Day 921: Weigh In Time!

Why hello everyone!!!!

How do you like the type in the center? Personally, I really like it.

So I have been working out like crazy and I have been tracking my points down to the calorie. It is finally paying off! I lost 1.8 points! I’m finally back in to the 220’s (I mean, 229.8…but still) and I’m making great progress. I am only 18.6 pounds away from reaching my 30 in 90 goal!!!! OH SNAP!

Here’s how the day went down…
Lunch OopsToday had the potential of going horribly wrong, and I think in the past I would have let it become a caloric nightmare. Instead I made it an awesome win! You see, as I was walking out the door this morning, I left all of my prepared food on the kitchen table. I didn’t realize it until I went to grab them out of the back seat of my car. Fail. Sooooooooo I knew that I had to stay focused with my food and not detract too much. I started the day off with a 7 point bagel and reduced fat cream cheese and then I had a snackable size of Froot Loops (I had totally forgotten that it was spelled that way! Weird huh?) Anyway, so that was 3 points.

Screen shot 2013-03-26 at 10.33.31 PM

Lunch: I ended up getting my classic Turkey Tom with avocado spread instead of mayo (it’s the difference of 20-some grams of fat!). Delicious 7 points.

Running Time!: Even though it was flippin cold and the whipping wind, I went for a run out in beautiful Southwood! I wanted to test my 5k time since it had been a while. My time was 29:18 which is awesome! It means I haven’t lost any pace time since the half. One thing I did notice was that my legs are already in sooo much better shape thanks to my leg workouts. I had a lot more endurance, especially when running up massive hills. Squats have made the difference.

EARTH FARE TIME!!!!

DINNEREarth Fare SwagAfter our run, we went to Earth Fare to break in my super awesome discount card! We took advantage of their delicious salad bar. As you can see, I made my plate 50% salad instead of how it usually is. I got a piece of really tender chicken and then a side of sweet potatoes. Their hot/cold bar is such a perfect post-run meal! YERM!
You can also see we got our share of deliciousness! Mostly some of our great staples: peanut butter, eggs, Tillamook cheddar, apples, coffee, etc. but I also got a few pears! They’re so good this time of the year (actually, I have no clue when pears are ripe…) We also got two bottles of kombucha that we drank on the way home. Overall, it was a pretty awesome haul! Can’t for the many other awesome trips to come!

So today I got to about 25 points (give or take). Even if my estimate is a little off, I still have exercise points. Awesomeness!

See ya tomorrow.

Day 914: Tuesday Stuff

Hey boo!

I feel awesome. My body is saying “hey brah, thanks for treating me right again.” Yah, I had gained .6 pounds this week, but at one point I was all the way up to 236. I’m finally back down to 231.6. I am so ready to get out of the 230’s for good. It’s time. Like I said on my Facebook page today, the name of the game this week is “consistency.” I’m going to stay within my points, drink my water and then get all SAWStastic in the gym this week! Even if I don’t see it on the scale next Tuesday, I know I’m going to feel better. Totally worth it.

Here is the breakdown of the day points wise. As you can see I did really well!

B: 3
S: 2
L: 4
S: 4
D: 7
S: 4
S: 5
Activity: 6

I also went on my first run since the half. If I hadn’t done a rough leg workout yesterday, it would have been a lot better. Either way, it felt great to be back in the running game. I’ll leave you with this parting shot. It’s especially for all of you who are still shoveling snow. HA! See ya tomorrow.

sunset in tallahassee

Day 886: Hello Weigh In Day!

Today was a new day.
A new start.
It felt refreshing and liberating.
I finally feel like myself again.
What an awesome feeling.

So I gained .8 this week, but that was an incredibly welcomed number. I’m finally back in the low 230’s after being close to the 240’s all week. It’s crazy how my body fluctuates.

Now, obviously a gain is a gain, but I have a big plan to change all that. Starting tomorrow, I am going back to counting Weight Watchers points. I figure that I should go back to what got me to where I am today. With that being said, I’m going to try to incorporate more of the Skinny Rules in to WW. More sprouted grains, little to no carbs after lunch and A LOT of Greek Yogurt. Sounds delicious to me.

Sorry to cut this short, but it has been an exhausting day, and I’m ready for some serious sleepage. See ya tomorrow.

Day 865: What A Weigh In Day Edition

What a crazy day.

Today has been a whirlwind of social media insanity for this kid (this Fotographing Fat Kid that is…)

It all started this morning when I put out a possible weigh in spoiler alert on my Facebook page if I received 8 more Likes.

Well…those 8 turned in to more than 150 over the course of the day. Thanks to the super awesome Michelle and her FB page “Leaving Obesity Behind”. She posted my little challenge on her page for all her 12,417 likes to see. (It’s good to have friends.) I just want to give a shout out to her. Her and I share a special over a special number: 357. Her and I both started our weight loss journeys at that ridiculous number. Awesomely enough, we both have the same goal weight too! What are the odds? Anyway, thanks Michelle for being awesome and thanks for all of the new likes everyone. Welcome my the craziness.

Okay, moving on. So like I said on my FB page this morning, I lost 2.8 pounds this week! I’m down to 227.6 pounds which is crazy! I’m so stoked to break through that 227 barrier and I’m ready for that to be my next weigh in! AAAAHHHHHH CAN’T WAIT!

So let’s get to the whole food tracking thing!

Breakfast: This morning, I started out with an Ezekiel English Muffin with 2 tablespoons of sunflower seed butter. Yes, it’s the sunflower seed version of peanut butter. We saw it at Earth Fare the other day and thought “why not?” It was delicious and ridiculously filling. I really want to try it in oatmeal. Yumtastic.

Snack: I didn’t have time to eat my snack before my class since I was at a FSU social media meeting (a lot of social media on my plate today) so I stopped by Starbucks and had an iced coffee with non-fat milk.


Lunch: I had some leftover chicken breast with some brown rice followed by a banana and some peanut butter. Lunch of champions.

Dinner: I made some tuna salad with two small cans of tuna and a dolip of lite mayo. It was good, but not enough. Megan made some whole-wheat noodles with a little olive oil and veggies so I nommed on some of that.

So that’s it for today! Tomorrow is Wordless Wednesday! Hooray!

Photo Jan 29, 4 10 17 PM
In lieu of decent photos of food, here is a shot of where I work. I love FSU. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 851: A Frustrating Weigh In Day

Today has been one of those days…

It’s one of those days when I just eat whatever. It all began with me not preparing my food in the morning which lead to just eating random things (not like tin cans or other random random things…I’m not a goat.) Really, it would have been considered a terrible day, and I guess other than second breakfast the content of the meals weren’t bad, but I’ve just been stuffed all day. Even after working out, which is a gross feeling.

But before all of that, there was a weigh in…and it went way better than I expected! I lost .6 pounds this week! I’m back in the 220’s! Sure it’s 229.6, but things are going well! I have a good feeling about where things are going…DOWN!!!

Alright, back to food journal stuffs…

Breakfast: I had a sliced hard boiled egg (yeah…I eat a lot of those now) on top of a sprouted-grain english muffin. That was delicious…then the roof caved in.

Photo Jan 15, 8 39 53 AMBreakfast Part 2: So like many offices around the U.S. (and like in Office Space) there are monthly activities such as potlucks to boost morale and to feed the poor college student workers. Today, everything looked amazing. There were casseroles, monkey bread (sadly not made of monkeys) and even deer sausage (God bless the South.) I stacked my plate. While it was pretty delicious, it threw the rest of my day off. Next time: all fruit. (Fun Fact: I ate everything on my plate in a counter-clockwise fashion. No clue.)

 

 

 

 

 

 
Photo Jan 15, 1 56 16 PMLunch: I didn’t prepare my lunch and since I had my class, I resorted to buying the most overpriced sandwich of my life. I even ripped off the price tag to hide the fact that I paid so much for a tuna salad sandwich. Either way, it held me over. Between that and the banana I had in my backpack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Photo Jan 15, 5 55 13 PMDinner: So we needed to go across town to run some errands and since by this point we were both pretty hungry, we decided to go to dinner at Newk’s. We haven’t been there in a long time, but I had remembered that their salads were the size of small children. I had the Ultimate salad that had ham, chicken, cucumbers, and other salad stuff. Not to mention their awesome honey mustard. The salad was filling beyond belief, and really the only non-skinny rules thing about it were the croutons. But like I said, I’m still full which is always weird.

SAWS: After all of this eating and such, I was ready to come home and workout. I’ve been wanting to try this spin workout for a while, but I’ve been a little worried about it. I thought today would be the day to break through my eating funk.

So here’s the breakdown:
5 minute warm up
1 minute mountain climbers
4 minutes on the bike with 80% resistance (aka biking through mud)
2 minutes of slowly decreasing resistance
2 minutes of sprinting on the bike as hard as you can
1 minute of bicycle kicks on the ground
Repeat intervals three times and then finish off with a 5 minute cool down.

I burned 541 calories in something like 46 minutes. I pushed myself a lot harder than I have in a while and it felt awesome. It was what I needed to reset from today. I’m going to be sooooooooore tomorrow. #Jellolegs

So even though it was just an off day with my eating, it’s just a day. Time to brush them shoulders off and get back at it on Wednesday. No pity party. No frustration. No down talk. It’s just a part of the process. Keep your chin up folks! You got this! See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Day 844: First Weigh In On Skinny Rules!

Timon and Pumbaa make eating insects sound so appealing. Or is that just me?

Hello everybody!

So today, it was time to get on the scale and see if my hard work had paid off. By that I don’t mean “I hope this hippy-dippy eating is worth it” but more of “I pushed it hard on the bike and one my runs. I’ve torched my share of calories this week.” Well boys and girls, my hard work paid off! I lost 6 pounds this week! So I am down to 230.2 pounds and have lost a total of 126.8 pounds. I am 52 pounds away from my 2013 goal. Things are going awesome so far! Like I said last night, my birthday is this week so I’m going to do what I can to stay on track because this hard work is totally worth it. Time to keep on keepin’ on!

Breakfast: I had a hard-boiled egg, a handful of strawberries and a piece of toast.

Snack: An apple and string cheese.

Photo Jan 08, 11 32 20 AMAn Oops Moment: So Jimmy John’s brought a sleigh of delicious mini (like a quarter-sized) sandwiches. I accidentally grabbed a Turkey Tom without thinking about it. I ate it in all of its white flower glory and I moved on. It is what it is and I am totally okay with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Photo Jan 08, 1 59 16 PMLunch: After my class (which is going to be awesome) I had leftover chili with brown rice. It was even better as leftovers like all good chili batches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: A banana and some peanut butter from a bag. That I found on the ground.

SAWS: Did a 5k run out at Southwood. It was a rough run, but my time was still decent. I’ll take it. I’m running a crapton on Saturday so that should be interesting.

Photo Jan 08, 8 22 24 PMDinner: I had some delicious leftover salmon and peas. YUUUUUUUUMMMMM!!!!

That’s all I got for tonight. Take it easy yo! See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Day 837:First Post of 2013!

GO NOLES!!!!!!

If we don’t win…well, let’s not even go there.

So today was the first day living under the tyranny of the Skinny Rules! (I use the term “tyranny” psuedo-lightly, and by that I mean it’s going to be quite the adjustment.) It probably wasn’t the right day to run 7 miles while burning 1,200 calories. On paper, I should be emaciated. But the way the rules work, I feel pretty full. I think it’s the combination of A LOT of fiber and protein along with a gallon of water.

Here are rules 6-10:

Rule 6: Eat Apples and Berries Every Single Day. Every. Single. Day. 

That’s a lot of fruit. Good thing we live in Florida: the delicious fruit capital of the USA. (I made up that, but the fruit is good.)

Rule 7: No Carbs After Lunch

I can see this being rough eventually. Like you, yes you, I heart carbs. I love crunchy things like chips and cereal, things I would always eat after work. It’s going to be important to have my snack planned out before I come home from work to avoid being tempted by the carb beast. (There are carbs in fruit, but thankfully Bob says that’s okay…because it’s fruit.)

Rule 8: Learn to Read Food Labels So You Know What Are Eating

I’ve been doing the whole reading labels things for a while, but I haven’t paid close attention to looking at ingredients. Since I’ve had to do that because of Skinny Rules, it makes you realize what you really are putting in to your body.

Rule 9: Stop Guessing About Portion Size and Get it Right-For Good

It’s so easy to just guestimate your portion sizes because it doesn’t require a a measuring cup or a food scale. Time to get back to that.

Rule 10: No More Added Sweeteners, Including Artificial Ones 

This might be the hardest one for me. I LOVE Diet Coke. No more sodas…well no more a lot of things. This will be a challenge, but if it’s off limits, it’s off limits!

So here’s the breakdown of the day…

Photo Jan 01, 10 27 26 AMBreakfast: We started the morning right with a glass of water, followed by another glass of water and then breakfast! A delicious veggie omelet with strawberries and an Ezekiel English Muffin made with sprouted grains. The muffins taste more like a thick bread but tastes great! Not to mention high in fiber!

 

Snack: I had a sliced apple and one ounce of Cabot’s Seriously Sharp Cheddar. Great snack to keep you full.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Jan 01, 2 17 40 PMLunch: Bob is a big fan of ground turkey. It’s a great alternative to beef, especially when you get the ground breast. (That means it hasn’t been ground with dark meat.) Anyway, Megan made these delicious turkey burgers with diced tomatoes and a spring mix salad with light dressing. The turkey patty was juicy and the salad…was salad.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo Jan 01, 8 38 20 PMRun: For the first run of the year, we decided to do it in style and run on the St. Mark’s Trail. I’ve been having issues with my toes bruising on my right foot so I looked up some remedies. One of them is relacing your shoes a certain way. I gave that a shot and my foot was in even worse pain. No bueno. I think I might just go back to the way I had them. Anyway, the run was rough since I haven’t ran in about a week or so. Either way, the first two miles were solid 8:34’s but then the others weren’t as awesome.

 

After Run Drink: We made a kale green drink that was gross-looking but still drinkable. I’ll spare you from posting a photo of it.

 

 

 

 

Photo Jan 01, 8 10 49 PMDinner: Tonight I grilled some chicken and had a mountain of green beans. It felt like a lot of food…because it was! I also had a glass of milk.

So that’s all I’ve had today. A big difference from the last few weeks in December. I was not doing too well with the whole eating well thing.

Weigh In: This morning I weighed in at 236.2 which is up 6.4 pounds from two weeks ago. I know that’s bad, but before we went to Texas, I was already up to 235 that morning we left. It was a combination of stress and just plain eating bad. I feel lighter and healthier than I have in a long time today which is awesome.

So what’s the deal with the number 58?: So I haven’t really laid out my New Year’s resolutions yet, but I do have one big goal for 2013: to lose 58 pounds. I am 58 pounds away from being half the man that I used to be. That will put me past the 178.5 pounds mark which is the half way point. I was shooting for it in 2012, but I honestly didn’t put in the work that it was going to require. After a year oh just being meh with weight loss, I’m ready to melt off some weight! Time to get busy. See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

Day 823: What Up Weigh In!

Hey!

Been trying to meet you!

BTBubs…did you know that I have a Facebook page? Today starts my journey to get at least 1,000 fans by Labor Day 2013 (kind of obscure I know but just go with it…) Check it out! I put up some mildly funny things and other weight-loss-related banter. https://www.facebook.com/fotographingfatkid so check it out!

Okay, WEIGH IN DAY!  I am finally back in the 220’s…barely. I weighed in this morning at 229.8 pounds so I have lost 2.2 pounds this week! I was pretty stoked about it! This might be my last official weigh in for 2012 so ending on a high/low note like this will work with me.! My last weigh in post from 2011 was at 241 pounds so I have been ssssssssssssslllllllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy making progress to the top of Mt. Fitintoskinnyjeans.

That’s all I really have to say about today…other than Megan makes one epic pecan pie. Today was kind of a splurge day. Tomorrow will be better. Wordless Wednesday! (With video?) See ya tomorrow.

IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME IN HOLLIS QUEENS!!!

Day 809: Weigh In Day

Hello!

My allergies are killing me, the smell of burnt popcorn is still in my nostrils and my hip hurts. So let’s get this sucker going.

Basically, what I was talking about last night happened…well kind of. I had a no gain or loss week. I’m at the same place I was last week, which makes me want to go at it a lot harder this week. So that’s what’s happening.

Also, I ran five miles and it felt awesome until I got home. I think sitting in a hot shower for a while sounds good to me.

So that’s about it. In lieu of a long post, here’s a picture of me with Santa when I was a baby. Enjoy. See ya tomorrow.

me and santa

 

Day 801: Weigh In Day

I’M BACK!!!!!!

Sorry it’s been a while. Thanksgiving is a crazy time. A lot of planning, a lot of turkey, and a lot of fun!

A quick thing about the 15k…IT WAS AWESOME! It was 9.3 miles of crazy awesomeness! The course had a lot of ups and downs (literally) but I felt really good about my time. I maintained a 8:30-9:45 minute mile the whole time. I was going to buy the photos from the racing photography company, but they are flippin’ expensive! I’ll still post the race results on my race results page soon!

So I was working to not gaining this week so I exercised, tried to watch what I ate and drank plenty of water. I ended up losing .2 pounds lol (total 126.4 pounds) which isn’t much, but I really lost 6 pounds in a weird way. You see, at one point I had gained 6 pounds but I lost it all by this morning. Hooray for weight fluctuation!  Anyway, last year I gained something like 8 pounds and didn’t really get it off until the summer so losing is a pretty big deal. The best part is is that I still ate what I wanted, just not as much of it. And there in lies the key for weight loss.

Today I was pretty good with food and tomorrow will be even better. I feel awesome about where I am and I’m ready to lose some serious weight before the end of the year.

Before we end tonight, I just wanted to make another push for Movember.

As you know, the end of Movember is near! Friday is that last day to donate to Movember. So far, you have helped raise $40 which is totally awesome! My goal is to have raised a total of $100 by this Friday! No matter how small or large, any donation is appreciated. I don’t see a dime, it goes directly to prostate cancer research. Even if it just means giving up a meal out this week and donating, that’s $5 closer we are to ending this disease. You can donate here. If you keep donating, I’ll keep growing this itchy, yet legit, stache! Thanks! P.S. Please share with your friends, your family and your co-workers! Spread the stache love! See ya tomorrow.