fat

EDIT, the next day: This is why gauging weight loss on a month per month basis can be tricky. If October had been just one day longer, I would have only been up 0.3 pounds for the month (a rounding error) because I dropped 1.2 pounds overnight (not a rounding error). The overall trend for the year is still minimal weight loss/gain.

It’s not as bad as it looks!

Body fat is down, muscle mass is up, and BMI is only up marginally.

Still, I did go up and I did not eat nearly as well as I should have this past month. It’s been hard, really. I know I can do it, but food is one of the few go-to comforts I have. If only I had an insatiable appetite for celery sticks or something.

But as always, I strive to do better.

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 172.6 pounds
Year to date: Up 3.2 pounds

October 1: 171.1 pounds
October 31: 172.6 pounds (up 1.5 pounds)

Body fat: 
October 1: 26.1%
October 31: 25.8% (down 0.3%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
October 1: 30.0 kg
October 31: 30.2 kg (up 0.2 kg)

BMI:
October 1: 24.5
October 31: 24.7 (up 0.2)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

It looks like progress, but numbers can and do deceive! Let’s take a look.

First, the trends for the month:

• First week: Going down, to a low of 170.3 pounds.
• Second and third week: Going up, with a sudden 2 pound increase overnight that put me at 173.5 pounds. Yikes!
• Fourth week: Going down again, ending just under where I started for the month.

The worst stat is body fat, which, if accurate, is up by 0.5%. It tends to bounce up and down a lot. I also started the month with a larger-than-normal weight gain. I thought, “Getting under 172.1 pounds will be easy!” and for the first week, that seemed to the case. But then stress and a weird sort of ennui I am still figuring out, settled in and I saw comfort, mostly in cookies.

You have probably noticed there are not a lot of diet plans prominently featuring cookies. Unless the plan is to gain a lot of weight, with most of it being fat.

The cookies are gone now. I have yogurt and tofu in the fridge. I will try to work through things mentally, which will also help with things physically. I at least kept up running consistently through the month, even if it didn’t result in any slimming (to be fair, I’d have to run a lot, like, a LOT to overcome a bag of cookies).

Here’s to October being a more slimming experience. I’ll just pretend Halloween candy doesn’t exist.

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 171.9 pounds
Year to date: Up 2.5 pounds

September 1: 172.1 pounds
September 30: 171.9 pounds (down 0.2 pounds)

Body fat: 
September 1: 26.2%
September 30: 26.7% (up 0.5%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
September 1: 30.1 kg
September 30: 30.1 kg (unchanged)

BMI:
September 1: 24.6
September 30: 24.6 (unchanged)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

In some crazy alternate universe I bet I was down!

And to be fair, it was the last few days of the month when my weight spiked that makes it look so bad.

But enough with excuses, on to the stats!

It’s a mix of good and bad. The month ended with cookies, so there’s that. Food is my comfort, but I am doing a bit better. Baby steps. Baby steps that don’t lead to a box of Pop-Tarts.

I’m going to boldly predict I will still be down for the year, though!

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 170.7 pounds
Year to date: Up 1.3 pounds

August 1: 168.5 pounds
August 31: 169.4 pounds (up 0.9 pounds)

Body fat: 
August 1: 26.2%
August 31: 26.5% (up 0.3%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
August 1: 29.8 kg
August 31: 30.0 kg (up 0.2 kg)

BMI:
August 1: 24.2
August 31: 24.4 (up 0.2)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

The weird part is I actually ended the month at the same weight as last month and the same weight as January 1, so in seven months I have achieved no weight loss (or gain) at all, which is impressive in its own way.

And that weight is 169.4 pounds.

Stats really didn’t shift too much. Body fat % is up a little, everything else is flat. I was bad when it came to snacking multiple times throughout the month. I had Pop-Tarts. I sought solace in food.

I again vow to do better. It could happen! I don’t have any handy snacks as we head into August, so that’s a plus.

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 169.4 pounds
Year to date: Unchanged

July 1: 168.5 pounds
July 31: 169.4 pounds (up 0.9 pounds)

Body fat: 
July 1: 26.0%
July 31: 26.4% (up 0.4%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
July 1: 29.8 kg
July 31: 29.9 kg (up 0.1 kg)

BMI:
July 1: 24.1
July 31: 24.2 (up 0.1)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

The weight gain literally happened on the second-to-last day of the month, when I jumped 1.4 pounds overnight. For most of the month I trended down.

There wasn’t too much movement overall, though, so it seems my surgery and recovery had little impact on my weight. I only ran once, right near the end of the month, and walked intermittently, but as I discovered way back in 2008, exercise is not the way to lose weight. Not eating bags of cookies is.

On the plus side, my muscle mass is up slightly! Maybe I’ll spend July eating protein-rich cereals and turn into some kind of hulking bodybuilder type.

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 169.4 pounds
Year to date: Unchanged

June 1: 168.4 pounds
June 30: 169.4 pounds (up 1.0 pounds)

Body fat: 
June 1: 26.7%
June 30: 26.3% (down 0.4%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
June 1:  29.7 kg
June 30: 29.9 kg (up 0.2 kg)

BMI:
June 1: 24.1
June 30: 24.3 (up 0.2)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

May was a funny month and I do not mean it had me in stitches.

Wait, it literally had me in stitches, because on May 22 I had surgery (a VATS Thymectomy) that left me with sutures holding together two small incisions on the left side of my chest, along with another to close up the place where a chest tube was inserted.

This surgery drastically altered my course for the rest of the month, for a couple of reasons:

• A few days of very little activity at all, due to the surgery and immediate post-recovery
• Generally lower levels of activity after that for the remainder of the month
• No running at all post-surgery (I have missed five runs so far), with resumption not expected for at least 2–3 weeks

I have eaten regularly and normally, though–and healthier, too!

The overall effects have been:

• Slightly lower muscle mass, though the dropoff has been small enough to be insignificant statistically
• Dramatic weight loss. I went from a high of 172.1 pounds to a low of 166.1 pounds in about a week before having my first increase in weight of o.9 pounds to end the month
• Body fat percentage has jumped, going from a low of 25.1% to the current 26.8%. I am simply not burning fat.

Still, my weight is down, my diet is decent and running will resume in time, so hopefully I keep things on track.

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 167.0 pounds
Year to date: Down 2.4 pounds

May 1: 168.7 pounds
May 31: 167.0 pounds (down 1.7 pounds)

Body fat: 
May 1: 25.6%
May 31: 26.8% (up 1.2%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
May 1:  29.8 kg
May 31: 29.6 kg (down 0.2 kg)

BMI:
May 1: 24.2
May 31: 23.9 (down 0.3)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

All stats are trending in the right direction, woo.

April is the first full month I did not track my calories at all. I just tried to eat sensibly.

I focused on the following:

• Eating more fruit and vegetables
• Getting more protein via:
  • Non-fat yogurt
  • Nuts (mostly walnuts, some pistachios and cashews)
  • Chocolate milk protein drink (after runs, 18 grams of protein per cup)
  • High protein cereal mixed in with other low sugar cereals
• Restricting snacks to things like the occasional Pocky (when on sale)
• Otherwise eating my usual breakfast, lunch and dinner

There were some cookies, pizza and the like, but I ran regularly throughout the month, which probably helped, since each run is an 18 km round trip (5 to 10K of that is running).

In all, going the right way. Onward through May.

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 169.2 pounds
Year to date: Down 0.2 pounds

April 1: 169.8 pounds
April 30: 169.2 pounds (down 0.7 pounds)

Body fat: 
April 1: 26.3%
April 30: 25.6% (down 0.7%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
April 1: 29.9 kg
April 30: 29.8 kg (down 0.1 kg)

BMI:
April 1: 24.3
April 30: 24.2 (down 0.1)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Whoops, I’m a day late because of strata shenanigans and a very late night last night.

Good news: I was up a mere 0.2 pounds. If I’d gone to the loo before weighing, I would have been down (apologies if that’s TMI). That means the month was basically neutral. And I am down today (April 1) as I type this.

The flip side is I didn’t lose weight. All of my stats basically didn’t budge.

But the other flip side (so many sides) is that March was the first time in years when I did not count my calories, I just ate what I wanted, focusing on having more fruit and vegetables and trying to boost both my fibre and protein intake.

I think I was at least partly successful.

I’ll probably start tracking again this month, I just need to find an app, and the main reason will be to verify I’m getting enough protein. Once I get things locked in, I probably won’t keep tracking. But we’ll see.

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 169.8 pounds
Year to date: Up 0.4 pounds

March 1: 170.2 pounds
March 31: 170.4 pounds (up 0.2 pounds)

Body fat: 
March 1: 26.3%
March 31: 26.2% (down 0.1%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
March 1: 30.0 kg
March 31: 30.0 kg (unchanged)

BMI:
March 1: 24.4
March 31: 24.4 (unchanged)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

I am posting this a month late because I completely forgot to post this on March 31 (though the publication date will show as March 31, because I’m sneaky like that).

Since this is from a month ago, I can’t recall specific details, but it looks like not much changed. The weight gain is now a rounding error, so that’s good!

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 170.4 pounds
Year to date: Up one pound

March 1: 170.2 pounds
March 31: 170.4 pounds (up 0.2 pounds)

Body fat: 
March 1: 26.3%
March 31: 26.2% (down 0.1%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
March 1: 30.0 kg
March 31: 30.0 kg (unchanged)

BMI:
March 1: 24.4
March 31: 24.4 (unchanged)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Yesterday, I was down one pound for the month, then overnight I miraculously gained 1.4 pounds, putting me 0.4 pounds over. Such are the vagaries of the body.

But despite a not-great month, my weight and related stats were basically unchanged.

Toward the end of the month I stopped logging my food in MyFitnessPal, ending a 4,767-day streak. I switched to Cronometer but only kept with it for four days.

I am currently not tracking my food at all, except in my head. I may go back to formally tracking it, in particular to see if I’m hitting some key goals–not weight loss specifically. One of the things Cronometer does is it clearly lists the nutrients from your food against your daily goal for each right by what you’ve had to eat for the day and this revealed a significant protein deficit. I was only getting about half of the protein I needed.

Since seeing this, I’ve begun to place priority on getting more protein, because right now there’s a good chance that when I’m losing weight, it’s probably pretty evenly split between fat and muscle.

After a few weeks I’ll probably track my food again part-time and see how things look.

And I promise, no donuts!

Stats:

January 1, 2026: 169.4 pounds

Current: 170.4 pounds
Year to date: Up one pound

February 1: 170.4 pounds
February 28: 170.8 pounds (up 0.4 pounds)

Body fat: 
February 1: 26%
February 28: 26% (up 0.3%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
February 1: 31.0 kg
February 28: 30.0 kg (down 0.1 kg)

BMI:
February 1: 24.4
February 28: 24.5 (up 0.1)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

I see you down there
Inflating like a balloon
I'll eat celery

I’m not eating celery.

But I will refrain from eating:

• Cookies
• Candy
• Pop Tarts
• Donuts
• Chocolate
• Heavily salted snacks

Because I’m not writing haikus about all of the above.