186.9...?

Just a few moments ago, the score was 187.0 English pounds on the Tanita scale.  The scary thing is that it flickered back and forth between 186.8 and 187.0 half a dozen times before rounding up, as it always does.  Never have I seen the Tanita round down; it's always up.  My scale will only display read-outs in increments of 0.2 pounds, which is sufficient accuracy for a simple bathroom scale.  Presume I am stuck in the middle at 186.9.

Naturally, this means my weight would be lower on the Bod Pod scale; perhaps even lower than 186.0.

I must say, comrade Kettlebellers, that this is pretty scary stuff.  I have never been this low in my entire adult life.  I am looking downright skinny now.  Were it not for the presence of an abundance of lose skin, I would be skinny-skinny.

This continued precipitous drop is puzzling in the face of some basic input/output analysis.

1. Do you know that I had not one but two Macho Bacon and Egg Burritos yesterday?  According to some rumors that would 2,060 kcal right there.
2. Further I had two chocolate milk protein drinks, fortified with whey & mega-3 fatty acids.
3. Further, I enjoyed the hell out of a sizable helping of nachos, with all the fixings: steak, chicken, black beans, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, cheese.
4. At approximately 151.14 pounds of lean weight, my RMR/BMR is probably right around 1,860.
5. Aaron and I did a back & biceps workout at approximately 10:00am yesterday morning.  I returned to the apartment afterward and crashed (I slept) on the couch until 2:00pm.
6. I vegged out on the couch, watching college football, until the end of the Oregon vs. Stanford game.  [What an upset!]  
7. At that time, I proceeded back out to 24 Hour Fitness where I performed a pretty damn decent aerobics work out: 12 minutes of elliptical (232 kcal), 12 minutes of Olympic rower (152 kcal), 12 minutes of treadmill (142 kcal), and 12 minutes of bike (161 kcal).  In total, this was 48 minutes of work for 687 kcal of energy.

We have only a rough approximation of my BMR/RMR.  We have only a rough approximation of my food-intake.  We have only a loose idea how much energy I expended in exercise.  Still, you would be hard-pressed to argue that those figures balance.  You would suppose I ate more than I burned.  The scale says figures don't balance.  Obviously, I lost weight.  I was in negative figures yesterday

Why such remarkable weight loss?  I have an idea about that.  Yesterday, it occurred to me that the recent cold-snap here in Los Angeles may be factoring into the equation.  In the past two weeks, the Winter has come, to the extent that winter ever arrives in Los Angeles.  We have seen dark overcast skies, lots of rain, some wind, and plenty of 50 degree weather.   That's about as cold as it gets here in la-la land.  The RKC comrades would not be impressed by these temperatures, though.

During this time, I haven't changed my wardrobe that much at all.  I have taken to wearing an Under Armour shirt under my football jerseys, but I am still wearing shorts and a jersey these days.  Yeah, it's a little chilly without my fat-layer to protect me, but I have not caved in.  After the U.S. Army performed unethical human medical experiments on me Germany back in 1990, I swore I would never say it was cold in California again.  Quite frankly, it isn't.

The kiss of this chilly weather may be the explanation for my recent weight loss.  Thermo-energetics are terribly important in biology. They are more important in weight loss than most people would ever admit.   The kcal is just a measure of heat energy, by the way.

Ordinarily, I do lose weight in Winter time.  I know many people are the opposite:  they put on weight during winter.  Not me, I usually lose a few pounds.  Prior to gastric bypass, I was like a bear.  I would fatten up in summer, and lose fat during the winter.

I think half of this long-term pattern continues right up until this moment.  If so, I am pretty excited.  The cold weather--such as it is--should help me to make my ultimate body fat goals a reality.