h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Woo hoo for the run, Kelli - I saw you'd done it on FB.

Good luck with the house sale Vip - as you say, let the waiting begin. Where are you moving to?

> How is the Riley approach working for you one month in Ben? Are those rings getting looser?

Pretty well. I was 1lb lighter at the end of Jan than at the beginning. Not much, but get this:

I'd not put on weight
I'd not weighed myself between the 1st and the 28th
I'd not portion controlled or calorie counted
I'd not put on weight
I'd not put on weight

In addition - I know that I had in fact eaten a bit more than I should most days. Not much, just finished what was on my plate, or had a second biscuit, that sort of thing. In other words, if I can really get on top of the addictions and manage the cravings and the automaton-zombie-stuff when the mindless-hand-eats-of-its-own-accord then I'll almost certainly drift down.

I don't look oversized. My BMI is bang on the nail of 25. That's too near being overweight for me: my personal target is to have a BMI between 22 and 24 which is a weight loss of 7 to 14 lbs.

My expectation is that I'll drift down, a pound or so a month until I've lost the half stone. We are going to take up running again when the clocks change so it may be more than that per month. I don't know if I'll lose the full stone, but I don't really mind.

So all in all, I'm pretty pleased with the Riley approach. It's utter bliss focussing on managing cravings rather than on how much do I weigh. I can't tell you. Mind you, it was very very scary the first couple of weeks, but I could tell from my clothes that I wasn't gaining.

I read a book the other day about the gaps in financial accounts and how they don't measure what really matters - ie how you run your company - and they said you should "manage the game rather than manage the score" and that is EXACTLY what I am doing.

Go you, Ben.

We're looking to move to a village nearby. I currently live in a suburb which, although pleasant, is soulless. I grew up in a village and really miss that atmosphere. Plus the school there is outstanding, and the ones around here are... uh... no longer failing, at least.
Not that I'm planning on falling pregnant any time soon but that is in the long term plan, and if we are going to move we may as well take that into account so we don't have to move again!

Go Ben!

I'm getting better at eating more healthily, and have got into the habit of taking the stairs at work (even though I work on the 4th floor ). Deliberately not weighing myself other than when using the Wii Fit which has unfortunately fallen by the wayside due to other things including New Bass Guitar and Massive Domestic Sort Out. We have a tidy bedroom for the first time in... ever, I think.

Vip, glad the lunches are working in the daytime, We tend to have quite big dinners in the evening so I try to keep lunch light to make up for it because, like you, when I was trying to have a bigger lunch but would end up eating almost as much in the evening and ending up way over what I needed to eat for the day. I find I don't actually need to eat much in the daytime, but then have to really watch out for wanting to eat everything in the house at 6pm when I get in from work/boys activities. In an ideal world I'd have my dinner then, but I usually don't get to eat until J is home which is nearer to 9pm. I need some strategies for dealing with aimless hoovering up all available food as soon as I get in. Let the boys have a really long bath last night so I couldn't be in the kitchen, which seemed to work. If I keep doing that I'll have the cleanest boys in the world

Ben, am so glad it is working out for you - i keep meaning to get her book out of the library so I can see if I can make use of it too - I know that at the moment I am only exercising restraint ahead of time (ie don't buy the things I shouldn't have in the house, stay out of the kitchen excpet for mealtimes, take lunches to work, only dish up reasonable portions for myself), I still can't control myself in the face of availability and opportunity. This seems to go in cycles with me, and I know it will get easier as the days get longer.

Mr D, that is the best way to do it - get into good habits, and walking up 4 flights of stairs is great several times a day!

I feel a bit like an addict that can't get any crack...the battery has run out on my scales and I can't see my NFTAaP weight any more I only get to see my WW WI weight, which was down one and a half pounds this week to 11st dead. I really wanted to be back to goal by the end of feb but that seems unlikely, so will aim to do it by the end of march instead. Was a bit disheartened not to be back in the 10stone bracket again as I really upped my game exercise-wise last week, and thought I must have lost at least 2lb.

The positive from the weekend is that I ran again, and managed the 3 miles there slightly faster than last week. I'm going to keep working on this before upping the distance significantly. Was knackered saturday night because we took the boys for a really long walk too - covered at least 5 miles with them so my total running/walking for the day was around 11 miles.

Hope you have all had a good week

Well, I've been entirely too disorganised and lazy so far this year and it seems it's 'paid' off.

Yesterday - small clothes day, with size 10 magic jeans and size 12 tops AND a smaller bra.
Today - 4lbs additional on the scales in the gym.

The panicky person inside wants to go ask Anorexia girl for tips (not really) and the comfort eater inside just wants a deep fried something for dinner.

I've not had a schedule to keep with regards to school - we were supposed to start job placements on Feb 1st but the tutor was his usual disorganised self and things aren't quite lined up. So instead of going to the gym every afternoon on the way home from the gym I've been doing nothing much - maybe one session a week instead of four.

So. Well deserved 4lbs, with entirely too many 'red' days (traffic light system, red = bad, yellow = eat more, green = perfect calorie count), lots of carbs and some puddings, I'm full, but annoyed at myself.

On the plus side, yesterday really was small clothes day. And gym clothes are smaller too - down to a medium for most stuff. Back to the drawing board.

False alarm, stand down everyone...re-weighed myself today and I'm OK..

May have to try Beatrice's recommendation for an iphone app to track stuff as mine seems to be going monthly subscription only, which I'm not up for.

Well. Sorry to resurrect an old thread (not really )

As some may have noticed on FB, I did a tryathlon! And am now a size 10, even on top, which I wasn't expecting. I honestly thought the sizeable would stay just as sizeable and therefore I'd just stay big. And I'm not. Obviously it depends on the cut and sometimes the fabric but my main source of entertainment lately has been trying on size 10 summer dresses.

Doing OKish on the eating front - back to too many carbs / too little protein to be properly dieting but at least am mostly hitting target.

Gym - not been since Saturday but that's because I've got a paper to write and prototypes to make and projects to complete. Once the paper is sorted I'll be straight back in there.

Oh, and I found a lump on my knee. About the size of a dried pea, hard, on the kneecap. It moves slightly under the skin and I suspect it's either a bit snapped off (!) or a cyst of some kind. Have appointment on Monday to have it checked out - in the meantime, now that I've noticed it, my knee hurts really vaguely.

Friends not up for running relay Reykjavik marathon, but siblings are. So might do that next year..

How are you all?

I've been meaning to wake this thread up again for ages so thanks for doing it for me

Well done for the size 10 all over! You looked lovely in that photo you posted, be good to see you in something more fitted and the right size too!

My girls are not shrinking - I actully wonder wht I would have to get my bmi down to to get them a more manageble size. My moonwalk bra arrived this week - I ordered a 30G and although the back is right, the G is just not big enough. Good grief. In non-wonderbra bras I tend to be bout a 30G but still, hooters!

I gained a fair bit of weight while dad was at death's door, out of stress and sadness and the fact that for most of the weekend the only food available in the hospital came out of the chocolate vending machines.

Now that he is improving, and I am more able to plan food for my visits, I'm coming down again. Am back within gold range for WW and am slowly coming down and down. My size 10 summer stuff was feeling a bit tight when the sun came out two weeks ago but happily everythinjg seems to be going back to normal now.

Still trying to run, still hving issues with my knees though so hve had to cut my runs right back dow to no longer than 4 miles at a time until I can figure out how to stop the knee pain. Hve been through about 4 differnt shoe solutions for this - so don't think they are the problem. Is definitely mymuscles or something rather than poor shoes.

Six weeks to the edinburgh moonwalk, which I am starting to look forward to despite having to visit the outlaws to do it.

So have you finished losing weight now and moved to trying to stay the same?

And meant to say good luck with the doctor for your knee, hope it is something easily sort-outable.

As it happens, I'm not done yet, no.

Target is 62kgs, actual weight now is about 72kgs. I've not lost any weight in what feels like months, but there's been circumference changes and very different levels of toning, with visible muscles now in lots of places. I've been doing lots of weightlifting and if my eating was better, I'd be losing weight too.

Too much to think about with college and stuff to worry about it though. Summer plans involve more protein and less carbs so we'll see how that goes. I'm still aiming for 1500cals per day and most days hit that but I'm not strict enough about measuring _everything_..

Don't beat yourself up about comfort eating / hospital eating...Life intervenes in our best laid plans and all we can do is cope with the aftermath. It's not like you've given up on the diet and are now a size 22...you're still wearing your 10s and back to sensibleness. Glad to know your dad is better btw...I see the posts but don't comment much.

Knees are a bugger, aren't they?

And yes, looking forward to seeing what a man with intimate knowledge of Maplins can do with a bra..Mind boggles at you on a 30! though...I'm now a comfortable 34E, ish. And again, can't imagine there being a big change there in the future, but I've been proven wrong before so we shall have to see.

Oh, re. knees..

Don't remember if you've done something like this already but Sweatshop stores do a gait analysis and are apparently very helpful. They then recommend shoes to suit and so on. Think it's a free service, too. Although as the the smallest they go is a 4, it's of no use for me

Ah. Been to doctor. He thinks it's either scar tissue / debris or possibly a swollen nerve.
In either case he recommends it come out. So in a few months I'll have a new scar to add to the collection.

Thankfully as it's just under the skin it's a tiny procedure, done in the local clinic and the recovery time shouldn't be very long. Whew.

I was sure I'd posted here before...

Good news that it is small and easily sort-outable! Annoying to get another scar for the collection - you should start inventing stories about where you got them, with you involved in tales of high jinks and danger and heroism.

I'm now on my third try at finding a gait-analysed pair of trainers, perhaps I run differently on the treadmill than I do outside? I still get knee pain even if I only run a short distance (under three miles), and the longer the distance the worse the pain. I really need to go back to the gp at my surgery who does marathons himself, as he will be more sympathetic and understanding as to what I need!

I'm slowly creeping down on the scales again, but more importantly amd getting thinner around the middle/boobs. I'd still like to be half a stone lighter than I am now, but we shall see.

I bought a new skapri in size S the other day I'd like a running skirt that has built in shorts long enough to disguise my thighs but not come below my knees. The sweatshop in windsor has some, but I need to try them on when I don't have the boys with me...

I adore adore adore Athleta.com for sports clothes. Only to browse though - they have stupidly expensive shipping and to add insult to injury they then add US tax! (admittedly find some of their models unnecessarily fierce)

But there are lots of nice things there if you know a friendly USAnian..
Another nice thing about USian sizes is that we're so tiny in them! 8, small, etc.
Just note that bra sizes there are also bigger (which you probably know already, sorry)

Treadmill running style does tend to be different than outside - I find myself running faster and with a longer stride than on the treadmill. Am familiar with the whole the longer you run the more it hurts - which is why I never run more than 5k. Outside is easier than on the treadmill though.

Help!

I'm starting to believe that 1500 is my maintenance cal count with my current activity level. I'm losing a bit of circumference here and there as I lift lots but no actual poundage.

So what do I do? Drop calorie count? Up exercise? Drop carbs? What?

Hmm, if your weight is remaining the same but you're becoming fitter and stronger, is it because you're losing fat and gaining muscle?

What happens if you add calories? If you ate 100 kcals a dy more for a week or two, would you gain? Or stay the same? and if you sts could you then add another 100 kcals a day for a week or two? If I were you I would try adding calories until stop staying the same, stay there for a week or two, and then reduce my cals again. Your metabolism will have dipped while you are eating less, you can gently train it to sts on more calories, and then when it gets used to that start dropping them again.

What do I know, I've eaten all kinds of crap in the last couple of months, mainly disorganisiation and misery eating. Still seem to want to eat rubbish when in emotional pain. Now loads over my goal range and probably won't get my first anniversary award. *sigh*

Am starting to get back on track, but haven't entirely made it yet. Need to start tracking my food again.