Weight Watcher's Thread

[Alan O]

Bad week this week after my sciatic nerve pain got worse, leading to my participation in a 40-mile bike ride being cancelled, and no gym exercise. I did manage a couple of short rides this weekend with no pain at the time, but my back this morning suggests that might not have been such a good idea.

Plenty of painkillers during the week, and not too much focus on weight loss. I'd never taken Ibuprofen for more than two doses before, and I discovered that taking it for several days at the maximum recommended daily dose causes nausea and fluid retention - my weight has been up and down by nearly 1kg (always weighing first thing after morning toilet) as I've been on and off the Ibuprofen.

I'm at 94.6kg this morning for no overall change on the week (though yesterday morning I registered at 94.3kg), so a written-off week all round really.

 

[ColinJ]

Bad week this week after my sciatic nerve pain got worse, leading to my participation in a 40-mile bike ride being cancelled, and no gym exercise. I did manage a couple of short rides this weekend with no pain at the time, but my back this morning suggests that might not have been such a good idea.

Plenty of painkillers during the week, and not too much focus on weight loss. I'd never taken Ibuprofen for more than two doses before, and I discovered that taking it for several days at the maximum recommended daily dose causes nausea and fluid retention - my weight has been up and down by nearly 1kg (always weighing first thing after morning toilet) as I've been on and off the Ibuprofen.

I'm at 94.6kg this morning for no overall change on the week (though yesterday morning I registered at 94.3kg), so a written-off week all round really.

Sorry to hear about your problems, Alan. I hope things improve soon.

Excessive use of Ibuprofen can do much worse things than causing nausea and fluid retention - it almost killed a friend of mine!

 

[Alan O]

Sorry to hear about your problems, Alan. I hope things improve soon.

Excessive use of Ibuprofen can do much worse things than causing nausea and fluid retention - it almost killed a friend of mine!

Ouch, that's bad - and it sounds like he was lucky. I'm definitely not going to use Ibuprofen again except for perhaps the occasional one-off dose (which is the only way I'd used it previously).

The pharmacist suggested Co-codamol, which is effective (I use it for occasional migraine), but as it has codeine and is only supposed to be for 3-days use maximum, I'm being very sparing with it.

Oh, and I should add that I really don't like taking painkillers for something like this, because I don't want to mask any further possible damage by dulling the indicators.

 

[Alan O]

A much better week this week. My back pain is much improved, though still niggling. What it means is I've managed 76 miles on the bike this week... and no Ibuprofen.

After last week's zero loss, my weight has dropped by 1.4kg this week (supporting the Ibuprofen water-retention hypothesis). The record so far is...

08/01 97.8kg
15/01 97.0kg (-0.8kg)
22/01 96.1kg (-1.7kg)
29/01 95.3kg (-2.5kg)
05/02 95.1kg (-2.7kg)
12/02 94.6kg (-3.2kg)
19/02 94.6kg (-3.2kg)
26/02 93.2kg (-4.6kg)

My rate of weight loss is still pretty much bang on what I need to reach my target of 85kg by 1 July.

* I'll just add that knowing I'm going to tell you folks my weight every Monday acts as a big motivator too, and really helps counter the "I'll skip it this week and have some ice cream/beer" temptation

 

[groundy74]

Had a great start to Jan losing 6lbs to only go and gain 4 again!! Work pressures meant more drinking which meant more eating and making excuses.

Feb has come around and continued bad habits, however back on the bike and done 1 spinning class this week with another tomorrow morning as well as signing up for a 12 week weight loss program at a local gym. Fingers crossed the weight program is what I need to kick start shifting the excess weight plus as the mornings get lighter and warmer I plan on getting on the bike at least 3/4 mornings per week.

Update 3 weeks into Total Loser program at Total Fitness Gym and it's going great, lost 16 lbs so far, managed 50 miles on the bike last week as well as spin class and 2 gym sessions. No alcohol for last 2 weeks which for me is unbelievable, stuck to it despite 3 nights out in that time.
Following a great nutrition plan and not just a fad yo yo diet.

Hoping to keep dropping the weight and increasing the miles although not sure I'll be out this week with the minus degrees temps, but few extra sessions in the gym instead

 

[Alan O]

Update 3 weeks into Total Loser program at Total Fitness Gym and it's going great, lost 16 lbs so far, managed 50 miles on the bike last week as well as spin class and 2 gym sessions. No alcohol for last 2 weeks which for me is unbelievable, stuck to it despite 3 nights out in that time.
Following a great nutrition plan and not just a fad yo yo diet.

Hoping to keep dropping the weight and increasing the miles although not sure I'll be out this week with the minus degrees temps, but few extra sessions in the gym instead

Congrats, but with a minor note of caution - 16lbs in 3 weeks is way faster than most medical folks would recommend. There's always going to be some water loss when you start, but do be careful not to overdo it at first.

Keeping off the alcohol is good too. I've been off it for almost 2 months now, and I'm definitely feeling better for it.

 

[groundy74]

Congrats, but with a minor note of caution - 16lbs in 3 weeks is way faster than most medical folks would recommend. There's always going to be some water loss when you start, but do be careful not to overdo it at first.

Keeping off the alcohol is good too. I've been off it for almost 2 months now, and I'm definitely feeling better for it.

Alan thanks for that, I am well aware of the risks thanks and I know the wait loss will slow shortly as I start to re-introduce certain foods to be diet. However, I am happy with the loss as I'm not starving myself and certainly not going hungry just cut out all the chocolate and crisp I ate and stop drinking, although the drinking bit was only for first couple of weeks, planning on a few pints on Saturday.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Back in Clydesdale category ( never been out of it :-) ) . Just under the 100kgs, seemed to have chucked a fair bit on this last 6 months. Not cycling as much neither due to weather and my running has dropped to once a week. Made some small changes to my eating through the day so lets see what happens.

 

[ColinJ]

I am continuing my gradual weight reduction and I am starting to notice the reduction of my waist size.

84.8 kg today - 13 st 5 lbs.

Now 83.9 kg - 13 st 3 lbs.

The last time I lost a lot of weight I was peeved to see how much loose skin was left behind but I have been reading that the problem can often improve somewhat over time. (I didn't stay slim long enough to find out!)

One could take up moob-slack and arm-slack by developing bigger muscles in those places, but that approach wouldn't help round the waist.

Heck, it's only vanity ... I'm never going to be young again. Being fit and well is what really counts.

 

[si_c]

Up to 92.6kg yesterday, put on about 0.5kg in the last weeks - I've been doing fewer miles as I've had a heavy head cold and low energy. Also been feeling sorry for myself, so biscuits.

Overall though I'm doing from 95.8kg at the start of January. The aim is 84kg by the end of the year.

 

[potsy]

Finally got the first full stone off, pretty much bang on my intended time frame of end of February too.

This does mean I'm supposed to make my cycling comeback, but the weather is hampering that somewhat

Due to some recent injuries/health problems I've no desire to go riding on icy roads, don't want the comeback over before it's even begun.

 

[si_c]

Finally got the first full stone off, pretty much bang on my intended time frame of end of February too.

This does mean I'm supposed to make my cycling comeback, but the weather is hampering that somewhat

Due to some recent injuries/health problems I've no desire to go riding on icy roads, don't want the comeback over before it's even begun.

Just keep on going, when you do get on the bike again, you'll just notice a greater difference!

 

[Alan O]

Another 0.7kg lost this week. I only managed one short bike ride (11 miles, and that was yesterday) due to the weather, but a couple of gym sessions helped. Month-by-month record...

08/01 97.8kg
05/02 95.1kg (-2.7kg)
05/03 92.5kg (-5.3kg)

The importance of exercise for me is becoming increasingly clear.

In the past I've tried weight loss purely by diet alone, and I've cut my maintenance 2500kcals (using a rounded number for simplicity) by between 500-1000 kcals per day. That's worked and my weight has fallen, but after the first few weeks I've felt increasingly hungry and it's become very hard to stick to.

But if I increase my exercise kcal burn by the same 500-1000 per day instead, I can carry on consuming 2500 per day and I don't feel hungry, and my weight falls just the same.

In reality I'm doing some of both, so I'm exercising a lot and cutting kcals a bit. But what it means is that on days I feel hungry, I can comfortably eat the 2500 without any damage - and that's enough.

As I actually enjoy the exercise (and I don't like feeling hungry), biasing my efforts towards exercise definitely seems the best approach... for me.

 

[si_c]

Another 0.7kg lost this week. I only managed one short bike ride (11 miles, and that was yesterday) due to the weather, but a couple of gym sessions helped. Month-by-month record...

08/01 97.8kg
05/02 95.1kg (-2.7kg)
05/03 92.5kg (-5.3kg)

The importance of exercise for me is becoming increasingly clear.

In the past I've tried weight loss purely by diet alone, and I've cut my maintenance 2500kcals (using a rounded number for simplicity) by between 500-1000 kcals per day. That's worked and my weight has fallen, but after the first few weeks I've felt increasingly hungry and it's become very hard to stick to.

But if I increase my exercise kcal burn by the same 500-1000 per day instead, I can carry on consuming 2500 per day and I don't feel hungry, and my weight falls just the same.

In reality I'm doing some of both, so I'm exercising a lot and cutting kcals a bit. But what it means is that on days I feel hungry, I can comfortably eat the 2500 without any damage - and that's enough.

As I actually enjoy the exercise (and I don't like feeling hungry), biasing my efforts towards exercise definitely seems the best approach... for me.

Worth bearing in mind is that as your weight drops, the amount of calories you require to maintain your weight also drops. When I first started losing weight, I was able to eat well over 2400kcal a day even with a 1000kcal deficit, now that's down to around 1600kcal with the same deficit.

 

[Alan O]

Worth bearing in mind is that as your weight drops, the amount of calories you require to maintain your weight also drops. When I first started losing weight, I was able to eat well over 2400kcal a day even with a 1000kcal deficit, now that's down to around 1600kcal with the same deficit.

Yes, definitely. I'll check on my maintenance kcals every month or so (I just checked using https://www.precisionnutrition.com/weight-loss-calculator, which seems better than the usual kcal calculators).

I've also got my fitbit estimating my daily kcal usage (which is weight-dependent), and I'll be keeping my eye open for any reduction in kcal usage (and possibly deficit) as things progress.