Week 42 - RESULTS

OK, a day late, but that's better than never! Or is it?

STARTING WEIGHT:   216.7 lbs

ENDING WEIGHT:  219.5 lbs

WEIGHT GAIN:    2.8 lbs

You know, this was the weight I recorded on Monday. This morning, my weight was back down again, but I didn't want to start heading down that road, cherry-picking the days I weigh-in to get the best results. So, although this result is completely wrong as of this morning, it was accurate on Monday morning, so I HAVE to go with it!

It's completely ridiculous, too. Remember how my weight had inexplicably gone up Sunday morning? Well, I watched my food that day, then went for a run Sunday night too. More than enough to AT LEAST keep the same weight, right?

WRONG! Lol, a gain of this magnitude is complete nonsense. Which, in a strange way, is what makes it both annoying, and OK. Its annoying, because it bears absolutely no resemblance to the diet or exercise I did last week. However, for that very same reason its hard to get mad about it - I held up my end of the bargain, I dieted and exercised, so by rights I should have lost weight. If my body doesn't want to play ball...well, that's IT'S problem. As for me, I'm living a healthy, active lifestyle, the way I want to. So go me, and to Hell with the scales!

Just to be on the safe side, I'm keeping a food diary this week, just to see if there are calories sneaking in I'm not considering (but I'm sure there aren't). I'm having a really good week so far actually - this result hasn't got me down at all! I may divulge why I'm so merry in a later post...we shall see.

If nothing else, at least I kept myself out of the 220's! Sucks to drop out of the 80-lb-lost bracket though, I really enjoyed it there, but now I have something to aim for!

WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 

77.6 lbs

Frustration!

It doesn't matter how many times you tell yourself that they are inevitable, that they're a normal part of weight loss, that they will balance themselves out eventually...sometimes, those random blips can be a real pain in the wotsit!

I'd finally managed to get on top of my workload, and treated myself to some exercise this week. I went out for a run on Thursday night, and again on Friday night, and it felt really good to be active again. I was sleeping better too.

Best of all though, my weekly loss by Saturday morning was up at 5.4 lbs. Fantastic! 

I decided not to run yesterday evening, as my legs were quite sore from two nights in a row, and also because I usually like to leave a day in between sessions anyway. And besides, I'd already lost 5.4 lbs this week, so no sense in pushing it too hard, right?

Well, guess what? After one day without exercise, I step onto the scale this morning, and...oh yes...I have, overnight, gained 6lbs. That completely wipes out my losses for the week, and in fact puts me at a net gain of 0.6lbs, despite exercising!

Now, I know its a fluke, and I'm not too worried, but hell if that doesn't hit your enthusiasm, even after all this time! Worse still, tonight our landlord took us out for a meal, so I'm stuffed to the gills, but desperately want to get a run in before I go to bed! Will have to wait for my dinner to go down, but I think I'll be lucky to see any loss at all tomorrow, never mind reaching my target...ho hum!

The Winter of my Discontent...

You know, it doesn't actually surprise me that my weight loss attempt started in a spring month. Spring is always a time of new beginnings, fresh starts etc etc.

But its more than that. Part of the reason also has to be the way I am affected by winter.

And 'affected' seems to be the operative word. I always seem to have a slump in winter, both emotionally, and energetically, and motivationally. I don't know if I would ever diagnose myself with something like Seasonal Affective Disorder, but the pattern has certainly become apparent to me over the last few years.

When I think back to last winter...that was when I put on a lot of my weight. When I first came to Med School back in August 2010, I was already overweight, around 260 lbs or so. But between then and Christmas, I had gained almost 40lbs. That's 40 lbs in about 3-4 months. And I withdrew from my friends. I stopped going to classes. I would sleep all day, only getting up to go over the shop and pick up a kebab, or some fish and chips...

Jeez, I was a mess. I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm to care, about anything. That's why I say its no surprise to me that my weight loss began in spring. When I finally came out from under that winter funk...it was time to change my life!

I started to feel a bit of the old winter blues coming on again recently. It always starts slowly - first I can never seem to get enough sleep. Then deadlines and targets seem less important than they used to. Then I find myself becoming stressed, and frustrated, often for no real reason. And then, of course, I stopped blogging or weighing in for almost three weeks, and my weight-loss slowed right down...

Luckily I've noticed it this time around, and don't intend to let that grumpy old Jack Frost undo any of what I've achieved this year. I'm pleased to report that I just got in from a run, my first for about 3 weeks, but not the last this week, if things go to plan. I don't know if I'll be able to make my target weightloss for this week, but I can certainly do a little better than the 0.1lbs I got last week! Well, here's hoping, anyway!

Week 41 - RESULTS

OK - finally, I am up to date again!

STARTING WEIGHT:   216.8 lbs

ENDING WEIGHT:  216.7 lbs



WEIGHT LOSS:    0.1 lbs

I was actually showing a gain for most of this week, but managed to cut back on calories just enough over the weekend to push it into a loss.

The last three weeks have been a nightmare, but finally there is light at the end of the tunnel. I had a really good day academically on Friday (which also happened to be my 27th birthday!), and got a lot of necessaries signed off, which eased the burden on me. I have a long night ahead tonight, as I have a final presentation to prepare for tomorrow morning, but after that...well, I'm STILL not done, but the last deadline is a couple of weeks away, so I can afford to finally catch up on some sleep...and some freaking exercise!

Although I've only lost a grand total of 0.3lbs over the last three weeks, I'm actually OK with that, for the following reasons:

- I've wanted to run. It isn't that I just couldn't be bothered and put it from my mind. I literally had to make a decision between going for a run and then going to bed, or staying up all night to make sure my work got done on time. Its a hell of a choice, and I think I made the right one, but I was desperate to let off some steam and hit the pavement! I should be able to head out again this week, and I can't wait!

- No massive gain! The concern was, without running, that I would pile back on all the pounds I'd lost before the deadlines kicked in. Luckily, although I did see a gain one week, I'm at a net loss. I think this bodes well for my maintenance phase - I managed to go three weeks without exercising or watching my calories, and managed to keep my weight essentially the same! Phew!

- I'm still on track! The weekly target I've got at the moment is 1.8 lbs, which will see me hit my goal weight on the 1 year anniversary of my weight loss (which I like). Obviously I've not got that loss in the last three weeks, but fortunately, my losses in the weeks before that were so far ABOVE my weekly target, that I'm actually exactly on track as of today! So, no damage done to the long-term goal.


As I say, I plan on finally getting a run in before this week is out. I don't know if it will be enough to get me to my target loss for next week, but once I'm out from under this pile of work and exercising again, I trust in my previous form, and expect the pounds to shift eventually.



Finally, before I end this post and go back to my (final!) presentation, I just wanted write about something that I've been thinking about recently.

I am so proud of what I have achieved so far. Sometimes I don't let myself feel proud, either because I'm not there yet, or I'm afraid of being arrogant and letting it slip away, but more often, I look at what I have achieved so far, and I can't quite believe it. I set a goal, worked REALLY hard, and am now well on my way to realising it.

As I've said, Friday was my 27th birthday, and I found myself thinking about the fact that my weight wasn't the only thing I was dissatisfied with in the past. As such, I have decided to try and use the lessons I have learned from my weight loss in my everyday life, to see if I can achieve the same results. The first target for this is my academic work. For too long (literally, years), I've been living what I call a 'first draft' life - leaving things too late, then rushing them the night before, and then 'making do' with that, rather than really trying my hardest. Being the best I can be. Indeed, that's why these last three weeks have been so hectic - I could have sorted it all out weeks ago!

I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle it, and of course I have to pull an all-nighter tonight, in what I really hope is my last example of cutting it fine the day before. I might be posting more about this attempt in the coming weeks - I know its not strictly about weight loss, but then again, my weight loss attempt was also about so much more than just, you know, losing weight. So, we'll see...

WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 

80.4 lbs

Weeks 39 and 40 - RESULTS

Time doesn't just fly, it hurtles past faster than the speed of light!

STARTING WEIGHT:   217.0 lbs

WEEK 39 WEIGHT:  217.4 lbs



WEIGHT GAIN:    0.4 lbs

WEEK 40 WEIGHT:  216.8 lbs

 WEIGHT LOSS:    0.6 lbs

OK, first up yet more apologies for the HUGE gap of almost three weeks since my last post. I'm afraid its just a case of the real world catching up to me. I'm into my final few weeks of this term before the Christmas break, and deadlines that were always manageably far away suddenly loomed on the horizon, and required my immediate attention.

I haven't been running once in the last three weeks. I've been spending almost every hour available either working on projects or essays, labouring my way through PowerPoint, or giving presentations. Its not just been a case of not having time to run - after all, it only takes about an hour or so. But the sleep I need after a run, the hours of rest necessary after that exertion, was a luxury I just couldn't afford. I don't think I've averaged more than 4 hours a night for the last few weeks, and that's compounded into the minimal loss (or rather, a gain then a loss) that I saw in these two weeks. Had I run, I would have been so tired that I wouldn't have been able to manage these crazy hours...a poor excuse I know, but its the only one I have.

 

I've probably been eating more calories than usual too, again because of the long nights sat in front of the computer, with a steady stream of coffees, RedBulls or sweet treats to try and keep me going. It's frustrating, especially after getting so successfully back into my running regime, to have to let it fall by the wayside, but in this instance, its been unavoidable.

Finally, not running means I've not really been thinking about my weight loss, and when that happens, I tend not to post. I'm not one of those who can post everyday with a stream of consciousness detailing how I'm feeling about my weight etc - I can only ever seem to so it if I think I have something to say! And with my mind focussed elsewhere...I simply haven't had anything to say!

I'll do a separate post later for last week's results, and then I'll be bang up to date. I stuck these two together just as a catch up, and now I will do the results for Week 41 (which was last week), which brings up back onto schedule.

WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 

80.3 lbs

Week 38 - RESULTS

After last week's burst back into the weight-loss scene, have I managed to maintain my momentum?

STARTING WEIGHT:   219.9 lbs

ENDING WEIGHT:  217.0 lbs



WEIGHT LOSS:    2.9 lbs

Woo hoo! Very happy with this loss too, as its significantly above my target for the week. That said, this is actually the difference over 8 days rather than 7, as I didn't manage to weigh in yesterday. In fact, I didn't manage to do much of anything yesterday, after my 2am run followed by 2 hours of sleep!

Amazingly, I have now passed the 80 lbs dropped mark! That seems incredible to me, especially after being becalmed in the 70-lbs bracket for oh-so-long. I now have less than 1.5 stone left to lose, and have already lost more than 5.5 stone - wow! Sometimes I just like to rattle off the numbers and remind myself about how far I've come!

Anyhow, we'll see if I can make the six days left before next Monday count. I did eat a lot of birthday cake etc last week, so maybe I could have lost even more weight if I'd had more control? Well, I'll try and stay in control between now and Monday, and see what happens!

 

WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 

80.1 lbs

217.0 lbs

217.0 lbs

Week 38 Round-Up

Just a quick one for now, as its 2.30am for me, and I really ought to try and get some sleep!

Not a bad week really. I didn't run as much as I would have liked - only one run before Friday, but I made that up with a Saturday run, and I've just got back in from a late one now! (Well, I say late, but I think I've gone past late and into early, as its technically now Monday morning!) Strangely, despite the crazy hour, my run just now was the best so far - I shaved two minutes off my time, and finally have an average speed of less than 10 minutes a mile, which isn't bad for me! If this goes on, I'll have to think about upping my distance.

Foodwise wasn't as good, as I'll explain. Saturday was my younger sister's 18th birthday, so I went home on Friday evening, and we went out for a nice meal. I ate rather more than I intended to, both that evening, and the following day when the birthday cakes showed up! Still, I was still showing a loss when I weighed this morning, and I'm hoping that my run just now will help me see a decent weekly loss in the morning. I might not be quite up to my weekly target, but we shall see.

Anyway, that's all, and I'll see you all tomorrow for the results from Week 38!

Fading Away...Take 2!

The last time I did a Fading Away post was back in May, when I was almost at the 50lbs down point. You can see the original post here.

As I've now passed the 75lbs lost point, I thought it was time to do another Fading Away post, to really try and appreciate the visible difference between then and now, rather than just the numbers on the scale.

As before, these are Monday's weigh-in photos, with the pictures from Day 1 superimposed on top.

It was actually difficult to put these two together, as all the landmarks (armpit, nipple, chin etc) have moved in the last few months! Clearly the belly bulge is smaller, which is great. Once again I am amazed by just how much weight I was carrying underneath the belly, above the groin area! Nice to see that the chin has receded a lot too!

 

I didn't include the front view the last time round, as there wasn't much of a visible difference then. I think there is now though! I still have those bulging love-handles/muffin-top things on my flanks, but the curve has certainly reduced, and I'm carrying a lot less weight under the armpits too. Hooray!

Anyhow, that was all I wanted to do for today! I will probably do the same again when we get to 100lbs dropped - won't THAT be the day!

Week 37 - RESULTS

I've had a fantastic week, watching my food and exercising like crazy. Finally, its time to see how much of this is reflected in the scales!

STARTING WEIGHT:   225.0 lbs

ENDING WEIGHT:  219.9 lbs



WEIGHT LOSS:    5.1 lbs

Boo yah! After all these months of complaining about small losses, and the slowing rate of weight-loss, all I had to do was start exercising again, and I see my biggest weekly loss in about five months!

Obviously I'm delighted with this result, and it accomplishes several things for me:


- I have finally lost all of my summer gain, and am back to making real progress!
- I have finally left the 220's, after getting stuck here for 15 weeks...I'm into the 210's!
- Have passed the 75% progress point, more than three-quarters of the way to goal!
- Have now lost more than 5.5 stone (UK)!


There is still a hint of frustration here though. One, because I was a pound lighter by Friday, but my weekend showed a net gain. And two, because of how easy I found it to get this loss...well no, easy isn't right. Let me explain.

In the weeks before this one, I let myself accept the tiny losses of 0.2lbs a week, telling myself it was because I'd already lost so much weight, and my body just wouldn't give up fat like it had before. Thing is, I wasn't exercising for all that time, so I had no way to know if that was true. Maybe my rate had naturally slowed, or maybe it was just because I wasn't exercising. I didn't know.

Well, I know now! After running 20 miles overall last week, I have lost more weight in the last 7 days than in the previous...well, if you take my gains into account, months! And I could have done this so much sooner, and been so much further on, if only I'd got off my butt and started exercising again before now!

Ah well, I'm not going to gripe too long after such a good weigh-in, lest I tempt the gods. My target weekly loss of 1.8 lbs has been comfortably surpassed, and in fact I now have a headstart of several weeks on my aim of hitting goal weight by February 2012. I also know that I am unlikely to see this level of loss next week - this is a reaction loss, due to the sudden change from sedentary but dieting, to dieting and being extremely active. I went a bit nuts last week, trying to lose as much as possible, to give myself a real boost. I want to take this week more carefully, and make sure the loss is sustained. If I can hit my target next week too, I'll be psyched. Let's give it a go!

WEIGHT LOSS TO DATE: 

77.2 lbs

 219.9 lbs

 219.9 lbs

A Stitch, In Time...

I've had a really good week so far...but I want more!

I just got back from my fifth run this week. That's 20 miles I've covered this week, after months of nothing. I was only aiming for three runs, but found myself chasing a phantom loss...

You see, I have managed to blow my target loss for this week completely out of the water. As long as nothing bizarre happens tonight, I should be able to record my target loss tomorrow, and then some.

But, by Friday morning, my weight-loss was really impressive. I was back at a figure I hadn't seen since the early days. And to try and keep that going, I was really good food-wise on Friday afternoon. I knew I was going out that evening and that there would be food, so I went for a run beforehand, and still took it in moderation that night. My calories were DEFINITELY below 2000 for the day.

But, when I weighed in on Saturday morning, I had inexplicably gained almost 4lbs. The fact that I was still below my weekly target despite this gives you an idea of how well I'd done up until then, but it still pissed me off. So, I ran on Saturday. And again today. But I'm still not quite down to where I was on Friday.

I know that numbers always fluctuate, and I'm taking it too seriously, but after spending months chasing the weight I'd hit before my summer gains, it was really annoying to finally be beyond that, only to see it shoot back up again, despite all the effort I'd made.

Whether I make that loss back by tomorrow morning remains to be seen. Either way, I'll still have had a really good week. And, if nothing else, I have certainly got my hunger for big losses back!

The running is going well, but I have been suffering from stitch-pain for the first time. Perhaps its just because I haven't run in such a long time before this week, or maybe its because I've exercised harder this week than I planned to. I tried a new breathing technique tonight and it seemed to help, so hopefully it won't be an issue from here on out.

See you for the weigh-in tomorrow!

My New Running Ticker!

Just a quick post this evening folks, as I'm off out very shortly.

I've added a jogging ticker to my blog, which you can see over on the right hand side, underneath my weight-loss countdowns. I realised that I had never included a proper track of my exercise on this blog before, apart from occasionally telling you when I'd done some! That, and the fact that I struggled to get back into exercise for so long before last week, led me to putting a ticker up on here, to either share my exercising success, or reveal my non-exercising if I haven't bothered, and hopefully guilt me into doing some!

I actually found this ticker over at another blog, A Mama's Goals, and very much recommend you check it out! As you can see, I've managed 12 miles so far this week, and that's three runs of 4 miles each, on Monday, Wednesday, and just now.

I think today's run is another good indication that my attitude towards exercise is back where it should be. I'm heading out tonight to visit some friends and celebrate Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night (remember, remember the...well its not the 5th yet, but we're celebrating now anyway!). I was worried that, if I ended up drinking tonight or eating their nibbles, I might see a gain in the morning, so I decided to go for a run (even though my legs were hurting), to try and counter that. In the past I would have just decided to 'write off' the day, but not anymore...that's promising!

Can't wait to weigh-in on Monday...let me just say that the old Headspace is well and truly back!

Week 37 So Far...

It's strange how quickly I've switched from not really thinking about my weight-loss, eating without worrying about calories, not bothering with exercise (or even weighing) etc etc, right back into my previous weight-loss mindset.

Having a target again is the reason. Finally, a weekly goal! I made so much about having mini-targets when I started this blog, but managed to ignore my own advice over the last few months, and was just coasting along.

You can see the effect that had by looking at the graph below, which comes from one of my weight-loss tickers at the bottom of the page. (I put them there as I don't have room at the top, wonder how many of you guys have never seen them before?)

It's not completely accurate, because when I had my gains in late August, I didn't update it (hence the sudden drop in the number of dots on the line). Strictly speaking, the plateau on the right side ought to have a spike in it, representing the gain, and then losing it again...but its still telling, don't you think? After such a nice steady drop in weight, the thing just completely levels off.

Then again, maybe that's just a part of the journey I needed to take. If I had carried on making the effort over those months, I might have burned myself out, and been unable/unwilling to get back into it when the scales started creeping up. As it is, I stopped losing weight, had a bit of a rebound gain which I have lost, but otherwise I've managed to maintain my weight quite nicely for a few months.

I find that encouraging, when I think of reaching my goal weight and entering the maintenance phase. I think it shows that my behaviour/attitude towards eating has changed. I COULD have stopped losing weight, and just regained it all, but I didn't. I have more control now. And I like it.

But we're not at maintenance yet, so for now I have to keep plodding on. Well, not plodding, as this week I've been running and dieting like in the old days again. And I love it! I never usually blog my weight unless its an official Monday weigh-in, and I won't now, but let's just say my target loss of 1.8 lbs for this week has already fallen. That's more weight dropped already this week than I have lost in the past month!

I know it only takes one slip to lose all that progress, so I'm not relaxing just yet. In fact, I'm about to go for another run! But, if I can avoid a gain for the rest of the week (and heck, if I'm honest there's no reason I shouldn't lose even more) I should be a very happy boy by Monday...