Sunday yet again and time for another weekly weigh-in.
Well, this is it, the last weigh-in post of the calendar year. It's been a really long and involved year for me this year. Graduated from college, had the wedding, had to hunt around for a job there for a little while, the wife had to hunt around for a job for a while longer, and I lost around 27% of my body weight. All told it's been a pretty good year. Sure right here at the end the holidays give me some setbacks in my eating habits, but nothing that can't be ridden out and overcome.
So where do I go from here? What do I have left to do? Well, I've decided, in conjunction with a few friends along the way, on a number of things to do to challenge myself in the next calendar year. After all the running I've been doing, and because it's a cause that is important to me, I've decided that I want to enter both of the Susan G. Komen Races for the Cure that happen in Arizona each year. The Southern Arizona one in April and the Phoenix one in October. Each will be a 5K race, a distance I know I can run in one shot even if I'm unsure of how respectable my time would turn out to be, and most likely a decent time for a great cause. I'm also seriously considering a "fun run" called Warrior Dash going on in late April just because it seems like a good time.
On the less organized front I'm going to make an attempt at completing INSANITY and P90X during 2011, out of a combination of a desire to prove to myself I can and the desire to see what might happen to me if I do. After that, if I still have the time and motivation, I'll probably just try and up my run distance and my utility with bodyweight exercises and some relaxed running. So it looks like it should be a decent year for me whether I live up to all these challenges I've set for myself or not. Because either way, it will be a fun journey to places I've never pushed myself to go before, and really that's what life is about sometimes. Fun times with people you care about.
So, lots of hope for the future but what does the scale have to say about your relationship with the past? 208, up 2 pounds from last week. Not really that bad overall I guess. This was a tough week for me in terms of food, and that amount of fluctuation is actually fairly small, so I'm willing to live with that for now. Onward and downward to something a little more palatable for the long term I think.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 48)
Sunday yet again and time for another weekly weigh-in.
This week was a fairly good week all around I think. Got some Christmas shopping taken care of, made up some salad dressing and packed salads for lunch for the latter half of the week, and finished week 9 of the Couch to 5K plan. All told, that's a pretty good week.
Speaking of said plan, I mentioned that there was some more information to my usage of my ipod while I run than just using it for Runkeeper, and so today I shall share that with you all. Some of you reading this may have thought to yourself in the past that running isn't for you because it's boring. To that I have two things to say, firstly that you should make sure you are running outside in the real world and not on a treadmill if boredom is something you want to counter. Secondly, you might want to consider adding some music into your runs, as it can be a rather interesting thing to help keep you aware of what's going on around you. That said, I will caution you that you should make sure that the music isn't getting in the way of your awareness of your surroundings. You need to make sure you are keeping track of any traffic, your form, the sound of your footfalls, your breathing, and so many other things. But, if you can keep track of all of those things music can be a nice addition to your runs. Especially if it's also functional.
The benefit of the Ct5K plan, is that it uses intervals to help you progressively increase your running time toward a full 5K. The downside, is that you need a way to track either the distances or the times that you are working on for your intervals. The free version of Runkeeper doesn't do that, so I needed another way to track that, enter Podrunner. Podrunner Intervals uses high energy music, timed to the intervals set out in the Ct5K plan, to help keep you moving at a good pace for the times you need to get yourself to where you want to be. They have sets for each week of the plan, and all 3 days in weeks 5 and 6. They also have sets past the 5K program for training your way to 8 or even 10K runs. I very much enjoy these podcasts, and reccomend them highly to anyone looking to try out the Ct5K plan, who wondered how they would manage the timing, or those who didn't as well.
Well, all of the small accomplishments piling up, where does that leave me with the scale? 206.0, down 3.6 pounds since last week. Making steady progress in the direction I want to be going for now. Finally nearing the end of my period of weight loss, and getting to a point where all I have left to do is manage my body fat. See you all next week.
This week was a fairly good week all around I think. Got some Christmas shopping taken care of, made up some salad dressing and packed salads for lunch for the latter half of the week, and finished week 9 of the Couch to 5K plan. All told, that's a pretty good week.
Speaking of said plan, I mentioned that there was some more information to my usage of my ipod while I run than just using it for Runkeeper, and so today I shall share that with you all. Some of you reading this may have thought to yourself in the past that running isn't for you because it's boring. To that I have two things to say, firstly that you should make sure you are running outside in the real world and not on a treadmill if boredom is something you want to counter. Secondly, you might want to consider adding some music into your runs, as it can be a rather interesting thing to help keep you aware of what's going on around you. That said, I will caution you that you should make sure that the music isn't getting in the way of your awareness of your surroundings. You need to make sure you are keeping track of any traffic, your form, the sound of your footfalls, your breathing, and so many other things. But, if you can keep track of all of those things music can be a nice addition to your runs. Especially if it's also functional.
The benefit of the Ct5K plan, is that it uses intervals to help you progressively increase your running time toward a full 5K. The downside, is that you need a way to track either the distances or the times that you are working on for your intervals. The free version of Runkeeper doesn't do that, so I needed another way to track that, enter Podrunner. Podrunner Intervals uses high energy music, timed to the intervals set out in the Ct5K plan, to help keep you moving at a good pace for the times you need to get yourself to where you want to be. They have sets for each week of the plan, and all 3 days in weeks 5 and 6. They also have sets past the 5K program for training your way to 8 or even 10K runs. I very much enjoy these podcasts, and reccomend them highly to anyone looking to try out the Ct5K plan, who wondered how they would manage the timing, or those who didn't as well.
Well, all of the small accomplishments piling up, where does that leave me with the scale? 206.0, down 3.6 pounds since last week. Making steady progress in the direction I want to be going for now. Finally nearing the end of my period of weight loss, and getting to a point where all I have left to do is manage my body fat. See you all next week.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 47)
Sunday yet again and time for another installment of the weekly weigh-in.
Been an interesting week this week. Running has been going rewardingly, starting in on the 9th week of the plan tomorrow, and I feel great for it. Been eating decently, when I've even felt like eating. Hoping to keep up the momentum I've had through the remainder of the year, but with Christmas and New Years both ahead, we'll have to see how things play out.
Today I am going to talk about another of the wonderful tools I use to make my life easier on the path to the new better me. Runkeeper is a free app for the iPhone that I have come to love since I started running. It uses the GPS on the phone to track your location while you run, and then uploads it to the Runkeeper website. They recommend against keeping your phone in your pocket while you run as it might interfere with the GPS readings, but I have found that if it does, it doesn't interfere to a degree that I have taken issue with, so it's not something I worry about.
I just fire up my music, more on that next week, start up the GPS tracking in Runkeeper, lock the phone, and then go on my run. When I get home I unlock the phone, tell it I'm done with my run, enter any notes, and then stop my music. It's as simple as that. It then uploads the information for my route, distance, and pacing to the website where I can access it later. Since my running right now is training for a 5K, I have it track my distance in kilometers, and because I prefer it that way I have it display not only my distance but also my pace. I don't pay any attention to the app while I'm out for my run, so I don't actually know what features it has while it's tracking an activity, but after the fact it gives you access to a map of your route, and a graph of your pace or speed each minute throughout the activity. It also displays overall pace, total distance, and calories burned based on what type of activity you told it you were launching when you started your tracking. It keeps all of the activities you've tracked using the app locally, and they are working on 2-way syncing for upcoming updates so that should allow tracking of activities using the phone for things you entered into the web interface manually.
That brings me to the website. Each activity is uploaded automatically to the website, which tracks your distance over time, the number of activities per month, and various other stats. You can enter things manually instead of through the GPS, or edit a GPS run. I don't yet have a heartrate monitor but if you do you can upload either an average heart rate for the entire activity, or a graph of heart rate over time provided by certain Polar heart rate monitors. The stats guy in me loves this website, because it has so many things for me to look over and play with. The runner in me loves it simply because it tracks what I do, and gives me feedback on how I've improved since the last time I was out. Either way, I enjoy the app and the website very much. Both have paid versions, I have tried neither at this time but I may try them in the future, if so I'll let you know if I find it to be worth the cost.
So, now that I've talked about some more of what I do when I run, let's see what it has done for me on the scale. 209.6, down 2.8 from last week. That leaves me down 73.5 pounds since I started, which is about 25% of my starting body weight. So far it looks like the momentum is working in my favor, just have to keep it that way.
Been an interesting week this week. Running has been going rewardingly, starting in on the 9th week of the plan tomorrow, and I feel great for it. Been eating decently, when I've even felt like eating. Hoping to keep up the momentum I've had through the remainder of the year, but with Christmas and New Years both ahead, we'll have to see how things play out.
Today I am going to talk about another of the wonderful tools I use to make my life easier on the path to the new better me. Runkeeper is a free app for the iPhone that I have come to love since I started running. It uses the GPS on the phone to track your location while you run, and then uploads it to the Runkeeper website. They recommend against keeping your phone in your pocket while you run as it might interfere with the GPS readings, but I have found that if it does, it doesn't interfere to a degree that I have taken issue with, so it's not something I worry about.
I just fire up my music, more on that next week, start up the GPS tracking in Runkeeper, lock the phone, and then go on my run. When I get home I unlock the phone, tell it I'm done with my run, enter any notes, and then stop my music. It's as simple as that. It then uploads the information for my route, distance, and pacing to the website where I can access it later. Since my running right now is training for a 5K, I have it track my distance in kilometers, and because I prefer it that way I have it display not only my distance but also my pace. I don't pay any attention to the app while I'm out for my run, so I don't actually know what features it has while it's tracking an activity, but after the fact it gives you access to a map of your route, and a graph of your pace or speed each minute throughout the activity. It also displays overall pace, total distance, and calories burned based on what type of activity you told it you were launching when you started your tracking. It keeps all of the activities you've tracked using the app locally, and they are working on 2-way syncing for upcoming updates so that should allow tracking of activities using the phone for things you entered into the web interface manually.
That brings me to the website. Each activity is uploaded automatically to the website, which tracks your distance over time, the number of activities per month, and various other stats. You can enter things manually instead of through the GPS, or edit a GPS run. I don't yet have a heartrate monitor but if you do you can upload either an average heart rate for the entire activity, or a graph of heart rate over time provided by certain Polar heart rate monitors. The stats guy in me loves this website, because it has so many things for me to look over and play with. The runner in me loves it simply because it tracks what I do, and gives me feedback on how I've improved since the last time I was out. Either way, I enjoy the app and the website very much. Both have paid versions, I have tried neither at this time but I may try them in the future, if so I'll let you know if I find it to be worth the cost.
So, now that I've talked about some more of what I do when I run, let's see what it has done for me on the scale. 209.6, down 2.8 from last week. That leaves me down 73.5 pounds since I started, which is about 25% of my starting body weight. So far it looks like the momentum is working in my favor, just have to keep it that way.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 46)
Sunday yet again and time for another installment of the weekly weigh-in.
This week has been a rather interesting week for me. Schedule got thrown into some disorder due to Lara's work schedule changing. Didn't get in the way of my food intake at all, but it's caused some adjustments in my sleep schedule and also my running to a degree. All told it was a good week.
Now, I think it's about time I actually spent a little time talking about my running. This week was week 7 out of 9 of the training program I've been doing. It's called the Couch to 5K running plan. It can be found here. It uses intervals to help you increase the duration for which you can run as opposed to walk. I know when I started I couldn't keep up a run for anywhere near as long as I can today. In the 7 weeks I've been using this plan my up intervals have gone from 1 minute to 25 minutes, and in the next two weeks to 30 minutes.
Intervals have always made sense to me as a workout strategy, and I can say with certainty that it works for increasing your capacity at least, though I can't speak at this time for it's calorie burning properties, the running seems to have done a decent job of that. Look in the next few weeks to see updates on where I am planning on going in my fitness efforts, plus at least one more app review and some thoughts on footwear. For now, suffice to say the Ct5K plan is one I recommend to anyone interested in running for fun, exercise, or competition.
So what does the scale have to say about my weight this week? 212.4 down 2.6 from last week. That pushes me over the 70 pound mark since I started this in January. Almost all of that was during a time I was doing nothing different despite eating less than I was when I started. I'm steadily approaching my initial goal for the one year mark, and it looks like I should be able to make it in the 6 weeks I have remaining. I'll be back next week with further updates, and more insight into my practices and future plans. Until next week.
This week has been a rather interesting week for me. Schedule got thrown into some disorder due to Lara's work schedule changing. Didn't get in the way of my food intake at all, but it's caused some adjustments in my sleep schedule and also my running to a degree. All told it was a good week.
Now, I think it's about time I actually spent a little time talking about my running. This week was week 7 out of 9 of the training program I've been doing. It's called the Couch to 5K running plan. It can be found here. It uses intervals to help you increase the duration for which you can run as opposed to walk. I know when I started I couldn't keep up a run for anywhere near as long as I can today. In the 7 weeks I've been using this plan my up intervals have gone from 1 minute to 25 minutes, and in the next two weeks to 30 minutes.
Intervals have always made sense to me as a workout strategy, and I can say with certainty that it works for increasing your capacity at least, though I can't speak at this time for it's calorie burning properties, the running seems to have done a decent job of that. Look in the next few weeks to see updates on where I am planning on going in my fitness efforts, plus at least one more app review and some thoughts on footwear. For now, suffice to say the Ct5K plan is one I recommend to anyone interested in running for fun, exercise, or competition.
So what does the scale have to say about my weight this week? 212.4 down 2.6 from last week. That pushes me over the 70 pound mark since I started this in January. Almost all of that was during a time I was doing nothing different despite eating less than I was when I started. I'm steadily approaching my initial goal for the one year mark, and it looks like I should be able to make it in the 6 weeks I have remaining. I'll be back next week with further updates, and more insight into my practices and future plans. Until next week.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 45)
Sunday yet again and time for my weekly weigh-in.
This week was a tricky one for eating smart. As most of you probably know, and the rest of you are probably among the ranks of the undead, Thanksgiving was this week. Due to both sides of my family being in town, that meant not one but two large and delicious meals in honor of said day. I did my best to limit myself to reasonable portion sizes, and I feel like I did a decent job, though we'll see what the scale has to say about that later on.
Last week I mentioned that I was done talking about the diet part of my plan for a bit and that I'd be filling this space with something else this week, and going forward, and so here it is, let me know what you think in the comments.
Diet is only really one part of the equation when your goal is more about being in better shape than merely losing weight. As such I moved a while back from a plan based almost exclusively on diet to one that includes at least a reasonable amount of exercise as well. Those who have known me a while know that I have never been one for dedicated exercise, or really much at all, in past years. When I was younger, as is probably the case with most of you, I was much more active than I am now. I played sports when I was young, and then again in high school for a little while, and for a while I even did martial arts. I enjoyed all these things when I did them. But for some reason I got it into my head that I didn't like exercise and thus I didn't do it.
Recently I've been bitten by the bug, and my interest has been piqued. As a result I've started running. 3 times a week, 30 minutes or so at a time. I'm using a training plan I'll talk about more in a coming installment. It's been really great for me I think. I tend to do my runs in the morning before breakfast or work, so that it wakes me up and leaves me energized most of the day. I'm much more awake than I was before on less sleep than I was getting. All in all I am really glad I started doing this because I feel better, and combined with the weight I've been working on I look better too. I was never really that big on what I looked like so it's nothing like that, but I'm much more comfortable in my skin now than I used to be, and I like it. I feel great and I hope to continue along the path to feeling even better. I've got some designs on how I'm going to get there as well.
That's about all I've got for now, so time to get to the numbers. What does the scale have to say about my thanksgiving week? 215.0, down 2.8 pounds since last week. So it would seem that I'm doing alright for myself. Let's hope I can keep it up. See you all next week.
This week was a tricky one for eating smart. As most of you probably know, and the rest of you are probably among the ranks of the undead, Thanksgiving was this week. Due to both sides of my family being in town, that meant not one but two large and delicious meals in honor of said day. I did my best to limit myself to reasonable portion sizes, and I feel like I did a decent job, though we'll see what the scale has to say about that later on.
Last week I mentioned that I was done talking about the diet part of my plan for a bit and that I'd be filling this space with something else this week, and going forward, and so here it is, let me know what you think in the comments.
Diet is only really one part of the equation when your goal is more about being in better shape than merely losing weight. As such I moved a while back from a plan based almost exclusively on diet to one that includes at least a reasonable amount of exercise as well. Those who have known me a while know that I have never been one for dedicated exercise, or really much at all, in past years. When I was younger, as is probably the case with most of you, I was much more active than I am now. I played sports when I was young, and then again in high school for a little while, and for a while I even did martial arts. I enjoyed all these things when I did them. But for some reason I got it into my head that I didn't like exercise and thus I didn't do it.
Recently I've been bitten by the bug, and my interest has been piqued. As a result I've started running. 3 times a week, 30 minutes or so at a time. I'm using a training plan I'll talk about more in a coming installment. It's been really great for me I think. I tend to do my runs in the morning before breakfast or work, so that it wakes me up and leaves me energized most of the day. I'm much more awake than I was before on less sleep than I was getting. All in all I am really glad I started doing this because I feel better, and combined with the weight I've been working on I look better too. I was never really that big on what I looked like so it's nothing like that, but I'm much more comfortable in my skin now than I used to be, and I like it. I feel great and I hope to continue along the path to feeling even better. I've got some designs on how I'm going to get there as well.
That's about all I've got for now, so time to get to the numbers. What does the scale have to say about my thanksgiving week? 215.0, down 2.8 pounds since last week. So it would seem that I'm doing alright for myself. Let's hope I can keep it up. See you all next week.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 44)
Sunday morning yet again and time for the weekly weigh-in.
Been a hectic week for me, as this weekend was the opening of the biggest movie so far since the end of summer. That said, I've been pretty good about my food this week. Kept myself to reasonably sized meals, and often only 2 of those a day. Sporadic cravings for salad have been helping keep me feeling nice and healthy about my choices too, mental victories if nothing else.
Now, last week I mentioned that I was using some statistics magic to help me track my weight, and I thought I should give a little credit to where I got the idea for that. A few weeks ago I found a book online called the Hacker's Diet. It was written by a computer programmer who had struggled with weight problems for years and had finally beaten them and decided to share what he had learned in that time. While much of the book was things I already knew, the reading was quick and included a few things I either didn't know or hadn't realized before.
Losing weight is easily, and at least mostly accurately, abstracted by looking at simply the amount of calories in compared to the number of calories out, if you are putting out more calories than you consume you will most likely lose weight at a rate related to that imbalance. That combined with the fact that fat contains about 3500 calories per pound can help you estimate how much of a defecit you need to run to lose a given amount of weight. That won't really hold up perfectly in all cases due to varying body composition and what types of exercise you are doing etc. but it works well enough for now. By tracking your calorie intake and your weight you can estimate your calorie burn more accurately than the values you can look up on a table, but those are a good starting point for figuring out how many calories a day to start with.
Tracking weight is an important subject as well. If you just look at the readings from a scale every day they fluctuate a lot. You can reduce that fluctuation somewhat by taking your measurements at the same time of day, wearing the same amount of clothing, or various other means, but no matter how hard you try it will fluctuate, sometimes wildly. Why is that? Water. The human body is composed of about 75% water by volume. The amount of water you have in your system at any given time causes your weight to fluctuate, and factors like having eaten a salty snack before bed can cause your body to have more of it in the morning than if you skipped the snack and went straight to bed. So some way to account for the randomness becomes a handy tool to have for tracking weight. For that I have come to use an exponentially smoothed moving average. Which is a fancy way of saying that I take each days reading, combined with the previous result, and apply a small amount of math to it to help make sure that random fluctuation doesn't throw off the average wildly, and that things which happened more than a week ago are less relevant to the average than things which happened yesterday. All in all, it smooths out the graph and helps me see what my weight is a little more accurately than I did before. If my weight is above the line that day the average goes up, if it's below, it goes down. Pretty simple.
So, feeling good this week, got the tools and the knowledge to monitor what goes on with my weight and my diet, what do I have to show for it? Well the scale tells me that today I'm 217.8, same as last week. No progress, but nothing gained either so I'll take what I can get. This is probably going to be the last post focusing on the diet and measurement part of my weight loss for a while, though I will still be posting my weekly weight change each week. Stay tuned for what will fill the middle of the posts in the future.
Been a hectic week for me, as this weekend was the opening of the biggest movie so far since the end of summer. That said, I've been pretty good about my food this week. Kept myself to reasonably sized meals, and often only 2 of those a day. Sporadic cravings for salad have been helping keep me feeling nice and healthy about my choices too, mental victories if nothing else.
Now, last week I mentioned that I was using some statistics magic to help me track my weight, and I thought I should give a little credit to where I got the idea for that. A few weeks ago I found a book online called the Hacker's Diet. It was written by a computer programmer who had struggled with weight problems for years and had finally beaten them and decided to share what he had learned in that time. While much of the book was things I already knew, the reading was quick and included a few things I either didn't know or hadn't realized before.
Losing weight is easily, and at least mostly accurately, abstracted by looking at simply the amount of calories in compared to the number of calories out, if you are putting out more calories than you consume you will most likely lose weight at a rate related to that imbalance. That combined with the fact that fat contains about 3500 calories per pound can help you estimate how much of a defecit you need to run to lose a given amount of weight. That won't really hold up perfectly in all cases due to varying body composition and what types of exercise you are doing etc. but it works well enough for now. By tracking your calorie intake and your weight you can estimate your calorie burn more accurately than the values you can look up on a table, but those are a good starting point for figuring out how many calories a day to start with.
Tracking weight is an important subject as well. If you just look at the readings from a scale every day they fluctuate a lot. You can reduce that fluctuation somewhat by taking your measurements at the same time of day, wearing the same amount of clothing, or various other means, but no matter how hard you try it will fluctuate, sometimes wildly. Why is that? Water. The human body is composed of about 75% water by volume. The amount of water you have in your system at any given time causes your weight to fluctuate, and factors like having eaten a salty snack before bed can cause your body to have more of it in the morning than if you skipped the snack and went straight to bed. So some way to account for the randomness becomes a handy tool to have for tracking weight. For that I have come to use an exponentially smoothed moving average. Which is a fancy way of saying that I take each days reading, combined with the previous result, and apply a small amount of math to it to help make sure that random fluctuation doesn't throw off the average wildly, and that things which happened more than a week ago are less relevant to the average than things which happened yesterday. All in all, it smooths out the graph and helps me see what my weight is a little more accurately than I did before. If my weight is above the line that day the average goes up, if it's below, it goes down. Pretty simple.
So, feeling good this week, got the tools and the knowledge to monitor what goes on with my weight and my diet, what do I have to show for it? Well the scale tells me that today I'm 217.8, same as last week. No progress, but nothing gained either so I'll take what I can get. This is probably going to be the last post focusing on the diet and measurement part of my weight loss for a while, though I will still be posting my weekly weight change each week. Stay tuned for what will fill the middle of the posts in the future.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 43)
Sunday morning again and time for my weekly weigh-in.
This weekend I'm having a change of scenery and visiting some good friends down in Tucson. With good friends come good times, and with that food that while good may not be good for me. But, I'm not worried. I've learned a lot about watching what I eat of late that I feel confident will keep me from any serious pitfalls. This week saw a bit of a plateau in my daily weight that was a tad worrisome to me. Now, I knew there wasn't a real reason to be worried, I've moved past focusing on the daily weight and toward a focus on the more long-term trends in my weight . To help smooth out the randomness that gets introduced by the human bodies fluctuating water levels I use a little bit of stats magic and daily weigh-ins to help give me a better picture of my weight over time. That has been steadily downward, though at varying speeds.
So, with that knowledge giving me the surety that this was if anything a temporary setback I decided that I'd try and see what I could do about it anyway, as 3 days of the same weight felt like good enough reason to try something. So, by accident more than anything, Wednesday and Thursday both ended up including a fairly harsh calorie restriction by the name of intermittent fasting. In neither case did I really feel much hungrier than on a normal day so nothing to worry about there, but I feel like it's helped me power through that plateau from early in the week and might help me see some good results. If so it's likely that the intermittent fast may become a part of my regular regimen for dealing with such annoying weight stability, and if not I may still do it if only because it actually felt rather nice at the time.
So, did my trickery yield results or did my trip to Tucson have more of an impact on my weight than I thought? That is to the scale to decide. 217.8, up 0.4 since last week. So it looks as though my efforts balanced out my weekend at least. Have to see what I can do to power through this flat spot next week.
This weekend I'm having a change of scenery and visiting some good friends down in Tucson. With good friends come good times, and with that food that while good may not be good for me. But, I'm not worried. I've learned a lot about watching what I eat of late that I feel confident will keep me from any serious pitfalls. This week saw a bit of a plateau in my daily weight that was a tad worrisome to me. Now, I knew there wasn't a real reason to be worried, I've moved past focusing on the daily weight and toward a focus on the more long-term trends in my weight . To help smooth out the randomness that gets introduced by the human bodies fluctuating water levels I use a little bit of stats magic and daily weigh-ins to help give me a better picture of my weight over time. That has been steadily downward, though at varying speeds.
So, with that knowledge giving me the surety that this was if anything a temporary setback I decided that I'd try and see what I could do about it anyway, as 3 days of the same weight felt like good enough reason to try something. So, by accident more than anything, Wednesday and Thursday both ended up including a fairly harsh calorie restriction by the name of intermittent fasting. In neither case did I really feel much hungrier than on a normal day so nothing to worry about there, but I feel like it's helped me power through that plateau from early in the week and might help me see some good results. If so it's likely that the intermittent fast may become a part of my regular regimen for dealing with such annoying weight stability, and if not I may still do it if only because it actually felt rather nice at the time.
So, did my trickery yield results or did my trip to Tucson have more of an impact on my weight than I thought? That is to the scale to decide. 217.8, up 0.4 since last week. So it looks as though my efforts balanced out my weekend at least. Have to see what I can do to power through this flat spot next week.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 42)
Sunday yet again and time for my weekly weigh-in.
Been feeling the urge for salad the past couple days, an urge I make a point of sating whenever it comes up for two reasons, if my I'm getting a craving for something I generally consider there to be only a couple reasons, my body is trying to tell me I need that, or that it thinks it needs it. Since I fail to see myself as a salad addict, I'm going with a legitimate need. Secondly, I actually like salad.
I've been doing falling down a bit on my fruits and veggies of late, which probably accounts somewhat for the salad craving, but I've been doing better with my calories most of the time. Now, last week I hinted that there was a reason I put all the calorie information for various dishes that went into my pocket index into excel, and this week I'd like to share that reason. An iPhone app called Meal Diary. Meal Diary has been deprecated in favor of another app, but I prefer Meal Diary for a few reasons I'll detail below.
The reason I put together the excel chart is because using that I was able to have the system calculate an average and standard deviation, which I used as the Small, Medium, and Large sizes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack on Meal Diary. I like the way it handles calorie entry for meals because I can either enter an exact number if I know it, or just pick if it's Small, Medium, or Large if I don't know the exact number. Once it's entered in the app takes care of charting the data, and provides charts for the past couple weeks for calories in. It also can track calories burned from exercise and etc. so that helps keep my calorie counts that much more accurate.
It also allows you to enter in weight measurements which it tracks and graphs much like the calorie measurements. I like Meal Diary better than it's replacement because of the calorie entry method, it is much simpler than a slider which I cannot easily get to the right number, or having to look up each individual food item to add to my meal. The thing I really like about Meal Diary is how simple it is to track my calorie intake on the go. I can quickly and easily enter in a decent approximation of what I'm eating, and that works well enough for my needs right now. Tracking my calories is my current plan for helping manage my weight, if I can balance my calories in with my calories out, and manage the in appropriately, it should help with my weight. I'm aware that it's slightly less simple than just calories in vs calories out, but the subtleties there are something I'll save for a later date.
So let's look at the scale for this week. 217.4, down 3.8 pounds since last week, 65 since I started. Only about 10 pounds away from my next big milestone. I've come a long way, and my life has been made all the better for it. Even still, I've got a ways to go before I'm at a place I'm really happy with, so I'll see you all next week with an update.
Been feeling the urge for salad the past couple days, an urge I make a point of sating whenever it comes up for two reasons, if my I'm getting a craving for something I generally consider there to be only a couple reasons, my body is trying to tell me I need that, or that it thinks it needs it. Since I fail to see myself as a salad addict, I'm going with a legitimate need. Secondly, I actually like salad.
I've been doing falling down a bit on my fruits and veggies of late, which probably accounts somewhat for the salad craving, but I've been doing better with my calories most of the time. Now, last week I hinted that there was a reason I put all the calorie information for various dishes that went into my pocket index into excel, and this week I'd like to share that reason. An iPhone app called Meal Diary. Meal Diary has been deprecated in favor of another app, but I prefer Meal Diary for a few reasons I'll detail below.
The reason I put together the excel chart is because using that I was able to have the system calculate an average and standard deviation, which I used as the Small, Medium, and Large sizes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack on Meal Diary. I like the way it handles calorie entry for meals because I can either enter an exact number if I know it, or just pick if it's Small, Medium, or Large if I don't know the exact number. Once it's entered in the app takes care of charting the data, and provides charts for the past couple weeks for calories in. It also can track calories burned from exercise and etc. so that helps keep my calorie counts that much more accurate.
It also allows you to enter in weight measurements which it tracks and graphs much like the calorie measurements. I like Meal Diary better than it's replacement because of the calorie entry method, it is much simpler than a slider which I cannot easily get to the right number, or having to look up each individual food item to add to my meal. The thing I really like about Meal Diary is how simple it is to track my calorie intake on the go. I can quickly and easily enter in a decent approximation of what I'm eating, and that works well enough for my needs right now. Tracking my calories is my current plan for helping manage my weight, if I can balance my calories in with my calories out, and manage the in appropriately, it should help with my weight. I'm aware that it's slightly less simple than just calories in vs calories out, but the subtleties there are something I'll save for a later date.
So let's look at the scale for this week. 217.4, down 3.8 pounds since last week, 65 since I started. Only about 10 pounds away from my next big milestone. I've come a long way, and my life has been made all the better for it. Even still, I've got a ways to go before I'm at a place I'm really happy with, so I'll see you all next week with an update.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A Life without Flash
A rare midweek post from me today.
It's struck me recently, in part due to a post from Daring Fireball in turn from Ars Technica, that Flash is a huge resource hog. I've known this for quite some time, hell I've got not one but 2 programs running on my system at all times whose only purpose is to keep Flash from running away with my system resources. But today I finally asked myself a question. Why? Why do I still have flash installed if I go to the trouble of blocking it from loading on the majority of all webpages? Why do I want to have something that requires to programs simply to keep it from eating my system? Why would I have something that decreases battery time by as much as a third when left unchecked, and that's just browsing normal websites, imagine what that would be like if you were on flash intensive sites. Why not simplify everything and just get rid of it? So I did. I uninstalled Flash Player, and will be browsing the web without it for the foreseeable future. At the very least for the next week I will not be installing Flash, hopefully ever again. I'll try and remember to post updates on this but I'm not going to promise anything.
It's struck me recently, in part due to a post from Daring Fireball in turn from Ars Technica, that Flash is a huge resource hog. I've known this for quite some time, hell I've got not one but 2 programs running on my system at all times whose only purpose is to keep Flash from running away with my system resources. But today I finally asked myself a question. Why? Why do I still have flash installed if I go to the trouble of blocking it from loading on the majority of all webpages? Why do I want to have something that requires to programs simply to keep it from eating my system? Why would I have something that decreases battery time by as much as a third when left unchecked, and that's just browsing normal websites, imagine what that would be like if you were on flash intensive sites. Why not simplify everything and just get rid of it? So I did. I uninstalled Flash Player, and will be browsing the web without it for the foreseeable future. At the very least for the next week I will not be installing Flash, hopefully ever again. I'll try and remember to post updates on this but I'm not going to promise anything.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 41)
Sunday morning yet again, and time for my weekly weigh-in.
This week I feel has been one of my better weeks for my weight. I've been eating a bit less fruit, but there are lots of worse things one can do than not eat quite enough fruit. Life is full of stressful events, luckily I've been learning of late much better how to just let the stress flow around me without having much lasting impact. The reason I mention that here is that I know for many, myself included, stress can be a factor in over eating. Another over eating trigger I've been less good about controlling recently is big changes in my schedule. A party comes up or etc. and you end up eating more than you should, or something else out of the ordinary happens and throws off your calorie intake. It's a hard thing to work with, but I'm hopeful that I can manage it, and if not 1 bad meal doesn't remove all the benefit from the other 20 good meals that week, just lessens them somewhat.
Now, the first in what will turn out to be a string of segments in this post about the things I've been doing to help manage my weight. For the first installment, I'm going to talk about what I've been doing the longest for this, diet. I don't really like to call what I do a diet, because the word seems to imply to me something that ends rather than being the lifestyle change that eating right needs to be. When asked what diet I'm on though my usual answer is "The Don't Be a Fatass Diet." It works something like this, don't eat like a fatass and you won't be a fatass. Now, for reference, before I started on my weightloss trend my average meals were running close to 1500 calories in many cases. That's not a good thing at all. So I decided to sit down and figure out what I should be eating at the places I went to the most.
Most restaurants have their nutrition information posted on their websites, and those that don't can usually be found through sites like dailyplate.com. I went through and set myself a per meal cap for lunch and dinner, at the time the two meals I actually ate, and codified what I would eat at each place that was in that calorie range. I put all that together into an excel sheet that calculated an average and a standard deviation for said figures, for reasons I'll explain in a future update, and then printed it off on a sheet I carry around in my wallet. That way when I go out to eat to a place on my list, I can look up what I should order and know that I'm being smarter about my calories than I was before.
This has been a large part of the secret to my success I feel. Just eating reasonable portion sizes cut my calorie intake per day massively and has helped me burn off a lot of fat. In the past week or so I've decided to up the ante and start trying to count calories pretty extensively in an effort to help further manage my intake and thus my weight, we'll see how that works out as the weeks go by.
Well, what does the scale have to say? 221.2, up .6 from last week. Up a little this time around, but not much, especially considering how much I overate on a couple occasions this week. I'm going to be trying to do better next week, but even still, I'm in much better shape than I was this time last year, or even a few months ago, and that's something I'm proud of. I'll see you all next week, probably with the explanation for why I had excel doing math on my food list.
This week I feel has been one of my better weeks for my weight. I've been eating a bit less fruit, but there are lots of worse things one can do than not eat quite enough fruit. Life is full of stressful events, luckily I've been learning of late much better how to just let the stress flow around me without having much lasting impact. The reason I mention that here is that I know for many, myself included, stress can be a factor in over eating. Another over eating trigger I've been less good about controlling recently is big changes in my schedule. A party comes up or etc. and you end up eating more than you should, or something else out of the ordinary happens and throws off your calorie intake. It's a hard thing to work with, but I'm hopeful that I can manage it, and if not 1 bad meal doesn't remove all the benefit from the other 20 good meals that week, just lessens them somewhat.
Now, the first in what will turn out to be a string of segments in this post about the things I've been doing to help manage my weight. For the first installment, I'm going to talk about what I've been doing the longest for this, diet. I don't really like to call what I do a diet, because the word seems to imply to me something that ends rather than being the lifestyle change that eating right needs to be. When asked what diet I'm on though my usual answer is "The Don't Be a Fatass Diet." It works something like this, don't eat like a fatass and you won't be a fatass. Now, for reference, before I started on my weightloss trend my average meals were running close to 1500 calories in many cases. That's not a good thing at all. So I decided to sit down and figure out what I should be eating at the places I went to the most.
Most restaurants have their nutrition information posted on their websites, and those that don't can usually be found through sites like dailyplate.com. I went through and set myself a per meal cap for lunch and dinner, at the time the two meals I actually ate, and codified what I would eat at each place that was in that calorie range. I put all that together into an excel sheet that calculated an average and a standard deviation for said figures, for reasons I'll explain in a future update, and then printed it off on a sheet I carry around in my wallet. That way when I go out to eat to a place on my list, I can look up what I should order and know that I'm being smarter about my calories than I was before.
This has been a large part of the secret to my success I feel. Just eating reasonable portion sizes cut my calorie intake per day massively and has helped me burn off a lot of fat. In the past week or so I've decided to up the ante and start trying to count calories pretty extensively in an effort to help further manage my intake and thus my weight, we'll see how that works out as the weeks go by.
Well, what does the scale have to say? 221.2, up .6 from last week. Up a little this time around, but not much, especially considering how much I overate on a couple occasions this week. I'm going to be trying to do better next week, but even still, I'm in much better shape than I was this time last year, or even a few months ago, and that's something I'm proud of. I'll see you all next week, probably with the explanation for why I had excel doing math on my food list.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 40)
Sunday yet again and time for another installment of my weekly weigh-in.
This week makes 40 since I started trying to manage my weight through progressive lifestyle change. That's a somewhat complicated statement so let me break it down a little bit. Firstly, I say manage my weight rather than lose weight, because at this time I feel that is a more accurate representation of what I've done. Though it started out as me trying to lose weight, that was honestly short-sighted of me. Losing weight is only a good goal if you are overweight, and if you are doing it right that will stop being true eventually. While that's great, it means you have suddenly run out of goal to achieve. Rebounding after a "diet" or the like is a big problem for many and as such I have made a conscious decision to try and avoid that and move forward now that I'm approaching my original target weight. As such, I'm out to manage my weight not lose it, to get to a weight I'm comfortable with and then work on not just staying there, but cutting fat and getting into better shape.
Then there is that second part, progressive lifestyle change. That's something I've been big on since I started this, I am not on a diet. Diets are something that generally people do until they are done with them and then stop. After that, where are you? You're back to where you started, having not really learned much about eating better than you were before you started and this is a big reason people tend to regain weight when they have reached their goal. I'm not on a diet, I'm actively changing my lifestyle to suit my goals for my life. Eating better is a lifelong change that I am making. And it doesn't happen all at once. It's been a process of learning what I should and shouldn't be eating, managing my portion size, what brings results that last and what brings only short-term benefit. It's a process that I'm not yet finished with, but am eager to see where it takes me.
There have been a lot of changes going on this past week that I'll be discussing in future installments of this blog, but this week I felt moved to explain what I did above instead.
So what does the scale have to say about my convictions and my recent changes? 220.6 pounds, down 3.2 from last week. Leaves me down 62.5 since I started in January, which is a great place to be right now.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 39)
Tis Sunday yet again and time for another installment of the weekly weigh-in.
Feeling really good right now. Ate a lot of fruit this week and I think that helped. I've really been feeling great these past few weeks, lots of energy and really just feeling better all around than I have been. Made it out for a run this week, only the one sadly but it felt good and I am hoping to get in two or three this week. Once I'm actually keeping to it a little more I'll talk a bit about what I'm doing in terms of my workouts, but for now I'm not steady enough with anything to consider it a plan.
Got a new phone this week, shiny iPhone 4, and have a couple apps on it for tracking calories. I'm going to give them a try and see if they help keep me on track or not.
So, what does the scale have to say? 223.8 this week. Down 3.8 from last week. That puts me down nearly 60 pounds since I started in January. Progress is steady and rewarding, here's hoping I can keep it up.
Feeling really good right now. Ate a lot of fruit this week and I think that helped. I've really been feeling great these past few weeks, lots of energy and really just feeling better all around than I have been. Made it out for a run this week, only the one sadly but it felt good and I am hoping to get in two or three this week. Once I'm actually keeping to it a little more I'll talk a bit about what I'm doing in terms of my workouts, but for now I'm not steady enough with anything to consider it a plan.
Got a new phone this week, shiny iPhone 4, and have a couple apps on it for tracking calories. I'm going to give them a try and see if they help keep me on track or not.
So, what does the scale have to say? 223.8 this week. Down 3.8 from last week. That puts me down nearly 60 pounds since I started in January. Progress is steady and rewarding, here's hoping I can keep it up.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 38)
It's Sunday again and time for my weekly weigh-in.
Going to be a short post this week as I have work coming up in a little while.
In terms of eating I think I've been doing really well recently, making more food at home, eating a whole lot more fruit. I'm feeling really great both physically and mentally. This week will be the first full week of Lara's job waking me up early in the morning. Some would say that's an annoying thing and a problem, I see it as an opportunity to be up early to go for a good run, so tomorrow I'm going out for a run. I'll be sure to let you all know how that goes.
So, what does the scale have to say about me this week? 227.6, same as last week. Down 55.5 pounds so far since January, and only about 20 pounds from my current goal. I'm hoping the running can help me keep going on the push toward that goal, but only time will tell.
Going to be a short post this week as I have work coming up in a little while.
In terms of eating I think I've been doing really well recently, making more food at home, eating a whole lot more fruit. I'm feeling really great both physically and mentally. This week will be the first full week of Lara's job waking me up early in the morning. Some would say that's an annoying thing and a problem, I see it as an opportunity to be up early to go for a good run, so tomorrow I'm going out for a run. I'll be sure to let you all know how that goes.
So, what does the scale have to say about me this week? 227.6, same as last week. Down 55.5 pounds so far since January, and only about 20 pounds from my current goal. I'm hoping the running can help me keep going on the push toward that goal, but only time will tell.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 37)
It's Sunday again and time for the weekly weigh-in.
Feeling really good this week. Work has settled down into a slightly more predictable schedule, Lara looks like she's found not one but two jobs, and it's almost starting to cool off in Phoenix. My fruit intake has been on the rise, and I made food for dinner on Monday and Thursday. All in all, things are looking up.
So, where do I still need to go? I'd like to be cooking more and so far am making good progress on that but could always do better. For reasons both of finance and of health I'm going to start trying to take my lunches with me to work more, though we'll see how well that works out in practice. And hopefully with the weather becoming more cooperative some running will be able to take place in the next few weeks as well.
So, what does the scale have to say about my recent progress? 227.6, down 3 pounds from last week. Keeping up a much better pace than I expected I'd be able to at this point. Hoping it holds but only time will tell. For now, I'm well on my way to the best shape of my life and doing what I can to keep myself there, and that's not bad.
Feeling really good this week. Work has settled down into a slightly more predictable schedule, Lara looks like she's found not one but two jobs, and it's almost starting to cool off in Phoenix. My fruit intake has been on the rise, and I made food for dinner on Monday and Thursday. All in all, things are looking up.
So, where do I still need to go? I'd like to be cooking more and so far am making good progress on that but could always do better. For reasons both of finance and of health I'm going to start trying to take my lunches with me to work more, though we'll see how well that works out in practice. And hopefully with the weather becoming more cooperative some running will be able to take place in the next few weeks as well.
So, what does the scale have to say about my recent progress? 227.6, down 3 pounds from last week. Keeping up a much better pace than I expected I'd be able to at this point. Hoping it holds but only time will tell. For now, I'm well on my way to the best shape of my life and doing what I can to keep myself there, and that's not bad.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 36)
Sunday again and time for another installment of the weekly weigh-in.
I feel like I did pretty well with the fruits and veggies this week, in addition to my regular eating for work I went out of my way a bit and got a salad from Paradise Cafe once or twice this week. One good thing I can say about work, it keeps me from eating too much for most of my meals as I don't have the time to eat more than a fairly healthy portion of anything.
But what am I doing other than just eating more fruits and veggies and managing my portions? Working of course. At first I didn't really think that what I'm doing for work was going to be doing that much to help my weight loss, but recently I've been reevaluating that assessment.
Since sometime early this summer I've been carrying a cheap pedometer with me on a daily basis. It's not calibrated properly as I've never found the time and initiative to line up together, and it's not very accurate either, but it at least gives me a rough estimate of how my days compare to one another. My average day at work is averaging about 4-5 times what my days at work this summer were running. Lots of moving around and being on my feet means more calorie burn, and it's apparently a lot more than I realized.
That said, I can always do more. In addition to the running I've still not managed to start doing due to a combination of weather and scheduling, I'm looking around for a place to study martial arts again. I did some martial arts training when I was younger and liked it a lot, and I'd like to get back into it for the health and fitness benefits and a number of other reasons besides. So that's where I am with that for now, looking around and trying to see what I can find and afford.
Well, now the big ending, what does the scale have to say this week? 230.6, down 3.8 pounds from last week. This puts my overall weight loss since I started tracking my weight regularly at 52.5 pounds, around the weight of a 7 year old child. Keeping a good pace so far, hoping I can keep it up.
I feel like I did pretty well with the fruits and veggies this week, in addition to my regular eating for work I went out of my way a bit and got a salad from Paradise Cafe once or twice this week. One good thing I can say about work, it keeps me from eating too much for most of my meals as I don't have the time to eat more than a fairly healthy portion of anything.
But what am I doing other than just eating more fruits and veggies and managing my portions? Working of course. At first I didn't really think that what I'm doing for work was going to be doing that much to help my weight loss, but recently I've been reevaluating that assessment.
Since sometime early this summer I've been carrying a cheap pedometer with me on a daily basis. It's not calibrated properly as I've never found the time and initiative to line up together, and it's not very accurate either, but it at least gives me a rough estimate of how my days compare to one another. My average day at work is averaging about 4-5 times what my days at work this summer were running. Lots of moving around and being on my feet means more calorie burn, and it's apparently a lot more than I realized.
That said, I can always do more. In addition to the running I've still not managed to start doing due to a combination of weather and scheduling, I'm looking around for a place to study martial arts again. I did some martial arts training when I was younger and liked it a lot, and I'd like to get back into it for the health and fitness benefits and a number of other reasons besides. So that's where I am with that for now, looking around and trying to see what I can find and afford.
Well, now the big ending, what does the scale have to say this week? 230.6, down 3.8 pounds from last week. This puts my overall weight loss since I started tracking my weight regularly at 52.5 pounds, around the weight of a 7 year old child. Keeping a good pace so far, hoping I can keep it up.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 35)
It's Sunday yet again, and time for another weigh-in.
This week was a lot better in terms of over eating than last week. I was a lot better about keeping on top of my portions, which was helped by work since it's hard to overeat when you only have enough time to go to Subway and back. The Subway also helped me with my veggie intake. Bell peppers, onions, and black olives may not be much variety, or really enough in a single sandwich to do much, but it feels better having at least some token amount of veggies on a regular basis.
The other big thing that changed this week is the amount and frequency with which I got fruit. At least every day or two I got at some fresh fruit, be it an apple, a plum, or a peach. Much like the veggies, it may not have been enough to really be useful in realistic terms, but at the least it was enough that I feel better about how much fruit I've been getting in my diet. My diet in general has been looking up of late, and that's something I very much am glad for.
I'm looking forwards very much to when it starts being cool enough around Phoenix for me to go out and get to running. I'm hoping to work on getting some more physical activity into my life outside of just work once the weather works more in my favor. I'm hoping to get to a point where I can successfully run 3 miles. Plotting a route is going to be the hard part, but I'll get that done by the time the weather cools. The other thing I've been looking into is the possibility of getting back into doing some martial arts. I feel like they were a good thing for me both physically and mentally, and something I'd like to get back to doing. So that's where I've been recently in terms of my diet and my exercise.
So now we're down to the numbers again. I feel like I did alright this week, so let's see what the scale says: 234.4 this week, down 5.4 pounds from last week. Big progress this week, here's hoping I can carry that momentum into next week. Until next time readers, eat well and work your way to the you you want to be.
This week was a lot better in terms of over eating than last week. I was a lot better about keeping on top of my portions, which was helped by work since it's hard to overeat when you only have enough time to go to Subway and back. The Subway also helped me with my veggie intake. Bell peppers, onions, and black olives may not be much variety, or really enough in a single sandwich to do much, but it feels better having at least some token amount of veggies on a regular basis.
The other big thing that changed this week is the amount and frequency with which I got fruit. At least every day or two I got at some fresh fruit, be it an apple, a plum, or a peach. Much like the veggies, it may not have been enough to really be useful in realistic terms, but at the least it was enough that I feel better about how much fruit I've been getting in my diet. My diet in general has been looking up of late, and that's something I very much am glad for.
I'm looking forwards very much to when it starts being cool enough around Phoenix for me to go out and get to running. I'm hoping to work on getting some more physical activity into my life outside of just work once the weather works more in my favor. I'm hoping to get to a point where I can successfully run 3 miles. Plotting a route is going to be the hard part, but I'll get that done by the time the weather cools. The other thing I've been looking into is the possibility of getting back into doing some martial arts. I feel like they were a good thing for me both physically and mentally, and something I'd like to get back to doing. So that's where I've been recently in terms of my diet and my exercise.
So now we're down to the numbers again. I feel like I did alright this week, so let's see what the scale says: 234.4 this week, down 5.4 pounds from last week. Big progress this week, here's hoping I can carry that momentum into next week. Until next time readers, eat well and work your way to the you you want to be.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 34)
Sunday morning again and time for my weigh-in.
Well, this week wasn't too bad in terms of how busy I was. That's a bit surprising, but sometimes it happens. Finally got all the wedding pictures uploaded to Facebook, so that's something. Sadly, I didn't get to as many fruits and veggies this week as I had hoped, though I did get some veggies on my lunches I suppose. Will have to try harder on that next week.
What I wasn't quite so good about this week was eating within my calorie goals. My track record with eating too much has historically been abysmal. Since January when I started actively trying to manage my weight I've been working very hard to force myself to watch my portion sizes. Sometimes I do much better than others with it. This week I've not done quite so well, and I recognize that. I even knew I was doing it when it happened and should have done better policing myself but I just didn't. I guess I just figured "it won't hurt as long as I only do it once or twice", but we'll have to see how that turns out. Either way, I know I shouldn't be doing that and I'm going to need to work that much harder in the future to make sure I don't do that again.
So now, let's see what the scale has to say about my portion control issues. 239.8 this week. Up a pound from last week. So it looks like the scale is in agreement that my portion control was probably not in my favor this week. Just have to stick to it and do better next week. So until then, eat smart and put in the work it takes to get what you need.
Well, this week wasn't too bad in terms of how busy I was. That's a bit surprising, but sometimes it happens. Finally got all the wedding pictures uploaded to Facebook, so that's something. Sadly, I didn't get to as many fruits and veggies this week as I had hoped, though I did get some veggies on my lunches I suppose. Will have to try harder on that next week.
What I wasn't quite so good about this week was eating within my calorie goals. My track record with eating too much has historically been abysmal. Since January when I started actively trying to manage my weight I've been working very hard to force myself to watch my portion sizes. Sometimes I do much better than others with it. This week I've not done quite so well, and I recognize that. I even knew I was doing it when it happened and should have done better policing myself but I just didn't. I guess I just figured "it won't hurt as long as I only do it once or twice", but we'll have to see how that turns out. Either way, I know I shouldn't be doing that and I'm going to need to work that much harder in the future to make sure I don't do that again.
So now, let's see what the scale has to say about my portion control issues. 239.8 this week. Up a pound from last week. So it looks like the scale is in agreement that my portion control was probably not in my favor this week. Just have to stick to it and do better next week. So until then, eat smart and put in the work it takes to get what you need.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 33)
Well, it's Sunday yet again and that makes it time for my weekly weigh-in.
This week I feel like I did alright. At least partly that was due to the fact that most of my days went about the same. Get up, have a granola bar, go to work, have a 6" sandwich at Subway (either oven roasted chicken breast or buffalo chicken), finish my shift, come home and then have a small, simple, and delicious dinner. Sometimes the shift is in the evening so the dinner at the end becomes lunch in the middle, but for the most part, that's been how things have gone. Fairly consistent and low calorie intake, fairly consistent and relatively high compared to what I had been doing calorie output.
For all that, I feel good. I've got lots of energy, despite the fact that I've had almost no soda or other caffeine that wasn't part of a mixed drink in almost literally months. I'm sleeping well, for once in my life, and that's helping me to be less tired. I want to try and force myself to eat more fruits and veggies I think. My diet has long been lacking that and since the move I've been doing rather well with that. Still not where I'd like to be but making progress. I also want to be cooking more, both for my diet and because I just love cooking. With my work schedule the way it is that may be difficult for now, but I'm hopeful that things will settle down a bit and I can get to the cooking I'd love to be doing.
Well, that's enough about my life for now, and plenty of musing about what to do in the future. So, what does the scale have to say today? 238.8 which is down 1.2 pounds from last week. Continuing in a good direction. So far I'm down 44.3 pounds, which is the approximate weight of a five and a half year old child. That's a good place to be I feel. So for now, I'm just gonna mostly keep what I've been doing, try and work on the fruits, veggies, and cooking, and watch where it takes me. So far, it's been going in the right direction.
This week I feel like I did alright. At least partly that was due to the fact that most of my days went about the same. Get up, have a granola bar, go to work, have a 6" sandwich at Subway (either oven roasted chicken breast or buffalo chicken), finish my shift, come home and then have a small, simple, and delicious dinner. Sometimes the shift is in the evening so the dinner at the end becomes lunch in the middle, but for the most part, that's been how things have gone. Fairly consistent and low calorie intake, fairly consistent and relatively high compared to what I had been doing calorie output.
For all that, I feel good. I've got lots of energy, despite the fact that I've had almost no soda or other caffeine that wasn't part of a mixed drink in almost literally months. I'm sleeping well, for once in my life, and that's helping me to be less tired. I want to try and force myself to eat more fruits and veggies I think. My diet has long been lacking that and since the move I've been doing rather well with that. Still not where I'd like to be but making progress. I also want to be cooking more, both for my diet and because I just love cooking. With my work schedule the way it is that may be difficult for now, but I'm hopeful that things will settle down a bit and I can get to the cooking I'd love to be doing.
Well, that's enough about my life for now, and plenty of musing about what to do in the future. So, what does the scale have to say today? 238.8 which is down 1.2 pounds from last week. Continuing in a good direction. So far I'm down 44.3 pounds, which is the approximate weight of a five and a half year old child. That's a good place to be I feel. So for now, I'm just gonna mostly keep what I've been doing, try and work on the fruits, veggies, and cooking, and watch where it takes me. So far, it's been going in the right direction.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 32)
It's Sunday yet again and time for my weekly weigh-in.
Late this week due to work all morning. Hectic week this week with the new job starting and all. Things seem to be settling down a bit in that regard. Lots of time spent on my feet working, with a lot of running around as a result, to help me burn off calories. The only thing I've found in the food court so far that I'm willing to eat is Subway, so that should help with my weight as well.
With work changing how my schedule is going to fall out for the foreseeable future, I'm going to just have to put up with it and do the best I can. Thankfully I have the self-control, and lack of desire, built up to keep me from taking advantage of the free soda I'm allowed when on break so that shouldn't be a problem for me. My only real concern when it comes to my calorie intake is that I may get into a cycle of healthy breakfast and lunch and then gorging on dinner when I have opening shifts like I have been having. That's just something I'm going to have to keep on top of, hopefully by putting together meals in advance for dinner so that I can eat something that's tasty, good for me, and quick. That's something to work on for the future though I suppose. For now I'm just going to have to do the best I can with what I've got and hopefully squeeze some fresh fruit into my diet when I have the chance.
Now, time for the numbers. This week the scale tells me I'm 240 even. That's down 1.2 pounds from last week. Seems as though what I'm doing is continuing to work, if slowly. Slow isn't a problem though. I'd much rather slow progress that I can keep up than sporadicly high progress with nothing in between. Just going to keep at it and one of these days I'll find myself at my goal and having to figure out how to maintain my weight instead of keep dropping it. That's a problem I look forward too.
Late this week due to work all morning. Hectic week this week with the new job starting and all. Things seem to be settling down a bit in that regard. Lots of time spent on my feet working, with a lot of running around as a result, to help me burn off calories. The only thing I've found in the food court so far that I'm willing to eat is Subway, so that should help with my weight as well.
With work changing how my schedule is going to fall out for the foreseeable future, I'm going to just have to put up with it and do the best I can. Thankfully I have the self-control, and lack of desire, built up to keep me from taking advantage of the free soda I'm allowed when on break so that shouldn't be a problem for me. My only real concern when it comes to my calorie intake is that I may get into a cycle of healthy breakfast and lunch and then gorging on dinner when I have opening shifts like I have been having. That's just something I'm going to have to keep on top of, hopefully by putting together meals in advance for dinner so that I can eat something that's tasty, good for me, and quick. That's something to work on for the future though I suppose. For now I'm just going to have to do the best I can with what I've got and hopefully squeeze some fresh fruit into my diet when I have the chance.
Now, time for the numbers. This week the scale tells me I'm 240 even. That's down 1.2 pounds from last week. Seems as though what I'm doing is continuing to work, if slowly. Slow isn't a problem though. I'd much rather slow progress that I can keep up than sporadicly high progress with nothing in between. Just going to keep at it and one of these days I'll find myself at my goal and having to figure out how to maintain my weight instead of keep dropping it. That's a problem I look forward too.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 31)
After a week off I return this fine Sunday morning for another installment of my weekly weigh-in.
I return this week different a somewhat different man. I say this because a number of big things have been happening all at once in my life. The reason I didn't make a post last week was due to the fact my summer job was ending and I was having to move and finish that up all day Sunday leaving me no time to get to the scale, let alone the computer. The previous Monday, I got married to the most wonderful woman I have ever known. Now I am typing this from Phoenix where we are currently living while searching for work and trying to get by on what we've got. So far we're doing alright with that part, and hopeful about the jobs part. But enough about my personal life, that should go in another post anyway, on to some stuff about me and losing weight shall we?
The past couple weeks I've done decently I think. In the name both of saving money and saving calories Lara and I have been splitting more entrees between us when we go out to decent places, this is something that has worked out well because she doesn't eat much in general and I really shouldn't. Plus, because we are only buying one entree instead of two we can afford to get something nicer than we might otherwise which seems to have the effect of making the food seem that much more filling somehow. All in all that's been a good strategy.
The part that I think I've done less well with is that we ate out almost exclusively for most of the last two weeks, due to moving and what not we didn't have the time or a place to cook our own food until late this last week. However, by splitting as I said above I think I made out alright for myself. I had a lot of very nice dinners out with friends from Tucson we may not get to see again for a while.
Now comes the real question though, what does the scale have to say about the last couple weeks and the many changes they have brought? 241.2 is what it has to say about it. That's down 8.2 pounds from 2 weeks ago when I last weighed in here. As I said then I suspect slightly that the scale I was using then may have been slightly different from the one I normally use, so this may not be entirely accurate, but even still the numbers are good. That leaves me down 41.9 pounds from when I started in January, slightly more than the weight of an average 5 year old child. Seems like whatever I've been doing all this time is really working out fairly well.
Until next week, eat well and eat smart.
I return this week different a somewhat different man. I say this because a number of big things have been happening all at once in my life. The reason I didn't make a post last week was due to the fact my summer job was ending and I was having to move and finish that up all day Sunday leaving me no time to get to the scale, let alone the computer. The previous Monday, I got married to the most wonderful woman I have ever known. Now I am typing this from Phoenix where we are currently living while searching for work and trying to get by on what we've got. So far we're doing alright with that part, and hopeful about the jobs part. But enough about my personal life, that should go in another post anyway, on to some stuff about me and losing weight shall we?
The past couple weeks I've done decently I think. In the name both of saving money and saving calories Lara and I have been splitting more entrees between us when we go out to decent places, this is something that has worked out well because she doesn't eat much in general and I really shouldn't. Plus, because we are only buying one entree instead of two we can afford to get something nicer than we might otherwise which seems to have the effect of making the food seem that much more filling somehow. All in all that's been a good strategy.
The part that I think I've done less well with is that we ate out almost exclusively for most of the last two weeks, due to moving and what not we didn't have the time or a place to cook our own food until late this last week. However, by splitting as I said above I think I made out alright for myself. I had a lot of very nice dinners out with friends from Tucson we may not get to see again for a while.
Now comes the real question though, what does the scale have to say about the last couple weeks and the many changes they have brought? 241.2 is what it has to say about it. That's down 8.2 pounds from 2 weeks ago when I last weighed in here. As I said then I suspect slightly that the scale I was using then may have been slightly different from the one I normally use, so this may not be entirely accurate, but even still the numbers are good. That leaves me down 41.9 pounds from when I started in January, slightly more than the weight of an average 5 year old child. Seems like whatever I've been doing all this time is really working out fairly well.
Until next week, eat well and eat smart.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 29)
Sunday again and that makes it time for another weigh-in.
This week's post is going to be short. I've got a lot going on with the wedding tomorrow and I sadly don't have the time to put together a post the way I normally do. Hopefully will be able to do better next week.
The scale, not mine this week as I forgot it in Tucson when I came up for the wedding, tells me I currently weigh 249.4 which is up 1.4 from last week. Not at all good, but I'm going to blame it on being on the run all week instead of ever having the time to relax and actually care about what I'm eating beyond it's existence as food. Really hoping next week will be better, but if not I'll just ride it out and deal with life as it happens.
This week's post is going to be short. I've got a lot going on with the wedding tomorrow and I sadly don't have the time to put together a post the way I normally do. Hopefully will be able to do better next week.
The scale, not mine this week as I forgot it in Tucson when I came up for the wedding, tells me I currently weigh 249.4 which is up 1.4 from last week. Not at all good, but I'm going to blame it on being on the run all week instead of ever having the time to relax and actually care about what I'm eating beyond it's existence as food. Really hoping next week will be better, but if not I'll just ride it out and deal with life as it happens.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 28)
It's Sunday again and that makes it time for another weekly weigh-in.
This week has been another in a series of interesting weeks. More hours at work this week than I had been averaging means more money, but less time to eat well. While I really wish it didn't, being busy through the week causes me to not be as cautious about what I eat for some reason. On the plus side, more work means more exercise which should mean more calories offset by that to help compensate for the bad eating at least somewhat.
In addition to that work and crazy eating I managed to get in half an hour on a treadmill this week, plus some time on an Elliptical for a while as well. Monday we had the staff dessert night, and I did rather well and limited myself to a single small plate with small portions of everything to help keep me on track. Tuesday I brought home a bunch of leftovers from dinner. Thursday instead of going out I made pizza with Lara and a coworker of ours, delicious and fun to do. Saturday involved my usual low food amounts until a slightly larger than normal dinner out with friends to celebrate a birthday. All told, I feel like I didn't do too badly this week.
Now comes the tricky part though, checking if the scale agrees with my assessment or not. 248, up 1.8 from last week. It would seem the scale would like to disagree with me. I was expecting I'd probably have gained some weight, but this is a bit more than I thought. Nothing serious, just annoying. I'll just have to watch myself more closely this week and try and do better. Not sure how well I'll be able to manage that with all of the last minute wedding things going on in the later half of the week, but that's something the scale and I will have to discuss next Sunday I suppose.
This week has been another in a series of interesting weeks. More hours at work this week than I had been averaging means more money, but less time to eat well. While I really wish it didn't, being busy through the week causes me to not be as cautious about what I eat for some reason. On the plus side, more work means more exercise which should mean more calories offset by that to help compensate for the bad eating at least somewhat.
In addition to that work and crazy eating I managed to get in half an hour on a treadmill this week, plus some time on an Elliptical for a while as well. Monday we had the staff dessert night, and I did rather well and limited myself to a single small plate with small portions of everything to help keep me on track. Tuesday I brought home a bunch of leftovers from dinner. Thursday instead of going out I made pizza with Lara and a coworker of ours, delicious and fun to do. Saturday involved my usual low food amounts until a slightly larger than normal dinner out with friends to celebrate a birthday. All told, I feel like I didn't do too badly this week.
Now comes the tricky part though, checking if the scale agrees with my assessment or not. 248, up 1.8 from last week. It would seem the scale would like to disagree with me. I was expecting I'd probably have gained some weight, but this is a bit more than I thought. Nothing serious, just annoying. I'll just have to watch myself more closely this week and try and do better. Not sure how well I'll be able to manage that with all of the last minute wedding things going on in the later half of the week, but that's something the scale and I will have to discuss next Sunday I suppose.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 27)
It's Sunday yet again, and time for another installment of the weekly weigh-in.
Late post again this week. Had work this afternoon which didn't help matters and had some baking to do this morning that threw off my normal schedule. Work is having a dessert night tomorrow for the staff and as a manager I am responsible for bringing at least one dessert. Being myself, I decided to be ambitious and am bringing a few desserts because of a couple reasons, I love to cook, I have a lot of stuff sitting in the pantry I don't feel like moving with, and clearly it means I'm better than the other managers. (Just kidding by the way if any of the rest of them read this.)
The hardest part about dessert night? It will have nothing to do with the baking but everything to do with the dessert. Dessert is a continuing issue for me. I always want it to help finish out whatever meal I'm having, but it's either too expensive (a blessing in disguise), or I just shouldn't do it because I don't need the calories. So when dessert night comes, I may end up not really eating much at all. But you know? There's nothing wrong with that, and I need to force myself to do that more often if I'm going to get anywhere.
I apologize to those of you that read this all the time if I'm sounding like a broken record. Sometimes I feel like one to be honest. I struggle with the same things week after week, the same way I have for months and years. The difference is now I at least make an effort, while before I just took the easy road without question. So while I may not yet be making the smart decision enough for my taste, I'm at least thinking about the choice more than I had before.
Well, enough of that, now on to the actual numbers. The scale tells me today that I'm at 246.2, which is down .8 from last week. Seems like I must be doing something at least sort of right. Just going to have to keep trying to make the smart choices and hope things work out. So far it looks like they have been.
Late post again this week. Had work this afternoon which didn't help matters and had some baking to do this morning that threw off my normal schedule. Work is having a dessert night tomorrow for the staff and as a manager I am responsible for bringing at least one dessert. Being myself, I decided to be ambitious and am bringing a few desserts because of a couple reasons, I love to cook, I have a lot of stuff sitting in the pantry I don't feel like moving with, and clearly it means I'm better than the other managers. (Just kidding by the way if any of the rest of them read this.)
The hardest part about dessert night? It will have nothing to do with the baking but everything to do with the dessert. Dessert is a continuing issue for me. I always want it to help finish out whatever meal I'm having, but it's either too expensive (a blessing in disguise), or I just shouldn't do it because I don't need the calories. So when dessert night comes, I may end up not really eating much at all. But you know? There's nothing wrong with that, and I need to force myself to do that more often if I'm going to get anywhere.
I apologize to those of you that read this all the time if I'm sounding like a broken record. Sometimes I feel like one to be honest. I struggle with the same things week after week, the same way I have for months and years. The difference is now I at least make an effort, while before I just took the easy road without question. So while I may not yet be making the smart decision enough for my taste, I'm at least thinking about the choice more than I had before.
Well, enough of that, now on to the actual numbers. The scale tells me today that I'm at 246.2, which is down .8 from last week. Seems like I must be doing something at least sort of right. Just going to have to keep trying to make the smart choices and hope things work out. So far it looks like they have been.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 26)
Really late in the day this time around, but it's still Sunday which means it's time for my Weekly Weigh-in.
This week has been rather busy, lots of work, a day trip to Phoenix for a birthday and some wedding related meetings, birthday festivities here in Tucson as well, trips to multiple new restaurants I've never been to here in Tucson, all around just a hectic week. But really though is that really that different from any other week? I never seem to know what will happen in terms of my food until when it happens, or more than a day or so before when I have the time to plan cooking meals.
When I'm faced with that type of situation is it really any surprise I struggle with my eating? No, but that's still not an excuse. Much as my life may not be conducive to eating well, I still need to make the effort to make the best of what food options I have available to me. This week was another example of my tendency to eat too much of everything, which was not at all helped by the fact I was at two places that I had never been to before, both of which had numerous delicious looking items on the menu. Rather than doing the wise thing and limiting myself to just one thing, I ended up in both cases getting an entree, and an appetizer or two. I told myself I'd split them with people at the table, but really I knew enough going in to have know better. I'd end up eating all of them regardless of whether or not I intended for it to be shared.
That is a situation I find myself in often, through entirely my own folly. It is something I know I will struggle with for a long time, and something I need to learn to keep in check better. Life is nothing if not unpredictable, and I need to be able to live with that in a way that lets me live with myself.
So, how much damage did I do to my weight this week with that overeating? The scale tells me 247, which is down .2 pounds from last week. Small losses again, but I'll take small losses over gains every time. They build up toward a place I want to be. Eventually, I'll get there, and it's gonna be totally worth it.
This week has been rather busy, lots of work, a day trip to Phoenix for a birthday and some wedding related meetings, birthday festivities here in Tucson as well, trips to multiple new restaurants I've never been to here in Tucson, all around just a hectic week. But really though is that really that different from any other week? I never seem to know what will happen in terms of my food until when it happens, or more than a day or so before when I have the time to plan cooking meals.
When I'm faced with that type of situation is it really any surprise I struggle with my eating? No, but that's still not an excuse. Much as my life may not be conducive to eating well, I still need to make the effort to make the best of what food options I have available to me. This week was another example of my tendency to eat too much of everything, which was not at all helped by the fact I was at two places that I had never been to before, both of which had numerous delicious looking items on the menu. Rather than doing the wise thing and limiting myself to just one thing, I ended up in both cases getting an entree, and an appetizer or two. I told myself I'd split them with people at the table, but really I knew enough going in to have know better. I'd end up eating all of them regardless of whether or not I intended for it to be shared.
That is a situation I find myself in often, through entirely my own folly. It is something I know I will struggle with for a long time, and something I need to learn to keep in check better. Life is nothing if not unpredictable, and I need to be able to live with that in a way that lets me live with myself.
So, how much damage did I do to my weight this week with that overeating? The scale tells me 247, which is down .2 pounds from last week. Small losses again, but I'll take small losses over gains every time. They build up toward a place I want to be. Eventually, I'll get there, and it's gonna be totally worth it.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in
Sunday morning brings me back to the time for the weekly weigh-in.
This week was a bit crazy for me. Fourth of July was awesome, lots of fun times with good friends, good food, and some good beverages as well. Monday evening had a trip up to Phoenix, Tuesday a lot of wedding planning and the associated running around town. Wednesday was originally going to be Jury Duty, but I got released before I had to go in and it turned into more running around and wedding planning. The rest of the week was work, catching up on chores and things I should have done, and some socializing with friends here in Tucson. All in all, a good week. Except perhaps for my weight.
During all of that I never really had time to sit down and eat anything that was really that good for me, mind you all the food was good just not always a good decision. My overeating tendencies kicked in a lot, and that probably wasn't good for me. Sometimes though, it's not all bad when that happens I think, as long as I own up to it and try and do better in the future there are a lot worse things than occasional overeating that I could be having to deal with.
So what do the numbers say this week? 247.2, which is down .8 from last week. Still making progress, I'm gonna credit the aforementioned running around for that. This week I'm gonna try and be better about the overeating, something I've said often and had varying levels of success with. So until the next time remember, every little bit helps.
This week was a bit crazy for me. Fourth of July was awesome, lots of fun times with good friends, good food, and some good beverages as well. Monday evening had a trip up to Phoenix, Tuesday a lot of wedding planning and the associated running around town. Wednesday was originally going to be Jury Duty, but I got released before I had to go in and it turned into more running around and wedding planning. The rest of the week was work, catching up on chores and things I should have done, and some socializing with friends here in Tucson. All in all, a good week. Except perhaps for my weight.
During all of that I never really had time to sit down and eat anything that was really that good for me, mind you all the food was good just not always a good decision. My overeating tendencies kicked in a lot, and that probably wasn't good for me. Sometimes though, it's not all bad when that happens I think, as long as I own up to it and try and do better in the future there are a lot worse things than occasional overeating that I could be having to deal with.
So what do the numbers say this week? 247.2, which is down .8 from last week. Still making progress, I'm gonna credit the aforementioned running around for that. This week I'm gonna try and be better about the overeating, something I've said often and had varying levels of success with. So until the next time remember, every little bit helps.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in
Sunday morning again, and this time a holiday, and time for another installment of the weekly weigh-in.
This week feels like it went pretty well. Had some good times with friends all throughout the week, which is never a bad thing, had a nice productive couple days of work where a lot of things got done, didn't get the extra exercise in that I had been hoping, but work took care of some of that for me. Also importantly I didn't have any feeling this week of having over-eaten, which is a frequent problem for me if I'm not careful. Now, today is probably not going to be exactly stellar for my track record in the realm of over-eating, but it's the 4th of July and I feel like I've planned ahead for it enough I should be alright.
This week is going to be a deviation from previous weeks in that it will involve a trip to Phoenix for some wedding planning and civic duty all rolled into one short trip through the state. Not sure what all that will have in store for me in terms of food and various activity, but I don't suspect I will have huge amounts of problems as a result of it as long as I keep on top of my eating.
Well, let's get to numbers shall we? Scale tells me this morning that I'm at 248, which is down 1.2 from last week. That puts me down just over 35 pounds since I started tracking my weight back in January. It's awesome to watch how all the little numbers slowly add up to big changes. While I may not have dropped as much by now as I originally thought I was going to, that's because the me that started along this path had nowhere near as much understanding of how hard it would actually be as the me that types this now. I never expected it to be easy, but he was a fool and thought the early losses would continue at near to the same rate until he wanted them to stop when he was at a better weight. I know better now. Losing this weight isn't easy, but it is worth every but of effort it takes, and I'm going to put in what I need to to get out the final results I want, no matter how long that takes.
Thanks to everyone who has been there for me with encouraging words, and helpful suggestions, through the past 6 months. I appreciate your support.
This week feels like it went pretty well. Had some good times with friends all throughout the week, which is never a bad thing, had a nice productive couple days of work where a lot of things got done, didn't get the extra exercise in that I had been hoping, but work took care of some of that for me. Also importantly I didn't have any feeling this week of having over-eaten, which is a frequent problem for me if I'm not careful. Now, today is probably not going to be exactly stellar for my track record in the realm of over-eating, but it's the 4th of July and I feel like I've planned ahead for it enough I should be alright.
This week is going to be a deviation from previous weeks in that it will involve a trip to Phoenix for some wedding planning and civic duty all rolled into one short trip through the state. Not sure what all that will have in store for me in terms of food and various activity, but I don't suspect I will have huge amounts of problems as a result of it as long as I keep on top of my eating.
Well, let's get to numbers shall we? Scale tells me this morning that I'm at 248, which is down 1.2 from last week. That puts me down just over 35 pounds since I started tracking my weight back in January. It's awesome to watch how all the little numbers slowly add up to big changes. While I may not have dropped as much by now as I originally thought I was going to, that's because the me that started along this path had nowhere near as much understanding of how hard it would actually be as the me that types this now. I never expected it to be easy, but he was a fool and thought the early losses would continue at near to the same rate until he wanted them to stop when he was at a better weight. I know better now. Losing this weight isn't easy, but it is worth every but of effort it takes, and I'm going to put in what I need to to get out the final results I want, no matter how long that takes.
Thanks to everyone who has been there for me with encouraging words, and helpful suggestions, through the past 6 months. I appreciate your support.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in
Sunday morning brings us round again to another weekly weigh-in. (Hey, that rhymed.)
This week I'd like to take the time to mention a tool that I feel helps me a bit when it comes to watching what I eat. When I started in on my weight-loss goals I decided to take a look at how many calories I was actually eating in a given day. It really wasn't pretty. An average meal out for me could easily contain nearly 1500 calories. It wasn't any surprise to me that I'd been eating too much, I just never before had realized by how much it really was.
So, armed with this knowledge I decided to start looking around the internet for the nutrition data for places that I go on a regular basis when I go out to eat. I managed to find official sources for most places and reputable unofficial ones for some of the less cooperative chains. I went through their menu offerings and found things that were both tasty, and reasonable in the calories column. I put them all into a list on my computer, broke it up by meal, and printed it out. Each meal is subdivided into small, medium, and large categories based on -1 standard deviation, average, and +1 standard deviation of calories, and each size is also assigned a Weight Watchers points value just because I'm a data nut (as I don't do Weight Watchers the actual number isn't much use to me but it makes a good relative assessment if I'm at a restaurant that lists it for certain items on the menu or something).
I mention this list this week because I've used it a number of times over the week, and I feel like it has helped me do better than I would have otherwise. Is this a method that will work for everyone, probably not, is it a method that works for me, maybe, does it make me feel like I'm doing something, definitely. For that alone I feel it's worth keeping around, because it at least seems to help some.
Now for the actual weight. Didn't get any additional exercise this week and work was lighter than usual so I'm not expecting much. 249.2, down only .2 since last week. While I wasn't expecting much, I was expecting a bit more than that. I really need to either hit the pool or take to my feet at some point this week, so if you see me feel free to ask how much I have done so far. I think another step I want to take is to borrow a page from Ed Levine's Serious Diet when I go out to eat. While my wallet won't let me just leave food there, I can at least force myself to bring some back and have it for lunch later in the week.
So that does it for this weeks installment of my weekly weigh-in. Progress, though small, is still progress at making me not so large.
This week I'd like to take the time to mention a tool that I feel helps me a bit when it comes to watching what I eat. When I started in on my weight-loss goals I decided to take a look at how many calories I was actually eating in a given day. It really wasn't pretty. An average meal out for me could easily contain nearly 1500 calories. It wasn't any surprise to me that I'd been eating too much, I just never before had realized by how much it really was.
So, armed with this knowledge I decided to start looking around the internet for the nutrition data for places that I go on a regular basis when I go out to eat. I managed to find official sources for most places and reputable unofficial ones for some of the less cooperative chains. I went through their menu offerings and found things that were both tasty, and reasonable in the calories column. I put them all into a list on my computer, broke it up by meal, and printed it out. Each meal is subdivided into small, medium, and large categories based on -1 standard deviation, average, and +1 standard deviation of calories, and each size is also assigned a Weight Watchers points value just because I'm a data nut (as I don't do Weight Watchers the actual number isn't much use to me but it makes a good relative assessment if I'm at a restaurant that lists it for certain items on the menu or something).
I mention this list this week because I've used it a number of times over the week, and I feel like it has helped me do better than I would have otherwise. Is this a method that will work for everyone, probably not, is it a method that works for me, maybe, does it make me feel like I'm doing something, definitely. For that alone I feel it's worth keeping around, because it at least seems to help some.
Now for the actual weight. Didn't get any additional exercise this week and work was lighter than usual so I'm not expecting much. 249.2, down only .2 since last week. While I wasn't expecting much, I was expecting a bit more than that. I really need to either hit the pool or take to my feet at some point this week, so if you see me feel free to ask how much I have done so far. I think another step I want to take is to borrow a page from Ed Levine's Serious Diet when I go out to eat. While my wallet won't let me just leave food there, I can at least force myself to bring some back and have it for lunch later in the week.
So that does it for this weeks installment of my weekly weigh-in. Progress, though small, is still progress at making me not so large.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in
It's Sunday morning and time for another installment of my weekly weigh-in.
This week was an interesting case at work. While I worked quite a lot it was much less physical work, so it still used up as much of my time as normal, but gave less back to my health. I also know I didn't eat as well as I should have this week, I think I only ate breakfast 3 maybe 4 days this week. All in all, it was a bad week for my diet.
So what can I do to change this next week? Well, firstly I'm going to make more of an effort to actually work out during the free time I do have, even if it's just short and simple like doing jumping jacks or sit-ups or something instead of going for a longer workout. Also, I'm going to push myself to try and eat less, my issue most of this week with eating was the same as it always has been, I let myself eat too much food when I eat. Instead of eating the whole subway I should be saving half, various other small things like that add up.
So enough of what I did wrong this week, where did it get me? This weeks weight is 249.4, down only .4 from last week. It's not a lot but it's a little anyway and a little is better than nothing. Going to have to do better next week, but at least the things I have got myself doing regularly are helping even when I'm not doing enough else to help myself.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in
Hello readers and welcome to another weekly installment of my weigh-in.
This week was hellish on a number of fronts. Huge amounts of work that seemed to steadfastly resist showing any sort of progress were a constant throughout the week. I was sick for a bit there in the middle portions of the week to make things that much more fun.
I didn't eat very well at all, which is probably part of the reason I was sick, the other part being me not drinking enough water for the sudden increase in temperatures we had. On top of that, other than the aforementioned huge amounts of work, I didn't really do any exercising this week.
I did go down and get signed up at the rec center here on campus so I'm planning on visiting the pool at least once a week for the rest of the semester. I suspect work will try and keep me from doing anything especially productive, it seem to have a knack for that, but will do the best I can despite being very busy.
Anyway, time for the actual numbers. I don't really think I did that well this week, but we'll see if the scale disagrees: 249.8, down 2.4 pounds since last week. The scale seems to think I didn't do bad at all. I'm going to have to chalk that up to the large amounts of work helping burn more calories than I expected, and the eating less because of being sick that happened mid-week. Regardless, I'm almost a third of the way toward my final goal now. Progress is steady at least, and for that I am thankful.
This week was hellish on a number of fronts. Huge amounts of work that seemed to steadfastly resist showing any sort of progress were a constant throughout the week. I was sick for a bit there in the middle portions of the week to make things that much more fun.
I didn't eat very well at all, which is probably part of the reason I was sick, the other part being me not drinking enough water for the sudden increase in temperatures we had. On top of that, other than the aforementioned huge amounts of work, I didn't really do any exercising this week.
I did go down and get signed up at the rec center here on campus so I'm planning on visiting the pool at least once a week for the rest of the semester. I suspect work will try and keep me from doing anything especially productive, it seem to have a knack for that, but will do the best I can despite being very busy.
Anyway, time for the actual numbers. I don't really think I did that well this week, but we'll see if the scale disagrees: 249.8, down 2.4 pounds since last week. The scale seems to think I didn't do bad at all. I'm going to have to chalk that up to the large amounts of work helping burn more calories than I expected, and the eating less because of being sick that happened mid-week. Regardless, I'm almost a third of the way toward my final goal now. Progress is steady at least, and for that I am thankful.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in
A day late this week, I apologize for that. This weekend was busy with working a as an usher at a friend's mother's dance show. A fun experience but bad for my ability to get a post in yesterday.
This past week was full of work, to the extent that aside from work causing me to have to lift/carry/throw/transport large amounts of heavy stuff, I really didn't get much exercise done this week. I feel bad for it, but wasn't really anything I could do about the situation, so I suppose I play with the hand I'm dealt.
Also last week I discovered that the Rec Center may be cheaper than I was originally quoted, so I'm gonna look into that because if I have access to that I can more easily work-out in the evenings/in the pool. Other than that, I feel like I did alright with my food this week, but we'll have to see.
This weeks weight: 252.2, down 2.6 from last week. Making good progress still, hopefully I can keep that up. Got 9 weeks until the wedding, so I could in theory be down around 220 by then if I keep this up. Don't know that I'll manage anything that good, but I'm sure as hell gonna try.
This past week was full of work, to the extent that aside from work causing me to have to lift/carry/throw/transport large amounts of heavy stuff, I really didn't get much exercise done this week. I feel bad for it, but wasn't really anything I could do about the situation, so I suppose I play with the hand I'm dealt.
Also last week I discovered that the Rec Center may be cheaper than I was originally quoted, so I'm gonna look into that because if I have access to that I can more easily work-out in the evenings/in the pool. Other than that, I feel like I did alright with my food this week, but we'll have to see.
This weeks weight: 252.2, down 2.6 from last week. Making good progress still, hopefully I can keep that up. Got 9 weeks until the wedding, so I could in theory be down around 220 by then if I keep this up. Don't know that I'll manage anything that good, but I'm sure as hell gonna try.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in
It's Sunday morning and once again time for my weekly Weight-loss post.
This week I started doing something that, to my recollection, I have never done before. I started running. Many of my friends will tell you that I have been known to say that I won't run unless I'm being chased by something, and while that may have been true in the past, it's not going to be true any longer.
I didn't get to run as much as I'd have liked this week, the temperature makes it annoying to be outside, let alone doing any form of major activity, during most of the day here; and much of my mornings was spent either dealing with work related things or getting ready for impending work. That said, I did get in a couple good workouts early this week, and hope that I can get some better frequency in this next week. My feet really hurt the times I did get out, so I'm probably gonna have to be careful until I get used to the impact and other stresses going on. However, I'm hopeful that this will help me out in the long run to stay in better shape, and be generally more energetic by virtue of actually getting up and doing strenuous things that aren't just work.
So, now comes the numbers. This week I feel like I probably could have eaten better, but don't think I really did all that badly either. Time to see if the new workout helped any: 254.8, down 2.8 since last week. Hit my first checkpoint, down 10% of my starting weight. Took me since around January or so to do it, but I made it. It's been a bit of a long road, but entirely worth it. Here's hoping it's shorter to the next 10%.
This week I started doing something that, to my recollection, I have never done before. I started running. Many of my friends will tell you that I have been known to say that I won't run unless I'm being chased by something, and while that may have been true in the past, it's not going to be true any longer.
I didn't get to run as much as I'd have liked this week, the temperature makes it annoying to be outside, let alone doing any form of major activity, during most of the day here; and much of my mornings was spent either dealing with work related things or getting ready for impending work. That said, I did get in a couple good workouts early this week, and hope that I can get some better frequency in this next week. My feet really hurt the times I did get out, so I'm probably gonna have to be careful until I get used to the impact and other stresses going on. However, I'm hopeful that this will help me out in the long run to stay in better shape, and be generally more energetic by virtue of actually getting up and doing strenuous things that aren't just work.
So, now comes the numbers. This week I feel like I probably could have eaten better, but don't think I really did all that badly either. Time to see if the new workout helped any: 254.8, down 2.8 since last week. Hit my first checkpoint, down 10% of my starting weight. Took me since around January or so to do it, but I made it. It's been a bit of a long road, but entirely worth it. Here's hoping it's shorter to the next 10%.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday Sludge the 9th
This week I've got a couple videos and some other miscellaneous links for you guys. Hopefully you enjoy.
Making Contact This link serves as a surprisingly good primer on how to make contact with "visitors".
Mysterious People A list of some very strange people.
Fun with X-Rays Someone people have way too much time on their hands.
Workout Program In theme with my recent weight loss efforts, a video about a 'unique' workout program.
Optical Illusion A rather impressive optical illusion that won some kind of award for being creative.
That's the links for this week, see you again next week with some more.
Making Contact This link serves as a surprisingly good primer on how to make contact with "visitors".
Mysterious People A list of some very strange people.
Fun with X-Rays Someone people have way too much time on their hands.
Workout Program In theme with my recent weight loss efforts, a video about a 'unique' workout program.
Optical Illusion A rather impressive optical illusion that won some kind of award for being creative.
That's the links for this week, see you again next week with some more.
Weekly Weigh-in
It is now Sunday afternoon, which means a slightly late rendition of my weekly weigh-in.
This week was my first at the summer job, and it went rather well on multiple fronts. Work went well but that's not the point of this post. Work has forced me to eat at regular intervals, which is a good thing as otherwise I very often might not. It has also helped me start getting up earlier, which I like. It has also been making it hard for me to want to eat breakfast.
Breakfast has always been a hard meal for me, I usually don't want to put in the effort to cook an involved meal, but I also don't really care for cereal either with or without milk. Often this has resulted in me not eating breakfast at all, and that's not really that good for me on a number of levels. This week I noticed that my weight was staying very much the same despite increased levels of activity, which I felt was a tad odd as I didn't feel I was eating a lot extra. After talking with a friend for some advice and venting on the subject I decided I'd try and force myself to eat breakfast in the mornings and see if that helped. I feel like it has, I picked up some fresh fruit and some granola bars to help keep myself from having an excuse about eating breakfast in the morning, so we'll see how that goes.
Now comes the moment of truth, the actual numbers from the scale: 257.6 that's 1.8 pounds less than last week. Only another ~3 pounds to go before I've hit my first milestone.
This week was my first at the summer job, and it went rather well on multiple fronts. Work went well but that's not the point of this post. Work has forced me to eat at regular intervals, which is a good thing as otherwise I very often might not. It has also helped me start getting up earlier, which I like. It has also been making it hard for me to want to eat breakfast.
Breakfast has always been a hard meal for me, I usually don't want to put in the effort to cook an involved meal, but I also don't really care for cereal either with or without milk. Often this has resulted in me not eating breakfast at all, and that's not really that good for me on a number of levels. This week I noticed that my weight was staying very much the same despite increased levels of activity, which I felt was a tad odd as I didn't feel I was eating a lot extra. After talking with a friend for some advice and venting on the subject I decided I'd try and force myself to eat breakfast in the mornings and see if that helped. I feel like it has, I picked up some fresh fruit and some granola bars to help keep myself from having an excuse about eating breakfast in the morning, so we'll see how that goes.
Now comes the moment of truth, the actual numbers from the scale: 257.6 that's 1.8 pounds less than last week. Only another ~3 pounds to go before I've hit my first milestone.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sunday Sludge the 8th
It’s Sunday again, and that means another installment of the sludge. It’ll be fairly short this week as I’m in the middle of moving, but here it is:
Brain Hacking The human brain can be made to do some amazing things, here is a list of a few of them.
Playing with Postage The brain isn’t the only thing that can be played around with, you can also have some fun with the postal system if you are willing to take the chance.
People of Class An interesting set of data from a national survey.
Awesome Pumpkin This pumpkin is more awesome than yours.
Cool Foreign Films A list of some impressive foreign films that are worth seeing, though I’ll admit I’ve seen only a very few of them myself.
Well, there it is, not much fluff but the substance is there. I’ll be back again next week and hopefully so will you.
Weekly Weigh-in
It’s Sunday afternoon, which means this is a bit later than I expected, so it’s time for my weekly weigh-in.
I mentioned last week that I was gonna buy a scale, and I did. So starting this week my weight will be provided by said scale rather than through Wii Fit.
With graduation and the end of finals this week it wasn’t easy, but I feel like I did alright with the food this week. I also had some issues with my exercise for the week after I had to get an ingrown toenail dealt with and that cut into my new exercise regimen, but more on that later.
My hope for the summer is that, with a more flexible work schedule to open things up a bit, I can have the time to actually make dinner on a regular basis. I’m setting an optimistic goal of cooking dinner at least 5 nights a week. Not sure that’ll actually pan out, but it’s a goal at least.
Well, formalities out of the way I think it’s time for the actual weigh-in. This weeks weight is 259.4. That puts me down 2.7 since last week, and 23.7 since January. Not sure what's gonna happen the first couple weeks here with my summer job, but hopefully I can keep up the progress. Until next week, live the way you want to be.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Sunday Sludge the 7th
Once again it is that wonderful time. The Sunday Sludge. Late one today, but it is Mother's Day and I was off with Lara spending some time with her family. Without further ado, I present this weeks links:
Badass Things You Can Learn in a Week Not all winners, but overall a somewhat decent list, if you define badass as action movie star.
Timmy O'Riley Some may say it's an advertisement for Thinkgeek, and while that may be true it is also awesome.
Speaks for Itself.
Only in America Foods that could only have been invented in America.
Top of the Food Chain A short informative story about a man at the top of the food chain.
See you all again next week for another installment of the Sludge.
Badass Things You Can Learn in a Week Not all winners, but overall a somewhat decent list, if you define badass as action movie star.
Timmy O'Riley Some may say it's an advertisement for Thinkgeek, and while that may be true it is also awesome.
Speaks for Itself.
Only in America Foods that could only have been invented in America.
Top of the Food Chain A short informative story about a man at the top of the food chain.
See you all again next week for another installment of the Sludge.
Weekly Weigh-in
It's Sunday, and that means it's time for my weekly weigh-in. This week was tough, I had a number of times when I knew I ate more than I probably should have. But somehow it seems I've still managed to stay pretty well on track. The Wii Fit has been acting strange lately, so I'm starting to feel like I may need to spring for a separate scale that feels a little more trustworthy, so that's probably gonna happen this week.
Also coming up is the end of the semester which means a huge change of my schedule and hopefully more time for getting some actual dedicated exercise into my daily life. I've been tossing around the idea of paying for the Rec Center on campus so that I can use their pool, but I'm not sure I feel like it's worth the hundred dollars they want for it. So, I'm totally open to suggestions of places I can find a pool for cheaper than that.
Anyway, now it's time for the actual numbers. According to the scale I'm down 2 pounds from last week, leaving me at 262.1. Only 7.5 pounds to go before I hit my first checkpoint. Making steady progress at least. Gonna try this next week to force myself to eat better, something I've said a lot and not been very good about.
Also coming up is the end of the semester which means a huge change of my schedule and hopefully more time for getting some actual dedicated exercise into my daily life. I've been tossing around the idea of paying for the Rec Center on campus so that I can use their pool, but I'm not sure I feel like it's worth the hundred dollars they want for it. So, I'm totally open to suggestions of places I can find a pool for cheaper than that.
Anyway, now it's time for the actual numbers. According to the scale I'm down 2 pounds from last week, leaving me at 262.1. Only 7.5 pounds to go before I hit my first checkpoint. Making steady progress at least. Gonna try this next week to force myself to eat better, something I've said a lot and not been very good about.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Wine Reviews
Today I'm going to post two wine reviews that I've had waiting to go up for a while. I've still got two more waiting to go up, and I'm hoping those will make it up sometime next week or so. I've been sitting on these quite a while waiting to have the time to get them posted, and now it's that time. Hope you enjoy.
Review: The first wine is a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from Steven Bannus of Sonoma California, the bottle identifies the appellation as the Russian River Valley. The first thing that struck me when I went into the first glass was the smell, hints of apple, honey, and apricot. The taste also came off with hints of the apple flavor, and an almost flowery flavor. It became a little sharper in taste as it warmed up, but was very well balanced and remained drinkable even as it warmed.
Price: Normally it's priced at $14 a bottle, but I picked it up during a 'buy one get one for a nickel' sale so it worked out to about half that.
Rating: 9/10 The wine was excellent, well worth the $7 I paid for it and worth the normal $14 as well. It was good enough I'm going to strongly consider keeping some Sauvignon Blanc around in addition to the Riesling that I normally keep around.
Review: The second wine on the list is the Firehose Gewürztraminer. The first time we opened it, it was bitter and practically undrinkable. We closed it up and put it back in the cellar for a month, nearly two, and when we tried it again it was much more palatable. While I will say I was disappointed by the first impression, I plan to give it a second chance to make sure it wasn't just too young the first time around, or otherwise just a bad bottle.
Price: Average retail is around $10-12, and that is about what I recall paying for it, though I no longer have the receipt or the records to verify that.
Rating: 6/10 As I said, I don't really feel this bottle can be considered representative, it's the only Gewürz I've yet had, so take this rating with a grain of salt. When I have had a chance to make a second assessment to determine if this was just an off bottle I'll make sure to post the results.
Review: The first wine is a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from Steven Bannus of Sonoma California, the bottle identifies the appellation as the Russian River Valley. The first thing that struck me when I went into the first glass was the smell, hints of apple, honey, and apricot. The taste also came off with hints of the apple flavor, and an almost flowery flavor. It became a little sharper in taste as it warmed up, but was very well balanced and remained drinkable even as it warmed.Price: Normally it's priced at $14 a bottle, but I picked it up during a 'buy one get one for a nickel' sale so it worked out to about half that.
Rating: 9/10 The wine was excellent, well worth the $7 I paid for it and worth the normal $14 as well. It was good enough I'm going to strongly consider keeping some Sauvignon Blanc around in addition to the Riesling that I normally keep around.
Review: The second wine on the list is the Firehose Gewürztraminer. The first time we opened it, it was bitter and practically undrinkable. We closed it up and put it back in the cellar for a month, nearly two, and when we tried it again it was much more palatable. While I will say I was disappointed by the first impression, I plan to give it a second chance to make sure it wasn't just too young the first time around, or otherwise just a bad bottle.Price: Average retail is around $10-12, and that is about what I recall paying for it, though I no longer have the receipt or the records to verify that.
Rating: 6/10 As I said, I don't really feel this bottle can be considered representative, it's the only Gewürz I've yet had, so take this rating with a grain of salt. When I have had a chance to make a second assessment to determine if this was just an off bottle I'll make sure to post the results.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Sunday Sludge the 6th
Alright, after today's more serious post it's now time for a more humorous post. It's once again time for a link dump. It's been a while since I've done one of these so some of the links in my dump folder are probably a little old, and you may have seen them already. If so, feel free to send me better links to share with everyone next time.
On the Origin of Circuits - A story about how a circuit that could learn taught itself to do amazing things.
Gaping Plotholes - An article from Cracked about movies.
Culinary Kurios - A strange story of stranger food.
Fusion Reactor - A story of a homemade fusion reactor.
Built a Time Machine - Watch out for the plutonium.
And there you have another Sunday of Links. See you next time.
On the Origin of Circuits - A story about how a circuit that could learn taught itself to do amazing things.
Gaping Plotholes - An article from Cracked about movies.
Culinary Kurios - A strange story of stranger food.
Fusion Reactor - A story of a homemade fusion reactor.
Built a Time Machine - Watch out for the plutonium.
And there you have another Sunday of Links. See you next time.
Hopefully the Start of a New Series
Hello to my few readers. Today I am going to start a new series. I can't promise I'll actually stick to this, but I'm gonna do my best to try. Every week or so I'm just gonna show up here, and post my current weight. I'm not really sure why I've decided to post that here, but hey let's run with it. For those of you who don't know me all that well, I'm a pretty large guy. I've been trying to lose weight this year, and I've done pretty well as I'm down 19 pounds from the start of the year. But recently my progress has gotten rather disappointing, with losses dropping to nearly none and sometimes even gaining weight back.
I'm hoping that by posting here I help keep myself a little bit more accountable, as now more people will have the ability to directly see how much weight I'm losing/gaining. Posts won't happen more than once per week, and may not happen that often, but I'll probably drop in every now and then at least to mention the numbers. Currently, I'm at 264.1 down from 283. My next major milestone is ~9 pounds away at 254.7 which will mean I've lost 10% of my starting weight. Until next time, eat what's good.
I'm hoping that by posting here I help keep myself a little bit more accountable, as now more people will have the ability to directly see how much weight I'm losing/gaining. Posts won't happen more than once per week, and may not happen that often, but I'll probably drop in every now and then at least to mention the numbers. Currently, I'm at 264.1 down from 283. My next major milestone is ~9 pounds away at 254.7 which will mean I've lost 10% of my starting weight. Until next time, eat what's good.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Ruminations at the start of a year.
I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing aren't I? Haven't even been keeping up with the one scheduled thing I try to do here. I'll do my best to try and post at least one Link Dump a month, and other stuff as I have the time. I've got the majority of 2-3 posts already worked out, just have to actually make them.
Anyway, a little meat for the post shall we?
Just got back to school from Winter break. Break was great, always nice to spend time with the family and not having school or work to get back to. I would have loved to have more time off, but I'm also somewhat glad to be back because now I get to spend time with my "other family" here. Over break I was the best man in a friends wedding, congratulations on that by the way if you read this. Lara and I also started getting serious about planning ours, which involved some work on a guest list, a day trip to Sedona to scout out some possibilities of getting married up there, and a trip to a big wedding expo in Phoenix just yesterday. It's a very interesting experience trying to plan something like this, like nothing of done before and probably not very much like anything I'll ever plan in the future. That's what's been up with my life recently, oh and actually graduating from school in May.
As I said, hoping to post at least once or twice a month, but I really can't make promises about this cause I'm forgetful, and have little idea what my schedule for the semester will hold. So, until the next time I'm here, enjoy yourself.
Anyway, a little meat for the post shall we?
Just got back to school from Winter break. Break was great, always nice to spend time with the family and not having school or work to get back to. I would have loved to have more time off, but I'm also somewhat glad to be back because now I get to spend time with my "other family" here. Over break I was the best man in a friends wedding, congratulations on that by the way if you read this. Lara and I also started getting serious about planning ours, which involved some work on a guest list, a day trip to Sedona to scout out some possibilities of getting married up there, and a trip to a big wedding expo in Phoenix just yesterday. It's a very interesting experience trying to plan something like this, like nothing of done before and probably not very much like anything I'll ever plan in the future. That's what's been up with my life recently, oh and actually graduating from school in May.
As I said, hoping to post at least once or twice a month, but I really can't make promises about this cause I'm forgetful, and have little idea what my schedule for the semester will hold. So, until the next time I'm here, enjoy yourself.
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