18 stone, exactly

Well my determination to get down to 17stone something is holding, and encouraged by weighing exactly 18 stone this morning. That's 252lbs to any American readers, or a BMI of 32.4, down from a starting point of 35.1.

April has been a frustrating month, I've only actually lost 3lbs all month, due to progress being interrupted by Easter (weekend away and chocolate eggs), my mum's birthday (well, it would have been a shame not to celebtrate it), and a business trip to Ireland (and appropriate quantities of Guinness). As a measure of the frustration, I actually put on 10lbs over the month, and lost it again plus another 3lbs.

May, I hope, will be a little easier. I'd like to get back on the kind of progress I was making back at the start of the year, but I don't think I'm going to be able to be that good!

Weight Loss Support WebSites

This site has a great comparison of weight loss websites and forums. Worth a look if you want some on-line motivation.

Unhealthy Diet

Well yesterday I managed to eat 35 points. I'm supposed to be on 32, but that's within the wiggle room I seem to be able to get away with. Unfortunately, only about 10 of those points were from real food.

Breakfast: Didn't bother.
Lunch: 3½ points for Healthy Eating Pizza (half) and salad.
Dinner: pork escalope, potatoes, veg. 5½ points
Sugar in Coffee: 2 points
Total for Real Food: 11 points.

Easter Egg, 140g chocolate. 14 points.
Alcohol with friends: 10 points
Total for stuff I shouldn't have had if I were on a diet: 24 points.

Yet again, I'm tantalisingly close to being under 18st. Today's weight was 18st 1¾lbs, still just above the last official Friday weigh-in result of 18st 1lbs. There was no weigh last Friday as I was travelling and didn't have access to a scales. So, here goes for next Friday!

I'm getting a little frustrated at this point that this is the third week I've been hoping to beat that barrier, but life keeps intruding, and I'm not keen enough on being thinner to stop having a life.

Having said that, there were two nice moments - what Weight Watchers forum members call NSVs, for Non Scales Victory. The first was realizing that my smart jacket I haven't worn all year actually fits much better now (it was getting a little tight around the shoulders), and the second was our friend noticing I'd lost weight last night. Encouraging, to say the least.

Perpetually Hungry

I don't know why, but this week I seem to be perpetually hungry. I've had my lunch, less than 2 hrs ago, and I could happily go and eat the same again, with a large bowl of cheesy chips, a couple of pints, and a huge bar of chocolate for dessert.

But it wouldn't help, and I want to be thinner more than I want to eat. I don't need to eat anything. I just want to. I'll stick with guzzling coffee and perhaps a cereal bar if I get desperate.

Today's weight of 18st 0&frac3/4; lbs is the lowest weight I've been since I started, and possibly the lowest weight I've actually measured in adulthood. My jacket that I haven't worn for a while fitted me nicely yesterday instead of pulling around the shoulders. With a business trip coming up for two days, I need to remain on the wagon today.

Good weekend, bad weekend

Well, it was an encouraging weekend in that a few people actually noticed I'd lost some weight. It was a bad weekend in that I scoffed far too much, including an entire Easter egg in an act of sheer chocolate-piggery. But it was nice.

The rest of this week is going to be challenging too, since I'm travelling on business, so I guess I need to try and be good again today and tomorrow.

Friday Weigh In: why I need my graphs

I've made a number of postings showing the chart of my weightloss that I started at the beginning of the year. I started off religiously adding the figures every day, but I've been getting lax about updating it lately. This week I felt I really handn't made any progress -- then I updated the chart. It looks a lot better; I'd forgotten about the bigger drop at the start of the week.

I'd been obsessing about the number not changing very much. So much so, that not only did I lose sight of the fact that I'm still comfortably ahead of the 1lb/week line; I totally missed the fact that as of todays weigh in - 18st 1lb, I've lost 1 ½ lbs this week, and am at the half way point: I've lost 20 lbs of the 40 I set out to loose.

The next bitty tiny goal is to shed just over another pound, so that the scales are showing 17st something. Next week? I hope so, but the week after is fine. Slow and steady does it.

Creeping Down

I missed the scales yesterday morning; too busy with some early morning work that had to be done.

So today was 18st 1¼ the smallest possible step down to 18st 1lb - which means 20lbs lost and half way to my goal weight.

I've ignored the cookies, had a huge salad for lunch (4 points for the humus and meat in it), and will hopefully keep the halo polished this evening when I get home. Nearly half way!!!!!!

New lowest weight

Well, I hadn't been particular good yesterday, but I had spent most of the day being more active than usual. This morning, the scales shows 18st 1½ so close to my next goal..... It's enough to keep me off the beer!

Weightloss and fitness

I posted a while ago that I'd actually dragged myself into a gym and used the equipment there. Well, I've taken the plunge and bought an exercise bike (via eBay).

So, the target is to do 10-15 minutes, three mornings a week.

Since I've had two 4 day weeks at home since I started, I don't feel too bad that I've only managed 5 sessions in the two weeks instead of 6.

It's not the most fun way to spend my time - I'd certainly rather stay in bed the extra 15 minutes. The primary goal is to improve heart fitness and lower blood pressure rather than trying to burn calories - that needs far too much time wasted on the bloody thing! So doing a short session is a good way to start; if that gets too easy I'll make the session longer but drop it to twice a week. But that's a way down the road.

Walking in the hills over the Easter break, it was obvious that even my progress so far has improved my fitness levels. We did one walk of about 6 miles, climbing about 250m (600 feet) over the first 5 miles (and then back down again in the 6th mile!) I walked at a steady pace - 2 ½ hours for the walk, and wasn't really out of breath - there were a few pauses to take in the scenery but that was about it.

So I definitely feel that things are improving.

Friday Weigh In

18st 2½lbs. That means I've shed the excesses of the Easter weekend, and also another pound besides.

Another week on the wagon and that 17st xx goal should be in sight. Actually, given some of the weekly losses I've seen, 17st 13 should be acheivable if I have a good week.

It's been a frustrating couple of weeks; I got down to 18st 2¾ on the 29th March, again on the 31st March, and have hovered between there and 18½ stone all month. This is on top of much of March shedding the holiday excesses.

Then again, I couldn't resist a doughnut that was on offer because of a birthday in the office. At least I only had one. How many points in a jam doughnut, anyone?

A wonderful long weekend

... even if I did put on three pounds!

Life's too short to not enjoy some of it. I'm redoubling my efforts this week, I promise!

Early Friday Weigh In

Since we're off for the long weekend, I decided to take today's weight as the official WI for this week. 18st 3¾lbs., so only a loss of ¾lbs. this week.

The weekend will involve good food and beer, so it's definitely time to renew efforts next week. And that means sticking to the rules rather better than I have this week.

A great start to the morning.

I noticed that Buzz Feed had been sending a lot of people over to my site. Turns out I'm link no 1 in their summary entitled "How Geeks Lose Weight".

That's made my weekend!

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 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.

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!

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.

More tips for losing weight

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

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).