weight loss log 2.0

[Sanov22]

The hot drink/cuppa soup for a late night fix is a good idea, thanks. I bought some Cocoa today to replace the hot chocolate sachets I've been using, but I'll give the Dutch stuff a go once I get through it.

Thanks for the inside scoop on the maintenance diet! What a pity you weren't posting here while you were losing weight, would've been great to read those posts.

[Blitz]

Your food and exercise is looking good. I agree with you that your dinner was a little light on.
It may be good for weight loss but your need some bulk to give your stomach some "gut satisfaction".
All in all however - not bad going at all.

Water is an interesting subject.
Although we are told to drink eight glasses a day (2.5 litres) this isn't strictly true.
There is no good science research behind it.
It seems all to have originated with a US 1945 Food and Nutrition Board recommendation that said people need about 2.5 litres of water a day.
This has been taken up with gusty and has become gospel to religiously drink 8 glasses a day (whether you feel like it or not). What is ignored is the next sentence that followed the original recommendation "Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods"!

Also it should be noted that though water is good for you...there is nothing to say that you have to have it in its purest form all the time.
Tea and coffee are mostly water. The biggest calorie content in them is from the milk and sugar. This can be reduced by either using skim milk, going without milk or using less milk. As for sugar - wean yourself off it completely and you will actually be able to taste your tea and coffee!

It is often a big ask drinking water on it's own. I've found that adding a little orange or lemon juice to it (like a weak cordial) gives it a little bite that makes it more palatable.

While it is important to keep your water content up especially in summer and if you are sweating it hard doing exercise (which you should be if you are trying to lose weight), don't think in terms of a "literal eight glasses of water". Don't forget your food (particularly your fruits, vegetables and soups) are chock full of water.

Kim

[Blitz]

The hot drink/cuppa soup for a late night fix is a good idea, thanks. I bought some Cocoa today to replace the hot chocolate sachets I've been using, but I'll give the Dutch stuff a go once I get through it.

Chocolate (whether hot kind or not) has a bad rep that it doesn't deserve.
It is full of goodness so long as it is eaten in moderation and isn't the cheap fat/sugar kind that generally masquerades as chocolate.
I remember seeing a show about a guy who was trying to sell 100% pure chocolate into the UK.
He gathered a group of self confessed "chocoholics" for a taste testing.
The vast majority detested his product.
That was when he discovered that they weren't "addicted" to chocolate but actually to the sugar and fat in cheap chocolate.
Buy quality - buy healthy- eat moderately!

Thanks for the inside scoop on the maintenance diet! What a pity you weren't posting here while you were losing weight, would've been great to read those posts.

In my very post post to this Forum I said that I wished I had found it before I started losing weight.
It would have saved me so much time and energy. I reckon that I would have lost the weight quicker too!

I come to weight loss knowing absolutely nothing about it.
This was my only attempt at it (ignorance is bliss they say!).
When I figured out that I had to lose 87 kilos to be within "the normal range" it didn't dawn on me that what I was attempting was to lose 56% of me! It just seemed a biggish number that's all. I just sighed and said to myself "if that's what it is then that's what it is - I put it on so now it is time to take it off".

To me it wasn't an outlandish ask. Once I got towards the end of the journey then the penny dropped that it wasn't normal.
Friends failing to recognise me, people doing double takes when I tell them how much I lost and saying things like "you've lost what I weigh" etc.
After I lost the weight I picked up a magazine supplement of people who had lost a lot of weight.
It was with shock that I realised that I had lost more than everyone in the magazine except one (but I lost my weight far faster than her).
I found out that many many people attempt to lose weight but only a few succeeded.

Why had I succeeded (with just common sense as my guide) when many hadn't with all sorts of expert guidance?
During my weight loss I had only read one and a half books on the subject. The one I finished was an autobiography that was half okay (had a few fishy new age ideas in it - but was of no practical help) and the other was so harmful that it nearly did my head in so I stopped reading it.
So I began an odyssey to identify what I did right. Since then I've read hundreds of diet and fitness books...sifting the gold from the rubbish (and there is a lot of rubbish out there). Slowly I'm piecing together the threads that God guided me (or just dumb luck - if you don't believe) that lead to success.

In my searching I came across this Forum. I found honest people trying to lose weight. I want to encourage them, help them and even to inspire them to success. I simply want them to have a better future - like the one I've found for myself.

Kim

[Sanov22]

Pretty good today.

Breakfast - slice of whole grain toast with smushed avocado and dukkah, coffee with mostly water, bit of skim milk and half a sugar (whittled it down from a whole one about a week ago! I'll get it to zero eventually...)
Snack - 4 vita wheat 9 grain crackers with hot salsa
Snack - pear
Snack - Apple
Late lunch - mixed greens salad with pumpkin, feta and sunflower seeds from Woolies
Dinner - homemade pizza. Used a flatbread/pita thing as a base, store bought sauce sachet, salami, mushroom, onion, green and yellow capsicum, tomato, olives, sundried tomato. Just enough cheese to hold it together. And a fair whack of oregano and chilli flakes. Forgot the pineapple though. Devastating.

Exercise - 45mins group training session. Mostly upper body strength stuff.

Slept OK.
Drank a decent amount of water.
Weighed 76.8 after exercise, just before dinner


Dinner was a bit heavy today, but I piled on the good veggies and went sparingly on the olives and sundried tomato (high sodium). The salami I had lying around from before I started really focusing on health and weight loss. I didn't want to just toss it, but won't buy it again. I like this meal but I can make it better. I'll get some smaller pitas and can probably buy or else make a healthier sauce for the base.


That's interesting about the water Kim!
What was the harmful book you half read?

[Blitz]

Looks all good to me - even dinner (so long as the potion size was good).

What was the harmful book you half read?

I don't know...I write about two good books that I've read recently, one so-so book and one "harmful"
- and it's harmful one you want to know about!

The book is "The Gabriel Method" by Jon Gabriel.
What did my head in at the time was that he was pushing for slow weight loss at the beginning
and losing super fast at the end. He also spruiked that doing his way meant that you wouldn't have loose skin.
My experience was that I was losing it fast at the beginning and that towards the end it was hard to grind out a small weight loss.
Also I found that I had much loose skin.

Generally I've found his books less than honest and not telling the whole story.
His best selling book "The Gabriel Method" is actually an edited version of his original book "Total Transformation Weightloss"
under the name of Jon Abrams (Gabriel is actually his middle name). Important information has been left out of the second book.
For example he doesn't talk about the weight loss challenge that he went on in Perth where suddenly he started to really move the weight off.

Also some of his figures and dates are very rubbery so it is hard to pin down exactly how much he lost over what time.
Reading and comparing his two editions and his latest book makes one believe that the true picture of his weight journey isn't as remarkable as he has made it out as.
Also the books (especially his new book "Visualization for Weight Loss") is full of mumbo jumbo about how it lose weight by visualisation. The bit that is particularly cruel is the idea that you can literally visualise your loose skin away. No amount of wishful thinking can do that.

The two good books that I can recommend are "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wansink and "Diet Cults" by Matt Fitzgerald.
Both are good funny and interesting reads that are worth your time.

Kim

[Sanov22]

Gabriel method sounds odd... And 'wishy washy'. I'll check out the other two.

Today was:

Breakfast - cranberry/strawberry/almond porridge and a small chopped up banana
Snack - 4 vita wheats and hot salsa
Snack - mandarin
Lunch - Woolies garden salad with cheese
Snack - Apple
Dinner - veggie and lentil soup and a small bowl of tomato/basil/parmesan pasta
Snack - hot chocolate

Exercise - week 6 day 2 of couch to 5k on treadmill

Slept OK
Drank a decent amount of water
76.5 this morning (not brought down by exercise this time - didn't exercise til later)

[Sanov22]

Today:

Breakfast - 2 end pieces of whole grain loaf, toasted, with avocado and dukkah, coffee with half a sugar
Lunch - Subway. Wheat bread, chicken fillet, old English cheese, salads, sweet onion and hot chili sauce.
Dinner - refried beans, salsa and hummus with chunks of red, green and yellow capsicum to scoop them up with
Snack - black cherry yoghurt (the good flavour!!)

No exercise.

Slept OK.
Enough water.

76.5 again in the morning.

A little disorganised today. Didn't pack a lunch and didn't leave work early enough to get to the group training session I'd planned to go to. Food choices were OKish. Could have omitted the cheese with lunch.

[Blitz]

At least you know what you done.
Knowing that and seeing the results reinforces why we should maintain good practices.

Even though Subway has a good reputation for healthy food - care must be taken.
Only a few of their select offerings are truly low calories. Also much of the damage is in those "add ons".
Again portion control is important here too. The 6" and never the 12" if you want to lose weight.
It is always the better option is to make and pack your own healthy food...and besides - it tastes better!

Don't get me wrong about Gabriel's book...there is a lot of worthwhile advice in it.
It is just unfortunate that it is mixed with some real rubbish that will kneecap you down the road.

Kim

[Sanov22]

Brunch - 2 scrambled eggs on 1 slice whole grain toast, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, beans
Dinner - 1 chicken tenderloin, farro salad, buckwheat and veggies

Exercise - week 6 day 3 of couch to 5k on treadmill

Slept well

75.8 kg after exercise and before brunch

[Sanov22]

Yesterday -

Breakfast - porridge sachet with half a cup of skim milk and a small banana, coffee with half a sugar
Snack - 4 vita wheats and hot salsa
Snack - mandarin
Lunch - Coles 'superfood' salad (kale, beetroot... Some sort of seed, citrus-y dressing... idk)
Snack - pear
Dinner - farro salad
Snack - 1 slice whole grain toast with PB and a hot chocolate

[Sanov22]

75.2 this morning!

Same routine as last Sunday - bit of a lie in, weighed before breakfast and after exercise. So definitely cracked that 75.9 goal I had for this week. I'm now the lightest I've been in 2 years. Feeling great. I'm sure I'll jinx myself by saying this but it's almost feeling easy right now... Or at least it's not feeling anywhere near as difficult as any of my weight loss attempts since 2010 have. Did Week 7 day 1 of couch to 5k today - 25mins continuous running. Was quite enjoyable. I could have kept going. Will be running 5km in 30mins pretty soon... On a treadmill... After that and as the weather gets nicer/days get longer I'll get to the same result running outside. Aiming for 74.5 by next weekend.

[Blitz]

Terrific news...keep hold of that achievement and press ever forward!

Didn't I say that a purple patch usually follows a plateau?
It is something that we can all hold onto when we hit a hard spot on the road to victory...
It's that crest on that hill just before you hit the summit that is tough but if you hang in there then you can power down the other side!

Plenty of taste variety in your food.
You may want to try eating more fruits like apples, oranges and pears (which you have) to get more bulk in your intake.
Or even vegetables like carrots, broccoli and potatoes.
Potatoes have received a bad rep. It is usually the style of cooking (ie frying) that adds to the high calorie count not the potato itself.

Bulk (high volume/low calories) gives you more gut satisfaction so you don't end up eating high calorie snacks to stave off hunger.

You are doing really well - keep going!

Kim

[Sanov22]

Seem to have lost the enthusiasm I had a couple of weeks ago... I'm not sure why.

Haven't gone back to my old ways, and I'm still losing weight, just very slowly. I'm 74.8 this morning... So that's like half a kilo in two weeks... I'd prefer to be losing a full kilo in one week...

I've still been running - just hit my 5km in 30mins goal this morning in fact... But have slacked off on the outdoor group training thing I was going to. I think I'll join a gym that's closer to me. The outdoor group training is a great bunch of people but it's too far away from me, so my motivation wanes when I get busy. I've hated gyms in the past but I found one that's only $8 a week with no contract so I might as well give it a go.

Food's been not so good. Weekdays are fine until after dinner. I've been having some extras I don't need. Nothing major - some toast usually... There's nothing worse in the house though, if there was I'd probably eat it... Gotta snap out of that... I think part of the problem is that I'm really into a Netflix series at the moment and am watching it nightly ... Eating while doing so is an old habit... Besides that, the weekend is less predictable and I've messed up a couple of times.

At least I'm healthier than I was - both food and exercise - even when I'm in a "meh" period...

[Blitz]

Seem to have lost the enthusiasm I had a couple of weeks ago... I'm not sure why.

Never mind why or why not...time to strive to get that mojo back.
When you feel your enthusiasm slipping then is the time to get into mind combat mode.

Fill your head with thoughts of why you want to lose weight:
Remember why it was important for you to do this...then do it!
Fill your head with thoughts about how far you've come already:
..and your need to finish the job.
Fill your head with motivational sayings:
Slogans and song lyrics were my fall back position to remain motivated (and still are).
Things like the Nike slogan 'Just Do It!' or Bowie's "Heroes" lyric, 'We can be heroes...just for one day'
were so ingrained in my mind that recalling them brought forth a well of motivational thoughts and emotions
to motor me forward.
Fill your eyes with reasons:
Go look at old fat photos of yourself.
Pull out your old fat pants - and put them on! By doing so it will kick you up another gear to push on.
Look at your weight lose record book - and marvel at how the numbers have come down (and how quickly in retrospect).
By filling your eyes with past triumphs, it will girt you for the remainder of the journey.
Fill your heart with a future goal - and reward:
Buy yourself a shirt or pants that are too small...and work towards fitting into them!
The day you do will be a memory that will continue to motivate.
Goal a promise to yourself like a trip or doing something really special...and work towards reaching the goal.
I promised my family that we would go to a favourite restaurant when I reached goal.
I also treated myself a trip to Sydney for a magic convention.
The goal was to surprise my Sydney friend who was running it (he had been very concerned about my weight - and health!).
I had spent months whilst exercising thinking about how he would react...and worked it harder.
Needless to say it went down a treat. He failed to recognise me at first!
When the penny dropped...his eyes bulged and his jaw dropped to the floor!
Worth every sweat drop...and a great reward.

Win the head battle and you win the weight war.
When you start to flag - then is the time to fill your head, eyes and heart with desire that will push you onwards!

Keep going...push on!

Kim

[Sanov22]

Forwards!

73.3 this evening!

Not comparable to previous weigh ins though, I'm dehydrated and didn't eat lunch today and did a big workout before dinner. Not intentional. Drinking lots of water and eating a good heathy dinner now.

Weekend was pretty good. Well... Actually it wasn't the healthiest food-wise, but in the context of a very social and unpredictable weekend where it could've been a lot, lot worse I think I did really well in limiting the damage. Lot of exercise too.

And, even if I'm a whole kilo up on that once I'm rehydrated and have eaten something, that's still half a kilo off since Thursday, which is pretty good!

I felt really good about how I looked this weekend too. Really starting to notice it now - seeing pictures of myself from just a couple of months ago there's an obvious difference, and my skin is better too because of the healthier foods. And I have more energy!

Feeling really good. Refocussed and ready to grind out these kgs and reap the benefits.