Author Archives: theffkid

About theffkid

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

Why Weight Loss is Like Flopping in the NBA

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This week, David Stern and the overlords in the NBA stated that it will begin to fine for flopping starting this season. There has already been outcries from the flopingest of the floppy such as Blake Griffin. For those of you who don’t watch the NBA, flopping, like in soccer, involves faking a foul like a hit in the face. This usually results in a fall to the ground, which reminds us all why we all hate fakers.

Here’s some of the worst of the worst…

So how is the Fotographing Fat Kid going to parallel this to weight loss? (I’ve never used third person before. Hmmmm…)

When you are trying to change your diet or trying to exercise more, you tend to start out really strong and full of excitement. Then around week 6, you tend to give in a little. Maybe you’ll skip a day at the gym, you might eat that piece of cake that you wouldn’t usually eat, or you do both. Then, you flop. Something goes wrong and you throw yourself down to the floor like a kid going in to a tantrum. “OMG MY DAY WAS TERRIBLE! A BIRD POOPED ON MY CAR AND THE CASHIER AT THE BANK DIDN’T TELL ME TO HAVE A NICE DAY WHEN I LEFT AND MY DOG TOLD HIS THERAPIST THAT HE WAS SICK OF MY ANTICS!!!!!!!!” That’s when you go to the fridge, look at that tub of ice cream and say “you’re all mine.” Then… you binge.

It’s easy to get tied up in thinking about what you think deserve when you want something that you know you shouldn’t have. Usually, you know deep down on those kinds of days that you want to cheat on your diet or your exercise. You want to find a reason not to keep your routine. So, you flop and while you think you have earned it, you are just pushing yourself further away from your goals. These are the kinds of days that make or break your health fortitude.

My advice on how to handle these days? Really think about whether you need that cheating trigger. Odds are, you can talk yourself out of it. Right now, I can hear the internet trolls wringing their hands, “but FFK, you shouldn’t deprive yourself!!!” Well know what? Half of my success so far has come out of doing things that others think are crazy, like having self control on things like full-fat dessert and things like that because I knew how much extra time running or lifting I would have to do to burn that off instead of burning off the weight that I have already gained. I’m absolutely not saying I’m perfect, but I have seen what works for people and it usually involves going outside of the “if it feels good, do it” mantra.

So the next time you’re ready to flop, think to yourself “is my healthy really going to benefit from this?” and then remember you’re ultimate goal and move on. You got this!

Day 746: Why Jennifer Livingston Is Awesome Edition

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Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will hurt our hearts.
-Mrs. Robinson’s Classroom

This quote was on the wall of my homeroom class in 6th grade. It was my first day at a new school in a new town where I didn’t know anyone. “You see, sometimes we don’t realize how powerful our words can be” Mrs. Robinson explained after reading the quote. “Even if we don’t mean them to be. That’s why we need to watch what we say.”

This week, a viral video spread this week with a brave news anchor who stood up to a bully. She told her viewers that it was okay to be comfortable in their own skin.

I know a lot some people don’t think that the e-mail he said to her wasn’t bullying and if anything she was the one bullying him. These people are defining the word “bully” as someone abusing their position of power to control or harm others. To those people, I have to whole-heartedly disagree with you. Words are powerful. We can wield them to do great things and we can abuse them to hurt others, even driving some to end their own lives. In this “golden age” of communication where everyone has their own personal soapbox (also known as a Facebook page,) we all feel the need to share our opinion, not matter how ill-informed or toxic it will be received. We have reached a time where bullying is no longer exclusive to some, but accessible to all. We have to be better as a society. We need to be okay with people standing up for themselves. This anchor didn’t swear, she didn’t insult this man or his family, heck she didn’t even use his name on the air. She retaliated by creating a teachable moment out of it. She reassured us that it’s okay to be us.

Last night on my run, a guy on a bicycle called me fatso. (“How’s it going fatso?” to be exact.) how did I respond? Did I yell back at him? Did I hurl personal insults at him? Did I throw a stick in his spokes? No. I retaliated by running faster, pushing myself harder. In fact, I broke a personal record last night. I made myself better. That’s what we need to learn from Jennifer Livingston’s response, that we should make something great out of other people’s ugliness.

I’m proud of her courage and the example she has set for all of us. If I had heard an anchor say the things she said when I was little, I would have been a different person. Thankfully, I turned out okay anyway.

Thank you Jennifer. Way to brush them shoulders off.

 

See ya tomorrow.

Day 745: First Wordless Wednesday in October

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Sick of the debates? Me too. Here’s picture of food I eat and stuff.

 

Day 744: Weigh In Time!

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So I’m back!!!!!!!

I have eaten well all day, I got a little exercise in and I’m back on the awesome wagon!

So like I thought, I did gain this week, but it wasn’t near as bad as it could should have been. I gained .4 pounds so I’m back up to 228.4. At least I’m still in the 220’s. I’m shooting to lose a good amount this week but we’ll just see! Either way, it won’t be for a lack of trying. Good stuff!

Breakfast: I just had an English muffin and peanut butter 3.5 points 

Snack: Today, I made sure that I had plenty of snacks at my disposal to snack on to fight off the candy around the office. So, in the morning, I ate a banana and a Fage yogurt with honey. It was fantastic. 3 points 

Lunch: We had some leftover taco meat from taco and cheesecake night (yeah…that actually happened) on Friday. So I weighed out 4 oz of meat, and put it on two delicious La Tortilla tortillas that are only 50 calories and 7 grams of fiber. Oh yeah, and a TON of salsa. For dessert I had two oranges. 8 points. 

Snack: I was offered half of a rice krispy treat from my boss, couldn’t say no to that (not gonna lose my job over refusing a rice krispy treat 🙂 ) plus, they are the beast dessert option while on a diet. It was only 1 point! 

Exercise: Tonight I had a softball game which was fun! I got a couple of hits, a couple RBI’s so that was fun. Sure we lost, but it’s still fun to get out there. Anyway, I really really really really really really really wanted to go for a run when I was done because I wanted to try out my new shoes. I guess I’m going to go out for a run in the morning since it will be in the mid 60’s (is it sad that I’m thinking about wearing a hoodie since it will be “so cold?”)

Dinner: I had some leftover chili and chips with a little cheese. It was only 11 points.

So that’s it for the day! I got to 26.5 points which is awesome. I haven’t eaten so little and been so full in a while. The key? fruits and veggies yo!

See ya tomorrow.

Day 743: Catching Up With You!

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Hi. How are you?

I know, I know, it’s been a while. Let me show you what I have been doing…

I got these awesome bad boys, (You like?)

This came in the mail from the awesome folks at Weight Watchers,

And I drew this on my whiteboard at work because I need to buy some Halloween decorations for my office.

Now that we got that all figured out, let’s talk. I have been really crummy with my eating lately. I’m just hungry…a lot. I’ve been eating veggies and fruit a lot more, but meaningless carbs seem to rule my life. What’s even worse is that I don’t even feel like I deserve to have a lose tomorrow, I really don’t. This past week has proved to me that you really can’t lose weight without both diet and exercise. Sure I ran 7 miles on Saturday, played racquetball on Wednesday and did some weight training on Sunday, but if the calories aren’t in check, it just doesn’t work. So that’s where I’m at right now. While I did do better today, I still ate a cupcake, two cookies and some candy. The thing is, I used to be able to say no to sweets when I was on my weight loss game, but now I even go out of my way to get candy from a co-worker’s office (let me clarify, I don’t steal their candy, there’s just a communal jack-o-latern.) So with this time of the year coming up, the sweet temptation is going to be there and I need to be better, especially because when I break 200 pounds, I’m going to buy an awesome spin bike so I really won’t have an excuse to work out. No matter what, there will always be an exercise machine waiting to be used in our spare room. Right now, I’m about 28 pounds away, which seems like nothing when I’m on my weight loss game, but an eternity on days like today. Tomorrow is going to be a rough weigh-in, I know it will be, but whatever happens, you will see points of my food. Now I’m ready to start. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 739: Thursday

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Scott Marshall, come to New Orleans in November. Don’t be a jerk.

Happy Bow Tie Thursday everyone! No, I’m not sportin’ the Hulk Hogan stache…yet, but I am trying to put together a team for Movember, a cause to help fight prostate cancer. But more about that later on. (If you’re interested let me know!)

Alright, so I’m tired so I’ll keep this brief. I know that’s been the name of the game this week, but it’s just been one of those weeks.

For breakfast, I had a bagel. Any time I have a bagel, it’s usually because I was running late and I didn’t have time to make breakfast. I went with a honey wheat bagel with reduced-fat cream cheese. It did the trick.

For lunch, I went home and made some delicious pizza bagel muffins. I have to admit, there was a lot of cheese involved. While it was delicious, it was not the healthiest. If anything, I got that dairy requirement in (he said trying to justify…) With that being said, I did make a salad with lunch as well. I’m definitely getting more fruits and veggies in my diet!

For dinner, we had delicious Skinnytaste Asian Pork which is what I had last night. Basically, I had a light version of what I had last night. The noodles were a little mushy, but it was delicious!

So today was pretty good with food. Like I was saying, I also had some oranges and apples to supplement my diet. It’s going really well! See ya tomorrow.

Day 737: Weigh In And Phil’s Birthday!

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Alright, I’m not feeling well at all. It was one of those things where you finally sit down and relax for a moment and then it hits you like a sack of bricks. No bueno. So here we go!

First off, I lost .4 this week so I’m down to 228 even. Not too shabby considering I lost 2.6 last week. Hopefully I can keep my eating in check this week and have a much lower number this time next week.

 

Also, I’m running a 10k next Saturday (10/6) and I’m stressing out a little bit about it. I’m also going to run nine miles this saturday to see how that goes. Again, I’m pretty nervous about that because it’s going to be my furthest run yet by two whole miles (which is a lot.)

 

Alright, back to more fun stuff.

For breakfast I had an cheese bagel. Not the best choice.

I went to a luncheon this morning where they had a light lunch of pizza, veggies and cookies (since when did pizza fall in to the category of light lunch?)

I had my first non-fat chai tea latte of the season. While I love me some pumpkin spice latte, chai’s are just as fallish in my book. I feel like I’m forcing fall a little too much. I wanted to wear a long-sleeve shirt with shorts to dinner tonight, but I realized I would be sweating like a hog so I nixed that plan. Like a lot of overweight kids, the hoodie was my best friend because it covered up my rolls (or I thought it did) so I use wear a hoodie starting the first week of October even if it still was 90 degrees (since Texas doesn’t believe in seasons.) Anyway, where was I?

I also went on a 2.5 mile run right after work because I knew dinner was going to be pretty high calorie. I was on pace to set a pretty good 5k time, but my allergies went nuts and something flew in to my eye that made it actually hurt, not just irritate, but physically hurt. 2.5 miles is still better than nothing!

So today is my friend Phillip’s birthday! He is the boo of my friend Andrea the Wolf who was in the same grad program as me! For his super birthday extravaganza, we went to Ted’s Montana Grill. I had never been, but I knew they were know for their awesome bison burgers. So, I went online to their website and looked at the nutritional info. While I picked a topping-heavy burger (guacamole, tomato jam, roasted peppers and pepper jack cheese) I picked the best toppings possible and instead of fries and/or onion rings (which looked insanely good) I just had a sweet potato and cinnamon sugar (no butter.) What’s also interesting is that I was going to get a salad instead, but my meal was still half the fat and way less calories. Their shrimp caesar salad was 1380 calories and 125 grams of fat!!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!!! That’s pretty ridiculous. I mean yeah, my burger was still 766 calories and 40 grams of fat, but I still saved a lot of calories by choosing a different side and just taking the time to pick the best option.

Overall, it’s been kind of a weird day, but Tuesdays and Thursdays are like that. Sorry for the lack of photos, but that’s what Wordless Wednesday is for! Hooray. See ya tomorrow.

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHILLY CHEESE!

Day 732: Eating Taco Bell

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The last time I ate Taco Bell, I still had a Texas driver’s license.

Lately, The Bell has been calling (or ringing) my name. And while it has taken a lot for me not to eat there, ironically it was my weight loss journey that drove me to go there today.

Back in the day, I would go absolutely crazy at Taco Bell. I would easily burn close to $10 on two Double Deckers Supremes, a Mexican Pizza, and a Crunchwrap Supreme (and an angioplasty in a pear tree!) not to mention a Mountain Dew. So as you can imagine, I have been a little gunshy to go there because I remember those binging sessions (or what I call lunch) and I don’t want to go back to where I was.

So this morning I was starving. I don’t feel well because the weather is doing silly things and I’m just tired. Since I was on my own, I thought “what am I going to do for lunch? HUNGER PAINS ARE STICKING LIKE DUCT TAPE!” and that’s when TB came to mind. Since one of my goals is to be much better with my points, I said to myself “if you’re going to do this, do it right.” So I went to the Taco Bell website and started to look up nutritional facts. Their website is actually very comprehensive and easy to read! I knew they had “Fresco” options, so I looked at those first. So I did the math, gave myself a point allowance on how many points I wanted to use for lunch, and then I wrote down what I wanted as if I was ordering for multiple people. I figured if I stayed with my list, I wouldn’t let my eyes wonder to the drive-thru menu. I ordered two Fresco soft tacos and a Double Decker taco, but then I realized you could get a lighter version of it so I did that instead! I used 13 points which you might say is a lot, but I have no clue how many points my lunch was yesterday, I at least know since the information is provided by Taco Bell. Now, I’m not going to do this every day. I mean, it was really good, but the way birthday cake is good, it’s delicious every once in a while.

So what do you do? When you crave something, do you just eat it? What do you think?

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