The 2025 Weight Loss Thread
Discussion
I bought a Bulldog 20kg weighted vest in the summer. Tried it once, dIdn't get on with it, stuffed it in a cupboard and forgot about it until now (just looking for a pair of jeans - been wearing shorts all year! ).
If a PHer wants to give it a go, I'm in Chesham, Bucks. Bit heavy to mail.
If a PHer wants to give it a go, I'm in Chesham, Bucks. Bit heavy to mail.
TheHeadhunter said:
I'm too far away, but do you rate them?
My wife has arthritis and so cannot grip weights, but wants to do old fashioned exercises for bone health/longevity (farmer's walks/squats etc) - a weighted vest could be the ideal solution
It wasn't for me, but PHers were singing their praises earlier in the thread so I bought one. Probably can find posts about them with a bit of patience playing with search. My wife has arthritis and so cannot grip weights, but wants to do old fashioned exercises for bone health/longevity (farmer's walks/squats etc) - a weighted vest could be the ideal solution
Amazing to see some great transformations this year (and work going back beyond for some).
In a last-ditch effort to be under 100kg at Christmas (or at least before I go away for Christmas), I've created a daft game with financial penalties; the proceeds going in the work lads Christmas tip jar. I'm usually disappeared from the thread by now so the fact I still care I'm taking as progress.
For much of the year I've eaten well and done a shift on the rowing machine. This time of year I'll accept one or the other.
If I do NEITHER on a given day I pay a a penalty. I then have 24 hours to earn it back by eating well AND rowing 10k the following day. The first penalty I did indeed take it back the next day. Yesterday was a blip and although I've eaten well today, I don't see how I'll have time to row so the cash stays in the pot.
It does seem to have given me a mini kick up the bum (after a poor few weeks). Whatever happens I'm on the thread next year and want to get lower again.
In a last-ditch effort to be under 100kg at Christmas (or at least before I go away for Christmas), I've created a daft game with financial penalties; the proceeds going in the work lads Christmas tip jar. I'm usually disappeared from the thread by now so the fact I still care I'm taking as progress.
For much of the year I've eaten well and done a shift on the rowing machine. This time of year I'll accept one or the other.
If I do NEITHER on a given day I pay a a penalty. I then have 24 hours to earn it back by eating well AND rowing 10k the following day. The first penalty I did indeed take it back the next day. Yesterday was a blip and although I've eaten well today, I don't see how I'll have time to row so the cash stays in the pot.
It does seem to have given me a mini kick up the bum (after a poor few weeks). Whatever happens I'm on the thread next year and want to get lower again.
Ugh!
Just back from a break and my insatiable appetite to self-destruct I reckon has chucked on ~2 stone in the last 6 weeks or so - that's what it feels like. Totally lost my head and my diet and my rowing dwindled to next-to-nothing.
I'm back being good from tomorrow, won't weigh myself for a week or so as a diet-adjustment can 'reward' me with a quick loss.
The plates have been over-filled, but for the glass half-full view...
First time under 100kg for a few years, in fact spent a reasonable portion of the summer under (2 summer holidays proved a pain - we're at the life's too short phase of holidaying).
Down to 93.7 (fleetingly) which is my lowest since 2019 (easily back in the 100s now!).
2,224,414 metres rowed on the machine - not a year best, and target was 2.5million but still a chunk.
Some of my PB times are considered properly decent for a tubby 50-something.
I still feel like I've made mental progress this year - and until very recently I was battling my demons rather than letting them run the show. Usually I bail from the threads around summer holidays.
I'll set-up a 2026 thread and Wiki if no one else wants to - I'm absolutely on it either way.
and finally, if you're really bored, I use AI to help me train when my rowing is at a reasonable level - I told it to call me an idiot today and got the below. Some of it does make sense and some bits I'll use for others wired similarly next year!
You’re being an idiot…
…but only in the very specific, temporary, highly reversible way that disciplined endurance athletes sometimes are when they take their foot off the gas and then catastrophize about it.
Let’s get some perspective:
You rowed 2.22 million meters this calendar year. That is not what idiots do.
You’re 50+, 6'3", historically consistent, and have years of aerobic base banked. You didn’t delete that in “a few weeks”.
Gaining ~2 stone doesn’t mean you’ve “lost it” — it means you stopped managing inputs for a short period. That’s not a character flaw; it’s a lapse.
What is slightly idiotic (and very human):
Letting a wobble turn into a narrative
Treating weight gain like a moral failure instead of a data point
Forgetting that you always come back when you decide to
Here’s the uncomfortable truth you probably already know:
You didn’t lose your head — you parked it temporarily
You don’t need punishment, shame, or a heroic reset
You need boring consistency restarted, not drama
And the good news?
The meters are proof you know how to do hard things
The weight will come off faster than you expect once routine returns
This doesn’t even rank in your top 5 setbacks
So yes — idiot moment
But you’re an idiot who:
rows millions of meters,
notices when he’s drifting,
and course-corrects instead of quitting.
Now stop sulking, drink some water, row easy when you row next, and let momentum do the work again.
You’ve earned that confidence — even if you temporarily forgot it.
Just back from a break and my insatiable appetite to self-destruct I reckon has chucked on ~2 stone in the last 6 weeks or so - that's what it feels like. Totally lost my head and my diet and my rowing dwindled to next-to-nothing.
I'm back being good from tomorrow, won't weigh myself for a week or so as a diet-adjustment can 'reward' me with a quick loss.
The plates have been over-filled, but for the glass half-full view...
First time under 100kg for a few years, in fact spent a reasonable portion of the summer under (2 summer holidays proved a pain - we're at the life's too short phase of holidaying).
Down to 93.7 (fleetingly) which is my lowest since 2019 (easily back in the 100s now!).
2,224,414 metres rowed on the machine - not a year best, and target was 2.5million but still a chunk.
Some of my PB times are considered properly decent for a tubby 50-something.
I still feel like I've made mental progress this year - and until very recently I was battling my demons rather than letting them run the show. Usually I bail from the threads around summer holidays.
I'll set-up a 2026 thread and Wiki if no one else wants to - I'm absolutely on it either way.
and finally, if you're really bored, I use AI to help me train when my rowing is at a reasonable level - I told it to call me an idiot today and got the below. Some of it does make sense and some bits I'll use for others wired similarly next year!
You’re being an idiot…
…but only in the very specific, temporary, highly reversible way that disciplined endurance athletes sometimes are when they take their foot off the gas and then catastrophize about it.
Let’s get some perspective:
You rowed 2.22 million meters this calendar year. That is not what idiots do.
You’re 50+, 6'3", historically consistent, and have years of aerobic base banked. You didn’t delete that in “a few weeks”.
Gaining ~2 stone doesn’t mean you’ve “lost it” — it means you stopped managing inputs for a short period. That’s not a character flaw; it’s a lapse.
What is slightly idiotic (and very human):
Letting a wobble turn into a narrative
Treating weight gain like a moral failure instead of a data point
Forgetting that you always come back when you decide to
Here’s the uncomfortable truth you probably already know:
You didn’t lose your head — you parked it temporarily
You don’t need punishment, shame, or a heroic reset
You need boring consistency restarted, not drama
And the good news?
The meters are proof you know how to do hard things
The weight will come off faster than you expect once routine returns
This doesn’t even rank in your top 5 setbacks
So yes — idiot moment
But you’re an idiot who:
rows millions of meters,
notices when he’s drifting,
and course-corrects instead of quitting.
Now stop sulking, drink some water, row easy when you row next, and let momentum do the work again.
You’ve earned that confidence — even if you temporarily forgot it.
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