Personal Post: Fall Is Here; New Rickenbacker Baptized; Losing Weight

Stogie With Rickenbacker Bass Guitar

Yesterday was the first day of fall.  The temperatures are falling and there is a new chill in the air in the morning.  Our persimmon tree is loaded with fruit, which will be fully ripe sometime in November.  I love this time of year.

Yesterday, wifey and I were invited to a band party by a musician friend.  A band party is where a bunch of musicians come together to jam, even though they may never have played together before, with non-musician friends and family as the audience.  There is a lot of food and drink and conversation.

I brought my new Rickenbacker bass guitar and my Fender bass amp, and sat in with the host's personal band.  His band is quite good, very strong both vocally and instrumentally, and it was a privilege to play with them.  I was pleased with the sound of my new Ric, as you can't really tell how a new instrument will sound with a band until you play it with one.  The new Ric purrs through ballads and growls through rock, and I love the fast neck.  (Thanks again, son, for buying it for me.)

The son who bought me the Ric has also shown me a new way to take off weight (and keep it off), and it's not that hard.  He has lost 50 pounds with this technique, seeking to regain his Army weight.  It's a program called Lose It, at wwww.loseit.com.  There's also a smart phone app for it, so you can use it whether or not you are in front of your computer.

To lose weight you need a system of feedback, a way to monitor the calories you take in daily.  Once you determine the maximum number of daily calories you need, Lose It allows you to log in whatever you eat, and the program supplies the calories for hundreds of common foods, including restaurant dishes and supermarket foods.  With one of the newer smart phones, you can also read the bar code on any packaged food to determine the calories per serving, and Lose It will then log that in for you.

Lose It provides categories for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, and keeps a running total of calories consumed for the day, with a second total for calories remaining before you reach your limit.  It also provides a graph of your weight loss and predicts the date on which you will achieve your goal weight.

When you know you have to log in everything you eat, you think twice about reaching for that bag of chips, or unconsciously munching on junk food.  The program helps you to stay focused on your weight loss goal.

I have lost about 10 pounds, just getting started -- but I have dropped a waist size and look and feel better, so I know it's working.  I highly recommend this tool for those who want to take off some weight.