Inner Fat and the Outer Perspective

Sunday Weigh In: 285.5
Calories Consumed: Pending

I've always worn my clothes a bit big. For as long as my memory stretches, I never remember wearing anything that actually 'fit'. The "inner fat" in me told me to hide my body - and for good reason. It was huge. It was round. It was embarassing.

I had an eye opening experience today. My sister-in-law (Melissa), my wife (Erin) and I went to JCPenny today to look at lawn furniture and the such. Apparently, the outfit I had on today sucked. I was wearing my size 44 cargo shorts (I used to be a 48 - keep that in mind), my 4x t-shirt, and I guess I looked like crap swimming around in the outfit. The good news is, I'm smaller than my wardrobe.

So, in the spirit of being women in a shopping mall, they decided to go clothes shopping - this time for me. I cringe at the thought, but it ended up working pretty cool.

So, the three of us are in the dressing room (sorry guys, this story ends up rated G), and I'm trying on different shirts and shorts. I went for a 2x shirt, but there weren't any. I saw a few of the styles (these are those t-shirts with the funny saying on them) that I really liked, but they were only XL. What the hell, right? Let's give them a try.

XL's fit. I'm wearing one as I type this blog. Only one X. That's the same number of X's as there is L's. Hell, only one more X than any other letter in the alphabet. VERY cool. You'll notice in the picture at the top of this post that I'm wearing this very shirt. Oh, and the one I'm throwing in the garbage? You probably can already guess - it's the 4XL I walked into the store wearing.

Oh, but there's more - I also walked into the store wearing size 44 cargo shorts. I started this weight loss journey in a pair of 48's.

I figured since the shirts went so well, let's try a size 42 shorts. They fit, and pretty well. Hell, they were even a little loose. Being the daring adventurer that I am, I sent my sister-in-law/fashion consultant out to get me some size 40's.

I bought those too.

So, I ate like crap yesterday, and my weight paid for it. I'm being super strict today, I'm drinking a ton of water, and I'll retrieve my old weight, minus some, this week.

Today's been good to me today. Great motivation for the upcoming week.

Bad Day, Good Day?

Weigh In: 284
Calories Counted: 2900(?)
Beer Pong Record - 1 and 0

Kind of a weird day for me mentally. First off, my eating couldn't have been better/worse than it was today. First off, I went to the gym this morning, and got my 284. The gym was pretty good to me. I did my mile run on the treadmill, and for the first time, I did it all at 6.5/mph without stopping, so my mile time came in at 9:14, by far my personal best. I thought I was going to die afterwards, but I didn't, so that's good news.

Also, my eating hasn't been too great today, but I don't feel too bad about it. It was a strange eating day on top of it. First off, I think I had 70 calories total ingested before 3:30pm. I had about 7 slices of lean roast beef (deli meat) and that was it, and then I had a late lunch due to the busy day, a whopping bowl of Cheerios. Not exactly the most healthy way to go about it, or the best for the metabolism, but yeah, that's how it went today.

Then, this is where the question mark comes in when it comes to calories. Went to a Mexican joint with Erin tonight, and I had a Mexican sandwich. Basically, it's a flour tortilla, beans, another flour tortilla, more beans, a third tortilla, and you guessed it - more beans, and then some good shredded beef and the cheese that I couldn't scrape off - I told them no cheese - but it happens.

The good thing is, when I saw the meal, I saw how HUGE it was, so I immediately asked for a both and put half of it in the carry out. Should be a good lunch tomorrow. I'm pretty proud of myself for that, because in the past I would have just eaten the whole thing, just because it was served to me. Big step for me.

However, we split a deep fried cheesecake. Yup, not the most healthy thing on the menu, but I had a weak moment. And I only had 4 bites.

I can't lie - it was pretty damned good. And you know, I don't really feel bad about it. Sometimes you just have to have it, enjoy it, and move on. What's the point of a healthy lifestyle if you don't get to reward yourself? It just means that I'm back in the gym working it off tomorrow, and drinking a ton of water tomorrow.

Oh, and then.. my sister-in-law calls me while I'm writing this blog, I was only a few sentences in. She tells me that her boyfriend broke up with her (best news I heard all day), but that she could use some sister and brother-in-law support - so we went to the party that she was at. Her I am, old man sitting in my boxers typing out a weight loss blog, being invited to a party full of 22-25 year olds, right? So, since she needed that support system, I figured I'd go be around to help her out and talk to her if she needed. Lucky me, it turned into a beer pong challenge.

I won.

But, that'll explain why this blog is rambling on as much as it is, right?

So, check for typos, leave comments, and in the morning I'll see if anything I said tonight made sense. The bottom line really is, I didn't eat great today, but I feel like we all need to have 'that day'. Tomorrow it's back on the horse, I'm going to do my mile run and work out before church (that's the plan), and then it's my father-in-law's birthday, so we'll be busy all day.

I haven't had more than a single beer in a while. It'll be interesting what my weigh-in comes in at tomorrow. Sodium levels are probably through the roof after mexican food, tequilla and beer pong.

Motivation On The Lake

Weigh In: 286
Calories Counted: 2443

I'll give my body credit - it sure knows how to keep me guessing.

Just a few days after being stuck over 286, it surprises me and drops me a few pounds to 283.5. Then, as the saying goes, "What goes down, must go up", or something like that.

Today was a pretty good day. I'm starting to switch my workout up a bit. Instead of spending time on the eliptical to warm up, I'm turning to the treadmill - running 1 mile. It takes around 10 minutes, and I'm more than warmed up, I'm pushed to the limit. I've also switched over to Assisted Dips, which I'm hoping eventually down the line will turn into Unassisted Dips. I'm a long, long way from that, but it's a long term goal. Hell, getting down to below 300 pounds was a long term goal, and we see how that worked out.

Also, the male ego took over a bit the past few days, and I've been testing the limits of my leg press. I've been pushing 300 pounds on my leg press, 2 or 3 sets of 12. Today, I decided to see what my max was, so I set the machine at it's maximum, which is 400 pounds. I put it up about 3-4 times, so I feel pretty good saying that I can push 400 as a max. It was insane for me, that's a lot of weight to this guy, but it was a male ego boost, which is something I could use once in a while.

The crazy thing is, when I first started this journey, I was 379 pounds (before the blog started). In other words, I was 21 pounds away from my 'max' leg press - every time I stood up. That's one hell of a perspective, eh?

Another BBQ-style party tomorrow, and we're out on the lake. I can't help but keep pushing myself on my goals, because every time I get near the water now, it frustrates the hell out of me. I'm still the only guy that goes to the lake and has to keep his shirt on, and since I've been on this health kick, it's something that's really taken my focus lately. I mean, this time last year, I was almost 380 pounds, and I had pretty much accepted that I was a total fat slob with no self respect, so who gave a crap if I went in the water with a shirt on. I was fat and disgusting, and whoever was in the lake with me would just have to accept it.

My standards are obviously much higher now, but the bottom line is that the "Inner Fat" is still around and living strong. I know I'm not fooling myself. I've lost all this weight, but there's still no way in hell that I'm walking around topless.

Next year's a different story.

Long term goal #149.

Gaining Speed?

Wednesday's Weigh In: 283.5 (new low!)
Calories Consumed: Around 2400?

First off, the weight was down 2.5 pounds from my last 'new low', so that was pretty good to see. I had to step off the scale, reset it, and step back up on it to make sure. It was a nice surprise - one I'm hoping leads to a good string of weight loss. God knows it's long overdue.

The Fourth of July can be such a trap when it comes to losing weight, but I did pretty well. We had the BBQ at my parent's place, so he had plenty of the 'side' dishes floating around - those are my complete weakness. Knowing this, I stuck to the bean dip, which is pretty much beans and salsa blended up, and a light layer of shredded cheese and olives. I had about 8 chips full of dip, which is MUCH less than I would have usually had. I was able to avoid all the other stuff, and then when I realized that I was starting to load up on the bean dip, I switched over to grapes. Not a bad choice.

For dinner, there was cheeseburgers, hot dogs and this funky beer-brewed chicken that my pops made. To really describe it, you wrap an entire full chicken around an open can of beer and it cooks it all the way through. It made the MOST AMAZING chicken I've had in a long time. I only had chicken for dinner, along with 1 deviled egg and a small scoop (seriously, like 3 bites) of my wife's cheesy potatoes, and I called it a day. I also had the equivalent of about 4 bites of this banana cream pie.

Sounds like a lot of food, but where my success lied was in my moderation. I also knew that this meal was coming, so I planned accordingly. I'm not sure what my numbers were - it's so hard to count those types of calories, but I know I did pretty well on the long haul. Having that 283.5 to start my day served as a bit of motivation.

Also, I didn't get to bed until like 3am last night, so the 6am gym didn't happen. I really hate that, because I wanted to see if the 283.5 would stick, but I'm going to head to the gym after work. I'm going to take the weigh-in with a grain of salt, because it's such a different time of day to weigh in, but that's what Friday morning is for.

So, hopefully you all are still doing OK after BBQ season last night, and I'll catch ya'll in a bit.

Happy 4th of July

Tuesday Weigh In: 286 (tied the old "new low")
Calories Counted: Estimated 2600

I'm not sure about my calories because there was a few things I had tonight that I had no clue on the calories, so it's not worth going exact today. I know 2 bites of chocolate and some animal crackers, and then ice cream (only 140 cals worth) doesn't help the cause, so I'm not going to sweat it - I'm just going to have a SOLID Fourth of July when it comes to my eating.

Worked out again this morning, warmed up with a mile run. Got it done in about 10 1/2 minutes, had to take a 20 second walk-break but pretty much fought the whole thing off, ranging between 5.5mph and 7.5mph. Beck and Kristen, not sure how you keep above those high numbers, I felt like the treadmill was going to throw me RIGHT off.

So, as you note at the top, I'm back to 286, the last weight I was before the leg injury. I'm pretty much about 90% back, so I've just got to keep going. When the leg got busted up, I didn't work out or see a gym for almost a week, and the next weigh-in was 292, and I had to spend another week getting back to where I am today.

So we know the rules - work hard, eat right, life strong.

Happy 4th of July, folks. Don't just let it be about barbeques and parties. Remember why we celebrate this special holiday.

Sneaky Sodium

Weigh In: 287.5
Calories Counted: 1668

Nutrition Report

Fat - 23.1% (43 grams) Protein - 31.3% (130 grams) Carbohydrates - 41.6% (173 grams) Alcohol - 0.0% Other - 4.1% Daily Sodium Intake - 3,910 mg Daily Cholesterol Intake - 133 mg Daily Fiber Intake - 18 grams

Nutrition Grade B

I'm actually surprised today at how much sodium I took in. I ate pretty stellar today. We went to Chili's for my dad's birthday today (Happy Birthday Dad!), and I had cajun salmon (off of the Guiltless Grill menu) with black beans and broccoli. I had about 10 chips and some salsa, but according to the calorie-count.com guide, there's only 450 in an ENTIRE basket of chips. I had less than a 5th of it, so about 500 mg of sodium there.

The thing that really surprised me is that between my 8 ounces of grilled salmon, a cup of black beans and broccoli, there was over 1000 mg of sodium.

Either way, it could definitely be worse, but now that I've got a secondary focus on my sodium intake, I'm surprised at where I'm finding high sodium levels. Just something to think about.

Until tomorrow - I've got to hit the hay.. getting up at 5:30am comes way to quick when I'm not hitting the hay until after 11pm every night. Catch you tomorrow.

Onward!

July 1 Weigh In: 287
Calories Counted: 2301

Nutrition Report

Fat - 30.1% (77 grams) Protein - 17.6% (101 grams) Carbohydrates - 46.2% (266 grams) Alcohol - 0.0% Other - 6.1% Daily Sodium Intake - 4,415 mg Daily Cholesterol Intake - 305 mg Daily Fiber Intake - 38 grams

Nutrition Grade A

Hard to scale my calories today, because I had dinner at my wife's grandparents house today. We had meatloaf, salad and baked potatoes - so I'm thinking I'm 'close', although not precise.

Exercise-wise, I hit the gym today and did 30 on the Eliptical - which is a good step with the leg and all. I also did 18 holes of golf, albeit on a cart for time issues, instead of walking how I would have preferred.

I also came in low on my weigh-in today, which means I'm only 1 pound away from my all-time low, so now's the time to really buckle down and go.

So, another weekend flies by. With the 4th of July on Wednesday, at least it splits the time up a bit for me. Enjoy your holiday week, folks. Next update tomorrow, per usual.