It's just about 3 weeks away from the 4th Expedition weigh-in. I admit: I'm EXCITED about its potential outcome. While my model forecasts a 35 ½ lb loss, I think I'll beat out The First Expedition's 40 ½. I've got the following on my side:

• Been far more active overall on my feet; though I'm only adding resistance halfway through;
• Transitioned successfully to intermittent fasting;
• Possess a slight edge in fewer calories, but over a six-week period, it only amounts to ½ lb;
• Supplement with green tea extract and drink coffee.

Things I'm going to do for the rest of these three weeks (and beyond):

• Continue the lunch and dinner workouts;
• Re-integrate my 4AM-6AM;
• Add martial arts and full body movements.

Of course, it's still early in the overall process, but the rhythm is in a place where I can take it into the months ahead. The dinner cardio works as a great appetite suppressant and energizes me for the rest of the evening.

I've been adding 3 oz of sauerkraut to my lunch. Like my ACV water, I'm thinking it neutralizes the queasiness that 6 oz of spinach can deliver. It also adds a zest to the meal since I eat the broccoli and spinach chilled (after microwaving it).

My nutrition regimen is rockin' it!

In Another's Eyes

My huge regret is that I just didn't know anything about nutrition when I was a college freshman and throughout those years. I'd grab a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza from the University Center or Taco Bell from the Tiger Den and not give it a second thought. And I never counted the beers. I just never got my nutrition in check. I gave it a limited shot in Spring 2001 when I was eating chicken on a Foreman grill with brown rice—I've come a long way since then.

But college...it really wasn't a place that I thought much about nutrition. A lot of things were on my mind—I even took classes in subjects that interested me that didn't help help toward earning my degree—it's why I didn't graduate in 2000—survey courses in Psychology, Sociology et al, not to mention classes that I'd drop a few weeks into them so I could try another professor the next semester. I even retook a class that I passed, yet, I didn't like my performance. Of course, there was that Fall 2000 when I lost my way and I had to revisit courses like Cost Accounting and Database Management.

My alma mater has long since removed the single PE req, but I actually took 4 classes: Karate, Advanced Karate, Yoga, and Jogging. I took the last one just for the challenge of it and as I wasn't paying attention to my nutrition, I actually gained more weight the deeper into the semester I went. I barely eked out an A with 3 miles under 30 minutes. As to the Karate classes, sure, I was training in Taekwondo at the time, but I couldn't miss the opportunity of learning from Jeff Mullen, the UFC judge.

My mind was ablaze with ideas and possibilities, the futures that could be, things to do, places to live...I didn't give weight to the fundamentals, things like nutrition—the information was out there, I just didn't seek it. I was by far more interested in developing my career and relationships than I was in developing my body. I wasted an endless amount of Saturday nights on parties and clubs—truly, what do I have to show for it? Believe me, the Macarena is NOT the path to enlightenment!

But as it has been said, youth is wasted on the young. Today, I have to watch my nutrition because I have to do so. I could get away with fueling my body with junk when I was young, felt great, and looked awesome. These days, I have to be smarter.

While I didn't want to spend more money or slide into the cost creep of going with another Yagi antenna for my Verizon Jetpack, I made an Amazon purchase of a Netgear 6000450 MIMO Antenna with 2 TS-9 Connectors. I'll get it sometime this week. I feel good about its success—I don't even care about more bars, I just want 1 bar of a LTE!

With the lack of cell phone coverage here, all I gotta say is that "the dream of the '90s is alive:"

And I now have a first-hand look as to why rural America can be so technologically backward and few steps—a whole block—back behind everyone else. It's somewhere between access and culture. One aspect I miss about working among IT peers is that I no longer passively acquire tech information, trends, and application. Sure, it's out there, but I have to actively go for it. I've always felt places like the South with a low cost of living were at a huge disadvantage compared to places like NYC. It is much cheaper to buy books as the cover price doesn't change between the two regions. And the more we move away from brick-and-mortar shopping, the further the disparity will be. Thus, the acquisitions of the latest technological knowledge and self-education is challenging for rural America to acquire, even for someone with who has a predisposition toward those in his wheelhouse.

But, hey, it's quiet out here, the drives are pretty, and there's little chance of a double murder-suicide like my next door neighbor when I lived in the Normal Station neighborhood in 2011. I literally have my own private park trail for contemplation in my backyard. And if the mood fits, Chickasaw State Park is close by. I have future plans of running around its Lake Placcid in the spring.

And maybe that's the thing: don't expect the country to be the city. Yet, in this increasingly global community, there are those who don't realize they are out in the hinterlands...and prefer its price.

I dropped off my elliptical and recumbent bike at the city dump this morning. They met an unsanctimonious end considering all the work I put into them. And while I hated to take them out of my gym, I move on. Afterward, I put in 45 minutes on the treadmill.

My lower legs are transitioning well to the increased workload. My speed is basically governed by whatever threshold I don't feel pain. When I began to feel pain on the top of my foot, I slow the treadmill down so that the pain's intensity subsides. I'll throw in spurts of jogging, but I have yet to enter an interval approach.

In time, I suspect the pain will leave entirely.

Weightloss just isn't a snap my fingers and it's done endeavor. The BMR equation and the multiplier that lines up my weightloss earlier this year indicates that by EOY, I'll should be under 200; by March, I'll be in the mid-160s. It's not an exact science since I can't regulate how many calories I burn in my daily workouts—it is wildly variable considering mass and activity, but I hope I underestimated adequately calorie loss.

I'm working to be at a training weight of around 155 or maybe a high-carb, walking around weight of less than 170. I weighed in at 163 at the end of high school and remained at 170 into my first year of college. Thus, a goal of 155 is attainable. Naturally, of course, it's all about fat %, so 155 is just a shotgun approach for now.