Weight Loss Discussion Thread

[DrMekon]

That's fine until external stuff breaks you out of your routine, which is exactly what happened to me. I'd got to a point a few years ago where I was finding it easy to maintain the good habits but then shit happened... And kept on happening. A relentless tide of shit.

I really need to find a way to get back into those good habits in spite of the shit. I guess that's where willpower comes in.

Motivation (wanting, not willpower*, which is more self regulatory) is necessary to get started, but not sufficient. The behaviour change technique we use is called implementation intentions. The technique is described as strategic automatisation - ie a shortcut to making a novel behaviour habitual. The idea is that you tie a stable cue (that's is associated with an opportunity to act in service of a goal you hold) with the performance of that behaviour by reciting an IF - THEN plan. For example, I'm working on core stability and on hamstring flexibility. My IF THEN are...

IF the kids are in bed and I am boiling the kettle, THEN I'll plank for 90 seconds

IF the kids are in bed and I'm going up the stairs, THEN I'll do calf, hamstring and quad stretches.

There's really strong evidence that the this technique is great for developing habits. There are equivalent versions for coping with setbacks and for getting back after relapsing, but they use the same IF Then format.

There's also some cute studies showing that changing environment when you've got stable habits in place is a great way of breaking those habits. I could bore you with detail of the memory processes that underpin the technique, but I'll try to stop... It's a really fun area of research.

*I think of willpower as conscientiousness - the ability to stick to something. I think I have very low conscientiousness, but I've developed lots of self regulatory strategies so I don't have to rely on willpower. I use tools like getting things done, pomodoro, agile, etc. I'm a huge fan of decision aids, planning, self monitoring, and the like. I think it's cruel that some people aren't equipped with the traits or skills required to turn their goals into intentions then in to action. I wish there were more powerful behaviour change techniques, and that the ones that do work were more widely disseminated in useable formats.

[Jakob]

This weight issue bugged me for years.  In the late eighties I was running 80 miles a week and it was two weeks before my first London marathon.   At my MOT the plump little nurse pronounced me obese.

Using BMI as a reference, Mike Tyson, at his prime, was way up on the obesity scale.

I had similar experience (as you, not Tyson!), when I was at my fittest. Nurse looked at the chart, looked at me and said "According to this I should mark you as obese, but you clearly aren't, so I'll just but normal down instead".

I haven't seen any one use neither a scale or a BMI chart here in Canada.

[L CC]

Well, I've surpassed myself. 95 fucking kilos today.
The rowing challenge put the brakes on the (slow) weight loss I'd been managing after the end of the audax season- having inevitably gained umpteen kilos doing all those McFuelled overnighters, and I have enjoyed Christmas, in a feasting way.

Back to the goddamn grindstone.


My BMI is 35. That's because I'm fat. Very few of us, here, are actually large framed, heavily muscled, whatever. If your BMI is over 30, you're probably fat. Size 18 is fat,  I know this as I'm having to buy new work trousers because  my size 16s aren't doing the job. It's a bit annoying as I threw out the last lot of emergency fat bastard trousers when we moved.

[hellymedic]

Unfortunately fboab speaks the truth.
Some of the thinnest people I know have HUGE bones, looking at their wrists.

I visually assess folk by looking at the chin/neck region, upper arms, bum & tums as well as wrists.

Good luck with all your hopes for 2017!

[simonp]

BMI < 25 conversely does not mean you are automatically fine. Could be skinny fat. Thin legs and fat belly. These are not healthy.

[hellymedic]

Indeed. Chin/upper neck usually represents visceral fat fairly accurately.

[Pedal Castro]

I did an experiment last night regarding mass loss during sleep. Obviously you are going to weigh less in the morning compared with the evening  but how much less?

I weighed myself just before sleep, half way through the night after 4 hours sleep, and then again in the morning after 8 hours.

0.6lb lost each 4 hours and 1.2lb in total. This I assume is a combination of perspiration and respiration. After a wee total overnight mass loss was 2.8lbs and exactly 1lb less than the same time yesterday.

[Gus]

BMI around 45 now 
I've just let things pass, it's time to change my daily routines again.
I've done it before so I can do it again.

[T42]

Well the nurses chart would like me at 83kg and that would just be wrong as I would be a bag of bones. I'm under 95kg for the first time in eons and do feel very good. Though how much better, if any gain, closer to say 90 I don't know, a kg or so more would do the job for me.

After I was stented in 2008 they put me on a diet for diabetics. I started at 72 kg, already fit as a fiddle, and a few months later I was down to 64 kg, suffering intense leg pain and frequent bonk when cycling. Everyone thought I was deathly ill. After going through umpteen examinations and neurological tests because all the quacks thought I was suffering from anything but starvation, I said bollocks to the lot and started eating like a human again: it all went away.

Beware medicals who don't ride bikes.

[hellymedic]

Looks like I won't be alone, feeling fraudulent, at the bottom of the charts!
Yay!

Welcome phanta!

[Jakob W]

Christmas damage limitation was not that successful; continued lurgy, sedentary activity, and a surfiet of mince pies and trifle meant I went from just under 100kg at the end of November to 103 or so. Back on the 5:2 wagon again now, and cargobike nursery runs should start again his week, so hopefully the trend line will be heading the right way again soon.

[sg37409]

Going to try to go to bed tonight feeling hungry. I cannot remember the last time I ever did this. I seem to have less will power for this resistance than anything else I'm trying to give up / cut back on.

[Butterfly]

I got slimmer of the week and slimmer of the month today at SW. The prize consisted of 2 fridge magnets and 2 tins - one of vegetable soup and one of peas. 1st 10lbs down so far 

[hellymedic]

Well done Butterfly!

[simonp]

Clarion - it's 2017 mate.

[The Movers]

Clarion - it's 2017 mate.

Sorry,

Should have stickied 2017 sooner.
Done now...

[LEE]

I've piled on the pounds/kilos, starting in Autumn and ending yesterday. 

It's not like it took me by surprise, and all bets are off over Christmas.  It's frustrating that I didn't hold on to my PBP2015 weight and fitness (it's the fittest I've ever been in my life I reckon) but I've spent 54 years realising that I can't walk past a perfectly good Pork pie.

It just means that, once again, it's back to the weight-loss regime.

I think there's a part of my brain that doesn't do anything unless there's a challenge involved or a deadline to meet. 
That must be the case or why would I be so good at dieting (I really am) but so lousy at staying slim and fit (I really am)?

I have a broken brain.

[Pedaldog.]

I made a small, but in my case positive, start to the year. New Years Day, 01:30hrs!, I went for a small Pootle on the Trike. I walked a bit later in the day too. FUD wasn't good as I am using up the BAD that I already have so crisps were consumed.
Yesterday I went for another short ride, too cold and icy for more, with my Sister, Sprogs OTP, and had a walk to, and around, my local park. Dinner was a Pizza and coleslaw, I'd normally have 2 pizzas per sitting. No crisps or chocolate.
Today I'm not riding as it's too cold and the Diabetes pain in my legs is bad. I did, however, have a walk round Lancaster and tonight I'll eat the Existing Pizza for dinner before getting serious with the FUD tomorrow.
I already feel slightly better so, if I can do a little bit, regularly, I'm heading in the right direction.
15th April is the 21st anniversary of breaking my BRANE and going Comatose. I was around 85 kg when that happened and, with no unavoidable changes outside of my control, my eventual  "Firework Display anna Speech" is to get below that. I actually feel positive and, vaguely, confident about it all.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Well, I've surpassed myself. 95 fucking kilos today.
The rowing challenge put the brakes on the (slow) weight loss I'd been managing after the end of the audax season- having inevitably gained umpteen kilos doing all those McFuelled overnighters, and I have enjoyed Christmas, in a feasting way.

Back to the goddamn grindstone.


My BMI is 35. That's because I'm fat. Very few of us, here, are actually large framed, heavily muscled, whatever. If your BMI is over 30, you're probably fat. Size 18 is fat,  I know this as I'm having to buy new work trousers because  my size 16s aren't doing the job. It's a bit annoying as I threw out the last lot of emergency fat bastard trousers when we moved.

Yebbut under your mcfuelled fat, you have a big-rig heart and lungs. Fit and fat is probably the right description? I put on weight when I exercise, fat as well as muscle. You may be the same.

My daughter scares me. She's pretty much sedentary and she can't stop eating. Her and her husband stayed for a few lovely days over christmas and I swear they ate more than 4 other people put together. Non-stop. They've had 3 weeks in India and their reports from India are like a foodie guide to the country.
I know with my family history I'm a bit fat-paranoid, but sedentary plus over eating and an already poor self-image are a terrible combination.

[Samuel D]

Good man, Pedaldog. Keep it up.

[geraldc]

I gave up monitoring my weight at the latter end of last year. My brother's taken up crossfit so now I have someone to chase weight wise. Should be a fun few months.

Going to give keeping a emotion/food diary go. ie Carry a diary and write down whether you're eating because you're hungry or because you're bored, also logging whether or not you feel hungry/full/uncomfortably full. Apparently the moment of reflection required to write "because I'm bored" or having written down "full" before going for seconds should be enough to keep you from over eating/snacking.  The fact that I can carry on eating when already full shows that my feedback doesn't seem to working properly.

[DrMekon]

Target for this year is reduced variation. Am bored of the pattern of gaining weight as I ride more, especially when I start doing longer audax. Aiming to go hyper and do LEL this year, so this will be a decent challenge for me.

[crowriver]

Back on the 5:2 intermittent fasting regime as of this week.

Hit an all-time heavy weight of 86.6kg over the festive period, having fallen off the dieting wagon in November. The kilograms are difficult to lose, all too easy to put back on.

As well as the fasting, I'm looking at an exercise regime for non-fasting days. The rather old school Commando 7 exercises appeal: anyone tried these? I was inspired after chatting to an 83 year old bloke at a Hogmanay party (as you do). He's been doing Commando 7 since the 1970s, he's slim, as fit as a fiddle and looks more like someone in their mid-sixties than his real age.

Of course I'll be cycling too but that's a given..

[hellymedic]

I'm not sure if reducing variation is practically possible.
Speaking for myself only, there can be fluctuations of ± 0.8kg with no change in exercise and little in diet.

Sticking to ultra-regular meals and drinks would mean I'd never go out/away.

I'm half a kilo down on last week, despite three nights away and some Big Hotel Meals as well as dreadful constipation.

[simonp]

On my to-do list for this evening should be get the graph update for first weigh-in of 2017.

Hopefully it should Just Work.