My total cost the last two years for health care.. true dollars spent.. was 11.5k in 08.. and just under 8 k in 09'... and I am wondering why the budget has disappeared. ;)

Insurance covers none of the prosthetic any longer, 6k deductible, no prescription coverage, no dental or eye care.. yet my contribution is just under 400 per month...

So I echo your comments.. lifetime financial commitment to see the doctor once almost.. lol.

Even more that I applaud Trip... taking the right steps.

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Tripp is a great guy. And i think he can do it. If he puts his mind to something, it gets done.

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down to 212. That is 15 pounds since the first of the year. Suddenly a goal of 200 looks achievable.

This is the most I have ever lost except for when I was a senior in high school and on the wrestling team. Then I dropped 17 pounds from 155 to 138. The last few pounds were very hard and mostly due to dehydration.

This week has a couple of big hurdles for me. A company dinner on Friday and my fantasy league baseball draft day on Sunday. We always take a break and have pizza for dinner about 3/4 of the way thru the draft. This will be the first pizza I have had in almost 2 months. Too bad it is going to be the cheap stuff. Well I still want to lose a pound this week. That means I need to lose 2 before the weekend.

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WPR - A quick tip. Don't think in terms of guilt about enjoying food. Instead, think about it in terms of calories in vs calories out. If you eat a pizza, count the calories, and find a fun way to work them off.

If you want to gain weight, eat more calories than you burn off. If you want to lose weight, do the reverse.

It really is that simple.

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I hear you ZS and I agree. I am not feeling guilty. I have done pretty well this year. I was just saying that I may not be as successful this week due to things outside of my control. (As opposed to gaining weight because of a lack of effort or willpower on my part.)

Because my wife had to go help her parent's all this week, on Saturday, I took her out to a few stores and to dinner. I had planned on going somewhere that had a nice salad but she wanted to go to Red Lobster. They had dinner salads but no large salads that you can make a meal out of. That was fine. We had an appetizer which I normally would not order. I got a baked fish. Brought most of it home. When we went to get ice cream at Cold Stone, instead of ice cream I got a smoothie and then brought 90% of that home as well. Sunday, I had very little to eat but drank lots of water. Skipped an anniversary party on Sunday mainly because the meal was a buffet at a restaurant and I did not want to have a heavy meal that late in my weekly diet.

But for me, my diet is all about amount of food I eat or don't eat, unlike when I was younger and could be more active and burn off more calories. With my bad back there is very little exercise that I can do. I can not run. Even a brisk walk will cause me a lot of pain. Low impact things work for me. In addition to a moderate paced walk, a few minutes of sit ups or push ups along with a 2 mile walk is my normal routine. A bike ride in the warmer weather is about it. I use the Wii as well but not much more than 30 minutes a day. It is hard to burn off a lot of calories that way.

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Urgh. That sucks.

Yeah, I guess watching your dietary intake is the only option then.

Can you take up swimming? That's pretty low impact. But then again, you have to access to a swimming pool.

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Yeah I could go swimming. The park district has a pool and I could get a membership. I actual love to swim. It would probably be a better total workout too. I don't want to pay the fee when that money can be used for other expenses around the house and walking is (for the most part) free. Plus, when I walk I can take the dog and let him get some exercise as well.

The other draw back to swimming is the driving there getting ready and so on. When I walk, I just have to get the right layer of clothes on and head out the door. I walk down to the park. There are very few people or cars. If no one is around I can let the dog run into a corn field on one side of the road and a conservation area on the other side. I listen to the birds and think about what is in store for the day. Hard to do that swimming. I even enjoy hearing the creaking noise on the aluminum bleachers when the sun comes over the tops of the trees and starts to warm them up.

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I admire all you guys. Watching your example is keeping me going.

Someone once told me it takes 21-28 days to establish a good habit. And when you've spend most of your life as I have in acquiring bad ones, your examples give me strength to believe I might do similar.

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

W.

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It is amazing. I have said and (sort of) tried to lose weight for years. (10-15 years maybe 20.) But all I did was gain weight. Then someone on another message board did what Tripp is doing here. He started a thread. He stood up and said that he was going to be held accountable to his fellow board members. I started to post as well at the end of last year but there were so many things (birthdays, holidays, baking) to deal with that all I was able to do was to maintain my weight.
But after the first of the year- wow!
The only thing different is that I tell a bunch of people I either barely know or do not know at all what I weigh. It is an amazing motivational tool. I , or anyone can lie. How would anyone know otherwise? The ironic thing is I do not care for those people like I do the PH people. There is no "Cheesey" among them. (but then there is no CHeesey anywhere else in the gallaxy.) No son of a member like little JJ that we all pull together to help. The owner is a good guy but I would rather talk to Zero than him any day of the week. I mean anyone can say, "I am weak. I quit." and then stop watching the thread. It won't carry over into the sports threads that you post on. But it has made all the difference in the world in my determination. The mind is a funny thing.

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212.0
not bad considering this past week. at least no weight gain.
this week- Easter and our anniversary. I hope to maintain one more week.

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