Day 410: Recap of Things and Stuff

So I’m back!!! (Did you miss me? Don’t answer that.)

The trip to the Best Coast was a blast, but the redeye back to Florida was a doozie on my allergies/cold. Thankfully, I am drugged up on meds thanks to a visit to the doctor so I’m feeling quite a bit better. So I was kind of worried about this trip was going to screw up my weight loss completely. While I did eat my share of delicious food and drank my fill of delicious lattes, I did walk all over tarnation in San Francisco. (Is tarnation an actual level of measurement? Hmm…) Anyways, I was thinking I had gained about 5 or so pounds on this trip (either way I knew it was going to be a gain) but I lucked out and only gained 2.8 pounds which means I am at 245.6 pounds. I’m in a bad place I think because I was talking to Megan about how I had an “awe well” attitude about it and she jokingly said “well you should at least sound remorseful on the blog.” While we were kind of kidding about it, it’s true, I should be remorseful about it, to which I am now. This weekend last year, I went on my first trip while dieting and I flipped about only losing half a pound. I gained almost three pounds in 5 days and I was apathetic about it! So today has been about changing my mindset. I have worked too hard so far not to finish what I’ve started. I didn’t get this far by being apathetic, I got this far by watching what I ate constantly and working my butt off in the gym! I am going to finish strong. This is going to happen. Watch me.

One of my goals this month was to get down to 235 by Dec. 1. At 242, that seemed doable, now I have a long way to go (not to mention Thanksgiving is thrown in there as well.) But from this point on, I’m going to work to get my weight down. I wanted to get to onederland by New Years or at least my birthday in January; if it doesn’t happen (mathematically it is a long shot. I’ve always hated math.) I’m going to get there by at least St. Patrick’s Day or sooner. I have the tools, I know the playbook, and I have the [insert other cliche here] to get it done. Time to do work son!

Breakfast: I just had the same ol’ awesome peanut butter and honey on Publix waffles. Awesomeness.

Lunch: I had a turkey sandwich with some tomato soup. A can of Campbell’s Healthy Select tomato soup is only 3 points so it’s totally worth it!

[Insert multiple sessions of grazing around the house because I was sick and my mental filter was still in vacation mode. No more of that silliness.]

 

Dinner: While I was getting my prescription filled at Walmart, I bought what I was going to make for dinner. I found the Butterball turkey Italian Sausage which is only 3 points a sausage compared to 8 points a sausage of its beef/pork counterpart. So I bought those along with a zucchini, squash and some whole wheat penne pasta and made a killer pasta dish. It was pretty awesome and only about 6 points a serving!

So aside from the grazing, I did okay today. Tomorrow will be much better. See ya tomorrow.

Day 407: Where in the World is The Fotographing Fat Kid?

So you’re probably wondering why I haven’t posted this week at all (I’m pretty sure it is a record, but a bad record like the number of jelly beans you can fit up your nose.) It’s been a crazy week to say the least. I am currently in San Francisco! Megan is here for a conference, so I tagged along and I’m staying with my old ACU bud Spencer. This is my first time time to visit California and I freaking love it. The weather is awesome, the people are cool and the food is ridiculous. Which brings me to my next point, this town is a foodie’s dream. There is absolutely no reason to ever go to a chain, especially coffee places like Starbucks. So far, the places we have gone to have been just awesome. I’m not going to lie, I haven’t really been keeping close to my diet this week. I could say that I’m on vacation, hiking up the 45 degree angle hills burns enough calories, and that my hike around the Golden Gate Bridge/the ocean should cover it, but I won’t. I should be better and I’m going to try to be better the rest of the week. It’s just so hard when there are so many new places to try. Thoughts?

Anyways, I’ve enjoyed my trip so far and while I’m still going to enjoy it in regards to eating, I’m going to take it from a different approach which will mean more portion control and water drinking. (Sorry for such a ginormous run on sentence.) I won’t be able to weigh tomorrow, so weigh in will be on Tuesday with a full report then. I really want to drop some weight before seeing my family in Texas over Thanksgiving, plus I want to get to my 235 goal for November. I’ll have to get busy!

So here are a few pics of the trip so far. Like I said earlier, I hiked up to the Hall of Legions and then took the coastal trail towards the Golden Gate Bridge. As I was getting close, it started to pour so I called it good for now. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 401: A Good Ol’ Weigh Sunday In!

So yeah, I didn’t post on my 400th day like I should have. My B.

My parents got in to town yesterday so we have had a blast just chilling and enjoying the sight and sound (yes, that is suppose to be singular) of Tallahassee. Anyways, even though I didn’t make time to run, I was still able to lose 1.8 pounds this week! I’m pretty stoked about it! At this point, I have lost 114.2 pounds so far so November is looking alright. Good times.

Breakfast: We crashed the La Quinta breakfast bar this morning. It was nothing special as far as continental breakfasts go so I just had a bagel and some raisin bran. Good stuff.

Lunch: After church, we went to my Dad’s favorite place in Tallahassee: Barnacle Bill’s Seafood Extravaganza. We split an order of steamed oysters and I had the stone crabs with hush puppies and new potatoes. The stone crabs were served chilled which was a little weird, but pretty good nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoon Dessert: My mom wanted to go to some of the “greatest hits” from the blog so we went to TCBY for some froyo awesomeness. I had a mix of white chocolate mousse, pumpkin, and peanut butter. Yes, I know that sounds like a bizarre combo, but it was fantastico.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: My Dad brought me his old Weber grill from home (which is better than the one I’ve been using that I found by the trash can) so I tried broke it in tonight with some burgers. We bought some ground beef from Earth Fare along with some natural charcoal from Earth Fare as well. The burgers past the MacDonald family test and so did the bratwursts! We also got some fries from Wing Stop as a side. They were awesome of course.

So today was alright food wise and I’m really going to work to rock this week. See ya tomorrow.

Day 399: Friday Time People!

#iheartfridays

(Yes… I did just hashtag. Deal with it.)

So today was kind of nuts with a bunch of random things going on. We were finally able to sleep in this morning which made life better because we are both kind of fighting off a cold. It was nice to get some homework done while getting to relax a little bit. Before I get too far in to this, I might as well admit that I have already “broken” one of my goals this month. I wanted to run, but it was cold and windy and I didn’t have make the time like I should have. I’m going to just get up in the morning and run since it will be a little warmer tomorrow morning. (Yes, 63 and windy is cold to me. I have turned in to a wimp.) Anyways, overall though today was okay food wise and hopefully I will be able to drop some lbs this week. If anything, I’ve been drinking my water and that has to count for something right?

Breakfast: I just had two waffles and some peanut butter. What can I say? I’m a creature of habit.

 

 

 

 

Lunch: Megan wanted to me out to lunch so we decided on some Cuban at Gordo’s. I went with the media noche sandwich with some moros which is black beans and rice cooked together. Last time I had the fries which were way too salty so I’m glad I went with a smaller side. It was pretty good, but my steak dinner was way cheaper than my lunch which is kind of ridiculous.

 

 

 

 
Starbucks: While Megan and I were out and about, we grabbed some Starbucks at the mall. I had a skinny caramel machiatto thanks to the gift card my parents sent us. I was probably the best caramel machiatto ever. Awesomeness.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Tonight, I had to assure my neighbors that our place wasn’t on fire. (I wish I was kidding.) I was cooking with half charcoal and half mesquite and it really gave our Montreal crusted steaks a smokey flavor. We had that with some microwavable broccoli and cheese. We figured it out and it was $4 per person for dinner. Yes… a steak dinner was $4 each. Why do we eat out? That was less than our Starbucks drinks! Craziness. Anyways, for dessert we had two cookies. Yum.

So today wasn’t too bad like I said, and I’m going to be good tomorrow so I can lose some weight yo! Fun stuff. See ya tomorrow.

PS: my alma mater Abilene Christian University suffered a great blow today. A group of students from the Agriculture department were going on a weekend mission trip to a children’s home and their bus tipped over, killing one student and injuring the majority of the students and faculty. Please keep the victims and their families in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks.

Day 398: Thursday Stuff

I’ve been really tired today so let’s do this thang!Overall, today I wasn’t feeling too well which lead to a little overeating and stuff like that. I’m not mad about it because it was Thursday and it’s kind of been a stressful week. Not too worried, but we’ll see.

Breakfast: I had some grapenuts because they are awesome.

Lunch: I made my lunch (smart move of the day) which was just a sandwich and an apple. It was pretty fantastic. I’m getting a lot better and sandwich making so that’s making it easier to bring a lunch. PS honeycrisp apples are my lifeblood.

Snack: I was feeling a little light headed and off after my class so I picked up a Nature Valley bar for an afternoon snack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snack II: When I got to work, I still wasn’t feeling well. I was thinking I was still hungry and when I was complaining to my co-worker Andrea, she offered me a packet of oatmeal, so I took her up on that and I had apple cinnamon oatmeal. It was good, but since I’m microwaved instruction impaired when it comes to oatmeal, most of it ended up in the microwave (don’t worry… I cleaned it up) so it was about half a serving. Delicious nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: After work, we went with some of our friends from Megan’s department to Tomahawks which is a sports bar and grill close to campus. The majority of the menu is off limits (especially the 15 patty high cheeseburger) but I think I did okay. I had a 1/4 pound cheeseburger with a house salad with a raspberry vinaigrette. I then had two wings which were awesomely delicious.

Umm.. Yeah: While the burger was okay, it wasn’t that filling. So when I got home, I had about a serving of leftover pasta from last night and about 2 cups of rice krispies. I’m not really sure why that happened… but it did. I guess dinner wasn’t the “right” kind of filling. We also made some immaculate baking company cookies which aren’t that bad and are delicious.

So like I said, it was just one of those days but I have no bad feelings about it. Tomorrow I’m running 5 miles so hopefully the calories burned from that will offset it a little bit. Good times. See ya tomorrow.

Day 395: Halloween Edition!

Happy

Halloween!!!

I cannot believe it’s already almost November! I also cannot believe how much I love Halloween! It was a pretty awesome Halloween even though no trick-or-treaters came to visit our house. Awe well, maybe next year. Anyways, today was another of grazing and my metabolism being kicked in to high gear. It feels like I am just continuously hungry and I’m hoping it is my metabolism instead of something bad. I don’t know. My body has been in it’s own world ever since I went down to the 28 point daily allotment. I don’t know if it’s enough because I have been really bad about counting or staying within my points. I’m really going to start working on that.

Breakfast: I had a wafflewich sans bananas. It was a good start to the day as always.

 

Lunch: Today was the Halloween lunch party/costume contest at work! I wasn’t really sure what to wear, but I eventually came up Tom Cruise in Risky Business. (I think I pulled it off pretty well if I do say so myself.) Anyways, we had Gumby’s Pizza which was pretty good (first time Gumby-er) and then I had half of a little divinity bar with reese’s pieces on top. I know I have been whining about everything in regards to this lull/rut in my weight loss journey, but you you can see from this pic in 2009, you can tell I have made some strides when you compare these pics. Pretty awesome stuff.

 

Running: I was going to go run in the morning, but sleep is so much more in vogue right now in Switzerland so I went the trendy route and slept in. So this evening I went out for a 3 mile run for my 10k training. I decided to do a 5k (what’s more .11 mile?) and it was rough because my quads were sore, but I’m still okay with my time. I’m going to try to keep my 5k time down below 33 minutes from now on so we’ll see how that goes. Anyways, overall it was a pretty good run! I have another 3 mile run on Wednesday and then a 5 miler on Friday. That should be fun…

Dinner: I had some leftover chicken and rice which wasn’t really filling enough because I was starving. This led up to mass grazing. After I ran I did have a pb sandwich, and then I had some pistachios, a piece of pie, some pumpkin seeds and other stuff. Then I went and picked up Megan from a long meeting so we went to Moe’s so she could have dinner so I had some chips and salsa. I think I need to eat more protein or something because I’m just not full after meals. Hmmm… Well tomorrow, I am going to actually count my points and see where I’m at. Wait… count out points? Who does that? Oh yeah… See ya tomorrow.

Day 394: Weigh In Time

So I wasn’t really sure how this week was going to go (I know, I feel like I’ve said that before) but I did have a pretty good feeling about it. I’ve been really inconsistent with weight loss and gaining during October, but I’m going to make November a month of weight loss awesomeness. Anyways, I lost 1.6 pounds so I’m to where I was from the the gain and then some.

Breakfast: I had some grapenuts. Deliciousness.

Lunch: We made some grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. It wasn’t too filling, but it was the perfect fall lunch! Last night, Megan made her first pumpkin pie of the season so I had a slice for dessert.

Throughout the day, I snacked on some toasted pumpkin seeds.

Dinner: Megan tried out this new chicken and rice recipe from the Joy of Cooking and it was awesome with some mixed veggies. I was really impressed with how it turned out. Luckily, we have plenty of leftovers! Score!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starbucks: My friend Andrea and I have a presentation on Wednesday so we met up at Starbucks and worked on all that fun stuff. I had a skinny caramel machiatto but hot instead of my usual cold. When I got home I had a bowl of rice krispies.

So as you can tell, it was an exciting day… I guess. Like I said yesterday, Megan and I are going to start a Nike+ 10K training program this week. I’m hoping running three times a week will really help me get back in to working out regularly. Get stoked. See ya tomorrow.

 

 

 

Day 393: Saturday Recap of the Week

So I didn’t post on Thursday because the Rangers had ripped out my heart to the point of exhaustion. By then, I had realized I had wasted four and a half hours of my life  in the respect that I could have been doing plenty of homework in that time frame. (Yes, I know that sounded pretty nerdy. It is what it is.) Friday, I wasn’t able to because we were at our young pros and college annual Halloween bash. It was a blast to chill by the fire after the race. Oh yeah…

RACE RECAP! The Trick or Trot was my first evening race (which I was nervous about since I had been sedentary all day) and it was awesome! I blew my records out the water yo! The race started downhill and since it wasn’t a big race, I was able to book it the first mile and set a good pace. It then started to even out and before I knew it, mile 1 was done… in 8:40! WHABAM! Through mile 2 or so, the hills were bad but still not as bad as the ones I’m use to so I just pushed through it. The last .1 was straight uphill which really sucked but again I just worked through it (even though at that point I was losing steam fast) and I’m glad I did. I busted out a 30:38 5k time. I was secretly hoping to break 30 minutes, but I was pretty freakin’ close. I was also wondering if I was going to place in the 20-29 mens bracket, but considering the thrid place time was a little over 18 minutes and the first place time was 16:25, I didn’t have a shot :). Overall, it was a pretty awesome race! Starting on Monday, Megan and I are going to start a 12 week Nike+ 10k training program so I’m pretty stoked about that too!

 

 

 

Alright let’s get back to today.

Breakfast: I just had a wafflewich of awesomeness. Fantastic.

Lunch: This morning, the Farmer’s Market downtown had owls!!!! The St. Francis Wildlife Refuge brought out the owls they use for educational purposes. It was pretty awesome. Anyways, that had nothing to do with lunch, but who cares. For lunch, we just came home and I had leftover chili from the other night. Awesomeness.

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, we found bacon flavored syrup at Wold Market. Bacon lattes anyone?

[Insert this time of the day with intermittent rice krispy treat and pistachio grazing. Ruh roh…]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Tonight, we carved our massive pumpkins and roasted pumpkin seeds. Megan carved out a super awesome jack-o-lantern and completely overshadowed mine that looked like a seven year olds. Anyways, Megan made the Southwest quinoa recipe that we know and love for dinner. It was delicious as usual.

So today wasn’t too bad. Like I said I did graze a little bit and we will just have to see how that affects tomorrow’s weigh in. Either way, I feel pretty decent about this week so we will see how it goes. See ya tomorrow.