45lbs later...

So here we are in April 2016. At my lowest I lost about 47-48lbs, but I've since gained about 5lbs back owing to a disastrously amazing vacation.  But do not fear, I aim to lose the 5lbs (and more), to hit the magic "minus 50lbs" number before my next amazingly disastrous vacation in May.    

One year, 10 months and 40 lbs later...

So I did lose 40lbs after all, it just took me almost twice as long as I planned.

As with most things in life, this achievement is anti-climactic.  For some reason I thought that if I lost the weight, I would transform into Megan Fox, like I was this beauty disguised as a fat person.

Nope, still me.

My current short term goal is to lose another 5lbs before my high school reunion in January 2016.

At 6 weeks away, this would have been an easy task, except the three weeks leading up to the homecoming are the holidays.  Just maintaining my current weight will be a challenge.

30 lbs later

Yay for me!

I've lost so much mass that I'm at the point where my skinny clothes are getting loose.

Now the goal is to hit minus 40 by my birthday in January (which would be equivalent to me losing 40 lbs in 2 years). 

Not bad, methinks.

26 pounds later...

Weight loss has gone frighteningly well over the last 15 months.  The plan is to lose 30 lbs before I spend the summer in Manila (and to keep it off while I'm home).  The second prong of this plan is much harder than the first.

1 year and 20lbs later....

So I didn't lose 20lbs by December.  I lost 19.  Which was great for about 2 seconds.

Then there were the holidays. A couple weeks later I celebrated a milestone birthday and then I went to a destination wedding.  Long story short, I gained back 6lbs.

And only now have I lost 7lbs so finally, after 2.5 LONG months, I have finally lost 20lbs.

It took a f*cking year to lose 20lbs.  

9 months later

I've lost about 15lbs now.  At this rate I'll lose 20 by Christmas.  So not bad.  With any luck I will have accomplished half of my goal, the rest in 2015.

Veegee.

8 months later...

I've lost 10 pounds.  Ordinarily, this would be great news.  But the goal is 40 and I'm less than 2.5 months away.  At this point I'm shooting for 15, and hope to lose the rest during my 40th year.

It’s about the narrator, dummy.

We have all heard them before: the stories our parents tell us about ourselves when we were younger. The same stories over and over again.  Moments we remember through memories other than our own.

“You used to cry when you saw the mountains.  You said the trees were tall and scary.”

“You would open all the cabinet doors.  You would close all the cabinet doors.  You were the cabinet Nazi.”

I would always wonder why they would laugh each time they recalled the silliness.  What is so nostalgic about a kid who fixates over cabinets?

35 years later I figured it out.

The stories were never about me. They were about themselves, as they saw the world a lifetime ago.

“You were adorable.”

Two Weeks In

So I've been at this lifestyle-change of a diet for a couple of weeks now.  And I've lost about two and a half pounds.  By lifestyle-change I mean:

• No alcohol 4-5 days a week
• Walking more
• Salads for lunch
• Stretching before I sleep

I guess you would say "I am on track" two weeks into this experiment. 

Day 3: By the numbers

I just did the math.  If I have 330 days (well 328 now) to lose 40 pounds, I need to lose 1 pound every 8.25 days.  That's one 1 pound a week.

I can do that.

Day 2: The Weigh In

I figure a weigh in is the first step of any self-respecting weight loss program.  So I bought an electronic bathroom scale for that purpose.  I know, I didn't have to, but I am nothing if not an overachiever (more on that later).

I weighed in at XXX.  No, I'm not being coy -- it doesn't matter what my actual weight is.  Not to you, at least.  What matters is the delta I'm shooting for.  And that number is 40. 

To recap:

Current weight: XXX
Goal: XXX - 40

Day 1

Everyone has to start somewhere.  This time around, I'm starting here.  Today.  In approximately 11 months, that's 330 days, give or take a few, I will be turning 40.  Before that time, I want to lose some weight.  More specifically, I want to lose 40 pounds. 

Lose 40 before turning 40.  I know, I need to think of a better tag line.  Also, I doubt if I'll lose close to that.  The point is, everyone has to start somewhere.

I'm starting here, today.

Places I've Been (2013)

visited 34 states (15.1%)

Back in August 2006 I posted a similar map on this site. As you can see, I've done a bit of traveling in the last 6 years or so. I never did update the map in 2007 (as I promised) but I am updating it now.

Hashtag, better late than never.

Ok, so I wasn't really back....

... and I may not be back now.

But I did update this blog's template.

Who knows, I may be back soon.

... though I wouldn't hold my breath.

I'm baaaack!

I apologize to my faithful reader -- sorry Dad! -- for not updating this blog more frequently. As most of you (my 6 other readers) know, I took some time off to do some traveling. Things have been moving at dizzying speed since I boarded a plane to London more than four months ago and I left TWS unattended.

But I am back in Hong Kong now, and real life will resume soon. Tapos na ang maliligayang araw ko. The (only) upside (for my Dad, at least) is that is that I plan to update TWS more frequently -- initially with pictures from the trip (some of them can already be viewed by clicking "Gallery" on the top right portion of the page) and later on with the old swill I used to churn out.

It's great to be back. I heart Hong Kong.

Postcard from Slovenia

Lake Bled was postcard pretty! I froze my a** off, but it was well worth it (and the sun eventually came out!) What is going on with this cold front? I thought as long as we keep on traveling south, the weather would warm up -- but cold air seems to be following us south from Vienna, Prague, Budapest and now Ljubljana. But nonetheless, all is going well with the trip. Can't believe we've been away for more than 30 days now. See you all in December!

J x

Status Messages I Wanted to Post on Facebook

Since The Great Flood has turned Facebook into some quasi political message board I have absolutely no interest in...


Jona is....

• very far away.
  
  
• in the Isle of Skye (It's ok, Wikipedia it. There's no shame in that.)
  
  
• in Inverness (yes, where Macbeth's castle is).
  
  
• sipping a half pint and a whiskey (you don't call Scotch "Scotch" in Scotland).
  
  
• going to Berlin on Friday.
  
  
• having the time of her life.

P at 5

I'm working on it

I accidentally hit the "Save" button when I was tinkering with the Html codes of this blog. So now I have an unwanted new template. Am working on the paragraph breaks to see if anything can be done.

Suggestions/tips on how to fix this would be much appreciated.

The Hollywood Version