Weight Watcher's Thread

[ColinJ]

One wizard wheeze that I can recommend. The Range sell trouser belts made of a kind of plaited elastic. So they are infinitely adjustable: you poke the spike on the buckle through the plaits as required.

My Endura Humvees are a lot more comfortable round my waist now, but I still think that they would be better with a stretchy belt so I might try one of those - thanks.

PS I have just ordered a similar one from Amazon.

The belt arrived today. I am very pleased with it, except for the fact that Amazon dropped the price by £1 the day after I placed my order!

I had checked that the width of the belt was small enough to fit the belt loops on the Humvees and it was, with a few mm to spare.

With the original non-elastic belt, I either had to do it up tight to stop the shorts slipping down (which made it uncomfortable when bending forwards) OR do it up a bit looser and have the shorts gradually slip. I can do the new belt up nice and snug but it has enough stretch when bending forwards to not feel like it is cutting into my waistline.

So, @Salad Dodger's wizard wheeze is seconded by me!

 

[JhnBssll]

I've been trying to shed the pounds for a while now. I peaked at 117.3kg last year which is far too heavy for me. I'm 6ft and athletically built but 95kg was and is my current target weight so being over 20kg above it was clearly a bad thing

With my recent diagnoses of Type 3c diabetes I need to control my weight much better so I redoubled my efforts; I'd already made big in-roads since that peak weight but this morning I tipped the scales at a much less worrying 102.2kg having lost 15.1kg to date in the past ~6 months. Hoping to smash through 100kg (in the right direction!) in the next week or two and see just where I can get to 96kg seemed like a tough target when I started but as I get nearer I might tweak it down a little depending on how training is going and what my muscle mass is doing - I'm ramping up the training at the moment too so that'll be a factor to watch.

Anyway, very happy with my progress - I haven't been this light for about 5 years My BMI still thinks I'm obese, but BMI is broken for me - I'd have to lose a limb to be close to 'normal' weight on their scale

 

[sevenfourate]

I'm 6'2 tall and had crept up to maybe 16.5 stone (?) pre-Christmas. Always been a big built guy - and felt active, healthy and generally full of energy that way. But at this weight: i'd passed that point. Pretty sure its the heaviest i'd ever been (?) Had a run of sitting on my backside at work, little motivation to get out, i do get a bit of S.A.D blah blah.

So i started walking / cycling a little every day in the Xmas hol's. Didn't eat excessive rubbish over Xmas. And have eaten normally and exercised in the New Year.......

Tipped the scales Sunday at 15 stone 3'ish So somewhere just over a stone gone in maybe 5 weeks. Without really doing too much or pushing it too far. Long-term i'm going to get anywhere in the very high 13 stone range. And then aim to keep anywhere below 14 stone ongoing. THAT'S the hard bit. Been there before - and failed to maintain. So this Year is the Year !

 

[Salad Dodger]

Back in November I posted that I was down from 16 stone 10 pounds to 14 stone 13 pounds.

Now, despite slightly straying off the straight and narrow over Christmas, I am at 14 stone 9 pounds, which is the lowest weight I have been for probably 20 years.

Mrs Salad continues with her Slimming World regime, and has now lost about 4 stone.

I think we are both now reaching the point where we will only be able to lose a few ounces a week at best, so our main target now is not to "fall off the wagon" and put any of the weight back on.

I must say that I am now used to eating much smaller meals than before. In particular, not allowing myself second helpings of dinner. It sounds an obvious thing, but it can so easily become a habit.....

 

[ColinJ]

I've been trying to shed the pounds for a while now. I peaked at 117.3kg last year which is far too heavy for me. I'm 6ft and athletically built but 95kg was and is my current target weight so being over 20kg above it was clearly a bad thing

I'm 6'2 tall...

Tipped the scales Sunday at 15 stone 3'ish So somewhere just over a stone gone in maybe 5 weeks. Without really doing too much or pushing it too far. Long-term i'm going to get anywhere in the very high 13 stone range. And then aim to keep anywhere below 14 stone ongoing.

You two are obviously way more muscular than me. I am 1.86 m tall (6' 1") and currently weigh 81.5 kg (12 st 12 lbs). I am still a bit flabby. I could do with losing at least another 3 kg (half a stone)!

I must say that I am now used to eating much smaller meals than before. In particular, not allowing myself second helpings of dinner. It sounds an obvious thing, but it can so easily become a habit.....

I had a large salad this evening, with 3 pitta breads and a 200 g tub of houmous. I actually thought after 1 pitta and 1/3 of the salad and houmous that I could stop there. I didn't, of course, but that is definitely not something that I would have felt in the past. If I were not already losing weight, I would cut down my portion sizes.

When I reach my target size, I will start eating an extra meal rather than increasing the size of the portions. I usually only eat two meals a day, or maybe two meals and a small bowl of mixed nuts and raisins in the late evening.

 

[sevenfourate]

You two are obviously way more muscular than me. I am 1.86 m tall (6' 1") and currently weigh 81.5 kg (12 st 12 lbs). I am still a bit flabby. I could do with losing at least another 3 kg (half a stone)!

I am genuinely a well built guy. Muscular ? I’m not so sure. At 6’2 and 14 stone I won’t be anything like thin - and will likely still be fairly well built as such.

I got down to 12’9 once. And maintained for some time. But felt (Absolutely no energy or strength ever) and was later told - I looked awful. Hence I have; and had no motivation to maintain that. Which is why the target this time is basically to get to and hold anywhere under 14 stone.

Back to your point. I’m sure some places / specialists would say that’s ‘way’ too heavy for my height. Quoting ideals of 12 stone something. The reality of how I feel at that standard weight for my height is something altogether different…..

 

[gzoom]

Good to see everyone putting the effort it. I made lost of progress last year and have been able to maintain it so far. Going to redouble efforts this year to see if I can hit that magical sub 15% body fat figure.

For BMI and 'muscle' don't fool your selves into thinking BMI doesn't apply to me because am built like a tank/play international rugby (unless you do play international rugby ;.

I'm 5,11, weight is now a steady 70kg (11stone ish), my BMI is 21.9 - so not 'fat' or 'slim' in the middle.

The picture on the left is how well I 'filled' out my cloths with the BMI at 24, and right was this summer.

I've actually worked alot on strength/building up muscle. I'm not going to win any body building contests (nor have the wish too), but for me I'm pretty happy with my muscle definition now. Again my current BMI is 21, and body fat mass still above 15%.

There is no point going into BMI 'denial' if you want to loss weight, the number honestly doesn't lie!! I can easily loss another 5kg of body weight and remain in the 'healthy' BMI range.

 

[sevenfourate]

Good to see everyone putting the effort it. I made lost of progress last year and have been able to maintain it so far. Going to redouble efforts this year to see if I can hit that magical sub 15% body fat figure.

For BMI and 'muscle' don't fool your selves into thinking BMI doesn't apply to me because am built like a tank/play international rugby (unless you do play international rugby ;.

I'm 5,11, weight is now a steady 70kg (11stone ish), my BMI is 21.9 - so not 'fat' or 'slim' in the middle.

The picture on the left is how well I 'filled' out my cloths with the BMI at 24, and right was this summer.

View attachment 674698
I've actually worked alot on strength/building up muscle. I'm not going to win any body building contests (nor have the wish too), but for me I'm pretty happy with my muscle definition now. Again my current BMI is 21, and body fat mass still above 15%.

There is no point going into BMI 'denial' if you want to loss weight, the number honestly doesn't lie!! I can easily loss another 5kg of body weight and remain in the 'healthy' BMI range.

View attachment 674699

GREAT work. You look extremely well. Even with your head chopped off.

Continued Health Sir !

 

[JhnBssll]

There is no point going into BMI 'denial' if you want to loss weight, the number honestly doesn't lie!!

With all due respect I've been told the opposite by multiple health care professionals When I spent 4 months unable to walk in hospital I wasted away and looked almost skeletal. My BMI still registered me as overweight. It's a very blunt tool that can have good results convincing people to lose weight but it is based on anthropometric data from Belgium in the 1830's. If you are the same size and shape as someone from 1830's Belgium I guess it works a treat, but in reality a lot of people fall outside this range now.

 

[gzoom]

With all due respect I've been told the opposite by multiple health care professionals 

Let's just say my day job involves just a degree of medical knowledge .

You are right body composition is very hard to gauge accurately, that why we have things like bioimpedence meters.

Most your body is water, and even measuring water volume objectively is hard. Radio isotope based scans are the 'gold standard', but outside of research studies the best we got is still essential 'clinical examination' - Despite that ITU will tell you about PWP, and invasive monitoring.

Our bodies are really no different now compared to people from the 1800s, or even 2000BC. It's the access to nutrition that changes things.

Ultimately the 'best' test is probably still the mirror test. It honsestly doesn't lie and for me BMI tracks the mirror test amazingly well. This is ofcourse in times of health, when anyone is unwell all the calculations go out of the window.

 

[sevenfourate]

^^^My Sister in Law is positively skeletal. Always has been. At some check-up at her Doctors a few years ago she was told her BMI was too high.

Whilst no medical expert; that advice on paper looked to be possibly dangerous and I’d say irresponsible. The notion and implication she needed to lose weight from where she was - was a nonsense.

Thankfully she’s completely sane and took no notice at all. Imagine same scenario for a 16 year old impressionable teenager ?

 

[icowden]

^^^My Sister in Law is positively skeletal. Always has been. At some check-up at her Doctors a few years ago she was told her BMI was too high.

Similarly, my wife slimmed down to our wedding. Her target weight (10.5 stone I think) as set by WW based on her BMI was just unachievable. She settled for a target just outside (11st), and was again looking positively skeletal by the time she got there.

 

[ColinJ]

I saw a video on YouTube Shorts the other day of a young man taken over 5 years. He had started off very scrawny, but had spent an awful lot of time working out after that and became very muscular. The video caption said that he had put on 30 kg! I'm not sure if that was a genuine figure but he had certainly put on a LOT of weight and it looked like virtually none of it was fat. I'll see if I can find it in my YouTube history...

Here you go...

I'm sure that his BMI is now much higher than it is supposed to be, but honestly - does he look overweight to you?!!!

 

[MrGrumpy]

BMI is a poor indicator on its own !

 

[Scotchlovingcylist]

Been off the forum and the bike for about 3 months now due to injury and have become very sedate with lifestyle. Still lifting weights and noticed some gains but belt has gone up a couple of notches.
Gone from 19st to 21st 7lb over this time so have been on it since end of December.
Currently 20st 3lb, became the dreaded January gym w***** and feeling good. Trying to go back into spring cycling with some level of fitness and mix it up with some other forms of exercise, did a spin class today which I really enjoyed. Not sure it'll help with the mechanics of cycling but definitely a good cardio workout and feeling some burn in my thighs.
Currently on a calorie deficit diet which works for me and is definitely helping make some healthier choices.