Great list.
Some of you might find some good stuff in my formula:
Story: 54, usually in good shape at around 185-190 at 5'-11". When I am in great shape I drop to about 175lb and for me that is about 12% body fat.
Over the last 8 years I have been besieged with minor injury of various types that I usually rehabbed or worked around. I got into some bad form a few years ago with some cross fit type work outs and and ended up with a torn meniscus which I had partially removed in December. While rehabbing the knee and general inactivity over the last year, I have seen my weight balloon up to 202 lbs.
My primary form of fun is gym rock climbing, and I came back too quickly from the knee surgery and although I had no knee issues, I quickly developed climbers elbow (golfers elbow) in both arms, an unusual but fairly minor shoulder impingement, and some tendinitis in my carpi wrist tendon. So I decided it was time to take a break from climbing, lose some weight, and concentrate on some movement evaluation and rework.
However, due to my injuries and recent surgery, almost all form of traditional exercise are off the table. So I decided to come up with a simple hard hitting plan that I could do for 4-6 weeks to get off of high center on the weight loss front. This will not be for everyone, but I think it is a testament to the power of simplicity and diet.
The steps:
Complete cessation of alcohol. I put a pencil to my alcohol consumption as I recollected it and in the previous weeks averaged an alcohol equivalent of 31 Bud Lights per week. I know this Surly and that is no big deal, but calorically it amounts to about 1lb/week. Plus this is not forever.
Walk 1 hr/day on average: Pretty easy to do since I have no other means of exercise. Based on my weight and pace, I figured I can get about 1LB/week out of this. I am also doing some light band rehab work on my wrists, elbows and shoulders, but nothing calorically significant. Walking is a very powerful fat loss tool. Several years ago I was down to about 179LBS while doing all kinds of body weight exercises and sprinting along with a very moderate paleo type of diet when my weight loss really stalled out until I added about 3 walks a week. There is just something about the pace that lends itself to steady fat loss.
One Meal Per Day: This is where it might get difficult for some of you. This is not an eating window. I literally have one meal per day (during the week) and I eat mine at 3PM. From prep to finishing the dishes it is about 1 hr. In normal times I don't eat breakfast or lunch but eat from 6-9PM excluding weekends.
The Meal is a salad: 1/2 LB of Spring mix, 2 can of sardines, 2 hard boiled eggs, generous portions of bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms, onions and broccoli. Topped with a homemade vinaigrette, shredded Parmesan cheese, and Parmesan Crisps. I have a hard time finishing it and I have no hunger for the rest of the evening unless someone brings in some fast food or something. The caloric intake would not be sufficient if I were climbing or otherwise working out, but I find it works while I am hobbled. I have weighed myself before and after this meal and the weight is ~3lbs of food +/-. I did a calorie count on it at one time but I don't have it anymore, but I think it was slightly less less than 2000 cals. I may rework it and edit this post if there is interest.
The results:
Very slow start for the first 3-4 days in terms of weight loss. Some of that may be in the weighing times and whether I have evacuated my bowels of the 3lb meal, but after that once you get in a rhythm the result are consistent. I vary from this approach on the weekends a bit and whatever happens over the weekend tends to even out by Monday afternoon.
After 3 weeks I am at 185-186 lbs for an astonishing .8/lbs lost per day. Caveat, historically, my weight loss tends to stall as I get closer to 180lbs. But also consider, I have no weight work or HIT training in this regimen so I still have that in my bag of tricks once I get healthier. Consider too to that I am also preconditioned to smaller eating windows so the effect would in theory be greater for someone not accustomed to restricted eating windows.
Also, I began this program not significantly over weight. For another Surly of similar build and love of all things alcohol, but say another 20lbs heavier to start, I would expect being able to run this program for longer with similar daily results. There are also other hidden calorie restrictions that I do not have available such as soft drinks or sweets which I don't usually have in my diet, so I don't benefit from cutting them out.
On muscle loss: I have no idea or not whether this is occurring or not, but it is not a concern at this time since I really have no other choice. I will say that this injury situation has led me to research and rethink my movement patterns for all forms of exercise. I imagine I am going to be out of rock climbing for another 3-4 months and in that time I will continue to try and lose weight to where I am down to under 170lb. At that weight, I will have the benefit of over 30LBS less of body weight to deal with on the wall which is kind of like a hidden strength gain. Additionally with improvement in technique and emphasis on mobility and correct muscle activation and joint strengthening, any loss of muscle will be more than offset.
I just thought I would share the weight loss portion especially since it is working so well and dispel the notion that you need to hit the gym all the time and wear yourself out to get good and fast results which are not the result of an unsustainable crash diet or questionable eating habits.