Kenny Chesney "Come Over"

-2.6

I weighed in this morning at 219.6 pounds, a loss of 2.6 pounds from last week, bringing my total weight loss to 12.4 pounds, which is 2.6 pounds short of my 15-pound short-term goal, with four weeks remaining.

Daily calorie totals for the next week, with the exception of Sunday (when I eat like a regular person but don't count calories), will be posted here.

God reached me through this video

My pastor often talks about God using imperfect people and questionable mediums to reach people for salvation or encouragement. This happened to me recently when, in my darkest hour, I was led to the video you're about to see, as if by the hand. I don't claim to know whether or not stories like this are true, but God used this nevertheless to bring me freedom and deliverance and a rekindling of my faith in Jesus. It brought me to streaming tears, which means more than you know. Praise the Lord who continues to reveal himself to seekers even in this day and age.

http://youtu.be/QdUGoFTfP7w

I had a way

“The only danger with slow and steady is that you might eventually gain 2 pounds in one week somehow and undo 3+ weeks of work...” – Joe, 07/13/2012

Hmm.

I weighed in at 222.2 pounds this morning, a gain of 2 pounds from last week, bringing my total weight loss to 9.8 pounds.

Flabbergasted? Sure, especially since I am looking and feeling the best I have so far on this journey and my workouts were good this week. Did I have a 7,000 net calorie gain? Of course not. There's no doubt I had a loss. You can look at the numbers. But somehow the quoted fear has been confirmed – that 0.6 per week would backfire into a week where I gained it all back and undid 3-4 weeks. This was probably a self-fulfilling prophecy, and I would be wise to apply more positive self talk next week. Is psychology truly a factor?

Honestly, today's results aren't as discouraging as I might have expected, because I just have a strong sense of them being preposterous (what more can I do, you know? If it's meant to be, it will be). Also, these results don't change my short term goal. That is to be able to claim a 15-pound loss by the six-month mark, which happens to be a Wednesday. If I can't say I've lost 15 pounds by August 22, the first six months of this journey will have been a colossal failure in terms of results. If I can achieve the 15 pounds, I think that's respectable. No one's going to criticize someone who loses 30 pounds in a year. That is healthy and should-be-permanent weight loss.

By the way, I have a policy of not posting +x.x in the blog post title. If I were to do that, in some way it feels like I would be accepting it.

So what does all of this mean? Well, it means I have to lose 5.x pounds in the next 5 weeks, bringing my total to 217.x. I hope I can do this. Obviously, it requires a bounce back from what is hopefully an aberration and an inaccurate reading today, and then a consistent 1-pound loss over 5 weeks. NIH says I can achieve my goal by eating 2,840 calories per day over the next 35 days, which is laughable. We've seen that calculators don't work, and we've seen that I've been eating far less than 2,840 calories per day and not experiencing the scheduled results. If I ate 2,840 calories per day, I would balloon back to 232 and more.

Daily calorie totals for the next week will be posted here. This is going to be fun.

Ellie Goulding – Lights - Single Version

-0.6

I weighed in at 220.2 pounds this morning, a loss of 0.6 pounds from last week, bringing my total weight loss to 11.8 pounds.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty bored with this miserable 0.6 pounds/week trend, and I can't wait to get below 217 for the first time in a long time. It's kind of bizarre to see the same number each and every week for three weeks. I'm ready to break that cycle.

But, I didn't expect to this past week. I wanted to have a good week, but I found myself at a 4th of July cookout, Ruby Tuesday, Outback, and eating Gianni's pizza. I still lost weight? Are you kidding me? I threatened my body when I postulated that it's not all about calories, and now it's responding by telling me that it actually is.

Yesterday on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, a doctor illustrated a pound of fat by loading globs of butter onto a scale. It was shocking. Putting 11.8 pounds in that context, I feel pretty good right now. I've been getting regular compliments (though I still don't feel I've changed my look), and I even fit into my favorite shirt again. Things are definitely on the upswing.

Plus... I have a feeling I'm about to really dial it in (not dial it back or out). Let's see what happens going forward.

The Killers are back!

It's been a long time coming, but The Killers, not just Brandon Flowers, are finally back. And judging by the lead single, Runaways, from their forthcoming album, Battle Born, the sound is markedly different. What do you think? I was among the very first to hear the new track, and I think I like it.

Grad school update

FSU has denied my appeal of their decision to reject my work experience as insufficient. This means it's on me to take, and do well on, the GRE or GMAT sometime during my first semester. The tentative date for this is Thursday, August 23, and it's going to be the GRE (this date is tentative because I haven't paid the fee yet and the room could fill up before I do). I have already started studying.

I haven't been able to get any straight answers from FSU regarding what scores are required to gain admission into the program, so I have no doubt that it's a case-by-case evaluation. This could go either way, but in my case I don't take it as a good sign given what has transpired to date.

In doing an official practice test recently, I answered about 50-60% of the questions (including math) correctly before doing any math review or studying. Hopefully this is an indication of good things to come. If not, getting this degree will be much more of an uphill climb.

-0.6

How long will this snail's pace weight loss continue? Once again we see that my body is performing to some extent, but not to the extent that a body should perform.

I weighed in at 220.8 pounds this week, a loss of 0.6 pounds from last week, bringing my total weight loss to 11.2 pounds. This is not good enough.

Imagine for a moment that I were still weighing in every 3 weeks. If that were the case, I would be posting a -2.4 number today. I guess when you put it that way, it sounds better. After all, 2.4 pounds in 3 weeks translates to about 50 pounds in a year, which no one could argue with.

We'll see if I can do better somehow next week and finally post a -2 pound week. I have been waiting for that. I know these numbers I have been posting fall within the recommended range for weekly weight loss, but 2 pounds does also and I need some significant loss to start to change my look.

Daily calories for the next week will be posted here, with the exception of today (holiday) and, as always, Sunday.

Looking forward to 4th of July weigh-in!

It's been a good, consistent week, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning's weigh-in. I've averaged 1,835 calories throughout the week, and this should lead to a good number on my precision scale. I'm shooting for close to or over 2 pounds. That would be a great way to celebrate Independence Day!

My only regret over the past week is a 2-scoop ice cream cone I enjoyed during the fireworks in Thomas on Saturday. It was an indulgence I certainly didn't need, but I don't think anyone will hold it against me.