fat

Not a typo! I am down, for real, this month. And not just by a rounding error amount, a full 3.5 pounds. How did such sorcery happen?

As it turns out, it was simple: no snacking. That was it. I stuck to my three daily meals and had no snacks on most days. I would occasionally allow myself something small on a run day, like a banana, or a chunk of cheese. But no cookies, crackers, candy or any of that.

And here we are, 3.5 pounds later.

But it’s not enough. I need to lose a lot more. I’m still 20 pounds from my target goal of 150 and losing 3.5 pounds means it would take another 5.7 months to get there (basically, September, or the tail end of summer) and I don’t want it to take almost six months.

I have not been running as frequently, so I am going to try to be more active, which will help (and just make me healthier in general, always a good thing).

For now, I can at least savour that I am down for the month and the (short) year. And to that, I offer a hearty woot.

Fake edit: Looking at the stats over the month, there’s been very little change. My body fat is slightly higher, which makes sense in that if my total weight is down, the percentage of my body that is roly-poly fat may increase a bit overall (at least in the short term). My muscle mass has gone down, which also makes sense due to the decrease in exercise.

Weight:
January 1, 2024: 172.3 pounds  
Current: 170.5 pounds
Year to date: Down 1.8 pounds

February 1: 174 pounds
February 29: 170.5 pounds (down 3.5 pounds)

Body fat: 
February 1: 26.1%
February 29: 26.0% (down 0.1%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
February 1: 30.7% 
February 29: 30.3% (down 0.4%)

Body water:
February 1: 54.0% 
February 29: 54.0% (unchanged)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

It all happened so fast. And so fat.

The first half of the month, I was trending down–down! The right direction! Then on January 14 my weight jumped 1.7 pounds overnight, followed by another 0.4 pound gain the next night. This left me 1.6 pounds up for the month, and I never truly recovered. I came close, but on the 29th I had another 1.6 pound overnight increase that sunk me for good.

I can’t explain these sudden increases, they just happen because the body is weird. But what I can say, based on experience, is that these huge, sudden increases are never offset by huge, sudden decreases. When you mega-gain™ overnight, your body is basically putting you into Hard Mode, forcing you to put in that much more extra effort to get back on track.

And I did not. My weight loss train hit a bad switch and is now rumbling along a line through the Fatlands.

This time I am not going to make predictions, or come up with a clever plan. I’m just going to exercise regularly and eat sensibly. We’ll see what happens!

Bonus stats analysis, because I love stats:

• Body fat was up, but only by a modest 0.2%
• Muscle mass was also up slightly, which is actually impressive, considering how little I ran in January due to The Great Deep Freeze with Snow
• Body water is basically unchanged, which is normal

Conclusion: Despite the extra weight, my stats actually seem to suggest things are not as bad as they seem? Maybe?

Weight:
January 1, 2024: 172.3 pounds  
Current: 174.9 pounds
Year to date: Up 2.6 pounds

January 1: 172.3 pounds
January 31: 174.9 pounds (up 2.6 pounds)

Body fat: 
January 1: 25.2% 
January 31: 25.4% (up 0.2%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
January 1: 30.5% 
January 31: 30.8% (up 0.3%)

Body water:
January 1: 54.6% 
January 31: 54.5% (down 0.1%)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

I stepped on the scale today and remember when we used modems to connect to BBSes and the early internet in the 80s and 90s and the modem would make this weird, screeching sound while connecting?

That’s what I did when I stepped on the scale.

I was up 1.2 pounds, another one of those big, fat overnight weight gains.

But in the spirit of a new year and new possibilities, I choose to take this as a chance to demonstrate how I can easily come down from my new, fatty height. Let us observe where I was in years past on January 1:

2022: 182.8 pounds
2023: 164.2 pounds
2024: 172.3 pounds

OK, I clearly fudged (hehe) up over the course of 2023, but I am still down 10.5 pounds from my portly state of 2022, so that remains a good thing. And this year I will continue to mind my snacking, stay active and do things that aren’t eating donuts, so I am confident the number a year from now will be…lower.

And I’ll burn more calories by blogging more. Let’s see if I can keep up a pace of at least two posts per day. I’m 1 for 1 so far!

Here is a New Year’s cat for reading to the end:

Let’s start with the bad news: I am up again, and the rate increased, going from 0.9 pounds in November to 1.6 pounds in December. This is clearly not the way a weight loss trend should progress.

But when I look at the overall month, I do notice something that suggests it’s not as bad as it looks. On December 26, my weight suddenly jumped 1.1 pounds to a monthly high of 172.9 pounds, which was anomalous for the month. I dropped 1.8 pounds after this and if I had started that drop at the day-before weight of 171.8 pounds, I would have ended up with a monthly weight gain of 0.5 pounds, an increase small enough to be a rounding error.

Is this a bunch of rationalization? Yes! But it’s also accurate. And even 1.6 pounds is small enough that I could lose it in a few days.

What I’m saying is that I think I may finally have my weight loss more under control, and just in time for the new year.

First a couple of monthly stats:

Date	Weight	Body fat	Body water	Muscle mass
Dec. 1	169.5 pounds	24.7%	54.9%	30.2 kg
Dec. 31	171.1 pounds	25.4%	54.5%	30.3 kg

I gained a tiny bit of muscle, but also 0.7% of body fat, like I thought I was a bear getting ready to hibernate. Still, nothing too horrible.

Toward the end of the month, I really did improve on snacking and so for 2024 my goal will remain the same, to get to 150 pounds. At my current weight, that would mean losing 1.75 pounds per month (about 0.43 pounds per week), which seems reasonable and possible. And yet!

I started the year at 164.2 pounds and ended it at 171.1 pounds, so I gained 6.9 pounds, an average gain of about half a pound per month. From that perspective, it doesn’t look too bad. And in fact, here’s a fun change: My muscle mass went from 29.7 kg to 30.3 kg, so I did actually put on a little muscle. Woo.

We’ll see what 2024 brings. Hopefully not donuts.

Weight:
January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds  
Current: 171.1 pounds
Year to date: Up 6.9 pounds

December 1: 168.3 pounds
December 31: 169.2 pounds (up 0.9 pounds)

Body fat: 
December 1: 24.7% 
December 31: 25.4% (up 0.7%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
December 1: 30.2% 
December 31: 30.3% (up 0.1%)

Body water:
December 1: 54.9% 
December 31: 54.5% (down 0.4%)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Yes, I am up again (though not as much as last month, which is semi-good).

In fact, for the month, I was only down from the initial weight of 168.3 pounds once–three days in when I hit 168.1 pounds. It was all up (and down and up and down) from there.

But let’s look at the full set of stats from the beginning of the month to the end and compare. This calls for a table, which I hate doing in WordPress, but here we go!

Date	Weight	Body fat	Body water	Muscle mass
Nov. 1	168.1 pounds	24.5%	55.1%	30.0 kg
Nov. 30	169.2 pounds	25.4%	54.5%	30.1 kg

As you can see, the news is…not good. While my muscle mass is up marginally for the month (muscle is denser than fat, so adds more equivalent weight), my body water is currently lower and my body fat percentage is higher. Meaning I have, in fact, gotten a bit fatter.

Sigh.

But! I swore to go snack-free in November, and I didn’t. In fact, I snacked regularly like some dirty little snacker. For December, I am again vowing to go snack-free. I will allow a few exceptions as follows:

• Fruit, like bananas or apples
• Vegetables, in case I develop a sudden carrot addiction
• 30g of cheese or less after a run
• A small glass of chocolate milk after a run
• That’s it!

We’ll see what happens. I mean, in theory I should be able to stay below 169.2 pounds for the month, but I’ve been saying this for multiple months as my weight has gone up, so maybe I’ve been secretly cursing myself. I make no predictions for December, except that my weight will be a set of numbers.

Weight:
January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds  
Current: 169.2 pounds
Year to date: Up 5 pounds

November 1: 168.3 pounds
November 30: 169.2 pounds (up 0.9 pounds)

Body fat: 
November 1: 24.5% 
November 30: 25.4% (up 0.9%)

Skeletal muscle mass:
November 1: 30.0% 
November 30: 30.1% (up 0.1%)

Body water:
November 1: 55.1% 
November 30: 54.5% (down 0.6%)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

In my everquest¹I still sometimes miss EverQuest 2. You could do a lot of stuff in that game. to get back to my fighting¹ weight of 150 pounds, I’ve decided to use an approach that has seen success in the past: going cold turkey. Mmm, turkey.

Specifically, I am going to try reducing my snack intake like so:

Current snack intake: Snacks

Proposed snack intake: No snacks

The beauty is in its simplicity! Will it work? Let’s find out. As of typing this post, I am 100% on track.

1. What’s a better term for “fighting” in this context? Maybe “preferred” would be better. Let’s just say a weight where my hand can slide over my belly and not undulate. Not that I make a habit of sliding my hands over my belly, mind you. What I’m saying is lose the belly fat, which would presumably happen if I was 150 pounds again. ↩︎

Oops, I did it again.

However, rather than weep in despair over the weight gain, I’ve decided to step back and take a more nuanced look at what is happening to my body.

First, about an hour after weighing myself this morning (I was up 0.6 pounds) I had to answer the call of nature, which would have effectively meant I had no weight gain today and would have been up 1.6 pounds for the month, which is equivalent to about two days of average weight drops. Not a big deal.

Second, I noted that for the month, my weight only went down on two days around the midway point and both drops were minimal, rounding errors.

Third, the Garmin scale measures other stats, and I’ve added several below:

• Skeletal Muscle Mass. This is the muscle you can build through exercise.
• Body water. This is when you feel bloated because you drank at the fountain for five minutes solid after a run.

Both of these result in weight gain–one more permanent, in the form of muscle growth, the other more variable, as your hydration level rises and dips.

And looking at all the stats, I see something interesting for this month:

• My body fat percentage is unchanged, even as my weight increased
• My muscle mass has improved slightly, by 0.3%
• Body water is unchanged (with a higher weight, it also counts for less)

In all, it seems I am not losing much fat (almost entirely due to diet), but am also building muscle (due to running), with the net result of weight gain, which is mostly due to positive changes.

It still means I need to change up my diet to lose more fat, because it’s still too high. So in November, no snacking at all, save what I may have left over from this month, then nothing after (I don’t have vast stores of snacks, so I should deplete them in a few days at most). Then we’ll see if I can actually bring that pesky body fat number down.

I remain, as always, donut-free.

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds  
Current: 168.8 pounds
Year to date: Up 4.6 pounds

October 1: 166.2 pounds
October 31: 168.8 pounds (up 2.2 pounds)

Body fat: 

October 1: 24.9% 
October 31: 24.9% (unchanged)

Skeletal muscle mass:

October 1: 29.8% 
October 31: 30.1% (up 0.3%)

Body water:

October 1: 54.8% 
October 31: 54.8% (unchanged)

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

This was a weird month. I started with an uptick in weight, which normally makes it easier to be down for the month.

Normally.

And in fact, I was down for 21 of the 30 days, so the trend was definitely down. Three days ago, I was still down, by 0.4 pounds (my lowest of the month was a week before at 164.8 pounds), then two days ago I jumped 1.2 pounds, meaning I had to lose 0.8 pounds in two days to be down for the month. I lost 0.3 pounds.

:sadtrombone:

On the plus side, part of the gain was actual muscle mass (if my scale is accurate, and for this I choose to believe IT IS 100% ACCURATE ALWAYS)–about 300 grams in the last week (I ran four times). My body fat was also (just barely) down for the month, too, despite being up slightly. You can’t argue with math!

So while this uptick is unfortunate, I actually believe–not fake believe!–that it’s temporary. Thus, I boldly predict:

I will be down in weight for October.

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds 
Current: 167.6 pounds
Year to date: Up 3.4 pounds

September 1: 167.1 pounds
September 30: 167.6 pounds (up 0.5 pounds)

Body fat:

September 1: 24.9%
September 30: 24.8% (down 0.1%) 

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

The good news is I didn’t gain weight this month, yay.

The bad news is I also did not lose weight this month, boo.

The weird news is my current weight is an evil 166.6 pounds.

Fun Facts:

• I was legit down in weight 11 times during the month.
• If you count from July 31, when I was 167.3 pounds, I actually did lose weight, dropping 0.7 pounds!
• My body fat edged up, boo.
• I did not stick to my “no snacking” rule very well, though it wasn’t a complete disaster or anything.
• I remain donut free.
• Despite the cost, I’ve thought about returning to Noom. On Noom I was able to get down to 157 pounds before my plan expired, and I chose not to re-sub.
• On the other hand, I was able to get as low as 146 pounds on my own way back when.
• On the other other hand, I was also single at the time, and it was easier to keep away temptations, because I was the only one deciding on meals and what food was kept in the house.

My hopeful prediction: September will see an improvement on “no snacking” and actual weight loss. How much weight loss? I’ll be modest and say maybe a pound or so. I’m not looking at some huge breakthrough here, just a slow decline.

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds 
Current: 166.6 pounds
Year to date: Up 2.4 pounds

August 1: 166.6 pounds
August 31: 166.6 pounds (up 0 pounds)

Body fat:

August 1: 24.4%
August 31: 24.8% (up 0.41%) 

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

I started the month at 166.6 pounds, which was not only devilish, but also up from the previous month. Today I weighed in at 168.7 pounds, meaning in just seven days I have gained 2.1 pounds.

For those who think that you can lose weight just through exercise, I’ll add that I also ran three times during those seven days, including twice where the total distance, including walking, came in at over 18 km.

Now, this is entirely my fault. Yesterday, I had two meals with bacon, for crying out loud. I was slothful to the point of being inert through the weekend. Today, I’m actually going outside. Maybe the fresh air will make me magically shed a pound. It’s possible!

Here is a robot attacking a human, because I don’t deserve a kitten today.

Yes, I know. How did this happen? Was it donuts? I had a few snacky days, but no real set pattern of snacking, so I’m not altogether sure what caused the weight gain (I added 0.4 pounds just today, which makes it look even worse).

I have decided for August that I must go cold turkey on snacking. Which means no snacking at all–not even cold turkey! I may allow myself the occasional banana or apple, nothing else.

The month started strong, with me down to 164.8 pounds, then got even better the second day when I dropped a massive 1.8 pounds to an even 163. I was also sick with the flu.

Once I got healthy, the fat came back, then it was a rollercoaster of up and down for the rest of the month, but trending more up than down and here we are in Fatville at the end of the month, population me.

One bit of good (?) news: My body fat percentage has gone from 24.3 to 23.9 in the past month, so maybe I’m just building lots of muscle! (I’ll ignore the fact that on January 1 it was 23.1%)

In a way, deciding to go snack-free, no exceptions, is liberating. I don’t have to think about it, I just know that if it’s not a part of a meal, I don’t eat it. Done!

We’ll see if this all proves to be a sham on August 31!

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds 
Current: 167.3 pounds
Year to date: Up 3.1 pounds

July 1: 164.8 pounds
July 31: 167.3 pounds (up 2.5 pounds)

Body fat:

July 1: 24%
July 31: 23.9% (down 0.1%) 

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

Yes, down! I have achieved the impossible dream and actually lost weight over a 30-day period.

The weight loss started early, right on the second day of the month, and I stayed below 166.2 pounds for all but two days of the month. Ominously, one of those days was June 28, just two days ago, but I was down for the next two days to come under.

The weight loss is small at only 1.1 pounds (I have actually gained more than that overnight a few times this month), but it does signal a trend, I think, and it puts me less than a pound up on the year, so I am hopefully going to see more weight loss over the summer.

If my right knee behaves, and I can run more, even better. But I’ll continue to focus primarily on diet, because it is donuts and Ding Dongs that are the enemies of the waistline. Mmm, Ding Dongs…

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds 
Current: 165.1 pounds
Year to date: Up 0.9 pounds

June 1: 166.2 pounds
June 30: 165.1 pounds (down 1.1 pounds)

Body fat:

June 1: 24%
June 30: 24% (unchanged) 

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds