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!