The Long Way Back: Week 5 Recap

 February 16 Weigh-In: 245.3 lbs

Total Loss So Far: 25 pounds
Timeline: About 6 weeks in

The last recap was 11 days ago, and we’re still chugging along.

This morning I stepped on the scale at 245.3. That’s 25 pounds down in roughly six weeks. I’d say a good portion of that is water weight. I don’t know the exact percentage, and honestly, it doesn’t matter right now.

These are the early days of a cut. The number on the scale still matters. There’s no shame in that.

But I also know that when the scale stalls for a few days — or even ticks up slightly — the response doesn’t change. Trust the process. Track your food accurately. Hit your steps every single day. Lift at least three times per week.

That part is non-negotiable.

---

What I’ve Learned From Yo-Yo Dieting

One thing I’ve learned from years of dieting is that restrictive plans don’t work for me long term.

I can cut carbs aggressively and watch the scale drop fast. I’ve done it. It works.

Until it doesn’t.

Because once I fall off that wagon, it turns into binge eating. Then I gain it all back — usually faster than I lost it.

That cycle is exhausting.

So this time I track everything. If it fits within my daily calorie target, I eat it and make peace with it. Psychologically, that changes everything. I’m not stranded on some island eating fish and leaves. I have structure, but I also have choice.

And that makes it sustainable.

---

Priorities Have Shifted

Now that I’m older, my focus isn’t just losing weight. It’s building muscle.

I want my body to cooperate with my brain as I age. Muscle matters for longevity, mobility, and metabolic health. So protein is a priority — close to 1 gram per pound of body weight when I can fit it into my calories.

Carbs stay in, especially on strength training days. Fiber is non-negotiable — as much as my gut can tolerate.

I aim for 11–12k steps per day, and I never go below 10k. Weight training at least three times per week.

Small adjustments. Big consistency.

That’s what got 25 pounds off.

My clothes fit looser. My feet are thankful for the lighter load. I can feel the difference.

---

The Calorie Deficit

My intake typically ranges between 1200–1600 calories per day.

That’s aggressive for my body weight and activity level, but with the amount of fat I have to lose, it hasn’t felt overly taxing. I’m managing it well.

At some point in the next month or two, I may tighten things up to a consistent 1600. But for now, I can afford this phase.

The rule is simple:
If I start feeling lethargic, unmotivated, or my training performance suffers consistently — I’ll adjust.

This isn’t about suffering. It’s about sustainability.

---

Twenty-five pounds down.

A lot more to go.

But this is the first time it feels controlled instead of chaotic.

For now, we keep stacking disciplined weeks.

Another Campfire Story from Joshua Tree: The Phoenix Lights

Out here in the desert, the sky feels closer. You spend enough nights under it — real nights, away from city glow — and you start noticing how alive it feels. Satellites gliding. Aircraft blinking. Meteors streaking. The occasional thing that doesn’t fit neatly into a category. Which brings us to tonight’s campfire story. Not from Joshua Tree… but from another desert sky. March 13, 1997 — Phoenix, Arizona. Thousands of people reported seeing a formation of lights moving silently across the sky. Not dozens. Not hundreds. Thousands. Witnesses described a massive V-shaped structure — some saying it blocked out the stars as it passed overhead. Completely silent. Slow. Controlled. Intentional. Later that evening, another set of lights appeared over Phoenix, hovering and slowly descending behind the mountains. That second event was eventually attributed to military flares dropped during an exercise. But the earlier sightings? Still debated. Pilots reported it. Police officers reported it. Ordinary families standing in their driveways reported it. Arizona’s governor at the time even joked publicly about it — before later admitting he had witnessed something himself. No official explanation has ever fully closed the case. And here’s the thing about desert skies — whether you’re in Arizona or Joshua Tree: They don’t give you many places to hide illusions. There’s something about wide open land and unobstructed horizon that makes you trust what you’re seeing a little more. Or at least question it differently. So when stories like the Phoenix Lights come up, they resonate out here. Because anyone who’s spent enough time under a desert sky knows: You can identify most of what passes overhead. But not everything. And sometimes the unexplained isn’t about proving what happened… It’s about acknowledging that thousands of people looked up on the same night and realized they didn’t have an answer. Just another story for the fire.

The Long Way Back: Week 4 Recap

I started this journey on January 7, 2026, and so far it has been smooth sailing. Today I woke up at 249.6 pounds, which puts me a little over 20 pounds lost in a month. When you start at essentially morbid obesity, even small changes can result in dramatic drops on the scale. This past week I made adjustments to my strength training — specifically my leg routine. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, which keeps my left knee in constant pain. It’s very difficult to do isolated single-leg exercises without aggravating it. So for now, I’m sticking with manageable-weight trap bar deadlifts and cable leg extensions. When the knee feels warmed up and cooperative, I’ll add in some goblet squats with kettlebells. Three weeks in, I think I’ve normalized most of the bloating and water retention from when I began. This week had days where the scale wouldn’t budge — and then, woosh… two pounds gone overnight. That’s just how it goes sometimes. Extra carbs, sodium, or lack of sleep can all drive water retention. The key is staying consistent and riding it out. My daily calories fluctuate between 1100 and 1700. I raise carbs and calories slightly on lifting days. I try not to stay too low for obvious reasons, but sometimes life gets busy and the priority becomes hitting protein with a shake and moving on. Those are areas I’ll tighten up when I get closer to 220 pounds. One thing I’ve been more consistent with is steps. I’m reliably hitting 10,000, often landing between 11,000–13,000. My goal is to build that back toward 20,000 steps per day over the next couple of weeks. When you’ve been overweight your entire life, nothing feels more important than getting that number on the scale as low as possible. But the wiser approach is building habits that are sustainable long-term — sticking to principles that reinforce lasting change. So for the rest of this year, the focus is on building muscle and building habits that keep the weight off. It’s a work in progress.