Month 2 Day 13 - The Numbers Game

When I woke up this morning, I felt thinner. After my usual routine, I looked in the mirror and I thought I looked thinner.

Then I stepped on the scale. 235. What? I couldn't believe it.

So I took a shorter walk (across the covered bridge and back), kind of moping, kind of thinking, "what's up with this?"

When I got home, I weighed again, it was 234.6.

I keep a graph of my daily weights and it looks like a roller coaster. The up days I'm really down; the down days, I'm walking on air.

There are a lot of reasons for this "numbers game."

1) Fluid retention. This is really a big deal. Because I'm prone to a higher normal blood pressure, my body seems to be more sensitive to sodium and its effects. This has been especially noticable in the last ten years. Since I've been going "protein heavy" I can really tell that I'm not eating much bread-based food, most of which is loaded with sodium. But I've not been perfect.

2) Fluid in-take. Tied in a little bit with Fluid Retention, there are a lot of opportunities to get a lot of fluid during the summer besides drinking water: watermelon, canteloupe, tomatoes, and all the other fresh veggies available. They are yummy, low calorie, and full of water.

3) Skimping on exercise. When I push myself, it makes my organs function well - my heart pumps the blood, I sweat out the waste, my intestines work and digestion becomes, well, you know. When I don't push, when I'm just kind of rote, it shows on the scale. My body hasn't performed optimally.

When it comes to weight loss, there's always a numbers game. Count calories, count carbs, count points, on and on. The main game is to lose the pounds, however they're counted.

For me in this experiment, the numbers that count are the monthly weights. I was down the first month by a few pounds, it looks like I'm on track to lose much more this month, and that's the direction I need to go.

Here's today's journal:
Weight: 234.6
Breakfast: A bowl of watermelon
Snack: a meat stick and a cheese stick
Dinner: Low carb burger at Hardee's and a side salad with 1T dressing
Supper: Ham steak, grilled veggies, salad with 1T bleu cheese dressing, and a cup of cream of mushroom soup
Snack: Weight Watchers ice cream sandwich