Week 84 Weigh-In I'M FAT!!!!!!

JANUARY 2007

Last Week's Weight: 235.2 lbs.
Today's Weight: 231 lbs. (-4.2)
Total Lost: 149 lbs.

Fat Ratio: 20.6%
Lean Mass: 183.4 lbs.
Fat Mass: 47.6 lbs.
Waist: 45.5 inches

Wow, I never expected to lose that much this week. It's interesting how our bodies work. Sometimes, the body likes to hang on to the fat despite our best efforts to make a calorie deficit. Other times, it seems to lose the fat when the deficit doesn't seem to be as great. I know in the big picture it all evens out, but it is interesting to see how it works week to week.

Anyhow, I hit two milestones this week. I am below the weight I was when I got married. The body proportions are all different. I thought I might be able to fit into a suit that I bought about a year after I got married. No dice. I have a couple of theories. One, I have much greater muscle mass than I did back then. I also think that much of my fat back then was marbled between my muscles and hanging around in between all my internal organs. Therefore, I had a smaller waist, et al. I believe I now have less fat and more muscle, but my fat mostly below the skin instead of in the muscles and between the organs. It's just a theory. Otherwise I don't know how to explain that I am lighter, but have bigger proportions. I suppose the suit could have shrunk.

AUGUST 2007


The second big milestone is that I now have a BMI under 30. In other words, I AM FAT!!!!! rather than obese. I hope and pray that I will never again be described obese in medical terms. The next big goal besides the ten pound markers are to get under 200 lbs., and then of course down to 190 (if that still makes sense), and finally my ultimate goal in terms of weight is to get under 15% body fat. I am not at all confident that my own body fat calculations are correct. When I get closer to 190, I will try to get an accurate body fat test like the dunk tank test.

I do want to emphasize that even though I am excited about these weight goals being met, my ultimate goal is live a fit lifestyle. That goal can be accomplished each and every day. Yet, it is new each and every day. In other words, I can and do accomplish living fit from day to day, but it is never to be marked as a something as fait accomplis.

I wanted to report a little more on our vacation from a couple of weeks ago. The day after the race, we went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival. We go to this most years and we all have a lot of fun. The kids especially like to watch the jousting. I enjoy the whole atmosphere. Anyhow, they had a rock climbing wall there (Don't ask me how it fits the theme), and my wife wanted to try it. So I paid for her to try it. Well, I had to try it then too. I had a lot of fun. They tried to start me on the difficult wall. Well, having never done it before, I did not make it very far. They then put me on the easy wall, and I got to the top with no problem. That was another goal accomplished.

AUGUST 2008


Finally, I mentioned that I was reading the book "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy." Here is a little synopsis of what I have read so far.

*The USDA's original food pyramid was misleading and too vague because it didn't differentiate between good and bad fats, good and bad sources of protein, or good and bad sources of carbs. In addition, it made no mention of exercise.

* The new USDA's "My Pyramid" while acknowledging the importance of exercise is even more vague and confusing than the original and necessitates the use of the internet to use it.

* Dr. Willett proposes "The New Healthy Eating Pyramid" which takes into account the body of studies on health and nutrition and corrects the problems he has with USDA's pyramids.

* Chapter 2 deals with deciphering studies and reports concerning diet, nutrition, and weight loss. He gives the following guidelines to help:

1) Pay no attention to studies done on animals. They may pave the way for research on human beings but are never a basis for changing our own diets and habits because the effects on an animal can be quite different for humans.

2) Don't worry about studies done in controlled environments such as hospitals or special research centers. These studies look only at how the body responds to different foods in isolation, but not at over all health risks. Studies done in the real world are the ones to which we should pay attention.

3) Studies that pay attention to disease endpoints are more important that studies that look at intermediary markers that may lead to the disease. In other words, those markers don't always translate into things like heart disease or stroke, so look at the studies that focus on the direct connection to the disease.

4) Larger studies are better than smaller studies.

5) The more studies the confirm each other the better. If only one study concludes that something is bad, but 20 other studies conclude that it is good than we should assume that it is good.

* Chapter 3 talks about healthy weight. He explains that this is not as simple as people think it is. For example, a person may have a BMI under 25, gain 15 lbs and still have a BMI under 25. However, a 15 lb. weight gain can have serious implications for our health. While things like BMI's and weight charts can be helpful guidelines, much more needs to be taken into account.

* He talks about the reasons for weight gain: Diet, genes (but only partly), lifestyle, and culture. Of course, the simple math of it is more calories in than calories expended.

* He then evaluates diets:

1) Low-fat diets aren't good because they limit the good fats we need.

2) Low-carb diets may help with weight loss, but if they allow unlimited amounts of red meat, butter, and cheese, this is not good for optimal health.

3) Low-energy-density diets don't differentiate food based on its health value, but simply on its ability to fill us up with the least amount of calories.

4) Low-glycemic diets are not too bad but there are simpler ways to accomplish the same things.

I think I will save his approach to weight control for another post. Anyhow, the bottom line is that diets that are designed for weight loss all have pretty much the same track record when it comes to keeping the weight off. What is needed is a diet that is designed to give us the best possible health all our lives.

"Practice yourself in little things, and thence proceed to greater."--Epictetus

Living Fit Is My #1 Job!

ADDENDUM 6 days until the Triathlon (500 meter swim, 20k bike, 5 k run)