Red's Idiot Plan
Jan. 24th, 2022 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99(Trigger warning for diets and stuff)
It is a Plan with a capital P.
As with all good terrible plans it can be explained quite simply. I want to be 10 stone when I turn 40.
This number has not been chosen at random. 10 stone is the lowest weight I have ever been as an adult, the summer of my final year undergrad. So I know it's doable. Admittedly, that year I was mostly skint, and spent a significant chunk of my lack of money on booze instead of food. I regret nothing (well not specifically anything about that part of it). However, it does mean that I know that doing that way is not sustainable.
While it's still (somehow) heavier than the traditionally recommended weight at my height, I also know if I go much below that I start to look gaunt. The cheekbones come out at ~70 kg, they become mildly threatening in a "I vant to suck your blood" way anywhere below 63 kg.
As to the timeline, I've given myself all but 36 months to lose 15 kg. That's less than 1 kg every two months. That feels doable - I have done half of that in 7 months before (girl cousin's wedding, she didn't ask me to but I used it as a goal date), and I managed to lose 2 kilos from August to October so I know it's doable with my body now-ish.
Why, mostly because I need goals to motivate me. And I really do need to keep up with the younglings at fencing. At the moment, I can out-technique them, outsneak them and out-think them. Less weight and more muscle (because obviously, weight training will continue) = more ka-boing when fencing.
There will be rules: no calorie counting while I am on holiday, staying with the growed ups, dossing on friends's sofas etc. Similarly, none on fencing competition weekends.
I plan on rewarding myself at each 5 kilo point. There is a t-shirt at 73, a dress at 68, and well 63 is a surprise :D
There are of course some usual and unusual pitfalls:
1 - I am presently working from home. My gym is close to work because I thought that would encourage me to go. Work is a train journey away. I therefore have not been going during the week. However, depending on how work handles the recent government updates, this may cease to be a problem soon. Or it will be a slightly different problem soon.
2 - I am terrible at actually sticking to diets. I have a hereditary sweet tooth. I desire deserts. I have however, brought in two allies on this matter - quorn and the Hairy Dieter's Cookbook. Quorn because it means I can have more volume for fewer calories and I like the taste of it. The Hairy Dieters book because I love the Hairy Bikers and their recipes - when they say it will take 30 minutes to prepare, it actually means 30 minutes and they enjoy their tasty grub so their book will contain tasty recipes.
3 - Related to point 2 - I have meetings at work, that are so grudawful, the only way through them is to promise myself something sugary. This will be less of a problem at the start, but may become a problem later.
4 - I might end up travelling a lot more with/for work. Yeah, I will not be calorie counting on those trips. Two colleagues (well a colleague and an ex-colleague) are bodybuilders and I see the trouble they have sticking to something close to their plans when travelling and I will not be bothering. This of course leads to the pitfalls of conference/work-travel food, to whit, tends to be lots of it and restaurant-type.
It is a Plan with a capital P.
As with all good terrible plans it can be explained quite simply. I want to be 10 stone when I turn 40.
This number has not been chosen at random. 10 stone is the lowest weight I have ever been as an adult, the summer of my final year undergrad. So I know it's doable. Admittedly, that year I was mostly skint, and spent a significant chunk of my lack of money on booze instead of food. I regret nothing (well not specifically anything about that part of it). However, it does mean that I know that doing that way is not sustainable.
While it's still (somehow) heavier than the traditionally recommended weight at my height, I also know if I go much below that I start to look gaunt. The cheekbones come out at ~70 kg, they become mildly threatening in a "I vant to suck your blood" way anywhere below 63 kg.
As to the timeline, I've given myself all but 36 months to lose 15 kg. That's less than 1 kg every two months. That feels doable - I have done half of that in 7 months before (girl cousin's wedding, she didn't ask me to but I used it as a goal date), and I managed to lose 2 kilos from August to October so I know it's doable with my body now-ish.
Why, mostly because I need goals to motivate me. And I really do need to keep up with the younglings at fencing. At the moment, I can out-technique them, outsneak them and out-think them. Less weight and more muscle (because obviously, weight training will continue) = more ka-boing when fencing.
There will be rules: no calorie counting while I am on holiday, staying with the growed ups, dossing on friends's sofas etc. Similarly, none on fencing competition weekends.
I plan on rewarding myself at each 5 kilo point. There is a t-shirt at 73, a dress at 68, and well 63 is a surprise :D
There are of course some usual and unusual pitfalls:
1 - I am presently working from home. My gym is close to work because I thought that would encourage me to go. Work is a train journey away. I therefore have not been going during the week. However, depending on how work handles the recent government updates, this may cease to be a problem soon. Or it will be a slightly different problem soon.
2 - I am terrible at actually sticking to diets. I have a hereditary sweet tooth. I desire deserts. I have however, brought in two allies on this matter - quorn and the Hairy Dieter's Cookbook. Quorn because it means I can have more volume for fewer calories and I like the taste of it. The Hairy Dieters book because I love the Hairy Bikers and their recipes - when they say it will take 30 minutes to prepare, it actually means 30 minutes and they enjoy their tasty grub so their book will contain tasty recipes.
3 - Related to point 2 - I have meetings at work, that are so grudawful, the only way through them is to promise myself something sugary. This will be less of a problem at the start, but may become a problem later.
4 - I might end up travelling a lot more with/for work. Yeah, I will not be calorie counting on those trips. Two colleagues (well a colleague and an ex-colleague) are bodybuilders and I see the trouble they have sticking to something close to their plans when travelling and I will not be bothering. This of course leads to the pitfalls of conference/work-travel food, to whit, tends to be lots of it and restaurant-type.
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Date: 2022-01-24 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-24 05:57 pm (UTC)