Category Archives: College

278: Weigh Weigh After Vay Cay!

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Sup yo!

So like I’ve said all this week, I got a little off track with the vacation (just one of those things that happens) and I wasn’t sure how it was going to reflect on the scale. Well, when we got back and I unofficially weighed Friday morning, I was at 269 pounds! 7 pounds up from when I left. I’m not going to lie I felt pretty crappy about it. I felt like I had let myself and you, my dear readers, down. From then on, I have stuck close to my points and have been eating right. When I got on the scale today, I was only at 264.6 which means from just two days of eating right, my body was able to drop five pounds of retained water and *ahem* waste! That just shows how easy it can be to get back on the horse and keep riding! So if you ever fall off for a while (which you will because life works that way) don’t fret about making up lost ground and just freakin’ go for it!!! Anyways, so I have gained 2.6 pounds since my last weigh in a few weeks ago and obviously you can’t be happy with a gain, but it’s totally manageable so I’m shooting to be back to where I was and then some by then end of this week!

Breakfast: For breakfast I had a Chobani with half a serving of Kashi. It was awesome. 4 points.

Megan made chocolate chip muffins for our young professionals class that I’ve started to teach at church so I had one and a half of those bad boys so that was another 4.5 points. Of all things, I definitely think muffins are my biggest weakness because I want to eat a bunch at a time and they are one of the worst breakfast things you can eat. #Deliciousfail (don’t knock the hashtag.)

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: After church, we made grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. It is definitely one of my favorite meals ever because it is simple to make and it just warms your soul! (Even if it is 100 degrees outside!) 5 points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: This afternoon, all I wanted to do was watch tv and chill. So that’s what I did. I was trying to watch LOTR: The Two Towers while trying to watch Space Jam while trying to watch Ken Burns the Civil War. It was an ADD nightmare with plots that had no resembling parallels. Anyways, so I had some popcorn for 4 points as well. (I took this picture during a Smeagel internal monologue. The creepiness of the photograph seemed fitting.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: For dinner we had chili with brown rice. As always, Uncle Jim’s Vegetarian Chili was a great success in the MacDonald household. For dessert I had a No Pudge Fudge Brownie with ff cool whip and a little lite chocolate syrup. The brownies were just as good the second day! 15 points.

So today I got to 32.5 points which isn’t terrible since I have weekly points. I haven’t been counting them at all so I’m going to start doing that so I’m just not thinking “awe well, I have the weekly points so I’ll eat this chocolate covered ham steak with brown gravy. YUM!!!!” because that can get dangerous. See ya tomorrow.

Day 277: Saturday Silky Smooth

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[I have no clue what that title means. Draw your own conclusions.]

Today was Day Two of Operation Whatever-I-Named-This-Operation-Yesterday and it we great! My body has already readjusted to eating less because I am eating better things. Dieting is all about less is more, you have to find the lower calorie (or lower point) foods that fill you up better. For me that’s veggies like cucumbers, broccoli and baby carrots. Overall though, I’m hoping to be back where I was before I left by next week.

Breakfast: (Yes, this picture is artsy farsty (as much as artsy fartsy a picture of a banana can be ) but I was just messing with Instagram. Pretty awesome app.) So for breakfast I had two pieces of toast with Central Market PB and half of a banana. I stocked up like crazy at Central Market on CM PB because it is my absolute favorite thing in the entire world!!! Anyways, it was kind of like the Wafflewich but less points because the low cal bread at Publix is only 45 calories a slice so that was a good trade off. Breakfast was only 6 points so not too bad.

Exercise: Cleaned the house like crazy. We went Snow White on this joint. There had to be some exercise points in there somewhere…

 

 

 

 

Lunch: We just had leftover mac n cheese and broccoli. It was fantastically delicious. 9 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: After we gallivanted around town in search of picture frames and such, I had a 100 calorie mocha frap on ice. I think they are way better over ice. Not sure why but I just do. (P.S. the polar bear on the cup is named Chester. Not sure why I told you that either.) 2 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Megan bought a cookbook called the “Hungry Girl 1-2-3” on our trip so she tried out one of the lower calorie meals in it. She made the Planet Hungrywood Sweet & Cap’n Crunchy Chicken made with Captain Crunch and Fiber One cereal. It is as awesome as you would expect. The Fiber One gave the tenders texture while the Captain Crunch had the sweetness you know and love (without shredding the roof of your mouth.) Each tender is only two points and we paired it with a modified version of the Honey and Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes that we love to make from The Athlete’s Plate. For dessert I had a No Pudge Brownie that Megan made. They are really awesome and easy to make! Dinner was a total of 10 points so not bad at all for a killer dinner like that!

So today I got to 27 points which isn’t that bad at all! I wasn’t hungry at all today so hooray for me! Tomorrow is weigh in and we will just see how it goes. See ya tomorrow.

Day 276: Friday Frenzy!!!

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HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

What it is jive turkey?

Well today began Operation Let’s Lose Some Freakin’ Weight Yo! The trip was a little rough on my eating habits and my discipline but that was all my own fault. I had the will power, but it’s hard when your weakness is BBQ and then you go to the Mecca of delicious smoked meats and not have the same urges to feast. (Or according to my friend Andrea “The need to feed”) I think I went laxed because I celebrated my victories too soon. My stomach was like Bush on the aircraft carrier with the Mission Accomplished banner, this was (on weight) still has a long ways to go! I’m only really halfway there! Regardless, today I realized I want to be back where I was before the trip, I was more tone than ever before and my double chin was eroding to nothingness! So now I’m back on the wagon and eating right and well (yes dear readers… that is possible!) and I’m ready to finally break the century mark.

Breakfast: I had a bowl of Quaker Oatmeal squares for 5 points. Those things are awesome!

Lunch: We kept it simple for lunch and had a turkey sandwich with a side of carrots. The low cal bread at Publix is soooo awesome. It’s only a point for two slices! So lunch was only 2 points! WOWZERS!

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: I went and got my hair did (while a banshee child was getting his first haircut while screaming for dear life in the chair next to me… but that’s for another post) and then went over to Starbucks to kill some time. I was looking to try something new so I had a skinny vanilla latte. I’m sure it would have been good if Starbucks didn’t burn their coffee, but since they do it was mediocre. Sadly, I wish it was good because it was only 2 points. (Also, they thought my name was David, it’s no Hank but it works?)

Snack: We went to go work out around 6 so I needed something to hold me over until dinner. So I had a tuna sandwich with mustard and pickles. (Trust me… it’s better than it sounds. I would have posted a picture, but frankly it looked like a Friskies ad) It was good nonetheless and only 3 points.

 

 

 

 

SAWS!!!!!! I was so ready to get back in to the gym and try out my new Reebok Zigtechs!!! I warmed up on the treadmill and running in them feels like your gliding on an elliptical! I was doing 5.5 mph like it was nothing. Usually after a while my shoulder and chest muscles start to hurt because with my old shoes it felt like I was jumping up and down on pavement, but with these bad boys I didn’t have any pain at all. I was impressed yo! Anyways, so I warmed up and then worked on arms and core. Over the trip I lost the tone in my sides and now they are back to Flabbytown so I’m going to focus on getting that back. Then I hit up the elliptical on weight loss for about 25 minutes. Overall it was a pretty good work out, but unfortunately Leach is going to be closed until Tuesday so we are going to get creative to workout around the neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Megan made her signature mac n’ cheese with broccoli and it was freakin’ epic. I had 2 massive servings (1 1/2 cups is a serving) and it was only 12 points. 

 

 

 

 

 
Dessert: We decided to get some awesome froyo at Yogurt Mountain for dessert. It turned out to be a good trip because it served as a bit of a wake up call for me with indulging on yogurt. YM has the nutrition facts which I glance at but don’t do the exact math on. Usually, I ballpark it and say with a sweet yogurt and toppings it’s 5 points. Tonight, my yogurt alone was 5 points so my yogurt is much worse that it should be. I really need to get back to tart flavors like taro or non fat flavors and have fruit toppings instead. It was a wake up call that I needed because that change would save me a bunch of calories and points that I underestimate. I’m conservatively going to say that my dessert was 8 points tonight.

So tonight I got to 32 points but with the exercise points I’m definitely good. Before I left I was beginning to think that 30 points a day wasn’t enough, but with meals like today it is definitely doable. See ya tomorrow!

Day 275: Back From the Vacay Edition

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Day 268: Travel Update

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Howdy!

From the greeting, you might infer that I am in Texas (or I’m just bad at greetings) which would be correct. I am blogging live on location from the University of Texas at Austin. Growing up I was a huge Texas A&M fan so at first this was a little weird, but I got over it. Frankly in the caste system of colleges and college football, the University of Florida and Ohio State University are way lower on the proverbial totem pole than UT. (Oklahoma is down there too. What the crap is a Sooner anyway?)

Moving on… Megan is doing research on the composer Radie Britain (I don’t know who it is either) for her thesis so I am here as a research assistant/doing stuff on the Internet that doesn’t involve school because my brain still hurts from the semester.

Sorry it’s been a nutzo lack of blogging. Have you ever been on a vacation which actually involves a crapton of driving and stuff? That’s what this trip is. It’s still an awesome trip (We’re in Texas! How can it not be awesome?) but between my parents not having internet right now, free wireless is hard to find and late nights hanging out with friends, it’s been a challenge. However, the lack of blogging does not mean a lack of dieting. I have been working hard to keeping everything in check and so far it has worked. With traveling, there is a alot of eating out so I’ve been keeping that in mind. Since we are in Texas, we have been eating a alot of Mexican food and it has been awesome. I’m worried though that we are getting spoiled and we will be uber depressed when we go back to Tallahassee. Tonight we are going to eat at the best Bar B Que place in the state (no hyperbole, it’s been ranked as such by Texas Monthly) so I’m ready for that. They have an all you can eat option that I had one time and I remember eating so much that I got sick. I felt like I had to eat as much as possible and I felt disgusting after. That will not happen this time.

I have noticed that some old habits and instincts have come back since I’ve been in Texas. I want things to surround eating when I’ve suggested things to do. That used to be my thing which is why I gained so much weight. It’s just easier to get people to hang out with you if there is a plate of food involved. I think that’s just because we are here for a short amount of time so that’s the way to see a lot of people but it’s a slippery slope. Plus not to mention it’s been in the triple digits every day (except today… it’s a frigid 97) so it’s hard to be motivated to do something outside. I haven’t worked out as much as I have liked but I’m going to rectify that the rest of the trip. If I’m going to eat like I am, I need to balance it out a little better.

Anyways, so we are heading to Abilene on Friday for another wedding that I’m really stoked for. I’m going to see a lot of friends that I haven’t seen since we moved so it’s going to be a lot of fun to catch up with them.I’m going to be able to blog a little more the rest of the trip (I think) so I will keep you a little more updated. Either way when we get back I’ll have a complete recap of the trip with some funny anecdotes and such. Also, look for a wordless wednesday later tonight. See ya later.

Day 262: Wordless Thurwedsday!!

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Day 258: MAVS WIN AND SO DID I!!!!!!!

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MAVS WIN BABY!!!!!!!

I can’t believe it happened.

I thought it was going to seven.

I thought LeBron was going to tear it up and dominate.

I thought Dirk being 1-12 in the first half was going to lead to our demise.

I thought it would be 2006 all over again.

Thank goodness I was wrong.

It was an awesome series, I never hated the Heat but after this series I don’t think I will ever cheer for them as long as they have the team they have now. Anyways, enough about that. So like I said yesterday I really didn’t think I was going to lose any weight because when I weighed earlier this week I had only lost .2 pounds. I have been really stressed, but last night I went gangbusters on my term paper which reduced my stress level considerably. I didn’t fall asleep until 5:00 am, but I woke up with stress gone. The stress must have weighed 2 pounds because that it what I lost this week! I was freakin’ stoked! Although I have a lot of sodium this week, I had stayed within my points and I worked out so it made sense. At this point I have officially lost 95 pounds and only 5 pounds away from the century mark. AKA: my halfway point.

Lunch: I woke up late so I waited to have some lunch. I had three Hebrew National hot dogs with a cup and a half of spaghetti o’s. It was an awesome lunch. 10.5 points

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snack: By the time I got up, it was about time to go to meet with my class for a final group project. I had a skinny caramel macchiato for 3 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: I went a little overboard for dinner. I went to Earth Fare for some dinner and my eyes were bigger than my stomach. In hindsight, I should have split it in to two meals, but I didn’t. Overall though, it was delicious.
Snack: When I was watching the Mavs game, I had a Smartone pizza bagels. 5 points.

Overall it was a good day, but I could have done better with dinner. I’ll have to just SAWS it off in the gym. See ya tomorrow.

Day 256: It’s Friday Friday Gotta Get Down on Friday

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Hooray for Friday!

Yes it is true. I’m glad it’s hear but that means class is almost done and then we will be going to Texas!!! (We we we we we so excited!) Anyways, today I felt really out of whack and I still haven’t really pinpointed what it is. I think I have this paper hanging over me and I’m really really really trying to work on it instead of waiting until the last day to work on it. Yet again, old habits die hard. So we will see. Tomorrow I plan on just locking myself in my house (go for a run in the morning) and then go bonkers on this thing so I can be on with my life! Plus, I keep worrying about if I’ve lost weight which in the past that has made the weight loss that week suck so whatever. This always happens at the end of a semester so I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and then be better next week and really the rest of the summer when I’ll have nothing to do. Alright, enough whining. Let’s do this thang!

Breakfast: I cooked an egg over hard and then warmed up some fake sausage patties and had a sausage MacMuffin. It was awesome as always. 5 points.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: My college minister and I met up for lunch today and I suggested Mr. Roboto’s because I was jonesin’ for some curry. I had the red curry with tofu and it was awesome. Their tofu is like a fried egg and the broccoli soaks up all of the curry. It is a beautiful thing that makes me tear up just thinking about it. Adam and I had a great conversation so add that to some amazing curry it was a legit lunch. 12 points

Snack: At some point I had 1 point of chips (like a small handful.)

 

NSV: (Let me preface this by saying I don’t know why I look so morose in this picture.) So I was looking for a bowtie for a presentation I have for one of my classes and I ended up at Belk in the super ghetto mall in Tallahassee called the Tallahassee Mall. (Seriously, it’s really empty so you feel like the zombie apocalypse has happened so you and your friends are the only ones left alive. Anyways, what were we talking about?) So Belks is like a Dillard’s or a Macy’s so they have nice stuff and have killer sales (because the mall is dying.) They had a table of $40 dress shirts for $16 so I looked through them, and found one I was hoping would fit. The one I wanted was a 17 1/2 inch neck 32/33 arms. I wasn’t sure if it was going to fit and I tried it on and it fit! In high school, I worked at a Van Huesen where the biggest size was an 18 inch and since I got a discount I wanted to buy some but all of them wouldn’t even button up! I have come a freakin’ long way. Today when I tried it on I was stoked, but it took me writing this to really appreciate this NSV. This is a pretty big deal for me. If that’s not motivation to keep going I don’t know what is.

Dinner: I went to dinner at our friends the Schuberts and we had Mexican! Ole! I just made a taco salad like I do at home with chips, black beans, a little cheese, lettuce, a little meat, and a ton of salsa. It was delicious I wish I would of had seconds. Anyways, there was birthday cake for their son Brett, but they also had some killer watermelon so I just had that instead of cake. I pretty good trade off. 8 points.

 

 

Dessert: I had a WW bar. 3 points of awesomeness.

So I’m at 29 points which is good since I didn’t work out. I’m going to go something physical tomorrow so I don’t go more crazy than an outhouse rat. (Yes, people actually say that.) See ya tomorrow.

255: What a Day Edition

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Hello early weekend! Hello spending the whole time on a research paper that is frustrating the tar out of me! I’ve been trying to work on this paper that’s due Tuesday about BP and their social media efforts (or lack there of) and it has been a pain trying to look through all of their tweets and statuses. It’s a combination of my computer just locking up when I’m a few months back and that they post something literally every hour now. I thought this wasn’t going to be that bad, but that’s the funny thing about research, it’s like the Bizarroworld of normal expectations.  So anyways, today has just been kind of a weird/off/I’m glad there is only an hour of it left/ kind of day. I’ll talk more about that in a bit…

Breakfast: So I was going to wake up at 6:15, go run and enjoy the morning. Well, I woke up to my alarm at 6:15 feeling great, but then I was like “well I need to sleep” so I went back to bed and I woke up feeling like complete garbage. Go figure right? So I got up, had some Chobani and granola, and went on with my day. 5 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: So I got home around 1 and I warmed up some Hebrew Nationals with leftover spaghetti-o’s. It was an awesomely delicious lunch. 8 points

After lunch I was a little hungry so I immediately ate some hummus and a pita while I should have just waited out a few minutes and I’m sure I would have been fine. Instead I ate it and I felt gross/too full after. That always sucks. 3 points.

 

 

 

 

Starbucks: While researching at Starbucks, I had a Skinny caramel macchiato which was as good as always. 3 points


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workout: So I had a rough day so I was ready for a good workout to calm myself down. I got to Leach and it was nightmarishly packed. I tried to do some weights but every 2 minutes it felt like people were coming up to me asking if I was done with a machine. It got annoying quick. Then I was doing some lumberjacks on a machine (pull down diagonally across your body) and one of the workers showed me a better way to do it. It was good for him to do and he was the first worker I’ve seen do that because I’m sure I’m still doing a ton of stuff wrong still. I just felt out of whack and like I had no clue what I was doing. So I went to a staple that I know I can handle. It was Stairmaster time! I did 17 minutes on level 7 (which I have never done) and it was painful but good. With 3 minutes left, my right calf started to cramp up so I slowed it down a little to stretch it out which helped but again it was just rough. I sweated like a stuffed pig which is what I needed today, a cathartic sweat. (Yes, that is all my sweat.)

 

 

Dinner: I had some leftover black beans so I cooked up some rice and had burritos again. It was fantastic and 10 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert: I know I said I was going to cut back on dessert so I just had one today 🙂 I started working on research again and I kept having issues with my computer. Sometimes there are problems that only ice cream can solve. It wasn’t emotional eating per se, more of I need to get away from my computer or I’m going to go Office Space on it. It was still only 3 points so whatever.

Today I got to 32 points which is over but with the exercise I’m good. See ya tomorrow.