The Effect of Losing Weight

One of the things I've been meaning to share is the how losing weight changes my experience of my body.

1. A slimmer body is more flexible in the middle. I often feel like I'm swaying about my waist, or something like that. That's not always good, it takes more effort to support myself and my upper back feels fatigued more often.

2. Eating used to be a depressant, it would make my drowsy so I would avoid eating during the day. Now eating is a stimulant.

3. I fidget. As I write my feet are wiggling side to side. Sometimes after eating I feel slightly jittery, occasionally more than a little jittery. Never in a bad way, just as though I have an overabundance of energy. That never used to happen.

4. I'm more attentive to my occasional need for water.

5. I used to be able to go all day without eating, now if I do that I would feel all but sick. Not really sick, just depleted and spaced out.

6. Its easier to walk. I walk much faster.

7. Although I can still pack down a huge meal, I have a more a somewhat more sharply defined sense of satiety.

8. I feel full for longer. My stomach doesn't need calming with night time meals.

9. In bed my bones poke at each other and its annoying; can't sit for long, no fat cushion on my bum.

10. I feel like I'm in excellent health instead of just okay. This is more than some euphoria of success, it is likely hormonal in some way.

A friend took a few moments to point out The Leptin Diet. I'm not entirely persuaded, but the guidelines in the diet are much the same as what I've been doing. Of particular interest was the way in which they included scientific research into their recommendations. I have to admit, that my weight regulation phase next January might be better if I took advantage of what is known about the thermogenic effect, which is the tendency of your body to increase metabolic rate when certain foods are consumed. Its not clear to me that the increased metabolic rates are always beneficial beyond their ability to help reduce weight. It does, however, seem obvious that its a great asset in your arsenal of tricks and tips. I'm providing the links to the things I'm learning as I go along. Special thanks to my friend Kenward Chin.

Final Report, Year 1

Hi Folks, its time to report on progress. My last average weight over 3 days was 160.2 and my lowest one-time measurement was 159.4. I would like to have kept going for another week, but alas I'm out of time. It appears now that my weight is going to be maintained at 160 lbs. I'm finding it very hard to lose weight now. I've been in full diet mode for a week to meet my goal. That's not good. I'm setting 160 as my new normal weight. We'll see what happens now. I've lost 75 lbs over a year, but most of it  in the first 6 months. It may however be that 160 is the lowest I can practically go with only light physical activity and that to be anywhere less means hours in a gym, which I'm not willing to do.

I'm on holidays from work now, there's a special social event this afternoon, a special meal this evening, packing up on Sunday and a road trip with beer and burgers on the way. One of the benefits of being able to control my weight is, however, that I have the freedom to indulge because I know I can lose the weight again. So I expect to put on 5 or 6 lbs over the next three weeks and do so guilt free. I will not be tracking my weight for three weeks, and then I will start once more.

My next goal is to gain the ability to lose weight extremely slowly. This is very challenging because its like driving with a loose steering wheel. You don't really know the effect of your choices for some time. An accurate scale would help. I don't trust the one I have beyond +/- a full pound. The other one I have seems worse (it was cheap). I might by a third, but what to buy? I'm considering weighing myself on all three and averaging them. Or I could do like NASA does, make it a vote. You average the closest two and discard the outlier.

Starting January 7th, I would like to start by losing what I gained over the break at the rate of about 1 lb a week to a weight of 160 lbs. Then I plan to try to start a new graph with a goal to lose only a pound a month. So projecting, I'll give myself 6 weeks until the end of February to get back to 160. Then over four months I'll see if I can drop town to 156.0 lbs. That brings me to the centre of the healthy range for my height.