The Weigh In - Week 2

Drum Roll Please ............


269 lbs. even. That's what the scale said this morning.

I lost 3.2 pounds.

Which means this weeks winner is Teresa. Congratulations Teresa. For your Nostradamus like talents at weight prognostication you win a package of Flat Out Pita bread. Now you can make your very own Flat Out Pizzas. Your prize will be delivered sometime this weekend. Thank you to my lovely wife for suggesting this weeks prize...and for ordering it!



Don't forget to come back next week for another exciting round of Guess How Much I Weigh!


A few people have asked lately what my goal weight is.. According to the charts, my healthy weight is right around 180 lbs. That's a pretty daunting number when you are starting at 280. So I have set my self an intermediary goal.

I am trying to lose 60 lbs. by my 34th birthday, which is 342 days away. Losing 60 lbs. will put me at 220 lbs. Still moderately overweight, but a good halfway point.

Hopefully I will overachieve, but given my track record I would rather have a realistic goal for now, then fail miserably and go off the rails again.

To get down to 220 lbs. by next May I will need to lose a minimum of 1 lbs. per week from here on out.

A very realistic goal, as long as I can stick to my guns .

I don't really know what that saying means, but it seemed appropriate.

Tony
6/22: 269 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
49 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 2

Step right up, step right up. Guess how much I weigh and win a fabulous prize.

To Recap:
I thought it would be fun to let you guys guess how much I weigh. It is the name of the blog after all. After all this hard work we deserve a little fun. Every Thurs. I will give you my stats for the week and you can guess what you think the scale will say on Fri. morning. Go ahead and click on comments at the bottom of this post and leave your guess.

I will post the winners when I post my weight on Fri. morning. If we get ten or more guesses I will have a prize for the winner.

Stats for the week of June 16th.

Walked: 9.7 miles

Calories Consumed: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 11261 calories.

Calories Burned: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 25343 calories.

30 % of my calories have come from fat. 9% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

43% of my calories came from carbs.

23% of my calories came from protein.

These stats come from a site called FitDay. It's what I am using to log my eating and exercise. I'll tell you more about it later.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
6/21: 272 lbs.

Mini-Milestones

I have been so tempted to step on the scale these last two days. It's not that I am convinced there will be another big drop as much as I just want to know what is happening. I want all this hard work to pay off and seeing those numbers on the scale is the easiest indication of how things are going. It all goes back to wanting instant gratification.

Luckily, I have been able to resist the temptation. I should have no problem making it one more day until weigh in on Fri.


In the meantime I have two nice mini-milestones to report.

Milestone 1:
About a month and a half ago I jammed my ring finger on my left hand and my knuckle swelled up pretty bad. I started wearing my wedding ring on my right hand until the swelling went down. Unfortunately, even after the swelling went down I still found it hard to get my ring on. So, I continued to wear my ring on my right hand, much to the dismay of my lovely wife. The good news is, this weekend I was finally able to get the ring back on my left hand and wear it comfortably. I am sure this has a lot to do with the weight loss.

Milestone 2:
A few years ago my sister bought me 3 or 4 pairs of really nice shorts on clearance from the company she works for. She gave them to me in November, right before I went to a wedding in Florida. At the time I could almost fit into them, so I put them away for the following summer. By the time summer rolled around, there was no way I was getting into those shorts. So they sat in a drawer with the tags still on them until this week. I am proud to report the shorts now fit great and are still very stylish. Thanks sis!

Tony
6/20: 272 lbs.

A New Recipe - Kind Of Invented By Me

My wife and I love pizza. Sadly pizza is in cahoots with Professor Potluck and Buffet Boy. The three of them form my very own Axis of Evil. They are know to many as the Axis of Evil Food Related Evilness. Not a very catchy name I know, but who am I to judge.

Anyway, on Sunday night after a hectic 2 hours of getting home and getting the girls to bed, my wife and I were exhausted. Out of habit my wife suggested we order pizza from this great little place down the road. While my lovely wife did suggest ordering a smaller-sized, thin crust pizza, and not ordering the ridiculously scrumptious cheese bread which usually accompanies our order when it arrives at our door, I feared that my will would be weakened by the eveilness of those tangy pizza spices.

However, I have to admit I was tempted. Tempted to the point where I nearly had the phone in my hand, but something stopped me. Instead I reached for the refrigerator door and surveyed the barren wasteland within. At the very bottom of the fridge, under some beer bottles and old cream cheese I noticed a new product my wife had bought for the girls called Flat Out

And thus our awesome recipe for Flat Out Pizza was born.




FLAT OUT PIZZA:
1 Flat Out Wrap
1/4 Cup Spaghetti Sauce
1/4 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
Toppings Of Your Choice
Pizza Spice

Heat oven to 350F.
Bake Flat Out for 7 minutes. Remove from oven. Top Flat out with Spaghetti Sauce, Toppings and Cheese. Sprinkle on some Pizza Spice. Place Flat Out back in oven for an additional 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I topped my pizza with thin slices of grilled chicken. My wife topped hers with sliced green olives.

You should try it, it's really good.

Victory Is Mine!

No we didn't win the softball game, in fact we got crushed 14 to 4. I was however victorious in my battle against Professor Potluck and his nefarious sidekick Buffet Boy!

My battle plan worked like a charm. My grapes of goodness and carrots of concern deflected Potlucks willpower weakening goodies. Do not celebrate prematurley my freinds, there will be many more battles to come.

My mother was very funny last night. She was kind enough to put a plate together for me while I wrangled children.

Here is how the conversation went:

Mom: Would you like a fat free hot dog?

Tony: No. I'll have a Chedderwurst

Mom: Would you like a fat free hot dog?

Tony: I'm going to have a Chedderwurst

Mom: Are you sure you don't want a fat free hot dog?

Tony: That's OK I'll have a Chedderwurst.

Mom: OK

In my Mom's defense, she did put the Chedderwurst on my plate without the slightes hint of reproach or scorn.

Thank you Mom for trying to help, but I did have a plan. I chose to skip the desserts and the snacks and the chips so I could enjoy the Chedderwurst. It was my compromise for the night. And I think it worked great. By having one thing I knew I would love, I was less tempted by the rest of the spread. And, in the grand scheme of things a Chedderwurst is not the wurst thing I could have eaten.

Sorry I couldn't resist.

I still came in way under my calorie count for the day, so I think things worked out just fine.

Tony
7/19: 272 lbs.

R.I.P WENDY'S?

Wendy's Says It's Open to Sale of Hamburger Chain

It seems Dave and the squares over at Wendy's have been reading this blog. The company is downgrading it's sales estimates for the year and is seriously considering offering up the hamburger chain for sale.

In my dark days I was a frequent consumer of Wendy's. Thier fries can not be beat. Sometimes I'd stop by in the middle of the day just to get two large fries. I am sure upon realizing they are losing me as a customer, they figured there was no point to going on.

Can McDonald's be far behind?

Tony
6/18: 272 lbs.

I Know The Face Of My Enemy

It's softball night. Tonight we are having a potluck barbecue. Potlucks and buffets are my most nefarious foes. With their beady little eyes and appetizers and desserts and way too much food. Curse you Professor Potluck!

Tonight I have planned a clever counter strike against these gastronomical nere do wells. Taking a page from my sisters battle plan for last week, I will be bringing a big bag of grapes and carrots to the barbecue tonight. And God willing I shall best this buffet.

The batting slump will most likely continue tonight. We are playing a team way out of our league (pun intended). I'll be lucky to get more than one at bat.

On a completely different note, here is a quick sign of my dedication and maturity.

It was pouring rain when I sat down for lunch today, so I wrote off all hope of getting a walk in and settled in with a good book. About twenty minutes into my lunchbreak the rain stopped. In the past I would have said , "Oh well, I'm already settled in with this good book", and skipped the walk. Today, as a wiser and more mature person, I chucked the book, grabbed my shoes and hit the road. Good for me!

Tony
7/18: 272 lbs.

A Great Weekend

Happy belated Fathers Day to all you fathers out there.


What a beautiful weekend. My wife and I took the kids and headed up to my parents lake place for the weekend. 90 and sunny all weekend long; you couldn't have asked for better weather. Sure, it would have been nice if the winds weren't blowing at gale force all day Sunday, but that would just be petty.

I did very good this weekend. I ate well and stayed active. This whole open and honest thing is turning out to be a big help. I have a tendency to way overeat at the lake. I'm sure everyone overeats at the lake. You're relaxed, you're on vacation and snacks are flowing like boxed wine at a Sorority party. This weekend was different.

We spent a lot of time talking about living healthy this weekend... and not just my wife and my parents. My aunt and my uncle were with us on Saturday as well. I am very close with my family, both immediate and extended, but there was an openness this weekend that we have never had. We all talked about our struggles with weight and health and talked about the things we are trying to do to get back on track.

On top of all the talking we also ate better as a whole. Everyone made an effort to provide food that was healthier. All and all it was a very affirming weekend.

On the drive up to the lake Saturday morning, my wife asked me out of the blue, "Would you really eat 5 king size candy bars in one day." This is something I admitted to in my first post. Sadly, the truth is even worse than 5 king sized bars.

Recently I reached a new low in my junk food consumption. I would regularly stop at the gas station in the morning for two doughnuts, which I would eat on the way to work. Then, I would eat MacDonald's for lunch. A 5-piece chicken strip meal, super sized with a large shake. I would often snack on a handful of mini candy bars at work in the afternoon. On my way home from work, I would stop at a gas station again to buy a king size Carmello bar, a giant Ice Cream Sandwich and a pack of Little Debbie Zingers. Unbelievably, I would end the day with a bowl of Ice Cream around 9 or 10.

At a minimum that would add up to 3500 calories all from foods that are rated no higher than a D for nutrition from Calorie Count.com. And that dosen't include dinner.

Now this was not a typical day for sure, but it was not a rare one either. Hopefully I'll never have a day like it again!

Tony
7/18: 272 lbs.