Week Four -- Up 1.5

Good.

My weight shot up about 3.5 lbs on the first day after I weighed in last week. I had a fairly large pig out session that night because I had been not eating much. It was beginning to feel like Weigh Watchers where I would lose 2-3 lbs a few days before weigh in and then have my weight pop back up. Habits from being a high school wrestler I guess.

My weight yesterday when I weighed in was 176, and so it is today. I'd rather float down than get into the 3 lbs off, 3 lbs on routine. I'd like to get to 175 by next week.

Starting Weight: 183.5
Current Weight: 176.5
Goal Weight: 172.0

Week 3 - Down another 3 lbs.

A mostly pretty good week with a few ripples. Friday night I went out to dinner and got a seriously large bacon cheeseburger with fries. Clearly, this qualifies as a Chowderhead move. Next day, however, I was down a pound. Go figure.

I really am not complaining, but I have the suspicion that this is "easy off" weight which means it will be "easy on" later. I did have a bit of a stomach virus over the weekend, so it didn't take a whole lot of discipline not to eat a lot.

My goal would be to get down to 173.5 by next Monday. I'm hoping to take out the running shoes this week. I could use a few three milers to help the cause.

I've been reading the Waste the Waist blog. It is a good read.

Starting Weight: 183.5
Current Weight: 174.5
Goal Weight: 172.0

Week two -- Down 3.5

The weight has been jumpy this week. Earlier in the week, I was down to 178.5; Friday I was up to 181 again. I was traveling mid-week to visit family in Tennessee, so I made a few less than optimal choices; however, I never went to far off the range. Over the weekend, I was back to good choices, and I even went running yesterday.

I think the 177.5 is a little low. It may be challenging to lose the pound this week.

Starting Weight: 183.5
Current Weight: 177.5
Goal Weight: 172.0

Note: All my weights now are in home scale weight. When I started the blog, I usually wrote about my weight according to Weigh Watcher's scales, but now I no longer belong. Home scal weight is 3 pounds lighter than Weight Watcher's presumably more accurate scale.

Don't Eat Like a Chowderhead Diet

Before I start, let me say that I am astounded at how much progress people have made since my last post. Most everyone is still at it. Way to go! I am humbled by your efforts and successes.

I've been gone a while, but not much changed since my last post. For about two years, I've been on the Teaching Diet.

The Teaching Diet works like this:

1) I eat whatever I want.
2) During school, I generally don't eat much during the day because I'm too busy.
3) I tend to run about once a week in an attempt to retain sanity (I teach middle schoolers).

The Teaching Diet has pretty much kept me at 178. Every once in a while I get to 175, and sometimes I get above 180 (like holidays). It's not bad for weight maint even it not that healthy.

Last week, I got back from vacations and the like and the scale said I weighed 183.5, so it was time to do something before things went real bad. I have opted for the the Don't Eat Like a Chowderhead Diet. It works like so:

1) I know the dumb stuff to eat, so I just don't eat it. *
2) I know about how much is a reasonable portion, so stick to that.
3) Try to eat unprocessed food.
4) Eat lots of fat free microwave popcorn. **

I weighed myself this morning, and I am at 181.0. A 2.5 lb loss in a week is good. I'm shooting for 1 lb/week. I had some challenges because I had a party and a birthday during the week. On my birthday, I had an ice cream cone figuring that this was a reasonable treat on my own damm birthday. The piece of blueberry pie at the party was, admitedly, just a Chowderhead move.

I'm going to see how far I can get on this diet . My goal would be to get to 172 by October 5, 2009. If I get stuck along the way, I'll consider other options. Perhaps back to Weight Watchers.

Glad to be back.
Don Q.

* Lady Lean seems to be using a similar strategy.

** Note: Rules 3 and 4 do conflict. Oh well. Microwave popcorn is the methadone of food addiction. It's crap, but better than the other crap you're already on.