Yesterday I lost the final belt loop on the belt I’ve worn for years. And today I’m coming in at a a new low weight and body fat percentage. Overall, this weight loss round has been a very strange experience. I say this as a guy who has ridden the weight loss yo-yo my entire life. Other than the initial eight pounds I lost at the very beginning, I’ve had to literally fight for every pound. Yet with the addition of resistance training, I’ve noticed what can best be described as a late cycle acceleration in my weight loss.
Zero ; Octet ; M: 133 ; C: 96 ; P/U: 60 ; W : 4 mi
Health R.O.S.
- Weight: 205.2
- BMI: 27.8
- Fat %: 21.1
Fight Pound for Pound
Through every other dieting cycle (and I’ve done everything from The Zone, Lindora, and, most successfully, The Plant Paradox), I’ve experienced rapid weight loss on the frontend. We’re talking like 10-15 pounds in the first 3-4 weeks. Then things would naturally settle down and the weight would take a bit more time and persistence to work off. This round, though, it’s been a pound for pound battle.
I had great success with The Zone in my early 30s and lost almost 50 pounds. In my late 30s, Lindora was all the rage and my wife and I had a very successful run with that diet, as well. I lost about 40 pounds on Lindora. I discovered The Plant Paradox accidentally. A friend of mine ordered it from Amazon and they sent him two. He gave me his extra copy and in a few short months I lost 45 pounds (are you seeing a pattern here?).
I’m back to the Plant Paradox because I really like the science Doctor Gundry presents and his clinical examples. I’m down 25 pounds so far with about another 20 to go. My goal is to eventually lose 45 pounds so that I end up at my lowest weight since elementary school (I was a ‘big boned’ kid, lol).
When I last successfully did The Plant Paradox in 2018, I was in my late 40s and the pounds seemed to melt off (like every other time I dieted). In my early 50s, it’s been a lot harder to lose weight. I guess I’ll keep up the resistance training. I’d like to be doing 100 pushups by Christmas along with continuing my work with dumbbells, crunches, squats, and planks. Building muscle will be very important over the long term if I’m to lock in my progress and maintain my new ideal weight and BMI.
Drinkie Loves a Tough Day at Work
Yesterday was a rough day at work. As I’ve mentioned before, in addition to this blog, I run a division at a large publicly traded company. And as you can imagine, some days are better than others.
To begin with, right out of the gate I felt a little run down. I’m not sure why exactly, but some days are like that. Two things I know I wasn’t experiencing, thank God: an alcohol or pot induced hangover. Maybe I’m just coming down with something. Whatever is going on, feeling crappy heading into a minefield of a day is never good.
Anyway, I had to address, solve, or contend with one hairy problem after another in rapid succession. It was just one of THOSE Mondays. By mid afternoon, in the throws of it all, all I wanted was a drink. The fact that I was planning to watch Monday Night Football yesterday evening allowed Drinkie to take a little crack in the door and blow it wide open.
While I’m not opposed to having a couple beers now and again, I never want to drink because I’m having a rough day or dealing with some emotional issue. To drink in these circumstances is to avoid the issues entirely when I should really be dealing with them. Not dealing is how sh*t builds up and gets the best of you.
Because my mindfulness practice allows me to create space between thought and action, I had the wherewithal to realize this and use RAIN to dig into my feelings, accept and address them, and send Drinkie on his way. As a result, I got my Octet. Three or more months ago, I would’ve reflexively stopped at the store on my way home, bought a 12 pack, and downed half to 3/4 of it. Not yesterday. A little progress each day. That’s all I ask of myself.
Tell Me Why I Don’t Like Mondays
