Friday, June 5, 2009

Doing a 180

It is hard to believe that I am excited to see 180's on the weight scale again. Harder still to believe that I had to loose 10% of my body weight to get there, and that at 185, I would still be considered "overweight"!


I think the "Natural Man" must be quite oblivious to the small changes which lead to being far off course. I'm also working on a "entropy" theory of weight gain, in that a system (fitness/weight) tend to go from order (fit/trim) to disorder (unfit/overweight) unless energy (eating well/exercising) is expended to maintain it. It still needs some work.

I subscribe to the "physics" diet. That is, if you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. You can eat less. You can burn more. I'm trying to do both. Eating so you are not hungry or feel deprived is the real trick. I've been going to Weight Watchers meetings, an admission I would rank up there with being on antidepressants. It provides a convenient way to monitor calories, as well as a support group and positive reinforcement (you can get a round of applause for just showing up). Great Grandma posted a great summary of how it works. The male/female ratio is about 1:20, which would raise some interesting dynamics if I weren't attending with my significant other.

My biggest motivation has been charting my daily weight online (as shown above). It provides rapid feedback as to whether I'm on track or not. I am also enjoying not being so out of breath at the top of the stairs (I work on the third floor now), and feel I have more energy now (even though I work at a desk all day now).

Now, if I could just do a 170!

3 comments:

Eldon and Janeil Olsen said...

You will get to 170! Notice the wide swings are gone from your chart which means you've got it figured out.

We had whole kernel cooked wheat with honey for breakfast. That's filling and low points!

I'm jealous of that 10% keychain you won and am working hard for it, hopefully this week. (10% of my weight was less than 10% of yours.)

I just wish you'd get some jeans that fit. Those would fall off if you weren't wearing a belt!

Gail said...

Congratulations! And having the courage to report is duly acknowledged!

You made me laugh - the antidepressant comment. When Grant was home from his mission he got a letter he shared, from a friend who was a zone leader and said that he personally didn't believe in taking medications, but that he made sure all his missionaries took theirs!!

brenda said...

This calls for a swimsuit photo shoot!