Week One = Slightly Svelter Rufus

“not the actual author’s feet, or scale, nor are the feet drawn to scale”

Week one is behind me and the stats are in!  Drum roll please…….

As of Monday, December 8, 2009, Rufus T. Firefly weighs a hefty 197!

I guess I should have explained some of the rules in my first post: weigh-ins will be every Monday, and only Mondays and I round down to the nearest pound.  I think weighing yourself daily leads to all kinds of wacky stats and it will depress you.  You might not eat anything and run 20 miles and still see your weight go up.  One day increments are too close to really assay what’s going on with your body.  And 197.9 is not the same as 197.1, but I’m not an Olympic wrestler, so who cares.  I’m not going to sweat tenths of a pound.  Towel drying my hair before I step on the scale is probably worth 9/10 of a pound.  I don’t have room in my life to worry about tenths of a pound; neither should you.

So, I started at 200, now, in one week I’m 197.  ”Wow!”  You exclaim.  ”Tells us, Rufus, the secret of your success.”  Well, I will tell you, but first, don’t be too impressed.  I figured this would happen and within a week or two I should be hovering around 194.  At 6′ tall I shouldn’t weigh 200 pounds, so the main thing I did was stop living like a lazy pig.  Simply eating reasonable foods in reasonable portions and getting off my arse a few times a day should have reversed the trend.  It didn’t take rocket science to get here.  No, my guess is where it’s really going to get tough is if and when I get around 192.  I think getting from 192 to 184 is going to be my Waterloo.

So, what am I doing?

First, no eating after dinner!  We aren’t all built the same.  For example Mrs. Firefly seems to have no ill effects from late night snacking, but me?  I think that’s my biggest downfall.  I have never been good at holding a lot of food in my stomach at one time.  I get sleepy if I have a lot of food to digest, so if I snack at night not only am I getting more calories from snacking, I’m much more likely to nod off on the couch and burn less calories.  Bad news all around, so I’ve cut that out.  (Now, as with all rules there are exceptions.  If I’m at a party I’m going to jam Fritos into my maw and suck down brews like there’s no tomorrow, especially if it’s somebody else’s beer and Fritos.  I’m not going to set an alarm and put down a fried wonton appetizer smothered in bacon and velveeta at one second after 7:00pm if I’m at a Holiday gathering.  I still get to have a life.  But when I’m on my own time, and my own schedule, no eating after 7:00pm.)

II)  Move!  I have always been an active person.  I love to move.  Live to move.  Yet, over time, the sedentary nature of my job has trained me to tolerate long periods of idleness.  It’s against my nature, but I’ve trained myself to tolerate it.  No more.  I’m convinced that it’s better for me to be up, walking around, standing, 4 – 6 times during an 8 hour work day than sitting 4 hours, jogging for 30 minutes during lunch, then sitting for 4 more hours.  I’ve been consciously making sure I’m up and about more often.

C)  I do not want fries with that; easy on the lunch.  Even though breakfast foods are my favorite foods of any meal, I haven’t been a big breakfast eater for years; a small bag of Planters peanuts and maybe an oatmeal bar are common these days.  But, I’ve been eating more lunches lately, and often that means fast food.  Sit at a desk for 4 hours, go eat some fast food, sit at a desk 4 more hours.  Not a good weight loss plan.  So now it’s a can of tuna and some crackers and cheese if I’m eating in, or a subway veggie wrap if I’m eating out.  I do have to eat lunch and dinner as a part of my job often (today, for example), so this isn’t a perfect plan, but it’s the best I can do under the circumstances.

iv)  Lift weights.  I’m doing 3 sets of 8, only upper body, 3 days a week.  There is almost no rest between sets, I do pull downs, walk to the next station and do butterflies, no wait.  I get 24 reps done on 6 different upper body muscle groups in about 15 minutes.  I don’t want to build up muscle I don’t need.  I like to be strong, but I also like to know that I can play a pick up game of basketball without lugging around 10 or more pounds of unneeded muscle.  Or, I can play some roller hockey with the Little Fireflies and their friends without needing an oxygen mask.  But, I think weight lifting is a big help in losing weight.  Even though you’re technically adding muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat, I notice weight lifting really seems to boost my metabolism and I lose fat quicker when I do it.  And I like to do it.  So I do it.

5.  Run.  I have not had as much success with this as I like, but I intend to try to run about 5 days a week.  I enjoy running and I hope to find time to work this into my workouts.  I don’t think I stand a chance to get much below 192 without this step.  I’ll write more about running later, as I do more of it.

f.  (Super secret extra work-out thing to be discussed later.)

O.K. kids, that brings us up to date.  Now, how did your week go?  How are things going at achieving your goals?

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