Muttley1900
Member
26 Weeks
Well following on from my “13 weeks” thread I started, erm, 13 weeks ago, now is time for another update – which I have surprisingly called “26 Weeks”.
Just like the 13 week update, I find myself doing this one because – whoosh – another quarter year has just been and gone and although so much is different, in a strange way so much is the same – such adaptable creatures we are.
Again, to get the facts and figures out of the way first of all…
- I am at Target and maintaining (of sorts - well it has only been one week at target);
- I am now– 11st 4lbs – Started at 16st 6lbs and was 12 stone 10 lbs at my 13 weeks update;
- I’ve lost just over 5 stone in this time (72lbs in total);
- Although not a race, I hit target weight ahead of my original estimate 70lbs at 2lbs a week (allowing for a little more at the beginning) starting the 1st July – says I should have reached target by mid February 2013 - actually reached target at 25 weeks;
- My trouser waist size has gone down from 42” to 32”;
- My suit jacket size has moved down from 46” to 40”;
- My shirt collar size has moved down from 17.5” to 15”;
- My BMI score has moved down from Obese at 33 to now being Normal at 22.7;
- My resting heart rate has moved down from 70 (when on my BP meds) to 53 (on average);
- My body fat percentage is 20% - which I believe is quite good for my age (and it depends which scale/chart you use);
Exercise
Well, I’ve had a little set back on the exercise routine as I’ve had open surgery a couple of weeks ago, but plan to do the following once my body allows me to:-
- Now as I move into maintenance mode I will reduce using the exercise bike for 30 mins every other day (used to be every day);
- And I still intend to attend aerobic classes, but now 2 or 3 times a week (depending on where I am with work);
- I will still be doing a class a week using kettle bells as a mixture of high impact aerobics and a little resistance training and I will also be using weights once a week to strengthen my upper body and add definition;
- Dogs are still going for long walks and I still (even in the damp and cold) prefer walking to the shops instead of jumping in the car.
Food
- I have still yet to find anything that disagrees with me, BUT still, I haven’t tried everything – no sweets or crisps – I have had some chocolate now (an after dinner choc mint thing when we were out and it has been Christmas);
- I’m still sticking to the rules Protein / veg & salad and then finally carbs which I now have had potatoes, rice and bread but still not any pasta (and the potatoes/rice/bread I have has never been my first choice item and always very small amounts);
- I’m all into “substituting” food that is on the menu – I used to just have what it said – so if I wanted steak and it came with chips I would have the chips – now if I want steak and it comes with chips I ask for the chips to be substituted with a simple salad – I haven’t found anywhere that has said “no” to this reasonable request yet;
- Alcohol…yep…a glass of champagne when we were out with friends – I made it last most of the evening (sip of it and then a sip of water) as the other 3 (my partner and our friends) finished that bottle and another two to boot. Yes it was nice and yes I enjoyed every drop, but I had it ‘cause it was a toast to start our meal off with as opposed to wanting to lap up as much as I could (as I would in the past).
Other Non Scale Victories
- As well as all the ones I mentioned last time, things have moved on in this front too as I find the head hunger is moving away - I think this has something about the way I have moved from plotting out, using myfitnesspal, what I WILL be eating tomorrow, the next day etc etc to now having a number of choices in place for lunch and supper (all of which I know will take me into my calorie intake range).
Now, don’t get me wrong, I needed to do the plot exactly what I’m going to be eating over the last 6 months just to get me to start recognising what I can / can’t have in a day… Now I’ve moved on a little and now am giving myself “choices” each day.
So what has this small change done for me? Well it has allowed me not to focus on the next meal. What it is, when I said I would have it etc etc, and now I’m a little more relaxed about the next meal as I know there is something in the fridge / cupboard I can eat this evening which will be okay.
Because I’m not “worried” about it (so much) I have found myself moving into the “oh bugger it’s 3pm and I haven’t had lunch yet” realms – so probably shows that most of my “hunger” on this journey has been head hunger;
- I am maintain, okay only been a week since I hit target, but with a slight increase in calories over Christmas and the no exercise because of the op things seems to be stable for now – and that is with most of the Christmas break behind us too;
- And still the key one for me – as this was why I started this journey – my health. My recent set of blood tests shows that all vitamin levels are good, blood pressure is superb and my combined cholesterol level is 3.9 – So I very well may die in the next 10 years, but a fantastic reduced chance of it being through a heart attack or stroke which I did have a 1 in 4 or 1 in 3 chance of before I started this journey;
- And one last “silly” one – for the past 11 or 12 years I have had a spread sheet on the desk top of what-ever computer I have had at home at the time. This spread sheet is called “To 11.5.xls” and was/is a way of me charting / plotting and recording the progress each week as I attempted, yet again, usually starting on the 1st of Jan each year, to lose weight. It has various columns on it – Weigh in day date (one a week), Last weeks weight, This weeks target weight, current week weight, what the diff was between Target and Current, Notes where I would have a list of non scale victories I would be anticipating (fitting into this outfit or that) and anticipated scale victories (should have lost 1 stone by here etc). Of course, each year I would update the start weight, update the start date and then over the next month or two update the weekly totals until I stalled, put on or generally failed. Then again in the same year I would start again, update the start weight and date again…. Rinse and repeat.
Well I’ve done it – I got to 11.5 (well past it – just) so I can at last now squirrel this spread sheet away in the documents archive. The computer desktop may look a little empty without it – so I could always put another one there – but I think myfitnesspal will give me all I need to help monitor and maintain…
Now for the not so good bits…
- I’m a fitness bore – worse than an ex smoker – everywhere I look I see people who are in such poor shape – I want to go up to them and tell them to do something about it – “do you realise you are killing yourself”? I know I can’t and I know that we all have to get to the point of wanting to do something about our problems ourselves and what do I know, perhaps they are. But I do feel sorry for the people who say to me “wow, you’ve done so much, how did you do it?” – ‘cause they can easily loose 2 hours of their life as I go through each step of my journey so far….
So, as we hurtle into 2013 in the next couple of days, I sit here at my keyboard wondering what is next in this journey… and my answer to myself is just sit back and enjoy the ride…
Well following on from my “13 weeks” thread I started, erm, 13 weeks ago, now is time for another update – which I have surprisingly called “26 Weeks”.
Just like the 13 week update, I find myself doing this one because – whoosh – another quarter year has just been and gone and although so much is different, in a strange way so much is the same – such adaptable creatures we are.
Again, to get the facts and figures out of the way first of all…
- I am at Target and maintaining (of sorts - well it has only been one week at target);
- I am now– 11st 4lbs – Started at 16st 6lbs and was 12 stone 10 lbs at my 13 weeks update;
- I’ve lost just over 5 stone in this time (72lbs in total);
- Although not a race, I hit target weight ahead of my original estimate 70lbs at 2lbs a week (allowing for a little more at the beginning) starting the 1st July – says I should have reached target by mid February 2013 - actually reached target at 25 weeks;
- My trouser waist size has gone down from 42” to 32”;
- My suit jacket size has moved down from 46” to 40”;
- My shirt collar size has moved down from 17.5” to 15”;
- My BMI score has moved down from Obese at 33 to now being Normal at 22.7;
- My resting heart rate has moved down from 70 (when on my BP meds) to 53 (on average);
- My body fat percentage is 20% - which I believe is quite good for my age (and it depends which scale/chart you use);
Exercise
Well, I’ve had a little set back on the exercise routine as I’ve had open surgery a couple of weeks ago, but plan to do the following once my body allows me to:-
- Now as I move into maintenance mode I will reduce using the exercise bike for 30 mins every other day (used to be every day);
- And I still intend to attend aerobic classes, but now 2 or 3 times a week (depending on where I am with work);
- I will still be doing a class a week using kettle bells as a mixture of high impact aerobics and a little resistance training and I will also be using weights once a week to strengthen my upper body and add definition;
- Dogs are still going for long walks and I still (even in the damp and cold) prefer walking to the shops instead of jumping in the car.
Food
- I have still yet to find anything that disagrees with me, BUT still, I haven’t tried everything – no sweets or crisps – I have had some chocolate now (an after dinner choc mint thing when we were out and it has been Christmas);
- I’m still sticking to the rules Protein / veg & salad and then finally carbs which I now have had potatoes, rice and bread but still not any pasta (and the potatoes/rice/bread I have has never been my first choice item and always very small amounts);
- I’m all into “substituting” food that is on the menu – I used to just have what it said – so if I wanted steak and it came with chips I would have the chips – now if I want steak and it comes with chips I ask for the chips to be substituted with a simple salad – I haven’t found anywhere that has said “no” to this reasonable request yet;
- Alcohol…yep…a glass of champagne when we were out with friends – I made it last most of the evening (sip of it and then a sip of water) as the other 3 (my partner and our friends) finished that bottle and another two to boot. Yes it was nice and yes I enjoyed every drop, but I had it ‘cause it was a toast to start our meal off with as opposed to wanting to lap up as much as I could (as I would in the past).
Other Non Scale Victories
- As well as all the ones I mentioned last time, things have moved on in this front too as I find the head hunger is moving away - I think this has something about the way I have moved from plotting out, using myfitnesspal, what I WILL be eating tomorrow, the next day etc etc to now having a number of choices in place for lunch and supper (all of which I know will take me into my calorie intake range).
Now, don’t get me wrong, I needed to do the plot exactly what I’m going to be eating over the last 6 months just to get me to start recognising what I can / can’t have in a day… Now I’ve moved on a little and now am giving myself “choices” each day.
So what has this small change done for me? Well it has allowed me not to focus on the next meal. What it is, when I said I would have it etc etc, and now I’m a little more relaxed about the next meal as I know there is something in the fridge / cupboard I can eat this evening which will be okay.
Because I’m not “worried” about it (so much) I have found myself moving into the “oh bugger it’s 3pm and I haven’t had lunch yet” realms – so probably shows that most of my “hunger” on this journey has been head hunger;
- I am maintain, okay only been a week since I hit target, but with a slight increase in calories over Christmas and the no exercise because of the op things seems to be stable for now – and that is with most of the Christmas break behind us too;
- And still the key one for me – as this was why I started this journey – my health. My recent set of blood tests shows that all vitamin levels are good, blood pressure is superb and my combined cholesterol level is 3.9 – So I very well may die in the next 10 years, but a fantastic reduced chance of it being through a heart attack or stroke which I did have a 1 in 4 or 1 in 3 chance of before I started this journey;
- And one last “silly” one – for the past 11 or 12 years I have had a spread sheet on the desk top of what-ever computer I have had at home at the time. This spread sheet is called “To 11.5.xls” and was/is a way of me charting / plotting and recording the progress each week as I attempted, yet again, usually starting on the 1st of Jan each year, to lose weight. It has various columns on it – Weigh in day date (one a week), Last weeks weight, This weeks target weight, current week weight, what the diff was between Target and Current, Notes where I would have a list of non scale victories I would be anticipating (fitting into this outfit or that) and anticipated scale victories (should have lost 1 stone by here etc). Of course, each year I would update the start weight, update the start date and then over the next month or two update the weekly totals until I stalled, put on or generally failed. Then again in the same year I would start again, update the start weight and date again…. Rinse and repeat.
Well I’ve done it – I got to 11.5 (well past it – just) so I can at last now squirrel this spread sheet away in the documents archive. The computer desktop may look a little empty without it – so I could always put another one there – but I think myfitnesspal will give me all I need to help monitor and maintain…
Now for the not so good bits…
- I’m a fitness bore – worse than an ex smoker – everywhere I look I see people who are in such poor shape – I want to go up to them and tell them to do something about it – “do you realise you are killing yourself”? I know I can’t and I know that we all have to get to the point of wanting to do something about our problems ourselves and what do I know, perhaps they are. But I do feel sorry for the people who say to me “wow, you’ve done so much, how did you do it?” – ‘cause they can easily loose 2 hours of their life as I go through each step of my journey so far….
So, as we hurtle into 2013 in the next couple of days, I sit here at my keyboard wondering what is next in this journey… and my answer to myself is just sit back and enjoy the ride…
here's to a fantastic 2013 for you!
