Can I lose 1/2 stone in 12 days?!?

by Colin McNulty on 9 November 2009

So this time last week, I had 1/2 stone (7 lbs or 3 kg) to lose in order to get down to my required weight for the Yorkshire Open weightlifting competition on 21st Nov. I’m lifting in the 77kg (169 lb or 12 stone 1) category, but was tipping the scales at 80kg (176 lbs or 12 stone 8). 1/2 stone in 3 weeks seemed like it was doable so I wasn’t too worried.

Last week started well and I lost 3 lbs from Mon to Friday (mostly water I imagine) leaving just 4 lbs over 2 weeks. However a combination of a fireworks party at home on Friday, followed by a night on the razz in Manchester with the boys from Crossfit Manchester, and I put that 3 lbs straight back on. It doesn’t sound too bad, until you see the graph:

That’s not good! So for the next 12 days I’m zoning for all I’m worth. I’m also reducing my fat intake to about a half, dropping the pint of milk I normally drink each day, and cutting my intake to 12 zone blocks per day. Hopefully, that should do it. We’ll see…

• Erica 10 November 2009, 12:00 am

  Don’t forget your moving average. 🙂

  When I was “making weight” for by 30th birthday, I talked about the charting and incorporating the moving average of your weight trend. If you aren’t factoring it, you should. Here’s my post on the topic from awhile back:
  http://funforfit.blogspot.com/2009/04/moving-average-and-weight-loss-where.html

• Matt Baldwin 10 November 2009, 10:52 am

  Colin I’d advise that you don’t cut your protein blocks too low. You still have 10 days or so. So, FAST for one day, while drinking tea of lemon juice with cayenne, maple syrup (about 2 tbsp. during the day) and maybe some ginger. Then, go with a Zone Rx of normal protein, 3/4 of the carbs, and sub fat for the carbs, so a bit higher fat than normal. You probably need at least 135 g of protein per day… i.e. 19 blocks for you, but do just 12-14 blocks of carbs, and do 12-19 blocks of fat, depending on whether you are losing weight or not. Matt

• Colin McNulty 10 November 2009, 9:51 pm

  Erica: thanks for the tip. I agree with you that a moving average is a great way to track trends (I’ve just installed Google 15, thanks). The sad reality is, that I’m just happy with a local minima on Sat 21st Nov! I full expect to have to starve myself on Fri 20st and eat nothing Saturday morning to make the weight. It’s my own fault for being complacent.

  Matt: You’re probably right that I shouldn’t cut my protein, but just the carbs. I’m not sure about replacing the carbs with fat though. Increasing fat is exactly the prescription for stopping losing weight on the Zone, which is not what I want. I’m also interested in how you worked out I should be on 19 blocks. I’ve always gone off 15 blocks as directed by the zonediet.com block calculator I use 0.7 (Moderate) for the activity multiplier, which is usually where Crossfitters disagree, but I understand that to be the recommended multiplier:

  Body Fat %: 15
  Body Fat Weight (lbs): 26
  Lean Body Mass (lbs): 149
  Daily Protein Requirement (g): 104
  or # of Blocks of Protein: 15
  # of Blocks of Carbohydrate: 15
  # of Blocks of Fat: 15

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