Week 10 - Progress and Looking Back

First of all, I want to talk about my successes. In Week 9, I lost 2 pounds, but only 1.6 in Week 10. Thus far I have lost 19.6 pounds - I am so close to hitting that 20 pounds down. That is going to be a pretty cool milestone to hit, and I should get it in the next couple days.

Though some days I see the scale go up and get a little disheartened, I've come to realize that the fluctuations up and down are normal, and over time, the scale is trending downward. The best thing about my number is that it is the lowest number I've had in almost 10 years! 

Over the past 10 years, I've periodically (including on this blog) tracked my weight and other body measurements (i.e. waist, arms, legs, etc.), and when I started ADF, I pulled all of those into a single location. I'm still about five pounds away from the lowest weight I have recorded, which was 10 years ago on October 26, 2010.

Today I want to take you through my journey over the years. I don't have everything, but I'll do my best. Let's start with one of my earliest attempts to "get healthy," which I don't actually have any records of:

P90X (2010)

Kristen and I did this together. If you're unfamiliar with P90X, it is a series of workout videos, along with a meal plan. I tried to do the meal plans, but for the most part just did the workouts. This was early on in my marriage, and I think we got to about day 82 before we said we were good. The workouts helped me get into reasonable shape, but I don't think my body changed much.

Insanity Rounds 1 & 2 (2010)

Next was Insanity (another series of workout videos and meal plan). This was a two-month course, of which I completed about half. At that point, I got sick, and Kristen and I were in a play that was pretty physically demanding, and the workouts fell by the wayside. I talked a little bit about it in the inaugural post on this blog. Over the course of that month, I lost about 8 pounds (starting around 173, ending at about 165, I think).

The first round was over the summer - then I started it up again in September, and went through October sometime. I managed to lose about 5 pounds in that second round, going from 164.6 to 159.8. That is the lowest recorded weight I have, from Oct. 26, 2010.

Atkins/Low Carb (2012-2015)

Low carb diets have their place, and I have utilized them periodically over the years. They have one major problem though: carbs taste good. Okay, two major problems - low carb diets are hard to meal prep for. When you are used to "normal," non-low carb diets, you try to make low/no-carb versions of your favorite foods, like bread, dessert, noodles, etc. And the low/no carb versions are not nearly as good, leaving you ultimately dissatisfied.

So though I had some success with low carb diets, they were always temporary solutions. I think the longest I went on a low carb diet was three weeks - more typical was about two weeks. In that time period, I usually lost around 10 pounds, so they can give results, for sure, but just not a long-term solution for most people. Documented times I did Atkins (though it may have been more): Feb 2012,  Mar 2013, Aug 2013, and Oct 2015.

Beachbody - Hard Corps (2015)

In 2015, I had a friend from college post an announcement calling for anyone who wanted to join a fitness challenge group for a month (she was a Beachbody coach - same company that does P90X and Insanity). I was at a point that I really wanted to get in shape, so said sure, I'd do it. I paid some money, got some new fitness videos (Hard Corps - done by the same guy who did P90X) and nutrition shakes, and was pretty good about exercising every day. I even did it when I was on a work trip, in my hotel room. I lost almost four pounds over the course of a month, going from 178.2 to 174.6. Though I didn't see a lot of weight loss or change my diet much, I did see some changes in body measurements, which was good.

2015-Today

Periodically, I have exercised at home (utilizing all those workout videos I have) or at work (we have a fitness center there with group classes), but the longest I ever steadily exercised was a couple months at a time, followed by months and months of saying how I needed to get back into it. Even during the pandemic, when we have so much time at home, you would think it would be easier to exercise and eat healthy, but just the opposite has happened. That is, until 10 weeks ago, when we started ADF.

And you know about ADF. Still going strong - it's the easiest plan I've ever done - you could even say it's the lazy man's diet plan. No - the BUSY man's diet plan. Now that this is down, my next steps are to figure out how to start doing some exercise.

Intermittent Fasting - Week 8

I wanted to share some before/after photos (though it isn't really "after" - I still have a ways to go). 

I've been taking photos every couple of weeks, after my weigh-in, and I wanted to show the difference the past 8 weeks have made in my body. Remember, with my "baby steps" plan, I have not actually changed anything except how I am eating. I haven't changed what I'm eating, how much activity I'm doing, or anything else. I just am not eating 3 days a week (or really, eating a lot less 3 days a week, since many of my fast days I still eat dinner).

It's not a huge change, but it's noticeable. Old clothes are starting to fit better - after almost two months, I am down 16.6 pounds. I still have a ways I want to go. I am at 168 pounds as of today, but I think I would like to be around 155. I say "I think," because I don't have a "goal weight." I have a weight at which I remember feeling good about my body. But I also want to add in strength training and yoga to get more muscle, tone, and definition, which could increase that weight. The weight isn't what I care most about - it's how my body looks and feels. But if I keep steady with my ~2 pounds per week, I should hit the 155 range in about 6 more weeks, around Thanksgiving. Here is a chart of my progress since I started in August:

Challenges

Though I have some challenges, as I said in my last post, the great thing about this program is that I can "fail" and still be successful. It's easy to start back up again. I recently (in week 7) went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in northern Minnesota. I started on a Wednesday (a fast day), and went through Saturday. I completely threw everything out the window as soon as I was on the road. On Wednesday I had road snacks and ate at a restaurant, and then Thursday-Saturday, ate what everyone else had. We were canoeing, hiking, and camping, and ate the food we brought in.

I did not fast on Friday (or all of Wednesday), and ate three meals a day plus snacks the whole time we were out. I weighed myself on Wednesday before leaving, and Sunday when I was back home, and had remained weight-neutral. Even though I was eating more food more often, I was also expending a lot more energy, so it was not entirely unexpected, but was still a relief. Overall in Week 7, I gained 0.2 pounds.

Another challenge was at the end of week 5 and beginning of week 6. For 6 days in a row, I weighed in within about 0.2 pounds of the same weight every day. I was worried that I had hit a plateau, and wouldn't be able to lose more weight. But on day 6 of the same weight, I fasted all day (didn't even do a small dinner like I tend to), and was back on track the next day, with slow and steady weight loss. I'm not sure why it happened, but plateaus are fairly common with lots of fitness, diet, and lifestyle changes. You usually just need to make some adjustments to start making progress again.

Week 8 Reflection

Overall, things are going well. I am still loving this lifestyle change. I love that I am losing weight and am feeling better about myself. I like how it's not been up and down, but has been fairly consistent. At this point, I am at a weight I haven't been in about seven years, and it's feeling pretty good. On to Week 9!