Facing the Scale

Day 3 of IF

After I posted my previous update, I decided to bite the bullet and weigh myself. I mean, it’s just information, right? And it’s actually information that is helpful to me to track my progress and make sure I am doing all I need to do.

I have a note on my sharps disposal bottle that on November 7, I weighed 261.1 and this morning, I was 256.6 for a loss of 5.5 pounds. Bearing in mind that on one of my first posts, I said that my impression is it takes my body around a week to completely process calories in and calories out, I will take more seriously where I am next week. I will weigh again on Tuesday and see where I am then.

November 8 was when I decided to drop Weight Watchers due to that weight increase. My previous low was 253. I do not feel that I lost any weight until I started IF (Intermittent Fasting) because my clothes got consistently tighter and I felt blobulous.

Significantly, however, my fancy scale says that I dropped 0.5% body fat since my preivous weigh in and that is certainly great news. Also of interest is that my body water is up 0.3% from when I was 261.1, which is a head scratcher since I would normally attribute any weight loss that happens this quickly to water weight loss.

Regardless, I am happy with any positive results at this point. The shift into IF hasn’t been horrible. The toughest times are after 10am or so when I want breakfast and can’t eat until noon and then in the evenings when I get the nibbles and can’t eat after 6:00 pm.

I carefully track on My Fitness Pal and I have stayed right at 1000-1200 calories a day. My BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate - how many calories you burn a day while not moving) is 1415. To lose weight from a calories in/calories out perspective (which has been proven and disproven and then proven again and disproven again), you must consume fewer calories a day than your BMR.

The way this has been disproven in a nutshell is the statement that “you can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet.” If your 1200 calories a day come from cake and Pepsi, your insulin response will quickly become so broken that your body literally cannot regulate how it stores and burns fat.

One of the most significant comments I ever heard about weight loss was that weight loss is not the actual goal. Fat loss is the goal. I really felt that. When you consider the best ways to lose excess fat, hormonal response is a huge part of that equation and that goes beyond calories in/calories out.

I believe, based on my physical responses over decades, that it is a balance of the two ideas that creates the greatest opportunity for success. On Weight Watchers, I was eating very healthy foods, but still exceeded my BMR, which resulted in weight gain, even though my blood sugar levels were likely excellent.

I am a firm believer that we can be healthy and still weigh too much for our internal organs and body frame to support. I also believe we can be a “healthy” weight/BMR and eat in such a way that our physiology is extremely unhealthy.

There is a term called “skinny fat,” which is a person with a normal, “healthy” BMI (Body Mass Index - a ratio of your height to your weight) but also has minimal muscle density, increased visceral fat around their internal organs, and health issues such as high blood pressure and blood sugar imbalances. The actually medical term is MONW (Metabolically Obese Normal Weight). These are people who eat in such an unhealthy way that their metabolism works like an obese person. They are physically symptomatic with some of the maladies common to obese people, but they have a normal BMI and the average observer would not think of them as overweight.

BMI also does not always reflect a person’s health accurately because it does not take into account muscle weight.. only height to weight ratios. This means that a body builder will have a much heigher BMR than a person who does not work out and by BMI alone, would appear unhealthy on paper.

The only way this applies to me is that I am evidently a healthy person, but I am also morbidly obese and that is the part I am trying hard to correct. I am the opposite of skinny fat. I am fat healthy.

Since I started IF, my insides feel as if they are functioning better and my sleep is greatly improved. My clothes fit better, which is good because I gave all my fat clothes away and if I gain more, I will be naked.

IF is not easy at times, but I am happy enough with the results that I will continue it until my body directs me otherwise. The Saxenda really helps and I am grateful for that. I can eat in 45 minutes (6:00 pm last night seems like forever ago) and I am grateful for that. Being retired, I have few schedule demands, so it is easier to adapt to this way of eating than it was at other times in my life, so that’s something else for which I am thankful.

Mostly, my body is forgiving and adaptable and I will always consider that a blessing. I am excited to see how it feels and what it can do with 100 pounds of fat gone from it. The nice thing about Intermittent Fasting is that it supports the elasticity of your skin so there is less loose skin as you lose weight. This is another gratitude point since I do not plan to get skin surgery after.

I am especially grateful to see some progress at last and feel like the train is moving in the right direction again.