No more Fuzzy Math.........

Ah…well, last week, I said that when my weight goes up, I try to figure out why so it doesn’t happen 2 or more weeks in a row.  I apparently did not figure out why before Friday’s weigh in because my weight went up again during the week as noted in the column to the right. I have been thinking about it and think I have now determined why my weight went up 2 weeks in a row.  The answer is too much food crosses my lips. I know I am responsible for what I eat and have apparently been overdoing it.

So, back to what works. I had gotten away from keeping a food diary as I tinkered around with a couple different food plans.  I think a food diary has always worked for me because I know I will make a decision to not consume a food item or limit the portion because I don’t want to have to record it on my diary.  I have chosen to go back to using the Calorie King online program because I am familiar with it and can also record my exercise which is then figured into my calorie goal for the day.

I am continuing to try to limit my use of flour and sugar. I have added bananas back into my food plan for the potassium and also V8 juice at the suggestion of a trainer. My intention is to start an “Off the Bean” program in a couple weeks to eliminate caffeine. I am going to try to eliminate caffeine for 4 months and see if I feel any health differences.

I am taking a break from running until at least the end of July so my exercise is limited to the ARC trainer at the gym or cycling to work for cardio and weight lifting.

I am hoping that these changes show some positive results when I step on the scale next Friday.

What Happened?

Well, things were going along so well, on Wednesday and Thursday my slacks felt loose, surely a sign that my weight was heading in the right direction. On Wednesday I did a cardio workout on the Arc Trainer at lunch and Thursday I did an upper body weight workout. I was pretty confident that my weight would be at least a pound lower when I stepped on the scale on Friday morning.  Wrong!!!

On Friday, I got up and went right to the scale and as noted in the column to the right, it read a full 5 pounds heavier than the week before. Not only that, it was just 2 weeks earlier that I set a goal of keeping my weight in a range of 165 to 183 for the next 12 months and here I am at 183.8, out of my goal range already with 50 more weeks to go.

Well, these things happen, I have learned that success is not determined by what I do when things are going my way, it is dependent on the actions taken when things are going against my wishes. 

First let’s look at the numbers to try to figure out what happened. On June 10^th, I weighed 178.8 lbs with 17.7% body fat or 31.65 lbs of fat. Though not reported to the right, on that day my body water percentage was 52.8 % or 94.41 lbs. On June 17^th I weighed 183.8 lbs with 16% body fat or 29.41 lbs of fat. On the 17^th my body water percentage was 54 or 99.25 lbs. So if my Tanita body composition scale is to be believed, I actually lost fat during the week but for some reason had nearly 5 more pounds of water as part of my body weight.

As I have said previously, I believe my biggest food issue these days is night snacking. I now have to wonder if the bag of pretzels I got into at 10PM on Thursday night might have had an effect on the percentage of water in my body on Friday morning. What do you think? I say likely so.

I was thinking about this on my bike ride home from work on Friday and think I need to stick more diligently to my food plan during the work week. That means if I do snack in the evening to do so on foods acceptable to my food plan. I can then let up a little on the weekend when we dine out some.

Additionally, I know that my weight will fluctuate some from week to week.  If my weight does bump up I try to figure out why and then make sure it does not happen 2, 3 or 4 weeks in a row.

Another good week

Well, I am a little tardy in getting this weigh in posted since I was out of town over the weekend for a little personal Chi Running instruction from a friend that has been practicing this method of running for about 3 years.

My weigh in this past Friday morning is noted in the column to the right. The loss of 2.2 lbs is very satisfactory since I was not getting as much exercise as normal due to a muscle pull in my right calf. 

I do want to comment on the percentage of body fat numbers that are reported in the column just to the right of the weight.  It is the opinion of the most recent trainer that I have worked with that these numbers are artificially low. I accept that they may be lower than reality but look at them really just for the trend of this portion of my overall body weight.

Over the past several years the one issue that has dogged me regarding weight control is night snacking. I have struggled to figure out if my trip to the kitchen to forage at 11 PM is hunger or habit. I think on some nights it may be hunger and on others I may be heading for the peanut butter out of habit.  I bring this up now because during the last week, I did snack late at night a couple times and still showed a nice weight loss. Of course, I have to wonder if it will be maintained through this week.

I do think weekly weigh ins are important as a way of keeping track of progress, although, more importantly are the trends over 3 or 6 months. That is why I looked at my weight range for the past year before setting a goal for the coming year.

This week looks to be a bit of a challenge since we were traveling over the past weekend which always limits control of food choices and my right calf is still keeping me from going out for a run. After my Chi Running instruction this past weekend and since I am still dealing with a sore calf, I have decided to revise my running goals for the coming year which will be detailed on my "Allan Running" blog in the next day or so.

Heading in the right direction!!!

Well, as you can see in the list at the right, my weigh in yesterday morning at 181.0 lbs was 1.6 lbs lower than the Friday before.  I had actually taken some time off of my exercise program in May and also relaxed some of my food choices and you can see how my weight climbed about 5 lbs in a very short time.  I was of course happy to see that I was able to get the weight going back in the right direction.

I had mentioned in my original post that I have enjoyed setting goals and training for running events. I am actually a big believer in goals and use them in many areas of my life.

My weight has ranged from about 175 to 193 lbs in the past year as displayed in the column to the right and I think it could go a little lower.  I have now made a goal that my weight range for the coming year be 10 lbs lower without losing muscle mass.  I have learned that every pound I lose contains part fat and part muscle which is why I now have a body composition scale and regularly do resistance training to keep from losing muscle mass.

So my goal for the next year will be to keep my weight in the range of 165 to 183 lbs which will of course be aided by my running program that is detailed on my “Allan Running” blog. In fact, I just set a new goal for October 8^th, 2011 on that blog.

My relationship with the scale

The intent of this blog is to share the experiences and growth I have had as a result of my relationship with food during the course of my life.  

I was overweight as a young boy and remember a time when my grandmother said to me that I would likely always be fat because she had always been fat.  She was wrong.  I have been fat for periods of my life and have also been lean and athletic for periods.

By the time I was a teenager; I ended up at Weight Watchers and through their guidance lost a fairly significant amount of weight. During this first trip to Weight Watchers I learned enough about food and calories to find several foods and meals that worked for me. I found that if I stuck with the foods and meals that worked for me fairly carefully, I would usually lose a bit of weight every week.  This is a pretty effective strategy that I still use to some extent even today. I continued with Weight Watchers until I got to a weight I was fairly comfortable with at that time.

I married at age 20 and gained a little weight each year until at age 25 I found myself back at Weight Watchers. This time I lost a larger amount of weight, enough so that I qualified for lifetime membership. At some point about this time I realized that my current eating habits were not working and that I needed to learn some better ones. I attended weekly meetings long enough during this time, almost a year, that I actually changed some of my eating habits.

After the loss of a significant amount of weight in my mid 20’s, I found that I was able to participate in running events of almost any distance and derived much pleasure from setting goals and training for various events. Currently, you can keep up with my running program through my “Allan Running” blog.

As life happens, invariable, other commitments or priorities somehow push to the front over time and slowly, the physical activity I was enjoying was pushed to the side and my weight slowly began to rise.  When my weight had risen to the point that I was uncomfortable enough that I knew I had to take action, I headed back to Weight Watchers.  I had been away from the program long enough and it had changed enough that for some reason I was not connecting with the program and finding success.

At this point I took some things from the Weight Watcher program that I believed were crucial for success, weekly weigh-ins and keeping a meticulous log of all food eaten, and through increased physical activity and calorie restriction, returned my weight to a level I was comfortable with.  

You would think that after these three periods in my life, over a period of approximately 20 years, when I found it necessary to make lifestyle changes to control my body weight that I would be ever vigilant about the possibility of my weight increasing.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.

A few years ago, my doctor had been warning me that my blood cholesterol ratio was going in the wrong direction.  When he finally wrote me a prescription for a cholesterol lowering medication I decided to take him seriously. I told him to keep his prescription and that I would take care of it by myself.  In 7 months I lowered my total cholesterol 40 points simply by lowering my body weight.

So the deal with this blog is this, when I weigh myself on the Tanita BF 683W body composition scale, usually once a week, undressed and at the same time of day, I will report my body weight and percentage of body fat reading.  In each post I will try to include some tip that I have found helpful during my relationship with the scale over the past 30 years. 

My message today is very simple, over the past 30 years, the amount of weight I have lost easily exceeds my current body weight.  If I can do it, you can do it. I endorse no specific method of losing weight. I do say to find what works for you and stick with it until you are at a healthy body weight.  You can do it.