Weight update

I've been a bit neglectful of the blog lately simple because there hasn't been much to tell.  I've been slowly walking farther each day and getting back to where I was before my trip to the hospital.  I've also been taking my medications as I have been instructed and the fluid retention is greatly reduced.  This has also affected my weight.  On January 1, I got on the scale and weighed in at 470.4 lbs.  This morning I got on the scale and it showed 445.4 lbs.  That is a loss of 25 lbs. in the last 21 days.  That is great, but I acknowledge that the majority of it is water weight.  Not all of it, though.

Since my stint int he hospital I have been diligent about watching what I am eating and not over eating.  I set a very reasonable daily calorie intake of 2450 calories per day (MyFitnessPal wants to set it at 2735, but I think that's a bit high.)  The good news is that with one exception, when I was over by 35 calories, I have been within my calorie limit every day since then.  I also have not had a diet Soda (or any soda) since I was in the hospital as well.

These 2 changes have had a very favorable impact on my overall health and well being.  I feel better.  I'm not usually as munchie as I had been before when I ate more, and the weight is coming down.  The next move for me is to add in more exercise in the form of riding my bike as well as weight training when the gym opens next week.

I look forward to getting back on the bike and racking up the miles in 2014.

Get on your bikes and ride!!!

Wednesday Weekly Update #1

This is the first in the series of weekly updates for my progress in losing weight and getting healthy.  I'm going to be playing with the formatting and the content of these updates, but the goal is to list what I've been doing and how things are progressing.

Today's Weight:  430.6 LBS
Weekly Loss:  3.4 LBS
2012 Loss:  3.4 LBS

I'm thinking about listing my highest and lowest calories consumed and calories burned each week, but I don't have the data right now.  Hopefully next week.

As this was a starting over week, it was a bit tough trying to keep within my newly reduced daily allowance of 2200 calories each day.  I was able to do it 4 out of the last 6 days.  My biggest intake was 2516 yesterday because I had a cupcake in celebration of a friend's birthday.  While this was over my target, it was still less than what My Fitness Pal tried to automatically set my daily calories to.  Their suggestion was 2587.

As for calories burned through exercise, that was zero for the week.  Hopefully I'll get good news Friday and I can change that for this coming week.  My biggest fear has been that if I were to exercise through the pain, I would be doing more harm and I didn't want to take that chance.

Overall that's a 3.4 pound loss for a week without exercise.  I am very happy about that!  I do find myself having to managing my expectations from watching the biggest loser where, through intense training they achieve miraculous results.  I don't have the hours to devote to exercise that they have.  I will be happy with 2 to 3 pounds per week as I head towards a healthier and lighter me!