A “The Conversation” tweet about weight loss caught my eye yesterday. I know, thanks to an old blog post, in November 2006 I weighed 68 kg. I also know, thanks to another old blog post, I also weighed ~68 kg in 2013 but had been up to 75 kg sometime in between. I’m currently back down to about ~67 kg and wondered how their tips applied to what I have been doing over the past few years.
Ten strategies to lose weight – backed by new research - theconversation.com
- Look up information on how to lose weight from sources you can trust…
- Trust is important and that means, for me, science based. I settled on a relatively simple ‘eat what I like, but a bit less, and do a bit more’ strategy. Don't get me started about fad diets like paleo
- One unlikely influence was the programmer John Walker (founder of Autodesk, Inc. and co-author of AutoCAD). I didn't follow his “Hackers Diet”, first saw it years ago when reading his AutoCAD history, but think the ‘engineering approach’ it takes is a good strategy.
- Set yourself food goals…
- Mine was just ‘Eat a bit less’
- Set yourself a weight-loss target…
- Suppose I did, not extreme, just where I was in 2006! It results in a reasonable BMI, meaningless as that is…
- Plan your meals in advance…
- Apart from the same breakfast on weekdays (and that is laziness rather than planning) and, mostly, making lunch (rather than buying) not really.
- Keep food that doesn’t fit with your diet out of the house…
- There is no food that doesn't fit a ‘no diet’ diet.
- Have a strategy for dealing with food cravings…
- I still eat what I like but in smaller quantities. A bag of chips, no problem but I buy those tiny child lunch box size multipacks so sometimes even have two! I have cranberry/nut mix and cashews sometimes as snacks but that is mainly because I like them. Oh, and in season fruit but, again, as much because I like it.
- The “You can eat anything if you cycle 30+ km to the café“ rule applies!
- Swap one type of food or drink for another…
- Not really. I did stop having coffee at work, just hot or cold water, but that was more about having less than avoiding. I still average 3 cups a day though!
- I still eat carbs, dairy, meat, fried food, some sweet stuff but generally just a bit less.
- Keep track of what you eat…
- Yes! I used the Health app on my phone to see how much I ate. It was interesting as an exercise but proved that days I did more, like cycling or walking, I certainly ate more but not enough to eliminate the ‘burn’. It was also useful to see when I ate. I’m not really a breakfast person but discovered what I have is sufficient.
- Weigh yourself regularly…
- I started doing that in 2014, when preparing for the Tibet ride, and have kept up the habit (thus the graph below). Regularly, means just once a week.
- Find ways to stay motivated…
- Track stuff. I just use a fitness band (Samsung Fit2 Pro since my Microsoft Band died) and the Samsung Health App for activity and food.
They don't mention exercise which seems odd. Although you can’t burn off everything I think it is vital. For me that means walking and cycling because I hate running and gyms. Cycle commuting helps when I can manage it. About 70 km a day makes it a good ride but only when it fits around other activities and in favourable weather. I don't mind it being cold or wet but not the combination of those two!
I can recommend one strategy to lose a lot of weight while eating as much awesome food as you can… cycle 900 km along the Himalayas! That is the reason for the big dip in 2014. One of our mid-ride hotels had scales in the room which showed I had lost 3 kg in a week of cycling and eating. I didn't believe them, they were cheap looking old mechanical type, but upon getting home found I dropped from about 68 kg to 64 kg in a few weeks and I was one of the fortunate few who didn't get the dreaded lurgi!
