Weigh-in

The past week has gone really well, I lost 500 grams, which was about what I expected to lose.

On Monday I watched 2012, the film was okay, nothing special but it's the first disaster film I've seen which had a bit of comedy in it.

Wednesday I saw My Sister's Keeper, this upset me a bit, so I felt like a treat, so had a coffee and slice (flour 8). Then I had dinner with a group that I haven't been with in about a year, so I didn't feel bad having pasta (flour 9). After that, I went home and surprise, surprise, had 3 stale biscuits that Becky had lying around (flour 10). I consider that to be brainless eating. It's been a long time since I did that, hopefully it won't happen too often. Because I had flour 3 times on Wednesday, I'll count each individually, since if I don't it's possible for me to have a brainless binge session.

My weight increased by about 1 kilogram after that meal, and stayed that way until about Saturday. The graph shows a maximum daily change of 200 grams (excepting sudden drops such as on Sunday), which is why the whole kilogram is not shown. By the way, I worked out on my spreadsheet that I've been heavier than what I weigh now for over 500 days!

The 100 day challenges are going well, I'm ahead in terms of weight (I should bank it up and use it for Christmas, maybe) and protein is going okay at the moment as well. I've also decided to try the Shangri-lah diet again. You probably won't know what this is, basically you consume extra light olive oil two hours either side of food consumption, holding your nose. Sounds crazy? Sure, but the idea is that since your brain doesn't "know" you have just consumed food, but does notice that you have more available energy in your system, it suppresses appetite. Does it work? I tried it a few years ago, and yes it does work. But being poorly motivated, I didn't really give it a proper go. Now that I'm consuming a lot of olive oil as an energy source (due to being on a low carb diet) it makes sense to try it again. Also I go through periods when I'm really hungry, and those times I get a bit scared that I'll screw up badly.

100 day challenge

Back in September I decided to do a 10 week challenge to lose 9kg. It was unsuccessful, but that was before I was not having flour on a regular basis. Since the removal of flour, things are easier now, because simply, there is far less choice of food to eat, and those foods I do eat are less enjoyable.

I've decided to do two 100 day challenges. The first is to eat 100g of protein each day. I've tried before, and wasn't successful, but I'll just keep trying. If I succeed in eating 10kg of protein consistantly, I'll give myself a holiday in the place I used to go when I was a child.

The other challenge is to see if I can lose 100g a day for 100 days. This is not necessarily hard, but the issue is consistancy, which I am not good on. I'll still have the Monday weigh-ins, but I really want to finish this whole weight loss next year, and I'm starting to slip in terms of the finishing date, which at the moment has moved on to 27th July at the earliest.

How would it work? Simple: today I weigh 88.9kg, I need to lose 100g a day each day. Over that period is both Christmas, New Year and my birthday. What happens if I am over what I should weigh? 1kg or over, I have to start running, 3 hours a week. I've done that before, with no problems. I can also abandon the project but I have to announce it 10 days before stopping. Let's see if I can do it! I'd say that I can do it, the question is will I?

List of rewards

As you may know, about 6 weeks ago I went for a walk up the local hill, the walk was a reward (I haven't done that walk in years) but it started to rain, so I didn't get to finish it. I want to have a reward every kilogram lost, which means that I should have a total of 28 rewards. I've lost 5kg so far, and should have had 5 rewards by now, but it just hasn't happened for some reason. Last week I got my first reward, which was a new pair of jeans. They were on special and I just couldn't resist, I'd planned to get them further into the weight loss but given that they were cheaper than usual, I just decided to start with them. Of course, I can't wear them at the moment, I consider them to be goal jeans. I have the same type and size sitting in my wardrobe, which I haven't worn in 4 years! Has it been that long? They were rather tight when I did buy them, just 9kg over goal. I only wore them for about a month then started gaining. Now I have two pairs, the jeans that I'm wearing now probably won't make it to goal, but that's ok, since I'll start wearing the skinny pairs 9kg/4 months before goal.

What else is planned as rewards? Again, I plan to walk up that hill three times (about 18, 9, 1kg above goal). An eye test, new lenses for my glasses and sunglasses (which I haven't worn in about 4 years) so that's three rewards, going to the local pool and having a ride in the hydroslide (which I haven't done in about 10 years) at 1kg above goal. I also want other experiences, go to a meeting of a group that I've always wanted to find out about, going for a ride in a go-kart (at two different weights), a new digital camera (my current one is great but it's too big).

The biggie at goal weight is an overseas trip. I've never been overseas, which at the age of 45 is crazy. So I want to go somewhere where it is hot, close to the equator. Nearby too. I'm thinking maybe Indonesia, Australia, that sort of thing. Frankly, the hotter the better. I have yet to decide where, it'll be based on a number of factors, which I'll talk through here no doubt. To be honest I'm a bit scared of the whole idea of going to an overseas country where I don't speak the language. No doubt I will get used to the idea, and enjoy the whole experience. Although I am living with my partner Becky, I will be going alone. The reason for this is that it is a reward to myself, for the work that I have done. Also, if we were to decide to go together, then rather than on my own, then weight loss would turn from something I did for myself, into an obligation. My fear is that I would not reach goal, thereby wasting all the money that we'd spent on tickets. As it happens Becky doesn't want to go to somewhere hot, so it's not an issue. I'd love to go overseas with her, but this trip will be for myself.

An overseas trip is quite a reward, but it's not making me lose weight. I know because I've had this idea for some time, and guess what? I put on weight. Unless proven otherwise, the whole four day system of weight loss motivation is the only thing making me lose weight.

Annoying co-worker

On Sunday at work I had an annoying conversation with the woman who sits next to me. I think it started with me asking her how much she thought a young man who also worked there what his age was. Later on in the day she made a statement about him, saying that she thought he was underweight. I was really surprised by this, since he isn't. Sure, he's skinny, but I really don't believe he was underweight. Anyone comparing him with other people at say a university wouldn't think that. How would he compare with me when I reach goal? I have to say, I have no idea. It's been so long since I've been at goal, I just can't remember that much about how I looked. Anyway, so I have been thinking about what happens if she accuses me of being underweight in the future? It's a possibility.

I hope she doesn't because I'll feel insulted if she does. I don't know if that is an over reaction on my part, but if she does, I almost certainly will move to another desk so I don't have to be next to her. I guess that it's a sensitive issue for me because someone is making a judgement about me which is wrong and also of course I don't like. I've been having weight problems for the last 16 years and if she makes a decision about what weight I should or shouldn't be just makes me feel really annoyed. Losing weight is hard work, and for her to make that statement debases that hard work. She has no medical background, her judgement is based on her own experiences and environment. I have been skinny for the first 25 years of my life, no doctor told me that they were concerned about my health due to that, and I have had a few relationships at that weight, where women have found me attractive and wanted to see me naked, neither of those women made any comment about my weight.

I also need to stop drawing attention to myself at work, in regards being on a diet. People are asking how I'm going with it, which in itself is fine, but I need to not show people the level of protein I'm having, since maybe they'll be making judgement comments in six months. This is an easy problem to solve, I'll just have protein in the car just before and after work, with one or two times during work.

Weigh-in

It's Monday, which means that it's my first weigh-in. The last week I have been all over the place in terms of weight, I started having olives, which contain a lot of fat and salt, and had them about 3 days. They are really nice to eat, and because I'm doing the low carb thing at the moment, it's safe for me to eat them. However, my weight increased dramatically, due to unknown reasons (maybe water retention, maybe not) so on Friday it was a mad rush to eat properly, due to having watched Surrogates the previous Sunday, and wanting to watch a few films early on this week. I think I should eat olives every day, any water retention problems would not show themselves if I did that. I'm thinking that my weight will increase this week, because I'm trying to train myself to have 500g of veges each day. Of course I'll lose as well, so the net change will probably be a loss.

I lost 400g this week, weighing in at 88.6kg.

On Thursday I had flour 7 having spent a lot of money on a scanner (the old one died about 8 months ago). I guess I just can't help myself, can I?
I also bought coffee on Thursday.

What to do at maintance?

I've been thinking about how I'm going to stay at goal, given that most people who reach goal eventually bounce back to some degree (myself included, of course). Given what I know about motivation, I think the best way to stay at goal is to use the same motivations that I have been using when losing. Going to the cinema, swimming, coffee and haircuts. I've decided that I am allowed to do all of these only when I am below goal. That may change, but I'm hoping it won't. People who are successfully at goal usually have some weight value that when they reach it, it sets off warning bells, so I'm thinking why not just use goal weight? Being a kilogram or two below goal weight isn't a big deal. I need to weigh myself regularly of course, based on my own experience, when I don't weigh myself, I gain, it's a reasonably good correlation. So if I buy coffee at the supermarket, go to see a film, go swimming, or have a haircut, I need to have weighed myself that day and been below 66kg.

On another subject, I've been struggling with caffeine addiction for a long, long time. It makes me tired the day after I have some, it's addictive and it generally isn't worth it. Yesterday I had some Coke and I'm hoping that is the last caffeine I have for a long time. The longest I've been without caffeine is 2 years, that was 10 years ago. Can I do it again? I'm sure I can if I control cravings. Last time, I controlled cravings by eating chocolate. When I say to myself "just one drink can't hurt" it's time to go and buy a small block of chocolate. Previous experience shows that the cravings can last up to 6 months.

5kg lost, 23kg to go

Another kilogram down. I'm really getting into the hang of things, and I don't see any reduction in motivation, which is really great. I've been wondering when I'll finish this weight loss, I really tried to not work it out, since I've been doing this for the last 9 years and haven't been successful. Anyway, mid July is the current earliest date. I did think about exercising to speed up the process, but in order to cut out 90 days of waiting to reach goal, I'd have to exercise by my calculations, about 140 hours, it's just not worth it.

I have decided to have a weekly weigh in, rather than when I lose each kilogram. That day is Monday, which coincides with this current kilogram loss. I saw a few films, nothing special though, although I really enjoy going out and seeing them, it makes my day really.

Things about the last kilogram are:
28th Oct had flour 3 due to celebrate the end of stress (yay!)
29th Oct had flour 4 due to a six monthly thing that helps me a lot (can't say what, sorry)
31st Oct had flour 5, helped someone shift, and we had bread and sparkling wine afterwards. I didn't have much bread but it still counts
7th Nov flour 6 felt like a treat because I had a large purchase

So it the last month, I've had flour 6 times! This is much, much more than I expected. I'm not sure when the next time I'll have flour is, but it'll hopefully not be in the next month.