Weight Watcher's Thread

[potsy]

Back to 9st this morning, up .5lb from last week. Ho hum

Carol, don't get so hung up on half a pound increases or decreases, when you think about it it's about half a cup of tea either way.
As long as your weight isn't fluctuating 2 or 3 lbs a week then you've nowt to worry about

Had an OK week, no weigh in til next week as I did a mid-week update after the forum ride, today and over the weekend is my dangerous time when the old snacking habit starts to creep up on me again, might go for a 20 miler Sunday to keep things ticking over, and to burn off the bacon butty I normally have a the weekend

 

[ColinJ]

I can't remember if I've mentioned it already here, but I definitely have elsewhere ...

If those up and down apparently random weight fluctuations really upset you, then keep a rolling average. Weigh yourself every day and calculate the average of the last 7 days. That will filter out most of the daily randomness and reveal the underlying trend.

 

[Thelma]

I was reading about hydration earlier and am a bit confused. Aren't isotonic drinks packed with sugar? Is there a diet alternative?

I did my first long ride today (just over 12 miles!!!) but stupidly had a tiny breakfast (small slice wholemeal toast with a banana) so ran out of energy. The last few miles nearly finished me off. I'd had my breakfast a couple of hours before I went out as well.... How do you balance what you eat with a longer ride, and still aim to lose weight? There's no doubt I wanted something more substantial than I had.

 

[Banjo]

Its a bit of a juggling act if your cycling to lose weight as the exercise makes you hungry. I try to time my rides to finish just before a meal time so I dont end up snacking when I come in hungry.

You may not have felt good when you ran out of energy but your body will have been eating into its fat reserves during that time .

 

[biglad]

Weighed myself last Friday and today, I was 23, I am not 22.5. Half a stone in a week. Having never gotten involved with trying to lose weight before, I have no idea if thats a lot or a little, but I am very happy with myself

 

[Telemark]

Weighed myself last Friday and today, I was 23, I am not now 22.5. Half a stone in a week. Having never gotten involved with trying to lose weight before, I have no idea if thats a lot or a little, but I am very happy with myself

Fixed that for you
You'll be "wee lad" soon if you carry on at this rate

T

 

[Panter]

I did my first long ride today (just over 12 miles!!!) but stupidly had a tiny breakfast (small slice wholemeal toast with a banana) so ran out of energy. The last few miles nearly finished me off. I'd had my breakfast a couple of hours before I went out as well.... How do you balance what you eat with a longer ride, and still aim to lose weight? There's no doubt I wanted something more substantial than I had.

That is something that I really struggled with.
I could diet (a little bit) or I could exercise, but seemingly not both.
My problem is/was that I would overcompensate for doing lots of miles, and still end up overeating.
But, as you've found, if you go the other way it's very unpleasant and can't be good for you.


I now seem to have found something that works, which is just very simple calorie counting. I use an app on my phone to log all foods and exercise, which are plotted against a daily calorie goal. Go over and you gain weight, stay under and you lose. Simples

What's harder is sticking to it but I seem to be getting there now.
The only times in the past that I've consistently lost weight were when I kept a food/exercise diary, the phone apps just make it easier to stick to.

To actually get to my point now

it's surprising just how many calories you burn when cycling. If you start logging your calories burned (there's loads of free calorie burn calculators online) when excercising, and how much you're consuming, you get an idea of what you can eat and still lose weight.
For instance, when I'm not cycling to work I'll have two slices of wholemeal toast. When I do cycle in, I'll have the toast and then 100g porridge when I get to work. I also then have a large roll for lunch (instead of salad) and that still gives me a calorie deficit (my commute is 32mile round trip and hilly.)

There's lots of websites you can log everything on (most free) so it may be worth a look for something. Mydailyplate on livestrong.com is very good, but I'm currently using "myfitnesspal" which seems to be even better.

Anyway, good luck to everyone, nice to see all the progress, it's very inspirational. My log is back on page 12.


I'm on holiday for two weeks soon, fully inclusive in Egypt but I'm hell bent on, at the very least, mantaining my current weight if not to drop a pound or two.
The second I'm home, I'll be straight back on the mission

 

[potsy]

Good progress Panter, always feels great to hit one of your targets. Under 16st too
Looks like target No2 will happen soon then, have you decided what you would like to get down to?

I seem to have found a good balance now between the amount I eat and the cycling I do, trouble is once I have any time off the bike I carry on eating the same so the weight goes back on.
Must start doing some other forms of exercise too, I have a treadmill that I used to enjoy using so might dust that off and do a bit of light jogging again, or dig my rowing machine out and use that. (As you can tell my exercise fads don't normally last that long)

 

[Banjo]

Weighed myself last Friday and today, I was 23, I am not 22.5. Half a stone in a week. Having never gotten involved with trying to lose weight before, I have no idea if thats a lot or a little, but I am very happy with myself

Excellent start biglad soon to be medium sized lad.

Its normal to have good results like that when you first start exercise and or diet dont be disheartened if the results arent so spectacular each week.

Staying the same or losing a pound or two are good results.
Even putting a pound back on isnt a disaster so long as it isnt too often.

What I noticed when I started losing weight was how quickly I felt better,more of a spring in my step etc wether its the weight loss or just feeling good because you have taken control of the situation I dont know.




Good Luck, keep us posted

 

[Panter]

Good progress Panter, always feels great to hit one of your targets. Under 16st too
Looks like target No2 will happen soon then, have you decided what you would like to get down to?

I seem to have found a good balance now between the amount I eat and the cycling I do, trouble is once I have any time off the bike I carry on eating the same so the weight goes back on.
Must start doing some other forms of exercise too, I have a treadmill that I used to enjoy using so might dust that off and do a bit of light jogging again, or dig my rowing machine out and use that. (As you can tell my exercise fads don't normally last that long)

Thanks very much

I don't know what my ideal weight is, I think the "official" BMI figure is insanely low as I'm very stocky. But, realistically, I think 14st something would be a realistic goal, and then just see if I'm still fat when I get there!

I didn't really find my exercise/eating balance until very recently I started logging everything, what is really frightening is just how little I can eat when not exercising to lose weight

It was also clear that I was massively over eating when I did exercise to make up for it

I've also been very faddy with my exercise over the Years, cycling is the only thing I've ever stuck at and enjoyed doing

We recently borrowed a treadmill, and I must admit I've been quite enjoying that in a perverse way!

Thanks for the kind words, and very best of luck with yours. It's just a shame it's such a chore, if you could lose weight by eating pies and watching TV I'd be an athlete by now

 

[bennydorano]

How do you replace Bread? It really is my killer, i eat far too much of it, toast at tea break, soup and a sandwich for lunch, toast every other night for supper.

 

[potsy]

How do you replace Bread? It really is my killer, i eat far too much of it, toast at tea break, soup and a sandwich for lunch, toast every other night for supper.

What I have done lately is switch from normal thick sliced white bread, to wholemeal bread which is a lot smaller.
This way I'll still have the same amount ie-2 pieces of toast but it is virtually half the calories.

 

[ColinJ]

How do you replace Bread? It really is my killer, i eat far too much of it, toast at tea break, soup and a sandwich for lunch, toast every other night for supper.

Porridge! That's breakfast taken care of. It is so filling that it also takes care of tea breaks and can even last through to an evening meal. In the evening, allow yourself large servings of vegetables. You won't be interested in toast after eating lots of carrots, cabbage, broccoli or salad veg.

I realised that I had a serious bread and cheese problem when I was getting through a full-sized loaf, a 250g pack of cheese and half a jar of Branston pickle a day by myself!

My solution was simple - I made a list of all the foods that I had problems with and stopped buying them. So no more bread, butter, cheese, biscuits, cake, crisps, chocolate, pizza, pickle, mayo, salad cream etc. If it isn't in the house, I don't think about it and it doesn't get eaten!

I'll eat those things when I've ridden or walked to cafes for them, but then I feel that I've earned them!

 

[Garz]

A bit severe but effective technique there Colin!

How is the weight loss going overall now?

 

[ColinJ]

How is the weight loss going overall now?

I seem to be taking in exactly the calories I need to stay the same weight, so I'm only losing what I burn off in exercise.

Last week's 101 mile forum ride pretty much took a pound off me, but I haven't touched my bike since so my weight hasn't changed either!

I've almost completely lost my solo cycling mojo. If I have company I can motivate myself to make the effort but otherwise I just sit and watch the world passing me by.

Time to get another forum ride organised! I'll do that tomorrow.