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| The culprit |
WOW I LOST 100 LBS IN A WEEK!? Ok no, not really. When I first stepped on the scale this morning it said 147 lbs. Nope, that's not a typo.
One-hundred forty-seven lbs. Now at first I was just looking at the last two numbers and thought "NO WAY! How did I gain 3 lbs!?" but then I stepped off and on a few times and eventually saw the 1 where there should be a 2. So I picked up the scale and found the culprit. This little red dice that you see in the picture was under the scale and, apparently, holding nearly 100 lbs of my weight! I think the cat was trying to help me feel better about myself this morning as he is likely to blame for this. Soooo I got rid of the dice and tried again. 243.5. Not nearly as exciting as 147 but it's a 1 lb loss so I'll take it! What a good boy my kitty cat is! He was just trying to help mommy lose weight the only way that he knew how. lol
P.s. I felt that I was ready to remove "Lung Capacity" and "Self-doubt" from the list of weaknesses in the right margin of this blog. Clearly I have now had enough success to believe that I can do it and I can do a lot more without getting short of breath so I think it's time to remove those crutches. I also changed "Poor Motivation" to "Inconsistent Motivation" because, with the success I've had, the motivation is there it's just that some days I have a harder time finding it.
Food:
10 glasses of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 Fiber One bar
3/4 cup wheaties (lunch)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup edamame
1 raw tuna roll
1 tobiko roll
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Daily Caloric Intake: 1,184
Activity:
Walking: 5 miles (10,000 steps)
YOu're doing wonderfully. I have to go get me some dice!
ReplyDeleteWe have to go on automatic pilot when we have those days of little or no motivation and plod on through. We know the prize that awaits so why should we cause it to take more time to get there than necessary? Reading blogs helps me stay in the "zone" with fewer slips than I would otherwise have. You're doing great.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to have the same feelings about my goal to lose 50 lbs that I was having about my goal to get under 250. It's right there, so close I can practically taste it and yet I've been dancing around it now for two weeks. Time to get serious and grab the skinny-butt bull by the horns. That 50 lb ribbon is so close ... and I want it!
ReplyDeleteLOL!
ReplyDeleteFunny experience.
:)
Note: the dice wasn't so much "holding 100 lbs", it was just that it *changed* the angle of the several things that were interacting (your mass, the scale, and the floor. Your mass was still ~245lbs and was still pushing straight-down toward the floor; but, because of the dice sitting under the scale, the "normal-force" acting on the scale was coming up from the floor and pushing on the scale *at an angle* -- this difference was causing 1 force to act fully on the scale (your bodyweight, 100%) and 1 force to *re*-act only partially on the scale (the normal-force, some fraction of the full-force it would normally experience if on a flat-surface). Because these different forces are acting on the scale at the same time (and because the scale was calibrated by the manufacturer to act on the scale equally), the scale registered a smaller reading than it should have.
It's not because the dice was "holding" any of your body-weight; if you could place the dice perfectly in the middle of the scale and then get on the scale and be perfectly-positioned, the dice would not magically hold all of your weight and allow the scale to read "0" -- in fact, the scale would read your correct body-weight (because you wouldn't be introducing any angles, thus the "normal force" would be at it's correct angle).
You can read a bit more about the "normal force" here: http://www.regentsprep.org/Regents/physics/phys01/friction/normal.htm
I should mention, if you have the opportunity in school, I *HIGHLY* suggest you take at least 1 physics class (and if the first one is so introductory that it doesn't include using complex algebra- or calculus-formulas to solve things like the "normal form", then take the 2nd one too). It will be, hands-down, 1 of the most difficult classes you will ever take -- but it's worth it. It's very mind-expanding, and even though you forget most of it right after the final, the concepts sort of sit mushed in your head enough that you can pick up a text, read about it later when you need to understand it again, and "get it" a whole lot easier. For example, I knew the dice wasn't holding your weight and that the problem had to do with angles and the "normal form" -- but I had to go read that webpage I just cited in order to re-comprehend what was going on. I might be technically incorrect about some minor detail, but I basically grasped it within about 1 minute of reading. *VERY* interesting and useful course to take.
Note-2: It might be worth mentioning that you can stand with 1 foot on the scale and achieve the same effect -- and it's not that half your body-weight is magically not "on the scale" just because one of your legs isn't -- it's just that you've altered the angle the scale is interacting with the floor at, and thus the "normal force" isn't perfectly-perpendicular to the scale/floor, and thus you will get an incorrect-reading. To the degree you can more-perfectly center your mass on the scale, you'll get an ever-more-accurate reading; just like the dice.
Beautiful job. And it's very cool that you can see more than just your body changing. Good for you in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteBrandon: Ok Mr. Technical, I actually understood that the dice wasn't literally holding 100 lbs of my weight but was trying to explain its affect in a way that your average every day, casual blog reader could understand. The dice wasn't under the base part of the scale it was under the plate that is on top (the bigger part that you stand on that is larger than the actual scale part underneath). This is how I didn't realize that there was something under the scale when I first stepped on it (because if my scale were flat and solid on the bottom the dice would have created a significant tilt to the scale. So yeah, I understood that the dice was resisting the pressure from my body as it was presented by my right foot (since that's where the dice was)thus unevenly distributing my weigh. In addition to standing on the scale on one foot this can also be tested with those produce scales at the market that have metal bowls suspended by chains beneath the scale. If you take a bunch of banana's, for example, and hang them over the lip of the bowl on one side they will weigh less than if you put them in the bowl as intended. Not because they weigh less and not because the three bananas that are hanging over the side of the bowl are magically being supported by air but because the balance ratio of the bananas are disproportionate to the balance ratio of the scale. This is also why scales always suggest use on a firm, flat surface. Because carpet/the padding underneath can cause imbalance below the scale. But that all just took a lot longer to say didn't it? lol
ReplyDeleteKi: Many thanks! :)
That's hilarious only because it's something that would happen to me :)
ReplyDeleteThat 50lbs will be gone in no time!!
Longer or not, the "normal force" is real and interesting.
ReplyDelete;P