weigh 200 pounds.

In the eight weeks I alotted to lose around 16 pounds, I lost four pounds. I did not gain weight, which is actually encouraging, but it is clear that I need help and that my set point has gone considerably higher.

For the next month, I’m doing the following.

• Bikram yoga (around 1000 calories a class) 4-5 times a week.
• Studio Cycling classes once in a while when Bikram falls of the schedule.
• A preliminary diet, based on a minimum of vegetable meals and fiber rather than a maximum of anything.
• Start a food journal.

At the end of May, I’m going to look for nutritional coaching programs.

Well, it actually comes out to 2 2/3 pounds a week for 5 weeks. That’s feasible, but very difficult. I can try…

1. Increasing my vegetable intake, especially raw veggies.
2. Drinking far more water than I currently do.
3. Keeping to 3 beer/wine drinks a week.
4. Sugar fasting.

I doubt I’ll make it. That’s a shame, weight counseling is embarassing and expensive.

I gained weight in the first two weeks, and am recovered to just one pound below my weight upon entering this goal.

That’s 15 pounds in 41 days. That’s one pound every 2.75 days, which is 2 pounds in around five days, too fast to lose weight safely.

Now it’s time to research what weight counseling programs there are.

I don’t like obsessing about weight, but 200 pounds is already pretty heavy for a person of my height and build (I weighed 150 pounds when I met my wife), and I’m worried about my family history of diabetes and other food-related illnesses.