Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year
Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share
Sleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories there
Christmas time is here
We’ll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year…
I have no clue why I put “Day 221” on last night’s post. I would have gone back in time… to this post! (Well…close to it.)
Anyway…
Today was another big day in the weight loss win column. I was super good with my points! I will end up a little over because we are making Christmas goodies for friends and family so how can you not steal a cookie or a gum drop?
Breakfast: Now the hordes of college students have gone back to their homes in South Florida, this town is empty. It’s glorious. Not only can I get to work in less than five minutes, the caravan of cars in the drive thru lane at Starbucks is minimal! So I decided to head over there to get a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee. I got the turkey bacon, egg white and cheese breakfast sandwich. Turkey bacon is generally hit or miss, but this was pretty good despite the fact it was kind of gray. Anyway, the sandwich was only 6 points and it kept me full the whole morning.
Lunch: I went the Jimmy John’s route today for lunch. I had the Turkey Tom with avocado spread instead of mayo. (Seriously Jimmy John’s, get a low fat option for the mayo!) I also bought a thing of Thinny Chips which were awesome! The only thing was I thought they were only 3 points because that’s what the nutrition facts say online. That’s only for one serving and a bag is two. Way to be sneaky Jimmy! Tisk tisk tisk. Either way, the sandwich was 7 and the chips actually came out to 5. 12 points
I had a 2 point Fiber One bar. Yum.
Dinner: We had leftover spaghetti with Al Fresco sausage. We both had a massive salad before which helped along with some green beans. It was only about an 8 point dinner!
After Dinner: Like I said, we are making some Christmas goodies so when we were out and about, we got some Bolthouse Farms Holiday Nog. It’s only 80 calories and 1.5 grams of fat for a glass compared to 200 a cup for other brands! Now I’m not a huge egg nog snob, but I know what I like: thick, not too much vanilla, and creamy. It passed my test! 2 points.
So I’m at roughly 30 points today so I’m going to try to be good for the rest of the night since I have the weigh in in the morning. Excited to see how that goes. See ya tomorrow.
WARNING: this is going to be a hodgepodge of a post.
So today was pretty good with food. I did have a cinnamon roll and eggs for lunch but even that wasn’t too bad (wasn’t really filling though.)
A few months ago, Megan and I bought Bob Harper’s Skinny Rules book which has a crapton of fantastic guidelines for weight loss. Bob Harper is a stud. Anyway, we are going to commit to the Skinny Rules for the month of January. It involves a lot of eating just real food. Something we have kind of deviated from recently. So with that will come some challenges, but ultimately a healthy kickstart to 2013! More on that later.
On Friday, we went with our friends Andrea and Phillip to Victorian Christmas in Thomasville and ate at the incredibly delicious Sweet Grass Dairy. If you come to Tallahassee, we’ll take you there!
Finally, here is my favorite Will Ferrell skit. The week of awesome Christmas videos has begun! See ya tomorrow.
For the interest of time, let me break this food down:
Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter 4 points
Snack: Fiber One bar (that was oddly juicy…) 2 points
Lunch: Leftover delicious chili! 11 points
Snack: Fiber One bar 2 points
Dinner: Peanut Butter Sandwich 4 points
SAWS: Played Ultimate Frisbee with some friends from work. (Shout out to my Admissions peeps!) Followed by going for a very very cold run in Southwood. There were also some awesome Christmas lights out there!
Snack: Popcorn 5 points
So today, I totaled out to 28 points! Hooray for being back on track! Megan and I did a lot of planning about how we are going to be weight loss studs in 2013. Get stoked. See ya tomorrow.
If you aren’t watching the 121212 concert, YOU ARE A FOOL! PRetty epic stuff.
So I haven’t been on here in a while…well a week…which is pretty long for this Fotographing Fat Kid. Frankly, I’ve been pretty bummed. Mostly just about weight loss. I’ve been looking in the mirror and for the first time in a while just not liking what I see. I just feel flabby. My clothes fit the same, but I feel and look softer than I did when I was training and hitting the gym. (SOOOOOO READY TO HIT THE GYM!!!!) If you have gone through that, you know how frustrating that can be. It felt I was still where I was a few years ago. It felt like I was back to square one.
That all changed today…
This morning, I had a sharp pain in my chest that dropped me to the ground which really shook me. Luckily, Megan was quick on her feet and got my two baby aspirin. I felt fine after, but I still went to the doctor to see what was up. (Don’t worry, I just had a sharp muscle spasm. Either way, that ish was scary.)
The doctor wanted to do an EKG to find out to see how my heart was doing. Then the nurse looked at my EKG reading and asked me the question every guy loves to hear: “You exercise don’t you?” It was like a movie when the girl asks the meat head “Do you work out?” then they guy flexes his muscles until his bicep turns into objects like ships and stuff like Popeye. It was the most encouraging thing she could say at that moment since I was shirtless with my glorious man boobs and loose-skin exposed for all to see.
What I’m trying to say is that while my body might not be ripped, my insides know the truth. My body knows the miles I’ve ran, the hours of racquetball and the crapton of calories I have avoided. It was the reaffirmed that I am still on the right path even if I did gain this week. It was awesome.
So that’s all I have for tonight. Points and other fun things to come. See ya tomorrow.
Hello!
My allergies are killing me, the smell of burnt popcorn is still in my nostrils and my hip hurts. So let’s get this sucker going.
Basically, what I was talking about last night happened…well kind of. I had a no gain or loss week. I’m at the same place I was last week, which makes me want to go at it a lot harder this week. So that’s what’s happening.
Also, I ran five miles and it felt awesome until I got home. I think sitting in a hot shower for a while sounds good to me.
So that’s about it. In lieu of a long post, here’s a picture of me with Santa when I was a baby. Enjoy. See ya tomorrow.
Hello!!!!
So it has been a crazy week on the interwebs for me! First, my weight loss story was featured by the awesome blogger Reinventing Danni, then I have helped raise $130 for prostate cancer through Movember (which there is still times to donate here!) and today, my interview with RetroFit Ministries came out. For those who don’t know, RetroFit Ministries was created by the awesome Biggest Loser duo Austin and Ken Andrews (they were on Season 11 along with some other awesome folks like Courtney Crozier and Hannah Curlee who I met this summer! I’m working my way up the Biggest Loser social ladder!) Anyway, a few weeks ago, I had written something about my journey on Austin’s wall and then after a few exchanges, he asked me about being interviewed for his website! It was such an honor! Here’s the interview. After you’re done check out the other amazing stories! If it doesn’t make you want to do push ups and go on a kale cleanse I don’t know what will. Check it out. Thanks again for the awesome opportunity Austin. See ya tomorrow.
Nathan MacDonald Sheds some light on his story of becoming healthy. I have to be honest, I have had an enjoyable time hearing his story, and he has described it in a pretty amusing way! It has been a pleasure to hear Him describe his journey, and I think you’ll enjoy it as well!
AA: Nathan- When did it hit you that you were obese?
I wore XXL shirts in 5th grade
NM: Kindergarten? Lol I was always the fat kid growing up. I wore XXL shirts in 5th grade and I am actually a smaller jean size now than I was in middle school. My weight was always a constant struggle. Sometimes I would get on the right track and it felt like I was really going to make a change, but then something would happen like moving to a new school or something like that.
AA: How would a school change affect you moving forward?
NM: Well being the new kid always came with its own issues. Being an overweight kid made it even more fun lol.
AA: I love the sarcasm! Ha! You struggled all through school, but you never hit your point of not return- when did you hit that tipping point of change?
NM: The tipping point for me was right before I started graduate school at Florida State University in 2010. I had to buy size 54 khakis for orientation. That’s when I realized that it was time to make a significant change, or just accept the fact that I was going to die at an early age.
AA: Do you look at your childhood and think, “My weight makes sense,” because people or bullying?
NM: I was always bullied in elementary, and although I was bullied some in middle school, I was able to deflect a lot of it by playing the “funny fat kid” card that most overweight kids know all too well. I did have two dear friends who died when I was in college and that really took its toll on me. I turned to eating a lot during that time.
AA: You took to eating when your friends passed away?
NM: It was what I was use to. Food had always been there for me so my initial reaction was to eat my feelings. It was much easier to eat over talking out my feelings to my wife and to my friends. It was a truly hard time.
AA: What do you look to for that same feeling if you hit a hard time now?
NM: Well now it’s a lot easier to work out my frustration whether it’s running or an aggressive game of racquetball. I burn calories instead of eating them lol.
AA What happened to give you hope that you could change?
NM: I have been blessed with such an amazing wife, Megan, who has always been there ready to cheer me on when I decided it was time to change my life. It’s also been awesome to have friends from across the world sending me Facebook posts encouraging me. It has really held me accountable and has given me the strength to keep on keepin’ on.
AA: When you discovered that change was possible, how did you decide on what path to become healthy?
NM: Well I had tried Weight Watchers a few times, only to quit a few weeks later. It wasn’t until I really bought in to the system (like counting, calculating, researching restaurants, etc.) that I became successful. I also always liked racquetball and running, so that became a huge part of my cardio which melts the pounds lol. I still do a lot of both now, but I have taken it to a whole new level. I was just happy to finish a 5k, now I want to place in my age bracket and I am training for a half marathon. Losing 130 pounds changes your prospective so much!
AA: Speaking of perspective, I have called this blog series ThankStories, because we are in November and thankfulness is big this time of year- What are you thankful looking on your journey and future?
NM: This year, I’m running in my first 15k. I’m thankful that I have been blessed with a body that can take all of the abuse I have given it from one extreme of being obese to the other by testing its limits every week through working out lol. I’m incredibly thankful for my community of friends and readers who have been with me through thick and thin. It’s been so encouraging to have friends even from elementary comment on the blog telling me that they’re cheering me on. It’s been an amazing journey so far!
AA: Given that you have lost 130 lbs, are you Finished? Is this the end of your journey?
NM: Not even close. I am still a good 50-70 pounds away from where I want to be and I still have struggles with food. Although I still have a ways to go on this journey, I’m loving every minute of it. The hardest days on my weight loss journey are still infinitely better than the days of being 357 pounds. This journey has been such a blessing and it’s not ending any time soon.
Sorry it’s been a while. Thanksgiving is a crazy time. A lot of planning, a lot of turkey, and a lot of fun!
A quick thing about the 15k…IT WAS AWESOME! It was 9.3 miles of crazy awesomeness! The course had a lot of ups and downs (literally) but I felt really good about my time. I maintained a 8:30-9:45 minute mile the whole time. I was going to buy the photos from the racing photography company, but they are flippin’ expensive! I’ll still post the race results on my race results page soon!
So I was working to not gaining this week so I exercised, tried to watch what I ate and drank plenty of water. I ended up losing .2 pounds lol (total 126.4 pounds) which isn’t much, but I really lost 6 pounds in a weird way. You see, at one point I had gained 6 pounds but I lost it all by this morning. Hooray for weight fluctuation! Anyway, last year I gained something like 8 pounds and didn’t really get it off until the summer so losing is a pretty big deal. The best part is is that I still ate what I wanted, just not as much of it. And there in lies the key for weight loss.
Today I was pretty good with food and tomorrow will be even better. I feel awesome about where I am and I’m ready to lose some serious weight before the end of the year.
Before we end tonight, I just wanted to make another push for Movember.
As you know, the end of Movember is near! Friday is that last day to donate to Movember. So far, you have helped raise $40 which is totally awesome! My goal is to have raised a total of $100 by this Friday! No matter how small or large, any donation is appreciated. I don’t see a dime, it goes directly to prostate cancer research. Even if it just means giving up a meal out this week and donating, that’s $5 closer we are to ending this disease. You can donate here. If you keep donating, I’ll keep growing this itchy, yet legit, stache! Thanks! P.S. Please share with your friends, your family and your co-workers! Spread the stache love! See ya tomorrow.
