Caveat comedenti
The following comments and tedious details are meant to serve as a Bullshit Detector for me. If anyone Out There derives inspiration (etc.) from My Fat Struggle, cool, but I don't have any expectation that anyone other than myself will be interested in this. Just sayin', sir.
Because I'm fat, I'm fat, come on
(Fat, fat, really really fat)
You know I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it . . . .
("Fat" by Michael Jackson and "Weird Al" Yankovic)
Which I say (so to speak) not because I think it's funny . . . though it is a little bit funny . . . but because I don't want to start thinking that I've whooped this Fat Thing. Because self-congratulations lead to complacency, complacency leads to adipose tissue, as Yoda said.
So I took a deep breath, then went looking for pictures of myself from May 2014, when (so far as I know) I hit my heaviest weight, 278 pounds.
I found these:
I can't even begin to tell you how painful it is to look at these pictures. Especially in the ones where I'm clowning. (Which is all but the first two.) Ugh.I was wearing 42 inch waist jeans in those pictures, btw.
And I find it hard to understand how I didn't realize how bad things were . . . and that I didn't try to do something about it.
But there's no sense in dwelling on that, right? That was then.
This is now:
I'm still FAT.
I've lost a hell of a lot of weight.
But I'm still FAT.
Because without that mantra, it's going to be so easy to become self-congratulatory and that is the beginning of the end of my success.
So I've got to keep it real.
I don't want to end up walking through Kroger in a midi-top before it's time, after all.
And thus beginneth Week 23.
Week 23: Tuesday, 7/11/2017
Food:
Breakfast: coffee 24c, cereal 80c, blackberries 39c, strawberries 23c, almond milk 36c = 202c + banana 80c, sunflower seeds 100c = 382c / 16 oz
Lunch: chicken 270c, Wasa 60c, crisp 110c = 440c / 16 oz water
= 822c / 32oz water
granola bar 170c, coffee 12c
Dinner: rice 90c, vegetable mix 75c, meat 170c, water 16oz = 517c
1339c
fffudge 80c, potato chips 300c, pretzels 110c, beer and whiskey 193c
2022 calories *
48 ounces of water
48 ounces of water
* Things were fine up through dinner. On course for a good Under 1772 Day. But things went to shit. Joe was in a terrible mood. Not sure why--maybe he was nervous about his softball game. As usual, he tried to take it out on Jacqueline by yelling at her. I chastised him, but it was too late. She was off and running. Didn't want to go with us to the game. Finally acceded, then wanted to stay in the car. Finally got out of the car. Then put her head down and more or less slept through the game. Even from the dugout, Joe tried to boss her, telling her to wake up, etc. Needless to say I cut that shit short, but damage done. Before we got in the car I told him that Jacqueline was not feeling very good, that he had made her feel bad, and that he should stay away from her and not say anything unless he had something nice to say. We got home, I broke out Kroger Fat Free Fudge Bars for all of us, and before I turned the corner from the kitchen to the dining room Joe was screaming at Jacqueline. Then things really blew up. So it took awhile to cool that shit down. And when it was cooled down, I needed a beer and whiskey combo. And some pretzels. Which would have been fine . . . I would still have ended the day with 1722 calories, but then that whiskey started swirling around in my brain, and it said, "You've already blown your calories for the day. Might as well have some potato chips." And, since I hadn't totaled my shit up yet, I believed him. So that's that. Again, kids: Don't Drink and Diet.
Exercise: Not-Quite-Slow-Ride today--one hour at a medium pace, just one Elliptical Break of two minutes to stretch things out (and, of course, to give my ass a break). It was good. Watched a little tv, too, but mostly talked to #1son which is my favorite movie.
Later on did the full set of stretching and weights.
Week 23: Wednesday, 7/12/2017
It's a brand new day . . . so when you gonna phone me?
Food:
Breakfast: coffee 12c, cereal 160c, almond milk 15c = 187c + 16 oz water
Lunch: sunflower seeds 100c, coffee 12c, crisp 110c, candy 150c = 372c / 16 oz water
Dinner: lettuce 14c, tomatoes 13c, radishes 8c, dressing 20c, partisan chicken thing 405c, vegetable mix 60c, rice 20c, cauliflower 66c = 606c / 16 oz water
1165c / 48 oz water
pretzels 110c, NYMSRP beer + Jura whiskey 175 + 60 = 345c
1510
merangue cookies 90c, chips 130c, popsicle 30c = 250c
1760
It's a brand new day . . . so when you gonna phone me?
Food:
Breakfast: coffee 12c, cereal 160c, almond milk 15c = 187c + 16 oz water
Lunch: sunflower seeds 100c, coffee 12c, crisp 110c, candy 150c = 372c / 16 oz water
Dinner: lettuce 14c, tomatoes 13c, radishes 8c, dressing 20c, partisan chicken thing 405c, vegetable mix 60c, rice 20c, cauliflower 66c = 606c / 16 oz water
1165c / 48 oz water
pretzels 110c, NYMSRP beer + Jura whiskey 175 + 60 = 345c
1510
merangue cookies 90c, chips 130c, popsicle 30c = 250c
1760
1760 calories
48 ounces of water
Exercise: 1 hour stationary bike (-329.2 calories), cut Mary's lawn (-257.5 calories) + stretching . . . speaking of which, I've upped the leg raises to 20 repetitions and the second set of sit-ups to 25 repetitions.
Week 23: Thursday, 7/13/2017
Food:
Breakfast: coffee 24c, cereal 160c, sesame seeds 100c, banana 119c, almond milk 15c = 418c / 16 oz water
Lunch: crisp 110c, TJMcookies 90c, pretzels 110c, ham sandwich 195c = 505c / 16 oz water
923c / 32 oz
Dinner: *
Well, actually, this mic is still on. Because I'm still going to record my exercise stuff.
Food:
Breakfast: coffee 24c, cereal 160c, sesame seeds 100c, banana 119c, almond milk 15c = 418c / 16 oz water
Lunch: crisp 110c, TJMcookies 90c, pretzels 110c, ham sandwich 195c = 505c / 16 oz water
923c / 32 oz
Dinner: *
calories
ounces of water
Exercise: Stretching, weights, one hour stationary bike.
* About last night . . . .
Well, there was some drinking going on. Not THAT much, but more than enough for me. I discovered that you can put two shot glasses of Isle of Jura Whiskey into a bottle's worth of Not Your Mom's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and it goes down quite nicely. Nicely enough to repeat the procedure. And then began the Whoo-hoo.
HOWEVER . . . although I (per usual) stepped out of the lines on the eating front, I did still retain enough self-control to keep track of everything.
* About last night . . . .
Well, there was some drinking going on. Not THAT much, but more than enough for me. I discovered that you can put two shot glasses of Isle of Jura Whiskey into a bottle's worth of Not Your Mom's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and it goes down quite nicely. Nicely enough to repeat the procedure. And then began the Whoo-hoo.
HOWEVER . . . although I (per usual) stepped out of the lines on the eating front, I did still retain enough self-control to keep track of everything.
But you know . . . the fact that I did keep track even whilst all about me was losing theirs and blaming it on me was a little unsettling I mean, how tightly wound do you have to be to keep on weighing and tracking while you're four sheets to the wind?
So when I got up this morning (still a little wobbly and with just the teensiest bit of a hangover . . . something I haven't felt the touch of for a very long time) . . . I got my usual breakfast (bran flakes, blackberries, strawberries, almond milk) and duly weighed and recorded. But then I started thinking: Am I really going to weigh every single thing I eat for the rest of my life? And the thought of that did not make a pleasing scent in mine nostrils.
And I also started to think about how there were times when I had started to think (and I am conscious that this might just be a rationalization) that there have been times when I probably should have eaten more calories because I had burned more and actually NEEDed some fuel besides my fat (which seems to still be burning off quite nicely, thank you).
And I let those thoughts churn around for half of the day--today / right now actually being Week 23: Friday, 7/14/2017 --and now, post a very reasonable lunch (ham sandwich, 195 calories, banana, 105 calories, pretzels 110 calories, 16 ounces of water), I've decided that it's time for a little experiment. I'm going to stop weighing and recording until the end of this "diet week." Which is only a few days, as my Diet Week ends on Monday night and it's already Friday afternoon. And if I have either stayed the same vis a vis my weight or (heaven forbid) gained any weight, then it's back to the fuckin' scales, and no appy ologies accepted, thank you very much.
Okay?
Okay.
My weight as of This Moment Is: 200.2 pounds. And I've just finished eating lunch, so I think that that is more than fair, possibly even erring in my favor.
Be seeing you.
Well, actually, this mic is still on. Because I'm still going to record my exercise stuff.
Exercise: 5 1/2 mile walk. (!) For future analysis purposes, here are the dirty details:
start 9:06 1025 steps .39 miles 68 cal
mile 9:21 2680 steps 171 cal
mile 9:36 4685 steps 298 cal
mile 9:51 6490 steps 411 cal
mile10:05 8240 steps 522 cal
mile10:20 10043 steps 635 cal
1/2 mile ??:?? 11113 steps 703 cal
I gave up on the mileage after the first mile told me that my pedometer was way off on that. Still don't get how that can be, since I've adjusted my stride measurement and actually physically counted steps to check the counter (which showed that it was counting the actual steps accurately). And I forgot to record my stop time, hence the ??:??. Also, on the fourth lap--which is the only one that didn't come in at 15 minutes--I actually ran a little bit. I was aiming for 1/10th of a mile, and I'm pretty sure that it was right in there (combination of the part of the course I was on, which is .25 mile, and--blush--that I counted my steps). The running? Well, it wasn't altogether unpleasant. It was a bit jarring, though, so I'm not sure how my knees will feel about that. But I may be amenable to another go at it next time I hit this track. If I can get on the tree shrouded part when there's no one to see me. (Not ready for that yet. Nothing funnier than a fat man dancing, you know.)
And a 635 calorie burn? Which is, by the way, almost EXACTly what I came up with on two different Calories Burned Generators online, so my faith in my little pedometer has been bolstered considerably on that count. Anyway, that's a big burn. Far more than the amount that I consumed during my meager breakfast. So there's that.
Um.
Okay.
Peace out.
start 9:06 1025 steps .39 miles 68 cal
mile 9:21 2680 steps 171 cal
mile 9:36 4685 steps 298 cal
mile 9:51 6490 steps 411 cal
mile10:05 8240 steps 522 cal
mile10:20 10043 steps 635 cal
1/2 mile ??:?? 11113 steps 703 cal
I gave up on the mileage after the first mile told me that my pedometer was way off on that. Still don't get how that can be, since I've adjusted my stride measurement and actually physically counted steps to check the counter (which showed that it was counting the actual steps accurately). And I forgot to record my stop time, hence the ??:??. Also, on the fourth lap--which is the only one that didn't come in at 15 minutes--I actually ran a little bit. I was aiming for 1/10th of a mile, and I'm pretty sure that it was right in there (combination of the part of the course I was on, which is .25 mile, and--blush--that I counted my steps). The running? Well, it wasn't altogether unpleasant. It was a bit jarring, though, so I'm not sure how my knees will feel about that. But I may be amenable to another go at it next time I hit this track. If I can get on the tree shrouded part when there's no one to see me. (Not ready for that yet. Nothing funnier than a fat man dancing, you know.)
And a 635 calorie burn? Which is, by the way, almost EXACTly what I came up with on two different Calories Burned Generators online, so my faith in my little pedometer has been bolstered considerably on that count. Anyway, that's a big burn. Far more than the amount that I consumed during my meager breakfast. So there's that.
Um.
Okay.
Peace out.
Week 23: Saturday, 7/15/2017
Exercise: Oh, man, I don't know if was the extra mileage from yesterday (since 5 1/2 is a bit more than my usual effort) or if it was the 1/10th of a mile run, but I am one sore little motherfucker today. Did an hour on the bike and some stretching, but going to have to hold off until tomorrow to carry that weight.
As for the not weighing or writing or counting up . . . got to say, it feels very good not to be caught up in that shit.
Exercise: Oh, man, I don't know if was the extra mileage from yesterday (since 5 1/2 is a bit more than my usual effort) or if it was the 1/10th of a mile run, but I am one sore little motherfucker today. Did an hour on the bike and some stretching, but going to have to hold off until tomorrow to carry that weight.
As for the not weighing or writing or counting up . . . got to say, it feels very good not to be caught up in that shit.
Week 23: Sunday, 7/16/2017
Exercise:
Sports Science Time:
Begin @1:24 (pedometer clock) weight 204.2 pounds 1
15,805 steps 4.49 miles 934.5 cal (looks like I forgot to clear it yesterday,, utb jic....)
stretching 15,921 4.52 941.4 stretching
@1:57 16,222 4.60 959.2 weights
@2:10 16,304 4.63 964.0 heavier weights
@3:27 24,172 6.86 1,429.2 stationary bike/elliptical
Had some technical difficulties, so that last round (on the bike) was not really an hour and seventeen minutes, but one hour. Yet again the Weslo has let me down, as once again the belt came out of its track and is halfway over the top of the main pulley. I wasn't able to fix it, so I just said fuck it and got back on to finish my workout--which wasn't optimal, as I had very little tension on the pedals, but I was getting too frustrated to mess with it just then and really wanted to get as full of a workout as possible.
Still, a good 90 minute exercise session, and although the pedometer isn't great at counting calories burn on things other than walking and biking, even there it says that I burned 495 calories, and even if that was all that happened that'd be pretty good.
And my post workout post shower weight was . . . 201 pounds. Which is good . . . but not as good as it needs to be, obviously.
1 I hasten to point out that this was after lunch . . . but I'm a little worried about that number, for sure, as it is 4 pounds over Friday night weigh in. I am thinking that The Return of the Food Scale is coming soon to a theater near me.
Exercise:
Sports Science Time:
Begin @1:24 (pedometer clock) weight 204.2 pounds 1
15,805 steps 4.49 miles 934.5 cal (looks like I forgot to clear it yesterday,, utb jic....)
stretching 15,921 4.52 941.4 stretching
@1:57 16,222 4.60 959.2 weights
@2:10 16,304 4.63 964.0 heavier weights
@3:27 24,172 6.86 1,429.2 stationary bike/elliptical
Had some technical difficulties, so that last round (on the bike) was not really an hour and seventeen minutes, but one hour. Yet again the Weslo has let me down, as once again the belt came out of its track and is halfway over the top of the main pulley. I wasn't able to fix it, so I just said fuck it and got back on to finish my workout--which wasn't optimal, as I had very little tension on the pedals, but I was getting too frustrated to mess with it just then and really wanted to get as full of a workout as possible.
Still, a good 90 minute exercise session, and although the pedometer isn't great at counting calories burn on things other than walking and biking, even there it says that I burned 495 calories, and even if that was all that happened that'd be pretty good.
And my post workout post shower weight was . . . 201 pounds. Which is good . . . but not as good as it needs to be, obviously.
1 I hasten to point out that this was after lunch . . . but I'm a little worried about that number, for sure, as it is 4 pounds over Friday night weigh in. I am thinking that The Return of the Food Scale is coming soon to a theater near me.
Week 23: Monday, 7/17/2017
Exercise from first stretch to last turn of the pedals 1:
3:25_____3706 steps_____219.1 calories
4:56____10589 steps_____626.1 calories
3:25_____3706 steps_____219.1 calories
4:56____10589 steps_____626.1 calories
1:31_____6883 steps_____407.0 calories
1 Though I did skip my 15 push-ups as I just couldn't face them. Just felt really todd. Maybe later tonight.
Oh, and BTW . . .
Post-exercise weight today: 200.8 pounds. Much better. And afterwards I decided to put on a pair of my old shorts . . .
I am happy to say that I am going to have to buy some more pants. Mmm-hmm.
Week 24: Tuesday, 7/18/2017
And that gave me a very nice result:
Quite, quite nice, in that (1) it's a pretty generous calorie per day and (2) it seems very do-able . . . especially given where I've been in the past six months. Ya know? Like "Ain't no big ting, mon." Even though I know that it is, of course.
But I decided to push it further, and instead of New Year's Day, I put my goal date as my birthday. The calculator didn't like that at all, and told me this:
So they do kind of look out for you if you're a fool. Which I certainly appreciate, since this healthy / nutrition shit is all brand new territory for me. I'm also not interested in shooting for 1,730 calories per day . . . even though I've had more than a few days under that amount in the past six months. But I want to ease up a little bit, even if I do go back to weighing everything I eat and writing it all down. Because one thing I know for sure: Anybody can make the fur fly for five minutes. As my daddy told me when I helped him dig a post hole on his farm one day thirty five or forty years ago.
Anyway . . .
frozen fudgsicles and pretzels and some grapes for a snack, and the before bed weight is . . .
202.2 pounds. Hmpf. How did that happen? I guess that last last weight (202.8) included a few pounds's worth of piss. But the upshot of it all is that the net effect of this day was -1 pound, and I like that. Wonder what I will find when I wake up and weigh tomorrow morning?
Very exciting stuff, ennit.
Oh, and also, I'm uploading 18,179 steps right now. Let's see . . . I've noticed that they've ripped me off in the past, but this time . . . 18,159 steps uploaded. So pretty close. (I have learned to go 150 or steps over before I upload if the number is close to a thousand mark.) A pretty big day. My pedometer also says that I burned 1,075.0 calories today, which is a very large chunk o' change. In fact, although I didn't count, I would be surprised if today's calories were more than my old 1770 self-imposed limit. If that's true, then my net calories for the day would only be about 700. What the fuck? Is that possible? It might explain why I felt so wiped out and shitty yesterday . . . although I'm feeling fine right now. Hmm. I shall ponder these things in my heart.
Peace out.
Week 24: Wednesday, 7/19/2017
Had Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal for breakfast with blackberries and cashew milk. A cup of coffee before and another cup after. And a couple of teaspoons of sunflower seeds. Mmm, sunflower seeds.
Interesting. Post breakfast and bm weight 202 pounds.
Oh, and BTW . . .
Post-exercise weight today: 200.8 pounds. Much better. And afterwards I decided to put on a pair of my old shorts . . .
I am happy to say that I am going to have to buy some more pants. Mmm-hmm.
Week 24: Tuesday, 7/18/2017
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday who told me how he was exercising quite a bit--fifteen mile bike rides five times a week, five mile walks (I-don't-know-how-often but sounded like maybe at least a couple of times per week), and was limiting himself to 1,100 calories per day bud hadn't lost any weight at all. And had been at it for a couple of months.
I felt bad for him . . . though I have to admit that I have a hard time believing in those details. I mean . . . 1,100 calories a day alone ought to be putting those calories into the shitter pretty quickly. But it made me think about this whole weight thing, and I decided that it would be interesting to do a day in the life of my weight. So here it is.
A Day in the Life of My Fat.
Wake-up weight: 203.2 (In the interests of Sports Science, I will disclose that this was post piss weight.)
I wasn't feeling great last night and was still a little off this morning, so for breakfast I had 2 cups of coffee, 16 ounces of water, some sunflower seeds (100 calories's worth). After a bowel movement I weighed myself--
203 pounds (@ 9:46 a.m.)
Mostly clowning here,
but ladies, if this beef
looks good to you, it
is on sale. Just sayin'.
And btw, I'm wearing my little Cold Cap thingie, which does seem to help with the sweat problem. I still have a little bit of cap leakage, but nowhere near what it was . . . and I don't have to mop my face with a towel whilst exercising, which I appreciate greatly.
I decided to do my stretching and stationary bike exercises then, and went for a 60 minute version with two minute stand up elliptical variations every ten minutes (for a total of 12 upright minutes). That elliptical shit really makes my heart roar--about 160 beats per minute right when I start, which is topping out my maximum heart rate. It subsides to about 120 beats per minute pretty quickly after that, which is, as I understand it, much better for the burning of the fat. I didn't check my steps or calories burned when I started the exercise routine, but I'm sure it wasn't much. At the end of the routine (11:11 a.m.) it was at 7,808 steps and 461.6 calories burned. I also weighted myself after I'd had a shower and squeegeed off, and showed
200.4 pounds.
Had a trumpet lesson and so a late lunch, consisting of a ham sandwich, chips, granola bar, and 8 ounces of water. Weighed myself after that and was surprised to see
200.2 pounds.
How the fuck did that happen? Best I can guess would be that I sweated out another pound or so between my post-shower weigh-in and this one. Still, I don't think I'll mention this part of the Sports Science to my Not Losing Weight Friend.
And then with a heavy heart I went out to cut the grass. In the 90+ degree heat. But it had to happen, as it'd been over a week since I last go down to it, so out I went. Kind of funny to remember how not all that long ago a grass cutting session would leave me so debilitated that I had a hard time walking the next day, whereas now it's just a thing that I do. I mean, it still tires me out, but there's a better than even chance that I will still do a little more exercising today post-grass cutting. Unless I decided to have a little whiskey and girl beer instead. Decisions, decisions.
Anyway . . . I had 32 ounces of water whilst cutting the grass, and when I finished, @3:29, I checked my pedometer and it said I had now done 15,661 steps and burned 926.0 calories. So I had another 16 ounces of water. And weighed myself:
200.2 pounds. Now that impressed me, since I'd just had 48 ounces of water, which weighs over 3.1 pounds. It also made me wish I had weighed myself BEFORE I'd had any water, as it would make my fucking day to see a number under 200 pounds. (Which I have grazed previously, but not in the past few days.)
Then there was a bit of running around. And an ounce of Isle of Jury Whiskey in 16 ounces of Not Your Father's Vanilla Cream Ale Beer. And then dinner: a sweet potato, vegetable mix (antioxidant blend, which is mmm mmm good, btw), some cauliflower with a touch of low fat dressing, and some Trader Joe's Chocolate Kitty Cookies. And another 16 ounces of water.
And post dinner weight?
202.8 pounds. Well, that's not bad, is it? On the other hand, it's still a long way from the 180 pounds that I'm aiming for.
So I took another look at verywell.com, which might be the place I went to to design my initial approach to losing fat (which took me from 260 pounds to 203 pounds, I hasten to point out).
First I did a leisurely goal set, aiming for a New Me For New Year's Day:
I felt bad for him . . . though I have to admit that I have a hard time believing in those details. I mean . . . 1,100 calories a day alone ought to be putting those calories into the shitter pretty quickly. But it made me think about this whole weight thing, and I decided that it would be interesting to do a day in the life of my weight. So here it is.
A Day in the Life of My Fat.
Wake-up weight: 203.2 (In the interests of Sports Science, I will disclose that this was post piss weight.)
I wasn't feeling great last night and was still a little off this morning, so for breakfast I had 2 cups of coffee, 16 ounces of water, some sunflower seeds (100 calories's worth). After a bowel movement I weighed myself--
203 pounds (@ 9:46 a.m.)
but ladies, if this beef
looks good to you, it
is on sale. Just sayin'.
And btw, I'm wearing my little Cold Cap thingie, which does seem to help with the sweat problem. I still have a little bit of cap leakage, but nowhere near what it was . . . and I don't have to mop my face with a towel whilst exercising, which I appreciate greatly.
I decided to do my stretching and stationary bike exercises then, and went for a 60 minute version with two minute stand up elliptical variations every ten minutes (for a total of 12 upright minutes). That elliptical shit really makes my heart roar--about 160 beats per minute right when I start, which is topping out my maximum heart rate. It subsides to about 120 beats per minute pretty quickly after that, which is, as I understand it, much better for the burning of the fat. I didn't check my steps or calories burned when I started the exercise routine, but I'm sure it wasn't much. At the end of the routine (11:11 a.m.) it was at 7,808 steps and 461.6 calories burned. I also weighted myself after I'd had a shower and squeegeed off, and showed
200.4 pounds.
Had a trumpet lesson and so a late lunch, consisting of a ham sandwich, chips, granola bar, and 8 ounces of water. Weighed myself after that and was surprised to see
200.2 pounds.
How the fuck did that happen? Best I can guess would be that I sweated out another pound or so between my post-shower weigh-in and this one. Still, I don't think I'll mention this part of the Sports Science to my Not Losing Weight Friend.
And then with a heavy heart I went out to cut the grass. In the 90+ degree heat. But it had to happen, as it'd been over a week since I last go down to it, so out I went. Kind of funny to remember how not all that long ago a grass cutting session would leave me so debilitated that I had a hard time walking the next day, whereas now it's just a thing that I do. I mean, it still tires me out, but there's a better than even chance that I will still do a little more exercising today post-grass cutting. Unless I decided to have a little whiskey and girl beer instead. Decisions, decisions.
Anyway . . . I had 32 ounces of water whilst cutting the grass, and when I finished, @3:29, I checked my pedometer and it said I had now done 15,661 steps and burned 926.0 calories. So I had another 16 ounces of water. And weighed myself:
200.2 pounds. Now that impressed me, since I'd just had 48 ounces of water, which weighs over 3.1 pounds. It also made me wish I had weighed myself BEFORE I'd had any water, as it would make my fucking day to see a number under 200 pounds. (Which I have grazed previously, but not in the past few days.)
Then there was a bit of running around. And an ounce of Isle of Jury Whiskey in 16 ounces of Not Your Father's Vanilla Cream Ale Beer. And then dinner: a sweet potato, vegetable mix (antioxidant blend, which is mmm mmm good, btw), some cauliflower with a touch of low fat dressing, and some Trader Joe's Chocolate Kitty Cookies. And another 16 ounces of water.
And post dinner weight?
202.8 pounds. Well, that's not bad, is it? On the other hand, it's still a long way from the 180 pounds that I'm aiming for.
So I took another look at verywell.com, which might be the place I went to to design my initial approach to losing fat (which took me from 260 pounds to 203 pounds, I hasten to point out).
First I did a leisurely goal set, aiming for a New Me For New Year's Day:
And that gave me a very nice result:
Quite, quite nice, in that (1) it's a pretty generous calorie per day and (2) it seems very do-able . . . especially given where I've been in the past six months. Ya know? Like "Ain't no big ting, mon." Even though I know that it is, of course.
But I decided to push it further, and instead of New Year's Day, I put my goal date as my birthday. The calculator didn't like that at all, and told me this:
So they do kind of look out for you if you're a fool. Which I certainly appreciate, since this healthy / nutrition shit is all brand new territory for me. I'm also not interested in shooting for 1,730 calories per day . . . even though I've had more than a few days under that amount in the past six months. But I want to ease up a little bit, even if I do go back to weighing everything I eat and writing it all down. Because one thing I know for sure: Anybody can make the fur fly for five minutes. As my daddy told me when I helped him dig a post hole on his farm one day thirty five or forty years ago.
Anyway . . .
frozen fudgsicles and pretzels and some grapes for a snack, and the before bed weight is . . .
202.2 pounds. Hmpf. How did that happen? I guess that last last weight (202.8) included a few pounds's worth of piss. But the upshot of it all is that the net effect of this day was -1 pound, and I like that. Wonder what I will find when I wake up and weigh tomorrow morning?
Very exciting stuff, ennit.
Oh, and also, I'm uploading 18,179 steps right now. Let's see . . . I've noticed that they've ripped me off in the past, but this time . . . 18,159 steps uploaded. So pretty close. (I have learned to go 150 or steps over before I upload if the number is close to a thousand mark.) A pretty big day. My pedometer also says that I burned 1,075.0 calories today, which is a very large chunk o' change. In fact, although I didn't count, I would be surprised if today's calories were more than my old 1770 self-imposed limit. If that's true, then my net calories for the day would only be about 700. What the fuck? Is that possible? It might explain why I felt so wiped out and shitty yesterday . . . although I'm feeling fine right now. Hmm. I shall ponder these things in my heart.
Peace out.
Week 24: Wednesday, 7/19/2017
Hmmpf. Woke up (quite early) this morning and weighed 200.6 pounds post-piss . . . which is 2.6 pounds less than yesterday morning. What's up with that? Dunno, but I find it interesting enough to be game for doing another Day in the Life of My Fat. So let's go.
Had Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal for breakfast with blackberries and cashew milk. A cup of coffee before and another cup after. And a couple of teaspoons of sunflower seeds. Mmm, sunflower seeds.
Interesting. Post breakfast and bm weight 202 pounds.
Exercise: One hour on the stationary bike, but just 6 minutes of stand-up this time as I was on the phone to no.1son for most of it. Still worked up a pretty good sweat. Then took a break for lunch (ham sandwich, chips, cauliflower and tomatoes, water) and rested up before doing the weights. Funny, as I usually start with the push-ups, but I just couldn't face up to it, so I did everything else (both "heavy" and "light"), including a self-imposed sit-ups in a minute test . . . I hit 31, which is on the EXCELLENT range for a "man my age," and I definitely could have hit more if I'd focused on my speed as I was not at all winded near the end of it--in fact, I actually found it easier to do them quickly than my usual slow-roll . . . and then after catching my breath thought, "This is ridiculous. They're just push-ups. And the first ten aren't even really hard. And it's only the fourteenth and fifteenth that really hurt." So I did 'em. And you know . . . push-ups really are hard, man. To think that back in the day I was able to knock out 25 of them . . . maybe even more, memory has grown brittle and sepia-ed.
ANYway . . .
Post shower naked weight: 199.6 pounds. Ta da. It makes me happy to see numbers under 200. Even if only for a moment.
And then blah blah blah.
ANYway . . .
Post shower naked weight: 199.6 pounds. Ta da. It makes me happy to see numbers under 200. Even if only for a moment.
And then blah blah blah.
Week 24: Thursday, 7/20/2017
Exercise:
One hour stationary bike with elliptical minutes 1, stretching, and "light" weights
1 Start
1:20____________2:21_____1:01
2797 steps_______9260_____6463 steps
165.3 calories____547.5_____382.2 calories
Aways to go yet, obviously, but I'm not totally ashamed to put this up at this point.
Exercise:
One hour stationary bike with elliptical minutes 1, stretching, and "light" weights
1 Start
1:20____________2:21_____1:01
2797 steps_______9260_____6463 steps
165.3 calories____547.5_____382.2 calories
Aways to go yet, obviously, but I'm not totally ashamed to put this up at this point.
Week 24: Friday, 7/21/2017
Exercise: 5 1/2 mile walk in the park this morning, 60 + minutes stationary bike + stretching + light weights + heavy weights . . . but I haven't gotten up the gumption to do those fifteen fucking push-ups yet. (What's up with that?)
During the walk, I ran a little bit . . . I'd say at least 1/4 of a mile in three spurts. It didn't feel completely awful. And on the stationary bike, I've gone over to the 8 minutes bike, 2 minutes elliptical . . . but pushed it to three minutes on one round and four minutes on another--for a total of 13 upright minutes. And that didn't feel awful, either. Hmmm. The disadvantage of that is that I get 90 to 100 "steps" whilst biking but only about 80 while ellipticaling, but what the fuck, right? Ram on, give your heart to somebody soon . . . right away.
During the walk, I ran a little bit . . . I'd say at least 1/4 of a mile in three spurts. It didn't feel completely awful. And on the stationary bike, I've gone over to the 8 minutes bike, 2 minutes elliptical . . . but pushed it to three minutes on one round and four minutes on another--for a total of 13 upright minutes. And that didn't feel awful, either. Hmmm. The disadvantage of that is that I get 90 to 100 "steps" whilst biking but only about 80 while ellipticaling, but what the fuck, right? Ram on, give your heart to somebody soon . . . right away.
Week 24: Saturday, 7/22/2017
Exercise: one hour stationary bike . . . though this time I did 3 minutes of upright elliptical in every ten minute segment, thus ended with 18 minutes upright. And it was a little challenging, especially on the last two or three, but it wasn't overwhelming, and it sure did get my heart rate banging. I clocked my heart at 160 beats per minute immediately after the upright three minutes on more than one occasion, and 160 is my Maximum Heart Rate according to the old formula. Which would have worried me a bit, but I didn't feel bad or weak or anything, and my heart rate dropped down pretty quickly once I went back to the sitting position. I probably need to look into this a bit to make sure it's copacetic, though.
Also, I was looking for a video and happened upon the hoodie that I was wearing in some of my Fat in Ireland pictures, so I had to do a little Update Gif. If anyone other than me is reading this, I'm sure that schtick is getting old, but it helps me to keep things in perspective, and helps me to feel good about this whole process, as even now it is very easy to get discouraged and feel like I am not making the progress I want to make. So without further ado:
Also, I was looking for a video and happened upon the hoodie that I was wearing in some of my Fat in Ireland pictures, so I had to do a little Update Gif. If anyone other than me is reading this, I'm sure that schtick is getting old, but it helps me to keep things in perspective, and helps me to feel good about this whole process, as even now it is very easy to get discouraged and feel like I am not making the progress I want to make. So without further ado:
May 9, 2014
July 22, 2017
Yowza. And I've got to say again . . . I had no idea of how fat I was back then. Just didn't see it. Just didn't want to see it. Just denied it. Mmm-hmm.
Week 24: Sunday, 7/23/2017
Exercise: one hour stationary bike (with 3 X 6 elliptical minutes), 15 push-ups, light + heavy weights ( = 25 minutes btw)
Exercise: one hour stationary bike (with 3 X 6 elliptical minutes), 15 push-ups, light + heavy weights ( = 25 minutes btw)
Week 24: Monday, 7/24/2017
Exercise: one hour stationary bike (with 3 X 5 + 1 X 5 = 20 elliptical minutes), 15 push-ups, heavy weights--now including 10 press
Also, I weighed in before exercise: 203.2 pounds. Weighed in after exercise and shower: 200.2 pounds. Strangely enough, I checked in again after fifteen or twenty minutes and it was reading 199.8. How did I lose .4 pounds by sitting on the sofa? Might be a moisture thing . . . as the scale does seem to be pretty accurate. ANYway . . . under 200 is where I want to be, for sure. Might have to lay off of the drinks for a little while. Not that it's that much, but it does add calories, and I almost always eat extra when I'm buzzed or drunk.
Also, I weighed in before exercise: 203.2 pounds. Weighed in after exercise and shower: 200.2 pounds. Strangely enough, I checked in again after fifteen or twenty minutes and it was reading 199.8. How did I lose .4 pounds by sitting on the sofa? Might be a moisture thing . . . as the scale does seem to be pretty accurate. ANYway . . . under 200 is where I want to be, for sure. Might have to lay off of the drinks for a little while. Not that it's that much, but it does add calories, and I almost always eat extra when I'm buzzed or drunk.
Week 25: Tuesday, 7/25/2017
Oh, hey, look, it's Week 25. It actually doesn't feel like 24 weeks and a day since I started on this journey. But I think about that me and I feel pretty blessed--to use a word I'm not in the habit of using. Definitely in part because of the 60 pound weight loss, but more importantly, I think, because I feel better, eat better, am stronger, and have significantly increased my projected life span. And this exercise every day thing has actually become enjoyable. In fact, I just finished the stationary bike thing for today--
Exercise: 62 minutes on stationary bike, 10 minutes of which were spent in upright elliptical mode. Maximum heart rate was at 160 beats per minute . . . possibly a tad more. Already hit 10,198 steps for the day and burned 603 calories. Speaking of steps, I think the upright elliptical steps might be registering more than the sitting bicycle steps. Further investigation on this topic is needed.
--and during the course of the 62 minutes that I spent on the machine I watched most of a documentary on Nelson Algren (The End is Nothing, The Road is All) which (1) was excellent, (2) made me want to read some--or possibly all of--Nelson Algren, and (3) featured several segments of an interview with Kurt Vonnegut. So that was time well spent. And I also have the option of listening to a book on tape (so to speak) as I ride or even just reading a book--though I'd have to figure out a way to do that when I switch to stand up mode. But it could be done, I think. So it's not just an "now I have to spend an hour exercising" for me. In fact, it's more of a "I'm going to watch a movie for an hour . . . and I might as well move my legs while I do it" thing.
I also cut my grass . . . and at the moment (5:34 pm) my pedometer says that I've taken 18,895 steps and burned 1,117.2 calories. Yowza. And there's still a short day's journey into the night, so I'm thinking it's going to be a 20,000 step day. Woo hoo.
Oh, and post cutting the grass and post shower I did a weigh in and
Beware the savage jaw.
Week 25: Wednesday, 7/26/2017
Exercise: 63 minutes on the bike, 20 of them elliptical + stretching + light + heavy weights. Also cut Mary's grass.
Week 25: Thursday, 7/27/2017
Wondering if anyone is actually looking at this page, so a little head count:
611 hits as of 2:07 pm on 7/11/17
and
729 hits as of 7:58 am on 7/27/17, so obviously SOMEbody is checking this shit out. Well, thanks.
I am thinking pretty hard about getting myself back onto the weighing and more consciously limiting my food intake, as I seem to have "settled in" around the 200 to 205 pound mark, and I would really like to push down a bit more. I think 180 pounds is my goal. And while I don't seem to have gained weight in the past couple of weeks, I haven't made any progress, either. (It's actually not easy to see if I've gained per se in that my weight seems to fluctuate a good five pounds or more during the course of the day, depending on shitting and pissing and eating and drinking and sweating). Although another factor is certainly that I have had a few drinks in the past couple of weeks, and normally I don't drink at all. So maybe I'll do attend to that first--stop drinking for a week or two--and see if that kicks something loose. 'Cause it is for sure a drag to weigh and count every damned thing you eat. I guess that's why people are willing to pay NutriSystem, Weight Watchers, etc. all that money for their shitty food . . . because it's all pre-weighed, so you don't have to think about that stuff. But the truth is that it is pretty shitty food, and you can do a lot better on your own if you can stomach it. So to speak.
More news as it happens.
Exercise: 62 minutes on the bike. Did a different approach this time. Instead of doing 7 bike / 3 elliptical X 5 and then finishing with 5 bike / 5 elliptical (for a total of 20 upright minutes and a heart attack), I went to 6 1/2 minutes bike / 3 1/2 minutes elliptical . . . which gave me 21 total upright minutes and a milder heart attack. Think I'll stick with that for a bit, then slowly expand--like to 6/4 and so forth. Don't know how far I can go with that, but it would be good to push it a bit. Being in the elliptical position is definitely more challenging than being in the bike position.
Also did stretching and the "light" weights, but didn't have it in me to do the push-ups. Later, for sure. Funny how I dread them more than any other exercise, though, ennit?
Oh, hey, look, it's Week 25. It actually doesn't feel like 24 weeks and a day since I started on this journey. But I think about that me and I feel pretty blessed--to use a word I'm not in the habit of using. Definitely in part because of the 60 pound weight loss, but more importantly, I think, because I feel better, eat better, am stronger, and have significantly increased my projected life span. And this exercise every day thing has actually become enjoyable. In fact, I just finished the stationary bike thing for today--
Exercise: 62 minutes on stationary bike, 10 minutes of which were spent in upright elliptical mode. Maximum heart rate was at 160 beats per minute . . . possibly a tad more. Already hit 10,198 steps for the day and burned 603 calories. Speaking of steps, I think the upright elliptical steps might be registering more than the sitting bicycle steps. Further investigation on this topic is needed.
--and during the course of the 62 minutes that I spent on the machine I watched most of a documentary on Nelson Algren (The End is Nothing, The Road is All) which (1) was excellent, (2) made me want to read some--or possibly all of--Nelson Algren, and (3) featured several segments of an interview with Kurt Vonnegut. So that was time well spent. And I also have the option of listening to a book on tape (so to speak) as I ride or even just reading a book--though I'd have to figure out a way to do that when I switch to stand up mode. But it could be done, I think. So it's not just an "now I have to spend an hour exercising" for me. In fact, it's more of a "I'm going to watch a movie for an hour . . . and I might as well move my legs while I do it" thing.
I also cut my grass . . . and at the moment (5:34 pm) my pedometer says that I've taken 18,895 steps and burned 1,117.2 calories. Yowza. And there's still a short day's journey into the night, so I'm thinking it's going to be a 20,000 step day. Woo hoo.
Oh, and post cutting the grass and post shower I did a weigh in and
Beware the savage jaw.
Week 25: Wednesday, 7/26/2017
Exercise: 63 minutes on the bike, 20 of them elliptical + stretching + light + heavy weights. Also cut Mary's grass.
Week 25: Thursday, 7/27/2017
611 hits as of 2:07 pm on 7/11/17
and
729 hits as of 7:58 am on 7/27/17, so obviously SOMEbody is checking this shit out. Well, thanks.
I am thinking pretty hard about getting myself back onto the weighing and more consciously limiting my food intake, as I seem to have "settled in" around the 200 to 205 pound mark, and I would really like to push down a bit more. I think 180 pounds is my goal. And while I don't seem to have gained weight in the past couple of weeks, I haven't made any progress, either. (It's actually not easy to see if I've gained per se in that my weight seems to fluctuate a good five pounds or more during the course of the day, depending on shitting and pissing and eating and drinking and sweating). Although another factor is certainly that I have had a few drinks in the past couple of weeks, and normally I don't drink at all. So maybe I'll do attend to that first--stop drinking for a week or two--and see if that kicks something loose. 'Cause it is for sure a drag to weigh and count every damned thing you eat. I guess that's why people are willing to pay NutriSystem, Weight Watchers, etc. all that money for their shitty food . . . because it's all pre-weighed, so you don't have to think about that stuff. But the truth is that it is pretty shitty food, and you can do a lot better on your own if you can stomach it. So to speak.
More news as it happens.
Exercise: 62 minutes on the bike. Did a different approach this time. Instead of doing 7 bike / 3 elliptical X 5 and then finishing with 5 bike / 5 elliptical (for a total of 20 upright minutes and a heart attack), I went to 6 1/2 minutes bike / 3 1/2 minutes elliptical . . . which gave me 21 total upright minutes and a milder heart attack. Think I'll stick with that for a bit, then slowly expand--like to 6/4 and so forth. Don't know how far I can go with that, but it would be good to push it a bit. Being in the elliptical position is definitely more challenging than being in the bike position.
Also did stretching and the "light" weights, but didn't have it in me to do the push-ups. Later, for sure. Funny how I dread them more than any other exercise, though, ennit?
Week 25: Friday, 7/28/2017
Did the bike / elliptical. It was hard. Didn't do anything else.
Week 25: Saturday, 7/29/2017
A Full Monty Day . . . even those 15 fuckin' push-ups. But y'know, I started thinking about that. When I first started doing push-ups, I was only doing 5 . . . and THAT was hard. So I should probably feel pretty okay about being at 15, and stop thinking about it as this big thing. Just do it, motherfucker.
Week 25: Sunday, 7/30/2017
A Half-Monty Day, so to speak, but I did not hesitate when it came to those push-ups today. (But I have to say, after 10 is hard, after 13 is very hard, and 15 is right at my limit most days.)
But some very exciting news today. Post exercise I did my weigh in, and these are the numbers I saw
That's a new low. Feeling strong now, man. (After lunch it was 199 even, though, so you can see how long that lasted.)
Of course, this is with me selecting the angle and pose. I still have a good 18 pounds or so to lose, for sure. But seeing progress is a necessity, I know. Maybe now more than ever before, actually.
Week 25: Monday, 7/31/2017
Exercise:
9:33 835 steps 49.3 calories
10:52 6863 steps 405.8 calories
1 hour 19 minutes 6,028 steps 356.5 calories
And then 15 push-ups. And then the "light" weights.
Onward to Week 26.
Did the bike / elliptical. It was hard. Didn't do anything else.
Week 25: Saturday, 7/29/2017
A Full Monty Day . . . even those 15 fuckin' push-ups. But y'know, I started thinking about that. When I first started doing push-ups, I was only doing 5 . . . and THAT was hard. So I should probably feel pretty okay about being at 15, and stop thinking about it as this big thing. Just do it, motherfucker.
Week 25: Sunday, 7/30/2017
A Half-Monty Day, so to speak, but I did not hesitate when it came to those push-ups today. (But I have to say, after 10 is hard, after 13 is very hard, and 15 is right at my limit most days.)
But some very exciting news today. Post exercise I did my weigh in, and these are the numbers I saw
That's a new low. Feeling strong now, man. (After lunch it was 199 even, though, so you can see how long that lasted.)
Of course, this is with me selecting the angle and pose. I still have a good 18 pounds or so to lose, for sure. But seeing progress is a necessity, I know. Maybe now more than ever before, actually.
Week 25: Monday, 7/31/2017
Exercise:
9:33 835 steps 49.3 calories
10:52 6863 steps 405.8 calories
1 hour 19 minutes 6,028 steps 356.5 calories
And then 15 push-ups. And then the "light" weights.
Onward to Week 26.
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