March 6th, 2007

Fourty weeks! Though I didn’t manage to weigh in every single week for the last forty weeks, I did manage to do so for over 25 of them. I really can not believe that we’ve hit the forty week mark already.

This week was a fairly good diet and exercise week. I wish I had done a little better in the “eating department” since I did have a few onion rings and mozzarella sticks the other night. Hey, when you buy a new deep fryer what else are you supposed to do? But I managed to get to the gym on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday (just played some basketball), and last night I played basketball for about four hours. There is no doubt that without exercise I would never have lost any weight over the last forty weeks.

Today I weighed in at 194.1 pounds! That means I lost another 1.8 pounds from last week.

For me this is a huge success. Here’s why. I haven’t had three-consecutive good weigh-ins since September of 2006. That means that I have not lost weight for three weeks in a row in 24 weeks (which was Week Sixteen by the way)! Right after that was when Eliza and I went to Hershey Park (which kept me from losing an ounce) and then shortly thereafter moved into our new apartment. Due to my routine being completely thrown out, and the weather slowly getting colder and colder, over the course of the next 20 weeks I managed to gain back 13.4 pounds. So for me, recording three weeks of consecutive weight loss is a huge triumph and the stopping of a trend that has plagued me for far too long.

The more I examined this the more I came to realize a few things. Perhaps I’m finally “settled” in our new place. I’m comfortable enough to get into, and build, good routines rather than feeling out of place. The other realization would be that in twelve weeks we will be hitting the first anniversary of the diet. An entire year of diet and exercise. I think week forty is the perfect week to jump back on and ride it out to hit that first year mark with some good results. Results that you’d be happy with after having dieted for an entire year. For me, I’d love to hit and maintain 180 for at least an entire month before we hit the one-year mark. That’d be my success story for year one. Technically I should hit that mark in seven weeks, giving me a one week margin for error. Exciting times ahead!

If you are considering going on a diet, I suggest you take a quick look at the last forty weeks that I’ve dieted to see how a diet can go. Overall it seems like most diets are rather rocky and full of peaks and valleys that could easily discourage you (they did me, there is no doubt they will again). But I look back at my first weigh in and realize that I am really happy that for the rest of my life I will more than likely never see it on the scale under my feet again. I may see my weight rise and fall, and obviously it slowly went up for 20 weeks in a row, but I am determined to never let that happen again. Perhaps the next time I peak it will be over a 12 week period, and then the next 6 until eventually I’m able to only fluctuate a few pounds (which every healthy person on the planet does).

But please learn from everyone’s experiences that diets do not happen quickly. They never end! They are not wrapped up in a pill or a surgery (though for those who have had them they face all types of new challenges). Silver-bullet diets are not found on DVDs or on the back-page of a gossip magazine. Celebrities should not be your role models when wanting to lose weight, your peers should be. There is no perfect time to start one, so you might as well start now.

Thanks to everyone that has given me encouragement and has shared their story. I look forward to hitting the one year mark with good results to report.

[tags]diet, the-diet, weigh-in, exercise, food, gym, basketball, eliza devroe, theme parks, hershey park, pennsylvania[/tags]