14th April 2014

What is the significance of this date? It's the date that I expect to be at goal if I continue at the rate I've been losing in the last 30 days. While theoretically reaching goal 3 years away is still reaching goal, it's way too far away, I want to bring into the whole losing weight this theoretical date, and see what I can do with it.

Yes, I am losing. It's just too slow for my liking. On a positive note, I haven't gained in 10 months, which is a pretty long time. That shows that I'm less likely to rebound. I'm thinking the longer since I've gained, the less chance I'll rebound, which is what I'm concerned about. Also, from the 495 people who weighed in at the start of the year in the group I belong to, about 150 will have had 3 consecutive losses by mid February. I'm one of them.

I'm still not recording what I'm exercising and excess eating. I really need to work on that.

The whole no-sugar thing is working well, I've had sugar twice since I started the no sugar challenge, so $30 has been given away. That's $30 more than I could have given, but it's fair to say that I'm changing my behaviour. I still have cravings, but they aren't worth $15 most of the time.

I'm also concentrating on my diet. Each day I have to reduce something that I normally eat, until it's obvious that I'm not eating enough, then increase things a bit. I figure that'll take about a week.

Sugar free challenge

After posting my blog entry last night, I got depressed. Thinking about the whole struggle that I've been having, not just recently but in the last 20 years. It got me down. But I started thinking about how I could increase the chances of success.

It's obvious that I'm a 'treater'. I feel the need to treat myself for many things which really, aren't worth treating for. Food is the treat. Usually it's sugar related. That's my weakness - sugar.

I've been a month without sugar before, and it didn't do me any harm. I've decided to go sugar free again, from today until the end of March. I'm allowed sugar on the following days:

My birthday

Becky's birthday

Becky's sister's birthday (I'm not sure if we're seeing her that day so it may not be used)

Becky's sister's graduation day

The point where I'm halfway through my weight loss.

That averages about once every 10 days, which is quite a lot, but I probably won't have much to eat for the days related to Becky's sister. I'm not allowed any sugar (cane sugar related products) until the start of April. If I have some with the exception of those days, I have to give away $15. I really want to see how long I can last without sugar. BTW, the giving money away thing is working because I haven't been into a takeaway shop or had ice cream since posting recently. That part is working, definitely.

I'm struggling

There's no denying that at the moment, I'm struggling with losing weight. I am hovering around 83-84kg, and have been doing so for the last 5 months. What will get me started again?

I'm hoping that the weight spreadsheet which one social bookmarking website has started will help. At the start of the year, 495 people added their weight. That's quite a lot, and will be a good example of seeing how everyone goes. I expect only about 10 percent to be good at losing, but that's just the way it is. My goal was to lose every weigh-in, which happens twice a month. Mid January 204 people had lost, followed by 174 at the start of February. The next weigh-in is in 6 days, and I'm making a real effort to lose again, which means going low carb. I've already started. I'm sure things will be ok.

Anyway, once the weigh-in is over, I'll go back to medium carb and start doing what needs to be done. The second half of February is going to be hard though, because both Becky and my birthday are in it. I don't eat a lot on my birthday, but I do eat more than usual.

It occurred to me that maybe I should try and see if I can improve my swimming times. Because I generally swim twice a day, in the morning I'll try for a fast time, and in the evening I'll just do my normal swim. Tuesday 8th I did 30 lengths in 25 min, 51.29 seconds.

In addition, if I eat anything outside my normal planned food intake, I'll post it here, together with exercise done. That's the only way. I've also thrown away my current set of jeans. They could have lasted a few more kilograms, but I want to motivate myself to continue losing. In the interim I've only got some other pants which are slightly uncomfortable when sitting down for long periods. That will help somewhat, I hope.