JANUARY

JANUARY
SUCCESS
one complete month eating well
no chocolate chip cookies, no Oreos, no Hot Chocolate, no chocolate cake, no Hi Ho's, No M&M's (plain or peanut) No Potato Chips, no Bugles, no Hamburger, no Pizza, no Soft Pretzel, no gas-station hot dogs, no free cookies at the hotel, no flavored oatmeal, no Culver's, no Chick-Fil-A, no bacon, egg, cheese bagels at McDonald's, no White Castle, no Tacos at Taco Bell, no Whoppers, no cheeseburgers, no Klondike Bars, no milk shakes, no Brownies, no Hershey chocolate bar, no donuts, no doughnuts either.... In fact, no snacks since this decade began!

I will weigh myself Sunday to see just how much progress I have made.
January was a success!

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LOST MY FOURTH TURKEY

December 24, 2014 I woke up and visited my doctor for a 'wellness' exam. I weighed 309 lbs.

January 21, I reported my weight loss was the equivalent of of one turkey.  I weighed 284.7 lbs

February 15, I reported my weight loss was the equivalent of two turkeys. I weighed 262.6 lbs.

March 15, I reported that my weight loss is the equivalentof three turkeys. I weighed 239.5 lbs.

April 12, I report that my weight loss is the equivalent of four turkeys. Today I weigh 220.2 lbs.

April 11, I reported I have lost 88.8 lbs in 108 days.

I admit that I am completely flabbergasted that I have lost on average .8 pounds per day for 108 days.

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SIDE-BAR: Is flabbergasted a good choice of words to describe how I feel?  FLABbergasted?  FLAB? Isn't flab what I have been trying to eradicate?  Perhaps I need to invent my own word? Now that I think about it... I believe I have been DEFLABBERGASTED!

flab·ber·gastˈflabərˌɡast/verb

informal

past tense: flabbergasted; past participle: flabbergasted surprise (someone) greatly; astonish.
"this news has left me totally flabbergasted"

de-flab·ber·gastˈde-flabərˌɡast/verb

informal

past tense: deflabbergasted; past participle: deflabbergasted surprise (someone) greatly; astonish by an amazing loss of flab
"this 1000 calories per day diet has greatly deflabbergasted me, and I lost nearly 90 pounds"

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1.   

88.8 lbs = FOUR TURKEYS

Naturally, I needed to return to the supermarket four a fourth time to take a new picture.  Photographs don't always have sequels.  This one does.  It is Turkey IV.

April 11, 2015: These four turkeys that I appear to be struggling to hold weighed about 80 lbs. (close enough to approximate the 88.8 lbs that I have lost so far) It is not just that I appear to be struggling, I was struggling!  (Believe me, trying to hold nearly 80 lbs of frozen turkey is not so easy - which of course, is the point.  I was carting around an extra 88.8 lbs, 24 hours per day prior to December 24, 2014, and that's not so easy either!)  I am wearing for the very first time, a pair of 38" waist cargo shorts - but soon enough, I will be fitting into a pair of 36" shorts which I have already managed to squeeze into.

March 15, 2015: These three turkeys that I appeared to be struggling to hold weighed about 65 lbs. (close enough to approximate the 69.5 lbs that I had lost at this point of my journey) It was not just that I appeared to be struggling, I was struggling!  (Believe me, trying to hold 65 lbs of frozen turkey is not so easy - which of course, was the point.  At this point, I was remembering that I had been carting around an extra 69.5 lbs, 24 hours per day prior to December 24, 2014, and that was not so easy either!)  At the time, I was wearing for the very first time, a pair of 42" waist slacks.

FEBRUARY 14, 2015:  Back on this date, I weighed myself

and discovered that I had lost 46 lbs since December 24.

I had wanted to hold two turkeys that weighed 46 lbs, and 

the two turkeys that I did find only weighed 42 lbs.

For the purposes of the photo - that was close enough!

(I was wearing my 44" waist blue jeans at the time.)

JANUARY 21, 2015: Way back on that date, I had lost 24 lbs and posed with a 23 lb turkey to visualize my accomplishment.  On that date, I was happy to wear my size 48 waist blue jeans.  They have long since been donated to Goodwill. 

SATURDAY MENU

breakfast    two sunnyside up eggs, two slices turkey 'bacon'                     190 calories

lunch          CHICK-FIL-A  hearty chicken soup, Asian Salad                         600 calories

dinner         CABBAGE SOUP BOWL, 2 CUPS CABBAGE SALAD                 138 calories

total calories consumed 928 CALORIES

CALORIES BURNED

7AM elliptical 32 minutes   497 calories

SATURDAY NET CALORIES     431 CALORIES

Today, I took a long walk with my daughter all over Chicago.  Our first stop was going to be Jason's Deli.   We walked the 1.6 miles from our home directly to Jason's Deli only to discover that since it is in downtown Chicago in the heart of the business district - it is closed on Saturdays!   So, instead we went to Chick-Fil-A.   Chick-Fil-A is a place that I used to enjoy when I was heading towards 309 lbs - I often had two classic Chick-Fil-A sandwiches (Each classic Chick-Fil-A sandwich is 440 calories plus waffle potato fries 400 calories. My typical Chick-Fil-A meal in my 'old days' was 1280 CALORIES! )  Today, before I ordered, I perused the nutritional information online and discovered that I could have a rather large and delicious meal by selecting a soup and salad.   And that was how my daughter and I started our day.   So, now I have another 'new' place to visit and find a quick, good, and healthy nutritious meal.   Above is a photograph of my Asian Salad.