Weight Loss Discussion Thread

[Lady Cavendish]

Oh god yeah, I'd never consider breakfast before riding/gymming in the morning. I'd a) see it again, and b) it would be too long till lunch.

Paul- I would be ok with them not moving had they not gone back up the 0.8kg, it's the back up when I feel I should be losing it that really pissed me off!

[LEE]

Oh god yeah, I'd never consider breakfast before riding/gymming in the morning. I'd a) see it again, and b) it would be too long till lunch.

Paul- I would be ok with them not moving had they not gone back up the 0.8kg, it's the back up when I feel I should be losing it that really pissed me off!

You say that you're training hard.  It could be muscle mass.  Weight isn't everything. 

Remember that Lawrence Dallaglio was famously "Obese" (based on his BMI)

[crowriver]

Aye, but you can tell he's holding his stomach in there. Check out the love handles above the shorts too.

Not saying he's obese, but not that lean either by the looks of it.

[citoyen]

You say that you're training hard.  It could be muscle mass.  Weight isn't everything. 

Remember that Lawrence Dallaglio was famously "Obese" (based on his BMI)

I've never met Lady C but I've been following her contributions on yacf long enough to find the notion of her having a Lawrence Dallaglio physique really funny.

[LEE]

Aye, but you can tell he's holding his stomach in there. Check out the love handles above the shorts too.

Not saying he's obese, but not that lean either by the looks of it.

He had a BMI of 31 and Body Fat of 11%

That's lean in my book.  (Maybe not 11% in that photo but certainly less body fat than me)

[citoyen]

Well, it just goes to show what a worthless yardstick BMI is for a professional athlete.

It would be more revealing to see how he rates on the waist:height ratio scale - probably well within the "healthy" range.

That said, the love handles are not insignificant. He has the same problem I have - low overall body fat but what he has is all concentrated in that one area round the midriff, no fat on his arms or legs at all (though I have a much lower BMI than him by virtue of also having no muscle on my arms either). Unfortunately, it's the fat around the midriff that's most detrimental to health.

[simonp]

What percentage of adult males with a BMI of 31 have a bf of under 20%?

[Lady Cavendish]

 Yeah, he looks kinda like me, but my hair is lighter 

[L CC]

What percentage of adult males with a BMI of 31 have a bf of under 20%?

A vanishingly small one.

Didn't we do this before?
sigh

[LEE]

What percentage of adult males with a BMI of 31 have a bf of under 20%?

I have no idea, why?

[citoyen]

Didn't we do this before?

Indeed. It's the nature of these discussions to be cyclical. Ho hum.

Anyway, as you pointed out back then, BMI is as good a measure as any. But it has its limitations...

PM, simonp's point is that Dallaglio is an entirely irrelevant example for the purposes of this discussion. Hands up anyone on yacf with a BMI of 31 and body fat of 11%. Anyone? No, thought not.

[Chris S]

Amounts of adipose tissue is just one factor of metabolic health. Fboab and I were discussing this in the car this morning - there are an estimated six million Americans who have a "normal" level of fat, but still have metabolic syndrome, and there are an estimated thirty million Americans who are obese, but don't have any other metabolic issues.

Metabolic syndrome is the key here, which is why it's important not to fixate on weight, long term. Weight per-se is only worth bothering about in absolute terms if it affects you directly - for example, if you want to get a tandem up some Irish mountains in June.

I like to measure other parameters that are indicators of my metabolic health (like fboab, I'm a data geek - though I'm less into spreadsheets) such as waist measurement, blood pressure, blood glucose (as I can't do HbA1c at home) as well as BF%.

[geraldc]

It's not like the doctors aren't aware of the limitations of BMI. While you Europeans have to aim for 25, I have to aim for 23 as my people are thin but fat. It's unfair I tell you!

[clarion]

Weight is a very crude measure.  BMI us better as an indicator.  Still crude, yes, but useful in the majority of cases (hint: Dallaglio isn't a patient at this surgery).

[Greenbank]

Didn't we do this before?

Indeed. It's the nature of these discussions to be cyclical. Ho hum.

Anyway, as you pointed out back then, BMI is as good a measure as any.

The point is that it is the best metric that can be derived from two things that most people already know about themselves (or can easily measure) and a bit of "simple" maths.

BVI (Volume rather than mass) is far better metric but hardly anyone has access to the equipment required to measure volume. Likewise body fat (not knee-water) measurements. Having to put 3 or 4 different values into a spreadsheet loses the "simple" aspect.

[LEE]

PM, simonp's point is that Dallaglio is an entirely irrelevant example for the purposes of this discussion. Hands up anyone on yacf with a BMI of 31 and body fat of 11%. Anyone? No, thought not.

And my point was that weight is not the be all and end all (it was addressed to Lady Cavendish and her concern about not losing weight during hard training).

BMI for athletic types can be very misleading.  Therefore Dallaglio seems very relevant.

If you are slim but heavy then why worry?

[simonp]

BMI>30 has a high (95%) specificity for obesity in adult males, and even higher (99%) in adult females.

The biggest problem with BMI, as others have alluded to, is its low sensitivity. i.e. BMI says you are ok, but you are not (only 36% sensitivity for men and 49% for women, which means having a 'normal' BMI doesn't tell you very much).

Waist:height ratio is better. Waist:hip ratio is better still. So I really ought to get the 2014 waist measurement stuff working (currently, it's not implemented).

[L CC]

Hands up anyone on yacf with a BMI of 31

Me! Me!
*Jumps up & down*

and body fat of 11%.

Ah.

As you were.

 

If you are slim but heavy then why worry?

Because weight matters more than volume when you TT.

[citoyen]

And my point was that weight is not the be all and end all (it was addressed to Lady Cavendish and her concern about not losing weight during hard training).

Lady C is a high-performance athlete compared to most of us here. I don't want to speak on her behalf but I'd venture to suggest that weight is a significant factor at her level of performance, and the type of sporting activities she participates in.

[LEE]

Dear Lady Cavendish

I was only trying to offer some words of comfort and support.

Hopefully you'll see that weight drop off over the next couple of weeks if you stick with it.

Yours

Paul.

[Lady Cavendish]

LOL. Yes, I'm hoping it will go. It had better go. There are Waitrose mmmmm choc covered biscuits in the office kitchen that I am not touching.

I'm not a high performance athlete but I do try my best at what I do. It's not as essential as it once was when I was running competitively, but my aim for this year until my foot recovers from surgery is to better my TT PBs, yeah, and put in a decent performance at the Nationals. Getting my 10 mile time down from a long 21 to a short 21 or better is going to need all the help there is, and carrying an extra 3kg is unhelpful.

I am really grateful for any comfort, support, advice, whatever, coz I'm finding the whole thing really frustrating. It's just a constant battle to keep my weight sensible.

[Glover Fan]

Interestingly enough, my power and flat speed has increased massively since putting on 10lbs. Did 5 mile interval in 13:35 minute on my winter bike at 3 degrees celcius on Sunday. Considering my best ever 10 mile time is 26 minutes, that's not bad post Xmas IMO.

My hill climbing is shot to pieces mind.

So there's a lots to be said for weight gain, it's all about balance. When I'm 10 stone again in summer I'll be zipping up hills, but wheel sucking on flat again.

As for breakfast, it's not really about weightless for me. My mental well being benefits massively. Bowl of porridge, glass of orange.

Which reminds me, orange juice is getting slagged off massively in the media today for sugar content. It's fruit sugar FFS!!!!

[simonp]

I did my fastest Upper Thames last November and I was hovering around 75kg, which is nearly my heaviest ever. However, I was riding fixed, which as everyone knows, makes you much faster.

[citoyen]

I'm not a high performance athlete... Getting my 10 mile time down from a long 21 to a short 21 or better...

Yeah, OK, so you're no Tony Martin, that much is clear.

[nightrider]

Lost one and a half kilo this week :thumbsup:I don't expect to lose this much every week but its a nice kickstart.My motivation is to help Mrs nightrider who is classed as obese.