15 Weeks. FIFTEEN WEEKS!

It is actually pretty surprising to me how well this has been going for the past 15 weeks. Am I sticking 100% to the 5 and 1 plan? No, no I am not. I'm eating a lot of extra lean protein over and above the recommended amount. Be it cans of tuna, a few extra ounces of chicken, a bag of turkey jerky, or some light cheese.

I'm also adding more sauces and condiments than you're really supposed to. However, I know that if I was eating bland chicken every night, I'd not be here right now, so adding sauces and spices over the recommended amounts just makes sense. Yes it is increasing the sodium and making me lose weight slower... however, it is also letting me stick with this.

Last week was frustrating, with only a 1 lb loss. This week started out amazing, then took a U-turn, and finally ended up in a great spot. I try not to think too much about daily changes, but it's hard not to.

Where did I end up this week? 66 pounds down from start weight. 25 pounds to go for my initial goal weight of 240. (Interestingly enough, I no longer think 240 is where I'm going to want to be. I'm not sure, but I think 225 is going to be right about where I should be. However, I'm likely going to try to get there via transition and maintenance and do it slowly, so 240 is almost certainly still the weight that I'll choose to start transition.)

Another week is down, though, so let's look at some data!

Click me to embiggen so you can actually read this!

Three huge losses to start the week, then three gains, then another big loss. this is what happens when you don't manage your water and exercise, you hang on to all that water and don't let it go. I think I would have been down a couple more pounds if I'd wrangled my water better, but as you can see from week 14, I wasn't really focused on that. I'm making a point to keep drinking my water today and I'm going to see if I can have a steadier week for week 16.

For my weekly progress chart, you get the full one this week. I'm staying a week ahead of the 4 pound a week average for now, but I'm steadily backsliding and I expect that in a couple weeks I'll be at a 4lb average. However, there's some exciting stuff going on here... I closed out the 2/lb column this week, chewing up three spots! Also, I'm 6-8 weeks from goal weight at 3-4 lbs a week. I think I can maintain 3+ a week, so that means I'll be very close to goal when we go on our cruise!

Click to embiggen!

On the TDEE front, I was just about where my spreadsheet says I should be. I'll take it. I'm sliding away from the 'expected overall' still, but I did better this week and that's good enough. I still think going by a Sedentary TDEE and then tracking calorie burn is a good system, but I also know that my calorie burn is based on voodoo and not any reality, since I'm doing a mix of cardio and strength and never wear an HRM.

Finally, let's look at my graph.

You can click me too!

My actual weight dipped just below my expected weight for this week, while my expected overall continues on its steady drop. I hope to get those lines a little closer together next week, but chances are that I'm not going to overtake that line again. That's ok, being ahead of the game for the early part makes this journey a lot easier, and I'm a LOT closer to the bottom of the graph than the top.