Diet Tribe: Where Things Stand

So my November 1 deadline arrived but my goal weight of 215 didn’t come with it. I ended up about five pounds short. I’d set that mark when I began this trip downward back when I was 236 at the beginning of July as something of a midway point toward my actual longer-termed goal of 195 by mid-March, just prior to our vacation to Thailand and Cambodia.

I based it on the relative ease within which I’d shed more than 50 pounds in less than 6 months back on 2006. I figured 21 pounds in four months would be a comparative walk in the park. I didn’t figure how much a slower walk it would be, with my body stopping and lingering for long periods at and around various numbers on the scale (I’m looking at you 230 and 225).

But here I am having technically gone “off diet” during my time traveling last week to San Antonio, with my body now camping out at 220 (give or take a pound or two… usually give; yesterday I was 220.2, today 221.2) and all’s good physiologically. Numerologically, according to the four months of daily data compiled and averaged at Fitday.com, things don’t quite add up.

• Calories Burned — Goal: 3,540; Actual: 3,678
• Calories Eaten: — Goal: 3,044; Actual: 2,458
• Calorie Restriction: Goal: 497; Actual: 1,220

On average I’ve put out more than I’ve taken in, more than doubling my goal calorie restriction yet instead of what should have been a weekly loss goal of 0.99 pounds — at least — I’ve only managed to lose an average of 0.75.

While I simplistically equate weight loss to being primarily a numbers game of eating fewer calories and expending more, I know there’s far more to it than that. But that raw quarter-pound difference between what I theoretically should’ve lost and what I’ve actually lost doesn’t lie. And the truth is that my 3% above-goal calories burned and 20% below-goal calories eaten are any combination of 25% off.

But enough  digit crunching. In the short term I’ve given myself an extension to December 1 to hit 215. Heading into the literal tthhiicckk of the eating season, I certainly won’t be drastically reducing my intake so much as augmenting my output to keep things balanced. These first few weeks after the end of daylight savings time are blessed with dawns lighted earlier that I will take advantage via rides from the saddle of my bike and neighborhood walks on the soles of my shoes.

I have no choice: a call to Broguiere’s Dairy yesterday revealed their BEST EVER eggnog is ready and available, necessitating a trip out there this weekend and a subsequent boost of the calories going in.