THe Weigh-In Week 51

220!!!! That is what it said on the scale this morning.

Embarrassed
Disappointed
Dishaeratened
Furious

By sadly not surprised.

I made a lot of bad choices this week, compounded by a horrible day of eating yesterday. No need to dwell. I must do better this week. I for real will start tracking my calories today...and I will be tracking through the weekend for once.

No way am I going into the 1 year anniversary week like this!

Tony
06/6: 220 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 51

Somewhere this week things took a turn for the worse. I got crazy busy again and stopped counting calories. I also worked like a mad man hauling dirt and rock and building and digging. I think this translated to my mind and / or stomach as free reign to eat whatever I wanted. With all that exercise I must be able to eat more calories right? Wrong!

Long story short I think I am going to have a little gain. Which I was fine with until I realized that next week is the one year anniversary of this journey. So now I am a little ticked at myself for losing track this week. In honor of next weeks anniversary, I am going to spend the next week being on my best behavior. And I am back to calorie counting starting today.

I have an early morning meeting tomorrow so results may be posted a little late.

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.

You can check out my food journal for the last few days here.

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
06/5: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 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.

Checking In

Busy. Busy. Busy. This seems to be my mantra lately. Swamped at work and swamped at home. But we are getting closer to having the play set done. Once that is finished I hope to have a little breathing room.

Here is a quick revival of Recipe Wednesday.


Over at Hungry Girl (my newest obsession) they have posted a low calorie replacement for a Dairy Queen Mud Pie Blizzard. I can not wait to try this.

Check out the recipe here.

And here is one I can testify to. I made these Yum Yum Brownie Muffins on Monday for our softball BBQ and they were a big hit.

Catch the recipe here.


Tony
06/4: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

What Did You Do This Weekend?

I survived this:


And built this:


With a lot of help from my father-in-law and my parents.


Late Saturday afternoon, we were hit with a major hail storm. It was like a torrential down pour with no rain, just hail. It was insane. Two weeks in a row I have lived through two of the wildest hail events I have ever seen

The storm destroyed all of your garden areas, but didn't really do any other damage. Which is very lucky. It sounds like a lot of people in the area are going to need some serious repair work... and the hail caused a ton of car accidents.

The rest of the weekend was spent building a place for the girls play set. In other words it was spent digging and hauling and hammering and then digging and hauling some more. I am exhausted today. .. and I can barely lift my arms. Good exercise, right?

Despite all the hard work, it was a fun project and I think it turned out great. And we had our first gorgeous summer weekend so I didn't mind spending it outside working. Just a few more truck loads of rock and mulch and the area will be done.

Here's a few more storm pics.



Tony
05/30: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

The Wife Weighs In...Week 30

Happy Friday, GHMIW fans!

So, things are looking a little sunnier this week. Both literally and figuratively. I've been working from home like a busy little bee, trying to get ahead of my at-work to-do list. I've gotten some big projects checked off, which has made me feel a little less overwhelmed, which has helped me to keep a better eye on what I'm eating.

I've also been less likely to "stress-eat." If you aren't familiar with "stress-eating," it's when you are so overwhelmed by what you need to accomplish, and how little time have, that you drive to Chipotle for a delicious burrito...because you've got so much on your plate that you don't even know where to start, because it will help you delay getting started, and because its general yumminess will just make you happy (and not completely stressed out) for a short period of time before you go back into full anxiety attack mode. More or less.

Anyway...I feel like my eating is more balanced this week...a lot more cooking at home, a lot less eating out and eating on the run. Tony has even packed lunches for me this week.

I had a couple nice, long walks over the weekend, but I've had trouble getting to the gym this week. I've been working late at the computer, I've been up late reading scripts, and (to top it off) I've got a cold (and both of the girls, too).

Strangely enough, all these things came together to get me to the gym for the first time in weeks. I had been up late writing our season brochure and reading scripts, and went to bed about 12:30 am. One of the girls woke up at 3:15, coughing and hacking. Tony got up to get her a glass of water (bless his soul), but she was still coughing. Because I couldn't fall back to sleep, I went see if I could help. Tony and I eventually got her settled in and got back to bed about 3:30, and that was the end of my night's sleep.

I laid in bed, tossing and turning, with work issues and to-do lists keeping me awake. So, I got up at 4:00, made some lists, and wrote down some ideas that were floating through my head. At 4:30, I realized that I wasn't actually going to get any more sleep, so I put my clothes on and went to the gym. I got there at 4:55, 5 minutes before the gym opened.

"So, this is what its like to be one of those people," I thought.

I had a great session on the treadmill yesterday morning. 4.25 miles in an hour, varying between walking at 3.8 mph and running at 4.8 mph, at an elevation of no less than 2%, sometimes as much as 7%. I felt great all day! But, boy am I paying for the lack of sleep today!

I know I say this every week, but I hope to get my workouts back on schedule next week. Once that happens, I am going to be unstoppable!

'Til next Friday! Have a good weekend!

My update:
5/23/08: 186.8
5/30/08: 185.0 (a loss of 1.8 pounds this week)
Total loss of 43.4 pounds, 1.8 pounds over low of 183.2, 3 pounds from next mini-goal of 182.0

P.S. Thanks to Nato for the props and Laura N for her never-ending words of encouragement!

THe Weigh-In Week 50

215! That is what the scale said this morning! A loss of ....

Hey Deja vu! No loss. No gain. I weigh exactly the same as last Friday. It's a birthday miracle.

My lovely wife cooked up the most amazing steak dinner last night. That huge steak alone should have put me a pound up for the week. But oh man was it yummmmmmmmy!

This weeks winner is my Dad. Nice job Dad. Not too optimistic. Not too pessimistic. You managed to zero right in on the correct weight.

That makes three weeks without a gain. There may be something to this whole calorie counting thing!

Have a great weekend everybody.


Tony
05/30: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

A Happy Birthday Suprise

I was getting dressed after my run today and without even noticing I tightened my belt one more hole then normal. And now my pants fit better.

I may not have hit a new weight low by my birthday, but I did achieve a new belt milestone.

Hurray.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 50

So, here's the deal.

I ate a lot of food this weekend. I worked out a lot this weekend. This has left me nearly even with last weeks weigh in. OK, maybe a little over, but not much. If I was at my absolute best I could probably pull out a loss for this week. On any normal Thursday that is what I would do. But this is no normal Thursday. This is my birthday.

My birthday means pie at work and a big steak and potatoes dinner tonight. I have chosen not to forsake these things for the sake of the scale.

I just wanted to prepare you that there may be a gain tomorrow....but, if I do have a gain tomorrow, it will be a temporary blip that should be gone by the end of the weekend.

I have a very active weekend planned. Full of digging and hauling and building things. And I plan to eat right .

There is no way I am going to hit a new low by tomorrow. I don't know what I was thinking. Hitting a new low during a birthday week? So I am now determined to hit a new low by the one year anniversary in 2 weeks.

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.

You can check out my food journal for the last few days here.

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
05/29: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 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.

Back on The Water

It was a busy, busy holiday weekend full of ups and downs. The downs mostly involve the backyard play set we bought for the girls. What was supposed to be an easy afternoon of putting together a simple slide has turned into a major backyard landscaping project, complete with a new retaining wall. At least the digging will be good exercises.

The other down was my parents lake home getting pelleted by baseball size hail. Not fun. But at least the house is still standing.

The ups fortunately far outweighed the downs. Had my all time favorite birthday dinner on Saturday; Ribs, Cheesy Potatoes and corn on the cob. Saw Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull and didn't hate it. Ran a lot. Went for a good aggressive bike ride with my dad.

Best of all I got back on the water.

Memorial weekend is always the unofficial, official start to summer for our family, and part of that tradition is getting in our first ski session of the summer, no matter how cold the water. It was tempting to break with tradition this year. The water was freezing, the air temp was below 70 and the wind was blowing strong. But we jumped in anyway. And let me tell you it felt good.

I managed to salmon ski toward the end of the summer last year, but it took a few tries to get up and I didn't really feel like I was skiing. On Sunday I popped right out of the water on the first try and by the end of my run I was starting to feel some of my old water skiing glory coming back. Not that I was every a great slalom skier, but I could hold my own.

It is such a great feeling to once again be able to do something I love so much. Something I had done all my life until my weight took it away from me. I am feeling the same way about softball. It's like rediscovering all these magical abilities I forgot I had.

It makes me very excited for this summer...assuming summer every gets here. This weeks forecast calls for another week of low 70's and rain. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

At least it looks like I should have a nice bike ride on my lunch break today.

Tony
05/28: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

p.s I got the new Neil Diamond album , Home Before Dark, for my birthday and I am loving it. Check out some of the tracks here. This ain't your Mommas Diamond.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 29

Happy Friday, GHMIW fans!

Long time no blog, huh?

Here’s the update. Every spring, the non-profit community theater I manage holds its annual fundraising event. It’s a pretty big deal in my world and it’s a lot of work. I’ll spare you all the details, but I usually put in approximately 70 to 80 hours of work that week. There are a lot of volunteers around, which means there is a lot of food around. And, working that many hours doesn’t leave a lot of time or energy for going to the gym.

I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to recover from “Cabaret Week.” That includes lots of work (and homework) trying to get caught up with all the things that were shoved aside so that I could focus all my attention on the fundraiser. I’ve had late nights finalizing our next annual budget, a full day’s worth of fundraising seminars, and a board meeting. Work has been kicking my backside and I don’t see it letting up anytime soon as we prepare for a new artistic season and a new fiscal year.

In addition, Tony has started softball again which is great for him…terrible for me. Tony has been playing in the same Monday night softball league since before I met him 13 years ago...on the same team…with the same group of family and friends. It is a summer tradition for him and I think it’s wonderful and I would never think of asking him to give it up. But, Monday was my yoga night...something I looked forward to every week. With two little girls and a busy Daddy, it’s suddenly much more difficult for me to get to class.

You don’t even want to know how behind the house cleaning has gotten. And, it’s now cabin season, which means even less time at home to get things taken care of.

Honestly, I feel like every bit of structure I have spent the last year constructing piece by piece has all been destroyed in a couple of weeks and now I am left with the task of clearing the rubble and starting all over again. Sigh.

Now that I have that off my chest, what’s my point?

I’m exhausted. Period. I am going to be looking for some renewal and rejuvenation over the next week or so. Getting things back on track. Not just my eating and not just my workouts. I will also be putting my life back together and trying to get things back in balance.

And, it is going to be really hard work.

‘Til next week (promise!)

My update:
5/02/08: 183.4
5/09/08: 185.8
5/16/08: 188.4
5/23/08: 186.8 (a loss of 1.6 pounds this week)

Total loss of 41.6 pounds, 3.6 pounds over all-time low of 183.2, 4.8 pounds from next mini-goal of 182.0

The Weigh-In Week 49

215! That is what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 1.8!

I'm extremely happy with this weigh-in. It proves I can eat healthy and lose weight without keeping a hard core workout schedule. Not that I have plans to back off on my work outs, but weeks like this are always a challenge. This inspires me to do my best on busy weeks, instead of writing them off.

My net goal was to try and reach 208 by my birthday, which is next Thursday. I doubt I am going to make that. At this stage, I don't think it would be to healthy for me to lose 7 pounds in one week...despite what we see on Biggest Loser. So, I am revising my goal to try and make it to 208 by the 4th of July.

Our big winner this week is my fellow FatBlogger Webcudgel. Nice Job Charles. Per usual, no prize this week, only 6 votes.

Just for the fun of it, here's a face off between the old me and the new me.


Have a great holiday weekend everybody. Keep your fingers crossed, it may actually get warmer than 80 here in Minnesota. Margarita's here I come.

Tony
05/23: 215 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
7 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 49

Just three more weeks to the Big Guess How Much I Weigh 1 Year Extravaganza!

This week has gone surprisingly well. I'm not sure if I'll manage a loss this week, but I know I won't have a big gain. Considering how few work outs I have had, not having a huge gain this week is a big accomplishment all in itself.

As things stand right now I am down from last weeks weigh in, so as long as yesterday's eating doesn't catch up with me and I play nice today I should pull out a loss.

Yesterday's Food Journal can be found here.

If you take a look at the journal, you may notice a Dairy Queen Snickers Blizzard buried half way through the day. This was not a slip or binge. This was part of my plan to treat myself to one really premium treat every once and awhile instead of giving in to lots of crummy, unsatisfying snacks.

The Blizzard was to celebrate the successful culmination of the project that has kept me running around like crazy for the last month and a half. And it was delicious!

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 May 19th.

Calories Consumed: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 7099 calories.

Calories Burned: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 11437 calories.


Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
05/22: 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 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.

So Far, So Good

I thought this was going to be a difficult week. My work schedule is making it nearly impossible for me to get workouts in this week. Which is always a dangerous situation. Luckily my work schedule is also making it difficult for me to stress eat. So that's good. My calories have been under control all week. In fact my calories are at a great place for me for not working out... they are a little under normal. And the scale seems to be holding pretty steady. All in all a good place to be considering what a disaster a busy stressful week could have been. And I know that week is not over, but I am still feeling pretty confidant.

Yesterday's Food Journal can be found here.

Quick softball update. We are 2 and 0 for the season. Another nail bitter on Monday night but we pulled it out in the last inning. So far no sign of last years batting slump. I have had a hit or walked every time I've been up to the plate.After I made a couple of crazy catches in the outfield on Monday one of my teammates trotted over and said, "No way the old Tony could have caught those." He was so right.

Now for something completely different.

I am kind of obsessed with Hungry Girl now. My love wife and I tried her Thick & Creamy Banana Caramel Smoothie the other night and it was amazing. We also shared them at the cabin this weekend and they got universal approval.

With any of these diet substitution foods I have learned to expect the worse but with these I was more than plenty surprised. The smoothies were delicious and filling.

So I have been surfing around her site looking for other good desert substitutions.

And I found a link to Prevention magazines Daily Calorie Calculator. According to them I need 3114 calories a day to maintain my current weight. So to lose a pound a week I should net out at 2600 calories a day...after exercise.

Seems way high to me, but at least it's a bench mark for me to judge by during this week of limited exercise.

Tony
05/21: 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 lbs. to go

False Bravado

Ok, so I may have been a little too enthusiastic when I promised that I would write down everything I ate over the weekend even when I was out of town. I have to be honest with you, I have no clue what I ate this weekend. I know there were some hamburgers and some hot dogs and some chips and some fruit... Ok let me rephrase that, I have no clue how much I ate this weekend.

I did pretty good. I know there was no binging or eating anything crazy. I am sure that I ate a little more than I should have but no where near as much as some weekends. It was just to hard to keep track with all the different eating schedules and pot lucks and no computer for immediate journaling. I guess next weekend I'll have to bring a note book.

It was a highly active weekend though, so that should help off set a little of my bad eating.

The sun was out, the boats are in the water, I had my wet suit on...It must be summer. Hallelujah!!!

Calorie counting is back on track today. You can follow along here if you would like. It's a fun game.

Tony
05/19: 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 lbs. to go

The Weigh-In Week 48

216.8! That's what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 3 pounds.

I am extremely happy... but this is not the be all end all of all this calorie counting. I know the real proof will come in 3 weeks. If I am still counting calories and still losing weight in 3 weeks, then I can call this return to basics a success. For now lets just call this a good start...a really good start.

Our winner this week for the second week in a roll is Andrew. Nice job Andrew, you're on a roll. And congrats once again on your amazing 5K race last weekend.

Andrew competed in his 3rd ever 5K last weekend and finished in 25:17... nearly 6 minutes better than his best time to date. An amazing feat...and one I am very jealous of.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
05/16: 216.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.8 lbs. to go

P.S. Did you notice I am wearing shorts. There is a chance that summer may finally be arriving. Hurray!

It should be a nice weekend here in the Northland. Get out and enjoy it.

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 48

I achieved another milestone last night. I swam for 1 mile without stopping. I didn't have my watch with me so I don't know exactly how long it took. I do know it was between 30 and 40 minutes. Not the fastest swimmer in the world, but when you consider I couldn't even swim a quarter mile 4 weeks ago, I feel pretty good.

Yesterdays Food Journal Can be Found Here.

The Short Story:

Calories Consumed: 2284
Calories Burned: 4632



One good thing about counting calories again, no more guessing in the dark for the contest. The stats for the week are below.


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 May 11th.

Calories Consumed: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 16356 calories.

Calories Burned: From Friday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 23676 calories.

39% of my calories have come from fat.
12% of those calories came from Saturated Fats.

44% of my calories came from carbs.

16% of my calories came from protein.

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
05/15: 219.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
11.8 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.

Wednesday Calorie Check In

Tuesdays food journal can be found here.

The Shot Story:
Calories Consumed: 2275
Calories Burned: 3840

Tony
05/13: 219.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
11.8 lbs. to go

1 and 0 on The Season

It was a nail bitter on the softball diamond last night but in the end we pulled it out and won by one run.

I don't think losing the weight has made me a better softball player but it sure felt like I was running the bases a lot faster this year then I did last year.

Turns out my fears of over indulging after the game last night were all for nothing. It's easy to lay off the snacks when nobody brings snacks.

Over all yesterdays calories were much better than the weekend.

Monday's Food Journal can be found here.

The Short Story:
Calories Consumed: 1834
Calories Burned: 4218

I just heard an interview with Hungry Girl, a food blogger turned entrepreneur turned diet institution. I have followed her story a little bit, but apparently she is huge now. I mean popular, not weight wise.

Anyway she has a new cookbook out today that I am tempted to buy. In the interview she made it sound like a great cook book with lots of full flavored substitutes for unhealthy dishes and restaurant food. If the recipes truly are great tasting and not just based on tiny portions, this may be a good way to get some of my calories back on track.

If anyone picks up her book this week, let me know. I am curious it if it would be compatible with my meat and potatoes, no veggies, no fish, now way, no how lifestyle.

Tony
05/13: 219.8 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
11.8 lbs. to go

Weekend Wrap Up

Not so good with the calories this weekend. I guess the real push toward healthier eating starts today.

Sadly softball also starts today. Don't get me wrong, I am excited for the softball season to start. I can't wait to see what this new lean, mean machine can do out on the diamond. I will just have to be careful about overdoing the celebration after the game tonight.

Sunday's food journal can be seen here.

The Short Story:
Calories Consumed: 3757
Calories Burned: 3491

Ouch!

Tony

Saturday's Calorie Count

It's getting worse before it gets better. Grrrrrrr. No one but me to blame.

Saturday's food journal can be seen here.

The Short Story:
Calories Consumed: 3090
Calories Burned: 3982