Forty-fifth weight progress report

This post is yet another weight progress report, continuing the previous one, part of a long series since I started in January 2015.

My weight has finally stabilized—I’m not packing on the pounds like I did in March, April, and May.

I’m not quite at my highest weight ever, but I’m about 15 pounds heavier than I want to be.

My exercise has been very limited—I averaged only 0.97 miles a day of bicycling in June (slightly better than the 0.75 miles/day for April and May, but less than a fifth of January), and probably not much more in walking (about 115k steps for the month—again, slightly better than the two previous months, but less than half of January). I have not cycled up the hill to my office for several months now—and bike commuting was my main source of exercise!

Forty-fourth weight progress report

This post is yet another weight progress report, continuing the previous one, part of a long series since I started in January 2015.

My weight has stabilized a bit lately, but at about 6 pounds more than a year ago. All my losses during Winter quarter have been regained.

I’m back to my “Christmas weight”—what I usually acquire at the height of the holiday season after 6 months of not commuting.

I  averaged only 0.75 miles/day of bicycling in April and May—way below my long-term average of 3.5–4 miles/day.  My walking is also down: my Verily study watch from Project Baseline reports about 2600 steps/day for April and May, well below the 3900/day for March, 6600/day for February, and 7700/day for January.

I said in my last report, 2 months ago, “I’m also going to have to come up with some way to motivate myself to exercise more—not just for this cower-in-place period, but longer term, so that I can continue even after retirement.”  Obviously I have not succeeded in doing that.  I have been doing some gardening once or twice a week (mowing the lawn every 2 weeks and clearing blackberries and ivy from the back patio), but that is clearly not sufficient.

Forty-third weight progress report

This post is yet another weight progress report, continuing the previous one, part of a long series since I started in January 2015.

This year is not going as well as last year.

I’m about 5 pounds heavier than the same time last year.

I’ve been doing a lot of stress snacking lately, and staying home to do grading really resulted in my weight going up.  Without the discipline of bicycling up to campus every day (and skipping lunch most days), my weight has not only stopped going down, but started up again.

I  averaged only 2.8 miles/day of bicycling in March, down from 4.83 miles/day in February, and 5.13 miles/day in January.  My walking is also down: my Verily study watch from Project Baseline reports 117k steps for March (3900/day) down from 190k steps for February (about 6600/day) and 240k steps for January (about 7700/day).

I’m going to take a walk today (wearing my COVID-19 mask) to get in a little exercise. I’m also going to have to come up with some way to motivate myself to exercise more—not just for this cower-in-place period, but longer term, so that I can continue even after retirement.

Forty-second weight progress report

This post is yet another weight progress report, continuing the previous one, part of a long series since I started in January 2015.

On a long time scale, this past year looks a lot like the year before, with a steady weight gain while I’m home and a fairly rapid drop when I’m working.

Looking in more detail at the daily weight, I can see that I am about 3–4 pounds heavier than the same time last year, though I started the year slightly lighter than the year earlier. I’m losing weight more slowly this year than last.

I’m still hoping that the first quarter of 2020 will again result in a loss of 10 pounds, taking me down to about 160 pounds, but this is beginning to look less likely, as I seem to have plateaued.  Part of the problem is snacking and eating lunch when I’m grading—I get more calories and less exercise when I’m spending 6–8 hours a day grading.

I’m biking up to campus 5 days a week this quarter and I averaged 4.83 miles/day in February, down from 5.13 miles/day in January.  My walking is also down: my Verily study watch from Project Baseline reports 190k steps for February (about 6600/day) down from 240k steps for January (about 7700/day). As I predicted, I have almost never used my exercise mat and resistance bands, so I’m probably losing upper-body strength (which I’ve never had that much of to begin with).

Forty-first weight progress report

This post is yet another weight progress report, continuing the previous one, part of a long series since I started in January 2015.

I am very slightly ahead of where I was a year ago (about 14 days further along the weight-loss curve).

The overall pattern shows a lot of similarity between the last two years—weight loss while I’m working followed by weight gain during the summer and fall.

I’m hoping that the first quarter of 2020 will again result in a loss of 10 pounds, taking me down to about 160 pounds, though I’d be happier with 158 pounds, and would settle for 162 pounds, if I could stay there.

I’m biking up to campus 5 days a week this quarter and I averaged 5.13 miles/day in January.  My walking is up a little: my Verily study watch from Project Baseline reports 240k steps for January (about 7,700/day) from about 130k  (4,000/day) in December.  I’m not walking long distances (downtown and back once a week for dinner), but I’m on my feet a lot in lecture and lab for about 11 hours a week, which seems to add up.  The stupid interface that Project Baseline provides does not give me much access to my data—I can’t tell when during the day I’m getting the steps, nor can I see how Jan 2020 compares with Jan 2019.

I don’t have time to get to the gym, so I got myself an exercise mat and some resistance bands, so I can at least pretend that I’m trying to maintain some strength in my upper body.  I’ve not been using either very much, which is pretty much what I expected.  I’ve always hated to exercise, and nearly always find something more “important” to do.