Week 35 Progress Report: Sleep and Cookies

Image Source: Flickr

Let’s first look at the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	226.0
Original Target*:	239.6
Adjusted Target:	223.7
Actual Weight:	222.6
Loss/Gain:	– 3.4
Total Loss:	80.0
% of Goal:	57.7%
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.

Note first that the adjusted target reflects a 2.3-lbs./week loss rate rather than the 1.8 lbs./week I originally planned on. As I discussed in the month-end report, I’m shooting for less than 200 lbs. by January 1 as part of a 90-Day Challenge, so the adjusted target reflects the rate at which I need to drop to make that goal. It’s early days yet, but so far, the 166-kcal cut I had to take in my calorie budget has only slightly inconvenienced me. In fact, I’d say that as well as I’ve done over the last eight months, I’ve probably hindered myself more by not sleeping enough than by overeating.

For most if not all of my adult life, I’ve been a night owl, going to bed in the wee hours of the morning without even the bare excuse of partying all night. When I was younger, this was because I most often worked night shifts, whether it was at fast-food restaurants or call centers. More and more as I got older, though, either the nature of the business I was in or pressing financial concerns demanded varying shifts, extra hours, twice a second job. At the same time, my friends and family all eventually had regular day jobs with regular hours, so my social life often demanded that I wake up after minimal sleep, often as little as 3½ hours. Not surprisingly, this meant I occasionally overslept when my overtaxed body and mind demanded it.

Week 32 Progress Report: Dealing with Skin Sag; or, Rewriting the Food Script

I broke away in the middle of writing this report to empty out, clean, and spray down the pantry with bug spray, a task that took a little longer than I expected … like 11 hours. Anyway, here are the box scores from yesterday’s weigh-in:

Starting Weight:	233.0
Original Target*:	245.0
Adjusted Target:	231.2
Actual Weight:	230.0
Loss/Gain:	– 3.0
Total Loss:	72.6
% of Goal:	52.4%
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.

Although I finished slightly above the plan month target line, when you plan for only slightly less than two pounds a week, a three-pound drop is nothing to sneer at. In fact, the number reflects a bounce up from Sunday (229.4 lbs.), which was significantly below the line. The chicken parmesan, made by Your Humble Writer, was worth it. And today, yesterday’s hard work resulted in a 0.8-lb. drop, even after finishing the day with a bag of popcorn with some nutritionally horrific butter oil added to it. Je ne regrette rien.

Of course, having lost so much weight in a comparatively little time — about 7½ months to lose what I gained over about seven years — I notice that some areas, particularly around my torso, are “sagging, bagging, and dragging,” as I heard Dolly Parton once put it. Your skin isn’t like a rubber band to begin with. And years of processed foods, smoking, and not drinking enough water, not to mention the slow surrender of a middle-aged body to Time, have reduced my skin’s elasticity.

Week 7 Progress Report: “Cutting Calories Doesn’t Work!”

Image source: lapbandsurgery.com.

Start Weight:		276.0
Original Target*:		290.0
Adjusted Target:		274.2
Actual Weight:		274.2
Loss/Gain:		– 1.8
Total Loss:		– 28.4
% of Goal:		20.5%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:		– 4.1
	*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

Compared with previous weeks, 1.8 pounds doesn’t look so dramatic. However, if you look at the bottom of the progress table, you’ll see that 1.8 pounds a week is exactly what I’d hoped and planned to lose from the beginning.

When my article on the deadly sin of Gluttony published on Catholic Stand, the first commenter argued that diets which depend simply on cutting calories are doomed to fail. Why? Because of hunger! Sooner or later, the hunger drives the dieter to overeat, and before you know it, they’re right back where they started! “Why don’t you see reunions on The Biggest Loser?” he asked rhetorically. Because just cutting calories doesn’t work.

Well, yes and no. Many people, when cutting calories, set a drastically low calorie target. For example, one friend of mine decided that she would not only start running again but eat no more than 500 kcal/day. Of course, hunger defeated her, despite her being a very strong-minded woman. The calorie target was much too low!

Week 6 Progress Report: Eat the Barbecue!

Image source: Wikimedia Commons.

Start Weight:	281.0
Original Target*:	291.8
Adjusted Target:	279.2
Actual Weight:	276.0
Loss/Gain:	– 5.0
Total Loss:	– 26.6
% of Goal:	19.2%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 4.4
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

About six months ago, my brother Ted decided to buy a new gas grill to replace one that had done yeoman service for close to a decade but was slowly falling apart. However, between one family crisis and another, plus his normal workaholic ways, it sat in its box by the back sliding door to the porch. Finally, this last Friday and Saturday, Ted made the time to put it together.

Friday night, we discussed what we would make for Sunday evening’s dinner to inaugurate the new grill. My initial suggestion was to try a recipe I’d found for a variety of chicken we had got from Central Market in Southlake the previous week. Ted thought about it and replied, “You know what I haven’t had for a long time? Barbecued chicken. I really enjoy it, but for some reason, I just haven’t had it or made it.”

He had me at “barbecued.” So I spent some time on Saturday looking up low-calorie barbecue sauce recipes. They’re out there.