Geek Into Shape

Courtesy of ShutterMoth

Here we are.  Another year has gone by and I still have the same top priority resolution on my list, losing weight.  Last year I managed to end the year losing about 20 pounds, but I fell short of my goal to lose 45 pounds.  At one point I was only 15 pounds away from my goal, but I fell off the wagon and gained some back.

Failing is really rough on me.  With everything else in my life, I’ve been able to do what I’ve put my mind to.  Why is losing weight so different?  I wish I knew; I suppose I’d be a rich man if I did.  All I can do is keep trying.  Eventually something has to stick, right?

Last year wasn’t a total failure.  I did manage to lose some weight.  I was doing good for the first 3/4 of the year.  After that I stopped exercising and let my diet go a little bit.  I didn’t fall all the way into my old terrible eating habits, but I did slack a bit.  The lesson for me there is that I have to stay diligent.  I’ve come to accept that this is going to be a life long struggle for me.  My father was overweight and never got a hold of his problem.  He died at the age of 41.  I can’t let that become my fate.

Here’s to a new year and a new struggle.  I wish the best to you and yours.  Stay tuned, this just may be the year when I reach my goal.  You wouldn’t want to miss that, now would you?

November was a weight GAIN month for me.  I stopped weighing myself sometime early in the month and stopped caring about my weight.  It’s amazing how fast things can go to shit.  Thanksgiving hit me like a ton of bricks and I fell back into old habits.  I’m back to weighing myself daily and making better decisions.  Once I realized that I crossed back into the 270’s, I started kicking my own ass.  See the damage for yourself.

November Weight Gain

Yup, there it is, a 6 pound weight gain.  My goals fromt his month are to just make better decisions and get back below 270.  I’ve been dreading reporting this.  Knowing that I’m going to have to report this to the world is plenty of motivation to not fall off the wagon completely.

Gobble Gobble, damn it.

This has been a spectacularly crappy month for me.  I ended th month at 267 lbs which puts me at a 1.2 pound gain!  The month started off with a week of vacationing and overindulgence.  After vacation I didn’t jump back on things like I should have; so I basically just maintained.  Just look at the graph.

October Weight Loss Update

Losing weight is going to be hard these last 2 months.  It’s getting colder, and I really won’t feel like running in the freezing temperatures.  I’m going to give it a go though because losing weight is all about momentum.  I’m sure the holidays won’t do much to help, but I can be good on the non holiday days.  I need to finish this year strong!

Photo courtesy of dotbenjamin

Losing weight is a mental challenge.  I think that goes without saying.  There are a lot of things to overcome mentally not only initially, but in progress, and I’ll go ahead and assume at finish as well (I’m not there yet so I don’t know this one for sure.  I’ll let you know when I get there.).  Initially we must overcome our old habits and make motion towards change.  Once we’ve established good habits, then we’re done right?  Objects in motion stay in motion; so they say.

All of this babble from me is really just a precursor to what I’m feeling now.  I thought that once I got going in the right direction that was it.  Obviously I have to keep on keeping on, but once the foundation was laid, I had the assumption that it would be easy for me.  I would start getting thinner and that would keep me motivated.  If the scale was moving the right direction then I would remain happy.

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This has been a wild month.  Most of the month was just so-so for me.  I haven’t been exercising like I should and my diet has been good but not great.  The first 3/4 of the month was slow but steady.  The last quarter of the month really cranked up the stress at work and you can see my weight responded.

Weight Loss Graph

I’m worried about that last bit of weight loss.  Obviously it’s stress related, and I really just feel weak now. I’m guessing that wasn’t exactly healthy.  Maybe I can make it stick.

Last month ended at 269.2 lbs.  This month ended at 265.8 which is only a loss of 3.4 lbs.  It’s not what I wanted and I can only blame myself.  This month I can do better, so I’m going to shoot for losing 4 lbs.  Wish me luck.  I have a vacation coming up, and I’m not sure how that is going to affect the weight loss.

Photo courtesy of churl

As an employee in the healthcare industry, I’m privileged enough to hear the gripes and moans about the problems with our nation’s healthcare system.  There is a large strain on the country because of the rising costs of healthcare.  I’m sure there are plenty of things that could be amended in the current system, but we shouldn’t be so quick to point our fat fingers at everyone else.  Our nation is facing an obesity epidemic that I believe is a major source of the strain on our healthcare system.

According to the CDC, studies are showing that obesity rates are increasing in both adults and children.  The studies they mention span from 1976-1980 for the first and from 2003-2004 for the second.  Adult obesity rates rose from 15% to 32.9%.  In a 25 year time span, obesity rates among adults have more than doubled! What’s even more mind-boggling is the obesity rates among children.  In that same time span, obesity rates in children ages 12-19 rose from 5% to 17.4%.  In that same time span, childhood obesity has more than tripled!

Now that I’m becoming extremely conscious of what I’m eating, I’m coming to realize that healthy food just costs more money.  The December 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association shows the findings from the University of Washington on the subject.  Their article, The Rising Cost of Low-Energy-Density Foods found that energy dense foods (junk food) cost only $1.76 per 1,000 calories where the least energy dense foods (healthy food) cost $18.16 per 1,000 calories.  Not only that, but the price increase from 2004-2006 for the healthier foods was 19.5% whereas the junk food price dropped in price by 1.8%. 

Since Ashley and I have been eating healthier (lean meats, fruits, and vegetables) I’ve seen our weekly grocery bill increase by about 30%.  Keep in mind, this is without us buying sodas.  We’re buying less food and spending more money on it all.  It’s quite depressing.  There’s no way that a lower income family could afford the higher cost of healthier food.

[Cross Posted from digitalBush.]