I haven’t done a weekly summary in a long time, so for new readers, the infographic is intended to summarize how I did in my four target areas for the week, the first three being the means to the fourth item being the end goal. And then in these posts I think I typically give a recap, and then look forward.
Food: This week, I generally stayed within my goals. I didn’t worry so much as I used to about not going 10% over on something here-or-there, mainly because I had already planned for it and was going under on that item the next day, or I had the previous day. That said, I got no points (see below for points explanation) for counting everything and not transferring food to a different day. The primary culprit is having snack food in the house that I simply have no willpower to not eat. It sounds stupid, even as I write this, to say that. I’m attempting new methods, like measuring things out at the start of the week or day and I’m not supposed to go past that amount, but I do. For example, I had gummy bears measured out for the week – 3.5 oz, for 0.5 oz average per day. I kept going back to the main bin, anyway. Or, if you’ll go back to the daily updates this week, you’ll see my notes about the snack food we got at Costco this week that I really shouldn’t’ve allowed in the cart. The minimum in the weight graph on the infographic is the day we went to Costco; I strongly suspect that that snacking is the cause of it going back up.
Exercise: In the general idea of “I should do better this week than last week” with exercise, I at least met that goal, though it was a very low bar given that two weeks ago was my conference. I ended up with 2051 calories expended in exercise this week, which almost meets the week before my conference at 2118 calories. That’s in my “green zone” for exercise, which is 1875–3750 calories expended from exercise in a week. I’m hesitant to do large, heavy weight lifting with my hip hurting, so I think I can improve in other ways this coming week. Regardless, due to all the walking, my steps this past week are the second-highest in the last six months, with the highest being again two weeks ago. So, certainly doing better than I have been, but also certainly areas for improvement.
Sleep: Sleep is critical to functioning during the day, recovering from exercise, and for just being able to get stuff done and not be interrupted by a need for naps. I certainly met my sleep (and nap) goals on average, but there were two nights where I clearly did not get enough sleep, and the quality of my sleep (something I track separately) was poor on several nights, mostly due to the bf’s quality of sleep issues and waking me up as a consequence.
Weight and Bodyfat Measurements: Proof is in the pudding. Low-fat, carb-free, low-sodium pudding. I’m counting weight lost from the peak on last Saturday after I got back from this meeting, 228.7 lbs, and I’m counting bodyfat starting point at my peak at the end of 2021, 30.0%. So, weight is certainly down from that peak, and the bodyfat / measurements are improving. I have a long way to go, but there is no good reason why I can’t get there.
Points: To explain my points system, again since it’s been awhile: The basic idea is that I give or subtract points from a total based on how I did on numerous different categories that each have different weights. The total score can be anywhere from –100 to +100 points. They are weighted as:
- 1.75 pts each: Weighing myself each day.
- 4.75 pts: Measuring my bodyfat once during the week.
- up to 2 pts each: Getting ≥8 hrs of sleep each night.
- –2 pts each: Having more than 1 nap lasting 2 hrs, or having more than 4 naps during the week.
- 1.5 pts each: Tracking food each day.
- 1.5 pts each: Counting all food in a day, and not transferring the food to another day.
- 0.5 pts each: Hitting ≤105% of calories each day, ≤105% of fat each day, ≤105% of carbs each day, and ≥90% of protein each day. (7 days, 4 categories/day, this is worth up to 14 pts total)
- 2 pts each: ≥15 minutes of core exercise per day (0.5 pts if <15 minutes but >0 minutes).
- 2.5 pts each: ≥30 minutes of weight lifting ≥3 times per week (0.5 pts if <30 minutes but >0 minutes).
- 2.5 pts each: ≥40 minutes of cardio ≥5 times per week (0.5 pts if <40 minutes but >0 minutes).
So, in the above system, if I don’t do something, then it is worth the listed point but negative. So, if I don’t track food one day, that’s –1.5 points, meaning if I track food the other 6 days, I get 6·1.5+1·(–1.5) = 7.5 pts total.
That explained, points this week were at 29, which isn’t great, but it establishes certainly a starting position. Before I added in the part about counting all food and not transferring it, my peak points in a given week were at 72, which I got for a few weeks around July 2020, where the only thing I was really missing was core exercises. Since I started “v2” with that in there, the lowest score was 9, and the highest 62 (April 2021). I stopped tracking for the last year, so I’m back now at “Week 100” and a score of 29 isn’t horrible and highlights areas to improve. I lost points this week for: Not getting ≥8 hrs of sleep each night, not counting every bit of food, not meeting the calorie/macro goals every day, missing 5 days of core exercises, missing 3 days of weights, and missing 1 day of not getting to at least 40 minutes of cardio.
Personal Accomplishments and/or Records: It’s too soon to be getting back to personal records, but I think it certainly bears repeating that I came close to my max steps in a long time, I walked every day (maybe that’s a new record for me?), and I walked past the doughnuts in the grocery store. I’m sure some of you can appreciate how much of an achievement walking past the doughnuts and not getting one can be. With that all said, I think even with the not counting of things, I came close to a long-term low (not record low) on sodium in take this week, averaging just about +30% over my target. I was slightly lower in mid-January at +23%, with my lowest in the last several years being just 90% of my goal back in mid-August 2021 (I don’t believe the 88% in November 2021 because that was the week of Thanksgiving when I wasn’t able to count a lot of things accurately). I will also note my VO2 max is up slightly, reaching 32.2 which – if I ignore what I think is a spurious 32.7 value in January – gets me closer to what I was back in October 2020 after I had been walking all summer. Hip-willing, maybe I can do The Loop in April.
Looking Over the Week: It wasn’t a bad week. It wasn’t a good week. It was certainly a better week and sets up a firm foundation for moving forward. Additionally, it shows that I really can keep that momentum going even if a trip interrupts things.
Looking Ahead One Week: I have decent hopes for this coming week. Writing this on Sunday afternoon, I already got my Apple Watch March Activity Challenge since I just completed a walk that put me over a cumulative 103.5 km for the month. I also have meals planned out with plenty of room for some snacking that shouldn’t put me over (I always say that, though). I measured my bodyfat percentage this morning and it was below last week’s, and the weight is down. Yoga mats for core exercises are on order should be on order soon, and I’ve already stopped myself twice from grabbing food and not counting it. More concretely, and looking at the snow and temperature forecast for Monday and Tuesday, I’m hoping to at least meet or exceed the calories expended from exercise from two weeks ago, which should not be hard if I keep my walking mostly up and do some core exercises most days. I’m not going to say that I plan to resume weight lifting this week due mostly to my hip, but we’ll see. And, of course, keep that scale moving down, and keep improving on food.
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