Every week, on Saturday, I weigh myself. This act is so important to weight control that I get my whole family to participate. If you don’t know how much you weigh, and in what direction you are going, it will be hard to lose weight over a long term period, or control your weight for an even longer period (the rest of your life). It is also important to learn how your eating affects your weight in subtler ways. For example: how many calories per day, and per week, can you have and lose weight? Stay the same? Gain? That kind of self knowledge comes from weighing. What else can cause weight gain? Illness? A large meal the night before you weigh yourself?
On another level, counting calories and keeping a food journal only goes so far. The proof is your body’s weight.
No picture day; clothes shopping
Sadly, the Doctor did not lose weight this week. In fact, my weight went up to 239.4, which is very unlikely. I hope I’m not getting sick. I did have a very large Indian buffet lunch Thursday, and I have been hitting the candy and cookies hard due to the cold weather (or that’s what I’m telling myself, anyway).
But looking through my food journal I can see half a dozen periods in the last year where I didn’t lose, or else gained weight. It’s almost always illness related, though not always. Since the weight control lifestyle is attractive and I find it fulfilling, it’s easy to keep going even in the face of a week of gaining weight. Every other time it’s happened, I have always started losing again 1-2 weeks later. It’s not too disheartaning either, as the long term trend is good.
Weighing yourself is important, but it is only one way to look at your body’s condition. No matter how much weight you have lost, going clothes shopping is another great way to measure your body and see where you really are. The sizes don’t lie (much), there are mirrors everywhere, and you have to be really realistic about what fits you and how. The clothes and mirrors don’t care that you have lost 80 pounds. They only can hang on your body now.
In dress shirts, I was able to fit nicely into a 17″ neck, but the sleeve length was crucial. I was up to 18 or 18 1/2 neck size when I weighed over 300 pounds. In winter coats, 2XL was a better fit than anything else, but slightly large on me now. I could fit into XL, but it was slightly tight. My old winter coat was 3XL. And in suit and sport coats, I was between 46L and 48L (closer to 46). I know that my waist is taking size 44 pants comfortably. Size 46 pants are rather big on me now.
The reality, though, is that I am roughly 40 pounds heavier than I should be (looking at the weight charts online). The size and fit of the clothes on my body reflect that. I will know that I have reached a good weight, I think, when I am in size 38 pants and they are comfortable. I’m not sure how coat size and shirt size will change. I am between sizes right now.
I will try to make sure next week is a good week. The better I live, the better I like controlling my weight.
-The Doctor