Merlin's Musings

As part of my weight loss and dieting efforts, I've added somewhat regular exercise to the mix. I'm trying to walk at least three times a week on my lunch break, and my current course clocks in around 2.25 miles.

Seeing as how Cincinnati is in the Ohio River valley, I get some wonderful hill work too, whether I want it or not. In fact, my route takes me straight down to the river, across one of the bridges to the Kentucky shore, whereupon I immediately turn around and retrace my path. It's easy to remember, convenient, and about a perfect distance for a quick 30 minute workout.

Late last week, a snippet of verse came to mind as I was in a quiet time. All I could remember was "fervent prayer of a righteous man". Looking it up, I found James 5:16:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

 I realized I wasn't doing anything on these walks other than listening to my music and zoning out. So this week, I decided to change it up. I still put in my ear buds, but now I turn the music down low. It's just loud enough to cloak most of the sounds around me, but not loud enough that I can't hear myself think, or in this case, pray.

So now my walks are more than just a physical exercise. I'm trying to make them a spiritual exercise as well. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to "pray without ceasing."

What do you do when  you're taking a break, or vegging out, or engaged in some mind numbing drudgery? Do you crank up the music? Perhaps you turn on the TV to catch the latest news. Maybe, like me, you fire up your web browser and catch the latest blog posts or sports scores.

What if, instead, rejoiced always, prayed without ceasing and gave thanks in all circumstances instead? Imagine what could happen.

This Thursday is the National Day of Prayer, but we shouldn't need a specific call to action to do that which we are already called to do.

So, what will you be doing do your downtimes? I know what I'm going to try and do instead.

One of the things I like about Biggest Loser is watching the contestants hit major milestones. Whether it's a certain total weight loss, or simply crossing a weight threshold, the joy the contestants evince is motivational. Even more compelling are those moments when a contestant comes up just short of a goal. The anticipation of "Today's the day!!" followed by the frustration of just missing out is captivating.

Well, today was one of those days for me. As I've mentioned before, my current target weight is 170, but I've been secretly longing for the day when I break the 180 barrier, and my weight simply starts with 179, even if it's 179.9. I haven't been below 180 in longer than I care to remember.

After two weeks or so of plateau, hovering right around 185, I got serious about the diet again and started trending downward. I was feeling really good that today would be the day I broke that barrier.

I stepped on the scale this morning and felt that little pang of disappointment as I weighed in at 180.4. I was half a pound away from my milestone.

As frustrating as it was, though, there is still a great sense of achievement in knowing that I've dropped 25 pounds or so the last 9 weeks, and I'm only 10 pounds away from my goal.

Oh, and as a side note to the makers of the BMI: I am really frustrated with you guys. According to the BMI calculator, for my height I have to get below 155 pounds to be in the "normal" category. I haven't seen that weight since my freshman year at Texas A&M. I don't think losing a total of 50 pounds is in the cards for me, but we'll see.

Since I was diagnosed with gout, I have made several lifestyle changes. The biggest one concerns my diet. Gone is the alcohol. I've dramatically cut back on portion sizes, and reduce my calorie intake.

The net result?

I've lost approximately 15 pounds since February 1st, and I'm well on my way to my (current¹) goal weight of 170 pounds.

You'll notice I've added a new badge over to the right labeled "My Hacker's Diet". I'm using a online tool called, you guessed it, The Hacker's Diet. Long story short, an exec at Autodesk got tired of being overweight, and decided to approach weight-loss as an engineering problem. If calories-in is less than calories-burned plus calories-out, you will lose weight. To help keep you on track, he uses statistical modeling methods to show your weight trend over time, instead of just focusing on daily fluctuations. The badge shows my trend for the last week.

Here is my log for February (actually the current month, this will change as the month rolls over).

Here is the online toolkit he's made available.

Let me point out that this starts with my weight at ~193. I'd already lost almost 10 pounds before I started using this tool, but I didn't have daily weight data, so I just started on the 7th.

¹Right now I want to get down to 170. Once I reach that goal, I'll reevaluate and determine if I want to get down in the 150-160 range or not. I despair of ever seeing my high school weight of 130 again.

I just walked 3.2 mi in 1 hour and burned 362 calories. Total burned so far: 725 calories! on 10/26/11 at 12:07 PM #cardiotrainer

According to my Cardio Trainer app on my phone, I just walked 2.9 mi in 1 hour 2 mins and burned 330 calories. Total burned so far: 329 calories! on 10/25/11 at 12:08 PM

199

That's what the scale read this morning. I've been stuck between 195 and 199 for months now, and I'm getting frustrated.

I realized my activity level has decreased a bit during this period. I stopped getting off the bus early to walk several blocks, and instead rode it right up to the building. I stopped walking in the evenings, opting instead to occupy my couch while stuffing snacks in my face.

So, I have a pretty good idea as to the root causes of my stasis, and I'm once again trying to get serious about seeing the numbers on the scale decrease.

I got off the bus at the first stop this morning, and walked the ~4 blocks to the building.

Last night, I did two laps around my subdivision, which is ~1.5 miles (ran the 1st, walked the 2nd).

Weather permitting, I'm going to start walking at lunch.

I don't think I'll ever again see the 135 I weighed right out of high school, but if I could get back down to the 160 - 170 range, I'll call that good.

. . . or, well DUH!!!

So, a scientific study found that reducing just the amount of calories consumed at lunch can lead to weight loss. Apparently, one of the prevailing thoughts was that if a caloric deficit was introduced at one meal, we would naturally make up for it during another meal or snack time.

Instead, the researches say they were able to "sneak in calorie reductions without the body noticing."


I make mockery of the article, but there really is a hidden lesson here. A lot of diet and weight-loss programs tell us we have to count all of our calories, all day long, using draconian methods. Instead, this research highlights that small changes are effective.


So, replace eating out at lunch with a portion-controlled meal, and do everything else the same. You incur a calorie change and will slowly lose weight.


Now, I just need to remember that myself, and implement it.


(h/t to Instapundit)