Category Archives: College

Day 140? Whoa.

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I really can’t believe it’s been that long. It finally feels I have graduated from the “dieting” phase to lifestyle phase. With this rejuvenation I’ve gotten since last week. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I ever want to just eat anything and everything anymore. I’ve caught myself recently thinking about what I wish I could eat (especially bad for you pizza and stuff like that) but then I found this picture:

(I still cringe every time I see this picture.) This was my Junior year of college. I was miserable, constantly uncomfortable, and lazy… but I ate anything I wanted to. I had no food filter. If it looked good, I ate it. It was a dark time for me and I had almost lost hope at this point. I was really ready to give it up and just get fatter and fatter until I just died. Thankfully, one day (about 140 days ago to be exact) I decided that this was not me. This is not the Nathan that I knew. The skinny Nathan finally decided that he was going to do anything to get the weight off and live the life he wanted before it was too late. Now here I am, 64 pounds later (I’m not sure how much I weighed in this picture, but my guess is the 370’s-380’s,) still chugging along to Healthytown. Alright (wiping away some tears) let’s get down to food stuff.

Breakfast: I just had a bowl of Kashi Berry Crisp and milk for 4 points. When we got on campus, I got an iced caramel machiatto for 3 points. Hooray for caffeine! 

 

Lunch: I didn’t have much time between class and internship, so I went to the on campus convenient store with my friend Chip to get some lunch. I had one of those awesome Sabra hummus and pretzels packs which was so awesome and really filling. It was 8 points.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: By 5:00, we were both really hungry so we went to Chipotle since we sadly both had the points. I had the vegetarian burrito bowl with black beans, rice, peppers, salsa, cheese, guacamole and sour cream on the side. The bowl is a lot more guts than a  burrito has so it’s the better deal, plus with bowl you don’t have the extra points of the tortilla! Overall, it was 16 filling points.

 

 

 

 

Exercise: I did a 30 minute circuit on Wii Fit. It was a lot of fun (especially the yoga poses. I really miss going to yoga!) but after, I accidentally did the free step, not knowing it was 10 minutes of stepping. So that was fun too! I did 3 points worth of exercise.

 

 

 

 

 
Dessert: Megan has been studying for what seems like the past 48 hours so she finally took a break and we went to Hiro’s for some frozen yogurt. I’m back to eating fruit with my yogurt instead of candy and it was a lot better. It was 3 points of deliciousness.

Overall, I got to 34 points but with the exercise points so I’m good. See ya tomorrow.

Day 139! Epic Weigh In Day Extravaganza!

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(Sorry for the lack of postage yesterday. My bad yo.)

So, you might recall that last week I gained weight for the first time in my weight loss journey. I kind of felt it coming though because I was getting in this complacent funk with food tracking and frankly the blog. I had lost the passion of what drove me to lose the weight and I was resting on my accomplishments. I had worked so hard up to that point and then tried to coast which failed miserably. So this week, we worked out almost every day, watched what we ate, and just did a better job of listening to our bodies (oh yeah, and drinking a ton of water.) Anyways, between all that and rekindling me passion for this blog and how much I love it, I did alright this week. I lost 5.6 freaking pounds!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP! I couldn’t believe at all. I flipped out. So awesome! This is the second most weight I’ve lost in a week other than the first week when I lost 10.8 pounds so that’s pretty cool stuff. So now I’m down to 293 pounds, I’ve lost a total of 64 pounds, and I’m 36 pounds away from my 100 pound goal. I have 80 days to go. Do you think I’ll make it? Me neither.

Breakfast: I just had a bowl of Kashi Berry Crunch that was just straight up awesome. Can’t get any better than that.

Lunch: So we went out with some of the young professionals from church for lunch and we decided on Cracker Barrel. I’m still not a fan of the ol’ CB because they still don’t have their nutritional information available to the general public which is just wrong, but I figured if I did something a little lighter than chicken tenders or something like that I would be okay. I went with the lemon pepper rainbow trout with pinto beans, mashed potatoes and carrots. It was really good, the fish was really cooked well and the veggies were amazing as always. I also had two cornbread muffins with no butter. A pretty legit meal.

 

 

 

After lunch, we went over to our friends house so Megan and some other people from her department could study while the guys played FIFA and watch the Super Bowl. There was frozen pizza so I had two slices of cheese which was good and then we all snacked on homemade spicy chex mix through out the day. (Pictured: Felix the Wonder Cat in a Walmart bag)

Overall I think I did alright considering it was Super Bowl Sunday. I don’t have the exact measurements of everything because I’m not sure how much chex mix I ate. The rest of the week I’m going to be really careful about that though to keep on the weight loss wagon. See ya tomorrow.

Day 137: Friday Funerino!

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It’s finally the end of the week. Pretty awesome. The weekend couldn’t have come any sooner too, today was just a comedy of errors. I’m not going to go in to the details or anything (nothing bad) but it was just a bizarre day. Alright, nummy nummy food time!

Breakfast: I had a heartier breakfast than I usually have because I finally bought some milk. I had a bowl of Kashi Berry Deliciousness for 5 points.

Snack: I’m not one to eat when I’m stressed, but today I made an exception. I bought some WW cheese pizza bagels bites so I microwaved a batch of those bad boys when I was working on something for my internship. They are 5 points for 4 which isn’t that bad and you feel like you’re eating junk food so it’s a win-win.

Lunch: A while back, we had bought some Morning Star Pizza burgers and they were awesome so I bought some because they are easy to cook and really really good. I cooked up 2 patties (because they are only 2 points!) and put them on some bagel thins (so you could say I had Pizza Bagels twice today. Guffaw.) With some chips it was a 9 points lunch.

Snack: Through out the day, I had 3 points of trail mix. I also had a 5.5 point wafflewich before a class meeting.

 

 

 

Exercise Squared: I broke out a really good sweat on the Wii Fit Plus earlier. You can do a custom work out to focus on different areas and you decided how long you want to go. I did a lot of different exercises for 30 minutes. I gained 5 exercise points.

Then after my meeting, I decided to go over to Leach to go for a run. I’m still really sore after Wednesday and I haven’t worked out since so it was good to get a good stretch out (and it helped me avoid doing homework) For the first time, I put the treadmill up to 6 miles per hour. Pretty awesome. Anyways, it was a pretty good run and it was 7 exercise points.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: I decided to be adventurous and make some breakfast burritos FOR DINNER (and that’s why my middle name is Danger.) I cooked some egg whites and warmed up what was left of the black beans a rice. I didn’t have a clue how it was going to turn out but it wasn’t that bad! For 2 burritos it was an 11 point dinner. Pretty good stuff.

So overall today I got to 38.5 points (yikes) but I did work out twice and I haven’t used any weekly points this week so I’m good. See ya tomorrow.

Day 136: Bagel Beserkness

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I actually slept in today… all the way to 7:45. (Oh yeah, I live dangerously.) Have you ever woken up, sat there for a second, then realized that you are more sore than you have ever been in your entire life? Or is that just me? After a beastly day at the gym on Wednesday, I have been feeling the burn. And it feels sooooo good. Anyways, on to other things.

Arts & Crafts Time With Nathan! So Megan left for a conference this morning so it’s just been me holding down the fort. About 35 minutes after she left, I was already stir crazy and worked on this idea I have been thinking of for a long time. I’ve had this pair of Vans since I was a sophomore in high school (circa 2002) and I still haven’t had the heart to throw them away. I decided to try to convert them in to sandals. There were holes in them anyways so I still somehow didn’t make them look any worse. Anyways, this is the final product, and I look homeless when I wore them (and yes, there are no soles in them.) I didn’t wear them today after all. Anways…

Breakfast: I had another one of those freakin’ awesome Nature’s Own 1 point bagels with what was left of out Central Market Organic Peanut Butter from Texas [insert tear shedding] It was a bittersweet delicious 3.5 point breakfast.

Lunch: I just made another bagel sandwich sandwich with turkey, light mayo and mustard with some Cape Cod chips. Only a 6 point lunch!

 

 

Snack: I forgot to pack a snack for around 3:00 and boy did I feel it! After class, instead of grabbing a snack, I went to Walmart to pick up a few things so I didn’t get home until around 5 so I had 5 points worth of multigrain cheerios. They are so good!!! I was going to have dinner relatively early but I figured I should eat something so I wouldn’t scarf down dinner (especially since I was cooking for 2 people and it was just me. In the past that hasn’t ended well and involved me eating thirds and fourths.) (And no I didn’t get these, although it was soooooooooooo tempting. I love straight sodium!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: I decided to make one of my favorite meals. Yep you guessed it! Black Bean Burritos! This was I think the second time me making them on my own and they turned out really well. I was going to make guacamole, but when I cut in to the avocados they were black (Yum!) so I scratched that idea. (This mad me really mad because I found 100 calorie packs of Wholly Guacamole and I had them in my cart all the way up until I check out and I decided not to get them. Fail.) Anywho, I had two burritos for a total of a very filling 10 point meal. I love this dinner. (Oh yeah, for the record, that is not mayo on top of the burrito. That is just a real unphotogenic dollop of Walmart Fat Free Sour Cream. Just thought I should clarify that.

 

 

So today I got to only 24.5 points but I’m not hungry or anything so I guess that’s good. I just really need to bring a snack for 3:00 to avoid that hunger monster. See ya tomorrow.

Day 135: Wednesday Stuff:

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I did not want to get up this morning. I woke up and the only thing I could think about was when I was going to get some face to pillow time again. It’s definitely not the first day of early morning working out that is the killer, it’s the third. More about that in a minute.

Breakfast: We bought these awesome Nature’s Own bagel thins that are only a point! They are just as big as the bagel thins you get at Einstein bros but just a heck of a lot cheaper. So it was 2 points for the bagel and a little nonfat smear.

Workout: As I was saying, it took a lot of will power to get out of bed, but (obviously) I got up and we went to the gym. As it usually works out, it turned in to one of the best work outs I’ve ever had. I started off with leg machines, then I joined Megan and we did some squats, lunges, and this really crappy exercise that involves just getting up out of sitting on a bench. We did 50 of those and it suuuuuuucked. Then, we decided to both try out the bike (not the spin class one but the one with the bigger seat.) I’ve done it before so I gave it a shot again. In 20 minutes we both went 10 miles. Pictured is my “What the crap is wrong with me? face around mile 8. Overall it was a great workout and I got 13 activity points. (Also, I’m not sure why it is upside down. I tried to change it and it wouldn’t work. Lame.)

Real breakfast: Since a bagel wasn’t enough, we walked over to Jenny’s Lunchbox for a big ol’ breakfast. I tried their veggie omelet and it was packed with all sorts of goodness. I was really impressed, not to mention their homefries are just plain fantastic (and I’m sure a little fattening but who cares.) Breakfast: the sequel, was 14 points which was high, but after a workout like that I needed something a little more than an another bagel.

This is Megan being cute. (It’s what she does.)

Lunch: I was in a bit of a rush, so I warmed up some chili and crunched up some chips in there. It was a short moment of lunch bliss. It was a very filling 8 point lunch.

Snack: Around 3, I had some trail mix with a point of almonds that I added in. 4 points.

Dinner: Earth Fare had this awesome promo where if you bought only $5 of stuff you got a pound of wings free. (Hooray for Facebook advertising!) So we did that for dinner. Again, not the healthiest, but we haven’t had wings since like September so it was a nice little treat. Unfortunately, Earth Fare doesn’t have their nutrition facts online, but I found another nutrition fact so it was approximately 15 points for about 10 wings.

Overall, I got to 43 points but with the activity points I’m good. It was a pretty good day I would have to say. (Who wants some hay? Done by the bay? Go Blue Jays? March 5th is Perry the Platypus Day?) Okay, I’ve lost my mind. See ya tomorrow.

Day 134: Tuesday Insanity!

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Tuesdays use to be the death of me. I would just pray for death most of the day because I would just be exhausted from boredom. Today was completely different and I think that was because I worked out this morning. It’s just a great day to get everything going in the morning. You should definitely try it.

Breakfast: I just had 3 point waffles with no pb. I was just in a rush but it was pretty good.

Exercise: I worked out my arms today which was pretty rough because I have a weird variation of Aunt Bea arms. The gym was still pretty empty too which is always nice. There were a lot of ROTC guys that could deadlift me but they are pretty nice folks so I can’t complain. Anyways, a pretty good work out.

When I was working on my homework I had a 2 point banana then I decided to be daring and try some Starbucks oatmeal. It wasn’t that bad, but it’s not that big for how much it is ($2.45.) The packaging is a little deceiving. Anyways, even though it was really good oatmeal, I don’t know if I would get it again. The oatmeal with some brown sugar was only 3 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: While I was still working on homework, I had my sandwich and chips. Apart, they are 2 delicious entities. Together, HOLY COW IT’S THE BEST SANDWICH EVER! Chips in your sandwich is the best thing in the world. Seriously. Lunch was 7 points. Hooray!

Snack: Around 3:00, I got instantly hungry (hooray for my metabolism actually working) so I ate my 4 points worth of almonds.

 

 

 

Dinner: After my late class, Megan and I met up at Pitaria for some din-din. By then, I was really hungry and exhausted from a long day of using my brain (something I’m really not use to.) Tonight, they had their awesome Tomato Soup that Megan always talks about and I’ve become a believer. It was so good! We decided to get some hummus to make it a more filling dinner. Overall, dinner was 8 points. So not bad at all.

 

 

 

 

Dessert: After our campus bible study, a lot of us went to Mr. Roboto’s/Hiro’s to hang out. We haven’t been to Hiro’s since Novemberish so it was good to be back I was welcomed by my friend who works there who I told about the blog when I first started. I tried their vanilla yogurt and put a little reeses, heath, and oreo on. It was really good and 5 points.

Overall, I got to 32 points. It’s a point over, but with the exercise points I’m doing alright. See ya tomorrow.

132: A New Start Edition

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This week was beastly. It has been full of stress, complacency, and just plain bad eating. It was particularly bad on Friday. I was really bad on Friday because I weighed early to see how I was doing and I was down to 294.4! I was really stoked. Bad idea. Every time I do that I unintentionally screw it up the rest of the week. On Friday we ate a very indulgent meal and it put the rest of this week in a funk. I haven’t been really counting my points like I should. I’ve done a lot of estimating this week. Then this happened… for the first time, I gained 1.4 pounds this week. I know that it has to be retained water from the bizarre kind of week it has been, but it has really opened my eyes to get me back on track. Expect a much better number there next week.

Breakfast: We bought some Kashi waffles this week and they are good, but they are still not near as good as Publix waffles. Every other frozen I’ve tried have been really soggy (maybe I just need to turn up my toaster… hmmmmm) Anyways, like I said they are good and I had half a serving of peanut butter which was only 4.5 points.

Lunch: After church, we went to the Tallahassee Mall (the creepy near abandoned mall where most zombie movies take place) and ate at their food court. Luckily there is a Subway which is especially good. I had the Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki which is one of my favorites but I haven’t had it in ages. The 6″ with some chips was 10 points.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Megan had been wanting to try this new recipe she found in a Taste of Home magazine so we gave it a shot. This beautiful concoction to your left is Tex Mex Porkchops. Basically, the sauce was salsa, green chiles, and sauteed onions. I usually don’t like salsa as a sauce like this, but it was really good! Megan thought it was a little salty but we both think it was the kind of salsa we used. The porkchops were only 4 points (if they are about 5 ounces) so dinner was only 8 points which is sad that it was less points than a sub and chips. (Eating in folks, that’s where it’s at!)

Snack: I just had a 1/4 cup of trail mix for 3 points. Hooray.

Overall today I unintentionally only got to 25.5 points which is kind of below but it’s too late to eat so I’ll just keep drinking my water. This week, I’m going to get back on a consistent work out schedule with healthy food abound. I’m really going to focus on reviving the fire I had to lose the weight and rid any shred of complacency that is left within me. What an epic battle it should be. See ya tomorrow.

 

Day 131!

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So yesterday was a beast of a day full of delicious yet super calorie infused meals. Today, it was my mission to at least attempt to undo the damage done. Overall I think I did alright, but we will find out tomorrow. Enough about that, time for food.

Breakfast: I had the last waffle with just a little honey on it. My stomach was pretty messed up this morning so I kept it light. I also had a light bagel and a handful of almonds. Kind of a hodge-podge of a breakfast, but we really needed to go grocery shopping.

Exercise: I’m about 15 miles away from completing my #JanGTD goal so with 3 days to go I still have a chance to beat it. Megan and I walked all over tarnation. The part of Tallahassee we live in is really hilly so we got a big leg work out. We walked a total of 5.27 miles of awesomeness.

Lunch: After our big expedition, we really wanted to find a place with a good salad bar. (Jason of Jason’s Deli, IF YOU ARE READING THIS PLEASE COME HERE!!!!!!) We decided to try out the Salad/Hot food bar at Earth Fare. It was amazing! It’s $7.99 a pound but the spread was awesome. I had a big salad with a little salmon and balsamic vinaigrette, a few pieces of steak with roasted veggies, some quinoa (first time I’ve tried it. Soooo good) and some soy nuggets which were really good. I definitely want to go back soon.

 

 

 

Dinner: Our friend Matt (of racquetball fame) wanted to go out dinner to try out this Korean BBQ place in town. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but the place was awesome! I had the Korean Beef BBQ with rice. You could have as much sides as you wanted so I filled up on kimchee and this miso soup with tofu. It was a pretty awesome dinner.

Overall, it was a pretty good day. Between drinking a lot of water to keep from retaining water and walking 5 miles, I’m hoping that undid a little of yesterday. I’m worried because I’m really starting to crave bad foods again which hasn’t happened for a long time. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, I’m going to get back on track. This race is not over and I can’t forget that. See ya tomorrow.

Day 130: Friday [Something Witty Here]

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So I woke up this morning with a mission. I wanted to eat healthy and drink plenty of water so I could hopefully lose some weight by Sunday. Although that was the plan, the following blog might disprove that. Awe well.

Breakfast: My first attempt was pretty solid. I had my wafflewich with only half of the serving size of peanut butter. It wasn’t that bad at all, just a little less pb and less points. Definitely worth it. Only 5.5 points.

Lunch: I went up to campus to work with some people from class (if you guys are reading this, enjoy your pseudo shout out) and since I didn’t have time to get lunch between my internship, Megan made me a couple awesome sandwiches. It was only like 4 points.


Snack: During work around 3, I was getting a little hungry. Luckily I had some almonds to snack on. 28 almonds was only 4 points which works for me.

This is where it got interesting: It’s been a long week for us. We have a lot on our plates full of school and about a million other things. Also, (as you have read) this week has been a steady diet of sandwiches and chicken. So we decided to take the night off for a little date night for ourselves. I was already dressed up from work, but Megan was at home trying on a bunch of different dresses and stuff. I came home to a pile of clothes on our bed that were all too big for her now! We are both really feeling and seeing it now, and it’s awesome. As you can see, I tried on a suit jack that I bought a little small my sophomore year. This is how big it is now. Pretty legit, but I need to get them all altered now (the spoils of war I guess.) Anyways, our date nights usually are pretty low key involving some dive of a restaurant like Pizza Hut (I’m quite the romantic) so we decided to try out a nicer place downtown. We tried out this place called Andrews 228. I looked at the prices online and it was comparable to Olive Garden so we tried it out. It did not disappoint. Oh wait… I have pictures and other stuff.

Dinner: I wanted to eat something a little healthier, but on the other hand, I figured if I was going to splurge, I might as well make the most of it. I wasn’t going to stuff myself, but I just wanted to enjoy the experience. We tried that cheese plate appetizer with Buffalo Mozzarella (made from buffalo milk) a Gorgonzola cheesecake, and some slices of hard cheeses along with some meats and roasted veggies. It should could have been our meal, but we deliciously forged on. I had clam/mussels arrbariata with andouille sausage. It was so delicious. This might have been the best meal I’ve ever had because I just enjoyed it. For once I let my dining experience just be enjoyed instead of just filling a whole. However, it’s 12:30 and I am still full. Not a good sign.

So today was a good day but the dinner was a little overindulgent. I don’t know how bad it was, but I’m going to make my Saturday the healthy day Friday could have been. See ya tomorrow.

Day 129: Thursday Tursday

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Ever had one of those days where you wonder how it went from “Life is so awesome!” to “Why go on? Humanity is doomed!” Welcome to my Thursday. So, I had said that this blog was going to be a verbal bloodbath of things that hack me off like childhood obesity and people that make fun of others who are a little heftier. Since then, I’ve mellowed out a little, but that time will come. Sorry if I got you excited. Let’s talk about food.

Breakfast: I had some Kashi Granola Honey Almond yumness. It wasn’t bad for 5 points.

Exercise: I finally made some time to work out today. I really needed it. This week has included a lot of sitting of almost sedentary proportions. I had a hour, and I wanted to pack it with as much exercise as possible. Not always the best idea. I started out by hopping on the stairmaster for 10 minutes. I know this picture sucks, but the elliptical and the stairmasters are on the second floor so it’s like you’re walking in to nothingness. A little weird. After working up a decent sweat, I did a little lifting and then tried to run but my calves started to crap up so I called it good. It felt good to exercise, I really need to make it a priority to keep losing weight.  7 exercise points.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: I had Pollo Tropical again today. I like it and it’s the best option on campus, but I think I’m going to take it easy for a while. I had the 1/4 chicken with rice and beans (it wasn’t as greasy as it looks) It was 13.5 points.

Snack: I had to run over to Strozier to rent season 2 of Breaking Bad (so awesome) and I had a little extra time, so I had an Iced Skinny Caramel Macchiato. Also it was free! I had a free drink for my birthday. Pretty awesome, not to mention 3 points.

 

 

 

Dinner: When I got home, Megan had made some cajun chicken with broccoli and a potato. It was pretty awesome even it was chicken twice in a day. An 8 point meal. Broccoli is a beast.

 

So today I got to 29.5 points. Not too shabby. See ya tomorrow.