50 By Christmas

Even though I never wrote it down, I had sort of a silent goal of dropping 50 pounds by Christmas. And I was hoping to hit my second goal weight by Jan. 1st.

Since the last weigh in I have dropped another five pounds, bringing the overall total up to 54 (BAM SUCKER) and specifically 42 since the start of the diet. I am really beginning to notice a difference in how I look. I even enjoy spending a little more time without my shirt! Soon I will be a sexy beast.

One drawback to losing weight: since some of the fat is melting off, back hair has been able to creep through. That is discouraging. Back hair. Ugh.

I am also three measly pounds away from nailing that second weight loss goal. And I have one weigh in left in 2006. Pray me up over the holiday. Seriously. I am lighter than I have been in a few years. And I am learning a lot about weight loss.

And I am learning even more about myself. Soon, the ladies will be all over me. Take a number, sister. Take a freakin' number. Chicks will be charging me like a bull charges a toreador; like Paris Hilton charges her Visa Platinum; like the Knicks charge Carmelo...and finally, like a fat dude charges a Beach Boy.

In other news, Paul McCartney has hired Bruce "Tubesock" Johnston to be his head of security on his 2007 Fall Tour. Apparently he was impressed with how quickly Tube socked it to fans who crave contact with a real 60's idol. (That paragraph plus the last sentence in the previous paragraph is just for you, Dave)

In TOTO: -54 pounds overall / -5 since last weigh in / -42 since start of focused diet.

Navigate by a New Star

In a line from his song "Four Chambered Heart" Tom Russell mentions how people follow misguided wise men who navigate by the wrong star. As we think about the holiday season, that sentence keeps coming back to me.

For so long I guided my physical well-being by the wrong star. Now I am trying to make big life change. It means setting a new star as my focus. That has been the most difficult but most rewarding decision of the entire change.

Another good week. Lost a surprising five pounds. I thought I had maintained but in preparation for the 5K this Saturday, I started walking an extra mile each day. I think that helps. Also a local doctor gave me another way to calculate how many calories I burn. If I walk a fifteen minute mile (which I do, now...not at the beginning - I whined for about seventeen, eighteen minutes) I multiply my weight x .042. That shows me how many calories I am burning per minute while walking that pace. Then I simply multiply (my weight x .042) x how many minutes I walk.

I suppose the correct algebraic equation would be (my current weight x .042)how many minutes walked.

So far I have lost 49 pounds overall, 37 since the start of the focused diet. Man, one pound away from the big 5-0. Next week, I will have lost over half a hundred. Wowsers. Keep praying for me.

Hard, Ain't it Hard

Well, my feet are sore. They hurt from walking everyday. The problem is I am sort of addicted to the walking each day. I HAVE to do it, regardless of when I get the chance to. Sometimes I walk early. Sometimes at lunch. I have even gotten that last mile or two in at around 10PM. But the walking is good. I am up to a brisk two miles each day. In another few weeks, I will add another half mile. I am even seriously considering entering a 5K (of course I would be walking) that is coming up in town.

Woody Guthrie (another famous Okie, not that I am famous...) wrote the song that this post is titled for. It is hard to keep at it. To constantly be counting calories and making sure I am walking. But it pays off. Sometimes the weight loss surprises you. Today was my sixth weigh in. Twice out of the weigh ins I have been disappointed. The first one which revealed once and for all just how big I was and the fourth one where I lost a scant three pounds. The good news was at least I was losing each week, even if it wasn't at the pace I was desiring.

People ask me if I am on weight watchers a lot. When I tell them I am counting calories, they assume it is close to the same diet. But I do think that my approach is much better for me. With weight watchers, as you lose weight you are forced to eat less food, as you lose overall points. The goal is to eventually get you down to where you are not eating so much, I am sure. But my diet allows me to eat more as I go along. By cutting WAAAAYYY back on calories early on, I afforded myself the opportunity to systematically add calories, thus adding food, to my daily diet. Eventually I will be able to eat about three times what I am eating now because my regular activities and my work out will allow it. How many chumps on weight watchers can say THAT?

So this week: Good quiet times in Luke, by the way. I haven't really mentioned much on here in the way of the God stuff because I journal that and it has been very personal lately between me and God. So I save that for me. But I wanted you to know that prayer and meditation have really unlocked a new way of life. You should think on it.

I lost another 6 pounds this past week. That brings the grand total up to 44. And puts me at dropping 32 since I started the new approach to changing my life. Today is a good day.