Rational Weight #5

I seem to have plateaued for a while. Vacillated just above and just below 270.

But for the past few days, my home scales has had me below. This morning, the official scale at the health club (MY official scale, nothing else is official about it, other than high repeatability) showed me at 267.9. I'll take that as indicator that I may have broken through the plateau.

I was thinking about plateaus, though, and talking with my son yesterday. I rationalized that maybe a plateau now and again could be a good thing, since it might give the skin a chance to catch up to the body. Not sure if that's at all true, but it made me feel better.

Rearview Mirror Installation

Without wanting to, I've learned how to install a rear-view mirror on a Subaru Forester. I assume these skills mostly transfer to other vehicles.

Most auto parts stores stock an adhesive specifically for this purpose. I bought in Queens, and paid $4.

The key is the "button" for the mirror. This is the piece that physically attaches to the window glass. The mirror then attaches to the button. It was not immediately apparent to me that I even had a "button" and I wasn't looking for it when the process started. Fortunately, the adhesive packaging mentioned it in the instructions. I had to figure out how to detach the "button" from the mirror which had fallen off the windshield.

For my model of Subaru, it turns out the mirror and button are held together by a very tight spring clip. To separate them I had to twist them, almost to the point where it felt as though it was breaking. But then, snap, they were apart.

The rest is pretty straightforward. Clean the glass, clean the button. Apply the adhesive activator to the windshield. Apply the adhesive to the button and hold in place for two minutes. Supposedly I can attach the mirror after 20 minutes, but I let the chemicals cure overnight instead. Air temperature didn't drop below 60 F (package instructions advised to use above 50 F). The next morning I snapped the mirror back onto the button, which was by now firmly affixed to the windshield. That was a week ago, and things are still good, so I suppose I didn't muck things up.

One more thing, my mirror has an auto-dim feature, and an electronic compass. I had to recalibrate the compass after plugging the connections together. This involved driving slowly in a circle about three times. Everything is good again.

I was surprised how good visibility is out of the front without a mirror in the way. But changing lanes is a bit scary.

Rational Weight #4

This morning I weighed in sub-270 for the first time since I have no idea. Maybe sometime around 2004 or so. The official reading was 269.0.

It is encouraging that I'm able to do this without surgery, and without painful changes to my patterns of life. I think most people are unaware I'm doing this. Although my sister, who lives in a different city from me, noticed on seeing me this week. But I notice many things. For example, shirts fit much more comfortably. For example, a pair of jeans which used to be snug now require a belt.

The loss had slowed for a while, which made me nervous that somehow my body might have adjusted to my eating habits, and found a way to extract more calories from the food I eat. But I guess that isn't the case.

My very short-term goal had been 260, and that is now within spitting distance. My longer term goal, just for a psychological milestone, is to reach 100 kgs. That would be pretty cool. And, of course, the longest term goal is a BMI under 25.

Rational Weight #3

I have been afraid to commit to a "goal" for rationalizing my weight. I am afraid of failing, and the failure will be more concrete if I commit to a number.
But, it's helpful to know when you've hit a milestone, as it helps spur you on. My current weight is 273. My short term goal is to get into the 260s, just a few pounds away.

The longer term goal is to be a healthy weight. My current weight is considered "obese" in almost all health assessments for US males. So perhaps a longer term goal should be to drop from obese to overweight. For me, that won't happen until 233 pounds, which is a whopping 40 pounds away. To continue from overweight down to normal I need to hit 194 pounds. Wow! That feels impossible. But I've got to at least do the 233 (as a long-term) and I really should keep the 194 (as a still longer-term) goal.

What I've noticed is how easy it is to fall back into old habits. I've been "grazing" lately. Nowhere near the level I used to do, but still, it is a habit I must not allow to regain its foothold.

Gelato Tour of Roma, Firenze, and Venezia

Giolitti August 16
We did not eat gelato on our arrival day in Rome, but held off until the next day. We were in the Pantheon neighborhood, and walked over to Giolitti . Wow! They've got a real operation going there. Line up to pay (which means choose what you want without even seeing the flavors. we chose 3 scoop sugar cones.), then take the receipt to line up for the gelato. Huge crowd. Flavors are in Italian, and we just weren't prepared. We may have done better if our first experience had been a smaller shop, with personal service. I didn't jot down what flavors I had, but I know it was a very good experience.

Verde Pistacchio August 17
In looking for a lunch place near our hotel, we were walking down Via Nazionale, and Verde Pistacchio stood out. They've got a VW microbus inside the shop, body hold the flavors and driver compartment the cash register, and it's all done in an inviting pistacchio green color.

I thought about having a smoothie, rather than gelato, but thought better of it, and went with gelato. One of my flavors was pistachio (how could I not at a shop named thusly?). My other two flavor were mango and lemon. We ate our cones, and enjoyed the snappy decor.

Location is just down the street from Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri Church, which makes interesting use of the ruins of the Baths of Dioclesian in it's structure, and has an interesting dual-gnomon sundial inside.

Caffe delle Carrozze, August 18
The next day we were off for Florence by train. By mid-afternoon our wanderings had us near the Ponte Vecchio, where I saw an even higher density of jewelry stores than on 47th Street in Manhattan. There, waiting for us, was Caffe delle Carrozze. I had melon, lemon, and mint, but wished they had a flavor which would have added to the wordplay of lemon/melon instead.

Gelateria dei Neri, August 19
Second day in Florence. We hit some key museums (thanks Firenze Card, for letting us skip the lines) and a short walk from the Galileo Museum is Gelateria dei Neri. Their setup had two storefronts. One was the gelato, the other was a tables and a sitting area.  They had a few chocolate-looking things. One reminded me of a delicious ice cream I had when visiting Tucson a couple years back, which was chocolate mixed with jalepenos. The "kick" of the peppers really set off the creaminess of the ice cream, and I enjoyed the lingering "burn" in my mouth the rest of the evening. In this case, the flavor was called cioccolato messicano pistacchio e peperoncino. The clerk warned me, "it's spicy!" I said that's okay. Then she gave me a small taste. I said that's okay. So she gave me my cone. Rounding out were passion fruit and mandarin orange. (note: just a bit to west of this spot is All'Antico Vinaio, a really great sandwich shop.)

Filo, August 20
Today we headed south of the Arno, looking for Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, and Bardini Gardens. The Firenze Card included free city transportation, so we hopped the D bus, which snakes around before finally stopping at Piazza Pitti. The plan was to hit all those gardens, and make our way to Michaelangelo's piazza, which was supposed to command some great views of Florence. But, on the way, we stopped at Forte Belvedere, which had it's own great views of Florence. So we stopped partway to Michaelangelo's right by one of the old city gates at a tiny shop called Il Gelato di Filo. (Google has it in the wrong spot, so I won't link their map). Wow! Best gelato of the entire trip. dark chocolate, mint (with no artificial coloring), and I forgot my third flavor. Highly recommended. If you've got the Firenze Card, hop any bus that loops over here, and get a free sightseeing tour on the way.

Piazza San Marco, August 21
Goodbye Florence, hello Venice. It was late, and we looked at a couple gelato places that didn't seem at all enticing. Finally, settled on one of the places facing Piazza San Marco. Nothing special. Completely forgettable.

Il Doge, August 22
Venice redeemed itself with Il Doge. Yum. Peach, cherry, and coconut. It's so much fun wandering around Venice anyhow, but a nice gelato place as target makes it even more fun.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of my gelato tour.

Rational Weight #2

An example of what I struggle with: I was driving home from my dance class this evening. I work out pretty hard at the class. I'm certain I burn hundreds of calories. It's two hours of an intense workout.

On the way back to my car, I could turn right, and go to a MacDonalds to get a fruit smoothy. About 500 or so calories. They're so refreshing, and cold, and feel so good drinking after that class (except when I sip it too fast and my throat starts to freeze. Ouch!) But I say, no, and head left, to where my car is parked.

As I start driving homeward, my mind begins thinking where a MacDonalds is along the route home. I can still get a smoothy. I have to remind myself each time (there are three places where I get rather close to a MacDonalds) that I am not really hungry, and I don't really need to chill (I had several water bottles today), and my long term goal is to get to a rational weight.

Finally I pass the turn off for the third MacDonalds. And I begin to think of a place where I could go out of my way to get to another one. Only three miles.

I think this is what people talk about when they say that corn syrup is addicting.

I made it home without diverting. I had a Weight Watchers raspberry ice cream pop (about 110 calories) and that was satisfying. Then I drank some water.

Rational Weight #1

At some point towards the end of the school year I decided to stop acting helpless about my obesity. I am not aware of any physical issues that should cause me to be so heavy (in June 2014 I was about 288 pounds), but I am aware of a number of bad habits that could be contributing to the condition.

So I resolved to work on changing some habits.

Somebody at some point used the phrase, "cultivate a feeling of hunger." This means to get comfortable being less than full. I used this as a focal idea as I tried to change. I also took advantage of the summer break from school in order to make sure I exercised much more regularly.

I don't think drastic change works over a long term, so I am not a fan of purges and diets and regimens. Rather, I chose to try to make small changes in my behavior which I thought I would be more likely to sustain over the long term. One of my worst eating habits is that I graze. I eat out of boredom, rather than hunger. I've made a significant effort to stop this. Before I eat, I ask myself if I'm hungry. If I'm not, I try to drink a glass of water, rather than eat.

I titled this entry #1 because I intend to continue to report my progress in my effort towards a rational weight.