Slow but sure...

While I realize I haven't posted on here much, I do continue the diet and weight training.

I'm convinced by the lack of comments that no one's reading this and I'm pretty much writing it for myself, so my lack of posting probably doesn't matter much.

Today's weigh in: 193.8 pounds.

Yeah so I've only lost 3 pounds since the last weigh in, but I've definitely added quite a bit of muscle. I feel better and stronger and my arms are shaping up nicely.

I'll continue the diet and post the results here even if only for my own eyes.

Back At It

The scale problem I mentioned in my last post didn't turn out well.

It seems the new scale is accurate. Meaning the weights that I've been posting have been wrong, and wrong by almost 10 pounds. SHIT! You have no idea how much that frustrates me. People have said "you look like you've lost weight" and I've been replying "almost 35 pounds since Christmas". Now if I'd bought a new scale and found out the old scale was wrong in the other direction, meaning I was 10 pounds lighter than I thought, I'd have been ecstatic. But that's not the case.

A word of warning to those of you who put your trust in a scale with the dial-type reading: if you don't own a very expensive doctor's-office type scale, I'd consider one of the newer digital ones. I checked my weight on a shipping scale, on my mom's scale, and a couple others, and the new digital scale is accurate. Again, though: shit. This really discourages me.

Okay, so on to the diet. I've been taking the ELOO once a day, and I've upped my dose to four tablespoons (yuck on that fourth one) and I've been weight training a bit, so my weight is hard to calibrate (muscle weighs more than fat and all that, yadda yadda).

Today's weight (on the new and Godawfully accurate digital POS scale): 196.8 pounds.
This will have to be the new starting point considering the old scale was inaccurate. Anyone wanna buy a scale? Kidding.

So I'm showing no real loss, although my pants do seem to fit better, and maybe I'm replacing fat with muscle? I had a hell of a workout two weekends in a row. Now if I can just bring myself to weight train every day (or every other day) I might see some real muscle gains. I know I already feel better about my body with the weight lifting.

On the hunger front, I have to say that my hunger seems reduced with the ELOO intake. I eat lunch at work and if I don't think about it too much, I'm full after probably half the food I would have eaten previously. Today I threw out more than half a Chinese lunch special. I didn't eat the egg roll (which I love) and ate less than half the rice and chicken. And it just dawned on me! The lady forgot the fortune cookies (which I love)! I would normally have noticed that immediately; I just thought of it now. Kinda cool.

So I'll continue weight training and taking the ELOO. If you've never really worked out, I can't recommend it enough. Sure, your muscles are sore after a good workout, but that means you've accomplished something. The old "no pain no gain" BS line they feed you, but it's true, and the pain is minor compared to getting yourself in better shape. I'm working out using only dumbells, which is highly recommended by experts. The bonus is it's cheap to get started. I spent just over $100 on a dumbell set and a basic incline bench. Hopefully the combination of this diet and the workouts will further my "get in shape" cause. You know what they say: diet and exercise.

Fate Intervenes

Sometimes life just doesn't seem fair.

I know "fair" is a word for children for the most part. Most things aren't "fair" in the same sense you grew up believing. A close relative very dear to me passed away after a lengthy struggle. The subsequent arrangements, consolation, commiseration and deep grieving and depression caused me to abandon the diet. I know it's no excuse, but when something like that happens, my own petty wishes to be in better shape pale compared to the fight for someone's life.

It's difficult to think about a diet when you cry at the mention of someone's name, and spend your days grieving for all the things that could have been and now never will.

This doesn't mean I've given up. It's cliché to say "he would have wanted it that way", but he would never have stood for me giving up on anything or anyone.

So I'll continue the diet. I hadn't really progressed far enough to see if it was working for me, and I'm still interested to find out, and eager to lose the excess pounds.

Before all this happened, I bought a new scale. My old scale was very cheap, and had the dial that turns as you step on it. I've had it for a few years, and I began to question its accuracy because day-to-day it read different odd things, sometimes off by several pounds until I'd step on, step off, step on to get some kind of consistency. But it always was pretty consistent, and I could pretty much tell by the looseness of my pants that it was accurately gauging a 1 or 2 pound loss (or gain).

So I get the new scale, a medium-priced digital model. While my old scale is reading 189 pounds, the new one reads 198.2! I stepped on and off that thing several times, not believing my eyes. I've stepped on scales at relatives homes, at a place where there's a shipping scale, and several other places. I am convinced I don't weight 198.2. But of course, I threw out the box before ever trying the scale (doh!). So I can't return it.

Anyone out there have an experience like this with scales? I'm going to my mom's today, and I'll try her scale and see how it compares. Really frustrates me though, I was hoping to post some more accurate weights here with the new scale. Now I'm not sure I can trust it.

I will continue this diet regardless, and post the results as they happen, good or bad.