I'm still alive...

It has been a long time. My life caught up with me and I got very busy. Went camping for awhile, then spent some time with my grandparents at their cabin up north, then to Milwaukee for the Warrior Dash, and back to school to get ready for students. All of this has led me back to my old ways. Oh I still am keeping track of some of my calories, I am still getting in exercise, and still trying to eat right. However, I have been eating bad foods, drinking a beer here and there, and eating some sweets. The results haven't been horrible. I have been on the scale and watched it yo-yo up and down. Up to 257 and then today down to 252.9. Not where I wanted to be by now. Very frustrating. The worst part is that when I am eating the things I know are bad for me, I tell myself that it is yet I can't stop putting it in my mouth. I can't say no to food, and once I start it all just starts piling in and I have eaten enough for a family of 5. But I am back. I am still trying to fight the fight. Here we go again.

Day 12, 13, 14

Well, not such a great weekend for a diet. Camping was phenomenal. I made some great memories with my boys and had a good time with my family. Unfortunately healthy eating took a break. I didn't do terrible, I made some effort for portion control and filled my plate with more vegetables than sides. Yet, I ate chips, brats, white bread, and drank beer. The calories in a beer are unbelievable. That is too bad, as a good beer can always make any day better; especially, around the camp fire. On the flip side, as fas as activity goes I was through the roof. I canoed, handled set up and take down, rode my bike, walked, and just over all wore myself out. Hopefully that will be my salvation. Any type of recording was not done. Just too many excuses, including not wanting to know. Feel bad now, but back on the saddle I go. Topped of my cheating weekend tonight with pizza at my family's favorite place to go. The next 3 days I will be at my grandparents resort. It will be my challenge to do better on this mini-vacation. Wish my luck.

Day 11

Yesterday was a really busy day. I repainted our bathroom and did some work on our camper. I was so busy, I didn't really eat much. I worked from 8 am to 11 pm. I was thinking I would see good results this morning, but when I stepped on the scale I had a .2 lb gain. Disappointing. I did some research last night when I was done about sodium and have a new challenge to keep mine under 2,000 mg a day. That is going to be tough because everything has it in it. It is going to be short today, because I am camping this weekend and have to get ready to go. Food will be tough this weekend, as we are camping  and eating with what my parents bring. Again I am just going to have to do portion control. Well see you Monday!

Day 10 and 11

Checking in a little late. Was working all morning, which will get to be a more frequent thing since school is starting. You see, I am a teacher. Which also means the school year is starting soon that brings a lot less time for exercise, makes it harder to eat healthier (somebody is always baking on our staff), and I gain a ton more stress. Still have a month before it rolls in full time, so hopefully I can really gain some momentum to make it easier to keep rolling.

Weighed in this morning at 253.2, which is great because I also had a late meal last night (about 10:00). My body is definitely shedding some lbs now. Add to it that my muscles are sore from lifting and I am really starting to feel good about my progress. I am part of musky fishing league that fishes every Tuesday for 3.5 hours. It is definitely a great workout and I'm exhausted at the end of every night. Only problem is that I don't get home till 10ish, so my meals are rather late. I also did a full deep clean of my house, which though the calorie burn looks high I was definitely sweating.
Exercise: 6 burned a lot of calories, but didn't get that true fatigue I do from something more demanding like running.
Food: 10 All healthy food, all day plus right number of calories.
Today was a little different. I had to be at school for some meetings and they provided us with a lunch. It was sandwiches with fresh fruit and a variety of pasta salad options. I skipped the pasta salads, and found some creamed cucumbers. Ultimately while the calorie count wasn't terrible I feel like the sodium intake was probably through the roof. I also was starving when I got home so I grabbed some snacks before heading to the gym. At the gym I got in a decent lift, but ran into a friend and wasted 20 minutes talking which meant I had to skip my run so I could swim with my kids. The swimming calorie burn seems high, but I did try to do a lot of swimming around with them so as to burn the calories. I ended up with another late meal at Subway. I added the avocado thinking it was healthy only to find the fat and calorie content was much higher than I wanted. Which reminds me that I want to check out nutrient info to see if I am eating my calories with the right balance.
I am not so confident in my weigh in tomorrow. We will see.

Exercise: 5 Was pretty stationary most of day and not pleased with workout.
Food: 5 Calories aren't too high, but feel like the quality wasn't great today.

Day 9: Check In and a Challenge

 

A great day yesterday. I took in the desired amount of calories, all full of good nutrition and got in plenty of exercise. A couple of hours spent at the YMCA always makes for a healthier feeling. I went to bed content and satisfied even knowing that in the morning my weigh in would be higher because of a very late large meal. Sure enough I was up to 255 this morning for a 2 lb gain, but really think that has more to do with timing than gaining weight. I haven't been eating anything late at night the past week, but last night didn't get to eat dinner until 9.

My workout was amazing. The lifts went really well, and I made it a full mile and a half at a constant pace averaging a 10 minute mile. That is a great accomplishment for me. I am going to have to keep it up though, because I am participating in a 3K Challenge called the Warrior Dash on August 18th. My wife talked me into it, but I am starting to look forward to it as I start shedding this weight and get in better physical condition.

I have had more people recommend that I up my calories so I have moved them up to 1800. I went to this recommended website: BMI Calculator that has lots of great information about calories and also gave me some insight on my body fat and overall health. The body fat number shocked me. My scale told me 32% this morning, I am not sure which is correct but prefer the website obviously. Well here is to another great day!

Food: 10 Good numbers all the way around.

Exercise: 10 Killed it!

Day 8

Well Week 1 is complete. Yesterday was another ok day. Went to breakfast with my family and tried to order healthy. What a challenge that is! They had a "lite menu" but it appeared to be pretty unhealthy to me. One of the items on it for example was a muffin which is loaded in sugar. It was obviously not designed by a nutritionist. So I decided to explore on my own and found a veggie omelet. They had chosen to have it covered in cheese and hollandaise sauce, but I simply asked to hold those items. Unfortunately, though they skipped the hollandaise sauce it still showed up with cheese. It took 40 minutes for it to arrive and with a 4 and 2 year old out for breakfast and a waiter who appeared to be frazzled and on the job for the first time, I decided to go ahead and eat it. After all, I have had several suggest I up my calories anyway so I figured I could make due. I skipped the hash browns that came with it and only ate one piece of the wheat toast that accompanied it. It was manageable and I walked away feeling as if though I didn't eat that many calories. I found comparable items on Lose It and was happy with the calories I took in. Lunch at my moms wasn't as bad as I had thought either. She had plenty of healthy options and I managed to eat only one serving and skipped dessert. HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT! It was a German chocolate pie that I love and I made it out with out a bite! I made dinner light and still walked away with a good calorie count.
Exercise was not an easy task to find time for. With grocery shopping, my dad's birthday lunch, and then a home improvement chore I ended up not getting a hard sweat. I did chase my kids around my parents yard and the chore used some effort so I got some calories burned, just not what I want. To the Y today.
So how did it all end up? Well this morning I stepped on the scale to find 252.9! Thats a 10 lb lose in a week!! Here goes Week 2, though I am sure I won't see the same results another 5 lbs this week would be great!

Scores:

 Food-7: I managed to eat out without inhaling a ton of calories, and ate my mom's cooking without overdoing it. However, still ended up over my allotted amount.

 Exercise-2: Had some physical activity, but nothing as strenuous as what I want to get in daily.

Day 7

I ate pretty well yesterday. Had one slip-up with a pizza my wife had made for lunch. It just looked too good to pass up. Although I was only going to take one bite, I ended up eating 4 small slices. I had to put it in the log with the closest I could find, but I'm uncertain on the accuracy. We got a ton of fresh produce from friends gardens and the farmers market, which having in the house is making it easier for me to make healthy options. As far as exercise goes, it was a rainy lazy day, so we didn't do much besides get out and do some shopping. Weekends are so tough for me to maintain a regular schedule. I need to get more motivated on Saturdays and Sundays.
Today's weigh-in was ok, dropped back down to 256.9. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be back under my 256 I weighed in on Friday. That would make for a successful weekend in my book. We are supposed to do lunch at my parents today, which is a little scary. My mom is a good cook, and I am certain she won't have healthy options. I will just have to modify my portions. Here it goes.

Day 6: Check In

Well, the scale wasn't too harsh: 258. A 2 lb gain. I think its probably a lot of water retainment from all the salt I in took so I am not too worried. I just need to be strong today and get back on track. I have had some input about the number of calories I am eating being too low. I am taking it into consideration, but limiting myself to 2 lbs per week of lose seems so low and I don't know with those type of results I would have the patience to make it to my goal. I would really be happy with about 5 lbs per week. My view may be a little skewed by the Biggest Loser, where the contestants are dropping 15 to 30 lbs a week. I know those numbers are not in my range because of my limits of exercise time, but I don't think 5 is unfeasible. At 5 lbs a week it will take me 14 weeks or  roughly 3 months to get where I want, but at 2 we are talking 35 weeks or 9 months. I am open to suggestion...
In good news, we got lots of fresh produce from our friends gardens so I will be able to have more healthy food options. We don't know what we are up to today, so we will see how it goes.

Day 5: Completion OUCH!

My day started out really well. I did some exercise in the morning. We have an XBOX 360 with Kinect, and I have the Biggest Loser Game for it, which really can get me into a sweat. It has yoga, boxing, and cardio exercises all worked together into workouts that you can customize for yourself. It has much more features than that, but all I use is the exercise portion. Here is the the link if you want to check it out: Biggest Loser Kinect. However, the Packer Family Night didn't go so well. My father-in-law had a beer in my hand before we hit the seats, and my son was snacking on popcorn and peanuts which I helped take care of. I tried looking for a healthy sandwich option for my main course, but struggled. I ended up finding a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. Before the night was over, I helped my son finish his slice of pizza and had another beer. It was too much for me to handle. I finished the day at well over the amount of calories I wanted. I don't do games very often, but they certainly are a struggle for anybody trying to eat healthy. I think my best option is to tailgate before the game with my own food and limit myself to water inside. Tough!

Day 5: Check In

256 lbs! Thats a 4 lb lose from yesterdays hard work and an overall total lose of 7 lbs. Back on track, but need to keep it up. I think the calorie tracking is certainly going to be helpful, but the exercise is the key. I have a busy day ahead. I am taking my son to the Packer Family Night Scrimmage. That is a little scary, because of all the bad food that will be available. Hopefully I can keep it under control. If I can make it through the fair without food though, then I can manage a Packer game. A beer would be good though. Hmmm. We will see. The weekend is here, and I have really struggled to do well on weekends. Let see if I can do better now. Feeling much stronger, just recording everything on here. Here we go.

Day 4 Completion

Busy finish to the night again, so doing wrap up this morning.

Day 4 was a solid one all the way around. Went to the YMCA and lifted weights for an hour and then ran a mile. My legs were killing me from the mountain climb on Monday, but still managed my mile in 10:14. Lifting went really well too. I always struggle to keep my bench press numbers up went I get away from it for awhile, but I managed to get 205 up twice to finish my set. Not where I once was, but a much better starting point then I normally get. I once was able to bench 265, which was nice but I would really like to hit 300 lbs. It has been a goal of mine for years, but I have never been able to lift regularly enough to obtain it. Maybe now I can.

Food was really good. I only hit 1000 calories of intake yesterday, I would like more but rather be under my 1500 goal then above. I even made another huge accomplishment. I took my family to the local fair and while they were eating cheese curds, cheeseburgers, chicken strips, egg rolls, french fries and soda I ate nothing until I got home. It was very difficult, especially because my boys had left overs that were going to go in the garbage. I have a huge problem with having to eat food so it doesn't go to waste. I can't imagine how many lbs I am wearing from that issue. The good part is that, I ended up intaking 0 calories and burned some from walking around with my family.

Food and Exercise:

Scores:

     Food: 8- I really should try to get closer to 1500 calories.

     Exercise: 8- I worked pretty hard, but to get a 10 I need to do more.

An Interesting News Article

The Psychology of Obesity
This article brings up many interesting points that I have lived with my whole life. One of them that really touched was how food was everywhere and easily accessible. Case in point "dollar menus." If I have 1.07 worth of change in my pocket or truck, I have a double cheeseburger. We all know the commercials remind us all the time that you can. For a guy like me, those commercials with pizzas, cheeseburgers, and ice cream are the same as offering a cigarette to somebody who has quit. What was really saddening was that the study that had people look at images of food, and even the person who had gotten in shape still responded differently than somebody who had never had a problem. I guess that means I will always be fighting the urges. And there are people that doubt food is an addiction?!

Day 4: Check In

I jumped on the scale this morning, excited to see the results of a great food day. I was certain that I would see the lose of a couple lbs. Nope! I gained a lb. Apparently, I didn't eat as healthy as I thought and true exercise is crucial. So I add a new strategy today. I am going to track my calories with an Iphone app I have used before that is awesome. It has almost every food you could imagine and has been useful for me in the past. The app is called Lose It. Today I will go to the gym with the boys and keep myself under a goal of 1500 calories. Lets see if I can make this happen.

Day 3: Completion

Its in the books, well as long as I can make it from here to bed without stopping for a snack.Had a good food day, but didn't find time to exercise. It is hard to do while I am responsible for 2 boys age 2 and 4 all day. They do keep me active and walking though, so I guess that is good for something. We went to the farmer's market and found lots of good fruits and vegetables. I found some awesome blackberries to add to my morning cereal, but sadly my boys ate all of them for lunch. Guess it will be strawberries again tomorrow. One big accomplishment: my wife and I took the boys to a movie tonight and I ate and drank nothing there. To add to this, I had to hold my boys popcorn and slushies during the entire film. Score for me.
Food:
 Breakfast-Miniwheats w/ banana
 Lunch- Tuna on wheat toast with pepperjack cheese and green beans
 Supper- Turkey Brat w/ grilled green peppers, sweet corn, and green beans (I did do two pieces of corn, but no butter or salt)
 Today's score: 8- Could have skipped the cheese for lunch and the extra piece of corn. Brat bun was also white. However, I threw away my boys leftover lunch without a piece in my mouth and the theater experience could have gained me a point.

Exercise: Walking the farmers market, and a little house work.
 Today's score: 3 Definitely need more activity!

Day 3: Beginning

So yesterday didn't go as planned. Thats ok. Today is a new day and it is one step at a time. I have a few worries in my upcoming schedule about food. Maybe some brainstorming now may help prevent anything tragic happen. Friday I am taking my son to the Packer scrimmage with my father-in-law and we are planning on eating at the game. This means options of beer, dogs, and burgers. Then on Saturday my wife and I are supposed to go to a rib cook-off that we go to every year. They have homemade ice cream, corn on the cob dipped in butter, cheese curds, corn bread, and of course any type of BBQ you can imagine (brisket, ribs, chicken, pulled pork). That all sounds awesome and scary at the same time. How can I meet my goals if I love this stuff so much?
Oh at weigh in this morning down to 259, so another lb lost.

Day 2: Update

Last night was too busy for me to check in, so I will do it this morning.
Yesterday, was a bit of a let down. I didn't put anything bad in my body, but there was definitively more eating than I would like to do. I took my kids to the beach and packed us a picnic lunch to have while we were there. I ate what I was supposed to, but when I got home I was famished. I ate ok (a few things I could have skipped) and then spent the evening musky fishing. The problem came when I got home at 10:00pm and my wife had prepared a rice, bean, and chicken dinner. It was awesome and though I probably shouldn't have had anything, I ended up eating 2 servings worth. 2 strikes it one sitting: eating too much and eating that late.
I have decided I will post my meals here in a list type format so I can see what may or may not work.
Breakfast: Mini-Wheats w/ Strawberries and Skim Milk
Lunch: Chicken Breast on Wheat Bread, 2 slices of Grilled Zuchinni, 3 apple slices
Snack: Oats and Honey Granola Bar
Dinner 1: Chicken Breast on Wheat Bread, banana with peanut butter (1.5 tbsp), 2 cups of milk
Dinner 2: Chicken Breast w/ rice, tomatos, black beans (2 plates) and a couple of goldfish crackers
I will also rank my exercise and food scores out of 10 points for the day 1 being bad, 5 ok, 10 great.
Exercise: 6 Stayed busy, but no big sweat makers.
Food: 4 Too much.