fat

September 2018 weight loss report: No weight loss (or gain) to report

My quest to get below 160 pounds remains elusively out of reach, with my weight in a holding pattern, completely unchanged from August and barely changed for the year to date. I am really good at neither gaining nor losing weight, it seems.

Several times I started getting close, dipping down to 161.5 pounds, but my weight trend ticked upward in the second half of the month, due to less exercise and unchanged snacking.

I did continue to stay donut-free, so yay for that.

Last October I was 153 pounds. It was then I began to gain weight, bloating up past 170 pounds. My main goal is still to get below 160 first, then down to 150, but my super-secret goal is to not see my weight start getting out of hand and into fat as it did one year ago.

To quote Dan Rather, Excelsior! (I think he actually said that once or twice. Maybe.)

September 1: 162.9 pounds
September 30: 162.8 pounds (down 0.1 pounds–basically a rounding error)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 162.8 pounds (up 0.5 pounds–unchanged from August)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
September 30: 17.9% (29.1 pounds of fat (down 1.1 pounds)

August 2018 weight loss report: Technically unchanged

A strange thing happened in August.

My weight neither went up nor down.

Technically if I go from August 1 to August 31 I was up 0.5 pounds, but my stats for the first and last day of the month are exactly the same as they were for the first and last days in July. On July 31 I weighed 162.8 pounds and on August 31 I weighed…162.8 pounds.

Kind of weird.

I dipped below 161 a few times, hitting a low of 160.4 pounds once, but never quite got to my stated goal of under 160, alas.

It now becomes my September goal.

However, I did run more in August and the nil weight loss may be a result of a little muscle gain. My body fat actually dropped decently over the month and is now at 27.8 pounds, down 2.4 pounds on the year.

And I’ve remained donut-free.

In all, I take these things as signs of a positive trend. Onward and downward! (weight-wise)

August 1: 162.2 pounds
August 31: 162.8 pounds (up 0.6 pounds for the month)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 162.8 pounds (up 0.5 pounds–unchanged from July)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
August 31: 17.9% (27.8 pounds of fat (down 2.4 pounds)

July 2018 weight loss report: Up 0.6 pounds

In what basically comes down to a rounding error, I was up 0.6 pounds for the month, missing actual weight loss due to probably nothing more than a single trip to the loo. Still, up is bad and I feel bad.

It was also a weird month, with two weeks of vacation/travel and irregular eating habits, including the consumption of more fudge than I’ve had since, well, ever. Mmm, fudge. Fortunately the fudge is in Barkerville, which is not exactly an easy day trip.

I remain donut-free, though I indulged in a few cookies.

More positively, my body fat is still modestly down for the year and I’m making a bold prediction: I will finally dip under 160 pounds again before the end of August, provided I do not have any donuts.

July 1: 162.2 pounds
July 31: 162.8 pounds (up 0.6 pounds for the month)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 162.8 pounds (up 0.5 pounds)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
July 31: 17.9% (29.2 pounds of fat (down 0.8 pounds)

June 2018 weight loss report: Down 1.4 pounds

Although I had no infections or other maladies to assist me, I maintained my losing streak and was down for the month, shedding another 1.4 pounds. I benefited from a massive 2.1 pound drop on the last day of the month (today) but would have still been down regardless, so yay for me. I now stand 11.6 pounds from my official™ goal of 150 pounds. With a week and a bit of travel up north to Barkerville, I would expect the hiking and whatnot will at least let me hold the line, even as we indulge in hot dogs and other yummy but perhaps not calorie-wise camping foods.

For the year to date my weight loss is actually, for the first time, an actual loss, down 0.7 pounds. With the body fat also down, it appears I am finally starting to lose weight for real and getting back to the ultra-sexy form of a few years ago.

I will, as always, resist having a donut to celebrate.

June 1: 163 pounds
June 30: 161.6 pounds (-1.4 pounds for the month)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 161.6 pounds (down 0.7 pounds)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
June 30: 17.5% (28.4 pounds of fat (down 1.8 pounds)

When The Onion comes to the local mall

I was in Metrotown this past weekend and as always it is a bewildering experience, as there are about five thousand stores and a hundred times as many people buzzing through the mall between them.

I did get a pair of glasses and prescription sunglasses at Lenscrafters, though. The experience was surprisingly easy, the woman who helped me was knowledgeable and a couple of promotions made the two pairs (eight eyes, lol!!) decently affordable. The only downside is they won’t be ready until I am partway through vacation. My own fault for waiting so long to get my prescription updated.

While there I spotted an outlet that is Coming Soon® and did a double-take, because it seemed more like something you’d see in an Onion story than an actual retail store. But no, it is real:

I especially like the guy on the left looking like he is about to plow into some meter-high pink monster cone.

It turns out Sweet Jesus is a chain that started out east and is only just starting to open locations out west, like the one above in Metrotown. Their menu seems to be based primarily around frozen treats containing 32,000 calories each. I’m not necessarily objecting.

It’s kind of a ballsy name, though. Do Christians feel good about going there for sundaes? Is it sacrilegious or sacrilicious?

I’ll find out this summer, because I’m definitely going to try…something.

May 2018 weight loss report: Down 5.2 pounds

Something weird happened this month.

I lost weight!

True, a large part of it was due to a kidney infection killing my appetite for the better part of a week, which led to an impressive 3.5 pound weight loss over a 24 hour period, but still, I stayed on track even after getting my appetite back. If it wasn’t for a small uptick right in the last two days of the month I would be down even more.

For May I dropped 5.2 pounds. For the year I am still up 0.7 pounds, but that may actually change by the end of June to a negative number. Woo, I say.

I have largely curtailed the snacking and when I do snack, I am sticking to lighter, healthier things like apples and yogurt.

The stats:

May 1: 168.2 pounds
May 31: 163 pounds (-5.2 pounds for the month)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 163 pounds (up 0.7 pounds)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
May 31: 19% (30.9 pounds of fat–up 0.7 pounds)

April 2018 weight loss report: Up 1.1 pounds

The bad news is my weight is up for the month and up more than March. The good news is…um…April was kind of a terrible month so maybe being up 1.1 pounds is not so bad. Also, I have been jumping up and down about 1.5 pounds lately, so it’s quite possible that tomorrow I’ll have actual weight loss showing.

Nonetheless, the fat stats:

April 1: 167.1 pounds
April 30: 168.2 pounds (+1.1 pounds for the month)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 168.2 pounds (up 5.9 pounds)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
April 30: 19.5% (32.8 pounds of fat–up 2.8 pounds)

My goal for May is to stop inflating. To put it less ambiguously, my goal is actual weight loss. You know, where my weight goes down instead of the opposite of down.

Also, despite all evidence to the contrary, I remain donut-free.

March 2018 weight loss report: Up 0.1 pounds

Although it doesn’t feel like it, March actually saw my ballooning waistline stabilize, with a margin-of-error weight gain of 0.1 pounds. I’m now up 4.8 pounds for the year, down from 5.2 pounds last month.

I remain donut-free.

I am trying to run more, but not doing well there.

I tried going cold turkey on snacks and ended up wanting to eat whole turkeys. I’m trying to ease off now instead.

If I work at it I may see actual weight loss by the end of April.

The fatty stats:

March 1: 167 pounds
March 31: 167.1 pounds (+0.1 pounds for the month)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 167.1 pounds (up 4.8 pounds)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
March 31: 19.2% (32.1 pounds of fat–up 1.9 pounds)

February 2018 weight loss report: Up 2.2 pounds

There is no positive way to spin these (fat) figures, but I will offer a few caveats:

  • I was sick for the last week of the month and did no exercise, ate about the same and was generally slothful during this time
  • um, that’s about it. I was going to say I had fewer days this month to lose weight, but I also had fewer days to gain weight, but I managed the latter handily

On the bright side, I did manage to remain donut-free and reduced my general snack intake. I obviously did not eliminate it, as the numbers below attest. I did slow the rate of weight gain, which will be a nice precursor to actual weight loss…this month. Yes, this month. March is Weight Loss Month. Slim is in. Svelte is the new black.

February 1: 164.9 pounds
February 28: 167.5 pounds (+2.2 pounds for the month)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 167.5 pounds (up 5.2 pounds)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
February 28: 19% (32 pounds of fat–up 1.8 pounds)

The improbability of concave stomachs and long term snacking

Tonight I did an elliptical workout at the Canada Games Pool and it was a good, sweaty half hour in which I burned 336 calories. The bonus, as always, is being able to look down at a bevy of people with actual swimmers builds. One guy was helping with a young children’s swimming lesson and at first I thought he was sucking in his stomach. But he wasn’t. It was just so flat that it actually curved in instead of out.

My stomach does not curve in.

Also I ate a bowl of Chocolate Cheerios today. They were delicious.

As I watched ol’ inwardly curved stomach guy teach small children how not to drown (a skill I still have yet to fully master) I thought about how well my weight loss is going in this early part of 2018–I’m at 167.2 pounds and 18.9% body fat, both up from this time last year and up from pretty much all of last year–and consider the balance between exercise and snacking.

I am still exercising. This is good.

I am still snacking. This is not as good.

I am exercising less regularly. This is not really good. When combined with the snacking, the results are obvious: fat, and plenty of it.

The solution, then, is to cut down on my snacking. I lost about 40 pounds by changing my diet in 2008. Maybe I can do the same for the 10 year anniversary, Except I don’t want to lose 40 pounds because I’m still 20 pounds lighter than 2008 me, so a 40 pound loss would result in me being “tumbled down the street by a strong gust of wind” light.

But can I reduce my snacking? I’ve remained donut-free so far, but I’ve pretty much just turned to donut substitutes. Maybe reduction isn’t the answer and elimination is.

And so I pledge here on this blog and to the several people that accidentally stumble across it from time to time, perhaps hoping to find some tasty creole recipes, to go 100% snack-free.

Starting on Saturday.

Why Saturday? It’s a run day and I tend to eat less on run days. Also there are still snacks about so I need tomorrow to figure out what to do with them, even if it means shoving them into my mouth. But no more after Saturday.

I will report back on my inwardly curved stomach progress some time in March.

January 2018 weight loss report: Up 3.0 pounds (which is definitely not down)

I am clearly doing this wrong.

First, the good news: I got through the entire month donut-free. Hooray!

A tiny bit more good news: My body fat percentage went down slightly from 18.5% to 18.3%. Yes, it could be a rounding error (there may be a fat joke in there) but I’ll take it. Especially when you consider…

The not-so-good news: I started the year at 162.3 pounds. Not great, but 160 and below was in sight. Today I am improbably up to 165.3 pounds and that goal seems buried under layers of fat.

Still, I will not be discouraged! I am still running and working out on the elliptical, and I’m probably going to get regular road running shoes so I can run at lunch when the golf course trail is a gross mud pit of doom, which it is now most of the time.

One last bit of sort-of good news: In January 2017 I started at 165.9 pounds. I’m still down from that. Yes, by 0.6 pounds, but still–down, not up. So there’s that.

And the official fat tidings:

January 1: 162.3 pounds
January 31: 165.3 pounds (+3 pounds)

Year to date: From 162.3 to 165.3 pounds (up 3 pounds)

And the body fat:

January 1: 18.5% (30.2 pounds of fat)
January 31: 18.3% (30.4 pounds of fat)

A farewell to donuts, now in haiku form

A haiku for my weight loss goal for 2018 which is coincidentally the same as the goal for 2017 and currently tracking about as successfully.

Donuts are yummy
But too much of a fat thing
Makes the waistline boom

I have actually remained donut-free for the first 25 days of the year. Only 340 days to go! (I have been less successful in remaining snack-free.)