Monday of a short work week...

Today was a great day. I drank 96 ounces of water and my calories so far are under 1800. I say so far because I may have a snack before I go to bed for the night. I listened to the Fat 2 Fit radio podcasts all day at work, so lots of good info was learned or remembered. Tonight I cleaned out my car instead of going for a walk. It looked like it could rain at any moment, so I didn't risk being caught way away from home in a rain storm. I mentioned this was a short work week in the title. We are going back to my hometown Indianapolis to visit family. I like being here in SE Kentucky, but I was born and raised a city kid in Indianapolis so I LOVE our trips back home.

Used to be, our trips back meant tons of good food and crap snacks on the way there and back. Big meals and fast food at the restaurants and a hotel full of bad snack choices. This weekend will be different. I want to weigh 362 pounds on 2/28 for the last day of the work contest. That will be ten percent of my body weight lost! I can only get there if I eat smart this weekend. Of course this means that I have to plan my eating more than non-compulsive eaters would. We will be heading up around 3:30pm when the kids get out of school. It is about 4 hours away, so we either will have some healthy snacks on the way and then get Subway or another healthy option that night or we will go through drive thru on the way and not eat that night. I will guess it will be the first option since it is hard for us not to want to kick back at the hotel and have a nice dinner. Every restaurant has healthy options, so there is no reason to eat stupid this week. I also will be using the pool/gym area while at the hotel. Enough obsessing over a trip that is 4 days away. I guess there is nothing more to mention. Chloe had her Blizzard today and some fries, but still is under 1800 calories for the day. Overall, we are doing great and no longer thinking of this as a diet. Our healthy eating is a lifestyle change that will include the occasional high calorie meals. The important thing is that we have more healthy meals than unhealthy and that we don't let one bad meal snowball into bad meals.

Later tomorrow my friends!

What a headache!

Having a puppy in the house now is like having a baby. There is no more sleeping in until 10 or 11. At 8:20 I was walking Pepsi (our pup) and of course couldn't just go back to sleep. We'll get to what all took place to day in a bit. Let me re-cap yesterday's events after I posted. Took the family on a wild goose chase for a school that supposedly had a great park and walking track. After thirty minutes and much use of the new gps system I bought for vacation purposes we found our way home. We ended up going to the local park. No walking track, so me and Crystal just walked the path around the playground equipment. After 5 laps, we were too cold to keep going and headed home. I got a half hour of walking completed counting the park and a trip to the big department store. Up until 11pm I kept my calories in check...then I was awake alone. I ended up killing off the remaining 3/4ths of the low carb vanilla ice cream in the freezer. Stupid is as stupid does and I had a stupid moment. Not devastating though. Total calories for yesterday was around 2200. Sure was better than the 5000 calorie days of 3 and 4 months ago.

Today was better. I fixed a skillet of scrambled eggs for all 4 of us with 7 eggs and only used 2 with the yolks. Added to this was 3 turkey sausage links a piece for only 110 calories. Total calories for breakfast was about 220. Lunch was some little sausages and pretzel sticks. Not the healthiest, but certainly not terrible. I was still hungry and made a chicken tender sandwich too. That was too much, but still in reason. Total lunch calories were about 600. I had planned on walking, but chose watching the Daytona 500 race instead. After the race a bad migraine hit me. I haven't had caffeine in 2 days, so I think that was part of it. I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and woke up headache free...and starving. I fixed leftover chicken soft tacos from yesterday and had an apple and orange for desert. Total dinner calories were about 820. That makes total calories for today about 1720 with the milk I drank with dinner.

Tomorrow I am packing tuna and green beans for lunch and oatmeal for breakfast. My snacks will be a cheese stick, apple and an orange. Total calories for work about 600. If the rain holds off I will be walking on first and last break. Chloe has a school field trip to Dairy Queen tomorrow. It is in walking distance to the school so I guess they feel the kids will get exercise...and then consume mega ice cream calories. Chloe had me give her the calorie options of the Blizzard treat. None were good. She's a kid still. No matter how motivated to lose weight, count calories or eat smart, she is a kid and around other kids I'm not going to tell her not to enjoy. She will eat a healthy 270 calories for breakfast and have a sandwich at lunch. Than for the trip she is planning a 500 calorie blizzard that she will try not to eat all of. Even if she eats it all, that will only be around 1200 calories for the day. Dinner will definitely be healthy and full of veggies and fish or just soup.

It's late and I'm tired so I guess this will be it for the night. More to come tomorrow. Have a good night!

Saturday lazy day...nope

Happy weekend! As I type this, I am joined in my bedroom by my two kids, a puppy and our cat (who is hiding out under my bed). The wife is working hard at her job this Saturday morning, so it's just the three of us hanging out. Oddly enough we are watching a TV show about the best donuts in the USA. Don't worry, I'm not off the wagon or being tempted. Chloe said "that guy is so lucky" when one of the donut shop owners talked about eating the broken donuts. I told her that I didn't see it that way. What I noticed was an obese man who is probably full of blocked arteries, has high blood pressure and is most likely facing many health problems or a shortened life...all because of years of donut abuse. That may be extreme, but fortunately I know after the good taste is gone is when the ill health effects start and the euphoric feelings leave. Don't think weird that we are watching this while on a fat loss journey...it's just for entertainment not lusting, lol. Even one of the donut shop owners just said to the camera "enjoy a donut EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE". That's the key, every once in a while not weekly or daily.

I know I mentioned it last post, but go check out FAT2FITRADIO.COM or see them on facebook at Fat2Fit. Russ and Jeff are the guys who run that website and podcasts and they have all the good info needed to help while on your weight loss adventure. I learned from them (and there is research out there to back it up) that a person's water intake should be half their weight in ounces a day. So if you weigh 200 pounds, you would need 100 ounces of water to meet your optimal body needs. About twenty percent of your water needs will come from your foods. So, unless I am misunderstanding, 80 ounces would actually be the amount to drink. Diet sodas don't count. Remember, I'm no expert so ask a doctor or do your own research before trying to drink 200 ounces of water if you are a fellow 400 pounder ;-). I also learned that the recommended lowest calories I should eat is 2800 for my size. This won't give me 5-10 pound a week weight losses, but it will make for slow and steady permanent fat loss. The guys have researched and show the following trend. A person on a 1200 calorie diet. They stay hungry or crave foods. They lose 80 pounds in 6 months. Then they begin consuming the 2500 calories (or whatever recommended for that new weight) and they start gaining the weight back. The muscle mass they lost dieting is not there to burn as many calories as they should and they either have to stay at a lower calorie intake or gain the weight. I was skeptical when I seen I could eat 2800 calories and lose weight, but I also know at my heaviest I was consuming over 5000 calories a day. I also have seen the stories of those who lost tons of weight eating super low calories and once they go to a "normal" eating plan their weight came back. So no gimmicks from here on out. My diet now includes more raw veggies, tons more water, less diet sodas, more meals at home and no fried foods or crap.


I've mentioned in the past that I know my blog will be roughly done and not very pretty. I'm not a pro-blogger by any means, but I am going to start taking more initiative to get better at my entries. I realize that one day I want someone else to read this and know that they aren't the only one on a weight loss adventure. So in the future I will be posting more often, including pictures, giving my weekly weigh in updates and will pass along more tips that I am made aware of.

It's Saturday and I do not plan on lazing around all day, so let me wrap this up. Today will be my first real day of exercise since I re-started on November 29th my weight loss adventure. I am taking the kids to a school playground or a park this afternoon and will be using the walking track they have. I know at my weight I can't do jogging or anything strenuous, but I plan on walking fast and for as long as possible. My weight at work (that is the scale I weighed on 11/29 when I was 403 pounds and I weigh on them each week) yesterday was 370! I know that is only 3 pounds since last month, but given the 3 weekends that I ate stupidly I am okay with it. 2/28 is the last weigh in of the competition. Even though I know slower weight loss makes for longer lasting weight loss, with me exercising now I am hoping to be at 360 by then. I'll probably post again tonight my eating and exercise info for the day. I started this blog in May 2010, but up until 11/29/10 it really shows the old Mike and how I would eat good, fail, eat good and fail. Those days are over. There is no more failing. This is my life. Eating something "bad" at a meal just means I enjoyed it for a minute. It's not going to cause me to gain weight unless I am careless and eat "bad" everyday. It's life. Thin people eat well, enjoy a treat occasionally and exercise. As long as I behave like a thin person, I'll be fine too. Later peeps, have a great day!

Hump day...yay

I tried a new podcast today called Fit2Fat from Fit2FatRadio.com. Let me just say that it is the best weight loss podcast I have ever heard. Tons of great tips, info, advice and facts to help educate those trying to lose weight. They do not give fad diet tips, only healthy sensible info. I only downloaded four episodes, but tonight I downloaded 50 out of the 100+ that they have made. In the four I listened to they covered facts of diet sodas and their effect on weight loss, workout facts regarding different types of exercises, good and bad of weight loss centers and plans that people pay to use. The two guys have great information, pleasant radio personalities and have dealt with weight problems themselves. They do not preach avoiding any food. Basically, eat like a thin person would eat and exercise. Don't over-cut your calories and watch portion sizes. I am going to get back to keeping a eating journal as they recommend. I recommend anyone trying to lose weight to go to ITunes and download the podcasts.

As of yesterday I have changed my eating habits. No more sausages, fried burgers or wings. I am getting back to the traditionally recommended eating plan. I am going to cut my portions to skinny people size, limit bread and sugar still, eat more veggies, drink more water and do all I can to go for a 30 minute walk each day. Two of my co-workers are considering going vegan until our contest at work ends. I considered it, but that would be about like a fad diet for me. The key is for me to change my eating habits to something I can permanently follow...and vegan is not for me. I went to the store tonight and got broccoli, cauliflower, apples, oranges, celery and some fish filets to bake. I figure egg whites, chicken breasts and fish will be my protein. Light string cheese, yogurt and skim milk will be my dairy. I will include beans, brown rice, salads and lite soups to complete healthy meal options. Instead of sugar free candies and puddings, I will be eating apples and oranges, along with other fruits.

I guess that's all I got for today. It's late and work comes early. More to come later friends!

Yes, I'll have some more

Short and to the point. Was back on track all week with eating right. Friday I had pasta and pizza, so not a great way to start the weekend. Saturday we went on a shopping trip to Lexington. We ate at a famous pancake restaurant where really the only thing bad I had were 3 pancakes. Okay, adding the pancakes with a huge meat stuffed omelet probably wasn't close to "not bad", but let's just say it wasn't that bad. Then I had some of Austin's frozen soda and some candy. I ended the day consuming a soft pretzel. I didn't eat a lot of meals while there, but the huge breakfast was enough. Today we went to fried chicken place and I gorged on the buffet. I thought I was past eating like that, but guess not. The only thing I can do is pick up the pieces of a stupid few bad meals and do better next time! The old Mike would just say forget it and end up gaining all these 25-30 pounds back and then some. I'm not the same old Mike now. I still plan on weighing under 300 pounds by vacation in July. The fact is I am eating right more times than eating bad and that is why I will succeed in my goal. It's a marathon not a sprint to losing over 100 pounds.

That's all for today...time to chill and not think about work. Crap, I just thought about work!

Did you hear that?!

That was the loud banging of my head against the ground as I fell off the wagon of eating right again. Let's recap a bit. Friday the 4th I decided I would take a meal off and eat what I wanted. I didn't do too bad. Had some tortilla chips, pork chops w/rice and beans and some flour tortillas at a Mexican restaurant. Since I mainly avoid carbs and not fat/calories, I really didn't do terribly. The rice and tortilla/tortilla chips were high in carbs but not like a big loaf of bread or a desert. It gets worse. We didn't go to Lexington for Crystal's birthday on the 5th. Instead, we ended up at Taco Bell since the nice places were too packed to eat at. Crystal had to work til 3 that day, so we stayed around our town. I ended up eating a burrito and a taco salad. Once again, besides the tortilla shell and flour tortilla it wasn't disasterous. Then we went to the store and picked up a few things. These things included a birthday cake for Crystal which I had a big piece of and some boneless wings that I ate with Hawaiian bread at about 11pm. Bad day for me is an understatement. Then on Sunday we went for a afternoon getaway north of us to a shopping center. This is where I consumed a mushroom cheeseburger (with bun), few fries, few fried cheese bites, few onion rings and a frozen custard waffle cone. For dinner was 10 White Castles with fries and fried cheese sticks. Monday was equally crappy. Didn't eat any bad items while at work. Then took my son to burger place while waiting for my daughter to get out of volleyball tryouts (we'll cover that next). I ate a salad w/grilled chicken. That was awesome...then I ate the rest of Austin's fries and proceeded to finish off the White Castle's when we got home. Today I was set on getting back on track...I didn't. This was the worst day of a horrendous 4 day eating frenzy. I had a sensible 2 eggs for breakfast. Followed it with a cheeseburger and fried chicken sandwich from the cafe at work for lunch, kettle corn at our meeting, pizza for dinner, 7 pieces of hazelnut chocolate candy, snack pack of malted milk balls and a turkey sandwich made with a bagel for late night binge. I am so mad at being such a food addict. I have lost a good amount of weight and let a 2 week period of not seeing a loss move me to "reboot my system" which is a horse crap way of the old glutton in me to go on a eating extravaganza. So here I am, feeling like crap, depressed, mad and ashamed. I let food control me instead of letting the positivity of being almost 30 pounds lighter keep me on track. Tomorrow is a new day and I will be back on track 100%!!!!!

Let me end this on a upbeat note. Chloe is still doing great and not eating like an idiot (unlike her dad). All this week she is attending volleyball team tryouts for her middle school's 6th grade team. So far she says it is going great. The 10 pounds she has lost is making things better for her i'm sure. Hopefully she makes the team and being a part of a sports team will keep her focused on fitness.

Goodnight all. I will have a better update next time. One that will tell about how I am back on track with my weight loss adventure!

The flu sucks

Our daughter Chloe (as you know her by now I'm sure) is sick with the flu. It hasn't gotten her sense of humor down though. On the way home from the doctor she quipped "this should add to my weight loss" and grinned. She is just eating soup and drinking low cal sports drink. Hopefully, she will be well soon and no one else will get sick...that's what I'm hoping anyway.

I weighed at work today and only lost .4 since last week. I was kinda down, but know I've been eating well so I'm not going to sweat it. I am having a separate issue that I think is causing a slow down in weight loss. I can't go number 2. Sorry to be blunt and share so much, but it's ticking me off. I ate my chili all day Sunday. I had smoked sausage for lunch yesterday and two turkey and cheese sandwiches (with lettuce used like bread) for dinner. Today I skipped breakfast (had a low carb energy drink instead) and only ate a turkey burger with lettuce for dinner. I missed lunch due to leaving work to take Chloe to the doctor. I snacked on a few peanuts as a snack. All that food, yet I have not went for a deuce since Friday evening. I don't hurt, but man I am bloated! Tomorrow I am going to eat my egg breakfast, but no bacon or other salty item with it. For lunch I'm taking 2 turkey burgers. The only snack I have at work is a beef stick. Maybe I need more fiber than the little lettuce I am consuming can offer. I also am only going to drink 1 low carb energy drink and everything else will be water. I have not had enough water lately. That's enough about that.

My wife's birthday is Saturday the 5th and we are planning a shopping trip to Lexington. The old me and new me are battling already over the food. Old Mike says "have pancakes at IHOP for breakfast and whatever bad thing for dinner at wherever you go. A day off is needed and if a weekend off last month didn't kill your weight loss, than surely a day won't hurt". The new Mike says "you feel great and are getting closer to your goal each day. Don't blow it and risk never getting back on track. You have managed to eat good food without bread and sugar, so why purposely eat that crap this weekend?". So the compulsive eater I am is already torn with what I will do. I'll be honest, I would love to eat all you can eat pancakes and maybe some good bread, fries and other crap on Saturday. I should want to say "heck no, I don't want that crap!"...but part of me does want it. I won't know until Saturday for sure how this will play out. My wife and daughter will do all they can to keep me on track (remember the son could care less...he's 9). Chloe could break bad and eat crap too if she sees me do it. So here is my bold prediction. I will have an omelet with no potatoes or bread and no pancakes for breakfast at IHOP that morning. However, I will have one bite of a pancake just to kill the craving without sabotaging my progress. At dinner, wherever my wife picks to go, I will have a protein and a veggie. I may have one fry, bite of roll or bite of potato to kill that craving. Also, if there is a desert at the table, I will say no to it altogether! I feel good and know I can eventually hit my goal if I do not cheat! If for some reason I have a bad day, I will not get discouraged. Last month I went off of eating well for 3 days and two weeks later lost 7 pounds from that time. So I know I am capable of getting back on my weight loss adventure and not just throw in the towel like I used to after a bad eating period.

That's all I got for tonight. More coming later, goodnight!