Weight Loss Discussion Thread

[hellymedic]

There's a bit more noise on my flat line.

No convincing evidence of loss.

There is more noise on my flat line.

Definitely no evidence of loss...

[Jakob]

Still steadily decreasing. Our old analog scale is not very accurate, but definitely on a downward trend at about 0.25kgs per week and belt is on last hole too. Need to add one more weekly kendo practice/gym session to get a few more calories burned off, but hopefully spring/summer should also get me outdoors a lot more.

[Blodwyn Pig]

Y A Y !  first time in living memory........ I've dipped below the 90kg..........89.7kg this morning, straight out of bed, well, after a p.....,   well chuffed.

[Wowbagger]

I didn't bother taking part in the WL thread this year, it has been so ineffective in the past. I had a quick look through and it appears that few people have kept up their weight registrations and only two or three have lost any significant weight. Paul H says "not doing that again" and Blodwyn Pig is very pleased to be under90kg (well done both!)

I have been making a solo effort at losing weight and this morning was exactly 120kg, the lightest of the year so far. That represents about 3 or 4 kg own on the year. I have made some changes to my diet. It is well over a month since I bought beer at the supermarket. I have also decided to avoid breakfast every other day. Normally it's a bowl of porridge. I know people say that breakfast is the one meal you ought to eat, but I find that I can quite easily avoid temptation before lunch in a way that is much harder later in the day. I haven't got a clue as to why that might be.

I am getting a lot of exercise, having been on a number of 10 or so mile walks. Not so much cycling though.

[hellymedic]

I might be 'out' for a while. My weight is static but acceptable though I would still like to be lighter.

Unlike many, I lost most of my excess in 2012 (which is dropping off the graphs), a bit more the next year and have kept most of it off.

[SteveC]

I didn't bother taking part in the WL thread this year, it has been so ineffective in the past.

I have to admit that I don't think logging my weight here actually encourages me to lose any of it, but it provides me with an anchor in the week so weighing on Wednesday becomes the 'official' one.
But I'm feeling a bit down about weight loss at the moment as I have discovered that the new set of scales MrsC bought appear to be inaccurate, at least when comparing the metric and imperial measures. The imperial reading seems to be a couple of pounds lighter than the metric one. As I've been using the imperial setting (except for Wednesdays) this was a disappointment. Being realistic, I've still lost about a stone over the past year which is really pretty good (as it seems to be staying off) but the psychological effect of 'about twelve and a half stone' as opposed to 'just over twelve stone' is real.
Oh well. 

[Greenbank]

I've had mixed success, but none of it can really be ascribed to the WL thread itself.

In 2007 I went 90kg to 76kg in 9 months (as my Audaxing habit increased):



And in 2016 I had a similar drop rate for 4 months or so (marathon training mostly):-



(The red dots were the goal of a 0.5kg loss per week.)

For me the thread (when I use it) is just a copy of the log of my weight. There's some small motivational gain from seeing one's weight drop on a web page, but 99.999% of the progress is through sheer hard work by ramping up exercise levels (massively in some cases) and also modifying intake accordingly [less snacking, etc]. Stick to the plan and remember that the rewards for the temporary tiredness/aching/hunger are definitely worth it.

I record daily weight elsewhere and I'll see if I remember to copy it across to the WL thread when/if I can be bothered.

Anyway, I should be on the way back down again (and making more of an effort to keep it down this time). 96kg now, 90kg by August, 80kg by Christmas, 76kg by April 2019.

[Chris S]

We now have WiFi scales, so don't need to record anything anymore - we just stand on 'em and it's done.

[Greenbank]

We now have WiFi scales, so don't need to record anything anymore - we just stand on 'em and it's done.

The geek in me would find that useful, however I just can't justify spending that much extra £££ over a normal set of scales.

[hellymedic]

I lost most of my excess in 2012.
Though I participated in this thread, I only entered actual weights for that year on the 'charts' in retrospect, YEARS later when my morale needed a boost and weight was nearly static.

[crowriver]

I find the weekly logging on here a useful discipline, I'd never bother recording my weight so methodically otherwise.

Pleased to say that I'm below 79kg (just) for the first time in over two years. Slow and steady on the tiller of the good ship 5:2 intermittent fasting seems to work for me. This year I've been doing two fasting days back-to-back, as opposed to spreading them through the week as in previous years. So far, so good. Waist circumference coming down steadily too, now below the 94cm "danger zone" (according to NHS). This latter is what I need to keep working on if I want to stay healthier in my fifth decade.

Coincidentally it's been over two years since I rode an audax. Still cycle for utility (no car so this is essential) and the odd leisure ride. Hope to do some longer rides this summer, maybe an audax too if I'm feeling fit enough. I have taken up hill walking again over the past year, and find it very rewarding and enjoyable. Only snag is it requires nearly as much time as audaxing, though less equipment needed and I go places where it would be difficult to ride a bike. Tending my allotment plot also provides a good workout on a regular basis.

Overall I'm much encouraged this year regarding weight loss strategies, after a couple of years where it all seemed to be going wrong. I even drink a few beers and some wine or whisky now and again. Perhaps without these indulgences my weight loss would have been faster, but at least I can relax a little and enjoy life somewhat. Fasting days provide a necessary corrective.

Spring is finally here, so there's much to be positive about. Onward!

[Wowbagger]

I broke through the 19 stone/120kg marker today. Hurrah!

[hellymedic]

Well done, WB!

[Butterfly]

I like the thread because it documents my fluctuations through the years.

Soooo, back on the wagon. Back to a new slimming world group, since that worked well for me before. I can't keep waiting for a stable life, I've just got to get on with it.

[andrewc]

Last week I weighed in at 105kg, that's too much even for a tall chap like me.   

No large bowl of muesli for breakfast & no sandwich & bag of crisps or kitkat for lunch.    Evening meals fairly normal & a bottle of wine sneaked past my guard on Wednesday.  I'm in a sedentary desk job but walk a couple of miles a day. No motivation to do any more exercise after work at the moment.

This morning was 102kg .   I'm hoping I can keep this up , I've got a 2 week tour in France starting at the end of next week.  It would be nice to come back lighter for a change.

[Graeme]

I tried logging weight a few years ago but my motivation just wasn't in it.

Several years ago I was 107kg. Then, over a period of six months I calorie counted my way down to 82.5kg - I was skinny as a skinny thing and even bought a t-shirt in 'medium' size. (I'm 6' tall). Since then it crept back on and over the last year I've found myself hovering between 95kg and 100kg. I'm now solidly 100kg and knocking 101, 102. I do not want to be 107 again.

In the last two years I've tried calorie counting again. It worked once right? But it isn't working this time. I apply diligence daily and I can see my weight drop over a four week period, maybe 1.5kg. But one mistake. One mistake. And the whole lot comes rushing back on. It is like the calories to lose weight are different to the calories to gain weight. What bugs me is that a calorie is the energy needed to raise 1g of water 1oC... or a variation thereof. I use to sell the equipment to calculate calories in food. You essentially incinerate the food and measure the energy input vs the energy output. But humans are not steam powered. The chemical process of converting a peanut into cycling uphill is not the same as that of turning a bacon sandwich into cycling uphill. It certainly isn't as simple as throwing food into a furnace and heating water to move my limbs. Oh I'm frustrated.

So my daughter suggests that long distance cycling is the problem. She says my body is a finely tuned bunch of chemical processes working in beautiful harmony. She says the simple fact that I can ride a bike a long way is evidence that my body is working (compared with my wife's body which has ME and doesn't work the same way). My daughter thinks that my body is super efficient at turning food into stored energy ready to be used for endurance cycling and for keeping me warm in the cold. My body is, apparently, cleverer than I am.

So daughter has a plan. Dad, she said. Go and ride a short hard ride. Ride as fast as you can for 10 minutes, ride so fast you can hardly breathe. Your body isn't used to that and it will have to start to think differently about how it stores energy.

Today I went out and rode as fast as I can for 10 minutes. I managed to finish in 7 minutes 31.1 seconds. Woo! (Yeah I know) Anyway I was breathing so hard I could hardly think. My legs hurt and my lungs hurt and... and I'm wondering if my daughter is as smart and wonderful as my body. I wonder if she's on to something. I can't remember riding this hard in years. She's told me to do this every 2 to 3 days. I don't want to calorie count anymore it just depresses me. I don't want to weight watch anymore - all I do is watch my weight go up. But putting some effort into something different like this - I think I can do that.

I suspect you've already figured some of this out. I'll bet in the last hundred pages someone has already tried this. Did it work? I'm unhappy with my fat suit and want to feel happier about my body. This isn't about social images of fatness... although vicar 'in full sail' is a stereotype I'd like to avoid. I just want to feel like I can breathe again.

:-|

[Chris S]

My suggestions:

1. Give recreational carbs a rest.
2. Give bread/starches a rest¹
3. Do what your daughter suggests.

¹ Beer is just liquid bread, you know this right? Worth mentioning.

[hellymedic]

Riding really hard for 10 minutes will certainly raise your level of calorie burning for those 10 minutes and maybe some 'cool-down' time afterwards. How much it changes your metabolism for the rest of the day is moot and variable.
The exercise will certainly get your heart pumping and blood coursing round the body.

Actual calorie consumption will be disappointing. This is around a two-finger Kit-Kat, two Jaffa Cakes or a Fox's Chunkie Cookie - 90-115 kcal.

Go for it! See what difference it makes.

Low intensity exertion, like walking, has made the most difference to people I know.

[hellymedic]

You could try the religious approach:
Recite a Grace before food passes your lips.
Recite a Grace at the end of a meal.
Finish a meal satisfied but with room for more.

Do not eat between meals.

[Chris S]

Work and Recreation should be kept separate   

[hellymedic]

If you believe in God, you believe he is with you all of the day and night and you are mindful of His Presence in all you do.

Or should be...

[Graeme]

You could try the religious approach:
Recite a Grace before food passes your lips.
Recite a Grace at the end of a meal.
Finish a meal satisfied but with room for more.

Do not eat between meals.

I think that sounds like self-control.
I've heard that self-control is a spiritual gift.
I wonder if that was the spiritual gift I haven't unwrapped yet.

(click to show/hide)

Everyday is a new discovery for me. Saying Grace for a meal originated in an argument in the early church about whether it was acceptable to eat food sacrificed to idols. Some members of the early church said it was irrelevant and others found it a stumbling block to their faith. Giving thanks was a way of making all food acceptable and resolving the dischord.

[Graeme]

What is a recreational carb?

[Chris S]

What is a recreational carb?

Cake, sweets, doughnuts, crisps; processed stuff.

[Paul H]

Riding really hard for 10 minutes will certainly raise your level of calorie burning for those 10 minutes and maybe some 'cool-down' time afterwards. How much it changes your metabolism for the rest of the day is moot and variable.
The exercise will certainly get your heart pumping and blood coursing round the body.

If it's intense enough to build muscle, won't that also effect metabolism? All good, but even with the most optimistic estimates it's still not going to consume enough calories to make much difference - rough calculation, if 1 kg weight loss is 7,000 cal and 10 min intense is 160 cal, then it'll take around 22 weeks to lose a kg

I'm a serial dieter, lose the weight then put it  back on again, usually triggered by illness or injury...  and round again.   I've found different disciplines have worked at different times, they all involve a considerable reduction in calories, I don't think there is a shortcut and it is that simple. 
Currently on a strict calorie count Mon - Fri and eating whatever I fancy at the weekends, going OK, but it isn't sustainable and will have to deal with that once I've achieved the loss.