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Weekly Weigh-In 2006-06-18 June 18, 2006

Weight loss chart for 18 June 2006 All time weight loss up to 18 June 2006

This was a much better week for exercise – today was the only day I didn’t run. I’ll probably have tomorrow off as well, due to a flu I’ve picked up. Hopefully it won’t last long.

My weight loss has slowed down in recent weeks. I’m not sure if it’s winter, being more busy, or just a dip in my resolve – whatever the cause, I need to get things back on track. I’ve been taking leftovers for lunch a fair bit lately and eating larger meals at night. That needs to stop, as do the muffins and biscuits I’ve indulged in a few times lately.

I’m going to aim for 0.5 kg weight loss this week (since I’ve lost my momentum), and 1 kg the following week. Nothing like a challenge to kick-start things!

Weekly Weigh-In 2006-06-11 June 11, 2006

Weight loss chart for 11 June 2006 All time weight loss up to 11 June 2006

I took the advice of Holly and Matt from last week’s Weigh-In, and bought myself some new pants this weekend. Man, what a difference! I’ve dropped 2 or 3 sizes, and the new pants feel so much more comfortable than my old baggies. I’m planning to never fill out those old ones again.

Not a lot of exercise got done this week. We’ve had a lot of late nights for the past few weeks, and it’s caught up with me this week. That, and the sudden cold spell that makes it so damn hard to get up at 5:30 am! The guy I normally jog with was away most of the week, too, so I didn’t have the whole “not wanting to let my mate down” thing making me get out of bed.

Weekly Weigh-In 2006-06-04 June 4, 2006

Weight loss chart for 4 June 2006 All time weight loss up to 4 June 2006

This was a pretty bad week for exercise – I only got out twice! Part of it was the rain, but I now have an exercise bike and can do a workout indoors if I can’t go out. I also had some problems with children keeping us up through the night (who can get up early when you didn’t get a decent night’s sleep?!). A couple of times G woke up about half an hour earlier than usual, so I had to get her up and give her breakfast. Hopefully things will improve next week.

Despite the lack of exercise, my weight loss picked up a bit this week. I’ve been a bit more conscious of my diet, although I’d still like to be losing closer to 1kg per week.

I’m definitely starting to get sick of my now-baggy clothes, but I don’t want to buy new stuff just yet – I probably have another 13 kg or so to lose before I reach a reasonable weight. Anything I buy now will be too baggy in a few short months. What to do? Maybe I should just buy some stuff from a second-hand shop to see me through.

Training for the City To Surf run didn’t progress much this week. I need to try to fit in some more 5 km runs next week, and then build up to 7 or 8 km within a few more weeks. I’d like to be able to run at least 10 km once or twice before the event, so I can give it a decent effort. We’ll see.

Weekly Weigh-In 2006-05-28 May 28, 2006

Weight loss chart for 28 May 2006 All time weight loss up to 28 May 2006

I didn’t lose very much weight this week, but was interested to see that nearly all of what I lost was fat with very little fat-free mass lost. Great stuff!

There were a few distractions this week – two pizza parties with friends and two family dinners with the in-laws. Have you heard that before?! It seems like there are several distractions every week, so I’m glad that I’m maintaining at least some weight loss without sacrificing any lifestyle enjoyment. As long as the numbers keep heading in the right direction, I’m happy!

Weekly Weigh-In 2006-05-21 May 21, 2006

Weight loss chart for 21 May 2006 All time weight loss up to 21 May 2006

I was very happy to finally budge my daily weight measurements off the 94.5 kg mark towards the end of this week. Now I’ve just got to keep driving it down!

I got a few compliments this week on the weight I’ve lost. One was from a mate’s wife who I hadn’t seen since the start of the year. She was absolutely amazed – the weight I’ve lost is more than either of her children weigh. I’ve also started tucking my shirts into my pants again. That’s a big step for me!

I had a great run this morning, too. I ran 5 km (3 miles), only stopping to walk twice – both times for steep hills. I can’t remember my exact time, but it was under 28 minutes. I’m thinking of entering a 14 km event in mid-August, so I’m planning to build up my distance over the next month or two and make a call whether I’ll enter or not. My current thinking is to enter anyway, so that I can at least get some experience (I’ve never entered a fun run or race before!) and see how it all works. Then I can enter next year and know what I’m doing!

Weekly Weigh-In 2006-05-14 May 14, 2006

Weight loss chart for 14 May 2006 All time weight loss chart up to 14 May 2006

My friend A has been running with me recently. He started off just coming along every 2nd or 3rd day, but lately the fitness bug has bitten him and he’s been coming every morning. I sent him stats from my GPS of all the runs he’s joined me on – in the past month, he’s managed to reduce his 3 km time from 24 minutes to 19 minutes! He’s still not able to run the whole 3 km without stopping, but he’s definitely getting fitter every week.

If you look at my weight loss graph above, I’ve been stuck on 94.5 kg for a long time. I think it’s partly because I’ve slackened off on my diet, having the occasional snack and taking larger portions of leftovers to work for lunch instead of my usual simple sandwich. I’m going to try to get those habits back under control this week, and see if I can’t get off the 94.5 kg mark.

PhysicsDiet.com has added more cool features this week. There’s a Biggest Losers scoreboard showing how all the users are going (those that elected to make their profiles public, anyway). I’m currently in 6th position, and all but 1 of those ahead of me are only 1 or 2 kg ahead. I’m feeling a bit of motivation to catch up to them! The leader by far is Matt, the guy who built PhysicsDiet.com – he’s lost a massive 38.7 kg (85 lbs)! Well done, Matt! Matt has also added the ability for users to list their blog or web site address, so you can get in touch or follow along with what others are doing.

My Fitness Obstacles series has been fairly well-received, with one more post to go (hopefully I’ll get that done in the next couple of days). While those articles sound a bit negative and “woe is me”, not really offering any help to readers, I needed to write them up as the basis for the next series of articles, Overcoming Fitness Obstacles. Once you understand what’s stopping you from exercising, you can start to work on those obstacles and find ways around them.

Weekly Weigh-In 2006-05-07 May 7, 2006

Weight loss chart for 7 May 2006 Weight loss chart for all time to 7 May 2006

Another solid week, right on my 0.7 kg weight loss average. This seems to be a comfortable rate for me to maintain given my current habits – going above it requires quite a bit of extra effort, and I know I’ve slacked off when I drop significantly below it.

I had one day this week where my weight went above my 10-day average line (the red on the graphs above). That’s OK, as it was the morning after a big Chinese dinner and I didn’t get to exercise that morning. It was just a random spike. The main thing is to have more points below the line, and thus to keep it trending downwards.

There have been a number of new features added to the Physics Diet web site this week. In particular, you can now access my public profile and see my progress in real time. If you’re looking for a convenient and very helpful way to track your weight loss, do check out that site.

I also started a series of posts on Fitness Obstacles this week. Check them out, and let me know if they relate to you. When that series is finished, I’ll be posting a follow-up series on overcoming those obstacles. Stay tuned!

Weekly Weigh-In 2006-04-30 April 30, 2006

Weight loss chart for 30 April 2006 All time weight loss up to 30 April 2006

Wow! I got sick this week, and it caused me to lose about 3 kg according to my daily measurements. That undoes the whole Easter binge in just two days! Who’d have thought getting sick could be so good for you?!

After I got over the effects of my illness, I was able to go out jogging again. I started off with a really good 7 km route (I had plenty of time, since I was still off work), which included 3 km of running and 4 km of walking. It took about an hour, which was a lot shorter than I expected. I actually wasn’t going to run at all, since I was trying to ease back into exercise, but I felt so good half-way through that I just decided to go for it. My break must have done me good, as I ran faster and felt better than I have on previous runs.

I’m pleased to have hit the 30 lb mark in my weight loss. That’s a cool milestone to reach, and probably marks the half-way point for me. I expect my final weight will settle somewhere in the 80-85 kg (175-187 lbs) range.

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Weekly Weigh-In 2006-04-23 April 23, 2006

Weight loss chart for 23 April 2006 All time weight loss up to 23 April 2006

My 0.16 kg weight gain this week was made up of 0.11 kg fat-free-mass gained and 0.05 kg fat gained. I’m taking some consolation in the illusion that I hardly gained any fat this week, just bulked up my muscles :-) .

Although the graph for this week looks awful with all that red, my trend line hasn’t risen by too much. Going off daily measurements rather than the trend, it looks like I put on 2 kg over Easter. That’s pretty close to what I expected, and should take 2-3 weeks to lose at a very doable rate of 0.7 to 1.0 kg per week.

Now, it’s time to get the runners on and repair the damage!

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Weekly Weigh-In 2006-04-16 April 16, 2006

Weight loss chart for 16 April 2006 All time weight loss up to 16 April 2006

I’ve now got a little body fat measurement gadget that I’m using to track my body fat percentage. It’s cheap and nasty and probably not very accurate, but it might be interesting to see how it changes over time. According to the gadget, my 0.21 kg weight loss this week was made up of 0.23 kg of fat loss, and 0.02 kg of fat-free-mass gain. I’ll be tracking these numbers in the Weekly Weigh-In posts from now on.

I wasn’t able to get much exercise in this week, mostly because we were busy getting things ready for a short (5 nights) holiday with some friends in the country.

We had H’s first birthday party on the weekend, and that caused a little bit of a blowout diet-wise. I was fairly careful, though, and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

For the week ahead, while we’re on holidays, I’m just going to forget about the diet and exercise program.

A week off the diet shouldn’t cause too much weight gain (and I’m not going to go totally nuts with the food), but I want to be able to enjoy myself. It’ll be Easter, we’ll be attending my friend’s daughter’s birthday party, my friend is a chef and will cook great meals, and we’ll be going to the town’s annual festival. That’s too much merriment to miss!

A week off the exercise plan shouldn’t cause any problem at all as far as my fitness goes. I’ll just enjoy the sleep-ins, and get back into the jogging when we get back.

I’ll probably put on a couple of kilos over the next week, but I now know I can lose them again within 2-3 weeks without too much stress. That’s the whole point of approaching weight loss as a lifestyle change rather than simply a diet that’s “on” or “off”. Once we return, my diet and exercise habits will be back to normal and my weight should continue trending down towards where it should be without me needing to get too concerned about it.

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