Month 8 Progress Report: Challenges and Milestones

This is actually the first time I’ve reported the month-end numbers separately from week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	232.8
Target Weight:	225.1
Actual Weight:	224.8
Loss/Gain:	– 8.0
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 1.9

A friend of mine started a private 90-Day Challenge group on Facebook to end the year strong. Members could pick their own challenge and the others would cheer them on. For my challenge, I chose what had been a “stretch goal”: under 200 lbs. by New Year’s Day.

For the purposes of the challenge, I chose Oct. 3 as the start date so Day 90 would fall on Jan. 1, 2020. But because I waited to take off the weight I gained in the hospital, I didn’t actually sit down to do the calculations for the challenge plan until Oct. 7. Achieving the goal, I found, would mean shaving another 166 kcal off my daily budget.

On paper, my budget was already close to the recommended 1,500 kcal/day minimum recommended by the NIH for men. Over the last 4 weeks, however, I’ve averaged about 1,643 kcal in my actual intake, due to my activity. The Lose It! app subtracts calories burned in activity from your intake. So long as I maintain a certain level of activity, then, I can still eat over 1,500 kcal/day and remain within my budget.

Enter Challenge #2: maintaining that “certain level of activity.”

On Oct. 4, I signed on with USHealth Advisors as a licensed agent, to start on Oct. 28. A couple days previously, I also started attending networking meetings, which I had stopped doing when I resigned from my appointment with Aflac to take care of Mom full-time. I’ve also had some follow-up visits with various doctors and will have at least four more (plus two procedures) before the year ends. Until a week ago, I had been able to create activity through housework and shopping. Now, however, more and more of my time will be taken up by obligatory sitting on my duff.

I’ve known from the beginning that counting my steps eventually wouldn’t be enough to ensure I was burning enough calories to maintain my calorie deficit. And it just sucks that the point has to come when the weather outside is growing colder, leaving me more reluctant to go outdoors to walk, let alone think about running. However, it is what it is—I’m not yet in a position to afford a gym membership, so walking (and eventually running) will have to suffice. And I’ll have to set aside time to do it every day, whether I feel up to it or not, whether the weather is agreeable or not.

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On a side note: While looking up various statistics on my weight loss, I checked Lose It’s graph on my BMI. In doing so, I learned that the NIH has three categories of obesity. I began in Class III (Extreme Obesity), which is a BMI of 40 or more. On May 13, I dropped into Class II, which ranges from 35.0 to 39.9. As of Oct. 2, when I first weighed in at 229.2, I dropped into Class I (30.0 to 34.9). Between 25.0 and 29.9, it’s merely Overweight; at 5'8", I’ll get there when I weigh 196.8 or less.

The American Council on Exercise has estimates of body-fat ranges:

American Council on Exercise (ACE) Body-Fat Ranges
	Women	Men
Essential Fat	10-12%	2-4%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese	> 32%	> 26%

Like all the other numbers we’re given, the body-mass index is an estimate; it was developed to assess statistical populations rather than individuals. As a result, it tends to overestimate body fat in more muscular people, such as athletes, and underestimate it in older people or people who have lost muscle. Nevertheless, it remains a useful and generally accepted tool in the medical community. There are more precise ways of determining your body fat, but as an exercise scientist says, “In terms of ease-of-use and usefulness, the BMI can’t be beat.” So I think I’ll wait until I get to or below 164 lbs. and am ready to fine-tune the weight before I go for the body-fat measurement.

In any event, I found it interesting that I passed a milestone I hadn’t even known was there. The next milestone is the 2/3rds mark, 210.2 lbs., followed quickly by the 100-lb. mark, 202.6, and then the third major goal, ≤ 196 by Jan. 23. The 90-Day Challenge goal falls right in the middle of all this; so if I fall short, it won’t be all that painful to me. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to this challenge. Losing 100 pounds is the best Christmas gift I can give to myself!