Progress

I figured I'd get the numbers out of the way right up front since it is Tuesday and that's what Tuesdays are all about.  Top numbers are week 1, bottom are this week.

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 261.8 lb 

BMI: 37.6
BMR: 2392 kcal

Fat %: 42% 

Fat Mass: 110 lb 

FFM: 151.8 lb 

TBW: 111.21 lb

Height: 5'10" (no real progress on this front)

Weight: 256.2 lb (- 5.6 lb)

BMI: 36.8 (-.8)
BMR: 2356 kcal

Fat %: 43.9% (+1.9%)

Fat Mass: 112.4 lb (+2.4 lb)

FFM: 143.8 lb (-8 lb)

TBW: 105.2 lb (-6 lb)

Well, if the ultimate goal is to lose weight, I've started out on a good foot.  I was pretty good this week with everything, but I definitely could have done more and probably hung a 10-pounder on you.  I have to stop thinking about huge losses, though, and focus on the end result.  If I lose it slower, maybe the logic is that it will take me longer to get to my goal, leaving me less time to completely screw everything up and gain it all back.  Maybe not.  

The thing that I hate about this scale is that it doesn't let me hide behind the weight number very easily and makes me face the fact that things like water weight really do exist.  I'm also troubled by the fact that I somehow managed to gain 2.4 pounds of fat while losing 8 pounds of muscle.  I know I've got some fitness nut readers out there because you have all been giving me great advice and insight, so can any of you fill me in on this?  The same thing happened last year when I lost all the weight.  I know that my exercise program is mostly cardio, but why is my body attacking the muscle instead of focusing on all the delicious energy I've got stored in my man boobs?  I am no mathematician, but at this rate I will be 100% fat by the time I hit 200 and our flower girl will have to pull me down the aisle in a wagon since I won't have any muscles to stand up on my own.  

My buddy Nick, who works in the fitness world, shed some light on what those other numbers meant.  Turns out TBW wasn't Taco Bell Weight but rather Total Body Water.  The average male should have about 60% of their body weight in water, but I'm at a dehydratastic 41%.  I'm actually down a percentage point from last week.  Readers of my last blog may remember that hydration is always a big issue for me.  There isn't a day that goes by where I don't get a cramp somewhere in my body.  Part of that is because I suck at stretching, but it looks like a big part of it might be because I don't drink anywhere near the amount of water that I think I do.  Sounds like a new weekly goal!

The other number that I was confused by was the BMR.  Rather than Googling it like a normal human might, I decided I'd let Nick explain that one, too.  Your BMR is your Basic Metabolic Rate, or the number of calories you burn each day with zero exercise (or as I like to call it, Tuesday).  I looked it up and it turns out my number is pretty high.  Now, I have no idea how this scale calculates this information just by shooting electricity through me.  Again, I could probably Google it and have my answer in ten seconds, but who has time for that?  What I do know is that when I was keeping my calories around 1,800-2,000 calories a day last year, I was losing like crazy because I was taking in less than what the bare minimum to keep my organs functioning was.  Add calorie burning basketball to that and there was little wonder I was losing 7-10 pounds a week.  There might be a goal somewhere in all of this.

Speaking of goals, let's see how I did on week 1:

Goal 1 - No Fast Food This Week: B+

I'm giving myself a B+ because I feel like I did more than pass, but that I probably could have done a little better to get the perfect grade.  If this was a straight Pass/Fail course, you'd see a P on my transcript.  After I went to that Chinese Buffet last Tuesday for lunch, I only went out to eat once the remainder of the week.  Granted, it was to another buffet, but this one was a much healthier option (the place is called Q.Cumbers, for God's sake).  I went to McDonald's zero times.  I ordered pizza zero times.  Since I went to the buffet twice in one week, I'm taking a few points off the final grade, but the goal was no fast food.  Mission accomplished.

Goal 2 - Work out 30 Minutes at Least 4 Times: D-

No excuses, just didn't happen.  I played ball on Wednesday and Monday.  I'm giving myself the 30 minutes credit on Friday because we spent the day registering for gifts, and I was literally on my feet for like four hours.  My legs hurt worse than they do after basketball.  Still, that's 3 out of 4, or 75%.  In Mr. Pool's classroom, that's a D-.  I'm a tough grader and there's no curve.

Goal 3 - Two Cups of Fruit/Three Servings of Veggies a Day: A-/B+

Truth be told, I didn't do a great job of keeping track of whether or not I hit this mark.  Looking back at what I ate each day, I had to have been awfully close to this one.  Might have missed the fruit mark one day, but I didn't cut and measure my bananas to see where I stood.  I'm going to count this goal as a win.

Let's get some goals on paper for next week.  Since I passed Goal 1 and 3 this week, I will continue to work them into the routine and add some new ones to the mix.

Goal 1 - Work Out 30 Minutes for at Least 5 Times in the Next Seven Days

Look, I've got to get this one down.  Last week I wrote 100 different excuses for why I don't work out.  Thursday-Sunday I used about 42 of them.  This week I need to make it.  I even added a day because I need to do something on Saturday and Sunday to keep the momentum between Friday basketball and Monday basketball.  I have class this weekend, so my ambitions will be low.  Must overcome lame brain.

Goal 2 - 70 Ounces of Fluid a Day With at Least 50 of Those Coming From Water

According to the Mayo Clinic website, the 8x8 rule (drink eight 8 oz cups of water a day) isn't scientifically proven to be the exact number, but it is still a good rule to live by because it is easy to remember.  Since all of the aspartame I've imbibed over the years has cost me the ability to remember things, I'll stick with easy to remember rules.  It says to remember that water is in things like pop, juice and coffee, so you shouldn't discredit those things.  I'm not quite to giving up diet pop yet (maybe next week) and I will murder you if you take my coffee away (please don't test this statement), but I'm going to make sure that I get at least 50 ounces of water.  I want to see some sort of positive movement in my water mass.  

Goal 3 - Track My Calories for the Next Seven Days to Accurately See What I Need to Do Next

Alright, so this one doesn't sound all that hard on paper, but I suck at being organized and reporting to something daily.  I'm not a detail oriented kind of guy, more big picture.  Nick suggested I use myfitnesspal.com, a site he used to track himself this summer as he lost 15 lbs.  I'm not financially in a spot where I'm ready to commit to a pay service to back me up, so I'm taking advantage of any and all free tools I can find.  I'm thinking (actually, Nick was thinking and I'm stealing his thought (remember, aspartame)) that I don't get anywhere near enough protein each week, which is probably contributing a little to my muscle loss and fat gains.  In the past I've cut carbs out, but I haven't really done that this time so my body is probably just packing those babies away while it burns up the muscle.  Or not.  Either way, it won't hurt to actually have a log of what is going in and what is coming out of my body.  

At some point this week, I plan on writing a post about my body image.  I can't guarantee the day because it is class week and I've got homework that takes priority, plus I haven't fully developed my thoughts on the subject.  Most likely my struggle with understanding the struggle will end up being the topic.  We'll see how badly the aspartame effects my brain between now and then.  In the meantime, know that I greatly appreciate any and all feedback/suggestions/words of support.  It is well established that I'm not so good at this stuff, and your stories of success and hard work really do pop into my head when I've got the first six numbers for Domino's dialed into my phone.

Here's to not needing to push the 7th (or in the case of my Minneapolis friends, the 10th),

Jeff