The Big Finn weighed in at 113.1 kg. on July 19, 2004!

You read that correctly...113.1 kg./248.82 lbs.  I weighed myself in at the gym yesterday, and I was happy to see that I only gained 1 kg./2.2 lbs. during my 3-week gym hiatus.  I'm pretty happy with that weight since I generally just try to keep my weight under 250 lbs.  However, I think I'm getting pretty close to the limit.  So, as I said in yesterday's post - I'm going on a diet.
I started the diet yesterday, and it went pretty well.  I just ate less than I normally do.  Also, I had a surprisingly good workout yesterday, and I felt pretty good after the workout too.  Just to be safe, I did go in the sauna at my gym for about 20 minutes just to make sure the muscles loosened up.  I just want to point out to the non-European readers of my blog that the saunas here in Switzerland are always co-ed and nude.  I still think of it as a novelty when I walk into the sauna and there are nude men and women sitting there.  I guess that comes with having grown up in the U.S.A.  So, anyway...I'm just going to continue on with the eating less and exercising more routine for the next month, and we'll see what happens.  I'll post my progress on my blog.
This morning I brought out the hedge trimmer and went to work in Steve and Louise's backyard.  They had this big arborvitae-type bush that was bent over due to the massive clematis growing all over.  So, I just went to work on it around 8:30 a.m. and I finished up around 11:00 a.m.  The trimming is the easy part.  Carrying all of the clippings to the compost area is the real work.  I had to make 5-6 trips to the compost area to dump the clippings....that's my workout for the day!  Afterwards, I stopped at the home of my friend Akis and had a Coke Light (they don't call it Diet Coke here) and talked for about a half hour.  Then, I went home and I ate a small lunch.  Then, I booked our September vacation to Málaga, Spain. 
We're actually staying in a town called Estepona which is not too far from the Rock of Gibralter.  This is going to be a pool, beach, and spa type of vacation, but we'll probably manage to get in a little sightseeing (probably a day trip to Gibralter).  I used our Swiss Airlines miles for this trip (trying to use the miles before Swiss goes out of business), and it's a good thing too because the airport to hotel transfers are pretty expensive (the hotel is about 70 km./43 miles from the airport).  I'm really looking forward to this trip.  There's nothing like a vacation where your only plan is relaxation!