Number of the beast: 66.6 kg = 147 pounds, not so beasty after all

BartBVanBockstaele

While I am not big on "mini goals" and the like, I am not completely insensitve to symbolism (however meaningless) and markers (which is essentially what mini goals are anyway).

So today, I found it quite funny to see the number of the beast this afternoon after a long nap: 66.6 kg. Coming from 127 kg, that means I have lost 66.4 kg now. I did not enter it into MFP as a weigh-in, because I only enter my weight at 08:00 and that was 1.3 kg more. Instead, I consider this one a bit of a predictor of things to come.

Still quite obviously a few kg to go (rolling fat rolls don't lie) and I don't know how many, even if suspect it will be in the neighbourhood of 60 kg. My goal is my own ideal weight, not some arbitrary number.

BartBVanBockstaele

BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »

that means I have lost 66.4 kg now.

That was a stupid typo for someone who is losing weight. Obviously, I meant 60.4 kg.

BartBVanBockstaele

Fit2btied2016 wrote: »

Someone at the Art Gallery is going to be unhappy now ^_^

You are not the only wine gum lover out there. I happen to totally love wine gums myself. Those and double-salted licorice are my absolute favourites.

I completely agree. Weight loss is not linear, and it can't possibly be even remotely close. It is why I measure my weight several times a day, usually just before eating. That way, I get a range with a minimum and a maximum. When it is going lower than that range, I am doing fine, if it goes up higher, an alarm bell goes off in my head. By doing that daily, I can also easily go back one month, and see how much my weight has changed, giving me a second way to determine whether or not I am going down or not.

We are in the same memory boat. Just about the only thing I remember about the Krebs cycle is that it is fundamental to our processing of energy and that citric acid is involved. That said, in my view, while it is extremely interesting, it is not really all that important for general weight loss, due to the lack of precision in the data we are using (of which our weight could well be the most precise part). Ruben Meerman, an Australian scientist and television personality, has a funny talk on the subject of how weight loss works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuIlsN32WaE

In my experience, frequent weighing in combination with rigorous journalling helps getting a more dispassionate view of weight loss and how it works. When my weight is up one or several days despite the fact that I did not deviate from my diet, I don't feel bad about it. It is just a fact of life.

I think you are correct. Many people do not know their BMR, and too many are being fooled by tables or online calculators, not realising that we are not factory-line machines. Another mistake is the claim that eating less is going to do it. It might, but it often won't. Eating less is the way to go, but we should be eating less than we need to stay alive, that is the only way to lose weight. The oft-heard claim of "eat 500 kcal less" is equally flawed. If someone is eating 1000 kcal too many, subtracting 500 will not make them lose weight, it is merely going to slow down their weight gain.

The advantage of rigorous recording for some time is that one can learn to determine one's own energy needs without having to resort to less-than-ideal rules of thumb and calculators.

Great that you took a walk. Your husband is not alone, I far prefer a shopvac to other vaccuum systems myself. I no longer have one, but I still prefer them.

I do not have a dog, and because my nap was too long, a walk in nature was not a realistic option any more since it was dark. So, I went to No Frills to buy a bag of PC baby Brussels Sprouts (they come from Belgium, I find that somewhat revolting in view of climate change). That's a little over 4 km, followed by a trip to my local Loblaws for 2 bags of No Name "Winter vegetables" (the only place where I find those). Despite their big advertising campaign around not increasing prices of No Name products, the price had increased. Too bad for me, I love them. In all, that gave me 10,176 steps and I saved 2 CDN on the sprouts which more than offset the price increase of the winter vegetables ^_^. All that while listening to "Downton Abbey" in Japanese through my headphones, so the time was not totally wasted. Every bit of motivation helps!

You make me jealous, I should not say that too loudly here, but I love snow. It is so beautiful, so calming. It also reminds me of a popular Russian folk song about how Russia is covered by snow. When I go to the Toronto Islands in winter, I am reminded of the romantic ideas I once had (and still do, despite Putin) of the Siberian steppe.

Thank you for the encouragement. You keep up the Good Work as well!

JBanx256

TOTALLY RANDOM but when I saw the title of this post, I thought of the 666 Challenge - it's 600 pound raw squat, 600 pound raw deadlift, and 6 minute mile run all in the same day. Which gets a big fat nope from yours truly LOL.

But ANYWAY, congrats on your progress and best wishes for continued success!

BartBVanBockstaele

@Fit2btied2016
Glad you like him. He is very entertaining, but I mainly refer to him, because he so nicely explains that energy is stored in food, but that this food also has mass. Many people don't seem to understand that, and that really puzzles me. After all, gas or diesel are also not weightless and most people are aware of that.

As for the ketosis, I think many people are not aware of the reasons genuine doctors are reluctant to approve it. I essentially agree with you. If we define "ketosis" as the production of ketone bodies, one is in ketosis every time one is in a caloric deficit for a few hours. After all, that precisely what our fat is for. I also think a very serious disclaimer is required: we really don't know so much about that state and we *do* know that while losing weight has significant benefits, it also comes with risks. My favourite example remains Angus Barbieri. If anyone has ever been in ketosis, it was him. As far as I know, he is history's most successful loser. However, he also died when he was still far too young. I have not been able to find out whether or not there is a causal relationship, but it is without a doubt a cautionary tale.

As for Atkins: guilty as charged. I was tempted by the idea that Atkins reduces hunger especially since hunger was my one main problem. Well, I never got hungrier than on Atkins, I couldn't stop eating and I gained weight like there was no tomorrow. I very quickly learned this wasn't a brilliant idea for me.

As for hormones, be careful. I have myself a malfunctioning thyroid, and it does make weight loss a little harder, but the reality is that it does not make weight loss impossible as is often claimed. All it takes is a little more effort, nothing more. Think of it, if this were not the case, we would see droves of people with extreme obesity dying from hunger while drowning in their own fat. I have never seen even one example of such a case. Maybe I am not well-informed. However, I would argue that if such people truly existed, they would be trotted out as examples of how biology can make weight loss impossible. The fact that such examples do not exist, is not a trivial oversight. It is a fundamental piece of information.

As for alcohol, sure, I agree with you. I stopped drinking a long time ago, and it wasn't even for weight loss. My father was an alcoholic and he died with Korsakoff syndrome. Last time I saw my mother, she was drinking Grand Marnier in the early morning because she was "thirsty". Sure. Add to this that we were taught in med school, now more than 40 years ago, that there are no "safe" levels of alcohol, and I learned quite quickly and easily to abstain.

It seem we have similar interests, language-wise. I learned Russian about 45 years ago (forgot most of it) and I also learned some Latin, Italian, German, and Mandarin. I just decided that I would stay with Japanese until I understand it so well that it is automatic and I don't have to consciously think about it anymore. Actually, while I write this, Disney's Sleeping Beauty is playing in Japanese ^_^.

Glad you like Brussels sprouts. I hated them when I was little. I now realise that it wasn't the sprouts I hated, just the really disgusting food children were served because they were "merely children". Years ago, I read an article from a Dutch journalist who was advocating to bring that back because we were all thin in those days: our food was so disgusting, we only ate barely enough to ensure we weren't hungry for a while. I am not convinced it is a good idea to bring that back, but still, it is worth thinking about something similar.

No, I have never tried Aussie liquorice but then, I stopped any and all liquorice: losing weight comes at a price, especially as someone living alone: no need to torture myself knowing something delicious is within arm's reach ^_^.

As for snow, I am very much looking forward to the new winter season since the colour season is coming to an end now.

Congratulations with hitting your goals! It is nice proof that it can be done, isn't it? I completely agree with Ruben Meerman that is the type of stuff children should learn at school. It could make like potentially much easier for them than it has been for us.

Success, keep up the good work!

BartBVanBockstaele

BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »

@Fit2btied2016
Glad you like him. He is very entertaining, but I mainly refer to him because he so nicely explains that energy is stored in food, but that this food also has mass. Many people don't seem to understand that, and that really puzzles me. After all, gas or diesel are also not weightless and most people are aware of that.

As for the ketosis, I think many people are not aware of the reasons genuine doctors are reluctant to approve it. I essentially agree with you. If we define "ketosis" as the production of ketone bodies, one is in ketosis every time one is in a caloric deficit for a few hours. After all, that precisely what our fat is for. I also think a very serious disclaimer is required: we really don't know so much about that state and we *do* know that while losing weight has significant benefits, it also comes with risks. My favourite example remains Angus Barbieri. If anyone has ever been in ketosis, it was him. As far as I know, he is history's most successful loser. However, he also died when he was still far too young. I have not been able to find out whether or not there is a causal relationship, but it is without a doubt a cautionary tale.

As for Atkins: guilty as charged. I was tempted by the idea that Atkins reduces hunger especially since hunger was my one main problem. Well, I never got hungrier than on Atkins, I couldn't stop eating and I gained weight like there was no tomorrow. I very quickly learned this wasn't a brilliant idea for me.

As for hormones, be careful. I have myself a malfunctioning thyroid, and it does make weight loss a little harder, but the reality is that it does not make weight loss impossible as is often claimed. All it takes is a little more effort, nothing more. Think of it, if this were not the case, we would see droves of people with extreme obesity dying from hunger while drowning in their own fat. I have never seen even one example of such a case. Maybe I am not well-informed. However, I would argue that if such people truly existed, they would be trotted out as examples of how biology can make weight loss impossible. The fact that such examples do not exist, is not a trivial oversight. It is a fundamental piece of information.

As for alcohol, sure, I agree with you. I stopped drinking a long time ago, and it wasn't even for weight loss. My father was an alcoholic and he died with Korsakoff syndrome. Last time I saw my mother, she was drinking Grand Marnier in the early morning because she was "thirsty". Sure. Add to this that we were taught in med school, now more than 40 years ago, that there are no "safe" levels of alcohol, and I learned quite quickly and easily to abstain.

It seem we have similar interests, language-wise. I learned Russian about 45 years ago (forgot most of it) and I also learned some Latin, Italian, German, and Mandarin. I just decided that I would stay with Japanese until I understand it so well that it is automatic and I don't have to consciously think about it anymore. Actually, while I write this, Disney's Sleeping Beauty is playing in Japanese ^_^.

Glad you like Brussels sprouts. I hated them when I was little. I now realise that it wasn't the sprouts I hated, just the really disgusting food children were served because they were "merely children". Years ago, I read an article from a Dutch journalist who was advocating to bring that back because we were all thin in those days: our food was so disgusting, we only ate barely enough to ensure we weren't hungry for a while. I am not convinced it is a good idea to bring that back, but still, it is worth thinking about something similar.

No, I have never tried Aussie liquorice but then, I stopped any and all liquorice: losing weight comes at a price, especially as someone living alone: no need to torture myself knowing something delicious is within arm's reach ^_^.

As for snow, I am very much looking forward to the new winter season since the colour season is coming to an end now.

Congratulations with hitting your goals! It is nice proof that it can be done, isn't it? I completely agree with Ruben Meerman that is the type of stuff children should learn at school. It could make life potentially much easier for them than it has been for us.

Success, keep up the good work!

I can't help but wonder what is going on with all the typos. There seems to be something in MFP that encourages them.

BartBVanBockstaele

JBanx256 wrote: »

TOTALLY RANDOM but when I saw the title of this post, I thought of the 666 Challenge - it's 600 pound raw squat, 600 pound raw deadlift, and 6 minute mile run all in the same day. Which gets a big fat nope from yours truly LOL.

But ANYWAY, congrats on your progress and best wishes for continued success!

Thank you!

BartBVanBockstaele

Fit2btied2016 wrote: »

@BartBVanBockstaele, oh I am pretty sure it is me with the typos due to grammatical errors. I could do with a brush-up on a couple of things. Then again, I have no need for writing essays anymore so really don't care too much! (I suppose I should, but...I don't). There's the rebel in me. Seriously, my writing has gone downhill a touch. Once a person has to enter things in codes or abbreviations all the time, more formal writing tends to fall by the wayside. One day I will brush up, but not today. :-D

Thank you, but I think you have the wrong impression. I was yelling at myself. I keep seeing tons of typos I am making, and they make no sense, even less so, because I am not used to make tons of them... So, sorry for giving you unpleasant feelings!

BartBVanBockstaele

I entered 66.6 kg at 8:00 this morning. That means 5 days have passed since I first had this weight.

BartBVanBockstaele

Fit2btied2016 wrote: »

BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »

@Fit2btied2016
Glad you like him. He is very entertaining, but I mainly refer to him because he so nicely explains that energy is stored in food, but that this food also has mass. Many people don't seem to understand that, and that really puzzles me. After all, gas or diesel are also not weightless and most people are aware of that.

BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »

I entered 66.6 kg at 8:00 this morning. That means 5 days have passed since I first had this weight.

You poor guy. It will change numbers soon. If not, then maybe we might have to start wearing garlic cloves around here?? I am teasing. Ignore me. (Btw, no need for you to aplogize regarding the typos--you didn't give me any unpleasant feelings but thank-you just the same).

Seriously though, have you tried fasting on water for 24 hours to break out of a plateau? (And when you break your fast, don't eat a super heavy meal for the first one. Wait a couple of hours after that meal before you dive into it).

I'm on the 3rd day of a plateau. I either need to fast to break it, or just do OMAD (one meal a day) today (which is what I will end up doing--too late to fast now).

Hang in there, Bart.

Wearing garlic cloves, giggle. I happen to love garlic to death. I am probably already stinking up Toronto as it is. I am currently limiting myself to one clove per meal, which means 4 a day. Any more and I will have to start taking the garlic calories into account ^_^.

Thank you very much for the suggestion. I have some experience with fasting. Without becoming colourful, the experience was life-destroying and it involved, pain, nausea and vomiting. Nothing for me. If it works for others, great. In fact, there is no way for it not to work, unless oher factors come into play.

That said, what I am doing works. After stagnating for 2 years because I refused to do what was required, I have finally accepted reality and have been steadily losing again, and am now thinking I should reach my as-of-yet-unknown goal sometime around the end of this year, more likely sometime during the first quarter of next. When there is no more excessive belly fat, is the time I am planning to get a scan, to see how the situation is inside and estimate how far I really am from what should then become a real goal weight, something I have never had before.

My erratic lifestyle is one of the reasons my weight often seems to stagnate or go up for a week or so, but since I know I am not cheating, I also know that it is a mere mirage that is essentially caused by water variation. I don't like (of course) but it doesn't bother me.

Thanks a lot for your encouragement @Fit2btied2016!

You keep up the good work as well!

BartBVanBockstaele

Fit2btied2016 wrote: »

Good idea about the body scan. It's very interesting and very helpful. I did one about 6 years ago and I would love to go back, but that particular place went out of business, and not sure where else I could go to have it done. It was hard enough trying to find that place!

That is more less the issue I have. I can find several places in Toronto that offer it, but there are also several factors that are pleading against them.

I also did a VO2 Max done--that was a lot harder by far! If I get closer to my goal weight, I would be interested to see how much the VO2 max has changed, as I really want to get back into scuba diving again.

Interesting suggestion. Thank you!

It's been a lot of fun (and obviously work) to just focus on me, my health, weight-loss and fitness, etc., and the rewards in all areas of my life have been numerous and plentiful.

I would have disagreed with that in the past. For me, losing weight used to be worse than hell (hunger, pain, nausea and vomiting, almost 24 hours a day), to the point I told a friend I wished for euthanasia. Since I am still here to whine about it, my wish wasn't granted, obviously. But when that problem was removed, except for hunger, it became a simple matter of willpower and fun looking for stuff that made everything less time-consuming.

Anyway, somehow, I got over that plateau I was stuck on and bumped lower still. Twelve pounds down this morning on day 41. Wahoo! So if the temporary water weight thing is the body's final reluctance to part with more, then so be it. Like you, I haven't been cheating either, and so the process will take as long as it takes, and I am okay with that.

Water can be very unpredictable because it often depends on factors that we cannot control in the real world. Related to that, I remember a dietitian telling me "just get up an hour earlier and prepare a good breakfast". I replied that I was certainly willing to contemplate that once I knew how to do that, if the last time I got up was the day before yesterday. The only reply I got to that was "you just do it". Sure. I still don't know how to get up earlier on days I don't get up at all, because I didn't go to bed in the first place.

One thing that I have been doing though is cutting way back on carbs again. They are still up there quite high with the amount of milk (as one example) and I could be losing faster for less effort. I am going to ditch the milk in my cereal on the mornings I have it, and just have water in it.

Sugar creates more havoc than anything it seems for me, and that might be even more of an issue than any dairy products, etc.

In my case, I reduced carbohydrate intake by excluding all high-carbohydrate foods with the exception of soybeans and Brussels sprouts. It would probably be less hard if I eliminated those as well, but I really like both of them. I contemplated replacing the soybeans with lupini beans but while preparing those is far from difficult, it takes some attention and time. Soybeans are both tastier and require almost no work to prepare.

It must be snowing like crazy on the mountains beside us right now, because we are absolutely getting drenched here down below and it's foggy all around the mountains and quite cold. The old rule in BC, "If it's raining down below, it's snowing up top."

We are lucky here. Saturday was great, with a lot of sun and temperatures of 20C, and I went for a long walk along the David Balfour Park Trail.

Keep on truckin'! Have a nice weekend, Bart

Thanks! You keep up the good work! A lovely weekend to you!

BartBVanBockstaele

Fit2btied2016 wrote: »

Nice photo :-) Looks like a great trail to explore. I pretty much stayed on the pavement today doing my run. I tried going on my usual trail, but the leaves were so thick because of the storm we had last in the last 24-36 hours, that they were hiding a lot of branches that had come down overnight and I nearly twisted my ankle, so I gave up on that in a hurry.

There was still a bunch of leftover junk on the road after they cleared the major portion of this tree that came down (that thing must have been 50' easy in height), but at least you could see those branches and avoid them. The power crews were still dealing with trees and downed lines elsewhere in our area, but it still wasn't as bad as some parts of BC that got harder hit. November is always our worst month for windstorms.

Fortunately, the snow that did try to reach us last night melted before it hit the ground because it is still above freezing, and that worked out great. We were able to quickly pop over and start winterizing our camping trailer, and then tomorrow we can actually drain everything, add antifreeze etc. Not to mention fighting with the cover (or more like fighting when we cover it?) LOL--My husband and I have 2 very different approaches to using things like tarps, tents, blankets, etc. Anything that is flat, large and easily flapped or pulled in multiple directions/windblown. We also cannot work together when it comes to doing things like stripping wallpaper or painting--we have to do those things in shifts or projects or "Well, I did X project, so do you want to do Y?" I take the Fort Knox approach to tying things down and using bungee cords all over and double-tarping, and what-not, and I end up with the "It will be fine, don't worry." Ah yes, famous last words...

However, I am currently in the doghouse because it's my turn to be in trouble--he just finished topping up a whole load of bark mulch, and I caught the dog digging yesterday into his work. Oops. The brat dug 3 big holes, and he wasn't happy at all. I knew he would be really upset so I told him right away to get it over with. The dog knew he was mad, too, but today was another day and it's not the worst thing we have had to deal with in life.

Just a random thought for you...Have you contacted U of T at all about testing? You might be able to get an entire scan, V02 max and a whole other list of athletic and health testing there. They might even do it for low-cost or free if students do it as part of their training for kinesiology and athletics, etc. You would probably have to let them do a full assessment on you, medical history/interview, etc. so they get practice, and depending on the clinic, they might even be able to do an ECG, bloodwork, and clean your teeth or fix a cavity, too, ha, ha--there are always student clinics of some description at Unis and colleges.

They should also be able to tell you when the next intakes or clinics will be run, as they can be quite popular. You might have to also go on a waitlist or be available only limited daytime hours on certain days.

Good luck in your search for that. I might do the same and check out UBC when the time comes.

It is indeed a great trail. Toronto is really quite unique in that there is so much nature in the city, thanks to its ravine system. Relatively few people know it, and I find it so sad when people go sit in traffic jams for hours to escape the city, when they could just walk from home to a park or a trail, or even take a short bus or subway ride to get there.

It sounds like you have really big windstorms! I imagine that can be quite scary. It is not like we never have that here, but it is rare enough for it to be talked about at length days and even weeks later.

Thank you for the suggestion about UofT! That is the type of thing I never think about and I should.

Success and don't forget to have a lovely day!