I took the time to read through all 17 pages of this thread.
It took a while. A few days. It contains generally good advice which I'm going to tailor to suit my needs/priorities/likes. I find it inspirational... to see that other middle aged men have gone through something similar and struggled with their weight (especially when they go on to say that they never struggled in their twenties).
I think this thread would be slightly easier to follow if people uploaded a personal avatar.
After reading this thread,
and the gut bacteria catalyst program thing that someone posted much earlier,
what I'm going to do, is not to diet (verb), but to watch my diet (noun). I don't like the term 'to diet' (verb) because it implies the changes are temporary, and also that exercise is not part of the weight-loss equation.
What I've decided to do is make some more or less permanent changes as suggested previously [somewhere]. First off I'm going to eat more wholesome foods, less white bread, more food from high fibre type grains (rye). I'm going to add bran to my cereal. I've already swapped to skim milk.
Next, I'm going to cut out sugar. I've already bought several sugar replacements and they seem to do the job okay (there is no horrible chemical aftertaste like there used to be with saccharin, but they are expensive). I am able to walk straight past the 'tempting' aisles of food (pepsi/chocolate). All I have to do is simply... not buy it. I know I'll probably crave it in a few days but I am going to soldier on through that. In the past I have gone many many years without softdrinks, so I know I can do it. It's just a question of willpower. Looking at how many kilojoules is in a 500ml serve is rather enlightening. I'm going to replace pepsi with ice with water and ice.
I'm going to read more about insulin response with certain foods. Too late now, @853guy I already bought two or three artificial sweeteners.
Oh well, perhaps I will just have physically smaller coffees like they do in Spain and Italy? Sounds good.
Speaking about calories, I'm not going to "count" calories as some people do (intake vs outtake). What I am going to do is to look closer/more at the nutritional information and decide for myself. Comparing energy density or whatever it's called (kJ/100gram).
For example I discovered that these delicious macadamia nut & honey bars I used to eat also contain 7% sugar.
Not good, so they're out. Today I thought I would buy myself some 'light' spreadable cheese to have with ryvita (rye crispbread) and smoked salmon. It supposedly has "25% less fat". The packaging is all white and silver and it does look very, how should I say, "light", just to look at it. Honestky the amount of graphic design that goes into food packaging is insane. Anyway I looked at the ingredients/nutrition and it is still 22% fat!
Which came as a bit of a shock, as I was expecting it to be 5% fat or something, but no. So I had to spread that rather thinly.
I'm going to have to cut out my beloved pizza shapes, no two ways about it.
If I have to choose between a skinnier frame and the enjoyment of eating pizza shapes for 5 or 10 minutes, I'm now going to choose the former. They're not worth it. Eating is temporary, the fat gut remains all day long.
The funny thing was that when I stopped eating salami for a few months, my cholesterol level went UP even further!
Not sure what happened there, but I think it's too easy for me to eat too much salami, so forget it. It has to go.
I'm not going to go vegan, sod it, no. I will try to eat more beans though.
I'll eat more carrots too.
Smaller portions. I'm going to take my time, chew my food well instead of wolfing it down. No one has mentioned that yet.
I'm going to continue to do the mediterranean thing and essentially to skip breakfast. Because that's what I'm used to and I don't feel hungry until several hours after waking up. I have a feeling that as I lose weight I'll have to skip the midnight snacking!
Above all, I'm going to exercise a lot more. That's what's been missing in my life due to a severe foot injury. Due to my body clock, this time happens to be in the afternoon.
On the bike I'm going to ignore the low intensity "fat burning zone" and just ride at a harder aerobic pace like I've always done.
I'm going to invest in a set of rollers for those overcast & rainy days. Even a 20 minute session is better than nothing.
I was wondering how you all cope with bad weather? Do you ride in bad weather regardless, or do you train indoors? The last time I went out when the clouds were threatening, I got stuck in the middle of a hailstorm and ended up getting pelted with hail, causing massive welts on my arms. It felt like torture. I may ask this elsewhere in the training section.