Project LOLA - Day 180

It's Not A Diet, It's Just An Extended Dose Of Masochism!

180 days. 6 months. Half a year.

Fast food is a fading memory. I used to go get the grilled chicken wraps at Sonic, but the last time I ate one was the beginning of February. It's been even longer since I ate the grilled chicken strips at Jack in the Box. I did venture into Mickey D's once or twice for a sugar-free iced coffee. I gazed longingly at the fresh-baked cookies, but managed to avoid buying any.

Things aren't perfect on the food front. My weekend sushi treat has expanded to 2-3 times a week. It's not a huge calorie bump, but it does put me over the 2000 cal/day limit. You could eat a truckload of rice & fish and not get half the calories that you would in a double cheeseburger & fries, but it's expensive, and I need to find another treat that's not full of white rice. (FYI: Brown rice makes crappy sushi!)

I hit a Chinese buffet for the first time in over a year with my friend Zibig 2 weeks ago. To my credit, I stuck with (mostly) healthy food choices & sushi, and instead of a huge ladle or two of the sugar-coated deep fried items, I got just one or two bites of the seafood & non-fried chicken dishes.

My salt levels are appalling due to all the soy sauce on the sushi and the sodium levels in canned soups. I don't know that I'd recommend my diet to anyone with high blood pressure. I mentioned this concern to my doctor, but his opinion was that my blood pressure was tolerable, and he'd prefer to have some extra salt going down my pie hole rather than chilidogs, ice cream and donuts.

I must confess to a major sin. I ate a french fry. My nephew Sammy insisted. I also snuck a bite of my sister's baked 'tater when we took Dad out to dinner. I said three Hail Broccolis as penance...

People tell me they can see a difference in my appearance, and I suppose they're being honest. I really don't notice any major changes, just some minor things. I look kinda deflated, like a week-old balloon. My clothes fit better, but aside from a little belt-tightening, I still manage to fill 'em out. I can see veins & tendons moving around under the skin on my hands & feet. Hell, I can look down and see my feet without major contortions. That's a big plus, I suppose.

My fear is that I've hit a plateau. It's a common occurence for dieters, and occurs when your body adjusts to the lower calorie intake and goes into fat preservation mode. To keep the downward slide happening, you can either cut calories further, or increase your exercise. I'm still having some issues with my right knee, and I'm wanting to drop another 40 or 50 lbs. before I start to do a daily groundpound, to borrow Jimbo's phrase.

There's an exercise & swimming pool over at a City Parks facility nearby that has a walk-in feature, so you don't have to climb steps or ladders. I'm thinking it might be a good time to go sign up and start walking some laps. The water resistance is good for burning calories, and the buoyancy will keep my knee from imploding.

So, no Spandex clothing and hot monkey sex with supermodels on the horizon anytime soon. Hell, it's going to take another 6 months of this just to get back to where I was back in 2002 when I moved to Houston, and I was at the "Damn, that's a big ol' fat guy" stage back then, before ballooning up to the "Get a tugboat and haul him back out to sea" stage that kicked off this project.

I'll keep you posted...