199.6

The advent of a major historical moment for me. I just went inside the 200 pound mark for the first time since summer of 1989. This was a more than a year before my dear little Leo girl was born, and she is now a junior at USC. [She likes to boast that she had classes with Clay Matthews III in her freshman year, incidentally.]

The score this morning 199.6 on the Tanita scale. The Bod Pod would have me at 198.75. Wow, man... That is already 4.99 pounds in just one week. I am absolutely surging again. The sweat lodge was something else, but I don't think I scrapped off a pound.

What is even more interesting is that I am scheduled to take a walk in Burbank today with a Pisces woman I met online at Zoosk. Allegedly, she was born 2/23/1972, but she seemed to know her planet lineup and she disagreed with the one I presented to her. She shouldn't have done that. This tipped me off that the year was wrong. I suspect she's fudging about her age.

I understand that women never lie. They don't lie about their weight. They don't reduce the number of relationships they have had, and they never, ever, ever lie about their age.

Anyway, I am looking forward to it anyhow. What a surprise that the first girl I meet online just happens to be a Pisces. Who would have thunk that? A Pisces and Virgo together? Nah! Can't be.

The trouble is that we have some remarkable thunder pealing out across the sky right now. Storm clouds seem to be moving in on the San Fernando valley. This is a most unusual atmospheric event during Septembers here in SoCal. Have you ever seen one of those bad romance movies [like the Notebook] where the boy and the girl meet in the pouring rain?

212.6... oh-oh!

T-48 hours and counting to Bod Pod VIII and my weight just took it's made its move in the other direction. I just weighed in at 21.6. That is up approximately 0.7 of a pound from yesterday, and I was confidently predicting I would be around the 210 mark today.

I spiked up before the last Bod Pod test, and that test turned out pretty well. This is not a reason to panic, but it is interesting. I am seeing a new pattern of a strong downward trend followed by some temporary movement up.

I wonder about one thing: Does this signify the end of the free-fall after the breakage of the last set-point? If so, it means I am going to be stuck here for a little while. It's awfully soon for another set-point to emerge.

We'll have to see. As I go lower and lower, it would be logical for my naturally endomorphic system to fight harder and harder against further loss. Further, my BMI shrinks more and more, tightening the window for weight loss.

211.9...?

This morning the scale was wobbling back and forth between 211.8 and 212.0. It had trouble making up its mind which to display. It settled on 212, once again choosing to round upward, rather than downward.

Just in case I haven't mentioned it, the Tanita scale I own is only capable of displaying weights in increments of 0.2 pounds. I am sure this high-end medical supply firm makes better and more accurate scales, however, I didn't buy one of those.

For the sake of argument, let's say I weigh in at 211.9. This means the Bod Pod would weigh me in at 211.05. This brings my total progress to 9.298 pounds with 3 days to go. The plummet continues, but it is slowing down.

I swear I'm going to bust the 10 pound barrier this time, and probably by a comfortable margin. I need all that weight to be fat weight, and some additional lean gain under the hood, if I am to have any chance of getting back on schedule.

I was about 8.5 pounds of fat behind schedule, when last I checked. If I were to loose 10 pounds of fat during this two week cycle, I would bring that deficit down by 3.0 pounds, putting me just 5.5 pounds behind the power curve.

Of course, if I have gained a pound of lean in the process, I would have lost another pound of fat under the scale's radar. That would leave me just 4.5 pounds behind the power curve.

The curiosity and excitement is building. Let's see how far I can push it this week. I look forward to this Bod Pod test with great interest.

212.4

I know, I know, I'm starting to sound like a broken record. 212.4 was the score this morning, according to the Tanita scale. This means the Bod Pod would have me at 211.55 this morning. With nearly 4 full days to go before Bod Pod VIII, I have now lost 8.798 pounds. I might reach 10.798 in gross loss this time.

Incidentally, I just noticed a typo in a previous blog post. I am going to have to go back and correct it. I was pretty groggy yesterday morning.

Down and down I go. The size 42 suit pants I bought yesterday aught to be nice a comfy, with a loose fit.

215.2

The plummet continues unabated.

Just a few moments ago I weighed in at 215.2 on the Tanita scale. You know what that means. The Bod Pod would have me at 214.35. Yesterday, the score was 216.4. That's another 1.2 pounds overnight.

I am now certain I have broken through another system set-point. We have a full-scale metabolic capitulation here.

It's Wednesday, August 10, 2011. Hardly 5 days have elapsed since my last Bod Pod. Five days ago, my weight was 220.348, and today it is 214.35 (on the Bod Pod scale). In less than 5 days, my weight has plummeted 5.998 pounds. That's too fast. Team-Quilici would flip-out.

Still, it makes up for a long and lingering hang-up at the end of my last set-point. They would understand that. I guess you could say I am playing catch-up. I've gotten quite a burst of progress here.

Down and down he goes, and where he stops, nobody knows. Who knows where this next plummet will finish off. This could be my final descent. This one might take me all the way inside 200 pounds.

One thing is for sure, this next Bod Pod test is going to be a good one.

218.2 on the Tanita: Another major milestone has fallen.

Just a few moments ago, I weighed in at 218.2 on the Tanita bathroom scale. Of course, this means the Bod-Pod will have me at 217.35 this morning. This means I have lost another 3.85 pounds since the last Bod Pod test. At the same time, I know I am more muscular now than a week ago. The shift in emphasis to strength and intensity over duration of aerobic exercise is paying dividends.

Call me foolish, call me irresponsible, call me a dreamer, but there is something a little bit magical about dropping inside 220 pounds. This is another one of those mythical boundary points in sports. In football, a guy who drops from 300 to 250 has gone from lineman weight to linebacker weight. A guy who drops from 250 to 218 has dropped from linebacker weight to Safety weight. In baseball, a guy who weighs over 220 might be considered fat; a guy weighs under 220 generally isn't considered fat.

There aren't many big safeties like Darren Woodson or Steve Atwater left in the NFL, and this is a shame. However, I now weigh less than either of these two legendary defenders at their peak playing weights. My body fat percentage remains a lot higher than their's was, and they are both taller than I am.

Still, you would be hard-pressed to believe that I weighed in at 330 pounds just 6.5 months ago. At least two people I've met in the past several weeks ain't buying my story. They think I am bullshiting them.

I once predicted that the 215 pound-point would be moment when people no longer viewed me as an endo-mesomorph. They would simply see me as a mesomorph. I may have been mistaken about that. That moment might have already arrived.

More importantly, I have now officially lost more than 34.136% of my body weight. Slightly more than a third of me is gone. My body volume should now be 96 liters. God only knows what it was at the start, however, my body volume has dropped 21.1 liters since 5/13/2011. That's a hell of a lot of volume. That's 10 x 2 liter Coke bottles, plus an additional 1 liter bottle, and some change. Imagine carrying all that into the Bod Pod chamber with you... and then not having it anymore.

Of course, the most important thing is that I no longer suffer any knee pain, and my mobility is great. Occasionally, I need to rub my right knee with a little Camphor/Menthol/Methyl Salicylate compound after a tough workout out on the treadmill; but this isn't all the time. Further, I have no use for the Lortab I was prescribed. I just don't need it anymore.

Incidentally, I am starting that treadmill workout out at 3.6 miles per hour and a 5.5 elevation. 21 minutes later, I finish at 4.0 miles per hour and a 9.5 elevation. I bet you can't do that. One of the guys at work bet me I couldn't do that without holding on to the handles, which is cheating. He lost his bet. I proved it. I've seen some shocked expressions when people see the incline level of my treadmill at the gym. Some never knew it would go that high.

There are other side-effects beyond pain relief. Yesterday, I saw that Taurus girl--the one I sent flowers on her birthday--in the hallway as I was leaving work. She was engaged in an animated conversation with another girl. They were positioned on the route to the elevator, so I had to walk past them to get out of the building. As I passed, she interrupted her conversation to give me a big smile, and a 'hi, how are you?'

This took me by surprising. People don't usually interrupt conversations so animated to greet a passer-by. Further, she's basically given me the cold shoulder for 3 months... ever since I sent her Carnations for her birthday. This was an unexpected event. Not knowing what to say, I simply gave her a silent nod and passed by.

Still not sure what to make of this event, however, it is theoretically possible she likes me better at 217.35 than 261.0, which is what I weighed on 5/10/2011. Of course, this far-fetched theory... I'm reaching at straws here.

A major milestone is getting ready to fall

So, yesterday was another murder day. I woke up with a little shake weight and ROM action. I went to the gym at lunch for 45 minutes of treadmill and bike. I returned to the gym in the evening for another 47 minutes of treadmill and bike. I also hit the dry sauna for 12 minutes. I would have done the wet sauna, but the goddamn steam generator was broken again.

This morning I visited the bathroom, as is my morning custom, and after conducting a little business, it was time to weigh in. The Tanita said 239.6. I am officially under the 240 mark. I have officially lost more than 90 pounds now. Further, we know the Bod Pod gives a lighter weight by approximately 0.85 pounds. My estimated Bod Pod weight this morning 238.75.

I've gone from Nose Tackle size to Linebacker size between Feb 4 and June 18. It's been rapid.

All this adds up to one fact: The first major milestone is about ready to fall. I began this entire process because Dr. Evan Bachner, my knee surgeon, looked me dead in the eye and told me I needed to lose 30% of my body mass or I would sit down in a wheel chair sometime in the next 5 to 7 years, and never come out of it. The math is simple 30% of 330 pounds is 99.0 pounds. Bachner was telling me I needed to lose 99 pounds.

Today's measurement indicates I have lost between 90.4 and 91.25 pounds. The big marker is damn close; maybe 14 days away, maybe less. It should be noted that my rate greatly accelerated this week. On June 10th, the Bod Pod declared my weight to be 245.338. This morning, it would probably say 238.75. That is a difference of 6.588 pounds in just 8 days. That is a big loss; far faster than team Quilici would ever recommend.

It does indeed look as if I will hit that major milestone by the 4th of July. This was the predicted date according to the simple math I came up with a couple of months ago. It looks like my stats were and are right on the money.

I'm going to have a visit with Dr. Qulici's team in just 10 days. I hope I can hit 230 by that time. They will be shocked by the Bod Pod data. I am fairly certain I am outperforming my cohort. I don't think my surgery mates can lay a glove on me.

I did some fairly conservative hypotheticals in Excel based on the data I have accumulated, and you can see a snapshot at the top of this blog entry. If accurate, I will probably reach a so-called "healthy" body fat percentage by my next birthday.

This summer is going to be very interesting.

Outperforming the outperformance

Last night I arrived home from the gym around 12:30 AM. It was the end of a Murder Day. For some reason or another, I could not contain my curiosity about my weight. I didn't expect anything positive from a visit to the scale.

I thought it had been a bad week. I had good reason to think that, as I will soon explain. Also, I never weigh myself at night. Only in the morning. Weighing myself at night is tantamount to busting the liturgy, and you know we just can't do that.

Nevertheless, I couldn't contain my curiosity. Last night the scale read 248.6. I just woke up about an hour ago. As usual in the mornings, I went downstairs to the bathroom to relieve myself. As I looked across the floor to the bathroom scale, I could not contain my curiosity again. This morning, the scale read 248.0. I dehydrated and evacuated to the tune of 0.6 pounds overnight.

Just 8 days ago, the BOD POD measured my weight at 252.533. My home scale is not perfect. It disagrees slightly with the BOD POD. It is slightly heavy by approximately 0.85 pounds. The BOD POD is lighter by 0.85 pounds. Unless I miss my guess, the BOD POD scale would probably say I weigh 247.15 this morning.

We are talking about a minimum loss of 4.533 pounds if we take the numbers literally, at face value. In reality, we're probably talking about a loss of 5.383 pounds. All of this in just 8 days. The moral of the story is that I am surging. My average weight loss over the past 8 days was probably 0.6729 pounds. That's phenomenal. That's almost too fast. That might even be a rate that would concern Dr. Quilici and his team of experts.

For the past several weeks, my numerical projections have stated that I should weigh approximately 244-245 pounds during my visit to San Francisco this coming weekend. It does look like I am going to hit that target. I am most of the way there as I write this. I may even out-perform that goal.

There is no doubt that it was a bad week. I had one a hell of a rotten Memorial Day weekend. I tweaked my surgically repaired and arthritic right knee during my Friday evening workout. It was swollen and sore all weekend long.

My Playstation 3 died on Friday night due to serious overheating problems. My Sony DA5400ES receiver died suddenly and completely on that Saturday morning. Suddenly 2/3rds of my home entertainment system was dead. I wasted most of Saturday and Sunday looking for replacement parts. My bum-knee prevented weigh lifting and aerobic work, through most of the 3 day weekend.

The weekend I thought would be a workout-bonanza was a complete bust-ola.

I only pulled 3 double-day workouts during the 4 day work week. Only one of them was a Murder-Day. I only pumped iron once this week.

Yesterday was that one Murder Day. I got up in the morning, hit a couple of minutes on the shake weight to wake up, warm up, and start my heart beating. I jumped on the ROM and did the standard 4 minute upper-body workout. At lunch, I did 20 minutes on the treadmill for 260 kcal, and another 20 on the bike for 320 kcal. I did this again in the evening. I also did 12 minutes in the steam sauna, and 10 minutes in the dry sauna. That was my good Friday.

I have no idea how such a short week of work can produce those kinds of results. I am going to presume that I was just overdue for a big gainer. I am little concerned about my lean weight. I look forward to next-Friday's BOD POD test with great interest. If I even maintain my lean weight at status-quo, much less increase it, this should be great two-week cycle.

Surprisingly, my knees feel great this morning. I am set to do it again today.