Weight loss accountability buddy or thread discussion

Nutrition
1079

Well @jcuene I’m in the middle of my own weight loss journey, so take this with a grain of salt.

My moment of clarity is being 54. My Mom died a few years ago, my Dad’s getting older and it’s really affecting his health (and he used to be a VERY strong rider), my son went off to college, and my friends are talking about retirement. It’s really Father Time that’s getting to me.

I’ve gained and lost the same 50lbs over and over again. I have disordered eating and I’ve never dealt with it. I’ve never really tackled it as a mindset and personal growth issue.

I was always chasing a diet. Atkins. Vegan. Blah, blah, blah.

For the love of God - if I don’t do this now, I may never be able to do it. Time is marching on and I’m just stress eating my way to poor health. It’s a weird sport to care about and want to do well in when power to weight matters, but food is your anxiety relief, or celebration for the good times.

So, my only advice is to check out a podcast called “We only look thin” by Catherine and Donald Wygal. They’re a married couple who changed their mindset in their 40’s, lost a lot of weight, and kept it off for 4 years. Their whole show is on how they tackled the mindset behind weight loss and how they successfully changed their ways in their 40’s to lose 250lbs between the two of them.

Good luck!

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1080

Wish i could give this 5 thumbs up. Really helpful @killroy123! I think I’m ready for “the boring”, the slow grind of dropping the weight over a 6 month effort (~1 lb a week). Giving some thought to these recommendations, but I’m really interested in the low weight, low impact stuff that builds general fitness for the long haul. I’m really looking at the next 3-4 months as a rebuilding period, not for performance, but for regaining a foundation and losing the weight. I can get faster later. Thanks very much for this download. Really appreciate it!

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1081

For me, I decided on doing a very basic beginner strength program that starts from the ground up and then incorporated some rehab movements to fix some niggling shoulder pain and to start addressing pelvic tilt. The last 2 are more specific to me but are light, high rep, and done every morning.

I know this is a bit of a bro site but i’m following this beginner program: Best Beginner Full Body Workout | Total Body | ATHLEAN-X. Running this 2 months per block instead of one and keeping RPE to around 6-7.

Eventually I’ll incorporate Phil Burt’s Strength and Conditioning for Cyclists. Will use the tests there to identify what I need to work on then build from that base. That will be in a few months tho since I would like to do that closer to time when my diet finishes.

That said, everything supports the chief goal right now. I do forgo ego in the gym and am much more conservative in movement and weight selection than normal. Focused on a stimulus to tell my body to hold onto muscle while it loses fat. Tho sometimes, even these minimal movements leave me gassed (and its a bit embarrassing to get tired doing bodyweight lunges). Oh well. Just put in the work.

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1082

Reporting early because I’m on a work trip for most of the week.

Average around 84.4. Yet another week where weight hasn’t dropped massively as before. Again variance in weight is high-ish but its starting to cluster solidly below 84.7. Think my body is finally starting to adapt to the increase in strength training.

Also, feeling stronger from the lifting and the daily rehab/functional movement work I’m doing is helpful. Probably going to add in mobility work after this week as I sub out things I don’t need to do. Activity levels are pretty high but enthusiasm and mood is high too. Basically humming along.

Food hack of the week; sub out milk for almond milk in the daily latte with 2-4 pumps of sugar free hazelnut. For some reason, the hazelnut and almond milk work to enhance their flavors while minimizing their individual weirdness. At starbucks, this turns a 300 calorie regular latte down to 100 calories.

Good luck for the rest of the week everyone!

Edit: On a whim I decided to try on some old clothes. They fit! Personal win!

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1083

Things that help me

Do some calorie and portion measuring/weighing for a week or so, log everything you eat, snacks, coffees etc. That then gives you plenty of knowledge, and may open your eyes to how many calories are in certain things. I don’t do this all the time, it’s just not sustainable IMHO. The free myfitnesspal app was really useful for me. ie on there a starbucks latte is 190cal, a white Americano is 15cal

Cutting out unhealthy snacks, try and minimise highly processed foods

Whatever you do has to be a long term sustainable plan for the rest of your life, so everything in moderation is something that has stuck with me.

I’m never got into fizzy drinks but I’d try and cut right back or try and remove sodas, even diet ones and sugar free syrups etc. Sugar substitutes - aspartame explained | BBC Good Food

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1084

Best Beginner Full Body Workout | Total Body | ATHLEAN-X

That does look a little bro-y, but it’s also exactly what i was thinking about. So, thanks for that!

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1085

If the past months told me anything, it is that I really have to drop 10 lbs or so. On flat courses, I do well, but most tours around here are mountains. I like mountains. But I’m so fucking slow, which is partly because I carry extra weight. So I’m going to use this off season to drop 10 lbs. Starting tmw.

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1086

If you don’t mind me playing contrarian for a moment, I might have some insight on this topic.

TLDR:

  1. HTFU can work against you.
  2. Make future-you’s life easier.
  3. Delay gratification.
  4. Gain loved ones’ support.
  5. Sleep more.

Long version:

I’ve been hesitant to share much in this thread, even though this is an area of expertise. Maybe my greatest expertise. Certainly it’s the area where I have the most experience. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been so hesitant. I know just how complex and challenging it is.

Thinking introspectively for a moment, helping athletes with weight loss is something I’ve done more than anything else in my life. I’ve failed at it more than I’ve succeeded. I suppose I’ve developed a bit of impostor syndrome about my own expertise here, because it’s such a challenging thing to reliably accomplish.

Here goes nothing! Hope this is helpful to you, or someone reading.

I don’t think “hardening up” will help you.

I bet you’re pretty okay at doing exactly that, sometimes. In fact, sometimes you might be so good at it, that it can work against future-you.

Your ability to harden up might have caused you to rely on working harder rather than smarter, in this one area of your life, where hardening up seems to be the only way to get down to business. I’m not sure, for you personally, because I’m judging a book by its cover (the one post I’m replying to), but I’ve seen this movie before. I know the script like the back of my hand. Words like “HTFU,” “get my crap together,” “stop being lazy,” “need to care more,” and “find the motivation” have all become triggers for me. Consider me triggered! :slight_smile:

Instead of hardening up to make it “stick”…

I’d bet it’s going to come down to:

  1. Setting up your life in such a way that makes it easier for “future you” to stick to “current you’s” plans.
  2. Make a decision that you will do some small work today, every day, so that future you has it better tomorrow, the next day, the next week, next month, next year, and the next decade. Commit to yourself that it’s worth, and that you’re worth, that small step today, for tomorrow, every day.
  3. Communicate clearly to loved ones, especially those very closest to you, what your goals are, why they’re important, and what steps you’re going to take to do them. Ask them to help you devise, and stick to, “current you’s” new plans, strategy, and life logistical modifications.
  4. Sleep more. Master sleep hygiene.

Hardening up works in the short term.

Personal organization & efficiency systems, decision to delay gratification and the belief that doing so matters, which can only be gained by experience that it truly does, in a stable environment, social support by those close to you, and more sleep are 100x more important to making it “stick” than summoning motivation, grit, determination, etc.

Grit absolutely is important, and can be developed. Do hard things. For sure.

But if you set your life up, work small today for tomorrow, get support, and sleep lots, then grit will be faster-developed, and easier to call upon, and you’ll need less of it.

If you’re going to harden up, then, spend that grit on making tomorrow set up so that you don’t have to spend as much energy and grit resisting temptation, rather than just hardening up to resist temptation today. Be thoughtful about how you can do this and what it looks like in your life. These are the real hard decisions.

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1087

I love this reply and I’m glad you weighed in @Dr_Alex_Harrison. You do have more experience, relative to any of us, supporting others through this transition.

FWIW, I truly believe that the approach you lay out is much more likely to be successful than someone trying to white knuckle their way through it. A thoughtful, reasonable plan and support system (as you lay it out) will probably always beat discipline alone.

I thought twice about using the phrase “Harden the F Up” because i dislike it too. It implies failure, comes from a place of shame. Its the angry B-side to the positive “You got this!” A-side.

You nailed the gist of what i was getting at, though: Grit, discipline is something I, and i have to believe, others on this thread have struggled with. The rational decision to delay gratification makes sense, but to those of us that probably would have failed the old marshmallow test as kids, this is an element to your approach that can be challenging.

My comment about HTFU was really pointed at this challenge. Said another way, for me, success is going to come down to the discipline of putting the future in front of the present. That’s always been hard. I have to build a plan that makes it easy, and then stick to it.

What i like the most about your comments is the fundamental approach to each day: “small work today, every day” to help “future you” has it a little better. It implies a bet on tomorrow, and it results in real action that makes it more likely “tomorrow” goes better (somehow). That’s doable!

Thank you (again) for your post on this thread. You’ve been so incredibly helpful all over this forum, it’s really like free coaching. And, the spreadsheet you built out to help manage diet was a very important part of my training a couple years ago.

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1089

Weekly Check-in Link

1091

10 day rolling average dropped down to 82.9 from 84.4 (yup, 1.3 kg)

This was a woosh week. Feels like my body finally let go of my excess water. Lost a whole inch on my waist and feel much lighter. These weeks are always great :smiley:

Officially my diet break week starting today. Calories to maintenance levels - 15%. Also going on vacation. A much needed rest after (checks notes) 21 weeks of dieting.

Good luck this week everyone!

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1093

Yup! Fixed. Good eye!

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1095

Oh believe me I will!

Have a good week yourself :slight_smile:

1096

I have been on caloric deficit during the weekdays and I’ve cut out all bread and alcohol during the week. I noticed that I was feeling more tired than usual with my training and I have tried to ride often, z2 rides , and try to maximize time on the saddle through the week.

I’ve also have invited to two weddings and I have hit the bar with reckless abandon. The good news is that the good behavior during the weekdays has offset the absolute binges on the last two weekends. I’ve come out with about the same weight as I started this period of festivities.
Now things should be back to normal and I should see some improvements in the next few weeks.

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1097

Best bang for the buck with weight loss is cutting out the alcohol. :+1:

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1098

Weekly check in reminder!

1099

Hiya all, back after 2 weeks of maintenance. My maintenance block was fun but became really hard towards the end.

First 3 days of eating at maintenance felt so strange; I felt like I was just gorging myself. After a few days, I felt pretty happy emotionally (and started thinking I was much grumpier than I had imagined myself to be for the past few weeks). I was mindful of what I was eating but not necessarily tracking everything completely (just guard rails)

By the end of the second week, I began feeling the itch to resume my diet. I felt this way by day 10 but I figured just enjoy the last few days by eating how I used to eat. Realized pretty quickly that hyper-palatable foods I loved in the past don’t make me feel full and I started creeping up in how much hunger and eating I was doing. Last 2 days were more cheat days than anything and I still felt hungry. Weighed myself today at around 85.5. That felt high but mostly because I ate half of a 20" pizza the day before as a final send off. (Edit: This is clearly an outlier as the next day I was down to 84 kg)

Ended my break at a 10 day rolling average weight of 84. This is about .3 kg more than when I went into the maintenance phase. That feels right. Weirdly, I don’t look bigger than my lowest weight. Even weirder, during the phase, I lost about half an inch on my waist. Didn’t weigh myself except for 2x during the end of each week. I took this as a time of “i’m on a diet break” to just recharge.

Full take away is that, for me, the maintenance phase when I hit my goal weight is going to be just as involved as dieting. I can tell thats going to be much harder; it feels way easier to restrict

Anyways, back on the diet as of today. Another 10-12 weeks before another maintenance break. Time to get to a healthy bmi now.

Good luck to everyone this week.

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1100

Good luck to you too!

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1101

Checked in.

I’m hoping to see the weight come back down now that my month long break is over.

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1102

Checked in for the first time in awhile (since May).

Started lifting weights and taking creatine and pretty rapidly gained 15 lbs or so. On the plus side, I’m a fair bit stronger. I’m not sure whether I want to reset my target weight or not; I do want to lose some of the weight though as power/weight matters for (rock) climbing and I have a stretch goal of being able to do a handstand pushup.

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