Phil online

Digital cameras have an interesting photographer-effect on people;  they make everyone trigger-happy.  When the film doesn’t cost me anything — in film, prints, or physical transport of rolls to the store — I am much more willing to shoot photos with wild abandon.  Not only that, but I’ll take 5 or 10 photos of the same subject, looking for the “right” angle, with the intent (if not the follow-through) to “delete the bad ones later.”

My first digital camera lasted for 6 years.  I shot over 12,000 photos in 6 years.  That’s incredible, considering I’ve probably shot under 1,000 in my life before I got that camera.  But my 2nd digital camera is about a year old and I’ve already shot over 5,000 shots with it. The difference? It takes pictures faster.  My old camera required 2 seconds between shots, and it could take no more than 6 shots per minute.  My new camera can shoot more than 2 frames per second, continuously.  The shutterbug in me has been set free!

Now what do I do with all these pixels?

We used to joke that you could lose 30 pounds in a day if you had your leg amputated. But here I did the old-fashioned way: I dieted. And it wasn’t hard. Last week I saw the scale show up with a 1 as the first digit. 199. Woo hoo!
I started in mid-July. Here it is mid-October and I’m actually 30 pounds slimmer. I don’t don’t know what I expected when I started, but it was pretty easy overall. I’ve had a few slides backwards; this week I’m at a conference and food is plentiful, so I’m probably up a few pounds.

“I should exercise more, but not for weight loss.” That’s been my mantra. Exercise for health; diet for weight loss. Dieting has made me drop 2 pounds per week, which coincidentally, is what most people seem to agree is the healthy loss rate.

Most of my exercise comes from climbing stairs at my office and at home. It’s not so much exercise anymore, because I feel like I stopped carrying 30 pounds of luggage with me everywhere. And I did!

I really did it just by eating less. Specifically, I ate about 1,250 calories less per day. 8,750 calories per week X 12 weeks = 105,000 calories. 105,000 / 3,500 calories per pound = 30 pounds. Dieting through algebra.