Keeping Myself Accountable

[stephenr-g]

I've decided to switch full time to using Samsung Health. The user interface looks so good compared to MyFitnessPal, but I will miss the barcode scanning.

[stephenr-g]

When you mess up your numbers

So earlier this month I recalculated my weight loss numbers. I was pumped about it and excited to get back on track. Turns out, I have been doing it wrong. I don't even know how I got it in my head that I was right to begin with.

To give you an idea what I mean, imagine I set my calorie limit to 2000 calories per day, provided I burn at least 500 calories a week. That works GREAT if I stick to 2000 calories. But what I've been doing has been eating back calories - so I would justify going over by 100-200 calories if I burned enough calories.

But that's not how it works! I am supposed to be strict with the calorie limit and any extra calories burned is bonus. But I know how my mind works, so I'm going to go in a different direction. For the time being I reduced my daily goal by 500 calories. I know I probably could only reduce it by like 70 daily if I only need to burn 500 a week. But clearly I can't do the weight loss math properly anyway, so I'll figure that math out later.

Gosh. Why does there have to be so much math in everything?

[stephenr-g]

Calorie Goals

So having been on WFH for the last 3 weeks I spent the first two weeks not keeping track of my calories and subsequently hovering around the same weight.

This week I've been more diligently tracking my intake and discovered that I've been continuously going over my limit. Not good. So I did some calculating and made adjustments; my new goal is *higher* but I also included some commitment to do 15-30 minutes of light exercise 3 times a week.

New goal is to aim for ~1 pound weight loss per week. Wish me luck.

[stephenr-g]

Just noticed this beta feature on MyFitnessPal. Interesting! Will check it out over the weekend.

[stephenr-g]

Woops, it's March

So I intended to lose 9.6 pounds by March 6th; I didn't quite get that far. Instead I lost 4.2 pounds in 7 weeks. Not terrible! Just not the goal I intended to meet.

I'm going to enter a cooling off period where I'll still try to lose pounds, but not setting a distinct goal at the moment. We'll see where I am by the end of the month.

[stephenr-g]

Welcome back to your scheduled program

I was about to launch myself into a no-holds-barred writing session wherein I would let loose some stream-of-consciousness thoughts on my blog; but then it occurred to me that I have a platform that’s a bit more suited to that purpose - Tumblr! 

So here I am. I honestly cannot remember my last update on this platform, so I had to look it up. It was back in January - exactly a month ago, actually. That means that it’s taken me 1 month to lose 3 pounds, because I’m hovering at 256.8 pounds on the scale lately. Ouch. I also challenged myself to lose 9.7 pounds in 46 days (January 20 - March 6), at a rate of approximately 0.2 pounds per day. So in 31 days, I expected to lose 6.2 pounds. Instead I’ve lost 2.9 pounds - or 0.09 pounds per day. Double ouch.

I’m not going to beat myself up though, because that would be counter-productive: I would feel worse than I already do, and I would probably start to sabotage my efforts and gain weight. We don’t want that. 

I’m actually rambling right now, and not writing about what I came here for: writing itself. In the last month or so, I’ve been feeling really good about my writing and reading. Very productive, I would say. I am way behind on my podcast recordings, but that’s OK - I’m going at the pace I’m comfortable with. Sure, I’d love a large number of downloads etc. but I also don’t want to feel tied to it. 

And I don’t feel that way. So in the mental health realm, I feel good. Last weekend I stated working on my next podcast episode; it’s not finished yet and I need to continue writing, but I’m excited about the project. That’s what has me feeling good, even though I’m way behind. If I’m not excited about it, why should I do it? The only part I’m not excited about is that I’ll need to do some major edits to it before it’s ready to record. But I’ve never enjoyed the editing process (case in point - this post is not going to be edited down at all).

I’m going to try to keep updating at least once a month. I don’t feel the need to keep myself accountable in terms of staying away from alcohol; after the first month, it’s been a breeze. Now it’s just trying to keep the weight coming off.

One impossible thing at a time.

[stephenr-g]

New Near, New Weight

Well, that’s the idea anyway. My goal for March 6th is to hit 250 on the scale. As of today (January 20th), I’m at 259.7! So I’m making some progress to that result. 

Originally part of that goal included a Dry December - that was a decision made totally by me and not influenced by medical suggestions of any kind. Then, less than 10 days into the month, I had a curve ball thrown at me - I started new medication that indicated I should avoid alcohol. So that made it a little easier. 

I still haven’t touched alcoholic beer since November 30th. I’ve had some drinks that have less than 1% of alcoholic content but since those are legally qualified as non-alcoholic, I will qualify myself as still sober for (*checks math*) 51 days. 

 So, the new challenge - can I lose 9.7 pounds in 46 days? The math works out to approximately 0.2 pounds per day to lose, or roughly 1.6 pounds per week. Funny how math works out sometimes - 1.6 pounds per week is my ideal loss rate these days.

Off I go! I can’t guarantee that I will stay dry between now and March 6th; but I’m going to keep counting the days as they go. Part of me wants to see how high I can go beer-free!

[stephenr-g]

2020 Goals

So this started out as a self-accountability thing to make sure I didn't slip in December and have a drink during my Dry December. It worked and I guess this has sort of evolved to a general accountability blog for my weight loss progress.

I still haven't had an alcoholic beverage since November 30th. I have had 2 non-alcoholic beers though (Hoegaarden's wheat non-alcoholic beer is not bad, for the record).

I didn't do too bad with the whole "Holiday Weight" thing. I temporarily gained a few pounds but it came back off - clearly water weight.

I took a weeks-long break from logging my food intake and I didn't balloon or overindulge. I've been logging since Sunday and haven't dropped the habit yet.

So far so good for 2020. I joined a Reddit challenge to get some extra push to get down to 250 pounds by March 6th. I don't feel I really need the challenge to do it, but it's kind of motivating to have somewhere to log my progress that others can see and also win a Random Internet Challenge.

Last thought: I keep reading about people doing Dry January and I think maybe I just don't drink as much as other people do; a dry month did not have as significant an impact on my life as some of these articles purport.

[stephenr-g]

Final 2019 Update + Breaking Streaks

So here's to a good 2019. I spent the entire month not drinking alcohol, which I have done before (actually, slightly longer - last time I did it was for Lent). But this might be the first time I remember being tempted to drink more than before.

The primary purpose for quitting drinking this month was to push forward my weight loss. I wanted to lose 6 pounds this month. I didn't quite get there, but I made a good amount of progress! I'm happy with my results.

My starting weight was 265.7 pounds; my last recorded weight was 261.9 pounds, a difference of 3.8. I got more than 50% of my goal!

Oh yeah - breaking streaks. One of the most powerful habit forming devices is keeping a streak going that you don't want to break. It's been enormously helpful to me to be able to break a streak (not wearing my smart watch for a day, entering food data into MyFitnessPal, etc.). It feels good to realize I don't have to be "on" all the time.

So that's it for 2019. I'll post some more for 2020 but it will be less about keeping dry and more about losing weight.

[stephenr-g]

2nd Last Entry of 2019

This is probably going to be my 2nd last entry for this year; so far, 24 days into December, I’m still following Dry December. Biggest temptation coming up on Boxing Day when I’ll be curling all afternoon. 

So far so good though! Scale weight says 261.0 pounds, Moving Average says 260.9. When I started this journey, my scale weight was 264.6 pounds, Moving Average 264.9 pounds. Yay me!

Merry Christmas!

[stephenr-g]

Perspective

Today has been a challenging day (mentally) so I almost overlooked that my day started on a pretty positive note. I hit a recent low on the scale, finally seeing some movement after being stuck on the same number for the last week.

My day is going to get better, but it helps to reflect on the positives.

[stephenr-g]

Scale Weight

Going just by scale weight, I've dropped 2 pounds in 2 weeks. My goal is 1.7 per week so I'm not too far off!!

For the Dry December update: was tempted to have a drink Friday night at The Blurry Pixel but stayed the course.

[stephenr-g]

1 Year Progress

[stephenr-g]

Progress

I’ve been meaning to share this for a while but haven’t gotten around to it. Here’s the progress I’ve made since December 1st! Spoiler: it’s good progress.

[stephenr-g]

Little Tricks

Something I'm finding helpful right now to keep me on track is using my beer glasses for water/pop/iced tea/what have you. It's not exactly the same as a refreshing beer, but it's somewhat satisfying to take the time to choose a glass and prepare it.

[stephenr-g]

1 Week in - Update

I still haven’t had anything to drink since Nov 30th. There have been a few times that I’ve considered having something to drink, so that’s interesting that I’ve had those cravings. It’s probably something I’ve never really noticed before.

There’s also going to be something coming up in a few weeks where I’ll want to have a drink. But I am hoping at that point I’ll be beyond the situation where “normally when I’m doing this activity, I have a drink”. 

Anyway, 1 week into December, my moving average is 263.8 lbs. That is a drop of 1.3 pounds (265.1 December 1st). Good stuff!

[stephenr-g]

Still Dry

5 days into December, still going strong with the weight loss effort but more importantly, sticking to my Dry December. I haven’t dropped any scale weight yet, but that should come soon. I haven’t gained any weight though which is what would probably happen if I decided to have a drink or two every now and then. 

Extra plus that I saw the other day: I’ve hit my target active time 24 days in a row! That’s amazing.