Losing a part of me

Author: Mitch Garvis

  • Day 623

    For the second day in a row my weight remained where it was. Not only did I not cheat yesterday, but I also did not have all of my meal replacements. I am teaching a very stressful class during the day (for very different reasons from my previous stressful classes) and so I did not have the opportunity to prepare my first meal replacement until nearly 2:30pm. At the end of my daytime class I was so stressed that I needed to sit on the balcony with a cigar to decompress. I knew that I would have an easier class in the evening (which I did), but I was thinking about anything but food. Combine that with the fact that it was less than two hours since I had finished my first replacement. When I began my evening class I figured I would take it at the break… which was late as well.

    Today has been a very stressful day with my course but it is almost over. It is now 2:30pm and I just prepared my meal replacement. It looks like today might be another ‘less than normal’ day. I am hoping to go for a walk this evening but there are a number of factors that might depend on. We will see.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 622

    I was only a wee bit disappointed to see that the numbers on the bathroom scale this morning were the same as they were yesterday morning. As I had previously written, it is not surprising after several days of dropping for it to stay the same (or even go up a little) for a day or two. Despite my decision to go out exercising after class yesterday (which I did not think I would have the opportunity to do this week) my weight stayed put. That’s quite alright… I would rather it stay put where it is than go up.

    There are two milestones that I would like to achieve before my next trip to Dallas (in just under three weeks):

    • I would like to drop below 240 lbs. (and then below 235 lbs.).
    • I would like to drop out of the Obesity Class I category.

    I am less than 10 lbs. away from not being obese for the first time in twenty-five years or more. I will still be, according to the Body Mass Index (BMI), be Overweight, but that is not nearly the same animal. I am a fifty-one year old man who has no aspirations to be an athlete, but I do want to prove to myself that obesity no longer needs to define me.

    I was rewarded last night, after logging my walk, to see that I have cracked the top 9% on the 2023 Challenge. Of 206,000 participants I am ranked 18,520; that puts me in the top 8.99% of participants. I never thought that I would crack into the top 10%… not even with half that number registered! I am not competing against them – I do not know who any of them are – I am just trying to push myself to be the best me that I can be, and if those faceless names attached to the other participants registered help to encourage my being more active then so be it… thanks Peep T. and Matthew H. and Bill J. for that.

    I suppose I did not get enough sleep once again last night. I am really feeling it this morning, and I am going to need to focus on staying awake and alert… not to mention relying on my pot of coffee to help that. I hope that I will get more sleep this evening, but that is entirely on me; I know what time my alarm is set for in the morning, so it is my responsibility to go to sleep earlier when I am feeling tired. After my walk last night I picked a very long cigar which kept me on the balcony rather later than I should have stayed out. This evening I will select a much shorter one… if I smoke one at all. I do have to teach until 9:15pm today, so a short cigar would still allow me to be in bed by 11:00pm. I will endeavour to be in bed and asleep by then.

    Today will be a long day, but I doubt it will be overly taxing. Yes, my daytime class is a bit of a challenge, but it is technology that I am pretty comfortable with, and I have a small and good group of students. My evening class is the same group I have been working with since July and I know the material cold, so I am not worried about that. Nonetheless I am still looking at a thirteen-hour day, so it will just be long. I know how to handle that.

    I also know that unlike these last few days I will not be out and about, which means I will not have the (convenient) ability to buy peanuts. My plan for today is to space my meal replacements out well enough so that my last one is before 8:00pm. I feel that the earlier I stop eating the better chance I have of a successful number on the scale the following morning. As I will not be exercising today, it is a good opportunity to test that theory.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 621

    After synchronizing my outing to the apps yesterday I had indeed completed the 1,023km challenge for the year. When writing my article yesterday I wrote that there were 18,951 others who had completed it so far. While that number (as of yesterday afternoon) had increased to 18,990, I was even further ahead, at 18,844th place. I was also vaulted to the top 9.16% of the roughly 206,000 people who are signed up for the challenge. I consider that a huge non-scale victory. I am also not planning on slowing down; Yes, this week is going to be very busy, and it is unlikely I will get out for exercise before the weekend.

    I did not have a very good day yesterday. Sometimes crap happens and you just have to do your best to take it and roll with it. I did not do a good job of that yesterday and I feel terrible about it. I have to remember to keep my cool at all times… even when – or maybe especially when – I feel I am being unfairly attacked and my blood is starting to boil. That is something I have worked on in the past and I think I am going to have to revisit those exercises.

    I woke up this morning expecting my weight to be up. I did not cheat yesterday. I had a very small portion of peanuts on my way home from the barber, and because of that I skipped my final meal replacement of the day; I did not think my weight would be up because of that, only as a corrective adjustment to the previous few days of massive drops. I returned home from California a week ago this evening and weighed myself the following morning; I am 5.4 lbs. down in less than a week, which is pretty massive. I followed my morning rituals as normal and when I stepped onto the bathroom scale, I was elated to see my weight was down once again. It was not the massive two-pound drop I have seen these last two days, but it was down nonetheless. I am happy that I continue to make progress.

    I will be teaching all day today, and it is another course that is new to me. I am not nearly as worried as I was a few weeks ago when I taught the new cybersecurity class, but I am still nervous. I am relieved though that I was able to get the labs to work this weekend. I am especially happy that I was able to find all of the pitfalls in the labs (there are many of them) and work my way through them so that I will be able to guide my students through them as they come up. Teaching cloud technologies that evolve at a much faster pace than do the training materials can be a challenge sometimes, but this time I am up to that challenge.

    I am not leaving the house today, save to take Her Floofness for a walk. Who knows though? My class ends around 4:30pm and I just might fit a good jog/walk in there in the early evening!

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 620

    It couldn’t be. Could it? I stepped off the bathroom scale last night before bed and saw a number that was lower than it had been when I weighed myself in the morning. Even taking into account numerous factors such as another great walk/jog, eating peanuts but using them to replace two meal replacements, and a very substantial bowel movement (my first in a few days) it was still unlikely that I would have two huge weight loss days in a row. It made me a little excited to wake up to see what I would weigh after a good night sleep!

    The good night sleep was not to happen. I tossed and turned for hours before finally getting a few fitful hours of shuteye. I had too much on my mind and all that came together to fend off Mr. Sandman most of the night. When my alarm sounded I pressed the snooze button hopefully… but getting back to sleep was unlikely.

    Before I took Her Floofness out for her walk I stepped onto that bathroom scale which is so often finicky and cruel, but these last few days has been generous and kind. I was thrilled to see another two-pound day-over-day drop… my second in as many days! Unlike yesterday I did not wait to return from walking The Princess to walk over to the fridge so that I could cross off another number (also my second time in as many days). Another day in Best Weight Everland feels just right for me!

    I have a recollection from when I lived on the kibbutz (before I was conscripted) that I stepped onto the scale and weighed precisely 100kg. I am sure I stepped onto scales for the Army and all that, but I have no recollection of any other weigh-in while living in Israel. It was just that number that stuck in my mind. A few months ago I remember writing that in 2005 my weight had dropped to 255 lbs. which converts to 115.6 lbs. This morning, for the first time in my adult life, my weight dropped below 110kg. I still have a long way to go before I drop to that pre-Army weight, but I am on the right track. I have not lost quite 70kg yet… but I am right there! 69.66kg does not have the same ring as 153 lbs., but it is a huge number and one that I am proud of. Now let’s see if I can beat that tomorrow or Wednesday, okay?

    There is more to celebrate today… or at least to recognize:

    • My BMI has dropped below 31. According to the calculators when I lose another 8 lbs. I will no longer be classified as obese.
    • I have crossed the 99% threshold in the MapMyFitness.com challenge for 2023… assuming I go for a walk/jog today, and assuming that outing surpasses 7.7km, I will officially earn a The Finish Line badge for hitting 1,023km in 2023. As of 10:55am this morning there are 18,951 participants who have accomplished that. I am currently sitting at 19,227th place. Assuming I am not going to be the only participant who is on the cusp of it who will surpass that threshold today I do not know how much higher I will climb… but I’m going to do it today!

    Speaking of things I need to do today: I am going for a haircut shortly, following same I will come home and do some prep-work for tomorrow’s class. I am teaching this evening, but it is not a class that I have to prepare for as I have taught it many times, and it is with the same group I have been teaching since July. After a couple of hours of prep I will go for my walk/jog, which may well be the only one I do until the weekend (I am teaching tomorrow through Friday).

    I should get going though because I have to stop at a bank to get cash to pay the barber, or else I will have to look sheepish and walk to the bank after the haircut. No thank you, it is easier to just be prepared.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 619

    Yesterday was a very frustrating day with regard to technology. I am not going to go into the details but suffice it to say that what I had hoped to have three days to accomplish I have to try to start from scratch again today and only have two days to go. Wait… while I was walking Her Floofness this morning I thought of one more thing that I wanted to try before giving up and starting over. I’ll be right back. (Three minutes later) OH MY G-D IT WORKED! I did not waste an entire day yesterday and I might be able to get everything done what I need done before Tuesday morning! Woohoo!

    Because of that frustration (and the causes of it) I had time to go for a walk/jog. I did two stints jogging (the first 500m and the 4th) at a faster pace than I think I have run since I was in the Army. I was never a fast runner, but my pace was at or under 5m50s for the two running stints. It felt great, and I will try to push myself to go a little farther at that pace on my next outing.

    I am not sure what prompted it but near the end of my walk I stopped at Fortinos. Instead of just buying water or Gatorade I bought a handful of peanuts. I do not know why I did it, but I walked out of the store with $1 worth of Virginia peanuts. I got home, showered, and prepared my second meal replacement shake. I sat down at the computer to fight with my tech problem. When I finished my meal replacement I moved on to the peanut portion of the meal. Hey Mitch! What part of MEAL REPLACEMENT was unclear to you? You are not meant to have the meal replacement… and desert! Fortunately I was sated to the point where I did not need my final meal replacement of the day, so the peanuts were in fact just that.

    I have this habit of stepping onto the bathroom scale before I get into bed at night. Sometimes I even step onto it when I come in from a long exercise outing. Whatever numbers I may see are not accurate for my tracking, but the pre-bedtime number is usually a good indication of what my weight will be the following morning. Most mornings I will weigh 1-2 lbs. less than I did before bed, although this is not a scientific guarantee, and it has often been as low as .5 lb. and as much as 4.5 lbs. difference.

    When I stepped onto the scale after my exercise yesterday, I was happy to see that I weighed .2 lb. less than my best weight ever… but that is a meaningless number as I have said before. You cannot walk and jog 10km and immediately step onto the scale expecting it to be in line with your daily morning weigh-ins, right? Before I got into bed, I was pleased to see that the number was lower than it had been that morning. I know, I did not have my evening meal replacement so it was probably skewed because of that; nevertheless, I was optimistic that I would see a big drop the next morning. I went to sleep disappointed by my peanuts but glad that I had used them as a meal replacement rather than as an additional snack.

    I have of late stopped wasting my time by sitting on the potty in the mornings in hope that my previous regularity might somehow return, so my morning bathroom ritual is much shorter than it was… especially on days after a long walk/jog which means I would have showered in the afternoon. I walked to the bedroom (where my ‘bathroom’ scale has been for over a year) without any of these thoughts on my mind, only hoping that the numbers would be at least slightly down from yesterday.

    “Mr. Garvis? Yes, your table is ready. Welcome back to Best Weight Ever. Please relax and try to not rest on your laurels.”

    The day-over-day drop was not insubstantial. Not only was my weight lower than yesterday, but it was also a full pound lower than what it was the morning that I flew to California… the day when I dropped below 245 lbs. and for the first time could honestly say I had lost one hundred and fifty pounds! It was an amazing feeling. It would be another hour before I would walk to my fridge to cross off the next number on my countdown chart, but once Her Floofness was walked and fed that is exactly what I did. In the nearly two months since Leslie and I made our little wager to urge each other’s success I have lost just under 20 lbs., and that includes a week in California which did not help my progress at all.

    My original plan for the day (and tomorrow) was to sequester myself at the computer working on my labs, and indeed I do intend to do a lot of work on them today. However, knowing now that I do not have to start from scratch (as I thought until that break in the first paragraph of this journal entry) I will not deprive myself. I will still work most of the day, but I will do so on the balcony with a cigar. It is a beautiful day outside with forecast high temperatures of 25° and sunny. Knowing now that the problem I was up against was caused by Microsoft and not by my not paying close attention because of my cigar I am more comfortable that I can continue to work outside. Depending on how far I get into my labs I might go out for another walk/jog this afternoon… but that will depend on the progress I make.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 618

    I exceeded my expectations on the jog/walk yesterday. I jogged the first 2km (which is what I was hoping for) and walked another 14km. Had I not had that bag of chips last night my weight would have definitely been down this morning. As it stands, it was .2 lb. up, which is much better than it might have been.

    I have to stop making excuses that ‘Oh, I exercised like crazy today, so I deserve (or can get away with) this.’ The math has always been simple: When I follow the program, I lose weight. When I veer from the program I do not. QED.

    I am likely taking the day off from exercising today. I have a lot of work and studying to do which I should have done yesterday but did not. I am now on the balcony with a coffee and a cigar and nothing else to do but that.

    I did achieve one nice non-scale victory yesterday. In March and April I talked about the MapMyFitness.com challenge to walk/run 1,023 kilometres in the year 2023. When I first wrote about it there were a little over 130,000 participants registered, and I was happy that when I first wrote about it (Day 427) I was in the top 25%. Within a few weeks (Day 448) the number of registrants had risen to 141,000 but I had jumped into the top 18.6%. Less than a week later I was in the top 16%. This morning, with more than 205,000 participants in the contest, I am now ranked in the Top 9.85%. That puts me ahead of nearly 185,000 others. I am under no delusion that I will either crack the top 5% or win the prize (which I understand will be drawn at random of everyone who completes the 1,023kms) but none of that matters; what does matter is that I am sticking with it and that I am improving myself.

    Yes, I had a pretty bad lapse which saw me gain 25 lbs. while not doing any exercising to speak of for a few months, but I am back on track. Despite that stumble I weigh 6.1kg less than I did that first day of the challenge; I could look at that as ‘I only lost 13.5 lbs. in six months which is terrible.’ I choose instead to look at it as ‘I had a bad couple of months but have recovered and am back on track and have now lost 29 lbs. in the last 2.5 months and have lost about 150 lbs. on this journey.’

    It is equally important to recognise our successes as our failures. It is the only way that we can maintain a positive attitude. Thomas Edison once said that he did not fail 2,000 times… he simply discovered 2,000 ways how to not make a lightbulb. I am not inventing anything that will change the world… but I am following a program and a plan that will change my world (and possibly my wife’s) for the better.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 617

    I was mostly good yesterday… until I was not. It is amazing though how our perspectives can change with our circumstances… and with who we are in general. As an example, allow me to list everything I ate yesterday. I will then write what I felt yesterday, and then will try to get into my head from two years ago and see how I might have felt:

    • · Morning meal: omelette with a teaspoon of olive oil in the pan, onion, broccoli, mushroom, and cheese.
    • Late morning snack: Tamari almonds (1/3 cup)
    • Mid-afternoon meal: omelette (identical to morning meal but with one extra egg)
    • Late afternoon snack: a bag of salt and vinegar mini crisps.

    How I felt last night: I felt like such a failure with all of this. I did not stick to my regimen. I was 100% certain that my weight would be up the next morning, and the best that I could hope for was that, owing to my exercise, it might stay the same… but I doubted it.

    How I might have felt two years ago: I am happy that I ate so little. Normally I would be eating three large meals per day, with a couple of snacks mixed in for the fun of it. I have little doubt that eating like this I should likely see a slight drop in my weight the next morning, but if my body wanted to mess with me then it might stay the same.

    Do you see the difference? I certainly do! There is both good and bad to this difference. The good is that I am certainly eating less, more easily sated, and more aware of what I am eating. The bad is that I was down on myself for overeating… even though I did not. I have to take care that I am not exchanging one eating disorder (overeating) for another (would it be considered anorexia? Probably not… but it is something). While I am not prepared to resume therapy for this just yet, it is certainly something that I should at least be aware of.

    In fact I was wrong about the bathroom scale this morning. I did not gain weight or even stay the same, but actually dropped .4 lb.; I am now back to the same weight that I was the day before I flew to California. If I stay on track for another couple of days then it is entirely possible – nay, likely – that I will be in best-weight-ever land by the beginning of next week.

    I do not write a lot about sexual function or activity in these pages for many reasons; it is not something I ever really had a problem with (even at my heaviest). The only real issue I had was that I did not have the stamina that I would have liked. As a happily married man who has referred often to my wife, I will not change that for reasons of decency and discretion. Suffice it to say that we have always enjoyed our healthy intimate moments, but that over the course of having lost thus far approximately 150 pounds, that portion of our life has steadily improved, owing mostly to the increased stamina that has come with the combination of weight loss and (mostly) consistent exercise.

    With that said: It is important in discussing significant weight loss and body transformation to take note of the changes and improvements of all aspects of my life that are direct results of same. I started this journey as a 49-year-old man, and over the course of these 617 days I have celebrated two birthdays. As a 51-year-old man I could lose all the weight in the world and yet will never be what I was when I was last a normal weight. With that said, there are some changes I have noticed of late that are significant.

    As one example, I cannot remember these last few decades waking up in the morning with a solid erection. Over these last few weeks that has changed. It is not every day, but it has happened a few times. I did not think much of it the last few times, but this morning I noticed it and remembered it happening a few times this past month.

    Another example was noticed by both of us a few weeks ago when Leslie was here. At the end of a night of passion, my erection did not subside immediately (as has almost always been the case) after ejaculation. In fact, several minutes after same I went into the washroom, and it was still quite solid (to the point where I was unable to urinate). Despite that inconvenience it felt good to know that my with regard to sexual performance, ability, and stamina my body is showing real improvements with the weight loss and body transformation. These bode well for my future. These improvements give me yet another reason to continue to lose the weight… and to never let myself go again!

    I had a lovely cigar date with my wife this morning and I did take care of some business, but it is time for me to get moving. I have a lot of studying to do before my class this evening, but before I dive into that I am going to go for my walk. I would love to try to get fifteen kilometres in today! On yesterday’s outing I jogged the first kilometre in 6m21s before pulling up and walking the remainder of the 12.5km course. My plan for today is to try to increase that to 2-3km jogging. We’ll see. I was going to wait until I was home before preparing my first meal replacement, but realizing it is now 12:55pm I am actually going to do that before I go out. It is never a good idea for me to let myself get hungry… as we see far too often, that nevber seems to work out well for me.

    Once I am done, I will come home to shower and then will sit on the balcony with my studying and a cigar. I will be ready for my evening class on time and look forward to finishing my current class with this group so that I can begin the next one (with the same group) on Monday. After class I am probably going to a friend’s house because he invited a group of us to enjoy a cigar by the fire pit. It should be a lovely time and knowing that I am arriving late I will miss the food that he usually puts out (and which is never diet-friendly).

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 616

    I continue to make progress. This morning I am 1.4 lbs. heavier than I was the morning that I left for California which means that I am within easy reach of surpassing that and stepping back into the waters of Best Weight Ever Lake. Within a few days or so I should be there again!

    I was mostly good yesterday but this morning after my dentist appointment I stopped at Bulk Barn and picked up some almonds. I have to stop doing that. While I do have a lot of work to do today, I am also planning to go out for a long jog/walk. I think I will do that when I finish writing today’s journal entry.

    This evening I have a meeting with my weight loss buddy. We did not check in last week because I was on vacation but hopefully we will be back on schedule now. I look forward to hearing how well she is doing. I was so excited last Wednesday to tell her that I had dropped below 245 lbs., and frankly after this past week I am not terribly upset to be back above that milestone; I am comforted by the fact that I am less than a whole pound above it after the week I had. Okay, I am 1.4 lbs. above my best weight ever, and on my way back down after a week of indulgences. How am I getting back on track? Eating properly (today’s almonds notwithstanding) and a whole lot of walking and jogging. That is what I need to do in order to continue to lose weight.

    It’s a lovely day out there and I am going to make the most of it. I do have a few errands I need to run but nothing too stressful. I will go out for two hours, and then when I come back I will make my phone calls and do my studying.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 615

    Mission accomplished. In the lead-up to my weeklong trip to California I stated at different times that I was hoping to return to Canada having gained less than five pounds, and that I was hoping that my first weigh-in after returning to Canada I would still weigh under 250 pounds. This morning, after a long day of travel followed by a very bad night of tossing and turning in bed, I stepped onto the bathroom scale and weighed 246.4 lbs., a scant two pounds heavier than my last weigh-in the morning I left! (It is also worth noting that I had always said weigh-in did not really count, as it was done at 3:20am; in fact I am only one pound heavier than I was the previous day)

    I did not sleep well at all last night. If I did not have such a busy morning, I would likely have gone right back to bed following my morning rituals and then Her Royal Floofness’ walk. That is not possible as I have a 9:00am appointment with my doctor, followed by an 11:00am appointment with my tailor. Between those two I will return home to prepare my breakfast (the only meal I will have today as I return to my weight loss program). After the second appointment I will likely come home and try to sleep for a couple of hours. I will be teaching from 6-9pm this evening and I do not want to fall asleep in class.

    I will be back in a little under two hours (although for you the reader it will seem much quicker!) to report my official doctor’s weigh-in. I am 6.2 lbs. down on my bathroom scale from the morning of my last weigh-in; hopefully the scale at the doctor’s office will reflect a similar drop!

    —

    I am not in the least disappointed to have only dropped 3.1 kg since my last weigh-in at the doctor’s office. Had I not taken the break from my regimen during the last week it likely would have been closer to 5kg, but I have no regrets. I said in advance that I would not, and I am not going back on my word. Two of the nurses told me how fabulous I look!

    I came home for a quick breakfast before heading into Hamilton to meet my clothier. I picked out four shirts and one sports jacket, and when he asked me if I my measurements would be the same as they were in March, I was very happy to say that they were not. I am a full four inches smaller around the chest and around my waist… from March! That feels amazing. I would love to be able to see another similar drop over the next six months… if not even more.

    I decided to spend a couple of hours chatting with my buddy on his patio before coming home. My intention was to come home and take a two-hour nap. What I ended up doing was going out for a (nearly) two-hour walk… and seven of the 11.25kms were under 9 min/km! My average pace was an amazing 8m47s per kilometre, making this the second outing that I can claim that in the last few. It felt great… even though I probably should have been resting. Yes, I started my class a few minutes ago (we started with a lab activity) and I am tired… but I am not sleepy. I know I will get a good night sleep tonight, but today was essentially a ‘recover from travel, a week of vacation… and all the bad habits I tried to not fall fully back into’ day.

    Will my weight on the bathroom scale tomorrow morning be back in the best weight ever territory? I do not know. What I am pretty sure of is that the next time I go to see the doctor I want to weigh under 110kg. I have to remember to call to make an appointment though, which I forgot to do when I was leaving. I will call tomorrow before I head to my dentist appointment.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Day 614

    As Leslie and I filed out of synagogue at the end of Sunday evening services the Rabbi told us that we, as newlyweds, are not permitted to fast for the first year of our marriage. That was certainly enlightening, and something we would keep in our back pockets. What it meant more than anything was that we could shower and brush our teeth the next morning. There are some prohibitions in my religion that I am not quite fond of; I have no problem fasting for twenty-six hours, and I do not mind the prohibition against smoking cigars. I really do not enjoy going through the day without brushing my teeth. Thank you, Rabbi! What about next year? We will jump off that bridge when we come to it. I have fasted on Yom Kippur for many years, and I will have no problem fasting again next year. Whether I will commit the forgivable sin of brushing my teeth is the question… but if history tells us anything it is that I will indeed.

    I stepped onto the bathroom scale yesterday morning and was relieved to see that my weight was down over a pound. This was less because I was really good on Sunday, and more because I had been really bad on Saturday, and my body was simply righting itself. I stepped back onto the scale this morning and was down another .2 lb., which means that as of this morning I have gained three pounds on this trip. This bodes well for my hopes to stay under 250 lbs. for tomorrow morning (when I will be back in Canada). I am extremely pleased with that for many reasons, some of which I will go into later on when I continue writing (I expect to shut my laptop down in a few moments and will resume writing from the airplane).

    It is always sad to leave Westlake Village, but it is even sadder to be parting with my wife for the next few weeks. It had been my intention to sit down at the airport and book that next flight, but airport aggravation prevented that. I was finally seated comfortably in the terminal when the airline announced a gate change… to a completely different terminal. The downside was that I had to pack everything up and get from the original terminal to the changed terminal. The upside was that Leslie was in that terminal so I got to spend another half hour with her.

    I am now on the airplane and the masses are boarding. It feels like every second person passing my seat goes out of their way to smash their carryon luggage into my shoulder. Grrr.

    I mentioned several hours (and two paragraphs) ago that I wanted to arrive back in Canada weighing under 250 lbs. and I was going to enumerate the reasons. Firstly and foremost I did not want to lose control during the trip – a very real possibility when I travel. The other two reasons were:

    · I am seeing my doctor tomorrow which means an official weigh-in. I would love to see a drop from last month – even if it is just a small one. If today goes well then I will probably remain under 248 lbs. tomorrow morning which will mean about a 5 lbs. drop from last month. I will be very happy with that!

    · After my doctor’s appointment I have my appointment with my tailor, and I will be measured for shirts and a sports jacket. The smaller I am the better I will look in new clothes… even though I will not have them for another two months.

    I had thought about cheating at the airport in Los Angeles but then decided against it… even before I realized I had to change terminals and would be with my wife. I am hoping that at least one of these flights has snacks for sale because although I do have some almonds that Leslie gave me, I forgot to bring a shake with me. If I am in the terminal in Dallas, then I do not think there is anything smart to eat there… especially with my short layover.

    Okay, it is time for me to get on with it. The doors are about to close so it is time for me to turn off.

    Have a great day folks!