9/4/2014 Update: -3.4%

I was going to post later on progress, but I'm super happy.  Today the scale informed me that I'm down 7.4 lbs.!

Temporary favorite quote

"Just because someone stumbles and loses their way, doesn't mean they are lost forever." - Charles Xavier

Moral Definition

I'm working on defining my moral views.  To my knowledge, this is under what conditions I deem an action taken to be good or bad.  As an example, this is more or less my definition of whether or not an action brings good or bad karma.  This will start really rough, and I hope to discuss with some people to refine it.

Long story short, it's equivalent exchange.  From the perspective of those affected by the action being taken, if the action results in neither a net gain or loss in resources (at the cost expended by the action), then the action is neutral.  If the cost of the action outweighs the gain in resources for the affected people, it's a bad exchange, and vice versa.

Here is the list of things related to this:

1. The ultimate resource is life.
2. This only pertains to intentional actions at the moment.  I haven't defined unintentional actions yet
3. The conversion rate between resources, for the intent of judging the action, is from the perspective of the people affected
1. There is a point where the conversion rate gets ridiculous, and I haven't accounted for this entirely.  But it will have to be taken into account.
4. Time and money are the most common resources

This is what I have now.  As I think more on this and receive feedback from others, I'll refine it.

9/2/2014 Update

So, an update!  This weekend was my birthday.  I started Saturday (my birthday) at 209.2 pounds.  That meant I was 4.6 pounds down from where I started.  Considering I "cheated" on my diet a couple times over the past week, I was still fine with this.  However, I went to my favorite restaurant for lunch, and a decent, but fattening, dinner at my father's house, and drank quite a bit.  I woke up Sunday at 215 pounds.  Ouch.  Oh well.  I have to deal with the consequences of my actions, and I'd say they were totally worth it.

Over the past 3 days, I managed to get my weight back down to ~210 today.  I also started hitting the gym again.  I'm going to try and avoid looking at my weight on a daily basis now, and see where I'm at in a few days.

There's one major change to my diet... I've removed my snacks from in between meals.  I'm going to try and eat 3 larger meals instead, while keeping my caloric intake pretty low.  With a reduced calorie diet, I'm expecting to lose muscle mass.  The two main reasons I'm going to the gym is to try and reduce how much muscle I lose, and to improve my neural connections to my muscles so that I at least have better control over them in the future.

To everyone who is struggling with their own diet, Keep with it!  I'm stumbling myself, but each time I recover, I'm getting a bit stronger with my resolve.  You'll only get better if you get back up each time you fall down.

8/29/2014

An update!  While I stumbled a bit last week on my diet, I've done some research, and can say that I'm doing strong on this third go.  I've modified my diet a bit in my attempt to achieve maximum fat loss.  I'm doing that by trying to get my body into a state of ketosis.

A brief overview of Ketosis:  When your body doesn't have sugars (Or a ton of protein, which can be transformed into glucose), it has to find a new way to produce energy to sustain the body.  It does this through ketosis.  Long story short, it uses fat as it's primary source of energy.  The neurons in your brain cannot process the fat or proteins in your blood to give it energy.  Therefore, it relies on two other forms of energy.  When it's present, glucose.  When glucose isn't present, the body tells itself to form ketones, which the brain can metabolize.

Long story short, minimal carbs for me.  A diet high in fat, medium in protein, and tons of filler vegetables so I don't get hungry.  It's already day 2, and I can already feel some differences.  The main one being what I can only say is a more consistent awareness.  Other than that, I don't feel as hungry.  We'll see how it goes, as it's supposed to take 3-10 days for my body to fully go into ketosis.

8/22/2014 Update

Yesterday was hell.  It was release day.  I wanted to rip some hair out.  I survived, but looked pretty bad in the process.  Although, I'd much rather take the slow path that I took and only got a little out, instead of going much faster and putting out errors.  We'll see how that reflects on my one-on-one today.

As for my weight, which is the big thing I'm watching the next 25 days... I'm back down to 209.8.  So, I'm back down to almost 4 pounds under where I started.  Considering that I'm starting a new diet, changing up my regiment, and starting to creatine load, I think I'm doing fine.  I'm hoping that I've retained as much water as I will in my cells, and that I'm back to actually losing weight.  We'll see where I'm at come Monday!

It would be super encouraging to see the scale tip back under 200... That'd mean I'm no longer carrying 10-15 pounds when I'm running!

8/21/2014 Update

So, yesterday was a weird wash.  By not having bananas, and by missing my protein shakes, I kinda screwed myself over for muscle repair and also cut back a lot of calories.  The calories were evened out because it was Sushi Night!  And I had that instead of my normal plans.  Between eating a heavier dinner, and because the creatine supplement that I'm taking initially increases my water weight, I woke up today to 211.6.  I'm fine with this small bump.  I'll just have to keep monitoring it, and keeping to my diet.

Also, I managed to go to bed early last night, and had tons of sleep.  I had some fun dreams, and one not so fun one where I was stabbed.  I don't remember a lot of details about them, so I'm going to work on my dream recall.  This is going back to my goal of lucid dreaming!