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Today’s the day I set for myself to begin following a reasonable diet. Wouldn’t you know it? I’m home sick. I have no appetite. (Which is just as well since I can’t keep anything down.)
Although I won’t be eating right today (since I won’t be eating), I did my first official weigh-in: 207.0 pounds and 33% body fat. Yikes.
Motivated by stats
I’m the sort of guy who’s motivated by statistics. In the past, I’ve tracked all sorts of fitness-related stuff. I have spreadsheets with years of data on my weight. I have meticulous logs of my biking activity.
For the most part, this information spurs me to achieve. At times it spurs me too much — there was a time in which I was obsessed with pushing my biking stats harder and faster. This wasn’t good.
The beauty of keeping detailed records is that the data gives me a visual record of my progress. It gives me a huge ego boost to be able to look at a three-month graph and see that my weight has dropped fifteen pounds. Or to look at a graph of my bike-riding and see my cumulative distance creep above 1000 miles for the summer.
The trouble, though, is that it takes a while for these sorts of visualizations to appear. At first the spreadsheet contains just one data point: 207 pounds and 33% fat. There’s no graph there to motivate me. There’s a hopeful future, but that’s it.
Initial goals
Like Mac, I intend to use FitDay to track my progress. I’ve used the site successfully in the past. It’s not perfect (I dearly wish it would allow me to track sugar consumption), but it’ll do. Here’s my public fitness journal.
My initial goal is to drop to 180 pounds by my birthday, March 25th. I need to lose 27 pounds in 99 days, or about 1.91 pounds per week. I suspect this is too ambitious. It’s an achievable goal, but it’s a stretch. During my most successful period of weight loss (about which more soon), I lost about 6.5 pounds per month, or about 1.5 pounds per week. But this was during the summer — I was exercising a lot and eating very little. I always want to eat more during the winter.
Note that I realize fitness is not all about weight loss. However, by reaching a certain weight, I’m able to participate in a wider variety of activities. Also, when I achieve some level of base fitness, I’m more motivated to set higher goals. Thus, my first goal is to lose some weight.
To achieve this goal, I have several sub-goals:
- I will drink only water. I went water-only for a month earlier this year, and it was great. It took about a week, but eventually I could feel the absence of caffeine and alcohol from my system. When I say “only” water, I have a few exceptions: I have some four expensive juice drinks in the fridge. I will finish these. I will also allow myself non-caffeinated hot tea. Finally, I plan to have a couple glasses of wine on a few particular special occasions.
- I will exercise five times a week. At a minimum, I’ll take a one-hour walk or do 30 minutes of Dance Dance Revoution. (Does anyone have calorie information for DDR, by the way? It’s by far the most aerobic thing I do, but nobody seems to know how many calories a person can burn with it.)
- I will actively seek to eat more fruits and vegetables. I realize this is a poor goal — it’s not specific or measurable — but I don’t care. Right now I eat very few fruits and vegetables, so anything is going to be an improvement.
These are modest, I know, but I believe the water and the exercise will have a huge impact. I believe that these two changes alone will contribute significantly to my wellness.
By the book
Finally, as I begin this journey, I’m going to start reading physical fitness books. Get Fit Slowly readers have already recommended several, and they’re sitting here at my side. I need to re-acquaint myself with the proper fitness mindset. First up: Realities of Nutrition by Deutch and Morrill, the book that got me started in the right direction ten years ago.
Mac
22 responses so far ↓
1 Eden // Dec 17, 2007 at 11:57 am
Great timing on this post. I just posted my body fat numbers for the first time this morning (I bought a new scale). I’m at 37% body fat right now and all of the other numbers are equally as bad. Good luck to both of us!
Going water only is quite an ambition. I have never tried that but I probably should. I love caffeine and practically live on it (that can’t be smart).
When I started my site, I set a goal of getting down to 225 by about the first week into March of ‘08. That is achievable, but my pace has really dropped off lately so it is unlikely as of right now. That would be just under 30 pounds for me so I guess we can have a race!
2 Sara // Dec 17, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Good news, JD! You subtracted wrong. If you weight 207 now and want to be 180 by your birthday, that’s only a 27-pound weight loss, not 37 pounds. That’s still 1.9 lbs per week to lose though, so maybe you only wrote that one number down wrong.
3 Dani in NC // Dec 17, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Fitness statistics are a motivator for me, too, but in a slightly different way. When I get down on myself, I tend to forget how much I’ve accomplished and I round down. Then I fall into the mindset of “I’ve already screwed up, so I should just give up altogether.” Having the actual numbers in front of me reminds me that I have made progress and it is worth continuing.
4 TosaJen // Dec 17, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Sounds like a solid start, JD! I applaud your intention to start BEFORE the holidays! Wow!
Sorry you’re not feeling well — hope you feel better soon.
Anyway, I have a few suggestions about your goals, based on years of experience, which might not apply to you. Might, though, so I thought I’d share. I’m all about having flexible goals, evolving the goals, and making the goals easy to reach (killing the excuses!).
I would like to suggest that you focus on the goals you can control: what you do. Be aware of, but focus less on the goals you can’t: how quickly your body is going to release xx pounds of fat? If you’re doing well with your actions, the pounds will come off as they should. It will be less tempting to do crazy, unhealthy things to hit an arbitrary number. Frankly, losing weight is way easier than keeping it off, and research shows that most people maintain a weight loss doing the same things they did to lose weight, so slow and sane is good; you’ll establish good lifelong habits you can live with. It’s not a race, because we don’t get to stop eating well and moving enough just because we reached a weight goal. I have a lot more to say about that, but I’m sure there will be chances later!
I think your sub-goals are very doable, although I have a few thoughts on those as well:
– the water-only thing is awesome; someday, I’ll be there with you, probably in 15 years when we send the kids to college . . .
– I read recently that it’s easier for some people to plan to do something every day, and then let a day go here-and-there, instead of planning to skip a few days a week. I seem to be one of those people — I have set up my universe so that I could get some exercise every single day, but 1-2x week life gets in the way. So, I’m at your 5 days/week.
– As for fruits and veggies, I would (and I should!) actually set a numeric goal there. Prevention Magazine has been telling me to get 9 servings (not THAT much, at 1/2 c per serving; 1 banana = 2 servings, for example). I probably get between 5 and 9, depending on the day. If you and your DW plan meals for the week as prep for grocering shopping, it might make sense to plan produce servings as well, to make sure you have enough of the good stuff around. Nothing worse than running out of fruit and veggies by mid-week!
5 Brooke // Dec 17, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Good for you! It sounds totally do-able.
Just thought I’d mention you can get Crystal light-type drinks at Walmart (pretty much the same thing as Crystal light, but Walmart brand and way cheaper than Crystal light) to mix with water for a “juice” that has only a teensy amount of calories. We have about 8 of them in our pantry and it’s pretty much all my boyfriend drinks when we are home. He likes the iced tea one, and they have a bunch of different flavors. Drinking plain water is probably more healthy, but it’s nice to have low calorie options that don’t cost much, are caffeine free, and give you the feeling that you are not “depriving” yourself.
Also, if you’re not drinking any milk (skim of course), you may want to consider taking a calcium supplement.
Hope you feel better soon!
6 typome // Dec 17, 2007 at 2:45 pm
JD, I saw this site through your other finance site. I’m trying to lose some inches myself. What’s helped me is finding recipes that use good ingredients, or rather, doesn’t include bad ones (dairy, meat, alcohol, etc.). Those are fine and I’ll indulge once in a while, but I don’t eat them everyday anymore. If I’m going to fuel myself up, it’ll be with wholesome foods that have as much nutrients and as little fat and cholesterol.
I also read this book called “What to Eat” that suggested only four “rules”: eat less, move more, eat more fruits and veggies, and go easy on junk food (although I’d say eliminate them altogether).
As for me, just by eliminating those bad foods, I’ve already lost an inch in my waist. We’re meant to eat the way nature intended, and that doesn’t mean processed food (”health” bars and energy drinks included).
Good luck and I’ll keep reading this site for more motivation!
7 Sally Parrott Ashbrook // Dec 17, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Go J.D.!
And I second what TosaJen says about using what you CAN control (which is not always your weight loss itself) as your measurements of success. There are weeks I eat really well and exercise and see no drop or a tiny drop, and there are other weeks I see an inextricable drop after not being so great about what I eat and how often I exercise. If I were just obsessed with the numbers, I’d drop out during my plateaus.
I hit 30 pounds lost this year this week! I’ll have a post up about it by tomorrow, I hope. I’m sick, too.
8 Sara // Dec 17, 2007 at 3:51 pm
DDR itself can track calories, its under settings (I think) and you put in your weight and then it tracks. You can also have it show you graphs over a period of time, and keep track of weight loss goals. If all else fails, look for the workout setting, that will show you how to do it.
9 Pam // Dec 17, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Oh I just love how Sara had to explain the math to you!
Careful with the Crystal Light and other Light/Diet beverages. Some sources say they will stimulate insulin and increase your hunger, so even though they are low cal, you may pay for it in other ways.
10 J.D. // Dec 17, 2007 at 4:23 pm
As I told TosaJen via e-mail, right now my fruit & veg intake is basically nil, so anything is going to be an improvement. She has a point, though. I should set an actual goal. Thus, I’m going to shoot for two whole fruits or vegetables per day. I realize how pathetic this sounds, but it’s a quantum leap from what I get now.
Sara, I accidentally stopped my 45-min DDR session today without checking to see how many calories I burned. I can’t figure out how to get this info now. I’ll have to figure it out. (I danced for another few minutes after I finished just so I could get some numbers to approximate.)
I’m not a fan of Crystal Light. I do, however, like the Sparkling Rain flavored waters that Costco carries. They’re a staple when I go water-only. They don’t have any gunk in them besides carbonation and “essences”.
Today for lunch, I stopped eating when I was full. I set the rest of the food aside for later. One thing that Lauren taught me is to listen to my damn body! I don’t do that normally, and it’s another thing I’m going to try to do during this process.
11 SirTacitus // Dec 18, 2007 at 5:06 am
Can just recommend - Ross Enamait - The Underground Guide To Warrior Fitness. Just damn hard training with bodyweight. Use the hindu squat whenever you want to barf during training
12 elisabeth // Dec 18, 2007 at 8:48 am
If you have been ingesting caffiene every day, it can be really difficult to stop immediately — I get pretty bad headaches when I don’t have caffiene. What you can do is reduce gradually, maybe go cold turkey on alcohol and sugared drinks, then think about going from coffee/tea to water–but there is some research showing positive benefits from both coffee and tea, and how many calories does giving them up save you? I’m not sure that the benefits of giving them up are all that great (unless you’re using a lot of sugar in them?), when, especially interesting teas, are a real positive as you’re decreasing other items in the diet — for example, having a cup of green tea (made from loose leaf tea, so it takes time to make and time to drink) in the afternoon instead of something more caloric feels like more than just pouring/drinking another glass of water…
I also think I buy the idea that with diet, what you really need to do is exchange life-long habits, it’s not just a temporary thing, so I wouldn’t do anything that seemed like something I wasn’t ready to adopt for a lifetime.
On another subject, I’m convinced that it’s partly that fruits and vegetable eating seems to take a lot of preparation that makes it hard to incorporate into one’s diet. I’m lucky that when I wake up, my husband has already prepared a plate of fruit for me to eat with breakfast — usually half an apple, half an orange, some grapes and also some dried grapes/raisens, and sometimes half a banana. [He’s making his own plate and shares with me, but I’m not sure I’d ever be that energetic in the morning!] Because that’s actually a lot of food in quantity (even if not in calories) I’ve reduced my serving of frozen waffles (whole grain) from two to one–and don’t find myself getting hungry before lunch… but, I’m also including a small glass of cranberry juice and a big mug of hot tea…
13 ninemuses // Dec 18, 2007 at 10:17 am
Hi JD,
I agree it’s a great idea to get started before the holidays are over. If you can make it through the next month with success, you’ll have built up a ton of really great momentum for making it the rest of the way through winter and into spring.
14 macdaddy // Dec 18, 2007 at 11:18 am
Hey J.D. I also think it’s important to start now before the holidays are over. We are the same person, remember. Here’s why I think it’s important for me, and therefore you as well. Just by having nutrition and fitness on our radar screen during the holidays will help us make better choices than we’ve made in years passed. I know I wrote earlier about most people only gaining 1 pound between Thanksgiving and New Year, but I don’t think that WE fit that mold–I gain more weight during this time of year, weight that doesn’t come off. My point is that if we manage to NOT gain any weight this holiday season, then we’ve had success for the season, success that we can build on in the future.
15 James // Dec 18, 2007 at 6:19 pm
JD, I found this on StumbleUpon and thought you might be interested. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm
Congratulations on getting started!
16 Andre // Dec 18, 2007 at 8:15 pm
You’re inspiring us all!
17 monica // Dec 18, 2007 at 9:01 pm
JD, you are an inspiration! I think there’s nothing wrong with your modest start to fruit and veg. I am a vegetarian and take for granted that other people find it hard to get their five a day. Mind me asking - what’s so hard about it? Do you just not like vegetables? Are they inconvenient? Maybe if I had a better understanding of the struggle, I’d be able to offer some advice from my veg-centric perspective. =)
Best of luck. I love your blog!
18 Yabby // Dec 19, 2007 at 5:08 am
JD, sounds like you’re off to a great start. I also really like your approach, similar to GRS: factually-based, honest and effective.
I love the idea of just drinking water, and I’m going to adopt this myself as well. I have a few cans of ginger soda in the pantry, but am going to save these as special treats.
I also have a much better time when I can see statistics, and have been taking weekly stats on both weight and measurements. It was hard to see at the start, but it’s been a great motivator to keep me going as time progresses.
19 tylerwillis // Dec 19, 2007 at 10:38 am
We have the same birthday!
I’d say good luck, but luck has nothing to do with it. Persistance is the key. I’ve gone from 210 to 160, from not being able to run 2 minutes to finishing my first marathon.
Have at it, and the results will follow.
20 Yinna // Dec 20, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Don’t forget to drink a glass of water before a meal (you’ll be full faster). Also, a slice of lime, lemon, or cucumber(!) can really brighten up the taste. Good work, and keep going!
21 Jeremy // Jan 1, 2008 at 7:53 am
I know I’m a little late to the game here, but I wanted to say congrats, good luck, and you can do it!
May 25 of 2007 I set a goal to weigh 179 lbs on my birthday, October 10. I started at 210 pounds, so I had 138 days to lose the weight.
Following The Hacker’s Diet, I lost 1.5 pounds per week and weighed in under 179 lbs on my birthday.
I did it. You can do it too. Ambitious, yes. Impossible, never. I look forward to following your progress over the next couple of months.
22 Stagnation in the Face of Goals // Jan 1, 2008 at 10:32 am
[…] morning, I weigh 207.0 pounds and have 33% body fat. This is exactly the same place I was two weeks ago. Obviously, nothing has changed. As I’ve done many times before, I tried to keep a web-based […]
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