Fourteenth Weigh-In: Overkill

I know I'm very late in posting this, especially considering it's good news. We have out-of-town guests and I'm distracted by the fun we're having. Sue me! (Please don't.)

You'll recall that last week I put out a contract on the five pounds I gained. Well, the weight assassin went to work. He even put in a little overtime. I'm down eight-and-a-half pounds! I attribute it to two things: daily weigh-ins and consistent exercise.
Getting on a scale every day can be a scary thing. You'll be down a pound one day and up two the next day. It can be an emotional roller coaster. To keep things in perspective I applied a trending formula used by stock analysts for decades.

It turns this . . .

. . . into this.

The blue dots are my daily weights. They're all over the place! The red line is the trend. This is a good trend as it's heading down. As long as I keep my daily weights below the trend line they will "pull the trend line down." (That's good.) If a daily weight comes in above the trend line, it will "pull the trend line up." (That's bad.)

I walked for at least an hour six days last week.  Technically I speed walk as I'm going more than 3.7 miles per hour, but I don't like the idea of being associated with those heel-toe-heel-toe weirdos.  I walk fast.  Period.  I skip Sundays.  The body needs to rest.  Two days last week I set a personal best distance which led to a personal best total weekly distance.  Here is something I never thought I'd write.  I'm actually enjoying the exercise.  My ipod is loaded with about sixty hours of audio-book goodness and that makes the time fly by.

All in all, I have to say that I'm happy with my progress.  I know I've got to keep working.  I can't coast.  (Keep the blue dots down!)  The work is manageable.  At times, it's enjoyable.

Thirteenth Weigh-In: The Vendetta

I gained five FLIPPIN' pounds according to my scale!

WHO'S TO BLAME!?!

Me.

Turns out when you let the exercise slide, stop tracking your intake, and generally eat like an A-hole; you gain weight. Rather than get depressed, eat too much because I'm depressed, gain weight because I'm eating too much, (rinse: repeat) I vowed to put out a contract on that five pounds. Scratch that. I'm taking out their friend too. The hit man is gunning for SIX pounds. Trust me you don't want to get in his way.

I've walked an hour each day since "The Weigh-In That Dare Not Show Its Face." I've been tracking my intake like a palace scribe with his life on the line. (I assume a scribe in such a predicament would do his job really, really well so as not to upset his masters.) I've been weighing myself daily and trending the results, but that's just because I'm a nerd and like to apply trending formulas to my data. (Yay, charts!)

I'd better buy a half-dozen roses to lay on each of these pounds' gaves. They'll be taking a dirt nap soon enough.

Twelfth Weigh-In

I love walking.  I've got a couple of reasons.  First, I have more energy throughout the day. 

Second, I'm catching up a on a new (to me) podcast.  The Metamor City Podcast is a long-running science fiction/fantasy podcast.  Chris Lester has created a traditional epic fantasy world (think Lord of the Rings) and advanced it a thousand years or so.  In this world where magic and technology have advanced hand-in-hand several short stories and novels have been and are currently being written.  At about an hour per episode it suits my walks quite well.

The biggest reason walking is so great is that it saved me from myself.  I decided to give myself a pass on Tuesday this week.  I could eat anything I wanted.  It turned out that I wanted a six-piece Original Recipe chicken strip meal from Kentucky Fried Chicken.  That includes a biscuit and two sides.  I chose mashed potatoes and gravy and potato wedges.  After taking a in a mother lode of fat and carbohydrates two days before my weigh-in, I still lost!  It wasn't a big loss, but it was certainly more than I deserved after doing what I did.

This weekend is going to be crazy and the prep for it was a factor in my decision to give myself a pass.  Next week I start a new quarter at the tech. school so I should be able to get my intake back under control.  Think of the amazing things I'll be able to do with a reasonable diet AND exercise!  It's going to be crazy.

Eleventh Weigh-In

So this is how I look now. Yup, I even dyed my hair and beard. 
No, not really. I'm doing well, but not miraculously. I lost another two pounds this week in spite of not tracking my intake well. I can thank my new walking schedule for that I'm sure.

Instead of trying to become a runner I've decided to focus on burning calories. Longer, slower workouts are what I need. I try to get in a total of one hour of speed walking (3.5 mph or faster) six days a week. That ends up being nearly 3500 calories burned each week. A pound of fat contains 3500 calories. Even if I wasn't eating any differently I'd lose a pound a week!

SCIENCE!!

The picture is my character in City of Heroes the massively multi-player online role-playing game. I downloaded a free seven-day trial to pass the time during spring break.  That may explain the lateness of this update.  Speaking of which I have to go.  There's a city to save.

Tenth Weigh-In (St. Patrick's Day)

I seem to have bounced back from last week's shortened and disappointing week. In fact, I've mostly made up for last week, and earned a new achievement. That's right! I've lost a Phoebe. That is, I have lost as much as my daughter weighs. It's crazy that the two of us on the scale at the same time weigh less than I did by myself ten weeks ago.

Today is St. Patrick's Day and a perfect illustration of how I have been able to lose weight without denying myself. We had corned beef and cabbage and boiled potatoes. I even made Irish soda bread. I just used our awesome digital scale to dish up reduced portions. Three ounces of corned beef is very satisfying.

Also, just in case she wasn't the coolest wife ever, Mthr. M-G made me a knock-off Shamrock Shake (R). She used skim milk and non-fat icecream, but the substitutions did not ruin my joy at reuniting with my old friend. As you can see, the portion was controlled as well. Ten ounces of creamy green delight is just enough to scratch that minty itch.

Mthr. M-G, I think Uncle O'Grimacey would be proud.