Update on Pushing the Gas Pedal

One of the pieces of information that I am keeping on my blog is how many hits I get each day. Adsense keep this for me- nothing else just page impressions. Hope that the little ads on the bottom don't bother anyone, but it does generate a report on hits per day. As we are nearing the 2nd birthday of this blog (first post on Nov 15 2007!), thought that I'd take a look and see what gets hit. Overall, there have been 2446 hits on my blog- or about 3 per day. If I write about Trump, I get about 12 hits that day. If I post pictures, I get about 10. The biggest single hit count was when I posted pictures of Uncle Frank after he died- 41 hits (although there were multiple posts so each may have generated the 10). If you assume that the hits are generated by the last post written, then the post with the most hits was Pushing the Gas Pedal (114 hits from that post to the next). There was a month there. But it was a post that signaled a new beginning and I did promise to post on my progress. So here goes:

Desired Image: I started a ticker near the beginning of my journey. So far, I have lost 18.6 pounds in about 2 months.

Details for those interested: The first week, I had both the B12 shots and the appetite suppressants. Found that most of the time I forgot the suppressants, that I was not hungry when I forgot them, and that when I took them that my heart raced too much. They were gone at the end of the first week and that saved me $15/week. I developed a bad rash on my arm that we initially thought was soap but we think may be partly due to the B-12 shots. I only get B-12 once a month now. What seems to be doing the trick is the diet- 900 calories based on exchanges. I get 4 protein, 3 starch, 2 fat, 2 fruit, 2 dairy and 1 vegetable exchange each day- with a lot more vegetables on the free list. I use the dairy in my coffee each morning, then pack up the rest and take it into work- eating a little whenever I am hungry. I am supposed to be exercising 3 times per week- 30 minutes at a stretch. If you calculate Weight Watchers points on this- you get about 20 points per day, which is 6 per day less than my point limit before. But it makes sense. Maintenance is 4 points per day more than your calculated points limit. I was more or less maintaining but slowly gaining on my points limit, so if I take it down 6- I should lose normally for Weight Watchers and that is what happens. It is also possible with the 900 calories diet to meet all the good health guidelines: 5 fruit or vegetables (making sure to get 2 free veggies per day), 8 glasses of liguids (this diet wants you to have a gallon of water per day- but I have a hard time getting in more than 2 quarts), whole grains (so I make the starches whole grains), healthy oils (with my fats), and 2 dairy. Helped them form a walking group and we are out at Al Lopez Park every Saturday morning at 8AM and I am walking 3 miles- but am not timing it at this point.

As far as cleaning goes, there was burst of activity at the beginning- but found it hard to keep up- so we just adjust and try again and again and again.

Following Ivanka Trump on Twitter and she posted a quote that makes me think: "You can't build a reputation based on what you are going to do"- Henry Ford.

In the meantime, having a great time organizing the Christmas pageant- making me think about getting that certificate on event organizing- there are courses on Nov 21 and Dec 5.