Paceline 2023 Weight Lost Challenge

[tuxbailey]

Originally Posted by Red Tornado

OK, I can do that..... And the spreadsheet will remain at the beginning of this thread, I assume?
Thanks!

Yup. You bookmark/subscribe the this thread, or bookmark the spreadsheet.

[smontanaro]

Originally Posted by tuxbailey

Yup. You bookmark/subscribe the this thread, or bookmark the spreadsheet.

Given that the idea is to record your weight daily, it seems reasonable to just keeps the spreadsheet open in a browser tab.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by smontanaro

Given that the idea is to record your weight daily, it seems reasonable to just keeps the spreadsheet open in a browser tab.

I won't be recording daily I don't think.. that's actually not a great think to do if you are trying to lose weight.. there is always an initial loss and then a plateau as you replace that fat with muscle.. at least for most people and chasing a number every day or two is bound to get some folks down and disappointed.. I'll probably try and do weekly and just watch how my clothes fit.. (gotta get that new to me Rapha jersey a little looser! )

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by fourflys

I won't be recording daily I don't think.. that's actually not a great think to do if you are trying to lose weight.. there is always an initial loss and then a plateau as you replace that fat with muscle.. at least for most people and chasing a number every day or two is bound to get some folks down and disappointed.. I'll probably try and do weekly and just watch how my clothes fit.. (gotta get that new to me Rapha jersey a little looser! )

I used NOOM and it had me weighing myself each morning. I would see ups and downs by a few pounds but plotted on a graph, shows a downward slope. My big weight loss was from diet, not exercise. If anything, exercise works against weight loss when you are maintaining a 1,000-calorie deficit a day to achieve a two-pound-a-week loss.

I could ride myself thinner, and I've done that in the past, but it won't change my eating habits unless I address that as well. Right now, I am at a good weight to ride lots of miles and work my way towards a lower target about ten pounds away, but if I stopped riding for some reason such as illness, injury, or a Ph.D. program, I'm not going to look like Jan Ulrich in the winter.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by bigbill

I used NOOM and it had me weighing myself each morning. I would see ups and downs by a few pounds but plotted on a graph, shows a downward slope. My big weight loss was from diet, not exercise. If anything, exercise works against weight loss when you are maintaining a 1,000-calorie deficit a day to achieve a two-pound-a-week loss.

I get what you're saying, 100%.. but I still won't weigh myself each day (and I don't recommend most folks do either), I'd rather see weekly numbers and feel my clothes change from a psychological point of view.. and you are right, diet is a big deal.. really glad NOOM worked for you, just not sure it's what I need after looking into it.

[AllesWirdGut]

I'm in again this year. I was in the best shape of my life two years ago and have pretty steadily fallen off the wagon since then due to some big personal life events. Last year was probably my worst one on the bike ever, and my diet wasn't great. My big thing has been yo-yoing between weeks or months of eating clean and working out a lot and then weeks or months of backsliding to the same place. So, my goal for 2023 is consistency and a more sustainable approach.

[ryanisinallofus]

Originally Posted by bigbill

I used NOOM

What actually is Noom? Is it just fasting?

[bigbill]

Originally Posted by ryanisinallofus

What actually is Noom? Is it just fasting?

Behavior modification, no fasting. It addresses why and what you eat, but promotes three solid meals a day based on food you buy at the grocery. Food are classified according calorie density such as grapes versus raisins. Earlier, my breakfast was greek yogurt with blueberries, raspberries, and some low sugar cereal.

I used to be able to ride a lot of miles to manage weight, but once I was in my mid 50s, it became harder. Noom is more about establishing a lifestyle and way of thinking about food.

[kiwisimon]

I read two books on NYE and NYD.
My conclusion from those and what I aim to avoid as much as I can is that extracted sugar and modern wheat is the problem.

but I knew this years ago and ignored it cause I was active. That lead to bad habits. Bad habits lead to excuses and at 55 I'm carrying 70 more pounds of excuses than I did when I was playing rugby and racing bikes on a team.

[Red Tornado]

Originally Posted by kiwisimon

I read two books on NYE and NYD.
My conclusion from those and what I aim to avoid as much as I can is that extracted sugar and modern wheat is the problem.

but I knew this years ago and ignored it cause I was active. That lead to bad habits. Bad habits lead to excuses and at 55 I'm carrying 70 more pounds of excuses than I did when I was playing rugby and racing bikes on a team.

Glad it's not just me. At the "height" of my cycling fitness, I bounced around between 155-160 lbs (5'10" back then). Now I'm 5'9" and hovering in the 215-220 range. Not sure if I will ever attain my old weight again; for now priority #1 is getting below 200.

[smontanaro]

A few things have occurred to me over the past couple weeks as I've been logging accusations from my scale about my fitness.

• Salt intake matters. A lot. I can generally tell when I've consumed more than my fair share of NaCl. As my wife is a vegetarian and I generally consume a "meat light" diet, excess salt usually comes in the form of highly processed or restaurant food. When that happens, I suck down water light I'm anticipating a drought, generally without letting much go (sort of like I'm a reservoir – my apologies for making light of the folks on the West Coast suffering with atmospheric rivers). My weight spikes and takes a couple days to regress to the mean.
  
• Beware the slimmed down clothes. My wife is an expert with a sewing machine and recently resized a number of t-shirts which fit like tents. Now they fit like they are supposed to, which means I have no room to grow. This is good, right?
  
• Weight training messes with simple single-axis fitness measures. Clearly, considering just weight as a measure of progress isn't ideal anyway, but still, it's convenient. I started stretching routinely about two years ago, and over time have added weight exercises I can easily do in the house, the usual: planks, push-ups, curls, etc. I've always had a twig-like upper body. I still do, but the twigs are now a bit bigger, and I just know there's a six pack hiding under the excess fat I'm carrying around my middle. I don't know how much muscle weight I've added, but it interferes with simple attempts to measure rprogress by weight on the scale. I have no convenient way to measure my body fat percentage, so I guess I'll just have to go by what the mirror and the fit of my clothing say, and not worry too much about my stated end goal.
  

[John H.]

The other thing to know about the winter is that some people tend to bloat up and hold more H2O weight in the winter. Especially when humidity and temps are going up and down. Can see a 5 lb increase in short order. And you are thinking "I didn't consume an extra 18k of food that I didn't know about

Originally Posted by smontanaro

A few things have occurred to me over the past couple weeks as I've been logging accusations from my scale about my fitness.

• Salt intake matters. A lot. I can generally tell when I've consumed more than my fair share of NaCl. As my wife is a vegetarian and I generally consume a "meat light" diet, excess salt usually comes in the form of highly processed or restaurant food. When that happens, I suck down water light I'm anticipating a drought, generally without letting much go (sort of like I'm a reservoir – my apologies for making light of the folks on the West Coast suffering with atmospheric rivers). My weight spikes and takes a couple days to regress to the mean.
  
• Beware the slimmed down clothes. My wife is an expert with a sewing machine and recently resized a number of t-shirts which fit like tents. Now they fit like they are supposed to, which means I have no room to grow. This is good, right?
  
• Weight training messes with simple single-axis fitness measures. Clearly, considering just weight as a measure of progress isn't ideal anyway, but still, it's convenient. I started stretching routinely about two years ago, and over time have added weight exercises I can easily do in the house, the usual: planks, push-ups, curls, etc. I've always had a twig-like upper body. I still do, but the twigs are now a bit bigger, and I just know there's a six pack hiding under the excess fat I'm carrying around my middle. I don't know how much muscle weight I've added, but it interferes with simple attempts to measure rprogress by weight on the scale. I have no convenient way to measure my body fat percentage, so I guess I'll just have to go by what the mirror and the fit of my clothing say, and not worry too much about my stated end goal.
  

[jlwdm]

Just because this is titled a weight loss challenge does mean that this is just a weight loss challenge. It is much more, but weight is an easy metric.

I am sure people have signed up for the challenge for many different reasons. Some of us know we need to lose weight and know where our best weight is. At 75 I have a good idea where I should be as for the last 25 years I have fairly regularly logged weight and certain body measurements at the first of the month. I know that the best program at all times is eating better food (no specific diet) eating less food, riding (and other aerobic exercise) stretching and resistance training. Unfortunately, I am not doing all of these right now, but they are just habits that I need to start doing. So even though I am logging weight here these habits are also getting me in better health and shape in many ways. I also am into clothes and have a lot of great clothes I cannot fit into. So I have an incentive to lose inches.

Others may be losing weight for serious medical issues.

Others may be training for racing and are more focused on getting stronger on the bike.

Others might be using the challenge as an incentive to ride more. And hopefully the riding is enjoying riding. I remember when I got my first ten speed in 1970 the first day I rode 100 miles and the next day 91 miles. Just on my own exploring. Long rides are so easy when you are young.

So use this challenge to achieve whatever it is you want to achieve and don't worry about what others are doing and why they are doing it. Everyone is different. Hopefully, you can make it an enjoyable journey to wherever you want to go.

Jeff

[GoJavs]

I - for one - am enjoying this a great deal.

Thank you all for doing this. I spent 15 years trying to get below 170 lbs. Now, I'm hoping to exit the 160's soon.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by smontanaro

A few things have occurred to me over the past couple weeks as I've been logging accusations from my scale about my fitness.

• Salt intake matters. A lot. I can generally tell when I've consumed more than my fair share of NaCl. As my wife is a vegetarian and I generally consume a "meat light" diet, excess salt usually comes in the form of highly processed or restaurant food. When that happens, I suck down water light I'm anticipating a drought, generally without letting much go (sort of like I'm a reservoir – my apologies for making light of the folks on the West Coast suffering with atmospheric rivers). My weight spikes and takes a couple days to regress to the mean.
  
• Beware the slimmed down clothes. My wife is an expert with a sewing machine and recently resized a number of t-shirts which fit like tents. Now they fit like they are supposed to, which means I have no room to grow. This is good, right?
  
• Weight training messes with simple single-axis fitness measures. Clearly, considering just weight as a measure of progress isn't ideal anyway, but still, it's convenient. I started stretching routinely about two years ago, and over time have added weight exercises I can easily do in the house, the usual: planks, push-ups, curls, etc. I've always had a twig-like upper body. I still do, but the twigs are now a bit bigger, and I just know there's a six pack hiding under the excess fat I'm carrying around my middle. I don't know how much muscle weight I've added, but it interferes with simple attempts to measure rprogress by weight on the scale. I have no convenient way to measure my body fat percentage, so I guess I'll just have to go by what the mirror and the fit of my clothing say, and not worry too much about my stated end goal.
  

Great approach.