Day 203 - Candy Go Away

Fruit Count: 129 - We have collectively eaten 121 pieces of fruit the past three days. Mandy and Lanie are leading the way having eaten 7 & 6 pieces respectively yesterday alone. Our goal of 199 is being reeled in slow and steady, excellent. Keeping reeling it in folks; in, chew swallow and shout out how many pieces you eat today!

Here you go, here's some candy! I got candy... come on, you know you want some. Ugh, wrong. Bags of candy like this popped up all over the office last week. Parents bringing in leftover halloween candy they didn't give out, or, the candy their kids brought home just to get it out of the house. A brilliant idea really, and one that works as people of all shapes, heights, colors and smells flock to these bags and empty them in no time flat. Hopefully next week this phenomenon will abate.
 

There is my caloric intake for Friday. Liking those percentages much better than earlier in the week. The total calories consumed are lower than desired, especially for an exercise day. And I had an hour'ish before bed of noticeable hunger. Usually when I hunger, I eat. But this time I chose to just accept that hunger in fear that if I went for a final snack to quench it I may over indulge. Not sure why I felt unsure of myself, but I'm glad I recognized it and made a decision versus ignoring it all and just diving into a vat of ice cream. Accepting hunger is definitely not a behavior I can embrace for a lifetime, that I understand.

Exercise, as I said I got that in. Put in a 2.25 mile walk after work on a crisp 40F late afternoon. Chilly! Didn't time time the walk. I just set out  to get in the miles, and enjoy the peace while I ran down the battery on my ipod.

Saturday already... on the docket this morning is weight training and maybe some more cardio. Then later this afternoon/evening a great date is planned with my wife. We'll be going to the rifle range and then out to dinner and perhaps a movie. Looking forward to it!

What does Saturday have in store for you?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 201 - My Endurance Video

Fruit Count: 73 - We have collectively eaten 73 pieces of fruit the past two days. Nearing 1/2-way to our goal of 199. Let's keep eating fruit people, it's good food for you; shout out how many pieces you eat today!

Our picture riddle was a good one if I may say so. Anne our Carb Tripper came right out of the gate with a great guess; a ceramic cow moo moo pitcher that pours cream. Now I have seen such a thing, and not just pouring cream. I wish I had one (Ok not really, don't add that to my list for Santa please) for if I had that would've made a great pic-riddle.

Dawn of Fixing Myself Thinner was first to touch on what it is with her guess of 'plastic horse toy or something'. Ann who is Livin' Large immediately followed up with her guess of  'a chess piece'. Then not long after that yet another Anne, Anne of How I am Losing It finished off the completeness of our riddle with her guess of 'a Knight from a chess set'. As you see there, that is indeed what it is. Good Fun. Well done!

Yesterday I got in my second of two committed cardio sessions for this week. My son & I returned to Lake Andrea where I set a challenge for this visit of jogging 1 mile of it's 2.25 mile loop. Not 1 mile consciously, that would be nice, but I am not there yet. Previous visits I jogged .85 of a mile, so I was looking for a slight challenge up for me to make it a mile.

Different from those previous attempts as well was the length of the jogs. Before, most legs were .125 miles; now for this challenge I mapped out four .25 legs; thank you Google Earth. As well as actually completing those four .25 mile jogging legs without stopping (my primary challenge here) was the added challenge to try and complete the loop in less than 29:32, my previous best. Here is the course I mapped out...

Away we went and the skinny on our result is this...

• The four .25 mile jogs: Achieved, all four loops jogged without stopping!
• The loop time: We completed the loop in 29:46 minutes, oh so close but no PR (Personal Record) today.Oh Yeah!

Andrew ran ahead of me at the end of the loop & took a short video of me finishing. Enjoy at my expense ;-)

The heavy breathing you hear is him, the cold air tickled his asthma. The heavy dude in black coming towards you, that's me. As I neared the line & saw him shooting I let out what was supposed to be a laugh but instead sounded like a goat giving birth to a pregnant-moose; a moment to visualize... I also blurted out 'Enough' although I am not sure why. Probably glad the the end was achieved. I'll give myself an Oh Yeah!

Endurance, that is the word for the day. This trait to me speaks to the ability to overcome the stress and fatigue that can come with the effort needed to be better than obese over the span of a lifetime. Sure, it applies to smaller spans too, such as my Lake Andrea challenge there. I've had to build up my endurance to be able to do that. Six months ago, no way. Eating better and Exercising better allowed that to happen. Now six months from now, whether I just maintain what I have now or improve my ability to do better; either way I'll have to endure the effort needed to do so. If I stop putting in the effort, then my endurance recedes and I recede back towards greater obesity. That's not going to happen.

Quickly, this post is way too long already; but here is yesterday's food intake...

Note to self; the "Red Robin Fajita Fiesta Pollo Salad" that appeared to be healthy and which was my dinner actually accounted for 910 (F54, C57, P49) of those calories; ugh! I should've known better, and I do.

Give me your FRUIT and give me your latest OhYeah! moment!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 200 - Take A Swag

Wednesday seems like a fine day to have a bit of riddle with our good eats and exercise. So there it is, it is a thing or thang, maybe it is a this or that, perhaps even a what or huh... you tell me. Give us a guess. No idea what it is, the give us some swag (silly-wild-ass-guess). Tomorrow we'll see is any have nailed this riddle to the wall or knocked a nasty hole in it.

Fruit... yesterday we had a bit of fun on my 199th day here where we called out here, on facebook & twitter to see how many pieces of fruit we could eat. Thanks Lanie for the idea! I counted FIFTY pieces of fruit, including the four I ate. That is about a trio of fruit for those who stepped up to play, I'd call that a huge success. But it is not 199, so lets keep piling up apple cores, banana peels and grape vines on this thing; hit me up with how many you eat today and we'll keep this going until we get 199.


Decisiveness, a trait we have all embraced at times. Question is, are we decisive consistently? In April I decided to lose weight. That fine spring day, April 18th, I took prompt and determined action to do get healthy. Decisive behavior and a serious decision goes together like socks and shoes. No, like Laurel and Hardy. What, you don't know who they are? Hmmm, Mike and Molly?

Nope, not going to say that I am always consistent in being decisive. Certainly I feel I am more often than not. And in being honest there are some aspects in life I am more decisive than others. Family gets my decisive side quickly. Self needs I have been more reserved in being as decisive. That is a fault I have come to believe, one I am working to correct. Getting my butt in gear on getting healthy is proof of that.

Had another good day yesterday. My eating was good and I believe a bit better than the day before. The fat percentage was much better. I'd like to flip-flop those carb & protein numbers, I'd have to change things up further to do so. I take in a great deal of fruit and salads and veg which are primarily carbs. And it has been that way, what you see in that chart, for the most part since April. Those, I think, are high quality carbs so the numbers as you see them here should be fine for the long haul; please do share your thoughts if they differ.

Exercise was part of my day yesterday as well. The home gym routine was owned and as well push ups and sit ups were done. Oh, yesterday I meant to share this photo of me getting home after my walk/jog on Monday evening. It was a cardio session worthy of an Oh Yeah! I crushed my 2 mile loop where my PR of 29:03 minutes fell hard to an awesome late evening walk/jog effort. A new 2 mile 26:41 minute PR reigns and as well my new 1 mile PR is now 13:05 minutes. November has left the station with a full head of steam.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 126 - Food Log Opened

Hello one and all. Thank you for all of the questions yesterday from my "Day 125 - Ask Me Anything" post, last night I posted a comment there (CLICK HERE) in reply with answers to them. Some challenging questions, a fun experience, hope you enjoyed.

Friday I was on fire. Got up at 445 a.m., was out for a 2 mile walk by 5 a.m., and returned 33:28 minutes later. That my friends, is a new PR for my neighborhood loop. While I have met my weekly goal for exercise this week, I intend to get in another round of cardio today, not sure what but we'll get something in.

Food was good. Surprisingly, I ended up at Applebee's again today, that is twice in three days. I took the afternoon off work to hang out with my wife. Our afternoon included her doctors appointment so we went out to lunch, Applebee's is close to the docs, so that's how I ended up back at a place I am not a huge fan of. Had something off of their WW menu this time, a salad, which was Ok. Why do chicken breasts in these 'casual dining' places come out so bland and blah?

As promised yesterday's log looked like this....
5a - Exercise: 2 Mile Walk (Neighborhood Loop, 33:28)
6a - Tomato Juice, Pumpkin Flax Granola, Milk, Grapes (I put the grapes in my cereal, see below, what - they are just big raisins :-)
10a - Apple
1230p - Applebees: Paradise Chicken Salad
330p - Cherries
715p - Two Scrambled Eggs w/ Ham & Cheese (we had breakfast for dinner), Coleslaw
745p - One Small Square of Dark Chocolate

grapes in my granola, so good!

Food Log, this week I have focused allot on my food log as intended when I committed to doing so this past Monday. Up top there you see a picture of what my actual hand written food log looks like. That shot is from earlier this week, Monday & Tuesday. That is as much detail as I keep daily. My purpose for this log, make it look green... want all of the food entries to be GREEN.

Why green, well I have a bit of old school in me, so I write with one of those BIC 4-Color ballpoint pens; and I use all 4 colors. For my log I use then as follows:
Black ink is for exercise entries  
Green ink is for meals/snacks that are well balanced and portioned
Blue ink is for meals/snacks that are just OK, pushing the envelope on balance and portion
Red ink is for meals/snacks where I have missed the mark entirely in terms of healthy balance & portion 

Here is an example of a day that is not all green...

These are the entries for Wednesday & Thursday this week. Thursday's dinner was blue because I pushed the envelope of good portion & balance buy having grilled wings and a burger patty. I didn't need that patty, I almost made this entry red. There was no confusion on what color to make my choice at 830 p.m. to eat an ice cream bar. Forget that it was a 100 calorie WW choice, even though it was better than a trip to Dairy Queen, I didn't really need it; I just caved into my gut saying feed me! So red for that entry.

Ok, I can't go on much more about my food log, I'd hate to bore you into an adhoc slumber on a Saturday.
Do you keep a food log?
Do you keep it on paper or online?
Do you keep it in greater detail e.g. nutrient grams?
Do you believe it helps you in your own mission?

Hmm, suddenly feeling like some doo-wop music.

Have an most totally bodacious and supreme Saturday!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 125 - Ask Me Anything

Source

Happy Friday Everybody!

First order of business, get your motivation fix HERE, Misunderstood and Admired did it!!! A marvelous journey's milestone achieved, just marvelous!

For the most part a solid day, I exercise - had a great workout actually. You know when a workout is just going well, the reps are movements of art, the breathing is symphonic, the timing is precision. Well, maybe someday I'll have a workout that pristine but last nights workout was the best I've had in a long time, like years and years ago long time.

Food, good, not great. You can see I had a slight cave in at the end of the day. Not sure if that workout stoked up my appetite or if I simply let my guard down and let my gut make decisions on eating vs. my brain. If that is my stumble for this week and no more, I'll be just fine.


As promised yesterday's log looked like this....

• 6a - Tomato Juice, Peach, Greek Yogurt
• 8a - Milk
• 10a - Pear, Cheese Stick
• 1215p - Garden Salad w/ Tuna (canned) and Sesame Oil Dressing
• 245p - Muscle Milk Light (vanilla flavor)
• 530p - Exercise: Home Gym Routine, 5 sets of Crunches & Push Ups each
• 7p - Grilled Chicken Wings, Burger Patty, Coleslaw w/ Salsa (leftover night, the burger 5 oz. but not needed; but was aiming for protein after the workout.)
• 830p - 100 Calorie WW Ice Cream bar (hit by a sweet tooth attack and I caved)

A few weeks ago I had an exchange with a blogger where they asked a few questions of me about diet and then a few off topic questions. Nothing improper, just a blogger being curious about another I suppose. At the end of that exchange they suggested I do an 'Ask Me Anything' post. Having seen a few bloggers do this before I replied, sure, someday I'll do so.

Guess what, today is someday. So, Ask Me Anything, and I'll pop back in later with answers, or answer them tomorrow at the latest. You can ask anything, ask more than one question if so moved; I reserve the right to not answer something of course - I'm quite thick skinned so not likely I will abstain.

I'll seed this with a few of the questions I recall the previously mentioned blogger asking...
Q: How often did you exercise when you started?
A: Actually I didn't exercise the first week of my mission; that week was about changing my mindset and eating habits. After week one I exercised as often as I could make time, and then only for as long as I could handle it. I knew I had to get moving, but I also knew didn't need to run a race on day one. Short walks, short periods of time on a treadmill was all I did to get moving.

Q: When you were younger did you have problems with your weight?
A: Nothing more than being a bit chubby in high school, but that was corrected my senior year as I knew I was going to enlist in the USMC. It wasn't until my mid-twenties that I let life get in the way of making healthy choices.

Q: Do you like the beach and if so, do you prefer tanning lotion or oil? (recall I said he asked a few off topic questions, this was the oddest)
A: The beach I can take or leave. I don't make a beach a priority when planning a vacation, if one happens to be there, so be it. I am a white male of Irish-Scottish heritage, I don't tan; I burn. I use sun screen when I play golf, or attend outdoor sporting events. Never do I recall buying real tanning products.

Also a few of the blog awards have asked me to respond with 'x' number of random or unknown facts about yourself, these might be found interesting, or funny, maybe odd; they are quickly referenced here.

So, if interested, Ask Me Anything and have a great Friday!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 124 - Fielders Over Jackhammers

Good Morning!

Solid day of eating yesterday. Opportunities for temptation were snubbed by my insane focus on a crazy busy day at work. The picture you see to the left is my lunch from the office cafeteria; Grilled Salmon w/ Avocado Salsa, Stir-fried Veggies and Steamed Brown Rice. Overall our cafeteria is very friendly to those looking to live healthy. Of course there is also a line for burgers, pizza and other unfriendly choices.

In the evening my son & I were headed to a local minor league baseball game. Dining on ball park food for dinner did not appeal to me. Ok, it did appeal to me, but I thought better of such appealings. Instead we chose to go to Applebee's which was on the way. I am not a big fan of places like Applebee's, Chili's, Denny's, etc... to me these establishments rely on excessive salt & poorly administered seasoning to mask their inability to bring ingredients together to create flavor. But, Applebee's for convenience it was us last night. there I chose a dish off of the Under 550 Calorie menu, Spicy Shrimp Diavolo. It filled the void in my stomach, and I doubt it was just 550 calories, I'll leave it at that.

No exercise yesterday so I still need to get in another cardio and another strength workout before Sunday's weigh in. I plan to get in one or the other this evening.

As promised yesterday's log looked like this....

• 6a - Tomato Juice, Coleslaw (yes, I made too much the night before and wasn't letting it go to waste)
• 830a - More Tomato Juice,Banana
• 10a - Milk
• 1215p - Grilled Salmon w/ Avocado Salsa, Stir-fried Veggies and Steamed Brown Rice
• 6p - Spicy Shrimp Diavolo (seen below)

Baseball - Andrew & I went to see the Lake County Fielders host the Joliet Jackhammers last night; minor league teams have the best nick-names. Here are a few pictures of the game which Lake County won 6-4...

That is 'Lucky', the Fielders mascot. He was one busy dog between innings.

The Fielders fell behind 4-0 early and scrapped their way back with bunts like this.

Yes, bunt are seldom exciting, but this one was.

Between innings minor-league style. The John Deere Tractor-Tricycle race, the winner was neither of these dudes; they crashed into each other and wiped out.

Andrew cheking the stats in the program and recalling the days when he little & pony league ball played nearby.

Have an Amazingly Healthy Day! 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 123 - Misunderstood and Admired

Good Morning!

 

No early a.m. exercise yesterday, I had to have the boys up, out and at school at 545 a.m. for soccer practice so no time for myself in the morning. But in the evening after dinner and wrestling with a plumbing project I got on the treadmill and burned off 500 calories in 50:47, so I've got one cardio and one strength workout in this week; need another of each minimum before Sunday's weigh in.

 

As promised here is yesterday's log looked like this....

• 615a - Grapefruit, Tomato Juice
• 9a - Milk, Banana
• 1045a - Almonds
• 12p - Garden Salad with Hard Boiled Eggs, Sesame Oil Dressing
• 3p-Peach, Premier Protein Shake
• 6p - Country Pork Spare Ribs (2 small ones for me), Cole Slaw (Homemade)
• 730p - Exercise: 500 Calorie Treadmill Walk Off (50:47 Minutes)

Every once in a while you read a post that makes you stop, re-read it, and feel moved. Yesterday I had that pleasure when I read THIS post by Misunderstood and Admired, I don't know his real name. As I commented to him this was a post that left me feeling as if I knew why he is on this mission. If you are not familiar with him you owe it to yourself to check him out even if you just read this one post.

 
Myself, I have rewound his blog and read all his posts, start to finish. If you have the time, it is seriously worth the reading time. I wish I had jotted down a few of the more insightful posts as I read, but I didn't. Not necessary though as the blog is not that long, less than four months worth of entries. But those few months of entries are gripping, you feel him grow from post one to post yesterday. His journey is not just about weight loss, it is one of making things better; his marriage, fatherhood, his overall happiness.

 

There was one other post, in addition to yesterdays, which I found very revealing about him, his feelings, his struggles along his journey, his perseverance; that other post is THIS one he made on Monday, July 12, 2010. As I did not come to follow him initially until later in July yesterday was the first time I read this particular post. I'd call it a must read...

 

Actually if you have very little time left for blog reading today stop reading mine, click on that link, and spend it reading his post. Go ahead, trust me. For those of you who have more time and are still with me here; do the same - go read it and then come back for more of my observation on Misunderstood and Admired.

 

Honestly I hesitate to summarize his blog further because there is the chance that I have read him wrong; what I read has been a hard but rewarding if not successful journey to date for him. But he himself may not feel as good about the results as I've read it to be, so, I'll stop my pitch there and again suggest that if you have the time, it is seriously worth the reading time. It is worth it because he is doing what we all want; he is achieving what he desires. And dare I say, he his becoming a better person beyond just becoming a healthier person.

 

"If you have the desire to change your thinking followed by the motivation to act achieving is inevitable"
– misunderstood and admired

 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 122 - If only...

Source

Good Morning!

As I committed for the week I did go for the early a.m. exercise yesterday but I didn't plan enough time to get through my entire dumbbell routing. I did get 1/2 of it in, while good, I didn't got that great feeling at the end of the whole routine where I feel like I worked out and accomplished something. Just a matter of timing, I'll get the mornings figured out. After work the schedules were friendly and I was able to go back and do the full dumbbell routine after which I did feel thoroughly thrashed when done.

As promised here is yesterday's log looked like this....

• 5a - Exercise: 1/2 Dumbbell Routine, and 4 sets of Crunches
• 615a - Greek Yogurt, Banana, Grapes, Tomato Juice
• 845a - Milk, Pear
• 1p - Caesar Salad, Apple.
• 5p - Celery with Almond Butter, Cherries
• 5a - Exercise: Full Dumbbell Routine, and 5 sets of Crunches & Push Ups each
• 730p - Lasagna (1/2 portion), Garden Salad with Salsa

Video Games - Recently my boys commented that I do not understand video games; specifically the benefits to playing them. Really, I beg to differ... Video gaming is all about trying to achieve the perception of reality through it's unreal stage. No different than a good book, a movie or play. Video gaming just like food can be addictive, the challenge for many is keeping perspective between what is real and not.

Oh how I wish video games were real. Imagine if we could approach real life recklessly and excessively without regard to good sense. Many people do in fact approach life as if it were a video game. Some eat as if there is nothing to worry about from their bad food choices. Some ignore exercise as if there is nothing to worry about in living large & sedentary. Some smoke, drink, take drugs, text while they drive without wearing a seat belt while under the influence, and some I'm sure do even worse. If only real life were a video game...

In video games you approach your characters life recklessly and excessively because you get multiple lives. If you get eliminated, killed, crash, whatever; so what - you've got multiple lives & you go on playing. What - you just drove your race car over the cliff into a pit of molten lava, no problem... Huh, you threw that grenade only 3 feet away and caught a face full of shrapnel, no problem... It's Ok, here is a new, fresh and fully healthy life, play on! If only...

In real life no such luck. You get one life. When you have used it up, you are done. Sure there are exceptions in the stories of those extremely lucky few who have faced death and lived to tell about it, e.g. beating cancer having been diagnosed level-4 & terminal... or the lone survivor of a violently explosive & fiery plane crash. But these lucky few usually endure great pains from their experience before getting to go forward with their new perspectives on life. You get one life.

In video games you try and achieve something along the lines of a new high score or reach higher levels of game play. Wait a minute, in real life you do too; right? Most of us do strive to greater levels than we enjoy now, e.g. make more money, get promotions, get pregnant, get healthy, get after whatever it is we desire to be, to do, to have. In video games after a hours and hours of time playing and you realize you hosed it all up, you get to do what? Yep, you get to reset and start over. Erase in an instant all the bad we've accumulated and start fresh from the beginning. If only...

In real life we can choose at any moment to change course for something better, but; we do not get to erase all the bad we've accumulated and start fresh from the beginning. It would be nice if you could instantly erase the 120+ excessive pounds you accumulated and start fresh living healthy from your ideal weight. But in real life you first have to lose the 120 pounds if you want to realize the health benefits of weighing 120 pounds less. You erase with great effort.

In video games you are surrounded by ample & freely available help. Online game forums, the more experienced players you play with, all sorts of resources to give you the edge you need to achieve game success. And if you want to get there really fast, like NOW - ah ha, you can use cheat codes. Just smack those buttons in the right sequence and shazam!... you have slayed that battleship sized acid breathing dragon with the disposition of a over-taunted Pittsburgh Steeler fan. If only...

In real life there is also plenty of help available to you, right? Web sites dedicated to living healthy and getting there if you haven't been doing so; and much of it free. Doctors, Nutritionists and Personal Trainers are just a click, phone call, office visit (and a co-pay) away. Books, books, books... more books than there are beads of grease in your arteries. And we have cheat codes too, don't we? Sure we do, watch that infomercial at 2 a.m. this Saturday that'll allow you to eat double decker pizza & cream puffs while losing 10 pounds in 10 days... but wait theres more! Order now and we'll double... Huh? Yeah, I agree - Horse$#!&... there are allot of cheat codes promising our quick victory to get healthy. Some healthy approaches are faster than others, but none are quick - cheat codes don't work in real life. There are NO quick fixes; none! 

Video games - play them!... Real life - play it!... Enjoy both, but don't approach your life as a video game for if you do you will surely live a shorter and / or less fulfilling life; my opinion.

What is, or was, your favorite video game? Or, if you don't play video games, what is your favorite game period?

Tetris my favorite video game. Truth, I get little entertainment joy from video games as an adult and have seldom played them in the past two decades. Diplomacy is my favorite board game. Basically, if it is not a strategy game which forces me to think, I am bored. Although I used to play a mean game of Candyland when my kids were pre-schoolers.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 121 - Three For Victory

Source

A call to arms has gone out within my head. Having given thought to what I need to do here to get back on track with losing at least 1.5 pounds a week here is the trio of actions I have decided on...

First, I have reviewed MY CHANGES, a list of eight changes in behavior that has I evolved as I got into this mission. Holding firm in my commitment to these changes is the first thing I need to do.

Second, I need to socialize my food & exercise log this week. Many times I have said it that I do not count calories. But I do log what I eat, and do for exercise, in a small note book, I have talked about my log and how I log on DAY 16. To this day I have been consistent in that approach. This week I shall share that log with my posts with my food consumed the previous day. Yesterday log looked like this...

• 7a - Tomato Juice
• 730a - Exercise: Shining Hills Forest Preserve, 3 miles in 58:14
• 1030a - Tomato & Mozzarella Salad w/ Olive Oil & Celery Seed Dressing
• 1p - Cheese Stick
• 3p - Burger w/ Salsa & Grilled Onions. Lettuce Wedge w/ Salsa & drizzle of Blue Cheese Dressing
• 7p - Grilled Chicken Breast, Grapes, Cherries

The reason I keep this log is to have a reference to look back upon in situations just like this one I am in now. In the pages of the past two weeks I have way too many red entries than are acceptable, and too many blur. Driving for a return to green entries!

Third, Mix it up, exercise that is. I am going to give exercising in the morning before work a try this week at least once. My thinking here is with the kids going back to school, the day light hours decreasing, I am bound to find it easy to succumb to excuses in the evening to not get in the exercise I need. Hedging that with morning exercise may do the trick. We'll see.

That should do it. I am open to suggestions, always have been - so share them if you got them; please!!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 16 - Change #3

Before I get into this weeks commitment to change, Change #3, I must say I dodged the Sunday bullet just as well as I did the Saturday shot. Caesar Salad was what I placed in my plates center and in a larger portion than I'd usually take so that there would be less room on the plate for other tempting stuff. The rest of what I placed on my plate were small portions of veggies or seafood. My one treat, a thin slice of roast beef. Man the food was good too; I would've had four or five plates of all the deliciousness three weeks ago, but instead today I had one and a half plates both of which had caesar salad blocking and tackling for me. Took the water bottle along again too... thanks again for those tips, they sure helped!

Change #3, hmmm, what is it going to be this week? This may seem like an easy one but I list it because I've learned that it is extremely important. Just last week I had a re-affirmation of just how important it is. Last week I had one 'red' meal. Going into last week I committed to have less red entries and exercise more than week once; both accomplished. Reminder, a red meal refers to when I log that meal in my food log in red ink which indicates I've missed the mark entirely in terms of healthy balance & portion. Meals well balanced and portioned; green ink. Meals just OK; blue ink.

In week two the one red meal I had was at dinner where I ate more steak than I should have. The steaks were small at about 4 ounces each; I had two. Three weeks ago a small steak in my eyes was 12 ounces. Oh how fast change can happen. Back to the 'red' day, yep you guessed it, I skipped breakfast. Actually I got it in late and what I ate was barely a mid-morning snack really. The rest of that day I struggled more with hunger pains than most days of late. Since starting this mission I've been good about eating breakfast and have definitely felt the difference in the days energy level and ability to dismiss hunger pains. So this is an easy one...

Change 3...

• Do Not Skip Breakfast

Goals for the coming week will be to exercise at least 4 times, two of each cardio and weights.

Did you get in your breakfast today?

Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!

Day 8 - 2% Progress

Happy Sunday to all; Sunday is weigh in day for me. Good news is that I lost weight this week - whoo hoo! Bad news, no doubt I left some of my potential one week progress on the dinner table last night at Maggianos. Overall, I didn't over indulge last night as I would have in the past especially at such a great restaurant. However I certainly ate more than a man on a mission to lose a large amount of weight should have eaten. Oh, I weigh 317 pounds today!

In reflection on week one, Maggianos aside, I did well on the eating for balance & portion. To aid in reflection and keeping myself honest on food intake I have been keeping an eating log. Just a small notebook where I jot down what I eat and when. With it I use one of the classic white & blue plastic Bic pens with four ink colors to choose from. If what I've ate is well balanced and portioned then it goes in the book in green ink. If it was just OK, not bad or great; then blue ink. And if I've missed the mark entirely then red ink it is. For the past week I have 4 such entries in red. Not surprisingly two of these are restaurant visits; Bill's Pub & Maggianos. The other two were evening slips, also not surprisingly, where I took liberty to enjoy this Russian dessert my son made for a school project. I forget the name of it but it was a highly sugary & fatty little treat. Otherwise many green entries and a few blues fill my log for week one.

As for exercise I exercised just once, yesterday, which of course wont cut it going forward. My intent is to add more exercise in week two and begin to put a routine together. Going to need help with good routines for someone just starting such a mission.  

With an initial 2% weight loss one might expect that I should plan on this mission taking 50 weeks. But we all know that's not an exact correlation I can make. When I started this I figured this will take between 1 & 2 years; so if I do accomplish it in 50 weeks I'll exceed expectations. Something to hope & strive for.

Looking at he picture above I know it is hard to see the 2% loss from Day 1 to Day 8, but trust me there is 2% less width there. Going to be less width a week from now too!

Goals for the coming week will be to have less red entries and exercise more than week one.

Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!

Day 3 - Portion & Balance

Yesterday was good day. I ate at good intervals and ate well portioned & balanced meals. For good portions sizes I am shooting for simply trying to follow serving sizes as recommended on packaging. For good balance I am shooting for meals that aren't too high in anyone of either fat, protein or carbs. Having dieted many times before I have a decent sense of when a food item or a meal is unbalanced; at least I think I do.

At present I am not following any specific diet plan or any of the zillion commercially sold programs. In the past I have tried and followed a few. Some worked well for a while, others didn't. But I failed them all in the end; yes I chose to abandon those efforts and cannot say that any of them would not have worked through to my goal had I chose to stick with them. Therefore we (my wife & I are as we are trying to lose weight together) have decided to take it day by day by just eating better. She is being a bit more strict than I am as she has established a daily target of no more than 1,200 calories. For me that number seems low and I want to believe if I stay away from the food that is obviously too fatty, carby, or both; and maintain portion discipline then I should be Ok. Should be that is; perhaps wishful thinking on my part.

To help hedge my thinking I am keeping a food log in a small notebook. If I don't see the progress that I need I can go back to that and calculate the nutrition information and see where my thought here may be flawed. As a hedge to giving into temptation to eat poorly when we are hungry and don't know what to eat we have decided to add some menu planning discipline. Basically coming up with a list of menu choices for breakfast & dinner daily, we both eat lunch in our respective work cafeterias, and sticking to what we have planned. This should help the madness of grocery shopping too; I hate grocery shopping so anything that gets it accomplished quicker is all good in my eyes.

Portion & balance is what is on my mind today. I hope my thinking on them is right and will contribute to my success. Should know in a week or so.

Responsibility 199... Gotta do it!!