Hi There!

I guess I left here on a sour note last time. I was in a funk and kinda down on everything that day. Sorry to have vented on here, but that is what it's for I suppose. Thankfully I am in a better state of mind now. Let me do a quick recap before I get back on track. I quit caring so much about the quality of food I was eating. Over the last week I have ate 2 donuts, 2 candy bars, pizza, stromboli, biscuits, gravy...you get the point. The only positive thing is the fact I only went over my 2300 calorie limit once! Monday I stayed under my calories, but ate too much processed crap. Yesterday I ate a candy bar at work, but was good besides that. Last night I had to take my mom to the hospital. She thought she may have broke her wrist, but it wasn't (just arthritis and inflammation from hitting it). I made a horrible dinner. 3 hot dogs (on light bread), snack bag of tortilla chips (freebies from grocery) and a pack of pop tarts. Still under total calories, but felt like crap after that junk. Today has been awesome. I ate oatmeal for dinner, banana and 2 oranges for snacks, a lean gourmet meal for dinner (yes processed, but only 300 calories), leftover turkey taco meat/beans and chips/tortillas for dinner. I baked some oatmeal applesauce cookies (70 calories each and no bad stuff) for desert and to take to my work's snack day tomorrow. I also drank 5 bottles of water today. Hopefully by Monday my body will be rid of all the junk I have ingested this past 4 days. So now you are up to speed. I have my motivation and desire back to get the weight off of me. I have some ground to make up, but it's gonna happen. Take care friends.

Changes to my blog

Let me begin with the basics. Calories under 1900. Weighed 362 at work today (down 1 pound from Monday). Went to the grocery and got tons of healthy food.

Now for the rest.

I have always thought of this blog as a digital journal of my weight loss. I never have expected anyone to read it. I only have told the few people who follow me on Twitter and some of my family/friends. Given that, I am slightly disappointed to see that my blog is being viewed, but no one has ever gave me any comment, criticism, support or any word at all that they actually were ever on here. This isn't about getting noticed, just wondering aloud at how a page is looked at so often with no word from anyone that they've read it.

Anyway... I am unusually stressed/crabby/depressed/moody tonight. I feel like I am a failure for not having the money to do all the things with my family that our friends/coworkers can do for theirs. If my job ends, there is nothing around here that will pay what I make with me not having any college. My weight is coming off so slow that I don't think I'll ever be under 300 pounds, let alone under 250 pounds. I feel like an only child taken on the pressures of keeping my Mom in good spirits and cared for (even though my older sister is living worry free 4 hours north of us). I want to do so much more than this. I have all these thoughts that I have no idea how to express. I can make people laugh, but can't figure out how to do it for the masses. I have ideas for products and websites, but don't know how to make them a reality. I should be a millionaire, but alas I am just a paycheck to paycheck drone. Friends of the kid's tell them about cruises, theme parks and other vacation plans. Meanwhile, I am looking for the cheapest hotel at Myrtle Beach and having to take out a 401k loan to pay for it. Not to mention, this will be our first vacation that hasn't consisted of visiting home in Indy or a 2 hour drive south to Pigeon Forge, TN. Can't even remotely afford Disney...which my kids will soon be too old to even care about anyway. It just sucks to feel this crappy about myself. I have been so excited about losing 40 pounds, but I'm still 362 pounds. I have failed myself by letting my weight get so high and never following through with going to college. I have failed my family for not striving to do more to make their dreams a reality. I've went on long enough. This is a weight loss blog, not a whiner blog. I will not be posting everyday as I have been trying to do. Let's face it, my life is boring so there is nothing to post each day and my weight loss is sloooooow so there is not usually an update. Take care friends (as if any of my friends are even reading this).

Chloe's starting and current pics...

Chloe with her brother Austin (in the middle) and cousin Noah taken last summer

Chloe shooting hoops this past weekend...and 15 pounds lighter than she was on January 7th 2011

Starting pics and work in progress pics

The first pictures are of me at around my heaviest weight of 403 pounds taken fall of 2010 (but I looked like that November 29th when I started my new healthy changes). The second set is me from two weeks ago at about 365 pounds. Still a big boy, but glad I'm 40 pounds less than the old me...and still dropping.

Hi there...

Good eating. Walked at each break. Feeling good. Brief posts, but I really don't have any big thing to share tonight. There is 17 weeks until our vacation in July to Myrtle Beach. I had a goal of weighing 299 pounds by that time...probably not going to happen. So far this month I have lost around 4 pounds. No doubt I have lost in inches, but scale wise it's been slow.  I need to average losing 3.71 pounds a week from here on out to get to a weight of 299 lbs. Doesn't look good for that goal. As long as I am eating healthy, exercising and living the life of a fit person I will be fine. I know I will weigh much less than I do now by then, so it's all good. Well, I have posted a picture of me that my wife took of me Sunday March 6th at around 365 pounds. I will look for a good starting pic to compare the two. Like I said before, I got a long way to go, but I am proud that I have stayed on the right path for almost 4 months now. This truly has been a lifestyle change and I really am a different person now. I may have a crappy meal or two, but I can separate a meal from a lifestyle and move on after the last bite. Till next time, take care friends!

Another Monday in paradise

All sarcasm aside, it was a good day. I stayed under 2000 calories today. My weight at work was still 363 pounds. Tomorrow I will see if Sunday's meal has caught up with me. We went to basketball court this evening and shot/played around. Not much high impact cardio, but was nice for an hour being outside moving. Guess that's all I got. Pretty boring post I know. Sorry. I'll try harder next time :-)

Been meaning to post...just kept forgetting

Hello again! No worries, I didn't fall back to old ways. At least not all weekend. Good eating habits on Friday and Saturday. Nothing big to mention. Today though I ate over 3000 calories. Over 1700 calories were consumed at lunch. It was Mom's birthday and money is a little tough this week to come by. She said she would just like a good cheeseburger for a birthday meal. We ended up at Hardee's (which is the same as a Carl's Jr chain if you are familiar with those). I ended up eating the 2 double cheeseburger basket. My thought was that they would be just small versions since the meal was only $5. Turns out, the double cheeseburgers were 530 calories each...I ate both. The medium fries were about 430 calories. And the apple turnover (it came with it, I was weak and ate it) was 270 calories. But I did have a diet soda with it. Then we took mom for an ice cream. I had a large vanilla cone. That was 470 calories. So bad day eating wise, but I'm okay with an off day. I'm not on a diet. I just eat healthy most of the time. This will not throw me off, I'll be fine again when breakfast rolls around in the morning.

That's all for tonight. I'll weigh in tomorrow and again mid week to survey the damage it did. No matter what though, I'll lose any extra weight that today's eating has caused. Take care friends!

A better day today!

I didn't post yesterday out of frustration. I weighed in my kitchen yesterday morning and the scale hadn't moved at all since last Friday. I weighed at work, and it too hadn't budged. My frustration level was/is about a 99/100. My calories have not topped over 1950 in a week, I am walking and being active and I am not drinking much pop. I don't get it. The old Mike is saying that I am eating too many carbs, but the new educated Mike knows the carbs I am eating are good, natural and complex carbs. The old Mike would say that I need to eat only 1200 calories a day, but the new Mike knows that would just be a crash diet that I would either quit doing or I would gain all my weight back after I tried eating a normal calorie ration. So last night I went to bed down and wanting to binge eat...but I didn't.

Flash forward to today. I weighed again and again there was no change. I felt bloated and huge all day. At work I did something I have not did in about 4 months. I got a snack out of the vending machine. I was so frustrated with not losing anything in the last 5 days or so that I could have been bad. Instead, I opted for chocolate baked Goldfish graham crackers for 260 calories and only 8g fat (I ate the whole 2 serving bag). Me and the family decided to get active as soon as we got home. My crappy feeling soon was about to get better. My basketball shorts from last year that always inched up my inner thighs now fit me perfect and baggy. My t-shirt no longer fit me like a sausage casing. Instead of a long walk, we walked about a half mile to the local school playground where me and Chloe played basketball for about 45 minutes. It was more chasing the ball after bad shots than standing and shooting the ball. I was absolutely amazed at how much more energy I had after "just" 40 pounds off me. This is the first ball I've played since last year. Last time I was wheezing and out of breath after running down a ball. Tonight I would run down the ball (okay, it was more of a fast jog than a run) and then keep running back to the goal to lay it in. Same went for Chloe. We both actually looked and felt like we belonged out there pretending to be ball players ;-) Reality that I am still 363 pounds set in soon after leaving the court. My right ankle hurts from all the jumping and running. The basket we shot at had a tight net. So everytime we made a basket (which wasn't too often) I would have to jump and hit the ball to get it out. After a hot shower and a chance to put my feet up, I am fine now. I just don't think I will be running or jumping as much until I get a few pounds off. The last thing I need is a stress fracture that would keep me from doing my walks.

Well, anyway that was my last two days. Tomorrow is my weigh in at home with Chloe. Not expecting anything, but this is a long adventure and not a day trip to losing it all. Regardless of what it says, I will post the results tomorrow. My work weigh in is Monday, but I'm sure I'll be weighing tomorrow too. Have a good one friends!

Tough night

I find myself wanting to eat a lot tonight. I am stressed with some issues here at home (don't worry nothing major or marital). I am definitely an emotional eater. I had around 1000 healthy calories at work between breakfast and lunch. Tonight we went to fast food. I wanted a double cheeseburger and fries. I ended up getting two grilled chicken wraps without the sauce for 420 total calories. Then I had a small fry for 230 calories. Then I came home and had a leftover chicken breast for about 140 calories. Then I had about a 1/2 cup of leftover pea salad for about 100 calories. Finally, I came to a stop after having one of my healthy oatmeal cookies for about 170 calories. I am battling hard not to binge tonight on whatever I can get my hands on. It figures that the day after hitting my 40 pound milestone that I would be fighting the old Mike's gluttony. At this moment I am under my 2400 calorie limit, so it has been a good day. I am not going to give in to my stress eating habits of old. I am going to read some of the blog on fat2fitradio.com for a little help. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a good report to post about how tonight ended up and maybe even another weight loss tomorrow. Take care friends.

40 pounds lighter

I weighed in at 363 pounds even today! That makes a 40 pound loss since 11/29/10. I got 64 ounces of water drank. My calories are just under 1800, but I'm fine that low. I about had a stress eating binge tonight. I found myself making a second plate of food after I was already full from the first serving. I put the old Mike in his place and turned the second plate into what I am taking for lunch tomorrow. Nothing else really to talk about. My motivation is at 100% and so is the confidence that I am going to lose another 64 pounds by July 22nd! I just have to buckle down and stay strict on my eating rules...and get my exercise in each day. Take care and talk to you later friends.

A walk in the park

Being a Sunday evening, I will keep this fairly short. Got some stuff to do before bedtime. Let's start with the food. Breakfast was an orange and oatmeal. Lunch was two turkey taco meat wraps. For snack I made these healthy oatmeal cookies made with 1 cup oatmeal, 1 cup dried nonfat milk, 3 tbsp wheat flour, 2 tsp brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tbsp raisins, 1 tbsp chocolate chips and 1 cup applesauce to bind it all together. I made four huge cookies out of it by baking it at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes on a cookie sheet. Each cookie is only 200 calories and full of fiber and protein. I haven't ate dinner yet, but am at around 1300 calories for the day. We went to the park this afternoon and walked a trail for about 20 minutes. Then we went to a department store to just browse around and I picked at the very back of the lot to get extra walking. The kids were not too thrilled with that, lol. That's about it for the fitness and eating part of my day.

I am a tad concerned with some things though. First off, my left knee is inflamed and hurts. It's not like a bruise, but more like something twisted or sprained. It has hurt since this morning. I thought I just slept in a bad position and figured walking would work it out. It didn't. I will take it easy on it the next few days. That should be easy since we are expecting rain and cooler temps. The other thing is moodiness. I am so stressed this evening. It seems that everything is getting on my nerves. I had a Diet Mountain Dew, so it's not caffeine. I have had decent carbs, so my blood sugar shouldn't be low or high. I'm just trying to kick back and chill. I think a few minutes of me time will solve that issue. No worries, nothing major.

I'll weigh in tomorrow, but between the inflammation and swelling in my knee and the sodium in the food I've had this weekend I am not expecting too much. That's all for now friends. Have a good one!

Saturday's are awesome

Today has been a very busy day for us. I slept in until about 9:30am. I aimed for having 2 egg whites with a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, but my egg separating skills were bad this morning. I ended up having one egg white and one whole egg scrambled in cooking spray. I added a serving of oatmeal and a banana for a 350 calorie breakfast. We ran around both the town we live in and the neighbor city where I work at with my Mom. Lots of driving. Little bit of shopping and some chill time looking at light cooking cookbooks at the library. We ended up eating at the same bakery and cafe that tempted me yesterday. No fear this time since I know that I am fine if I eat in moderation like a normal fit person. I had a turkey sandwich on toast with american cheese, lettuce and tomato. No mayo and no bacon! A bag of baked Lays chips and cup of chili went along with it. For a sweet treat (yep, I indulged...but did not over-indulge) I had a long john donut. Oh yeah, I also had 8 saltine crackers with my chili. Dinner was a shrimp soft taco from Taco Bell. That's it. Just a taco. Old Mike would have ordered the following...this is for real... chicken taco salad, 2 chicken burritos, and one specialty item. Not to mention eating what Crystal couldn't finish. Thank God that old Mike is not making the decisions anymore. It was crazy wonderful spending only $8 to feed me and Crystal (Austin ate something else and Chloe is at a friend's house in case you thought I didn't feed them :-)  So for today I am just under 2000 calories and feeling good.

This morning me and Chloe had our first weigh in on the new weight loss tracker board she made us. Just to refresh you on that. It's a poster board with every Friday's date on it thru July 22nd (the Friday before vacation to Myrtle Beach). We forgot to weigh yesterday, so that is why this was a Saturday weigh in. I weighed in just my gym shorts and was 357.6 lbs.Had I been able to weigh at work in my normal at work weigh in clothing, I believe I would have reached my 363 pounds for my 40 pound loss. I will reach it hopefully on Monday when I weigh in. Remember, my first weigh in at 403 lbs was at work in jeans and t-shirt so I make sure to weigh in the same type clothing each week for an accurate weight loss total. My blood pressure was the best it's been all week too. Yes, this post is out of order and just thrown together, but you know I'm not a pro. Anyway, I also took my chest, stomach, thigh, arm and hip measurements and will track that to see what inches I lose too.

Next month, when I have the extra cash, I'm going to buy some exercise equipment. I want to join a gym, but the $67 month fee is a bit much for us. Plus with the wife's work and school, I'm not sure we would get our moneys worth. The gym at work is awesome, but my mom keeps our kids and I hate having them there so late. I also wouldn't get home til about 7pm if I stay after to workout and that is way too late to do household work and cook/eat dinner. I have to take the kids to school, so can't go in early. Also, who the heck wants to go to work on their day off, especially when it is a 25 minute drive to get there. Walking around the parking lot at work is good for just moving, but I'm really not burning lots of calories. I'd like to get an eliptical machine for total body workouts, but they are really expensive. I'd like a recumbent bike, but it's not the greatest for total body stuff. A treadmill would be nice, but for my weight I'd pay a fortune for a heavy duty one. So I'm still thinking of what I want to get. The first weekend in April I am off work and plan on cleaning out the garage to make room for some type of equipment.

I've went on long enough I guess. Hope you all have a great day. Remember, if you are on a weight loss journey too that you are not alone. If you ever need a helping hand or just want to talk, find me on facebook at id 1359313756 or email me at pusserwade77@yahoo.com and you can always leave a comment on my blog. Take care friends!

Thought it was a disaster

But it wasn't! First off, I didn't weigh today since I just did yesterday...will weigh tomorrow here at home though with Chloe. I have had no water at all, so tonight that's all I'm drinking. Here is the near disaster that turned into not so bad. Our good friend, and family member down the line, and her sister have a opened a bakery and cafe near our home. We decided to try it out for dinner. It is a nice and cozy place that is only open until 6pm and has only been open a couple weeks. Our friend Mary is a great baker, as over the years I have sampled many delicious goodies from her. We walked in and seen two big display cases of donuts, cinnamon rolls, cakes, etc. Just for a second, let me give a background of what me and Chloe had today to eat before this place. Chloe had only 200 calories since she had to miss lunch at school. I only had about 1000 calories, including a small fry from Wendy's while I waited for the kids. Before scolding me for the fries, remember the old me would have gotten a combo meal biggie sized and a frosty. I got a diet soda and value size fry for 200 calories. Anyway, back to the Sweet Shop Cafe (that's the name of it). It is mainly a breakfast place and bakery, so menu items are limited to daily specials. Today the choice was fried fish with 2 sides and taco salad. I chose the taco salad. I knew I was going to use a bunch of calories, but I had 1400 to spend. The taco salad was a handful of lettuce, taco seasoned ground beef (not greasy at all), shredded cheese (not too much), salsa and about 20 tortilla chips. The salad part only took up about 1/4 to 1/3 of the styrofoam to go container and the chips took up the rest. So it wasn't a big salad...it wasn't even a medium salad. It was a good tasting taco salad (or nachos, as I ate them), just not as big in size as say a Wendy's taco salad. I had two bites of Chloe's fried fish (yes, she is regretting that choice...but enjoyed it). It was awesomely good and awesomely fried. Then the near disaster hit. I ordered us some sweet desserts to go...A BIG NO NO, but I wanted to support my friends. I ended up eating a cinnamon roll with cream cheese icing and half of a cream filled powder donut...and a bite of peanut butter roll candy. This was an hour ago and I am feeling warm and my head feels funny from all the sugar. It's funny, the old me would not turn back to healthy living and would start back down the bad road. I'm glad I'm a new Mike now. I don't want any of that stuff for a loooong time. It does show me though that I can control myself and eat a normal portion (okay, I had a normal person and childs portion together, but better than 3 or 4 things) and not binge. So far you got to be thinking "this is a disaster!", but it wasn't. After carefully and thoroughly calculating and figuring my calories, I ended up consuming less than 2400 calories! My self imposed limit it 2400, my recommended calories based on my bmr are about 2500. This will slow my weight loss by a day or so since I do not have a big calorie deficit as I had been having by only eating 1600-2000 calories. I can live with it since I will be exercising in this great weather for the weekend we are expecting! More to write tomorrow friends, but I'm done for the night.

This'll be brief

Got a lot to do tonight, so I'll be brief. Calories for the day under 1300 so I will have another snack later. I drank 80 ounces of water. Tomorrow is the big weigh in, but I weighed today and was 364.4 pounds...that's 38.6 pounds lost! I am hoping to be under 363 lbs by Monday to crack the 40 pounds lost mark. Than my next goal will be 349 lbs so I will have over 50 pounds off and closer to 300 lbs than 400 lbs. Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow will be a bigger post. Take care friends!

Much better

The chest discomfort I had Sunday through yesterday was gone when I woke up this morning. My blood pressure is still a bit high today. It was 124/96 when my mom's bp wrist machine took it tonight. I am not drinking anymore low carb energy drinks. I think maybe that was too much caffeine for me to handle. I am back to all water except for maybe 12 ounces of diet soda of an evening. I would quit the diet soda alltogether, but I really don't think in moderation it is that bad...maybe later, but not now. Anyway...

The eating went very well today. Under 1600 calories for the day. I got home late from the store, so I just made 2 sandwiches for dinner. I know you are thinking "why 2?". Don't worry, I had a total of 330 calories for both. They were made on 35 calorie light whole wheat bread, lean turkey, 2% cheese and brown mustard. A serving of baked tortilla chips and salsa was my side. Total dinner calories were only 500. It was raining today so I didn't get my walking done, but tomorrow looks better.

Bedtime for Mike now. Take care friends!

March 8th

I weighed 2 pounds less than I did on Friday! I am at just over 38 pounds lost and hope to hit 40 by Friday. I walked almost a half hour at work today. My calories are just under 1900. I have been a little nervous since Sunday's walk. I have had discomfort/aching in my chest. Not sure if it's my lungs hurting due to the cold air I breathed in, or if it's my heart. It doesn't hurt, it just aches. I can breathe fine, but I just don't feel right at times. Particularly it is worse when I walk. If it's worse soon, I'm going to get it checked out. But enough of that. Tonight me and the family went to Shoneys restaurant to eat. I selected the under 550 calorie blackened GRILLED chicken breast with rice and garlic toast. I added the salad/fruit bar. After enjoying two nice side salads with just a little cheese and fat free dressing, I was feeling good. I avoided their buffet where I would have went overboard and chose the lower calorie option. The good feeling left soon after my meal arrived. I put grilled in all caps to illustrate without a doubt it was to be a grilled chicken breast. What I got was a breast that was cut in half to make two cutlets, each swimming in oil/grease. I could make a puddle on my plate with the grease. I advised the waitress that I was watching my fat/calories and that is why I ordered grilled chicken. She wanted to act like the chicken was made normal, but then even she couldn't excuse the oil all over it and my plate. She asked if I wanted another one with no oil or butter on it. Oil and butter on a grilled meal that is advertised as under 550 calories?!?! I advised yes, but still got a suspiciously moist grilled chicken breast. By this time, everyone else had ate so I just went ahead and ate it. I also estimated an additional 150 calories on the meal since I have the feeling that meal was not made to be 550 calories. I may be overshooting the estimation, but better safe than sorry. I came home and had an awesome low calorie (100 calories) fudge bar. It is Aldi's grocery store's Fit and Active brand and says compare to Weight Watchers on the box. They are great and less than $3 a box! Well, that's all I got for today. Until next time, take care!

I love a good Monday

Woke up on time. Was able to make a healthy breakfast for Chloe and me. Left the house early. Work was pretty decent...for a Monday. No big issues or drama. Ate good and healthy today. Got a couple walks in during breaks and drank 80oz of water. Calories were under 1400 so far for the day, so may have a little snack before bed. Well, nothing else to really talk about. Going to weigh at work tomorrow to kinda see where I'm at for this post weight loss contest period of my journey. Until next time, take care friends.

Sunday night or Part 2

Hello again. I just finished watching a documentary called Fat Head. It was following a man who ate at fast food places for 28 days and actually lost weight. The film Super Size Me from a few years ago was about a man who ate at fast food for a month and his health went to crap. Anyway, this was the exact opposite to that film. The guy in Fat Head lost 12 pounds (I think) and his health tests (cholesterol, bodyfat and hdl/ldl) improved. He didn't just eat salads either. He stayed close to 2000 calories and didn't drink the sodas. About halfway into the movie, the low fat heart healthy diet we know came under fire. By the end, he had tried a low carb diet full of fats and oils and his health improved quite a bit more. So basically, per the film, grains will become sugar in our body, the body will produce insulin to get rid of causing it to be stored as fat, fats from animals are good for the body and oils from plants are causing heart disease. Pro-low carb diet film for sure.

I have did the low carb thing many times. Lost weight fast, bloodwork always improved and sometimes I felt good. Other times, I felt lethargic and cruddy. No matter when I did low carb one thing remained the same. When I cheated at all or went back to eating fruits, potatoes and pasta, I gained BIG time. So I was not tempted to go back to low carbing after I watched this, but I did have a moment of wondering if I was doing the right thing by just eating lean meats, veggies and fruits, oatmeal and brown rices. After all, they did show doctors who said grains were bad for us and fatty foods were actually better foods. But, Super Size Me had experts say fatty foods are bad for us. And another movies says this is bad for us, and another says...You get the point. Confusion due to hundreds of experts all contradicting each other. I'm sticking with my oatmeal, fruit and/or egg whites and turkey bacon for breakfast. I'll continue my lean meat, veggies and more fruit for lunch and snacks. My dinner will be pretty much the same and maybe a whole grain brown rice, quinoa or whole wheat bread/tortilla will be added with it. I am losing weight (slowly, but surely) and I feel good. When I look at my food log, it actually is lower in carbs because I avoid the processed crap that is primarily carbs.

Here is today's summary. Oatmeal with 2 egg whites for breakfast. Mexican chicken breast, fat free refried beans and shredded cheese on whole grain Flatout wrap. Dinner was chicken mushroom marsala over brown rice. I got a 30 minute walk in and drank 48 ounces of water. Pretty good day! Chloe made me and her a weight loss tracker board for our weekly weigh ins that will start Friday. She has every Friday on it through July 22nd (the day before our vacation to Myrtle Beach starts). She has written some things on it that inspires us to lose weight. Like "Myrtle Beach", "Kings Island", "Shopping", etc. Regarding the home weigh ins, they will be different weights than when I weigh at work. Me and Chloe weigh in our pajamas/underwear when at home, but at work they frown on that so I will have my work office clothes on. I will post both weights here on my blog, but my weight from work is what my starting weight of 403 comes from. The home weight is basically so me and Chloe can support each other and share the experience.

Have a great Monday friends. Feel free to leave comments. I'm here for anyone who needs support or just wants to share weight loss success, tips and info.

A day late post

Last night turned into a family movie night in our living room with the kids. By the time Despicable Me ended (which was a pretty good lil movie if you haven't seen it) it was nearly midnight. I was tired and just went to bed instead of turning on the computer, so I didn't update my calories on Myfitnesspal.com or post anything here. So let me dedicate this post to yesterday's info and then tonight I catch up on today's.

As I updated on Friday, I was pretty bummed about not seeing the scale move at the final weigh in and completely blew my healthy eating. The effects of the fat, sodium and bad carbs that I consumed Friday were very evident Saturday. My watch and wedding band were tighter from the fluid I was retaining. This will be gross, but my urine had a foul odor. I just felt blah through Friday night and Saturday morning. All this mixed together to provide the kick in the pants I needed to tighten up my eating habits.

For breakfast I had one scrambled egg white and half of a whole scrambled egg along with 2 slices of lower sodium turkey bacon made in the microwave. For lunch I ate a foot long turkey and ham sub from Subway with a 75 calorie bag of light Lays chips. Some people can't deal with the Olestra oil they make them with, but it never does anything to me. I kept the cheese off my sub and used mustard in lieu of mayonaisse. All together lunch was only 675 calories. Usually I wouldn't eat a whole foot long, but breakfast was only 150 calories and I'd rather have my big meal at lunch instead of right before bed.

I had planned on baking chicken breast for dinner in some recipe, but by the time we got home from the grocery it was too late to start cooking. So for dinner I had a Flatout wrap with shredded lettuce, a little shredded cheese, lean smoked turkey and some light avocado ranch dressing. To go with it I had a serving of baked Tostitos Scoops with the homemade pico de gallo/salsa I made. A banana was my desert.

It's funny how old habits rare their ugly head. At least 4 times during the movie I had the thought to get a snack. Eating and movies always went together for me, but not now. I wanted popcorn, gummies or anything else I could get. Then I reminded that old Mike voice that I wanted to not be fat more than I wanted a snack and enjoyed my Diet Pepsi instead.

It's cold today and we even had a trace of snow this morning. I'm going to bundle up this afternoon and go for a walk anyway though. No more excuses not to exercise. I looked at my calorie and exercise reports on myfitnesspal.com and see why the scale isn't moving. I didn't realize how often I have had higher calorie days. February 27th was a big calorie day with the pizza buffet, so that most likely caused a big gain. In all actuality, if I would have weighed everyday last week I would have seen a gain followed by continual losses. In the last 2 weeks I have had 2 days of over 3000 calories. This can't happen again. If I have a bad meal, it has to stay just a bad meal not a bad 2 or 3 meals. So my two steps to work on are 1.) stay within my allowed calories, and 2.) exercise each day even if just a 20 minute walk. My weight loss goal for my weigh in next Friday is 6.5 pounds. I want to be in the 350's. More to come tonight. Have a good day.

Down the toilet

I weighed 366.4 at our final weigh in today. That was 1 pound higher than Tuesday and 4 pounds higher than where I was hoping I'd be at today. Not sure what happened. I can only guess that Sunday's bad eating and last night's salt filled salad bar and slice of pizza are part to blame. It is discouraging to only have basically 2 bad meals in the last three weeks and have only lost about 4 pounds in the last 5 weeks or so. So being the emotional eater I can be, I snapped.

I'm not proud of how I ate, but I'm also not too tore up about it. I reached a bad moment and had a bad day. Tomorrow I am going to be right back on track more focused than ever before! Let me confess my eating sins to you fine witnesses. Breakfast at work was the usual oatmeal with a banana and apple. Lunch was a Chinese buffet where I consumed over 2000 calories (thanks again to the calculator on myfitnesspal.com). Dinner was a big double cheeseburger and fries from Dairy Queen...and a big bite of ice cream. I regret all this happened, but at least it's out of my system. The biggest regret though is bringing Chloe down with me. She did decent at school, but if you put a kid in a DQ of course they are going to want ice cream. She ate a sensible quesadilla meal and a mini Blizzard. So at least she kept things relatively in check.

So tomorrow is my redemption and back on track day. My goal for next Friday is 359. That is a high goal for me since I have been eating well for almost 3 1/2 months now, but with more exercise, water and lower calories I can do this. Here's to a better tomorrow friends!

This will be brief

Hello friends, I was out way too late tonight looking for a 2nd gate to keep our little puppy penned up while we are at work. We came home last night to a destroyed house. Just two days after being spayed, she climbed the baby gate and got out while we went to the store last night. So this morning we blocked her in with a big box with weights bracing it. So obviously not getting home until 9pm on a work night is way too late for me. Let me get to the good stuff.

Tomorrow is the last day of our weight loss contest at work so I wanted to be extra good today. I drank over 130 ounces of water and avoided salty foods during the day. Oatmeal and banana for breakfast. Chicken breast and salt free green beans for lunch. Light string cheese, apple and orange for snacks. Dinner was at Pizza Hut. No worries peeps, I was in control. Two small salads with minimal dressing and shredded cheese on it and one (not multiple) slice of supreme thin crust pizza. My total calories for the day were under 1700 calories. I also walked every break. It was only ten minutes at a time, but at least I was moving and not just sitting. So it was a great day!

I am going to weigh in as early as possible tomorrow. I feel pretty good about things. My body solved the "issue" I was having today, thank God! My water intake should help flush the sodium I ingested at Pizza Hut and I have not had a bad day since last Sunday. If I weigh 362 pounds tomorrow, that will be 10% of my starting body weight lost! So that 41 pounds lost would be my first medium size goal reached. Next milestone would be getting to 349 pounds. To be closer to 300 pounds than 400 pounds will be a great relief. Wish me luck friends! I'll let you know the outcome and numbers tomorrow. Even though the contest ends, my journey continues. I am so thankful I live my life like a fit person now and have adapted to the lifestyle changes in eating and health, instead of still being the chronic dieter I used to be. Goodnight friends!

Corked and blah

I hate to start on a graphic and unpleasant note, but have to. It has been since Sunday night since I dropped the kids off at the pool (or went number 2 for those who think I took the kids swimming in February). I had to take some Imodium Sunday night due to some way too often number 2's thanks to the junk and huge amount of pizza that did me wrong from earlier in the day. I only took one dose, but have yet to go again since. So now I feel very bloated and blah. I got 48 ounces of water down today and tomorrow I am shooting for 96 ounces. I don't want to take a stimulant, but if this keeps up I'll have to.

Well, enough about that crappy subject (sorry, couldn't resist). Today consisted of me getting back to my oatmeal and low carb/calorie energy drink for breakfast. Those drinks aren't the greatest, but I don't drink coffee and can use the kick. Lunch was a leftover chicken breast and the last little bit of rice and mango salsa. For dinner we went out to a bar b q joint. I passed the ribs and opted for the side of smoked turkey and salad bar. I used very little dressing on my two small side salads that I made. Just a little cheese topped the veggies. The sides I got with my salad were 3 sweet pickles, 4 boiled egg whites, about a cup of pasta salad and about a cup of chicken 'n rice soup. Oh yeah, I also had 2 apples and a orange at work for snacks. Pretty good day. Good amount of food and still under my calories for the day. AND I spent my last break walking around the parking lot! I am going to do that each day, weather permitting.

Well, I'm tired and ready for bed. More to note tomorrow I'm sure. Goodnight friends!

No work for me today

Today was a scheduled day off work for me. Our puppy was spayed yesterday, so I thought I'd stay home and make sure she didn't have any issues. I left to take kids to school and my mom to the store this morning. Then I left to pick them up from school and to get me some groceries for dinner. I made baked jerk chicken breasts, island brown rice with mango, pineapple and green onion and some mango salsa with onion and cucumber. To go with it we had some light flatbread type wrap and some avocado. It was my first time eating or cooking with avocado and mango. It was the first time I have ate that much produce in one meal and I loved it. It was such a nice and light dinner for a change.
 I am going to weigh at work tomorrow just to get an idea of where I am and if I need to do any calorie tweaking. The myfitnesspal.com tools have been a huge help. It is my calorie tracker, exercise tracker and just logging in helps with my motivation. I am also trying to figure out how to use my twitter and am tweating my weight loss related entries. I'm going to post more tomorrow regarding my weight and such. Til then, have a good evening friends!

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