My gosh, it's been awhile since I added anything here. A quick update, then.

I had two things happen in quick succession to throw me off stride.

First, I went for my checkup in late September and despite the significant weight loss had no change in my blood pressure or cholesterol numbers. Both are borderline. We allowed as how perhaps I hadn't yet lost the critical pounds for me, but I must say I was significantly disappointed.

Two days later, I had a biking accident that resulted in significant wrist pain that continues to this day. For the first two weeks after the accident I was unable to ride because I couldn't take the pressure on my wrist. This plus the shortening days has crimped my biking. I was also gripped by the twin tensions of the economy and the election and was glued to the monitor watching for the latest developments. With Obama making sensible choices for his cabinet and advisors so far, and with the market beginning to exhale (or so it seems), it's time to dust myself off and get back on that horse, metaphorically speaking.

I haven't been going to Weight Watchers -- just can't seem to bring myself to go. But so far, knock wood, I don't seem to have gained any inches. The other day my waist measurement was 34 and my hips 47 -- pretty good for me.

After a bad case of Thanksgiving Toxicity (meaning way too much sugar and salt and calories), I have gone back on program today and also biked 12 miles. I'm a little chilled and a little stiff but think I'll live. I have no little food diaries around, alas, but I am sure I can make some.

Holiday excess will rear its tempting head in the weeks to come. I think I'll be happy if I have modest weight loss (or at least no weight gain) between now and spring, when I can pick up the pace of exercise and begin another major weight loss campaign.

Week 19, Day 2: Major Milestone

I weighed in yesterday and was gratified to discover that I have now lost 50 pounds.

Onward and downward!

Week 18, Day 3/4: a slowdown

Friday's weigh-in was disappointing: one pound total weight loss for two weeks. Given that I didn't weigh, measure, or record anything, enjoyed several glasses of wine, martinis, and manhattans, and had at least two spectacular lapses, that's not surprising. So the food diary came out again. On the other hand.....

I may have only lost a pound in the past two weeks, but it appears I have also lost an inch. Yippee!

This morning's measurements: 44 / 34 / 48

Yesterday Mr. Southphl and I biked 23 miles, much of it hilly. Today I biked 12 miles by my lonesome, and also did 75 wall pushups and plan to do some other arm exercises this evening.

Last night's dinner was a baked chicken, carrots/onion for my starch, and a whole lot of broccoli. Oh, and the biggest peach I've ever seen, sliced and served over plain yogurt.

For the last couple of weigh-ins I've gone on Fridays. If I don't see some weight loss this Friday, I will try to shift back to Saturday. I may need the extra support of the meetings.

Week 17, Day 5: Chicken hearts! and mindful eating

Friday I'll go weigh in to see what two weeks of neither measuring nor writing down, but some mindfulness and a lot of cycling, has done to my weight loss program. If I'm still losing at a brisk clip, I may continue to play loose with the process. If not, it's back to the food diaries.

There have been some...episodes. Like last night when I had a snack attack comprised of three slices of butter bread and six Oreos.

But I think I've been largely within the guidelines and certainly have put the miles on the bike, some of them pretty hilly.

In other news, I found chicken hearts! at the Reading Terminal Market! and I know they're not the leanest cut of meat in the galaxy but my gosh I loves my curried chicken hearts. I had curried chicken hearts for dinner last night and more curried chicken hearts for lunch today.

Today was a short bike ride -- just eight miles or so -- but I'm going to take the dog out for a walk soon. And an early morning bike ride is on the schedule for tomorrow.

(EDIT: Meant to mention that the swiss chard is well and truly sprouted, whee! And both zucchini and grape tomatoes are down to 99 cents a pound/pint at the Reading Terminal Market. The backyard peaches, on the other hand, are disappointing -- too much bitter almond flavor, presumably from the peach pits)

Week 16, Day 1: 6.2 lb weight loss

I weighed in early -- went down yesterday -- and was pleasantly surprised to find that after two weeks' unbridled license, or so it seemed to me, I had in fact not gained weight but had actually lost 6.2 pounds for a total weight loss of 44.6 pounds over the first fifteen weeks of this diet. Not a bad way to celebrate my 60th birthday!

I suspect that two things are happening. One, because I've been scrupulously measuring and weighing things for several months I've internalized some of the lessons learned. Two, all that bike riding maybe has kicked my metabolism up a notch.

I celebrated with more unbridled license -- a birthday dinner, cooked by Mr. southphl, that included a boneless pork chop served in a white wine reduction; two small redskin potatoes, boiled; a huge helping of steamed green beans with olive oil and herbs; and a dessert sampler of two kinds of store-bought mousse and a small scoop of Turkey Hill Rocky Road ice cream. Also a one-cup serving of potato chips, the better half of a split of Veuve Cliquot, and a bottle of "Gandalf Wine" (Nobilio sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, mmmm.)

This morning I'm a lot less hungover than I ought to be by rights and am eager to get on my bike with Mr. souphl and visit yet another Fairmount Park house. Strawberry Mansion this time, because it is to be closed for renovations at the end of the summer.

Oh, and today's lunch will be leftover bluefish with 99-cent bag veggies; and today's dinner will be black beans, brown rice, and yet still more 99-cent veggies. We still have half of the 99-cent bag o' green beans to steam. Reading Terminal Market is The Light and The Way!

Week 15, Day 6: I can has swiss chard!

I went foraging for vegetable bargains at the Reading Terminal Market today. I found several at the big produce stand in the back. But I also found a packet of swiss chard seeds (Fordhook) in a plant stall. The package says they'll come to maturity in 50-60 days; that they will tolerate a light frost; and that they will grow nicely in partial shade and in containers. Sounds like the perfect vegetable chez moi.

I have two big containers holding nothing more important than volunteer feverfew and perilla, both of which are abundant in yet still other containers, so I think I'll plant me some swiss chard this evening. Mmmmmm... fresh vegetables from the garden in South Philly.

Oh, and the peaches from my potted peach pit seedling tree are ripening, too.

Week 15, Day 5: Muddling back toward the program

Last week I left town for four days to spend time with an old friend in Ohio. Although I packed everything I'd need to be scrupulously on program, when I got there I just didn't feel like it. So I didn't write anything down.

Despite that, I know that two meals a day were pretty spartan, but the third tended to be a serious meal (complete with wine and/or Martinis). And I wasn't exercising much.

Now, on the third full day after my return, I've finally gotten back on my bicycle and done a leisurely 17 miles. I'm not journaling my food again yet, but I'm keeping an eye on portions and measuring at least my starches.

Today's cheap dinner is going to be fava beans. I bought a pound of them dried for $.99 and went through the bother of boiling and peeling them last night. Tonight I'll cook them up with onions, olive oil and fresh herbs as recommended on the package label. I don't feel like putting in a salty chicken buillion cube as the recipe suggests, so I'll put in ... some chicken. Imagine that. I have a a huge head of broccoli to steam, too.

Week 14, Day 2: Wobbling on the Program

Week 13 weight loss: 1.2 pounds. Better than a weight gain, I suppose.

Part of it was my anniversary blow-out: I was so not in the mood for programmed eating. So I ordered (and almost fainted to hear the words escape my lips) a Bluecoat martini, in-and-out, with three olives. Bluecoat American Dry Gin is a gin distilled here in Philly and is unlike any other gin I've ever had.

So, yes, the martini. And then the order of onion rings, which at the Union League is big enough for my husband and me to split. (We once passed a whole order around a table for 12: everyone had one and there were still several left over.) Plus the wonderful Union League rolls, two of them, copiously buttered. Plus a salad that was embellished with heaps o' calories -- little piles of walnuts, blue cheese, bacon crumbles. Most of the time I leave the heaps alone, but this time I ate them all.

And then the main course. It was a grilled cheese sandwich, I kid you not. Three kinds of cheese, plus tomato and (I think) bacon. It came with a lifetime supply of french fries, but by the time I finished the sandwich I was only able to eat one. This was accompanied by a glass of champagne, which the waiter assured me solemnly was the perfect complement to grilled cheese.

And it was. And I had no room left for dessert. And when I went home and tried to account for this train wreck of a dinner I concluded that I'd used all 35 of my bonus points for the week plus another fifteen.

For penance, I rode my bike. A lot. I think I did 100 miles last week. And I mostly stayed on program....except that my naughty husband brought home a bottle of the aforementioned Bluecoat American Dry Gin. I was successful, though, in restricting myself to a few sips of his martini(s).

This week isn't exactly off to a good start. I didn't ride much yesterday, just down to the Weight Watcher's meeting, and I lost my bearings and ate the leftover London broil I'd intended to have for lunch today. So a long bike ride is definitely called for, and we have planned an 18-20 mile ride that includes some big (for me) hills. I am hoping I can recommit to the program now after messing around with it.

Week 13, Day 1: 2.2 pound weight loss

Given last week's excesses (pizza! martinis!), I'm pretty happy with this weight loss.

Week 12, Day 5: On program (barely)

Yesterday, after my brave resolutions to get back on program, I was ambushed by a pretty blue bottle of Philadelphia-distilled gin. I am happy to report, though, that despite two martinis I managed not to eat the walls and woodwork and ended the day without having to bust into my bonus points.

Dinner was a vegetable extravaganza: the entree was a small mound of brown rice topped by a medley of onions, green peppers, zucchini and mushrooms sauteed in a little bit of olive oil, dry vermouth, and concentrated chicken stock. The vegetables were seasoned with oregano, marjoram, and cayenne. Accompanying this was steamed broccoli lightly dressed with olive oil and more concentrated chicken stock.

For dessert I worked through more of the giant container of blueberries we bought at our granddaughter's suggestion.

This morning, to work off the martinis, I biked 20 miles -- slowly, but I got the miles. Breakfast was quite late, so I'll have a snack to hold me till dinner.

Week 12: Day 4, barely on program

My excuse is that The Grand-Daughter is here. I've had a few wobbles.

Sunday evening: We ordered pizza. The good news is that we ordered one with cheese and vegetables, no fatty meats. The almost-good news is that I almost held the line at two slices. The bad news is that after staring at the third piece for 45 minutes I ate it. Alas, close doesn't count. I wound up using 3 of my bonus points, although I did ride 15 miles. If our leader is wrong and all exercise points count, I would have been even.

Yesterday: no biking, although we walked a little bit on our sightseeing tour, which was mostly by bus. I had my regular omelet for breakfast, salad bar from the Reading Terminal, and a semi-careful dinner at the Union League. I passed up the breads. I had the green salad. I had boar for dinner -- a tablespoon of "pulled pork" in a small polenta cup, a boar chop that couldn't have been an ounce of meat, and a boar sausage that was very dry and, presumably very lean. For dessert I had a baked apple, and I had two glasses of zinfandel. Paperwork remains to be done.

Today I am going to have my omelet and I think I will eat vegetables for the rest of the day. Grand Daughter leaves this evening and we will celebrate by gobbling up all the broccoli in the house.

Week 12, Day 1: Weight loss and exercise report

I've lost more than 9 pounds since my weigh-in two weeks ago. However, my last weigh-in reflected the third in a series of setbacks related to travel to events where I had no control over what was served. (I'll definitely need to work on how to handle that.)

The good news is that I have a net loss of 4 pounds over where I was prior to the setbacks, or a total weight loss of 35 pounds since I started in early May.

This morning I rode:

5.6 miles back and forth from The Lakes
11.9 miles at The Lakes (7 trips around the park)
1.0 miles back and forth to Broad St for the Weight Watchers meeting
----
I make that 17.5 miles in total. And I'm two gears over where I was a couple weeks ago.

In other news, I made another tasty and more-or-less cheap salad last night:

1 pint home-boiled black beans ($.25, if that)
1-1/2 zucchini, cubed (on sale at $.99/lb, probably $.75)
1/2 onion, coarsely diced, if there is such a thing ($.25)
1 medium green pepper (on sale at $.99/lb, probably $.35)
2/3 pint grape tomatoes (the big extravagance at $2.00)
1 stalk celery (maybe $.15?)
1/8 c. olive oil (I think the stuff was $7/liter, which would make that, what, $.25?)
Flavored with Latino stuff: Ancho Mama seasoning, chili powder, cumin, cloves, and a whole lot of Tabasco

Total cost: $4.10
Yield 6 servings $.69
Points per serving: maybe 3?


Mmmm. I'm going to have some with a piece of leftover chicken for lunch, then add rice and use it as the main course for dinner, along with a heap o' vegetables that Mr. Southphl bought at the Farmer's Market this morning.

Week 11, Day 6: Biking routes and distances / weight loss report in Daily News

Home to the Lakes (FDR park): 2.8 miles

Round the Lakes: 1.7 miles

Home to the Lakes, round the Lakes 3x, and back): 10.7 miles

Home to the Union League to Chemical Heritage Foundation, down to Oregon via 4th St, over to the Lakes, round the Lakes 3x, and home: 14.5

Home to the Union League, down to South Philly via 4th St, over to Pattison Ave, down to the Lakes @ 20/Pattison, round the Lakes 3x and home: 16.7 miles

Google maps/directions is a fine mileage calculator. No need for an onboard computer.

So far this week, I've biked 10.7, 10.7, 14.5, and 16.7. That would be more than 50 miles, and I still have two days of "this week" to go. This plus scrupulous adherance to "the program" ought to reward me on the scales Saturday morning.

In other news, the Philadelphia Daily News reports a two-year study wherein both the low carb and the Mediterranean diets beat out low-fat for weight loss AND cholesterol. Heee.

Week 11, Day 2: So where was I?

Oh, poop. Another business trip, another week of program shot to smithereens. I stopped journaling my food entries on Wednesday. I didn't go to the meeting on Saturday, either.

However, hope springs eternal. I picked up a couple extra journals last week, so I started over yesterday. With ten-mile bike rides yesterday and today. I think I'm ready to recommit to the program, even if my motivation seems to have gone on holiday.

Week 10, Day 1: 5.4 pound weight gain

Sigh. I was expecting a weight gain, and I guess five pounds over two weeks is about right.

It's mostly water weight, I think. I hope.

The Los Angeles trip was hard on my ability to stay on the program. Although I had packed apples and Clif bars for emergencies, I had expected to be able to make more food choices that included my usual strategy -- to eat heaps of vegetables. No such luck. Not at the airport, not form room service (except at one heck of a price), not from the food available at the conference.

I didn't find a grocery store within walking distance of the hotel. My order of vegetable curry at an Indian restaurant was long on sauce and short on vegetables -- I saw two pieces of potato, a tiny carrot cube and a green bean. I ordered a plate of steamed vegetables from room service and almost fainted at the $30 tab. Filling out my food diary was a struggle. I took to scribbling what I'd eaten in tiny writing in the margins of the notes I was taking at the sessions. It was a chronicle of a downward spiral -- although I never did break into the bags of fatty snax or candy bars they had thoughtfully left in my room.

By Thursday I had pretty much given up, even on writing down what I ate in the margins. I ate what I wanted at the Thursday dinner buffet -- lots of Mexican food and a big piece of cake at dessert. Oh, and champagne. Friday I ate my box lunch, cookies and all, andwhen I moved to the Hampton Inn my choice was pizza delivery, $15 minimum, so I wound up with a Mexican pizza and a big green salad. I ate the toppings off the pizza and ate the salad.

Saturday morning I had some improbable "fried eggs" from the breakfast buffet, plus a biscuit with gravy because I felt like it. I had a salad entree at the airport, and a Clif bar and apple during the flight (which was delayed).

Riding home from the airport at 3:00 a.m., the car in which I was a passenger was rear-ended on the Schuylkill Expressway. I wasn't injured but I was pretty shaken up, literally and figuratively. I got home around 3:30 a.m., tired and hungry. My husband was in Roanoke. The dog wasn't much company at that hour. There wasn't a thing in the house to eat that didn't require defrosting and cooking except for two small bags of potato chips. I poured myself a big glass of whiskey and ate all the potato chips. The rest of the week I was off-kilter -- jet lagged, sore muscles and a bit of a back-ache, rattling around the house by myself. There were no fresh vegetables and I didn't feel like shopping. I pigged out on beans and rice and cheese.

Today is my first day back on program, although I don't think I did too badly yesterday. We did go to the PathMark and I got lots of fresh broccoli, fresh green beans, fresh mushrooms, fresh zucchini.

Week 9, Day 7: A vacation from weight-watching

I spent the week of June 23-28 traveling to Los Angeles, attending a conference, and then traveling back. I have spent the past five days recovering from jet lag and minor physical effects from having been in an automobile that was rear-ended as I came home from the airport at 3:00 a.m.

I believe that my "excesses" would have seemed like spartan eating before I started Weight Watchers...and while in LA I did a fair amount of walking. Today I have gotten back on program, and I've walked a couple of miles, and I'll see how bad the damages are tomorrow morning when I weigh in.

Week 8, Day 1: 6.4 pound weight loss

The water weight from last week's funeral food is gone along with a few more pounds. I did try to tip the scales in my favor a bit by going for a moderately aggressive 10 mile ride before weighing in, so that I'd sweat and breathe off my three big cups of morning coffee.

Today was a three milestone day, weight-wise, whee!

• 10% of body weight lost
• Remaining weight loss now in double digits
• Weight now under A.Significant.Number.

I made a nice, cheap, low calorie entree last week -- bean salad with crunchy vegetables. The ingredients:

2 cups cooked pink kidney beans
1 cup fat free yogurt
1 T olive oil
one large red pepper, diced
two stalks of celery, diced
some tex-mex seasonings (a chili blend, some Tabasco or cayenne, I forget which)

Yield: 2 entrees
Cost per entree: about $.85
Points per entree: 4.5

Hee.

The beans were on sale at $.79/lb when I bought them. I cooked up 2 lb and froze them. The red peppers were on sale, also at $.79/lb. I think the most expensive item was the cup of Stonyfield yogurt, about $1.00.

I did everything cooking-wise that I said I was going to do, except that one of the beef eyes went into the freezer whole because I forgot to cut it up and it needed to be frozen NOW. The chicken fed me Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday...it fed Mr. Southphl and me for Wednesday dinner and for two meals on Thursday. By then we were heartily sick of it, although we still had two perfectly good leg-thigh combinations remaining. So into the pot it went, hindquarters and all, and we'll have an unbelievably rich chicken stock to add flavor to things.

So far, this weight loss thing is working out pretty well. But Monday I get on a plane for a conference and don't come back till Saturday. Apples and Clif bars in the suitcase and we'll see how well I cope with hotel food, reception food, etc.

Week 7, Day 1: 1.4 pound weight gain

The excesses of last week showed up on the Weight Watcher scale this morning: a 1.4 pound weight gain over last week. This despite a bike ride last night and another this morning. Judging by the look of my hands, I'm still packing a heap of water.

Last night for dinner I had about 1-1/2 cups of cooked [frozen] spinach with a little bit of olive oil, a cup of nonfat yogurt, and a small apple. That's the most spartan dinner I can ever recall eating, and I was fully satisfied. Imagine that.

This morning's bike ride was a leisurely spin down to The Lakes and then a fairly aggressive three circuits of The Lakes, then on to Weight Watchers and then home. I am guesstimating that at about 12 miles.

My husband is going out of town tomorrow, and will be gone for several days. I think I'll roast a chicken tonight and feed on the carcass while he's gone. They're on sale at the PathMark. SuperFresh has big round roasts on sale and I'll get one or two of those and cut them up for medallions of beef the way I do with pork tenderloin. Tomorrow I think I'll make big batches of brown rice and barley.

Week 6, Day 7: A time to cast away diets

My oldest dearest friend of my youth lost her husband Sunday and called me moments after his death. That was my cue to make plane reservations so that my husband and I could fly out and be there for the viewing and the funeral.

This did not strike me as a time to beat myself up over sticking to program. I gave myself permission to eat anything I wanted as long as I wrote it down. And that's about what I did. I was a careful eater on the trip until after the viewing -- when I wanted a robust late supper including a couple of drinks. I also fortified myself before the funeral the next morning with several helpings of scrambled eggs from the breakfast buffet, plus a small container of yogurt. After the funeral I ate two sandwiches from the buffet plus two large cookies and a couple bites of this and that. Once we left and were at the airport waiting to come home I had pasta primavera (with olive oil but no creamy sauce) and a glass of wine, plus another glass on the plane. I wrote everything down but didn't do the math.

Today I added up the points. Unsurprisingly, I blew through all my bonus points, and I went about eight points in the hole. But I'm a little surprised it was no worse than it was.

Today I'm on program but it's a bit of a struggle again. A late evening bike ride may get me back in the swing of things. I even think I'm willing to face the music at weigh-in tomorrow.

Monday morning quarterbacking the funeral luncheon, I now realize that if I'd moved the chips from the big table on the patio and replaced them with the tray of raw veggies I could have eaten compulsively all afternoon and still stayed on program. The veggies were off in a location where no one was eating them. 20/20 hindsight and all that.

Week 6, Day 3: Arm exercises

After frying my knees and ankles by cycling a little too aggressively over the weekend, I thought I'd move to some arm exercises -- especially since my upper arms are to floppy to be seen in public, even during this horrendous heat wave.

Of course, most arm exercises involve using weights, and buying weights involves spending money. However, for the moment, a one-pound weight is about all I need, and a 1.25 pint water bottle full of water will take care of that nicely. I have a nice collection of pebbles from my gardening projects, too, so when I need more weight, I can try adding some pebbles.

So. For today's exercises I did two sets of 20 of that triceps thing where you point your elbow toward the ceiling and then raise your forearm, and two sets of alternating biceps curls. I'd do some crunches for my gut but I don't feel like it.

Some easy exercises here.

Week 6, Day 1: 5.2 lb weight loss last week

The metrics from today's weigh-in:
Weight loss last week: 5.2 pounds
Weight loss to date: 26 pounds

My physician ought to be pleased. I'm certainly pleased.

Before weighing in this morning, I got on my bike and rode downalakes (down to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, aka "the lakes"), then then round the lakes three times, and thence to my Weight Watchers meeting. By the time I got there, my tank top was sopping wet, so I went into the ladies' room and changed into a dry one, reflecting that I probably sweated and breathed off a couple of pounds on the way in.

We read in the paper last night that the price of pork is likely to rise sharply in the coming months. Perhaps the purchase of another couple of pork loins is called for. Either that or eternal vigilance looking for the sales.

I bet there's some cheap produce at the Reading Terminal Market. But I don't much feel like slogging through the 95+ degree heat to find out.

Week 5, Day 6: Dieting on the road

Getting up at 4:00 a.m. for a one-day jaunt to Pittsburgh is't exactly my notion of fun. But I'm enjoying, I think, the challenge of staying on my diet while on the road.

Point count so far

4 -- breakfast, 2 hard-boiled eggs, cooked last night
2 -- 2 oz chicken in a kebob at lunch
1 -- misc fats and oils in lunch
0 -- small salad w/mustard dressing (maybe 1/2 tsp, counted in above)
0 -- approx 1/2 c steamed whole beans
3 -- NuGo smarte carb energy bar* -- snack at airport
---
10


*TheNuGo smarte carb bar replaces the Cliff Bar I brought along. Nutrition values are 160 cal, 4 g fat, 200 mg sodium, 24 g carb (16g sugar alcohol), 16g protein. It's not the most tasty bar around, nor is the mouth feel as satisfying as the Cliff bar. Next time I think I'll spend the extra point.

Because there's free wireless, I'm relaxing at the airport and enjoying myself playing on the internet. This morning I walked up and down a fair bit.

I have plenty of points left for a nice lamb & barley dinner when I get home.

Folks at the meeting noticed my haircut,which is the most dramatic change in my appearance since I saw them last. But they commented that something else was different. I don't know if they were reacting to the weight loss or the smug sense of self-mastery I suspect myself of projecting.

Week 5, Day 2: An Atypical Day

We went for a 15 mile slow-but-steady bike ride, including a couple gentle hills, punctuated by some walking about and taking of pictures (here's one, of Boelsen Cottage along the Schuylkill, to the right), and ending up with a romp through the PathMark and a hauling back of (for me) about 40 lb of stuff in panniers and bags bungeed to the back.

I've about got the cheap meats and starches licked but woof, those fresh vegetables are expensive. I mean, I bought another 7 lb chicken for six bucks and it will see us through for many many servings, but the fresh broccoli we ate last night set me back about $2.50. Must buy more from the $.99 table at O.K. Lee, or ration the broccoli (I think we each had two servings, but I haven't quite got the knack of estimating portion size of fresh veggies).

Having messed up on the timing for my breakfast, I breakfasted on a Clif bar, wondering if it would upset my appetite all day to have missed my morning omelet. It didn't, and I had my omelet for lunch instead.

I used the cute little slider thing to calculate my earned exercise points. Using the lowest intensity (not sweating), I earned nine points for my morning's entertainment! And I didn't use them. Must remember to ask my leader whether I can count all my points, or whether they're like fiber points -- only 4 allowed.

Peaches were also on sale at the Pathmark, so I splurged and bought three small ones. Blanched and peeled, then sliced, then served with a cup of plain nonfat yogurt and nutmeg, they were more tasty than ice cream to me. In fact, ice cream has become a weird and repellent food to me -- too greasy, too sweet. Let's hope that feeling sticks and isn't just early-diet virtue.

Week 5, Day 1: Slower progress

Sigh. A mere 1.2 pound weight loss this past week. On the other hand, that puts me over 20 pounds of weight loss, so I shouldn't complain. And a 1.2 pound weight loss beats a 1.2 pound weight gain...

I suspect that some of it was a water-retention problem. I ate out Wednesday, and although I carefully ordered a grilled salmon salad with fat-free dressing on the side, I suspect that both the fish and the dressing were pretty high in salt content. For the next two days, the tops of my feet swelled up like little pillows, and the pants that were loose earlier in the week were a bit snug.

Yesterday I was reminded that weight loss doesn't equal instant fitness. After a trip to the 'burbs on public transportation, I needed to walk half a mile to get a train home. Then I walked four or five blocks to a reception; spent 90 min on my feet at the reception; then decided to walk home, a distance of about a mile. About three blocks into the walk home I discovered that my knees and ankles had had all they wanted to take. I hadn't hit a money machine so a cab wasn't an option. The rest of the walk home was, let's just say, very slow and not very pleasant.

Coming up this week, I have the challenge of a road trip -- up at o'dark thirty to take the cattle cars, ooops, I mean the airplane, to Pittsburgh for a meeting. That means a catered lunch over which I have little control, and a flight at dinner time. I am planning my strategy -- take two hard-boiled eggs and a couple of small apples; eat the eggs at the airport for my breakfast, use the apples as snacks to ward off hunger if I can't find some kind of simple salad for dinner at the airport on the way home.

Week 4, Day 4: Reckoning, Exercise

Sunday morning I did the reckoning for my Saturday night binge and found I didn't do so awfully badly after all -- I used 4 points more than my daily total, or less than 5 of my 35 weekly bonus points. This is good.

But I am wondering about all my measures of food and points and exercise. I hacked off a slab of chicken breast that measured 2 oz on my little scale -- I would have thought it to be 3. And does four hours of ambling around town on my bike, stopping to photograph as I go, really count as low-intensity exercise at all?

And I have been exercising this Memorial Day weekend -- the aforementioned four hour bike ride/photoshoot on Sunday, a 6-8 mile bike ride yesterday plus a 1 mile walk. Oh, and Saturday we went to tour a historic house in Germantown, walked around the grounds, and then walked about a mile before hopping the bus to get home.

Yesterday I finally opened a package from Lane Bryant with two pairs of size 2XT leggings that I'd ordered a few months ago. I better hope they shrink. (Woot.) Up in 1X-2X land, it takes two dress sizes to equal a size drop, so I imagine it will still be a little while before I see 1X. But I'm not complaining. I'm 11 pounds away from my first big milestone -- a slightly more than 10% of body weight loss AND the "100 pounds to go" milestone. If I keep up my current rate of weight loss, I should see that milestone some time in the month of June. If the rate slows down, some time in July.

Week 4, Day 2: Steps forward and back

Total weight loss for weeks 2 and 3: 7.6 pounds. This is good. Total weight loss for three weeks: 19.6 pounds. I was expecting my advancing age to mean slower weight loss. Not as such...

But last night I had a serious lapse: the "sips" from my husband's Manhattans totaled, he tells me, two large Manhattans of my own, and I followed that up a bedtime binge of another serving of roast chicken, a pint of low-fat yogurt and a Cliff bar. Part of the problem was that I had skipped lunch (due to circumstances rather than conscious plan) and was metabolically vulnerable. However, I'd been thinking of allowing myself a drink as a treat and in retrospect it would have been better to have one of my own than sip at someone else's.

I haven't totted up the points yet, but I suspect last night's episode will have eaten into my bonus points in a big way.

Week Three, Day 6: Demon Rum, Exercise, Beans

My husband had a hankering for whiskey, so he went off and bought a bottle of bourbon yesterday.

I allowed myself four tiny (and I do mean tiny) sips from his glass, and didn't pour myself any. It was just enough, and I didn't go off program in the food department. Dinner last night was a portion of chuck roast, braised with onions, in chicken broth and whiskey, a small boiled potato, and a lot of steamed kale with Tabasco.

Yesterday I biked eight miles and did some squats and my creaky old fat-lady knees were really complaining. I also boiled up two pounds of pink beans, twice, and they're about done. I'm boiling one more time this morning and will rinse, drain, and package for the freezer.

Week 3, Day 5 -- Pork, More than I could eat!

We had had about enough chicken for awhile, so Sunday we set out a small pork roast (the end of a $1.88/lb boneless pork loin) to roast on Monday.

The end of the day Monday rolled around, and we went for a 2-mile walk at a botanical garden and park and came back close to 7:00 -- no time for a roast. So we cut the roast into five chops (or cutlets, if you prefer). Monday night we each had a slab o' pork, a boiled potato, and steamed broccoli. I am constantly amazed at how good steamed broccoli is. I actually don't want a single thing interfering with the taste, not even salt and pepper. Who knew that properly cooked broccoli is so sweet?

Last night I thought it might be time to finish up the beans that I had defrosted a few days ago, along with a few other things. So we cut up the three remaining chops into cubes. Here's a recipe for the stuff we made:

About 2" worth of pork loin, cut into 1" cubes (I'm guessing 3/4 lb to 1 lb)
One medium onion, coarsely chopped
One T olive oil
One carrot, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, ditto
2 T tomato paste
1-1/2 cups beans
water for consistency
1 T currants (what was left in the container)
Really really good curry powder from the Essene
Cayenne and black pepper to taste

Pre-cooked brown rice

Sauté the pork and the onions in the olive oil until the pork is brown and the onions translucent. Add everything else but the curry powder and cook, covered, over extremely low heat for a little while (20 min, we think -- we were drinking tea and fulminating about the current political scene). Add the curry powder and turn off heat.

Reheat brown rice in the microwave. Serve mixture over rice.

Yield: dinner for two, two lunches for me

I awarded myself a full cup of brown rice and 1-1/2 cups of the pork stuff on the theory that I'd been good and deserved it. I was startled to discover, about 3/4 of the way through dinner, that I was starting to feel full and unwilling to feel stuffed. I gave the rest of my dinner to my husband. Go me!

Pride goeth before a fall, of course, but I can't help preening over the fact that I've gone almost 3 weeks without a misstep.

Week 3, Day 3 -- chicken, broccoli raab

I missed my weigh-in Saturday morning -- we had guests arriving at 10:30. But I happened to be at a health care establishment the day before, so I weighed myself there and it appears I lost another 3-1/2 pounds. I'm feeling pretty good about my ability to stay on program this week. I made my own little tracker in a small spiral-bound notebook, and actually enjoyed ruling the lines, filling out the column heads, and making little square checkoff boxes for my water, fruits/vegetables, dairy, and oils.

Last Monday's chicken made its final appearance as an entree last night. I believe we got 13 servings out of that $5 chicken. It's not completely done yet, though. I stripped the flesh on Friday and we put the bones on to boil. They ultimately reduced to a little over a pint of rich concentrated broth, which will be part of our flavorings for the coming week. Several of the chicken meals were eked out with beans.

With all the money I'm saving on meat, I splurged on a bunch of broccoli raab. We got two meals (2 servings each) out of it. I don't think I particularly like it as a vegetable, but as an ingredient it's not bad. Here's my recipe for chicken and broccoli raab over grits (something I made up, inspired by a recipe I read somewhere on teh intarwebs)

For the chicken/broccoli raab mixture:

Meat from one side of an oven-stuffer roaster breast, cubed
One onion, coarsely chopped
1 T olive oil
2 T tomato paste
1/2 cup concentrated chicken broth
4 cups broccoli raab (I removed the fat stems), coarsely chopped
Water as needed for consistency
Seasonings to taste: oregano, marjoram, cayenne, black pepper

The polenta substitute: In a saucepan, combine 2 c liquid (I used chicken broth), 1/2 c grits, 2 t fine cornmeal. (yes, we had no polenta...). Bring to boil, turn down to simmer and cook to taste, stirring almost regularly (about 15 min), until mixture holds some shape. Add 1/4 c grated parmesan or romano, black pepper, salt if desired.

In a large skillet, saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add tomato paste, broth, water. Bring to boil, turn down to simmer. Add chicken. When the chicken is simmering again, add the broccoli raab. Cover, cook on low heat, removing cover to stir frequently.

Spoon a serving (2/3 c - 1 c) of the polenta/grits into a shallow plate; top with 1 to 2 cups chicken mixture, and serve.

Yield: one dieter's serving, one he-man serving.

Cooked this way, the broccoli raab added some bite to the meal. We'll have it again when it's on sale.

Week 2, Day Four: Sweet Potatoes, Chicken

Ooooh, for lunch I had.....dessert!

When I finished my paperwork and settled in for my first meeting, Phyllis was extolling the virtues of the sweet potato as a wonder food -- sweet, satisfying, low point value.

So I picked up a couple at the PathMark on Saturday. While I was roasting an oven-stuffer roaster last night ($.79/lb, on sale, a couple of weeks ago), I popped a couple of sweet potatoes into a Corning Ware casserole and cooked them until they lost their structural integrity.

Today I took half a large cold sweet potato (2 points), topped it with a half a cup of full-fat cottage cheese (2.5 points), sprinkled all with nutmeg and called it lunch. I do believe I died and went to heaven, savoring it in small slow bites. Imagine that: a 4.5 point lunch that tasted for all the world like a rich dessert and had a total prep time of 30 seconds (plus another minute to wash the potatoes and put in the corning ware dish yesterday). It's all about working ahead.

About chicken: it's great stuff. And periodically it's laughably cheap at the PathMark. This past weekend, boneless chicken breasts were $1.88/lb, so I bought about six pounds of them -- separated them into ten individual half-breasts, slid each into a plastic baggie, put five each in two larger zip-lock baggies, and I'm good to go for 30 servings of boneless chicken breasts for about fourteen bucks. Go me.

Week 2, Day 2: Low appetite / Tex Mex beef stew

It's useful to start a diet at the same time a cold is blooming. With my taste buds coated with crud, and my appetite depressed by general malaise, it's not hard to stay on program.

Speaking of the program, my husband is being very supportive and is trying to cook to program, as it were. Last night we made a Tex Mex-inspired beef stew from cubes of the $1.49/lb bone-in chuck I bought in vast quantity at the Pathmark a few weeks ago, plus beans that I also bought on sale and cooked in a monster two-pound batch over two days. "Can you have olive oil?" he asked. Sure, I can have olive oil, just not too much of it. Can you have onions? check. Can you have tomatoes? check. Can you have cumin? I can have any seasoning except salt and salt-heavy blends such as soy sauce.

So here's the Tex Mex inspired beef stew -- I think we'll get five or six total servings out of it at a cost-per-serving, including the rice, of about a buck. (Nutritional info per Weight-Watcher serving -- 1 cup stew, 3/4 c rice -- 387 calories, 9 g fat, 6.5 g fiber -- 8 points.)

• 3/4 lb chuck steak, trimmed and cubed
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups pink beans
• seasonings: they included cumin, oregano, chipotle powder, cayenne, and some Tex Mex blend a house guest brought us
• one green pepper, julienned
• cooked brown rice
  

Brown the chuck and the onion in the olive oil. Add everything else except the green pepper, adjusting seasonings to taste. Bring to boil, simmer a bit, then transfer to a 250F oven so that it doesn't need babysitting. Five minutes before serving, add green pepper and stir in. Serve over brown rice (which I had cooked in bulk last week).

It was so fiery I thought I'd burned my mouth, but once my tongue went numb it was really good. We had steamed whole green beans with it and I used the stew as a dip. A dessert of plain yogurt was wonderfully soothing.

Week 2, Day 1: First dinner out

I think I did fairly well.

I drank water with lemon.

I did not touch the rolls.

I ordered a salad that came with all its high-cal garnishes on the side -- bacon, blue cheese, walnuts. I had one small taste of each and ate all the greens.

For an entree, I had a small piece of salmon (I'm guessing 3 oz cooked) over chantarelles and some kind of beans. I suspect the sauce may have had some butter.

For dessert, I had a baked apple.

That's about as good as I'm likely to get. I'll figure out all the points tomorrow.

Week 2, Day 1 -- 12 pound loss

My first weigh-in after a week on program yielded a satisfying 12-pound weight loss.

Phyllis wasn't there to react, though -- her granddaughter was making her first Holy Communion. Well, there's next week. My next door neighbor was there, though -- we now have a standing date to go together, and that's nice.

Today's curriculum was cost savings. Much of it was more like cost justification -- think of how much you're saving by not going out as much, etc. Some tips were solid but things I'm already doing, such as buying produce in season, buying meat in quantity when on sale. Some tips were things I flat out won't do, such as drive to the suburbs to go to Produce Junction. And there's still the issue of that low-fat cheese...

The Week 2 program book is about exercise. It makes perfect sense that if you exercise you can add some points to your total, to take or not to take depending on how quickly you want to lose weight. And the points do add up -- the hour I spent pushing a broom for our block cleanup brought be a nice three points. I am beginning to realize just how much my few little bits of exercise -- bike a mile here, walk a couple blocks there -- are adding up.

My 12-pound loss means I should sacrifice one point per day now -- not at all a problem.


I thought my stretch pants weren't stretching quite so far today...

Week 1, Day 7: Lessons Learned

Lesson the First: Calculating and tallying points isn't as bad as it seems. I am learning the point values of my regular foods pretty quickly, now, and can jauntily write down that my morning omelet is 8 points.

Lesson the Second: Eating to Your Comfort Zone. There's a sweet spot between being ravenous and being stuffed to the gills. Slowing down and savoring my food gives me a chance to reach that sweet spot before I've cleaned my plate. It has turned out to be easier than I thought, just like flipping a switch. (We'll see if this persists after Week One Euphoria dies off.)

Lesson the Third: Small Change = Big Results. The Week 1 booklet gave a list of small substitutions that add up to big savings with minimal sacrifice in satisfaction level. I've done one: in the evening, it had been my custom to eat some plain yogurt to encourage the propagation of beneficial intestinal flora. I had been liberally applying granola, sunflower seeds, and occasionally a tablespoon of apricot preserves. Now, I've found the yogurt tastes every bit as good with a couple tablespoons of raisins on it. [Edit: or a sprinking of nutmeg for that matter]

I've also moved everything edible out of my third floor kitchen, except for big slabs of meat or huge bags of frozen vegetables in the freezer. It was too easy to wander next door from my home office and grab some cheese. (I work at home.) Now if I want something to eat I have to go down two flights of stairs. It hardly seems worth it.

Lesson the Fourth: Fight Clutter. Phyllis made that a topic at Saturday's meeting, especially with reference to clutter in the kitchen. I think it may have been in the materials, too. My husband is an inveterate clutter-buster and so the kitchen is fine, but my office is woefully messy. I've been working on it all week, and I'm slowly beginning to feel more in control of my surroundings and thus of my workflow.

All this week I've been cheating a little to boost initial weight gain-- I set my point total a little lower than it should be, and I haven't been using all my points. I want some instant gratification in the early weeks, and especially I want my knees and ankles to feel better and my blood pressure and cholesterol levels to go down before I see my doctor next month. I'm hoping for a respectable weight loss, but realize that because of my cold my activity level hasn't been especially high and that, with my next birthday being my sixtieth, I am likely to lose more slowly. Still...

Tomorrow I'll know how well I've actually done and whether I deserve to be patting myself on the back so enthusiastically.

Week 1, Day 6: First post

Twenty years ago I achieved lifetime member status in Weight Watchers. As of my first weigh-in twenty years later (Saturday, May 3), I'd gained back all that I'd lost plus an equal amount. I don't want to talk about how much that is.

My next door neighbor told me I'd have a blast if I went to her meeting with her on a Saturday morning. Weight Watchers meetings at the center in South Philly are hilarious, and I had a wonderful time. They're a gloriously mixed bag of ages, races, genders (five guys at the meeting!) and girth. I had tried another meeting about a decade ago, but they were all so serious -- I got depressed just sitting in the poorly lighted church meeting room. But South Philly is variegated insanity of the best kind -- a raucous, happy, nonjudgmental, welcoming bunch.

Our leader, Phyllis, is an older woman, birdlike, who'd lost more than 100 pounds some years ago.

This is all great. But I note that the program and the support, so far, seems to be based on a lot of special (expensive) foods: low fat this, single portion that. If I'm going to spend $14 per week to go to Weight Watchers until I reach an appropriate age-modified goal, I'd dearly love to recoup some of that cost from my food bill. I also want to be able to cook one meal for my husband and me, allowing him larger portions, butter on his rice, etc. And I don't especially want to spend hours in the kitchen either.

So I've started this modest blog to chronicle my attempts to be miserly while following Weight Watchers. I wanted to call this blog "The Frugal Weight Watcher," but that is taken by someone who did a couple postings and then quit. Sigh... There will be comments on other body-management issues as well -- motivation, exercise, etc.

First frugalities right out of the box:

1. Cook large batches of whole grains and beans. Why pay $1 for a 15-oz can of beans when you can have four times as many beans -- no salt added! -- for the same price?

The trick: Buy dry beans on sale. If you keep a sharp eye, even at today's inflated prices, you can still find beans for 79 cents a pound. But who has time to cook beans? Anybody. Here's how. Don't cook the beans for the specific meal. Cook them for the freezer. My own method is to dump 2 lb of beans into a big pot of water, bring to a boil, turn off heat, and go away. When I come back I drain, rinse, refill, and boil again. Lather, rinse, repeat till the beans are done. Package some in 1 pint containers, some in 1 quart containers, and freeze.

Same thing for brown rice -- 3 cups brown rice, 6 cups water, bring to boil, simmer 10 minutes, covered, on low heat. Turn off. Come back at least 30 min later and check. If there's still water in the pot, cover again, heat on high flame for 60 seconds, turn off again. (Turning off the heat is important and you may have to adjust the technique on this step if you don't have a gas stove.) Come back later and check. Barley, at least the hulled kind I buy, is a little trickier but not much. Bring one measure of barley to boil in a 2 measures of water. Bring more water to boil in a teakettle or pot and dump a scant measure in a Crock Pot set on high. When the barley comes to a boil, dump it and its water in the Crock Pot, too. Peek at it every so often, and stir so the grains on top have a chance at the moisture down lower. When most of the water is absorbed (2 hours or so), reduce Crock Pot to low and continue process as long as your nerve holds out. I do this in good-sized batches -- 3 cups of barley and 8 cups of water.

At dinner time, I can pull some grains and/or beans from the freezer, nuke, and move on.

I confess that I've invested about $10 in square freezer containers to conserve space in my frozen foods compartment, but that was awhile ago. I've been doing this for ages, and I'm sure I've recouped my investment several times over.

2. Forget low fat cheeses. Full fat cheeses are the light and the way. They taste better and their mouth-feel is better. Just dial way back on the quantity. Who knew 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar could taste so good on an omelet?

3. Forget egg whites, egg beaters, and other faux eggs. This may not work for everyone, but I come from a long line of long-lived egg eaters.

4. Forget prepared foods. They cost a ton of money, they don't save that much time, they don't taste very good, and they take up valuable freezer space that could be used for your own packaged foods -- small portions of cheap meats, containers of cooked rice, barley, grains, and huge bags of frozen vegetables from the PathMark.

So far, I've been pretty happy modifying my usual dietary habits to count points and cut out the excess. The proof of my approach will be tomorrow when I step on the scale.