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!!!