If I had to pick one word to describe this morning's treadmill viewing, it would be "disrupted". On the whole I think I am a good father, but I will be the first to admit that sometimes my reaction to my autistic son's obsessive behavior could be better. Case in point, this morning he was absolutely focused on his small red camera not working. It is worth noting that he has four, count them four digital cameras. Three of them were working properly, but he interrupted me on the treadmill no fewer than four times because that particular one was not. Fortunately my wife stepped in and contained him so I could finish my workout, because by the last time around I was responding less patiently than the autistic person. That's always a bad sign. In any case, I did finish the middle third of Shada. Here's what I thought.

You know what makes me stupid happy? This graph:

A week ago I had pretty much come to the conclusion that I had more or less reached the endpoint of my weight loss, and that I was going to level out in the upper 250's. I spent most of October hovering around 258 - sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower, but not really making any forward progress. And then five days ago the dam broke. You can see the exact moment in the chart above, where the blue line takes a sudden dip down at the end. That dip makes me extremely happy, all the more so because it is consistent over several days and not just a fluke. Whatever plateau I was up against, I seem to have broken through it. Five days ago I was feeling pretty demoralized despite my overall success, today I am feeling energized. What a difference a week can make.

I also finished the final story of the fifteenth season of Doctor Who this morning, so let's talk about that.

Checked it out, I bumped up my speed another notch today. I am currently going at 4.7 mph, and I completed the entire workout at that speed (although I was sorely tempted to slow down by the last third of my workout). I have also started tiptoeing into an extra workout, by doing a 30-day Planking Challenge. Today was easy enough at 20 seconds, but it ratchets up pretty quickly. Theoretically by November 30th I should be holding a proper Plank position for five full minutes. I figure if there is some chance that my abs will become visible at some point, I should start working them, right?

As for Doctor Who, I watched the middle third of the current story. Let's talk about that.

I have lost more than twice as much weight in the past week than I did in the entire previous month. How cool is that? The numbers are consistent for four days running, so it's not a fluke. Whatever brick wall I was up against, I seem to have burst through. I have broken four miles on the treadmill in six out of the last seven days. and I feel really good. Who knew that Doctor Who was the key to healthy living?

Anyway, I started a new story today. Let's talk about that.

You know, it's kinda funny: every time I start to get frustrated by lack of progress, thinking maybe I have finally hit the brick wall and I have arrived at my destination size, then something like the last two days happen where I have a sudden drop. Although I weighed in slightly higher today than yesterday, which was not unexpected, that "slightly higher" was still much lower than anything prior to yesterday. I think I really do have a fighting chance at being in the 240's by Christmas. How cool is that?

Also, I finished my current Doctor Who story today. I have don't have much to say about it, but let's get this done.

When I started this project over eight months ago, I was wearing 46" waist pants whereas my son was wearing 36" ones. Last week my wife got me some new 40" pants, and now this weekend I had to go out and get my son two new pairs of 40" pants. For the last two weeks he has literally been wearing my clothes. It's obvious why I am excited to have dropped a full six inches in waist size. It is worth noting that, as well as being autistic, my son has a history of severe digestive issues. Only a few years ago ne was so thin and malnourished that we were starting to have discussions about having a feeding tube placed. It is absolutely astonishing to me that he has grown so much. It is also a little worrisome, in that he is clearly headed on the same trajectory I was, and we need to figure out how to put on the brakes, but that's a whole other issue. For this weekend, though, my son and I have met in the middle and I am both pleased and perplexed.

I also started a new Doctor Who story, so I guess I should talk about that.

This morning I took the most steps, walked the furthest distance, and weighed the least I have since I started this project over eight months ago. In my 55 minute workout I clocked in 7,694 steps and 4.21 miles. By comparison, on Day 1 walked only 5,649 steps and 2.4 miles in the same 55 minutes. Better yet, I weighed in at 255.1 lbs, far outstripping my previous record of 255.9 set two weeks ago before I bounced back up. Of course the real question is, will I stay in that neighborhood tomorrow? We shall see. It was a nice bit of sunshine after a very frustrating two weeks of backwards progress. We shall see.

I also finished watching the current story this morning, so let's talk about that.

Filed under random coincidence: As of today, I have walked exactly 802.11 miles on the treadmill for this project. Does that number look familiar to you? It did to me, but maybe that's because I'm a technology geek. If you have ever gone out shopping for a wireless router, you may or may not have noticed they all specify their wireless type as something like "802.11g", which refers to IEEE 802.11 wireless standard. And this, folks, is exactly the kind of thing my stupid brain fixates on when I am not watching Doctor Who.

Speaking of which, I started a new story today. Let's talk about that.

It's funny how many weird and random bits of trivia I stumble across in the course of this project. Case in point: I only just realized that the actress in this current story who plays the scientist that gets consumed and transformed by the titular Fendahl is none other than Wanda Ventham. Who, you ask? You would know her better and more indirectly as the mother of Benedict Cumberbatch, a.k.a. Sherlock Homes, Doctor Strange, Smaug, Khan, and the guy who can't pronounce "penguin" to save his life. As a matter of fact, this role was her first big acting job after giving birth to her Eventually Famous Son. How cool is that?

So let's talk about the second half of this story.