Weigh-In Week 9

245.4!!!! That's what it said on the scale this morning. That's a loss of 4.8 lbs! It's a miracle.

Is anyone starting to see a pattern here. Big loss, little loss. Big loss.... you get the picture.

Here is my theory. It seems that any radical change in normal activity has the effect of kicking my metabolism in the patootie. (Can you say patootie on the internet?) So not running this week may have actually helped give my body a little jump start. It could also be that I ate better knowing that I wasn't going to get as much exercise this week.

Whatever the reason I am finally under 250! I can't tell you the last time I weighed less than 250. I know for sure that I have been over 250 since 2003 and probably back even further than that.

And here I am on the chart!!! Whoopie!


The big winner this week is my Mom. This is Mom's second win. Congratulations Mom! For being the most optimistic of the optimist this week you have won yourself a peanut butter pie. I found this great recipe for a low cal frozen peanut butter pie. Now I have an excuse to make it.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Tony
8/10: 245.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
25.4 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can now subscribe to this blog via e-mail.

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 9

It's amazing to me how much I miss working out. I never thought I would be one of those guys, guys like my dad who need their fitness routine like a caffeine addict needs his coffee. But I've got to tell you, I am dragging this week. Hopefully Dr. D will give me the all clear tomorrow so I can get back to it.

I did borrow some weights from my Sister and Brother-in-Law and I have been doing about 20 mins. of upper body workouts this week. Hopefully that will help.

I have no clue what to expect tomorrow. I really hope I have at least a small loss so I can keep the streak alive. Minus the Ice Cream Sandwich, I ate pretty well this week. As always, only the scale will tell.


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

To Recap:
Every Thursday I give you my stats for the week and you guess what you think the scale will say on Friday morning. Go ahead and click on comments at the bottom of this post and leave your guess.

I will post the winner 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 August 6th.
Walked / Ran: 6.83 miles (before Sunday)

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 12348 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 27909 calories.

34% of my calories have come from fat.
10% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

49% of my calories came from carbs.

17% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
8/9: 250.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
30.2 lbs. to go

The Ice Cream Sandwich

On Sunday night after my leg wound was cleaned, I was required to travel to three different Walgreen's to fill my prescriptions. The last one was a 20 minute drive from my house.

I arrived there at 11pm, tired, frustrated and in pain. All I could think about on the long, lonely drive to the pharmacist was how much I wanted an Ice Cream Sandwich...that and how much it hurt to drive with my leg and how much it sucked that the late night guy at the Walgreen's pharmacy didn't seem to know fiddly. But mostly I wanted an Ice Cream Sandwich. And not just any Ice Cream Sandwich, I wanted the behemoth 500 Calorie monstrosity know as the Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich (pictured above.)

I am sad to say I gave in to my urges.

The ice cream sandwich in itself was not the bad thing. It was my reason for having the ice cream sandwich that was the bad thing. I am beginning to realize that one of my food triggers is stress (the other big one is boredom.)

I will have ice cream sandwiches in my life, but I should eat them sparingly and only at times when I can make a rational decision to enjoy the Ice Cream Sandwich because I want an ice cream sandwich. I will do my best to not grab an Ice Cream Sandwich out of emotional vulnerability at the end of a day of already elevated eating.

Here is another sign of my growth. Normally I would have hidden the Ice Cream Sandwich wrapper and tossed it in a gas station garbage the next day to conceal the evidence. On Sunday night the first thing I did was run home to my lovely wife and confess my dalliance. Then I confessed to my mom the next day and now I confess you.

Tony
8/8: 250.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
30.2 lbs. to go

Recipe Wednesday

Apple Pan Chicken

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3 apples - peeled, cored and sliced
3 tablespoons dried currants
3 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)
1/3 cup apple juice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat.
2. Saute onions and garlic until soft and translucent. Move the onions to the side, and brown chicken breasts 4 minutes on each side.
3. Top chicken with apples, currants and pine nuts. Pour in apple juice. Season with thyme, parsley, jalapeno, salt and pepper.
4. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are cooked and chicken is no longer pink.

Servings Per Recipe: 4

NUTRITION INFORMATION
Calories: 301, Total Fat: 8.7g, Cholesterol: 68mg, Sodium: 661mg, Total Carbs: 27.3g, Dietary Fiber: 4.4g, Protein: 29.8g

Recipe Courtesy of All Recipes.com

p.s. The photo is not of Apple Pan Chicken. Don't be confused!

Tony
8/8: 250.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
30.2 lbs. to go

The Whole Story

We have a good family friend who is a renowned reconstructive surgeon and wound specialist. Let's call him Doctor D. On Sunday night I ran into Dr. D's wife and daughter at church. They both took one look at my leg and said, "That looks infected. You should come over to the house and let Dr. D clean that."

This sounded like an extremely painful idea, so I hemmed and hawed for a little while, but in the end when the wife and daughter of a renowned reconstructive surgeon and wound specialist tell you your leg looks infected it's best to listen.

So at 9pm on Sunday night in the middle of Dr. D's kitchen, while his kids cleaned the dishes and entertained me with bubbles, I had my wound cleaned and disinfected. I should probably mention that all of Dr. D's kids are over the age of 22.

This probably sounds a lot worse than it was. Dr. D put some numbing cream on my leg which kept the pain to a minimum and he was remarkably gentle, considering he was using a scalpel and a tongue depressor to scrap away all the scabbing, dead skin and dirt.

He put me on antibiotics and some heavy pain killers and sent me home. Don't worry I didn't take the pain killers until I got home.

Yesterday my leg was doing much better. Unfortunately my tummy was not so happy. I had a bad reaction to the pain killers and was stuck on the couch for most of the day. Luckily I had 12 hours of X-Games coverage on Tivo to keep me company. and a wonderful wife to make me breakfast in bed.

My mother was kind enough to play chauffeur for my follow up trip to Dr. D yesterday afternoon. This time we went to his office.

So the good news is I will be just fine. I have a follow up with Dr. D on Friday, but the healing from Sunday night to Monday afternoon was already starting to look good. I am not to worried about my leg taking a turn for the worse as long as I take care of it.

The bad news is, no strenuous exercise for the rest of this week. Which means no running, no power walking and no strength training of the lower body.

This is going to be a big test for me. In the past this is the kind of thing that would derail me for good. I am determined to not let that happen. I will continue to eat well this week. I will do my crunches and I will try to add some low stress upper body work out to at least keep a minimum of exercise going.

I'll be bummed if I don't get down under 250 this week but like we've been saying all along, it's a marathon, not a sprint... this week may just be a bump in the trail.

Thank you very much to Dr. D and the whole D family for taking such great care of me and keeping my leg from falling off.

Tony
8/7: 250.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
30.2 lbs. to go

Good News, Bad News

Here's the good news.

My doctors appointment on Friday went very well. One might even use the words anti-climactic. I guess that's only one word. I have excellent blood pressure and an excellent resting heart rate. I have to go back in a week for a cholesterol check. I was hopping to scan back through my records to see how much I weighed in the past years. Unfortunately the only weight they had for me was from June of 2006 when I weigh 282 lbs. There records went back ten years. Which means I haven't had a physical since I was 22. oops.

Here's the bad news.

The wound on my leg from last Monday night appears to be infected. Shouldn't be a big deal, but I am having it checked out today. Right now I am on antibiotics and pain killers that are making it very hard for me to type. I'll update with the whole sorted tale later tonight or tomorrow when my head stops swimming and my tummy stops rolling.

For now it's back to bed.

Tony
8/6: 250.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
30.2 lbs. to go

Weigh-In Week 8

250.2! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.6lbs.

Missed it by that much!

The celebration will have to be postponed until next week.

Surprisingly I am not too disappointed. I learned my lesson a few weeks ago. Any loss is a good loss and 8 straight weeks of loss is amazing.

My lovely wife and a few other people have said now that I am putting on muscle it will effect my rate of loss. I want that to be true, but I'm not sure that I put on that much muscle this week. Although, I can do 15 push ups now. It was only 12 last weekend.

If I was looking for an excuse for a smaller loss this week,(which I am not) I'd say it is the 4 pounds of scab I have on my leg. Sorry that was gross.

No winner this week. Everybody was over. I do love your optimism though. My mom was closest with 1.8. Good guessing Mom!

Have a great weekend everybody! I'm off to the Doctors this afternoon for my first physical in nearly ten years. Hopefully I will have some fun things to report on Monday.

Tony
8/3: 250.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
30.2 lbs. to go

p.s. We made Diet Pepsi Pot Roast last night. It was great! The Pepsi seems to tenderize the meat more than just water would. Highly recommended. Thank you Heather for putting it all together.

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 8

Please take a minute this morning to say a prayer for those effected by the bridge collapse here in Minnesota.

As many of you know the 35W bridge is just a few blocks from my office. I walked down there this morning before work and said a short prayer. I know prayer is not location based but I felt a need to be as close as I could.

I walk past this bridge every day during my workout. I could not get close enough to see the collapsed bridge this morning. I can not begin to imagine what it will be like to take that walk for the first time once all the emergency crews and police tape have cleared out.

Fortunately no one in my life has been hurt in this tragic event. That could change in the next day or two... I pray that it doesn't.

Here are a few pictures of the media mess I found at the police tape this morning.










I contemplated canceling this weeks contest. It seemed a little petty, considering.

Here is what I have decided to do instead.


The contest will go on ,but in lue of a prize, I will be making a donation to the Minnesota Red Cross. It seems like the right thing to do.

To Recap:
Every Thursday I give you my stats for the week and you guess what you think the scale will say on Friday morning. Go ahead and click on comments at the bottom of this post and leave your guess.

I will post the winner when I post my weight on Fri. morning.

Stats for the week of July 30th.
Walked / Ran: 10.9 miles

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 12089 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 28448 calories.

27% of my calories have come from fat.
7% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

45% of my calories came from carbs.

21% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
8/2: 251.8 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
31.8 lbs. to go

Recipe Wednesday

I started my strength training last night.

14 Push Ups
40 Crunches (20 straight, 20 to the side)
4 Dips
20 Squats
40 Walking Lunges
30 Calf Raises

I am surprised at how good I feel this morning... minus the road rash on my leg of course, which feels like a thousand little elves with a thousand white hot needles poking into my leg every few minutes.

My feeling good may have something to do with my first every visit to the chiropractor yesterday. For a while now, I have been having some issues with my lower back. Every morning on my drive in, my back and lower legs get kind of numb and it takes me a while to walk it off. I assumed it was weight related. Turns out I have a tilted pelvis because of the way I sleep. Last night I slept with a body pillow and did some stretches this morning and now I am feeling great.

I also have a general check up on Friday. This will be my first check up since shortly after college. If I am going to get serious about my health I might as well get serious about all aspects of it.

Now on to...

Recipe WEDNESDAY

It's a crazy one this week. This recipe comes from this great book that Laura's Aunt Polly gave us called Fix It and Forget It Lightly. It's all low cal crock pot recipes and it's full of some good looking recipes that I am excited to try. I'll be making this one tomorrow night.

Pepsi Pot Roast

INGREDIENTS:
3-lb. pot roast
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2 10-3/4 oz. cans of fat-free, low-sodium cream of mushroom soup
2 16-oz. bottles of diet soda

PREPARATION:
1. Place meat in slow cooker.
2. In large bowl mix soup, onion soup mix and cola. Pour over roast in cooker.
3. Cover. Cook on high 6 hours.

Per Serving:
Calories: 170, 7g total fat, (2g saturated fat, .5g trans fat), 70mg cholesterol, 430mg sodium, 4g total cabs, 0g fiber, 23g protien

Tony
8/1: 251.8 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
31.8 lbs. to go

Freinds Don't Let Freinds Play Softball

And this is why.




We were down by ten runs in the bottom of the 7th. After a rally inning we had scored 6. When I stepped up to the plate there were two outs with runners on first and second. With menace in my eyes I took a mighty swing and fouled it straight back. One more strike to go.

The wind up, the pitch... it's a beautiful line drive down the third base line. The runners were moving like the bogeyman himself was hot on their tail. The play at home was fumbled. I made the split second decision to try and stretch it to a triple. Unfortunately... it was the wrong decision. We lost by two runs and I was left crippled and bleeding in the dirt.

Believe me I know better. My slide was so far from the plate they could have built a three lane highway between me and the bag.

After the numbing effects of Bactine and Mich Golden Light kicked in I was feeling pretty good. But let me tell you, for about an hour and half there I was feeling the pain and it was not good!

The good news? My batting slump seems to be in full retreat. I was 5 for 6 at the plate last night. I'm back baby... just in time for the last game of the season.

I have my first ever chiropractic appointment this morning. I wonder if she can do anything for my leg?

Tony
7/31: 251.8 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
31.8 lbs. to go

Baby. Fat.

As I was looking through pictures from this weekend, I saw this photo and it got me kind of choked up. I am so happy to finally have pictures with my girls that I am not embarrassed of.

The thought of looking back at pictures like this in 20 years makes me cringe. I don't want this to be me. I don't want this to be the father my girls grow up with.


Pictures like this are the reason I can not fail this time. My girls are getting old enough to start forming memories that will last the rest of their life. When that happens, when they get to the point where they develop their first memory of their daddy, I want to be someone that I am proud to be. I want to be the father in that first picture, not the fat guy in this one.



Ok, now I am making myself cry. Not a good place to be for writing witty copy about coffee and sugary cereal. Time to move on.

Tony
7/30: 251.8 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
31.8 lbs. to go

Strength Training

Here is the new exercise I invented for Strength Training. I call it Baby Bench Press.

Thanks to a lot of help from my Dad, I have started to put together my strength training routine.

Daily Exercises:
Push Ups (Currently at 12 a day)
Stomach Crunches

Every Other Day Exercises:
Squats
Walking Lunges
Calf Raises
Dips

As I progress, I plan to add some medicine ball exercises and some free weight stuff.

I am continuing to walk every day (or almost every day) and I am adding more running to my route. 6 weeks ago I was doing 2.2 miles in 32 minutes. Now I am at 2.2 miles in 28 to 29 minutes. I figure about .5 miles of that is running.

Tony
7/30: 251.8 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
31.8 lbs. to go

P.S.
I promise to keep the topless photos to a minimum... at least until I'm looking a little buffer. I just couldn't resist this one.

Weigh-In Week 7

251.8! That's what the scale said this morning. A loss of 5.4lbs.

I told you I had a good feeling about this week. I guess I was just retaining water last Friday. I made my lovely wife double check the scale just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. She was kind enough to point out that I am only 1.8 pounds away from showing up on the weight chart. Woo-hoo!



Our winner this week is Nato. Even though he was nearly 2 lbs. off with his guess, Nate was still the closest. For his ability to randomly guess better than the rest of ya all, Nate will be receiving a package of Flat Out of his very own. If he plays his cards right, he may even be invited over for a Flat Out Pizza night.

Thanks for guessing everybody. Have a great weekend.

Tony
7/27: 251.8 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
31.8 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can now subscribe to this blog via e-mail.

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 7

My armpit muscles hurt. This is how out of shape I am. I did another 12 push ups last night and now my armpit muscles hurt, along with my shoulder muscles and my arm muscles, etc. I guess I'll have to learn the actual names of muscles as part of my new fitness plan.

I am scared to say this for fear of cursing the weigh-in, but I feel really good about this week.


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

To Recap:
Every Thursday I give you my stats for the week and you guess what you think the scale will say on Friday morning. Go ahead and click on comments at the bottom of this post and leave your guess.

I will post the winner 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 July 23rd.
Walked / Ran: 11.5 miles

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 12565 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 28441 calories.

33% of my calories have come from fat.
10% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

48% of my calories came from carbs.

17% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
7/25: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

Dump All Your Fat Friends

According to this recent study it could be dangerous to be my friend, at least for another couple of months. I found this study to be pretty ridiculous, but what I find even more ridiculous is the media hype. This was the lead story on the front page of the paper this morning.

This is pseudo, headline science. It will be talked about on Letterman and Leno for two days and then disappear, never to make a real impact on any ones life. Meanwhile, for the next two days the story will feeds the stereotype the fat people are weak willed and have no control over thier own bodies. And that is what really bugs me about this whole thing, it's just one more brick in the wall of our "don't blame me, I'm not responsible" culture.

For those of you who were spelunking or doing ostrich imitations yesterday here is the gist of the Study.

"People who notice their friend packing on pounds might want to steer clear if they value their sleek physiques."

Sorry to interrupt, but what a horrible way to start an article on supposed science. Talk about feeding our anti fat culture.

The study, published in the July 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that obesity is "socially contagious," as it can spread among individuals in close social circles. The likely explanation: A person's idea of what is an appropriate body size is affected by the size of his or her friends.

Conversely, the researchers found that thinness is also contagious.

Taking a look at my friends and my family, many to most of whom are at the worst mildly overweight, I'm think neither one of the above statements are true.

Here is my favorite part of the article.

"But when the person on the receiving end did not label the first person as a friend, there was no "obesity contagion" effect in the other direction. The distinct variable here is who calls whom a "friend."

In other words, if I'm fat and your not you must not really be my friend. I think this means I only have like 2 friends. All the rest of you skinny, so-called friends, I'm not talking to you until you start packing on some pounds. ..or I lose another 30.

Tony
7/25: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

Recipe Wednesday

3 post in one hour! I know it's overkill but we can't skip recipe Wednesday.

With the busy weekend I still haven't managed to cook up last week's recipe. Hopefully I will get to it tonight. I am really excited about it.

This weeks recipe comes from my friend Char by way of her daughter Caitlyn. Thanks Char.

Crockpot Chicken Chow Mein

1-2 T. vegetable oil
1-1/2 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced
6-8 green onions, sliced, including greens
1-1/2 C. celery, sliced
1 C. low sodium chicken broth (*I double this)
1 T. granulated sugar
1/3 C light soy sauce
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic
1 can (8 oz.) bean sprouts (I use fresh)
1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and sliced
1/4 C. cornstarch
1/ 3 C. water


Preparation: Heat oil in skillet, brown chicken pieces, stirring to brown all sides. Put chicken pieces in crockpot. Stir in all ingredients except cornstarch and water. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Combine cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl; stir until cornstarch is dissolved. Stir into the slow cooker liquids. Keeping cover slightly ajar to allow steam to escape, cook on HIGH until thickened, about 15-30 minutes. Serve over rice or Chinese noodles.

Tony
7/24: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

12 x 12 = 24

As promised, I put down Harry Potter for 10 minutes last night and did my push-ups.

I managed 12 push-ups before my arms gave out. And these were real push-ups, not the kind the girls got to do in junior high gym class.

I was really suprsied that 12 was all I could do. I figured I'd be able to do at least 20. Turns out push-ups are hard. I did manage to do a second set of 12, but it was really pushing it to get that twelfth one in. We'll see how I progress as I start my training.

As I type, my Dad is filling my in-box with workout info. Thanks Dad!

Tony
7/25: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

Running In The Rain

I had every excuse not to get out and walk/run yesterday. I had a 2 hour lunch meeting which knocked out my usual workout time. I was home alone with the girls last night. It was 90 degrees out. It was raining.

I was settled in for the night playing with the girls when I realized, even though those are really good excuses, they are still excuses. So, I loaded the girls into the stroller and ventured out into the rain. The girls love playing in the rain and it was 90, so I wasn't too worried about them catching a cold or being miserable. We ended up having a fun outing and I got my workout in.

I'm not sure if this is dedication or bad parenting. I'm going with dedication.

Tony
7/25: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

Amazing Abs In Only 6-Weeks

So the plan was to buy a Men' Health Magazine, follow all of the work out routines in said magazine and reap the glory of a beautifully sculpted body in just 6-weeks.

Unfortunately the collected genius of the number 1 men's fitness magazine in America has failed me.
The problem is, all these exercises require equipment that I don't have, can't afford and can't store at this time.

I was hoping to find some routines that involved things like hand weights and my own body. What I found instead was a need for barbells, weight benches and pull up bars... and a lot of manliness. As Phoebe of Friends fame would have said "Men's Health is seriously testosteroney."


By no means am I abandoning my plan to sculpt and tone my way to blond Adonis status, I am simply putting it on hold pending further research. I know next to nothing about putting together a proper workout and since I can't afford a personal trainer at this time I am going to fall back to the next best thing... my dad.


I'm hoping my father can help me put together a work out plan to get me started. This is the first my Dad is hearing about this, since I forgot to ask him at the game last night. I suppose I had better ask him properly.

Dad, will you help me put together a workout? I know this isn't the first time I have asked, but I promise I won't abandon this one after 2 weeks.

I am also planing to hit the library. Girls think big brains are sexy too, right? The goal will be to do some more research into exercise and try to tailor my new plan to be a perfect fit for me.

As a sign of my commitment I will do some push ups tonight. I'll let you know how many tomorrow.

Tony
7/24: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

The Slump Is Ended...or at least on hold.

Man did you guys miss a good softball game last night...unless you were there.. We lost by 2 runs to a team that should have killed us, which in my book is a win. We were in the lead most of the game and lost it in the last inning.

I was 3 for 5 at the plate with three great line drives right up the middle. It was such a relief to finally hit the ball. I have felt like such an anchor these last few weeks. Lets hope I can carry it through to next week.

Tony
7/24: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

Stuck Between a Double XL And A Hard Place

Last Friday I wrote briefly about being anxious to fit back in to some old clothes. Normal I wear shorts and t-shirts to work, part of the privilege of working in a creative industry, but every once and awhile I have to actually put on a dress shirt. Such was the case last Wednesday.

I started out with a dress shirt that I had purchased in January of this year when I was at my heaviest. I bought the shirt after realizing none of my clothes fit anymore, which was the original impetus for getting healthy. I was swimming in the shirt.

With great joy I grabbed a dress shirt that had been purchased a few years ago, an XL. I slipped my arms in slowly, savoring the anticipation of a wonderful new wardrobe opening before me. Unfortunately the anticipation was short lived. The shirt fit, but was noticeably snug around the middle.

My choices were look like a little kid in his daddy's clothes or look like a fat guy in clothes that should have been shelved 10 lbs ago. I chose the over-sized shirt. This is why I was in a slight funk over the 1 lb. loss on Friday. I wanted big results to offset, what I in my twisted impatience, saw as a clothing set back.

Here is the happy ending to this tale of pride and preening. Yesterday, I hit up the Target clearance rack, my home shopping turf. I grabbed a couple of XL tee shirts and a pair of Size 40 shorts to bring home and try on. Normally I wear a XXL tee shirt and a size 42 in pants. I was feeling good about the weekend and thought, what the heck lets throw caution to the wind and see what happens. In all honesty I assumed I would be bringing all of the items back.

I was pleasantly surprised to only have to bring one item back. The shorts were not, as I had feared, too small, they were too big! I ran them back on Sunday night and tried on a pair of 38s, which fit almost perfectly. A little snug in the sides but let me tell you snug has never felt so good.

I plan to give it another two weeks then I'll try slipping into a few more of those XL dress shirts again.
Tony
7/23: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

Weigh-In Week 6

257.2! That's what the scale said this morning.

That is a loss of 1.2 lbs. 6 weeks of loss!

At first I was disappointed with this morning’s weigh in. I have been on such a high with these big losses that 1 lb just didn't seem like enough of an accomplishment. On my drive in to work this morning I spent some time psychoanalyzing this reaction and I realized I put the cart before the horse again.

I had spent a lot of time this week thinking about how cool it will be to get into some old clothes that I haven't worn for awhile. It got me hoping that my sartorial recovery would come sooner rather than later. This put me in the wrong frame of mind for this morning’s weigh in. The more I thought about as I weaved my way through the dangerous inner city of Minneapolis, the happier I became about 1.2.

Six straight weeks of loss is amazing for me and this week was not an easy week. I got way off of my normal eating schedules and ate out a lot. But, even with the crazy busy week, I still managed to stick to my workout routine and even add a bit of running... and I still managed to lose. That is something to be proud of!


No one got it right on the money this week. The closest was Tide, which would have made him our first back to back winner, but we play by Price is Right rules here. You have to be the closest without going over to win. I may have forgot to mention that. Besides there were only 7 guesses so there would have been no prize this week anyway.

We have the big Christmas in July party tomorrow. I really want to start ths week out right, so if you are in attendance tomorrow and see me heading towards the buffet line for thirds knock the plate out of my hand.

Tony
7/20: 257.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
37.2 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can now subscribe to this blog via e-mail.

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 6

I put in a 13-hour day yesterday and still managed to keep my calories under 1900. I took it upon myself to organize dinner for the office in order to ensure we avoided pizza and Chipotle. Aren't I clever. I avoided the trap of working late snacks, but I did have a 400 calorie cookie from Jimmy Johns with my dinner. I think it was a good compromise.

I have no clue how this week is going to go. I have eaten more calories this week then any week since I started this, but I also started running a little on my lunch break. Aprox. 1/2 a mile of my 2.2 mile workout is now running. Not a lot I know but a good start and I am for sure feeling it in my legs.

Oh... and I am in a 4 hour meeting first thing tomorrow morning which means catered breakfast, catered lunch and lots of snacks. God give me strength. I guess the scale will tell to morrow. To tell you the truth I don't have a very good feeling.

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

To Recap:
Every Thursday I give you my stats for the week and you guess what you think the scale will say on Friday morning. Go ahead and click on comments at the bottom of this post and leave your guess.

I will post the winner 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 July 16th.
Walked / Ran: 11.2 miles

Calories Consumed: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 13350 calories.

Calories Burned: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 24450 calories.

33% of my calories have come from fat.
8% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

44% of my calories came from carbs.

19% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
7/19: 258.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
38.4 lbs. to go

Workout Tip Of The Day

Don't go running in 90 degree heat while wearing flannel snowman boxer shorts!

Guess who needs to do laundry.

Tony
7/18: 258.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
38.4 lbs. to go

Recipe Wednesday

We had a lovely birthday celebration for my maternal grandmother last night. Once again everyone was on thier best behavior when it came to providing food. Low cal, low fat options of some of our favorite standbys like Cheesy Potatoes turned out suprisingly good. And lots of fruit and vegtables helped curb my craving for second helpings on the burgers and spuds.

Congratulations to my Aunt Sue who has started her own healthy lifestyle journey and is doing very well.

I am not sure when I will get a chance to make this recipe, but I am very excited to try it. It is looking like a late night at work tonight and then tomorrow night we will have to scramble to get the house ready for the party crew that is arriving on Friday. We are having a big Christmas in January blowout for my lovely wife's family on Saturday. All the yard work and house beatification I have been writing about has been in prep for this big moment.

Honey Crusted Chicken
Ingredients
8 saltine crackers, each about 2 inches square
1 teaspoon paprika
4 teaspoons honey
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, each 4 ounces


Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly coat a baking dish with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, crush the crackers. Add paprika and stir to mix well.

Brush 1 teaspoon honey on each side of the chicken breasts. Dredge the chicken through the cracker mixture, coating both sides.

Place the chicken in the prepared baking dish. Bake until lightly browned and cooked through, about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serving size: 1 chicken breast
Calories 224, Cholesterol 66mg, Protein 27g, Sodium 231mg, Carbohydrate 21g, Fiber 1g, Total fat 3g, Potassium 338mg, Saturated fat 1g, Calcium 30mg, Monounsaturated fat 1g

Recipe provide by Mayo Clinic

Tony
7/18: 258.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
38.4 lbs. to go

Topping The Charts

The website that I use to track my calories and my progress has a couple of simple charts that I think are very telling.

Below is the chart that shows where I am on the healthy body weight scale.See that arrow pointing way off to the right. Yup I am still so far over weight that I am not even on the chart. Talk about good motivation. As I approach 250 I am getting very excited to see the little blue dot show up on the graph. It will be a day for celebration!


Here is the graph that I love to look at every Friday. It shows my weight loss since this past January.


Tony
7/17: 258.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
38.4 lbs. to go

Down In The Slumps

This hitting slump is getting ridiculous! I even hit the batting cages before the game last night, but it was no help. I was 0 for 3 at the plate. Only one of the three was a legitimate hit and even that one was a bad golf swing.

I have got to get out of my head and just start swinging without thinking for a little while. I do think I will try to hit the batting cages again though. If nothing else, it's some exercise. I can feel it in my arms a little this morning.

Which reminds me.

I think it is time for me to start adding some toning exercises to my routine. Weights, sit-ups and push-ups. When I was at my heaviest my skin was stretched to the limit so everything on me was pretty firm.... large but firm. Now that I am losing the weight I am starting to feel all flabby. In some ways I feel fatter than when I was 280.

I am going to try to figure out some new workouts this week and start in earnest after the big party we are throwing this weekend. I'll let you know what I figure out. I'm tempted to buy a bunch of men’s health magazines and try all the exercises, just to see if they work. Could be a fun experiment.


Tony
7/17: 258.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
38.4 lbs. to go

Ruby Tuesdays or Fat Tuesdays?

My lovely wife had to work most of this weekend so I played Mister Mom all day on Saturday. As part of our adventure the girls and I had lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. It was my first time taking the girls to a restaurant on my own and the whole experience went surprisingly smooth... unless you happened to be the poor busboy who had to clean up the mess we left behind. Sorry poor busboy.

As you can imagine I didn't have a lot of time to study the menu, so I quickly ordered what seemed to be the safest thing, a buffalo chicken sandwich. Yes, I know I could have done the salad bar, but that would have required me to leave my girls unattended for a few minutes and there was no guarantee that the patrons around us would have come out of that unsupervised period without mashed potatoes in their hair. The sandwich was breaded, which didn't really register with me when I noticed it on the menu. It was a fact that I really shouldn't have overlooked.

When I totaled up my calories for the day I checked Ruby Tuesdays website for the nutritional info. I was shocked by what I found. My sandwich had 1041 Calories and 71 Grams of Fat. Holy Hannah! That is nearly 3/4 of my daily caloric intake in one sandwich. Upon further inspection I noticed that over half the items on the Ruby Tuesdays menu were over 1000 calories.

In the grand scheme of things the calories are not a huge disaster. I am sure I will even the calories out this week and I know that it is just fine to eat a little crazy every once and a while. But, it was shocking to me to realize how blind I have been to what I was eating, even now that I am watching so closely. Lesson learned.

A quick update on Recipe Wednesday.

I had a pitcher of Summer Sangria waiting when my lovely wife got home from her hard day of work on Saturday. It was another huge hit!

I also made Almond Blueberry Coffee Cake on Sunday morning. Now that is some good stuff. If you have not tried it, make some this weekend. Yum, Yum, Yum! Here is what the kitchen looked like after I was done cooking. Keen eyed observes will note the sangria glasses from the night before amongst the wreckage! Well worth the mess though!

Tony
7/16: 258.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
38.4 lbs. to go

A Quick Look Back

Click on the photo to see a larger version.

Tony
7/12: 258.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
38.4 lbs. to go

Weigh-In Week 5

258.4! That's what the scale said this morning.

I passed a couple of big milestones with this weigh-in. I am under 260 for the first time in a long time. Multiples of ten always feel more significant than other numbers. I am also 30 lbs. lighter than I was in January. Another milestone and another multiple of ten. I found an old resume from when I was acting. It's from 2004 and has my weight listed as 255. So that is my next milestone, getting back to the 2004 me.

This mornings weigh in makes it 21.6 lbs. lost in the past 5 weeks.

All the hard work is paying off. I especially love being rewarded for sacrifice. Skipping that pie on Wednesday night may not seem like a sacrifice to most of you, but to me it was a huge deal. Whether I was hunger or not, I wanted pie. I'm not saying I am never going to eat pie again, but on Wednesday night I was full and knew that I had already ate a lot of calories for the week and I found the willpower to skip the pie. And for that my scale said "good job little buckaroo."

Our big winner this week is D.C. Viking! Congrats Matt! If you were in town you would have won a free pitcher of Sangria served up cold on the patio. Since you are a long distance guesser, I'll be sending you something....umm fabulous. Let's call it a surprise, at least until I figure out what this weeks prize is. Unless you want to make another trip home this summer ?

Have a great weekend everybody and thank you for all the support. Just knowing people are following the journey makes the uphill climb so much easier!

Tony
7/12: 258.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
38.4 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can now subscribe to this blog via e-mail.

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 5

I can't believe it is week five already! Time is flying by.

Last night was a lovely evening on the lake. The company outing turned out not to be as crazy as I expected. Instead of a dinner cruise it was an appetizer cruise and the appetizers were pretty well picked over within the first hour and a half. Which made it real easy for me to not over do it with the whole stuffing my face. It also helped that I stuck to my plan, I didn't worry about tracking what I ate and I stopped when I felt full. I even skipped the pie buffet! Now that is willpower.

As best as I can put it together this morning, I had 7 Cream Cheese Won Tons, 7 small chicken skewers, 3 plates of tortilla chips , 5 beers and 1 Seven and Seven... and I let my lovely wife drive home. The last two items are the reason I say "the best I can put it together. Actually it was spread out over the course of five hours, so that makes it a little better.

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

To Recap:
Every Thursday I give you my stats for the week and you guess what you think the scale will say on Friday morning. Go ahead and click on comments at the bottom of this post and leave your guess.

I will post the winner 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 July 9th.
Walked: 8.86 miles

Calories Consumed: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 12578 calories.

Calories Burned: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 24564 calories.

31% of my calories have come from fat.
10% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

47% of my calories came from carbs.

19% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
7/12: 262.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
42.2 lbs. to go

Subscribe Via Email

My mother has been asking me for a while how she can keep updated on my blog without having to keep checking the site all the time.

Mom this one's for you!

I finally found an email subscription service I like.

If you would like to receive updates from this blog via email, simply enter your e-mail address in the box to the right and click subscribe.

The service is provided by Feedburner, which is owned by Google, so it should be pretty safe.

Tony
7/11: 262.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
42.2 lbs. to go

Recipe Wednesday

I can't believe it's recipe Wednesday already. This week you get:

Two Recipes For The Price Of One

We are doing recipes for the weekend this week. I have my company summer outing tonight, so there will be no cooking until Saturday. Thursday and Friday will be needed to recover from tonight's trip aboard the infamous Love Boat.

Tonight will be my biggest healthy lifestyle challenge yet. We tend to do things up big, which means the food and the drink will be flowing freely. Hopefully I can make some smart choices tonight. My plan is to enjoy the evening without worrying about watching what I eat and drink , but at the same time acknowledge when I am full and stop eating. We will see how it works.

Without further ado, I bring you:


Recipe Wednesday

Recipe 1:
This one is for my lovely wife. She has a long, hard week ahead of her and I think she'll deserve a little treat on Sunday morning.

Almond Blueberry Coffee Cake
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup toasted almonds, crushed
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1-1/2 cups blueberries

Topping
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons almonds, chopped
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. To make batter, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl, whisking to mix. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, almonds, olive oil, milk, eggs and lemon juice, beating until well blended. Gradually and the flour mixture and fold in blueberries.

3. Spray a 9-inch square pan with nonfat cooking spray and spoon batter into pan.

4. To make topping, combine ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle over batter.

5. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 16 servings
Per serving: 166 calories, 3g protein, 22g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 8 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 67 mg sodium, 27 mg cholesterol


Recipe 2:
This one is for my new friend Em who has a drinking problem. It's the perfect summer sipper for those of us watching our tummy. If you are one of those Weight Watchers, it's only 2 points per glass...only 16 points per pitcher if you are mixing one up on a Friday or Saturday night.

Summer Sangria
2 cups rose wine
2 cups sugar-free lemon-lime soda
1/2 cup of brandy
1/2 cup of rum
2 apples, sliced
1/2 red grapes
1/2 cup green grapes
2 to 3 sliced limes

Mix all ingredients in a large glass pitcher. Add ice. Garnish each glass with a slice of lime.

Makes 8 servings.
Per serving: 129 calories, 0 g protein, 7 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 0 fat, 13 mg sodium, o cholesterol

Both recipes are from Healthy Cooking Magazine

Don't forget to send me your healthy cooking recipes as well!!

Tony
7/11: 262.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
42.2 lbs. to go

My Scale Is A Big Fat Jerk

I think our scale is possessed! At the least, it has a really bad sense of humor. We have one of these fancy digital scales that records weight losses and gains for up to four people. I am Person Two on this fancy scale. I assume my lovely wife is Person One, although I have never asked her. Hmmm. I hope someone isn't sneaking in to use our scale in the middle of the night, like some Brothers Grimm weight loss elf.

Anyway, for the the last three weeks our scale has been messing with my head. After pressing the person two button, I step on the scale and rejoice at the massive weight loss. Then I think to myself, "There is no way I lost 7 pounds again this week." So, I step off the scale, rezero it and step back on only to be smacked in the eyeballs with disappointment as the real weight is revealed. I can almost hear those little circuits laughing.

Last week the scale said 257 when I first stepped on. For a brief moment tears of joy started to well in my eyes... and then I remembered, stepped off the scale, took a deep breath and tried again.

The biggest problem with this whole scenario is it makes my very respectable losses of two and three pounds initially disappointing because I have been tricked into the false hope that I am some sort of super loser.

Curse you, you mean old scale.

Man I hope my scale doesn't read this. It might get ticked off and really start messing with me. And, if you are that Weight Loss Elf who has been using person one on my scale, you better keep your trap shut...or else!

Tony
7/10: 262.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
42.2 lbs. to go

Weekend Wrap Up

Here is the view I woke up to every morning for the past five days. The lake was like glass everyday. As it turns out, little girls waking up at 6am does have it's advantages.

We had the girls feed by 7 and were on the water by 7:30am almost every morning. I got plenty of exercise behind the boat this weekend.


And I ate pretty well too. Here is what my Recipe Wednesday Spoon Bread looked like before we dug in on Saturday night.


Once again the Recipe Wednesday recipe was a big hit. I recommend trying it.




Here are last weeks weigh-in photos as promised. These were taken just minutes after getting off the lake from our first wake boarding session.














I know they're not pretty, but they are a lot prettier than they would have been 6 months ago.












My daughter Ellie helped me update the Blog this weekend. I blame all the spelling errors on her.











I am doing my best to promote an active lifestyle for my girls.










And to promote safe boating.








Tony
7/9: 262.2 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
42.2 lbs. to go