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 42 Progress Update: The Unexpected Milestone

Photos © 2019 Anthony S. Layne.
All rights reserved.

For once, I may be on time! Woo-hoo! So let’s start off as usual with the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	214.6
Original Target*:	227.0
Adjusted Target:	212.3
Actual Weight:	211.8
Loss/Gain:	– 2.8
Total Loss:	90.8
% of Goal:	65.5%
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.

Considering that this last week included Thanksgiving (and the thickest, densest, and most sugary slice of pumpkin pie I’ve ever had in my life), a 2.8-pound drop is fantastic. It also included a four-hour stint collecting for my Knights of Columbus Council’s charity fund, which according to my Samsung Health app meant about 9 miles’ worth of walking back and forth along a highway island. (Nevertheless, I still managed to get a slight uptick on the scale the next day, possibly due to finishing off that slice of pie.)

I started off the day a little depressed. I’d made the difficult decision to send an email to my lead agent resigning my appointment as an insurance agent and start looking for another job. It was at about 8:45 a.m. when I finally got around to logging my weight. After I’d posted it to the ticker (to your right, if you haven’t noticed it before), I looked at it and realized something I hadn’t thought of:

I have 47.8 pounds to go to reach my primary goal of 164. Less than 50 pounds.

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.

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.

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.”

Week 34 Progress Report: More Medical Matters and Some Compliments

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Here are the week-ending numbers:

Starting Weight:	231.2
Original Target*:	241.4
Adjusted Target:	229.4
Actual Weight:	226.0
Loss/Gain:	– 5.2
Total Loss:	76.6
% of Goal:	55.3%
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 blew the diet Friday night, when we had tamales (gotta have chili on them), frijoles charros (which I prefer to refrijoles), and Mexican rice. Too much jalapeño — I suffered all of Saturday, and it may have contributed to the resolution of my distribution problem. Alas, the effects of aging. I can no longer eat spicy foods with gastric impunity. But the resolution of that problem is 95% of the 5.2-lb. drop. I finally earned my Lose It! 75-Lb. Club badge.

Speaking of the distribution problem: I spoke with my “Indian mom” (my primary care doctor) on Thursday, during a post-hospital follow-up. She listened with concern to my problem. She gave me a couple of four-pill bottles of Linzess, recommended more fiber in my diet (natch), recommended a fiber supplement, and referred me to a gastroenterologist.

Why the GI doctor? Well, there’s a certain procedure that’s recommended for everyone at age 50 and about every 5 years afterward. Doctor Chandi, however, knew that I had been laid off shortly after my 50th birthday and had no insurance for almost four years afterward, so she never made an issue of it. And if she wasn’t going to bring it up, neither was I. But now I’m insured, so I don’t get to put that procedure off any longer.

Week 33 Progress Report: Medical Matters and Not Too Much Information

So here are the weekly numbers, and we have a bit to talk about:

Starting Weight:	230.0
Original Target*:	243.2
Adjusted Target:	228.2
Actual Weight:	231.2
Loss/Gain:	+ 1.2
Total Loss:	71.4
% of Goal:	51.5%
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.

Thursday, I weighed in at 227.2, which took me past the 75-lb. loss mark. Yay me, right? Except that I noticed the right side of my face had swollen to the point that it was starting to creep into my visual range. I had had a little swelling for a few days, but I had thought it was an impacted sinus, which I’d had before. So I called Teladoc and paid $45 dollars for the doctor to tell me to go to the ER.

The ER doctor treated the swelling, which was cellulitis, as almost a side issue — he was much more concerned about the polyp in my right nostril which I’d had for several years. The doctor was concerned because my blood oxygen was down to 88%. So he ordered a CT scan and called in a local ENT to consult on the case. Turns out the polyp was only “benign” so far as cancer goes. Over the last 5½ years, it had been slowly growing inside my face. So the ENT ended up removing the mass in an endoscopic examination.

When I was discharged, my blood oxygen was at 98%, my BP at 112/72, and my pulse a slow but healthy 48 bpm. Amazing what having two working nostrils can do, huh? Ah, lovely oxygen! Two morals from this: 1) Never let financial concerns keep you from taking care of a health issue; and 2) No matter how smart you are — if you’re not a doctor, you shouldn’t try to guess which health issues are serious and which aren’t. Being smart is not the same thing as being wise.

While I was there, I began to notice that something else was wrong ….