Weight Loss

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The holidays are over (Valentine's Day was a killer) and it's time to tighten the belt again. 10 pounds gained since November. Time to cut back on the calorie budget again.
 
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I haven't made in progress in dropping weight but that's my own fault, late night snacking again. The good thing is my weight was 211.4 this morning, not much movement either way.
 
I've been working on loosing some weight since the end of November. First time I'm doing this in my nearly 5 decades of life.

I went from 208 to 185 lbs so far. About 6 lbs per month. And that includes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and two work trips of a week (restaurant food is often high in calories).
So maybe two more months, as the aim is to get to 176 lbs.
I'm between 6'3" and 6'4" depending on the rounding and the (time of) day. (Am I shrinking already? I used to be a solid 6'4"...)

So far it's not that hard. I take it slow:

1/3 off breakfast and dinner (no seconds of what is left over...), 1/2 off lunch (but some volume put back in eating lettuce).
And nothing to snack at night or (nonfruit) during the day, anything I drink outside a meal is only water. An occasional pre-dinner aperitif (cognac, bourbon or something similar) is out too (biggest sacrifice), and an occasional evening beer is out too. That was the hardest for me. (Though the beer would also invite snacks, and it's easier to not snack when no beer is involved).

It's just slowly decreasing - and slow seems to work for me. I hope that the habit I created by going slow will make it easier to keep it once I reach my target weight.

For me (!) it truly is NOT worth trying to burn more calories. Consuming less calories is much easier for me. (Though everyone may be different in this respect.)

Of course moving and getting the heart to work a bit every day is important (for a sitting profession as I have) - but that is regardless of the calorie intake.
 
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208 lbs and 6'4" gives a BMI of 25.3, and above 25 I think is classified as overweight.
Good is 20-25. (So with 176 I aim for 22.2, right in the middle of good.)

Of course these numbers are only that, and people (myself) have many excuses not to take it seriously - as in "I have heavy bones and muscle".
For me that number was consistent with what I saw in the mirror, which was too much of "not muscle" and hence my action.
Maybe you're just buff (as my daughter calls it...) and your weight is all muscle :)

I do think that what is "skinny" and what is normal is susceptible to creep based on how the population is slowly changing (towards higher BMI, unfortunately).
 
ok, feeling super fat tonight. I had to wear a suit that I haven’t in 2 years.

Almost exactly 1 year ago I injured my back and pinched a nerve. I finally figured out how to relieve it around a month ago. I’ve been getting traction and also heavy lifting of weights.

Well, suit jackets have never fit my shoulders well, but the jacket has never been tight on the shoulders, upper arms, etc.

I think that’s the motivation to keep lifting and quit the soda that I needed.
 
That suit has been bothering me. Ive never had a suit tight around the biceps. Typically they don’t fit when I lift my arms up at my lats, not like I squeezed my arm into a tube of shrink tube for wires and then turned on the heat.

Then it hit me, the last year and a half or so I’ve been trying to grow a garage door business. I’ve been changing out a lot of torsion springs. That’s the same motion as a dumbell press. Springs range from 80lbs to 180lbs. I use an 18” winding bar as a lever, but I’m doing 30 reps per side. I’ll switch arms back and forth for the heavy ones, lol.

In addition to gaining fat, I’ve bulked up a bit. That explains why the pants are fine, but the jacket isn’t. I’m only going up and down step ladders. Not enough to bulk up my legs.

Ok. I feel a little better, but the suit was a little tight in the middle too. Still need to diet.
 
Suits are overrated anyway...
 
I agree! My general guidelines are weddings and funerals. The kid made states in wrestling so I decided to dress for the banquet. Her coach was doing the same. We decided, based off what other parents wore, that khakis and a button flown would work for the future.
 
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After my weight hit 218 (not sure how long ago) I put the brakes on, this morning I was 210.4. The wife had mentioned she would like to go out for a meal so we did that today.
 
I'm back at my target weight now and can flex a bit with my diet.