So it turns out that I can get a massage every other week for free. I went in today for my first one. It was great! First professional massage I’ve ever had and I heartily recommend it to anyone. Fantastic stuff. I’m greatly looking forward to my next one.

Well, I don’t seem to remember what week of 20/20 I’m on anymore. I think it’s somewhere around 8. I started November 30th, so that would make some sense.

Anyway, I had a big 5 pound week while I was sick and am now down to 216. So that’s 28 off so far. Not bad at all. Still lots of distance to go though. Going beneath 200 will be a big milestone. It’ll be more than halfway to my goal and also a nice change in ye olde first digit. I’ll probably hit that sometime in March if nothing crazy happens.

In dietary news, I’m up to 2 servings of grain per day now (about 2 slices of whole wheat bread). Not bad not bad. I need to get my hands on some good whole wheat tortillas and someone who can make me chicken tacos or something with ’em.

Bleh. Looks like I finally caught the flu. It’s been going around the office for a while, but just last night I finally came down with something. After exercising I was coughing alot. This morning I woke up feeling pretty bad, but without a fever. And now I’ve got a fever, chest pain, and headache.

Unusually for me, I went to see the doctor today right after falling ill (usually I wait until I’ve had a 105 degree fever for a week or so) and he said it’s too early to tell whether it’s the flu, some other virus, or some bacterial infection.

So to cover my bases, I’m taking a veritable cocktail of medicines:

• azithromycin
• tamiflu
• promethazine – codeine

This should stop my cough, kill the flu (if I have it), and kill any bacterial infection I may have. Let’s see if it works!

I saw the Pro Club podiatrist, Dr. Adad, today. I was having pains in my left foot and knee during training and physician suggested it at the 5 week checkpoint.

Turns out that not only am I extremely flat footed, but my left leg is a bit shorter than my right, which causes a number of problems. Dr. Adad put a lift in my left shoe and told me to buy some Superfeet (some may say I should have just listened to Amy, but then I may never have found out about my weird asymmetric legs). I trotted down to Foot Zone and got the inserts and will be using the new setup tomorrow in my Beasts. At first it all felt really odd, but I’m getting used to it.

Maybe next time I go to Disney World standing in line won’t be as excruciating an experience as the last 14 times.

I’ll probably also need some custom sandals for summer (Dr. Adad said he could hook me up), foot beds for my ski boots (and new ski boots), and some other custom inserts for my rollerblades.

Time to go ski boot shopping before the Utah 2005 trip in February!

Saw my dietician Stephanie today and I’m down 21 pounds total now (4 last week). Have 63 more pounds to go to reach my goal. Of course, my goal seems a bit odd now that I find I have 155 pounds of lean body mass. If I were to get to 160 pounds without losing any of that, I’d need to have only 3% body fat, which is neither realistic nor healthy. Of course, I’m sure I’ll lose some of the lean weight too. We’ll have to see how it goes and consult with the 20/20 crew as to what my goal lean weight & body fat should be.

As for my diet, I can eat 2 – 4 servings per day of whatever fruits I want, but the real news is that next week grains are being added back into my diet. It was scheduled to be legumes, but since I detest almost all forms of beans we’re skipping that and moving straight to grains.

Does this mean I’ll be able to have a sandwich next week? Only time (and Stephanie) will tell.

Today marked the beginning of my 6th week in 20/20. Last week I got milk and cheese added back into my diet and this week I get the rest of the fruits (except bananas).

But let’s see how the numbers look after 5 weeks:

• Weight: 244 -> 227
• Blood Pressure: 134/90 -> 122/72
• Body Fat: 36.3% -> 31.7%
• Chest: 46.5" -> 43.75"
• Waist: 45" -> 42.5" (this is anatomical, not tailor waist — that’s gone from 40 to 38 as far as pant size goes)
• Hips: 45.25" -> 44.25"
• Biceps: 14.75" -> 15.5" (rar!)
• Thigh: 27.25" -> 23.5" (wow. big change)
• BMI: 36.9 -> 34.3

So overall, everything looks pretty good. The program’s coming along smoothly. I definitely feel healthier, stronger, and thinner.

I wish I had a picture from 5 weeks ago, but I took one today, so I’ll have a full set at something like 5 week intervals by the end. That should be good. I really should take like one a day and put them into some crazy movie, but there are limits to my desire to do things.