Week 48 Progress Report: Start Your Day Right

Greetings! First, the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	216.0
Original Target*:	216.2
Adjusted Target:	214.2
Actual Weight:	212.0
Loss/Gain:	– 4.0
Total Loss:	90.6
% of Goal:	65.4%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 1.9
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

And now for the Month 11 ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	212.8
Target Weight:	202.0
Actual Weight:	212.4
Loss/Gain:	– 0.4
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 0.1

Essentially, then, Month 11 was a wash. However, it could have been much worse: I could still be hovering around 215 – 216. That it ended a wash was because I got back on the program last week. As of this morning, I weighed 211.6, despite a large dinner and forgetting to log my bedtime snacks. The way my weigh-ins fluctuate, it’s not inconceivable for me to weigh in at 209 or slightly less by Monday, which would put me under the monthly curve and undo the last of the holiday excess.

For a late breakfast, I had an Ore-Ida Just Crack an Egg Southwest Scramble. The Just Crack an Egg breakfasts are a little higher-calorie meal than a bowl of instant oatmeal, but they’re tasty if you cook them right (I have to give them an extra 10 seconds in the microwave) and have more protein. The downside is that they’re more expensive. So I can’t justify picking up more than one or two per week. However, they’re a nice change.

Oddly enough, for someone who has a long history of skipping the first meal of the day, I like breakfast. Particularly big country breakfasts, such as chicken fried steak or ham, with all the sides. (I’ve learned to like grits since I moved down to Texas, but I still can’t wrap my mind around fried chicken and waffles. Give me another 14 years.) Since my working mornings usually involved 45 minutes of trying to get moving and 45 minutes of rushing frantically to get ready to leave, I would usually stop at BK to grab a Croissan’wich on my way to work.

In thinking back over the 90-Day Challenge, my first realization was that a calorie deficit of 1,066 was pushing it too far. I counted on it way too much to sneak in an extra snack or a larger dinner portion here and there, which should have told me it was too much of a deficit. But the second realization is that I didn’t adjust my budget correctly to allow for breakfast. Even a small breakfast makes that much of a difference in your ability to control your rest-of-the-day eating. A light lunch is better than no breakfast at all.

Even a 16-oz. Yeti mug of coffee with creamer and Equal isn’t enough.

I’m not saying, of course, that you should have a Denny’s Grand Slam every morning. (Though I can understand if you go out of your way for bacon.) A warm bowl of instant oatmeal with a couple tablespoons of milk and some berries, plus a slice of toast with a little butter, will stick to your ribs and give you all the calories you need. If you can afford the calories, perhaps a breakfast burrito with a little salsa. Whatever it is, make sure it’s substantial and not just a bowl of processed sugars pretending to be wholesome!