Lick The Lard

Today’s weight: 75.4kg

This week I missed a weighing for the first time. After the holiday on Monday and Tuesday, I completely forgot to set my alarm clock for Wednesday morning. Waking late, I had to scamble out the door as quickly as possible - weighing myself just went out my mind.

What’s been happening with my weight? Well, it’s clear from the numbers over the past two weeks that my weight is bouncing between 74.7kg and 75.6kg. What’s not clear from the figures is why.

Monday this week illustrates the reason perfectly. I woke up early, about the time I usually do when working, and weighed myself. I was 75.6kg. I went back to bed and slept some more, and when I weighed myself again at lunchtime when I got up (it was a holiday after all!), I was 74.8kg.

When I don’t forget, I always weigh myself as soon as I get up. It’s not perfect since the time I ate the night before and the time I get up means my weight can vary significantly, but it’s as consistent as I can be. If I was to weigh myself at lunchtime, I’d have my clothes adding to my weight - and I wear different clothes at weekend (casual) from during the week (work). I’d also need to bring my scales to work and carry them home again, or have two sets - which is not ideal.

So weighing myself in the morning is the most consistent I can be. I just have to know the variance is there and try to work out when my weight is varying due to the times of my weighing, and when it’s due to other reasons.

Today’s weight: 75.6kg
Yesterday’s weight: 74.9kg
The day before’s weight: 74.7kg

I was having a good few days, and the wham! Last night.

But I enjoyed last night - I did something I haven’t done since leaving Britain: I went to an Indian curry house after going to the pub. A traditional British thing to do! Since it’s something I’ve not done for 7+ years, I allowed myself to do it last night.

Most of the reason my weight is up today, then, is because I ate late - I didn’t get home until after 3am. With any luck, the weight will start to drop off tomorrow… though whether it will stay off or not is another question.

This week is “Golden Week” in Japan, with Monday and Tuesday being holidays. On Monday there’s a Japanese Microbrewery Festival, and I’ll be going along. While it’s going to be drinking beer all day, Microbrewery beer is something I really enjoy, and it’ll be my first time to go to such a festival. I want a lifestyle where I can cope with events like this, so I’m not going to “ban” myself from going. Instead, I’m going to go and if there are any negative effects to my weight, I’ll work them off.

After Golden Week is over and my schedule becomes more regular again, I intend to go back into temporary “Emergency Mode” to ensure my weight returns to 74kg.

Today’s weight: 75.2kg
Yesterday’s weight: 75.4kg

I seem to be settling down to around the 75kg mark, sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. In all honesty, although my goal weight is 74kg, I’ve been quite happy around this level the last few weeks. 75-76kg has been my “goal” since way back in 1999 - the weight I always aimed to return to when I put on a little extra kilos - the only reason I changed it to 74kg was to give myself that little bit extra breathing space.

I’m still continuing to aim for 74kg, but I’m happy to get there slowly.

Today’s weight: 74.7kg

I got up pretty late today so I was actually expecting my weight to be lower that this. The fact that it’s not is probably the result of last night: I went to a leaving party at a Japanese food court and was astonished to find that almost everything edibile was fatty or fried - not the best evening of eating. Still, getting up late in the day and weighing late usually gives me a low reading, so I have to admit I’m slightly disappointed. It means that my real weight is probably around 75kg. Hmph.

Today’s weight: 74.4kg
Yesterday’s weight: 75.1kg

Now that my week of vacation is over, it should be back to a regular routine. Unfortunately for routine (but fortunately otherwise), this week there’s a public holiday in Japan (tomorrow), and next week there are two public holidays (Monday and Tuesday). I usually do better at weekends than during the week, partly because I’m more active, so hopefully that will be carried over into public holidays also, and I can return back to my goal of 74.0kg.