Assault is Not the Right Word

Thoughts for Today
I probably will not quite hit that 25 lbs in 3 months goal when I wake up tomorrow, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if there were a slight gain. Today's rendition of assault on salt was more along the lines of bringing a nerf dart shooter to a gunfight than an all out assault. Buffalo sauce and Chinese (not to mention salted peanuts) were not good choices for this salt war. I never said I would succeed in carrying out this assault. Just that it worked well last time I tried, and that I wanted to try again for a week. Back on it tomorrow...

However, the overall food eaten today was OK, I had a fair bit of water, and hit my daily pedometer goal. Grade it a C+ and call it a day.

Good night y'all!

Exercise
Walked the dogs up the hill, throw the football around with the neighbors, and ended up with 10,000+ pedometer steps on the day.

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

McDougal's for a Buffalo Chicken Salad with grilled (not fried) chicken. No dressing other than the buffalo sauce.

Dinner
Chinese. Reasonable portion of Chicken and Broccoli and one wonton from the soup.

Snacks
6-8 malted milk balls (Whoppers). 2 pieces of Russel Stover candy from Valentine's Day. A few big handfuls of Raisin Bran. Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bar. A Girl Scout Cookie (Samoan). A handful of salted peanuts.

Closing In

Thoughts for Today
Getting real close to losing 25 lbs. As of this morning, I'm down 24.5 from when I started. Would love it if I could drop another 1/2 pound by the time I wake up on April 1 to weigh in, so I could call it a nice round 25 lb in 3 months. Already this is the most I've ever lost, and I'll say it again a lot of it has to do with this blog and my blogger friends.

Grading myself an A for the day for accomplishing a first - running 20 minutes straight on the Wii Fit. I usually break into 10 minute segments. Also for another first, breaking 14,000 steps on the pedometer. Got plenty of water and most of what I ate was healthy, and more importantly tasted great!

Good night y'all!

Exercise
20 minutes runnign on Wii Fit. Also walked the dogs up the hill, and ended up with 14,000+ pedometer steps on the day.

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Anything and Everything Grilled Chicken Salad at Logan's Roadhouse. Never had it before, but was very good, with little pieces of cranberry and walnut. Had a few too many peanuts out of the bucket, probably about 30, but I like throwing the shells on the floor.

Dinner
In the spirit of low salt, I had a big bowl of Raisin Bran and a whole wheat bagel with a light coating of lowfat vegetable cream cheese.

Snacks
6-8 malted milk balls (Whoppers). Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bar.

Level Two!!!

Thoughts for Today
After about two months on the pedometer I wear as part of my company's wellness program I finally made it to Level 2, which earns me $25. Not much yet, but the next 3 levels are $125, $175, and $175, so I'll keep up the walking. Of course the real payoffs are in feeling better and dropping pounds, but still I'll take the cash! If anyone of you have a chance to get in one of these programs, I recommend it.

Assault on Salt Week hasn't exactly started with a bang, because on top of Thai food for lunch I had some leftovers from yesterday's dinner that I didn't want to go to waste. Tomorrow will be a lot less salty.

Grading myself a B- because eating overall wasn't bad, plenty of water, and enough exercise to hit 10,000 steps.

Exercise
Ran 20 minutes on Wii Fit. Will have 10,000+ pedometer steps after a walk around the block

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Thai Food - Red Curry Chicken and a spring roll.  Ate only 1/2 the steamed white rice. Most excellent! Water.

Dinner
Leftovers from last night. Half of Rattlesnake Pasta, mashed potatoes (no gravy), and a little bit of sweet potato for dessert.

Snacks
6-8 malted milk balls (Whoppers). Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bar.

Assault on Salt - Part II

Thoughts for Today
I am ready to have another Assault on Salt this week, which means cooking dinner at home every night even when it's inconvenient and trying to keep lunches out as low salt as possible too. When I did it a few weeks ago, it really did seem to shake things up and get the weight loss moving again and since then things have kind of slowed down, so I'm ready to do it again, the the wife is onboard with the idea too. Problem is that I like salty food. Especially while I'm in this weight loss mode and lots of the great tasting lowfat, low cal snacks like seasoned air popped popcorn and homeade beef jerky are loaded with salt.  Eliminate salty snacks and sometimes it feels that all that's left is raw carrots and rice cakes..oh wait are rice cakes salty too?...but anyway I'll be OK just doing it for a week.

Grade for today is a B+. Ate only half my dinner portion even though I wanted it all, stuck to one biscuit whn I easily could have eaten three and then asked for more. Had plenty of water and will get in my 10,000 steps. Was a fairly salty day, but next week should fix that.

Any favorite low salt snack suggestions, I'd love to hear them...Good night y'all!
 
Exercise
Will have 10,000+ pedometer steps after some running on the Wii Fit.

Breakfast
Bowl of Raisin Bran & Multi Grain Cheerios in skim milk. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Leftover Chinese from yesterday. 1/2 lunch portion of Chicken with Garlic sauce and steamed white rice.

Dinner
Chop House for Rattlesnake Pasta. A very tasty and nonhealthy fettucine in spicy cream sauce dish, but I only ate half and sampled on the wife's mashed potatoes (no gravy), and steamed broccoli.  Also had a small biscuit with just a little bit of the sweet butter.

Snacks
An ambrosia apple. About 12-15 malted milkballs (Whoppers). A few small handfuls of salted peanuts.

History Never Repeat!

Thoughts for Today
I am very happy with where I've gotten so far as far as weight loss and I really do think the fun and support that goes with blogging every day has been a big part of it. And I still have plenty of tough pounds to lose, but even when I do reach my goal, I'm still not sure what's going to keep me from repacking on the weight back on again. In the past, after I've had a certain amount of success losing weight, I'll stop weighing every day, then cut back to once a week, then I'll see I've gained just a few pounds, and it the whole thing slowly erodes from there and one day I wake up and can't fit in any of my pants. This time around is more successful than any past campaigns, but I'm still not sure what's going to keep history from repeating itself.

I think part of the answer lies in continuing the blog long after I reach goal. Do I picture myself posting every item of food I eat to the internet for the rest of my life. No! But I do think I'm definitely going to lean on all my blogger friends for long after I reach goal. to help me stick to the things that have been successful. Besides, I just like chatting with y'all anyway about stuff, weight loss and otherwise, so expect to see me around for a long time to come!

Good night y'all!
 
Exercise
10,000+ pedometer steps after a walk around the whole neighborhood with my son.

Breakfast
Whole wheat bagel with a little bit of lite cream cheese and 2 slices of turkey bacon. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

1/2 lunch portion of Chicken with Broccoli and steamed white rice and a bowl of hot and sour soup with just a few crunchy noodles.

Dinner
Joey's Pizza (1 slice pepperoni) and a bowl of salad with vinegarette.

Snacks
An ambrosia apple. A frozen Skinny Cow Vanilla Truffle. A small handful of salted peanuts.

Elite Eight!

Thoughts for Today
UT (University of Tennessee) beat OH State 76-73 to make it into the Elite Eight in NCAA Tournament tonight for the first time in history and we had a great time at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the game and socializing with other UT fans, so health issues and weight loss have taken a back seat for today,

Eating wasn't so good. Had Grilled Chicken Tenders (OK) at Buffalo Wild Wings but also split an order of onion rings and downed 3 giant glasses of Michelob Ultra Lite. Lunch was a Chicken Burrito at Taco Bell, and breakfast was a Kellog's Chocolately Pretzel granola bar. Snacked on a Girl Scout Cookie (Samona) and an Ambrosia apple. Didn't get quite enough water and am not gonna hit my 10,000 steps for today.

C- on the day, but it was a great game, a great time, and I woudln't change a thing about it!
Good night y'all!
 

I Want my BK Big Kid's Meal

Thoughts for Today
Wife and I met at Burger King for lunch. Doesn't BK always smell so good outside when they are grilling burgers? We've been eating the BK Big Kid's meal lately, which feels funny to order as an adult, but it's just the right amount of food.  A great little double burger and a little bag of fries with a Det Coke. But today we ended up with just the Kid's Meal (guy at counter messed up the order)  which is a small, thin single burger and the little bag of fries. And it really wasn't enough, I was starving about an hour later and had to have a snack or two. On the way home I was so hungry, I ate a little pack of croutons that I found in the glove box of my truck.

Also tried my first Activia, before today all I knew was that dumb song Activiiiiiiiiiiiiiiia! It sort of tasted liek strawberry yougurt with hard little pieces of bread in it, but it wasn't half bad.


Grading myself a C+ on the day for not eating enough lunch, which caused me to continuously snack for the rest of the day.
Good night y'all!
 
Exercise
Should make it to 10,000+ pedometer steps with a little jogging in place. Wife is even talking abou a little jump roping in the driveway, so I'm sure I'll get the steps somehow.

Breakfast
Bowl of Multi Grain Cheerios with skim milk. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Wife and I met at Burger King - BK Kids meal, burger, fries, and Diet Coke.

Dinner
Leftover Chicken Cream Cheese Rolls from last night. Excellent again. Sides of green beans and Harvest Wheat Brown Grain Rice with mushrooms. Big glass of water.

Snacks
Cascadian Farms Chocolate and Pretzel granola bar. A few spoonfuls of chocolate, the real kind that you cook, excellent! Small bag of croutons. An Activia yougrt/cereal thing. A few peppermints and malted milkballs (Whoppers). A few handfuls of cheese popcorn.

Stress Works

Thoughts for Today
Again hit my 10,000 steps even though this afternoon/evening was long and stressful and a perfect setup not to get in the steps. I actually kind of used all the crap I had to do as a way to squeeze out a few thousand more steps, so I guess sometimes stress works.

Grading myself a A- for today for reasonable portions of food I really enjoyed, good snacking, hitting my 10,000 steps, having plenty of water, and low salt overall on the day. Need to start working fruit back into what I eat.  That's all I got for tonight, hope everyone is doing well on their journey today.
Good night y'all!

Exercise
10,000+ pedometer steps after some walks.

Breakfast
Cascadian almond/chocolate granola bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Wife and I met at Otter's for a salad with two small chicken buffalo tenders and a Diet Coke. Weather was beautiful, so we got to sit at an outside table.

Dinner
Wife found a superb recipe in a book with 4 ingredient Diabetic meals: Chicken Cream Cheese Rolls. She made it with lowfat vegerbale cream cheese and for a 4 ingredient meal, it really had a gourmet type taste. Sides of green beans and Harvest Wheat Brown Grain Rice. Big glass of water.

Snacks
Bowl of Multi Grain Cheerios/Total flakes with skim milk. 1 girl scout cookie (Samoan).

I Didn't Wanna Do It

Thoughts for Today
After a long day yesterday and a very full day today including doing my taxes, I was in no mood for exercising and my pedometer steps were nowhere close to 10,000. Knowing I didn't want to do it, my wife thankfully jumped in and gave me the motivation I needed, insisting on a much longer walk than we usually do so I could hit my 10,000 goal. She had us going down every little extra dead end, cul-de-sac, and parking lot she could find til I reached goal. And I actually feel more energetic now after having done it. I definitely would have rationalized my way out of it tonight without her, so she gets a Sugar Doll award too even though she doesn't blog!

Grading myself a B for today for the long walk, plenty of water, decent snacking. Would have graded higher if dinner portion was smaller and I'd had a bit less overall sodium.

Good night y'all!

Exercise
10,000+ pedometer steps after the long walk.

Breakfast
90 cal Kellog's Honey Nut bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Mineo's for a slice of cheese pizza and a side salad with vinegarette. The pizza was really good and I must admit I was a little sad when it was gone. Once we left the place I was fine and wasn't hungry at all, but still those urges are clearly there.

Dinner
Wife made a terrific grilled tilapia topped with homeade onion, olive, tomato, garlic, and olive oil salsa. I ate a pretty big piece of tilapia, but had only green beans seasoned with Louisiana Hot Sauce for a side dish. Big glass of water.

Snacks
Cascadian almond/chocolate granola bar. Small bowl of Multi Grain Cheerios with skim milk. Frozen Skinny Cow French Vanilla Truffle.

No Time For Blogging

Thoughts for Today
Don't have enough time for a real entry today, so just an abbreviated one. Grading myself a A- so far. Meals and snacking have been light and mostly healthy, no real salty food yet, and heading toward decent amount of pedometer steps. Just need to drink some more water and keep dinner reasonable to preserve the A- cause I'm really ready to move past the range I've been hovering at for well over a week!

Good night y'all!

Exercise
Helping our oldest daughter with some stuff at her apartment, that should be enough exercise. Don't know how many pedometer steps I'll end up at.

Breakfast
Fiber One Chocolate and Oats Bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Chik-A-Fila's Char Grilled Chicken Salad with a little bit of berry vinegarette dressing and the pack of sunflower seeds they give you. Glass of water.

Dinner
Unknown as of yet. Something takeout on the way to our daughter's. Will try to keep it fairly light.

Snacks
Cascadian almond/chocolate granola bar. Real small bowl of Multi Grain Cheerios with skim milk.

Thanks Lisa!

Tonight I'm skipping my usual format because I want to thank my good blogger friend Lisa for presenting me the "Sugar Doll' award. She awarded it to me for being a guy who has lost weight without giving up any of the food I enjoy. As those of you who follow my blog know, that's the most important component of my weight loss journey. I think it's the only way I can make it work long term, as opposed to "diets" I've inevitably abandoned in the past when I grew tired of being so restrictive about the kinds of food I let myself eat and having to keep close counts on calories, fats, etc. My "common sense" approach consists of just a few things: eat only when I'm actually hungry, have whatever I want but in sensible portions that don't leave me feeling stuffed, cut back on sweets and high sodium stuff but don't try to eliminate them, drink plenty of water, and try to get in enough daily exercise to average 10,000 steps a day on my pedometer. I've been able to stick to these things without feeling hungry, have lost 20+ lbs since New Years, and also have felt a lot better and more energetic. It's not a perfect method and I think some of the long plateaus I've hit are a result of eating some hi fat/hi cal food, but I think this is going to be my approach for life as long as I continue to gradually progress towards my goal weight without letting it run my life.

Thank you again Lisa! I really enjoy your blog and I know many others respect what you do as well. This award means a lot coming from you. And now I pass the Sugar Doll award to:

Tammy for losing 100+ lbs, sticking to the reminder of her journey no matter how hard it gets, and being very open and honest about the entire experience.

Enz for always offers great ideas to me and others and keeping a positive attitude through all the ups and downs and her own journey.

266 for losing weight EVERY week since August 2009. Just amazing!

Cactus Freek for her sticking to her journey despite all kinds of chaos in her life.

Journey Beyond Survival for consistently being supportive to me and others and for passing along great  information all the time.

Good night y'all!

Flavor of The Week

Thoughts for Today

First, thanks to Lisa for the "Sweet Doll" award. While it aint the most masculine sounding award, I really appreciate it! Will try to fulfill its terms tommorow. Now onto my day..

I've realized since I started blogging that I quickly grow bored with exercise. Well not exercise in itself, but focusing too much one kind all at once. For a while, running on the Wii Fit was all the rage, then it was walks around the neighborhood, now it's jump roping.  Eventually I dread doing them because it becomes too much like a "task." That's why I don't join a gym or anything. I think I would quickly learn to dread any kind of "workout routine" and just up and quit doing it one day. And I'm not putting down any of my fellow bloggers who can and do stick to a exercise routines, in fact I wish I could be more like you in that respect. I'm just speaking honestly about myself and saying I think I need to mix it up better when it comes to exercise instead of concentrating so heavily on things that end up just becoming the flavor of the week.

Anyway, while jumping roping is the current flavor ....

Wife did a little reading online about jump roping and learned that stretching before/after and walking around between sets of 100 or so jumps instead of just standing there panting is supposed to increase the calorie burning benefit because your heart rate stays elevated throughout. So we tried it her way and I do like it better. It seems easier to do all the jumps when you keep moving, my legs don't end up feeling as jello like, and I get done quicker.

Grading myself a B for today. Eating was so-so on the health scale, but lots of exercise, lots of water, and snacking was decent.

Exercise
Upped the jump roping by another +50 jumps for a total of 450. Also, we walked one of the trails at Old Stone Fort State Park and we definitely want to go back and hike more of the trails now that weather is getting nice. Ended up with 12,000+ pedometer steps today.

Breakfast
Bowl of Multi Grain Cheerios mixed with Total and skim milk. I've always liked mixing cereals. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Wife and I met our son at Panera Bread. I love their French Onion Soup Bread Bowl and I know it's not the healthiest thing in the world but that's my favorite dish there so I was not to be deterred. Was a beautiful afternoon and we got to sit at a table on the outside patio, so I fed the inner part of the bread bowl that they cut out to make room for the soup to the birds. Normally I would have eaten that along with a side of more bread. Instead, got an apple for the side and a few glasses of water.

Dinner
Drove out into the country to visit family and a great home cooked dinner was awaiting on our arrival. Baked fish, baked potato, pinto beans and cornbread, greens and vinegar, and white sweet potato for dessert. Meal was excellent and I must admit I unnecessarily grazed a little afterwards on extra bites of cornbread and sweet potato that I didn't need.  But it was a great meal and most people would have done the same thing, so I'm not worried about it. The saving grace is that for her own health reasons "Me-maw" (as we call her) doesn't cook with salt and uses light/lowfat versions of butter, sour cream etc.

Snacks
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. Sliced up orange. A few big handfuls of Multi Grain Cheerios. 4-5 peppermint candies.

How Many Jump Rope Reps?

Thoughts for Today
Very short post because I'm tired and it's been kind of a long week. Grading myself a A- for today. Eating was healthy other than maybe the dressing on the Greek salad, drank a lot of water, upped my jump rope reps by 50, and snacking was good. I wonder how long I'll be able to keep upping my jump rope reps by +50 a day. At the beginnning, I was thinking I'd get to 1000 a day, but after today (400) I'm not so sure! For some reason, I feel really full even though I haven't overeaten. Maybe it's because of the jump roping and all the water.

Anyway, got to run. I need to catch up with everyone's blogs and will do so soon. Good night y'all!

Exercise
Bumped up to 400 jump rope reps today and am around 8000 pedometer steps. May not make my 10,000 steps cause I'm really tired and my legs bit a bit like jello.

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Terrific Greek Salad at Bosco's with a couple friends from a previous job. Glass of water.

Dinner
A 97% fat free Hebrew National hotdog on a slice of Heathy Life (35 cal) bread with spicy mustard, a small bowl of baked beans, and a few Baked Tostitos and salsa. Water.

Snacks
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 1 Girl Scouts cookie (Samoan). A few big handfuls of Raisin Bran.

Charley the Grocer

Thoughts for Today
When I was a kid I remember the guy who owned the neighborhood store was way overweight and he always used to send the kids who worked there out on errands to pick him up Burger King and such. He'd order the most super sized Whoppers, fries, apple pies, etc. available but at the end of the order he'd make absolutely certain that his drink was a Diet Coke. I always found that a hilarious and futile gesture considering the rest of his order. Today I went to lunch at BK and found myself doing the same thing, although in my defense I ate only half of the bad items. But I did make sure that drink was a Diet Coke, so I guess Charlie the grocer finally gets the last laugh.

Posting early tonight cause we're getting ready to head out to dinner with friends soon and probably won't be home until late. Pre-emptively grading myself a C+, mostly because of lunch, but the grade could go up or down depending on the rest of the day.
Good night y'all!

Exercise
Going to jump rope after this post. My goal is to add 50 jumps each day - I did 300 yesterday. Today will be 350, tomorrow 400, and so on until I reach an amount I decide is more than enough. Should top 10,000 steps by day's end.

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Burger King. Ate half of one of the new Steakhouse XT Burger and half an order of fries. Diet Coke. I don't regret it cause I wanted to try the new BK burger, it was really good, and it's not the kind of thing I've been eating on a regular basis! But I just looked up the stats, and I apparently ate half the amounts of each:

970 calories, 135mg cholesterol, 12g sugar, 55g carbs, 61g fat, 42g protein, 1930mg sodium

Dinner
Going out for authentic Mexican with friends. Going to try to stick to chicken fajitas without the tortilla and small quantities of chips and salsa.

Snacks
An Empire apple. 10-12 natural almonds.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Thoughts for Today
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone, hope everyone is having a good one. I haven't hoisted a green beer yet, but will probably toss back a few Michelob Ultra Lites later. Not quite Harp or Guinness, but it'll do just fine.

Grading today a solid B+. Plenty of pedometer steps, only one salty meal, lots of water, and snacking was healthy. Would have liked to earn an A today, but I did eat some chocolate chip cookie, waffle fries, and bacon, so B+ is tops unless I run a half marathon before bedtime.

Good night y'all and be safe!

Exercise
Going to jump rope after this and also go for a walk, should go way over 10,000 steps by day's end.

Breakfast
Bowl of Raisin Bran with 1% milk. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

My company brought in giant spuds from McCallister's Deli. I had half of one with a little bit of each fixing: bacon, sour cream, cheddar, black olives, chives, and pepper. Also half a chocolate chip cookie. Both were great! Water.

Dinner
Family dinner at Chik-A-Fila. Had a Chik-A-Fila sandwich, half an order of waffle fries, and Diet Dr. Pepper.

Snacks
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. An Empire apple.

Zoolander

Thoughts for Today
Short post tonight, I'm think I'm still tired from daylight savings and messed up sleep schedule. Grading myself a C+ for today. Lunch and dinner pretty salty and all, but didn't snack much today and have had a decent amount of water, and also going for a walk.

Thanks everyone for all the support last night when I was starting to wander off the trail.  Today was an improvement, tomorrow I'll do y'all proud!

Side note. Watching Zoolander while I write this and as stupid as it is and as many times as I've seen it, it still makes me laugh like crazy. Good night y'all.

Exercise
Going for a walk, should hit close to 10,000 steps.

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

J. Christopher's for Chicken Panini sandwich and roasted potatoes. Water.

Dinner
Leftovers from Macaroni grill, but much lesser portions than when we went the other night.

Snacks
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar.

The BS Stops Tommorw

Thoughts for Today
Grading myself a D for today. Two salty meals including a fatty dinner that wasn't even very good, not nearly enough glasses of water, no exercise other than walking around Target, and 300+ calories of Starbucks to boot. Pretty much a page out of the playbook that made it impossible for me to fit into most of my pants. If I wasn't going to hit 10,000 steps, today would be a F.

I don't know why I've been messing up the last few days. This morning I had gained 2 lbs, I guess partially from all the salt. It is especially lame on my part because I was so close to getting into a weight range that I haven't seen since the MID-NINETIES and I'm messing around. This BS needs to stop when I wake up tomorrow so I can get on to better places.

Good night y'all.

Exercise
No specific exercise, a little short of 10,000 steps so far.

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Jersey Mike regular turkey sub (#7) on wheat with spicy mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, banana pepper, and spices. Small bag of baked BBQ Lays.

Dinner
Celebrated our long time friends 25th wedding anniversary and they wanted Chinese buffet. In my experience, going to Chinese buffets at anytime other than 11a-12p or 5p-6p is a bad idea and this was no exception.  Nothing really seemed fresh and was all pretty mediocre. I had fried rice, a couple dumplings, hot and sour soup, chicken and broccoli, crab legs, cantaloupe, orange slices, half a cookie, and another couple unmemorable things. All in all was kind of a stupid way to have somewhat of a splurge. At least the hot tea was good.

Snacks
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 4-6 malted milkballs (Whoppers). Tall Cafe Mocha at Starbucks.

Red Wine Guy

Thoughts for Today
Grading myself a C- for today, my worst since I started the grading system. Things were OK until Macaroni Grill for dinner and then went quickly downhill. As if what I ate there wasn't bad enough, I then got home and (probably because of the red wine buzz) started eating snacks I was not hungry for at all. Snacked a lot in general today and had 2 very high salt meals. If I hadn't had a decent amount of pedometer steps, I would have downgraded it to a D.

I'm still very happy about the overall progress I've made since starting the blog, but that guy who wants to go around eating everything is definitely still very much alive, especially when you feed him red wine!

Good night y'all.

Exercise
A little bit of jump roping and some walking. A little short of 10,000 steps so far.

Breakfast
Bowl of Raisin Bran and 1% milk. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Leftover Chinese from last night. Chicken Garlic, string beans, and brown rice. Reasonable size portion with a few glasses of water.

Dinner
Wife and I went to Macaroni Grill. 3/4 of the hot Italian bread dipped in olive oil and pepper. 2 glasses of red house wine.  About 1/2 my serving of spaghetti and meatballs and 1 piece of wife's eggplant parm. Only saving grace is we did have leftovers and I didn't ask for extra bread though I easily could have.

Snacks
3-4 small pieces of homeade beef jerky. About 20 natural almonds. An Empire apple. 2 pieces of Russell Stover Candy we've still got sitting around from Valentine's. 6-8 malted milkballs (Whoppers). 8-10 Reduced Fat Triscuits.

Tangible Rewards

Thoughts for Today
Today I saw some friends I hadn't seen since New Years Eve, right before I started this blog, and they both immediately noticed how much weight I had lost. That was really nice to hear, because I don't notice it in myself as much, I guess because comes off gradually.

Another event today in this vain..after dinner, we hit Kohl's and I bought a pair of jeans in a size that I haven't been able to wear in many, many years. Tried them on when we got home and they actually fit! That was a very cool little moment. It was also the first pair of jeans I have ever bought with holes already in them and some kind of onboard canvas belt. Not what I'd normally buy but wife said they were "kick-a&s" so why not.

Grading myself a B on the day. Although dinner was a bit too heavy, the other meals were fine, my water intake was decent, and had lots of pedometer steps.

Good night y'all.

Exercise
No actual "exercise" but ended up over 12,000 pedometer steps walking around Home Depot, Lowe's and an assortment of other places.

Breakfast
Fiber One Pancakes (2) and turkey bacon (2 pieces). 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Broiled about an 8oz salmon steak wrapped in foil with fresh lemon juice, pepper, spices, and a tablespoon of Parkay. Came out great. Also little bit of rice pilaf leftover from the other day. Water.

Dinner
Wife and I were going to go to Olive Garden tonight cause she was craving pasta, but at the early hour of 5 PM the place was absolutely jam packed. Same deal at Logan's Roadhouse and even Cracker Barrel. The little town we live in used to have none of the major chain restaurants, but now that we do this is what's it's like every Saturday night. It's as if we, as a town, have to try make up for all the years we didn't have the chains.

So we went to Fulin's for Asian and it was great. Chicken and Garlic sauce, string beans, egg roll, brown rice, and split a big bowl of hot and sour. Not an overly healthy meal, but at least we had a lot of leftovers to take home.

Snacks
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. A few small pieces of homeade beef jerky About 20 natural almonds.

The Food Channel

Thoughts for Today
I find that I pat myself on the back a lot these days for having gotten used to this common sense approach of eating in moderation, but 15 minutes of watching Food Channel sure can change things. Wife and I are watching it right now and seeing all these dishes from great Roadfood type joints around the country: knockwurst pastrami sandwiches on rye with provolone, Chicken MacArthur (a great looking rich, pasta stir fry), perfectly crisp hot wings, and giant and amazing looking burgers and fish sandwiches on big fresh rolls with plenty of awesome looking fries. These were not foods to be found in WW books and the like. We finally had to shut it off cause it looked so damn good!

I guess that part of me that wants to forget the whole thing, push aside the scale, and eat bunches of Chicken McArthur will never be completely gone, but for now I've got him under control.

Grading myself a B- on the day. I did have pizza and chili and beer, but portions were reasonable and didn't I snack as much as usual. However haven't had many glasses of water yet and exercise level is shaping up to be mediocre for the day.

Good night y'all.

Exercise
Nowhere near my minimum 7000 pedometer steps for the day yet, but might take a walk to at least hit 7000. 

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Another busy day at work, but went out for lunch anyway. Slice of cheese pizza and a salad with a little bit of Italian dressing. Diet Coke.

Dinner
Wife made up a big pot of homeade chili with 92% lean ground beef and it was a great batch! Had a reasonable sized bowl with 10-12 saltines and two Michelob Ultra Lites.

Snacks
An empire apple.

My First A

Thoughts for Today
Today was a long busy day and dinner was the only real meal, but somehow I didn't feel hungry throughout the day even though I had only ingested 240 calories up until about 30 minutes ago. Had plenty of water, did some jump roping, should get in plenty of exercise by day's end, and even though it was a weird day of eating that I wouldn't choose to repeat again, I did manage to get in something from all five food groups. Also had dropped 0.5 lbs on this morning's weigh in. Grading myself an A for the day, my first A so far!

That's about all I got for now, thanks much to all my "regulars" who drop by the blog frequently. I always fire up the laptop as soon as I get home to read your comments and it really does make it easier to stick with what I'm doing even when I don't feel like it.

Good night y'all.

Exercise
Did 3-4 mintues of jump roping before dinner. I'm told it's not a good idea to jump rope after dinner, so I won. If I can talk wife into it, we'll take a 20-30 minute walk after dinner so I can get my 10,000+ pedometer steps for the day.

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Very busy day at work preparing for a demo and etc, and didn't have a chance to go grab lunch. All I had sitting around was another Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar so I ate that with a glass of water.

Dinner
Wife and I split a leftover vegetable burrito from last night's Taco Express and it was very good. She also made up some refried beans with lowfat mexican chhese mixed in. Boy could eat a lot of that, but I just had a portion that fit in section of kiddie tray with a few handfuls of Baked Tostitos and salsa. Bottle of Michelob Ultra Lite.

Snacks
An empire apple.

First Jump Roping Since 7th grade

Thoughts for Today
When I was in 7th grade, I ended up taking first prize for jump roping at Field Day, but that's about the last time I had jumped rope. But now that my wife has started jump roping as part of her exercise routine, I have too. It's supposed to be good for all three things required to lose weight: burns fat, gives you cardio, and tightens abs. I'm still a decent at it, but I don't think I'd win first prize anymore! Boy does a few minutes of that wear me out, but I'm going to try to start doing a little each day.

Grading myself a B today. Since I had a salty, fairly heavy lunch, I shouldn't have had Mexican for dinner. Ah well, at least nothing was deep fried and I didn't snack much. Also started a new type of exercise with the jump roping, and drank a good bit of water.
Good night y'all.

Exercise
Jump roping and we also took about a 20 minute walk after dinner. 10,000+ pedometer steps on the day.

Breakfast
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Jersey Mike's #7, a Turkey Sub on wheat with all the vegetables, spices, and spicy mustard. Small bag of Baked Lays and a diet coke. Next time I'll get without the cheese. Although I love provolone, I think I would have enjoyed just as much without it. Very good sub!

Dinner
Taco Express, a great little neighborhood place. Wife and I split the chicken fajitas. Had without any tortillas, which I am getting used to now.  Did have just a few chips and salsa. Diet Coke.

Snacks
Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bar.

Broccoli Eating Dog

Thoughts for Today
Gving myself a B today. Got some fairly rigorous exercise in and drank a lot of water. Yeah I had two meals featuring fried food, but portions weren't overkill and I didn't snack much today at all. And it's important to me to lose this weight while eating food I love as opposed to nothing but raw carrots (Hey Ruth Anne!) and egg whites (Hey Tammy!) every meal, so my grading system has to take that into account. I'm not on a diet and don't want to be. I respect those who are following a "system", but for me personally I want to lose the weight through common sense eating and exercise. So on those criteria, I'm sticking with a B.

Good night y'all.

Exercise
Ran about 30 minutes, some on Wii Fit and the rest while watching National Treasure. Should hit 11,000-12,000 steps by night's end.

Breakfast
Thomas' Hearty Grain English muffin with a bit of Parkay spray. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Greek. Intended to get a nice healthy grilled chicken salad, but this Zorba sandwich grabbed by eye. It wasn't healthy (chicken, provolone, and a bunch of vegatables all fried up on the griddle and served on a nice big sub roll). At least I didn't go for the combo (fries) and had a couple glasses of water.

Dinner
Leftover of lastnight's double dipped beer batter chicken. Sides of rice pilaf and broccoli seasoned with lemon and parmesan. Portioned out in kiddie tray as per norm. I fed the dogs the rest of the leftover chicken. It was the only way I wouldn't go back for seconds. I even fed one dog  some of the broccoli and then caught him later on leaned up on the countertop eating the rest of the broccoli out of the serving bowl. Yes, he's a tall dog.

Snacks
A few big handfuls of Kellog's Lowfat Granola.

I Need Some A's

Thoughts for Today
Before I started writing tonight's post, I felt it was it a pretty good day healthwise, but as I look at the written log, I realize it wasn't that great. Yeah, breakfast, lunch and dinner were pretty moderate eating, but as I look at the snacking, I realize how it all kind of adds up even though each piece doesn't seem like much. The snack portions weren't big, but I ate some of them (the ice cream and the cookies) when I wasn't hungry at all and that behavior isn't good.  Coupled with a day of no basically no exercise at all, I rate it a C.

Overall, I am at a point where I am within reach of goals I haven't been able to meet for a very long time, so I need to stop fooling around and get more dedicated and string together some days where I can truly rate the day an A. I'm tired and going to bed, good night y'all.

Exercise
None. Don't think I'll even break 7000 pedometer steps. It's not a great excuse but I'm tired today.

Breakfast
Fiber One Chocolate and Oats bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Takeout Chinese. Hot and soup soup with only a few crunchy noodles. Ate 1/2 the portion of chicken with garlic sauce and less than 1/2 the fried rice.

Dinner
Wife's made a great double dipped beer batter chicken. Sides of green beans and Betty Crocker mashed potaotes. As usual, portioned out in kiddie trays. I definitely could have eaten 3-4 pieces of the chicken but stuck to one.

Snacks
3-4 malted milkballs (Whoppers). Fiber One Chocolate and Oats bar. A few big handfuls of Raisin bran.  A small dish of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with jimmies. A super nice lady at work brought homeade chocolate chip cookies around and she's a great cook. I had two.

Pork Rinds and a Walk in The Park

Thoughts for Today
We took a nice drive to a beautiful park today to take advantage of the first great weather we've had in a long time. It was great to be able to walk around in a t-shirt. Got quite a bit of walking in (12,000+ steps so far) and overall ate decently, even though snacking was a little heavy.

Giving myself a B- for the day, that's as high as I can go on a day that includes pork rinds, cheese popcorn, and Spam! Good night y'all.

Exercise
Lots of walking at the park. Clicked in at over 12,000 pedometer steps.

Breakfast
Bowl of Raisin Bran with skim milk. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Subway selection from Jared's favorites. Black forest ham on wheat with all the vegetables, vinegar, oil, and spices. BBQ Baked Lays. Diet Coke.

Dinner
Wife's whipped up a batch of Spam Fried Cabbage and Rice, her Mom's great old recipe from her military days in Guam. It's not overly healthy, but I had a reasonable sized portion.
Diet Coke.

Snacks
Wife and I split a 3 Musketeers. Had a few handfuls of cheese popcorn, 4-5 pork rinds, and a bunch of sliced up fruit  (watermelon, honeydew melon, cantalope, grapes). 4-6 malted milkballs (Whoppers). A few handfuls of Kellog's Lowfat granola cereal.

Jimmies in the South

Thoughts for Today
Today was a fun day. Wife and I met up with our long time friends at a flea market in Cookeville, TN which is about the halfway point between our houses. My only purchase was from a vendor who had cases and cases of jimmies. What are jimmies you ask? Where I grew up, that's what chocolate sprinkles for ice cream were called, but whenever I ask for jimmies here in the South, people look at me like I'm nuts. So when I saw cases full of shrink-wrapped plastic bottles of "Jimmies" from the factory I had to buy one. Total cost: 10 cents.

As far as health score, I rate the day a C+ for having two meals where the main course was a salty red-meat based sandwiches on white bread and for eating some of my buddy's pork rinds when I wasn't even hungry. I might have even rated it a C, but we did walk a lot between the flea market and other places we went and the rest of the day's eating wasn't bad, so I'm leaving at C+.

Good night y'all.

Exercise
Clicked in at over 12,000 pedometer steps.

Breakfast
Bagel Thin with a little reduced fat cream cheese. Bowl of Kellog's Low Fat Granola cereal with skim milk. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

We found a cool little lunch spot on outskirts of Cookeville, TN called The Cottage. Had a BBQ sandwich with mashed potatoes (no additional butter) and green beans. Potatoes were some of the best I've ever had, other food was good too and I liked the atmosphere of the place. Diet Coke.

Dinner
We intended to eat a light dinner at home, but got hungry while we were still a good hour from home and ended up grabbing Arby's. Had a regular roast beef sandwich with some Arby's BBQ sauce and a side of a potato cake (not nearly as bad a curly fries would have been). Diet Coke.

Snacks
Bowl of Raisin Bran with skim milk. A few handfuls of hot and spicy pork rinds. A handful or two of BBQ corn nuts. About 12 natural almonds.

Chinese Buffet

Thoughts for Today
Yesterday, I hit some big milestones, so today I tackled some other new territory for 2010: The Chinese Buffet. I hadn't been there all year and I didn't eat to win by any means, but I ate a lot less than I used to. The 3 chicken wings were the only truly fried thing I had. Last year, I would have had about 4-5 chicken fingers, 8-10 wings, an egg roll or two, a few fired wontons, and anything else breaded. Then I would have added a few of the dishes with broccolli and other vegetables and maybe grabbed a few fruits from the dessert bar to feel like I ate some "healthy" stuff too. As if it would have mattered!  Details of what i ate are below, I guess it's progress.

Another couple good things about going to the Chinese Buffet: even though I didn't eat in the quantties I used to, I realized I sort of felt like crap and my energy was down for the rest of the afternoon. Now how is this good? Because my body's not used to feeling bloated like that anymore and I really didn't like the feeling.
I probably won't go back all that much. Also, I really wasn't that tempted to eat everything fried that I could get my hands on, so although I may never kick the temptation to eat tons of pizza, I think I've made some progress on the buffet front. Good night y'all.

Exercise
None, will barely click in 7000 pedometer steps, but tomorrow is supposed to be nice weather so should be plenty of chance to make up for it then.

Breakfast
Kellog's Fiber Peanut Butter/Chocolate Fiber Bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Chinese buffet. 3 chicken wings. Hot and sour soup with a few crunchy noodles. Green beans. About 8 sushi rolls. Small servings of lo mein, seafood delight, and Japanese chicken. Big glass of water.

Dinner
Captain D's for grilled tilapia, baked potato (just a little butter and sour cream), and green beans. Didn't eat the fried dough biscuit thing, but did have a little of the free ice cream (choc-vanilla swirl). Big glass of water.

Snacks
6-8 malted milkballs (Whoppers). Kellog's Fiber Peanut Butter/Chocolate Fiber Bar.  Gala apple. 1 Girl Scout Cookie (Samoan). Several handfuls of LowFat Kellog's Granola cereal.

Good Round Numbers

Thoughts for Today
Today was a big milestone day - I weighed in this morning at 10% less than I was on January 1. Also hit the 20 lb loss milestone and my 60th blog post. I've said it many times before, but I think I would have quit way before now if not for the blog. I've dealt with some long plateaus, episodes of stress eating where I felt like forgetting the whole thing, days where I passed up on food I didn't want to pass up on, and days when I ran on the Wii Fit even when I was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. But just about every night I've made the time to post on the blog and read the comments of all my blogger friends, and that usually helps get me refocused and back on track. That's all I got for now, good night y'all and thanks as always for all the support.

Exercise
Some Wii Fit running and will probably do some more. Will  hit 8000-9000 pedometer steps.

Breakfast
Kellog's Fiber Peanut Butter and Chocolate Fiber Bar. 2 cups of black coffee.

Lunch

Otter's for a big salad with 2 buffalo chicken tenders with a little bit of Italian dressing. Big glass of water.

Dinner
I pan fried chicken tenders using a mix called Whistle Stop batter, and it was excellent. I had 3 with BBQ sauce. Sides were a Birds Eye Baby Peas and Mushroom Steamer and Roasted Red Potatoes. Everything fit neatly into sections of a kiddie tray. 2 Ultra Michelob Lites.

Snacks
4-5 malted milkballs (Whoppers). Kellog's Fiber Peanut Butter and Chocolate Fiber Bar.  Gala apple.

C'mon Warm Weather

Thoughts for Today
I have fallen way behind with reading all your blogs and have had very little time to catch up since going to Knoxville, but I will try to hit a few tonight. This morning, I had dropped back down to where I was before going to Knoxville, so that was good. Today was pretty salty though, so probably no new losses tomorrow morning. However, the next loss I do get will officially put me at 10% less total weight than when I started this blog, so I'm pretty motivated to hit that mark. This weekend is supposed to bring warm (60-ish) sunny weather, so we're looking forward to getting in some long hikes and lots of outdoor time.

Exercise
Probably a quick Wii Fit run after this. Got real busy tonight, so will probably only hit 7000 pedometer steps.

Breakfast
Active Lifestyle Chocolate and Oats Bar.

Lunch

Calyspo Cafe for 1/4 Chicken (white) with Carribean Jerk Sauce, bean and corn salad, and greens, Really hit the spot.

Dinner
Sushi. About 5 Yum Yum rolls (fried, bad), 6 Crunchy Shrimp rolls, and 2 California rolls. Miso Soup.

Snacks
6-8 malted milkballs (Whoppers). Active Lifestyle Chocolate and Oats Bar.

A Gain and A Gain

Thoughts for Today
I gained about between 0.5-1.0 lb over the weekend in Knoxville, which was expected. Unexpectedly though...I have a Napoleon Dynamite T-shirt I really like, but I hadn't even bothered trying to wear it for a long time, because it was one of those "gut-huggers" that I hate wearing cause of how it feels and looks. But this morning it fit nice and comfortably, so though I might have gained a pound I also gained a T-shirt. Good night y'all.

Exercise
Ran on Wii Fit and going to run some more, should end up around 10,000 pedometer steps. Getting sort of close to reaching level 2 on my Health Miles, which gets me $25.

Breakfast
Active Lifestyle Chocolate and Oats Bar.

Lunch

Thai Food, Red Curry Chicken, a dish I had never tried, and it was great! Also a spring roll, a small cup of soup, and about 2/3 the portion of steamed rice.

Dinner
One slice from our son's leftover pizza from last night and a bowl of homeade salad with Italian lettuce, red bell pepper, mushrooms, olives, grape tomatoes, a bit of feta, and balsamic vinegar.

Snacks
6-8 malted milkballs (Whoppers). Active Lifestyle Chocolate and Oats Bar. A 2 oz cup of Chocolate Fudge Brownie Weight Watchers ice cream.

Back Home

Thoughts for Today
Back home from Knoxville and we had a nice visit with friends, family, and an old haunt or two. I have pretty much used up my energy just logging food eaten from Sat.- Mon, so I'll keep it short tonight. During the 3 days in Knoxville, I had two meals that were clearly unhealthy. Exercise was minimal and I may pay for this at the scale tomorrow morning, but I'm not beating myself up over it. 2 bad meals in the run of things is no big deal. I'm sure I'll be a little pissed if I've gained a few, but just have to get right back at it. Will start catching up with everyone's blogs again tommorrow. Good night y'all and thanks for all the great comments.

Exercise
About 7000 pedometer steps per day on Sat-Sun-Mon  as a result of walking around a lot of giant flea markets.

Breakfast
Sat: A banana. 2 cups of black coffee.

Sun: Egg McMuffin. 2 cup black coffee.

Mon: Nothing but black coffee.

Lunch

Sat: Rose Garden, a nice little cafe right off of I-40 on the way to Knoxville, TN where it seems like the locals go for good simple country cooking. Bowl of pinto beans and onion and a corn bread muffin. Sampled a little bit of wife's mashed potatoes (no gravy) and roast beef.

Sun: Gondolier for Italian food. This wasn't the place I had planned to go, I hadn't ever been there before, but I liked it. Ate a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs, 1/2 a breadstick, and a small piece of pizza with everything. Sampled one bite of my daughter's chocolate cake. 2 big glasses of water.

Mon: On the way home we stopped at Village Restaurant in Oak Ridge, TN at one of our favorite old lunch spots. It's one of those few places where literally nothing has changed in 15+ years, not even the prices. The thing we really used to love there was Coconut Cream Pie, and that sort of set the tone. I ended up with Country Fried Steak, white beans, and mashed potatoes (no gravy), coffee, and of course the Coconut Cream Pie, which was exactly as I remembered it, terrific!

Dinner
Sat: Cracker Barrel for Grilled Chicken Salad with vinegar and oil. Piece of cornbread. Water and coffee.
Sun: Since lunch was so much heavier than I'm used to eating, only had a bowl of Rice Crispies and skim milk.

Mon: Since outrson watched the house and dogs for us over the weekend, we brought him home a pepperoni pizza from our local Italina Deli. I had a big slice of that a a salad with vinegarette dressing.

Snacks
Sat: A banana and a bunch of raw baby carrots.

Sun: 2 apples, about 25 natural almonds, 3-4 small, thin pieces of teriyaki beef jerky.

Mon: About 25 natural almonds, 4-5 malted milkballs (Whoppers). Diet Pepsi.