Vinnk, my gym teacher once told me “You *will not* lose weight only by working out. Working out changes your body muscular mass, which might increase your basal metabolism and calorie burning, but the only way to lose weight is to control your eating habits.”

Ever since, I had to stop going to the gym because of Real Life issues, but I decided to put his words to test.

For the past 2 months I haven’t made any kind of exercise other than eventually walking some blocks and waking up earlier in the morning (and hence being awake for a longer time during the day, increasing the energy I spend); what I did that made a difference was to *cease* any carb ingestion after 3 PM. It’s OK to have some bread during the morning and some pasta or potatoes during lunch, just don’t overdo it. Personally, I’m having a nice fruit and yoghurt plus cereal breakfast almost every morning, and having more salad during lunch — thankfully, I happen to like salad and fruit.

That was it.

In two months time (from Christmas on) I’ve lost 10kg (no kidding!). And I repeat, that was while not doing any out-of-the-ordinary efforts (other than playing No More Heroes), certainly not working out.

Weight loss by mere increase of basal metabolism is bound to be slow, and quite frankly, your progress is astonishing. It means that you didn’t increase your food intake as a response to the energy you’re spending. Keep up the excellent work!! But just in case you’re really gunning for some serious weight loss, the secret is on the mouth, where it’s always been.

Aye, it’s called Wii Fit for something, and not Wii Thin

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My god close the tags.

Great news, Vinnk. I’m happy once again to hear that you’re really enjoying Wii Fit. In the end, it’s always more important if you actually feel better, stronger, are happier with your image, etc., than what the scale reads.

In your case though, up to this point, you’ve achieved both. Losing 6.2 pounds in 4 weeks is an average of 1.5 pounds a week, and at the same time, you’re more capable at exercising and look better.

By the way, Happy Birthday! I think that the best present you could have given yourself is a new body, and that you did. Keep it up. Oh, and maybe take a picture of yourself now, so at the 8 week mark, you can compare the two.

@Mean

hm, sounds like a thing I’d like to try.. but what do you eat for dinner? D: And if you do have training, is it a bad idea to try your eating habit? (e.g reduced amount of energy or something)

Hey Vinnk. I just wanted to leave a little note of encouragement of how awesome I think it is that you’ve grown dedicated to this program. I’m sure your fiance is quite proud of you and hopefully she’ll get to enjoy your progress on the honeymoon.

Nice work Vinnk.

@Mean
I am also interested in what you have been eating for dinner for 2 months. My goal is to lose about 10kg by the summer, so this diet definitely sounds promising.

Well I’ve lost 10kg since early january… mostly by eating healthily. I lost 5kg in about two weeks from exercising every morning for 30 minutes, but then school took over and I didn’t have enough time to exercise from overtiredness. From then on it was pretty slow, up until me being my current weight. I suggest both exercising and eating healthily, it is really the fastest way to lose weight. Plus, you need both. Exercising increases muscle mass, so your weight will not change as drastically (though you will be healthy), and just eating healthily does not make you lose certain fat, for instance fat between your organs.

From what I’ve read here and in your other posts I think I’m going to encourage my parents to buy WiiFit (they bought a Wii for WiiSports and Big Brain) when it comes out.
It’s interesting though, there is pretty much NOTHING this ‘game’ does that you couldn’t do with just a scale, marble and, notebook but the feedback and encouragement the device itself gives the user may be a part of the key to getting people involved with exercise programs; which leads me to wonder something.

Vinnk, if there was a night you couldn’t use WiiFit (power outage, travel, etc.) would you still do your exercising to maintain what momentum you’ve gathered now?

Vinnk: pics with clothes off, or it didn’t happen!!

Dr Drew says 90% of your diet is exercise. Or was it the other way around?

ExcellentExcellent stuff here, as always I have to say well done Vinnk.

I can’t really give you much advice this week because you’re starting to become used to everything that you’re doing.

The ‘no carbs in the evening’ thing is good, but I find if you don’t eat carbs you just get hungrier faster and you will probably end up eating more in the evening anyway because of the absence of carbs.

Like I said in another post, consider buying some dumbbells to compliment your workout.

Good stuff buddy!

Your journalling this experience has basically sold me on Wii Fit; my wife and I are both interested in the idea now, and I plan to pick it up when it arrives in the states. Thank you for doing this!

@Erki
Noticing I have been overeating for the past several years due to anxiety and stress was a fundamental realisation. From that moment on, I tried to refrain from snacking by impulse. When I saw that I was indeed starting to lose weight, things kind of snapped in, and then came the decision about the carbs.
So at night I’m kind of repeating the lunch routine, i.e., salad, fruit and some protein. I happen to like fish better than chicken or meat, so I tend to have fish for lunch and dinner quite often. Sometimes I even break my “no carbs in the evening” rule and make myself a sandwich of whole grains bread, turkey ham and low fat cheese. Immutable rules WILL make you give up on the “diet”. Just use your own discretion and be honest to yourself. The goal of losing weight is yours, after all.

BTW, IMHO, doing exercises in the evening is not a great idea. If you’re able to, try to work out during the morning time, which makes the energy point kind of mute since you’re “allowed” to have your carbs then. This happens to be (or will be soon, hopefully) the situation I’m in, so YMMV, adapt those tips to fit your lifestyle.

@Erki and Josh
Please, don’t even try. It’s not a “prescribed” diet and I can’t promise any results other than the anecdotal evidence that it Worked For Me(TM). Make a list of the “healthy” food that you enjoy and of the “unhealthy” food that you can live without. Make an effort to eat increasingly more of the former and less of the latter. And anxiety is the #1 enemy, so maybe having an appointment with your physician is a good idea. I found out that the more healthy my diet was, the less I felt the urge for unscheduled snacks. When your body receives the right nutrients, the feeling of hunger will naturally decrease. I was quite surprised to see it happening to me, to be honest

@Luet
I agree with every word you wrote, and I’m definitely not suggesting that there’s a way to circumvent exercising oneself, only that I happened to be in an unfortunate situation where I couldn’t go to the gym. I’m quite looking forward to joining it again, now that I’m lighter and have a lot of disposition to get myself in shape. And there are always the incentive of watching girls in workout clothes

@Devon
There’s truth in your words, hence me emphasising the fact that it worked for *me* and I can’t promise anything else to anyone else. Natural carbs from fruits, vegetables and whole grains are OK, I’m only “banning” processed and highly caloric food like white bread, fat-rich dairy, fried stuff and the kind of stuff that makes you drool when you visit a bakery, and even then only after a certain point in the evening. Evidently, use your discretion: having 10 pieces of cake in the morning and fasting in the evening will obviously backfire.

If you’re craving for something sweet, having a banana or some mango will do you much better than chocolate. And if you’re still craving for food in the night, a bowl of milk and cereal (the kind you find on a natural products shop made of whole cereal (with the bran), not those in colourful boxes encrusted with sugar and additives. Or maybe some oat meal.

It’s all about modifying your eating habits while respecting your tastes, mainly by preferring eating the healthy foods that you happen to like and sometimes trying something new.

Good luck for all!

@Mean
Great tips & pointers. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do the whole “no carbs after a certain time,” but I definitely need to start eating better. Who knew I could find all this helpful info on a video game site? lol.

@MEAN

Sounds like you found a diet that really works for you. I have always failed at diets. I can handle them for about a week before I break down. Maybe I was always too strict.

If I was only trying to loose weight, I agree a diet would probably be faster but I am also trying to build muscle and hopefully become healthier in general.

Thank you for sharing your tips with our readers.

Loose is the opposite of tight
lose is the opposite of win, find and gain

@Mean:
Your coach is not quite right. If you want your body fat to drop really low while maintaining your muscle mass, a good diet is a must.
But: You will loose weight (lots of that) just by doing a workout. Loosing weight isn’t magic. It’s all about the calories that you eat vs. the calories that you spent.

@Vinnk:
“I am thinking of getting one of those scales that can tell me my percentage of body fat”
Don’t. Just measure the circumference of you waist. Same result (you’ll know if you’ve lost fat) and much cheaper. Just make sure that you measure it more or less at the same time and under the same circumstances.

I don’t think there are any “pull” exercises in Wii-Fit, right? If there aren’t you should try to do some pull-ups every other day. If you can#t do regular pull-ups, lay on your back below a table, grab the rim of the table and do pull ups like this. Just make sure the table is more heavy than you are or have somebody sit on the table
This will train your back muscles and your biceps. In combination with the Wii Fit exercises you should have covered most larger muscles (push-ups for pecs and triceps, knee bends for your quads and then the pull-ups for your back).

Oh, and it seems that your body adjusts pretty fast. Which is normally a good thing, but now it seems like the exercises are getting too easy
The problem is, that this means the intensity of your training is lowering. This results in longer workouts. And while it will make you “fitter” it will also decrease the rate of your weight loss.
Right now, you’re developing your endurance, esp. the muscle
endurance. Think of the Wii-fit as your personal aerobics-course. Problem is, that those courses are not suited to loose weight over a longer period of time (That’s why you can find some not-quite-that-slim-persons who have been doing aerobics for quite some time).

So, you need to find some ways to make it harder again.
Like placing your feet on a stool when doing push-ups. Take a water bottle in each hand (as a dumb-bell replacement) when doing the step aerobics. Use one of these aerobic-rubber tubes when doing the knee bends (or shift weight to one leg, so you gradually switch to make the knee bends on one side. Just make sure that you have something to in reach you can use for balance if needed).

And you should always repeat until you can’t do anymore repetitions. And that means until your muscle fails, not until your brain wants you to give up

Wow, long post. Anyway, keep up the work-out and the diaries.

@Mean:
Welcome to the wonderful world of dieting-nightmare. Your current diet will result in a nice weight loss. Problem is, that quite a lot of this weight will be muscle mass, not fat. At the same time your metabolism will slow down more and more. Esp. because of your no-carbs-after-n-o’clock rule.

Now, whenever you eat carbs, you’ll get an insuline spike. Which will result in an increased fat accumulation. That’s the reason why it’s advisable to eat several small meals over the day instead of 3 (or less) larger ones.

Combined with your general reduction of calorie intake, it will make sure that body thinks it needs to reduce the amount of energy burnt and to create energy depots, since food is sparse. Oh, and energy depots= fat. Reduced metabolism=you need to diet even more to still loose weight… and this is the typical dieting-death-spiral.

I’d like to congratulate you to your weight loss, but I have to warn you that chances are good it will backfire.

@Mean & Spellcaster
Great points both of you, and as josh said: finding this good tips at a gamesite? lawl.

Vinnk, you should publish a Wii-fit guide later with the help of the 4cr community, maybe Nintendo picks it up or something exciting!

@Spellcaster
Hey, I’m not *that* bone-headed. That’s precisely the reason I’m looking forward to re-joining the gym

And rest assured, I still have some smaller meals during the day, mainly fruit-based. I tend to prefer those with more fibres, like oranges, mangoes and the like.

Still, thanks a lot for the advice and for the compliment!

P.s. @Spellcaster
Ah, don’t forget the part where I mentioned that “(n)atural carbs from fruits, vegetables and whole grains are OK, I’m only “banning” processed and highly caloric food like white bread, fat-rich dairy, fried stuff and the kind of stuff that makes you drool when you visit a bakery, and even then only after a certain point in the evening. Evidently, use your discretion: having 10 pieces of cake in the morning and fasting in the evening will obviously backfire.”

Isn’t it lovely when one quotes oneself?

Sorry, I misunderstood you then. I though you banned those carbs in general and all carbs after a certain daytime.

Normally, the “don’t eat X after Y o’clock” is just a way to reduce the total daily intake of X without saying that you can’t eat X anymore.
From a diet point of view, it doesn’t really matter. Some studies even suggest that eating carbs in the evening is beneficial.
Basically, all that counts for your average person is the daily intake and your daily energy need. If you’re an athlete your needs may shift depending on your sport (and may shift here even inside a season).

If you ensure that your energy intake slightly exceeds what you need to maintain your weight your metabolism shouldn’t be impacted that much.

If your advice was: “Eat more healthy and not more than you need,” then I simply misunderstood your posts.
Peace?

nice to hear wii fit is helping your mind as much as its helping your body!