The last day of June has come, 6 months into this weight loss thang.

Today is the half way point of my first year of eating well, I have to admit that I did not think it would happen this fast or with this much success. once upon a time there was this fellow that could not take a walk with his Wife, father and kids to go see a broken bridge and a waterfall, that man got tired of life passing him by while he made excuse after excuse as to why he was not going somewhere or doing something, "no thanks honey I will stay here and read, you go ahead and take the kids to the movies" because the seats just were not comfortable and pride would not let that be admitted, or the late night cell phone call "Hey honey I am stopping at Del Taco do ya want anything?" meanwhile buying two extra cheeseburgers to eat on the way home on top of what ever way too fattening meal was bought to eat when he got home, and if my wife reads this (which I know she does) it will be the first time that I ever admitted to the extra burgers and she will be learning something that I use to do right here. I don't like that guy, he is not me and I really don't understand how he ever existed. He is gone now, He will never be back, He is a ghost and a mere short chapter in a long book of one mans life and I ain't goin back to that, not now, not ever.


onto the intake for Sunday, 1401 was the magic number for the day I went over goal by 1 calorie, but its ok because my limit is 1500, I am eating 1400 calories per day this week to make up for the rum cake that I had on my birthday so I am not worried about going over, only a psychotic would be bothered by a 1 calorie miss and though I have my moments that ain't me. I am also shooting for 100 push ups per day this whole week as a sort of challenge to myself, it is not a hard challenge at all and I do modified push ups part of the time it is still more than I usually do in a day, my normal amount is 50-70 so its up by 30-50 extra per day for this whole week. I am also doing some light weights again along with my stretches, I am a little worried about losing too much muscle mass during this whole weight loss thing so I have to do something to keep it on my body. I know that I will lose some muscle mass because I am losing weight in large quantities and as soon as I get to my goal weight I will focus on lifting for mass again but the loss of the weight is priority one right now and will remain at 80% of my full focus until my goal of 275 is reached, I honestly feel like 275 is ambitious and a good healthy weight for me will be closer to 300 lbs.

Here is my menu from Sunday

06/29/08

Breakfast
9:30 AM
2 80 calorie rolls 160
2 eggs 140
1 tbsp miracle whip 35

10:00 AM
2oz watermelon 17

Lunch
2:00 PM
1 can of soup 120
1/2 cup white rice 100

Dinner
6:00 PM
8oz ground turkey 320
2 80 calorie rolls 160
3/4 cup rice pilaf 165
1 cup cut green beans 45
condiments 20

10:15 PM
6 ritz crackers 84
1 wedge of laughing cow 35

Grand total of 1401 calories and dats dat. I believe my 412 pound weigh in from Friday was partially dehydration because I have been up from that weight since Saturday (by a pound and a half) and I know that I had not eaten enough to actually gain weight over night and to have the weight never come back down throughout the weekend makes me think I was dehydrated for the weigh in. either way I will be lower than last weeks weigh in this Friday because thats just how I get down. Thank you for taking the time to read my page, it is very much appreciated. Keep on keepin on and eat well.

As Ever
Me

Sunday after the Rum Cake

Its Sunday and a thunderstorm has me hiding inside the house so I figured it was time to post for the day, Saturdays intake was good with one exception, Rum cake... My calories were roughly around 1000 after breakfast, lunch and dinner because of saving up or the cake. I have no clue how many calories were in that slice of heavenliness and I do not care, its my birthday and I will have rum cake if I want to! no wait thats not how the song goes.. well I still don't care! I have it once per year and I ain't passing it up! otherwise the day was fine I rode the bike and did some push ups and even got a little time in fishing. Saturday was a decent day all around.

Like I stated earlier my intake was a little off because of the cake, for all I know I did not go over calories at all because I honestly don't know how many calories are in it, but I am pretty sure I went over because of the size of the piece I had. Lunch was pretty much nonexistent with some watermelon and dinner was awesomeness on the end of a fork, we had Salmon fillets with cut green beans and a rice pilaf, with the rum cake for dessert. I send about 1/3 of the cake home with my father as he is where I got the addiction from he was happy to oblige and there is still a piece left large enough for my wife and I to have a small piece each after dinner tomorrow, and I have not decided whether I will in fact have that second piece 2 days later or not, I think I already know the answer but I will pretend that I need to make a decision. Rum cake IS my weakness!

Here is a look at my menu from Saturday.

06/28/08 Breakfast
10:30 AM
12 ritz crackers 168
2 wedges laughing cow 70

Lunch
1:00 PM
22 oz water melon 187

Dinner
6:15 PM
6oz salmon fillet 320
3/4 cup rice pilaf 165
1 cup cut green beans 45

7:15 PM
big piece of rum cake ???

Grand total? not real sure, I know it was not as bad as it could have been because I did eat light all day as well as I slept in so breakfast was late. I may to offset the cake have 1400 calories per day this entire week, I have not made that decision yet but there is a good chance that I do it. Thanks for following along with me and my weight loss journey, come back same bat time same bat channel tomorrow for a new post.

As Ever
Me

He's back folks! and another weigh in day hath cometh!

I always seem to gravitate to Freddy when I have something great happen, and with that "I've paid my dues - Time after time - I've done my sentence But committed no crime - And bad mistakes I've made a few I've had my share of sand kicked in my face - But I've come through We are the champions - my friends And we'll keep on fighting - till the end" and as corny as that may sound, its how I feel this morning after stepping on the scale. the first time on it said 411.6 pounds "no friggin way" I think to myself and on again second time said 412.4 hmmmm third times a charm, 412.2 pounds woohoo! that is a six pound loss this week! to say that I am happy with this loss would not be doing it justice, I will take it! My father asks me each time I talk to him "how many bags" and what he means is how many 5lb bags of sugar have I lost so far when he asks this week I can tell him "24 bags and a 2lb box" I am a mere thirteen pounds from hitting that milestone of being under 400 pounds! I feel as if a fire has been lit under my ass and its on again! My header states it pretty much as it is "It's a state of mind" now get out of my way because I ain't stoppin.

This SV1000 weighs in at 412 pounds just like me.


Ali Vincent weighed in at 122 pounds when she won the biggest loser earlier this year which is what I have lost so far this year.

My intake for Thursday was right where I wanted it to be, coming in at 1275 for the day and today (Friday) will be my last day at 1300 calories, tomorrow I will eat 1400 and then Sunday back to 1500 and the exercise will continue as it is, riding the bike and my calisthenics daily until my heel heals up then walking will be added in alternating days with the bike, The importance of being consistent and sticking with the plan and not varying off even by a little bit has become abundantly clear to me and now you will not see me run off course again, lesson learned. here is the menu from Thursday.

06/26/08


Breakfast
9:00 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Lunch
12:30 PM
3oz deli turkey 90
2 slices whole wheat bread 140
1 tbsp miracle whip 35

2:45 PM
1 progresso soup 120

Dinner
6:00 PM
3/4 cup white rice 150
1/2 cup black beans 90
4oz chicken 240

9:00 PM
10 ritz crackers 140
2 laughing cow wedges 70

Grand total of 1275 calories for Thursday and a six pound loss for the week, Thank you for reading my ramblings and thank you for your support, I look forward to reporting my losses right on up to goal, this weeks loss brings me to 122 pounds lost and I am almost to a point where my losses are more than whats left to lose, I have 137 more pounds until I hit my goal of 275 pounds, so roughly 7 more pounds until I have lost half of the total that I need to lose. what else can I really say? I am happy, I know where I was messing up, it has been corrected and here we are.

As Ever
Me

Movement...it does a body good

Feeling good about how this week is going with the intake a well as the bike riding, oh yeah did I mention that I fixed my bike? again.. a while back I had an issue with one of the pedals for my bike and had a hard time finding a replacement pedal but I did, upon receiving the new/old set of pedals I stripped the threads on the crank while hastily installing one of the pedals and it soon came loose again doh! so I contacted the fella with the bike and asked if he still had the crank risers for the bike and offered him the shipping for them if he would send them out to me, to which he replied "I will sell them to you for $20" so me being me and pretty resourceful I decided that $20 for the pedals and another $20 for the risers just was not worth it and that I would just re-tap the threads and I forgot about the risers, then I received an email from the fella saying that he was tossing the bike because he could not find replacement pedals (duh) and that he was going to send out the crank risers in the mail and they got here yesterday so for that I am appreciative. and now I have my bike back..again! I rode the bike twice yesterday, once early in the day and then last night around 8:30 pm, man am I glad that I have the bike back.

Intake was lower than my allotted 1300 per day for this week, it came in at 1205 for the day which is fine by me, its only this week that I have lowered the intake and I am not finding myself any more hungry than when the cap is set at 1500. I have also picked up on my "little things" again to burn a few more calories throughout the day, and when I say "little things" I mean things like walking upstairs to use the bathroom up there because of the extra movement on the stairs. You would be surprised how many calories can be burned by adding some small things to your day, here is a list of some activities and the calories they burn, the figures I have are for a 200 pound person doing 15 minutes worth of the activity unless otherwise noted.

carrying 1 to 15 lb load, upstairs 120 calories burned
this one is good for the example I gave above, it takes only a few seconds to run up the stairs but do that enough throughout the day and we have something. I literally walk up and down the stairs in my home at least 30 times per day between going to get something for the kids or to use the bathroom.

30 mins sex 200 calories calories burned
This one is a no brainer! its fun, its relaxing, it feels good AND you can get healthy doing it! I'm in!

stationary bike very vigorous effort 200-250 calories burned
seriously is 15 minutes busting ass on the bike bike not worth those calories?

stationary bike light effort 130 calories burned
and this one is taking your time using light effort

shoveling, heavy (more than 16 pounds/minute) 215 calories burned
who wouldda thunk? I used this one a lot this past winter, and your getting something done at the same time! so put that snow blower away.

shoveling, light (less than 10 pounds/minute) 140 calories burned
and if you wish to take your time :)

jogging, in place 190 calories burned
try it, its not as easy as you would think yet it is easy peasy all at the same time

running, 5 mph (12 min/mile) 190 calories burned
190 calories for 12 minutes of your time? waddya say? (I can't wait until I can do this one)

kick ball 160 calories burned
the next time your kids are bugging you to do something and you think "Uuuuggghhh!" grab a ball and go play a quick 15 min game of kick ball, they will love you for it and you will burn 160 calories!




shooting hoops in the driveway (not a game) 110 calories burned
same as above, 110 for some down time with the kiddos? worth it

fishing in stream 120 calories burned
This one is for me, I have begun to fish again as of late and to burn 140 calories per 15 mins doing something that relaxes me AND I have a chance at some trout fillets? yep I am there.

watering lawn or garden 35 calories burned
just to pace through your yard holding a hose? c'mon you can do that can't ya?

fishing from river bank, standing 83 calories burned
again for me this one is great!

guitar, classical, folk (sitting) 48 calories burned
I play my guitar at least an hour per day on and off, and ya mean I get to burn calories while doing it?

pistol shooting or trap shooting, standing 60 calories burned
spend some time at your local shooting range lately? it does after all aid in losing weight :)

sitting - playing with child light, only active periods 60 calories burned
welcome to my world! playing with a doll house never looked so appealing!

billiards 60 calories burned
"hey honey I am going out to the pool hall for a while to burn some fat!"

cooking or food preparation - standing or sitting or in general (not broken into stand/walk components), manual appliances 100 calories burned
I cook every day and I choose to stand while doing so, waters boiling? I am standing or pacing in the kitchen, something simmering? yup I am standing in the kitchen.

mild stretching 60 calories burned
this one is great! I do a 15 min stretch before every workout, you can even do this throughout the day at work or at home, anywhere really and there is almost zero effort needed

standing - playing with child(ren) ? light, only active periods 70 calories burned
once again welcome to my day

miniature golf 72 calories burned
fore!

horseshoe pitching 71 calories burned
this is one of my fathers favorite things to do, he came in 2nd place at his club (yeah there are horse shoe clubs!)

children's games (hopscotch, 4-square, dodge ball, playground apparatus, t-ball, tether ball, marbles, jacks) 119 calories burned
once again welcome to my day!

It is very easy to get extra movement into your day with the little things that you need to do every day anyways or in tiny 15 minute increments, where is the harm in walking upstairs every time you need to use the bathroom? or standing in the kitchen the entire time dinner is being cooked or while the pot of water boils? something else that I do is if watching tv, during commercials I will hop up and do some push ups, I also park as far away from the door as possible in a parking lot. many of the things listed above take almost no effort and most are enjoyable. a positive attitude gets you only so far, doing more throughout the day to burn as many calories as possible gets you there quicker and will likely add to your life span. my point is that if you think you cannot exercise, if you think that getting exercise in during the day is hard You are wrong! this short list of things that I put up there is a mere sliver compared to the things that can be done to make yourself a healthier and lighter person and all by doing things that you have to do anyways. Thats my post for the day and as always I thank you for reading along, whatever you do just remember, sex is good for you so do it often!

As Ever
Me

Slipping? who me? no way man!

A few posts ago I mentioned that I readjusted how I was doing things because I felt that I was slipping (wow there were a lot of "I's" in that sentence) I seem to have renewed my eager willingness to be as strict as a Sunday school teacher that has had a bad week where my intake is concerned. I have not slipped or eaten one single thing that has not made it onto my Excel sheet since that day and this is how it will be from here on out, no exceptions. somehow it feels as if I have reached an agreement with my will again and that agreement is that I have a long way to go and as long as my will can hold out and I can stay focused, what I want I shall have and thats that.

Intake was good for Tuesday coming in at 1273 calories for the day I can honestly say that lowering my calories to 1300 per day this week vs my normal 1500 is not effecting me one bit as far as the being hungry goes. Hopefully this tactic of cycling my calories lower this week kick starts me into a good week, not that last week was a bad week at a 3 lb loss but I know in my heart of hearts that I was not being true to myself when I was "taste testing" things or grabbing that extra few bites of whatever it might have been. bottom line is that I am back to the insane eat right guy status that I had lost there for a couple of weeks. I had this feeling of being unstoppable, the invincible weight loss guy and though I have not had a week where I have gained yet (I haven't even had a week where I didn't lose yet!), I felt like I was slowly losing focus because I was getting comfy with my size again but I just needed to realize that I am going for the Gold this time Bronze just will not cut it and the end result will be me at 275 lbs, and who knows? maybe I will go even lower once I hit 275.

Here is my menu from Tuesday.

06/25/08

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

12:00 PM
21 oz watermelon 178

Lunch
3:00 PM
2 multigrain muffins 200
sliced tomato 10
1 tbsp miracle whip 35

Dinner
6:45 PM
6oz deli turkey 180
3 slice whole wheat bread 210
slightly more than 1 tbsp miracle whip 45
1oz smart puffs 130

9:00 PM
1 pear 85

Grand total is 1273 calories for Tuesday and were on our way to a nice loss this week. I AM determined to get to the end of this weight loss goal and I DO intend on becoming as healthy as I can so that I will be around a long long time , so thats bad news for anyone that would bet against me because I do not give up on things, especially things that are important to me.

As Ever
Me

Tuesday Morning and the start of a good week

As far as the change in my lifestyle goes I have to report only good things so far for this week, I have decided to drop the calories to no more than 1300 per day for this week while adding my push ups back into each and every day this week, at the end of the week I will go back to 1500 per day and hopefully this gash on my foot will be good enough to start in on the walks daily again. I have also been thinking about me still calling this "my lifestyle change", it dawned on me that this is my lifestyle now and were on month six, should I really still be calling it a new way of eating? I think not. I choose to live a healthy lifestyle that includes a sensible dietary intake and moderate exercise and this is the key to my success thus far in my opinion. From day one I never treated this like a "diet" but more of a new way of life and six months later it is what it is and thats all that it is. It comes natural to me to grab a piece of fruit instead of a package of cookies, and there ARE cookies in my home for the kiddos, I would not think of drinking a soda and I realize that things like ice cream are just a treat to have sparingly and not as a part of the main course, or to eat a strawberry for desert is closer to what desert should be instead of a triple scoop peanut butter fudge banana split. so there you have it, I do live a healthy lifestyle for the most part and its only getting better day by day.

The intake for Monday was pretty decent coming in at 1333 total calories and I had ground turkey soft tacos for dinner, very good meal I might add. I did get my "daily required push ups" into the day as well and feel good. I weigh slightly less than I did on Friday this morning so I am happy about that because this weekend I seem to have blew up a bit (retaining fluids I think because I did not drink enough Friday or Saturday) so I am cycling back to normal. I hope to have a decent loss by Friday because of the getting strict with the intake again as well as adding my calisthenics (partially) back into the mix. with that I give you the menu from Monday.

06/24/08

Breakfast
8:15 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

12:00 PM
18oz watermelon 153

Lunch
1:45 PM
cambells soup 240
Dannon light yogurt 60

Dinner
5:30 PM
6oz ground turkey 255
4 mission white tortilla shells 220
1.5 oz vermont white cheddar 165
tomato/lettuce/onion 20
taco sauce 20

Grand total of 1333 total calories so pretty much on my goal for the week of no more than 1300, I figure since my limit is really 1500 that the 33 I went over is ok. back to the normal and no looking back at the old, here I am and there you are and the choices are there to be made by each for their own good. I made my choice, Have you made yours?

Thanks for reading along.

As Ever
Me

Chicken Chili Soup Recipe

I mentioned that I had concocted a variation of my Dads chicken soup recipe into something with more of a Spanish flair to it, its more of a chicken pepper soup than anything but everyone that had some of this loved it and I thought it was pretty good myself, so here it is for you to enjoy.

what you will need
1 chicken carcass
3 medium sized onions (the large side of medium)
1/2 lb Celery
2 cloves of garlic
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 can whole kernel corn (2 cans would make for a heartier soup, I use one to save calories)
2 cans Goya black beans (1 can may be used to save calories)
About 6 pepperocinis
1/4 cup sliced jalapeño
Cayenne pepper
White rice
Black pepper
Bell’s poultry seasoning
Salt
Goya Adobo

What to do

1 Take a decent sized pot (more than a gallon) I am sorry I do not know exactly how large the pot I use is. fill the pot with water leaving enough room for the carcass and put it on to boil, while its starting to boil take as much of the meat off of the carcass as you can and put it on a plate. We usually have a thigh and a leg and random amounts of white meat still on the bones; just get as much as possible off. Now cut the carcass into a couple of pieces and drop it and all the skin and bones into the pot that’s on the stove. Leave it alone for at least an hour, I cook it for an hour and a half usually, sometimes closer to 2 hours. Basically long enough to make a nice strong broth.

if you want to cut back on cooking time cook it for 45 mins and use a few chicken cubes instead, I honestly do not think it tastes as good with the cubes but if you are short on time its still good.

2 while that is boiling chop the 3 onions up nice and fine and place them to the side, chop both bell peppers up into smallish pieces and place them to the side, cut the celery up as well at this time and place it to the side, slice the pepperocinis and the jalapeño up into small pieces you basically want it to disappear into the stock when its completely cooked, lastly cut the chicken that you took off of the carcass up into soup sized pieces and chop the garlic up fine, place them to the side

3 when the broth is ready strain the bones and skin out of it saving the broth, place the broth back onto the stove and put the onion, bell peppers, celery, garlic, jalapeño, pepperocini and chicken pieces into the strained broth to cook. add slightly less than 1 tspn of the Bell’s poultry seasoning into the broth and veggies and give it a stir, shake as much Cayenne pepper in as you can stand (I make mine hot and it doesn't take much to really heat it up), shake in some Adobo (1 tbsp approx), add salt and pepper to taste, I like to use a lot of black pepper at this point and the Adobo is salty so you may not need any salt at all, let that boil until the peppers and celery start to get soft, less than an hour usually.

4 while that’s cooking strip the rest of the meat off of the carcass, you would be surprised at how much meat is still on there! Discard the carcass once you have all of the meat, and I like to just drop that meat right in with the peppers and onion, also add the can of crushed tomatoes at this time.

5 when the peppers and celery are just about soft, open and drain the corn and black beans pour the corn and the rest of the chicken that you put aside earlier into the pot (if its not already in there) and let that cook 15 mins or so. After that add the black beans and taste it, if it needs a tad more poultry seasoning, Adobo or pepper add it now and let it simmer for another 15 mins.

6 cook the rice separately and let the soup simmer while that cooks. When the rice is done so is the soup. It should take 20 mins.

While the soup is simmering (it will be a few hours total simmer time) remember to give it a stir every now and again and taste it along the way, you can actually taste this recipe getting richer and more blended as it cooks. I usually let the soup cool for at least 15 minutes before eating it but that is not necessary, when the rice is done the soup is and you can put some rice in a bowl and pour on the soup, remember to give it a stir before you take a serving out, I have found that the oils from the peppers seem to rise to the top so stirring it mixes the oil into the soup assuring you get a spicy bowl, this is a pretty spicy soup and sort of has a chili taste to it, My whole family liked it and even though it is spicy my 2 and a half year old daughter asks for more every time I make it.

As Ever
Me

Admitting the funk

It is almost 3:00 pm Sunday, it is an odd day, the sun cannot decide if it wants to be shining or not and we have had a couple down pours. I have been sitting here most of the day thinking about my weight loss and I have to admit that I feel as though I have been slipping lately and what I mean when I say slipping I mean grabbing a couple extra olives with my Ground turkey tacos and not putting them into my excel sheet, or eating 2 Dunkin Donuts Munchkins while driving to the park and not putting them into the excel sheet right on down to taking a bite of macaroni and cheese that I made for the kiddos for lunch to "taste" it and see that it was "all the way done" bottom line, it needs to stop. Just 2 months ago these are the things that I would remind wify that she should not be doing and here I am with my hand in the cookie jar if you will. My exercise has slacked off as well, granted I do have a back injury and it did in fact act up a couple of weeks ago and I will admit that I am a bit worried about getting back into the workouts again because I don't want that pain to return, but then as I type that it sounds so much like an excuse to me, and I know that I need to get back into the frame of mind I was in back 2 months ago because I am admitting right now that I got comfortable and am in fact not being as strict with myself lately. I mentioned this very same thing about getting comfortable to a friend of mine that also blogs just a day or so ago and that comment on Robyn's page really got me thinking about being comfortable and slipping into old habits so I decided to take my own advice and fix it. I thought that if I posted on my blog and gave full disclosure about this fact that it would maybe help me re-focus and get back on track.

Now if you are a regular reader of my page you might be thinking "but you Mr. Meatball lose weight each week like clockwork" or "slipping here and there is not really a bad thing as long as you don't over do it we do after all need treats" yes I do lose each and every week, and yes it is ok to slip up here and there, BUT in the past 2-3 weeks I know that I have gotten comfy with the size I am and I AM slipping. I am approaching a weight and strength level that allows me to do whatever I want to do, I don't get out of breath any more, I do not have back pain related to just being too heavy, and I can out pace my bottle of energy running fool of a son on a hiking trail and not even feel it. I am back to a weight and fitness level that allows me to be active and in control of what I do and plain and simple I am getting too comfortable with it.

I have a long way to go before I am done with losing weight and just because I fit into the clothing that I was wearing when I met my wife 9 years ago and feel awesome that I am back to that size or at least very close to it does not mean its time to light the fireworks and call up the parade people. now with all of that said, I am not slipping to the point that I am not still losing, I am in fact still working very hard to eat properly and get exercise in, I do track my intake daily and do not eat mindlessly, all I am saying is that I have not been as diligent in the last couple weeks as I was in the beginning.

Here starts a new beginning.

As Ever
Me

Da weekend post

Sunday morning and I had a few minutes so here it is "Da weekend post" to say that I had a full day yesterday would be an understatement We started the day off running a couple errands and stopped off for some fishing in a stream/river not far from where I live, after that it was off to the lake that I mentioned in an earlier post, the one with all of the trails etc but that place was packed so we fished at a small reservoir for a couple hours and then off to my MIL house where 2 hours of exercise happened. I hopped in the lake with wify and the kiddos and ended up swimming for close to 2 hours. while in the water I started in on a back stroke and ended up swimming over a giant rock that was in about 5 feet of water, my body went right over the rock but when my kicking feet went over it my right heel hit the top of it, I now have a half dollar sized gash directly on the back of my heel and it is numb right now as I type this out a day later and there is no way I can get a shoe on my foot. So the exercise did not come without cost but at least 2 hours of movement occurred and I can feel muscles that I have not felt in a while so that means more trips to MIL's place for some swimming is in my future.

Intake is as follows, Friday I had a good day as far as intake goes, that is until wify made some late night popcorn to go with the movie that she rented so I went over calories for Friday, Saturday I managed to stay under (I think) up to lunch my intake was counted exactly as it was but dinner was unexpectedly at My Mom in laws house so we did not have our scale with us but I guessed to the best of my ability as to what the portions were, we made Deli turkey sandwiches so it was not too hard to guesstimate, I am getting pretty good at knowing what an ounce of something looks like and I did guess higher than I actually think it was to be safe. here is Saturdays menu.

06/22/08

Breakfast
9:30 AM
10 ritz crackers 140
2 wedges laughing cow 70

Lunch
1:00 PM
1 can tuna 150
1 tbsp miracle whip 35
4 slices oatmeal bread 160
sliced tomato 10
1 pear 85

Dinner
6:00 PM
2 Sandwich Rolls 360
8 oz Deli Turkey 240
2 tbsp Miracle Whip 70
Sliced Tomato 15
1.5 oz Light Lays Potato Chips 120

Grand total of 1455 calories for the day with my best guess at dinner portions and the times for dinner and lunch are guessed a we ate here and there throughout the day. I am a bit sore from the swimming but feel good about the soreness because its that good sore, other than that all is well with this weight loss thang. thank you for reading along with my journey and with that this post is done.

As Ever
Me

Aliens, Cows and a three pound drop this week.

Friday morning is upon us again which means that its time to get on the scale and see what she says, I knew there was a loss because yesterday there was and when I got on this morning the scale said 417.6lbs woohoo I am solidly into the teens I think to myelf, so I get on again 417.8-418 even and its bouncing between those two numbers, third time on it says 417.6 again so it looks like more than a 3 lb loss this week and since I round up to the nearest pound I will call it 418 pounds which is a 3 pound loss for the week. not too shabby for a guy that had fried chicken strips, French fries and a sundae out at a restaurant on Monday, along with chocolate cake on Fathers day all within this week eh? thats not to down play all of the hard work that I did to lose that weight this week, I am just saying that a person does not have to give up everything that is good (and not so good for you) in the world of food to drop weight consistently. I am happy with the 3 pounds that is no longer a part of me.

This 1971 Suzuki T500 weighs in at 418 lbs

Audrina Patridge weighs in at 116lbs which is how much I have lost so far. who she is I don't know lol

I mentioned yesterday that I finally gave in and bought some of the laughing cow cheese that I have heard nothing but good things about. Welp since buying it I have been experimenting (a lot in my head) and have come up with a couple things that I really enjoy eating using these tiny wedges of deliciousness. for instance my breakfast this morning was two English muffin sandwiches which consisted of 2 multi grain English muffins, 2 wedges of perfection wrapped in foil triangles, sliced tomato, and a few slices of Turkey pepperoni topped with some black pepper, This is my new official favorite breakfast! I was being greedy and ate two, one would be perfectly fine for a breakfast with maybe a yogurt on the side but either way I am hooked. I am convinced that this Happy cow cheese is created artificially on a space craft not of this world using cows that were taken in the 1950's by the same extra terrestrial beings that make crop circles and is now imported here by the Chinese government for resale in a ploy for world dominance, ok that might be a stretch BUT this stuff is good!

Intake was average for Thursday coming in at 1375 calories total for the day and I am happy with that. over all I am feeling good and I am only 18 lbs away from hitting my goal of being under 400 pounds. I want to kick the exercise up a bit this week and see if I can get a nice sized drop in weight for the next weigh in day, this is the second week in a row that I did not eat perfect and exercise daily so maybe if I switch it up I will see a big loss in the coming week. 3 pounds down and this week will go in the W column for me because a loss is a loss and three pounds is a good loss. Thats that for todays post and I thank you for reading along with my ride of rides, I hope to soon be writing about how I am maintaining my weight instead of losing it.

As Ever
Me

Day 170

Another day gone and another pound down, hopefully. Last time we met Batman was heading off to a lake in an attempt to rid the planet of some slimy villains known only as Rainbow trout! unfortunately for all involved no trout were caught so a recipe will have to wait until there are actual trout involved, thunder cut our trip to the lake short but I am planning on another trip this weekend so maybe a trout recipe will surface soon enough. The intake for the one hundred and seventieth day was lower than normal and for no good reason, just sort of ended up low. I ended up eating some cheese and crackers late in the day to make up some of the calories, we stopped at a grocery store earlier in the evening and bought some of that laughing cow cheese finally, I had been wanting to try it out, I have to say I am a believer! this stuff is good! I bought some of the light French onion and had it on ritz crackers and the little wedges of goodness will be added to the menu from here on out, I cannot believe I waited this long to try these tiny foil wrapped pieces of cheesy awesomeness until now! either way we have found one another and can now have a long relationship made of win from here on out.

while at the lake I did get some walking in, it was not too far (a mile at most) but it was walked fast and up hill half of the time, I did find out that the tables have been turned on my walking speed because while we were walking to the far side of the lake through the trail my son was having a time keeping up with me and I found myself having to slow down or just plain old wait for him to catch up a bit as we were walking through the woods. He is a very normal very able 9 year old kid who can run a mile in just over 8 minutes, I asked him if he was going to let his Dad out walk him and he picked up the pace a bit, I was just surprised that I had to wait for him. I also did 50 push ups earlier in the day so I am happy with my movement for the day. intake was as follows.

06/18/08

Breakfast
8:45 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Lunch
2:00 PM
1 cup white rice 200
1/2 cup black beans 90

Dinner
5:15 PM
3 slices whole wheat bread 210
1 can tuna 150
1 tbsp mayonnaise 90

8:30 PM
2 wedges laughing cow french onion cheese 70
10 ritz crackers 140

9:00 PM
1 pear 85

Grand total of 1235 Calories for the day and no fish for dinner today, maybe I will get a few next time out (which will be Tomorrow), I can get a little obsessed with what I am doing at times and with the new poles, fishing is what I will be doing for a bit. also on a side note I finally made it below last Fridays weight again this morning so I will hopefully have a decent weigh in for tomorrow. once again I thank you for following along with me and my trip to the half.

As Ever
Me

Late day post and maybe a trout recipe in your future

Tuesday started off well enough, I had my normal breakfast and a very light lunch because I knew we had a baby sitter and that we were going to Friendlys for a dinner out, I got the chicken strip dinner which the nutrition menu said it was 650 calories with fries and coleslaw I did not eat the coleslaw so it was just the chicken and fries, I am counting this at 750 total because I do not trust the nutrition table in a place like that. I also had half of a sundae for desert, wify and I shared one. upon coming home I saw that my Father in law (baby sitter) had ordered a white pizza for the kiddos and himself so I grabbed a slice not remembering that I had the sundae so I did go over calories for Tuesday, oh well it was a good time out with wify and we ended up going on a little hike at a new park that I found after dinner not too far from my home, in fact we are heading there after dinner to see if I can catch tomorrows dinner.

Here is the menu from Tuesday.

06/17/08

Breakfast
9:00 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Lunch
2:15 PM
1 can progresso soup 120
3/4 cup white rice 150

Dinner
5:00 PM
Friendlys chicken strips 750
1/2 sundae @ Friendlys 200

8:00 PM
1 slice of white pizza 250

Grand total of a bit more than I should have had coming in at 1670 if I count the meal at 750 even though I didn't have the coleslaw and did have the pizza afterwards. I am not worried about the extra intake one bit, I also did get a walk in earlier in the afternoon which was 1 mile exactly and so short because we had rain clouds floating around dropping rain on us randomly so we cut it short. I also got that hike in later in the evening with wify so movement did occur. hopefully the next time I post I can say that I caught my limit worth of trout tonight and I can share a trout recipe, I have a feeling it will be a whole lot of watching the kids toss rocks into the water and scaring the fish though, we shall see. thanks for reading along with my random blabbering.

As Ever
Me

I am me

Another day in the life of me has come to pass and I am looking forward to more of the same, Mondays intake was good at 1370 total calories, I did eat very light early in the day and had to make up some calories with a banana and peanut butter later in the evening than I like to eat but I think getting in the calories is more important than not eating late. I have been on the push ups again and I am staying with them because I feel as if they are actually making a difference not only physically but they mentally keep me on track a well. I will admit that I have been slacking off on my daily walks lately and I have no reason for it, this is an area that I think I need to get back on track with and in all honesty I believe the humidity is to blame for my lack of motivation with the whole going for a walk, humidity or none I need to be going on these walks and thats that. I have been thinking about adding weekly or monthly goals to this page just to keep me accountable, it keeps me accountable for my eating habits by putting it out there for the world to see so maybe if I set goals and honestly report the results on a weekly basis I can get back into the habit of being constant with the walking etc.

This DOES NOT count as movement lol.

The goals for this week will be as follows, Walk 5 miles before next Tuesday, 40 push ups daily until Tuesday. I am starting it off lower than I would if it were a hardcore week because I need to get back into the swing of things again, I feel like I have slacked off in the movement section of my weight loss as of late so there is the remedy. Here is the menu from Monday.

06/16/08 Breakfast
8:30 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Lunch
12:30 PM
6 inch subway club 360

4:00 PM
1 yellow apple 85

Dinner
6:15 PM
2 cups home made soup 275
3/4 cup cooked white rice 150
english muffin 100

8:15 PM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Grand total of 1370 calories for the day so not at my daily goal but not too low either. I hope to hit or surpass my goals in exercise for the week and look forward to Fridays weigh in, hopefully I make it into the teens this week. Thanks for following along.

As Ever
Me

Monday afternoon, petunias and cake oh my!

This was a rare occasion that I skipped posting for an entire weekend, Saturday I was out all day and Sunday being Fathers day I was not near the lap top all day, usually I post after checking my email or when I get a minute and that just did not happen this weekend. Saturday I woke up bright and early to head off to the DMV to register a car and found out I owe $33 bucks in taxes from 1997 for one of my old cars, 1997!?! bleh, the check is in the mail and I will run back out next week to get my tags. after the DMV we decided to grab Dairy Queen for the kiddos and ended up walking around a mall for an hour and a half so I got some walking in, it was slow and relaxed but walking at any rate, then it was off to another mall and basically we walked around for 5 to 6 hours on Saturday between a couple different Malls and Cabelas. I came in at 1285 total calories for Saturday so I am happy with that intake number, and all of the walking was a nice chance at some unplanned exercise.

Sunday I went over on calories because there was a cake involved, I was at 1368 calories pre-cake, and after the cake I have no clue because I don't care and thats that. It was a chocolate cake with strawberries in the center and whipped cream on top of it, I had a large piece and I have to admit that I had a couple swipes of frosting that were not included on my piece. while in Cabelas on Saturday we were looking around and I showed my wife and son a knife that I would not mind having and it ended up being my gift for Fathers day, so I have a new pocket knife, yeah that what we will call it, a pocket knife. it is a Gerber Evo and is basically Gerbers version of the CRKT M16 knife, I did not "need" a new pocket knife, but I wanted one so it was a great gift. I also was given a tray of petunias and a balloon later in the day to go along with the Gerber, I was in a less than stellar mood in the early evening and My wife being the most perfect, sweet and caring woman that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing in my entire life knows exactly how to put me into a better mood. I now have petunias in my back yard that were planted by my daughter and myself that will remind me of how sweet wify is every time I look at them.

I weighed less on Sunday than I did on Friday but upon waking up today (Monday) I weighed the same as Friday again, thats going to get chalked up to fluctuation because I know that I did not gain 3 lbs from Sunday to Monday cake or no cake. I have been sneaking push ups into my day again and feel great about that part of my day because I can actually feel it so I know I am doing good for my body, back to business as usual I suppose. Here is the menu for Sunday.

06/15/08

Breakfast
10:00 AM
1 english muffin 100
1 80 calorie roll 80
2 eggs 140
turkey pepperoni 48
1 tbsp miracle whip 35

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

4:00 PM
5 whole wheat ritz 70
progresso soup 120

Dinner
6:00 PM
2 gorton fish fillets 320
3/4 cup white rice 150
1 cup peas 105

7:30 PM
cake! Too much

Grand total of a bit too much for Sunday, but if averaging by the week I am probably ok because of the lower calories on Saturday, all in all it was a good weekend intake wise and just in general as well. Thanks for following along with my journey to a smaller healthier way of living.

As Ever
Me

weighing in again, no witty title today.

Another Friday is upon us which means I count my weight for the day into my lost category, I was pleasantly surprised this morning when the scale whispered into my ear and relayed the message that I was down two pounds. the first time I got on the scale it said 421.2, then the second time it was 420.8 and the third time was 421 on the nose so I we shall call it 421 pounds today and thats fine by me. I have made a new commitment to myself to at the very least get my push ups in each and every day, I have been slacking with the exercise and thats gotta stop, and for more than one reason. I do not wish to lose muscle mass and the calisthenics I was doing up until about 3 weeks ago I believe were helping me keep as much muscle as possible while still losing fat, also because I just enjoy the feeling I get after exercising, so I have recommitted myself to the exercise part of this equation.

This liquid cooled Buell 1125R weighs in at 421 lbs, and I have to add this is one beautiful bike.


Stacy Cravens a former Fitness America national champion weighs in at 113 lbs, what I have lost to date

two pounds gone and the menu for Thursday was decent, we made English muffin pizzas at my daughters request using the large muffins, light sauce, 2% mozz cheese and turkey pepperoni, I have to admit they turn out pretty good and are only 120 calories each. I also had to drink some 1% milk throughout the day to fill in some calories as it was a light day, here is the menu for Thursday.

06/13/08 Breakfast
8:15 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

11:45 AM
4 small slices turkey pepperoni 16

Lunch
2:00 PM
1 can progresso light soup 120
3/4 cup white rice 150

4:30 PM
8oz 1% milk 110

Dinner
5:45 PM
1.5 large english muffin 240
pizza sauce 45
32 g 2% mozz cheese 75
turkey pepperoni 90

7:15 PM
1 pear 85

9:00 PM
8oz 1% milk 110

Grand total of 1241 calories for the day, I did some push ups throughout the day and have to admit that I am sore today, not completely sore but I can feel what I did. two pounds lighter and still on track I thank you for following along and I look forward to future success.

As Ever
Me

Day...yeah its another day

Things are just things and thats the way it is, huh? whachoo talkin bout Willis? you heard me, theres nothing you can do except what you need to do so stop whining and do it. hmmm yeah thats what I think so thats how it will be, and nothing you can say will stop that from happening, and the band plays on. peculiar don't you think? when a person talks to himself? even more so because its on a blog, but anyways when I started this entry I was feeling random and now that its all sorted out lets get on with the day. Wednesday was a decent day intake wise ending the day at 1433 calories but I don't feel as if I ever recouped completely from two weekends ago when I had a few Blue moons at my Mother in laws house. I did drop four pounds that week so all was well and here we are on the eve of another "weigh in day" and I weigh the same as I did last Friday and more than I did on Sunday, I guess a week with no gain is a good week but a week with a loss is a better week no? I honestly feel like I have slacked a bit this week with the going to Dairy queen, not once but twice, and I had late night popcorn while watching a movie and said morsels of air popped goodness did bring me above calories for that day, then there is the zero exercise because of my back pain which cannot be helping the cause one bit, but is it because of the pain that I have not added movement to my day? or did a chance to have a bona fide "excuse" arise and I snatched at it like a child would at free candy? (ok I am back to test the theory I got up and did three sets of fifteen push ups and I did not explode or anything) any one of these things surely would not cause any ill effect, but all of them together? it would appear so since I weigh the same as I did a week ago.

With all of that said, I took a look at my food consumption for the week and I notice two things, my bread intake was way up this week, and the second, besides the watermelon my fruit consumption was way low, ok to remedy this I just got up and grabbed a pear from the fridge and I was going to make an egg salad sandwich for lunch, we shall change that to soup. and dinner is English muffin Pizza's and theres nothing I can (or will) do to change that, its a treat for my daughter who has been begging for pizza for a week. Ok now that I have analyzed myself a bit the plan for the rest of this week and the entire of next week will be to eat more fruit, move more and NO Dairy queen! sorry honey you will have to deal with it since were doing this together, and yet why? its me that can't have it right? see now thats what I am talking about! but even with that said, No DQ sweet heart.

With all of that said, I am actually still doing great and don't feel like I messed up this week at all really, my back does honestly hurt currently, and when you have had an injury as long as I have you learn not to jump right back in as soon as the pain subsides so I get a pass there. the Dairy queen was within my calorie allowance each day so I get a pass there as well. The late night popcorn which was over my caloric limit? guilty as charged sir, but is that why I am seeing a breaking even number on the Thursday before weigh in? likely not. I believe it is just one of those weeks for me where the weight loss is slacking off a bit and I will try and regroup and have a huge loss next week, beating my body into submission, after all it is me that looks back at me when I am in front of a mirror right? and thats the very same fella that makes the decisions. I guess its a matter of perspective, on one hand I can say "wow I really slacked off with that ice cream, popcorn and I really could have done more exercise this week", or I could say something like "wow even though I hurt my back I moved a much as possible while maintaining safe movements to save my back and the DQ was within my intake allowance and the popcorn makes up for the low days that I had this week" so it really does make a difference on how you look at things. I tend to look at things in neither of those lights, I tend to look at thing as a whole, was it the best week possible? nope, could it have been worse? yep but thats neither here nor there, I ate too much bread, even though it was within calorie range, not enough fruit, and did not get in enough movement, and thats the bottom line. OR I could just be having a weird week as far a my body goes, who knows? I surely don't all I can do is respond how I always do, keep on keepin on and change things up a bit to make my body guess whats going to happen next, besides, for all I know there could be a ship on the dock and bamn! a 2-3 pound loss could show up in the am, now am I expecting that? nope, but it could happen.

With all of the above said, please please understand that I am in no way negative about today, I am in no way anything but in a good mood and business as usual on this fine Thursday. this post sort of turned out written in the way that my thinking processes go, so welcome to my head. and here is the menu for Wednesday.

06/12/08

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

12:00 PM
22oz watermelon 198

Lunch
3:00 PM
1 can progresso soup 120
3/4 cup white rice 150

Dinner
6:00 PM
8oz ground turkey 340
2 80 calorie rolls 160
6oz sweet potato fries 150
condiments 30

8:00 PM
1 pear 85

Grand total of 1433 calories for the day. I have written enough today, there you have it, still going strong, and the keep on keepin on will never stop. Thank you for reading along.

As Ever
Me

A long winded reflection and quite possibly an eye opener.

This morning I woke up to the most fantabulous day that you could ever imagine, its 70 degrees the breeze is blowing into the window as fat white clouds float silently through the sky and no humidity in sight. spending the day out in the yard will likely happen after the am cartoons, breakfast and a shower, ok enough about that. My weight loss to date has been out of this world and when I made the decision to eat better and take the extra poundage off of my body I did not expect to be this far along in this short time and I am extremely happy with my results thus far. I was reading some of my older posts last night and I realize just how far I have come in the way of recipes, how often I eat and just the amount of weight loss knowledge and experience that I have now compared to then, now remember we're talking about just a little more than five months ago. right now I can walk into a restaurant or go to someones home for dinner and pretty much know what amount of food I can eat that is reasonable and healthy for me, I now know that eating a can of tuna 5 slices of white bread with two table spoons of mayonnaise with the better part of a bag of Sun chips and literally a quart of milk is not a healthy lunch, well the tuna is good for ya right? and the Sun chips are after all baked aren't they? and I am using 2% milk, thats gotta count for something doesn't it? that is honestly how I rationalized it in my head when I was making lunch for myself, and then wondered why I seemed to be blowing up in size, I mean I was eating good wasn't I? everything I just listed adds up to 1480 calories and thats using 2oz of sun chips as the amount that I ate on any given day with that lunch, 1480? seriously I eat less than that in a whole day at times now! that was just my lunch and I honestly in my heart felt that I was not eating bad because there was Tuna in there and the sun chips are baked and it was 2% milk, that example is an actual lunch meal that I would make, and often I might add.

Let me tell you its eye opening to me when I reflect on things like this, I can remember making BBQ chicken for dinner which would consist of a package of thighs/legs and a package of breasts, skin on bone in and more than a bottle of BBQ sauce dumped over it, cooked and served with corn bread, mashed potatoes and corn along with my huge glass of milk. typically I would have 3 thighs, I am a thigh man what can I say, a huge portion of mashed potatoes that when I made them used almost a whole stick of butter, two or three pieces of corn bread and a serving of corn that would feed two people, then when everyone else had eaten I would grab another thigh and possibly more corn bread on the way to the living room. there was usually one or two pieces of chicken left for lunch the next day, I don't even want to attempt to figure out what the calories in that add up to and to be quite honest, I don't want to know. now when I make the same meal? yes can you believe I make the same meal now and lose weight? we use skinless boneless chicken breast seasoned with Mccormick BBQ spices, the mashed potato is replaced with baked sweet potato the corn stays the same, there is no corn bread involved and my more than a quart of milk has been replaced with green tea, ahhhh there now doesn't that sound better? typically I will eat roughly 6oz of the chicken, 6oz sweet potato, 1 serving of corn and as much green tea as my little heart desires and when all is said and done there is left overs from three chicken breasts that were cooked so were actually spending less money because of this whole losing weight thing as well so its a win win.

That pint of Ben and Jerry's is still in my freezer from New years eve and its not getting eaten until Dec 31st 2008 because as I have posted before, if I am eating it, its going to be on my terms not because I could not control myself, that alone is something that I did not believe I would stick to, I honestly thought that I would have eaten it within the first week if not the first day on this new way of eating. I often wonder about that small insignificant pint of goodness sitting just feet from me every day and think about how I used it to not eat the wrong things early on in this trip by opening the freezer and saying "if I do not eat that for just one more day I have proven that willpower works" and the few times I have done that it proved to me that it was just a matter of willpower and there really is nothing else to it.



One hundred and eleven pounds later I don't even think about what I eat for the most part, its just natural for me to reach into the fridge for a snack and grab a pear now and I honestly don't even think about cake or cookies or any of that as an option on most days, we have some cookies and treats for the kids in the house and I couldn't tell ya if the cookies are good or not because I haven't had one. does this mean that I cannot have a treat when I want one? not at all, in fact just last night we went out to Dairy Queen and got cones for everyone, the only difference is that I did not order the triple hot fudge brownie thingy and I counted the 230 calories from the small vanilla cone into my daily allowance and moved on.

Jan 1st 2008 I woke up and was determined to do this, I will admit I did think that it would be just the next thing that I tried to lose weight but the difference was, one, I was scared that I was going to have to get a WLS surgery and two, the more I thought about how easy it really is to eat correctly the more I wondered why it took so long to realize this little fact and actually felt weak for letting food for lack of a better term control me to the point of weighing five hundred plus pounds. the bottom line is that its just a willpower thing, no one needs a 1480 calorie lunch, nobody. a persons body does not need that cookie or that piece of cake, no one needs to drink soda or a gallon of milk in a day none of those things are needed to sustain life, none of those things are needed in my body or yours period. once a person can get over the mental part of it the rest is easy, don't believe me? I have lost one hundred eleven pound in just over 5 months and the only thing that I do is eat following a 1500 calorie per day limit and moderate exercise which honestly consists mostly of some walks and riding a stationary bike every now and again. This is My life and it will not be controlled by anyone but me from here on out. the bottom line is that You are the one that decides what you eat or do not eat, its not Ronald McDonalds fault, its not the Canoli's fault and its not even your Auntie Margie's fault for making the most mind blowing peanut butter fudge that man has ever seen, take a look in that mirror and say Hi to the person that makes the decisions, whether the decision is to stuff a Del Taco double cheeseburger down your neck on the ride home from work or to choose the pear over the cake as a desert to your Salmon dinner. The opinions contained within this post are not only that of the author but they are fact as well, if you choose to use any of the techniques mentioned above be aware, weight loss WILL occur, you have been warned. if you made it this far down the page I thank you for reading.

As Ever
Me

Still hotter'n shi.... oh its day 162 too.

Ok first things first, Its Hot! yesterday it was 101 degrees and humidity was 86% when I say that it was 101 degrees that was around 4:00 pm yesterday, lets just say that records were set for heat in June here, as I write this its around 7:30 am 80 degrees and 84% Humid. My son was dismissed from school early yesterday because of "Dangerous conditions" with the heat and they have an early dismissal today as well, now I have heard of snow days...but Heat days? it is suppose to cool down after Wednesday so I am looking forward to that and I believe a trip to the park is in order.

This morning I woke up and hopped onto the good old scale and she told me I am down a bit from Friday's weight and that is good news. 1320 calories for Monday and we made it a cold cut kind of day, having cold sandwiches for lunch and dinner so that we did not have to use the oven. I wish that I could say my back was back to normal but while playing with my daughter yesterday I tweaked it again, I was bent over next to her and she jumped up and wrapped her arms around my neck and hung off of me suddenly and that was that, the thumping back hath return. I was looking forward to a walk when the humidity went down a bit but with my back still being all twitchy I wouldn't risk it getting worse because of a walk, I can only hope it feels much better than it currently does sooner that later so that I can get the movement back into the routine. otherwise everything is on track, I am making healthy choices and feel great.

Here is the menu from Monday.

06/10/08

Breakfast
9:00 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Lunch
1:00 PM
4oz deli turkey 100
2 slices whole wheat bread 140
sliced tomato/lettuce 15
1 oz health puffs 130

Dinner
5:30 PM
6oz deli turkey 150
3 slices whole wheat bread 210
sliced tomato/lettuce 15
1 oz health puffs 130
1 dill pickle 10

8:00 PM
1 zone bar 220

Grand total of 1320 calories for the day, the heat is keeping me in the house for the most part, other than random trips to the supermarket etc. I am on track to hit my goal of being under 400 pounds by the end of August and I am starting to have difficulties with clothing in the way of I don't have a lot of shirts in a big 4x that are in good condition and I do not want to keep wearing the 6x stuff and looking like a kid wearing his dads T shirt or like I am swimming in my clothing, and I definitely don't want to go out and buy $200 worth of clothing to have it not fit in a couple months, I have plenty of jeans and pants but only a couple pairs of shorts so I am struggling there as well, but the way I am looking at this is that I would rather have the problem of deciding whether or not buying clothing that won't fit very soon over the issues that come with being 534 pounds. so its not really a bad problem, more like a decision. I can't wait for Autumn when I can but ONE hoodie and wear my big clothes under it and no one will be the wiser, all though by then I should be quite a bit smaller than I am now if I continue to lose the same way that I am currently losing. there you have my post for June 10th and as always Thanks for following along with me while I change things in my life and get smaller.

As Ever
Me

Muggy Monday Morning Ramblings

Still rain forest like humidity here in New England I am afraid, but the weight loss plan is going strong. 1342 calories for the day ending with 20 oz of fresh watermelon, I am very happy summer is here just for all of the watermelon I get to eat. My back pain has lessened to a point where I am comfortable again so I am giving it a day or two more before I call it pain free. the boats have stayed docked for 2 days now and a launch is imminent today because if not I fear I may pop. nothing really more than that to report on this muggy Monday morning so I will give you the menu for Sunday and ye old post will be done for the day.

This pretty much sums up my mood this hot June Morning.

06/08/08 Breakfast
9:45 AM
1 Multi grain english muffin 100
1 egg 70
6 small slices of turkey pepperoni 24
omega 3 spread 20
small dill pickle 5

Lunch
3:30 PM
1 Multi grain english muffin 100
2 egg 140
12 small slices of turkey pepperoni 48
1 80 calorie roll 80
1 tbsp miracle whip 35

Dinner
6:00 PM
1 can tuna 150
3 slices whole wheat bread 210
1 tbsp miracle whip 35
30g pretzel sticks 130
small dill pickle/sliced tomato 15

8:00 PM
20 oz watermelon 180

Grand total of 1342 calories for Sunday, and I will be putting the downstairs AC in the window pretty much a soon as I click "Publish Post" I am in a meh kind of mood, neither here nor there, not a good mood not a bad mood just somewhere in between, did I mention that I dislike Hot Humid weather? yep, Charlie says it best. but as far as the weight loss goes, everything is on track and the weight is still coming off so I am happy about that fact. the more I think of my goal to be under 400 lbs by the middle/end of August the more I get excited about seeing a 3 instead of a 4 in the front of my weight, and yet if I do not hit that magic number? I am still cool with it, because I have lost a huge amount of weight so far and I don't see an end to my weight loss, well not until I hit goal anyways, and I Know that I WILL get to my goal because its just a matter of mind over...hmmm, well I guess mind, and I am in a state of mind that tells me that I will get to the weight that I want to. Thanks for following along with my journey to a better me.

As Ever
Me

Hotter'n shi....

Ok so I am up early and wify is in the kitchen with the kids so I thought I would pop on and toss up a quick post. let me start with the temperature, as the title would have you believe it was yuck in my part of the world last night, resembling rain forest conditions it was mid 90's and so humid that I think if I just swung a glass through the air it would have been full by the time it reached the end of the arc. at 11:00 pm it was still mid 80's and still very humid and I had not popped any air conditioners in the windows yet. by 12:00 am my daughter was a ball of sweat and woke up crying so daddy to the rescue I went in the basement and dragged one of the air conditioners up and put it in the window upstairs, which got the attention of a few neighbors that I observed looking out their windows surely wondering wtf I was doing at mid night up in the window, either that or thinking "wow great idea". it is about 9:00 am as I type this and my outside thermometer says that it is currently 82 degrees, and the humidity is still there so it would appear that we are in for more of the same today, looks like I will be installing the downstairs AC later, ahhhh the wonders of summer in New England.

This is what my day and week look like, I googled weather for my area and took this screen shot, remember this is 9:00 am, take a look at the current temp.

Onto the weight loss, I feel good and that about sums it up but let me elaborate a bit because leaving it as "I feel good" would be, well..boring. the fact that I carried an air conditioner up 2 flights of stairs speaks for how my back feels, it still has some discomfort when I hit that not so sweet spot but it is feeling better over all. I got some walking in yesterday, since it was so humid my wife wanted to go somewhere cool and she needed some new clothes since loosing her 49 pounds so we headed on over to the mall so that she could go shopping in Macys. we walked around the mall for what felt to me like 7 hours (I hate malls), it was actually 2 hours we were there and I was doing laps with my daughter while wify tried stuff on, I think she ended up with 4 shirts and a pair of jeans, anyways thats not here nor there but the walking I got in was a good thing. I did go over on calories for Saturday by exactly 1 big bowl of popcorn, wify rented a couple movies and before the air conditioner and kiddo turned ball of sweat we were watching something called "strange wilderness" lets just say that we made it half an hour into it and well, we don't care how it ended, this was the dumbest most moronic movie that I have ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on and I know that I am a better person for not having watched it all the way through. at least the popcorn was good! so 2 hours of "mall walking" and slightly over calories and all in all I think it was a good day as far as the weight loss went.

Here is the menu for Saturday.

06/07/08

Breakfast
10:00 AM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Lunch
12:45 PM
2 hebrew national hot dogs 90
2 slices whole wheat bread 140
30 gm pretzel sticks 130
condiments 10

4:00 PM
1 banana 105
1 tbsp peanut butter 95

Dinner
6:45 PM
2 cups home made soup 300
3/4 cup white rice 150

7:45 PM
small dairy queen Vanilla cone 230

11:00 PM
too much popcorn

Grand total of 1450 calories if you don't count the popcorn, if we are counting it I am closer to 1700 calories if I were to take a guess. over all the weekend was off to a decent start and the plan is to carry it over into today. Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a good weekend.

As Ever
Me