LongTom

Which angel do you sound like: Raphael, Michael, or Gabriel? I'm still waiting for that recording you promised to make... (wags admonitory finger)

I sang today with a group of really good singers, for the first time in about 5 years. I am astounded at just how GOOD that made me feel! I had forgotten how much music is like oxygen to me. I feel like a fish that's been slowly drying in the sun, suddenly dropped into a clear, cool lake. (The fact that one of them told me "You sing like an angel," didn't hurt either. Walking on air at the moment!)

Me? Without a doubt...Captain Underpants. ...oh, you want the real answer? Here, then... Maximus ------- 71% Captain Jack Sparrow ------- 71% Indiana Jones ------- 67% The Amazing Spider-Man ------- 67% Batman, the Dark Knight ------- 67% William Wallace ------- 63% James Bond, Agent 007 ------- 58% Neo, the "One" ------- 54% The Terminator ------- 54% El Zorro ------- 50% Lara Croft ------- 50%

Evidently you are looking in the wrong places. That reminds me of something somebody once said to me: "There are guys that, when you first see them, look like they'd make a good boyfriend; and then there are guys that look like they'd make a good husband. Funny how that isn't the same thing at all." Any of the ladies care to elaborate? Does this resonate for you?

Weights last night. Bike 5 mi/walk 1.5 mi to work all week as usual. I've been trying to add a serving of protein in the morning. That seems to help with hunger early in the day. Without it, I tended to get into my lunch supplies at 10:30 or so, and then have to struggle with the rest of the afternoon. I also bought a big bag of carrots for when I'm feeling munchy in the evening. Better than crackers or the cereal box. Chewing gum helps too (sugarless of course).

RumbaRue, that is tragic. I'm so sorry to hear your news. You, the niece, and the family have my condolences.

unwilling but drunken shipmates

I went rock climbing last night, and after (all too quickly) wearing out all the muscles pertinent to climbing a wall, finished up with the rest of my regular weight workout. I kind of fell out of the habit of the weights, after vacation schedules interfered for a couple of weeks. I recommit to three FULL weight workouts every week. Not only do I lose weight more consistently when I do the weights as well as the biking and walking for my commute, but I look better keeping the muscles in working trim (cue Arnold Schwarzenegger voice "Ve ah heah to pomp you op!") It's not all backsliding, though. I'm up to 35 situps per set, or 105 per workout.

I like the showers you get on Kauai. You know, the ones where you are out strolling along from one kitschy little tourist shop to the next, or maybe along a verdant deeply foliated track (but definitely not on the golf courses; for those you might as well be back in California) and it just absolutely dumps on you for about 5 minutes, but the air is warm and the rain is warm and you're dressed in light cotton clothes and you're on vacation, so you really don't care how wet you get. ...those are nice.

I went to the one in Buena Park this April. I concur, it's a good time. I like the audience participation aspect. Food is simple, but tasty. Not sure who had the better time, me or the kids. I called them in advance to ask about garb (having been a little dense about the same subject at Disneyland that morning, doh!*). The folks at Pirates Dinner Adventure said pirate garb is "encouraged, but not necessary." (*For reference, the folks at Disney don't allow costumes on adults. They apparently need to be able to tell the guests from the actors at all times, for reasons of safety/security/liability. Dopey me...)

We used eLoan to refinance our house. Painless process, no glitches. It took a number of days to complete the process. I don't know how their car financing works. Hopefully quicker.

Pulled weeds all weekend. Groan. Thirty bags of crabgrass to dispose of, and still not done pulling. At least the fire department will be happy with the fuel load reduction. On Saturday I got up and the scale read 185. By the end of the same day it read 180. (And no, I didn't completely forget to hydrate.) Scale weight is mighty variable; don't take it too seriously. Trends, yes; day-to-day, no.

Me wee cabin boy. (He's not so wee anymore. Comes up to my nose, almost. Where did the last decade go?)

My 2 cents on the subject of water: a good filter does wonders. Many places the tap water is just nasty. W.C. Fields notwithstanding ("I never drink water. Fish fornicate in it.") , actually making it pure and clean before partaking might change your opinion of the stuff.

Welcome aboard, Mr. Long! Glad to see yer signin' the articles here. Your regimen sounds like a good one. Depinux, what Matt and "Broadside" said. The hardest part is to just keep going in the face of no apparent progress. Sometimes you seem to be getting nowhere, then you have a breakthrough. I was feeling discouraged at the beginning of this week, because after a vacation the scale was all the way back up to 190, erasing half my loss since February. Four days later it reads 182 again. I'm not sure how that happened (screwy scale, maybe? extra water from eating salty stuff?), but hey, I'll take it. I've also had times where the scale isn't budging at all for weeks at a time, but my clothes fit differently, and my body is visibly changing. I'll trust the mirror and the new notch in my belt. Scales don't know fat from muscle. When my spare tire is gone, I'll call it good, and throw the scale off a cliff.

Welcome aboard, LadyB! The Calories Per Hour website has a lot of good information on diet and exercise. They recommend a "slow and steady wins the race" approach. They say not to bear down too hard on the calories, but to keep things just a little under your daily needs. A modest calorie deficit should keep you losing over the long run, while a huge calorie deficit will crash your metabolism. I was having my best success when I was carefully monitoring things more or less by their plan. I stopped losing when I got lazy with the bookkeeping. I was probably pushing the calorie intake level lower than they would have recommended, but the important thing is I was logging everything that went in my mouth. It's amazing how a bite of this and a handful of that can completely undo a diet. It sure did for me in the last few weeks! Blast and damnation! A liter of Dr Pepper is about 420 calories. (That's around three 12-oz. cans, by the way, if that signifies anything to your estimate.) That would be an easy lump of calories to lose. (Damned difficult to give up, but nutritionally insignificant, compared to, say, reducing the portions of all your "real" food.) Good luck on the battle. I'll be cheering for you.

What word Tom? Any progress? Ugh. Don't ask. 4th of July celebration days last week (including a trip to the county fair; cotton candy is not diet food...). Then today I'm back from 4 days' vacation with the family and my parents, and I'm up even more. Very frustrating to find I can never let my guard down on the calories. Monday I'm back to the full exercise routine and eating like an ascetic. Grrrrr.... Once more into the breach...

First rate, mate! The mural is tops!

And here I was hoping that Nutella was Cinderella's evil twin sister...

I bounced up a few pounds too. According to the calculation of calorie consumption for my size and activities, my base three meals were about a thousand calories below my burn rate. I stopped bothering to record everything, thinking I had too big a margin to worry about, and lo and behold the weight came back ("...the very next day, the weight came back, thought it was a goner, but the weight came back, it just wouldn't stay away...." ) I originally said 185 by end of June; here it is end of June, and the scale says 184 this morning. Woot. But I'm not 175 today, which was my revised goal when I hit 185 three months ago. Blast. Time to get serious again on the calorie counting.

Back today after 3 days of kayaking at a nearby long lake. We did about 15 miles and about 12 hours on the water, all told, with me towing a canoe full of camping gear behind my kayak. Next time we work harder on ruthlessly paring down the equipment, so we can do without the gear barge. Ooofff..... The other lesson is that there is no such thing as "remote wilderness" when boats are involved. No matter how far you paddle in, somebody else with a power boat, big speakers, and rap music will be there too. ... partying at 3am. I'd say that counts for the workouts this week.

Glad to hear it. Keep up the good work!

Matt, that's incredible! 55 pounds! Congratulations. I hope the rotator cuff continues to get better. Asukaru, welcome back to the routine. You know you've turned the corner on the exercise habit when you stop looking forward to it with dread, and simply look forward to it. (Me, I'm looking forward to those "after" photos from you. ) depinux, glad to have you aboard. Keep checking in. This is a group effort. Weight workout this morning. That's 4 this week.

^ Encased her in plaster. Details here. < Okay, romance isn't overrated. Everyday life is underrated, then. Sometimes, doing the dishes for someone too exhausted to face them is romantic. V passing the question: how you met your significant other?

Weights twice this week so far; and the bike/walk to work every day, which is becoming so routine as to almost not count. My scale said 180 this morning. It is inching down with excruciating slowness. Nothing for it but to persevere. John, I'm glad to hear the doctor's report. Best wishes for a complete recovery.