It's Been A Good Week But A Challenge Awaits!

I've done a good job all week of avoiding the dietary pitfalls that have plaqued me often over the last few weeks. I've stuck to the plan and passed on the the goodies available at the office. On Thursday we had our annual Halloween breakfast, which included biscuits and gravy, tamales, totillas, and tons of pastries. But they also had several different egg dishes and some great tasting sausage. I may have not had nearly the calorie deficit that I had Monday through Wednesday, but I didn't give in to the sweet tooth monster either. My granddaughter did her normal Thursday night cookie bake but I passed. The big test, however, comes tonight. I am the one who gets the task of handing out candy to the neighborhood kiddies. This is kind of like an alcholic getting a job as a bartender. I don't know how I'm gonna do it but I'm sure gonna try.

It was a pretty good week activity wise as well. I played racquetball with Neal Monday and in a tough match, I lost my consecutive win streak. Neal was playing well and I made too many unforced errors. But we played again Wednesday and I've started what will hopefully be another winning streak. Early in the second game, I broke a couple strings on my racquet. I had to go to the office and check out one of their cheap ones. But in a gesture of great sportsmanship, Neal put away his good racquet and played with the el cheapo instead. Pretty cool!
The weather has been great for riding--a little nippy in the morning but real nice coming home. I drove in yesterday after forgetting to put my work clothes in the wife's car (she works at the gym where I go to change and shower before heading to my office a couple blocks away). My legs were also a little tired from riding hard in addition to playing two tough racquetball matches. I tell myself that I'm going to pedal easy sometimes so my legs can recover, but I always seem to put the hammer down once I get going. Once a racer.......

Cuting the Yo-Yo String

I don't know the exact numbers but I would guess that since my 21st birthday I have lost over 250 pounds. During that same timeframe, however, I have gained something like 215 pounds! In 1975 I arrived in Thailand weighing around 230 pounds. Five months later I was down to 170. In 1983 I stepped off the plane in Korea at 227. By the time I came home on leave midway through my one-year tour, I was down to 180. About five years ago I started "doing Atkins" at around 240 and managed to get down to 210. But I again found myself over 240 last July when I embarked on my present lifestyle change. So my history shows that I can figure out ways to get the weight off; however, keeping it off is a different story.

For the last few months, I've pretty much stayed between 200 and 205 pounds. I haven't been as strict about the diet as I was when I was losing the weight consistently. I've allowed my meat portions to gain in size. I eat a lot of almonds and macadamia nuts as snacks. Those are both healthy things to eat, but they are also calorie dense and it's hard to lose weight if I don't control portions. But my real problem has been that I've allowed myself to eat more and more things that I had completely shunned for a year. Example: my 17 year old granddaughter lives with me and every week she bakes cookies for her boyfriend. Well, grandpa has volunteered to try a couple to make sure they taste good. Sometimes I'm still not sure after two so I eat a couple more! :-) AS I TYPE THIS, an email notice just popped up announcing that there is lemon coffee cake available in the conference room! This goes on at work all the time and I've been great at avoiding it--until recently. I've had a few "what the hell" moments. I don't think that indulging in these type of snacks on occasion is that bad, but I've been doing it far too often.

IT STOPS TODAY!

I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm back up to 211. I refuse to allow myself to slip back into old habits. So I'm jumping back on the wagon with both feet today. No more cookies, no cake at the office, NO HALOWEEN CANDY (that's gonna be hard since I'm the one in charge of providing a sugar rush to the neighborhood kids Friday night). I'll have my daily apple but skip the mango, eat smaller portions of meat, and snack on a few baby carrots instead of macadamia nuts. It's time to make a big push and get below the Mendoza line once and for all!!! KILL THE YO-YO!!

A side commuting note: I woke up this morning to the sound of a howling wind out of the north due to a passing front. It took me 40 minutes to ride into work against the wind that included 25mph gusts. The ride home should be fun!!

A Change in Modus Operandi

I've been playing some pretty good racquetball lately. After a long stretch of only winning one out of three games against Neal, I've been winning two out of three almost every time out. That normally comes in the form of winning the first two games, followed by a loss. I think the during that third game I suffer from a little lack of motivation knowing that I've got the two games in the bank, plus I'm usually pretty damn tired at that point. Neal is younger and quicker around the court, which means I really have to hustle to get some points. But it didn't go that way today. After winning the first game, I dropped the second one 15-13 in a really hard fought game. So for THIS third game I was tired, but I wasn't lacking in motivation. It took some real effort but I won the third game. I was exhausted--but it doesn't feel that bad when you put up a "W"!!

It's been a good start to the week. Three days of commuting on the bike, and back-to-back racquetball matches. I think I'll ride easy tomorrow and go sit in the massage chair at the base hospital during lunch!

Cruising with Nicky

Sunday I had the option of staying home and watching the Cowboys play the Rams, or going on a bicycle ride with my grandson Dominic (aka Nicky). As the picture shows, I made the right choice!! We rode around 15 miles altogether including heading out to the pier on the naval air station. We rode at a fairly liesurely pace because I wasn't sure how he would handle the distance; however, he did great! He said he'll be ready to go again next Sunday.

I had a swim meet to officiate Saturday which led to some carb binging. I'm not in self-bashing mode for indulging once in a while. I eat very healthy foods the vast majority of the time so I figure a couple pieces of upside down cake ain't gonna kill me! :-) At some point I hope to make a push and drop another 10 pounds or so, but I'm content with the holding pattern for now.