My quest to lose weight

So how am I supposed to run in this?

2011-02-02T09:48:00.000-06:00

Yeah, so we had almost a foot of snow here yesterday, meaning today will be my first missed run since I started Nov. 11. Pretty frustrating. I have to leave for work earlier as well, so I don't have time to work out before work, so I'll be doing some exercise bike when I get home, but I have no idea how much I will need to do. I could try to go Thursday/Saturday, but I hate to miss a day working out. I'll probably end up doing the bike and then if it's OK tomorrow, running tomorrow and Saturday.

Last three days worth of food diaries:

Sunday
Lunch
Bowl of chili

Dinner
Bowl of chili

Snacks
16 oz chocolate skim milk

32 oz of water throughout the day

Monday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet with ham and cheese

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Bowl of chili

Snacks
Two nonfat yogurts
5 saltines

128 oz of water throughout the day

Tuesday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet with ham and cheese

Lunch
Bowl of chili

Dinner
Two ham sandwiches

Snacks
5 saltines
4 cashews
4 almonds

64 oz of water throughout the day

Something's fishy

2011-01-30T16:17:00.000-06:00

I added salmon to my diet this past week. First off, let me tell you, I cannot stand fish or seafood. I want to like it, because apparently I'm missing a mouth orgasm, judging by everyone else who eats it. But it all tastes just plain fishy to me.

The only fish I actually like to eat are freshwater fish caught and prepared that day. Doesn't matter if it's baked, grilled or deep fried, I like it any way. Crappie, catfish, bluegill, trout, bass -- if it was caught and prepared that day, there is no fish taste to it, in my experiences. But, if it's not, I can't stand it, it makes me gag. There's a lot of catfish places around here, and their fish sucks. I have ordered trout at Red Lobster before, and it tasted god awfully fishy.

Anyway, a coworker suggested salmon from Walmart. I figured I may as well try it, and if I didn't like it, I'd just give it to him. It was only $5, so no big loss if I didn't like it.

Turns out, it's tolerable. Just an ever-so-slight fish taste (some bites I nearly gag, but most are actually good). Super easy to prepare as well. I just throw it on the George Foreman grill and slightly salt and pepper it, and it's good to go in about five minutes.

So I may have a nice little regular week of meals planned out. I generally cook dinner on Sunday and have enough leftovers for dinner on Monday and Tuesday. I can eat fish on Wednesday and Thursday (there are four fillets in each package, so it comes out to $1.25 per fillet!) and Fridays, my weigh-in days, I always eat at Subway.

Speaking of weigh-in days, I weighed Friday and lost six more pounds. That's 43 total so far. 85 pounds from my goal, i.e., one-third of the way there. Here's to another great week!

Monday
Breakfast
Smoothie
1 cup oatmeal with 11 oz skim milk

Lunch
Two ham sandwiched

Dinner
Leftover taco "salad" -- ground turkey, beans and rice

Snacks
2 nonfat yogurts

96 oz of water throughout the day

Tuesday
Breakfast
Two egg omelet with ham and cheese

Lunch
Two ham sandwiches

Dinner
Leftover taco "salad" -- ground turkey, beans and rice
8 tortilla chips

Snacks
2 nonfat yogurts

128 oz of water throughout the day

Wednesday
Breakfast
Two-egg omelet with ham and cheese

Lunch
Salmon filet
1/2 cup rice

Dinner
Two ham sandwiches

Snack
1 nonfat yogurt

128 oz of water throughout the day

Thursday
Breakfast
Smoothie
1 cup oatmeal with 10 oz skim milk

Lunch

Salmon filet
1/2 cup rice

Dinner
Two ham sandwiches

Snack
1 nonfat yogurt

64 oz water throughout the day

Friday
Breakfast
Smoothie
1 piece toast with peanut butter
8 oz skim milk

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
6-inch oven-roasted chicken breast sandwich with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno cheese bread with jalapenos and banana peppers

Snacks
Two nonfat yogurt
1 cracker (12 calories)
Some mixed nuts (2 peanuts, 6 almonds, 2 cashews)

128 oz water throughout the day

Saturday
Dinner
About 30-40 tortilla chips and salsa
Chicken breast smothered with salsa
A few grilled veggies -- bell pepper, squash, zucchini

Snacks
Four crackers with cheese spread

64 oz of water throughout the day

Crappy week

2011-01-23T23:14:00.000-06:00

This week flew by. I exercised every day, continued to run. Up to 2.28 miles now, going for 2.5 or 3 miles tomorrow.
When I weighed on Friday, I had gained two pounds. Totally disheartening. Not much else to add; pretty pissed about that.

So here's last week's food rundown:

Monday
Breakfast
Smoothie
1 cup of oatmeal with 8 oz skim milk

Lunch
Two ham sandwiches

Dinner
Leftover pork and peppers
1/2 cup white rice

Snacks
Two nonfat yogurts

128 oz of water

Tuesday
Breakfast
One cup oatmeal with 8 oz water

Lunch
Two ham sandwiches

Dinner
Leftover pork and peppers

Snacks
Two nonfat yogurts

128 oz of water

Wednesday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two eggs with ham and cheese

Lunch
Two pieces of cheese pizza

Dinner
Two pieces of cheese pizza

Snacks
One package of sunflower seeds
One fiber one bar

128 oz of water

Thursday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-eggs with ham and cheese

Lunch
Two ham sandwiches

Dinner
One can of chunky soup (260 calories total)

Snacks
17 wheat cracker thingies
1 chocolate chip cookie

128 oz of water

Friday
Breakfast
1 cup oatmeal with 1 cup water

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Six-inch oven roasted chicken breast sandwich with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno bread from subway

Snack
1 nonfat yogurt

128 oz of water

Saturday
2 PB&J sandwiches

Sunday
Taco salad, which consisted of turkey meat with beans on top of tortilla chips (32 total).
32 oz of walmart sugar-free, salt-free, zero calorie flavored carbonated water
64 oz water

Weekend pigout

2011-01-16T23:09:00.000-06:00

Good news: I finished the c25k program with a great run Friday.

Bad news: I still am not running an entire 5k. I'm up to 30 minutes running, so I will keep adding three minutes at a time until I get to three miles. Starting tomorrow, I will run 33 minutes.

Even worse news: I ate like a pig this weekend. Family went out to eat yesterday at a mexican restaurant. I pigged out on chips. I ate about 30 probably. And then I got chili verde, with beef instead of pork. It was a big sized plate and also came with rice and refried beans. I didn't eat it all at lunch; I saved about 1/4 of it and ate it for dinner. And then today, I had an enormous sweet tooth. I ate a chocolate yogurt, hoping it would subside, but it didn't. I ate a soft serve vanilla ice cream later and I just had 32 ounces of skim chocolate milk.

I hope I'm not subconsciously getting content with my progress, which is 39 pounds now. I still can't tell a difference, and my clothes still are tight. But people keep saying they can tell, so I hope it hasn't nestled its way into my brain thinking I can slack off now.

Here's my last five days worth of food diaries. Falling behind on it yet again.

Wednesday
Breakfast
1 cup of oatmeal
12 oz skim milk
Smoothie

Lunch
2 ham sandwiches

Dinner
6-inch oven roasted chicken breast with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno cheese bread

Snack
1 chocolate chip cookie
1 nonfat yogurt

128 oz of water throughout the day

Thursday
Breakfast
Smoothie
2 egg omelet with ham and cheese

Lunch
2 ham sandwiches

Dinner
6-inch oven roasted chicken breast with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno cheese bread

Snacks
1 nonfat yogurt
2 tiny sugar cookies

128 oz of water throughout the day

Friday
Breakfast
1 cup oatmeal with 12 oz of skim milk
Smoothie

Lunch
2 PB&J sandwiches

Dinner

6-inch oven roasted chicken breast with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno cheese bread

Snack
1 nonfat yogurt

96 oz of water throughout the day

Saturday
Chili verde con carne
refried beans
rice
A shitton of corn chips with salsa, guacomole and queso
Three small flour tortillas

48 oz unsweet tea
48 oz water

Sunday
Lunch
One package of beef jerky
1 nonfat yogurt

Dinner
Pork chops simmered in rotel and green chiles

Snacks
One softserve vanilla ice cream
32 oz chocolate skim milk

64 oz of water throughout the day

Holy balls, it's cold

2011-01-12T13:05:00.000-06:00

What a deceiving day. Super sunshiney. But a chilling 18 degrees. I had two choices: Put off running to tomorrow and then run again EARLY on Saturday, or run today and Friday and sleep in just a tad on Saturday. We have a birthday lunch Saturday afternoon an hour away. I chose the cold.

It was cold Monday as well, but not this cold. Only 29. Anyway, I'm not sure if it's because my body is adjusting to working out for two months now, or if it was the cold, but the last two runs were my best runs to date. And not just time-wise. Usually I feel terrible from about the five-minute mark to the 20-minute mark. Last two days, I felt GOOD for the entire workout. So refreshing for it to be that way. I may get to the point where I don't dread running. Right now, I still hate it. Almost as much as I hate the Patriots.

Also, yesterday marked two months since I first started working out. I took a topless picture when I first started. I meant to take another one one month in, but I forgot. So I took one again yesterday. I'll spare you the vomit-inducing picture, unlike last time, when I posted it. But I don't see a difference. Gut and moobs are still massive and the same size. I've lost more than 30 pounds, and I have no idea from where. People say they can tell a difference, but I can't, because my clothes still fit the same.

Anyway, here are the last two days' food diaries.

Monday
Breakfast
Smoothie
1 cup oatmeal with 12 oz skim milk

Lunch
Two ham sandwiches (cutting the cheese out of those now)

Dinner
Bowl of chili

Snacks
2 nonfat yogurts

128 oz of water throughout the day

Tuesday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two eggs with cheese, ham and jalapenos

Lunch
Two ham sandwiches

Dinner
6-inch oven roasted chicken breast sandwich from Subway with pepperjack cheese

128 oz of water throughout the day

Snow on the ground

2011-01-10T10:49:00.000-06:00

It won't stop me. I am about to start the last week of the c25k training program, and I'll be damned if the snow and cold will stop me. It's currently 28 degrees. We've had a really, really mild winter since I started this thing on Nov. 11, and I've been fortunate enough to not have the "it's too cold/raining/snowing" excuse to stop me. Today is the first day, and I just can't let it get to me after eight weeks of great weather.

I once again am behind on my food diaries, so here are three days worth of em again!

Friday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet with ham and cheese

Lunch
2 PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Footlong oven roasted chicken breast on jalapeno bread with pepperjack cheese and jalapenos and mustard.

128 oz of water throughout the day

Saturday (wasn't very hungry all day)
Lunch
PB&J sandwich

Dinner
One can of healthy choice minestrone soup

Only about 16 oz of water throughout the day

Sunday
Lunch
One package of beef jerkey (240 calories)

Dinner (In honor of the cold weather)
One bowl of turkey chili
5 appetizers I threw together: Toasted garlic bread topped with cream cheese and buffalo chicken

101 oz of water throughout the day

Chugging along

2011-01-06T11:29:00.000-06:00

Surprise! I'm behind on the blog again. Again, it's because of work.

I have yet to miss a workout since I've started the c25k plan. Also, I am five days away from the two-month mark. And tomorrow is weigh-in day. I feel like I've had a pretty good week. Only downside is I haven't been drinking as much water, and I'm not sure why.

Yesterday's run was a good one. Despite feeling like crap for the first 20 minutes, after the 20-minute mark, Everything went super smooth. I even ran an extra minute because it actually felt kind of good. I set a new pace record for me, dropping under the 15-minute-mile mark. Hopefully I'll continue to improve.

And here's five days' worth of food diaries crammed in here now:

Saturday
Lunch
PB&J

Dinner
Three pieces of tri-tip
Two chicken breasts
Two small red potatoes
Ear of corn
Three stuffed mushrooms
Small tangerine
Tiny serving of strawberries, cream and nilla wafers dessert.

About 70 oz of water

Sunday
Lunch
Small chicken sandwich from BWW
Side salad with wing sauce instead of dressing from BWW
23 oz of shiner bock

Dinner
Chicken stir fry -- chicken, bean sprouts, celery, etc.

Snack
15 pieces of taffy (all the xmas taffy is finally gone!)

About 64 oz of water throughout the day

Monday
Breakfast
Two-egg omelet
Smoothie

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Six-inch oven-roasted chicken breast sandwich from Subway with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno bread

64 oz of water throughout the day

Tuesday
Breakfast
PB&J sandwich
8 oz skim milk

Lunch
PB&J sandwich

Dinner
Footlong oven-roasted chicken breast sandwich from Subway with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno bread

Snacks
Packet of sunflower seeds
2 nonfat yogurts

64 oz of water throughout the day

Wednesday
Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches
8 oz skim milk

Dinner
Chicken breast
One can of refried beans

Snacks
1 cracker

100 oz of water

Happy new year

2010-12-31T22:31:00.001-06:00

This week has been pathetically busy. I've been covering for two people at work.

I still managed to work out every day (three days c25k, two days wii). My food diaries may be hit and miss, because it was so busy I haven't really had time to keep track of it. I didn't do too bad on the diet at all; just remembering what I ate will be bad from Wednesday on, since I stopped keeping track on Wednesday.

Monday
Breakfast
Two eggs with ham and cheese
Smoothie

Lunch
2 ham & cheese sandwiches

Dinner
2 cups of taco soup

Snacks
6 pieces of taffy
2 nonfat yogurt
Handful of carmel popcorn

128 oz of water

Tuesday
Breakfast
Two eggs with ham and cheese
Smoothie

Lunch
PB&J sandwich
One piece of bread with peanut butter
8 oz of skim milk

Dinner
Six-inch oven roasted chicken breast sandwich with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno bread

Snacks
Three cups of popcorn
2 nonfat yogurts
Six pieces of taffy

96 oz of water

Wednesday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two eggs with ham and cheese

Lunch
PB&J sandwich

Dinner
Footlong oven roasted chicken breast sandwich from subway with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno bread

Snacks
Two nonfat yogurts
1 cup of popcorn
Six pieces of taffy

96 oz of water

Thursday
Breakfast
Smoothie
1 cup of oatmeal with 12 oz skim milk

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Six inch oven roasted chicken breast sandwich with pepperjack cheese on jalapeno bread

Snack
1 nonfat yogurt

96 oz of water

Friday
Breakfast
Smoothie

Lunch
Piece of bread with peanut butter
8 oz milk

Dinner
Chicken breast
1 cup of mushrooms
1/3 cup of spaghetti sauce
About 20 spaghetti noodles

Snacks
Half a stick of summer sausage
Half a block of block cheese
15 pieces of taffy
rum and diet coke
half a bottle of champagne

1 beer

So hungry

2010-12-26T22:56:00.000-06:00

I have been so hungry today, and I ate when I was hungry. There is no way I lost any weight this week. I ate way too much. But it's been almost seven weeks now since I started, and this was my first bad weekend. I go back to work tomorrow, and work brings routine, which also should help stay on the plan.

Here's my food diaries from yesterday and today.

Saturday
Lunch
PB&J sandwich

Dinner
Three small pieces of turkey
One small piece of ham
Eight small meatballs
Small serving of cheesy potato casserole
Small serving of green bean casserole
Spoonful of green fluff (basically marshmallows, whipped cream)
Large serving of dressing with a dab o' gravy

Snacks
1 chocolate chip cookie
1 chocolate covered macadamia nut cookie
2 chocolate covered coconut cookie
6 oz of egg nog
12 oz iced tea

64 oz of water throughout the day

Sunday
Breakfast
1 cinnamon roll

Lunch
PB&J sandwich
8 oz milk

Dinner
Two grilled chicken breasts
Medium-sized serving french fries
3 battered and fried boneless wings

Snacks
10 pieces of taffy

64 oz of water throughout the day

Holiday binging

2010-12-25T11:24:00.001-06:00

I did so much worse on my diet yesterday than I anticipated. There was just so much good food at both places we went to, and my stomach finally revolted against my six-weeks of dieting. I don't feel I binged per se, but I ate WAY more than I wanted to.

I did, however, manage to get the c25k workout in before our whirlwind day yesterday, so yesterday wasn't a complete and utter loss.

Christmas was exceptionally great. I am fortunate to have great families. It was a very difficult year for us financially, and I feel bad we couldn't reciprocate all that was given to us.

Here's the last three days worth of food diaries.

Wednesday
Breakfast
2-egg omelet with ham, jalapenos and cheese
Smoothie

Lunch/dinner
3 cups of taco soup

Snacks
14 saltwater taffies
2 non-fat yogurts
1 Shiner bock holiday brew (delicious, fyi)

128 oz of water throughout the day

Thursday
Breakfast
Smoothie

Lunch
2 ham and cheese sandwiches

Dinner
3 cups of taco soup

Snacks
2 giant pretzel sticks with a tad bit o' chocolate on them
2 mini chocolate-covered pretzels
1 non-fat yogurt
4 taffies

128 oz of water throughout the day

Friday
Breakfast
1 cup of oatmeal
1 smoothie

Lunch
3 pieces of rib meat
3 hot wings (baked, and skin removed)

Dinner
2 ham & pimento cheese roll-ups
2 deviled eggs
6 oz of egg nog, complete with rum

Snacks
24 corn chips with bean dip and guacomole (with lunch)
A metric asston of chex mix (with dinner)

96 oz of water throughout the day

This week's workouts have been hard

2010-12-22T13:25:00.000-06:00

I still think I'm recovering from Saturday's 5k. This week has not been fun workout wise. Plus, the office Christmas luncheon was yesterday, and I ate more than I wanted to there, as well.

All around, a pretty shitty week so far. I hope I can make it through Christmas and not suffer any setbacks.

Running late for work, so this is short. Posting the last two days' worth of food diaries.

Monday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet (cheese, jalapenos and ham)

Lunch
Two ham and cheese sandwiches

Dinner
7 oz of dehydrated green beans
9 pieces of saltwater taffy

Snacks
Two non-fat yogurts

128 oz of water

Tuesday
Lunch
Serving of stuffing with a tad bit o' brown gravy
Two pieces of ham
Two pieces of turkey
1 deviled egg
1 dozen ritz crackers with cheese ball
1 diet dr. pepper

Dinner
Three cups of taco soup

Snacks
1 nonfat yogurt
4 pieces of saltwater taffy

96 oz of water

I did the 5k

2010-12-20T00:28:00.000-06:00

I did the 5k, and I did it in under an hour. However, I didn't make my goal of not walking. There was this hill ... it was long and massive. I ended up walking up it.

My family was there, and they made signs. I felt really good afterward. Then we went for my birthday dinner. I wasn't very hungry. Until I ate a chip. Then I was famished. I ate more than I wanted, but it was my birthday.

I was pretty sore an hour or so afterward, however. And was still a little sore today as well. Thankfully, tomorrow's workout is a relatively simple one, so I should ease right back into my routine.

Anyway, here's the food diary from Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday
Breakfast
Smoothie

Lunch
2 PB&J sanwiches
12 oz skim milk

Dinner
Chicken fajitas, with three flour tortillas and about a tablespoon of sour cream
24 tortilla chips with guacamole

Snacks
About 3/4 cups homemade icream (holiday nog ((which is low-fat egg nog) skim milk and cream)
Small piece of german chocolate cake

48 oz of water
16 oz gatorade
about 28 oz of a club special (vodka and sprite, I believe)

Sunday (wasn't very hungry today at all)
14 pieces of egg nog saltwater taffy
3 cups of chicken taco soup

64 oz of water

Today is the day

2010-12-18T14:53:00.000-06:00

I'm about two hours away from my very first 5k. Just finished getting my ipod all ready with an hour's worth of songs, capped by "Going the Distance" from the Rocky franchise. I have two goals: 1. Don't walk. 2. Finish in an hour or less. No. 2 is most likely doable, but No. 1 may or may not be. We'll see!

Here's the last two days worth of food diaries, including a completely terrible Friday, which was when we celebrated Christmas with my mom.

Thursday
Lunch
2 PB&J sandwiches
16 oz skim milk

Dinner
2 fried eggs
Two cups of refried beans

64 oz of water throughout the day

Friday
Lunch-ish
12 oz KC strip
1 plain baked potato

Dinner
Two beef tamales
Two egg rolls

Snacks
Three pieces of salt water taffy
Three dried green beans
A handful of chips with fat-free spinach dip
A handful of chips with low-fat beef chip dip
1.5 peppermint sticks

About 64 oz of water throughout the day

Vacation = less blogging

2010-12-16T14:47:00.000-06:00

I'm way behind on blogging and food diaries, but I will allow myself some slack, since this is my vacation week. Granted, I had to work Monday, but the last two days have been glorious days of doing absolutely nothing (except Wednesday's workout!).

In approximately 48 hours, I will be about to start my first 5k. I'm not sure what to expect. My goal is to not walk. However, since this is twice as long as any activity I've done since I started the c25k program, if I have to walk, I will. Wednesday's run was challenging, and the doubts started to creep in. Tomorrow's workout calls for a two-mile jog. I obviously am not doing that tomorrow, instead doing the 5k on Saturday (which happens to be my birthday). I told my brother about my plans, and now, the whole family is coming down to cheer me on. It's not that far of a drive, since we're doing Christmas at my mom's house tomorrow, and that's where everyone (except me) is staying the weekend. Afterward, assuming I'm not in the hospital (and hopefully after a shower) we're going out to eat to celebrate my birthday. I might allow myself a small sliver of cake.

My brother took me out to dinner last night. He was craving Chinese food, and he assured me he could order me something that wouldn't be too bad for my diet. He ordered me the moo goo gai pan, with white rice instead of fried rice. I'm not sure how it was prepared, but there was white chicken and lots of veggies. Hopefully it wasn't fried too extensively. But I ate that up. And a bowl of egg drop soup (about three cups total, I am estimating). It was delicious.

Anyway, here's the food diary from the last three days:

Monday
Breakfast
Smoothie
One cup oatmeal with 12 oz skim milk

Lunch
Two ham and cheese sandwiches

Dinner
Three cups of leftover taco soup

Snack
One fat-free cherry yogurt
One fat-free orange yogurt

128 oz of water throughout the day

Tuesday
Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches with 16 oz skim milk

Dinner
Three cups of leftover taco soup

Snack
Two spoonfuls of peanut butter

64 oz of water throughout the day

Wednesday
Breakfast
Smoothie

Dinner
One order of moo goo gai pan with about two cups of white rice
3 cups of egg drop soup

About 36 oz of water throughout the day

Doubts about the 5K

2010-12-13T13:47:00.000-06:00

Just finished Day 1 of Week 5 of the c25k. It was a rough one. I feel great now, about an hour afterward, but during the run I was having doubts if I could do a complete 5k. Right now, the most I've completed is 1.6 miles -- a little more than half of a 5k.

Apparently my family is coming down to cheer me on as well. Maybe that's why the doubts are creeping in, since there will be an audience. I just hope I can do it.

Anyway, short blog, running late for work. I work today and then am off the rest of the week.

Weekend food diary:
Saturday
Lunch
5 ham and yogurt stuffed miniature jalapenos
1 giant ass pickle

Dinner
Two fresca bean burritos from Taco Bell

128 oz of water throughout the day

Sunday
Lunch
Chicken fajitas from Chili's (three flour tortillas, about two tablespoons of sour cream, and about 1 chicken breast it looked like)

Dinner
Three cups of homemade taco soup. I was just toying around in the kitchen and made it.

About 80 oz of water throughout the day

Here's the recipe for the soup:
32 oz chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup (with the one can of water as well)
1 package taco seasoning
2 cans of mexican style Rotel (juice and all)
25 oz canned, pre-cooked chicken (juice and all)
8 oz fat free plain yogurt
1 cup uncooked rice
Bring everything but rice and yogurt to a boil. Add rice and yogurt, reduce heat and stir well. Let simmer until rice is cooked.

I did a rough count of the recipes in the soup and it was about 1,200 calories for the entire pot. Both my wife and I ate a good-sized bowl and there's still plenty left, so it's a pretty low-calorie, healthy meal.

Next time I make it I'm going to add beans. With the beans, I think it'll be perfect.

One month since I started

2010-12-11T11:14:00.000-06:00

It's been one month since my journey to try and lose weight started on Nov. 11. If I didn't have so far to go, I think I could feel good about losing 21 pounds. But since I have 79 pounds to go, it's realistically just a drop in the bucket. I have to admit it's a tad frustrating, and I sometimes think it's not worth all the effort I'm putting out. I'm still too fat for the wii fit, for fuck's sake! (Although it's getting closer and closer to the day I can kick its ass for all those times telling me I exceed its weight limit).

I am seriously contemplating accelerating the c25k plan just for one day, so I can run a 5k one week from today, which happens to be my birthday. My very first goal was to run a 5k by my birthday, which I thought was an achievable goal because when I started, my birthday was six weeks away. Well, i was wrong. It was five weeks away. However, next week's schedule on the c25k program calls for running two miles with no walking on the Friday workout. So I am contemplating making my Friday workout a Saturday workout and going for broke and doing the 5k. If I have to walk, so be it. But I really want to do this.

I swear, one of these days I'm going to update my food diary daily just so I don't have a big, three-day's-worth-of-food wall of text at the end of every post

Wednesday
Breakfast
Smoothie
One cup oatmeal with 12 oz skim milk

Lunch
2 PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Two cups healthy request chicken gumbo (from a can)

128 oz of water throughout the day

Thursday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet with ham, cheese and jalapenos, wrapped in a flour tortilla (that was the last tortilla! Goodbye extra calories!)

Lunch
Two ham and cheese sandwiches

Dinner
Two cups healthy request italian wedding soup (from a can, 220 calories)

Snacks
8 restaurant corn chips with salsa

128 oz of water throughout the day

Friday
Breakfast
Smoothie
1 cup oatmeal with 12 oz skim milk

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Six-inch club sub with pickles, jalapenos, mustard and pepperjack cheese on jalapeno bread from subway

Snacks
1 low-fat cherry yogurt
1 low-fat lime yogurt

128 oz of water throughout the day

It's getting better

2010-12-08T13:54:00.000-06:00

A funny thing is happening this week. My aches and pains are practically non-existent after workouts. It doesn't feel like I need a full day's recovery time. I didn't hurt at all yesterday, and even now, after doing Day 2 of Week 4 of the c25k program, nothing aches.

Today didn't start out so grand, however. After being gung-ho and looking forward to Monday's workout (which went fantastic), I nearly decided to skip today's. I have been doing so good and haven't skipped one yet was my reasoning. I finally did go to workout, obviously, but not until a full hour after I had planned to.

I am so glad I did. I feel great right now. In the past when I used to workout, I always felt great after finishing. I always wished you could bottle that feeling and drink it so you could have that feeling going into the workout, because starting always has been hard for me.

But ever since I started this a month ago, I never felt great after working out. I loathed it going in and loathed it after each workout. And when I realized I didn't have that "feel great" feeling after a workout, I loathed it even more.

But today was different. Thankfully. And here's hoping that feeling carries forward from here on out.

Here's my food diary from Monday and Tuesday:
Monday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet with cheese, ham and jalapenos, wrapped in a flour tortilla

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Leftover taco "salad." (About 20 baked tostitos scoops and less than 2 cups of ground turkey and rice, a slew of green salsa and a healthy dollop of plain, low-fat yogurt.

Snacks
One low-fat orange yogurt
One low-fat blueberry yogurt

128 oz of water throughout the day

Tuesday
Breakfast
Smoothie

Two-egg omelet with cheese, ham and jalapenos, wrapped in a flour tortilla

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Two ham and cheese sandwiches

Snacks
Four bites of stuffing
One bite of cherry parfait

96 oz of water throughout the day

Been a slacker ... but only at blogging!

2010-12-05T20:04:00.000-06:00

Closed down the week with a pretty good workout Friday. It was Day 3, Week 3 of the c25k program. I was pleased with how it went, except for the last leg of jogging. My left leg, especially my knee, starting hurting pretty bad. But my recovery time has continued to get better. I was sore most of Friday evening, but yesterday I felt good. And again today.

And for the first time, I think I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow's workout.

I also weighed Friday. I lost another five pounds. I totally was not expecting that. I didn't think I'd lose any, to be honest. I was ready to be frustrated. That brings the total to 19 pounds.

Got a lot of catching up on my food diary. I CANNOT fall this far behind again.

Wednesday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet with ham, cheese and jalapenos wrapped in a flour tortilla

Lunch
2 ham and cheese sandwiches

Dinner
One boneless/skinless chicken breast
Half a cup of white rice

Snack
One low-fat orange yogurt

128 oz of water throughout the day

Thursday
Breakfast
1 cup oatmeal

Lunch
2 PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
2 ham and cheese sandwiches

Snacks
1 lowfat blueberry yogurt
1 lowfat lime yogurt
6 chips with salsa

96 oz of water throughout the day

Friday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet with ham, cheese and jalapenos wrapped in a flour tortilla

Lunch
2 PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
1 six-inch club sub with pepperjack cheese and pickles and jalapenos on jalapeno cheese bread from Subway.

Snacks
1 lowfat blueberry yogurt
1 lowfat lime yogurt

96 oz of water throughout the day

Saturday
Lunch
11 baked tostitos scoops with salsa
Half a peanut butter sandwich

Dinner
2 giant-ass pieces of sliced turkey
1 giant-ass sliced piece of roast beef
2 giant-ass serving-sized spoonfuls of stuffing
1 roll

96 oz of water throughout the day

Sunday
Lunch
One bite of peanut butter
10 baked tostitos scoops

Dinner
Tacos. Basically it was a giant-ass plate of ground turkey taco meat, about 25 baked tostitos scoops, mexican-style rice, four tablespoons of plain yogurt and an asston of salsa. It was delicious.

64 oz of water throughout the day.

Catching up

2010-12-01T13:29:00.000-06:00

I haven't blogged in about three days and that's not good. I mostly am blogging to keep a food diary every day so I have somewhere to write down what I eat on a daily basis.

Monday's workout was decent, as was today's. The lower half of my body still isn't cooperating with my brain, however. I think my "jogging" is slower than my walking. My brain keeps telling my legs to move faster, but my legs just can't do it. There was a glimmer of hope on my first jog, as that is the best I've felt in awhile. But by the time the second jog rolled around, my legs were back on strike.

I also found four pennies in the parking lot, all head's up, after my workout today. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

Food diary:
Monday
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two eggs, jalapenos, cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Two ham and cheese sandwiches

Snack
One giant-ass dill pickle

128 oz of water throughout the day

Tuesday
Breakfast
Smoothie

Two eggs, jalapenos, cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Two cups of potato soup (kind of fattening; 610 calories and more than 20 grams of fat, I believe. But it was a week expired; my wife bought it seven weeks ago. It has been sitting in the fridge ever since, and I hate for food to go expired)

Snack
One low-fat blueberry yogurt

128 oz of water throughout the day

Day 1, Week 3, here I come

2010-11-29T11:14:00.000-06:00

I am about 30 minutes away from my Day 1, Week 3 c25k workout. I am almost finished with my breakfast smoothie, and my legs still feel a tad weak, but nowhere near how they felt on Friday. I've been away for more than an hour, so I hope that morning stiffness has completely worn off.

Today's, Wednesday's and Friday's workouts call for:
5 minute fast warmup walk
90 seconds jogging
90 seconds walking
3 minutes jogging
3 minutes walking
90 seconds jogging
90 seconds walking
3 minutes jogging
3 minutes walking
The three minutes jogging is where the test is going to come in. I'm hoping my knees and legs cooperate with my brain.

Yesterday was another mini-hit to the diet, as my brother came in town and took my wife and I out to dinner at Chili's. I did OK for almost the whole thing, but there were leftover french fries and I kept grabbing two and shoving them into my mouth. Finally, the waitress came and took the plate away.

Anyway, here was my food diary:
Breakfast
1 cup of oatmeal with 4 oz milk

Lunch/dinner
30 baked tostitos scoops with salsa
One boneless hotwing
One stick of celery (puke)
25 french fries
Four bites of burger (meat only)
Half a turkey and provolone sandwich
1 cup of chicken and rice soup

48 oz of water throughout the day

Feeling better today; looking forward to tomorrow's workout

2010-11-28T12:55:00.000-06:00

I weighed yesterday. Down another two pounds since last Friday! I lost two pounds during Thanksgiving week!

I am now nine pounds away from being able to do the Wii Fit. That was my first goal. I might as well name them. 1. Get below 330 and do the Wii Fit. 2. Get below 300. 3. Get below 250. I think I'll be able to achieve my first goal by my birthday, which is three weeks away.

Here is yesterday's food diary:

Breakfast
None

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
13 oz (pre-cooked) fillet mignon
1 medium sized baked potato with salt and pepper

Snack
6 bites of pistachio fluff (super high sugar stuff. Mother-in-law makes it and I love it. Marshmallows, coolwhip, pistachios and pineapples.

64 oz of water throughout the day

So sore

2010-11-27T20:18:00.001-06:00

Post-workout yesterday and even today, I am still sore. My knees are killing me. At least I can bend them today. I couldn't really bend them yesterday. Today is a little better, but my legs ache. I don't really want to take a day off, so I plan on pushing through it. No pain, no gain.

I have been stretching, and I plan on doing a little wii boxing later to stay limber and loose. It seems like the more I stretch my legs and work my knees, the better they feel.

Here is my food diary from yesterday.

Breakfast
Smoothie

Lunch
Small serving turkey
Small serving ham
Giant serving of stuffing
Slightly larger than average size serving of green bean casserole
Small serving of green beans
Larger than average size serving of mashed yams

Dinner
Foot long chicken breast sandwich from subway on flatbread with spinach and jalapenos

Dessert
One small slice of sugar-free blueberry pie

96 oz of water throughout the day

Worst workout yet

2010-11-26T12:52:00.001-06:00

I just finished Day 3 of Week 2 of the c25k workout plan.

Worst. Workout. Ever.

I am not winded at all. But I can't feel my legs. The lower half of my body went on strike yesterday and didn't tell me. Either that, or they were protesting they were on the track on a chilly morn' instead of taking advantage of super-low prices on HDTVs and weaving through Black Friday shoppers.

Whatever the case, it sucked today. I couldn't bend my knees; my running "pace" was better than a crawl. It was very frustrating, especially after keeping Thanksgiving day. The lower half of my body did not want to work, and I rarely -- if ever -- got winded today.

I am hoping two days off does the trick and gets my body back in shape. If not, I am repeating Week 2 again.

Here's my Thanksgiving day damage. I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but I did MUCH better than normal, especially considering we had two Thanksgiving dinners to attend.

No breakfast

Lunch
Two slices of turkey
One giant slice of ham
Small spoonful of green bean casserole
Normal-sized serving of stuffing
Small serving of mac and cheese
Two small pieces of yam

Dinner
Large piece of ham
Nice-sized piece of prime rib (and man, it was DELICIOUS)
Normal-sized serving of stuffing
Small serving of green bean casserole
2.5 servings of mac and cheese
2.5 servings of corn salad (corn, jalapenos and cream cheese)

Dessert
Less than a thimble full of pumpkin moose
Two bites of sugar-free blueberry pie
One tiny bite of buttermilk pie

48 oz of water throughout the day.

I have leftovers from the mother-in-law to eat today, and I am looking forward to it.

Frantic update

2010-11-24T22:52:00.001-06:00

Despite just about everything working against me, I had another good workout today. Day 2 of Week 2 of the c25k program is in the books.

But I don't feel so great right now. My legs are shot. My knees hurt.

I'm not sure why, but I'm blaming the lack of electricity for an hour this morning. I awoke at 7:30 a.m. not being able to breathe. I wear a CPAP machine. If there's no power, it's hard to breathe in that thing. I couldn't get back to sleep. The power finally kicked back on at about 8:30 and I went back to sleep. But I awoke about 11:30 a.m. -- which is the time I usually start my workouts. After seriously contemplating not running today because it was going to be a super busy-ass day at work (and it was), I talked myself into running. So I bolted out of bed, threw on my workout clothes and headed to the track.

I normally get up about 10:30 and make a smoothie on the days I workout, so I can have some energy in my system for about an hour. Plus, that gives my old body time to wake up and loosen up.

I could tell I was stiff when running, despite my stretching beforehand. But time wasn't on my side and I just powered through it. It was a very good run/walk. I can feel my body adjusting to it. Tomorrow is two weeks since I started.

Tomorrow also is Thanksgiving. I plan on kicking Thanksgiving's ass this year and not eating approximately 700 plates of food, including a tall glass of gravy to wash it all down. Portions and moderation are my friends tomorrow. I've done superb for two weeks, and I know I can do it again tomorrow.

I also am behind on my food diary, so here is that before I relax for the rest of the evening.

MONDAY
Breakfast
Smoothie
1/2 cup oatmeal with 8 oz skim milk

Lunch
Two ham and cheese sandwiches

Dinner
3 cups of homemade chicken gumbo (that's the last of it!)

Snacks
1 lowfat orange yogurt

110 oz water throughout the day

TUESDAY
Breakfast
Smoothie
Two-egg omelet with jalapenos, ham and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches

Dinner
Foot-long chicken breast sub from subway on flatbread with jalapenos, pepperjack cheese and spicy mustard.

No snacks

Only 64 oz of water throughout the day

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast
Nothing, no time. :-(

Lunch
Two PB&J sandwiches and 16 oz skim milk

Dinner
Foot-long chicken breast sub from subway on flatbread with jalapenos, pepperjack cheese and spicy mustard.

Snacks
1 low-fat key lime yogurt
Two bites of Thanksgiving ham
Five bites of stuffing

Very encouraging workout

2010-11-22T12:53:00.000-06:00

Day 1 of Week 2 of the c25k training program was outstanding. It went SO much better than I was hoping. I even did an extra 30 seconds of jogging and 1 minute of walking at the end of the workout I felt so great. I could've done more, but I didn't want to push it.

I believe my body has fully adjusted to jogging in 1-minute increments. Because it seemed like I was OK the first 60 seconds of jogging, but once it got to 60 seconds, it was a bit of a struggle to get the next 30. But overall, I was very pleased with the workout. I didn't get completely worn out until my final 90-second jog, and I have to say that was a mighty struggle. It was up an incline and into the wind. My workout was to end with a 2-minute walk, but the Rocky theme song came on my ipod during that last part, and that was motivation enough to squeeze in that last 30-second jog. I have a rotation of about 17 songs on shuffle on the ipod that are kind of up-tempo, and that one had not cracked into my workout yet, much to my dismay. And while that one isn't up-tempo, per se, who doesn't feel like moving when that song is on? I wasn't going to waste it.

It was windy as fuck and unseasonably warm today as well. The weather was nice; the wind, not so much. It seemed no matter which way I was facing, I was running into a stiff wind. Must've been about 20 mph.

Will update later with my food journal.