weight loss

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

Poop.

I was up again.

Let’s break it down into the negatives and positives again, like last month.

The negatives:

• Up three months in a row (March, April, May). Boo.
• The amount I’m up on the year to date has further increased, from 1.2 pounds, to 2.5 pounds. Mentally, this creates a bigger barrier to seeing weight loss because the bar is now that much higher to actually seeing the numbers go down.

The positives:

• This is less than last month’s gain of 2.0 pounds, so weight gain appears to at least be slowing
• The snack-free attempt was mostly successful in terms of reducing snacks, which should bode well for the future
• My body fat percentage remained unchanged at 24%
• I’m running again, which I missed for most of the month; this should also help
• Most of the weight gain literally happened on the final day of the month, when I jumped up 1.1 pounds
• Spread over five months, this averages out to gaining 0.5 pounds per month, which doesn’t seem as bad 😛
• I did see actual weight loss three times during the month, proving it is actually possible!

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds 
Current: 166.7 pounds
Year to date: Up 2.5 pounds (was 1.2 pounds previously)

May 1: 165.2 pounds
May 31: 166.7 pounds (up 1.5 pounds)

Body fat:

May 1: 24%
May 31: 24 (unchanged) 

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

I’m writing this one in the morning before I’ve eaten anything at all because it doesn’t matter! My snack-free attempt has been a failure, in the sense that even with very little snacking, it’s made no difference and my weight has gone up. This is a tad frustrating. I am mulling options.

EDIT: If I had weighed myself some hours later, it likely would have been down for the month, or very close to it. How do I know? Let’s just say the number two might be involved.

Anyway, I’ll keep on the no-snacking with renewed vigor in June.

And for today, I had a couple of Reese’s minis again, and more toast. But I also ran. Not to these food items, but on the lake trail.

Warning: Some snacking.

Specifically, I had two Reese’s mini peanut butter cups (about 22 calories) and some Fritos BBQ hoops (about 120 calories).

Worse, I had two hot dogs for dinner and felt kind of gross afterwards. One would have sufficed.

Have I doomed my chances of being down in weight for the month? Very likely! Tune in tomorrow for the bitter regrets.

I was so excited about not snacking that I forgot yesterday’s update!

The only thing reminiscent of a snack I had was a slice of toast with some no-sugar-added strawberry jam on it, which I ate after my run, because I was hungry. The toast doesn’t count, so it was a totally snack-free day, woo.

I was up another half-pound, which means I have to lose 0.9 pounds over the next two days in order to come in below where I started the month. Technically possible, but given my yo-yoing and the trend toward still going slightly up in weight, it seems less likely than it might first appear.

But I will remain hopeful and snack-free for those two days. Or else!

I’m writing this a little early because there has been cheating. Yes, cheating!

Behold:

• Several Reese’s mini peanut butter cups
• A small handful of Fritos BBQ Hoops

I estimate that this cheating is probably about 225 calories (the Reese’s are about 18 calories each for reference). Which is not too bad, really, but it represents a clear break from previous days when I only ate a wee bit of cheese as a snack. I have been bad. I will atone by doing my stretching exercises tonight, which will burn off at least 25 of those calories, and also make my legs feel like wet noodles.

If I was flexible enough, I could whip myself with my wet noodle-like legs. Maybe that can be one of my goals for the year, along with getting down to 150 pounds in weight.

Now that I’ve cheated, I enter Phase 2 of Snack-Free, where I find out if I can gracefully rebound, or if I just bury my face in a giant chocolate cake and eat my way out.

OK, I cheated again. But I can explain. Again!

Today I went for a run at Burnaby Lake:

• I ran 5 km
• The total distance walking to and from the lake was close to 14 km
• Checking my Garmin Forerunner right now, it reports 27,019 steps
• By my estimate, I burned about 10 million calories
• I ate a slice of banana bread again, which I believe was no more than 5 million calories
• Therefore, science says I have actually eaten negative banana bread
• I’ll still be up in weight tomorrow, because I’ve drank something like 50 litres of water post-run

I also dropped in weight this morning, so I’m officially down for the month, if only by the barest margin possible, 0.1 pounds. Still!

Some cheating was involved. Let me explain.

I had four ripe bananas, and the only thing you can do with those is give them to monkeys or make banana bread. And there were no monkeys around.

Now, once the bread had cooled for a few minutes on the counter, I was obligated to have a small slice, to make sure it turned out okay.

It turned out okay.

But no more for me! Other than that, I have been snack-free once again. I know that sounds a bit like, “Apart from the iceberg, Titanic had a great maiden voyage” but let’s just go with it.

I am prepared for the scale to give me bad news tomorrow.

Speaking of bad news, yesterday’s 1.5 pound weight loss was more than half eradicated, as I had predicted. I gained back 0.8 pounds, which puts me up a little for the month. All I want is to be lower at the end of the month than I was at the start. I have five more days. Can I do it?

Maybe!

Plus, it’s now just seven months till Christmas. Start your shopping early to beat the rush!

I have gone through another day without any snacking, save again for a little bit of cheese in the afternoon, which I have officially declared Not a Snack™ when consumed in modest quantities.

I was also down an impressive 1.5 pounds this morning, but of late, all that’s meant is my weight is guaranteed to go up the next day. Will this happen again when I step on the scale tomorrow morning? We’ll find out soon! In the meantime, I shall dream of cookies, but there they shall remain, in the calorie-free realm of my subconscious.

I was snack-free again!

Sort of.

I made a tactical error by having lunch a little too early, which left a vast gulf between lunch and dinner. I had some cheese to tide me over, which as a cheat food is not as bad as a big bag of chocolate or deep-fried bacon rolled in candy bits. So I still consider myself to be on-track.

I will properly pace my meals tomorrow.

Oh, and I was down 0.2 pounds this morning. Admittedly, it’s a large rounding error, but it’s still in the right direction.

Today is the first day I vowed to go 100% absolutely, positively, no-questions-asked, no excuses made, snack-free.

How did I do?

I did it!

As of 9:22 p.m. as I type this, I have not had any snacks today. I have not eaten any of the following since getting up this morning:

• Cookies
• Crackers
• Chocolate
• Donuts
• Potato chips
• Tortilla chips
• Poker chips

I also did an 8.4 km walk, but did eat some bacon. If I’m up tomorrow in weight, I’ll blame the bacon. I assume it is like lead and adds way more to your body that you would judge from its appearance.

One day down, eight to go! I mean, if I do all eight, I’l keep going, but baby steps and all that.