I Need to Get Recharged

Have you ever gotten in your car and out of the blue the battery has gone dead? It was fine the day before. You didn't leave the lights on overnight. The weather isn't exceedingly cold. The battery just suddenly lost its power. That's how I've felt the last few days.

Physically I'm fine. The fact that I'm sticking to my diet and eating less isn't a factor. My mind has simply slipped into neutral and it has been a struggle to come up with anything interesting for the blog this week. Even when something interesting pops up in my mind, there's no great desire to try and develop the topic into a post. Hopefully all I need is a lot of rest this weekend--the first Millsaps sporting event is September 1 so this might be my last chance to get a lot of rest for the next few months.

I do have one quick topic thanks to some blog readers. In recent weeks I've received photos of bugs or small animals from three friends/blog readers. That's great and hopefully more of you have taken the time to experiment with taking photos of the interesting things in this world that often are too tiny to garner much attention. With this being close to the end of August, here's an array of backyard photos taken during the month. These photos are all new to the blog but some of the characters should be familiar to you (I've also included a photo of the Hotel Heidelberg to go along with a comment made by Alan regarding the "Remember When" post):













Diet Section:
---Weight Friday morning--223 pounds
---Food Thursday: bagel(330)--yogurt(100)--soup(280)--popcorn(250)--pineapple(320)--popcorn(250)--rice(600) = 2,130 calories.

Part of my problem for the last couple of years is that my body has gotten very well acclimated to doing with less. When I started my dieting in 2006, my guess is that my daily intake was close to 3,000 calories per day. My body must have been working overtime to try and keep the weight down, gradually losing the battle to my overeating. With the body so use to dealing with 3,000 calories a day, dropping down to 2,000 all of a sudden resulted in some rapid weight loss.

Over the last two years my body has often had to do with about 2,000 calories in a day. Like a person who has to deal with taking a lower paying job, my body has adjusted to a lower average number of calories per day. What we haven't had over the last two years is a persistent string of 2,000 calorie days for months on end. I'm afraid that this is what will be needed to get the weight loss moving and continuing down to the level I need to achieve.

My belief is that my half-hearted efforts over the last 24 months has reversed the weight loss pattern. Normally the first 10 pounds are the easiest. From all indications of late, the first 10 pounds this time will be the hardest. It's like trying to push a stalled car--if you can just get it moving for the first 10 feet then there is a momentum established that helps keep you going. I've got to break from from this point right above 220 pounds. My body loves this spot. The trick is going to be to get to the 210's and then I think the body will dig in a 215 but maybe with less zeal. Break through that 215 point and the body will be a little bewildered on where to dig in again.

The key it to keep with these 2,000 calorie days, throw in more walking, and break this setpoint. I will do this and my belief is that great progress will be made by the end of September.