Category Archives: The Real Deal

Weekly Weigh In … Week 21

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This will be another quick one….

I’ve been getting lazy about posting on the actual day I weigh-in – Thursdays.  I do weigh myself.  Trust me on this.

Week 20 – 282.0 lbs
Week 21 – 282.6 lbs
Increase – .6 lb
Year to date decrease – ~20 lbs or ~.95 lb/ week

The pattern here is that my average weekly decrease is, er, decreasing which means I’m not continuing to lose weight at a pace that will get me anywhere anytime soon.

The Reasons

  1. I’ve been lax about logging in my food to My Fitness Pal and, thus, losing track of the number of calories I’m consuming.
  2. I’ve been away from the gym way too long (I went back yesterday for the first time in a long time). – No exercise.
  3. I’ve been eating stuff.  Wednesday I went to a minor league baseball game sponsored by a title company that provided lots of hamburgers and hot dogs and potato salad and…you get the point. Last night it was Cinco de Mayo sponsored by another title company and mortgage lender which included all kinds of high calories stuff.  I could go on.
  4. I started getting into pretzels, again. Bad for the blood pressure. Bad for water retention. Not high calorie but not low calorie either.

So, I just really need to get back on track. Get re-dedicated.  It’s tough.  This “lifestyle” thing is not as easy as it sounds. There is food everywhere and occasions to eat it all the time.  It’s mind boggling.

 

Weekly Weigh-In … Week 20

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This is just a quickie to keep me up-to-date on this stuff.

Week 19 – 282.6 lbs
Week 20 –  282.0 lbs
Decrease – .6 lb
Year to date decrease – ~20.4 lbs or ~1 lb/week

I’m not really sure how I was able to drop 6/10th of a pounnd considering I didn’t really exercise that much and I “went off the wagon” more than one.  But, I’ll take it. Of course, the reduced amount of weight loss is bringing my weekly average down.  That’s something I need to address.  I really need to get back into the habit of going to the gym and doing the tredmil thing.

The Scale

In this case, I mean the actual, physical scale.  Not the metaphor.

I don’t know whether it’s me or what but the volatility of my weight is a little nerve racking.  I know daily weigh-ins are not suppose to be accurate and I know there are all kinds of factors that lead to my weight going up and down.  But, the scale I’m using really moves all over the amp.  One day I’m 282 lbs, the next I’m 283.6…and I haven’t really done anything to pack on that much weight.

I’ve also gotten on the scale and had it read out a nice low (for me) number and then about an hour later, after a shower and my, er, morning constitutional, I’ll actually weigh more.  Weird and nuts.

Anyway, that’s it for this week’s weigh-in.  I did actually weigh myself yesterday (Thursday) and this is Thursday’s weight.  I just didn’t get around to posting it until today.

Weekly Weigh-in … Week 19

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OK.  I’m up, again.  Not by a lot but up.

Week 18 – 281.2 lbs
Week 19 – 282.6 lbs
Increase – 1.4 lbs
Year to date decrease – ~20 lbs or 1.052 lbs/week

The challenge with not decreasing my weight or bouncing up and down is that my weekly average decreases which means it will take that much longer to get to my goal weight.

Part of this is bad eating habits on my part.  I went to a conference last week and ate.  I took a 12 hour train trip (24 hours both ways) and ate the crap train food and I haven’t been back to the gym.  All good reasons to go up instead of down.

I have a “function” tonight that will involve dinner.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to control the urge to graze at the hors d’œuvre table.

Anyway.  That’s it.  My accountability check-in for the week.

Weekly Weigh-In … Week 18

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I am constantly amazed about how my weight seems to bounce around.  Up one week, down the next.  Up, dramatically, one day and then back down. It’s scarier than the stock market.

I haven’t quite figured out why this is. My eating and exercise routine does not change that dramatically from one day to the next.  Sure.  I might not eat as much one day or I might not eat after, say, 6:30 in the evening or maybe just have a very light meal.  Still.

Anyway, I’m down this week. Yay! Not only am I down but I made up for the weight I gained last week (Week 17) and then some.  Always a good sign.

Week 18 – 281.2 lbs
Week 17 – 284.2 lbs
Decrease – 3 lbs
Year to date decrease – ~21 lbs or 1.16 lbs per week

The idea, of course is to keep going down, down, down toward my ultimate goal weight and to bump up the average decrease per week.

I’m at a conference for the weekend so it’ll be interesting to see how I do with that.  I’ll be back home by Monday, though, and have some time to get back to the gym and do some exercising.

Weekly Weigh In … Week 17

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Up.

And I know why.

Eating out is the main culprit.  Not enough exercise is a close second. Grazing is in the picture, too.

Week 16 – 282.6 lbs
Week 17 – 284.2 lbs
Increase – 1.6 lbs
Year to date – down ~ 18 lbs (average 1.05 lbs decrease/week)

I guess I should look on the bright side and see that I have been decreasing my wight, albeit very slowly, since the beginning of the year.  But, I really need to get with the program.  Especially since this most recent week-over-week change is a significant increase.

It always steams my shorts that losing weight takes so much energy and time and gaining weight is so easy and quick.  Work like a dog and nibble on carrot sticks and cucumbers for weeks and you lose a few pounds. Go out to dinner and have a little dessert and, BAM!, you gain 2 lbs overnight without even thinking about it.

Something is not right with this picture.

Weekly Weigh-in … Week 16

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Bored yet?

Well, the good news is that I dropped a pound between last week and this week.  Not anything great to write home about but a reduction nonetheless and one more pound toward my goal weight (which is still a loooong way off).

So here’s the update:

Week 15 = 283.6 lbs
Week 16 = 282.6 lbs
Loss for the week = 1 lb
Total loss from Day One = 19.8 lbs
Average reduction = 1.23 lbs/week

At this rate it’ll take forever to get to my goal weight but I’m determined to keep at it.

I’m back to the gym.  I’m slowly but surely increasing my speed on the treadmill and added a few minutes to the time, as well.  Next will be the incline from level to 1% plus getting back to the circuit weights so I can build some strength.

Dealing With Hunger

The biggest challenge for me is dealing with hunger.  I’m OK at meals and not chowing down like there won’t be any food left.  It’s the in between times when I get a little peckish and want to eat something.  It doesn’t seem to matter what it is, of course, I like bananas, clementines, apples. All of them are about 105 -110 calories (the clementines are about 40 but they’re so small you really have to eat a bunch).  Graham crackers are also about 140 calories for 2 sheets (8 of those little sections). And pudding. The little cups are about 110 calories.

The calories add up no matter what the food is and, of course, “high quality” calories in the fruits and veggies are the thing to go for…

Anyway, I’m due to go to a conference in Savannah, GA in a couple of weeks and I would really like to break the 280 lb barrier even if it’s 279.9 lbs.  Stay tuned.

 

Weekly Weigh-In … Week 15

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Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

This week I actually put on .4 lbs.  Or, to put a positive spin on it, less than half a pound.

Week 14 – 283.2 lbs
Week 15 – 283.6 lbs
Total Gain (week over week) – .4 lb
Total Reduction from Day 1 – 18.8 lbs
Average Reduction per week – 1.25 lbs

I have a clue as to why progress has slowed. This past week or so I’ve been a little lax about counting all the calories I’ve been putting into my mouth. Sometimes I’ll eat something and think,”Oh, that’s just a 105 calories.  I’ll log it in later.”  Then, of course, I don’t.  Or, hey, I can’t live with “deprivation” 24/7.  I want a cookie!

Exercise is the other part of it.  I’ve been going back to the gym and slowly working up my speed on the treadmill.  I even tried out a couple of the various elliptical machines they have at the gym.  The thing is that I haven’t been going every day.   It’s not like I spend hours there and burn off tons of calories.  I burn off a few and the real deal is that I need to build the habit of going, again.

So. after 14 weeks of reductions, Week 15 was up.  Just motivation to get back on track and get going.

New Photos

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I’ve uploaded some new photos to the photo page.  As I was looking at where I started with my photos and then where I am now, I realize it’s only 13.6 lbs.  Not enough to write home about.  It’s close to 20 lbs since I seriously started to count calories and make the concerted effort to reduce my weight.

The next set will come at the nest 20 lbs milestone which should be 263.0 lbs.  Hopefully, by then, there should be some noticeable progress in appearance.

Weekly Weigh-in … Week 14

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Hoooo-ray!

Even though I went on a little business trip to an exotic locale (if you can call San Juan, Puerto Rico exotic) and didn’t log everything that went into my mouth, I was still able to reduce my weight.

Last week — 284.6 lbs
This week — 283.2 lbs
Reduced — 1.4 lbs
Total from the beginning — ~19 lbs give or take a few tenths

Of course, my all time high was about 303 lbs right before the Christmas holidays but I started actually counting around the beginning of the New Year.

The Way I Eat

Obviously, the ideal is to keep track of everything I put into my mouth and to add it to my online calorie counter and exercise log. It tells me how many calories I should take in just to maintain my current weight (my Basal Metabolic Rate). However, life is not ideal.

In addition to going to San Juan between last week and today I also went to a chili dinner fundraiser thing for a local swim club in my area.  It wasn’t a lot of food but it was chili (with cheese and rice and cornbread and cookies…you get the idea).  I think just the awareness of the fact that I want to keep reducing my weight is helping me from going completely nuts and loading up plate after plate.

Now, though, I don’t think I have any big meals on the horizon – fundraisers, professional associations, meeting friends for dinner – anything like that.  So, now I can get back to watching those calories more closely.

Back To The Gym

I also went back to the gym yesterday for the first time since my arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus.  30 minutes on the treadmill at 2.0 mph.  That’s a pretty leisurely stroll but it was 30 minutes straight and it burned 163 calories that wouldn’t have burned otherwise.  As time goes on. I’ll increase my speed, increase the incline to the treadmill and increase the burn rate on the calories.  I’ll also get back into the circuit training which helps with the strength and, I’m told, also helps burn the weight off a tad faster.  Plus, I need to make sure my muscle tone doesn’t go completely to hell.  Not that there is that much of it now.

So, all in all, I’m pleased that I’m making progress at about 1.357 pounds a week.  It would be nice to step it up and maybe getting back to the gym will help with that.  I’m still looking at a goal weight that is a looong way down the road.

Onward.

Weekly Weigh-In … Week 13

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As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I was a little disappointed in my weight.  Primarily, because I was eating too much.  Well, I don’t know how I did it but I managed to reduce another pound between last week and this week.  Anything is progress and I’m certainly glad to be down a pound.

This week the scale tipped at 284.6.  Last week it read 285.6.  That’s a reduction of 18 lbs so far. A little over a pound a week.

Hey, a pound is a pound.  Especially since I’m not back to the gym, yet.  That will be coming sooner rather than later.  My knee is starting to feel better and I think I can probably start back light in another week or two at the most.  At least, that’s my plan.

It was really a week of ups and downs.  I ate more than I should and ate out more than I should.  So I’m really glad that I didn’t gain.

This week I’ll be in beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico though Monday.  I really need to watch what I’m doing.  The conference I’m attending is providing food and, of course, we have to try out the local haunts while we’re here.  I’m determined to keep a lid on it, though. I don’t want to start going up.

The Clothes Make The Man

One of the nice side benefits of reducing weight is that my clothes are starting to feel just the tiniest bit more comfortable and, maybe, even a little loose.  I tried on a suit that would have been out of the question a couple of months ago and I can actually fit into it (again).

The other nice thing was that the airline seat wasn’t horrible.  Yes, it was still a tight squeeze but I was able to fasten my seat belt without the extender (barely) and all that is progress.  Sometimes it’s not only the number on the scale.  It’s the way things fit and how you feel moving around.

I can hardly wait to get to my goal weight (180 lbs).  Won’t that be sweet.

The journey continues.