Weigh-in for 10/26/2013

Last weigh-in (10/19/2013) : 146.2 lb

This weigh-in (10/26/2013) : 145.2 lb

Change : 1 lb lost

Total weight loss since Izzie : 55.2 lbs




At this point in my journey (only partially breastfeeding and getting closer to my goal), 1lb is really great.  There are so many people who quit Weight Watchers because they're only losing about 1lb per week.  ONLY?!?!?!  If they knew how hard it was for some people to put a pound per week, and how much harder it is to do alone, they might stick with the program.  They say it must not be working if they're losing so little.  It's not like we're on the Biggest Loser and expected to put up 8-10lbs or more per week.  We are normal people who don't spend 8 hours each day in the gym.  Most of us have jobs or children, along with many other responsibilities.  In the real world, 0.5-2lbs per week is an amazing weekly average, as there will be weeks when you maintain or gain even.  I've been doing this for almost exactly seven and a half years and I've come to the point where I don't take a single tenth of a pound lost for granted.  It's way too easy to put it back on so any small number is hard won.


This week I noticed something when I got on the scale.  I normally only look at the big number (usually holding my breath while waiting for it to pop up), but we have a fairly nice scale that tells you other things as well. One of those things is body fat percentage.  I guess the reason I don't tend to look at that number is that I have always seen it over 30%.  That doesn't surprise me anymore, but in high school, we took fat percentage in health class.  I remember how shocked and embarrassed I was when mine came out to 33%.  Women of course have more than men, but that was a very high number (considered obese, but looking back that doesn't surprise me).  The number I saw today was 27.3%!  Not just slightly below 30%, but almost a full 3% lower.  Compared to the other times I've lost large amounts of weight, I'm working out much more and therefore am replacing the fat with much leaner muscle mass.  The average body fat percentage level for women is 25-31% (18-24% for men) and the fat percentage at the fitness level is 21-24% for women (14-17% for men).  I have confidence that I can reach that fitness level by the time I get to my ultimate goal.  As it is, at the dentist, they took my resting heart rate and were shocked at how low it was - 58 bpm.  They then asked if I'm an athlete (which I almost snorted in laughter over) or I exercise.  I said I do exercise and that put them at ease.  Later, Andy was telling me about his resting heart rate and when I told him mine, he said that's at the level of athletes.  I guess all my working out is helping me in many more areas than just dropping pounds.