August 2008
3 posts
End of Fat Lumps
“That’s all folks” - as the weight loss project is effectively complete, it makes sense to stop adding entries to this Blog.
My main blog is here.
News story - BBC reports running 'can slow ageing... →
Weight loss continues
I thought it would be hard to keep the weight off once I hit the target (losing a stone), but I've just weighed myself and I'm now just a touch over 10 stone. That's almost a stone and a half lost to the ether. I hope I don't end up as The Machinist!
July 2008
17 posts
A fat man among fatter men think he is thin
The sample size in this BMJ reported study isn’t big enough for reliability but the findings are intuitively right in my book:
“In 1999, 43% of the population had a BMI that put them in the overweight or obese range, of whom 81% perceived themselves to be overweight or very overweight. In 2007, 53% of the population had a BMI in the overweight or obese range, of whom only 75% reported...
A good comment on the earlier diet study results
excellent commentary on the diet study results by a knowledgable blogger who knows her stuff ….”homeostatic metabolic adjustments work to return body weights to their genetically-determined setpoint range, in both naturally obese and nonobese bodies. These biological adjustments are so powerful, as much as a four-fold increase in metabolic efficiency, that to keep weight off below...
Body fat edging lower
Just had my body fat checked - it came in at 18.8%. When I last checked it back in February, it was 22%.
So, a good improvement all round.
Long-term target - sub 15%.
Final calorie analysis →
Diets compared: low carb/Mediterranean/low fat
Big picture summary: low-fat diet may not be as effective as Mediterranean/Low-carb diets when it comes to weight loss and improving cholesterol profiles. Med diet probably best for diabetes:
‘The Atkins diet may have proved itself after all: A low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet in one of the longest and largest...
“A temptation resisted is a true measure of character.”
– Louis Dega in the film Papillon
Mission complete - I have lost a stone in weight... →
The idea of the fat virus really hit home last... →
Healthy body, healthy brain - exercise and... →
How Food Diaries Work - TIME →
Keeping a food log seems to help in lowing weight... →
Health assessment
Just had a fitness assessment at the gym:
* BMI 22 (was 24.5 at the start of this programme, so this is good progress)
* Blood pressure (130/80, prev 120/80 - I'm not worried about this measure, although it may be an idea to one day take several reading over a week or so and take an average score)
* Resting heart rate after moderate exercise: 77 bpm. Apparently a good recovery rate - probably a function of significantly increased cardio work over the past few weeks.
It's a fuzzy science, this fitness malarki. I'm stepping off the low calorie diet for a week, and then I'm planning to step back on it 'hard'.
Using Wimbledon to lose calories
Back from the gym. I used the Nadal semi-final match as a distraction to cycle away without thinking too much about it. Managed to burn 1000 calories over 50k of cycling, which is a personal best.
When I came back I ate a custard cream biscuit, a banana, and sardines on a toast... and I'm having dinner in half an hour...Doh.
Note to self on pace: I had the bike on a low setting so I didn't max out the heart rate and run out of breath before my legs ran out of juice. You lose more calories on intense, short bursts, but if you want to last over two sets of tennis, there is no choice but to pace yourself.
Just how much do you like food?
The more I read, the more reasons I find for losing weight and maintaining a low weight by eating moderately and exercising a few times a week. Well-being comes both from 'feeling' healthy and more energy-filled, and actually 'being' healthier, as endless diseases seem to be correlated with overeating, and many of them are life-threatening. When you eat that one extra slice of cake, you just don't think about these things. But when you take some time to consider all the potential costs, and weight them against the single benefit of the pleasure sensation of eating (yup, I could only really think of the one benefit of eating excess calories!), the way forward becomes a bit more obvious.
“Certain health problems (including being overweight, unhealthy cholesterol,...”
– Diabetes Prevention - American Diabetes Association
Scary article on diabetes: "Well - Diabetes -... →
“WHAT A STONE LOOKS LIKE IN SENSIBLE UNITS:
# 45 wireless computer mice.
# 42...”
– SensibleUnits.com
June 2008
10 posts
Making up for yesterday
I don't know how much of it is 'in my mind', but after I pig out on my treat day (usually a Saturday), I'm just not hungry the following day.
Today, for example, I ate a mere 1080 calories. After yesterdays estimated 3100 calorie binge, that makes for an average of 2090 calories over the two days. Not bad.
Cheat day to the limit
Blew out the limits today by going to a wedding and piling in the sugary drinks, starters (x2), and mains. It all adds up to about 3100 calories, I reckon! I haven't felt this tired in a long time after eating food. One old man was lying down outside, sleeping it off in the sun. Another chap fell asleep in his car. I longed for bed, as did many everyone else. We settled for a good sit down, outside....until we were called in for tea and desert.
Bah
Just checked with the less 'forgiving' scales we have at home, and there is indeed no change at 10.6 stones. I thought that weight loss was a bit sudden.
One stone lost?
Just had a weigh in at the gym, and I've lost the stone already.....hold on a moment those gym scales are a bit, how shall we say, forgiving.
Latest weigh in
Coming in at 67kg (10.6 stones) vs the target of 66.1kg.
Starting point: 72.5 kg (11.4 stones)
Over 80% of the way there already....that was easy.
Sunday becomes a cheat day
Late yesterday I realised I hadn't had my 'cheat day', as recommended by Stallone (and he knows this business!), so I piled in the food and managed to get up to just over 2000 calories. There was no cake in the vicinity (a shame), but after dinner I gorged on some fruit, a packet of Doritos, a big bowl of cereal, a biscuit, two more ryvita slices with salad and cottage cheese (very nice!) and a muffin, split and filled with minced meat.
That's what I'm talking about.
It's 5:30 pm
and I've consumed a mere 550 calories. Watch it skyrocket through the rest of day ... damn Doritos and evening bowls of cereal.
On the + side, we've bought some Ryvita, which is great with cottage cheese, and only 30 calories per slice. Let's see if this can displace the less healthy items in my eating routine.
“We have a huge number of diet books and diet programs, and if you do them, you...”
– Why it’s hard to maintain weight loss - Los Angeles Times
2600 calorie record
Hit on Saturday when I had a hefty dinner at a surprisingly reasonably priced Raymond Blanc restaurant. The next day, I simply wasn't hungry. I closed the day having consumed a mere 1370 calories. Back up to the norm again on Monday with 1600 calories, but then managed a mere 1315 on Tuesday. The trick was to avoid the late night snacking (usually good for another 500 calories) by going to bed early. If I can replace my late night snacks with healthy alternatives, I'm sure I can get down to a healthy 1500 a day. Habits are hard to break and easy to form, but I guess that's the challenge.
That's the living
Sitting on the exercise bike at the gym, with one screen in front of me showing the football and another the Stella Artois tennis. I burned some 200 calories without any effort. TV ain't all bad!
May 2008
28 posts
It's just past midnight...
..and I'm eating a packet of Doritos. Good thing I'm not a gremlin.
1 tag
Drinks with hidden calories
Drinks with hidden calories: “A new report has revealed that the average British drinker downs a belly-busting 3,000 extra calories every week from booze. It’s not just alcohol which gives drinks hidden calories: cream, full-fat milk and all the trimmings can obviously play their part. Take the Starbucks white chocolate mocha with whipped cream for example: 619 calories. Perhaps...
Tasty
Busted into the last box of Vietnamese biscuits ... must ration out these delicious babies so they last many weeks
“‘I don’t like chocolate, it makes me fat’”
– Jackie Chan - watching him now on an interview with Graham Norton
Back from the gym
Feels gooooood.
“Stay hungry”
1 tag
Calories reference
Just for keeping tabs: 1 tablespoon of (any) oil - 120 5g butter (1 teaspoon) - 35 1 roti/chapatti (Pakistani style, 40g flour) - 130 1 olive - 5 1 potato - small, baked - 130, medium - 160 1 glass (200ml, 1/3 pint) milk:semi-skimmed - 95, skimmed - 70 1 egg: boiled (74), fried (100) Pitta bread - 150 Fruit n fibre (30g, small portion, 1 cup) - 110, use same measure for Frosties, Cornflakes, Bran...
1 tag
Saturday morning fry-ups
Actually a grill-up: 1 egg (poached), 2 hash browns, mushrooms, baked beans, 2 vegetarian sausages. Total calories: Just 560 … nice, as it doubles as a breakfast and lunch
1 tag
Give me two ginger nuts over a digestive anyday!
Calories per biscuit: Fox Cream - 74 McVitie’s Digestive Biscuits - 70 Ginger nut - 35 Shorties - 48 Nice - 39
Ooooh Janine
just did more than 5 minutes of cardio for the first time in months.... can't breathe - riz
1 tag
It's the deserts that'll kill ya'
After dinner I ate a small square of dark chocolate, a small pear, half an apple, a banana, a thick slice of toast, two boiled new potatoes and a large serving of cabbage, two more squares of chocolate, and a bowl of cereal (80% bran flakes/20% frosties!). And after all this piggin’ out, my daily calorie count came in at just 2,200. Still, aiming for 1,500 today to make ammends.
“Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.”
– Earl of Derby
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise,...”
– Hippocrates
“I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.”
– Fred A.Allen
I hear you bro'
That's the way man ... think of every test as a test of will power over weakness!
Calorie counting...
The calorie counting has truly started and this will be another step to getting into those jeans I once bought long long time ago!
I need to be more disciplined, no deserts, no large meals and def no to fries! and yes fried food! Bring on the soup and lentils I say....