Wednesday, May 19, 2021

The First 12 Weeks: An analysis of beginning my weight loss journey

Warning: Long-ass post.

To as today comes to a close, it's also the final day in the first 12 weeks of my weight loss, and I thought to mark the occasion by sharing some personal information about my journey.

Starting Weight: 310ish. I say ish, because the scale I had at the time was a complete chunk of garbage and would throw anything from 315 down to 300, so after the first week I went out and bought a new scale which has been much more reliable. So the weights in the first week were actually an average of 3 weigh ins I would do 30 second apart. Not the most accurate but close enough for government work.

Current Weight: 277lbs. While I did technically have two weigh ins that were 276, I prefer to use a weekly average of my weights to give me a more stable estimation of my actual weight.

Total Weight Loss: Somewhere between 28 and 33lbs.

How I did it: Tracking calories. While I know some people like using apps like My Fitness Pal to track their calories, I just used a Google spreadsheet. The Spreadsheet

How much did I eat: So the first couple days, I was just sort of finding my footing, and I ended up at over 2800 a day. And even those days were lower than normal because I was consciously aware of how much I was actually eating. After those two days, my goal was to average about 2000 a day. My first week, even with two days at 2800 I averaged 2080. After that week, I would generally average between 1600-1800, though I did have one week where I was down near 1500. My final average for the 12 weeks was 1732 per day.

What did I eat: Literally the exact same stuff I was eating before I started losing weight. I've just been a lot more conscious about portion size and how frequently I'm snacking. I still eat pizza, and pasta, just not as much of it. Still have the occasional candybar. If I want a soda, I go for the zero calorie version. But I've also discovered a new enjoyment of other foods. Spinach is something I never thought I'd try. Now it's a staple in my fridge. And broccoli. Friggen LOVE broccoli. Never saw that one coming.

How much did I actually lose: Somewhere between 28-33lbs is about right for total loss. My first weigh in with my new, reliable scale was 308, so realistically, 31 is probably about right. Week over week, I was averaging 3lbs per week lost with a couple outliers. My largest single week loss was 4lbs, and lowest single week loss was 0. Eliminating those two extremes, my average was right around 3lbs per week.

What is my actual TDEE: Just shy of 3300. In a previous post I talked about how to calculate ones actual TDEE, as opposed to using a TDEE calculator. Using 12 weeks of my own real world data and weight loss, I can confidently say my is right around 3300. (mathematically it's 3272 but that's splitting hairs at this point). According to the normal TDEE calculators, that puts me right around lightly active. Which really does make sense, because outside of my dedicated exercises, I don't do much. I sit on my butt at work, go to the gym, then come and sit on my butt.

Where to go from here? I'm planning on another 12 week block. That will get me into the middle of August, when I have to get fitted for a tux for my best friends wedding. Based on current trends I should be somewhere around 250 by then. During that time I'll be doing an 8 week maintenance phase (because not gonna spend $200 renting a tux just to look bad in it). After that, get right back into another 12 week block and go from there.

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