270.8 lbs MONDAY MORNING

Most people do not brag about weighing north of 270 lbs.
Even today, I am not 'bragging.'
It is also true that most people did not weigh 297 lbs when they woke up on New Years Day.
Nevertheless, I am one of those people.
So I will allow myself to be pleased that I am not too far away from getting into the 260's.
It does matter what you weigh today, that makes one happy.
It kinda depends on what you weighed a month ago.
I am going in the write direction.

BAD PARKING SPOT

This picture is one type of bad parking.  My 'bad' parking spot yesterday morning was nothing like this.

Yesterday morning, before my appointment, I wanted to buy  coconut water at a Walmart in the suburbs. I parked my car and I walked three miles before I entered through the front door. One might think that I had found a particularly bad parking spot. That was not the case at all. I simply found a way to squeeze in a three mile walk before I crossed through the front door of the store.  As it turned out, this mini three mile suburban hike was my longest walk of the day, so I was glad to have squeezed it into my schedule.

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line - but  that's no way to accumulate steps on your fitbit.

Your Food Diary For:

Friday, October 20, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Grits	300	66	5	6	930	3
	300	66	5	6	930	3
L U N C H
Mostaccioli w/Meat Sauce	350	51	9	16	728	9
Shrimp - Cooked, breaded and fried	250	12	13	22	355	0
	600	63	22	38	1,083	9
D I N N E R
Shrimp Spring Rolls	250	26	13	6	647	1
Vita Coco - Pure Coconut Water	270	66	0	0	450	66
	520	92	13	6	1,097	67
S N A C K S
Colby & Monterey Jack cheese	160	0	14	10	260	0
Dark Chocolate Almonds	220	17	15	4	0	12
	380	17	29	14	260	12
Totals	1,800	238	69	64	3,370	91
Your Daily Goal	2,597	324	86	130	2,300	97
Remaining	797	86	17	66	-1,070	6
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 667 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 219.5 lbs in 5 weeks     

.

SATURDAY - WEIGH IN

238.0 lbs

underwhelming progress for the week, but progress nevertheless.

.

I am down 24 pounds in the last two months. This is a testament to how far backwards I had gone. The good thing is that I finally reversed course and I am now skiing downhill!

.

ROAD TO RECOVERY

This past Saturday morning, I stepped on my scale and I was dumbfounded by where the imaginary digital needle was pointing.  It pointed to 218 lbs.  This was simply impossible - and yet that is what the scale was reading.  This morning, Monday, I stepped on the scale again to see how I was progressing this week and the same imaginary needle on the same scale pointed to 213 lbs.  This is far more acceptable and seemingly more real.  I am still trying to figure out how (or why) I was retaining so much water last Saturday (too much alcohol the night before? too much sodium?)  Anyway, it does appear that this 'emergency' has passed.  Now I can look forward to my one year anniversary, December 24, with a bit more enthusiasm.

.

Your Food Diary For:

Sunday, December 20, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Trader Joe's - Joe's O's Cereal, 224 g (1 cup)	800	160	16	24	1,280	8
Red Delicious - Medium Apple, 2 apple	160	44	0	0	0	34
	960	204	16	24	1,280	42
L U N C H
Chicken Soup for the Soul - Chicken Tortilla Soup, 2 cup	300	46	7	14	1,280	6
Red Delicious - Medium Apple, 2 apple	160	44	0	0	0	34
	460	90	7	14	1,280	40
D I N N E R
Trader Joe's - Organic Triple Ginger Instant Oatmeal, 4 Packet	560	108	8	12	360	40
	560	108	8	12	360	40
Totals	1,980	402	31	50	2,920	122
Your Daily Goal	3,171	396	105	159	2,300	119
Remaining	1,191	-6	74	109	-620	-3
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 1,241 extra calories from exercise today

.

       Your Exercise Diary for:

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
MATRIX ELLIPTICAL	92	1,430
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	-189
Daily Total / Goal	93 / 30	1,241 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	886 / 210	13,136 / 4,130

.

.

total calories consumed 1980 calories

total calories burned (elliptical machine) 1430 calories

total net calories 550 calories

.....................

fitbit day 109
11256 steps

.....................

.

JUST CAN'T WEIGHT FOR THIS POLICY TO HIT US AIRLINES...

This morning, an article that I saw on the drudgreport.com got my attention which was linked from the Daily Telegraph UK website.  I have duplicated the article below.  Is there any doubt that this system will eventually come to United States Air Carriers?  The airlines currently charge for a multitude of 'services' that one would have never been able to imagine being offered a la carte a decade ago.  There is no doubt in my mind that this is coming to an airline near you...

Uzbekistan Airways to weigh passengers before boarding

Uzbekistan Airways plane in Frankfurt, Germany Photo: Alamy

By Soo Kim

7:06PM BST 12 Aug 2015 Uzbekistan's national carrier plans to weigh passengers with their hand luggage before boarding as part of a new ‘flight safety’ measure

Uzbekistan Airways passengers will be directed to a “special weighing machine” at the departure gate, to determine each person's average weight with their hand baggage.

The airline said that individual passengers' weights would not be disclosed, and “full confidentiality of results is guaranteed”, with the weighing machine only categorising passengers by sex and into adult and child groups.

“According to the rules of International Air Transport Association, airlines are obliged to carry out the regular procedures of preflight control passengers weighing with hand baggage to observe requirements for ensuring flight safety", the company said in a statement.

The Tashkent-based airline, whose motto is "safety, stability, comfort", has not made it clear whether larger passengers will be charged a fee, or excluded from flights on smaller planes.

It is also not known what measures would be taken should the total weight of the passengers and their hand luggage appear to exceed an aircraft’s weight limit and guidelines.

More than 44 per cent of those 20 years and older in Uzbekistan were found to be overweight, while nearly 15 per cent were obese, according to estimates from 2008 reported by the World Health Organization. The report predicts that in 2020, 13 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women in the same age group will be obese.

Uzbekistan Airways operates numerous routes throughout eastern Europe and Russia, and between London and Tashkent. It is sometimes used for internal or regional flights by tour operators offering "Silk Road" and central Asia tours.

Uzbekistan has some fascinating old cities, but would you be happy to be weighed before a flight to get there? (AP)

Telegraph Travel received an overwhelming response to a recent story on a man who attempted to sue Etihad Airways after he claimed he was left with back pain from sitting next to an obese passenger. Claire Mackichans wrote that her husband endured a nine-hour flight from Los Angeles next to a large gentleman, whom she said was so overweight, "he needed to shuffled sideways along the aisle and bring his own seatbelt extension onto the flight with him. He intruded at least 20cm into my husband's seat and was so large he couldn't fold down his tray table. Virgin Atlantic flight staff were unhelpful when my husband complained on two occasions during the flight. He had paid for a seat but was having to share half of it with another passenger. No other seat was available apparently."

Uzbekistan Airways is not the first airline to keep an eye on passengers' weights. In 2013, Samoa Air became the world’s first airline to charge passengers by their weight rather than per seat, in a bid to raise obesity awareness and improve public health. The Pacific island nations served by the carrier have some of the world's highest rates of obesity.

The Pacific national airline allows passengers to nominate their weight and then measures them on scales at the airport. Passengers do not pay for a seat but pay a fixed price per kilogram, which varies according to the length of the route. At the time, the head of Samoa Air, Chris Langton, said the system was fairer and that some families with small children were now paying substantially cheaper fares.

In the same year, the airline also introduced a special "XL class" to cater for larger passengers, creating a a wider row on its aircraft for passengers weighing more than 286 pounds (130 kilograms).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

 Wednesday MENU

breakfast   oatmeal, poached eggs, center cut bacon, corn thins             780 calories

lunch         fuji apples, granola, wasabi peas, mango, cacao goji           1228 calories

dinner       Sante Fe Chicken Chili, Mariano's spinach salad                   750 calories

SNACK    ginger chews, Kariba Farms organic dried pears                    245 calories

total calories consumed 3123 calories

calories burned

PRECOR EFX elliptical machine, set to fat burn, level 20 resistance, level 20 inline , 125 min    1757 calories

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

Wednesday net calories 1366 calories

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

I particularly enjoy using the PRECOR EFX elliptical machine at my Chicago YMCA as I look forward to completing my workout and taking a snapshot of my 'stats' when the workout is complete.

PERSONAL 30 YEAR DROUGHT WILL OFFICIALLY END TOMORROW

Tomorrow, for my customary Saturday weigh-in, I will be comfortably under 220 pounds.  The last time that my weight was in the 'two hundred teens' was during the Reagan Administration.  I can recall that the last time that I dipped below 220 lbs, I continued all the way to 199 lbs and that was way back around 1985.  I remained at 199 lbs for 'about five minutes.'  It has been thirty years since my weight was south of 220 lbs.  I am going to be very happy to this streak end.

Three times in my life I have lost some significant weight.  I don't think of myself as a YO-YO dieter as my three weight loss trips have been separated by such extreme long periods of time.  Perhaps, I can be labeled as a Yo-Yo dieter based on the fact that this is the third time in my life I have lost lots of weight.  Nevertheless, I am hoping to make this my final trip from fat to thin. 

In 1985, about a decade after graduating form high school, I had ballooned up to 250 pounds, and sometime during that year I dropped 51 pounds and reached 199 pounds although it was a brief visit.  I remember that I remained at 199 lbs for just a few days.

In the Spring of 2007 before my 13 year old daughter started Kindergarten I had ballooned all the way up to 300 pounds.  For only the second time in my life, I made some changes and watched my weight decline all the way to 220 lbs before whatever willpower allowed me to get there - simply vanished.  I was 220 pounds for a few weeks before the long march back to 300 pounds and beyond.

Currently, I am in the middle of my third (and hopefully final) giant weight loss journey.  This journey began on December 24, 2014 when I visited my doctor for 'wellness exam' and 'discovered' that my weight had exploded all the way to 309 lbs.  Since, that date, and through last Saturday, I have shed 89 lbs. I expect that tomorrow, when I step onto my scale I will be where I have not been for thirty years.

It is my belief that the last time that I was under 199 pounds might be sometime when I was a Freshman in college in 1976.   My goal has been to comfortably duck under 200 lbs and if/when I am successful getting there - it will be the first time that I am comfortably under 200 lbs in 40 years. That is really a streak that I am looking forward to ending!

Since I easily remembered losing 80 pounds in 2007 that I felt sure that I could do it again once my willpower ended its near decade-long hibernation.  This time things will be different.  I started this journey with a rudimentary plan to lose the weight and then maintain the weight loss.

Today is Friday morning, time for one more day on the self-named, Rabbi Hillel Diet/Lifestyle before my weekly weigh-in tomorrow.  Each week, I look forward to the Saturday weigh-in with great anticipation - and tomorrow - will be especially meaningful to me.  See you tomorrow!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
THURSDAY MENU
breakfast oatmeal w/prune, two poached eggs, two slices turkey 'bacon'                          355 calories
lunch       spinach salad, with chicken and cherry tomatoes
                JIMMY JOHN'S TURKEY TOM UNWICH, one deli pickle                           315 calories
dinner     salmon burger, spinach salad w/9 cherry tomato, cup Tortilla Soup                   308 calories

total calorie consumed  978 CALORIES

calories burned
7AM elliptical 32 minutes 451 calories

THURSDAY NET CALORIES 527 CALORIES

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE?

My five day, four night tour of the Kansas City area ended yesterday.   I left Independence, Missouri at 11:30AM after a particularly good early morning appointment.   I was in a hurry to arrive home so that I might possibly meet my family at the Pediatrician as my daughter was suffering from a virus.  I knew I would not have time for lunch, so I departed Independence with two bananas and two apples.   That was my lunch.  (Not quite as satisfactory as lunch at Jason's Deli or Panera Bread) I drove 500 miles for 8 hours straight  with only three extremely short breaks.    I met my family at the doctor and finally arrived home in Chicago at 8:00PM.   Admittedly I was hungry.  Nevertheless, the very first thing I did was spend twenty minutes on my home elliptical machine. Now I have a baseline for what I can and cannot do with this type of exercise.   On my home machine I set the 'resistance' to '10.' (This was a low level.)   I struggled yet still managed to complete a twenty minute segment.   The machine indicated that I 'burned' 275 calories.   My heart rate at the conclusion was 150 BPM.   Had I set the 'resistance' any higher it would have been futile - I was struggling enough as it was.

Thursday marked the 21st consecutive day that I have managed to consume less than 1000 calories.  I continue to surprise myself.   This is the same guy who one month ago was eating and snacking virtually 24 hours per day. (Only sleep kept me from eating.)   For the past three weeks I have not had a snack.   There have been times when I was hungry - but my willpower to train myself to eat only breakfast, lunch and dinner was stronger than my desire to eat something. My resistance has not been futile.   I guess resistance is futile only applies if confronted by The Borg.  Perhaps that is not quite true. Didn't Captain Picard mustered just enough resistance to help the good folks of the U.S.S. Enterprise?

This morning, I resisted the urge to step onto my scale.  I am simply going to wait until tomorrow morning.   It was almost futile to resist the urge to weigh myself today - but I managed.

This afternoon I have gum surgery scheduled.   I am looking forward to answering a question that is always asked when I go to the dentist.  "Are there any changes in your medical condition since your last visit?"   My answer this time will finally be emphatically, "Yes."   I have gotten healthier.   In fact, I am eager to have my blood pressure checked this afternoon as I will be able to see if there has been any improvement from past readings, and especially the reading that I had during my 'wellness' exam way, way back on  December 24, 2014.

The BORG were wrong.  RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE.

CONFESSIONS

It is said that confession is good for the soul.  I will use this post to confess the sins of eating like a moron.   On the road, my lunches and dinners were really not too varied.  Favorite spots were McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Panda Express or White Castle.   The purpose of this blog is ultimately to share secrets of successful weight loss.   But before I get to that subject I am going to share the 'secrets' of successful weight gain.   Here were some of my favorite meals with the calories as provided on various websites that I checked today.

Panda Express Two-Entree Dinner HONEY WALNUT SHRIMP, ORANGE CHICKEN, CHOW MEIN and an EGG ROLL   1480 calories

Subway Footlong Sweet Onion Teriyaki and Harvest Sun Chips 950 calories
              or
              Footlong Seafood Sensation and Harvest Sun Chips 1050 calories
              or
              Footlong Meatball Marinara and Harvest Sun Chips 1170 calories
             (Jared famously lost weight at Subway, surely he made better choices!)

McDonalds Four (4) Hamburgers (almost never ordered fries) 960 Calories
                     or
                    Three (3) McChicken Sandwiches 1110 Calories
                    (I had thought that chicken was a somewhat 'healthy choice'  WRONG!)

Burger King Four (4) Hamburgers (almost never ordered fries) 960 Calories

White Castle Ten (10) Hamburgers (140 calories per burger)    1400 Calories

Ok, that's it... I have officially bared my 'diet' of the past many years.   In between these breakfasts, lunches and dinners would be an array of chocolate cakes, candy bars and ice-cream.   Now that I have finished divulging my secrets of weight gain, the secrets of my upcoming weight loss are fairly obvious.   STOP EATING THIS CRAP!   My brother, has asked me many times if I enjoyed eating at these places.   My answer was always the same: Yes.   It is time for me to find some new alternatives.

In order to end this post on an upbeat note:  I made friends with a nearby treadmill and walked 1.9 miles in 30 minutes.   The machine indicates that I burned approximately 190 calories.   That is not the amount of calories in one chocolate bar!   It will serve to make me think long and hard before I stick another chocolate bar in my mouth.