weight loss

Body For Life, Week #2

This evening, I did something I should have done two weeks ago: a full-body measurement. Mainly for my own record-keeping purposes, here are the results:

Weight: 198.5 lbs
Neck: 14″
Bust (around the fullest part): 43″ or 44″
Chest (below the boobs, not the armpits): 37″ or 38″
(I measured twice, and I came up with different measurements for my bust and chest.)
Upper Waist (the narrowest part): 37″
Lower Waist (where my pants live): 42″
Hips: 48″
Upper Arm: 13″
Lower Arm: 10.5″
Thigh: 25″
Calf: 15.75″

(Just look at those measurements. Hi, I’m the spokesmodel for the Pear Shape. *sigh* BTW, for anyone who doesn’t know me personally, I’m 5’10” tall, so at least I’ve got that on my side.)

For those who might be keeping score, my last official set of full-body measurements was posted in May 2006, almost exactly 13 months ago. Overall, I’ve lost thirteen pounds in thirteen months, plus about an inch off all major measurements. Man, it feels like my hip measurement should have changed more than it did, because I have quite a bit of loose skin around my belly button. Weird.

I’ve been freeforming the diet just a little, not planning everything every day, mainly due to me being a dork and spending too long at the computer at night. I mean to give myself time to write out the next day’s meals and exercise, plus pack my lunch and snacks, but it doesn’t always happen. I haven’t been too evil, though; the worst thing I could accuse myself of is not eating enough protein. My “default diet” seems to be fruit and Ostrims, if I don’t have time to make something proper for lunch.

Cardio is and always has been my downfall. Even back when I was in my best shape ever, I absolutely hated running. I’ve always preferred resistance training to aerobics. Maybe that explains some things. Anyway, I’ve been enjoying the weight training part of the program, and neglecting the cardio. I just can’t make myself go run around the block or drive to the park, and the trampoline is so God-awful boring sometimes. I know. I need to get over it.

This past weekend, while we were visiting the bookstore at the mall (where I bought both Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines), we swung past the Dick’s Sporting Goods that’s next door. I bought not only the equipment I’d said I needed before — namely, two more 10# plates, new dumbbell bars, and a heavy resistance band — but I also got myself a 75cm stability ball. That thing rules in so many ways. Between that and my new bands (complete with door anchor!), I can do almost all of the exercises I’d poo-poohed before as being impossible without gym equipment. Cable pulls, back extensions, leg presses… yeah. I’m good to go.

I’m not overly upset about the scale only moving one pound since last week’s weigh-in. I *feel* firmer. My stomach feels more solid (to me, anyway). My legs definitely feel more solid. It won’t be long before something kicks in (probably my cardio workouts) and the fat starts to melt off and leave behind the muscle I’m building.

It’s still early in the game, but I feel positive about things. Not just weight loss, but Things In General.

Yeah… it’s all good.

randomness

Dinner Date

Went to dinner with some former co-workers after work today: Loni and Angie, with whom I worked in Lockbox; and Jen, who worked in Lockbox after I’d left, but also worked in Loan Corrections with me until recently. We looked at Jen’s wedding pictures and my Japan pictures, and talked about our job prospects after the upcoming merger.

I hadn’t really been in the mood to be social until I got there, but I’m glad I went. I’d forgotten how fun it can be to swap stories and just socialize with people other than Aaron’s friends. Granted, I do like Aaron’s friends, and most of them I can count as my own friends by now. It’s a little different to go out with The Girls, though, and talk about old times and future plans.

I don’t think I’m “outing” Loni by publishing the fact that she’s planning to start a Lockbox business of her own in short order. She’s talked to an attorney, potential clients, Sky’s HR department, and the company that develops the processing software, and she seems to have her ducks all in a row. It’s awesome that she has a plan for the remainder of her pre-retirement years (and she does have a while yet), but it’s funny that she’s going back into the business that we all so vehemently tried to escape. She knows what kinds of mistakes not to make, though, and how fast she can grow, how many accounts she can take on, things like that. I’ll be curious to keep tabs on how her business fares.

Angie noticed that I’d lost weight since I’d seen her last — looking at my handy-dandy historical weight chart, I see that I’ve lost about fifteen pounds since then. It made me feel pretty good that, despite my uber-slow weight loss of late, she noticed as soon as she saw me that I was looking slimmer than before. I also mentioned that I’ve been doing strength training and following the Body for Life program… then I ate a shrimp quesadilla while she stuck with the taco salad. Meh.

All in all, I enjoyed my visit with my old co-workers. Yeah… sometimes I forget that there are other people out there who really do give a damn.

anecdotes

Interesting Visitor

I just had the most interesting experience. I was down in the basement, messing around online, when I heard a knock on the door, closely followed by the doorbell. I had the door open and the screen door locked, so there was no pretending I wasn’t home once I saw that it wasn’t UPS. It was an older gentleman, bearded, tallish, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. No clipboard, no nametag.

“Hello,” I called from the screen door.

The man introduced himself by telling me that he lived on the other side of South Avenue, was a retired English teacher and amateur astronomer, and was working on his third novel. He said that he takes a long walk every day — I was his last stop, and he’d walked three miles already — and that he stops along the way to ask if there’s any yardwork or odd jobs that he can do for a couple of dollars. We talked politely for a moment, and I assured him that, no, I’d pass on the offer of yardwork.

Then we chatted for a while longer, briefly discussing his trip to Ireland, where palm trees apparently grow in people’s back yards, because of the warm Gulf Stream bringing the large seeds up to the isle; his trip to northern Canada, where the nights are short and late and the sun barely moves from east to west; our trip to Japan and the accompanying God-awful airplane flight; his novel-writing experience and our mutual respect for short story writers; and his stint in the National Guard during the May Day riots in Washington, guarding the White House, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Vietnam vets who were accustomed to shooting human targets and feeling mighty uncomfortable about it.

Then he apologized for taking up so much of my time, and I assured him that I’d enjoyed talking with him — which, oddly enough, I had. He said, “Dou itashimashite,” which means “You’re welcome” (I think that may have been all the Japanese he knew, but it’s more than most). I couldn’t call up an appropriate answer in Japanese, so I answered him with a basic hai, and bid him enjoy his three-mile walk home.

I’m not entirely sure how much of that was factual, but he was certainly an interesting fellow. I didn’t mind talking to him, really. If he came back some other day, I’d probably talk to him again, and ask him if either of his novels have been published.

webdesign

Accomplishment

“Task” for potential employer: done.
Time to complete: 10.5 hours.

I’ve never coded someone else’s website layout before. I liked it. Could be that my calling is strictly as a web developer, not a designer. That, plus I’m a grammar nazi. When I’m plugging in content, I *have* to correct comma splices and misspellings. Web copy editor, anyone?

Now, it’s time to focus on following up with other companies to whom I’ve submitted a resume online. I am armed with legal-size paper and a full clip of determination.

I have three months to land a job in my field. Granted, if I don’t, I get to take home a decent chunk of severance pay… but it’s not worth it to waste job-hunting time and possibly miss the job for me, just to stick around and get my severance. You know?

weight loss 2 Comments

Body For Life, Week #1

I’ve been completely exhausted for the last two days now, and it’s not casting a positive light on my feelings for my one-week mark on the Body for Life diet. I’ve even resorted to caffeine — Diet Mountain Dew. Add to that a less-than-stellar weight-loss for the week, and little to no change in my body fat reading, and I’m a little disenchanted. That doesn’t mean I’m quitting, though.

This week’s official weight: 199.5 lbs. That’s a one and a half pound loss from my official starting weight of 201 last Tuesday, even though last Wednesday charted me at 200 even. My body fat percentage hasn’t changed much yet: last Tuesday’s reading was just over 31%, last Wednesday’s reading was just over 32%, and yesterday’s one-week reading was 32.8%. Granted, my Omron Body Fat Analyzer is really only good for a guesstimate, so I should probably go easy on the body fat readings and only do them with my monthly photos.

I’ve read online that a lot of BFL participants don’t experience any actual weight loss; the major change is in body composition. Fat takes up five times the volume of muscle, after all, so losing a given amount of fat and gaining the equivalent weight in muscle would make a huge difference.

I do have a couple of visible, non-number-related goals for this 12-week program:

  1. To have my thighs not touch at the top when I stand with my feet shoulder-width apart
  2. For my upper arms to be the same shape (or close to it) when my arms are raised and when they’re down at my sides (i.e. no more embarrassing arm-fat expansion when my arms are pressed against my sides)

I think those are reasonable expectations for a 12-week weight-training program, really.

We made a run to Dick’s Sporting Goods this past weekend, and got me a couple of 10-pound plates for my dumbbells and a couple of spring-loaded weight collars to replace my lame ones that require tools in order to change plates. I was a big dork, though, and didn’t heed Aaron’s repeated question of “Are you sure that’s all you need?”

I’m planning to go back to Dick’s on Thursday or Friday and buy myself two more 10-pound plates (you need TWO pairs of plates for dumbbells, silly), new dumbbell bars with threaded collars (the clips don’t quite fit on my paint-chipped garage-sale bars), and a stronger resistance band (mainly for leg presses — my quads are getting neglected, compared to everything else). After that, I should be good to go for a while. That’ll give me dumbbells ranging from 5 lbs to 35 lbs, with the plates I already have, and that should be sufficient for my needs for at least another couple few weeks.

The diet has been going well, for the most part. I’m taking advantage of the Cheat Day aspect of the program, and saving all my evil cravings for Saturdays (except the dark chocolate that got the best of me yesterday). I’m eating six small meals a day, which seems like a lot, even though the meals are small. I *am* enjoying getting to eat sweet potatoes and pasta again, even in small portions.

Even though the scale hasn’t seen much action, I still *feel* better (apart from being tired these past few days). I stand taller, I feel firmer, and my muscles are pleasantly sore almost all the time with all this working out I’ve been doing.

I can dig it.