Friday Weigh In

18st, 6lbs. That's the lowest WI so far, and only 1/2 lb more than my lowest daily weight yesterday of 18st 5½lbs.

Holiday coming up, so that means it will probably be between 3 weeks and a month to get back down to this point. With an all-inclusive resort it's easy to over-eat and -drink, but I think a little restraint is called for:

1. Don't go mad at breakfast. I'd never eat a cooked breakfast, fruit, cereal juice and pastries for breakfast at home, so there's no reason to do it while on holiday.
2. Lunch = healthy meal. Just try and have the best option available.
   
3. No alcohol before lunch. OK, perhaps just a small one.
4. Have what I like for dinner.

I don't think it's feasible to get points values for each day, but I do want to try and do some kind of tracking. Let's see how it goes.

Another WW board Member

Hello from the sunny Carribean to goatherder on the WW message boards.

Phew!

After a week away from the scales, it was something of a relief to step on the scales this morning and see 18st, 7¾. Last week on business only added 1¾ lbs; less than a week's setback. I can live with that.

I'm a little concerned that the true weight gain was higher and I was a still dehydrated after my flight yesterday, but it's still a respectable result.

Blowing it, big style 73 points yesterday and 61 for a single meal.

So I decided to end the business trip with one meal where I wasn't caring about the points - as well as being a great change to meet up with friend and colleague and her husband.

Dinner last night was one of the best (tasty) and worst (from a diet viewpoint) meals I've had in a long time. Even before I started this diet lark.

Main course: bang bang chicken. Coconut, creamy sauce, nutty bits. Yours, sir for 31 ½ points. I didn't eat all the rice, so I probably saved about 4 points right there Like it helped. 27 ½ points for a main course.

Dessert was a white chocolate caramel latte cheesecake, which comes in an 8oz slice with whipped cream. 900 calories comparing with the ones I couldn find values for. That's 13 points before the fat. And 35 g of saturated fat, another 9 points - it actually rounds down to 21 ½ points for the dessert alone.

That whole meal contained over 70g of saturated fat and 2000 calories. Plus the beer. I ate 73 ½ points yesterday. Breakfast for 7 points, Lunch for 6, and dinner and drinks for 61 points. That's two days worth of points in a single meal. No wonder obesity is such a widespread concern!

Free Diet Plans at SparkPeople

I came across this site with some Free Diet Plans a while ago, and thought it might interest people looking for some alternatives to the WeightWatchers approach, or just some inspiration for meal plans.

Wot no Friday Weigh In?

Well, since I don't seem to be able to get to a scales to weigh myself this week, there's no Friday WI. I think I've probably put on a few lbs, but I've also probably saved over 100 points over what I'd have eaten if I wasn't trying to be good.

That's all for this week; normal services will be resumed on Sunday.

Drinking Coke?

This post is a scary read on what happens when you drink a glass of coke (via).

"Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant."

Between that and the number of points (5 points, 350 calories) in the non-diet version, it's enough to stop drinking it all together. Not that I bother very much, since I've started this getting thinner lark it's mineral water for me, largely because I don't like the taste of artificial sweetner very much - certainly not in the quantities needed to make coke palatable.

I've been experimenting with artifical sweetner in my coffee this week, since I'm in the US and it's as easily available as sugar here. It still doesn't taste quite right, but aspartame is much less nasty tasting than saccharine. Both are probably worse for you than the sugar, though, in the long run. Even though I've cut the sugar in half, I'm still using 3-4 points a day on sugar in my coffee (yeah, I know, far too much, but I'm changing enough habits in one go here right now!).

Even with that help, I still topped out at 43.5 points yesterday, and I thought that was a pretty good day for me. Salad and zero fat dressing for lunch today. And I can't find a scales here!

Andy

Losing my virginity

I thought that post title would get some attention.

Not what you're thinking, though! My "gym virginity" is what I'm talking about. I actually went into a gym and used a piece of exercise equipment for the first time in my life. Just for 10 minutes, but that was enough to get 1.5 bonus points according to the "calories burned" display on the bike.

It was actually recommended by my physiotherapist that I've been seeing for some back pain problems - my wife's wondering how the physio succeeded in persuading me to do some exercise when she's failed. If I'm going to spend an hour a week doing exercise I'd rather do it in 10 minutes a day sessions than feel I have to work at it for a whole tedious hour.

I set it for about 3/10 on the resistance scale, where I was able to keep up a moderate speed (70-75rpm) without getting overly tired. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes to see a noticeable improvement.

The biggest frustration is the time taken to work off excess calories here. 10 minutes to work off 100 calories - and 500 calories in a portion of chips.

Don't move the scales

18st 1? What? 10lbs lighter than yesterday? 18st 7, 18st 5, 18st 10.

We'd unavoidably moved the scales yesterday, and when I weight myself this morning I had about 10 different readings. They eventually settled around 18st 6, which is what I've taken as today's weight. I'm still a little suspicious that it's a artifically low result, especially since SWMBO showed a 3lb drop since yesterday as well. This means it's a New Lowest Weight, and 15lbs (over a stone) lost since I started.

So, the moral of the story is Don't Move The Scales!

I'll be weighing on a different scales for the next week as well, which is going to throw the figures off. But as long as I can keep an eye on things, I'll be happy.

Parents oblivious to their child's obesity

When you hear reports like this one, it's hardly surprising that people being overweight is such a problem in the developed world.

Friday Weigh In

Another Friday rolls around, and I've lost 2½ pounds since last week. Excuse my while I polish my halo.

That puts me on 18st 10¼ with a new lowest-ever weight this week of 18st 8. If I wasn't going to be spending the next week in a hotel and eating out, I'd be confident of acheiving my first stne lost by next week, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to be good.

Let's see how it goes.

Dinner Tonight

Since SWMBO is off gallivanting, I thought I'd do myself a decent dinner this evening.

• 400g potato (that's huge), cut into wedges. Coat with fry-lite, cumin seeds, paprika and cook at 200 degrees for 40 minutes turning every 10 mins. 4 points.
• Throw two frozen cod fillets in the oven, wrapped in foil. 2 points.
  
• Chop a pepper and onion. Sweat with some garlic, throw in a tin of chopped tomato and some herbs. Simmer until the rest is cooked.
  
• Saute a finely sliced leek, in some more fry-lite.
  

A huge great plateful for 6 points. And a 200g potato and a single cod filet would have been a more "normal" meal size for 4 points.

I was inspired to continue my efforts by hitting a new low this morning. A new lowest weight, that is, of 18st 8lbs. 13 lbs lost. 1 lb to go to shift the first stone. It's easy to see how the inspiration can turn to desperation if things aren't working. So let's hope this keeps working!

Self-Motivation

Yesterday's post was a bit tongue in cheek, about the self delusional diet. But the last 24 hours have been a lesson in self-motivation, which is absolutely vital to losing weight.

On Friday, my official weigh-in day, I'd not lost any weight since the previous week. Saturday was something of a blow-out dinner, and by Sunday evening I was in a frame of mind of "I just as well have another beer, it's not going to make any difference". I actually hit my points target for the day, but could easily have been a good few points under to claw back some of Saturday's excesses.

I'd definitely got into a bit of a mental slump. It's easily done - and if you're one of the many people who are pretty sensitive about your weight and appearance, I'm sure it's very disheartening. I've said before, it's easier for us guys!

So I pulled out my spreadsheet, and took a good look. The trend is still going down. The graph hasn't visibly levelled off. This is still working! It really is. I declined a second beer, and had a nice long glass of halo polish instead (Tesco's Lime and Mandarin flavoured fizzy water, zero points). It doesn't taste anything like beer, but serves as an admirable stand in for something to sip at in the evening.

SWMBO has a veggie chili for dinner tonight, so if I can find a good option for lunch today I should be able to pull a nice low points day today. I'd really like to see 18st 7 on the scales before I head off to the US. That's 2lbs below my lowest weight so far and 3lbs below my current weight. Possible, though I'm not setting my hopes too high.

The Self-Delusion Diet

A post over at scienceblogs talks about The Self-Delusion Diet, based on a study where those who told their lifestyle was healthier lost weight. It's suggested that "feeling generally better about themselves, also made small changes to their eating habits, like eating slightly smaller portions, without really thinking about it. That could account for a weight loss of .5 lb per week."

I'm not sure it would work for me, since I'm basically lazy.

After a huge pig-out on Saturday, I see to be going up and down around about 18st 11 this last week. No bad thing, the trendline is still going down so far.

Friday Weigh In

A disappointing result this week, since I stayed the same. I think there were a couple of contributing factors:

• more than a couple of drinks and lots of nibbles at a neighbour's last weekend.
• Points average for the week came in at 40 - almost two points higher than the previous week.
• The last two weeks I've had one sub-30 point day, this week I didn't.

The other thing is that I think I've been more in a frame of mind of "what can I get away with eating" rather than "do I really want/need this?". That certainly hasn't helped. I do still have the consolation from my daily weighing that I did reach a new lowest weight during the week, so it's not all bad. I need to watch it for another couple of days and see if the changes so far are going to be sufficient to keep losing it.

I've got another week before my trip to the US, so I need to try and have a good week this week.

Takes deep breath, hardens resolve....