Week 125

1lb loss!

One of the odd things this I've noticed this week has been that my belly is looking slightly smaller.

Well, ok, it is. Obviously. I've lost weight again.

But only a pound.

Surely 1lb isn't going to make a perceptable difference is it?

But maybe it is. What I tend to forget is that because I'm now only about 15lbs or so overweight, one of those pounds is a considerably higher percentage of the excess baggage than it used to be.

One pound now counts for something like 6% or 7% of my overweightness, instead of the less than 1% it used to.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 4.2lb - 172.2lbs
Body fat: 22.5%
Total Weight Loss: 102.8lbs

Week 124

1.6lb loss!

Just when I thought I'd levelled out, I drop to create a new lowest recorded weight for 20 years - 173.2lbs (12st 5.2lb, 78.56kg).

Lord Chubalot of the Knights of the Round Bottoms has been asking for a while about whether I'm ready to stop being Sir Man Boobs and take on the mantle, Lord Man Boobs.

Although I have lost over 100lbs, a British hundredweight is in fact 112lbs and there is no doubt that I am still overweight by, well probably at least 12lbs, so I've been reluctant so far to upgrade my title as it implies that somehow my task has finished.

And yet, in a way it has.

When my wife and I decided to change our eating habits, we knew it was a lifelong decision. The aim was to have healthier bodies that would last for longer in a better condition. The weight loss was always a SIDE EFFECT of eating healthily.

As such, I'm just doing what I have been doing for the past 29 months and will continue to do for the next 40 years, namely, be aware of what I eat and chose the healthy options over the processed foods.

My task then, has not been to achieve a specific weight loss target, but to fight my own impulses to gorge, binge and stuff my face with foods that are not good for me.

The side effect of me facing, battling and finding ways to conquer my demons has been the loss of over 100lbs in weight.

Originally, I thought that if I dropped to 15 stone (210lbs) I'd be more than happy. I was overjoyed to get down to 13 and a half stone (189lbs), as this was a figure I remember from my early 20s. I was ecstatic to get below 13 stone and gobsmacked to lose 100lbs.

The Hundredweight of the title of this blog was only ever a fantasy and a wry joke. I never seriously expected to get close.

So yes, I have achieved, and yes I will accept the title Lord Man Boobs.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the many months.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 5.2lb - 173.2lbs
Body fat: 22.8%
Total Weight Loss: 101.8lbs

Week 123

Even.

The evidence is mounting up that I've probably settled where I'm going to for a while now, around the 175lb mark, give or take a couple of pounds.

I'll continue to post my stats so I get warning if I take my eye off the ball too much, but that's pretty much it.

However, if you have any questions you'd like to ask about my 100lb weight loss - thoughts, techiniques, challenges or anything else that springs to mind, please leave a question in the comments and I'll answer as best I can in the weekly post.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 6.8lb - 174.8lbs
Body fat: 22.4%
Total Weight Loss: 100.2lbs

Week 122

0.8lb gain.

Considering it was my son's birthday this weekend so I had birthday cake, popcorn from our trip to the cinema and various other treats to contend with, I feel less than a one pound gain is quite a remarkable achievement.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 6.8lb - 174.8lbs
Body fat: 23.2%
Total Weight Loss: 100.2lbs

Week 121

1.4lb loss!

This takes me back to where I was 2 weeks ago again.

Since March 26th I've constantly moved about within 174lbs and 176lbs, so I have to conclude that this is my settled weight unless I make any drastic changes, such as giving in to the cravings again, or upping my activity levels.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 6lb - 174lbs
Body fat: 22.5%
Total Weight Loss: 101lbs

Week 120

1.4lb gain.

I'm just bouncing back and forth around this 100lb loss mark.

Given that I just don't have the energy to up my activity levels, I think I'm just going to have to think of myself in maintenance mode and keep an eye on the weight to make sure it doesn't start rising significantly.

I'll keep posting each week for the meantime, though.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 7.4lb - 175.4lbs
Body fat: 22.5%
Total Weight Loss: 99.6lbs

Week 119

2lb loss!

Frankly I'm stunned.

I was expecting to be withing half a pound either side of where I was last week, so a 2lb loss is quite surprising.

Hmmm...

There is an explanation that's just leapt to mind, although I don't like it much and I don't know enough about these matters to be sure.

I wonder whether the loss is more to do with muscle mass than fat. Quite simply with the increased tiredness, my activity levels have really dropped off.

We know that unless you are exercising, you tend to lose muscle before fat, and that muscle weighs more than fat.

According to my scales (although they were not expensive ones, so I can't say I completely trust them), my body fat percentage is slightly higher now than it was a few weeks ago when I was slightly heavier.

It's a theory. Unfortunately I have no idea how good a one it is. If anyone has a better understanding of these things please let me know.


Statistical Significance: I am at my lightest now since I began.

Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 6lb - 174lbs
Body fat: 23.2%
Total Weight Loss: 101lbs

Week 118

0.6lb gain.

I'm a bit disappointed, although I've had a couple pieces of cake that account for it.

What's so bloody difficult at the moment is that I don't have the energy for exercising. Before I can reach the point 10 minutes in, where everything starts happening, I've run out of momentum. And it's steadily getting worse.

The last B12 injection doesn't seem to have had much impact and there are times when motivation or anything even vaguely resembling enthusiasm for life is non existent (see Bollocks on my other blog).

Activity is the key to moving further forward, but my energy levels are getting lower and lower.


As an aside, discounting introductory entries, this is my 100th post to this blog.

Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 8lb - 176lbs
Body fat: 23.5%
Total Weight Loss: 100lbs

Week 117

0.6lbs loss!

Finally a move back in the right direction! Not quite as much as I'd have liked considering the internal battles I've been fighting this week, but although my eating has been nigh on perfect, activity levels have been negligible.

Unfortunately, weight gain or loss doesn't seem to reflect how much you battle with your cravings, only whether you give in to them or not. You can spend an entire week fighting every waking moment, or just glide through with barely a second thought: the result is to do with the outcome of the fight, not how hard it was.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 7.4lb - 175.4lbs
Body fat: 22.6%
Total Weight Loss: 99.6lbs

Week 116

1lb gain.

Part of me is relieved that it's only been a pound and another is really pissed off that I've slipped back under the 100lb loss mark.

What I hadn't catered for last week was the emotional fall out from the exhibition. Yes it went well, but it was such an emotional roller-coaster on the build up and the actual thing itself that there was an inevitable come-down afterwards and this past week has been quite a battle.

A friend of ours took the kids Friday night, which gave us a couple of days away on a well needed break, but that meant lunches and dinner out, plus coffees and nibbles in the mornings and afternoons.

All in all, a 1lb gain could have been so much worse.

This week, however, I really am hoping that we can properly get back on track.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 8lb - 176lbs
Body fat: 22.5%
Total Weight Loss: 99lbs