The last 5 lbs

Weighed in yesterday. It was a wrestler's drop 4 lbs the day before type affair. I was at 175.2 on Weight Watcher's scale, 172.5 on mine.

As I have mentioned several times before, I'd like to get out of the drop 4-5 lbs at the end of the month thing.

There are many tricks do get the last few lbs off:

1) Weigh in in running shorts, rather than normal pants. ( -1 lb)
2) Weigh in before you've eaten or drunk anything that day ( -1.5 to -2.0 lbs)
3) Weigh in after a run (- 1 lb or more)
4) Skip dinner the night before ( - 1 lb)

Back when I was going to Weight Watcher's every week, I wouldn't really use any tricks because what was the point? I'd just have to do the same thing next week. But I did use the tricks to take care of the last 4-5 lbs. In the past year, I have been treading water right around the same weight which menas I still haven't lost that last 5 lbs.

To so this would take a significant amount of effort. Diet would have to change and exercise would have to become more rigorous. I'd have to stay on task for about 2 months I figure. That's a fair piece of discipline for the privilege of knowing my weight is "truly" 5 lbs lower.

Exercise may be the key. One of the reasons I want the last 5 to go is I want to fit a bit more comfortably in the 34's pants. Slimming the waist, regardless of impact on weight, will be good for this.

I'm still not ready to push my chips in on this one, but I'm thinking about it.

Success -- sort of

I wanted to hover right at 174.5 this week, so I could take the last couple of pounds off in the last weel of the month. So I weighed 175.0 this morning, but it was and up, then down again week.

Mon: 176.0
Tues: 176.5
Wed: 177.5
Thur: 175.0
Fri: 175.0

Here's the wierd part. Wednesday afternoon, I decided to say the hell with it and got a double cheeseburger and fries. Next day I lost 2 lbs. Sometimes it just seems random.

Now at 175, I could easily go for a run tomorrow morning and then weigh in at 10 , and I'd be pretty close. I think I'm going to wait though and see if I can float down to 172 in the next 6 days. I seem to have set 178.5 as my upper limit during the month. I'd like to reset the number to be 175.

New Knights
A warm welcome to Sir Fat Lazy Guy and Sir Captain. There are at different stages in their respective quests. Sir Fat Lazy Guy has a way to go on his goal but has been wrestling with his demons for a bit. Sir Captain has been at the weight loss game a while and is working on that last 35 lbs.

The Same 6 lbs

Hit the scale this morning at 174.5. When I get down to 172, I usually am right at my goal weight 177 at weight watchers. At the end of last month, I struggled down to 172 and then quickly put the 6 back on. On May 7, I weighed in on the home scale at 178.5. Unlike other months, I set to taking this off right away. Surprisingly, it didn't want to come off. It has take me a couple of weeks to get back down to 174.5.

My goal for this week is to hover right around 174.5 all week and then take the last 2 lbs off next week.

1YAM

That's 1 Year at Maintenance weight.

Weighed in my local weight watcher meeting on Saturday. 177 on the button. That makes it a year at goal weight. This is good, but I'm still living in a off the diet/ on the diet duality. I gain weight in the beginning of the month and lose it at the end so I can "make weight". The cycles are getting smaller though, so this is progress.


New Knight
I warm, if somewhat belated, welcome to Sir Half the Man. He emailed me a ways back, but I have been a slacker. Glad I finally got around to it because he's kicking ass and taking names. Looks like he lost 50 lbs in 13 weeks. Way to to go. Welcome Sir Knight and well met.

Anyone else I've forgotten to add to the list, please just post in the comments of this post.


SpiderMan Opens Around the Blog World
Spider63 seems on a mission to combat obesity by posting agressive encouragement/ tough love comments on every blog on the Internet. In a causal search, I see he had tagged Sir Twice the Man, Lady Lean, and Tim the Exercise Oracle. Reactions are mixed. While some people applaud his tactics, others suggest they are less than helpful. I thought I'd weigh in on the topic because ... umm ... I dunno ... because controversy is fun.

Change is hard. For some reason, we are wired to continue doing whatever the hell we did yesterday. Every so often change is forced upon us, and we have no choice but to change. These are trying times, but we come through them because we have no other choice. It is even harder to make a change when we do have a choice.

There is nothing to stop us from eating in unhealthy ways. In fact, the opposite is true. There is an entire culturural/corporate complex out there which encourages us to consume unhealthy foods in unhealthy quantities. In order to change, we have to really want to change because it will take a whole lot of effort and a whole lot of time. Personally, I have lost weight and kept it off, but I have not yet changed. I am still compelled by food. I may have kept my desires under control for some time (about 2 years now), but I am a long way away from saying I've changed.

Is tough love part of this process? Yes. I think so, but it has to come from a select few individuals -- namely, those people whom you know love you. Unless someone is sure of your love for them, I wouldn't deal them any "tough love". I have received a dose here and there from my wife and Tim, the Exercise Oracle (whom I've know since I was 8). Mostly they held up a mirror to my face and said,"This is what you look like when you're saying this. Do you believe it, cuz I don't?"

I also believe in honesty. When people ask for an opinion, I think it is a good idea to give them an honest one. When I do, I try to remember the words from a Quaker hymm, "Speak truth in a loving way". (I seem to be big on love today.) This is hard since the temptation is just to soften what you mean to say so you won't hurt the person's feelings. In my experience, it has less to do with what you say and more to do with the feeling you have when you say it. And it is always better when someone asked me for my opinion in the first place.