The law of averages...

I don't think of myself as a "numbers" person.  I hated math when I was in school.  But, I do LOVE statistics.  Not so much calculating them, but when they say a certain percentage of people like this or that or succeed or fail doing something, I find that really interesting.  I also am a little obsessed with averages.

As you know, my goal weight was to get below 120.  I hit that in July 2012 when I stepped on the scale and it read 119.7.

In May of last year, I started using www.weightchart.com to track my weight.  I wanted to see the fluctuations of my weight in a more "formal" way and this was an easy chart to use.  So since then, I have tracked my weight on a close to daily basis.

As of today, my chart looks like this:

As you can see, there are some wild fluctuations.  The highest I have recorded is in September last year - a WHOPPING 127.5 after returning from vacation.  The lowest recorded is 115.6 recorded just over a couple of weeks ago.

One thing I don't like about this program is that is has no advanced calculations.  So where I can see the fluctuations, I was wondering what my average weight was.  So I decided to add up all the numbers and calculate.  There were about 250 entries.  And guess what:

MEAN :  119.77

MEDIAN:  119.0

Which means that since May, with all the complaining, worrying, stressing, crying, beating myself up, et cetera - I am averaging EXACTLY what weight I was when I hit goal!  Frankly, I was pretty shocked.

In adding up the numbers, one thing did become clear - while I would LIKE to hover between 115-119, I ACTUALLY hover 118-122.  

Intellectually, I know that it is absolutely STUPID to be bothered by 3 pounds - 3 FREAKING POUNDS.  But I have to admit that it does irritate me a little.  

But all in all, I would say that since STATISTICS show that most people who lose weight gain it back, that 1 year and 7 months into maintenance averaging my goal weight ain't too shabby.  

This whole thing is a learning process, and I am learning every day what I can and cannot do as far as my eating goes, and what works for me.  

If you want to chart your weight, it might be a good idea - so you don't get so freaked out by fluctuations and can instead see where the general direction is.  You can also record your photos and enter how you are feeling, eating and exercising and cross reference that with your weight.  And you can set milestones that you want to meet and it will tell you how you are doing.  Again, it is www.weightchart.com