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.