9 Pounds Down and a New Outlook on Weight Loss!

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As I'm coming up on 6 months since I started this blog, I'm pleased to report that I've lost almost 9 pounds! (8.8 to be exact, but who's counting? Oh right, I am, publicly) I'm also AT MY LIGHTEST WEIGHT SINCE I STARTED THIS BLOG! 213.4 pounds to be exact, down from 222.2!

Looking at the chart above, I've noticed that in the last couple weeks, I've stopped doing the whole yoyo thing. While I haven't lost weight every week, my weight's changed no more than 1.5 pounds in any given week, and the overall trend is downwards! I think in the last couple weeks I've had a mental shift to an understanding that I'm going to lose weight. I'm attributing this to Napoleon Hill's 1937 book "Think and Grow Rich", which talks about setting out to achieve a goal and using certain techniques to convince yourself there's no way you can fail.

There's a great story in the book about an army general who landed on the shores of their enemy's beaches, and instructed his men to burn their ships. When they asked why, his reply was, "Retreating back to the ships and losing this battle is not an option". I highly recommend the book both to people who are looking to increase their income (which is really the main focus of the book), and to those who have any goal they'd like to accomplish. Hill was a close friend of Dale Carnegie and the book contains Carnegie's game plan for success.

So now that gaining weight's not an option, it's been easier to watch what I eat and track my points. Also, being almost 9 pounds thinner feels great! My big challenge coming up however is going to be restaurant week. During winter's restaurant week, I gained 2.5 pounds, which isn't an option to have happen again. Despite the 10 or so reservations I made, I'm thinking I might just give them all to friends (email me if you're interested in taking some of my reservations) and maybe take myself out to one really extraordinary dinner. This will be, over the course of two weeks, both less fattening, and less expensive!

On a separate note, I've been doing more and more cooking in the last couple weeks/months, which has been great! Apparently it's VERY easy to make seared scallops, and at this point I've got steak and chicken down pat. I did manage to overcook a tuna steak though while trying to sear it...8 minutes per inch my ass. But it's all a learning experience! FreshDirect has a great "How to Cook It" section here.

That's all for this weeks folks. Next week will officially be 6 months of this blog so expect a big post then!

----Alex