A Foolish but Interesting Quest

[Laocoon]

Hi all,

I'm totally new to the community and I've never found a more inspiring forum!

Well, where to start...

I'm a college student in the Netherlands (Amsterdam!) I love photography, filmmaking (I'm running a start-up business) and architecture, my example/hero is Laocoon (hence my avatar/username) the Trojan. Not because of his role in the story of Troy but because the sculpture they found that depicts him is so mind-boggling and awesome.

Well, here's my point. One day I saw NF. Three hours later I called a friend to challenge him: If I would weight more than 86 kg (189 lbs) on the first of July (2012!!) I will give him... 50 euros.

I know, it's not that much. But as a poor college student I don't want to give it away. So, I went full paleo on the first day and started running.

My only problem is this: when I started, I weighted 92.5 kg and I'm currently 90,9 kg after more than a week. I've got to lose some 5 kg!!!!!

How am I going to save my precious 50 euros? Eat less? Practice more? I swim two/three times a week (intensive) and try to do the body weight playground training from NF. Maybe I ate too much meat/eggs or something... Or I'm building muscle mass

By the way, I'm not the skinny type. I'm 1.91 m tall (6 feet 3 inches) and I have a naturally 'broad' build. BUT: there's this little layer of fat all around my upper body, especially on my back and around my waist. If that would vanish I'd probably have the triangular build I'm hoping to achieve.

Any advice?

[Elastigirl]

Welcome! The bad news is that layer of fat around the back and waist just takes time to go. It will go, as you are seeing. But probably not as fast as you want. What you're doing for exercise and eating sounds good. If your eating fruit and nuts, cut them out and that should help.

[CakeBanisher]

Welcome, fellow college student! For what it's worth (and I am by no means an expert) I've been eating paleo about 80-90% of the time and working out. I've gained a pound but gotten stronger in a week, and today was asked if I'd lost weight. Last year, I lost 30 pounds (not doing paleo or working out much) and some of that was muscle, so the scale isn't the only thing to watch, and it can fluctuate a lot over the course of a few days. Going on my limited knowledge, you seem to have the right idea Good luck with your challenge!

[TennisKid1192]

Hey Laocoon, welcome to the forum! Also, awesome job at challenging your friend. In terms of pure weightloss [to save your 50 euros], you need to create a caloric deficit. This can be done in 2 main ways. The first thing that you need to do is find out how many calories you need in a day. There are different calculators online which will help you determine this, of course there is a lot of variation so take these calculations with a grain of salt. So ideally you would either want to eat less than that or exercise enough so that the total is less than that amount.

[Laocoon]

Hey Elastigirl, CakeBanisher and TennisKid1192! Thanks so much for your replies!

I will definitely cut out on the nuts and fruits; will keep an eye on my vitamin intake though. Also I'll try to stick under 2500 calories per day, chug down lots of water and eat veggies like a monster-rabbit! I'm aware it's quite a difficult challenge but I'll just do my best; this is my chance to show my inner Chuck Norris!

If it's not going fast/good enough I will go to my parents place and kick major ass, with the

Ultimate Power Challenge

I just thought it up, it's quite simple:

1. Cycle 10 km to the dunes with heavy, filled bottles of water

2. Running

3. 10x Sprinting to the top of a steep dune and back

4. 25 push ups

5. arm muscle exercises with the bottles

6. drink the water

7. Enjoy the natural environment, maybe even some sun

8. 10 km of cycling back home

9. 25 push ups

10. A refreshing shower and something to eat!

Rah. That should help.

[Pat G]

THere you go

You'll be scuplted like the marble statues in your avatar before you know it.

[Laocoon]

Was totally ****** up this morning, had a long, tough day yesterday, but: I crossed the 90 kg line!

I'm now 89,4 kg!! It has been a long time ago I was this light and it feels goooood. I'm going to do the challenge this evening to stay full Chuck Norris and keep you all tuned in!

By the way, I really do miss the Dutch cheese so I'm considering to allow a small amount of it in my diet, since it's not unanimously banned from the paleo diet. Hope it doesn't affect my weight too much.

[Laocoon]

Help, I'm getting cravings for sweet stuff but need to keep my diet paleo and low in calories!! Any tips?

My weight isn't dropping very fast, wobbling around the 90 kg mark. I need serious advice!

[Maris Stella]

I know someone already told you to sacrifice the fruit, but that's really the only sweet that is still Paleo. Here are some with low glycemic impact:

Fresh apricots

Blackberries

Cantaloupe

Fresh cherries

Grapefruit

Grapes

Honeydew

Kiwi

Mandarins

Nectarines

Oranges

Raspberries

Fresh watermelon

Sometimes cucumber works. IMHO, fruit is a treat/sweet snack, not to be overdone but not to be fully eliminated either. As far as vitamins, though, colorful veggies generally have more of them anyway, without the sugar.

Sorry to give you conflicting advice

[Serenity]

In my experience the cravings for sweet things is a symptom of having gotten some sugar by accident earlier in the day.

If you want to be able to ignore them try brushing your teeth or sucking on a whole clove.

What you don't want to do is give in. In my experience, my body panics and hangs on to a whole bunch of water when it sees sugar reappearing on the menu.

[Laocoon]

Thanks for your advice! I think blue- and blackberries will become my candy, when I've done a workout. I will also go 'real' paleo by buying organic meat and fish from now on, even if it is more expensive. The same goes for veggies. If I don't sort my things out now, I'll never stay below the 90 kg mark.

And brushing my teeth seems a good advice; maybe a cup of coffee with some cinnamon will help too.

[EightDigit]

And brushing my teeth seems a good advice; maybe a cup of coffee with some cinnamon will help too.

There's a thread in the Hunter's Lodge about adding grass fed unsalted butter to your coffee. Dunno if it'll do the trick for you, but it's allegedly effective in helping curb cravings.

Just tossing a couple more cents into the mix. Welcome from a fellow newbie!

[Morrigainz]

Welcome and you totally got this! Lots of good advice here...as far as the cheese, maybe add it back in after you've made your goal?

Cravings for sweet things can be difficult to deal with but you can do it! Stay strong!

[Laocoon]

Hello everyone,

After hovering around the 90 kg mark for a while I thought it was enough: today I signed up at the local gym.

And a good old friend of mine also started a quest to lose weight so he is my sidekick now, it's awesome!

When I get below the 88 kg mark, you'll hear me in the w00t section.

When I get six pack abs (oh the holy grail of fitness!!), you'll notice!