Weight Loss Discussion Thread

[Wowbagger]

Our bathroom scales were more erratic than usual this morning, giving me something like a 5kg variation in my weight. We've had them for years and I wondered if it was the battery, but we checked it (it's a CR2032) and it seems to have plenty of volts left.

[geraldc]

Yesterday was a fast day, and rather than just go to 600 kcals, I just had a few quality street that should have come in way under that (the office is still full of xmas chocs). Avocado on toast for lunch and I'm still stuffed. I'm relatively late to the joys of avocado, but now I'm a confirmed fan.

[Chris S]

I can't get past the cold-dead-flesh consistency of Avocados. Shame - they're a low-carb staple.

[simonp]

I eat them all the time. Mmmm, slimy green fruit.

[L CC]

I can't get past the cold-dead-flesh consistency of Avocados.

Obviously, the cold dead flesh of ham is OK.
Egg mayo & avocado for tea for me.

[Glover Fan]

Only 10lbs to lose before mid March. That's a 1lb a week right???

Why do I always over indulge in November and December? FFS self control.

[L CC]

I think the reason we over indulge in November in December, and crave those festival carbohydrates, is because we used to need to build fat for cold lean patches from January to April. It's reserves.
(I haven't really put on more than a couple of kilos, personally, which is a first. )

[geraldc]

Quiet in the office this early on in the year, so I've been comparing my weight chart for the last year with my diary.

The good news, when not on a "diet" my weight stays pretty constant.

The bad news, when on holiday, or in holiday periods, I seem to choose to not weigh myself and gorge.

The weight I gained last year, the damage was done over 3 specific weeks. Holiday in France, Holiday in Hong Kong and Xmas/New Year.

[crowriver]

Down about a kilo on last week following some rather half-hearted "fasting" (reduced calories certainly but not 600 per day), plus a few turbo training sessions. Not bad but reckon I could have done better with a bit more self control and a tad more exercise.

[citoyen]

half-hearted "fasting" (reduced calories certainly but not 600 per day)

This is kind of what I'm doing. I'm trying to get used to the idea of feeling a bit hungry occasionally and convincing myself that this is not a bad thing and I don't necessarily need to eat RIGHT NOW, especially if there's a meal in the offing. The prime danger points are mid/late morning (with lunch still more than an hour away) and at the station on the way home in the evening (when it's far too easy to pop into M&S for snackage while waiting for the train). I'm also trying to get back on the wagon of spurning the free food that comes into the office.

So far in 2014, so good. But I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it up.

[cal]

I can highly recommend having a two week old baby boy, which gives no time for absolutely anything! 

[crowriver]

I'm trying to get used to the idea of feeling a bit hungry occasionally and convincing myself that this is not a bad thing and I don't necessarily need to eat RIGHT NOW, especially if there's a meal in the offing.

Yep, I'm making it a general rule to try and eat only when I feel hungry, which does not necessarily fit standard meal times. Doing this at work can be an issue, where convention dictates a particular timing for lunch. Easier when I'm working from home.

I'll try to ease into a stricter fasting regime rather than shock therapy, and see how it goes.

[Butterfly]

I can highly recommend having a two week old baby boy, which gives no time for absolutely anything!

Congratulations!

Conversely, I have found that having a baby, I don't have time to cook so fill up on toast and biscuits which I can eat with one hand and don't require preparation.

[LEE]

half-hearted "fasting" (reduced calories certainly but not 600 per day)

This is kind of what I'm doing. I'm trying to get used to the idea of feeling a bit hungry occasionally and convincing myself that this is not a bad thing and I don't necessarily need to eat RIGHT NOW, especially if there's a meal in the offing. The prime danger points are mid/late morning (with lunch still more than an hour away) and at the station on the way home in the evening (when it's far too easy to pop into M&S for snackage while waiting for the train). I'm also trying to get back on the wagon of spurning the free food that comes into the office.

Same here really, I just decided to eat a lot less.  I only started Monday so the motivation is still strong. Trying to organise a 5:2 regime puts me off so I'll just cut back a lot.

I'm using some of the tips from a BBC program I saw a year or so back, to manage the hunger..  Protein & soup are the best things to stave off hunger.

I tend to have a plain omelette for breakfast and a bowl of soup for lunch (no bread with either).  That's probably around 400kcals.  Around 10:30am and 15:30pm I fend off the desire to start chewing my desk and/or arm with tea/coffee.  Strong black coffee is great for suppressing appetite but I'm trying to cut back.  If it all gets too much then I'll have a banana (Apples seem to make it worse).

I'll have a normal dinner but on a small plate/side-plate.  It's amazing how a small plate helps control portions.  Try filling a side plate with dinner then transferring it to your regular dinner plate for a comparison.  You'd feel short-changed usually.

I really need to lose 2 stone/28 pounds/12.5Kg for summer.  I figure 1 pound a week is an achievable and sensible target.

Note.  If I plan to ride any distance (such as a 100k Audax on Sunday) then all bets are off, I'll eat "normally" the day before and during the ride.  I tend to lose 1pound per 100km anyway.

The first few weeks are easy though.  Weight falls off quickly and motivation is high.  I know only too well that I will plateau every so often once that first stone is gone.  That's when you need to keep going, when you've starved all week and lost nothing.  The pay-off is usually 2 pounds the week after.  Easy to say now.

Good luck to all.

[SteveC]

Well, considering the cake which is still around from Christmas, the mince pies at the committee meeting last night, and the excessive drinkies on Saturday night, oh, and the total lack of exercise, I'm quite pleased with a 1 lb loss. Managing that every week would be fine. (But this week's may have had more to do with the after effects of the upset digestive system over the holidays).

[matthew]

I am working on the basis of actually having breakfast (even if it is only a cereal bar) and then only having one round of sandwiches at lunch rather than the normal two. If I then avoid too many hot chocolates during the day (sachets provided as well as the tea and coffee that I don't drink) then I should be able to maintain a reduced calorie intake that is better spread through the day.

So far it is working.  Additional exercise will follow once the orthopods have fixed me.

[Pedaldog.]

Not good, I've gone up a Kilo since early last week! I have been partaking in a few of the more Slobfest food and drinks this past couple of weeks so I should have expected a rise, wish it wasn't so much in one go though|!

EDIT: I think I read the scales wrong last time and got confused! I was actually DOWN just over a kilo so I am actually quite chuffed!

[Moultonaught]

Forgot to weigh myself yesterday due to real life getting in the way. But having forgone chocolate, booze, cola, snacking at work, and trying to have breakfast which I'm not good at, and trying to eat mote healthily and less, I'm definitely feeling better and have a reduced craving for sweet stuff. Which is good.

[LEE]

Forgot to weigh myself yesterday due to real life getting in the way. But having forgone chocolate, booze, cola, snacking at work, and trying to have breakfast which I'm not good at, and trying to eat mote healthily and less, I'm definitely feeling better and have a reduced craving for sweet stuff. Which is good.

Hi Moultonaught.

Seriously, if you aren't so good at having breakfast, try this.  1 egg, tiny frying pan, omelette. It takes about 2 minutes (eat it out of the pan to avoid washing up).

Skipping breakfast isn't a good idea.  This gives you an amazingly full feeling, for little in the way of calories, and kick-starts your metabolism better than an empty stomach.  Currently that, and some tea/coffee, is getting me though to lunch.

[Moultonaught]

Thanks. Good plan. I'll try that. I've always never been a morning person and only feel like breakfast at about 10.30, but eating cereal at my desk is frowned on :{(> but I reckon an omlette might be early morning digestible... I'll report back forthwith...

[L CC]

Skipping breakfast isn't a good idea.

Not necessarily true.

Skipping breakfast is fine if you don't overcompensate later.
The 'accepted standard' that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and aids weight loss simply isn't supported- it's mostly confirmation bias.
See here

Also- eating breakfast is encouraged by evil carb-pushing cereal giants who own the media, pay for all the research, and fund American Government.
/conspiracy theory

ETA- I lost loads of weight last year and I nearly never eat breakfast. Like Moultonaught I'm not usually hungry till about 10:30 so I don't eat till then, or even later. Eating when you're not hungry is not conducive to having a healthy relationship with food.

[LEE]

That's why I stick to an egg.  I'm an over-compensator if I get too hungry.

Protein and soup work for me, to make me feel (artificially) full.  Carbs have proved, over the long haul, that they don't.  They don't make bread in the quantities necessary to fill me up.

I think it's like quitting smoking, everyone has their own techniques and motivations.

A friend of mine grilled a few rashers of bacon in the morning and cut them into 2" bits.  They'd snack a piece every 20-30 mins during the day.  (extreme Atkins?)
I've never know anyone to lose weight as quickly.  I'm far from recommending it but it worked for them.  They lost 3 stone in just a few months and then switched to a healthy low-cal diet.  They are still very slim to this day (25 years later).  I think it's easy to stay motivated if you see weight tumbling off like that, even if it's "hurting".

Basically though it's all about eating a bit less than you really need.

[Lady Cavendish]

So I've been trying again to lose my winter excess. I'm not looking for skinny, or heroics, just back to a decent (for me) cycling weight. I had 4kg to lose, I got one off fine, then last week thought I must be doing something right as another 0.8 came off. It then went back on again so I'm stuck with 3kg to lose and I can't get the scales to move.

I don't why I even try as it just makes me so cross. I'm eating zero junk, I'm training hard at the moment, and on paper, there isn't really anything else I can do. Apart from getting stupid about it, and literally starving myself, I don't know how to get it off. It's so frustrating.

I didn't even have a Christmas binge. The total of my Christmas treats was one mince pie, small bit xmas pud on xmas day, and a couple of quality streets, and one night of being drunk. That was it over the entire 2-3 week period, I stuck to healthy food and no excess the whole way through

I find protein and soup filling too. I don't eat any pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, anything like that.

[LEE]

A week isn't enough.  Sounds like you've plateaued (especially if you are only 4Kg from ideal weight, I have loads to lose so it's easy right now)

This is your brain's way of making you give up before it finally lets go of some more weight.  Stick with it another 2 weeks and I bet you break through the plateau.

I expect some difficult times when (if) I get within 4Kg of target.

[citoyen]

When I was cycling 15-20 miles regularly first thing in the morning as part of my commute, I would delay breakfast until after I'd finished the ride - I don't like to ride on a full stomach. Typically, I would have two boiled eggs and two slices of toast - easy to prepare in advance and take with you.

Delaying it slightly was fine, but I'm not someone who can function well without breakfast.