Day 5 - Talent show day at school

Friday, APril 25, 2014
Starting weight  -214
Weight loss to date - 17.1 lbs

I talked about this yesterday.  I'm not sure why the big jump in weight.  preview - I'm way down the next day.  I have the ability to shoot up and down 3-4 pounds in a day depending on when the last time I ate was and how late i sleep . The not eating late thing really helps!  So does exercusing!

Morning RUn - 1.5 miles, 15 minutes - 6am. 

Breakfast - 2 egg whites, 1 whole egg

Snack - 4 fig newtons

Lunch - 1 chicken finger, steamfresh veggies + 4 pot stickers (which by the way are 3 weight watcher points for 4 pot stickers.  I love them!)

snack - granola bar

snack - something else, I can't remember

Dinner - 1 slice of chicken parm pizza from a place in Emerson.  It was REALLY good!

Snack - pack of starburst.  Definitely could have done without this, but I have not had starburst in forever!

late night small snack - a few spoonfuls of sherbet ice cream.

FYI - after a quick Weight watchers tracking, I am allowed 43 points.  Today, I ate 42 points and i did 4 points of activity with my morning run.  Not a bad day. I was not planning on tracking, but I was curious after I wrote this blog and I did well!

Day 4 - my first blogged cocktail hour . . . . .

Thursday, April 24, 2014
Starting weight - 212.4
Weight loss for the year: 18.7 lbs

Breakfast - I had a lean pocket on the way to work.  i think they are 6 weight watcher points which is pretty good, and it stopped me from stopping at Dunkin.  Still Dunkin' free for 4 days!  WAHOO!  had a swig of OJ also

Snack - Granola Bar around 9:15
Snack - fruit snacks around 10:15 - My student teacher busted my chops to make sure I was not snacking too much.  I explained the frequent snacking on small amounts.  I appreciate SOMEONE actually busting me!  Don't be shy.  STOP ME!

Lunch - 11:30 - Smart Ones Oriental noodles and chicken - diet coke

Snack - Rice Krispie treat - 2:15

Dinner - Well, tonight, I had the opportunity to go to the SeJong Gala fundraiser to raise funds for the wonderful program that is sending me on a cultural learning experience trip to  Korea for 12 days this summer.  I think that I did really well at this considering it was a cocktail hour banquet!  I had 3 little plates of food and a couple of small chicken and beef sticks at cocktail hour and 2 beers.  Coming from a guy who is a cocktail hour fanatic, usually, 3 plates of food is just the beginning, so I am pretty happy with the way this went.  The main dinner was a small piece of steak, a scoop of mashed potatoes and some veggies.

Preview - was VERY frustrated the next day because i was way up in weight.  This, I suppose, is why you should not weigh yourself every day.  You can drive yourself crazy.  For me, once I got over being PISSED about it, it helped though, because it motivated me to be better the next day.  I stand by the fact that I actually did very well at this cocktail hour.  I don't care what anyone else says!

Day 3 - TIRED TODAY!!!!!

April 23, 2014
Starting Weight - 210.4
Weight loss for the year - 20.7 lbs

Let me start with:  HAPPY 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO KRISTYN AND ME!!!!!!!  Wahoo!

Breakfast - 2 egg whites + 1 whole egg - scrambled + 8 oz trop 50 OJ

lunch - half sandwich from Denaros - turkey, pepperoni and yellow american cheese Plus french fries.

I had 3 sodas today - they were diet sodas, but i forgot my water at home today.  ARGH

Dinner - had 2 slices of pizza.  They were thin.  REALLY THIN.  I should have stuck with one, but i'm telling you, these 2 were like having 1 bruno's square.

Snack - It was Zoe's 1st birthday (unofficial birthday party before the big one on Saturday) and so there were desserts.  I did really good, for me, all things considered, but it was not my best of nights.
Had 1 average size of cake, 2 pieces of chocolate bunny heads, and a chocolate chip cookie.  Definitely could have done better, but normally would have had about twice that, PLUS another slice of pizza.  So believe it or not, i did show some restraint tonight!  Basically drank diet soda all day and night though.  not a big deal for weight loss purposes, but i'd prefer the water.

Verderese - OUT

Day 2 - Breaking out the Morning Run!

Tuesday, April 22
Today's weight - 212.4
Weight loss for the year:18.7 lbs

Ok, so I was going to hide this in the end of yesterday's blog since it was yesterday and you all probably read it already, but I figured that not as many people would see it, so I want to be honest.  On my way to bed, I had about 30 goldfish.  THEN, staring me in the face, on my night stand was a Reese's easter bunny that Kristyn gave me on Easter.  Before I knew it, I ate half of it in a rushed blur of dietary badness!

On the bright side, I woke up down 1.6 lbs from my first day, so I'll take that!

Exercise:  Got up bright and early and went for a morning run today! 1.21 miles, took 11 1/2 minutes to do it.  Felt good to get up and a little active to start the day.  I wish i could force myself to actually do that every day! I doubt it, but I will try!

Breakfast: 2 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 8 oz of trop 50 OJ and a seltzer on the drive into work.
I am 2 days Dunkin Donuts and Red bull Free!  I am not going for any sort of record or long stretch or anything, but believe it or not, its become habit again to go to DD and get bagels/donuts/red bulls, etc on the way to work.  So any day I can skip by that place is a good day!

Snack - granola bar during my duty period in the library + water

Lunch - Black Bean Burger and 4 pot stickers + water

I'm probably not going to list my drinks for long if its water and seltzer.  I will list all drinks OTHER THAN water and seltzer. 

Dinner -  Well, i had brought a weight watchers dinner to grab on the way out the door on the way to the gig, BUT I forgot to eat it.  hahaha.  So, i stopped at 711 real quick and had a light bite.  All I had was a taquito and a jamaican beef patty.  Plus a diet coke.  I know, its not the best option, BUT it was 515 and I knew I was not eating again for the night until possibly 1015pm, and i really didn't want to eat at that point anyway, so I needed something to hold me over for the night.  THat did it.  We didn't get our pasta at the end of the gig, so the extra carbs late night didn't happen!  I'm kind of hungry right now, but I'm glad I didn't have the pasta!

Snack - I finished that Reese's bunny.  I had to stop home and get a few things and before you knew it, the bunny was in my belly.  It was glorious.

By the way - awesome night with the band at Trumpets tonight.  It was just awesome!  Had Denis DiBlasio as the guest artist and I got to play Superbone Meets the Bad Man with him.  WOW, what a fun time.   Can't wait to hear the recordings!  Thanks to everyone who came out. Great job by Mike Iapicca and the Parsippany Hills HS Big Band.  Next Up - May 10 at Cresskill HS - Our Jazz Festival with Conrad Herwig and the Rutgers Jazz Faculty!

Sooo, I'd say, overall, a good day food-wise.  Didn't eat a whole heck of a lot, but I didn't starve myself.  And, I started the day with a little run! Hope I can do it again tomorrow!

Day 1 -Back in the saddle

Starting weight 214
Weight loss for the year 17.1

Breakfast - 2 egg whites,  2 whole egg  8 oz trop 50 oj and a Seltzer. 

This is huge because I got back to work after break and didn't go to dunkin donuts.  I got in a bad place with that the past month or so

Morning snack - 3 fig newtons - If i want to avoid big meals, I think I will be snacking a lot!

Lunch - Weight watchers meal + seltzer and rice krispie treat. 

Snack - Granola Bar

Dinner - Beef tips + 1.5 small potatoes and half a can of corn.

Snacks:  Rice Krispie Treat + 40 goldfish (fyi, 55 goldfish is 1 serving, so it sounds like a lot, but its not!)

I was planning on running tonight.  THEN, Kristyn and i started watching Prison break.  We are so close to the end of the last season, BUT its addicting.  Currently, we are in the middle of our 4th episode of the night.  I don't think we are done either :-)  Good relaxing night.  Hopefully Kristyn will feel better enough to go to work tomorrow!  

Going to try not to snack again tonight. BYE!

Back by popular demand . . . . . .

AAAANNNNNDDDDD, here we are again.  Its been a few months, and as predicted, it is not mid-April and I am back :-)  I had a really good run early in the year.  Followed by a stint of Weight Watchers followed by about 5-6 weeks of poor choices and functional maintenance.

Over the past few days, I have seen some people I have not seen in awhile and they have commented on how much weight it looks like I have lost and how they have been following the blog.  It made me remember that this still is, and has been, the best form of gimmick-based diet that I ever do.  I succeed the most with it, and when I do well, I get lots of positive reinforcement from it.  Since I have been crappy with the upkeep the past few weeks, I have gained a few pounds back and I need to STOP before I undo everything that I did.

SOOO, once again, here are the rules of Joe's latest Diet of Convenience.  Enjoy and let's see how this goes!  I want to stress the idea that YOU CAN STOP ME FROM EATING/ORDERING/MAKING POOR CHOICES.  Don't feel like you are going to make me mad.  If i get mad, its only because I want to eat something bad and I know that I should not!


MY JOBS:

1. STOP SUCKING AT LIFE!!! (My diet life, that is. Let's be honest, I'm AWESOME at the rest of life) :-D
2. Go to grocery store and keep stocked of good, healthy foods
3. take the time to cook instead of grabbing fast food/Dunkin Donuts/711/etc
4. Get back to the gym for lifting AND cardio - continue to run and play more racquetball
5. Stop making excuses and start making right choices
6. Follow the rules I created (below)
7. NEVER LIE to my people who are following the blog. I will not, I promise. That would defeat the purpose.

YOUR JOBS: (if you wish to take part)

1. Let me know if you are actually following this. The more who follow, the more apt I am to do well!
2. If you are out with me, do not push me to eat more than I order
3. Do not offer me your leftovers
4. If you are out with me, you are welcome to question my choices of food and remind me that I have to make better choices!  If I reason with you as to why I'm choosing something, realize when you are going to lose the battle.  If its 11pm, and we are out after a concert, and I get 2 scoops of ice cream, while you are all eating buffalo wings, french fries, and tons of beers, realize that 2 scoops of ice cream is a victory for my standards of late night eating.
5. If we are out, and I am not drinking, deal with it and realize that I am fun as hell, regardless of whether or not I am drinking. Look at it this way, i can be the DD if I'm not drinking! This is an especially big one because in the past, I have been to many bars with many people, and have drank countless glasses of water. Although some people are cool with it, many others spend too much time making me explain myself and then try to convince me to do otherwise. We are not 17. There is no peer pressure to drink. You have your beer, and I'll have my water if i choose!
6. Yell at me if you see me making bad choices. I really don't want people to tell me I'm doing poorly, so if you do, it will motivate me to do better!!!
7. Realize that no matter what you eat or drink, there is probably SOMETHING wrong with it.  If i'm eating a "Healthy Choice" meal for lunch, I know its loaded with sodium.  But its so much better than eating 4 chicken fingers, 2 cookies, mac & cheese and some fries.  So realize that not every food will be perfect.  it just needs to be better than it WOULD have been.

SOME OF MY J-DOC LIMITATIONS:
**I do not want to "Diet" in an unrealistic way. i want to try to do something i can keep up with for an extended period of time (forever). This means that I will not be forcing myself to not eat things, I just need to limit how much i have and how often i have it.

1. Pizza: Pizza is fine. 1 slice. With or without toppings, and not more than once a day. I should not have any appetizers with that. Just the one slice.
2. Soda: Diet only, and only if necessary.  Try to do more seltzer and spring water.
3. Water: 1 gallon a day is the best.  Not always easy to remember to drink it all, but just drink lots of water.
4. Breakfast Sandwiches: 1-2 a week is ok, even with the Taylor Ham, BUT no bagels. Wheat toast please! And egg whites if possible
5. Beer: Keep it to light if possible and don't just have a beer for the sake of having a beer.  Save the beer drinking for a night out at the bar.
6. Breakfast in General: Fruit Smoothies would be the best, egg whites, Cheerios with skim milk. Breakfast should be prepared at home. No excuses. There is no need to buy breakfast, since it usually ends up being unhealthy.  Stay away from Dunkin!  But if you must go, get an egg white flatbread.
7. Evening: No late night eating. All attempts should be made to eat the last meal by 8pm and the last small snack before 9:30. TGI Fridays, Applebees, 1/2 price apps are a NO-NO. I can go, but I do not eat/drink. Stick to Water. (Maybe a salad?) I can hang out, but don't let me order my triple chocolate meltdown, boneless buffalo wings, crap like that.
8. Snacking: 100 calorie packs are good because they are small and tasty. Salads at home are awesome, fruits veggies, etc. I always have them in the house, so I need to eat them!
9. Frequency: I should be eating frequently and small portions. This will keep me from eating huge meals!
10. Vacations/parties: SOMEHOW, i need to keep it contained on vacations and at parties. Limit the ridiculousness of larger/fun events. This is currently my worst.
11. Buffets: not allowed! Under any circumstance. I will allow myself a buffet for every 10 pounds I lose, although I don't necessarily HAVE to go.
12. Fast Food: Its ok to go, but no super-sizing, only one sandwich, and try to get a bottle of water with the meal instead of a soda.  
13. Money: Get over the fact that it costs more to diet.  Also, get over the fact that a bottle of water may cost $1.50 at a restaurant when i could get a case for $4.  Deal with the $1.50 and drink the water instead of getting a soda, gatorade, or other options. 

Ok, Thats all i can think of for now. I will add to the rules if I think of any. These rules shall take effect immediately.

JOEY V