Was 242 again this morning, which is right on model. I think the model will really be important now because I think the drops in weight won't be nearly as pronounced, so the model will be a good guide as to how well I'm doing.
Tested my vo2max yesterday. It's measure of your oxygen capacity that is a general guideline for fitness. One neat test that is one where you walk a mile as fast as you can _walk_ and record your heart rate at the end of the mile and the time it took you to finish the mile. With treadmills and herat rate monitors, it's real easy to do.
Toward the end of January, I weighed 293 pounds, did the treadmill at 4 MPH (IE, 15 minute mile) and finished with a heart rate of 142. That put my vo2max at 29. Which isn't good. However this measure is per body weight. So if I dropped the weight without letting my oxygen capacity drop, it would go up. Yesterday I weighed 242, did the treadmill at 4 MPH again and finished with a heart rate of 121. That puts my vo2max at 36.4. Much improved furthermore, 36.4*242 > 29*293 so that means not only has my weight dropped, but my total oxygen capacity has increased as well.
36.4 is still not good, but it's very close to the level where it's okay. If I drop 22 more pounds and keep my heart rate at 121 after the mile, I'll be in the "fair" range. What all this really means is that it now takes considerably more exertion to get my heart rate up in the 160s. It's all a good thing.
When November comes and I've presumably lost at least 30 more pounds and gotten in even better shape, we'll see what kind of difference it will make while mountain hiking.