<South American Soccer Commentator Voice>

Gooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

</South American Soccer Commentator Voice>

It is hard to believe that through a series of misadventures involving
injuries, poor health coverage, bad doctors and bad habits I was 260
lbs back in April of 2002. That came down once I got some orthopedic
surgeries I needed and started exercising again. I also tried calorie
counting with some success several times, but quit not knowing some
things I learned while reading the Hacker's Diet.

I started with the Hacker's Diet and this site back in January at
about 223 lbs. I'm now at my "pipe dream" goal of 190 lbs, what I
weighed toward the end of graduate school.

What I find a little bit amusing is that the Hacker's Diet is all
about things contemporary fitness gurus talk against.  Daily weighings
and calorie counting.   I found the calorie counting to be easy and
not at all obtrusive.  About 5 min a day.  No worse than counting
carbs, grams of fat, or any other of the wacky schemes that get
popular every few years.
The daily weighings also broke my fear of scales.   While I might be
slightly disappointed if I run a little high for a day or two, it
doesn't psyche me out any more.  This is great because that psyching
out usually led to avoidance which prevented me from fixing small
problems while they were still small.

I found an old fitness notebook from college. I think I am going to
keep setting new weight loss goals going down about 5 lbs a time and
evaluating how I like that weight. I will probably keep going as long
as it is liveable, until I hit the outer edge of my BMI, or until I
hit one of the low weights in my old weight lifting log from college.

We'll see!

LOL! Tomorrow I leave for a 5 day convention built around vegan food
prepared by Chef Ken Bergeron and served BUFFET style.

I think I will stick with my rule of only taking one helping from
buffets. I will also hit the gym facilities there, focus on big salads
for lunch, and taking it in stride. I'm not counting on losing weight
over the next five days and I will be happy to come home about the
same weight I am now. I think that is realistic given my past trips to
this convention. Most people complain about gaining 5 lbs at the end
of this thing. For me it will be a temporary blip, so I am not going
to sweat it.
_________________
Steve, 5 11,
Next Goal: 185 lbs
First Goal: 190 lbs : Achieved