Exercise - 90 mins treadmill, 15 mins weights

Water - 18 cups

Food - 2043 calories (23% fat, 49% carbs, 24% protein)

Breakfast - 12-grain toast, 6-fruit jam, 3 clementines (245)

Lunch - whole wheat tortilla, mustard, smoked back bacon, cheese blend, roasted veggies with balsamic vinegar, apple, fruit salad (594)

Dinner - baked chicken with tomato/mushroom sauce & cheese, broccoli, butter, salad, salad dressing (511)

Snacks - protein shake(x2), apple, fruit salad, biscotti, cheese spread with rice crisps (693)

It’s going to be an early night (I hope) as tomorrow is the road trip to buy frozen fruit.  I think that’s the definition of insanity - driving (what will likely total) almost 2 hours to buy fruit.   Maybe not quite that long, since when I’ve done it in the summer I’ve usually stopped and bought fresh fruit in the summer.  I hate to admit it, but in the summer (even when working) I’ve been known to either swing down that way after work, or before when I worked afternoons.  There’s nothing better than Niagara fruit in the summer.  Well, okay, don’t tell anyone, but Washington State cherries are a little better.  Luckily they usually come into the stores earlier so I don’t have to choose.

I was writing a comment on another blog tonight and I realized that I really do plan my next day about this time.  I can tell you that tomorrow’s dinner will be baked pasta with meat sauce and cheese, and that (at the moment) the daily calorie count will be 2,051.  The final amount may change slightly (as I weigh my meat at lunch, and it varies), but not by much.  Part of this is done so I know what to take out of the freezer (ie. Wed or Thurs will be pork tenderloin and it needs to come out 36 hours before), but part is so that there are no unknowns during the day.  If I stray it will have to be adjusted later on.  There’s really no choice, for me at least.  It’s the way I make this work.

souvenirdarling - you don’t need to own a scale, but you should have somewhere you can check your weight every now and then.  I just know myself too well.  I could not have stuck with it all this time if I wasn’t seeing any changes.  Measurements are also a good way of checking, especially if you don’t have a lot to lose.  In fact, in the end, measuring is probably a better way because it catches muscle/fat changes that sometimes are missed on the scale.

leanmoomercows - I figure by the time I’m finished (years from now) I’ll be a freakin’ expert.  Too bad in the end all you really become is an expert on what works for you.  

rainbowsmiles - thanks for the kind comments on the picture page.  The first two were taken in 2004 (that would be the pushing 40 stage), and the last just now (in the past 40 stage), but I’ll take the young comment anyway!

On the 14th I had a mini-meltdown at being basically the same weight for about 16 days. I’d bounced back and forth between 335.4 and 336.4, with a weigh-in last week that was 336.0 and 0.6 of a pound higher than the week before. I held it in check for a few days but on the 13th I was back up to 336.4 and on the 14th I was back to 335.8 - it was basically driving my nuts. So I posted here, and in the forums, to see if anyone had ideas about what I should do. I also scoured my food intake looking for missed calories. I did actually find a few, adding up to about 80 a day. I also split out the calories for my roasted veggies at lunch, since it varied depending on what I was eating each day. In the end I decided to do nothing, but adjusted my daily calorie range UP (yes up), just to account for the fact that I’d really been eating higher than I thought. So, in practice I made no actual changes. The next morning I was down, outside the bouncing range, in fact down to 334.0 (so basically 1.8 pounds overnight). The next morning I was also down, and the next, and even today. So my panic was highly unnecessary, but I do thank all who tried to help me come back to reality.

So, the actual official weight this morning is 331.4 - that’s 4.6 pounds down from last week’s weigh-in. And it seems (fingers crossed) that my body has gone through it’s little readjustment phase without needing any real change in routine. I also went back and changed January’s average (higher) and the daily counts for February, since I could. I’m almost to the point I was this summer when the old scale stopped giving me a weight. Buying the new scale was such an important step in this weight loss. I’m just over 10 weeks in and I know I couldn’t have kept it up if I were still seeing that error message (ie. not knowing if what I was doing was working).

If you’re reading this, and without a scale, please go buy one. Don’t be afraid of the number. You need to know where you are to change it. Okay, that’s enough for now. First breakfast, followed by my trusty old treadmill.

Adding - I made a promise in the forums that I should repeat here. The next time this happens I will wait 5 weeks (basically a TOM cycle) until I freak out and think about changing anything.

Adding - So I added a picture page (yikes).