June 23rd, 2012: As far as diet, keeping it the same. I have added 30 minutes to my daily cardio, though, in this last-ditch effort make 100 lbs. in 6 months. It may be the difference here, though I’m never going to rely on the measly amount of calories my cardio burns compared to the relative importance of regulating caloric intake. Anyway, I lost a pound, so I’m 252. Lightest yet, and 2 pounds from this 6-month milestone that occurs in 6 days.
Listen, though, had I not made it this far on the scale, I’d still give a pause and feel proud that I’ve followed the program nearly word-for-word for 6 months. It has not let me down.
The ratio of pounds lost to the days on the program just has to decrease. At some point, you’re going to have to begin leveling off and begin this slow glide into, and perhaps through your goal weight. And eventually, it’s got to stop somewhere. You really can’t make it to 0 pounds total body weight.
I wonder if 189 lbs. is that weight for me. My family doctor told me some time ago that with my “stocky” build, 210 lbs. would probably be a good weight target. By then I was well over 300 lbs. though, so 210 would definitely be great in comparison to that. What if I’m really supposed to be 250?
When I started dating Juliana in 2001, I weighed around 250 lbs. When I look at those photos from 2001-ish, I think I actually look ok with clothes on, and I even went back and fought fire for a summer in Utah at that weight. It wasn’t my best work as a firefighter though, and I remember it being more difficult to hike those steep hills in the Wasatch range and out/around Skull Valley and Rush Valley with an added 30 lbs. or so in body-weight.
I guess what I’m getting at is that I feel myself being satisfied to lose 100 lbs. in 6 months, so maybe I’ll just stop at that weight.
Hahahahaha – no fuckin’ way. I’ll still have 61 more pounds to lose when I hit 250, and I’ve come way too far to stop now.
June 23rd, 2020: Set-point weight is something I ponder and discuss with Juliana and with other trainers on a regular basis.
Here is a good description of set-point weight:
Set point theory states that our bodies have a preset weight baseline hardwired into our DNA. According to this theory, our weight and how much it changes from that set point might be limited. The theory says some of us have higher weight set points than others and our bodies fight to stay within these ranges.Mar 19, 2020
www.healthline.com › health › set-point-theory
I believe in it and I don’t believe in it, and this is just another way to say that I’m not sure about it, and my own jury is still out. I think mentally there might be a set-point weight, but not physically – I guess? And of course, as with most things, I don’t think it’s concrete or discrete – this set point weight business.
I’ve been in the 180’s now for about 6 months. If I added back to my diet some things I removed in November, I’d very quickly be 200+ pounds. I’d likely stay there awhile before moving up above 210 because I’d begin to feel hungry even though I added back in the calories. So is this mental, or is my bigger body requiring that much more food to energize it? You can’t answer this immediately with, “of course”, because the extra weight I would put on would be mostly fat, so this excess fat would supposedly provide the energy. You don’t put on 20 pounds of muscle in a few months.
Conversely, if I jettisoned some more calories, I might get into the 170’s, which I’ve been considering. This would require some weird shit, because I’m already around 12% body-fat right now, so there’s not fat much I could stand to lose without feeling weak (I’ve done that weird shit and been there before).
I really doubt I could maintain the 170’s for more than 6 months without a nervous breakdown. It’s difficult to stay in the 180’s, but manageable. 200+ just feels too big for my bones. So are the 190’s the Goldilocks Region, i.e. my set point weight?
I’ll welcome comments on this – I’m not sure what to think about set-point weight. One thing I do know is that it can’t be used as an excuse – 300 lbs. is not, cannot, and will not be my set point weight.
