As of 11/20/09, I weigh approximately 203 pounds.  In context, I have pretty much given up dairy, rarely have salt, and have been exercising.  In fact, I have gone from doing no pull ups to doing ten on a good day.  The result is an increase in chest size that made it almost impossible for me to go through the “lemon squeezer” cave at Lost Canyon in New Hampshire.  I didn’t measure my chest, but I did feel the rocks up against my skin on all sides of my chest without having my stomach touch at all.  In other words, I have gotten fitter while staying about the same weight.  I am about to go on vacation, so we’ll see just how lasting my “change in lifestyle” has become. 

As you can tell from my current lack of focus on weight, I decided first and foremost to work on my health, and secondarily to focus on my weight.  I believe the rest of this page shows I have given a great deal of thought to weight, without succeeding in my goal of weight loss without discipline or lifestyle change. 

One of the confounding factors I have recently found is that salt, which makes me gain water weight, is directly stimulating to adiponectin, a hormone given off by fat cells that helps metabolize fat.  An increased salt intake will increase adiponectin almost 100%, better than drinking fruit juice (30-40% increase).  But because of my individual slow metabolism of salt, I cannot experiment with this interesting possibility.