Monday brings wonderful fresh air

72 days

267.0 pounds

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Objectives

• Week's End: 265.0 (pounds left: 2.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 73.5)
• Ultimate goal: 175.0 (pounds left: 92.0)

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It's all the same today

But much more wonderful, weather-wise. Yesterday was one long party. I didn't eat nearly as much as I drank (3 or 4 beers), though I did have a sandwich and some chips and cheese, and before I went to bed (before 11pm!), I had a slice of blueberry pie and coffee.

Breakfast

Coffee, orange juice, medicine, vitamins and some aged Gouda cheese melted on baguette slices left over from yesterday.

10:45am

Orange Bliss yogurt with Cool Whip. Another cup of coffee.

12:00pm

Ate my leftover Phil's from the weekend...angel hair with eggplant parmesan. Big water.

Dinner

We made chicken fajitas with the leftover vegetables from Sunday.

Before bed...

A slice of blueberry pie with a chunk of Carvel cake on it. I'll pay for that tomorrow morning.

Last day to prepare for the party

74 days

267.0 pounds

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Objectives

• Week's End: 265.0 (pounds left: 2.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 73.5)
• Ultimate goal: 175.0 (pounds left: 92.0)

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Humidity is good for sweat

But not much else. Yesterday went by without a chance to blog. Had to get up early to pick up my mother (our first face-to-face meeting since the end of February 2009), then my mother-in-law and then head to Lincoln Center for Lauren's graduation from Brooklyn Law School.

It was really a nice day, but it was brutally hot and there was endless traffic everywhere. Don't remember too much now (the following Monday) other than how miserably uncomfortable it was in the blazing heat and humidity.

Today (Saturday) was consumed mostly by cleaning up and preparing for Sunday.

Breakfast

No breakfast.

Lunch

Some leftover pasta.

Dinner

Lauren slept over and we basically picked at various things in the refrigerator. Not much of an actual meal was had.

The prodigal son returns

76 days

265.5 pounds

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Objectives

• Week's End: 265.0 (pounds left: 0.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 72.0)
• Ultimate goal: 175.0 (pounds left: 90.5)

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A month off

Partially out of frustration, but mostly out of a need to rebuild my deck, I have not written a thing in a month. When I stopped blogging, it was three days into my construction project and right in the middle of an entry, which I published this morning.

During that time, I have worked hard every morning and afternoon, demolishing the old deck and building a new one in place, and I have sweated up a storm in the process and kept losing weight, although quite slowly. Now, at last, all (virtually) of the carpentry is done and I'm staining the floor a second time and this morning I stained the rails, benches and steps.

Something else started this day as well...a workout. Not a full workout, but a return to my basic stretches and calisthenics. When I dropped the laptop and destroyed the screen a few months ago, one of my prime motivations for working on the machines fell apart. But now, since that time, I have rigged up a TV with a VHS player and can watch movies again while I work out.

The other big thing, of course, is the realization that no matter what happens, I will not lose 100 pounds in the 76 days I have left. But this was never an absolute; whatever happens will happen and I can only try to keep moving in the right direction.

Breakfast

The Thursday heart attack-on-a-plate special, consumed with coffee, orange juice, medicine and vitamins.

Lunch

I ate the rest of Greg's salad from Sunday. It was great. I added some dressing and some grated cheese. Big water.

Dinner

We went to Phil's with Greg and Michelle. I had a glass of chianti and an eggplant parmesan. Phil's portions being what they are, I took half of it home.

Monday on Monday

107 days

271.5 pounds

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Objectives

• Week's End: 269.0 (pounds left: 2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 78.0)
• Ultimate goal: 175.0 (pounds left: 96.5)

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No workout

Very hot and muggy this morning. Got up before 6:00am to work for a client in New Jersey who was going to start by 8:15am. By the time I was done, I just wasn't into it. The rain was coming down so hard, it made me blue.

Breakfast

Coffee, a half grapefruit, medicine and vitamins.

Mid-Morning Snack

More coffee, and a yogurt with Cool Whip.

Lunch

A sardine sandwich on an Ezekiel bun with sliced shallots and a warmed artichoke heart. Baked beans (single-serving 140 calories) and a very Big water.

Sunday on Monday

108 days

272.5 pounds

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Objectives

• Week's End: 275.0 (pounds left: -2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 79.0)
• Ultimate goal: 175.0 (pounds left: 97.5)
• Average weight for the week: 273.9

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Big workout

I got up really early on Sunday to start working on the deck. It was very warm and got warmer as the day wore on. I worked straight through to about 5:30pm, then took a shower and went out. I had such an intense workout that I had severe pains in both legs (citric acid phenomenon, I later learned).

Breakfast

Coffee and both sides of an Ezekiel muffin, with almond butter on one side and Nutella on the other.

Lunch

A hot dog on the grill with ketchup and mustard/relish. Big water.

It should be noted that I was perspiring like a nut all day and drank at least seven very large glasses of water while I worked.

Dinner

Celebrity Diner. Coffee, corn muffin, bacon, eggs and home fries, all well-done (except the eggs, of course).

Saturday is going to be a scorcher

109 days

272.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 275.0 (pounds left: -2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 79.0)
• Ultimate goal: 175.0 (pounds left: 97.5)

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Improvements continue

I totally spaced out Friday. I did some exercise, but a lot of yard work, and today (hopefully) there will be a lot more. Today is supposed to set some kind of heat record (89ºF), so it could be a scorcher.

Yesterday I ate pretty lightly, starting out with my usual oatmeal and coffee; for lunch I had the usual Italian veggie sausage on the grill and there was a key lime yogurt in there somewhere. For dinner, we went to Pollo E Paisa and had chicken, skirt steak, shrimp, salad and San't Gria. Before going out however, I had a pretty stiff dirty martini. When I got home later, I crashed hard and woke up with my clothes on at ten minutes to two a.m.

Breakfast

Waffles and coffee, medicine and vitamins with a swig of grapefruit juice.

Lunch

No lunch.

Dinner

Went to see Alex at Carnegie Hall with Bob and Ann. Had dinner at Rosa Mexicano. Guacamole and Bob and I shared a lump crabmeat enchilada. After the show, we had coffee and I had a piece of wonderful chocolate mousse cake.

Yesterday and Today

111 days

275.0 pounds

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Objectives

• Week's End: 275.0 (pounds left: 0.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 81.5)
• Ultimate goal: 175.0 (pounds left: 100.0)

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What happened?!?! (continued)

Okay. Now it's the middle of the night, actually Friday morning, but we're talking about yesterday (Thursday).

Anyway, around the 20th of April, I started having all this work, like the economy had somehow miraculously fixed itself and all my customers, including several I hadn't heard from in years, started calling, emailing and otherwise trying to book me. I have worked nearly 18 hours a day for the past two weeks and it has been a thrill ride, especially in view of the fact that I haven't had this much work concentrated into a two week period since the fall of 2006, when the economy began to hurt people in my profession.

So I naturally felt compelled to grab this bull by its horns and hang on and that is what I did to the exclusion of pretty much everything else in the past two weeks.

It's not slowing down, or at least it doesn't appear to be, but I've acclimated to the pace a bit better now and am trying to re-integrate myself into my routine.

I didn't always eat properly during this period. In fact, my post on the 19th was titled, "Three checks to see if it was right." It was right then, anyway, but the next morning it was eight pounds higher and got as high as 280 at one point, but then it began to plunge again and in the past three or four days, I started to work out again and started to drink more water and got back in the general direction of where I was headed when I got so happily sidetracked.

Today begins...

Got up nice and early, but the dog had an accident for the second consecutive morning and that kind of derailed much of my workout this morning.

Breakfast

I had some fruit, coffee and a poppy seed bagel with light vegetable cream cheese.

Lunch

I had my Thursday breakfast as lunch today.

Dinner

We grilled chicken thighs, and I also had a nice salad.

Drank lots of water today.