8.3.15

This post's title says it all about my present state of mind. Frequent readers are probably aware of my theory that a blog title should be something of a hook. As of right now, I have nothing. Friday and Saturday, I had high hopes for the weekend, expecting to accomplish several things. As I sit here composing this on early Monday morning, the stone cold sober reality of the past weekend is illuminated by a circular fluorescent bulb: next to nothing is my total so far.

In terms of the absolute number of tasks I had intended to get done, the weekend was pretty much a wash. I didn't get the grass in front of the house cut. Although I did cull a few books out of the SUL, there was no major progress in the reorganization. I also got nothing else done in the basement at large.

On the plus side, I got in an excellent walk on Saturday morning walk. And, I got the spreadsheet started- more on that in a bit....

If you've read my previous post, you know I'm off on a fitness quest. If you haven't read the post, do it now and then come back here!

I had actually started the spreadsheet on July 27th, the official start date of my fitness adventure. As is the case of spreadsheets for projects such as this, I started out simple, with not a formula in sight. However, I did my weigh-in a day early this week (Sunday rather than Monday), and decided to update the spreadsheet immediately afterwards. The workbook currently only has one worksheet where data is actively being entered. This is the "VITALS" and currently lists weight, BMR (basal metabolic rate) and BMI (body mass index); with Jennifer's assistance LBM (lean body mass) will be added as soon as I can get back into the weight training groove.

Here was where I ran into my first technical (software/data) obstacle. When I made my first entry, I simply copied the results from one of the myriad of online calculators. However, on Sunday I could not find the one that I had originally used, so I decided to plug a formula in, as it would have been a necessity at some point anyway. The most accurate and popular method of calculating BMR is attributed to a formula developed by Mifflin - St. Jeor et al, so I decided to incorporate this into my spreadsheet. The problem is this: while I have absolutely no problem with the metric system, and am pretty comfortable with doing conversions, in MY world, weights are still measured in pounds. So, I spent about fifteen minutes in a futile search for an English equivalent to the Mifflin - St. Jeor formula. Frustrated, I did the only logical thing that I could think of: I converted. Now, the nice thing about the formula is that there are only three variables- height, weight and age. Age ony gets changed once a year, so that's no big deal. Height, although a universal variable, is nearly a constant on the personal level, so I calculated that and plugged it in. Weight, though, is the "magic number" for my project. Truth be told, my scale will display weight in either English or metric, but since this is one area where all of my IRL friends and acquaintances (even those in Canada) are more comfortable or familiar with English weights, I decided to stay with pounds. So, the only thing that was dynamically recalculated is weight, and that is handled in a separate cell. The end result is I have accurate BMR and BMI calculations.

I mentioned a few privacy issues in the last blog. PII is a huge topic, and when it comes to MY PII, I try to be careful. I can say this, though, about my first week: even though it was not strictly keto, I managed to drop three pounds (~1.3kg). Whether that was newb losses or hard work, I'll take it, as it's a solid start!

*A side note on the American diet: I started this journey because I knew I  was out of shape by any standard. The only real changes to my lifestyle were: becoming more intentional about my lifestyle, and making better nutrition choices. I walked three times this week, which is good but not great. The really big change was cutting out all processed foods (stuff in a box)- primarily noodles and ramen, as well as some homemade gravy dishes.

The second week is about calories and macros- I also hope to get back to weight training- I expect my first LBM measurement to be ugly!

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.