Dan Nied's Fortress of Weight Loss: Day 20

And we’re back.

Did you miss me? Maybe you did, since I am kind of addictive.

I took four days off from the blog, and one day off the diet. Why didn’t I write on Sunday when I said I would? Well, I didn’t feel the need to tell you the story about the pizza I devoured on Sunday. Here’s the short story: It was good, but not that good.

The time away gave me a chance to think about what I am doing with this weight-loss plan.

The main problem I have with the first 20 days is the erratic nature of the scale. Granted, I understand variables and have a working knowledge of how weight loss sometimes manifests itself. However, the yo-yoing back and forth has been nothing short of ridiculous. Let’s note the peaks and valleys:

1. Lost four pounds in the first two days.. Awesome, right?

2. Had a terrible binge on Day 3 and gained three pounds back over the next two or three days…sucks, right?

3. Managed to get a few good days in and got down under 290 pounds…fantastic.

4. But, for some reason, kept inching up over 290 pounds for a while…not good.

5. Got explosive diarrhea last week, actually got down to 284…hell yeah! (for the weight, not the diarrhea.)

6. Predictably gained some weight back the next day, and finished 13 straight days of eating a low-calorie, low-fat diet weighing in at 289 pounds.

So here I am, Day 20 in the books, and I have lost 10 pounds. It’s progress, undeniably concrete progress at that. But it’s not the kind of progress I expected with this. (And, as of Monday night, I haven’t weighed myself since Saturday morning. The off-day pizza probably did a number on the scale. I am hoping I countered correctly with a decent, but not great, day of eating and a decent amount of exercise on Monday).

Sometime over the weekend I had to ask myself why this isn’t working the way I thought it would.

The easiest and most convenient answer is nature. Simply put, this rate of weight loss is an exact result of my process. This is how my body will react to this entire eating overhaul, and this is the rate I’ll have to get used to.

But I didn’t buy that. Instead, I wondered if I was doing something wrong. Obviously I am not perfect, nor am I doing this with any scientific knowledge or consult. What I am using is the trial and error method.

And I realized it might be time for a new trial.

Honestly, I have not attacked this with the vigor it deserves. Instead of exercising and eating actually healthy food, I’ve chosen to allow myself to be talked out of trips to the gym and eaten simply low-fat, low-calorie food that really isn’t all that healthy.

The result of eating condensed chicken soup and Spaghetti-O’s for two weeks was a little bit of weight loss and a digestive system that was backed up beyond belief.

I paid no attention to fiber, sodium, vegetables, fruit, protein or anything else. If it was low in calories, it was ok.

I’ll admit to being a little cocky when I started. I thought I knew exactly what I had to do to quickly lose 60 pounds and be happily on my way. But now I have to believe that I was wrong in all that, and I am still learning this entire process.

The answer, well the hypothesis, to my problem is simple. I am going back to nature.

Which is why, after a $114 grocery trip on Monday, my refrigerator has an entire crisper filled with fruits and vegetables. There are tomatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce heads, broccoli stalks and grapefruits, to name a few. There is even an eggplant, and I have no idea what the hell I am supposed to do with that. (By the way, if anyone has any easy and healthy eggplant recipes, I am all ears).

As to the gym, I realized that I just have to go. It’s like homework, you may not want to do it, but you know you have to. You have to force yourself to do it, and that’s all there is to it.

So I went to the gym today, and upped the elliptical time to 40 minutes, instead of the usual 30 (40 minutes, by the way, was the normal time for the 100 Days diet). I didn’t lift, but I am going to ease into that. For now, I want to force myself -- on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays – to go do cardio. After a few times, I’ll be used to being there. Hell, I’ll even like being there. And after a while, I’ll just gravitate towards the gym. I know this from past experience, but now I realize I am starting much further behind than I thought.

So all I ask of you is to bear with me while I figure this process out. Some of you have sent along suggestions, which are greatly appreciated. I am always open to suggestions about improving this quest. And if you are beside yourself thinking that you have it all figured out while I flail around every day, wondering why the weight isn’t coming off, then I understand. The problem with me is that I am stubborn. I love hearing your suggestions, and I take them all into consideration, but that doesn’t mean I am open, immediately, to enacting them. I’d rather strike out on my own first.

But the good news is that, with the power of elimination and my penchant for striking out, soon we’ll all be on the same page.