Category Archives: racquetball

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 836: New Rules For the New Year

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I hate clothes that fit.

I’ve spent the majority of my life wearing clothes that were to snug, that made me feel uncomfortable. In 2010, after having to buy a pair of size 54 pants, I decided it was time to make a serious change in my life. I revolutionized my diet, I started to run and I started this food journaling on this little blogernio.

Fast forward to now. On the threshold of 2013. My life has been completely changed and has even been elongated by a few years. Now instead of worrying about dying while incapacitated in a hospital bed, I worry about being attacked by a mountain lion while hiking or taking a racquetball to the temple and/or jugular. (Or insert some other awesome way to die here.)

So although I have been exercising like a boss in 2012, my eating was less than awesome. I cheated…a lot. You can ask anyone who has been doing this weight loss thing for a while and they will tell you that it just gets tough. It gets hard to choose the steamed veggies over the mac n’ cheese, it gets hard to not eat that second serving and it even gets hard not to eat fast food when you are in a rush on a road trip. The old me (the Year One of losing weight me) would not have stood for it. It’s time to get back to that. I’m sick of my clothes fitting. That first year I was having to buy a new pair of jeans every few months. I’ve been wearing the same pair for seven months now. Time to break out of these 40’s into the pair of 36’s I bought this summer.

Enter Skinny Rules.

A few weeks ago, Megan downloaded Skinny Rules by Bob Harper and got inspired. She said “We should totally try this” and naturally I gave an apathetic “sure.” Then I started to read through what I had signed up for. Oh boy. In his newest book, Bob lays out a set of 20 rules that will make your friends think you’ve turned in to a crazy-mung-bean-eating-nature-loving-wheat-hating health geek. So I guess that’s my new year’s resolution: to become a crazy-mung-bean-eating-nature-loving-wheat-hating health geek.

Not gonna lie, I haven’t done well with being restrictive with what I eat. Like most people, I like having the freedom of eating what I want (i.e. the dieter’s dream.) In the past, I have had that had that freedom with Weight Watchers, but with WW you have the responsibility of recording what you eat. For about a year now, I haven’t been doing that. I have eaten what I wanted and then acted like I was recording it with an imaginary pen in the sky. This hasn’t gotten me anywhere. I only lost something like 10 pounds this year. I act like I’ve been plateauing while in reality I have just gotten lazy and have gotten good at maintaining. So this is the next logical step to kickstart my weight loss. From what I’ve read, a lot of people who have been in the same situation as me have gone through the Skinny Rules and have lost some serious weight. 

Now…I’m not treating this like some fad diet. I know the keys to successful weight loss, and these rules are it. With that being said, I’m trying this out for the month of January to see how it goes. I fully anticipating it become my lifestyle from here on in. Either way, good things are going to come out of it. Between new dietary outlines, my new spin bike (your butt stops hurting from the seat eventually right?), my access to Leach once again and the half marathon in Feburary, I’m ready to demolish some goals in 2013!

The Rules! 

So there are 20 rules, and I’m going to go through them over the next four posts. Here are 1-5…

1) Drink a Large Glass of Water Before Every Meal-No Excuses!

Seems pretty easy to me. Lately I’ve been drinking a ridiculous amount of Diet Coke and when that happens I don’t drink the amount of water I should. Luckily, we have a few big Tervis cups lying around the house and my folks bought us an awesome PUR water filter that’s attached to our faucet. So there’s no excuse not to gulp down some water before dinner. Not to mention you feel full so much quicker after you’re all H20’ed up!

2) Don’t Drink Your Calories

This is definitely an issue for a lot of people. Between drinks of the libatious nature and such, it’s easy to drink all of your calories and not even realize it. I know that can be something that you “forget” to record when you’re tracking calories. Normally I don’t drink things like tea or coffee with any sugar or milk so I’ll definitely be drinking more of those.

3) Eat Protein at Every Meal-or Stay Hungry and Grouchy

When you’re not eating a meat-heavy meal, it’s easy to choose carbs over other protein to get full, even if it’s only for a while. As you’ll see in the rules later on, carbs are restricted down to where they probably should be in our diets anyway. Eating more protein will be rough for a while, but your body eventually adjusts. Plus, I love things like canned tuna and peanut butter which are both packed in protein (and no, I don’t make peanut butter and tuna sandwiches).

4) Slash Your Intake of Refined Flours and Grains

This is what Bob has to say about refined flours and grains:

Grains-mainly in the form of refined flours-dominate our modern diet. Pasta is king. Bagels are everyday. Grains in all kinds of shapes and sizes are cheap and tasty and everywhere. (Yes, he wrote that run on sentence…not me.) They might be marketed as ‘low in fat,’ ‘all natural,’ ‘whole’ and even ‘heart healthy.’ But if they are all refined-from rice to bread-they make you fat. That’s because grains are a lot like liquid calories once your body processes them.

He’s not really saying anything different from what we’ve heard for years, but for some reason we always return to our delicious master: the grain seed. (That was kind of a Seinfeld reference. Except in the episode it’s about the cocoa bean. BOSCO!) Anyway, Bob suggests breads with sprouted seeds like Ezekiel Bread (the kind you find in the freezer at the grocery store.) In reality, they are not much more than regular bread. In fact, the Ezekiel English Muffins (that I’ve only seen at Earth Fare) were only 20 cents more than the Thomas English Muffins at Publix. Not to mention they look a lot yummier than the Thomas muffins.

5) Eat 30 to 50 Grams of Fiber a Day

It’s a lot of fiber.

So those are the first five rules. You think you could handle them? See ya in 2013!

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 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 504: Friday Post Time!

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It has been a long week. Thank goodness it’s finally over. On to a next week of craziness.

Even though this week feels like it has been an eternity, some good did come out of it. I received plenty of really encouragements and “attaboys” from people both at work and within my department. In fact, my professor on Monday called me out in the beginning of class and asked me to talk about my weight loss journey to the class. It has really encouraged me to keep at it this week! I’m at the point that I feel really comfortable to reach out to people who were in my position: overweight guys who are frustrated and ready for change. It’s a really hard topic to approach someone with and it usually leaves the person embarrassed, but I want to find a way to reach out to these people. I was so richly please to get a push from my wife and more of a kick from some other people like my friend Kyle. I think that’s what we need sometimes though. I have no clue where to start, but I’m ready for the opportunity to pay it forward.

Breakfast: I just had the ol’ standby, two Publix multigrain waffles, some peanut butter and honey. Awesome stuff

Lunch: I ate my lunch while at work and I had the Smart One Lasagna Florentine which was surprisingly good! I was surprised how filling it was and how good it was. It’s probably the best Smart One meal other than the chicken enchilada suaza which is epic. Anyway, I also had some cocoa powdered almonds and an apple (I don’t think I’ll ever buy apples from WalMart again…)

 

 

 

 

Racquetball Craziness: I haven’t had the chance to work out all week so I was super ready for some racquetball today. My friend Alex and I played for two long hours which was exhausting but I felt awesome after. I had a few bumps and bruises this week (I lost feeling in my thumb for a while) but it was totally worth the 888 freakin’ calories that I torched. Awesomeness.

Snack:When I got home, I had another waffle and pb. Fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: When I was running around town like a chicken with my head cut off, I landed at the drive thru at Jimmy John’s. I was really good and had the vegetarian with no mayo. It’s the best you can do while still keeping the bread… that delicious, delicious bread. Anyway, I also had a pickle. It was a fantastic dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert: Megan and I went with some friends to Lofty Pursuits after some musicology thingy. I didn’t know what to get, but I went with this sundae that had toffee and other deliciousness. I should have just went with an ice cream cone, but I’ll do better next time.

So overall today was not too bad, but I’ll kick butt on Saturday to lose some weight on Sunday. See ya tomorrow.

Day 494: A Not As Epic Post

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No, I didn’t meet the President or anything today, but I did torch a crapton of calories in racquetball. That’s pretty cool too!

Alright, so as some of you know I’m a huge Biggest Loser fan. I’ve been watching the show off and on for about six years and I wanted to be a contestant for a long time… that is until I just lost the weight with no show needed :). Anyway, this week, amongst all the annoying drama that has been added this season to make the show more soap opera-ish, the theme of this week was “No Excuses: I Can’t Lose Weight On My Own.” One team had to work out on their own without their trainer and overall they did pretty well. While I see where they were going with it, I think it misses the bigger picture. For me, even though I have a ton of support on multiple levels, I’m losing this weight on my own.

I’m the one who decides whether to work out when I’m tired

I’m the one who is deciding whether or not to eat that extra piece of cake

I’m the one who said “it’s time to lose weight”

Obviously it is helpful and important to have your friends and family’s support, but that can only get you so far. They only need to be a source of support, not a crutch for your excuses. Granted, this is a harder path, but it will make you all the more stronger in the long run. Once YOU make yourself a priority, everything will fall in to place. You got this yo!

Alright. Where was I?

Breakfast: I had two eggs over hard and two pieces of toast. I always dread making eggs until I just do it and it takes like a total of three minutes. It’s a super filling breakfast!

Lunch: We decided to go to Monk’s for lunch since it was nice outside and they have a really cool outdoor area. We split the artichoke dip and I had the vegan burger with jalapenos, onions, creamy havarti and a hot BBQ sauce. It was the best custom burger I have ever made there. I ate all of my fries and half of the burger. While Monk’s is really good, it’s pricey and the service is hit and miss. I’m kind of ready to just eat at home for a while. It’s usually way less calories (and less sodium) and it’s way cheaper.

 

 

 

SAWS!: Last week, my friend Andrew (the one that kind of looks like Edward Cullen) told me he wanted to play racquetball this week so we set up a time and our other friend Alex joined in on the monotony. We played for a little more than an hour and after five or six games of cut throat, we were all pretty beat. While I love singles, cut throat is more entertaining to me because it’s 2 on 1 so the game gets pretty intense (not to mention there are three uncoordinated out of shape grad students flailing around a small room with racquets attached to their wrists.) Anyway, I burned almost 700 calories (694 to be exact) in a little more than an hour which is an awesome burn.

I still want to do Insanity, but honestly I’m a little scared of the second phase of Insanity. I need to at least give it a try because the results have been epic (it seriously reduced my love handles in a few days) and it’s not that long of a work out. But running and racquetball are so much more fun (he said like a 5 year old while complaining to his mom). I’ll see what mood I’m in tomorrow morning and go from there. Any words of encouragement out there?

Dinner: So after that craziness, I came home hungry. The danger for me when I work out in the afternoon I want to come home and eat dinner but it might night be quite time for dinner so I’ll graze. Today, I took a few bites of the rest of my burger and that was about it (but it’s usually worse.) Anyway, Megan made this awesome skillet of spaghetti so we had that with some bread and an awesome salad with honey mustard. I only ate a serving or so of spaghetti, but I kept creeping in to the kitchen to snag a few fork fulls. That is definitely the worst habit that I have yet to break. I would be much better off just to have another serving. I really need to work on that because those are just pointless calories.

So today was good-ish. I ate too much bread for dinner (and the worst part was it wasn’t really that good. Again, pointless calories.) but overall it was okay. I need to drink more water and less soda and I need to eat out less which is hard because this is the semester for both of us. Between Megan working on her thesis and my teaching, going to class and working, making meals at home isn’t always a top priority. We are both committing to work on that so we can save some money and lose some weight in the process. I have some big goals for myself (like being at least in the 210’s by graduation on April 28th) so each cookie, that extra sprinkle of cheese or that extra helping of spaghetti is going to make a difference. Time to blitzkrieg some calories. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 470: Post Birthday Post!

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Hello dear reader! Thanks for being awesome!

So no post yesterday [awkward pause here] even though I had planned on it. Last night, we decided to make the drive down the gulf coast to the small town of Apalachicola, home of The Owl Cafe. It was amazing as always, and it made up for the crap I had eaten earlier that day. You see for lunch earlier that day I had a Fat Elvis burger at Tomahawks in Tallahassee. I know what you are thinking, and yes, the burger had fried bananas, peanut butter and bacon on it. I don’t know why I ordered something so fattening but I thought I wanted to treat myself. Little did I know that I was eating regret and grossness. That’s the last time I reward myself with food. Anyway, let’s talk about today.

Breakfast: Nothing like some awesome bacon and eggs for breakfast! I’ve missed that old standby for breakfast and I forgot how filling it was! Yumtastic awesomeness. 9 points.

 

Lunch: After running errands around town (AND WATCHING THE SEMINOLES FREAKIN’ DOMINATE THE TERD HEELS!) and before I played racquetball, I had a Boca chicken patty with an English Muffin. 4 points

 

 

 

 

 

Workout and Stuff: So I’ve been working out in my Zigtechs for the past 6 months or so and recently that have been really hard on my feet. I feel like my feet have been clamped in a George Foreman grill. Anyway, we went to the Shoe Box store to get our feet analyzed to see what would be the best fit for us. The salesperson suggested a pair of Vibram Fivefingers. I have wanted a pair for years so I decided to give them a shot. When I got up and moved around, I could immediately feel the difference. My weight was equally displaced on my entire foot instead on my heels and the balls of my feet. She told me to take it slow at first to adjust to them, so what did I decided to do? Why play racquetball in them of course! I didn’t know how that was going to go, but it turned out really well. I feet felt great and I had the right amount of traction. For my birthday, Megan bought me a pair of FSU Under Armour basketball shorts. They are freakin’ epic. (My wife is better than yours.)

Anyway, as I was saying, I played racquetball with my friend Alex who is in my department. One day in class, he had mentioned that he had came across my blog and that we loved racquetball. We had a blast playing and I burned a crapton of calories. Plus, I was in the fat burn stage the entire time. SAWS!!!

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Tonight, we tried a new recipe from Cooking Light magazine and it was EPIC! We tried the Maple-Mustard Glazed Chicken and had a side of green beans with almonds. The chicken was only 6 points a breast so it was a fantastic 7 points. I also had a Healthy Choice fudgsicle which was only 1 point. I also had 3 points of pretzels when I was watching football.

So today was really good in hopes it would offset a rough Friday. We will see how tomorrow goes, but whatever happens, I will keep on keepin’ on to drop those lbs. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 428: A Boring Saturday

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Nothing like a boring Saturday full of homework and non-fun stuff to make you wish we weren’t in grad school any more. It was not the funnest Saturday, but the end is sight. (While we only have a two week winter break, I’m going to make the most of it by doing nothing.) Also, I know I went on a huge schpeal about being consistent with blogging earlier this week, but it is just so hard with so much going on with school. I really need to keep blogging though, if anything for my sanity and at least some shred of disciple and accountability to keep at it.

So food today wasn’t bad, but it was just weird with the timing of meals so I don’t know how that will play in to the weigh in tomorrow. Here’s what I’m talking about…

Breakfast: I got up pretty early for a Saturday to get some homework done. I had a wafflewich with peanut butter and honey which was delicious. Nothing too new.

Breakfast Part 2: Son of Breakfast (What am I talking about?): After Megan got up, we decided to have a brunch of sorts so I took a writing break and went to Bruegger’s Bagels. We had talked about going there earlier this week and the plan was to walk to Bruegger’s, but I was running short on time. In hindsight, I should have took the time and get at least a little exercise in today. That’s the mindset I need to get back in to if I want to meet my goals because every little does count.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: I think I have a problem (and I don’t mean that in a funny way). I might be addicted to frozen yogurt. If it was just yogurt it would be okay, but I have become a topping fiend which is where the calories really are. I’ve decided that the next time I got for FroYo, I’m doing no toppings and straight yogurt. (And if I put up a picture of FroYo with toppings next time, I better get some backlash in comment form. I need that accountability at this point.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: With Megan being sick, I was thinking “hey! I have a get out of jail free card” for dinner because I’m an idiot. I had my favorite curry from Mr. Roboto’s, but it just didn’t taste the same. Something that rich used to satisfy me, but this time around it made me physically sick (frankly, looking at this picture is making me sick right now.) About halfway in, I was almost full, I should have just quit then, but I didn’t listen to my body like I should have. I’m still having issues with eating everything on my plate and I’m going to get back to that.

So you are probably thinking “man Nathan, you sound pretty pissed in this post.” If you thought that, you are absolutely right. Honestly, I have been weighing this week to see where I am after gaining 8 pounds over Thanksgiving. At one point I was back down to 243 (I was at 242 before the trip) so I would have gained and lost 8 pounds within a week which would have been legit. Well I weighed this morning and even though I had worked out a lot this week, I was back up to 245. Like usual, I have no clue how it’s going to go tomorrow, but we’ll see. Either way, workout will be happening this week. See ya tomorrow.

Day 424: Getting Back in to the Swing of Things Edition

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So… sorry I didn’t report my weigh in yesterday. It was kind of an unusual day. There have been days where I haven’t blogged not necessarily because I’m a little ashamed of how I did, but it does play a factor in to whether I make it a priority that day. It’s a bad habit that I really need to drop because I know I have your support and love no matter what. It use to be that not blogging was not an option, and I need to be in that mindset in order to make this blog what I want it to be: an online diary/food journal where I can bounce ideas off of my homies and in turn hopefully inspire some people to make a positive change in their life.

Alright, so one of my goals this month was to not gain any weight over Thanksgiving. Last year, I lost a bunch like a boss. Well this year, I blew it out of the water 🙂 in a horrible way :(. I gained 8 pounds last week. We all have trigger foods, and this week I didn’t guard myself from them like I should have. On Sunday, I did mention that I ate small slices of pie, but those small slices still add up very quickly. I thought I was doing okay, but this proved to me that my issues with food are still real and apparent in my life. The weigh in on Monday was a wake up call, but it also scared me because I was kind of working without a net so to speak last week, and I failed miserably. All my life, I have been in eating extremes, I’m either doing really well and losing weight constantly or I’m eating wrong and gaining weight rapidly (i.e. all my life). I’m really worried about how I’m going to maintain when I meet my goal. As with everything though, I’m going to face this head beast head on and dominate.

Non Scale Victory: Last night, we put up the Christmas tree and although I feel really chunky this week, I have this to hang my hat on….

This was the old us from 2009. We still lived in Abilene, Texas in our 400 square foot apartment (I’m still not sure how I maneuvered in that apartment, but I remember it not going that well…) Anyways, As you can see, I was pretty huge and my life was just in a rough place on a lot of levels. I’m wearing a XXL sweater.

 

 

 

 

This was me in our new place in Tallahassee last year. I had just started our weight loss journey and I had just bought my first XL shirt well… ever.

 

 

 

 

 

This is me last night, about two years later. Rocking one of my first size Large shirts. There is a lot less chin and a lot less boob in this shot. I know this week has been rough, but this made me feel really good. Regardless, I have made great strides in the past two years. For some that feels like too much time to make such a change (I used to be one of them) but the time has flown by and I still feel much better than I did in that gray sweater and size 52 shorts.

The rest of this week is about getting my body back in to shape, not just physically, but also my mental relationship with food by telling myself it’s okay to be a little hungry and that grazing is a bad habit. Tomorrow, expect a picture of a points list of what I ate. Also, expect a video. See ya tomorrow.