274.0 - well, that was dramatic.

J & A

I won't lie to you - yesterday was rough. Strolling through Trader Joes at about 7:30PM, I found myself staring at a can of plain tuna and thinking about how good it would be to pop that can and go at it with a spoon. yuck.

But I persevered, drank a gallon of water instead and went to bed starving. This morning, I woke up, stood on the scale, and was shocked when it read back 274.0 lbs. Nearly a 4lb loss in one day - about 1.5% of my total bodyweight - and I can tell you, after 1000-calorie days for a couple of weeks, the 4lbs wasn't water weight.

It's hard to say if I've broken through the plateau of if I'm going to stay here for a while. I am still going to try my hardest to get to 260 by December 15th - 11 days from now. By my reckoning, this morning's weigh-in caught me up to a point where I'm only a couple of days behind my original schedule (250 dream, 255 aggressive, 260 realistic) - but now, unless the scale reads 272 tomorrow morning, it seems that 260 is aggressive. so be it. I understand that these plateaus are largely set by heredity, occur at certain weights, and do not tend to move up or down. Whether you're gaining weight or losing it, you're going to pause at these given "set points" for a few days (or weeks) before continuing. whether the next two weeks is spent breaking through the plateau that I'd eventually have to break through anyway, or it's spent losing 40 lbs, I am still making progress. I just set a goal of 215 by April 1st. That would be amazing.

In other news, I just realized yesterday that I qualify for a membership at MarathonManiacs.com. I honestly didn't intend for this to happen, but I am pleased to join a pretty exclusive club. For the record, I qualified with the easiest standard for the lowest level - barely. To be considered a "bronze" marathon maniac, run 3 marathons in 90 days. It turns out that 86 days seperated the Self-Transcendence Marathon from the Philadelphia Marathon, with the Breakers marathon in between. So having completed all 3, I applied for membership and was approved. Sent in my membership information and I presume you'll see my name in the "InSane AsyLum" within a day or two. See for yourself at http://www.marathonmaniacs.com. (While you're there, check out some of the qualifications for the levels above bronze. You can qualify for the highest level by running 52 marathons in a year. impressive.)

-steve

PS I bought the tuna. I'm going to eat that sucker today. (: