A few steps backward, a few steps forward. The last two weeks have been pretty much a wash – but I’m glad that I’m back on track and headed in the right direction – down.

This week I weighed in, again, at 200lbs. The same as I did on January 18th. So I’ve lost the 2 pounds that I had gained. However, this week is Super Bowl week (and my favorite team the Pittsburgh Steelers are in it). So while my expectations for weight loss this week are low my motivation is high to have a good week (besides Sunday). I’m also traveling to Florida for MagicRuby but I’m a veteran of traveling while on a diet and should do just fine.

Oh, and just for posterity I’m not doing very well on the exercise front at all. I have all of these aspirations to be doing more in that area and I’m simply not. I have a few excuses like time and weather but really, when it comes down to it, I just need to find the motivation to start – as that is the hardest part.

However, that is no excuse for not working out. So, with me being a little more lax on the number of calories I took in, drinking a few beers, and burning a lot less calories – I ended up only losing 1 pound this week. I now weigh in at 204lbs.

I’m not completely upset. A loss is a loss. But I really didn’t want to have “a bad week” on this round of the diet but here it is. I hope this is my worst week as I want to make up for this past week during this next one. My goal remains 3lbs. per week and, on average, I’m still above that at just above 4+lbs. per week so far. But that could quickly fade away.

So, no more resting. I’m planning to have my best week of exercise yet and plan on being down 3lbs. next week. Maybe I’ll even get to 200? We’ll see.

Don’t forget to check in with everyone else on The Diet!

The results for this week are very, very good. The first pounds of any diet are the “easiest” to lose – in my experience. It isn’t that it is easy to turn away temptations of food and beer the entire week, or the temptation to sit back on the couch and snack, or to just continually raid the fridge from the time I get up until I go to sleep. However, the first week is generally always a decent amount of weight loss. In 2006 I lost 7 pounds in the first week. So, how much did I lose this time?

I’m happy to report that I’ve lost 10 pounds in the first week on The Diet. I now weigh exactly 210lbs. This is extremely motivating but also I take this weigh in with a small grain of salt. Weight fluctuates and the first week is always a good week if you do well on your diet – so I expect next week’s weigh in to not be nearly as dramatic.

My goal for this week is to be down 3.3lbs or to weigh in at 207 pounds next week. During this first week I did very little exercise (2 sessions of playing basketball and one 3-mile walk in the freezing cold with Eliza). I’m going to try to work out at least 3 times this week, in addition to my normal basketball schedule, and to jog at least 3 miles. I’ll try to bring all of these numbers up each week going forward.

How does this week’s weight loss work into my goal? My goal was to lose 40 pounds in 12 weeks. This week I had the goal of only losing 3.3lbs (which is a good, solid week of weight loss on any diet) but I’ve managed to drop 10lbs. Since it took me 16 weeks to lose 40 pounds the last time I dieted I figure I just dropped 2 weeks off of that number in the first week. So, I’m on track to beat the 16 weeks. Can I make 12?

Lets get this out of the way; I’m currently 220 pounds. The last time I did The Diet in 2006 I was able to get to my goal weight in 16 weeks. After going through my weigh-ins I realized that I didn’t lose any weight a few of those weeks due to bad behavior. So my goal for this time around is to get to my goal weight in less than 16 weeks. My actual goal is 12 weeks but we’ll see how it goes. With that goal in mind it means I’d need to lose 3.3 pounds per week. That means burning or simply not taking in about 10,000 calories per week. Not impossible but not that easy with a desk job either. I’ll need to be super good.

So my goal for next week is to be at 216.something pounds.

I think it is interesting to look back at my mental state in 2006 and compare it to my mental state right now. An example of this would be my anxiety about running. In 2006 it took me three months, or 12 weeks into The Diet, before I could run 1 mile. This time around I can run a mile without even thinking about it. In fact, I’m going to begin my running routine at 3 and 6 mile runs a few times a week. In 2006 it was all my mental state holding me back. I had been fat for about 6 years at that point and didn’t think I could run. Now I know that even if you are a little bit overweight running isn’t all that hard to do. In fact, it is easy.

So I’m looking forward to this round on The Diet for many reasons and one of them is that I’m in a much better mental state to take this challenge on and chances are I’ll be able to meet or beat my goals with ease. And that will be very motivating.

As always with The Diet I’m inviting others to join me. So if you want to participate simply weigh in every Tuesday in some way – Twitter, Facebook, your blog. You don’t have to tell the world your actual weight if you’re sensitive about that (though I recommend it) but it would be nice to share how much you’ve lost or gained to keep yourself accountable to the group.

I did well with beginning my exercise routine again though. I ran on Tuesday, Friday, and played football on Sunday. I ran two 5Ks, or 6.2 miles, and had “ok” times for both runs. I have no idea how much exercise I got playing football but I’d be willing to guess it was a much better workout than simply jogging. It was a lot more fun too.

My current weight is, as my goal was, 205 pounds for a loss of two pounds this week. Next week I’d like to be 203 or below. My goal, per week, will continue to be 2 pounds or more (but not much more).

My goals for this week, besides being under 203 pounds, are that I eat much better, drink only 1 night, jog at least 10 miles total for the week, and doing one other active thing this week.

Here are a few videos that I have seen on Viddler recently to help those of us that work at an office, or at least at our desks, and would like to do something to help ourselves during the day.

The office workout

Jennifer DiDonato, whom I interviewed on the Viddler blog several months ago about her Brides Made Fit show, has an excellent episode of Made Fit TV that relates to this very problem. The office workout, as she calls it, involves a few exercises that you can do without leaving your desk and – even better – without the need of special equipment.

Fat loss tips with Marc Lebert

Even though Viddler Adam Toohey calls this a Fat Loss Tips video I think these are more just great exercises you can do with or without The Equalizer. I use chairs to do these exercises (until I can afford an Equalizer because I think it looks like a really simple and great piece of workout equipment).

However, Marc makes a great point in the video that I think many people are really, really confused about that try to lose weight. Eating. Your metabolism is the #1 weapon against weight gain and your #1 solution for losing weight. It is, in a sense, the silver bullet for dieters. Anything you can do to restore your metabolism and to keep your metabolism working at a high rate will both help you lose weight and help you keep it off. (More on this in a future post.)

So there are two quick videos that I think will help all of you office workers. Like me.

Oh, and I’m back on the diet. I’ll be posting screenshots of my own progress once I get at least 14 days worth of data recorded into Weightbot. At which time I’ll be sharing my method for weight-loss this time around as well.

If you have an iPhone and want to track your weight; get Weightbot.

Source: Weightbot by Tapbots.
Additional resources: How to calculate your own BMI.

There are so many money-quotes in this write up that I wish I could just quote the entire thing.  Here are some of the extra-specially good bits.

“The point is: you need goals. You need to define a state you want to achieve. Otherwise you won’t know where you are and you will feel bad about it. Setting goals is therapeutic in itself – you aren’t taking on the whole universe anymore.”

[...]

“Compare yourself to you, not to other people. There is always someone who can run faster, lose more weight, be more one with the all. Measure your progress against your own goals.”

Seriously, if you are trying to lose weight, run a marathon, or just trying to improve your overall health, you need to read Mr. Gustow’s advice.

Source: Getting to happy.

So, how much should you weigh? Obviously the numbers vary slightly depending on age and sex, but the following equation should help you to determine if you are within range of being considered medically healthy.

First, you must figure out what your BMI is. Your Body Mass Index can help you to determine whether a person has too high, or to low, of a height to weight ratio. Its rather simple math that allows you to determine if your weight fits with your height. This works for just about everyone, in every circumstance, age, and sex. As I said, the exact number for you might be a point or two above or below what this equation will give you – yet this should give you an estimate to aim for. A goal.

How do you determine your BMI? First, you must know your current height and weight. As an example, we’ll do my latest weigh in numbers.

Height: 73 inches (or 6’1″)
Weight: 192.2 pounds

First, we must multiply my weight in pounds by 705. So 192.2 X 705 = 135,501. Simple enough. Now, I need to take that number and divide it, twice, by my current height in inches. So 135,501 / 73 = 1,856.17808219178 (whoa!) and then again 1,856.17808219178 / 73 = 25.42709701633. Rounding that number off to the nearest tenth, will give me a BMI of 25.4.

So the equation is (WeightX705)/Height(/Height) = BMI.

Now we must figure out what a healthy BMI actually is. Is 25.4 good? bad? horrible? According to the Mayo Clinic here are the BMI ranges.

Healthy: 18.5 – 24.9
Overweight: 25 – 29.9
Obese: 30 or more

As you can see, I am still overweight, and I have to work a bit harder and diet a bit longer before I am in the healthy range. But how can you determine the correct weight based on this system? Pretty easily actually. All you’d need to do is keep bringing down your weight until your BMI is in the healthy range, and you will know what a healthy weight for you would be. Again, I’ll use myself as the example.

At 6’1″, if I wanted my BMI to be 24.9 (which is at the very upper edge of the healthy range), I’d need to be about 188 pounds or less. Remember 188 X 705 / 73 / 73 = 24.8 (healthy).

I hope this helps you to determine what your goals might be. Remember, if you are doing weight lifting, or any type of exercise that adds muscle weight – you are in a whole different class of people. I’m not talking about normal weight lifting either, I’m speaking of those of you that are trying to add 10, 15, or 20 pounds of muscle weight. Obviously, these numbers would not specifically apply to you as well. But again, all these numbers should do is give you an idea of what you should be aiming for.

Update with Chart – My friend and fellow dieter John has posted a chart to estimate your healthy weight. Thanks John.

[tags]diet, the-diet, weight, bmi, healthy, mayo clinic[/tags]