First Diet and Exercise Plan: Results.

I created my first 12 week plan to lose weight by cutting out roughly 3 candy bars a week, otherwise eating as I did before dieting, and doing aerobics and strength training.

I've followed the plan for 12 weeks now, and I want to show you my results so far. I've also compared my results to what would be predicted using a weight loss theory! I think comparing to the theory is important because this may help you estimate how quickly you might lose weight if you modify the plan to suit your needs.

After I wrote most of this text, I thought I needed to take a picture. I took this picture July 12, 2002 near the end of week 15! Oh..., I weigh 126 lbs, and, evidently, my body fat is 23.5%. I measured both using my scale. You can buy scales that measure both body fat and weight at HealthTrack and BigFitness (Warning: BigFitness has excellent products, but I sometimes have trouble getting their site to load.)

If the smile looks strange... well I had my wisdom teeth removed at 10 am. I'm under the influence of pain killers. This probably explains my willingness to put up blurry pictures of me wearing a leotard.

Lucia

Weight Loss Results of Plan 1.

My weight loss is plotted just below. I've lost roughly 8 1/2 lbs. in 12 weeks; it looks like I lost over 9 1/2 lbs of fat! (Read along, and you'll see I may have lost more.)

By the way, I tracked my progress using an EXCEL spread sheet. People who aren't as, ahem, thrifty, as I am may want to consider special purpose software. You can find software at HealthTrack.

Strangely, I couldn't bring myself to weigh myself during week 1. Can you believe it? Anyway, I didn't have a decent scale. I did go shopping for a new scale, and bought a Tanita which measures both weight and body fat percentage.

Once I started weighing myself, I am so interested in my weight loss that I couldn't help weighing myself every day. Unfortunately, my weight seems to vary 3 lbs. during a single day. To get a smooth plot, I average the readings for seven days. I consider my "real weight" to be the average for the week.

To find my weight loss, I subtracted the average weight I recorded during the second week from my weight at the end of each week. My weight loss is shown with blue squares. The first entry for weight loss is shown at week 2; that represents the weight loss at the beginning of week 2.

Because of the way I tracked and calculated my weight loss, my weight loss at week 2 seems to be "zero"! I'm pretty sure I actually lost weight. Maybe, I should have weighed myself every day the week before I started the diet. But, I didn't!

You know what though? I later read something that made me glad that I didn't weigh myself before starting my diet. Experiments show that people often gain water weight during the first three weeks either a high carbohydrate diet program. Why? Because the body tends to start storing glycogen, which grabs up a lot of water. You don't look bloated though because the water is inside the muscles! In fact, you may notice better muscle tone. By the way, dieters who use this method often find their weight suddenly drops during the 3rd or 4th week (if they don't give up before then!) You can read about this in Essentials of Exercise Physiology. and also in Physiology of Exercise. I would have been bummed if my weight had increased the first week! My method of weighing myself hid this false weight gain-- assuming I experienced it!

I also recorded my % body fat each time I weighed myself calculated how much fat I had lost. The fat loss is shown by dark blue circles. Notice that one week, I gained weight, but lost fat. It really helped my psychologically to measure both weight and fat because I knew that I had gained muscle. (Remember, if you want a scale to measure your fat, you can buy one at HealthTrack. )

What do the other curves represent? Remember, I had developed my diet and exercise plan with planned levels for calorie deficits. The diet plan was simple: stop eating candy bars every time I go to the grocery store. I estimated this meant I was eating 750 calories less a week. The exercise plan was more complicated. The aerobic part was designed to burn calories and is described on my aerobic plan web page. If I followed my original plan, I expected my weight to follow the green line called "diet and exercise plan".

No one ever exercises exactly as much as planned. I exercised more. So, I tallied up how much exercise I actually did and estimated how much weight I would expect to achieve as a result of the exercise only--- even if I blew the diet plan! The predicted weight loss from exercise alone is shown with a dashed yellow line.

But you know what? I did avoid the candy bars! I even avoided them when I visited my dad. Anyway, I calculated the expected weight loss based on the exercise and not eating the candy bars; that's plotted in magenta.

Notice that the "predicted" curves are much smoother than the weight and fat loss curves. Why? Water retention makes weight fluctuate. I was probably losing fat fairly evenly, but the water retention hides the fat. In fact, notice that the fat loss curve is smoother than the weight loss curve. Why? Water retention affects the fat measurement is less than weight measurement! My fat loss probably did slow down when I visited dad. Other than that, the fat loss is very steady! If you can possibly do it, it's best to measure fat loss in addition to weight loss.

How good is the theory?

So, how do the theory and weight loss compare compare? Well, I've lost at least 1 1/2 lbs. more than predicted. I may have lost some weight weeks 1 or 2, but I can't account for it because I didn't have a scale during week 1!

My weight loss doesn't seem quite as steady as predicted. See the mini-plateau during weeks 5-7? I was in Florida visiting Pops. I kept up my exercise, but I went to restaurants a lot more than I normally do! I think part of the mini-plateau is due to eating a little more than I ordinarily eat. It may also be caused partially by water retention from eating at salted food at restaurants. I salt very lightly when I cook. Notice how two pounds "melted off" when I came home? I honestly think that large weight loss resulted from losing about a pint of water I had retained.

Why did I lose more weight than expected? Well, I don't really know. Any of the following could be explanations:

I became slightly more active as summer approached.
I'm actually ate less than I used to.
The strength training burns some calories. I hadn't accounted for this because I couldn't, and still can't estimate it.
The exercise has "revved up" my metabolism.
I really ate more than 3 candy bars a week.
The Nordic Trak computer underestimates the number of calories I am burning during exercise sessions.

I'm sure reason #1 is true. It's late June now. I've been mowing the lawn, rototilling and doing some light yard work. I don't usually do any yard work during the winter. Still, it takes about 20 minutes a week to mow the lawn. I only rototilled once or twice. So, it's hard to believe these two things resulted in my losing a pound and a half.

Maybe I am eating less. Since I started the diet & exercise plan, I've been aware of my portions. I've also been trying to fix more low calorie entrees, and I've been preparing 2 vegetables at dinner. Still, I have been eating whenever I get hungry. But I have been making sure I keep lots of vegetables and fruit in the house. I force myself to eat three full meals and two light snacks ever day. I don't think I used to do that. But who knows, maybe I used to snack more? But heck, I never kept cookies and chips in the house! So I know I haven't accidentally cut them out! In fact, the huge amount of exercise is making me hungrier than usual. So, I may be eating more than I used to eat (not counting the candy bars.)

I'm sure strength training burns some calories. Still, that's a lot of extra weight to account for. I know that the first weeks of strength training burned very few calories because I spent most of the time trying to learn how to do the exercises! Plus, I was using really small weights.

I'm doubtful about reasons 5 & 6. I don't think I ate more than 3 candy bars a week.... What a horrifying thought! Exercise machines typically overestimate calories burned. It's a marketing ploy by the makers of the equipment.

Anyway, who knows? You can pick your favorite theory to explain why I lost the extra weight!

More Pictures!
Here are two more "after" photos. I took this picture July 12, 2002 near the end of week 15! Oh..., I weigh 126 lbs, and, evidently, my body fat is 23.5%. I measured both using my scale. Ok, so Britney Spears looks better! But I'm happy with how I look. (No, I'm not posting similar before shots. For some stupid reason, I only wore my undies when I took them. I need to dig up some candids so you can compare.)

What do I plan to do next?
Well, I need to develop my "Second 12 Week Plan". I actually reached my target weight; that's 129 lb. I thought I weighed 140 when I started this whole thing-- that's what a friend's scale said. But I still have a fat loss goal. I want to lose 2 more lbs. of fat and gain 2 lbs. of muscle! I'm not in a big hurry about that though.
For the next two weeks, I'm going to much follow the last week of my first plan while I come up with a new plan. My next plan might concentrate on cross training by jumping rope, improving the nutritional content of my meals or building muscle. I am planning to cut back the aerobic exercise! I think burning nearly 2500 Calories a week is too time consuming to continue.
To help me plan my meals I wrote a little calorie estimator that also helps me follow the USDA Food Pyramid!

Lucia