Two weeks in

And things seem to be working.

Two weeks in, and the diet change alone and some minor moderation of alcohol intake, and my weight has dropped 5 lbs.

Biggest change has been eating during the day: no chocolate has passed my lips in the office - unless you count a swirl on top of a fruit fool pudding one day.

Breakfast: cereal bar, if anything.

Lunch: typically a healthy hot meal (often vegetarian option), or dessert allowed if I have a salad.

Snacks: 2-3 pieces of fruit, and another cereal bar.

Dinner: whatever's on the menu at home, cooked healthily.

Max one glass of wine before the meal is finished. I've figured out that my normal (very large) glass filled to it's widest point is about 1/4 bottle or 187ml, so I'm generally putting less than this in and savouring it and having some left. Still more than I should be drinking if I'm at home every night, but reducing without feeling deprived.

Am out with a friend of Saturday so it might get blown out of the water. Tough. Life's too short.

I appear to have been away for a very long while

And not only am I back where I started at 19st 7, my blood pressure is far higher than it should be. Like, 170/100 this morning (even call it 160/95 when you factor in the white coat effect, it's still Far Too High).


Some things need to change around here.


And some things have changed while I've been away. And under that heading, WeightWatchers have changed their plan to something complex and impenetrable. I can't figure out their ProPoints in my head like I could with old points.


Secondly, the "OK, the diet is finished, let's go back to normal" approach clearly didn't work. This needs to be about creating sustainable habits.


So, I'm trying a less "diet oriented" approach to losing weight this time around.

I have a basic plan - breakfast, lunch and dinner, that will be "healthy" - minimal fat, control of carbohydrate and meat portion sizes, and in line with what I'd eat if I were actually following the diet, and a budget of "treats" for the week. That includes things like chocolate, a few glasses of wine, and "good treats" - fruit, cereal bars, etc.


I will be restarting the "hacker diet" daily weight tracking, and this time using it as feedback to moderate the number of treats to find a balance between being comfortable and losing 2-4lbs/month.


I am trying to kick the habit of eating chocolate at work, taking fruit and lower calorie cereal bars as a replacement.


I will be reducing alcohol - aiming to be consistently under 40 units/week. That's enough of a reduction in calorie intake on it's own to set the trend going the right way.

I'm also stocking up on low-calorie soft drinks. I need something I can drink as much of, whenever I want. Soda water and lime is a good start.

Target: based on body fat, I have been advised that 16-17 stone is a reasonable target weight for me. Much less would be difficult to attain without a LOT of exercise. Stuff that. Stuff the whole BMI thing where the sun doesn't shine. Actually, the target will be more in terms of maintaining a healthy blood pressure - probably at or under 135/75 but I need to discuss that further with the doctor. (140/85 is considered the normal target according to http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/.

Interestingly there's considerable variation in the BP reading. At the surgery this morning it was 170/100. This evening at home it's 154/87. I think I need to find a day when I can check it hourly through the day, and/or compare the readings on my home meter with the one used by the doctor.

The name of the blog is slightly irrelevant now: I'm not bothered about BMI, I just want to get my blood pressure under control without drugs.

No, I didn't just come up with that when I sat down at the keyboard. I'll fill in some of the blanks as time goes on.

I can't get no .. mo-ti-vation....

Despite much piggery this week, I seem to have still managed to lose half a pound, putting the scales on 17st 2¾ this morning. I really have lost the plot, though. I was within inches of picking up a 400g bar of chocolate in the supermarket the other day (and I'd have eaten the lot on the five minute drive home if I had).

Large portion of no-point mushroom curry for dinner tonight, along with a more sensible portion of chicken curry.

... or I could just be wildly optimistic

No weight loss to report this week, though I managed to survive the weekend without a gain, either. Despite being at an event where the quantities of alcohol being consumed can only be described as "you drank HOW much?", I managed to stay the same over the weekend - put that one down to the level of activity involved.

I think there's an element of boredom going in here - or at least routine. I wouldn't describe myself as being bored at all, but I do seem to have fallen into something of a rut where there's not much of interest going on, so it's far too easy to site down in front of one screen or the other (TV or PC) with a beer or two four.

I've got a few interesting weekends coming up, and I've got some stuff going on for a few evenings this week as well. Let's see if that makes a difference to the waistline.

I think tracking is helping....

I managed to reverse the weekend damage, and lose another ¼lb, bringing this weeks result to 17st 3½lbs. The 17st 3lb barrier seems to be a real obstacle for me. This weekend has no distractions or other badness planned, so I wonder if I can actually break through that barrier next week.

Delayed Friday Weigh In

The whole weight loss thing is becoming a lot less fun when it's not actually working.

Friday's result was 17 3¾lbs, so half a pound down on the week, but hardly something to be confused with progress, and it rose steadily over the weekend, mostly as a result of a day's grazing at the Emsworth Food Festival on Saturday. At least we didn't buy piles of cheese, bacon, and olive oil to bring home.

I think my wife hit the nail on the head by pointing out the lack of tracking was probably working against me. And I think she might have been right: if you're not tracking at all, then it's hard to view the "should I have one more beer/extra dessert/whatever" decision against the total food intake for the day. "I've been pretty good today" means you'll probably go for it. "I've had 32 points today and should have had 31" gives you a bit more of an inclination to stick to the plot.

So, I'm back to tracking. Tedious though it is, it does seem to help, if only to make the last few decisions of the day a bit more sensible.

Let's see if it makes a difference.

Friday Weigh In - Surprise drop reversed

17st 2¼lbs this morning. The overall trend is slowly downwards, but as predicted the sudden drop from last week is mostly reversed.

Oh well... keep at it...