Weight Watcher's Thread

[carolonabike]

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.

Well done Thelma. Don't worry, it will get easier as your body becomes accustomed to doing more exercise. You may have been just tired out rather than low on sustenance which is perfectly normal. It's your first long run after all. I would give it a few days then try again, you'll probably find you manage much better and it doesn't feel so hard.

Keep going!

 

[Ajay]

I'm tethered to 16st 7lb, have been for months. I've been upping my fitness recently, but the weight has stayed the same. I've been kidding myself a bit if I'm honest, by doing long flat routes, but had a wake up call yesterday when doing a proper hilly route, only a 50 miler - half the distance of the previous sunday flat ride, but so much harder (it did have 3 Tour of Britain KOM climbs in it tho!).
I've got to get some focus on the calorie intake, I've a big ride coming up in june, and having a stone or so less above the top tube could be the difference between a great tour and a week of hell .

Maybe posting my "progress" on here, with a little virtual peer pressure, along with your tips and shared experiences might help!
Time for lunch....

 

[3narf]

I seem to have bottomed out at about 12 1/2 stone. I'm going to have to stop snacking on cream crackers...

The hardest thing, though, is to stop eating when I'm full. If I've got a big bowl of pasta in front of me there's no way I'll stop eating before it's all gone. My parents lived through post-WW2 rationing; it's the way I was brung up!

 

[Baggy]

The hardest thing, though, is to stop eating when I'm full. If I've got a big bowl of pasta in front of me there's no way I'll stop eating before it's all gone. My parents lived through post-WW2 rationing; it's the way I was brung up!

That's my problem, too! I've started to use a smaller bowl, and not have seconds...

 

[Banjo]

I'm tethered to 16st 7lb, have been for months. I've been upping my fitness recently, but the weight has stayed the same. I've been kidding myself a bit if I'm honest, by doing long flat routes, but had a wake up call yesterday when doing a proper hilly route, only a 50 miler - half the distance of the previous sunday flat ride, but so much harder (it did have 3 Tour of Britain KOM climbs in it tho!).
I've got to get some focus on the calorie intake, I've a big ride coming up in june, and having a stone or so less above the top tube could be the difference between a great tour and a week of hell .

Maybe posting my "progress" on here, with a little virtual peer pressure, along with your tips and shared experiences might help!
Time for lunch....

I agree a little virtual peer pressure helps me keep control of my weight, also a little congratulations on successes helps.

I have to carry 5 gallon drums of oil occasionally in work, one of those drums weighs about 50 lbs which is a little less than the weight of fat I lost going from 16 to 12 stone. I really cannot imagine pedalling uphill with one of those drums strapped to the crossbar.

The really disgusting mental image is what 5 gallons of lard would look like


Good Luck Ajay every bit gone is a bonus for your cycling and health.

 

[ColinJ]

I have to carry 5 gallon drums of oil occasionally in work, one of those drums weighs about 50 lbs which is a little less than the weight of fat I lost going from 16 to 12 stone. I really cannot imagine pedalling uphill with one of those drums strapped to the crossbar.

I was once on holiday in Spain with a skinny mate (10 st 7 lbs) and he asked why I kept getting dropped on the climbs.

We were in a supermarket at the time. I said to him "You know that I'm more than 3 stone overweight. Let's call it 3 st 2 lbs - that's 44 lbs or 20 kgs. 20 litres of water weighs 20 kgs."

I stopped at the bottled water shelf and handed him four 5 litre bottles of water. "Right, Pantani, let's see you sprint up the mountains with that little lot strapped to your bike!"

 

[Ajay]

I have to carry 5 gallon drums of oil occasionally in work, one of those drums weighs about 50 lbs which is a little less than the weight of fat I lost going from 16 to 12 stone

Great work Banjo, that's a huge % weight loss
I'd like to think that with some focus I could lose a stone before june, and then another during the summer. I'd be really pleased with 14st 7lb. When I was at my fittest I was 13st 7lb, but that was 20 years ago (gulp)

 

[potsy]

Great work Banjo, that's a huge % weight loss
I'd like to think that with some focus I could lose a stone before june, and then another during the summer. I'd be really pleased with 14st 7lb. When I was at my fittest I was 13st 7lb, but that was 20 years ago (gulp)

A stone before June should be very do-able Ajay, call it 2lb a week which is a sensible rate of loss.
I'm losing just over 1lb a week so far and can really tell the difference on the hills now compared to earlier in the year.

Colin- 44lbs of water retention? You should see a doctor

Banjo- I tend to think of my weight loss in terms of bags of sugar, so that's 7.5 bags I'm now not having to carry up the hills, no wonder I was so slow before(yes I know I'm still slow before Colin says it)

 

[Banjo]

A stone before June should be very do-able Ajay, call it 2lb a week which is a sensible rate of loss.
I'm losing just over 1lob a week so far and can really tell the difference on the hills now compared to earlier in the year.

Colin- 44lbs of water retention? You should see a doctor

Banjo- I tend to think of my weight loss in terms of bags of sugar, so that's 7.5 bags I'm now not having to carry up the hills, no wonder I was so slow before(yes I know I'm still slow before Colin says it)

Not as slow as me probably I have never been a racing snake even when very fit.Endurance type events have allways been more my style.

Re losing 1 lb a week Thats a great result, Experts may disagree but I think slow weight loss is more likely to stay off as you are close to your natural calories in / energy used balance. Good Luck

 

[ColinJ]

I've been given a shredding machine and I decided it was time to dispose of my old diaries. Most of the entries are really boring, some are depressing and some are embarrassing, but I forced myself to look back at a few pages before the shred-fest.

The entries about the time of The Big Relationship Bust-up are very revealing! I drank 8 cans of strong lager on the night of my 'divorce' and got up the next morning feeling emotionally and physically dreadful.

I decided that the boozing would have to stop for a while or I'd probably drink myself to death in less than 12 months. In fact, I gave it up for a couple of years.

I went right off my food and was only eating 1/2-2/3 of what I'd been eating before. I genuinely did have the sensation that my stomach had shrunk. Normally I have no problem polishing off a Chinese takeaway by myself. I got to the point where I was throwing 40% away. Unheard of in my household!

I became an exercise junkie. When the weather was okay through the winter, I'd do road rides and MTB rides several times a week, putting in hard efforts throughout each ride. On cold, wet days I got on my turbo-trainer instead. I was putting in efforts which were so hard that I almost threw up. Sometimes I'd ride on it for over 2 hours. (Previously I'd struggled to manage an hour.) When I dismounted, I could hardly walk. I'd crawl up the stairs to get washed and changed. I'd go to bed early.

So what was the result of those changes? Well, I looked through about 2 months of diary entries and nearly every week I lost 3 pounds in weight. I started at well over 14 stone, but soon it was 13 st 12 lbs, then the next week 13 st 9 lbs, then 13 st 6 lbs and so on.

By the following summer I was down to 11 st 10 lbs and looking really gaunt. I was very fit. I spent the entire year not using the granny ring on my road bike or mountain bike. Mountains felt like hills, hills felt like draggy climbs, draggy climbs felt like flat roads, and flat roads felt like gentle descents. It felt goooood!

It wasn't a happy time but it did show me what could be achieved in 6 months with the right motivation.

The trouble was - when I started to feel a bit happier, I went back to my old habits, and therefore to my old physique! I wish that I could be motivated to get fit and be happy at the same time ...

 

[Garz]

Hmmm in some way I can relate to that mindset Colin.

It seems like you need to be able to put in that kind of effort but not get sucked in by a depressive aura using your training as the sole release of bad energy.

Aiming for a gradual 2lb loss per week and finding something else to occupy the time so you have no idle periods to think about eating may be the key. The forum rides seem like a good distraction, maybe enter enough events to keep you aiming for something year round.

Nothing beats a good ride with like-minded company.

 

[Rebel Ian]

Well I'm down 3lbs from last week which I sort of expected. My natural weight is a bit over 13st so I know I'm about a stone over. As a result when i diet the first few lbs comes off quite easily. I've been good since my weigh-in other than tonight although done 40 mile round trip to work on the bike today.

 

[carolonabike]

Weigh in day for me - 9st exactly, no change from last week which I expected.

If I knew how to do it I would post my graph, it's almost a straight line although the gradient is quite shallow, which given my starting weight is also to be expected. I am feeling fitter and much stronger though and I also look slimmer so I'm a happy bunny .

 

[potsy]

Weigh in day for me - 9st exactly, no change from last week which I expected.

If I knew how to do it I would post my graph, it's almost a straight line although the gradient is quite shallow, which given my starting weight is also to be expected. I am feeling fitter and much stronger though and I also look slimmer so I'm a happy bunny .

Who cares what the scales say when that is the result

 

[Banjo]

Who cares what the scales say when that is the result

+1 Good result in my opinion.

Im also still stuck at 12 st 6 ,lost a whole 2 lb in 3 months BBQ ing tonight so musnt overdo it.....