Very very challenging day today (mentally), and I forgot my lunch, so I had enchaladas for lunch and some chocolate at 5pm. At least the enchaladas were completely obscured by vegetables, so hopefully I’m not slipping off the wagon too quickly.

Today was particularly difficult mentally, so I slipped when I got home: a sugary drink (Tang Sunny Delight), and two chocolate chip cookies (Melissa makes the best chocolate chip cookies from scratch so this one is easier to justify).  Probably put me over 2000 calories, so no weight loss today.  :-/

I think I see a trend here:

• 225.5 pounds
• 33% body fat
• Blood pressure 141/77

This is a 2.5 pound loss for the week, but a 2 percent increase in overall body fat percentage. I’m losing water (not necessarily a bad thing) but it also appears that I’m slowly losing muscle mass, which is a very bad thing.

I’m going to follow this road until I hit a plateau (or 8 weeks, whichever comes first), and then I’m going to start cross-training (for muscle mass) and running (for weight loss).

Puzzling measurements today:

• 228 pounds
• 31.5% body fat
• Blood Pressure 139/81

My body fat percentage stayed the same, yet I lost three pounds. This can mean two things:

1. Scale variance/inaccuracy, which I’m okay with, or
2. I’m losing muscle instead of body fat, which I am not okay with.

Hopefully next week will show a better trend. Week-to-week measurements are still a bit too fine for my tastes, given that my weight fluctuates +/- 3 pounds every day anyway.

Note to other computer nerds trying to lose weight:  If it weren’t for Kernel Season’s Gourmet Popcorn Seasonings, I probably would have gained back all the weight I’ve lost by now.  Un-buttered no-oil hot-air popped popcorn goes from styrofoam to delicious using this stuff.

Krispy Kreme is hell on earth for people who are dieting. Their stores are everywhere, a dozen glazed donuts is about $6.50 (relatively cheap, all things considering), and you get a free donut just for walking in the store. Melissa brought home a mixed dozen and I ate two of them. Dammit dammit dammit!

Usually I treat the weekend as a few days to be somewhat lax with my eating — I won’t hit McDonald’s or anything, but I will have kettle (sweetened) popcorn instead of just regular popcorn, or I’ll eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast instead of a slimfast shake, etc. But having those two donuts just threw me out of wack; it wasn’t even that enjoyable eating them (probably because I haven’t had that much sugar/fat since the first of the month).

One dozen glazed Krispy Kreme donuts is 2400 calories. So the 400 I ate may not seem like much, but it is when you’re trying to limit yourself to 1200-1500 a day and not collapse from malnutrition. Anyway, hopefully I was good enough throughout the week that it won’t affect the weigh-in tomorrow.

Celery is the bomb of trying-to-lose-weight snacks. Why? Because a stick of celery is about 8 or 9 calories, yet your body consumes about 10 calories processing it (chewing, swallowing, digesting, expending). Personally, I think it’s hilarious.

I think popular media is — gasp — actually doing something responsible and bringing attention to the USA’s obesity problem.  The Biggest Loser is popular, and now I see Discovery Health is hosting something called the National Body Challenge.  8-week free trial at Bally’s, nutritional advice, progress tracking… Unless I’m missing something obvious, it really looks like a great thing.

(Of course, if I am missing something obvious, like a hidden cost, let me know!)

I measured myself in the local blood pressure machine at work and got a reading of 141 over 79. Since a healthy adult is supposed to have a systolic pressure of around 120, my focus in losing weight just went from cosmetic to health. I know that’s the right reason anyway, but still, I didn’t need to know this. Goddammit.

When I take my weekly measurements, I can’t include the blood pressure at the same time, since my weigh-in is on Sunday and I work on Monday, so I’ll be going back and retro-editing the previous day’s post to add the blood pressure readings.

After 9 hours of sleep and the usual morning defecation, I took my measurements:

• 231 pounds
• 31.5% body fat
• Blood pressure 141/79

4 pounds and 1% body fat improvement! It’s nice to see The Secret in action. Not bad for just one week, and that was without exercise.

I’m rewarding myself with a can of regular Pepsi and a slice of apple pie. Before you flip out, the pop’n’pie is 500 calories total; it won’t break the bank, and besides you have to give yourself little rewards or else you’ll just break down and eat the entire pie.