Friday, January 14, 2011

A Life of Surprises

So I stepped on the new nifty digital weighing device today and I was surprised to see 227.6 staring up at me. That's 1.4 lbs difference between today and yesterday. For purposes of full disclosure, I weigh myself several times in a very short period until I get a consistent number. I have noticed that, perhaps, the calibration takes a bit to kick in since I need to slide it out of the way every morning. I think honesty with the numbers and measurements of everything in your life, from your money to your waistline, is critically important. A great quote from the book The 4-Hour Body , is the following: what gets measured gets managed. If I don't have good consistent measurements, I can't possibly be a good consistent manager.

I am going to extrapolate some numbers from my pre-digital weight and the post digital weight (I have also tested both scales against each other to get a more accurate picture) and say that so far I have lost about 4.4lbs. I have probably lost a bit more but I would rather go with the lower number just as I like to go with my higher number when I weigh in. I might be cheating myself out of a pound or so but I feel much better for not having taken the variability of the numbers and skewing them for my own satisfaction.

4.4lbs is not too shabby for 4 days of dieting. I am averaging, at current pace, 1.1 lbs per day. I am well on target to reach my new ultimate goal of being 190lbs in two months. As I might have mentioned before, I am generally avoiding exercise through at least the end of next week. There is a purpose to this. First off, I want to make sure my body doesn't go into a catabolic state. In essence, I don't want my body to start packing on weight because I am: a) not getting as many calories and my body has not adjusted yet b) I will need to kick my metabolism up to a new level as I lose more weight. As soon as my body adjusts to the lower calorie count (though I am eating fairly well), I will start hitting it hard exercise wise. Once my body can efficiently use the good calories I am now feeding it, I can prevent that nasty little side effect of packing fat weight on instead of packing on lean muscle weight.

Knowing how this has worked before, I can honestly tell you that I expect to get diminishing returns past the two week mark because I will reach a certain set point. Carrying more weight than you should has benefits when it comes to weight loss, your body has to work harder to maintain and carry that weight - less weight, slower weight loss. Your body works even harder to maintain lean muscle though and that is where kicking up the metabolism comes into play. I'll be interested to see what happens next.

Looking to the future, tomorrow is binge day and I really haven't had a craving for much of anything. Well, okay that is not entirely true. We were talking at work about pizza and I would love to have one of the new Domino's pizzas tomorrow. Those things are to do die for. Outside of that food desire, I am lost. I still want the good things.

Sometimes just changing your mindset can bring on bigger changes in your life. That's why I am booking gigs as an underwear supermodel, male stripper or the new Old Spice guy starting today. I don't want the din of people knocking my door down to disturb our family life. You have to schedule out these things and manage your time wisely or else you will be overwhelmed. In terms of appearance, I would say I am feeling a bit better about it. Hey, French kids are not following me around and shouting, "Michelin! Michelin!". I think they are French because 'Michelin' certainly sounds French, I just haven't had time to throw it in the Google translator. At least, soon, I won't have my daughters saying things like: "Dad, I have to do a project on saving the whales, how exactly were you saved?" They have never really said that but they easily could have and I could have easily hung my head and replied, "I escaped from Sea World, sheesh!", to hide my shame. I do wish I had a blow hole on my back, how cool would that be? Hmmmm I am seeing a new experiment here.

Prefab Sprout - A Life of Surprises

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