That sounds like a good plan!

No real change in the last month, so nothing to update really. Been struggling to stick to the plan – some days manage fine, some days can’t be arsed with it, hence no loss in a month. No gain either which I suppose is something. Keeping the exercise up though, swimming is coming on, lots of biking recently, and still enjoying the extra speed/endurance the loss of 17-18kg has brought. It’s a long term thing though, and rough patches are I guess inevitable.

Cheers handsome 😉

Don’t worry chewkw, I nearly made the same mistake!

Henry VIII is still alive?! Well I never…

Down 1.2kg this week, 17.2kg overall (2st 10lb in old money), and 113.8kg which is under 18st.

I’ve actually put my calories up to 2400 a day. I was finding I was getting too hungry on 2000, which is perhaps no surprise as I’m getting a lot of exercise at the moment (at least an hour every day of something which works out, roughly, that I’m burning 3200 or more each day). 2400 was the average I ate each day in Jan and Feb and I lost plenty in those months. That bit extra each day this week has made the difference between feeling hungry a lot and not feeling hungry, which makes it far more sustainable I think.

Can this stuff be done at home? I’ve got a kettlebell but nothing else.

Is this right? Not saying it isn’t, just wondering. If you’re getting enough – 2000 a day or whatever you said – does it matter if you burn 2000 of your flab rather than 1000? It’s not like you’re eating 600 a day or something.
(Genuine question, not in any way a criticism).

Yeah, I don’t know what to think about this really. Create the deficit by eating better and take the extra from exercise on top would be great, if it’s healthy to do that. Two hours on the bike could be getting on for 2000 calories burnt at my weight. Is a 3000 calorie deficit regularly going to cause problems?

Aye I do that, every Friday before any food/drink and after a wee and a dump.

purser_mark – thanks, I’ll have a look at that. I’m doing plenty of walking and biking, and swimming at least once a week, but I wonder if some upper body work might be a good idea? It’s just that I hate weights, just so boring, can just about tolerate the rowing machine. Maybe going back to the climbing wall once a week is a plan?

I am putting money away each month for a big clothes shopping trip later in the year. Online, obviously.

Yes, back home now and back to it.

Yes, I read that – waist measurement should be no more than half your height or something I think? Just need to grow a bit then 🙂

No change this week, still at 115kg. I do wonder in hindsight if some of last weeks was dehydration – I’d been out and walked the dogs for a couple of hours before I came back, weighed myself and then had breakfast?

Anyway, I measured my waist instead, and that’s now 4.5″ less than at the start, so I’ll think about that today instead 🙂

Been out loads on the bike this week – 5hrs or more, and lots of walking too. Fitness is a massive step up from pre-Christmas. So it’s not just what the scales say that matters (not that I’m giving up on that, far from it).

Friday’s here, weigh in day (although there was an interim one this week as above) – 114.9kg which is a ball hair over 18 stone. That’s down from 20st 8lb on NYD (131kg). Been beasting it on the hills this week. Feels good to get under the 115kg mark, having been stuck between 117-115 for so long.

Cheers Stu. I’m happy enough with slow and steady, I gave myself a year so there’s time for ups and downs. March and April have been all over the place for a number of reasons, so to have maintained January and February’s losses is probably a modest result in itself.

Not much change over the last fortnight, down another 0.5kg to 116. My holiday didn’t include as much walking as expected, but did include 3 course dinner every night 🙂 . My month of being away from home lots is nearly over, just two more days this week, then back to some routine which I think will help a lot.

On the plus side the exercise is going well, I’m either doing 2 hrs walking (up the hills) or 1 hr swimming or 1-2 hrs biking almost every day. I eat extra to compensate for this to avoid too great a calorie deficit to try and keep it slow and steady, so that’s what I’ve been doing recently (i.e. trying to keep the deficit at about 1000 a day overall, not 1000 a day from eating less plus another 1000 from the exercise, that would surely be too much?). I know the calculators on the app are a rough guess at best, but that will do for now.

This is quite an interesting one for me as I am trying to lose between 40 and 50 kg over the course of a year, as outlined on my thread about it. I started off by working out what a man my age/weight/height should burn in a day and then taking 1000 calories off that. I also add on any calories I use up exercising so as not to have too much of a deficit – I’m doing either 2 hrs walking, 1 hour swimming or up to 2 hours biking most days, which are in the region of 1000 calories or more (I know the calculators for these – I use the FatSecret app for it all which seems similar to MFP – are very much a rough guess, but they’ll do for know). I was tempted to make the deficit with less food then increase it with the exercise, but in the end thought that would get silly and lead to problems. What I’m doing seems to work well – when I’m at home and able to accurately record what I eat, not on the road, I’m losing weight steadily but have plenty of energy too.

I’m getting hungry just thinking about it 🙂

I was going for bacon, poached eggs, black pudding, wholemeal toast with butter, and a cheeky pain au chocolat (they were tiny). So, sort of ok, some bits not so much!

jimjam – yeah, I’m keeping an eye on that. I use this calculator http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm and select ‘5 days a week’ exercise. They define that as 15-30 mins of elevated heart rate. I do at least an hour of brisk walking, cycling, swimming or a combination of those on 5 or 6 days a week, so I’m under-reporting my exercise to the formula (which I know are just an estimate, which is why I do that). It’s still giving me a value of just over 3000 a day so I knock 1000 off and aim for 2000. My exercise has increased as the weight has come off so I think I’ll stick with that for a while yet and see if it still comes off over the next few weeks now I’m back home.

Certainly will, I’m familiar with the concept although I’ve never tried it. It’s not often I have to travel away for work but will bear it in mind the next time I do, thanks.

Cheers graham, yeah I’m sure I’ll get back on track soon enough.

So two weeks ago I had got down to 115.9kg. Then came a week in which I was working away for three days, meaning no access to my bike or the swimming pool, and eating out every meal, and a few beers a couple of nights, so no real way of recording what I was eating with any accuracy. Put 1.1kg back on which took me back to 117kg, which was a bit disappointing.

Last week I was away the whole week, same scenario with eating out every meal, although this time I took my walking shoes and got out for a decent walk on three evenings, and stayed off the beer (well, nearly – two pints in the whole week 🙂 ). I also tried having a bigger breakfast to take me through until tea time without needing lunch, and on all but one day just had a main course. Still bigger and less healthy meals than I would have at home, but lost 0.5kg this week, which takes me back down to 116.5kg. Which I think in the circumstances is ok for this week.

It really has been tougher since the start of March, with minimal progress overall in that time, although it has been quite a disrupted six weeks for one reason or another. At least now I know that if I stick to 2000 calories a day then I will lose weight over the course of a week, so that is something concrete to counteract the ‘this is just impossible’ type thoughts. For the first time I am behind the 1kg/week target which is a bit of a shame. Off work for a few weeks from Monday, which will give me time to get out on the bike and to the pool, and while I have a week’s holiday coming up, it’s a walking holiday, so I should burn a good few calories each day then as well.

Actually 0.6kg lost since last Friday, a bit under target but still 15.1kg overall so I should consider it another satisfactory week. I have now recovered all the ground I lost in March so that is good. Last night was the first evening ride for our local rag tag bunch of misfits, and both they and I noticed an increase in my uphill pace compared to last year. I figure that if other people notice then it’s a significant difference, and things like that are very encouraging. Felt a bit of a fanny drinking diet coke in the pub instead of a nice refreshing manly lager, but hey ho, needs must 🙂

01/04/2016 – Week 13 update.

Early start today as Guy Martin’s coming round for breakfast then a road race from here to York. He’s desperate to beat me and said he’s on a good run at the moment so fancies his chances this week.

Anyway, not a great week for the old weight loss – put on 2kg, but it wasn’t really my fault.

Some of me old mates from the SAS asked me to go down to Brecon to show their new lads how we did things back in the day. I took them in on a 100 mile speed march and by the end they were all knackered. I felt sorry for them so I took them to this old cottage up the back of Sennybridge were I used to take the Duchess of York when I was shagging her before she married that grinning fanny out the Navy. As I walked in I spotted a claymore set up in the hallway, with ‘To Kenny, love from Andy’ tippexed on the front. I shouted to the lads but they’re not as clued up as I am about these things and they just stood there looking baffled. The only way to stop them all getting blown up was for me to jump in front of it and take the hit myself, which I did. That’s how come I’ve ended up with 2 kg of ball bearings in my arse and legs, hence the weight gain. I sorted out with a couple of field dressings but they’re in too deep to dig out with a pointy stick like I used to in the old days. Anyway, I’m fine now.

Here’s a picture from when I was in charge of Maggie’s personal bodyguards. This one was from when we accompanied her to open a new shopping centre in Bradford. I’m the one on the far right.

Hopefully next week will be better.

Like Jamba says, or up the ante and explain that if she doesn’t answer her phone when you call her you will attend in person to,check she’s ok. In your pyjamas.

No worries ton, great effort – I wonder if I’ve had a similar first-week-of-diet type water loss this week after my 2-3 weeks of not sticking to my diet well, but either way it’s weight that’s off and not because of dehydration so it still counts 🙂

Frankenstein – cheers, had 2-3 not great weeks before this week so I think I’ve had my time off it this month!

Lost 2.2kg this week, making 14.5kg overall, and almost recovered the gains over the previous 2-3 weeks.

Got a nice morning out up some munros and a good bit of swimming this week (front crawl is coming on, I can at least get up and down the pool doing something resembling it and not stopping half way along to choke).

Very happy with this week’s progress.

Next milestone is the 3 stone mark (19.1kg so for me that’s 111.9kg) which I am hoping to get to by one month from now when I am going on a walking trip for a week. Already noticing a big difference in my pace and stamina when out walking from what I’ve lost so far so more of the same can only make it even better.

Cheers guys. Somewhere in the 80s is what I’m aiming for so good to know it’s possible.

A strange couple of weeks and hard to say how I’ve done as I will explain. Not that well I don’t think, but it’s been a tricky couple of weeks.

I’ve been ill with quite a nasty virus, and on top of that I came off my antidepressants about three weeks ago, which has meant my mood has been quite low for a lot of that time (a normal side effect of coming off them I am assured), and consequently my commitment/interest in the ‘diet’ has been fairly non-existent.

Added to that my scales went back to Salter who have replaced them under warranty (top customer service from them BTW, no receipt, no idea when I bought them, replaced no quibble) so who knows what difference there is between them and the old scales???

Then there was the blowout all day boozing and eating weekend, plus a couple more evenings out with family visiting, for each of which I left the calorie counting at the door of the pub.

So today, on the new scales, I am 118.7kg. That’s 2.7kg up from a fortnight ago although on a different set of scales. Not what I would have hoped for but to be honest after the last couple of weeks I don’t feel disappointed. I can only go by the new scales now, but on that basis I am STILL 12.3kg lighter than I was on New Years Day which is about one quarter of a good crap under 2 stone. It is still over the 1kg a week target I originally had, so while March has franky been unsuccessful so far, the overall picture is still positive, I am over my illness, the coming-off-antidepressants-dip has I think passed, so it’s all to play for from here on.

Down to 116.0kg today, which is only 0.3 down on last weeks weight. That said, I’m having doubts as to the accuracy of my scales as I got values of 116.1and 114.9 immediately after each other one day this week. So I’m questioning whether I really lost 2.7kg last week ???

I have been quite under the weather this week and not only have I not been very good food wise, I have not been out exercising much either. Perhaps in the circumstances I should be glad to just be down a bit more. If I’m completely honest I have slacked off quite a bit during February and got a bit fed up of ‘dieting’. This isn’t a surprise though, I was kind of expecting it, and I think I’ve managed to stay on track with exercise – looking at my food diary I averaged 2473 kcal a day during February, so still an average (roughly, given the vagueries of calculating calories used) deficit of about 850 a day with the exercise included.

So overall it’s 15kg lost in 9 weeks which is ahead of the 1kg a week schedule. I think on balance I am quite pleased although it will take some mental effort to get back to being disciplined and keep it dropping off slowly. I now have a weekend away in London with some mates so I will not be counting calories or beer for the next two days 🙂

Any good tips you’ve discovered

Sorry Tom, only just seen this. I don’t know, I think it’s mindset more than anything. But, I do try and eat lots of fruit/veg because that seems to fill me up quite well for the amount of calories they have, plus vitamins and so on. And exercise is definitely helping. I still don’t think it’s as important as eating right, but I’m convinced it’s making a difference.

So today’s weight is 116.3 kg which is 2.7 kg lost this week and 14.7 kg since NYD. So I’ve properly smashed the 2 stone milestone, the next one is getting under 18 stone (another 1.8 kg). I’ve been experimenting a bit with when I eat, still sticking roughly to 2000 calories a day, and have found that eating a big breakfast (800-900 calories) then lunch and dinner of roughly 500 each seems to be the best way of keeping hunger at bay. A small breakfast has me feeling very hungry by mid morning, the big one doesn’t, so this seems to be the best option for me just now.

I’ve also had a good bit of exercise this week, at least 1 hour a day walking the dogs, some days 2, plus an hour swimming in the week and 2 hrs on the bike last night.

Might have been 130.5 mogrim, looks like I took the pics on 3rd Jan not 1st – but yeah, that’s at 131 kg or as good as.

Bombjack that’s good to hear. Jimjam made the point a couple of weeks ago along the lines of when have you ever seen an unhealthy looking 12st and 5’10” man, which is very true.

There’s no rugby for me these days so no need for loads of bulk other than for biking, swimming and walking, which isn’t much I suppose.

So is that just a sort of eat what you like day then? I fear that I could understand a weeks good work in much less than a day 🙂

Yes, 20.6 stone in that photo. Anybody who’s asked me how much I weighed then, or indeed now, is surprised when I tell them. I guess it’s better to not look as heavy as you are than the other way round.

Very happy to hear that it’s helping other people too.

I’ve also found the calorie counting a real eye opener. At my weight and activity level I should be able to eat 3000 calories a day without gaining weight, so I must have been a long way over that to get up to 20.5 stone.

I bring the water cooler bottles in to the office from the garage, two at a time. They’re 19kg each and every time I do it I think about the difference losing 2 or 2.5 of them will make.

A difficult week this week, much of it spent away with little opportunity for exercise, the mother-in-laws cooking and eating out.

Lost 0.3kg since last Friday. I think I would have been content to stay the same as last week so this will do. 12kg lost so far so very close to the 2st milestone.

Re trousers – my new party trick is taking them off without undoing them 🙂

Yeah, I’m chuffed really. The main point for starting the thread was so I knew I would have to post each week and therefore want to post success – using STW like a Fat Fighters meeting 😀

Ton – Stick to 2000 calories a day and record EVERYTHING, it’ll fall off mate.

Short post this morning because I’m just loading the bikes up on to the car.

Another 1.1kg lost this week, 11.7kg in total over six weeks. 3″ off my waist.