March 12, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (223.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 223.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (4.5 pounds to go, 1.5 pounds lost)

6:00--walked 40 minutes
6:50--270 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--260 calories
3:00--160 calories
5:00--250 calories
7:30--320 calories
10:10--350 calories (working late on photos)

Daily total = 1,710 calories

March 11, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (223.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 223.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (4.5 pounds to go, 1.5 pounds lost)

Not as bad as expected after 3 beers and a frozen pizza last night. This day didn't start off so great as I skipped the walking in order to get more rest. Maybe I can get that walking in this afternoon.

6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
3:00--100 calories
7:00--260 calories
8:30--100 calories

Daily total = 1,420 calories

March 9, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (224.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 224.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (5.5 pounds to go, .5 pounds lost)

It's good to get back into the losing weight category on this phase of my dieting. While walking this morning I realized that there's a huge amount of difference between consuming 2,000 or 1,500 calories per day. It doesn't sound like much, but look at the calories as if they are dollars.

Say a person has monthly expenses of about $2,000, enough to pay the bills and budget for those once a year big expenses. Life can go on "as is" for a long time if there's $2,000 coming in each month. However, life will change in a hurry if that income drops to $1,500 per month. Changes will have to be made.

That's how I see the calorie thing. My body can cope with a drop to 2,000 calories a day by lowering my metabolism instead of dipping into the fat reserves. A drop to 1,500 calories a day is a different story. That type of drop would mean that changes have to be made and that's what I'm looking for. I need to start looking at cutting back a little here and there, and I think those little changes will make a big difference.

6:00--walked 45 minutes
6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
7:00--320 calories

Daily total = 1,280 calories

March 8, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (225 lbs)

Morning Weight: 225 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (6 pounds to go, 0 pounds lost)

Got up at 4:45 this morning as usual, then rested for a couple of minutes and suddenly it was 5:35. This is how my efforts start to fall apart. I was up till midnight working on the photo project, something that I need to do every night this week, and getting up to walk at 6 is going to be tough. That might have to be the way it goes for a few weeks and that will be okay IF I don't start eating extra food for "energy" to get me through the day. When a person gets tired and overworked, they really have to dig deep for the willpower necessary to stick with a dieting plan.

6:45--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
3:30--320 calories
8:00--320 calories

Daily total = 1,600 calories

March 7, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (226 lbs)

Morning Weight: 226 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (7 pounds to go, 1 pound gained)

Note: My momentum was broken by that stretch of being sick. At a time when my body was still wanting to add a few pounds to get back to a more comfortable norm, I eased up instead of tightening up. My guess is that the formula to get back the momentum will be a string of 1,500 calorie days, steady doses of walking, and less calories after 6:30 in the evening. Today would be a good day to start that trend.

8:30--250 calories
11:30--320 calories
2:00--300 calories
5:30--700 calories

Daily total = 1,570 calories

March 6, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (225.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 225.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (6.5 pounds to go, .5 pounds gained)

I gave up keeping the Thursday scorecard and didn't even try on Friday. The regular eating wasn't too bad. It was the candy that I was taking for "medicinal purposes" which made the calorie count impossible. It would be nice if I could report being 100% this morning. However, that is not the case. I'm close, maybe 90% back with just a slight cough and occasional runny nose reminding me that I've been sick. It's close enough that I can get back to the business of dieting.

8:30--320 calories
11:30--400 calories
3:30--300 calories
5:30--250 calories
7:30--380 calories
10:30--320 calories

Daily total = 1,970 calories

March 3, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (224.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 224.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (.5 pounds lost, 5.5 pounds to go)

!!!!!!!!!!! Today was the 3rd straight day of being under the first diet goal of 225 pounds so that's one diet successfully completed. It's possible that I'll bounce up to 225 in the next day or two, but I really think that I'll never, ever see that setpoint of 228 pounds that was blocking me in recent months or any weight that begins with "23".

With those 7 pounds gone and out of the picture, I'm not going to refer to them with any total weight loss count. My guess is that I'll do much better by focusing fully on the diet at hand, which is to lose the 6 pounds between 225 pounds and 219. Getting out of the 220's is going to be a huge achievement so I'm excited about succeeding on this new diet.

6:00--walked 45 minutes
6:50--260 calories

7:00--I've had a sore throat and a cold since the weekend. Yesterday I just about lost my voice totally. Today I'm sucking on lifesavers and Jolly Ranchers for "medical reasons" so I'm not counting them as calories. Yes, that does sound like cheating, but it's my diet and my rules, so I can assure you that this is 100% perfectly legal as long as it doesn't become a habit.

12:00--600 calories
2:30--250 calories
5:30--250 calories
8:00--320 calories

Daily total = 1,680 calories plus the lifesavers

March 1, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (224.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 224.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (7.5 pounds lost, Day 1 of 3 needed to accomplish goal)

6:00--walked 45 minutes
6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
3:00--100 calories
6:30--300 calories
7:45--320 calories

Daily Total = 1,680 calories

Note: Got to work and found out the phones weren't working. Called people all day about this with lots of promises but no phone connections--how did people call about phone troubles prior to the invention of cell phones? An AT&T guy got to the office at 4:00. I stayed with him till 7:30. Phones still not working. At this point, there was nothing for him to fix, just a need for him to be there and verify that others had fixed the circuit elsewhere. He could test that outside the building so I went home. Now I have a sore throat and sniffles after a long day--it's 8:00 and I'm going to bed with hopes that tomorrow will be a better day.

February 28, 2010--Dieting Scorecare (225.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 225.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (6.5 pounds lost, .5 pound to go)

9:00--320 calories
12:00--250 calories
3:15--400 calories
6:00--320 calories
7:30--250 calories

Daily total = 1,540 calories


Note: I've been feeling a little sick the last couple of days. It wasn't anything serious until I went and took photos at a Millsaps baseball game. Maybe being out and walking around had nothing to do with it, but last night I have that yucky combination of fever and chills. Really felt punk. Today is much better and I'm taking some cold medicine. I'll skip the walking today and even going out to just watch the baseball game. Might even skip some of the photo editing to take a nap or relax by watching a DVD. It's no good for anyone if I stay sick for very long.

February 27, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (225.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 225.5 pounds (I slept till 8 so this might be lower than normal)
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (6.5 pounds lost, .5 pound to go)

Let me mention that I'm somewhat sick this morning. I could feel it coming on yesterday so I stayed in bed a little longer this Saturday morning. It's a general punk feeling, somewhat of a sore throat that will turn into sniffles and sneezing in a day or two, and a little coughing right now. This hits me every once in a while, but not lately. My plan it to make this a soup day--all soup, all day. There could be worse ways to treat an illness.

9:00--380 calories (baked potatoes with cheddar and bacon bits)
12:00--310 calories (decided to go photograph Millsaps baseball--got away from the soups)
2:00--230 calories
5:00--250 calories (1,170 so far)
7:00--700 calories

Daily Total = 1,870 calories

February 26, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (226 lbs)

Morning Weight: 226 pounds
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (6 pounds lost, 1 pound to go)

6:10--walked 30 minutes (got to work late--stopped at Walmart)
6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
3:00--250 calories (1,210 calories so far)
6:00--100 calories (light beer)
6:20--680 calories (frozen pizza--decided to get wild to end the work week)
8:00--100 calories (light beer)

Daily total = 2,090 calories

February 25, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (227.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 227.5 pounds (see Note below)
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (4.5 pounds lost, 2.5 pounds to go)

6:00--walked 45 minutes
6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
3:00--250 calories
6:00--320 calories
11:30--320 calories

Daily total = 1,850 calories

Note: Still going in the wrong direction. Some of that is eating later in the evening. Some is due to getting up this morning at 4 and drinking half a soda before weighing. Some is my body trying to adjust back after that big loss at the start. It's not disappointing or discouraging. It's simply a very small part of the big picture. Much more important than my actual weight is my behavior. Consistently walking for 45 minutes each day and consistently making a significant reduction in my caloric intake--that's the important thing and it is becoming habitual behavior. I'm on the right track and it will lead me to the right results.

February 24, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (226.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 226.5 pounds (see Note below)
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (5.5 pounds lost, 1.5 pounds to go)

6:00--walked 45 minutes
6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
3:00--250 calories
6:00--300 calories
7:30--600 calories

Daily total = 2,110 calories (over the 2,000 barrior, but actually a very good number for a Wednesday. I'll give myself a "good day" on this one.)


Note: This isn't so unusual, gaining back some weight after a quick and unrealistic weight loss. The big picture is still that I've lost 5.5 pounds in about 2 weeks and the weight loss will start back up before too long if I keep doing the things I've been doing.

February 23, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (226 lbs)

Morning Weight: 226 pounds
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (6 pounds lost, 1 pound to go)

6:00--walked 45 minutes
6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
3:00--100 calories (total so far = 1,060 calories)
5:00--250 calories
7:00--380 calories

Daily total = 1,690 calories

February 22, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (226 lbs)

Morning Weight: 226 pounds
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (6 pounds lost, 1 pound to go)
(Note--this is why I like the 3 days in a row rule for getting at or under a goal. I don't want to move on to the next goal while there's still work to be done on the current goal.)

6:00--walked 45 minutes
6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--540 calories
3:00--100 calories
5:45--250 calories (1,250 so far)
9:00--320 calories

Daily Total = 1,570 calories

February 21, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (225 lbs)

Morning Weight: 225 pounds
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (7 pounds lost, 0 pounds to go)
(Note--A goal isn't officially achieved until there are 3 straight days at that target or below. This is Day 1 of reaching the goal target.)

9:00--250 calories
11:30--360 calories
12:00--walked 45 minutes
6:30--640 calories
9:30--250 calories (I need to stay up late to work on photos)

Daily total = 1,500 calories

February 20, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (226 lbs)

Morning Weight: 226 pounds
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (6 pounds lost, 1 pound to go)

9:00--320 calories
1:00--250 calories
5:30--walked for 45 minutes
7:30--640 calories

Daily Total = 1,210 calories

February 19, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (226.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 226.5 pounds (see note below)
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (5.5 pounds lost, 1.5 pounds to go)

6:00--45 minutes walking
7:00--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
5:00--260 calories
9:30--350 calories (the gap between 5 and 9:30 was spent taking basketball photos--and resisting the urge to buy candy at the concession stand)

Daily total = 1,570 calories

Note: I'm not complaining about 5 pounds lost in 2 days, but I'm realistic enough to know that this isn't the norm and those 5 pounds would come back in a flash if I falter. The bigger news is that I'm comfortable with the idea of changing my work hours from 7-4 to 6-4 with that first hour being devoted to walking. That extra hour spent at work will pay off big even though it won't change my paycheck.

February 18, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (228.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 228.5 pounds (see note below)
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (3.5 pounds lost, 3.5 pounds to go)

6:00--walked 45 minutes
7:00--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
5:30--250 calories
7:45--320 calories

Daily total = 1,530 calories


NOTE: If the body is something like 70% fluids then my body is composed of about 160 pounds of fluids. That means a daily loss of 3 pounds in certainly possible, but I don't honestly believe that 3 pounds of pure fat has melted away. Going by the calculation that a pound of fat equals about 3,500 calories of energy, I don't think my body burned up 10,000 calories over the last 24 hours. Not that I'm complaining. It's definitely a move in the right direction. Now I need to hold on to this success and work hard to get through this 228 pound area which has been a sticking point for me in the past.)

February 17, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (231.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 231.5 pounds
Goal: 225 pounds (.5 pounds lost, 6.5 pounds to go)

6:00--walked 45 minutes
7:00--260 calories
10:00--300 calories (office birthday party--in the past 1,500 calories would have been typical)
12:00--600 calories
5:30--250 calories
8:00--380 calories

Daily total = 1,790 calories