Just an Update

Just an update. I have been really busy with IRL stuff, a lot more than usual (so much so that a few of my friends I talk to regularly online have wondered if something happened to me). I am now at 322 lbs. I've been keeping on my diet very strictly and I can now say with 100% certainty that I will have no problem staying with it for the rest of my life.

As for the working out... well I do get out a lot now and walk... but yeah, I've been bad and slacking off on it. I have started to play tennis at least once a week with my dad, and as bad as we are at it, I work off a lot of calories just chasing down his serves! I hope to get started back exercising a little more regularly, but I am still happy with myself as far as weight loss and maintaining my eating lifestyle goes. I've been a hell of a lot more happy now too, which has made me want to go out and interact with people. Went to see a few old friends from HS and we had a great time. I missed those guys. Keep wishing me luck, and even though I'm happy with my progress, I know I can do better. Thanks guys.

Jeff VS Working Out, Round 2:

Well after the little pep talk I gave myself, I did end up working out again... for 2 days. It's been 4 days since I have worked out. I'm still doing great on my eating plan, and I am down to 348 lbs, so I am still losing weight, but I am mad at myself for slacking up. As you may have gathered, I did/do have issues with depression (was diagnosed with clinical depression and take meds for it every day), and lately I have just felt... well "blah". I'm not as excited about working out as I was. I am still getting out and going to a lot of places, and the last two days I probably walked a total of about 3 miles because our area was part of a 500 mile yard sale event, and I am a sucker for yard/ estate sales, so naturally I wasn't going to miss out! I guess it does make me feel better knowing that I am getting out of the house probably 1,000 times more than I was and getting exercise walking around parks and shopping, but it's no excuse for slacking up. I am working out today, and I will start to post here every day so I can let you (and really myself) know I am sticking with it.

Need To Have My Ass Kicked

I've been slacking off on my workouts. I last worked out on 5-13. At the very least, I should have worked out yesterday, but I just didn't feel like it. That's no excuse, and I am pissed at myself. I've still been eating well and on track with my diet, but I need to get back in the swing of things. This is a slow journey, not a quick race, and I won't let this small setback get me down. I will be working out tonight after the Braves game. Period.

5/11/2012: Food Diary and Exercise Log

Log would be a good way to describe me today. I have done absolutely nothing but sit here on the internet and watch TV. I will have to get out tomorrow though so I can find my mom a Mother's Day gift. Yes, I am mister procrastination. I did have an excellent workout yesterday. I went up 10 pounds on my weights I use during weight training, and it was the second time running for 15 minutes instead of 10. I was very excited that I completed a mile in under 15 minutes. It's been a very long time since that has happened. No workout tonight, but I am going to run for a while. I haven't decided how long yet, but probably around 15 minutes.

I made myself a nice salad last night for dinner and snacked on a few almonds. Today I had a few more almonds and just finished eating some sliced turkey and some spinach I baked with mozzarella cheese. I still have half of the spinach left (I used two cans), so I will probably be having the rest tomorrow. If I have anything else later, it will be just some pig skins. 

5/10/2012: Food Diary and Exercise Log

Been a few days. I went to the doctor yesterday to get weighed and he was very impressed when he saw how much weight I had lost. We talked about goals and expectations and how I should temper mine because I am likely to start losing weight at a slower pace. I already understood this, and it won't cause me to be any less active toward reaching my goal of 230 lbs. His goal for me was 15-20lbs lost, but I am going to do my best to go beyond his expectations.

I haven't eaten a lot the past few days. I seem to now only eat 1 meal a day, which is probably not the healthiest thing to do, but sometimes I go overboard in my plans to lose weight. The honest truth is that I am just not that hungry anymore. I've done a great job training my body to accept and use less food over the past month. I tried making that pizza with the low card tortilla and it was... okay. I think I will stick to wraps and maybe tacos for the rest of them. Yesterday I had pork chops, green beans, tomato slices, and onion slices. I just warmed up some leftover pork chops today and had a few almonds.

Yesterday I went to about 15 different thrift and pawn shops, so I got a lot of walking done. I slacked off and didn't workout yesterday, so I am going to get a good one in today.

5/7/2012: Food Diary and Exercise Log

Yep, I missed yesterday. Seems like I have a lot more going on in my life than I used to. I remember when my entire day would be sleeping until about 4:00 or 5:00pm, sit on my ass going through the internet, and then go back to sleep about 7 hours later. I tend to want to get out and do more now, which is a great thing.

Anyway, yesterday I ate Chinese food with my parents. It is really difficult to know what exactly I can and can't eat because I never know exactly what kind of sauces are cooked into the meat. I got a peppers, onions, and steak dish, some broccoli and chicken dish, some sauted mushrooms, chicken on a stick, and made myself a nice salad. Most Chinese buffet type places don't offer a very good salad bar, but luckily the one my parents go to has a very well stocked one. The rest of the day I snacked on a 100 calorie bag of roasted almonds, and had a few pieces of Terky Jerkey (misspelling intentional), which is a great filling snack that has less than 2 carbs per serving. I was bored last night, so I decided to go walking around my local Walmart (the place where I used to work) and noticed a pack of tortillas that claimed to be low carb. I read the back and they were only 5 net carbs per tortilla, and the tortilla is a pretty good sized one. I decided it would be nice on occasion to have that bread type taste, so I picked it up. I figure the first thing I'm going to try is to make a pizza on one to see if it would be good. I know I'd enjoy wraps with turkey, cheese, onions, lettuce, and tomato, so I should have plenty of uses for them.

Yesterday was a rest day for me on my workout, but I did get a little walking done in Walmart (about an hour and a half's worth) so I do feel good about my activity yesterday. I am jumping back in the workout room as soon as I publish this. My local K-Mart went out of business on Sunday, so I went to see what I could scavenge for 90% off. I ended up picking up a few books, a PS2 game, and a Blu-Ray. I also found a nice pair of cycling gloves that will work perfectly as workout gloves. I'm looking forward to testing them out. 

5/5/2012: Food Diary and Exercise Log

My date yesterday went very well. I don't think we will end up seriously dating or anything, but I did have a great time. We went to Ruby Tuesdays and I had a bunless cheddar and bacon burger with spaghetti squash and grilled green beans. I was pretty good, and I could definitely see me replacing the pasta in traditional spaghetti and replacing it with the squash. Afterwards, we went out to a park that was by a lake and walked around the track by it for a good 2 hours just talking. It was an excellent way to get to know someone and I also was able to walk about 2 miles, so I was actually exercising on my date, which was awesome.

Since today is Cinco de Mayo, I will be making some Mexican-like dish with ground beef, cheddar, onions, green peppers (my favorite veggies in case you haven't noticed), hot sauce, sour cream, and guacamole. That's another great thing that not eating processed and fast foods has done is make me become at least adequate in the kitchen. I also will be working out shortly, to make sure I get it in before the Braves game tonight.

I also weighed myself this morning and I am down to 361 lbs! Seven pound since I started this record of my weight loss journey is pretty good I think. I figured that the more weight I lose the harder it will be to get bigger numbers, but that's okay. This is a lifestyle change that I will be doing the rest of my life, so I have plenty of time!