The long slog...

I've been doing some thinking as of late about the journey that I've been talking about in previous posts. And honestly sometimes I do get a bit discouraged, I mean I've probably walked enough miles from here to South Korea, and lifted the equivalent of a metro bus, and I'm still not where I want to be. But then I think back on my years of how I used to eat, and this weight didn't happen overnight. And since I didn't gain it overnight, I won't lose it overnight. Still it's hard to keep up the exercise, and food discipline day after day...

Either way, like I said in my previous post, I've come too far to stop now. I'm going to keep going...I'll keep fighting...and I will win!

Annual Physical

Had my physical today...and the doctor said he's pretty happy with the progress that I've made since I first attending his practice in 2007. My BP is a tad high, but he's attributing it to the multivitamins I am taking from GNC. So I'm pretty much going to be doing without those from now on. I will be supplementing my activities with things such as Vitamin A, B, and C, but no more of the herbals found in the GNC athletic formulas.

My DTG consisted of the Tomato Omelet, Meatloaf, and Herbed Catfish. All together those meals came to 1288 calories, and I burned about 1800 for the day. So if you add in my usual snack intake I came up to about 500 calories total for the day.

Overall, even though I am far away from my self imposed goals, I feel very good as I was able to to see progress (on paper), of my journey over the last 3 years. I've made it this far so there's no stopping it now!

Daylight Savings Time...sucks!

Well, today was the first day of the work week with Daylight Savings Time and to say I was dragging would be an understatement. Hard to get going all day, so I found a reason to get outside the office, but in my efforts to get out the office I ended up at Whole Foods Market. Other than the fact that WFM is expensive as all Hades, I have a couple of weakness at that store. The dark chocolate almonds are one, the General Tso's Vegan Chicken is another, and I had a yearning for sushi so I got some of that too. Either way, I didn't go too crazy, but I did have a few extra calories I had to work off at the gym because of my slip up. Speaking of the gym, I had a pretty decent workout. 393 with free weights, and 1438 calories on the elliptical. I keep saying that I'm going to change up a bit to "confuse my muscles", but I never do (creature of habit).

Today's DTG meals were pretty good as usual. For breakfast I had the Porkchop Egg breakfast (quickly moving into my top five all time meals), for lunch I had the hamburger pizza (solid meal not great, not horrible), and finally the baked salmon in Dill sauce (pretty avg meal, had to dress it up a bit with hot sauce but pretty good regardless).

Tomorrow I have a bi-annual checkup, and I'm pretty interested to see how my blood pressure is holding up. As a former high blood pressure sufferer, I try my best to keep my sodium levels down, exercise, and drink loads of water. We'll see how it goes!

Doing Pretty Good....

Been on the low carb meal plan for about two weeks now, and I must say I am really enjoying it. On average, the daily calorie intake is only about 1300 calories (in contrast to 1600 for low fat), and once you add in my between meal snacks and small splurges, I'm probably taking in about 2400 calories a day. Once you factor in my average exercise output, I'm averaging an total calorie count of about 500-900 calories a day.

Yesterday's meals were good as usual, I had the scrambled egg breakfast (think egg mcmuffin w/o the bread) with some spinach on the side, the chicken fontina for lunch, and the creole catfish for dinner. Per the DTG nutrional menu count, all those meals came up to 1058 calories. Add my usual daily snacks and I had a total intake of about 1900 calories.

This week was my birthday, so the love of my life made me a strawberry cake (pic is on FB those interested) and I went through that cake like a hot knife through butter. Though not on the meal plan, one slip up won't hurt me too bad...just have to make sure I don't continue slipping.

Also weighed myself at the gym yesterday, but got a result I could hardly belief. So I won't jinx it by talking about it too much. If you're interested just read the sidebar.

Back into the swing of things....

As the title states it feels like I'm back into the swing of things. Against my better judgment I weighed myself this morning and what the scale told me didn't depress me. Keep in mind I feel my electronic scale is highly inaccurate, and I rarely trust anything it says, regardless the reading put a smile on my face.

My workout today went well today. I spent 66 minutes on the elliptical (again) and burned an estimated 1560 calories. I followed that up with assorted free weight exercises and burned about 480 calories. Pretty soon I'll have to switch up my cardio workout to make sure my body doesn't get complacent and accustomed to the workout. I may try jogging, but I hate high impact workouts...but sometimes the things you hate are the best for you. We'll see how that works out.

On to the DTG menu for today:

Currently on the week 5 menu of the low carb, and I must say the switch from low fat is working out mighty nicely. Breakfast consisted of Andouille, Shrimp and Egg Hash which was very good (just wish I had some hot sauce to sprinkle on it lol), followed by a lunch of Portobella Mushroom Lasagna. I had this one time previously with DTG and hated it, I must say that I was very surprised when I ate it today, as I don't remember why I didn't like it the first time. Finally for dinner I had the Italian Meatballs, which were very tasty!

Fitness in America...

Well, after about 12 days on the mend I finally had the chance to workout. To make sure the workout was worth it, I made sure to take the good ole GNC multivitamin. Man, you talking about explosion!!!! I had noticed that the multivitamin wasn't having the same affect once I had been taking them for awhile, now after a 2 week hiatus the potency was back to normal. I had an average heart rate of about 175 and burned 501 calories lifting weights and 1600 calories on the elliptical. If it wasn't for that multivitamin, I probably wouldn't have made it through the first half of my workout.

Now onto diet to go...if anyone remembers I was complaining on a regular basis about how there was too much bread in the the low fat meal plan. I am now on the low carb meal plan, and I tell you I absolutely love it!!! Today was no exception...

Breakfast: Scrambled Benedict (scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon)
Snack: Greek Yogurt, blueberries, and flaxseeds
Lunch: Chimichurra Salmon with asparagus (in my top 3 of fav DTG meals)
Snack: almonds, cheese stick, beef jerky tearyaki (low carb snacking baby!!!)
Dinner: Beef Short Ribs with Bordelaise Sauce (very good, very tender short rib)
Desert: Probably some Mango Soy Creamy, haven't decided yet

Also, I have to confess those McDonald's Filet-o-Fish commercials are getting too me. I mean seriously a catchy tune, a funny commercial, and a 99 cent filet to boot!?!?!? How am I supposed to resist that? Man it's all I've been talking about for the last week. Bruce Lee...give me the strength to defeat the fish temptation!!!

Still mending, and still battling...

The Battle Continues....
Well, we're on to week two of my physical healing....I figure that I will be out of commission for at least another week before I can start working out again. I really do miss working out, but it has freed up time for me to catch up and actually get ahead on a bit of school work. One thing I do know is that with me not being able to work out I've really had to be mindful of what my daily food intake. As I have mentioned before, since I burned about 1500 calories a day exercising I took a bit of liberty eating a little extra at dinner. But since I don't have that luxury right now so self control is the key.

Today I started my low carb diet, and I must admit I can definitely tell the difference in not have carbs in my daily intake. I usually have a midday snack which consists of strawberry/blueberry mixed with granola and yogurt (CARBS!!!). Now, I've had to switch it up a bit and my midday snack consisted of blueberry, yogurt, and flaxseed (low carbs!!!). To say my head has been spinning today would be an understatement.


Today's intake:

PorkChop Breakfast: Egg, nice portion of porkchop, with cheese and bacon (I love da swine!!!!)
Yogurt, flaxseed, blueberries
Turkey Curry Cutlets with Cauliflower
Turkey Jerky and almonds, with fruit water
Alfredo Burger with asparagus, and califlower

So there you go my first day back on lo carb...and boy can I feel the difference...small but important steps, and I can't wait to see what happens at the finish line.

On the mend....

Well, I haven't posted in awhile for a couple of reasons. First, it was the weekend and I had a semi-serious "sports injury", and I was so hopped up on pain medicine I could barely stay awake. I'm doing much better now, but I'm kind of bummed out that my doctor suggested that I not workout for about two weeks :( This puts a seriously dent in my usual eating patterns, as my usual calorie burn allowed me the opportunity to each a little extra beyond my diet-to-go meals w/o hurting my weight loss efforts. Oh well, here's to will power and wonderful food at diet to go!!!
Either way I've decided that I want to go to the low carb menu of diet to go. The low fat menu is good and all, but personally I think it's too many calories (daily intake averages about 1700), and the daily carb intake (avg about 80 grams) just seems a bit much. Add that to the breads and pastas that are in most meals (not really a bread guy), and I really want to change to something new.

So I've put my request in for the low carb plan..and hopefully the change can take affect for this Friday's delivery!

I love my pep pills!

Another day, another calorie! Today went pretty well, didn't slip up and pretty much followed the meal plan that Diet to Go setup for me. Just to recap I'm on the 1600 calorie a day Lo Fat Meal plan. And while I'm down with the low calorie amount, I'm a bit hesitant as it relates to all the breads (i.e. carbs), that come along with this plan. But, since I refuse to just to give up I just going to stick with it and keep looking for results.

Workout Activity:
If you read yesterdays blog, you'll saw that I didn't take my GNC multivitamin just to see the difference between working out with the supplement and without. Felt a bit like this:

I was so fatigued and sore after my workout that I actually considered staying home. I took my multivitamin today and it was a totally different result! Even though I did start feeling a bit tired toward the end of my workouts...I was no where near as tired as yesterday...and no where near as sore.

Elliptical: 66 mins 1352 calories burned
Weightlifting: 25 mins 501 calories burned


Today's food activity:

Breakfast: Corn Muffin, Strawberry Yoplait Yogurt, an Orange, and OJ (honestly I felt th Orange and he Yoplait were a bit much, so I gave them to Ricky).

Mid Morning Snack: My Special Yogurt and Fruit Power snack (if you're interest in the contents, hit me up and I'll give you the skinny).

Lunch: Chick Pesto Sub, it came with a pudding cup, and a pineapple cup. Very good lunch, I nixed the pineapple cup as it seemed a bit overkill calorie wise.

Afternoon Snack: Peanut Butter crackers and 100 calorie Cookie Pack

Dinner: Mac-n-Cheese with broccoli, and carrots. Mac-n-Cheese was suprisingly good...so good that Ricky was nibbling off of my plate! Was a bit hungry so I had a serving of the pesto chicken they cooked for dinner as well an additional serving of broccoli.

I'm considering a small desert...but I think I deserve it!!!

Tip of the day:
Just because you're dieting doesn't mean you can't have the stuff that you like. It's just about moderation, and working out on a consistent basis. Myself I try to workout at least 5 times a week, sometimes 6, and I allow myself a bit of freedom on weekends. Always keep in mind, it takes 3500 calories to either gain or lose a pound. And while I do count calories, not everyone likes this method. So if you're not going to count calories, at least be calorie aware (have a general idea in the amount of calories you're ingesting or burning).

So so tired....

Man, did pretty well today....pretty much followed the diet to go menu to a tee...and had some very reasonable snacks (fruit and yogurt mix, as well as peanut butter crackers. My workout exhausted me though...I think it was because I decided to stop taking my multivitamin for a day to see how it would go...All I can say is BIG MISTAKE..I am so exhausted right now that it's not even funny...That being said, I'm cutting the blog a bit short today.

Catch you all later!!!

Back to making teh doughnuts....

...not literally of course :)

Today was pretty good, got up early got to work on time, and left work in the makings of a blizzard. Could you ask for anything less??? I looked at my workout monitor this morning before leaving, and it said I burned about 8920 calories last week spread across 9 workouts. That's a pretty good number, but not my all-time weekly high (10,329 calories) in a week. Either way I think I'm making some progress, my jeans are fitting better (especially after the caloric debacle that was the trip to Florida over the holidays), and I'm back up down to 3 belt notches on my belt!!! Yea me!!!

Today's info:

Breakfast: Egg white, asiago cheese, and turkey bacon sandwich (330 calories) and oj (60 calories)

A.M. Snack: Fruit and Yogurt mix (350 calories)

Lunch: Bistro Chkn Salad (567 calories), this lunch was great, probably the my favorite on the low fat calorie menu so far.

P.M. Snack: Peanut butter crackers (180 calories), choc. oatmeal cookie pack (100 calories), and flavored water (100 calories)

Dinner: BBQ Chicken Platter (572 calories), pretty good platter which included bbq chicken, string beans, baked beans, and potatoes. This was a pretty good meal which filled me up nicely!!!

Exercise Log:
Weightlifting- 375 Calories burned
Elliptical- 1463 Calories burned

You know...I think I deserve dessert :) TJ's Soy Creamy here I come!!!!

Weekend part 2...

Well, today started off with making myself an egg white, turkey bacon, and asiago cheese sandwich, a small serving of OJ and my GNC multi vitamin for my workout.

Workout consisted of 30 minutes of weightlifting: 470 calories burned, and 66 minutes of elliptical with 1480 calories burned....to say I was tired after that is an understatement.

To follow that up Char made her patented veggie pizza, which was off the chain as usual. Followed that up with Trader Joe's deliciou Mid East Feast which is hummus, pita, falafeel, and some other stuff, along with 1 liter of water.

For dinner I had TJ's orange chicken, kale and carrot veggie mix, and another liter of water.

Overall I had a pretty good day, didn't go too far overboard on food, and I didn't feel hungry in the least. Time to get back on the meal plan, and maybe even weight myself next week (or maybe not!!!).

On my own....

...with my food choices today. Since I am on the five day plan, I have to fend for myself on the weekends. This is where the real challenge comes in, there are the temptations of fast food, long awaited desserts, and Arnold Palmer's as far as the eye can see. But since I'm taking it upon myself to really transform myself I have to show a bit of restraint. So today is the perfect day to try it for once. So far today I had to go see my tax man so I didn't get a chance to eat until at least 11:30, but when I did eat I didn't do too too bad....

Breakast: Egg White, Asiago Cheese, and turkey bacon on cinnamon raisin toast (around 350 to 400 calories), and some baked beans (around 100 calories). I know that's a weird combination, but sometimes I do eat weird combos like that. And I chased that meal down with about a liter of water.

Lunch will be a bit more difficult as I'm supposed to be hitting up Copeland's today, I think I'll check out the menu online to get an idea of what I should get.....anyone got any suggestions!?!?!

Updated:
Didn't do too bad at Copeland's. Had the gumbo Ya-Ya as my appetizer...with a couple of bits of calamari. Main course consisted of crab stuffed filleted catfish, and two glasses of Arnold Palmer. All in all I didn't do too bad for a Saturday.

End of the 1st week on DTG...

...and I'm glad I'm glad the weekend is here. Nothing much going on except trying to stay on target with my food/caloric intake. Today's intake:

Breakfast: Tomato and Mushroom Omelet and Brussel Sprouts. Omelet wasn't too bad, not very flavorful and I H8 Brussel Sprouts!!!
Lunch: Pasta Salad Primavera (absolute worst!) It came with crackers and diced chicken. Not very flavorful, left wanting.
Dinner: Spaghetti Pie with Cauliflower. This was actually pretty good, after the let down from lunch my expectations were considerably lowered. Either way 2 out of 3 meals ain't so bad. Also splurged just a bit and had some turkey meat nachos...wasn't too bad just a bit.

Exercise log:
Weightlifting: 30 mins, 492 calories burned
Elliptical: 66 mins, 1490 calories burned.

Actually not a bad work out, wish I had broken the 2000 calorie mark, but I have done that in a couple of days. May have to adjust my worked out to get that extra bit out of my workouts.

Now I just need to figure out if I'm going to workout tomorrow....decisions, decisions!

Ok...I'll admit it..

I saw what was on my menu for lunch today (Hummus) and immediately poo-poo'd it as a horrible lunch... Much to my surprise all I can say is I wish I had more!!!!

Made it into work today...roads were surprisingly clear...and I hear hear that the Supreme Sports Club will be open today!!! YES...I get to sweat and pump iron today!!!!! It's funny how not going to the gym now feels strange, when before going to the gym was a struggle and was something that I loathed.

Daily tally so far:
Breakfast: Zuccini Muffin
Snack: Greek Yogurt, strawberry-blueberry slice mix, loaded fruit granola
Lunch: Hummus, bread
(Future Snack): TJ's lite popcorn (100 calorie for a bag), GNC multivitamin, flavored water
Future Dinner: Porcini Mushroom Chicken (very good meal, felt the bread wasn't really needed so I left that to the wayside), added a few more veggies to my meal, sauteed kale and carrot mix...

Updated:
Did 66 minutes on the Elliptical and burned 1491 calories, plus the 490 from my half hour of weightlifting and I had a pretty decent workout...

Thank you Mr. Blizzard...

...thanks to you I've been stuck in the house all day. And we know what that means, when you're stuck in the house, and you're a bit bored (ok massively bored), you tend to snack all day. Ugh. It wouldn't be as bad if I could have worked out, but of course Columbia Association closed the gyms. So perturbed about that...I mean it's only a blizzard...and all the major roadways are closed...why do you have to close the gym??!?!? J/K

Either way let's go over the list:

Breakfast: Blueberry Scone Breakfast
Snack: Banana Bread, Soy Creamy Ice Cream
Lunch: Salmon Burger (actually pretty good, reminded me of a pulled pork sandwich), with a bean salad, and chips. Pretty filling
Snack: Banana Bread, Beef Nachos :(
Dinner: Vegatable Ravioli

Overall, not my best of days, plus I didn't get a chance to work off my splurges...but I take solace that I've done pretty good this week at the gym and with my food intake. PLEASE let the gym be open tomorrow.

My first post....

Hello All...today is my first day doing this blogging thing...I'll give you a bit of background. My name is Richard, and I'm fat. In 2007 I decided to do something to resolve this problem. At my apex I calculate I weighed a shade over 450 lbs (I say calculate because at the time I was so heavy that when I weighed myself at the doctor's office I tipped the scales beyond max weight!).

Now here we are in 2010, and I've made considerable progress, but I need something to get me over the hump. To help me accomplish this, I found a food service called Diet-to-Go to help me control my caloric and portion intake. So this is day one of phase two dated February 10, 2010...here we go!!




Tools of the Trade:
1. Diet to Go's Traditional 1600 Calorie Program
2. Polar's Heart Monitor and Calorie Counter
3. Loseit.com website and iPhone App
4. Membership to my local gym
5. At two liters of water a day
6. GNC multivitamin extreme athlete
7. Will to succeed

Today's Activity:
Since my meal plan for DietToGo didn't start until dinner I fended for myself for most of the day.

Breakfast:
Egg White & turkey bacon muffin w/ Asiago cheese (morning fav!): 333 calories
8 oz of OJ: 110 Calories

Mid-Morning Snack:
My special power snack
Greek Yogurt: 90 Calories
1 1/2 Cup of sliced Straberries: 60 calories
1/2 cup of blueberries: 20 calories
1/2 of loaded fruit granola: 150 calories


Lunch:
Cream of Chicken & Mushroom Soup: 350 Calories

Afternoon Snack:
TJ's 100 cal Cookie pack: 100 Calories
Candy Covered toffee almonds: 105 Calories

Dinner: First Diet To Go Meal!
Red Snapper Fish with broccoli, polenta, piece of cake: 670 Calories

Must say I was surprised with the flavor of the Red Snapper...very tasty first meal...makes me look forward to the next one!!!

Exercise Count:
Elliptical Machine, 76 minutes, 1592 calories burned!!!!

I'm sure that since this is my first blog that I gave so much extra than anyone would probably want to read...but hey, you stuck through this far, come check out what I may have to say tomorrow!!!