THe Weigh-In Week 53

217.6. That's what it said on the scale this morning. A gain of 1.2 pound.

Not bad, considering. Honestly I thought it would be much worse.

Now something much more up beat.

Ellie is doing great. She hardly even acknowledges her scar, so it must not be hurting much. I see Maggie looking at it every once and awhile, but she never says anything about it so I guess she's fine with it too.

We will get the stitches out early next week and hopefully by next Friday it will be a distant memory.

Here's the fun news from the week. OK, maybe not so much fun as grueling physical endurance news. I noticed yesterday that the triathlon was only 1 month and 1 day away, That makes today the month mark.

With only 1 month to go the tri seems suddenly real. So, yesterday I decide to try something new in my training. I did what they call in the triathlon world a "brick". I assume they call it that because that is how your legs feel when you are done.

A brick is two legs of the triathlon done back to back. Yesterday I biked 9 miles then hoped off the bike and ran for 1.8 miles. A little short of the 2.5 I will need for the race, but I am very proud of it for my first back to back attempt. Even better, when I got back and calculated my time, I managed to keep a pace of 8:30 minute miles as I was running. I almost never run that fast. I still can't believe that I did it after getting off a bike!

I think I will be making bricks a regular part of my work outs for these last few weeks leading up to the tri.

It's supposed to be sunny and 80 all weekend. Finally summer has officially arrived!!!!!

No winner this week. Everyone voted for a loss...as you should have. Your continued optimism gives me something to strive for next week.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Tony
06/20 217.6 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
9.6 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 53

What started out as set up for a great week of weight loss has kind of falling into a bit of chaos.

My lovely wife and I had dinner out at one of the best steak houses in the city on Tues. to celebrate our 8-year anniversary. It was an amazing meal!!!! But, not exactly the kind of meal you eat when you are looking for a nice week of weight loss.

The meal wouldn't have been a problem...but then we had an interesting day on Wed.

When I was a little kid I was kind of accident prone.. At least that's how I look at it. My parents would more likely say that I was a little hellion who had the ability to find every dangerous thing in the world to climb on , jump off or run through. Need less to say, I spent my fair share of time in hospitals when I was a kid....by not fault of my excellent and highly qualified parents.

Turns out my daughter Ellie is doing a great job of following in her Dads footprints.

She fell and hit her head on our patio yesterday afternoon, requiring a trip to the emergency room and two layers of stitches to close up the extremely deep gash in her forehead.

To her credit little Ellie was amazing at the hospital, she didn't cry or scream while they stitched her up. In fact she spent most of the time entertaining the ER docs with her eclectic song stylings.

To her moms credit, Laura also did not scream or cry or faint or throw up.

Anyway, our sumptuous anniversary meal was followed by a day of stress eating and very little exercise.

Fortunately Ellie will be just fine. She will most likely end up with a small scar on her forehead, but considering how things could have gone we'll take a scar and count our blessings.

And that will be my excuse if I end up posting a gain this week.

It's also my excuse for not logging food this week.

I'll start again next 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.


Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
06/19 216.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.4 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.

Biking To Work

I biked into work this morning, What a great way to start the day.

I live in the suburbs and work in the city and even now that I am "slim, trim and in shape", biking to work has always seemed like such a daunting task.

"There is now way I can bike that far, it will take me hours."

Turns out it's only 10 miles and it only took me 40 minutes. I guess there is just something mental about the feeling that the 'burbs are so far away from the city.

So now I am one of those guys who can bike to work. How cool is that?

And man did I pick the perfect morning for my first ride to work. It was gorgeous and sunny with just a slight breeze.

Now I am full of vim and vigor end ready to get things done.

Tony
06/18 216.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.4 lbs. to go

P.S. I don't really know what Vim and Vigor mean and I am too busy to look it up, but it's sounds like the kind of thing people who bike to work would say so I am sticking with it.

Best Weekend Ever!

What a great weekend.

I spent fathers day weekend being a good father. Laura and I spent the whole weekend finishing the girls play set.

Ta-Dah!



It was a royal pain in the hiney getting this thing built....but watching those girls rushing to get back up to that slide one more time, seeing the pure joy in their eyes when we told them it was finally ready, that made all the hassle worth it.

The hard work paid off in another way too.

This is the first weekend in months were I am ending the weekend weighing less then when I started the weekend. Only .2 pounds less, but still, it's a good starting point for a nice loss this week. Fingers crossed.

Hope you all had as great a weekend as we did.

Tony
06/16 216.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.4 lbs. to go

The 1 Year Anniversary Weigh-In (Week 52)

216.4! That is what it said on the scale this morning. A loss of 3.6 pounds!

I'd say that is a good way to end a great year.

Once again our big winner is my Dad! Way to go Dad. Good guessing.

A quick recap on the year.

I started this journey on June 10th 2007. On that day I weighed 280. 1 year later I have lost 63.6 pounds.

My heaviest weight ever was 288. From that I have lost 71.6 pounds.

I am only 3.6 pounds above my lowest weight of 213.

In the past year I have started running.
For the first time in my life I can run more than three miles.
I completed a 5k race in under 27 minutes.
I swam a mile.
I have taken up biking.
I have started strength training.
I have developed muscles.
The clothes in my closet have shrunk from XXL to L.
I can waterski again.
My back no longer hurts.
I have stopped snoring.
I have stopped wheezing when I walk up stairs.

And...I have made some amazing friends.

I am really proud of the things I have been able to accomplish this year. Like I have said all along, I could have never done it with out the support and encouragement of my friends and family. You guys have been the support that I needed, the courage I never had and the conscience I have been searching for.

From the bottom of my heart, Thank YOU!

This journey is far from over. I still have a lot of goals I want to accomplish before I rest.
The triathlon is coming up.
I am still trying to get to 208.
I want to take my running to the next level.
I want to work on toning my body.

So please stick around, because really, this is just the beginning.

Here is the treat I promised you yesterday. At least I think it's a treat. Click on the pic to see every weigh-in photo from this year, all in one image.


1 year down, 70 more to go!


Tony
06/12: 216.4 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
8.4 lbs. to go

Guess How Much I Weigh Contest - Week 52

This is it! The big one year anniversary edition of the Guess How Much I Weigh Contest.

This has been a good week. Despite eating a little too much in Duluth over the weekend and a few questionable choices during the week, it's looking like I should have a good loss this week. I have been working out like a mad man. I managed to get in a good ride and a good run over the weekend and I am finally starting to stretch my runs past 3.1 miles. On Monday I almost made it 4 miles in 36 minutes.

A year ago, if someone had told me I would be running almost 4 miles by now, I would have wet my pants laughing. It has been an amazing year full of some amazing accomplishments.

No matter what the scale says tomorrow, I will be celebrating a year that I am very, very proud of.

Over the weekend my Brother-in- Law and His Wife gave me a belated birthday present, work out clothes. Which is the same thing my wife gave me for my birthday. As I was putting away laundry this morning I realized that I now have more workout clothes than any other type of clothes in my closet, with the exception of t-shirts. That in itself is a pretty major accomplishment.

I can finally stop wearing the 3XL sleeveless t-shirts that have been the staple of my workout wear.

I am hoping to have a fun little year end wrap up 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.

Stats for the week of June 9th.

Calories Consumed: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have consumed aprox. 16836 calories.

Calories Burned: From Monday morning through Wed. night I have burned aprox. 22698 calories.

37% of my calories were from Fat
13% of those were from Saturated Fat
45% of my calories were from Carbs
16% of my calories were from Protein

Let the guessing begin. Good Luck!

Tony
06/12: 220 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12 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.

Continuing The Journey

Let's continue our little trip down memory lane.

These pictures start in October of '07 and end with a picture from last weekend.








April 2007 Side By Side with June 2008.


If you ask me, it's been a darn good year.

Tony
06/11: 220 lbs
NEW GOAL: 208
12 lbs. to go

Welcome To The One Year Anniversary Celebration

Let's start with a little trip down memory lane. These pictures start in April of 2007 and go through September of 2007.

Tomorrow we'll take a look at the end of '07 and the beginning of '08.

The Wife Weighs In...Week 31

Happy Friday, all!

Quick update for me (very quick). Another crazy week! I'm feeling a little more in control of my schedule, but the week disappeared before I'd even had the chance to realize it had started. No gym again this week. Yuck!

Small loss (very small)...but with no workouts and hormonal water weight, I'm not doing too badly.

I think my darling husband and I may be brainstorming revitalization strategies on our car trip to Duluth this weekend.

'Til next week!





My update:
5/30/08: 185.0
6/06/08: 184.8 (a loss of 0.2 pounds this week)

Total loss of 43.6 pounds, 1.6 pounds over low of 183.2, 2.8 pounds from next mini-goal of 182.0

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