Have had a bike fit from a physio, so I should be okay on that front. You're absolutely right about bumping up the time but I should have been capable of going further given the training I'd been doing.
mrlogical,
You wrote in April about eating 2100 calories per day and not getting the results you wanted. You might want to consider going even lower than that. Maybe 1800 calories per day?
A few years ago I had an injury that prevented me from working or exercising. I gained 40 pounds over several months. Since I wasn’t working I had some extra free time. I started counting calories. I was able to condition my body to be ok with about 1800 calories per day. As you might imagine the pounds were falling off on a nearly daily basis and stayed off. At first I was often uncomfortably hungry, but my body eventually acclimated to the 1800 C. I would eat very little and not feel uncomfortably hungry.
Over the past few years I’ve gained about 35 lbs. Now I’m trying to lose some weight. I have to admit that I’m not super motivated. I haven’t been seriously counting calories like I did before. I can’t run for exercise due to back, knee, hip, and ankle issues. I’ve been lifting weights as a way to get a cardio workout. That probably sounds odd, but I think for now it’s my best option. I’ve got two 20 lb dumbbells. I start with a few push ups then I do slow curls while speed walking back and forth. That will get me breathing hard pretty quickly. Then still holding the weights I touch the ground then raise my hands and arm over my head. When my arms can’t take it any more I put the weights down and keep doing the same kind of motions with my hands empty as a way to keep my heart rate up for a bit longer. It’s like 6 minutes of exercise a few times a week. That seems like very little but it’s actually helpful. There’s been some interesting research into micro-workouts like that, and it turns out that they’re extremely effective. The research also shows that after the first 10 minutes of working out you start to get diminishing returns at a pretty dramatic rate. The important lesson is that doing ANY kind of workout is better than no workout so long as you are able to get your heart rate up. I get in about 10,000 steps per day as well.
I’ve also been casually controlling my caloric intake but I’m not hardcore tracking how much I eat. That video above reminded me that sugary drinks, beer, and cocktails are a huge weak spot for me. Candy too. Ok. Cookies, ice cream as well. But I really have been doing a pretty good job. Even so, my weight is staying the same, which feels discouraging. On the other hand though, I have a noticeable increase in muscle tone. This reminds me of another proven statistic; if you are working out on a regular basis, you are much more likely to gain weight than lose weight. This is a correlatory effect, meaning that the reasons why this is true have not yet been figured out, but the correlation between working out and gaining weight is incredibly strong. It’s possible that my working out and reducing calories have played off of each other and had a plateau effect.
Should probably get more motivated if I want to see real results.
Arise for advice -
Anyone have opinions on Whole 30 vs. Weight Watchers? Whole 30 seems fairly radical but a friend recommended it. I have done WW before and it worked fine but they have redone their point system so I don't know if it still would.
BTW perhaps this has been covered before but at 60 pages it didn't want to dig through the whole thread.
Arise for advice -
Anyone have opinions on Whole 30 vs. Weight Watchers? Whole 30 seems fairly radical but a friend recommended it. I have done WW before and it worked fine but they have redone their point system so I don't know if it still would.
I'd recommend WW. As a gamer, the points system speaks to me. Aaaaand it's so much easier now. Much easier. You can barscan food and calculate the points instantly.
Beyond that, I'd offer this advice: give yourself rewards for sticking to this. If you lose 1lb, treat yourself with a movie rental. At 5lbs, maybe buy yourself something small. At 10lbs, a game. At 15lbs, low cost hardware. 20lbs, upgrade a console. Have your ultimate goal be the biggest reward (new computer?)
Also, try to have this mindset: you're not losing weight until you lose X lbs. This is who you are now. Someone who cares about being fit and eating healthy. And you might have bad days, bad weekends, bad weeks, bad months, bad years. But you're always committed to coming back.
Why that mindset? Studies have shown that the biggest difference between those who yoyo their weight and those who lose it and never regain it comes down to having that mindset of committed, long-term life change.
Good luck. I am rooting for you.
Thanks. After reading reviews of Whole 30 it seems like it is more of a popular fad diet - works for some but not consistently for folks.
I will have to look up where WW meets here in Iowa City - I know they have online stuff but going in person always made me feel more accountable.
farley3k wrote:Arise for advice -
Anyone have opinions on Whole 30 vs. Weight Watchers? Whole 30 seems fairly radical but a friend recommended it. I have done WW before and it worked fine but they have redone their point system so I don't know if it still would.
Also, try to have this mindset: you're not losing weight until you lose X lbs. This is who you are now. Someone who cares about being fit and eating healthy. And you might have bad days, bad weekends, bad weeks, bad months, bad years. But you're always committed to coming back.
Why that mindset? Studies have shown that the biggest difference between those who yoyo their weight and those who lose it and never regain it comes down to having that mindset of committed, long-term life change.
.
My wife tried the Whole 30 last fall and I joined in. Some of the food is great and it's good to find solid go to recipes. That said it wasn't game changing for me. The mindset change mentioned is absolutely for real. Do I still eat other crap food sometimes? Sure but it never makes me feel good. I also try to find foods to be my go to for breakfast & lunch. If I know something is healthy and I stock it I don't mind the lack of variety but you can stock 3 things if you want to rotate those items for breakfast or lunch.
I enjoy planning out the dinners the most. I am not WW but can just say I have adopted many healthier versions of recipes and mostly adding lots of veggies & reducing some carbs can help. Finding more whole carbs can be very helpful too. This will vary by how much you enjoy cooking.
Coming up to losing 40 lbs over the past 2 years its been a ride! stay with it. You'll plateau at some point and keep at it. I finally am down the stubborn 10lb from my level out at my 30 lb loss. Now I am focusing more on daily exercise with my eating. I have been very busy with yard work and lots of yard labor through spring into summer so that was a great calorie burn. Now it's leveling off so I am starting this month daily lifting at least. Got some good adjustable dumbbells to work with.
Also, I can't recommend a smart watch like fitbit to track your steps, calorie burn, and more aspects of your health. Certainly helps in the gamer aspect. I try to get my 10k plus of steps a day. Make sure you're moving, tracks sleep etc. I love it. A smart scale can help show what's going on a bit internal between doc visits too. I find the numbers help my gamer brain.
Good luck and feel free to drop in here for support or PM if needed!
Thanks. After reading reviews of Whole 30 it seems like it is more of a popular fad diet - works for some but not consistently for folks.
I will have to look up where WW meets here in Iowa City - I know they have online stuff but going in person always made me feel more accountable.
IMO, WW is just as much a "popular fad diet" as Whole 30. They just choose different fads to focus on.
I don't know, maybe. However WW - when I did it 20 years ago was about tracking what you ate and making choices. It didn't say stop this food or only eat this food for 20 days etc. That is more what I consider fad -ish.
Whole 30 (at leas for the first 30 days then you can reintroduce stuff) says no added sugar, no alcohol, no grains, no legumes, no dairy, no carrageenan or sulfites, no recreating baked goods,”treats”, or junk food with approved ingredients*.
*from their web page.
Which are probably all things I should cut back on or cut out but generally when a diet says cut out these things I get warry. The WW thing of - eat what you want but track it and understand that you can have 2lbs of green beans, or 1 candy bar - which will make you fuller? seemed logical to me.
Nice to see this thread is still active!
I’m ready to re-lose some weight, and posting here with updates helped a lot with accountability last time.
Alright.
Previous weight: N/A
Current weight: 102kg
Short term goal: 100kg
Long term goal: 92kg
I’ve put on weight over the course of the last six to eight months. I could blame it on a number of big life changes and stress, but the truth is that I stopped thinking about what I was putting into my body at some point.
My anchor weight for the last five years was around 92kg. It would go up and down a bit, but always return to that number. I’d like to get back to that point by the end of 2023.
Steps taken:
- Started calorie tracking again. I need to keep doing it to build up the habit.
- Weekly weigh in on Saturdays, starting today.
- Weekly post to the forums for accountability.
I’ll see you folks next week.
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 101kg (Nov 12 22)
Short term goal: 100kg
Pretty sure 1kg is a weight fluctuation, but I saw a downward trend throughout the week. It’s a good start.
I need to start doing this too, I really let myself go! I think my metabolism hit burnout at 40, and has clocked out. Since then, I've put on an extra 50lbs that I DO NOT need. I'd be happy to drop a full 100 at this point but I figure let's be realistic first 
Are you on Myfitnesspal or anything like that? I have the hardest time maintaining those kinds of things, and wondering if you've found success with any of those?
Once this fever/exhaustion passes I'm thinking to work on building a regular routine. Since I'm currently not routine based (however I thrive well under them), I'm working on building a daily (non-exercise) routine now, and looking to shape it around a workout routine when I'm feeling better - starting the habits is the hardest part.
starting the habits is the hardest part.
I hear that. Trying to restart/build new habits had always been the hardest part for me as well. Once I started getting some positive reinforcement and seeing results, it made sticking to the routine worthwhile.
Are you on Myfitnesspal or anything like that? I have the hardest time maintaining those kinds of things, and wondering if you've found success with any of those?
Myfitnesspal has worked for me in the past, so that’s what I’m doing again. It was a pain in the ass until I built up the routine, but then it just became part of the routine so I didn’t mind it as much. Start with small, liveable changes to diet and exercise, and move forward from there.
Liam Rosen’s Health and Fitness guide for Beginners in my sig has some good advice, and I’ve gone back to it and re-read it more than a few times since I started my weight loss journey over a decade ago.
Here’s my favorite part:
Consider this: when people start dieting and exercise, they are often extremists about it. They try to work out 2 times a day, 7 days a week, or go on some crazy diet where they eat 500 calories composed entirely of herbal tea and tree bark. They hurt themselves or get sick or just hate life generally, and they fail. Then they get discouraged and get fat and out of shape again.
Was that a failure of willpower? Sort of, but the main problem is that the whole approach is wrong. You don't get in shape by killing yourself. You get in shape, and more importantly stay in shape, by accumulating significant, but livable, improvements to your lifestyle over time, and building on that. Not by going through some horrible ordeal requiring Olympian willpower.
Eating healthy just has to become how you eat most of the time. Exercise has to become a habitual thing you do every day or two, like mowing the lawn or taking out the trash. If you do just a little better all the time, but really stick to it, you can accumulate big gains very fast, and improve upon them over the long term. Once you start seeing improvements without having to kill yourself, it becomes very easy to keep on improving. You don’t have to stick to the following 100% of the time; but every little bit you slip up detracts from your overall results.
You know, I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to go the book route with getting into the mindset. I'll check it out!
There's a part of it that I've never engaged with before, but now that I'm older and understand how my mind and feelings work in conjunction with my body, getting immersed in culture or content around healthy living is important to encompassing it more 3-dimensionally for me, I think. I was able to engage with it and maintain it for the longest when I was following health and fitness blogs...for a time. I find that it's really, really, really easy to fall into toxicity in communities and content creators, so I do think I need to be mindful and keep the engagement more removed.
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 101.5kg (Nov 19 22)
Short term goal: 100kg
These numbers make more sense. Losing half a pound (0.25kg) a week puts me right on track.
See you next week.
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 101.7kg (Nov 26 22)
Short term goal: 100kg
I’ve seen 101kg on the scale throughout the week, so this is probably another fluctuation. I’ve also restarted/resumed weight training at home in the last two weeks, so some muscle mass gain is expected.
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 100.7kg (Dec 3 22)
Short term goal: 100kg
I was looking forward to weighing in today! I’ve dropped nearly three pounds in under a month. Should be able to hit my short term goal by the end of the year.
Great work!
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 100.9kg (Dec 11 22)
Short term goal: 100kg
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 101.6kg (Dec 17 22)
Short term goal: 100kg
I don’t even know what my body is doing anymore ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Still running a calorie deficit and weight lifting every other day. It’s disappointing to not see results on “results day” but there’s always next week.
Try cutting way back on the non-fruit sugars and reduce carbs?
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 101.5kg (Dec 25 22)
Short term goal: 100kg
My upper body is HUGE. My quads and calves are BLASTED. My face is HANDSOME and ANGULAR. My words are EXAGGERATED, but I feel pretty good.
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 101.3kg (Dec 31 22)
Short term goal: 100kg
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 102kg (Jan 8 23)
Short term goal: 100kg
Interesting new guidance
Experts Recommend Drugs, Surgery for Teen Obesity in New Guidelines
For the first time ever, experts with the American Academy of Pediatrics are recommending proactive medical intervention against childhood obesity. The organization’s new guidelines will no longer ask doctors to simply observe or delay treatment in children with obesity, defined as a body mass index over 30. They instead now emphasize a range of options, such as dietary and lifestyle counseling for younger children as well as medications and/or surgery for children 12 and over.Past standards for treating childhood obesity have called for “watchful waiting,” the hope being that a child’s BMI (a measure of both weight and height) would naturally lower over time as they grew. In 2007, the AAP’s previous recommendations promoted a step-based approach, where doctors might slowly escalate from observation to treatment. But these new recommendations—released Monday—are the first clinical practice guidelines to put obesity treatments front and center.
“There is no evidence that ‘watchful waiting’ or delayed treatment is appropriate for children with obesity,” said Sandra Hassink, one of the authors behind the guidelines and vice chair of the AAP Clinical Practice Guideline Subcommittee on Obesity, in a statement released by the organization. “The goal is to help patients make changes in lifestyle, behaviors or environment in a way that is sustainable and involves families in decision-making at every step of the way.”The lengthy guidelines outline a multitude of available treatments, depending on a child’s age and other circumstances (children under 2 are not considered eligible for obesity treatment).
For younger children, these options can include intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment, which can involve regular counseling sessions with the child and family over a 3- to 12-month period. For children 12 and over, doctors are now advised to consider medications as a front-line option. And teens 13 and over can also be evaluated for bariatric surgery as a potential treatment.
In crafting its recommendations, the AAP cites many studies suggesting that the benefits of these treatments outweigh any potential risks they can carry. Patients who have undergone bariatric surgery seem to have a lower risk of developing obesity-related complications such as type 2 diabetes and have a longer life expectancy when compared to non-surgical patients matched in age and baseline BMI, for instance. Long-term health benefits have been seen in teen bariatric patients specifically, too.
A new class of medication, called incretins, has also greatly changed the landscape of obesity treatment in recent years. These drugs, combined with diet and exercise, have led to far larger weight loss on average than most other treatments and are approaching the typical results seen with bariatric surgery.
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration extended the approval of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, the first drug of this new generation, to children over 12, following clinical trial data showing that teens saw a similar improvement in BMI as adults. The shortages that have plagued Wegovy’s rollout since its approval in June 2021 may finally be over as well, with the company recently announcing that its supply should now be stable. Without insurance coverage, which is often limited, the drug can still cost over $1,000 a month, however.
The AAP’s guidelines arrive at a time when the rise in U.S. obesity rates, including among children, has only accelerated, likely in part due to the covid-19 pandemic. The new recommendations notably do not cover how best to prevent obesity in children, though the organization has promised to release separate recommendations for that in the near future.
“The medical costs of obesity on children, families and our society as a whole are well-documented and require urgent action,” said lead author Sarah Hampl in a statement. “This is a complex issue, but there are multiple ways we can take steps to intervene now and help children and teens build the foundation for a long, healthy life.”
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 101.2kg (Jan 14 23)
Short term goal: 100kg
I’ve thought about weight fluctuations on weigh-in day (Saturday mornings.) People are usually lightest in the morning, but I stay up late on Friday nights and eat and drink more compared to the other days of the week. Saturday mornings could be my least reliable data point because it is heavily influenced by my actions the night before.
I’m going to start keeping a personal log and weigh in every morning (when I can.) Hopefully this will give me a clearer picture of my progress.
This weight-loss stuff is a lot harder than it was 10 years ago.
Before March 2020 I was getting multiple miles of walking in during most work days, just through the normal course of commuting, being in a public building, and sneaking off for a quick post-lunch breath of fresh air. That all came to a screeching halt since going on perma-WFH, and I now find myself 30-40 pounds heavier than before - and I won't kid myself by claiming it's all muscle weight. I got a new primary care physician (for Reasons) and got myself checked out as last week - my first "annual well visit" in, um, something like 8 years (I've been generally healthy, weight aside, don't @ me). My new PCP offered to sign me up on a weight management program, which includes a free Fitbit and digital scale, and I decided this past weekend that I'm going to make a conscious effort to exercise - something I haven't done in, um, ever. I don't really want to go to a gym or walk around the neighborhood or whatever, though, and I saw a pretty sweet deal on an upscale stationary exercise bike (which doesn't look like it'll buckle the first time I sit on it), so I took the plunge; it arrived today. Yes it's still a pretty expensive piece of kit, even on sale, but frankly, I'm hoping that the sunk-cost fallacy might work in my favor here - also being able to exercise in the comfort of my own home. Wish me luck, and sorry for rambling here.
Can highly recommend getting yourself a kettlebell or two and learning how to use them (plenty of fabulous tutorials on YouTube).
They're an extremely versatile piece of home fitness equipment, best bang for your buck in terms of $ spent vs fitness gains. Require zero setup, take up almost no space, and will kick your ass if you let them.
PM me if you want me to rant about how great they are in much greater detail.
I'm losing muscle from my cancer treatment, so that 35lb kettlebell I used to whirl around like a toy is now a good farmer's carry up and down the steep stairs in the house. The one time I've been happy the staircase is steep.
Starting weight: 102kg (Nov 5 22)
Current weight: 101.4kg (Jan 21 23)
Short term goal: 100kg
Beatings shall continue until morale improves.
Lightest: Wednesday @ 100.4kg
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