Category Archives: Weight Loss Goals

Day 24 Weigh in Day!!!

Posted on by

Hooray For Sunday.

I woke up this morning anxious for the weigh in. I didn’t know if I had done enough this week so I kind of expected the worst (I’m not saying this for dramatic effect, I was scared.) So I got on the scale and much to my surprise, I lost 2.8 pounds this week! Hooray! So now I am 97.2 lbs away from my 100 pound goal. Megan lost exactly 1 pound this week so she has lost a total of 10.6 pounds so far. Right now, I’m exactlty 1 pound away from 20 pounds so hopefully we can get rid of that this week!

Breakfast: I had 2 multigrain waffles (3 points) with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (5 points) and 1 tsp of honey (1 point.) Usually on Sunday I have to eat something pretty hearty because I’m starving after church (to me, sitting in church when you are hungry is like the worst thing ever.)  This filled me up for a good while.

Lunch: So we had a luncheon at church for new members so the church prepared the lunch. They had fried chicken, I thought “oh crap, I’m screwed.” I thought about getting a drumstick, but instead I got some corn (1 point,) steamed squash (1 point,) a serving of baked beans (2 points) and a deviled egg (2 points.) I thought a drumstick would be really bad, but they are only 3 points so in hind sight I should have just bit the fried bullet.

I still feel like I’m walking on egg shells every time I’m eating something that I don’t know the points of, but I guess this is something that is up for debate: is it better to just eat it and use your flex points if it is super bad or is it better to be safe than sorry? Thoughts?

Here’s what I think, it’s really easy to give an inch, and before you know it that inch becomes a foot. I thought that if I could justify the drumstick, then I would have easily justified the broccoli casserole and then the mac n’ cheese. I think if we were truly honest with ourselves, we do that all the time and it is such a slippery slope. I feel like I have made such progress with my addiction to food that I can’t let myself get in to those situations because I have done that time and time again. Some people might think that I am depriving myself of those foods because with WW you really can eat what you want, but frankly I have had those delicious-but-unhealthy foods all my life. What I have really been depriving is my health and my body all this time. To some this might be extreme, but it’s what I need to do for myself to get this weight thing under control. On a side note, I just want to thank my friends at lunch for their support, the whole time they were impressed with what they called my discipline, it was what I needed then to just keep on keepin’ on (they know who they are.)

Wow.. blogging is super cathartic.

Snack/Continuation of Lunch: When we were grocery shopping, we bought some Hebrew National 94% Fat Free Hot Dogs and I’m so glad we did. When we were watching the Rangers slowing unravel my heart out by out, I cooked up 2 dogs (which are only 1 point a dog so 2 points.) and wrapped them up in bread (total of 4 points) and then added some ketchup and mustard, oh and a pickle to each since they are zero calories (holla!) I’m sure that looks gross to you but it was the comfort food I needed to get through a devastating loss.

Dinner: We made our stellar Tamale Casserole. It was 12 points of amazing happiness. That’s all that needs to be said. (Yes, this is a stock photo. I like this picture. Sue me.)

So after a roller coaster of an emotional day, I totaled out at 33 points which was right at my points for the day. Hooray! See ya tomorrow.

Day 23

Posted on by

Good Saturday to ya!

Breakfast: This morning we went to the little town of Havana to check out the antique stores and to explore a little more of Florida. Before we headed out, we decided to grab some coffee at Starbucks. We wanted to get a pastry, but I had read that they were pretty high in points, so I pulled out my iPod and checked out their nutritional info on the  Starbucks App (since they finally have free WiFi.) We looked at the Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake and it was still 7 points, so we cut it in half so it was only 3.5 points and it really hit the spot. A while back someone suggested to get Iced Coffee at Starbucks go I gave it a try with low fat milk. It was only 2 points and it wasn’t too bad, but it was super strong which took me by surprise (that or I am just a wimp.) I still want to try their Iced Chai Tea but I forgot to order it (that happens a lot around here.)

 

Lunch: After our antiquing excursion, I fired up our range and made those legit turkey burgers. I think this burger recipe is the one of the best hybrid recipes in the WW book (hybrid meaning that you you could serve it to both dieters and non-dieters and everyone would be happy.) The oven baked fries are also something that you just feel like you are cheating when you are eating which is just fantastic. The fries were 3 points and the burger was 6 points. Oh, and the mustard is suppose to look like a smiley face, but the mustard wasn’t cooperating.

 

 

Dinner: This evening we were invited to dinner with some friends from church. They were really accommodating to the whole diet thing which was relieved because there are a lot of times where you go to someones house and they know you are on a diet and they still serve fried gravy. Luckily, she made baked chicken with grilled veggies and a fruit medley. It was so good! We weren’t really sure about the points, so when we got home, my awesome wife did some investigating and this is what we came to: Chicken-8 points Veggies- 3 points Fruit- 1 point and Corn Muffin- 3 points (we brought the muffins which we made from the WW cookbook. They are 2 a piece but I had half of one earlier.) 

 

 

 

Temptation!!! So this was the first chocolate cake since I’ve started WW. I’m sure you remember me talking about my issues with the sweets so this was a doozie. This is the piece I cut and then I stood there for a sec and thought to myself “are you going to regret this tomorrow when you weigh?” I usually I think that then I’m like “Screw it, I’ll worry about it tomorrow” so this was a big deal because I’ve been all about instant gratification and that’s what got me in to this mess. So after I took this pic, I cut down the piece a bit and I was glad I did.

 

 

 

 

So today, I approximately totaled at 35.5 points so I only went 2.5 in to my flex points. Overall in the week I used 16 flex points which is the most flex points I have used so far. I try not to use them just because I feel like I have enough points as it is. I’m hoping it doesn’t affect my weigh in tomorrow but we will see. See ya tomorrow.

Day 22 (Emmitt Smith Day)

Posted on by

(It’s Emmitt Smith Day because it was his number…22)

TGIF!!!!!! (Remember when that was the thing to watch on ABC? When they had Family Matters, Step by Step, and other awesome shows? Now ABC has Modern Family…. and that’s about it)

So this morning I went and played racquetball again with my friend Adam and the traffic was a nightmare. I’ve never lived somewhere where I was speeding going the speed limit (for supplemental reading in regards to my opinions on driving, please read this) Anywho, I had a blast playing but I’ve been tired ever since.

Breakfast: I was in a rush this morning so I just popped two waffles in the toaster and ate them on the way. No peanut butter, just deliciousness. So 3 points right there.(No picture, if you want to know what a waffle looks like, google it.)

Lunch: I didn’t get to eat lunch until around 2:30 so I was soooo hungry!!!!! I started to dig around in the fridge and I wasn’t finding anything big, just a lot of little things so I put those little things in to an omelet baby! (There was a crazy lady at The Bean that would yell OMELETS BABY! I love weird people.)  I used three cage free eggs, which are so much better than regular eggs, which was 6 points, a serving of turkey breast (1 point) and half of a serving, 1/8 cup of Sargento Reduced fat shredded cheese (1 point.) I was going to use the whole serving which was 2 points but I realized it wasn’t worth the point and the cheese was enough. I also just put a splash of skim milk in there too. And like my friend Jade always says to do, I slathered that sucker with salsa. Not to brag, but it was the best omelet I have ever made. Then I had a 1 point orange because oranges rock.

Dinner: So we were suppose to have turkey burgers tonight, but I forgot to take out the turkey this afternoon to defrost (fail.) When Megan realized my screw up she said “Alright, where are we going for dinner?” Immediately, we hopped on to our respected laptops and started to search for places we could go eat. She then brought up Qdoba, one of my favorite burrito joints. I was really giddy about the idea, but I thought we were going to over do it points wise, but you can build a burrito and find the nutritional facts. So we split the shredded beef queso burrito and we each had a small order of chips. Chips and half of a burrito came out to 13 points. I was a ton of food for the points. I typed in what I use to get, just to see, and it was around 24 points! It was kind of depressing because we use to go to burrito places a lot so it explains where all these extra lb’s came from. Oh, and sorry about the ghetto picture, it’s off of Megan’s phone. My phone was dead.

So today I tried to make up for yesterday by drinking a lot more water and also by trying to keep the points down. I’m only at 25 points today so far so not too shabby. Hopefully the proof will be on the scale on Sunday. See ya tomorrow.

Day 21

Posted on by

HELLO WIN COLUMN AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

I love Thursdays, like a lot. They are like a Friday Eve and I guess since I like Christmas Eve almost more than Christmas it makes sense that I would like the eve of something more. Make sense?

In other news…

Breakfast: I did the same thing as yesterday because I was going to play racquetball this morning. If you don’t remember (if this is your first reading, welcome!) I had 3 point Publix Multi Grain Waffles, 5 points worth of TFM ground peanut butter (if you haven’t had ground or organic peanut butter go buy some. You’ll taste the difference!) To sweeten it up, I added a tsp. of honey for 1 point. (Yes this is the same picture as yesterday, but rest assured it looked exactly like this.)

Exercise: I played racquetball with my boy Alex before class. I lost… bad. But I got mine, I accidentally hit him in the face with a ball. He took it like a champ though.

 

 

Lunch: I had to stay on campus this afternoon so I hung out with some of my AFC peeps at the food court and ate one of my favorite chicken places Pollo Tropical.  As always, it was amazing. I had the 1/4 Chicken combo: the chicken was 8 points, the rice was 4.5 points, and the black beans were 1.5 points. It’s a little pricey (but it’s a campus food court, they’re all a scam anyways) but it’s always great to find a place that’s within your points.

 

 

 

 

Snack: In keep with what’s becoming a Thursday tradition, Megan and I went get some yogurt, but this week we went to Yogaberry (sorry Hiro’s, it was right next to Publix… plus they have blackberries and crushed up waffle cone.) As you can see from the pic, I made a parfait-like masterpiece. Top layer: Blackberries and raspberries (1 point) crushed up waffle cone (1.5 point) and a cup of Taro yogurt (4 points) I might have over calculated a tad but rather be safe than sorry right?

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Last week Megan asked if I had any requests for a new recipe to try this week. So I dug around in the WW cookbook and found turkey sausage and peppers. When I was watching the Rangers crushing the Rays (again) the smells from the kitchen wafting in made my mouth water. The smells delivered. Holy cow it was so good! This would be a great recipe if you wanted to have a point conscious Oktoberfest or something like that. To make it even better, it was 3 points per serving! Then we added some potatoes (the ones we got at the Farmer’s Market) which was only 1 point a serving. So dinner came out to 8 points and so decedent. Plus I had 2 points of milk.

 

 

So today (so far) I totaled out at 39.5 points. I went a little over but I don’t care for 2 reasons: 1) I got some killer exercise so I really have some exercise points and 2) I ate freakin’ well today. It was worth the 6.5 flex points. See ya tomorrow.

Day 20

Posted on by

Hello Win Column!!!!!!!!!

Breakfast: Under the advice of my friend Michelle, we bought some multi-grain waffles and they are fantastic! 2 waffles were only 3 points and I put a tablespoon of freshly ground peanut butter from The Fresh Market on each which is 2.5 points per tbsp so it was 5 points and then I put a 1/2 tsp of honey on each waffle for 1 point. (If you haven’t discovered the awesomeness of honey, check it out.) It was a super filling breakfast. I was full until like 1:00 this afternoon. Does anyone else have a good waffle topping recipe?

Oh yeah, I also had a 1 point orange.

Lunch: We didn’t get to go to lunch until around 2:00 (it’s been such a weird week) so we went to the Pita Pit (the only reason I go there is because their name sounds like my favorite band Passion Pit.) Last time we went there I was going to get their falafel pita but then I forgot to so this time I was stoked to get it. As always, I did my pita homework and it was 14 points but I had the points. Anyways, we got there and they were out of baby spinach and tomatoes, how can a sandwich place be out of those two things! FAIL! So I just got cucumbers, feta and tzatziki sauce. The feta was really salty but the cucumbers added the crunch it needed. I was stuffed (Jedi Mind trick of the day: if you want to feel really full, you need to drink at least 2 glasses of water. It makes a lot of difference.)

‘

Dinner: Since we were both full from a late lunch, we decided to eat a little late. We went to Target to buy some Halloween stuff, but we were really looking for owl stuff. I’m kind of a fan. Anywho, we each got a frozen dinner. Again going with brand loyalty, I tried a new Amys entree: their cheese enchiladas. They were really good but be warned even though it comes with 2 enchiladas, the serving size is for 1! Lame! So again, be careful when reading labels. Anywho it was 11 points and I had 9 chips for 3 points. One thing we noticed the other day that we have had this bag of chips for a long time compared to before dieting because we eat one serving at a time. We use to just pile those suckers on there. Something to think about.

So I totaled out at 38 points so I dipped 5 points in to my weekly points. Aw well. Go Rangers. See ya tomorrow.

Day 19

Posted on by

Hey Good Lookin’ What Ya Got Cookin’?

So I forget to mention yesterday about something awesome on Monday! This summer I bought a Polo cardigan that was pretty snug but I still bought it because I knew eventually I would look good in it. So Monday, which was the chilliest day so far, I wanted to wear and it fit great! I was so stoked. Also, my button-up shirts usually had a lot of pulling at the bottom but most of them are starting to fit without any pull. At this point, that is just as good as pounds off! I mean I’m not at the point where I have to get a new wardrobe (yet) but even just having your clothes fitting right is such a great feeling.

Alright, let’s talk about food.

Breakfast: Since I was going to workout and I knew I wasn’t going to get to eat until around 1:30, I had a big breakfast to keep me full. Plus the other day after I was done working out and I hadn’t really eaten breakfast and I got the shakes which are no fun. Anywho, I made some scrambled eggs with a splash of fat free half and half. I know there are healthier options other than to add half and half, like water and bread crumbs, but frankly that pretty much what they did in the Depression and it was probably just as gross then as it is now so it’s worth the point. So 2 scrambled eggs came out to 5 points and a piece of toast for 2 points. The other day I talked about foregoing the toast to keep the points for later, but today I realized I might as well eat the points when I want instead of eating something late at night when I’m starving. For the record, I know my scrambled eggs look weird, it’s just easier to divide them if you make them like this. The still taste amazing.

Exercise: Today was one of those days where I felt like I could just run forever, but I was pressed for time so I just ran for 30 minutes. My first mile was about 13:30 which I was super stoked about, but after that I didn’t push as hard as I should have. I burned 450 calories and ran a total of 2 miles. It felt great to run again. I really need to find a 5k around here and sign up for it and start to train again. (Know of any?)

Lunch: I made a can of Campbells Classic Chicken Noodle and it was great. It totally redeemed Campbells for me after that Steak and Potatoes fiasco the other day. I think so far it’s my favorite chunky soup they make (my overall favorite is their tomato soup hands down.

After a while, I was in this weird place where I wasn’t sure if I was still hungry or full (listening to your organs fight is interesting) so I ate 2 points worth of almonds and I felt fine.

By the way, 1 point Fudgesicles were created by God.

Dinner: We ate our favorite Orange Chicken recipe from the WW cookbook. It was particularly good, maybe because I was super hungry, (have you bought your WW cookbook yet?) With the rice, the orange chicken was 9 points. I forgot to take a picture mid way through dinner. For dessert, I had a glass of  Chai Tea that I made from this Food Network recipe except instead of whole milk I used skim milk so its pretty much 1 point a serving.

After dinner: About 2 hours after dinner I had that weird hunger thing and then I realized I had only eaten 24 points plus I had worked out so I made a 5 point sandwich and 5 points of Orville Redenbacher 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn (5 points is for the whole bag!!!!!)

So after my evening snacking I came out to 34 points. So a point over is not too bad. I think I need to eat more at lunch which is hard because a noon class during the week. Before I leave one question? How do you like (or hate) the new BL10 layout? Let me know. See ya tomorrow.

Day 18

Posted on by

Hiya! (That’s hello in the Mid West, is that right Jade?)

It has been a very cool day here with the temperature barely getting up to around 73. We haven’t turned on our A/C in a few days now so that must mean Fall is in full swing. It has been a topsy-turvy day as far as eating goes. (Which is exactly what you want to do when this is like day 1 of the 100 pound ordeal.) I didn’t get up until 10 because I was working on a paper so I didn’t eat any breakfast, I just had an early lunch.

Lunch: When we had chicken the other night, Megan cooked up an extra breast so we could have leftovers later in the week. So we split that and steamed some broccoli for a low-point-yet-super-filling lunch. Half of the breast was 5 points and two cups of broccoli was 0 points. Holla. For those of you who don’t think broccoli has any taste, a little sea salt and some pepper go a long way.

Here’s another thing we do for lunch that really makes a difference. We use smaller plates so it feels like we are eating more. All my life, our plates have been huge, making you feel the need to pack more food on the plate. The plate on top is the one we used for lunch and the bottom one is our regular plate. So even if you aren’t eating a ton, you can Jedi Mind Trick yourself in to thinking that you are. (On a related note, has anyone read The 9-inch Plate Diet by Alex Bogusky, formerly of my favorite ad agency CP+B? If you have, let me know what you thought.)

Dinner: This evening I went and saw The Social Network (which was so awesomely fantastic) so my bud Daniel and I went to Chick-Fil-A before the movie. (Not to sound too much like the Frugal Novice, but if you are a college student in Tally, on Monday and Thursday has college night at all three Tally CFA’s!) So I did my homework on their website where you can calculate your meal. I had the glorious 8 piece nuggets for 6 points, a medium fries for 9 points and 2 BBQ sauces for 2 points. Goodtimes.

Snack: I made a 5 point turkey sandwich. Nothing too exciting.

So on this wacky day I totaled at 27 points. I’ll probably scrounge around for some snack (Tuesday is grocery day so it’s slim pickens.) See ya… later today.

Day 17 Weigh in Day!!!!

Posted on by

Eläköön punnita päivä!

(That’s “Hooray for Weigh in Day!” in Finnish)

I can’t believe it’s been 17 days since this blog started. So far, it’s been awesome thanks to you dear reader (give yourself a pat on the back.) Well as you recall from yesterday, I was cautiously optimistic about the results from Señor Scale. This morning when I got on the scale, I was still pretty nervous, but then I knew it was going to be good when Megan was like “Oh Snap!” I lost 3.8 pounds this week! I was so happy! It’s awesome because it felt like I was cheating with how well we ate this week lol. I know that working out really helped too but even that felt like cheating because I was doing activities with friends. Megan lost 1.8 pounds and I’m so stoked for her because she’s back down to her weight from when we were working out a ton in March! Good times!

Breakfast: So how do you celebrate a successful weigh in? Bacon and eggs of course! (I don’t think I ever ate this much bacon when I wasn’t dieting.) I had 2 eggs over medium for 4 points and 3 slices of bacon for 2 points. I was awesome. I do miss not having toast, but I’d rather have the points for later.

Lunch: We had planned on just eating leftovers at home, but we decided to look around town for something healthy (which has been an issue wherever we have lived.) We decided to go to Olive Garden to just do soup, salad and bread sticks. That always seems like a good idea on the way there, but then you look at the menu and everything else sounds so much better than just salad (even though their salad is amazing!) Anywho, as we were looking at the menu, we saw that Olive Garden has their nutritional information available upon request so we asked for it and they brought out a pamphlet. Also, their menus have a symbol that indicates their lighter meals. After some investigating, we decided on splitting the Shrimp Primavera which is one of my favorite dishes anyway. Instead of salad (which isn’t bad points wise without the dressing, but the dressing is the best part!) I got the Zuppa Toscana which was 3 points. Instead of eating like 5 bread sticks, I just broke one (3 points a bread stick, yep they are that bad but that delicious) in half and ate it with the soup and then with the Shrimp Primavera. Anyways when they brought out our entree they had already split it in half for us! It was awesome because it’s hard to evenly split an entree yourself (and frankly you’re sad/angry the whole time you are splitting it) so it’s nice to have them accommodate to their customers who are trying to be health conscious. I think another thing about having them split it is that I didn’t miss that other half at all. We have become so conditioned to eat what is in front of us that if even half of it isn’t visible, we don’t miss it. So our servings of the Shrimp Primavera was only 5 points! Even though the service was okay, I was really impressed with Olive Garden and it was exciting to find another place that we could go to and not have to worry about getting killed with points. Oh yeah, their Andes mints are 1 point. SO WORTH IT!!!! (Next time I blog about Olive Garden, remind me to tell you about the time my Uncle Ken accidentally burned my arm with candle wax at an Olive Garden when I was 5. Actually, that’s all there is to that story so nevermind.)

Dinner: Well, you can never fight off leftovers no matter how hard you try, but it’s okay because chili is my favorite leftovers except for maybe pizza. I had 2 cups of chili for 5 points and 9 chips for 3 points. That is the best 8 point dinner in the universe.

So today I’ve eaten a total of 26 points so I’ll eat something a little later when I’m working on a paper (but I promise it will be healthy!)

Goal Time! So yesterday I mentioned that I have planned on a goal for my weight loss. I think setting goals are a good way to give yourself some direction especially with weight loss. Every time I’ve set pretty much unattainable (unless I was on Biggest Loser) goals for myself, and I know the one I have in mind might even be pretty lofty, but this journey needs a finish line. So here it is: I want to lose 100 pounds before I graduate from grad school in May 2012. I have figured it out and that’s 83 weeks from today. In order to do that, I have to lose 1.2 pounds per week from here on in to achieve this goal. I know this is not going to be a cake walk (or since I’m dieting: a low fat ice cream walk) but I know that this is going to be the best way to get rid of my fat once and for all. I also want to prove to people that you can successfully lose a significant amount of weight without having to go on Biggest Loser, I want to prove that you control your own destiny (and density.) I’m excited for the challenges that lay ahead, because I know that the reward will be great not only for me, but for my wife, my family, and for my future children. However, most of all I’m doing this for the glory of God as it says to in 1 Corinthians “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” So here’s what I need from you: please pray for me for patience and discipline during this journey. If I look down (or hungry,) just give me a thumbs up and if you need someone to exercise with, give me a call and we will figure something out. Thanks again for reading and the encouragements you have already sent my way.  See ya tomorrow.