August 28 - Lifestyle update

No pithy subject matter at this time, just a few quick notes on the new eating habits.

1) While traveling, it is darn near impossible to judge how much you are eating. At home, I can carefully calculate every calorie I consume, but on the road this is impossible. My goal is to get to the point where I intuit the right amount to eat. Right now, the window between hunger and too much to further weight loss is too narrow to hit without good references. So my one week business trip made an indeterminate impact on my weight loss.

2) Nevertheless, I am exceeding my targeted weight loss of .25lb per day. Based on a weighted moving average of my weight since I began, I have averaged .29lb loss per day. Based on my actual weight when I woke up this morning I have lost .48lb per day since beginning this new practice. For the record, Aug 6 - 255, Aug 28 - 244.

3) According to that information, I have been operating at a real calorie deficit of somewhere between 975 and 1675 calories per day, probably closer to the 975 level due to accounting for water weight loss. Since I am targeting about an 850 calorie deficit a day and am definitely underestimating my activity level, that seems about right.

4) I need some way to weigh myself consistently and accurately while on the road. Without a correlated weight measurement, most of these numbers become difficult to pin down.

5) I continue to be shocked at how foods differ in calorie content. Who would have figured that a Schlotzsky's sandwich and bag of chips had more calories than a big mac with fries? Who would have figured I could eat three pieces of pizza for dinner and still lose weight?

6) Counting calories is sometimes a pain and sometimes not. Every time something new comes along it is a hassle, but the things I eat every day are no problem anymore.

7) I've had just a few hard to handle days. I relate these to types and quantities of foods eaten. When cutting back on calories, it is important to choose things that will stick with you (higher protein, complex carbs) and also to eat enough. 200 calories will only ever make me want more. Satisfaction begins at around 300 calories. Fullness shows up at around 600 calories and over full tends to become evident at about 800 calories. These amounts vary with the composition of what I am eating. It is much easier to over-eat fatty foods due to their high calorie density and low water content. Vegetables, on the other hand, are almost exactly the reverse. Low calorie density in complex carbs combined with high water content lead to earlier fullness.

That's about it for now. I'll post more every couple of weeks.