Week 21 -- Solid Weight Gain....

Start Weight: 226.0
Week 21 Weight: 213.0
Weekly Loss/Gain (+): (1.9)
Program-to-Date (PTD) Loss: 13.0
% Weekly Loss/(Gain): (.84)
% PTD Loss: 5.75
Program Goal Weight Loss: 36.0
Program Goal % Loss: 15.9


No excuses.... a 1.9 lb weight gain, worst week on record. I didn't feel like I overdid it, but a little bit of a lot of different offerings sure adds up. And, I only got to the gym once this week, so that side of the ledger didn't help either. Other than that, and with only one week to go, looking at only losing a third of what I set out to do is somewhat disappointing. But, on the brighter side, I'm better off than I would have been... I'm pretty sure of that. No categories this week, it is late, I just got home from a co-workers house where we watched the Celtics whup the Kings. My boss was there and he's a huge Boston fan, he's from that part of the country. So, at every other time out, we listened to him rub it in... then my friends Jerry Reynolds and Grant Napier had one of the Boston Red Sox come in and sit with them for a while.. the guy was from Woodland or somewhere.... so we had to listen to how the Red Sox won the World Series.. on and on... then we had to hear it about the Patriots... what a great year they're having... on and on.... all things New England.... but we had fun. T hey broke out a Nintendo Wii and and I got some good shots in on my boss in the boxing game... in the end though, I went down and couldn't get back up.

Anyhow, it's been great to see Randy, he and Arthur went to the game tonight... Scott and Maran are in town, and they went to the game tonight, I think Tim and some of his family went to the game tonight. Tomorrow we're having our family bowling tourney.. so that will be fun. We had a few get-togethers over here and we had a few over there too... lots of visiting and fun. The phone card to Mexico from the local Quik Stop worked great and we talked to Steven for the full hour he was allotted... worked out to only about 7-8 minutes each for the seven of us. He sounded great, and he dished out a lot of advice to everyone.... sure is great to have him serving a mission. Next year both he and Russell will be gone... a little sad, but more than a great thing.

Christmas was nice... lots of music going... Michael with his drum set and Wendy on the piano and the rest of us on assorted music makers. See if this video turned out...




Here are some pics over the last few days....always something going on. Next week will be it, I've heard from a few of you that you'd like some updates from our family... so I'll change directions a little and maybe post every other week with a new set of goals. It really has been a good year. Many struggles, but many many blessings too. We have been smiled upon.


Til next week..... Brian

Week 20 -- Merry Christmas....

Start Weight: 226.0
Week 20 Weight: 211.1
Weekly Loss/Gain (+): 0.2
Program-to-Date (PTD) Loss: 14.9
% Weekly Loss/(Gain): 0.09
% PTD Loss: 6.59
Program Goal Weight Loss: 36.0
Program Goal % Loss: 15.9

Christmas is here, the new year is almost here, we're going to the airport tonight to get Russell, so this will be very quick. Randy is coming in tomorrow night, so it will be great to be together again for a while. I started out the week with a great resolve, but it slid here near the end. Wendy gave a great performance Monday night here at home with her piano concert and will be doing a few more of them over the next several days. We had her annual Christmas concert at the middle school last night, and Gail and I celebrated 26 years this past week... I'll have to comment on that a little later. My weight is holding steady, just have to see it through the next few weeks.

ROUTINE: Nothing really... just on the go a lot with the many different activities. Food is still everywhere, but I've done some better with it. It will be nice to have a few days off over Christmas. I caught some of the Biggest Loser finale last night.... winner lost 51% of his body weight over the course of the program.... here I am putzin' around at the 7% mark. I don't just don't want to kiss off these last two weeks before I re-assess the whole weight thing at the beginning of the year... so I'll work to close out strong.

ON THE BIKE: Now this was fun and not because of the bike shopping itself.... for our anniversary, we pinned Wendy down to watch Sara for the whole day while Gail and I went out... so we went out to lunch, did some shopping and found Bicycle Planet in Folsom and talked to the owners there and got some good tips.... actually I spoke to Brian DeLucia tonight and he said he could build me a Surly bike for about the price I'm looking at... so it's getting closer, but won't happen before Christmas....

Anyway, we couldn't remember where the bike shop was, so we stopped in a close-by Starbucks to ask directions... we got the directions.... saw a peppermint hot chocolate on the menu and bought one. We'd never been in a Starbucks before ever... but near the back of the store was a long couch and some newspapers folded up.... so we sat down for a while, talked for a while, read the paper for a while, and just enjoyed not having to be anywhere at all.... then, well.. as we were chatting, we got cozy, not too cozy mind you...but we must have drifted off there for a while in the Starbucks lounge. It was great... we got up, straightened ourselves up, said a nice good-bye to all of the baristas and 90 minutes later, we headed off for our next destination hand in hand... very nice. I went back the next day and bought Gail a $5.00 gift card and made her promise me we'd do it again soon....


ODDS N' ENDS: Just cruisin' into the end of the week and still have to do a little more shopping. It is a good time of year. We'll talk to Steven sometime on Christmas day... will update you on that.































FAQs:
Q. Was there a little too much of a PDA going on there in Starbucks? Aren't you two a little too old for all of that?

A. Not over the line at all... and not too old for it either... it was fun...


'Til next week.... have a great Christmas

Brian

Week 19 -- Wrong Direction

Start Weight: 226.0
Week 19 Weight: 211.3
Weekly Loss/Gain (+): (1.6)
Program-to-Date (PTD) Loss: 14.7
% Weekly Loss/(Gain): (.71)
% PTD Loss: 6.50
Program Goal Weight Loss: 36.0
Program Goal % Loss: 15.9

Not a good week on the weight loss front, first time since I started that I put on weight two weeks in a row. And this week was just not good at all... a gain of 1.6 lbs. Discouraging, but not despairing... there has been food everywhere and even though I think I only have a little bit, a little bit of a lot things adds up to a lot. Nice to see I learned something in my logic classes in college. We were over at the McKees to welcome Heather home, and the food was great....had a nice church Christmas dinner and the food was great.. everyday at work, a team of people bring in favorite Christmas recipes, and it was all great. Common theme is the food was great. All that plus other office parties and get-togethers equaled a weight gain for the week. Looking ahead for this week, I see much less of that, and the scales this morning were a reminder of the challenge. But, it's getting closer to Christmas, and it's been a good season so far. Russell comes home next Wednesday night, our anniversary (26 yrs) is next Tuesday night, Wendy's school Christmas concert is next Tuesday, plus a few other get-togethers. I tried to get Stacie to write the blog tonight, but she "respectfully declined". So far, no one has taken me up, maybe because I've offered nothing in return. Only three more postings until the end....if there are any FOBS left, let's hang in there.

ROUTINE: I don't even want to re-cap what I ate, so let's not... suffice to say at least one In-N-Out run, a few pastries from Winco in the AMs, and free lunches at the California ISO. The homemade rolls (courtesy Linda Ruggles) at the church Christmas party were great... I had to do a little quality control in the kitchen beforehand. To top it all off, my exercise routine suffered this week.. some early work meetings, etc. As Wendy told me tonight, and backed up by Gail, I was only giving excuses for the results this week. I told them both the "reasons", Wendy told me excuses and reasons...really the same thing....from the mouth of teenagers.

ON THE BIKE: Performance Bicycles in Folsom looks like they've closed down, I was over there yesterday, and the place is empty. That's too bad, I liked those guys in there, maybe they've just moved. Gail's been after me...that's good.

ODDS N' ENDS: A thanks to Arthur for the invite to the NCAA volleyball finals at ARCO tomorrow, couldn't make it, but I want to hear about of from him. I saw Buster Sano at the church the other day, his one-year anniversary as a member is this month...told me he's going to the temple with Mary in January and invited us to that... Wendy is still playing for us... here's part two...





I'll try and post one more each week until Christmas even though she's not too keen on the idea. Gail and I do wish all of you are having a nice Christmas season. The spirit of Christmas usually doesn't hit me until the day before or so, but this year I'm feeling it a bit sooner. It's nice... Sara wasn't happy with Santa at all, wouldn't even look at him, but she sat with me next to him. I think that makes 6 for 6 in the Santaphobia category for our kids...

Here's some late breaking pics from the YW activity tonight, thanks to Kaci O... um, what's the hammer for exactly?


...and here's what my weight-loss support group is up to on the way home right after our regular goal meetings... nice... very nice...



FAQs:
Q. So, did you bring in anything to the office party(ies)?

A. Yep... Gloria and I made a crockpot full of triple-delight hot chocolate..very nice..Gail made some ham and jalapeno wraps and some toffee.. all good....

'Til next week..

Week 18 -- Another Wednesday Night...

Start Weight: 226.0
Week 18 Weight: 209.7
Weekly Loss/Gain (+): (.05)
Program-to-Date (PTD) Loss: 16.3
% Weekly Loss/(Gain): (.22)
% PTD Loss: 7.21
Program Goal Weight Loss: 36.0
Program Goal % Loss: 15.9

Well... another Wednesday night has come, just flying on by. Very little to report on other than I hope this video clip of Wendy turned out. I'm gonna try. I gained a half a pound this week, still feels like Groundhog Day, some late hours at the office, and just getting along. Stacie asked if she could have her picture with me to show how cold I keep the house to try and save a few pennies, can't quite get synchronized here on all that... now that it's winter, I see family turning off lights and turning up the thermostat, summertime saw lights always on and the thermo way down. Forgot to wish my sister Diane a Happy Birthday Monday...yep I've got a little sister who's 47... what's that do for me? Lots of activities coming up soon, church Christmas dinner this week, Heather McKee home from Taiwan tomorrow, school concerts, etc.... I'll have some good pictures for next week. Not really feelin' too much of it all tonight....

ROUTINE: Still diligent at the gym, but little attention to the diet. My gym buddy Harold at work is talking me into stepping up the weights workout. I've done some, but he's going after it strong. I think I need to do that so I'll be taken seriously... here's a conversation I had with a lady at church the other day. I was asked to be at the church, there was a situation where there was a remote chance of a little trouble, I was asked to show up just to help check on things. So, I get there and happened to be sampling the sampler platter in the kitchen:

Sister WS: Hey Brian, nice to see you... hey I hear there was some muscle supposed to stop by to check on things...

Me: ('lil smokie in my mouth on a toothpick back in the kitchen).... yeah, that's me... I's just asked to stop by to take a look...

Sister WS: (straight as straight-faced can be).... uh huh,.... no really, do you know who's supposed to stop by?

There it is.... can't even pass for someone who might be able to help out in the event..... time to join Harold in some of that heavy lifting.

ON THE BIKE: Gail is picking up the encouragement on this...even offered to go out with me and do some shopping for it... can't figure that all out, but will go with it.

ODDS N' ENDS: Christmas is getting here and that is nice..... went to a concert with the Hamners and friends where David played the clarinet....


Wendy wants me to quit talking about it, but her piano playing has lifted our spirits, been very very nice to hear. We'll have more of it throughout the season....., be sure to listen past the 00:27 mark... I just heard it, I really know now that we need a new camera, this one just doesn't cut it.



No FAQs this week.... still thinking on an exit strategy for the blog and program, not to decide right now.

'Til next week. Brian