New Blog...

Come follow us at http://mikeandchloeloseit.blogspot.com/

Changes...

Changes are a necessity in life. About a year ago I made a change in my life to eat better and lose weight. About 8 months ago I changed back to eating like an idiot. Less than a month ago I changed my priorities to get back to becoming fit. Less than a week after that I changed back to eating like an idiot. I changed my way of living from sitting on my butt to going to college for the first time at age 34. One of these changes has been a breeze...the college one. The other changes were never really changes at all. When you make a change, you stop doing the thing you used to do. I used to eat delicious foods that were not good for me...wait, I always ended up eating those same things. Obviously I really didn't make a change. It was more like a hiatus. So as I change parts of my life by attempting to better my mind and work at a degree to better my chances of employment after my current job closes, I continue to physically self destruct. Well, once again, I am making a change. This blog is officially being retired as of tonight. It will still remain in the cellar of blogs charting the good, the bad and the awfully ugly from  my past year of up and down weight loss.

Have no fear, I am not giving up my adventure to lose my weight. I'm not even close to that feeling. Me and my daughter are embarking on a tag team journey to get healthy. It actually began about 48 minutes ago. I will be starting a new blog to post our updates and tips, along with anything else on our minds by the end of the day. I will post that blog name and link on here soon, in case anyone is reading. Sometimes I will post and sometimes she will be the one posting. Just a warning, she is about to turn 13 but is more witty and articulate than some adults I know. Expect frequent updates, less bad news and a whole new feel to the blog. With me and Chloe looking out for each other with this renewed motivation, I expect good things and hopefully this can lead to a long healthy life for our entire family and you the reader. Stay tuned for the  link.

No leftovers today

After a bowl of oatmeal and a banana for breakfast, lunch couldn't come soon enough. Chicken breast with hot sauce, for a mayo free chicken salad, and veggies. Big difference from yesterday, but feel MUCH better after eating this!

FRIDAY!

TGIF! No Black Friday shopping for me this morning, just work. I got a good nights sleep and woke up with a pep in my step. Obviously I decided to keep my adventure blog and move forward with my weight loss journey tracking. Today I weighed 409.4 pounds on the trusty work scales. I refuse to go any higher. I came prepared with healthy foods for work and will update my food choices tonight. For now though, it's back to work time since break is over...come on 4:30!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hopefully everyone has had a great Thanksgiving full of reflections of what you are thankful for. I ate too much, as many people did today. As blessed as I am and as great as today has been, I feel like crap. As of this past Tuesday I weighted 408 pounds. I am in a tailspin and quite possibly have crashed after my 2nd bowl of dumplings today. My daughter has also bore the brunt of the scale and poor eating habits as she hit a milestone of high weight herself this week. It is sad for me to realize that food has such a power over the common sense of eating right. Alas, I sit here and plan my 30th Daddy/Daughter weight loss contest to begin Monday. I am completely embarrassed at how I can lose 50 pounds in less than half a year and gain 55 back just as quick. I am also completely peeved that I could allow my daughter to lose 20 pounds in the same time frame only to gain about 30 back.

I won't waste anymore of a happy Thanksgiving being down on myself. The future of this blog is up in the air right now. Possibly I will start a new and fresh start blog this weekend, or I may just get past the crappy things I've done and get back on track and blog by eating recovery on here. Either way I'll be back on track tomorrow. As long as I keep getting back on my feet, I have not been defeated...no matter how many times I get off track. Goodnight.

What it is, what it was and what it will be

It is all good now. Since last update, I have dealt with my mom having a stroke (she is doing well now), minor health scare for myself and still awaiting word on when my job will be closing. I am still going to school full time via online courses and also working full time. As busy as I have been, I have managed to find time to eat enough to gain EVERY single pound back that I had lost. As of last Tuesday I was about 403 pounds...even though my doctor's scale only showed 370. Hopefully his diagnosis are more accurate than his scale.

As my first sentence stated, it's all good now though. I know what to do, just have to get back to doing it. I have stocked the house with fruits and veggies that I like. The "bad" food has either been consumed or thrown out. As of tomorrow I am back to taking plenty of healthy grub to work and have lighter options waiting to be made for dinner. Water will be replacing diet soda as my drink of choice...I have my headache pills ready for the caffeine withdraw headaches that will come. If I can only find the motivation to stay after work and use the company gym I will be all set.

I was going to start a new blog, but I got to thinking about it and decided not to. This weight loss thing is an adventure and not just a quick thing for me. This blog shows my successes and also my bumps along the way. For every day, week or months I went without posting is a reminder of my adventure being derailed and hopefully will help remind me of what not to do.

So I begin my journey to lose weight again and of course it is right at the eating portion of the holiday season. That will just be a badge of motivation when I overcome the "bad" food and backhand the second helpings away. I am back to basics. Small portions, limited processed foods, more veggies and fruits, lots of water and getting active. No junk, candy or fried stuff, but also no healthy foods that I can't stand and no depriving myself of anything. If I want it, I'll eat it. I just won't eat four times the recommended serving size. Gonna take things one meal at a time and my goal is to take it 10 pounds at a time. The first big goal is getting to 349, than it will be to weigh 299 and at 250 I will see what needs to be done. As discouraged as I am that I am back at needing to lose 150+ pounds, I am just as eager and excited to get back on track. I lost 50 pounds in about 5 months at the beginning of the year. This time I hope to lose 60 pounds by April 1, 2012 (yes, April fools day) which would be just about 4 1/2 months.

Wish me well friends, and pray I don't let myself and my family down. More posting to come this week.

First day back on the right track

Let me start with the worst. My weight is 396.6, which is just 7 pounds less than when I started 10 months ago when I started. Basically, I have gained about 40 pounds in 5 months. Devastating. That word sums up how I felt seeing that number.

The good thing is I am back to good. Veggies, baked chicken and oatmeal rounded out my meals. I also have not had any diet soda (remember, I never drink regular pop). I can already feel the caffeine withdraw headache forming, but am fighting it off and sticking to water.

Gotta get to bed, but real quick I'll bring you up to speed. I am in school full time doing all online classes and also working full time (for now, but that is a different story). My mom just had a stroke two weeks ago, but is doing pretty well now. The last few months I got lazy, quit exercising, quit cooking and quit buying quality food. I know the error of my ways, so just have to jump back on the right path. More updates to come later, right now it's bed time.

I'm back

Too late in the night for a recap of what I have been up to the last 6 weeks, but it will be coming soon I promise. Tomorrow, Sept 13 I begin my healthy eating lifestyle change again with the help of a Biggest Loser contest on my team at work. Weight and updates to come tomorrow. I have never quit, I just stopped giving it my all. After several pounds gained, I am back to 100% commitment. I can't post daily with me working full time and being in school full time, but I will shoot for 2 - 3 times a week.

What can I say

Nothing. As I stated early in the start of this blog, words mean nothing if there are no actions to back it up. I will not waste time telling how bad I have done or how much weight I have gained. No reflection of how I failed my vacation weight loss goal or how I let down myself. I was doing great for four months and then blew it. Enough said.

Let's focus on the positive. My family and I had a wonderful vacation in Myrtle Beach. It was the first time they had ever seen the ocean and my first time since I was a child. I rode in a ferris wheel that went 200 feet in the air. The capacity was 6 people or 1300 pounds in each gondola, so me and my daughter were plenty safe. I actually was so concerned with being too big to ride it that I sent the company an email to see for sure. That's how I found the specs for it. We walked a lot while on vacation. It was great to actually see my body adapt in a week to the walking. Usually I get big red splotches and burning/sharp pains in my legs from my poor circulation. Almost always, after a big day of walking I can't hardly move the next morning. So on Monday we went to malls, outlet shopping and other stores. That night I had the redness and pain. The next morning I could barely walk, but again we went out and about. That night more redness and pain, but on Wednesday morning the pain was a little less. Again we went out and about all day. Thursday morning I woke up feeling pretty good in my legs and the redness was more of just a little pink. Thursday we walked the boardwalk and hung at the beach for our final full day. Friday morning I woke up feeling great and very little redness. We did outlet shopping in Pigeon Forge, TN on the way home and got to our house late Friday night. Saturday I was up and at 'em with no pain and still very little redness. So at least my body adjusted to the exercise, which let me know It's not too late to get back to it.

We ate out a few times and had sandwiches at the hotel. With the exception of a buffet and a HUGE double cheeseburger served between two grilled cheese sandwiches (not going into anymore detail), I kept my eating in check. I think I actually did lose a little while there. So all in all, good vacation, swimming and walking was fun, good food and great R and R.

Let's get to how I feel right now. I feel like a big bloated bear. I also feel optimistic for getting my crap together. I purchased two new pairs of great walking/running shoes to help me feel better getting active again. I went to the store today for fruits and veggies. My mom is starting the Weight Watchers plan, so me and Chloe figured it was a good time to get back on track so all three of us can support each other. I am going back to just making a lifestyle change in eating unprocessed foods and reducing the sugar and flour I eat. Chloe will be doing the same. For mom, the WW thing will be better for her, but I just don't want to deal with calculating points. In reality, both WW and what I am doing will be similar. Both cut out the crap foods and both teach you to eat moderate portions.

So in 17 minutes my new start...er, my newest re-start begins. Pray for me, wish me luck and knock on wood that I will stay the course and so will Chloe and my mom. Later friends.

 p.s. This is the heart attack on a plate burger that I spoke of early in the post entry. Yes, I ate all but 2 bites of it. Not a proud moment, but wanted to share my shame.

Hi

Not gone for good and I haven't completely self destructed. I'll be honest,  I have gained probably 15 or more of the 40 pounds I lost back. I have  only 9 days until vacation and failed at my 100 pounds by vacation goal. So a temporary plan began today. Very low carb eating from today until vacation to at least get some belly bloat and fluid off of me to make the swimming trunks bought after the 40 pound loss fit better. After that I will convert back to the successful eating plan I did the first four months when I lost weight. The big thing is I haven't gave up, just haven't given it my all like I should have been. I have picked myself up and am moving forward again. I may fall again (and again, and again...) but I will not give up my goal of losing 150 pounds. I have lost about 25 pounds of it, so I am proud of that! I start college for the first time (minus the 7 weeks I went 12 years ago) in August. I have all online classes this semester, but in the spring I want weight off for when I have real classes. Yep, new goal, lol. I am shooting for weighing 299 pounds by 1/1/12. More to come later, just bare with me to get my stuff in order...mentally and physically. Take care friends.

Austin's Birthday

My boy turned 10 today. After surprising him with a Super Mario Bros. cake, I devoured about 2 slices along with tons of pizza. A few hours later, Chloe presented me with an early Fathers Day gift. She had made me a Indianapolis Colts cake (see why it was early, it wouldn't have lasted til the 19th, lol). She had cake decorating class at her GT camp last week and thought that would be a great theme/gift. So between me, her and Austin we devoured it. Don't panic, it was a small size cake. Needless to say, my stupidity with eating right is still in full swing. Oh well, at least I realize the problem and 66% of the time I am doing the right thing. Until the home finance situation for vacation is resolved, our grocery bill has to be lower. Let's be real, healthy food is higher than processed not so healthy food. I will make sure to avoid the sugars, breads and cracker/chip foods like I was doing beginning Monday (there is still cake left and I am not setting myself up for failure tomorrow). We'll see what happens. Take care peeps!

What a day

My first day back eating healthy was a huge success! Well under my calories so I may have a quick snack soon. Drank 64 ounces of water and exercised by doing some work around house. This part of the day has been great.

Unfortunately on a 90 degree day, our air conditioning unit quit working. It was 86 degrees when we arrived home from work...with the air conditioner running full power. Hoping it's freon we need and not going to be too expensive. We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed for us. We need all the money we can save for vacation, so if this is costly at all our hopes for a vacation in Myrtle Beach are gone. Take care friends, talk to you tomorrow.

Final post...just kidding

No time to sugar coat or say the obvious. I've not ate healthy and feel like crap still. No one can do this for me. Back to it tomorrow, the right way. No junk in the house to eat and got my desire to lose the weight again. Thankfully I didn't gain a lot back. So I will give my re-start post update tomorrow. Take care friends!

Another "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" post

The good: Not at all fitness related, but I filled out my college application to start school in August. I have been out of high school for 16 years and besides a 7 week stint, I've never been to college. In light of the recent rumors of my work closing, I felt it was time to make a change to better myself.

The bad: I ate 3 donuts over the course of the workday today.

The ugly: Chinese buffet for dinner last night followed by half a bag of jelly beans.

That's all I got. As usual, tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start again. Not thrown in the towel, just in a long rut. I will beat this though and be all good!

Another one of those nights...

First off, yesterday wasn't a great day eating. I ended up having a huge calzone for lunch and ended up eating spicy hot smoked sausages for dinner. Not healthy at all. Today hasn't been bad though. Still had leftover sausages and some jalapeno cheese spread, but finished with baked turkey for dinner. Tomorrow will be better.

Now, I am getting back to trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, lol. With looming rumors of my company possibly consolidating sites and closing the one I work at, I gotta get a plan B. With being 33 years old (34 in July), no college experience (other than a failed 7 weeks back about 12 years ago where I just quit to focus on Chloe as a baby and my full time job) and being with this company for about 11 years I am lost on where to begin. I guess plan B will consist of going to college, but not sure what I want to do. With so many years since school behind me, I am nervous that I won't know what the crap they are talking about in class. I also worry that since I will be in my late 30s when I finally get a degree (early 40s if I have to do a 4 year degree at a 6 year pace) that I will always be picked last for a job compared to those in their 20s. Oh well, first things first...gotta decide what I want to do for the rest of my working life. More to come tomorrow friends.

Friday's info...

Sorry, was too busy to post last night. So today there will be two....I am committed to posting about each day.

I weighed here at home in my usual gym shorts only attire yesterday morning. Was not too bummed when I seen 365 pounds. I am still down close to 40 pounds even after all the crap I have been eating. At work I weighed in at 370 with my tennis shoes, polo and jean shorts. I guess from here on out I am going to just start posting my weight from my at home weigh in since it is the truest to what I really weigh. Also, since Chloe weighs in with me on Fridays it makes more since anyway. My calories for the day were 2600. I could have picked a better dinner to have and also not gotten the small McDonald's ice cream cone, but my calories were good and I woke up not feeling like a cinder block.

Well, lots of yard work at my house and at my mom's to do today so gotta run. Have a great day friends o'mine!

New beginning take two

Paid lunch at work from non-healthy food friendly restaurant plus not enough time to cook equals WAY TOO MANY CALORIES! So, tomorrow will be my day to get back to my old ways of healthy living and ditch the whole 75% good and 25% bad eating that is keeping me at the same weight. My weight will be posted tomorrow so that I can see my progress and bare it for all to see here. Have a good night friends!

Now where was I...

Sorry for the last venting post. Now let me get back on the subject of my weight loss adventure.

This will be short and to the point. Words without action mean nothing. So for the last 6 weeks (at least) my words on this blog haven't meant a thing. I get revved up and motivated, post my exuberance for fitness/weight loss and then hours later I'm eating cookies and pizza. The solution for this is....???? I have no definite solution. From November to March I thought I did. My lifestyle was limit flour, sugar and fried foods and completely cut out processed foods like crackers, chips, candy and cookies. I also ate regular portions of meals and had fruit or veggies as in between meal snacks so that I was eating about every 2 hours for a total of 3 meals and 3 snacks. My calories never topped 2400 (often they never hit 2000) and my water intake was at least 64 ounces a day. I was also walking or playing basketball at least 3 days a week. That may not seem like much, but it's 3 days more often than I've been active lately. Now that I look at what I just wrote, maybe I do have the solution. Back to that plan of attack beginning tomorrow. Nothing else to write, just gotta do what I was doing and get to where I want to be. I'll weigh tomorrow at home and work and post the weights tomorrow. I know there will be a gain from where I was at last time, but that's okay...it'll be off of me soon! Take care friends!

Just venting...not much fitness related info

I ate crap today. Lots of it. Ice cream, white bread, big dinner with tons of carbs and butter, you get the picture. Even drank a regular Coke. I'm in an emotional funk, physically spent and just all together not myself. I hate the fact that I had a chance to take a permanent lay off 18 months ago where I would have gotten 2 years of schooling and unemployment since my job went overseas and didn't take it. Instead I apply to keep a job only to hear this week that eventually it will be gone, but since not going overseas I probably won't get near that same package. I cannot stand the fact that people I have worked with/for over the last several years don't even think enough of me to so much as to smile or wave when they see me in public. Of course that is most likely because I am one of the most easy to forget or not know people ever...always have been. I am disgusted with myself for not being able to keep the motivation or self control to not eat crap. I bend over backwards to do things that others in my life need or want and ignore what I would rather do...at no time does anyone ask what I need or want. I am just here to play a part in a life that should be way different. Oh how I wish that I could go somewhere far away, where no one could find me and just focus on me for a few days...or weeks. But alas, I will keep on like a drone or worker bee and keep smiling and faking that I am that happy go lucky funny nice guy. Because that's what makes everyone comfortable and happy...everyone but me. Of course I could just be at my snapping point tonight and will wake up and feel refreshed and good to go. Or I have finally just had my fill of the crap I have allowed to build up in my life and this is the breaking point I have needed to make a change. Guess we'll see.

For anyone who may read this, sorry it's such a dark post. I needed to vent and I didn't have anywhere else to get all this off my chest. Didn't want to bother the few friends I have with this stuff and family doesn't really care to hear it either. Hope to have something better for tomorrow, but no guarantees. Take care friends.

What happened?!

For four months my weight loss adventure was going smooth as could be. These last six weeks have been just the opposite. I find myself buying crap foods, eating terrible choices and losing my motivation more often. I have not gave up the weight loss adventure, that's not what I'm saying at all. Here is a typical day of how it has been:

I measure out my half cup of oatmeal and grab my 3 packs of Splenda sweetener for it. Then I pack my lunch of either a Lean Cuisine type dinner or chicken breast with green beans (or something else "healthy"). Got my apple, orange, veggies or some other non processed food for snacking at work.

On the way to work I start thinking about how good the breakfast bagel sandwiches are at McDonalds as I pass the golden arches getting on the freeway. Then I see Frisch's Big Boy and think about the times I tore that breakfast buffet up. In the past thinking of both of those would disgust me and make me feel good that those things are behind me. Lately though, these have been nostalgic thoughts that entice me to go back to them. I have even had my wallet out and ready to go through drive through and McD's only to fight my old demons and keep on to work.

So I finally make it to work. I go into the cafeteria for a spoon for my oatmeal. While there I drool over the biscuits and gravy or the greasy deep fried breakfast taquitos...and this week I bought a couple of the taquitos to eat with my oatmeal. This added WAY too many junk calories. Along comes lunch time. I eat my healthy lunch...and a couple days added an order of fries to go with it. Not to mention one day I ignored my lunch to opt for a "chuckwagon" burger. A crappy deep fried meat patty of some sort with fries. Don't worry about the lunch I ignored...I had it for a snack. Of course I couldn't ignore the vending machines on a couple of breaks over the last 6 weeks. Each trip found me buying two items (gotta have something sweet and salty).

Dinner time comes. This is where there are many scenarios. I will either...eat sensibly and only have the errors of my earlier food choices on my conscience, eat terribly and be all out bad for the day or eat sensibly and then blow it with ice cream and/or snacks afterwards.

As you can see, this is not the eating habits of someone being healthy. I am not sure what happened. I am still at about 360 pounds, so the good meals are balancing out the bad ones. Obviously though, I still have way too many pounds to lose to just hover at this weight. I have came a long way from 403, but have a long way to go to under 250 pounds.

Here I am again wondering what I can do to fix what is broken and get back to it. Dealing with stress will be a start. Getting rid of the junk foods will be the next thing. Not having cash with me will help avoid crap food at work. Posting on my cubicle wall at work and in my kitchen/desk at home my motivators for losing weight will be added help. I have flirted with the idea of a video blog  so that hearing my own voice and emotion when watching them may keep me going. But I hate looking at myself and hearing my own voice, so not sure if I can do that.

All I can do is try again and stay committed to not screwing up. I ask that my friends/followers keep supporting me as I work through this funk I am in. More to come...possibly even tonight...my friends!

All good this Friday eve

So I ate way too few calories yesterday (thanks to Jeff from Fat2FitRadio for setting me straight on my caloric needs). I had only consumed 1200 calories, but really should be around 3500 calories for my size. This will be a slower weight loss, but I will have minimal muscle loss, my metabolism should increase and my chances of keeping the weight off will be higher. Also, I'm not a bit hungry tonight after having my healthy foods and at 2950 calories. I was looking at doing 2300 calories a day, but based on the bmr tool on fat2fitradio.com that was too low. I don't know how often I will hit 3500 calories, but I want to get at least 2800 calories a day. When I get more active, I will probably increase them.

Well, not much else going on weight loss wise. Lots of looming issues at work, but not going to get into it on my happy place blog, lol. Til next time friends, take care!

The errors of my ways explained

Okay, I did the quick post earlier today from my phone, but it was short and sweet. Typing a blog post from an Iphone's tiny keypad sucks for fat fingers. So I feel the need to go in depth tonight on what's been going on with me and where exactly I screwed up.

In the last 2 months I have lost 5 pounds. This is compared to the 35 I lost from the end of November thru the last week of February. The first 3 months I was keeping track of my calories, avoiding processed foods and cooking more at home. Things changed during the last two months. I had started listening to some other podcasts and had way too much contradicting "diet" advice, but not lifestyle changing advice. The info I was getting made me doubt my 1/2 cup of oatmeal I ate at breakfast because it was carbs not protein. It made me think my 2 apples and an orange a day was too much sugar and would cause me to gain. It also said that my walking everyday wouldn't help me lose weight. I have no idea why I even started listening to other podcasts besides the wonderful Fat2FitRadio. I won't mention the other podcast that led me off to limbo land, but I will be cutting it from my links. Every episode told you a different diet plan and basically gave tons of research as to why traditional things didn't work. After 30 episodes I came to the conclusion that they were just throwing darts and telling you every diet plan. One week low carb was the best, another week it would be fasting and on to another plan the next. Fat2FitRadio.com's podcast/website has the same plan that I was succeeding at to begin with.

I can't lay all the blame on the info. We have ate out more than we should and I have made stupid decisions. I have had the non healthy choices at fast food. There have been trips to Chinese and pizza buffets where I ate like I was at a trough. Then came Easter candy and you have the gist of what happened to me. 

So my renewal of the good ways began today...100% again. Back to tracking my food and calories. I took my food scale out of the package and used it for the first time. I will resume my walking and resistance training each day. Fruits, veggies, lean protein, oatmeal and brown rice will be my food. Refreshed and glad to be thinking straight again. More to come tomorrow friends.

Back to the basics

Just taking a minute while on break at work to post a lil bit. I have seen where I have went wrong the last few weeks. I started listening to diet advice and not staying with the healthy lifestyle changes that lost me these first 40 pounds. Now I am back to avoiding refined foods, flour/sugar rich foods and am focusing on veggies, fruits, lean protein, lots of water and living like a fit person. More to come later... Gotta get back to work ;-)

Been too lazy

People, I have fell hard over the last few weeks. For every 2 good meals, there has been at least one bad one. Sometimes a bad snack too. I thought I had things back on track, but not so much. Since my last update, I have gotten into the kid's Easter candy, had a DQ Blizzard, numerous restaurant meals and no exercise. Today has been some better. Turkey burgers for lunch and dinner with sauted onions and mushrooms. I had low carb wraps with them instead of bread and had a serving of tater tots. My only fail has been 4 chocolate marshmallow eggs. I have this nasty sinus/throat infection that I figured would be a good appetite suppressor, but that hasn't been the case. All I can do is work on making my next meal (breakfast tomorrow) a healthy one. I may have set myself up to be way off schedule for my weight loss goal, but at least I am still on this adventure and not giving up! Have a good one friends!

well...

I attempted to get back on the eat right wagon yesterday. Through 6 pm I had only had an orange and green tea. I had this brilliant idea to fast for the day since I ate so badly over the weekend. Bad idea. While making chicken breasts for the next couple of days I began eating. It started with about an ounce of beef jerky. Not bad, only 80 calories and low fat/carb. Then I had a few crackers with jalapeno pimento cheese. Not great, but not terrible either. Alas, the floodgates of gorging opened and by 10 pm I had consumed chicken and veggies, a slice of leftover pizza, half of a leftover Taco Bell item, 2 marshmallow Easter eggs and quite possibly the wrappers of all said food. I'll know for sure on that last part soon.

Today was better...eating wise. Chloe is home sick. Usually I'd want to snack the day away, but not today. While our doctor was looking Chloe over, he complimented us on our weight loss. He reassured me that my no refined foods rule, eating mainly veggies and lean proteins, exercising and drinking lots of water was the way to go. I admitted that I have had more frequent cheat days than I should, but he didn't scold me. He just offered a suggestion that I try to cut it to one day a month. Turns out that is how often he allows himself to eat a Big Mac with no sauce, but he doesn't eat the fries. He also does not each much bread, which is what I am incorporating in my eating plan too.

After the doctor, we had a Subway breakfast sandwich and I had the other six inches for lunch. Dinner will be chicken breasts and veggies. My calories should be well under 2000. While I was off today with Chloe, a friend of mine texted me that I won the "Healthy Hero" award at work. Coworkers nominate people that they see living healthy and helping others do the same. I wish I could've been there, but it's still cool to know that others see that I have changed my old ways. That's all for now friends.

Happy Easter!

I haven't quit the blog, just been busy...sorry.

The good: As of Friday the 22nd, I had lost the weight gained while on my long weekends earlier in the month and was at 360.2 on the scales at work!

The bad: Since Friday afternoon I have ate pizza buffet, chinese buffet twice, Taco Bell, McDonald, quick fix chimichangas, cookies and candy.

The ugly: I took Chloe down with me and contributed to her having a bad eating extravaganza.

As always, not going to let it get me down for long. It was a bad weekend...so what! Tomorrow is a new day and I know how to eat and exercise so I'm good. Have a good rest of your day peeps!

Wednesday and a good day!

Last night I made about 3 days worth of chicken breast to have on hand. I never usually prepare this much in advance, but after today I see how handy it is. Of course what I thought would be 3 days will be more like 1 1/2 after Chloe having one and me taking one for a high protein snack...and having one for dinner. Oh well, was still nice not cooking dinner and having tomorrow's lunch already packed.

So I tried out a new podcast yesterday and am still catching up on it. It's called Cut the Fat Podcast and they have a website Cutthefatpodcast.com that has some pretty good info. Just like diet books, there are some great nuggets of info mixed with some complete crap in these fitness podcasts. This one seems about 75 percent on the good side. Remember, even though I am a big dude I have many years of research in my head. I would definitely recommend giving them a listen. The hosts are Dr. Raymond Hinish and Blythe Alberg. Dr. Ray is a pharmacist, certified personal trainer and nutritionist. Blythe is a certified personal trainer and figure athlete. Both have great chemistry and knowledge. There are a few things that I can critique. First off, there are times when I feel like I'm listening to fitness for dummies and then at times I feel like I need a degree to understand the lingo. There's also times that one podcast seems to kinda contradict an earlier episode. For instance, in one they recommended low carb and then a few episodes later they seemed down on the low carb plan...only to be okay with it again a few episodes later. They are really good about not preaching all should do one certain "diet", but the large amount of diet plans covered are kinda overwhelming. Well, enough review. It's a good podcast so listen and see what you think.

Today at work I lifted weights and did some other weight machines during my first break and part of my lunch. It was too rainy to walk outside with my buddies. I also realized that I need to protect my muscles from potentially decreasing mass during my weight loss. I am planning on doing weight exercises 3 or 4 times a week for about a half hour a day. I also have drank over 100 ounces of water the last 2 days. To wrap this up, exercising is going well, I'm eating healthy food, decreasing my diet soda and drinking more water. I'm incorporating fitness research materials in my everyday life an leaning more on friends and family than I ever have. The weight loss adventure is going well! I am not worried about the scales as much as I am focusing on my clothes getting baggier and me feeling fit. Eventually the scale will catch up. I will be weighing in tomorrow to just see where I'm at after these past 3 really good days.

That's enough for a Wednesday night. It's late (for me at least) and I'm ready to pack it in for the night. If you are on your own fitness adventure, stay the course and if you fall off the path get right back on. I'm here if you need a hand along the way! More to come later friends.

It's gone!

The weight I gained from the three week stupidity is gone! Today I weighed at our gym at work and was 11 pounds lighter than Friday!!! My weight is now 362 pounds. That is 41 pounds lighter than my 11/29/10 startup. I got to looking at my little notebook of weigh in totals, I was actually 405 pounds back in December of 2008. I thank God that I got my crap together and am going down the right path now!

I have found two new podcast that are pretty good. They cover some things I personally found do not hold true, but do offer a lot of good info. Once is called "Cut the Fat" and the other is "Dr. Fitness and the Fat Guy". These podcast, along with Fat 2 Fit Radio are great tools to use while I'm at work listening to the IPod.

A good friend of mine had a great idea for us to email each other what we ate and how we exercised each day. Even though I use myfitnesspal.com to track calories, it doesn't keep me accountable like showing someone else. Since we both have the common goal of health and fitness, this will be a good method of support. It's nice to have the encouragement and help of friends and family.

I am going to tweak the way I eat based off some of the info I have looked at. I am cutting out white bread, white rice, enriched pasta, potatoes, sugar, crackers and chips. I am also ditching any other processed junk food. I am going to commit to get back to eating only unprocessed foods and cut out fried foods. My diet will consist of baked/grilled chicken, turkey, fish and eggs and low fat cheeses for my protein. My carbs will primarily by brown rice, wheat pasta (occasionally) and oatmeal. All veggies and most fruits will make up the rest of my foods. I guess it will be a modified low carb diet, but no high fat meats and I won't be eliminating all carbs. It may sound like a complicated eating plan, but really I am just avoiding refined and processed foods. Lastly, I will be drinking at least 64 ounces of water a day and exercising at least 30 minutes a day.

As I said before, I have until July 23rd to lose as much weight as possible before vacation. I gotta get stricter and do this! That's all for now peeps.

First yard mowing of 2011

Ordinarily, I would want to forget about mowing. This time last year I was gasping for breathe and thinking I was having a heart attack after each yard mowing. Even though Crystal or Chloe had another push mower helping out. Last year we needed an hour and a half to do all the mowing. Thankfully, things are better this year. We have had a lot of rain and between our schedules and just not being home to mow, the yard was WAY high. Even with that tall grass, we managed to mow it in less than 50 minutes! I am sure that this is in part to being about 40 pounds lighter than last year. I only took a 1 minute and a 2 minute break and have not had to take a hit on my asthma inhaler. Oddly enough, my knee doesn't even hurt too bad. Just more fuel to keep my weight loss fire burning.

Now the not so good. After church, we went to a mexican restaurant where I ate a lunch size chicken taco salad...including the fried tortilla bowl and chips with cheese dip. BAD Mike, bad! No worries though. Except for an orange for dinner, that is all I have ate today. Myfitnesspal.com estimates my lawn mowing burned 677 calories for my size and my total calories are only 1400 for the day. I'm not hungry and I feel good that I passed on ice cream while we were out. All in all, it's been a great day! Have a great night friends, I'm about ready for bed ;-)

Back again

As I write this entry, I am about 8 pounds heavier than I was last time I wrote. Between a 3 day weekend in Ohio and just not having my healthy food here at home, I have not ate well. I am just glad to not have gained more than I did. We ate at a restaurant outside of Cincinnati that was on Food TV last weekend. My meal was a double decker roast beef and corned beef sandwich, fried pickles, chili bun and some of Crystal's fries. The deli sandwich had over 2 pounds of meat on it. That weekend we also had pizza buffet, double cheeseburger, ice cream, and countless bad things. Enough of that.

Two days ago I got batteries for my scales and yesterday me and Chloe weighed here at home. I weighed 366 pounds which was the highest I have been in over 6 weeks. Chloe was only up about 3 pounds. At work I weighed for the first time in almost a month. I was 373 in full jeans, shirt and tennis shoes. So basically 10 pounds gained within the last 3 weeks. Thursday I had chinese food as kind of a last meal (the same last meal that all overeaters enjoy before "dieting") and the sodium really contributed to the high water weight. This morning I was down 5 pounds overnight. I am having a rough time not wanting to give into the junk cravings. I did have peanut butter with graham crackers and 70 calories worth of chocolate chips sprinkled on them. I have my oranges, apples and grapefruits handy for snacking, but urges for pop tarts and ice cream echo every few hours. Just like before, I gotta take it one meal at a time.

There is new motivation to get back to eating right and lose my weight. Today I reserved our hotel room in Myrtle Beach for our July 24th vacation check in date. I have got to lose all I can by then. Fourteen weeks until we leave out for SC and my goal is to weigh 299 pounds...but I'll be happy if I am at under 325. I know what to do and how to eat to lose it, I just have to stick to it and stifle old Mike from making crappy decisions. My knee is still giving me fits, but each day seems a bit better. As soon as the pain is more tolerable, I will start back my walking and basketball.

That's about it. I fell off the healthy living wagon, but have gotten back on track. I'm not discouraged though. Remember, this is a weight loss adventure. With the amount of weight I want to lose (have to lose), there will be meals and days that I regret. The key is to make these meals/days that I regret happen less and less as I go. I'm going to succeed and become the new man that I want to be. My outside will match my personality. Gone will be the lack of self confidence and shyness around others. My self esteem and confidence will increase with every pound I shed. I will still be Big Daddy, but not because of my weight. Take care my friends!

Unpleasant surprise this morning

Before I get to the unpleasant surprise, let me recap yesterday. I was so busy organizing and cleaning up our bedroom, that I didn't even eat until 3pm. It consisted of a fat free turkey hot dog wrapped in a low carb tortilla with reduced fat shredded cheese. Yep, was too tired to cook something better. For dinner we had veggie pasta with alfredo sauce. About 11pm I had a huge rice krispie treat, but still was under 1800 calories for the day. The only drawback to all the work is my knee that has been giving me fits for about a week is killing me. I'm going to try and get moving on it today since that seems to help. Sitting around makes it hurt, so might as well do some yard work today.

My surprise this morning was weighing on my scale. I weighed 354. Then I got back on them and weighed 357. Then I got right back on them and weight 351. Yep, my scales are not accurate at all. Probably the batteries, but since they are about 8 years old I'm just going to pick up a new set this next weekend. Since I haven't weighed at work in a while and our scales are wrong, I have no clue what I weigh now. I go back to work Tuesday, so I'll weigh then. Lots of sun and warm weather today, so going to get some much needed yard work done. Have a good day friends.

TGIF!

Today I am off work and will have a four day weekend. Unfortunately, I still had to be up at 6am to get the kids up and take them to school. I would like to just chill around the house all day, but got some errands to run. I was a bit discouraged this morning. I weighed here at home and was 361 pounds. This is almost 5 pounds higher than 2 weeks ago. I completely blame my eating choices last Friday thru Monday. Even though I was in check with my calories, it just shows that 2400 calories of healthy and 2400 calories of crap makes a difference in weight loss...or gain. No worries though. I have a slow metabolism and it will just take a few days to lose it back. I've already had two bottles of water and am even more enthused about getting back to a "if God didn't make it, I'm not eating it" attitude. I'll post more tonight since I am a night owl who gets bored when everyone goes to bed. Just wanted to take a minute to post while I had a moment and a thought. Well, off to be son of the year and run errands for my momma. Adios.

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!

Remember to check out fat2fitradio.com (not trying to sound like a pitchman, but this podcast and blog rocks...download the podcast on Itunes)

Monday..need I say more?

Mondays are usually my worst day to get back in the groove. A Monday after a weekend getaway was worse. I am having belly issues (I'll save you the crappy details) since last night. I blame the 2000 calories of pizza I consumed yesterday. Thankfully I was back to my normal routine today. My water intake was 42 ounces, so could have been better. Today our team at work went to lunch with the boss man. This particular restaurant is known for the steaks and big dinner rolls. I opted for the skinless grilled chicken breast and steamed veggies. This was less than 300 calories. For dinner I had a foot long Subway club sub with no cheese. Total calories for that was 640. The only other thing I ate was a grapefruit. My total calories so far are under 1100. I may have a snack after bit to raise my calories a little...but if I'm not hungry I won't. I am off work tomorrow so it will be a little different routine. Friday is the day I weigh in for the last time at work for our contest. They say we have to weigh between today and Friday. Obviously if I can have 4 more days to lose more, I'm taking it! More to come later friends, take care.

Back home in KY

I had a great time this weekend back in my hometown of Indianapolis. Not enough time to see everyone or do all the things we wanted to do, but still a good weekend. Today we stopped off in Cincinnati on the way home and did a little shopping at the mall and Jungle Jim's International Market (really cool place, google it!). Let me give a quick recap of the trip. Friday night was crappy food night. Saturday was 4 hours at the mall walking, visit family, eat healthy all day (except for eating my dinner calories in the form of snacks since I didn't want to leave the hotel) and had no water at all. Today was healthy breakfast, walked 3 hours between the mall and Jungle Jim's, just over 2000 calories consumed at a pizza buffet and Subway healthy eating for dinner. So basically I only screwed up today since this is the only day I was over my calories. I did a lot of walking this weekend though, so at least I have been active. My feet are sore and I have a pain in my right calf similar to the pain you get after a bad charlie horse cramp. That just shows my legs got a workout. Well, I'm tired and have to get things done before bed so goodnight friends!

Back home again in Indiana!

Well, we made it to Indy and I have had such a rough eating night that I wanted to make sure to post. First things first, we made it here no problem. Cold, but no bad weather. Now for the eating stuff.

I skipped breakfast due to going so many places this morning. At around noon me and Crystal went to a mexican restaurant. I was tempted by fajitas, chimis and burritos. I ate a mound of lettuce, 4 bell pepper slices, a handfull of chicken breast pieces, 1 slice of tomato and a pinch of cheese instead. They call it a fiesta salad, I call it scraps of what would partially make a salad. I didn't have dressing and opted for the salsa on top instead. Total calories I am positive were less than 400. I was satisfied after I ate it though. Don't get me wrong, old Mike was pissing and moaning about it, but it really was enough. By 3pm I was hungry again. Mainly due to all the running around different places and packing we were doing. We went thru McD's to get Austin a happy meal for the trip up here and get Chloe a couple plain grilled chicken snack wraps (only 210 calories each). I got me a couple of the grilled chicken wraps too. So far, so good. Total calories at this point still only totalled about 800.

At 3:40 we hit the freeway in London, KY and headed north. Not long after my eating headed south.

By Lexington an 80 calorie fruit snack pack was consumed. By Louisville I had ate a 70 calorie beef stick. By Bloomington, IN a 90 calorie granola bar bit the dust. At 8pm in a quaint hotel room on the southwest side of Indianapolis, I violated a bag of food from Culver's totaling 1030 calories (thanks to myfitnesspal.com's calorie lookup info for that grim reality check). What was in that 1030 calories? 1/3 of my fries, 1/3 of Crystals onion rings, 1/3 of an order of fried cheese, 1/2 of Chloe's burger and 2 spicy fried chicken tenders. But I drank a diet soda...and didn't have any frozen custard. Obviously, I passed on driving 3 miles past the hotel to get to Subway and opted for the restaurant in front of the hotel instead. Stupid is as stupid does (yes, I say that a lot...but only when I do stupid things). I hate how I feel right now. I feel embarrassed, ashamed, mad, depressed and generally like crap. The fat and carbs in my body have already got me feeling sluggish and feeling blah.

But I have to snap out of it. This is when a person on a diet would fall off the wagon and binge eat the rest of the weekend, swearing they would start back on Monday. I'm not on a diet. I have simply changed my lifestyle. This was one bad meal...granted a REALLY BAD MEAL, but still just one bad meal. The one saving grace is that for the entire day I did miraculously stay under my daily calorie limit. I consumed just under 2100 calories for the whole day. I won't let tonight get me down for long. Tomorrow is a new day with a new set of choices to make. Hopefully, tonights crappy choice of food and subsequent mood will steer me to the right food the rest of the trip. I will also be there to help Chloe do the same.

Not sure if I will be online tomorrow since we will be enjoying "home" and visiting family. You can be sure though that I will update again asap. After all, this blog is not only to show others in my situation they're not alone, but is also to keep me accountable to stay on course in my adventure. Take care friends, talk to you soon.

37 pounds lost!

I got on the scale and weighed 365.5 pounds, down 37.5 from the 403 where I started! I know the last few days I had too few calories to be healthy. Tonight I was at 1000 calories, so I am adding a blueberry bagel with cream cheese and a pack of fruit snacks. This pushes my total to just under 1600 calories. It's gonna be a late night packing for the trip this weekend, so I may have another snack before it's over. I have put a limit of 2500 calories for myself.

Too busy to hang out here any longer. More to post probably Monday since I will be out of town. At 350 pounds I am going to post the first wave of before and after pics. I know I have a lot to lose after that, but 50 pounds won't be nothing to sneeze at. Well, have a good one friends!

I made it

Glad I was able to get a post in here tonight. I'm gonna try to do this daily. Today is mine and Crystal's 15th anniversary. No celebration though, just work and grocery. We will do the celebrating while back home in Indy this weekend. Let me get on with it...it's late.

Today I drank 128 ounces of water and only ate about 775 calories. Oatmeal for breakfast, soup for lunch, apple and banana for snacks and just a banana for dinner. I know it's too few, but it was late by the time I got home and I didn't feel like cooking or eating much. I will eat more tomorrow.

I think that covers it for today.

New website found

I was floating around the internet last night looking for a weight loss tracker to put on my blog. I finally found a decent one that kinda goes with the whole weight loss adventure theme. While searching I came across a website that I'm sure many people already know and use. Myfitnesspal.com is an awesome website tool. I entered in my weight, height, amount I want to lose and how active I am to set up my profile. It gave me a daily caloric limit of about 2500 calories a day and that would let me lose 2 pounds a week. It has a section each day to put in the foods and/or calories you eat and will keep track of how many you have left for the day. You can also put in your water intake and exercise completed. It will calculate how many calories you burn based on the exercise and your weight. At the end of the day's entry, it will tell you that if you ate that many calories everyday what you will weigh in a certain time frame. For me, I only ate 1900 calories and it told me I would weigh 356 pounds in 5 weeks (keep in mind I am 370 pounds now). It is also available as a Iphone/Ipod touch app. Highly recommend it!

Let me get to the food stuff. As I mentioned, yesterday I only had 1900 calories and did not feel at all hungry or deprived! I also drank 96 ounces of water, so was proud of that. Today I only drank 48 ounces of water. I was doing a new task at work that I never did. I was too busy to eat snacks and fill my water bottle. I had two packs of oatmeal for breakfast. Then for lunch I had some homemade chicken salad with light miracle whip, chopped celery and broccoli along with a bag of baked chips. Dinner was alfredo sauce pasta, which was homemade so I could keep my serving and sauce to a reasonable amount. Apples and oranges for my snacks. Total calories for the day was about 1200. I know that is super low, but I honestly am not hungry. I don't see the need to eat just to raise my calories. If my body was starving and I needed to eat, I would...but I feel good!

Tomorrow is grocery night and I usually take my mom to the store. So I may not be posting tomorrow night since I will be getting home later than usual. Until next time, take care friends!