this post took a while to write and kept getting dragged away by the kids then going for a run. I hope i covered everything.

Thanks for all your help so far people.

[Dominique]

@IanMachin: I had a look at your profile for data during the past 30 days. On your activity graph, your yellow and red curves are almost flat and most of your activity is in the "light" category:

As a comparison, here is what mine looks like (my profile😞

Chances are you’re less active than you think you are, and correspondingly are expending less energy than you think you are (remember energy expenditure as reported by an activity tracker is an estimate).

It’s also possible your actual intake is higher than you think it is. As @GershonSurge pointed out, calories in vs. calories out is almost always valid. If you’ve been gaining weight, you’ve been eating too much for your activity level, or you’ve not been moving enough for your level of eating.

If you are serious about your forthcoming marathon, you should get your red and yellow activity curves up.

[GershonSurge]

@IanMachin,

I'd like you to look at the calorie burn. Yes, when you were running faster, you burned considerably more calories per minute, but that's not the whole story as you were in the cardio or peak range almost the whole time.

During the slow run, you stayed in the fat burn range for almost the whole time. 

So, what's the significance of this?

My reference is The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing by Dr. Phil Maffetone.

When your average heart rate is below 180 minus your age, you will burn 70% fat and 30% carbohydrates. Quite soon after exceeding this heart rate, you start burning 70% carbohydrates and 30% fat. 

During the first run, you burned 19 calories per minute. Of this, about 30% was fat, so you were burning about 5.3 calories a minute of fat and the rest carbs.

During the second run, you burned 14 calories per minute. Of this, about 70% was fat, so you were burning about 9.8 calories per minute of fat and the rest carbs.

So what? A calorie is a calorie, right? Not exactly. Hunger pangs are stimulated when we start running out of carbs. If you run slower, you will naturally crave less food and making the fat disappear by burning it.

The other great result is in a few months, you will be able to run the faster speed with the slower heart rate. Your endurance will increase dramatically as you won't run out of carbs for a looooong time. 

PS: Don't take any of Dr. Maffetone's diet advice. It may work for the top elite athletes, but not for us common folk. It will kill us.

[_Lilac_]

@IanMachin  My parents smoked when I was small. And I was so ill with asthma (even hospitalized) that they realized I had a problem with the smoke. My grade 7 male teacher wore cologne a lot and I'd always have an attack in his room. Then, if anyone sprayed air freshener around me, I'd have an attack so bad I couldn't breathe. Aerosols of any sort affect me. As a girl, I learned quickly that any 'beauty product' has perfumes. Dryer sheets/fabric softeners are killers. I can walk by a house as they are doing their laundry and I have an asthma attack (from the dryer exhaust being put out into the air). If I pass someone in the supermarket wearing cologne, my lips swell, my nose turns hot inside and I get the tickle in my lungs and start to sneeze and cough. Febreze is banned from my vicinity. A coworker and I once had to be rushed outside the office for fresh air after someone entered, having sprayed his coat with the stuff. If you are putting on freshly washed active wear and have used fabric softeners or dryer sheets, and then you go running, you are inhaling that stuff each breath you take and irritating your lungs. 

As for trial and error, I'd do a simple test with the most common things that you are using on your runs. Go sniff the washing powder/liquid/pods you are using. Does it give you the lung tickle or make you feel bad? Make sure you have inhalers with you when you do this!! Test your anti-perspirant. Asthma can definitely affect how you feel on your runs and your heartrate because your body is trying to get more oxygen. 

Good luck with this!

[auburn29]

I have just got a  boo called Intuitive eating on amazon and it has a book and CD it explains how you may not feel hungry. I have just come back from 2 weeks at biggest loser where becuase i am several stone ( 14lbs/) they made me eat over 2100 calories a day . I worked out for 2 weeks with 24 hours a week and only lost 2 lbs in two weeks. when i got back i ate when i needed too and felt like it three times a day working out for an hour each day. In 10 ays of coming back i lost abother 12 lbs and feel great! . I was never hungry there and do not feel hungry that often now but do eat three times a day but only about 1100 calories. The book says that i may be suffering from doing v low diets in the past but it seems to suit me to lose wt faster . But i have only just started reading the book so more with come through and the CD is good too try it it may be the answer for you  

[IanMachin]

@Dominique

If i may ask, what is your typical day in terms of activity?
My day to day has changed quite a bit in the last 6-8 weeks in terms of i now have a desk job in health and safety instead of my previous production on my feet all day job. I am not saying my new job is the cause of my battle as the whole 12 months i have had gained weight etc, but now i find myself trying to find excuses to get up and walk about but with not being fully trained yet or qualified (course pending) i struggle to find reason to move.

I start really early, I am up at 5 and out by 5:40 so morning runs etc would be difficult and in the evenings, well a family of 5 i really have to try to try and get out of the house.

Todays weigh in +2lb again. If i hit 14stone... Well, then i really don't know how to react, i am already at teh heaviest i have ever been. Very demoralising.

Again thanks all for your replies, i will get chance at work behind my computer to read them all in more detail.

[Dominique]

@IanMachin: I also have a desk job, but that’s about where our similarities stop. I’m self-employed, work from home and am single, so I definitely have more time to dedicate to myself and fitness. In winter, days are very short here (I live in Finland), so I try to go out in the middle of the day (I don’t have a treadmill, or any other cardio machine, and haven’t got access to a commercial gym) and tend to do work in the evenings. I do resistance training (weight lifting) five days a week (at home), but my sessions are relatively short (40-50 minutes). I find shorter, more frequent sessions work better for an older guy like me. I have a standard routine whereby I do 2 x 8 km alternating walking and running every km three days a week. The remaining days, I try to get 10-15k steps by walking in my neighbourhood. I aim at 100k steps per weeek and 20-22k calories expended per week.

Given your constraints, I think the focus for your weight loss should be on nutrition, because you simply haven’t got enough time to "out-exercise" your diet. For exercise, you could perhaps consider some kind of circuit training, which would be a time-efficient way to squeeze in both cardio and strength training.

[GershonSurge]

@IanMachin,

There is good news about your situation. People need little exercise to stay healthy if they have some active time doing housework or the equivalent. I imagine there is plenty of that to go around at your place. You may be able to exercise more as you get older IF you maintain your health. 

I was listening to Dr. T. Colin Campbell this morning, and he said the biggest cause of death is lack of knowledge about nutrition. I could say the opposite: The biggest cause of death in the world is too much useless knowledge about nutrition. All people need to know is the three food groups described by Dr. Cambell.

1. Animal Products
2. Refined food like frozen dinners, white bread, donuts, vegetable oils and anything with a long list of ingredients.
3. Whole Plant foods.

Those who eat the first two have greater odds of getting fatter and sicker than those who eat the third group. This goes for children, also.

Whole foods are anything in its natural state not in the first groups . Frozen vegetables are fine. Avoid nuts and peanuts since you are trying to lose weight.

Dr. Cambell also suggests people just try this way of eating for 10 days to see what happens. The average person loses about half a stone. They feel better, and their medical tests improve orders of magnetude higher than what can be done with drugs.

Breakfast can be a bowl of oatmeal (no instant) and a banana. You can add a little sugar for flavor, or add a few spoons of applesauce before cooking. You could also make a pancake from scratch with a whole grain flour. A little syrup won't hurt. Butter will.

For the rest of your meals, have a starch like potatoes (not fried or with butter), brown rice, lentils, corn, beans, sweet potatoes, whole grain bread, couscous, quinoa, and others. The choice from this list doesn't matter. Eat a generous amount that covers half the plate in a heaping pile. Add a couple handfuls of vegetables. One fruit a day is enough.

I steam most everything. If you don't have a steamer, put them in a covered pot on medium for about 24 minutes.

Don't worry about macros, micros, vitamins, minerals, or any other kinds of nutrients. It's impossible not to get enough eating this way.

This is also the least expensive way of eating I've found. It's less than half the cost of eating the first two food groups. 

This way of eating has been scientifically shown to prevent, arrest, or reverse most non-contagious conditions. 

Give it a 10-day test. What can it hurt? You can catch up on the research later.

[emili]

I am with Dominique on this. You will need to redo your nutrition. the items you list are easy but they aren't nutritionally sound for the calories you are taking in. The food you have for dinner sounds delicious- but way up there in calories and sodium. As much as its easy to say move more, life happens and at times its not possible. That's where food helps. Roast a chicken for yourself and have it for a few days as either lunch or dinner. You can dress it up different ways, but its already cooked and easy to weigh. Get some egg whites. Awesome protein and the calories are minimal. Scramble them the night before with some mushrooms or spinach- perfect lunch with a slice of tomato. Lots of delicious options out there for you.

[IanMachin]

@Dominique some sound advice there thank you, I will be focusing more on my nutrition. I honestly thought I new a lot about it but after some googling from reading this thread I realise there is so much involved.

With having a family balancing nutrition to cost is a challenge but I surley am up for it.

@GershonSurge your tips or "the Dr's" tips 🙂 Look interesting I will look into that also, even if like you say on a trial basis. Thank you.

@emili I can not believe how many calories for example are in a peice of ham! Yesterday was a flat day for me in terms of activity, lot's of work at the desk so steps and everything was low. However my calorie consumption was very high.

So today back on salad with peppers, red onion, tuna drained, cucumber, tomato, lettuce and a dash of light choices salad cream.

Ham sandwich, bye bye!

[chefk]

Hi @IanMachin !

I have found that cutting down to lower carbs and less sugar is usually helpful.  I keep my macros at 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat.  If you reduce carbs to 20% you will see an even greater loss sooner.  I use My Fitness Pal and connect it to my FitBit Blaze in order to acheive and record these results.

I also completely agree with some of the others in this thread.  It's all about 80% nutrition and 20% working out.  I was chronically under eating and not realizing my body needed more to up my metabolism and fuel my days.  Once I figured this out and started eating more with about a 700 calorie defeict or so, I started finally losing again without going on some crazy crash diet like "paleo" or "17 day" etc.  

Since you're a male you can even lower your fat intake and up your carbs, or visa versa.  I would suggest keeping your protein high though and continuing to try and keep that the focus.  Also- try also incorporating fat and a small amount of carbs into each meal.  It will help.

High protein foods with lower fat/carbs include: 0% fat plain yogurt, egg whites, chicken breast, lean pork chops (center cut- not bone in), roast beef (deli), quest protein bars, muscle milk protein drinks, swiss cheese, and beans.  I'm based in the US so i'm not sure if the protein content is the same but you can try these out.  These are also generally pretty economical choices as far as protein goes. 

🙂