PH Losers 2020 - Anyone want to join me?

[Funk]

Took it upon myself to start the '2020 weight loss' thread...

2020 wiki table is here.

I started my weight loss in August and had a good 4 months at the back end of 2019, losing 4st 5lbs/27.7kg and I'm planning to lose a further 7st 12lbs/50kg in 2020. I've been going to Slimming World and regular gym sessions, signing up with a personal trainer about 6 weeks ago (I've committed to a further 24 sessions in 2020 already).

Here's the progress I made last year:



I'm not sure whether to 'reset' my loss on the Wiki table and go from now - what do others think? Rolling achievement to date or from the 1/1/2020?

I found the 2019 thread really motivating so hopefully others will find the same support and encouragement here too!

Edited by Funk on Wednesday 1st January 23:10

[Funk]

Good to see you all here, it really does help to know that others are in the same boat and we're all willing each other to succeed!

scottydoesntknow said:

You’ve lost more than a bag of cement. Don’t reset anything. Leave it as a reminder of what you’re capable of doing. Well done

Cheers fella, it's very motivational to see the results so I think I'll do the rolling total with the start date set to August.

Robmarriott said:

I’m in again but I hope not to be as active as last year. I think I’m going to cut down to weighing every two weeks, rather than weekly.

I start the year on 85.5kg (down from 116.1 this time last year... anyone who needs a bit of encouragement, this thread works wonders!)

My aim is 79kg, I don’t want to be any lower than that really but I do want to lose the roll of fat around my belly which doesn’t seem to want to go away.

Thank you again to anyone who contributed to the thread last year, having other people doing something similar is more helpful than I could have imagined

Rob, I think you should do the same as me - track your overall success since you started? Your achievement last year was amazing (30kg loss!!); you're a huge inspiration mate and I've no doubt you'll hit your 79kg goal.

[Funk]

22 said:

Good luck folks. I did/am doing really well on slimming world, my sticker collection now includes "man of the year" although there's not exactly much male competition in the group. I didn't turn up for 'Mr Sleek' week as was a theme developing! One of the girls who joined at the same time of me is now a 'consultant' but I think it's almost pyramid-esque as a format.

Can I just say please support everyone losing weight, whichever way. I got some stick last year for stuffing spuds and pasta (& how!!) on slimming world and doing reasonably well; the keto guys didn't seem to accept it was possible.

I'm doing Slimming World too so you won't hear any discouragement from me on that front - in fact I'd say it's been instrumental in helping me lose the weight I have whilst keeping things balanced and varied. The Syns are the bit that give you the leeway to have a bit of something bad each day but within reason.

However, it's not just about that really, I've found SW has gradually shaped my choices toward healthier options overall; for example, I can have a 100g bar of Toblerone a day (26 Syns) if I want to and indeed there are a couple in the fridge as I type. However, they've been there nearly a week now and I often find myself preferring to choose something like 0% fat greek yoghurt with some blueberries, bananas, grapes or raspberries chucked in with a small drizzle of honey instead. A bar of Toblerone wouldn't usually have even made it as far as the fridge in the 'old days'!

By the way - if anyone hasn't yet added themselves to the Wiki, the link is here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Shout (or post the details here) if you need any help with the formatting and I'll add you in.

[Funk]

Steve91 and TR7V8 - you've added yourselves to the old 2019 wiki, not the 2020 wiki. I've added you both to the new one - hope that's OK? If you want to reset numbers please do...

The link for the 2020 one is here.

I weigh in at Slimming World every Monday night so it's their number I'll update with, either late Monday or on Tuesday at some stage.

My situation is also a little trickier though as it's entirely possible that any fat loss may well be offset by muscle gains at present but the overall trend should still be a downward one for me! I'm seeing really good strength gains at the moment, especially on legs and back. Shoulders, chest and arms are taking a little more time to get the message...

Edited by Funk on Wednesday 1st January 23:16

[Funk]

AJB88 said:

Funk I reckon you should also do a 2020 line so people can see this years progress as well as the total?

Good idea, I think I can just add an extra column in to tweak it; should be slightly neater...

Edited by Funk on Thursday 2nd January 13:21

[Funk]

Funk said:

AJB88 said:

Funk I reckon you should also do a 2020 line so people can see this years progress as well as the total?

Good idea, I think I can just add an extra column in to tweak it; should be slightly neater...

Ok, have added a 'lost to date' column at the end for the rolling total - how does that look to everyone?

scjgreen - I've altered your line too to match the new layout, are you happy with that?

Edited by Funk on Thursday 2nd January 13:31

[Funk]

Looks like the following folks need to add themselves to the Wiki (or post their current height/weight stats here and I'll add them in):

MB140
500 Miles
GloverMart
vladcjelli
giblet
FredAstaire
daveenty
A.J.M
No_Idea
extraT
oldbanger
AJB88


Based on the info they've provided in the thread I've added:

ambuletz
Coin Slot
ikemi
Sammo123
lrdisco
S100HP

[Funk]

vladcjelli said:

My stats for the wiki,

127kg at 02/01/20 5ft11 no drinking, reduce carbs as low as possible, exercise bike as often as possible

Is that all it needs?

Added!

Dissident Dragon said:

Can a long time lurker join?
<snip>
Can I be added to the list by someone more capable than me?

Absolutely, I've added you to the Wiki! There's actually a thread started yesterday re. PF and potential solutions; might be helpful?

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Funk]

GloverMart said:

Funk, I'm worried I'll f**k up the table if I start playing with it so would you mind adding me in, please?

I'm GloverMart, 6'4" tall, weight at 01/01/20 was 121.9kg and since I started back on July 1st 2019, I have lost 22.7kg.

My "notes" are - "Aiming for 5k steps per day, eating sensibly, target to lose eight stone in a year".

Thanks a lot.

Done; updating is easy from here, just find your line, change your current weight and loss so far and you should be fine!

andye30m3 said:

Funk, could you please add me

I’m 5ft 10 and weighed 110.5kg as of today, plan is to cycle, lots less snaking and fast food and a reduction in carbs / alcohol

Done too!

Edited by Funk on Friday 3rd January 00:33

[Funk]

I had a bit of a disheartening moment today at the gym as the damn FitQuest machine (see the 2019 thread...) continues to tell me I'm losing muscle and gaining fat (it reckons I've gained 1kg of fat and lost 1.5kg of muscle in the last week). The thing is, all the signs point the other way; my numbers are up on the weights and I'm really not sure why the readings are as they are. I've upped protein intake over the last week or so as the original thoughts were that it was possibly too low which could result in muscle breakdown when exercising and it not having enough to rebuild with. Maybe I've gone too far with the protein.

I'm sticking to the SW diet properly - eating the 'free' foods, plenty of veg, fruit etc, having my healthy choices and counting the 'syns' carefully (I even worked out the syn count for the Whey Isolate as it has a small carb content). My overall weight was down this week; something's fky and I don't know why. Be interesting to see what happens on the SW scales on Monday.

The FitQuest is also showing I'm not increasing my water % (despite increasing my water intake). Either SW is incompatible with what I'm doing at the gym and I need to change diet or the machine's just doling out questionable numbers. Either way it feels frustrating to be doing everything right (as far as I know) and still getting weird stats.

My gut (fnarr) feeling is to forget the machine, keep doing the right things (healthy eating, lots of exercise) and see where I end up.

[Funk]

A.J.M said:

Morning all.
Back from working away so can someone add my details as that looked scary when trying on a phone.

A.J.M 5ft8 tall. Weight as of this morning. 12 stone 11. Wish to lose 2 stone. Aims are to run 4 times a week, get out on my bike again.
Stop drinking soft drinks, massively cut back on snacking and junk food.

Added!

menguin said:

Funk said:

My gut (fnarr) feeling is to forget the machine, keep doing the right things (healthy eating, lots of exercise) and see where I end up.

That's what I'd suggest. In my experience machines give quite inaccurate figures and can be skewed by many many things. Really, if your numbers in the gym are going up, your weight is going down, and you are eating well... that can only be a good thing!

Cheers. I've also decided to do an accurate food diary (despite Slimming World allowing you as much of the 'free' foods as you like until you are "comfortably full"). It'll show if I'm having too much of something which is, perhaps, inadvertantly converting to fat. The only way to know for sure is to measure...

Slimming World has worked well for me so far but I think that as I'm now doing proper weight-training I need to get a little more accurate/scientific with the nutrition - I'll still be following the SW guide but drilling into a little more detail than they normally demand and tweaking as required.

Also my PT has suggested splitting sessions - I normally go to the gym straight from work on Tues, Thurs and Sat but the sessions are getting longer (typically now I'm around 90-120 mins/session) and that means I'm often not getting in until around half 8 and it's often 9pm before I've eaten. PT says do the 30-40 mins of cardio first thing and then ~1hr of weights in the evenings. He says I'll also get the benefit of the cardio workout throughout the day which makes sense. It'll require a shift though as I am NOT a 'morning' person...

Edited by Funk on Friday 3rd January 10:35

[Funk]

Stu-nph26 said:

Can I be in please.

Current stats 34 6-4 and 136.8kg which makes me feel sick. We have a baby coming early June so the plan is to try and lose 4 stone before then.

Added!

[Funk]

Still not got the following folks on the Wiki - if you post your height and starting weight here I'll add you to the table.

500 Miles
giblet
FredAstaire
extraT
AJB88

RATATTAK said:

@Funk
Is it possible to put a target for each of us on the Wiki ? - my target is 80kg

Added a Target Weight column for you.

Edited by Funk on Friday 3rd January 12:52

[Funk]

tjl said:

Could someone please add me in. Age 59, weight 14 st 7lb (92kg) height 5ft 9. Target 13 st but accepting this will take some time ! Cutting down on sweet sugary stuff and booze.

Added!

[Funk]

Ianh07 said:

I am in, thanks Funk.
Have updated the table, hopefully not broken it.

Nope, all good!

[Funk]

ben5575 said:

@Funk

Re % Body Fat, firstly I agree with Menguin that the machines are notoriously inaccurate. They are not particularly helpful for regular monitoring as you've found out; they often conflict with the real world evidence of more weight and changing shape etc.

However, they can be helpful at the outset to help you set your target weight a little more scientifically than I need to lose a few KG or whatever (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

If you use a machine initially to measure your % Body Fat, you can in trun work out your Lean Body Mass (basically everything except the fat). From there you can add back on the % Body Fat that you're aiming for (say 15%) and it'll give you your target weight.

Again caveated on the inaccuracies (unless you're measuring your % Body Fat with callipers etc) and I'm not wanting to start a debate as this isn't the thread for it, but you may (or may not) find it a useful tool.

Why? My target weight at 15% Body Fat is 91kg. To give me a BMI 24.5 right at the top end of normal, I should be 86.5kg. 86.5kg would put me at 10% Body Fat (assuming my Lean Body Mass is retained). 10% body fat puts me closer to an olympic athlete than it does borderline Normal/Overweight as defined by my BMI.

Link to calc: https://www.builtlean.com/2010/05/04/ideal-body-we...

Thanks for taking the time to write this Ben, I've ordered some callipers from Amazon tonight...

Great to see how many are 'in' this year, I hope we all find the success we're after!

[Funk]

S100HP said:

Sebo said:

All good, sorted it

Thanks

Target is 95kg, loss is 1.1kg. Eating better and running/riding more.

Dare not updated it myself!

Done.

[Funk]

Weighed in tonight at Slimming World; maintained this week which is absolutely fine whilst I'm working out diet and exercise combos.

[Funk]

ben5575 said:

You might just to mix it up a little. If what you're doing isn't working, change what you're doing. Your body has adjusted to your new norm, it needs challenging differently.

It's counter intuitive, but cardio isn't always the best way of losing weight (or at least on its own). It's great for getting you fit, but at the moment you're one week into a weight loss programme which is a different focus and goal. Lose the weight, get back on the cardio to sustain it.

I'd agree with this.

Whilst I'd been going to the gym since March last year, my weight didn't really decrease much but my fitness level rocketed; my average heart rate for a given exercise came down, endurance increased, my recovery time got better and my resting heart rate got lower. Blood pressure lowered too.

But the proper weight loss didn't start until I changed diet with Slimming World. Once the weight started coming down and I hired a PT I've seen the weight loss slow but the muscle/strength gains have been noticeable. My PT's great, he's giving me variation to keep it interesting in our sessions eg. battle ropes a couple of weeks ago, sparring with pads the other week etc in amongst all the weight-training. Really enjoying it and it's great seeing the progression.

[Funk]

Stu-nph26 said:

No idea how to update the sheet but my weight is down to 130.9kg trying to get under 127 before the end of the month to be under the 20 stone mark.

Updated your entry for you!

cowboyengineer said:

Last year I went from 183kg and I weighed myself on Monday and was 158.3kg

Plan this year is to get down to 120kg.

Do you want adding in to the Wiki table?

Edited by Funk on Wednesday 8th January 22:55