Week 12 (Final) Report

Well, the 12 weeks are finally over. After nearly three months of calorie counting and increased exercise, my final results are in.

I made my way to the Human Performance Lab on campus and had my weight and body fat measured in the Bod Pod. The results were very encouraging, but there's still room to improve.

Weight: 167.6 pounds (Down from 179.2 for a loss of 11.6 pounds)
Body Fat %: 20.9 percent (Down from 26.8 for a loss of 5.9 percent)

Overall, I'm on the right track. I didn't quite reach my goal of 165 pounds and under 20 percent, but I came dangerously close on both counts. I certainly can make it within a few more weeks. The folks at the lab were impressed, saying the body fat I dropped in 12 weeks is more than most people in the Wellness Program do in a full year. Or perhaps they were just being nice. Either way, I left their office with a grin on my face.

So, what have I learned from my first-ever diet? Well, the first thing I can say for sure is that I definitely don't plan on counting calories for the rest of my life. While it kept me honest with the types of food I ate, being ultra conscious about everything I put in my mouth is incredibly stressful, not to mention exhausting. That being said, it has taught me a lot about portion control and keeping an eye on food labels. Some "regular" items I eat contained way more fat and calories than I ever imagined, but some others were actually much lower. I can still watch my calories without counting them religiously.

I'm not sure what I'm doing here, but Jen captured the moment anyway.

I haven't had any major revelations regarding exercise. I was fairly educated about it before, although I knew I wasn't doing enough of it. I did my best to maintain a full 2.5 hours of cardio per week throughout my diet. I only wavered in one week and in several others, I did way more than that, sometimes as much as 4.5 per week. However, I did learn that using exercise as a fail safe to "earn" extra calories is a dangerous game, one that I played way too much. I should be exercising regularly and maintaining a balanced diet anyway, not doing one or the other in extremes to balance out the other. I learned that the hard way during a few weeks, with disappointing results on the scale.

Jen and I are still expecting the baby any day now, so I finished this experiment up just in time. She's been incredibly patient with me during all this and my "restrictions," but I think even she learned a thing or two for her own weight-loss goals after the baby is born. I still plan on using MyFitnessPal daily, even though I'm not following a strict diet anymore. It should help me make healthy choices, so I don't completely fall off the wagon and gain everything back.