The one in which we begin anew

I just wanted to get off a quick post before diving back into work.  Last week was pretty busy, and I wanted to see how my first full week of the mini-me goals went.   In short, we're starting over again this week.  My weigh-in this morning was exactly the same as last Monday.   Actually it was a little different…my body fat content dropped about 1.5%.  I don't know if that actually means anything useful, because that number fluctuates as much as my weight.   I know that I did a lot to torpedo my efforts…but I had help.  Happy Hour one night, and we all know how kind beer is to the diet.   No gym this weekend because DAPGF had me helping her house and dog sit, so the mornings this weekend got all screwed up, and while I tried to be careful with what I ate, I'm sure I could've done better.   We did spend the better part of Saturday afternoon walking around the Ocean Beach Street Fair (and I've got the sunburn to prove it), and a couple of nights DAPGF and I went for a walk through this big community park in the San Diego neighborhood we live in.   But 288.0.  Way too heavy.  Hopefully work will calm down by Wednesday and I can start thinking about going to the driving range and gym during the week.   We shall see…

And let the weight loss commence!

So.  Yesterday's post presented my new plan.  Instead of this lofty goal of getting down to 240 lbs, which as of yesterday morning's weigh-in would be a total loss of 48.2 lbs, I've got a new goal of losing 2 lbs per week.  I figure if I can keep this going consistently, I should hit the goal of 240 lbs by Christmas (just in time to put it all back on!).   IMO, it seems to be more effective and workable to set much smaller goals…the typical .5 lbs per day loss that someone putting forth mild effort looks so much more prominent when it is fully 25% of your goal, versus only being (in this case) 0.24% of the goal.  And the same is true on gains…a 25% gain can serve as a much greater wakeup call than a 0.24% gain.  And with that…

 

The weigh-in on 6/13 was 288.2 lbs.  I brought a typical meal spread to work…oatmeal, reduced fat wheat thins, Healthy Choice lasagna, chicken noodle soup, etc.   Between strategically scheduling snacks (wow!  I sound like some defense contractor or something!), drinking lots of water, and writing down my affirmations during times of snack-wanting, I managed to control my food intake.   And because DAPGF was teaching, I got to play online poker.  That meant that I didn't eat too much, because I didn't want to take unnecessary breaks from my tournaments.   So dinner consisted of one of the Vons (Safeway) "Eating Right" meals with some tortilla chips.  All told, not too bad food-wise.   And in addition to the 3 flights of stairs at work that I walked several times, I made it to the gym and then had a several mile walk with the dog last night.  It all paid off with a weigh-in this morning of 287.4…a drop of .8 lbs!  Considering I started this on Wednesday and I'm already almost half-way thru my first goal, I'm pretty pleased.  Let's see if I can keep it up.

The one in which we try something new...

As you readers may recall, the original intention of this here tube in the internets was to document my efforts to drop 40 pounds.   Well, I've only got 45 pounds to go!  WTF?!?  I was reading my buddy Big Slick Nuts' new blog, Hundred Day Head Start, and I had a minor revelation.  Large goals are great from a "showy" perspective.   Oooh, I'm going to drop 40 pounds, and then I'm going to run a marathon, and then I'm going to make a million dollars, and then…  The problem is that with a goal that is so far off, making the little steps that you obviously need to doesn't show that much of an immediate return.   So I'm going to apply the baby steps method and set much smaller interim goals.  A little bit every day, and eventually it will add up.   And it presumably (hopefully) will be easier to stick to, because small gains and losses will be that much more obvious when measured against the goal.  For example: Woo hoo (extreme sarcasm dripping from voice).   I lost a half pound, only 39.5 pounds to go.  And the opposite side of that is true.  Oh.   I gained a half pound.  Well, that's not too bad.  No worries.  No need to alter my behavior.   Now look at the same scenarios under the baby steps method.  Hey!  I lost a half pound!  I've only got 1.5 more pounds to lose this week!  And, oh crap.  I gained a half pound.  Ok, if I avoid having chips in the afternoon and make sure to make the dog walk tonight at least 45 minutes I should be able to undo that damage.   I'm so close to my goal this week, I don't want to backslide.  See, it all sounds so much more urgent and serious.

 

So my goal is to get my weight below 240 lbs this year, which I've been dutifully writing down in my affirmations.   That means I've got 48 pounds to lose.  So my baby steps goal is going to be 2 pounds per week.  As I've documented here, I'm quite the yoyo-er, and a half-pound drop in a day is nothing new.   By starting to measure myself against that particular yardstick, I'm hoping that I'll be more motivated to keep on it.  When you weigh 288 and you're trying to get to 240, a weigh-in of 288.5 doesn't seem to be that big of a deal.  When you weigh 288 and you're trying to get to 286 by Monday morning, that half pound becomes a pretty big farking deal.   Hopefully I will be able to mainly get on track with eating and take better advantage of exercise opportunities.  So wish me luck.  Maybe this will be the method that allows me to avoid backsliding.   Wish me luck.

Well let me tell you what has happened to me...

Ok.  So what has happened to me?  In short, I'm lame and I've been busy.   Quick recap?  That's all I've got time for, so for those of you who read The Randomness also, I apologize for regurgitating some of that post here.

 

Weight.  I wish I could say I've been a loser, but sadly that's not the case.   This past two weeks have seen lots of naughty food eaten, and pounds put on.  For the most part they've come back off, but overall, I'm up about a pound and a half from my weigh-in at the last post.   I have managed to get back on track in doing my affirmations, but they don't help much when we have a staff meeting at our branch location.  Yes, I had the Seared Ahi for lunch, which was probably the best option, but I'm sure that wasn't enough to counteract the effects of spinach/artichoke dip, deep fried calamari, and four pints of Stargazer IPA.   Hey.  We're consultants, and we can expense that stuff.  If they're gonna force me to get out of the office on a sunny San Diego afternoon, to go sit on the patio overlooking a huge koi pond while eating righteous seared ahi and drinking killer microbrews, well I guess I'll take one for the team.   Besides the dog walking, just about the only physical activity I'm getting is at work.  Our new office is on the third floor, so I do the stairs, up and down, several times per day.   This past weekend, I did make it to the gym both on Saturday and Sunday mornings, but Wednesday night's gym opportunity fell by the wayside in a minor traffic accident.   Not me, but some idiot on a bicycle trying to snake through stop and go street traffic got clipped by somebody who was making what seemed to be a legal turn into an apartment complex.   The rider looked to be generally ok (he was talking to the responding police officers), but the whole thing (3 cop cars, 1 fire truck, 1 ambulance) completely screwed up my commute and cost me almost an hour in getting home.   By the time I got thru it, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym.  Meh.

 

Poker.  Poker has been a cold cold world lately.  My once-growing bankroll has dramatically shrunk over the past few weeks.   There have been one or two instances where I made plays that were stupid, but by and large I've been playing well.  I'm just getting raped on the river, and I don't even live in the South (better?)!   Seriously, it's been almost funny, how predictable it's been.  An example, I follow 2 limpers and limp with my 66 from before the CO (cutoff for you non poker players, the seat before the dealer position, the small blind and the big blind).   5 of us see a flop of Ace-King-6.  Couple of bets and 3 of us see a K fall on the turn.  Schweet.   I've likely got the nuts unless somebody is slowplaying aces, kings, or big slick (AK).  First player to act ("Under the gun" or UTG) bets and a player in middle position (MP) calls.   I call, which puts me all in.  The river is a 7, and UTG shoves and MP calls.  Cards are flipped and UTG was playing A6 for two pairs.   Fine.  MP flips over 77 for his rivered 7s full of Ks, sinking my 6s full.  It's been that kind of run.   Suffice to say I'm taking a minor break to see if I can get out of this funk.  I'm doing pointless things like playing billiards and rummy online (and kicking the computer's ass) to see if I can get back into a winning groove.

 

Movie Review.  Knocked Up was very funny.  Biggest complaint, not getting to see Katherine Heigl's breasticles.  Second biggest complaint, having to see a fake version of her koochie (hey, it's the only word DAPGF finds acceptable, pick your own), in all it's crowning glory in mid birth.   It was even shaved, which I presume is just how she rolls.  The movie was very well done, and hugely humorous (although not quite up to the 40 Year Old Virgin).   It gets a little crude at times (duh) and some of the poopy references get a little old.  But the scene in Vegas with Seth and Paul Rudd taking mushrooms at a Cirque du Soleil performance was farking hysterical!   It is longer than 2 hours, so be sure to go potty before going in, if you're getting the Exxon-Valdez sized Dr. Pepper.  And for a completely different review, I also saw Once recently.  It's a story set in Ireland about a struggling musician, and how he falls in love with a Czech immigrant girl who gives him the motivation to actually write and record his songs (which tell the story of their almost-romance), and ultimately chase his dream of fame.   I know it sounds cheesy, but it was actually very well done and a great story.  The acting is great, and the music was excellent…typical folksy-rock coffeehouse fare, but better than most.   Obviously it isn't going to be as fast-paced as something like Live Free or Die Hard (can. not. freaking. wait!), but overall it was an excellent movie.

 

Last 5 songs I heard on Hair Nation: Poison – Look What the Cat Dragged In, Sammy Hagar – One Way to Rock, Motley Crue – Wild Side, Kiss – I Just Wanna Forget You, Ozzy Osbourne – Shot in the Dark.

 

Now that I've got my new computer, and can safely install my own software on it (Firefox, etc.), I'm starting to channel my inner geek.   I download Firefox, get the Google toolbar, and then start looking at all the ways to improve Firefox .  So I add buttons for Digg and Del.icio.us, which gets me into joining a bunch of these "social community" sites.   And then I read blogs like Wheatie's, and read about some of the cool stuff he's playing with ( Netscape, Buzznet, Last.FM, etc.), so I check them out.   So now I found the equivalent of an RSS reader for all of the social community sites, Mashable.   So when I get home tonight, I get to try and consolidate all of my online crap down into one simple site account.  Or theoretically that's how it will work.   Time will tell.  And when it does, I'll tell you.  Are any of you on any of these sites?  Let me know and I'll add you.   Or don't.  I've got lots of new online friends to play with.

 

Work has been extremely busy, with projects and proposals all coming due at the same time.  I cranked out a proposal last week, in the middle of working on an Air Quality statement for a project in the desert east of San Diego, then over the weekend I finished up a second proposal, which went out earlier this week, and now I've got two more proposals I'm trying to get done next week (both of them, both potential million dollar plus contracts – no pressure), while helping out on a third proposal, which is also due within the next week and a half!   Crazy.

 

So there.  We're updated.  See ya out there when I get a chance.