Day 11 of the New Fat: Fat++

Imagine if the Titanic had crashed into a mountain of donuts instead of an iceberg and you have a decent summary of the second half of this week with regards to my weight and attempted weight loss.

I started the week trending down but by week’s end I was up on both body weight and body fat percentage. This makes me not so much a sad panda as a fat one.

I’m going to resume regular walks/runs soon, though the runs will be slower and shorter until I get my left foot sized up for a zany (and undoubtedly expensive) orthopedic device to prevent it from causing terrible and unpleasant pain. I also need to start stretching to prevent a repeat of the Summer Leg Muscle Tragedy or SLMT. The gist of all this is it’s time for me to get more active. It’ll be fun and hopefully injury-free.

I’m also going to try a reboot of the no-snacking thing this weekend. That will be less fun and more of a trial. But perhaps it will be a fun trial.

Weight: 167.3 pounds
Body fat: 19%

Day 6 of the New Fat: Going down with a trend of up

Today I was bad and had a snack that technically put me over my goal for the day. It was still better than spending the day stuffing cakes into my mouth, but still. I was not overly active, either, though I did get out to the store. Exciting adventures all around.

I was down but will likely be up tomorrow due to weighing myself earlier in the morning and also that snack thing.

Weight: 164.6 pounds
Body fat: 18.6%

Day 4 of the New Fat: Holding steady and bonus cheating

Today was my cheat day. I took in what would be considered a normal (non-diet) amount of calories for a typical guy (2000). I had a donut.

I felt bad afterward. This is a good sign.

My weight was unchanged and my body fat was down so slightly as to be meaningless. I shall cherish the very tiny drop nonetheless.

Weight: 165.2 pounds
Body fat: 18.4%

Day 3 of the New Fat: Even more of less

I had chicken strips and fries for lunch today but did enough walking to work most of it off and managed to avoid all snacking for the day. I ended my eating with a light chicken dinner and managed to come in under my calorie count.

Tomorrow if the weather plays nice I may try doing a full walk at lunch like back in the olden days of two months ago.

I was down 0.7 pounds today as well, which if nothing else is in the right direction.

Weight: 165.2 pounds
Body fat: 18.5%

Day 2 of the New Fat: Slightly lighter

I had two small chocolates at work today but compensated somewhat by doing a lot of running around between buildings. According to Fitbit I burned enough extra calories to write the chocolates off. If I can go to bed without stuffing a coconut cream pie into my face I should be good.

I was down slightly, from 166.2 to 165.9 pounds. It’s a start, even if it’s within the range of a rounding error.

Weight: 165.9 pounds
Body fat: 18.5%

Day 1 of the New Fat

Today I cheated a little. After ingesting fewer calories than recommended for a healthy diet, I rounded out the day with a handful of chips (an actual small handful, not three full bags that would fit in the palm of a hill giant) and a Clif bar. This still kept me under my calorie count for the day and I resisted any kind of snacking until after 8 p.m.

I’m reasonably confident I can keep on track. Reasonably.

Today’s starting stats:

Weight: 166.2 pounds
Body fat: 18.5%

Welcome back to fat

This year I started out tipping the scales at a portly 171.3 pounds before slimming back down to 150.4 pounds in early August, less than half a pound away from my target goal of 150.

Today I weigh 164.5 pounds, still down for the year but ballooned up like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade float compared to where I was in the summer. What happened? Well, obviously I started taking in more calories than I burned. Coincidentally, my weight gain picked up at the same time I stopped running due to my leg injury (I now have separate leg and foot issues I need to address before I start running again but I will go into the waist-down details of that in another post).

Running has tow bonus effects when it comes to weight loss. The first is, of course, the calorie burn. Each run I would typically burn anywhere from 700-1200 calories. Consider that right now I am trying to stick to 1500 calories a day and you see how this can make a pretty big (ho ho) difference. The second benefit is that the time spent prepping for a run, doing the run and then undoing the run (showering, etc.) is not spent eating. In fact I will usually end a run with my appetite almost suppressed, though I may be thirsty if it’s hot or humid out. This means on run days (normal schedule three times a week) I take in significantly fewer calories while also burning off more.

But the return of fat has not come mainly from a lack of running. It comes from a decided non-lacking of snacking. This is to say that I regularly open my mouth and shove all manner of not-exactly-low-calorie edible products into it, ranging from potato chips to snack bars to cookies, muffins, cake and occasionally even reasonably healthy low-cal stuff like yogurt and fresh peas.

But mostly cookies, strudel and other deliciously awful foods. I’ve decided to get back on the non-snacking wagon again but instead of making it a New Year’s resolution, I’m starting on December 1st, which is in four days. When the first week has passed I will report back with my inspiring tale of success in weight loss.

Fit to be weighed a bit

I made a New Years resolution to stuff donuts into my face.

Actually, it was to get back to my usual running weight of around 150 pounds but given the results so far it may as well have been the former.

I told myself, “Self, losing weight is simple, you just need to stop putting so much food in your mouth, particularly between-meal snacks that are usually fatty, sugary or deliciously both.”

I hit 175 pounds today, a mere 12 pounds shy of my porcine state in June 2008. It’s time for me to put the brakes on the runaway cookie train.

To that end I have turned, as I am wont to do, to technology.

I purchased two items from Fitbit: an Aria scale and a Fitbit One.

The scale is pretty straightforward. The fancier parts are it measures body fat and syncs the depressing results via wifi to the web app, your smartphone or whatever other device you have set up to remind yourself that you should stop eating so many brownies. My weight is up slightly since I started tracking. I have reasons to have indulged a bit lately but that ends tomorrow (Wednesday).

The other device is the One, not to be confused with the Jackie Chan movie. This is a fancy pedometer thingie that tracks your steps, calories burned, the time and your sleep activity. The latter is kind of weird to look at because it feels a little like Big Brother is watching you, just in the form of a cute little electronic device.

You can set goals or just go with the defaults and let the badges roll in at pre-set milestones. It erroneously started me off with the “Hooray you lost five pounds!” badge, something I am concerned I won’t see again anytime soon.

But tomorrow is another day and it shall be a day without donuts.