But wait...a new record low this morning

I got on the scale this morning and found out that I had lost another pound, so I'm down to 186.8. That's an even 20 lbs since I went to work for Diego! So what caused it? I was thinking about it while I was running this morning (after the weigh in). Possible causes:

Late aft snack, plus small dinner = less weight in the morn
A glass or two of wine = dehydration (I was about 29.5% body fat rather than my low of 28.5%, which sometimes indicates dehydration)
No running for a week = muscle loss = less weight

Each of these are short term corrections, so I expect that I may pop up a little bit.

In the end it doesn't really matter in the long run. If I keep managing the inputs -- run regularly and cut out the carbs -- good things will happen. That's why it's good to manage the inputs and just keep an eye on the outputs!

Also, I am wearing my new stylish jeans (size 34) to work today so we'll see if anyone notices.

New record low

This morning I hit 188.0 which is my 2009 record low...even after not running this week.  Of course, it may be that the leg muscles I built have just atrophied.  But I like to think that I'm sticking to the diet.  Anyway, it's new ground for this bout of weight loss.  My friend Alissa took me to Nordstrom's today and I got some Lucky jeans.  Apparently I am now hip when I wear them.  I don't understand why my faded jeans from The Gap don't count as hip, but she's an expert.  Also, I get to run again tomorrow morning.  5k is on the cards, and then a long run on Sunday.  Should help re-accelerate the weight loss plan.  Hopefully, I will have to exchange my 34 jeans for 32 pretty soon.
I am now in week 3 of the marathon plan, and let's hope tomorrow and Sunday go well.  I'm gonna do "track work" next Wednesday night with Sarah Burch, so hopefully I don't injure anything. 
My friend Beijing Laurie has evil friends in town from Seattle so I am sending positive vibes out to her to keep the faith and stay away from the carbies!~  Go Laurie!

Unfortunately not much to report this week

I've got a little injury so I'm off the running til Friday.  I lifted some weights yesterday in the office (I think Sarah thought I was crazy).  And did some situps and pushups for "strength training."  Friday I will be able to run again, and I think I go either 5 or 8mi this weekend.  Next week Sarah Burch and I are going to do interval training at the track to do something...build speed or endurance or stamina.  She's in charge of the wed night training plan.  I'll be in charge of a couple short early morning runs, and a long weekend run!

The outputs are going in the right direction

After two weeks of running, I'm down to 188.2 this morning, with body fat of 28.5%. Still in the Obese category, but down almost 10% in body fat. So I guess we know...diet and exercise together can lead to quick fat loss. :)
I am going to buy some new jeans this week to celebrate...and I mean new, from Nordstrom's, not new from the Goodwill. So I will have invested some serious dollars in the thinner me.

I was thinking the other day that people think that Running is an easy sport that doesn't need much equipment. So I made a list of all the equipment that I use...GPS watch, iPod, shoes, scale. Altogether it adds up to a nice little investment, especially when you need two or three pairs of shoes. Anyway, I made a list of the things that I have purchased for running, and stuck it in a nice little Amazon widget so if you want to get the same gear, all you have to do is click!

Manage the inputs! Measure the outputs.

I'm in week 2 of Hal Higdon's marathon training program and all is going well. I went 5.6 miles last Sunday, and 3 miles each a couple times this week. This morning I did 7 miles (11.2k), to get ahead of the long weekend run. I haven't lost a lot of weight in the last week -- I was still 190.4 this morning, but I've gone from around 30% body fat to 28.5%, which I take to mean that I'm putting on muscle at about the same rate I'm losing fat (I hope).
But this brings me to the title of this post. One of the thing I've learned at work is that the way to optimize your output metrics, you need to manage the inputs. At work, the outputs are profit and sales. On the diet/weight loss/health kick, the outputs are weight, body fat, and (if you measure it) waist size. One can measure these outputs, but in the end the way that you affect these metrics has nothing to do with them.
Fortunately, in weight loss there are only a couple inputs...Calories in and calories out. If I have the right strategy I don't need to change it if the outputs slow up for a week or so. When I'm trying to lose weight, I want to decrease my calories in -- this is done through cutting out sugar, and increase my calories out -- this is done via running. So even if my weight is not decreasing, I'm going to continue with the strategy. Low carb in, exercise out.

My friend Laurie has started a health program and she doesn't even have a scale! She just got focused on reducing food (and beer) in, and she's been running several mornings/week. And all of a sudden, she moved down a size in jeans...all without a scale.

So it's interesting that I obsessively watch the scale every day to see if I've made progress. And if I'm making progress I watch my carbs and exercise. If I'm not making progress, I watch my carbs and exercise. Funny, maybe I should get rid of my scale -- not! If something's worth doing, it's worth obsessing over, so I'm going to keep obsessing over my scale!

In other good news, my friend Melinda is coming in from Hawaii to run the Rock n Roll half marathon while I (hopefully) do the full. I'm still trying to get Laurie to come from Beijing as well. Should be a fun time!

I can't believe I got up!

I was up and at 'em at 6am, and hammered out 5k (sounds better than 3 miles) before the sun came up. Up Phinney Ridge, over to the zoo and back home. Felt great to get ahead of the day. It helped that I went to bed at 9pm last night. :)

So I am into week 2 of the training program. Only 17 more to go!

Week 2 day 1

Well, it seems like I'm on my way to running a marathon...one week down, four more months to go.  Yesterday I went and "cross-trained" by sitting on a bike and pedaling for a half an hour at the gym. I read an article about two women who were running buddies.  One of them moved from Santa Fe back to Maine, and they missed each other a bunch and called every time they ran.  It coulda been a tear jerker, but wasn't.  So I'm gonna sign up Beijing Laurie as my long distance running buddy (although you don't get a call in the middle of the night every time I run).  I lifted some weights after the run, which felt pretty good.

I got to bed abou 9 last night (yay!) and was up and at 'em at 6 with a three mile recovery run.  I went up phinney ridge around the top and then back home.  I'm gonna have to find a seattle based running buddy too.  I'm hanging around at 190 and 29.X% body fat, so I think I may have put on some muscle with all this exercise.  That's ok, even if it slows down the "Road to 170!"

Week 1? or just a run

A few months ago, I signed up for the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon at the end of June.  At the time, I said "there will be plenty of time to train.  It's not til June."  This week I received the warmup jacket that I ordered at sign up time.  That reminded me that June is only around four months away.  I counted the weeks and determined it's 19 weeks til the marathon.  After consulting Hal Higdon't marathon training guide, I realized that means that I had to be on week 1 this week.  Week 1 includes 3x 3 mile runs, and a "long run" on the weekend of 6 miles.  So I went out this weekend and ran almost six miles (5.6).  It actually felt great.  I started the run at 12 min pace, and finished at 10:40 for the last .6 miles.  Not great, but a start at least.  I now have to figure out if I can stick with the four times a week running program.  It actually isn't that hard to run, but getting out of the house over to Greenlake is very tough!  So wish me luck to get going. 
As it turns out, if you're running 25, 30, 40 miles a week you can be much more lackadaisical about diet, and still maintain/lose weight. 

Also, the other good news of the weekend...I popped back above 190, but my body fat was below 30% (29.7) for the first time this year.  That is potentially an even better indicator of progress than weight, but also noisier so I haven't been tracking it as closely.  I think I started around 37% though, so significant progress.  I have to get to 20% to be "normal," or to 25% to just be "overweight."

So here's how to lose a pound

My buddy Larry once went on a diet where he would eat whatever he wanted to during the day, but nothing after 5 or 5:30. He lost a ton of weight (30-40 lbs). Everyone said it was BS, it doesn't matter in the long term when you eat calories, they all count. But you can't argue with results...

So yesterday, we bugged out of work a little early -- 4:30 -- and had a couple glasses of wine (1g carb each and dehydrating) and some "sliders" (little burgers, which I ate without the bun. We ate the sliders around 5, so that when I got home and had dinner near 7, all I had was a couple pieces of summer sausage. So between the wine dehydrating me and the early meal, I lost a pound since yesterday. Down to 189.4 which is a total 0f -17.4 lbs since I started.

I'm sure that tomorrow I will be higher, but it's good to break new ground every once in a while. And I'm into a new decade of weight.

Ice cream...I moderated

The family went out to mexican food last night for dinner. I had queso fundido (melted cheese) for dinner, and then my wife had promised the boy that we would go to ice cream place afterwards to celebrate my return from Europe. So we went to my favorite place, Cold Stone Creamery where they mix in toppings with the ice cream. Usually, I get a medium or a large with three mixins (chocolate chip cookie dough, marshmallows and caramel). Tonight I got a small (still with the mixins) and ended up throwing away the last third of it. I don't like to throw food away, but as my mom say "your body is not a garbage disposal." I was very proud of myself.

Lost weight in Europe!

I got back to my home scale yesterday for the first time in 10 days and I was down about two pounds from when I went to Europe...190.4...for a total of 16.4 lbs down total.  I watched what I ate, but I'm sure running four days out of ten didn't hurt.

Sunday in Lux!

I went another 5k today with my friend Raquel, while in Luxembourg.  This was a recovery after the 3 straight misses in the UK.  Also, I am down from 88kg when I got to Europe, to 87 this morning.  It may be measurement error, but if I'm 87kg when I get home, that will be 191.8 which is -15 lbs since I started at beginning of December!  A good start.  Another 15 and I'll start feeling good.  And then a few more after that to reach goal of 170.

London in January is wonderful

All the good running karma that I built in munich...three days in a row...I think I've lost here.  I have been so tired that I've been able to pretty much sleep in til 7  and am adjusting to the jet lag.  The streets are all slushy as well.  long story short, I've been lame in exercising.  I am going to luxembourg this weekend and would like to run 5 miles with my friend raquel one of the days.

I've been pretty good at sticking to the low carb here though...wine with dinner (instead of beer), last night I had a great appetizer of thinly sliced scotch beef with a shallot and something sauce...really great.  I should have had two of these rather than the steak for dinner.

I did fall off the wagon Wed night.  My friend Audrey (one of the locals) took me to a bar and put plates and plates of bar food in front of me, after I had eaten almost nothing all day.  So i had some hummus/pita and quesadilla.  But one fall won't kill you, and I'm back on the wagon now.  I am reading my friend laurie's blog about diet and exercising in beijing, and it's helping inspire me to keep on the wagon.

In a metric world

I am in the EU for the week, and had a few hours yesterday so I went for a 5k run in the park here in Germany. This morning, I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep so I got in another 5k run. It really felt great, both times. another pleasant surprise was that I jumped on the scale, and I was only 87.2...I am less than one danica when I'm in Europe! Even if I convert back to English units, that's 191.8. Although you never know on different scales.

My friend Beijing Laurie just started a blog about her trek to lose some weight as well. Check it out at http://myfirstbloggoodluck.blogspot.com/