The Ruminations & Considerations of One Cool Papa

     It seems I am in the grip of one heck of a “yo-yo” effect.  After apparently losing 3.4 lbs last week, I apparently gained most of it back this week.  I weighed in yesterday at 250.0 lbs.  My home scale even showed me increasing in weight, going from 234 back to 237.  My only solace this time was looking at the body fat percentage decrease from 34% to 32%.  Still, I was disappointed to see the body fat percentage stay in the 30% range.

     I am, however pleased with what I am seeing in the mirror.  Despite what the scale says and the body fat monitor tells me, I am seeing a change in my shape.  I also feel it in the way some of my clothes fit.  I have this pair of khakis that I used to be able to wear at times without a belt.  I wore them yesterday and had left my belt upstairs.  The minute I started walking toward the kitchen, those khaki’s started to find their way around my ankles.  I had to get back up those stairs and put that belt on!

     I still have not changed out that inner tube for the bicycle.  Hopefully I will have a little time for myself this coming Thursday.  The devil’s workout, posted on Glynis’ page turns out to be much harder than I initially anticipated.  I will have to build up to actually be able to complete that one.  I did find another one by the same guy that is also very challenging, but more do-able for me in my present physical condition than the one on the video.  I’ve also been doing more of the aerobic routines that our team coach, Nik, has given us. 

     There are about 6 more weeks to go in the contest so we are about at the halfway mark.  With a total weight loss so far of a meager 3.8 lbs, it doesn’t seem very plausible that I will achieve my goal of losing 24 lbs.  Still, if I can manage to shake of 15 lbs the rest of the way, or even if I lose another 5% body fat, I will be happy.  I’m really in this for the long haul now, more so than the contest.

(From June 16,2008) 

One month for this contest is in the books.  I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed in my results.  This past week, I have really worked my tail off!  I'm doing more cardiovascular exercise and working harder at it.  The days I do my resistance training, i have reduced the number of minutes  I spend on the treadmill.  I have significantly increased the intensity of the workout, however.  After doing my 'interval' training, I hit the floor for pushups, sit ups and squats while wearing a weighted vest.  On cardiovascular days I've been doing a 30 minute set on the treadmill, still picking up the intensity by increasing the speed half a mile an hour every 3 minutes moving from a brisk walk to a very brisk walk to a run.  This gives me a cycle I go through 3 times, ending in a 3 minute brisk walk for a cool down.  Then I will do alternate between the tae bo DVD or the Ab Burner DVD.  I stepped on the scale Monday to find I'd actually gained weight again.  The official work scale had me picking up 1.8 lbs to 251.8 on Monday.  Tuesday the work scale put me in at 250.6.  My home scale has me gaining 2.5 lbs, going to 237.5 but my percentage of body fat went down again, from 30 to 29.  My doctor's scale showed me at 250.0 on Wednesday.  

So, overall, for the contest, I have managed to lose an anemic 2 lbs in four weeks.  I looked over my calorie counter for the past week and I did not see a single day where I exceeded 1700 calories.  My plan was for 1800 calories per day.  I'm struggling to determine what is causing me to lose weight so slowly, but I refuse to be discouraged.  

I had to sit back today and really think about the perfect timing of this contest, and just how good God is.  I had to think about how I am now exercising 6 days a week and I am really anticipating the next time I have to go to the labs for blood work.  The motivation was barely there before the contest.  

I expect to see marked improvement in my high density lipoproteins, which were at 26 the last time I was tested.  I'm hoping to exceed the goal of 40.  I'm no longer taking statins to reduce the cholesterol, so the exercise will have to turn the trick for me.  I'm not scheduled for labs on this visit, so, by the time i do take labs, I expect the A1c test to show significant improvement.

This weekend past, I ventured into Dick's Sporting Goods and bought the inner tube for the back tire on my bicycle.  I'm going to put it on tomorrow and start breaking into riding gradually.  I expect to be riding to work within two weeks time.  it is a little less than 6 miles (5.47 to be exact) so I expect that kind of activity to have a positive impact on my weight and cardiovascular function.  

I'm still going to push myself to win this contest, but now, in my view, I've already won!  

Okay everyone, I firstly apologize for being a little late with this installment.  My fat saga was detained by a fairly heavy workload these last few days.  We had a bit of controversy in the contest this week.  I don't know if I mentioned it, but the contest is more team oriented than individually oriented.  There are four teams comprised of three "Losers" and one “coach”.   The contest goes by a team’s total weight, rather than an individual's weight.  There are five teams in the contest, Fatty McButterpants, I Can See My Feet, Butter Halves (a team of employee spouses), Gut Busters, and my team, Interdimensionally Transcendental.

Here is the combined weight of each team at the start of the contest and the goal weight for the end of the contest and the goal percentage:

At the end of week one Fatty McButterpants had lost a total of 15.4 lbs. Gut Busters had lost a total of 13.5 lbs.  Better Halves had lost 9.7 lbs; I Can See My Feet dropped 7.2 lbs and Interdimensionally Transcendental dragged in with a loss of 6.2 lbs.

The end of the second week saw McButterpants losing an additional 8.4 lbs; I Can See My Feet lost another 8.0.  Gut Busters dropped 5.0, Better Halves lost 3.4 and Interdimensionally Transcendental actually gained 1.2 lbs.

The controversy that developed in week three has to do with a rather large drop in weight by Interdimensionally Transcendental (yep, my team).  As a team, we lost a total of 16.1 lbs.  McButterpants lost 9.8 lbs.  I Can See My Feet lost 8.9 lbs.  Better Halves cast off 1.2 lbs.  Gut Busters gained 1.4 lbs.  Despite the fact that McButterpants lost 15.4 lbs in the first week unquestioned, Interdimensionally Transcendental was “questioned” about the veracity of our loss.  The week three results of the contest were posted with this admonition from the President:

“I have decided that I will witness all final weigh-ins at the end of week 12.  If your team has a large discrepancy that cannot be explained your team will be disqualified.”

My personal weight loss was again a meager amount.  I went from 250.8 to 250.0.  I must say, however, that when we were questioned about out team’s total weight, I went in to weigh myself again, just one day later, and the scale read 246.5.  I know I did not work out hard enough on Tuesday morning to have lost 3.5 lbs.  The scale is truly erratic.  My home scale has me at 235.0 and maintaining 30% body fat.  I was supposed to have gone to the doctor’s office on Thursday, but missed my appointment.  I thought it odd that I hadn’t gotten a reminder call, but I’ll call them today to reschedule.  I’m very curious to see what his scale will tell.

On the nutrition front, I had been getting better with my cravings.  Being impecunious helps in that regard, however, I have been trying to pay more attention to what I put into my body.  I had mentioned previously the Excel workbook I had made which includes a food journal.  I had put in all kinds of formulas to total the number of calories, grams of fat, carbohydrates, fiber and protein as well as milligrams of cholesterol, sodium and potassium I take in.  I had a formula to tell me the percentage of fat, carbohydrate and protein from the day’s total calories I had ingested.  I was being meticulous about reading labels and putting the information into my chart.  Last Sunday, I hit a slight glitch.  I didn’t prepare my lunch meal at home.  Being pressed for time we went to Wendy’s.  While Sharon tortured me with her double-cheeseburger and French fries, I behaved myself and ordered the Mandarin Chicken Salad.  I had no clue what was in it, just hoping it was not going to do me harm.  I figured it had to be better than that delicious looking burger Sharon was devouring.  During a rare lull in the action on Sunday night, I decided to see if I could find the nutritional information for my meal on-line.  I happened across a website called “The Daily Plate” (www.thedailyplate.com).  I found the information I was looking for, along with other things I usually eat.  I wasn’t going to register, but delving further into the site a few days later, I found that it did exactly what I was trying to do with my spreadsheet.  I didn’t have to keep bringing packages and boxes upstairs to the computer with me to record the nutritional information!