Ok. I'm a veteran who's proud of his service and looking to get back into the Navy. About 3 months ago, I spoke to a recruiter and he seemed to think that all my schooling would give me a really good chance of getting back in as an officer, but that my weight would have to come down. At the time, I was at 222.6 lbs (I'm 70 inches). The Navy requires that I be at or under 192 lbs. Thus began my quest.
I'm no smarter than the next guy, but I've been in the academic world so long that I'm supposed to think I am. This means that I try to act intellectual a lot. Therefore, if I really need to lose weight, I do copious research, right? Wrong. I'm tired of being around all these elitists. So, in order to convince myself I'm not one, I did a total bonehead thing. I just started dieting.
Now, mind you, I'm a math junkie. I have a masters and I'm working on the Ph.D. (once again, I'm not smart, I just act the part very well). So I just did the math. I'm obese because I eat too much and I'm sedentary. So I'll just eat less and start jogging.
Here I am 2 and 1/2 months later. I've restricted myself to an average of 1200 calories per day (even on Thanksgiving!!) and I've walked/ran an average of 5 miles per day 3 days a week for the entire time. As of today, I have lost just over 30 pounds and have tentatively met my mark. And herein lay my confusion.
Why have I started to lose weight less quickly? I started out losing 4 lbs per week on average, but this last week I had to round up to see a loss of 2 lbs. I understand that my body is getting smaller and thus requires less and less fuel, but come on...1200 calories a day and 1800 calories a week worth of running gets me 2 pounds? That means that I could expect to eat 2200 calories a day with my current running regimen and not lose any weight, which in turn means that if I stopped running, I couldn't eat more than 1950 calories per day (roughly) without gaining weight. That just seems ridiculous. Even at 192, I'm not a small man and I really like my food!!!
Somebody please tell me I'm doing the math wrong. Please.
I'm no smarter than the next guy, but I've been in the academic world so long that I'm supposed to think I am. This means that I try to act intellectual a lot. Therefore, if I really need to lose weight, I do copious research, right? Wrong. I'm tired of being around all these elitists. So, in order to convince myself I'm not one, I did a total bonehead thing. I just started dieting.
Now, mind you, I'm a math junkie. I have a masters and I'm working on the Ph.D. (once again, I'm not smart, I just act the part very well). So I just did the math. I'm obese because I eat too much and I'm sedentary. So I'll just eat less and start jogging.
Here I am 2 and 1/2 months later. I've restricted myself to an average of 1200 calories per day (even on Thanksgiving!!) and I've walked/ran an average of 5 miles per day 3 days a week for the entire time. As of today, I have lost just over 30 pounds and have tentatively met my mark. And herein lay my confusion.
Why have I started to lose weight less quickly? I started out losing 4 lbs per week on average, but this last week I had to round up to see a loss of 2 lbs. I understand that my body is getting smaller and thus requires less and less fuel, but come on...1200 calories a day and 1800 calories a week worth of running gets me 2 pounds? That means that I could expect to eat 2200 calories a day with my current running regimen and not lose any weight, which in turn means that if I stopped running, I couldn't eat more than 1950 calories per day (roughly) without gaining weight. That just seems ridiculous. Even at 192, I'm not a small man and I really like my food!!!
Somebody please tell me I'm doing the math wrong. Please.