Inspire me (please)

2016 has been a shit year, work, family problems, depression (of the seriously wondering about walking in front of a train sort). I’ve finally sought and got help so all on that front is much better now, thanks.

However one of the aspects of it has been that I comfort eat; another is that I have lacked any real enthusiasm to get out and exercise. I know sorting one sorts the other and vice versa but as anyone who has suffered depression will know, say and do are two different worlds entirely. And when the comfort eating and lack of exercise has the expected effects, you get more down and reach for the cake and……

Anyway – 4 years ago at almost exactly this time of year I got new trousers for Christmas and my kids pointed and said I couldn’t leave the house wearing them. I had to upgrade to 38″ waisters, and on Jan 1st I was a decent shit away from 16st. I 5:2’ed, I trained to do a 12hr solo, I ate well on the 5 days and in August 2013 I had a 12 in the left hand digits of the weight. Just – 12:13 to be precise, and in reality that was pretty light for a broad shouldered ex back row and goalkeeper. But f’ me, it was 12 stone something!!

I’ve just got on the scales today and I’ve got a 15 in the LH digits. Just…. 15 dead but it’ll be 15-something by the end of the Christmas holidays for sure.

So I need (self) inspiration and here’s where it starts, by a promise to myself in public that i can’t go back on. By end of Jan there will be a 14 in the LH digits. By end of March the number will be closer to 13 than 15 and by mid year, 6 months from now the target is 13.7 – that’s 10kg give or take from now, so maybe 11 or 12 from post Christmas.

And my commitment is also that I’ll set up the STW fat blokes club for next year for anyone that wants to come with me.

I’ve done it before, I CAN do it again. So can you. When the sun’s out and the trails are proper dusty again, we shall be the lithe whippets sprinting through the singletrack that we always thought we were.

Just…

Mannnnn..

I controlled my weight using gadgets…

I had a Garmin fitness tracker (Vivosmart HR), a Garmin (Touring+) on my bike and logging my food and drink on the MyFitnessPal app – you can set them up to all talk to each other.

So I’d know how many calories I was using during the day and how many I was putting in. It became almost like a game – try and hit the magic number (1700 cals/day for me).

Had a bike ride? Shit, the number is down – I can eat something fun (pizza). ooh, going out for beers tonight? Better put an hour in on the bike to make room for them.

Logging your food on MyFitnessPal is a little onerous at first, but you can search for similar foods or scan barcodes with your phone camera. You also find you eat a lot of the same things so once you’ve got them logged in there they are easily findable again.

I dropped about 20lbs over 4 months that way last winter.

Interestingly, it’s taught me a lot about what foods are good/bad for you and changed my habits so even though I’m not actively trying to lose weight now (happy with it) my weight stays pretty level.

MyFitnesspal is very good for tracking calories and letting you see where naughty excess calories are coming from. My advice would be try eating a high fat, medium protein, low carb diet diet and monitor it using MFP.

Also, start a sport or activity that is more anaerobic than cycling. Even better if it has weight categories. I’m sure many people on here have great cardio for cycling despite being overweight. I was doing 200+ miles a week on the bike, 2 stone overweight and losing 0 pounds.

Jon, I need to shed lard in the New Yr. Will have to sort out some rides.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE2Z0Me3mosvbP1ojnyAH6w/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/GarrainJonesFlow/videos

watch some of these when you feel funky!

This may not be the answer you want…. But it’s Zwift 😉

Me and my regular riding buddy have been doing Friday evening rides lately, about 4.30pm usually, but the plan is that we’ll be doing them a lot more at Swinley next year. I’m 45 and lardy…. he’s mid 50’s and a bit on the podgy side, neither of us will set the world on fire speed wise… but we may be ideal for you to give you an afternoon out at least 🙂

Thanks for the comments.

Actually when i started this 4 years ago i did MFP, so i actually have a pretty good idea of what foods are calories rich and also which are low calorie to ‘fullness’ ratio, and the little tricks to avoid feeling hungry, etc. The problem i had – and why i ended up on 5:2 – is that because of work and travel i eat out quite a lot and tracking intake on those days is very difficult. I found 5:2 works(ed) very well for me and so it is there that i will go again, with a desire to track my 2’s intently, and for the other days as far as possible to eat well – so lots of protein and vegetables and minimise simple carbs, leaving the weekend flexible for family meals out and the odd treat.

The simple fact is that is what i did before and it worked brilliantly, and continued to work brilliantly as a maintenance regime right up to about 15 months ago – Aug 2015 i was about 13.10 – and then life went wrong.

I know what people’s intent is (and thank them for it) but when I say inspire me – I don’t need ‘advice’ inspiration, this was more a way of saying in public what i plan to do because from a personality trait point of view, I struggle to do it for myself, I need a commitment to others that i can’t back out of.

* which might also be a part of the depression – low self worth / inability to look after myself and high need to be valued by others which hasn’t been fulfilled, but that’s not the subject right now, that’s being dealt with elsewhere.

Weeksy – you already inspired me, so i’ll want to pick your brains on Zwift this afternoon. But as per the post that crossed with yours, i already have a process that worked / will work again. I’m open to new ideas, of course, but what I’m after here is inspiration to do it, irrespective of what it is.

…I wish you well mate 😉

OP it is great that you are planning to lose the wait but do not get too obsessed by it. You do not want to trigger bad feelings/depression if your loss does not go as planned.

You do not seem that lardy (in comparison to me) – how tall are you?

Overall your weight loss goals over time seem reasonable. Enjoy Christmas and count me in for the STW fat club in the NY.

This is pretty inspiring.

theotherjonv – Member
Weeksy – you already inspired me, so i’ll want to pick your brains on Zwift this afternoon. But as per the post that crossed with yours, i already have a process that worked / will work again. I’m open to new ideas, of course, but what I’m after here is inspiration to do it, irrespective of what it is.

No worries at all matey. My process of 5-2 and Zwifting is very very similar to yours so we should have a chat later on today.

Our main inspiration is a trip to Andalucia in 2017 so both of us are fighting to get faster and fitter for that 🙂 There’s nothing like a week long holiday to inspire

Good luck OP. My only advice is to give yourself some slack over Christmas. Accept you’ll be 15.4 or whatever by the end of Christmas. Don’t beat yourself up and have a good time in the knowledge 2017 will bring better health and faster, further riding. You’ve done it before, you can do it again.

I’ll join the tub club when you set it up.

And I’m thinking seriously about Zwift, I’m hoping for some trainers to be cheap(ish) in the post-chrimbo sales