Slow Progress
Posted: Sun 20 April, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Project 42, Weigh Less 4 Comments »This year, as I’ve said before (and on many occasions) I’ve been working at getting more exercise, with an aim of losing some weight, improving health, and all that standard crap. At the same time I’ve been keeping track of food intake and so on, which has been interesting rather than overly useful.
I’ve been doing fairly well for a start- I’m tending to average walking about 3-4 miles a day, including at least a mile round the village every day. I started off just making sure I did it even on days when I wasn’t in the mood, or when the weather was vile (and lord knows we’ve had plenty of those so far this year) so that I could establish it as routine, and thus have even less excuse when the weather was good.
It’s slow-going though – which I’m not happy about. I’m eating less than the ‘recommended’ calorie count, and I’m doing more exercise. But weight has stayed fairly stable. As it is, I’ve lost half a stone this year – which is better than it could be, but it’s still hard to monitor when it takes so sodding long.
This week has been different, because of stuffing my back last weekend (which is improving, but still insanely sore in the morning) I made the decision to lay off the walking etc. as much. It’s about halved from the usual, and I’ll actually be glad to get back to it.
Anyway, there’s been progress, it’s just been ridiculously slow. Next step, once I’m back to not hurting (pardon the pun) will be to get back on my bike again and do more work on that score as well. Maybe that’ll help things progress. We’ll see.
So you’re on track to lose a stone and a half or more by the end of the year? I’d call that pretty good going. It’s far better – healthier and more sustainable than a crash diet, when nearly everyone piles the weight back on when they stop dieting. Also, if the weight loss is slow, it probably indicates there wasn’t too much wrong with what you ate in the first place – maybe a bit snack-heavy, slightly bigger portions than you needed?
While I agree with Z, I’d also say, it’s your age dear. Losing weight once one gets past 40 is much more difficult than it is pre-40.
It also depends hugely on your genes. If your parents and grandparents tended to be larger rather than smaller, then it’s even harder. People who come from ‘thin’ families (and doctors who are thin themselves!) don’t understand this.
Yeah, it’s OK. I just wanted it to be a bit quicker than it is. Two pounds a month just feels slow.
As for family stuff, yes, both parents are larger, and slow weight-loss.
Having looked at calorie intake, I haven’t changed much – more been aware of it than anything else – but it’s usually around the 1800 a day mark, which is a lot less than it should be anyway. Some people (including ‘specialists’) have said that’s effectively ‘starvation’ so body holds on to intake as fat, but others have said that’s bollocks. So I don’t know.
Ah well – onwards and downwards, with any luck.
Also – the exercise will mean you’re putting on muscle, while losing fat. So you’re almost certainly both fitter and healthier, even if the number of the scales is not changing as fast as you’d like.