The facts first

age: 36
height: 168cm (5'6")
start weight: 130 kg (286lb) on February 2001
start BMI: 46.1start size: 22W US
start bodyfat%: 53.95%
start waist-hip ratio: 0.76

goal weight: 69kg (152lb)
goal BMI: 24.4
goal size: 10 top 12 bottom

current weight: 89.7 kg (197.6 lb)
current BMI: 31.8
current size: 14 (top) 16 (bottom)
current loss: 0.1 kg
total loss: -40.3 (83.6 lb)
current bodyfat %: 42.4 %
current waist-hip ratio: 0.78
total cm lost: -141.5 cm

Of course I did not bother to check changes in fat % and BMI for a 0.1 kg loss. And of course I am not at all upset nor discouraged about it either. I have been eating by the plan, besides the binge on fruits the first night of my period, I have exercised 5 out of 7 days last week, and I am still a bloated ballon with cramps, so I know the real loss will show next week that my period will be over. I know it for sure, because I am just going to do what I have to do. Eat by the plan and exercise.

We decided to not go away this weekend, instead to go away on the next long weekend, March 25-27. We hope for better weather then. Plus, to be totally honest, I never feel good to go away on this particular holiday. See, for us christian orthodox, this coming Monday is the Clean Monday. The first day before the big 40 days fast before easter. Traditionally, on this day seafood is consumed. No fish, just seafood. Then we enter the fast where no meat, eggs, dairy, fish is allowed. Just vegetables, legumes, oil, grains, seafood, and starches are allowed. I used to do the fast for the whole 40 days. Not so much as a religious thing, mostly as a "spring cleaning". But for this year, I decided to religiously stick on my diet for the whole 40 days.

So the weekend before Monday, my dad and my brother who both have fish-shops, are having the weekend from hell. Because they need to stock up on oysters and clams and crabs and the likes, and they are really sensitive, and we all pray for good sales, because otherwise the have to throw them away.

My dad's and brother's jobs are really tough. They get to wake up at midnight, leave for the port, get the fish from the boats that arrive in the wee moring hours, then be at their shops by 4 am, prepare the orders for the restaurants, then prepare the shop, then start selling. They go back home around 2 in the afternoon, eat lunch, sleep, wake up at midnight, start their day.

But at this particular weekend, they are lucky if they get 3-4 hours of sleep per day. The "fight" for the best stuff is enormous. Sunday night is the last carnival day, and people are always out till 4-5 am and then go by the fish shops to buy food for the next day, so they won't have to do it in the morning, so that they can sleep in.

I usually don't go by the shops. They are too stressed to handdle me being around. I also cannot stand seeing them so stressed. What I usually do is prepare some of the traditional things we have that day, and stay by the phone, waiting for my mom and sister in law to give me updates on the sales.

Traditionally, on Clean Monday we also fly kites. We eat a special kind of bread that is produced only on this day, we eat sea food cooked in many yummy ways, a lot of piccled veggies, and taramosalata, a kind of salad made with cod eggs, bread, olive oil, lemon, and garlic, all put in a blender and made creamy to spread on this special bread. Sounds awful but is strangely delish.

So although I was insisting on leaving, Angelos said that I would not enjoy it totally, because my mind would be in my family working and stressing. He said it is better for us to go away on the next weekend, since I will not have anything in my mind to keep me from total relaxation. Plus my hell of a festival starts on April 1st, and that means that being away on the 25-26-27 of March will give me the necessary break and recharge of my batteries for the big event to come.

Right, now I got to get in the shower and get ready for yet another day in the magnificent- not world of public relations.

Hold my hand, will you?