In spite of my best efforts to derail my weight loss during the convention I attended this past week, I managed to drop another two pounds. I am pleased, to say the least. AND, I am happy to report that my Achilles tendonitis is clearing up and I should be able to get back on an exercise routine. I hate heel and ankle pain and it is a major deterrent to most kinds of exercise involving walking or running. Hopefully, that part is over for now. My goal is to get about 30 minutes on the Gazelle several time a week, beginning today. One of my biggest issues is getting past the boredom of repetitive movement (unless I can find a football game on TV). It's Saturday, so there should be plenty of football to watch.

I find it useful to get weight loss information, advice, and encouragement from any credible source I can find. I came across an article this morning written by an exercise physiologist and professor of physical education at BYU. The article talks about why dieting does not always work and gives some strategies to get around the physiological roadblocks that our own bodies throw in our weight loss paths. You can find the article at the following link:
http://www.fitsugar.com/Why-Some-People-Sweat-More-Than-Others-145870

My kitchen smells wonderful. I made a HUGE pot of lentil chili in the crock pot overnight. I used two pounds of lentils (I cook enough to freeze for lunches and future meals) that soaked all day yesterday, added one pound of browned and drained 97% lean ground beef, caramelized onions (made last week in the crock pot from two pounds on fresh sweet onions), and a couple of cans of diced tomatoes. Beyond that, it's all in the spices. I use a blend of a bunch of different spices and bouillon to pep up the flavor where I want it. Just use your own favorite spice blend or pre-packaged chili spices. It cooked overnight and smells wonderful. Be careful because this quantity filled my crock pot to the brim. My wife cannot eat really spicy food so my original plan was to split it into two crocks and really spice one of them up. However, I got lazy near the end of the day and just dumped it all in one with a medium level of hot, adding just enough water to cover the pre-soaked lentils. As a word of caution - this will not work if you do not pre-soak the lentils. I can always spice it up by the bowl as we use it. It works out to about 250 calories per cup and it is the consistency of baked beans. I can serve this over rice or eat it straight and still keep the calorie count within reason.