A Goal Entirely Hit, Addendum
Posted on May 9, 2020 Posted by John Scalzi 30 Comments
You may recall that some time ago I had felt out of shape and was unhappy with it. After hitting a high weight of nearly 200 pounds, and also feeling tired walking up stairs, I set a goal of getting down to 170 pounds. With regular exercise and calorie counting, I hit that goal last July (in fact, ten months ago today).
At the point I had to decide whether to sit pat (i.e., maintain that weight) or keep going a little further. I decided on the latter, but on a more relaxed basis: I wanted to get to about 165 pounds, which for various reasons I think is an ideal weight for me, but I didn’t want to set a particular timeframe on it. I adjusted my calorie counting scheme to lose just a little bit on a weekly basis and tweaked my exercise to be a bit less strenuous, and then just settled in to see what happened next.
What happened next is that this morning I crossed over the 165 pound mark (I was at 165.1 pounds yesterday morning, which was annoying for the perfectionist in me) and hit that goal in ten months, which is an interesting contrast to the amount of time it took to drop 25 pounds (seven months) when I was really working on it. The chart features some swings on it — you can see the peak where I went on this year’s Joco Cruise pretty clearly — but generally speaking it was a long, slow glide to dropping that last five pounds.
Now that I’ve hit 165, what’s next? Nothing! More accurately, I don’t have any ambition to lose any more weight, so now the goal is basically to maintain current weight (plus or minus a couple pounds) for the foreseeable future. This goal may be tweaked if, for example, I decide to exercise more and as a consequence build more muscle mass (which is denser than fat and thus might increase my weight without adding bulk), but generally this weight is one where I generally conform with my own image of myself, so, yes. Good enough! Time to declare victory!
If nothing else, it’s nice to hit this particular goal on the final day of my 50th year; I can start my 51st year pretty much exactly where I wanted to be in terms of physical shape. That’s a nice little gift to myself.
Nice job. Congratulations. I’m lucky in that I generally stay within 5 or 10 pounds no matter what I do (which my wife, who has had a lot of weight issues over the years, envies), and I find it easy to lose weight if I want to. When I get to around 190 (I am somewhat taller than you), I start feeling that I need to lose five pounds or so. This time, like you, I went five pounds under and hope to stay there.
Thats great….
Excellent. How’s the shoulder?
Much better, actually. Almost full range of motion, with some twinges.
Very nice, congratulations.
Sounds like a solid investment in your quality of life.
And maybe it will inspire some of us … I still need to lose a bit more, but I’ll settle for holding the ground I’ve gained (well, very wrong metaphor there).
Happy Birthday!
Congratulations!
Congratulations and an early happy birthday! What are you using to track your weight? I’m hoping to lose a little bit of weight myself and I’m the kind of guy who would have extra motivation if there’s gadgets and/or software involved to help track my progress.
Is calorie counting is absolutely positively necessary? Is it for the ‘mindfulness of what you eat’ factor or the “no, I’m actually eating less than I used to’ thing? I’ve heard that getting the count of what you eat actually accurate is oh so difficult.
There are no “spam – guava jelly – stir-fried kale and kimchi with goat cheese” burritos in the apps I’ve seen.
Oh, and lest I be taken the wrong way, congrats!
It’s just that I’ve tried and tried…
I turned 47 today and I need to start doing this as well; I’m a bit over 200 and 6’1″, and I just feel so “eh” these days. My wife has been talking about getting a treadmill and I think that’s a good move,
Congratulations! It’s good to see someone reach a useful goal. Unfortunately, I’ve done the opposite; I went from 195 to 185, and after quarantine began I have gone back up to 195. Too much sitting around and snacking. Gotta get serious again.
Well done. Being the right BMI for your body makes all the difference to how we feel and move, even our emotions, I think.
About 12 years ago I weighed around 240. Then I quit smoking. Then I put on 10 pounds in a month. I’m 6 feet tall. So I started walking and adjusted my diet. After 2 year I bought a bicycle. Last year I rode 5500 miles. This morning when I got up, on my 55th birthday, I weighed 185. Hell yeah I’m having cake tonight. And ice cream. Hope to lose another 5 to 10 pounds this year, and then I’ll be at my target weight. Well, target range. I tend to bounce around in a 3 to 4 pound range during the week.
The older I get the harder it is to lose weight. Fairly easy to keep it off as long as I watch what I eat over the winter when I can’t get as much exercise. Took a few years to get the winter gain under control.
on the final day of my 50th year
Erm… I might not be writing this if I weren’t older than you, but: This is the final day of your 51st year, at the end of which you’ll turn 51. (Just as the year between your birth and your first birthday is your first year, not your zero-th year.)
Sorry.
Nerd.
Moreover, old enough to remember when it was spelled “nurd.”
Just out of curiosity, what software did you use to make that graph? Oh and well done to you on hitting your goal!
Congratulations on reaching your weight loss goal. DH & I both are doing intermittent fasting and as long as I don’t snack between meals and stay away from sugar I’m losing weight eating 2 meals a day. Just 2 pounds to go.
Nice way to flatten the curve.
Quitter. You should try to get down to your original weight. I don’t think 8 lbs 4 oz is unreasonable.
I’ll get down to even less than that after cremation!
What are you doing to maintain flexibility? Do you have specific finger stretching exercises?
Turning 40 next month and at 212lbs this sounds like the exact plan I need to apply. Good on you John.
People are asking about the software – looks like the FitBit app? (just going by the colour schemes.)
I’m very pleased *for*, and a tad envious *of* you.
It’s a great birthday present for yourself. Those are often the best and in these interesting times it’s an even greater feat. Congratulations and happy birthday. I wish you many more in good health and happiness.
Best wishes on keeping it off! I lost about 45 # 20 years ago and started a regimen of brisk walking about 40 minutes for 5 or more days a week. The weight stayed off for about 5 years until I started quite a bit of travel for work. Over a few years I gained back 25 of those #’s .. where I sort of remain (but retired). I have kept the walking schedule. With your normal travel schedule it must be difficult!
Congrats! I had a similar weight loss in my early 40’s and managed to keep it off until last year when I hit 66 yo and retired. Only a 5 lb gain, but I’ve found it harder to maintain since then for some reason, so watch out as you get older
Congratulations! You’ve avoided the quarantine 15 and have shown what the life of discipline can do.
I, on the other hand, have gained back 50 of the 65 pounds I lost and am wallowing in self pity and blaming my surgery, depression, CoVid19, inability to use my exercise mode (pool), multiple injuries, and the universe. I think I’ve cover the blame gane here.
Again, congratulations.
You missed a trick here. We want a photo of you standing on scales in an airforce jacket with a “Mission Accomplished” photo in the backgroun.