I use to eat that #2

Its still crazy to really look at the things I use to eat compared to how I eat now a days.  I'm going to visit one of my favorite meals that I was able to eat all in one setting.  My favorite restaurant called Old Number 3 up in Ronald, Washington.  On the menu was a meal that was great tasting and came with a lot of food called "The Motherload."  This was one huge burger (2 patties) that came with 2 pounds of french fries and onion rings.  So let's break this old fav of mine down.  I know this isn't going to be 100% accurate because I can't find a menu online, however it is going to be pretty close.

Calories..........................2361
Carbs.............................271
Fat.................................110
Cholesterol.....................170

And that was just one meal for the day, oh man.

2 years ago

Two years ago on my birthday I was weighing in at 260 pounds.  This morning I was at 191.  That is a difference of 69 pounds in just two years, most of it come from last year.  It can show you that anything is possible.  On top of that I fit into size 32 pants today, two years ago I was in 42's.  I can only imagine what this has done for my heart, my health, and my life.  Great things are yet to come as well!

I used to eat that?

I decided it would be fun and interesting to reflect in different blogs things I used to eat at one sitting.  It is no wonder I use to be a big boy.  I thought not only would this be an interesting look back at the way I was, but also a good way for people to see just exactly what they may be putting into their body.  So for starters, a few nights ago I decided to have a little bit of mac and cheese with a turkey dog.  It brought back memories of what I used to eat.

1 box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  2 Bar S Hot Dogs..

Total Calories                             1290
Total Fat                                       38g
Saturated Fat                                13g
Cholesterol                               175mg
Sodium                                   4150mg
Carbs                                          184g

That is one scary meal, including looking at the sodium.  Makes me very happy that I changed my ways.

Dedication

I decided I was going to create my own diet.  Using what I know works, and what I have researched I combined it all to have created a pretty successful plan so far.  I was sitting at 202 not just a few days ago, now I am already down to 194.  I am beginning to remember however one of the biggest factors to being able to lose weight.  You have to be dedicated.  Dedication is the key to anything you want to do in your life.

Dedication has gotten me to where I am today.  For 28 years almost, I could not dedicate myself to losing weight.  I would stop, look in the mirror, and say "I need to lose weight."  I would hate what I saw in the mirror to the point of where I'd almost want to just shatter the image that stood before me.  Why is it that we are able to dedicate ourselves to so much in the world but we struggle the most trying to dedicate to our health?

I was a dedicated husband, a dedicated father, and a dedicated worker but I left myself out to hang.  Last night I looked in the mirror and thought back to what I use to see when I would look at myself.  Why did it take so long for me to change how I use to look to what I am now?  I love working out and it can show, I love eating healthy, I love the fact that I can do more now and no longer do I really suffer from the heart troubles that once plagued me.

It's all about dedication.  If you want to diet, you need to become dedicated, end of story.  Once you are dedicated you can make the weight shed off.  

Which way to attack the last 30 pounds...

Last night I weighed in at 202 pounds, and that was a killer to see.  For so long I have hovered between 194 and 197.  Sure, I have had a few huge changes in my life, but is that really an excuse for me to be putting weight back on?  Or is it just more crap that I have to cut and realize that the best way to move on is to get back on track?  I will be picking the latter.  However I have come to a cross roads in how to tackle these next 30 pounds to get myself down to the 170 mark.

The diet that really started things off on the right path was doing a very low carb diet.  It allowed me to change my eating habits, and lose a good amount of weight.  This is also how I suggest people to start when dieting when asked what they should do.

On the other hand I can also just start tracking what I'm going to eat using Sparkpeople.com and see what happens using that program again.  It worked out very well for me after the initial weight loss from the low carb diet.

Either way I am going to need to add back in walking to my daily routine and working out with my weights.  It just becomes the question of which diet I use first to get me going once again.  However at this moment I am leaning towards the low carb alternative where I make sure everything I am eating 100 net carbs or less per day.  I am going to do this for 2 weeks and hope that it can kick start my weight loss once again.  I will keep you posted in how well this goes and what the results end up being, for now I have to cut the crap back out of my life and stop eating that darn candy!  Stupid Halloween!!!!! haha.

Tragic news=Tragic situation

This past September I lost my childhood friend in a sad unexpected way. Jason Mertz was one of a kind. His death left a hole in me my heart and emptiness in my soul.  This has lead to me not being in the right frame of mind to either exercise or write on my blog.

Through the struggles I have had a hard time keeping my weight at where its been.  I have not been caring what it was that I have to eat.  I have been eating a lot more candy.  I have also not been exercising or going for walks.  It has been a struggle to get my engines back running.  Luckily I have not gained much weight, only about 7 pounds.

Losing someone can make it really hard to function and return back to your everyday self, let alone be able to lose weight.  However I will be able to reflect back on memories and use them as motivation as I get myself back to losing weight and my goal of getting to that 100 pounds lost goal.

I remember this last time we hung out, we went down to Lincoln City for a weekend to enjoy the beach.  Jason was upset that he was no longer able to call me a fat head.  He was so impressed with the amount of weight I had loss that he decided he needed to search out a new nick name, I think he was going to just stick to big head haha.  

Jason suffered from Aspergers, so fathead was not a big deal to me growing up, that was just Jason being Jason.  Whenever he gave me a hard time I knew deep down how much respect and love he had for me.  He would tell my wife Kate multiple times just how proud he was of me, how much he respected me, and that meant so much to me.  Even though he could never really tell me, knowing how he really felt made me feel really good about myself.

I always admired how he would be there for my family and I.  Whenever we needed help, he would be there to try and fix the situation.  I feel bad I was not around him more than I was, but we always will have those feelings when the time becomes too late.

I know he is in Heaven right now and doing his all to get me to get back to losing weight again.  I have felt him near me many times and know that I need to keep going.  He was always impressed at how much weight I am losing and encouraged me to keep it up.  I know even beyond the veil he still is rooting for me.  I need to take this new motivation and keep on my path of weight loss.  I'm close to the 100 pound lost mark, and need to destroy that goal before working on a new one.  

We meet again Wii Fit...

     It had been over 100 days since I had last stepped on to the Wii fit.  Today I finally decided it was time to tackle it again.  There have been many reasons why I have not been able to get onto the Wii.  From the fact that I am trying to get use to a full time schedule, to the fact that I have been doing a lot of strength exercise now that I have my Golds Gym machine back from storage.  Also we just moved from our in-laws to a nice house on our own.  So it was nice to see that I have made progress over the past 100 days.  Although it was only 4 pounds, it still was 4 pounds.

     4 pounds is nothing compared to what I have been doing, but the way I have been eating makes me happy because I have not gained.  Getting on the Wii fit was a nice change of pace.  Lifting weights is fun, but nothing feels better then doing the super hula or some good ole yoga.  I think the yoga is what I have missed the most on the Wii.

     34 minutes of the Wii fit really made me remember why I was trying to do it daily.  I was able to burn a 150 calories in that time frame and really stretch out my back.  My back gives me a lot of trouble but has felt better since adding some muscle, the yoga only made it better.  

     So no more excuses now, I have a schedule that is now able to be planned around and a little more time now that the house is mostly done being unpacked.  Wii fit and working out with weights I think I can finish my journey of my weight loss.  My next goal is to get down to 187, that would make it 100 pounds I have lost since October of 09.  That would also be 60 pounds since December of 2010.  I can tell you I have never felt as good as I feel now, but I can only imagine how I will feel if I can keep going!