Week 3, Day 4, Tuesday: Ouch (3-4)

Week 3, Day 4 (18 of 90)

3-4

14-4 overall

pts for: 87
pts against: 40

Achieved:
- Diary my food (17-1)

- No drinking (17-1)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) (12-6)

Did not achieve:

- 4+ glasses of water (8-10)

- Workout for at least 30 min (5-13)

- No food after 9pm (14-4)

- 7+ hours of sleep (13-5)

Food:  breakfast: eggs & asparagus pie, lunch: salad & chili (according to the restaurant, it was 600 calories), dinner:  chicken burger + salad (with blue cheese).  The good news - I avoided the snacks.  The bad news - lunch and dinner portions were probably too big.   I also didn't sleep a lot and had dinner late due to work.  I had 3 glasses of water, but didn't want to cheat with the late add to win.

A loss- but not that far off...

Week 3, Day 3, Monday: Narrow victory!! (4-3)

Week 3, Day 3 (17 of 90)

4-3

14-3 overall

pts for: 84
pts against: 36

Achieved:
- Diary my food (16-1)

- No drinking (16-1)

- No food after 9pm (14-3)

- 7+ hours of sleep (13-4)

Did not achieve:

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) (11-6)

- 4+ glasses of water (8-9)

- Workout for at least 30 min (5-12)

Food:  breakfast: pancakes, lunch: white chicken & salad, dinner: chicken pizza.  These were all part of my meal plan.  I had an early snack of an apple - which is ok - then i had a late snack of a york peppermint patty.  I know, it's only one - but i lost the points.

Water, I did ok - but only got to 3 glasses.   You can see, I'm cheating less frequently now of getting late night victories -I'm trying to win these fair & square.

Week 3, Day 2, Sunday: I worked out!! (6-1)

Week 3, Day 2 (16 of 90)

6-1

13-3 overall

pts for: 79
pts against: 33

Achieved:
- Diary my food (15-1)

- No drinking (15-1)

- No food after 9pm (13-3)

- 7+ hours of sleep (12-4)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) (11-5)

- Workout for at least 30 min (5-11)

Did not achieve:

- 4+ glasses of water (8-8)

Heck yeah!! I worked out!!!  Did you hear that - I worked out!!!

Now, it is a Sunday - and it is the day I get to play bball - so it's hard to pass this up.  But I did it.  And it was awesome.

This is probably my healthiest travel day ever.  For breakfast - I had some steak (it was leftover - just had it with A1 sauce, the calorie count was pretty low. 

For lunch - a slide & a half of pizza and 6 slices of cheese on crackers.  For dinner - some freeze dried fruit and a wendy's spicey asiago ranch chicken club.

Now, I know the calories for these meals isn't great - and it will be good to get back on my meal plan.  But - usually when I travel, I eat like crap.  And, if I'm at a social outing, I drink. 

So - I did it.  Or, better than before.  Next week is going to be a killer - back to traveling for work.  Can I keep it up?  Honestly, this week will be hard - as I'm getting into the office for a few days too.  Those are long days.

So - let' see how this goes.  But, I am very happy to  have had a good day.

If only I could conquer the stupid water issue.

Week 3, Day 1, Saturday: A late mishaps loses the game (3-4)

Week 3, Day 1 (15 of 90)

3-4

12-3 overall

pts for: 73
pts against: 32

Achieved:
- Diary my food (14-1)

- No drinking (14-1)

- 4+ glasses of water (8-7)

Did not achieve:

- No food after 9pm (12-3)

- 7+ hours of sleep (11-4)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (10-5)

- Workout for at least 30 min (4-11)

Food: breakfast: hummus; lunch:8 inch italian sub + 2 mcnuggets + some fries; snacks: 2 pigs in a blanket, some pulled pork, some calamari; dinner:  steak, potatoes, and beans from applebies (it was the chili & lime meal - very good!!).  And then I blue it - we were hanging out and i had a york peppermint pattie, some reeses pieces (maybe 15?) and then... some leftover cinnabons - 2 mini ones (which weren't the mini-mini size, but weren't the full size).  I'm not sure why I ate so late.  If I didn't, I would have been able to win the day.  What a moronic move on my part.

I should note: I was at my grandfather's funeral.  He was very talented and, in hearing people talk about him, it is interesting to see how much of me probably comes directly from him.  Knowing both of my grandfathers and my parents - I think I really need to step it up.  I'm not yet living the life I should and getting in shape is a big part of getting everything to where it should be.

Week 2, Day 7, Friday: Avoiding the negative play (5-2)

Week 2, Day 7

5-2

12-2 overall

pts for: 70
pts against: 28

Achieved:
- Diary my food (13-1)

- No drinking (13-1)

- No food after 9pm (12-2)

- 7+ hours of sleep (11-3)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (10-4)

Did not achieve:

- Workout for at least 30 min (4-10)

- 4+ glasses of water (7-7)

Food: breakfast: omelet; lunch: turkey chili + a small pasta salad; dinner: 2 hamburgers, broccoli

No comment on working out and water.

I guess 7-0 in wk 2 isn't too bad.  1-6 on working out sucks.  It's like winning a bunch of games on field goals and safeties.

Week 2, Day 6, Thursday: Avoiding the negative play (6-1)

Weigh-in: 27 (10pm)

Week 2, Day 6

6-1

11-2 overall

pts for: 65
pts against: 26

Achieved:
- Diary my food (12-1)

- No drinking (12-1)

- No food after 9pm (11-2)

- 7+ hours of sleep (10-3)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (9-4)

- 4+ glasses of water (7-6)

Did not achieve:

- Workout for at least 30 min (4-9)

Yesterday was a prepared meal + good food day.  Breakfast - omelet,  lunch: cuban sandwich, dinner: hamburger (2), broccoli.  pulled off water again.   I probably at too much, but I am getting pretty good at avoiding snacks and desserts.

Still needing to work out.  Again.

My weigh-in:  I actually weigh myself a lot, but don't always record it on here.  My weight can fluctuate quite a bit - but I'm seeing the highs be not as high and the lows be not as low.  I'm writing this now on Friday, even though I'm recapping Thursday.  But, today - I hit 275 once.  This is really good news for me!  I haven't been there for awhile.  Hopefully - I can ramp up my healthy habits and start working out more.

I may have bad news though - starting March 3, I'm going to be on the road for essentially 3 weeks.  I am HORRIBLE at eating well on the road - this will be a real challenge.  I think when that comes, I'm going to change my rules and drop a rule - perhaps drinking (I almost never drink while traveling... although at Booz [haha, yeah, very funny] I did drink quite a bit while traveling).  And then I'll pick up a rule for portion control.

But - on the flip side - maybe I can use it to get more into the daily work out mode.  I guess we'll see.

Lastly - until I work out, I think I can only claim I'm avoiding the negative play.  I'm not going to make real progress until I get off my butt.

Week 2, Day 5: Avoiding the negative play (6-1)

Week 2, Day 5

6-1

10-2 overall

pts for: 59
pts against: 25

Achieved:
- Diary my food (11-1)

- No drinking (11-1)

- No food after 9pm (10-2)

- 7+ hours of sleep (9-3)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (8-4)

- 4+ glasses of water (6-6)

Did not achieve:

- Workout for at least 30 min (4-8)

Yesterday was a prepared meal + good food day.  Breakfast - meal, lunch: turkey salad pretzel roll & broccoli.  Dinner - a good sized cuban sandwich (probably bigger than it should have been).  I actually pulled off water.

Still needing to work out.  Not sure what it's going to take to get me motivated.

Week 2, Day 4: Avoiding the negative play (5-2)

Week 2, Day 4

5-2

9-2 overall

pts for: 53
pts against: 24

Achieved:
- Diary my food (10-1)

- No drinking (10-1)

- No food after 9pm (9-2)

- 7+ hours of sleep (8-3)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (7-4)

Did not achieve:

- 4+ glasses of water (5-6)

- Workout for at least 30 min (4-7)

I think it's pretty clear that there are certain things I'm good at and some things I'm not.  Right now, eating is largely under control.  Yesterday was a prepared meal day - omelet for breakfast, (i can't remember lunch - but i stuck with the meal plan), a multi-grain roll for snack, and steak for dinner.

All i wanted to do after dinner was eat.  I couldn't stop thinking about it - so, I just went to bed.  Not ideal, but better than the alternative I guess.

I need to do a better job of working out.  My guess, is I won't do it today (I'm writing this log during day 5... and i only have a few hours before bed).  And water continues to be a nemisis.  It shouldn't be so hard to hydrate properly, but for some reason it is for me.

Week 2, Day 3: Avoiding the negative play (4-3)

Weigh-in - 281 (11pm)

 Week 2, Day 3

4-3

8-2 overall

pts for: 48
pts against: 22

Achieved:
- Diary my food (9-1)

- No drinking (9-1)

- No food after 9pm (8-2)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (6-4)

Did not achieve:

- 7+ hours of sleep (7-3)
- 4+ glasses of water (5-5)

- Workout for at least 30 min (4-6)

I followed up a big win with a narrow victory.  Yesterday was tough for me – as I went into the office.  I managed to commute with no traffic, so I was only spending probably 1 hr 40 min in transit round trip – and I am good at using the drive in to relax and the drive home to call people.  But, that means I lose time I would normally have and I get up early – so I started off with only 6.5hrs of sleep or so.  But, considering I didn’t work out, I kept it a fairly healthy day.

The details:

Eating:  I had my meals for breakfast & dinner: bagel & cream cheese with a small yogurt drink.  Dinner was some pasta, a spicy meat sauce, sugar snap peas, and some carrots.   I also had one of the mult-grain rolls that came with the meal.  I also had some cheese and crackers that came with the meals – I am certain this all added up to me eating too much… and, then, at lunch, I cheated some:  I had pho.  Which is AWESOME – but I ate the whole bowl.  I probably should have left some of the noodles or something… and the broth seemed extra fatty.  But it was SOO good.   So, while I avoided snacks, this was a bad portion control day.

Drinking (water, that is).  Water is clearly my nemesis.  I actually had 3 glasses – so I am building it into my day better than before.  But I didn’t want to cheat this time and get the 4^th in late.  So, I’m taking the loss.

Working out:  the trip into the office makes it hard.  And I stayed late.  I need to get back into the habit I once had of bringing workout clothes with me and going to the gym.

Overall – not a great day, but not a bad day.   I think I’m like a QB in football that used to always aspire for the big play – but would throw a lot of picks and take a lot of sacks.  I may not be scoring TDs right now, but I’m avoiding the picks and the sacks for the most part.

Week 2, Day 2: Victory! (7-0) -- FIRST PERFECT SCORE

Weigh-in - 277 (10pm)

 Week 2, Day 2

7-0

7-2 overall

pts for: 44
pts against: 19

Achieved:
- Diary my food (8-1)

- No drinking (8-1)

- No food after 9pm (7-2)

- 7+ hours of sleep (7-2)
- 4+ glasses of water (5-4)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (5-4)

- Workout for at least 30 min (4-5)

Did not achieve:

-- NOTHING!!!

What can I say - PERFECT SCORE!! I probably should have achieved this before day 9, but - hey, better late than never.

Although, In a way, I feel like I cheated some.  I stuck with my meals for the most part.  Breakfast: pancakes, lunch: black bean burger (it's actually pretty good), dinner: chicken pizza & broccoli.

How did I cheat - I did have an afternoon snack (some bread and butter from my meals and some low-cal fruit juice).  At dinner, I did have a small salad with blue cheese -AND a few bites of kraft mac & cheese.

I would consider all of these cheating, but it's not against the rules that I have.  I think these were boarderline too big of a portion meals, so I'll have to be careful going forward.

BUT... this is a good day - I must say, I am very happy right now.

Right now - even if I lose tomorrow, I want to work out so I can get to .500 on that score.

Week 2, Day 1: Victory! (6-1)

Weigh-in - 279 (10pm)

 Week 2, Day 1

6-1

6-2 overall

pts for: 37
pts against: 19

Achieved:
- Diary my food (7-1)

- No drinking (7-1)

- No food after 9pm (6-2)

- 7+ hours of sleep (6-2)
- 4+ glasses of water (4-4)

- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (4-4)

Did not achieve:

- Workout for at least 30 min (3-5)

I guess week 2 start was ok.  If I play my cards right, today (day 2), I can go 7-0 as I know I'm working out tonight - which, on day 8, is my only losing category.  Seeing that working out is so key to losing weight, I really need to step it up here.  Although, as I said yesterday, I think I'm finally getting to building some healthy habits otherwise.

Ok - so the food diary.  I kept with the three meals, which is proving a good way for me to control what I eat.  I have to give it to diettogo, I enjoy almost every meal.   Perhaps in another blog, I'll talk more about why I like it.  But, the meals usually have good flavor and, despite being frozen, taste very fresh.  Although, admittedly, I typically just don't microwave them.  I do some mix of microwave, toaster oven, and stovetop to make them feel less soggy-microwave, but more like they really were made fresh.

Anyway - I started off with a broccoli & egg pie.  I had some Indian-style turkey & veggies for lunch, and then a veggie chile (with mozzarella, sour cream, and corn bread) for dinner.  I definitely still get hungry between meals, but I'm trying to slow down my eating and eating less is becoming more bearable.

Ugly loss; Week 1: 5-2, 31-18 (pts)

Weigh-in - skipped

 Day 7
3-4
5-2 overall
pts for: 31
pts against: 18

Achieved:
- Diary my food (6-1)
- 7+ hours of sleep (5-2)
- 4+ glasses of water (3-4)

Did not achieve:

- No drinking (6-1)

- No food after 9pm (5-2)
- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (3-4)
- Workout for at least 30 min (3-4)

What a crappy way to finish the week.  I started the day great- all the way through dinner.  I stuck with my meals for breakfast & lunch.  Then, I had a cuban sandwich for dinner, which was great (I had 2 slices of thin crust too).

Once the kids went to bed, I had about 6 glasses of win, some reeses pieces, and 4 slices of pizza.  I guess you could say it was a party - but I should have just skipped it.

Looking at the week, while I'm 5-2, in two key categories (deserts + snacks and working out), I only had 3 wins out of 7 days for each.  I really need to step it up on each.  If I'm going to lose weight, it is just not acceptable to not be working out and have desserts so frequently.

So, one step at a time.  In week 2, I want to go 4-3 in these categories instead of 3-4.  Same with glasses of water.  I guess another way to look at it - no reason to be anything under 4-3 on any one category.

Other thoughts
I think I have shrunk my stomach.  My eating habits were getting really, really bad.  This week, I only at once after 9, but that's because i worked that late.  This is a big win.  Hopefully, I'm close a new habit now here.  The late night eating - and believe that i could just snack anytime was killing me.  I think that is one of the biggest things I'm feeling better about.

I still need to work on portion control.  In most cases, I stuck to my meals, but i did somewhat frequently supplement.  And - being on a meal - it's easier to force portion size.

The water thing, i just need to step up and do it.  I love my soda, but i need to just drink water.

Sleeping, i think i'm doing well with.  If I can start shifting to go to bed earlier, but wake up earlier, that would be a good thing.

Overall
I am feeling better, but I need to step it up with the desserts and working out.

An ugly win - don't even really want to talk about it

Weigh-in - skipped

 Day 6
4-3
5-1 overall
pts for: 28
pts against: 14

Achieved:
- No drinking (6-0)
- Diary my food (5-1)
- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (3-3)
- 7+ hours of sleep (4-2)

Did not achieve:

- No food after 9pm (5-1)
- 4+ glasses of water (2-4)
- Workout for at least 30 min (3-3)

Today was a long work day.  I made it through with no snacks/desserts, but didn't eat dinner until almost 10.  I guess i could have skipped it and at almost nothing, but i had a cuban sandwich (4" square) and a roll (4" square).  I'm too tired to work out and i'm too tired to pound water so i can say i won the water line.

Water is proving out to be the hardest thing to keep.  Not drinking is easy during the week, tomorrow night will be hard to keep any of these.  I guess i made a deal yesterday, but i can still change the rules.

My other meals - breakfast: bagel & cream cheese.  Lunch: potato skins.  Both were from my prepared meals, so I think it's ok, even though they sound (and are) yummy.

I think this is proving to be an ok week.  I'm glad I'm blogging, but I have to step it up with the working out.  The eating is good - maybe that's what I can take this week as - I'm getting my eating under control.  It's a step. Now, I need to get working out - 5-6 days a week.  Hmm.  Maybe I should do some sort of accelerator- so, if i don't work out 5 times in 7 days, I lose points some how.  I could make it work for other categories too.  I guess that's an interesting twist.

Day 5 - A win (5-2), but bittersweet

Weigh-in (12:00am): 283 (home scale)

 Day 5
5-2
4-1 overall
pts for: 24
pts against: 11

Achieved:
- No drinking (5-0)
- No food after 9pm (5-0)
- Diary my food (4-1)
- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (2-3)
- 4+ glasses of water (2-3)

Did not achieve:
- Workout for at least 30 min (3-2)
- 7+ hours of sleep (3-2)

Two days in a row on snacks & desserts.  Not bad at all!  That was a tough one for me and always will be.  I was very tempted to have a glass of wine tonight too.  Maybe I need to look at wine as a meal-substitute and night and let that count if I really go skinny on dinner.

Although, as great as the 5-2 was, it is a little misleading in my eating performance.  I had 2 4" square cuban sandwiches for dinner.  I probably should have kept it to 1 or 1.5.  At lunch, I had one of my meals (a very yummy veggie pizza), but had a few bites of leftover meatloaf.  And, at breakfast - instead of using just the provided rasberry compote for my wheat pancakes, I added some syrup too.

So, the food was good, but not great.  I'm also stretched pretty thin with work now, so the late night last night and long day today, kept me from working out.

I suppose, today is a good model for a "busy day".  I didn't get the workout in, lost out on sleep, but didn't blow it anywhere else.  In football, sometimes a QB just needs to throw the ball away.  Perhaps that is what I accomplished today.

Here's a deal - if I can make tomorrow my first 7-0 day, on Friday, I can break the drinking rule if I work out.  I know this is cheating a bit, but I think it is ok :)

Oh - and my weigh in sucked.  How did i gain 3 pounds in 24 hours?  Perhaps downing two glass of water before the weigh in so I could get a water point hurt me there.

Day 4 - Victory, but no perfect score (6-1)

Weigh-in (1:00am): 279.8 (home scale)

 Day 4 
6-1!  Not bad
3-1 overall
pts for: 19
pts against: 9  

Achieved:
- No drinking (4-0)
- No food after 9pm (4-0)
- Diary my food (3-1)
- Workout for at least 30 min (3-1)
- 7+ hours of sleep (3-1)
- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (1-3) 

Did not achieve:
- 4+ glasses of water (1-3)

Come hell or high water, I wanted to win the snacks & desert battle.  Tricia offered me a few orange pez candies when she came back from shopping (which I love) and I managed to say no!!  I also avoided the leftover birthday cake - not bad.  My meals (french toast, a rueben [i added a salad to the meal], and curry shrimp) were pretty yummy - but I have to admit, I did check out the pantry perhaps 10 times, and walked away from each.

Water continues to be my nemisis.  I had PLENTY of diet wild cherry pepsi, but only 3 glasses of water.  Maybe tomorrow I can get that.

I spent 40 minutes on a bike (not great, but not bad).  And I did get almost 8 hours of sleep.  Tomorrow, I'm going to start off in the hole, as I won't be in bed for awhile still (work to do).

Ironically, I'm staying up working on trying to figure out how to resolve an inventory backlog.  Much like my big belly, it's now way too big and is here for a multitude of reasons.  But, boy is it a mess now.

Day 3 - My First Defeat, now 2-1

Weigh-in (8:00am): 282.4 (home scale)

 Day 3 (assuming I make it through the rest of the night without eating), 
A loss  (4 to 3... even though it's technically a win, i can't have working out AND snacks/deserts in the losing column and count it as a win) 
2-1 overall
pts for: 13
pts against: 8  

Achieved:
- No drinking (3-0)
- No food after 9pm (3-0)
- Diary my food (2-1)
- 4+ glasses of water (1-2)

Did not achieve:
- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had  cake (0-3) 
- Workout for at least 30 min (2-1)
- 7+ hours of sleep (2-1)

The day started off poorly - i only had 6 hours of sleep.  I proceeded to do well for breakfast (bagel), lunch (potato skins), and dinner (chicken) - sticking to my diet-to-go meals (with a little bit of extra food at email meal, but it was pretty minor - OJ, some extra cream cheese, some meatloaf... and an apple for a snack).

Then, it was after dinner that got me.  Instead of working out, I decided to work.  And then, one of the kids didn't eat their leftover cake and I ate it.

So - a bummer of a day. Particularly after doing so well with eating during the day.  I guess day 4 is a new day - hopefully I can pull through.

Day 2 - a Win! (5-2)

Weigh-in (9:30pm): 282.2 (home scale)

 Day 2 (assuming I make it through the rest of the night without eating), 
A win (5 to 2) 
2-0 overall
pts for: 9
pts against: 5  

Achieved:
- No drinking (2-0)
- No food after 9pm (2-0)
- Workout for at least 30 min (2-0)
- 7+ hours of sleep (2-0)
- Diary my food (1-1)

Did not achieve:
- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had some cake (it's my son's birthday)
- 4+ glasses of water


This is ok momentum for me on day 2.  My biggest win was not having McD's for breakfast.  It was our son's birthday breakfast choice, but I stuck with one of my meals.  I did pretty well otherwise, having some leftover taco meat, some corn, and a chicken burger (from my meal plan) for lunch.  The meat and corn were extra, but it wasn't that much.

I played basketball for awhile - but stopped a bit early once (played for 1.5 hrs) my ankle started acting up.

So - on Day 2, I'm doing ok.

Tomorrow will be hard as I'm back to work.  I didn't put it on the list of must-do's, but I'm hoping to get up at 7.  I'm usually a 7:30 or 8am guy, but, if I can do 7 and just 10 minutes of working out... well, it'll be a step forward.

My weight loss - Kicking it off and day 1 recap

I'm going to do it for real this time.  Really... I'm going to...

My weight has always been a struggle for me.  When I was a kid, I was always rounded.  In high school and college - when I became intently focused on sports, I kept a healthy weight.  My college "playing weight" was around 190-195.  I have a bigger build and, at 5-11, I'm not sure much lighter I can get than perhaps 190 without starting to be super-skinny.

Yesterday, on day 1 - I weighed in at 286 at the gym.  Put a different way - I now have the potential of losing 100 pounds.  It is absurd that I've gotten this out of shape.

How did this happen?

Well, I've fluctuated weight quite a bit.  In 7th grade, I lost 30+ pounds with a self-imposed diet.  Post college, I slowly gained weight, until I lost 30+ pounds... dropping from 245-ish to 215-ish.  Then, I very slowly (or quickly I guess) gained weight post-grad school, until about 2 years ago, when i dropped from 265 to 240.  In the two years since, my weight has ballooned to where it is today.

Why am I so good at gaining weight?  I have a bit of a perfect storm of circumstances.

My caloric intake is too high.   
I love food.  And I love unhealthy food.  My favorite food: pizza.  I love chocolate.  I love all types of food.  So, I tend to never say no to food - at parties, I sample everything.  If there's food at a meeting, I get a nibble.  If I'm eating out for work, I make it a 3 course meal.  I also stress eat - and eat when it's late at night.  I tend to stay up late and between trying to be a good dad and excel at work, I have enough opportunity to consume.

I also like to party.  I have yet to meet an alcohol I don't like.  And, I like drinks that are beyond unhealthy.  Mojitos?  Sign me up.  On a Friday night, drinking a couple of bottles of wine with the wife is a fun night.

Oh, and my wife can eat/drink whatever she wants and not gain weight.  Granted, I eat more than she does, but - Tuesday night, the kids are in bed... and she'll grab a big bowl of ice cream.   I feel compelled to eat (yep - it's my choice, it just makes it harder).

And I'm not good at getting rid of the calories.  
I have a highly efficient metabolism.  I just don't need many calories to keep going.

I am an everyone else first type of person.  So, work comes first.  It's 5:30, I could squeeze in a run before dinner.. and instead I stay at the computer and work.  It's 7:30, I could head to the gym to get a workout in.  But, instead I stay to hang out with the kids.

I LOVE playing sports, but I hate working out.  So, solitary things like treadmills, runs, ellipticals, weights just aren't fun for me.  Each time I have lost weight, I have played basketball almost daily.  Every time my diet stopped working is when i stopped playing basketball - often because of injury.  And the added weight now makes sports like basketball pretty bad for my body.  My left ankle is weak as well as my right knee.  I am fearful that if I play without losing significant weight, I'll just hurt myself.  But I just don't like the other alternatives.

My self-perception is off.
I am the opposite of vein.  I keep my hair short so I don't have to do anything more than wash it.  I don't really care if I look great or bad.  This is compounded by the fact that I often work from home - so, I get less peer pressure exposure and it's easier for me to continue not thinking about needing to get in shape.  This has an odd correlary in that - when i was 200 pounds, I thought I was grossly out of shape.  Looking at pictures now, I recall thinking I looked like I was 240-250 when i was really just 210.  Now, I wonder if I think I look like I'm 250 when I'm really 285.

...

So, all of this together is why I'm back to a new attempt at getting in shape.  This time it's more serious.  I'm starting to have a number of health issues that are almost solely because I'm overweight.  I'm concerned that my weight is impact my confidence in myself as well as other's confidence in me, which is having an impact on me progressing as I want to in my career.  So, now it is time.

---

Ok - I'm going to do this.  But how?

I'm not really sure.  I know, not a great answer.  Lifetime Fitness (the health club I contribute to so I can feel like I'm trying to get in shape, even though I rarely go there now) is having a 90 day weight loss challenge.  I weighed in yesterday, and spent 30 minutes then learning how I could spend $2500 in the next 30 days on personal trainers, metabolic tests, saliva/blood tests, supplements, and other stuff to get in shape.  Some of the ideas are interesting (like the metabolic tests), but I'm not sure of the science behind them.  Perhaps a personal trainer is a good idea - but I don't like being told what to do and I don't like being talked to like I'm an idiot (I understand counting calories, how to set up workout routines...).  So, maybe that's a bad idea too.

Or, maybe it's a good idea for me to go completely psycho.  I could wear a fitbit, take vitamins/supplements a few times a day.  Refuse to eat any processed foods.  Maybe going psycho is what I need??

But, for the moment, I'm going to try to keep it simpler.  I am using Diet-to-Go to provide 5 meals a week for me.  It's a 1600 calorie/day plan, which, if I can stick too, is a good calorie count for me.  I am going to work out every day - even if it's just 10 minutes.  And I'm going to try to write things down - keep a food journal and I'll journal on here.  I'm going to stop the alcohol (save my birthday and St. Patty's).

And, I'm going to bring out my daily checklist.  I'll report on it here:
- No drinking
- No food after 9pm
- Workout for at least 30 min
- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable)
- 7+ hours of sleep
- 4+ glasses of water
- Diary my food

So, for day 1, I was 4-3:

Achieved:
- No drinking
- No food after 9pm
- Workout for at least 30 min
- 7+ hours of sleep

Did not achieve:
- No snacks/deserts (unless it is a fruit or vegetable) - had some cake batter- 4+ glasses of water
- Diary my food