Because it’s cold out there today. It’s -6C as I type this and the expected high is -1C, which scientists refer to as BRR. At least it isn’t snowing anymore. Or raining, because that would be even more fun with everything covered in crunchy snow right now.
I must venture out at some point to get some foodstuffs, plus I also want to go to the lake to see how viable it might be for running tomorrow. I’m not super hopeful, but you never know!
Also, I was down this morning, woo. Weight-wise, I mean, not in terms of my spirits. I am officially 10.9 pounds from my weight goal of 150. Can I get to 150 pounds in the month that plies people relentlessly with candy, chocolate, eggnog and the horror known as fruitcake? Possibly!
Yeah, this month was bad, there is no other way to put it.
But it could have been worse.
I started the month at 158.7 pounds, a mere 8.7 pounds away from my goal of 150. It was within reach! However, my weight inched back up over 160 and in the final week it persistently stayed just over 160 and I ended the month at 161.3 pounds.
I now need to lose 11.3 pounds to hit my goal. If I intend to do it before the end of 2022 I would need to lose an average of 0.376 pounds per day. When I put it that way, it sounds pretty easy. It also translates to 2.82 pounds per week, which makes it sound a lot harder.
So 0.376 pounds per day it is!
The good news is that I have been running regularly, and it’s quite possible that some of the weight gain may be actual muscle mass. Maybe I’ll get a fancy™ scale that can measure that sort of thing, so I have yet another stat to track1UPDATE: The Garmin scale coincidentally went on scale, so I have ordered it. I like stats. And lists.
Actually, looking over the Fitbit stats, there is also some good news on body fat. It was down slightly from October, from 17.5% to 17.1% and my total body fat over the year declined as a result.
Here’s to a Christmas miracle and actual weight loss resuming in the month of December. Ho ho ho!
Stats:
Weight:
January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds
Current: 161.3 pounds
Year to date: Down 21.5 pounds
November 1: 158.7 pounds
November 30: 161.3 pounds (up 2.6 pounds)
Body fat:
January 1: 23% (42.1 pounds of fat)
November 30: 17.1% (27.6 pounds of fat--down 14.5 pounds)
I was up at 5 a.m. this morning due to gallstones. Not my gallstones, mind you.
Since I was up, I went about my usual morning routine, which includes the daily weigh-in on my trusty Fitbit Aria scale. There were shenanigans.
It began after the weigh-in, when it failed to sync my weight to the Fitbit Google hivemind. Yesterday I installed a new Wi-Fi hub and because the app for setting it up would not allow spaces in the Wi-Fi network name, it changed slightly, thus forcing us to manually reconnect every device on our Wi-Fi network. Hooray.
Remembering this, I figured I’d have to run the setup for the Aria scale to get it connected to the new space-free Wi-Fi network.
I put the scale in setup mode
I launch the Fitbit app on my phone
The Fitbit app says the Aria scale is no longer supported, set it up through a web browser, chump
I follow the link provided
I go through the process, which requires treating the Aria as a new device
I get to the last step, entering the password for our Wi-Fi
I watch as it joins the network
I watch as it fails with an ERR message. That’s all, just ERR. Like it is clearing its throat.
I start the process over from the beginning, as there is no other way to do just the joining part again
I get another ERR
I try again, more ERR
I get angry
I become resigned
I decide not to spend more of my time chasing an unspecified error on no-longer-supported hardware
I record my weight, because it still actually does that part
I think about getting a non-Fitbit scale again
UPDATE: I remembered the Aria connects via Wi-Fi via a USB receiver on the Windows PC. Said PC was not connected to the new Wi-Fi network, so maybe that was the issue? I have fixed this and will try getting the scale working again tomorrow. It’ll be fun.
Yesterday I trimmed down a few more subscriptions. Yes, I am the poster boy for subscription fatigue. Beware, SaaS purveyors!
After dropping the Todoist sub, I have now also dropped the TickTick sub. I’ll see how the free version goes, but if it proves too limiting, I’m already running Microsoft’s To Do, and it seems to meet my needs, even if it’s “My Day” feature is a bit weird compared to a more conventional “Today” list (mainly, you have to move stuff to My Day, as it always starts blank).
Apple emailed me announcing my already expensive Apple One Premier subscription was going from $33.95 a month to $37.95 a month. Since they made $20 billion in PROFIT just last quarter, I opted to slim down to the Apple One Family package for $24.95 per month. I suspect the company will manage to scrape by. And I’ll save $13 by not getting stuff I don’t need, like:
Fitness+: I have literally never used this.
Apple News+: An ad-riddled hellscape, even as a paid service.
2TB iCloud storage: I’m using 150 GB and only because of my photos. The new plan gives me 200GB. Since I’m now using OneDrive for photos, this shouldn’t be an issue.
Apple has become a fat, greedy company that seems determined to worsen the customer experience in exchange for squeezing as much revenue out of everyone as they can. I don’t think the company is going to fail or anything, but I think the long, gradual decline has begun. Maybe the ghost of Steve Jobs will visit Tim Cook at Christmas and be all, “WTF you doing, Tim?” and then Tim will retire on the few dollars he has put aside. BUT NOT $48 PER YEAR OF MY FEW DOLLARS. TAKE THAT, TIM.
Anyway, the number of subs I have is much slimmer now than at the start of 2022. My email is no longer full of newsletters I no longer read. I feel much less burdened now. And I like it!
I’m assuming it’s not SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) because we’ve only had rain for the past week, and it will probably rain for about five more months. Maybe it’s the impending shift back to Standard Time, or Dumb Time, as I call it. Perhaps it’s that my weight has ticked up the last few days, instead of going down as I demand it.
So many possibilities.
While I ponder, let us gaze upon this cat, also pondering.
Yes, it is sad trombone time. After steadily losing weight, I managed to gain this month, though I kept it down to a singe pound, which effectively means my weight stood still in the big picture.
In the monthly picture, what happened was I started at 157.3 pounds then due to a series of unfortunate events, found myself returning, again and again, to food as a source of comfort.
I ate cookies. I ate crackers. I ate Pop-Tarts. I ate everything.
In the last week or so I made a healthy course correction and my weight began a slow, steady decline after that (I peaked at 160.2 pounds on October 18th). The last six days of the month I’ve gone from 160.2 to 158.3, so I am pleased by that.
Since I’m eight pounds away from my goal of 150 pounds, I’m leery to say I’ll hit it in November, but it is at least theoretically possible.
Stats:
Weight:
January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds
Current: 158.37 pounds
Year to date: Down 24.5 pounds
October 1: 157.3 pounds
October 31: 158.3 pounds (up 1.0 pounds)
Body fat:
January 1: 23% (42.1 pounds of fat)
October 31: 17.5% (27.7 pounds of fat--down 14.4 pounds)
The good news is I finally broke out of the long plateau in my weight loss. The less-good news is it took long enough that my weight loss for the month was fairly modest.
But I ended with a flourish, coming in at my lowest weight of the month (157 pounds), with a total loss of 2.6 pounds. I am now exactly seven pounds from my stated goal of 150 pounds. Could I do it by the end of October? Possibly. But November seems more likely.
I’ve been pretty good on snacking and have maintained a regular run/exercise routine, so I am confident I’ll get there, barring a sudden and unexplained addiction to donuts.
Stats:
Weight:
January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds
Current: 157 pounds
Year to date: Down 25.8 pounds
September 1: 159.6 pounds
September 30: 157 pounds (down 2.6 pounds)
Body fat:
January 1: 23% (42.1 pounds of fat)
August 31: 17.4% (27.4 pounds of fat--down 14.7 pounds)
I got my fourth COVID-19 shot today. Not the fourth one today, but the fourth since this whole kooky pandemic began. I opted for Pfizer, the devil I know.
The jab was quick and inconsequential, as usual, and my arm is a bit sore as I type this late in the evening. I did get a headache in the afternoon, which is a possible side effect, and was new for me. Not too bad as side effects call, so I merely grumble about it.
The clinic ran things very efficiently–I was in and out before my actual appointment time. Masks were still mandatory, of course, and they made me wait 15 minutes to see if I’d mutate into a super-being (I did not), but there was no real effort at physical distancing, unlike previous times. A decent amount of people were there (I had to stand in line waiting for the clinic to open), but I overheard staff say that this was pretty normal–most go in the morning and the afternoons are quieter.
I want to make a joke or use some metaphor about how the clinic is an old Best Buy, but nothing comes to mind. Have a picture instead.
It was also a warm and sunny early fall day. Having the weather continue to be summer-like is going to make The Rains that much harder to endure when they arrive. Maybe.
Also, here’s a photo of a flower at nearby Holland Park that I took when I realized how absurdly early I was.
After lamenting how my weight hit 160.6 pounds in mid-August, then stubbornly refused to drop below 160 for the rest of the month, I weighed in this morning (September 1) and the scale said…
159.6 pounds
Yay. I feel like my body is pranking me. But it still means I’m now less than ten pounds from my official weight loss goal of 150 pounds. Soon I’ll be able to wear bikinis again without shame!
Or at least take my shirt off without hearing cries of, “Put it back on!” (I am the one making those cries, BTW.)
Good news: I am down again for the month, and ended on a new low for the year.
Bad news: My weight loss plateaued and stalled about halfway through the month.
Ambivalent news: These kinds of plateaus are not unexpected, so I should start dropping again soon unless I suddenly switch to bags of donuts as my primary food source.
On August 16 I hit 160.4 pounds and for the next 15 days my weight ticked up and down until today, when it was…160.4 pounds. The body fat percentage has dropped, though, so I am still shedding the padding.
Overall, I am pleased at the continued weight loss, if slightly frustrated at the last few weeks.
Stats:
Weight:
January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds
Current: 160.4 pounds
Year to date: Down 22.4 pounds
August 1: 164.1 pounds
August 31: 160.4 pounds (down 3.7 pounds)
Body fat:
January 1: 23% (42.1 pounds of fat)
August 31: 17.7% (28.4 pounds of fat--down 13.7 pounds)
A few years back, Under Armour sold MyFitnessPal to a venture capitalist firm. Recently, the app (not website) was updated to make the starting screen more convenient for premium users, and…less so for free users (who see ads instead).
I was okay with this, because free is free, and I tolerated the ads on the iOS version. I primarily use the web version, anyway.
However, the company has now announced that the ability to scan barcodes is being locked behind a subscription. It’s not a huge deal for me in practical terms, because I rarely eat new packaged foods that I’d need to scan (I’m trying to eat more natural stuff like fruits and veggies that are not canned, bottled or whatnot), but it’s something I do use occasionally. I find it odd and irritating that MFP would gate this behind a pricey subscription ($20 US per month or $80 US per year), but it’s obvious they are relying on a sizable chunk of its user base to pony up to make mad money from them.
I won’t be paying, and this is further incentive to find an alternative to the app/site, even though I have a streak that spans over 9.5 years:
Apps/sites I am currently mulling:
Cronometer (it seems decent but gates some stuff behind a sub, including a few things that are still free on MFP)
FatSecret (seems good, but the UI is pretty utilitarian)
Macros
Lose It! (yes, they use an exclamation point!)
Others, possibly
I am currently using Noom, which is paid, but that’s only for three months, after which I will drop it–it was more to motivate me to lose weight than to become a permanent diet/exercise tracker. It’s been working, too, or it’s just a fancy coincidence that my weight started dropping a lot more once I started using it.
As of today, I am 160.4 pounds, with a 150 pound goal. On January 1 I was 182.8 pounds. That, on my body, is rather chunky.
I’ll post again after giving some of the alternatives some time. I’m not even opposed to paying on an ongoing basis, but the cost needs to be really reasonable (Noom is not, hence using it strictly as a boost to get started).
When logging into My Fitness Pal to record my food and exercise for the day, I see this under the section for food entries:
The idea that I’ve earned one whole extra calorie to burn as I see fit amuses me. I could make a list of things to do with that single, precious extra calorie:
Exhale
Blink my eyes once or maybe twice
Shift slightly in my chair
Think hard for several seconds
(After a minute or so, MFP synced with my watch and bumped the calorie burn up to something with four digits instead of one.)
