The 2020 OTF Weight Loss Intention & Mutual Support Thread

[Janik]

Yoghurt, berries and cereal with a slice for toast for every meal would be nothing like a balanced diet. It's fine for breakfast, but if that is your breakfast then lunch and dinner need to be something quite different. It's the preparation time of those different, more complex dishes (and more calorific, 6-800 kcal as opposed to 400 to push towards the ~1500+ a day that everyone needs) that many people are short of. The 30-plus minutes twice a day to homecook lunch and dinner is what is lacking, which is about the minimum total time for something as simple as throwing some pasta on, getting a homemade sauce on the boil (sauce from a jar as the base being a no-no as those are the bad high calorie things) and salad bashed together. And a pasta dish is probably as quick an option as exists.

[Balderdasha]

So, my husband is following my slimming world diet alongside me at the moment, which basically means he'll eat whatever I prepare, prepares meals that he knows fit the guidelines, and then supplements with eggs, tins of tuna in spring water, and skinless chicken, because he gets hungrier than I do.

After three weeks of this regime, I've lost 1.8kg, he's lost 5.3kg. I'm happy for him, really I am. Grits teeth.

[Sporting]

tins of tuna in spring water

Is this sold in supermarkets there?

[Balderdasha]

Is this sold in supermarkets there?

Yes. Branded varieties and virtually every supermarket will do its own generic version.

I think it's mostly just a remarketing of "tuna in brine", but it is less salty.

[Sporting]

What I imagined.

[Janik]

So, my husband is following my slimming world diet alongside me at the moment, which basically means he'll eat whatever I prepare, prepares meals that he knows fit the guidelines, and then supplements with eggs, tins of tuna in spring water, and skinless chicken, because he gets hungrier than I do.

After three weeks of this regime, I've lost 1.8kg, he's lost 5.3kg. I'm happy for him, really I am. Grits teeth.

What are those weights in terms of % of overall body weight? And also in terms of target weight? If he was further overweight than you to start with, so had more available to lose, that would explain the quicker drop
Also 1.75kg a week is rather fast, and beyond the guidelines for healthy weightloss which is a max of 1 kilo/week (your own loss of 0.6kg/week would be more likely to draw approval from a Doctor). He should seriously consider further supplementing his diet to slow the rate down a bit. Which is going to be irritating in a different way, i.e. him losing as fast as you whilst eating noticeably more.

A more nuanced version of the safe rate of loss is 1% of body weight each week. IIRC your weight was 62kg or so. In which case 0.6kg/week is actually right at the top end of the band for how quickly someone of your size ought to be losing. Again, something that would get you told you are doing excellently.

[Balderdasha]

What are those weights in terms of % of overall body weight? And also in terms of target weight? If he was further overweight than you to start with, so had more available to lose, that would explain the quicker drop
Also 1.75kg a week is rather fast, and beyond the guidelines for healthy weightloss which is a max of 1 kilo/week (your own loss of 0.6kg/week would be more likely to draw approval from a Doctor). He should seriously consider further supplementing his diet to slow the rate down a bit. Which is going to be irritating in a different way, i.e. him losing as fast as you whilst eating noticeably more.

A more nuanced version of the safe rate of loss is 1% of body weight each week. IIRC your weight was 62kg or so. In which case 0.6kg/week is actually right at the top end of the band for how quickly someone of your size ought to be losing. Again, something that would get you told you are doing excellently.

I'm much closer to my target weight than he is. He has lost more of his body weight in percentage terms.

After another week of this regime, husband has lost another 1.3kg. I have put on 0.5kg. Still worth doing as it will be stopping me putting on more weight and as long as overall between the two of us we're losing weight, I'm happy.

Also, for me, I'm going to make a few tweaks. Smaller portion of breakfast cereal, more fruit. Not eating the two squares of chocolate that I've been sneaking in each day. More exercise. Hopefully that will help.

[Janik]

The idea that as long as the couple combined are losing weight then all is dandy feels like the ultimate extension of nicking chips from the other half's plate - it's all a communal deal, what's mine is yours including both your chips and your 1.3kgs burned off!

Actually, on a complete tangent, talking of communal has reminded me of an excellent and poetic turn of phrase I found in a Sci-Fi novel (Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon) that I haven't seen anywhere else - the narrator describes his relationship with his wife thus: "our prized atom of community". That should get wider usage, I feel.

Anyway, my reason for reviving this thread is that it's a red letter day for me at the weightloss coalface - I tipped the scales this morning at 75.0kg. Which was the target weight at the beginning of the lockdown. This has been tantalisingly close for a while as it got down to 75.1kg this time last week, but has fluctuated rather since then (up as high as 75.8kg at one point since). I'm blaming a calorie counting snafu for that day, but we will see tomorrow if it's back to 75.3kg or something and actually today's record low weight is just daily variations kicking in and I'm over-investing in it's significance.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Well done, Janik. Chuffed for you.

I've gone backward a little bit of late, though I'm still just about within my healthy BMI parameters. Not sure why, exactly, but I presume that it's mainly down to the recent change in the weather: I'm not getting out in the garden or on walks as much as I was doing before. But at least I now have a rough idea of where my weight sits when I get a moderate amount of exercise and limit my food intake. And it's higher than I'd like! So, I need to add some more regular exercise into my days, increase my general activity levels and try to further improve the calorie reduction of my meals, via healthier choices and better portion control.

[Lurgee]

Just before New Zealand's lockdown I hit the target weight of 81kgs and was eyeing up 78 for the end of the year. Then during lockdown my weight I soared - hitting a mind boggling 85kgs by the end of it. Now sitting somewhere just over 83kgs and slowly, slowly moving downwards.

Dunno what caused the increase. I don't think I was eating epically more than I usually would and I was doing far more exercise. Perhaps I've underestimated the effect of work stress and related activities.

[hobbes]

I’d find 85kg mind boggling too. I’ve not been within 10kg of that since I was 17.

[Nocturnal Submission]

How have you found the lockdown and the exceptional Spring, Hobbes? Have you been able to shift any weight?

[scratchmonkey]

Men lose weight faster usually than women initially because they on average have more lean muscle mass, which means they burn more calories on a daily basis. It slows down though.

I'm in an odd spot in terms of weight because I was too heavy at my physical in January, then unexpectedly 20 pounds lighter when I got sick. Now, 20 pounds over 13 weeks is not a precipitous loss and I was still probably a bit overweight; unexpected weight loss plus blood clot in a relatively young person sets off medical alarms though, so I've had a ton of scans/blood taken since then with nothing really to show for it. In the five weeks since then, I'm 3 pounds up. The odd thing is that I would expect to be heavier -- I'm eating loads, including tons of stuff that should be piling on the weight -- bread, tons of rice, pasta, ice cream, etc. (I have cut out alcohol pretty much entirely though). I haven't been exercising enough, I'm not sleeping enough, I've started anti-depressant medication, all things that should make me gain weight rapidly. And yet I still feel hungry when I go to sleep at night and I wake up with my stomach growling.

The most obvious cause of this is that whatever that viral infection was, it kicked of a Crohn's flareup that hasn't completely resolved, so I'm not absorbing enough nutrients. Counter-intuitively, the best thing that I can probably do is exercise, because that should reduce the flare-up.

[HORN Reborn]

Scratchmonkey, it's not what you want to hear, I'm sure, but reading about your ailments makes me so damned grateful I have good health. This all sounds so stressful. I really do wish you well.

Friday morning is when Family Fat Club have our weigh-in. I'd maintained at 93.8KG but the third rule of Fat Club is that we have to submit a photo of the reading. I got off the scales to find my phone and my next reading was 95.5KG. I had to reposition the scales several times before settling on a photo showing 93.9 (gain of 0.1KG).

[slackster]

Just jumped on the scales and I’m exactly the same weight I was post Xmas indulgences (13 9). I’m ok with that to be honest: almost 3 months of lower back/sciatica issues that stopped me exercising beyond a slow walk, coupled with overdoing lockdown treats, isn’t a great combination for weight loss/fitness.

But I’m over the worst of the discomfort now, so it’s time to crack on. With the gyms/pools still closed I’ll have to go for a jog/bike ride instead for cardio, can do weights/trx at home for strength, and already started yoga for stretching. For the latter I’m using Yoga with Adrienne 30 day free program on youtube. I’m so stiff my moves are just an approximation of hers right now, and I’m hopeless at the balancing on one leg postures. But I’ve ignored proper, regular stretching for too long, which will have contributed to back issues.

And the daily chocolate, crisps and booze used as boredom busters/comfort has to go (or, at least, seriously curtailed back to moderate, occasional levels rather than every single day), as does the lunchtime chorleywood bread sarnies. Other than that, my diet is pretty good, so it shouldn’t be an impossible change to revert back to.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Somehow I'm down to a new low for 2020, 12-6 1/2 or just over 79kg. Not sure how that happened - I've been quite poor on the exercise front since the weather turned at the beginning of the month. I'll take it though.

Do I want to go nuts and try to hit 12st by the end of the month, which was my ambitious target at the start of the year. Hmmmmmmm.

[Lurgee]

Back at work for a few weeks and also off the gluten. Weight has dropped by about three kilos and I am hovering on the psychologically crucial 82/81 frontier.

[Nocturnal Submission]

So, the half-way point in the year has been reached and I tipped the scales at 12-5 1/4 earlier this morning, which is 1st 2 1/2 lbs down in 2020. Pleased with that. Comfortably into my healthy BMI range, which was the main target, with an inch or two gone from the waist.

So, for the rest of the year it'll be a case of trying not to slip back, upping the exercise levels and improving the quality of the food & drink I consume. I'm not really sure if I should aim for a particular weight - I might just see where the healthiest lifestyle I can realistically maintain take me.

[HORN Reborn]

Even when I try to eradicate treats in an effort to lose weight, I simply seek out replacement treats.

No dessert? I will have chocolate.
No chocolate? I will have a handful of cereal.
No cereal? I will have nuts and raisins.
And so on.

Last week I limited myself to a couple of trips to the nut jar for four or five almonds (they're anticarcinogens, dammit). Result: I lost 0.5 KG.

[Janik]

Very slow response to HORN and I wouldn't claim any general applicability, but what worked for me in controlling the snacking urge* was calorie counting. Or more accurately calorie-planning, i.e. a meal plan worked out for the day in advance after checking what is available in the fridge the evening before. And making sure that meal plan includes everything, not just estimates but a proper breakdown of the ingredients of all meals (where that can be known), all drinks, etc [how can you know how much you will need to drink a day before? You can't. But you can factor in a glass of fruit juice, a cup of tea, and a glass of squash or cola with each meal, and have any drinks on top of that be water (that doesn't count)]. Yes, doing all of this in advance and then sticking to it lacks spontaneity, but spontaneity is not your friend if you are trying to lose weight.
That advantage of the meal plan over simply having a calorie target for the day is that the meal plan works to supress snacking before dinner. Without the plan it's less clear that the chocolate/cereal/nuts and raisins eaten at lunchtime will mean you can't hit your daily target. But if you have a meal plan figured out, then it's clear which snacks are goint to bust it. And that can be a driver to keep the cupboard doors closed - knowledge is half the battle. The other thing I found (for me personally, again no claim of a panacea here) is that knowing the calories of each part of a meal encourages portion size control. A bit of a skimp here or there, 85g of pasta as opposed to 100g, a smaller dash of oil used to soften the onions, or a reduced dollop of sour cream to make a sauce, all adds up and takes the day's intake down. Maybe far enough down that after dinner there is still 200 calories of the days quota left, which becomes two scoops of ice cream. No scratch that, two scoops of guilt-free ice cream. That calorie target, if properly calculated from your weight/activity level, is the amount you should be eating a day to lose weight at a safe rate. If you are coming in under you really ought to be bulking it up - the ice cream is therefore an intrinsic part of the diet and not a 'treat' at all.

* - snacking was absolutely at the core of why I weighed 88-90kgs at the start of the year. According to various caloric intake calculators, I must have been consuming something around ~3500 calories per day to be at that weight given the amount of sport I play(ed). And like many people, I found eliminating it really difficult until some extra motivations kicked in. There were a few of these, but a major one was the already clear case by March was that being overweight (not obese, just overweight) was a serious risk factor for developing COVID-19. More studies this week have re-emphasised that already clear situation. I was also trying to reduce the amount of times I went to the supermarket to replace biscuits/crisps/bread etc. One packet of chocolate digestives has now lasted me since early April, which is so much of a record that it is almost beyond comparison. Being scared and also wanting emergency biscuits available for the days when one is essential is a brilliant stick. And also a brilliant way of deeming that actually, eating a biscuit really isn't essential right now - I'll save it for later.

None of which helps deal with the cravings. What worked for me in supressing and now seemingly eliminating these was going very skinny on the calorie target (below what is advisable, frankly), finding the self-discipline to maintain that for a fortnight and then increasing the target up in stages. For my body, this worked - the increases meant it went "ah, more calories than last week, great!" rather than "yeah, it's more calories, but it's still far less than a month ago. Yet more, please!". It would be interesting to hear if HORN has similarly found the cravings reduced in the two-plus weeks since he manged to limit his snacking to ~10 almonds in a week...?


I guess, though, I'm in an easy position to pontificate here as I'm currently eating ~2800 per day and still losing weight. The rate has slowed, but the trendline says it's 0.5kg per week dropping off, even now. That is simply a factor of the amount of exercise I do, which is currently running 5 days out of 7, distances from 3 miles up to 10k (6.2 miles). This fits with what those online caloric intake calculators have been saying, which is at that activity level I require ~3000-3100 calories per day to maintain my current weight (now down to ~71-72kg from the 75kg I hit early in June). How I find weight stability is a good question as I don't what to get used to eating 3000 per day because see above about the body adapting; dropping to 2600 now would be difficult, I think. I guess, instead, the end point is weight fluctuation within a range rather than weight stability; 2800 consumed per normal day and lose 0.5kg per week with one or two days busting through that to 3200 to put the 0.5kg back on and stay about the same in the long term.

I don't want to lose any more weight. 71kg, which corresponds to a 31" waist, is light enough.

[Janik]

It is notable that the difference between weighing 71kgs and still losing weight, and weighing 90kgs and that being stable is 'only' 700 calories, isn't it? That is, what, a cheddar cheese sandwich, a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar? It's a huge difference from not much seeming consumption. That is possibly the biggest thing to take from my post and corresponds to what others such as NocSub and HORN have both found, i.e. you don't have to cut out much to make a serious difference to your weight. Just something each day put back in the cupboard rather than consumed will have a distinct positive effect.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Kudos to Janik. I have not been able to look after myself properly since the Covid saga started with consequences. A friend of mine to whom I explained the benefits of the calorie control, planning your meals, keep track of calories burned has lost 25kgs in a year. It has been life changing for her...

PS very good point by Janik, that piece of chocolate you include is not a 'sin' or 'treat', it's just a percentage of your allocated daily calories...

[Janik]

I think I read somewhere that only 40-odd percentage of successful dieters do calorie counting. It isn't the only way. Far from it. But it is a way that can be succesful, and worth considering for anyone who isn't making progress with their current method.

[Janik]

that piece of chocolate you include is not a 'sin' or 'treat', it's just a percentage of your allocated daily calories...

If someone sees you eating chocolate and reacts in horror (sample reaction "Aren't you dieting?!? You can't eat that!!"), the response is 'Yes I can eat this, I've accounted for it.'

[Stumpy Pepys]

I'm repeating myself from upthread, but I hit 92 kg last year (I'm 185 cm) and decided to give the 5:2 diet a go. (600 calories a day, twice a week, 2,500 calories on other days.)

The original plan was to get to 85 kg, but I somehow hit 80 kg. I'm still doing fasting days for maintenance, but I'm not so assiduous about it--I probably consume 1,000 calories on the diet days. My weight hovers between 79 and 81 kg now, which I'm very happy about.

I honestly can't be done with counting calories every day and this plan lets me sink a few beers on the weekend. And you do get used to the fasting days. What I might try for maintenance is just not eating once a week.

I appreciate this won't suit everyone.