Hi all, another quick update to let you know how I am getting on with my own goal. If you’ve read my guide you will know that I only weigh myself (and take other measurements etc) every 4 weeks and I will be using these posts to share my progress, successes and failures so that you can see how my tactics are working for me.
My goal
I set myself the goal to lose 70lb in a year, this year 2013. This is a completely sensible, realistic and achievable target, but would still be a challenge. You can read all about my goal and the reasons for it in the first update post ‘24 weeks in’.
Mini-goals
In order to achieve my 70lb goal I set myself a 4-weekly weight target from start to finish, this was essentially my breakdown of goals by month to keep me focused.
In order to stay on course I set myself a daily set of goals, which were:
- 30 minutes of exercise per day
- No unhealthy snacks and no takeaways/eating out
- Drink 2 litres of water per day
My progress
Yesterday (14/07/2013) marked the end of 28 weeks and here are the results:
- Weight loss in the last 4 week period of 3lb
- Small reduction in waist and hips of 0.5in
- Weight now 241lb down from 279lb, so a total loss of 38lb (-13.6%)
- Fat content now 30.3% down from 38%, so approx. 33lb weight loss is fat loss (-20.3%)
- BMI now 30.9 down from 35.8 (-13.7%)
- Approximately 6.5 inches off waist/belly in total
- Approximately 4 inches off chest
- Approximately 2.5 inches off hips
- Continued to make fitness improvements, e.g. running pace, lifting weights etc
I am aiming for between 4 and 5lb loss per 4 week period between now and the end of the year, so I am a little off plan. That said I am feeling great; healthier, stronger and faster so I can’t complain too much!
My target plan had me at 235lb right now, so I am 6lb off plan. I need to improve in some areas to get me back on track to hit this, my first goal, by the end of this year.
In terms of my daily goals in the last 4 weeks:
- Exercise – achieved 25 out of 28 days, 89%
- Food – achieved 20 out of 28 days, 71%
- Water – achieved 28 out of 28 days, 100%
With regards to exercise I feel I am pushing this as much as I can. If anything I am not resting enough. Maybe I need to build more rest days in but for now I feel better for the work out (and guilty somewhat when I don’t).
With regards to food, at 20/28 it’s not a bad effort but I can probably do more to monitor my calorie in-take. I really wanted to avoid this as much as possible because I want to prove that you don’t need to strictly count every calorie to enjoy fat loss – you do however need to understand calories and what goes into what in order to make better decisions. I want a system that I can use for life and counting every single calorie is not the right model for me.
For this next 4 week period I am going to introduce a juiced fruit/veg meal into my diet as a meal replacement. I hope that this will go some way to getting my weight on target, but on the whole I am still very pleased with the results so far.
Again, this has all been achieved with minimal calorie counting, it’s been about keeping it simple, setting simple goals and being accountable to myself every day to do more and eat well; i.e. make better choices.
If you have any recent updates or stories to share please leave a comment below.
Photos: Justin See