Too fat? Too skinny? Too obsessed with my weight?
In 1999, I was in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and was given a smaller part in the show because they were looking for “Someone Slimmer” – and they chose a guy I thought was kinda chunky.
So I dieted for 6 months and went from 220 to 180. Dieted another 6 months and went from 180 to 165.. and have hovered for the last three years at 163… until now.
Within about two weeks, I had my wife, my mother, my stepmother and someone at work tell me I looked skinnier and that they thought maybe I was getting too thin. I was used to this.. but when my mother said, “Its starting to look unhealthy”, I decided I would go back to around 175, where I looked the best in photos.
And its been great. Mint Mochas, candy, pizza, pastries.. anything I chose.. just yum yum yum..
Until today, when I hit the scale and it said 172. I had wanted to go gradually through the holidays, get to like 177 and then lose the two pounds after the first. Instead, before even Thanksgiving, I have put on 9 pounds, and only have 3 to go.. and I wanted to be able to just eat whatever over the holidays.
So now, in order to be able to keep gaining weight in the coming months, I am back to dieting in order to lose weight in order to be able to keep gaining weight until january.
Its very confusing. .. and it may turn out that I am indeed insane.
Weight management
You need to remember that somewhere between three and five pounds of that weight is “water weight”. Unlike conventional wisdom, though, most water weight is not just sitting around in your tissues (unless you’re retaining water, an entirely different thing) but it’s water bound to glucose in your liver, waiting to be used up should you run low on blood sugar.
When I plot my weight, I don’t figure my “true weight” is whatever is on the scale a given day. I weigh myself every morning and put the result into my Eat Watch, a small utility that runs on my Palm handheld (it also works in Microsoft Excel, I think).
I’ve watched in horror as, over the last month, I’ve been less strict with myself and packed five pounds back on that I’d worked so hard to lose. This strengthens my resolve to lose it again 🙂 Anyway, the Eat Watch lets you plot out your weighted-average weight, giving information about exactly how many (or few) calories one is eating relative to the body’s consumption. It makes me worry a lot less about the day-to-day fluctuations, and instead observe my “trend line”: the steeper the line, the more severe the weight loss/gain.
It’s been a kind of steep slope up since Halloween, really. Time for me to get back on the horse again and see if I can reach that magical 185 number 🙂
—
Matthew P. Barnson
It is to laugh
Wow. I can’t remember the last time I was 185. It was probably during Clinton’s first term.
For what it’s worth, I joined a gym about three weeks ago and have been working out almost every day. I’m determined to lose about 35 pounds and bulk up a little bit. I’m tired of being soft around the middle, and with 30 looming just over a year away, it’s now or never.
We’ll see what happens.
— Ben Schuman Mad, Mad Tenor
If only….
I’ve never been too thin. Justin my recommendation is to eat healthy ’til Thanksgiving day, then pig out. Then eat healthy ’til Christmas and then take a day off. Same with new year’s eve. You probably don’t need to stress about dieting ’til the new year, as originally planned.
As for me, my weight loss has slowed down, but I haven’t fallen off the band wagon. I need to get back on my exercise routine and continue onward. That will start Monday with my exercise partner! Exercise makes all the difference when you’re eating right!
— Christy
yeah yeah
Justin, you sound like such a woman 🙂
HA!
LOL…
Hey, gotta kepe myself thin enough to get those really good thin guy roles.
To quote…
To quote Matthew Perry as “Chandler” in Friends upon hearing “Chandler’s a girl! Chandler’s a girl!”:
Erm, except it’s high-school flashback…
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Hey..
Not that I am Captain Masculine, but who owned a white polka dotted hot pink shirt..
Ecchh.. but who borrowed it..?
Umm.. forget I mentioned the shirt..
Colors wrong!
Dude, it was a hot pink shirt with BLACK polka dots. It served honorably and well through many dances, driving away the girls who would question my masculinity, and attracting the sensitive girls who thought I was brave for wearing that kind of shirt.
And, to ensure its place in the manly hall of fame, after discovering it in a box of old clothes, I turned it into the oil rag for my car for several years. You can’t get more manly than that shirt!
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Carrot and Treadmill
To lose weight: carrots and treadmill.
To gain weight: creatine and brench press.
Brench press?
Isn’t creatine an industrial cleaner?
Oh wait… that’s creosote.
— Ben Schuman Mad, Mad Tenor