Countdown to success

I am now within sight of  reaching my first goal which is to lose 10kg.  From the weight-tracker graph, I have calculated that S-day ('S' for success day) should occur somewhere between Monday and Friday of week seven. When it happens I will post a new photo on the blog-site to record and celebrate my first success.

When I look back at the path of the graph it shows anything but a smooth and well-controlled reduction. The week I had in Auckland resulted in an unexpected plateau but at least I maintained what I had achieved. I remember at the start of this project, calculating a 38 day time frame to lose 30kg. That was totally unrealistic but  it got me heading in the right direction. At the moment it looks more like being 22 weeks but it doesn't really matter because downwards progress is still happening and, psychologically, I feel in great shape to press ahead with the second goal which is to lose another 10kg.  I managed to get to the gym 3 times last week for a 30-45 minute workout and I expect to do better this week without the long weekend break.

Next blog: More ideas for dinner.

Down and sideways

It is now exactly one calendar month since I started my weigh-loss project so it is time to write a report and review my progress. 


As of this morning's weigh-in I have shed very nearly 7kg (15.2lb) in 30 days and  I am very pleased with the result. I have stuck reasonably closely to the eating plan which I have described in these blogs always striving to keep a very low carbohydrate content and also keeping up the proteins, veges and salads.

I had a week away from home base a couple of weeks ago  and while I watched my food intake closely it was not always easy to keep to a "perfect" eating plan. As a result I hit a plateau which proved a bit harder to budge than I anticipated . At least I managed to hold on to my "weight-loss" and did not reverse any previous gains. Last weekend was another three days away from home and while the weight continued to fall off me it slowed down measurably. I have climbed back "on the waggon" since and I have now brought my carb eating back to the the tolerance which  I know my body  can sustain so I have seen a couple of encouraging days' results. 


 I have decided that I need to add more exercise to the weight-loss project. At the start of January I was doing a lot of house maintenance and I think a decrease in physical activity is one of the reasons my weight-loss rate has dropped back. Yesterday I took out a one month gym membership and started at 6:55 this morning on a routine. I had hoped that by managing my eating I would achieve success without the need for specific exercise activities apart from walking but it is time to  "bite the bullet.". It will be interesting to see what  3 or 4 mornings at the gym  does to the weight-loss graph in the next 4 weeks.

How do we do lunch?

If we had eggs for breakfast we need to think about trying something different for lunch. If not, we could do omelettes which go well with almost anything...tomatoes, cheese and avacardo is delicious, mushrooms, red peppers, ham. Make it up as the fancy takes you. It is probably wise not to exceed two eggs per day, besides, eating eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner could get very tedious. 

I think we need to take a few lessons from the great masters of the salad for lunch...Subway (minus the fresh  bread)-Yes, I know the buns are very tempting! Actually Subway do very nice salads with any of their meat, fish protein add-ons. You do pay a bit more for them than if you simply get the salad roll version but the quantity is almost enough for two people or two meals.  I have often thought, "Why does Subway seem so delicious when the salads that I make at home can be so BORING." I think the answer has a couple of  answers. Firstly, any food which you don't have to prepare for yourself always tastes better and, secondly, Subway have such GREAT VARIETY on offer. 

The old proverb says, "If you can't beat them, join them!" I am not suggesting that we should all get a job at a Subway franchise but we can copy their formula for success. A colleague who regularly took salads to work for lunch used to prepare little containers of grated carrot and grated cheese, peppers  gherkin, cucumber and whatever else she fancied on Sunday night. These containers were kept in the fridge so they could be used to make up a quick salad to take to work each day. Tuna or salmon comes in convenient little tins and a few slices of ham  or other meat is not too expensive and is easy to add later.

The real challenge for some of us is getting used to eating salad. Lettuce does have a way of getting tedious. I am afraid it is really a matter of reducating our palettes. I used to loath cucumber which some people eat in great chunks but persistence has now enabled me to include them without prejudice. If you need to educate yourself eat the Subway lunch with the delicious buns until you think you can manage without it :-) If we stoop to punishing ourselves with our eating we are destined to fail.

Next blog: How goes the dieting?

What's for breakfast?

Is there a secret weapon in the war against obesity? Is there some new, super-drug that simply melts away all the excess fat leaving a slim, athletic body in its wake? Not that I have heard, but there is a close runner up...eggs!

There is a lot of research available  which proves, conclusively, that eating two eggs for breakfast is a huge factor in assisting obese people to lose those excess kilogrammes. A study from 2008 which was published in the International Journal of Obesity compared people who ate a Bagel breakfast with those who ate two eggs. The egg-for-breakfast eaters lost 65% more weight and experienced a 61% reduction in their BMI. They reported being more satisfied, having more energy and consuming less calories in the following meal. While I am not into calorie-counting the befit of eating eggs for breakfast obviously applies regardless of the type of diet we choose to follow

Yummy!

It is easy to avoid boredom with eggs. They can be eaten raw (kidding!) poached, fried, scrambled, or as an omelette. They also benefit by being eaten with something like tomatoes, bacon, small breakfast sausages, chopped peppers, mushrooms, onions,  spinach or anything else which takes your fancy. 

At one time people often avoided eggs because of their supposed high-cholesterol contents. More recent medical opinion confirms that two eggs per day is a safe, nutritional food. Here is a useful link:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/epr-awe080408.php
Apologies  :-(
I have just realised that the email contact I posted  a while ago was incorrect. If you want to contact me or get a copy of the much-vaunted spreadsheet the correct email address is: weight2012@gmail.com
I  look forward to hearing from you :-)

Identifying some dietary options.

In today's blog I am going to investigate three of today’s leaders in commercial culinary excellence. Let’s visit them one at a time...

First stop, the Big ‘M’.

“Good evening, Sir. What will your order be today?”

“Hi, I’ll go for a double beef burger with extra cheese ...but no fries “

“Anything to drink, Sir?”

“I’ll have water instead of Coke.”

“That’ll be a dollar extra, sir”

“OK, but I won’t have the bread buns...”

“Sorry Sir, we don’t do that.”

Looks like we will be paying for stuff we can’t eat! :-(

Next stop, Wendy’s.

“Good evening, Sir. What will your order be today?”

“I’ll have a small chilli and a side salad.”

“Do you want a baked potato and sour cream with your order, Sir?”

“Um...No thanks.”

“Anything to drink, Sir?”

“Do you do water?”

“That’ll be a dollar extra, sir”

“OK, I’ll leave it.”

Delicious! :-)

Finally,  let’s visit Nando’s.

“Good evening, Sir. What will your order be today?”

“I’ll have a Half chicken with a side of Garden salad

...No, make it a Quarter chicken and a Mediterranean salad.”

“Certainly, Sir?”

“Do you want fries with your order, Sir?”

“No thanks.”

Also, delicious! :-)

OK,  we have learned quite a bit in our quick visits. Say, "No" to the carbs (especially the fries and bread buns :-() Say, "Yes" to the good quality salads and enjoy your choice of high protein meats. We have also learned that you can eat out in most of  these chain restaurants and still enjoy delicious and healthy options.

Next blog: What shall we eat for breakfast?

“To weigh daily...or not to weigh daily?”

There seems to be as many views on what is the best way to achieve weight loss as there are people who offer their opinions. I respect anyone who has achieved notable success  but sometimes it seems that people who have either never had to consciously control their weight or have not succeeded in their efforts have the strongest views. The theory is fine but successful results are all that really matter.

One of the debates that I have enjoyed recently is with friends who shake their heads in dismay at the thought of taking weigh-ins so seriously. In their opinion daily weight recording is overdoing it. Daily weight measurement is a key element in my weight-loss project simply because I have found that it really is possible to make measureable progress on a daily basis. It seems quite pointless to be committed to any weight-loss programme that moves forward so slowly that you can’t measure it. “Significant weight-loss” is my primary goal so success has to occur within a real, measurable time-frame.

14-day weight-loss pattern (Jan 16, 2012)

A second reason for continuing with daily weight recording is so  that I can monitor my occasional “failures.” I want to learn how dietary changes alter my rate of weight-loss. Since I keep a daily food-log of everything I eat I also record any departures from my basic routine. In the first 14 days of this project I have experienced two small “blow-outs” when the presence of dinner guests has tempted me with delicious desserts (in small amounts!) and the occasional wine or fruit juice. 


On both occasions I have recorded a daily weight gain the following morning and it has taken me two days to recover my forward momentum (see the above extract of my weight-loss chart). Does this temporary set-back matter? Not really!  Certainly, it pushes my timeframes out by a few days but I now know what to expect next  time I deviate from my regular eating pattern. I know it will take two days of careful eating to get back on track. I am learning all the time how my body deals with food and, in the longer term, that is very important. Without the benefit of my daily weight chart I would not be able to detect these changes. “If you don’t measure it, you cannot change it.”

Next blog: How to avoid starvation but still lose weight.”

The Weight-tracker spreadsheet (Part 2)

Today  I want to present another useful  function of my Weight-tracker Excel spreadsheet.

In my previous blog I introduced what I called a regression line (Excel calls it a trendline). At the point where the trendline intersects the horizontal axis of my weight chart I can read off an estimate of the number of days it should take for me to reach my goal weight (at the current rate of weight-loss). I have not come across anything like it in other web pages but I expect it to be a good motivator to help me keep me to a realistic time-frame..


Each time I enter a new weight Excel recalculates and redraws the trendline so the projected date of completion will change (usually, quite significantly in the early days of  record keeping). To keep track of this constantly changing information I have to enter each day’s “intersection” manually in Table B. The graphic (left) shows my Table B results for the first 14 days of my weight-loss project. 


This same data is automatically plotted on a second chart which has the title “Expectation graph/days.” This graph gives me a statistically accurate idea of the real time it will probably take to reach my goal weight. (I am looking for a consistent, flattened graph over a longer time period) . 

You can see from the graph (below) of my last 14 day’s entries that my early expectations were quite unrealistic because there was very little data for the program to use. Currently 78 days is my goal date and I expect it to increase slowly settle at around 80-90 days.

I hope you can follow this rather technical  explanation.

If you would like a copy of my spreadsheet simply email me at weight2012@gmail.com and I will send you a copy, PLUS I have prepared a Word document called Readme(Excel) which will guide you step-by-step in customising the spreadsheet to suit your own goals. If you do decide  to try it out I would appreciate feedback on how it works for you. You can send me your story as an e-mail or make a comment on this blog. If I think it is helpful for others I will publish it.

In the next blog I want to look at the question, “How often should we weigh ourselves?”