Weekly Weigh-in (Week 52)

Sunday yet again and time for the weekly weigh-in.

Well, this is week 52, which means it's now been a year since I started actively trying to better manage my weight. What do I have to show for that year? This time last year I was just starting my final semester of college, starting in on the planning of my wedding, unsure of what the summer held in store for me let alone anything past that. I was also 283 pounds and in generally terrible shape. This first photo is of me giving a toast at my friend Ross's wedding, you can see him sitting next to the bride in that shot.

That was a me I knew for a while I was unhappy with, but had for too long decided to just sit around and not do anything to fix. It was shortly after that wedding that I had the epiphany, wanting something to be different and actually having it be different are entirely not the same thing. That was when I decided to stop wanting to be in better shape, and wanting to weigh less, and to start doing something about it. That decision has led me to where I am no in terms of my physical well-being, and it has also helped change how I interact with the world. I feel like I spend less time as a passive observer of my world and more time making it into what I want it to be. Frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Based on the numbers from last week I've lost about 85 pounds from my starting weight, around 30% of my starting weight. For comparison that's the approximate weight of an 11.5 year old child, two five year olds, 8 babies, 19 bricks, 301 1" steel cubes, this much cocaine (apparently), or any of a number of other things I found on google trying to find answers to this question. I feel amazing compared to last year. I feel much better about myself, I can sustain physical activity for much longer than I could have dreamed of last year. I haven't timed myself but I'm fairly sure I can run a mile faster than I did in high school, and otherwise outperform my high school self in any meaningful metric. I have grown as a person through the challenge of losing that much of myself, I have found more of myself than there ever was to lose. Compare the previous picture of me to this picture of me and it's easy to see the difference.

So sure there have been a lot of changes for me in the last year, but what about the next year? Well first I'm going to be trying to drop my body-fat, something I seem to be having decent luck with so far. Secondly I'm going to try and add some muscle mass, to get a more balanced look going on instead of the slightly strangely shaped appearance I have going on right now. Going to put some effort into increasing my strength and endurance through my exercise routine, and if I can find the time and money to do so I'm hoping to get back to doing martial arts at some point this year.

I'd like to thank all of you who have given me such encouragement this past year. I relaally appreciate all the kind things you've had to say, the personal experiences shared and all the advice I've picked up. I plan to keep posting these logs, but I expect the numbers are going to stop going down before too much longer and start staying pretty much the same. Hopefully even with that being the case the picture I have to put here next year will look even better than the one I had to show you this year.

So, what does the scale have to tell me today? 198 even, down .2 from last week. Just about what I expected, and around what I'm shooting for going forward, small losses until I hit my eventual target. Small because I'm trying to make sure that the losses are mostly fat and that I'm also increasing my lean over time. Until next time, take whatever you don't like about yourself and your surroundings, and change it for the better. Because if you don't nobody else will either.