200 Tuesday

Back in February 2022 I embarked on a weight loss program. I’m sure that this is something that many of us have done from time to time but this is the first time I’ve been serious (sort of) about Dorning some weight.

Back in April 2021 I dipped below 200 lbs and I wasn’t even trying. II’d say it was my medical situation that did it all by itself with no conscious help from me. I remember feeling good about that weight and how I looked etc. It’s the weight I was when I graduated high school and hadn’t seen since that time. So that was the goal, get back to 200.

For me the weight loss was primarily about helping my performance on the bike. Less weight to ride around with makes you faster as you increase your fitness levels. Less weight to pedal up those hills at the lake. All that plus I’ll look a bit better in the bathing suit this summer. 😂

So here is the plan. Eat and drink less, exercise more. Pretty simple eh? Eating less was aided by a daily reminder I put on my phone.

I am consistent – Back to 200! Healthy foods in healthy amounts – skip desserts! smaller plate, one plate, no seconds

I’m a firm believer in that it’s all about the calories. Less calories in and the body will burn off the weight. So how did that go? Well… it was a good reminder for sure and some days I stuck with the program and some days I didn’t. I’ve not yet got into the “small plate” habit but I think my portion control is a bit better. Desserts are less frequent and it’s 1-2 cookies not half a bag of Fudgeeos

More exercise = more riding the bike + some weight training. This part is going very well. Almost daily there is 1+hours on the bike either indoors on the trainer doing formal interval training or outside on generally longer rides. On non-riding days there is a 1 hour weight program. Occasionally, both on the same day. 👍

I decided to record weight daily and have an official weigh-in day once a week on Tuesday. Why Tuesday? Well, I thought if I messed up the program on the weekend that I might be able to get back on track on Sunday and Monday and make the weekly goal on Tuesday.

And what was the weekly goal? Well somewhere I heard that 1 lb/week was a reasonable rate of loss and 2lbs/week would be fairly aggressive. So, being a bit of a data guy II created a spreadsheet and targeted somewhere between 1-2 lbs/week.

So all of this put together has worked out fairly well overall with one little exception, 200 Tuesday. Here is the data to date.

What the chart doesn’t show is that there have been several days recently where I’ve been under 200, just never (so far) on Tuesday, the “official” weigh-in day. Generally, I manage to self-sabotage myself in the days right before Tuesday with a little to much self congratulation on making the goal. Right now I’m hovering daily between 201-202, agonizingly close, but no prize. May long weekend was the planned date to make the goal which is only 8 days away. The pressure is on!