My job on a Friday, in addition to my usual work of writing a food journal and measuring my portions with care, is to get ready for Saturday. That’s when I weigh myself. Today, it didn’t go so well – not entirely my fault. It was unusual.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – none (00)
- 0 calories
Lunch – chocolate (200); ice cream (200); ice cream bar (150);
- 550 calories
Dinner – Italian sausage (270); 5oz pulled pork (250); bread (70);
- 590 calories
Snacking – pretzels (110); cheese (50); chicken (200); cookie (110); tea with half and half (80);
- 550 calories
Total for the day: 1690 calories (limit 1700)
Out of balance today
If you look at my journal entry, I didn’t have any breakfast. I didn’t feel well and my stomach felt in knots, I don’t know why. I also had a very unusual lunch – chocolate and ice cream. I don’t usually find that satisfying for lunch. Then I started to feel better after 2PM and by 6PM I was ravenous and only wanted meat. I had meat for dinner. I had meat and cheese for snack. Then I finished it all off with a cookie and tea. In effect, I ate the day’s worth of calories all in the second half of the day. Not only that, I don’t feel well. Combine those facts and despite my good week of dieting I doubt the scale will have good news for me tomorrow. I could be wrong. It’s a prediction.
My calorie average for the week was under 1600 per day. That’s usually good territory for losing 1-2 pounds. But the weighing tomorrow may be a disappointment.
It’s happened before that I get on the scale and have lost an amazing amount of weight. Just recently I went from 230 to 225 pounds in one week. The week after I hardly lost a thing, even though I dieted well. There is variation in the short term, but in the long term I have been losing almost 2 pounds per week, which is excellent results. I have done really well the last two months going from 234 to 219 pounds. My original aim was to lose 120 pounds and get down to 205. That is getting closer.
As a matter of fact it’s making me quite impatient. By now I thought I would look thin! I don’t, at least not naked. I’m still fairly wobbly around my stomach, legs and arms. Less than before. I can now fit into some size 40 pants, breathing optional. Will there really be that big a change in the next few pounds? I decided some time ago that I will probably experiment with a final weight around 185 to 190 pounds. Maybe that will make a difference.
That is all to come. For now, I just want to get better.
-The Doctor
Hey Doc, first CONGRATULATIONS! What an accomplishment, especially the maintenance for more than 1 year. Now, for the stick… there will always be some body wobble unless you venture to unhealthy on the other side of your experiment. For me, some of the wobble is permanent. 30 years of varying levels of fatness stretched my skin on my belly, legs and arms. That skin will not go back, especially not at my age. The mindset, it is a reminder and a reminder of the hard work I have done. More than imagine yourself as a thin man (you are a average thin man now by the way), use math (science). For your ideal weight what should your caloric intake be on a daily basis? Transition, and start to eat your maintenance calories. You need to learn to get off the elevator effectively – this part was just a journey. Maintenance – keeping a calorie balance – is the rest of life for a healthy diet, mindset and person.