digitalBush

This is cross-posted from geekintoshape.com. Since I started this weight loss goal on this blog, I'll continue to post my monthly updates through the end of the year. If you want to read more about my weight loss adventures, please head on over to Geek Into Shape.

This has been a wild month. Most of the month was just so-so for me. I haven't been exercising like I should and my diet has been good but not great. The first 3/4 of the month was slow but steady. The last quarter of the month really cranked up the stress at work and you can see my weight responded.

I'm worried about that last bit of weight loss. Obviously it's stress related, and I really just feel weak now. I'm guessing that wasn't exactly healthy. Maybe I can make it stick.

Last month ended at 269.2 lbs. This month ended at 265.8 which is only a loss of 3.4 lbs. It's not what I wanted and I can only blame myself. This month I can do better, so I'm going to shoot for losing 4 lbs. Wish me luck. I have a vacation coming up, and I'm not sure how that is going to affect the weight loss.

This is cross-posted from geekintoshape.com.  Since I started this weight loss goal on this blog, I'll continue to post my monthly updates through the end of the year.  If you want to read more about my weight loss adventures, please head on over to Geek Into Shape.

So, last month I sucked it up and only lost one pound. Since I decided to run a 5K race today (more on that later), I spent all of August getting ready for it so I wouldn't die. 3 runs a week sure does help the weight come off! See for yourself.

269.2 lbs! That makes my weight loss for the month about 5.5 lbs. I'm very satisfied with the results and hope that I can continue my momentum into September.

It's not all good news though. I fell off towards the end of the month due to me stressing out. I ended up eating out a lot more than usual at lunch as a result. Also, the running makes me want to snack more and that's not too good either.

My plan for this month is to continue with the running and to try to cut back my eating to what it was. For this month my goal is to lose another 5 lbs.

According to this USA Today article from 2005,31% of the US is obese (30+ lbs above a healthy weight).  In 2002, employers and privately insured families spent $36.5 billion on obesity linked illness.

All of that money is going to treat illness that is largely avoidable.  Seriously, we are doing this to ourselves.  If you want to know why healthcare costs so much, look in the mirror.  Are you obese?  If so, you are placing yourself at a higher risk for all sorts of nasty diseases and adding to the problem that is rising healthcare costs.

I'm sad to say that I'm in that obese category.  It sucks, but it's just the facts.  I've already expressed my feelings about obesity and how I see it.  The good news is that I'm young and that I was able to see where my lifestyle was taking me.  I have time.  We all have time.  We all just need to realize that we can do something about it and move in that direction.

I'm making an effort to improve my health.  Not only will I have a longer life for it, I'll have more money in my pockets.  Please join me, the world will be a better place for it.

If you want to follow my weight loss journey, please have a look at my other blog, geek into shape.

Earlier in the year, I had been toying around with the idea of starting up a separate blog just dedicated to my weight loss.  I got together with a friend of mine and we've started just that.  My goals for the new site are simple:

• Have a better outlet to share my weight loss story.
• Discuss online tools for tracking weight loss, nutrition, and/or exercise.
• Share information that works and is based on facts.  No snake oil.

With that said, I present to you: GeekIntoShape.com

Please head on over there and check it out.  Hopefully you will find George as funny as I do.  If you are interested, please subscribe to the Geek Into Shape Feed.  The site is very much a work in progress, so please keep that in mind.  George and I are very excited about this project and we hope that it will be a useful resource.

I started off July at 276 pounds and immediately shot up for the month.  I don't recall anything out of the ordinary at the beginning of the month to cause the jump. I suspect that my body was just leveling off from the sharp weight decline that happened in June.  The blue line is the moving average, and that is a better indicator of my weight through the month.

I'm starting August at 275 lbs, which is nowhere near my goal for the month.  I'm a little disappointed, because I felt like I did good for my diet and exercise overall.  Despite what the scale says, I have noticed some changes in my body that are encouraging.  I noticed that I'm in size 40 pants instead of 44 and I'm in XL shirts instead of XXL.  Also, I'm down 3 notches on my belt, one of which happened in July. 

Things are definitely changing, but they just aren't changing fast enough for my likes.  At least the graph is showing a downward trend.  When August ends, I want to be down to 270 lbs.  I don't want the 270's to be as stubborn as the 280's.  I have a lot of ground to make up if I'm going to reach my goals for the year.