northernmusician's Journal, 08 July 2018

Here's a little history about my weight loss. First two paragraphs are journal. After that, it's about my journey.

Feels odd doing my journal on the computer. So used to misspelling everything through my cell phone. I had lost about 60 pounds before I found fatsecret. Finding fatsecret gave me a community. I know I've been rather negligent of my friends here, but I know you're all here and I know you're watching. That's invaluable to me. It's a small way of being accountable, but it is being accountable when you log in and you know people are watching, and more importantly, pulling for you.

I'm second day in the blue, which surprises me. I'm happy about it, but I have a bit of a way to go.

In 2012 I weighed between 230 and 240 pounds. It's not that I don't know the weight, that's roughly how much my weight would fluctuate over several weeks. I didn't know then why my weight bounced around. I do now.

By Aug 10, 2014 I weighed 165.8 pounds. My lowest weight. I wasn't lifting weights. I had little mass. At 5'11 I looked like a sub saharan distance runner. I felt almost sick, and I realize now that my only goal was 'weight' loss and not fat loss or getting lean. I was way too skinny. I call it skinny because today at 188 pounds I am lean. There is a difference. Bodybuilders are lean, but nobody would call them skinny. I'm not a bodybuilder, I'm a lifter. I have benefited in mass, though. It was around 2014 that I began lifting.

My weight bounced since then. I began lifting and bought into the idea of 'bulking'. Man, talk about an excuse to just go ahead and start eating junk when you want to. I know that's not exactly what bulking is if done properly, but if you can disguise the crap you're eating in the name of bodybuilding/bulking, what a wonderful way of deluding yourself. It's like an alcoholic saying they'll just have a glass of red wine because it's 'good for the blood'.

From Mid 2015 to 2016 I moved slowly upward from the low 180s to the mid 190s. That was a good gain as I made a lot of muscle mass (from the sub sahara standard). In the next year I gained from mid 190s to 210 at my highest. I was heavy and bloated. I'd moved back to about a 25% body fat level. When I began my diet in 2012 I know my body fat level was around 45%. Yes, 45. It sounds crazy, but if you want to check yours with a few measurements and a little math, search zone diet body fat calculator. They want your name and email address, but if you don't want emails from them, use 10 minute mail for a temporary email address.

When I did this in 2012 and and was shocked at how much of me was actually fat. Don't let it scare you if you do this, let it motivate you. Anyway, The Zone Diet was what I used from 2012 to 2014. It worked for me, but mostly because I'm CDO when I get into things. (That's OCD in alphatetical order. ;) It's fairly technical and promises weight loss without counting calories. It's true, you don't count calories - you count grams of fat, carbohydrate and protein, which if you do the math after, is the equivalent of counting calories on steroids. It's a great diet though if it suits your brain. I don't use it any more. I count my proteins and watch overall calories.

Anyway, it took a long time since 210 to get to the point of being ready to cut the fat again, and I'm hoping after this to never have to deal with it again. Yeah, I know. Never is a big word. Nevertheless, Thats the goal.

I'm so close to 10% body fat, the point when the abs should be quite evident (currently the top four are fairly clear), that I'm ecstatic about my progress. These last few days of dieting down, likely 3 weeks, I'm finding it very difficult to stay focused. I felt so depleted yesterday that I did a full maintenance day of 2600 calories. All of it was good food though.

Tomorrow I will likely be back above 190. 185 depleted should be about 10% bf at which point I will put a photo in the photos section and reset diet goals for a 10 pound loss with my first weight being bogus. Line turning yellow after that will trigger a short diet down, though I'm more likely to actually do that only if definition disappears.

I'm tired of dieting down, but I know I have to be vigilant and radically committed still if I want to keep the weight level. That year where my weight rose so slowly and saw the lean mass gains made me cocky and lax in diet. Hopefully, never again. Only time will tell. I have lost hubris on my ability to always stay exactly where I want.

If you've read all this, thanks. It's appreciated. Have a great day. Countdown day 27 to seeing the grandsons.

188.8 lb Lost so far: 11.2 lb.    Still to go: 0 lb.    Diet followed reasonably well.

---

2265 kcal

Fat: 110.03g | Prot: 174.97g | Carb: 147.56g.   Breakfast: Maple Syrup, Cinnamon, Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, 2% Fat Milk. Lunch: Bacon, Egg White, Fried Egg, Cheddar Cheese, 2% Fat Milk. Dinner: Kraft Bacon Caesar Dressing, Mixed Salad Greens, Pork Loin (Tenderloin). Snacks/Other: Honey, Magnum Classic Ice Cream Bar, Driscoll's Raspberries, LeanFit Whey Protein Shake - Vanilla, 2% Fat Milk. more...