Week 25 Progress Report: Budgets and BMR Calculations

Okay, first, the box scores:

Starting Weight:	241.6
Original Target*:	257.6
Adjusted Target:	239.8
Actual Weight:	238.6
Loss/Gain:	– 3.0
Total Loss:	64.0
% of Goal:	46.2%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.6
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

Yesterday, I put on a pair of dress loafers I hadn’t worn in some months and discovered something I didn’t think to expect: my feet have become a little smaller. Feet become pudgy as do other parts of your body. As well, excess weight tends to push the bones out to the sides. I’m not so much pleased by the change as I am disconcerted.

As I’ve mentioned before, when I began my program, I started using Samsung Health to count my daily steps. Every night, I entered the mileage and my active time into the Lose It! app, which calculates the burn and subtracts it from my total calorie intake. So far, so good, except that my phone’s battery is getting weaker and the app consumes quite a bit of power when I’m walking. Recently, I’ve pulled out my phone to check things only to find it’s shut itself off, either to conserve power or because it’s already lost all charge. Many of my most recent entries have been estimates. The important thing, though, is that Lose It! rarely subtracts more than 200 – 250 kcal for my walking unless it’s an unusually hectic Sunday and I bowl that night.

Week 23 Progress Report: Staying Honest and Marine Fitness Goals

Late again. *sigh* Monday was a day of doctor’s office visits for my mother; Tuesday and Wednesday full of other writing obligations; Thursday was spent doing some housecleaning. So here, at last, are Monday’s numbers:

Starting Weight:	244.8
Original Target*:	261.2
Adjusted Target:	243.0
Actual Weight:	242.6
Loss/Gain:	– 2.2
Total Loss:	60.0
% of Goal:	43.3%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.6
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

That’s right—60 pounds in 23 weeks, or 18.6 pounds ahead of where I’d planned to be. There’s an oddity, though: My scale gives different weights at different places on the bathroom floor. There’s always a bit of temptation to play with the scale any way you can to eke out another couple fifths of a pound or to zero out a gain. There have been days I’ve weighed myself about a dozen times, looking for the “sweet spot” on the floor where the scale registers the lowest. And the variation is pretty wild, as much as 5.2 pounds. (No fooling—while choosing a permanent spot for the scale this morning, I registered a high of 245 and a low of 239.8.)

It’s ridiculous to game the system for a pound or two. Cui bono? If all I’ve lost is 55 pounds, that’s still far better than I’d planned to have done by now. In any event, I’ve chosen a spot where two lines intersect as a reference point; there the scale stays. It added a pound to my weigh-in, despite my activity and economies yesterday, but fluctuations are part of the game. I’m still on track for the month.

To tell the truth, if I had my druthers (and the money), I’d have a professional scale. The best one on the market offers full body composition reports. It’s also 100 times more expensive than an el-cheapo digital scale you can get at Walmart. Not having an extra $4,000 to spare, I guess I’ll stick to my spastic old model.