Category Archives: Heathly

Day 215: Im Back!!!!!!

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In case you forgot, my name is Nathan MacDonald and this is my blog. Nice to meet you.

Sorry for my lack of blogging this week. It was the last week of classes and I had two massive papers due on the same day. I’ve written and read a crapton this semester. Hooray fro grad school. Anyways, I just have a final on Thursday and then my first year of grad school will be done!

So I was sick with a bad cold, got better from that, got pink eye, got rid of that, and then I had a mutant canker sore (100% from stress) right next to my molars so eating anything hard was so much pain. A lot of this week I have been eating soft foods like mushy rice and beans. It has been a lot better today, but that had a lot to do with what I ate which I have a feeling will playing in to my weight numbers this week. My weight has super fluctuated this week and however bad it is tomorrow I have the summer (and the rest of my life) to make up for it. If I gain, how could I be mad? It will be Easter, and we have A LOT to celebrate that day.

Breakfast: I actually got to sleep in today (which hasn’t happened at all this semester) so I got up and made some bacon and eggs. According to Megan, it was the best breakfast she has ever eaten. Anyways, it was a pretty big breakfast and so it was 10 points. I think I was starving.

Lunch: Before heading over to Megan’s departments end of the semester party, we went to Subway to get some lunch. We split Subway and it rocked. 8 points.

Party/Dinner: The party was delicious. There is always a bounty of delicious ethnic foods so it was hard not to try everything. Overall, what I ate wasn’t too bad… except for the 3 blondies I ate. Oh, and cold sesame noodles which were basically peanut butter and  ramen. The food wasn’t bad per se, but my portion control was just off today. I avoid eating cookies and brownies usually, but I think today I was just so relieved after 72 hours of straight stress and writing about Cold Stone (yes, I wrote a 18 page strategic marketing plan about Cold Stone yesterday Ironic huh?) I was just ready to indulge a little bit.

Workout: I haven’t had a chance to workout at all this week, even though I desperately wanted to. Luckily, Leach was open so I headed over there while Megan was working on her mutant papers. The gym traffic was light, as expected, so I hopped on an elliptical and went to town, I did a cross training program for 40 minutes. I was going at it pretty hard, but then I realized the girl next to me, who got on around the same time as me, had burned a good hundred some calories more than me. Not to be outdone, I added more resistance so I would work harder. That’s how I burned a beastly 601 calories in 40 minutes. Thanks random girl next to me on the elliptical for unintentionally pushing me harder. When I got home I had some rice krispies.

Non Scale Victory: This is a weird thing to celebrate, but today it’s my shadow. (Yes, my shadow.) My shadow was always a reminder of how big I was, I would look down at my arms, think “oh, I’m not that big! I’m fine! [Insert other naive comments here]” but then I would see my shadow and think “well.. this sucks.” It never lied, it always showed who I was and what I looked like. Also, it was always round. Very round. Today while at the party, I looked down at my shadow and I didn’t recognize it, my shoulders were a square shape and I wasn’t near as wide. It was pretty insane. So no matter what happens with the weigh in tomorrow, it could be worse, I could be round. See ya tomorrow.

Day 211: Tuesday’s Post on Wednesday?

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Yeah… so… I fell asleep at like 1130ish last night. Tuesday was a loooooooong day so I curled up in bed, watched some Golden Girls Sportcenter and then crashed like the Hindenburg. Yesterday, I stayed well within my points which was good. That’s pretty much it. As far as exotic food to report, it was a real basic day so that’s about it. Wordless Wednesday. Get Stoked. See ya later today!

Now Watch This Video!!!!!!

Day 210: This is Where it Gets Fun

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This week is going to suck.

I have a lot due and somehow I’m going to cram a lot of time and energy in to some important papers and tests this week. This is going to be epic.

Breakfast: I just had an English muffin and a blueberry Chobani. They were delicious with a capital holy crap this is good. 4 points.

Lunch: I got home from class and errands around 1:00 so I was starving. I had two pizza burgers on bagel thins with some rice chips. The chips were chipotle cheese so they really complimented the flavor of the burgers. [Insert some variation of “yum” here.] 9 points.

Dinner: I picked up Megan from school and we headed over to the other side of town to set up camp at Starbucks to study. But first we decided to get dinner. We wanted to try somewhere new so we went to Black Bean, a Cuban place on Apalachee. It’s a humble abode with vintage Cuba travel posters through out the place and the condiment holders were cigar boxes which won me over right there. Anyways, I wasn’t sure what to order, but for some reason Steak and Fries sounded good. I was thinking small portions and steak fries or something like that. Instead I got this. Pretty much a basket of fries covering half a cow underneath. Not what I was expecting but it happens. I immediately asked for a to go box to move the fries so I wouldn’t eat my way down to the steak. I started by eating the moros (black beans and rice cooked together in beautiful harmony) and by then I was almost already full. I ate about half the steak and maybe an 1/8th of the fries. I’m not going to lie, it was amazing, but I was really proud of how much food I brought home. Back in the day I would have eaten all of it with out a blink.

Snack: This morning, I was reading my blogging pal TJ’s blog and she talked about something she got at Starbucks called “Dirty” coffee which was iced coffee, a pump of mocha and a splash of half and half. From then on, I was dying to try this concoction of awesomeness. It was fantastic. Since I am a Green Level member at Starbucks, I get a free refill on iced coffee so I got a second one free! For both ventis it was a total of 6 points so not bad at all! (What is bad is that right now I should still be bouncing bouncing off the wall and instead I’m super exhausted. No bueno.)

So today I probably went over a little bit, but if I had been smarter at Black Bean I would have been fine. Awe well, that’s life yo! See ya tomorrow.

Day 209: Weigh In. Big New Goals. Pink Eye.

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Sup yo.

So yes, we are still sick. To make things even more interesting, I have lost my voice (and I can’t find it guffah guffah) and I sound like a bad-Marlon-Brando-in-the-Godfather-who-has-pink-eye impersonation. Anyways, with the crapton of work I have, I’m really ready to get better to get through the end of the semester. I guess being sick does has its benefits, I  lost 3 pounds this week! Although I did indulge a little bit at the end of the week, I kept within my points which pays off. So… as of today I am 15.2 pounds away from losing 100 pounds! I’m sooo close! That’s right boys and girls! I have lost 84.8 pounds since September. I’ve come a long way and I have you to thank dear reader. Since I’m now below 275 (for the first time this millennium) I am now at a new point limit: 30 points a day which is not a lot considering when I started I had 34 points a day.

Breakfast: Just a 5.5 point wafflewich. Legit

Snack: For a mid morning snack I had a rice crispy treat and a cup of coffee.  2 points

Lunch: For wanting to be in the advertising business, ads really do work on me. I saw a Jimmy John’s commercial and after that it was all I wanted for lunch. So we got them to deliver (and yes, it was freaky fast) since the idea of going outside at that point was awful. Anyways, their subs aren’t great for you, but their not that bad if you cut the mayo. I have the vegetarian sub and it would of had 30 grams of fat but then I cut the mayo and I was only 9 grams of fat. Pretty insane. Anyways their veggie sub has avacado spread, lots of lettuce, sprouts and cucumbers. It was amazing. Also, I but a little bit of our light mayo on it and it tasted pretty much the same! 8 points

Snack: Around 3 I was getting pretty hungry so I had a 3 point veggie patty chicken sandwich. It. Was. Awesome.

Dinner: Yesterday, we bought some mahi mahi from Earth Fare to have for dinner some time this week. I wanted to make fish tacos (my favorite thing in the world. Seriously.) So Megan made a pseudo deconstructed version of fish tacos and it rocked. She made her own pico de gallo, baked the mahi mahi, and then served it with a dolip of light sour cream and blue corn chips. The best part was that the fish was only 125 calories with 1.25 grams of fat so most of the points came from the chips. Probably the best 7 point dinner I’ve ever had. 

Dessert: We had to return a movie at Publix, so we went to Yoga Berry for a little dessert. (I know what you are thinking and don’t worry, I Purrell’d the tar out of my hands before I touched anything.) I had some taro with crushed up waffle cone, strawberries and blackberries. A pretty awesome 4 point dessert. 

So today I’m up to 29.5 points so that will work!


GOAL TIME! So I know I’ve rolled out some goals earlier this month, but today I’ve thought a lot about adding some more goals to serve as a timeline to keep on track with my weight loss. I know a lot of people think that you have to have small goals mixed in with the large goals and I agree with that, but when I have a big goal, like getting under 300 by my birthday this year, it made me work really hard to get to it. As far as goals go, toy around with both and find what works for you! Anyways, here are my new goals:

Be at 250 by the 4th of July

Be at 200 pounds by December 31st, 2011.

Be in Onederland (below 200 pounds) by my 25th birthday.

Looking at these numbers, I know they look kind of far fetched from now, but that’s about losing 2 pounds a week so that is doable. I know that is going to get harder as I get thinner (I just realized I’ll be thin soon. Legit!) but I have the whole summer to work out, run, and hopefully surf  to get down to my goal weight. So far, this journey has been a blast and I can’t wait to see how it will all pan out. Get stoked. See ya tomorrow. 


Day 207: The Time I Got Pink Eye Edition

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[Enters nurse stage right]
[Nathan takes off sunglasses]
“Ouch! Pink eye!”
“No no no you don’t understand, I had something in my eye last night and I couldn’t get it out…”
[Nurse leaves]
[Enters doctor stage right]
“Oh man… you have pink eye”
“Dang it!”
 

This is how my afternoon went. No bueno. I couldn’t blog last night because I couldn’t open my left eye. It was gnarly and gross and now… it still is. I’m ready to stop being ill, with this upcoming week being the last week of school the last thing I need is for my body to be out of whack.  Awe well. I have the weekend and hopefully it will help the process. Alright, food time.

Breakfast: I just had a wafflewich for 5.5 points.

Lunch: The other day Megan bought some Buitoni tortellini so we had that with some spinach and cheese marinara sauce. It was delicious and 9 points. 

Comfort Food Snack: After both of us went to our respective doctors, we needed some comfort food to make life feel a little better. We went to Wendy’s for a frosty and some fries. I just got a small frosty and we split an order of small fries. This was a far cry from what I would of had back in the day. The only race I used win was drinking milkshake races at Whataburger with my friends. Hooray. Anyways, a small frosty is 7 points and half a small fry is 3.5 points so not bad and it could have been way worse.

Dinner: Megan made these awesome flat bread pizzas with Flat Out flatbread (BOGO at Publix, Holla!) and soy pepperonis that were only 50 calories and .5 grams of fat. A whole flat bread pizza was only 4 points so with some salad with balsamic vinegar was an awesome dinner. 

Snack: (Sorry if this picture gets burned in to your mind and it gives you nightmares) Megan (did I mention my wife is super awesome?) made some rice krispy treats that were super delicious. That much of rice krispy is only 1 point. Pretty cool stuff.

So today I got to 31 points even today which isnt bad since it involved a frosty and fries. Good times. See ya tomorrow.

Day 205: Wordless Wednesday (With Video!)

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Day 204: Tuesday Times

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Sup yo!

So I went to the doctor and I found out that I just have some weird cold virus that is going around the school. The doc just said just drink a lot of water and to get some sleep and that will take care of it. It’s good to know that I’ll survive, but in the process, I got Megan sick! So we are in a bit of a role reversal where I’m playing nurse now instead of her (that sounded a lot weirder than it was suppose to…) Anyways, the last time I went to the doctor, my blood pressure was really high like 150/80. The nurse was a complete jerk and gave me a lot of crap about being big… but that’s for another blog. Anyways.. again, today my blood pressure was 108/50 and this nurse was thrilled! She was like “what ever you are doing keep it up you are doing awesome!” Then I told here about my weight loss and she was even more impressed. Pretty awesome trip to the doctor. Anyways, good times.

Breakfast: I was in a rush to get to campus to get in for an appointment so I brought a Fudge Brownie Clif Bar for breakfast. The Fudge Brownie one tastes a lot like those no bake haystack cookies that mom used to make. Pretty good 4 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: After being cooped up in the doctors office, I was pretty hungry for good lunch. I went to Pollo Tropical for some chicken and black beans and rice. It had been a while since I had the good ol’ 1/2 chicken combo so it was a good lunch. 13.5 points.

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: Before my marathon of classes, I needed some caffeine to get through. I had a skinny iced caramel macchiato and it was delicious. 3 points. (P.S. this might the weirdest face I’ve ever made on this blog.)

Snack: When I got home, I had matzos and cheese. 2 points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Since Megan wasn’t feeling well, she said that she wanted some Pizza Hut for comfort food. We had thin crust pepperoni, onions and tomatoes. It was delicious but, 16 points for four slices.

So I got up to 38.5 points. Ouch! I was going to work out today, but it did not happen. I am going tomorrow morning though and I am going to give the rowing machine a whirl. Should be a good one. See ya tomorrow.

Day 203: A Monday With Stuff in it.

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So today was the start of my re-dedication of sorts back to being good so I can curb stomp the century mark pretty soon, and I think that it went pretty well! I feel a lot better today after fighting off whatever sickness I had. Still not sure what it was, but I’m going in to the doctor tomorrow and maybe they’ll be able to figure it out. Alright, let’s get dangerous.

Breakfast: We live super close to a Subway and we found some coupons in the paper (score!) so we went over there for some good breakfast. I had bacon, egg white, flatbread, pepper jack cheese, with peppers and onions. It was delicious and 9 points.

Workout: When we got home, I played a 24 minute session of Wii Fit. I got a good sweat out of it, but I could tell it had been a while since I’ve done anything active.

 

 

 

 

Lunch: Megan made some tuna salad (which I love!) with low fat mayo and pickles so I had a sandwich with some Boulder Canyon Rice Chips. Not a bad 6 point lunch.

Snack: I had matzos with laughing cow (my new favorite snack) and also some more of those rice chips.  3.5 points

 

 

 

 

Dinner: I made some of Uncle Jim’s Chili with rice. It was awesome. Plus, you can eat a ton for not a lot of calories.  13 points

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workout: While Megan was at a lecture tonight, I decided to head over to Leach for some much needed workout. I hopped on the elliptical and did a cross training program for 30 minutes. I usually have a workout mix on my iPod, but lately I’ve been just putting it on shuffle to see what pops up. Sometimes it’s great and I get pumped, then other times I get a bunch of John Mayer and Charlie Brown Christmas. Tonight was a beautiful exception. This was my shuffle playlist that was an awesome workout mix. If you need a good 30 minute mix, download this list:

An Accidental Awesome Workout Mix:
Alejandro- Lady Gaga
The One I’m Waiting For- Relient K
Mine is Yours- Cold War Kids
Shine- Newsboys
Two Step- Dave Matthews Band
The Wrong Way- TV On The Radio
Reinventing Your Exit- Underoath
They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!- Sufjan Steven

Anyways, I burned 400 calories in 30 minutes (it was brutal) then I walked on the track for a bit, then I found this machine that I’ve seen on Biggest Loser and other workout shows. I have no clue what it’s called, so if you know what it’s called please let me know. It was beastly, but I burned 200 calories in 20 minutes. It was a rough arm workout.

Snack: So last week I found these Vitatops Muffin Tops at Publix and being the Seinfeld fanatic that I am, the idea of Muffin Tops makes me happy so I bought some. The chocolate ones are really good so what I’ve been doing is warming them up and eating them with milk like it is a brownie. Definitely try them… now! 3 points

Today I went up to 36.5 points which is high, but I worked out a lot so it evened out. See ya tomorrow.

Day 202! I’m Back and GOAL WEIGHT TIME!

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I’m back! Finally. I know it has been since Wednesday and between now and then I’ve been sick, been loopy on DayQuil, slept alot, have coughed up various colors of green (TMI?)  and have done a crapton of homework. It’s going to be a crazy end to the semester.

Anyways, so with being sick and eating a lot of bad (yet delicious) sickly comfort food, I only lost .2 pounds this week. I lost that much the week before last then last week I lost 4.8 pounds so maybe that pattern can repeat. I’m slowly feeling better but it’s one of those things where I’m feeling fine, but then when I get in larger groups I start to feel bad. It’s really weird. So I’m going to try to work out this week and maybe get some racquetball in too!

Non-Scale Victory: So I said I would never say three things on this blog: my social security number, my GRE score, or my waist size. Well time to break my own rule [insert deep breath here]. When I started this weight loss odyssey in the summer, I bought a pair of size 54 pants. Yeah… like 4 and a half feet of waistline. Pretty insane right? Today, I bought a pair of size 44’s. (For those playing at home, yes that is 10 inches.) I wore 44’s in 6th grade (which is pretty said in itself) but now I’m back down to it and it feels great. I have quite a bit to go and even thought I didn’t lose that much this week, that made me pretty happy. Legit.

Goals! Now I’m down to 275.2. Now what? I’m only 18 pounds away from 100 freakin’ pounds! What then? These are the questions that keep me awake at night (unless I’m knocked out from sudaphed.) So here’s my ultimate goal: (get stoked. Here… We… Go…) My ultimate goal weight is 157 pounds. Yep, that’s right, 200 pounds of total weight loss awesomeness. A lofty goal? I don’t think so. Doable? Heck yes. This thing is going to happen. I have no clue when it will happen. Maybe in a year, maybe in 2 years, maybe tomorrow (okay.. not tomorrow) Regardless, I’m stoked and I’m going to work on it starting…. now. Game Time Baby!

Breakfast: I just had a cinnamon toast eggo thingy with a little peanut butter. 3.5 points

Lunch: I wasn’t feeling too well and with that came a little antisocial so just the two of us went to Mellow Mushroom for Megan’s birthday lunch. We split an appetizer of their fantastic bruschetta and a cheese calzone that kind of looked like the horn phone on the Flintstones. It was a great cheap lunch. Not a bad 13 point lunch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: For a snack I had Christian nachos (matzos and a Laughing Cow Chipotle Queso cheese wedge) Pretty awesome stuff. 2 points

Dinner: We were trying to figure out where to go for dinner that wouldn’t be too expensive or unhealthy. After driving around and making a trip to Earth Fare, we decided to do something a little different. Yesterday, Megan bought this really nice Chinese dish set from World Market so we bought some vegan dumplings from Earth Fare and Pepper Chicken with rice at home on our new plates. It was a cute, quaint and delicious dinner. A good way to celebrate Megan’s birthday.  13 points

So today I got to 31.5 points. A pretty great way to start off a new week with a lot of weight to lose. Here… We… Go… See ya tomorrow.