How I lost 10 lbs during the Holiday Part 1

So I decided to conduct an experiment - with me as the lab rat.  I just weighed myself and I am 190.3 pounds.  My goal is that on January 1st I weigh 180.3 pounds or less.

If you look at a calendar - that is 5 and a half weeks.  10 divided by 5.5 equals 1.818181818 . . ..  So basically I need to lose 1.8 pounds per week.  Not an end of the world goal except that the goal is over one of the most difficult dieting, behavior modification seasons of all time.  Starting with THANKSGIVING!

The thing that is interesting about weight for me - is that I spent the first 35 years of my life trying to gain weight.  My ideal weight goal has always been 175 pounds.  Up until I was 35 I hovered around 155 pounds.  Here are some earlier pictures (back when I had hair).  This gives you an idea at least in my face how thin I was.

When I was in college (see first picture) I would work really hard to gain weight.  I would work out eat as much as I could.  Slowly I would inch my way up 155, 157, 160 - Yay!  Then the end of semester and finals would hit and boom - back down to 150 or 152.  

You can imagine how excited I was when I reached 160 pounds and held it pretty steady this was from 35-40 years old.  And then it happened - the scale tipped and the next thing I knew I was 180.  Oh no - I had gone past my goal.  Oh well - at least it was holding solid there.  

Then one morning I woke up and I weighed 195!?  What - how did that happen.  I quickly focused on my habits and was back down to 180-183.  

And now the last couple of years I really have to work to get myself back down to close to 180.  It does not happen quickly.  So - I figure - if I can find a way to actually lose 10 pounds during this difficult time - maybe just maybe I can reverse the trend and take back control of my weight.  

Well, at least it is fun in theory.  Let's see how my experiment goes.

Before: