Category Archives: Grad School

Day 525: Friday Post Yo! GO NOLES!

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I wish I was in the ATL right now watching my Noles do work on the U, but I also wish I was in Austin for the start of SXSW (Google it). I guess chilling on my couch will work too :).

Anyway, yeah… about that no post last night, my b. I can tell you that we had this delicious veggie lasagna that was epic.

Today was the last official day of Spring Break and while it was a little depressing that it is over, the semester is at least coming to an end. Overall, it was a great last Spring Break! Okay, let’s talk food!

Breakfast: I went with my old standby of Fage Greek Yogurt (which is epic by the way) and Kashi Go Lean Berry Crumble awesomeness. It’s a lot of breakfast for not a lot of calories and while Chobani has a special place in my heart, the Fat Free Fage plain yogurt is really good!


While Out and About: Even though it is Spring Break, I still had to do some homework to make the end of the semester a lot more bearable. For one of my classes, I have to interview PR and marketing professionals in the community to learn more about their positions and the industry. Today, I interviewed the lady who has my dream job: the Community Relations Coordinator for Earth Fare in Tallahassee. It was great to hear all about Earth Fare’s mission to end childhood obesity and how they are working towards that with school programs and community outreach. It not only inspired me to find a job that helps the greater good, it also really encouraged me to continue to shop at Earth Fare to further their mission! Anyway, after my informational interview with Sydney and Travis, I did a little shopping (and of course some free sampling) and bought some Kombucha. Good stuff.

Lunch:I just had a slice of that awesome veggie lasagna for lunch. Deliciousness.

 

 

 

 

Yum Time: In keeping with the stuff that needed to get done on Spring Break, we went to the laundromat (and no we didn’t get these cupcakes at a laundromat) but before we head over there, we ventured in to midtown for some Lucy & Leo’s cupcakes. We’ve never been there, but we have heard great things about them. I decided to try the peanut butter chocolate cupcake with Reese’s Pieces on top and Megan tried their famous red velvet. The frosting was super light and it was perfectly sweet. I even overheard the worker talk about how they use fresh ingredients and don’t use preservatives. Always a bonus (if anything, you know they are fresh.) Overall, I was pretty impressed!

Dinner: Tonight, Megan made this awesome maple dijon chicken with some mashed potatoes and even some leftover brussel sprouts from Wednesday night. It was epic as always.

So that’s about it for today. Sorry I didn’t have the points up, but I can tell you that a massive slice of veggie lasagna is only 5 points which equates to something like 200 calories. That’s pretty epically awesome.

At this point in the night, I’m pretty hungry so I’m trying to stave of hunger with water and snacking on veggies. Any suggestions? See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 522: Tuesday Post!

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Hello!

Sorry for a random weigh in post and then disappearing for obscure amount of time. The second half of last week was crazy in a good and bad way. It was bad because I kind of crashed hard with counting points and the semester was getting crazy. It was awesome because my great friend Patrick and his girlfriend Jennifer drove through and spent the night on Saturday. Patrick and I were best friends when I lived in Louisville for a short amount of time. Since then, we have kept in contact regularly. However, this was the first time we had seen each other in nine years. It was pretty awesome to see old friends.

Anyway, after they went on their way (in Patrick’s epic Corvette) Megan and I headed down to Apalachicola for a little Spring Break trip. We stayed in a little Inn, hit the beach, saw some dolphins, and then went to Destin for some outlet mall shopping (I bought a bunch of $5 bow ties from the Saks 5th Ave outlet. So flippin’ stoked!) Now, we are back and super ready to get back to counting points. I have even more motivation because after doing the math, if I want to reach my year end goal of 178.5 (half my of my starting weight) all I have to do is average 1.5 pounds every week! THAT’S DOABLE!!!! That’s motivation enough at this point. Get stoked. (Please note: I know the food eaten today will not reflect point counting. That’s why tomorrow is a new day.)

 

Breakfast: This morning, we had breakfast at the Inn we were staying at. Breakfast was a few slices of bacon, toast, fruit and an egg scramble. It was pretty good!

When we were driving to Destin, I had a Kashi bar. Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: So a little known fact about me: I flippin’ love Pei Wei and PF Chang’s. It may be my favorite chain in the universe. So when we found out there was a PF Chang’s in Destin, we jumped on it. I went with the lettuce wrap, my favorite, and we shared an order of steamed pot sickers. The food was lukewarm and disappointing because our service sucked. Lame sauce.

 

 

 

Dessert:After a day of crazy shopping, we worked up an appetite for froyo! I went back to the basic small cup with not extra toppings and all that fun stuff. Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: There wasn’t much around the house so we just had nachos. Shredded cheese and chips. Yum.

So that’s about it. There will be a ton of pictures tomorrow and I’ll report getting back to WW via video! Get stoked. See ya tomorrow.

Day 514: Monday Time Yo!

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What up G!

So today was a little bizarre. It started out pretty bad but then it got progressively better.  Anyway, I have finally started to count points and I actually feel full for once. When you eat out all the time, it gets to you. You feel empty a lot of the time. Okay, food time.

Breakfast: This morning, we went back to an old friend: Kashi Go Lean Awesomeness. Mondays are a little weird when it comes to eating, so I try to have a big breakfast to even things out. With that being said, I had two servings and I was full! Yum. 7 points.

Mid-Morning Snack: When we were at Publix, we found these almond biscottis that are only 1 point for 2 which was awesome because one is usually 3 points.

Lunch: I had an Amy’s microwavable enchilada verde meal which was awesome as always (as you can tell, I eat awesome food.) 9 points.

 

 

 

 

Snack: In between class and meetings, I had to get something for a snack. So, I went with some animal crackers. Great stuff. 5 points.

Workout:After class and such, Megan and I went to work out. Sometimes, there is nothing more cathartic than torching some calories. I only had 40 minutes to work out so I made the most of it with cardio! I divided my time up as followed: 10 minutes of the row machine, 15 minutes of the elliptical and 15 minutes of the stairmaster. I burned 495 calories in about 40 minutes which worked for me. SAWS!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Even though we didn’t get home until late, we still made it a priority to cook at home over eating out. Yesterday we bought some Greenwise steak that was on sale from Publix so we paired that with some low fat mashed potatoes (used greek yogurt) and then some microwavable green beans and cheese and broccoli. Anyway, it was an epic meal and one of the best sit down dinners I have had in a while. It came out to about 13 points.


So today I got to about 35 points which will work with my workout. Awesomeness. See ya tomorrow.

Day 513: The Fat Kid Learned to Count

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The Oscars. They are entertaining. I wish Billy Crystal did more movies. I also wish I would have picked Hugo in more Oscar categories.

Okay, where was I?

So I made the premonition that I wasn’t going to lose this week and I was right. I spent a lot of this week stressed and eating things I shouldn’t be. I haven’t counted points in a long time and this week I felt like I had just hit rock bottom. Today, even though I had a big lunch that I thought was way worse than it probably was. I counted today. I realized that I haven’t been counting because I didn’t want to admit to myself that I have been slacking in the food-eating category. I’m finally ready to get back on the horse AND THEN EAT THE HORSE!

Anyway, I gained 2 pounds. It is what it is. Frankly, I thought it was going to be worse. I mean, one bowl of the chili we made for the cook off was 500 calories. No more gains.

Breakfast: I had some Bare Naked chocolate granola. It was really good, but definitely not worth the points. 6 points (and that’s for only 1/2 a cup. Granola is overrated for a dieter. True story.)

Lunch: After church, Megan and I went up to Thomasville Georgia (35 minutes north of Tallahassee) for the Antique Crawl they had there. Essentially it was a sidewalk sale (that is if it wasn’t cold and rainy.) Anyway, when we got in to town, we realized that the epic and much hyped Jonah’s Fish and Grits was open even though they are usually closed on Sundays. It was fate, delicious… delicious…. fate. Their signature item was the shrimp and grits so that’s what I had. They also give out hushpuppies as appetizers, but I was good and didn’t eat a single one. I’m glad I waited because the shrimp and grits was one of the best meals I have ever eaten. I did the figures and based on some recipes I had found, I’m pretty sure my meal was about 16 points.

 

 

 

 

Coffee and Dessert: After we strolled around town, we decided to go to Grassroots Coffee (one of our favorite coffee places) for some press pot awesomeness. We tried their Ethiopian blend which was really strong but delicious. Then we split a chocolate chip cookie so there was 2 points. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Since I was still pretty full from lunch, I made a 4 point salad with chicken lunch meat, Parmesan cheese olive oil, and  some tomatoes. It was fantastic.

So that’s about it for today. Time for a good week and a great loss. See ya tomorrow.

Day 512: Back From a Hiatus

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It has been another long week. While I didn’t blog because I was pretty busy, I’m worried that I was sub-consciously not posting because my eating was just bad this week. What made it worse was that I saw pictures of myself and I really didn’t like what I saw. I haven’t had issues with body image at all this far in my journey, but I think that I have been stuck in this 238-243 pound range for four months it is starting to wear on me. It’s time to really start counting calories and to actually hit the 220’s. I hate feeling this way. This week has been eye opening.

Breakfast: This morning, the MacDonald family encountered quite a tragedy… we have officially ran out of peanut butter. I had to scrap through a few bottles for my waffles this morning. I guess it’s time buy some more!

Workout: This morning, I was ready to hit the gym. I didn’t get to play racquetball this week so I was super extra ready to burn some calories. I tried my hand at lift weights for the first time in… I don’t know when. I then realized how inept I am at lifting. Luckily, FSU offers free eight  personal training sessions to a limited number of students. Sign up is next week so I’m going to try to get in on that. Anyway, I did a few machines and then went to my old standby of the stairmaster. It was beastly and felt awesome. After a few laps on around the indoor track. I did a beastly 10 minutes on this arm cycle machine. MY ARMS ARE STILL SORE! So overall it was a pretty awesome workout.

Lunch-ish:I had a Lean Pocket. Yum.

 

 

 

 

Chili Cookoff Time!: Today was the Second Annual Meridian Woods Church of Christ Chili Cookoff! This year, some our friends (Megan, Stacy, Emma, Becky, Julie, Ben and I to be exact) decided to put together a team of awesomeness. Our brilliant friend Julie suggested that we go as Occupy Protesters and we went all out. Not only did we dress up as super hipsters, we had a tent, fliers to pass out and I took pictures of us with signs about the #OccupyMWCCChiliCookoff movement. (I’ll post them in this weeks Wordless Wednesday!) Anyway, I had some of our chili and then sampled the other awesomeness that other people had. There were a few awards and we walked away with “Best Team Name” (even though we never registered an official name so we were know as Occupy Chili) and “Most Creative Booth” We were super stoked! It was a great time of fellowship and delicious chili. (And yes, I know my award is upside down.)

Snackage:Since we were still pretty full of chili, Megan popped some popcorn so we are eating that while watching Aladdin.

So I don’t think tomorrow is going to be pretty on the scale, but I have hit a turning point and it’s time for The Fotographing Fat Kid to drop some pounds. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 508: Super Fat Tuesday

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So today was bad with food. It reminded me that I am still on an epic weight loss journey. I feel like I have been taking things for granted which has lead to unbalanced weight loss (losing and gaining losing and gaining losing and gaininglosing and gaining losing and gaining). I know this is nothing new. I have been whining about this like cray cray for a while. Today was a wake up call to get me out of i and get to losing some weight.

I was planning on giving up something for Lent. A few years ago, I gave up soda which backfired horribly because I just replaced soda with slurpees. (Fat kid Fail.) Anyways, after today I decided to give up fried foods (not just french fries) for Lent. I want this to be a springboard to back where I am not eating fried food again, or at least to each much less than I am now. When I started losing weight I didn’t hesitate to pass up on stuff like that. It’s time to get back to that. So what are you giving up? (Please don’t give up blog reading!)

Breakfast: So here we go… Like I said today was bad. Megan and I went to Atomic Coffee for breakfast. I wanted to get a breakfast sandwich and I chose horribly in the most delicious way possible. (If this was The Matrix, I took the greasy pill.) I had the best Americano in the universe (which is like 10 calories) and then I had The Waffler, a bacon and egg breakfast sandwich with two waffles as bread. I know I know this was bad. I was delusional in my morning decision making. I don’t know what to say. Bad idea.

 

Lunch: In honor of Fat Tuesday (which I took to heart) Megan and I went to Po’ Boys, this cajun place close to campus. We started out with fried pickles (yes, this is still a weight loss blog) and then I had red beans and rice with thin slices of andouille sausage. It was really good and I only ate half of it. Again, not the best but it is what it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: So this weekend, Megan and our friends Becky, Julie, Stacy and Emma are participating in a church wide chili contest on Saturday. Tonight, we had a test run on our recipe. It turned out… well, you’ll see how good it was on Saturday.

 

So as you can see today was lame. Tomorrow is going to be way better. Wordless Wednesday! See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 507: Reaching Out Attempt No. 1

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So tonight I tried to reach out to somebody and I’m worried that it failed miserably. Wait, let me backtrack…

I am apart of the FSU Racquetball Club via Facebook (I’m not like an official member or anything) and the other day this guy in the group said he was going to quit. He was frustrated with losing all the time. Well, as you can tell from this blog, I have a terrible record, think Montreal Expos franchise record bad, when it comes to racquetball. Last week, I told him to keep at it and that it’s just a process to get better. But there is an entire other facet to this story, he’s me from 2010. Our body types were exactly the same. He even has blonde hair! I’ve watched him play before and I can only imagine that’s what I looked like when I started out. Anyway, over the weekend, I was thinking how I could reach out to him without being too intrusive and  just let him know that I’ve been there and that it gets better. Tonight when I was working out, I saw him running around the track. I stalkerishly waited for him to walk off the track to make my move. I had so many things I wanted to say. I tend to think of things in a movie situation, so I had high hopes that we would at least have a conversation. I introduced myself, he nodded. I asked him if he was going to quit racquetball and he told me he wasn’t sure. Then I went in to my diatribe about keeping at it. I told him a little bit about my story and that I knew how he felt completely. I told him he would really regret quitting. I told him that I would love to play with him sometime. I was speaking to silence. He didn’t say anything the whole time. I walked off and I just felt like crap. I felt like I had completely failed on my first attempt to try to help someone. I think it’s hard because I’ve been there. I always had people trying to give me advice and even some saying “You’re going to die if you don’t lose this weight.” I knew they always meant well, but I was hoping this time it would be different. We are exactly the same! An overweight blonde playing racquetball??? It couldn’t have been better scripted! It’s just so hard when you have such a great message, the salvation of weight loss if you will, and you want to deliver people from this lifestyle that they were not meant to live. No one should go through life obese. It’s miserable. I know because it plagued my entire life until my fantastic wife bought that scale to see how overweight we really were. You never forget that life, how awkward you are in your own skin. I appreciate this new life I have been blessed with so much because I never forget. How do you get that across to people? Even though I’m really beating up myself about it, my wise mom reminded me that at least a seed was planted. Maybe it wont click for this guy now, tomorrow, or even in a month. But maybe it was a step in the right direction.

Day 506: Weigh In Day Time!

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Hello!!!

So the 500th episode of The Simpsons was on tonight… it was disappointing. Awe well. Anyway, so after Wednesday night, my stress level went down considerably which in turn made the rest of the week much better. I only got to work out once this week, but I was good with my food. With that all being said, I lost 2.2 pounds this week! This doesn’t get me back down before last week’s super gain, but I’m going to work really hard this week to get down to where I was two weeks ago (but if I lost more I would be cool with that too 😉 ) I’m really ready to even just be at 237 because that will mean I would have lost 120 pounds which would be pretty sweet. Also, I looked back in to my blog and I realized I have been stuck in the 240’s region since October… OCTOBER! In a way, I kind of feel I haven’t lost really any weight for a while. It’s time to get crackin! I know today wasn’t great, but this week is going to be Healthfest 2012! (Whatever the crap that is…)

Breakfast: This morning, a small group at church hosted breakfast before Sunday School (did I ever mention I’m teaching a Sunday morning class called “The Legit Women of the Bible?”) so we hit up that deliciousness. As you can see, I had a muffin, a piece of banana nut bread and fruit.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: So the plan was to just go home and eat whatever leftover we had lying around in the fridge. As we were taking our awesome friend Julie home, I thought about this one place really close to campus that was suppose to be pretty good called Bandidos Burrito Company.  Since we have moved to Tallahassee, we have been on the hunt for some decent Mexican food or at least decent chips and salsa. Our epicurean prayers have finally been answered! Their salsa was fantastic and chips were epic. I had the chicken and bean burrito (which was the size of a roll of paper towels) and Julie tried this really cool sampler of mini burritos (chicken, beef and bean) that I thought would be noteworthy as well. (Or Julie did, I can’t remember…) Anyway, it was reasonably priced, they had a $1 Taco Tuesday and it’s within walking distance to my part of campus. It’s pretty hard to beat. I can’t wait to go back!

Snack: When Megan and I did some clothe shopping at the mall (where I bought this studly blazer and new jeans a size smaller!) I had a skinny caramel machiatto from Starbucks. Pretty good stuff.

So yeah, about that new jeans thing… I’m down to 40’s! Pretty awesome considering about 17 months ago I was year size 54 pants. (At one point I was even wearing 56’s…) Anyway, so since I bought my new jeans from Old Navy, they are having a promotion that you can buy another pair between March 1-31st. My goal is to buy a new pair of 38’s on March 31st. This is going to require a lot of core workout and sadly… more Insanity. Better get started…

 

(Somewhere in here I had some hummus and chips…)

 

 

 

Dinner: I just had some leftover chili with some basmati rice. I also had some light strawberry shortcake. So today wasn’t too bad, but there is always room for improvement. Last week, there literally wasn’t enough time to work out, but this week there is a little more room in my schedule so I’m going to work out more to get some inches off of my body. See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 504: Friday Post Time!

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It has been a long week. Thank goodness it’s finally over. On to a next week of craziness.

Even though this week feels like it has been an eternity, some good did come out of it. I received plenty of really encouragements and “attaboys” from people both at work and within my department. In fact, my professor on Monday called me out in the beginning of class and asked me to talk about my weight loss journey to the class. It has really encouraged me to keep at it this week! I’m at the point that I feel really comfortable to reach out to people who were in my position: overweight guys who are frustrated and ready for change. It’s a really hard topic to approach someone with and it usually leaves the person embarrassed, but I want to find a way to reach out to these people. I was so richly please to get a push from my wife and more of a kick from some other people like my friend Kyle. I think that’s what we need sometimes though. I have no clue where to start, but I’m ready for the opportunity to pay it forward.

Breakfast: I just had the ol’ standby, two Publix multigrain waffles, some peanut butter and honey. Awesome stuff

Lunch: I ate my lunch while at work and I had the Smart One Lasagna Florentine which was surprisingly good! I was surprised how filling it was and how good it was. It’s probably the best Smart One meal other than the chicken enchilada suaza which is epic. Anyway, I also had some cocoa powdered almonds and an apple (I don’t think I’ll ever buy apples from WalMart again…)

 

 

 

 

Racquetball Craziness: I haven’t had the chance to work out all week so I was super ready for some racquetball today. My friend Alex and I played for two long hours which was exhausting but I felt awesome after. I had a few bumps and bruises this week (I lost feeling in my thumb for a while) but it was totally worth the 888 freakin’ calories that I torched. Awesomeness.

Snack:When I got home, I had another waffle and pb. Fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: When I was running around town like a chicken with my head cut off, I landed at the drive thru at Jimmy John’s. I was really good and had the vegetarian with no mayo. It’s the best you can do while still keeping the bread… that delicious, delicious bread. Anyway, I also had a pickle. It was a fantastic dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert: Megan and I went with some friends to Lofty Pursuits after some musicology thingy. I didn’t know what to get, but I went with this sundae that had toffee and other deliciousness. I should have just went with an ice cream cone, but I’ll do better next time.

So overall today was not too bad, but I’ll kick butt on Saturday to lose some weight on Sunday. See ya tomorrow.