12 lbs in 12 weeks (Week 8)

My weight is following a kind of see-saw pattern, it seems.  This week I weighed-in at 163 lbs, which matches my goal weight:



I wish my weight loss followed a more smooth pattern, but the trend is downward so I’m not really complaining.  As I learned in music school, you have to trust the process: if you have a procedure for reaching some goal, then just follow the process, until you reach your goal.  Either the process works, or it doesn’t.

I am at my goal weight (well, I think I am) so I need to be careful about my eating habits.  If I were under my goal weight then maybe I could cheat a bit about eathing, but that’s not the case now (unlike, say, a month ago), so I need to be very diligent.  I think that’s the hardest part about dieting.  So much temptation!

On the exercise front, I’m just shy of being able to do 25 push-ups: this week I did 23-24 each time I went to the gym.  I’ve been playing around with some of the other machines (they say novelty is good, when weight training), and I added tricep-curls to my strength-training regimen.   I boosted my overhead press too by 5 lbs, and I can now do 25-30 lbs comfortably.  For some reason that exercise is difficult for me, and I’ve been stuck at around 30 lbs forever.

On Lincoln’s Sexuality, and Poisoning the Well

The argument here quoted in an article about Lincoln’s sexuality is so obviously wrong I cannot let it go without comment:

“We are getting closer to the day that a majority of younger, less homophobic historians will at long last accept the evidence of Lincoln’s same-sex component,” John Stauffer, chair of Harvard University’s Department of American Civilization, told Gay City News, adding, “We’re already seeing the beginnings of a trend that will amount to a major paradigm shift.”

This argument is an example of a rhetorical fallacy known as poisoning the well.  The implication above is that historians who reject the arguments that Lincoln was homosexual reject them because the historians are homophobic!  But that’s wrong, since historians might reject the claim simply because the evidence is wrong or just unconvincing.  The homophobia among the historians who reject the claim is simply assumed in order to advance Stauffer’s pet theory.

We could turn this argument on its head (not unreasonably, given the article’s provenance), and argue that the only reason why some historians believe Lincoln was gay was because those historians are themselves gay.  So now the arguments for the claim are get tainted in the other direction.

If you make an argument, then it’s up to you to adduce the positive evidence for your claim.  You cannot simply assume the alternative hypothesis, and then try to shame those who assume the null hypothesis as the default into accepting your preferred alternative.  The claim that Lincoln was gay must stand or fall based on the evidence, not because of any putative anti-gay bias among historians.  This is a bald attempt to shift the burden of proof from the historian making the claim (who has the burden to show the claim is true, which is proper) to other historians not making the claim (who are now supposed to assume the burden of show that the claim is false, or worse, having to demonstrate that they’re not homophobic).

I am sensitive to (incorrect) arguments like this, as theists perform this rhetorical legerdemain all the time, assuming theistic beliefs as the default position and then demanding that atheists “be willing to admit”  the existence of “higher realities” or some such.  Creationists have been telling us for years that "intelligent design" (and before that, "scientific creationism") is a major paradigm shift in our thinking about evolution.  Puh-leez.  For example, here is a statement of the purpose of the Templeton Foundation:

We are trying to persuade people that no human has yet grasped 1% of what can be known about spiritual realities. So we are encouraging people to start using the same methods of science that have been so productive in other areas, in order to discover spiritual realities.

The argument being made here is that the reason we don’t know about spiritual realities is because we can only grasp 1% of what can be known!  But that argument is wrong, since one reason to deny that such realities exist is either that “spiritual realities” is a meaningless phrase, or that no sufficient evidence had been presented to accept their existence.  Templeton, like most theists, assumes the existence of God (for which “spiritual realities” is just a euphemism), and then works backwards to give reasons for holding that belief (and in the case of the Templeton Foundation, by also undermining scientific authority).  But scientific claims don’t work that way, and existence is always predicated on evidence.

I don’t know whether Lincoln was gay, nor do I much care.  But please, if you’re going to claim he was, then leave the personalities of those who disagree with your argument out of it.  (Yes of course religious fundamentalists are going to deny Lincoln’s homosexuality, the same way they deny the atheism of the founding fathers, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.)  If you are an advocate of gay rights or other issues, just realize that arguments like the one above don’t help your cause.

12 lbs in 12 weeks (Week 7)

I actually had a bad weigh-in this week: my weight climbed back up to 165 lbs, which is 1 lb over my goal weight of 164 lbs:



My college reunion took place last weekend, and there was the usual eating and drinking, so perhaps that threw off the weigh-in value this week.  (I like think so, anyway.)

The problem is that there appears to be wide swings in my weight.  I can understand swings of 1/2 lb or perhaps 1 lb, but 2 1/2 lbs seems excessive.  I simply don’t know what my weight is, which means it’s hard for me to correct my life-style habits.  (I determine what is an appropriate amount of food to consume in a negative way: if I'm not losing weight, then it means I'm eating too much.  The problem is that I don't know whether I'm losing weight.)

We’'ll have to see what the story is on my next weigh-in.  If my weight drops back down to my goal value then I’ll consider this week’s weigh-in value as spurious.  Otherwise, it would mean my weight-loss plan isn’t working, and I’ll have to make some adjustments.

The good news is that I’ve been going to the gym, and have made progress on my weight training.  I can comfortably bench-press 60 lbs, and I was able to do around 21-22 push-ups every day.

12 lbs in 12 weeks (Week 6)

Another good week.  I lost 1.5 lbs from last week, which puts me at 162.5 lbs, which is 2.5 lbs below my goal weight for this week, 165 lbs.



I was rather busy last week with some work-related projects, and I didn’t get to the gym as often as I would have liked, but in spite of that I was able keep my weight loss on target.

Note that weight loss is effected by a combination of dieting (consuming fewer calories) and exercise (consuming more calories).  I’ve been watching what I eat, so I’m able to lose weight without necessarily exercising too.

However, weight training definitely depends on how often you, er, actually train with weights, so you cannot expect to cheat and make progress on increasing your strength.

For upper body, I divide weight training into two classes of exercise: pulling weights vs. pushing weights.  I do pushing exercises on one day, and then pulling exercises on the next day.

Pushing exercises include bench press (chest), overhead press (shoulders), and tricep curls.  Pulling exercises include lat pulldown (back) and bicep curls. 

I try to do each kind of exercise three times per week.  If I miss a day, I give priority to chest exercises, since I think it’s true that a bench press actually works many different muscle groups.  I can bench press around 50-55 lbs.  Ideally I would like to be able to bench press my own weight, but that’s going to take awhile!  In the meantime I’m satisfied to add 5 lbs per month.  I figure that by the end of this 12-week fitness program, I should be able to bench press 60 lbs.

Although push-ups are technically a pushing exercise, I try to do them every single day, as I use this as a broad measure of my upper-body strength.  This week I did 20-21 push-ups, so there has been consistent progress there as well.

I remember a few years ago I was able to do 29 push-ups, but I was never able to do that again, and I stayed stuck at something like 10 push-ups.  I think the key to making progress has been to both get myself on a proper weight-training regimen, and do push-ups every day.  I’ve been adding 1 or 2 push-ups per week, so by the end of the 12 weeks I should be able to do 30 push-ups or so.  My ultimate goal would be to be able to do 100 or more push-ups.  (I just read that Herschel Walker does 750-1500 push-ups every morning.  Yikes!  I obviously have some work to do…)

12 lbs in 12 weeks (Week 5)

I had a good weigh-in on Monday: 164 lbs, which is 2 lbs below my target for this week (166 lbs):



To remind those of you on a weight-loss program: the important thing is the overall trend (which should be heading in a downward direction), not the value for any particular week.  With the vagaries of one’s diet, it’s hard to know what your actual weight is today, but you can say something about your weight over time.

I have been doing both cardio exercises and weight training at the gym, several times per week.  This week I did 18-20 push-ups, around 40-55 lbs for bench press, and 20-30 lbs for overhead press.  I can feel the difference in my triceps already.