Weight Loss Discussion Thread

[citoyen]

I think the point is that you can't form good habits using willpower alone. Other factors, eg money and time constraints, come into play - often outside your control - that can make it harder. Or maybe easier, if you're very lucky.

[DrMekon]

Had a dodgy tummy for a week that must finally have reached a crescendo with this mornings 5am episode where I wanted to call for my mum.

Still, 1.5kg down, so it's all good, right? No. My wife was not pleased at being woken by what apparently sounded like a set of broken bagpipes.

[hellymedic]

I think the point is that you can't form good habits using willpower alone. Other factors, eg money and time constraints, come into play - often outside your control - that can make it harder. Or maybe easier, if you're very lucky.

Some good habits are just matters of willpower; rejecting biscuits, spooning less mayonnaise, using less butter etc.

[L CC]

I think the point is that you can't form good habits using willpower alone. Other factors, eg money and time constraints, come into play - often outside your control - that can make it harder. Or maybe easier, if you're very lucky.

Some good habits are just matters of willpower; rejecting biscuits, spooning less mayonnaise, using less butter etc.

But that's just it, your willpower may run out, as it's a finite resource, and what will you do then?

[hellymedic]

I think the point is that you can't form good habits using willpower alone. Other factors, eg money and time constraints, come into play - often outside your control - that can make it harder. Or maybe easier, if you're very lucky.

Some good habits are just matters of willpower; rejecting biscuits, spooning less mayonnaise, using less butter etc.

But that's just it, your willpower may run out, as it's a finite resource, and what will you do then?

Eat a 'low risk' snack, like a carrot or dry cream cracker.
Carrot is sweet and provides chewing satisfaction, cream crackers provide starch but are too boring to eat in huge quantities.

[citoyen]

Carrot is sweet and provides chewing satisfaction

YMMV

[bikey-mikey]

You have to peel the outer skin off the carrot and then the centre piece is great!!

[DrMekon]

I think the point is that you can't form good habits using willpower alone. Other factors, eg money and time constraints, come into play - often outside your control - that can make it harder. Or maybe easier, if you're very lucky.

Some good habits are just matters of willpower; rejecting biscuits, spooning less mayonnaise, using less butter etc.

But that's just it, your willpower may run out, as it's a finite resource, and what will you do then?

Habits aren't just willpower. Willpower can be used to form habits if you have enough willpower and your environment is supportive. You can also make habits with good plans, and plans are more resilient than willpower. You can also change your environment to make it more supportive. Eg

Plan a simple dietary change that is easy to follow and results in lower calorie intake
Don't put temptations in your path (no going down the biscuit aisle)
Avoid stress and get enough sleep

http://dornsife.usc.edu/wendywood/research/documents/rothman.sheeran.wood.pdf

There's loads of stuff in here on stuff beyond willpower. I'm not very conscientious, hence it's a research interest of mine

[zigzag]

But that's just it, your willpower may run out, as it's a finite resource, and what will you do then?

Eat a 'low risk' snack, like a carrot or dry cream cracker.
Carrot is sweet and provides chewing satisfaction, cream crackers provide starch but are too boring to eat in huge quantities.

carrots and other healthy snacks are good, but they don't give the "high" that a, say, shamestick* does

*stick of butter dipped in sugar+cocoa/cinnamon

[citoyen]

Avoid stress and get enough sleep

Two areas of life that may not always be entirely under your own control...

[jogler]

I've lost a kilogram in the last 6 days.
I have now lost a stone in six weeks.

[hellymedic]

But that's just it, your willpower may run out, as it's a finite resource, and what will you do then?

Eat a 'low risk' snack, like a carrot or dry cream cracker.
Carrot is sweet and provides chewing satisfaction, cream crackers provide starch but are too boring to eat in huge quantities.

carrots and other healthy snacks are good, but they don't give the "high" that a, say, shamestick* does

*stick of butter dipped in sugar+cocoa/cinnamon

The occasional shamestick/bar of chocolate/Chinese meal/Big Sin doesn't add much weight. I reckon it's not a bad thing to enjoy a 'high' from time to time. It's what your eating every day that matters.

Habits...

[itsbruce]

But that's just it, your willpower may run out, as it's a finite resource, and what will you do then?

Accept the temporary setback, don't let it demolish your resolve and try again.  While willpower is not infinite, you can increase your reserves.  It's another kind of habit, I suppose.  I do speak from experience.

It is also necessary to change your relationship to food.  I don't do without chocolate or carbohydrates, but I've learned to find a small portion of them, among more healthy food, rewarding.  And I relearned how to like the healthier food for itself.  I changed the proportion of protein, carbs and vegetables on the plate, stopped having desert with every meal.  I made it easier not to cheat by eating the green veg first and the chips last, so that if I was beginning to feel full, it would be the more calorific things that might be left. If I'm eating out, I usually exercise some restraint (salad or green veg rather than potatoes, new potatoes rather than chips, maybe constructing a meal from two or three starters rather than a starter and a large main course) while also allowing myself a small treat.  And sometimes I do just have an indulgent meal - although my concept of what is indulgent has changed a bit.  Getting back to cooking for myself properly was a *big* part of all of this.

All of that made it easier, but I still had to eat less and endure some discomfort while my body adjusted.  I didn't manage it all at once, but I never let myself take as many steps back as I had taken forwards, so even when I did relapse it wasn't devastating to my morale because I knew that I would recover the ground and go further.

Willpower, discipline and relearning good habits (or learning them for the first time, for some people) really are the boring secret. Most "diets" are harmful because a) they promise some kind of magical shortcut (which doesn't exist) and b) they are short-term, unsustainable regimes which don't teach you how to change for good.  Even the diet plans which aren't harmful are mostly useful because of the structure they provide rather than any genuine logic or science behind them.

The paleo diet is a fad diet, really, but not a harmful one.  If it gives you the confidence boost and structure you need, win.

[Auntie Helen]

I had decided to have four weeks of no cakes or biscuits (due to eating an excess of both recently) to get me out of the cake&biscuit habit right before a trip to Germany by trike (which will, of course, involve lots of cake).

The four weeks started yesterday.

I weighed myself on Sunday morning, the day before it started. 95.6kg (yes, I am a heavy lass).

Sunday evening I came down with a bug - diarrhoea and vomiting. Lost most of Sunday's food and ate just a piece of toast, a banana and some weetabix on Monday.

This morning I weighed myself - 92.2kg. That's pretty effective weight loss!!! One day without cake = 3.4kg.

Sadly I think there might be more to it than that!!!

[SteveC]

I have checked in a day early.  Tomorrow is May Day, which is a day of some importance to many morris dancers, and I will be just a bit busy in the morning.
A Merry May!

[citoyen]

My afternoon snack craving got too much today, so I caved in. But instead of my usual iced bun, I got some houmous and oatcakes instead.

I did good, right?

Houmous and oatcakes are quite high in fat but not much saturated fat. Much higher levels of protein and fibre too. Houmous is probably a good thing to make at home and bring in to work - so easy to make, cheap, and homemade tastes better too.

In any case, I think I earned it with my fast bike commute this morning and brisk run at lunchtime.

[itsbruce]

Hoummus is low GI, so a good energy source, but still highly calorific, meaning that a little goes a long way.  I've taken to using salads as a means of delivering a smallish amount of hoummus.  Works well for me.

[L CC]

Saturated fat is fine. Learn to love the lard.

Today I had a review at the gym.

a) Their scales say my weight is lower than my scales at home do. By 2+kg.
b) Apparently I am 'only' 29.6% lard. This was a surprise as I thought I was more than that, given that at 90kg I was 45% lard
c) Apparently I have 52kg of lean muscle mass.
d) 52kg of muscle + 29.6% lard leaves 4.7kg of bones and other stuff. Really?

Hmmm.

[DrMekon]

Brains. Brains and poo.

[L CC]

Brains. Brains and poo.

Hence my raised eyebrow. I'm full of shit, everyone knows that. Surely it'd be more? Or is this 'lean muscle mass' what you'd be without the fat?

[simonp]

It's quite possible you've gained muscle mass with all the exercise you've been doing.

[L CC]

I'd expect to gain muscle mass, that's the point of doing weights. But I also expected there to be more that is neither fat nor muscle, it doesn't seem to add up.

Thinking about it though, this is because I had viewed 'lean muscle mass' as something approximating deadweight and a 'standard' killing out percentage for pigs is about 70%. Liveweight therefore=deadweight+ other stuffs (brains bones guts etc) but 'lean muscle mass' includes your bones. Is that right?

[citoyen]

A quick google suggests the human skeleton typically accounts for about 15-20% of overall body weight - though some sources say more than that.

The brain and liver weigh about 1.5kg each. The lungs weigh about 1kg total. Skin weighs about 4kg.

[Greenbank]

"Lean Body Mass" seems to be the term for everything that isn't fat.

I can't see anywhere that defines "Lean Muscle Mass" as anything other than just the weight of muscle.

You should have ~3kg of blood too.

[itsbruce]

Saturated fat is fine. Learn to love the lard.

Today I had a review at the gym.

a) Their scales say my weight is lower than my scales at home do. By 2+kg.
b) Apparently I am 'only' 29.6% lard. This was a surprise as I thought I was more than that, given that at 90kg I was 45% lard
c) Apparently I have 52kg of lean muscle mass.
d) 52kg of muscle + 29.6% lard leaves 4.7kg of bones and other stuff. Really?

Hmmm.

Bodyfat measuring scales are not reliable (nor is pretty much any device which attempts to measure by conductivity).  The best you can hope is that they are consistent.  Accurately measuring bodyfat ratio is not at all easy.