4/2/12 Update - Things are about to get interesting Edition

Well, it's been a few weeks since the last post. True to form, body chemistry is slowly returning to normal. I anticipate another week or two before it's finally back to square one again. Luckily, that means my next cycle won't interfere with Easter, like it did last year.

I've been doing some good things in the time since my last post. As most of the readers know I've been playing indoor soccer since the beginning of the year, and finally the time has come for our team to go outside and play on the big field. Yes, I'm a goalkeeper, so I don't move around much comparatively, but believe me, it's a good workout. Especially the training drills. But back to my point. In preparation for the move to outdoor, since the end of the indoor season I've been doing a lot of walking, as well as going down to my old high school (just down the street) and doing some movement drills and some kicking practice. We'll be playing on a field the same size as a high school field, so I'm feeling good about my kicks. They'll get to mid-field or thereabouts from the 6-yard box, and my drop kicks aren't too shabby either.

One of the harder things about doing these practice sessions has been the fact I've been doing them by myself. It's hard to get proper training when you're a goalkeeper because you can't do a lot of footwork stuff (not your job), and once you kick a ball a good 45 yards or so you have to go retrieve the ball and come back to do it again. PLUS, since in indoor soccer it's a nice level field, walking around on the wet grass pitch, which is all choppy from the school teams, doesn't make for good walking. Calves and knees feel sore just walking around. And the keepers for the school teams make a giant mudhole in the center of the goal that really makes it hard to move around because your cleats get sucked into the mud when you try and move quickly. But I digress.

Our team, Northern Alliance FC (a Timbers Army FC member), had our first official practice this afternoon. Myself and a few others struck out to get to the practice field early, with most of the rest showing up at the scheduled time or a bit later. It was cold, windy, and it rained a little during the extra pre-practice session, and the thin fabric of my kit was pretty much not helping keep any warmth, but after things got moving the cold wasn't much of a factor. I put in (extra hour included) a total of two and a half hours of practice. I didn't dive or go 100% for my time in goal (due to condition of the field hampering some of my movement, concerns about injuring myself in practice, and in general knowing that this was practice and a lot of the stuff coming at me was unlikely to be a regular matchday occurence.), but still got in some good work.

We ended with a 6 on 6 scrimmage, and played it on a half-field in length but for some reason kept a full width. I wasn't the one calling the shots, so I can't explain it. My team did well. We "won" by a goal, possibly two, although we weren't really keeping score officially. Made a couple of reaction saves, but my best "half" was when I was keeping along the midfield line, where it wasn't as muddy.

One of the downsides of my sports background is that I approach a lot of shots coming at me in goal by trying to swat at them, like blocking a shot in basketball. In indoor, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, due to pace of play and small pitch size. In outdoor, I'm going to have to work on catching the ball more (and not like trying to catch a football, like I caught myself doing at one point as the ball came out of my gloves and bounced into the goal) and directing my defense on where they need to be as the ball works its way into my third.

On a final note, I have to admit, when we ordered our jerseys, the 3XL that I got (to be safe) seemed like it would be loose-fitting. Boy were we wrong. It's the same size as my XL Timbers jersey (replica, not authentic). These are both made by the same company, adidas. So what the heck? And I have two pairs of shorts. The actual soccer shorts fit fine, but I'll need some compression shorts to keep them from riding up. I also had a couple of issues with the band rolling it's way down during some of my movements. Not a great picture for the people who may be behind me lol! The 3/4 pants (read: longer shorts) would be great but they don't fit quite right, so I'm going to have to take them in and have them adjusted so that they fit right. They'll help pad my knees some, which combined with a good brace should help a lot.

Sorry if you think this post is too long. I'll get some photos up from the practice as soon as our team photographer (and reserve striker) gets them online.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

Week Seven Official Weigh-in

Week 7 - Official Weigh-in (post-diet week) 

Previous weight: 392.4
Current weight: 383.4

+/-: -9.0 lbs
Total weight-loss to date: 14.9 lbs


Not as great of results as I had hoped for, but any loss is a positive, and I'll gladly take it.


One thing that I think that I am going to do next time is only make a half-batch of the soup; I have about half of the full batch left over after the week. I just haven't been super hungry the entire week, and in the interest of not wasting the soup (which I will continue to snack on for a couple days, until it goes bad) I am going to only make about as much as I can eat in a week's time. If I need more, I can make more.


Thanks again for the support this week, everyone. It means a lot to me to have everyone rooting for me.


Cheers!

Day Seven - February 17th, 2012

Well, here it is, the last day of the cycle. And none too soon, too.

Woke up this morning and got my post done for yesterday, Day Six. I had to go in to work for a bit to take care of an unfinished project, so I had a quick bowl of soup and left.

I was at the office for about an extra hour longer than I intended, as I had promised to cover while our sales assistant went to lunch. After she returned, I caught her up on a couple things and then took off, and headed out back to the Hula Boy restaurant. Past experiences on this diet meant I knew that they offered a steamed veggie and brown rice bento lunch, which I enjoyed Kahuna sized, meaning extra veggies. Paired this with ice water, and as I do with every dish there, I coated it all with a light bit of teriyaki, then covered it 1/3 each in their hot sauces: Sweet chili, Jamaican Jerk, and a Habanero sauce; the latter, while spicy, isn't terribly spicy. It was absolutely delicious, although the Jerk went with the veggies and rice best.

I had an errand to run down into Portland, so that took most of my late afternoon/early evening. As I got back into my neck of the woods, I stopped at the store, picked up a small pouch of mixed veggies, some Jamaican Jerk marinade (can be used as a sauce too I guess), and some apple juice. I also picked up a box of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies (to be eaten over the course of many many weeks).

I made the rice on stovetop for a change, instead of microwaving it (still turned out the same, horribly not cooked and crunchy), and steamed the veggies while the rice cooked. The carrots weren't fully cooked though, but that's alright. For flavoring, a couple splashes of teriyaki, some sweet chili sauce, some of the Jerk sauce (which wasn't the same, sadly), and some Sriracha. It was ok, but I was full really fast and couldn't finish it all.

Well, it's now midnight, and time for the customary Mint Milanos. Another week is through.

Thanks for coming along for the ride everyone! Thanks for the support!

Cheers!

Day Six - February 16th, 2012

Well, I was a bit wiped last night from indoor so I waited til this morning to post.

Woke up yesterday, remembering fondly the most excellent steak from the night before. I wasn't going to have steak again, but I wanted to just honor it's memory one more time before I started my day. When I left for work, I yet again forgot my soup. I'm going to have to start leaving notes for myself taped to the door.

I didn't end up having lunch until 1pm, and when I did I went down to the Oriental Fast Bowl for a chicken and veggie bowl (essentially a chicken rice bowl, but without the rice and with extra veggies), and an extra portion of chicken. They offered to cut it up for me and put it with my entree, so I took advantage of that. As per my usual, I put a small bit of extra teriyaki over all of it, then slathered it with spicy teriyaki (heavy on chili peppers) and a bit of Sriracha sauce. This all soaked in on my way back to the office. Let me say, I may have added too much Sriracha because I wasn't even halfway through when the sweat started to pour.

I got off work, and after running a few errands I stopped at the store and grabbed a rotisserie chicken. When I got home, I carved off both drumsticks, a thigh, and a wing (which was pitifully small), and munched those. (Have I ever mentioned Day Six is my 2nd favorite day of this cycle? All-you-can-eat meat and veggies!). I also had some soup, when I came out and enjoyed the 2nd thigh and 2nd wing. Then, after letting it digest for a while, I went off to indoor.

Indoor went well, but because I was unable to fuel pregame and at the half with my Costco-branded Gatorade, I was a bit slow and we ended up losing 9-5, including a couple gaffes by yours truly (as keeper) which were completely my fault.

When I got home, I heated up my cast iron griddle, put a bit of extra-virgin olive oil on it, and pulled out some incredibly meaty crab cakes and heated them up. I also had another salad, with light Caesar dressing (but no chicken added this time), and had a late dinner. The crab cakes cooked up perfectly. I've never had them before, so I didn't know what to pair them with, but the salad was fine. I heard later maybe some tartar sauce or some sort of accompaniment would have been nice, but oh well.

That's the recap. I promise I'll get today's up tonight.

Cheers!

Days Four and Five - February 14th and 15th, 2012

Apologies again for not recapping Day Four on time. Was going to this morning, but didn't have enough time.

Day Four began on a happy note, because I got to eat something that tasted pleasant for breakfast: Bananas. Granted I only brought 5 to work with me (and no soup), so I could only have one. But believe me, it was awesome.

On the way home I stopped at the store, because I had no skim milk. I got just a quart, since a half gallon over 6 hours seemed like a lot. As it was, I only drank about half anyways. Had a bowl of soup, and 5 more bananas. Then I went to bed.

This morning I was excited, because I knew what today was: Steak day! I stopped on my way to work to pick up a 2 lbs. flat of grape tomatoes, because I really don't wanna do canned anymore, and eating whole fresh tomatoes seems a bit awkward (and messy). I ate about a half pound at work. I forgot my soup again at home, however.

After work, I stopped at the store and picked up the steak: a ribeye. Ate about a pound of the remaining tomatoes as I drove. I wasn't ready to cook it up yet when I got home, so I put it in the fridge, and went to take care of some things. When I was ready, I put one of my cast iron skillets in the oven @ 500 degrees for about 20-25 minutes to heat it, then when it was ready I pulled out the skillet, flipped the oven to broil, and opened the steak. I seasoned it lightly with some Johnny's seasoning salt and my Garlic Gourmay garlic mesquite rub on one side, and then put that side down on the skillet, seasoning the now top the same way, only a little heavier on both Johnny's and the rub. Then I stuck the skillet back in the oven for 7 minutes, flipped the steak, and broiled for another 2. Result? The PERFECT steak. Each bite seemed like it was melting in my mouth. Nice and reddish pink in the middle, but warm the whole way through. I really only had a couple pieces of fat to trim off, biggish ones but not too bad. A little bit of 57 on the side, and it was a great dinner!

Now to have some soup in a little bit and hopefully finish the last half pound of tomatoes too.

Days Two and Three - February 12th and 13th, 2012

I was really tired last night after work, so I went to bed and didn't post. I apologize.

Yesterday I woke up, and wasn't hungry at all for a long time. Around 3pm I got called in to work early, and that's about when I started to feel hunger pangs. I grabbed a 1 lb. bag of baby carrots out of the fridge and headed off to work, snacking as I went. When I got there, I hit the road right away because the deliveries were backed up, and managed to finish off the bag of carrots before I got back from the first run. Aside from a few pieces of sandwich meats, I didn't eat anything else until my break, when I had my baked potato and some roasted (for lack of a better term for it) asparagus. I was intending to eat my other bowl of soup when I got off work, but the boss was in a rush so he was ready to leave about two minutes after I was done.

When I got home, I had a small bowl of soup and went to bed.

When I woke up this morning, I wasn't feeling hungry either. I went off to the library, taking a bag of carrots and pea pods with me to eat in the car. I ate some on the way, but didn't take it with me into the mall. I picked up my books and, not really wanting to go home, headed into work to wait for my paycheck. I read 4 books while I waited (not long ones, but fast reads). I finished off the bag of carrots and pea pods, and then had 2 small salads with fresh mushrooms, olives, and tomatoes, and a light drizzle of Italian dressing (for flavor). I also heated up the soup I'd left at work the night before and had that as well. Still hungry at around the time my check arrived, I grabbed one more salad, this time with a little bit of diced ham and no tomatoes, and a little splash of ranch dressing.

As I type I haven't had anything since, but I am starting to get hungry again. I have a flat of strawberries and the last grapefruit in the kitchen. I think I'll have the strawberries.

I weighed myself this morning before heading to the mall and I was down almost 8 lbs. for the week already. However, I don't want to make this a habit so I'll wait to weigh myself again until Saturday morning, at the official weigh-in.

Thanks for reading along, and sorry for the delay!

Cheers!

Day One - February 11th, 2012

And the first day is in the books. Not really much to tell, honestly.

I woke up, went to pick up the battery for my scale, weighed myself, blogged about it, ate a couple grapefruits, ate a bowl of soup, went to work, ate an orange and a few pieces of meat (gotta keep up the protein right now, helps the muscles recover from rough soccer games), finished work, ate a bowl of soup, and came home.

Exciting, huh? Yeah, didn't think so.

So one thing I discovered whilst eating the grapefruits today was that they're a lot harder to peel than oranges are. The peel comes off easily enough, but the fuzz cover thing (yes, this is a technical term) isn't as easy to get rid of as it is on oranges. They also tend to burst easy while trying to separate pieces, getting juice all over.

I also discovered later that oranges that are kept in the fridge (or walk-in cooler, as the case was tonight) tend to be harder to peel, and the fuzz cover thing is as difficult as the ones on the grapefruits.

With the soup, the first bowl was some red Sriracha sauce, a sprinkle of sea salt, and some Garlic Gourmay Killer Cajun seasoning for flavoring, which was a great combination. The second bowl, however, was salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes, and was really not that pleasant to consume (but I did it anyways).

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, mostly for the baked potato. But I have some asparagus marinating right now in some teriyaki and garlic, and some baby carrots to snack on. Looking to "enjoy" more soup tomorrow.

Cheers!

February 11th, 2012 - Reflecting on the year that was

Well, it's hard to believe that it's been a year since I first started on my diet and weight loss journey. There's been a lot of hard work that's been put in, and also a lot of no work too. While waiting yesterday for the battery to arrive for my scale, I used a significant portion of that time to reflect on the past year.

I started this diet, and this blog, with some mighty big aspirations and goals. I wanted to cycle this diet with a couple buffer days between cycles, but one of the things I learned early was (at the time) financially it wasn't quite possible. Also, life gets in the way sometimes. Poor timing also affects things, such as being on banana and milk day on Easter, or attending a Timbers match during the cycle and having people offer me beer when I can't enjoy it.

One of the major things I learned though, after the rapid-fire (by comparison) pace at which the first several week cycles were completed was that while each cycle added to the weight loss total, each cycle produced less and less weight loss overall. A side affect was that my body started to become unbalanced nutrition-wise, and in the end if I kept up that pace it would cause more harm than good if I continued. Speaking with people with a bit more medical and physiological knowledge than myself, I found that I was throwing off my body chemistry, and that if I dialed back the amount of cycles in a given period, I would allow my body to re-adjust after a cycle, get back into balance. I've since completed two cycles, and am at the beginning of a third. The spacing of these cycles is something I am continuing to work on, and hope to get a better idea of how often my body will allow me to go through them.

As of this morning's weigh in, my total reported weight loss stands at 5.9 lbs. For as much as I've done in the past year, it doesn't seem like much. Some people lose that in a month. But any loss is a positive, and for the first time, probably in my entire life, I haven't gained any weight in a year. This is encouraging, to be sure. I have looked back over the past year and looked at my eating habits, which have changed quite a bit. I still have junk food from time to time, but I eat a lot of salads and veggies. I have drastically reduced the amount of soda I drink (which wasn't much to begin with) and alcoholic beverages as well (this despite discovering the local soccer team and the fans, as well as beginning homebrewing). I wasn't drinking a lot of alcohol before, but I definitely cut down off of that volume as well.

Other things that have contributed to that total of weight loss include gym time. I haven't been doing a lot of cardio (a goal of mine for year #2), but I have primarily been lifting weights. Several trainers over the years have told me that by adding more muscle I would burn more fat, and I've been working on building and toning my muscles, and I can tell a big difference over the past year. I noticed that my endurance has improved quite a bit, both running and biking. I'm also playing soccer now, indoor currently but will be moving to outdoor soon. I play keeper for indoor, and despite the fact I'm not running around a lot, I do use a lot of energy and get a great sweat going.

The weather is starting to improve (but then again, around here, it can change at the drop of a hat), and once it warms a bit I can start riding my bike more. During some of the hotter days of summer this past year I didn't ride when I could/should have, to avoid heat stroke (which I did suffer on one occasion), but hopefully nobody will blame me for that. I'm also doing a lot of walking, and as my cardio improves I'm hoping to do some light running as well.

Some hard facts about my weight loss:

1. I dropped a pant size over the last year, possibly two. My old jeans were getting quite snug before I started my diet, and since then I dropped to the next size down.
2. My shirts are fitting a bit more loosely. I have noticed that a couple of shirts that I bought new (and were quite snug at the time) are fitting more comfortably now. My custom Seahawks jersey, for example, now fits better than it did when I bought it in Dec. 2010. My Blazers "Rip City" hoodie fits more loosely than when I bought it. Several dress shirts that I have bought or been given now fit more loosely as well than when they were first worn (early 2010/fall 2010).

These two, alone, are enough to make me very happy. While I will never know the exact amount of my weight loss (thanks dead scale), I know that I've lost more than just 5.9 lbs in the last year, probably closer to 20, and that's great news. I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can do to improve on that this year.

Finally, I want to thank each and every one of you who reads this blog. I know over the past several months I haven't kept up on it like I want to or should, but people continue to ask me about my diet regularly. I know some people have thought I have given up at times, but this is not true. I am figuring this out as I go along, and I appreciate everyone's encouragement and support throughout the journey to date, and I will continue to appreciate the same moving forward.

This past year really flew past, and not just in the diet sense. I really look forward to the year that's underway, and hope to have some more great reflections come next February.

Thank you again for all your support. I couldn't do this nearly as well without it.

Cheers!

February 11th, 2012 - Official Weigh-in (pre-diet week)

Well, after the fiasco yesterday, I have a new battery in the scale and I'm ready to go.

Without further adieu....

Previous weight: 375.4
Current weight: 392.4

+/-: +17.0 lbs.
Total weight loss to date: 5.9 lbs

Well, some of this I attribute to the heavy dinner I had last night which will still be in the system. But with two big holiday feasts to account for, I'd say that I'm not terribly surprised.

Some people might see this as a setback, which it undoubtedly is. However, I don't, and here's why: From Feb. 10th, 2011 to Feb. 11th, 2012, I LOST 6 lbs. This is the first year in I don't know how long where there wasn't weight gained. And, factoring in approx. 15 lbs lost that isn't measured in due to not having a starting weight on 2/10/11, I'm doing even better than just 6 lbs.

Well, time for breakfast. I have some ruby red grapefruits to eat, although it'll be difficult without a grapefruit spoon. I'll make due!

Slight setback - Feb. 10th, 2012

I regret to inform you all that, in almost an echo of my first diet week last year, that the battery on my scale has gone dead, so I have been unable to weigh in today. And it takes a special battery, which I have had to special order (three different stores, including a battery store, were out of stock). I will have it tomorrow, at which point the weigh-in and diet will commence.

Very depressing, but these things happen.

2/9/12 - Update (and diet tomorrow!)

My my, it has been a while. I apologize for not posting more often over the Holiday season. The holidays have come and gone, and I have been in one of those extremely busy modes for most of the past three months. However, I am pleased to announce that tomorrow, the one-year anniversary of my starting my weight loss journey, I will be beginning the cycle anew.

November was a good month, minus Thanksgiving (obviously), and December was a good month as well, subtracting Christmas dinner. These months were marked by smarter eating, attempts to actually eat breakfast (a notorious omission from my daily meals), and trips to the gym. December also saw me extra-timing my work schedule, adding on an additional 30-40 hours a week of seasonal employment to my current workload. This addition was a lot of walking and lifting, which was bad on my back but good for my activity levels. However, I was usually exhausted at the end of a very long workday that I slipped on my gym routine. I have returned to my regular 3-4 times a week routine, I am proud to say.

Other new happenings: I recently began playing indoor soccer, and will be playing outdoor soccer beginning in the next couple of months. This is good for many reasons. While I am mainly playing goalkeeper, you'd be surprised at how much activity I do, and at the level of exertion of energy too. We have played 4 matches already, and while we're 0-4 going into tonight's match, my performances, surprisingly good for someone who's never played before, have been getting better. I've also subbed as a field player, but to not much success.

As stated above, tomorrow (being the 1 year anniversary of my weight loss journey) I will be beginning my diet cycle once again. This will be the first time since the beginning of January. I'm anticipating some weight gain upon the weigh-in tomorrow morning, as there was the last time, but not as much. I have been eating better for the most part (there's been some binges) and I'm looking forward to this cycle. I will be buying my ingredients tonight after our match and post-game festivities (it's our rivalry match), and making the soup tomorrow. I have some fruit to eat while I cook, as well as to accompany my soup on day one, so that's a great start.

I'm looking forward to this. The last few weeks have been stressful due to some personal issues which I am moving past, and for the better. I hope that this will be one more motivation to drive me to my goal.

Wish me luck!

Week Six Official Weigh-in

Week 6 - Official Weigh-in (post-diet week) 

Previous weight: 387.2
Current weight: 375.4

+/-: -11.8 lbs
Total weight-loss to date: 22.9 lbs

 And the diet week is over! And the results are great!

I honestly didn't think that I had put on as much weight as the pre-week weigh-in indicated, but if I did then this puts things back on the right path.

Thanks to all who gave their support this past week. It means a lot. And thanks to all who challenged my willpower at times too by offering me beer and spirits. As much as I know you were being generous, you also were helping strengthen my willpower to new levels and I thank you.

Cheers!

Days Six and Seven - November 1st and 2nd, 2011

No technical difficulties this time on the delayed post, just an extremely tired young-ish man and his desire for sleep.

Day Six was a good day. I woke up, and headed in to work. I did not bring any soup with me because I had only one meal on my mind: chicken veggie bowl. It's basically a chicken rice bowl from a restaurant down the street, only the low carb option where they don't put rice and add more veggies. When I finally got my lunch I also added two side orders of teriyaki chicken. Good thing, too, because the chicken veggie bowl, which I get frequently, had about half of the normal amount of chicken on it this time. I slathered both the main dish and the extra chicken with spicy teriyaki sauce, and the main dish with a bit of Sriracha on top of it. Gotta love my spicy lunch; fuels the metabolism!

After that I went and helped my dad with some stuff, preparing for his move this weekend. I came home and relaxed for a bit, and had a bowl of soup. After a couple hours I started to feel hungry so I turned the oven's broiler on and let it heat for a bit, then opened up my two bacon-wrapped filets and broiled them. I also stuck in a foil packet of asparagus spears marinated in worcestershire and garlic. The filets cooked perfectly, but the asparagus, which I bought on Day Two and didn't use, was all dried out and was inedible. However, with the larger portion of veggies I'd had earlier I felt ok forgoing them. After a couple more hours I went to bed, as I felt incredibly tired.

Day Seven dawned, and almost immediately after waking I felt like just staying in bed. Not because I felt ill, but because it was so dang COLD! It was below 30 according to the thermometer downtown when I got to work just after 9:30... and it felt like worse as the wind blew. Eventually the sun came out and the temperature skyrocketed to the upper 50's. I didn't bring soup to work today either, and ordered a steamed veggie bento, with brown rice, from Hula Boy. I once again coated the lunch in spicy sauces; sweet chili on 1/3, jerk sauce on the middle 1/3, and spicy hot on the final 1/3. Mix it all together and it's a great meal. It also came with a small container side of marinated veggies. I admit I am curious as to what they marinade with.

After work I went and caught a soccer match at the local college, where the team is fighting for the league title, at the behest of some friends. Afterwards one of the organizers had offered to buy all fans who are part of the Timbers Army Northern Alliance (which I am) a round at the closest affiliate bar. Sadly, I couldn't partake, but I did have several large glasses of hot tea because I was cold! The sun had gone behind the clouds during the match and the wind blew pretty hard, so it got cold fast. While we were at the bar we got to watch the 2nd leg MLS playoff matches. Midway through the 2nd half of the second match, it was time to go watch my friend's teams up at Salmon Creek Indoor Sports Arena. A couple of good matches, the best so far for them.

Upon getting home just after 11, I made up some more brown rice, and enjoyed it. Some soup followed. And now that it's after midnight, I can have my Mint Milano :).

The week was a good one, but difficult at times. The smells of foods that I couldn't have were driving me crazy. The extra night dealing with them at work this past weekend didn't help much, nor did being at bars where they serve good food and good beers. But it was a good test of willpower, and I'm happy to say I came through with no issues!

Thanks for cheering me along this week! Weigh-in is tomorrow... hope it's good news!

Cheers!

Days Four and Five - October 30th and 31st, 2011

Technical difficulties once again led to a delayed post, and a double post as well. I think it's my internet connection/provider. But I digress...

Day Four is always a turning point. My least favorite day by far, but I know I'm halfway through and coming into the two best days of the week by far (the ones with MEAT).

I woke up late, due to my escapades the night before and late arrival home, and got to watch my football game. Let's not talk about that, it didn't go well. During the game, however, I ate three bananas. On the way to work, I ate three more. That was the extent of the bananas.

Work was quite busy, and I was finally able to heat up my soup with about a half hour left in the shift, once things died down. I wasn't able to finish it all though, but it was probably two bowls plus, so if I left a half bowl behind I'm sure I'm ok. Just some salt and pepper for seasoning, because I couldn't find the Tabasco. Along with the soup I drank a quart of skim milk. I decided to cut my milk quantity in half for this cycle, and it turned out to be just the right amount. With several glasses of water throughout the rest of my shift, it was a good choice.

After work, came home and went to bed, dreaming of the pleasures of the next day!

Day Five began nicely, sleeping in a bit but not nearly as late as the previous two days. I blame my cat for that, as she would NOT let me stay in bed. After finally getting ready to do things I went to help my dad move some things to storage, then came home. I was not hungry at all until around 5. I went to pick up my paycheck and have dinner at work, whilst I watched the football game (as my normal Monday Night Football plans were cancelled) and ended up putting in a good 45 minutes of unpaid work in order for my cooking to not be in the way.

The steak this week was a Buffalo sirloin, lightly (too lightly, in fact) seasoned with Garlic Gourmay's Killer Cajun seasoning. As buffalo cooks much faster than beef, I put it in the oven on a grate for 4 minutes per side, and then seared the sides for another minute or so each (it wasn't looking done). The flavor was different, but the meat was nice and tender and juicy. However, I felt it needed a little something so I got a small container of bbq sauce and used that as an occasional dip. I also had one whole fresh sliced tomato as a "side".

After a bit I went to see "Army of Darkness" as it was playing at Kiggins for Halloween. I bought a bottle of water and checked out the new Marquee beer and wine lounge in the upstairs area; it's small but charming, the bar is styled to match the building, and they have a decent selection of beverages, but only three on tap. The movie was good, but I knew that since I've seen it many times. After getting home I popped open a can of stewed tomatoes and have enjoyed them while I type tonight's entry. A bowl of soup will follow shortly, before bed.

Thank you all for reading, and hopefully resetting my router will help with my connection issues. Otherwise it might be time to try using a new browser (not that I don't have another one installed already; just only used for my web development).

Cheers!

Day Three - October 29th, 2011

Well, yet again my post is delayed due to technical issues... Might need to run some diagnostics. But I digress.

The day started off well. Got to sleep in, and woke up around 11. Had 2 bowls of soup around 4, when I was finally hungry, flavored with a little teriyaki and Sriracha sauce, and some pepper. Was able to get that down before work.

At work, I had two salads, one a small bowl with lettuce, olives, mushrooms, tomatoes, and a splash of Italian dressing. The second was a small wedge salad with tomatoes and onion, and a small touch of blue cheese (not the best choice, but it added a little flavor).

I drank a lot of water and a couple small cans of pineapple-orange juice (100% juice, no added sugar). I even had some unsweetened iced tea.

After work I went to a friend's birthday party, which was at a bar. Extraordinary test of willpower, as everyone was drinking all around me, and people offering me drinks, and I turned them down and didn't order anything but water. After that, went to another bar where a friend of mine was DJ-ing. Nobody offered to buy at this one, but I still didn't have anything to drink. Willpower :).

There ya go! Day Three in the books. Things are going well.

Cheers!

Day One and Day Two - October 27th and 28th, 2011

Well, for some reason it wasn't going to let me log in last night to post Day One, so here are both Days One and Two.

The morning began with the official weigh-in, where sadly the results were not very good. You can read about them there. Needless to say the day was off to a bad start. However, I made the best of it and packed my food for the day and went off to work.

There I ate one Gala apple, one pound of fresh blackberries (so fresh some of them weren't completely ripe!), and two bowls of soup. I added about half of a 1/8 ounce bottle of Tabasco for flavor, since I had forgotten to season the soup before leaving home.

Upon returning home, I ate another Gala, and then heated up another couple bowls of soup, this time adding some sweet chili sauce for flavor. A little too much tho. So ended Day One.

Day Two began on a much better note, as I had the morning off and was able to sleep in. When I finally woke up I wasn't very hungry, so I putzed around for a bit. When I finally did get hungry, I opened a bag of mixed raw broccoli, cauliflower, and baby carrots. From previous experience I knew the raw broccoli wouldn't go down well without something to moisten it so I had some water and also a small cup of lowfat yogurt ranch dressing. Between noon and 3:30 I finished the whole bag of veggies. The entire bag plus the dressing needed to make the broccoli palatable was approx. 425 calories.

I had to go to work at 5, but ended up being called in early. Working on the weekends, when I'm on the diet week anyways, is pretty difficult, because all the smells of foods I can't eat drive me crazy. Yet this is a test of willpower, and tonight I won it. I made it through the shift, and made my baked potato. It was a rather large one, and took forever to cook (having to even nuke it to finish, and it was still a bit raw). However, it was rather tasty.

I got home and was not very hungry at all, and as I finish the post I am still not hungry. I have yet to have soup today, and doubt now that I will, as it's 3am. I have soup at work that I can eat tomorrow, plus a whole half-full stockpot in the fridge. I have fruit and veggies for tomorrow, so I'm set.

Thanks for reading along. Sorry Day One was so late, but sometimes the Internet doesn't work right.

Cheers!

October 27th, 2011 - Official Weigh-in (pre-diet week)

Week 6 - Official Weigh-in (pre-diet week) 

Previous weight: 372.3
Current weight: 387.2

+/-: +14.9 lbs
Total weight-loss to date: 11.1 lbs


Ouch. May 28th was the last official weigh in, and despite eating healthy for the last several months, mixed with bike riding and walking (I won't lie and say it's been a regular schedule of exercise or that I haven't had unhealthy meals from time to time in this span) I have had a pretty big setback. I have had a couple of heavy meals (meats, rice, etc.) in the past 96 hours, so maybe that will have some effect on this weigh in, but we'll see how it goes. I knew I'd put a little back on, but it was fluctuating between 5-7 lbs for the most part.


Diet starts today. Let's get this back off again.

Update - October 7th, 2011

Alright, well, the trip to Vancouver went well, and now I'm waiting for payday to start my diet week cycle. So next week. Looking forward to it. This will be the full original cycle, so it'll be great to have everything set to a schedule again for a change. After just eating (mostly) healthy for a while let's see how my body responds.

I've been getting a lot of feedback from readers, asking me how progress is going since I'm not continually blogging anymore. They have expressed their condolences to my parent's ongoing divorce, as well as related some stories of similar experiences. One friend in particular has told me to be careful, because this could cause me to start overindulging and actually gain back all the weight I've lost. I am being very careful. I have had days where I've eaten more than I should have, but also either immediately before or after has been a day where I've consumed very little. Neither is healthy, but it balances out. I am working to prevent that from happening though.

Of course, there's been a few people who have chosen to "encourage" me by trying to shame me for lack of effort. Hopefully these people understand that doing so is not a great technique, that it can lead me to feel like a failure and eventually give up. This would be bad. So please, if you're currently trying to do this, stop. Build me up instead of tear me down.

I recently saw a quote (which I unfortunately didn't save) that goes along with this last bit. It goes something like this: "I may be less than some people expect me to be, but there's more to me than you'll ever know." I'm probably not doing it justice, but you get the idea.

Thanks again for reading. I'll let you know when the soup is cooking and the week can begin!

Cheers!

Update: September 20th, 2011

Well, things are still rather stressful for me, but I've noticed my holding weight, which has been bouncing back and forth is starting to do so less and less, and for the better, so it sounds like some things are stabilizing.

I'm probably going to do a full week cycle soon after I return from Vancouver BC at the beginning of October. See how that holds up with my system.

Also, tried on my jersey the other day as a measuring gauge of my progress thus far. When I first tried to try on a Timbers jersey back at the end of January, I couldn't even get into a 2XL-sized jersey. Three months later I was able to squeeze into one, but it was rather sausage-like. Last week, I am proud to announce, I was able to squeeze into my XL-sized jersey with a sausage-like fit, but I couldn't have done that 8 months ago. This made me feel pretty good.

I haven't been eating as much lately, which is good and bad. On one side, when I do eat it's mostly lean protein, like chicken or fish, some beef. On days when I'm not seeming to eat as much is when I have slips, where I have a little bit of a bad food, like a burger from McDonalds which is high in calories but in a small size. Luckily I have been not ordering much in those situations so the effect is minimized. For example, the last 2 days I've eaten fairly healthy.

Yesterday, my birthday, I enjoyed 7 oysters (5 of which were very lightly breaded and pan-fried; the other two were raw), as well as pork and (lightly breaded) calamari, and then later on smoked chicken wings, some diced potatoes, green beans and corn, and three meat balls. A slice of birthday cake was also consumed. Today meals consisted of a beef polish sausage with chili, cheese, veggies and jalapenos, a half a hot dog with onions, and sushi.

I've also been drinking lots of water and tea. Lately I've added some honey to my tea due to irritation from soccer matches, which won't be getting any better this week! I had some beer on my birthday, but for the month so far I haven't had much more than that.

Things are holding steady, which means that progress remains. I'm looking forward to seeing how this next cycle will go!

Thanks for reading, and for your support. And not just diet-related support, but in everything. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

Cheers!

Update - September 5th, 2011 (yes, it's been a while)

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't posted anything in over a month. Some of you are wondering "why?", and some of you may already know some of why already.

I'm just going to lay it out. My parents are getting a divorce. For years they've been unhappy together, and for a variety of reasons, but finally my dad went and filed around the time of my last entry. At first I didn't think it was going to affect me any, knowing that it was for the best and that they'd both be happy finally. But little did I know that I was wrong, oh so wrong...

The first inkling I had that I knew I was being affected by this was that I realized that I stopped practically everything I needed to be doing in Phase Two. I've ridden my bike 3 times since the filing. I have been to the gym once. I ate about half of the last batch of the soup over the course of a week and the rest went to waste. I haven't been eating like I planned out. Luckily my weight has been maintaining, with a fluctuation of around 5 lbs. both ways. But no progress has been made.

Another thing that I realized is that I started to drink more. Now, a couple of occasions were ones I knew I was going to, like a visit to the Oregon Brewers Festival and the Timbers Army Homebrew Tailgate, but it seemed like I was going out of my way to drink, and once I realized that I stopped. I think since then I've managed much better. But all this drinking has had a negative effect on the weight loss, and that's not surprising.

I've also been under a lot of stress. It's no secret that being under a lot of stress can cause weight loss, and I think combined with the heavy drinking and the sometimes horrid food choices I've made over the last month this is why I've maintained the same weight.

I keep wanting to put out the effort to make more soup, get on the bike, hit the gym, but when it comes down to it I just don't feel like it when the time comes, and I've come to realize that I've become depressed over the divorce. And they haven't even been to the first preliminary hearing yet!

I want to thank those of you who've talked with me about my lack of entries and progress over the last few weeks. Talking about it with friends has helped me to fight off some of this depression and make some positive progress again. I can't do it without you.

I can't promise that things will get immediately better as this process goes on, but I can promise I'll be doing my best to see that things get better. At the very least I'd like to be able to maintain my progress at the end of this proceeding, and give myself a great platform to springboard into another spree of pound-shedding.

Thanks again for reading, and for your support. It means everything to me.