Weight Loss Discussion Thread

[Chris S]

I am making slow progress on the graphing.  It might be ready by the end of the year at this rate. 

(It's actually not needing very much more work, it's just finding the time).

Oh, btw, Greenbank: I'm probably going to have to fiddle around to work-around your "PBP" entry in August. 

He's not the only one doing it

[SteveC]

I've decided to stop worrying for the next week and a half.
Life has been a bit more than usually busy and disorganised recently.
I'm on holiday next week.
When I get back to work I may have a better idea about the way things are going to pan out.
I can then start back to concentrate on the weight.

S

[Feline]

Welcome to the legendary Halls of Fathalla, where the once lardy move from worrying about losing weight and start worrying about ensuring they get enough to eat!

Unlike Hotel California, few check in and sadly, many don't stay long

I have very much enjoyed my stay in the legendary fathalla this week! I stuffed my face like a pig just to see what would happen and put on 0.5kg. I can now lose the last kg a bit more slowly. At least I know now I can eat enough to stay the same weight 

[Simonb]

Gone up a bit this week. Must've overdone it at some point. Still, the general trend is in the right direction.

[Chris S]

Woo Hoo! That's over a stone gone now, since crimbo 

[Greenbank]

Downward trend begins, just have to keep it up and I'll get to the K&SW at the end of May the other side of 80kg.

[simonp]

Downward trend begins, just have to keep it up and I'll get to the K&SW at the end of May the other side of 80kg.

If I attempt this on fixed, will I die?

Will you be doing it on fixed?

[Greenbank]

Will you be doing it on fixed?

No, fixed SR will be 'Uts 200, Invicta 300, Severn Across 400, PBP 1200.

If the forecast is good for the K&SW I'll take the Wilier, otherwise it'll be the Aravis Audax.

[Greenbank]

180 kcal per pint of 4% lager (roughly) which is 2.2 units of booze

Last week's booze intake (according to my NHS Drinks Tracker app on iPhone): 40 units (yes, I know...)

180 * 40 / 2.2 = 3272 kcal

So roughly the same number of calories as a pound of fat (3500kcal).

[simonp]

180 kcal per pint of 4% lager (roughly) which is 2.2 units of booze

Last week's booze intake (according to my NHS Drinks Tracker app on iPhone): 40 units (yes, I know...)

180 * 40 / 2.2 = 3272 kcal

So roughly the same number of calories as a pound of fat (3500kcal).

I'm surprised you could even see the iPhone to enter it. 

[simonp]

Will you be doing it on fixed?

No, fixed SR will be 'Uts 200, Invicta 300, Severn Across 400, PBP 1200.

If the forecast is good for the K&SW I'll take the Wilier, otherwise it'll be the Aravis Audax.

On reading that, I did think "Oh, yes, nice idea, and I could take my Madone"

Then I remembered that my Madone is a nice bike, and thought better of it.

[Chris S]

180 kcal per pint of 4% lager (roughly) which is 2.2 units of booze

Last week's booze intake (according to my NHS Drinks Tracker app on iPhone): 40 units (yes, I know...)

180 * 40 / 2.2 = 3272 kcal

So roughly the same number of calories as a pound of fat (3500kcal).

I'm surprised you could even see the iPhone to enter it. 

Assuming the 40 units wasn't in one go ( ) then it's not that much - for an active chap.

[Greenbank]

No, it's a pernicious 2-3 beers/cans a night thing.

I've slipped back into the 'have a beer to wind down after work' mode, need to replace it with water/juice.

Of course, I'm still losing weight despite this 500kcal a day from booze, cutting down on the booze and I'd need to replace those calories by food and the tricky thing is to not over compensate and eating too much extra.

Cutting out the booze completely would leave me very hungry (I'm hungry quite a bit of the time running a ~300kcal a day deficit as it is) and *shudder* permanently sober.

[hellymedic]

Beware the calories and 'natural' sugar in pure fruit juice.
Think '10% sugar' every time you drink some and you won't be far wrong.

A 'Nutella glass' (200ml) of juice - small by cyclists' standards - contains around 20 grams of sugar.

[itsbruce]

Beware the calories and 'natural' sugar in pure fruit juice.
Think '10% sugar' every time you drink some and you won't be far wrong.

A 'Nutella glass' (200ml) of juice - small by cyclists' standards - contains around 20 grams of sugar.

Aye, you're better off eating the fruit than drinking the juice, if you can.  Orange juice is one option that  paramedics use in an emergency to get high doses of sugar into diabetics in hypoglycemic shock.

[simonp]

Thinks like smoothies are a better choice than fruit juice.  They contain far more of the fruit pulp.  Fruit is still better, though, but the smoothies are convenient, and can count as about 1-2 of your 5-a-day (but no more).

[hellymedic]

If I were trying to lose weight, I would be very wary of smoothies. A little fruit pulp/fibre would not compensate for the calorie-laden things that find their way into some smoothies. Read labels obsessively and consider a smoothie a dessert, not a drink.

[Edit] A 250ml bottle of 'Innocent' Strawberry & Banana smoothie contains 36 grams of carbohydrate.

[simonp]

If I were trying to lose weight, I would be very wary of smoothies. A little fruit pulp/fibre would not compensate for the calorie-laden things that find their way into some smoothies. Read labels obsessively and consider a smoothie a dessert, not a drink.

[Edit] A 250ml bottle of 'Innocent' Strawberry & Banana smoothie contains 36 grams of carbohydrate.

They claim it counts as 2 of your 5 a day.  A medium banana contains 27g carbs of which 14g are sugars.  An apple contains 22g carbs of which 16g are sugars.  Total sugar 30g between the two.  Innocent smoothie: 26.5g sugars.

So it probably isn't really that bad from a sugar POV.  However, there is still as not much fibre as you get in the apple + banana.

[hellymedic]

If I were trying to lose weight, I would be very wary of smoothies. A little fruit pulp/fibre would not compensate for the calorie-laden things that find their way into some smoothies. Read labels obsessively and consider a smoothie a dessert, not a drink.

[Edit] A 250ml bottle of 'Innocent' Strawberry & Banana smoothie contains 36 grams of carbohydrate.

They claim it counts as 2 of your 5 a day.  A medium banana contains 27g carbs of which 14g are sugars.  An apple contains 22g carbs of which 16g are sugars.  Total sugar 30g between the two.  Innocent smoothie: 26.5g sugars.

So it probably isn't really that bad from a sugar POV.  However, there is still as not much fibre as you get in the apple + banana.

Yebbut you can down 250 ml smoothie in 20 seconds. It would take a few minutes and a fair bit of chewing to eat the fresh fruit. You would feel you had eaten something.
Gulp down a smoothie quickly and the fact you've had this lot may hardly register.

Smoothies might be good Audax fuel. I don't think they are bad per se. It's just that they make it rather easy to ingest sugar very rapidly.

[itsbruce]

They claim it counts as 2 of your 5 a day.

I don't think it should count as more than 1.  I fear these claims lead some people to chugging smoothies and kidding themselves it's healthy. 

Of course, the 5 from the DoH's 5-a-day campaign is an entirely arbitrary number, chosen not because it represents a useful threshold in terms of health protection but because it seemed achievable compared to the appallingly low amount of fresh frut and vegetables eaten by the British public.  Most continental Europeans eat significantly more than that.

[Manotea]

They claim it counts as 2 of your 5 a day.

I don't think it should count as more than 1.  I fear these claims lead some people to chugging smoothies and kidding themselves it's healthy.  

Of course, the 5 from the DoH's 5-a-day campaign is an entirely arbitrary number, chosen not because it represents a useful threshold in terms of health protection but because it seemed achievable compared to the appallingly low amount of fresh frut and vegetables eaten by the British public.  Most continental Europeans eat significantly more than that.

I'm sure I read somewhere (disclaimer) the original 5-a-day (fruit & veg prevents cancer) campaign was dreamt up by the Produce Marketing Board of California and health organisations the world over simply ran with it, i.e., whilst it sounds worthy it is in fact 'tosh'.

[simonp]

Three is sufficient for heart disease protection.

[itsbruce]

Three is sufficient for heart disease protection.

Aye, it is good for the heart.  It has no significant effect on cancer rates, which was the original claim.

[citoyen]

5 A DAY: what counts? - Live Well - NHS Choices

The "five a day" campaign was covered in depth on the Radio 4 Food Programme a while back. As Bruce says, the figure is a compromise and the campaign overall is a poor substitute for proper understanding of nutrition. But better than not promoting the importance of fruit and veg at all.

IRRC it's Spain where the figure they promote is 11 a day.

d.

[citoyen]

So far this year, I've put on 2.5kg. Not good. No wonder my bike ride last Sunday felt like such hard work. 

Right, that's it. Winter laziness ends now.

On a more positive note, it was about this time last year that I stepped the exercise level up after the winter break, and I'm a good 8kg lighter than I was at that point, so it's not all bad.

d.