The Graphs

I spent some time yesterday looking at my data. I love the graphs, and I stare at them trying to extract meaning from them. Is the secret hidden within?

My weight for the past 35 (or so) years

Starting with the big picture: I weigh less now than I did for half of my thirties and way less than the first part of my forties - my fattest time. Yay me!  I look at this graph and I remember all the pessimist comments about how diets don't work, even if you do lose weight, you will just gain it back again. Well phooey on that. I did gain back a lot of the weight from my Big Loss, but not all of it, and not for ten years.Every day below my peak is a victory. Not because of some abstract number, but because I felt more comfortable, as was articulated by Alice's cousin Linda.

And now, and now, it appears I've established a measure of control. I've spent three years bouncing around the same ten pound range.

My weight since I've been keeping this blog

I've been able to arrest the creep back up - three times now, and I'm in my fourth bout. (I suspect if I hadn't just gotten so sick, we would be looking a more clear recent upward trend.) And I'm happy this last year was mostly spent in the lower half of the ten-pound range.

What is the meaning from this?

I've learned I can lose up to five pounds quickly, by going on a strict Atkins induction-level diet. The Atkins folks say those five pounds are water weight, because your body regulates water storage differently when you have a very low carb intake.  The only way I know for sure I'm doing it strictly is to track carefully.

I've also learned it's very very difficult for me to maintain the motivation and strictness for longer than three or so weeks. The two keys to success are to do lots of cooking myself, of vegetables and meat, and to limit treats. But I want to have my oral gratification, from chocolate or ice cream. I start with small, reasonable portions, and "get away" with it. I stop cooking because life catches up with me, and try to make relatively low carb choices from prepared foods. I've read how our metabolism has a time lag, so apparent continued weight loss in the face of increased intake will catch up and arrest progress, fairly substantially, even causing the bounce up, eventually.  Would I keep losing weight on Atkins if I kept going strictly? I don't know, because I haven't done it. I tracked and stayed strict this fall for longer than previous rounds, and I lost more weight in total. So there is sparse evidence for continued efficacy, but it looks good.

So how hard and long do I want to fight to keep going down?  I don't know. Right now, with the residual stomach bug, is not a good time for me to focus on food and cooking.

So what about exercise? I've become fairly fond of it. How am I doing about burning the calories?

Calories burned each day since I've had my device. The orange line is the average for the calendar month.

I noted here at the end of August that this was the lowest year for calorie burn since I'd been keeping track. I vowed to up it, and I managed to keep it up over 2000 calories a day every month since then. It definitely takes consciously moving to do that. The December average includes the day after Christmas, when I was flattened by the bug, which was the least number of calories burned since I'd been keeping track - only 1,466 for twenty-four hours!  (The axes don't even go down that low!)

I have two ways of getting my daily calorie count up - adding in some conscious, vigorous exercise such as running or biking, or alternatively, just keep moving all day. One of the reasons I like my BMF calorie counting device is because it credits me for all the movements I do, not just "exercise". So the day before Christmas was an incredibly active day, where I don't think I sat still for 10 minutes in a row. That day I burned 2,519 calories that day (more than 1,000 more than when sick!) but I never really "exercised" - I just kept moving. To the store for last minute gifts, to and fro while wrapping, to and fro while cooking, to and fro while marshalling the kids from one place to another.

I don't think the level of exercise I mostly do has much impact on my ability to lose weight, but as I mentioned, I'm fond of it. I like exercising, and I like having the energy to spend a day like Christmas eve to-and-froing as much as is necessary. I would like to do more vigorous exercise, but I'm going to have to go out of my way to figure out how and when. I'm more motivated to do that than to focus on food and cooking right now.