So Ross has been trying to lose weight. I too have been caught up in this terrible endeavour: I get to lose weight for the wedding, Cushla gets to put in on. I’m doing it the old fashioned way: exercise and reduced energy intake. Here are some notes:
- The common advice of “don’t weight yourself everyday” is necessary for the simple reason that your weight varies randomly from day to day with a variance of about half a kilogram. I find it amusing to track, but it can be depressing.
- Your state of hydration/dehydration makes a big difference to your weight. I went from using my NIST mug to using a 750 ml sipper bottle at work. Actually drinking enough water during the day added nearly a kilogram to my weight. Of course it is kilogram I should be carrying.
- Ross’ problem may simply be that he’s not walking for long enough. Walking works really well as exercise, but you have to walk for a while. An hour is OK, but two hours is really good.
- If you are walking for exercise, hills are great. Of course Ross lives in England and doesn’t have the advantage of real hills.
- When you’re unfit it’s easier to lose weight. Or should I say you have to work for a shorter period of time because your body isn’t as efficient. The pain is the same.
- It takes twenty minutes for your body to switch over to using fat for energy. So it is a good idea to make your exercise longer than this, no matter how strenuous it is, if you want to lose weight. For example, having to cycle up a hill every day does absolutely nothing for me because it’s only takes me about ten minutes.
All of you who regularly do triathlons, marathons or bicycle racing can now laugh at me, but please do it behind my back.