the half empty viewers

What a great morning for a ride. At 6:15 it was already 73 degrees and the humidity was on the rise. A good day to ride before the heat sets in. August! The sun had just crested the tops of the trees when I joined my buddies for our ride to UIC. I was feeling spiffy. The riding pants I had to put away because they got too tight are now rather loose on me. I have lost over 15 pounds now, from 228-230 to ~213, and feeling good! No doubt that I have a ways to go to get rid of the jelly roll, but dropping a pant size, going from a tight XL to a nearly too loose L is a sure sign of progress. The P diet and my exercise regimen are working well to help trim off those pounds. Running is a lot easier without carrying those pounds and I just plain feel better. I discuss this with Karen when I weigh in and note the pounds just falling away. April through July, a good time of year to be losing weight. However, only one person, one single solitary sole has commented on my weight loss-- my friend and colleague from Quebec, Janice Bailey mentioned how lean I had become when she saw me working out in the fitness room in the San Antonio Marriott where we were entrained for the week long SSR meeting. I was, of course pleased, nay, delighted! In my experience as a yo-yo fat person, it is only when I have gained weight that any one will comment. Like Cliff earlier in the season as we mounted our bikes for the morning ride "I see you are keeping your weight up" he offered. Oh, don't I just love hearing that kind of "compliment". Yeah, sure. Now today, feeling fast, after my break out when I took off at the intersection of Homan and Harrison, I was trying to beat the delivery truck to the corner and cranked it up from standing still to over 24 mph before having to coast to the next light, and let the other guys catch up to me. The boys all commented on the Bucky Burst and we reminisced about our days together running track, doing intervals, and burning up the asphalt oval. I commented that I was going to hit the treadmill when I got in (which I still will do) and what did my buddy Bob Hakes say to me? "it is amazing that the pounds don't just melt off you with all the exercise you get." To which Moe replied "it depends on what you eat." then Bob said "Buck has always been BIG." Arggggggg. their view of the world, it is a half empty cup, while of course, me as the eternal tragic optimist see the cup as half full. Yes, I see the jelly roll there as ever, but I also see what is not there-- about 4 inches of the blubber is GONE! I will not say anything about my weight loss to anyone, not until they comment on it first. And judging from how my friends see me, not as how I look, but how they see me in their mind's eye, as a BIG guy, I will be spared from having to have that conversation. I am reminded of Dorothy Parker's book "Big Blonde" where she comments on the "health of the big." You got that right. Big boned, stocky, stout..... ya, ya, ya.