Start of Week 13 (The Final Week!)

Weight loss is a fickle thing. As intelligent beings, we try to apply an exact science to it. 3500 calories equals one pound of fat. If you consume 3500 less calories than you need in a week, you will lose a pound. Similarly, if you burn more than 3500 calories in a week, you should lose a pound. If you consume less and burn more calories combined, you should lose more weight, right?

Let me tell you from personal experience, that weight loss is NOT an exact science. There's no way for us to know exactly how many calories we burn. There's also no real way to know how many calories we're eating, especially if we eat out, or drink fluids that we don't know what the calorie content is. Along with that, if you don't have a food scale, you're almost in the dark as far as weight of most produce and meats. So what do we do? We take our best guess and hope for the best. And let's be honest, that should be enough. The point of what I have been striving to do is to teach myself how to eat normal serving sizes, drink less booze, more water, and exercise regularly. In other words, create the foundation to weight loss. There's no magic pill, ointment, exercise, or diet that's going to get you to lose weight. It comes from eating right and working out. PERIOD.

That said, I gained weight again this week. I take ownership of the weight gain. I know that I could have done better with my food, but I stayed within my alcohol limits, and I worked out. A lot. According to a new website I've been using to track my calories and exercise (Lose It!), I burned just shy of 3,000 calories and for the week, I was over 700 calories under my weekly calorie budget. According to my math, that's a weight loss. Not a weight gain.

It is what it is, though. I gained two pounds and this morning I weigh 238 pounds. I'm not gonna make my weight loss goal for the 90 days, but I knew that weeks ago. What I can take from this, though, is that I'm able to control my drinking. I'm able to work out 6 days a week. I'm also able to eat within a calorie restriction most days, allowing myself to eat above that limit once or twice a week and still lose weight.

What I'm finding is that I probably could eat less calories than I have been eating. There are times when I get to the end of the day and realize that I've still got 6-700 calories leftover for the day, so I'll eat a bowl of cereal to bring it up. I shouldn't do that. If I decide to do another 90 day cycle, I'm going to have to do some kind of time restriction on myself, so I can't eat after 8:00 or something... but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

For now, I'll focus on the week ahead. I have an alcohol goal, water goal, workout goal, and food goal that I can still accomplish. After all, four out of five's not bad. That's a solid 80%. Not ideal, but on this grading scale, I'll take it.

This morning... 238lbs.

On another positive note, I think, if it's possible, I have fallen in love with running. My wife and I decided that we're going to run the April Fools Half Marathon in Atlantic City. I'm pretty sure I had written that a week or two ago, but I wanted to remind you all of it. Because we're planning on running it together, it makes sense that we train for it together. Yahtzee joins us on the shorter recovery runs because we're not going too fast, but for the most part, we leave her at home.

I'm finding that while I sit at home and work during the day, I am aching to be outside running. I think I feel like the dog does when my wife walks through the door. Although Yahtzee will jump and flail like a dolphin with her youthful excitement, I try to maintain my composure and just lace up my shoes. Once she's ready to go, we roll out the door and just run. We catch up on the day while we jog at an easy pace, and challenge each other during tempo runs to improve our cardiovascular insurance as well as increase our overall speed.

Don't get me wrong, I still have a passion for cycling. I love the challenge of cycling, but where we live right now is very flat and leaves much to be desired on the bike. Running is infinitely easier to get ready for also. I don't have to pump tires, lube chains, fill water bottles, carry stuff in my pockets. Also, I've accomplished a lot in cycling. Running is a whole new challenge.

I'm not giving up cycling by any means, but I think it's going to be less of a part of my summer as it has been in the past... of course that depends on if we're going to sign up for a Marathon a not...