Some of you may know that I've been frustrated
in the past two weeks - do to some odd weigh-ins (three weekends ago 205 
, two weekends ago 210 
, this past weekend 207 
). I only weigh at most 3 times per month - and from when I started losing in the last week of December 2004 up until last month the scale had NEVER GONE UP - not even a SINGLE POUND!So - I've been depressed and feeling down on myself.
I'm pretty short on $$, so I took in an odd job or two. The $$ felt good, but the results feel GREAT. Read on.Two weekends ago
Saturday - Cleaned, re-organized a large over-stuffed, dirty garage that hadn't been done since it was built 10+ years ago! Lots of bending, lifting, hauling, sweating - I cleaned for 6 HOURS STRAIGHT
(one 20 min break). I wasn't even sore afterwards.Sunday - I painted (primed) the downstairs level of a house - 8 large rooms, walls and ceilings, edging and moving furniture. I painted for 8 HOURS STRAIGHT
(1/2 hr lunch). I did get a bit tired and sore between hours 7-8, but not too bad 
. I had only a little stiffness the next morning, which quickly went away.Last weekend
Saturday - I returned to the house to paint the downstairs with their final coat (colored walls and WHITE ceilings) - this time it took 13 FULL HOURS! And still only about 30 min. break. I was considerable more sore by the time
I was done - but I was fine the next day.SOOO - even though the scale had gone up 5 lbs (and back down 3 lbs) - I was able to do about 27 hours of heavy manual labor without too much stress at all.
This is something I NEVER
could have done back in Dec. '04. I couldn't have made it through 1 hour at a stretch, much less 8 or 13. 
Even though I want (REALLLLY WANT
) those scale numbers to go down - I can be proud of this accomplishment. **** - if I can get this far, I can do almost anything! 
And if I can, so can you
