Just Do It

I know it is supremely lame, unoriginal, and cribbed directly from Nike, but "Just Do It" is my weight-loss motto for 2008.

I am tired of all my own whining and see-sawing. Weight loss really should not be that difficult. I can do it. I don't have a medical issue preventing me from losing weight. I cannot beleive that I have let food (and my own lack of will power) defeat me for so many years.

So I am just going to do it this coming year. I won't like it, but big f'ing deal. Everyone has to do things they don't like. Why am I so precious that I think I can't do something I don't like?

I've even promised myself that if at the end of 2008 the health benefits I've gained from losing weight aren't worth it to me, then I'll just go back to eating what I want. You know, that's a choice for me to make, but not until I've seen the other side. I need to experience the weight loss and the resulting benefits before I can make that decision.

So, I'm just going to do it. Screw being fat!

Arghhhhhh!


'If I need someone to scream like a woman, I'll give you a call.'

You can't turn back the clock but you can wind it up again

So ... my family always does the gift thing at the holidays, and this year, I received something really special. But it wasn't a Christmas gift. It was a family heirloom that has made its way down to me.

In the early 1900s, my great-grandfather Alonzo purchased a second-hand mantle clock for his wife to commemorate the birth of a child, my grandfather. Everyone loved and wanted that clock, but Alonzo made sure it went to his favorite grandchild a few years before his death; that grandchild is my mother.

Now she has given the clock to me. I've always loved it. I once wrote a paper about it for English class, speculating on what the world was like back when that clock was new.

It is an oak clock with brass movement and a gold-patterned glass door. There is supposed to be an hourly strike on a coil gong and a single strike on each half-hour, although the clock isn't in complete working order. I think I can get it repaired though.

I've attached a photo of a very similar clock (same brand, same series, same date).

It is nice to have something that has survived four generations of my family and was originally owned by great-grandparents that I never got the chance to meet.

Christmas

I usually don't post really serious stuff on this blog. Yes, weight loss ups and downs are serious, but they are also comically absurd (or absurdly comic) at times, so it balances out.

But this entry is going to be serious. I just returned from celebrating Christmas with my family. My grandfather has Alzheimer's. Last year, he was different ... quieter, but still himself. This year I couldn't find my grandfather anywhere.

I don't think he knew who I was. He knew I was someone he loved, but he didn't know I was his grandson. He never said my name. He didn't believe it was even Christmas and thought the family was tricking him into going somewhere. He hates to leave his home now.

The man who talked non-stop, who told story after story about his childhood or the War, who laughed constantly will not say a word now unless you ask him a direct question. If he can answer, he will do so with as few words as possible. He never said one single thing to me for the first time, of course, in 35 years.

He wanders around the house aimlessly. On more than one occasion he would go stand or sit in my parents' bathroom for 20 or 30 minutes. We decided to just let him be. It is sad because although he doesn't know much, I think he knows enough still to know that something is very wrong. I wonder if he goes to that bathroom to escape the crowd and desperately wrack his brain to figure out what is going on.

When we were growing up, my brother and I thought Pawpaw knew everything and could fix or make anything. He told us all about plants and gardening and growing things. He told us about England and Germany and all the places he had seen during WWII. He carved us toys out of wood, including a moving tractor out of old spools and rubber bands. My mother's house is filled with things he made -- tables, chairs, cabinets, plant holders, dozens of bird houses, and even a crude rooster figurine that he whittled for her. I remember once asking him if he would make me a TV for my bedroom. I was probably 8.

He was the first person to take us fishing, and we'd all go crazy when one of us caught something at all larger than a minnow. When he got excited, he'd say "Well, good land." We once gave my grandparents a trip to Nashville for Christmas. We drew posters showing them at all the Nashville landmarks with Pawpaw exclaiming "Good land" in every one. I have those posters in my bedroom right now.

Pawpaw loved to read Westerns and had nearly full collections of his two favorite authors, Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey. My brother will get one set of those books, and I will get the other.

Pawpaw was a bit of a rascal growing up and told us so many stories of the crazy, innocent jokes he and his brothers would pull when they were young. They once crept over to their neighbor's house in the middle of the night, took apart his farming wagon, and reassembled the entire thing on top of the barn. They were also fond of "dry setting:" He and his brothers would knock on a neighbor's door, enter in complete silence when it was opened, and go sit on the couch for about 30 seconds. No one would say a word and after the 30 seconds was up, they would all rise from the couch and run out the door.

I saw no humor or liveliness or joy in Pawpaw the entire holiday save for the few times he would play with my parent's dog, Maggie. Thank God for that dog. It seems she was the only thing Pawpaw could relate to.

I know Alzheimer's afflicts millions of people, but it is just so bizarre to me. How can someone still be here, but already be gone?

Is gardening with no work really gardening?

I say no, but that hasn't stopped me from becoming OBSESSED with the AeroGarden. I really really really want one. Actually, no, I don't want one; I want 10. I want them all over my kitchen. I want my kitchen to look like a greenhouse.



I wanna grow buttloads of herbs with no soil, no sun, no work. I wanna grow tomatoes. I wanna grow arugula. I wanna grow mini roses. I want big, beautiful plants to sprout not out of seeds (heavens no), but out of specalized "grow pods." And I want them to grow with amazing speed.

And I ain't the only one. It looks like about 90% of their AeroGardens are out of stock. I'm sure in a year or two they'll discover that these aeroponic plants cause a third eye to grow or some other such strange thing.

I still want one though!


'So tell me, why am I not popping your head like a zit right now?'

Merry Christmas

I got my first Christmas gift today -- a wonderful book about keeping chickens as pets. It is definitely something I'm going to have to think about in the new year.





'I'm way off my game. My game's left the country. It's in Cuernavaca.'

Wacka wacka

You know the sound Pac-Man makes when eating those dots? Wacka wacka wacka wacka?

That's the theme song to my life right now. I am just lining up food and eating eating eating.

Today was the last WW weigh-in of 2007, and I once again skipped it. I haven't been in months. But, listen, there is no point in getting upset about it. I made the decisions, and there is nothing I can do about it now.

I still feel WW is something that can work for me. I've already signed back up for 2008 (starting January 15 I think). I am sad it ended on this downward note, but I still think I can make good progress on WW in 2008.

I know I have lots of support! Thanks.

'It eats you, starting with your bottom.'

Of amputated toes, monkey cabinets, sideshow freaks, and the Land of the Rising Sun (Son)

One person in all the world will understand today's post. For the rest of you, please feel free to ignore! There will be other posts!

My toe is so gnarly today -- all swollen and purple/black. It is as if my body has never suffered a puncture wound before. What the hell? I'll survive though.

Here are some pix of my antique monkey cabinet. You can also see part of my frog collection in the first picture.

And I can't wait to try out the Big Top Candy Shop. It sounds very cool (as does the other store owned by the same folks), but when I do go, I must focus more on the circus/sideshow theme than the candy.

Lastly, I'll just say Yoi ichinichi o (Have a good evening)!

'If anything should happen to you and you should be killed, I should take it somewhat amiss.'

Happiness is Easy

I just have to say this 15-year-old boy who sings Johnny Cash songs makes me very happy. Very.

I'm lucky ... it doesn't take a whole lot to make me very happy.

That's all.

'I lurk.'

Something big in '08?

Hmmm ... I feel like something is bubbling under the surface. Something that fills me with anticipation. What that something is exactly I don't know. And if it is real or not I don't know.

I almost always feel something good as a new year dawns -- I'm just optimistic in that way I think. On the other hand, though, maybe I'm just avoiding the negative feelings of the current year by focusing all my energy on "It'll happen next year."

In 1997, I felt it would happen in 1998. It didn't. In 2002, I felt it would happen in 2003. It didn't. In 2006, I felt it would happen this year. It didn't. So ... could it be different in 2008? Yes. It is totally within my power for it to be different, which is the crazy thing. But will it be different? I don't know.

I do know that for the first time in maybe forever, I am ending a year weighing less than I did when I started the year. That's certainly something. It could have been a lot more if I hadn't stalled so badly with WW in the past months, but I've still done something that I have possibly never done before. So I will be happy with that. For now.

'I don't care if it is an orgy of death, there's still such a thing as a napkin?'

Truth

I need to be a man and admit it: I avoided WW today and did not weigh-in. My "plan" (and I guess I use that word lightly at this point) of eating the same but exercising more was a bust at both ends.

I ate more and exercised less. So I simply did not want to weigh today.

How did this happen? Thanksgiving, for one. I ate with friends and devoured some ham, mashed potatoes, and rolls. I then brought home leftover ham which I ate like it came from the last pig on Earth. And there was the cake -- homemade chocolate cake. I brought home half of it or more with intentions and instructions to take it to work on Monday. By the time Monday rolled around, I had eaten so much myself that there wasn't even enough to take to work.

And exercising every night? Well, that just didn't happen. I won't even attempt any excuses.

What's next? I don't know. I am hoping I can finally really truly get back on track and have some progress or something positive to report after next Tuesday's weigh-in (which as of now, I do plan to participate in).

Life happens.


'God! What is your childhood trauma?!'

More Movies

No need to ask what I did on my vacation ...

No Country for Old Men -- Quite good. Even with all its violence, this was a very quiet, meditative movie. Funny at times. Distinctly Coen Brothers-y. Unusual (some might say unsatisfying) ending.

Beowulf -- Entertaining movie, but odd. The animation needs to be perfected; it can be so realistic at times and then silly looking at other times. Great "popcorn" action, but I couldn't tell if some scenes were being played for humor or to be taken seriously.

The Mist -- Total B-grade movie, but fun. Some good scares, some good gore. I must say the ending was audacious and really twisted.

'I don't fancy spending the next month trying to get librarian out of the carpet.'

Dance Dance Revolution

I've been hiding something from my dear reader(s) because of the embarrassing visual it creates, but I need to come clean.

I dance every night for exercise. I put on one song and dance like a crazy person alone in my computer room until that song is over. And I'm not talking about the white-boy shuffle -- I'm talking full-on hip action, arms flailing, head rolling, jumping, kicking, dancing ...

It is fun because it just cracks me up; I know how insanely ridiculous I must look. And it is GREAT exercise. Honestly, after dancing to a 3-1/2 minute song, I am panting like dog. I've started with one song with a goal of eventually moving to two, three, four ...

I would recommend it (but only to be done in complete and total privacy)!

'So many body parts, so few bullets. Let's begin with the knee caps. No fun dancing without them!'

Dreams turn into Nightmares

I can't even get away from the horror that is dieting in my sleep ...



I was dreaming of happily sitting in a dark theater getting ready for some movie to start, and I pull out a huge, sweet, moist honey bun. I was just unwrapping it as my best friend Allison comes out of nowhere and sits in the row behind me. She very annoyingly keeps leaning over my shoulder to see what I'm doing, so I am forced to hide my honey bun until the movie is over.

Once out of the theater and away from Allison, I pull out the honey bun again only to find it dried out and crusty.

Damn ...



'So. Who do you kill for fun around here?'

Please Won't You Be ... My Neighbor

Living in a neighborhood is an interesting experience, especially for a socially awkward person like myself. I don't really know my neighbors or visit with them or communicate with them at all.

So am I just insane to think what appears to be a kind gesture on the surface is actually slightly threatening and malevolent? One of my neighbors (and I don't know which one) likes to "help me out" with yardwork.

Most recently, I've had some tree limbs that hang over my driveway and sometime scrape the top of my Jeep as I pull in. I came home yesterday to find about half a dozen of the lowest-hanging limbs cut off and laying in my driveway. Now, was this done out of kindess? Could be, but I think not. I think I have some anal neighbors who didn't like the way it looked, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. Similar things have happened in the past with some other limbs, with a patch of weeds by my mailbox, with my garbage bin, etc.

It is starting to irk me ...

'Xander, if you ever decide to go, I want a warning. You know, big flashing red lights and one of those clocks that counts down like a bomb in a movie? And there's a whole bunch of colored wires and I'm not sure which is the right one to cut, but I guess the green one and then at the last second, no, the red one, and then click, it stops with three-tenths of a second left, but then you don't leave. Like that, okay?'

Sad State of Affairs

It isn't pretty, but I do keep my promises. Here are my ups and downs over the past month or so.

I was down 46.6 lbs by the week of October 2. By October 16, I had gained 4 lbs. I lost .4 lbs for my October 23 weigh-in and lost an additional 1.2 lbs by October 30. But then this week (Nov. 13), I had gained 5 lbs. YIKES. So that's a total gain of 7.4 lbs since early October. Not good.

So as I mentioned last night, I'll be keeping my diet basically the same for the next week/10 days, but will be exercising each night. We'll see how that works.

That's it for now!


'Boys, if you don't knock it off, I will pull this car over, and you can just walk to your painful deaths from here.'

New Plan: Part I

I have some kind of mental block against bringing my WW booklet home, so I'll try to remember that tomorrow. I really do want to get all caught up as far as recording my losses and gains over the past month.

Anyway, I don't think I'm going to make any changes in eating until after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, BUT I am going to force myself to exercise each day from now until my next weigh-in to see what effect exercise alone has on my weight. That's the first part of my plan, and then I'll take it from there ....

Wish me luck!


'A guy slayer would be badass. Like if there was this ninja, a guy slayer would be like, "you may be silent, but this'll shut you up." Hai-ya!'

1 lb forward, 2 lbs back

Ok, I am now officially going full-speed in the wrong direction. I have gained nearly 5 lbs over the past two weeks.

I meant meant meant to bring my WW booklet home so I could record all the ups and downs over the past month or so, but of course I forgot it. I will bring it home tomorrow and get my blog completely up-to-date.

I will also think tonight about my action plan and post on that tomorrow.

Guess I'll go have some water and stale bread now!

'I don't talk to people much. I mean I talk to them, but they don't talk to me except to say that "your questions are irksome" and "perhaps you should take your furs and your literal interpretations to the other side of the river."'

Strangers in the dark, exchanging glances

There's something I really love about sitting in a cool, quiet, dark theater with a bunch of strangers watching a movie on the big screen. It is so much better than watching at home on your own TV.

So, that's how I spent about 10 hours of my vacation -- with strangers in dark, quiet theaters.

Here's what I thought (rated via my own patented Hot Dog scale with 1 Hot Dog representing a cold, dry, stale movie and 5 Hot Dogs representing a warm, fresh, succulent movie):

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead -- Pretty interesting storyline, twisty/turny, some good performances. It was a little over-the-top in parts, and I just don't care for Philip Seymour Hoffman at all, but worth seeing at matinee prices or on Netflix.

Lars and the Real Girl -- Really good offbeat dramedy. Great performances, poignant, and very funny in places. I liked it a lot.

Into the Wild -- I saw this early in the week and have thought about it every day since. It was beautiful and powerful. I loved it. And the soundtrack (by Eddie Vedder, who I generally do no like) was so perfect. You can listen to one song here.

Gone Baby Gone -- Another good movie-going experience. Written by the same guy who wrote Mystic River and very similar in tone and content. Boston crime drama. Directed by Ben Affleck with a cast that includes Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. Enjoyable.

'You're certainly a font of nothing.'

Welcome to the Hellmouth

So I'll also be watching LOTS of Buffy during my time off. LOTS. Daily (or at least yearly) I am asked, "Jason, why do you so love Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Well, my curious friend, let me tell you. If you think Buffy is about some ditzy blonde fighting monsters with her nerdy friends, you would be very, very wrong. It is a brilliantly written seven-season-long treatise on what it means to move from adolescent to adult. Creator Joss Whedon said once that the show is meant to convey that "Everybody who makes it through adolescence is a hero."

It is about honor, duty, sacrifice, friendship, redemption ...

Seriously, that is what the show is about. A show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer is about all those things. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love it.

I will try not to turn this into a Buffy blog, but I just have it on the brain lately!

'Do you think I chose to be like this? Do you have any idea how lonely it is? How dangerous? I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or, god, even studying! But I have to save the world. Again.'

A little R&R

I've got a bit of time off this week and hope to use it wisely. I plan to give a lot of thought to ways I can improve my life/health that might inject a little fun into my routine.

Now, I have an unusual definition of fun sometimes. I have some slight OCD-like tendencies; I just love routine and repitition and marking things on my calendar and then crossing them off when I am done. Little things like that make me happy.

So, I have lots of ideas swirling in my mind. Maybe I require myself to eat a vegetable once a day. Or try one new healthy food once a week. Or eat one completely organic meal once a week (inspired by my friend, D!). Or walk around the building at work 10 times each week. Or walk the dog around the neighborhood each week. Or add one of those anti-cancer foods (blueberries, tomato sauce, flaxseed, nuts) to my diet each month. Or all of the above. Or any of the other dozens of things I could do. Just little "events" in my week that I could mark off when I'm done and wait for them to roll back around the next week.

We'll see ...

I need to start taking a multivitamin also. I don't get nearly enough of the recommended vitamins and minerals because I never eat vegetables and don't eat enough fruit. I'll look into that during my time off.

Stretching too. This guy I saw on TV said 20 minutes of stretching every morning can make a huge difference in energy levels and feelings of peacefulness. Hmmmm ... I don't know about that.

And Real Age Tip of the Day -- I love that. Maybe I can integrate one of those tips into my life on a weekly basis. My Real Age is 38.5, by the way. That's actually better than I was thinking, but still 4.5 years older than my true age. Yikes ...

'That was real manly how you shrieked and all.'

I'm baaaack!

Hello all!

I honestly cannot beleive it has been a month since my last entry here. How did that happen?

On the advice of a friend and fellow blogger, I'm going to start back slowly. No pressure to jump right back in with WW tracking and being serious and all perfectiony.

I don't even have my WW booklet with me, so I don't have any exact numbers to post. Generally, it has been up & down over the past month. I beleive I gained 3 lbs at my weigh-in three weeks ago. Two weeks ago, I lost half a pound. And then last week I lost an additional 1.5 lbs. I'll update the specific numbers later this week after I've checked my booklet.

I'm still feeling unmotivated, although I feel rumblings of a new excitement. I don't know what yet, but I may change a few things and rededicate myself to a healthy lifestyle. I want to take the focus away a little bit from diet diet diet and put it more on a lifestyle that gives me more energy and more health and a longer life. Of course diet is a huge part of that, but not the entire focus.

We'll see ... I'm sure I'll blog more about that as it becomes clearer to me what is building inside my little brain.

Ok, that's about it for today. A friends has started signing off on her blog posts by quoting from books that interest her -- a great idea. She takes the high road with very prestigious authors and books of great depth. I'm going to take the low road and sign off with one of the things that makes me happiest in this world. Buffy the Vampire Slayer! :)



'Oh! Oh, Buffy! Don't cry. I'm sorry I was too hard on you. Sometimes I unleash. I don't know my own strength. It's bad. I'm bad. I'm a bad, bad, bad person.'

The upside of illness

I have been a bad, bad blogger lately. I know. I have no excuses, but here are my reasons:

I don't know how to explain what's happened, but I have completely lost my motivation as far as WW and dieting. Even when I get positive results (which I'll expand upon later), I don't feel any spark. Where did it go? Why did it go? How do I get it back?

I have also been ill. I got a pretty bad cold awhile back and still cannot get rid of the cough 14 days later. That is about to drive me insane. And I had a damn kidney stone over the weekend. Just out of nowhere. Thankfully, it was a fairly brief episode (about 24 hours), but still ...

Anyway, with no motivation, I was dreading weigh-in today, but thanks I guess to my being sick, I did manage to lose some weight. 8 lbs. That's over the course of two weeks. I was expecting to gain, so I should be completely thrilled, yet I feel very indifferent about it. That's not a good sign.

I'm going to do some meditation on motivation and maybe blog about it some more later. I've got to get myself back into the groove. And help my dieting friend get back into the groove as well.

Bye.

Good news, bad news

Shortie tonight ... (or is that shorty?)

Good news: I am back full-speed on WW. Went to the meeting today, got weighed in, signed up for another three months. Back on track!

Bad news: I had gained 4.8 lbs. Yep. Over the course of two weeks. Yowza!

FOOD for thought

A friend and I have been discussing self image for the past couple of days. I completely understand having body issues. I am very overweight and don't like it. I have a poor body image, and I just consider that realistic thinking.

However, I'd like to propose that body image is a small part of self image. I think I have a pretty good self image because although I don't like being overweight, I do like being honest, funny, smart, hard-working, interesting, strong, passionate (about some things), etc.

Oh, I almost forgot modest! Ha!

And my friend has these same qualities ... and more.

Seriously, there is so much more to embrace than appearance. I would feel I am letting others define me if I based my self image strictly on appearance.

And do I want attention from folks who wouldn't pay attention to me as an overweight person? HELL TO THE NO!

Ok, Here's the Situation ...

My parents were in town for a week's vacation ...

That's all I got. Sorry.

I did not weigh in this week, and now I feel badly about it. I had an outside appointment that I could have easily rescheduled, but I chose not to because I didn't really want to weigh in.

I've temporarily lost a little momentum, oddly enough, after getting the great news that I had gained no weight during my vacation from WW. I am not "off" WW, but I have not been vigilant about my eating in the past week or 10 days. I've had chips for lunch a couple of times recently. I had a Sprite one day. Just little bitty things here and there that I wasn't doing before.

I'm not sure what got me slightly off track. I felt really good about gaining no weight, so maybe I am thinking I don't have to be as strict (I know that's dangerous thinking though). Or, maybe it is the fact that I was told by WW that I was losing too much, and I could no longer come back unless I get a note from my doctor. Well, of course I can get a note from my doctor, but for some reason, I think that little conversation with the WW person threw me for a loop. It was almost like negative feedback -- weird. I think I am just looking for something to throw me off track.

But, it won't work. I will get back on track. And I will weigh in this coming Tuesday no matter what!

Jason's Believe It or Not

I did not gain a single ounce during my WW vacation. Seriously, I weigh exactly the same as I did two weeks ago.

I hardly know how that happened, but I am quite happy about it.

No need to write a long, boring blog entry about it. Just yay! :)

Fall gardening

My yard is a big ol' mess, but I hope to get it cleaned up for fall over the next month or so. In the last week, strong winds have knocked down three huge limbs from my pecan tree, as well as another entire 12' tree.

I have lots of plants waiting to be put in the ground though. Hopefully they will thrive and add a little color to my yard. I have a huge Hibiscus, a huge Bouganvilla, and a Duranta.

We got these plants at the Wildseed Farms near Frederickburg. It was a wonderful day to go as it had just rained and the temperature was about 75 degrees. So nice. And they had fields and fields of zinnias growing.

Manna from heaven

I did discover a new snack during my WW "vacation" that I can eat on a regular basis. It is this type of corn that explodes from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Hahahahaha. Yes, it is popcorn.

Honestly, I don't love popcorn. On a scale from 1-10, I would give it probably a 6. But we got a bag of Whole Food organic popcorn that is the best popcorn I have ever eaten. It was perfectly salted and flavorful and light. And a serving is only 3 WW pts.

If you like popcorn and have never tried it, I would highly recommend it.

Back to life, back to reality ...

My "vacation" from WW officially ends today. It has been an interesting and surprising experience. As I posted last week, I got to eat all the foods I had been craving, but I just could not eat very much of it. Not nearly as much as I expected I would.

I'm sure I gained some weight, but probably not as much as I was thinking.

Intellectually, that's great, and I feel good about it. But it also left me with a weird sense of dissatisfaction. I guess I am still getting used to my new eating habits and coming to terms with the fact that vacation does not equal stuffing my face 24 hours a day with sweets, fried foods, and whatever else comes into my orbit.

It felt weird, and even my parents, who are majorly supportive, couldn't help but be a little weirded out. They kept wondering if I didn't like my food -- was my steak too done or the pancakes too dry.

Anyway, there you have it. Overall, a big success I think. It'll just take awhile longer for me to adjust mentally to the reduced place food now has in my life.

Dreams fulfilled ...

Ha! Well, I had my breakfast sandwhich! It was yummy.

And I've had Mexican and Chinese food. And it was all yummy.

But guess what? I haven't eaten nearly as much as I thought I would. I haven't eaten much at all.

Ordered two sausage biscuits: Only ate one!
Ordered four shrimp quesadillas: Only ate two!
Ordered crispy honey shrimp: Only ate half the order!

Maybe my big ol' stomach is getting a wee bit smaller.

Cool by me ...

Celebrate good times ... come on!

Well, I hit my first goal. I lost another 7 lbs this past week, which puts me over 40 lbs before the end of August. That was goal #1!




Now time for just a slight break. I will not be counting WW points next week and may not weigh in (we'll see about that). But the following week, I'll be back on the program and ready to go again.


Folks have asked me how I have been successsful thus far. Three main things:

• Taking it one meal at a time
• Having absolutely no contraband in my house
• Setting this "break" week up in advance so I knew exactly when it was coming

That's really it. Certainly the weekly weigh-ins have helped me, but the three things I listed above have really been keys for me.


Ciao ...