Official Week 5 Results:

-4.2 for the week
-13.4 overall

I waited an extra day to weigh in because of all the salt I took in over the weekend while surviving on festival food at Lollapalooza. Looks like that was a good idea. Once all that extra water weight was gone, the result of walking miles and miles between stages and sweating for 10 hours each day Friday, Saturday and Sunday was made clear. Hopefully I can maintain this progress.

Official Week 4 Results:

-5.2 for the week
-9.2 overall

It must have been all the heavy lifting as we began our move to the new apartment, because I did not eat especially well. I'll certainly take it.

Oops. How's that for a fresh start? One post, then poof! No updates.

Here's the tale of the tape:

Week 2: -1.4/week, -6 overall
Week 3: +2/week, -4 overall

It's been a bit of a rough (re)start to the diet. But though the numbers have been small, we've been working our way back in to eating right. Our vegetable and fruit intake has gone way up, even if our calorie intake has not decreased enough to start serious weight loss.

I'm going to make a serious effort to make sure this blog gets updated weekly, because there's nothing like accountability to help ward off the cravings. And boy, have I had some cravings. So much so that I have found myself absentmindedly browsing the web pages of local bakeries, lusting after their cupcakes, mouth watering. If I can beat back my sweet tooth, I might just get somewhere.

Official week 1 results:
Down 4.6 lbs for the week

The week got off to a good start, but took a bad turn when we got surprise guests over the weekend. The guests weren't the bad turn, but the food we ate with them was. I'm happy that, despite the several unhealthy meals, I still managed to lose a few. It just goes to show how much difference it makes when you are writing things down and eating a LOT of vegetables. My goal for the upcoming week is to lose 5 lbs or more.

Restarting the diet.

So much has happened in the in the last year. I moved to Chicago. I started law school. We sold our house. Medina moved to Chicago with me. I finished my first year of law school. (In that order.)

Unfortunately, something else happened over the last year. I gained weight. To be exact, I gained back 30 of the pounds I had previously lost. I am not beating myself up over that fact, but I am unhappy about it. The good thing is that we know exactly what to do about the situation. We know how to lose weight. We did it before, with great success.

Now it is time to do it again. Medina and I are once more undertaking the difficult task of losing weight. My short term goal is to get back to my previous low by the time school starts at the end of August. I am currently at 280, and I want to be at 250 by my thirtieth birthday, on August 23.

It's such a simple formula that one wonders why we didn't just keep on losing. The answer is also simple. It is a matter of attention. In order for me to lose weight, I have to pay close attention to everything I eat. I have to write it down. And I have to plan ahead. I can't head out to school or work with no preparation for lunch, because the results are almost always bad.

So now we are paying attention, and we will lose the weight. We are a good team, and we've proven that when our minds are focused we can achieve our respective goals. Today was official weekly weigh-in number 1 of our second round of weight loss. My starting weight is 280.

Next weigh-in and progress report in one week.

Still at -53 lbs. and haven't budged much at all. I guess this is the plateau that people talk about. Since there is not much to report, my posts will continue to be light until something happens. I don't feel the need to post the same boring information week after week about how nothing has changed. In the meantime, I will not give up. I will never give up. Not now. Not after I've come this far.

Week 35 - No news is good news. I am still holding on at -53 lbs. and I'm damn proud of that accomplishment. Despite everything that we have going on, I have managed to maintain my weight. I even went on a solo roadtrip Memorial Day weekend and managed to lose 1.5 lbs. while I was gone. That is unheard of for me. In order to kick start the weight loss again, we are back in the box meaning we are attempting to only eat vegetables, fruit and lean cuisine type meals. Drinking lots of water is key and that's one thing we haven't wavered on. Dehydration can cause all sorts of problems; it's important to consume at least 64 oz. of water daily. I don't know if my cravings will ever stop. Maybe it's something I will always struggle with. I eat lots and lots of fruit and vegetables and even though I'm not hungry, I normally don't feel satisfied. Sometimes my thoughts are consumed with food and how happy I would feel if I could just have a few bites. It's crazy really. Today I was weak and had 2 slices of pizza...after I ate my lean cuisine. It smelled so good and I did not try very hard to resist. It tasted good, but really wasn't worth it. That's usually the case and I know that going in, but I just need to taste it. Despite my crazy food obsession I still feel like I am making progress. One step at a time.