Category Archives: Diet

Day 225: Reporting From Disney!

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So I’m going to keep this brief because I’m really tired but here are the highlights of today and I promise tomorrow I will have an epic Wordless Wednesday with a video from Disney:

  • Had an awesome breakfast at Cracker Barrel
  • Had leftover mac n’ cheese for lunch
  • NSV: there is a heckuva lot of room on the rides now compared to even last time
  • According to our pedometer, we walked a total of 8 miles today
  • I ordered a child’s meal at a counter service (fast food Disney style) in Hollywood Studios which was sadly still a lot of food
  • I passed my stats class!!!
  • Megan and I shared this massive sundae that I ate on my own when I was in 7th grade.
  • Epoct tomorrow. Dare I say my favorite park. What’s yours? See ya tomorrow.

Day 224: First Monday of the Summer Edition

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Let the summer fun begin…

Today was the first official day of summer and it was pretty awesome since we were getting ready for out trip to Disney!!! Needless to say we are pretty stoked to get out of town and to just take it easy for a while (In this context, “take it easy” is defined as fighting off Euro trash from cutting in line at Splash Mountian.) Anyways, so at this point, like the kid in the commercial, I am too excited to sleep!

Breakfast: I had a wafflewich. Can you say… YUM!!!!!!!!!! 5 points

Snack: I had Christian Nachos (matzo and laughing cow) twice today so I’ll just put it right now 4 points

Lunch: Before we went out and about, we had a Kashi pizza which is good in theory but not really that filling which sucks because it was 9 points.

Snack: We went to Earth Fare to get some trail mix for the trip (we are going to be eating well on our trip!) and Megan found some Newman’s Own dark chocolate that was on sale. I had half of the bar which was 3 points.

Snack: Publix had a deal on Odwalla (which I’ve always wanted to try) so I bought a superfood drink and a chocolate protein drink. I had the superfood one which was epically delicious and 3 points.

Dinner: We haven’t had our awesome creamy stovetop mac and cheese in a looooong time so we finally made it again tonight. I never thought mac and cheese and broccoli would go together, but brother let me tell you it is something special for your mouth. I had a serving and a half with a lot of broccoli for 9 points.

So today I got to 33 points again so basically I just need to cut out one extra snack a day (or not eat non-filling pizza) and I will be okay everyday. I’ll definitely work on the because I WANT TO LOSE SOME MORE WEIGHT! PPPPPPIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAA. See ya tomorrow.

Day 223: Weigh In Day With Some Other Stuff Going On

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So today has been a pretty insane day. The one minute you’re watching Cinderella Man and the next you’re watching the president giving details about how Osama Bin Laden was killed. As an aspiring social media guru, it was interesting to watch how certain people reacted to the death of a man who has murdered so many people during his lifetime. Although there was some discussion in the living room I was in, most of the dialog involved relaying humorous tweets or breaking news to the rest of the room. The organic conversation was there, but not the way it would have been if there wasn’t 3G or WiFi available.

I did not celebrate the death of a man I have never met, nor will I ever celebrate the death of anyone, but the death of Osama symbolizes different things to so many people. I think President Obama said it best when he called for America to become united the same way we were after 9/11. I really hope at least that good will come out of something like this.

Alright, shifting gears.

So this past week I really didn’t think I was going to lose any weight. It was an up and down week with finals and a ton of other stressors. However, whatever work I did paid off. I lost 1 pound even! It’s not much, but it was one pound more than I thought I was going to lose. This week, prepare for some super big number! Maybe I’ll finally get in to the 260’s!!!!

Breakfast: I kept it simple and had a pomegranate chobani and an english muffin. Pretty awesome 4 points. 

Lunch: After church, Megan had this awesome idea to make taco salad for lunch. (I married her for her smart ideas like having taco salad.) We cut up some iceberg lettuce, cooked some grassfed beef with taco seasoning and cooked some black beans and combined them together for a symphony of happiness. I added some sour cream and salsa to the mix and the circle was complete. It was 11 points.

Dessert: While we were out and about gathering stuff for our Disney trip, (oh yeah we are going to Disney) we went over to Nuberri for some yogurt. I was good and avoid the candy and other indulgences. Instead, I had some taro with a little cake batter with some strawberries and a few chocolate sprinkles to make it feel like I was actually eating chocolate. (Jedi Mind Trick No. 47.) It was a delicious 4 points.

Starbucks: Later, we went to Starbucks and I had some “Dirty Coffee.” Hooray for 3 points.

Dinner: Before hanging out with some of our friends, we had leftover taco salad. Another 11 points.

So today I got to 33 points so 3 points over but I ate pretty healthy and overall pretty well. Quite an interesting day. See ya tomorrow.

Day 222: Out at the Beach!

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Sup everybody!

So, sorry about last night, I was going to post, but I was grading until 3 am to be done with it once and for all. It is officially summer! That is until the week after next when I start summer classes 🙂 Anyways, today we went out to the beach with some of the people in Megan’s department. It was such a blast just chillin and swimmin (yes that was suppose to rhyme) with knowing that nothing is due on Monday. As far as eating, today was the last day with this no points recoding crap. Tomorrow, I’m getting serious about this and I’m going to get back on track and stay on track.

Breakfast: Just a wafflewich of happiness.

Lunch: Before we got to the beach, we stopped at Subway to grab some lunch. I tried the orchard chicken salad sandwich with spinach and cucumbers. It was really good for being Subway.

Snacks: We packed some grapes, oranges, chips and granola bars with us so we could snack sensibly on the beach. It really made the difference having healthy options with you like that.

Dinner: After an exhausting day of swimming, horseshoeing, bocce balling, and lounging around we were all ready for some food. So we went in to town and have some great Florida seafood. I had fried oysters that were lightly fried (oxymoron much?) and I really wanted to get the potato salad which was suppose to be the best in the world, but I made a small but smart decision and had a side salad with this amazing Tupelo honey mustard. It really wasn’t a bad dinner and it really hit the spot.

Snack: when we got home, I had a Popsicle, some banana chips and some peanut butter.

So I know this whole week I’ve been saying “I’m going to get on track tomorrow, I’m going to get on track tomorrow…” well, this is it. It’s actually going to happen. I’m going to get out of this funk that was caused by a combo of being sick and finals and lose some dang weight! Tomorrow, I really don’t have a clue if I will lose any but if I do I will be surprised. Regardless, next week it’s going to be back to the basics with a lot of hard work. I’m way too close to losing a 100 pounds not to keep on track. I mean, at 100 pounds, I’m only halfway to my goal! I still have a long way to go and it’s going to happen. See ya tomorrow.

Day 220: Done With Year One

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Yes it’s true! I took my statistics final and I am cautiously optimistic about it. I knew the stuff and followed the steps which in statistics is all you can do so we will just see what happens! Either way, I’ll survive another day. I wouldn’t survive, however, if I keep eating the way I have been. I know I said I was going to do a better job this week with food, stress does some crazy things to your body (can I get a witness?) so I have eaten bad and have drank way too much diet soda and coffee instead of water so my I think my body is going in to reserve mode which eguals weight gain. I’m hoping to turn this rig around by Sunday so I’ll actually lose weight this week, but I’m also craving some bad food, like really bad (as you’ll see) because with the stress I’ve been craving comfort food and all I can think about it places to eat (which is what I used to always do which obviously didn’t turn out well.) I need to really detox my body and start fresh. I’m on a mental plateau and I need to get my head back in the game. This brainwash back to awesomeness will start tomorrow: summer.

Breakfast: I had a wafflewich because they are awesome and make me happy.

Lunch: So my final was from 12:30 to 2:30 so after we were done, we went to this cajun place called Po’ Boys to celebrate getting through the test and the semester. It’s a pretty awesome place with good, but super rich, creole cuisine. I had the Creole Sample with crawfish in this creamy sauce, bayou gumbo which was also cream based and red beans and rice. It was all delicious but I was stuffed after. Not sick, but just a lot more full than I’m use to.  As you can see, they didn’t skimp on the portion sizes either.

Dinner: I just had the other half of my burger from Monks yesterday which was just as awesome as it was yesterday. I also had some rice krispy treats.

Exercise: After an afternoon of cajun food and some residual stress from the final, I really wanted to hit the gym to burn some calories. (Warning: I am going to have a TMI moment, feel free to skip a few lines down… or you can just get over it.) So I haven’t bought new boxers in a while so as you can imagine they kind of look like I’m wearing a kilt when I’m wearing them. Well, I usually wear compression shorts to work out in but I forgot to put them on before I went to work out so I wore these flowy cotton boxers. When I got on the elliptical, the wedgie was unbearable, like turning into a sumo wrestler’s thong bad. So I had to quit, I went over to the bikes but it was still bad, then I did the rowing machine for around 15 minutes and by then I needed to go. I was a little frustrated that it was kind of a sucky workout but I’m playing racquetball tomorrow with Matt D. so that should make up for it.

So today was did have bad eating, but since you don’t get exercise points for using critical thinking during a final, I’m getting back on track tomorrow. Alright, time for bed. Royal wedding coverage starts in T-minus 3 hours and 35 minutes. See ya tomorrow.

Day 218: Tuesday of Finals

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Howdy!

It’s been a pretty good day! I’ve been studying really hard so between that and grading my week is set. I’m just ready to get this semester over with. Fun stuff. Anyways…

Breakfast: I had the breakfast of champions: pomegranate chobani and an english muffin with honey. It was awesome and really charged me up for racquetball. 4 points

Exercise: For the first time since… well, you can look it up (whoever does gets a gold star!) I got to play racquetball! I’ve really missed playing so last night I sent out a Facebook challenge for anyone brave enough to take me on. Within 5 minutes I got a call from Adam, our campus minister at church. We had a blast! I won 3 games to 2 so it was a blast. Fun stuff.

Breakfast II: When I got back from racquetball, I had another english muffin with almond butter. I think I have a news love, and her name is almond butter. 3 points

Lunch: After studying until around 2:00, I went over to Jimmy John’s for some sub awesomeness. I went with the veggie without the mayo and one of their awesome whole pickles. Since I ate it at home, I just put some light mayo on and it tasted just as epic. 9 points.

Snack: while grading, I had a bowl of rice krispies. Only 3 points. 

Dinner: Megan’s class of four had their big final presentation tonight so they decided to go to Mellow Mushroom. (I know, poor me. Mellow Mushroom twice in 24 hours. Ah, the life I live.) Anyways, it was $5 cheese calzone night so we ate really cheap! 13 points.

So today I got to 32 points which is over but I’m getting closer to getting back to my 30 point allotment. I really need to get it back down so I can actually lose weight! Tomorrow is going to be better. See ya tomorrow.

Day 217: I’ve Been a Bad Bad Boy

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Yeah, I was bad today. Nothing like taking a step in the right direction and then falling flat on your face. Why does it always work that way? Awe well. It’s not everyday you eat lunch with a Pakistani journalist who was abducted and tortured by his own government and have a one on one conversation with him. 

Breakfast: I kept it simple with the intent of being really good today. I had what I think is the perfect breakfast: pomegranate Chobani with an english muffin with honey and a few sprits of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray. If you haven’t tried it, it’s an awesome filling breakfast.   

Lunch: As I was saying, I went to a presentation by Pakistani journalist Umar Cheema. A few years ago, Umar’s car was intentionally smashed in to and was then abducted and tortured as an act of censorship. Despite the two attacks on his life, he has continued to be a be a purveyor of truth in Pakistan. This year, he was award the prestigious Free Speech Award by Syracuse University so he came to the US and toured a few colleges across the country. Anyways, the audience of about 20 was invited by the Dean of the department to go to Mellow Mushroom on the department’s bill. I might be a weight loss machine, but I’m also a starving grad school student so how could I pass up such an opportunity? The dean ordered a variety of pizzas, salads and appetizers so I sampled a little of everything but I kept it just to two slices of pizza. It was a great luncheon. 

After that, I ran some errands with Megan and we went over to Sonic for some Happy Hour awesomeness. I got a Diet Cherry Limeaid. It’s not near as good as the regular but it’s only 25 calories for a Route 44 so that works!

Dinner: We went over to Little Athens for some Greek food because I had wanted to try it and Megan hadn’t eaten that much today. I had a veggie gyro with falafal and hummus. It was good but the sodium took my breath away to the point if I don’t know if I could eat there again. Awe well, it was still not bad, but I know it was a caloric disaster. 

Snack: Our college ministry had a study extravaganza up at church so we came up to chill and to grade (which I still haven’t started. Will the procrastination ever end?) Anyways we stopped by Starbucks and I got a Venti Iced Caramel Macchiato. Then the spread at church was ginormous but I stayed good and had some dried banana chips with peanut butter (which is an awesome combo!) 

So like I said, I was bad. I’m not really that mad about it because that’s how life goes sometimes. I’m playing racquetball in the morning so that is at least a step in the right direction. See ya tomorrow. 

Day 216: An Easter Weigh In!

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HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

I hope everyone had a great time with their friends and family and Easter eggs. I have to admit, I did miss my family and our awesome Easter lunch, but it was still pretty awesome! So, I knew it was going to happen and it did, I gained 1.6 pounds this week. Am I surprised? No. Am I mad? Not at all. Was it a wake up call? Yes. If you remember from yesterday, I was talking about this mindset I had of “I have the whole summer to work off whatever I eat this week so it’s whatever.” I didn’t realize how dangerous that was for my personal journey. You see, my whole life I have said “I’ll lose weight later” “I’ll lose weight in high school” “I’ll lose weight in college” “I’ll lose weight after I get married.” That was my mantra for so long and it it snowballed in to me weighing 357 at 23 years old. So today, I was still bad and the worst part I knew I was being bad, but I didn’t stop! I didn’t come to this realization until after dinner so from this point on, I’m going to really stick to my points and exercise this Temple of Awesomeness (if I was cool enough for a tattoo, I would totally get a tramp stamp tattoo of that.) I want to start the summer of right so for all intensive purposes, my summer starts tomorrow. [Insert the Phineas and Ferb intro here.]

Breakfast: We were running late for church but luckily when we got to Sunday School (is there an age limit to call it Sunday School?) there were some awesome apple cinnamon muffins so I snagged one of those bad boys.

Lunch: We were invited to our good friends, the Schuberts, house for Easter lunch and it was awesome! Mrs. Schubert made this awesome ham with a Paula Deen glaze so yes it had both brown and regular sugar and butter (the three staple ingredients in any PD recipe) then there was potato and macaroni salad from Publix. Then I had something that I have never had together, much less for Easter: carrots and guacamole. Mrs. Schubert swears by the combo and she says the carrots are a good alternative to chips because the chips are what’s bad in that combo. (Short of spinach artichoke dip, when it comes to chips and dip, the chips is the bad part.) So I know that doesn’t look like a lot of food, but against my new normal eating habits, I ate seconds and thirds. It went in to this bizarre old pattern and it really alarmed me. I’ve read the calories and fat for the Publix macaroni salad, I know how bad it is. That wasn’t stopping me. I just ate it. Regardless, it was a great lunch with great fellowship.

Snack: We had to run a few errands around town and I had a 20% off Easter coupon at Yogurt Mountain so we went there for a little Easter dessert. I was pretty indulgent with mine (I justified it as it was my Easter candy. I didn’t eat any candy for Halloween! Why is Easter different?)  I even added a little (like the surface of a quarter) hot fudge. I don’t know what emotional hole I was trying to fill with food, but my soul has a pothole in there somewhere. It tasted good but it wasn’t worth how sick I was after.

Dinner: We wanted to make chili but since we haven’t grocery shopped in a while and Publix was closed, we went to Super Perros for dinner. We split the Godzilla and ordered an extra order of beans. It was freakin awesome.

Exercise: I drove to Leach to go work out because I thought they were open until 11:00 but they were open until 9:00… and I got there at 9:15. Lametastic. I got home and did a 20 minute workout on Wii Fit and I was actually worn out from it. Frankly, it was embarrassing. It’s time to get my workouts back in line.

So it was an interesting day full of introspection but it was much needed and I’m in a much better mindset than where I was. I think I got really caught up with my long term goals this week and the excitement of being in the 150’s someday meanwhile overlooking the great amount of work I still have ahead of me. Here’s to a better week. See ya tomorrow.

Day 215: Im Back!!!!!!

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In case you forgot, my name is Nathan MacDonald and this is my blog. Nice to meet you.

Sorry for my lack of blogging this week. It was the last week of classes and I had two massive papers due on the same day. I’ve written and read a crapton this semester. Hooray fro grad school. Anyways, I just have a final on Thursday and then my first year of grad school will be done!

So I was sick with a bad cold, got better from that, got pink eye, got rid of that, and then I had a mutant canker sore (100% from stress) right next to my molars so eating anything hard was so much pain. A lot of this week I have been eating soft foods like mushy rice and beans. It has been a lot better today, but that had a lot to do with what I ate which I have a feeling will playing in to my weight numbers this week. My weight has super fluctuated this week and however bad it is tomorrow I have the summer (and the rest of my life) to make up for it. If I gain, how could I be mad? It will be Easter, and we have A LOT to celebrate that day.

Breakfast: I actually got to sleep in today (which hasn’t happened at all this semester) so I got up and made some bacon and eggs. According to Megan, it was the best breakfast she has ever eaten. Anyways, it was a pretty big breakfast and so it was 10 points. I think I was starving.

Lunch: Before heading over to Megan’s departments end of the semester party, we went to Subway to get some lunch. We split Subway and it rocked. 8 points.

Party/Dinner: The party was delicious. There is always a bounty of delicious ethnic foods so it was hard not to try everything. Overall, what I ate wasn’t too bad… except for the 3 blondies I ate. Oh, and cold sesame noodles which were basically peanut butter and  ramen. The food wasn’t bad per se, but my portion control was just off today. I avoid eating cookies and brownies usually, but I think today I was just so relieved after 72 hours of straight stress and writing about Cold Stone (yes, I wrote a 18 page strategic marketing plan about Cold Stone yesterday Ironic huh?) I was just ready to indulge a little bit.

Workout: I haven’t had a chance to workout at all this week, even though I desperately wanted to. Luckily, Leach was open so I headed over there while Megan was working on her mutant papers. The gym traffic was light, as expected, so I hopped on an elliptical and went to town, I did a cross training program for 40 minutes. I was going at it pretty hard, but then I realized the girl next to me, who got on around the same time as me, had burned a good hundred some calories more than me. Not to be outdone, I added more resistance so I would work harder. That’s how I burned a beastly 601 calories in 40 minutes. Thanks random girl next to me on the elliptical for unintentionally pushing me harder. When I got home I had some rice krispies.

Non Scale Victory: This is a weird thing to celebrate, but today it’s my shadow. (Yes, my shadow.) My shadow was always a reminder of how big I was, I would look down at my arms, think “oh, I’m not that big! I’m fine! [Insert other naive comments here]” but then I would see my shadow and think “well.. this sucks.” It never lied, it always showed who I was and what I looked like. Also, it was always round. Very round. Today while at the party, I looked down at my shadow and I didn’t recognize it, my shoulders were a square shape and I wasn’t near as wide. It was pretty insane. So no matter what happens with the weigh in tomorrow, it could be worse, I could be round. See ya tomorrow.