Pound by Pound

Well, I did it again, by which I mean I both lost weight in March but also lost just one pound. This was a bit puzzling to me, as I thought I had been better about watching what I ate, and exercising more. I’d have thought the loss would have totaled three or four pounds.

On further reflection, though, March was quite cold and most of my exercise came in the last few days of the month. In fact, March was colder this year than December last year, and it was the coldest March in the last 20 years. That explains the lack of exercise. And, um, the weight bench is still not assembled.

As for the eating, that’s another matter. While I certainly believe I brought my lunch more often than I did in February, I could be entirely wrong about that.

So, to resolve these matters of exercise and diet, I have a new plan. No, I’m not going to count calories; I’m way too lazy for that. Instead, each day I will note on the calendar whether I exercised, and whether I was bad (in terms of what I ate). What constitutes being bad? The following behaviors will result in a “was bad” tag:

• Eating lunch out
• Eating dinner out
• Eating breakfast out
• Consuming unhealthy snacks (chips, candy, hot dogs, etc.) between meals
• Eating more than is really necessary at any one meal
• Eating dessert, and
• Drinking pop.

Note that these are not mutually exclusive. I could get hit with a double “was bad” tag if I both eat out and eat more than is really necessary. For example, if my wife and I go to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and I eat three baskets of complimentary chips before my meal arrives, I will earn a double “was bad” tag for that. (Because I should have stopped at two baskets.) Also, if I bring my lunch to work but also eat more than is really necessary, I will still have to tag myself for that transgression.

Likewise, each day I exercise, I will give myself an “exercise” tag on the calendar. If I exercise more than once per day, I could earn multiple “exercise” tags.

At the end of the month, I’ll total up the “was bad” tags and compare them to the “exercise” tags. This should provide some insight as to why I lost a particular number of pounds.

When I conceived this idea, I figured I could limit myself to earning just four or five “was bad” tags in a month. So far in April, I’ve collected two. And I know I have two more (at least) “was bad” events coming this week. Gonna be a long month. Here’s hoping it’s warmer, too.