I described a bit how I’ve lost some weight rowing and changing my diet here on Uncorrected. I keep close track of this by weighing myself every morning and appending the data to a CSV file via an action in Drafts. The resulting data file made it easy to ballpark how much I’d lost overall, and analyze some patterns (Monday mornings after three-day weekends=a bit of weight gain, for example). But I wondered about the larger data set and what I might learn from some analysis in Excel. So I fed the sheet into Excel and ran a pivot table.

Takeaways:

• Quarter 2 in 2023 was my greatest loss on record (28.5 lbs), with the most lost occurring in May. This puzzled me at first, but the reason is that I got a new rower for Rhonda to use. It had the newer PM5 computer on it, which synced with my iPhone over bluetooth using Concept 3’s ErgData app. As you can see below, I didn’t log the most meters of all of the months after which I started tracking the data using the PM5, but I moved from using the PM3 on my older rower and tracking the data manually to getting more competitive with myself. I did track data before this, but I used a Drafts action to write to a text file. I was not as concerned with my standings when I was using Apple Fitness+, only getting in a 20 or 30-minute workout with Josh or Ana. I would like to look more closely at my output prior to moving to the PM5 in the future.

• Closing in on losing 80 pounds, I’m starting to plateau. And while that causes me a twinge of panic, obviously you have to stop somewhere. I have to stop somewhere. Considering I was hoping to just move down a pant size, (I’ve moved down to a size 30 from a 38, when the 38s were cut generously), I should be just fine with that.

So what’s next?

Maintenance, I guess. I have considered cutting a day of rowing out of the schedule (I generally do six days a week). I have a hunch that I will be able to break some new goals if I rested more in between rowing sessions. I have also been thinking about adding some strength training back into the routine, if my left shoulder will cooperate (probably just bench presses). I can do up to 10 pull-ups now, which is 10 more than I could do a year ago. I don’t want to get bored and I don’t want to get frustrated if I’m not setting PRs. I even find myself getting anxious before attempting a PR now. I have a good idea of what I need to do to lose weight were I to gain some back, but I still fret.

It’s a crazy ride, this life. This goofy mind of mine.

Def gonna row tomorrow though 😉.