Author Archives: theffkid

About theffkid

I've always wanted a blog. Now I have one.

#FFKPLANKADAY ANNOUNCEMENT!

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The time has come, my little friends, to talk of other things.
Of holding planks and six pack abs, of being sore and things.
And when the end of April is boiling hot,
and whether pigs have wings,
Kahloo Kalay it’s time to plank!
With the great FFK!

Yes dear reader, it’s time for another month of #FFKPLANKADAY!!!!!!

So…what is #FFKPLANKADAY?

Every day in the month of April, you are challenged to hold a plank position for as long as you can!

Let’s be honest, your first one might not so great time. Big whoop! It’s your starting point! Your launching pad to greatness if you will. Each day, you’ll begin to see progress as you get stronger. Did I mention that a plank is amazing for your body? It works almost all of the major muscle areas! Here’s a a great video how to plank!

Since I am a social being, I want people to post their times, their feelings, their success and their issues.
I’ll be posting photos and Tweets and posts about it all through out the month using the hashtag #FFKPLANKADAY AND YOU SHOULD TOO! I’ll be collecting the creative posts and putting them in my Wordless Wednesday posts!

Here’s how to become a part of the #FFKPLANKADAY awesomeness…

Step 1: Post on your favorite social media channel (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) declaring your commitment to plank everyday in April.

Step 2: In that post, use the hashtag #FFKPLANKADAY

Step 3: PLANK!

Step 4: Record your plank in a creative (or simple) way. Like this!
Screen Shot 2014-03-30 at 10.46.20 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Be sure to add the hashtag here too!

Step 5: Repeat Steps 3 and 4 3o times.

Step 6: Check out you fellow plankers with this Tagboard and cheer them on!

You could also set up some rewards for yourself too! Say you plank seven days in a row. Reward yourself with a new workout shirt or something awesome!

It’s as simple as that!

Last year I did a Facebook event, but it got kind of complicated and some rednecks somehow got invited to it and didn’t want to be a part of it and then they angrily messaged me about the millions of notifications they kept getting. It was a big ordeal. Soooooooooooo, just record your planks how ever you like, but use the hashtag too! You could also set a goal for yourself too. My goal is to hold a 5-minute plank by April 30th (or to outplank Dr. Jillian Volpe White in a planking competition. Which ever comes first…) What’s yours?

So let’s get to it! GET STOKED!

planking-hurts-so-good

 

First Weigh In Post In A While

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Soooooooo…

This used to be a thing. Back in the days of yore when I would post daily in a food journal format, I would also post my weigh ins on Sundays. Since I’ve made some changes to the format (call it, FFK 2.0) I have stopped doing that. Why? A healthy cocktail of laziness, poor time management and just being exhausted sometimes. I really liked posting weight (no really) because it gave me some accountability through out the week.

Then…life got cray.

We joined WW in July and after that, I had my weight in my app for internal keeping. I would post it occasionally, but it wasn’t consistent. Then my new job also got cray and my weighing just went on the back burner. Going in to Weight Watchers on Saturday mornings to find out I had gained was like a guiltier version of church. At WW, it felt like I had to care that I was gaining and losing, but I was just too exhausted to care. But that’s all in the past! Now, I’m back to my trusty scale that has seen me through it all. I finally feels like my weight loss is aligning back to how it once was.

So on to this week…

So this week, I was pretty good! I tracked the majority of my points and I exercised a lot. For the first time in almost ever, I was smart with my snacking! I packed low point snacks and was sure to throw in a lot of fruits and veggies too!

I wasn’t sure if it was going to translate on the scale, but I realized that there was no use worrying about it. Regardless of the number, I knew that I has established some great habits that are serving as a foundation towards successful weight loss!

#FFKWIN

#FFKWIN

 So it all paid off!

I was shocked this morning when I got on the scale! I mean, yeah I was good for most of the week, but I also ate a lot of pizza on Monday night and on Friday night we made massive burgers topped with poblano peppers and guacamole (#yum) so it easily could have gone another way. But the rest of my week was in check, giving room to actually use my weekly points for what they are intended to be used for!

So today I was a little over my points. Megan and I made some delicious red beans and rice (check out a delicious NSFWW (Not Safe For Weight Watchers) photo here) that wasn’t entirely WW friendly, but the rest of our week is planned out. No matter what the scale says next week, I’m definitely on the right track!

In other news, my bracket is…

broken

fractured

busted

demolished

shattered

disintegrated

mutilated

eviscerated.

How about you?

FFK March Madness

Grief And Eating

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Screen Shot 2014-03-18 at 11.10.29 PMDuring the month of March, I have been doing this awesome photo a day that is put on by blogger Fat Mum Slim. While the posts are generally lighthearted in nature, Day 18 caused me to look back on a very challenging time in my life that exposed a lot of my personal demons with eating and the importance put on it.

In the week of March 18, 2009, Megan and I were the leaders for a spring break mission trip to Boulder, Colorado to help serve the vast homeless population in that area. Our group left Abilene incredibly excited with a fire for service that was stronger than any other trip I had been on. We stopped in Amarillo for the night and when we all got situated in our hotel, I got a call from my Dad. I just figured he had called to talk about the trip. Nothing major. I walked out in to the hallway and answered. He had gotten a call from a family friend regarding two of my closest friends, Travis and Rachel Joiner. My Dad said something had happened to Rachel, but I didn’t quite understand what he was saying. At first, I thought they had just been in a car accident, but nothing serious. Then, what he actually said came through clearly: they had both been murdered by Rachel’s deranged ex-boyfriend. I immediately dropped to the floor and sobbed. I sat in the hallway of that hotel for what felt like hours. Eventually, Megan came out to see what was the matter and we just sat and cried.

“Where do I go from here?” I thought. “How am I going to lead this group after this?”

After a night of anger and mourning, I woke up and we kept driving. The rest of the group knew about what had happened, but we didn’t talk about it. Instead, I tried to keep up the goofy and funny Nathan persona, but inside I was empty.

The first few days of the trip were fine, but then I got a call from my Dad. Travis’ family wanted me to be a pallbearer. I remember my Dad calling me while I was driving and I told him that I couldn’t talk. That was the end of that conversation. I knew that it wasn’t feasible to fly to a town of 1,900 people in the middle of west Texas. I knew that I was a leader of this trip and I needed to guide our group. I knew that if I stayed in Colorado, I wouldn’t have to deal with the grief I was burying inside.

I didn’t really know how to handle my grief at that time in my life. What I quickly realized was that I handled it like I did with everything else in my life: with eating. I tried to eat as much as possible to fill that void in my heart. I did everything I could to just not be sad. For me, that was eating out with the group. When we finally got back from Colorado, the eating didn’t stop. I kept eating to make the hurt just go away. But the more I ate, the worse I felt. It was a vicious cycle that I couldn’t control. I was on the border of completely losing control of my life.

I eventually went down to see Travis and Rachel’s family a little more than a year later. About six weeks before we moved to Tallahassee. It gave me the amount of closure, but I still carry a certain amount of hurt and I really don’t know if it will ever go away.

I can’t really sugarcoat this post or try to tie it up with some inspirational message. Frankly, that’s not the point of this post. I would like to think that through the challenges I endured that year have made me a stronger person. That they somehow have gotten me through, or will get me through, some other dark times in my life. What I do know is that this is something I don’t usually talk about. I obviously don’t go in to detail about this all the time. Really, this was the first time I’ve written out my thoughts about what had happened. Five years later, I really needed that. Thank you for listening and for being such a special community that I can share this with. I love you all.

Some New Ambassadorships and Other Awesomeness

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HELLO PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO READ!

I’ve always been weary of saying “it’s been so long since I’ve posted,” but…well…it’s been so long since I’ve posted. So much so that I don’t even know where to begin.

IMG_1959Well, I guess I’ll start with this: SXSWEDU WAS AWESOME!!! I’m planning on doing a full recap in the near future, but I think the fortune I got while I was driving down to Austin from my parents’ house describes it pretty well. Since I’m kind of a fortune cookie fanatic, I actually had two other additional fortunes that described the trip really well: “A visit to a strange place will bring you a renewed perspective” and “getting together with old friends bring new perspective.” I was a little freaked out how accurate they ended up being.

Anyway, between driving through an ice storm on the way to Austin, having a flat tire outside of Austin, and having Delta randomly cancel my flight, it was quite the adventure. It was also a great time with my family, some close friends, and to come back with some great ideas and concepts to incorporate in to my work at Florida State.

Oh yeah, and I ate a ton of BBQ. But more on that in my recap post.

 

 

In other news…

I have two really cool announcements to share with you! I’m an official ambassador for two ridiculously awesome groups!

Screen Shot 2014-03-14 at 12.16.35 AMBack in the fall, I had applied for an ambassadorship for Fitfluential, a worldwide online community of health enthusiasts that works and partners with some of the top fitness brands. I really didn’t know if it was going to happen, but it did! I’m so stoked! I’m excited to hear more about what all the ambassadorship entails.

 

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2014-03-13 at 11.28.48 PMThe other awesome ambassadorship is with this hilarious and cool group called imfitpossible. Their description of what they look for in an ambassador was soooooo me “We are looking for creative, positive, enthusiastic people, who don’t take themselves too seriously and want to join a real, social, fun community.” Well… at least I have the “people who don’t take themselves too seriously” part down pretty well. On the right is what they put on Instagram this evening after it was announced that I was in. It was easily the best introduction anyone has ever given me. (In case you were wondering, the poop reference is graphically explained here. And the whole mustache thing is explained here.)

So with these two ambassadorships I get two things I need/want right now. The first, is an encouragement to write. Both come with the opportunity for product reviews and stuff like that, but I’m Fit Possible requires a writing an original post every 4-6 weeks which is going to be a lot of fun. Second, both communities come with an awesome level of accountability. I came back from Austin with a new desire to exercise and to count my points. I feel like that accountability is going to keep the fitness train going!

So in conclusion: awesomeness is on the horizon. Stay tuned.

FFK meme

Why It’s Okay For You to Say “You’re Awesome”

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I have been incredibly blessed to work in an division at Florida State that not only strongly encourages a sense of community, but they also stress the importance of professional development. This past week, I attended all the things. 
 
One of the sessions that I went to was a networking session to get to to know other staff within the Division of Student Affairs. During this exercise, we were given five Post-It notes and were told to write down five things that we are.
 
“So what are you, Nathan?” I asked myself. “What defines you?” I mean, I know the basics. I’m a husband, a son, etc. but I didn’t have answer for the other three. 
 
Do I dare write blogger? 
Do I dare write fitness fanatic?
Do I dare write the things that I intrinsically define myself as, but hesitate to openly admit? 
 
What if people make a comment? 
“You? Fitness fanatic? You sure about that? Your manboobs say otherwise…”
“A Blogger? You don’t even have your own domain? Bro, do you even rafflecopter?” 
 
These are the things I worry about, especially now since I’ve gained a little weight since December. What is my identity? Where do I fit in? 
 
So, I wrote down blogger.
Then, I had to go up to a stranger and explain why this label was important to me. I talked to Marvin, a staff member who has worked for Florida State for 14 years. I told him about my journey and he shared his own experience with weight loss and how he lost 30 pounds to get off his medications. It was an inspiring conversation that we wouldn’t of had if I had written something else. 
 
The next day, I went to another professional development retreat where we introduced ourselves along with a fact about ourselves. For the first time in a long time, my fact was the blog. I felt like I was taking pride in my work the way I should. (And then my friend Kellie the Baller told everyone to check it out. Win.)
 
It feels like with social media, we are so terrified of being definitive with our pride. It feels like there is a troll around every digital corner ready to take you down a peg. While it’s sometimes hard to brush them shoulders off from those comments, a lot of times it’s all in our heads. Sure I’ve had a few rough comments thrown my way (I’m an easy target…I’m awesome :)) but I have had such an amazing support system that keeps my charged and motivated. 
 
Remember, you are awesome. Be okay with who you are and the rest will follow. 
 
 

 

What Would Stephen Do?

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I’ve never met Stephen Pagano.
I don’t know his whole life story or what his voice sounds like.

Like most of the fitness bloggers and personalities I “know”, I’ve taken bits and pieces from posts, Tweets and Instagram photos to craft what I know about them.

But when it comes to Stephen and his story, the numbers say plenty.

A few years ago, Stephen weighed 600 pounds and was only 5′ 6″. Like a lot of us, he had struggled with his weight for the majority of his life. In a 2013 Huffington Post article about him, he felt that his breaking point was when he started riding an electric cart around the grocery store. That’s when he knew he needed to make a change and then decided to change his approach to food.

Stephen's MilestoneEventually, Stephen decided to join Weight Watchers and this weekend, he hit a pretty epic milestone…After running the Gasparilla 5k in the Tampa area on Saturday in under an hour (a goal of his), he weighed in on Sunday at Weight Watchers and recorded a 5.6 pound loss, which not only put him under 300 pounds, he hit the milestone of losing more than 300 pounds!!! He is officially half the man he used to be! HOW FREAKIN’ AWESOME AND EPIC IS THAT???????

 

 

After I saw his post yesterday, I was thrilled, inspired, proud and myriad of other emotions all at once. All I could think about was how much determination it took for him to make such a dramatic change in his life. I also thought about all those little changes he had to make to get to where he is today. All the tracking and all the smart decisions that he might have seemed menial at the time, but they added up to something spectacular.

When I was working out yesterday, I was thinking about doing some cardio even though I was pretty tired.
When I was walking towards my locker, it hit me…what would Stephen do? I thought to myself “Stephen would probably do a little more work.” So I did. And now I have this mantra, this personal reminder, to keep the main goal in focus at all times.

Today, I avoided the candy jar in my bosses’ office (sorry I’ve been eating all of your candy, Antron.)

During my group exercise class after work, I pushed it harder than I have in a long time and I did extra reps each set.

I yelled “GET BEHIND ME, SATAN!!!!!” to a Girl Scout trying to sell me cookies.

(Okay, that last one didn’t happen…)

Even my grocery basket looked different when I went shopping! I picked out healthy snacks that are zero points with Weight Watchers like oranges and carrots instead of chips.

In a day, I have had a more positive outlook on my weight loss journey than I’ve had in three months! All because I thought about Stephen Pagano, a person I’ve never met.

I have no clue if Stephen and I will ever meet. But even if me viewing his weigh-in post is the only interaction I have with him, it has made a massive impact on my own journey when I truly needed some inspiration. And that’s what makes this online weight loss community so amazing.

I know this isn’t the end of his journey, but I hope he knows he has another cheerleader rooting for him who he inspires to think about the little things in during his journey.
Thanks for being awesome, Stephen.

 

Controlling the Foodie Beast Within: The Nathan MacDonald Story

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It makes your skin crawl.
Your insides squirm. The hair on your back raises when you hear it calling.
You try to shake the feeling, but you are powerless.
Then you can’t take it anymore.
You yell into the dark night…

“I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I… MUST… HAVE… LOCALLY-MADE ARTISAN CHEESES AND GRASS-FED BEEF WITH ROOT VEGETABLES FROM THE FARMERS MARKET!!!!!”

Wait…what?

How many points is burnt cheese?

How many points is burnt cheese from a Lean Cuisine?

You see, my diet, like most Americans who are trying to lose weight, is at times stale and lifeless. During the week, my lunches consist of some nuked-up concoction of sodium and carbs with a few pieces of some chicken-like protein throw in. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to get jazzed about a Lean Cuisine on a Thursday when you’ve eaten the same thing every day. At that point, you’re ready for something different. Something…you might not always count or track…

It’s no secret that I’m kind of a food snob. Ironically, I didn’t hone in my food snobbery or my killer BBQ skills until years into my weight loss journey. (Here’s a photo of a brisket I smoked last month. I carry a photo of it in my wallet like it’s my child.) Probably because pre-weight loss, I would just eat anything and in large quantities. But with this great power, comes the need for greater willpower. How can I control this foodie beast inside that craves rich a delicious food, you ask? Well, for the past few months, I haven’t. It wouldn’t be as much of an issue if I would control my portions, but that’s a whole issue of it’s own that I’m dealing with.

I guess my biggest problem is that when you are on the go for so much of your week (like your average young professional/doctoral student power couple are), it’s easy to lust (yes, lust) after the idea of a meal that took longer than 3 minutes to make in the microwave. But it’s more than the food, it’s having the time to sit down with your significant other and talk and enjoy a meal at a table, not a desk. Since I think of it in that context, it’s hard for me not to want to make the most of those meals and experiences.

What I’m realizing now is that I need balance. I mean, Megan and I still make a TON of delicious and recipes from websites like Skinnytaste, but sometimes a rich cheese and meat plate just sounds better. Thankfully with Weight Watchers, this balance can exist. The flex points are there for those meals where you want to indulge (but not cheat) within reason. However, they are only really there if you actually count. This next week, I’m going to bat for perfection. I’m going to try to count my points as closely as possible. Not so I’ll see a loss on the scale, but for a gain of control on my eating. It’s important for me because the week after, I’m going to my personal food mecca: Austin, where BBQ and Tex-Mex flow freely, for an entire week for SXSWedu. I am well aware of the challenges that delicious trip will bring, but I also know that I have the opportunity to make a healthy choice wherever I go.

I’m treating this approach as an exercise and a test in my self control. I really don’t know what the end result will be. But I feel that it will make myself be even more judicious with my points and the decisions I make.

What do you think about this approach to Weight Watchers? Does this seem feasible?
Am I crazy?
Have you taken this approach? If so, how did it go?

‘Biggest Loser’ Winner Rachel Frederickson Admits She May Have Gone Too Far

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Interesting update to Rachelgate2014. At least she admitted that she might have taken her regimen a little too far. Hopefully she truly believes that and is not just saying it to save face. Thoughts?

(You can check out my original response to the Biggest Loser finale here.)

Weigh In And My Rough Patch

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A week ago, my blog post about Rachel Frederickson and the Biggest Loser went viral like a boss. I ended up with 5,177 views, which blew my puny 90 views the day before out of the water. Well that was pretty cool :).

After the Tallahassee Half, my weight was up. Really up. So it wasn’t really the best time to weigh in. I was up to 251.6. Yikes. Haven’t seen a five in a long time. I knew that number was going to come down, but truth be told, I was terrified that it wasn’t going to go back down.

So instead of tucking my head in the sand like I have been, I was proactive about my eating habits, specifically at night which is when my eating is at it’s worst. I started off with a good breakfast and a sensible lunch with free snacks like carrots in between. For dinner: a simple protein like chicken or steak (yes, steak) and as many veggies as possible. One night, we made this delicious beef and broccoli stir fry recipe from Cooking Light (check it out here!). I would finish my dinner with some chamomile tea for desert.

Simple enough of a day right? Sure, at least for the first day. The second day was a struggle and the third day was ended with shoveling down pepperoni pizza. My habits and will power feel like they are back to square one sometimes and that’s frustrating for how long/how far I’ve come along in this journey. (Don’t worry, I’m getting to the happier part…)

So after struggling those days with a few wins thrown in here and there, I was on my way to Disney to see my family! Hooray family! As most of us know, eating on vacation can be tricky. You have to go in with a pretty strict mindset if you want to keep your head above water. That’s exactly what I did. I picked grilled chicken over burgers, I drank a lot of water and coffee, I was conscious of what I was eating when we went to Ohana’s (Google and marvel at the deliciousness) and I ordered a fruit plate instead of ordering my favorite artery-clogging three meat breakfast platter at one of my favorite breakfast places. Oh, and I walked a bazillion miles! (You burn calories from screaming on roller coasters right?) I left Orlando with a feeling of a win under my belt. It was a good feeling knowing that I didn’t completely undo the work I had put in during the week. So on Monday, I weighed in at 245.8 which was a 5.8 pound loss. I’m happy and relieved with that number, but I know that there is a lot more to go. I’m sick of seeing a four instead of a three or a two. It’s hard to feel like I’m losing control which makes every meal harder and every decision a little tougher. All I can think about is eating and deciding what to eat. Then when I go to eat, I order nachos (head thump). It takes a lot of my energy which just sucks. I know I’m over-thinking this whole process because at the bottom line the process is simple: eat less, drink water, exercise, be patient.

That’s where I am. I know I’m in a bit of a rough patch, but I’m ready to just move on from here.

Have you been in a rough patch like what I’m talking about? How did you break through that funk? Advice is welcome and encouraged.

The Biggest Loser Finale and the Human Response

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After The Biggest Loser finale tonight, the Twitterverse blew up with accusations of a certain contestant becoming anorexic in an attempt to win. When Rachel (spoilers, sorry/not sorry) came out, you could feel the air suck out of the finale. I immediately thought “WOW” then thought “hmmmmm…” and then felt a little uneasy. I mean, people can look completely different and weigh the same. Heck, Jameis Winston and I weigh the same. I’m not Heisman material. So I thought “she used to be a swimmer and swimmers can be smaller.” Then she got on the scale and weighed 105. Whoa.

After that…Twitter got relentless, and since it was social media, it was pretty harsh. Criticism came from all directions from your average troll to previous Biggest Loser contestants who said that “women should be curvy” (which is a controversial comment in of itself). I’m a little ashamed of the way some people in the weight loss/fitness online community responded. It’s always interesting when people go from inspirational to ravenous. No grace. I thought this was a safe community? A place where we can struggle together and be supportive of one another. Why can’t it be a different struggle? I feel like we need to really reevaluate how we respond to something like this.

I have also read a lot of insane comments on the Biggest Loser’s Facebook page, however it is interesting that #boycottBiggestLoser isn’t a trending hashtag…
Anyway, this is when a lot of people are going to come out and say that Biggest Loser is a horrible show and does horrible things for weight loss in America (and I whole-heartedly respect that opinion. I know plenty of people who have that opinion.) But the fact of the matter is, for me at least, that the Biggest Loser has done some amazing things in the way we view obesity in America. It has created an awareness that obesity is a pandemic in America, but it is also treatable. Sure, their product placements are dumb and drive me nuts, but they are an evil that goes beyond the show itself. Think of the literal tons of weight the contestants have lost and the millions of people this show inspires. I know it inspired me when I first started my weight loss journey.

While it might look like Rachel lost too much weight to us, we don’t know her whole story. Just because we have a Twitter account doesn’t mean we get to play morale judge, jury and executioner. I ask that you don’t let this alleged controversy overshadow one of the best seasons of this show. Think of Tumi’s amazing success and how she has become a passionate runner from being an obese contestant scared of life. Think about Craig who has changed his family tree by losing weight to avoid having fatal heart disease like his father. Think about Reuben and how we have seen him transform over the past decade. Do not take this away from them by focusing on a single contestant.