Sunday, March 25, 2007

FatBlog 75.4

A few years ago I returned from living in Hong Kong to find that my weight had crept up to 82Kg. Amazing how this can happen without noticing. I did feel bad and bloated.

My workplace had a few people in the same boat as me and kindly they organised a weight loss program that worked very well for me. I lost 10Kgs, mostly by replacing snack food with carrots.

Once again, my weight is creeping up so about ten weeks ago I started trying to lose some weight again. I record my daily weight in the morning. Above is a graph of my weight once a week on Fridays. (I'm being kind to my self as I always go up over the weekends).

Things I've learned about losing weight:
  • Can't do it by starving, hunger is a very strong drive, you might beat it for a while but it will win.
  • Can do it by replacing one filling food with another with less energy in it. I lost 10Kg by eating lots of carrots.
  • Can do it by stopping eating when you are satisfied. (It's a real trap that you'll finish the whole plate just because it's there).
  • Exercise makes me hungry and may not result in weight loss.
  • Exercise needs to be sustainable, I know if I join the gym I won't keep going in the long term. Walking on the way home, however, seems sustainable.
  • Don't worry about daily fluctuations. Actual weight is mostly water and that goes up and down often by 1 or 2 kilos. Track weekly results and don't panic if one day goes the wrong way.
I'm not going to blog on my weight very much but hopefully this post will shame me into staying focussed.

3 comments:

Alastair said...

I like the technique of plotting a rolling average as a way of removing the disincentive effect of adverse daily fluctuations. It is advocated in the Hacker's Diet and probably elsewhere.

Also don't underestimate exercise as a weight loss tool. I find that, while it does increase your appetite somewhat, it will also increase your metabolic rate and have other health benefits.

The trick is to find a form of exercise that you enjoy and which fits into your lifestyle. It's sometimes worth re-visiting exercises that you disliked in the past - you might find your attitude changed.

For example I hated doing weights when I was younger but I quite like it now. I'm also playing soccer these days which I was quite ambivalent about before.

Technology can help too. I prettymuch can't go for a run without my iPod these days.

It's "just" a matter of finding something you like and fitting it into your lifestyle. Easier said than done, of course, but there are plenty of options.

Peter Marks said...

Listening to podcasts has been a great way to get motivated to walk. I have a hard time keeping up with my subscriptions otherwise.

My guess is that weight lifting would increase your weight. Thanks for the comments.

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