Category Archives: Insanity

Introducing #FFKFitby30

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For the past few weeks, Megan and I have binged watched the entire series of Game of Thrones. You know, that show with the dragons, ice zombies and Peter Dinklage. The show is simply amazing and I can’t believe it took me this long to finally watch it. Anyway, while we were watching the fifth season the other night, I thought to myself “wow, I wonder how old Kit Harington (John Snow) is. He must be like…37 or something.” So, like any good TV consumer, I went to IMDB to look for his age. Aaaaaaaand he’s 18 days older than me. That means we graduated high school at the same time, we were in awkward puberty at the same time and we probably secretly even loved Nickelback at the same time. When I told Megan, all she could say was “we’re old.”

While this might mean that I’m just not good at guessing the ages of people, it just reaffirms my false belief that I’m younger that I actually am. (At this point, I’m waiting for some red head to come up to me and say “you know nothing, Nathan MacDonald.”) The reality is that I am an adult and life his happening right now. This all kind of came to a head when I realized that as of June 13th, I am a year and a half away from turning 30. My twenties are almost gone. And I’m kind of sad about it.

At this point, I know you’re ready to comment with a remark like “ummmmm…you’re not that old. Stop whining!” or something like “dude! 30 is the new 15!” But for me, it’s more than that! I’m seeing that 3 number as a finish line for goals that I set nearly a decade ago. (Yes, the FFK is turning 5 years old this year.) I need to think of my journey in those terms so I mentally keep going. More importantly, I need to breath new life into this journey.

With that, I would like to introduce you to #FFKFitby30.

Below is a manageable list of goals that I will conquer before January 13th, 2017 (you know…when I turn 30). Some are serious, some are silly, and others are just plain cool. My plan is once I complete one goal, I will add another! So here we go!

  • Exercise for 30 minutes four times a week.
  • Complete a marathon
  • Run a race every month
  • Do a pull up (yes, one pull up. I can do a tenth of one right now…)
  • Weigh in below 200 pounds (199.8 lbs totally counts!)
  • Get certified in a fitness program like TRX of kettlebells
  • Track my food six times a week

So seven reasonable goals that all benefit one another in some way! I’m going to start tracking food tomorrow in a food journal on my phone and Megan and I also started Insanity Max 30 (check it out! It’s awesome!) last week! I’m ready to begin this journey to 30 and using these goals as my map!

Here. We. Go.

Trying to Get it All Aligned

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“When the mooooooooooooon is in the seventh house
and Jupiterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr lines with Mars…“

Wait…that’s not what I mean…

You hear it all the time “get fit in the gym, lose weight in the kitchen.” While I have fought with this notion for a long time, I’ve seen how true it really is through out my weight loss journey. With that, it’s been easy to have one component of that statement down and have the other one completely lopsided.When I lost my first 100 pounds, my eating was at the forefront of this journey. Sure I worked out, but making smart decisions helped peel off the weight. Some time after that, I lost sight of that. I got caught up in the fitness side a little too much and it seemed to throw me off because I didn’t know how to refuel properly with my eating. Then, I started training for my first half marathon which kind of put my weight loss dead in the water because, contrary to popular belief, you don’t always lose weight when you train for long distance races like half marathons. So right now, I’m not training for a specific race. I’ve put on about 15 pounds since December so I want to get that off ASAP to get my weight loss momentum going.

Since I’ve been working out regularly, usually a combination of running and circuit training classes 3-5 times a week, I feel awesome and actually strong for the first time in close to forever. In the past, I’ve been quick to beat myself up when I want to go work out in the “bro den” (the part of the gym that has free weights, benches, awkward grunting) because I don’t feel like I belong. But how can I make progress if I don’t work out in there? (I’m going to talk about more on that in a post I’m working on. Stay tuned.) Anyway, the point is that good things are happening. After working out regularly like this for the past ten weeks, it would be really hard to stop. I just love it too much!

So now that I’m in such an awesome place with my fitness, I’m really working to change my eating. I’m eating fruits and veggies like they’re going out of style and I’m incredibly intentional about drinking water (#alltheclearpee).

But I’m not perfect…
Can I still pound down a bag of potato chips? Yessir.
Do I hoard candy sometimes like those spoiled brats in Willie Wonka? Sure do.
But…Do I immediately regret it? Now more than ever.

I really hate that feeling of regret after a mini-binge, so I’ve been trying to combat that with just abstaining as much as I can. I tell myself that I won’t miss it in 5 minutes because all they are are just impulses. For example, we walked by a cupcake store in Tallahassee and I thought I really wanted one.

I knew I had two options:
1) Keep walking and go on with my day
or
2) Go in, spend money on a dessert that I’m generally kind of ambivalent towards, and then sulk because I could have spent those Weight Watchers points on bacon.

So, I’m making progress with my eating! I really feel like I’m on the verge of everything lining up for some serious weight loss awesomeness.

Speaking of weight loss…

I lost 2.8 pounds this week! After losing 3 pounds or so two weeks ago, I gained it back last week. (Between kidney stones and traveling, the MacDonalds have been a little cray…) This week, I wasn’t perfect at all. In fact (and if you try to troll me on this, so help me…) I had McDonald’s for the first time since we’ve lived in Tallahassee. I drove to Jacksonville twice this week and I really needed some coffee and breakfast. So, I had an Egg McMuffin and a hash brown. It was 12 points. I counted it and I moved on. I also ate at Hardee’s for breakfast one day and I counted it too. So I wasn’t perfect, but I counted my points and I exercised to bring balance to the Weight Watchers force. This past week was once again proof that when you count regardless and exercise, everything will fall into place.

Count all the points

 

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 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 558: Thursday and Stuff

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Hello!

I love all of you. There, I said it.

I still can’t believe my Facebook Page got to 200+ Likes last night!

This week I was feeling a little sluggish and lazy. Luckily I was able to pull myself out of it and have an awesome day! Good things. Alright, let’s get at it.

Breakfast: This morning, as per usual, we went to Atomic Coffee before class and school and stuff. I just had a bagel with butter and a little honey. It was fantastic and filling. Awesomeness.

Lunch: Today I had to go to a luncheon for a class. I walked from campus uphill both ways (yes, like your parents did when they were kids) to the downtown Double Tree. The menu had a lot of awesome healthy choices, but I was still thinking about getting something a little heavier. That was when my friend Andrew (the Edward Cullen lookalike) told the whole I was his dietician and then asked for a healthy option. It was the conviction I needed to make a much better decision. I ended up getting a grouper sandwich and instead of fries I got a salad with honey mustard. It was delicious, but it was also hard to conceal my picture taking ability in front of a bunch of strangers. When I got home I had a 100 calorie Klondike ice cream sandwich that was awesome. Then I ate two servings of chips.

Awesome Non Scale Victory: So today I was organizing my old fat clothes in order to sell them online (anyone want size 54 khakis or some really nice XXL polo t-shirts?) and then I found these bad boys. I bought these plaid shorts a few weeks before I started grad school. It was like folding up an American flag. Those things are huge. I was huge. Anyway, I held them up, thought for a second, and then got in one of the leg holes. They fit me in the waist. I know I’m not half them man I used to be, but I am making awesome progress. It was seriously the motivation I needed to get focused on losing weight. It also made me proud because this kind of picture is usually in an infomercial for some weight loss cookie or some shake that tastes like ground up chalk. This is proof that all you need is a healthier diet, a good pair of running shoes, a little patience and a persistent attitude. Oh yeah, and a bunch of awesome supportive friends doesn’t hurt either ;).

SAWS:So after that moment of NSV clarity, I decided I needed to keep it up so I can no longer fit in my current clothes and went to the gym. It’s kind of sad because it was one of my last times working out at Leach. I’ve burned a ton of calories in that place. Anyway, I wanted to keep up the same intensity I had when I was working with Joe so I went after it. I divided my hour into three 20 minute segments. The first 20 I did a circuit that involved stairs, burpees, box jumps, jump squats, push ups and running up and down stairs. It was awesome. Then, I got on the ARC Trainer and did 20 minutes on the weight loss setting which was a hill climb pattern of awesomeness. Finally, I did 20 minutes of abs. Elevated sit ups, this weird leg lift row and then holding a plank position. I felt like I made really good use of my hour, I did what I came there to do: sweat through my shirt.

 

 

 

 

Late Night Dinner: After staying on campus to try to get some work done, Megan and I went through the drive thru at Jimmy John’s (the only thing faster than their delivery dudes) and had a Turkey Tom sans mayo and a nice layer of avocado spread. Not to mention their classic pickle. The healthiest drive thru around.

So that was my day. Not too shabby. Although I didn’t write them down, I’m definitely back in the mindset of counting points and being better about what I eat. I was looking at an older post and I realized it took me 4 months to lose the last 15 pounds to break the 100 pound mark. It was because I was kind of a slacker and wasn’t strict with my points. With my new-found love for weight lifting, sticking with my points should be the perfect recipe for some serious weight loss. If anything my body would feel better, and isn’t that what it’s all about? See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 495: Wordless Wednesday Stuff!

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[#meow]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 489: Thursday With Pictures!

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Sorry for no post last night… As you can see, last night was not good. I didn’t post last night because I was just exhausted. For the past couple of days I have been stuck in a feeling that could be related to that moment when you get off of the merry-go-round and everything is disoriented and you are wondering what you got yourself in to. I think I’m just mentally fried. I be slowly getting out of this funk this evening, but it’s lingering like that weird black hole thing in that antidepressant commercial.  I don’t know. But, you aren’t here to read about my stress-induced life (or are you…)

Breakfast: I had coffee for breakfast, yes… the breakfast of champions. Nothing like starting off your day with 21 ounces of caffeine scorching through your veins. I had a “dirty coffee” (name penned by my good blogger friend tracey) which is an iced coffee with a shot of mocha syrup. It was particularly good this morning.

Lunch: Megan and I went to this awesome place called Bada Bean that we have never to before. The “bean” works on multiple levels (well at least in my case) because they serve some awesome coffee and they make the best black bean burger in town! I had the steak fries with it (should have picked a better side. Fail on my part.) and it was topped with avocados on ciabatta bread. It was epic.

 

 

 

 

Snack: I bought some peanut butter from Earth Fare and some local Tupelo honey (evidently if you eat local honey once a day it will cure your allergies) so I combined those two delicious entities to make a delicious wafflewich.

Dinner: We didn’t eat until around 9:30, but it was worth the wait. While we were at Earth Fare, we also got these chicken thingamabobs that look a lot like chicken cordon blue but not as heavily breaded on the outside. They have different variations, but we went with the chicken stuffed with feta and spinach. They turned out really well. We were both really impressed.

So that’s really about it today. Although I am incredibly tired, I’m off to do Insanity because I didn’t last night. At this point, Insanity is like going to your friends house every day and when you ring the door bell, your friend comes out and slaps you in the face. It’s not fun right now, but I can’t argue with the results (the results part doesn’t apply to my analogy.) Anyway, here are the pics I would have posted yesterday. I hope you like them (if not, don’t tell me. At this point I would cry with the force of a hundred waterfalls.) See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 481: Wordless Wednesday With Video and Big Announcement in Said Video!

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Day 477: Saturday Stuff

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Hello. Welcome to my blog.

So the Seminoles dominated another ACC rival today. Please file this under things that the Fotographing Fat Kid loves. I’m soooooo ready to go to a game! Okay, I know this isn’t a sports blog, either way it’s still an exciting time in Tallahassee.

I also have a confession to make: I haven’t done Insanity in the past couple of days. On Thursday, I wasn’t feeling that well and I went to bed early. On Friday I played racquetball with my friends Jonathan and Alex and burned about 900 calories. Today, I just kind of ran out of time. I’m at that point in Insanity when it has gotten a little repetitive (this is nothing new to anyone who does workout videos. It’s the circle of life) and eventually the program shifts to a different set of videos that are incredibly harder. For now though, I guess I’ll bear through it until then. Hmmmm… The issue is I love the results I get from Insanity, but the 40 minute workouts dominate the rest of your day if you don’t do them early in the morning or really late at night. It’s tough. Any suggestions? Has anyone else been in the rut I’m speaking of? Help a brotha out!

Breakfast: This morning, I went with Megan to Breugger’s Bagels which is pretty close to our house. They had a “healthy” bagel sandwich option with egg whites and turkey sausage with some red pepper pesto. It wasn’t bad, but then I read online that is was 9 points and had 38% of your daily allotment of sodium. I say healthy in quotations because while it’s still better than other breakfast sandwiches, 6 points of Kashi Go Lean is waaaay more filling and less points. Just kind of how it is. I also had a 3 point plain bagel later in the day. Even if you’re not on a diet but you are just watching what you eat, it’s still important to look at nutritional information online. The term “low-cal” and “healthy” are all relative. Just a thought.

 

 

That Time Megan and I Made TCBY Change Their Rules: (No, seriously.) So Megan and I are froyo fiends. It’s a little cray cray. Anyway, we have this coupon card that gives us BOGO at any TCBY and the one next to our house has a 30 cents an ounce promotion right now. Basically, we were getting froyo for 15 cents an ounce… that is until they issued a decree banning our extreme couponing of sorts (we also bought $122 worth of stuff at World Market today for $14, but that’s for another blog.) So I know what some of you are thinking “Coming Fotographing Fat Kid! They couldn’t have made that rule for just you and Megan!” Well get this JACK! So we go to pay and we told them we had a card and before we explained it the cashier said “BOGO right?” It’s like they had a picture of us behind the cash register or something. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Oh yeah and the yogurt was good and that’s what we had during lunch time. We weren’t really in the mood for an actual lunch. Around 3 I had some spaghetti.

 

 

 

Free Pizza and Iced Coffee: While on our expedition out and about in the burg that is Tallahassee, we went to RedEye for some coffee and we found free pizza (don’t worry, it wasn’t on the ground. IT WAS IN A DUMPSTER! DUMPSTER PIZZA IS THE BEST!) Actually, there is a little place in Midtown called Luna’s  that had a trailer/pizza oven parked out in front giving away free pizza. They told us they were going to be selling pizza there on Friday’s and Saturday’s from now on and they were giving away free samples today! It was fantastic! The ingredients were fresh and their meat pizza was sinful. So many animals on one slice of deliciousness. I was impressed and I can’t wait for next Friday, Friday, getting good pizza on Friday!

Dinner: So after free pizza and afternoon spaghetti, we were pretty full for a good while. It worked out though because I was marinading some chicken breasts from Fresh Market in Stubb’s chicken marinade. They had been soaking in his delicious concoction of spices in the fridge for about 8 hours so it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! Before though, we had a delicious salad with Bolthouse honey mustard that’s made with yogurt. It’s only 45 calories for a serving of dressing! We also had some sweet potato fries which were good but random :).

 

Overall, it was a good day. As always though, the first half of my week was good and then after Wednesday I make some bad decisions with my meals and my snacking. I really need to work on that! Anyway, I’m about a pound and a half away from being in the 230’s which would be so awesome. Just seeing a different second number would be so much more encouraging. I guess we’ll see. See ya tomorrow.

Day 474: Wordless Wednesday Yo!

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