Weight control is mostly mental. Your body follows along behind, a lagging indicator. What makes the difference, mentally?
- Your body’s weight has to be one of the most important parts of your life. If anything else is at the top of your value structure, you will probably be out of control and gain weight.
- Weight “control” partly means that you know your body’s weight. I know mine (now) but for many years I only had a vague idea. During that time I went from 240 to 320+ pounds. Now I weigh weekly.
- Eating and food have to be connected to physical need. If you honestly think about why you are eating and challenge yourself, you will find most of us have gotten into the habit of eating for other reasons.
Last week I weighed 214.2 pounds, and this is 1.4 pounds less! That is progress, and I won’t complain that losing 2 pounds would have been better. Since starting weight control as a lifestyle I have lost:
Closer to the target
I originally said I wanted to lose 120 pounds, which would take me to a body weight of 205 pounds. I’m not so sure about that target now that I am closer. Maybe I want to weigh a bit less than 205. I’ve looked in the mirror at 212.8 pounds and am not satisfied! But before I move the goalposts, I have to note that I am less than 10 pounds away from that goal of 205 pounds. It’s 7.8 pounds away. That’s just 5-6 weeks at the current rate.
According to my calorie log, this week I ate 11,452 calories and had a daily average of 1,636 calories. According to my FitBit pedometer, this week I burned 27,818 calories for a daily average of 3,974 calories. The difference is 16,366 calories. By the strict rules of 3500 calories of deficit for one pound, I should have lost 4 pounds this week! So it is not straightforward. At this point I am just happy to be down over a pound. Once I have more data I can start looking at the link between exercise and weight loss more carefully.
I do have one more week of data. Last week I lost 2 pounds, burned 25,718 calories and ate 11,627 calories. You see the problem: fewer calories burned, slightly more calories eaten, but more weight loss. I am not sure what to make of that, but I guess there is some variation in how the body works from week to week.
Week one: 11,627 calories in; 25,718 calories out. Loss: 2 pounds.
Week two: 11,452 calories in; 27,818 calories out. Loss: 1.4 pounds.
We’ll pretend I was building muscle, ok?
-The Doctor
1.2 pounds DOWN is preferable to even .2 pounds UP, so I celebrate with you. You’re on a winning streak: ride it with a grin.