The Weigh-In Week 34

216.8!!! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of .6

I have to admit I am a little disappointed this morning. I really, really wanted to get back to that pre-holiday low today. I am disappointed because I really thought I was back on track. I ate well this week, I didn't snack, I had a full week of workouts. So I am bummed that I missed 216.

The reality is it's getting a lot harder to come up with big losses. I know that is an inevitable part of the dramatic losses I have already accomplished. I need to make some mental adjustments now. To shift into a new gear and celebrate every little loss as if it were a big loss, because at this point it kind of is. This last 16 pounds could easily take as long as the first 70 to come off, if it comes off at all.

In many ways I am past the point where weight loss should be my main focus. Right now I need to concentrate on living healthy and if the weight continues to come off, that's just an extra bonus.
I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Although I really do want to hit that 214 before race day!

I made this to help me feel better.

It worked!

Everybody was over this week, although my lovely wife was closest with a guess of .8 lbs.

Hopefully we will all have better luck next week.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
1/31: 216.8lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
2.8 pounds to go.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 34

Once again I completly spaced this being Friday. We finally have a full week of stats to report!!!! Woo-Hoo!!

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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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 January 28th.

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wednesday. night I have consumed aprox. 16415 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wednesday night I have burned aprox. 26075 calories.

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

53% of my calories came from carbs.

16% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
1/31: 217.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
3.4 pounds to go.

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

Standoff Week 2 - Hour 84

I am starting to get a little worried about tomorrows weigh-in. With the exception of Tuesday night I have been holding strong to this standoff and I thought I was winning the battle, but the scale seems to have a different opinion. Not all hope is lost . Knowing the way my body works I could still post a good size loss tomorrow. I just thought I would be a little farther along today.

I did eat late last night. I made a pie for my dad. His prize from last week. It was a new recipe from weight watchers so I figured I should try it out. Unfortunately I had to wait until 11pm for the pie to be ready to eat. Double unfortunately, the pie was awful. Actually awful is to light a word. It was horrendus. This was an affront to all pie kind.

Sorry Dad. You'll have to wait a little longer for your pie until I can find a better recipe. These two pies are heading for the trash can and they can't get there soon enough.

There is some good news though.

I finished another 5K run yesterday!!! After Monday's run I was convinced it was going to be a week before I could work back up to the 5K. Guess I just needed a little faith. It felt good to be back in stride. Pun intended.

Here's the stats:
Total Calories For Yesterday: 1924
Total Calories Burned: 4032
Net Calories: -2108

Tony
1/31: 217.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
3.4 pounds to go.

Standoff Week 2 - Hour 60

We had a lovely date night last night despite the frigid temps. -35!!!! Yikes.

I don't think I did too much damage to the standoff. We went to California Pizza Kitchen where I had a BBQ Pizza and a beer. Then we split a large popcorn (with just an itsy-bitsy spritz of butter topping) and a large Cherry Coke at the movie.

Total Calories For Yesterday: 2941
Total Calories Burned: 3808
Net Calories: -867

Ok so looking at those numbers I may have done a little more damage than I thought...but who cares. We had a great night out and with some extra effort in the gym I should still be on track this week.

By the way, I highly recomend the film Juno. One of the best written films I have seen in years. And I am not just saying that becasue the authour is a fellow Minnesotan.

I'm off to the treadmill.

Tony
1/30: 217.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
3.4 pounds to go.

Standoff Week 2 - Hour 33

The second week of this standoff is starting out as good as the first and the scale is reflecting that.

I ate well yesterday and got back on the treadmill.

That was a little painful. After nearly two weeks of not running, the treadmill kind of kicked my fanny. I was no where near running a 5K. I am really hoping I can get back up to a 5K by next Monday or Wednesday. Today is strength training.

Total Calories For Yesterday: 1798
Total Calories Burned: 4000
Net Calories: -2,202

For those of you keeping score here are my weekend totals.

Total Calories For Weekend: 5576
Total Weekend Calories Burned: 6930
Net Calories For Weekend: -1354

I will be taking a short break from the standoff for date night tonight.

That's right, my lovely wife and I are having a rare date night. We are going to dinner and seeing a movie. I think this will be the first time in over 3 months that we have had the chance to go out for dinner and a movie.I will be having popcorn tonight. I'll just run a little extra hard tomorrow.

Tony
1/29: 217.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
3.4 pounds to go.

Standoff - Week 2

After a weekend of relaxed restrictions, I am back in standoff mode.

I did ok this weekend but I could have done a lot, lot better. The scale was up 2 pounds from Friday this morning. Good motivation to hit the treadmill hard this afternoon.

The goal is to get to 216 or less by Friday. If I can make it I will be under my pre holiday low for the first time since the Christmas Gluttony. I'm think with a full week of workouts I should be able to make it.


Tony
1/28: 217.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
3.4 pounds to go.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 17

Happy Friday, GHMIW fans!

Like Tony, I’ve had a rough time getting back into the swing of things after the holidays. I’ve lost some of my drive and determination, and I’m hoping I can get it back soon. And, like my darling husband, while I don’t feel that the train is back on track, I do feel as though I have the potential to get it back on the rails this week…as long as no one feels the need to tempt me with Chipotle burritos (I’m not mentioning any names, but you know who you are).

I did okay this week, despite the delicious steak burrito bol (mmm...Chipotle). I had a loss, putting me right back where I was two weeks ago. I got myself to the gym three mornings this week and am hoping to go at least once this weekend, too. I am now walking at a rate of 4 miles an hour and running at 5. This morning, I ran for 15 of my 45 minutes (8 minutes, 5-minute walk, then 7 more minutes). For someone like me, who has never (I mean EVER) been a runner, that is huge.

This week, as Tony was blogging about getting back on track, Dona (who is on a healthy living journey with her husband) commented on how easy it is to pick up old habits and how much easier all of this is when you have a partner on whom to lean. Absolutely.

K also commented we have demonstrated that “a little stumble doesn’t have to turn into a crash and burn scenario.” I think that is what is so much different for me this time. There is a lot of old-fashioned determination involved but, moreover, it is all about the accountability.

Going back to the "partner thing"...for the first time in our (almost) 13 years together, Tony and I are keeping each other honest about what we’re eating. I will also admit, that accountability to this blog is also pretty motivating. While everyone has been so supportive (no matter what direction the numbers are moving), it’s downright embarrassing to post a gain. That’s a good thing for me.

K was also interested in a post about our strategies for weight loss maintenance. I would love to speak to that…tune in next week. (And, thanks for the kind words.)

The goal is to keep on keepin’ on this week. I’d really like to finally break through this 5-pound plateau I’ve been playing around with since just before Christmas. A 186 would look fantastic to me right now. Wish me luck!

'Til next week,

Laura (a.k.a. Elle Tee Jay)

1/18/2008: 189.4

1/25/2008: 187.8 (a loss of 1.6 pounds)

Total loss: 40.6 pounds

Next goal: 182.0 pounds

P.S. As of today, Tony and I have lost a combined total of 103.2 pounds! Yee-haw!

The Weigh-In Week 33

217.4! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.8 pounds.

The standoff paid off! Considering the scale said 223 on Monday morning, I am extremely happy with this weigh-in.

So here's the plan. I am going to ease up a little for the weekend. No Dairy Queen or double decker ice cream sandwiches, but I am having lunch out tomorrow and breakfast out on Sunday. I'll do my best to play it cool but I'm not going to be in stand off mode. My lovely wife has some delicious and healthy dinners planed for the weekend so that should help too.

Then, on Monday it will be back to standoff mode for one more week. I am now 1.2 pounds above my lowest weight so far and 3.2 pounds above my next goal weight. My goal for next week is to get to at least 216, which will be a new low for me.

The bike was really good exercise this week and I think I may use it for some cross training, but starting Monday it's back to the treadmill and strength training.

Our winner this week is my Dad. Nice job Dad. I've got a super special prize for you. I have a couple of low-fat banana cream pie recipes that I would like to try and you get to be my guinea pig. I'll try and whip one up to get to you next week.

I'm not feeling 100% back on track but I do feel like the train is finally heading in the right direction.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
1/25: 217.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
3.4 pounds to go.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 33

My how time flies when you are spending all your time thinking about not eating. I completly forgot it is Thursday today... And you know what Thursday means!

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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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.

For those of you who have not been following the standoff this week, here are my stats from Monday through Wednesday. Sorry that's all I got. I can tell you that I had almost half a large pizza for dinner on Sunday night and a small DQ Blizzard on Sunday afternoon. I had lunch out on Saturday and had French fries, and last Friday night was our company holiday party at which I hit the buffet but didn't over do it too much. I only had one dessert!


Stats for the week of January 21st.

Calories Consumed: From Monday morning through Wednesday. night I have consumed aprox. 5426 calories.

Calories Burned: From Monday morning through Wednesday night I have burned aprox. 11612 calories.

25% of my calories have come from fat.
8% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

52% of my calories came from carbs.

22% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
1/24: 219.2lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
5.2 pounds to go.

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

Standoff - Hour 81

We cleaned out or fridge at work this morning and had a buffet of every junk food breakfeast item you can think of. Toaster Strudel, Pop Tarts, Toaster Scramblers, Pancakes. If it can be cooked in a toaster and eating fro breakfast it was in the buffet.

Me, I had a bowl of cereal and a low fat blueberry muffin. The will power flows strong in this one.

At least so far.

Today is going to be a tough day. I forgot to pack a lunch this morning and I have a meeting right after work so I'll have to eat two meals out.

For lunch I will most likely grab a sandwich and an apple from the coffee shop in our building. The meeting is a church and a light pot luck supper is provided. I'm not sure if I'm going to eat there or grab Subway on the way.

Yesterday was another good day.

I misprogrammed the bike during my workout so I ended up doing 55 minutes on the bike instead of 45. I went 11.77 Miles and burned 704 Calories.

Same old lunch and dinner. Sadly last night was the last of the Potato Hot Dish. Potato Hot Dish you will be missed.

Total Calories For Yesterday: 1928
Total Calories Burned: 4095
Net Calories: -2,167

Standoff - Hour 58

Sticking to my guns so far. And I have new inspiration to succeed this week. Watching the Biggest Loser last night I was reminded once again how glad I am to no longer have man boobs!

I had an apple before heading to the Chiropractors yesterday which saved me from doing something stupid at the gas station.

The chiropractor says I am free to exercise as I feel comfortable. My back is still hurting, so I think I will stick with the bike for today and tomorrow. I see the doc again on Friday. I plan to rest over the weekend and get back on the treadmill on Monday. The 5K is less than 2 months away.

Had a small lunch when I got back to the office. Turkey Sandwich and All Natural Cheeto's Puffs. Two sticks of cinnamint Gum in the afternoon and a heaping helping of my mother-in-laws hot dish and a salad for dinner.

Total Calories For Yesterday: 1857
Total Calories Burned: 3483
Net Calories: -1,626

I stayed home with the girls for an extra hour this morning so instead of my usual bowl of cereal, I had an English muffin with peanut butter, a Fiber One Bar and a glass of Orange Juice. A slightly bigger breakfast than normal, but it kept me from doughnuts and muffins on the drive in.

Standoff - Hour 33

So far my will power is holding strong.

Last night I had a generous portion of the potato hotdishmy wonderful mother-in-law made before leaving town. It was delicious, but I resisted seconds. I also resisted the leftover pizza in the fridge, the johnny cake on the counter and the ice cream in the freezer.

I was home alone with the girls last night, which is a dangerous situation when cravings strike. But I prevalied.

Total Calories For Yesterday: 1641
Total Calories Burned: 4034
Net Calories: -2,393

I have just finished my bowl of cereal and I am ready to start the day... right after I grab a piece of gum and a glass of water.

I am off to the chiropractor today over lunch so no gym. I'll eat lunch when I get back. To stop me from being tempted to stop and get lunch on the way back to work I will have an apple before I leave. See how I'm thinking ahead.

Tony

Standoff - Hour 14

So far taking a stand is going well.

I made it down to the gym and sent 45 minutes on the bike.
I did 10.2 miles on the hilly setting and burned 676 calories.
Speaking of burning...that's what my legs are doing right now.

Had one bowl of Organic Apple Cinnamon Low Fat Crisp cereal for breakfast.
A turkey sandwich, 1 serving of All Natural Cheeto's Puff's and half a pear for lunch.
Chewed to Sticks of Gum.

Total Calories as of 2:30pm: 739

Today Is The Day I Take A Stand

I am in a bad place right now!

I am not eating all that great.

I am rationalizing skipping my workouts

I am back up over 220 again.

and on Sunday I went to Dairy Queen for a small Kit Kat Blizzard...and didn't tell anyone about it until now.

My back is getting better, but not better enough that I feel comfortable getting back on the treadmill yet. I have another appointment with the chiropractor on Tuesday. I hope to get the full low down then.

Since I don't want to run this week I started thing about all the other things I could do with my lunch break besides working out. I could get my hair cut. Get a little shopping done. Go to the post office.

The slippery slope just keeps getting slipperier.

So today I take a stand.
This week I am going to be super strict with myself.
I will eat breakfast everyday.
That breakfast will be a bowl of cereal. Not a muffin, not a doughnut. Not something I eat in a car.
I will not eat snacks that are not fruits or vegetables.
I will bring my lunch everyday.
I will go to the gym and ride the bike any day that I am not going to the Chiropractor.
I will track my calories
I will report everything I do on this site everyday this week.

I will not fail!


Tony
1/21: 219.2lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
5.2 pounds to go.

The Weigh-In Week 32

219. That's what it said on the scale this morning. A gain of .2 lbs.

Not too bad considering all the reasons my lovely wife listed below.

Sadly I think next week is going to be a real test. I am having some back trouble this week. I spent an hour at the chiropractor this morning and it looks like this pain may not have a quick fix like I was hoping. Which means I may be sidelined from the gym next week.

I'll know more tomorrow... but right now I am a little worried. My momentum has all been the wrong way since the New Year and a week without the workouts has derailment written all over it.

I am going to have to work extra hard to be strong for the next few weeks.

For now let's focus on what really matters.

Is my wife hot or what?!!!!!!

I am so proud of how good you look sweetie and so proud of your determination. Getting up every morning to go to the gym at 5am is not something I could do and it amazes me every time you do it.

I never said this to you but it was really fun to see you feeling sassy on Saturday. It made me so happy to be out with you feeling so comfortable and happy. I don't want you to ever lose that again.

Tony
1/18: 219.2lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
5.2 pounds to go.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 16

Happy Friday, GHMIW fans!

Okay...let's be perfectly honest...I am bitter. I had a gain this week and I am not pleased.

Of course, it was to be expected. We had pizza with friends last Friday night. Then, on Saturday night, Tony and I had a lovely and indulgent dinner that included appetizers, a pasta entree, and champagne cocktails. Later, we had after-dinner cocktails and split a dessert. We went out for breakfast the next morning and had Chinese take-out this week. To top it off, I was only able to get to the gym twice because of all the other things we had going on.

Bitter...bitter...bitter...and angry.

Exhale.

You know, on the other hand, in the past, this would have left me feeling demoralized instead of angry. I suppose that's a good thing.

I guess it's a huge positive that it's left me feeling sort of motivated. Yeah...that's it. I'm feeling motivated to hit this thing head on in the upcoming week. I'm refusing to let this get the best of me. I am bound and determined not to let myself slip back into those 190's I so desperately want to leave behind. I am a misses' size 16 now and, as God is my witness, I WILL NEVER SHOP AT LANE BRYANT AGAIN!

Exhale.

That felt pretty good. I haven't had a Scarlett moment in a while.

As another positive, I really felt great on our date night. Tony took the picture posted before we left the house on Saturday. It felt so good to go out and not be one of the heaviest girls in the room. That's something I haven't experienced in years and it is something I will be holding on to for a while, in case I need to remind myself why I started this in the first place.

Have a good weekend!
Elle Tee Jay (a.k.a. Laura)

My update:
1/11/2008: 187.8 (a loss of 3.8 pounds)
1/18/2008: 189.4 (a gain of 1.6 pounds)
Total loss: 39.0 pounds
Next goal: 182.0 pounds

Late Weigh In

I may not get to post my weigh in until after lunch. Very busy day tomorrow.

Tony

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 32

Sorry for my absence this week. We've had some kind of doctors appointment every morning since Tues. Nothings going on. We just managed to schedule all of our checkups in the same week.

And work has been nuts. The post holiday panic has set in and everybody is trying to rush through all the work they neglected in December.

So this has to be short.

No stats this week. Look at Mr. Commitment over here. 1 week of tracking and already off the wagon. I'll do my best to track this week.

This week was a mixed bag. I'm finally back on track in the gym and I stood strong on my Gluttony pledge...kind of. I cut out the impulse snacking this week, but I replaced a few breakfasts with doughnuts or muffins. 3 times this week in fact. A combination of running late due to doctors appointments and birthday celebrations at work.

It looks like it is coming down to today to decide whether I have a loss this week or not .

I'll do my best to behave. I had a good start to the morning. A banana and a Fiber One Bar and I am feeling very satisfied.

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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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.


Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
1/17: 219lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
5 pounds to go.

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

Goodbye Gluttony, Hello Little Gut

Hey Gluttony, come here I've got something to show you.



That's right I am showing gluttony the door.

To tell the truth, I wouldn't really call these last two week gluttonous. I have however been kind of weak willed when it comes to snacking. Every time I have a had a craving for something sweet, decadent or totally unnecessary in the last two weeks, I have given in. Fortuntley the cravings have been spaced out, not like the old days where I would stuff my face every two to three hours.

The damage has been minimal but it has been enough to raise some alarms. This is simply me being proactive and drying the slope before it becomes too slippery to climb back up.

So it is time to reassert my self control. I am going to try to start keeping some healthy snacks around the office (Fruit, Beef Jerky, etc.) and go back to craving replacement therapy. It worked very well for me when I was first starting out.

I'm not going to deny myself every last little sweet, but I will start saying no a little more often.

Tony
1/14: 219lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
5 pounds to go.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 15

Wow! Does it feel good to be past the holidays, or what? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute of the food, family, and friends, and having vacation time to spend with our little girls was wonderful. But, I love getting back to routine…back to a little structure, you know?

Admittedly, the re-entry into post-holiday life has been a little difficult, but it certainly feels great to be back to (and below) my pre-holiday low.


I hit a big milestone this week, finally clearing the 40-pound mark. Hurray! I attribute it to really watching my food intake, drinking LOTS of water, and hitting the treadmill and stair master.

I also went to a yoga class this week, which I really loved. I have to thank our neighbor (and friend) Ali for encouraging me to go. It’s difficult for me to skip out on bedtime to go to the gym, but I think this will really be worth it. Yoga seems to be a perfect fit for a high-strung girl like me.

Have a fantastic week, everyone!
Elle Tee Jay (a.k.a. Laura)

My update:
1/04/2008: 191.6
1/11/2008: 187.8 (a loss of 3.8 pounds)
Total loss: 40.6 pounds
Next goal: 182.0 pounds

The Weigh-In Week 31

219! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.4 pounds.

A good loss for the week despite my indiscretions.

My lovely wife and I have a weekend of fun activities planed, including our first "adult" night out in along time. So this weekend will be included as part of my transition week.

I am hoping to hit the gym good and hard next week with a healed toe and renewed determination. That 5K is just a little over 2 months away and a vacation requiring swim suits is not far beyond that. This is no time for slacking.

Speaking of slacking I found this during some spring cleaning this week.
It's an ad I did in 2000 for Excel Energy. It was my first national print ad. Honestly I think it was my only national print ad. I am a much better voice talent than I am a model. If you can't tell, that's me in the back.

When I first started acting professionally 10 years ago my agents told me I needed to either gain 50 pounds to get work as a character actor or lose 50 pounds to get work as a leading man. In the past 10 years I have managed to do both, yet neither seemed to help my acting career.

After weeks of not having to worry about coming up with a prize we finally have a big winner!!!!
Nato nailed the pound on the head...or should that be pounded the nail on the head? Either way he hit it right on the number with a guess of 1.4. Since it's been so long since I have had to give out a prize, I am feeling a little rusty with the whole clever gift thing. So, I shall fall back on an old favorite. Nate wins a package of Flat Out. If we can ever find some free time to get together, I'll even get my lovely wife to turn your flat out into a Flat Out pizza for ya.

Keep the votes coming in. It's good to know people are still watching and keeping me honest....although in the future, dog votes will not count. You know who you are you sneaky Texas dog. And I refuse to except the argument, "Dogs are people too." Because they are not!

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
1/11: 219lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
5 pounds to go.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 31

At the beginning of this week it looked like it was going to be an easy transition back into living the healthy life from the gluttony of holiday living. Sadly I hit a few stumbles this week that are making that transition just a little less smooth.

One of those stumbles was a literal stumble. On Monday morning I stubbed my toe pretty bad. The official consensus between my lovely wife and I is that the toe is broken. It is looking much better this morning., though. I thinking skipping my run yesterday was a good choice, at least for the toe. Unfortuntly my run was replaced with a catered lunch of Chinesse and 4 hours of sitting on my butt in a meeting.

I was also hit with a case of the cravings this week... a few of which I gave into a lot easier than I expected. Nothing major. A Croissant here, half a chocolate bar there, a few extra creme cheese wantons way over yonder. Again, none of them that bad in themselves but all put together with a slow workout week they add up.

So I am offically calling this week the transition week from Gluttony to Goodness.

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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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 January 7th.

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wednesday. night I have consumed aprox. 16,051 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wednesday night I have burned aprox. 25,599 calories.

33% of my calories have come from fat.
12% 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
1/10: 220.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
6.4 pounds to go.

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

The Thrill Of Victory, The Agony Of De Feet

I did it!!!!

I completed a 3.2 mile run outside in 32 minutes. That's without a treadmill or anything. Like actually running on the sidewalk and sometimes on the snow and sometimes on the ice and for a short few feet in the mud.

It felt great! Well it feels great now. At the time my legs were killing me. Which is surprising, considering it should have been my little toe on my left foot that was killing me.

Why my little toe on my left foot?

Because I think I broke the little toe on my left foot yesterday morning before I went out for my run. Strangely enough, it didn't hurt running. In fact it still doesn't hurt. It is however swollen and black and blue. I have it taped to" the little piggy that had none" right now.

According to Web MD and my lovely wife there isn't much I can do about a broken toe besides tapping it up. Hopefully this won't derail my workouts for the week.

Tony
1/8: 220.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
6.4 pounds to go.

Down Under 220...again

After having such success with the "Chasing Kids Around A Mall" exercise routine I decide to try a new kid based exercise this weekend, I call it the "Pulling Kids Around A Snow Filled Yard In A Sled And Building a Snowman with Seriously Heavy Wet Snow" exercise.

This one worked like a charm too. I managed to lose another pound and a half over the weekend to get me down under 220 again. This despite some generously large portions of my lovely wife's decadent Johnny Cake. Being under 220 has me feeling like I am really back on track.

All in all an excellent weekend. I did a lot of living in the moment.

The beautiful weather continues here in Minnesota. It was 46 yesterday and should be near the same today so I am planing on taking my act to the road. I'm going to try running outside today. The paths look clear. My goal is to finish my first ever outdoor 5k. Wish me luck.

Tony
1/7: 220.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
6.4 pounds to go.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 14

Happy New Year, GHMIW fans!

What a great holiday! Lots of family, lots of friends, and lots of fun. All that good stuff made it a little difficult to come back to work.

I will admit there was some general food-related debauchery over the holidays. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted:

Birthday cake (celebrating the 2nd anniversary of our daughters' births), cheesy potatoes, my mom's homemade caramel rolls, Tony's mom's egg souffle, lots and lots of salty ham, pizza from a favorite take-out place in Duluth with my family, Christmas cookies, pasta bar for dinner at a favorite local restaurant with a big group of old friends, a gigantic sushi feast with a close friend from far away, buffalo chicken dip on New Year's Eve, and so many other yummy things.

I drank what I wanted, when I wanted:

Beer, wine, Colorado Bulldogs, champagne, martinis...even a Tom and Jerry, one gigantic mojito (some might have called it a small pitcher), and one Chocolate Cake shot (celebrating the 30th anniversary of my sister-in-law's birth).

I also got to the gym a few times, which felt really good. (Thanks for being my workout buddy, Katie!)

I gave myself full license to enjoy the food and drink of the holiday without limitation. I actually sort of wanted to see what would happen. In my past, if I’ve been tracking my weight, I’ve been “dieting.” If I’m not “dieting,” I’m not tracking my weight. I usually de-rail when I know I haven’t been eating like I should and then I’m afraid to step on the scale. Thus begins the ugly downward spiral.

So, I decided to tempt fate and see what would happen if I let myself off the hook. I wanted to see just what the damage would be. The actual number wasn’t that bad. I will admit that getting back into the swing of healthy eating is a little tougher than I thought it would be, but I’m ready to kick it back into gear.

I can’t imagine going back to where I was. In fact, I refuse to do so. I mean, really…I’ve already unsubscribed from the Lane Bryant e-mail list.

Have a great week, everyone!
Laura

My update:
12/21/2007: 189.4 pounds
01/04/2008: 191.6 (a gain of 2.2 pounds)
Total loss: 36.8 pounds
Next goal: 182.0 pounds

The Weigh-In Week 30

220.4! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 3.2 pounds.

I'd call that a great start to the New Year. I still have 4 pounds to go to get down to my pre-holiday low and 6 pounds to reach overweight status, but that will come quickly enough. I'll be hitting the gym good and hard all week next week and getting my eating back on track has not been tough at all.

This has been an amazing year for me, and again all I can ask myself is why did it take so long to do this. Sure it has been some work, but not nearly as much as I expected. In fact once I got into the groove of things I would say the whole thing has come pretty easy. I guess you just have to be at the right place in your life to make the change.

So lets look back at who I was a year ago.


One year ago I weighed 288 pounds.
I regularly consumed over 3500 calories a day.
I couldn't run more than 1 minute at a time.
I wore a XXL shirt.
I wore size 46 pants.




Today I weigh 220 pounds.
I eat less than 2000 calories a day on average.
I work out 5 days a week for 45 minutes.
I can run more than 34 minutes at a time.
I can run a 5k on a treadmill.
I wear a L shirt.
I wear size 36 pants.
I feel great.

I am really proud of what I have accomplished .and I am really excited to see what new accomplishments I will be able to achieve this year.

As always I thank all of you for the help and support and encouragement.


Only 5 votes this week. Had we had 10 our winner would have been Cousin Angie. Nice voting Angie.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
1/4: 220.4lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
6.4 pounds to go.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 30

The first contest of the New Year.

So the gluttony. Well there was gluttony and a lot of it. The week between Christmas and New Years kind of turned into a food free for all. Somehow I convinced myself that I had a free pass to be as bad as I wanted and I was bad.... but not nearly as bad as I was on a daily basis 30 weeks ago. I guess that is the silver lining. Even in my worst pig-out moments last week, I was still more restrained than I would have been on any given day prior to starting this Journey. Hopefully next Holiday season I will be at a place where the word gluttony is long forgotten.

The good news is after just one day of eating better and hitting the gym the pounds are already starting to come off. I think we are for sure looking at a loss from last Friday's weigh-in.

I had a little extra motivation on the treadmill yesterday. Towards the end of my run a guy got on the treadmill next to me and started up a conversation. Turns out he is a triathlete who competed in this year Iron Man Championships in Kona, Hawaii and he knows my friend Anthony who also competed at Kona this year. This guy was cruising away at 9 or 10 miles an hour on the treadmill carrying on a conversation like we were sitting on a bench in the park. I on the other hand was huffing and puffing away. But I did run an extra 4 minutes because I was to embarrassed to stop running in front of him. It was a nice little kick in the pants to get me back in the swing of things.

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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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.

I started tracking calories yesterday...but one day of stats won't do you much good. So, stats will return next week.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
1/3: 223.6lbs
NEW GOAL: 214
lots of lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

Living For The Moment

I had a sort of epiphany on my way in to work today. I think it is the exact same epiphany I had on January 2nd last year.

I spend way to much of my life waiting for things to happen. I have not been living in the moment much lately.

The last few days were spent hanging around the house with my three girls with no real plan or purpose... something I used to love to do. But this time I was going stir crazy. I wanted to do things, to get out of the house and play. Go to the pool, go to a movie, do something.

What I realized on the my drive in this morning is what a wonderful day we ended up having just hanging around the house doing nothing. If I had been living in the moment I would have recognized it at the time.

My healthy journey is the one area of my life where I feel like I have really been living in the moment. Keeping this daily journal has forced me to appreciate the journey as much as the destination. Sure I have been pushing towards a goal, but along the way I have really enjoyed myself.

I've never been one for New Years resolutions, but if I were going to make one this year it would be to live life in the moment. To appreciate these golden times as they are happening. We'll see how I do.

As for the gluttony that was the last two weeks. We'll talk about that tomorrow. I can't wait to get back on the treadmill today... although I will take my time and enjoy these precious hours before then.

Tony
1/2: 223.6lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
lots of lbs. to go

Happy New Year

It seems almost criminal to weigh in the day after New Years Eve, but I promised I would. So the unofficial start to the New Year weight is 224.2!

Not a bad gain considering what I ate and drank last night. Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip...Yum,Yum,Yum!!!!

The first official weigh-in of the New Year will be Friday. I'll be back tomorrow.

Tony
12/28: 223.6lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
lots of lbs. to go

The Weigh-In Week 29

Oh if only those of you who voted could have been right!

223.6!!! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A gain of 7.4 pounds!!!!!!

I regret nothing. Sure it may take an extra few weeks to get to my 214 goal...but I enjoyed the heck out of my holiday.

I also weighed in in the middle of the day instead of the morning. That has to make a difference. Probably not 7.4 pounds worth through.

I'll be back on New Years Eve or New Years Day to check in with a begging of the year weigh-in.

Have a great weekend.

Tony
12/28: 223.6lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
lots of lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 29

Let's be honest. I am going to have a gain this week. There is no doubt about it. I made no attempt to eat healthy over the last 5 days. I stuffed myself full of every holiday delight I could get my hands on... and I am fine with that. I can feel it in my soul that I am going to have no trouble getting back on track next week. I feel satiated again. I ate so much that I have no desire to stuff myself anymore.

Not much on the exercise front either. Although I did hit the gym with my lovely wife last Sunday and I did go for a 3 and a half mile run in a snow storm yesterday. That should count for two workouts.

So, like I said there will be a gain. I can pretty much gurantee that I will not make it to 214 by the new year... although I will weigh in on New Years Eve and New Years Day and post the weigh ins so we all know where we are starting the New Year. As for tommorrow's weigh in, I'm just hopping to keep it under 220.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Talk to you tomorrow.

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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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.

For this week and this week only, votes for a gain will count....and I won't hold it against you...well not to much anyway.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
12/21: 216.2lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
2.2 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 13

Happy holidays, GHMIW fans!

So a very quick update from me, as I am trying to get things wrapped up before 11 full days off of work! Hurray!

This week was a very good week. After small gains and losses over the last few weeks, my hard work paid off with a nice loss. What super motivation for me to stick to my plans over vacation and get my backside to the gym.

My biggest success this week was achieving my number one non-scale goal. I no longer have to shop for pants in the plus-size department. When I started this journey, I was just moving out of my size 22 post-pregnancy jeans. I am now able to walk into any women's clothing store and put on a size 16. And, I am not far from a size 14. For years, I have dreamed of being able to do just that. Again, what fantastic motivation. Merry Christmas to me.

May your holidays be merry and bright...joy to the world!
Laura

My update:
12/14/2007: 192.4 pounds (a gain of 0.8 pounds)
12/21/2007: 189.4 pounds (a loss of 3 pounds)
Total loss: 39.0 pounds
New mini-goal: 182 pounds by February 1
6 weeks and 7.4 pounds to go...1.2 pounds a week

P.S. My New Year's resolution is to get a new profile picture.

The Weigh-In Week 28

216.2! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1 pound!

I followed through on my plan yesterday and it paid off. I sampled small portions of each of the Crockpot offerings and did not go back for seconds. Then I went down to the gym and got on the treadmill. Amazingly I was able to finish another 5K...even with all that slow cooked meat sloshing around in my tummy.

Only 8 votes so no prize again this week, but our big winner would have been Cousin Ali. Nicely Done Ali! Enjoy your warm Christmas down in Texas.

After today I am on vacation until after the first of the year so there won't be regular updates for the next week and a half... although there will be one final Guess How Much I Weigh Contest and Weigh-In next week. Be sure to check back next Friday and see if I make my goal of being overweight for the New Year.

Have a warm, wonderful happy holiday!

Here is my gift to you. Side by side video comparison of yours truly. For real fun, pause the top video at 15 seconds and the bottom video at 10 Seconds and compare.






Tony
12/21: 216.2lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
2.2 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 28

Sorry for the late post. I have been busy making Crockpot Apple Crisp for a company Crockpot Off. Yup you read that right. We are having a Crockpot cooking competition at work today to see who can make the best Crockpot recipe.

As you can imagine I am in a quandary. I would like to post another loss tomorrow. I would also like to fully enjoy the fruits of my co-workers labors. The smell of slow cooked meat is already permeating the office. It's siren scents calling to me like the Merwomen of ancient legend. Really good smelling merwomen

I brought a healthy lunch today, but I have a feeling I will abandoned it for the hidden Crockpot treasures.

Here is the plan. Modestly sample each of the entries. Go run 4 miles on the treadmill. Avoid leftovers.

We will see how I do.

There is one thing working in my favor. Many of the Crockpot entires are soup or chili based . I don't eat soup or chili. Which cuts down dramatically the number of things I will be tempted to sample.

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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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.

No stats again this week. Holiday prep kind of got in the way of calorie counting. I think I'll be taking the rest of the year off from tracking calories and then back at it in the New Year.

I did good this week, until yesterday. Not that I did that bad yesterday. I skipped my workout yesterday to have lunch with a friend I haven't seen in a few months. I had a large put sensible lunch. Unfortunately I was caught unawares by a Birthday party celebration later in the day and partook of greasy fried food that was totally unnecessary but oh so yummy.

Skipping the workout or downing the fried foods in themselves weren't so bad. It was doing it on the same day that has me a little worried.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!


Tony
12/18: 217.2lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
3.2 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

Who The Heck Is That?

It is amazing how fast I have forgotten who I used to be.

I stumbled across this video today while looking at some footage of the girls from this summer. I was shocked!!!

Sure I've been looking at photos of my former self but they don't quite capture the "grandeur" of the man I used to be.

Watching this I realize just how much I have changed and not just my physical appearance. I even move differently now that I don't have 5 feet of belly in front of me.

In this video I look and walk like my lovely wife did when she was 8-months pregnant.




What a difference 6 months and a few hundred miles can make.

Tony
12/18: 217.2lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
3.2 lbs. to go

Shopping = Exercise

This is the first weekend in a long time where I weigh the same on Monday morning as I did on the previous Friday morning. Normal I gain a pound or so over the weekend.

I mentioned this before but weekends always turn into free for alls. The lack of structure gets me every time. Not that I eat horrible. I just don't watch what I eat closely. This weekend was no exception. I had lunch out on Saturday and Sunday. Enjoyed a few snacks. Had a candy bar. Nothing off the rails. No binges, just a little more than my weekday calories.

I assumed that I would bounce up to 218 or 219 on the scale this morning, just like every other Monday morning. I was pleasantly surprised to see 217.4 instead.

My only conclusion? Christmas shopping is good exercise.

On second thought chasing 2, almost two-year olds through store after store trying to keeping them from tearing everything off the shelf is where the exercise really comes in.

Tony
12/17: 217.2lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
3.2 lbs. to go

The Wife Weighs In...Week 12

Good morning, GHMIW fans!

This week has been a good week. I feel like it's been the beginning of the next phase of my healthy living journey. I've really grown to love my time at the gym in the morning. Granted, I haven't gotten my strength training program off the ground, but the treadmill and I are becoming best friends.

I've spent over four hours on the treadmill over the last seven days and approximately 45 minutes of that time was spent running. That's right, I have been RUNNING! It's been no more than 10 minutes at a time but, trust me, bragging about running is not something I ever thought I would do.

Tony and I took the day off from work yesterday to get some Christmas shopping done. While out, we went to Banana Republic, a store in which I would normally never set foot. Here's why...

When a woman who wears a size 20 steps into a store like that, the sales associates take one look at her, assess her size, and conclude that she doesn't belong there and is not worth their time. Those of you who have never been plus-sized may think I am making it up or imagining things, but I have seen it happen time and again.

So, back to Banana Republic. Tony was looking at sweaters and a male associate was pointing out all the "promo items" in the men's section (apparently, Banana Republic does not have "sales," only "promos"). After he finished giving Tony his spiel, he looked at me and said, "And I can give you the run-down on the promos in the women's section if you venture over there."

This associate had looked at me, assessed my size, and concluded that I belonged there! I have to be honest, after he walked away and Tony went to the fitting room, I actually almost teared up.

On to my update...when I stepped on the scale yesterday morning, I was set up to have a sizable loss today. But, I went caroling last night with my music group (for those of you who don't know, I sing at our church's contemporary Mass every Sunday night) and we all went out for a little socializing afterwards. The caroling itself wasn't a problem, but the beer and the salty popcorn and the appetizers at 8:00 p.m. was a problem. So, I had a slight gain...but it's okay. It was worth it.

Have a great weekend!

Laura

My update:

12/07/2007: 191.6 pounds

12/14/2007: 192.4 pounds (a gain of 0.8 pounds)

Total loss: 36.0 pounds

New mini-goal: 182 pounds by February 1

7 weeks and 10.4 pounds to go

(YIKES! Challenging, but not insurmountable...I'll reassess next week)

The Weigh-In Week 27

What is up with that cheesy smile?

217.2! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.2 pounds!!!

214 here I come.

Here is my feel good story from yesterday.

My lovely wife and I took the day off to try and get all of our Christmas shopping done in one day. A task we almost succeed at.

We took a few minutes out of power shopping for others to do a little power shopping for ourselves at Banana Republic. Banana Republic is a store I have been in maybe once in my life . That trip lasted all of 3 minutes. I left once I realized the only thing in the place that would fit me was a $90 cashmere scarf.

This trip was a different story. I browsed around for a few minutes before a sales person approached. Being unaccustomed to the ways and fits of the "Republic", I asked the salesman about their sizing. I believe my exact words were, "Are your sweaters slim fitting?"

The salesman took a moment to size me up and then uttered these magic words.

"You look like you'd wear a large."

not. "Ha, Why would you want to know?"
-or- "They're too slim for you!"
-or- "You wouldn't even fit in to our Double XL"

Simply, "You look like a large."

And it was casual and nonchalant, not incredulous or surprised.

I was so overwhelmed at the world of choice now open to me that I left the store without purchasing anything. I am having to readjust my whole fashion world view. This is going to take sometime. But fear not Banana Republic I will return... and soon, there is this slim fitting red zip up sweater that I have my eye on. Size large please.

This weeks winner is Teresa. Teresa nailed it with the first guess of the day. Nicely done Teresa. Only 9 votes this week. Nearly their for a prize ...but not nearly enough.

How about this for this weeks prize, you all win my thanks and gratitude for helping me get through a big week. Pretty good prize, huh?

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
12/14: 217.2lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
3.2 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 27

I feel good about this week! What could have been a disastrous let down after last weeks triumph is shaping up to be another victory.

I successfully avoided the mounds of holiday temptations at the office this week. In fact the last 3 days have been some of my lowest calorie days in a month. On top of that I worked my butt of in the gym these last 3 days. I didn't make another 5k today but I did kick the speed up a half mile an hour and still made 1.5 miles before my legs gave out.

Regardless of what the scale says I am proud of the way this week has gone. No resting on my laurels for me.

Thanks for all the congrats and encouragement this week. It continues to do wonders for keeping me on track.

Check out the awesome congrats vid my buddy Scott sent me. Does that sentence make me sound like a 14 year old?


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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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 December 10th.
Walked / Ran: 11.5 miles

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wednesday. night I have consumed aprox. 13937 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wednesday night I have burned aprox. 26397 calories.

38% of my calories have come from fat.
12% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

46% of my calories came from carbs.

16% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
12/13: 218.4lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
4.4 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

Another Milestone

Ha-Ha! Get it ? It's a pun. "Milestone" and this post is about me running.

Sorry you don't know what this post is about yet do you?

I RAN FOR 3.1 MILES YESTERDAY.

I know I am shouting. I'd do it from the roof top if they hadn't barred the door after that unfortunate naked bird watching incident this summer.

I made my first ever 5K yesterday. Way ahead of schedule. I guess I am trying to cram all the victories in before the end of the year.

I still can't believe it. I ran for 34 minutes straight...without even stopping once. It may not seem like a big deal, but to me it's like I've accomplished the impossible dream. This is my Everest.

Now I have to build up to running 5K consistently and work on upping the speed a little. All in good time.

Another nice thing happened yesterday. A friend gave me a gift to celebrate reaching my goal. I hope she knows what a wonderful gift it was. It was the perfect thing at the perfect time.

I am on a precipice here. This week is going to be a busy one, full of lots of temptations. All ready our office is stuffed to the rafters with holiday gifts from clients and vendors. All most all of them involve popcorn or chocolate or both. Plus I am going to have to go out of my way to get 3 of my workouts in this week, a situation that would make it very easy for me to skip working out all together.

But thanks to a simple act of kindness I'm not worried anymore about getting through the week. It was a reaffirmation of what I have worked so hard to accomplish and it made me realize how much I don't want to disappoint all the friends that have come along for this ride... and how much I don't want to disappoint myself.

That simple act of kindness was the inspiration I needed to push through to 3.1 miles yesterday and to push away handfuls of popcorn and chocolate and cookies.

I plan to be a very good boy this week. I want next Friday to be as happy as this past Friday was. Heck I want the rest of my life to that happy!

Tony
12/11: 218.4lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
4.4 lbs. to go

Cookie In Hand

This weekend I narrated a Christmas concert at my church. Afterward, there was a very nice candlight reception with punch and fancy Christmas cookies. There were a lot of people there that I hadn't seen in a while , so a lot of folks were shocked at the new, slimmer me.

It felt good to have a night of compliments and gushing after reaching my first goal. It kind of brought everything full circle.

Except... every single time someone came up to compliment me on the weight loss, I had just taken a bite of Christmas cookie.

Which lead to this exchange.

Complimenter: "Wow you look great. How did you do it.?"

Me: (With mouth full of cookie) "Watched what I ate and exercised."

I can't imagine the answer was to convincing as cookie crumbs flew from my mouth.

Sadly I kind of over did it on the cookies that night. But I redeemed myself with just two small cookies after Sundays performance.

I guess that's not really redeeming myself is it? I probably should have skipped the cookies all together. Just more proof that reaching the goal is only half the battle.

Tony
12/10: 218.4lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
4.4 lbs. to go

The Wife Weighs In...Week 11

Good morning, GHWIW fans!

First of all, a huge WAY TO GO(!) to my loving (and very handsome) husband, who reached his big goal this week. I am so proud of you, sweetie! Your determination has been a true inspiration to me and a lot of other people. While I think you look fantastic, I am most excited by the change in how you feel about yourself. I think you are amazing, and I love you so very much. MWAH! (That's a big kiss, by the way.)

My update is nowhere near as exciting. I had a small loss this week, but I am perfectly okay with it. I'm starting to get a little lazy...not logging everything I'm eating and allowing myself to make some really bad choices. Not good.

When I first got really serious about losing weight, I was ever-vigilant. I counted every point of every bite of food. Now? Meh...not so much. So, starting this week, I plan to crack down and raise the "alert level" a little.

Thanks to the U.S. Department of Health Plan Security, there is an easy to understand Advisory System to follow, shown here. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been operating under a threat level of BLUE.

The fact that there has been credible information warning of an imminent and specific threat to my health plan (namely the entire holiday season), paired with heightened food-related activity among friends and family and the upward trend of high-caloric propaganda in the media, the department's strategic threat perspective is that we are in a period of increased risk. Due to these factors I feel it is my duty to raise the health plan threat level to RED.

All GHMIW fans should continue to be vigilant, take increased notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious foods or activities to local authorities immediately.

Stay on the alert, and have a fantastic weekend!
Laura

My update:
11/30/2007: 192.2 pounds
12/07/2007: 191.6 pounds (a loss of 0.6 pounds)
Total loss: 36.8 pounds
New mini-goal: 182 pounds by February 1
8 weeks and 9.6 pounds to go (YIKES! That's 1.2 pounds a week!)

The Weigh-In Week 26

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!!!!!



218.4!!!! That is what it said on the scale this morning!!! A loss of 5lbs.

This one is no flu fluke! I hereby declare Goal #1 Accomplished.

It feels like this has been a long time coming ,but really a year to lose 70 lbs. is not that long. And honestly, the last 62 of it only took me 26 weeks! I'm not bragging...in fact, I still can't figure out why I didn't do this ten years ago. I guess it's all about the proper motivation.

And I'm not done yet. 220 was an arbitrary goal. I choose it at random before I knew what my real goals were going to be. Over the last 26 weeks I have a much better understanding of those goals.

NEW GOAL #1:
214 by January 1st. A loss of 4.4 lbs. This is a pretty ambitious goal considering the holiday feasting and if I don't make it I'm not going to beat myself up. To make the goal I will have to lose 1.2 lbs a week.

At 214 my BMI will be 29.8 which would move me out of the Obese classification and into Moderately Overweight. It would be nice to start the new year Overweight.


NEW GOAL #2:
199 by May 29th 2008...my 34th birthday. I'm not sure if I will ever make it under 200lbs, but why not shoot for the moon huh? To achieve this goal I will have to lose .78 lbs. A week.

At this point I'm not really doing anything extra to lose weight. I am simply trying to live healthier. Hopefully the way I am eating and exercising now is the same way I will be living years from now. I may cut back on the workouts eventually as life gets more hectic with the girls, but I hope to still keep working out 3 to 4 days a week.

For now I am just letting my body do it's thing and find its own equilibrium. If that happens to be 210 instead of 190 I am just fine with that.

Which brings us to...

GOAL FOR LIFE:
Stay Healthy, Look Healthy!

I'd like to tone my body and put on more muscle and I will be able to run a 5k before this is through....but my biggest goal of all is to be healthy, at whatever weight I net out.

Only seven votes this week so no big winner. The closest was my Cousin Ali, who has been a huge supporter from the very beginning. Her guess of 3.4 may have seemed crazy high to the rest of you, but I say it was crazy like a fox! Way to goal Ali.

And thank you again for all of the support and encouragement you have all given me. If I've said it once I've said it... I couldn't do this without you all.

Have a fantastic weekend everybody!

Tony
12/7: 218.4lbs
Goal: 220 lbs. ACCOMPLISHED
NEW GOAL: 214
4.4 lbs. to go

P.S. That first picture is me doing the "Rocky" move...not me trying to show off my muscles!

Guess How Much I Weigh Conest - Week 26

I would like to take a quick moment to clear up somethings I said yesterday. If you read the comments on the post "Nancy Makin..." you may have noticed my lovely wife and I seem to have a difference of opinion . Don't worry we are not feuding...just having a very civil discourse.

Honestly Laura makes some very good points and her comment gives me the chance to clarify what I was trying to say yesterday but didn't quite get right.

First and foremost I was 100% wrong to lump Weight Watchers in with other fad diets.

Yesterday I wrote, "She did exactly what we all should be doing. She came to terms with her problem and found the willpower to overcome it."

What I meant to say was: "Wouldn't it be great if we all had this kind of willpower. To be able to overcome our problem with sheer will and determination."

In no way did I mean to imply any of us should try to do this on our own. We need our support groups, whether they be family, friends, your Weight Watchers meeting or an Internet community of like minded souls. The support is integral to the process.

What scares me and really ticks me off are the hundreds of thousands of "get skinny with no effort" schemes out there that people are sinking millions of dollars into, because they are so desperate to make a change without having to deal with their real issues. Fad diets, miracle pills, celebrity trainers that sound more like television evangelists; these things piss me off. They are get rich quick schemes that prey on the insecurities of our vulnerable self image and self worth and they are not what we need to make a difference in our lives.

"Find contentment and value in yourself." If you really need some book to tell you what to do, write that on a blank piece of paper, fold it in half and call it your new diet bible.

Thank you to my lovely wife for encouraging me to clear up my muddied thoughts.

Now on to the contest. I am very excited. This has been a good 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. The winner is the first person who guesses my weight / weight loss for the week without going over or the person who is closest without going over. 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 December 3rd.
Walked / Ran: 10.7 miles

Calories Consumed: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 14567 calories.

Calories Burned: From Thursday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 26936 calories.

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

49% of my calories came from carbs.

19% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
12/6: 223.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
3.4 lbs. to go

p.s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the e-mail edition of Guess How Much I Weigh . Simply enter your e-mail address in the space to the right.

I Won An Award

I have no clue what this means or how prestigious it is, but it is my first Blogging Award. So we should celebrate.

Thanks to whom ever nominated the blog!

If you are new to the site, start here to see what it's all about.

Then go here to see the pictures.

Nancy Makin Loses 530 Pounds

I know Nancy Makin 's story has been all over the media this week. And it should be! It is an amazing thing that this woman was able to accomplish.

If you have been living under a rock, Nancy Makin is a woman who lost 530 pounds. She started at 703 lbs and over the course of 3 years got down to 170.

There are two things that I really appreciate about this story.

First. This woman was able to do this own her own. She didn't need Weight Watchers or Atkins Or South Beach or a $1000 an hour trainer. She did exactly what we all should be doing. She came to terms with her problem and found the willpower to overcome it.

"I achieved this on my own, in a natural way, with no surgical procedures having been performed. No particular 'diet' plan was followed; no pills, potions or ab-crunching exercises played a part in my recovery," she wrote in a congratulatory letter to herself."

Being overweight is not a problem money can solve. Even with surgery, if you don't get to the real root of your weight issues, the weight will never stay off.

I know that weight watchers and other groups like it have made a real difference in a lot of peoples lives. But in my mind what you are paying for is motivation and if you can find that yourself instead of having to pay someone to do it for you, more power to you!

Which brings me to the other thing I really appreciate about this woman's story. Weight was never her problem.

"I've heard so many times, I said it myself, if I could only lose 40 or 50 pounds, I'd be so much happier. I've found on this journey that the opposite is true."

"Unless you focus on what's going on inside and start to feel better about yourself you won't be able to stop the cycle. The key is to find contentment and value in yourself by reaching out and doing something not for you, and the weight will come off as a side effect."

I really like that . "Find contentment and value in yourself." It can be a lot harder than you think to do it, but it is the crucial first step. For me it has made all the difference in the world. It's why I can say with confidence this is not a diet this time around. It's a whole new life!

Tony
12/5: 223.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
3.4 lbs. to go

Memories...Misty, Watercolored Memories

It was all Christmas all the time at the Johnson house this weekend.

We had a visit with Santa, got our Christmas tree, decorated the house and woke up to a winter wonderland on Sunday morning. It was the kind of magical weekend that memories are made of. Naturally I was in a nostalgic mood.

I love Christmas. This month leading up to the holidays is my favorite time of year. I love the music, the lights, the hustle and bustle, the shopping, the crowded malls, the hunt for the perfect gift. I love it all. But mostly I love the time spent with my family and the memories of all those Christmas' past.

Give me a second to wipe the tear from my eye.


So like I said I was in a nostalgic kind of mood this weekend. My lovely wife and I have been talking a lot about how this will be the girls real first Christmas... at least the first one they will understand. Which got me thinking about the first Christmas I remembered.

As I was thinking about it, I was overwhelmed with memories of my Dad with a mustache. When I was growing up my dad was a dead ringer for Tom Selleck, only like 30 times less cheesy. Even though my Dad hasn't had a mustache for more than 20-years, all of my Childhood memories feature my dad wearing the "Selleck". Those first impressions of our parents are hard to change... and I wouldn't want to.

This gave me another thing to be thankful for this holiday season. My girls Christmas memories will not feature a father with a tummy like a bowl full of jelly. If I can continue to make this healthy lifestyle work (and I will) my girls will never know the fat guy that I was for most of my life. To them I will just be Dad, good, old silly dad.

That is about the greatest gift I could ask for this holiday season.

Now I'm getting misty again.

Tony
12/3: 223.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
3.4 lbs. to go