Esther and I have started our vegetarian lifestyle, which I know helped this week, meat is hight in points anyway. I have also tried really hard at work to not sneak a treat or two or four, which is much easier now that every on know that I’m leaving and that everything is starting to fall into place.

The vegetarian food has been very good, a big shift from a turkey sandwich everyday. I have been bringing containers of frozen veggies to work, heating them up and adding a pinch of salt. I guess if you’re vegetarian you should really learn to like vegetables, right?

The next weekend is going to be difficult. Esther and I are flying to Kansas City to attend my sister’s graduation so we will not have access to an accurate scale and there is bound to be a lot of dining out. I know Esther will help keep me inline.

We drove out to a national park that is very close by and went for a run/walk this morning. Of course that was after I made the most awesome grits and steak breakfast I’ve ever had. The interesting thing is that the last few days as I become more mindful of the meat that I am eating, I am thinking that going vegetarian won’t be that hard. In fact I kind of feel guilty eating meat now even though we haven’t reached the May 1 deadline.

Sorry, let me rewind a little bit. I am going vegetarian May 1. Why vegetarian? Why May 1?

I’m going vegetarian for several reasons, for health, for social change, for the animals, but mostly for my religion. In the past year, I have become Buddhist and part of Buddhism is that one should refrain from taking the life of any creature. I have been very good about not stepping on spiders and trying to save earthworms when I can, but I think that going vegetarian will be a profound change for me.

As for the May 1 deadline. Esther and I have a lot of meat stored up in our freezer and I don’t want to waste it. We are gradually eating our way through the stores of meat and meat products that we have so that on May 1 we can start with the vegetarianism 100%.

All in all, I’m feeling pretty good. Esther and I had a great breakfast, an excellent weigh-in and a good workout, definitely worth celebrating sans chocolate cake.

The thing that was weird about today was that we lost our cat today. Not in the “oh no, he got outside and ran away”, but in the way where he has joined the great scratching post in the sky. Floyd has been sick for a while, three months now, and while he showed some improvement over the course, on the whole it was really just a steady decline. He had lost over 40% of his body weight, consisting of little more than flesh and bones, he could eat or drink with bringing it up shortly after consumption and the vets were no where closer to finding out what was wrong with him.

Esther and I were faced with a choice, costly test that may or may not get us answers to what’s wrong, or take away Floyd’s suffering, which there was plenty of.

So on the whole, the past year has been one of loss. First we lost Esther’s dad, then my pet rat, and now our first pet together, Floyd. It has been very hard to maintain my Buddhist outlook on life, partly because there is no god to be angry with, partly because it all come back to attachment, which leads to suffering; how can you perceive death with out attachment? Apparently, that means I should meditate more.

Floyd, I miss you.

“How much?”

“A little, it says 176.8″

“A little! That’s almost 10 pounds!

“Oh yeah… I guess it is

It’s probably due to the stress I’ve been under at work, I haven’t been eating my lunches, I’ve been drinking a _lot_ of coffee, which has probably shot my metabolism into high gear. Now it’s all about maintaining that phenomenal drop in poundage!

With the motivation of losing that additional half pound, I will be doing regular midweek updates again.

Also, if you’ve been watching the site closely, you will have noticed a yellow fade-out in the top bar. I have been continually updating my tumblelog (RSS), and the above is the link. A tumblelog is

… is a variation of a blog, that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging. Common post formats found on tumblelogs include links, photos, quotes, dialogues, and video. Unlike blogs, this format is frequently used to share the author’s creations, discoveries, or experiences without providing a commentary.
via – Wikipedia

Here is a better definition of a tumblelog as proffered by Leo Laporte on Net@Nite:

Twitter is what you are doing right now, a Tumblelog is a low threshold blog, you post what you find and a blog is something you work on writing and crafting. There are three levels of web engagement

I can’t agree more. In case you don’t know, I do have a twitter account. You can check me out at http://twitter.com/jeredb (RSS), add me as a friend to keep up to date on what I’m doing.

178.4

Let’s review the stats:

• Starting Weight: 192
• 3/11 Weight: 178.4

• Starting BMI: 28.35
• 3/11 BMI: 26.34

The BMI thing is an important change, this is the first time I have been in stabbing distance of the “normal” BMI range of 18.5-24.9. I’m very happy about that.

While I’m talking about fit/fat blogging, if you have enjoyed my recounting, check out my wife’s blog at: esther.b3noit.com. She’s been posting much more frequently that I have, in fact her whole blog is focused on her weight-loss journey.

Consider this my ask to you, blog reader. If you can spare the cost of a venti Starbucks Latte, you could help me raise the money to fight diabetes.

You can find out more information about the Tour de Cure and my fundraising efforts at http://tour.jeredb.com. Please, give as much as you are comfortable. Its all going to a good cause. Also look for updates on my training progress and my continued weight loss here.

I would most definitely recommend Weight Watchers! While it may seem like a complicated system, I have found myself to be able to just the approximate points value of an item easily. The point system is fabulous, because if I really want some French fries, I can have them. It might be the only thing I can have the rest of the day, but I can have them, which is very important one a diet. The other great thing is the flex points. They are points that I can eat above and beyond the daily points that I get.

Another perk of Weight Watchers is the reward that I can take when I work out. On past diets, there was not real reward for exercising, just feeling the “burn”, but with Weight Watchers, I can eat up to 4 activity points, which isn’t an incredible amount of food (a Big Mac 13 points). I don’t have to eat the points, but if I’m hungry, which I usually am, I can.

Some co-workers have asked about not eating the flex points, would I lose more weight. Yes, I could, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. You see, the calorie restrictions are such that even when I eat my flex points, I’m still consuming a whole lot less thatn I was pre-Weight Watchers.

The Weight Watchers system also puts an emphasis on eating healthy as well as eating less. I should be taking in two servings of milk, two servings of healthy oils (evoo), six servings of fruit and veg and eight glasses of water. While that sounds like a tall order, it isn’t really. I don’t make those goals everyday, but I try really hard.

I don’t go to meetings, I have access to Weight Watchers online, but I am held to weekly weight-ins with my wife. She gets to watch the scale … which keeps me honest.

Anne, I would definitely recommend Weight Watchers, it’s super easy and I will post a homemade, DIY points tracker, based on the PocketMod, which fits in my pocket much easier. Look for that on Monday!

My goal for this week is to exercise 4 times, and having gotten on the elliptical machine last night, I’m a quarter of the way there.

I’m working really hard to exercise more and count every point. Did you know that Coffee-Mate Creme Brulee cream has 1 point if you use a tablespoon? I don’t use a tablespoon in my average cup, it was for an entire thermos full. At work I have the fat free, flavor free Coffee-Mate creamer and it’s 0 points. That’s my kind of food… or um… No, don’t envision me drinking creamer, that’s what popped in my head.

I think I’m going to hop on the elliptical tonight. Even though I wanted to work out Monday, Wednesday, Friday and some day of the weekend, it felt really good to work out, I think it’s becoming addictive.