The Slim Path

05/02/2024

It's time for a January review.

This year for me personally is all about finding my own sustainable Slim Pathway. My thought process here is a little unusual I guess given the usual advertising and promises from various weight loss companies, gyms and plans etc. "You could lose......"

I am choosing to make small sustainable changes as a priority, with weight loss and how long it takes to do it a very distant second.

It's something I spoke about in my weight loss groups last in January 2023 for anyone who was there at the time. The grand gestures like Dry January, and cutting out x y or z are great for immediate weight loss but not necessarily for sustainable weight loss. If you like a drink, then giving up drinking alcohol won't last a lifetime etc. More exercise leading to weight loss means that exercise needs to be kept going forever.

I've been there before myself and seen it many many times in my years as a consultant. Slimmers who made big sacrificial changes at the start found it harder to maintain losses and momentum as time went on. Don't get me wrong. This isn't true of everyone, just in my experience of a majority.

So as mentioned before my plan this year is go make loads of little changes and amendments to my own habits. Small changes 50 to 100 calories at a time.

50 calories of a change a day is worth 5lb of weight change over the course of a year. 1lb a week is close on 4 stone in a year. These are small changes figures that have huge results given some time and some patience.

Week 1 - Down 7lbs (expected to see a bigger loss here than 1 to 1.5lbs I would be happy with just from the emptying out effect I posted about before)

Week 2 - Down 1.25lbs

Week 3 - Down 1.5lbs

Week 4 - Down 1lb

Week 5 - Down 1.5lbs

Total loss 12.25 lbs

Yes I've lost exactly 12lbs in one mad week before. But this 12 lbs was done still enjoying food, having a few drinks, indulging in a takeaway or two and without any kind of major exercise uptake. In other words, a very sustainable loss. A good January 🍺

11/01/2024

Back to school for everyone this week. Here's a maths / perspective lesson.

Meet anyone in the street who has lost 4 stone in a year and you're thinking WOW. Someone said to you they'd guarantee you 4 stone off this year you'd likely grab that with both hands.

After initial losses from first week or two (where losses tend to be higher for various reasons discussed before) losses of 1lb to 1. 5lbs a week are not uncommon. More often than not slimmers are disappointed with this. "only a lb", I've seen people throw tantrums and give up their slimming journey from the disappointment and frustration that their efforts only lost one single lb.

But if you average 1 single lb a week loss, over the course of a year that's 52 lbs. Or a fraction under 4 stone!

4 stone off in a year is amazing.
1 lb off a week is equally amazing.

Last week I weighed in 7lbs down on my first week back. This week 1.25 lbs down. I'm equally as happy with both of them. 😊

06/01/2024

New Year New Me and all that bull crap 😂

In my seven years experience helping people lose weight I've picked up more than a few nuggets of wisdom from my own experience and from those who were members of my group.

One that sticks with me to this day is to stick the expression New Year New Me firmly in the bin. It's a new year, same you, but a better you that you're aiming for. Thinking like you need to be a brand new person is not good for your subconscious self esteem.

31/12/2023

12/12/2023

Bargain alert...

Pepsi Max €8 for a tray of 24 cans, Coke Zero €10 for 24

Tesco (need club card but can sign up on the spot on smart phone and use digital club card)

20/11/2023

What REALLY happens in your first weeks weight loss - And what really drives your weight loss.

How do some people lose huge amounts of weight in their first week? Why does that weight loss slow down? Why didn't I lose the same weight this time than I first did when I did the same as last time? And many more questions are asked on a regular basis! Read on for some answers - some of which you might not want to hear!

Now I'm not going to be very scientific here - just plain speaking. It is really important to understand at the start that your weight on any given day / time consists among other things of ....

1. Your basic body structure, skeleton, organs, muscles etc

2. Body fat

3. Food and drinks that you have recently consumed. (what is in you rather than on you)

We all (slimmers that is) want to lose body fat as that allows for weight loss and changes in body shape / size. In plain terms that only happens by burning off more calories than we consume. And roughly 3500 calories = 1lb of body fat. Everyone has what is called a Basal Metabolic Rate which is the number of calories they expend just by existing before doing any exercise or activity. This BMR is influenced by gender, age, weight and height (Yep - if you've noticed that it's harder to slim as you grow older there is an element of that in play!) It can be enough to make a significant difference but not an enormous one. For example a 6ft Male aged 25 weighing 16 stone will have a BMR of approx 2234 calories per day whereas the same male at aged 45 is 2058 calories. A 5ft 2 female also weighing 16 stone would have a BMR of 1889 calories aged 25 and 1684 calories aged 55. These basic figures I plan to explore more in future blog posts but what is relevant to your weight loss on any week is the fact that 3500 calories to lose a lb of weight is a couple of days worth of calories expended for an average female. 3500 calories for a 1lb weekly weight loss is 500 calories of a deficit per day, 750 calories per day for 1.5lbs of weight loss, 1000 calories per day for 2lbs of weight loss and so on. Yes you can burn some calories off with excercise (another future post!) but you may not burn off as many as you think you would and ultimately weight loss of 1-1.5lbs per week is realistic and achievable.

So those first weeks when we can see or experience much bigger losses than this are mainly coming from item 3 above - Food and drinks that you have recently consumed. Higher calorie food takes longer to process through your body. Think of it as a funnel - you pour liquid into a funnel and it begins to flow slowly out the exit, pour too much liquid in and your funnel overflows, pour less liquid into the funnel and widen the exit a bit and the funnel has much less liquid in it. Your body is this funnel. Eating healthier / getting better value for your calories is the equivalent of pouring less liquid into this funnel. Exercising is the equivalent of widening the exit. In both situations the funnel empties out and there is less weight / volume in it.

What does all this mean?

Well first off it doesn't mean that your weight loss that week isn't real weight loss - you 100% are walking around x amount of lbs lighter than you were before starting! If you have spent the previous months or years with a full funnel as such you're genuinely lighter.

Realistically depending on how drastic your habits are changing will determine how much you could potentially lose in first weeks. Coming from a very unhealthy start means plenty of weight in that funnel which will work itself through whereas already eating relatively healthily (all be it still gaining weight) will mean less to work through and lower weight loss.

In fact two quite bizarre things can occur here. If you have previously being trying to starve yourself thin by very restricted calories intake you can start eating healthier and PUT ON weight because that funnel now has some food in it whereas it was empty before. (This will be temporary / a once off of course) And if your habits were very bad you could make some changes, changes enough for that funnel to empty a bit versus normal, but not enough to empty it all. In fact they could still be consuming more calories than they need and ultimately be putting on weight at a slower rate than before, but a loss will show on the scales at first before slower weight gain returns. This is where people can fall into a trap - the changes made appear to work really well, they do similar the following week and then see slowed down or no losses appear. Much disappointment and frustration can occur and people can give up.

In summary, the weight we lose on our first week is heavily influenced by how drastic our lifestyle changes are and is extremely difficult to maintain on a long term basis. This is where we need to manage expectations. Celebrate that loss of course!! Celebrate more the changes that were made to contribute to it, and be ready to make some more to build on your success. Don't get hung up on comparisons with other people and your own previous journeys. This is your Slim Path.

I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts and give the post a share if you think any of your friends could benefit from having a read :)

16/11/2023

Hello Strangers!

As Troy Mclure says there, you may remember this page as a Slimming World page and me (Pat who was Slim With Pat) as a Slimming World consultant. And if you’re only interested in Slimming World news, updates etc now is most definitely the time to unfollow the page. For those not aware I hung up my Slimming World scales as such in September/. My own journey and musings on slimming life, although influenced of course by my knowledge and experiences within Slimming World, will contain a lot of personal views that may not be relevant or be helpful to those solely focused on Slimming World methods etc.

What will be here going forward will be a page mainly as a personal blog about all things healthier eating, health and fitness, getting the best value for calories and a journey back to a better place for myself and anyone else in the same boat. It’s not going to be filtered or censored though so be warned! Debates will be welcomed and encouraged about all strategies, not just my own.

One thing I’ve always said throughout my 6+ years as a weight loss consultant was that although weight loss is a serious thing that means a lot to people, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a bit of fun whilst doing it. So expect any and all thoughts and tips and humour to come through the page here. Everyone is welcome to come along for the journey with me if the style fits you!

So today is day 1 for me on a restarted journey with a bit of a difference in terms of goals and targets. That I’ll explain as I go along over the next few weeks but …

Coming soon …

What REALLY happens on your first week. Why do some people lose much more than others? And why in my personal belief the weight loss achieved in the first week is nowhere near the most important aspect of your long term goals. (That one is controversial but let’s trash it out!)

Pat

12/09/2023

Surely not 🤔🤔

25/08/2023

Super proud of all of our members who have so far raised €707 for The Irish Cancer Society 😍😍😍

We are taking part in the parkrun 5k event tomorrow morning in Hartstown Park. All members past and present are welcome to join us. (most members will be walking so don't be put off by the run part 😂 we are meeting at 9:15am with a 9:30am start)

It's not too late to sponsor the guys. justgiving.com/page/slimwithpat with all funds going directly to The Irish Cancer Society