Latest / Cameron's Conversations: The last weight loss podcast you'll ever need. / Episode 75: How my weight loss phase is going - 9.5kg down
Transcript
- Cameron: Welcome to the Cameron's Conversations podcast. And today I'm back doing a solo episode after the last few with Montier-Harrie, fireman Sam himself. So I wanted to talk a little bit about my progress so far and hitting a kind of little mini milestone as well. I have gone down now just about 10 kilos from the start of the year. So for a bit of context, I'd obviously been in a muscle gaze and phase for a... about a part of 14 months, which was very successful. I think it went really quite well and very gradually gained weight. And then at the tail end of that, it was time to get a bit leaner as well. So I've dropped about 10 kilos so far and I'm feeling really good for it. It's been really interesting because I did a podcast just last week about this sticky middle bit, you know, that phase where you feel like you've made good progress, you're much more comfortable, but you're not quite where you want to be yet. the motivation can dip a little bit. It's been really interesting. I kind of pushed through probably 10 to 14 days of that. And I definitely feel like I'm on the other side of it now. I really noticed this morning, I think this sometimes happens, it probably happens because of the fact that I do like a wash on the weekend every single week and pretty much go through the same pattern of clothes. But I put on a T-shirt this morning that I hadn't washed, I hadn't washed, ⁓ my goodness, I had washed, I hadn't worn in the last two weeks. And I'm really noticing it now. I've actually put it on today and it's kind of gone. It's from being one of my favourite T-shirts probably about four weeks ago. to putting it on and realising that it looks a little on the baggy side now. So I think I'll be wearing it today and then I think it might be getting relegated. But yeah, weight loss has been very, very steady over the last week. It kinda had a bit of a bounce up on Tuesday and Wednesday. So I think I had a bit of a drop and then it kinda bounced right back up for no apparent reason whatsoever. Although I did have quite salty meal. I don't eat a lot of particularly salty foods. one of the days, so I think that was largely why. And because I train a lot and I play basketball and I sweat a lot, it's likely I'm quite receptive to an increase in salt because if I'm generally quite low on salt from training lots, there's every chance that when I do have some salty food that my weight bounces up a little bit. But after that, it's kind of drop down, drop down, drop down day after day, which has been really nice. So I'm now sat at 77 kilos at think it was probably February 10th, I'm not quite sure. Whenever I started my weight loss phase, when I did my more gradual phase, before moving to the more aggressive phase I'm in, I've dropped just shy of 10 kilos, so that's pretty good going. I was like 86 and a half and I'm now sat at 77 and a half, so I'm pretty happy with that. And yeah, noticing some big changes and I definitely feel like we're getting into the fun stage of it. I don't doubt that there'll be some sort of dips in motivation along the way at the back end of the diet, that's also still normal. But I think right now, because I'm seeing the visual changes come in really quickly, that motivation's definitely sort of picked up again. Likely as not, I would expect in the next three to four weeks I'll experience a little bit more hunger. I think that's very, very probable because I'm going to be getting quite a bit leaner, so I will experience like little bits more hunger. So I've been really, really diligent with getting lots of fruit and veg in and just kind of keeping that in a good spot. But I definitely think this is that stage just comes after that sticky middle bit where I do feel like I've started to kick on that little bit farther and I really notice it like I'm wearing a pair of jeans right now. I'll be taking them off to go for a walk in the sun shortly. And yeah, even they look, they honestly look atrocious. I wouldn't go out the way I'm looking right now because all my clothes look like they're my big brothers at this point, which isn't a particularly good look, but obviously it's a good indication that progress has been made. I'm another kind of belt buckle down for the last two weeks as well on my belt too, which has only got one more setting to go. So we're almost there on that front. And I definitely think this has been one of the weeks where I'm really glad that I've done my progress photos and it's something I get all my one-to-one clients to do. It's something I'm really big on is just making sure that you not just look in the mirror because I think actually excessively looking in the mirror for change can be quite unhelpful. We call that behavioural body checking and actually I tend not to do that at all. I actually don't look at myself in the mirror very often at all in a weight loss phase. I find it helpful to not bother. I just find that doing my progress photos is more than sufficient. but when I'm comparing my progress photos from even three, four weeks ago, I can now see, especially my front-on view, it's funny how that happens, my front and back view, I notice a massive change. I actually looked at my side photos and I'm like, they look identical, I feel like, from the last two or three weeks. It barely looks like there's been a change, but from those photos from the front and back, I definitely notice that my upper back is tightening up a lot. Now, this is definitely my experience of weight loss, and I wanted to touch a bit on this, about where I tend to see progress. At this stage, when I get to this kind of level of leanness, I tend to notice a lot in my forearms, in my upper arms, in my shoulders, and my upper back. Those are the areas that I will notice more and more and more every single week. Now I would expect to see a little bit of change, especially in my upper back. I've always enjoyed training upper back, so I think that might be wise. I maybe have a little bit more muscle mass there proportionately, but I definitely notice it more there. And obviously, like my neck and face, it's pretty obvious now too. but I wouldn't say I notice a difference in those areas week to week. It's definitely more kind of like my forearms, upper arms, shoulders and upper back. And this is really normal. I think sometimes people feel like, ⁓ like I've not lost as much from like, I don't know, my hips, for example, still feel like there's a lot to go. Sometimes that is quite literally because there is a lot to go. It does not mean you're not losing it from there. It's just because we store quite a lot of fat in those areas. I know for me, this has always been the case when my weight goes up. Unfortunately, a lot of weight does tend to sit on my hips. That's just the nature. That is absolutely the case for me, no matter what. Even when I'm really gradual with my kind of muscle gain process, I always see a little bit of a buildup there. It's just genetics, just one of these things. Whereas my arms will still look relatively lean for quite some time. And think that's something that's always important to know. That doesn't mean I'm not losing from that area. It's simply that I had more there to start with. And that means whilst probably in the next three, four weeks, my arms are going to look very, very lean. and I'll probably look pretty bloody lean in my upper back, I'll probably still find I've got more weight around my hips, I just need to go farther. The same applies to my abs as well. I always joke about this, I have terrible ab genetics. One of my good friends who I was a personal trainer in gym with me years ago, we used to train together quite a lot and actually strength levels were very similar and all the rest of it. We did a little mini photo shoot together, like a fitness photo shoot at one point and we were laughing because I was lighter than him. definitely a little bit leaner than him, but in my midsection, you just would not know it. Like, I just didn't look it. Whereas everywhere else, legs, arms, you know, it's just one of these things. So I know for me to kind of get to a point that I can see a little bit more distinct ad definition, which is what I'm aiming for. I'm being quite ambitious with this. I want to get really quite lean. Yeah, got a little ways to go. So yeah, just wanted to do a wee bit of a general update. That was a very... Very relaxed little episode, not talking about anything too technical, but just about some of the things I've seen, what I'm kind of expecting. In terms of how much farther I want to go, I think I said a good while ago that in my head of 72, 73 kilos seems pretty reasonable. That's still kind of my lean. I'm pretty pleased. Right now, the way I look at 77 kilos, although I have just touched 77, my average weight isn't quite there yet. I'll want to catch up over the next couple of days. I'm at 77 kilos. from the way I look, feel like by the time I get to 72, I'll probably be in a really good spot. So that's still my current aim is an average weight, not just to touch it once and then say I'm done, but to bring my average weight down. So I've probably still got about 5.2, three on my kind of average weight to pull off something around that. So still a good chunk to go and we're gonna keep chipping away. This week's a really normal week up until Thursday and then I'm off to Spain on Friday morning as well, which will be really, really nice. I'm looking forward to. in sun, shine here, but just a bit of a change you've seen as well, which will be great. I'm looking forward to that. yeah, over that time, still planning on sitting in a bit of a deficit, which I wouldn't normally do, but I'm quite motivated at the moment. I quite fancy just sticking to it, but I'm just gonna go little bit more moderate. So at the start of this year, I was doing quite like a gradual approach. I'll basically phase back to that. So this, you know, Monday to Thursday, pretty aggressive, just crack on, fairly low calories, lots of steps, lots of activity. When I go away, I'm gonna keep my steps up, which is easy on holiday anyway. but I'm going to bring my calories up a little bit. So I'll still be in a deficit around 2,300, so I'll stick to about 2,300 calories. I'm not expecting much from it. I don't expect a lot of weight loss because there'll be some more inaccuracies because I'm gonna be eating some meals out and things like that. But that means I can have a smoothie for breakfast out there, which I really like. A pretty comfortable lunch, five, 600 calories. And then I can have 1,300 calories for dinner and that works pretty well. And I'll probably be on about 15,000 steps and. There is a gym nearby, so I'll still train three times and I'll run twice because I just like staying active when I'm away and I'll do a wee bit hiking. So that's the kind of game plan. Usually I wouldn't do that and for most clients for context, I don't necessarily recommend trying to lose weight on holiday. I don't think that's necessary for me. I just kind of want to stay the course and I want to relax a little but not too much and I'm feeling good from it. I definitely am seeing the benefits. So this is what happens when you get past that sticky middle but the motivation sits a bit higher. So. that will be an interesting little phase. So hopefully that was helpful, just a bit of a kind of wander through my progress as it is right now. 77 kilos at the moment, pushing to 72, still setting at about 1900 calories, aiming for 160 grams of protein, 13,000 steps a day, and I am playing basketball two, three times a week, hitting the gym three times a week, and also doing usually sort of like one little sprint session or one run on top of that. That seems to be the pattern right now. Hopefully that gives you a wee bit of context. Otherwise, have a great week.