The hardest part about falling off the wagon is trying to catch back up to the damn thing.

You know, you wouldn't think that its hard to catch a wagon, but if you let it go for a month or more....all you see is dust. Actually, the dust has already cleared, all i see these days are a muddy, rutted trail that i can only imagine goes in the general direction of the fat wagon.



OK, i don't know where this is going, but my point is that it has been a long time and i need to go ahead and get back on track with my diet.



It's been a weird couple of months for me. Assorted health problems, vacations, holidays, and other general annoyances have all contributed to help me get off the aforementioned wagon. I need to find my conviction again.



In October, i attended (semi-reluctantly) Becky's 10yr high school reunion. I know that she wanted me to be there, not just to be with her as she reconnected with old friends, but to also appreciate all the hard work she put into organizing the event. At a conscious level i understand all of that, selfishly though, it was still hard for me to suck it up and attend knowing that i would probably be one of the targets of hushed comments and subtle elbow nudges, as I'm one of the ones who got really fat after high school. In fact, i said hi to a girl i knew pretty well back in the day, and all i got was a blank stare as she pushed passed me to get to the bathroom. In her defense she was pregnant and she has always been a little flaky, but still it kind of sucked. My self consciousness peaked later in the night as i was the only schmuck to throw up at the event. Luckily for me no one really saw me modify the handicap ramp except for my brother in law and a few assorted people on the back porch. That kind of topped the night for me, but as it turned out, i had the flu so it doesn't bother me as much as it might have.

After the flu, i was lucky enough to be stuck with not one, but two kidney stones. Three weeks of narcotic pain killers, and two surgeries later, I'm all clear, but i didn't feel like staying 0n a diet to say the least.

Then the family and i went on a cruise, and good luck sticking to a diet on one of those things. You have people breaking their necks to serve you over priced liquor, and there is food available pretty much everywhere so needless to say, any diet thoughts went overboard.

So here we are at the dawn of a new year and I'm still fat. And older. I'm 30 now and people have told me that once you hit 30, everything changes. Your body starts to slow down, and weight loss becomes much more of a chore. I really need to bear down and get on with it. So, my goal by this time next year is to have lost 50lbs. For those of you who have forgotten, my overall goal is to lose 100lbs from my initial scale reading way back in the spring of '09. So, if you add in the 25 that i lost initially, that will put me at 75% of my goal. Hold me to it people.

I have renewed my gym membership and I'm planning on going back in tomorrow. I'm kind of dreading it, but I'm kind of looking forward to it at the same time. I'm not looking forward to the constant soreness but i sure do enjoy the results when the lbs start to come off.

So there it is. There's my reason for being lax, and not holding up my end of the bargain. Ill be sure to keep you posted. If my time at the gym is anything like the last times i went, i should have some fun stuff to talk about with that as well.

Thanks again for all of your support

How to feed the Beast

So, some folks have been asking me what I have been eating on my diet, so I'm happy to oblige. I should preface this blog by saying it wasn't the best week for me since at some point, some of the food I had at work was thrown out. Apparently pre-school rules apply to the fridge since I have to put my name on my stuff, and label it as something not to be thrown out. Seriously, if its not yours, don't touch it. I'm a fat guy, (albeit, a less fat guy now) and if you mess with my food, you take your life in your hands. I'm just sayin'. I also say it wasn't the best week, not because I didn't eat well, but because i didn't eat enough especially on Thursday and Friday. I need to get to the grocery store and get some food so I don't have to struggle with finding places to eat. Also, Kristen totally called me out and is asking me for a list of what I am eating, this is a decent representation of that. Imagine more shakes and bars, since I try to alternate a shake/bar in between real food.





Monday

breakfast sandwich with ham and cheese

EAS shake vanilla

EAS shake vanilla

chicken and brown rice



Tuesday

breakfast sandwich ham and cheese

EAS bar

nothing

chicken and rice



Wednesday

coffee and toast

turkey sandwich with raw carrots on the side

chicken sandwich with....carrots again

a handfull of baked Lay's bbq chips



Thursday

bowl of cereal

chicken and rice

EAS shake



Friday

coffee and ham and cheese breakfast sandwich

EAS bar

burrito (tortilla, rice, black beans, grilled chicken, lettuce and yes, a little bit of cheese)

chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bagel with celery sticks



Something I feel i should point out here is, all of my bread products are whole wheat or whole grain, the rice I eat is a short grain brown rice and I am drinking a lot of water, or skim milk with these meals. Also, while I have cut back on my soda intake, I still have diet sodas on a pretty regular basis. I know I probably shouldn't but it helps with my caffiene addiction when I don't make coffee.





Update: since i started writing this, I have gone to the grocery store and have replenished my food stores. Again, this is kind of an unusual week for my eating since I was struggling to find stuff in the house, and not cheat either. Also, i have added a multi-vitamin into the mix since, as you can see, I don't eat a lot of vegetables.

Editors note: when I say I went to the grocery store, I really mean Becky went. I hate the grocery store, and I greatly appreciate her doing it.

So, there you have it. I am trying to be good and so far my eating has been responsible for most of my weight loss. Not too long till i hit the 25lb mark. Now, the next step is to get into more intense exercise.



Questions? Concerns? Let me know.

Call off the search party, I'm back.



Sorry it's been awhile, I had really planned on posting by now. I thought I would be back in the gym at this point, but as it turns out, this was a really tight month for me financially. My expensive membership will have to wait till the end of the month. I'm kind of in a holding pattern until the end of the month as far as my exercise program goes.


Guns like this don't come free people

In the mean time, I'm doing little exercise things at home, push up's, abs exercises on the stability ball, stuff like that. (btw, anyone who has suggestions on home exercises, im all ears.) So far the calisthenics that I have been doin', have been ok, but I am at a loss for a good sustained aerobic workout. There is only so much I can do in a 24 sqft space. So stay tuned.

Edit: upon reading this last paragraph, I realized that it sounds like i am avoiding going outside. That is completely true. It's hot. It's really freaking hot. It's like, slap yo' momma hot. Those of you who live here in Austin know what I mean. We have had 25 or 26 straight days of over 100 degree weather, so step off me for not going outside. I could go ride a bike, but I'm not sure that my life insurance policy wouldn't count that as suicide.


In other news, I have lost 22-23 lbs overall just by changing my eating habits. That's good I guess, considering my physical effort has been minimal. (For those of you playing the home game, keep in mind that my weight loss number is from that day in March when i went to the doctor and got on the scale there. See my previous posts for more info.) Overall, it hasn't been too bad really. I've really reduced my daily calorie count, I think I'm eating 1200-1800 calories on any given day. Compare that to the calorie-fest meals I was eating before and its pretty significant. In a way, it stinks that I can't go and grab a greasy cheeseburger or the econo-size nachos from Taco Cabana, but that's what my free day is for I suppose.



Bob knows when its my free day


Speaking of, on my first free day, Becky and I went to a favorite BBQ restaurant and chowed down on some good food there. If you happen to live in, or around, Cedar Park, Tx you owe it to yourself to check out J&J's. The barbecue is good, but the breakfasts are really where it's at. Great food, and its reasonably priced. They should be paying me for this.....

Mentally, the eating has been fine, I guess. Like I said before I am eating every few hours so just when I start to get hungry again, I get to eat. I haven't felt like I'm just starving all the time, or that I am actively restricting myself from things. It did suck though when someone at work brought in a boat load of cookies from a good bakery here in town and I couldn't touch them. Kristen, if you are reading this, its your scowling face in my mind that made me stay away. For those of you who don't know, trust me, a scowling Kristen is not something to be trifled with....

Anyway, that's about it for now. I didn't really want to post until i had something to post about, but my legions of adoring fans DEMANDED it from me. (When i say legions, i mostly mean one person who asked me what was up with not posting.) So, until next time, thanks again for all of your support. I greatly appreciate it.

Like finding money in your underwear drawer

What's in your dresser?

Rejoice and raise your hands to the sky, today is day 1 of the Nick Gets Fit™ program. That's right people, I have seen the future and it is good. There is nothing to stand in my way, break my stride, or hold me down. Oh no. I've got to keep on movin'......

Sorry 'bout that, I'm actually in a good mood considering that i am starting one of the more daunting challenges of my life. For those of you who are new to this, i am starting a lifestyle change that will hopefully get me out of all of these unwanted pounds, and back to the body of a typical, healthy 29 year old male. My goal is to lose 100lbs and get into healthier eating habits while bringing all of you on the ride with me.

So why is Nick in a good mood when he is trying to lose 100 lbs? I'll get to that, but first let me drop some history on you. In March of this year, I was sick with what I thought could be the Swine Flu, or SARS, or maybe even necrotizing fasciitis, so I went to the doc's office to find out how bad it was. (As it turns out, it wasn't that bad.) Maybe this is a dumb question but, why is it that no matter what you go into the doctors office for, they have to put you on a scale? I mean, im all for a little public humiliation but if i have allergies, why is my weight important? And why do these scales all look like they were built in 1964? They can't have a little digital scale, no, its the one with the giant archaic sliding weights that make 6 times more noise then they should and look like they take an engineering degree to operate. Don't doctors make enough to get a digital scale? Even my Vet has a nice, simple digital scale. The scale is only half the problem though, recently I've had nurses who have had some rather impolite responses to the readings on the scale. Things like "I've never had to put the big slider all the way over." or "do you know how much you weigh? Our scale doesn't go that high." Yeah, that makes me feel awesome.

Yeah, she might be sexy, but she has no tact.
So, anyway, i watched the lady move around the weights and try to be nice about it and to be fair this time she was. The reading on the scale blew me away though. I seriously couldn't believe the number i was looking at. (BTW, I'm going to be omitting numbers for the time being. Cant decide if I'm scared of letting you know how big i really am, or if its going to be a big reveal type thing at the end.) It was then that i started to think about really, really losing the weight. Moving ahead, I got on the scale this past weekend for the first time in ages, and once again i was shocked. I had somehow actually LOST about 17 pounds from that reading in March. It was like finding a 20 dollar bill in my underwear drawer. I was close to completing a whopping 20% of my goal and didn't know it. Just to make sure that the scale wasn't lying, i made my wife and her friend get on the scale too, just to make sure that it was accurate. Turns out it was.
So, my program is off to a flying start. To tell the truth I'm a little annoyed that i have already lost the "easy" weight and didn't really get to enjoy seeing it come off, but at the same time its nice to know that I'm already well on my way.

I think that's it for now. I am keeping the exercise low key for right now and focusing on the eating. My exercise right now is consisting of yard work, and walking the dog for a half hour every morning. When i get in touch with my gym and find out how much more money they want for the privilege of working out there, i will step up the exercise.

I'm outta here.