Well, I dropped a little more weight yesterday. That punched me through the twelve-pound line into the thirteen-pound range. I'm at the lowest weight I've been since I started tracking my weight after graduating.

Even better, I wasn't at my best yesterday. Those donuts were still sitting on the kitchen counter in the morning, so I ended up eating a few more. Here's what I ate yesterday:

• bacon brown rice with eggs
• mini-burger over brown rice
• cereal + granola + almond milk (a couple of times)
• a banana
• a few mini-donuts
• and, of course, lots of coffee

I think my appetite is in better shape today. I think I ought to do better in not eating so much.

Well, I got rid of that rounding error.

Exactly three pounds to go with eleven days left — so that's a pound every three and a half days? That still sounds difficult. And given the almost two pounds I've dropped so far this week, I'm expecting the rate to slow down a little bit over the next couple of days.

Until the rate does slow down, I'll keep doing what I've been doing.

What I ate yesterday:

• bacon rice with eggs
• cereal + granola + almond milk
• some more yakisoba with brown rice
• a banana
• a few mini-donuts
• and, of course, lots of coffee

Okay, this is where I was supposed to be two days ago. At this point, I am about three pounds away from my ultimate goal with a little less than two weeks to go. (There's a bit of a rounding error that I have been using to my advantage, but I'm going to clear that out by week fifteen.)

Here's what I ate yesterday:

• cereal + granola with almond milk (had this once in the morning and once at night)
• lots of coffee throughout the morning
• brown rice with a small hamburger patty and two fried eggs for lunch
• a small bowl of yakisoba in the afternoon
• quick snack on a couple of small carrots and zucchini slices

I'm going to try to eat pretty much the same thing over the next couple of weeks. I got through the day pretty well on this, though I might have to replace the noodles with something else starting today.

Also — Sprouts has been out of the Seedsational bread the last few times we've gone to get groceries. I'm having to improvise a little bit.

In fourteen days, it will be the end of week fifteen. The plan is to lose my fifteenth pound by then, hence the title of this post.

I'm going to stay on target for the next fourteen days, starting today. I have a little over four pounds to drop between now and then. That's an average of about two pounds per week. It's doable, but not easy.

I dropped about a quarter of a pound from yesterday, by the way.

I think I will try to stick to eating the same thing every day for the next couple of weeks. It won't be a strict mono-diet. I'll throw in some variety for different times of day.

Also, I am experimenting with a couple of food-logging apps on my phone. There have been a couple of times in the past where I logged my food while trying to drop weight. I just wrote down everything I ate in a notepad app. However, these apps, recommended by a friend, are much more detailed. Entering a food item calculates the calories for you automatically.

I don't know. I think it's too much fitness geekery for me. I don't need to know exactly how many calories I burn every day as long as I'm at the right weight. I'll keep trying it for a few more days though, just to see if it's any help.

Well, there's no way to spin this one. After twelve straight weeks of successes, I finally hit a failure point. Week thirteen was the first week in which I did not make the progress I needed. I basically stayed even from last week.

I can't attribute this to any kind of social obligations (like the vacation week or the two trips to Vegas). I just couldn't get myself to buckle down as I needed.

All-in-all, breaking even isn't bad. That will be the plan every week once I hit my goal weight. But for now, I have some catching up to do. If I want to hit my fifteen-in-fifteen goal, then I have to basically sprint the rest of the way. I have to lose four pounds in the next two weeks. It's definitely doable. It's definitely difficult.

I'm going to take it day by day. It won't be the end of the world if it takes an extra week for pound number fifteen, but it won't make as good a headline.

Metrics:

Targeting a fifteen pound loss at one pound per week:

Week 13
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Current     : -10.2 lbs
Weekly Rate : -0.78 lbs / wk
Projected   : 18-Nov
Original    : 21-Oct

I'm slacking off a little bit this week. Monday, I went for some ramen, which I had been craving since last week. On Wednesday, I had that Korean BBQ dinner with my buddy. Eight different styles of pork bellies, grilled, along with mounds of kimchee salad.

As a result, today, I'm a little above my starting weight for the week. I was supposed to do a mono-diet yesterday, but I just couldn't swing it. I had to cook up some burger patties that were sitting in my fridge the past few days. I ended up snacking on them on-and-off all day.

Today, I'm on pace. But I'm not sure if I will get where I need by Sunday. Actually, writing this post helps. I'll see where I am tomorrow, then cram in a final day of only bread. Hopefully, that will get me back on track.

I went from the ten-pound range into the eleven pound range, a success for the week. I was hoping for more though. With one day left to go (yesterday), I was a quarter of a pound away from breaking through into the next tier. But even though I ate minimally it still wasn't enough to offset a bounce back weight gain. (I am up almost half a pound today from yesterday.)

Anyway, the barn door is in sight, I'm in the home stretch. With three weeks left in the program, I am four-and-one half pounds away from my goal. That means this is probably going down to the wire. I can't do a sprint this week, since I have two social meals planned. So I need to work on just a normal one-pound drop.

Week fourteen is looking more like a sprint week again.

Family Alert — Family is coming into town the second half of week fifteen. That means that week fourteen really is the big one.

Metrics:

Targeting a fifteen pound loss at one pound per week:

Week 12
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Current     : -10.4 lbs
Weekly Rate : -0.87 lbs / wk
Projected   : 04-Nov
Original    : 21-Oct

Well that was cool. I did the toast mono-diet yesterday, and I dropped a full pound and a half since yesterday's weigh-in. If I drop just another quarter of a pound today, then I'll be in the thirteen pound range. That means that I wouldn't have to do another sprint after all.

I think I can do it. I have no major plans today. This will make it easier for next week too, since I will be attending another get-together on Saturday morning. There will be food.

So we went out for that birthday dinner this past Monday, and I gained a few pounds. I've been on a pretty relaxed pace since then (it's Friday now), and I'm finally back to even for the week.

Now I have two days to drop the weight for the week. If I don't make greater progress next week, then I will have to do that sprint in week fourteen.

I dropped a little over a pound this week. If I do the same thing the next four weeks, that means that I will be a half-pound tardy at the end of the fifteenth week. This was a decent week, especially since I wasn't trying very hard. But it's still a little disappointing because I had a chance the last two days to gain more ground, but it just didn't happen.

If I don't move safely ahead of pace by the end of this week, then I'll schedule a sprint for next week or the week after, depending on scheduled events. This week, it looks like I have a big dinner planned for Monday night, then nothing major after that.

Maybe if I don't do too much damage by Tuesday morning, I'll just push ahead hard this week as well.

Metrics:

Targeting a fifteen pound loss at one pound per week:

Week 11
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Current     : -9.6 lbs
Weekly Rate : -0.87 lbs / wk
Projected   : 04-Nov
Original    : 21-Oct