Hi, I’m Russ. I’m an indie developer working on a weight loss motivation app called Happy Scale.
In 2015, I weighed 317.8 lbs. I’m currently at 212.1 lbs. (Lost 105.7 lbs)
My goal is to get into the best shape of my life. I’m 39 years old, and I’ve spent almost all of adulthood mired in obesity. Now I want see what I’ve been missing.
I hope to finally experience all the dreams that I’ve postponed because of obesity: from the small things, like feeling comfortable in an airplane seat, to the big things, like riding a bike from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C.!
Charts
Weight chart for October 2019
Weight chart for 2019
Weight chart since highest
weight
Progress Pics
9 month comparison (Front)
9 month comparison (Side)
Highlights
- Had plenty of energy to run around at a children’s birthday party
- Hit 100 pounds down from my highest recorded weight
- Feeling like I’m floating through the world
- Got to eat my favorite Wegmans sub, completely guilt-free
- Enjoying new ability to cross my legs like a professor/psychiatrist does
- Talked to my neighbor about her marathon running plans, and I felt less like I was talking to someone I looked up to, and more like I was talking to a peer
- I feel like I’m in “the fitness club” now
Challenges
- A lot of junk food was brought into the house this month
- Multiple parties and celebration events made it hard to avoid overeating
- Hitting the “100 lbs lost” milestone leading to “mission accomplished” / “time to indulge and celebrate” mindset
- Catching a cold
- Felt frustrated/worried because I set a personal goal to get to 199 before Jan 1, and started to sense that I might not make it
What Worked
- Stuck to my intermittent fasting eating window guidelines
- Mostly: I did have several extended eating windows for parties
- Stuck to cardio workout schedule
- Mostly: Missed one day due to sickness
- Began strength training exercises (intermittently/experimental)
What Didn’t Work
- Too many days of food indulgence
- Fresh baked cookies, potato chips, chocolate, etc.
- Too much temptation around the house!
- Ate a lot at social events, wiped out some progress
- Social events where I’m parenting are particularly challenging
- Ate treats in too big of portions, too mindlessly, too many days
- Self-sabotaged due to stress over hitting 199 lbs by Jan 1
- A bit of progress got wiped out
Plans for November
- Continue intermittent fasting
- Continue cardio workout schedule
- Do strength training exercises more frequently
- Stop worrying about trying to hit 199 by a specific date
- Keep trigger foods out of sight
- Put temptation food in a box in the closet
- Esther will help me by keeping trigger foods out of sight
- No pizza!
- Curb mindless eating
- Stop & take a picture of food before eating
- No grazing while preparing food
- Thanksgiving plan
- Eat whatever I want on Thursday through Sunday
- Okay to miss cardio workout if travel schedule makes it prohibitive
Milestones I’m Looking Forward To
- Hitting 199 lbs (Onederland)
- Doing the first “real” push-up of my life!
- Seeing if the nice winter socks I received as a gift several years back finally fit
Other Notes
- People are starting to tell me “stop losing weight”
- Got one comment that I look “quite sickly”
- A person whom I hadn’t seen in over a year didn’t recognize me
- I feel more at-ease and confident when chatting with people
- Waking up feeling refreshed more often than last year
- Noteworthy since sleep is frequently interrupted
Feeling insecure about
- Will I be able to build upper-body muscle mass?
Feeling confident about
- Ability to continue and persist in this lifestyle
- Ability to be unphased by any kind of feedback, and know that people are typically just trying to be supportive in their own way
This is the first entry in a series of monthly blog posts about my fitness goals. New posts will be published on the last day of the month.
Want to join me on this journey? You can follow me on Twitter.
Download Happy Scale if you want to start taming the scale!