If only losing weight were as easy as saying, Drop It! Unfortunately, it’s never that simple.

The theory behind weight loss is well known: eat fewer calories than you burn. In practice, this gets tedious. I know it does for me! The constant meal planning; recording of what I eat and how much; calories and grams of carbs — and that’s not taking into account other aspects of diet. It’s also important to keep cholesterol and fat in mind.

 For over a year, I did intense reconstruction work on this website; and a good portion of that time was before I retired. I wasn’t taking the time to plan meals and prepare proper food. As a result, I regained the weight I had lost; and now I have to work to get it back off. In other words, to drop it.

The inactivity resulting from hand surgery was no help; and I was finally starting to feel back up to scratch when the foot surgery came up. It’s taken about three  months for me to approach normal weekday mileage; and Sunday rides of 40 miles are still a way off.

But my Camel-Bak is waiting for me when I start doing those long rides again; and in fact, I’m using it when I push for a 19-mile ride. I need to become accustomed to having that weight on my back again. When I’m out for two or more hours, I can’t just drop it anywhere.