I like your layout weekly review. Would you mind if I stole it and used something similar in my log?
You’re doing really well with the weight loss. How do you think it will go once things go back more to normal? However long that may be.
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Thanks Rexxie!
And of course I wouldn’t mind. Feel free to copy whatever you like. I’d like to add a bit more “colour” to my reviews than I have been so it is a bit more interesting for people, but I guess the extra effort required is why that hasn’t happened much.
I expect to rebound a little simply because we are bound to want some of the delicious things we wont have had for so long. But I am also hoping that this momentum I have is enough to keep moderation further to the front of my mind. I am really believing now that i can lose another 10-20lbs by the end of the year, so hopefully that belief is enough to keep me on track.
Again though, this seems abnormal compared to the impact the situation has on most peoples weight. Ive told some other people IRL and they are all like “wtf im gaining like crazy”.
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Weekly review - Week ending May 9th
Weight: 239.8 (was 243)
BOOM!!! I did it! Under 240lbs. It was an arbitrary goal but I really feel happy about this milestone. The last time I weighed in at under 240 was in March 2014. I know progress is going to get slower over time, but I am setting 230lbs as my new goal, by end of June.
Sleep
7 hrs 55 mins average.
Deliberate exercise
0/7
Stretches
0/7.
Meditation
4/7. I feel like I am struggling a bit with meditation at the moment. Just the usual frustration for people at a somewhat beginner level like myself of having my attention wander a lot and feeling like meditation is more work than zen. But I am trying to remind myself that focus is like a muscle, and as long as I keep training it, it will get stronger.
Reading
6/7. Still mostly sticking with fiction at the moment.
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You have encouraged me to try meditation, my therapist always tells me to but I don’t.
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Good sir your replies, in this thread in particular, could not be more welcome. Getting this meditation thing down is really, really important to me.
You are, of course, completely right that it is not a pass/fail situation. For me particularly I am focussed on mindfulness meditation, and I was just thinking a few days ago about a metaphor that is useful for me.
I am trying to work on “holding” attention. So attention is basically a dumbbell I have in my hand. When I am able to hold attention, it is the same as having the dumbbell lifted up, at the top of the curl. And when my attention wanders, my arm and the dumbbell drop to my side.
So, by bringing my attention back I am essentially performing a curl, and strengthening that muscle. They are the reps. And the more reps I can do, the stronger the muscle is, and the easier it is going to be to hold the dumbbell at the top of the curl without fatiguing and having it drop back down to my side again.
Maybe not the best description out there, but I am really trying to remind myself that my attention and my focus are like muscles, and so long as I keep working at it, those muscles will get bigger.
Anyway…I guess my previous post was more along the lines of…I feel like I’ve been working out, but I am having some crappy days in the gym, you know? I feel like I should be a bit stronger. But…I know I need to let that go. I think I just want this really bad, because I know how much it is going to do for me in both my work output and managing my anxiety and overall mental health.
I just gotta keep putting in the reps I guess, and accept plateaus?
Thanks for your replies and input about this, it’s really appreciated. I need to start posting in the meditation thread a bit too, I just haven’t got to it yet.
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This makes me happy because worst case you don’t stick with it, and nothing is lost. But best case I really believe it will be a huge benefit to you. Let me know if I can do anything to help in the way of suggestions, and of course there are more experienced people than me with the subject in the meditation thread that recently got started: Meditation
Weekly review - Week ending May 16th
Weight: 237 (was 239.8)
Another pretty big weight loss last week. I think a large part is because it was more than 3 weeks since we had got a grocery delivery, so I was definitely eating less as a result. With that said groceries turned up Monday morning and my consumption since then has been…well let’s just say that I wouldn’t be surprised if my weight this week shows an increase for the first time in months.
Sleep
8 hrs 34 mins average.
This is great, though a little misleading. During the week I generally got 7.5-8 hrs, but on the weekend I slept for nearly 10 hrs both days. I think I mentioned earlier that I had to change the settings on my CPAP machine since the air pressure I used to require was too high now. Something else that has long been an issue with the CPAP is I get a very dry mouth and wake up with halitosis. I’ve just started trying out a product called Xylimelts, which seem to be helping. You basically stick 1 or 2 of them onto a molar (or molars) and over time they slowly dissolve, stimulating salival production as they do so. I definitely notice a difference when I wake up.
Deliberate exercise
0/7
Stretches
0/7.
Meditation
3/7. Eep. Definitely lower than I would like. One thing to add though is that so far this week I have meditated 3 times so I am sure my results will end up better. I have also started meditating earlier in the day so I am not trying to fight off sleep at the same time. I am at a part of the program where they are increasing the unguided amount by 1 minute each day, so today I did 9 minutes of unguided. I did a better job of not chastising myself when my mind wandered, and instead being proud of myself when I brought it back. I honestly had a thought about my conversation with @anon46587892 when I did that. I am sure it has helped me this week.
Reading/Podcast
7/7. I finished another book of The Dresden Files this week. But I have decided to change things up a bit here. My goal around reading is primarily to a) learn more and b) get better at focusing my attention. Reading fiction doesn’t do a whole lot for part a, though it does help my vocabulary. But I have decided to include listening to a podcast in this category, since it can achieve both goals. I started listening last night to the “Fall of Civilizations” podcast. This episode was about China’s Han Dynasty. As you might guess it is long form, coming in at over 2 hours. I listen to it at 1.5x speed since it helps get through the content faster, and the faster speaking gives my mind more reason to hold focus than 1x. It was cool, and I have heeaappps of different stuff I want to catch up on from various sectors. I am excited for this addition.
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dayum, you’ve sped past me in the weight loss!
I kinda plateaued at between 245 and 250, but just minutes earlier I got on the scale, and I’m at 243.
just finished an 8.5 hour shift, and didn’t eat shit all day. It’s in the low 80s here, so got a good lather going earlier lol
anyway, installed a water heater for this nice gal, and she tipped me 100$ straight cash homie 
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Grats, Riv! That’s a nice tip.
Yeah I havent posted my next review yet but for the first time in a long time I gained weight this week, though less than a pound. Im not worried about it, we got a grocery order on Monday and I didn’t eat so great this week. It’s a marathon, not a sprint
Go rehydrate and get some food into you my man!
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Wow I just skipped ahead a few months and good job on the weight loss! I’m not sure what you’re doing to achieve it but I will say that intermittent fasting worked pretty well for me before quarantine to help drop a few pounds. I basically didn’t eat until 1030 at the earliest and then would have dinner at around 6 and be done eating until the next day. I thought it would be difficult but honestly I got into a groove almost immediately; I found that by doing it I was also snacking way less. Unfortunately quarantine lifestyle has been a setback and I’m back to being a fatty, although a slightly slimmer one that I was previously.
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I heard the term ‘quarantine 15’ on twitter or somewhere, like weight gain has befallen lots of people owing to the circumstances. Find that curious with comorbidities thought to contribute to worse Covid outcomes.
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I prefer the simplicity of the “COVID 19” [ as in 19 lbs weight gain]. I’m down from my highest weight but up since quarantine started. Trying to cut back again but my stress levels have been way up and eating is an easy way to cope.
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Yes trying to find a better coping mechansim is pretty important when we are going through such a difficult time. I’m pretty lucky being in Australia where we have managed to get through relatively unscathed but I still feel anxiety because my bf is going back to work this week and is in very close contact with ppl in his role. Hopefully my anxiety is unfounded but I am having to find other things to do rather than eating my stress away.
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long-undisturbed treadmill no more. just eradicated my previous best, with 4.21 miles in 59:59!
fuji apples are the best
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Thanks Jiggywiggy!
Yeah it’s actually much simpler than intermittent fasting for me (I think). I live in NYC so have been self-quarantining since late Feb. Before that it was so easy to order in food that it was pretty much a daily thing, but now it has all been grocery orders that we got delivered. So it just changed up our diet a lot, and I have deliberately been eating a bit less to a) lose weight and b) not require as many grocery orders to reduce risk.
Changing jobs might have helped too. The new one is on a different schedule so I get to sleep in more, and I enjoy it much more too so my stress levels are not as high. It’s hard to pull apart which particular variable has moved the needle so much, as I guess they have all contributed to some degree. I think the biggest thing has just been a lot more home cooking. Considering myself lucky to be seeing these results as I know just about everyone else has been gaining weight.
Intermittent fasting is something I have tried before and quite like though, so I would probably like to go back to that once we are back to normalcy.
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You’re a beast! I would have zero chance of being able to do that. I really need to work on my cardio when I can get back out.
I will say though that my resting heart rate has dropped by about 10 bpm since February, almost certainly owing to my weight loss.
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I grew up playing soccer, and later in life sorta rediscovered it and soccer-specific training, because you need to be slender etc.
Id consistently run quarter marathons(6.55 miles lmao quater marathon sounds more impressive os) on my treadmill 2 or 3 times a week… one weekend, a T-time fell through, and I ran a half-marathon on my treadmill
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Weekly review - Week ending May 23rd
Weight: 237.8 (was 237)
For the first time in a long time I gained a little. I’m not worried about it considering we got a grocery order in and I wasn’t eating well, plus I have come down over 20lbs pretty fast.
Sleep
8 hrs 13 mins average.
Keeping it above 8 hours average is good. The sleep was a bit broken up, but still this is reasonable and I am ok with it.
Deliberate exercise
0/7
Stretches
0/7.
Meditation
5/7. Another relatively consistent week. This is still something I think about daily, but I still don’t feel like I have got this to a place of “a thing I just do, every day”.
Reading/Podcast
6/7. Really enjoyed adding the option to change things up with some podcasts. I have various kinds of informative podcasts downloaded so most nights I picked one and listened on about 1.5x speed.
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Weekly review - Week ending May 30th
Weight: 239.4 (was 237.8)
OMG PANIC!!! But not really…this is still small in the scheme of things, and I am still down 23lbs for the year. I gained a small amount last week as well, so I do need to arrest the trend if I want to avoid going back up. Doing these reviews definitely does help me keep in mind how I am progressing, and because I am paying this attention to it I like to think I will make some better choices this week and not get back over 240lbs. I have my sights set on 230lbs for my next goal. Given that I have now clearly found a point where the weight won’t just keep falling off, I am not expecting to get to 230lbs quickly.
Sleep
8 hrs 34 mins average. I got 10hrs 10mins sleep last night. My sleep this week has been more broken up than it has been in months. I feel pretty sure there is a correlation with anxiety. I am waking up several times during the night lately, and even though I generally get back to sleep pretty fast I am sure it is impacting the overall level of rest.
Deliberate exercise
0/7
Stretches
0/7.
Meditation
4/7. Meditation has been more of a struggle this week. Like most people at the moment the current world events are getting to me, and when I do try and meditate I am finding it more difficult to get to any point where I can still my thoughts. I know the whole point is to keep working during those times, and I am proud of myself for not cutting any meditation sessions short even if I wasn’t finding any quiet in my head.
Reading/Podcast
6/7. Still going with the podcast thing, and also started a new Dresden Files book this week.
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Weekly review - Week ending June 6th
Weight: 236.2 (was 239.4)
Interesting! A new low here. I am wondering if last weeks weight was an anomaly? I am deliberately choosing not to eat sometimes (outside of main meals) because I want to keep this momentum while I have it. It’s not depriving myself when I should eat, since that is not sustainable and would just cause a worse rebound. I just mean in the evenings after I have already had 3 meals that day and a snack or two, I am opting not to grab something at 9pm if I feel a bit hungry.
Sleep
8 hrs 12 mins average. This takes into account the 8hrs43mins on Friday night and 9hr9mins last night. This seems to be part of a trend of late where I am probably averaging around 7.5 hours during the week and making up some sleep debt on the weekend. While it is still a decent result I would like to not be racking up that debt during the week.
Deliberate exercise
0/7
Stretches
0/7.
Meditation
4/7. Still not the 6/7 or 7/7 I want it to be. But at the same time I have not at any point this year just thrown in the towel because I wasn’t as consistent as I wanted to be. I’ve already meditated more this year than any other year of my life, so I will just keep going.
Reading/Podcast
6/7. Finished another Dresden Files book this week but also mixed in some podcasts. I think I am going to be sticking with this mixing of the two long term.
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