got up and rode on CT. 

Here's me on 06-28-04, weight = 253.5. 

Veggies with salsa for late night snack (tastes better than it looks :-)).  

Review of Numbers / Motivation

Data Mining

I mined for data this evening and found a nice gradual curve developing.

Applicable numbers:

05-15: 270;
05-28: 267;
05-30: 260.5;
06-01: 263/34.5%;
06-13: 259.5/38.0%;
06-19: 257;
06-24: 255;
06-27: 253.5

In the past 42 days, (6 weeks), I've lost ~14 pounds from what I can gather. That's ~2.33 pounds per week, which seems pretty sensible to me.

I pulled my caloric data for the period in question (of which about one week of data is missing) and here's what I found:

Caloric intake:

06-21 to 06-27

M: 2130
T: 2500
W: 2220
R: 2150
F: 1750
S: 2080
S: 1840

Avg: 2095


06-14 to 06-20

M: 1920
T: 1940
W: 2630
R: 1770
F: 1740
S: 1860
S: 2440

Avg: 2042


05-24 to 05-30

M: 1730
T: 2000
W: 1910
R: 1490
F: 1840
S: 2120
S: unk.

avg: 1848 (/6);

Average for period = 1849 cals/day.

So I am holding, more or less, beneath 2,000 calories by carefully selecting foods (and removing dr. pepper, mostly, from my diet).

MOTIVATION

I think it's very hard to become motivated generally, and once initial motivation begins, it can be hard to sustain the motivation. Often first attempts at weight loss for me has resulted in my frustration at lack of immediate results. But over a sustained six week run at weight loss I've lose 15-20 pounds, and continue to lose approximately 2 pounds per week on average. That's perfect. In one year, the theory goes, I could once again wrestle 167 pounds.

I suppose I have to prepare for the inevitable ups and downs of the battle of the bulge but I have great confidence -- because in the past I know once the train began moving down the tracks, it was much easier to maintain the momentum, rather than trying to get it started from nothing. . .

k

My weight and measurement chart (began sat., 062604). 

Food journal for week ending 06-27-2004. 

Food journal for the week ending 06-27-2004. 

Bowl of cherries for a snack. 

popcorn as a snack. 

sushi I had for lunch. 450 for 6 of em. 

picture of gatorade and my cool new ice cubes. 

Movie Update

Fahrenheit 9/11 was sold out until 1120p, so it was a no go. . .

Movies

I think I'm going to see Fahrenheit 9/11 tonight. And I'm fretting about whether to purchase popcorn and a drink. I suppose it's a stupid guilty pleasure.

I understand on a gutteral level that going to the movies every month or two and buying popcorn and a drink won't change my overall caloric goals (looking at macro rather than micro perspective). I'd just like to be sensible about it -- and also prepare for a life with the temptation of popcorn and soda and embracing it when necessary.

It's funny because popcorn, without all the movie theater pizazz, seems to be totally fine. But by the time they're done drowning it and giving you an avalanche of soda, well, then, it's nothing but a 1,600 calorie crazie thing. . .

In My Future: Running - then Speed Dating perhaps

RUNNING

I haven't been running recently to save my knee(s) from unnecessary pounding and figuring I can get longer more high quality aerobic workouts from swimming and cycling. I've been getting in pretty good mileage on the bike, and also a swim a week; in addition, I've managed to really corall my caloric consumption to between 1,800 to 2,200 calories per day. As a result, I've dropped from something like 265-275 to 254 pounds as of today. That feels good losing between ten and twenty pounds.

I think I will begin to run when I weigh between 245 and 250. Ideally, I'd simply add it to what I'm already doing. More than anything, I think the most important thing is to control calories, as that seems to produce the most weight loss results.

IDEA:
It may be useful to start with walking up long steep hills rather than running willy nilly to begin with; in particular, I think it might be valuable to hike up a canyon or two.

SPEED DATING.

I promised myself in an earlier blog that when I reached 230 pounds I'd return to speed dating. My best guess is that I'm actually losing ~3 pounds per week, so over the past 4-5 weeks, I've lost ~12-15 pounds. At that rate, to lose another 25 pounds will take 8 weeks; so by end of August, roughly, I'd hope to be down in the 230 range.

I do want to be careful and state it's not a goal. I think my "goal" is to simply try to keep the calories at less than 2,000 per day on average; and continue with high quality multi-hour workouts. I may want to sit down and draft a "real" plan/goal, but for now my caloric control systems seems to be working effectively, so I don't want to tweak it too much.

orange for breakfast 06.26.04. 

artistic shot. 

salad for 06.25.04. 

Gatorade for bike ride. 

Cherries and cereal for breakfast (notice the "cherry" theme?). 

My infamous salad. 

Had popcorn and cherries as a snack 

9 piece sushi ate after I left grocery store. 

1/2 sandwich of PBJ for Brunch. 

gatorade for bike ride (at 12noon) 

Lunch; PBJ (1/2 I think), then I made sandwich for class. 

Groceries laid out on counter. This will last about a week (except for popcorn (2 for $3 bucks) and peanut butter). 

groceries purchased 06.24.04. 

Going Out To Lunch

While it's fun going out to lunch with classmates, it also seems to raise my caloric intake.

Actually ended up with two workouts today: 18 mile bike and 2500 yard swim at night. Got hassled by the Nazi working the check-in area (they insist that items must be checked, and refused to allow me to wear a t-shirt to the pool). I'm seriously considering asking them why they are so hard-headed about it.

Had 1/2 can of beans as leftovers. 

Had popcorn.