Losing Weight: The Long Story

So over the last ten years, I have put on about 20 kgs due mostly to serious overeating, as I tend to use food the same way an alcoholic might drink.

In that time, I have had happy moments where I have dropped a stone, but then regained it due to my losing the energy to keep my discipline. (I have chronicled some of these experiences on here in years past.)

Now I am good to go again. For the last two weeks, my calorie consumption has been kept below 2000, and I am back to commuting every day by bike (not far, but 4 miles each way, for 8 miles total). I know it is only a start, but it is far better than I have managed to pull off in the last two years. I have opportunities for more exercise, which I will be taking, including getting out with the kids more, ice skating, walking, etc.

Just a question, then: Why, after having apparently lost 1 kg after the first week, did I stand on the scale this morning and find that my weight is exactly what it was two weeks ago? I know the scales were properly balanced, and it was the same time I weigh myself in the mornings, so the readings should have been comparable. The only difference was I had had a cup of tea this morning. I am not expecting any kind of miracle, but I did hope that, after two weeks of good discipline, the 1 kg loss would have been ‘real’, in the sense of not just being a temporary deception of the scale…

Any thoughts?

Due to injury and cakeitis I gained a lot of fat over the previous four years – about the same as you, 20kg. Late last year I started to repair and worked off most of it. I did weigh myself for a bit but as I gained muscle the weight meant nothing.

I use my old clothes/tape measure instead of scales to determine fat loss.

Don’t expect to drop weight every week, doesn’t always happen. Maybe better to weigh monthly.

As teasel says, it’s more the old clothes/tape measure thing you need to worry about rather than the weight really. Just keep going and it’ll eventually work its way out I think! Haven’t owned a set of scales for years, I think they’re more demotivating/disheartening so I tend not to bother.

Weight loss follows an exponential curve? You are in the lag phase. It will take a few weeks for your body to adjust and enter the exponential phase when the majority of the weight loss will take place. Maybe?

Hydration levels?
I had a stomach bug for a day and thought I lost a few pounds. The day after I drank 2 litres of water and didn’t pee. And put weight back on.

Not the same context but water’s heavy all the same.

I use my old clothes/tape measure instead of scales to determine fat loss.

You just needed a mirror. **** me, when I last saw you you’d gone from Homer Simpson* to Mr Smithers* in size.

*Figuratively speaking

🙂

Sadly, thanks to my knackered mind I have to steer clear of mirrors.

See if you can see the horizon programme on weight loss, it was very interesting.

They tried to type people into 1 of 3 types depending on their eating behaviour, then create a diet plan that would work.

One of the reasons for varying weight loss is water loss. Another problem is that the body fights a new lower calorie intake and attempts to keep weight on an even keel.

Good luck!

Go the other way. Weigh yourself daily. Only for the purpose of showing you that in spite of what you do, sometimes your weight has a mind of its own. Hydration levels, digestive transit times, etc. All can have an effect. After a couple of weeks of doing that realise that be sustainable it has to be long term changes, that take long term to achieve. And stop worrying about the numbers so often, maybe do it monthly.

Example. For other reasons I won’t go into I’ve hardly eaten this week, by my levels. Probably 1000-1200 cals per day Mon-Thurs. For interest I got on the scales. Lost 4lbs in 4 days.

Yesterday I ate properly; not excessively. For some reason I weighed myself again. Up 2lbs, for a nett -2lbs in 5 days. I don’t believe one normal day could result in a 2lb gain, equally the -4 probably wasn’t right either. Other factors make the difference.

Only relevant number is about half a stone since start of Jan and one hole smaller on the belt.

I have a feeling that people lose at lot of weight in the first week by maybe just depleting their carb stores a fair bit. As I understand they require a fair bit of water, so if depleted your weight loss mostly consists of water loss.
Once that’s done your down to more typical body fat loss and that rate of loss will be small compared to your natural variability in weight.

Don’t worry so much about weekly variation. Look for a trend. If after 4 weeks you have seen no loss then perhaps reconsider what you are doing.

You mention a cup of tea before weighing…well that is 1lb extra straight there…

have a good poo and weigh yourself again.

Having 2 months man flu meant no exercise and putting on half a stone.
There’s no way I can eat less because I’m a pig.
So I’m walking 3 miles to work in 40 minutes and doing 5 miles on the turbo.
I’m losing a pound a week with very little inconvenience to my daily life.

You mention a cup of tea before weighing…well that is 1lb extra straight there…

That’s one big cup of tea.

Heavy poo!

Almost identical situation here (except put on 25kg in just about 12 yrs) yet further compounded by pain/disability. I don’t get on with scales as get seriously depressed if after a week of hard cutting back I see no change on weighday then this misery risks sends me to the biscuit barrel.

Only thing that works for me here is to lose the focus on weighing, but really fix focus hard on moving as much as possible/eating properly. Exercise is addictive but let it slip and so is couch-surfing. Measurement comes from an old leather belt with dated holes (marker pen). I first marked it ten years ago when was becoming overweight, to my shame I since added lbs rather than punching new holes, so now it’s some way back to when I first felt fat. This is my coach. Had an encouraging yet false start a year ago and got down to new holes on belt (!) but since piled back on with old habits. Habits are f**** hard work.

And that reminds me, never, EVER keep old clothes once you drop a size. The temptation to slip back into them is rife after a binge. Similarly – stretchy clothes are the devil.

All the best, keep moving, raise endorphins, keep getting old clothes into the recycling.

Weight alone is not s good guidance in the early days.

Do remember if you have fallen into sedentary trap you are not only losing weight but building muscle back up which you may not have used for a while. This weighs more than fat, so while you can be more toned , the scales will say no progress

A more useful measurement at the early stages would be pinch test or fold calipers. – or as malvern rider does – the old belt !

Go the other way. Weigh yourself daily. Only for the purpose of showing you that in spite of what you do, sometimes your weight has a mind of its own.

This, Yesterday, straight out of bed, toilet, 75.3kg. This Morning, straight out of bed, toilet, 73.1kgs. I think you should take the long view, under 2000cal a day, cycling 8 miles every day, other exercise, there’s only one way things will go.

Trying to lose weight by restricting calorie intake is not a solution for long term weight control, if you are genuinely serious about losing weight then I suggest you get a full body composition and a metabolic fitness test done as this will relate to you personally as to how your body utilises the foods (fuels) that you consume when at rest and during exercise, such a work up study as this will show your resting metabolic rate (the calorific energy and rate at which your body burns fuel), it will also highlight your current fitness levels with regard to VO2 max etc and give you an excellent marker point to measure your progress from.

Every single person is different and the latest research shows that 90%+ of people who lose weight by a calorie controlled diet alone will have gained more weight than they initially lost by dieting within 5 years, by doing a full study as above you will have an excellent starting point to make a genuine difference to your health and weight that need not cost a lot of money, I’ve been listening to various sports science/nutritional podcasts at work over the past year and reading various peer reviewed nutritional study’s and it’s turned my rather simplified previous notion of cut calories/diet = lose weight on its head, it’s not as simple as I previously thought to lose weight and keep it off, I’m slowly starting to understand the various factors involved and I’ve come to the conclusion that weight watchers programs and the suchlike are nothing more than snake oil fraudsters and should be exposed as such. But we’ve been told for years that a calorie controlled diet is all we need to lose weight but that will not work in isolation.

That’s one big cup of tea.

Mug? 350ml is just under a lb IIRC

Can I do a what scales sub thread?

Just a question, then: Why, after having apparently lost 1 kg after the first week, did I stand on the scale this morning and find that my weight is exactly what it was two weeks ago?

This whole area is fiendishly complicated. Your body reacts to your calorie intake – some people more than others….

@zippykona ^^^. That’s ace!! 🙂

. I am not expecting any kind of miracle, but I did hope that, after two weeks of good discipline, the 1 kg loss would have been ‘real’

as others have said it may be due to hydration levels, large poo etc. You need to stick at it for a good few weeks to see a trend. What I find is that after a couple of weeks I stop looking so accurately at what I’m eating and the snacks creep back in rather than the size of main meals going up

Good luck.

Every single person is different

I’ve been mocked for years for saying that!

I’ve come to the conclusion now that the only workable way for me to get down to 10-12% body fat is to ride loads. My body seems to adapt to whatever diet I give it.

Every single person is different and the latest research shows that 90%+ of people who lose weight by a calorie controlled diet alone will have gained more weight than they initially lost by dieting within 5 years,

Indeed, but I think the problem is the term “going on a diet”. If you go on a diet, your not going to change anything. It’s like ‘going on a holiday’ 90%+ come back. If you want to stay there you need to emigrate, which is a whole different state of mind.

I’m a daily weigher – gives me something to do while the shower warms up. I’ve learnt what affects my weight dramatically.

Drink beer – up the next day.
Hard exercise session – down the next day, glycogen depletion
Solid week of hard training – static, sometimes up
Recovery days – goes down, I presume it’s because I’m getting rid of stored fluid in damaged muscles.
Eat loads of pizza – goes up

My scales also do the bioimpedence fat %, which is massively affected by hydration. If fat % is up and weight down, I’m dehydrated or glycogen depleted. It’s not real weight loss. If fat is down a chunk and weight up, I’m storing fluid for some reason.

It’s the trend over a few weeks that matters.

Every single person is different

i’m not!

Drac – Moderator

That’s one big cup of tea.

Just about right, I reckon. 😆
Bit more than a can of Coke worth.

Perhaps I should have said mug…

I have a pint mug for my teas.

Anything less feels like I’ve cheated myself now.

Although 5 or 6 mugs of tea during a working day tends to involve a lot of trips to the loo.

i weigh myself just about every morning and most evenings

I hardly ever look at the scales though (or if i look I can hardly tell as I usually haven’t got my glasses on) but it updates to the web so there’s a record I can look back on every few days/weeks/months and it shows a nice graphical output of highs and lows etc

the scales aren’t cheap (withings wifi ones) but I got my second hand and while I could get the same results by doing it manually the ease of use and time saved has been worth it

I am back to commuting every day by bike (not far, but 4 miles each way, for 8 miles total).

You are almost certainly:
– Commuting via the shortest route possible
– Finding that the worst part of commuting is the faff of getting ready and un-ready at the other end.

Therefore, if time / kids / wife / work allow, why not turn the commute into a longer ride?

Or run it!

Reducing calorie intake to 1200 Mon to Thurs and eating normally Fri to Sun works for me.
I’m realistic in my goals. I want to lose approx 6-8 kg for summer and am completely happy that I will start to put it back on for autumn and winter.

I did this last year and it was easily manageable as I wasn’t kidding myself I’d be “dieting” forever.

Although, as above, I know it isn’t as simple or easy for everyone.

My gym just shared a post about the dangers of focusing too much on what the scale says. It’s maybe more relevant to people who are lifting weights, and therefore (hopefully) increasing muscle as well as losing fat, but I think the message is still a good one.

“I’ve just witnessed the ?#?SadStep? in full effect & I feel it needs to be discussed as so many people still let this determine their progress. 2 girls in my gym just finished a workout & were laughing and giggling all the way over to the water fountain. Clearly feeling awesome & proud after a tough workout. They then both stood & watched each other as they stood on the scales 3 times. I kid you not the step sucked any sense of achievement from within their soul & swapped it for a day of sadness & disappointment!

This step is one of the reasons so many people lose motivation and focus on a training or nutrition plan. I have clients who have completely transformed their body over 90 days and only seen a 2lb loss on the #SadStep The scales cannot measure your fitness, your energy, your sense of achievement or changes in your body composition. The best thing anyone can do is throw the away. It’s a negative hype that you don’t need in your life. Focus on yourself and your journey to getting fitter and stronger. Use photos to track your progress because even in the mirror we can trick ourselves into think we are not changing! You are making progress and you are melting fat so be consistent and don’t give up. Fat loss is a journey not a race.”

Not the same context but water’s heavy all the same.

1 kilo per litre…

The scales cannot measure your fitness, your energy, your sense of achievement or changes in your body composition.

I think that’s the important bit. The overall feeling of well-being due to even a small increase in fitness should never be underestimated and should be used as a motivator for further improvements IMO.

I also disagree with the binning of old ‘fat’ clothes. When I mentioned old clothes earlier in the thread I was referring to my clothes from about four years ago – 30″ waist jeans and tight fitting shirts, all of which almost brought me to tears when I effortlessly slipped into them. Old ‘fat’ clothes can be used as a motivator; frame them, hang them on the wall of your gym (if you’re lucky enough to own one, your bedroom if not) and marvel at how large you were. I look at mine when I feel like I’ve made little headway and the mirror is telling me I’m a fat bastard.

Walking (or marching might be a more accurate term) was a total game changer for me – lots of short steep hills to hammer up around my way. Pull ups, sit ups, push ups, weights – whatever takes your fancy – they all help make you feel good but also shift the scales up a tad.

Bin the scales…!

For the past five years I have been trying to manage a kidney disease and have gained about 30lbs, but when i take the diuretics, then I can lose 5lbs in an afternoon.

Now desparately trying to balance a healthy diet with reduced exercise and a sedentary life.