Day 580: A Special Afternoon Post!

I have always been a huge fan of the show Frasier. His high class arrogance and antics always cracks me up, but the one thing about Frasier that I have always loved is his belief that people are inherently good. There is an episode where his identity is stolen by a character played by Nathan Lane, when Frasier catches him at a bar, Frasier gives him the opportunity to turn himself in. This goes south immediately, as you can imagine, which lands the real Frasier Crane in jail. Comical as it may be, I can relate to Frasier in this regard. I have always done my best to remember that people deep down inside (heck, even The Grinch had a heart even before the Whoville caper!) That belief was challenged last month when someone stole my Vibram Fivefingers instead of taking them to the lost and found in Leach. It hurt me, because they were something that I had been saving up for for a long time. I’m in no way materialistic, or at least I don’t try to be, but when they were stolen, it was like they were stealing something a part of my weight loss journey. I spent a lot of time and burned a lot of calories in those shoes. To have them taken from me really hurt.

So fast forward to about a week ago. I got a message in my Fotographing Fat Kid Facebook message box from a stranger named Heather. She empathized with me about how people could be so selfish. She told me that it bothered her so much that she couldn’t get it out of her head, so she wanted to buy me a new pair of Fivefingers. I was floored. I sat in front of my computer speechless. I re-read the message I don’t how many times to make sure I had read the message right. So this morning, I got a visit from our postwoman and she was carrying a shoebox. I now have a new pair of gorgeous yellow Fivefingers once again. They are just as comfortable as I remember. Thank you Heather. You have shown that there are still good people in the world.


Day 575: Monday Master’s Guy

Hello!

I forgot how awesome eight hours of sleep felt. It’s glorious.

Like I said last night, today I started to count points again and it was a great feeling. After being off any resemblance of a wagon for so long, I’m glad to have regiment again. It has been hard the first third of this year and I’m sure the fun has just begun, so since I have something of a “down time” right now, it’s going to help to have good habits established for me to lose some serious weight. Onderland here I come!!!

Breakfast: This morning, I had two servings of Honey Sunshine, this delicious cereal from Kashi that looks like Captain Crunch but without that razorblade sensation on the roof of your mouth. Anyway, for a cup and a half of cereal with milk it was only 4 points. I also had a banana about an hour after breakfast to keep me full until lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: I had some leftover quinoa and black beans from last night. I usually heat up my leftovers (except for that weird period in my life when I have cold mashed potatoes with ketchup) but it makes for a great cold salad too! 6 points. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Snacks: 
I had a packet of Orville’s finest 94% fat free popcorn for a snack because I just wanted to munch on something. A whole bag is only 4 points! Then I had a Kashi chocolate granola bar which was 2 points. 

SAWS!!!! Today, we started Insanity… again. We did the fit test and it went pretty good! I can already tell the difference. I think having Joe the Trainer whip me in to shape this semester is going to make Insanity a lot more bearable (or at least as bearable as it can be.)

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Megan made this awesome veggie pasta dish with zucchini and squash from the farmer’s market along with some snap peas. It was magical. 9 points. 

So today went pretty well! I got to 25 points and I also had some exercise points too. I wasn’t hungry really at all today, but I think that had a lot to do with drinking a bunch of water too! I have been horrible about that this semester so that is a habit I’m going to get back in to. See ya tomorrow.

 

P.S. Thanks for being awesome! Don’t forget you’re MY FAVORITE READER!!!  (Just you… no one else.)

Day 574: Post Graduation Weigh In

Welcome to my retirement. From school.

It has been an intense two years, before that it was an intense fours and before that it was an intense 13 years (including preschool.) While grad school was a great challenge where I spent a majority of my time in the fetal position in UCC 3116 (but that’s just because it was -30 degrees in there,) there wasn’t a day that went by where I questioned if it was the right choice for me. Florida State helped me become a better student of my craft, helped me realize my calling and facilitated friendships that I will cherish forever. It feels like only yesterday I was talking to this black-haired goofball on the bus who convinced me to get Amazon Student to save money on my textbooks. Come to find out he would become a key source of support for my weight loss. I’ll also never forget that kid who sat behind me in class whose car was struck by lightning. Then there was that kid who looked so much like Edward Cullen. Finally, there was that kid who is one of the few people I know who can pull off saying their first and last time together. These four guys were in one of my first classes at Florida State. Thanks for being awesome guys.

So I have been getting the question “What’s next?” a lot lately. A fair question to ask a recent graduate. The answer is I don’t know. I have applied to my share of agencies, organizations and other establishments, but unfortunately so is everyone else. So right now, I’m going to start to losing weight like it’s my job. This is my time to establish some good habits from working out to eating better. This semester was rough. Heck, I gained about 5 pounds in the past two weeks. (Yes, I gained 2.2 pounds this week.) I’m ready to eat start counting points again. I have felt like a Weight Watchers hypocrite recently. I can’t remember I have reported my points on this blog! It’s crazy! And it’s time for that to change. Now I’m not saying I’m going to be perfect. That’s not going to happen. However, I have big plans for this blog and more importantly my life. My weight has gotten in the way of that and that’s going to change.

Alright, now that that’s all out of the way….

So here are some pictures of this past week with my folks and other stuff. Tomorrow, it’s getting better. Losing weight like a boss… of my life. Enjoy. See ya tomorrow.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 569: Just Checking In

Hello!

I’m going to keep this short if that’s okay with you for a couple of reasons. First, my body has made me readily aware of how old I am after a vicious two hours of racquetball. Second, MY PARENTS WILL BE HERE TOMORROW!!!!! So we have a lot to do to get ready for their arrival. I can tell they are excited because they keep sending me pictures of our dog Molly and our cat Shadow in their suitcases. (Parents are awesome.)

Anyway, so here is the rundown of today: breakfast was normal, lunch was a leftover burger and for dinner we walked to Super Perros for dinner where it was the manager’s sons birthday so we got free Star Wars cake! After that I played racquetball with my friend Alex M. and now I’m incredibly sore. I also had some nachos made at home. Awesomeness. So that’s about it, tomorrow I’ll have something a little more elaborate (with pictures) but that’s all I got for now. See ya tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

PS rice, beans and racquetball don’t mix. That is unless you want to use biological warfare win at racquetball.

 

Day 568: Monday Time!

So this was me the last time I graduated. Saturday, I will be looking a bit different in a cap and gown. I needed this picture this week. I needed to remember how far I’ve come. When I really look back, it makes me proud. I don’t look back to tell myself I will never look like that again, I already know that. What I do need to remember is that I can do it. This is my inspiration for the summer. My goal is to break in to the 100’s (yes, 100 with a 1) by my second blogoversary: September 18, 2o12. It’s going to take a lot of work, but I know it can be done. I mean, three years ago I had to order the biggest gown available. This year I ordered the middle sized one, the one normal people wear. I got this.

Breakfast: I had an english muffin with some peanut butter. Awesome.

Lunch: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… Megan made this delicious tortellini with a veggie marinara sauce for lunch. It was super filling and awesome.

Workout: This afternoon, I played racquetball with my friend Matt and Brian. It was the first time we had played all semester and it was insane. I sweated a crapton and I only collied with someone once. I love racquetball.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FroYo: This afternoon, I got a haircut on the other side of town where a new froyo place called Rainbow has opened up. Being the froyo fanatic I am, I had to give it a shot. I had the cupcake flavor mixed with vanilla along with some crushed up waffle cone, butterfinger and chocolate chips. It wasn’t too bad, but the decor is awesome and in the corner they had Hello Kitty iPad covers for sale. It can’t be that bad of a place. Plus froyo is 1/2 off on Mondays. Hard to beat.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Tonight, we made a meal that would convert anyone in to believer in eating organic. On Saturday, we went to the Farmer’s Market on Market Square and we bought grain fed ground beef from a farm in South Georgia along with acre peas and green beans. Megan cooked the peas with some bacon from Earth Fare and a chopped onion. They were the best beans I have ever eaten. For all of my friends who can’t eat legumes, (Richard Keker) I am truly sorry. Anyway, I fired up the Weber and made burgers our of the beef and topped them with this awesome gouda that has mustard seeds in it. It didn’t taste mustardy, but it gave the burgers a great taste. Topped the burgers with some bacon too. It was a fantastic meal. It was fresh. It felt right. I know remember the joys of eating healthy.

So that’s it for tonight. Sorry this is such a late post. My computer has the Y2K. See ya tomorrow.

Day 567: Weigh In Stuff

So it’s done. Just have to graduate. (I’ll talk more about that later this week.)

I knew that the weigh in was going to be bad because I gorged myself yesterday. What do you know? I was right! I gained 2.6 pounds this week. I know it’s bad, but it is what it is. I weighed myself on Friday morning and I was 235.2 so I know I can get down there, but I just need to keep consistent (as of late I have been consistent, but consistently bad…) So I’m up to 239, but I’m really going to try to count points this week starting tomorrow. This weekend I tried to get all of the bad eating out of my system because start next week I will be starting a new chapter in my life. This summer I want to lose 30 pounds. Time to get busy.

Breakfast: I just had an english muffin with about a tablespoon of peanut butter. Awesomeness.

Lunch: After church, I bought our friends Julie, Stacy and Emma for lunch  our awesome friends Stacy and Emma took us and Julie out for a graduation lunch. We went to Bandido’s Burritos because, you know, it’s awesome. I had the chicken burrito and some chips and salsa. It was fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: If you follow me on The Facebook (as my dad would call it) you probably know that I have been working on my final paper of grad school. Well this evening, in a spat of stressful eating, I said screw it, let’s go out in style. Let’s go to Wing Stop, indulge with the guarantee that we will be awesome this week. I had the lemon pepper and cajun wings with some fries. Wing Stop isn’t terrible if you share, but we ate our own 10 piece. Lame.

After I turned in my paper online, we went to Yogurt Mountain. It was ridiculously good.

So that’s about it for today. I can’t really justify how bad this weekend was food wise, so I won’t. That’s life and I’ll move on. See ya tomorrow.

Day 566: The Day That Felt Like Thanksgiving…

Today, I received from “fan mail” today via Facebook. My boy Will has been my friend since college and he is going to be the next Woody Harrelson (actually, just insert your favorite actor’s name here.) I feel kind of bad because little did he know that I was going to have a horrendous food day today where I divulged in deliciousness instead of eating for fuel. I know I’m not a robot, nor am I made of stone, but I think today was bad. I should have done better. In defense, these past two weeks have been more mentally exhausting than pledging (BT) and I think the residual stress led to enjoying food a little too much. With that being said, Megan and I were talking about it, and we realized we used to always be this stuffed. Being uncomfortably full is a foreign feeling, which is a win in itself. You take the good with the bad right? Anyway, thanks for the kind words Will, and I’ll still be waiting for you when you wake up ;).

Okay, so since it is the end of the semester, there were a ton of parties today. We conquered three parties in five hours (which gives context to the paragraph above.) So let’s get started shall we?

Breakfast: Waffles and peanut butter. Yum

 

Breakfast II: Breakfast Lives! In the attempt to become better locavores, we went to the Farmer’s Market at Market Square to check out their wares. It was our first time and we were really impressed! Farms like Orchard Pond were even there! We ended up buying a plethora of different fruits and veggies and even some grass fed beef from a farmer from south Georgia. (I can’t wait to make burgers with it.) Anyway, while we were over there, we went to this French bakery that we had always heard about called Au Peche Mignon. Sadly, before today, the only French bakery I had been to was in the France Pavilion at Epcot. This place blew it out of the water. I had a croissant that was stuffed with asparagus, peppers, onions, and just enough cream cheese. They had everything from eclaires to truffles to fresh bread. I can’t wait to go back. After that, I cracked open a grapefruit that we had bought at the Farmer’s Market. The last time I tried a grapefruit I was in elementary. Still not a huge fan, but it was definitely edible.

Lunch: I had a boca burger with chips on an english muffin. Not too shabby. And I know someone will inquire so I’ll just put it out in the open: yes, that is Whataburger ketchup. Yes, I have been to Whataburger recently.

(I’ll just let that sink in for a moment.)

On the way to Thomasville on Thursday, I went through the drive thru to get a diet coke. Growing up, I lived by two gluttonous axioms: the best tasting fountain drinks and the best ketchup came from Whataburger. I love Whataburger ketchup, probably more than I will love my first born. Since this whole weight loss thing, I haven’t even been in the parking lot of a Whataburger, thus keeping me apart from my favorite condiment in the entire universe. So, when I went through the drive thru, I had to ask for a few packets of it. My wish was granted, and my life was epic once again. So now I have two packets left. I’m not sure what I will use them on… suggestions?

 

 

Round One: So the first stop was Megan’s end of the semester party at her professor’s house. Now usually, the Musicology parties encourages “healthy dishes” but this year Sarah the Stud and her cohorts decided to challenge the status quo and baked a cake. A Pizza Cake. Three stories of veggie pizza awesomeness, layered together in perfect, yet disgusting harmony. Although I had eaten my share of other food, I still took a small “slice” of the cake. It was interesting.

Round Two: After we were done (and it had stopped monsooning outside) we made our way across town for our friend Becky’s birthday party! There, I had a burger and some baked beans. Happy early birthday Becky!

 

 

 

 

Round Three: Tonight, our church honored the college graduates with a dinner at Cracker Barrel! So we made our way over there! At this point I was getting pretty full, but I had multigrain waffles with eggs and bacon with hash brown casserole. Needless to say I brought home a box full of breakfast food.

So that was today. A lot of parties and a lot of eating. I loved every minute of it. Well… tomorrow is weigh in day. I think I would have been okay this week (I was down in the middle of the week) but today probably killed that. It’s a part of life and this whole learning process. Megan and I decided that we are going back to points and being hardcore counters again. We both have big goals for the summer and watching what we eat will be the key. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 564: Thursday Tiredness

So I did the math:

70 pages written
60 hours on campus
assignment left
(Yes, this was all in the last week.)

Yes, it has been a long week. Although I’m almost done, it is pretty depressing. I have loved grad school. I have grown (and shrunk) so much over these past two years and I’m really going to miss it.

I am completely sick of looking at a computer screen, so I am doing a quick Wordless Thursday ordeal thing and we will talk more tomorrow. Enjoy.

Day 563: A Random Post That Has Nothing to do With Weight Loss

I know, I know. I should be writing about Mayo and Weick right now, but if I have to write one more sentence of this paper, my soul will officially be sucked out of my body (good thing I’m not feeling melodramatic or anything.) Anyway, so I made a Finals Montage Music playlist on Spotify and I ask for song suggestions. The best (or at least the most obscure) was “Knuck if you Buck” by the christian band Crime Mob. (Theyre on tour with Michael W. Smith right now!) and I started to think about other awesome songs from my childhood. Then I went on YouTube (because I couldn’t find it on Spotify) and found one of my favorite songs from high school.

Yes, “This is the Way we Ball” by Lil Flip. My boy Brandon would always play it on his tuba at the end of every pep rally. It was awesome. To make things more awesome, I met Lil Flip’s lawyer at the Texas State Capitol in Austin one time. He pulled up in a Lamborghini and showed off his car. Ridiculous I know, but still true. Alright, I needed to get some creative juices out. A real blog tonight at some point. Now, time to bust out a paper that’s due in 23 hours.