Shrinking (a weight-loss status report)

Someone must've put ME in the dryer on High, because I've been the one getting smaller than my clothes here lately.

Yay!

Friday's weight was the lowest yet-- 136.2. And I'm feeling a difference around the mid-section, a little more firmness in the tummy area. Plus I've generally felt better and had better energy as a result of eating well. I get hungry a lot, sure, but I'm not deprived by any means!

Keeping the food journal is really helping me to track and be conscious of what I'm putting in to my body. Just like athletes need to keep training logs to help keep track of what they've done and be able to assess what works and what doesn't, I guess dieters need to keep a food log. It makes sense. It just takes a little more effort. Tend minutes a day, maybe. I've typically been writing in it twice a day-- in the morning I'll write down what I Plan to eat for the day, and in the evening I write what I Actually ate. Sometimes those match up fairly closely. Other times, things come up. Someone says let's go for a beer. Or I decide that I'd rather have a tuna melt for dinner than a bowl of soup. Or I goof and eat a whole chocolate bar at 10:00 in the morning (ugh!) In any case, writing down the plan for the day lets me know how much latitude I have to make choices throughout the day.

I've been using FitDay to calculate my calories eaten as well as calories burned. I've been aiming to eat about 1500-1600 calories a day. My basal metabolic rate (what I'd burn if I just stayed in bed all day) is about 1400 calories. Add in a few hundred for daily movement (walking around the house and office, washing dishes, etc), and we're up to 1600. So with no exercise, 1600 calories/day would mean I'd break even. Add in exercise, and I can burn anywhere from 300-700 extra calories in an average day of workouts, and a few more on weekends when I do longer runs (yes, running burns the most calories of any of the triathlon activities).

I've been shooting to have a negative calorie deficit at least 4-5 days a week, of 300-500 calories a day. Then 1-2 days a week I'm okay to break even (on lighter workout days, or on days when I'm extra hungry, or if I opt for beers or chocolate). It's been working pretty well, I think, though there have also been some days when I've gone over. But on average I'm burning more than I'm taking in, because shrinkage is happening.

I have a long ways to go, but it's nice to see, at the halfway point to my goal, that I'm progressing along nicely.