Weekly Weigh In

[Move.It.Move.It]

I am weighing myself every Monday morning and I am going to log my results each weigh for accountability and support. Please feel free to join in.

Start weigh                   125.5 kg 14/12/2015

Now                              124.2 kg 11/01/2015

Loss this week             200g

Loss to date                 1.3kg

"Slow and steady wins the race"

[SunsetRunner]

Hi everyone! 

Here's an update.

USW:  224.5 (07/06/16)

CSW:  147.5 (Thursday, 07/06/17) -77.0

PW:  144.6 (09/15/17) BMI 21.4; BF% 26.1; TW 144.9

CW:  143.2 (09/22/17) BMI 21.2; BF% 25.6; TW 144.0

Goal:  Maintain between 145.0 - 150.0

With all my new found technology I've added BMI,  BF% and Trend Weight just to see some different numbers. Super busy weekend ahead with hot weather and a lot of outdoor activities. Keeping up with my 2 1/2 year old grandson should give me plenty of exercise! 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

[Dominique]

Impressive results, @AuroraKat! You should now be in a very good position to gain even more lean mass now. Do you know what your protein intake was in average during the last few months, in grams per pound of body weight? The two most important factors for keeping lean mass when dropping weight are resistance training and a sufficient protein intake, so I guess you had both in check. Do you have issues with loose skin?

[AuroraKat]

@Dominique - my protein intake very rarely fell below 100g per day, on some days I went up to 130g. So, the range would be from 0.7g to about 1g per pound of body weight (total, not just lean mass). I do have some loose skin, but it's not too bad. I think building some muscle and giving it time to adjust will help a lot. 

My biggest challenge now is figuring out what maintenance is. I keep adding calories, but losing still. I think in my case Fitbit may be underestimating calories because of my lower BF%. 

[Daves_Not_Here]

Here's current Predicted, Actual, and smoothed Actual weight (a' la TrendWeight).   Fitbit underestimates my calorie deficit by about 180 calories, so when I add that error into my Predicted weight as a daily bias, the curves line up amazingly well.

[Daves_Not_Here]

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AuroraKat wrote:  My biggest challenge now is figuring out what maintenance is. I keep adding calories, but losing still. I think in my case Fitbit may be underestimating calories because of my lower BF%. 

---

@AuroraKat - it is doubly inspiring to read your posts -- first you lost a life-changing amount of weight, and now you continue to sustain the improvement.  Your first feat was impressive, the second truly inspiring.  For me, the gnawing anxiety is not whether I will lose the weight, but if I will keep it off throughout a hopefully lengthened life.  Your posts strengthen my hope.

Could you please share with us what you think has worked for you in being able to sustain your lifestyle?

[Dominique]

@AuroraKat: that’s a lot of protein to eat, especially when in a high deficit (not much room for the other macros)! OTOH, it has clearly worked for you (on top of everything else you’ve done). I’ve been aware of the importance of protein intake for body composition (for both fat loss and muscle gain) for quite some time, but it’s only very recently I’ve tried to eat a diet high on lean protein in a very structured way. It looks like it’s working the way it’s supposed to, but it’s still very early to tell for sure. How have you spread your protein intake across the day? It must be very hard to eat 100 grams of protein intermittent fasting style (= during a relatively short "eating window"), so you’ve probably spread it between multiple, smaller meals, right? 

[Baltoscott]

Jan. 6, 2017:       202.3 lbs (starting weight)

                                              Ave. daily calorie consumption for week preceding weigh-in.

• Sun, 7.30:   162.5 lbs
• Sun, 8.6:     161.7 lbs    2395
• Sun, 8.13:   160.8 lbs    2329
• Sun, 8.20:   160.1 lbs    2665
• Sun, 8.27:   159.3 lbs    2585
• Sun, 9.3:     ???             2604
• Sun, 9.10:   159.8 lbs    2792
• Sun, 9.17:   159.6 lbs    2499 
• Sun, 9.24:   159.4 lbs    2819

- 0.2 lbs since 9.17

-42.9 since start. 

Goal Range: 160-170 lbs

Staying pretty steady.   

[Dominique]

Looks good, @Baltoscott: you’re maintaining your lowest weight eating more calories!

[Move.It.Move.It]

Start 128.5kg

Last weigh 116.5kg

This weigh 115.8kg

Shrinkage 12.7kg

Mini goal 115kg

Desired 70kg

Loving my new scale. It is quick and accurate. I have linked it to trend weight and like the charts. 

I am on holidays this week and I plan to spring clean so lots of exercise is on the cards.

[EmjayH]

USW (pre Fitbit) Nov 14 2016; 123kg
SW (Fitbit) March 2 2017; 97.7kg
PW August 07; 78.5kg
PW August 14; 77.9kg
PW August 21; 77.3kg
PW August 28; 76.9kg
PW Sept. 04; 77.7kg 😳🙈
PW Sept 11; 75.9kg
PW Sept 18; 75.1kg

CW Sept 25; 74.4kg

loss this week; 700g
Mini goal; 70kg by Christmas

@AuroraKat I keep my protein intake quite high also. Between 100-120g a day. Glad I seem to be on the right track. I love ur posts. Ur where I want to be this time next year. Hearing from someone who's already done it makes it more possible in a way

[almost_where]

CW - 280 +4     8 WEEK AVERAGE + 4.25 LBS (+34)  USW - 363 3/9/16

PW - 276 +4

PW - 272 +0

PW - 272 +6

PW - 266 +4

PW - 262 +23

PW - 239 -2

PW - 241 -5

[Dominique]

My numbers for this week:

Starting 1-Jan-2017: weight 67.4 kg, BF 18.5%, fat mass: 12.5 kg
Previous 1-May-2017: weight 62.2 kg, BF 15.0%, fat mass: 9.3 kg
.

Previous 21-Aug-2017: weight 61.4 kg, BF 14.9%, fat mass: 9.1 kg

Previous 28-Aug-2017: weight 61.1 kg, BF 14.7%, fat mass: 9.0 kg

Previous 4-Sep-2017: weight 60.8 kg, BF 14.6%, fat mass: 8.9 kg

Previous 11-Sep-2017: weight 60.4 kg, BF 14.5%, fat mass: 8.7 kg

Previous 18-Sep-2017: weight 60.2 kg, BF 14.3%, fat mass: 8.6 kg

Current 25-Sep-2017: weight 60.4 kg, BF 14.2%, fat mass: 8.6 kg

I’m a bit puzzled: I ate and exercised (weight training) exactly the same as during the previous week, was slightly more active (burned 20,700 vs. 20,000 calories at the weekly level), yet the weight rebounded slightly:

However, body fat % continued to fall, very slowly, but consistently:

 I’m hoping some kind of body recomposition has started (due to change in diet and training protocol), but I think it’s still too early to draw conclusions. 

On the diet side, after two weeks at "base", I’ve now switched to the "cut 1" tab of my Excel-based template:

Protein, carbs and veggies stay the same, but fats are cut by more than half (3.5 -> 1.5 servings). In all logic, the weight should start to fall again, but it’s really fat I’m interested in.

I’ve got four more weeks to give it a go, after which I’ll have to switch to the SAD (Standard American Diet) for one week, due to a trip to Washington DC. That will be my "diet break" .

[tamado]

Start 265 lbs 09/27/2015
This Week 159.2 09/25/2017
Last week 159.8 09/18/2017

Maintenance mode
Loss Range 105 lbs +/- 5 lbs

Another consistent week but I am considering making some changes.  I have been in the contemplative stages of moving away from animal protein for a while and with more reading and watching documentaries I am considering it for both health and ethical reasons.  Now I am in the early planning stages.  I need to figure out what to replace my calories with.  I lost most of my weight eating in the direction of low carb high fat (not an actual plan, but that's roughly what I was up to).  So, I eat a ton of salads and vegetables already but a lot of my caloric content comes from animal protein and fat.  I need to figure out how to replace that without a ton of nasty carbs but I am starting to believe in inflammation associated with meat consumption as well as increasing risk of things like heart and blood pressure issues despite being a healthy weight.  
Does anyone have any insight?  Are there vegetarian/vegans in the crowd?  Does anyone eat low carb vegan here?  I refuse to eat soy/tofu because I believe it's terrible for our hormones (especially men) and I am lactose intolerant so this is a bit intimidating.  I just figured out how to eat to loose and maintain weight and the idea of changing it again seems like a big job but the evidence is starting to stack up against me.

[Dominique]

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@tamado wrote:

I refuse to eat soy/tofu because I believe it's terrible for our hormones (especially men) and I am lactose intolerant so this is a bit intimidating.

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Regarding the alleged effects of soy, I’d suggest reading:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/soy-latest-research

and

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-soy

Regarding your lactose intolerance: would you be OK with eating dairy otherwise? Asking because there are plenty of good dairy products that contain no or very little lactose, or have lactose removed.

[tamado]

@Dominique, thanks for the reply!  That's a great, balanced, article.  
Yes, I can eat some dairy with very low lactose or the added ennzymes, I just eat it in moderation and I don't drink milk, eat yogurt, etc.
I will consider taking the 1-2 servings of soy a day as a guideline, incorporate some into my diet and see what the effects are.  I suspect my alcohol consumption has a great effect on my hormones based on that article (I drink whiskey on ice).

All of this is a process and journey, I am learning and working on making incremental sustainable changes.

[mattymoo]

Start weight: 162.1 lb

PW 4/9 : 158.6

PW 11/9 : 159.4

PW 18/9 : 158.00

CW 25/9 : 157

Loss this week : 1 lb

Loss so far : 5.1 lb

Mini-Goal #1: 155 lb

Ultimate goal weight: 135lb

Weighed in this morning at 156 - phewf, getting there with a new low on the scale.  Trendweight is awesome - It's at this point in my normal dieting history that I would be getting frustrated with the higher weigh-ins - but using trendweight I can see loss patterns emerging so I don't feel disheartened at all. Very jealous of everyone who has an aria scale - but I have a digital scale that works really well, so can't really justify it yet - just means I have to log my weight every day (oh dear first world problem 🙂 . Maybe a Christmas present or maybe a reward for meeting a weight loss goal..... I'm very close to goal number 1 now, 155.  Do I consider that I've hit my goal when I log it into my fitbit or when I hit it on trendweight.....hmmmmm..... anyway, getting ahead of myself it might be a few weeks away yet. Then I can move onto goal/stage number 2!!!!!

Good luck this week everyone with your goals 🙂

[AuroraKat]

@Daves_Not_Here - thank you for your kind words!

If I had to pick one thing that has contributed the most to my progress, it's to have a goal other than the numbers on the scale. When you have a lot to lose, seeing your weight go down at a good clip is definitely motivating. But, weight loss is difficult and, eventually, slows down. Then, of course, we hit maintenance when we don't want to lose anymore. Having a different goal that works in concert with weight loss and weight loss maintenance has really been key for me.

I found out that I love running. I have many goals related to racing, speed, building endurance and strengthening my body. Focusing more on my running goals has re-framed my thinking from "I have to..." to "I want to..." and "I get to...". I no longer think of avoiding junk food as something that I am reluctantly forced to do. I want to do it because I know that there's a better way to fuel my body for fitness. I no longer think of physical activity as something that I have to do. It's something that I get to do because my body is awesome and lets me do all these things that make me feel better both physically and mentally. 

I certainly didn't get to this mind space overnight. And, running is still hard and I am still slow. But, the journey has been truly worth it and I am very thankful for that. 

@Dominique - I actually find it easy to include this much protein in my diet. Staples for me include:

• cottage cheese and greek yogurt (0% fat when I was at lower calorie allowance, 2% fat now)
• chicken breast (I prefer grilling it with spices)
• egg whites (I love making scrambles with various veggies)
• all sorts of seafood (mostly grilled, sometimes stir-fried with very minimal amounts of oil)
• Kashi GoLean cereal (original recipe - has a bunch of protein and fiber; I still love carbs!)
• various protein bars that I use as snacks (I have a huge sweet tooth, so I compromised by finding treats that have protein in them)

Nice benefit of all this protein is that it keeps me fuller longer. I very rarely eat grains anymore - they are just not worth the calories to me. I load up on all sorts of veggies instead. 

As for eating patterns, I generally skip breakfast. I like working out and running on an empty stomach, and I don't feel hungry in the morning regardless. I eat lunch, snack, dinner and then another small meal in the evening. I am most hungry towards the end of the day, so this works perfectly for me. 

@EmjayH - you are doing a great job! I am sure that you will achieve your goals!

[Daves_Not_Here]

Here's the latest -- last 3 or 4 weeks, I've been in and on the edge of ketosis and it seems I'm getting adapted.  Loving the mental clarity and loss of arthritis symptoms.

[Dominique]

@Daves_Not_Here: congrats for the steady loss rate! 30+ in three months, it’s already 12.5% of your starting weight. How long do you plan to continue losing? I do remember you have the upcoming skiing season in sight, but it should be way easier for you to buckle your boots already at your current weight.

[Daves_Not_Here]

@Dominique - Thanks, man!  I figure I'll just keep it going throughout the various activities.  I probably won't hit 160 until spring but going into ski season 50 pounds lighter than last year will be a huge improvement.  You're right about the ski-boots (I can't believe my shoes are actually looser now.  You've got to gain a lot of weight to have fat feet!)

I'm riding a 150 mile event in 3 weeks and it will be good to do that at around 200 pounds versus 240.  You would be proud -- I took your advice to exercise more during the week -- I was out this morning on a ride and my thighs no longer slap my gut!