Last Friday, after I crossed the threshold to begin the running portion of my training, I met my new track coach.  Shortly after my morning weigh-in, I could see his face in the mirror as I brushed my teeth.

Our meeting was brief since track practice wouldn't begin until 5 pm, but I could sense his presence all day.  We would meet again later under more painful circumstances, for sure.  There was no way out for either one of us.

Five o'clock arrived promptly like clockwork, at 5 pm, just as scheduled, and right on time.

Track practice began with five minutes of stretching.  Then, Coach had me walk briskly for a mile, just like in the good old days, but this was only to warm-up.  It seemed like only yesterday that I was walking on that very same treadmill.  After some reflection, I realized it WAS only yesterday that I walked on that very same treadmill.

After the warm-up laps, Coach had me run a 1/4 mile lap.  This felt okay and I was not out-of-breath at the end.  Practice progressed with alternate walking laps and running laps.  After several laps at various speeds, Coach found an 8-minute mile pace to be appropriate for me.  He had me do a total of 6 or 7 laps of running before letting me walk briskly the rest of the practice - six miles altogether in about 75 minutes.  It was a short workout compared to most.

Saturday, I got the day off.  Completely off.  Absolutely nothing to do.  All much-needed rest.  Thank you.

Sunday was "kind of" a day off, compared to Friday.  The morning began with the good old brisk mall walk I do every week, but was ten-miles this time.  As the first one through the mall doors, I am now getting to be the mall security guard's old friend.

Monday, it was back to track practice, but Coach got tougher and tougher as the week went on.  By Friday, he was really tough on me.  He had me doing random 1/2 mile interval runs mixed in with the usual 1/4 mile laps.  Once, he challenged me to run a really fast lap because he somehow knew that I felt pretty good.  He wanted to see if I had the wheels of a 25 year old.  (I proved to him that I did.)

After a long winter, Coach likes to go home to his loved ones earlier now, so practice is scheduled to last 90 minutes.  No more.  No less.  After only a week, he has already gotten me up to over eight miles a day, almost half of which is running.

Coach may seem like a sadistic slave driver, but he can see some potential in this tired, old man.  He can see it in the mirror.

The other day, I was thinking about this contest and a few other topics.  My realistic thoughts turned into a vivid daydream, which then snowballed into my imagination running wild.

You know when the Power Ball or Mega Millions lottery jackpots reach hundreds of millions of dollars and everyone dreams of winning?  If you won, what would you do?

I started to think, "When I achieve all of my fitness goals, what will I do?"  Then I started to look at where I stand right now relative to where I want to be.  All of my fitness goals were not too lofty, so they are within reach.  Not easy reach, but within reach.

Like in the comics, a light bulb lit up over my head.  (Make that an energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulb since this is a "green" blog.)

Reaching all of my fitness goals would be like hitting the lottery.

Imagine being the lottery winner - the new millionaire  - who doesn't really need to work again.  Winning the lottery isn't just about a huge amount of money and the ability to buy frivolous things.  It's really about what having money does for you.  It gives you control.  Control of your life.

Like many lottery winners who choose to keep working because work is all they ever knew, winning the Fitness Lottery gives you similar control.

When you win the Fitness Lottery, you can keep working out, but you do so on your terms.  When you hit the Fitness Lottery, maybe once in a while, you can have pizza.  Or a cinnamon roll.  Once you have control of the diet and exercise aspects of your life, you can do whatever you want.  Life choices are a little easier than spending all day in the produce department or in the grocery aisles reading nutritional labels.  Or worrying about one piece of birthday cake going directly to your hips or butt or belly or thighs.  

Chances are, if you are a past winner of the Fitness Lottery, you already know what nutritional labels say or what it will take to lose that piece of cake you choose to eat. 

And winning the Fitness Lottery doesn't even cost a buck for a ticket.

Friday morning, I reached my intermediate goal of 180 pounds.  So as planned, my daily workout changed drastically.  It was time to run.  Since it is now spring, or what I lovingly call "the dead of winter", running outside was out of the question.  I stayed indoors and used my trusty, reliable little friend, the treadmill.

After work, I did not do my usual boring 10-mile walk on the treadmill.  Instead, I stretched for 5 minutes, then warmed up for a half mile at a slow walking pace.  Then, I alternated running a 1/4 mile lap and walking a 1/4 mile lap.  The running laps were done VERY HARD - some laps at over 9 MPH.  To cool down, I walked the last mile and a half.  Altogether, I did 6 miles in a little over an hour.

My diabolical plan is to increase the time and distance of each running interval while decreasing the time and distance of each walking interval.  This will ultimately lead to all running with no walking, except to warm up and cool down.  I expect to be able to keep this up until my workout is about 8 miles long and completed in an hour or so.  At least on most days.

GEEK ALERT:  A discouraging point here is the math.  If you walk 4 MPH for a lap, then run 8 MPH for a lap, you do not average 6 MPH.  It is less than 6 MPH.  This is because even though you are running and walking the same distance at each speed, you spend much less time running than walking.  This is a "weighted" average.  (Try working it out on paper, if you are skeptical.)

THE GOOD NEWS:  The cardio part of my workout took not much more than an hour compared to the 2+ hours a day that I have spent chained to the treadmill lately.  This leaves almost a whole extra hour to do some universal machines and other strength training.

I want to spend some of the extra time working on my abs since I can now see them for the first time in over 20 years.  My other weight work consisted of mostly arm exercises using lighter weights, stuff that I learned at Boot Camp.

Even though I completed a decent amount of miles at a good clip, after my workout, I felt the best ever.  From just one session, I can tell already that this is going to be more and more fun as time goes on.  This will also become less time-consuming, especially when the lawn will need to be mowed after work - before the city calls me about it.

Saturday's health assessment was okay.  My body fat percentage remained about the same, but I blame that on my lack of hydrating - admittedly my biggest fitness fault.  As Ron Graham told me, failure to hydrate can throw those hand-held fat monitors way off.

Cori helped me with suggestions to increase my carbs to fuel these more intense workouts.  Her best tip was to "pair up" foods during my morning and afternoon snacks.  For example, eat a banana with my yogurt, or string cheese with my apple.

Pair up beer and pizza?  Someday?  Perhaps?  Maybe?  Pretty-please?

My experiences in this contest have been wonderful and inspired.  I am thankful for meeting several contestants in person and have been fortunate enough to follow the trials and tribulations (and sometimes perils) of everyone else through their blogs.  I thought it would be appropriate to devote one blog to describe how other contestants have impacted me.

I won't name names.  Well, maybe just a few.

Jason, it was nice talking to you at Cabanas.  And you did indeed follow through with taking that carry-out dessert to your daughter as you said you would.  I watched you pull out of the parking lot to ensure you didn't sample it in the car.  Between Cabanas and home, you were on your own...

Jessie, it was nice talking to you at the first weigh-in and running into you at the mall a couple of weeks later.  Thanks so much for the kind words about me in your blog.

Tim, aside from you breathing down my neck, I am inspired by your hard work.  A quote from one of your blogs, "Get out there and work" sticks in the back of my mind all the time while I am working out, because this whole thing does require work.  No doubt about that.  You have the additional burden of doing all of this despite some health issues, which is quite admirable.

Margaret, thanks for recommending MapMyWalk in one of your blogs.  I found a similar program MapMyRun at the same website.  I expect to use this to determine the distances of my workouts, once the weather cooperates.

Now on to everyone else.

The majority of the contestants are younger than me.  This means life gets in the way.  Work.  Kids.  Cooking.  Shopping.  Laundry.  Household chores.  Running around (and not in gym attire).  Perhaps elderly parents to take care of.  (Blame God since He was never thoughtful enough to give us parents that are younger than us.  Go figure.)  This is a tough nut to crack.  It made me overweight after 30 years of it.

To all of you who are in this category, you are already doing better than I ever did at that phase of my life.  Life ran me over and I just let it slowly happen.  Being sick and tired of being sick and tired is why I finally entered the contest.

Several contestants are older than me.  This means body parts don't work they way they used to, if they work at all.  Health problems can be your tough nut to crack.

To all of you who are in this category, I hope as I age I still have the drive and determination you showed when you entered this contest.  Thanks to some good genes (knock on wood) and some good choices I have made, like never smoking, I have avoided health problems.  So far, anyway.  But, like all human beings, I am just one doctor's visit away from bad news.  Hopefully, good fitness and a healthy diet will trump some of the lousy cards we get dealt in life.

Several contestants are related to other contestants.  It is great that you have that immediate, close support group.   Support is a good thing.  My dear girlfriend has been supportive of me throughout this contest with both diet or exercise.  She has worked her way up to swimming a mile every morning.  I could only do a mile in a boat, and a powerboat at that.

Many contestants oscillate between feeling good and feeling bad about themselves.  Eating right for a while, then falling to temptation.  Working out yesterday, then not being able to summon enough energy to go to the gym today.

To all of you in that category, remember, that is really all of US.  Keep your heads up and look forward to another (better) day.  And there will be better days.

From the start, I had a detailed plan for this contest - a blueprint for the whole thing.  It included a target weight to reach before the start of a running program.  Reaching this intermediate goal was intended to lose a lot of fat first, in order to avoid injury when I did start running.  Plus, who can run while carrying two bowling balls worth of extra weight spread out over his body?

The running may happen as early as this weekend since I am only a pound or two away right now.

Although a former miler in high school and a two-time marathoner in my early adult years, I was far from being a star at either endeavor.  However, I still consider running to be REALLY running - like 7 or 8 minute miles.  No slow jogging for me.  Running always resulted in a great cardio workout in only about an hour, not to mention kept me in pretty good overall shape.

The bar was set high by yours truly to get back to (or close to) my old performance potential.  This is despite the naysayers who warn me of my age, and in their opinion not mine, my rickety body.

Last I checked, a funeral home was not one of the Lighten Up sponsors, so I have rejected any criticism of age or physical condition.  I still feel 25 years old, have never had any health problems or major injuries nor the need to take prescription medication.  (Alcohol is technically considered an "over the counter" remedy.)

I have absolutely no reason to believe that regaining my past physical condition is out of reach.

Now I am about to start running again - REALLY running.  This new-found fun will be two-fold:

First, with Cori's help, I plan to alter my diet to include more calories through carbs.  This will give me enough energy for these intense workouts.  I imagine my new diet will add mostly whole grain pastas and breads, or a burger with a whole wheat bun, but maybe even pizza once in a while.  I will find out more on Saturday at my assessment and after playing around in Vitabot with higher carb menus.

Second, my timeline intentionally targeted to begin running in early spring when it is light out later and the weather is warmer - much more fun than braving the elements.  I have several running course options and can't wait to run the more scenic routes.  I will miss the smells of the food court during my mall walks in the past.

Today's blog is brought to you by the letter "L".

Last week we turned the clocks ahead.  That small jump into the future got me thinking about the more distant future, at least the next several months.  What have I learned so far?  With so many big changes in my life implemented so quickly, it would be foolish to assume I would never re-visit old situations ever again.  How do I plan to work through them later?

LONG-LASTING LIFESTYLE LIMITS

BEFORE:  In the past, poor diet choices happened all the time with no consequences, except perhaps a popped shirt button or the need for a new belt.  If I ate too much today or skipped meals, only to eat poorly late at night, oh well.

AFTER:  The bad stuff will become occasional pleasures, not the everyday norm.  Hungry Howie's will be removed from speed-dial.

LEVY LAVISH LUXURIES 

BEFORE:  Guilty pleasures never had price tags on them.

AFTER:  A dozen chicken wings, a pizza, or a greasy fish fry dinner will be worked off with a visit to the gym once or twice that week.  If the weather is nice, it may take a jog or two around the block, not driving around the block in a car, like before.  The full price, in calories, will be paid back.

LESS LIBATIONS

BEFORE:  No holds barred - at the bar (or restaurant or winery or bowling alley or my friend's house or...)

AFTER:  Light beer, and only one or two.  Glasses, not pitchers.  Wine and even wine spritzers for refreshment, and only one or two.  Glasses, not bottles or boxes.  Avoid "Bucket O' Tequila Night" at Mexican restaurants.  At picnics and barbecues, grab the bottled water most of the time.  Don't use the CO2 hose on the draft beer keg as a straw.

LACKADAISICAL LARD

BEFORE:  Eat anything, and lots of it.

AFTER:  Make a conscious effort to read food labels, noting calories, fat content, and sodium, to name a few.

LOWER LACTOSE & LIPIDS

BEFORE:  Pay no attention to the nutritional value of dairy products.  Got milk?

AFTER:  I have already tweaked two things in this category: (1) I switched from Dannon "Fruit on the Bottom" yogurt, which I have been eating since I was a teenager, to Greek yogurt.  After trying the relatively sour Greek stuff, I really noticed the extra-sweet taste in the Dannon.  Hummmm, I wonder if Dannon adds sugar? (2) I switched from whole milk to 2% milk in college since my fraternity house only stocked that as part of our meal plan.  The other day, I ran out of 2% milk and tried the skim milk my girlfriend drinks.  On my cereal, I noticed no difference.  I'll stick to that and as a bonus, we won't need to buy two different milks.

LIBERAL LEFTOVERS LOST

BEFORE:  It sure was easy to throw the whole one-pound box of pasta in a giant pot, eat a ton of it, and still have four or five meals worth of leftovers.  Those leftovers got taken to work, so a heavy lunch took up residence in my belly all afternoon, every afternoon, until the leftovers were gone.  No need to buy fresh produce.

AFTER:  Reasonable portion amounts using fresh ingredients will be the new typical dinner.  Cooking will actually be easier because it takes a lot less cooking time for smaller cuts of meat than a whole roasted chicken, or whole turkey, or whole cattle.  A lunch based on veggies is easy, too, because I can keep bagged cuts of salad greens at work and serve reasonable amounts of protein over them - chicken or fish.  The "grazing" part of this contest was the most satisfying lesson, so healthy snacks remain a part of my day - hopefully spread out every couple of hours.

LINK LIVELIHOOD & LABOR

BEFORE:  Eat whatever I wanted and do only the physical activity that was necessary.

AFTER:  Physical activity, including formal work-outs at the gym, plus any informal activity that burns calories will always be on my radar.  And it will be fun in the future since I haven't been this healthy in ages.  I found a "Calories Burned Activity Chart" on the internet for all kinds of things.  One was "bird watching".  Are you kidding me?  I'll stick to jogging.

LOCK LOGICAL LEVELS

BEFORE:  No attention was paid to either diet or exercise.

DURING:  Everything was done right, maybe too right, both diet and exercise, to extremes for relatively fast results.  When is this contest over anyway?

AFTER:  Now, I can relax and enjoy a new life.  A workout is mostly for maintenance, not a big, fast weight loss which is no longer necessary.  Just don't let anything get out of hand so I need to repeat this cycle and deal with that poorly-calibrated scale one more time.

LIMIT LARGENESS

BEFORE:  Clothes are conveniently sold with an available size just a little larger than the one I am wearing now.  How easy is it to just buy size 40 jeans, since my size 38 jeans have shrunk?  (Darn dryer gone haywire, probably.)

AFTER:  Whatever size I am wearing at the end of the contest is MY SIZE.  No larger size exists in the universe.  If my clothes begin to fit too tight, I guess we know who we will be spending a couple of hours with after work... (HINT: This guy shares his first name with me and his last name is "Nasium")

LOSE LOOPHOLES

BEFORE:  The planets needed to line up before it was okay to go for a walk.  It's too cold, it's too windy, it's too sunny.  The neighbor I still owe 20 bucks to is out raking leaves next door.  Excuses used to be so easy.

AFTER:  Just by avoiding beer on Wednesday bowling nights, I discovered I can afford a pretty nice bike.  One for my girlfriend, too.  There are numerous other physical activities to work into our lives, excuse-free, even if they ultimately lead to a bottle of wine and a dozen chicken wings.  In that case, go directly to the section titled "LEVY LAVISH LUXURIES".

This is just a start.  Perhaps the LIST is LIMITLESS.

I realized the other day, that I am in this contest for a different reason than most of the other contestants.

Most contestants are diligently toiling through the task of building a sleeker, perhaps faster, self-propelled vehicle.  One that is fuel-efficient.  One that doesn't run on processed fuel, only clean, pure bio-fuel, commonly produced by nature.   One that will run smoothly year-after-year with little maintenance.

The vehicle I am trying to build is a Time Machine.  A Time Machine has many similarities to the other vehicles.  In fact, it looks just like them.  The plans have been in the works for a few years, I just never got around to start building it until this year.

Travel by Time Machine is not unlike travel in the other traditional vehicles in real time.  My Time Machine needs to run on the same fuel as the sleek, fast, self-propelled vehicles being assembled by others.  It too, must be fuel-efficient, able to go the distance and hopefully require little maintenance.  Speed is not a requirement, but it can be a bonus.

Gathering up all the basic parts has been done.  Behind several beer cans and an empty pizza box, I found a strong frame in decent condition.  It had been laying on the couch for years.  It was so heavily-wrapped in a thick covering that I could hardly recognize its potential.

A drive mechanism was needed, but I found one, around the time of my 55th birthday.  The drive mechanism has been holding up, under testing, for the past eight weeks.  Some days the drive burns hotter than others, but that is not a problem.  The system actually runs better that way.

By design, my Time Machine has a very specific date that can be set - 1982.  Back then lived a strong, healthy man.  He ran every day.  No activity was off limits.  I need to find that man.

Travel into the future is not necessary for this machine.  That will come easy and soon enough without it.

Although this challenging task does not have a specific deadline, I would like to complete this device by Saturday, July 27th.

Right now, my Time Machine is about 50% complete.  The fuel system has been set-up, its daily intake calibrated and it does everything it needs to do.  The Time Machine has already been beta-tested.  The ignition system has worked so far.  The drive starts every morning.  The Time Machine has proven right now that it can go back to about 1995 at about 50% speed.  During that preliminary test, a man was found.  Although fabulously handsome and interesting, he was not quite the same man I remember further back in time, the one I really want to see.

In just a few months, when this contraption gets lighter, I think it just may be possible to travel a little further back in time to meet that stronger, healthier man.

I will enjoy that journey back to 1982.

After appearing in the paper last Sunday, I have been amazed at how many people, in all kinds of situations, have approached me with their compliments of my accomplishments.  Even my son recognized my name in the paper.  All these people offered their encouragement and support.  Even my son.  

Not a negative comment from anybody.  Not even from my son.  Although, he did text message a little trash-talk because he is built like I was 30 years ago.  Unless it involves mindless video games, I'm up for any of his silly challenges.

Even some of my worst enemies, my bowling team for example, offered me their support, until I bowled under average for the night.  

Nobody accused me of getting liposuction, like I thought they would.

Nobody accused me of taking steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs, like I thought they would.

Nobody asked me why I was on the front page and not on the obituary page or the police blotter, like I thought they would.

So now my mind is going 100 miles per hour.  At first, I think, "I have an unfair advantage with all of this extra support."  Then, I think, "I better not let them down or I will look like the biggest doofus in the world, or at least in Lake County."

This is now huge pressure.  More than just being listed in the contest's weight chart every month.

The decision has been made: I better not let anybody down.  If I do, the biggest part of the let-down will be the part where I let myself down.

With a few long term goals set, some intermediate goals have already been reached.  Like clockwork, I have stuck to my diabolical plan all the way.  I have one number in mind.  I know what needs to be done to get to that number.  Perhaps the "one number" of other contestants will be lower than mine and I hope they reach it.  If they do, perhaps I will not take first place in the contest.  I cannot control what other contestants do, but I can wish them all the very best.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and good luck to all!

Over the past week, several people have asked me: "How did you lose so much weight so fast?"  I wanted to convince myself and wanted to be confident that the path to my goals was sustainable as the rate of my weight loss levels off.

My immediate, significant weight loss makes sense because of the immediate, significant changes made in my life.  It was easy to determine from information I had logged that a big chunk of the month's loss was in the very first week.   That result was a one-time deal and for good reason.  In my opinion, my body lost a lot of water and purged itself of toxins and waste.  In other words, I cleansed my body and got it healthy REAL FAST.  I could actually feel it as it happened, like a chemical reaction in a test tube.

Since my weight and body fat percentage changed, I decided to revisit that metabolic calculation with those new numbers.  While doing so, I also reviewed data logged daily since the first weigh-in.  I decided to ignore that one-time, first week's plunge, and start at the second week.  So, I looked at my weight taken every Saturday morning on my scale, with weekly weight losses in parentheses:

January 26 - 199.8 (used as starting point)

February 2 - 197.2 (down 2.6 pounds)

February 9 - 195.4 (down 1.8 pounds)

February 16 - 193.4 (down 2 pounds)

February 23 - 191.2 (down 2.2 pounds)

March 2 - 188 (down 3.2 pounds)

This is a loss of 11.8 pounds in 5 weeks or an average of between 2 and 2-1/2 pounds a week.  Good.  I'll take it.  But this is not so much, really.  And all of this confirms what I already knew back in January.

1,800 calories per day = "calories in" (from consistent, healthy diet)

1,778 calories per day = current Basal Metabolic Rate (re-calculated by Vitabot)

As mentioned in my earlier blog, these numbers cancel.  My weight loss is expected to come entirely from my activity level.  Two hours on a treadmill at 4.4 mph burns about 1,100 calories.  With fat weighing 3,500 calories per pound, I should expect to lose 2 pounds a week, which the numbers above confirm.  If I do other activities in addition to my workout, my body burns MORE than 1,100 calories a day.  If I eat less than 1,800 calories a day, I have that much less to burn.

THE GOOD NEWS:  Strict diet and strict workout schedule means my weight loss will not average less than 2 pounds a week.

THE BAD NEWS:  The math proves some limits here.

For example, to lose FOUR pounds a week would require a calorie deficit of 14,000 calories per week or 2,000 calories a day.  To do this would require limiting my diet to 900 calories AND keep burning a total of 2,900 calories per day (1,800 basal / 1,100 from activity).  Or I could stay with my current diet and DOUBLE my activity level.  Either method is impossible to sustain for 6 months - probably impossible to sustain for 6 DAYS.

Option 1 "Starving" provides too little energy (from food) to work out
Option 2 "Work out 4 hours a day" is not practical from a time standpoint

This proves why weight loss experts say that too much weight loss too quickly is unhealthy or unsustainable in the long run.  Two pounds a week, I just proved to myself, is do-able.

Since this contest began, I have slowly and gradually developed significant memory loss.

I CAN'T REMEMBER not eating breakfast
I CAN'T REMEMBER drinking a beer
I CAN'T REMEMBER eating chicken wings
I CAN'T REMEMBER walking out the door without my gym bag
I CAN'T REMEMBER touching the salt shaker
I CAN'T REMEMBER touching the butter dish
I CAN'T REMEMBER where the mayonnaise is
I CAN'T REMEMBER eating a salad without oil & vinegar
I CAN'T REMEMBER using a frying pan
I CAN'T REMEMBER eating a piece of candy

What's wrong with me?

First, congratulations to all of my fellow contestants for their accomplishments so far.  Lighten Up is a rare contest that everybody who "loses" really "wins", even if they don't actually finish first.

Second, let me re-affirm the information about me in today's paper.  Yes, Laura Kessel nailed it.  As a hobby, I am KCBS-certified BBQ Judge #32315 with credentials through the Kansas City Barbecue Society.

The KCBS is THE sanctioning body of most BBQ competitions held today worldwide.  To date, I have judged about ten competitions, exactly like the ones you see on the Food Network or BBQ Pitmasters on TLC.  I know a lot of members of teams and some day hope to compete myself.  Judging BBQ contests is a springboard many future competitors use to get to know what is expected in great BBQ.  Therefore, I "heart" ribs, brisket, pulled pork shoulder, and chicken and know what to look for in all of these categories.  I am admittedly the most unlikely candidate for a weight-loss competition.

Third, I'm certainly happy to be the first round leader and honored to be first to carry a target on my back.  This contest has NOT been easy.  My diet is strict by any standard.  What may surprise everyone is how many fruits and vegetables I eat.  Another surprise is that I rarely cheat in any way - no fried foods of any kind, no beer, no chips, no sweets, no desserts.  A typical day's diet:

7:30 am - A bowl of Total (easy way to get all the day's vitamins out of the way)

10:30 am - A banana

Noon - I keep a large tub of spinach at work and eat grilled chicken or fish with that for lunch throughout the week.  Salad dressing is Balsamic vinegar and EVOO that I mix up myself - nothing commercial from a bottle.  Along with the salad, I keep a bag of mixed raw veggies (cauliflower / broccoli / baby carrots / grape tomatoes) that I eat with a Greek yogurt-based dip.  If the meat on the salad is not filling enough, I will eat a few tablespoons of low-fat cottage cheese for extra protein.

3 pm - Greek yogurt or string cheese or an apple

5 to 7 pm - My daily workout.  This takes so much out of me that I am usually not very hungry afterward.  I "graze" when I get home and eat some random combination of leftovers, my lunchtime veggie mix, a handful of nuts, an apple - the amount depends on how I feel and what is on hand.

As you can see, no Weight Watchers, no Slim-Fast, no protein shakes, no rice cakes, no tofu.   Real food, lots of hard work and no fitness gimmicks.  My only supplement is glucosamine / chondroitin tablets taken daily to lubricate my weary old joints.

NEVER do I go to bed hungry.

Workouts are up to 9 miles on the treadmill (brisk walk at 4.4 mph) Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri

Boot camp for an hour on Saturday with an hour on the treadmill

Brisk 9 mile mall walk on Sunday mornings

Bowling night on Wednesday is my only rest (no beer, though)

CURRENT NUMBERS after 44 days - a week since today's posted numbers in the paper:

Weight 188 lbs - 24.6 lbs down from 1st weigh-in (11.5% of total body weight lost)

8 pounds away from "running" weight

BP down to 107/66

Rest pulse under 60

Body fat percentage down to 23.7% from 34.6%

Miles completed toward 1,000 mile goal: 256 (the distance from Cleveland to Cincinnati!)

Hours spent in the gym: 63.5

It's Sunday morning.  See you at the mall at 8:55 am.