This is increasingly frustrating

321 days

282.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 280.0 (pounds left: 2.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 88.5)

___________________________________________________________

Once again, I yo-yo back up

Weight fluctuations of two and three pounds seem to be the norm lately. I'm trying to regain a handle on things but I'm increasingly frustrated.

I was pretty good last night, but apparently, not good enough. Two and a half pounds gained. Yuck.

Breakfast was Kashi, with sliced banana and some flax. I also ate the last onion pocket with vegetable cream cheese and the last slice of lox. I had coffee and some orange juice with my pills. Lunch was not the usual Wednesday Subway Veggie Delite, I'm sorry to say. I didn't get around to lunch until after 3:00pm and then it was some leftover brisket on a toasted bialy. And dinner was brought in from the chicken place in Mineola. Tasty stuff, a bit spicy. A nice salad to start.

All this would have been enough but I lost control around 10:30pm and had another slice of that pear crumble and a few chunks of Challah.

Armed with new resolve, I go back to work

322 days

279.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 280.0 (pounds left: -0.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 86.0)

___________________________________________________________

Sunny and cold

Miraculously, I managed to actually lose weight, though I attribute it more to having gotten back on my proper schedule and having a good workout.

I began the day with a remaining half of an onion pocket with vegetable cream cheese and a slice of nova, washed down with a cup of coffee and, eventually, some Gjuice with my pills.

When I returned from Westchester, I had a bowl of Michelle's soup, some Z crackers, a few chunks of watermelon and a bialy with vegetable cream cheese and baked salmon for lunch.

Dinner

It was brought in from Mama Theresa's, which is just incredible with all the leftover food that was in our house. I had a grilled chicken salad and an eggplant roll.

Lowering my expectations a bit

323 days

281.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 280.0 (pounds left: 1.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 88.0)

___________________________________________________________

Beautiful, sunny and sleepy

This time I really slept in, until nearly 9:00am. I stretched a little and walked the dog. No change on the weigh in. Last week I flirted several times with numbers in the mid-270's but on balance, I gained a half pound from the week before. So this week, I'm not going to aim quite as low. I'll take it slow and see if I can just end this week lighter than the one just ending.

Some of that effort will be assisted by religious devotion, as today is Yom Kippur and there will be no eating of any kind here until after sundown, so I'll be back with the day's wrap up a little later.

And here it is...

A veritable post-fast pig-out. It began with orange juice, as it always does. Other liquids included two cups of coffee and several glasses of water. If only it had ended there! There was a bagel, with cream cheese and baked salmon. There was whitefish salad, nova, an onion pocket with cream cheese and nova. There was a french toast casserole, fruit, tuna salad, a pear crumble (because they all love me even more than they'd like to see me thin and healthy) and so much more. By the time I was done, I was wishing I was still fasting.

Sunday starts with a soaking rain and a serious gain

324 days

281.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 278.0 (pounds left: 3.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 88.0)

___________________________________________________________

I slept in a bit again

And again, not actually too much. Around 7:30am I started my stretches. I took Oliver out for his constitutional and came in for mine, then headed back to the rest of my routine.

Weight-wise, today is (hopefully) another aberration. I didn't weigh myself until nearly 10:00am and even with all the cheese and crackers I consumed yesterday, I don't believe I really gained back four pounds in a single day.

Still, that's what the scale says so that's what goes in the blog. Better luck next week.

Breakfast

I ate my Saturday breakfast this morning, with a little extra. I had a small slice of Challah with almond butter and my regular half Ezekiel muffin with Nutella and a swig of Gjuice with my medicine.

Lunch

A hodge-podge of leftovers and fruits.

Dinner

With the whole gang hanging around, we had skirt steak, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli and for dessert, some kind of chocolate covered cakey thing and I finally ate my Ralph's ices. After that, I drove Jaime, Dean and Lauren back to their respective domiciles and went home to bed.

Cool, clear and crisp Saturday morning

325 days

277.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 278.0 (pounds left: -0.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 84.0)

___________________________________________________________

I slept in a bit

But not actually too much. Around 7:30am I started my stretches. I took Oliver out for his constitutional. It was beautiful out. Cool, clear and crisp. A gorgeous fall morning. Then I headed inside for mine.

Shortly after that, I was sent to Bagel Boss to get breakfast for everyone. So that came before the rest of my routine. At Bagel Boss, I tasted a small sample of something, which sort of violates the weigh-in rule (weigh before eating), but it was tiny.

Breakfast

This morning it was a blueberry bagel with butter and orange marmelade, a croissant with a little soft French cheese and a tiny taste of Nutella, for the sake of the habit (and by way of small celebration of this morning's weigh-in).

Lunch

Orange mango yogurt with Cool Whip and a few pieces of melon. Then I finished the honeydew melon, which was outstanding.

Dinner

Here's where things got a bit out of hand. Since Robin got a slew of visitors, including her mom, dad, our daughters (with only one significant other), my sister Jane, Keith and Pam. Naturally, there were hors d'oeuvres (or as we Americans like say, "or dervs"). Keith and Pam brought their Z crackers and a large slab of Stilton cheese. I had quite a few of those. Jaime, at one point, put out some really tasty salty chips, and there was lots of fruit.

We consumed all this stuff while watching the Yankees-Red Sox game, which started at 4:00pm and went on until after 7:15pm or so. There was lots of lively conversation and everyone had a lot of fun, I think.

Then Robin sent me out for Zorn's. Keith came with me. We got one and a half rotisserie chickens, one and a half orders of "thumb bits," which is basically fried chicken cut into little pieces, and a bunch of side orders including creamed spinach, broccoli, macaroni and cheese, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, and cranberry Jell-O mold.

So...there was a lot of stuff to eat. And if that wasn't enough, Keith and I made an on-the-spot decision to add two items to the list: a chocolate pudding and a vanilla pudding. I believe each was considered an individual order, but we all shared them.

Snack?

Much later, before finally heading to bed, I came into the kitchen to clean up the remains of the mess. Before coming to bed, I grabbed a slice of Challah (I can't wait for these holidays to be over) and smeared some almond butter on it, folded it and munched it down. My daughters had gone out and bought Ralph's ices, including one for me, but I wasn't in the mood, so I snacked on that instead.

An unusual day

326 days

???.? pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 278.0 (pounds left: ?.?)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: ?.?)

___________________________________________________________

Everything today was deferred...

...because I took my wife for gallbladder surgery at 5:30am. So there was no morning exercise, no morning breakfast and no morning weigh in.

I did, however, manage to consumer a croissant and a black-and-white cookie at the hospital.

But later on, we did get home
And when we did, I did get in my exercise and worked up a pretty solid sweat. While cooling down and before my shower, I had a spicy black bean burger on a Deli Round with sliced red onion, artichoke, sliced tomato, a sprinkling of shredded asiago and ketchup.

I reheated some chicken soup for Robin, with those pesky leftover noodles, and had some myself (a few gulps). I also had an apple, some watermelon and some canteloupe, which I shared with Oliver (he loves melon, go figure!).

We never did have an official dinner, what with Robin, Lauren and I off on various tangents, watching different shows and all. At one point, I took two end pieces of Challah and smeared some almond butter on one and some Nutella on another as a "snack." Later, I took two more and put some reheated brisket between them as a sandwich. And finally, while watching the ball game, I put two veggie sausages on the grill and eventually ate them when they were crisp enough to break.

All in all, not a very good day on the food front. But it sure could have been worse. During the game, towards the end, I wandered into the kitchen hoping to eat another slice of that chocolate mousse pie Robin made last week. My daughter apparently beat me to it, doing me a huge favor. I saw the cleaned pie plate in the drainboard and headed back to the TV, knowing I'd already eaten way more than enough.

Yesterday was probably an aberration after all

327 days

278.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 278.0 (pounds left: 0.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 85.0)

___________________________________________________________

Nice to be back

I weighed in at the "normal" time, which is after exercise, removal of bodily excess (I like that one!) and before eating, and, lo-and-behold, I'm back at this number again. It would certainly have been nice to get under it, but there are still three days left to beat the weekly objective.

Breakfast

Being Thursday, it is the tried-and-true bacon, egg and swiss with salt and pepper sandwich.

Lunch

Today, lunch was more like a series of small snacks. I'll try to reconstruct...

I had some leftover fish from Robin's dinner on Sunday. It was filet of sole, prepared "dry," as in broiled without butter or oil. With that, I had a small bowl of noodles with a small pat of butter, some grated cheese and, eventually, some ketchup. That's one of my guilty pleasures. Probably a bad idea. The leftover noodles should really be tossed, but Robin's having surgery tomorrow and she'll probably want to have some of those in chicken soup tomorrow evening.

As the day wore on, I also had some honeydew melon, a pear, some nice soft French cheese on three crackers and, as I was feeding Oliver, I had some leftover Chinese chicken with string beans.

So you might say I'm fed. Dinner remains to be determined. I also drank three large (i.e., 16-ounce) glasses of water so far today.

Dinner

We went out to Mama Theresa's. I had a slice of pizza and a grilled chicken salad.

And right back off somehow

328 days

281.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 278.0 (pounds left: 3.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 88.0)

___________________________________________________________

This is probably a mistake (I hope)

This morning I broke one of the "rule of threes" rules. I worked until nearly 2:30am and didn't get started on my routine this morning until after 8:30am. I didn't weigh myself until 10:15am, which is about two hours later than usual.

Still, it seems unlikely that those two hours would net me a gain of three pounds over yesterday, especially when I was so good yesterday. I'm sure that slice of mousse could not have been worth that much. So, I'll press on and redouble the effort and tomorrow will be better.

Breakfast

A bowl of Kashi with a little flax and granola and soy milk and a banana, coffee and a swig of Gjuice with my pills.

Lunch

Boring! Same old Veggie Delite from Subway. Very spicy today. Same bag of Chipotle Sun Chips. Huge glass of cold water to wash it all down.

Snack

Around 1:45pm, my lack of sleep caught up with me, so when I woke up from my accidental nap at my desk, I went up and took a real one on my bed. Around an hour later, a phone call woke me up and I was very hungry so I went into the kitchen and made myself another one of those tomato and cheese sandwiches.

Dinner

There is chicken sitting on the counter defrosting, so it's fair to assume it will be consumed this evening. And that did turn out to be a fair assumption, but it was one breast each and nothing else, so I also ate Robin's leftover lunch, which was two more small slices of chicken, with penne and vegetables (broccoli, squash, carrots).

And for dessert...around 10:30pm, another slice of that mousse cake with Cool Whip. This whole operation takes a lot of willpower. Having crap like this in the house really doesn't help. But it was sooooooo good...

Back on track again

329 days

278.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 278.0 (pounds left: 0.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 85.0)

___________________________________________________________

Did I mention lower right back pain?

Almost since this expedition began, I've woken up each morning with pain in my back, lower right, above my hip. By the time I'm done on the machines, it usually goes away. It's mostly a function of age and partially of our bed.

The age part is easy: millions of people suffer from osteoarthritis and one of the places it hits most commonly is the lower back. The older you get, the easier it is to get very stiff from lying down. As a result, I try not to lie down so much any more. If I'm not intending to go to sleep, I'll keep moving, or go to my desk and do some work.

We have a nice solid box bed; I designed it myself and had it built thirty-plus years ago. But it may be getting time to consider putting a new mattress in the box. Of course today, buying a mattress is like spending your life savings, so it's not likely to happen any time soon.

The first time I usually notice the pain each morning is in my stretches. After the stretches I do in my bed, lying down and sitting up, I stand up and get on my toes and attempt to touch the ceiling. I'm six feet tall so this has never really been a problem for me, but when I began doing these stretches again back in August, I couldn't touch the ceiling with both hands at the same time without pain in my lower back.

The reason I mention it at all is that this morning, I didn't have any pain there. In fact, I was even able to touch my toes without pain after that (that's what I do right after stretching to the ceiling). So—with all that and the pound-and-a-half lost overnight—it's all good, as they say.

Breakfast

Tuesday...yogurt (canteloupe-flavored) with Cool Whip.

Lunch

I ate half my lunch today inside Fairway while I shopped for a handful of items Robin forgot to get on Sunday. Using a few slices of baguette that Fairway always has on hand for tasting their various oils and vinegars, I hit the cheese samples for Comte, aged Gouda, Parmesan chunk and a few others whose names I forget. They were all delicious, especially the aged Gouda.

When I got home, I threw a veggie Italian Sausage on the grill. When it was crisp enough to break in half, I put it on an onion roll with some artichoke to cradle it. I added one large habanera-stuffed olive and one green olive and a large glass of water and that was lunch.

Snack

Around 3:30pm, I went up to take Oliver out for a pee. When I came back in, I remembered that there were still three melons to be cut up. It's getting to be the time of the season when melons start going bad really fast, so it's cut 'em and eat 'em time. One was a quarter section of a watermelon, one was a canteloupe and one was a honeydew. Of the three, the honeydew was the closest to ready to go. After a few hours in the 'fridge, it'll be great tonight when I get back from shooting pool (if I go).

When I was done cutting and tasting, I caved in and cut myself a slice of the remaining mousse cake and put some Cool Whip on top. Robin took the container of what was left to work with her.

Dinner

Tonight is Boys' Night Out. I had two slices of pizza—one was spinach and olives, the other was eggplant—and a bottle of Fuze Green Tea. Nothing special.

Came home, had some honeydew melon and went down to work.

The piper is paid

330 days

280.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 278.0 (pounds left: 2.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 86.5)

___________________________________________________________

I knew it wouldn't be good

And it surely wasn't. I had a good solid workout, but last night's dinner was a costly mistake in so many ways. Mostly, I just ate too fast. And yesterday, I did not drink nearly enough water. Water is really key to flushing away all this fat.

Back to basics

Coffee, a half Ezekiel muffin with almond butter, a little piece of the remaining Challah and a swig of Gjuice with my pills and I'm down to work.

Lunch

Before having lunch, I changed into swim trunks and a T-shirt and went outside to mow, edge and blow, and to generate some more sweat.

Back inside, I consumed various small items in order...

1. Some watermelon. The container turned out to have gone bad, so I gagged a bit and tossed the rest.

2. A swiss cheese and tomato sandwich on one of those onion rolls. No condiments, four slices of tomato, three very thin slices of Jarlsberg lite.

3. Some reheated mushroom barley. Had a taste and tossed it. It was awful.

4. The remaining piece of Challah bread with some reheated brisket on it. Very tasty stuff.

5. Some soup noodles with butter, cheese and ketchup.

6. Three teaspoons of leftover chocolate mousse.

After that, I showered again, grabbed a glass of water and headed back down to work.

Dinner

Tonight, we had veal chops and sweet potatoes. We started with a wonderful salad. I hope the results tomorrow morning are an improvement over today. In spite of how many different things I had for lunch, it really wasn't that much food.

Sunday in the frozen north

331 days

278.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: -2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 85.0)

___________________________________________________________

Woke up early and got into action

As I was falling asleep last night, I heard that it was going to be very cold over night—like in the 30's. Still, for some bizarre reason, we left the A/C on, if only on auto-thermostat mode, so it turned on and off, but mercifully stayed off most of the night.

Between stretching and exercising this morning, when I took Oliver out for his walk, it was really cold. It was just barely 40º.

I've been watching "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" while I use the machines for the past several days. I'm somewhere near the end. It was always a favorite of mine but I'd forgotten what a truly great movie it is.

Anyway, it was a great relief to find that I had not gained any weight since yesterday; that the numbers on the scale were real was borne out by their reappearance this morning.

Breakfast

We still have a decent sized chunk of Challah bread in the kitchen so I thought it might be a good idea to turn it into French Toast. I'm going to look for some recipes and see if Robin and Alex want to similarly indulge when they awaken.

That was written very early this morning. As it turned out, in spite of her upcoming gall bladder surgery, Robin did try a piece of that wonderful, buttery stuff. I had three, though I shared a few parts of each with Oliver, who really, really enjoyed it.

Lunch

To counterbalance the awful crime of today's breakfast, lunch was yogurt with Cool Whip and a small piece of Challah and a spoonful of leftover mousse.

Dinner

Here, it seems, some bad decisions were made (like the French Toast was a good one!). After dropping Alex in Sunnyside, we met up with Larry and Shelley at the East Bay Diner down on the south shore. I ordered the Chilean Sea Bass. If that was all I had, it probably would have been fine. But the meal began with a cup of cream of turkey soup, which was quite delicious. Not sure the crackers were necessary. I also ate a few slices of nice warm bread and butter, some Melba toast, two breadsticks and—oh yeah—two little brownie squares while we were waiting for our table.

Salad came next. It was okay. The dressing sucked. I asked for French, but what I got looked more like Russian, which, while distinguished by a fine line, the line is loaded with fat. The fish was an enormous serving, a far cry from the little square I'm accustomed to seeing when ordering CSB. The vegetables were awful; a terrible sweet potato and a cold broccoli, both of which I pretty much left over.

Then there was dessert. Mississippi Mud Cake. The name is bad enough. The minute I was done eating, I wished I'd gone home and just had a yogurt. I guess the way the Yankees played today pushed me over the edge. That and the fact that I had so much work to do and there was so much good TV on tonight. Tomorrow, as Scarlett would say, is another day.

The most beautiful weekend of the year

332 days

278.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: -2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 85.0)

___________________________________________________________

Slept off the terrible ball game

It really was a great ball game, but it ended badly for the Yankees. Can't win 'em all (pardon the cliché). I stayed up too long, fretted too much about what I'd eaten after working so hard all day to keep it off, and watched a sad game after a nice night.

But much to my pleasant surprise, another pound has left and gone away. Very nice. I'll take it.

Breakfast

This is really getting dull, huh? The other half of Monday's Ezekiel muffin was consumed, slathered in Nutella. A teaspoon of leftover mousse was also had, as well as a cup of coffee, a small container of leftover watermelon and strawberries and, of course, my customary swig of Gjuice with the pills.

Lunch

Today it was a small yet mixed bag of ingredients. I had a leftover slab of brisket from last night, a really chewy piece that everyone knew to leave for me. I sliced myself a thin slice of challah bread and folded it with two slices of swiss cheese inside and ate that while the meat heated. I also grabbed a small bowlful of soup noodles and heated them up, covered them in ketchup and sprinkled on some grated cheese. I may have had one of those last night as well. It's one of my guilty pleasures.

Dinner

Tonight's meal is being eaten at Robin's cousin's house in Sands Point. I ate some chips and hummus and celery and broccoli and for dinner, along with a fair amount of Pinot Noir, I had a turkey wing, some Jello mold, some asparagus and maybe some mashed potatoes (can't recall). For dessert, one piece of Sharon's famous "mb" (which I actually ate while cutting the turkey), a slice of the giant chocolate cupcake with whipped cream and a chocolate-covered graham cracker. Could be a tough moment on the scale tomorrow morning.

Later, we came home and watched the game and went to sleep.

Friday after a cold night

333 days

279.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: -1.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 86.0)

___________________________________________________________

It took a while to wake up

I "slept in" for about a half hour. In spite of getting to bed early, it was very hard to get out of bed because for the first time in as long as I can recall, it was cold this morning. We slept with the windows open and the fan on high and the place was chilled like a meat locker.

Great workout this morning. I did a half hour on the treadmill but now I'm mixing in more running. 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds.

Breakfast

The rest of last week's Kashi. The jury is still out on whether or not I'll buy another box. The cold Kashi is way tastier than the hot. And I do love oatmeal. Time will tell. 25 minutes prep plus five minutes sitting covered takes a lot of the incentive away.

It was good, but I'll probably go back to oatmeal on Fridays. I'm not eating a heavy cholesterol diet and I don't have bad numbers, so one bowl a week ought to help keep it where it is or lower.

Lunch

Regular veggie burger, bottom up:

Bottom of roll

Chopped spanish onion

Veggie burger, with melted slice of Jarlsberg Lite cheese

Heated artichoke heart, marinated, spread over top of burger

Ketchup

Top of roll.

Dinner

Brisket of beef. Loaded with good stuff. Mashed potatoes (made with butter and sour cream). String beans and carrots (made by Laurinen!). Mushroom barley. Wine (2 glasses). And mousse au chocolat. Wonderful.

Continuing to make progress

334 days

281.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 0.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 88.0)

___________________________________________________________

Cool, sunny, windy and a pound lighter

Another morning where the scale moved in the right direction. Yesterday, I wore another new pair of pants. It was a little tight. This morning, it's not yet comfortable, but improving.

Breakfast—I went for the sandwich anyway, in spite of eggs having already been consumed. I love that breakfast. Now I'm off on a few errands.

A little rain out there today

But not enough to damped the whole day. Got a bunch of things done and headed home. Had a nice canteloupe yogurt with Cool Whip, some yellow watermelon, some grapes and a few blackberries for lunch.

Once again, I drank lots of water today. And for dinner, we had barbeque chicken with NOTHING else. Weird. I had two legs, two wings and a thigh. After that, a little watermelon and goodnight.

Back in the right direction

335 days

282.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 1.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 89.0)

___________________________________________________________

Cool, overcast, windy and a half pound lighter

I'll take it! Drank lots of water yesterday. Didn't eat all that much after breakfast, but water was definitely pouring around here.

Also, I probably don't mention it nearly as much as the food, but the exercise has really gotten hold of me. I look forward to the workout now, especially as I'm able to do more and more of it. I'm up to seven fingertip pushups, sit ups and that's really starting to feel easier to do.

First, the Kashi

This is not an endorsement, but this morning, I had Kashi instead of either granola or Wheatena. At 140 calories for the serving (before I poured on the soy milk), the big pleasant surprise, beyond the good taste, was how large the serving was. Most other cereals are 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup and much higher in calories. The Kashi is a full cup, so you get the sense of really having eaten a decent breakfast.

Coffee, a little Gjuice with my pills and I'm down to work for the day.

For lunch, for the second consecutive week, it was the Subway Veggie Delite and chips.

Dinner was at The Orient with some friends. I had a wonton soup, a pair of steamed chicken dumplings, chicken with ginger and scallions, shrimp and asparagus with XO sauce and beef chow fun. We had the customary orange slices and later, I had some watermelon.

Last hot day of summer?

336 days

283.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 2.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 89.5)

___________________________________________________________

No change, but not bad

Okay. I didn't gain or lose. Yesterday's lunch and late night snack at the diner notwithstanding, it's not a bad result.

Thursday on Tuesday

My friend Arnie asked me Sunday night "Hey, how 'bout we meet for breakfast one day this week?" I haven't had breakfast with Arnie in a while, like long before I started this program. But in keeping with the part of my plan that says I'm not going to give up the foods I love, I knew this meant a diner or similar place for eggs, sausage, home fries, toast, etc. So that means this week's Thursday breakfast swapped with today's.

Lunch was yogurt with Cool Whip. Drank a whole bunch of water. Exercises were fragmented throughout the day, culminating with a ride on the stationary bike that ended at 6:30pm.

After I ate, I went out and did some work on the deck, fixing a corner table that had broken while I was installing the bench backs.

Dinner was Boy's Night Out! Two slices of pizza, one with meatballs, one with zazeech, and a spinach roll washed down with a bottle of water. And I sure drank a lot of that today.

The goal remains the same

337 days

283.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 2.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 89.5)

___________________________________________________________

The odds are a little better

Since I didn't improve last week, this week's goal remains the same. However, with the loss of one pound from yesterday, I only have two pounds to reach it, where last week, I needed two-and-a-half.

What I ate today...

For breakfast, it was the half Ezekiel with almond butter, the staple and structural keystone (for the moment) of the long-term race. I had black coffee and I swigged a little GJuice with my medicine and vitamins. Oh yes, and I had a very small plastic cup half filled with the new Kashi cereal I bought yesterday and some soy milk.

No fruit. Not even that weird yellow watermelon we had last night. Robin took it to work like it was "Show and Tell."

Lunch was the rest of the leftover Chinese vegetables, the rest of Robin's chicken pizziola and the rest of my fish from last week. It was a big lunch, but it was good. I ate it slowly and enjoyed every bite. All of it was probably no good for me, but at least now it's all gone from the temptation box and I can refocus on yogurt again.

Dinner was a veal chop and a sweet potato. After dinner, I went to a meeting of my girls' softball league. After the meeting, a group of us went to a diner for coffee. I had a blueberry muffin with orange marmalade with my coffee.

I suppose it could have been worse...

338 days

284.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 3.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 90.5)

___________________________________________________________

...but on balance, there was regression

Not gaining any weight after yesterday was a small positive, but the net result is that after a very challenging week, I come up 1.5 pounds heavier than last Sunday. That is not where I wanted to be.

I feel a lot better. The exercise has been great. I drank a lot of water, though probably not enough. Tomorrow morning, I'll lower my sights a little bit and shoot for a better result a week from now.

Breakfast

Pancakes with syrup. Three and a silver dollar on top. Very nice.

Lunch

Lunch was a whole bunch of stuff, like a watermelon yogurt with Cool Whip, some other fruit (a banana?) and half of last week's leftover Chinese vegetables. I put the rest away.

Dinner

Tonight, we barbecued chicken thighs, very tasty. I had a wonderful salad. We also had corn. I drank a few Snapple Green Teas with dinner. Afterward, we had yellow watermelon. Very "we-ud."

Another net gain reverses progress

339 days

284.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 3.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 90.5)

___________________________________________________________

Wherein I again inflate

I believe it was either the shrimp monachina (breaded, fried, gravy, mozzarella cheese) or the three coconut shrimps with lunch, or both, that undid the good work I did all day Friday to ruin Saturday morning.

Breakfast

Just got off the phone with Jaime, my daughter. She says that each time I slip, the next blog includes something I ate that I failed to mention the day before. I'll have to see to doing a better job of recalling what I consume.

This morning's feast was the other half of my Ezekiel muffin, plus the end of an Italian bread cut in two pieces, all toasted and smeared with Nutella.

While I was talking to Jaime, I also consumed one of those little triangular break things you get from Mama T's. It's almost like it has a pocket inside, but not quite. Instead, I use my thumb to make a pocked and poured a little shredded cheese inside. Don't know why.

Put me down for about 400 calories or so before lunch. But I had a nice workout this morning. Worked up a nice sweat on the stationary bike.

Lunch

Well...it all happened so fast. Lunch was some of Robin's leftover chicken, heated up and placed inside a roll. There were a few strands of fettucini in there and some cheese on top—two very thin sliced of swiss cheese. If that wasn't enough, I had some watermelon after that.

Dinner

Tonight, we celebrated my daughter Lauren's 30th birthday with dinner at Vivolo's in Manhattan. There was a nice Pinot Noir; I had three or four glasses. I don't recall exactly. I had a very nice pear, walnut and goat cheese salad, two hot rolls with butter and for dinner I had whole wheat penne with vegetables.

For dessert, red velvet cake with vanilla ice cream. It was wonderful. I even finished another piece that someone left over. Bad boy.

Some go down, some come up

340 days

283.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 2.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 89.5)

___________________________________________________________

What does that mean?

Simply an observation that when you're really overweight, it's easy to lose weight because you only have to eat less than a certain number of calories each day and that number is pretty high.

But as you get into it, as I have now been for not quite a month, you find that as you begin to lose weight, that number drops quickly.

Breakfast

Instead of oatmeal today, I decided to open that old Kashi box in the back of the cereal cabinet above the stove and do it. It says it has to cook for 25 minutes and then sit for another five minutes covered.

With some honey and cinnamon, it was pretty good.

Lunch

I had a spicy black bean burger with melted white American cheese, artichoke, red onion, sweet relish and ketchup. I also had the three leftover coconut shrimps from last night and some watermelon. It was a nice lunch.

Dinner

Taken in from Mama Theresa's, I had Shrimp Monachina and a salad, two pieces of bread, some grated cheese and iced tea. Hopefully, it wasn't too much.

Thursday starts off almost cold

341 days

283.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 90.0)

___________________________________________________________

Stasis

It's really a little too early for me to learn to keep my weight the same day to day; that's something I was hoping to be working on a year from now. I guess I'm going to have to start working harder to lose.

Cold start to the day, down in the low 60s. Feels good to me, but the rest of the local populace must be getting antsy. Last night, we missed the chance to register for the adult ed Defensive Driving course, the one that lowers your car insurance rates. Going to have to find an alternative.

Breakfast

Thursday morning special, tempting the fates. Picked it up on the way home from picking up Jaime's car. Now only one car needs body work. Slow and steady...

Lunch

Salad and watermelon.

A little later (4:40pm), I had a banana.

Dinner

I stopped by the seafood place on the way home from the bank and got us a shore dinner. Baked Chilean Sea Bass, coconut shrimp and crab cakes. It was really great, but Robin couldn't do it. She brought in some nice vegetables from The Orient to supplement.

Finally...Thursday finished cold and ready to get wet. Car is in the garage. Let it rain.

Wednesday is humpday again

342 days

283.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 90.0)

___________________________________________________________

A little more back to normal

I didn't pay as badly as I feared I would. Though, of course, had I not eaten like a garbage truck yesterday and the night before, I probably would have already hit this week's goal.

For breakfast, after my workout, I had a bowl of granola, flax and sliced banana with soy milk and a cup of coffee. I took my pills with a swig of grapefruit juice and went down to work.

For lunch, I did what I said I'd do last week. I went back to Subway and this time ordered the foot-long Veggie Delite, not the Pattie. 460 calories feels a lot better. And it was as wonderful as I remember it to be.

Finally...dinner. Tonight, we each had a veal chop and a sweet potato. Nothing on the sweet potato. Nice big salad before that. Watermelon chunks afterward. I also had an orange mango yogurt with Cool Whip.

Tuesday on the Road

343 days

286.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 5.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 93.0)

___________________________________________________________

Who knows what time I'll be back today?

Night before, I sure don't. Next morning, Tuesday, which this really is, I still don't.

I got up at 4:00am and I did my stuff, but I left before I could finish my post-shower, pre-weigh-in routine. In other words, I was backed up when I weighed in and I weighed in nearly two hours earlier than usual. So I wouldn't put too much stock in that number, but I also wouldn't be too optimistic about tomorow because of what I consumed today.

Thursday on Tuesday

That's right. I got the Thursday special (bacon-egg-and-swiss) with coffee and OJ. For lunch, in Philadelphia, we had a few slices of pizza with pepperoni. That's what I would have had for dinner tonight, but in actuality, I had a leftover hot dog, hamburger AND watermelon. So I can't say I exercised much in the way of self-control today.

Tomorrow, will be a different story.

Followed by a cool Monday

344 days

283.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 281.0 (pounds left: 2.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 89.5)

___________________________________________________________

So I paid the price

Mercifully, it was way less of a gain than I'd feared. But a setback is a setback.

In the "Objectives" box above, I'm making a rule where there wasn't one. At first, I was trying to get to a specific weight by week's end. Now I'm thinking that the weekly objective should remain 2 pounds from wherever the week begins. Naturally, I'll be happy to beat the objective, but I think it's going to be a slog.

Breakfast

1/2 Ezekiel muffin with crunchy almond butter. I got out the actual tablespoon measure to see what a serving of this wonderful sludge looks like. 2 tablespoons is the name of the game and it looks like actually a bit more than I'd been using to this point. So there's something to celebrate!

Lunch

At 10:30am, I'm thinking yogurt and fruit...and it was!

Dinner

If there were pitfalls today, they were here. Big in-law barbeque. Greg and Michelle help out. Great salad. 1.5 hot dogs with mustard, ketchup and relish. Three pieces of barbeque chicken. Killer Kobe burger with red onion. Iced tea. Some cole slaw. Corn, with butter. Watermelon and Apple pie.

The best I can probably hope for is stasis. Am leaving early for Philly. Going to attempt to do my routine at 4:00am.

Cool Sunday

345 days

282.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 282.5 (pounds left: 0.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 89.0)

___________________________________________________________

Even though I may have overindulged a bit...

...I seem to have adjusted the scale of my indulgence.

Breakast

Watermelon yogurt, with Cool Whip.

Lunch

Being a beautiful, dry, 77ºF day, we headed to Tobay Beach. At the beach, I had a blueberry bagel with cream cheese, some grapes, a peach, some pretzel nuggets and too much mondelbread.

Dinner

For dinner, against my better judgement, we went to Pete's Downtown, under the Brooklyn Bridge, with Arnie "Hey, you know where we shoulda gone?" and Randy.

I had Penne Arrabiata (I had narrowed my choices down to Veal Sorrentino, the Penne, Gnocchi Sorrentina and then found out they actually could make me an eggplant parmagiana, but I baled at the last second and went with the Penne, figuring I'd pass on all the side stuff that came with it.

It was quite spicy, and delicious. I didn't have any alcohol. Just water. I also had a salad and I probably ate six or seven little round slices of bread, which was really bad. Several of these were buttered.

So I'm figuring I'll probably gain a few pounds for these indiscretions. Time will tell.

Low back pain as a motivator

346 days

283.0 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 282.5 (pounds left: 0.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 89.5)

___________________________________________________________

Surely I jest, I thought...

...but only for a moment. This morning around 6:30am. And then I actually went back to sleep and nearly blew off this whole exercise thing. I know in my heart if I stopped it would be over; this much enthusiasm for misery is hard to sustain.

Up above here, it says Friday, but it really Saturday.

A few minutes before 7am, I began to have to pee real bad for what must have been the fifth time last night. At that point, I had to get up. I did, then got back into bed, much to Oliver's dismay. Then a few minutes later, the low back pain kicked in and I thought, "Gee...if I just stretch that the other way, maybe it won't hurt as much."

Ordinarily, low back pain would be a good reason to avoid stretching and exercising. For me, though, this morning at least, it kicked me into it, albeit hours after I normally start. But it's Saturday. No hurry. I did it. And it was great. After 20 minutes on the stationary bike, I felt wonderful and I sat down to do some work while I cooled off. Then I took a shower, and then I ate the breakfast above.

Now I'm off to the grocery store at 1pm to get Oliver's stuff.

Breakfast

1/2 Ezekiel muffin with Nutella! And how wonderful it was. Smeared with it and still in under the serving size. I'm getting it. Serving sizes and water. Very good.

Lunch

Yogurt. Cool Whip.

Dinner

In New Jersey, I had some potato chips and some dip, not too bad. I had three pieces of cheese and some crackers. Then I had a Caesar Salad, three pieces of chicken, three ribs, probably three pieces of garlic bread, some slices of parmesan cheese and for dessert, some watermelon. Then we drove back to Long Island.

Great oats and canteloupes

347 days

283.5 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 282.5 (pounds left: 1.0)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 90.0)

___________________________________________________________

That's more optimistic.

Breakfast

Oatmeal, with honey and cinnamon and some Ezekiel Golden Flax sprinkled on for crunchiness.

Lunch

Small bowl of watermelon chunks, followed by a watermelon-flavored yogurt with Cool Whip.

Dinner

For most of the day, dinner was going to be chicken soup, noodles, chicken, etc. But then along came the Claudes with the idea of The Orient. So, tonight, I get to learn how to eat at The Orient without gaining weight. Kiss the noodles goodbye!

While preparing Oliver's dinner, I ate some of his rice. I also had the rest of the canteloupe. That stuff was rockin'.

The Orient. We had a new waiter who had no idea of what he was doing. But I did not eat a single crispy fried noodle from the bowl on the table and I only ate stuff that was good for me and not too much of it. It can be done.

Stasis, the most unusual result yet

348 days

285 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 282.5 (pounds left: 2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 91.5)

___________________________________________________________

I first stepped on the scale this fine Thursday morning at the wrong time. The number was two pounds higher. I wasn't surprised at all, especially after learning the truth about my former friend, the foot-long Veggie Pattie.

Breakfast

After the usual morning routine, which began very late because Robin had a major gall bladder attack at 2am, the number was much better. It didn't go down, but I got away with my last Veggie Pattie. Next week, that sucker becomes the Veggie Delite.

That, however, did not deter me on my quest for the Thursday morning special. I loved it more than ever. I'm still putting it down for the 600 or so calories it could be, but that's a fraction of the big vegetable experience so even though I'm not officially counting calories, I am counting relatives. And relatively speaking, Thursday breakfast is a lesser evil than Wednesday lunch (he rationalized to himself).

Lunch

Key lime yogurt with Cool Whip. A small bowl of cut-up canteloupe. Delicious. Back to work.

Dinner

Dinner was unusual. Robin, because of this whole gall bladder business, can't have this or that or whatever the doctors told her, so she wanted a crepe with jam. So it was a crepe with apricot jam for her and three big pancakes and three silver dollars for me, all consumed, for he very first time in my life, without butter.

I make such good pancakes that it occurs to me that "without butter" is a very "glass-half-empty" approach to pancakes. Instead, I'm going to say that for the very first time, I had them with syrup alone. And they were great...and I will eat them here, or there...I will eat them anywhere!

So long, Pattie, time for a glass of water

349 days

285 pounds

___________________________________________________________

Objectives

• Week's End: 282.5 (pounds left: 2.5)
• Year's End: 193.5 (pounds left: 91.5)

___________________________________________________________

For additional motivation, this morning I decided to add the little block above. I figure it's something beyond just the numbers on the scale that must be confronted to keep me focused on my targets.

This morning's digital electronic revelation was a big improvement on yesterday's, but no definitive indicator of what's going on. I drank a lot more water yesterday than I'd been drinking; that is to say, I drank water yesterday. For much of last week, I sort of overlooked it.

Breakfast

On her way out, Robin informed me that a Kobe burger is on tonight's menu. Mine will be with a slice of red onion this time, instead of sautéd onions; I'll make them for her if she wants them.

For breakfast today, after a good workout and more than 40 minutes on the elliptical barely breaking a sweat (which was weird), I had my customary cup of black coffee but my choice for today was yogurt or cereal. One cereal option I've steered clear of is Wheatena. We love Wheatena around here, but I suspect, for myself at least, that my love of Wheatena has more to do with the butter I melt into it than the taste of the cereal itself. Robin buries hers under a mountain of salt. Each of my kids has their own way of eating it. Ask ten people, you probably get ten different ways they like it.

At 160 calories a serving (that rule is dying hard), each pat of butter being 45 calories of total fat and nothing good for you at all (yes, I'm coming to the awful realization that butter may have to be foregone if I seriously want to lose all this weight), I wondered what I might use instead. After searching online for butter alternatives, none of which appealed to me, I thought of the local favorite at Bagel Boss, something known as a honey-whole-wheat bagel. Hmmm. Honey! So, before hitting the rack last night, I left the honey on the counter with the Wheatena.

The honey added 60 calories, more than the butter, but the lesser of two evils. I don't think I used a full teaspoon of it, and the serving is a tablespoon, but I'm in for 60 either way. Then I sprinkled two tablespoons of Ezekiel Golden Flax on top (for crunchiness). At 180 calories for a 1/2 cup, I'll give myself 40 more calories to bring breakfast to a whopping 260 calories. Add the swig of OJ with my pills and vitamins and I'll round it up to 300. Much more than a yogurt with Cool Whip, but a nice taste change. Now I'll just have to remember the water and keep forging ahead.

Lunch

I went out to mow the lawn earlier, and then drove over to Subway for my habitual Wednesday lunch. I lugged the thing home and began eating it when curiosity got the better of me. How come Subway touts its Veggie Delite but not it's Veggie Pattie?

My first love at Subway was the Veggie Delite. It was crunchy, low calorie and delicious. But it was basically the shell of what I later adopted as my regular Wednesday noon fare: the Veggie Pattie. Sounds healthy, right? It's a glorified veggie burger. When you do the Subway Footlong for $5 deal, and add a bag of Sun Chips (a tiny yet 220 calorie bag), you're staring down the barrel of a 600 calorie gun, and that's without cheese or dressing, both of which are on there. So right there, I'm up over 950 "fer sher" and with breakfast, not doing that great.

Conclusion: next week, I go back to the Veggie Delite, which is much fewer calories and equally delicious and crunchy. And as long as I'm trying to lose weight, I'll either do it as a six-incher or skip the chips. So long, Pattie. It's you or Thursday mornings without my nasty bacon-egg-and-swiss-cheese sandwiches.

Dinner tonight was, as predicted...

...a Kobe beef burger with a slice of Spanish onion and corn (I tried not to use butter but I had to use a pat). But it started off with salad left over from Sunday night. Still worked for me. After I finished cleaning up, I had a very large pluott. It was marvelous.

Weigh-in can be really discouraging

350 days

288 pounds

This really is starting to suck. I ate almost nothing all day until dinner and even then, I was very well controlled. Salad, chicken (two thighs) and those desserts I mentioned yesterday. All that and I'm another half-pound heavier this morning.

All I figure is that I neglected to drink water yesterday, with the exception of a small glass or two. Can water be that big a factor? It's in all the literature. So today, after breakfast, it's going to be waterworld.

Breakfast today was a yogurt with Cool Whip and my medicine with a swig of OJ, then a cup of black coffee.

Lunch was yogurt, cool whip and a little less fruit than yesterday.

Dinner was two slices of pizza, just like a week ago, one with meatballs, one with sausage. They were from Pasta-Eria. No one went out tonight, so I had my normal 'Boys' Night Out' dinner at home with my lovely wife.

And I drank much more water than yesterday.

I'm all set up for tomorrow. Today was a good, productive day.