The Hacker's Diet: July 2009

At some point in June I realized that I needed to get serious so I buckled down and stopped snacking. Made a huge difference. Here we go with the stats again:

July 1: 169.0

July 31: 166.1

Lost in July: 2.9 lbs

Lost in 2009: 6.0 lbs

To go: 6.1 lbs.

It would have been better but for a 9 day road trip where I pretty much ate whatever I wanted and was on vacation.

The Hacker's Diet: June 2009

About this time last year I stopped trying to lose weight. Partly because I was within 5 pounds of my target weight and also because it was summer time and I had so much going on.

My minimum weight last year was 164.2 lbs -- which is 25.8lbs lighter than the starting weight in 2007.

Over the last year I slowly gained some of that back. During the spring of this year I got back up to 172 (about a pound a month!) and that was unacceptable.

So here I am again, working it off. My goal is again 160 and I started June with 12lbs to go. Let's see how I did.
Note that this graph is different from the previous ones, which were generated by the Hacker Diet's spreadsheets. This graph came from Google Docs, which FINALLY has added a 'min/max' range for its vertical values. Now I do all my tracking in Google Docs because I can update from anywhere -- even my iPod -- though I understand there's an app for that already.

The Statistics:

Final June #: 169.21

Lost in March: 3.06lbs

Pounds to Go: 9.21 lbs.

Start of a late spring

I am on the fence of about continuing my diet. I have lost 25lbs since I started and honestly, I feel like I'm at a good stable weight. And I'm REALLY enjoying eating naughty foods again and having milk-based coffee drinks, too. What a treat!

But on the other hand, I don't want to GAIN any weight and I'm still in a no-man's land with regards to PANTS. That's right: my size 36 pants practically fall off of me but my 34s are just a scooch too tight. And I hate wearing pants that are too tight.

So I'm going to try to continue and lose those last five pounds. I guess. I might change my mind next week, pants be damned.



But starting approximately now, I can use my new mountain bike to burn calories. Yesterday I went for a one-hour ride and burned 300 calories while getting some fresh air. Here's the route I chose. I ran into some of my Youth Group kids while I was out.

The Hacker's Diet - March 2008

Excellent Progress in March. Down 3.8 -- Nearly a pound a week lost again. This brings me to 165 and change -- over 24lbs down from where I started at 190. 3.8lb is 13,000 calories more that I burned than I ate.

So I am nearing the end of the campaign. At this rate, it will be about another 8 weeks until I reach my first goal of 160. We'll see what happens then.

This week marks 6 months that I've been on the hacker diet. Over 6 months I've lost 24.25 lbs. I do not feel like my "eating life" has been very negatively impacted. Sure, 5/7 of my lunches are boring but that makes me savor the weekend lunches that much more! I could definitely live this way forever if I needed to with nary a complaint.

I guess that's what they mean by lifestyle change.

Due to some unrelated stuff, my Doctor had some blood tests run, and as part of those my HDL cholesterol is under 200 (normal) for the first time ever. I shouldn't be surprised but I wasn't expecting it.

Also, "Healthy Choice Steamers" pretty much kick ass if you add some salt to them. They are way delicious and I can't believe how much food it is for only 260 calories. I bought a stack of them and they get me by.

The Statistics:

Lost in March: 3.8 lbs

Lost since starting diet: 24.25 lbs

Pounds still to lose: 5.75lbs to go.

18 days working out or exercising (out of 31).

235 calories burned per "workout".

The Hacker's Diet - February 2008

I plead extenuating circumstances. I won't go into what they were but for the first time since October, my diet was pushed far, far into the background of my life.
I somehow STILL managed to lose 2lbs this month, but honestly, it feels more like rounding error than anything else. I guess this just proves one of those axioms I posited at the beginning of the blog: small changes over time add up.

A deficit of 275 calories is not much of a deficit -- five oreos. One White Chocolate Mocha. Maybe that was it. Maybe the 2lbs this months is simply the removal of the WCM from my diet. Could be.

Since I hardly felt like I was dieting all month, I could very easily live like this and still lose 10-12 lbs a year. How about that.

The Statistics:

Lost in February: 2 lbs

Lost since starting diet: 20.2 lbs

Pounds still to lose: 9.8lbs to go.

14 days working out or exercising (out of 29).

275 calories burned per workout.

The Hacker's Diet - January 2008

4 more pounds lost in January. I didn't really plan it that way -- again, like in December, I would have been happy with 3 but I'll take it! I was afraid that the Las Vegas trip in the middle of the month would mess things up but I didn't eat much while I was there so it was a wash I guess.

Since the start of the diet I've lost 18 pounds and I have 12 to go. So I'm 60% of the way there. My BMI dropped into the 27's about a week ago. None of my pants fit properly but I'm still going to wait until I lose those last 12 lbs before I buy more pants.

In January I worked out 18 of the 31 days, averaging only 263 calories per workout. I think this is a good happy medium where I don't get too worn out by exercising on an empty stomach.

Now here's something tangible.

I've been attempting to record calories eaten per day. I have two full months of data to work with. Check this out (all units are calories)

Avg. consumed per day: 1741
Avg. loss per day: 412
Avg. workout per day: 136

From these numbers I can compute how many calories I burn on average each day WITHOUT working out. That is, if I do not work on a given day this is how many calories I would burn just sitting around:

1741 + (412 - 136) = 2017. Let's just call it 2000 calories a day. That's my allowance.

Lost in January: 4 lbs
Total Loss since starting Diet: 18 lbs

Halfway There

This week I made it half-way to my goal of 30 lbs down -- my trend line passed 175 sometime on Tuesday night. 15 pounds lost, 15 pounds to go.

Let's review some stats.

• 15 lbs lost in 16 weeks
• Starting BMI: 30.41 (technically "obese")
• Current BMI: 28.30
• Calories Lost (3500 x 15) = 52,500. That's a lot of calories!

Say hello to my new best friends.

• 100-Calorie Yogurt (the Thick and Creamy is the BEST).
• Lean Cuisine. 300 Calories for lunch.
• A 100-Calorie Dorito pack for an afternoon snack.
• Lots and Lots of Decaf Coffee.

The above regime allows me to get home in the evening after having consumed only 500 calories, which is especially great if I start off the day burning 200-300 calories at the gym. Not a bad trick.

At the rate I'm going I should reach my goal of 30 lbs lost in another 16 weeks -- sometime around my birthday in April. That will be a nice present. Maybe I'll buy myself a thong.