Category Archives: God

Day 583: Tuesday Stuff!

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This week, the Institute of Medicine has addressed the issue of The Weight of the Nation in Washington. I have been keeping track of it as much as I can and while there are some really good suggestions being made like making school lunches better and encouraging mayors to create healthy initiatives for their cities, some of the rational behind this conference is a bit skewed. Here is a quote that kind of bothered me.

“The traditional view that blames obesity on a failure of personal responsibility and individual willpower “has been used as the basis for resisting government efforts – legislative and regulatory – to address the problem,” says the report. But the IOM panel argues that people cannot truly exercise “personal choice” because their options are severely limited, and “biased toward the unhealthy end of the continuum.”

This is ridiculous. MacDonald’s, Burger King, or the Government doesn’t force feed people the last time I checked. Everyone is responsible for what they put in their bodies. You cannot blame others for these kinds of things! The issue is that people don’t want to take the extra steps to become healthy. It requires work to count calories, to buy fresh ingredients, heck to even exercise. Some people act like they want to lose weight, but they want to eat exactly the same things and not sacrifice taste. Losing weight does take work and it is absolutely worth the extra steps. Read the article and let me know what you think!

Alright, so although I didn’t post last night, I can tell you that Day One of Nathan cooking went really well! Our friends Stacy and Emma came over and they brought some Spanish Mackerel that Emma’s family caught while deep sea fishing in Destin. I fired up the grill and cooked up it. It was the first time I have grilled fish and it turned out really well!

So today I did pretty well. I didn’t bring a lunch to my work which leads to late afternoon snacking.

Breakfast: I had two servings of Kashi Honey Sunshine. It was filling and fantastic! I had a banana and a Special K bar for my morning snack.

Lunch? I had a massive bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. It was a few servings…

Snack: I was doing some freelance work so I decided to go to Starbucks for some iced coffee. As I went to sit down, there were no spots left. Since when are coffee shops so popular? Anyway, so I drove over to Panera which had plenty of seating. I sat in there with my iced coffee from Starbucks. I felt like I was loitering. Awe well.

Dinner: So for Night Two of Nathan making dinner, I made some burgers out of the grass fed beef that we bought from the farmers market on Saturday. I grilled up a chopped up jalapeno and put it on top of the burgers along with some of the mustard cheese that we bought a while back from Earth Fare. I also got some fries from Wingstop. They actually aren’t bad when you split them.

Dessert: I cut up some strawberries from the farmers market and put them on my Breyer’s ice cream. It was magical.

So overall today wasn’t bad, but it definitely could have been better. Tomorrow, I’m going to finally try to run at some point. I feel like I haven’t worked out in weeks (probably because I haven’t.) See ya tomorrow.

Day 581: Weigh in Day!

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What is up yo!?!

I don’t understand how Tallahassee doesn’t have a normal coffee place. There have been numerous times that we have traipsed around the city to find a place that isn’t too crowded or too loud or too cold or closing too early! Even though college is officially out this summer, we had to leave a Starbucks because there weren’t any tables available. It was like all of the non-college residents of Tallahassee realized it was finally safe to come outside. So Anyway, our internet is down because of the storm so we are at a coffee shop by Lake Ella. I’m trying to blog and Megan is trying to study for her comprehensive exams that are this week. We got a prime table, my chai latte was heavenly, then like clockwork a duet of old people start to play the guitar and a harmonica directly perpendicular to our table. Usually this kind of thing isn’t an issue, but this place is smaller than my house so I might as well be on the stage of this coffee shop concert. Sometimes our lives are some much like a sitcom. I can hear the laugh track playing in the background. Either that or I’m having a stroke.

Where was I?

Oh yeah…

So this week, even though I didn’t blog that much, was pretty good food wise. I stayed within my points four days out of the week which isn’t too bad. I ended up losing 1.4 pounds! I’m back in the 230’s (239.8 so barely) and I’m ready to finally break in to the 220’s, which hasn’t happened yet. I’m ready to get in there!

I’m also going to exercise more this week. I’m going to start running again. It has been a while and it’s not too hot in the mornings or evenings yet. Not to mention Tallahassee is beautiful so trail running is just awesome.

Another fun thing about this week, I’m going to cook all week! Megan is defending her thesis tomorrow and then will be doing her comprehensive exams all week so I’m going to help out in the kitchen. If you see smoke coming from Tallahassee, that’s all me. We’ll see how that goes.

Alright, let’s talk about today.

Breakfast: I had two pieces of toast with two tablespoons of peanut butter and a banana. The whole wheat bread from Target is only 50 calories a slice so it’s only 1 point for two slices! Score! Breakfast was 6 points. 

Lunch: So today for lunch I wanted some comfort food for lunch. I think the term “comfort food” is used frivolously nowadays thanks to certain chefs and such. I’m okay with comfort food every once in a while, but my issue with people like Paula Deen who is gung-ho about comfort food is that they are okay with having it every meal. (Am I alone in that?)  Anyway, my comfort food is BBQ. Always has been, always will be. So we went to Sonny’s for lunch after church. I had the lunch portion brisket plate. I know the turkey would have been only 4 points for the meat, but I was craving brisket at that point. I also had the baked beans (which are only 2 points) and the baked sweet potato for my sides. What really got me was the two pieces of garlic bread, which were 4 points apiece. All in all, I know it was bad, but at least I’m counting the points and recognizing my mistakes instead of just saying “hi-ho” and not caring. Plus, that’s why we have flex points. 24 points

 

Snack: Yesterday, we made our way down to the farmer’s market on Market Square and one of the vendors had strawberries that had been picked on Friday. They are delicious. So I put them on top of my Breyer’s ice cream that is only a point for a few scoops. I also put a little honey on top, which made it even better. Fantasticness.
Dinner: While we were down at the farmer’s market, we also bought some grass fed beef from the same Georgia farmers that we bought it from a few weeks ago. Tonight was my first attempt at cooking dinner this week. I made tacos with beef and they rocked! Earlier this afternoon, we made a batch of salsa so we used that and I even made some guacamole. They turned out great and they passed Megan’s taste test. So now I’m one for one on the week. Dinner was about 10 points.

Latte: As I mentioned earlier, part of this post was written at Black Dog Cafe. I always get their chai latte, which is hands down the best in town. 4 points.

 So today I racked up my share of points, but like I said earlier, at least I am actually counting now which is a step in the right direction. Can’t wait to see how this week goes. See ya tomorrow.

Day 580: A Special Afternoon Post!

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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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

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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…

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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.