Weigh In - Week 30!!!

Well...I've hit another milestone week...and I'm heading in the wrong direction folks...+1 this week brings me back to an even 40 lbs lost...I thought the "loop" road sign was appropriate as I am looping back from whence I came (a low of 191 a while back).

First...to celebrate the good...I did set an original goal to have lost 30 lbs by this time...and I hit that goal with room to spare (heck, if I hold this weight by my next milestone, I'll still be on track). That has to count for something, right?

But these last 10 weeks have sort of been a lost 10 weeks. Sure, I've kept the weight off, but I should be able to pull off at least 1 lb per week...I need to get back to it...

And the funny thing is that I stayed pretty much on point this week. I had one *very* bad day on Saturday (my college homecoming / 10 year reunion), but I got my 3 workouts done and my food choices were pretty solid...

As far as earning my 30 week milestone reward is concerned, I'm pretty much not going to partake in these rewards. Life with children has caused me to re-prioritize what I need to spend money on. I'm probably not going to get the laser eye surgery as well...

Weigh In - Week 25 & 26

Well, I finally got back to gym last night and the news wasn't great, but it could have been worse...

Only a 3 lbs gain from my last official weigh in...Of course, I was potentially less than 191 when I should have weighed in on 9/17 (remember I just started the vacation at that point). Still, I'm not too far off the 2 lb per week game plan at this point...

My body is finally getting back into rhythm and I hope to perhaps show a 1 lbs loss by Monday, but we will see...With all the crap that I've eaten over the past week and a half, I actually am somewhat happy that my body didn't do worse. Perhaps my body is getting used to the lower weight...

Weigh In - Week 24

Week 24...wow...writing that makes this seem like a pretty long time...two more weeks to the magical half year mark...

I think...I think...I think I'm through this plateau thing...another 1 lb loss. Two weeks of small progress.

Of course, the pessimist out there will say that I actually puked up 2 lbs and gained a lb back. To all of you who say that, I say...screw you! :) I'll take my lb and enjoy it. Perhaps that's the lesson to be learned here...a good vomiting / diarrhea illness does wonders for the 'ole weight loss goals...just kidding, of course...

So what did I do this week? On the exercise front, I did almost nothing. My only exercise consisted of a 2 hour bike ride on Sunday morning...which was awesome as always. Of course, as AJ gets older, carrying him around gets to be exercise in itself. I kid you not that my arms have felt a little burn after holding him for extended periods of time or after extending high into the air over and over and over and over again...stealth exercise...

On the food front, I never give you guys all the good stuff I eat, but only focus on the bad. In that vein, I went to an Irish festival on Saturday and split a fish & chips and a scone w/ strawberries and cream with my wife. Then I came back and watched the end of the PSU / ND game with the neighbors and had a scotch and a few beers. That was probably the worst of it. I ate hardly anything on Tuesday and Wednesday as I recovered as well.

So that's the story for this week. Here's to hoping I will be at my goal (only 5 lbs to go!) by my 10 year college reunion on 10/20.

Weigh In - Week 23

What a weird and wacky week (alliteration!)...

First...sorry for not posting a whole lot lately...there has been a lot on my plate as of late (rhyming!)...

As you can see, I got the 200 pushups in last week...I also met with the personal trainer and got to see the scary "free weights" side of the gym for the first time in a long time...I'll post more about my personal training experience in a seperate post...

My food choices this week started out pretty well and ended poorly by design...I figured I needed to shake up my routine a bit, confuse my body, and perhaps take a short term hit on the scale for a larger gain down the road...So, on Thursday, I went to see the Eagles take on the Jets in a meaningless preseason game. I had lots of beer, a turkey and bacon hoagie, and sausage and peppers...On Sunday, I went to a Labor Day party and ate lots of blondies and a few beers...

And I lost 2 lbs! Go figure...

Haven't posted this in a while...Here is the excel graph I've been keeping:

Weigh In - Week 22

Slip sliding away...

BTW...that's a Polish road sign...who knew?

Jeebus...This now a fifth straight week with no weight loss...and a 1 lb weight gain to boot...

I'm now officially on the wrong side of my aggressive goal at 1.9 lbs average loss per week. Not too worried, but now I'm officially annoyed with my body...

The good: Worked out twice plus 185 pushups plus 2 bike rides. Food choices were good throughout the week...as for the weekend...well...

The bad: Had 7 bottles of beer on Friday night...Had a small ice cream from Merrymead (sounds like nothing, but it is very heavy)...Had a nice dinner out on Saturday, which was a mixed bag of good and bad I guess...

Maybe I need to go back to my Healthy Choices blog posts for some more focused attention on my food choices...Maybe the pushups are adding muscle which is keeping me from losing weight short term, but will help in the long term...Maybe my body is just telling me this is where I need to be (no wait...that's my Mom)...

Anyways, that's where I am...thank goodness I'm not participating in this weight loss race anymore...I'd be getting my butt whooped in that too!

Weigh In - Week 21

Honestly...now I'm getting pissed...

I put in my 3 workouts this week...I did 160 push ups...I pretty much held to my eating parameters this week with the sole exception of sharing a bag of cotton candy with my wife at a local carnival...I was actually 2 lbs down on Friday...

...and I weigh in at another 193...this is 4 straight weeks for those keeping score at home...

I was running out of 193 roadsigns to post, but someone at wikipedia added this wonderful DC sign in the past week.

I saw your note DC&Z and read the web page, but I don't think it applies to me as I already mix up my eating patterns...I don't do the "points" thing...perhaps I should personally pig out one day a week to keep my metabolism guessing...I dunno...

At least I should be glad that the weight isn't going up...I guess...

At any rate, I had 1 free personal training session which I never used...so I've decided to use that up next week to get some ideas on how to better train...perhaps find ways to increase muscle mass to increase metabolism to lower weight...In the mean time, I'll keep the push up regimen going and hope that my body will bust through this...

Weigh In - Week 20

Such a mixed bag of emotions this week...

For one, I thought I did pretty well from a food / exercise standpoint. No real big food misses on my part (worst offenses were a Moe's Burrito and 2 beers...that's really it). I put in my three workouts this week and added a few extra walks (1 walk with a 17 lbs weight strapped to me in a baby bjorn) around the neighborhood as well as 117 pushups. I wasn't expecting to lose 5 lbs or anything, but it would have been nice to drop just 1 lb...

I think I'm officially in a plateau phase at this point. Or as my Mom would tell me, "Maybe that's just your body saying you've hit your normal weight." In full disclosure, my Mom thinks I've lost too much weight already, which I find totally bizarre. Any thoughts on ways to bust through a plateau period are welcomed. Perhaps, I just need to wait it out...

On the other hand, this is my 2nd official milestone date and my plan was to be at 216 by this point. Even on my aggressive plan, I wanted to be at 196. So even with this plateau, I am still 3 lbs lighter than my best expectations. As a reminder, here are my milestone rewards. I've earned myself a trip to see the Jets play the Eagles at the Meadowlands on 10/14. The third milestone isn't until 10/22.

Last thing on the pushup front. I know I said I was only going to record in 10 rep increments, but I got to 10 + 7 at 10PM on Sunday night and couldn't do anymore. Rather than dishonestly round up to 10 + 10 (I thought about it), I gave myself credit only for what I accomplished. I plan on giving myself the same challenge this week and actually hitting the number. It looks like I have a competitor to spur me on as well. As people who know me, I tend to get competitive and will most likely not only hit my 150 number, but beat whatever number Jynell puts up on the board as well. Bring it on!

Weigh In - Week 19

To those hoping that I would not lose weight this week (yes I'm talking to you Diet Coke and Zingers :), I have some good news for you...

I held even this week at 193.

Another week of doing all the right things during the weekdays and then blowing it all on the weekends (See Musikfest post below).

I shouldn't be too hard...Still down 43 lbs. and that is nothing to sneeze at. I must say that Summer is a tough season to lose weight. There are just too many parties, summer festivals, summer trips, etc... All with the temptation to eat too much...I'm somewhat amazed that I still managed to drop 10 lbs through it all...

Weigh In - Week 18

I'll be perfectly honest here. I was fully expecting to come in to this post with amazement that I was able to keep my weight in check this week. I was shooting for another 196. A quick recap of some of the bad things...

• Only worked out twice this week and both workouts were the bare minimum (cardio, abs, and little / no weights).
• Had a pepperoni cheese steak for the first time in ages. For those of you outside PA, the ingredients are chipped steak, American cheese, pepperoni, all on a 12" white roll. Extremely delicious and the saturated fat is off the charts.
• Went to the bar for drinks on Tuesday night and had beers Saturday afternoon after a successful yard sale.
• Had a Moe's Burrito for dinner on Friday night (Trust me, they're not good for you).
• Finished off a 1/2 bag of multi grain pretzels dipped in Nutella.

By far, this is one of the worst weeks that I can remember since I've started this. There were some positives mind you...Setting up and tearing down the yard sale was a workout in itself. AJ is getting heavier and likes to be held in a way that works the arms a bit. Other than the food faux pas mentioned above, everything else held to my normal weight loss form.

But my faux pas were never this plentiful...Even my trip to see my brother in Phoenix wasn't as bad as this one...and I not only lose weight, but I lose 3 lbs! Someone upstairs must be smiling down on me.

So, I basically am expecting to gain or maintain this week...this was truly a fluke...

Haven't posted the excel chart in a while...here it is:

Weigh In - Week 17

So...the positive is that I am exactly at 40 lbs of weight loss...4/5 to my original goal...2/3 to my aggressive goal....Milestone #4 reached before I hit the date to Milestone #2...

The negative is that I only lost 1 lb this week. I know the lbs come off more slowly as you come closer to your goals, but it is a little disheartening to not see the 3 - 5 lbs per week weight loss numbers. As I write this, I know I must sound like the guy who's pissed that he only won $20 Million in Powerball instead of $120 Million...When you've been posting big numbers for so long, it's a little sad to realize you're probably not going to lose 3 lbs in a single week anymore.

I did pretty well Monday through Friday this week. Got my 3 workouts in as usual (I must give props to Flip This Body for making me go to the gym on Friday to check my weight so I could give one final update to her weight loss challenge...FYI...I won with 34 lbs lost between 4/1 and 7/23). Food choices were pretty normal as well. Kashi cereal for breakfast (highly recommend the GoLean Crunch cereal line), salads for lunch, and whatever Carolyn feels like making for dinner.

Unfortunately, my wife and I decided to throw a summer party this past weekend (first summer party in over 5 years) and I show little self control during parties where I don't have to drive. I was going to write a separate post on this, but I'll just cram it all into one. Drinking is evil...pure evil...I still love to do it...but I always regret it in the end...Here are the reasons why from a pure weight loss perspective:

1. Alcohol is more calorie dense than carbs, fat, etc....so you start losing right there.
2. Alcohol is usually imbibed through beer (i.e. liquid bread) so you have the added benefit of taking alcohol in through a carb rich medium. Not helpful.
3. Alcohol, in addition to making you feel happy, makes you feel hungry. The combination of both happy and hungry usually equals bad food choices for me. Especially during a party...my total inebriation usually coincides with the same point in time that dessert is served. Soooo...I usually end up eating a dozen cookies, candy bars, or cookies with candy bars somehow wedged into them. Not helpful.
4. Finally, my total inebriation usually results in some form of day after hangover. This ranges from a splitting headache and extreme nausea to slight nausea. Even in the slight nausea stage, my mind and body usually need sugar liquids and foods high in saturated fats to eventually make me feel normal again. Maybe that isn't the best way to cure a hangover, but it usually works for me.

So there you go. Besides causing you to make horrible dating choices, alcohol also causes you to make horrible eating choices. And you probably don't want to attempt a cardio machine during or anytime after imbibing either.

So, that is what I'm chalking my poor performance up this week. Besides eating way to many Doritios and Lime Bars the night of the party, I also had 3 helpings of sausage and peppers the day after to make myself feel better...

But I am at the 40 lbs marker...Go Team!

Weigh In - Week 16

Another week, another 2 lbs loss...

So now I'm where I should have been 2 weeks ago...Don't focus on the negative though...I'm only 1 lbs away from my fourth milestone and I haven't even gotten to my second milestone date yet (although that one is fast approaching).

For full disclosure, I actually was more like 197.3 this week, but I've been measuring in full lbs and I'm not going to begrudge myself a little rounding error now and then...

Let's see...what notes can I share:

• I did the obligatory 3 workouts this week. The cardio for me is getting easier and I'm pushing the dial up on that side of the coin. On the other hand, the strength conditioning is either getting harder or more tedious. I really don't look forward to that portion of the workout although it probably would get me the most benefit from a weight loss perspective (muscle mass increase = metabolism increase). If there is an area I should focus on, it would be strength training.
• Food choices were pretty good as well. Didn't even eat out that much, because the workouts had to occur over lunch to fit everything in. The one major fall was on Saturday night at a neighbor's party. I always tend to overdrink in certain social situations and this party was no different. I probably had 6-8 beers (maybe more). Of course, after drinking a bit, I tend to want to eat and the effects of being hungry and buzzed causes me to make extremely poor food choices, such as scarfing down 10 or so mini-Kit Kats or a half dozen hush puppies. When I unofficially weighed myself on Friday, I actually weighed in at 197, so I actually gained .3 lbs over the weekend...I count myself lucky though...

So, I wanted to be at an even 40 lbs loss through 16 weeks, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it. As long as the lbs are moving in the right direction, I'll stick with my extremely loose plan and keep positive!

Weigh In - Week 15

Back on track...

I said after last week's weigh in that I wanted to get back the 3 lbs I gained during my trip to Phoenix. Well, I didn't get it all back, but I got back most of it.

After my first 10 weeks of weight loss where I was losing anywhere from 2 - 5 lbs per week, I'm coming to the realization that the weight loss will come a little more slowly as I start inching closer to my goal weight. It's funny how I started this with the mindset that 1 lb per week would be plenty to lose. Now I lose 2 lbs in a week and I'm happy with it, but not very happy. Odd how expectations get raised...

I took this past week to try to make up for the sins of the previous week. Some highlights:

• Worked out every time I went to work this week (4x) instead of the usual 3x (and I was sliding to 2x most recently). I probably would have worked out on Wednesday as well if it wasn't for the Fourth of July. Damn Independence Day! :)
• Back on the fruit & nuts kick for snacks and since my lunch buddy at work is on vacation, I generally had a chicken breast for lunch and then worked out over the lunch hour.
• Dinners were generally healthy. My wife makes dinners and I make a point not to make an issue if the food could be healthier. I figure I do the right thing for breakfast and lunch and as long as dinner is not a Double Quarter Pounder, I'll be doing OK. My wife makes healthy meals for the most part anyways.
• AJ is starting to sleep better through the night, which means I sleep better. And a good night's rest always helps with the weight loss (or so I have been told).
• Oh, and I'm back to drinking my green tea at work (diet sweetened) and at home (no sweetener).
• Double Oh...Carolyn and I went out to dinner on Saturday night. Dined al fresco in a trendy area called Doylestown. I had the best salad I have ever eaten. Grilled chicken over mixed greens with candied pecans, wedged citrus, goat cheese, a little guacamole, and a cilantro-lime vinaigrette. I write this to remind myself to go back and get this again at some point.

The only real low point (from a weight loss perspective) was going to July 4th party last Wednesday. Great party and I had a good time. The hosts are not folks who generally eat healthy themselves, so the dinner options were somewhat limited. I ended up having a sloppy joe, deviled egg, cucumber salad, 7 layer dip, ice cream cake, and some beers. And I still lost 2 lbs!

Till next weigh in...

Weigh In - Week 14

Ugh...


I guess it was bound to happen...


After 13 straight weeks of weight loss, I finally hit the bump in the road. I posted a 3 lb weight gain!


I thought that perhaps I would break even this week or perhaps gain a pound...but 3 lbs caught me for a loop...

Now, I know most of you out there will not be throwing any pity parties for me. I've made the weight loss seem effortless, but I guess that means that I have to keep on the program to keep it off. Let's recap the bad things I've done this week:

• Worked out only 2x again this week. Once at the gym and once at the hotel where I stayed on a business trip. The hotel facilities were somewhat limited and I just did an extended cardio routine on the elliptical.
• I actually did pretty good on the "business portion" of my trip (Wed Eve - Friday Afternoon). My only transgression was eating Taco Bell at 11PM on Wed night when I got into Denver...Probably not the best idea. But I did exercise at the hotel in Phoenix on Thursday night...
• What really sunk me was extending my "business trip" to a "pleasure trip" by staying at my brother's place in Phoenix. My exercise consisted of a round of golf and lounging in his pool. My diet consisted of bacon, egg, & cheese burritos for breakfast, burgers, dogs, ribs, fries (first time I had fries since March), and LOTS of beer. There were not many opportunities for me to eat anywhere near healthy from Friday afternoon through Sunday.

I had a great time, but it really hit me that I need to focus to keep this weight loss going. I actually stepped on the scale on at the hotel gym on Friday night and still weighed 198. So I gained the 3 lbs in a period of roughly 3 days....that's impressive and scary...

My plan this week is to hit the gym 4x (M,Tu,Th,Fr) and get back into the good eating groove. Hopefully I can grab back those 3 lbs pretty quick....they haven't been on my body for that long...

Here's the progress chart with the unfortunate bump:

Weigh In - Week 13

I haven't posted in a while...blah, blah, blah...

I'm not beating myself up about the non-posting thing anymore...Someone said it is tough to post when you have a kid and they are right!

So, as you can see, I have posted yet another 3 lb weight loss. At the rate I am going, I will not only hit my goal weight of 50 lbs by the end of summer, but I will hit my "aggressive goal" weight of 176 by that time as well...still waiting for my plateau time to hit...

Some interesting notes from this week:

• I only got in 2 workouts this past week (although I tried to balance it by trying to kill myself in one of the workouts)
• My reason for not working out was a trip up to CT for an in-law party on Saturday and AJ's baptism on Sunday. We needed to travel up to see the pastor on Friday (Friday is usually a work out day for me).
• I was good with the food all week (as usual), but Saturday and Sunday morning were pretty bad. The Saturday party was Mexican themed and it was all about cheese and meat. I didn't really hold back and had plenty along with lots of Mexican beer...I expected to lose 1 lb this week and again beat expectations.

I haven't really posted about the "non scale victories". I need to do that. Here's an interesting one for now:

• Since I am now down below the weight when I was engaged, my wedding ring has gone from being firmly fitted on my finger to extremely loose. I now have to take off my ring when I am going into the pool or anything else where my finger are wet. Today when I was exercising on the elliptical machine, I wiped some sweat from my hands and the ring popped right off...Fun!

That's it for now...I'll be hitting the road for business for a few days and ironically I may have more free time (bored in my hotel room) to put in a post or 2...be on the lookout!

Weigh In - Week 12

Well, at least I get 1 post in a week these days...sheesh!


On the positive note, my weight loss continues nicely. Another 3 lbs loss brings total weight loss to 35 lbs in 12 weeks (roughly 3 months)...


A few funny things about this week...I've gotten a little greedy in my weight loss and have been checking the scale more often. On Friday, I was still at 204 after working out. Since this weekend was Father's Day, I decided to let loose a little and have a buffalo chicken sandwich (so tasty!) and a few hefewiezens (beers) at a local watering hole. So I was positive that I was going to lose a max of 1 lbs this week (or break even for the first time).


I'm not quite sure what happens to my body over the weekends, but when I checked in at 201 last night, I was pleasantly shocked to say the least...I'm not going to argue, but I figure I am overdue for the "plateau effect" to kick in.


On another note, I haven't told my wife about this site, but she does know about my goal to lose a pound per week over 50 weeks. While she has been cheering me on (after all, she gets the benefit of having a healthy, leaner husband as well), lately she's tamed down the enthusiasm. When I told her about my 3 lbs loss last night, she even questioned whether the weight loss was healthy for me...


Here's my take: As I've said all along, I don't believe that a weight loss program should include anything that you don't plan on doing when you get off the weight loss program. For example, I am not taking any of the fad pills out there to help me lose weight. Why? Because simple logic dictates that I need to keep taking the pills to keep the weight off. The pills are a temporary and expensive crutch for temporary weight loss.


The only things I am doing differently are:

• Working out 3x / week.


• Cutting out a lot of sugar (mostly in the form of cola).


• Cutting out a majority fried / fast foods.


• Having a healthy breakfast each morning.


• Add in more salads / fruits / nuts into my daily routine.

So here are my questions to myself:

• Do I dislike any of the changes that I've instituted?


• Are any of these changes overly expensive or time consuming?


• Do I view any of these changes as something I just have to do for a specific period of time and then, when the weight is off, resume my old lifestyle?

The answer to all of these questions is "no". There is a slight increase in expenses in food and $50 / month for a gym membership. I am blessed (or cursed) with a job that pays well enough to offset the increase in expenses. But really, is $1200 in additional annual expense too much to pay to live a healthy lifestyle.

So to answer my wife's question, I think my weight loss has been healthy. If my body decides that my current eating and exercising regimen results in 2+ lbs of weight loss a week, who am I to argue?

Bonus: No need to guess on this week's route marker, huh?

Weigh In - Week 11

And the beat goes on...

I was a little worried that I would start plateauing this week after hitting the magic 30 lb number...

As I said in my last weigh in, I cheated the number down just a bit to hit the 30 lbs in 10 week number..

But this week isn't a fluke...If anything, I could have cheated it down to 203 this week, but I'll save that extra 1/2 lb for next week...

I was starting to get a little greedy with the expectations of 3+ lbs per week. If I can take 1 or 2 lbs off each week, I'll be a happy camper from here on in...

Bonus: We did get a correct answer last week with the answer of Washington State. I dare anyone to guess where this route marker is from. I'll give you a hint that it's not from the US.

Weigh In - Week 10

Well...here we are at Milestone #1...the 10 week marker...

My (apparently very conservative) goal was to lose 10 lbs by this point in time...That would have put me at 226...

As we know by now, I lost 10 lbs in week 2...

So, now I have gone from trying to lose 1 lb per week to really wanting to lose 2 lbs this week so that I can say I've lost an even 30 lbs in 10 weeks...

Did I do it?

Just barely...If I did one of those electronic scales, it might have registered something like 206.2...but I'm not playing by those eletronic scale rules (not yet anyway).

Back to to the milestone thing...Since I weighed in at or under 226 (way under in this case), I get to play a little golf, guilt free...This actually ties in pretty well with Father's Day coming up. How can my wife say no to letting me play a little golf on Father's Day???

Bonus: Can you guess the state this router marker resides in? It should be pretty obvious, but I thought it was a cool marker anyway...I wish my state had a cool shape like this

Weigh In - Week 9

9 weeks in and 28 pounds down...

28 divided by 9 equals 3.1 pounds lost per week...

I wanted to lose 30 lbs by week 30...

Based on my track record thus far, I am going to lose 30 lbs by Week 10...

Pretty excited about it...

Once again, I'm a little surprised as well...I was pretty good about my eating / exercise habits up to Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday evening, I ended up getting a little crazy with the drinking...I'm guessing I had 1 glass of whiskey, 1 glass of wine, 2 bottles of cider, and ohhhh...7 or 8 glasses of beer...yeah...I was feeling pretty bad the next day...and alcohol has a way of making you eat bad as well...I didn't eat too poorly on Monday, but I didn't do myself any favors either...

Still...I ended up 3 lbs lighter...I'll take it and hopefully I can come in at an even 30 lbs loss or better next week...

Weigh In - Week 8

8 weeks is a little under 2 months...How did I do after a week where I drank heavily Friday night, ate Taco Bell, had a Moe's Burrito, and had a plate of fried chicken wings?

I lost another 2 lbs :)

I've lost 25 lbs since I've started this :)

Total Weight loss is now at the 1/2 way point...17 weeks early :)

I'm still averaging over 3 lbs lost per week :)

And I found a cool Michigan road sign this week! NY road signs were starting to get a little stale.

I attached the personal chart I am keeping to show how awesome I am doing. I am a full month ahead of where I need to be to achieve my aggressive goal (60 lbs in 30 wks). I am over 4 months ahead of the 50 lbs in 50 wks plan I had originally set...

Can you tell I am psyched?

Weigh In - Week 7

Have I really been doing this for 7 weeks now? I guess 7 weeks isn't a long time when I've committed myself to this for 50 weeks, but there has always been (and will be) a nagging thought that I can stop this at any time...It helps to have a goal and a vision to aspire to that keeps me motivated.

As you can see from road sign graphic, I came in at 213 lbs this week. A very respectable 3 lbs loss. I also like that I found a road sign that was not a NY state road sign.

The compliments are also starting to come in a little more frequently. Yesterday, an account rep came in for a meeting and asked if I had lost weight. I obviously shrugged that compliment off as a salesperson doing what they do best. But, after work, my neighbor asked the same question. I thought perhaps my wife told her about my weight loss goals, but she said no...she was also very jealous that I've lost 20+ lbs in 7 weeks, while she has trouble losing 5 lbs...

I guess you Weight Watcher types would call those Non Scale Victories...they definitely make the journey worthwhile.