Day 543: Wordless Wednesday Good Sir!
Category Archives: Grad School
Day 539: Saturday Soreness
I’m sore. My body feels like lead. Know why I don’t mind? Because it’s not from carrying around 357 pounds. Boom.
(I should just stop right there, the post is all downhill from here…)
Hello!
I’m super sorry I didn’t post on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, I hadanotherfriend that I haven’t seen in nine years come through and stay with a mutual friend! (If you ever want people to come visit you, move to Florida. Lie and tell them you’ll take them to the beach where they can swim on some dolphins.) Anyway, so on Friday we randomly ended up going to a late IMAX showing of the Hunger Games. The movie was really good, it stuck really close to the books overall, but the cinematography gave me really bad motion sickness. Little known fact about me, I left the theater when I sawCloverfieldclose to 10 times because I thought I was going to die. I still don’t know what that movie is about, a large parrot or something?
SO… With that all being said, today was pretty good! Had a killer workout this morning and then did homework by the pool. Pretty hard to beat… although I do miss winter, since it didn’t exist this year. I blame Al Gore.
Breakfast: Before this morning’s training session, I had a wafflewich. It’s good, and it’s good for you! (Name that movie.)
SAWS!: So Megan and I have personal training at the same time on Saturdays. When we got to Leach this morning, we found out that Joe and Megan’s trainer Greg decided to pair up today for a cardio circuit of doom. The circuit included: ropes, medicine ball slams, chest presses with resistance bands and last but certainly not least: box jumps. Today, I did my first ever box jump… ever. I was in athletics for 6 years and I was never able to do them. Joe the Trainer, being the shaman of swagger that he is, kept reminding me that it was all mental. Then I did one, then another, then another, then another… well you get the idea. After four rotations of that, (yeah, we weren’t done after that…) we did abs. My favorite. Ab crunches on a ball, ab twists, and then planks. It was beastly. After we were done, we both felt awesome.
Lunch: Needless to say that after that fun mess, we were hungry. So later we decided to go to Earth Fare for lunch! They have an awesome lunch deal: half a sandwich, a cup of soup and a bowl of fruit for $5! Today I had their ultimate grilled cheese that had brie, pamento, and some other delicious dairy, a cup of tomato basil soup and a great bowl of strawberries and pineapple. I know I’ve said this before, but if you want to convert to organic but are still skeptical, smell and eat organic fruit compared to conventional. The difference is ridiculous.
Dinner: Tonight, I fired up the grill for some grilled chicken and veggie awesomeness. We bought some chicken thighs, seasoned them with a few special ingredients and then threw them on the grill along with some veggies. If you are a grillmaster apprentice like me and you want to cook veggies, I would suggest a nifty basket like mine. I have the Kingsford version and it has held up really well since I bought it!
So today was a pretty good Saturday. School and life are about to get interesting, so the calm before the storm is kind of nice. Tomorrow is weigh in. It has been an uneven week, but if anything, next week will be better. No matter what the scale says, I worked out super hard four times this week which is better than I have been. There is definitely some to be said for that. See ya tomorrow.
Day 536: Tuesday Tiredness
It has been an exhausting day. It’s crazy that graduation is so close and there is so much to do before then so it’s starting to take its toll. With all of this stress comes the urge to emotionally eat. No matter how much weight I lose, eating my feelings always has, and will always be, a struggle for me. Sometimes just a big plate of food (such as a delicious plate of nachos… FORESHADOWING???) is what you want. It’s tough, but not a killer. What I’m learning is that you can make modifications to your favorite pig out foods. It’s an adjustment, but worth it!
Breakfast: I went to Subway like I usually do on Tuesdays and Thursdays and went to town on my Bacon, egg and cheese on an english muffin. It was fantastic as always and I at least know that was 4 points. I also went to Atomic and a Thai Iced Coffee. It has half anf half, sugar, and some spices. I skipped on the whip cream. Basically it was a an iced coffee with cream and sugar. That being said I’m still not sure how many points it was. Breakfast was about 7 points
Lunch: I went to 501 Cafe for their delicious curried chicken sandwhich. It is the best sandwich in Tallahassee. The only way for you to know is to try it yourself. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?! GO THERE NOW! With chips, lunch was about 10 points.
Snack: I had some chips and salsa. 3 points.
Dinner: The prophecy of the nachos has been fortold! Yeah, I had some nachos for dinner. The plan was to have mac n cheese, but neither of us had the energy to cook. So, I popped some chips in the oven with some cheese. Luckily, it was mostly crumbs so the points went further, in a way. Anyway, I put a 100 calorie pack of guac on there and some black beans. It was epic. It was about 12 points (6 points for chips, 2 for the guac, 2 for the black beans and 2 for the cheese). I know these are kind of an approximation, but I know I’m pretty close. I know nachos look bad, but I didn’t have steak on it or anything like that. Considering the situation, it could have been much worse, but these small changes are what make the difference yo!
So today I got to 32 points. Four points over. It is what it is. If anything, I have been able to cut down my grazing which is a huge thing! See ya tomorrow.
Day 535: Monday Stuff!
A lot to do. Not much time. Let’s get crackin!
Breakfast: Wafflewich. You know it’s how I roll.
Lunch: I had a little time to go home for lunch today so I went home and hung out with my sick wifey (no bueno.) I had some veggie tenders (Morning Star Chik’n Tenders) and some tomato soup. We also had a little WW sundae. It was epic.
Snack: During class, my friend Lauren brought some brownies for her birthday (Happy Birthday Lauren!) and she offered me on. Not gonna lie, the brownie I had was delicious. The sugar in it kept me awake in class. After class I had chips and salsa. A dieters best friend!
Dinner: We made some penne pasta with the leftover spicy marinara and some ground turkey. It was delicious.
So that’s about it today. I know, intriguing right. That’s my Monday for ya. I’ll be less boring tomorrow (actually, there is no way I can promise that.) See ya tomorrow.
P.S. in lieu of a lackluster post, here is an awesome video I did for my Visual Media class in undergrad. Yeah, I look a little different now… Okay, NOW I’ll see ya tomorrow.
Day 534: Weigh In Day!
First off:
GO NOLES!!!
Alright where was I? Oh yeah, the epic day I had. So I was good pretty much all week and my body was introduced to new and exciting exercises. Sometimes when that happens, your weight can do weird things. This time however, it was a good thing! I lost 3.4 pounds this week! Holla! So what does that mean you ask? Well… plenty. I am now in uncharted waters with weight again. I don’t think I have weighed below 237 yet but I am now. 236.8! (Barely, but who cares?) SO… that means I have officially lost 120 pounds! It’s pretty nuts! I can’t wait to get to 125 soon. That’s going to be epic. Also, today I looked and at this point, I am 30 pounds away from being out of the obese range according to the BMI scale! That’s pretty cool considering I was 150 pounds away from it when I started. Awesome stuff.
Breakfast: I just had a banana because I knew my friend Julie was going to bring breakfast for our class at church. I had one of her sweet rolls. It was probably around 3 points. Then during the sermon, our good friend Chris preached and mentioned my blog. He was talking about accountability and staying the course. I was honored that he mentioned. Thanks for such a great lesson Chris!
Lunch: I didn’t have much time, so Julie, Stacy, Emma and I went to Bandido’s Burritos for lunch. If you may recall, they have THE BEST chips and salsa in Tallahassee. It was epic. I had the chicken burrito with chips and salsa. I’m not sure exactly how many points it was, but with the next paragraph in mind, I was okay with points today.
SAWS! So the plan was to play racquetball, but the person I was going to play got tied up so I decided I was going to still workout. As I was walking around, I saw Joe the Trainer. He asked me what I was going to do in the gym. Since I had two rough training sessions, I was going to just do my thing on the elliptical. “Don’t do the elliptical” he told me. I thought he was telling me to not overdo it, but instead he told me to do something intense like the bike or something. It was so awesome to be pushed like that! It’s so easy to get complacent in the gym and just do what you are used to. So instead, I did 20 minutes on Stairmaster which is a record for me. My heart was pounding and I was sweating buckets, but it felt so legit! This happenstance of a meeting with Joe reminded me that I need to up my workout game. I’m not 357 anymore! I need to workout like it!
In here somewhere I had some dark chocolate almond milk and popcorn. Yum!
Dinner:Megan is finally home! So I picked her up and we went to… where else? Jason’s Deli! I had the salad bar but they didn’t have light ranch! AAAAHHHH!!!! So instead I had the low cal honey mustard. It was fantastic! It even has a little zing to it! It was a great dinner. (When isn’t it awesome at Jason’s? Except for the time when my dad was at a Jason’s in Waco and the police took down and arrested a person in the parking lot. That’s awesome in a “COPS is still a show?” kind of way.)
So that was my day. It was a pretty epic Sunday. This week is going to be bananas, so it’s going to be important to plan out my meals and at least have eating down to have some structure in my life. Usually when you have that, everything else falls in to place. See ya tomorrow.
Day 533: St Patricks Day Edition
(I was going to have an epic line of Gaelic right here but I couldn’t find a translator… or a leprechaun.)
Today was a pretty good day. Unlike the rest of Tallahassee, I just decided to stay in tonight and watch basketball and stuff about Ireland on PBS. I know, I’m awesome. It also doesn’t help that my arms are incredibly sore from this morning’s workout. More on that in a second…
Breakfast: I actually slept in this morning (which felt amazing. I hate Daylight Savings.) and then woke up a little bit before my second personal training session today. I wanted to have a protein-packed breakfast so I had a wafflewich! Hooray for deliciousness! I packed two tablespoons of peanut butter on that bad boy so it was 7 points.
SAWS Session: So when I first met with Joe, he told me that we would being doing ropes and other fun stuff during the cardio days. I was stoked. I was not disappointed. I started out with a four station circuit with four rotations total. The stations were: squat jumps, slamming ropes (this kind of thing), resistance band pull, and the inverted row (which I have seen on Biggest Loser. Yeah, I actually did this, but with better form.) After that mayhem, which was really hard but thanks to Insanity it was bearable, we did some ab exercises aka my super weakness. I did curls with my legs elevated on a balance ball, rows in a V-position and then plank. On the last set of holding a plank position, I was timed on how long I could hold it. Before that, Joe and I were talking about the mental blocks we have that hold us back when working out. So I really thought about that when I was in the plank. Keep in mind this was the absolutely last thing I had to do that day. I was tired, I was sweaty, but I still had swagger. I got in to the plank position, play Hotel California in my head to block out my thoughts about how tired and awful I felt, and held it for 54 seconds. I felt awesome.
My conversation with Joe about mind over body reminded me of how much more control I have over my mental battle with eating than I used to. When I was big, I would eat no matter what. When I was done with a meal, I would already be planning what I would be eating next. Iletfood control my life. I absolutely didn’t need to eat that much to survive, but that side of my brain had so much control over my life. When I was in the plateau for the past few months, I was creeping back to that. I was okay with eating those fries or eating that cake, because I felt I deserved it. You don’t eat because you’re rewarding yourself. We’re not seals at Sea World, we don’t do tricks for food. We are suppose to eat for survival. Now do I love a good meal with friends or with my wife? Absolutely! But it shouldn’t come at the cost of my health. Anyway, I felt I like I learned a lot about myself today in the gym. I’m in a good place right now.
Lunch: When I got home, I blasted some Floggin’ Molly (after all, it is St. Paddy’s Day!) and made some lunch. I microwaved two Bocca burgers with a little cheese in between and made a delicious double pattie cheeseburger. I also had some Cape Cod chips with a glass of chocolate milk. It was epic and only 8 points!
For a snack I had some chips and salsa. Another delicious 3 points.
Dinner: I was jonesin’ for some protein to reload after the past couple days of new exercises, plus I wanted to eat some of the random stuff in our freezer. Win-Win baby! (My omage to Dick Vitale) So, I cooked up a chicken breast, then boiled some ravioli and topped it with some spicy spaghetti sauce. It was easily the most delicious thing I have ever cooked (except for burgersaurus, remind me to explain in my next video.) Dinner was about19 points.I know a little high, but I could tell my body needed the calories to reload.
So today I got to37 points.I had about 10 workout points so I am good! Not too shabby.
This week was a good for rebuilding. I didn’t crash and burn during the second half of the week like I have been which is super huge. I’m really curious to see what the scale will have to say about it. See ya tomorrow.
Day 531: That Time My Arms Hurt Alot Edition
My arms hurt so much that it hurts to type. I wish I was exaggerating. I’ll post the pictures but in short: the first day of personal training was epic. Joe is fantastic to work. I want to learn the mechanics of weight lifting and exercising and he really takes the time to explain it all to me. Today we did chest and triceps right in the “Bro Den” (if you go to Leach or go to the gym you know what I mean.) While I was doing chest flys with 12 pound weights, Mark McGuire’s offspring was next to meet doing curls with 90’s. When I was big, the only time I would feel tiny and scrawny was in the weight area. Today, I just focused on me. I went in there, didn’t care what other people thought and just focused on this guy. It was a confidence I never had in the gym. It was an awesome feeling.
Alright, well to summarize the day, I didn’t have breakfast, but I had a great lunch and then an epic dinner. With the workout, I was well within my points. Deliciousness. Again, sorry this was short, but I’m fading fast. See ya tomorrow.
Day 530: Wordless Wednesday! Hooray!
Day 529: Terrific Tuesday Time
(I wonder how many more T’s I can add to the title…)
Greetings my fine viewing friend! Today was pretty awesome, well for me anyway. I guess you can read about it and be the judge of that.
Breakfast: (I just need to point out that the Walker Texas Ranger theme song just started to play. Imagine this paragraph with an awesome background song. To be even more adventurous, find it on YouTube and listen to it.) Okay, yes I’m super ADD tonight. My bad. ANYWAYS! Megan and I went to Subway for breakfast. I had the bacon egg and cheese sandwich. They are really the most filling 4 points. I don’t know what it is. I was fuller longer after eating that than eating 7 points of Kashi with milk. I really need to re-evaluate breakfast…
Lunch: So my class had a field trip to visit the fine folks at VisitFlorida, the marketing entity for Florida tourism. The plan was that my friend Andrew (that’s Mr. Cullen to the vampire horde) and I were going to go to Jason’s Deli before class. Unfortunately, it was packed. So we went across the street to Bada Bean. The last time I was there, I had their epic black bean burger (it’s the best Jerry! The best!) so I had that with potato salad. It was pretty epic and delicious. After we were there for a while, my No.1 cheerleader/hater Alex stopped by too. (How many shout outs is that now Alex?) Anyway, lunch was about 14 points. The sides are kind of limited there so it was potato salad or bean salad, which seemed kind of redundant. For a snack later in the day I had a 1 point English muffin with some honey.
Meeting Joe: So as you may have saw on Facebook, I found out today that I have now have a personal trainer through Leach and FSU! I got the call today and we set up a time just to meet and talk about the fun/death that will ensue. We talked about my weight loss and all that fun stuff and how I’m ready to get more muscly and less flabby. We are starting on Thursday night with weight lifting. He said at one point we will do a high intensity cardio circuit with boxes and ropes and stuff, the kind of things I’ve been really wanting to try. I think my eyes were wide the whole time we talked like his head was made out of chocolate cake or something. (I know that comparison was obscure and perhaps creepy to some readers. What I meant was I AM SO FREAKIN STOKED TO START TRAINING!!!) I’ll have a full recap on Thursday and I’ll talk about it a little more tomorrow night on Wordless Wednesday.
Dinner (THIS PART INCLUDES READER PARTICIPATION SO LISTEN UP!): So even though we didn’t go Jason’s for lunch, we ended up going there for dinner (I know, I’m ridiculous.) I challenged Megan to see who could make the more epic salad. When I mentioned the idea, she became an intense architect of salad awesomeness! Now, YOU HAVE TO VOTE ON THEM! Just say either the top salad or the bottom salad! (Please vote in comments section below and please, no betting.) Anyway, so Megan ordered a French Onion soup with her salad and they accidentally brought two (all right! Double prizes!) Dinner was great! We both found dressings that were low cal and low sodium and we both had our share of their delicious hummus. Fan-freakin-tastic! It is super tedious to figure out a salad, but I did it one time when we visited our friends in Abilene (This was one of my favorite posts to write! It includes an Old man motivating me! Check it out!) and I figured it out to be about 10 points. I think I’m safe to assume that since I don’t deviate from my salad making prowess. The soup was also 5 points. I could have said no to the soup and had been okay. Awe well.
So that’s about it for today. I got to about 34 points which is really good because only one point was snacking. I think if every day could be like this I would be able to live eating only 28 points. While I know I might be a little off on dinner, either way I’m making much better options with my food which means I just plain feel better. I don’t feel slouchy like I have been. It’s an awesome feeling. See ya tomorrow.
PS (I’ll announce the winner tomorrow of the Epic Salad Battle on my Facebook page!)
Day 527: Weigh In Today!
Why hello young reader!
Remember that time my Super Seminoles beat UNC for their first ever ACC championship title? I DO!!! What an epic game! (I apologize to my neighbors who heard me yelling like a banshee this afternoon…) Anyway, so last week had its ups and downs with eating since I was gone for a few days but it came out okay. I lost 1.2 pounds this week. Not much, and I am 240.2 so I am so close to break in to the 230’s (again) but this week is all about counting points both on the front end and the back end. Thursday on has been the issue. Anyone who has counted points or calories knows that it does get tiring so I have just been losing steam at that point. I’m just going to get through it this week and try to get a rhythm going. We shall see what happens.
Breakfast: I had a wafflewich with a delicious organic banana from Earth Fare. If you really want to taste the difference between organic and conventional, taste test a banana or an apple. The difference are very apparent. Anyway, pretty delicious and a hearty 7 points.
Lunch: Yesterday, we made these epic lettuce wraps from the always-awesome Cooking Light (this is the recipe from a blog. Enjoy.) and we had leftovers. Hooray! I only had 4 points of leftovers but it was super filling!
Snack: When I watching history unfold this afternoon, I had a Lean Pocket. We don’t have any chips really to snack on (in hindsight I should have made some popcorn but I just now thought of that) so I went with something that wasn’t great. Fail? I wouldn’t say that (but at this point I’m sure thinking that it was…) 6 points
Yumtastic Awesomeness: After to our excursion to Lucy & Leo’s on Friday, Megan decided to try her hand at baking. It was a fantastic success. She made these epic peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. While they are delicious, they were about 8 points a piece so I ate only one today.
Dinner: Tonight, Megan and I went to Pizza Hut for a “season finale” if you will of Spring Break. We ordered a large Thin n’ Crispy with cheese. Don’t let the name fool you though, it’s still 6 points a slice. However, a slice of large pan with pepperoni is 9 points a slice, so there is still quite a bit of difference. I kind of went nuts and had three slices along with a salad. Dinner was 20 points. That is bad, no doubt, but it made me think about all the times I would go to a pizza buffet and eat 5 slices a plate! I did that all my life from elementary on! I’m still eating less at 25 than I did when I was 10. Pretty crazy. I’m glad that I have been blessed with the new willpower I have to live better and to eat healthy.
So today was bad, but I’m actually tracking my weekly points now (which I have 35 of) so the cupcake and my extra points will go in to my in to that. In total though, I got to45 points.Yikes. I have 17/35 extra points. This week will be interesting.
So here’s what I need from you, dear reader, keep me in check. If we eat together or you see me around, ask me how it’s going in the ol’ food department. Or, if you want to work out or play a sport give me a call! Let’s get physical, physical. See ya tomorrow.