30 pounds lost

This month was a bit rocky, with a good start, one week with a gain, giving up daily weigh-ins, building new measurements, and getting back into a more satisfactory rhythm.

Weight: at one point I was up 4 pounds, but I have a net loss for the month of a bit more than 3 pounds. Giving up the scale is more beneficial than I thought, but I ought to be honest here: “giving up daily measurements” really means weighing less often, just a few times a week instead of every day. Sometimes I step on the scale in the morning, and deliberately forget it as soon as possible.

Building new habits is more important now. Rather than relying on an outside resource like Sparkpeople to erroneously tell me how many calories I’ve burned, I rely on myself to record my work intensity, my overtime, my physical activity, my hobbies, and my chores. This is actually great for me, because in this one simple list, I review my daily performance on every habit that’s important to me right now. My eating habit is developed, even if I know that I can improve consistency and will eventually reduce the volume of what I eat, so I don’t need to spend a lot of effort measuring it.

My biggest burden lately was not getting enough chores done, and this new measurement system has helped. Sometimes, when I want to exercise, I do heavy cleaning or decluttering. Friday I wanted to do strength training, so I decided that, rather than lift a weight for 30 repetitions, I would rearrange the books on my shelf. That was more lifting than I normally get in an exercise session. And I got plenty of core exercise done while cleaning the bathroom.

The one generalization I can make is that I succeed most consistently when I switch focus occasionally. Last year this time, I was discovering hunger and fullness, then eventually I started dieting, then exercising, now I’m keeping many of these in balance while I give attention to the habits of chores and hobbies.

It’s also true that this is going to go on for years. I feel better about the habits I’ve developed over the past years, but I know that they won’t become internalized for a very long time.