I'll See You At The Fat Farm

Hello weight losing fans...

Today I stepped up onto that Magical-Digital-Scale weighing in at 178-pounds.
This is three days consecutively I have been below that 180-target.
This is a record for this weight loss season because I have only had two consecutive days where I have stayed below that 180-target. The rest of the time I have been up, and down around that 180-target.

I am still scratching my head. My Body Fat Percentage is still going up. Yep, it was at 25% this morning.

I have a scale that I call the Magical-Mystical-Digital Scale. I purchased this scale for three reasons. It was on sale for ten dollars off. It was a digital scale with big readable numbers. It had a nifty feature in that it could display body fat percentages, which as of late have me perplexed.

This Magical-Mystical-Digital scale has two metal plates. When I stand on this little machine it screams ouch get off... no, no, just kidding. When I stand on this scale it sends an electronic pulse through my one foot which races up through my body down to the other foot.
Somehow the scale calculates my body fat from there. (Something in the instructions says something about algorithms...whatever...)

This is why I call it a Magical-Mystical-Digital Scale.

Lately, when I stand on it I have been mystified. I keep seeing the body fat percentage (Body Fat Index >BFI) going up, and up. My weight has been creeping down, slowly, but that BFI, is not. For a while there my BFI was going down along with my weight.
Hmmm?

I never really gave much thought to my BFI. Sometimes I recorded it, and most of the times I didn't. I know when I started this weight lose season my BFI was at around 37%., and then it got down to 20%-21%; when I hit 180-pounds.

By the way, I was considered obese, because I started this weight lose season at around 240-pounds. Go to the archives and see I have written that I have been higher than 240-pounds.

Back to my BFI... So, I am wondering what's going on? I am losing weight. OK... What am I losing, muscle, or fat? If my Magical-Mystical-Digital-Scale is telling me the truth, then I have a problem. (Oh, this time I just wish it would lie to me, as much as so many people do.) My muscle is burning off.

Yes, it's the one thing every fitness nut dreads, the body is going after the muscle. Why am I concerned? Well, my heart is made of muscle. Much of my involuntary movements, like digestion, and swallowing, and breathing are in compliance with the movement of muscle.
When the muscle disappears, then the body can't move, and function.
This is why I warn people over, and over, and over: "Don't Fast off that weight. Don't starve off that fat. You'll kill yourself."

When I decided to lose weight, I wasn't really sure that I was going to be successful this time. I had been doing the Atkins's diet. I lost 60-pounds doing that. This time, the Atkins's diet didn't take. Yep, my body said, "Nope, this won't work this time dude. You're gonna have to find a different way to get off these pounds." My body kicked into reverse and started adding back the poundage. It didn't matter how carefully I stuck to the Atkins's diet. I could eat nothing but meat, and eggs all day long, and the pounds kept adding.

When I decided to lose weight, I couldn't tell my body which part it was going to consume for fat either. My legs got skinny first, then my neck, then my arms, and finally my middle started. This is my problem area.

Excercise would have helped to tone, and to shape my body. In the end it's up to the body and it's normal functions to figure out how it's going to burn up the extra energy called fat.

This is what has me concerned. I know the body goes after muscle before fat. You should too. This is why I drink the protein powders. This is why I still make sure I consume meat.

The human body needs Amino Acids. It takes those Amino Acids from the protein we consume, or it takes it from the muscle in your body. Yes, it even goes after vital muscle such as the heart muscle.

Karen Carpenter died from heart failure because her heart muscle couldn't function anymore. I am sure other functions shut down as well. She starved herself to death.

I have to end this commentary for today. I am going to end it here with these last thoughts:
If you decide you need to lose weight, be sensible about it. Eat proteins like chicken, and other meats, or find a good vegetable substitute. You can even purchase protein powders. I consume protein powders, and I eat meat.
Make sure you are eating a variety of vegetables. Yes you can eat large salads. Don't be foolish and think that's all you need to live on.
You can eat that donut for breakfast. But remember, that's all you get until lunch. And, don't think you can continue eating donuts everyday, and then ignore all the other foods vital to your survival.

Finally: it sucks trying to lose weight. I have had to give up so much to do it. I have had to quit eating big pizzas, bags of Oreo Cookies, two and three donuts for breakfast, and even my beer and wine. Yep, I have had to bite the bullet consuming alcohol. Argh...

Here is the difference between me, and the other weight loss gurus: I didn't like doing this. I didn't wake up on a bright early morning, slide off the bed, stretch out my arms smiling and say, "Oh, I am going to lose some weight today. Let's set some positive mental goals."

No, I pissed and moaned through the whole process. My body kicked the day-lights out of me. I got incredible hunger, I got headaches, and dizzy. I had to deal with my mood swings as my body faced rejection. Yes, the body hates giving up it's precious food.

You will have to sacrifice all the delicious wonderful food you have gotten so accustomed to consuming on a whim. Those days will be gone forever. Sorry about that...

Oh, you don't have to. Well, I'll see you at the government sponsored fat farm. I'll sit and play chess with you through the fence. Maybe they'll let me visit you on the inside.
Oh, come on...Don't whine to much, you can lick your fingers for more flavor.

Bye for now...

And that's the way it is...I'm David Dane