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