Day 912: Just a Quick Update

Posted on March 17, 2013 by theffkid

Just thought I would drop by and say hello…on my own blog.

I just pre-ordered the new Justin Timberlake album on iTunes. Don’t hate.

Fact: my nick name in college was in fact “Sexyback.” True story.

As far as 30 in 90 is concerned, things are going really well! I’m trying to keep within my points and trying to get active every day. I had a pretty monstrous lunch, so I’m just reeling from that at this point. Might do a little time on the ol’ bike tonight to try to even things out a little bit. Other than that, we have been making delicious stuff via Skinny Taste like low-fat, full-taste cupcakes and tonight we are having Skinny Taste Corned Beef and Cabbage soup! (Check my Instagram account for a photo later tonight!)

Well, that about does it for now! Pretty stoked for The Biggest Loser finale tomorrow night! While I really hope Joe O. wins, I have a feeling that while he might win the popular vote over Jackson (demographically, I think Joe has a better shot. He’s from a more populated state and he was on the football team of one of the most-recognized programs in the nation *cough* FSU *cough* while Jackson is from the sparsely-populated state of Utah) I still think Danni has a pretty fantastic shot. She already looked the same as Hannah and Olivia at the finale of season 11! (Oh yeah, I met Hannah Curlee one time and it was epic. Here’s the post about it!)
Who do you think has the best shot?

See ya tomorrow.

Oh yeah, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Day 909: 30in90 Explained

Posted on March 14, 2013 by theffkid

Sorry if I cut off anyone midfunk…

So if you are my friend on Facebook or on Twitter OR if you Like my FFK page on Facebook (only four friends away from 800! Like it now! Please?) you saw that I hinted at a new thing going on on the blog called 30in90. What does that mean you ask? Well it’s pretty simple.

You see, 90 days from Friday, I will be reaching the 1,000th day of the start of my weight loss journey! Pretty crazy huh? It has had its ups and downs, but it has been a pretty epic journey so far. As most of you know, I have kind of been on a plateau for a while now. The 230’s have been my home base and 227 is still my weight loss threshold. I just can’t seem to break it. So when Megan brought up the 1,000 days thing, we started to plan our attack on our weight. Thus, 30in90 was born.

Tomorrow morning, we will weigh in. Our objective is to lose 30 pounds in 90 days. Day 1,000 is June 15th. It seems far away now, but it’s closer than we think. By then, I’m planning (not hoping) to be weighing in the 200’s, knocking at the door of Onderland. What’s even more of an encentive is that our 5-year anniversary is June 22nd. We really wanted to get new wedding photos done to show just how far we’ve come (and no, I will not be wearing my size 60 wedding suit…yes, I wore a size 60 suit jacket at one point. That’s five feet around. It still bothers me when I write that out loud.)

So how are we going to do this you ask? Simple: I’m going back in to crazy, dedicated, super weight loss mode. I was just thinking the other day about how my new friends/coworkers didn’t really know me when I would only eat the stuff I knew the calories of and stuff like that. This is a goal I am striving for. I’m going to work as hard as I can to get to that point. It might mean two-a-day workouts sometimes and not eating if I go out with friends, but it will totally be worth it. I’m doing this for me and my health, which also means I’m not going to starve myself, but rather taking the healthy path no matter how much it might suck sometimes. I can’t wait. Challenge accepted. So what do you think? Are we crazy? Or do you think we can do it? See ya tomorrow.

Day 906!

Posted on March 11, 2013 by theffkid

Why hello my dear readers!

The Biggest Loser is such a powerful show. It’s been so amazing to not only watch the contestants change their lives, but to also see the kids and their amazing progress as well. I hope they are bringing more attention to childhood obesity and the issues of bullying as well. This is something that we can’t ignore any longer. It’s time for our nation to make a change. Every child deserves a healthy life.

Shifting gears…

I have been keep close tabs on my eating and I have been lifting like a beast! I have no clue what came over me, but I just decided that I wasn’t going to care about how I looked, how I wasn’t lifting as much as the meathead next to me, or that wouldn’t see results immediately. Those were the things that have been holding me back because frankly, that part of the gym absolutely terrifies me. Ever since middle school, I have been the “weakling” when it comes to lifting. I’ve never had upper body strength and instead of doing something about it, I would do something else like cardio. It has always bothered me. So now I’m making progress already! I know that lifting will help my running and open the doors to other activities like surfing and other things that requires upper-body strength. Time to become a Fotographing Fit Kid.

Okay so moving to food today. In summation, I turned what could have been a bad food day in to a good food day! Megan and I went for breakfast at our favorite breakfast joint, Jim and Milt’s, since I took the day off from work since she’s on Spring Break. It’s not the healthiest breakfast place, but it’s filling. Then, we went to Sam’s Club to redeem the membership we bought from Living Social last week. I had a slice of their famous delicious pizza. When we were there, we stocked up on some incredibly awesome fruits and veggies!

When we got home, I realized that I was pretty high with my points. Sometimes when I thought I was in too deep, I would just decide not count my points. I didn’t do that today. I counted it out and decided to make a healthier dinner then I had planned! We roasted some brussels sprouts and put them on a baked potato with a little cheese and light sour cream. I also has some fat free cool whip and a handful of blackberries. Tonight, I feel full and with no regrets. I’m just so happy with where I am with my weight loss journey. Much more than I have in a long time. It feels great.

Here’s the breakdown with the photos:
Breakfast: 10 points
Lunch: 10 points (just for a slice of pizza)
Snack: 1 point
Dinner: 8 points

Now about the scale…
I am going to be happy with whatever it says. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and the rest will follow. See ya tomorrow.

Day 891: WW Awesomeness

Posted on February 24, 2013 by theffkid

I forget how awesome Weight Watchers is.

I’m so happy to be back on the weight loss bandwagon. I think when I’m off any sort of a weight loss plan, I start to put way too much emphasis on food. I worry so much about where and what to eat. When I have that structure, I just feel better. SO GLAD TO BE BACK AT IT! WEIGHT LOSS TIME!

I’m going to keep this brief because I have a couple things I need to be doing. But in lieu of me talking…err…writing, check out my crazy product review of my Handana (be on the lookout for random Easter eggs inside the post!)

Here we go…

Breakfast: Sprouted Grain English Muffin with peanut butter: 7 points
Lunch: Quinoa with blacks beans and corn: 6 points
Snack: TCBY Rocky Road frozen yogurt (small): 7 points
Snack: Two flatbread crackers: 1 point
Dinner: Arroz Con Pollo: 9 points

Got to 30 points so I was two points over. Not too shabby eh? See ya tomorrow.

[PRODUCT REVIEW] Hanadas!!!

Posted on February 24, 2013 by theffkid

(I was trying to think of a clever title like “Raise Your Handana if You Like Handanas!” or something like that. Awe well.)
Like most of you know, I live in Florida. A hot, humid, and incredibly sunny, state that can make life miserable. While I did grow up in the furnace known as Texas, it was a dry and miserable heat, none of this “oh hey, let’s go live in a sauna from May to October” business. What I’m trying to say is…I sweat. A lot. Even though I have lost 125 pounds, I still profusely sweat like George Constanza eating Kung Po (George likes his chicken spicy!) What’s worse is that sometimes (well…all of the time) sweat gets in my eyes and it hurts so much that I have to stop exercising for a few minutes. This happened countless times on my long runs when I was training for my half marathon. IT SUCKED.

After this happened a couple times, I finally tried a few different things.
I wore a hat. Fail.
I wore a sweatband. Fail.
I wore a bandana. Fail.
I wore my hood up on my hoodie. Fail.

Nothing seemed to do the trick. Then, I found the Handana.
26 years ago, Katie Niemeyer suffered from a horrible disease called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome that caused her skin to blister out in to second and third degree burns all over her body. Unlike a lot of patients afflicted with this condition, Katie survived with minimal scarring and she wasn’t blinded from it, which is common. However, SJS did make her eyes very sensitive. So like me (except for the fact that I’m just a crybaby and Katie is a stud) when she was able to exercise again, getting sweat in her eyes was incredibly painful. Since she was training for an upcoming marathon, she needed a solution.

That is when she invented the Handana! A moisture-absorbing sweatband that wraps around your hand! The Handana is like a glove with a space for your thumb and your fingers. It’s soft. It’s durable. And man, does it mop up your sweat! I think the biggest advantage of the Handana is its mobility per se. You can absorb any sweat on your body that you can reach. Definitely awesome for me since I can’t stand having sweat on the front and on the back of my neck.

Product Testing Time!
You may not know this, but I’m a HUGE Cook’s Country and America’s Test Kitchen fan. One of the coolest things they do on the show is product testing. Since this is my first equipment review, I’ve taken their testing model to review the Handana. So, I tried the Handana in three sports that I regularly do: racquetball, spinning, and running.

I could wear it with my Polar watch with no problem too!

In racquetball, you sweat like a maniac. It’s useless to try to wipe the sweat off of your shirt…because it’s full of sweat too. I wore the Handana on my non-racquet hand, not because I was worried about gripping the racquet, but because I knew I would need it. It mopped up the sweat perfectly. A great thing about it is even if you’ve used all the places on the Handana, you can go over it again and it still feels dry. No gross sweat-on-sweat action here!

Spinning is another thing I used the Handana for. At first, I was a little worried about gripping the handlebars on the bike, but that wasn’t an issue at all! It perfect for a quick swipe here and there to feel human again.

Post-race photo.
Photo Credit to Andrea Wolf of Wolf Industries.

Finally, I used the Handana for running. Lots and lots of running. It was perfect for those times that I needed a quickly swipe the sweat on my forehead to prevent it from getting in my eyes. This kept me from having to stop which in turn kept my run times accurate. I used the Handana during the Tallahassee Half Marathon, which made sweat one less thing to worry about. That way, I could worry about other things…like my calves cramping or my toenails falling off.

Overall, I have been impressed with the Handana. If you think about it, it just makes sense! When I first read about it, I was worried that it would be a nuisance, but it feels like you’re wearing nothing at all! Nothing at all! Nothing at all! (Stupid sexy Flanders!) Frankly, my only complaint is that I needed a size smaller. I thought I would need an XL Handana, but in reality I needed a large. It wasn’t an issue, but it was just a little too loose for my liking.

So, now that you know all about Handana, go to www.myhandana.com and check them out! They are available in five sizes and a copious amount of color combinations from red and black (like mine) to burnt orange (ewww) and black. Also, be sure to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter! Start your own Handana story today!

Note: I have received products from Handana. All thoughts and opinions are honest and are my own.

Day 886: Hello Weigh In Day!

Posted on February 19, 2013 by theffkid

Today was a new day.
A new start.
It felt refreshing and liberating.
I finally feel like myself again.
What an awesome feeling.

So I gained .8 this week, but that was an incredibly welcomed number. I’m finally back in the low 230’s after being close to the 240’s all week. It’s crazy how my body fluctuates.

Now, obviously a gain is a gain, but I have a big plan to change all that. Starting tomorrow, I am going back to counting Weight Watchers points. I figure that I should go back to what got me to where I am today. With that being said, I’m going to try to incorporate more of the Skinny Rules in to WW. More sprouted grains, little to no carbs after lunch and A LOT of Greek Yogurt. Sounds delicious to me.

Sorry to cut this short, but it has been an exhausting day, and I’m ready for some serious sleepage. See ya tomorrow.

Day 885: Back on Track Like a Boss

Posted on February 18, 2013 by theffkid

Last week was kind of nuts. We had made plans to prepare our food at the beginning of the week, but it just didn’t happen. Which resulted in eating out every night and making just bad decisions.

Then, we went to Disney World this weekend. While you walk a ton at Disney, you can also EAT a ton at Disney. I made an pseudo effort to make healthy choices, but sometimes something would pop up. For example, I posted on the FFK FB page about my healthy breakfast one morning: a massive bowl of fruit inside of a hollowed-out half of a pineapple and a bowl of oatmeal at Kona Cafe inside the Polynesian (we didn’t stay there, but we dreamed that we did by going there everyday because it’s our favorite. By the way, I’m a massive Disneyphile. Have I mentioned that before?) Anyway, so we were finishing up our delicious breakfast, and then they brought us out two of the most sinfully delicious chocolate cupcakes we have ever eaten. Yes…they brought them out…for breakfast. They were bringing them out since it was our sixth anniversary of us being together. The old-point-counting-sticking-to-his-healthy-guns Nathan wouldn’t have eaten it. Well, I did. Along with a lot of fantastic food that weekend because Disney is delicious. (I mean, I don’t really know if Cinderella’s Castle would taste good if you bit in to it, but I’m pretty certain it would be.) I know that some people think that vacation is a time to splurge and I can understand that. But for me, vacations have been my downfall for a long time. I’ll come back from a trip and have gained/retained like crazy. I am working on being better about that. I think it goes back to not surrounding what I do around when or what I eat, which is really easy to do on vacation. Time to work on that.

So during this what felt like a gorgefest of a weekend, I felt down on myself. I left for Orlando on Friday morning weighing almost 240, a number I haven’t seen in a long time. It started to scare me. I felt like I was losing my grip on my weight loss. I was worried that this was the point where things were going to start to unravel for me. That this whole weight loss thing was just a phase in my life. It scared me. It really scared me.

How did I handle it? Not really that well. I still ate pretty bad on the trip. The worst part was that at each meal, I felt a little guilty about what I was eating because I knew that I was making a wrong choice at every turn. This all lead up to Sunday when we were getting ready to leave the parks.

This is my Florida driver’s license photo. It was issued to me in August 2010.

Like I was saying, on Sunday I was still feeling pretty crummy about my weight. My jeans were a little tight, my shirt was pulling in certain ideas, I just felt fat. When I left the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney, that all changed. I was in line to pay for a pin lanyard (oh yeah, I collect Disney pins. Don’t hate.) but the line was painfully long, so I went to another register. I paid for the lanyard, and the lady asked to see my ID. She looked at the photo, looked at me, looked at the photo, and looked at me again. “You need a new photo!” she said. “You’ve lost some weight!” I thanked her and began to tell her my story. She told me that she always makes an effort to say something to people that look like they have lost weight from their photos. From them on, my view completely changed. Yeah, I’ve been far from perfect with my weight loss, but no one is expecting me to be. I shouldn’t get down on myself each time I make a bad decision. I need to move on and learn from it. I’ve come a long way from that photo, both physically and mentally. I know that I can keep on keepin’ on to reach my weight loss goal. It’s going to happen, it just might take some time. And you know what? It truly is the journey and not just the destination. See ya tomorrow.

Day 880: Wordless Wednesday Time

Posted on February 13, 2013 by theffkid

My video.

Day 873: Wordless Wednesday!

Posted on February 6, 2013 by theffkid

Day 872: Half Marathon Recap

Posted on February 5, 2013 by theffkid

I woke up at 5 am the morning of the race. I sat on the couch with my feet propped up, drinking a cup of coffee. I sat there and asked Megan if she ever thought we would get this far. I thought back to our old, 400 square foot apartment in Abilene and thought about how uncomfortable my life was. How getting off the couch was a chore, how no shirt every really fit well no matter how much I would try to stretch it. I realized how those burdens aren’t holding me back any more. That’s when I started to cry. It was just an overwhelming feeling of joy to reinforce that freedom. When you’re morbidly obese, your life is restricted whether you know it or not. Now that I know this freedom, I will never go back to that old way of living, because that wasn’t living.

Yes…there were a few other runners.

Becky and Erin came by the house and we made our way to FSU. It was a beautiful morning. A little cold, but we had all ran in worse. The crowd was huge, but still not as bad as the Turkey Trot in November. Everyone was ready to book it.

The sirens blared. It was time to run. Feet, don’t fail me now.

The first mile: piece of cake!
Second mile: hey…this isn’t so bad!
Third mile: what a beautiful day
Fourth mile: I’m actually running with some athletic-looking people!
Fifth mile: just kidding…the real athletic people just passed me because they have already reached the half way point.
Sixth mile: WHERE THE @#%#$ IS THE HALF WAY POINT???

I cropped out the marathon runner in the background.

Then on the ninth mile…misery. I hit a physical wall like you wouldn’t believe. My toes were forming a blister for the first time, my IT bands started to get sore, then the calf cramps kicked in, which never (and when I mean never, I mean even when I was 357 pounds and running 5 miles) ever happens when I run. I had thrown my body into confusion. Mile 9 is when this Sunday morning race turned into a battle.

My mantra became “I will finish…I will finish…I will finish.” Every other step was a struggle. A normal stride followed by a cramp, a normal stride followed by a cramp. Along the way, I met some nice people like a first time half marathon runner like me who was struggling. We talked, I cramped up, he kept going (I somehow still beat him though. We met up after the race.) Then there was the girl who ran up next to me, put out her first and said “pound it!” So I did, followed by me stopping to stretch out.

Before I knew it, I was already at mile 12. The miles had just peeled away. I could see Doak off in the distance, but I knew I wasn’t out of the woods yet. After throwing down cups of Gatorade and packets of GU, (which were interesting) I kept going. Every motion forward was a struggle, but I knew I was closer to the finish.

Still not sure how this photo came out so well.

Finally, I reached the track. The last little chunk of raceway left. After running on miles of concrete and asphalt, running the last almost quarter mile on a rubber track felt incredibly wonky. It was like running inside of a bouncy castle. I could hear all the cheers, my race was finally drawing to a close. I felt amazing.

Final time: 2:11:50.59. I was 434th out of 728 runners. Fastest time? 1:13:40.43. Next half, I’m breaking the 2-hour barrier.

Check out my groundhog bling yo!

I hear a lot of people who’ve lost a lot of weight, both bloggers and even people on The Biggest Loser, say “I did it to prove everybody wrong! I’m doing this for all of the people who said I couldn’t do it!” While I thought that way for a while, I realized while I was training for this half that I shouldn’t be looking at it like that. I should be doing this not for the people who said I couldn’t, but for the people who said I could. I did this race for every one of you who have liked my hundreds of running statuses, who have dropped me a line telling me how proud you are of me, and for all of those who tell me how I have inspired them to change their lives. I was able to do this race because of you. You, dear reader, have been my fuel to carry on. For that, I thank you.