Afternoon intermision

The day turned out to be very cool but very sunny, the wind was gusting but my new wheels got to go on their maiden voyage! My daughter and I went for a walk just before lunch and I have to say that the new kicks make it feel as if there is nothing on my feet. they are so light and there is no movement inside of them, my feet stay put and its like the sneakers are a part of my feet. I am glad I took a chance on a brand that I had never heard of, we shall see how the durability goes in the coming months, so far after the test drive I am satisfied.

I just thought this was funny.

It is after 4:30pm and I have only eaten 575 calories so far today, I am going to have to have a large dinner to make up for that or else I will end up way below and I don't like to eat late in the day, I have been reading all day so I kind of lost track of how many calories I have eaten...or should I say have not eaten. other than the walk and the extremely low calorie count this late in the day nothing more to report that holds any amount of interest I am afraid, so I shall end it here for now.

As Ever
Me

Giorno cento venti

Wednesday is here and the sun has finally decided to make an appearance this week. I WILL be going for my walk today! Tuesday was an ok day as far as intake went, I did drink a gallon of Blueberry green tea which made up an extra 80 calories for the day. nothing spectacular or outstanding really happened, but the sun is out today! oh yeah I said that already..I keep getting errors on blogger today, so I am going to keep this post fairly short again for today, I will try again later to post up a longer more interesting post. here is the menu for Tuesday.

Taken out my back door 5 minutes ago, finally the sun came out! click the pic for a larger view

04/29/08

Breakfast
9:30 AM
bran cereal 110
1 cup 1% milk 110
blueberry green tea 80

Lunch
12:15 PM
1 progresso soup 120

3:00 PM
lean cuisine 290

Dinner
5:45 PM
2 cups home made soup 350
1/2 cup white rice 100

7:30 PM
1 zone perfect bar 200

9:00 PM
1 small pear 80

Grand total of 1440 calories for the day. and I drank close to 2 gallons of fluid for the day, 1 gallon of blueberry green tea and the rest was water.

As Ever
Me

Are we really up to 119 days?

Upon waking I noticed that it is still raining! this is not good, I want to go for a walk! the guy in the plastic box said it should stop around noon but then we will have 30+ mph winds and cold, bleh. Thank you New England. My new sneakers sit lonely in their box waiting to go out for a walk on my feet. I did go over my calorie limit by 30 so the Total calorie consumed for the day was 1530, not really worried about that, it happens from time to time, as long as it does not become the norm we should be ok.

Here is the menu for the day.

04/28/08

Breakfast
8:30 AM
1 hebrew national hot dog 45
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

12:00 PM
egg drop soup 160

Lunch
2:45 PM
1 lean cuisine 270
1 arnold 100 calorie roll 100

Dinner
5:45 PM
7oz baked bbq chicken 385
1 cup fresh frozen peas 140
3/4 cup cooked white rice 150

8:30 PM
1 apple 80

Grand total of 1530 calories for the day, I really wish it would stop raining, even though we needed it bad. it had been like 14 days without rain so its good that its here, I just don't want it to over stay its welcome. I am bummed because of the weather and because of the fact that I haven't been able to go for my walk for the past couple days and a short post is the result.

As Ever
Me

Salmon recipe

I was going to post this up here at a later time but I decided to post it up tonight because of Andeely's comment asking for the specifics of how I made some Atlantic Salmon steaks. This dish is a very healthy and tasty dish which is fairly low on calories. this meal does not take long to cook and can be an any time meal because of that, I wouldn't call this an elegant recipe by any means but it is extremely yummy and easy to make. total time to prep and cook it is approximately 22 min.

What you will need.

Salmon steaks
Butter or the equivalent (I used smart balance buttery spread with Omega-3)
Black pepper
Goya Adobo
Ritz crackers
Olive oil

See I told you simple! I got the idea to try this because of a green bean casserole recipe my wife makes that uses the crackers, I love the flavor and the texture of Salmon so I think putting too much extra flavor onto it would ruin it somewhat, the crackers worked out great.

What to do.

1. Put a small amount of Olive oil into the bottom of a shallow baking pan, just enough so the fish does not stick, I used a glass Pyrex pan 9x15 maybe (guessing at the size) place your rinsed off salmon steaks in to the dish skin on (it will basically fall off once its cooked and it helps hold the fish together while cooking) , we had 3 steaks approximately 1/2 pound each

2. Take a tiny amount of the butter and put it on each steak, season the top of the steak with the Adobo and pepper, I actually went really light with the adobo and sorta heavy with the pepper (I love black pepper) take 6 ritz crackers and break them up very fine and sprinkle them evenly onto the tops of the steaks and add a little more butter, use 1 large pat (less than 1 tbsp) on each steak total. sprinkle some more pepper onto the cracker topped steaks and slide them into a preheated 450 degree oven for 12-18 minutes. the time depends on the thickness of your steaks ours took 18 minutes and were just about perfect, they should flake easily when done. I would recommend checking them often after the 10 minute mark if you have thinner steaks.

3. When they flake easily, the meat is not opaque any more and the cracker topping starts to brown the steaks are done! remove them from the oven, place them onto a plate and remove the skin, it will just peel off very easily. serve it with your favorite veggie and maybe some rice and sit back and enjoy your Salmon steak dinner that took less than 30 mins total to prepare.

6oz Atlantic salmon steak 240 calories
2 Whole wheat ritz crackers 28 calories
1 Tbsp smart balance omega spread 50 calories

Total of 318 calories for a 6 oz steak, which was a very large portion, my wife ate a 4oz piece and was satisfied, so the calorie count can be adjusted by how large or small of a piece you take. if you decide to make this I hope you enjoy it, like I said its not an elegant recipe but it gets the job done and tastes very good.

As Ever
Me

Day 118, better late than never.

Here I am and there you are, this post is later than normal, its raining outside so I couldn't go for a walk, and my arms are burning for I have just done a decent little workout with calisthenics and some dumb bell work, and no I don't mean that I was playing with morons. my biceps are tight and my triceps burn, ahh I love that feeling. As I type this Bones is starting so I will be typing during commercials :) man I love bones, House is on after that woohoo. anyways back to me and the weight loss. everything is going well and my intake for the 118th day was 1493 total.

I made salmon steaks for dinner and I have to say I was impressed with how they came out, they were fresh Atlantic salmon steaks, which I seasoned and put a cracker crust on top of them and 17 minutes later we had some of the best salmon that I have ever had the pleasure of eating, I will be making that recipe again for sure! the kids loved it, wify loved it, and well, you already heard my take on it. here is the menu for the 118th day.

04/27/08

Breakfast
11:30 AM
3/4 cup egg beaters 90
1oz no fat cheese 80
pickle & peppers 15

Lunch
2:00 PM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Dinner
6:15 PM
6oz salmon steak 240
2 ritz crackers 28
2 tbsp smart balance omega spread 100
1 1/4 cup fresh frozen peas 175
1 cup cooked white rice 200
Green tea 0

8:00 PM
1 zone perfect bar 200
12oz 1% milk 165

Grand total of 1493 calories for the day, and new recipe in my bag of tricks! I will post in the am for todays doings and back on schedule. Thanks for reading .

As Ever
Me

A day at the park, 117 days in.

One hundred seventeen days into this journey to find the smaller me within me. Fridays intake went well ending with 1477 total calories for the day and then we move straight on to Saturday. it was a gloomy morning but it cleared up by noon and the sun was shining, we decided to go to the park with a friend of mine and his kids, so we met up at "my" park and played for a few hours, the playground was fun as usual and the kiddos were all getting along, a good time was had by all, but it was bitter sweet because I found out My buddy is moving to Missouri in July for his Job, He and I have been friends for as long as I can remember (which is since 1st grade) and hes more like a brother than a friend, I am very happy that he has a great opportunity to make a boat load of cash with this new job but at the same time it sucks that he will be moving away, I have been in CA for the past 8 years and now I move back home and he's leaving. it is what it is.

Mister peacock again.

We did walk around the Aviary again and I got a pretty decent picture of that peacock they have there, as the evening wound down a bit it had started getting a little windy and cooling way off so My friend packed up and left, he has a 6 month old that was not liking the wind. My wife and I decided to take a quick run over to one of the gardens and take a quick walk before the park closed and we found a fitness trail. it appears that you hike this trail and along the way there are different exercise stations set up for you to do a short workout as you reach each station. there were 20 stations and I did not do the exercise posted at any of them beyond just fooling around, I was just there to check out the trail. There was one part of the trail that was fairly steep so I made the decision to see if I could just truck on up the whole incline and judge how I was doing as far as my workouts have been going. I broke away from wify and the kids and just went for it, totally expecting to be 100% winded when I reached the top, IF I reached the top. a bit to my surprise I reached the top of the incline and besides the fact that I could feel my legs a bit I was not winded at all really. I was breathing a bit heavy but not out of breath by any means, and could have went much further (judging on how I felt) before worrying about getting winded. I was pleasantly surprised that I made it to the top and had more left in me, I have made progress! you can click the photo of the course to see it full sized.

One of the gardens at the park. click for a full size view.

Then there was Bob's, I have been needing to get a new pair of kicks to walk in as the Adidas just were not doing the job without causing me frustration. since we were out, not far from a Bob's store and with Gas prices reaching $3.75 per gallon over the weekend, we decided to go check out what Bob's had in a size 14. Usually I go into a store and find what I want and then its time to find someone that works there to order me a size 14, so I was fully expecting this to be a trip to "look" at some sneakers. to my surprise there was a huge supply of size 14's there, I even found a pair of 15's. My son was running through the isles grabbing every pair of size 14 running shoes that he could find and bringing them to me, it was kind f funny. for the past I don't even know how many years I wore nothing but Shell toed Adidas, I like plain sneakers, most of the sneakers that are out today look like either a 13 year old designed them or like space shoes. Plain white....Can I have it? so.. after deciding that I was not going to get a pair of plain white running shoes I found a pair that is mainly white with some blue and gray on them I believe they were New balance, then a pair of Reebok's that were almost all white but had blue stripes on them, and finally a pair of Saucony's which were white blue and silver/gray, they all fit ok but the Saucony brand shoes felt like they weighed nothing so I went with them even though I have never heard of the brand, I hope they turn out to be high quality. we had a $10 off coupon for anything over $10 so I got the shoes for $39.99, not too bad. I will report later whether they held up or not.

All in all it was a good day, and its about Noon now on Sunday, its a bit cooler out today but were heading out to the yard to play catch for a while. Thanks for reading my long winded post, hope everyone else is having a good weekend as well.

As Ever
Me

Just another day in the life of me, Day 115 and into the forty's

Weigh in day is upon me once again, I am a bit confused with todays number because it was less on Monday and it was less yesterday but it is still a loss so how bad can it really be? I weighed in this morning and the number was 448.4lbs, then the second try it said 448.8lbs, number three was 449lbs on the nose, and I always take the highest number so 449lbs it is. Thats a two pound loss from last week as well as it puts me below the half way mark, so I am now closer to 400lbs than I am to 500lbs, a Victory for sure so I am happy with the loss. being under 450lbs is a great feeling and I believe the extra weight is because there is a shuttle launch that has been delayed because of weather. if that shuttle gets launched into the abyss sometime before noon today maybe I will pop on here and update the weight if it was to end up lower than what it is right now, or maybe I should just accept that Friday morning the scale said 449lbs because a loss is a loss is a loss. I also wanted to throw in there because I know a couple of you that follow along with this blog follow along with my wifes progress through comments etc that she made it below the 200 lb mark! she was 197lbs this morning, I am extremely happy for her and she seems to have a new way about herself lately and looks great! she has been a Huge source of help and encouragement to me while I have been doing this weight loss thang, and she is who inspires me to keep on keepin on with this trip down the scale, and I thought I would mention her progress.

This 1981 GS500L weighs in at 449 pounds.

Thursday was an ok day besides the lack of enthusiasm early on. I did end up going out for a walk where my daughter picked just about every flower that we saw along the way, she is really starting to be aware of where she is, to the point where she tells me which way we need to go to get home, and we may be more than a mile into our walk and she can tell me which way to go to get home, at 2 3/4 years of age I think thats pretty good :). later in the day I went out and shampooed, scrubbed, and cleaned the carpet in my car, it came out very good, much better than I had expected it to. these carpets were actually black in spots. the entire front drivers side was black, and this is a tan interior! there was an orange juice stain on the passenger side front that I just could not get out previously and behind the passenger seat was black as well. and I don't exaggerate when I say black, I wish I had taken a before picture of it. here is a photo of the finished job, I think I will go out this afternoon and do some spot cleaning on anything I may have missed.

The square under the dash that still looks dirty is a rubber pad built into the carpet, other than that being a little dirty not bad for a 10 year old interior eh?

my intake for Thursday was good coming in at 1360 total calories, the meals were not as spread out as I would have liked them to be and I did come in a little low but nothing I can do about it at this point, heres the menu for Thursday.

04/24/08

Breakfast
8:30 AM
1.5 cups bran cereal 180
8oz 1% milk 110

11:30 AM
1 apple 80

Lunch
2:00 PM
1 progresso soup 120
1 gortons fish fillet 170
blueberry green tea 20

Dinner
6:15 PM
8oz ground turkey 320
2 arnold 100 calorie rolls 200
5oz sweet potato fries 125
ketchup 20
blueberry green tea 15

Not a bad day for one that started out so bleh for me, and now that I am into the 40's and out of the 50's it somehow feels like an accomplishment for the week even though its just a 2 lb loss when it was a 4 lb loss at one point during the week. Thanks for reading and to everyone else trying to lose a few pounds, keep on keepin on and it shall be so.

As Ever
Me

One hundred and fourteen days in.

Its just before ten am and I just put a pot on the stove to make some chicken soup as I had a perfectly fine carcass in the fridge. its in the high 60's low 70's and theres a nice breeze outside, the sky is blue with a couple fluffy white clouds floating around, I will go out for a walk when I am done posting this. I am feeling really good at this point in the game, which is only 4 months in. I have dropped a substantial amount of weight in that time and there is no end in sight as far as the loss goes. I didn't feel like writing today so I decided to just start typing and see what came out, I am in sort of a just here mood, I believe I will drag the lawn furniture up out of the basement and back out into the yard later and just relax under one of the trees in my back yard. my weight seems to be going down steadily and I am still not struggling with feeling hungry or being able to stay under my intake goal of 1500 calories. the exercise has not really picked up from last week as much as I would have liked it to have, But I have been pretty active and moving around all week though so I don't feel that bad about it.

Part deux

Ok here I am its now 11:18am, I had closed this post for lack of enthusiasm, and still have not gone for a walk, I am feeling very for lack of a better term today, lazy, and unmotivated. its the kind of day that I just want to go sit in the yard with a 6 pack and a watermelon and thats that. but I have calories to watch, and soup to cook and children to play with bleh. I AM going for a walk when I click the publish button on this post, but I can't seem to get my shit together this morning and get a move on. the sound of a Large vacuum cleaner mounted inside a van bellows through the air right at this moment as Barney sings "I love you you love me" the smell of chicken is in the air and right now as I type this I have had enough, I am on my way out the door, perhaps I will bring my digital camera and take a few pictures of what I see whilst I walk and post them up here when I get back, perhaps I won't I don't know, but I will bring the camera either way. wow talk about a randomness personified...

I shall return

As Ever
Me

Day 113 inspiration

I want to start todays post by saying that it is beautiful outside! hmmm and yet I find myself on my lap top indoors typing out this string of thoughts put to words via my fingers and this blog. The kiddo is watching sesame street and were headed out to play in the yard after I click the publish button.

It dawned on me that I am very close to the "lost 100 pounds" mark in this trip to the half. this is very cool, and yet when I think of how much more I have to lose before I am where I need to be I realize that the actual number dwarfs what I have lost so far no matter how much it is. when I started I needed to lose 259 lbs currently I still need to lose 176 lbs to reach my goal of being 275 lbs. I could not be happier with my progress so far no matter how much more it is that I need to lose but to call it a victory at this point would be silly and I must keep things in perspective.


Someone left a comment in my last post that said "Did you ever think you would be inspiring others? It must be pretty cool." (thanks Holly) honestly, the answer to that is No. I did not start this blog to inspire and awe the masses, I started it to have a way to stay accountable and to track my daily intake and movement so that I could look back and see what was working and what was not. the truth is that I get emails from time to time or messages on a couple of forums that I read a lot saying that very thing, "You are inspiring" to answer the second part of Holly's comment, YES! it is pretty cool. I know first hand that dropping weight is not easy, fun, exciting or anything other than lots of hard work and discipline, so the fact that someone can find themselves inspired by me is a great feeling if I am being honest, I enjoy receiving emails, private messages and comments that let me know that not only someone cared enough to take the time to leave me a comment or write me that short note but that I may have inspired them to stay on track for the day, or just that they know they are not the only one struggling with something. Who wouldda thunk a fat guy could be an inspiration, just for dropping pounds? either way, Thanks to everyone that cared enough to drop me an email or a message or leave comments, many of you have inspired me as well.

Here is my menu from Tuesday.

04/22/08

Breakfast
8:15 AM
3 oz deli turkey 80
2 slice lite rye bread 80
1 tbsp miracle whip 35

11:00 AM
1 pear 80

Lunch
2:30 PM
1 lean cuisine 280
2 slices lite rye bread 80
1 dannon lite yogurt 60

Dinner
6:00 PM
1 can tuna 150
2 slices whole wheat bread 140
6oz sweet potato fries 150
1 tbsp miracle whip 35
5 wheat ritz crackers 70
ketchup 20

8:30 PM
1 banana 105
1 orange 80

Grand total of 1445 calories for the day ending with a couple pieces of fruit at the end of the night to make up some calories. everything is on track and the weight is still coming off. I am very pleased with my results to date and don't plan on stopping until I hit my goal weight and even then who knows.

As Ever
Me

112 days a reintroduction

It has been one hundred twelve days since I started this new way of life, I figured I would do a quick reintroduction post for anyone that has not seen the original.

I am a 30 something father of 2 children and husband to the most incredible woman on the planet. with that said I was also well above five hundred pounds just four months ago. It was rare that I was not the biggest guy in the crowd, I stand six foot five inches tall and have a large frame to go with the height and weight add the weight lifting from my late teens to early twenties and, well, You have a pretty large fellow. I never let it bother me and it did not keep me from doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. then about 7 years ago I suffered a back injury, a couple disks in my back were injured and I was basically immobilized for about a year and a half, I couldn't work and was basically miserable. the following 5 years I basically because of the lack of strength in my back and or the presence of pain gained a lot of weight, blowing up to the 500+ pound stature that I was until recently. I never even noticed that life was passing me by or that I was excluding myself from things that I would in the past do. maybe it was pride controlling how I was acting or maybe the fact that I did not want to admit that there was a problem, I don't know, But I do know there was a change in who I was. I recently (a year ago) moved back to my home state of CT from CA and started thinking about how things have changed in the past 7 years and was getting frustrated because I could see the change in myself more clear now since I was "back home" and my wife was growing more concerned with my weight by the day. so I started looking into a weight loss surgery and the more I read the less I liked the idea of having someone go into my body and cut things up and relocate things and force me to not eat as much as I had to have been to reach this size. then I read that death could be a side effect of the surgery, now I know that it could very well mean just because I would be going under for the procedure that there was a risk, I honestly did not look any further than that so I don't know where the risk comes in..I don't care. the mere suggestion that death was an option was enough to make me not want it, this was the first time in my adult life that I had felt fear and that is what has driven me to lose this weight. I have 2 children and a wife that loves me, death is not an option. besides, all that surgery would be for me is willpower at the edge of a scalpel. did I lack the willpower to not let myself die? was I really that weak? me? the guy that never let anything get to him or stop his forward motion? would I miss out on my daughter growing up only because I lacked the willpower to do something about it? No way, something clicked and the "old me" took over again, a decision was made.

112 days later and 83 lbs gone here I am. this is not a decision to lose a few pounds, this is not a decision "try" to lose weight. this is a decision by me to live and do what I have to do to see that my family has me around for a long time. and in the words of Forrest Gump. That's all I have to say about that.

As Ever
Me

Day 111

Lots and Lots of exercise this weekend and my body feels it, I am taking today off (Monday) as far as the exercise goes. I don't know exactly how many miles I walked this weekend but it was a lot. starting Friday right into Sunday there WAS Movement! my calves are tight, my thighs are sore, back aching and I feel great! Saturday My mother in law invited us over for chicken on the grill, baked sweet potatoes, corn on the cob and salad, I did have a tiny piece of a citrus pound cake for desert as well, it was a good meal. Entertainment was provided by watching my Mother in law and her man/boy friend/commonwealth husband, you choose the title, argue all day in that way that only they know how to so well. My weight is down from Friday and that makes me happy as well.

I did get to play with my car a bit on Sunday, I need to get her ready for the spring and summer right? a couple weeks back I bought some leather seats to put in it so I spent some time removing the old ones and swapping the seat tracks from the old seats to the new. I do need 1 track to complete the swap so the car sits seat less in the driveway atm while both sets of seats sit in the basement. the carpet was very dirty under the mats and the seats, much more dust than you would think could be under there so I will shampoo the carpet before returning the seats into the car as well, it should look pretty good when I am done, and I am looking forward to just taking it out for a ride through some of the twisty rural roads around my house. @$3.70 per gallon of gas it will be bitter sweet I am afraid, but I love driving my car so it is what it is.

Pre removal of the seats, she sits in the driveway.

The menu from Sunday was a good one, even though I did eat one late item. here it is.

04/20/08

Breakfast
9:45 AM
3oz deli turkey 75
2 slices lite rye 80
1 tbsp miracle whip 35
blueberry green tea 15

Lunch
1:30 PM
1 can progresso soup 120
3/4 cups cooked white rice 150
blueberry green tea 25

3:45 PM
1 pear 80

Dinner
6:15 PM
2 gortons fish fillet 340
7oz baked sweet potato 175
2 cups broccoli 60
ketchup 20

7:30 PM
2oz sweet potato 50

8:45 PM
1 Dannon lite yogurt 60

11:45 PM
1 beet egg 70

Grand total of 1355 calories for the day and the blueberry green tea I listed only because it had some calories in it, that along with my normal green tea intake was well over a gallon for Sunday. I had a great weekend and we rarely were not doing something from Friday afternoon right up until Sunday evening, the weather is getting beautiful outside so it is easy to make myself go out and do something that will burn some calories. Thanks for following my progress in this life changing regimen that I have taken on.

As Ever
Me

Day 109 A day at the park.

Day 109 was a good day, My father came visit unexpectedly so we decided to go to the park for the day, ahhhh finally I got to go to MY park lol. we played horse shoes for about 15 mins (my fathers Idea) that didn't last long before my father and I went walking aimlessly through the woods looking for Rabbits while wify and the kids kicked a ball around a little pavilion that was close to the horse shoe pits. no rabbits by the way, not yet at least. I did snap some pictures as we walked around the wetlands bird sanctuary, we ended up walking for about an hour and a half, starting at an Aviary thats near a playground where the kiddos were playing for a while. I am on my way out the door because its a beautiful day yet again, but I wanted to get a couple pics up before I left for the day. you can click the pictures for a larger view, hope you enjoy.

Here is a picture of the sun setting through the dried Bullrush and some trees, this is my favorite picture from the day so I posted it first.

A weird rooster at the Aviary, I don't recall what it was called exactly but cool looking none the less

The above and below ppictires are of some sort of pheasant if I remember correctly, the colors in the pictures do the bird no justice, they were extremely bright in color

This Emu just did not want to hold still for a photo, it took me at least 20 tries to get this one. he was as tall as I was.

This peacock was posing for the Camera nicely, I have about 15 photos of him, honestly he would not put his tail feathers up, that is until this little boy started shaking the enclosure he was in, then the tail went up and stayed that way for 10 minutes.

Just a little stream we walked past while hiking around the wetlands.

While the sun was setting it was lighting up the willow trees beautifully.

Another willow at sunset.

I just thought this picture came out cool, my father was making fun of the name on this tree, we have a good picture of him flamboyantly standing in front of it as well.

The sun setting through the trees from the wetlands.

Another of the sun setting through some willow trees.

Took this pic of a statue standing at the entrance to one of the gardens on my way out of the park, this was actually shot from inside the car.

That was my Friday in a nutshell, the intake was on par and a great time was had by all, we walked around a trail in the wetlands where its half a raised deck that winds through the swampy area and half of it is a trail that leads through the woods, we did see a Rabbit through the brush while in the wetlands but because of all of the brush the photos did not come out well, the rabbit does not show up in the pics. were headed out to Mom in laws to cook chicken on her grill so this shall end here, I hope you enjoy the pics, I have at least 90 pics total :) maybe I will post more later. Thanks for reading.

As Ever
Me

Day 108 & weighing in

Another day to weigh in has come, I got on the scale three times, the first time it said 450.4 lbs, then the second time it said 450.4 lbs, wow I thought not bad, third time on it said 451 lbs, so we will call it 451 for the "official" weight for the week, so loss of 3 lbs for the week. not as bad as I thought it was going to be and more than last week actually. all week the scale told me I was not going to have a good loss and here I am, its Friday and a more than 3 lb loss. I would count it as 450 but that 451 popped in there on the third try and I always record the highest number as my weight for the week.

This 1982 Suzuki GS 550 weighs in at 451 lbs

Calories came in at 1355 for the one hundred and eighth day so a little lower than the target 1500 but I am not too worried about that, it usually evens its self out. I plan on upping the exercise this week back to what it was a couple weeks ago, I feel as though I have been slacking this past week or two where exercise is concerned. the plan is to get in a walk five times a week and start doing my stretch routine along with the push ups and light weight work along with that walking. unfortunately I still cannot locate a pedal for my bike, (in all honesty I have not looked real hard lately). also I am going to be looking at what I eat this week a little closer just to get back to basics as I feel like I am getting too comfortable with this regimen.

Thats all she wrote, I am happy with the loss and we shall see where the next week brings us.

As Ever
Me

Would an average row boat support her without capsizing, Day 107

The thermometer in my back yard says 74 degrees right now, the sun is out and it could not be a more beautiful day. The children and me have been playing all day and we just got back from a 1.7 mile walk around the neighborhood, one thing that I learned today? Man do I need a new pair of sneakers, the shell toed Adidas jut aren't cutting it right now. if not for the sneaker issue I believe I could do 2 miles per day right now no problem. I am working myself up to 3 miles per day walking and the nice weather is making it easier to go do it, though I almost didn't go today until I read a blog or two and decided it was dumb not to go and there really was no reason. I feel good after a nice walk, and listening to my daughter point out every minute detail within things that I would never have noticed. from sticks to cats hiding in bushes right on up to every single airplane and bird that passes by, "look dad a baby!" as a mom with a stroller walks past us I have to admit I do enjoy the walks a lot more than I would have 4 months ago.

while looking around I found some shoes that peak my curiosity, a company called Vibram makes them and well, I will let the photo speak for its self, if you knew me personally you would understand why these make so much sense for me. lets just say that I can pick up a tennis ball with my toes, also I can pick dimes up off of the floor with my bare feet. I rarely have something on my feet if I am in doors or in the yard, me and bare feet are like coffee and donuts. I am seriously considering getting myself a pair of these Vibram FiveFingers Sprints to wear.

My intake for the day only came in at 1280 calories, I have been picking up fresh sweet potatoes and seasoning them and making french fries out of them a lot lately, I am hooked! calories are not high, they are filling and sweet potato just happen to be one of my favorite foods so its a win win. I do know that I have been slacking on water/tea the past few days and this may be why my weight is not moving this week, I have corrected it for today and have already drank more than a gallon of water and its about 2:00 pm right now, so I am on track for today. I look forward to the park this weekend, if we do in fact end up going I will bring the digital camera and post up a few pics as it really is a nice park. that shall end this episode of my little story, everyone that is following along, again I thank you, and keep on keepin yourselves and it has to happen for you.

As Ever
Me

106 Days in and I'm still here

Here we are and there we were and that brick wall is in front of me this week. I seem to have hit a brick wall as I stood on the scale this morning pondering how or why she was whispering into my ear that I am up one pound from Fridays weigh in. it has been like that all week, up a pound down a pound up one down two, and here I am its Wednesday and I am 455lbs. This makes me wonder whats different this week, I look at my intake and its on par be it slightly higher than normal but under goal so I am curious whats so different. I ask myself this morning a few questions, have I been sticking to healthy choices in food? the answer to that is yes, but I have not eaten soup (from a can) for a week at least, something to think about, but could soup really be the problem? dunno. Are you getting in all of your exercise? No I am not, I haven't really gone on a walk in the past 5 days or so but the weekend was very active and yesterday I was sore so did not go for a walk, could the lack of exercise be the culprit? maybe. How is my fluid intake? not as high as it has been through this whole thing, ok I will adjust. I feel like I am getting too comfortable and therefore getting cocky with the feeling that "I got this", and I think a whole lot of little things can become a big thing. Now I might be over reacting with the feeling that I am slacking a bit but at the same time I am up a pound where in the past I would be down three by this time in the week. so it must be adjusted.

With that out of the way the only thing that can be done is to keep on keepin on and thats the plan as it has been the plan from the beginning. I don't really like to dwell on the negative so I won't, as negativity breeds more of the same. when I first started this there was a determination in me that was unstoppable, now I am not saying that I am not unstoppable at this point in the game but some of the hardcore go get em attitude has dropped out of the line of sight I think. hence the fact that I am not exercising as I was in the beginning, and that has to change. when I started out I was doing maybe 100-150 push ups per day through out the day, I have honestly done maybe 30 this whole month. I could not be happier with my results thus far and don't plan on slowing down until I hit my goal, which is a long way off.

I rounded off the 106th day with 1305 calories total, so not bad at all. the over all feeling is a good one, but I know that I need to look at what I am doing as if its with the same eyes that was looking at it on Jan 1st, so I am going to go back and re read all of my old posts and see whats different from then until now, maybe if I hit it hard for the rest of the week I can make a dent in the poundage. I really want into the 440's! please don't read this post as negative, I am in a very up beat mood, just realizing that I may need to look at how I am doing things compared to how I was doing things. time for a shower and a walk so the post ends there, Thanks for following along and again the support is appreciated, so keep it coming!

As Ever
Me

2520 hours into this ride, AKA Day 105

Going over calories is all too easy lately, I had 1547 calories which is only 47 over the limit but if thats done each day for a week its almost 350 calories at the end of the week, so today (Tuesday) the mission will be to not go over my limit. otherwise I am doing ok, I think I am starting to get too comfortable with this way of life and letting myself slip a little too often as of late. so I think I need to adjust a bit. besides the slippage everything is on track for the most part.

Temptation comes in many forms, to some it might be a bottle of fine wine, and to others it could be the way a beautiful woman smiles at you as she walks down the street. now there are some people that temptation is a double cheese burger with bacon, onions and swiss. Hell, put all three of those scenarios together and we could be talking about a pretty good night! everyone has something that just does it for them, but every day people have to make decisions, decisions that mold their lives. giving into that bottle of fine wine may just mean that an alcoholic just fell off of the wagon and will now start drinking again, the woman walking down the street may be the affair that destroys a marriage, and that cheese burger no matter how trivial it may seem to some people might just mean that someone fails at losing the weight that is so very critical to their health, so everyone is tempted at some point. the trick is to not give into the urges and resist temptation. whats your point you ask? no point really, just some thoughts put to post, I believe that temptations and lack of self control is the biggest factor in failed attempts at something like weight loss. the other examples fall into this category as well in my opinion. Realizing that choices are yours to make and the only thing needed is the will to make it so is a very empowering thing, knowledge is power and when you have the power you are in control, I believe I have stepped across that threshold in recent months and have taken back something that I let get too far off in the distance as I idly sat watching it go out with the tide. will I succeed at this weight loss? maybe, might I fail? possible, BUT as long as I stay in control I increase the chance of success.

My intake has stayed steady and true and I have dropped a lot of weight, in fact if someone told me I would weigh this much less at the beginning of the year, I would have told them they were nuts. but here we are and the weight is gone so maybe it was me that was nuts all those years thinking that I couldn't do this. I have lots of weight to lose still but I think I am off to a good start, and I am willing to call this a start at this point.

heres Mondays menu.

04/14/2008

Breakfast
7:45 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Lunch
12:30 PM
1 gortons fish fillet 170
1 arnold 100 calorie roll 100
1 apple 75
crystal light 15

3:15 PM
8 whole wheat ritz crackers 112
1oz vermont sharp white cheddar 110

Dinner
5:45 PM
2 cups dads chicken soup 300
3/4 cup white rice 150

6:30 PM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

8:00 PM
green tea w/honey 40
1 orange 75

Grand total of 1547 calories for the day.

As Ever
Me

Day 104 and a nice long weekend.

The search planes went out Sunday evening and they saw me sitting on a beach talking to a Volley ball, I waved them off but they came and got me anyways, I am back on the blog, I missed this whole weekend of posting because it was too nice out all weekend to be inside at my Lap top. it started out as any other weekend might have and then I looked at my thermometer which said 60 degrees, I thought to myself wow thats warm for 8:00 am so I opened the door and wow was it gorgeous outside, Saturday ended up being in the 70's and we went to a park near my house, we bought lunch (Subway) and headed on over, we took a walk out on the small pier that shoots out into the center of this small lake and hung out on the end for a while just taking in the day and getting a light sun burn, we fed the geese that were swimming around I spotted a Bass swimming around that had to be more than a foot and a half long, and I saved a turtle that was stuck on some branches, we ended up taking a walk through the woods on a partially paved path, all in all Saturday was a good day that ended up with kicking a soccer ball around the back yard with the kiddos. I did go over calories on Saturday by about 100, the day ended up at 1605 total calories. it was quite a relaxing day if not a little busy early on with some chores.

Saturday felt just about how this picture looks, click the pic for a full size view.

Then there was Sunday, it was a bit colder and very windy, still nice, we decided to hang around the house and the yard for the day, we ended up kicking the ball around the yard again and just fooling around all day. another nice day, I over all feel great and this weekend showed me some of what I have been missing because of my weight for the past few years. being able to go for walks again without getting winded or having my back scream at me the entire time is something that would have been taken for Granted in the not so distant past, pre me at 500 + pounds. Saturday I remembered just how much I enjoy walking through the woods or just plain old walking around and not having my back or breath as my main concern. the weight that I have dropped so far has made a huge difference in my quality of life and nothing or no one can say different. The world is seen through different eyes when you are 500+ pounds and I know that view all too well, and I am not looking back. I believe that its a feeling that can only be fully understood if the shoes have been on your own feet, even I did not see that there was such a difference until recently. I will put Sundays menu up now it was not a great day but I did come in under calories.

04/13/2008

Breakfast
10:30 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Lunch
1:00 PM
1 can tuna 150
2 slices whole wheat bread 140
1 tbsp miracle whip 35
1oz vermont sharp white cheddar 110
5 whole wheat ritz crackers 70
1 pat butter 35

Dinner
6:15 PM
2 gortons fish fillets 340
5oz home made french fries 125
1 cup green beans 40

8:30 PM
strawberry zone perfect bar 200

Grand total of 1445 calories for the day, but they were not as spread out as I would have liked so I consider it a not so good day. my weight has not gone lower than Fridays weigh in, in fact I am up a pound, which is odd since I ate ok and got in lots of movement this weekend, I am not worried about it because it usually works itself out by Tuesday of so, as long as I am down on Friday thats all that I worry about, the day to day fluctuations don't get to me any more. Thank You for reading and following along with my little piece of the world. it is appreciated.

As Ever
Me

Cloned beef and Storm troopers

Many of you that read this blog daily know that I don’t eat beef products because I do not like the idea of eating cloned meat, who would have ever thought that George Lucas had it right when he wrote Star Wars so many years ago? Now I know that cloned cattle and storm troopers are not exactly the same but the concept is. The cloned animals are Frankensteined into profit for the big company that can afford the process of inserting the DNA from a super cow or super bull into an empty egg taken from a donor and literally shocking it into life, and then in a dish it grows into their prize money maker, not unlike the Jedi did with good old Boba Fett making all of those Storm troopers. So this animal grown from some DNA cells and an empty egg gets cut into pieces and ends up on our kitchen tables, and where does that leave the little guy farmer in all of this? Yep, you guessed it, out of business because he can’t compete with the big company that’s cloning the food that we willingly put into our bodies. No thanks none for this fella.

There is nothing from the FDA that states that the cloned meat has to be labeled that way. Any package of beef or gallon of milk in the supermarket may just be from a cloned animal and yet you have no way to make the choice whether you want to eat it or not, I read a poll once which showed that more than 60% of consumers would not buy cloned beef if it was labeled, I just do not agree with it, it feels like they are slipping something into our daily life that just doesn’t need to be there, what exactly is wrong with the cattle that we have been eating all of these years without cloning? It’s all about money and not about anything more than that. If we accept this then the next thing may be bigger, after all we’ve all been eating the cloned meat and no one has died, right? I cannot stress enough how much I do not agree with it.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the subject, and there is mine. It is something to think about, whether you want to eat beef that was naturally born and slaughtered or if you want to put an animal into your mouth that was genetically created in a lab because it happened to have some good genes or produced more milk than the cow standing next to it. I am against it and will not eat anything that I know has a chance of being cloned livestock, unfortunately for me this includes pigs as well as cattle so I am limited to fish and fowl for now. hopefully I can get some good fishing in this year and get some fresh caught fish in the freezer so I can avoid store bought meat all together at least for some meals.

As Ever
Me

101 days into this now

I knew the loss would not be big this week but I am happy because there was a loss, I weighed in at 454 lbs this morning, which is a two pound loss for the week, coming off of an 8 lb loss from last week and being sick I call 2 lbs great. yesterday I was 453 in the morning but I know I was a bit dehydrated at that point so I drank more than usual yesterday which is probably contributing to todays weigh in, but the scale said 454 so thats what it gets recorded at. two more pounds that is not on my body is good news to me.

This Zo6 Corvette engine weighs in at 454 pounds

On a side note, I wanted to mention that I think I have the most annoying, rude, intrusive, and downright bad neighbors in the state. last year when we moved into this place I noticed that they were a little less than refined, which is fine, to each their own. the problem is that we share a back yard, its a small enough yard that children playing would have a hard time avoiding one another if both sets wanted to play a different ball game, so sharing is not a problem, BUT these kids are just wild, and I mean wild in the way that last night we went outside in the yard because it was just downright gorgeous out, and my kids were kicking a ball around and playing nicely together as I played with my car for a minute, the neighbors kids started trickling out one by one First the little girl comes out, she is about 5 years old and the wildest of the bunch, she immediately walked up and started screaming that the ball my kids were playing with was hers, and I mean uncontrolled screaming and acting like someone just twisted her arm up behind her back or something, I step in and tell her that its My sons ball but if she wants to play too that she can, she starts screaming bloody murder again that its her ball, bleh whatever kid. then out comes the smallest of the three, he is less than 3 years old but more than 2 and a half and is the most tolerable of the kids. he starts playing with the ball with my daughter which went ok besides that he kept taking the ball and running with it so that she could not get it, no worries hes only 2 and a half right? so I just get another ball to avoid an argument with a 2 year old. then out comes the 8 year old, now he is not as big a problem and usually plays good with my son unless his 5 year old sister is out there (which she was) and he begins to take over the entire yard with his kicking the ball as hard as he can towards the 2 youngest kids, my daughter and his brother, so I put a stop to that, not so bad you say right? but I haven't got to the wild parts yet, before the night was over the 5 year old had pretty much screamed for no reason for 30 minutes, real relaxing right? she had thrown some coffee mugs against the house and shattered them, and had to be asked to stop hitting my son repeatedly, the 8 year old? he all but tore the swingset out of the ground, it was almost flipped onto my son at one point and he beat up his sister (the 5 year old) almost the whole time we were outside and kept kicking the ball into the other neighbors yard and would not stop with his just plain old being annoying, the 2 and a half year old? well hes too young to complain about and its not his fault anyways look what hes working with, now where were the parents you ask? I have no clue, I can assume they were in the house while their kids just went wild and tore up the yard and broke cups against the back of the house. its going to be a long summer I think. sorry for the rant ;)

My intake for the day went well and I came in at 1235 calories for the day, a bit under I know, but with the heavy dinner of turkey burgers and weigh in day today I figured I was cool for food. over all I am happy with the 2 pound drop for today, the way I see it is a loss is a loss is a loss. with the week I had last week I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen a gain for this week. I have been reading up on a few things and plan on posting some of it up so look for that. Thanks for following along and I hope anyone weighing in today has good results.

As Ever
Me

An evening interlude

I just thought I would post up a quick interlude for the evening, I am in the mood to write and I took a picture of my dinner, which was fantastic. we made Turkey burgers out of some ground turkey that I seasoned and diced some onion into and tossed on the grill. everyone in the house liked them and they smelled great too, with them I made some home made french fries which also turned out great, I basically just cut up and seasoned some russet potatoes. I had 2 burgers (4oz each) with onion, pickles, spicy mustard and ketchup on them with 5oz of the french fries. it was way too much food but I was low on calories for today, for some reason all I had was some fruit and a soup at lunch so the meal could have been only one burger and been enough to fill me up. the best part you ask? the entire meal was only 585 calories including the condiments! if you were to have only one burger cut the calories by 220 + condiments, so it would be 365 calories for everything minus one burger. This will be added to my meals. its not as good as a nice fat juicy Cheese burger but its very close and for a nice low amount of calories.

For fun I added up the calories that this would have if it were 85% lean ground beef and regular rolls with your average steak fries and the total was 940 calories. all calorie counts were taken off of The daily plate. that a nice little savings in calories if I do say so myself.

Grilled turkey burgers with home made fries, click the pic for a larger view.

I may post up exactly how it was prepared and cooked in a later post for reference but it was pretty simple and in my opinion it was very tasty and you cannot argue with the low calorie count, the only complaint that I have is the ground turkey grosses me out a bit, but thats because I have this thing about raw fowl, it gives me the willys. Thats all folks.

As Ever
Me

Day 100

The days keep piling on and the weight keeps falling off, I have reached triple digit days, the day I reach triple digit weight loss will be a great day for me. things are going ok but this week the weight loss has been very little to none. lately when I wake up I feel heavy, ok ok so I AM heavy, no surprise there right? but really, I don't know how to explain it other than I feel heavy. I wake up and walk down stairs and it just feels like I am somehow being pulled down the stairs, like gravity has increased for me or something. theres nothing going on with gravity that I should know about is there?

I have not had any of my Arizona green tea for a couple days so I have been brewing everything that I have been drinking, I have been alternating between the gunpowder tea and the tea bags that I have, the gunpowder tastes best to me and I brew it in a stainless steel tea ball that we picked up a while back, I am actually looking into getting a green tea plant, something interesting that I have found out while exploring this idea is that Green tea, Black tea , and Oolong tea is all made from the same plant, which is a shrub called Camellia sinensis, the difference in the teas is the way the leaves are processed, to make green tea the leaves are steamed an then dried, and to make black tea the leaves are bruised fermented than dried and Oolong is somewhere in between that. It seems like a cool Idea to me since I drink so much to raise a plant and see if I can make some tea myself. If this idea materializes I will be sure to post some pics of the plant.

My calories for day 100 ended up at 1385 for the day, ending with some Green jello around 8:00pm, we have been making sugar free jello every day since I found out that my daughter loves to help make it. she mixes it, she pours the cold water into the bowl and then picks a spot in the fridge for it and reminds us that its in there after dinner each night. Intake is average and I am not varying from my path at all. weigh in day is upon us once again tomorrow and I am not expecting a big drop as I have been checking in all week and my weight has not moved in either direction for the most part, its slightly down but not a whole lot at all. I think its because I was sick lat week and had that 8 lb drop so this week is catching up. either way it is what it is and will be the number reported on tomorrows post, no worries, I have come to the realization that this is not a race nor is it a competition, I am in this all by my onesome just like each and every one of us is. the support helps and is likely a huge factor in the success but when it comes down to it at the end of the day when the lights are out, its just you by yourself and doing whats right for your body to create the masterpiece that is you.

As Ever
Me

99 bottles of beer on the wall..or days if you will

Almost one hundred days in now, something of interest to me and maybe some of you, I drink from Nalgene bottle regularly, basically if I am drinking water its out of my green bottle. Now I have been hearing that these types of bottles are not safe to drink out of because the chemicals in the plastics leak into the water and can be unsafe in lab tests. what I have been reading says that the clear/colored bottles are the ones that are not safe, they usually have the number 7 inside their recycling triangle on the bottom of the container, but the Nalgene bottles that have a milky color to them are 100% safe and usually have the number 2 in the triangle, Nalgene is a great material for drinking water because it is very resistant to stains, odor does not go through them nor do chemicals and have been used in the medical field for years. does this mean that I will toss out my trusty green bottle? nah, just means that if I see one of the milky colored bottles I will buy it and switch, keeping the green one for outings etc.

My day went well as far as the calories and I did get in a walk early in the day, just under 1.5 miles and it felt good, then later in the day some "free" exercise as I like to call it when its something that needed to be done, Wify and I went outside and raked up the back yard and all around the back porch where we found that the flowers were coming up through the dead leaves so I am curious to see how many pop up this year. My calories were within limit coming in at 1344 BUT I did have a chocolate egg late last night that is not listed on the menu (smaller than a Hershey kiss so it can't be too many calories) here is the menu for day 99.

04/08/2008

Breakfast
8:30 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

11:15 AM
zone perfect bar 210

Lunch
2:00 PM
progresso soup 120
3/4 cup white rice 150
2 hebrew national hot dogs 90

Dinner
6:00 PM
5oz steamed shrimp 150
5oz broccoli 39
3/4 cups white rice 150
random spices 15
crystal light 20

7:45 PM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95


Grand total of 1344 calories for the day, plus that tiny egg o not too bad at all. I am feeling good about the direction this whole thing is going and just takin it one day at a time.

As Ever
Me

Day 98, Surviving Peanut butter

Its 8:30 am and the peanut butter is safe and sound inside its plastic jar snug up in the cabinet. I have no clue what that urge was about last night but I am happy that it has passed. like I stated in the previous post, that is only the second time in more than 3 months that I have had urges like that and it was more hunger pains than an urge but man I don't like it. as I type this I am eating, you guessed it, a banana with peanut butter on it and my morning green tea. I was attempting to not drink the green tea yesterday (wify made a suggestion) BUT I am a firm believer in the teas appetite suppression qualities now. I have read that it can suppress appetite and I was admittedly skeptic about it, not any more. I 100% believe that the tea has been helping me by not only boosting my metabolism but by helping with the urges. To go from about a gallon per day to none may have played a role in my little peanut butter attack last evening.

Green tea fields of Daehan Tea Plantation Posung county, South Cholla Province Korea

So..now that I have got that figured out, we can move onto the rest of the days activities, which weren't much I am afraid. just an average day on the ranch. I did go over calories by just a bit but I am not worried about it as my scale is still headed down so I am happy about that. also it is suppose to reach 60 degrees this week so I am hoping that I can get out to the park sometime and maybe get a walk in at the bird sanctuary, I will most certainly post some pictures when I do get over there, its a beautiful park. speaking of parks, I have also set a goal for myself for this coming fall, there is a park in CT called Sleeping Giant, when I was a kid we went there a lot to hike to the top of the "mountain" if you want to call it a mountain. it is a beautiful place but I have not been there in I would have to say at least 15 years. there are all sorts of trails and its a very nice place to hike, so I thought it would be a good idea to hike to the top as a goal. I do not believe that I could make it without a lot of trouble right now as I am, so I wish to get into a physical shape that I can bring my kids up there as my father brought me. so that is now an "official" goal of mine.

Here is a photo of Sleeping Giant and its obvious where it got the name.

Here is the menu from Monday.

04/07/2008

Breakfast
8:00 AM
1 banana 105

10:30 AM
2 hebrew national hot dogs 90
2 slices lite rye bread 80
ketchup 15

Lunch
1:30 PM
1 can progresso soup 120
3/4 cup cooked white rice 150

3:30 PM
crystal light 40

Dinner
6:15 PM
7oz roast chicken breast 385
2 cups fresh frozen green beans 90
3/4 cup cooked white rice 150
1 pat butter 35
random spices 10

7:30 PM
Banana 105
Peanut Butter 95

8:45 PM
Orange 80

Grand total of 1550 calories for the day, slightly over my limit but even still not too bad considering, over all I am happy with the progress and other than yesterday the intake has been great. Until we meet again.

As Ever
Me