Day 50

What I did:

• Karate class: 90 (pretty intense) minutes

Day 49

What I did:

• Forgot about lunch, but made ham for dinner

End of Week 7

Day 0: 327.2
End of Week 6: 321.8
End of Week 7: 318.2

Lost 3.6 lbs this week
Lost 9.0 lbs overall

Hey, look at that! When you try to lose weight, you can lose weight! I haven't done much in the way of exercise, besides karate class, of course. I find it hard to be motivated. But paying attention to what I eat and, most importantly, how much of it is clearly paying off.

Day 48

Day 47

What I did:

• Had a lazy, quiet Saturday

Day 46

What I did:

• Finished some major projects at work that had to be finished by close of business today

Day 45

What I did:

• Karate class: 90 minutes

Day 44

What I did:

• Casual swimming: 30 minutes
• First session with a new therapist (mental health is just as important as physical health!)

Day 43

What I did

• Karate class: 90 minutes

End of Week 6

Day 0: 327.2
End of Week 5: 322.0
End of Week 6: 321.8

Lost 0.2 lbs this week
Lost 5.4 lbs overall

Honestly, I'm shocked that I'm basically the same as last week. I expected to have gained another... oh... 5 lbs or so. Cheeseburgers (yes, plural--not a typo). Pizza. Ice cream. Brownies. Ah, but all the working out should offset the intake, right? Workouts = 0. Not once.

I read an article today by a trainer who specializes in bodyweight exercises. A woman had told him that she wanted to lose weight, but she didn't have enough time to exercise. The trainer responded that she absolutely did have time. She just wasn't making exercise--and weight loss, by extension--a priority in her life.

I feel that's what has happened to me. Losing weight is no longer a priority for me, if it ever was to begin with. I don't think about it beyond a twinge of guilt when I reach for a cookie. That twinge hasn't been enough to deter me, though.

When I posted Day 0 six weeks ago, my sister asked me if I was going to revive my blog from my first round of weight loss. I said no, because I felt that it would just be tedious, and no one would look at it, anyway. The only thing that got posted there that wasn't posted on Facebook was the daily logs from my calorie counter app. Well, guess what. I haven't used that app in about a month.

Maybe it was just tedium, but maybe it was also keeping me focused and (here's that word again) accountable. So, starting tomorrow, I'm going to get back on the calorie counter thingy, and I'm going to post each day's total at the end of the day. I'm also going to include the exercising that I do each day.

If you want to follow along, I'll be posting each day at http://notasbig.blogspot.com/. Tonight, I'm going to add the Facebook posts, then the daily posts will begin tomorrow night.

End of Week 5

Day 0: 327.2
End of Week 4: 321.0
End of Week 5: 322.0

Gained 1.0 lbs this week
Lost 5.2 lbs overall

So… Hmph. I don't know what happened. I thought that I was pretty good this week. Not fantastic by any definition, but I certainly didn't think that I would actually gain weight.

This is a little discouraging. I guess I need to rethink my strategy.

Next week will be better!

End of Month 1

Day 0: 327.2
End of Month 1: 321.2
Lost 6.0 lbs

Here's my before-and-after for my first month. Losing 6 lbs is pretty respectable, I think. I regret last week's setback because this amount of weight loss would have been that much greater. Oh, well. No sense in dwelling on the past. I'll learn from it and do better in May.

End of Week 4

Day 0: 327.2
End of Week 3: 316.8
End of Week 4: 321.0

Gained 4.2 lbs this week
Lost 6.2 lbs overall

A little setback this week. I blame birthday cake and Cadbury creme eggs. Okay, fine. It was all my fault. That cake and that chocolate didn't force me to eat them (though that would make for a really interesting story).

My daughter has apparently decided that she's a fish, because she keeps asking to go swimming. Since I don't have anything better to do in the evenings, we go. Four times, last week alone. Swimming probably helped keep the chocolate somewhat at bay, as much as it was able, anyway.

I'm going to start doing karate again, starting this coming Thursday. I wanted to sign up two weeks ago, but the front desk person said that there's only a couple more classes in April, but she'd have to charge me for the full month anyway. Blech.

I sat in and watched the last two classes, though. They were sparring last Thursday. It was sooo hard to just sit there and watch! I wanted to pull my shoes off and kick some heads!

Since it's been about three years or so since I've done any karate, and this is a new school, I'm going to start from the beginning and let them advance me as they want. I'm looking forward to having a focus for exercise again. It's much easier to be consistent when I have something to work towards.

End of Week 3

Day 0: 327.2
End of Week 2: 320.2
End of Week 3: 316.8

Lost 3.4 lbs this week
Lost 10.4 lbs overall

Wow, 10 lbs, already! I feel pretty proud of myself! Seeing results like these is very encouraging. Umm... I don't really have anything else to say, tonight...

End of Week 2

Day 0: 327.2
End of Week 1: 321.8
End of Week 2: 320.2

Lost 1.6 lbs this week
Lost 7.0 lbs overall

A couple of pounds. I don't really deserve to have dropped more weight, considering how naughty I was this week... Pizza and wings. Cheeseburger and fries. They were sooo yummy, though, and, therefore, are bad for me. Yummy = bad.

But you know what? Probably not, because I haven't told you, yet. My "diet" isn't really a diet, at least, not like what's advertised on TV. I eat whatever I want. What matters is how much I eat and whether I work off the excess calories.

My exercise regimen isn't very impressive or even a regimen, but I've been trying to at least get up and move around. The kids and I have been going to the pool a couple of times per week. I don't do intense lap swims, but I do make sure that I spend some time doing more than just sitting on the edge.

So, maybe I do deserve those lost pounds, after all!

End of Week 1

Day 0: 327.2
End of Week 1: 321.8
Lost 5.4 lbs

Well, then. That seems like a decent start. Not only did I drop 5 pounds, I did it in one week. And the first week at that. Last time, I actually gained a couple of pounds in the first week. That was somewhat discouraging. This, however, is most decidedly not!

My biggest change was portions. I ate a lot less food and tracked it via a calorie counter app (MyFitnessPal). I was expecting to be hungry. All. The. Time. But I wasn't. In fact, there were some meals that I skipped just because I didn't feel like eating.

I feel quite strongly that I had divine assistance to control my appetite. It's pretty marvelous that the Being who created the heavens and the earth and everything on and in them felt that it was worth the time to help one man eat a little less food.

Day 0

Sleep apnea. High blood pressure. Constant fatigue. None of these things are fun, but I struggle with them every day. What's worse is that each one of them can be controlled by managing my weight.

I'm heavier than I've ever been in my life, and I'm dealing with health issues that, frankly, I shouldn't have at all. It's beyond time to do something about it.

Over the past two years or so, my weight has slowly crept up, and I've just pretended that all was fine--that it didn't really matter. Every so often, I'd go through the motions to work on it, but my efforts always petered out after maybe a week or so.

Several years ago, I went through this same process and ended up losing 100 lbs through nothing more than diet and exercise. Why was I so successful then and so unsuccessful now?

Honestly, I think it was accountability. Back then, I posted weekly status photos and monthly progress comparison photos. I believe that helped to motivate me to keep up with my program (not really a program). None of my false starts had any sort of accountability to anyone but myself. It was all too easy to just stop because who would know?

So now, we come to today. I feel tired all of the time. Clothes no longer fit. I'm unhappy with the recollection in the mirror. And, above all, I'm extremely unhealthy. I'm done with it.

I don't have any particular goals at this point other than a smaller number on the scale each week. I hope that you'll help me to stick with it this time.