Food: Food this week was good again. I was within my limits, and I met my macro goals. Cholesterol was higher this week than last week, but that was expected as I increased my chicken intake. Sodium was also higher since I made stir fry more, though twice I cut down the salt content so it was 20% lower than it was originally planned to be. I find it interesting that the first several weeks of this, my carbs and fat were 98–104% of my goal, just under that +5% limit I set to still be compliant. The last two weeks, carbs have been several percent lower, while fat this week was my lowest yet at 94%. So, I’d say that having my food under control is a giant change from just three months ago … a change that shouldn’t be minimized.
Exercise: Exercise … hm … . So, the good news is that I finally started to do weights regularly. After doing it once last week and getting DOMS, I did it thrice this week. Even two days in a row to get it in. That shouldn’t be overlooked since it took 12 friggin’ weeks to finally do, and I spent more time doing weights this week than any week since March of 2019. But, I still am not doing core exercises of just 15 minutes in the morning. That said, I also managed to do cardio five times this week, meeting my goal, though one time was less than 14 minutes because I did it right after weight lifting and that was a big mistake. I think a reasonable goal for this coming week is to just ensure that I stick with weights, and then start to yell at myself if I don’t fit in core exercises in the mornings. This is a journey, not an absolute.
Sleep: Sleep this week was … complicated. I woke up three mornings at 4am to photograph comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), and then I went back to bed. I counted those two segments as “sleep” and if they summed to >8 hours, then so be it. But, I was still tired in the afternoon so I napped. So, it wasn’t great.
Measurements: This week was pretty good with measurements. As with the last few weeks, I’m head on bodyfat percentage goal, where I’ve only lost 1.6 lbs of lean mass instead of an anticipated 3.4 lbs. I’ve decided that if I’m still ahead at Week 18 (the next maintenance phase for a week), then I’ll reset the goal based on where I am that week. I’m still behind on weight, but I am catching up to where I hoped to be after that two-week trip. I exited that trip being 1.9 lbs over, and this week I’ve averaged 1.1 lbs over the goal average for the week. For the day, I’m only 1.0 lbs over my goal, though twice this week I was only 0.6 lbs over. I don’t expect to catch up next week, but in two weeks.
One thing I’ve done a few times this week just to emphasize fat loss and keep up motivation is put the tape measure around my waist and put it at the first measurement I made 12 weeks ago. While my 41.25″ is still much larger than I want, compared with 44″, it’s a marked change!
Points: This week’s points are tied with previous maxes at +68, despite finally doing weights. The reasons for it being lower than it could’ve, despite not doing weights the previous times it was at +68, is that one of the five days of cardio was only 16 minutes instead of 40, and one day I got <8 hrs of sleep.
Looking Over the Week: I would say that, all things considered, this was a good week on my fitness journey. No, I still haven’t incorporated morning basic core exercises for a mere 15 minutes. But I finally did all the weight lifting I was supposed to this week, and almost all of the cardio, knee issues notwithstanding. I succeeded in getting most of the sleep I needed despite the comet, and I ate well with respect to my calorie and macro goals. My weight dove a week-over-week average of 2.2 lbs, which is the most so far since I started again in April, and my bodyfat is going down. I had a lot of work to do this week but I didn’t let that get in the way of things and, while I didn’t quite get it all done, either, I made good progress. I also did not expect to catch up with weight this week, but I hoped to get closer, and I’m still on track to catch up in, now, about 2 weeks, based on a best-fit line.
Looking Ahead 1 Week: This coming week, I expect to pass my last record in terms of most (max-min) weight lost in a single “attempt,” at 18.5 lbs. Everything beyond that will be a new record, though at that point I’ll start looking at multiples of 5 lbs (e.g., 205 lbs, 200 lbs, 195 lbs, …) and looking back at how many years of weight gain I’ve erased. I’m still worse than I was early last year in 2019, so no big celebrations yet. Okay, that off the table, I anticipate no issues eating within my goals, no issues sleeping (the comet is now better as an early evening object), I hope to have comparable weight loss so’s to get closer to where I had hoped to be, and hopefully my bodyfat will continue to decrease. Work is still going to be an expletive, but hopefully I can continue to work around that.
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