Exercise and weight loss advice thread

Sugar is incredibly addictive, wanting it will be a combination of the addiction and habit. Gradually decrease and you’ll find your cravings drop off quite quickly.

Yep, for now trying to restrict it mostly to weekends then hopefully go without and have it as just an occasional treat.
I should leave Switzerland to get away from all the fcking chocolate!

I think I'd struggle to give up bread more than anything. I find it really hard to find an alternative lunch. Not a fan of soup, and salads are fine in the summer but very unattractive in the winter. Mostly limit it to 2 slices or a wrap on weekdays, with toast as breakfast on weekends instead of cereal.

I have started to cut down bagels to just half, so that's something I guess!

I can easily eat a whole loaf of good crusty white bread in a day. The only thing that stops me is I’d have to make it as Ocado is shit for fresh bread and there’s nowhere good to get it where I live.

Derblington

This is probably too vague but what would you recommend for getting a bit leaner? I lift 2-3 times a week, row twice a week and I'm eating around maintenance but according to my heart rate monitor almost all of the calories burned are "fit" rather than "fat".

I don't think 2 calories less will make a big difference.

Fucking hell, hardcore in Sweden....

You're not sedentary.

tdeecalculator.net/ - fill the details and select moderate exercise. Drop 200 cals from that and see what happens. Bear in mind that maintenance is a range not a specific number, so you may not lose initially. If the scales aren't moving after 2 weeks, drop another 150-200 cals. Repeat until you start to drop. Repeat once you plateau to keep losing until desired weight. Once there, go back to the calculator and fill it in again to get your new maintenance.

ed: I didn't click through to the calculator you linked but it's the same one
ed2: you can eat more on specific days and less on others if you want, or equal every day. It doesn't matter. Calories at the end of the week will be the same.

EDIT: just re-read your post. Don't eat back the cals that any trackers have told you you've burned. None of them will be exact and you'll likely eat far too many and undo any work you've put in in training. Just use the exercise to help create a deficit.

Og reply:
Re. cals per day: exercise requires fuel, so getting some carbs 60-90 mins before a workout can help with having a good workout, getting a nice pump, felling energised, etc, but having more overall cals on those days isn't important. Recovery also requires fuel.
Having high and low cal days is personal preference for the general population. Meal timing becomes more important for high performing athletes. Just do whatever you find easiest to adhere to, it won't make any difference to you other than having to change what you eat each day. If you're lifting to build muscle you should be focusing on higher protein meals throughout the day with adequate fats and plenty of carbs to smash through the workouts and brain function. Once that's covered, the actual macro splits are more about personal preference. You can increase fats a bit and lower carbs if you'd rather (though I don't know why anyone would through choice, carbs are the fucking best).

"how do you know you've got enough muscle to make a cut worthwhile?"
Cutting fat is nothing to do with amounts of muscle. Drop fat if you have fat to lose. If you're happy as is, keep focusing on building muscle. Muscle takes time to build, so you want to build for 6 months or more. You could do a min-cut in there to strip a little fluff away but, again, personal pref. If you're relatively lean, keep building.

That's why I like tracking calories for weight loss. Whatever you do to lose weight, energy balance dictates you need to be in a calorie deficit. Weighing foods and tracking cals makes that simple, and once you do it for a week it's quick and easy (especially as most of us eat the same meals in rotation, so once you've worked out your most common foods you're away).
Then you can apply it to low-fat, low-carb, keto, time-restricted feeding, 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 meals, or whatever other system you prefer to eat in, and you'll never really go wrong because you've done the calculations behind it. There's no guess work. And if you feel more hungry on a specific day you can add more cals there, and remove them from later in the week when it suits. Eating out and the odd bit of chocolate or whatever is easy to balance in without fucking up any progress or feeling like you're "cheating".

Done a week with low alcohol (just a handful of the 0.5% stuff). Can't say I feel any better for it to be honest, but that's probably mostly because I'm massively stressed with work.

Have adjusted my fasting to 18/6 to see if it helps me feel any better generally. Must say that it's a good amount harder than 16/8 was, but that could be because I'm not properly back in the groove after weeks of insane xmas gluttony / alcoholism.

There’s a dude here in the gym doing forward lunges with a 140kg bar. Absolute unit

I swam a mile this morning for the first time in at least 2 years. I was so much slower than I used to be, still got it done though. Previously on a normal day I'd have done it in 32 mins, on a good day I could have done 27 mins. Today was 40 minutes as I was just generally slower and had to stop for a few quick rests. Not bad though, I'm OK with it. I can only improve.