Folks, I’ve decided to add a page to talk about my weight loss quest from September-Dec 2024, so that those who are interested can look at this area rather than me clutter up the page on my home renovations.

It’s September 25, and I’ve been off the grog (except a glass of red last Sat night) since September 1. I’ve been on a mild calorie deficit, and going to the gym 5x per week. My starting weight on September 2, when I bought myself a set of smart scales, was 72.3kgs. This was enough to push me pretty hard from a rocking size 12 Australian to a side-eye size 13. I still fit into some of my size 10 clothes, but they are squeezy and deeply uncomfortable. The plan is to go from 72.3kg to about 66kg by December 20 (which is when I leave my home and travel south to the family for Xmas). I really just want to fit into my size 10 clothes, with my waist and thighs being the sticking point (literally) for comfort and wearability. This represents a total of about 6kg weight loss, or 13 pounds. I’m aiming for a .500g (1 lb) per week weight loss over 15 weeks, including those weeks when I go backwards due to water weight, bloating or some other gift my body wants to give me, as it did throughout the first three weeks of my new regime. The TDEE calculator (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) tells me I should be sitting at 56-59kg but I haven’t been that weight since my 20s, so let’s not listen to THAT outdated advice! I have peasant bones and chunky muscles compared to my sylph-like sister who is the same height as me.

Having gone through a rigorous diet and exercise regime 3 years ago, I know that I can do this, but there have been a few changes. Most importantly, I am perimenopausal, which means that metabolically my body is determined to hold onto spare weight. I don’t know what my current metabolism (BMR – basal metabolic rate) is, except that it should be sitting at around 1400kcal per day, given my age and height. It will be difficult for me to lose weight – much more difficult than, say, 25 year old me. This means I must walk a tricky path between not wanting to lower my BMR (this happened to me last time and it was 1250 at the end of my weight loss program), and lowering my calorific intake. Currently I am trying to keep my intake below 1500Kcal per day. 3 years ago I was on a program that made me stick to 1200kcal, which was not only difficult, but really awful – I felt tired all the time, my hair started falling out, and even though I was working out, I didn’t really feel strong. I just felt weak and sick. This time I don’t want to go there – it’s unhealthy and unsustainable. When I take a TDEE test (online calculator) my best calorific intake once my height, weight, exercise regime are calculated is 1620kcal per day, which is a deficit of 500kcal from a maintenance of 2120kcal per day. However, I recognise I don’t lose weight at 1620kcal intake, so I go a little lower. I prefer the moderate carb option, which I explain below.

These are the things I am doing to reach my weight loss goals.

1. Measure my macros: my dietician advised at the end of my program that I aim for:
   • Protein: between 49-98g per day. I aim for about 90 grams per day but the TDEE suggests I should aim higher.
   • Fat: between 29-57g per day. It’s sitting at the top end for me, but when you eat animal protein, that’s what happens. I’m fine with that. The TDEE corresponds when I aim for moderate carbs.
   • Carbs: between 65-114g per day. This is nearly impossible, purely because for satiety, carbs are found in all sorts of foods including potatoes, flour, bread, pasta, vegetables. It’s too hard to drop carbs without dropping FOOD. So I’m sitting more at 130-150g per day, which is the TDEE recommendation.
   • Fibre: upward of 25g per day. Ok, so carbs often contain fibre, and this is where it’s super hard to get enough fibre through a calorie deficit diet, without taking supplements.
   • I measure my macros through an app on my phone, called Easy Diet Diary. It’s Australian, free, and better for Australian products. That being said, sometimes the macros aren’t recorded and I have to add them via a recipe, which is mostly fine by me although I really would like to just add the calorie total and be done with it!
2. Stay under 1500kcal per day. This is easy once I get used to it, because it’s not 1200kcal. Every little calorie counts, so I’m having to be very mindful this spring. At the moment I am measuring all my foods so that I get an accurate account of weight. Currently my day looks like this:
   • Breakfast: 290kcal of fresh fruit, fat free Greek yoghurt (Chobani is ideal), and some crunchy granola sprinkled on top – not too much. If not this, then a 350kcal meal of toast, 1 tspn butter, 2 poached eggs (add a tspn butter if scrambling), and a piece of bacon or avocado. A sprinkling of lemon juice, feta and dukka for flavour. The other meal I like is porridge, with fresh fruit and something crunchy on top, a touch of fat free milk and maple syrup. It’s about 330kcal.
   • Snack: low fat hommus and celery/carrot sticks; or a small cheese scroll; or a coffee frappé made with real coffee, fat free milk, maple syrup and ice. Sometimes I add creatine and collagen. Occasionally I eat an apple. A couple of rice cakes with a scraping of peanut butter and nutella, or hommus. In total my snacks don’t exceed 250kcal and I prefer high fibre or protein ones.
   • Lunch: whatever I made for dinner the night before as long as it is not greater than 500kcal. This might be a low fat moussaka, beef or chicken stir-fry, pork scaloppine, or some type of pasta dish. If there are no leftovers, I make an Asian soup at 400-odd kcal, or a meat, salad and cheese sandwich, about 450kcal. I aim to have my biggest meal during the day, so that I don’t go psycho with hunger just before bed!
   • Dinner: whatever I’m making. Favourites include a roast; spaghetti bolognese; meat and veggie stir-fry with rice; paella; tacos; Thai curry; Indian curry; meat casserole, pork scaloppine; chicken schnitzel with salad; fish dishes: the list is endless because I like to cook good quality, tasty food. I never really deep fry anything, but I will shallow fry some foods, so I’m working on reducing the oils and fats I add to the pan to see if it helps. I reduce the amount of pasta or rice I eat to about 2/3 cup. My total kcal count for dinner shouldn’t be more than about 500kcal. In total my calorie intake for the day is around 1500kcal, mostly home cooked food, not too much processed food. I have had a couple of blow outs (restaurant food), but in the main it has been pretty easy to maintain this amount of food.
   • Things I really hate eating: if it’s high calorie, low satiety, I really have to think about whether I’m happy to put the food in my mouth, so I’ve had to cut back sweets. Right now I love Peanut M&Ms, but if I have more than about 8 peanuts, it becomes a very expensive sweet re kcals, so I’ve stopped buying them. The other thing I’m not a fan of: shakes. I really don’t like them. I can manage a coffee frappé with added collagen and creatine, but I only have those once a week, if that! I also hate artificial sweeteners, but if I’m out and about and need a pick-me-up I’m happy to buy a Coke Zero.
   • Beans seem to be my best bet for reaching my protein and fibre goals, so I add them to chili con carne, for example, or I make a lentil dhal. Hommus has chickpeas and there are heaps of salads with beans, and it’s a great way to add macros, even though I don’t LOVE beans.
3. No drinking alcohol this month (perhaps the rest of the year?). I used to love my alcohol, so much so that I thought I was addicted. Nope. Not addicted, but addicted to the IDEA of alcohol as a social lubricant and a relaxation aid. That being said, if someone offers me a glass of expensive French champagne, I am NOT going to say no!
4. Exercise regularly. I’ve been successful this month at going to the gym 5 times per week. That’s two sessions of strength training (1 with a personal trainer/ exercise physiologist), plus 3 classes of yoga/Pilates/body balance. I need to add some cardio into the mix, but I’m a bit lazy when it comes to raising my heart rate, even though I OWN an elliptical machine. I’ll get back on that horse soon, as it has a really positive impact on my weight loss goals. The idea is that I add another strength training session per week and 2 elliptical sessions. I haven’t done this yet, but if I can sit on my tush playing with Instagram and social media, I can certainly do that while stepping out on an elliptical machine!
5. Walk the dogs. Yes, I know I need to do this every day anyway, but sometimes I don’t have time, or it’s raining. The doggoes enjoy a short walk of about 25-30 minutes, because Poppy is turning 13 this year and is getting on a bit. Dougal runs around the yard annoying the neighbour’s dog so that is plenty of exercise for him!
6. Be more active generally by working in the garden, or doing pottery (another page to add, I fear), or getting out and about.

So on September 25, I am happy to report my weight is currently 70.6kg, which is a loss of 1.7kg, or 3.7lb over 23 days. My goal this month is to get down another 600grams (1lb), but we’ll see about that! October and November each have the same goal loss of 2 kgs per month, and December is the mop-up month, where hopefully I can catch up to that 6kg weight loss goal if I don’t make it by the end of November.

Wish me luck!