Lose Weight Support Thread

[k.k.]

May as well post an update on my progress here. Two and a half years ago I topped out at 106kg. I'm now on my third bout of active weight loss since then (with some rather lengthy lapses in the middle ) and down to 94kg. Still a long way to go, but I'm focusing on achievable short-term targets rather than looking at the longer, much more intimidating, picture.

Great stuff Taffy.

[Taffy]

Cheers, k.k. Having done it yourself I'm sure you know the feeling. Even though there's a long way to go to a truly healthy weight, I feel much better already, both physically and psychologically.

[Icon]

Recent update: I have realized I do need to get me new clothes, especially pants. Why? I was delivering some paperwork to the fourth floor and the jeans started a slow descent down the hill... Dangerous.

[k.k.]

Cheers, k.k. Having done it yourself I'm sure you know the feeling. Even though there's a long way to go to a truly healthy weight, I feel much better already, both physically and psychologically.

That's exactly it. Feeling better about yourself mentally and physically is very important. I have more weight to dump too, but it's encouraging to know you can do it and see the progress.

[elburro]

I've been on and off diets/periods of exercising for many years. I recently started using a site called Fitocracy.com to track my exercises, and it's been helping a lot on motivation. It's a social network, but it's based on exercising/working out. Almost stopped using Facebook because of this. (added advantage). It's still in Beta, so they have a few bugs, but I still think it rocks. And it also has an iPhone app that it syncs with.

I'm hoping this is what can bring me down to <10% bodyfat. :P

Shortcut:
http://ftcy.co/HSSsqN

[aahz]

My own progress this last year:
I started working a job that was pretty stressful. I loved my job, no doubt about it, but had no life outside of the classroom. Would work long nights writing tests, thinking of lesson plans, etc... Not go out and hang out with friends or anything social.
What I did manage to do, however, was keep going to the gym...a lot. I went to the gym pretty steadily, Saturday-Sunday 2 times a day, Tuesday-Wednesday 1 time a day, each time going for about 1 3/4's hour, (one hour cardio, the rest doing weightlifting). But the stress and towards the end unhappiness started getting to me. I had dieted successfully and really focused on getting my weight down to 79 kg at its extremely lowest; realized that I should take a break from dieting and steadied at around 84 kg in May of last year. I'm a stressful eater, meaning that when I get stressed I typically would gorge myself, and I drank milk teas and eating occasional gorgetype meals.
Now it's one year later and my weight has gone up to about ~93 kg. So this job made me gain about 9 kilos of weight from stressful eating and late night work and plain unhappiness.
I suppose the lesson of all this is that diet and stress can make a huge influence on your weight. I've continued to go to the gym for ridiculous amounts of time, sometimes to the point of being all-body aching, jogging to 101 and back once a week, none of that helps if you're stuffing naichas down your throat every night.
Now done with that job I've begun the diet again, and it's tricky transitioning. I want to hang out with my friends, and guess what my friends always do when they're together? Drink beer, eat well, and sit around. Of course that's what I love to do as well, too, but I've never really thought about that lifestyle until trying to lose weight so much...

[ksidnas]

Hello,

I am a male, 33 years of age.
Since moving to Taiwan, I've since gained more or less 12 kilos.
Currently I am hovering between 74kilos to 77 kilos.
All of that weight, right to the gut, love handles, and also my sometimes double or triple jaws.
My waist has gone from 30 to 34~36 inches. Or, depending on how long I can hold my breath.
Stress from work is the main contributing factor to how I eat and what I eat.


I have narrowed down my dietary problems down to my sugar intake, as well as what I have for lunch.
Taiwanese food can be very salty, oily, and not so healthy. Not saying that MickeyDs are good, but them cooked vegetables can sure be deceiving. Have cut down from 3 cups of coffees to just 1, may 2 when things get hectic around my cubicle.

I have since put myself on a salad lunch / cold noodle diet for about 3 weeks now. 7/11 have some fresh salads that are just tops (for convenience's sake / in Taiwan at least). I have removed my sugar in terms of the sweet drinks (sweet teas and or sodas). I have lost a good 1.5 kilos, and I see a slightly smaller tummy.

I know I have yet to add any workouts, but I just cant seem to find the time. And having to deflate and inflate really bugs the hell out of me. Yesterday, my wife showed me a picture from just two years ago, I swear I look 5-6 years younger than I do now.

It is really depressing how things got so out of hand.

[Mr He]

Last May, I was what? 96-98kg - not good.

I then got myself a road bike, and started using it, however later I switched over to running, and from Early August through November, I basically ran for one hour every morning.

I did not really go on a diet, however I switched from McD to more salads, changed from toast in the morning to low-fat cereal with no fat milk etc. The result, I got down to 84kg, which is the first time in 10-12 years I have not been overweight.

Over winter it goes as it always go, too cold too many excuses, so I recently started all over again - this time from app 90kg.

My morning run is some 7km, some of it is up hill, and I will have a pulse between 149 and 179 when I do it. I am however somewhat more concerned about hurting myself, I restarted the whole thing 2-3 weeks ago, and do not dare to run every day yet. Am I too conservative?

I have a full size gym in my office, however I prefer to run or go for a bike ride, and would prefer 5 days of exercise a week.

Any suggenstions?

[navillus]

too cold

I have the opposite problem. It's the summers that drag me down. So hot I just want to sit in front of a fan.

I hit an even 100 kg this morning. Down from a my personal record of 109. Been watching what I eat and swimming. That's about all I can do in this heat. This past winter I was doing great, hiking every morning but then started working a morning job and everything went out of control. No more of that.

[Taffy]

I hit an even 100 kg this morning. Down from a my personal record of 109. Been watching what I eat and swimming. That's about all I can do in this heat. This past winter I was doing great, hiking every morning but then started working a morning job and everything went out of control. No more of that.

Congratulations! Even without significant exercise you can bring your weight down just by controlling your calorie intake, so summer doesn't have to be a dead loss. Personally I've found that since I lost 15 kilos I'm a lot happier going out walking or cycling in the hot weather, sweating my arse off, and coming home to a cool shower and a pint of (unsweetened) iced tea. I no longer feel like I want to die in 35º heat, plus on the bike at least you can get a breeze if you build up speed. The Camelbak full of icy water helps a lot too, as does going out first thing/after dark. I've still got another 15 kg to go, but I'm getting there.