Rolf Danner

Few guys would get excited about losing an inch on a critical body part. Well, I’m happy to say that in the two weeks since I’ve started, I lost an inch around the middle. While my ass saw a little shrinkage too, my waist-to-hip ration “inched” closer to my goal of 0.92. That’s progress in cold, hard numbers. Still, I need all the encouragement I can find in the daily battle with my growling stomach.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to stick with dieting and exercising while watching your weight go up? While some intestinal discomfort last week sped up my progress in the weight loss department, I paid for it during the day to follow. My system, blessedly recovering and regaining balance, decided to restock the fluids it dump so readily. So despite my best efforts, for three days I gained weight. The final weigh-in this morning though brought the reward. I held on to the premature loss and added a little on top of it. With 6.5 pounds in the first two weeks, I’m well in the range of the average weight loss of 5 to 8 pounds the book advertises for the first two weeks.

Now for the not so readily measurable benefits: Yesterday I toured my closet. That is I looked at the selection of suits and pants I had given up wearing. Have you ever heard the truth about calories? Calories are the little critters that live in your closet and sow your cloths tighter. I think that is a very likely explanation. Over the last two years, I found on the rack fewer and fewer trousers that I could wear in public. I.e. pants that I can sit down in and breath at the same time. Some stubbornly refused to close right from the start. Today, there is clear progress in that area. Ok, so the black pants I wore to work yesterday might have been a bit of a stretch. They felt like a better fit in the morning rather than after several hours of sitting in them. But progress is progress.

To look at this yet another way, I wanted to know just how much six pounds were. I pulled out our kitchen scale and started to put small water bottles on it. Somewhere between five and six bottles the scale crossed the six-pound mark. I took five of them and held them in my hands. That package had a good heft. Would I volunteer to carry them around all day? Sure not. With almost one third of my goal accomplished, this feels like a lot of freedom to gain.

The hard part now comes this weekend. We have several functions to go to and want to spend some time hanging out with friends. Of course, all of it includes food. It is so easy to eat without thinking when you are in the middle of an event or not wanting to seem impolite when your hosts urge you to have “just another bite”. My plan is to nibble politely on the foods that don’t fit in my plan and to make sure I’m not starving before we go out. A full stomach has a much easier time saying no-thanks to thirds and picking the lean meats and salads over deep-fry.