Boot Camp- Weeks 4-6

OK, here's the latest update:

Instead of putting in the whole history, here was the last report.

Monday, August 21, 2006
Weight: 260 pounds
Goal Weight: 250 pounds
Total Weight Loss: 12 pounds
Total to reach goal: 10 pounds
Weight Loss for Week: Zippo

Here are the three new reports:

Monday, August 28, 2006
Weight: 262 pounds
Goal Weight: 250 pounds
Total Weight Loss: 10 pounds
Total to reach goal: 12 pounds
Weight Loss for Week: Gain +2 pounds

Monday, September 4, 2006
Weight: 262 pounds
Goal Weight: 250 pounds
Total Weight Loss: 10 pounds
Total to reach goal: 12 pounds
Weight Loss for Week: Zilch

Friday, September 8, 2006
Weight: 256 pounds
Goal Weight: 250 pounds
Total Weight Loss: 16 pounds
Total to reach goal: 6 pounds
Weight Loss for Week: 6 pounds

Analysis
I've made a few changes to things since the beginning of September. I had some goals set in which I accomplished for the month of August, but once September hit I knew that I needed to make a few changes to help keep me on the diet and keep my sanity.

1) I had a nice three week plateau which included a little weight gain. I have no explanation why it took so long to break the plateau. In fact it was mentally tough for a little while. It's too easy to think "Why am I doing this?" when you don't get the quick results. I have to admit that having Becky's constant verbal support (From our couch. In between her bowls of ice cream.) did help out.

I said in my last post that diet has some mental components to it. I've decided that it's a lot more mental than physical. The physical part isn't too bad (1 hour per day), but the mental part is constant. Keeping yourself motivated is tough.

2) I have changed my diet goals for the month of September. I perservered through the month of August, but for my own sanity I have loosened up on them. This will allow me to mentally stick with the diet as opposed to just abandoning the whole thing. New goals:

A. Eating out is now allowed on Fridays and Saturdays. Sunday through Thursday will remain as eat-at-home days. The exceptions are working lunches and traveling. It must be noted that even though I've eaten out in the month of September, I haven't had a burger, fries, and drink at McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King or Carl's Jr. for the past six weeks. I can guarantee that is a record since I've had a driver's license. I'm sure that in the next little while that I'll eventually succumb, but right now I OK with it.

B. Sugar is now allowed on Friday thru Sunday. But I'll consciously try to keep it scaled back. I struggled a little with the "no sugar" policy in August. More than I thought I would. I figured it's better to have a little then have me binge one day because I'm denying myself.

C. Pop is allowed on Friday thru Sunday. Once again I'll limit myself and probably drink a diet soda when possible. I didn't struggle much with the "no pop" rule, but once again it's tough to totally deprive yourself.

D. Weigh-ins are now on Friday morning. This is a subtle yet critical move. This is totally mental. When I weighed in on Mondays it will be after a weekend of crappy foods with little exercise. However on Fridays it will be after 5 days of workouts and decent eating. It's pretty much semantics because in the long run it doesn't really matter when I weigh in. But I am usually a couple pounds lighter on Friday morning than I am on Monday. This will help my psyche.

Diet

Now that you've read the new goals you can tell that the diet has changed. I think ultimately this will slow down the weight loss, but at least it will help keep me on the diet. I still get hungry at meal times which is good because in the past I would eat because it was dinner time, not necessarily because I was hungry. That's a tough habit to change.

Exercise

The exercise part of the equation has been the highlight of the diet. I haven't missed a day of boot camp or basketball for the last six weeks. I'm definately in better condition and I can now do more the two push-ups and 10 sit-ups. I still tend to be at the tail end of the group when we do exercises at boot camp.

In fact when it comes time to partner up, I find a few people seeking me out to be my partner. They know I'm one of the slower ones in the class. If you get stuck with someone in shape then you have to keep up with their pace. It's happened to me a couple of times and it's about killed me to stay with them.

What's next?

Well I've got two weeks to lose six pounds. This is doable, but I have a huge hurdle this week. I'm heading to San Antonio for ICMA on Sunday-Wednesday. I've got dinner appoinments already lined up for each night I'm there. I'm sure the Marriott has a gym and I'll bring my work-out clothes, but I can already tell that this is going to be a challenge. Maybe Dad will work out with me to help keep me going (yeah, right).

So I figured it I could weather the ICMA storm with minimal damage then maybe a low-carb run on week 8 might get me to my goal. It's no Weight Watchers, but it'll have to do.