Monthly Fitness Report for November 2011

4-15-2011, 295lbs

12-3-2011, 278lbs (forgive the bedhead)

Welcome to my November report!

For those just joining us, every month I’m going to write a report about my fitness-related activities from the previous month. I may not be tracking calories and exact workouts (sometimes I will), but I will start posting monthly measurements and photos.

I’m doing this because I need to be more accountable to you. I don’t want to obsess about things and provide weekly updates, but I think it will be healthy – both mentally and physically – to post monthly updates. Especially for these Holiday months where eating is usually a problem for everyone.

Hopefully you can benefit from these reports as well. If you see that what I’m doing works, try it out. If you see it doesn’t work, well, at least you know something else you should avoid.

On to the report!

How November went

It wasn’t the best month, and it wasn’t the worst.

I have to admit something to you. When I publish a post here that is all motivating and has tips and tricks to avoid certain situations, it’s usually because I just passed through a situation and took some time to think about how I can get over it next time. For example, if I spend a week getting fast food for breakfast, when I finally snap out of it I might write a post on how you can prevent the same situation.

My posts are almost always for me, and I just post them in case you need to read something like that as well.

The reason I’m saying that is because even though I posted about having a great holiday season in terms of fat loss, mine has been mediocre at best. As much as I want to avoid the sweets of the season, I’m finding it pretty hard.

It’s not all terrible. Most days I eat pretty well, and I think that’s what’s important during this time of year. You eat generally well so the days it’s tough don’t hurt as much.

I did start exercising again in November, but it has only been a week. But hey, I’m working out a schedule that I’m going to be able to keep and I’m excited about it. It’ll help me get more blog work done too.

Measurements

Last time I reported it, my weight was 282.8.

Today, I weigh 278.6. That’s a change of -4.2 lbs.
My total inches are
Arms: 34.5
Legs: 58
Waist: 55
Hips: 50.5
Neck: 17.75
Bodyfat %: 32.5%

To be honest, I started to wonder if my scale is broken. A few days before Thanksgiving I was up to 285, and a few days after I was down to 282 again. I’m just really unsure how I could have possibly lost another 4 since then.

If my scale is not broken, I would be willing to concede that because I had been eating more grains and a bit of extra sugars in November, my body was retaining some water. I also didn’t drink as much water those vacation days as I do at work. A test I do often is to see if I can touch my fingers around my wrist. During that break, I couldn’t and I can again. Anyway, it’s possible that the water is starting to leave my body again.

Yeah, that’s it…

Things I learned in November

My proudest accomplishment from November would have to be our Thanksgiving.

So many people posted about how theirs was going to be one massive cheat day. I kept wondering why we would make potentially the most healthy holiday one of the worst. Really the only “bad” things about Thanksgiving are the stuffing, rolls, and desserts. Each of those things can be swapped out for something healthier that serves the same purpose.

For example, our stuffing this year was onions, button mushrooms, and apples. It was unbelievable, and I don’t usually like mushrooms. We didn’t, but instead of rolls you could have yucca root. In Paraguay, their “dinner roll” is boiled yucca, and it goes pretty well with saucy stuff. I made our pie this year, and I used Sarah Fragoso’s paleo pumpkin pie recipe. If I hadn’t said it was “paleo”, no one would have complained.

I guess it’s OK if you want to go all out one day a year. Just make sure you’re not lying to yourself when you really have about 20 “one day a year” events, because you know that really ends up being 20 days a year. Yes, I was a math whiz in school.

I’m gearing up for a pretty good December. I’m going to try this “Shangrila” hack that Tim talked about in some of his bonus materials for 4HB, and then the week before Christmas I’m going to do his Christmas Countdown Experiment – as long as it comes out in Android (or if he gives me a Fire) by then. I wonder if I can get down to 270 on my broken scale.