Current weight: 299.2 lbs,
Total weight loss: -6.6 lbs.
Hooray for being under 300 pounds!!
Unfortunately (or fortunately??), I have been here before with all my yo-yo dieting. But — I’m hoping that this final lifestyle change will be the last time.
Yesterday, which was the third full day of my challenge, went well overall. Partly because I was busy with work and didn’t have too much time to notice how I was feeling, at least not as much as the day before.
But, I was still somewhat tired and sluggish throughout the whole day, which I think is the ‘keto-flu’ that can happen with a ketogenic diet. In addition to eating well, I tried to make sure I took in a lot of fluids.
Unfortunately, those fluids included some red wine at the end of the day.
Ugh.
Part of my guidelines included limiting my alcohol intake to once a week, and since I had some wine at the start of the week, technically my quota was full.
But … I was really craving some at the end of the day, and part of it may have been because I was feeling a bit tired and sluggish. Although having the extra wine wasn’t ideal, I also recognize that this process isn’t about being perfect, but being better. I won’t let perfect be the enemy of the good, so I’m not going to focus on it but just move forward.
The rest of the day went well: I had a total of 1231 calories, 64% of which came from fat.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m not limiting my calorie intake as part of this process. I’m going to eat until I feel full, so long as my daily carbs are below 50 grams and at least 60% of my calories come from fat. It will be interesting to see how my calorie intake changes from day to day.
My Baseline Fitness
Now onto a separate note. At the start of this, I decided that I wanted to measure the change in my health, wellbeing and fitness in ways other than just the scale and my measurements . So, I did a little research and came up with a list of 10 simple non-scale ways to measure your fitness and health. Not only will these be good measures of my baseline, but they can be a helpful way to measure progress.
Recently over the course of a few days, I completed all 10 simple measurements. And let’s just say…. the results aren’t pretty.
But on a positive note: knowing your baseline is an important first step to improved health and wellness.
If you don’t know where you are, you’ll never get to where you want to go.
Below are the baseline results of my 10 tests. As part of these 100 days, I have decided to repeat them every two weeks to see if and how they change.
So in two weeks, I’ll be remeasuring all of these. And I’m already excited about seeing some of these values change for the better — meaning improved health and wellness!
My Baseline Fitness
1. Waist Body Measurements: Waist Circumference, Waist-to-Height Ratio, Waist-to-Hip Ratio
- Current waist circumference: 47.75 inches
- Waist-to-height ratio: 0.72
- Waist-to-hip ratio: 0.8
By the first two measures, I’m at increased risk of a whole host of heart and metabolic diseases. The third, the waist-to-hip ratio, is still technically within the recommended guideline, but very close to the cut-off of 0.85.
2. Resting Heart Rate
My current resting heart rate is 78. This is considered within the normal range, but it is still a number I’d like to see go down.
3. Blood Pressure
My current blood pressure is 141/86. I hadn’t checked it recently, but it has hovered around these values the last couple times I checked it. Not until I was doing research for this blog did I realize that my levels are borderline pre-hypertension/hypertension I category. Wow. Not. Good. News.
4. Heart Rate Recovery
My heart rate recovery number is 13 beats per minute. This is awfully close to the recommended cutoff of 12.
5. Sitting-Rising Test
My score for the SRT was a 6, which puts me right in the ‘fair’ category. (To get down, I had to use a hand on the floor to support myself. To get up, I used a knee and the side of a leg. And let me tell you I felt very old and decrepit while doing this basic move….)
Now I know ‘fair’ isn’t terrible since it’s not ‘poor’. But at my age, which is significantly lower than the ages of the participants in the original study, I really think I should be a ‘good’. Another goal to work towards.
6. Measuring Endurance
To do this, I choose the Cooper 12-Minute test, and I completed it on a treadmill. I was able to walk/very slow jog 0.72 miles (or 1159 meters) in 12 minutes. This puts me well into the very bad category.
7. 3-Minute Step Test
My pulse rate after the 3-minute step test was 108, which puts me at the low end of average category for women my age.
8. Sit-Up Test
Now this one is hard to measure because I’m not sure that what I was able to do could be counted as true sit-ups. I did 37 of what I could do, which unfortunately didn’t really get my shoulders off the ground.
9. Flexibility: Sit & Reach
Now this was a bit of a bummer. Of all the tests, I was hoping to excel in this one! Needles to say….I didn’t.
I was only able to reach 14 inches. Definitely not good for my age group!!
10. Balance
This was another one that I had to slightly modify since I couldn’t keep all my weight supported on the ball of one foot! So, I had to do it standing on one whole foot. And even that I could only do for 13 seconds before toppling over.
Definitely not good for my age group.
Day #3:
Current weight: 299.2 lbs
Total weight loss: -6.6 lbs
– Next Day –