This is not moderation

Food log:  Breakfast: 2 waffles, 2 fried eggs.  Lunch:  1/2 chicken breast, penne pasta with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. Dinner: Hamburger on a bun, 14 tater tots with ketchup and ranch.  Day snacks: 1 piece of banana bread (buttered), 1 piece of toast with peanut butter, 1 banana muffin, Green salad (with 1 hard-boiled egg, cucumbers, tomatoes), 9 Ritz crackers, 1 cheese single .  Night snacks: 2 1/2 scoops of vanilla ice cream with Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and caramel topping on top.

Activity Log: Walk of Life at work.  1,5 miles.

Thoughts: I will do better tomorrow..

Be happy with what you have while working for what you want

The Numbers: I weighed in this morning at 409.6 LBS.  That is 4.0 lb. down from last week, and 21.8 lbs.lost overall. Also of note is that I lost 17.2 pounds just over the month of April.  But wait...there's more.  I have reached a weight loss of just over 5% of my starting weight.  Pretty cool, huh?

Thoughts: I am very surprised by this weigh-in.  I had prepared myself to be disappointed because I lost track of tracking my food for a few days this week and I think ate more than usual during those days.  I was expecting less than a pound, or maybe even a weight gain.

It just goes to show how arbitrary the weigh-in schedule is.  Just because I picked Friday as the day I was going to weigh-in each week, doesn't mean my body is going to treat Friday any differently.  It just goes on about its business.  I did a lot of hiking two weeks ago in California, some of it even strenuous hiking (for me).  I was hoping that last Friday would show the results of that effort, but it was only one pound.  My body didn't know that there was a deadline.  I'm not seeing the results of that effort until this week, a week I thought was going to go badly.  Hopefully I can stem the tide of that so that I don't see negative results next week.

But the point is that my body is always going through its process and I just need to keep that process geared toward losing weight.  The tick marks I make each week on the scale are important to track so that I know I am making progress, but I should not fret over each and every weigh-in.  I know some people weigh themselves every day, and I think that would drive me crazy.  Once a week is fine.

Wish me luck

Food log:  Breakfast: 2 pieces of bread, 2 iepces of ham, 2 slices of Real cheese.  Lunch:  Black bean burger with Real cheese on sandwich thins, onions. Dinner: Green salad, with 1 hard-boiled egg,chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes.  Day snacks: 2 small oranges, 1 banana, 1 mini wheel of Babybel cheese.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: Walk of Life at work.  1,5 miles.

Thoughts: I'm scared for weigh-in tomorrow.

Hold the Line

Food log:  Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter.  Lunch:  1/2 chicken breast, green beans, penne pasta with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. Dinner: Quesadilla (2 flour tortillas, 2 slices of ham, shredded cheese), chips and salsa.  Day snacks: 1 small orange, 1 apple, 1 mini wheel of Babybel cheese, 1 small bag of pretzel thins, 1 cheese single, 3 strawberries.  Night snacks: granola bar.

Activity Log: Walk of Life at work.  1,5 miles.

Thoughts: A good day, but I felt very munchy all day, but I tried to hold back.

Never quit. Recommit.

Food log:  Breakfast: Honey Nut Cheerios cereal, milk, banana.  Lunch:  black bean burger with cheese single on sandwich thins, onions. Dinner: 1/2 chicken breast, green beans, penne pasta with tomato sause and parmesan cheese.  Day snacks: 1 banana, 2 small oranges, 1 apple, 1 mini wheel of Babybel cheese, 1 handi-snack of pretzel sticks and cheese.  Night snacks: Granola bar.

Activity Log: Walk of Life at work.  1,5 miles.

Thoughts: I have missed logging for a few days, and I ate more than usual as a result.  Time to get back on it and log every day.

Waffles, Brats, and Pizza. Oh my! [Late blog for last Friday]

Food log:  Breakfast: 3 waffles, 2 fried eggs, peanut butter and jam. (No, I did not mix all of that together at once.) Lunch:  2 brats in a hoagie bun, potato chips, 3 pieces of biscotti . Dinner: 6 small pieces of pizza.  Day snacks: 3 vanila cream cookies, other stuff that I can't remember, but it wasn't more than normal..  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: Walk of Life at work.  1,5 miles.

Thoughts: Yes, I ate more than I should have today, whether it was a free day or not.

Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip.

The Numbers: I weighed in this morning at 413.6 LBS.  That is 1.0 lb. down from last week, and 17.8 lbs.lost overall.

Thoughts: Kind of disappointing in light of all the exercise I did this week, but it could be lots of reasons.  There's always the old "building muscle mass" excuse, or there's the fact that I exercised a lot for three days, and then yesterday was kind of relaxed, so my body started storing.  Honestly, I blame the 1 1/2 bagels I ate yesterday.  I also ate later at night, and then went to bed.

But in the end, there is less of me this week than there was last week so I can't complain.  Onward.

Back home

Food log:  Breakfast: 1 egg and cheese turnover, 2 pieces of toast, 2 sauges patties, 1 glass of orange juice. Lunch:  Chicken Parmesan, Polenta, broccoli and a slice of carrot . Dinner: None.  Day snacks: 1 1/2 bagels with cream cheese, 4 Starbursts.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: 1 mile of walking through airports and parking lots, 1 mile walking around the neighborhood with my wife.

Thoughts: I've logged a lot of hiking miles in this week, with some strenuous hill climbing thrown in for good measure.  I've tried to be good with eating while being on the road.  It was a little bit easier to be good because I was by myself.  There was no social reason for me to go out to a big restaurant for dinner.  I typically did that for lunch.

The eating thing is mostly mental.  Compared to how I ate while on the road for the last year or so, I did exceptionally well this trip! But is it enough to take off the pounds.  Did the bagel and a half I ate today ruin all the work I did hiking this week?  Kelley jokingly told me I had to lose 3 pounds this week even through I was on the road.  That stuck in my head.  However I wanted to do even better and lose 5 pounds or more.  I don't know if I succeeded.  We'll find out in the morning.

Day 3 Hike

Food log:  Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, 5 small pieces of bacon, oatmeal. Lunch:  Carne Asada Chalupa, chips and salsa. Dinner: 2 servings of Campell's Chunky beef vegetable soup.  Day snacks: Nature Valley granola bar.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: Hike into Point Pinole Regional Shoreline in Richmond CA., 3.9 miles.

Thoughts: A much easier hike today, but a over a mile longer.  More beautiful weather and scenery.  I think all this hiking will have good results for this week's weigh-in, but I'm worried that next week may suffer since my body is used to so much activity.

Sweat is your fat crying.

Food log:  Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 piece of toast (buttered), 1 banana, 1 cup of yogurt. Lunch:  Kung Pao chicken, brown rice, Hot and sour soup, small salad with peanut sauce. Dinner: Fried catfish sandwich, 1 small cup of potato salad.  Day snacks: 1 orange.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: Hike into Wildcat Canyon Regional Park in Richmond CA., 2.6 miles, plus walking around onsite at work.

Thoughts: My plan was to go hiking at the Point Pinole Regional Shoreline tonight, but the gate into that park closed at 5PM, so I missed that.  However, I remembered that the Wildcat gate was open until 6PM, so I hurried over there.  I was able to get into the parking lot so that saved me another big climb up to the trail head.

Today, since I had more daylight to work with, I followed the route that I had mapped out last night.  Not only was it about a mile longer than yesterday, but the climb was much steeper.  I started out at an elevation of 157 feet.  The highest point along the trails I took was 696 feet.  That's a difference of 539 feet.  Luckily, there were stretches of gentle ascent, even ground, and downhill interspersed along the way.  But a few of those steep stretches were brutal, at least for a fat man like me.  But I did my best and didn't get discouraged.  I stopped when I needed to, but I tried to keep the forward momentum as much as possible. There were opportunities to take some short cuts and easier paths, but I stuck with the route I had begun with. It was actually kind of fun to push through it.  I was reward by beautiful views and terrain.  There were several other hikers. There were a couple people riding their bikes, and even a couple on horseback. I don't know if I can keep up the energy for another hike tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.

On the road: The true test.

Food log:  Breakfast: 1 Ham and cheese omelette (3 egg) with onions and green pepper. Lunch:  Ham and cheese quesadilla.   Dinner: 6-inch Subway turkey breast sandwich with provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, and a little bit of light mayo.  Day snacks: 1 banana, 1 small handful of Cheese-Its, 2 small scoops of ice cream, tiny snack bag on the airplane.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: Hike into Wildcat Canyon Regional Park in Richmond CA., 1.8 miles.  But I probably walked 2 miles or more since I walked through the San Francisco airport.

Thoughts: I wanted to hike in the Wildcat park area since a co-worker had scoped it out the last time I traveled to Richmond for work.  Unfortunately, I landed in SFO just before 5PM and had to drive through town and over the bay bridge during rush hour, so I didn't get to the hotel until 7:15PM.  The sun was going to set at 7:58PM so I didn't have time to eat and rest before hiking.

The parking lot to the trail head was closed at 6PM, but the park was open util 10PM, So I parked below the parking lot area and hiked about 1/4 mile or more before I even got to the trailhead.  The hike was all uphill, though there were parts that were easier.  I decided to turn around at around 0.9 miles because I had just gotten to the top of a steep hill, and it was starting to get dark and I wanted to get back down to my car before it got pitch black.  Before I headed down, I climbed up an embankment and took some pictures of the East Bay.

It was a good hike, but I was pretty thirsty since I didn't bring water with me.  I was also hungry by the time I got to my car, so I found a Subway nearby.  I shouldn't eat late at night, and I should have hiked after eating to work it off, but hey at least I went on a good hike and worked up a sweat.  We'll see how it goes for the next couple days.  I mapped out another route in the park that will run about 2.8 miles.  I also wanted to get back out to Point Pinole Regional Park again.

Shrimps (but no Barbie)

Food log:  Breakfast: None. Lunch:  None.   Dinner: 7 coconut shrimp, garlic brown rice, green salad with ranch dressing.  Day snacks: 2 slices of bread, 2 slices of ham, 1 cheese single.  Night snacks: 2 scoops of chocolate chip ice cream, 4 oatmeal raisin cookies.

Activity Log: Minor walking.

Thoughts: Today was Fast Sunday for our church ward.  I talked about Fast Sundays a couple weeks ago.  Usually it is the first Sunday of the month, but General Conference and a few other things delayed it until this week.  Anyway dinner always tastes very good on Fast Sunday.

Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride

Food Log:  Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 2 pieces of toast. 1 slice of ham, 2 thin pieces of cheese. Lunch:  1 corn dog, 3/8ths of a quesadilla.   Dinner: 2 1/2 German pancakes with syrup and powdered sugar, small orange, cheese.  Day snacks: 1 small orange, pepper slices with ranch dressing, 1 tortilla with peanut butter and jam rolled up, 6 cheese cracker/peanut butter snacks.  Night snacks: 1 small scoop of chocolate chip ice cream.

Activity Log: A walk around the neighborhood, about 2 miles.

Thoughts: Kelley and I went for a walk tonight after dinner.  She told me that I am walking much faster now, and even up a hill.  I can feel that I am gaining a better stamina.  It's very encouraging!  And it can only get better from here.

Doh

Food Log:  Breakfast: 2 fried eggs eggs, 2 waffles. Lunch:  Chicken enchilada soup, tortilla chips.   Dinner: Chicken patty on bun with cheese and Ranch dressing, 7 Ritz crackers, 1 cheese single.  Day snacks: 2 small oranges, chocholate chip cookie dough.  Night snacks: 1/2 cheese quesadilla, 3 lemon bars.

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: Chocholate chip cookie dough is good.  I also enjoyed m walk today.  I am picking up the pace a bit.

It took you more than a day to put it on. It will take you more than a day to take it off.

The Numbers: I weighed in this morning at 414.6 LBS.  That is 3.4 lbs. down from last week, and 16.8 lbs.lost overall.

Thoughts: Slow and steady wins the race.

[Late post] Yesterday

Food Log:  Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 pieces of toast (buttered). Lunch:  1 large helping of Chilli Roni, and peas.   Dinner: Salad (letuce, tomatoes, cucumber, hard-boiled egg, 1/2 chicken breast, ranch dressing).  Day snacks: 1 banana, 1 small bag of Cheese-Its, 1 apple (sliced with peanut butter).  Night snacks: None

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: Busy, stressful day.  I almost forgot to take a pictre of food I ate today. That would have been shameful.

Strawberries!

Food Log:  Breakfast: 1 english muffin, 1 fried egg, 1 slice of ham, 1 cheese single. Lunch:  1 large helping of Chilli Roni, and corn.   Dinner: Taco bowls (tortialla shell, taco meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour crean, and salsa.  Day snacks: 1 banana, 5 strawberries, 1 yogurt cup.  Night snacks: handful of pretzel thins, 3 cheese singles, 1 slice of thin ham, 10 Cheese-Its

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: I love strawberries!. Also, we eat a lot of Mexican food, I'm not complaining.  It's good stuff!

Less Snacks

Food Log:  Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 1 hashbrown patty, 1 piece of taost. Lunch:  1 helping of Texas Skillet Dinner (ground beef, rice, beans, cheese, spices), tortilla chips, sour cream, and salsa.   Dinner: 1 helping of Chilli Roni, and corn.  Day snacks: 1 banana, 2 small oranges.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: Not many.  I have to travel next week.  That will be my first big test of losing weight on the road.  I've don'e it before, so I'm sure I can do it again.  I have been eating less snacks this week but it hasn't really been on purpose.

Just another day on the blog

Food Log:  Breakfast: 1 bowl of Raisin Bran cereal with milk. Lunch:  1 bowl of white bean chicken chilli.   Dinner: 1 helping of Texas Skillet Dinner (ground beef, rice, beans, cheese, spices), tortilla chips, and corn.  Day snacks: 1 CLIF bar.  Night snacks: 1 banana.

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: Today was cereal day.  It was the easiest thing to grab on my way to work.  I didn't have time for a lot of day snacks, so that was good.

[Late post] Eggs and ham

Food Log:  Breakfast: 3 fried eggs, hashbrowns,  fried ham. Lunch:  Peanut butter and jam sandwich, 1 banana.   Dinner: 1 bowl of white bean chicken chilli, 1 piece of corn bread with butter.  Day snacks: 4 Ritz crackers, 1 cheese single, 2 pot stickers, 1 Nutty Bar.  Night snacks: 7 Ritz crackers, 1 cheese single.

Activity Log: Nothing significant..

Thoughts: Late again, but I was updating the food log throughout the day.  I only needed to fill in the dinner and night snacks.

Dry Canyon Trail

Food Log:  Breakfast: 1 Ham and cheese omelette (3 egg) with onions and green pepper, 1 banana.  Lunch:  1 quesadilla (2 flour tortillas, refried beans, shredded cheese), tortilla chips, sour cream, and salsa.   Dinner: Orange chicken over rice, 2 potstickers, corn.  Day snacks: 1 CLIF bar, 5 Ritz crackers, 1 large strawberry banana smoothie, 1 handful of pretzel thins, 2 cheese singles.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: Hiking the Dry Canyon Trail.  About 3 miles.

The hike was a lot of fun. You couldn't ask for a better day.  It was sunny and warm, but there was a breeze to cool off.  There was some complaining by a couple kids, but all in all I think everyone had a good experience.  I want to do lots of hiking this spring and summer, so I want to get the kids used to getting out more.  Kelley got me a trail guide and there are lots of easy to moderate trails nearby.

End to end, the trail is about 4 miles. We were limited by time due to a soccer game, so we parked one car at the church, which is near the access point from Rimrock Drive.  Then we drove to the north trail head and walked the trail back to the church. On the north end, you almost feel that you are out far away from everything, but you are actually in the middle of town.  One of the websites referred to the Dry Canyon trail as the Central Park of Redmond.  As you get down to the middle to southern end there are several parks that it connects to, as well as a dog park, and a Frisbee golf course. It's pretty nice. Kelley and I said we'd have to return and do the rest of the trail as a date night.

Thoughts: Yes, I know I had a big breakfast on a non-free day, but on Saturdays, I have time to cook, so I like to make it worth it.  I'll have to come up with a better plan for how to handle that.

[Late post] Cuz I'm Free...To do what I Want (within reason)

Food Log:  Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, 1 slice of ham, 4 slices of real cheese, 1 bagel.  Lunch:  Lasagna, green beans.   Dinner: 1 hamburger on bun, 1 haskbrown patty.  Day snacks: 1 banana, 6 Thin Mint cookies, 1 small bag of Cheetos, 2 Nutty Bars.  Night snacks: 1 1/4 medium bowl of buttered popcorn, 1 large strawberry banana smoothie.

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: Friday's are my free day as you can tell from me eating Cheetos, and Nutty bars, a hamburger, and a bunch of popcorn.  I've thought about not entering the food on my free day, but then I think I might eat way too much.  Logging it helps me limit myself, even if its a free day.

I'm not losing weight. I am getting rid of it. I have no intention of finding it again.

The Numbers: I weighed in this morning at 418.0 LBS.  That is 3.0 lbs. down from last week, and 13.4 lbs. lost overall.

Thoughts: So, not as much as last week, but still a good loss this week.  Any loss is good loss.  If there is less of me every week, I'm good with that. I remember back in Weight watchers, they said that two pounds a week was a healthy rate for most people.

But there is a part of me that still wants more. :)  Being this heavy, I know that I can lose more each week.  I need to get more activity in.  I am walking every weekday, but I should also walk at night, or get in some other form of exercise during the week.

I'm definitely not complaining. Three pounds is fantastic!

Tips of the Scale

Food Log:  Breakfast: 1 english muffin, 1 fried egg, 1 slice of ham, 1 cheese single.  Lunch:  2 flautas, sour cream, and salsa   Dinner: 1 chicken fajita, tortilla chips, sour cream, and salsa.  Day snacks: 1 banana, 1 sliced apple with peanut butter, green pepper slices with ranch dressing, 3 Tin Mint cookies.  Night snacks: 1 ginger snap.

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: I've been listening to a pretty good podcast called Tips of the Scale.  It is basically an interview podcast about people's weight loss success stories, but it's done really well.  I like it because it is just regular people talking about their journey and what worked for them.  It's good for motivation and inspiration.  Their website says: " No marketing hype. No gimmicks. No pushy sales pitches. We go straight to the source to hear what works for real people, and what their advice is for you"  So far that is exactly what I have found.

It's Wednesday

Food Log:  Breakfast: 1 bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios cereal with milk and sliced banana.  Lunch:  Lasagna, green beans.   Dinner: 2 flautas, tortilla chips, sour cream, and salsa.  Day snacks: 1 banana, 1 bag of pretzel thins, 2 cheese singles, 1 small orange, 1 CLIF bar, 1 applesauce cup.  Night snacks: 3 small ginger snap cookies.

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.  Plus some walking at Scouts.

Thoughts: I'm kind of tired.  Good Night.

How many pepper pieces can a porky person pack in his puss?

Food Log:  Breakfast: 2 hashbrown patties, 2 fried eggs.  Lunch:  Ham Cresent (ground ham in a potato dough crust with cheese sauce on top), corn.   Dinner: Burrito (flour tortilla, refried beans, shredded cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, ans salsa), 1 handful of tortilla chips.  Day snacks: 2 bananas, 4 Thin Mint cookies, green pepper slices with ranch dressing, 1 small orange.  Night snacks: 2 1/2 ginger snap cookies.

Activity Log: The Walk of Life (at work).  About 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: Kelley is always trying to get me to eat carrots.  I like carrots, but after two or three small ones, they become kind of boring and bland.  And I don't like them cooked.  Steamed is fine because they are still crisp, and still taste like a carrot.  I also don't mind them cooked into a stew, or in soup, or something like that.  Carrots are fine, but they don't really do it for me.

Last week I was thinking of light snacks I could have, and I thought a sliced green bell pepper with a bit of ranch dressing sounded really delicious, so I asked Kelley to get some peppers when she went to the store.  I cut some up this morning, and had them for a snack.  They were quite tasty!  I started with just a half a pepper, but I could cut up a whole pepper and have two snacks for the day.  I can also mix it up with red, yellow, and orange peppers.  They are much better than drab old carrots.

Big Lunch

Food Log:  Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 bagel with fat free cream cheese.  Lunch:  BBQ pork burrito with rice and beans, a side of baked beens, mini chip'n'salsa.   Dinner: Green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, ranch dressing; a sliver of lasagna.  Day snacks: 1 small bag of pretzel thins, 2 cheese singles, 3 Thin Mint cookies.  Night snacks: 1 banana.

Activity Log: Walk of life (at work). 1.5 miles.  Also, an evening walk around the neighborhood. About 1 mile.

Thoughts: I was surprised to go out for lunch today at work.  I ate a big lunch.  I should have asked for a to-go box for half of my burrito, but I didn't.  I was full all afternoon.  So I pretty much had salad for dinner, and only had a tiny bit of lasagna.

Spiritually and physically fed

Food Log:  Breakfast: None.  Lunch:  (late) Ham and cheese sandwich.   Dinner: Ham Cresents (ground ham in a potato dough crust with cheese sauce on top), corn.  Day snacks: 2 handfuls of cheese balls, 8 pretzel thins. 1cheese single.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: None.

Thoughts: General Conference was very good!  I did get a lot out of it.  Heh.  Parker chose the vegetable for dinner tonight.  I told him that he should have chosen peas because it would have added more color to my picture.

Fasting

Food Log:  Breakfast: None.  Lunch:  None.   Dinner: None.  Day snacks: None.  Night snacks: None.

Activity Log: A little bit of walking.

Thoughts: Today I am fasting.  I've heard there are some physical benefits to fasting.  There may also be some mental benefits such as mastery over self, mind over matter, etc.  However, my reasons for fasting today are spiritual.

Similar to how I have been to undisciplined with my body and let it get to this state of immensity and discombobulation, I have let that happen in other areas of my life as well. I have also let things slip in my family, professional, and spiritual life.

This weekend in General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We listen to addresses from prophets, apostles, and other leaders in the church.  There are many inspiring messages and council provided.  This can either be boring, or uplifting and inspiring, depending on what frame of mind you bring to it.  If you come with an open mind, heart, and spirit, it can be a life changing experience.  I need to be inspired; I need to get out of my rut; I need to be my best self.  In many ways, I have fallen.  Not that I have been guilty of any gross crime or sinful behavior, but I have simply let things slip, perhaps even been negligent in many of the most important aspects of my life.  That needs to change!  So I have decided to fast this weekend during General Conference to give myself a kick start into making these changes.

Fasting in this way is similar to prayer.  In fact the two go hand in hand.  Fasting without prayer is simply depriving yourself of food.  Fasting combined with prayer is an amplification of faith and supplication before God in asking for His divine assistance.  Fasting should be done for a specific purpose in mind whether it be in behalf of someone else who is sick or struggling, or for your own edification or need.  Fasting should also be done with your health in mind and not to extremes.  Typically, in the Church, we are only asked to fast one Sunday a month, for either 24 hours or two meals, and then donate money in the form of fast offerings to the bishop for those in need.  You can donate the cost of the two meals, or if you can be more generous, then whatever you feel is best.

Today is different. My fasting today (and part of tomorrow) is personal.  Anyway, I thought I should explain that it is a bit more than just for the sake of weight loss.

Mini Free Day

Food Log:  Breakfast: 2 waffles, 2 fried eggs.  Lunch:  grilled chicken strips, mashed potatoes, peas.   Dinner: 4 1/2 pieces of pizza.  Day snacks: 1 handful of Cheddar Jack Cheese-It crackers, 1 cheese single, 1 bagel with fat free cream cheese, 1 banana, 1 pudding cup. about 14 pretzel thins  Night snacks: 2 cinnamon rolls.

Activity Log: Walk of life (at work). 1.5 miles.

Thoughts: I indulged a bit today.  I treated this as a mini "free" day.  Not that I went crazy, but I did enjoy both of my cinnamon rolls.  I took a picture of that today to show that I am not always a goody-two-shoes.  I still like the bad stuff, and I can partake occasionally, but not everyday,  And I should still stop at just one.

My BEFORE picture

I've decided that this will be my BEFORE picture.  I might have to travel to Vegas again to take an AFTER picture.

No fooling. This blog is working for me!

The Numbers: I weighed in this morning at 421.0 LBS.  That is 5.8 lbs. down from last week, and 10.4 lbs. lost overall.

Thoughts: I have to admit.  I'm pretty excited about this week's results.  Keeping this blog and writing things down has really given me more focus on losing weight.  I've been trying to decide what to use as my ultimate goal weight, and I think I've decided on 230 lbs.  That's just over 200 lbs. lost total and it puts me in a pretty healthy place.  Based on the healthy BMI recommendation, my recommended weight is 136.4 lbs - 184.3 lbs.  That just seems crazy and unachievable to me! I don't remember exactly what I weighed in my senior year of high school during the football season, which is when I think I was the most in shape I have ever been in my life, but I don't think I was under 200 lbs. even then.  Maybe just under, but I don't think so.

It's kind of like when the bank tells you how much money you qualify for them to lend to you for a mortgage.  I always think, "In what universe could I actually afford to be in that much debt?"  That BMI recommendation kind of feels like that.  I was talking to a buddy at work about that, and we agreed that we are never going to be ultra skinny guys.  However, I can definitely get to a place where I am healthy and able to be active and do the things I want to do, where I can buy clothes in a regular store and not use a seat belt extension on an airplane, where I can feel good and even look good.  That I can do.  And I think 230 lbs. would be a great place to achieve.

And who knows?  Maybe once I'm there, I will want to go further, but I will stick with 230 as my long term goal. In the short term, I would just love to get under 400, so I'm going to focus on that.  And then 350 and 300 and so forth.  Good times ahead!  Journey On!