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.

Wow, that was awesome. The last day of the sprint, I did the toast mono-diet, and it was no problem. Maybe my system just got used to it. Regardless of why, it worked. I dropped almost a pound and a half that last day, and I'm now in striking distance of pound number nine.

It's not the full victory I was hoping for, but it was still progress. Better than getting back to even and a lot better than getting a regression. More encouraging than the actual weight dropped, this goes to show me that I can totally do a weight sprint for a week and get the results I need. I netted a four and a half pound loss from the week of my Vegas trip. If you count my peak weight (the day I actually got back home from Vegas), then I dropped a full five and a half pounds.

Now, even though I'm a week behind schedule, I feel confident that I can pull off another sprint in the next month and get that extra pound back. Other than that, I just need to do my normal meal scheduling the rest of the time.

This is the start of week eleven and I have five weeks and six pounds to go. Feeling good.

Basically a wash from yesterday. I ate almost exactly the same thing yesterday as I did the day before: several pieces of toast and a portion of Chinese chicken salad. On top of that, I also ate a couple of bowls of granola. That granola must have made the difference between dropping any weight and maintaining. It's either that, or the weight drop is just slowing down naturally.

I'll have to see tomorrow morning. Today, I will stay on the toast, and only the toast. No salad tonight and no bowls of cereal this morning. I'd like to break through that eight-pound barrier, if possible.

Another pound and a half for the week. Let me tell you, toast works. Just get the good stuff. Anyway, two more days to go in the sprint. I'm on track.

As I wrote yesterday, getting back to pre-Vegas weight would be considered a wash. That's where I am right now. So now what remains is to see how much actual progress I can make.

If I drop one more pound, then I'm in the area I consider a success for the week. I would be one pound behind schedule for the overall program. In that case, I would schedule another sprint week sometime in the next month, and then I should hit fifteen pounds in the fifteenth week.

If I drop more than just the one pound by Sunday, then I'll actually be completely on schedule(!). If that happens, I should be able to hit the deadline without having to do any more sprints (assuming no more Vegas trips).

This week is going as well as can be expected, with the chance of getting even better. Feeling pretty good right now!

I dropped about three-quarters of a pound yesterday, not quite the full pound I thought I could do. Now, I'm considering my options for what would constitute a successful week or not.

If I get back to my pre-Vegas weight, another pound and a half drop from here, I think I will consider that a wash. That would put me two weeks and two pounds behind schedule. In that event, I think I would have to push my target date back a week.

If I get below my pre-Vegas weight (by another pound or so), then I will consider that progress made (though not the full success). In this case, I would need to do another sprint before week fifteen to get myself completely back on track. I think it would be doable.

So there's my goal: drop at least another two pounds before Sunday. This will allow me to still hit my original target date by executing another sprint sometime in the next month. I still haven't done any major exercise this whole time. I may put in a rowing session or even a full surf sometime in the next day or two. If I do that, I'll have to be careful not to overeat in the hunger aftermath.

Half a pound from yesterday, not bad. About halfway through the day, I started getting that low blood-sugar feeling. I ended up giving in and ate a cup of yogurt, some chicken and rice, and an ice cream bar around lunch time. That was it for the day, and I was able to refrain from eating after that. So half a pound of weight loss is pretty good. I'll rebound from yesterday and try to stay on the toast mono-diet all day today and see where that takes me.

Once I see where I stand tomorrow morning, I'll figure out what an achievable goal is for the week. Five pounds total is still within sight, although looking less likely now. About three more pounds to go from here. I think I ought to be able to drop one pound today.

I ate about eight slices of toast plus a bowl of granola all day yesterday. Decent progress made, dropping one and a half pounds in the process. I still have over four pounds to go to get back in pace. I'll give it another couple of days before I make any judgements for the week.