Pyschotron - Final Data

It's been a long six months, and it's only the beginning, but I do feel proud of my accomplishments so far. What I've done is no small thing (get it? small?). I'm still trying to figure out how I want to harness the blog going forward. I'm playing with a couple of ideas, but for now, let's go over the data. A future post will do the post-game analysis and talk about the next step. I can let you know that I'm still keeping track of my calories.

Final Weigh-In Results
Previous weigh-in: 283.6
Final weight: 278.0
Weight lost in month 6: 5.6 pounds (2.0%)

Starting weight: 346.6
Total weight lost: 68.6 (19.8%)

Before and after pictures:


Lighting issues aside, I'd say the most distinct and believable difference is in the face. Still not "slender" or anything, but after looking at the pictures, I can't be humble or dismissive any longer. Well done, self.

Final Weigh-In Pre-Results

Our final weigh-in took place on Thursday of last week. The two competitors registered their final numbers with the Battle Marshal, and then set off to set right that which had gone wrong, Quantum Leap style.

No, not really, but the last numbers have been tallied, and we do have a winner...

PSYCHOTRON
Congratulations to both competitors on a hard fought six month battle, and good luck to both of them going forward.

(Each competitor will write up a final post that includes their final weigh-in, along with any analysis they'd like to provide.)

Psychotron - Daily Diary 42

That'll do, pig.

7/5/2011

Calories: 2,527
Tennis: 45 minutes

Had a nice stretch of tennis with Chip before my body basically shut down. It was hot as hell, we were in direct sunlight, and for some reason every bug on the planet seemed interested in what was going on in Woodley Gardens on Tuesday night. But it was nice to get out of the house, get a little sun, and remember how unbelievably awful my backhand is.

Still a bit too much snacking, though. I think it's high time I realized that having any kind of chip in the house is a bad call. It's so hard to meter myself with chips and pretzels; I need to just stay the hell away from them.

7/6/2011

Calories: 2,277
Rock Band singing: 45 minutes

Chip swung by again after work. We had talked about some Rock Band, but I wasn't really feeling it right when I got home, so we played a board game and watched PTI instead. Then, later, I decided I did want to play some Rock Band. I wore long pants and tried to sweat out some calories, though I realize now that I was just dehydrating myself. Oh well, more lessons.

7/7/2011

Calories (prior to weigh-in): 460
Calories (total): 2,580
No activities

For those unaware, our final weigh-in took place Thursday afternoon at the Battle Marshal's "garrison" (site of Saturday's culmination party, which you should all plan on attending). We conducted the weigh-in blind; that is, I know my weight, and Nick knows his, and Eddie knows both, but that's it. So when the results are announced Saturday, it'll be news to even us competitors.

Anyways, as a celebration of such an accomplishment (regardless of this last month's numbers), Nick's brother Kenny bought tickets for all four of us to go to a Frederick Keys game and enjoy a fully catered luxury box experience. It was magnificent, though the only reason I was able to stay remotely low on the calories was because I came in so low beforehand.

Looking Forward

I've decided that Friday and Saturday are going to be "free" days for me, while I figure out what my plan is going forward. Tentatively, I believe I'll continue to count my calories every day, because that's the one thing that I think has been a legitimately successful strategy for me. I think I'll also go through all of the previous posts, and all of my diet data from these six months, and try to draw out some useful information. I'm surprised to say that I'm actually looking forward to that "homework," for now at least.

See you Saturday, everybody.

Psychotron - Daily Diary 41

Son of a bitch this is getting tough.

7/1/2011

Calories: 957
No activities

My first day back in town was a rousing success. Well, speaking calorically. I didn't get any activity in, but I did go to a happy hour after work. I'd say keeping my daily calories under 1,000 including a night out is pretty goddamn impressive.

Oh, I mean, I played cornhole for like two hours, but I don't think I'd call that "activity."

7/2/2011

Calories: 2,210
Lifting: 20 minutes
Walking: 45 minutes

Saturday was like the epitome of what I'd like every day to be like. I had a solid amount of calories, nothing too extravagant, I ate food I liked, I got plenty of physical activity. A day to be proud of.

7/3/2011

Calories: 2,730
Walking: 40 minutes

I thankfully thought early in the day that I should get some walking in before things went south (or northeast, rather; the party was in Baltimore). I stuck with beer and a little wine for the party, but it turns out that doesn't help me at all when it comes to hangovers. I was a wreck the next day all the same. It's back to liquor for me.

Technically I did some walking in Baltimore on Sunday night, and some dancing at Mother's when we got there, but I can't assign any specific values to that activity, so I'm leaving them both off the list.

7/4/2011

Calories: 3,040
No activities

Okay, yes, Monday was a disaster. The only solaces I can take from it are A) it still wasn't as bad as my old school "bad days" used to be, and B) I only ordered the one pizza. We have to find the positives where we can, people. I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping or watching television, trying to recover from the madness of the night before.

Looking Forward

We'll have one more Daily Diary post, including the information from the remaining days before the final weigh-in. It's high time we start to talk about that, too. Six months have passed, and Nick and I have done some very good things, as well as run into some snafus. The trick here, maybe the toughest part, is what to do after our competition culminates. I know Nick and I still have weight loss goals that we haven't achieved, but I'm not sure if there's any more motivation to get out of this vehicle.

So how do we push forward? I know I've learned a ton of information about calories, as well as exercise suggestions, and I've gotten myself into some much better habits these days on both fronts. But can I really trust myself to continue on this path towards a healthier lifestyle without some kind of external accountability? I really don't know.

I know I don't want the time and effort spent on this competition to have been in vain. I want to become more fit, so I can play more sports for longer periods, and play them better. I want to keep losing weight so that, sometime in the year 2013, I feel comfortable enough to go up to a stranger and try to chat her up (I expect 2012 to be mostly apocalypse-related).

Whatever suggestions you can offer, I welcome.

Month 6 update

To sum of St. Michaels I will only say it was a show. I think most days and nights I ate my fill and drank at least a few mixed drinks. While the mixer was always diet that was pretty much the only concession I made on being better. That being said I had a really good time reading and relaxing. I played basketball with Kevin and Joey. This included my first lost to Kevin in my life. Changing of the guard I guess. I also managed to spend a good amount of time in the pool.

After coming back I weighed myself and found that I was .5lbs over for the month. While this might seem to be terrible it really was a relief. I was pretty good the first two weeks but nothing exceptional. I figured that paired with vacation would lead to me struggling to get into a negative.

Since weighing myself I have run a mile every morning. I did not have a good diet night Sunday but I was very good Saturday and Monday. I'm going to try to continue to eat well until Thursday and keep up with my runs in the morning. I'll probably end up on the short end of the stick this month but hopefully being involved added incentive to both Psycho and Gargan. Also I know there have been times I have stayed away from bad decisions because of it. Good luck to Joe and Nick and I hope to see a ton of people on Saturday.

Psychotron - Update

You'll notice that this post doesn't have a "Daily Diary" in its title. That's because I have no information for you regarding my vacation week. I had fun, I ate my face off, I played a little basketball, did a lot of swimming, and went kayaking (check Facebook for pictures). But I didn't keep track of calories, or the lengths of time I spent doing the various activities. I know that I mostly made bad decisions regarding food, and fairly good decisions regarding activities.

And I haven't weighed myself since getting back, but I'd venture to say I'm close to or equal to what I was when this month started. I'll have more information on that tomorrow morning (I always weigh myself in the mornings), but that'll be information for me, not you.

What this all means is that our final competitive month will basically come down to how much progress I can make in a single week. I did excellent today in my first day back, and we'll see how things shake out over the long, holiday weekend. I was invited to a party in Baltimore on Sunday, which will probably be messy, but I bet I can regulate myself so that it's a decent day. And I'll definitely be tracking my numbers for the rest of the way.

Look for my second-to-last Daily Diary on Monday or Tuesday.