This week felt good, I am now well used to my grinding 'exercise 3-4 times a day' routine and feeling good. My weight has been my focus this week though. I have finally reached what I believe is my ideal weight and so now I have to work on stabilizing it... I started really working on my weight about 3 years ago.
There is a magic number on the scale that, when you reach it, it triggers a realization, a motivation, a decision for drastic and irreversible action. For me that number was 75kg (165 lbs) ( I am 5'8 ).
Coincidentally (or maybe not), it is about at that time that I ran my first marathon. After my first marathon, and my perceived counter performance I decided it was really time for action.
Weight control has really no big secret for me now. I have consistently and slowly shedded pounds and after nearly 3 years, I have finally reached what I feel is my absolute high form weight. Meaning, that I think that if I lose more weight I will start seeing diminishing returns. I am now 135lbs and feeling great.
My method was not to exercise like crazy in order to lose the weight. In fact when I exercise a lot, I get so hungry that it becomes more difficult to control my intake sometimes.
The tools I used to manage my weight were:
1) Track and measure my weight daily.
"If you measure it, it WILL improve"
Yes daily. Of course the weight varies daily based on transit, food intake, hydration level, so I am not too worried about any one weight reading but I found that to wait one full week to measure my weight is too long to keep me focused on it and motivated. Taking my weight every morning at the same time has become a ritual (no, not an obsession) that I've come to look forward to.
To track my weight, I use the body fat scale Withings which uploads all my weight / body fat measurements wirelessly and automatically to my phone without having me to remember to do it. It's great because it allowed me to keep a detailed record of my daily weight for 3 years now almost without interruption.
In addition to the Withings record, I log my weight daily on an excel sheet.
I have set up the excel sheet with a chart with a "goal" weight line that guides my weight loss on a day to day basis. Basically, if I am under the line, I am doing good, and above, not so much. But the other purpose of the line is to ensure I do not lose weight too fast! It can be tempting and rewarding to shed 30 lbs in a month but if I want to keep the weight off, that is exactly what I want to avoid. In fact, the best statistical predictor of long term weight gain is people who do diets. My method calls for a long term plan for weight loss. This is NOT a diet and is absolutely sustainable ( I've been doing it for 3 years). Also by starving myself, I'd have no energy to be able to continue working out and my metabolism would quickly shut down, disposing of as much muscle mass as possible to save energy, making more weight loss a lot harder.
There is a magic number on the scale that, when you reach it, it triggers a realization, a motivation, a decision for drastic and irreversible action. For me that number was 75kg (165 lbs) ( I am 5'8 ).
Coincidentally (or maybe not), it is about at that time that I ran my first marathon. After my first marathon, and my perceived counter performance I decided it was really time for action.
Weight control has really no big secret for me now. I have consistently and slowly shedded pounds and after nearly 3 years, I have finally reached what I feel is my absolute high form weight. Meaning, that I think that if I lose more weight I will start seeing diminishing returns. I am now 135lbs and feeling great.
My method was not to exercise like crazy in order to lose the weight. In fact when I exercise a lot, I get so hungry that it becomes more difficult to control my intake sometimes.
The tools I used to manage my weight were:
1) Track and measure my weight daily.
"If you measure it, it WILL improve"
Yes daily. Of course the weight varies daily based on transit, food intake, hydration level, so I am not too worried about any one weight reading but I found that to wait one full week to measure my weight is too long to keep me focused on it and motivated. Taking my weight every morning at the same time has become a ritual (no, not an obsession) that I've come to look forward to.
To track my weight, I use the body fat scale Withings which uploads all my weight / body fat measurements wirelessly and automatically to my phone without having me to remember to do it. It's great because it allowed me to keep a detailed record of my daily weight for 3 years now almost without interruption.
In addition to the Withings record, I log my weight daily on an excel sheet.
I have set up the excel sheet with a chart with a "goal" weight line that guides my weight loss on a day to day basis. Basically, if I am under the line, I am doing good, and above, not so much. But the other purpose of the line is to ensure I do not lose weight too fast! It can be tempting and rewarding to shed 30 lbs in a month but if I want to keep the weight off, that is exactly what I want to avoid. In fact, the best statistical predictor of long term weight gain is people who do diets. My method calls for a long term plan for weight loss. This is NOT a diet and is absolutely sustainable ( I've been doing it for 3 years). Also by starving myself, I'd have no energy to be able to continue working out and my metabolism would quickly shut down, disposing of as much muscle mass as possible to save energy, making more weight loss a lot harder.
My daily excel chart: Red line: Actual weight measurement - Bright red line: trend line - Blue Line: goal weight
2) Evaluate my daily calorie needs.
In order to do that, I visited a nutritionist and did a test to evaluate my basal metabolic energetic consumption. Basically, if I stayed in bed all day, what would my body require in terms of calories to maintain its weight.
Before doing that though, I used the rule of thumb of 2000 kcal daily which for me is pretty spot on. If you are heavier, more muscular .etc you might be more around 2500, if you a tiny woman maybe 1500, but without sophisticated testing and a bit of reading you can get pretty close to your actual needs.
3) Measure food intake
Here is the thing... To lose weight is an extremely simple mathematical proposition: total calorie intake < total calorie needs.
I use a 200 to 300 calorie deficit per day to lose weight. This is slow progress, but if you track the weight loss, it keeps you focused.
My calorie need is 2000 - 300=1700 calorie budget per day
I used a kitchen scale with 0.1 g accuracy and started measuring precisely my food intake and by reference to an online database, evaluated precisely my calorie intake.
This process really feels daunting to most newcomers. A lot of people that approached me about weight loss, were allergic to the idea of following such an apparently obsessive habit. But the goal is to (re)educate yourself to proper portion control. As my mother used to tell me: " your eyes are always bigger than your stomach..."
A friend of mine who wanted to lose weight to start running and exercising more, could not understand why he could not lose weight easily. He reported eating only salads for lunches and generally light meals. He laughed at me when I suggested that he should measure his food intake. But I convinced him to do it for just one week. After doing it for only 5 days, he told me it really opened his eyes. The addition of various oily condiments to his salads, a few high calories muffins, cookies here and there and he was easily reaching 3000 cal/day.
With a few adjustments, he maintained the same type of diet he was used to, never feeling hungry but managed to lose 20 lbs last year.
It is virtually impossible to lose weight if you do not understand your calorie intake.
To help me I used some applications on my smartphone which made the process of establishing a calorie budget and entering the food consumption fairly effortless. You can actually scan the bar code of the item you are eating and it logs it in. Awesome!. One more excuse you can't have...
Fatsecret was my favorite app, but there are a lot of other just as competent apps out there : Myfitnesspal and a bunch of others.
In order to do that, I visited a nutritionist and did a test to evaluate my basal metabolic energetic consumption. Basically, if I stayed in bed all day, what would my body require in terms of calories to maintain its weight.
Before doing that though, I used the rule of thumb of 2000 kcal daily which for me is pretty spot on. If you are heavier, more muscular .etc you might be more around 2500, if you a tiny woman maybe 1500, but without sophisticated testing and a bit of reading you can get pretty close to your actual needs.
3) Measure food intake
Here is the thing... To lose weight is an extremely simple mathematical proposition: total calorie intake < total calorie needs.
I use a 200 to 300 calorie deficit per day to lose weight. This is slow progress, but if you track the weight loss, it keeps you focused.
My calorie need is 2000 - 300=1700 calorie budget per day
I used a kitchen scale with 0.1 g accuracy and started measuring precisely my food intake and by reference to an online database, evaluated precisely my calorie intake.
This process really feels daunting to most newcomers. A lot of people that approached me about weight loss, were allergic to the idea of following such an apparently obsessive habit. But the goal is to (re)educate yourself to proper portion control. As my mother used to tell me: " your eyes are always bigger than your stomach..."
A friend of mine who wanted to lose weight to start running and exercising more, could not understand why he could not lose weight easily. He reported eating only salads for lunches and generally light meals. He laughed at me when I suggested that he should measure his food intake. But I convinced him to do it for just one week. After doing it for only 5 days, he told me it really opened his eyes. The addition of various oily condiments to his salads, a few high calories muffins, cookies here and there and he was easily reaching 3000 cal/day.
With a few adjustments, he maintained the same type of diet he was used to, never feeling hungry but managed to lose 20 lbs last year.
It is virtually impossible to lose weight if you do not understand your calorie intake.
To help me I used some applications on my smartphone which made the process of establishing a calorie budget and entering the food consumption fairly effortless. You can actually scan the bar code of the item you are eating and it logs it in. Awesome!. One more excuse you can't have...
Fatsecret was my favorite app, but there are a lot of other just as competent apps out there : Myfitnesspal and a bunch of others.
My favorite calorie budgeting app: FatSecret
The best ting is that after just a few weeks, you don't need to use these apps anymore. Now, I am so aware and educated to my portions that I can keep a mental tally of the calories for each meal of the day. Ex: for lunch I've decided that my budget should be about 750 cal. When I go to lunch, I''ll buy items that fit that budget. Even if I have to go to McDonald's I can request a calorie brochure (any chain is required to have them now) and I'll know exactly what I should order to fit that budget.
Quality vs Quantity
This methodical approach will allow anyone to lose weight gently and surely regardless of the quality of the food intake. However, for increased performance in sport and generally speaking for a healthier life, most of these calories should come from higher quality nutrients. (ex: prefer fish protein than red meat protein, eat fruit rather than candy...). But in order to just lose the pounds, the harsh reality of calorie density is the only thing that matters. In other words, you can go on a chocolate bar only diet and you'll lose weight provided you don't exceed your calorie needs.
But one thing is key. To remain thin your diet must be sustainable. In other words, if you feel that you are doing a diet day after day, it is very unlikely to work and in the long run, and you are likely to re-gain more weight than you started with. An effective diet should feel like it is not a diet.
Diet while exercising.
Wanting to lose weight while exercising is more challenging than a simple diet. I know it has been a challenge for me to control my food intake after an 18 mile run. I can feel so ravenous, that any attempts to control the intake is futile. When I hear people say that they want to start exercising again so they can lose weight, I never quite understand. In my opinion it is a lot more difficult to lose weight while exercising.
I found 2 strategies to help with this.
1) Adapt (i.e. increase) my food intake in the meal prior to the exercise session so I don't starve by the end of the session. This in itself can be challenging, because if you eat too much, it can make the exercise miserable. There is definitely some experimentation to do there. The main thing I know is that if I let myself starve and actual feel very hungry during an endurance session, it will be very hard to control the food intake afterwards.
I have actually gone shopping for groceries after a long run where I had been starving and found myself buying anything in sight...
2) Evaluate the energy consumed during exercise so you can compensate for that (no more and no less). I can be tempting to use exercise as a calorie drain to lose weight but again, it is not sustainable. I found that staying around 200 - 400 calorie deficit per day works best. Besides, not refueling properly after exercise undermines the quality of the recovery and therefore the benefits of the workout.
In fact, for me, the real goal was never weight loss. And maybe this is why I managed to control my weight for many months even though I can easily over-eat. What I found is that I've always thought of weight control as a means to perform better in sports.
When I watch the champion ironmen on TV, there is no denying that they all share similar bodily proportions. And if weight control is a way to get a performance just a bit closer to theirs... Well that's what I'll do!
Quality vs Quantity
This methodical approach will allow anyone to lose weight gently and surely regardless of the quality of the food intake. However, for increased performance in sport and generally speaking for a healthier life, most of these calories should come from higher quality nutrients. (ex: prefer fish protein than red meat protein, eat fruit rather than candy...). But in order to just lose the pounds, the harsh reality of calorie density is the only thing that matters. In other words, you can go on a chocolate bar only diet and you'll lose weight provided you don't exceed your calorie needs.
But one thing is key. To remain thin your diet must be sustainable. In other words, if you feel that you are doing a diet day after day, it is very unlikely to work and in the long run, and you are likely to re-gain more weight than you started with. An effective diet should feel like it is not a diet.
Diet while exercising.
Wanting to lose weight while exercising is more challenging than a simple diet. I know it has been a challenge for me to control my food intake after an 18 mile run. I can feel so ravenous, that any attempts to control the intake is futile. When I hear people say that they want to start exercising again so they can lose weight, I never quite understand. In my opinion it is a lot more difficult to lose weight while exercising.
I found 2 strategies to help with this.
1) Adapt (i.e. increase) my food intake in the meal prior to the exercise session so I don't starve by the end of the session. This in itself can be challenging, because if you eat too much, it can make the exercise miserable. There is definitely some experimentation to do there. The main thing I know is that if I let myself starve and actual feel very hungry during an endurance session, it will be very hard to control the food intake afterwards.
I have actually gone shopping for groceries after a long run where I had been starving and found myself buying anything in sight...
2) Evaluate the energy consumed during exercise so you can compensate for that (no more and no less). I can be tempting to use exercise as a calorie drain to lose weight but again, it is not sustainable. I found that staying around 200 - 400 calorie deficit per day works best. Besides, not refueling properly after exercise undermines the quality of the recovery and therefore the benefits of the workout.
In fact, for me, the real goal was never weight loss. And maybe this is why I managed to control my weight for many months even though I can easily over-eat. What I found is that I've always thought of weight control as a means to perform better in sports.
When I watch the champion ironmen on TV, there is no denying that they all share similar bodily proportions. And if weight control is a way to get a performance just a bit closer to theirs... Well that's what I'll do!
