Update-Focusing on Health, Not Weight

My Story

I’ve been following my own advice about focusing on health, not weight, since march 8. And it has been going well, I’m more relaxed and am eating healthy, and am still active. But in that time period I was less active on average than usual because of my collarbone rehab. I usually wear comfortable clothes with elastic waistbands. Recently going to a more formal occasion led to my wearing pants with a belt. It seemed I needed to loosen the belt a notch. Hmm… Then this week I was going to sell the bike that I broke my collarbone riding. I love that bike but have crashed on it twice, and no longer think smaller wheels are a good idea for me since some of the roads I ride have potholes. I had to list the weight of the bike because it is a good selling point, it is lightweight for a travel bike. In order to weigh it, I did the trick of weighing myself while holding the bike, on a bathroom scale, repeat for myself only, then subtracting. It was good news for the bike weight, but not so much for the “tare” weight (me). I’ve gained 17 lbs since the last time I weighed myself in early march. Oops! I had been holding steady at around 175 lbs. for several years, so that is a good weight for me. Now it’s 192.

I think what happened is my “intuitive eating” is not calibrated properly, at least partially because I am adapted to exercising a lot, but was not able to do that the last couple of months. And, truth be told, I have been pretty good but not as good as I can be at avoiding junk. So hopefully between that and being able to be more active now, the weight will gradually resolve itself.

I think in the interim it is important for me to go back to weighing myself once a week and be sure that the weight is gradually trending back down. But it’s also important to stay the course on the health-first philosophy, and not do crazy stuff like super-intense workouts to get a good weight result, or drastic experiments with dieting. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Published by BionicOldGuy

I am a Mechanical Engineer born in 1953, Ph. D, Stanford, 1980. I have been active in the mechanical CAE field for decades. I also have a lifelong interest in outdoor activities and fitness. I have had both hips replaced and a heart valve replacement due to a genetic condition. This blog chronicles my adventures in staying active despite these bumps in the road.

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12 thoughts on “Update-Focusing on Health, Not Weight”

  1. “hopefully the weight will gradually resolve itself…” My dad loved to play golf and he explained to me how your results will seldom ever be satisfactory when you shoot the ‘hope’ shot.
    I paddled my kayak for 5 and a half hours today on a PBJ sandwich and a couple bottles of Gatorade. I’m almost 10 lbs UNDER weight right now and at 6% body fat I can burn the calories faster than I can eat them. I have to eat like a pig to keep up.

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    1. Your dad has a good point- I would think it is especially true for golf!
      But I am not just relying on hope, I’ve bumped up my exercise to about 2 hours avg per day from less than an hour when I was healing, plus am watching what I eat better.
      5 hours plus kayaking on a pb and j? I can see that might lead to a calorie deficit 🙂

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  5. As you know, it isn’t just the calories but also the fat that is so heavy in most Western diets. For health reasons and for the environment I started up on Dr. John Mcdougall’s Starch Solution. In the five months, I’ve gained so much energy and about 18 + kilo have disappeared… You can find the book most anywhere or his videos on Youtube. All the best.

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    1. That is a very good point. If you are eating intuitively and not counting calories, fat can be an issue because of its calorie density. Back in early 2017 when I was first eating whole food plant based I was eating till satisfied and not counting calories. I did not lose any weight. Then I tried cutting back on fat and bumping up starch (still whole foods, but added some starchier carbs). I’ve been repeating that now since I caught my weight creeping up and it is on its way back down. I have read a couple of Dr. McDougall’s books. I haven’t counted my fat percentage so I don’t think I’m as low as he recommends but I’m trending more in that direction.
      Congratulations on your success on his program. Down 18+ kilos and good energy level, that’s a good result!

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      1. It is funny that I don’t miss any of the old foods. Why would I. An artist has a pallet with all the colors to mix and match. We have the spectrum of the plant world to choose from and could not weary of the possible combinations in a lifetime. Before, I was bored in the kitchen, now it is creative play. Thanks again.

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