[GIVEAWAY] Earth Fare Deliciousness!

Posted on July 22, 2013 by theffkid

Hello dear reader!

It’s truly amazing how awesome your body feels when you treat your body like the temple that it is. Like I read today on someone’s post, “treat your body well because you’re the one living in it!” When I look back and think about how I treated my body for so long, it just makes me even more thankful for that bold decision I made on September 18, 2010 to change my life. Almost three years and 130 pounds later, it was still the best decision I have ever made.

So enough about that. Let’s talk about Earth Fare AND MY AWESOME EARTH FARE GIFT TO YOU!

I have always been some sort of a foodie. When I was obese, I dreamed of going on to Man v. Food and showing Adam Richman how to really eat like boss. I was all about going to all you can eat restaurants and getting my money’s worth and then some. I treated like every meal was my last meal. At the rate I was going, it easily could have been.

But that all changed when I began this weight loss journey.

I’ll never forget the first time I walked in to Earth Fare. “What is that smell?” I asked. “It smells…fresh.” Produce. I was smelling produce. The fruits and veggies were like nothing I had smelled before. I mean, I had had fresh vegetables before, but WOW! Then…I saw the meat market. It was beautiful.

I was so happy with Earth Fare, I e-mailed them about my experience and my story. Then, they published it on their page! (You can read it here!)

So a few months ago, I applied for their Earthlete program, their ambassador program that celebrates athletes that are fueled by eating healthy. I’m not gonna lie, I really didn’t think I was going to get it. BUT I DID!!!!! and it has pushed me to get fit in the gym and lose weight in the kitchen.

Which leads us to today.

This weekend, I got an email from Earth Fare that said they had something waiting for me at Earth Fare: COUPONS!!! Now I love a good deal. Like The Wolf always says, “You gotta be a Baller on a budget yo!” (Okay, she doesn’t say it exactly like that…)

So I am giving away some coupons and some delicious Earth Fare swag!
That’s right! I have a giant stack of these bad boys and I’m ready to give them out to you, dear reader!

What does that include, you asked? (or read, I guess…)
Well, for only $5, you get:

Earth Fare Organic Jelly
Earth Fare Organic or Natural Cookies
Earth Fare Organic or Natural Peanut Butter
Earth Fare Organic or Natural Applesauce
Earth Fare Organic or Natural Crackers

That’s a savings of more than $15!!!

All you have to do is:
Like The FFK FB Page and then comment below with your favorite FFK post!!! To be eligible, you have to do both!

There will be five randomly-selected winners. Each winner will get to pick the item of their choice from those five items!
The deadline for this giveaway is Sunday, July 28th at 11:59 p.m.
If you don’t win, no big! I will be happy to give you a coupon for your own 5 dollar Organic Deal!
(Note: if you would like a coupon, you must live in the Tallahassee area but anyone can win the items!)

Plus, I’ll have another giveaway soon. Stay tuned for that!

This week, starting tomorrow, I’ll highlight each of the items in the deal.

See ya tomorrow!

Monday on Reset

Posted on June 10, 2013 by theffkid

You know that blog you read where the writer always says “I’m going to do better, I’m going to do better, I’m going to do better”? Well, that has been me for a while. My weight loss has had its issues over the passed few years, but during that time I have still been able to maintain my within 10 pounds or so. This week, we are back to the basics: simple meals during the week, counting points, and some solid exercise. One thing I’m throwing in to the mix is tapping in more of my foodie side on the weekends. My issue is that I want to make all the delicious things to break from the same ol same ol during the week. So hear we go. Let’s get to it.

SHAMELESS PLUG TIME!
Y U NO LIKE MY FACEBOOK PAGE???
I’m trying to get to 1,000 likes! Help a blogger out!
Click here and like!
(Also, if I get to 1,000 likes, I’ll stop blabbing about this ridiculous self promotion… well, maybe…)

Breakfast: I had two eggs and a piece of toast. Simpletastic! 5 points

Lunch: I had leftover mac n’ cheese from yesterday’s lunch along with one Hebrew National 94% ff hot dog. 9 points

Snack: I had some celery sticks with a tablespoon of peanut butter 2 points

Dinner: I just had a cajun-seasoned chicken breast with some delicious squash (seriously, Becky knows how to grow some serious squash!) 8 points

Run time!
Since it finally cooled off tonight, I went for an awesome run!
So. Many. Hills.
I’m still in love with my Brooks shoes. It’s like wearing pillows on my feet.

Dessert: When I got back from my run, I could feel my blood sugar getting a little low so I had a little pie with a little low fat ice cream. 5 points.

So today I got to 29 points which is awesome. Interested to see how tomorrow’s weigh in goes. See ya tomorrow.

Day 906!

Posted on March 11, 2013 by theffkid

Why hello my dear readers!

The Biggest Loser is such a powerful show. It’s been so amazing to not only watch the contestants change their lives, but to also see the kids and their amazing progress as well. I hope they are bringing more attention to childhood obesity and the issues of bullying as well. This is something that we can’t ignore any longer. It’s time for our nation to make a change. Every child deserves a healthy life.

Shifting gears…

I have been keep close tabs on my eating and I have been lifting like a beast! I have no clue what came over me, but I just decided that I wasn’t going to care about how I looked, how I wasn’t lifting as much as the meathead next to me, or that wouldn’t see results immediately. Those were the things that have been holding me back because frankly, that part of the gym absolutely terrifies me. Ever since middle school, I have been the “weakling” when it comes to lifting. I’ve never had upper body strength and instead of doing something about it, I would do something else like cardio. It has always bothered me. So now I’m making progress already! I know that lifting will help my running and open the doors to other activities like surfing and other things that requires upper-body strength. Time to become a Fotographing Fit Kid.

Okay so moving to food today. In summation, I turned what could have been a bad food day in to a good food day! Megan and I went for breakfast at our favorite breakfast joint, Jim and Milt’s, since I took the day off from work since she’s on Spring Break. It’s not the healthiest breakfast place, but it’s filling. Then, we went to Sam’s Club to redeem the membership we bought from Living Social last week. I had a slice of their famous delicious pizza. When we were there, we stocked up on some incredibly awesome fruits and veggies!

When we got home, I realized that I was pretty high with my points. Sometimes when I thought I was in too deep, I would just decide not count my points. I didn’t do that today. I counted it out and decided to make a healthier dinner then I had planned! We roasted some brussels sprouts and put them on a baked potato with a little cheese and light sour cream. I also has some fat free cool whip and a handful of blackberries. Tonight, I feel full and with no regrets. I’m just so happy with where I am with my weight loss journey. Much more than I have in a long time. It feels great.

Here’s the breakdown with the photos:
Breakfast: 10 points
Lunch: 10 points (just for a slice of pizza)
Snack: 1 point
Dinner: 8 points

Now about the scale…
I am going to be happy with whatever it says. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and the rest will follow. See ya tomorrow.

Day 891: WW Awesomeness

Posted on February 24, 2013 by theffkid

I forget how awesome Weight Watchers is.

I’m so happy to be back on the weight loss bandwagon. I think when I’m off any sort of a weight loss plan, I start to put way too much emphasis on food. I worry so much about where and what to eat. When I have that structure, I just feel better. SO GLAD TO BE BACK AT IT! WEIGHT LOSS TIME!

I’m going to keep this brief because I have a couple things I need to be doing. But in lieu of me talking…err…writing, check out my crazy product review of my Handana (be on the lookout for random Easter eggs inside the post!)

Here we go…

Breakfast: Sprouted Grain English Muffin with peanut butter: 7 points
Lunch: Quinoa with blacks beans and corn: 6 points
Snack: TCBY Rocky Road frozen yogurt (small): 7 points
Snack: Two flatbread crackers: 1 point
Dinner: Arroz Con Pollo: 9 points

Got to 30 points so I was two points over. Not too shabby eh? See ya tomorrow.

Day 865: What A Weigh In Day Edition

Posted on January 29, 2013 by theffkid

What a crazy day.

Today has been a whirlwind of social media insanity for this kid (this Fotographing Fat Kid that is…)

It all started this morning when I put out a possible weigh in spoiler alert on my Facebook page if I received 8 more Likes.

Well…those 8 turned in to more than 150 over the course of the day. Thanks to the super awesome Michelle and her FB page “Leaving Obesity Behind”. She posted my little challenge on her page for all her 12,417 likes to see. (It’s good to have friends.) I just want to give a shout out to her. Her and I share a special over a special number: 357. Her and I both started our weight loss journeys at that ridiculous number. Awesomely enough, we both have the same goal weight too! What are the odds? Anyway, thanks Michelle for being awesome and thanks for all of the new likes everyone. Welcome my the craziness.

Okay, moving on. So like I said on my FB page this morning, I lost 2.8 pounds this week! I’m down to 227.6 pounds which is crazy! I’m so stoked to break through that 227 barrier and I’m ready for that to be my next weigh in! AAAAHHHHHH CAN’T WAIT!

So let’s get to the whole food tracking thing!

Breakfast: This morning, I started out with an Ezekiel English Muffin with 2 tablespoons of sunflower seed butter. Yes, it’s the sunflower seed version of peanut butter. We saw it at Earth Fare the other day and thought “why not?” It was delicious and ridiculously filling. I really want to try it in oatmeal. Yumtastic.

Snack: I didn’t have time to eat my snack before my class since I was at a FSU social media meeting (a lot of social media on my plate today) so I stopped by Starbucks and had an iced coffee with non-fat milk.

Lunch: I had some leftover chicken breast with some brown rice followed by a banana and some peanut butter. Lunch of champions.

Dinner: I made some tuna salad with two small cans of tuna and a dolip of lite mayo. It was good, but not enough. Megan made some whole-wheat noodles with a little olive oil and veggies so I nommed on some of that.

So that’s it for today! Tomorrow is Wordless Wednesday! Hooray!

In lieu of decent photos of food, here is a shot of where I work. I love FSU. See ya tomorrow.

Day 864: Monday Yo

Posted on January 28, 2013 by theffkid

After watching an emotional episode of The Biggest Loser, I’m now watching a show about Walt Disney World. I’m so flippin’ ready to go back.

Hello my lovelies!

I know it’s been a while since I have posted, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you and it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been keeping up my exercise and eating. (I fully recognize that was a quadruple-negative sentence. Dr. Mann, my Basic Writing professor would have hated that sentence….awe well.) Anyway, I have been pretty busy with just random things, but I am back and better than ever!

Let’s see…what’s going on this week…OH YEAH! This week, I’m running a flippin’ half marathon!!!!!! I still can’t believe this is happening!!!! Instead of doing massive runs this week, I’m taking it easy with a few short runs and a walk the day before. I’m not even playing racquetball this week which is saying something. At this point, it’s all I can think about (I’m kind of obsessed.) I can’t wait to see how I do and just to see my months and months of training pay off.

WANT TO SEE THE FFK IN ACTION? That’s easy! (That is if you live on the Florida Panhandle…) If you want to come out and support Erin, Megan and me during this race, go to http://www.tallahasseemarathon.com/ to find out more! What I can tell you is that the race begins at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday at Dick Howser baseball field at FSU and ends on the Mike Long track at FSU. I’m shooting to be done by 9:45 (so shooting for a 2:15 race time). Feel free to stop by and say hi or just look for a bunch of runners south of FSU and cheer us on!

So let’s talk food!

Breakfast: I ate a sliced hardboiled egg on Ezekiel Bread toast.

Snack: I had a packet of Justin’s Peanut Butter and a banana. Aka: the combination from Heaven.

Lunch: I had leftover chili (oh yeah…I had chili for dinner.)

Snack: I ate some Greek yogurt with mixed berries. Holy crap, it was delicious!

Dinner: We made a massive Cobb Salad with chicken grilled on the ol’ George Foreman (which is not a novelty grill, regardless of what Hank Hill says), sliced up egg, romaine hearts, spring mix, cucumbers, dressing, tomatoes, and a little cheese. Massive salads are the jam!

So that wraps that up. Pretty awesome day!

Tomorrow is another weigh in. While I’m hoping to just be in the 220’s this week, I’m SOOOOOO READY to break through the 227 mark that I have gotten to, but can’t get passed. I know it’s coming, but I just need to be patient and be better. Here goes nothing. See ya tomorrow.

Day 857: Back Blogging

Posted on January 21, 2013 by theffkid

Why Hello!

It’s been such a long time!

Here’s what’s been going on with me:

Haircut.

Eating.

Spinning.

Racquetballing.

Running

And most importantly…

Being awesome.

While I have been eating a good amount of food, I have been exercising like crazy all this week. I have burned a total of 2,972 calories this week (according to my HRM) which has felt awesome. Now it’s time to get combine the Skinny Rules with torching more than 3,000 calories a week to seriously peel off some weight. Like I said a few posts ago, I’m reading for my clothes not to fit anymore! I want to have my pants fall off! (I know what I said…) It’s time for a new outfit and a new me! Time to get crackin’!

(Anyone watching Biggest Loser right now? Did you see Joe doing bleachers at Doak? I really need to meet this guy!)
(Also, did you notice how many times Jillian dropped the F bomb at Jeff? That was intense. Don’t piss off the Jillian.)

Anyway, so I’ve had my splurging fun, but now I’m ready to get buckle down for the next two week BECAUSE I’M RUNNING THE FREAKIN’ TALLAHASSEE HALF MARATHON THE SUNDAY AFTER NEXT!!!!! It still hasn’t really set in that that’s actually going to happen on Sunday February 3rd! (Come cheer Erin, Megan and me on! It starts at FSU and ends at FSU. If you want more details let me know!) I’ve been training so much for it that’s it’s like I’ve forgotten that it’s for a race! So that’s all the more reason to drop some weight this week and next week, to have less of a stress on my body. Every little counts.

So let’s talk about food shall we?

Breakfast: Egg breakfast sandwich. YERM!!!!!!
Lunch: For lunch, we went over to our friend Julie’s apartment for some chicken n’ dumpling awesomeness! Our friends Tony and Tara brought some delicious acre peas and these cupcakes made with applesauce instead of oil. Hooray for healthy swaps! Overall, it was a pretty fantastic meal with even more fantastic friends!

Dinner: I grilled some salmon with some grilled zucchini. There are no photos of the zukes because they are better right off the grill. Have I mentioned we love salmon?

So that’s all I got for tonight.

Couple things:

Updated my Runs I’ve Done page so check that out!

Also, read the reblogged post from earlier today. It is one of the best weight loss posts I’ve ever read. It truly hit home for me.

Weigh in Tuesday. Stoked to see how it goes.

See ya tomorrow.

ONE MORE THING! Facebook has unliked some of my FFK Facebook Page likes. Be sure you are up to date with all things FFK by Liking the FFK FB Page right now! Okay…that is all.

Day 839: Thursday and Rules and Stuff!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by theffkid

Why hello!

I didn’t post last night because Megan and I were having an in-home date night. Sometimes cuddling with your wife while watching Fellowship of the Rings and eating kale chips is more important than blogging :).

So let’s get to it!

Here are Skinny Rules 11-15

Rule 11: Get Rid of Those White Potatoes

I heart potatoes. Sooooooooo much. I thought this was going to be an issue, but it hasn’t been yet! Plus I love sweet potatoes and there’s always purple fingerling potatoes which are awesome too!

Rule 12: Make One Day a Week Meatless

We’ve been trying to do that for a while and sometimes it just ends up happening.

Rule 13: Get Rid of Fast Foods and Eat at Fried Foods

Fried food has been an issue in the past. Sometimes it’s just easier to get something “healthy” from Wendy’s. It’s probably my biggest trigger food. With that being said, when I first started Weight Watchers, if it was fried brown, I would not eat it down. I’m just getting back in to that mindset. That’s been the biggest deal with these rules. I would have handled them fine when I first started losing weight 120-some pounds ago. There’s no reason why I can’t do them now!

Rule 14: Eat a Real Breakfast

I also heart breakfast. A lot. I love an excuse to eat breakfast. I’ll take it.

Rule 15: Make Your Own Food and Eat at Least Ten Meals a Week at Home

This has been pretty awesome. We haven’t eaten out at all since we started which is pretty crazy. We love to eat out and it’s so easy when school is going on. This is going to be a challenge when school starts back up because there is a lot of prep for these rules. We’ll probably do a lot of it on Sunday afternoons so we’re ready for the week!

So that’s about it for tonight. What do you think about these rules so far? Doable or just straight-up cray?

I know it’s a short post. More on Friday. See ya tomorrow.

Day 753: Jacob is a Jerk Edition

Posted on October 11, 2012 by theffkid

Hello my friend (except that I mean actually mean it).

So today, I did really well with food and I conquered an eating out challenge which has always been an issue for me. Let’s get started shall we?

We weren’t going to be able to run tonight (more about that in a second) so Megan and I decided to run this morning. We went over to Lake Ella around 6:30 and I ran with Megan and her Couch25k run program. It was still dark, but the stars were out and the weather was perfect. It was amazing. We ran two minutes on, one minute walk which was a great recovery run for me after a couple of really brutal runs. I think I might start doing that down the line, especially on the Tuesdays after long Saturday runs. Fun stuff!

Breakfast: I had had a piece of toast before running so by the time I got to work I was starving! I had a honey Fage yogurt and when that wasn’t close to being enough, I ran and got a bagel from the little convenient store by my office.

For lunch, I made a Lean Cuisine the Hungry Girl way: I cooked up a sweet n’ sour chicken LC and then microwaved a steam in bag of broccoli to not only make the meal more filling, but to get more veggies in my diet! It made the meal go a lot further! Give it a try sometime!

For an afternoon snack, I just had an apple and some peanut butter. More than enough to keep me full. I also had some sunflower seeds which aren’t bad, but can be high in sodium.

So tonight, I said adios to one of my great friends from grad school. Jacob has always been a huge supporter of my weight loss journey and is a big fan of the blog (or that’s at least what he tells me…:)) He has accepted a job in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Megan and I couldn’t be happier for him and his awesome wife Emily. It’s been great to have had support from the guys who were there from the beginning, who were there when I arrived to orientation, having just bought my first pair of 54 sized pants hours before. It’s been awesome to have gone through the weight loss journey and the joys of grad school together at the same time. Thanks for being an awesome cheerleader yo!

(Alex and Andrea, when you guys move, I’ll gush over you too.)

Anyway….

So tonight, we had a celebration dinner for him and his wife Emily. We went to a seafood shanty called Calico Jack’s and it was AYCE boiled shrimp! Since shrimp are surprisingly low-cal, I ate my share. Thankfully, fried seafood isn’t really my thing so there’s not temptation there. I did however eat a lot of saltines with cocktail sauce (because that’s one of the most delicious things in the world.) Anyway, so I ate two plates of peel and eat shrimp which isn’t as much as you think and then a side of cole slaw which wasn’t that great (but I still ate anyway…)

So that was it for today. Like I said, pretty good food-wise. Now it’s time to stick with it this weekend. Like I said the other night, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays have been my downfall so far. That’s changing this weekend. See ya tomorrow.

P.S. Now matter what your political leaning is, you have to admit these pictures are hilariously weird. (Personally, I like “Pouty Paul” on the left the most.)

Day 737: Weigh In And Phil’s Birthday!

Posted on September 25, 2012 by theffkid

Alright, I’m not feeling well at all. It was one of those things where you finally sit down and relax for a moment and then it hits you like a sack of bricks. No bueno. So here we go!

First off, I lost .4 this week so I’m down to 228 even. Not too shabby considering I lost 2.6 last week. Hopefully I can keep my eating in check this week and have a much lower number this time next week.

Also, I’m running a 10k next Saturday (10/6) and I’m stressing out a little bit about it. I’m also going to run nine miles this saturday to see how that goes. Again, I’m pretty nervous about that because it’s going to be my furthest run yet by two whole miles (which is a lot.)

Alright, back to more fun stuff.

For breakfast I had an cheese bagel. Not the best choice.

I went to a luncheon this morning where they had a light lunch of pizza, veggies and cookies (since when did pizza fall in to the category of light lunch?)

I had my first non-fat chai tea latte of the season. While I love me some pumpkin spice latte, chai’s are just as fallish in my book. I feel like I’m forcing fall a little too much. I wanted to wear a long-sleeve shirt with shorts to dinner tonight, but I realized I would be sweating like a hog so I nixed that plan. Like a lot of overweight kids, the hoodie was my best friend because it covered up my rolls (or I thought it did) so I use wear a hoodie starting the first week of October even if it still was 90 degrees (since Texas doesn’t believe in seasons.) Anyway, where was I?

I also went on a 2.5 mile run right after work because I knew dinner was going to be pretty high calorie. I was on pace to set a pretty good 5k time, but my allergies went nuts and something flew in to my eye that made it actually hurt, not just irritate, but physically hurt. 2.5 miles is still better than nothing!

So today is my friend Phillip’s birthday! He is the boo of my friend Andrea the Wolf who was in the same grad program as me! For his super birthday extravaganza, we went to Ted’s Montana Grill. I had never been, but I knew they were know for their awesome bison burgers. So, I went online to their website and looked at the nutritional info. While I picked a topping-heavy burger (guacamole, tomato jam, roasted peppers and pepper jack cheese) I picked the best toppings possible and instead of fries and/or onion rings (which looked insanely good) I just had a sweet potato and cinnamon sugar (no butter.) What’s also interesting is that I was going to get a salad instead, but my meal was still half the fat and way less calories. Their shrimp caesar salad was 1380 calories and 125 grams of fat!!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!!! That’s pretty ridiculous. I mean yeah, my burger was still 766 calories and 40 grams of fat, but I still saved a lot of calories by choosing a different side and just taking the time to pick the best option.

Overall, it’s been kind of a weird day, but Tuesdays and Thursdays are like that. Sorry for the lack of photos, but that’s what Wordless Wednesday is for! Hooray. See ya tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHILLY CHEESE!