Dids's WSOP '05 Get Less Fat Incentive Plan.

[MrDannimal]

A lot of this has been said, but repeating it can't hurt.

- "Diet" is a bad word. You want a lifestyle change. Dieting fails because your body recognizes when you don't give it "enough" food, and even over several months it will push you to give it more, and it will be more likely to store what you do give it as fat in case it does actually face a starvation situation. If you significantly reduce food intake, your metabolism will actually slow down (absent other factors).

- DRINK WATER! At least 64 oz. a day, but the more you drink, the less your body needs to store (because it knows more is coming). So you actually lose some "water weight" just by drinking MORE water. If you can, drink it ice cold. In fact, if you drank 8-8 oz. glasses of ice water every day, and did NOTHING else, you would lose ~10 pounds in a year just from the energy needed to heat that water to body temp.

Also, drinking all that water helps fight the hunger pangs because the stomach is "full".

- Swap out the crap. People have said to dump the junk food, and to swap out soda for diet soda (I'd say even to skip that and go right to water. The artifical sweeteners in most diet sodas can actually hinder weight loss). Go from whole milk to skim, pick up low fat versions of stuff (dairy stuffs made with skim, like sour cream, cream cheese...).

- At the same time, don't exclude junk food entirely. Doing so just means you're more likely to "cheat". Allow yourself one day a week where you don't worry about the food intake so much (obviously, don't go crazy, but don't worry about some fries or an ice cream cone).

- Whole grains are your friend. Complex carbs don't screw with your blood sugar level as much as simple carbs, so you have more sustained energy. You also feel fuller, longer. Brown rice, whole grain bread, wheat bagels, you name it. Look for bread that has 3g of dietary fiber and 1g of sugar per slice (or more).

- I try to eat 6 small meals a day instead of 3. I'm not eating any more or less, I just eat more often. I'm almost never hungry, so I don't overeat.

- Exercise! I suggest, if you can, to find a partner or group. Knowing that other people are expecting you helps a great deal on the days you don't have the motivation to exercise. Invest in a heart rate monitor, if you can. You want to be able to keep your heart rate around the 70% of "max" to get the most fat burning benefits. Ideally, for 45 minutes or longer at a time (but at least 25 minutes to get into fat burning mode).

You can do weight lifting to build muscle, if you want. Adding muscle will help keep the metabolism high, because muscles burn energy and having more of them will burn more energy. However, I've found that it's often harder to get up the motivation to just go do weight work. If you find some exercise activity you enjoy, and will do regularly, even if it adds less muscle then weight work, you'll get more benefit from it just because you're going to stick with it.

Your plan sounds realistic (2 pounds a week). I'd suggest re-thinking the days you plan to exercise, though. I don't know if you want to have 3 consecutive days like that (Sat-Mon). If you're going to do weight work, you DEFINITELY don't want 3 straight days. You need recovry time. I'd suggest a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then one weekend day as a schedule if you can. You can do consecutive days if you make sure to either do totally seperate muscle groups (upper body one day, lower body the next), but you want to be very sure you've selected exercise that doesn't cross groups to help avoid injury.

Just to add to the pile of "It can be done!" stories:

I started training for a martahon (to be run on 10/24/04) at the start of May. I weighed about 200 pounds (at just over 5' 9"). I usually eat something like half a bagle with lite cream cheese at 7:30am, then a handful of pretzels and a cup of applesauce at 10:00am, then half of a normal lunch at 12:30, and the other half at 3:00. I eat half my normal serving of dinner at dinner time, and then a snack later (some days I just eat normal dinner and no snack). I drink at least 64 oz. of water a day, and often closer to a gallon.

I run 3 times a week. At the start, it was for 30 minutes at a time (one longer run on Saturday). 10 weeks in, I'm running 5 miles on Tuesday and Thursday, and 10 on Saturday. I don't run fast (13:30 miles, on average, which is a light jog), and I walk for 1 minute every 6 minutes or so.

So far, I've lost about 20 pounds (right on your 2 lbs. week). My original goal was to lose 25 lbs. by the marathon (1 lb. per week), so it's going well.

One last thing: If you can afford it (you have insurance, or just cash on hand), get a physical. Get a cholesterol check, and have a Dr. tell you that you're safe to go. Better safe then sorry.

Good luck!

[Glenn]

"- When you eat does matter. 1000 calories at 9am is "less bad" than 1000 calories at 11pm jus tbefore you get into bed. This should be self-evident. If you eat 1000 calories and then proceed to have an active day (say, hiking, for example), you burn a lot of the food you ate for energy. If you eat 1000 calories and then lie down for 8 hours, the body burns substantially less for energy (duh), and what it doesn't burn it stores as fat "

This is only relevant for people who trying to cut the last few pounds for a perfect physique. It is basically irrelevant for someone trying to lose 80 lbs. If you eat 1000 calories before bed, then sleep, yes, it will be stored as fat. However, when you excercise the next day, the fat will be converted to energy, so you are not storing very much fat at any given time.

Eating more meals follows the same logic, but is important for different reasons. 2000 calories is 2000 calories. If you eat 2000 calories/day and burn 2000 calories a day, you are not going to gain weight whether you eat 10 meals or 1. Eating more meals is effective because it helps you burn MORE CALORIES. Your body can only absorb 30-50g of protein at a time. If you are excercising and trying to gain muscle, this is vital. Even if you are not trying to bulk up, this is still important because excercise breaks down muscle and you need protein to rebuild it. Muscle, even at rest, burns calories. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn. Eating more meals also allows your body to assimilate more of the nutrients in the food you are eating. Your insuln levels will be more constant. You will feel more energetic throughout the day because of the constant stream of energy you are providing your body. While your body can use stored fat as fuel, it WANTS to use newly digested carbs as fuel. The more energetic you feel, the more active you will be, and the more calories you will burn.

[Moyer]

I've been researching nutrition and exercise for a year or so now. This is my simplified outline to losing weight.

--Nutrition--

Nutrition is a much more important part to losing weight than exercise is. It's a lot easier to just not eat 300 calories than it is to actually burn 300 extra calories.

Stay away from pretty much all beverages that contain calories. This includes soda, beer, koolaid, gatorade, fruit juice, etc. You're much better off drinking plain water. If you go long enough w/out soda, and then you have one, it will taste like thick syrup. You will get used to not having so much sugar. Also, drinking at least 8 glassed of water a day(or hopefully more) will help you feel full throughout the day. If you need an alternative to water, try green tea, vegetable juice, Diet V8 Splash, Propel brand fitness water, or possibly even diet soda.

Try to stay away from anything with hydrogenated oil in the ingredients list. This is trans fat, the worst kind of fat you can eat. Terrible for you heart.

Large amounts of sugar or white bread will spike your insulin levels and actually give you serious food cravings. They are also not very filling and are easily converted to fat.

This means no margarine, cookies, chips, crackers, pretzels, waffles, bagels, candy, white bread, deep fried food, ice cream, or pizza.

A good substitute for sugar is Splenda. A good substitute for white bread is wheat bread. A good substitute for margarine is olive oil. A good substitute for sweets is fresh fruit. A good substitute for fried foods is grilled foods. The spice rack is your friend.

Think natural foods, not processed.

Oatmeal, cottage cheese, any and all vegetables, brown rice, lean red meat, fish, chicken & turkey, eggs, peanut butter, nuts, and fruit should make up most of your diet. They are all very healthy and will keep you feeling full much longer than other foods.

Try to have a good amount of protein with every meal.

6 small meals a day is a great thing for a number of reasons.

Also, if you're finding it really hard to stick with a healthy diet, you could add one cheat meal a week. Make one of your favorite foods. Just don't go to an all you can eat buffet.

Lastly, don't suddenly start your diet and drop 1000 calories a day. It is much better for you, in a number of ways, if you gradually lower your daily calories.

--Exercise--

I suggest you weight train 1 day a week. If you enjoy weight lifting, you could do it as often as 4 days a week. You'll look a lot better after losing 80lbs if you've been lifting. Also, if you're losing more than a pound a week, a good portion of it will be muscle, not just fat. This contributes to the whole loose skin thing that happens after a lot of weight loss. If you want your weight training to help in fat loss, all you have to do is take about thirty seconds between sets instead of a couple minutes. You should definately buy the Stuart McRobert book already mentioned in this thread. It's titled "Brawn" there are also sequals "Beyond Brawn" and "Further Brawn". It's a great weight training book for someone without Arnold's genetics. Keep all weight training workouts under one hour each. Anything more is a waste of time.

As far as cardio goes, you either need high intensity for a short time or low intensity for long periods of time. A brisk walk for 10 minutes is good for your overall cardiovascular health, but it's not gonna burn much fat. Either take an hour brisk walk, or run your ass off for twenty minutes. It's your choice. If you don't like running, swimming is one of the best cardio activities out there. Could also try a treadmill or stationary bike. If you find these boring, buy a heavy bag (like the ones boxers use). Just beat the [censored] out of it for about half an hour. You'll be panting like a dog and sweating like a pig.

That's all I can think of right now.

I wish you the best. I know healthy food might take a while to get used to, but you'll be glad you made the switch. You may also be surprised how much healthy food you can actually eat without taking in too many calories.

If you find yourself struggling with your diet, just make another post. I'm sure you'll find support.

[TomCollins]

Why get less fat for the WSOP? You have to be at least big boned to win the big one. I'm trying to fill out for 2005 just so I can win!

[RollaJ]

Good Luck, you'll need it. Some people are made to be fat, some are made to be too skinny, some are made average. Your body overtime will tell you time and again which it is supposed to be. Ive lost over 100 pounds 2 times in my life, and I always gravitate (lol) back to the same weight, and stay there. It is a proven fact that being overweight is genetic. If you choose to fight it you can, but it will never be something natural for you, as it is for most people to be an average weight. I am not saying I have given up for good, but Im just letting you know how it is in the real world.
Many thin people will say its not healthy, and its not, but they will often also blame you, and that is not usually the case either. Is it fair to blame someone for being born black, or gay, or for being born blind? "Hey your looking a little black today, why dont you try to work on that?"
Sure there are many people who reject the fact that it is genetic, but those are usually the people who have not done research on the matter. They will say things like "I, for one, see a fat guy and think "doesn't he even care about his health?"
That all being said, good luck. Maybe you can just work it off for your TV appearence at the final table [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Fat boy on a diet don’t try it
I’ll check your ass like a looter in a riot

Flame away

[ScottTheFish]

[ QUOTE ]
Basically, you drink a gallon (or as much as you can handle) of ice water every day. It must be VERY COLD, normal water will not work.

The point is that among other things your body uses caloric intake to make you warm. So, long story short, you'll have to pee, and not be incredibly comfortable, but you'll burn more calories than you usually do, by a lot.


[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, that's just silly. Think about it. I don't care how much ice-water you drink, it's only gonna make the inside of your stomach cool for a few minutes. It will have no effect on your core body temperature or the amount of calories you burn.

Plus you burn calories for everything your body does, not just keeping warm. I could go on, but trust me, the ice-water diet is ridiculous.

[ScottTheFish]

[ QUOTE ]
Sure there are many people who reject the fact that it is genetic, but those are usually the people who have not done research on the matter.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sure, genetics obviously play a role. Some people are more pre-disposed to be fat than others. But it's certainly not pre-ordained at birth what your weight will be like your race is, cmon.

Otherwise how do you explain the fact that 50 years ago there were far, far fewer overweight people than there are now?

Is it more likely that the genetic makeup of Homo Sapiens has changed drastically in the last 50 years, or that our lifestyle and habits and diet have changed drastically? Seems obvious to me.

[RollaJ]

[ QUOTE ]
But it's certainly not pre-ordained at birth what your weight will be like your race is, cmon.


[/ QUOTE ]

I dunno I was born at 11 lbs., sounds like for some of us it was

[ScottTheFish]

[ QUOTE ]
I dunno I was born at 11 lbs., sounds like for some of us it was

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you trying to be funny, or do you really think your above-average birth weight proves that you were genetically doomed to be fat or something?

Either way, I stand by my assertion that looking at obesity rates from 50 years ago pretty much rules out your genetics theory.

I ask again, have our genetics changed, or our lifestyle and diet?

[RollaJ]

[ QUOTE ]
have our genetics changed, or our lifestyle and diet?

[/ QUOTE ]
I would guess both