Weekly Update!!!!

First off I would like to apologize for missing a week of posting but man was it a busy week.  Lots of hours, lots of victories, lots of miles (Amanda’s not mine :))

So here we go—  It has been 53 days since I have started this journey and here is the latest and greatest.

Current Weight – 286 lbs

Total Loss to Date – 34 lbs

Total inches lost – 2-3 ish (I went down one pant size from 46 to 44)

I am very happy with my progress so far and am extremely encouraged to keep working hard at it.  Don’t get me wrong there is nothing easy about this cravings, temptations, stress can all derail you but you have to stay the course.  The big thing is a lifestyle change.  Amanda made a great point tonight when she said we have been eating better for so long that even when you can drift back and eat something less healthy for you, you don’t want to.

This week at work we had the WDW Princess 1/2 Marathon and of course I had to work it.  Man did my eating get screwed up…Not so much what I ate but how I ate through the day.  When you start at 4am and are off at noon it throws off your schedule.  So even though I was under my calories I ate more at a time because I was essentially skipping certain meals.  

Speaking of the 1/2 Marathon Amanda ran it this weekend with her sister Cathy, niece Lorren, and her friend Michelle.  I could not be more inspired and proud of these ladies.  They ran the Glass Slipper challenge which is a 10K and 1/2 Marathon back to back on consecutive days.  And they crushed it!  Way to go Ladies!!!  

And as it always has I am inspired to keep running.  I am planning on doing at least another 5K soon and Amanda and I are talking about running the Trackshack 10K+2 race.  Which will be my biggest challenge to date.   I am looking forward to it.  

The journey continues, thank you again to all of you who have taken an interest in my journey.  You are a big factor in my success so far.  When the plateaus come… oh and they will come your support will get me through that.  Oh and on a side note while I was at the race this weekend someone came up to me and was like “Hey Southern Fried Fat Guy!” That was cool.   If that was you first off thanks for that and congrats on finishing your race you rock!.  And the volunteer behind me wanted to know why you called me a fat guy and I wasn’t offended LOL it was really funny.

 

Hope everyone has a great week and if your on your own journey keep it up your doing great!    

Onward and Downward!

Sunday Check-in

Well folks its that time of week again, the great weigh in.  So last week at this time I weighed 294 lbs and this morning I weighed in at 291 lbs!  That’s a three pound loss from last week bringing my grand total to 29 pounds so far.  I have also dropped my BMI from 41 to 38.  I still have a long way to go but slowly and surely is my plan.  As long as I am averaging 2 lbs a week I am happy.  I have been doing really well with not weighing myself except for Wednesdays (mid week check in for progress) and Sundays for my official weekly check.  Amanda and I were talking this week about some of the things that are out there for weight loss and what works for some people.  I know I could do some cleanse or purge or detox whatever you want to call it, or do shakes or something like that but I just don’t want to go down that road.  I consider this my first marathon…not a sprint.  I want to change habits, change the way I look at what I eat, and make this a change that will stay.  If I reach my goal (still undetermined) and I gain weight it is going to be because I made bad choices based on calories in and calories out, not because I stopped drinking a shake or started eating carbs again or what ever else is out there.  It may work for some people and do what is right for you to reach your goal. It’s your journey, your quest, you choose your path to get there.  This is just my road map for my journey.    I feel a difference so far and my clothes are fitting differently but still not seeing the difference, all in due time though.

So exercise this week has been good.  I have been averaging about 1.5 miles a day at work just walking around doing my job and the places I have to go out to.  Yesterday I went on my long walk and went 4.2 miles.  That is the longest walk I have done to date and I felt like I could have kept going.  I am planning on getting through February then switching to a run walk format beginning in March.  There is a 5k coming up in April that I want to take part in and am looking for some folks to walk it with me.  It’s called the Pig Run of Lake Nona, I mean really how awesome is that.  Its a straight fun run, untimed, and halfway through there is a thing called the pig pen with donuts that you can partake of if you would like.  I’m not so sure about that part but the medal and T-shirt are really cool.

As far as food goes we had probably one of the best dishes from skinnymom.com, its called Turkey Cheeseburger Casserole.   It is amazing and very easy to make and for 1.5 cups per serving you really get a return on your investment only 256 calories…..yum yum yum.   I also had some pizza, ice cream from Twistee Treat and took the kids to dinner at Chili’s friday night.  Not my best week as far as the healthiness of the food but I stayed under my calories and still met my goal.

I hope you all have a great week! Remember we all choose a different path but as long as we all end up healthier and happier then thats all that counts.  Till next time Onward and Downward!

 

 

What did the FAT GUY eat?

So here we go sports fans… Here are some of the highlights of what I have eaten the past week.  Some of it I came up with on my own and some of it Amanda found from some really great websites.  Websites like http://www.skinnymom.com there are a ton of great recipes.  So lets start with breakfast….  Amanda found these great breakfast burritos at Target they were called Good Food Made Simple. And they were really good.  There are several varieties and most of them are around 300 calories.  

These were really good but I was at Publix one day and thought to myself is there a way I can make this on my own and shave a few calories.  And you know what I could and I did.  Now yes it takes a little more work in the morning but I know exactly whats going into it.  So how did I do it?

La Banderita Flour Tortillia – 105 Calories

All Whites liquid egg white 3tbsp – 25 calories

Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles 1/4 cup – 35 calories

Bell Peppers  1/8 cup – 7 calories

Total Calories per Burrito – 172 Calories saved roughly 28 calories.   Ill take that..

Some other breakfast options I have are multigrain waffles and a little bit of peanut butter.

 

Lunch

Now most of my lunches are leftovers from the night before. One thing I usually take with me is a salad.  I LOVE salad you can have a huge salad for next to no calories.  And we found a great dressing that is low in calories and tastes great!  It is  made by Bolthouse Farms and I love the Honey Mustard and Amanda is a fan of the Blue Cheese.  They are yogurt based and for 2 TBSP is about 50 calories.  Thats enough to coat the salad and add a little flavor.  Plus I love to add some raisins to my salad for a little sweet.  Not much just a couple.  

Snacks

Before I get to dinner here are some snacks I have depending on the day.

Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars – 190 calories for the two bars.  They have lots of flavors for you to choose from.

Fruits

For a sweet snack Amanda brought home some Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds – 8 Almonds – 160 calories.  I know that doesn’t seem like a real good return on your investment but by the 8th one your usually satisfied.  

Now by far my most favorite snack that Amanda came up with is the following:

Small Gala Apple chopped – 80 calories

Peanut Butter – 1 TBSP – 90 calories melted in the microwave for 30 seconds

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips – .5 Tbsp 35 calories

Drizzle the melted peanut butter on the apple and top with the chips.  I GUARANTEE its hits ever flavor you could be looking for in a snack.  

Another good snack we found was Angie’s Kettle Corn – 2 cups is only 140 calories.

Dinner

So now on to dinner.  Amanda has found so many good recipes that you wouldn’t think were low in calories but they are.  Most of these were found on the skinny mom website.  

Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie – 1 cups (and biscuit) – 343 Calories – and its amazing!

Hearty Chicken Roast – 1 cup – 195 calories

Mexican Stuffed Shells – 2 shells – 244 calories

Sour Cream Enchilada – 2 enchiladas – 374 calories these things were huge

BBQ Chicken Flatbread – whole flatbread (yes the whole thing) – 420 calories

 

Thats just a few of the things that I have eaten that have helped me along the way.  Like I have always said if I want to have something I can have it.  I have been trying to make different choices and changing my habits and so far it has worked.  Even when we go out to eat I am more conscious about what I am eating and the choices I make.  I will continue to post some more great things Amanda thinks up for us to eat.  If you can’t find some of the recipes listed please let me know and I will find it for you.  Have a wonderful week.  

 

Weekly Update!

So I wanted to check in with everyone on my progress.  So far I have been averaging my 2 lbs. a week average.  As of this morning (Sunday weigh in day) I am at 294 lbs!  So that is a grand total of about 26 lbs.  I can definitely start to see the difference in the way my clothes are fitting….not so much in the how I look in the mirror…but how my clothes fit.  I did not get a lot of walking in but we did have some training this week where I was walking around a field for three days so I just counted that.  Yesterday though I took some time to get on the treadmill and I went 4 miles.  That is the longest distance I have done at one time and it really felt good.  I was in my zone and felt I could have kept going no problem.  I think my plan is to finish February walking and then start the couch to 5k program and start running some.

Friday night we went to Bahama Breeze with my parents because they are going on a trip next week.  I reaffirmed something that you can have what you want to eat and still lose weight.  I was able to budget my calories for the day and eat my favorite dish there.  PAELLA.  I was awesome and I also realized that I am really starting to change my habits.  Normally I would have eaten every last grain of rice on the plate, but this time I ate till I was content and stopped.  And I am also happy to report I still have not had a soda since I started this journey.  

Well on ward and down ward.  Keep an eye out for “What the Fat Guy ate!”