Six gallons, 299 pounds, and iron.

The pint of blood I left behind last week apparently puts me at six total gallons donated. I hope that one of the benefits of a more healthful life is that I'll end up being one of those people that donates 20 or 30 gallons before they make me quit due to some age ailment. I suppose I'll have to volunteer to work the desk or canteen at that point. If a needle in your arm for ten minutes doesn't bother you and you can deal with several highly personal questions, then please consider donating blood today with the Red Cross or whoever handles that in your neck of the woods.

One of those personal questions they ask donors is their current weight. I was at 308.8 that day and am always honest because other people's lives are on the line. Unfortunately, their automated program requires a supervisor override for those folks over either 299 or 300. The nurse wasn't sure which. Either way, it's a very real possibility that I'll be under that mark when they call again to set up an appointment in eight weeks. That makes me smile.

However, there is a matter of concern. One of the pre-donation tests they perform is for iron levels. I have been at the low limit these last two donations. I am adding a women's daily multivitamin which contains iron to my morning routine. I was already taking a multivitamin for men, but it doesn't have iron listed on the label. Given that I'd like to get up to 30 gallons some day, I sure hope that does the trick.

As always, thanks for reading.

Q2 Report Card

2006-10-02 - 389.2 - Peak weight.

2007-01-02 - 351.6 - First quarterly checkup.

2007-04-10 - 317.3 - Second quarterly check up.

Blood work improved. Hopefully it's not an anomaly. Everything but the cholesterol stuff is in the desirable or normal range but it's improved too. Doc and I agreed that six months is soon enough for my next visit.

A few quick numbers. The trend line has me at 313.9 today and I was at 370 on 5 Nov when I started recording daily. So, I'm averaging 0.334 pounds/day or 2.34 pounds/week. With 130 pounds left to travel, I'm looking at 389 days to goal weight. Calculations for last week (1.8 ppw) and and last month (1.28 ppw) demonstrate this slowing progress. Using that miserable four week average, goal weight is 721 days way. Someone please remind me not to go hog wild again. It is a little frustrating that I have been a year away from goal weight for months but everyone said progress would slow.

Ran for 4:00 at 5.0mph yesterday and HR peaked at 175bpm. I return to walking if I hit 180 or feel strained. Until a week ago I'd been doing modified push-ups on and off because I could only do three real ones. Managed 7 real push-ups yesterday. I am getting stronger but shedding pounds has made exercise much easier.

Travel and social eating.

When traveling, I lack discipline and motivation to regularly work out. Even when my father was seriously injured not long ago, I still-- having had very little sleep-- got up and walked on the treadmill the next day. But I just don't seem to care enough to consistently get it done while in a hotel.

When I hit the road on Sunday I was at 313 which was three pounds below trend. By Friday, I'd eaten my way up to 320 which was over three pounds above the trend. Several folks came down for that first week. We went out for lunch and supper every day. But once they left, I was eating alone and fell back in to that familiar 100+700+700 rhythm. By Wednesday I was down to 315 and a pound below the trend.

Interesting how that worked out, no? When left to my own devices in a city that is not home, I still fell in to counting up to 1500 calories a day. But with the opportunity to break bread with my friends and colleagues also comes this odd sort of willing sacrifice where I choose to eat more and differently simply as a part of sharing that time with those people I care about. I think it's most frequently the same reason that I overeat when at home. I guess that cultivating relationships with co-workers, friends, and family is just worth temporarily overeating to me. Perhaps it's because I know I can just get back on my 1500 a day plan later to make up for it.

Yes, as you can tell by reading this, I packed the scale. To be specific, I took the battery out, taped it to the scale, and then packed it. It was part of what put my bag overweight and made it cost an extra $25 each way. It was worth every penny.

One of the highlights of this trip was not having to ask for a seat belt extender on the airplane. For a while I was getting close to needing an extender for a standard coach seat. I have needed one for the commuter planes for years but this trip I had four or five inches to spare. Also, I used to have to guard the seat back button by putting my fingers on either side of it or my cell phone next to it during takeoff and landing to make sure my fat leg didn't depress it. Now my leg doesn't even touch it.

This Good Friday morning was good to me with a record low of 312.6 which puts me back where I was before I left home: three pounds below the trend line.

The significant other and I have both lost significant amounts of weight. So, to mark our achievement, we've decided to have a "two something" party this summer. Named to mark my crossing the 300 mark from "three hundred and something" to "two hundred and something". Since there will be friends and family around, I expect I'll eat more than 1500 calories on that day.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it and happy weekend to those who don't. Thanks for reading.

Calculators

My sister asked me to post the calculators I like.

Ideal weight calculator with multiple formulas.

Weight maintenance calculator.

Sixty Down, One Hundred Forty to go

First off, I should tell you that this entry was originally titled "Fifty". If anyone is actually following along, sorry about the long time between posts. It might have been started Jan 20, but it was finally finished and posted Feb 17. Now, on to the post...

I just calculated my weight loss rate so far this year. While still progressing, the pace has slowed. I'm still doing the 100+700+700 formula but eating out more frequently now and exceeding the 1500 daily limit when I do. Projecting this rate out suggests that I will hit goal weight in 364 days.

The SO and I were talking about the changes going on in our lives as a result of my progress.

Benefits:

• Time in the bedroom has improved in multiple ways. For one, the loud snoring is gone. For another... lets just say that my energy level is improved.
  

• I'll always wear a tall but am down to 2XL now. I'm back in to 46" waste pants.
  

• The SO is losing too. Apparently my bringing food in to the house was a negative influence on my better half. I guess this is a statement about how oblivious I can be.

Downsides:

• Baggy clothes. Luckily, we didn't throw much out so I'm just rotating the smaller old stuff from over the last few years back in.
  

• Loose skin. Yup, the skin that was stretched out over my belly is starting to hang a bit. It's going to hang a bunch after 200 pounds. I'm thinking there's plastic surgery in my future.
  

Report card time.

It just isn't reasonable to count calories for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years. This policy resulted in five pounds while out of town for Thanksgiving and seven more over the vacation spanning Christmas and New Years. The food was fantastic but throwing caution to the wind slowed progress significantly.

While I have kept pretty good records, I'm happy to report that my doctor's scale agrees. Here are the dates and weights recorded in my file:

2005-09-28 - 372.2 - Several months after this we bought the treadmill.

2006-10-02 - 389.2 - This is the day I freaked out.

2007-01-02 - 351.6 - Today was my first quarterly checkup.

The goal of losing 200 pounds puts the finish line at 189. Somehow I had 186 in my head so the journey just got a tiny bit shorter. Since I managed 37 pounds even with all the holiday cheating this last quarter it seems possible to average 40 pounds a quarter. Assuming that's true, I may hit a buck eighty-nine this year. It'd be nice if that turns out to be true but I'll keep going as long as it takes.

The doc and I agreed to meet again in three months to see how things are going. Labs on Friday to recheck border line high cholesterol and blood sugar. Hopefully they are improved.

The difference between full and not hungry.

When I decided to try to limit my caloric intake to 1500 a day, I was doing so with the absolute knowledge that I would be hungry all the time. I even decided to give myself a 500 calorie emergency bump that I could invoke in case I needed it. I hoped that 2000 calories a day would be enough to keep me from feeling too hungry to stay on plan. I was sure that if I was never full, I would always be hungry. What a pleasant surprise to realize how mistaken I was.

I believe there is a big difference between experiential knowledge and intellectual knowledge. For me, learning of facts begins knowledge but experiences in and around those facts leads to understanding. I assumed that "not full" resulted directly in "hungry". Experience very quickly taught me the flaw in that logic. I was delighted to learn that when I consume 700 calories and wait a few minutes, I am no longer hungry. I was astonished to learn that eating a 280 calorie Lean Cuisine keeps hunger at bay for hours.

I don't know why my eat clock doesn't work. Perhaps because I eat as fast as anyone I've ever met. Perhaps it has to to with the extra junk in food these days. Perhaps there is just something broken within me. I do know that at 1500 calories a day, my average weekly weight loss has been 3.2 pounds and I have not felt hungry. When I finally hit my current goal, my new goal will be to maintain weight. I wonder if I will be able to train myself to eat the right amount without having to keep track. Maybe the right amount will be some set amount between "enough not to be hungry" and "full"? It is still a long way off, but I can't wait to figure it out.

There is still one thing that fills me up these days, by the way. My regular 12" turkey on wheat with pepperjack, lettuce, pickles, jalepegnos, one line of mustard and salt from Subway does the job well for 700 calories. And despite all the talk about being "not hungry" I absolutely do like feeling full. That is why you'll find me at Subway most weekdays around 11am. I'd love to find another food that provides the same ratio of fullness per calorie. If you know one, please comment!