IT ACTUALLY FEELS LIKE FALL OUTSIDE!

It’s been in the mid 70’s and right now it’s even cooler! It feels so awesome to have a break from the heat and the humidity (aka: the bane of my existence.) So today was a pretty awesome day. It was a much needed day of rest from a week of craptasticness. Alright, game time…

Breakfast: I bought some multigrain Eggos from Walmart and they are just not near as good as the Publix ones. Anyways, luckily I found another jar of organic peanut butter and the date was good so I had a wafflewich with out the banana.

Lunch: We had a meeting at our campus minister’s house and they made us chili! It was pretty awesome, but Crystal’s pumpkin pie took the… (pie?) for the meal. It officially felt like fall. And it was good.

SAWS!!! Since it was so awesome outside, we decided to go for a power walk at Lake Ella park. We walked about 3 miles and it felt awesome because when you sit down all day, your hip flexors are really tight. I didn’t get to workout this week so it was nice to get out and about!

Dinner: Tonight, we wanted to have a very fall-like meal so we decided to go with grilled cheese and tomato soup. It was the perfect way to end the perfect day.

So today wasn’t that bad but I’m not sure how the weigh in is going to go down tomorrow. Like I said earlier, I didn’t get to work out because of my leg and I’ve been sickly, but my lunches have been mostly fruits and pretzels so we’ll just see. Sorry I didn’t blog at all this week. Don’t take it personal. See ya tomorrow.

Hello my little monsters! (oh wait, wrong alias…)

So today was a welcome to week slap in the face when I realized all the crap I had to do from readings to case studies to any other random stuff coming my way. I didn’t think I was going to get to watch my Cowboys play, but I budgeted my assignments to certain days to make it all manageable. I feel like you have to do that with weight loss. It’s intimidating to look at Mt. Fitintoskinnyjeans, no matter what your goal weight is, and think “how the crap am I going to do this?” It is important to allocate your calories, make time for your exercise and sticking to it even when you ate too many calories that day and your treadmill has become an annex of your closet. Life happens, that is nothing new. How you deal with it though is the biggest key to success. Alright, time to completely contradict everything I just said by talking about my food today.

Breakfast: I mixed Uncle Sams Chock Fill of Cardboard with Grape Nuts for a pretty awesome cereal combination. 8 points.

Lunch: I just had some more leftover pizza. I’m so glad there is none left. I love me some pizza, but like a good townie, it gets greasier with age. I had two slices for 12 points.

Snacks: Megan made some awesome cookies yesterday so I ended up eating my share of them. Today I ate… 8 points worth.Yikes.

Snacks: I also had some ants on a log without the ants. I put some (what I now know is expired) peanut butter on some celery. It was pretty awesome. 2.5 points.

Dinner: Megan made one of my favorite meals today. Yes, she made creamy stovetop mac n’ cheese. It was the bee’s knees like nobody’s business, especially when you sprinkle some cayenne on top! I had a serving and a bit so it was 8 points.

When I post about this delicious creamy awesomeness, people always ask me for the recipe. So I’ll make you a deal, I’ll post the recipe tonight on The Fotographing Fat Kid Official Facebook Page tonight, if you like my page. Sounds fair? I thought so. See you there!

Okay, so I know it looks bad (because it is) but I do want to point out the difference of quality and quantity of what 8 points can get you: 2 1/4 cup of mac n’ cheese, a cup of super fiber cereal and four measly cookies. I think it really puts everything in to perspective of how you have to be aware of what you are putting in your body during the day. So yeah, today was a ghastly 38.5 points which is rough, but thankfully I have weekly points so and since we don’t have any more pizza, I’ll have better lunches. There’s still a lot of week left so I’m not sweating… yet ;). See ya tomorrow.

No post yesterday you say? Yes, it’s true. Yeah, my b yo.

It was a pretty awesome Saturday full of stuff that didn’t involve school. You get to a point where you hold on to little things like getting a haircut, or going to the grocery store since it’s not reading for a quiz. Just saying. But anyways, I wanted to go for a run or go workout, but I woke up to a real sharp pain in my right leg. It feels like someone is grabbing my kneecap and punching it repeatedly. No bueno. So I decided to stay off of it for a while (like a day or two.)

Breakfast: I had a wafflewich with pb. It was epic. 5.5 points.

Lunch: Before I got my haircut (which is FAAAAAAABULOUS!!!) We decided to go to Moe’s for lunch. Sadly to say, it will probably be the last time for a while. I had two little chicken tacos with cheese, which I thought “hey, this can’t be that bad” but it was. For two small tacos and a basket of chips, it was 22 points. What the crap! Taco Bell is actually lower points than Moe’s. It kind of makes me sad. What to do, what to do. So the rest of the day I was thinking that I was going to have to work out so I could eat dinner. That’s a terrible feeling. Lame stuff. Awe well.

Dinner: After very very frustrating FSU game, we decided to make an epic dinner to cheer us up (if we had won, it would have been a celebration dinner, but it was delicious either way.) We found this awesome recipe on how to make grilled shrimp so we made that with Megan’s classic green beans, and a baked potato. It was a fantastic dinner. Awesomeness.

So today was frustrating with food, but it is what it is.

The past two weeks have been gains, but this week has been pretty good with food and did work out a few times, so we will just see how it goes. See ya tomorrow.

It’s Thursday time! There’s been a lot of just crazy things happening this week (in a Three Stooges way, not a Silence of the Lambs way.) I think it might be the weather or something, whatever it is I’m ready for it to end. Funks are no fun. Hopefully that will pass.

Breakfast: I was in a rush and I figured out that Uncle Sam’s cereal is way better with Grape Nuts (yes, Grape Nuts have more flavor than Uncle Sams.) but we are out of Grape Nuts, so I had some Graham Oh’s! Which were 6 points.

Lunch: Today was the University Communications appreciation lunch at Mellow Mushroom! It was pretty awesome! I really love where I work! I would be okay working at FSU for the rest of our time in Tallahassee (do you hear that bosses?) Anyways, I had the chef salad with esperanza dressing and a slice of cheese with sun dried tomatoes. I had class, so I scarfed down the salad and got someone to bring my slice back to work so I could eat it after class. Even cold it was awesome!

Snack: One of the party favors was a Tervis-like cup full of m&m’s so I had 3 points worth of them and then gave away the rest.

Dinner: Tonight was leftover night so I had chili and chips. It was about 15 points.

Snack: Tonight was also fall season premiers! While I was watching the new Big Bang Theory episodes, I tried these Michelina’s Lean Gourmet Buffalo Style Buffalo Chicken Snackers. Back in the day, I used to dominate pizza rolls (just ask my friends Scott and Tabitha, I used to eat all of their pizza rolls when we would play board games,) which lead to the demise of my waistline. A serving of 11 of these little guys were 4 points which isn’t too bad.

So today I was at 28 points without lunch so I know I went over, but I’m going to go all SAWS on Leach (I lost my FSUCard so I have to get a new one so I can go) tomorrow. Here goes nothing. See ya tomorrow.

Howdy!

So today was a cruddy day. The weather was dreary while it looked like fall outside, it was still humid and gross. (There’s nothing worse than looking out a window, thinking it should be 65 outside, but instead it’s 85 with 110% humidity. Way to give it your all Mother Nature.) Anyways, between that, not getting my caffeine fix because I chose water over coffee (go me? I guess?) and my allergies going berserk, it was just one of those days. It is what it is. Luckily, I got through it, and there was a light at the end of the tunnel: the Biggest Loser Season Premier! I wasn’t sure how the new trainers were going to go, but so far I think they are holding there own. I think it’s going to be a pretty good season. What was really exciting is that for the first time while watching a season premier, I didn’t feel guilty about not sending in a video to be on it. Even last season, I still felt like I needed to be on there, but this time around, I feel really good about where I’m at even though I’m still on the hunt to drop more lbs!

Breakfast: I had another bowl of cardboard Uncle Sams cereal. I don’t think it’s filling enough. It’s one of those foods that holds off your hunger, but then when you’re hungry, you get HOUNGRY *pronounced southernly.* I need to figure out something else on the breakfast front. Any suggestions? 4 points 

Lunch: Like I was saying, I need to eat more for breakfast because even though I have to eat breakfast at 11 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’m still hungry at that point. But I digress. Anyways, I brought a sack full of food goodies like Santa (yes, I’m already in the Christmas spirit) but like a fool I ate all of them during lunch. No bueno. So, I had an all-heel sandwich, pretzels, a nut mix, a cookie and a banana all during my super early lunch hour which was a total of 11 points At the time I was thinking I would be okay, but around 2:00, that was not the case… (TO BE CONTINUED… in the next paragraph.)

Snack: By the time I got to work, I must of had really looked pathetic because Andrea offered me some food. I chose her strawberry gummies which were 2 points. So awesome.

Dinner: Megan made the best spaghetti I’ve ever seen. That’s all there is to it. So awesome. 10 points. For dessert I made a cookie sundae with a cookie and some ice cream. It was epic and about 5 points. 

So today I got to 32 points so a little over but it’s okay. Tomorrow is Wordless Wednesday and my first day at Leach this semester. Get stoked. See ya tomorrow.

Today was a great day. There’s nothing like watching The Office in a graduate class to understand managing models. And it’s only Monday!!! MEOW!!! DAVEY JONES!!! GIANT SQUID!!!

Breakfast: I had heard good things about this cereal called Uncle Sams and being the good patriot that I am I had to try it.. (you know, for ‘murica!) A bowl was with skim milk was 4 points but a 3/4 cup of cereal was 10 grams of fiber! So awesome. It kind of looks like cocoa pebbles but it tastes like cardboard… delicious delicious cardboard with flax seeds.

Lunch: I needed to eat more in the day so I loaded up my lunchbox and went to town. I had the following: turkey sandwich, Oikos greek yogurt (which was really good), string cheese, pretzels and a banana. The most filling 12 points ever. Winning (yes, I’m watching the Charlie Sheen Roast. Don’t judge.)

SAWS!!!: In keeping with my goal to work out like a beast, I went on a run this evening. The weather was perfect: partly cloudy, cool breeze and the temperature ranging in the high 80’s. Anyways, I went for a 5k run up and down the crazy hills of Tallahassee. My first mile was 10:54 which was one of my better times, but the hills got to me which drug my time down a bit. Overall, it was a pretty good run, and I’m really stoked for the “5k season” to start up! SAWS!!!!  8 exercise points

Post Workout Yummy Stuff: I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich with a little honey. Pretty awesome. 6 points.

Dinner: I don’t know how Mondays have become our grilling day, but I’m totally cool with it! Tongith I grilled some burgers and Megan sauteed some baby potatoes and onions. It was a pretty epic meal.  17 points.

Dessert: We were baller and roasted some marshmallows on kabob sticks over the grill. Yeah, we are awesome. 2 points.

So today I got to 41 points, which is crazy I know, but with the exercise points I was just 3 points over. Pretty legit. See ya tomorrow.

One year ago, I was in a dungeon of fat, bastille of blubber if you will. No matter where I was, I could tell people were looking at me (there was a lot to look at) and judging me. Even though I would sweat through my clothes, breathe uneasily, and not be able to see the TV when I was laying down because of my gut, I was still scared to even know where I was with my weight. Megan wanted to buy a scale, but I was against it. Ignorance was not as blissful as I had hoped. Sometimes, people do what’s best for you even if you don’t want them to, so she bought the scale and I found out I was 357 pounds. I was closer to 400 pounds than I was 300 pounds, and it scared the crap out of me. It was then that we knew it was time to make a serious change in our lives. At that point, I was already slowly giving up to the idea that I was going to be that big the rest of my life, so I firmly believe that if my beautiful wife didn’t buy that scale that day, my life would not have been the same.

Was I scared to change? Of course. Like most people that struggle with weight, I had done my share of diets, and I would lose some weight but then just give up, only to end up back where I was and then some. But this time needed to be different, it needed to stick. Megan and I decided to integrate Weight Watchers with organic living. We thought that healthy living also involved knowing where your food was coming from. We also looked at this life change through the lens of our faith. We knew that we were God’s temple, but at that point mine was more Buddah-shaped. Basically, before, I thought making a few adjustments like trying to get a workout or a run in every once in a while would help, but in reality, to be successful (at anything really) it requires a holistic change in your life. Anyways, I was also really scared of failing, which usually leads you to not telling anybody about what you are doing. I knew that wasn’t going to work this time, so I asked for accountability from people I knew, and my friend Kyle Dixon was up to the challenge. Any time I was tempted to eat anything really bad, he would call me out, and that is what I needed. So I kept at it and worked hard to stay strict with my diet. Up until this point, six weeks was the lifespan of my diets so I needed to break past that ceiling, after that point, I knew that this was for real and that there was no way of me going back to 357 ever again.

So 52 week of smaller portions, racquetball craziness, organic deliciousness, blog posts, Facebook encouragements from people I only knew for a season of my life and overlooking the chocolate covered porkrinds later, I am down 103 pounds and counting. This journey is far from over, there is still 97 pounds to be lost. (I know there is a scrawny guy in here somewhere.) Wherever I end up weight wise as long as it’s a healthy number I’ll be okay with it. I know there are still challenges on the horizon, but thankfully I have all of you and your awesomeness. Thanks for being awesome. See ya tomorrow.

What’s going on yo!

I think today was the best way to spend a Saturday. There’s nothing like a good run, some good food and a little football to finish off the week. It was a pretty crazy week full of school and other fun stuff so a little time to do what I want was nice. Fun stuff.

Breakfast: I decided to make a big breakfast because that’s what you do on Saturdays. I made a waffle with an egg and some bacon. It was pretty epic and delicious. That’s all that needs to be said on the subject. Deliciousness FTW.

Run of Craziness: Have you ever gotten up and thought “hey! I should go run a 10k”? Yeah, me neither. For some reason, I got this urge to go for a run. I used to love to run, but I haven’t made time for it lately so I’m going to get back in to it. Anyways, I had mapped out a route on my iPhone that was about 3.1 miles so I was going to run to that point and then run back. For some stupid reason, when you figure out a route in maps with the pedestrian setting, it still doesn’t account for the lack of sidewalks and straight drop offs on the side of the road. So I was following this trail full of really steep hills until I got to where the sidewalk ended, I said “well crap” turned around, and kept running up and down the crazy hills of Tallahassee. By around mile 4, I entered the “bargaining stage” and told myself “I could just call it good. No one would blame me, I gave it a try.” That’s been my issue all my life, I’ve been running it at half-speed and people (but mostly myself) are just happy with trying. I needed to finish this run more than I knew, because when I finished, I really felt like I had given it everything I had. I stopped once to shoo away this giant poodle that was following me, but I kept my feet moving the whole time. Anyways, my time was not too shabby considering all the steep hills (my mantra during the run was “Why are there so many hills in Tallahassee? Why are there so many hills in Tallahassee? Why are there so many hills in Tallahassee?”) but the next time I run it, I’m going to beat the time, just like the time after that, and… well, you get the idea. Finally, I decided that I’m going to start doing some sort of grand athletic feat like this every Saturday starting the week after next (next week, the grand athletic feat will be FSU upsetting OU. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the University of Oklahoma? They stink, they are the scum between my toes.)

Snack: After that I had a wafflewich and an extra banana.

Lunch: For a late lunch, I went with my friend Daniel to Chipotle for some burrito fantasticness. I had the chicken burrito bowl with the fixins and guac with a cup of sour cream on the side. Having dressing-like sauces in a cup make it a lot easier to not use all of it. Anyways, it had been a while since I had been there so it made it even more awesome.

Afternoon Dessert: After Megan’s conference that she was presenting at, we climbed up Yogurt Mountain for some deliciousness. I had a swirl of dulche de leche and cookies n’ cream that made my taste buds do the hokey pokey.

Dinner: As you can imagine, I wasn’t too hungry for a good while so we went and did some stuff around town and then fired up the grill. I had been marinading some Teriyaki  chicken so I put that on the grill along with some fresh pineapple from Publix. The chicken turned out really well, but the pineapple was ridiculously awesome. All that on a bed of rice was a fantastic meal.

So today I did pretty well all things considered. According to my Nike+ app, I had burned more than 100o calories on my run, but I think I made up for it with my burrito bowl. The way workouts are going to work this year I think is Wednesday through Sunday with Monday and Tuesday off. Monday and Tuesday are my worst days by far so by Wednesday I’ll be ready to exert some energy. If I’ve learned anything from this crazy weight loss experience it’s that when life gets off track, whether it be a new schedule or a baboon ripping your arms off like in the movie Congo, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and then get back in to a rhythm. Then, you dominate. See ya tomorrow.