Day 50: French Cooking and Other Awesomeness

Posted on June 23, 2014 by theffkid

The Amy’s Baking Company episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Wow.
I know that I’m a year late, but still…it’s awkwardly magical.

Anyway, let’s talk about food and stuff!

So this weekend was our sixth anniversary. Not only have I been incredibly blessed to be married to my best friend, I have had the best supporter and encourager in the entire world. Megan MacDonald, you are the cat’s pajamas. I love you.

After six years of wedded bliss, we have taken up cooking as couple. It has been quite the delicious pastime. So when we were trying to decide on how to celebrate, went decided to try to tackle the holy grail of cooking: Boeuf Bourguignon from Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking with a dessert of crème brûlée. Now, we knew this wasn’t going to be an easy feat. In fact, it was going to be a six-hour ordeal. But we knew that it was going to be totally worth it. And holy Moses, it was. Think about the most tender roast beef, add a richly delicious wine sauce along with carrots and pearl onions and you’ll have a a pretty good idea of it. Oh yeah, and the crème brûlée tasted like angel’s wings.

Here are just a few photos of the awesomeness!
So tomorrow, I’ll get back to my regularly scheduled blogging! That is, UNTIL FITBLOGGIN’ THIS WEEKEND!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHH I’M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya tomorrow.

Welcome To The New Home For The FFK!!!

Posted on June 21, 2014 by theffkid

So I was going to wait until next week to promote this, BUT I AM OFFICIALLY A SELF-HOSTING BLOGGER! I feel so grown up! I’ve spend most of tonight (when the power finally came back on) transferring files, downloading plugins (if you have a favorite plugin, let me know!), and exploring all the possibilities with this new format. I decided to go through bluehost.com which was ridiculously easily. I realllllllly wanted to get ffk.com but the Future Media Architects (because FMA and FFK are exactly the same abbreviations…) have claimed my beautiful domain. Jerks.

You might remember that I was going to self host at fotographingfatkid.com, but that kind of fell through for a few reasons. But this time, I didn’t want the whole blog name because A) it’s hard to spell out B) I sometimes forget to mention that Fotographing spelled with an F and not a P C) I was sick of explaining why it’s spelled with an F and (most importantly) D) when I get down to a healthy weight of my choosing (AKA when I reach Onederland), I’m going to change my blog name to The Fotographing Fit Kid. I can’t wait to get there!

Sooooooo….
It’s going to be a challenge to change my blog URL in every nook and cranny of the interwebs, so I am still in a transition phase. Especially since I just bought this awesome shirt on Thursday for Fitbloggin’…

Well…crap.

Like I said…transition phase.

So if you see my nathanalbert.wordpress.com anywhere on the Internet, let me know so I can change it! Anyway, check out my weigh in/delicious anniversary post either tomorrow or Monday right here!

Welcome to theffkid.com!

Day 43 Weigh In Day

Posted on June 15, 2014 by theffkid

I don’t feel like I’m going to do my Dad justice in this post. He has been nothing but an amazing man in my life. I have been incredibly to have parents who have laughed, cried and prayed with me during my 27 years on this earth. Thank you for being my biggest cheerleader, Dad.

So, now that I’ve bawled all over my keyboard…

I have a pretty big presentation at work tomorrow and I’ve been working on it all evening so I’m pretty wiped and I’m going to keep this relatively brief.

This week, I was incredible with my eating and my fitness! Until Thursday, that is.
I was on point for most of the week, and I just let my guard down on Thursday and Friday. While I was actually pretty good on Saturday, it couldn’t make up for the damage of the other days. Because of that, I gained 1.4 this week. I’m not really thrilled, but it is what it is and I’ve already moved on. After I weighed, Megan and I sat down and talked about some of the issues we had last week and then talked about how we could do better this week. So after church, we got our grocery shopping out of the way and now we are set for the week, armed with healthy and delicious meals!

Today, I ate a total of 43 points (my lucky number. BT.) and I feel great and not deprived at all. According to WW, I’m supposed to eat 53 which is just insane so I modified it down.

So here’s to another week of healthy choices and a little better follow through! See ya tomorrow.

Now go! You chicken fat! Go!

Day 37 A Declaration

Posted on June 10, 2014 by theffkid

This morning was hard for me. I woke up just feeling like crap about my weigh in and just how I kind of trashed my body over the weekend. I know I’m human and I like to indulge, but at what cost? Is it worth eating until I’m physically sick all night into the next day? No. My body deserves much better than that and I’m the only one in control of it.

While I have made some awesome strides in the past few weeks, I have realized that I need direction with my weight and health. After losing 100 pounds in the first 11 months of this journey, I have been in a weird lose/gain/plateau cycle for the past three years. Am I just going to stay some terminal weight loser who keeps losing the same weight all the time? To quote Brooke Birmingham: I want to be an “After.” You see, I have big plans for this body. Loose skin and all. I have already taken my current body to the limit. It’s time to take it up a notch.

I am at a point where I have completely lost sight of the finish line and that scares me in a lot of ways. This is my pivotal moment to take that turn around the trail and finish the race.

So…

Starting today Monday, June 9th, 2014, I am committing to lose 75 pounds by June 9th, 2015. Which means I will weigh 180 pounds.

Now this might sound crazy to some of you and that’s fine, I know your heart is in the right place, but the fact of the matter is that I need a long-term goal to focus my energy towards. I can’t just run around in a circle like I have been. While I have lost a lot of weight, I’m still considered obese. I need to fix that.

So this is it. It’s time to get to a healthy weight.

So this it, dear readers. I need your support now more than ever (I seriously hate that phrase. Sorry I used it).

If I don’t accept your offer of cookies and chocolate covered pork rinds, please don’t take it personal.

If I decline an invite to a restaurant full of my favorite trigger foods, it’s not you, it’s me.

If I look like I’m phoning it in at the gym, call me out on it.

So here we go. The final push towards my goal. See ya tomorrow.

How Adam Richman Lost to Food But Won in the End

Posted on June 5, 2014 by theffkid

[UPDATE]
In light of recent events, Adam Richman is sadly no longer my hero. I know that it is kind of common for people to let their weight loss go to their head, but that doesn’t make it OK. I am incredibly disappointed at how he treated someone who just wanted to educate him on the weight and controversy the hashtag #thinspiration carries in the weight loss community. No matter who you are, you should never treat someone like that.
Kudos to the Travel Channel for pulling his new show that was supposed to air tonight.

Hey Adam, don’t mess with the digital weight loss community.

Adam Richman Eating All the Things

Adam Richman Losing All the Weight

Adam Richman used to be my hero.
In fact, I idolized him. The idea of being the host for Man v. Food where I could take on those titanic tasty feats of food sounded not only awesome, but possible considering how much a 357-pound man can eat on a regular day. You see, I used to (well…still do) have the sick habit where I would eat as fast as I could so I could eat everything on my plate before I would get full. It was like a race between my taste buds and my stomach. Who won? Nobody. Ever. I would just end up being physically sick for the rest of the day. So when I would watch a show like MvF or Bizarre Foods, I would treat every meal like it was my last. I wanted my meals to be the highlight of my day. When we would eat something light or boring, I would get depressed. Yes, I was addicted to food porn.

Thankfully, after nearly four years on this weight loss journey, my views on food have completely changed where I see it as fuel more than anything else.

So today, there was an article about Adam Richman and how he has lost 70 pounds and how Man v. Food took its toll on him. You should absolutely read the article from TODAY Entertainment, but I want to just post one quote that is so true.

In the article, Richman talks about how he justified the health risks of the show:
“I figured that as long as my blood work and heart were good, I was good. But those efforts were no match for the thousands of calories I’d eat over the course of a shoot.”
Boom.

If you remember anything from this entire blog (not just post, the FFK blog as a whole), remember this: the most damaging thing you can do for your health is to try to justify your unhealthy actions. Sure, I used to have good cholesterol levels and I could run a whole 5k when I was over 300 pounds, but I was still over 300 pounds! I was still very sick in a lot of ways! Like Adam, I had to have a reality check of my own to realize that a cholesterol number didn’t compare to the rest of my chart topping numbers. It wasn’t until after I became real with myself about the direction my life was heading that I could make a real change.

The beautiful moral of Adam’s story and my story is that you can always still do something about your health! How beautiful is that? It’s never too late. If you want to eat better, start with the next thing you put in your mouth. Make the change, and the rest will follow.

So, Adam Richman, in case you ever read this, I just wanted you to know that you were my hero then and you’re my hero now…for completely different reasons. Thanks for showing us all how change is possible.

Day 31: My Tallahassee Democrat Debut!

Posted on June 3, 2014 by theffkid

What a day!
So a while back, I became a community blogger for the Tallahassee Democrat thanks to a run-in with the awesome TD editor Bob Gabordi. On Sunday, I finally posted my first first article about New Year’s resolutions and how it is never too late to make a change. (A lot of it was inspired from this post I wrote a while back. It’s a personal favorite.) Anyway, I was told yesterday that they were considering putting it in today’s newspaper. So this morning when I was driving to work, I made a short stop to buy a paper and sure enough, it was on page 6C! How awesome is that!?! While I love the visibility of my work online, there is always something kind of validating to see your name and work in ink. Even when I covered golf from The Optimist, my paper in undergrad, I still loved reading my work hot off the press. So, yeah. Pretty awesome way to start off the day! Read the article here!

On the other end of the spectrum, I was interviewed last night by Adam and Devon Bate from the Lifestyle Accountability Show: Health and Fitness Podcast! We talked a lot about my journey, the blog and everything else in between. I said the other end of the spectrum because I frankly can’t stand the sound of my voice. So future apologies for when you listen to my terrible voice and my awkward banter. (But seriously, you should listen to it!)

So on to today!

I had one of those awesome days where I thought I was going to be uber over on my points, but I ended up being okay! Here we go!

Breakfast: PB and toast. Always a winning combination! 8 points

Their tables have comics on them. I take a photo every time. This time: Transformers

Lunch: For lunch, I met with with one of my marketing buddies Louise at my absolute favorite place in the world: Gaines Street Pies. I also ran into Monica from Running Happily Ever After! Incidentally, I won a Sport Kilt from her blog on Sunday! Anyway, I had two slices of delicious pepperoni and meatball pizza. YERM!!!!! 19 points

Dinner: After work, my buddy Tim and I decided to hit up the driving range. There’s nothing more cathartic than aggressively hitting golf balls and them traveling to upwards of three….feet. Before I went, I had a 6 point pb sandwich.

Anyway, after we were done we went over to Tallahassee’s favorite delicious shantytown Barnicale Bill’s. I decided to go delicious and healthy with a grilled grouper sandwich. Yes, I did have fries (what? I said delicious too!) and they were fantastic. Dinner was about 16 points.

So today I got to 49 points which is only a point over! I got around 3 exercise points from golf so it all evens out in the end! See ya tomorrow.

Day 29: Weigh In Day And Other Awesomeness

Posted on June 1, 2014 by theffkid

Today has been full of win. Where do I even start?

Let’s start from the very beginning (a very good place to start). So like I said last night, I wasn’t sure what the scale was going to stay this morning. Even though I had been relatively most of the week, you just never know. Well, THE FFK IS BACK, BABY! I lost 2.4 freakin’ pounds! I’m now at 251.2. I’m soooooo ready to get out of the 250’s for good. I feel like I am finally getting passed my setback from these passed few months. Time to make some more awesome strides this week. Between eating well and exercising, good things are happening and I feel awesome about it!

Next, I WON A FREAKIN’ SPORTS KILT in a giveaway from the super awesome blog Running Happily Ever After (definitely check them out!) Yes, it is a kilt that you can run and be active in. I’m so flippin’ stoked to get it and to get active! And yes, Matt DelCiampo, I will be playing racquetball in it. Get ready.

Finally…
A while back, I got in contact with the Tallahassee Democrat about becoming a contributor to their community blog. So for a while, I’ve been working on a post about making small changes and why you should start now. Read it here! Let me know what you think!

I’m going to close it down a little early tonight. I ate a total of 54 points which isn’t bad at all! See ya tomorrow.

Day 28 Time!

Posted on May 31, 2014 by theffkid

Hey! Do you follow me on Instagram? (I swear my photos are only kind of mediocre!) Follow me and I’ll follow you back!

Alright, let’s get to it!

So after a long but good week of eating, I was down to a few weekly points left so I had to be pretty good. Not an impossible task, but still challenging.

Breakfast: Megan and I usually do our grocery shopping on Saturday mornings: first the farmers market, then Trader Joe’s, and if we need anything else, Whole Foods. What can I say? It’s a pretty awesome way to start the weekend. Anyway, I skipped a real breakfast so when we were shopping at TJ’s I grabbed a banana for the ride home. That was a definite win because I usually grab for the salty and carb snack.

Lunch: We went with an FFK Classic: 45 calorie Herbrew National low fat hot dogs. 1 point a dog people! So for 3 hot dogs with 3 buns, it was 13 points. YERM!!!!!!!!!!!

Snacks: Later on, we went out and about and we were both getting hungry. We grabbed some snacks including iced coffee and 2 (yes, 2) glazed munchkins. 8 points. Later on, we were both pretty starving so we grabbed some jerky and Fiber One bars. Yerm again! 10 points.

Dinner: While we were at Trader Joe’s, we found these DELICIOUS chile lime chicken burgers. They were massive, flavorful and only 2 points for a pattie! With the bread, it was a 5 point meal with a side of green beans.

So overall, today was pretty great! While I’m excited for the weigh in tomorrow, I’m still a little nervous. Either way, I did really well all week except for Thursday. While one day might create a setback for a weigh in, it won’t derail my success. Time to keep chuggin’. See ya tomorrow.

Day 27: Friday Fun!

Posted on May 30, 2014 by theffkid

I won’t keep you on this lovely Friday night. What I will say is Maleficent is flippin’ fantastic! If you go see it, definitely fork over the extra money for IMAX!

So as you will see, today was a little goofy with my eating…

Breakfast: We had to run a few errands around town so we ended up at Bada Bean, this weirdly-mafia-themed restaurant in Tallahassee that serves some killer breakfast. Anyway, I have the Country Skillet with sausages, veggies, cheese, two eggs and a biscuit. It was delicious, but also 24 points. It was awesome, but half of my points for the day. Worth it.

#SubwaySelfie

Lunch: So I wasn’t hungry until like 3 pm so I ran over to the Subway on campus for a footlong sub. 20 points.

So at this point today, I only had 4 points left. But the awesome thing about eating within your points of most of your week is that you have your weekly points to rely on! Another advantage of counting your points! Win!

Dinner: Before the movie, we went over to this pizza place by our house that we haven’t been to before which is impressive considering how much pizza we eat. Anyway, I had 26 points worth of pizza. Yerm.

So I had about 70 points which was uber high, but it is what it is. See ya tomorrow!

Day 24 Hello!

Posted on May 27, 2014 by theffkid

So day was full of so much PR win for the FFK blog!

Since I know most of my views have been coming from my buddy Stephan Pagano (who is one of my weight loss heroes. So much so that I wrote a post about his awesomeness a while back…) So allow me to introduce myself!

Hello. My name is Nathan, but I’m also known as the Fotographing Fat Kid. Nice to meet you! I’ve lost over 100 pounds since September 2010 and you can read my story here! You might wonder why it says Day 24 even though I’ve being on my weight loss journey since 2010. Well, a few days ago, 24 days to be exact, I hit the reset button on the whole thing to kick start my weight loss again! I hope that clears up any confusion!

So, let’s get to it!

After yesterday’s breakthrough that I didn’t need a holiday to be surrounded with food, I felt awesome and confident. Dare I say… confidently awesome! Let’s talk food!

Breakfast: I was going to swim this morning before work, but I had a crappy night’s sleep so I hit the snooze because sometimes sleep is more important than exercise (if anything so you won’t go to your job grouchy only to lose said job which leads to you not being able to afford a gym membership. See? It all works out!) Anyway, I made my favorite blueberry muffin smoothie with old fashioned oats, vanilla almond milk, fresh kale from the farmers market (which tastes so much better than the bagged variety), frozen blueberries, peanut butter and flax seeds. It was ridiculous, kids! I know it looks like mud, but it actually looked like a blended up Barney the Dinosaur. 10 points. It’s usually 8, but I added a little extra peanut butter because I’m naughty like that ;).

Lunch: I wasn’t really hungry until around 2 PM so I just decided to go Brooklyn Water Bagels for a couple of slices of pizza. I avoided the toppings to shave off some points. Every point counts, right? 15 points

Dinner: I didn’t get home until close to 8 tonight and I really wanted to just go out and gorge myself on something unhealthy. But deep down, I knew that it was something I would regret. For most of my life, that regret wasn’t enough for me to avoid that situation. Thankfully, Megan, my super stud of a wife, had an awesome idea for a deliciously filling dinner! We bought a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken from Publix along with a bag of salad and some Bolthouse Farms Parmesan Cesar dressing. I shredded up half of a chicken breast and then ate two drumsticks and a wing because I was that hungry. I was pretty proud of my awesome dinner because I have never counted my portions when we’ve gotten a rotisserie chicken. BOOM. WIN. 20 points.

For dessert, I had a glass of milk and some strawberries. 2 points.

So today I got to 47 points out of my 48 point allotment! I’m uber proud of myself today. Time to keep the momentum going! See ya tomorrow for a great Wordless Wednesday!

P.S.
WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THIS HORRIFYING COMMERCIAL??????