d-Fect Inc.

Tag: body measurements

  • Body stats, July 2018

    Let me first say that the project of getting my body into summer shape is not going the way I planned. As you will see from my body stats, it’s all bad.

    I know what I need to do to overcome this hurdle, but I suck at doing it. Luckily, I have some plans.

    business commerce computer delivery
    Measuring ALL the things!

    Did I get enough exercise?

    Short answer; No!

    I’m fond of tables, and this is really quick to make, so here’s my grand total of exercises done this month.

    Date Time Activity
    June 6th 1:45:43 Mowing the lawn
    June 10th 1:15:32 Orienteering
    June 19th 1:30.53 Mowing the lawn
    June 26th 32:05 Walking

    So a grand total of 4 exercises are what my watch have picked up, and two of them are chores and not really exercise related. I must say though that I consider mowing the lawn a proper workout. It gets my heart going, and it takes a while. Usually, the time would be closer to 1 hour though, but the summer we’ve had in Norway this year has been extraordinary which leads to unusual patterns in gardening.

    I have one week left of vacation now, and I plan to start getting that 30-minute walk in when I haven’t done any other workouts. I know I waste at least 30 minutes a day doing something stupid, so let me try to do something smart instead with that time.

    Did I get enough sleep?

    Short answer; No!

    XuY1Drm[1]

    As you can see from this graph, I get an average of about 6 hours of sleep every night. And that is not good, especially when you know that I have had vacation the last two weeks of June. I really need to get at least 7.5 hours, and maybe even 0.5 to 1 hour more on vacation.

    It’s also not right that I have some peaks up to about 10 hours. It just shows that my body needs a lot more rest and sometimes it just crashes to try to cope.

    What this graph probably also doesn’t pick up is that when I sit myself down to watch a movie or something, I more often than not quickly fall asleep for about an hour.

    Slacking? Snacking? It’s all the same.

    I’ve been slacking, and I don’t know why. It’s summer, and there are fruits everywhere. Why do I continue to eat chocolate??

    At least I have now almost managed only to eat it on weekends, but my will still break from time to time. Hopefully, I will get better with this.

    I’m trying to find a course to learn some techniques that will allow me to control my unhealthy urges better. If you have any tips about this, then please write in the comments below.

    The grim reality

    So, let me just put up the same list I gave in mid-May and see where we’re at.

    Measurement Imperial Metric Comment
    Height 5 feet 10 inches 177cm This probably won’t change much 😊
    Weight 234lbs 106,1kg +1.3kg / 3 lbs
    Waist 46.85 inches 119cm +3cm / 1 inch
    BMI 33,9 +0.4
    Fat percentage 33.7 +0.2

    Red across the board there, so not very uplifting results when you just look at them like this and compare to last month. But you can’t really do that. You should always consider an extended period of time and try to remember if something unusual happened during that period.

    I was ill for several weeks this winter and lost most of the weight during that period. And we all know that weight you lose when you are sick always comes back. I’ve only gained 3kg over a period of 2 months since I got well again, so I’m happy with that.

    I was at my doctor in June, and she was delighted with what I have done.

    And if you look back longer, I’m thrilled. Last September I was 117.5kg, so I’ve lost more than 10kgs since then. I just need to stop my slow upwards creep before it’s all back again, but hopefully, this blog and my new focus on this will help me with that.

  • My first bodystats post

    I am planning to update some stats at least once a month maybe weekly, but as of right now the data is somewhat lacking. One of the few things I measure now is my weight and usually on Sunday mornings right after I wake up. When I get some more equipment I will get more and better data, but at least this is a start.

    pexels-photo-95916.jpeg

    Equipment

    What equipment I have now:

    • A body scale
    • A measuring tape

    What equipment I need:

    • A better kitchen scale
      For now, I just ballpark my food and that’s not good enough for real progress
    • A fitness tracker
      For measuring those all important steps, calories burned, resting heart rate etc

    When I get the last two pieces of hardware I can get more background info on some vital stats like sleep patterns, amount of sleep, better control over how much I eat etc.

    Current status: Obese

    Height: 177cm (5’10)
    Weight: 104,8kg (231lbs)
    BMI: 34
    Fat percentage: 33,5%
    Waist: 116cm (45.7 inches)

    So as you can see I am currently obese, something I’ve been for a long, long time. But my weight has been pretty stable around 102-104 kilos in the last weeks, so I’m happy I’ve managed to stabilize it after my illness. Often you gain the weight, and more, back but I am pretty happy that hasn’t happened yet. And I won’t allow it to happen anyway!

    Analysis and goals

    My weight has gone up from 104,5kg last week, but I’m not worried about that as it’s more or less inside the natural variations.

    My first weight goal is 99kg. That will be me breaking the 100kg barrier for the first time in many, many years. And since it’s now so close I feel it is more in reach than ever before.

    BMI is at 34. I won’t really say too much about this as it’s dependant on a lot of stuff that can skew it. I have a goal of getting it below 30 though, so unless I start to gain a lot of muscles that is still a goal.

    I don’t really know if I can trust the fat percentage my weight is giving me. Yesterday it was 31.7% at the same weight, so… But as a man, I should be under 25% so my goal is first to stabilize it at under 30% and then move closer to 25% after that. Gaining more muscle should help with this.

    My waist is now at 116cm. Quite a bit over the 100cm my doctor wants it to be. So again I don’t go for the end goal at once since that is far away. My goal is first to get it stable under 110cm and then I’ll set a new goal when that is reached.

    Final thoughts

    I know why I haven’t dropped weight the last week and it simply comes down to two reasons:

    • Too little sleep
    • The wrong snacks in my cupboard

    pexels-photo-918327.jpeg

    Sleep

    I can’t give you exact numbers but I’m pretty sure that my average this week is less than 7 hours, maybe closer to 6. That is too little when trying to lose weight. One of the reasons I lost weight while I was ill was because I got enough sleep. So need to get that number up again.

    Next week will be hell to do that though as I need to get up at around 4am to get to the early shift at work. Problem is that I also have some things I need to do in the evenings next week, so getting to bed at 9pm will be difficult. But I’ll give my best shot. And since the 17th is our national holiday I can regain some lost sleep on Thursday.

    The wrong snacks

    Last week my cupboard was lacking one food group and had too much of another one. I didn’t have any fruit in there, but I did have loads of candy. That is NOT a good thing when trying to lose the pounds.

    But now I’ve bought myself some apples so my “problem” is now solved. I really don’t crave chocolate the same way I did before and I’ve gotten a renewed hunger for fruit, so it shouldn’t be a problem eating more healthy snacks again.

    You might now say “Hey Frank, but the fruit is also full of sugars.” And yes, it is, but much less than candy, so you eat less because you get full earlier. And, for me at least, it takes longer to eat. I could finish a HUGE chocolate in not many minutes, but an apple takes me a while longer to eat. Fruit also contains much more fiber, vitamins etc that candy doesn’t. So even if it contains sugar, it’s just so much better for you.

    And my “secret” to get an apple to last long is to cut it into pieces before you eat it and not eat it in it’s natural “apple shape.” 🙂 If I have a whole apple and start to eat it, it won’t take long to finish, maybe a couple of minutes, because who wants to walk around with a half-eaten apple for several minutes.

    If you cut it into pieces and put it into a bowl it will usually last much longer. I will take a piece now and then and one or two apples could last me an hour. And when I’m done, I’m usually not hungry for anything anymore and the chocolate will safely rest in the cupboard. And if you don’t like that the fruit gets a little brown when lying in the bowl you can just squeeze some lemon juice on it. That prevents the browning.