Merry Christmas!

Well, I can't speak for everybody, but it has been hella busy for me. I started two new work assignments that keep me out of the office a lot, and when I'm in the office I'm usually working on three different things at once. Combine all of that with going out of town for Christmas, and Hoff has been sorely behind in his blogging. So, on to the fat.

This morning (Wednesday, 12/26), I weighed in at 283.6 lbs. The last time I weighed myself on a known scale was Sunday, 12/23, and I weighed in at 284.2 lbs. I had been in the 282's, so that was an unwelcome bump. But given the holidays and being on the road, I'll take a drop in weight. New Year's Eve notwithstanding, I'm working hard to get back into a groove. These new assignments are time-killers...several times in the past few weeks I've not made it into the gym because I've worked late. Combine that with DAPGF's shortened teaching schedule (nothing between now and New Years, then 1 day a week thru February) and I'm sensing potential disaster. There are a few upsides to the new assignments. One of them involves field work, specifically meeting with several homeowners to talk about a construction project going on in and around their townhomes. This necessitates climbing up a lot of stairs, and walking around condo communities looking for units that may be impacted by this construction project. The other one is a remote assignment. Basically, 3 days each week I'll take the train from San Diego to Santa Ana, so that I can do planning work in this office from 9 to 2 each of those days. To maximize the amount of work I'm able to do, I'll be avoiding lunch. My plan is to have some sort of minimal calorie snack like a granola bar to keep me going. I don't know if there's snack opportunities on the train, but I will try to avoid them. The other upside to this is that in Santa Ana I'll have a walk of a little over a mile to and from the train. So there's 15 minutes morning and afternoon of light cardio. Every little bit, I suppose.

So we shall see if there's any positive effects that come out of these new assignments. New year, new assignments, maybe I can build some new momentum. I wish all of you luck and happy holidays!

Let us commence the week with a resounding meh

Meh. That about sums it up. This past month-ish has witnessed a whole lot of no progress. I certainly could've worked harder, but work and weather have to shoulder some of the blame. It has actually been cold (for San Diego), so the dog has not wanted to go on long walks at 11:30 at night or 6:20 in the morning. Secretly, neither did I. That got worse when it started raining for two weekends in a row. Plus, the rain screwed up the two chances I'd had recently to hit the driving range. Combine that with a workload that was surprisingly packed and dictated that I work thru lunch on the days that weather would've permitted a trip to the range. Not exactly the way I wanted to enter the holiday season, but there ya go.

So, last Monday my weigh-in was 283.6 (wasn't I back in the 270s at one point?), and my theoretical 2 pound goal would've been a weigh-in this morning of 281.6. Well, that didn't happen. Rain was the big factor. A week ago, the rains were substantial enough to flood the parking lot of the driving range, and it was closed for half the week. And Wednesday I had a lunch meeting away from the office. Thursday I worked thru lunch and then couldn't hit the gym because I had a holiday party to attend. Beer and party munchies. Not the best diet plan out there. Another Christmas party on Friday for one of DAPGF's friends (more beer, yay!). I did make it to the gym on Saturday and Sunday, but I was getting sick (have a full blown cold now, dammit), so my workouts were less than enthusiastic.

But a strange thing happened. For the first time in recorded history (or at least that I can remember), I actually lost weight from a Sunday morning to a Monday morning. DAPGF and I had a decently light lunch on Sunday, and thanks to a Thai restaurant with surprisingly small portions (and apparently no heater inside the building!), my weight actually went down to 283.0 for this morning, which is a drop of 1.6 pounds from Sunday (itself an increase from last Monday) and a net loss for the week of .6 lbs! So it wasn't the net two pound loss I'm trying for, but it was a welcome bit of progress. And with the weather being nicer (at least drier but still on the nippy side), I hit the driving range at lunch. And I get the gym tonight. And to top it off, I'm playing a round of golf at Torrey Pines on Wednesday! One of the Top 50 courses in the country, and it is literally a 5 minute drive from Casa de Hoff! So because I hadn't been to the range for probably more than a month, I'm somewhat rusty. So even though I normally wouldn't have hit the range today, and likely not tomorrow, I'm doing it. So even more exercise! So long as next weekend doesn't cause a major implosion (and my boss is having his Christmas party on Saturday - more drinking!), I might actually make it back towards the 270s by next Monday! Stay classy, Planet Earth!

So about that weight loss thing...

So. Gonna lose 2 whole pounds this week. Yeah, that didn't exactly go as planned. I was actually doing alright, I was down a pound by Thursday when disaster struck. San Diego got deluged with rain, so much so that I got a flat tire driving thru a flooded roadway heading back to the office. So no golf. DAPGF and I were house and pet-sitting, so my gym time Saturday and Sunday mornings was cut short. And when all was said and done, I was up by a pound on Monday's weigh-in. Tuesday had me down .6 lbs from Monday, so maybe I can make some progress. I made it to the gym Monday night, but I've got a meeting on Wednesday at lunch and I've got a Holiday Drinks and Drinks (we like to drink) party Thursday evening. So not only will I not be working out, I'll be eating bar food and drinking. I can has recipe for disaster? We shall see...