It’s Saturday! Saturday is the day I have set aside for my weight monitoring. There are two parts to controlling your weight: (1) monitor your weight and (2) regulate your food intake. Some people do like to weight themselves every day. My grandfather did. For me, once a week is enough.
It’s been a troublesome few weeks. I haven’t been feeling well and my weight was up and down. But I am feeling much better now. Things are back to normal. Last week, I weighed 278.8 pounds (though that was a bit complicated). So when I stepped on the scale this morning…
That’s an improvement over last week! So for all my worrying, I was still moving in the right direction. I have had more drastic weeks of weight loss, but this means since beginning my new lifestyle I have lost:
That’s a big difference. I still have a long way to go, but steady progress is good. It means that my system of weight control is working. Remember, I don’t consider myself on a diet. I have made changes to my life and rearranged my hierarchy of values, and my goal is weight control, not weight loss. I don’t know exactly what my stopping point will be, but according to the US Army, which knows something about physical fitness, there is a range. Their range for men my height is 148-214 pounds. Where will I fall? I have no idea yet, but 205 is a good guess.
This brings us to the issue of pants size and clothing fit, as I lose weight. Friendly observers (Mom) have told me that my clothes are starting to look inappropriately loose and baggy. It took a long time, though. The size 52 pants I was wearing must have been at their upper limit. I tried some size 50 pants I had in storage, with mixed results. Those with stretchy comfort panels fit. Ordinary pants (no stretch panels) did fit, but showed body contours under the fabric. So I am staying out of those. But in my closet I have pants all the way back down to 46, for when I need them. I also have some shirts in storage that used to fit. Maybe they do, now.
How will I fit into clothes as I shrink from now on? Losing 120 pounds in one year, you would expect I won’t fit anything for very long. It took me losing almost 50 pounds to go from size 52 to 50. But during the next 70 pounds, I will probably drop a few sizes. There is also in my mind the idea that after I shift to weight maintenance, my body will keep changing for a while anyway. 120 pounds is a drastic amount to lose. It might be another year before all the changes work out of my system.
Anyway, that’s fine as fantasy. The reality is, I still have 71 pounds to go. When I get half way (60 pounds lost, 60 to go) I will have to think of a special reward. Hmmmmm.
-The Doctor