Beeminder Forum

Weightloss Journal

Life
#1

Weightloss has always been my biggest challenge. I have struggled to lose and maintain weightloss. I have recently let myself go so today I am picking up the pieces again and developing a plan.

I have tried lots of things along the way with varying levels of success.

I have learned a few things along the way:

  • low carb works for me. Intermittent fasting too.
  • I love to eat with other people and lose willpower when I am sharing a meal
  • Gotta chose between muscle gain and weight loss
  • I am not big on running on a treadmill. I like swimming and yoga. I like weight lifting.
  • I like group workouts and being challenged physically.
  • I have hurt my wrist too much. I need to stay away from exercises that could hurt it more.
  • Have to focus on developing healthy eating habits. Eating slower until satisfied. Eating more vegetables. Drinking more water.
  • I like tracking my progress. weight - Google Sheets
  • Nutrition coaches don’t work for me.

I need a plan that takes into consideration and everything be backed by Beeminder goals… But starting small today.

The plan to start is:

The next steps would be:

  • introduce fasting and food quality control goals… as well as goal to limit eating out.
  • develop healthy habits to eat slower, eat more vegetables and drink more water.
  • look into setting up some hikes

Some consideration:

  • I will likely be WFH a lot more over the next few months. That has proven good for my diet but bad for my activity level.
  • I need to take care of my wrist and ensure I don’t use it again as a convenient excuse to stop working out.
  • I need a maintenance plan. That’s why I need to focus on developing those healthy habits.
  • I might be relocating for a new job in a few months. That might throw a wrench into my progress as I accommodate those changes. I need a transition plan for that and might have to lower the intensity during that.

Please help hold me accountable if I drop off. :blush:

7 Likes
#2

Besides beeminding weight, @bee and I have a heuristic that we’ve both found helpful for vacations or other times when it’s awkward to not be able to partake in social eating. We refer to it as “Only eat when eaten to”.

It’s like a random intermittent fasting schedule determined by social circumstances. You make a pact that you won’t seek out any food on your own or do any snacking and then when there’s a group meal or someone shows up with brownies or something you can go nuts.

3 Likes
#3

Wishing you well. This is hard. Please be kind to yourself, especially when you derail/drop off. Which you probably will from time to time. Because this is hard. Be kind and come back.

From The Growth Equation:

Stay on the path. These are the tenets you want to embody, the ways in which you wish to live your life. Let them serve as your guideposts.

Fall off the path. Mess up. Because you are a human.

Get back on the path. Do not judge yourself too harshly, but learn from your mistakes. Go to the place you fell off and start walking again.

2 Likes
#4

thanks for the input @adriancasamonte and @dreev

Updates:

  • signed up for gym. worked out three times this week including yoga and running. Will increase rate to 4 times per week.
  • I am still ramping up my workouts. Started small. First 10 minutes then 30 minutes on treadmill. My goal is to maintain at least 30 minutes on treadmill at 149 BPM (Maffatone method to optimize aerobic capacity).
  • Deleted journaling goal mentioned before. I have a rule of thumb to keep number of Beeminder goals at one time to 10. Otherwise, I lose track of goals and I get overwhelmed. This goal seemed like it could be supplanted by a todoist-based goal that I have.
  • Reintroduced intermittent fasting goal to take effect tomorrow https://www.beeminder.com/mutdmour/daily-fasting
  • Reintroduced keto goal to take effect tomorrow https://www.beeminder.com/mutdmour/daily-keto.
  • Why Keto? I am starting out with Keto-based approach because it’s simple flexible and familiar to me. It’s not sustainable though. I have been thinking about a more holistic approach to quality but I want some results quickly and need some time to some tracking first.
  • What’s next? If all goes well over next week, I will add more tracking for quality and portion size.
  • I restarted weightloss goal because I needed more time and a better baseline, increasing my starting weight by 1kg.
#5
  • In order to stay below 10 goals and in the spirit of focusing on process rather than goals, I have decided to drop the weightloss beeminder goal. I would rather focus on the tools to get there (fasting, keto, workout…) rather than on trying to hit a weekly goal. Of course, I will still track my progress on the Google sheet. I will add a projections line to compare to and make sure I try to stay on the path.
3 Likes
#6
  • Numbers are starting to trend down. I have gotten in the habit of things somewhat now.
  • I got a subscription to Down Dog which I have been trying for the past month. It’s a great way to get a home Yoga workout in and the app offers an impressive experience. I am a fan.
  • Not making any more changes to my program. Will try to get an inbody test tomorrow to get somewhat of a baseline. I do feel the need to be stricter with my diet and portions. But I have had success with lazy keto before and it’s an easy way to get started.

So to summarize, my system so far is:

  • daily affirmations written down 15x every day (I have always been skeptical about this but I have had success recently so I might as well own up to doing it) (has beeminder goal)
  • Workout. Includes Yoga (app), Swimming and Running (treadmill at gym). (has beeminder goal)
  • Lazy Keto (6x times per week) (has beeminder goal)
  • Intermittent fasting (6x times per week) (has beeminder goal)
  • Tracking weight and measurements progress on weekly basis (tracked by Google Sheets)
1 Like
#7

Weekly update - this one is a little late this week. Just got a new laptop and settling into a new routine

  • Had a free day last week because there was a cake I was forced to eat.
  • Have a hike planned for next saturday.
  • Tightening my rules. Daily-keto is now 6.75 per week. Essentially it will take me 4 committed weeks to get a free day. Which is more important for Keto.
  • Been slowly ramping up my workouts, increasing difficulty. I could not get my HR monitor to work so will rely on a smartwatch instead that I have in a drawer somewhere.
  • I need stricter rules around what to eat and portions. I have not settled on an approach yet.
1 Like