But where has the fat gone?

[andrewducker]

By sheer dint of eating less and going for the occasional walk, I've managed to drop from 12 and a half stone this time last year (ish) to 10 Stone 13 lbs. (That's 175lbs to 153 lbs, or 79kg to 69kg).

And am now comfortably fitting back into a t-shirt I haven't worn since 1996.

I feel good about this.

Comments

[onceupon.livejournal.com]

Oh! You are so the person to ask.

Just what the hell IS a stone? Like, I'm sure it's a term for a certain set amount of weight -- that much is obvious. But how much weight?

[yalovetz]

A stone = 14lb = 6.35kg

[onceupon.livejournal.com]

Huh. Somehow I was expecting it to directly to convert to a certain number of kilograms, rather than pounds. Any idea why it directly converts to pounds?

That is so interesting! Thank you.

[andrewducker]

Possibly because the stone dates back to 1340, whereas the kilogram only dates back to about 1790...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_(weight)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system

[0olong.livejournal.com]

The question is, why do North Americans always measure in pounds rather than stones? Always seemed to me an oddly exact way of doing it, when gaining or losing a couple of pounds can happen in the course of a day.

[onceupon.livejournal.com]

Because even a pound, gained or lost, matters. American culture is obsessed with weight gain and loss and what being a certain weight says about a person. Weight is a moral problem for most people. It's really rather horrible.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

That struck me as the obvious explanation. I've always wondered, though, which came first.

*is glad to live in a country where people are largely happy to say they weigh 'about ten and a half stone' or whatever*

[onceupon.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure.... It's an interesting question though.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

hmm... as diotina has pointed out to me, it looks like the US simply never adopted the stone as a unit of measurement, probably thanks to a quirk of history having to do with the weighing of agricultural produce.

So while its existence in the UK may perhaps have facilitated a somewhat more blasé attitude to the finer details of weight gain and loss, its non-existence in the US is unlikely to be a result of anything like that.

[avatar.livejournal.com]

Can you be more specific? What kind of foods did you start from and did you drop to, and how often did you go for that walk?

[andrewducker]

I basically cut out everything with sugar added to it, because I've become increasingly glucose sensitive. And it's just walking about 45 minutes a day on my way to work and back, and the occasional extra 45 minutes/hour 2/3 times a week. Hasn't taken me much...

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Well done. Although I seethe with mild envy. My weight has been going up steadily for five years now. Only the week in stockholm, walking three hours a day, brought it down.

[andrewducker]

I try to keep active - whenever I go up stairs I jog up them, if the bus is going to be a few minutes I walk to the next stop, I don't take elevators for less than three floors, etc. But I think largely the loss is down to cutting out everything with sugar in it - to which end the new labelling has helped a lot, because I can look at Chicken Korma (for instance) and realise that for some reason they've added 14g of sugar to it, and buy something else instead...

[soon_lee]

Huzzah!

My fittest & leanest was when I used to walk to work & home every day. It was a brisk 40 minute walk each way. It really helped that it was part of my daily routine so I didn't have to think about it.

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

I know my mum lost nearly 2 stone by walking for an hour every day.

I dropped dramatic amounts of weight in 3-4 months a few years ago. Gave up alcohol (but I was a pretty heavy drinker). I have seen other people do similar - usually they go for only drinking at weekends, rather than abstinence, but get equally dramtic results.

I eat, normally, just real food, all cooked from scratch. Loads of vegetables (10-15 kg per week!), some fruit, nuts, fish, occasionally meat, moderate amount of dairy, bit of porridge. Usually no sugar, no pasta, not rice, no bread, no potatoes. I'm not find of the bland starchy 'filler' in any case. Oh, I'm not hyper strict about it, but that's a pretty good assessment of my day-to-day eatiing.

I cycle 4-6 miles 5 days a week, hour's deliberate walk most days, 2 weights workouts a week (20 mins each tops). I'll walk by choice for any distance under a couple of miles, then take a bicycle - only for a >5 mile journey would I think about digging out the motorbike. NONE of that, bar the weights, I really consider exercise, just getting about. I struggle to keep weight on at all, mostly.

[oldbaldchris.livejournal.com]

I can`t even remember 69 kg - I hit 100 just before X-mas , back to 95 now though wahey!

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

you fat bastard!!

:-)

though with my cinema-related peanut M&M fest last night, I really can't talk!!!

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

excellent. Walking and eating a bit less - far too sensible. if you want to preserve your muscles from the otherwise inevitable age-related decay you will need to heave a few heavy things around, though...

[andrewducker]

Clearly madam missed the bit where I helped lift 53 boxes of books up and down stairs a few days ago :->

My muscles are ok this week - and I'm planning on doing some more sporty type stuff in the near future which will help with that.

Plus the Wii is exhausting me :->

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

oh no, I did notice that bit - but you don't do that every week (bet you are glad too :-))

:-) silly name but glad you are enjoying the thing.

ach, I am just an iron junkie. So much good effect for so little time spent - how could I not be :-)