Where do I go from here?

3 months down. 26.5 pounds down, which is no small feat. But I'm stuck. I first passed this weight on July 12, so I've been kinda treading water for almost 2 months. Here's where I am:

• I am having trouble keeping myself from eating the food in front of me.
• I am having increasing trouble keeping myself from going to get worse food from drive thrus.
• My legs are starting to hurt around the knees and elsewhere. That could certainly be related to yoga stretching unfamiliar things and slowing down my aerobic work.
• My exercise and motivation to do so are slipping severely.
• I'm tired of blogging.
• I've stopped checking blood sugar regularly although it's still light years better than May.

On the other hand:

• I am wearing 3X clothes that haven't fit me in a few years (ie, seem to be down from 4X).
• The belt I bought in June is hovering between the 5th and 6th notch - it was at the 3rd when I bought it so almost ready for the next belt.
• I've ridden, walked, and played more than I thought I could, and never would have expected to make it through 8 yoga classes.
• I've been outdoors more this summer than I have been since college.
• I make a mean scrambled egg.
• I've raised over $650 for the Buffaloe Scholarship.

So what now? Much like Dexter, I feel a need to change up the code, to keep myself motivated and moving forward. All time scales beyond TODAY just seem counter-productive, so I'll try the following:

1. Eat 5 servings of fruits/veggies.
2. Eat no more than 1 chocolate-inclusive snack.
3. Look for protein and fiber at each meal.
4. Drink only water.
5. Exercise at least 10 minutes on the jump rope or 2 miles walked or 4 miles biked (ideally more).
6. Write up the posts each day. Weekends will be exercise-only.

Will it work? I don't know. I like the progress I have made, but can't help doubting what I'll do now. I'll keep the site updated.

Review to Date (through Week 10)

I've fallen off the review wagon a bit, so here's kind of a sum-up. I'll try to get better about weekly updates.

Total Pounds Lost: 27.9 pounds (4.4 pounds off my best, but still 7.73% off the original and my 5th-best day)

Total Days with Workout: 57 out of 69 days, encompassing 150.5 miles walked, 62 miles biked, 2 evenings of basketball, 2 yoga classes, and 2 bowling outings

Amount Raised for the Buffaloe Scholarship: $667.90

A few years ago, either on my 29th or 30th birthday, I set an internal goal of losing 30 pounds by the next birthday. I could never even get started as the goal just seemed too big (and I obviously failed to start a blog). This summer I lost it in 2 months, and that's just cool. It's still amazing me how much I can do if I just push a little bit. Even though my eating's not as good as it initially was, the activity is still a huge gain this summer.

Also, if I may be permitted to brag, I just got the results from my blood work taken on Wed July 29 (comparisons from a mid-May set of tests).

Glucose (expected 65-100, I've been told 90-130): 129, down from 188

Hemoglobin A1C (long-term average blood sugar measure, expected 4.0-6.0): 5.5, down from 8.1

Triglycerides (cholesterol-type chemical, expected under 150): 148

That feels incredibly good. It accomplishes a tremendous part of the goal for this effort, although I still want to push all the numbers further down.

Weeks #7 and 8 In Review

Pounds Gained: 3.4

Miles Walked: 18

Miles Biked: 8

Hours of Basketball Played: 1

Amount Lost for the Buffaloe Scholarship: $9.70 ($620.30 total)

It's been a weird couple of weeks, with some other work and personal stuff affecting my mood and discipline. Can't really blame anything externally, though - my discipline's really slipped further with the eating. I feel like exercise has held pretty steady, though, which I am proud of. I actually just signed up for 8 yoga classes in August to add something new. I also picked up some different stuff at the grocery store - pre-cooked microwaveable stuff that might spice up my meals a bit.

Another huge round of thanks to people who have been so helpful - Alyssa for teaching me to cook nutburgers, Scott for helping with exercises, and stretching, so many people willing to walk with me, and all of the encouragement from all of you. It's really made a difference to have people to lean on through this project.

A little administrative note - July will end on the morning of July 31 instead of the morning of August 1. That's a flat-out cheat to allow me to celebrate my birthday however I feel like it on Friday and not have it impact a major measurement like the end of the month. I feel like I have a chance to have lost 10 pounds in July, but am not banking on it. My main priority is staying about where I am today so I've gone 25 pounds total.

Weigh-In July 19, 2009

337.8 pounds

Incremental Gain: 1.6 pounds

Monthly Loss: 1.8 pounds

Total Loss: 23 pounds

Not in a good place mentally, so will skip the total review for the week. Trying to revert to a happy, maintainable medium. Also tried to prep a bit by making up a trail mix from nuts at the grocery store - a 1/2 cup is about 445 calories, 37g fat, 18g carb, 6.5g fiber, and 11g protein.

Week #6 In Review

Pounds Lost: 6.2

Miles Walked: 15

Miles Biked: 11

Games Bowled: 2

Amount Raised for the Buffaloe Scholarship: $131 ($630 total)

A beautifully plummeting kind of week. I don't know exactly what to think, but I have a feeling there could be a rebound that will see me slightly gain weight this week. Maybe I'll be wrong - I hope so.

I'm trying some things this week by pre-cooking chicken tonight and using some store-bought trail mix to add a little protein and variety to ye olde diet. We'll see if it works - I definitely need to avoid having quite so many meals at restaurants.

I also want to up the workouts a bit. The last 2 mornings have been good hours outdoors, but I'd like to increase my strength as well as my endurance, so might add some repeated uphill segments to the bike rides and look for other opportunities. Hopefully some basketball if my Thursday nights ever open up (not this week), and eventually even racquetball again.

In the Woot! Celebrate! category, I tried on my suit pants, whose waistline in September couldn't even meet up around me. They fit. And that's just cool.

Week #5 In Review

Pounds Lost: 1.9

Miles Walked: 17

Miles Biked: 10

Amount Raised for the Buffaloe Scholarship: $44 ($499 total)

First off, thanks for the encouragement! Reminded me why I'm doing this in the public eye, and I've gotten lots of good ideas. As this weekend was a serious slide for me, it was nice to see the weight similarly un-understandably not going up, so I'm feeling pretty good whatever the scale says each day.

June In Review

Seems like a good time to take stock.

In June I:

--Lost 21.2 pounds, or 5.9% of my body weight

--Saw the 330s for the first time at least since I got married (the last time I really checked weight was trying to be a better fiance/husband)

--Lost 3.7 pounds in a single day (twice!)

--Gained 3.9 pounds in a single day (must ... keep ... humility) (or find it to begin with)

--Dropped my fasting blood sugar by 53%

--Bought a new belt, and another to shrink into

--Walked 73 miles

--Got a gold star at the gym for my walking

--Biked 16.5 miles

--Bowled 2 games (OK not everything on this list is impressive)

--Worked out 25 times, at least 5 times each week

--Saw the sun rise

--Raised $449 for the Judy Buffaloe Memorial Scholarship with pledges of about $2600 when I hit 75 pounds

--Started this blog, and kept up with it every day

--Got 73 comments from and exchanged an additional 77 emails with supportive readers like you

--Ate 1 burger

--Ate 9 partial servings of fried side dishes (cheese sticks, fries, etc)

--Ate 49 chocolate treats

--Ate 56 servings of vegetables

--Ate 49 servings of fruits

--Ate 15 turkey sandwiches

--Ate 78 pieces of bread

--Ate 22 servings of peanut butter

--Ate 17 salads

--Ate 12 frozen dinners

--Drank 161 glasses of water

--Drank 44 sodas

--Bought 20 meals from restaurants

Week #4 In Review

Pounds Lost: 0.5

Miles Walked: 18

Amount Raised for the Buffaloe Scholarship: $15 ($455 total)

I'm getting frustrated. Not about the walk-canceling effects of last night's indulgence, but overall. Can eating the amount of calories (even if not the healthiest mix yet - I'm working on that) I'm eating, and working out as much as I am cause someone to gain weight to 340 pounds? I don't think so, so how is it sustaining me here? I feel like I'm already eating less (not on purpose - working on smartly increasing the amount) and exercising more than I'm likely to on a life-long pattern, so how is 340 the result?

Part of my frustration is that my discipline is steadily falling away. Surprisingly not on exercise (my 2 off days were the results of a weird week at work), but my better dietary inclinations are being nibbled away. I think I can reassert them (I can stop whenever I want to! isn't that the cliche?), but it does make me nervous about keeping this up. And it's tougher to keep myself in line when efforts don't lead to results. Right now exercise efforts are generally having results, but not so much food efforts.

Another surprise to me is I've had no thoughts about quitting. But at the moment, it just feels too hard to even think about much. And it leaves me with no reserves to tackle a surge at work, or other things that come up. It's a long, slow slog with no end in sight.

At this point I could use 1) encouragement (thanks to many of you who have provided that with no prodding needed, just still need it), and 2) ideas for snacks to improve my protein intake.

Thanks again for everyone's support.

Week #3 In Review

Pounds Lost: 8.7

Miles Walked: 20 (10 in the HEAT!)

Miles Biked: 3

Amount Raised for the Buffaloe Scholarship: $204.80 ($440 total)

Outdoors exercise seems to induce the biggest losses - I'm a little flabbergasted at this morning's weigh-in, but I'll take it. It's nice to see that a limited indulgence like yesterday's McDonald's lunch doesn't derail my effort. And my glucose has been under 130 every day since Tuesday. I can do better on that (it's usually in the 120s), but it's a great level to reach.

I also managed no chocolate last week, despite watching people eat delicious chocolatey desserts. I've taken a mini-break from that today (so far a dark chocolate cherry granola bar and some sample chocolate bits at HEB), and am rewarding myself with 2 frosted chocolate Pop Tarts split over 2 breakfasts sometime this week. Besides that I'm going to try to stick with that plan a second week.

Everything is still clicking pretty well. Exercising more than I dreamed I ever could consistently, generally eating well (and always better than I did before this month!), and continual support from all of you, on- and off-blog, well, it's just been an amazing month so far. I'm sorry I've been bad about replying to some emails - I promise I will get back to everyone.

Week #2 In Review

Pounds Lost: 0.9

Miles Walked: 21

Amount Raised for the Buffaloe Scholarship: $102.70 (total $235.20)

It was the best of weeks, it was the worst of weeks. One really bad day, another I-don't-know-why weight-gain day, but that's still 5 positive days. Exercise is getting easier (thank you for all the great suggestions!).

I've started to have a few times where I'm wanting to eat things not on the list. Not hunger, just wanting. I know I'll need to increase the variety, but I still need to get the blood sugar under control - which it is this morning for the 2nd day out of the last 2 weeks. I do want to try blocking specific things out occasionally to force myself to a little more creativity - this week I'm going to leave out chocolate. One person suggested taking out all the bad stuff for a while, and see if I still like it afterwards. Let's see what happens.

Your generosity continues to astound. I'm up to $18/pound with a $950 bonus for hitting my goal. I also have a $200 bet with my cousin on who loses the highest % of body weight by December 31. Naturally I set the starting weight on Thursday, so technically I'm now at -1.3%. Hopefully she appreciates the lead I'm spotting her.

Week In Review

Pounds Lost: 11.5

Miles Walked: 10

Miles Biked: 7.5

Games Bowled: 2 (these were lesser quality performances than my walking-while-reading and even my neophyte biking, but I rarely get to use the phrase ChuckSMASH! in other situations)

Amount Raised for the Buffaloe Scholarship: $132.50

One person asked me to post what's different in my life each week from this.  This week was a great start.  I don't expect to keep up this kind of velocity on the weight, but that's OK.  While the tracked goal is weight loss, that's because it's quantifiable and easily sharable with all of you.  The end product of this process needs to be a maintainable lifestyle that keeps me healthy.

The walking/biking every day has surprised me with its sustainability.  I really thought my knees or feet would protest, but they've felt excellent all week.  I would like to thank the Pflugerville Rec Center for resurfacing their walking track this spring - it's made a huge difference!

I'm (overly?) proud of myself for what I've eaten this week.  I'm not perfect, there's still things I need to do less or more of, but any one of these days would be the healthiest day of most weeks I've had.

I'm nervous after this morning's weigh-in.  Rationally I know this is the danger of frequent weigh-ins, and that the momentum is still built, but it scares me a bit to think that my activity and eating levels the last 2 days could sustain me at 350 pounds.  I hope these fears will go away soon.

The main feeling this week has been shock and awe at how all of you have responded beyond my hopes when I started this blog.  10 individuals/companies have pledged $11/pound, $1/workout, books for meeting my monthly goals, and $850 for meeting the 75-pound goal so far, and 31 of you have contacted me with support and encouragement.  That's been a huge difference-maker in keeping up the exercise and healthier eating each day.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.