Three weeks down, three weeks to go on my six-week “Cure For The Middle-Aged Middle” diet, and the scale says I’ve lost three more pounds. I’m down to 157, making it thirteen so far, three over my goal of losing ten pounds. Obviously, I’m thrilled. I haven’t weighed less than 160 in I don’t know how long.

To tell you the truth, I was surprised to drop the additional pounds, as the past week (the first of the diet’s two “meat weeks”) has been filled with little more than chicken, beef, and pork in a variety of ways (soup, meatloaf, chili), plus eggs and a small amount of their recommended veggies cooked with a bit of olive oil. But, with the exception of Saturday (when, in the Lenten tradition of a Laetere Sunday, I permitted myself an additional glass of wine and – gasp! – a little bit of chocolate to reward myself for good behavior these past few weeks), I’ve stuck to the diet faithfully and haven’t found myself feeling wanting in any way.

While I haven’t noticed the additional weight loss, I have noticed additional, albeit small improvement in how my clothes fit. I have a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville “The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful” t-shirt that I had stopped wearing because I didn’t like my paunchy look in it; now I can wear it and it doesn’t even fit sung. Pants that used to require a little tug to fasten slip on easily. To me, that’s reward enough. I’m still craving wacky things like macaroni and cheese, cheese and crackers, beef enchiladas, and spaghetti and meatballs, but I tell myself my time will come when I can have these kinds of things in moderation.

So where to from here? Week four will be similar to the past week, with lots of meat meals with continued recommended exercises and vitamin supplements. Next week I plan a physical and blood test to see how various numbers might have improved along with the weight loss as I enter the final two weeks of the diet, which is setting up the maintenance program I plan on following after that. More on that when the time comes.

Bottom line: this diet has been an unqualified success, not so much because of the weight loss itself (which is important), but, more importantly, I’m learning how to eat better (and less) and what kinds of foods and food ingredients to avoid – for example, all refrigerator and pantry items containing high-fructose corn syrup have been tossed out, and when I go to the supermarket I’m actually reading labels. The recipes for this diet also have me cooking using different techniques than I have in the past, which has been interesting. It is definitely an eye-opener when it comes to my diet in the past and what I plan to keep on following going forward.

…it’s been more than three weeks since I’ve had a boat drink. Now THAT’S something to look forward to when I get to Vegas in less than three weeks!