Day 1,165 Monday Update

Posted on November 25, 2013 by theffkid

I’m going to keep this kind of brief because I’m working on a few different things…

First: This morning, I took the Keep It Up, David’s Thanksgiving Pledge to: not have seconds, photograph what I eat, not to graze (a HUGE deal for me) and exercise! Read the whole post and take the pledge here! More on that later.

Second: Megan’s brutal semester is finally coming to an end so we celebrated by going out for some delicious sushi and seared tuna salad. It was flat-out delicious. Love me some Jasmine’s! (Looks good, doesn’t it Chris Williams? Let’s do lunch sometime.)

Third: We continued our date night by seeing Catching Fire. I was really impressed. I think if I was chosen, I would immediately go to the Biogenesis Lab and roid up on A-Rod strength PEDs and then find those bath salts that made that guy zombie crazy (which also happened in Miami…WHAT THE CRAP IS WRONG WITH THIS STATE???) and then just destroy everyone. No trip to the Cornucopia needed. I’ll let my roids-rage-fueled blood lust do the work (yeah…I thought this a lot during the movie. I also thought about the possibility of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s character was actually his character in Doubt and how that would play out.)

Finally: It’s not too late to donate to my Movember page or to become a Stachetastic Run Sponsor!
Donate here and help us find a cure for prostate and testicular cancer!

See ya tomorrow!

P.S. the Fotographing Fat Kid actually foto’d yesterday. More on that soon! 🙂

Day 1,161 All the Desserts Edition

Posted on November 21, 2013 by theffkid

So today…well…I ate a lot.
I have a thing for sweets. My sweet tooth takes up the majority of my mouth (and has severe cavities.) Today was his Christmas…but we’ll get to that later.

Movember update! Some of you have been asking about Movember and how my mustache is growing. Well, here you go! It’s not great, but it can sure raise some money! As you can see, I have kind of a Reverse Hitler growing where that space under my noes doesn’t grow well. Hi Ho. Anyway, it’s been fun to grow it. Ready to grow a beard in December…or at least try to anyway.

About yesterday’s photos: So you might be wondering about those workout photos from Wordless Wednesday. Well, those were from my Start 2 Fitness exercise class! Yesterday, we have a few competitions like who could plank the longest, who could do the most pushups, that kind of stuff. All I wanted was to get first place in a competition AND I DID! Truth be told, it was a game that was totally in my wheelhouse: shuttle-run trivia. (Fun fact: kind of a trivia nerd who plays on a fantastic team called STEVE HOLT! and yes we yell that every time someone says our name.) Anyway, you had to guess a certain celebrity in the shortest time. The catch? You had to run 100+ feet to someone to get a clue and then come back to give your answer. My clues were: female, singer, debuted in 1999. Boom. Britney Spears. I got mine in three tries in 44 seconds. First place in that competition! Holla! Celebrate the small victories! Shout out to Ernst, Brendan and Angela at FSU Campus Rec for an awesome semester of getting fit!

Breakfast: What’s the opposite of getting fit? Oh yeah, eating a sandwich with hashbrowns on it. Because that happened at breakfast. Not a good indicator of things to come. On a different note, people were having a business meeting inside of Atomic Coffee this morning with their own giant pad of paper. And before you ask, no, they don’t have a conference room. It was painful to watch and listen to (especially because they were talking about social media. I’m not sure they knew what Facebook was…). Anyway, the sandwich was good, but not the healthiest option. But somehow still healthier than most of my other meals today.

I Ate Dessert For Lunch…Because I’m An Adult!: So today at work, we had a bake sale that benefited the United Way of the Big Bend. You were encouraged to try everything and then vote on your favorites. So I took that to heart. I didn’t even bother trying to add it all up. Don’t worry, I didn’t eat all of those apples. They just looked awesome. Funny story: the guy who made those is on WW too so I jokingly asked him how many points those were and then he laughed in my face and said “it’s for charity! When you eat something for charity, the points don’t count!!!” So I’m going with that delusive ignorance and calling a mulligan on this meal. Don’t worry, I paid for it later. I felt terrible the rest of the day. In other news, I love my job.

Second Lunch: After all the sugar, I needed something else in my body or I was going to die of my newly discovered diabetes. So what did this smart guy eat? Two delicious hot dogs from the iconic hot dog stand on campus: Mom and Pop’s. Ironically, Mom and Pop’s is the only food stand on FSU’s campus that isn’t owned by Aramark. Making it one of the few Mom and Pop shops that stood up to a big conglomerate and won. Anyway, yeah…they were good. But it’s ok! I had a Diet Coke that canceled out any calories I ate at Second Lunch! Hooray denial!

Dinner: To balance and completely cancel out every other calorie I ate in the day, I made chili for dinner. It was delicious, but I still kind of feel sick from eating all that sugar. Ready to run A LOT tomorrow evening. See ya tomorrow.

Day 1,153 That Time I Posted About Food

Posted on November 13, 2013 by theffkid

Alright, back to the basics. It’s not going to always be interesting and sexy (whatever that means for a blog) but this is what I need right now. Even if I don’t post, or have giant posts, know that I am tracking. Time to REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY get out of the 230’s for good.

Let’s begin, shall we?

Breakfast: I had a turkey bacon breakfast sandwich from Starbucks. FSU’s President Eric Barron and his sweet wife Molly are usually at the Starbucks on my side of campus. They are usually in workout clothes. Basically, our President is baller. Fun fact: he’s an avid racquetball player. President Barron, if you are reading this, let’s play some time. I’ll even let you win. When I say “let you” I mean you would destroy me no matter what. Anyway, the sandwich was 8 points.

Snack: We bought some satsuma oranges from Trader Joe’s. The are little flavor grenades of deliciousness. NO POINTS!

Lunch: Speaking of Trader Joe’s, I had some chicken tikka masala. It is easily the best frozen meal on the planet (I’ve heard Mars has a pretty killer version of a Hot Pocket, so I’ll go with best meal on our planet.) 8 points. And yes, I look ridiculous. Then I had some TJ’s Greek yogurt for 3 points.

By the way, it was a beautiful day in Tallahassee. It was cold and actually felt like fall. I wish it would stay this way….

Dinner: After a long day on campus, we were ready for some delicious (and hot) dinner. We ended up at Pho7 for some soup. It was magical as always and roughly 16 points.

Dessert: We went home for some delicious, low-cal hot chocolate. It was about 4 points with the amount of marshmallows I had.

So today I got to 39 points. Pretty good considering I was full all day! What’s better? I didn’t cheat. At one point, I had my hand in a candy jar and I had the willpower to get my hand out of there! BOOM! Weight loss win. See ya tomorrow.

Dead ActiveLink, Bruised Toes & Other Adventures in Weight Loss

Posted on November 12, 2013 by theffkid

It’s funny when you leave open your blog post in your browser and how what you are planning on writing will be completely different in a matter of hours.

So it’s been a pretty crazy week. In fact it’s been a pretty crazy start to the month. I am in a pretty rotten place when it comes to weight loss. My weight has been fluctuating like crazy, but I physically look smaller. My Start to Fitness cross training class twice a week is getting me ripped. I especially see and feel it in my back, my arms and around my stomach. Between that and my running, I have been getting fit in the gym (and track), but haven’t been losing weight in the kitchen.

As you can see from the graph, I’m struggling. It’s hard not to go a little overboard when your favorite team (i.e. my FSU Seminoles) are going gangbusters for the first time since…well…since we were worrying about Y2K. It shouldn’t be an excuse, but it’s been the reality of the situation. My eating is out of whack in the week and then it’s not much better on the weekends. At this point, I feel like I need to have just one good week of eating right, exercising and drinking all the water, I could kickstart my weight loss into gear!

So what’s standing in my way?
Well, like I said, I have had a couple of crummy weeks and days.
First, my ActiveLink fell off my pants. I run with it on my waistband all the time, but some how it got knocked off my jeans when I was walking to work. Crazy right? Where did it fall? It fell on to a busy intersection without me even realizing it. When I was in a meeting, I realized that it was gone. I thought I had left it at home, so I went and looked for it in an attempt to assuage my fears. It wasn’t at home. After lunch, I came back up to work while retracing my steps. Then, I saw it…in pieces…on a busy intersection of campus. It was pretty sad, and I’m pretty sure I looked crazy picking up the pieces while cars were driving by. Anyway, in a way it was a little comical. It’s just a part of life. It could be worse…someone could have stolen my shoes (oh that’s right, that’s happened before…). I know that not having an ActiveLink doesn’t physically stop my from being active, but it’s awesome to have that gauge to know how much more active I need to be during the week. It was just kind of a bummer.

Well that sucks, what else is going on, FFK?
Do you have a piece of furniture in your house that loves to destroy your toes? So do we. We have this black chair that has a leg that has bruised many a toes. Yesterday, I slammed my left foot in to the leg of the chair and as you can see, my toe swelled up almost immediately, followed by turning a black/purple/blue/redish color all around. Followed by pain while walking. It wasn’t fun. So today I went to the doctor and got some x-rays done. I usually wouldn’t go for something like this, but I am training for the half AND I have Stachetastic Run Sponsors depending on me! I found out that my toe wasn’t broken, just has a bad contusion. She suggested taping those piggies together (according to the doctor’s sheet, “taping to the buddy toes”) and it should heal in the next two to three weeks. Not awesome.

So what does that mean for your running?
Well…I’m not sure. My toe has felt better since it’s been taped. I’m already a little more mobile and I think I would feel a lot better if I had taken some pain meds today. So I’m going to rest it tomorrow and just listen to my body. That hasn’t failed me yet. What sucks is that I haven’t ran since Thursday because I was resting my body for some long runs this week. For those of you that don’t know, I am raising money in a special way this month. Last week, I challenged my Facebook friends to donate a dime (yes, ten cents) to Movember for every mile I ran this month. So far I have 14 Stachetastic Run Sponsors and have raised $18.20 by running 13 miles. My goal was to run at least 50 miles, but that might be an issue considering my toes. That’s why I need more sponsors, so that every mile counts. If I could get six more sponsors, I will been raising $2 for every mile. If you are willing to help change the face men’s health, this is a motastic way. No if you will excuse me, I’m going to burn a chair to the ground.

It’s the Mo Wonderful Time of the Year

Posted on November 2, 2013 by theffkid

I have an announcement…
On Friday, November 1st, I started growing a mustache.
(I know, important right?)
While I might try to grow an awesome stache like the illustrious FSU alum Burt Reynolds any other month, this November I will be growing it for the face of men’s health.

Just a few facts for you:
Men are 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than women are to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer for men between the ages of 15 and 35.
Over 6 million men are diagnosed with depression each year.

The purpose of Movember is two fold: to raise awareness for these preventable diseases and to raise money to research them. It is more than growing an awesome mustache.

Today, I am asking for your help. I am currently putting together a team of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas (yes, this is an all-inclusive fundraising campaign) to help raise awareness and to raise funds. If you would like to join my team, go to movember.com and search for the team “Mustaches Are Cool.” Another way you can help is by donating to Movember. You can donate with a card by clicking here or you can bring cash to my office and I will make sure it goes straight to Movember. Your donation will benefit the Movember Foundation and Livestrong in their research. (If you want to learn more about how your donation will be used, click here.)

If you are interested in joining my team (it’s not too late!), or just have some friends who have an affinity for growing facial hair, let me know. Although Movember officially started on Friday, it actually ends the first week of December. So far, I have already raised $83! Holla! Plenty of time to raise some cash while growing a stache.

I know a lot of posts like these have a personal tie in, why the cause is important to the writer. Well, I have been fortunate even not to have a personal tie in to this cause. The MacDonald and Knote men lived long, healthy lives. I guess you could say that my tie in is that I want to keep it that way. I want to help raise money to keep the research going so we all don’t have to go through the stress and heartache of having a loved one sick. I think the other reason is that when I decided to get healthy by losing weight, I looked at the process on a complete health spectrum. I even started to using moisturize on my face, something that sounded so weird and dainty to me. I guess what I’m trying to say is this is important to me because we need to have these conversations about men’s health. It should anti-mochismo to take of your body. Movember is trying to change the culture of men’s health, one stache at a time.

Let the mo grow commence.

Turkey Two Ways and Other Stuff

Posted on October 27, 2013 by theffkid

So my ‘Noles are awesome. I really think that’s the best possible way to start this post. I mean, have you seen Jameis Winston???

I know it has been a while since I’ve posted on the old blog. I have been super busy with life, work and other craziness.

Here’s a brief recap:

I joined an AWESOME workout training group for faculty and staff at Leach, the gym that started it all (I still want to but a plaque next to the first elliptical I used on the second floor that says “anything is possible.”) It’s mostly circuit training with some TRX and cardio thrown in there. I have only done it for three weeks, but I can already see muscle definition in my arms and my clothes are fitting better even though the scale is still in the same region. (More on that in a moment.)

I’ve been training for the Tallahassee Half Marathon in February. I haven’t done as many races this fall because our Weight Watchers meeting is at the same time most races start. I was a little concerned about where I was physically and where my running was. That was until I beast’d out a 6 miler on Thursday at about a 9-10 min/mile pace. Basically the same pace I was running this time last year. I think that I could have ran more pretty easily, but it was getting dark and I had a hot date waiting for me ;). I’m planning on running the 15k (9.32 miles) Turkey Trot again this year and I’m feeling pretty good about it. I still need to get a few more long runs under my belt, but I think I’ll be in good shape thanks to the cross training I’m getting with my workout group. I also think I’m going to just keep training after the half in February and look at possibly running a full in the spring. Maybe in May, but we’ll see!

I have been getting ready for Movember. More on that later this week.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, Megan and I have already planned out our healthy Thanksgiving meal. It’s not only going be epically delicious, it’s going to be healthy and point friendly! My first Thanksgiving on Weight Watchers was well planned out and actually lost weight that week. The other Thanksgivings haven’t been like that. Time to get back to that healthy mindset. So in the spirit of the season (which at this point it might as well be Christmas according to the stores in the mall. I even Valentine’s Day stuff out at World Market. What the heck????) we made turkey twice this weekend!

Turkey Meal No.1 Last night, after the Wolfpack beat down had been complete, we got busy smoking! We took a rub recipe from Cook’s Illustrated and modified it.The night before, we rubbed the 2.5 pound turkey breast with a salt and brown sugar mixture, wrapped it in saran wrap and put it in the fridge. The next day, we added some more brown sugar along with some Cooper’s BBQ seasoning. I light up my lump charcoal in my chimney and made two piles of charcoal in the grill. We added a aluminum foil packet of pecan chips on to one side and then put the bird on the grill skin side up. About an hour of low and slow later, we had some epic turkey. We also put some gouda sausage from Whole Foods on the grill as well. It felt like Texas BBQ! (But I’m ready for the real thing soon…)

Turkey Meal No.2 Skinnytaste strikes again. After church, we seared a turkey breast and then put it in a crockpot along with veggies and other deliciousness. We put it on low and ran our 3k race in the All Saints district in town. It was a blast! Anyway, six hours later, we took it out of the crockpot, made a gravy and then roasted some potatoes. It turned out all kinds of amazing! Basically, Skinnytaste is awesome. End of story.

So that’s about it. I’ll be posting more soon. Things are kind of normalizing, but until then, thanks for reading! See ya later.

My Top 5 Favorite Things From #FLBlogCon13

Posted on October 6, 2013 by theffkid

Why hello, dear reader!

I know my posts have been a little random as of late, but I am working on trying to change that. This blog has been kind of a ball of malleable goo ever since I first posted about how weird I thought Taco Bell salsa packets were. (You can read that gem of a post right here!) The FFK blog has gone from obscure to food journal to posts about running to periods of silence to serious posts about issues like binging. I have to admit, I have been in a bit of a funk when it comes to blogging. In fact, my life has been in kind of a funk for a while. I have been frustrated with my lack of progress and frankly I have had really bad body image issues. Thankfully, I have been blessed with a wife who has been there for me through better and worse. Yesterday, I realized that I really have come a long way and I shouldn’t let myself get in the way of my own success. After I came to that realization, I felt free of that burden and frustration that I have been towing around for the past couple of months. I’m ready to make some serious progress with my health and to look to more than the scale for milestones of success. The Kid is back!

So you’re probably wondering what any of that has to do with the title of this post. Well, the impetus of this revelation started when I went to the Florida Blogger & Social Media Conference in late September in Orlando at Full Sail University. I didn’t know much about FLBlogCon before I signed up, but I knew some of my blogging heroes were going to be there and I knew that I wanted to take my blogging to the next level. The one-day conference was absolutely phenomenal and I can’t wait to go back and back and back and…well, you get the idea. So without further adieu, here are my top favorite things about FLBlogCon13!

No. 1 The Surprises
So yeah, I won a trip to the Bahamas in the first 30 minutes of the conference. Not a bad way to get things going.
Before Pat Williams, the opening keynote, took to the stage, Bahama Breeze spoke about their upcoming #Rumtoberfest extravaganza along with their other specials going on. Growing up, Bahama Breeze was always a must-eat wherever we were. My mom was kinda obsessed. Anyway, so then they were giving away three trips to the Breezes Bahamas resort right then and to look under our seat for a lizard. Well look what I found…

Why hello, little lizard!

I kind of lost it. I was ridiculously shocked. I tried to take a picture of the audience when I got up there, but I was too shaky for me to even take it. The craziest part about it was that I was sitting a row back before the conference started, but then I thought “I should sit a little closer to the stage.” And I did. And I won a trip to the Bahamas. Megan and I are looking at going in May. I can’t wait. Thanks for the awesome trip, Bahama Breeze!

No. 2 The Friends

Hooray for ridiculously awesome improv photos

Like I said before, there were a few bloggers there that I have been digital friends with for a long time. One of the first blogs I came across when I first started my weight loss journey was Katy Widrick’s blog. For a long time, especially in my formative weight loss years, Katy was the facilitator of Fitblog Chat, an Twitter chat where weight loss/health bloggers like me could talk about everything from eating issues to what kind of running shoes to buy. It got me through some pretty hard times. Anyway, I went to Katy’s session and then I went to talk to her, not 100% sure if she knew who I was. After she was done talking to someone, she turned to me a screamed “AAAAAHHHH YOU’RE HERE!!!” It was pretty awesome. We talked for a while about pretty much everything. It was just awesome to see one of my online buddies in real life!

Then later on, I saw another online buddy!

When I was waiting in line for lunch, I turned back and saw my friend Nanci Cernak from This Crazy Life of Mine! Nanci and I are online running buddies who always like each other’s running pics on Instagram. I ate an awesome lunch of shrimp and grits from Bahama Breeze with her and her husband Mike. It was awesome to catch up with her! It was so exciting to see familiar faces. I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to handle Fitbloggin’ next June in Savannah. I might just pass out from being completely starblogshocked.

No. 3 The Swag
One thing I didn’t was how much swag we were going to get! I came home with two bags full of stuff from a shirt from Ford to a spatula from Florida Dairy Farmers! I paid to get a swanky new head shot from Macbeth Photography! (I know, I know, I should have worn a bow tie…)

No. 4 The Food
Let me tell you about the food!!! IT WAS AWESOME! When I first walked in, there was a yogurt bar provided by the Florida Dairy Farmers (well, I mean they’re weren’t actual farmers there…but you get the idea.) Anyway, I made a serious parfait with chocolate chip and raspberries. It was epic and filling. Later on in the day, they brought out a freezer full of Blue Bell ice cream bars. It was magical.

Then, I went over to the coffee station of deliciousness. They were making coffee about a million different ways. Each one more delicious than the next. I became close friends with them and their Kenya AA blend. They were also giving away they brew to go packs that you just add to water and ice iced coffee packs. I can’t wait to try it out! Thanks Barnie’s for some legend-wait for it-dary coffee!

Oh yeah, Ford put on an amazing after party in the back lot area of Full Sail. One of the many stations involved mini cupcakes from Gigi’s Cupcakes. After the Banana’s Foster and the S’mores cupcakes, I went in to a sugar coma. They were that awesome.

No. 5 The Sessions
Now for the reason I went: the sessions! I have been blessed that my passions and my job almost completely align with one another. While I did go to this conference for my blog, there were a couple of sessions that bled that applied both to my academic interests and what I do at the Center.

The first session was “Media Kits: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” by my friend Katy! She provided some great examples of how to, and how not to, put together a media kit for your blog, which essential for the business side of blogging. I knew how to do this from my PR classes in undergrad, but it was awesome to see it in action. Katy is also a producer so she has experience from both sides of the process. Can’t wait to put mine together!

The second session was about the communication law side of blogging and the important of being upfront and honest about when you are advertising with a post. If you do that, be sure to use a hashtag like #ad or #sponsored so the reader is aware. This is also important in blog posts too!

After lunch, there was a bonus session. I was planning on yoga outside, but it was ridiculously hot and I was full of delicious food from Bahama Breeze (that was not an ad. It’s just a fact that Bahama Breeze has delicious food.) so I went in to the Google Glass sessions. One of the session leaders actually worked for Disney. He said that he had been on all the rides and had recorded the ride with his Google Glass. I left early, but they evidently let people try them out. Easily the only fail of the day. But I figured one day Google will take over the earth like Skynet and I’ll be forced to wear them at that point anyway since we will all be half cyborg half slave to the almighty Google Master. (I guess that’s one way to look at it…)

Anyway, the third session was one that you would usually have to pay a lot of money to go to: “Social Media Tips From A Ford Brand Strategist.” Karen Untereker is the U.S. Social Media Manager from Ford aka the ultimate social media job. She explained Ford’s grassroot/user-content driven campaign for the new Ford Fiesta. Ford gave the Fiesta to about 100 Gen Y’s and had them document their experience socially while completing certain “missions.” She showed some of the user-generated content that, according to here, was better than anything they could have come with on their own. It was amazing that Ford gave the users so much control. But they knew that letting go of control in this realm would have positive outcomes. The one thing that surprised me the most about this case study was that the corporate executives were on board throughout the whole process. They were willing to give this a go and it paid off. I was incredibly impressed with this session and how Ford is such an innovator in the social realm. I guess the only criticism I would have is that I was the target market for this campaign and I didn’t know about it. Now, just because I didn’t know about it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t effective. But it emphasizes the important for the integrated marketing model where different methods and channels are being used to create awareness. An example of this would be an engaging TV ad that encourages me to get online and check out the campaign. Ford has done their research, so they would know that I have multiple screens at my disposal while I’m seeing this TV ad. Anyway, I just completely nerded out on you. All in all, it was a pretty freakin’ awesome session that made me miss my ’73 Ford truck “Ol’ Red” that sounded like the apocalypse. I miss that beast of a thing…

Moving on…

After a session about how Full Sail University uses their social media, which was applicable to every job I’ve had at FSU, I went to this amazing session called “The Business of Blogging: Building Relationships With Brands” which was presented by three very successful Latina bloggers including Yadira Ambert of El Club de las Divas. They talked about how to reach out to brands by utilizing the strengths of your blog. Their case studies involved International Delights coffee and a blogging event for the Hispanic community for McDonald’s. They went through the process step-by-step. They had some great suggestions that I hadn’t thought of like quantifying your outreach and then creating a presentation to send to the brand. Since my focus in grad school was multicultural marketing and I did a paper analyzing the potential to market to Hispanics through social media, I nerded out again with some questions about Latina bloggers and the use of Spanish, code switching and Spanglish in blogs and how brands react to that. It was a great final session!

So this conference pretty much knocked my socks off. Bess Auer and her team put on an amazing conference that completely recharged me. I can’t wait to go back next year. I laid out some personal blogging goals for myself after the conference that I want to achieved before FLBlogCon14.

Also during that trip, I hung out with my awesome sister Brittany and I stayed with my friend Alex! Thanks for an awesome time too!

Oh yeah, then I went to Magic Kingdom and acted like a weirdo on Space Mountain.
See ya soon.

Why it’s Important to be a Foodie While Losing Weight

Posted on September 19, 2013 by theffkid

“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way”

-Pink Floyd

We spend so much of our lives on the run: we post our thoughts instantaneously on Facebook, we eat lunch at our desks, and we even buy microwaves on Amazon to avoid going to the store and picking one out. Humans have become machines of efficiency, or so we think. We do these things because we value our time so much and so we will do whatever it takes to be “efficient” so we can cherish that precious free time. And let’s not kid ourselves, that precious free time ends up being lost on hours of looking at cats on Buzzfeed. With this desire for control of our time by being efficient comes a potential decrease in quality of life. And yes, since this is the FFK, I am talking about food.

In 1953, Swanson (no, not my boy Alex, the Legend) created the first TV Dinner, a compartmentalized food tray chocked full of your essential food groups. Your serving of vegetables, starch, protein, and dessert were all prepared in one fell swoop. No need to use and wash multiple pans and utensils, when you were done, you just threw it all away! When the TV Dinner was a commercial success, some people cried foul and compared it to a chemistry set. In order to preserve these meals, not only would it lose its nutrients, they would have to inject it with partially hydrogenated oils and trans fats. Sure the convenience made the TV Dinner, but at what cost?

We see the same issue with fast food in the 40’s with the first McDonald’s (no relation). Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald utilizes the classic Henry Ford assembly line production model to build their food at a fasted speed. Thus, fast food was born. And our waistlines have been growing ever since. Just ask the FFK from high school who would go a few miles out of his way to order four double cheeseburgers a day at McDonald’s because it was fast and it was cheap.

Somewhere along the way of my life, I completely lost my appreciation for food. Like I’ve said before on this blog, I was proud of my eating accomplishments. I ate a whole large Pizza Pro pizza in 6th grade because I could. I couldn’t beat anyone at a race, but I could sure as heck beat them at eating something. Until three years ago, I abused food the way other people abuse drugs. I don’t say that to make light of drug abuse, it was truly something I did. I would eat until it hurt, and then kept eating because it made me feel good.

When I took a step back and evaluated my eating, I recognized the need for a balance in my life. I needed to be okay with eating pseudo-boring meals like chicken and veggies or turkey burgers so I could enjoy the meals that mattered like eating out with friends or making dinner at home with my boo. I needed to be more judicious with my food intake. With that selective mindset, Megan and I were on the path to a complete overhaul of our eating. One of those ways is by eating more local and organic foods. (Read about our Orchard Pond farm share here!) My Earth Fare brand ambassadorship has been instrumental in that process.

Tonight, we bought grass-fed NY strip steaks from the Earth Fare butcher, along with some potatoes for baking. Instead of using charcoal, the easier and quicker way to grill, I used pecan wood chunks that I bought at Academy for almost nothing on Memorial Day. I essentially started a campfire in my Weber and let it burn until the wood transformed into beautiful glowing embers. Then I put on the steaks, that had just a pinch of sea salt and seasoning on the opposite side of grill and opened the top vent. Then I added the baked potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil. The whole process took probably close to an hour, but the finished product…well, the photo speaks for itself. Not to brag, (but I will) it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Maybe it tasted better because of the whole process that it took to get it on the table, but it was worth it.

Tonight was one of those nights where I truly appreciated every bite. You have to appreciate your food so you don’t abuse it. Treat your body well by fueling it right because you are worth it.

Eating Local and Other Things

Aside

Why hello, dear reader!

I would like to tell you that I am out of this weird weight loss/blogging funk that I have been in, but I would be lying. I really have no clue what’s up. Luckily, I think things are starting to slow down at work (or if anything, reach a normal pace) so that should help with the blogging and such. Where I have been lacking in writing, I have been making it up with exercising! I have been working since the beginning of the month to to active for at least an hour a day. Even if I’m not getting ripped, I just feel better. It’s been a great way just to decompress from the day. Like tonight, instead of watching a two-hour block of Seinfeld, I went for a walk in the nature trail behind our house. It felt amazing to just reflect on the day and think about my goals, both weight loss related and not weight loss related.

Weight Loss Update
So this past week, I did my share of scale peeking. I checked out the scale every morning. It didn’t help me at all, it just made by Saturday morning full of angst and frustration. Then, I got on the scale at Weight Watchers and I had lost 1.6 pounds this week! I’m still a little that I’m the 230’s again, but I’m getting there. I’m okay with being patient as long as I’m making progress. Not just with the scale, but with my actions as well.

With that all being said, I had a pretty epic and brunchtastic cheat day on Sunday. I’m still kind of reeling from eating all the things. I’m definitely working on self control. To help recover from the week, I have decided to stay out of my weekly points as much as possible. I still have Activity Points if I need them (all the more reason to exercise this week.)

Weekends are going to be a challenge from here on in because it is FOOTBALL SEASON!!! Tailgating is about eating all the things. It will be a challenge, but I have been able to handle it in the past. Why should it be any different now?

So Nathan, what’s this whole “eating local” thing you’re talking about?
Great question!
So over the past (almost) three years, we have tried to make the shift towards eating organic more produce and meat. For me, it’s more than the avoidance of using antibiotics and pesticides, it just flat out tastes better and when it tastes better, you’re going to eat it!
One thing we love about living in Tallahassee is the amazing system of farmers markets. We can get in-season Georgia peaches, fall squash and even grass-fed beef for about the same price of regular beef at the supermarket! This week, we took our locavoring a step further by joining a community farm share. Before you ask, no, we are not joining some farming commune where we recycle our own toilet paper. Simply put, we paid for three months worth of locally grown fruits and veggies from organic farms around the area. Every other week, we will go to the farmers market and pick up a reusable bag full of deliciousness. What’s in it, you ask? It depends on the season!

Here is our spread for this week. Some of it you might recognize, some you might not.
This week, we had:

Eggplant (Orchard Pond Organics)

Okra (Orchard Pond Organics)

Sweet Potato Greens (Orchard Pond Organics)

Basil (Orchard Pond Organics)

Muscadine Grapes (Ladybrid Organics, Monticello,FL)

Bell Pepper (Orchard Pond Organics)

Along with: Avocados, Gala Apples, Pears, Nectarine and Pluots

The fun part of this farm share is that it forces you to try new things like Muscadine grapes (a sour fruit that is usually turned into a preserve) and sweet potato greens (which you cook with oil like collard greens). I love a good challenge.

When I opened the bag and saw okra, I thought “we have to pickle these!!!” So we got on the interwebs, found a pickling recipe and got to work! We also added a sliced jalapeno (also from the farmers market) and some garlic cloves to give the okra a little more flavor. They are delciously hot and it was soooooo easy! It’s just another great way to have fun with your food and to appreciate where our food actually comes from.

So that has been my week. I’m running a 5k tomorrow night to support the FSU College of Criminology & Criminal Justice and their efforts to raise money for a fallen officer memorial on campus. Should be a blast! Oh, and hot. See ya later.

The Return of the FFK

Aside

If you were to ask me about what it’s like to lose weight, the answer would have varied throughout this almost-three year journey. When I first started out, I would have said “it’s simple! You just don’t eat the bad things, work out whenever you can and drink a crapton of water.” When I hit a pretty massive plateau after I hit the 100 pound mark, I would have said “it’s kind of miserable when your friends who are eating what they want while you’re eating celery in the corner and fighting to lose half a pound.” This morning, I got on the scale, cringed at the sight of myself in the mirror and said aloud “I hate weight loss so much right now.”

Since I have joined Weight Watchers, I have lost as much as 12 pounds, but really I have lost a total of 17 pounds. My weight fluctuates….badly. If I have learned anything in the past three years, it’s that my body hates sodium and will retain and hold water like the Hoover Dam. I will do really well and then I’ll eat a unseemingly salty meal and then BOOM, five pounds up.
(Before you start to write a comment about importance/unimportance of the scale, let me stop you there and say it is just a part of the equation because I can feel that extra weight and see that extra weight in the mirror.)

At this point, it is more than the scale or retaining water, at this point I just mad at myself for eating bad things that aren’t inherently bad. For example: Cheerios. In the world of cereals, Cheerios would not be on George W. Crispies’ list of Cereal Axis of Evil. But when I binge on two-larger-than-normal bowls of those delicious O’s, it is bad news. Last night, I just binged snacked all night when watching TV. It was just mindless eating. I saw the carrots and the apples when I was getting the milk for my cereal out of the fridge, but I still went the other way.

I think the fact of the matter is that I’m tired. It feels like the past three years of grad school, work, church responsibilities, exercising, being social, and counting points have finally caught up to me. I was on the verge of just burning out on life. Yesterday, I did a lot of thinking about where to go from here because I had two options: just quit and see where that would take him (spoilers: emotional breakdown leading to the demise of my weight loss journey) or reflect on how blessed I truly am and how I should quit taking it for granted and then make that the catalyst for my continued success. Fortunately, I went with the later. After I put this whole weight loss/life thing in to that perspective, that so far, it has been such an awesome journey, it has challenged me to make the most of it and to keep going!

So What’s Been Going On With The FFK?
Well I guess I should update you on what’s going on since it has been so long since I’ve posted.
First, I bought a Weight Watchers ActiveLink that tracks your daily activity. The goal is to reach 100% of your baseline activity. For me, that’s about an hour of activity (walking, running, swimming, etc.). At the end of the day, you plug it in to the USB port of your computer and it tells you how many Activity Points (or Weight Watchers Points) you have earned for the day. My goal this month is to reach at least 100% every day. That is going to force me to do some sort of activity because one the days I was just working and then going home, I would only do 9 minutes of activity on those days according to the ActiveLink.

Second, I signed up for the Tallahassee Half Marathon in February! Not only is this the 40th Tallahassee Half Marathon, the featured speaker this year is one of my running heroes, Bart Yasso from Runner’s World. I read his book last summer that documents his journey from being a drug addict to a world-renowned runner. He is truly inspiring! I had thought about doing the full, but I’m going to hold off until I hit my goal weight. The arthritis in my knees and my hips is still an issue, but my doctor said a lot of those problems will be reduced when I lost the rest of my weight. Plus, I feel like I would have needed to have started my training in April to feel truly prepared for a full marathon.
When I trained last time, I didn’t do near enough cross training or weights to get my body in shape for the run. I had the endurance, but I knew there was room for improvement. That if my body was in better shape, then my form would have been better and my finishing time would have been better.

Finally, I have a job that I absolutely love, but it takes up a lot of my time…in the best possible way. I work in a place that not only promotes service, leadership and inclusion to the Florida State community, it fosters a community of passion where its workers are encouraged to be themselves. I get to go to work every day doing what I love. When you do something you love, you are willing to stay after hours and go that extra mile for your job. That does, however, take its toll. When I get home, the last thing I really want to do is look at a computer screen and type some more. So what does that mean for this blog? Probably not daily posts, but an integrated approach where my reporting will be both on here and on my Facebook page. I’m definitely going back to a weigh-in day post on Saturdays that recaps the whole week as well. I love blog writing. I really do. But now I’m just going to have to fit it in to my schedule better than I have.

I hope this hodgepodge of a post makes some shred of sense. It’s been a weird time for me, but I still love being a weight loser and I still love being awesome. So I guess I’ll keep doing that. See ya tomorrow.

***Editor’s Note***
This post was written in two different stages: pre-stressed Nathan and post-self reflection Nathan. If there seems to be an issue of flow, that is why. Nathan would also like to add that he appreciates all of his readers and friends who have checked up on him during this long period of absence. He hopes he is as good to his friends as they are as good to him.