My monthly fatloss progress report....

Today's Post: Monday, 9-19-2011

Since last month, I lost a half pound.

This past month my waist measured the same as the month before.

I also took two measures to try to make them more comparable. The normally but not excessively relaxed waist measure, the conservative one, was the same 39 & 3/4 inches as that same measure last month. The normally but not excessively tense measure was about 38 inches.

I now need to lose 5 1/2 pounds total to return to my goal weight. And, I still need to lose at least three to 6 inches off my waist.

According to pictures I’ve seen, I’m now at about 22 % bodyfat or a bit more, perhaps 25%. To remove my abdominal fat, according to those same pictures, I also need to add enough muscle to stay at or just slightly below my goal weight AND lose about 12% to 15% of my current bodyweight as fat.

This translates into losing 20 to 25 pounds of fat while gaining 14 to 20 pounds of muscle.

My strength training has gone decently lately; but I’ll eventually need to add some heavier dumbbells and go the gym to use heavier weights as well to do that. That’s mostly true for leg exercises since I’ve not done enough heavier exercises for them.

(Eventually I’ll also need to get a specialized minibike exerciser I can use while seated at my desk and another I can use while reading at home.

They don’t yet make those that I know of but most people today need them. Given the health harm of sitting too much and how many people do that, these minibikes and chairs that match them well are coming soon I think.

Walking burns about 300 calories an hour. (200 if you are skinny and walk slowly to over 500 if you walk really fast or walk somewhat fast but are much heavier.)

Using a seated minibike exerciser that you use much less effort on but keep moving slowly most of the time you sit can easily burn 50 calories an hour.

Then if like many people today you sit for 6 hours a day, you could easily add an extra 2100 calories a week by using a seated minibike exerciser most of the time you sit at home or at work. That would help people lose about 2 and a half pounds a month for a few months once they got into the habit of always using one.

If I’d used one of the seated minibikes since I began my current fatloss plan, I’d still need to add the extra muscle to be at my goal weight. But I’d be trying to add muscle weight to get back to my goal weight! That’s because I’d be 10 to 15 pounds less fat.

A. Last month, my two part plan to eat differently was a bit better.

1. My plan to eat less almond butter was a bit better.

I was unable to cut back to one serving a week. But I did cut back last month a bit from what I ate the month before that.

2. I had also planned to eat a few thawed frozen, organic, broccoli sprouts in place of the almond butter. (I had found before that adding nonstarchy vegetables is effective.)

I DID manage to eat a good bit more thawed frozen, organic, broccoli sprouts last month. I put the frozen chunks in their container much more consistently and ate some of the thawed florets most evenings last month.

To the extent that I ate less almond butter, this likely was what helped me to do that.

That was my most important goal for last month.

Next month I need to be sure to continue doing this!

B. I still had the significant worry most of last month. But I have taken action to resolve it. And, I have worked on building a just in case strategy too since last month.

I’ll still worry for quite a while since it will take months to know if my efforts helped, but I’m somewhat calmer emotionally. That will help me avoid gaining fat from eating too many comfort foods.

C. Though some of my progress was stopped by a minor injury on my two evenings a week doing jump rope, I was making progress before that. And, wanting to make sure the minor injury stays healed once it does, even though I had to cut back a bit from what I had planned, I’ve been better about doing the jump rope both evenings a week instead of just once.

D. The week before my measurement day last month, my wife and I went to a special breakfast. I ate well. I don’t think I ate enough extra to gain 3 pounds. But some of the 3 pounds I gained last month may be because I overdid a bit then.

We were unable to go to that monthly event this time. So that may have helped too.

E. The good news is that most of what I did to lose the 15 pounds I wanted and 3 pounds extra is still in place. I’m still doing those things. And, I am still 9 and 1/2 pounds lighter than I was when I started.

I’ll keep that up and work to implement the fixes from the problems I had last month and the month before.

I’ll let you know how that works next month!