March 16, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (225.5 lbs)

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

Note: The last 3 days have basically been a break from dieting. Not a feeding frenzy, but also not a stretch where anyone would see me as a person trying to lose weight.

It definitely started with Saturday, a day when I was at Millsaps taking photos from 10 till 4 and then went to a supper party that evening. Then on Sunday I was tired, went to Millsaps to take more photos from 12 to 4, and naturally I stayed up late working on photos. Monday was a case of simply being worn out and trying to get through the day.

Here’s something that I’ve said many times. From a logical standpoint, it seems like dieting is something that a person can do regardless of whatever else is going on in their life. For me, and apparently for many others, this isn’t the case. If I don’t have time to focus on my diet, if I don’t have a situation where I can plan my food for the day, if I find myself overworked and worn out, then it is extremely difficult to successfully diet. Not impossible, but extremely difficult.

This last weekend was busy and I had no control over the time flow. The ball games were on a set schedule that I couldn’t change. There were other things that had to be done before the weekend ended and there just wasn’t much time to get it all done. This week, while still being very busy, will be more about my time flow. It lowers the stress level and hopefully it will allow me to get back to the task of lowering my weight.

6:00--walked 45 minutes
6:50--270 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories

March 15, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (225.5 lbs)

See March 16 post.

March 14, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (225.5 lbs)

See March 16 post.

March 13, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (222.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 222.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (3.5 pounds to go, 2.5 pounds lost)

Today is going to be tricky in several ways. My plan is to be a the Millsaps softball field at 10 to take photos of warmups and then a game that starts at 11. Then I'll walk up the hill and take photos at a baseball game that starts at 1 and will probably run till after 4. Then I eating supper at a friend's house.

My plan it to wait until about 9:40 and then go by the nearby Burger King for one of their breakfast sandwiches. That's not too bad on the calories if you hold off on the jelly, and it should hold me until after the start of the baseball. At the baseball game, the only thing quick and available will be a candy bar. Admittedly, I could take something to the game like a couple of apples, but don't expect perfection from my diet.

The candy bar and a diet soda will get me through the game and then I'll try to not eat until the supper. If I skip on any chips and dips before the meal and on desert after the meal, the calorie count for the day will be okay. As for the walking today, I'll be on my feet most of the time from 10 to 4. I'll let that count for the walking and I'll be during plenty of moving around doing that time.

2 Week Weight Chart

My morning weigh-in numbers for the last 14 days:

March 13, 2010 -- 222.5
March 12, 2010 -- 223.5
March 11, 2010 -- 223.5
March 10, 2010 -- 222.5
March 9, 2010 -- 224.5
March 8, 2010 -- 225
March 7, 2010 -- 226
March 6, 2010 -- 225.5
March 5, 2010 -- unknown
March 4, 2010 -- 225
March 3, 2010 -- 224.5
March 2, 2010 -- 223.5
March 1, 2010 -- 224.5
Feb. 28, 2010 -- 225.5

Two week results = 3 pounds lost = rate of 78 pounds lost in a year

Total results since February 16 (232 pounds) = 9.5 pounds lost

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 10, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (222.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 222.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 219 pounds (3.5 pounds to go, 2.5 pounds lost)

Notes: I didn't eat much after noon yesterday, a factor in today's low weight. Today needs to be another day in the 1,500 calorie range, and that will take some planning since I'll have a few light beers with the guys tonight.

5:00--walked 50 minutes
6:50--260 calories
10:00--100 calories
12:00--600 calories
5:30 to 7:00--450 calories (3 regular beers, they didn't have light)
7:45--700 calories

Daily total = 2,110 calories (this total isn't really bad, especially for a night of going out for a few drinks, but I could have cut back at both lunch and supper so I'm going to mark this as a bad day even though it was a good day considering the circumstances)

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 2, 2010--Dieting Scorecard (223.5 lbs)

Morning Weight: 223.5 pounds
Diet Goal: 225 pounds (8.5 pounds lost, Day 2 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

PLUS--lots of candy throughout the day because of a sore throat that was causing me to lose my voice while trying to deal with phone problems that we have had since the start of the week. Voice is almost gone now, I'm going to get in bed as soon as getting home, and we'll see if I get up later in the evening or just get a healthy helping of rest. I'm going to put this down as a "Bad Day" which it was in general as well as in calorie intake.

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.