Month 10 Progress Report: Some Observations on Turkey

Okay, it’s a couple of days late. Just some things happening around the house that have disturbed my routine, but I’m adjusting. Here are the month-end numbers from Nov. 11 to Dec. 11:

Starting Weight:	217.6
Target Weight:	207.1
Actual Weight:	212.8
Loss/Gain:	– 4.8
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 1.1

I ended up 5.7 lbs. above target. Much of this I discussed in the last couple of weekly progress reports. I’ve accepted that I won’t be under 200 by Jan. 1; but if I stick with my current budget, I can get under 202.6 by Jan. 11, which would be 100 lbs. lost in 11 months. If, after that point, I return to my beginning calorie deficit, I can get under 200 by Jan. 19 and under 196 by Feb. 4.

On the positive side, in the last two days, I weighed in at 210.6 this morning, despite having lost the negotiations with myself and made a pan of peanut butter fudge. (It’s delicious, although a bit crumbly.) If I stay on top of my intake, I can make the under-210 primary goal by Monday, the end of Week 44. I do have roast turkey planned for tomorrow night, but we’re not doing all the traditional sides; that’s too much work and too many calories. Certainly, there’ll be stuffing, but the green beans will be roasted and the potatoes won’t be mashed. For sweetness, there’ll be a Waldorf salad made with yogurt. So with some self-control, the turkey dinner shouldn’t interfere with achieving the under-210 mark by Monday.

Week 43 Progress Report: Christmas Challenges

Source: Lynda's Recipe Box

First, let’s go over the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	211.8
Original Target*:	225.2
Adjusted Target:	209.5
Actual Weight:	212.6
Loss/Gain:	+ 0.8
Total Loss:	90.0
% of Goal:	64.9%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.1
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

So yeah, I went backward, which I haven’t done since the end of September. Over the last six months, I’ve averaged about a 1.6 lbs./week loss, about 1.5 lbs./week over the last quarter. Those dates include five weeks in which I went backward, particularly the couple of weeks after I lost my mother and the week I went to the hospital (where I gained four pounds in two days, due to the “shipping backlog”). Although these numbers are a little below plan, I’m still satisfied with the results.

Week 41 Progress Report: Giving Thanks On Thanksgiving

© 2019 Bitmoji.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m sorry I haven’t posted for three weeks. I recently went back to work as a health insurance agent, so getting my business off the ground has eaten more and more of my available time. During that period, I got seriously off-track for my 90-Day Challenge Goal; I may fall short by a pound or two. First, the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	216.0
Original Target*:	228.8
Adjusted Target:	213.7
Actual Weight:	214.6
Loss/Gain:	– 1.4
Total Loss:	88.0
% of Goal:	63.5%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.1
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

Next, the month-ending numbers for November 11:

Starting Weight:	224.8
Target Weight:	215.3
Actual Weight:	217.6
Loss/Gain:	– 7.2
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 1.6

Now, as of this morning, I weigh 212.4. That’s about 1.5 lbs. over the 90-Day Challenge target line, which (all things considered) isn’t bad. The fact remains that the general trend is still downward. Even if I miss the 90-Day Challenge goal, I can still make the goal of being at or under 196 by my 56th birthday.

I’m grateful.

Week 38 Progress Report: Travails with Leftovers

I apologize for missing last week. Frankly, it’s hard to think of a plausible excuse, other than that I’ve been obsessed with restarting my insurance business. Also, the last couple of weeks have been a little rough in the weight-loss department. More on that below; right now, let’s get to the week-ending numbers:

Week 37:

Starting Weight:	220.6
Original Target*:	236.0
Adjusted Target:	221.6
Actual Weight:	220.6
Loss/Gain:	+ 1.0
Total Loss:	81.0
% of Goal:	58.4%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.2
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

Week 38:

Starting Weight:	221.6
Original Target*:	234.2
Adjusted Target:	218.7
Actual Weight:	219.4
Loss/Gain:	– 2.2
Total Loss:	83.2
% of Goal:	60.0%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.2
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

By the monthly progress line, I was 1.9 lbs. over target; by the 90-Day Challenge line, I was 0.7 pounds over. (As of this morning’s weight, 218.4, I’ve returned to the line on the 90-Day challenge, but I’m still 1.2 lbs. over the month line.) On the positive side, I’m still almost 15 lbs. ahead of the original plan and have lost 60% of my excess. Moreover, the weight is heading back down again after a week or more of fluctuations, and I’m back within the range where I spent most of my twenties and thirties.

But why the fluctuations? Simply put, leftovers and a boss who loves a particular Italian restaurant.

Week 36 Progress Report: An Epic of Excess

Image source: Flickr

So I’m a couple of days late. My sister’s family was in town for the inurning of my mother’s ashes. More on that in a bit; first, the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	222.6
Original Target*:	237.8
Adjusted Target:	220.3
Actual Weight:	220.6
Loss/Gain:	– 2.0
Total Loss:	82.0
% of Goal:	59.2%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.3
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

I knew that at least Saturday would be a “diet holiday” because Peggy, my sister, had found a “Tacos and Margaritas Tour” of downtown Dallas for us to try. You see, the last few trips she’s made out here, we were constrained to a very small radius of travel due to Mom’s health issues. Now that Mom, for better or worse, is not a limiting factor, she wanted to do something fun that wouldn’t require us to stay within five miles of Denton, which for all its charms is not especially noted for visitor-attracting entertainment.

And so, the Tacos and Margaritas Tour. Because tacos and margaritas.

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.”

Weight Wackiness and Envy: Competition vs. Comparison

On Sept. 11, as I told you in the last post, my weight dipped below the 50% mark on my weight-loss plan — for the first time. Yes, you read that right. The next day, for some unfathomable reason, it shot up again a whole two pounds. I’ve said before that fluctuations like this can happen even when you do everything right. So, after screaming in my head about the unfairness of it, I shrugged and went on with my program. On Friday, it dropped back down 1.6 pounds, which was good even though it didn’t completely erase the jump up. Back a little across the halfway line.

The people on Lose It! cheer every little drop, no matter how small, and offer encouraging thoughts for holds and upticks. One friend, Marjorie, joked that she was “totally jealous” about the drop. When I said I didn’t know why she was jealous, she replied, “Because I get excited when I lose 0.5 lbs. in one day so to drop 1.6 lbs. is wishful thinking for me and totally awesome that you did!” (I have to think Marjorie is an age peer because of her use of ’80s lingo. When I’m not writing and with my friends, it all comes out: totally, fer sure, excellent, bogus, gnarly, “I’m like”, dude (regardless of sex or gender), etc. Totally for us is what literally is for young millennials — a clean all-purpose intensive.)

I reminded Marjorie, “If you lose [an average] 0.2 lbs. per day, you’re losing 1.4 lbs. a week. That’s a great, safe rate to drop. Again, I don’t know how much of the ± 1-lb. fluctuations I sometimes (SOMETIMES) get are scale wackiness and how much are body wackiness. Don’t envy me; you’re doing great!”

Wackiness … what a terrific word to describe the effect of imprecision on weight loss. It’s like playing blackjack: Even if you don’t cross the (objective) “bust” line, you still have to beat the dealer, whose hand is also variable. Nevertheless, there are winning strategies that don’t guarantee victory in every hand but can generally lead to leaving the table with more than you sat down with.

But in sensible weight loss, you’re not really competing against another person. The complete set of physical, emotional, and social or environmental challenges each person faces in weight loss is unique. Put differently, we all play against different dealers under house rules that vary slightly from table to table. That’s why, while group goals and challenges can be motivating and fun, you should never take them so seriously that you interpret someone else’s progress as an implicit reflection (and judgment) against you.

Week 30 Progress Report: In the Backstretch

As I promised yesterday, here are the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	237.6
Original Target*:	248.6
Adjusted Target:	235.8
Actual Weight:	234.6
Loss/Gain:	– 2.2
Total Loss:	68.0
% of Goal:	49.1%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.3
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

And here are the month-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	239.2
Target Weight:	231.2
Actual Weight:	232.8
Loss/Gain:	– 6.4
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 1.4

As I said yesterday, I missed the month-ending goal by 1.6 lbs. However, it’s a new month with a new goal: 225.1 lbs. I’m five pounds away from completing the Halloween challenge; I should have that knocked out by the beginning of October. The next secondary goal is the 2/3rds mark, ≤ 210.2, which is only slightly above my year-end goal; more than likely, the weigh-in that achieves one will achieve the other as well. Already, I’m close to the weight range in which I spend most of my twenties and thirties — still obese, but far less so than when I was in my forties. (My ideal range is something I passed when I was a young teenager and shorter than I am now.)

By the way, I didn’t tell you I have hypothyroidism. Not taking your hypothyroid medication does make it harder to lose weight. That partially (but not sufficiently) explains the period from 8/23 to about 9/6, when my weight went back up and wouldn’t come down: I had run out of levothyroxine and put off picking up the refills. No more of that.

Just shy of 70 pounds in seven months. That’s quite a feat, no matter how you look at it. And it all began pretty much on a whim.

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.

Week 21 Progress Report: Some Episodes of Gluttony

This week, I purposely delayed the report so I could include the month-end report. Here are the numbers from Monday:

Starting Weight:	249.6
Original Target*:	264.8
Adjusted Target:	247.8
Actual Weight:	248.8
Loss/Gain:	– 0.8
Total Loss:	53.8
% of Goal:	38.8%
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.

And now, here are the month-end numbers:

Starting Weight:	253.8
Target Weight:	246.1
Actual Weight:	247.0
Loss/Gain:	– 6.8
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 1.6

As you can tell from the chart at top left, I spent most of the month above the targets, with spikes on June 22 (family in from out of town that weekend) and the Independence Day holiday weekend. Nevertheless, after five months, I’m still about 17 pounds ahead of where I originally planned to be at this point.