Day 3 - Friday, June 10 (2016) - 210.0

Well, so far so good. It's Day 3 and I've lost 6.6 pounds. That's really good, but expected since it's the first few days. It would be great if I could lose 10 pounds before it slows down. We'll see soon enough.

I'm leaving for Arizona tomorrow to get the house ready to put on the market. I've already sorted out all the NutriSystem food I'll be taking with me. I'm excited to be able to swim for the time I'm there. My knees won't allow me to walk or do much of any type of exercising, but swimming should be fine. Hopefully I can burn some calories while also providing therapy for my knees.

I love not having to worry about cooking. In the past it's been a major challenge to cook something diet-friendly that Greg would still eat. Now we just tear open a package and throw it in the microwave.

I realized that I'm not going to have a scale for the ten days I'm in Arizona. That bothers me. I actually look forward to getting up every morning and checking my weight. I might have to see if WalMart has a cheap one I can use while I'm there. It might not register the same as my good scale here, but at least it should be relative during the time I'm using it.

I had a steroid injection in each of my knees on Wednesday. The right one is about 80% better but the left one isn't much better at all. Fingers crossed that by Sunday - when I have to start working on the house - it will be better as well.

Day 1 - Wednesday, June 8 (2016) - 216.6

Ha! It has been nine months since I've posted. In that dieting round that began in August of last year I ended up losing a total of about 18 pounds. But, of course, I gained it all back. So I'm starting over.

This time Greg is dieting with me and we're doing NutriSystem. I actually cut alcohol out completely on June 1, but we started on NutriSystem today.

I have been having horrible problems with my knees, so I'm not going to be able to exercise until I get the pain under control. But at least I can start the dieting portion.

I'm pretty motivated, and since most of our food is provided and Greg is doing it with me, I have high hopes for success.

Wish me luck!

Day 25 - Thursday, Sept. 10 - 204.8

Wow! It's been 10 days since I posted. I think I had two bad "pig out" nights during that time. Tons of stress right now and I gave in on those two nights. Oh well. Onward and upward, right?

I'm still motivated but maybe not quite so much. Eating out kills me, even when I eat a salad and watch my portions. We've had lots of reasons to have to be away for extended lengths of time, though, so eating out has been a necessity in some cases. I'll just have to figure out a way to be better still.

I haven't gotten on the elliptical again since the first time, but I've been doing a lot of physically-intense things around the house.

I don't want to jinx it, but I haven't hit a plateau yet. That's good news. I know from past experience that it's really difficult to keep motivated during plateaus.

Day 15 - Monday, 8/31 - 208.6

Didn't get much sleep last night. Got some really exciting news in an email late at night and couldn't get to sleep. Greg was up at 7:15 for a business call this morning which woke me up. So I figure I got about four hours. I've barely been able to keep my eyes open all day.

I lost .6 pound today. Not bad. Made some soup from the leftover lentils and sausage from last night's dinner. Had it for lunch; it was yummy. Made oven baked country style ribs with baked beans for dinner. Not really a diet food, but I only ate a very small portion of each.

All-in-all it was an OK day. I didn't get any exercise though. I hope that doesn't show on the scale tomorrow.

Day 14 - Sunday, 8/30 - 209.4

Well, I lucked out ... I didn't gain anything after last night's pig out session. I didn't lose either, but I'll take that! All is forgiven and today is a new day. We have two house showings today which means I'll be up and doing a lot of housework, so that will be my exercise for the day.

I also noticed I'm using way too much half-n-half in my coffee. After this carton is finished I guess I'll go back to skim milk. It's not a big difference, but hey - every 30 calories counts!

Went to Applebee's in Front Royal during the house showings and had takeout chicken Caesar salads. I barely ate any of the dressing but I did eat half (or more) or my croutons - shame on me! I gave some of my chicken to Greg, so hopefully that makes up for it.

For dinner I made lentils with Andouille  sausage and served it with fresh raw veggies.

I think I did OK dieting today. No huge sacrifice but I bet I was still less than 1000 calories.

Day 13 - Saturday, 8/29 - 209.4

Only lost .4 pound yesterday. That sucks, especially since I added the exercise. I guess the jump start that always comes at the beginning of a diet is over ... I had hoped it would last for another week. Oh well - I knew it was coming.

A little worried about today. Meeting Jeff and Jord for lunch on the MD shore. Having steamed crabs. It will be hard to control portion but I'm going to give it my best shot. Maybe I'll take some celery to eat in the car right before lunch to curb my appetite a little ... not a bad idea!

Decided yesterday that I'm going to supercharge my efforts for the next two months. I have my first blogger conference at the end of Oct. and I need to make a good impression. People really do discriminate against fat people. No one will respect me if I walk in there the way I look now. So, I know it's a lofty goal, especially after I already had the advantage of the quick start, but I'm going to try to lose 30 more pounds in the next two months. Wish me luck!

... SO much for supercharging! I did great at lunch - only had three crabs with no butter. But when I got home I pigged out. I think I denied myself too much. I am going to have to be cautious of that. 'Not excited about my weigh in tomorrow. :(

Day 12 - Friday, 8/28 - 209.8

First day of blog, 12th day of diet. Going well so far - lost 9 pounds. Decided to add exercise ... 25 minutes on elliptical. Not too bad. One scrambled egg with pico for brunch. Going to make diet soup for lunch. Still motivated.

Soup - not bad. Had it for dinner, too. And a nectarine in between.