Category Archives: Weight Loss

Day 534: Weigh In Day!

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First off:

GO NOLES!!!

Alright where was I? Oh yeah, the epic day I had. So I was good pretty much all week and my body was introduced to new and exciting exercises. Sometimes when that happens, your weight can do weird things. This time however, it was a good thing! I lost 3.4 pounds this week! Holla! So what does that mean you ask? Well… plenty. I am now in uncharted waters with weight again. I don’t think I have weighed below 237 yet but I am now. 236.8! (Barely, but who cares?) SO… that means I have officially lost 120 pounds! It’s pretty nuts! I can’t wait to get to 125 soon. That’s going to be epic. Also, today I looked and at this point, I am 30 pounds away from being out of the obese range according to the BMI scale! That’s pretty cool considering I was 150 pounds away from it when I started. Awesome stuff.

Breakfast: I just had a banana because I knew my friend Julie was going to bring breakfast for our class at church. I had one of her sweet rolls. It was probably around 3 points. Then during the sermon, our good friend Chris preached and mentioned my blog. He was talking about accountability and staying the course. I was honored that he mentioned. Thanks for such a great lesson Chris!

Lunch: I didn’t have much time, so Julie, Stacy, Emma and I went to Bandido’s Burritos for lunch. If you may recall, they have THE BEST chips and salsa in Tallahassee. It was epic. I had the chicken burrito with chips and salsa. I’m not sure exactly how many points it was, but with the next paragraph in mind, I was okay with points today.

 

 

 

 

 

SAWS! So the plan was to play racquetball, but the person I was going to play got tied up so I decided I was going to still workout. As I was walking around, I saw Joe the Trainer. He asked me what I was going to do in the gym. Since I had two rough training sessions, I was going to just do my thing on the elliptical. “Don’t do the elliptical” he told me. I thought he was telling me to not overdo it, but instead he told me to do something intense like the bike or something. It was so awesome to be pushed like that! It’s so easy to get complacent in the gym and just do what you are used to. So instead, I did 20 minutes on Stairmaster which is a record for me. My heart was pounding and I was sweating buckets, but it felt so legit! This happenstance of a meeting with Joe reminded me that I need to up my workout game. I’m not 357 anymore! I need to workout like it!

In here somewhere I had some dark chocolate almond milk and popcorn. Yum!

 

 

 

Dinner:Megan is finally home! So I picked her up and we went to… where else? Jason’s Deli! I had the salad bar but they didn’t have light ranch! AAAAHHHH!!!! So instead I had the low cal honey mustard. It was fantastic! It even has a little zing to it! It was a great dinner. (When isn’t it awesome at Jason’s? Except for the time when my dad was at a Jason’s in Waco and the police took down and arrested a person in the parking lot. That’s awesome in a “COPS is still a show?” kind of way.)

So that was my day. It was a pretty epic Sunday. This week is going to be bananas, so it’s going to be important to plan out my meals and at least have eating down to have some structure in my life. Usually when you have that, everything else falls in to place. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 533: St Patricks Day Edition

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(I was going to have an epic line of Gaelic right here but I couldn’t find a translator… or a leprechaun.)

Today was a pretty good day. Unlike the rest of Tallahassee, I just decided to stay in tonight and watch basketball and stuff about Ireland on PBS. I know, I’m awesome. It also doesn’t help that my arms are incredibly sore from this morning’s workout. More on that in a second…

Breakfast: I actually slept in this morning (which felt amazing. I hate Daylight Savings.) and then woke up a little bit before my second personal training session today. I wanted to have a protein-packed breakfast so I had a wafflewich! Hooray for deliciousness! I packed two tablespoons of peanut butter on that bad boy so it was 7 points.

SAWS Session: So when I first met with Joe, he told me that we would being doing ropes and other fun stuff during the cardio days. I was stoked. I was not disappointed. I started out with a four station circuit with four rotations total. The stations were: squat jumps, slamming ropes (this kind of thing), resistance band pull, and the inverted row (which I have seen on Biggest Loser. Yeah, I actually did this, but with better form.) After that mayhem, which was really hard but thanks to Insanity it was bearable, we did some ab exercises aka my super weakness. I did curls with my legs elevated on a balance ball, rows in a V-position and then plank. On the last set of holding a plank position, I was timed on how long I could hold it. Before that, Joe and I were talking about the mental blocks we have that hold us back when working out. So I really thought about that when I was in the plank. Keep in mind this was the absolutely last thing I had to do that day. I was tired, I was sweaty, but I still had swagger. I got in to the plank position, play Hotel California in my head to block out my thoughts about how tired and awful I felt, and held it for 54 seconds. I felt awesome.

My conversation with Joe about mind over body reminded me of how much more control I have over my mental battle with eating than I used to. When I was big, I would eat no matter what. When I was done with a meal, I would already be planning what I would be eating next. Iletfood control my life. I absolutely didn’t need to eat that much to survive, but that side of my brain had so much control over my life. When I was in the plateau for the past few months, I was creeping back to that. I was okay with eating those fries or eating that cake, because I felt I deserved it. You don’t eat because you’re rewarding yourself. We’re not seals at Sea World, we don’t do tricks for food. We are suppose to eat for survival. Now do I love a good meal with friends or with my wife? Absolutely! But it shouldn’t come at the cost of my health. Anyway, I felt I like I learned a lot about myself today in the gym. I’m in a good place right now.

Lunch: When I got home, I blasted some Floggin’ Molly (after all, it is St. Paddy’s Day!) and made some lunch. I microwaved two Bocca burgers with a little cheese in between and made a delicious double pattie cheeseburger. I also had some Cape Cod chips with a glass of chocolate milk. It was epic and only 8 points!

For a snack I had some chips and salsa. Another delicious 3 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: I was jonesin’ for some protein to reload after the past couple days of new exercises, plus I wanted to eat some of the random stuff in our freezer. Win-Win baby! (My omage to Dick Vitale) So, I cooked up a chicken breast, then boiled some ravioli and topped it with some spicy spaghetti sauce. It was easily the most delicious thing I have ever cooked (except for burgersaurus, remind me to explain in my next video.) Dinner was about19 points.I know a little high, but I could tell my body needed the calories to reload.

So today I got to37 points.I had about 10 workout points so I am good! Not too shabby.

This week was a good for rebuilding. I didn’t crash and burn during the second half of the week like I have been which is super huge. I’m really curious to see what the scale will have to say about it. See ya tomorrow.

Day 531: That Time My Arms Hurt Alot Edition

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My arms hurt so much that it hurts to type. I wish I was exaggerating. I’ll post the pictures but in short: the first day of personal training was epic. Joe is fantastic to work. I want to learn the mechanics of weight lifting and exercising and he really takes the time to explain it all to me. Today we did chest and triceps right in the “Bro Den” (if you go to Leach or go to the gym you know what I mean.) While I was doing chest flys with 12 pound weights, Mark McGuire’s offspring was next to meet doing curls with 90’s. When I was big, the only time I would feel tiny and scrawny was in the weight area. Today, I just focused on me. I went in there, didn’t care what other people thought and just focused on this guy. It was a confidence I never had in the gym. It was an awesome feeling.

Alright, well to summarize the day, I didn’t have breakfast, but I had a great lunch and then an epic dinner. With the workout, I was well within my points. Deliciousness. Again, sorry this was short, but I’m fading fast. See ya tomorrow.

Day 529: Terrific Tuesday Time

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(I wonder how many more T’s I can add to the title…)

Greetings my fine viewing friend! Today was pretty awesome, well for me anyway. I guess you can read about it and be the judge of that.

Breakfast: (I just need to point out that the Walker Texas Ranger theme song just started to play. Imagine this paragraph with an awesome background song. To be even more adventurous, find it on YouTube and listen to it.) Okay, yes I’m super ADD tonight. My bad. ANYWAYS! Megan and I went to Subway for breakfast. I had the bacon egg and cheese sandwich. They are really the most filling 4 points. I don’t know what it is. I was fuller longer after eating that than eating 7 points of Kashi with milk. I really need to re-evaluate breakfast…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: So my class had a field trip to visit the fine folks at VisitFlorida, the marketing entity for Florida tourism. The plan was that my friend Andrew (that’s Mr. Cullen to the vampire horde) and I were going to go to Jason’s Deli before class. Unfortunately, it was packed. So we went across the street to Bada Bean. The last time I was there, I had their epic black bean burger (it’s the best Jerry! The best!) so I had that with potato salad. It was pretty epic and delicious. After we were there for a while, my No.1 cheerleader/hater Alex stopped by too. (How many shout outs is that now Alex?) Anyway, lunch was about 14 points. The sides are kind of limited there so it was potato salad or bean salad, which seemed kind of redundant. For a snack later in the day I had a 1 point English muffin with some honey.

Meeting Joe: So as you may have saw on Facebook, I found out today that I have now have a personal trainer through Leach and FSU! I got the call today and we set up a time just to meet and talk about the fun/death that will ensue. We talked about my weight loss and all that fun stuff and how I’m ready to get more muscly and less flabby. We are starting on Thursday night with weight lifting. He said at one point we will do a high intensity cardio circuit with boxes and ropes and stuff, the kind of things I’ve been really wanting to try. I think my eyes were wide the whole time we talked like his head was made out of chocolate cake or something. (I know that comparison was obscure and perhaps creepy to some readers. What I meant was I AM SO FREAKIN STOKED TO START TRAINING!!!) I’ll have a full recap on Thursday and I’ll talk about it a little more tomorrow night on Wordless Wednesday.


Dinner (THIS PART INCLUDES READER PARTICIPATION SO LISTEN UP!): So even though we didn’t go Jason’s for lunch, we ended up going there for dinner (I know, I’m ridiculous.) I challenged Megan to see who could make the more epic salad. When I mentioned the idea, she became an intense architect of salad awesomeness! Now, YOU HAVE TO VOTE ON THEM! Just say either the top salad or the bottom salad! (Please vote in comments section below and please, no betting.) Anyway, so Megan ordered a French Onion soup with her salad and they accidentally brought two (all right! Double prizes!) Dinner was great! We both found dressings that were low cal and low sodium and we both had our share of their delicious hummus. Fan-freakin-tastic! It is super tedious to figure out a salad, but I did it one time when we visited our friends in Abilene   (This was one of my favorite posts to write! It includes an Old man motivating me! Check it out!) and I figured it out to be about 10 points. I think I’m safe to assume that since I don’t deviate from my salad making prowess. The soup was also 5 points. I could have said no to the soup and had been okay. Awe well.

So that’s about it for today. I got to about 34 points which is really good because only one point was snacking. I think if every day could be like this I would be able to live eating only 28 points. While I know I might be a little off on dinner, either way I’m making much better options with my food which means I just plain feel better. I don’t feel slouchy like I have been. It’s an awesome feeling. See ya tomorrow.

PS (I’ll announce the winner tomorrow of the Epic Salad Battle on my Facebook page!)

Day 528: Monday Adventures

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Sorry for a late night post. We were watching a TLC show about removing excess excess skin after extreme weight loss. It was… interesting. Anyway, Monday was a good day! Monday’s are one of those days that you are worried they will suck but then are much better than expected. Holla.

Breakfast: I had a bowl of Kashi Awesomeness. Hooray! 7 points.

Lunch: Today, I ate lunch at work. Nothing too exciting, just a leftover slice of pizza and a Kashi bar. It was a pretty good 8 pointlunch. Oh yeah, and a delicious apple.

So it was a long time between lunch and my dinner plans, so I came home and had a Lean Pocket (6 points) and 2 points of corn flakes. I need to get some better snacks in the house. Scratch that, I need to eat the delicious fruits that we keep in the house that are free points. (I feel like I’m starting this thing all over again…)

 

 

 

 

Dinner with a Wolf: Today was my friend Andrea’s birthday so a couple of us went out for her birthday! We went to this place called Sahara in Tallahassee. The food was great! I just had a bowl lentil soup. For how much you get, lentil soup is a great low point meal. Sometimes it does taste like dirt, but Sahara makes it right! The soup was only about 3 points but with the pitas it was about 7 points.

I wasn’t kidding when I said (or wrote) that I feel like I’m starting this thing all over again. It has been rough and I’m already close to using all my extra points for the week. In a way though, this really is starting over, just from a different point. I have been stagnant since November so this is technically a new starting place. It’s not easy, but I’m going to make a few adjustments like better use of points for breakfast (eat more fruits, etc.) and better snacking options through out the day. No matter what, I have been more disciplined than I have been in a while and it’s truly a refreshing feeling. See ya tomorrow.

Day 527: Weigh In Today!

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Why hello young reader!

Remember that time my Super Seminoles beat UNC for their first ever ACC championship title? I DO!!! What an epic game! (I apologize to my neighbors who heard me yelling like a banshee this afternoon…) Anyway, so last week had its ups and downs with eating since I was gone for a few days but it came out okay. I lost 1.2 pounds this week. Not much, and I am 240.2 so I am so close to break in to the 230’s (again) but this week is all about counting points both on the front end and the back end. Thursday on has been the issue. Anyone who has counted points or calories knows that it does get tiring so I have just been losing steam at that point. I’m just going to get through it this week and try to get a rhythm going. We shall see what happens.

Breakfast: I had a wafflewich with a delicious organic banana from Earth Fare. If you really want to taste the difference between organic and conventional, taste test a banana or an apple. The difference are very apparent. Anyway, pretty delicious and a hearty 7 points.

Lunch: Yesterday, we made these epic lettuce wraps from the always-awesome Cooking Light (this is the recipe from a blog. Enjoy.) and we had leftovers. Hooray! I only had 4 points of leftovers but it was super filling!

Snack: When I watching history unfold this afternoon, I had a Lean Pocket. We don’t have any chips really to snack on (in hindsight I should have made some popcorn but I just now thought of that) so I went with something that wasn’t great. Fail? I wouldn’t say that (but at this point I’m sure thinking that it was…) 6 points

 

 

 

 

Yumtastic Awesomeness: After to our excursion to Lucy & Leo’s on Friday, Megan decided to try her hand at baking. It was a fantastic success. She made these epic peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. While they are delicious, they were about 8 points a piece so I ate only one today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Tonight, Megan and I went to Pizza Hut for a “season finale” if you will of Spring Break. We ordered a large Thin n’ Crispy with cheese. Don’t let the name fool you though, it’s still 6 points a slice. However, a slice of large pan with pepperoni is 9 points a slice, so there is still quite a bit of difference. I kind of went nuts and had three slices along with a salad. Dinner was 20 points. That is bad, no doubt, but it made me think about all the times I would go to a pizza buffet and eat 5 slices a plate! I did that all my life from elementary on! I’m still eating less at 25 than I did when I was 10. Pretty crazy. I’m glad that I have been blessed with the new willpower I have to live better and to eat healthy.

So today was bad, but I’m actually tracking my weekly points now (which I have 35 of) so the cupcake and my extra points will go in to my in to that. In total though, I got to45 points.Yikes. I have 17/35 extra points. This week will be interesting.

So here’s what I need from you, dear reader, keep me in check. If we eat together or you see me around, ask me how it’s going in the ol’ food department. Or, if you want to work out or play a sport give me a call! Let’s get physical, physical. See ya tomorrow.

Day 525: Friday Post Yo! GO NOLES!

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I wish I was in the ATL right now watching my Noles do work on the U, but I also wish I was in Austin for the start of SXSW (Google it). I guess chilling on my couch will work too :).

Anyway, yeah… about that no post last night, my b. I can tell you that we had this delicious veggie lasagna that was epic.

Today was the last official day of Spring Break and while it was a little depressing that it is over, the semester is at least coming to an end. Overall, it was a great last Spring Break! Okay, let’s talk food!

Breakfast: I went with my old standby of Fage Greek Yogurt (which is epic by the way) and Kashi Go Lean Berry Crumble awesomeness. It’s a lot of breakfast for not a lot of calories and while Chobani has a special place in my heart, the Fat Free Fage plain yogurt is really good!


While Out and About: Even though it is Spring Break, I still had to do some homework to make the end of the semester a lot more bearable. For one of my classes, I have to interview PR and marketing professionals in the community to learn more about their positions and the industry. Today, I interviewed the lady who has my dream job: the Community Relations Coordinator for Earth Fare in Tallahassee. It was great to hear all about Earth Fare’s mission to end childhood obesity and how they are working towards that with school programs and community outreach. It not only inspired me to find a job that helps the greater good, it also really encouraged me to continue to shop at Earth Fare to further their mission! Anyway, after my informational interview with Sydney and Travis, I did a little shopping (and of course some free sampling) and bought some Kombucha. Good stuff.

Lunch:I just had a slice of that awesome veggie lasagna for lunch. Deliciousness.

 

 

 

 

Yum Time: In keeping with the stuff that needed to get done on Spring Break, we went to the laundromat (and no we didn’t get these cupcakes at a laundromat) but before we head over there, we ventured in to midtown for some Lucy & Leo’s cupcakes. We’ve never been there, but we have heard great things about them. I decided to try the peanut butter chocolate cupcake with Reese’s Pieces on top and Megan tried their famous red velvet. The frosting was super light and it was perfectly sweet. I even overheard the worker talk about how they use fresh ingredients and don’t use preservatives. Always a bonus (if anything, you know they are fresh.) Overall, I was pretty impressed!

Dinner: Tonight, Megan made this awesome maple dijon chicken with some mashed potatoes and even some leftover brussel sprouts from Wednesday night. It was epic as always.

So that’s about it for today. Sorry I didn’t have the points up, but I can tell you that a massive slice of veggie lasagna is only 5 points which equates to something like 200 calories. That’s pretty epically awesome.

At this point in the night, I’m pretty hungry so I’m trying to stave of hunger with water and snacking on veggies. Any suggestions? See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 522: Tuesday Post!

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Hello!

Sorry for a random weigh in post and then disappearing for obscure amount of time. The second half of last week was crazy in a good and bad way. It was bad because I kind of crashed hard with counting points and the semester was getting crazy. It was awesome because my great friend Patrick and his girlfriend Jennifer drove through and spent the night on Saturday. Patrick and I were best friends when I lived in Louisville for a short amount of time. Since then, we have kept in contact regularly. However, this was the first time we had seen each other in nine years. It was pretty awesome to see old friends.

Anyway, after they went on their way (in Patrick’s epic Corvette) Megan and I headed down to Apalachicola for a little Spring Break trip. We stayed in a little Inn, hit the beach, saw some dolphins, and then went to Destin for some outlet mall shopping (I bought a bunch of $5 bow ties from the Saks 5th Ave outlet. So flippin’ stoked!) Now, we are back and super ready to get back to counting points. I have even more motivation because after doing the math, if I want to reach my year end goal of 178.5 (half my of my starting weight) all I have to do is average 1.5 pounds every week! THAT’S DOABLE!!!! That’s motivation enough at this point. Get stoked. (Please note: I know the food eaten today will not reflect point counting. That’s why tomorrow is a new day.)

 

Breakfast: This morning, we had breakfast at the Inn we were staying at. Breakfast was a few slices of bacon, toast, fruit and an egg scramble. It was pretty good!

When we were driving to Destin, I had a Kashi bar. Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: So a little known fact about me: I flippin’ love Pei Wei and PF Chang’s. It may be my favorite chain in the universe. So when we found out there was a PF Chang’s in Destin, we jumped on it. I went with the lettuce wrap, my favorite, and we shared an order of steamed pot sickers. The food was lukewarm and disappointing because our service sucked. Lame sauce.

 

 

 

Dessert:After a day of crazy shopping, we worked up an appetite for froyo! I went back to the basic small cup with not extra toppings and all that fun stuff. Yum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: There wasn’t much around the house so we just had nachos. Shredded cheese and chips. Yum.

So that’s about it. There will be a ton of pictures tomorrow and I’ll report getting back to WW via video! Get stoked. See ya tomorrow.