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 29 Progress Report: Single Servings; or, Sufficient Unto the Day

Yeah, I’ve been silent for a while. This last couple of weeks have been a struggle to get back into the discipline of dieting, during which I had to re-think the decision I made last month to decrease my Lose It! budget adjustment. First, though, let’s get to the weekly numbers:

Starting Weight:	236.2
Original Target*:	250.4
Adjusted Target:	234.4
Actual Weight:	237.4
Loss/Gain:	+ 1.2
Total Loss:	65.2
% of Goal:	47.0%
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.

Since Aug. 11, I’ve only lost 2.4 pounds. Obviously, I missed my goal of ≤ 233.2 by Sept. 1, which by itself is disappointing. However, more frustrating is the fact that I’m almost four pounds over the plan month target line and will have to lose 5.6 pounds in the next week to get back on track. Not impossible, but improbable because difficult without some degree of intentional starvation, which after several months’ consideration I’m not inclined to support even if we call it “fasting.”

I’m still 13 pounds ahead of where I’d originally planned to be, which is good; as I’ve said before, the point is not so much to lose N pounds by D date as it is just to lose the N pounds. But I don’t want the program to sputter to a halt because I lost focus and/or discipline. The first couple of weeks were excusable due to the circumstances of my mother’s death and funeral. Not so the last couple of weeks; in all honesty, I can’t even call it a “plateau.” “It’ll take as long as it takes” is meant to encourage patience, not to rationalize dicking off.

Week 26 Progress Report: Life Changes Ahead

So here are today’s numbers:

Starting Weight:	238.6
Original Target*:	255.8
Adjusted Target:	236.8
Actual Weight:	239.0
Loss/Gain:	+ 0.4
Total Loss:	63.6
% of Goal:	45.9%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.4
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

And yesterday was the end of the plan month, so here are those numbers:

Starting Weight:	247.0
Target Weight:	239.0
Actual Weight:	239.2
Loss/Gain:	– 7.8
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 1.8

In six months, 26 weeks, I’ve lost 63.6 pounds, a little under 46% of my surplus weight. It’s quite an accomplishment. I should be happy.

In the next room, as I write this, my mother is dying.

Week 20 Progress Report: Ordeal and Triumph

The last two weeks I missed my updates,  partially because I’ve been in a writing slump and partially because my mother slightly cracked her pelvic bone, the latter of which demands more physical assistance from me. But I’m happy to report some very good news:

Starting Weight:	252.2
Original Target*:	266.6
Adjusted Target:	250.4
Actual Weight:	249.6
Loss/Gain:	– 2.6
Total Loss:	53.0
% of Goal:	38.2%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 2.7
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

When I started this project, my first major goal was to get under 250 lbs. by Sept. 1. That goal has now been officially achieved—two months ahead of schedule.

Week 14 Progress Report: A Couple of Observations

This will be a short report:

Starting Weight:	262.4
Original Target*:	277.4
Adjusted Target:	260.6
Actual Weight:	259.4
Loss/Gain:	– 3.0
Total Loss:	43.2
% of Goal:	31.2%
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	– 3.1
*Original target calculated from a starting weight of 302.6 lbs. and an average loss/wk. of 1.8 lbs.

As I was logging my weekly weigh-in, I noticed that on the spreadsheet I created to track my weekly progress, I had originally stated my first goal to be at or under 250 lbs. by Sept. 1. At the time, it seemed reasonable because I’d only planned to lose 1.8 lbs./week. Besides, the last time I ran this program, it had taken me from Valentine’s Day to September 1, 2009 to lose 47 pounds. Fifty-three pound in roughly the same amount of time seemed optimistic but not unrealistic.

Now I’m on track to pass that goal by mid-June, a full two and a half months ahead of schedule. This also implies that I’ll meet my second original major goal, ≤ 225 by Jan. 1, about the beginning of October.

Week 5 Progress Report: The Lost Week

Sorry this is a day late!

Beginning Weight:	280.2
Original Target*:	293.6
Adjusted Target:	278.4
Actual Weight:	281.0
Gain/Loss:	+ 0.8
Total Gain/Loss:	– 21.6
Avg. Loss/Wk.:	4.3
*Original target calculated on a beginning weight 302.6 lbs. and an average loss of 1.8 lbs./wk.

The last week was filled with fluctuations, largely due to bad meal planning, from Friday night’s eggplant Parmesan to Sunday’s combination of corned beef and colcannon (not to mention a rich and fat-laden cake) to yesterday’s scrambled-egg sandwich and homemade pizza (not the same meal). Sunday was intended to be a “diet holiday”; Monday, however, was not.

Call it “the lost week.” As in, “I lost my mind.” The whole point of this program is to become more mindful of my eating habits. I tell people to trust the process; but for the process to work, you have to do your part by budgeting your intake. That means thinking ahead — planning what you eat instead of letting yourself be ruled by whim and opportunity.

So okay, I’ve got the excess out of my system, more or less, and learned how to make a loaf of tasty rye bread. As far as the pizza goes, it would have worked much better and had fewer calories with half the meat. (In fairness, I haven’t worked in a pizza restaurant for almost three decades, so I had forgotten how to portion supreme-type pizzas.) Time to get back on the wagon.

About the Project Nemesis Blog

Welcome to Tony Layne’s Project Nemesis: The Blog! Oddly enough, I started the Project Nemesis Facebook page before I started this blog. The Facebook page was a whim; I asked my friends if it was a good idea and some said Yes. The blog was Facebook’s idea. I began my writing avocation as a blogger, so it’s nothing new to me.

So what is Project Nemesis?

First and foremost, it’s an obesity recovery program. It’s not a “diet.” The weight not only has to come off but stay off. This means getting rid of the bad habits and the emotional associations that led to my obesity, essentially reprogramming my mind and emotions to live a healthier lifestyle. I can’t stop once I reach my goal weight; I can only shift into “maintenance mode.” This has to be the way I live for the rest of my life.

Second, it’s a video project. As I lose weight, I take front and profile pictures of myself to build into a .mp4 file dramatizing my physical shrinkage. I also hope to include short video clips at highlight points; tentatively, I have planned to shoot a video when the weight loss forces me to buy pants with smaller waists, probably somewhere between 265 and 250 lbs. When it’s completed, I want to publish it in the hopes that other people will be inspired and encouraged to make similar changes.

Third, it’s a social media platform for my family and friends, not only so they can follow me and cheer me on, but also so those who are in the midst of their own struggles with weight loss can share their successes, their tips, their concerns, and their obstacles. While I may let an occasional religious thought or reference slip, it’s not a religious or political blog. I don’t care what race, ethnicity, religion, sex, orientation, or political affiliation you are — God didn’t put me on this earth to judge you but rather to help and be helped by you.