As indicated in this space not so long ago, the chances of further progress being made on pushing the weight down were pretty good going into this new year, given the success I saw last fall--and here's the proof. This marks the first time my weight has been below 260 since the year 2001; that's why I like to call the above "the space odyssey." Ha.
All in all, this was a very satisfying new low weight to achieve, given its milestone nature. Besides, a number below 260 has a certain ring to it. Yes, you're still wildly overweight if you weigh 258.5 pounds at 5' 10", but it's not as outrageous as, say 295. Or 340, for that matter. Two fifty-eight and a half is the weight of an NFL linebacker, not a morbidly obese loser. Of course, the linebacker is six-three and completely ripped, which I am not (nor ever will be). But I'm feeling better about myself, and--more importantly--I believe I've found a formula that can sustain this sort of weight loss going forward, so long as nothing truly untoward happens.
And in case anyone is looking at this picture and wondering, "What the hell is going on with his leg? And his feet?" The answers: yes, my feet look weird and ugly. Partially it's just that's how they are; partially, it springs from the fact that I get a lot of dead skin on my feet. I don't have a solution for this problem; I soak my feet and rub them down when I can, but that just doesn't happen often enough. I've tried using a foot scrub, but the results weren't so great. Not sure what to do to make the feet (especially the toes) look better. It's just something to deal with.
The damage on my right shin, on the other hand, is less problematic--in fact, it's part of what's helping me lose weight. I get almost all of my exercise from bike riding (looking into changing that, but for now it's the bike or nothing). A typical thing that happens is, when I get on the bike--you mount a bike from the left, like the way you mount a horse--I have to kick the right pedal around to position it to get into starting position for my right foot. And that often means I wind up stopping the spinning pedal with my right shin. My pedals happen to be large, heavy duty metal plates--I've snapped pedals before--so my shin, as a consequence, frequently takes quite a whack, often strong enough to break the skin. That's why I often have broken skin on my right shin. My left shin, in contrast, doesn't take the same abuse, and thus looks normal. Bottom line: the broken skin on my right leg means I've been exercising, enough to reach this new low weight of which I'm mighty proud. Thanks for asking.
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