Breaking Through a Symbolic Weight Target

I finally went just a fraction of a pound below a long-sought weight target I last broke by late 2013 and in 2011 when I lost over 40 pounds while on Nutrisystem. Whether the whoosh will continue or I see a week or two of fluctuating around the weight target, I don't know, but I'm encouraged that I managed to lose weight over a holiday weekend where many, if anything, add a pound or two.

Just a few notes over the weekend:

• I noted a couple of interesting things in Walmart's bread aisle yesterday: non-gluten wraps and sprouted wheat bread. Actually, the Orowheat product has sprouted wheat flour as the second ingredient, i.e., it's not like it's 100% sprouted grain. You have to be very careful, e.g., there's a difference between "whole wheat" bread and "100% whole wheat". 
• I am a very avid Amazon.com customer, but there are some things where you can buy cheaper directly from the vendor or another outlet: for example, bread or wraps. In some cases, shipping costs can be almost as expensive as the  product itself. You might want to consider a vendor like Netrition or Vitacost. In some cases, I've even seen the direct vendor waive shipping costs with a purchase total of $100 or so dollars.
• What is the deal with paleo wraps? I've seen the cost being up to $2 or more for a single (often coconut flour) wrap. You can get a package of flatbreads like Flatout  for less than $3 a package that will last a week.
• This is probably a limited-time offer, but Quest Nutrition was offering 12-pack boxes of "crunchless" vanilla almond bars for $10, plus shipping, over the holiday weekend. Many of Quest's boxes run in the mid-$20's range. I'm a repeat purchaser.

Slow Bouncing To New Lows

Another annual low, although just a half pound less than my last low a week or so back, another frustrating bounce back up 3-4 lbs. and working it back down. (I've been obsessively checking my weight hoping to crash through the resistance level; it looks like the whoosh won't continue tomorrow.)

It's very frustrating on Thanksgiving to stick to the diet. My thoughts go back to family Thanksgivings through my UH graduate studies: the usual roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, Dad's turkey stuffing, rutabagas, various side dishes, and pies (particularly pumpkin). I tend to prefer the dark meat, a lot of drumsticks over the years. My Mom is a very good, self-taught cook, but Dad took an active interest in grilling and cooking (he owned a lot of cookbooks). He particularly was involved with the stuffing and rutabagas (which I absolutely loved). And turkey is probably my favorite thing to eat; despite being a bachelor, I've probably roasted a good dozen turkeys on my own (and would be eating turkey every meal for a good week or two each bird--which will temper even the turkey lover in me). I have never really been a dessert eater; when I went home for Christmas, I may have had a thin slice of pumpkin pie and a few cookies but if you examined my grocery receipts over the last few years, you would find no cookies, pies, doughnuts, cakes or other sweets. It's been years since I've bought a carton of ice cream. I haven't totally abstained; I might buy an occasional ice cream if I'm waiting between flights or a vending machine candy bar if I'm driving or waiting during auto service waits, but it's not a habit. To give an example, when I went on a business trip to Orlando several weeks back, there was a Ruby Tuesday's within a half mile of my hotel and I went there a few times. They had a promotion where they bundled the salad bar and a selection from 2 or 3 desserts with certain entrees. I did eat dessert with these deals (but the salad bar was the motivating factor). But my meals were all within per diem limits and I could have easily ordered more food or desserts and didn't.

I remember stopping to gas up and eat at an exit maybe an hour east of El Paso during my relocation from SC, and I ordered a 6-inch sub at Subway. I overheard the line worker mumbling I was an idiot for not getting the foot-long sub for just a buck or two more. But my appetite was satiated with the six-inch, and I don't care what other people think of my choices. Granted, I could have saved the other half to eat later. I take some pride in self-discipline, like when my co-workers recently shared a couple of large pizzas, and I stuck to my protein bars. Believe me, I love pizza (well, I have some exceptions, like I like my pizza spicy and/or with a good tomato sauce and don't particularly care for chicken or pineapple).

Still, I brewed some pumpkin spice coffee ordered through Amazon and thoroughly enjoyed my indulgence.  I put 3 small turkey drumsticks into my crockpot yesterday and ate one of them for lunch. I put some chicken breasts into the crockpot today and tried a Sriracha BBQ sauce on one today (just 10 carbs and 40 calories a serving)

The Last Month Has Been a Difficult Slog

After a long consolidation which saw me fill the gap of last month's 6-pound whoosh, I finally reached yesterday (just barely) a new annual low, just to see me zag up about 0.4 lbs this morning (which might be the difference of a bathroom break). My favorite Taylor scale seemed to hint at an additional drop of 3-4 lbs. (below a highly symbolic threshold goal), but I always confirm my morning reading. I've sometimes had digital scales that vary pounds between readings or shift with a minor change in scale location. The Taylor scale (up to 0.2 lb precision) I have is probably the best I've owned over the past several years; it tends to be highly consistent and reliable; I don't simply log the lowest reading, unless it's confirmed.  But I have had what I call teaser readings below my short-term target; usually this is suggestive of an imminent whoosh, but I had one earlier this year that took weeks to realize. I'll sometimes do a late night reading; if it is lower than my morning weigh-in, it's usually a good sign; last night it was the same, so I wasn't surprised by a small zag this morning. It wouldn't surprise me if the consolidation period holds for a few more days. I always get concerned about holiday pounds, with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. But I don't really have the time or budget to fly home for the holidays; I may buy turkey legs and stick them in a crockpot.

One of my idiosyncracies is purchasing inexpensive digital copies of diet and recipe books on Amazon.com. The reality is that I often cook very simply; for example, I recently cooked one of those chuck roasts (listed below) in a crockpot, maybe a dash or so of sea salt, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (Maybe because I haven't had a roast in a while, but I really appreciate the taste of grass-fed versus conventionally finished meat; I still buy and consume some conventional meats, but like grains, I'm slowly phasing them out. I'm also looking to phase more organ meats into my diet.)

Shopping list lately (including Internet purchased):

• chicken breasts
• thick-sliced bacon
• varied salads (spinach, romaine, cabbage)
• Roma tomatoes
• various nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachio) 
• coffee (blueberry flavored, pumpkin spice)
• grass-fed chuck roast (I found at WalMart in 2-lb packs for roughly $8/lb)
• Perky Jerky (Facebook promotion)
• tins of sardines, herring, and oysters
• ThinSlim Foods sampler pack

I see Mark Sisson (as in Mark's Daily Apple) has a new edition of Primal Blueprint out, available at Amazon; Quest Nutrition has also introduced "beyond cereal" bars.

The Tedious Nature of Consolidation Periods

I hit a yearly low this morning but by less than a pound; I remain maybe 1.5 pounds over a symbolic weight target. I could take it out if the new whoosh sustains another couple of days; the good news is my recent bounce highs are a couple of pounds off a long-time low. This year has been a struggle; I keep my daily weigh-ins on a spreadsheet, and I'm only down about 16 pounds since late February. While that's good, it's still a drop in the bucket when I need to drop another 100 pounds. Since Oct. 18, I've had a couple of bounces up maybe 2-3 pounds off the new low; the current drop is after 3 days of peaking off the latest bounce; I'll probably know in my informal late evening weigh-in if the whoosh will continue. If I'm down off my morning weigh-in, chances are it'll stick overnight. It's not a guarantee; I've been eating a late snack off my swing shift (lately, it's been sardines and a handful of nuts; other times I've sometimes make a soup using leftover chicken breasts with some shirataki noodles); I carry one or 2 protein bars during my work shift.

I think one of the most discouraging things is that I haven't lost enough for others to note specifically. There are slight changes in clothing I've noticed--I've had to tight my belt one or 2 notches and shirts I bought earlier this year seem to be a little looser around the shoulders.

I know I need to upgrade my exercise regimen. To be fair, I do climb the stairs up and down to the second-floor facility where I work. I've occasionally walked to and from another work facility a few hundred yards down the road. The temperature has cooled down from 3-digit daily summer highs (like 114-120). I'm getting ready to join a gym again, but I need to buy new workout gear, plus I need to study for a major certification exam soon.

I'm very skeptical, short of a food allergy or similar health condition, of banning foods from one's diet, e.g., the paleo diet's prohibition of wheat/gluten and legumes. What I do do is limit my consumption of said foods and usually combine them with other foods, like protein. I have developed some recent dietary habits like a teaspoon of coconut oil in my morning coffee and a dash of apple cider vinegar in my low-calorie beverages.

Finally: A Long-Awaited Whoosh

I'm now at my lowest since I started my WV job in late 2013. I remember charting my weight at the time; I had been regularly walking around the Maryland apartment complex and maintaining my diet. I had to live in a hotel (my expense) for a week before moving in. I had finally stopped Nutrisystem some time earlier and brought some food with me for the small hotel refrigerator, but I abandoned the idea. I recall eating lunch across the street from the federal facility with my boss who was escorting me my first day; it wasn't an all-you-care-to-eat spot, but it was a carby comfort food type of place. It was particularly cold and windy that winter, and I remember frequenting a Subway shop and a diner in a mall just up the street from the hotel for dinner the rest of the week. My new work colleagues used to eat lunch at a sports bar a couple of blocks around the corner, and I joined them. I quickly signed a lease on a one-bedroom apartment but had to wait a week before the cable company would start my service. The small apartment complex really didn't have any flat, walking surface, and I quickly dropped the idea of maintaining my walking regimen in sub-zero, snowy, icy weather. It wasn't so much that I exploded in size, but I steadily gained about a dozen pounds, then more, and I've been fighting ever since then to lose it.

So in the 3 days since my last post, I've had about a 3.5 lb whoosh through a weeks-long floor. It wouldn't surprise me if I bounced off today's low, but there are a number of signs when you're on a whoosh: for example, I make notably more frequent trips to the bathroom to pee.

I'm just a few pounds away from a symbolic weight target. I'm probably 15 pounds away from where I bottomed during my Nutrisystem days and 35 pounds away from some BMI heuristic that health insurers would stipulate as a cutoff for underwriting purposes. (I was unemployed for some time during the recession and mostly wanted to insure for catastrophic health risks; they told me I could join the assigned risk market, but I couldn't afford the $600-800/month cost.) So I'm fully aware that losing 35 pounds is easier said than done, at least months away. But it would bring me to a range I had been in for years while working out regularly at a health club, which stopped when Bally's sold their local location in the Baltimore suburbs. (I think LA Fitness bought it but stupidly would not grandfather in existing members. My fitness club costs would spike dramatically, and I was in a strict budget at the time.) I think I bottomed out in the 2000's during my low-carb phase shortly before my folks' milestone anniversary. I remember finding my suit tight going to a job interview ironically to Baltimore in 2003 (I was living in the Chicago suburbs at the time).  I think I dropped something like 90 pounds over the coming year, and it amazed me that I was dropping 3 lbs. and change a week without breaking a sweat or feeling hungry all the time. I never got back to that point, in part because my weight seemed to plateau at that point and the monotony of the diet had gotten to me. I wouldn't say that I went on a feeding frenzy but I abandoned the diet for the family celebration and the rest of the holidays. I think my regular gym workouts kept me within a 20 lb range of that low. So, revisiting that 2004 low is my real objective over the coming year.

I have to study for an important industry certification, which is delaying plans to join a local fitness club, but I'm getting good exercise at work going up and down stairwells.

The Diet Continues; Newer Food Buys

I'm used to seeing rebounds off lows, so most of the past week saw my weight surge up about 4 lbs and work its way back down, to a new low by about half a pound this morning, although an interim weigh-in (yes, I'm a bit obsessed) suggested that I might go down another pound. Maybe tomorrow.

I hadn't really shopped at Sam's Club for the past 2-3 years--in fact, didn't even go to the North Charleston club in the year-plus I lived in SC. Plus, Walmart now sells a limited number of economy sizes, like the big jars of jalapeno pepper slices I love. (I eat peppers on burger, eggs, salads, etc.) I had come close to closing my account, because for example, a single person really doesn't need gallon jars of mayonnaise. In most cases, Walmart offers more selection and usually had a closer, more convenient address. There were always good buy options, though; I think I've written a couple of related posts. The $1.98/lb chicken breasts and $5 rotisserie chickens are always a good buy (at both store concepts). I've often found that economy sizes of things like virgin olive oil, seedless cucumbers and baby spinach are a good deal.

I visited the Sam's Club in Yuma, which was maybe a half mile or so from an extended stay housing (awaiting delivery of household goods). I didn't really shop food because I was eating out at the time and had no place to store my purchases (other than a good deal on fresh blueberries, which I kept in the small refrigerator). So I went yesterday, and it does seem there are differences (or I just must have skipped past them; for instance I used to purchase Lean Cuisine/like multi-packs).

There are a lot more "green" (literally) buys than I remember. There are a number of green signs to attract the attention of "healthy shoppers" to organics or other healthy brands/goods. . I mean, they've offered organic fresh foods (e.g., salads) for some time, but it's more the nature and the extent. For example, when I was in the vegetable oil aisle, I noticed walnut oil and multiple brands of extra virgin olive oil. In the soup aisle, I noticed multi-packs of canned lentil soup and Amy's organic soups. I thought packaged walnuts were a good deal and noticed a decent price on a brand of almond butter. Usually there are multi-packs of sandwich thins, which have become a staple on my shopping list. (Okay, in my flirtation with the paleo diet, I haven't completely eliminated breads or tortillas. To make my heresy even worse, I bought a twin-pack of organic super grain bread loaves.) I still wish I could find  Ezekiel bread at Walmart or an alternative supermarket (according to Food For Life, the nearest location is something like a 20-mile drive to some obscure health food store. I have an aversion to most health food stores. The shipping costs for Ezekiel bread, even via Amazon, are ludicrously expensive.)

They also carried 3-lb packs of grass-fed beef (roughly $6/lb); my nearby Walmart carries a different brand of similarly priced beef bricks. I know it sounds expensive when you can buy conventional ground beef at half the price, but you can taste the difference and it's now a staple of my diet. For a long time I was hesitant to buy it not only because of the premium price but hefty shipping costs. Walmart's prices are competitive with the vendors I've researched, without the high shipping costs.

Another category I think is well-priced is protein bars. I'm fairly picky here, because I've adopted a rule where I won't look twice at a frozen dinner or protein bar which is over 20 net carbs. Sam's Club has good deals on KIND bars and Nature Valley protein packs.

On the fruit side, I like the big sacks of frozen mango chunks and mixed berries. With respect to fresh fruit, lately I've bought strawberries and Bartlett pears.

I've become much tougher on pasta and pizza, even the healthier frozen foods, under my 20-carb rule. One brand that meets my rule is California Pizza Kitchen (at least for a couple of individual twin-pack flatbread varieties). Make no mistake--the slices are smaller and more spartan than what you'll get from a fast food place or in numerous NYC restaurants, but I enjoy them and am forced to be more disciplined than when IT companies I've worked for occasionally bring in multiple pies for business meetings or project/maintenance periods. I may try experimenting with do-it-yourself flatbreads making my carb rule; I bought a couple of packages which I hope to experiment with (a sack of pepperoni slices was on my shopping list).

Pasta is more difficult, but I've bought shirataki noodles, a bit pricey (maybe $1 or more a serving) with a negligible carb count. I've ordered from Miracle Noodles; Another vendor I've used is Vitacost; I particularly like the fettuccine variety. (If you are not familiar, they are usually packed in water, which you drain before preparing the noodles, typically in 2 or more serving bags.) I've sometimes included them with leftover chicken breasts in a bowl of chicken or turkey broth, with a dose of Sriracha sauce.

Speaking of vendors, I have been a huge fan of Wild Planet tuna and Blue Galleon/Bela-Olhao sardines. Blue Galleon ran into business issues and seemed to disappear for a while, and I'm not sure what happened with Wild Planet: I think at some point they suspended direct sales because I was trying to reorder another 24 cans and ran into issues. But in the interim, Wild Planet has diversified its offering of good oily fish, including mackerel and sardines. (You can order directly from Wild Planet, and as I write, their water-packed sardines are at a good sales discount at Vitacost.) I bought a pack of Blue Galleon sardines in hot sauce via Amazon.com (Vitacost also carries Blue Galleon).

Each New Pound Off, An Annual Low

I'm now about 3 pounds below my prior annual low and about 3 pounds off a new multi-annual low since late 2013.  I actually got here recently but as usual spent a few days bouncing off the low. So I'm hopeful I'll drop another couple of pounds over the coming week.

I hadn't looked at newer nutritional studies over the past decade and recently came aware of the benefits of resistant starch (e.g., cold cooked potatoes). I also bought a paleo diet pack from Thrive Market, which includes a jar of ghee. I have to think of how to use that because I don't really fry entrees, but I may try cooking eggs in a very limited amount. (I also have bottles of extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil in my pantry, which I usually use for salads.) I ordered some potato starch with that order. I'm also doing a daily drink with dashes of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice and put a limited amount of coconut oil and cinnamon in my daily cup of coffee. I don't know to what effect these will have on my diet, but we'll see.

Slow and Steady

This morning I finally broke through to a definitive annual low, not by much but I'm now within 5 pounds of my lowest since 2013. There was a time during the 2-3 years I was on Nutrisystem when I lost 40 pounds, but it really wasn't that far below where I am now. I'm really shooting for, as an interim target, getting to the weight range when I was frequently working out back in 2007. (My local Maryland fitness center after 2007 changed ownership, and the new ownership did not grandfather existing memberships.) I'll look to joining a local Arizona fitness facility as the weather cools to two-digit highs.

It took 9 days after pushing to a new low to take that out. I had bounced almost 3 pounds up and spent 3 days there before losing half that and then spending 3 days at that level. It can be very frustrating but necessary to keep the faith when your weight goes up while you're eating fairly minimally.

I'm also flirting a little with the paleo diet; I've downloaded a number of paleo recipe books from Amazon and purchased a relevant introductory sampler set from a natural foods vendor. I don't really eat many grains anyway, maybe a sandwich thin whole wheat bun for grass-fed burgers or the occasional low carb tortilla for various wraps.

I've turned away from diet shake replacement meals during this diet, although I still have an unopened whey protein canister I bought from Sam's Club some time back. I've turned more towards protein bars while at work.

In the grocery aisles yesterday, I noticed Nature Valley and other vendors marketing protein chewy bars at less than 10 net carbs each. On the sweet side, Orchard Valley offers dark chocolate varieties (almond, blueberries, cherries, etc.) in measured portions for about $5. At Walmart, I find one-pound bricks of grass-fed beef for about $6/lb,; they also usually offer chicken breast packs for $1.99/lb and pound tubes of ground turkey at $2/lb.

Bouncing Off Resistance

Well, since my last post, I've relocated from Charleston, SC to  southern Arizona. While Charleston is often hot and muggy with heat often in the mid-90s, you can still feel the heat in the desert Southwest; I remember my first week here, when I went to my car to go to lunch, my car indicated the outside temperature was averaging about 114. I need to up my exercising but not in this kind of heat.

All things considered (my relocation and a recent extended business trip to Florida), I've been consistently within a 15-lb. range (currently near the bottom). However, I have not broken through my annual targets yet. Part of my recent problem is that I've eaten out a lot (my employer has paid the bill, even though I ate well below reimbursement caps) and a lot more carbs than usual. Interesting observation: I'm finding I can't even eat big meals anymore. Maybe it's a part of the aging process. During my Florida trip, I found I couldn't eat everything on my plate when I ordered a baked potato as one of my sides. Now granted, restaurants often serve huge portions, but when my typical meal might little more than an Atkins frozen meal or one or 2 protein bars, I'm just not used to it.  I remember a local Florida KFC had an all-you-care-to-it buffet in the evening and probably weren't thrilled to see me pull in. They didn't post the buffet price, and I didn't ask. (If anything, I tend to be attracted to salad bars. I ordered a 2-piece dinner (which included a good size breast piece), and my appetite was more than satisfied.) I haven't done an all-you-care-to-eat buffet say at a pizza or Chinese food place or one of those other places (e.g., Golden Corral) in years.

I've made a few visits to a Jack in the Box near my work (there are closer places but parking is limited during the lunch hour; I had to start work in the afternoon but had to get some security paperwork done in the late morning). This may not be new to most people, but they have an interesting soda machine which allows you to mix different flavors via a touch screen (single nozzle); they had variations of standard flavors (e.g., you could select a vanilla-flavored diet root beer). I could even get diet ginger ale. (I'm saying this because it seemed during my recent self-serve soda fountain experiences, I was limited to diet cola, and I tend to prefer more variety.) I almost never drink soda unless I do fast food; in restaurants, particularly in the southern US, I'll usually order iced tea (not sweet).

Still, I was shocked to see I put on about 10 pounds by the time my household goods arrive in mid-August, worked that off, only to see it surge 9 pounds during nearly 2 weeks in Florida. Still, I knew I hadn't been eating 5000 calories a day; it must have been mostly water gain and would quickly drop. In fact, it took about 3-4 days to lose the last 9 pounds and then I continued to drop another 5 lbs to hit my annual low (by a fraction of a pound). I thought the 14-lb. whoosh might continue for another pound or two but found my weight bounce up nearly 3 pounds yesterday and weighed in the same this morning. It's frustrating to see the bounce off the low, especially when you watch what you eat, but it's typical.  It's tough to watch fellow workers on the late shift eat a lot more than my one or 2 protein bars (one of them is overweight, but not as much as me, and he must have brought in like 8 or 9 pieces of leftover pepperoni pizza plus had 2  or 3 lunch-size bags of chips; that's like a month of carbs to me).

I think I'll have to add a lot more exercise to break my current weight range.

One note. In my flagship political blog, I describe in a new journal format post some of my culinary experiences in Florida. A training instructor was high on a burger place founded by some chef who starred on a cooking network (the small chain is named after his dog). They have a classic, no-special-order $10 burger which includes a stack of onion rings on top of the oversized patty. I made a mistake of ordering the burger the way I like my steaks, medium rare. My bad: there were spots in the burger which weren't cooked, and later that day I came down with a bad case of diarrhea. (It could have been something else, but I'm blaming the burger.) I decided to try again a few days later, choosing a $13 variation with a fried egg and several strips of bacon on top, no onion rings. (I call it "brunch on a bun".) Best damn burger I've ever had. Oh, but this time I ordered the burger medium.

I was telling others that I remember when I first started as a UWM faculty member, the senior area professor hosted a dinner party celebration for his student who just defended his dissertation. Among other things, I saw a huge mound of raw ground steak with slices of white bread and onions. I was told it was a local custom they called "scavenger sandwiches". I did try it, no adverse effects, but been there, done that, move on. I tried Googling but really found no confirmation of the custom. Maybe my young stomach could handle raw meat, but I wouldn't dare do it now.

What the hell is the deal with my weight scales?

I swear I've bought at least 5 weight scales over the past 3 years. This is getting to be a cruel joke. I think I've bought 3 from Amazon and 2 from WalMart. Several weeks back an apartment neighbor's water pipe burst which flooded my kitchen and bathroom--and my apartment hallway, for some odd reason, which is on the other side of the apartment. Which is where I had put my digital scale. Large story short, I believe that the water must have shorted out the scale.

And did you ever notice that these scales all use different batteries? Of the last three, one ran on lithium, the second on 9 volts and the third AAA's.

So after the flooding I went down to WalMart and found a Health-o-Meter model which cost about $18. It came with a Sunbeam 9-volt battery. It worked fairly well until yesterday when the scale suddenly went dark with me still on the scale. I figured maybe it was a battery issue; I went to WalMart to buy a new 9-volt battery bundle. I got one reading on one of the batteries but then it went dark. Another battery got the initiation sequence during weight calibration and then it went dark. The third battery did nothing. I made sure the 9 volts were securely fastened. Either the battery pack was dead or I have a scale issue.

I'm raising an issue with manufacturer support which sent me a troubleshooting script which presupposes your batteries are working.

So I just went to WalMart and purchased a moderately more expensive competitor model. This one works--for now.

I'm in a middle of yet another range-bound plateau. I did dip to a new diet low, about 6 pounds below where I am now, which is where I restarted my diet over the holidays. So for all practical purposes I'm even for the year, but to be honest, I'm very disappointed that I've underperformed my goal of a consistent l/1.5 lb/week pace. I'm not sure why, but it could be new meds I started taking a few weeks back are affecting things. The good news is that I'm back on my thyroid medication (the thyroid, of course, is very important in metabolic rate). They put me on a lower dosage after confirming bad numbers; they want to check on my thyroid bloodwork after my second month back on. But I probably need to step up my exercise regimen.

Getting Back on the Horse

I should have known better: the holidays. I've been struggling to hit new diet lows since roughly the third week of November; I barely hit a new diet low in mid-December, but for several weeks I had been cycling up and down an 8-lb. range from the diet low.

My mom, who was widowed last year, had been pushing me for years to come home for the holidays. Being single, I normally had regularly until 2009. My professional opportunities had suffered during the Great Recession and in 2009 I was booked on an hourly subcontract through the holidays. In some cases since then, I ran into budgeting issues or I had pending assignments including possible short-term relocation which made it impossible to book flights in advance. Some of those same considerations were also in effect this past holiday season, but I had a special birthday to celebrate (I was originally due on Christmas but was born a few days later).

The holiday pounds. Mom usually did a lot of holiday baking for us, then the grandkids and the great-grandkids. But because of dietary restrictions, Mom over recent years had cut down to the Christmas staple of chocolate crinkle cookies and maybe a pie. (It wasn't just desserts. In Franco-American (French-Canadian) culture, there are ground pork based foods, like cretons and tourtière, that have been personal favorites since childhood, but Mom had stopped doing them for years before I stopped coming.) I almost never eat dessert but allowed some modest exceptions, including a handful of crinkles before my older nephew took the rest of them to his baby sister in Colorado. There were the usual things I did during my trip home, especially Tex-Mex, including breakfast tacos, Mexican food, and Texas BBQ. A personal favorite is a local chain, Bill Miller's BBQ (where they also serve great iced tea, a Texas staple). I also had pizza a couple of times,on my birthday (a deep dish place) and a place Mom and Dad liked in a nearby town. Mom also had made a couple of my favorite dishes, the above-mentioned tourtière and a lasagne (which she now tweaked with Italian sausage vs. ground beef.)  For Christmas, Mom brought a smoked ham from this smokehouse she also uses to send out food gifts for the holidays to my local brother's house, and we had a turkey on New Year's. She made waffles and pancakes on a few occasions, served ice cream a couple of times, and I joined in an occasional glass of wine before dinner.

Long story short, I ate far more carbs than I have in years and bigger meals overall, and Mom knows I have a weight problem and didn't want to add to the problem. I also joined her on brisk daily walks, so I got more exercise. I figured with all the carbs I probably gained the usual 6 pounds or so in water, but I had been gone shy of 2 weeks. Still, I was startled to see myself up by 10--beyond the 8-lb. cycle during November and December. And then it went up a couple of more pounds, even back on the grind. But the good news is that since that high, I've had one of the longest whooshes to date--about 13 pounds. Daily drops except yesterday, which was a special case. (An apartment neighbor's water pipe burst, which led to some of my floors and carpets being flooded. My digital scale was on one of the floors and is now dead. I had to go out yesterday and buy a replacement scale at Wal-Mart.) I usually try to weigh myself the first thing in the morning, so when I tested the scale, I was slightly up over the prior day, but that was probably a reflection of when in the day I took a reading--I had already eaten 2 meals, etc.

As it stands, I'm just 2 pounds plus over my mid-December diet low. I do know the current whoosh is long in the tooth and wouldn't at all be surprised  to wake up tomorrow and see a 3-lb. bounce. But it does seem I've already taken off the holiday weight. The problem is that since November I've been off my target 1-1.5 lb. weekly loss pace: I'm probably about 10 pounds higher than I thought I would be. I probably need to tweak my daily exercise.

My latest dietary tweak is plain Greek yogurt and no-sugar-added frozen berries/cherries. I'll defrost a handful of fruit and mix it into yogurt, and I'll sweeten with a packet or 2 of stevia.