Week in Review

Here's the weight update:

Weight
5-day weighted averages
Week ended / weight / body fat %01.02.2005 / divby0
01.09.2005 / 257.0 / 36.8
01.16.2005 / 252.3 / 34.6
01.23.2005 / 251.9 / 29.1
01.30.2005 / 248.0 / 31.5
02.05.2005 / 244.9 / 30.2
02.12.2005 / 246.4 / 30.1
02.20.2005 / 243.7 / 30.2
02.26.2005 / 239.1 / 27.1
03.04.2005 / 234.0 / 24.8

While it's tempting to consider the new five (5) pound weight loss of the past week relied solely upon the newfound skill of pushing weight onto the balls of my feet while weighing myself, I suspect that's not it. Here's why; My body fat percentage was also reduced from 27.1% to 24.8% -- some 2.3% savings (on, 240 pounds, 2.3% is, roughly, 5 pounds. . . so that makes sense).

MEASUREMENTS

Here are my most recent measurements:

THIS WEEK
03.04.2005
C: 44.50;
B: 14.00;
T: 24.25
N: 16.50;
UW: 42.50;
LW: 40.00;


LAST WEEK
02.26.2004
C: 45.5;
B: 14.0;
T: 24.25
N: 16.5;
UW: 44.25;
LW: 41.25;

So, in the last week, I
* dropped 1" off of my chest.
* dropped 1.75" off of my upper waist; and
* dropped 1.25" off of my lower waist.

This is all quite positive.


COMPARE THIS WEEK
TO BEGINNING
03.04.2005
C: 44.50;
B: 14.00;
T: 24.25
N: 16.50;
UW: 42.50;
LW: 40.00;

LESS
06.20.2004
C: 53.00"
B: 17.00"
T: 27.50"
UW: 48.00"
LW: 43.00"

The numbers are actually pretty incredible and speak for themselves (which is the power of recording this data -- not just weight, but also measurements and body fat -- it gives you a better sense of direction).

I have dropped
* 8.5" from my chest (53-44.5);
* 3.0" from my biceps (17-14);
* 3.25" from my thigs (27.5-24.25);
* 5.50" from my "upper waist" (48-42.5)
* 3.00" from my "lower waist" (43-40).

The waist area is interesting. The adage is that the last fat deposit for men, is in the waist area (for women, evidently, in the hips) -- but I think the numbers show that things come off a little at a time, generally, and everyone now and again, in large measure from one area. In my particular case, waist measurements were relatively stagnant the past few weeks, but in the last 7 days, according to my tape measure, I've dropped an inch off of my waist. [The weird thing is that though my waist measure 40" -- 40" shorts are too large for me, though 40" pants still seem to work. . . Although, I did have to have my suit tailored down from approximately a 42-44" inch waist, to a 40-42" inch waist].

I can definitely tell that I've lost weight because of how clothing now fits me differently, for instance:
* I can now wear 38" jeans that I haven't fit into in years (in fact, when I go see C, in midwest, I expect he'll be surprised and comment on it. . . he'll probably notice).
* I can also wear shorts that I hadn't been able to wear before.

Unfortunately I didn't get as much exercise completed this week as I had hoped, because of the demands of work/school, but still a decent week.

(As of Sat night: 5,000 yards swimming; 8 miles running and 35 miles on the bike. But if I ride 25-30 miles on bike tomorrow and run another 5-6 miles, I'll save the week. Next week is an easy week, because I'm doing a triathlon next saturday. . . which will be cool :-).

At some point I have to go through and do the caloric analysis and see how all of that fits in. . . in fact, I'm going to do that tonight and provide an analysis.

We were actually talking about this in the office the other day, because another [gov't worker] and I chatted about it. I didn't tell him about my herculean efforts to lose weight, but he was talking about it matter of factly. His position (which mirrored mine) was none of that low carb BS -- it's all about calories. I didn't get into my views, nor did he ask about it. He has seen my program, "The Athletes Diary" -- I showed it to him in class one day because he was curious about it. It is a great and robust program from Steven's Creek that I've now used about 6 years and highly recommend for tracking workouts.

But it will be interesting to see how my calories in the last two months (during a weight loss of, roughly, 30 pounds) combined with my exercise, has produced these results. I'm sure if I crunch the numbers hard enough I can come up with my actual caloric needs and then predict the future.

Basic formula:

Caloric_Intake - Caloric_output = weight loss (calories).

CI - CO = (30 pounds * 3,500 calories);
CI - CO = -105,000 calories

CI [Jan01-Mar05] - CO [Jan01-Mar05] = -105,000 calories.

or

CI [average calories for period] - CO [average calories for period] = -105k calories.