Over the weekend, I decided it’s time to focus a bit more on my physical health and what I put in my body. On Saturday I bought a scale. I haven’t stepped on a scale in a long time, but previously lost a fair bit of wieght by tracking it, doing a lot of yoga, and eating much better.
I’m 44 years old. Someone recently described me as “heavyset, but not fat.” My all-time peak weight is probably around 212 pounds, and last time I made serious effort I got down to about 175.
I found an old spreadsheet where I tracked my weight. Exactly a decade ago today, I weighed 198.2 pounds. Dunno how accurate this is, by my old scale also tracked bodyfat % and I recorded 28%.
I don’t love the idea of weighing myself. I know healthy weight loss comes not from obsessing over a scale, but consistently making good choices. Still, I think the accountability may help.
Planning to update this thread through March. See what I can accomplish. Right now I feel full, and when I do a little yoga I can feel my body getting in the way of itself.
Yesterday I ate a pizza and wings and drank a lot of red wine. Now, to step on the scale …
At age 17-20 … I was fencing and working out all the time, so even if I knew for sure it might not be a good comparison. Under 175. I had yet to discover alcohol or bodyfat.
I have in the past experimented with intermittent fasting, and limited-calorie diets. … I need to find some way to reset my ideas around food.
I definitely stress eat, or eat for comfort. There’s got to be a more efficient way to get that dopamine … I can look at food and know I’m not hungry, know I don’t really want to eat this thing, and then eat it anyway … My diet is a mix of very healthy eating, and then fairly regular over-eating and drinking … but there have been times when I got into good patterns …
I walked a couple of miles yesterday, my usual route. Meditated, but no yoga. Ate a black bean stew I made. Scale said 205.6 this morning. … oh, memories of the pizza …
daily weight means little, but it’s still frustrating to see the scale go the other way–even if only by two-tenths of a pound … but all this feels familiar. I’ve done this before. … Yesterday I ate two apples, a bunch of bananas, more of the same bean stew. I tend to make the same things over and over when it’s just me. … the stew/chili/beans is just onion, celery, carrots, a roasted sweet potato, black beans, garlic and ginger, mustard, sirracha … drank a lot of cheap green tea yesterday, and two cups of warhorse coffee. …meditated, had a short walk with a friend but it was too cold for either of us to enjoy. Today is a longer walk I do weekly.
The scale I bought came with an app to track weight and some other stats. … App tells me I am “obese.”
Whoa. Whether or not the thing is accurate, or I am or am not obese … how interesting to think about that label. I never thought of myself as obese before this app told me I was.
Yesterday I hiked about 4 miles. A friend and I have done this weekly, at 6:45 a.m., all winter. It’s been amazing–having the trail to ourselves. There have been some snowy days, and one day when we did it in single digit temps … it’s been a good reminder to stay active this winter.
Picked up the weekly load of bread and some other groceries. Egg sandwich yesterday. Made some curried kale. WIll freeze the bread, mostly to avoid eating ALL OF IT NOW. … my portion control is non existent. …scale says 203.2, easy game, right? … I always wonder how long it takes to get down to your “real weight.” Feels like right now my body is still getting rid of the weekend’s binge and salt bombs …
Yeah, for me it was an odd mix of … surprise, resignation … maybe not regret. … I see my weight as a reflection of something internal, and if I’m overeating something must be out of balance. In the past I’ve had healthy patterns, but seeing that my weight had gone back up to almost its peak made me think there’s something internal to address.
I am trying to eat more mindfully. Not to limit myself from eating or drinking anything, but to first determine if I really want or need it. It is very difficult for me.
Ate too much yesterday, didn’t exercise much. Not really unhealthy food, but the volume was unnecessary … curried kale and lentils, a root vegetable and crab soup, an egg, too much bread and a fruit smoothie … I have this dream to open a smoothie stand in Puerto Rico. Called “Smooth Ray’s.” A terrible play on “Smoothie King” in Spanish … I’d also make breakfast burritos and vegetable rice bowls. … Anyway, all the food was good. Scale says 205.6 this moring, but wtf does it know … four days without alcohol, but now it’s the weekend. Mindful cocktail consumption?
Back when I previously lost weight, there was an interesting mental experience to some mornings as my body was starting to change. … Some days I would overeat and the next morning wake up feeling full and gross, but when I pulled on my clothes they still fit great. There would be this interesting moment of dissonance, where my brain associated that shitty feeling of excess and regret with some punishment in the form of ill-fitting clothing. What was the lesson, when that punishment was not there?
Yesterday I walked a couple of miles, ate a light lunch, and for dinner my girlfriend and I got pizza and had some wine and a vegan lemon tart she made. Kept wine consumption to ~2.5 glasses. The pizza was of the “quality” variety as opposed to me eating a whole gross-huge (and delicious) thing from the local pub. Weighed this morning at 202.8.
If weight is a reflection of lifestyle, maybe I can reverse-engineer some healthy approaches. If I figure out how to lose weight, maybe I stumble on habits that serve me.
I definitely ate a lot less this past week. Drank less alcohol, also. Kept it all pretty reasonable. … my body feels slightly different afrter 7 days of reasonable-ness. Still not feeling great, but bending and stretching feels a bit is easier without being overly full. … My weight issues stem from binge-eating. It doesn’t take much of a change to start feeling a bit better. Curious to see what happens this next week.
Its good to be in the habit of eating a lot of kale, lentils, etc, stuff with lots of fibre but not a lot of calories. That way even if you “over eat” it will still only be like 900 calories. That can be a big difference maker compared to an occasional French fries binge.
Yes, I used to buy lots of Weight Watchers pizzas for this reason. I could basically binge eat three of them for fewer calories than two slices down the street … obviously addressing the binge eating is the more long-term approach, but it makes a huge weight difference if I can just sub in something healthy (or less terrible).
A friend came over last night and of course I ate too much, though it was all pretty healthy, lots of veggies and lentils. Plus a bottle of wine. Scale says 203. I have dinner plans tomorrow, also, and was told “come hungry.” … And there is a sunchoke and walnut soup for lunch today. It’s a bit weird. Came as part of a “soup club” with a good restaurant up the street. … I’m looking forward to tomorrow morning’s hike, as it will be maybe 50 degrees. Haven’t see that in a while.
My hiking buddy canceled on me this morning, and I took the opportunity to sleep in. Relatively, anyway. Hopefully I can get out for a walk later … yesterday I ate pretty well and walked a bit, but I need to find a way to mix in actual physical activity. The same two-mile walk isn’t doing much … Of course from a strictly weight-loss perspective, I think at this point adjustments to my diet are going to have the largest impact by far. … Definitely finding myself to want less food in recent days. Stomach seems to have shrunk a bit. Scale this morning reads 202.2.
