capnjonny 

lots of good advice here.

I will only speak for myself. I recently joined the Y so I could swim laps. It is 3 mi.from my house (down hill ) . Shortly after joining I started a 10 week diet challenge class. My starting weight was 284. 10 weeks later I am down to 240.

My strategy based on the instructors recommendation:
Cut out all starches - no bread, rice, pasta, potatoes.

No sugar, honey, fruit juice etc.

plenty of veg and protein.

Typical breakfast,

2 egg omelette with onions, peppers, mushrooms with 1 tablespoon olive oil in the pan, or 2 eggs fried in olive oil plus 4-6 oz pork steak.

or bowl with raspberries, strawberries , blueberries, raisins, a few nuts (walnuts best) and vanilla low fat yogurt

Lunch

Home made 7 bean soup (1 1/2 cups) with carrots onions, peppers, and mushrooms added plus some Parmesan cheese and curry powder.
Or
Bean and veg burrito on whole wheat tortilla.

Dinner
Large salad with lettuce, carrots, cabbage, onions, tomato, plus some nuts and raisins and sometimes sliced apple with balsamic vinegar dressing. plus chicken steak or pork chop (4-6 oz.)

Snacks

Apple, mixed nuts. Eaten one at a time( I dig around in the jar till I find a Brasil nut if i can find one.

My exercise is riding to and from the y every day (approx 6 mi round trip ) and swimming 10 - 16 laps , more as I continue doing it.

One thing that was made clear to me. At 285 lb I needed 2500 cal. a day to maintain that weight minus any exercise. At 240 lbs that cal. requirement goes down to something like 2100 cal a day.

So now if I want to loose more weight I have to eat less than I did when I started out. In order to not loose muscle mass I need to exercise more, specifically , strength training. The bike is great as an aerobic workout but you probably still need some training with weights or resistance.

That's my story. I still need to loose another 25 lbs to get down to the Goldilocks weight zone for my 6'5" height and 69 year old age.

rgconner

Nicely done!

I too have had success with the low carb diet, although I am down to that last 20 lbs and it is getting harder and harder.

Added in muscle training last week and it is working from the muscle side of things but not the weight side of things.

Lost about an inch, gained 4 lbs... can't complain!

Joeyseven

yeah congrats capnjonny .That 10 week diet challenge class looks very interesting.

What is very impressive is you did this at age 69.cheers and thanks for the info and keep up the good work.

kwk1

Awesome job capn!

Aahzz

Good work!!!

rumrunn6

well done. fyi I observed some loss from restricting meat (red, foul & fish) alcohol & refined sugar. there are lots of adequate veggie substitutes for the meat. unfortunately not many substitutes for the alcohol & sugar

capnjonny 

For what it's worth, I spent at least the last 20 years gaining weight. I worked in construction and when I stopped swinging a hammer and became a Superintendent my activity level declined some what. Also I became eligible for free food off the lunch truck. 12 + years eating free burritos and Pork Quesadillas were too much even for someone going up and down stairs half the day doing inspections. I went from about 240 to 270 during that time with another 10 lbs in the last few years. Although I tried to eat healthy the carbs added up .

This was the first time I really committed to a diet. The weight loss class was invaluable with reinforcement, lectures, exercise, and giving me direction.

The absolute most important thing I did, though, was make a real commitment. Once I did that the rest was relatively easy at least at first.

rumrunn6

for me it was similar, didn't do anything "constructive" until I had my own personal motivation. meaning, as long as I didn't want it, it wasn't happening

Jarrett2

Congrats.

Low carb + macro/calorie counting + lifting + cycling does wonders for the body.

I'm down 147 lbs today. Would love to hit 150 down in the next couple of weeks.

MBR2000

That's a great story, man! I'm 6'1" and around your age. Recently got down into the 220s after being in the high 230/low 240 range for several years. My peak weight 10-12 years ago was 252. Having to buy a couple pair of size 42 pants sure was a wake-up call.

But even though I'm in pretty good shape medically, the doc wants me to get to 200. I'm finding that very difficult, especially since I like Mexican food, chips, and bread so much!

I'm currently doing the low carb thing using "net carbs" (carb grams minus protein grams). It's working, but slowly, so I'm hitting the road again on my bike to speed up the process. Did around 3 miles yesterday and am shooting for 4-5 today. No major hills here, but riding up even a 2-3% grade for 1/4 mile is not trivial for me. So my goal is to make it trivial.

On a related note, I can usually run 1.5 miles after a few shorter runs to get back in the groove, and have gone as far as 3.1 miles (so I could say I did a 5K). But it's just too hot for that in the summer, even in the morning. I'd rather ride when it's 95 degrees than run when it's 80.

My old Trek MTB is getting a pair of new tires, which many of the forum gurus say will make a huge difference in ride quality and rolling resistance, so I'm looking forward to that.

Flanntastic

I have lost about 100 on the Ketogenic diet, like low carb but its higher fat and moderate protein. I have been riding the bike to try to to lose the last 10-20lbs i want off. i am currently getting 40 miles a week in, i would like to increase that

deaninkl

Good to read your story Jonny, I was doing quite well earlier this year went from 103kg to 95kg, from Feb to end April, and also did my first 100km riding day, then due to traveling for work, I fell off the wagon, had to stop my juicing replacing one or two meals a days and haven't cycled in 2 months.... Just about to start it all again, but am very depressed and disheartened by my lapse.. which of course I only have myself to blame for.

Whilst young I didn't have a weight problem, but the last 20 years or so I have gone from 85kg to 103kg, and I'm 5'9", so clearly quite a bit over weight, 85 would be good.... I have found the "keeping" it off to be the struggle, I travel a lot for work so routine in exercise and eating is a problem, and my lack of will power in this area the biggest problem. I need will power tablets.... any advise on that front is appreciated...

Keep it up Jonny, and good luck to you, remember, losing it is half the battle, keeping it off is long term is the key to better health and fitness.