Weigh-In for March 7, 2009

Subtitle for this week’s post:

TOP 4 REASONS I’M GLAD I ONLY GAINED 0.8 POUNDS THIS WEEK

1. I only really went to the gym twice.  Monday was my consultation with the trainer, so it was mostly talking and only a couple minutes of exercising.  I wasn’t feeling well on Tuesday or Friday, so Wednesday and Thursday were my only gym days.
2. Our treadmill is broken, so we didn’t do any exercising together here at home.  We went for a couple walks, but nothing very intense.
3. Logan’s birthday was on Monday, and we bought a Costco cake.  Long story about my own personal weaknesses short, I ate multiple pieces of cake throughout the week.
4. One of the things I discussed with the trainer was that your body needs regular fuel to burn fat throughout the day, so she recommended that I eat small amounts every two or three hours.  I did a lot better at the “eating every two or three hours” than I did at “eating small amounts.”

So all things considered, I was actually relieved to step on the scale and see 346.8.  It’s obviously not progress, but it could have been worse.

I am going to Texas for a week or so on the 13th, but as soon as I get back, I will begin working regularly with the trainer.  I really enjoyed talking with her and learning a little bit more about the science of weight loss, and I am confident that a combination of better tracking of what I eat and a more scientific approach to exercise will get me back to losing four or five pounds a week, which is what I need to be doing at this point.

Here’s this week’s Blubbermetrics:

• Weight: 346.8 pounds
• Weight Loss Since Last Weigh-In: -0.8 pounds
• Total Weight Loss To Date: 55.0 pounds
• Left to Lose Overall: 106.8 pounds
• Percentage of Goal Lost: 33.99%
• Left to Lose for Next Mini-Goal (under 340): 6.9 pounds
• Average Weekly Loss I Need to Meet My Overall Goal Before My Daughter’s Fifth Birthday: 3.14 pounds
• Average Weekly Loss So Far: 1.67 pounds

1 Comment | Post a Comment

Weigh-In for February 28, 2009

Okay, let’s start with the Blubbermetrics:

• Weight: 346 pounds
• Weight Loss Since Last Weigh-In: 1.8 pounds
• Total Weight Loss To Date: 55.8 pounds
• Left to Lose Overall: 106.0 pounds
• Percentage of Goal Lost: 34.5%
• Left to Lose for Next Mini-Goal (under 340): 6.1 pounds
• Average Weekly Loss I Need to Meet My Overall Goal Before My Daughter’s Fifth Birthday: 3.03 pounds
• Average Weekly Loss So Far: 1.74 pounds

Well, it felt good to lose some real weight (you know, something that doesn’t start with “zero-point”).  It’s obviously not the five or six pounds I feel like I need to have soon as a breakthrough, but it’s real.  Consistent weight loss, even if it is sometimes slower than I want, is a good thing, right?

My mom commented on last week’s weigh-in, asking if I am eating enough.  She noticed, as did I, that Bob tolk Mikey on The Biggest Loser a couple weeks ago that he wasn’t eating enough, and that’s why his body wasn’t responding to the immense number of calories he was burning.  I am definitely not burning 10,000 calories a day like they said Mikey was (can that be accurate), but I am burning quite a few (and for sure a lot more than I used to when I was a lazy slug).  I don’t feel like I am starving myself, but I might need to analyze how many calories I am eating and where they are coming from, because maybe there’s something that needs to change there.  It’s one of those things that sounds so simple: exercise regularly and eat the right amounts of the right foods, and you will lose weight.  I really believe that it IS that simple most of the time.  And I am doing somewhere betweeen good and great on the exercise part of the equation, so maybe the eating part still needs some work.  I wish I could have someone with me at all times tracking what I eat so it would be easy to analyze (you know, without me having to do the work), and then that person could also prepare all my meals with the right amounts of the right foods.  That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Anyway, the exercise this week went pretty well.  I need to start doing something different on Sunday nights (probably something like going to bed at a reasonable hour), because Monday mornings are killers for me.  This week, I didn’t go on Monday because I was too tired.  I also skipped Thursday due to tiredness.  I am thinking about having a scheduled day off each week (probably Wednesdays), but I definitely need to go at least four days each week.  I did work out at home in the evening with Beth three times this week — it would have been four or five times, but our treadmill broke and we are waiting on the repairs, so we can’t exercise in the basement together.  So the only time we exercised together after it broke was Thursday night, when we went for a 30-minute walk in the neighborhood after the kids went to bed.  Wednesday night was when we discovered the broken treadmill, so Beth exercised without me.  And then last night, neither of us exercised since we couldn’t do it together.

I am meeting with a personal trainer at the gym on Monday morning.  My membership comes with a free consultation with a trainer, so I figured if nothing else, this will give me motivation to get out of bed on Monday morning, which I apparently need.  Their rates are pretty ridiculous, so I doubt I will do it after the free consultation, but we’ll see.

How is everyone else doing on their own goals?

8 Comments | Post a Comment

Weigh In for February 21, 2009

So, I DID weigh myself in on Saturday morning.  I just haven’t had time to post the results.  So here they are:

Weight: 347.8, down 0.4 pounds from the previous week.

Progress is progress, but let’s face it: if I lose less than half a pound every week, it is going to take me four years to get down to my target weight.  That ain’t gonna cut it.

The week leading up to the weigh-in on the 21st was my second “full” week of gym-going, and I made it four mornings.  My evening exercise sessions could be numbered on one finger due to a busy schedule, so I was glad I was going in the mornings.

Overall, I was a little frustrated to have lost so little.  I am eating pretty well (MUCH better than I used to, that’s for sure), and I am exercising a lot.  I know these plateaus sometimes happen no matter what we do, but I need a big five-pound loss one of these weeks.

1 Comment | Post a Comment

Weigh In for February 13, 2009

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Beth and I are going up to Salt Lake to stay in a fancy hotel tonight, so I won’t be around for a weigh-in tomorrow morning, so I did it today.  This will be short.

Weight: 348.4 (a loss of 0.2 pounds)

Goals:

Eating well: I did okay.  We had some important business visitors this week, so I ended up going out to lunch two days in a row, and neither place had any good salads.

Exercising: I went to the gym on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings.  I skipped Tuesday because I was sick, and I skipped today because I was taking the day off work and had some things I needed to take care of.  I also exercised with Beth on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

Not a great week, but a tiny weight loss is better than a gain, so we’ll call it a victory and do better this coming week.

1 Comment | Post a Comment

Weigh In for February 7, 2009

Finally, some progress!  It’s not a huge amount, but it’s more in line with what I think should be happening every week.  As of this morning, I weigh 348, down 4.6 pounds from last week and 1.2 pounds less than my lowest recorded weight during this process.  (We’ll not focus on the fact that it took me two months to lose 1.2 pounds, because this is a celebratory post, dang it!)

I started something BIG this week.  I didn’t do it long enough to really see the results yet, but I started it.  Starting yesterday morning, I am going to the gym every weekday morning before work.  My good friend Flavio, who lives two doors down from me and works with me, has been doing it, so I’ve been driving to the gym at 7:00 every morning and meeting up with him to carpool to work.  My brain has known all along that it was silly for one of us to leave a car in the gym parking lot when I could just ride with him from home at 5:30, ESPECIALLY when, you know, I could sort of use the workout.  I was watching The Biggest Loser this week, and when I saw them lifting weights, it just sealed the deal for me.  I’m not sure why seeing them lifting weights this week did it when it hasn’t in the past; maybe I just needed to exercise at home for a while to get back in the swing of things before I felt ready to go to a gym.  But whatever it was, I knew it was the right thing, and Beth was very supportive of the idea even though it means we won’t get to see each other in the morning before I leave.

So I will be doing an hour at the gym five mornings a week, and still doing my 30 minutes in the home gym every day except Wednesday and Sunday.  (And to be honest, Saturday doesn’t always work, so this will help me not feel guilty if I miss Saturday.)

We didn’t go to lunch at all this week.  We did have lunch brought in three days, but I did a nice salad twice and a Subway roasted chicken sandwich the other day (first time I ever got a Subway with no cheese or mayo, and it was still wicked good).  The other two days I did my yummy Slim-Fast fruit smoothies (I tried it with chocolate this week, and it was good, too).

One last thing about The Biggest Loser.  I love that show, but it made me mad this week.  I hate talk radio because people have to have XTREME opinions or else they will just be boring.  That means in order to not be boring, you have to say things that no sane person actually agrees with.  Well, this week on TBL, Jillian and Bob tore into Aubrey for saying she only lost two pounds in her month at home because she put on some muscle.  Now, I fully admit that in Aubrey’s case, it was an excuse (she later admitted that she hadn’t eaten well).  But in a little side interview, Jillian screamed about people who use gaining muscle as an excuse for not losing weight and about when people say they didn’t lose weight, but they lost inches.

Here’s the deal, Jillian: the goal is to be healthy.  The way to be healthy is to reduce the amount of fat on your body.  This is an extreme example, but let’s look at Barry Bonds (and pretend he got his physique naturally).  He is 6′1″ and weighs about 250 pounds.  That gives him a BMI of 33, which makes him “obese.”  For real?  Is Barry Bonds obese?  Now, someone you see on the street who is 6′1″, 250, yeah, he’s probably obese.  But what if he worked hard and transformed his body into Barry Bonds’ body.  Same height, same weight, but with about one-tenth the body fat.  And he will have lost ten or twelve inches off his waist.  Are you telling me he would have failed because he didn’t lose any weight?  For real?

Sidenote:  while I was just calculating Barry Bonds’ BMI, I decided to do mine.  I am currently at 43.5.  But more interestingly, I will have to get down to 239 (one pound less than my ultimate goal) to get out of the “obese” category and into the “overweight” category.  That is why I completely disregard BMI.  It may be useful in some situations, but I find it completely useless.

Here’s to another good week!

4 Comments | Post a Comment

Weigh In for January 31, 2009

Now I know how the people feel on The Biggest Loser, when they work hard all week but don’t lose any weight.  By all accounts, this should have been a better week.  Less eating out at work, lots of good exercise, etc.  But in the end, I gained a little over half a pound, weighing in this morning at 352.6.  I guess this week I will need to be more vigilant about what I eat, and continue increasing my stamina so I can have better and better workouts.

I guess, on the bright side … on The Biggest Loser, they usually follow up a disappointing week with a huge week.  Of course, they also have trainers and spend hours every day working out and have nutritionists telling them what to eat.  But I can do it too.

2 Comments | Post a Comment

Weigh In for January 24, 2009

I weighed in yesterday morning as usual, but I didn’t have time to write about it until now.  And even now, I don’t have much time, so it will be short.

Weight: 352, down 1.2 pounds from last week.  Yes, it’s progress.  No, I’m not happy about it.  Between another interview and two lunches to offer jobs to two of the candidates from last week, I ate out three more times this week.  We only have one scheduled for this week (so far), so that should improve.  I also tried to steer the group towards places that I know have good salads, and I will continue that this week.  (If any of you in Utah County know of good salads, please let me know.)

Exercise went pretty well, as we did every night except Wednesday again, I think.  I can feel my endurance starting to pick up, but I still feel like there is a lot I can do to make my workouts more effective.

This week, I really felt like only stepping on the scale once a week killed my momentum.  In a long week, by the time Thursday or Friday rolls around, you can hardly remember what Saturday morning was like.  So I am leaning towards still having my official weigh-in once a week, but being free to check the scale whenever I want throughout the week.  I think I will limit myself to first-thing-in-the-morning scale checks, just so there is consistency, but I think I’ll let myself check every morning if I want to.  The challenge in that is my original reasoning for going to the weekly weigh-ins: I have a tendency to let my previous day’s progress (or lack thereof) negatively affect my diligence on any given day.  I will be trying my best to reverse that, so a positive day will serve as momentum, and a negative day will serve as a kick in the pants.

Finally, if anyone else wants to join in the weekly weigh-ins, feel free to post in the comments.  I would be happy for this site to turn into a place where a bunch of us have accountability to each other, instead of just me having accountability to you guys.

Snider out.

3 Comments | Post a Comment

Weigh In for January 17, 2009

I knew I was fighting an uphill battle this week, for three reasons:

1. Starting this past week, I am now working from the office four days a week.  This presents a challenge if for no other reason than that it is a change of routine.
2. We have been doing interviews to hire a couple new people at work, which resulted in my eating lunch in a restaurant each of the four days I was in the office this week.
3. I lost 12 pounds the previous week, at least some of it due to the apple-juice-and-water cleanse, and I knew going in that some percentage of that weight was not actual weight loss, which means some of it might want to come back the next week.

So the battle was uphill.  The results?  Could have been worse.  I gained two pounds, weighing in this morning at 353.2.  Realistically, I would guess that at least four or five of the 12 pounds I lost the previous week weren’t “real,” so perhaps my other efforts helped me lose a couple, for a net gain of two pounds.  What were those other efforts?

1. Working in the office went really well.  There is a frigdge there that is always fully stocked, but I found that the frozen burritos and all those other things that I really like didn’t pose a temptation to me at all.  I felt like I stayed focused on my goals while I was there.
2. Eating out didn’t go as smoothly as it could have, but overall I think I did a good job staying focused.  There was a time not long ago when I would have loaded up on a couple appetizers (because it’s hard to decide on just one), and then a couple entrees (because it’s even harder to decide on just one of them), and tell myself the whole time that I would only eat some of each and bring the rest home, but then I’d look down and see that I had eaten the whole feast, and then I’d feel miserable the rest of the day.  I still have work to do on my restaurant portions, but I think it was pretty successful, all things considered.
3. Exercise.  Beth and I exercised together on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and separately on Friday.  I realized that Wednesdays are going to present something of a challenge, because I have church meetings in the evening when we usually work out.  So I will either have to a) get up earlier and exercise before work; b) give up some of my time with my family to work out between when I get home from work and when I have to leave for my meetings; or c) adjust my expectations and make allowances for not exercising on Wednesdays.  I am not sure yet which one I will do (I’m open to input).  But other that Wednesday, the exercise went very well.  I noticed that in general, my legs started complaining before my lungs did, which is probably a good thing at this point (since weak legs don’t portend death and all that).

So overall, it was a week that could have been worse, and it actually leaves me very hopeful for the coming week, since only #1 in my first list above will apply this week.  See you next Saturday (if not sooner)!

3 Comments | Post a Comment

Weigh In for January 10, 2009

This was a weird week in a lot of ways.  I had a lot of stress on a personal level, which might have led to overeating … if I had had that choice.  Tuesday morning, I started a gall bladder cleanse — not because I have any gall bladder issues, but because I’ve heard that it is good for your health and your energy/stamina levels.  So from Tuesday through yesterday, I didn’t eat any solid foods, just drank a gallon of water and a gallon of organic apple juice every day.  I don’t like apple juice very much to begin with, but I can say I probably won’t touch the stuff for a long time now.

But the cleanse went well.  I do feel pretty good (excited to have a nice salad at Mimi’s Cafe tonight), and I am proud of myself for being able to do it.  The downside of it is that I wasn’t able to work out, because there’s not a whole lot of excess energy when all your calories are coming from apple juice.  So the exercise part of my master plan will begin this week.

The upside (besides the feeling better stuff)?  I weighed in this morning at 351.2, which is 11.8 pounds less than last week and only two pounds more than my previous low point.

This week will be an interesting new challenge.  I’ve been working from home, but I will be going into the office four days a week from now on.  That will obviously change the pattern Beth and I have gotten into regarding our weight goals, but I think I am up to the challenge.  I’ll keep you posted.

5 Comments | Post a Comment

Weigh In for January 3, 2009

Well, as of this morning, I weigh 363 pounds.  That is 11 pounds more than the last time I put my weight on the little graph over to the right, and 14 more than I was about a month ago.  Time to get back to work!

EDIT: I went in and added the 349.2 from December 2, since I had blogged about it anyway.  So part of that first paragraph is now a lie.

No Comments | Post a Comment