Weight loss in the last four weeks

The burning question for me is not whether the Alizonne will work, as mentioned in my previous post it has to work, there is simply no possible way it can't, but how much will I loose if I really stick to it.

I can confidently say that I have stuck to the plan for the last 4 weeks and so far I have lost approximately 8.8kgs. This is approximate because of a couple of things. My weigh in is on Thursday (so I still have a couple of days to loose more) and I didn't have one over the Xmas period. So I haven't been weighed on their scales for 2 weeks. My home scales are also less accurate.

This takes me from my starting weight of 108.8 kg down to around 100.
Or for those imperials amongst you it's 19.4lbs

Obviously I'm HUGELY impressed with this loss. Hell I slogged my guts out doing weight watchers and would only loose 2lbs a week. Ok weight watchers is far cheaper but I absolutely don't mind the cost if I get results.

Because I'm fairly literate with formulae and excel, I have created a sheet to keep track of my progress. I have made it available here if anyone wants to use it themselves.
It currently tracks your weight, BMI, % towards final goal weight and % of body weight lost. Then plots the info you have entered onto a graph.
If anyone is having problems entering their own stats in there I will create a more user friendly one.

For now here is a grab of my chart which I will update based on my actual weigh in on Thursday (3rd Jan)

 

Update!!

Just got weighed at the clinic. 99.4kgs so better than my estimate, graph update coming later

First 4 weeks on my new regime

My last post introduced something called the Alizonne plan. I think it's worth mentioning that I am in no way connected to this company so hope to provide a completely unbiased view of my experiences.

For the basics surrounding the plan have a look through their website, particularly the documentary created by ITV.

My first meeting was a consultation which was straight forward enough. You meet with a doctor (a proper one btw) And they outline the plan and commitments. They also take some blood samples to make sure there is no pre-existing health reason the plan may be unsuitable. They also perform a test (the name escapes me) which measures your metabolic rate, this is used to calculate your estimated weight loss as well as the number of meals you get per day.

Because I had been on a calorie restricted diet before the plan mine was pretty low at 2088. For a man this is 412 below the average of 2500. This meant that I was put on 5 meals a day.

Each meal is basically a protein rich powder consisting of between 100-125 calories, 0.5-2g fat, 2-4g carbs and around 20g of protein.
This may sound pretty unappetising to eat 24/7 however the meals come in different varieties ranging from sweet to savoury plus hot/cold drinks and soups. You also get unlimited amounts of certain veg and restricted amounts of others.

The idea is to remove as much fat and carbs from your diet as possible, thus creating very low and stable insulin levels. Your body then enters a state of Ketosis. Because you are on <800 calories a day you will loose weight, it is an absolute certainty.

This is a quote from their website....

On the Alizonne Therapy Treatment Programme, you will not feel hungry, weak or lethargic and you will not have food cravings. You will have sufficient energy and will be able to exercise and function as normal. There will be no dizziness, light-headedness or other unpleasant effects from the weight loss.

After 4 weeks I feel like I can now comment of the above statements.

I don't feel hungry, don't get me wrong you are aware that your belly isn't full, but there's fancying more food and really being hungry, I am the former. I am absolutely sure that if anyone now put a big meal in front of me I couldn't get through very much of it. 

I do feel pretty lethargic to be honest. I still get up and do everything that I used to but it seems harder. For the first couple of weeks I felt totally amazing, like literally flying around everywhere. It's like I was on speed or something. But I think as my body chemistry has settled down things have changed. I have my first monthly meeting with their doctor on Thursday so I will definitely mention this & see what they suggest.

There have been 2 or 3 times I have felt a bit dizzy during the last 4 weeks. Once was after 3 or 4 days and I put this down to my body chemistry just settling down. The other times have been due to me exercising & trying to get by on 5 sachets, believe me it's just not worth doing. This is outside the plan but I feel it's far better to have 1 extra sachet if you really feel you need it than getting in a situation where you feel like jacking it all in. 
 In terms of other unpleasant effects there haven't been any to mention. 

This plan isn't to be undertaken lightly, regardless of many determined people finding ingenious ways to fit this plan into their lives it is very restricting.Perhaps the worst part of it is the potential to severely yo yo if you chuck it in. You insulin levels are very low (see above for reasoning) so if you suddenly decide to pack it in and eat a load of carbs your insulin levels will have a huge spike and you will literally become a mega fat storing machine. You will have to come off the plan gently, going through the rest of the 8 stages.
Another thing to bear in mind is that cheat days really mess you up. If you eat anything containing even moderate levels of carbohydrate your body will come out of Ketosis and weight loss will stop. It then takes up to 48 hrs to re-enter this state meaning you have lost 2 days worth of weight loss. Because you are paying for other treatments every week this actually costs you money. It's not a great incentive to keep on the plan but it can't hurt having one more.

Next up..........Weight loss in the last four weeks

A big stumbling block and a change of tactics

I left you at just over 16st on a snowboarding holiday in Italy. Here is a picture taken a couple of months after I got back while at 16st...

 

Excuse the devil eyes!!

The thread title mentions a big stumbling block and it certainly was. I am not ill very often so it was a big shock while in Italy that I noticed blood in my urine. I decided to wait until I got back to get it looked at which was probably a big mistake. Turns out it was a rather nasty bladder infection which really knocked me out.
I was in horrible pain (and I don't mean pain like blokes usually complain about, I literally vanished from public view, people at work said I just looked broken!) for nearly 3 months while it cleared up. I was on the strongest anti-biotics they could administered short of taking me into hospital.

Anyway eventually everything cleared up but in the meantime I had completely abandoned by diet and exercise regime. I must admit that I didn't get back into it quickly and in fact thought that maybe I could be satisfied at my current weight. After all I hadn't been this weight since I was 16 and I was able to do a lot more of the physical things I enjoyed.

However this attitude changed when I weighed myself in October this year and found to my horror that my weight had crept back up to 17st!!

OH NO YOU DON'T FAT BOY! TIME TO GET BACK ON TRACK!

Then 2 things happened that gave me my new direction.

1. I got made redundant
2. I heard a radio commercial

Being made redundant gave me the time I needed to get my mind back onto what I really wanted out of life. Loosing weight was right up there at the top.
I was moving some stuff around in my house in preparation for decorating when I heard a radio ad for something called the Alizonne treatment. I thought it was probably a new pill or some nonsense fad but thought I'd check out the website anyway.

Next up...............First 4 weeks on my new regime

21 down to 17

Before I show any pics from 21 down to 17, I wanted to talk a little about how I did it.

Well the first thing I did was to think about the main reasons I had put on all this weight. From my last post you'll see that they were socialising, lack of self control and lacking a sense of attachment that a previously thin person may have had to their fitter self.

Socialising. Simple one this! I just made a decision to only drink once a week. This might sound like a nothing call and one that most sensible people make without thinking, however for someone like me who went out as much as they felt like it was the first step to real self control, that being the second requirement.
Also wrt self control I started to educate myself wrt nutrition, what my body requires. Then restricting those things that my body didn't require. I'll post a load of links soon to websites that contain some really great information as well as ways to track your progress.

Buying a cross trainer was also a good step, I started working out on it 3-4 times a week on variable programs.
(I have actually worn out 3 cross trainers since then having traveled about half way across europe in km)

By doing this I got from 21 down to approximately 19st but it was a hard slog, I needed a more structured support system and some expert guidance to go along with it.

So I decided to join weight watchers.

It's maybe hard to understand but going to my first meeting was a big deal for me. I could have chosen to do the online system in the privacy of my own home but I wanted to push myself out of my confort zone.
So I went to my first meeting absolutely the only bloke in there, surrounded by middle aged women talking about the menopause or their youngest having trouble losing baby weight etc...
But what was important was the weigh in. I knew that every Thursday I would get weighed and that if I kept to the plan I would loose.

So to move on that system got me down to 17st before the plan stopped working for me. Suddenly my weight just hovered a few lbs up or down but woufld not budge. Here are some pics of me at around this time.....

 

It was at around this time that I got into snowboarding. I actually tried it while I was up around 19st but just wasn't capable of holding and edge with all that weight on my legs. Now that I was lighter I found that I could at least have a go. So my snowboarding became a way of focussing my goals. By my next holiday I will be X lighter.

By the time I went to Sauze d'Oulx in Feb 2011 I was just over16st.

Next up...................A big stumbling block and a change of tactics

The Beginning

Oh my!

This is me in 2007, I reckon I'm about 20st there, not at my absolute heaviest but it gets the point across, I was a petty big lad. I mean I occupy a lot of space there.
The absolute worst picture of me is my graduation picture from Uni, it's so bad I took it down from the wall at my mums house telling her I wanted it in my place, then stuck it in a cupboard somewhere.
When I started this process it was a big motivation for me (I might do a seperate post on motivation if I can write one that doesn't sound too preachy)

There's no single reason why I let myself get this big. I was always pretty big at school but kept things under control by playing football/rugby etc.

It wasn't really until Uni that I piled it on. I think at the beginning of 1st year I was 16st and when I left I was 20st. This really comes down to me doing what ever I wanted for 3 years. No excuses, I just went mad.

Then I got a job in an office which mostly involved sitting down and hovered at this weight for a good few years, going up at some points and going down at others.

Thinking back at my mental state I don't feel like I was ever really depressed, I had a good job and my career was progressing well. I bought my own house very young and was very social with several circles of good friends.
I would put my weight gain down to 3 main things.

1. I love to socialise, to go out with mates, eating, drinking, smoking etc.
2. I had poor self control  (notice I said "had")
3. I have never been what you would consider thin, I have always been fat or fatter so I never really had a sense that I had let myself go. There was no photo I could look at which I thought. What ever happened to that handsome chap?

This last point might seem indicative of a person who has low self esteem, some people think that about me but it's really not true. I am a realist. I know what my strengths are and I am not delusional about my weaknesses. It is exactly this quality which lead me to take a very rational and calulated look at my life and decide to change!

Next up.....21 down to 17



 

Intro

Hi all,
This blog is something I have been contemplating writing for a long time.
It's the story of my weight loss journey from my heavist weight of 21st down to my target of 12st.

This is not the story of how I have accomplished this goal, I still have a long way to go (im currently at about 100kgs). But it will serve as a place for me to dump all the things I have learnt along the way, websites that have really helped and general thoughts as I go.

First couple of posts will be about the early days, why I decided to do this and where I am now.

Let the fun begin................