Weight Loss Discussion Thread

[simonp]

After LEL '09, MC '10, and PBP ’11 I had the same weight immediately after the event as before, and then lost about 2kg over the next few days. Fluid retention innit.

There’s a pic of Feline’s feet just after PBP which demonstrates the effect very well.

[Lady Cavendish]

fboab- are you eating all your exercise calories? I eat all mine as I like my food, but in order to do so have to use the 'light cycling 10-12mph' option for all cycling (even including time trials/hard spin classes etc) in order to lose weight.

[RichForrest]

Was 15st this morning 
Thinking about it, it's about 15yrs not 20.
Even so I'm still pleased about it   

Just updating this,
Still around the 15st mark, was 14st12 last week but seem to have stabilised at that weight.
Changing shape now instead of loosing weight and this pic taken at the weekend shows the difference 6 months makes.
One was taken late August in N. Ireland and the other yesterday in Yorkshire 

[L CC]

I'm about 100calories under, net, most days. Obviously if I'm riding for more than 5 hours even I struggle to chomp my way through that, so audax days are mostly well under. All my riding is logged as 500cal/hr (mfp gives me 511 for 10-12mph).
I haven't just ridden PBP (which, incidentally, I lost no weight on) this isn't fluid retention, and I'm not bothered about 1 day after a 200k not weighing less than I did before. I'm bothered about 2 weeks of no weight loss despite 2 hours of exercise a day and not having anywhere near as much butter in my life as I'd like.

I'm just whinging.

Losing more than 20kg like I need to, is going to take a long time and it's dull, it's hard work, and I'm bored of worrying about whether I can 'afford' pizza for lunch or not. I'm sick of thinking about food, it's not healthy to obsess about it this much. That's my punishment for being a lardy bastard for so long and I should learn to HTFU and get on with it.

[citoyen]

My wife has expressed a concern that I'm starting to look like a cyclist - you know, the ones on the telly, with the finely toned legs, firm buttocks and scrawny, twig-like arms. This morning, I wore short sleeves and arm warmers for the first time this year, but I no longer have enough spare fat on my upper arms to hold the arm warmers up. 

I need to start swimming regularly again. Or buy a smaller size of arm warmers.

Oh well, it's a nice problem to have. 

d.

[CrinklyLion]

Ah well fboab, at least you whinge with style. And I know it's no consolation when what you're aiming for is less kg to haul up hills, but I thought that in that faceache pic of you guys on the tandem you looked simply marvellous.

[Lady Cavendish]

Fboab I totally empathise. I wish the maths worked, I'm sorry its not for you either.

Ok, admittedly, I don't have that much to lose, its about 4kg I'm after. (I think, I don't work in kilos but was 9 stone 1 this morning and am aiming for 8 and half)

I exercise 4 hours a day average on a weekday, and then an Audax at the weekend, plus an hour or 2 on the other weekend day. I'm always 300-400ish green on MFP- much more so on Audax days (and I underlog my exercise cals, I put in 350hr for cycling, but things like body pump and circuits, I only give myself 200 cals for, and they must burn more than that). So therefore I should really be more green on MFP.

I think I usually end up with a deficit of 6000-7000 for the week even with the conservative figures I'm using. (And i'm not underlogging food, i'm religious about it) but if I lose 0.5lb thats a total miracle. Its weird and I wish I knew what else I could do!!!

[jezzasnr]

Losing more than 20kg like I need to, is going to take a long time and it's dull, it's hard work, and I'm bored of worrying about whether I can 'afford' pizza for lunch or not. I'm sick of thinking about food, it's not healthy to obsess about it this much. That's my punishment for being a lardy bastard for so long and I should learn to HTFU and get on with it.

Dull, Hard Work. Nail on the head.

The grim truth, but so worth it when it starts dropping off, and it will.

[citoyen]

I'm bothered about 2 weeks of no weight loss despite 2 hours of exercise a day and not having anywhere near as much butter in my life as I'd like.

I'm just whinging.

Can't blame you. That doesn't sound at all fair.

I'm sick of thinking about food, it's not healthy to obsess about it this much. That's my punishment for being a lardy bastard for so long and I should learn to HTFU and get on with it.

Well, your attitude is healthy at least.

I found that I only started making progress when something clicked and I started really wanting it. By which I mean wanting it more than I wanted butter. Or beer. Or crisps. Maybe an element of HTFU involved. But the hardest part is perhaps overcoming that huge psychological hurdle to get to the state of really wanting it that much, which will be especially hard if you have other problems affecting your mental state - that commute can't be helping at all. Fwiw, you have my sympathy and moral support.

d.

[zigzag]

My wife has expressed a concern that I'm starting to look like a cyclist - you know, the ones on the telly, with the finely toned legs, firm buttocks and scrawny, twig-like arms.

my wife is also not too impressed with my cyclist looks that i acquired in recent years. she much prefered (so she says) my "manly physique", as it was ten years ago: 



well, different sports, different jobs - naturally body changes to adapt..

[Wowbagger]

My brother actually noticed today and asked if I'd lost weight.

Apart from Jane mentioning my trim bottom when we were riding together at half-term, that's the first comment I've had. If and when I manage to lose another 10kg, I think it will show an awful lot more. I'm still a fat bastard with lots of excessive wobbly bits. Most of it seems to have come off my belly. My cup size doesn't seem to have ben affected. 17st 4lb or thereabouts in real money today.

I sympathise, boab. I've been really fortunate in that I've scarcely changed my meals. All I've done is cut out the evening browsing of Nice Things (principally, cheese, beer and ice cream) and eaten fruit instead. I suspect that a time will come when I stop losing weight by this method, but I don't seem to be at that point yet. I have to confess that when I was in Waitrose the other day and I saw Old Thumper at 2 bottles for £3 I had a big wibbling moment, but my resolve held.

[citoyen]

well, different sports, different jobs - naturally body changes to adapt..

True dat. I do sometimes envy people with physically demanding jobs. I have seriously considered jacking it all in to become a carpenter - not for that reason, though it would be an added bonus. I hate being on my arse at a desk all day.

d.

[CrinklyLion]

If and when I manage to lose another 10kg, I think it will show an awful lot more. I'm still a fat bastard with lots of excessive wobbly bits. Most of it seems to have come off my belly. My cup size doesn't seem to have ben affected. 17st 4lb or thereabouts in real money today.

Hey - don't lose it too fast!  On the principle that it is theoretically A Good Idea for the stoker to not outweigh the pilot if possible and given that I'd quite like another go on that sturdy thorn again one day I'm trying to keep at least a little bit ahead of you in the weight stakes, so that I can follow a little behind you on the tandem again sometime soon

My second informal target is to one day weigh less than RichForrest.  What with him being a muscly bloke wot is about 3 feet taller than me this isn't particularly aspirational.  I almost managed it once - about the time of the Dun Run year before last when he was a fairly skinny billy doing frankly ridiculous amounts of audaxing and I was riding lots and calorie counting in an attempt to get fit-ish enough to not make wowbagger throw me off the tandem in disgust at the first sign of a hill on the way to the seaside.  But then I ate a lot of caik and Rich ran a load of miles and blimey, I've got some catching up to do now!

[bikey-mikey]

After a typical long weekend of three consecutive days of 200+ kms, which this time included two fairly hilly calendar events, I as usual stuffed myself with anything I could get my hands on, whenever I could - rice pudding and peaches, beans on toast, caik, a whole barrel of shortbread biscuits dunked in coffee, ham sandwiches, fefrero rocher, yoghourt, latte, toast and jam, oatssosimple porridges x 3 for breakfast in travelodges, and on the bike great big flapjacks with rasberry jam, and smaller oaty nutty raisiny bars, and lots of High Five 4:1 drink - carbs and protein (replace the protein as you ride at this sort of mileage, some say)

I got up at home this morning, did my ablutions, got on the scales and it said 59.4 kgs.. I'm 171 cms...  BMI 20.3

I have a cyclists upper body that hardly casts a shadow, apart from all the hair, and legs like tree trunks (err... thin spindly trees of course, but nicely whippy)

I suppose I am lucky and it seems impossible to actually put on any weight, but that does not mean that I don't feel empathy for those of you on the other end of the see-saw, so I thought I'd explain my strategy, in case it might help someone else...

I have been training 'through the bonk' for a while now, deliberately going past the zone where I run out of carbs/glycogen, to try to make my body burn fat more effectively, and I think that maybe my body has adapted, and that might be why I am as I am..

On calendar events I have been known to bounce all the controls, and ride right on through, with just bars and drink as I go..

I'm not sure if this is even safe, both on a physical level and on a 'riding safely and being aware of what's going on around me' level, but if it forces your body to burn more fat, which seems to be most peoples' desired outcome, then a variation on this may just be helpful if you can stand the 'pain'...

[simonp]

I'm 2000 calories over today give or take. 

[SteveC]

Flatlining again (or pretty close).
Not enough riding.  Too much cake over the weekend.
Major change to work patterns coming up which will almost certainly mean more temptation for bad food and less time for the bike 

S

[davelodwig]

Back up a little bit this morning (105.2 to 105.5) I'm putting it down to lovely hotel breakfasts and all their butter pushing ways at the weekend.

The butter, with the toast, croissant, and cooked breakfast possibly.

[Wowbagger]

Still going well. Another 800gm down from last week. That's over 10kg lost since 1st Jan.

Edit: that's more than one-third of the way to my annual target - in less that a quarter of the year! 

[clarion]

I lost over 1kg this week (total lost = 8kg), which was pleasing.  Perhaps I should do an FNRttC every week

[spenceey]

Up slightly on last week, still I know I've been much better this week than other weeks. Was planning to cycle to work this morning (first time since moving) but knee is playing up again More stretching and ibuprofen for me then. Hoping to be able to cycle in on Friday now.

[Andrij]

Down a bit, but still above my lowest weight this year. 

I've decided to give MyFitnessPal a try.  I've never counted calories before, so this could be interesting...

[Feline]

Very impressive losses from Wow and Clarion 

I'm not doing so well this week, but it's my 'fat week' of the month so I'm not going to worry about it.
I've definitely redistributed some lard to muscle and I'm feeling much stronger on the bike with a fair few recent miles so the rest will come together in time. My neighbour just gave me THORNTONS because I've given her lots of stuff for her kids. I shall have to request Amazon vouchers instead in future 

[clarion]

...I've decided to give MyFitnessPal a try.  I've never counted calories before, so this could be interesting...

I never had before either.  I'd tried recording all I ate, but that was relatively meaningless.

It seems to work for quite a few people.

[Auntie Helen]

Well this morning I was down a bit more, now have lost 21lbs or 9.something kg (can't remember how much).

I'm feeling soooooooo much better for it.

Pass the cake!

[Marmitegeoff]

...I've decided to give MyFitnessPal a try.  I've never counted calories before, so this could be interesting...

I never had before either.  I'd tried recording all I ate, but that was relatively meaningless.

It seems to work for quite a few people.

I find that the falling total of cals available during the day helps curb the inclination to snack.  That has always been my downfall.

Feel free to add me as a friend on mfp.

Geoff