Category Archives: Frater Sodalis

Day 468: My Last Hours as a 24 Year Old Edition

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I feel old. Let’s just leave it at that.

So this time last year, I was hoping that I would finally break through in to the 200 pounds for the first time since I was in middle school. I can’t believe I have come that far in a year. I’m not gonna lie, this is awesome. Tomorrow, I’m hoping to break in to the 230’s which is where I have been flirting with for a while now. It would be pretty awesome to be down 70 pounds exactly since my last birthday. I’m dreaming big, but why not right? Alright, let’s talk about food and stuff.

Breakfast: I had about 5 points of Nutty Nuggets because that was left in the bag. Yum cereal!

Lunch: Today, I decided to try Tropical Smoothie for the first time today, and while my turkey and guac sandwich was really good, the service was epically terrible and the service was just plain awful. Why is the customer service in Tallahassee terrible at pretty much every eatery/store? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!! GET OFF YOUR PHONE WHEN I’M ASKING YOU QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MENU YOU STUPID IDIOT!!!!!!! (Deep breaths Nathan…) Anyway, the sandwich was massive and 12 points.

Dinner: I went super BOGO at Publix today! I bought two things of Boca products, two things of english muffins and two things of these Healthy Choice fudgecicle bars which are the best ice cream bars I have ever had. Anyway, I made “Diet” Chick-Fil-A sandwiches which was absolutely delicious. I also had some stale chips and an ice cream bar. 9 points. 

So today wasn’t too bad. Sorry this blog wasn’t great, but I still need to do Insanity and make a lesson plan. I promise my Birthday post tomorrow will be much better! See ya tomorrow.

Day 467: Wordless Wednesday With Video!

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Day 466: Titillating Tuesday

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Today, I realized how ready I am to join the workforce, make a respectable amount of money and not have to worry about homework anymore. It feels like the end of the semester and it’s only the first full week. This is going to be a photo-finish, but what else is new?

(Deep breaths Nathan…)

So today was a pretty awesome day until it started to pour and I was sans-umbrella. No bueno. Overall though it wasn’t too bad, the class I TA didn’t start a mutiny or anything so that’s always a win. Okay I’m rambling. Let’s get to it.

Breakfast: I had a pomegranate Chobani with a 1/4 cup of Nutty Nuggets (Grape Nuts’ inbred cousin from Walmart.) This is a great breakfast when you know you won’t have a lot of time during the day because the protein from the yogurt makes you feel good and the fiber from the cereal helps you poop fills you up. 5 points

Lunch: Megan and I met up on campus for a quick lunch in between classes. We went with our old standby Pollo Tropical in the student center at FSU. I went with one of favorite meals, the 1/4 chicken with rice and beans. As always, I ditched the roll (empty calories are for trolls.) and went to down on some poultry deliciousness. Pretty awesome (but kind of greasy) lunch. 13.5 points

Snack: I got a late Christmas present from work today that had a few Hershey kisses so I had at most 2 points of candy this afternoon. Not gonna lie, I needed the sugar pick me up.

 

 

Dinner: So my birthday is on Friday (please note: I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Pokemon cards) which means FREE BIRTHDAY SWAG! Megan and I decided to go out tonight and redeem some of the awesome stuff I’ve gotten so far. We went to Qdoba for dinner since I had a BOGO meal. I went with the Queso burrito, now I usually avoid the queso, but I remembered that it wasn’t too many more points so I went for it. I came not thinking much of it because what I get at Chipotle is bad..ish but bearable. Not to smear Qdoba, but holy caloric intake Batman my pathetically crappy birthday burrito was a whopping 26 points. I know what you are thinking and yes, my daily allotment is 28 points in the old Weight Watchers system. The worst part is that it didn’t even taste good. Also, I might add that only 100 calories of this 1150 calorie monster was queso. This is further proof that you need to have a strategy and do your homework before you go out and eat out. It also proved that this is a learning process, no matter how many days you’ve done this whole weight loss thing. On the bright side though, I found this awesome owl lamp at World Market. The Owl’s name is Hudson.

Workout: So unbeknownst to me, I had a lot of calories to burn tonight, so I’m glad I went crazy on some Insanity tonight. We did the Pure Cardio session tonight and while it is pretty brutal, the burn is addictive. I felt awesome after. I think the best thing about Insanity is that it makes the most out of your work out time unlike at the gym when you say you’ve worked out for 40 minutes while in reality you used a machine for 3 minutes, looked at yourself in the mirror for 10 minutes and you texted for 27 minutes. 8 exercise points

Post Workout: I had another Chobani and Nutty Nugget combo for 5 points.

So overall, except for the glutton burrito from Qdoba, today wouldn’t have been that bad. We were going to eat at home, but we didn’t have a lot of time so we went out instead. I’m not mad about the burrito, this is the biggest mess up I’ve had in a good while, but it’s just a part of the learning and growing/shrinking process. So today I ate a ginormous 51.5 points. With the work out points that brings it down to 43.5 (which is still grossly over) but luckily I still have weekly points! In my program, you have 35 weekly points so I have about 15 weekly points left. Awe well, here’s to a healthy Wednesday (a Wordless Wednesday I might add!) See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 464: Weigh In Day Time!

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Why Hello!

Sorry I didn’t post the last couple days. Even though I haven’t been blogging, I have been really good with my points and I’ve been drinking water like a fish. So last week I burned a bunch of calories and I can feel my body changing (no, not like puberty change) and it paid on the scale. This week I lost 1.8 pounds this week. Like I said earlier this week, I kept telling myself not to get mad or down if I didn’t lose a lot this week, but all things considered I’m really happy with my loss this week. I mean, I did lose three times as much as I did last week. I am down 115.4 pounds and I’m at 241.6 pounds. I feel like I have been stuck in the 240’s for a looooooooooooooooooong time and that’s because I have. My birthday gift to myself (which is Friday. Take note.) is to break through the 240’s for good and never go back. I know a while back I was hoping to be in Onderland by my 25, but you have to respect and understand your body because it will do its own thing (whether you like it or not.) I feel like we have a good thing going with Insanity right now. It is (very) hard, but you make really good use of your exercise time and when you work out like that, your body begins to crave healthy fuel which makes the diet portion of our lifestyle a whole heck of a lot easier. It also helps that our lives are going to be grad-school-strength crazy for a while so we have had to plan out our meals so we don’t eat out every day. The crockpot is going to be used a lot this semester. Yumtastic awesomeness.

Breakfast: I just had two low fat Eggo waffles (much better for you than the Walmart brand) and a tablespoon of peanut butter. It was a pretty good breakfast for being on the go. 4 points.

Lunch: After church, a couple of the young professionals from church went out to Red Elephant for lunch. I had the standard awesome Oriental Salad with seared Ahi Tuna. It was magical. 10 points (from what I calculated)

Snack: I had 4 points of chips and salsa. Hooray for awesome stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Tonight, we decided to hit up Super Perros for a little Colombian awesomeness. I decided to go with the veggie plate which had rice and beans, salad with honey mustard (random I know) and sweet plantains. I also had a chicken empanada which was good but a little greasy for my liking. Pretty awesome and filling dinner.

So overall today was pretty good food wise. This week is the first full week of school which will be insane, but it will be fun nonetheless. We also start back up Insanity tomorrow (Sundays are a rest day. A much needed rest day might I add.) which will be awesome. Should be an interesting week. See ya tomorrow.

Day 461: Thursday!

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Greetings!

About this time usually in the week, I begin to think about the good ol’ Sunday weigh in and what it might bring. I’ve worked out more this week than I did all this Winter Break and I’ve hardly tapped in to my weekly points so far. I’m worried that the scale won’t necessarily correspond with my success this week. I’m trying to comes to grips with that so I won’t get discouraged and derail off of the awesome progress I have made so far this year (yes, I am looking at it in the context of a year.) Whatever happens on Sunday, I am taking solace in the fact that good habits are being implemented towards the greater goal of losing weight like a boss!

Breakfast: I was in a bit of a rush this morning so I just grabbed a Nature Valley bar and a cup of coffee. It worked for the busy morning I had. 4 points

 

 

 

Lunch: So today I came to the sad realization that I had been calculating my favorite sandwich at Jimmy John’s wrong recently. I thought my Beach Club with half of the mayo was only 9 points but then I recalculated it and it’s actually 14 points. I have been recalculating to make sure I’ve been doing things write so I can stay on point.

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: I had some Nutty Nuggets (4 points) one serving of chips and salsa (3 points) half a Hershey’s Bar (2.5 points) and a partridge in a pear tree (too early for Christmas humor?)

Oh yeah, I had some fruit too. Super filling.

Dinner: For dinner, Megan and I met up with our friends David and Ana for dinner at Sonny’s. Sonny’s use to be a gluttonous orgy of deliciousness with plates full of meats and sides and other fantastic delights, so I’ve had to make adjustments to my eating habits there. Luckily (and ironically) they have a really awesome low point salad called The Big Salad. Even with the chargrilled chicken and the fat free dressing, dinner was only 7 points! And yes, that is half as much as my lunch.

SAWS!: Today was Cardio Recovery for Insanity. When you hear the word “recovery” you think “relaxation.” When I hear “recovery” I hear “death and sadness.” There is a lot of stretching and intense yoga. All I know is I feel much taller than I did this morning. 3 exercise points.

So today, I got to 34.5 points so with my exercise points I was a few points over today which is more than fine. Tomorrow is going to be another brutal day of Insanity, but I can wait for it! BRING IT SON! See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 460: First Wordless Wednesday of 2012

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[meow]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 459: Tuesday Before Life Gets “Fun”

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The semester is going to be insane.

Tuesday through Friday I will be teaching a Public Speaking class. I’m a little nervous about it, but pray for those poor little students (maybe squeeze a prayer there for me too.) Anyway, it was day two of Insanity and… wow. More about that in a bit.

Breakfast: This morning, instead of granola I had Nutty Nuggets (a Grape Nuts knock off. Thanks Dave Ramsey for ruining regular Grape Nuts for me!) with some Stoneyfield vanilla yogurt. I had a 1/2 cup of yogurt and a 1/2 cup of Nutty Nuggets. It was really awesome. I also had a cup big cups of water and a cup of coffee to hydrate for the literal Insanity that was about to ensue. 6 points.

SAWS!: Day two was Plyometric Cardio Circuit was just as bad as I remembered. Working out when you are sore is terrible but the sweat that was gushing out of my pores like that wave pool at Schlitterbahn where you can jump out in front of the wave generator and get sucked under the current (anyone have a clue what I’m talking about?)  felt completely amazing. I burned a whopping 526 calories which means I got 8 exercise points out of it. Fantastically awesome workout.

 

Lunch: We had some leftover Hoppin’ John for lunch, which is super filling after a rough workout, and a glass of milk. Lunch was about 7 points.

Snack: After a meeting this afternoon I came home and had two Walmart waffles and two tablespoons of peanut butter. I was kind of stressed so I made a dumb decision and had that instead of a snack that would have been worth the points. My snack was 9 points! Kind of pointless snack but awe well.

 

 

 

Dinner: Tonight, we decided to go out for dinner because we didn’t have anything lined up. I forgot how hard it was to calculate points and even find a place that has nutritional information available, much less have meals that are calorically friendly. After much research, we decided on Chipotle. I cut out the guac (which I haven’t done in a long time) and Megan and I were going to split a cup of sou cream and we only got halfway through it! WE ARE BACK TO GOOD HABITS!  I feel like I’m back at Week 1 or something! Anyway, Dinner was still high, but the exercise points made it alright. Dinner was 14 points.

So today I got to 36 points which is just about exact with my workout points.

First Wordless Wednesday of the year coming up tomorrow! Get stoked. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 458: Monday Post

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It’s Monday and there isn’t school. That is awesome. I’m basking in its glory before life gets fun, complicated and kind of sad. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some grad school, but I’m ready for a J-O-B! (You hear that future employers?) Anyways, I’m also ready to get my weight loss back in gear so my blog will be worth reading. That started all today by clearing off my dining room whiteboard made space for a place to tally my points and exercise points. Alright, here we go.

Breakfast: When we were out and about at Earth Fare this weekend, I found this dried raspberry granola cereal in the bulk food section so we decided to give it a shot. I had half a serving of the cereal and half a serving of Stoneyfield yogurt. It was really good and really filling. I miss yogurt and cereal as breakfast. It was 5 points (what’s with the bold numbers? I actually use to tally my Weight Watcher points back in the day. I’m back to that.)

Oh yeah, we also had press pot coffee. It was deliciously strong.

 

 

 

Lunch: Since I’m still kind of stuck on West Coast time (three hours behind) we didn’t have lunch until around 3ish so we went to Subway. Megan and I went with the classic Black Forest ham sandwich. It was really good with some light mayo and spicy mustard. It was 8 points for a six inch sub. Hooray!

Insanity Day 1… Again: So we have tried to get through Insanity a couple of times, but we have fizzled out since it is pretty rough. Today was take two (or three or something like that) of our Insanity excursion (that is if our friends The Wards still let us borrow their copy…) and it was brutal. Day 1 is the Fit Test which you wake every couple of weeks to track your progress through out the program. What I tested today is if I can survive. The results was yes, I can survive. Thanks to my new Polar FT7 heart rate monitor watch/chest strap, I am able to accurately track my average heart rate and calorie burn. In 27 minutes, I burned 284 calories. It’s good to know how many calories you are actually burning in your workouts so you don’t under or over eat. After our workout we ate a delicious salad with 1 point of this awesome Annie’s honey mustard. I forgot to take a picture but I’ll be eating a lot more salad so you’ll see it soon enough.

Dinner: For dinner I had two Boca burgers with the scrapings of what was left in a chip bag. On my WW plan (an older one, not the Points Plus plan) one Boca burger is only 1 point which is awesome. So with the bread, the chips and the burgers were 8 points. I was impressed (plus they are cheap at Walmart too!)

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: Tonight, we went to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (also known as our generation’s The Silence of the Lambs) and they had $2 candy. We were planning on getting froyo after but instead we decided to split a box of Reese’s Pieces. As I looked on the back, it scared me a little bit because I would demolish boxes of candy like it was going out of style. An entire box was 12 points! Yikes! So Megan and I decided to split the box. Still kind of high, but not a bad treat for tonight. I had about 6 points worth. To quote my hilarious friend Sarah “No wonder ET was so lumpy.” Oh yeah, and these are my new glasses from Seattle Optical. You like?

After we got home, we had some popcorn (which is way better and healthier than theater popcorn) which was only 2 points (we are now watching Gilmore Girls to mentally decompress from a super intense movie… yes, we are watching the Gilmore Girls. Don’t hate.) I also had 3 points of waffles.

So today, out of my 28 allotted points (which I have over done ever since I was down to 28 points) I got to 33 points which isn’t at all bad especially since I have workout points. A great day. See ya tomorrow

 

Day 457: Why Hello 2012!

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So here we are. 2012. Do you remember when the idea of the 2000’s was such a foreign concept? I’m getting old. But enough about that . When I look back at 2011, my successes have been clouded by the past couple of months. This past semester was rough and I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, not to mentioned my weight loss has just been up and down which has really frustrated me. Through all that though, I need to remember that this has been an epic year overall. I hit the 100 pound mark on August 14th which was epic. It was a banner accomplishment that for the majority of my life I never thought I would achieve. I guess I’ll have outdo myself this year ;).

Alright, so I didn’t gain weight on our trip to Washington State (which was an awesome trip) in fact, I lost .6 pounds. Not a lot, but it’s a new year and a new start to kick some serious weight loss but! Game time.

Breakfast: I had two WalMart brand waffles and some peanut butter with honey. It was pretty good. Their waffles actually aren’t that bad.

 

 

Lunch: After church, Megan and I went to Pizza Hut for a little lunch date. We had some pepperoni pan pizza we each dominated the salad bar. It was pretty good stuff. I had two slices and then another slice when I got home later in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Since it is New Year’s Day, Megan made Hoppin’ John, a blackeyed pea dish that we made last year which officially makes it a tradition from now on. Basically, it’s bacon, ham, rice and blackeyed peas. Along with some corn muffins, it was a pretty awesome dinner. A great way to ring in the new year.

So it was a good day. Tomorrow will be better. What up 2012. Let’s see what you got.

Day 450: Christmas Edition

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Well another Christmas has come and gone. It will be one that I will not soon forget. First things first though, according to the scale at Megan’s parents house, I have lost 3 pounds which means I am unofficially down to 241. I feel pretty good about it, but I know I’ll have to make up for today (more to come on that) and I just want to see it on my own scale. Either way, I have a good incentive to work out not only because I’m shooting to get to 225 by my birthday, but Megan’s parents bought me an awesome Polar heart rate monitor watch that I can’t wait to use! It also counts calories which will really help maximizing my workouts. Anyways, so today was definitely not what any of us expected, but it was a blast nonetheless.

 

 

 

Lunch: So Christmas dinner was planned out and the plan was to have a Christmas breakfast before or after church. Well, after church we decided breakfast didn’t sound that good at that point, so we decided to go to eat out for lunch. The only place open was Jack in the Box. It was epically delicious and epically gluttonous. The nice thing (or bad thing, depending on your point of view) about Washington state is that it’s required to have the calories posted on the menus at chain restaurants like Jack in the Box. It helped guide me kind of in the right direction. For better or worse, I had a burger, half of my fries and two tacos. Yeah I know, it wasn’t pretty. All things considered though, I ate at fast food restaurants a total of three (yes… three) times in 2011 so that counts for something? Maybe? Either way, it was an adventure and it felt like our own version of A Christmas Story except with a smiling duck I have a sad colon full of taco deliciousness.

 

Dinner: Megan and my Mother-in-Law Pattie were super busy in the kitchen making an epic and organic Christmas dinner. Everything was made with organic or fresh ingredients, along with shaving off calories here and there to make a dinner we will not soon forget. We had a massive rib roast, fresh green bean casserole, sweet potato slices and home made rolls. Like I said, it was delicious and I am still stuffed.

So like I said, it was a great and filling day full of delicious food along with great family. Although I still missed my parents and sis in Texas, it has been a fantastic Christmas. See ya tomorrow and Merry Christmas.