Oh I've been a baaad boy. It's been more than a month since my last post and for that I do apologise.
I managed to acquire some new hardware (recent model laptop that was cheap). Hmm. That makes it sound like I bought stolen goods. I didn't. You'll just have to trust me on this.
Not sure how I'm liking this keyboard but I'm happy for the privacy. I have a feeling I'm going to be posting much more frequently.
So updates...let's see. I've managed to regain all the weight I lost over the summer. I'm back to where I was in the Spring. Now this may sound like not much progress but actually it is. Usually in September I'm sitting at about 180 lbs and then work to gain from there. This year I'm at a comfortable 190 lbs (this does seem to be the new default that I keep coming back to - I guess getting older is useful in some ways other than just experience!).
I know this sounds like the same old song played over and over again but, like, holy crap...I'm bound and determined to beat this 200 lb mark. This year *has* to be the year. It's getting ridiculous. Last winter I was close...really close...at 196 and then stuff happened and well...like I said, same old story different day.
The weight I've managed to hang onto has settled very solidly around my middle. Even down in the low 180's I still kept most of my belly and there's no question that I'm consistently being fatter.
I really do like the way things are shaping up and now that it's cooling off (gaining in hot weather sucks, which is why I usually fall off the bandwagon in the summertime) I'm gearing up for a new season of gaining.
I've developed a fairly complicated spreadsheet with calorie/fat/carb/protein values for many of the things I eat everyday. I'm trying to get equal fat/protein with increased carbs. This has worked well in the past for me.
What I like best about the spreadsheet is that everything is all linked together. I plug in what I ate (or plan to eat) and it calculates, based on my present weight, how much I need to eat to maintain what I've got. As I put in different values (example 20 almonds instead of 10) it tells me how many extra calories I've taken in and there's a calculation to show how much I stand to gain as a result.
Using this I can actually plan my eating for the day for optimum gain. I know it sounds anal but if I just adopt the "eat until you drop" mode, I find I binge for a few days and then feel so sick that I don't each much for the next few days and end up not gaining anything. Slow and steady is what works, at least for me.
So right now I've got it set for 4000 calories per day. If I eat that much, every day, I will gain a pound every three days. That's 10 pounds in a month. That means, even accounting for the fact that if I continue to just eat 4000 calories every day (gaining less as I get fatter because the heavier you are the more calories you burn), I will reach my target weight of 250 lbs in 182 days or 6 months.
If I bump it up just 500 cals to 4500 calories per day, I'm looking at approximately 4 months. 5000 calories per day makes just over 3 months. At 7500 calories per day I could be there in as little as 6 weeks. 10,000 a day would get me there in 29 days. Just on a lark, I typed in 33,000 calories which is, from a documentary I saw a little while ago, the daily average intake for three super morbidly obese people. If I followed that diet, I would gain that 60 pounds in just a week. I'd probably also be dead because I suspect one really has to work up to those numbers just in terms of stretching out one's stomach capacity. And, I honestly don't know how a single human can digest that quantity of food every day.
I know I can't. Last year I made it my goal to eat 5000 calories in a single day. It was a stretch for me (I'm still a total lightweight) but I managed it. I don't think I could have done it five days in a row at that point. Let alone numbers in the 5 digits.
But really objectively looking at what I need to eat in a day is helping me conceptualize and pace myself.
So anyway...the journey begins...again....
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Hi, "Jake":
ReplyDeleteFascinating reading on how you make use of a spreadsheet. Not just keeping track, but also the prognostications you can come up with.
I can well understand that "overeating" doesn't work for you and that you take it easy bit by bit.
I have read, and you probably have too, that eating a fair amount before going to bed gives the body the best chance to put on weight. In other words those calories digested at night are a more productive investment. I realize that this method may not be very practical, but it seems to work.
You must have noticed by now that re-gaining lost weight is easier than putting it on the first time. Surely you will make the 200 by the end of the year!
With best wishes for that goal,
Norbert.