Lost 20-30 pounds

[wmccall614]

The last time I dove in April, I ended up going to 16 pounds of weight with a full wetsuit. That was up around 2 pounds from my previous dive. I am now down 20 pounds from then and it is my full intention to be down another 10 by my next dive in September. Should I just stick with 16 as I did have trouble staying down at 14 pounds when my tank got light?

 

[flyboy08]

It's going to be trial and error on the first dive.....no other way of knowing...btw...that 20 you lost...I found it

 

[Ripcode]

Yup, trial and error.

And congratulations on the weight loss.

 

[Marie13]

I lost weight and didn’t bother redoing my weighting. Friend noticed my hips/feet kept wanting to go down so I took about 4 lbs off. Helped a huge amount.

 

[GreggS]

Keep in mind...fat floats. If you were having trouble descending before the weight lose and you are kitted out the same, then you may need to leave it where it was which should be better for you. As others have said, trial & error is what you'll need to do to find if you need to drop any lead or not.

 

[tep]

Congratulations. I lost about 30, and I was able to take off a little lead, from 24+ to <20 (7mm suit, back inflate BCD). I could probably do 18 now, if my one Al tank wasnt so floaty. In steel, 18 is easy, 20 is better in Al.

I think I got more overall from being in better cardio shape, which you probably are now, too. That could account for at least a few of those pounds of lead off the belt as much as the lost body weight. Your SAC rate is going to be much better, you'll be more relaxed, and you won't hold has much air in your lungs.

Like others have said, trial and error. Be patient.

I took off 2 lbs for a dive, and if I still felt heavy at the end of the dive, I planned to take off 2 more the next time, etc. I wasn't a steady progression based on lbs lost, either. I didn't take off most of the lead until much later in the weight loss. I had plateaus where I lost 10 lbs and couldn't take off any lead, and other times I was down 5 lbs and took off 2 or more lbs of lead.

 

[wmccall614]

Thanks all, I think going down with 2 pounds more than I need will probably be ok, on previous dives I had touble staying down when my tank was near empty. I'll try to remember to come to this thread again in mid Sept.

 

[KristenK]

Congratulations!!! Great accomplishment.

I lost 50lbs and went down a bunch. It is trial and error. I always have more weight the first few dives than the last, though....just because I'm not diving enough to be comfortable straight away.