Veins

Around 40 years ago, when I was a child, my mother had varicose veins. She went to the hospital to have them surgically removed. I still remember the poem sister wrote on the get-well card for here: "when it's time to go to the hospital / it's time to say goodbye / when it's time to get your veins pulled out / it's time to say oh my!"

I was on my high school wrestling team. (I was a mediocre wrestler on a good team. Not surprisingly, I could have been better had I weighed less.) During conditioning, we were always impressed by the guys with the bulging veins in the legs and arms that "popped" while they lifted the weights.

Now, as I lose weight, I am seeing more definition in my hands, arms, and legs. The veins in the back of my hands are more visible, and in my legs even more, and disturbingly, so. I don't know if this looks cool, or is an "oh my!" moment.

Clothing

Around the beginning of the month I bought a two new pairs of pants a couple for my business trip. I had lost around 20 pounds, and figured I was going to drop a couple of inches (40 to 38) off my waist. I was disappointed to find that wasn't the case. While my belts were almost at the smallest notch, I just couldn't fit into any smaller size.

Fast-forward to today. I've lost almost 11 more pounds and the new pants are definitely too big -- even after putting them in the dryer to deliberately shrink them. The belts are definitely at the smallest hole. I no longer need 2XL shirts, just XL. I'm pretty broad-shouldered for my frame, so I don't know if a size L will ever work well, but if it doesn't I'd be quite happy for my shoulders to be the real reason, and not an excuse to hide the real truth: my gut was too damn big.

Wow, more than 30 pounds of me are gone forever. That's weird to think about.

Pork rinds

Near the back of the Atkins book I read, he mentions that pork rinds are a good snack to divert yourself away from potato chips and the like. This weekend I bought a pack; everyone in my family was grossed out and nobody would even try one.

I now know why they're a good diversion: it's negative reinforcement, just like the aversion treatment in A Clockwork Orange. I'm gonna tough it out and finish the bag over the next couple of days, but I won't be happy about it.

There's an interesting thread on this over at http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/atkins-72/490423-pork-rinds-atkins-72-a.html although at times it astounds me. Pork rinds and cream cheese???

Stay out of the house

I worked at home two days last week. That was bad news for the diet.

It is easier for me to stay on-track at work. First, there's the actual work -- it keeps me busy. People often stop by, I'm sitting at my desk on the phone, and so on. Second, the vending and soda machines on my floor don't hold much interest for me.

At home, nobody stops by, and the house has lots of "food" that is very tempting -- cookies, ice cream, bagels, and so on. I tried not to cheat, but it was so easy to get up from the desk, walk to the fridge, and take a "pinch" of something. (Another thing you can't do at work -- colleagues generally frown on you taking bits of their food.)

225; on the fast track, but for how long?

On March 30 I weighed 252; this morning I weighed 225. So for now I'm back to losing around four and a half pounds per week.

It is interesting how much of my outlook depends on what the scale indicates. Since I started I have seen my weight drop almost every day. When it doesn't, I have to take a pause to "explain to myself" that this is common, it doesn't mean anything, and so on. But at some point I'm going to hit a real plateau, or just start slowing down, and I guess I need to start preparing myself for that. I don't want to get depressed and fall off the plan.

Perhaps that's one of the reasons why Atkins recommends moving from Induction to the Ongoing Weight Loss phase, to purposefully slow things down before it happens beyond your control. (I'm sure the major reason to expand the list of things you can eat, so you don't give up out of boredom, but that's not a problem for me yet.)

I should seriously think about going into OWL.

No vita-nutrients for me

I am a true believer in the Atkins diet plan. The reasoning behind it makes sense to me, it's a lifestyle I believe I can follow, and the results are amazing.

Yet for some reason, I am extremely skeptical of the whole vita-nutrient part of it. I look at the Atkins breakfast bars in the supermarket, and when I see that they cost twice as much as a Kellog's bar and the carb count is the same (or within 1gram), I'm bemused. But when I read about the vitamins and the recommendation to buy Atkins Vita-Nutrient, I feel like I'm dealing with a snake-oil salesman.

Done travelling

I'm finally done with travel for awhile. Between the family vacation, and a big trade show, I was away for two of the last three weeks. While I tried to stick to the program, deep down I knew I'd falter and that realistically I just wanted to not gain. That seems to be the case.

The last few days of the show were tough. The water tasted weird, and there's only so much Diet Coke or coffee that you can drink in a day. Between customer meetings and presentations, it was thirsty work. And of course, the speaker's lounge was stocked with granola bars and pastries.

Anyhow, I hope my rapid descent will get back on track in a day or tow.

Bacon grease and other drippings

I figured out a good way to drain off bacon grease so that it can solidify and be tossed out. Put a cupcake liner in a custard cup (or any small low bowl-like thing) and pour off into it. When hard, pull out the liner and throw it out. You still have to wash the cup, but there's much less cleanup.

My grandmother used to pour the stuff into a tin can, which she'd replace when it got full. Thinking of that is kinda nauseating.

Is this how obsessiveness starts?

At around 1pm on Sunday, I had to leave for the airport for a week-long business trip. In all the various running around, I got showered and dressed in a rush and forgot to weigh myself. I got back from various errands around 12:30. I seriously wondered whether I should spend a few minutes of my last-half hour getting undressed, weighing myself, and putting my clothes back on.

I sometimes give half a thought to weighing myself at night.

If there was a foot pad that I could put in my shoe(s) that would accurately weigh me whenver I looked at it, my rational side would have to convince me not to buy it.

But dang, I wish I knew how much I weighed before I went away for a week.