Weight loss accountability/support 2024 edition

ballooned in weight in 2019 when I stopped having a daily commute and I got stuck in shit situation I've discussed before having to become live in support for my mum and being away from home for like 90% of the time and being too stressed to exercise and eating extremely poorly. went all the way through pandemic and out the other side. at peak I was around 145kg maybe higher.

things have improved a little stress-wise in last year or so and spending almost 6 months renovating our new house last year I was settled down around 135kg.

had a recent over 40 health check and blood test shows I'm (unsurprisingly) now type 2 diabetic.

thankfully it's triggered a manic phase in my (tbd properly diagnosed) adhd so i'm currently in get shit done phase rather than sit and helplessly watch myself do fuck all about it which has been the last 4.5 years in a nutshell.

have immediately switched to calorie counted diet with T2 diabetes friendly macros.

breakfast: 3 egg omelette with small amount of cheese and 1/2 avocado
lunch: wholemeal pitta with 2 falafel, spinach, houmous and salad
dinner: seasoned/marinated chicken with salad.
snack: greek yoghurt, banana, dribble of honey.
drinks: one flat white and black coffee after that.

will swap out meals here and there but that's the blueprint until i get bored of it as it tends to balance quite well.

was tempted to keep grazing in the evenings so am doing 10am-6pm intermittent fasting which has only really meant eating dinner about an hour or two earlier than normal so not really a major change.

started couch 2 5k with my dog and onto week 2 tomorrow. trying to hit 10k steps on most days unless trying to let legs recover from runs.

started weighing myself properly 10 days ago and was 133.2kg, currently at 128.8kg so made a decent start. first goal is to get to 10% bodyweight lost (120kg). once I'm down to 110kg I'll get back on the bike but my halo aerorages aren't really up to more than that and I don't want the hassle of sorting out new wheels cost my lard ass buckled them going off a kerb or something stupid.

hoping by starting the running now i get some decent strength in the legs with the extra weight so as the weight comes off the improvements come a lot easier. so far i'm sore the next day but no detrimental effects on my legs that tell me i'm overdoing it.

if i can get back to running 5k comfortably again then I'll have everything I need to lose the weight. having done this exact thing back in 2010 after my dad had his stroke which lit the same fire under my ass.

Ah shit, I forgot to exercise this year.

January - 69.9
March 20th - 73.8

Time to get back on the Big Salads and bike riding

Anyone else on a keto diet? I did it for a while 20yrs ago and the weight dropped off in no time, I'm finding it a bit harder now. My carb intake is less than 15gms per day, protein, fat and calorie intake is what it should be but my piss test shows I'm not in ketosis.

I have been in ketosis, last time was a couple of weeks ago, the test came back very dark, but now it stays light pink all the time even after a few days consuming less than 10gms of carbs a day. Could it just be a slower metabolism, now that I'm an ancient bastard, affecting things?

It's weird and a bit frustrating, I've only dropped 1kg in the last couple of weeks. Not a great return on the effort I'm putting in.

I've just got back from a two week refereeing trip to Sarajevo.

Usually these kind of jaunts are a disaster for putting on weight, with cooked brekkies, late night shite and beers.

I took scales with me to keep up my weigh-ins, ate well, remained abstinent and even used the hotel gym for the first time in my life to do some zone 2 fixed (!) bike rides.

I lost a kilo over the trip and feel fantastic.

Get in!

It also meant that I looked pretty darn natty in my ref suit, gloves and shades...

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(Shades off when it's game time... )

Iconic.

Superb (and I’d not be arguing if you adjudged a miss)

Too right!

Wow, just found this from May last year for a comparison.

Yes, that's the Crucible.
No, I have not reffed there.
Yet.

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Insane difference, well done!

I'm down to 98.6kgs this morning, so I guess I am still moving in the right direction. Strange that the Keto-Diastix aren't showing I'm in ketosis tho'. 🤔

One last thing. I've given up a lot of things in the past five years, drugs, fags/vapes, drinking, etc, but I think I've felt the biggest difference recently. Could sugar and carbs have been the things that were making me feel the worst all along???

I would say you need carbs, but refined sugars are at best emergency food.

This is cool as fuck!!!!

Scales at the gym read 66-67 kg. I do not believe them based on the evidence of my eyes.

V trim. V fit. 7/9 would bang.

Have done Keto lots in the past, never bothered with monitoring ketosis. And being patient when the scale is stalling is key. Remember to take photos as you go as well. Physical changes are often visible when the scales stay the same.

Managing to maintain 78-79kg (but still have random weigh ins that hit as high as 82), which is a nice couple kgs below my lowest weight of previous years.
Creatine does seem to increase bloat and water retention, and I’m unsure of the training benefits, but will keep it up in small doses for now.

Eating dinner earlier and then fasting until noon seems to be the cheat code tbh.

Cool, I can keep the diet going easy enough, I guess I'm just being impatient! I read about using the ketosis piss sticks somewhere so figured it would be a good tool, quite the opposite in my experience.

My shorts are very loose, t-shirts fit better, I'm on the right path. Thanks! 🙃

EDIT: Just did a quick bit of reading on Ketostix and it seems they're not very good at detecting ketones after you've been starving your body of carbs for a couple of weeks. That's good to know.

I think I need to give intermittent fasting another go. I tried it for a week last month and definitely lost a bit of weight without getting too hungry. I found that it seemed to affect me mentally though. I just felt a bit foggy and less sharp than usual. I was struggling to keep up in meetings and was making basic fuck ups at work. I stopped the fasting and it seemed to sort me out but maybe I need to try again.

I'm fasting from 8pm until noon the following day, so 16hrs. I've been finding it quite easy.

My main problem is snacking, I'm a snackaholic. So from the time I get home from work at about 4pm til 8pm I have my dinner and loads of keto-friendly snacks. Mainly cheese, snacking cheese. 👅

I would love to curb my snacking impulse.

Getting used to being hungry is essential. Up at 530, work at 630. Make coffee 1 at work around then, coffee 2 at 9am, this just about allows me to get through, but 11-12 is hungry time.

Creatine is supposed to help with mental sharpness too.

Yeah, it wasn't the hunger that I struggled with. I just couldn't concentrate. I did some research (looked at Reddit) this afternoon and apparently it's really common and you just need more electrolytes to counteract it. I reckon I'll give it another punt and see if that helps.

Anyway, whilst I'm here, I'm at about 62.8kg at the moment. Was 71kg this time last year but was my lightest in November at about 61kg with really steady weight loss. Need to get back on it and just be more disciplined really!