One Pound at a Time

Day 4 of better choices. So far, we have tried three new recipes, all of which turned out well. Added bonus: lunch for the next day, instead of going out and buying it. So there is some savings in here as well. This morning we had French toast, bacon, and canned peaches. Not bad, I must admit. I feel better too. Mi don’t feel quite so fat. Yes, it’s possible to feel that way. And here’s the strange part, eating more, to loose weight. I haven’t felt so full in a long time. On Wednesday well see how I did.

This morning I had enough. The pants have gotten tight again, there are several jeans I don’t fit into, and it’s time to get re-focused. I can give all kinds of excuses: I was traveling like a mad man, I had no time to eat right, it’s to damn hot to ride a bike with the dogs, etc, etc, etc. It all boils down to one fact: LAZY!! So, while I can’t overcome that inner demon overnight, I can make an effort to do right.

This morning, I stepped on the scale for the first time in months, and it reflected what I felt like. For months now, I pay for Weight Watcher’s e-tolls, but didn’t use them, for things like recording my weight, what I eat, my water intake, etc. It seems overkill, but it works. I know it does, because it worked for me before. The thing that always gets me is I need to eat more then I do, and while I understand the concept, the execution is a little difficult sometimes. Eat to loose weight. But of course, don’t eat just anything and everything. Portion control, good choices, and discipline are the answers, along with exercise. If only i had the money to hire a chef to make good choices, a butler to serve up proper portions, and an exercise coach to keep me moving. That would be sweet! I need a raise!

Beth says I shouldn’t “start over”, the connotation being that I failed. Well, I didn’t fail, I just didn’t succeed. So, this is going to be one day at a time, and hopefully the results will be positive.

It’s been a while since I have sat down and put thought to keyboard. November 22 seems like it was a century ago. Since then, Christmas and New Years came and went, and I am happy to say, I maintained my weight across the holidays. There’s something to be said for that!

Shortly after new years, I had a small medical issue that put me in the hospital for a few days. My heart decided to see what it feels like to beat at 260 beats per minute. I can tell you, it’s an interesting feeling, kinda like large marbles rolling around in your chest. Turns out, I had a short circuit, or more correctly, an arcing circuit on my heart. Thanks to modern medicine, that issue has been fixed, permanently!

Now, like a Phoenix out of the ashes…well, not really ashes, but anyway, I am back on track, made it through Superbowl Sunday with only a medium stomach ache, and living each day with a little more appreciation of life. I know it sounds cliched, and I didn’t think I was dying, but still, having someone mess around with your heart, cause something isn’t working right, does tend to refocus you a bit. My wonderful wife, who was a trooper while I was in the hospital, is also embracing the need to be healthy, and together, we are cooking more at home, and discovering new meals and foods we really enjoy. It’s also showing in our finances…it’s amazing how much going out all the time really cuts into the cash.

So, these are my not so deep thoughts for now, and going forward, I hope to be posting more again. There are travels in my future, to some near and not so near places, so things will be interesting.

Wow, That’s not bad, considering all the hotel food and catered food I ate. Four weeks of high stress in New York, with a quick week at home somewhere in there, and two weeks in Kenya. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised. I am only 1.4 pounds of my lowest weight since I got serious again in August. Now the holidays are a commin! Let’s see if I can use this as a spring board into a good holiday weekend.

I can’t even say I took one step forward this week. A lot of work stress, compounded by a broken washing machine at home led to some bad choices. I did a quick check on the scale this morning, I am up over 2 pounds. Yes, it’s disappointing. Did I know it was going to happen? Yeah, I was pretty sure it would. The bread bowl with baked potato soup last night probably didn’t help. Am I going to let it derail me?

HELL NO!!

I am back on track, and making better choices. The next few weeks are going to be a real challenge, but thanks to some folks, I have been getting some good suggestions on how to deal with being out of my comfort zone.

Recently several people have told me that I have inspired them to do things they want, such as eating better like me, or training for a half marathon. It’s inspiring to me to know I have inspired you, and all your comments mean a lot to me. Writing these entries is therapeutic in a way, but knowing that others are reading them, that is inspiring to me, and I thank you. I have some tough times coming up food wise, and it’s going to be a challenge making good choices, but I will do my best.

…and a little more. Today was a little mile stone. I am into the double digits. That’s right, 11 pounds and counting. Down to 354 pounds. I used to be embarrassed to tell people my weight, my drivers and pilots license both say 320 pounds, not very honest, but it worked. I always carried my weight well, people always guessed low, or maybe they were just being nice.

This morning getting on the scale felt good. Eleven pounds is an achievement, in four weeks. I like this progress. In weight watchers they use lots of tools to help you loose weight. One of those is to take your weight loss and make it tangible. So, eleven pounds is two five pound bags of flour, plus a little one pounder. That’s a lot of flour, a.k.a. fat cells. Begone, yee fat cells. I do notice that some stuff is starting to fit better. For instance, on Saturdays I usually head to the train park to help maintain the park, and get some exercise as well. Getting dressed this morning I realized that the pants I normally wear there were not as tight, as in I didn’t have to suck in my gut to get the button closed. I also noticed that driving the train, I can move around a little better on the trains, my gut is not getting in the way so much. Not a bad way to start the weekend.

This morning we went to brunch with my mom at Mimi’s Cafe. Anyone who has been there knows their servings are big, and their muffins are to die for. I looked for something with lots of protein, ended up having a breakfast ciabatta breakfast sandwich, thinking that was probably a pretty good choice, with egg, bacon, ham, spinach, tomato. I even skipped the included muffin. I was pretty darn proud of myself.

Later tonight, while typing this post, I went back to the menu to see how to spell ciabatta, and happened to see the nutrition information, and nearly felt my arteries constrict. It had 53 grams of fat, and 944 calories. HOLY MOLY! that works out to 23 points. Good thing I skipped the muffin. SO the lesson here is, watch out, those fat grams can sneak up on you pretty darn fast!

A word to my facebook friends. I love the comments there, but please feel free to comment here as well, since I have some non-facebook readers as well. Thanks.

Another week has gone by, and my highlight was trying to find out how many weeks I am going to spending in NYC in October. Right now, it’s looking like 3 out 4. This will be a serious test of my commitment, as anyone who has been to NYC can tell you. Food a plenty. My biggest problem when I travel is drinking enough water. When I am home, I drink over a half gallon a day, probably closer to three quarter gallon.

I wasn’t so careful this week in my choices, and it shows. But still, a pound is a pound, so keep going, right. I am averaging 2.3 pounds a week, a pretty healthy rate so far. I am sure this will go down to closer to one pound per week over time. My total loss, 9.2 pounds, almost 2 bags of flour. It helps to put things in perspective like that, to know what you really have lost. I feel my clothes starting to fit a little better, so that is some encouragement too. I have a whole slew of clothes hanging in the closet, still with tags on, waiting to be worn.

Tomorrow I go out to the train park again, to be an engineer. I didn’t go today to do maintenance work, and I really missed being out there, in the fresh air, getting some exercise and moving around. So I am looking forward to tomorrow. Those of you in the Phoenix area, come on out between 12 and 4:30, it’s a lot of fun.

After last weeks party, I wasn’t to sure how my weigh in this weekend was going to go. I must admit, I was a it apprehensive that I may have had an increase. I am happy to report that I was down 1.6 pounds, for a total of 8.2 pounds in three weeks. I know I won’t be able to maintain this acreage of over 2.5 pounds forever, but for now I’ll take it.

I have to admit, I had another post already posted, celebrating a 5 percent loss, but then suddenly I realized something wasn’t adding up right,so I am saving that one for later.