Weigh-in Day...Uh Oh....

Well, Day 8 is the first weigh-in day,  my first full week at this.

Remember, I initially tried to start this on Thursday, March 30, when I weighed-in at a nice, rotund 288.6
pounds, but those first four days were a bit of a start-stop-kinda restart experience. So I restarted for good on Monday, April 3. Even with the up-and-down experience of those first four days, I still was down to 282.8 then, with a goal of dropping 11 pounds the first week.

So Monday morning I hopped out of bed, ran to the scales because I was sooooo excited to see the results. Okay, maybe not. Maybe I hit the snooze a couple of times, then gradually crawled from bed, went to the coffee maker and started my morning routine before remembering this was weigh-in day.

I kinda wish I had forgotten, because the results simply weren't what I was hoping for.

My one-week weigh-in? I tipped the scales at 277.6 pounds, far off of my 11-pound goal. I have to say, I was disappointed.

Not crushed, because that was a 5.2-pound loss. And I suppose I should feel pretty good, because if you go back to my original weight, I had dropped 11 pounds in 11 days, and no matter how you slice it, 11 pounds is a decent little start. Heck, the "official" first full week loss of 5.2 pounds is nothing to sneeze at. Still, I was hoping to be about 6 pounds lighter than that.

Boy, that idea of dropping 48 pounds in 60 days might not work out quite as well as I had hoped.

So this week is about analyzing what I did last week, where I may have made mistakes (eating popcorn at midnight two consecutive nights, even if it is "diet" popcorn is probably a good guess for one big mistake).

There's a program called Body For Life that is, in my opinion, one of the most sound, science-backed weight loss and fitness programs out there, developed by a guy named Bill Phillips. One of the things he says regarding weight loss efforts is this: It's about progress, not perfection.

That's what I have to keep in mind now. Last week was far from perfect, but it was progress.

This week? Well, it'll be better. Next week maybe I'll go for perfection!

Anyway, here's what I did on Monday in terms of eating and working out.

Breakfast
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Turkey bacon -- 2 slices
Coffee (with a little Splenda and 1/4 cup almond milk in it)

Lunch
Low fat taco meat -- 5 ounces
Kidney beans -- 1/2 cup
Salsa, lettuce/mixed greens -- 1 cup
Mozzarella cheese -- 1/8 cup
Yogurt

Snack
Greek Yogurt

Dinner (just one today)
Chicken Parmesan, consisting of:
Chicken breast cooked in olive oil -- 6 ounces
Provolone cheese -- 1 slice, diet version
Spaghetti sauce -- 1/2 cup

Snack
Turkey patty
Slider bun
Tomato/ketchup/onion

Totals for the day
1,480 caloris
40 grams of fat
137 grams protein
36 ounces diet soda
80 ounces of water

Okay, the fat's a little high for that amount of calories, and the protein is low again. I guess I'm eating a few too many foods that are high in carbs and low in protein, such as regular yogurt and the bun with the turkey burger. Eliminating those things would definitely drop the carbs and a tiny bit of fat, but I'd need to replace them with something high in protein.I'll watch that in coming days.

For my workout, I did weight lifting, back and biceps today,

Seated Row -- narrow grip
130 pounds -- 10 reps
180 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each
Wide grip
160 pounds -- 3 sets, 10 reps each

Lat pull down
100 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps

Curl bar curl
40 pounds -- 10 reps
70 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps, 1 set, 6 reps

That back machine
80 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Seated machine ab crunches
100 pounds -- 2 sets, 15 reps each.

Okay folks, that's all for weigh-in day. Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday's eating and working out

Okay, I've been busy today, and with an early morning appointment on a stationary bike tomorrow, I'm just going to jump straight into my workout and food for today. I did blog earlier today, though, about my food intake and some thoughts about eating. Just scroll on down to my last post to see those little kernels of wisdom.

Today, I did legs and a little cardio.

Cardio
Stationary Bike
35 minutes (3 at lvl 7, 7 at lvl 6, the rest at lvl 5)
12.5 miles
390 calories

Weights -- legs, though remember, this is only my second leg workout, so still a little lighter on the weights and sets.

Squats
135 pounds - 1 set, 10 reps
160 pounds -- 1 set 8 reps
205 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
195 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps
185 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Leg press
210 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
240 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Leg extentions
115 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
110 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Lying leg curls
60 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
80 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Standing calf raises
360 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Abs
Seat crunch machine
115 pounds -- 2 sets, 15 reps each

Food for the day...

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 2 whole (weekend splurge)

Lunch
Protein Drink (protein powder, 8 ounces skim milk, 1 banana)

Snack 1
Tilapia -- 4 ounces

Snack 2
Lean ground beef, taco flavored -- 2 ounces
Cheese -- 1/2 serving
Salsa -- 1 tablespoon

Dinner
Cedar grilled chicken breast with rice (we ate out)
Salad

Totals for the day
Calories -- 1,760
Fat -- 84 grams (WAAAAY high)
Protein -- 144 grams, kinda low, especially for the amount of calories

Water -- 60 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

My LATE Day 5 Report

Well, I'm running way behind with this end-of-day report. Kinda busy for a Sunday, so I'll be short and sweet and to the point.

Workout for the Day
Cardio -- Stationary Bike
40 minutes
12.5 miles
401 calories burned (because the first 400 are nothing, it's that extra one that counts!)

I was going to just go until I hit 12 miles, but I was close to the 400-calorie mark, and, well, I couldn't just stop at that point.

Diet for the day.
Way low on overall calories, but I guess if I'm going to be off one way or other, being too low is best.

Breakfast
Coffee
Yep, that's it.

Lunch
Lean pork chops -- 6.15 ounces
Baked Potato -- 7 ounches
Diet Butter

Dinner
Fried pollock -- 4 ounces (coated with a batter made up off corn meal and egg-white)
Pinto Beans -- 1 cup

Snack
Salmon Patty -- 4 ounces

Total for the day
776 calories
22 grams of fat
105 grams of protein

70 ounces of water
30 ounces of diet soda

A Fat Boy Decides It's Time To Change...

I woke up a couple of days ago -- a Monday no less -- and discovered I was fat.

Really, really fat.

Okay, I didn't wake up and suddenly find I was trapped in some morbidly obese body, it was a slow process, taking years of mistreating myself to get to this point. But Monday was kind of a tipping point. Well, that and a recent picture someone took of me.

That picture -- I'll share it, but not today (That picture to your right, the little head shot of me in a blue shirt and tie -- that picture is nearly eight years old, and shows me about 64 pounds ago) -- was of a gathering with some of my wife's family, and I was absolutely astounded when I saw myself. I don't mean to suggest I didn't understand already I was fat, I mean really big, but I simply didn't quite have that imagine of myself in my head.

That was a week and a half ago. Then this week, on Monday, I stepped on the scales.

279 pounds.

I'm not a tall guy, coming in at barely 5'10".

To put a little perspective on that, when I graduated from high school I weighed 150 pounds. I'll be the first to say I was a little too light then (though I was blazing fast -- always the fastest guy on the basketball court or soccer field), but I was probably too thin. I went off to college, got fat (gained all the way up to 197 pounds), then started working out, running, eating better, and settled in at about 180 pounds. That was a good, healthy weight for me, given how much I was working out.

So, you could say I'm about 100 pounds overweight.

100 FREAKING POUNDS OVERWEIGHT!

Maybe, I don't know. I haven't a clue what 180 would look like on me now, or 190, or even 200. I've had a lifelong struggle with weight, at least during my adult life (no problems in high school when I was playing sports, working out, running...just generally always active). My weight has gone up and done, up and down, up and down, constantly. Unfortunately, each time it goes back down, it never gets as low as last time, and when it goes up, it's always a little more than the time before.

Just last summer, in 2015, I dropped from 265 to 242 in about six weeks. Since August 1, about seven months ago, I've been in a continual climb all the way up to Monday's 279 pounds. That's more than 5 pounds a month I've been gaining. My doctor's even concerned now, though maybe I'll get into all of that later.

For now, I'll just say I'm tired of being fat, tired of being unhealthy, tired of getting out of breath doing the simplest things, tired of not sleeping well because I've eaten a ton of bad stuff just before going to bed...tired of it all.

So beginning today, I'm setting out to change a few things, mostly how I eat, how I treat myself (better sleep, more exercise). I've done this before -- I'm the KING of yo-yo dieting -- but maybe it'll be different this time. I certainly should have some better motivation (again, more on that later).

Over the coming weeks, and maybe months, I'll post here regularly on how it's going -- my weight loss, exercise gains, struggles, successes, and the like. I'll post interesting articles and information I come across regarding fitness and health. I may share blogs of other people doing something similar to what I'm doing. I'll share more of my story, how I got here, how hard it is to change, and so forth. I'll lay out what I'm eating, my workouts, what I learn along the way.

And most of all, maybe I'll encourage someone else to make some positive changes along the way.

I don't know, maybe 50 people will see this, maybe 50,000, then again maybe just me, myself, and I will be the only ones to lay eyes on this blog. Either way, I hope whoever visits finds the blog enjoyable, fun, and maybe, just maybe, helpful in their own lives.

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to leave comments or questions in the comment section of the blog.

More later....