New Year to April Fools weight loss challenge, weekly weigh-in

[Dominique]

This is a spin-off of the venerable Weekly Weigh In topic that now has 2500+ posts spanning over four years and is therefore a bit crowded. The idea is the same: to provide accountability and motivation to fellow community members who wish to shed some weight over the next three months.

The rules are flexible: to report weight (and any other metrics) on a weekly basis (you can pick any day you like). I’ll personally report average weight for the previous week every Monday, starting next Monday (Dec-30, so technically not quite New Year). This coming week will provide the baseline/starting point.

I’ve been steadily gaining about 4 kg (8.8 lbs) over the Fall, from about 60 to almost 64 kg (141 lbs):

It’s now time to get back to a leaner level, ideally around 60 kg.

Is anyone else game for this?

[WendyB]

Down a total of -2

[Whyshoshoni]

Down to 127.0 from 127.7 earlier in the week.  Total loss since New Year is 1.8 lbs, goal is 2 lbs per month so on track so far.  Hope to keep up the momentum!

[Baltoscott]

Goal --157 lbs

12/29: 162.8 lbs

1/5:     162.9 lbs

1/12:   162.2 lbs

1/19:   162.0 lbs

1/25:   161.7 lbs

Reporting in a day early because I’m traveling and will be away from the scale tomorrow.  Still going down .. slowly.  

[Dominique]

Goal: lose between 0.25 and 0.50 kg per week (i.e. down to 58-61 kg).

Week 0, 30-Dec-19: 64.0 kg, 2594 cal, 14.9k steps, 16.3%

Week 1, 6-Jan-20: 63.7 kg, 2781 cal, 16.8k steps, 16.2%, -0.36 kg

Week 2, 13-Jan-20: 63.3 kg, 2853 cal, 17.7k steps, 15.9%, -0.37 kg

Week 3, 20-Jan-20: 63.4 kg, 2901 cal, 20.0k steps, 15.9%, +0.09 kg

Week 4, 27-Jan-20: 62.6 kg, 3044 cal, 20.9k steps, 15.7%, -0.77 kg

Best week so far (-0.77 kg), which offsets last week’s lack of change. Cumulative loss so far (after 4 weeks, i.e. 1/3 into the challenge) is 1.4 kg, i.e. still on target.

[shm]

Hi Everyone,

I am down 1.5 pounds this week!

Week 0: 170 (1/1/2020)

Week 1: 169.3 (1/8/2020

Week 2: 169.0 (1/15/2020)

Week 3: 168.5 (1/22/2020)

Week 4: 167.0 (1/29/2020)

Total = 3 pounds

I think I have finally figured out what is going on as far as BMR & TDEE goes – which is helpful. I found and used the BMR/TDEE website/calculator that Dominque had posted about under another topic/thread and found it to be the one that made the most sense with what I am experiencing. Dominique, thank you for that information. It takes some of the “guesswork” out of this process. It also confirms that I am doing the right things, that I need to be patient, and that I really need to adjust my perception of things and expectations. 

Hope everyone is feeling motivated this week.

[Kanga999]

G'day,

Late to the weight lose party, but then I was never comfortable at parties... 🙂 and I could use the accountability of checking in on a weekly basis, so I hope you don't mind me tagging along.

I am unlike the rest of you in that I have a lot to lose, so I am not sure what my goal should be by April 1st, but I will take what I can get! I will list my smoothed weekly Fitbit weights since Dec 30, as I wasn't weighing myself consistently. I had a scare when I again reached my equal worst weight ever, of about ten years ago, during January (99.1kg = 219lbs), so that has kicked off this concerted effort to do better. And maybe in the longer term reach my goal of about 70kgs.

The last time I lost weight in a mindful way, was by weighing food and calorie counting - which I hate - but it did smack me in the mouth (pun intended) of the mindless calories I was eating. I lost about 10 kgs then but plateaued in a disheartening way and lost momentum. I only just started doing the food weighing, calorie counting thing again last Monday.

So, if I may...

Week 1 - 98.8 (smoothed average)

Week 2 - 99.1 (only weigh in for days)

Week 3 - 98.3 (smoothed average)

Week 4 - 98.6 (smoothed average)

My weeks start on Mondays, (Australian time) so I will add a true weight then, or should I keep using the smoothed weight? I will go back and see what the group is doing. And also see if I can fathom what BMR & TDEE is supposed to refer to 🙂

EDIT: OK, I now know what my BMR and TDEE's are, and with three different versions have averaged them out to see what my Kj/Kcal intake should be to reach my goal in a years time. I also registered and now have an account with TrendWeight... so it is down to me, with a little help from my... can I call you friends? Friendlies anyway! Thanks for the tips everyone.

[Dominique]

Welcome to the community, @Kanga999, as well as to this weekly weigh-in! What number you chose to report is up to you. I think it’s a good idea to be consistent. By "smoothed average", I assume you are referring to what TrendWeight calculates for you. If so, one problem with it is that (because of the smoothing) it tends to lag behind changes in actual weight. This is why I personally prefer to use the "ordinary" average of the previous week and compare it to the average of the week before that. I use TrendWeight when looking at things with a longer term perspective. Losing 30 kg in one year (average of about 1.3 pound per week) is quite challenging, but not impossible.

[Glenda]

On Fri.  Jan 24 I weighed 113.8............. On Thur. Jan. 30 2019 I weighed 113.6 and the next day more so I'm using that.  Friday is my usual post day which would have been Jan 31.    I'm going to do better next Friday.   I'm planning to give up alcohol again.  It makes me feel tired when I wake up the next morning.

               Last night I didn't have wine.  I slept 5 hours straight, then 2 more and got up.  I felt so much better, that Sunday when I get up.  I had lots more energy for the treadmill this morning.  Wine isn't worth it for me I'm deciding AGAIN.   

           Thank you so much for the instruction on corrections!!

[Glenda]

I said December in my post but I meant January.  I don't know if we can correct things on this.

[Kanga999]

Hi Glenda,

At the top right corner of your post are three dots, click on these on the message you wish to change, and you have the opportunity to edit your text.

[Kanga999]

Hi Dominique,

Thanks for the welcome.

I have used the Fitbit weekly averages for the first four weeks of the weigh-in figures because, as mentioned, I was joining late to the challenge and hadn't been weighing myself consistently. Perhaps I was using the word 'smoothed' incorrectly 🙂 I didn't investigate TrendWeight, thanks to you and Scott having it as part of your message signatures, until after I submitted my first message, but it looks like a tool that might help me with my long term goal... 

Speaking of, I don't really expect to lose the 30kg in a year, but wanted to get a measure of what my target could/should be in a tangible way for this challenge until April 1st. So tomorrow I will report my weigh-in with a goal as well.

[Dominique]

Technically speaking, TrendWeight uses an "exponentially smoothed moving average". Since you mentioned TrendWeight, I thought that’s where you got the "smoothed" part. More details in this older post.

[Baltoscott]

Goal --157 lbs

12/29: 162.8 lbs

1/5:     162.9 lbs

1/12:   162.2 lbs

1/19:   162.0 lbs

1/25:   161.7 lbs

2/2:     162.5 lbs

Pretty big jump in the wrong direction this week.  Mostly to do with eating out all meals while traveling last week, but partly due to the math of TrendWeight averaging with a high weigh-in on the day I got back.  Next week should give a better picture of where I’m really at.

Welcome to the forums and the thread @Kanga999.  If you are trying to set yourself some daily goals or new habits in aid of your weight loss efforts, feel free to join the monthly thread I set up for that purpose. Here is the link for the February version.

[Kanga999]

@DominiqueThanks for the link, I will have an in depth read later on today/tomorrow. I went into a bit of a time-sink-vortex yesterday on a couple of the forums here, and need to digest the info I learned. Incidently, one of them was watching a video, the posted link was credited to you, of a woman, Christine (?) explaining plateaus. Very interesting. I made lots of notes, as that is where I usually come-a-cropper, at the plateau stage, and get disheartened.

@BaltoscottThanks for you invitation to join your February challenge. I am afraid my daily goals would look somewhat paltry against the gang over there, but I am feeling brave (my acknowledging that I hit 99 kg here in this forum, was the first time I have made that known to anyone!) so will have a think what I would like to achieve.

[Kanga999]

Meanwhile:

Start weight - 98.8 kg (218 lbs)

Goal weight at end of this challenge - 94.3 kg (208 lbs)

Week 1 - 98.8 (fitbit average) (218 lbs)

Week 2 - 99.1 (only weigh in for days)

Week 3 - 98.3 (fitbit average)

Week 4 - 98.6 (fitbit average)

Week 5 - 97.6 (fitbit average) (215 lbs)

[DaysxDesign]

200 lbs- February 2nd
10 lbs down since 1/6

Andrea Pickard

[Dominique]

Goal: lose between 0.25 and 0.50 kg per week (i.e. down to 58-61 kg).

Week 0, 30-Dec-19: 64.0 kg, 2594 cal, 14.9k steps, 16.3%

Week 1, 6-Jan-20: 63.7 kg, 2781 cal, 16.8k steps, 16.2%, -0.36 kg

Week 2, 13-Jan-20: 63.3 kg, 2853 cal, 17.7k steps, 15.9%, -0.37 kg

Week 3, 20-Jan-20: 63.4 kg, 2901 cal, 20.0k steps, 15.9%, +0.09 kg

Week 4, 27-Jan-20: 62.6 kg, 3044 cal, 20.9k steps, 15.7%, -0.77 kg

Week 5, 3-Feb-20: 62.0 kg, 2685 cal, 15.8k steps, 15.9%, -0.59 kg

I had a good week (-0.6 kg), in spite of lower activity (compared to previous weeks), which means I’ve been better with my eating. I still don’t feel like I’m dieting, I’m just being mindful of how much I’m eating. Cumulative loss so far (after 5 weeks, i.e. 1/3 into the challenge) is exactly 2.0 kg, i.e. an average of 0.4 kg per week and on target.

[Dominique]

---

@Kanga999 wrote:

one of them was watching a video, the posted link was credited to you, of a woman, Christine (?) explaining plateaus. Very interesting. I made lots of notes, as that is where I usually come-a-cropper, at the plateau stage, and get disheartened..

---

I think the "Christine" video (probably this one) was originally posted by @Baltoscott. I personally tend to point to the "Mike" video (this one, only about 7 minutes), but they’re likely talking about the same issues regarding plateaus and why they occur.

[shm]

Another pound gone.

Goal:  164

Week 0: 170 (1/1/2020)

Week 1: 169.3 (1/8/2020

Week 2: 169.0 (1/15/2020)

Week 3: 168.5 (1/22/2020)

Week 4: 167.0 (1/29/2020)

Week 5: 166.0 (2/5/2020)

Total = 4 pounds lost

Two pounds to go …

This last week was not good for exercise. But today, I was finally able to get out and walk for 5 miles.

[Baltoscott]

Goal --157 lbs

           TW                Weekly Ave.

12/29: 162.8 lbs       163.8

1/5:     162.9 lbs       

1/12:   162.2 lbs       

1/19:   162.0 lbs       

1/25:   161.7 lbs       

2/2:     162.5 lbs       

2/9:     162.0 lbs       

Down 1/2 lb this week and back where I was 3 weeks ago.