Author Archives: theffkid

About theffkid

I've always wanted a blog. Now I have one.

Day 508: Super Fat Tuesday

Posted on by

So today was bad with food. It reminded me that I am still on an epic weight loss journey. I feel like I have been taking things for granted which has lead to unbalanced weight loss (losing and gaining losing and gaining losing and gaininglosing and gaining losing and gaining). I know this is nothing new. I have been whining about this like cray cray for a while. Today was a wake up call to get me out of i and get to losing some weight.

I was planning on giving up something for Lent. A few years ago, I gave up soda which backfired horribly because I just replaced soda with slurpees. (Fat kid Fail.) Anyways, after today I decided to give up fried foods (not just french fries) for Lent. I want this to be a springboard to back where I am not eating fried food again, or at least to each much less than I am now. When I started losing weight I didn’t hesitate to pass up on stuff like that. It’s time to get back to that. So what are you giving up? (Please don’t give up blog reading!)

Breakfast: So here we go… Like I said today was bad. Megan and I went to Atomic Coffee for breakfast. I wanted to get a breakfast sandwich and I chose horribly in the most delicious way possible. (If this was The Matrix, I took the greasy pill.) I had the best Americano in the universe (which is like 10 calories) and then I had The Waffler, a bacon and egg breakfast sandwich with two waffles as bread. I know I know this was bad. I was delusional in my morning decision making. I don’t know what to say. Bad idea.

 

Lunch: In honor of Fat Tuesday (which I took to heart) Megan and I went to Po’ Boys, this cajun place close to campus. We started out with fried pickles (yes, this is still a weight loss blog) and then I had red beans and rice with thin slices of andouille sausage. It was really good and I only ate half of it. Again, not the best but it is what it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: So this weekend, Megan and our friends Becky, Julie, Stacy and Emma are participating in a church wide chili contest on Saturday. Tonight, we had a test run on our recipe. It turned out… well, you’ll see how good it was on Saturday.

 

So as you can see today was lame. Tomorrow is going to be way better. Wordless Wednesday! See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 507: Reaching Out Attempt No. 1

Posted on by

 

So tonight I tried to reach out to somebody and I’m worried that it failed miserably. Wait, let me backtrack…

I am apart of the FSU Racquetball Club via Facebook (I’m not like an official member or anything) and the other day this guy in the group said he was going to quit. He was frustrated with losing all the time. Well, as you can tell from this blog, I have a terrible record, think Montreal Expos franchise record bad, when it comes to racquetball. Last week, I told him to keep at it and that it’s just a process to get better. But there is an entire other facet to this story, he’s me from 2010. Our body types were exactly the same. He even has blonde hair! I’ve watched him play before and I can only imagine that’s what I looked like when I started out. Anyway, over the weekend, I was thinking how I could reach out to him without being too intrusive and  just let him know that I’ve been there and that it gets better. Tonight when I was working out, I saw him running around the track. I stalkerishly waited for him to walk off the track to make my move. I had so many things I wanted to say. I tend to think of things in a movie situation, so I had high hopes that we would at least have a conversation. I introduced myself, he nodded. I asked him if he was going to quit racquetball and he told me he wasn’t sure. Then I went in to my diatribe about keeping at it. I told him a little bit about my story and that I knew how he felt completely. I told him he would really regret quitting. I told him that I would love to play with him sometime. I was speaking to silence. He didn’t say anything the whole time. I walked off and I just felt like crap. I felt like I had completely failed on my first attempt to try to help someone. I think it’s hard because I’ve been there. I always had people trying to give me advice and even some saying “You’re going to die if you don’t lose this weight.” I knew they always meant well, but I was hoping this time it would be different. We are exactly the same! An overweight blonde playing racquetball??? It couldn’t have been better scripted! It’s just so hard when you have such a great message, the salvation of weight loss if you will, and you want to deliver people from this lifestyle that they were not meant to live. No one should go through life obese. It’s miserable. I know because it plagued my entire life until my fantastic wife bought that scale to see how overweight we really were. You never forget that life, how awkward you are in your own skin. I appreciate this new life I have been blessed with so much because I never forget. How do you get that across to people? Even though I’m really beating up myself about it, my wise mom reminded me that at least a seed was planted. Maybe it wont click for this guy now, tomorrow, or even in a month. But maybe it was a step in the right direction.

Day 506: Weigh In Day Time!

Posted on by

Hello!!!

So the 500th episode of The Simpsons was on tonight… it was disappointing. Awe well. Anyway, so after Wednesday night, my stress level went down considerably which in turn made the rest of the week much better. I only got to work out once this week, but I was good with my food. With that all being said, I lost 2.2 pounds this week! This doesn’t get me back down before last week’s super gain, but I’m going to work really hard this week to get down to where I was two weeks ago (but if I lost more I would be cool with that too 😉 ) I’m really ready to even just be at 237 because that will mean I would have lost 120 pounds which would be pretty sweet. Also, I looked back in to my blog and I realized I have been stuck in the 240’s region since October… OCTOBER! In a way, I kind of feel I haven’t lost really any weight for a while. It’s time to get crackin! I know today wasn’t great, but this week is going to be Healthfest 2012! (Whatever the crap that is…)

Breakfast: This morning, a small group at church hosted breakfast before Sunday School (did I ever mention I’m teaching a Sunday morning class called “The Legit Women of the Bible?”) so we hit up that deliciousness. As you can see, I had a muffin, a piece of banana nut bread and fruit.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: So the plan was to just go home and eat whatever leftover we had lying around in the fridge. As we were taking our awesome friend Julie home, I thought about this one place really close to campus that was suppose to be pretty good called Bandidos Burrito Company.  Since we have moved to Tallahassee, we have been on the hunt for some decent Mexican food or at least decent chips and salsa. Our epicurean prayers have finally been answered! Their salsa was fantastic and chips were epic. I had the chicken and bean burrito (which was the size of a roll of paper towels) and Julie tried this really cool sampler of mini burritos (chicken, beef and bean) that I thought would be noteworthy as well. (Or Julie did, I can’t remember…) Anyway, it was reasonably priced, they had a $1 Taco Tuesday and it’s within walking distance to my part of campus. It’s pretty hard to beat. I can’t wait to go back!

Snack: When Megan and I did some clothe shopping at the mall (where I bought this studly blazer and new jeans a size smaller!) I had a skinny caramel machiatto from Starbucks. Pretty good stuff.

So yeah, about that new jeans thing… I’m down to 40’s! Pretty awesome considering about 17 months ago I was year size 54 pants. (At one point I was even wearing 56’s…) Anyway, so since I bought my new jeans from Old Navy, they are having a promotion that you can buy another pair between March 1-31st. My goal is to buy a new pair of 38’s on March 31st. This is going to require a lot of core workout and sadly… more Insanity. Better get started…

 

(Somewhere in here I had some hummus and chips…)

 

 

 

Dinner: I just had some leftover chili with some basmati rice. I also had some light strawberry shortcake. So today wasn’t too bad, but there is always room for improvement. Last week, there literally wasn’t enough time to work out, but this week there is a little more room in my schedule so I’m going to work out more to get some inches off of my body. See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 505: Saturday Time Stuff

Posted on by

HELLO!!!

You are all awesome! I love you all and you smell nice! That is unless you just got done working out so you smell nice in a different way.

So today actually felt like a Saturday. Sleeping in has never felt better. It was nice just to chill in my PJs and watch stuff about Hitler on The History Channel (because that’s all they show.) As far as food goes, it was pretty epic as well. Here we go…

Breakfast: I just kept it simple and delicious for breakfast: toast, an egg and two Morning Star breakfast patties. Oh yeah, and spicy ketchup. Delicious!

Lunch: In keeping with my unintentional tradition of going to Jason’s Deli on Saturdays, I went to pretty much my favorite place in Tallahassee. I made an epic salad with a side of hummus and melba toast for dipping. I think next time I’ll just use the peppers for dipping since they are basically no calories and yellow peppers are the flippin’ jam! I also had a little ice cream in a cone. Hooray!

Dinner: Tonight, Megan and I decided to try this new pizza place next to our house called Your Pie where you basically create your own pizza. (And yes, Kramer did have that same idea in a Seinfeld episode.) While they have a wide variety of topping options, they also have some pre-created topping combinations. I tried The Lineage which was had pepperoni, sausage, peppers, and other stuff. It was pretty good, but they could have left it in brick oven for a little longer. (Oh yeah, they have a wood oven! AWESOMENESS!) They also have on of those cool coke machines with all of the cool drink combinations. One more oh yeah, they even have gelato! Overall, pretty cool place!

Dessert: When we got home, I made some strawberry shortcake with fat free whip and locally grown strawberries. Fantasticness.

So today wasn’t too bad with food. The one thing I would have done was substituted the cheese at Your Pie for low fat mozzarella which was an option. Other than that, I’ve been drinking my water and doing my thang. I doubt I’ll lose completely what I gained last week, but I bet I have lost some since last week was a stress gain. Good times. See ya tomorrow.

Day 504: Friday Post Time!

Posted on by

It has been a long week. Thank goodness it’s finally over. On to a next week of craziness.

Even though this week feels like it has been an eternity, some good did come out of it. I received plenty of really encouragements and “attaboys” from people both at work and within my department. In fact, my professor on Monday called me out in the beginning of class and asked me to talk about my weight loss journey to the class. It has really encouraged me to keep at it this week! I’m at the point that I feel really comfortable to reach out to people who were in my position: overweight guys who are frustrated and ready for change. It’s a really hard topic to approach someone with and it usually leaves the person embarrassed, but I want to find a way to reach out to these people. I was so richly please to get a push from my wife and more of a kick from some other people like my friend Kyle. I think that’s what we need sometimes though. I have no clue where to start, but I’m ready for the opportunity to pay it forward.

Breakfast: I just had the ol’ standby, two Publix multigrain waffles, some peanut butter and honey. Awesome stuff

Lunch: I ate my lunch while at work and I had the Smart One Lasagna Florentine which was surprisingly good! I was surprised how filling it was and how good it was. It’s probably the best Smart One meal other than the chicken enchilada suaza which is epic. Anyway, I also had some cocoa powdered almonds and an apple (I don’t think I’ll ever buy apples from WalMart again…)

 

 

 

 

Racquetball Craziness: I haven’t had the chance to work out all week so I was super ready for some racquetball today. My friend Alex and I played for two long hours which was exhausting but I felt awesome after. I had a few bumps and bruises this week (I lost feeling in my thumb for a while) but it was totally worth the 888 freakin’ calories that I torched. Awesomeness.

Snack:When I got home, I had another waffle and pb. Fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: When I was running around town like a chicken with my head cut off, I landed at the drive thru at Jimmy John’s. I was really good and had the vegetarian with no mayo. It’s the best you can do while still keeping the bread… that delicious, delicious bread. Anyway, I also had a pickle. It was a fantastic dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert: Megan and I went with some friends to Lofty Pursuits after some musicology thingy. I didn’t know what to get, but I went with this sundae that had toffee and other deliciousness. I should have just went with an ice cream cone, but I’ll do better next time.

So overall today was not too bad, but I’ll kick butt on Saturday to lose some weight on Sunday. See ya tomorrow.

Day 502: Wordless Wednesday!

Posted on by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 499: Weigh In Frustration

Posted on by

So this was a frustrating week. Every time I felt like I was making progress, I would peek on the scale to keep myself honest, I would be up. I know, I know don’t peek, but that was the key to my success the last couple of weeks. I would weigh on Wednesday and change my habits accordingly. So this week, I flippin’ gained 3.6 freakin pounds. As you can tell, I’m really frustrated about it but I think I know why it happened.

First, I’m in a midterm paper part of the semester which had lead to stress-induced eating. Second, I think I had issues with sodium this week. I had three turkey bratwursts and each was 23% of your daily sodium. Third, I didn’t drink my water. Finally, I didn’t fuel my body well after my workouts. I worked out plenty this week, but I’ll just do more this week. So yeah I’m mad, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to catch my breath in my class after Wednesday along with get to work out more. I want to keep doing Insanity, but when I did the Max Recovery session, I got really really bad carpet burn on my arms (no bueno) so I might go buy a yoga mat for the recovery days to make it bearable. Also, I’m going to cut back on my diet soda intake. I need to be keeping that pee clear yo!

After this gain, I’ve thought a lot about my points and how much I have deviated from them recently (which has directly correlated to my ups and downs.) This week, I’m really going to stick with my points and not go over my weekly points. Between that and exercising, I might just lose some weight this week!

Breakfast: This morning, I had two waffles with peanut butter and honey. I put a lot of peanut butter which was dumb because I could have used those points in the day. I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I should have added a banana and had less peanut butter. 8 points

Lunch: Our freezer is a frozen mosh pit of random food that needs to be eaten, so for lunch we tried to eat down on the freezer stuff. (Freezer stuff not being the ice shavings on the side of the freezer.) Anyway, I had a Smart One Chicken Suaza. I was good enough, but I was hungry for more. I wanted to go back in to the kitchen and eat anything I could find. After I just chilled and drank some water, I felt fine and I moved on with my day. Recently, I have just acted on those impulses which has lead to a lot of binge eating on chips and other snacks. The worst thing about those binges usually is that you don’t really count those calories. They are annex calories or something stupid like that. Anyway, it was 6 points. 

This afternoon, I camped out at Panera to read and mooch off of their free Wifi (side note: Evernote is an awesome app.) I just had a cup of coffee (or six of seven) but every time I would refill my cup, the aroma of cupcakes, cinnamon rolls and cookies would waft in my direction. It took a lot for me not to buy one, and prior to my revelation this morning I probably would have, but I stood my ground and kept to my coffee. I survived a big temptation which has made me a little stronger!

 

Dinner: For dinner, we continued to raid the fridge and freezer for some leftovers. The other night, I bought these Morning Star buffalo chicken tenders to give a shot. The serving size is 5 pieces so I made some for Megan and I to sample. They were really good! They’re kind of small but they are big on flavor. That was a good little 2.5 point appetizer. Then I had a leftover burger from last night with one serving of Cape Cod reduced fat chips. I was really proud of myself because I actually weighed the patty and then found out the nutritional info online! My 3 oz 97/3 patty was 3 points, the chips were 3 points and the bun was 3 points. A pretty awesome 9 point dinner!

 

 

 

Dessert: So even though it’s freezing here in Tallahassee, we still went to get some froyo after a marathon of grading and studying. I was good and got a little white chocoloate mousse froyo and chocolate froyo (both 98% fat free) along with some sno-caps which are the best topping to get because all they really are are chocolate chips. I went to the TCBY site (which is awesome) to add everything up and I was really impressed with how I did. My froyo was only 3 points! I only took one scoop of topping and when I was dispensing the yogurt, I just counted to three and then stopped even if I thought it wasn’t a lot of yogurt. I left feeling full and good!

So even though this morning was frustrating, it ended up being a pretty good day. I feel back on track and no matter where I’m at this time next week, I have at least made some good progress. I totaled out at 28.5 points which is only .5 over! I’m really stoked. Now off to write a paper. See ya tomorrow.

Day 497: 11 Things About Me Edition

Posted on by

What’s up everybody!

Sorry about no post last night. I went to the midnight showing of Star Wars Episode I in 3D. (Yeah, I’m a nerd.) So I won’t be long tonight. I have two papers I need to be working on so I need to get at it. Today has been pretty normal, except that I SAWS’d it hard at the gym today! I did a cardio circuit of my own that felt awesome: 20 minutes on the spin bike (hello wedgie!), 30 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes running. I burned 730 calories. It was brutal but awesome. Nothing like doing homework high on endorphins.

So my good blogging pal Jennifer from A Girl Who Loves Cupcakes added me to this 11 question list so I thought I would respond to it and that would be it for tonight. I promise tomorrow will be an epic blog!

  1. What’s your favorite fashion accessory?
    Ummm… you know…
  2. If you could only save 1 picture that you’ve ever taken, what would it be of?
    This one of Megan and I right after I proposed with a ring made of grass. (Real ring to follow.)
  3. What book are you currently reading?
    “Multicultural Intelligence” and a bunch of journal articles. I really want to start the Hunger Games though!
  4. What’s your favorite place to visit?
    Any one of these counties
  5. What’s THE one thing you can’t leave the house without?
    iPhone. iCantdoanythingwithoutit
  6. What’s your favorite movie?
    Dumb and Dumber… hands down
  7. What color best represents your wardrobe?
    Since 90% of my wardrobe is a shade of blue, I’m going with blue.

  8. What’s your favorite breakfast food?
    Bacon. In any way, shape or form. (I know it’s made of pigs, but I can’t help myself…)

  9. What’s your favorite kind of exercise?
    Racquetball. My record might be something like 5-60, but I has been the single biggest factor for my weight loss other than eating better. True story.

  10. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
    I have received plenty of good advice while drinking coffee with old coots growing up (you know, those guys who drink coffee at Whataburger in every small town in Texas/America.) Most of it was emphasized doing what you love which makes work not so much like work. Good advice.


  11. What’s your most expensive purchase?
    My undergrad education. Thanks ACU!
    Thank God I won’t look like this for my FSU graduation…
    See ya tomorrow

Day 495: Wordless Wednesday Stuff!

Posted on by

[#meow]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 494: A Not As Epic Post

Posted on by

No, I didn’t meet the President or anything today, but I did torch a crapton of calories in racquetball. That’s pretty cool too!

Alright, so as some of you know I’m a huge Biggest Loser fan. I’ve been watching the show off and on for about six years and I wanted to be a contestant for a long time… that is until I just lost the weight with no show needed :). Anyway, this week, amongst all the annoying drama that has been added this season to make the show more soap opera-ish, the theme of this week was “No Excuses: I Can’t Lose Weight On My Own.” One team had to work out on their own without their trainer and overall they did pretty well. While I see where they were going with it, I think it misses the bigger picture. For me, even though I have a ton of support on multiple levels, I’m losing this weight on my own.

I’m the one who decides whether to work out when I’m tired

I’m the one who is deciding whether or not to eat that extra piece of cake

I’m the one who said “it’s time to lose weight”

Obviously it is helpful and important to have your friends and family’s support, but that can only get you so far. They only need to be a source of support, not a crutch for your excuses. Granted, this is a harder path, but it will make you all the more stronger in the long run. Once YOU make yourself a priority, everything will fall in to place. You got this yo!

Alright. Where was I?

Breakfast: I had two eggs over hard and two pieces of toast. I always dread making eggs until I just do it and it takes like a total of three minutes. It’s a super filling breakfast!

Lunch: We decided to go to Monk’s for lunch since it was nice outside and they have a really cool outdoor area. We split the artichoke dip and I had the vegan burger with jalapenos, onions, creamy havarti and a hot BBQ sauce. It was the best custom burger I have ever made there. I ate all of my fries and half of the burger. While Monk’s is really good, it’s pricey and the service is hit and miss. I’m kind of ready to just eat at home for a while. It’s usually way less calories (and less sodium) and it’s way cheaper.

 

 

 

SAWS!: Last week, my friend Andrew (the one that kind of looks like Edward Cullen) told me he wanted to play racquetball this week so we set up a time and our other friend Alex joined in on the monotony. We played for a little more than an hour and after five or six games of cut throat, we were all pretty beat. While I love singles, cut throat is more entertaining to me because it’s 2 on 1 so the game gets pretty intense (not to mention there are three uncoordinated out of shape grad students flailing around a small room with racquets attached to their wrists.) Anyway, I burned almost 700 calories (694 to be exact) in a little more than an hour which is an awesome burn.

I still want to do Insanity, but honestly I’m a little scared of the second phase of Insanity. I need to at least give it a try because the results have been epic (it seriously reduced my love handles in a few days) and it’s not that long of a work out. But running and racquetball are so much more fun (he said like a 5 year old while complaining to his mom). I’ll see what mood I’m in tomorrow morning and go from there. Any words of encouragement out there?

Dinner: So after that craziness, I came home hungry. The danger for me when I work out in the afternoon I want to come home and eat dinner but it might night be quite time for dinner so I’ll graze. Today, I took a few bites of the rest of my burger and that was about it (but it’s usually worse.) Anyway, Megan made this awesome skillet of spaghetti so we had that with some bread and an awesome salad with honey mustard. I only ate a serving or so of spaghetti, but I kept creeping in to the kitchen to snag a few fork fulls. That is definitely the worst habit that I have yet to break. I would be much better off just to have another serving. I really need to work on that because those are just pointless calories.

So today was good-ish. I ate too much bread for dinner (and the worst part was it wasn’t really that good. Again, pointless calories.) but overall it was okay. I need to drink more water and less soda and I need to eat out less which is hard because this is the semester for both of us. Between Megan working on her thesis and my teaching, going to class and working, making meals at home isn’t always a top priority. We are both committing to work on that so we can save some money and lose some weight in the process. I have some big goals for myself (like being at least in the 210’s by graduation on April 28th) so each cookie, that extra sprinkle of cheese or that extra helping of spaghetti is going to make a difference. Time to blitzkrieg some calories. See ya tomorrow.