Tough weekend of darts in Nashville.  Just could not achieve any level of consistency and consequently lost matches I was in a position to win.  Only real highlight was a top 8 finish in the Saturday blind draw and a couple of solid performances in singles (followed up by exceeding poor ones).  Alas.

I also showed some regression in the war on fat, gaining a half pound.  Stuck to the diet, so I can only assume that low carb beer in quantity is not conducive to weight loss.  Alas.

Onward and downward!

Back from a weekend of darting in Winston-Salem, NC.  I played pretty well overall, just not well enough to, you know, actually win.  The worst part was being on the cusp of victory only to throw it away (no pun intended) with a couple of poorly thrown darts.  Ah well, still not ready for prime time I guess.

On the drive home got caught in a massive traffic jam caused by a six car chain reaction pile up on I-85.  It happened a mile or two up the road from me, but two ambulances, two fire trucks, and a state trooper vehicle kept both lanes bottlenecked for quite awhile.  The accident occurred in the left lane and it doesn’t take an accident investigator (although technically I was trained as an accident investigator back in my USPS days) to figure out what happened–driving 70 plus miles per hour right on the ass of the car in front of you.  Someone taps the breaks and all hell breaks loose.  Idiots.

My final frustration was weighing in and finding I achieved no weight loss this week.  My own fault really.  Had the grand kids most of the week and that kept me off the treadmill (yeah, it was ALL their fault!).  There was a Wendy’s next door to our hotel in Winston-Salem and  I found it impossible to resist those soft ice cream waffle cones.  I had two.  I guess I should be glad I didn’t gain weight.  So, holding steady at 246 (down 32.5 pounds overall).  Girth also was unchanged at 46.5 inches, down 5″ since February.

Onward and downward.

I had a great day yesterday throwing darts in the ASS.  Aiken Singles Series Dart League finals that is.  The top six finishers in league play met at the VFW in Aiken, SC to determine a champion and your humble blog host was among them.  The format was a round robin (each of the six played each other 3 games of 501) and then the top 4 finishers would advance to the championship round.  I took 9 of 15 legs in the semis which was good enough to move on.

In the championship round each player faced off in full 9 game matches–a total of 27 games each–and the top two finishers would earn some dough.  I went 4-5 against my first opponent, 3-6 against my second, but finished 7-2 against the third.  And through the wonder of mathematics (the guy who beat me 6-3 lost to the guy I beat by a wider margin) that was good enough for the second place prize, a cool $100.00.

If you are keeping score that was 42 games of darts.  We started at 1:30 and finished at 8:30.  At the end it was more about endurance than skill.  And I know folks joke about the athletic qualities of darters; but standing, walking, throwing, and intensely competing over such an extended period of time is both physically and mentally demanding and quite exhausting.  Plus, I’m old and fat.

But not as fat as I once was!  18 weeks into the LCHF diet plan I’ve surpassed the halfway point in reaching my goal of losing 60 pounds.  The previous couple of weeks I seemed to have flatlined, so I began walking the treadmill to get the weight loss jump started again.  The payoff was a drop this week from 251 pounds to 246!  That makes a net loss 32.5 since February 19.  Color me pleased about that.  I also managed to whittle away some of my stubborn girth, cutting my middle down to 46.5″, 5″ smaller than I was when I started the diet.  My jeans are definitely riding higher these days!

Onward and downward.

Who says dart players aren’t athletes?  I did the math and I can prove what a physically demanding game darts truly is.  For example, I played in a round robin format event on Saturday with 8 other players.  That means I played each player three games (legs).  That’s a total of 24 legs.  Now the throw line (oche) is 5′ 8″ from the dart board.  Each turn (throw) consists of three darts.  So after every throw you walk from the oche to the dart board and back, a distance of approximately 12 feet.  It’s actually more, because you don’t walk directly back to the oche, you move behind your opponent while s/he thows.  And usually you walk ever farther, because normally between throws you go back to the table area for a swallow of beer (aiming fluid).  So, it’s fair to say the distance traveled for each throw is around 20 feet.

Now, I’m an average (at best) darter.  And I reckon it takes me 30 darts to finish a leg (sometimes less, sometimes more).  So, that’s 10 trips to and from the dart board, or 200 feet.  That means each 3 leg match equals 600 feet of walking.  What with warmups and trips to the restroom to recycle the aiming fluid, I walked over a mile during Saturday’s round robin.

But wait, there’s more!  I played in a blind draw Saturday night (although I only lasted 9 legs before being eliminated).  And on Sunday I played another 27 legs in the ASS (Aiken Singles Series) league.  That’s a lot of walking!  Come to think of it, maybe that’s why they call each game a leg!  Hell, Johnny Cash even wrote a song about it.

Anyway, the above is a round about way of getting to this week’s progress report on my LCHF diet adventure.  Other than darts, I’m really not managing much exercise.  I am sticking pretty close to the dietary requirements without being fanatical about it.  I have small helpings of fruit and berries occasionally and on Saturday I had a few fries because I was hungry and there were no other readily available options. But no bread, no starches, no sugary sweets.  I dearly do miss them.
And so I was very pleased when my scale reported my weight as 253 pounds.  That’s an incredible FOUR pound drop from last week!  Overall I’m down 25 and a half pounds since February 19.  It’s good to see that the self-sacrifice is showing some results.  Now, I’m not sure where the weight is coming from.  My girth is at 47″, just a half-inch reduction from last week and 4 1/2 inches overall.  Still, my pants are riding higher these days, and that’s a much more comfortable fit.

Onward and downward!

It’s tough to stick to the LCHF diet when I travel. And this weekend I went slightly off plan.  Friday night I succumbed to the Mexican restaurant featured in the Tuscany casino that was arranged by Good Luck Mate. Had the shredded beef taco and enchilada plate ($6.95!).  To my credit, I didn’t touch the rice and only indulged in dipping three tortilla chips in the salsa.  I did better Saturday night, satisfying my hunger with a nice slab of prime rib (with sides of slaw and baked beans for $12.99).  Sunday I threw caution to the wind and enjoyed a Carl’s Jr. burger and an authentic hand dipped strawberry shake (gawd it was so good!).  I forsook the fries however.  At the airport in Phoenix last night I consumed a Coney Island hot dog (chili and cheese) but didn’t eat the bun.  Limited myself to two french fries.  So, I wasn’t totally bad and hopefully what you eat in Vegas stays in Vegas.

On the other hand, I got in quite a bit of exercise.  In addition to my sprint across the Charlotte airport I participated in a marathon of darts on Saturday.  I was in the dart hall from 3:00 until almost 11:00, mostly on my feet and walking, and all I consumed during those 8 hours was a mixture of diet cokes and light beer.  I won 16 of the 45 legs (games) I played, exceeding the goal of 10 wins I had set for myself going in.  Keep in mind, this was a professional tourney.  In fact, one of my opponents, John Part, is a three time world champion (he kicked my heinie pretty good, although I had one opportunity to win a leg but I blew it).  Anyway, I was physically exhausted when it was over so I must have gotten in some pretty good exercise, right?

This week’s weigh-in finds me at 262.5, down .5 from last week and 16 pounds overall.  Girth is holding steady at 49″ (down from 51.5″ in February).  I’m a little disappointed that I’m not getting smaller around the middle, but I think that’s about the last place you lose your excess weight.  I’m also a little worried that my carb binge hasn’t registered yet.  We’ll see next week I suppose.