Day Six - February 28th, 2011

I'm feeling a bit better today, but not much. Hopefully I've broken the fever.

I was feeling so out of it this morning I stayed in bed until I absolutely had to get up and in the shower for work. I only was at work for an hour, to cover while the boss was at an appointment, but then I came home and cooked up my chicken drumsticks, each liberally seasoned with the honey lime rub. After baking for 40 minutes, they were done, and I was able to enjoy 5 of the 6 before I had to leave for a brief visit to my uncle's for a budget approval.

After leaving my uncle's I stopped at two Walmarts, mostly because the first wouldn't price match the heater I was buying, so I had to stop at the one back over the river to get the deal. Then I stopped to get the ingredients for the "glaze" for my salmon, but the store that carries them only had one of the two, so I had to stop by Fred Meyer and get a substitute (which was not nearly as good, but I made do). I made the mixture and spread it over the top of the salmon fillet, Coho for those who are wondering, and folded it up in a foil "boat", with some chardonnay in the bottom for extra flavor, and foil crimped over the top.

Fresh from the....well, oven.

Dinner is served!

I baked it for 25 minutes, and then another 10 with the cover off. I could only eat about half. I also had some steamed brussel sprouts with a light sprinkling of garlic salt. While the fish was cooking I also had a bowl of soup.

I really didn't eat that much today, and I think it's mostly due to the fact that my throat hurts some still and I just don't feel good. I'm sure on rice day tomorrow I'll do better, if I feel better.

On the bright side, I weighed in this morning, and even though it's not an official weigh-in, I'm proud to report that since the first weighing on this crusade I am down 15 lbs! I've also had a couple people tell me I look like I've lost some weight so far; not sure if they're saying this to boost my confidence or if it's true, but I hope it's the latter, as my jeans feel quite a bit looser now than they did two and a half-ish weeks ago. Yay me!

Thanks for all the kind and encouraging words everyone. It means a lot to me to know you're all rooting for me. I won't let you down!

PS - Pictures to come probably tomorrow of meals and such. I think you'll enjoy seeing them. (and hope they look as tasty as they were!)

Day Five - February 27th, 2011

Well, I'm assuming I'm coming down with the flu, but I'm still making an effort.

I was feeling so yucky that I didn't eat anything at all today until my break at work. I cooked my steak and opened my cans of stewed tomatoes, and enjoyed them while the night was slow. I have yet to eat my bowl of soup for the day, but it's in the microwave as I type so I'll go knock that off quickly.

After the soup, I'm going to go smear some Vapo-rub on my chest and throat, down a dose of Nyquil, and get some sleep. I got called in to the office tomorrow to cover for a bit, so I need to be well rested.

Tomorrow I've got chicken and salmon to eat, as well as some veggies, so I'm looking forward to that.

I have pictures of a couple of the meals I've had this week that I'll get up eventually. Make sure you check back. The steak and tomatoes picture tonight was a good one.

Day Four - February 26th, 2011

This one's a late post, so I'll make it quick.

Got to sleep in today, and when I woke up starting digging in to the bananas. I must have eaten about 6 of them by one. Had a pint of skim milk, and then had another two bananas before work.

Took a double bowl of soup with me to work. I was feeling pretty weak and cold all day, and it didn't really improve at work. Well, until I took a dose of Dayquil. That stuff helped out a lot. I had two bananas at work, and then near the end of the night I went and had my soup, with some creamy horseradish and some Worcestershire sauce for flavoring. Not bad... well, the horseradish anyways. I couldn't taste the Worcestershire at all.

After work, I finished off the half gallon of skim milk. Then, as I am my coworker Joe's ride home on the weekends, he wanted to stop and have a beer and play the safari shooting game. As I can't have alcohol while on the diet week, I declined at first, then decided I could have water instead. We played one game of the safari game, and then he shot some pool with one of the guys in the bar he knew.

I dropped him off, did some shopping at Walmart (needed some throat spray and washing machine cleaner), and then came home. I'm finishing off the last 3 bananas now.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Couple bowls of soup, the canned stewed tomatoes, and STEAK!!! So excited!

Day Three - February 25th, 2011

Today was a meager day food intake-wise, and that's fine with me. The sum of my intake is 3 Fuji apples, two bowls of soup, one bunch of celery cut into sticks, and the remainder of my grapes from Day One.

I had to work tonight, and it went over my scheduled shift so I didn't get much snacking in, nor did I get to eat soup when I was hungry.

I had to make the 2nd half of my soup today, as last night I was able to empty my cooking vessel. I seasoned it well, let it sit overnight, and then started the soup at about 1pm. I added a bit more of my new vegetable soup concentrate to it this time, so it has a bit darker color, but still is good.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, because tomorrow is the diet week's Hump Day. Bananas and skim milk, and the soup of course. But all I know is that when I wake up on Sunday after dining on nothing but soup and bananas all day Saturday, my mind will be on one thing and one thing only: Steak. Mmmm.

Sorry for the less-than-detailed post you've become accustomed to. I promise I'll make tomorrow's as detailed as possible regarding my bananas and skim milk.

Day Two - February 24th, 2011

Well, today has been a bit easier on the diet front than it was last time. Part of it, I think, is because I wasn't as rushed or busy this time around due to being at the other job.

Today was our bookkeeper's birthday lunch, and so I went lite on the food I brought in to work today. A 1lb bag of baby carrots and a big bowl of soup with the sweet chili sauce mixed in. I managed to put those away before we left for lunch at just before one.

At lunch, which was at Who-song and Larry's, there really wasn't much of a selection for vegetable-only meals. I ended up going with their grilled chicken taco salad, which really had a lot of vegetables; romaine lettuce, avocado (I have avocado plain, but mixed in with this salad it wasn't bad/couldn't taste it, haha), pico de gallo, grilled chicken and a dusting of jack cheese (the two major departures from today's plan, but they didn't offer a meat-less variety and the cheese wasn't really that much of a quantity), and a couple of corn tortilla strips. Corn is a vegetable, right? Coupled with two large glasses of ice water and the small bite of the birthday girl's flan that was forced on me (ok, I gave in afterwards, but I wasn't the only one!), all in all it was a good, healthy meal.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Came home and listened to all the results of the last-minute trades in the NBA before the deadline, then went to watch my all-time favorite movie in a theater, as it was playing and was the only opportunity for me, then went shopping on the way home for foods for the next few days. I got the potato for tonight's dinner, some more fruit for tomorrow's menu, bananas for Saturday (still need skim milk though), bought my steak for Sunday's dinner (need the canned tomatoes still), and some chicken drumsticks and a nice piece of wild-caught salmon for Monday.

Came home, popped my potato into the oven for 2+ hours, heated up a bowl of soup with a bit of the sweet chili sauce in it, and at the 2 hour mark for the potato started steaming some brussel sprouts and asparagus to go with the potato.

Yummy!

I'm gonna need to look into alternatives to Muchas Gracias hot sauces and sweet chili sauce... Maybe a curry powder or something? I'll accept ideas, try them out, and pass on if they work or not.

All in all, a good day, and another good day on the road to a slimmer me. Have a good night everyone!

Day One - February 23rd, 2011

Well, back to the routine, eh?

Brought in a big bowl of cut up honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon to snack on, as well as a giant bunch of grapes. Soup too, of course. 3 bowls worth. I ate the cut up fruit and about half of the soup before I left work at two.

Before my class tonight I finished off the soup and started to snack on the grapes. I added a bit of sweet chili sauce to the soup this time around and it wasn't half bad. The grapes I managed to get about 2/3 of the way through with before I was out of class.

I got a surprise tonight and was able to attend the Blazer game vs. the HATED LA Lakers when my best friend called and informed me he had a spare ticket, which he left in will-call for me. Normally at a Blazer game I'll have a beer or two and some food, usually a burger with fries or some of the barbeque that they have there. I didn't have anything at all.

I finished off most of the grapes when I got back to the car, and on the way home picked up some veggies for tomorrow, sans potato. I figure I'll get that tomorrow.

That's it for now... I'll probably cut up some celery sticks tomorrow after work and snack on those, since I have a bunch of celery still to use.

Week 2 Official Weigh-in (pre-diet week)

Previous Weight: 398.3 lbs
Current Weight: 388.9 lbs
+/-: -9.4 lbs

This weight loss being on my off-diet days... I'm excited!

4/24/2011 Update: as a math error was pointed out to me, after consulting my spreadsheet, which is the accurate tracker I have corrected the original weigh-in weight. Sorry for any confusion. For a full explanation please see the original weigh-in post.