We stayed home and ate the dogs

359 days

286.5 pounds

Plans always seem to have a way of changing. I took a break in the afternoon to watch the ballgame. The Yankees got spanked, 14-1. The pitcher who did it to them had surrendered a home-run to Derek Jeter on August 8th in Yankee Stadium. The game was probably over already, but that sealed it shut tight. The night before, in his major league debut, he surrendered a walk-off home run to Alex Rodriguez to end a 15-inning scoreless nail-biter. So, I suppose he deserved a chance to finally beat them.

I didn't watch the whole thing; as a fan, it would have put me into too much of a funk. But it also sets up the grudge match tonight between Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia, the two pitchers with the most wins in the American League. During that game, I will be working the show in Westbury. Hopefully, Paul will have it on in the bus during the first set so I can catch a little of it.

So what happened last night?

We didn't go out. There wasn't really a movie we wanted to see. The heat wave was still on and the humidity wave was even worse and Hurricane Bill was still stranded off the coast. We just didn't feel like going out. Around 7:45pm, we decided it barbeque two hot dogs each and eat them with mustard and sauerkraut. No side dishes. We ate a bunch of canteloupe, honeydew and watermelon for dessert and went back to our respective machines a little longer, then went to bed, falling asleep watching "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," a totally silly, mindless Adam Sandler film. Certainly not a very good movie, but worth a few laughs.

All those same conditions are in place today. And I still haven't heard from Lauren since last Sunday night. But today, or tonight, we're going to have some fun.

Maybe this is really it this time

I sure hope so anyway. Staying motivated, obeying the alarm clock, getting the exercise done early has been the key to the first seven days.

I started today with a good solid workout, expanding my treadmill time to more than a half hour. I lost yesterday's gain (I knew I would) and lost another half, making it a solid seven pounds. Way beyond the pace I wanted to follow, but a person my size can afford to shed more than two pounds a week in the beginning of a program like this. When you get right down to it, it's really pretty straightforward, mathematically speaking. My father always said that if you take in less and expend more energy, you will lose weight. But all his life, he had weight problems too.

Before the day is over, I've got a bunch of work to get done, I've got to remember to feed and walk Oliver around 3:00pm, which he's not going to like all that much, and then head over to the show. Not sure what the menu will be for today, but when I end this session (it's 9:00am Sunday morning as I write), it will surely include a cup of coffee.

When my head hits the pillow tonight, I will have survived the first week.