Week 24 Progress Report: The Forest and the Trees

So I’m late again, but it’s all for the best because I have something to add. First, Monday’s numbers:

Starting Weight:	242.6
Original Target*:	259.4
Adjusted Target:	240.8
Actual Weight:	241.6
Loss/Gain:	– 1.0
Total Loss:	61.0
% of Goal:	44.0%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.5
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

As I reported last week, I “gained” about a pound from choosing a permanent spot for my scale, so I wasn’t disappointed by losing only a pound overall. However, I did entertain the hope that today, Aug. 1, would find me ≤ 240. It didn’t happen.

In laying out the Project Nemesis plan, I wrote, “One week, you’ll do everything right and gain 1.5 pounds. The next week, you’ll blow your diet big time one day and your weight at the end of the week is down 1.5 pounds.” It can happen daily, too. Tuesday was full of activity and I had plenty of calories to spare on the budget when I went to bed. When I woke up, however, my wonky scale informed me that I’d jumped from 240.8 to 243. What. The. Hell. Yesterday was full of activity as well; however, I got hit with the late-night munchies and polished off half a bag of Rold Gold pretzels “off the books.” This morning, the aforementioned wonky scale said that I was back down to 241. Fine, except the 2-pound spike had spoiled my small hope to be under 240 today.

I don’t blog every day partly because, like many in-home caregivers, my day has unpredictable interruptions and I have other writing and editing commitments to fulfill. Another part of it is, the daily struggle just can’t be that interesting. Even a Victor Hugo could drive you mad with such attention to minutiae; it’s why the movie The Name of the Rose was actually better than Umberto Eco’s book.

(#sorrynotsorry, you literature majors. I’m sure some people feel the same about J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. And if you ever have a chance to read William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, you’ll see the movie was the “good parts” version of his send-up of overladen “literary classics.” Since Goldman wrote the screenplay, I doubt he missed or repined over the irony.)

Most importantly, though, the daily fluctuations aren’t as important as the overall trend. Yes, more ups than downs turn into a trend upward, so you don’t want to lose sight of them altogether. But the same is true of the reverse—more downs than ups lead to a trend downward. So long as the overall trend is down, even at a pound a week, you’re still losing weight.

Patience isn’t my strong suit. Much of my adult life has been dedicated to maximizing what little patience I do have, particularly when dealing with difficult customers. Nevertheless, it’s the virtue most needed when you’re trying to lose a lot of weight. Looking at larger trends helps support that patience. It helps to remind you that you’re getting closer to that final goal, even if you miss a small goal here and there. While the final goal, ≤ 164 by 8/1/20, helps to keep me on track, it’s possible the trend will drop below 1.8 lbs./week, making it an unlikely achievement. If and when that becomes apparent, I’ll adjust the final goal date to fit the new numbers. The date isn’t as critical as is the weight loss itself.

And you never know what will help to keep you motivated. For instance, underwear:

I told you all about my closet-diving victory a couple of weeks ago. Over the last week, though, it occurred to me that my 3XL boxerjocks were getting too loose. Oh, the waistbands were still tight enough to keep them up, but I had lost the support. (I like the look and feel of regular boxers under slacks, but not the occasional pinch between the inseam and your thigh that comes from lack of support. It’s not as bad as a kick or punch to the groin, but it’s still no fun.) So yesterday, I bought a pack of XL boxerjocks. The waistband is a little tight, but the overall fit is much better.

I’ve also noticed that I’m getting a little more physically restless. I get uncomfortable sitting in a spot for more than an hour anyway because my left hip tends to get stiff. As well, I don’t smoke in my brother’s house; I have to step out onto the porch more frequently than I’d like, given the ordinary heat of a north-central Texas summer. But now I find myself getting up simply to move, to burn off excess energy. Although I’m not consistently surpassing 6,000 steps a day yet—at least, so far as I know—I averaged over 4,800 steps a day in July, much more than I averaged back in March, the first full month for which I have data. This is a good thing.

(Sidebar: The Samsung Health app on my phone tracks my steps but helps to drain the battery faster. Recently, there have been days I’ve had to put my phone on the charger for a while in the middle of the afternoon or put it on for the night before the day was over, leaving hundreds of steps unrecorded. A FitBit, however, is beyond my wallet right now, so I make do with what I have.)

Clichés like not seeing the forest for the trees and missing the big picture usually irritate me. Trees are what make up the forest; change the details and you change the big picture. But painters don’t put in details solely for their own sake but rather to contribute to the overall picture. Even on the detail level, you can’t focus on the negatives more than on the positives, or vice-versa. And you still have to step back from the details to appreciate the whole painting. This is why I have monthly charts and an overall progress chart—to help me keep the daily fluctuations in perspective.

So yeah, I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t start off August under 240. But making the halfway point, 233.3, by 9/1/19 (about 4½ weeks) is still a very reachable goal. And even if I fall a little short, when I do hit 233, I’ll still have lost over half the weight I need to lose to have a BMI less than 25. That will be worth celebrating no matter when it happens.