Originally 10/8/20
Update 22/8/20:
To get started see this blogpost
Back
in March I had an extended period of no appetite. Lost three notches
on my trouser belt, equivalent to about three inches off my waist. But
since then my weight has continued to climb. My belt on its last notch,
but only just, and my shirt buttons complaining.
Food's my pleasure in the absence of my musical hobbies. At least that’s my excuse.
I’ve
been extra tired more recently, with some muscle weakness in legs and
lower quarters. Just like I have had after a serious infection. Writing
these blogposts has been somewhat of a struggle. Was this
LongCOVID? Had I had COVID-19?
It's not possible yet to ask for an
antibody test, which would confirm if I had had COVID-19. So my doctor sent me for a set of blood tests. With the results back, I asked “
Will I live?”, to which he replied “
Yes”. “
Will I die?” to which he replied “
Yes. That’s one thing you can be certain of !” Thanks, buddy.
The
tests showed I have good liver and kidney function, two of the organs
that can be affected by LongCOVID. Not sure about brain, as we’d
previously concluded my sense of humour is just 'normal for Oxbridge'.
No hope of improvement there then.
My doctor tells me there is no
appetite suppressant he can safely prescribe. No other approach is yet
suitable. So it is back to good old willpower. Yet I have so little,
especially in the evening.
Please note that what
follows is not medical advice, but how I am trying to do something about
my weight, in conjunction with my doctor.
WHAT TYPE OF DIET?
 |
| Red Rum on our way to our 'Oars' |
I am not the lean but powerful rower of my youth. That's me in the 'engine room', back in the day.
I
shouldn't be eating the same as I was when I was on the river and in
the gym six days a week.
No more whole packets of custard creams, more's the pity.
My doctor’s threatening me with the
800 kcalorie diet
that will be available on prescription on the NHS from September. A
level suggested by some diet books, but I'm going to save myself the
expense and subsequent faff of compliance. I want something simpler.
The
NHS diet involves replacing normal food with low-calorie shakes, soups,
bars, or porridge containing milk. Not so bad perhaps. Especially if I
can get it all free. He’s going to investigate that.
But like a myriad of other diets, they all seem to suffer from the same problem “
it is likely that the weight will come back on after the diet ends”.
A CHANGE IN LIFESTYLE
So
whilst a short, sharp diet may be worthwhile (if 12 weeks is short, or
sharp!), I’ll need a major change in lifestyle anyway that I can adopt
for the long term. So why not start now?
Change my
daily habits, my doctor suggested. Obviously eat less, but in different locations. And exercise more. So I walked a round trip of 3 miles to the
pub yesterday. OK, OK, it’s a start! In fact it's worth around 3
pints of beer, so a trip to the pub becomes net zero or better.
Walking consumes around 100 calories (4 Cs) a mile, dependent principally on your weight, and a little how briskly, Which is why you never see podgy ramblers.
I know all about healthy eating. And of course ignore it. So to refresh my memory I found the
NHS “Eat well” page. 5 a day, all that sort of stuff. Yabber yabber.
I’ll have to come back to all that. But as a first stage, I must cut down my intake. And there I had an idea.
AN ALTERNATIVE TO COUNTING CALORIES
 |
| Energy in kJ |
I don’t know about you, but I hate counting
calories. The numbers are too big, and too precise, given anything
which isn’t pre-packaged is a guess.
So I have
‘invented’ a little system based on the kJ rating of foods, but divided
by 100. One kiloJoule, as a measure of energy, is just under 4.2
kilocalories (commonly known as “calories”). 4.184 to be more precise.
The kJ rating is usually printed on food packaging above the kcal, as
shown left.
I’m calling kJ divided by a hundred the “C
score” or so many Cs. Someone’s probably already ‘invented’ the idea,
and called it something else. But hey. I'm claiming it’s a “C score”
If you are used to calories (kcalories):
- 50 calories is 2 Cs
- 200 calories is 8 Cs
- 800 calories is 33 Cs
Thus a man’s typical consumption of 2500 kcalories a day is
10450 kJ, or a C score of 104 Cs. A woman’s 2000 kcalories a day is
8360kJ or 84 Cs.
This article suggests different consumption levels dependent on your age, gender and physical activity.
To lose a significant amount of weight is perhaps to take consumption
down to two thirds of these figures. You’d have to check whether
that's right for you.
So for me the target to lose
weight is a little over 1600 kcalories. That’s a C score of 67 as a
man. That’s double 800 calories which has a C score of 33. (Ruddy
rounding again. Plagued me all my professional career!)
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN I CAN EAT?
If
you are an avid calorie-counter, you'll no doubt be able to teach me a
thing or two. Do add tips as comments underneath this blogpost, which
get moderated. But I'm starting from first principles.
Putting aside whether these foods are good for me, I found a selection of items in my fridge and larder with these C scores:
- Ready meals:
- 54 and 64Cs for a Ginster’s Cornish pasty or large pasty. Those tin
miners certainly knew how to get energy, though the sensible ones
didn’t eat the crust that they had used to hold it. All of it, with my
knife and fork.
- 15 to 21: 1- and 2-compartment ready meals (beef lasagne, ckicken tikka, etc)
- 31: 4-compartment ready meal (chicken jalfrezi)
- Breakfast cereals:
- 24: 135g granola
- 8: 46g Cheerios (a lot of air in a portion)
- 5: 310g skimmed milk
- Desserts:
- 9: Apple pie from a 6 pack
- 8: Fruit rice pot
- 6-8: Corner yoghurt pot
- 6: Chocolate Pot of Joy
- Breads (plain. without butter etc):
- 8: Bread roll
- 7: Fruity Teacake
- 4-6: Slice of bread
- 2: Thin layer of butter/spread (avoid)
- 1: Thin layer of jam/marmalade etc (8g)
- Snacks
- 10: Star bar
- 9: Yorkie bar
- 7: Packet of crisps
- 3: Digestive biscuit
- 2.5 Custard cream biscuit (40 per 16 biscuit pack) - see above
- Fruit
- 4: Banana (130g of which 30g peel)
- 3: Sultanas (handful, c50)
- 3: Apple (150g)
- 2: Nectarine (120g with stone)
- 2: Fruit juice (half a small glass)
I'm
finding nectarines are a better alternative to apples, as mid-morning
and mid-afternoon snacks, as they go much better alongside white
coffee. Skimmed milk obviously.
Single-portion foods
Most
products intended to be consumed as a single portion tend to show both
the kJ energy value for the product and per 100g. However that isn't
always the case, so look carefully. For example:
- Can of soup per half can
- Dairy desserts only per 100g, and have to be scaled up for 130g or whatever
Multi-portion foods
For foods where you will typically consume only a small part-portion, worth considering:
- Total pack score, if estimating usage
- Per 100g, if weighing usage
Liquids rated per 100ml can be considered as per 100g, within the accuracy of this scheme.
So some examples:
- Utterly Butterly at 1849kJ per 100g is:
- 18 Cs per 100g
- 92 Cs for 500g tub
- Sultanas at 1257kJ per 100g is:
- 13 per 100g
- 63 per 500g pack
- Apple juice at 182kJ per 100 ml:
- 2 per 100g (see above)
- 18 per litre carton
- Tomato ketchup at 435kJ per 100g:
- 4 per 100g (say 1 per portion)
- 20 per 460g bottle
I've
also invested in a set of digital scales, so that I can weigh items
that are a portion from a larger pack. Telling me to the nearest 1
gram. Put a plate or bowl on the scales before switching them on, and
they automatically zero so just the food gets weighed. This can then
zeroed again before the next food is added.
For example for a breakfast cereal:
- Take a bowl, then zero
- Add cereal, note weight
- Zero then milk, note weight
- Zero then a sprinkling of sultanas, note weight
- Convert weights to C scores: eg 8 + 5 + 3 is total of 16
- Plus a small fruit juice is 18
Cupboard management
Some of
my foods need to be thrown out, or finished and never replaced. Like
anything with pastry or otherwise fatty. I was chuffed I walked past
the apple pies today in the supermarket. Though they didn't entice me
with their usual half price offer. I do like a bargain. Don't we all?
The
list above is only indicative, as I evaluate everything I do eat or
might eat. I have a much longer list on a spreadsheet (yawn).
WHAT MEALS DOES THAT MEAN?
How can I get down to 67 Cs a day as a short term goal as a man (maybe 56 Cs as a woman)?
Firstly
I need a treat and reward myself for a hard week’s work. Two
pints of beer (without crisps or peanuts) in a socially distanced beer
garden by the river, chatting with friends. On a Friday night, and
again on a Sunday. That's a C
score of 20 (4 pints*5) over 7 days which is 3 a day, with no deduction
for exercise getting to and from the pub. That means all food and other
drinks within 64 Cs a day.
Coffee
and tea are negligible, but a 80g dash of skimmed milk in my coffee is 1
C per drink. Fruit squashes negligible. Let's allow 5Cs a day. So
we're now down to 59 .
Let's countdown like in a game
of darts, writing this down each day on a convenient wipeable surface,
such as a whiteboard on the fridge. Or for a more permanent record,
use an A4 piece of paper folded twice across its width to make four
columns like this:
59: Start
46: After 13 for breakfast cereal & fruit juice
42: After 4 for mid-morning fruit
17: After 25 for ready-meal lunch (not pasty!) + 1 for salad vegetables + 9 for bread roll
That's 17 for the rest of the day. Equivalent to a roll, a dessert and a fruit. So do-able.
If I want any extra I have to get some exercise.
More
walks to the pub perhaps? [No, Ed. But every quarter mile walked is at
least 1C more you can eat, remember. So get out there, at least once a
day.]
HELPING DO IT
There needs to be some psychology.
Now
when I look in the fridge or cupboard I see a wall of C scores written
on little labels. I've stuck them to each item on return from the
supermarket, together with a label for the Use By date on short-dated
foods. Common scores can be pre-written to save time, as left.
I
am now only buying foods that will get a low C score. Ready meals
under 20 Cs for example. No more buttery spreads or apple pies.
Desserts
that I know are 8 still all get labelled. Then when I pick one up as
my self-control weakens into the evening, it says "Don't eat me".
Hopefully that will help. It's still early days.
Keeping
to 59 Cs a day for food is going to be a struggle. But hey I’ve got to
do it. By making it public like this, I'm hoping that will stiffen my
resolve!
TRACKING PROGRESS
I
have a set of digital bathroom scales, and weigh myself first thing
most mornings. But each Saturday morning is my 'official' weigh-in,
with a reasonably consistent level of hydration that shows me a reliable
change for the week. I'll post this as a comment each week so you can
berate me if (or indeed when) I slacken.
GETTING STARTED
To get started see this blogpost
