Dust - iameven.com
Wow. Such health. Very exercise. Many less food.
Reflecting on old times
Another gem from my old Norwegian blog is that time I decided to start exercising. I happen to fail not long after, something I've also recorded. I write more about the system I'm creating to track this instead of the actual training. Something that is quite typical of me.
IO
Losing weight is deceivingly simple. If your intake of energy is less than your output you lose weight. That's it, and everybody knows it. There are only two parameters you can control. Calorie input and output. Simple, right?
Input
It turns out to be quite hard. I have a hard time judging when I've had enough to eat. Not sure it's fair to label it a handicap, but it feels like it. It's like I'm missing a sensor in my system. Or if the sensor is there, the analytics module is faulty. Maybe it's not calibrated. I know there is an evolutionary component at play. We are biologically programmed to eat as much as we can because there might be hard times ahead. On me everything adds up as excess weight. In ancient times that would have probably been a huge plus, but now it is a handicap. There are so many excellent foods and drinks. And snacks. And beer.
The challenge in this is random temptations and a feeling of hunger. Input is by far the easiest and most significant factor.
Output
By living through a day the body uses a certain amount of energy. You can find this estimate through various calculators based on Mifflin's formula. Like this one in norwegian. On top of that you can exercise. A normal work out session will maybe add 300-500 KCal to your energy output.
- Want to lose weight, make sure your input is lower than this estimate.
- Want to gain weight, make sure your input is higher than this estimate.
- Want to keep weight, try to keep input and output in sync.
It's hard to change your energy output, you can only add to it. If you want to add a lot it affects how hungry you feel and your muscle mass. If you use weight as a measurement, which I do, exercising will make it hard to see progress at times. Muscle mass is heavier than fat.
The new regime
Right before Christmas, great timing, I decided to start losing weight again. Again? Yes. Again. I did this three years ago, and I succeeded. I lost around 20kg then, but after that, I fell back into the old routine. And over the last 2 and a half years I've regained most of that.
I'm using Lifesum this time. A free, but annoying app, to act as an external system instead of my faulty internal one. Lifesum has a premium subscription to nag about, but I don't see the point of it, and only use the free functionality. I make sure to add all my input to that app to give myself an estimate of how much I can eat for a meal, or later that day. And that works for me. I've done it before once, so I know.
I've also been doing it for around 9 weeks now, and lost 6kg. I aim to lose 1kg a week, but Christmas and a work related off site event reset 2 of those weeks for me.
Exercise
I don't believe it will help me lose weight. I need to get in better shape.
Last spring I joined Holmenkoll Stafetten, a relay race. Only 4 weeks before that I realized it would be hard to partake and started working out 3 times a week. I'm starting a bit earlier this year, but haven't been able to go 3 times a week. I prefer to exercise in the morning. Which means I can't deliver my son to kindergarten. Neither can my wife these days, because she usually has early classes at university. I've been able to go about once a week though (occasionally twice), which is better than nothing.
Goals
I've read that it's dangerous to state your goals before you start. It might satisfy your feeling of accomplishment. But I've already started, so let's live a little.
- Get under 100kg (which I should be able to reach in 7 weeks)
- Join the relay race again, but perform better this year
- Lose 5kg, 3 times
- Be able to do a hand stand (towards a wall, there is a story here)
- Be able to do a pull up
- Adjust weight as needed, don't let it slip
The goals are numbered by the order I think they will happen.
I want to break the weight loss into several part goals. That way I can celebrate my progress and make each part easier.
I've already signed up for the relay race, but our company has grown and we have 2 teams this year. I'm in the run for fun group. So I will, but better than last year.