Cruise update

I'm back.  We had a great time, even with all five of us in one small (very small!) cabin.  Therese and I did tour the fitness center on the ship, and marveled over all the fancy machines, but that was pretty much it for me.  They also had a jogging track that I didn't use.  (I did think it would be funny to wear the GPS watch while running around and around the jogging track while the ship was moving, then check the map printout.  It would be just a huge curly cue well out to sea.)

As expected, the food was good and abundant.  You could have Chateaubriand with a side of Chateaubriand, not that I did that.  Much.  There was a chocolate buffet one day, but luckily no midnight buffet.  And we did walk a little, since our room was in the fore part of the ship and the dining room was aft...

So, the envelope please!  11.8 pounds.  Up, of course.  Which I an actually VERY happy with.  On one hand, I'm back in the 260's (260.8), which is depressing.  On the other hand, I can gain 12 pounds in a weekend at home, so after a week on a cruise ship I expected massive damage, not just 12 pounds.

But since 12 pounds is 12 pounds (and since Therese and I signed up for a half marathon in 5 weeks), it's time to head out for a run.  I also want to do this in 3 weeks (Therese thinks the half is a good place to start, so 50 miles), so I've got to train for that as well.  I'm running out of time...

Getting ready for my cruise

Looks like I once again will not reach a pre-vacation goal.  I wanted to get in the 240's before I went to Hawaii and didn't make it till I got back, and I wanted to get in the 230's before the cruise and 243 was as close as I got (a few weeks ago, ugh!).  This past Friday I was up to 249.  I'm playing basketball tomorrow, but we leave Friday afternoon, so the 230s will have to wait until September.  Until that time, enjoy this picture of the weight that Therese apparently hopes to get down to, since she's clearly not happy with her current weight.

There are so many things wrong with this photo...

Hat tip to Dan Flook for the pic.

Body fat percentage update

I had Peggy check me again last week (thanks, Peggy!), and I'm down to 23.65% now.  When I was measured in December I was 26.6% and I was 29% when I started.  Those numbers don't seem that impressive, but when cleaning off my desk over the weekend, I did find a piece of paper from my original body fat analysis where one method (there are several ways to derive the number) had me at 34%, so I'm down more than 10% from that number.  I'm not sure why (other than embarrassment) I used the 29% number officially.  I apparently still have 58 pounds of total fat on me (247 x .2365), so a zero body fat Jim would weigh 189.  I'd be happy to split the difference and lose 29 more pounds and be 218.

But my new percentage is exciting because now I'm just overweight!  Goodbye obese category!  (BTW, there's no feeling in the world like dieting and exercising for almost a year to get "down" to ... "overweight"?  What an accomplishment!)

Here's a chart I found online:

Men

Age	Underfat	Healthy Range	Overweight	Obese
20-40 yrs	Under 8%	8-19%	19-25%	Over 25%
41-60 yrs	Under 11%	11-22%	22-27%	Over 27%
61-79 yrs	Under 13%	13-25%	25-30%	Over 30%

So another 4.65% gets me to the "healthy" range.

Drew Carey loses 80 pounds in 8 months!

Wow, way to make me look like a piker!  That's an insane pace, and good for him.  I just hope he keeps it up.  At least I'm not a public figure so there's not nearly the pressure that he has.

It sounds like he's doing hard core Atkins, which is even more impressive, since I know how hard that diet is.  I mean really, 8 months of no bread??  I can't go 8 minutes...

Working out hard and...

...gaining weight?? I don't get it. I know that I don't exactly exist on salads and egg white omelets, but come on. 18 miles on the bike Tuesday, 5 1/2 miles running yesterday morning then 1.5 hours of tennis in the evening, then 18 more miles on the bike today, and I'm still up 3 pounds from last week. It just doesn't seem possible. I guess the one thing I missed this week was my basketball game Tuesday night (stupid Steve Miller concert), but that shouldn't make this much difference. I'm working on the 4th straight week not making a new low. I'm running out of time to reach my 230's goal before the cruise! And a possible beach trip to NJ next week isn't going to help things.

At least I'm not eating any of these:

Can you believe KFC's Double Down (which has chicken patties for buns and bacon and cheese in the middle) has barely over 1/3 the calories of the Friendly's Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt?  So you could eat 3 of them!

Hmmm, what would Homer order?

How far would this set me back?

Hat tip to Mark Sparacino for this one.  1500 calories and 79 grams of fat might just be worth it!

Yes, you saw that correctly.  The sandwich, at Friendly's, uses two grilled cheeses as the bun!

(BTW, I just looked it up.  That would be 37 points on Weight Watchers!  More than a whole day's worth!)

Things I learned this week

1. When biking a long distance on a sunny day, a short shirt that rides up a bit above the waist when bent over pedaling will leave a nasty inch tall sunburn line.  Kind of like a red belt!

2. Even though I thought I had gotten better, I still stink at tennis.  (Thanks, Anil!)

3. Cycling does get easier.  Obviously it should, just like running, but it seems to be happening pretty quickly.  I've gone from 12 or 13 miles to a little over 20 in a couple weeks.

4. My problem isn't the working out, it's the EATING.  Does anyone know of a safe, effective appetite suppressant?  I took phenteramine for a few weeks once, and it worked great for a little while, but then the effectiveness wore off.

Looking ahead...

...because I don't want to look back and see more failure.  Yes, I was up a bit this week.  But I was working out really hard, and I'm getting more fit.  I think I've just been "carbing up" a bit too much lately. 

But looking ahead, I realize that I only have about 6 weeks till my one year anniversary.  [I wonder what I should get myself for my anniversary?  Candy?  Flowers?  Gym membership?]  Therefore, I need to set a one year goal.  I think the goal should be reaching the 230's at least.  But that doesn't seem like that much of a stretch from here (Ha, famous last words!), so maybe something harder?  220's?  Unrealistic, I'm afraid.  Let's split the difference and say 235.  That's more than 10 from where I am today, so that seems reasonable.

I also plan on making my official "year" weigh in on August 20th, since the next day we leave for a week long cruise.  The cruise ends only a week before my Sept 3rd anniversary date, so I think the safer course is to weigh in for the year before the cruise, even if that does mean fudging it a little. 

Peggy, I'm also going to enlist your help again since I'll need to do a one year update on the body fat percentage.  You'd hope that 60 or so pounds should make a big difference!

As a bookkeeping matter, I've decided to stop measuring my total weight loss from the 295 I was the first week and instead measure from the 301 that I got up to before I started the blog.  That's realistically how I think about it.  I didn't do it that way at first b/c I didn't want to confuse the matter, but now that I'm so far into it I'm going to make the switch.

Almost made it back

I was up .2 this week. Like most weeks, that was a major accomplishment. I was up a full 12 pounds as of Tuesday morning, so I've lost about 11.8 in the last 3 days. I know this reads like a broken record, but wouldn't it be great if I could just maintain over the weekend and then be down a bunch the following week? Oh wait, it happened a couple weeks ago and I had my biggest weekly loss since the first week! So that would work! Now to set about doing it this weekend. Last weekend was a little tough with the holiday and all, and I'll have Erin staying here this weekend to keep me honest.

50+ pounds!!

Well, today was a milestone day.  I was 243.2 after this morning's bike/run twofer, and the 6.6 that I was down was the most since my very first week of blogging, back in September.  It also put me down 51.4 pounds since the blog started, so I feel good about that, also.  I also realized the other day that I've been doing this for 10 MONTHS now, which I truly can't believe.  I guess that puts my monthly average at 5.14 pounds, which seems like a reasonable pace.  But it hasn't been a nice, smooth, regular 5.14 per month but a series of plateaus and then drops.  Someday if I have time I'll use Excel to plot a line graph which should look pretty interesting.

The reason I'm down so much this week is b/c I've been a working man.  I took some leave Mon-Weds and spent the time pulling weeds and trimming bushes/trees and putting down mulch in 100 degree weather.  And also eating well and exercising at night.  I did start to feel it on Tuesday at hoops when after two games I had absolutely nothing in the tank and had to sit.  Normally I'm the guy wanting to run full court to get a better workout, but I was spent.  Today I did a little tri practice by riding for 12 miles and then running.  Big E, I'm not sure I'll be ready for the 14.06 b/c I was dying today.  Let's see what another week brings.

I also took some updated pictures last week and this week.  I haven't updated the slide show yet, but I'm going to soon.  I'd like to see if I can tell a difference.

Long time, no blog

Hi both of you,

When last we left our intrepid blogger, he was celebrating an all time low.  Then things changed a little.  He want from 248ish a week ago Thursday to 261ish last Tuesday.  No foolin'.  Apparently a long weekend in NJ eating buckets of Johnson's Popcorn as well as filet and pizza and whatever the heck else was within freakin' arm's reach will do that to you.  Who knew?

But from 261 Tuesday I lost about 12 pounds by this past Saturday, when I "officially" weighed in for the week.  I was back to 249.8, which is where I was on June 11th.  Then I decided to try to not blimp up this past weekend, and I was still in the high 240's today instead of up a bunch.  Granted, I spent several hours in 100 degree weather Sunday pulling weeds, and then a couple more today putting down mulch, but whatever it takes, right?

On a side note, I'd like to welcome spammer Jay to the program with my first spam comment.  Go Acai berry!!

Slow and steady wins the race, right?

I was down another 1.4 this week.  Not this morning mind you, when I was up 2, but this afternoon, after running 3 in the hot sun.  But I'm happy with 1.4 a week, if I can do that consistentlty.  1.4 per week from now until the (maybe) St. Lucia trip in January would be another 40 pounds, and I'm only trying to lose another 30.  Therese bought the Insanity workout DVDs off ebay this afternoon, so we're going to start doing those.  Anyone here have any experience with it?  I hear it's incredibly hard.

The weigh in I've been waiting to see!

New all time low!

Saturday evening, after Erin and I worked on my car in the heat of the day for 3 hours, I stepped on the scale and saw 249.8!  I called Therese in to verify it.  Naturally, much of it was due to dehydration, but even so I was very excited.  November 19th of last year was the first time I got into the 250's, so it only took me 6 1/2 months to lose ten pounds!  At this pace, I'll be in the 230's by January!

Of course, since it's me we're talking about, I celebrated my accomplishment with a big steak dinner Saturday night (although I didn't actually finish the whole steak!).  I didn't work out yesterday, but I'll be back on the wagon today.  I just want the official weigh in later this week to show something in the 240s and I'll be happy.

Thursday Weigh-in, Friday Edition

I was 252.2 yesterday after my afternoon run.  That's down 1.6 from last week.  I don't have multiple barbeques to go to this weekend, so I'm hopeful things continue to improve.  This morning after racquetball with Anil I was 251.6, which is only a couple tenths off my lowest yet.  I'm going to try Peggy's gallon of water suggestion, and Joan is absolutely right that I need to start strength training.  I just find it very boring.  Maybe I could invent a game that involves lifting weights...

Weigh in coming today...

I weighed in this morning and I was down from last week, but just a little.  I'm going to try to run or cycle this afternoon and see if I can juice the number a bit more.  Sit tight!  (I know you're all on the edge of your seat wondering what the number is, right?  No?)

Back to the grind

So the weekend is even more challenging when there's an extra day of it!  We attended 3 barbeques this weekend (and turned down a fourth b/c the kids got sick), plus I ordered pizza on Saturday night.  At least I made an effort at counteracting the food with some exercise:  racquetball Friday, Frisbee Saturday and tennis Monday.  Even so I was back up to 259.6 this morning.  I think that's probably a little less than after last weekend, but last weekend I had a two hour soccer game on Monday night to help me.  We played hoops tonight and I'm hoping to play more Frisbee tomorrow night, so I have some hope of being down this week.  But as of this morning its going to take about 6 pounds to get there...

Another picture from Dan F.

Hopefully nobody will be serving these this weekend!

Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated

I know I don't post as often these days, but it's because I don't want to sound like a broken record.  For six months now I've just maintained my weight.  Sometimes I get discouraged and stop trying for a few days and gain a few pounds.  Then I get annoyed that I wasted all that exercise and work so I lose those same few pounds back.  Like many people, I'm just stuck in a rut.  I'm exercise plenty, I just eat too much.  And besides being swimsuit season, this is also barbeque season.  What's a meat-loving former fat guy to do?? 

It's depressing b/c instead of being excited by the upcoming long weekend, I'm dreading it.  I only lose weight during the week, when I have my regular routine and normal sized meals.  This weekend is full of pitfalls, with poker Friday and cookouts to attend ALL THREE weekend days.  All I'm thinking about is how to get through the weekend without blimping up again.  (And for all of you whose advice is "Just don't eat that much," that's not particularly helpful.  Obviously if I had that level of self control, I would never have been 300 pounds in the first place...)

After last weekend, I was in the low 260's.  (I didn't weigh myself b/c I just knew that I was.  After 6 months of being in the same narrow range, I pretty much know what my weight is without weighing.)  This morning (after soccer Monday, hoops Tuesday and track workout last night) I'm 253.8.  So once again the cycle continues.  My goal this week will be to break that cycle.  I have determined that this will be the week that I remain strong over the weekend and hit a new low next time. 

One last note:  Welcome to new watcher "Katty Z" from the Czech Republic!

What would 50 pounds look like??

From my buddy Dan Flook: