Candyman

203.8lbs. Well, well, well. 203lbs might be in reach and I can thank green bananas for that (look at the post "Hollaback Girl" to see why). It really has made quite a difference. It was definitely a calculated change in this experiment. Fruits are verboten, mostly (lemon juice in small amounts is allowed, it has some really weird properties that help with blood glucose). But after doing my research I realized it might behoove me to include bananas. I am already down 2.4lbs from last Saturday's weigh in. I've eaten better this week than I did last week.

Last week, I felt like I was not eating very much and it was such a chore and I was ridiculously hungry in the evening. The whole point is not to be hungry. After binge day, it became unbearable and I almost dropped off of this thing -almost. I had such a crazy desire for anything with sugar on it or in it. If you had just finished a Reese's peanut butter cup, I would have probably sucked the wrappers and chewed your fingers off to get to the sweet sweet glucose running through your bloodstream.

I have to say this has been the easiest week so far. No weird cravings, no hunger. I have been eating like a pig, honestly I have. Also I have noticed that my weigh ins seem more consistent. Usually, this time of the week I am slowing the weight loss down to a crawl. It's an annoying feeling to think you have sacrificed like crazy only to have the scale tell you that you haven't. I really want to see if the banana thing helps with weigh in consistency on tomorrows weigh in. I am thinking it might and the sole reason I think this is regularity. How green bananas help with probiotics is an amazing thing.

Seeing a .6 or .8 lb loss every Thursday or Friday just pisses me off. Yeah, I know, that is consistent but it's not consistent over a period of days. Usually Wednesday is the big weight loss day where I drop the most. It's just sort of how it works and that has definitely been consistent. The last 3 weeks have been incredibly consistent from spike to decrease and though I really did not like charts in the past, I have learned to embrace them. It's a lot easier to see things visually over a period of time and make critical assessments. One thing I have noticed is that spikes after binges are a lot smaller. I think this is a very good thing because my body has become more regulated over time.

Another thing I have been able to notice is that eating late on a binge day causes losses in the early part of the week to be less dramatic. I try to pack my calories in earlier in the wake cycle now, if I have the willpower. The rule of thumb for Saturdays: willpower is a dirty word. So I really don't try to put too much into it consciously. It makes only a slight difference anyway. I also have noticed that we rarely binge on fast food at all. We want good food that is generally forbidden and we eat so much that dessert never cross my mind except before we start eating. Here's the thing: I need to eat that crap.

So tomorrow, I will try to pack more sugary forbidden things into the day. Someone warn the local supermarkets, there is going to be a run on Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs tomorrow. There is also a Key Lime Pie inside the freezer. I will make my best attempt at rendering into an ex-pie Saturday. I have had one crazy fast food craving this week and it is Taco Bell. I am going to make such a run for the border that someone will be calling ICE on me.

Some odd positives and notes from the week. The "skinny" jeans I bought while I was in Wichita are now baggy on me and the waist is getting all bunchy. I am on the last hole on everyone of my belts. This Sunday will be 8 weeks and we start week 9 (Saturday's weigh in is fairly big because of this). If we hit at least 203lbs tomorrow, I will be only 18lbs from my original goal of 185lbs (my weight through most of high school). I also will be lighter than I have been in the last 18 years. The closest I can remember being near 205lbs was somewhere in the late 90's. When I reach 190, it will be the lowest weight I have been in 25 years. My lowest weight when I was 20 years old was somewhere around 176lbs. But, honestly there wasn't much muscle mass. I think I actually stripped muscle because of the military's fondness for aerobics and my love of running at the time. It certainly made maintaining a good healthy weight much harder later on.

I might adjust my goal lower as we hit the next 8 weeks because I would like to get into a much lower body fat percentage. 185lbs is a high average for my height. I would feel much more comfortable at the 175 number and I will see the results better with a higher level of exposed muscularity. At that point I am turning this thing on its head and bulking up with lean meats and proteins so I can achieve more muscle mass. With more muscle mass, it will be a lot more difficult to pack any weight back on. The goal then will be my original one: 185lbs but with the caveat that I have a body fat percentage between 10-15%. I did a short survey of NFL wide receivers who are my height and found that anywhere between 185-195lbs is fairly ideal. I can't wait until we get to this point. Now that's not to say I am going to avoid exercise, I really don't want to and as we approach 185lbs, it will be a lot harder to pare the last 10lbs away without it.

Overall, I can see this regimen as a life style once we get past the point where I am trying to achieve goals. I feel so much better eating well. I am not really fond of the binge day thing but I understand it in terms of metabolism. There will just have to be a more even approach to the week. Just avoiding tortillas the size of baby blankets and other useless carbs will be helpful.

Now despite what I said earlier about being a candy freak tomorrow, I do have to take into account how much carbs backfire on you. The more you eat the more you want the next day. So I will have to be careful about when I eat them so that Sunday does not feel like torture. Eat something sugary one day and note what you hunger level is the next day. That processed shit is sneaky. Except for Reese's and Jordan Almonds, that shit has to be good for you because it tastes so good. Flying in the face of all evidence to the contrary, I still refuse to believe Reese's are pure evil. Nuh-uh. You can't make me.