Day 36 - Did My Best

I did not weigh myself this morning so I'm not sure how I did yesterday exactly.  I do know that I had a few drinks and a couple of cookies and a brownie.  Otherwise the day went pretty well.  We had gone to our booster bash last night and there was some drinking and eating, so it's a little difficult to be perfectly good when everyone else around you is partying.  Today will be better as we are going to be mostly home bodies...  I have a couple of house things to do... and we are going over to my sister-in-law's house tonight for dinner.

Tomorrow I'm going into the office which will be more structured than my typical Monday, so I should be able to control my eating better today and tomorrow.  So we'll see how it goes.  I really need a good loss this week to catch up for the last two weeks...

Day 35 - Weigh In Not Good News

My last two weeks threw me way off and I need to get it back together.  I need to make sure things don't get to me so much, that I do what I need to do in all areas of my life despite my circumstance.  It's not always easy... Still, I am pretty close to my goal loss of 1.5 lbs per week still so I'm not that far behind and I can catch back up quickly.  I'm just not going to give up.

How are you doing with your goal?  Are you getting through without letting life get to you?  Let me know.

Day 33 - Not So Good This Week

Ok, girl scout cookies and beer have been my downfall since I got home this week.  I did walk a bit yesterday, probably about 20 minutes.  Today we have a busy day so I am not sure if I will be able to walk or not.  I only have two days and probably about 4 lbs to lose, although I didn't weigh myself this morning.  I'm expecting that this week will not be good so I'll have to try a lot harder next week.

Up A Bit With This Morning's Weigh In

This morning I weighed myself at 210 and I have updated the stats on the side.  I got home last night late after flying home from L.A.  I didn't know if the walking around the airport of the heavy eating would affect me more, I guess it was all kind of neutral.

I've only got 4 days to lose this week... I'm going to target 208.5 for my next weigh in Saturday.

We Will Have To Wait One Day

I was stuck in Los Angeles overnight and am still waiting for an open seat, so could not weigh myself today.  I'll do that tomorrow, and I'll be honest, because I probably gained a pound or two this week.  I'll just have to do better in my next *4 day* week.  Thank you for your patience.

Diet Out The Window?

We are driving across Oklahoma right now as I write on Interstate 40, Jeffery is driving.  We are driving his 1991 Toyota Corolla and it's doing very well, although not so much on gas mileage.  We have to fill up about every 200 miles and I'm not sure how that's going to be when we get into Texas.  We got stuck in Tulsa in a traffic jam that ate up about 50 minutes but we're trying to get back on schedule now.  We're driving through to Phoenix today, which will probably put us after 1am local time unless we do something miraculous.

My eating has sucked but I've had some good stuff.  After today I'll try to get back on track.  Monday's weigh in will not look too pretty though I'm pretty sure.

Our schedule puts us into L.A. at midnight on Saturday night, so we're going to take a breather at my brother-in-law's house for the day tomorrow.  They've got a pool and we've got some cigars... I'll probably have a beer or two also.  Gotta treat this like a vacation some how.

Day 25 - I Guess It's Not

My eating was definitely not under control yesterday and it showed on the scale today.  My big problem was that I had pretzels and rice crispy treats in the afternoon.  Most of the day was similar to other days I had otherwise... I had cereal for breakfast, PB&J on wheat and a fiber one bar for lunch, and a reasonable dinner.  I had chocolate-covered pomegranates after dinner (dark chocolate).  Exercise was 35 minutes of walking around our warehouse.

I won't be writing anything for the next for days because I will be traveling.  I will pick it up again on Monday.

Day 24 - Eating Under Control?

I weighed myself this morning and I was a little surprised to be about where I started the week because it is about 2 lbs down from yesterday (I weighed myself after I wrote).  I had a pretty normal day... I had leftovers for lunch and a regular dinner.  I didn't drink enough water or exercise enough.  I kept the snacks to a minimum and avoided alcohol.  So not a bad day... After tomorrow it may be more of a challenge so weigh in will be a complete surprise on Monday.

Day 23 - Valentine's Day Eating

Most of the day was ok yesterday but we did have a big dinner.  I didn't weigh myself today but I'm pretty sure I'm up.  We had steak, mashed potatoes, beats, and drunken (chocolate alcohol) berries for desert.  The rest of the day I did eat pretty lean so I'm really not sure how I did.  I'll have to get some exercise in today and in the next two days because I probably won't be exercising much while we drive.

Day 22 - Now I'm Feeling Blue

I had an interesting day yesterday... I ended up skipping breakfast and needed to run errands around noon.  So I ended up buying a package of fat free fig newtons and eating the whole package.  Then in the evening I drank a few beers as we had our once a month bowling league.  So not a good eating day yesterday.  I did bowl for exercise...

So not a good day and it's going to be an extremely difficult week with traveling over next weekend.  I may not make my target, which is 207.5.  I guess if that turns out to be true I'll have to make it up the next week.

On a positive note, my son Jeffery is home right now and he's going to drive with me back to California beginning Thursday morning.  We're taking his car out to him and I'm flying back on Sunday.  Should be an interesting trip.  We're only doing one long driving day and have stopovers each day, no hotels/motels.  It'll be nice seeing my sister and my brother-in-law.

Day 21 - Weigh In Was Fun

That was sarcastic... Despite my good weight on Friday morning, my official weekly weight was one tenth of a pound off my goal for the week.  Not bad, but not exactly success either.  Yesterday I had more of a normal day, eating breakfast, having peanut butter and jelly on wheat for lunch, a fiber one bar for a snack, a normal dinner, and raisins in the evening for a snack.  I had coffee in the morning to drink and a lot of water in the afternoon.  My downfall may have been dinner where we had sausage, pasta, broccoli, and baked beans.  It did all add up to food in my stomach versus Thursday when I virtually didn't eat, which is weight, and moved the scale up more than 3 lbs.

I did have 1/2 hour of walking yesterday for exercise.  I could complain that exercise made me gain weight but I'm not doing enough of it to build muscle... when you are building muscle it is partially because you are increasing your calories to compensate for your workout anyway, which I am not doing.  So not using the muscle theory.

Next week will be interesting as I will be on the road Thursday through Sunday.  I'll do my official weigh in on Monday morning and will not be writing my blog Thursday through Sunday.  It'll be interesting to see how I do with being on the road and eating good, especially when I'll have to not drink so much water as I'm driving.  We need to make sure we don't stop too much.

I will write daily until Thursday...

Day 20 - Trying Hard To Shrink Me

I went for a very lean day yesterday to try to make up for earlier in the week when my eating was not so good... The scale today shows that I overdid it so today has to be more normal.  I skipped breakfast, taking coffee instead, had raisins for lunch and dry cheerios for a snack in the afternoon, and a reasonable dinner.  I abstained from eating in the evening.  I drank a ton of water in the afternoon and evening.

As far as exercise goes, I mainly did twists at several times during the day.  Nothing too strenuous.

I was a little surprised my scale weight was down so far today.  I think I'm just trying to hit 208.9 tomorrow but I was well below that.  I just need to keep today normal but not so lean.

Day 19 - Same Old Same Old

Although I did put more effort into cutting calories yesterday, I had a muchie evening.  Mostly I had nuts, which doesn't seem so bad, but I did have salted nuts.  I also had a bunch of raisins.  In addition, I did have a little brandy last night so I did have a bit of alcohol.  Thinking about it, this doesn't seem like much but I probably did have a lot of nuts.  Plus I didn't really exercise yesterday.  All of this led to a weigh-in (unofficial) where my weight has not moved.  In fact, it really hasn't moved much all week, either direction.  Ok, so what do I do now to get my 1.5 lbs for the week?  I guess I'm going to have to be really good the next two days; I mean really good with no cheating.  Stay tuned to see if I can make weight this week...

Day 18 - Earthquake Felt Like Freight Train

Maybe that didn't rhyme... but we were woken up by a 4.3 earthquake at 4am or so.  Where do we live?  L.A.?  No, we live 50 miles west of Chicago in Elgin.  The epicenter was east of Sycamore, Illinois.  Our son has been living in Hollywood for 2 years and has yet to feel anything.

As far as my attempt to lose weight, I had a good day yesterday, I just had a beer in the evening.  My wife made chili for dinner, that was probably my downfall as I ate 2 1/2 bowls.  My weight this week hasn't moved a whole lot and I'm going to need to lose a couple of pounds in the next three days to make my goal.  I am working from home today, maybe I'll eat lean and work out a bit more, see how it goes.

Day 17 - Good Day, No Jim Beam

Yes, I didn't drink today.  Not that I didn't feel like having a beer tonight.  My day was similar to several others in my recent past.  Had cereal for breakfast, peanut butter and jelley on wheat for lunch, a bananna and fiber one bar for an afternoon snack, and a regular dinner.  I did have some chocolate-covered pomegranates and almonds in the evening.  I had a small walk for exercise and poured in the water in the afternoon.  I had coffee in the morning and one diet pop in the afternoon.

I felt a little full last night, I hope I didn't overdo it on dinner or whatever.  My weight yesterday morning was reasonable but I didn't weigh myself today.  I'm going to have to find calories to cut quickly if my weight is up tomorrow morning.

Day 16 - Superbowl With Poker In Between

Day 16, Sunday, I watched the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts in the Superbowl.  My eating in the evening was not so good... we had munchies including chips and such.  I had a total of three beers also.  I guess it was not such a good evening.  I did make sure to drink water so maybe that helped a bit.  I'll have to really watch it this week so I can make my 1.5 lb loss.  It may not be so easy judging by last week.

Day 15 - Fell Off The Wagon Into The Ravine

Confession time: I started the day pretty well but I ate a late lunch at 2:30 and had Chinese out.  This included soup, an egg roll, and cashew shrimp.  The rest of the day I kept it mostly in check, but I did have a couple (2) drinks at a friends house and a couple (2) chocolate chip cookies.  My day was fairly normal otherwise and I did skip dinner.  I felt fine most of the day and I did drink a lot of water.  Ultimately my bad eating day cost me a little, but not as much as I thought it would.  Now I just have to get back up, dust myself off, and try harder.

I have been working hard on my blogs this weekend and trying to get a lot of other things done.  I think when you try to cram too much in your eating takes a bad direction.  Best to plan your eating and then your activities I think.  Don't worry too much about how you're eating because that can be a bad thing too, just track and try to improve on a daily basis.  I'll keep you posted on how I do today with the Superbowl and everything.  I am going over to my brother-in-law's house and he'll probably have food and drinks.  There should be some good choices to be made though.

Day 14 - Weigh In Day For Me

I have now posted my weight for the week at 210.4 lbs.  That gives me a 1.8 lb loss for the week, more than the 1.5 lbs per week I need for my goal.  I was hoping to squeeze out a 2 lb loss but my weight was all over the place this week so I am happy where I am at.  I am not sure exactly what I did right and wrong this week, I know I had periods where I felt really hungry and dehydrated, but yesterday I felt fine all day and nothing much had changed.

For week 3 I will have to see if I can increase my exercise somehow and avoid the empty calories of alcohol.  I think I had a total of 3 beers this week but zero would be better.  My breakfast/lunch eating is where it should be I believe but perhaps I could cut some calories at dinner or in the evening.  This hasn't been so easy but I believe that starting this journey is the hardest, then it's just a matter of not letting life get the best of you.

As far as the situation I was talking about yesterday, I'm not sure if it's better, worse, or otherwise.  I was a little surprised with some developments yesterday.  Maybe I don't have to open a new page.  I would actually prefer not to.  I'll post some vague comments as the situation progresses but right now I'm optimistic.

Day 13 - Day Of Hard Feelings

I had a good and a bad day yesterday, and I did have a beer in the evening.  Day 13 was much like day 12... dinner was beef sandwiches but I only ate about half.  I felt dehydrated and dizzy though I did pile on the water both in the morning and afternoon.  I had two handfuls of almonds in the evening... I'm not sure what all of this is going to do for me...

If you're like me, life gives you hard knocks on occasion but that is no reason to give up, at least not on your diet.  Sometimes you do need to move to the next step in your life, whatever that may be, and that may be where I'm at now.  Sometimes you find yourself in a no win scenario... You don't ever give up on living but you may need to find a new situation.  btw: I'm not talking about my family life either... but I can't be any more specific.

You know, I would love to just be open and honest about everything and it really sucks that I can't be.  It would be nice to talk about all of the things that bother me -- that might get in the way of losing weight especially.  Just don't let a hard knock or two keep you from moving forward with your weight loss goal.

Day 12 - I Lost Weight I Felt

The scale says I'm up today but I felt like I lost weight yesterday.  My day looked similar to the day before, but I did have one beer in the evening and I increased my walk to 40 minutes.  I may have eaten more for dinner than the day before so that might be something to watch.

It'll be interesting this week to see where I end up because unlike last week, my weight has been very erratic.  I feel like I'm more in control but it is not reflected in my scale weight.

Day 11 - Heading The Right Direction

I kept my eating in check yesterday, having cereal for breakfast (cheerios & 1% milk), peanut butter and jelley on wheat for lunch, I took a fiber bar for a snack (gone by 1pm), a bowl of chili for dinner, and almonds and raisins for an evening snack.  No alcohol or soda pop, I had a diet pepsi at lunch, coffee in the morning, and lots of water in the afternoon.

I did walk our warehouse for about half an hour yesterday for exercise, I'll try to add to that today.  Overall a very good day and the scale confirmed it this morning.

Day 10 - Good Day Again

The good thing is that I controlled my eating well.  I avoided soda, beer, and sweets.  I didn't eat out.  I was hungry all afternoon and did my best to counter it with water, but it was harder and I was more cranky than normal.  I probably needed to exercise but I didn't other than doing some house work.  I need to improve on that.  All of this said, my weight this morning was up so I don't know how I'm going to finish out the week.  I've got a few days yet so we'll see.

Day 9 - I Did Fine

During day 9, I did ok.  I did have one beer in the evening but I mostly avoided the bad stuff.  I had cereal for breakfast, a small bowl of chili and yogurt for lunch, and ribs for dinner.  After dinner I did have chocolate covered pomegranates.  They are 100 calories for 20 but I probably had a few more than 20.  During the afternoon I piled on the water to avoid snacking and it worked very well.

For exercise I just did twists in the morning.  My scale feedback from the day was pretty good but I do have a ways to go to get 2 lbs for the week.  I'll have to get it together the next couple of days.