[Luke Owens]

If those calories are right you will still be losing weight, given 1500 and a sedatenary life style will result in weight loss.

I've stayed around the same weight for around 12 months now.

So you are in mid 20s now?

Yeah, I'm 25.

Be careful generalizing that for everyone.  As mentioned before, you're healthy and in your 20's....  Someone in their 30-40's who has been carrying extra weight for a long period of time will not find it easy to drop that weight. 

Yeah, sorry I forget that makes a lot of difference.

If i'm taking on so little calories i'm not sure why i'm not dead yet...

[Stubbs]

If i'm taking on so little calories i'm not sure why i'm not dead yet...

If you do actually have a body fat of 5% you may be closer than you think, as the essential fat that protects your organs is from 2-5%. How did you measure it, calipers, underwater weighing?

[SA Chris]

Possible link to;

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,23330.0.html

[Luke Owens]

If i'm taking on so little calories i'm not sure why i'm not dead yet...

If you do actually have a body fat of 5% you may be closer than you think, as the essential fat that protects your organs is from 2-5%. How did you measure it, calipers, underwater weighing?

I only use the one in work which you grasp the handles, also use a scale type body fat calculator. Neither are accurate I know but it give's me a rough idea.

This is grim and I am actually worried now...!

[Durbs]

Just quickly, i've started using one of those Diet Tracking app things, oddly climbing/bouldering isn't listed in the Exercise tabs - but I've literally got no idea how many calories I'd burn in a 2-hour session.

Any ideas how to work this out or ball-park figure?

[hamsforlegs]

I've literally got no idea how many calories I'd burn in a 2-hour session.

Any ideas how to work this out or ball-park figure?

Really hard as the number of movements, muscle mass involved and impact on heart rate across a session will vary enormously.

As a guess (just to get some kind of sane estimation), I would think that an hour of climbing is probably on the low side of an hour of easy weights in terms of calorie consumption, which online estimation thingies put at about 250 calories. This ties in with my (completely impressionistic and unreliable) experience of weightloss/gain while training.

It really won't be much; you have to be working consistently quite hard to get into the 600+ calories p/h bracket.

[fried]

I mentioned this back on the last page. I get a figure of 800ish calories burnt for one hour of climbing. I use this figure for a 3-hour session but really this could be a whiole hamburger out.

[SA Chris]

I would have thought doing a big volume of stamina plodding would vary greatly from a session trying hard problems?

[tresor]

Possible link to;

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,23330.0.html

That was so obviouse and no one said anything I thought I was the one who knew nothing about these things.

//Tresor

[Bubba]

As a middle-aged man who does a sedentary job, over the last few years I've found a Ketogenic diet a very effective way of losing a lot of weight fairly quickly.

I also feel much better day to day with little to no carbs in my system.  I don't think it's a good choice over the long term but for shifting weight it's extremely effective.

I only use the one in work which you grasp the handles, also use a scale type body fat calculator. Neither are accurate I know but it give's me a rough idea.

Are any of these scales that measure body fat worth buying or is it just a gimmick?  Looking to get some new scales; anybody recommend some? 

[fatneck]

What have I started!!! 

In all seriousness, a lot of good stuff...

With the usual disclaimer that Fatneck isn't a professional climber who can devote every day of his life to training and dieting and climbing...

Amen to this. Wife, ex, various kids, fishing, working full time etc etc

Male
40 years old
Weekly exercise level: Light
Height: 180cm
Current weight: 90kg
Goal weight: 85kg
Time scale to lose weight: 4 months

How rude!  Actually pretty much spot on although I'm not 38 till the end of the  month

There is no point loosing weight super quick unless you want to trim up for a specific trip

That is exactly my aim! However, I do want to maintain the weight loss after Font in Feb and hope that all this research and thought going into my diet will help to this end.

I've been thinking a lot about how I was raised and how much that affects my current eating habits/beliefs etc I have a lot of bad habits (bread with every meal for example) that are just a hang over from being raised in a relatively poor family. So a lot of this is habit breaking = good...

There's been a lot of talk about calories, but very little about sleep and stress and the impact those have on weight loss.

Agreed, although I am aware that these have an impact. I sleep very well thankfully, usually 7-8hrs per night with little if no interruption (much to the chagrin of my wife..). I'm generally a laid back person and although work does occasionally cause me to be stressed, climbing/training/fishing/sex all help with this

Got myself the Fitness Pal app and according to that I'm taking on approx 1800-1900 a day which is about what I was aiming for. This includes calorie loss relating to excercise performed, which is above average for me at the moment. My salad box is big and reckon it's giving me 400 cal per day. Have started eating porridge for breakfast, ditched the banana but kept up other fruit intake. I am now also filling half my tea time plate with veg. According to the app I'm averaging the following spread of calorific intake;

Carbs - 52%
Fat - 26%
Protein - 22%

This against the app recommendation of;

Carbs - 55%
Fat - 30%
Protein - 15%

Any thoughts on this?

Over all, I'm feeling pretty good and seeing gains in my training almost weekly. Am climbing fairly poorly but expected that with the amount of training and changes in diet etc. Also the hunger thing is much better/easier to deal with...

On the subject of calorie counters, how do you calculate an hourly average calorie burn off for bouldering?

I'd be interested to know this as well as sex, what does that burn?

has there been a decision yet on whether campusing can lead to increased weight loss?

Brilliant!

[chris05]

As a middle-aged man who does a sedentary job, over the last few years I've found a Ketogenic diet a very effective way of losing a lot of weight fairly quickly.

I also feel much better day to day with little to no carbs in my system.  I don't think it's a good choice over the long term but for shifting weight it's extremely effective.

I only use the one in work which you grasp the handles, also use a scale type body fat calculator. Neither are accurate I know but it give's me a rough idea.

Are any of these scales that measure body fat worth buying or is it just a gimmick?  Looking to get some new scales; anybody recommend some?

I think the consensus is that they are useful for seeing changes over time,  but are not good indicators of the actual body fat level. So good for monitoring whether diet and exercise is working but not to compare to others. The Omron scales seem to be recommended the most (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0033AGBVG/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001N064JW&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0X1W6HETHZ8B0GBEAEHY).

Edit: I should add that I haven't used them!

[SA Chris]

Are any of these scales that measure body fat worth buying or is it just a gimmick? 

Shit in my experience. Things like how hydrated you are are can change the reading a lot.

We bought some and took them back, changed for an older model of these

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8334259.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=cgid:10847396225|tsid:41370|cid:147345665|lid:48710062385|nw:g|crid:36600229865|rnd:11683713641174560484|dvc:c|adp:1o2

Still going strong after about 7 years use.

[hamsforlegs]

I mentioned this back on the last page. I get a figure of 800ish calories burnt for one hour of climbing. I use this figure for a 3-hour session but really this could be a whiole hamburger out.

Sorry if I missed the earlier reference.

If you use 800 cals for the 3 hour session, that could be in the right area.

800 calories per hour sounds way too much, unless you're talking about lugging a heavy pack while sprinting up mixed and alpine terrain!

I used to do a lot of rowing, which is a sport where there are quite well tested and established ways of measuring output. An hour of unbroken time on a rowing machine would typically be in the 800-1100 calorie zone, but the level of full-body exhaustion would be on a completely different level from what I generate at the wall in any kind of normal session.

It's conceivable that a session of doing back-to-back hard routes, followed by lots of core work with little rest, would get you up into this kind of rate of consumption, but you would look like some kind of demented lunatic.

I work on the general assumption that training for bouldering doesn't do much to directly burn off calories?

[kelvin]

There's also a US Navy thing that works our bodyfat on the net somewhere. I think I mentioned it earlier this year on the UKC fitclub thread when chatting to biscuit. I had my done with calipers, on scales at home and the US thing was right in the ballpark.

Like said above, drink a couple of litres of water and your bodyfat % will come down...

[Bubba]

I think the consensus is that they are useful for seeing changes over time,  but are not good indicators of the actual body fat level. So good for monitoring whether diet and exercise is working but not to compare to others. The Omron scales seem to be recommended the most (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0033AGBVG/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001N064JW&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0X1W6HETHZ8B0GBEAEHY).

Edit: I should add that I haven't used them!

Shit in my experience. Things like how hydrated you are are can change the reading a lot.

We bought some and took them back, changed for an older model of these

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8334259.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=cgid:10847396225|tsid:41370|cid:147345665|lid:48710062385|nw:g|crid:36600229865|rnd:11683713641174560484|dvc:c|adp:1o2

Still going strong after about 7 years use.

Thanks guys, since I need some new ones anyway I might get one of these but treat the fat percentage readings with a large pinch of salt.

[SA Chris]

Keep the pinches small, too much salt is bad for you too!

[petejh]

There is a quick way to loose half a stone of ugly fat.

Cut your head off.

Which one?

[petejh]

Good article today: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/09/end-excess-sugar-consumption

The evidence that excess consumption of refined sugars is damaging our health is now as clear as the case against tobacco. Nutritionally bankrupt products loaded with sugars have displaced the whole foods our bodies need. To tackle the preventable diet-related diseases that have reached epidemic proportions around the globe – obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancers – we simply need to eat less of them. But the vested economic interests of the food, drink and farming industries are blocking change. They lobby ferociously against attempts to set lower targets for consumption or restrict marketing or recalibrate subsidies. They have captured regulators so successfully that a guerrilla campaign is needed to speak directly to consumers. Leading the charge with Action on Sugar is cardiovascular expert Graham MacGregor, veteran of the successful campaign to force the food industry to reduce blood-pressure inducing levels of salt in its products. The fight against sugar will be much tougher and dirtier.

[SA Chris]

There was a good programme on telly last year about diets and it touched on sugar addiction (can't recall name of programme) . Seems the initial culprit was a boom in corn crops in the 50s in the US, where all the surplus was converted to corn syrup and was available dirt cheap, so food manufacturers started adding it to eveything they could to keep costs down, add bulk and get eveyone addicted. Cheers guys.

[petejh]

And why not? The chief concern of food companies is to make profit, not to give us healthy food to eat - that's a mistake lots of people make when they let themselves be deceived into thinking what they're eating is ok for them, based on what food companies tell them. Like anything in life, if you don't DYOR you can't really complain when you get screwed over. I think a lot of fat people are just victims of not being curious enough about what they're filling their faces with. And a lot of people aren't curious enough because they haven't got the time or money to be.

[Fultonius]

And why not? The chief concern of food companies is to make profit, not to give us healthy food to eat - that's a mistake lots of people make when they let themselves be deceived into thinking what they're eating is ok for them, based on what food companies tell them. Like anything in life, if you don't DYOR you can't really complain when you get screwed over. I think a lot of fat people are just victims of not being curious enough about what they're filling their faces with. And a lot of people aren't curious enough because they haven't got the time or money to be.

I'm not sure that's fair - even the government were in on the "low fat" ideology, pushing people towards low-fat, but high sugar (or even worse high fructose corn syrup) alternatives.

Also, because they're "cheap" people who are tight for cash are pushed towards the nutritionally poor alternatives. Even if they do thir ow research, they might not be able to (or might not feel that they are able to) afford the better alternatives.

[webbo]

I mentioned this back on the last page. I get a figure of 800ish calories burnt for one hour of climbing. I use this figure for a 3-hour session but really this could be a whiole hamburger out.

I strongly suspect you are over estimating by about 500 plus calories. when using my heart rate monitor (which base cals burnt on age, sex, weight and max heart rate ) i get about 500 to 600 with a max heart rate 170 to 180+ with an average of about 140ish.
I once used it for a weights session which included a lot of heavy( for me ) leg work squats etc and benching and I hardly got me heart rate above 120 and barely used 300 cals in 90 mins. I suspect bouldering will be pretty similar. 

[petejh]

Absolutely, which is partly what I meant by some people not having the money to be curious about food (i.e. or to act on it). But really, food for the masses in the 21st century is mostly a massive mis-selling of junk shit by people chiefly concerned with money, not health. See through the BS and a healthy diet is staring you in the face. It just doesn't seem as easy or tasty as the heavily-marketed version of food we get pushed at us daily.

[Fultonius]

True.