fat

That’s not a typo! Thanks to a misplaced Christmas miracle, I was not only down this month, I was down a not insignificant 4.6 pounds. Woo. It looks even better if you go back one day from April 1st to March 31st when I was 177.7 pounds. From there I’ve lost 5.3 pounds. While this leaves my rate of weight loss coming up short to reach 16 pounds by June 1st, it’s still very good and finally reverses the sluggish trend of minimal or no weight loss that has been happening for many months.

How did I do it? Let’s make a list!

• I got COVID-19 right at the start of the month and immediately shed about two pounds
• Those two pounds did not automatically come back when I recovered
• After-dinner snacking was reduced to near-zero
• Overall snacking was way down and concentrated more on lighter fare, like an occasional banana or baked crackers
• I was way more active, working out on the treadmill, doing some runs and walking, walking, walking, to the point that I completed the April 2022 fitness challenge on my watch two days earlier. The challenge was to hit 2210 exercise minutes a month or about 73 minutes per day.
• I was actually down on the last day of the month. I don’t know why, but often on the last day of the month I suddenly gain weight, as if my body delights in springing sudden disappointments on me

As always, I do not recommend getting sick as a method of weight loss, but the timing this month seemed to help pave the way for gradual loss over the course of the month.

For the year so far, I am now down 8.2 pounds and lopped off 6.1 pounds of body fat. Woo x2!

Here’s hoping I can at least repeat the effort for May. If I do, I’ll actually drop into the 160 pound range for the first time in about a hundred years.

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2022: 180.6 pounds
Current: 172.4 pounds

Year to date: Down 8.2 pounds

April 1: 177.0 pounds
April 30: 172.4 pounds (down 4.6 pounds)

Body fat:

January 1: 23.2% (42.1 pounds of fat)
April 30: 20.8% (36 pounds of fat--down 6.1 pounds)

Yes, I was up slightly. Boo and all that.

Early in the month I was tracking downward, then mid-month something shifted and the trend reversed. I’m not entirely sure what happened, as I totally for real did not start scarfing bags of cookies. The trend then began going back down in the final week until a weird 1.1 pound gain overnight and then stalled, so for the month overall it was basically treading water. Or retaining water.

And that got me thinking. Because I’ve worked out nearly every day this month, is it possible I could be gaining a bit of muscle mass? I went to grab the cloth measuring tape to find out, but it has vanished, so I’ll need to get a replacement, then read up on where exactly to measure (that’s what she said :drumroll:).

My sub-quest to reach 160 pounds by June 1st is thus more difficult now, as there are 61 days and 17.7 pounds between now and then. To hit that number, I need to lose an average of 0.29 pounds per day, or just over two pounds per week. Two pounds may not sound like much but again, look over the last month. I should have lost about eight pounds and gained 0.3 instead. Oops.

So for April my plan is thus:

• Continue to workout like a madman, or at least someone who works out a lot
• Swear off all snacking save for the following items:
  • Bananas
  • Other types of fruit I am not currently consuming
  • Vegetables

Easy peasy! I’ll report back in a month, when I will no doubt be…

169.7 pounds–or less!

Ho ho.

One tiny bit of good news: The 0.3 pound gain did not offset the 0.4 pound loss of February, so I am still down overall for the year to date.

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2022: 180.6 pounds
Current: 172.4 pounds

Year to date: Down 8.2 pounds

April 1: 177.0 pounds
April 30: 172.4 pounds (down 4.6 pounds)

Body fat:

January 1: 23.2% (42.1 pounds of fat)
April 30: 20.8% (36 pounds of fat--down 6.1 pounds)

The good news is I was down again, yay. I was not down as much as I should have been, boo.

And it was totally my fault. Boo again. But I am still overall encouraged, as I will explain.

Good things:

• Being down is always better than being up
• I did 19 workouts on the treadmill. Burning these extra calories helps!
• My body fat has dropped 2.7 pounds so far this year, which demonstrates that–assuming the readings are accurate–I am actually shedding fat and becoming leaner
• The exceptions that curbed total weight loss are special cases (I swear)

And here’s why I didn’t lose more weight:

• I made the last batch of brownies from the megabox we got from Costco. I wanted to get rid of them to clear up space in the pantry and to get the little devil cakes out of the place. They ended up in my tummy, which is perhaps not the ideal location. But they are gone now!
• Yesterday I bought a tin of smokehouse almonds because they were on sale. These very rarely go on sale and are normally expensive enough that I’m never tempted to buy. Yesterday I was tempted and their salty, “just one more” quality led to a lot more than one more. I think I actually gave myself stomach cramps. So dumb. To my meager credit, I did not devour the entire tin in one day.

I am thus overall encouraged. The workouts will continue (until morale improves) and I’m continuing to eat leaner ‘ meaner with more lean meat and salads and stuff mixed in. I am hoping to accelerate the weight loss in March. We’ll see!

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2022: 180.6 pounds

February 1: 178.5 pounds
February 28: 178.1 pounds (down 0.4 pounds)

Year to date: Down 2.5 pounds

Body fat:

January 1: 23.2% (42.1 pounds of fat)
February 28: 22% (39.4 pounds of fat--down 2.7 pounds)

A Christmas miracle has arrived! In January! I am down 2.6 pounds for the month. Curiously, this is also exactly the amount I was up in December, but if we track back to December 1st, my total weight loss since then is 0.6 pounds, Less impressive, but sustained actual almost-for-sure not a rounding error weight loss for two entire months? I’ll take it.

The key was likely related to a couple of things:

• Much less snacking, especially in the latter half of the month when I started seeing regular dips in weight
• Frequent 30+ minute workouts on the treadmill. I think my body got a bit used to exercise and may have started burning a tiny bit of fat from it as a result (16 workouts for the month, so an every-other-day average. Not bad!)
• And of course, no donuts

In all, a nice trend and one I hope will continue.

Stats (rolling over yearly stats to this month, but for reference, I started January 2021 at 174,2 pounds, so I’ve got a ways to go just to catch up to where I was 12 months ago, let alone my target goal of 150):

January 1: 180.6 pounds
January 31: 178.0 pounds (down 2.6 pounds)

Year to date: From 180.6 to 178.0 pounds (down 2.6 pounds)

Body fat (year to date):

January 1: 23.2% (42.1 pounds of fat)
January 31: 23.5% (41.8 pounds of fat) (down 0.3 pounds)

The tragedy and triumph of the month that is December when it comes to waistlines and the expansions thereof.

I started the month well-positioned for weight loss, 1.4 pounds under 180. 170 here I come!

By December 4th, I had dropped to 177.9, which would sadly turn out to be my lowest point of the month, because…December. By the 8th I had ballooned up to 180.8 pounds, and it took 16 days to finally get back below 180. I held a glimmer of hope that I could carry the downward trend onward. It lasted two days. Even after a lot of exercise and old-fashioned calorie-burning yesterday, I was still up this morning to my highest point of the month at 181.2 pounds. Sigh.

However, while I am always striving to do better, I am no longer making promises to myself. I will hazard a prediction that I will be down at least a little in January, if only because the worst indulgences of the holidays will be past. But we’ll see.

Stats:

December 1: 178.6 pounds
December 31: 181.2 pounds (up 2.6 pounds)

Year to date: From 174.2 to 181.2 pounds (up 7 pounds)

Body fat (year to date):

January 1: 22.4% (39.1 pounds of fat)
December 31: 23% (41.6 pounds of fat) (up 2.5 pounds)

I gained a tiny bit of weight this month, all thanks to cookies and chocolate bars being on sale. What can I say? It was a very wet, dismal kind of month and I indulged. I was bad.

On the positive side, the weight gain was minimal, and I was trending down by a few pounds for the first half, so I know actual weight loss is within reach.

I just need to avoid sales. And buying stuff and then eating it. Easy peasy.

I won’t mention that December is likely to be even more dismal than November. Nope.

Stats:

November 1: 178.1 pounds
November 30: 178.3 pounds (up 0.2 pounds)

Year to date: From 174.2 to 178.3 pounds (up 4.1 pounds)

Body fat (year to date):

January 1: 22.4% (39.1 pounds of fat)
November 30: 23.2% (41.4 pounds of fat) (up 2.3 pounds, unchanged from previous month)

The month started with me at 177.8 pounds and ended with me at 177.9 pounds, which is the very definition of a rounding error. While it looks like my weight stayed virtually unchanged, what happened on the other 29 days tells a different story, because the 1st and 31st are the only days I was below 178 pounds. I was up to 181 at one point and hovered around 179 a lot of the month.

This was due to making brownies and then eating them. I also didn’t run much in the first half of the month, and have started running more frequently and generally being more active in the second half of October.

I can’t say I’m thrilled with the weight gain, but am relieved that I managed to work it all off to at least end up neutral for the month.

I promise not to buy any cheap Halloween candy tomorrow.

Stats:

October 1: 177.8 pounds
October 31: 177.9 pounds (up 0.1 pounds)

Year to date: From 174.2 to 177.9 pounds (up 3.7 pounds--unchanged from September)

Body fat (year to date):

January 1: 22.4% (39.1 pounds of fat)
October 31: 23.3% (41.4 pounds of fat) (up 3.3 pounds--unchanged from September)

The good news is I am down slightly for the month, even if it is “margin of error” down. It’s still better than up.

More good news is that my body fat, despite still being up for the year, is trending downward as I exercise more.

The not-as-good news is while down for the month, I’m still up from where I was at the beginning of August, so I am still not yet back to where I was before the re-ballooning began.

Most of the month, my weight bounced right around where it ended, around 177 pounds. I mean, it’s better than 187, my all-time high, but I’d really like to break the 170 mark before collecting a pension.

I remain donut-free, though.

I will make a modest prediction for October: I will be down a little again.

Stats:

September 1: 178.4 pounds
September 30: 177.9 pounds (down 0.5 pounds)

Year to date: From 174.2 to 177.9 pounds (up 3.7 pounds)

Body fat (year to date):

January 1: 22.4% (39.1 pounds of fat)
September 30: 23.3% (41.4 pounds of fat) (up 3.3 pounds)

Whoops!

Now let me explain how I almost but not quite completely wiped out my gains from July.

Basically two things:

• Two weeks of vacation where I did not overly pay attention to my calorie count
• Various and random indulgences to celebrate breaking free of a job that I had come to no longer enjoy after many years

I feel bad, but not really bad.

September should be better, though, as I now have lots of time to exercise, I am already running again, and will be paying more attention to what goes in my gullet.

I remain donut-free.

The stats:

August 1: 176.2 pounds
August 31: 178.1 pounds (up 1.9 pounds)

Year to date: From 174.2 to 178.1 pounds (up 3.9 pounds)

Body fat (year to date):

January 1: 22.4% (39.1 pounds of fat)
August 31: 24.1% (42.9 pounds of fat) (up 3.8 pounds)