Weight Loss Wednesday: Week 5

A day late and a few pounds lighter, but unfortunately no picture update. I was sick yesterday, and I weighed in but neglected to take a photo, then went back to bed. Then I forgot all about it until a friend texted my phone to ask where the post was. Oops! To all my loyal fans (yeah, right) I apologize; here, in keeping with Joel’s original Dethroner manifesto, is a picture of a lion in my belly’s stead. It is the best I can do for now.

This week’s update comes at a time of crisis and drama! Not really, but work with me; you see, I seem to be cheating a bit. Or a lot. On Friday I went out and had a few beers; then on Sunday I had pizza and beer. Beer is bad enough by itself, but pizza should really just be right out. I have no doubt this is slowing down the weight loss, but I still lost a few pounds this week, so I am faced with something of a dilemma. If I can occasionally drink beer (and even, for the love of sweet carbs and calories, eat pizza) and continue to drop weight—even at a somewhat reduced clip—why shouldn’t I do that? I don’t know! Half of me pleads with myself, “Cut it out ninny, you’re not doing yourself any favors,” and this is undoubtedly true, but I cannot lie, every bite of that pizza was absolutely delicious. Perhaps even more because it is the forbidden fruit.

One thing I’m really starting to get hip to is not eating; or at least, not eating for the wrong reasons. I have learned what it is to be hungry, really hungry; for my stomach to actually be empty and my body to be saying, “Hey buddy, you really should eat something.” What I used to think of as hunger was apparently just a non-hunger compulsion to eat. Like most Americans, I would say things like, “Oh man, I am starving,” (and half-believe it) when I was in reality not even hungry at all. I was just feeling this biological compulsion me to dive in. Maybe it’s a survival thing from the days before megamarts and McDonald’s, when food was far more scarce. Maybe it’s entirely psychological, having so long associated food with virtually every activity: watching TV with a trusty bag of chips; going to the movies with a bucket of popcorn; snacking on junk while playing D&D. Yeah, that’s right, D&D. Save vs. death, bitch!

I have found the food-detachment process to be surprisingly similar to quitting smoking. The thought of going to the movies without a big bucket of buttery popcorn was, at first, appalling, much like the thought of going to the movies and not having a cigarette immediately upon exiting the building used to be. I’d find myself asking, “What’s the point!?” Of course, the point is to go see the damn movie. If you can’t enjoy it without popcorn or a smoke then you’re a tool (or at least an addict). I hope to be free of those associations by the time this whole thing is over, even if it means I sheepishly eat half a pizza once in a while.

So here we are, the stats. Dropped another three pounds, though not much change on the belly front. Anybody want to engage in a friendly wager about when I’ll get under 200 pounds? Should be next week or the week after.

Date: 04-18-2007 (Days on program: 35—we’re pretending it’s Wednesday)
Weight: 204 (Total lost: 23 pounds)
BMI: 31.0 (Category: Obese…barely!)
Belly: 41″ (Started: 45″)