Check-In #5

Starting weight: 205 lbs.

Previous weigh-in (two weeks ago): 194 lbs.

This week's weight: 194 lbs.

This has me feeling surprised and disappointed. I was away from the blog for two weeks, and at one point I was approaching 190. I spent a week back in my hometown visiting friends and family. There was a whole lot of walking around and healthy eating, and I really expected that to have a good effect. I guess it was countered by the soda I had through that week, plus the junk food I grazed on during the bus trips to and from the hometown.

I guess I can at least be glad I didn't gain weight back. Still, I'm not happy with this lack of change. I expect to see better results next week. 54 pounds remain until I reach my goal.

Check-In #4

Starting weight: 205 lbs.
Last week's weight: 195 lbs.
This week's weight: 194 lbs.

Honestly, I am surprised I lost so little weight. I started my first week of actual work, which involved a ton of moving around at a brisk pace. Some of my food decisions were a bit unhealthy (cheeseburgers). But the fact I burned all those calories being on my feet for 14 hours this week yet lost so little amazes me.

Optimally, I would be pleased to see an average of two pounds lost per week. That would be sufficiently fast for me. I wouldn't return to school at my goal weight but I would sure be closer than when I started! But who knows? Maybe I can put some more effort in the next ten days and drop four pounds. It would result in me losing 15 pounds in my first month. I would be so happy about that!

Oh well, that is 11 down, 54 to go. As long as that number (54) continues to get smaller, I will press on gladly.

I may not do a check-in next Saturday. I will be out of town and my Internet access will be limited. And possibly access to a scale as well.

How to RTS

Real-time strategy (RTS) games have long been a type that I was interested in. The two big ones that got my attention were Star Trek: Armada II and Age of Empires. There's just something about taking the position of a captain or emperor and essentially building up a nation or space empire.

The problem is, I've never been very good at them. Oh sure I've defeated AIs but not after getting significant help via some cheat code or whatever. I have yet to completely play through either one of those games, and with me taking a brief hiatus from Minecraft, there's some free time to play those.

I like RTS games and I really do want to be good at them. So - as I seem to do with every other problem - I Googled tips on how to do better in them. These come from sources all around the Internet, and aren't necessarily in any order of importance. Just things that stand out to me.

1. Build an economy. This seems pretty obvious but I'm wont to forget that I need to keep the resources flowing in. One of the perpetual goals when I'm playing an RTS is to keep having a flow of resources, either by maintaining existing farms/mines/etc., or building new ones.

2. Build workers constantly. The units which collect resources, build stuff, and so on, you need to have as many of these as you can make. That way, you advance in technology faster.

3. Spend resources constantly. Surprisingly to me, it's not a good idea to try and stockpile on resources. The more you spend, the better off you are. The expenditure leads to more fighting units, more barracks/shipyards, and more technology. In retrospect, this actually makes sense.

4. Have a build order. RTS games are fun but they're also more demanding of plans and strategizing. No surprise there. One of the plans is a build order: an exhaustive list of what kinds of units and buildings you will make. If you need to change your order to counter an unexpected move by the enemy, then do so, but try to return to it once you're done.

5. Know your enemy. Let's use Star Trek: Armada II as an example. Borg capital ships are relatively lackluster while some of the early ships are tough. So you need speed when playing against them to counter their strong middle-level ships. The Klingons need a relatively uncommon resource to tech up, so preventing them from getting that will give them trouble. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy is good.

6. Scout a lot. Scouting involves sending a weaker type of ship out into the map to see what the layout is like and where the enemy is. Awareness is good.

7. Watch how pros do it. If the game is something like Starcraft where there is tournament footage available on YouTube, check out what they do to develop a strategy.

8. Know the hotkeys. Being fast is important because it gets you to the more powerful units and technologies sooner in the game, and also makes you better matched with the enemy. Hotkeys can let you blaze through the menus and build stuff quick.

9. Be fast. Lazily building units allows the other players to outpace you fast.

10. Expand. Instead of keeping all your units and buildings in one place, find other opportune areas - like near resources - and put units and buildings by them.

11. Micromanage. This is the art of controlling specific units as opposed to just assigning entire groups orders and letting he AI do its business by itself. There are times when you will have a specific objective in mind that the AI by itself won't accomplish.

12. Use control groups. Normally, an RTS allows the ability to group units together so that they can be moved to the same spot at once. Very preferable over just grabbing an arbitrary group of units as they stay together.

13. Diversity. Try to use a range of different unit types.

14. Know the map. This also seems like common sense but I seem good at not paying attention to the map layout.

15. Practice, practice, practice. Since RTS games can get pretty complex it's a good idea to practice how to best employ various strategies, get a feel for the types of units, and so on. Practice is especially important if you want to get into multiplayer battles or be competitive.

Check-In #3

Starting weight: 205 lbs.
Last week's weight: 197 lbs.
This week's weight: 195 lbs.

At some points throughout yesterday and today, the scale was reading 194. But the official weight is a little higher.

I'm pretty happy to have lost my first ten pounds, all in three weeks. Honestly I wish I could have lost more, but hey, this is good progress. I feel thinner, in the sense that my fat rolls don't feel as dense as they used to. I can bend down to pick something up and not need to hold on to something for balance. I still feel some weight when I stand up off the floor but it's not what it used to be.

Part of me wants to treat myself to something yummy to celebrate this weight loss. Perhaps an ice cream - just one. And I think I will also do this at every ten pound milestone.

I started a summer job on Tuesday, and will work three days a week for up to five hours. That should add in my physical activity quite a bit.

And now, a confession. This crossed my mind Sunday at church and I almost wrote about it, but decided not to. Then it occurred to me again today. I was doing my routine walk around the park and had stopped at a concession stand to get a bottle of Gatorade. Ahead of me were a group of people, who were probably between the ages of 10 and 50, waiting in the line. And all of them were overweight. I actually felt appalled by these people. Why would they do this to themselves?

Immediately I knew I was wrong for looking at them in such a manner. It was hypocritical and judgmental. Hypocritical because, let's face it, I'm still fat. I have another 25-30 pounds to go before I could be considered "not fat," who am I to look down upon them? And even if I were in the best shape possible, it would still be wrong because I would be judging them when I am hardly the ultimate judge. It is not Christian nor is it kind to think of those people that way. Perhaps I do it because I see something about myself in them that I don't like. Regardless, one of the things I will need to work on in addition to losing weight is not having a "better than them" mentality, because I know I'm not intrinsically better than anyone.

Check-In #2

Starting weight: 205 lbs.
Last week's weight: 200 lbs.
This week's weight: 197 lbs.

This has been a rather lazy week for me, and I'm not terribly proud to admit it. There was quite a bit of rain this week which made finding time to walk difficult. Yet surely it wasn't that difficult. Much of the week was spent under the threat of rain, rain which never did form. Yesterday I did some yard work where I sweated my butt off, and today I walked around at the park for over an hour.

Nonetheless, weight has been lost so I'm happy. I have lost 8 pounds altogether. 57 pounds remain.