Friday, March 30, 2007

Getting lax in my blogging/Friday Weigh In

I'm obviously getting lax in my blogging here if I haven't posted since last Friday's weigh-in result. My apologies, dear reader, I am to write something at least twice a week, but I don't seem to have stumbled across anything worth blogging about.

I survived the alcholic excesses of last weekend, putting on a couple of pounds in the process. But this week I've eaten what I should, not drunk too much, and have managed to hit 18st. 4bs. this morning, which is my lowest ever Friday weigh-in. Yesterday was a bit lower at 18st. 2¾ lbs., which is a new lowest ever weight, too.

While I've stuck to the rules this week, I've been noticeably hungry more often, and also more craving for snacks and chocolate. I've resisted the urge, but it was a close run thing!

My next aim point is 18st. 1lbs. Why the 1lb? Because that's 20lbs lost in total, and I can claim the 18st. as another morale booster. It's all psychology, this!

Friday, March 23, 2007

Friday Weigh In

Rather a good result this week, I feel. 18st 5¼lbs. That's a loss of 1½lbs despite a business trip and other distractions. That actually puts me below my pre-holiday weigh-in, though not my lowest recorded weight which was the day after.

Challenges for the week ahead: a leaving do tonight with beer and eating out, and a wedding tomorrow. I seem to be able to get away with stuff like that and still lose some weight if I'm good for the rest of the week, so let's hope it continues.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Business Trips - Just Say No

I was in Ireland for a few days, and entertaining some visitors to the UK last night. I'm amazed I've managed to keep to a basically level weight all week - it's taken some willpower to abstain from the plentiful food all the way.

I declined the opportunity to have lasagne and chips in the company canteen on Tuesday and had a plateful of salad that was much healthier and also enjoyable. I didn't decline the (delicious) 10oz fillet steak that evening, though.

Todays weight: 18st 7½. I'm happy with that.

I've still got the challenges of a leaving do tomorrow and a wedding on Saturday, but they're to worry about for next week's result. I got a really good run at this for the first couple of weeks, but now it seems there's a diet challenge in the diary every week. This blog might get a bit more interesting, but the weight loss is going to get harder!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Friday Weigh In

I'm rather pleased with myself this week; todays' weigh in result was 18st 6¾lbs. That's only ¾ of a pound above the weigh in before the holidy. I'm very pleased at how quickly the holidy gain has disappeared now that I'm back to normal eating. Let's hope I can stay on track for the next couple of weeks.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

More tips for losing weight

The Happiness Project has five good tips for people trying to lose weight.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Another Progress Report

What with the holiday, I didn't get to do a progress report at the end of February. But here it is, and depsite the damage done in the Carribean, I'm still basically on the point of having lost 1lb per week since I started. That's encouraging. It took a certain effort to resist the post-holiday munchies today as I reset my appetite for normal meals again, but that should wear off in a day or two.

Click on the graph to see it full size.

Holidays and Diets, revisited

Of course, the fact that I completely missed yesterday is that weighing at 9am after spending the night in a plane isn't the same was weighing at 9am after spending the night in the bed.

I seem to have lost 4lbs since yesterday, probably the result of retained fluid after the plane.

That brings my holiday gain down to 6¾ lbs. I'm much happier with that!

This does show the importance of not taking any one day's result to heart when weighing on a daily basis.

I found it much harder to keep on the "straight and narrow" during the holiday than I did during the business trip a few weeks earlier. Something about the relaxed surroundings and wall to wall food, I think. I did make an effort to not pile up the plate at each trip to the buffet, and to keep off the alcohol before lunch, but the aim to do some exercise each day and stick to salads for lunch didn't last very long at all. In fact, it didn't last past the airport when we arrived.

But it was a wonderful holiday, and with a bit of luck I should be able to undo the damage in a few weeks.

Next goal: undo the holiday damage by the end of March (3 weeks, 7lbs to lose).

Sunday, March 11, 2007

All Inclusive Holidays and diets don't mix

I guess I knew that before I went.

Weight before holiday: 18st 4½lbs.

Weight after holiday: 19st 1lbs.

Average weight gain = 0.7lbs or 2450 excess calories per day. That puts me back to the middle of January, though hopefully it will be fairly quick to lose that again.

Back to the diet tomorrow. With a vengeance.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

GTD and Weightloss

In my professional life I've been working on the "Getting Things Done" methodology as a way of being organised and successful in my job. It seems to be working, though it's largely about changing habits in how you approach each day at work.

I've been trying to approach weight loss more through changing habits than absolute points limits so far (don't knock it, it's working!) so I've been musing a bit on habits and how to change them, something I did a year ago in terms of how I organise myself at work. I used to have the messiest desk in the office; now there's hardly a piece of paper to be seen at the end of each day. For me, the secret is "mindfulness" - being aware of what you're really doing and why.

The other big thing is to make the new habit easier than the old one. So I've got a box of ww-friendly treats on the bookshelf near my desk. It's far enough away that I can't grab something without getting up and going over there. They're individual bars, so I can take just one, and they're nearer than the vending machine at the other end of the building.

So, a bit of thought, and the good habit is easier to follow than the old, ingrained, bad one. And before you know it, the good habit is the "default" one.