weigh in

I was 225 this morning. Making progress. It would seem that 1,800 calories is the magic number. On a different note, I'm feeling kinda depressed lately. I'm getting a little weary of the constant activity between school, homework, and my job. I have little time for anything else and I never seem to have much to look forward to these days. Every day on the calender is booked with something and I'm starting to feel claustrophobic.

hey, blog

227 today. Down a pound. Yay.

Speed bump, but back on track.

So, we went camping this weekend. It was a lot of food, but it was also a lot of exercise. I biked a lot of miles, particularly up hill, on some sweet forest trails. I expected to gain a little weight, whether it be from the sudden extra calories, muscle weight, or water retention. I weighed in at 228 lbs and I'm ready to get back on track. I've chosen to take Beth Grady's advice and actually increase my calories from and average 1,100 to 1,800 cals per day. I've lost weight at 1,800 cals in the past. The key is to drop and tweak my calories once I weigh less. When I was eating 1,800 a day and got down to 209 lbs, my weight loss stopped and went nowhere for three weeks until I got frustrated and gave up. Now I know to drop it at that point from 1,800 to maybe 1,600 a day and see what happens.

Camping, fun and food

So, I'm 224 right now. I'm going camping this weekend and I'm not going to count calories, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go nuts. I am worried, however, of coming home and finding out I gained 8 lbs. That kinda stuff can happen when your in a weight loss cycle. We'll see what happens.

Complaining worked

Ok, so I think all the complaining jarred something loose, because I weighed in at 224 lbs this morning. Finally, some more progress. Glad I didn't just give up out of frustration.

Waiting for my weight to change

So, I'm still 227 this morning. I'm officially defying nature. I hope I don't burst into flame at some point as a result. I understand that I could be retaining weight from getting too few calories, but I would think that 1,000 - 1,400 a day should keep me above starvation level. I hope. It was my understanding that a week of no food is necessary to send your body into "Retain everything and start eating muscle to keep your organs functioning" starvation mode. I've run into plateaus in the past, but never like this. It was usually because I wasn't watching myself closely enough and I struggled with cravings. Now, I'm on top of my diet and I'm rewarded with being stuck. It's not fair. I eat too much, I'm fat. Eat too little, I'm fat. What's the deal? By that logic, if I eat nothing all week and then eat an entire cake on sunday, I'll never lose weight and live forever.

What the heck!

So, I haven't lost any weight since last thursday and I have not screwed up my diet in any way at all. I'm eating healthy and keeping my caloric intake way down, and I've been 227 for nearly a week. All this while others around me pound their fast food and stay thin. This is so frustrating. But, hey, maybe I'll be the first living man to eventually eat nothing, never have to buy groceries, and never starve to death or lose any weight. at this rate, that's probably going to happen.

Work VS School

So, I've been having problems at work with this new situation and how my being in school affects it. The factory that I'm at is in the early stages of start-up and we're transforming the building. My new boss really wants everything up and running very soon and me being in school 2 days a week is really starting to bug him. He's tried three times now to talk me out of going to school. He wants me to drop out and go back later. He's even dangled the opportunity of being a foreman in my face if I were willing to quit school. I have to admit, this is very stressful. I'm sticking to my guns and staying in school. I can't put my future and my family's future in someone else's hands. I alone control my destiny. My boss is trying to offer me a fish if I'll forego learning how to fish. Not gonna happen. I knew returning to school would be a challenge, but I never expected so many different ones. Hope I don't lose my job.

Weight loss progress

Well, I was at 226 lbs this morning. Moving right along. That's down 9 lbs this week. I know it's unhealthy to lose weight so fast and I'm risking putting back on really quick; but here's my logic. A: I've lost weight slowly in the past and gained it all back ANYWAY, so it doesn't matter how slow I lose it, just how well I change my diet in the long run. B:I plan on keeping it off and eating healthy from here on out, so I'm not concerned about gaining it back quickly. C: The sooner I become trim and start enjoying a thinner me the more likely I am to stick to this lifestyle. I know myself, if I lose it slowly I'll get distracted and go right back to eating whatever.

9/10/11 Weigh in: 226 lbs
36 lbs to go!!!

Weigh in 9/7/11

Weigh in 9/7/11
231 lbs ( -0 from previous )
Tea - 10
V8 x3 - 210
Green beans - 5
Yogurt - 120
1 oz Cashews - 156
Chicken breast - 100
Broccoli w/cheese - 110
Rum - 150
Total - 861 Excellent day!!!

I'm not going to be discouraged about weighing the same this morning as I did yesterday. I've come to expect it. You can't look at the day to day as an accurate meter of weight loss progress. It's more like every two weeks. But, I will continue to weigh in every day to stay focused.

Morning weigh in 9/6/11

Morning weigh in 9/6/11
231 lbs ( -4 lbs from previous )
Tea w/honey - 30
V8 X2 - 140
1/2 oz Cashews - 80
Salad - 300
Tea w/honey - 30
Dinner - ???
TOTAL: 1,600?
I'm estimating because I don't know what dinner was at Applebees, but it couldn't have been over 1,200. I hope :/ Anyway, that dinner will not be the norm. Also, I bought a bottle of Honey Jack Daniels to celebrate when I reach 190 lbs. Can't wait!!!

weight loss

September 5th, 2011. Morning weigh in: 235 lbs

Diet:
Green beans, red/yellow/orange peppers, sprouts stir fry with Soy sauce - 40 cals
Yogurt - 120
V8 - 70
bite of cottage cheese - 50
Salad - 525
Tea w/honey - 30
Cashews - 180
Rum - 150
Health shake - 300
maca shake - 150
TOTAL = 1,615 Cals
GOOD DAY!

Weight loss. For real this time. Again...again...

So, right now it's attempt number 347 to try to hit 190 lbs. In times before I've reached lows of 205, 215, 205 again, and even 199!!!. All were on separate endeavors to achieve my goal. I'm once again determined to reach a slim and trim 190 lbs. And perhaps even lower. Each time I've tried seems easier than the last. It's becoming less about will power and more about long term focus. I get distracted and I literally forget that I'm trying to make a lifestyle change. I'll go 3 weeks on a new diet and then I'll get invited to a pizza party and I completely forget to remind myself that it's a bad idea. I've really let myself go this time. I got up to 235 lbs. So, I have to drop 45 lbs to reach my goal. It actually helps that I'm going to school because it keeps my mind busy and distracted from food. I tend to eat out of boredom. I need to be entertained by the fact that I'm looking better in the mirror every day. I'm going to buy myself a bottle of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey as a reward for reaching 190 lbs. I know, I know, healthy right? But, seriously.......losing 45 lbs and drinking Jack Daniels is WAY healthier than staying at 235 lbs. I also think I'm going to buy a nice shirt as my "Goal shirt" that I can only wear when I hit 190 lbs. I'm probably going to use this blog as a diet journal from here on out. I'm sure it will help me reach my goal.

Career path

Wow, so my life is about to change pretty drastically. I'm scared, but I'm excited. So right now, Olde world restoration is sort of merging, or perhaps being absorbed by this new company. We will be working for a new boss, which is cool, but he's gonna want to see some serious hours put in as well as hard work in the factory. So, it's going to be a permanent change of scenery from carpentry.

So, here's my situation, I'm returning to school. This means that I will only be available to work wednesday through friday and every other saturday. This will leave me with only 4 days off a month, plus I will only be able to see my wife on 2 of them. So, that really sucks. My main concern is whether or not my new boss will find this acceptable.

So, I was worried about money, now I'm worried about having too much work poured on me. The upside to all of this is the potential to work my way up the latter in this new company since I'm getting in pretty close to the ground floor. So, best case scenario, my new boss might have me move right into the office once I have my degree. The other thing that sucks about that though is that Al will probably be really disappointed with the fact that I'm phasing out carpentry....to some degree. I think I'll always be involved in the industry in some way, but I would really like my career path to be more administrative. We shall see what happens and where God is going with all this.

Pitching

I've hopefully entered into a new era of my softball career. Pitching. I don't want to speak too soon, but I think there is a possibility of a future for me on the mound. My debut was on thursday night when I pitched the second game of a double header and did pretty well. Since then I've been practicing a lot on my own and have been getting better. And tonight, at the tail end of ODBC-Red's second game against Cornerstone, Eric Litke subs me in to pitch and close out thte game. I dropped in some strikes, kept the batters swinging for junk and I sewed it shut. What a great night. I really look forward to my next oppurtunity to pitch again. I just hope I don't blow it.

p.s. I really feel like this is the end of the episode and I'm Doogie Howser just typing away at the end of the night. (Theme song in my head).

The blogging continues

Hey, blog. It's been awhile. But I'm back and I just gave you a face lift. Anyway,my interests have been pulling me in so many directions lately that I've been neglecting some and perhaps over involving myself in others. For instance, I've been way too into softball lately with no real payout but I haven't been reading the Bible or going to church much which yields massive payout. I also am getting back into fishing and I'm not screwing around. My brother and I are going out on these midnight expeditions and going after the BIG fish that don't allow themselves to get caught during the day. I almost caught a 6 lbs monster bass the other night around 1:00 am but he got off the hook 3 seconds from the net. But anyway, I feel like my life has too much going on and it's really stressing me out. I recently retired from worship team to help reduce the clutter and open up my schedule a little more. Between Work, my family (with newborn son Lincoln), softball, chores, and fishing I don't have any time for Disc golf, biking, working out, reading, target shooting, craft projects/woodwork, music, etc..etc. So, my life is pretty booked up. And, I also am a stress eater so I gained a ton of weight back and now I have to get that under control.

Smoothies, health and weight loss.

I'm really getting into smoothies as a part of my self improvement. Superfoods such as Maca, Cacao, Honey, Goji berries, Spirulina, Protien whey, almonds, almond milk, and different fruits and vegis are a huge part of my diet now. I've been struggling with weight loss for so long now and every time I hit a wall I get discouraged and start regaining. Hopefully, I stick to it. I really buckled down a few days ago and already dropped 6 pounds. I know I can do this, I just gotta keep going. And now I'm eating healthier than I ever have in my life, so that's gotta help. Side note, as I'm typing this my smoothy is half gone and my body literally feels like it's tingling with energy. I love it.