Ratcheting down my weight

I did a really good job of losing weight and toning up for my wedding. However in the year and a half since I’ve put on over a stone and I hate to admit it, but I now weigh more than my husband.

Before the wedding I was doing at least five exercise classes a week and loving it. Unfortunately due to work commitments and injuries I didn’t get straight back into the routine after the honeymoon. For the last year I’ve half heartedly said I was going to regain the momentum and lose some of the weight, but I guess there just wasn’t the same motivation.

Mark Foster has suggested an approach to losing weight that works like a ratchet e.g. it only goes one way. It is very simple:

weigh yourself every day
if your weight is the same as the previous day, do nothing
if your weight is higher, introduce a new habit
if your weight is lower, remove one of the habits, but this new weight is now the measure for future days

This approach appeals to me for two reasons. Firstly, I think the daily weighing will provide me with a focal point that I’ve been lacking. I know a lot of diets recommending only weighing once a week, but quite frankly I forget, quickly followed with the good intentions. Secondly, I can use this method to introduce small step changes in my health regime, but in a varied manner as they are added and removed with my weight fluctuations.

From reading Mark’s blog, it sounds like it is not going completely to plan for him. However, I’m not doing badly. After three days, yesterday was my first one with an increase in weight. So with my first increase comes my first habit, which is to have a drink before eating. This will increase my fluid intake, but also hopefully highlight the difference between thirst and hunger.

However, I am still winning because my weight only increased by 200g so I’m still 200g down from day one.