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The 2020 OTF Weight Loss Intention & Mutual Support Thread

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    The 2020 OTF Weight Loss Intention & Mutual Support Thread

    Right, I weighed myself yesterday and I tipped the scales at 13st 7 3/4lbs, which makes me moderately overweight for my height. This year I'm going to do something about it and I'm going to be ambitious and aim for 12st by 30th June, which is both the half-way point in the year and my birthday to boot. That's about 3 1/2lbs a month which should be easily achievable, the big fly in the ointment being family commitments which make dietary control and exercise planning slightly problematic. Anyway, that's the target and I hope that this public statement and the need to provide updates will give me the added motivation which I'm sure that I'll often need.

    Just by the by, I record my weight quite diligently and looking back through last year's numbers I discovered that my weight didn't deviate beyond a 4lb range, which surprised me. I suppose that it's good that my weight isn't erratic but not that wonderful that it's plateaued at a slightly unhealthy weight.

    #2
    I've decided this year that I need to expres my intentions in a positive format, and as such i haven't yet worked out how I can turn my weight loss goals into something "positive" (as opposed to "lose 10 kgs"). At the moment then my positive intentions are "exercise at least 4 times a week" and "read one book a week" (that latter one being a positive approach to spending less time on my phone)

    I do want to lose weight but travel really kills me. I can get into an eating/exercise routine at home, but once I'm on the road it becomes much more challenging.

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      #3
      Heh. I haven't been 13st 7lbs since I was 18.
      closest I got was 14st 12 a few years ago and I was as skinny as a whippet, or so it seemed.
      what with anxiety, redundancy, unemployment, health scares, laziness and general depression I reckon I’m over 20st again now. I’m a bit scared to look.

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        #4
        Fitness Pal to set weight target, record everything you eat/drink so you stay under your calories total and sync it to a HRM watch so that extra effort is accounted for and daily calories adjusted accordingly.

        Back on it now , it worked very well for me when i started it last April

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          #5
          I've been 10st and a bit for as long as I can remember. I find putting on weight nigh on impossible. This is probably not what you were looking for.

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            #6
            I'll find this thread helpful. My weight is currently 9 stone 4 pounds, which gives me a BMI of 24.2, still in the healthy range, but towards the upper end.

            I've been going to a slimming world group for about 2 years and have come down from 11 stone 7 and a half, or a BMI of 30.5 that just tipped me into the obese category.

            The reason I'll find this group useful is because I had got down as low as 8 stone 8 pounds last March (BMI 22.3), but I've been gradually putting weight on since then, and my local slimming world group has now closed (it has never had a permanent consultant the whole time I've been going and has not managed to drum up enough regular attendees).

            My actual target weight is 8 stone 5 pounds, half a stone heavier than I was when I went to teach in China, one stone heavier than what I considered my ideal weight in my twenties, and two stone heavier than my anorexic weight.

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              #7
              I really should lose weight, I'm probably a good three stone heavier than I was in my thirties. That's all down to the fact that I have become very sedentary - I rarely walk anywhere except to the village pub (which doesn't help either). It's especially awkward as Signora Rogin is a Slimming World consultant, so people do comment on why she doesn't "work on me". The methodolgy behind her success and those of her members is a simple one too - better eating (lean food, limited fried, no butter) less (but not zero) carbs, portion control, exercise. The reason the groups work is the group motivation to stick to a new regime, so a thread like this should work for the same reason.

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                #8
                Weighed in at 77.7 kg this morning. Planning to drop to 75 kg; should be doable before Spring. Target goal for January: get below 76. The last kilo is the most difficult one.

                For my length, anywhere between 70 and 85 kg is fine in terms of BMI, but that glosses over my utter lack of arm muscles and hence a disproportionally large part of those kilos being belly fat. I could do with a bit less of that.

                Means to get from 77.7 to 75: no alcohol, keep food intake as usual, but add a serious amount of exercise. Only take the stairs up to my office on the seventh floor, and walk 100kms a week.
                Last edited by Wouter D; 02-01-2020, 13:09. Reason: dot seven, not dot four. My phone has a better memory than I have...

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                  #9
                  My first goal is to drop back to 80kgs quickly, weighing myself next monday morning after a few days of calories control. I have a Beuer scale that tells me all sorts about me...

                  I reckon that will be achieved by February, got a blood test than includes cholesterol then and I promised the doc it will be down...

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                    #10
                    I'm 205 LBs. 200 LBs would be ace. This tummy bug is certainly helping

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                      #11
                      Be careful not to confuse absolute weight loss with improved fitness, I've been going to the gym and cycling regularly for some time and though I've shed kilos the weight loss isn't as much as I expected, as my muscles (legs in particular) have really toned up.

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                        #12
                        I've put on weight since I had to stop my gym membership in November. Yes, I could go out running or cycling, but it's cold.

                        May be starting a job soon and cycling there and back. That on its own, although it's only a mile and a half, would sort things out. I don't have scales and don't generally weight myself as it depresses me, I can tell I'm carrying too much when some clothes are tight, and some I can't get into, and Sporting is right, it's just not about weight.

                        Good luck all.

                        BTW - fat/carb blockers, such as XLS, DO work a bit if you want to give yourself a boost, but you can't rely on them and some brands can give you awful wind.

                        Alli, the fat blocker one, gives you unpredictable squirty shits (they advise you to wear dark clothing) so not worth the risk.

                        As for "fatburners", I've tried those and they were like amphetamines, but less fun, made me grind my teeth and feel anxious. If anyone wants to buy my unused supplies, HMU.

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                          #13
                          I put on weight over Christmas. I don't know how much, but I need to resume more normal austere eating and get back into the gym.

                          But I'm trying not to get too down about it. I'm still about 100 lbs lighter than I was two years ago >300 lbs to ~200 lbs. I was a 44 in waist and now I'm at 36. I'm hoping to get down further, but it's getting increasingly difficult to lose weight, especially now that I'm gaining muscle. But there's still a fair bit of flab that I could get rid of and would like to if I can.

                          I know we're supposed to be body-positive and all of that, but I have to say that doesn't work for me. I feel much better since I lost weight. It's much better than the feeling of eating and drinking a lot, in my experience. Most importantly, I can sleep soundly now and that's helped in lots of ways. I'm still struggling with mental health stuff, but at least I'm able to struggle with it. Before when I was on a lot of meds and not sleeping, I was just numb to it all, really.


                          I paid to do some indoor cycling classes this month, at least ("spinning" is copywrited, so what I'm doing is just an indoor stationary cycling class.) I'm a bit nervous about that.

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                            #14
                            Counter-intuitive but excercise is NOT a way to lose weight...Your calories intake increases and most people over-compensate, HRM trackers whilst useful can overestimate calories burned.

                            I have eaten 991 calories so far today, i'll aim to stay under 2000 the next 3 days then gradually reduce it. Bit of a shock to the system but it works...

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                              #15
                              I need physical exercise for mental health above all else

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                                #16
                                I'm over 100kg. In my first pre operation weigh in I was 105kg and a few months later I was 101kg. I put the lose of weight down to eating home cooked food for lunch as opposed to bought ready meals.

                                I need to get active, eat better and get my cholesterol down. Two simple aims for now, get under 100kg and become a size 36 waist. Ideally I'd like to be 90kg but would settle for 95kg.

                                Moonlight Shadow I presume Fitness Pal is an app. What's an HRM watch?

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                  I need physical exercise for mental health above all else
                                  Same here...!

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                                    #18
                                    Exercise gets my weight off, and when I stop I put weight on, however indirect the process.

                                    And by "weight" there, I mean excess fat in places where I don't want it.

                                    We had a long "debate" on here ages ago when I was told I was stupid for saying it's "calories in vs calories out", yes, that's a simplification and there are different metabolic rates and different "sorts" of calorie, but very basically, we usually put on fat when we're eating and not burning it off.
                                    Last edited by MsD; 02-01-2020, 14:42.

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                                      #19
                                      AE - correct, free to download, the basic version works well but it's a lot of work if you tend to cook your meals rather than buy them ready made, you need to create recipes on app that total up your cals.

                                      ​​​​​​Fitbit is a typical HRM watch, heart rate monitor, the faster your bpm, the more you burn essentially.

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                                        #20
                                        Good luck everyone.

                                        I lost a lot of weight in 2019. I found late night bike rides helped - a good 50 minutes or so of cardio last thing at night, so there's no chance of eating afterwards. A bit miserable cycling in the dark of course.

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                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by Capybara View Post
                                          I've been 10st and a bit for as long as I can remember. I find putting on weight nigh on impossible. This is probably not what you were looking for.
                                          Present, sir.

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                                            #22
                                            I remember shedding weight during a hiking holiday in Italy a few years ago, despite eating like a pig (Alpine food is very rich...) but when you burn 5/6000 cals a day, every day, it's almost impossible to compensate the calories deficit. People who go do long-distance trails do end up shedding loads of weight because of that, there is that much you can eat...

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                              I need physical exercise for mental health above all else
                                              Thirded.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Moonlight shadow View Post
                                                Counter-intuitive but excercise is NOT a way to lose weight...
                                                Originally posted by Moonlight shadow View Post
                                                I remember shedding weight during a hiking holiday in Italy a few years ago, despite eating like a pig (Alpine food is very rich...) but when you burn 5/6000 cals a day, every day, it's almost impossible to compensate the calories deficit. People who go do long-distance trails do end up shedding loads of weight because of that, there is that much you can eat...
                                                I am confused. Is hiking not exercise?

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by Moonlight shadow View Post
                                                  Counter-intuitive but excercise is NOT a way to lose weight...Your calories intake increases and most people over-compensate, HRM trackers whilst useful can overestimate calories burned.

                                                  I have eaten 991 calories so far today, i'll aim to stay under 2000 the next 3 days then gradually reduce it. Bit of a shock to the system but it works...
                                                  This is true. According to fitbit, etc, an hour workout burns no more than 1,000 calories and that's probably no more than a fifth or the quarter of the calories one will burn that day, iirc. (YMMV) But 1,000 calories is like two pieces of pizza, which, for people like me, is not a lot of food. Or at least, it doesn't feel like that because I got used to eating too much for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the "food environment" in the US.

                                                  So it can only help lose weight if it's in conjunction with a careful diet. It does just come down to an equation of calories in and calories out, so it's not really possible to say which part is "more important" but in my experience, it certainly feels like the diet is doing most of the work.

                                                  But, to answer Wouter D, if you burn 5-6000 calories a day, you'll probably lose weight because it's hard to eat that much. Though I suppose it's possible. I've read of athletes burning about 10,000 calories a day while training and eating that much or almost that much because they're already as lean as they can be. And some really obese people are eating that much and not burning it.

                                                  I excercise primarily because of the cardiovascular benefits, etc, but mostly because it helps my mental health and it seems to help prevent chronic back pain, which also helps my mental health. Sometimes I get discouraged in the gym and think "oh, I should be doing more of what that guy is doing" etc, but I try to remember that it's all really just for my mental health and that's the only outcome that really matters.
                                                  Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 02-01-2020, 15:51.

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