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Australia’s Biggest Loser February 17, 2006

Although I’m not a rabid fan, I’ve been watching some of the Australia’s Biggest Loser TV show lately. I caught the first weigh-in on Friday night, and was amazed. Several people lost over 8 kg (22 lbs) in that first week, and one guy lost 15.5 kg (34 lbs)!

I found those high losses amazing. Surely much of that is just purging the rubbish out of your system, and maybe some fluid loss etc. There might also be a bit of gamesmanship between the initial weigh-in and the first weigh-in – things like eating and drinking heaps before the first weigh-in, and then going into the second weigh-in a bit dehydrated and on an empty stomach. I don’t expect they’ll get anywhere near those results week-over-week from now on, though.

Still, good on them. They’re doing something about their problems, and are much better off at the end of the week than they were at the start.

Here I am struggling to lose 1 kg per week! I’ve lost about 6 kg over two months, and most of these people did that in a week.

Sure, I only exercise for half an hour, maybe 5 or 6 days per week. I watch what I eat, but I’m not fanatical about counting calories or anything. Plus those guys are starting from a much higher baseline, and have a lot more excess weight to lose. But it’s intriguing to wonder what you’d be capable of losing during a few weeks of strict diet and all-day exercise.

It’s certainly inspiration to exercise a bit harder, and a bit longer, and a bit more often, to see what may transpire.

Weekly Weigh-In 2006-02-05 February 5, 2006

I’m still making good progress, but I’m finding it hard to reach my target of 1kg (2.2 lbs) of weight loss per week. It’s always the weekends that beat me!

This weekend we spent three days away with friends in a quiet little village down the coast. We had all the usual derailing factors – beer and wine, peanuts, chips, cooked breakfasts, crackers and dips, ice cream, etc – plus I wasn’t able to take a decent stroller to take G for walks with me. We also stayed up late both nights, so I probably wouldn’t have gotten up early to go walking anyway :-) . So that was three days of no exercise this week.

I really need to get my weekends under control. My weight loss graph always kicks up slightly every weekend, slowing my progress. If I could maintain my discipline through the weekend, I’d lose an extra 0.2 – 0.4 kg (0.4 – 0.9 lbs) per week! That’s got to be worth trying for!

That said, I was actually a little surprised that my weekend blowout didn’t derail me more than it did. My daily weight measurement today only jumped 1 kg (2.2 lbs) compared to Friday’s measurement. Given the amount of junk I ate, I think I got off lightly!

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Weekly Weigh-In 2006-01-29 January 29, 2006

My weekly weight loss figure is creeping up, getting closer to my target of 1 kg per week. Again, I had a few events this week that didn’t help – a big dinner out at the Hog’s Breath Cafe with some friends, a big cooked breakfast for my wedding anniversary, and a visit with my parents.

I missed two days of exercise this week – one due to weather, and one due to being up half the night with a sick child. Although I try to get out for a walk every day, it seems like 5 sessions a week is a pretty good target to aim for. If everything goes right for a week and I fit in more than that, great!

I managed to touch 104 kg one day this week in my daily weigh-ins. That’s a bit of a milestone for me – I haven’t been under 105 kg in about 5 years. Even when I’ve gone on diets, I get to about 105 kg and then seem to lose interest or get derailed. I think it’s because I’d watch my daily weight measurements, see them jump from 105 to 107 in a single day (seemingly wiping out a couple of weeks of disciplined dieting!), and get discouraged. Every time that happens, it’s another opportunity for your negative thoughts to take over and for your resolve to waver.

Using the Hacker’s Diet weight tracking spreadsheet is a much better way to monitor your progress. If you go off-track for a day or two, it doesn’t hurt your running average figure very badly, so you’re still motivated to keep going and try to get some more daily measurements below the line and start dragging it down again.

It just goes to show that losing weight is about a lot more than just going on a diet.

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Now, About That Diet… January 4, 2006

I know that I said a few days ago that I wasn’t going to worry about trying to change my diet at this stage, preferring instead to concentrate on integrating exercise into my daily routine. But I’ve found that I’m now looking at food a little differently, and choosing healthier options when eating out, skipping junk food snacks at home, and eating a little less at each meal.

It feels like overeating or eating rubbish is working against all the effort I’m putting into exercising, and so it’s just less appealing to me lately.

When I jogged this morning, I made it further up the first hill than I ever have before. My fitness is definitely improving. I continued my walk up the hill towards the lookout far above our town, and I made it further than I ever have before in the same amount of time. This is great!

Christmas Is No Excuse December 29, 2005

Our whole family visited my parents for 6 days over Christmas, yet I still didn’t miss a day of walking. I even went out on Christmas day, arriving back home with perfect timing to have a shower, get the girls up, and start the unwrapping of presents. The streets were absolutely deserted on Christmas morning, and not a single shop was open in the main street. It was eery.

I know that exercise is only one half of weight loss, and food intake is the other. I haven’t done anything about my diet yet, which actually isn’t too bad. We generally cook pretty healthy food, although admittedly my servings could probably be a bit smaller.

I figure that it’s easier to tackle one aspect of your lifestyle at a time, and once exercising becomes entrenched as a routine habit, I’ll start to work on the diet. Besides, it’s Christmas – who can resist all the delicious treats and left-overs on offer at this time of the year?!

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