This past week went better than I expected. I booked my weight loss on Thursday, the day of my annual physical. After that, I relaxed a little. I watched my intake slightly in preparation for the big party on Saturday, but nothing too extreme. At the party, I had some beer and tacos — really tasty stuff. I even had a donut just to round things out.

But even after all that partying, I only regressed a little bit by this morning. So here I am, at exactly found pounds down, four weeks into the program.

This next week will prove to be a bit of a test. I will see if this regimen actually works with very little exercise for over a month. (The conventional theory is that my metabolism will catch up to my reduced caloric intake and fatten me up again. More on that in a future post.)

But since I am on pace today, I can afford to hold off on the weight drop for a couple of days. I have a prime Wagyu ribeye waiting for me in the refrigerator for tonight. Tomorrow, I am planning to have a belated birthday dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant.

We'll see what the damage is on Wednesday morning, then I'll have to buckle down until the weekend is over.

Metrics:

Targeting a fifteen pound loss at one pound per week:

Week 4
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Current      : -4.0 lbs
Weekly Rate  : -1.00 lbs / wk
Projected by : 21-Oct
Original     : 21-Oct

The end-of-week numbers didn't look good (see below), but the week was still a success.

Knowing I had a big weekend coming up, I front-loaded my weight loss for the week. Hence, by day nineteen, I had already made pace on my weekly goal. Since I had booked the requisite weight loss for the week, I could feel okay about temporarily going over after the trip to Las Vegas. And go over was exactly what I did. I returned from the trip with a three-pound gain, putting me right back at the starting point of my schedule.

There was just a little bit of work required to make sure that the setback was indeed temporary, but by this morning, I was back on track. My annual physical examination is scheduled for tomorrow, so that has been a helpful, additional motivating factor. (I'm also trying to book some weight loss there, as compared to my last visit to the doctor last December.)

These past couple of days haven't really been too difficult — I just paid a little more attention to my food intake in the afternoons and evenings. I'm planning on one more day of watching what I eat, then I can relax a little bit. I'll be having some beer and delicious street tacos at a friend's party this coming weekend.

Fluctuations

These types of fluctuations are inevitable, especially if I want to maintain a reasonable social schedule. This is one reason why I target an average weight loss by the week. It allows me to maintain some flexibility, as long as I am able to plan ahead.

The next week will be interesting as I will be close to hitting the five-pound mark soon. That can typically be a point where weight-loss plateaus for a while. I will have to prove out that my technique works through this.

Metrics:

Targeting a fifteen pound loss at one pound per week:

Week 3
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Current      : -3.2 lbs
Weekly Rate  : -1.06 lbs / wk
Projected by : 21-Oct
Original     : 21-Oct

Another week, another pound lost. Week two was a little different from the first in that I dropped the weight almost immediately, on day one. The next few days involved a lot of eating out with family, resulting in my gaining back most of the weight I had lost. As a result, I had to cram in the weight loss the last few days.

In the end, I managed to make weight, with room to spare. I'm expecting to make more progress early this week since I don't have any planned outings until the weekend.

We'll see how it goes.

Metrics:

Targeting a fifteen pound loss at one pound per week:

Week 2
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Current      : -2.4 lbs
Since Last   : -1.4 lbs
Weekly Rate  : -1.2 lbs / wk
Projected by : 29-Sep
Original     : 21-Oct

The first week was pretty typical, as far as my weight loss weeks go. Any time I need to drop a few pounds, I use this strategy.

The goal is simply to lose weight at the end of each week. Since an accepted, healthy rate of weight loss is approximately one pound per week, that's what I shoot for.

In this instance, I took it easy the first few days of the week and basically ate whatever I wanted. I was careful not to gorge, but I didn't try too hard either. Near the end of the week, with the deadline in sight, I buckled down, ate a lot less, and dropped the weight.

Other weeks may unfurl differently, but hopefully with similar results. This week, my weight bounced back up hard after a couple of unanticipated social dinners Monday and Wednesday. At least I got to eat some insanely delicious Napolitano pizza and a couple of amazingly tasty deli sandwiches, not to mention some flan that magically appeared in my fridge the other day. Oh, and let's not forget the ice cream either.

I'm paying back all that good eating today and tomorrow, working to get back on track for Monday morning's weigh-in. In the morning, we'll see how I did today and how much work I'll have to put in tomorrow. But for now, my week two score is over a pound in the wrong direction.

Metrics:

Targeting a fifteen pound loss at one pound per week:

Week 1
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Current Weight  : -0.2 lbs
Since Last      : +1.2 lbs
Weekly Rate     : -1.4 lbs / week