Richard Ha writes:

The cookies and holiday leftovers are gone now, and my weight is up to 204.5 lbs. Over the holidays, I gained more than five pounds.

But there is no sense in beating myself up about it. Instead, I am refocusing my efforts.

I plan to lose a half-pound per week until I weigh 190 pounds. This should take me 29 weeks, meaning I should be at 190 lbs. on July 29, 2007. If I get ahead of schedule, which I suspect might happen, I’ll just shorten the target date.

My other new effort is that I plan to follow Leslie’s weight loss plan. She eats three normal meals and two pre-planned snacks in between. The key to her success is that she does not eat anything after the last meal; “not even a grape.”

Because I know that I am not that disciplined, I need a safety valve. That safety valve is an occasional “fast.” When I become more than half a pound behind schedule, I’ll fast between 3 p.m. and 10 a.m. the following morning. I’ll eat a controlled snack at 10 a.m. and resume my normal eating schedule at noon. I’m fasting right now.

To put everything into perspective, I started to exercise and lose weight back in May when I noticed I was having a hard time straightening up after sitting for a while. I was starting to take on an old person’s gait. I knew I needed to do physical exercise and lose weight or I would be taking the long downhill slide.

My resting heart rate at that point was in the mid-70s. Now it’s in the mid 50s. A lower resting heart rate is an indicator of physical conditioning. This tells me that though I’m overweight, I am in pretty good cardiovascular shape.

I plan to use this format to report my progress from week to week:

Weight on Jan 07, 2007: 204.5
Weight today:x
Scheduled weight:x

Pounds ahead (behind) schedule:x

Resting heart rate today: x