18 months later, after many ups and downs, I am finally approaching a BMI of 25 at 81kg (12st 11lb) which is the lightest I've been in 20 years.
Well done, how are you keeping it off the weight that is?
I eat a very small breakfast and a very small lunch every day. Typically a 1 egg omelette for breakfast and a can of soup for lunch.
That's probably around 400Kcals, plus some cups of tea all day until my evening meal.
I probably cycle every other day on average and that easily takes care of my weekly breakfast and lunch calories.
Losing weight is fundamentally about running a calorie deficit and the human body is programmed at a brain-stem level to ensure that doesn't happen. It's tough to override caveman programming.
If you aren't losing weight then, most likely, you're eating/boozing too much and convincing yourself otherwise. (Your caveman brain is very cunning and will trick you).
Once you realise it's a battle with your caveman brain, and that it's your enemy, then you are part way to winning.
I work on losing half a pound a week. Sometimes I don't lose it and other weeks I lose more. I stopped getting stressed about it.
If I'm burning off more calories than I'm putting in then something must give eventually. I started eating not very much.
Sometimes I plateau for 2-3 weeks and then I'll lose 3 pounds on the 4th week.
I've stopped the habit of consoling myself with food when I have a week of no weight loss (how stupid it that? It was my caveman brain telling me to console myself, it was tricking me.)
Audaxing generally lets me permanently lose 1 pound per 150km but that, especially on longer rides, can take over a week to kick in.
I recently did a 600km and lost 4 pounds a week later. Strava reckons 13,500Kcals for the ride, that's almost perfectly 4 pounds at 3,500Kcals a pound of fat.
The self-discipline I need to stick with it is hard work and I don't know what I'll use to motivate myself when PBP is finished.
I believe that losing weight ultimately comes down to how much you
really want to lose weight.
If you're not losing weight then you
really don't want to (trust me, I've been in denial as well, for 20 years, I just convinced myself that I was trying hard enough... but i wasn't).
Oh yes, if I want a day of eating and drinking then I won't feel guilty about it, I'll embrace it and enjoy it, guilt free (otherwise what is the point?)
Good luck everyone, I know how hard it is.