Day 122: TGIThursday

Posted on January 20, 2011 by theffkid

I’m watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for the first time and it’s ripping my soul apart. This movie is sooooooo awful and ridiculously inaccurate. So now I’m writing my daily post. Even though it was a 4 day week, it has been packed with a lot of school and just being off kilter. I’m ready to get back in to regular schedule. We’ll see how that goes. Hooray for Friday.

Breakfast: This morning I went to a panel/advisory board meeting for the Hispanic Marketing Communication Center at FSU. It was a pretty cool meeting with a lot of big wigs in advertising. Anyways, there was a big plate of bagels but I resisted and ate my PB fiber snack bar thing from Publix which was really really good and 3 points. Caloric crisis averted.

Lunch: On Thursdays, our awesome college minister Adam (and sometimes his awesome wife Crystal) come up to campus to have lunch with whoever shows up at the food court. I usually just get Pollo Tropical in the food court, but today I tried the sushi/stir fry place. I got the Shrimp Tempura roll and it was pretty good and not that expensive as far as sushi goes. My roll was 13 points for 8 pieces which is a little high but a nice treat.

Snack: Surprise surprise, I went to Starbucks again (I need to stop!!!!!) and got a Iced Grande Skinny Caramel Machiatto for 4 points

Dinner: Megan made a massive crock pot of pinto beans for dinner and it was glorious. I had 4 massive ladels full. It was really good and that much was a ton of food. Not to mention only 8 points. Hollatastic.

Snack: Just a banana 2 points

So today I only got to 30 points which is actually not bad at all. Again… Thank God tomorrow is Friday. See ya tomorrow.

Day 120: The Mourning After

Posted on January 18, 2011 by theffkid

(Yes, mourning was intentional. Please don’t comment.)

They always say that the day you go back to work from a vacation is really hard and let me tell you today was a doozie. I got more done in a day than I ever had (which is good) but even after working hard all day I still have more to do. It just never ends. Consequently, I’ve made a lot better use of my time and have become more efficient with the time I have. Welcome to Grad School I guess. Even though today has been rough and kind of discouraging, I have been getting awesome feedback about last night’s post which has made my day. Thanks again for being awesome. If the rest of semester is going to be like this, I’ll need all the help I can get. Alright, food time.

Breakfast: I tried to make a wafflewich with toast this morning (toastwich?) and it was a complete disaster. In it’s defense, my toast was cold so maybe that had something to do with it. I ate about 5 points of it and threw it in the trash.

Snack: Luckily, the FSU library has a Starbucks and since I got a Starbucks card from my awesome in-laws, (thanks Mark and Pattie!) I got a Grande Skinny Caramel Machiatto for 3 points. (Has anyone seen the new Starbucks cup size? It looks like the fuel tank on a Vespa. Just saying.)

Lunch: Since we were on campus, we met up at Pollo Tropical and grabbed some lunch. We both had the TropiChop which is white chicken, white rice and black beans. Soooooo good. The bowl is 11 points.

Dinner: Lunch was pretty early and dinner was pretty late so I was starving through out my classes. I’m definitely going to pack some snacks tomorrow to avoid that (and by drinking more water!) Anyways, we had chili which was just awesome. Some comfort food goes a long way. I know a lot of people think that comfort food usually has to be unhealthy but I totally disagree with that. Next time you want some comfort (stick to your ribs) food, make some beans and rice. It soothes the soul. Trust me, I’m a glutton (well… used to be.) So I ate a lot this evening but ate well. Dinner was 13 points. Yumtastic.

So today I got to 32 points which use to be okay, but since I broke 300, according to our older system, I’m down to 31 points a day. You might think it’s just a point, but I rely on that little guy a lot so that should make things interesting around here. Either way, I’m over a point today and it happens. I’ll take it. See ya tomorrow.

Day 119: Weekend Recap and New Goals Edition

Posted on January 17, 2011 by theffkid

I’m back. What a great weekend. It was awesome to get a way for a few days before life gets really interesting. My advice to you: Hotwire is the best thing in the world. We stayed in a condo bigger than our house for really cheap. So worth it. Anyways, we walked easily more than 10 miles all around Disney this weekend (in some cases, jogging/swimming through the torrential downpour today) and we ate pretty sensibly. We packed lunches, ate a lot of trail mix and carrots, and drank a lot of water. We did eat out a few times, but we shared entrees most of the time which cut down the calories and the cost. Overall, a pretty awesome weekend.

Short Term Goal: as you may recall from Thursday, I broke my 300 pound goal (hooray!) so this weekend I thought a lot about what my new goal is going to be and I think I’ve figured it out. On March 5th, we are planning on doing the ESPN The Weekend 5k at Disney (we still haven’t registered, but we are going to soon) and by then I want to be down another 20 pounds, so 279. It’s only 47 days away, but I’m hoping to blow it out of the water. It would be pretty awesome because I haven’t weighed that much since… middle school? I think setting up these mini goals really helps you keep your eyes on the prize. When I think of how much weight I need to lose it’s really overwhelming and frankly terrifying, but when it’s chopped up like this it makes it a lot more manageable. So that’s my short term goal.

Longer Term Goal: When I was a senior in high school, my computer teacher Mrs. Merritt wanted us to write down some goals at the beginning of the year and put them in an envelope. Mine was to lose 100 pounds. I had my mind set on it that this was going to happen, but then I started to tell people and they were like “are you kidding?” “That’s a ton of weight!” (actually, it’s way less than a ton stupid) and “Well… good luck with that.” So I just gave up on it really soon. Really, it wasn’t anyone’s fault but mine. I would exercise, but at that point I was eating 2 double cheeseburgers a day from McDonald’s so it wasn’t going to happen. Anyways, I had my mind set on losing weight, but I didn’t have my heart set on it too. Weight loss doesn’t work unless you give it your all where it becomes a part of your identity. It has to be top of mind all the time because that is when you’ll make the smarter decisions. It’s easy to mindlessly eat chips but if you know it’s the wrong thing, you’re able to eat only a serving. So I say that to say this. This time, my heart and mind are all in it for the weight loss win. [Takes deep breathe… not the computer, me] I’m going to try to lose a total of 100 pounds by April 27, 100 days from tomorrow. I have 100 days to lose 43 pounds and I’m going to do it the healthy way. I’ll still eat all my calories and I’m going to keep exercising. The way I look at it, if I don’t make it but I’ve still given it my all, then I’ll still win. So here’s what I need from you, dear reader. KEEP UP THE AWESOME WORK! You guys are so awesome!!! I feed off of your energy and support. Want a workout partner? Call me up! Want to go running? Call me up! You need a partner for a pie eating contest? Call someone else. But seriously, you guys rock and I thank you all for being so supportive. I really couldn’t have done it with out you.

Alright, so that’s that. March 5th and April 27th: prepare to be dominated. See ya tomorrow.

Day 114: Wednesdayness

Posted on January 12, 2011 by theffkid

Sup Champs!

Before I start my typical ranting and food pictures, I just want to congratulate my good friend Christi for joining Weight Watchers Online! I’m really excited to watch her progress and celebrate her success. Definitely check out her awesome blog, The Frugal Novice. She has some great tips on saving some change and really awesome giveaways so check it out…. now!

Breakfast: I just had a bowl of cereal (4 points) and I forgot to bring a snack to my noon class so I was pretty hungry the whole time.

Exercise: So Matt and I had planned on getting some lunch and then get our racquetball, but then we decided to play first (which was smart. I’ve never played racquetball when I was full but I imagine it would not end pretty.) Anyways, it was a lot of fun and I worked up a really good sweat.

Lunch: As you can imagine, I was pretty hungry. We decided to try Jersey Mike’s which is pretty new to Tallahassee. It was the first non-subway sub I have had in… forever and it was pretty good, but no Jimmy John’s. I had the Turkey Breast and Provolone because the sign said the turkey was 99% fat free. Way to be tricky Jersey Mike! I got home and looked up the nutrition information and it was rough. My sub still had 15 grams of fat and it was 11 points. It also had almost 70% of my daily sodium. Pretty nuts, you could say I couldn’t get any nuttier OR CAN I!?! I kept looking at the nutritional info and most of the hot subs actually have trans fats. Those are still legal???? Pretty crazy. Overall, it was good, but I’m not sure when I’ll be back.

Snack: Megan and I went and studied at Starbucks. They just came out with a “skinny” Carmel Macchiato so I gave it a shot. It was actually pretty good and didn’t taste much different. I had the Iced Grande and it was 3 points.

Dinner: So far this week we have been pretty good about eating early, but tonight we ate a little late. I put some chicken in the oven and while that was baking, I made an awesome salad with all the fixins. 4 points. Then I steamed some broccoli to go with the chicken. It was really good. The chicken was only 3 points too!

So overall today, I ate 25 points while is not a lot but the sub really filled me up, but not in a good way. I’m really at the point where I don’t care how many points food is, rather I care about what I put in my body. Anyways, TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!! Which not only means I’ll be 24, but I’ll find out if I beat my challenge to break 300 before tomorrow. I’m really nervous to weigh in tomorrow but we will see how it goes. Either way, I will break 300 and if it doesn’t happen tomorrow, it will happen soon. [Thinking thin] See ya tomorrow.

Day 112: Monday Mayhem!!!!

Posted on January 10, 2011 by theffkid

Sup Gang!

Today started pretty awesomely, this week my blog is featured on Fitblogger! I wrote an article on what I’ve learned after losing 50 pounds. You should definitely check it out. It’s been cold and drizzly with sadly no snow in sight (I know school just started back up, but a snow day would be nice. Especially since I doubt it would take much precipitation for Floridians to shut everything down.) I just have one class today, so I got home, listened to jazz, habitually checked for comments on the article, and did homework. I have to say it was an okay day (rhyming not intended.) Anyways, let’s talk food.

Breakfast: I just had a bowl of Kashi Berry Crumble cereal. It was the bottom of the box and for most cereals that means a lot of sediment from broken pieces, but with granola it’s a dense amount of chipped away deliciousness. It was a thick 4 point breakfast.

Lunch: So I was going to have salad and a sandwich for lunch, but I didn’t get past the salad. As you might recall, I had this awesome salad last week that had nuts and dried berries in it so I tried to make my own with some trail mix. The mix we have is mostly pumpkin and sunflower seeds and pine nuts so it made it a lot more filling. I ate the first bowl and I liked it so much I made another! For two salads with Fat Free Honey Dijon was 6 points. Awesomeness. (Oh yeah, and green tea!)

Snack: On Sunday, we bought some Spicy Blue Corn Tortilla Chips from Earth Fare so I had some of those. They are pretty hot but pretty good and for 14 chips was 3 points which isn’t bad for chips. This face is of terror from their deliciousness.

Snack: Since we are out of Publix Multigrain Waffles 🙁 I had a piece of toast with peanut butter. 3.5 points.

Dinner: It was my day to cook, so I made chicken spaghetti… again (and no I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing.) This batch was a lot better. I baked the chicken with some sage, rosemary and thyme (no parsley, sorry Simon & Garfunkel) and some minced garlic. It looked and smelled really good, but my meat thermometer is broke so I dried them out a little. Anyways the chicken spaghetti was 13 points which is a lot of points but it was was a lot of food!

Exercise: Today was our round 2 of Couch to 5k and it went pretty well. Since it was cold and gross outside, we went up to Leach (WHICH WAS EVEN PACKED AT 9:30 AT NIGHT!!!!) and ran on their track. The running surface has no give so I’m a little sore in weird places like my neck. Anyways, we had a good run and worked up a pretty good sweat.

Snack: After the run, I had a banana and some Unsweetened Chocolate Almond milk that we bought on sale. It was good, but could have used a little sweetener. It was 3 points so a good post run snack.

So overall today, I ate 32.5 points worth which is over, but with the run I’m good. See ya tomorrow (and be sure to check out my article and let me know what you think!)

109: The Day After the Doozie

Posted on January 8, 2011 by theffkid

So… sorry I didn’t have a post last night, I’ll explain a sec but let’s get to it. Since on Thursday I made some bad food decisions so Friday I decided to make up for it and I think I did pretty well. I’m still trying to get back in to the swing of things after vacation which is always a little hard but I think Friday set me in the right direction.

Breakfast: I just had a a banana and tried my hand at making a smoothie. I just put strawberry, banana, and orange juice. Oh yeah… and cinnamon? I was watching the Today and they said that putting cinnamon in food serves as an antioxidant. I put 1/2 a tsp of it before I blended and I actually couldn’t taste it. Anyways breakfast was 4 points.

Exercise: Matt and I played racquetball and it was awesome. It felt good to get a good sweat out. Then we worked out for a little bit but the gym was still pretty packed. (Plus they were playing Jonas Brothers so the music was very uninspiring.) I worked out 13 points worth.

Lunch: Lunch, which was like at 3:30, was really good. I baked 3 chicken tenderloins and steamed some broccoli. This is possibly the densest meal you can eat for the points. This plate is only 4 points!!!! Since the broccoli is free. I was really full after. The chicken took a while but it was worth it.

Dinner: We were invited over to the Schuberts house for dinner and to get to know each other better. We know the Schuberts from church and Sharon has had her own success with her weight loss journey. She has lost more than 50 pounds too! We had spaghetti and this awesome salad with dried berries, pecans, tomatoes and croutons. I put this home made sesame dressing on it. I had seconds on both since I was still not even out of my exercise points for the day. For dessert we had some angel food cake with heated up blueberries and some cool whip. It was really good.

So we were both really exhausted from the week and we got home around 10:30. I went straight in to the bedroom to watch TV, thinking that I would write my post in a bit. Then Antiques Road Show came on and I was glued in (I’m a loser.) Then before I knew it, I woke up and it was 6:00 am. I woke back up a little later and I realized I forgot to write it. So now I’m doing it. Overall Friday was a good day. Today I’m playing basketball with some guys from church. Should be a blast. See you… later.

Day 107!

Posted on January 5, 2011 by theffkid

Day 2 of my second semester is in the bag. It wasn’t too bad other than it was cold and rainy but it almost felt like winter so I don’t mind. Anyways…

Breakfast: Since I have a class from 11-12:15 and I wanted to work out after, I had to make something that was going to stick with me so I made an awesome wafflewich with pb and banana. It really held me over for most of the day actually. I mean, it was 9 points so something that high in points needs to stick with you.

Lunch: I put 6 points of cereal in a baggie and munched on that after class and when I was running around doing errands. I had some left over so I ate the rest with milk when I got home. I highly recommend doing that on days when you are in a pinch for time. (Plus, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than buying those individual bowls of cereal!)

Exercise: Again, since it was pouring I was ready to get indoors to work out (weird huh?) Anyways, I got on to the treadmill and hit the ground running like a boss! I didn’t really warm up, I just got on there and went fast. It was the first time where I felt more liberated from my weight. I didn’t feel handicapped from where I was in September. I really felt like a different person on there today, it was pretty cool. I burned 12 exercise points. Pretty tight yo.

Dinner: It was my turn to make dinner so I made Chicken Spaghetti with Spinach and Cheese Marinara. We just got a cheap bottle of Classico Spinach and Cheese and it was actually really good. We were a little apprehensive because H-E-B (our favorite supermarket from Texas) had their own version and it’s amazing but this competed with it. Anyways, I baked six boneless skinless chicken tenderloins and then cut them up in to the sauce (oh yeah, I sauteed a chopped onion in to the sauce too.) And I just put it over angel hair. I think it turned out pretty well. For the whole plate was 13 points so a really great dinner!

Dessert: After church, I had a ~~bowl~~ measuring cup of Edy’s ice cream/yogurt blend while watching Modern Family. And now Top Chef is on… and I’m getting hungry. 4 points.

So today I got to 32 points and with the exercise points I’m below that but I feel good (plus it’s way too late to eat anything anyways.) See ya tomorrow.

Day 106: The Storm Has Begun

Posted on January 4, 2011 by theffkid

Well today was the first day back and it wasn’t too bad! I have classes straight from 2-6 on Tuesdays so that’s going to suck but it’s worth it not to have any classes on Fridays (holla.) I waited at a bus stop for 30 minutes today and that was annoying but other than that it’s been a pretty good day. Tomorrow I just have the one and it should be interesting as well. I really stoked because I’m going to hit up the gym for the first time in 2011 tomorrow! I’m worried it’s going to be packed, but that’s how it works the first few weeks on January. Sad but true (if only there was an inspirational blog they could read to get them motivated…) Anyways, enough chit chat. Let’s talk food.

Breakfast: Just a bowl of Kashi Berry Crisp. I think I realized why I love it so much: it tastes like Crunch Berries but it actually has berries in it! (Instead of discolored milk.) 4 points

Lunch: There was one slice of pizza left so I ate it. I knew I should have eaten something better and I really realized it when I felt sick around 4:00. I guess a bad dinner the night before and a bad lunch is not a good combo. Anyways, it was only 4 points which is even more of a reason to have eaten more during the day. I’m not freaking out though, I’m still trying to get my groove back (and no, my name is not Stella.)

Dinner: I didn’t get home until around 6:40 and my awesome wife had made boneless skinless chicken tenderloins with asparagus and mashed potatoes with sour cream. It was fantastic, a real stick to your ribs dinner. That whole plate was only 8.5 points. This semester, we are going to switch off dinners so I get to try my hand at some new recipes! If you have a good one let me know!

Snacks: I had another bowl of cereal (4 points) and Megan made some 3 point mixed berry smoothies which were also awesome.

So today I’m at 23.5 points which is incredibly low. I didn’t intentionally mean to do that but I’m not starving. I might make some popcorn because we are finally about to watch Inception. I know I know I’m super lame. Sue me. One more thing, what did you think of tonight’s Biggest Loser? I think this season is going to blow mediocre Season 10 out of the water. It should be a good one. See ya tomorrow.

Day 104: First Weigh In Of 2011!!!

Posted on January 2, 2011 by theffkid

Why hello January!

Well, so far 2011 has been pretty good to me. I mean, I know we are only two days in, but if keeps going this way (aka nothing too catastrophic happening) it should be a pretty swell year! As far as weighing in goes, so far it’s not too shabby either! I lost 2.2 pounds in my short week! So now I’m down to 304.8 pounds, less than 5 pounds away from breaking 300. I’m so freakin’ stoked! Can I lose 4.8 pounds in 11 days? Stay tuned dear reader!

Lunch: After church, Megan and I went with some people from church to Chipotle to catch up from winter break. As you may recall, I should be the president of the Chipotle Fan Club, but today I was pretty disappointed. We split a vegetarian burrito, like we usually do, but they hardly put anything on the dad gum burrito! I’m no professor of burritology (but I should be) but there shouldn’t be more guacamole than rice on the burrito. I feel like we got gypped pretty bad. (Plus you know it’s small when someone trying to lose weight complains about the portion size. I mean really!) Anyways, for half of the pathetic burrito it was 7 points.

Snack: Since the burrito sucked, by around 3:00 I was pretty hungry again so I had some Kashi Cereal of Awesomeness which is only 4 points with milk.

Snack: The Sequel: Later, Megan and I decided to hit up Starbucks since we were both working on stuff. (I was working on my Fitblogger article for the 1oth! I’m so stoked!) I changed it up today and had a Iced Nonfat Caramel Macchiato which was only 4 points. Yum to the power of awesomeness.

Dinner: Luckily, dinner made up for lunch. Yesterday, we bought some wild salmon at Earth Fare so we made that. I love salmon so much. I lived in Alaska for a summer and that was pretty much all I ate. It was Heaven. Anyways, we sauteed some asparagus and mashed up some red potatoes with non fat sour cream. (I married the perfect woman.) That whole plate was only 11.5 points with a glass of milk, it took 30 minutes to cook, and only cost us $4.00 a person. Yeah you read this right. If this meal wasn’t the best case for cooking at home vs. eating out, I don’t know what is. I mean, even look at the difference between lunch and dinner today! The burrito was $3.20 a person and wasn’t near as much food. Just saying…

Exercise: We are trying to do this stupid Jillian Micheals Last Chance Workout video six times a week and it might be the end of me. Personally, I hate it (I would much rather play racquetball or run) but it’s a great muscle workout which is what I’m starting to really need. Anyways, I got 9 exercise points out of it. Hooray.

Snack: The Trilogy: Megan made use strawberry-banana shakes with frozen yogurt/ice cream blend after working out and it was amazing. It was 5 points.

So overall today, I’ve downed 31.5 points which is fine with me. See ya tomorrow.

Day 100: Week 15 Weigh In Day!

Posted on December 29, 2010 by theffkid

Ladies and Gentleman, it has finally happened. When I started this blog in September I weighed an astounding 357 pounds. Today, I woke up to this bad boy: 307 even. Meaning I have officially lost 50 pounds!!!!!!!!!! Holy Cannoli! I lost 50 pounds in a 100 days which means I lost like half a pound a day. I’m not one to be arrogant but I am really impressed with myself but I couldn’t have done it without my wife, my family and you, dear reader! Anyways, so I lost 2.6 pounds during our trip to Texas. It’s not a ton, but I didn’t gain any so that’s a big win definitely. Alright, let’s talk food (it feels like forever since I have said that!)

Breakfast: We didn’t have much in our pantry, but luckily we had a few waffles in the freezer so I had waffles and peanut butter. It was like eating an ol’ friend (that is suppose to be more sentimental than cannibalistic.) Anyways, 2 waffles and 2 tbs of pb was 8 points. (Notice how much nicer the pic is? Thank you Santa for the iPhone!!!!)

Lunch: So we made a grocery list and went to Wal-Mart to get the essentials (beans, rice, bananas. You know, the essentials.) After we got home, we prepared this awesome southwest style chicken soup that cooks in a crockpot for about 4 hours. I had to cut up a rotisserie chicken so I left the drumsticks and the wings to eat. It was severely disappointing, it was greasy and a little burnt. So that was 6 points of sadness. So then I decided to eat some leftover rice/veggie concoction that Megan made the other night. That, on the other hand, was awesome and filling. That was only 5 points so it made up for it.

Exercise: Since we (or I) didn’t work out as much as I should have during the trip, we thought we would get back in to exercising with baptism by fire: Jillian Michale’s Last Chance Workout. It was beastly. It felt good, but it was really rough. We got a new WW slider from from one or two programs back and it has been really helpful. It also has a different exercise points formula so there won’t be those ridiculously high exercise points like there use to be. According to this one, I still got 9 exercise points so that’s still pretty tight.

Dinner: After the soup was ready, we dove in and it was fantastic. It was awesome when my Dad made it and it was awesome when we made it so I guess it’s a pretty good recipe (I think that’s how it works.) Anyways, it was great and it was even better with even better with Jalapeno Tabasco which goes with anything. Two bowls later, it was 15 points and it was awesome.

Dessert: Megan got an awesome Ninja blender (as seen on TV!) so we gave it a try and made a strawberry banana smoothie. The Ninja delivered and made one heck of a smoothie plus it was only 5 points so a pretty good dessert.