It has officially been one month since I stated my goal of losing 1.5 pounds per week this year, and I thought it was time for an update. I’ll probably post these about once a month or so, though I might start going to an every other week schedule once I really get going on my expected weight-loss.
January was a rough month for me. Temperatures in the Salt Lake Valley have been sub-freezing since Christmas Eve or so, with only one or two days above 35. The sun was also hidden by the inversion* that always seems to crop up this time of year, which is part of the reason for the low temperatures. When the sun can’t penetrate the mix of cold air and smog, it just makes it a pretty miserable experience.
*Without getting too science-y, the inversion is what happens when all the cold air gets trapped in the Valley by the mountain ranges on either side of it, the smog from the crazy amount of cars mixes with it, and the wind pattern or something keeps everything stirring around a bit. This year seemed to be one of the worst years that I can remember, though I haven’t really experienced a Utah winter like this for over ten years. One of the weird things that the inversion does is make it colder in the valley than up in the mountains. For example, when we dropped my sister off in Park City a couple of weeks ago for Sundance, Park City, which is at a higher elevation and should be colder, was about 10 degrees warmer than it was down here in the valley.
With my brief science lesson over, here are the numbers for my weight-loss. I’m a little off target thus far, but considering that I’m not 100% working on my diet and haven’t started to run a lot yet, I’m actually quite pleased with my results thus far. I only missed my weekly goal by a total of 0.8 pounds, and I lost weight in three of four weeks. Hopefully, it will really start to warm up in February into March and I will be able to run 3-4 times a week outside…at least once all the snow has melted.
Starting Weight (January 6) – 320.2 pounds
Current Weight (February 3) – 315 pounds
Total weight lost (percentage) – 5.2 pounds (-1.6%)
Quarterly weight-loss goal remaining (by March 31) – 14.8 pounds
Current donation to American Heart Association if I lost no more weight: $370 ($25/pound)
Until next time…
P.S. I’ve been away from this blog for too long for various reasons. Hopefully I will get back to the thrice-weekly publishing this week, starting on Wednesday with a post about my favorite movies of 2012. Hope you come back and take a look!
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