Week 10 Progress Report: Easter Victory

Start Weight:		269.4
Original Target*:		284.6
Adjusted Target:		267.6
Actual Weight:		267.6
Loss/Gain:		– 1.8
Total Loss:		– 35.0
% of Goal:		25.3%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:		– 3.5
	*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

Resurrexit sicut dixit, Alleluia! Christ is truly risen!

Easter Sunday was great, but not the way I normally want to do things. A big cup of coffee and a Reese’s snack-size cup carried me through the morning to mid-afternoon, when we had an Easter early dinner that couldn’t be beat. Ham, potatoes, candied acorn squash (plenty of butter and brown sugar), marshmallow salad, rolls, and a brownie for dessert. Plus a shot of Catch Fire cinnamon whiskey (“That’ll wake ye up in th’ mornin’ lads!”). It was my one meal yesterday, and I blew my budget on it. And then some.

And I still dropped a pound. In fact, despite seemingly hitting a plateau earlier this week, I had lost the 1.8 pounds I had originally set as my weekly goal. My best guess is that I burned more calories preparing dinner and helping Mom than I thought I had.

That was my Easter victory.

Week 9 Progress Report: I’m Back

Start Weight:		272.4
Original Target*:		286.4
Adjusted Target:		270.6
Actual Weight:		269.4
Loss/Gain:		– 3.0
Total Loss:		– 33.2
% of Goal:		24.0%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:		– 3.7
	*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

Sorry I didn’t post a progress report last week. Other than my usual household duties, I was also writing for other people and fulfilling my editorial obligations.

Back on March 11, I decided to chart out my daily progress against my original targets. As expected, the “actual” line dropped well below the “target” line. Today, I did the same for the period 3/11/19 to 4/11/19, but this time, I recalculated the targets to reflect my 3/11 weigh-in rather than the original targets for the month.

The difference was striking … and somewhat embarrassing. Most of the month, the “actual” line was above the “target” line. The overall trend was still down, but the peaks and valleys were more exaggerated.

It’s a good thing I focus on weekly results rather than daily numbers.

Fat-Shaming, Self-Loathing, and Demons

I had thought that today I’d share a recipe with you folks. However, Tuesday night, a friend shared a Facebook essay written two years ago on the subject of fat-shaming and weight loss. It’s a profoundly disturbing piece; while I agree with many if not most of the author’s observations, I cannot and do not agree with her conclusions. I’ve copied the essay into a .pdf file; assume that the essay is protected by copyright law and be careful how you use or re-publish it.

Ijeoma’s Story

The writer, Ijeoma Oluo, tells us she decided to lose weight after a boyfriend sexually assaulted her. This wasn’t her first assault experience; she had been sexually abused as a child and had already left an abusive husband. “And when I tried to figure out why — why someone who so many people had repeatedly said had so much going for her would be hurt so often, I settled on my weight. I decided that as long as I was fat, nobody who wasn’t abusive was going to want to be with me. … So much cultural messaging says that if you are fat, you should be grateful for whatever love you can get — even if that love isn’t love at all.”

Week 7 Progress Report: “Cutting Calories Doesn’t Work!”

Image source: lapbandsurgery.com.

Start Weight:		276.0
Original Target*:		290.0
Adjusted Target:		274.2
Actual Weight:		274.2
Loss/Gain:		– 1.8
Total Loss:		– 28.4
% of Goal:		20.5%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:		– 4.1
	*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

Compared with previous weeks, 1.8 pounds doesn’t look so dramatic. However, if you look at the bottom of the progress table, you’ll see that 1.8 pounds a week is exactly what I’d hoped and planned to lose from the beginning.

When my article on the deadly sin of Gluttony published on Catholic Stand, the first commenter argued that diets which depend simply on cutting calories are doomed to fail. Why? Because of hunger! Sooner or later, the hunger drives the dieter to overeat, and before you know it, they’re right back where they started! “Why don’t you see reunions on The Biggest Loser?” he asked rhetorically. Because just cutting calories doesn’t work.

Well, yes and no. Many people, when cutting calories, set a drastically low calorie target. For example, one friend of mine decided that she would not only start running again but eat no more than 500 kcal/day. Of course, hunger defeated her, despite her being a very strong-minded woman. The calorie target was much too low!