*** Big Fat Weight Loss Thread ***

Well, from doing absolutely nothing differently, it seems like some actual progress can be seen. From 2 weeks hanging around the 98.5-99kg mark, yesterday say 97.8kg and today saw 97.3kg.

Now i know i absolutely haven't suddenly dropped 1.5kg in 2 days which shows it's all a bit of a mystery and i guess backs up how it's probably not ideal weighing yourself daily because the ups/downs often don't match the long term trends.

It is quite nice to see the drop though from a mentality point of view and hopefully it can continue over the next 6 weeks until race day.
 
It's totally normal - plateaus can often last a week or two (although not longer than that if you're male) then you dump the weight you'd expect to have lost in some pleasingly linear way - fat lost masked by water retention. That's why I like daily-weighing and the subsequent weekly average since you learn to detach from the dopamine/cortisol spike you get from seeing a lower/higher number once a week.
 
Yeah, i've enjoyed the daily graph plotting, and it was only really once i stepped back and looked at a 30 days chart that makes it easier to see

The spike up being Christmas and then flat until a from between the 5th and 7th, then a plateau until a big drop between 18th and 20th, but the flatline between the 8th and 18th felt weird given i was regularly hitting ~1500 calories a day (as a base, i'd generally be eating closer to 2500 for offsetting exercise). Bar exercise i have a hugely sedentary lifestyle.

jHrYQCv.png



What i have noticed and something i need to consider is that my Garmin tracking is suggesting fitness is declining and i've noticed a drop in my VO2 Max despite the increased volume of running. Some easy runs are also pushing my HR out of Zone 2 and into Zone 3 and feeling harder for a given pace than they should. I'm not sure if this is due to the decrease in calorie intake and so i need to consider what is more important for my race performance. Lighter weight to ensure the huge amount of elevation aren't as difficult or up my intake by ~500kcal per day, accept weight loss will be slower (but should still occur), but possibly have better running performance.
 
Daily weighing is the way forward as long as you're logical about it and don't fall into the spiral of "MUST LOSE WEIGHT EVERY DAY!!!1!!!!!!"
 
Yeah, i think it's just your body learns to adapt to the new diet and does what it can to hold/maintain. I know it happens further in, just always thought the beginning was fairly steady. I imagine in my case it's due to the fact my diet pre-Christmas was always pretty decent anyway so i've not made any drastic changes.
 
Martynt74 said:
i guess backs up how it's probably not ideal weighing yourself daily because the ups/downs often don't match the long term trends.
Click to expand...

I think as has been said, I would say it supports daily weighing as I find your weight can vary a lb or so on other factors, which means you really want a daily figure and can follow a trend. If you only weight once a week and know this could be 1lb off what you really are... you'll never really know. If one week it's 1lb below and the next week its 1lb above... you have some really un-useful info!

I'm very pleased how mine is going -

SdrgBg3.png


The grey line shows the actual weight, the blue line shows the trend, the boxes are a month, so you can clearly see my weight rising in December when I was ill and couldn't cycle much, then as I've got back to cycling and limiting calories from Jan 1st (even with some 'events' meaning I've eaten loads) there's a clear trend of my weight coming back down. WFH is really helping as I have complete control of my calories and no temptations (working a late night in a supermarket and we give away the donuts that are left over....? Come on... how am I to resist that! :cry: )

What it also makes easier for me, is picking a calorie count I should aim for when I want to hold my weight. 3,200 led to gradual increase, 2,200 shows it dropping pretty quick so I can probably aim around 2,800 or 2,900 as long as I keep cycling lots. The downside from my new shift pattern is perhaps it's going to limit my chances to exercise.
 
Haha free donuts is definitely never going to help!

I'm actually having the opposite problem most days where i get late and night and realise my net calories is around 500 for the day and need to eat stuff. It's just finding something to provide ~1000 calories that's not full of sugar can be tricky!
 
Not that I'm an expert, but I think you might be worrying too much about replacing the calories burnt in exercise. I quite often have days I'm 1-1,500 cals under. If I've cycled for 3+ hours and burnt 2,500 cals, I don't come close to replacing all of those. I maybe eat 600-1,000 above my target, but any more and I think I'm eating for the sake of it. Surely only a portion of those 2,500 need replacing in the muscles, a lot of the rest is the fat I've hopefully burnt, no? If I replace them, they go back in as fat too?
 
Yeah i'm never sure either. I think i'm conscious of it because my regular daily intake is low whereas yours is higher and so less need to replace them. I think in reality i'm better to set my daily goal at 2000kcal and then worry less about replacing anything extra because there's a better base to regularly fuel my runs.
 
Back in the exercise groove again and starting to wind back the December lockdown pounds. First challenge is to get back under 80kg. It'll probably take until April/May if I can keep a decent rate of exercise going and do the 5-2 properly
 
I have been doing well on the diet and exercise front but I've been surprised how much weight I've dropped already in January. Only difference this time from others is I have given up drink. Didn't think I drank that much to be honest but it's making a huge difference.
 
MikeTheNative said:
I have been doing well on the diet and exercise front but I've been surprised how much weight I've dropped already in January. Only difference this time from others is I have given up drink. Didn't think I drank that much to be honest but it's making a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i think booze does play quite a part, just in the way your body seems to hold weight aswell as the calories.


Standard bizarre results for me.

Net Calories - The 23rd shows nothing because it was -500 after burning 4500 running in the lake district (Today isn't finished as i've not had tea yet but i suspect i'll hover around the 2k mark)
iqzHk2X.png


My weight has therefore increased! Not sure if it's just to the big exertion on Sunday and i'll do the same thing as last week where it just suddenly dropped, but it's damn weird!
3HkLXGB.png



It doesn't particularly bother me, but it's certainly confusing!
 
You have to be really careful with eating back calories from exercise. The calorie burned calculation in apps/machines atc are often wildly inaccurate and massively overstate how much you have actually used.
I used to do calorie tracking before but don't bother anymore. I just tend to dish out a smaller portion and if I'm still hungry half an hour after eating might have a bit more. I do help myself a bit though and I don't snack at all throughout the day.
I have 3 square meals a day then a small treat after dinner.
 
I think there's often a delay in seeing the results. I had pretty huge deficits over Friday, Saturday and Sunday but I weigh myself on Monday and I'd gained half a lb (weighing myself through the weekend, it was pretty flat). Monday was a rest day, I weight myself today and I've dropped 1½lbs and my lowest body fat % in about 3 months. Today will be a small effort, but probably a 700 cal deficit and I expect tomorrow I'll be down a little more, then it'll likely level our for a few days. As long as I keep things trending that way, it will be fine even if there are times it seems to slow/plateau.
 
Yeah, it's not bothering me, and stepping back i see that long term trend. Just amusing i can spend 7 hours running up mountains in the Lake District and still manage to gain weight!
 
Martynt74 said:
Yeah, it's not bothering me, and stepping back i see that long term trend. Just amusing i can spend 7 hours running up mountains in the Lake District and still manage to gain weight!
Click to expand...

That's strenuous physical activity that will make you retain water after. Just after the event you would probably be dehydrated and lower weight but later on after being hydrated again your body will retain water to help you recover from it. This is way IMO it's pretty pointless to track weight daily as it naturally fluctuates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom