Another 8 (day 43)

Key Stats: All BG's normal, 4 shakes 1 bar, no off eating. No formal exercise

Ok so the key stats part of this is not entirely true, the day is not over yet so I have not had the 4th shake and I still could eat off. But I will have my shake and I will no eat off, so I know it will be true.

Today I went to class again, I have affectionately starting calling it fat camp class. It is easier for other to understand that than to call it VLCD class or what ever the formal name of it is. People just understand fat camp. I got on the body composition analyzer today. Here are the key numbers
Fat Percentage: 26%
Fat Mass 72.2 lb
Muscle Mass: 195.4 lb
Weight: 277.6

First question my wife had was about the 277.6 and why I am not celebrating being below 280, well that is because the official scale said 280.5 and I go with the official scale for those celebrations. So what do these numbers tell us? Well if my muscle mass doesn't go up at all and I go for around 12% body fat (which I think is a fair goal) I will need to drop another 50 or so pounds and land at 220 or so. I think that is obtainable. Now I might end up a bit higher than that as I plan to add in more strength training but instead of having a solid goal weight in mind I am really going to shift my focus to a goal body fat percentage. Of course I have not talked about this with the docs yet, but I think that can work.

Tonight is date night. I am going to do a date night right and make it about me and my wife instead of about the treat. I know I talked about this a few posts ago and tonight is the first time I get to really put the plan into action. I really don't know what will come of it or how to pull this whole thing off but I am a good improviser. Of course that is also why you see no formal exercise in the key stats portion. Tonight is going to be about me and my wife, not about me. I am fine being selfish when I need to, but this one night a week is for us.

I am disappointed in myself, I think I left my "normal" eating book at work. I really wanted to finish it this weekend and now I won't be able to. Unless I make a trip to work to go get it, maybe I will do that. The more I think about what I have read the more I am seeing insight into myself that I never found before. If you are reading this blog on a weight loss journey of your own, or trying to support some one else going through the weight loss journey I can not recommend it highly enough. The book can be found here.

This week I am going to add swimming to my exercise. I was a competitive swimmer when I was 13/14, I was a member of the United State Coast Guard, and water has always been a part of my life. I am looking forward to getting in the pool and getting some good exercise. I know it is going to hurt the first day. I will be using muscle I have not used in a long time. But like I say every day on this blog, I know I can do it.

-Jon