Slacker boy

Hard to believe it's been 20 days since my last update and I am afraid it is not good news. The weather has been so miserable and I have not been working very much so I have been putting food in my face. More than I have lately, at least. And to add to the fun I had a cold sneak up on me Monday night so maybe being able to stay home will be good for me, especially with a potential 12-25 cm of snow expected to fall on Thursday night and into Friday.

So to recap over the last three weeks, I was up by 2.2 pounds, down by 0.4 pounds and up again by 1.8 pounds for a total of up by 3.6 pounds and my total is now 29.8 which means I have to lose 18 pounds by the middle of March to get to where the doctor wants to see my weight.

Bitch and moan

Where do I start? I guess since NASCAR pre-season testing has begun I guess I'll start with the screwed up race team known as Wood Brothers/JTG Racing. Or maybe they have split up and are back to being just Wood Brothers again. Who knows and who cares, really? My favourite driver is Ken Schrader and he has been treated disgracefully by this shadow of a formerly great race team. Originally the reports would be Ken would run the Bud Shootout and 12-14 races in the historic #21 Ford. He's getting older and his career is winding down so I think most of us would accept that. In the last couple days, Eddie Wood was on Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody and said most of the races would be run with Bill Elliott, Marcos Ambrose and Jon Wood behind the wheel. No mention at all of Schrader. When Moody asked about KS, Wood responded that he may fill in for a race or 2 and that he would test at Daytona with the 49 car.

As far as I am concerned, I hope the Wood Brothers don't make a race this season, unless Ken is behind the wheel and they finish 43rd in any race they do start.

Onto #2 and that would be the Toronto Maple Leafs. What the heck is wrong with this team? I have no answers and it seems they have none either. But I have been watching them since I was 6 years old in the days of Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald, through the Imlach returns years, then the Wendel Clark era and now with Mats and the gang.

My nieces and nephew are loving the Nintendo Wii. The 3 year old is actually pretty at golf on the Wii Sports disc, they also got the game based on the movie Open Season.

Oh and for those of you wondering about the weight thing, I am down by 0.4 pounds for a total of 33.4 pounds, which means I have to lose another 5 to match my highest amount of weight lost and then another 17 pounds to make my next goal. Imagine what I'd do if I had an actual exercise routine to follow. Until I am rich and can afford a gym membership I guess the dog will get more walks.

Holiday update

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years holiday. I know my neices and nephew did, except for my nephew coming home from visiting his father's side of the family and coming home with a case of head lice. Ick. But Santa was very good to them all and I guess the best present they got was a Nintendo Wii game system. I have played it once so far and my "Wii Fitness" age is 50. Which I guess isn't bad for my first try.

I have been telling people I was so bad that Santa didn't even leave me a piece of coal but I did get the Dukes of Hazzard, Season 2 on DVD and just need seasons 4, 5, 6 and 7 to complete my collection. And once the financial end of things gets figured out I will pick up something for myself.

As for the weight thing, since my last update on Dec 20, overall I am up by 1.4 pounds for a total of 33. Which means I am still up 5 from my first goal, which means I am 15 away from where the doctor wants to see me by my next appointment and 22 from meeting my next goal. Or to put it another way, I have to get back in gear.

Hope everyone has a wonderful 2008.

Well that didn't last long

Oh well, guess I overdid the celebrating a little bit. Oh well, go down 5+ pounds one week and back up by 4 the next for a total of 34.4. At least I know I was able to get there and I know I will be there again. I just need to keep plugging away. On the positive side, the doctor was pleased and wants me to be at a total of 48 pounds lost by my next appointment in March which will be a year after my journey started. And my blood pressure is down by 10 points to 120/70 which I guess the experts say is borderline hypertension.

In other news, I survived the big snowstorm. Thankfully I didn't have to work so I was able to sit at home and watch all the snowflakes fall. From the amount we got I think it'll be safe to say we'll have a white Christmas.

And that brings me to one of my pet peeves. Who decided we needed white Christmases in the first place? Was it Irving Berlin or the greeting card people? Maybe it was meteorologists who needed a reason to be positive about snowfall? I was going to say it doesn't snow in Bethlehem but apparently it does. This is a picture taken in Jerusalem posted on the BBC website along with some other photos of snow in the Middle East.



Since my next weigh-in will be on Boxing Day, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

I thought this day would never come

Today is December 12th and I just got off the scale. I began this little quest at the beginning of March so it is a little over 9 months later and I have reached, unofficially, my first major goal. I say unofficially since I have reached goals before only to see my weight go back up the next day. I knew something was going on since my belt is now over by another notch and when I lay in bed (oh so very alone) I can feel my ribs. Since you are all waiting with baited breath the scale said I had lost 38.4 pounds so I am now 90% of the man I was in March. Now I will hopefully reach a final goal of 197 pounds so I have another 149 to go. Think I'll go celebrate with 3 or 4 Big Macs! Just kidding. Here is a pic of the slighly more svelte me. Freshly taken this morning.

Hola!

OK so I am not spanish nor do I speak spanish but after the comment left on my last blog I figured it was worth a try to increase my audience. Anyway, the main reason for this little blog's existence is to track my journey with weight loss. So without further ado, I stepped on the scale Wednesday morning after way too many days off and the scale told me was now 33 pounds lighter than I was in March and 3.4 pounds lower than I was last week. And that puts me within 6 pounds of my first major goal of losing 10% of my total mass. Those of you who are good with math should be able to figure out how much of a fat slob I was. Just imagine how much more I could lose if I did some exercise. And yes, I plead guilty to not walking the dog as much as I did earlier this year. Guess I am a wimp when it comes to walking in heat and cold.

As for the days off, I am self-employed so days off mean less money in the bank account to pay bills and less chance for tips. So if anyone, especially in a warm southern US climate, wants to hire a nice, hard working guy from Canada, give me a call!

Up and down

What you gain one week you lose the next. I guess I should be used to this by now but it is still a little disappointing that I can't seem to get past the 30 pound plateau. I know I haven't been walking as much and eating more late at night but I am trying to behave myself. Guess I'll just have to keep plugging away. Guess I should provide the numbers. I am up by 1.6 pounds so basically back where I was a month ago with a total loss of 29.6 pounds. For those of you who care, that is 13.454 kilograms.

You may also notice on the right side of the page I have put up a link to Kate Bilo's video blog. It was there when I started and I took it down when things changed at AccuWeather. Now the link is back and the latest video will load and play automatically (at least it should) and most of the old ones are on there as well. And it's her fault I am writing this blog.