COVID-19: SHEDDING THOSE LOCKDOWN POUNDS

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