# January 2010 Weight Loss Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326 "2010-01-01T21:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/101 "2010-01-28T03:02:26Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > ,I’m doing that crazy new thing for energy - sleeping, eating right, and exercising. 🙂 Weirdo :rolleyes: 😉 😛 Bummer on having to give up the club soda mix - that does sound nice. I learned to avoid caffeine most of time myself, due to the Restless Legs (too much risk of it triggering a massive attack of the twitchies at bedtime). Diet Coke was my poison. Diet Sprite (caffeine free) replaced it when we were trying to cut back on discretionary spending; water (filter through the Brita) was a lot cheaper and I’ve sort of gotten used to it… though it’s hard to make me drink enough of it. I’ve found in the past few days that if I don’t, I get quite dizzy if I stand up too long - due to some new meds, I guess I’m peeing stuff off much faster and getting dehydrated. I do still drink a couple of Diet Cokes a week at work. Though today I was good - I took my big Kleen Kanteen (20ish ounces) and filled / emptied it three times. Played hell with my productivity though, I was down the hall to the small room at least every 90 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/102 "2010-01-28T03:34:18Z")
> [@Juliana](#): > > 348.2. What a good number. Yes, that number means… > > I’M 50 WHOLE POUNDS SMALLER!!! > > You may now go back to your regular broadcast day. 😃 Yay! That’s such a _solid_ milestone. Way to go!! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/103 "2010-01-28T03:39:03Z")
Last weigh-in I lost another 5 lbs, putting me at 5% body weight lost. My first milestone. 🙂 And my run yesterday was my best pace so far, I’m seeing the improvements and I like them. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/104 "2010-01-29T18:14:27Z")
First week at the gym. It has been amazing. They have taught us how to work the strength training machines and given us a program. The nutrition training continues. We did a circuit training session on Thursday. I took a Zumba class and had the time of my life. And I lost 10 more pounds. In one week. ONE WEEK. Yike. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/105 "2010-01-31T21:58:40Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > 212½, backslid a pound and a half, back to only 1½ down. Show week just gone, which severely impacted exercise and diet both, what with boxes of chocs backstage (and I am no good when there are indefinite quantities of food within easy reach - I knew that already) and no time for walking until today. Still, they say it’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up. 210½, two pounds this week, 3½ overall. Considering the steak dinner on Friday evening and the four-course meal last night, I’ll take that, though I was hoping for a better January at the outset. Never mind, on to February in the confident hope of dropping below 15 stone UK style. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/106 "2010-01-31T22:16:14Z")
After three weeks of no change on the scale, I finally lost a pound. It’s not, you know, a lot, but it’s something. Total pounds lost this month = 5, or 3% body weight. I’ve also lost about an inch off my waist. I’ve been hitting strength exercises pretty hard, so I’m guessing one reason I’ve had trouble losing weight is all the iron-pumping. My body is definitely looking and feeling better. I exercised every single day this month! And I’ve been consistent with my calories. I’m hoping to see bigger results soon, but just the act of doing healthy things every day, no matter what’s going on in my life, has been reinforcing in itself. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/107 "2010-02-01T02:01:16Z")
I’d take a pound with a big grin on my face - I’ve been plateaued for so long now. 🙂 I want to take my weight off slowly so it is permanent weight loss, but this is a snail’s pace. Jim was actually plateaued for as long, and he’s just started dropping again - I’ve been considering adding arm weights to my recumbent biking to, uh, unclog things, as it were. Five pounds in a month is _excellent_ progress. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/108 "2010-02-01T07:21:09Z")
For everyone who worries about scale readings, remember, it doesn’t matter what the particular reading is, what matters is the trend. It’s just like in science class when the graph was all over the place; up, down, fluctuating like crazy, but a best-fit curve of the data showed a clear trend up or down. The problem with the way many people think about weight loss is that they have a binary mindset: Over this weight is bad. Under this weight is good. It’s basically [bang-bang](http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/subsection1_2_3_0_5.html#SECTION0230500000000000000) control. This is why you really shouldn’t weigh yourself every day. Weekly weigh-ins are more likely to reflect the overall trend and are not as affected by the normal daily fluctuations in weight everyone has. Weighing yourself at a different time of day can change your reading by as much as a couple pounds. Heck, my wife was curious about how much peeing would change things, and found out that a normal non-urgent whiz for her was about 150 grams (about 1/4 lb.) Don’t worry about whether today was an uptick or not, worry about how the curve looks. Was last week higher than this week? If so, then yeah, you might need to change something. If this week is lower, then you’re good. Get into a much longer-term mindset and you’ll be a lot less stressed about things. It’s also a healthier way to approach making lifestyle changes. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/109 "2010-03-01T16:36:53Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’d take a pound with a big grin on my face - I’ve been plateaued for so long now. 🙂 I want to take my weight off slowly so it is permanent weight loss, but this is a snail’s pace. Jim was actually plateaued for as long, and he’s just started dropping again - I’ve been considering adding arm weights to my recumbent biking to, uh, unclog things, as it were. > > Five pounds in a month is _excellent_ progress. What would you do with the arm weights? Genuinely curious - would you be moving your arms, while your feet are pedalling away? You mention being plateaued… but are your clothes getting looser? (I seem to recall you were getting “less fluffy” as noted last month but I could be thinking of someone else). If so… I wonder if eating a tad _more_ might help? It doesn’t entirely make sense to me, I mean you’re burning X calories and eating X-Y calories so increasing the intake _shouldn’t_ help… but I keep hearing that. I’m just hoping to be _able_ to exercise at some point, sigh… between a bum knee, and a bum shoulder… Last week at PT, they had me do a hand/leg bike thing, where your arms move handles just like a bike, and/or you pedal with your feet. I pedalled for about 2 minutes before the knee suggested this was a bad idea… and a total of 4 with the arms and my shoulder is sorer than before too :(. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326/110 "2010-03-02T02:39:08Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > For everyone who worries about scale readings, remember, it doesn’t matter what the particular reading is, what matters is the trend. It’s just like in science class when the graph was all over the place; up, down, fluctuating like crazy, but a best-fit curve of the data showed a clear trend up or down. > > [snip] > > Don’t worry about whether today was an uptick or not, worry about how the curve looks. Was last week higher than this week? If so, then yeah, you might need to change something. If this week is lower, then you’re good. Get into a much longer-term mindset and you’ll be a lot less stressed about things. It’s also a healthier way to approach making lifestyle changes. See, I feel exactly the opposite. When I weight daily, I know that fluctuations are normal, and it’s easy to see the overall trend. If I weighed weekly, I would put a lot more significance about that one piece of data than it really deserves, and I would worry if it was being affected by a small fluctuation up or a small fluctuation down. Now, if weighing in and seeing a small uptick gets you all depressed and bummed out and likely to spend the day stressing over it–and maybe going off plan–then obviously it’s a bad idea. But for me, I’d rather collect the data–knowing exactly what it is, a data point, not a definitive statement of my progress or lack thereof–and then not think about it for the rest of the day. I would wonder about it a lot more if I had a weekly or monthly weigh in, and a bad weigh in would depress me much more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/january-2010-weight-loss-thread/523326.md?page=5)