My journey to losing weight. Starting today 21/04/2021 The past few months have been trialling times. I’ve gained weight in my arms, my face, and most hatefully my stomach. My skin has gotten worse, more spots come up more frequently and my body feels out of place. I’ve been having higher anxiety, higher stress, higher everything. I’ve been through each and very pathway to lose weight, starve myself, water fast, intermittent fasting and nothing has worked sustainably. I’m going to try a new but recycled method of doing this now which is using my degree and science to back up my journey. Living my life for my wellbeing. The main points I want to focus on is water consumption, I want to drink half a gallon of water each day at a minimum and ideally ¾ gallon to a gallon a day. Next is sleep, I want to aim to get 8 hours of sleep per night, this means sleeping by 11pm, waking for 7am, once I have established this sleeping pattern, I want to maximise my time within my day to achieve things. Next up, it is a known fact that the only way to lose weight is by being in a calorific deficit, I’m going to use this calculator to determine my BMR and calorie intake required. BMR= 665 + (9.6x76) + (1.8 x 165) – (4.7 x 18) 665 + 729.6 + 297 – 84.6 = 1607 BMR As I am moderately active, I times my BMR by 1.55 = 2490 calories to maintain my weight. However, as I want to lose weight, I have to subtract 700 calories from this number which gives 1800 calories. To lose 1 pound of fat you need to be in a deficit created by diet and exercise of 3500 calories. Therefore, in a 700-calorie deficit, it would hypothetically take 5 days to lose 1 pound of fat. This is a good guideline as it’s not too quick for the body and can be achieved sustainably. I’m going to create a table that consists of my calorie tracking, alongside what exercise I did in that day and also the calories my apple watch picks up as burnt calories. Obviously, this isn’t a 100% accurate representation of the body because lots of factors contribute to losing weight but it’s a good start to attempt to track this scientifically. Heavy tracking can be detrimental and obsessive which it has become in the past but if I come at this from a scientific perspective, a good experiment needs lots of data and numbers to create results so why should it be any different for myself being the subject. Although I am 76kg, I don’t believe all of it is fat, there is a lot of muscle I account for, but this doesn’t let my weight slide, I want to at least be back in the 60kg-70kg range. Over the next 9 weeks to begin with I am hoping to lose 12.2 pounds. I will buy a scale today for weekly weigh ins for accurate data. I bought the scale, and these are my measurements. My measurement goals focus on weight and body fat. I want to go from 76.8kg to at least 68kg, this is an 8kg weight loss. I also want my body fat percentage to decrease massively, from 33.2% to around 25-27% range, but this goal will take much longer than the weight one I believe. Burn -4900 calories per week= 1.36 pounds of fat per week 0.62 kg of fat per week Weekly 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21/04/2021 28/04/2021 5/05/2021 12/05/2021 19/05/2021 26/05/2021 2/06/2021 9/06/2021 16/06/2021 23/06/2021 30/06/2021 7/07/2021 14/07/2021 21/07/2021 28/07/2021 4/08/2021 11/08/2021 18/08/2021 25/08/2021 1/09/2021 8/09/2021 15/09/2021 22/09/2021 29/09/2021 Colour Hyp. Weight (76.8) 168.54 167.18 165.82 Total Loss -4.4 -3.9 -3.8 5.44 Weight (Ibs) 169.9 165.5 166.0 166.1 Greece starts 0 166/75.3 Greece end -3.6 162.4/73.7 158.9/72 -7 Fat (%) Water (%) 33.2 32.5 32.6 32.6 48.8 49.3 49.2 49.2 Bone (%) 7.3 7.2 7.2 7.2 This table is for tracking results and accountability. Hypothetically, I could achieve my goal weight in 15 weeks if I keep up the hard work and discipline and consistency. But sadly, weight loss isn’t always linear and as smooth running. Especially for women, we have to deal with hormonal fluctuations and periods which does throw a huge spanner into the process. But this is an ideal guild line to aid the journey. 1 pound per week is a good goal to go for as it is not too fast or not too slow. Scientists say to aim for losing 1-2 pounds per week, and with my 700-calorie deficit, 1.36 pounds should drop each week. A thing that I’m going to do different this time is that if the scale isn’t moving in the expected way, I’m not going to give up. There will be some weeks where the scales go down, stay the same and sometime go up!!! But that’s okay and will happen due to fluctuations. To maximise the measurements as well as possible I will weigh in first thing in the morning after my first pee of the day. This is the truest representation of your weight. BMI 28.2 27.6 27.7 27.7 23 Week 1 Calories In Calories Out Deficit Exercise/Steps Water Sleep Wednesday 1763 2492 -729 3151 2931 +220 Idk but plenty 2l 8 hours Thursday Football, Beat your best/20,147 Upper body/15,508 Friday 1300 3098 -1798 Total body/18,968 3l 8 hours Saturday 1905 3088 -1183 Conditioning/20,253 3l 4 hours Sunday 1700 2646 -946 Active rest /17,400 5h 41 Monday Tuesday Total 2l -4436 Wednesday 21st April- Today was a good day. I did lots of moving and walking, lots of healthy nutritious meals today. I woke up and had strawberries and orange and an apple. For lunch I had a big salad with chicken pieces, and two rice cakes with peanut butter. Then for dinner I had tomato and basil soup, main meal was vegetable finger sandwich with sweet potato fries and edamame. And for a sweet treat to finish the day, I saved some space in my deficit for some cookie dough ice cream Did lots and lots of walking today, had football and also went to the gym to catch up on all of my challenges. Thursday 22nd April- Today was a good day however, I went out in the evening and ordered a burger and chips with 2 pints which totalled up to 2000 calories. It wasn’t intended and I should have done better but I enjoyed my evening and I get start again all tomorrow with a fresh new day, I will eat in a larger deficit tomorrow to make up for the calories. Eat more, eat less. Friday 23rd April- I don’t want to be dangerous and go below 1200 as that’s not what we are here to do as it’s not good for your body, your mind or this journey. I’ve been to the gym and went for a walk and did my lecture on the beach today, I’m going to use my day to move, increase my activeness to burn those extra calories today. To get back on projection, I’m eating 1200 calories and burning 2800 calories which is achievable for today. This creates a large deficit of -1600 to make up for yesterday and maintain today’s deficit. This is a drastic means for getting back on track, but it has to be done to do this, I have learnt my lesson and won’t give into tempting thoughtless food, I didn’t need to eat the burger, but I did and regretted it. University is a difficult environment to be in as its always drinking and junk food, and emphasis on the alcohol as 1g of alcohol has 7kcals, in comparison 1g of fat has 9kcals. Tonight, were having drinks again, I’m going to allocate the drinks in my diary in advance so I can eat around it. I’ve chosen to drink vodka, as its lower in calories and its pretty much empty calories, with lime and soda to keep it low. 4 drinks are 450 calories. So, I have 400 calories left to play with for lunch, I want to make it big and full but low on the calories, most probably a big salad with lots of vegetables and some protein. With my remaining calories, I ate a Bueno bar, this reaches 1200 calories. 8 hours Saturday 24th April- I did it, I went the whole night with only 3 drinks of vodka lime soda and had a bit of strong bow dark fruits in a game of beer pong. I didn’t order chips from the kebab place even when people said go on get it! Instead, I ate like 3 or 4 chips from someone else. I’ve woken up this morning really hungry, obviously due to the deficit but I’m going to get up and make some big fruit bowl to start my day off again with a black coffee. Research: What happens after the deficit? I’ve been looking into what I should do after being in a deficit for 16 weeks. And the best scenario was reverse dieting. My BMR is 1607 as calculated above, and my total expenditure is around 2400, each week I need to increase my calories by 2-10% each week until you hit maintenance. August will be when I theoretically hit my goal weight. Which I want to maintain, then when autumn rolls around again, starting October I may consider a small bulk and increase my calories further with heavy lifting, but that is not until ages away, I’m only on day 3 of this deficit. With the weather nice, I’ve been outside a lot, moving, playing football, more calories burnt which is lovely. Its 7pm and I’ve ran out of calories for the day which is early meaning I’ll be hungrier later on. Due to the extra calories and a daily deficit of -700, I actually have some leeway to add a meal if I felt like it, as this is true today, I will have my ice cream to treat myself tonight. Sunday 25th April- I’ve had two large deficits in a day now so today I should keep the deficit closer to -700 today, as when you go too fast it can cause hormones in the body to react in a not good way. There is a hormone called Ghrelin that regulates hunger, and when people try to lose weight too quickly this hormone can take over and consequently cause surplus eating and that’s where people gain the weight back, plus more. Its Sunday today which means my weigh in is in 3 days, the scale is tempting to stand on specially if I have officially lost my ‘first pound of fat’ but I have to hold out until Wednesday. I already feel better with the food that are going in, they’re more whole, nutritious foods, lots of fruits, lots of veggies. Today it’s a food shop day so I’m going to plan a little guide for next week’s eating. Today is over and it’s been a good day again. Finishing this week, I have burnt -4436 calories which is my first official pound of fat lost! I’m preparing for the next week ahead, this is the longest spell of healthy eating and well-being I’ve done in a long time and want to maintain it consistently. I am dedicated to this journey now for good. In this upcoming week I have Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday night drinks, which is going to be a huge challenge as drinking alcohol is empty calories, so nutritiously I believe I’m going to get rinsed out. I’m going to stick to the vodka shots, veer away from the VKs and takeaway after is not an option for me. Going out is an important part of university, but the health of it is awful. I will try my best as possible! New week! Week 2 Calories In Calories Out Deficit Exercise/Steps Monday 2011 3399 -1388 6h 29m Tuesday 2041 + 3113 alcohol/chips? 2887 Lower body/21,195 Cardio&abs 15,939 6h 49m Upper body/8,738 Total body/10,066 Varsity football 4h8m Wednesday Thursday 2087 Friday 2670 Saturday 1865(not right) 1489(not right) Sunday Water Sleep 7h 3l 8h18m Rest Total Monday 26th AprilToday is another day! And another week! Today has been such a busy day but I’ve managed to fit in all my tasks minus the university revision. I did all my admin work, job work, accommodation work. Tuesday 27th AprilGood morning. It’s a new day! Yesterday was intense. I was moving all day long, and I did treat myself to an extra treat hence the 2000 calories in, but my deficit was still huge at 1388 so I have to be eating more for my body to handle with the deficit well. I had lower body and football which was an intense training session. I ate some avocado toast and a Bueno and headed straight to bed. I’m about to leave for the gym right now, cardio and abs. Today’s food has to be decreased today as I’m going out this evening to Astoria, which obviously means drinks and alcohol I’m going to prep as much as I can to stay on track, but as we know its Astoria, and sometimes you got to loosen up a bit. Wednesday 28th AprilLast night I went quite heavy, I drank more than should have but I had a really good night. There is give and take and I enjoyed my time out. Today I can get back on it and keep up the hard work. A journey isn’t sustainable if you’re harsh all the time. It’s a new day and it’s weigh in day! I’ve lost 4.4 pounds; 0.7% fat and my BMI has gone down by 0.6. These to me are really good numbers and I’m really proud of myself! These numbers are so good that I jumped two weeks ahead by reaching goals quicker. Due to drinking last night, I need to replenish my body with lots of fruit, vegetables, carbs, protein, fat and water. Friday 30th AprilDue to the drinks and the nights out, the busy timetable and the hectic times, I haven’t been tracking properly. This means I don’t know my deficit/ I don’t know how much I burnt/ worked. I slipped up and there is no excuse for it, but it’s a new day and I am given the opportunity to do well today. Sadly, I injured my neck yesterday at the gym whilst doing a press up, this has left me resting in bed in pain, which couldn’t have happened at a worse time due to varsity tomorrow and how well I was doing in the gym. I’m going to take it easy, rest up, so I can try recover today as much as possible so I can give myself the highest chance of playing tomorrow. As I am bed bound today, this means less calories burnt so less calories need to go in. I may go out for a walk and get my steps as my form of exercise today. Week 3 Calories In Calories Out Deficit Exercise/Steps Water Sleep Monday ? 2383 ? 9,021 1l 5h Tuesday 1226 2508 -1282 2l 7h Wednesday 1846 2552 -706 Lower body/13,825 Cardio& abs/10,184 2l 7h39m Thursday 2928 1850 Friday Saturday Sunday Total Wednesday 5th MayThe past few days have been the worst days I’ve had in a long time. I’m feeling a little bit better now and I’m back here. Today’s weigh in wasn’t the best numbers to see as there was no loss, marginal gain, which indicates I’m not working hard enough to do this. But on the other hand, I’m still on target projection. My tables are not allowed to have question marks in them from now on. One thing that really messed up everything was drinking alcohol, I’m not trying to make excuses but when you’re in socials involving alcohol you want to join in, then you drink, then you eat, then you feel horrible the next day too. I don’t like it anymore. This week my only go out is on Saturday. Today I’m going to go to the gym soon, breakfast is some fruit and granola and protein shake. Lunch will be chicken salad, snack is rice cakes with banana smoothie, dinner is sweet potato mash, lettuce burger. I’m also going to really focus on drinking all my water today. Today like yesterday will be a good day. End of day: Today has been another good day, I ate good, I had a good workout, I looked after my mental health today much better than the other days I’ve just gone through. Tomorrow is going to be another good day. Week 4 Calories In Calories Out Deficit Exercise/Steps Water Sleep Tuesday 1800 2400 -600 2l 6h Wednesday 1900 3083 -1183 Lower body/11,643 Cardio&Abs, Football, Work/21,122 3l 4h39m Monday Thursday -850 Friday -850 Saturday -850 Sunday -850 Total -4850 Its Tuesday 11th May. After a weekend bender I’m here once again for a redo. My mental state hasn’t been the best again and I know I wasn’t helping it by fuelling it with alcohol. But I guess I’m a human and I mess up and will keep messing up. This isn’t a linear journey, it’s filled with lots of ups and downs, high, low, everything. Today has been a good day though, I feel like I have touched down again. Brought back down to Earth. I haven’t typed this I don’t think, but recently I have been having a lot of suicidal thoughts, I don’t know why but it just feels like it’s always there on my mind. As soon as I wake up, as soon as I go to bed, when I’m eating, when I’m sleeping. I don’t know how to help it, I don’t want to, but it’s just always on my mind. In other news, today has been an okay day and despite everything going on, I managed to bring myself back to this and start again. Technically it’s not starting again, it’s just bringing back to the tracks. Wednesday 12th May- It is weighing day and the scales have not budged at all this week. Which is expected as I had a very unhealthy binge 4-day bender. But I’m back on it again since yesterday and today and the days coming ahead. As I’m now behind schedule, my deficit needs to be a little larger at around -850 to theoretically reach my weight. I’ll do this by adding more steps into my day alongside a much cleaner diet. Research: Periods I’m about a week away from my next period, and I was looking at research into water retention, hormonal changes, PMS and other. What was interesting that I read about was 12 weeks before your period you experience the highest water retention therefore you can gain up to 5 pounds in fluctuation. Day 1-14 you will likely weigh less, then day 15-28 you increase weight. The cycle consists also of PMS, after reading some on PMS, I may have stumbled across a disorder called PMDD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder which has symptoms very similar to how I feel at the same suggested times of the cycle. I will start to heavily track these feelings alongside my cycle now just to see if it could be this causing my bad feelings. Week 5 Calories In Calories Out Deficit Exercise/Steps Water Sleep Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Total Week 1 Calories In Calories Out Deficit Exercise/Steps Water Saturday 1649 2400 -750 12/3/30, squats and lat pull/13,300 3.4 Sunday 1700 2400 -700 Monday 1700 2400 -700 Tuesday 1700 2400 -700 Wednesday 1700 2400 -700 3.4 Thursday 1700 2400 -700 Quads and Calves 3.4 Friday 1700 2400 -700 Pull Day Total -4900 3.4 Glutes and hamstrings Push day 3.4 3.4 3.4 The restart Weekly 0 1 2 21/04/2021 28/04/2021 5/05/2021 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 10/8 16/8 23/8 30/8 6/9 13/9 20/9 27/9 4/10 11/10 18/10 25/10 1/11 8/11 15/11 Progress Total Loss restart 1.9 71.3 70.8 70.3 69.8 69.3 68.8 68.3 67.8 67.3 66.8 66.3 65.8 65.3 2.1 Weight (kg) 77.0 75.0 75.2 73.7 71.8 sick 71.6 67.7 Fat (%) Bone (%) 7.3 7.2 7.2 BMI 33.2 32.5 32.6 Water (%) 48.8 49.3 49.2 31.1 50.3 7.1 26.4 Waist in Belly in 31 37 28.2 27.6 27.7 29.9 Saturday 29th May It’s been a while and with everything that has been going on, I haven’t been treating my body or mental health kindly with the food I’ve been putting in or the alcohol or anything. But today was a good day to get back on track again, I stuck to all my goals and did well and for that I am proud of myself today. It’s just gone 10pm and I’m going to start to wind down and get an early night, tomorrow I have glutes and hamstrings as the gym is closed on Monday, this early planning is good and motivational. All in all, I have 3 weeks until the opening of June 21st, this is 23 days of solid hard work I can put in to feel my best, and then I have 4 weeks until I leave for Greece, this is 28 days where I can dedicate this time for myself. I’ve been doing a lot of watching hindz videos and he gives me a lot of inspiration and it keeps me very motivated with what he says and he's very spiritually and vibrationally attached to his emotions the way he feels, the way he eats, the way he is around people and I love that he shares this with us and with me and I get to listen. I listen to a lot of his videos because they connect with me and resonate with me and if I wake up in the morning and listen to it, it starts my day off so nicely and I really appreciate him for that because in hindz videos he was talking about how food has vibrations and when you eat good food you can feel the vibrations of the food and are trying to connect with that today and it's true as whilst eating my fruit eating healthy nourishing Whole Foods I felt good I felt good whilst eating them and made me think with junk food the crisps, chocolate, the pizza and I don't feel good whilst eating it, I feel good for a little bit then I feel sick, I feel tired, so angry and I don't like to connect with those vibrations I felt so much better when I was eating bananas apples pineapple oranges strawberries all the fresh fruit and veg. So in recap of today I've had a really good day I feel good and connected with my body in the earth and all I can do is really go to bed on good, good thoughts and wake up tomorrow feeling good and to hit another day coz everyday counts it really does August 11thIt’s been a long while since coming on here, obviously the numbers didn’t stick, but I have lost weight, a total of 7 pounds so far. Whilst in Greece I lost 3.5 pounds, which is like 0.5ibs per week. It’s not fast like 1 or 2 pounds per week, but it was still a loss that makes a huge difference to me and my body. It was less intense and easier to sustain as a lifestyle choice rather than a flash hard diet crash. I’m going to continue eating and living this way to see what happens. My next milestone is in another 7 weeks’ time at the end of September where I hope to lose another 3.5ib taking me to 72kg. It seems slow but it makes all that difference. To achieve my goals and continue living good, I have some plans to help me get there. Water- drink at least half a gallon per day. Exercise- get back onto tone and sculpt guide and start running. Diet- Breakfast is a healthy, high protein meal, fruit, porridge. Lunch is made into protein, fat and carb, there must be a salad or vegetables of some kind. Dinner also is protein, fat and carb, but smaller than lunch, also vegetables must be there as well. Snacking and junk food can’t be eliminated, therefore can be limited, I can have a portion and an incorporate it in but don’t go over the top. Well today is Friday 13th August and I weighed in to be 72.4kg this morning, I always have huge fluctuations. So, I never know when it is true or when it is water. Could be a lot of things. I will start doing weekly weigh ins every Monday again then when I get closer to be wanted weight, I should stop to not focus on the numbers as much. I haven’t been tracking my calories on my fitness pal since coming home, that is another habit I want to break as I don’t think it was very good for me. Instead, I’ve been focusing more on eating presently and in better portions and control. It’s still really hard and I still think I have disordered eating because everything I do, eat, think about is always food, how many calories is in this, how many calories are in that, I shouldn’t eat that because that is a bad food, good food. I even start questioning rice, pasta, potatoes. Food that is good for you I begin to think it’s bad because it has numbers associated with it. Monday 16th August Today is a good day, I am in 71. something range, so the 70s are looking like they will be gone!!! Soon… I’m hoping that in a month’s time I can see the number 6 again. 69.8… I will be shocked when I see that number again because it would have been two years since being that. In 8 weeks, I have managed to lose 10 pounds, it hasn’t been easy at all in the slightest but gradually, I have reduced my weight down at a safe and steady pace. With another 8 weeks, I hope to continue this trend and keep it going. Its Monday and a start of a new week. I’m going to get active again, I have a new burst of motivation. On Friday I can finally go outside! I’m so excited!! I will wake up in the morning and go for a run around Earlswood, it’s going to be amazing. The increased physical activity will do me very good, and cardio is good for your heart and body and mind. I will take each 2 weeks as a pair. As 2 weeks is equal to 1kg. Wednesday 18th August Day 9 of quarantine, I have today and tomorrow left! I am on track weight wise, losing at a slow and gradual pace but it all adds up over time. I hit my first milestone out of ten. This morning I was 71.65kg, my waist was 29 inches, and my lower belly was 36 inches. This is really good for me; I’ve lost 2 inches on top and 1 on bottom. I can’t put numerical goals on losing inches because I don’t know how small my waist can get. I don’t think I can ever be 27,26,25 inches, I’m not built that way, but I don’t know, so I will track it. All I know is that my lower belly can definitely go down, 36 can definitely be like 32. Each and every day I wake up, I feel a bit better and look better too. But sometimes throughout the day I get all in my head and feel like self-sabotage and giving up. It takes time, lots of time and dedication, each 2 weeks that goes past is chance to lose another kg, Ive lost a whole 5kg, that’s incredible and I should be so proud. Thursday 19th August Today I weighed 71.2 which is a massive jump from yesterday, unexpected, but it most likely means that I will jump back up tomorrow which is totally okay. I had oats for breakfast with banana and then for lunch I had pasta which I haven’t had since Greece, it was tasty, I think I’m a little afraid of pasta though at the moment because in my head it’s a carb weight gain food. To get this thought of my head I have to think that in Greece I had pasta a lot and still lost 4kg whilst I was out there, so pasta isn’t the problem. So long as there is a calorie deficit, biologically, I will lose weight. I was also really good because when I cooked my cup of pasta and put it on my plate, it looked like a really big portion, too big. So, I took almost half of it off my plate to save for tomorrow, this is a really good habit because I didn’t overeat just to finish the food I’ve cooked. If I continue this way with good habits, I’ll be at my goal weight in no time at all. One thing I’m a little worried about is that tomorrow I will be going clubbing; this means alcohol calories which scares me. I think the best way to do this effectively is my plan my day now so that I’m prepared and mindful for tomorrow. So Tomorrow, I will go to the gym and do a morning session, at 9-10, home eat breakfast, oats as usual. Then shower shave and all of that, Lunch will be something light, maybe a fruit smoothie and some rice cakes. Dinner could be in Brighton, something nice though not grease. Then drinks, I’ll have one before we go, two in spoons, one in revs, then one in the club. Five drinks in a night are a good aim. I won’t be weighing myself on Saturday or Sunday as I feel like it would be detrimental. Therefore, no more weighing until Monday when my body has processed some of the alcohol. Most of my gym workouts will be morning ones, before my day starts off so it sets the day in good intentions! Balance. Monday 30th August I’ve had a slight slip up again since I got sick. But it’s a bit of a rowing boat and I will find the way through this. I’m still doing really well in general, but I have to divert my focus back to good. I move to Portsmouth on Wednesday the 1st of September. New month, new start, new goals, I can focus on getting myself back on track again. I still have a goal to meet in November so it’s time to kick back into gear and get going. I was having a really great linear decrease in weight but lost it and hit a plateau right now, but im going to get better and do better. With being able to go to the gym committedly not moving back and forth between uni and home, I’ll have a proper routine and the nutrition will also get back on track too. Saturday 23rd October Fast forward a few months and again its been an up and down and up and down. I got really sick this and last week, I went from sitting at 71 consistently to dropping to 67.7 in a week. A lot of it is obviously water weight, but some must have been a little fat. My eating ques are finally coming back after having a horribly nauseous week so it’s a good chance to bring it back in a healthy manner.