Harald's Weight Loss Progress
I'm a geek. So it's obvious that I would track my Weight Watchers progress on my computer. Apparently I'm also an exhibitionist...
In September of 2002, when I started this process, I looked at healthdiscovery.net, which says that my Body Mass Index should be between 20 and 25, and preferably between 20 and 22. That gave me two target weight ranges; 145-165lb, and 145-185lb. If I set an arbitrary (if lofty) goal of 165 pounds, then I needed to loose 51.4 pounds.
I used 50 pounds as a target, under the theory that it would be easier to start with a large goal and stop early, than it would be to start with a small goal and then have to keep going. Well, as of February 2003, I have lost 30 lbs. I have more energy, and I like the way my body looks (and feels) again. I still need to get more exercise, though!
Several people have started telling me that I look great now, and if I lost 20 more pounds I'd be way too skinny. I'm starting to agree; I was painfully skinny when I got married, but my wife managed to bulk me up a bit :-). Now I've returned to the size of clothing I was wearing several years ago, and I'm not sure if I really need to keep going.
On top of that, it's getting harder and harder to take the pounds off. That's normal with weight loss, but I have to evaulate this in the context of the rest of my life, which is pretty stressful. I don't want to be obsessing over every pound. So on the one hand, if I don't take off enough weight now, I won't have any margin for error. On the other hand, if I set my weight goal too low, I won't be happy with the amount of food I can eat to maintain that weight.
So I've booked an appointment with my doctor, and while waiting to see him I've done some more research on the 'net. I found many more web pages, but I liked this set of calculators; it separates information for men and women, and has a bunch of other calculators too. According to them, male ideal BMI is 20.7 to 26.4, or approximately 152lbs - 195lbs, and my "People's choice ideal weight" (the average of the stated ideal weights by men my age and height) is 176 lbs.
My doctor says I can stop now :-). More specifically, he doesn't want to see me below 170. Therefore, my current plan is to finish the current series, and based on where I end up, set a target in the mid-high 170s and do the six weeks of maintenance.
And when all is done, the important thing is that I'm watching what I eat, and making healthy choices That will continue when I reach my goal, regardless of what that goal actually is...
| Date | Weight | Diff | Total | % | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep-17 | 216.4 | 0 | 0 | 0% | starting balance |
| Sep-24 | 211.2 | -5.2 | 5.2 | 2.4% | apparently the first five pounds are water... |
| Oct-01 | 209.6 | -1.6 | 6.8 | 3.1% | good week; nice steady trend |
| Oct-08 | 209.8 | +0.2 | 6.6 | 3.0% | too many munchies at gaming and heavier jeans. |
| Oct-15 | 206.8 | -3.0 | 9.6 | 4.4% | wow; thanksgiving weekend and still going down! |
| Oct-22 | 206.2 | -0.6 | 10.2 | 4.7% | made 10 pounds! too much snacking but I also exercised more. |
| Oct-29 | 203.8 | -2.4 | 12.6 | 5.8% | 25% of goal. This was a good week; no cheating :-) |
| Nov-04 | 202.1 | -1.7 | 14.3 | 6.6% | estimate; no weigh-in this week. |
| Nov-11 | 200.4 | -1.7 | 16.0 | 7.4% | Wow! A four day transatlantic business trip and I still lost weight! |
| Nov-19 | 200.2 | -0.2 | 16.2 | 7.5% | Damn; missed 200 again! Ah well; I had to plateau eventually. |
| Nov-26 | 197.4 | -2.8 | 19.0 | 8.8% | Party time! broke 200; 1 lb to 20; 2 lb to 10%. Whee! |
| Dec-03 | 197.8 | +0.4 | 18.6 | 8.6% | One word: Baklava. |
| Dec-10 | 195.4 | -2.4 | 21.0 | 9.7% | Finally; "10%". (WeightWatchers rounds 10% down to be "nice"). |
| Dec-17 | 195.6 | +0.2 | 20.8 | 9.6% | I blame my heavy jeans for this one. |
| Dec-24 | 194.6 | -1.0 | 21.8 | 10.1% | [estimate] Wow; christmas and still down a pound! |
| Dec-31 | 193.4 | -1.2 | 23.0 | 10.6% | [estimate] pparently housework burns off the calories... |
| Jan-07 | 190.4 | -3.0 | 26.0 | 12.0% | Argh! So much for "slacking off over Christmas"... |
| Jan-14 | 189.2 | -1.2 | 27.2 | 12.6% | Keepin' on truckin'. |
| Jan-21 | 188.0 | -1.2 | 28.4 | 13.1% | Three curling games and dancing is a lot of exercise. |
| Jan-28 | 187.2 | -0.8 | 29.2 | 13.5% | whereas this week I was a couch potato. |
| Feb-04 | 184.8 | -2.4 | 31.6 | 14.6% | I was 12 points over this week; watch for the rebound next week. |
| Feb-11 | 184.8 | +0.0 | 31.6 | 14.6% | And there's the rebound... |
| Feb-18 | 184.8 | +0.0 | 31.6 | 14.6% | Another bad week. Time to reassess some habits |
| Feb-25 | 182.8 | -2.0 | 33.6 | 15.5% | Aaaaaah. That's better. |
| Mar-04 | 181.6 | -1.2 | 34.8 | 16.1% | lots of eating |
| Mar-11 | 177.4 | -4.2 | 39.0 | 18.0% | Eeeeek! I was good this week (but not *that* good!) |
| Mar-18 | 177.0 | -0.4 | 39.4 | 18.2% | that makes up for last week. 6 months later and at goal! |
| Mar-25 | 176.4 | -0.6 | 40.0 | 18.5% | There. Hit my last goal of 40lbs weightloss. Maintenance time. |
| Mar-31 | 175.8 | -0.6 | Maint week 1: 29 points. Time to increase to 31 points. | ||
| Apr-07 | 174.0 | -1.8 | Eeek! I think this is an anomaly; how could I lose more on fewer points? | ||
| Apr-14 | 173.4 | -0.6 | It was not an anomaly. Up to 33 points. That explains my slowdown in Feb. | ||
| Apr-21 | 171.8 | -1.6 | Still dropping; 4.6 lbs since maintenance. Up to 35 points. | ||
| Apr-28 | 171.8 | +0.0 | yay! I stopped dropping at 35 points! | ||
| May-05 | 172.4 | +0.6 | I was a couch potato this week | ||
| May-12 | 172.2 | -0.2 | Cleaned the house | ||
| May-19 | 172.6 | +0.4 | estimate | ||
| May-26 | 173.0 | +0.4 | |||
| Jun-02 | 172.4 | -0.6 | argh! I apparently still don't eat enough. | ||
| Jun-09 | 174.4 | +2.0 | Hey! I didn't cheat _that_ much last week! | ||
| Jun-16 | 173.4 | -1.0 | Last week's anomaly returned. | ||
| Jun-23 | 171.6 | -1.8 | Really 173.2 or so; switched from jeans to shorts. | ||
| Jun-30 | 171.7 | +0.1 | est. | ||
| Jul-07 | 172.0 | +0.3 | est. | ||
| Jul-14 | 172.3 | +0.3 | est. | ||
| Jul-21 | 172.6 | +0.3 | back to jeans; maintained weight in Italy. | ||
| Jul-28 | 172.6 | +0.0 | back to shorts; ate too much; oops. | ||
| Aug-04 | 173.6 | +1.0 | whoa; time to start paying attention again. | ||
| Aug-11 | 176.8 | +3.2 | oops again... | ||
| Aug-18 | 174.0 | -2.8 | better. | ||
| Aug-25 | 174.2 | +0.2 | better. | ||
| Sep-01 | 174.2 | +0.0 | |||
| Sep-08 | 174.6 | +0.4 | this is getting frustrating; I seem to be stuck... | ||
| Sep-15 | 174.2 | -0.4 | |||
| Sep-22 | 174.6 | +0.4 | with jeans! | ||
| Sep-29 | 174.4 | -0.2 | |||
| Oct-06 | 173.0 | -1.4 | being good has finally paid off; I credit increased activity though. | ||
| Oct-13 | 173.6 | +0.6 | Thanksgiving... | ||
| Oct-20 | 173.6 | +0.0 | |||
| Oct-27 | 174.0 | +0.4 | official weigh-in after two weeks of estimates... | ||
| Nov-03 | 174.4 | +0.4 | not bad after a week in lawnmower mode. | ||
| Nov-10 | 174.4 | +0.0 | |||
| Nov-17 | 175.4 | +1.0 | |||
| Nov-24 | 175.8 | +0.4 | hmm. Not a good trend. | ||
| Dec-01 | 174.8 | -1.0 | |||
| Dec-08 | 173.6 | -1.2 | |||
| Dec-15 | 173.6 | +0.0 | |||
| Dec-22 | 172.6 | -1.0 | Just in time for Christmas. | ||
| Dec-29 | 175.6 | +3.0 | |||
| Jan-05 | 174.0 | -1.6 | |||
| Jan-12 | 176.2 | +2.2 | |||
| Jan-19 | 176.2 | +0.0 | |||
| Jan-26 | 176.4 | +0.2 | |||
| Feb-02 | 176.6 | +0.2 | |||
| Feb-09 | 177.0 | +0.4 | |||
| Feb-16 | 177.0 | +0.0 | |||
| Feb-23 | 177.0 | +0.0 | well I've flattened out | ||
Average: 1.5 pounds/week. Total Loss: 40.0 pounds, 100.0% of my current goal.