Day 12 - Back on Track!

Starting weight: (-) 5.6 lbs

So today, it's time to get back on track after a very fun (and filling) weekend!

Today's Challenge - nothing really.  Just trying to get back to it.

Breakfast - Bagel thin with butter.  This was a late breakfast and I'm not all really that hungry.  I also had some trop 50 OJ.

Snack - italian ice - nice and refreshing.  Only has about 100 calories.  And it's always awesome to have an Italian ice - brings me back to little league - although this brand doesn't have the different gooey bottom layer like the Marino's italian ice's we had a Surgent Park.  They are so good!!!!

Lunch - Crap - i don't really remember . . . . . . . . . oh wait, I remember.  I didn't have a real lunch actually, I kinda just snacked lightly throughout the day.  Had a 40 calorie Sobe Lifewater ice pop and 2 servings of goldfish throughout the day.

Total calories so far - about 600 prior to dinner.  Technically, I'm allowed about 1800-2000 if I want to drop some weight with a moderately active lifestyle.

Dinner - went to Bruno's with mom and Kristyn.  Planned on getting a slice of pizza, ended up sitting int he back.  Had a few pieces of bread and butter, a small sup of Pasta Fagioli, 4 small stuffed shells, and an order of meatballs.  Also had a diet soda, which was a big step at Bruno's!

WHAT I WOULD HAVE EATEN TODAY:
I definitely would have gone for pizza during lunch, that is for sure.  Likely at Zizia, down the street in Bloomfield.  That would have been accompanied by 3 large garlic knots.  Also, At Bruno's, I would likely have had the buffalo chicken over rice which is an insane amount of food - enough for 2+ meals, and I would have eaten it all plus 2 birch beers.  Today is a day that I definitely cut out about 1200+ calories from what I would have normally had.

Day 9-10-11: The weekend of failure . . . . .

Hello there!  My apologies for not writing the past few days.  I've been all over the place and just didn't get around to it.  Because of that, I will not be able to be quite as detailed as I normally would like to be, but I will do my best.

First of all, I will open with letting you know that I did not do all that great this past weekend.  I made some pretty poor choices in terms of what i actually ate.  The good news is that I didn't exactly eat a whole lot, it's just that when I did eat, it was generally not good stuff.  Here we go. . . . . . .

FRIDAY - AUGUST 21, 2015

 Today, I was doing really well.  Band camp week 1 was over and I was excited for the 4 day weekend.  I don't remember, but I think my breakfast was probably a bagel thin with butter and some Trop 50 OJ.  Lunch was light - maybe a cold cut sandwich.  I'm not sure, but it was on par with what I should be doing.  I had a snack or 2 - again, nothing out of the ordinary.  Then we went to Jim Dandy's.  We were bringing Kristyn's parents out for dinner and I was 100% planning to eat well.  Then I looked at the menu and realized 2 things.  1) There really is nothing healthy on the menu - and let's not be fooled by the salads.  They say the word salad, but they are just as bad as everything else with everything they put into it.  We had boneless buffalo wings for appetizers, I had a buffalo chicken cheesesteak and fries and sprite for my meal, and then i had 3-4 mac and cheese bites that were leftover from other people. I skipped the whole beer thing for the night BUT I think that was countered by having 2 large sodas.   I was weak.  I did well for 2/3 of the day, and then I blew it at night.  I will say that it was glorious though!

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22, 2015

 Ahhhh - the beginning of Yankee weekend!  I had tickets for Posada day and Pettitte day, which meant i would be at the House that Ruth built for a good portion of my weekend.  Saturday morning, we woke up later than we had planned so I ran out of the house  - no breakfast.  We stopped at Starbucks and I got a double chocolatey chip frozen drink - but I had it with skim milk and no whipped cream - so it was somewhere around 250-300 calories I think. (Still less than a donut!)  I ended up getting some food at the game finally right around 1pm - a buffalo chicken quesadilla.  It was not all that good, because I could not get past the fact that they put blue cheese in it, which I generally don't like.  I could not really taste it but I didn't enjoy the meal because I just kept thinking about it.  Plus it had too much cheese.  Later on, I snuck a personal pizza in from the Papa Johns at the stadium and then a lemon ice.  This sounds like a lot - I know, but that was pretty much it for the day.  Lunch, Dinner and Snack - all wrapped into about 3 hours.  The game was great and the Yankees won!  But my stomach - not so much.  Way later in the night I also grabbed a Jamaican Beef Patty which was not good.  I didn't finish it.  Drank lots of water today!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015

Day 2 at the stadium for Pettitte day!  Got up and pretty much ran out again.  (wanted to get some more autographs before the game.) This time, I stopped at Dunkin for 2 donuts and a red bull.  A real blast from the past.  I knew I would not be eating again until about 2pm, so I just let myself go.   At the stadium, I had 3 chicken sliders and Nathan's fries as well as dippin dots.  Lots of water throughout the day.  Night time brought an evening at Julie and Wes' house for Sammi's 8th b'day party.  Snacked on some chips and a few too many peanut butter filled pretzels.  Had 1 hamburger and 3 cans of root beer - i didn't bring any drinks with me - so I just drank what was there - and I LOVE rootbeer.



Ok - now it's time for you to pile it on.  Yell at me like a little kid who just broke a window or something.  I know that I am putting this all up, just a few days after making a big deal about how I didn't want to have lots of bad posts like this and I wanted to succeed so you don't all think I'm a momo.  Then I go out and suck like this.  I suppose this is not a great way to get everyone to believe that I'm even trying.  I definitely had quite a bump in the road.  THe good news is that after everything is all said and done, I am still down 5.6 lbs.  This means I only brought back 1.4 lbs through this weekend.  I was VERY active, so that helped a lot.  I have no choice other than to do better starting tomorrow.  It would be good to try to get myself  to 10lbs in the next week, so that is my goal.  Go ahead, get on me if you want.  I deserve it and maybe it will help me. I don't know . . . . . we'll see.  For now, I am off and I hope to have a much better report for you tomorrow.

Day 8 - 1st week of band camp in the books :-)

Total weight loss - (-) 7 lbs

Today's Challenge - I have decided that today i would let myself go out for dinner during the band camp break. . . . . . . . and it's brownie day for our daily food break at camp also - sponsored by the music boosters . . . .


Breakfast - Bagel thin with butter.  Definitely stopped me from going in to Dunkin!  I definitely have to keep up with these bagel thins.  Also a glass of Trop 50 OJ.

Lunch - Cold cuts on another bagel thin.  I'm pretty sure I had a snack too, but I can't remember what it was.  Whatever it was, it was not big.  Oh - i think it was goldfish.

Snack - yeah, the music boosters brought brownies today.  They were HUGE so Kristyn and I decided to share one.  And then we immediately decided to share another one, since they were so good!  :-)   Not a great idea, but better than the usual 2-3 I would have had if I was not at least trying a little bit here!

Dinner - My triumphant return to pizza after a 1 week layoff. 

I did not avoid pizza in particular, but I was trying not to eat out - saves money and usually saves calories.  I broke one of my original rules - I had 2 slices.  To be completely honest, I just kinda forgot and ordered 2 slices like it was completely natural.  The people at Cresskill Pizza make me a special slice - Sausage Rollatini - It's a sausage slice with dollops of ricotta cheese and marinara on top.  It is SO good!  So I had 2 of those and a gatorade.

Snack - later at night, I went ahead and had a serving of goldfish.  I'm a little obsessed with goldfish.  As long as I have them in normal human serving sizes, I'm ok.

ya know - at some point I need to start having more fruit and veggies.  I know this.  Currently, My brain is not set to want these.  I will work on it.  I really will.  It's a whole other change of concept that I had to add in.  I'll try to make it happen, I really will.

Spoiler alert - gained a little today.  Just goes to show you that if you don't stay on track, it's easy to fall off!  I'll do my best tomorrow!

The good news is that the first week of band camp is over and we learned the first drill.  Next week, we are on for another 3 day week - and our family/friends preview show on Thursday night.  I like these 3 day weeks.  Makes it not seem so bad . . . . . .

Day 1 is exciting
Day 2 means that tomorrow is the last day
Day 3 is the last day.

There is no Tuesday feeling, or Hump day with 2 more days following.  No Friday feeling of the end of a long week.  Pretty good set up!

I'm out. . . . . . .

Day 7 - Lucky 7!

Total Weight Loss - (-) 7 lbs - (I'm halfway to telling you me weight.  I'll tell everyone when i hit 15 lb lost.)

Todays Challenge - I got a flat tire today.  Generally, when i get stressed or annoyed, i eat.  This flat tire came on my way to work, which I was slightly late for meeting my drum major, AND it was just 4 minutes before i get to my normal Dunkin/Red Bull stop.  Normally this spells big trouble.  Luckily, i took care of business, drove right by, and made it to school without the binge!

Breakfast - I had 2 egg whites, 1 whole egg and 2 small pieces of turkey sausage on a bagel thin.  It was pretty awesome!

Lunch - like an animal, I ate my pasta with broccoli and chicken in between moments during band camp whenever I could sneak into my office and grab a bite.  I got a lot of exercise just getting to each bite.  :-)  I also had a 60 calorie pudding pack as an appetizer.

Snacks - I thought i was not hungry yet for dinner, so I just kinda chilled out in between sessions.  BUT then i ended up eating a serving of goldfish AND a rice krispie treat.  Not so bad I guess.  about 200 calorie snack.  Could be worse.

Dinner - A piece of breaded chicken breast.  So thankful that Kristyn cooked at the beginning of the week!!!!  Has held me over, and saved me lots of money going to Cresskill Pizza in between!

Snacks - after band camp, I had a few snacks.  Eating light, and early makes me quite hungry later.  On the way home, i let myself have a slurpee.  Medium - Coke.  SO GOOD!  I also had a nature valley bar.  WHen I got home, I had a little bit of cheese and crackers.   Ya know, when i was younger, I always used "Easy Cheese" that spray can of cheese on my ritz crackers.  Real cheese is so much better.  hahahaha

Story of the day:
Apparently we have a mouse.  This mouse decided to just scurry across my living room.  So I put out a trap.  In the trap was a piece of cheese.  I came home the end of the day yesterday to find that the mouse got the cheese, and went back into hiding, behind the dishwasher.

So this time, I got smart.  I put peanut butter on the trap.  We come home tonight, the trap has moved.  It WAS on the right side of the dishwasher, waiting for the mouse.  Somehow it made its way to the left side, and was pulled up on its side, up against the wall.  The mouse got all of the peanut butter, and made it out alive.  Must have snapped before the mouse got in, and then they got a free dinner.

I set it up again.  This time, I wrapped some nuts in peanut butter and put it really close to the trigger, or at least I thought.  So I turn the lights out and a few minutes later, we hear it snap.  We go in to check it - NO MOUSE!  At least he didn't get the food this time.  So we reset it.

I want to know what we are doing wrong?  How are we getting outsmarted by a mouse?   This is really pissing me off.  All I know is that I will be sleeping with the door closed tonight.  i don't want to wake up with a mouse chillin in my bed with a remote control watching Tom and Jerry . . . . . . .
 __________________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE - I KILLED THAT LITTLE ASSHOLE!  Yup, he decided to run across my living room and take a crap next to my trombone, so I got the ol' dust pan and destroyed that little jerk's world.  I wonder if he has any little friends who are planning to stop in . . . . . . "ARE YOU DONE YET?  OR ARE YOU THIRSTY FOR MORE!?!?!?!?!??!?!!?"

Day 6 - BAND - TEN - HUT!!!!!!

Starting weight - (-) 5.8 lbs

Today's Challenge - It's band camp day 1.  This means I will be active.  no worries about activity level.  BUT sometimes when I'm busy, I binge when I get the chance.   I have to work to make sure I don't do that.

Breakfast - I wanted to get out of the house quick because I was running a little late for when I wanted to be out.  So i had a Nature Valley dark chocolate and peanut protein bar.  I love those things and they are a good meal substitute. 

Lunch - Had some leftover pasta.  When Kristyn was making pasta, I asked her to just make the whole box.  I knew I would eat it throughout the week, and it only cost $1 anyway :-)  Needed a quick lunch.  The handy dandy office microwave came in handy.  Although it would help if i brought forks tomorrow . . . . . . .  Also had a little snack pack pudding.

Snack - I think I had a Rice Krispie Treat at some point.

Dinner - Pasta and a small piece of steak.  (Kristyn did some good cooking this weekend for us!)

Snack - I had 2 whole fruit frozen fruit snack things.  Apparently they are very healthy according to the band parent who brought them in.  No sugar, no artificial food coloring, blah blah blah.  She was very happy with how healthy they were, so I had 2.  I deserved it anyway!  I also had goldfish 2 hours later on the way home.

THat's all for the night. 

OH WAIT - I forgot.  I treated myself to a Red Bull this morning.  It was a band camp treat for myself.  The good news:  I didn't really feel as much joy as I usually do when i drank it.  I really would have been content with a water or seltzer!

I'm out for now.  I want to relax and watch the rest of the Yankee game.  And I have a headache!  See you tomorrow!

Day 5 - Sorry, I forgot to put up stuff for this day!

Starting weight - (-) 3.6 lbs

I have to be honest, Kind of brain-farted yesterday and this morning and forgot to write.  I'm a day late with this, its 10pm and I really don't feel like thinking very hard.   I'll tell you what I remember though briefly.

Breakfast - i don't remember!
Lunch - Pasta with chicken, chick peas and broccoli from the other day
Dinner, snacking, etc - I did not actually eat dinner.  I didn't leave myself time and I kinda forgot. But i snacked throughout the rest of the day and night.  Never got REALLY hungry.  It was god actually.

I was spending the day getting ready for marching band since band camp starts the next day, so food was not on top of my list of importance for the day.  worked out well actually :-)

I'm going to go write day 6, since It's still fresh on my mind

sorry for the lame post.

Day 4 - Garage Sale Time!

Starting weight: (-) 2.6 lbs  Sadly, when I step on the scale, it still screams at me the following - in a British accent - and I quote:  "WOULD ONE OF YOU PLEASE GET OFF?!?!?!?!"

Yeah, yesterday I didn't do great, but I'm cool.  It was not so bad for a BBQ day.  Today, here we go!

Today's challenge - NOTHING!  It was a garage sale at our house.   We basically just hung out and sold a bunch of crap that we were going to throw out. 

Breakfast - I kinda was not paying attention and I skipped breakfast because we were so busy setting up for the garage sale.  And then we were surprisingly busy for the next few hours.

Lunch - I made a cold cut sandwich - Low sodium turkey, pepperoni, yellow american on a bagel thin.  ***Side note - these bagel thins are the ticket.   Only 110 calories, they are whole wheat, AND they really taste like bagels- just thinner.  Being I love bagels so much, this is a great great great option.  They are also great for breakfast - instead of stopping at Dunkin and getting a bagel and donut, I can have a bagel thin and maybe a granola bar a few hours later to hold myself over.

Snack - 1 serving of goldfish. 

Throughout the day, I also drank a large bottle of low calorie gatorade.  Raspberry Lemonade.  Jasom Timochko and Shane Kress make fun of me for drinking this.  They once took the bottle while I was away and labeled it "TOXIC."  I didn't realize they were Brittany Spears fans . . . . .  womp womp.  It's good stuff.  The whole 32 oz bottle has 75 calories, 17 sugar and 17 carbs.  And it got me through a large portion of that garage sale, along with a few bottles of water.

Dinner - This was a really nice meal.  I was sitting on the computer and Kristyn was in another room.  I had no idea she was making dinner!  We had some baked chicken breast + some pasta and broccoli.  I had a bottle of water with that.  In addition to the picture shown, I had 2 small chicken strips.  Used ketchup as my comdiment.  Could do without the ketchup I'm sure, but why would I? :-)

Snack - Had 1/2 serving of goldfish and then 1 hour later 2 slices of yellow american cheese.

JOEY V'S "A-HA" MOMENT OF THE DAY!
So we were having a pretty successful garage sale financially - and Kristyn says "We should order some lunch!"  Such a typical thing to say.  My initial response was "YES!!!!!!! Pizza, BBQ, Burritos!"  I didn't care which, it was going to be glorious.  Then I stopped and thought for a minute . . . . . . . "hmmmmm . . . . . . We spent a ton of money on groceries the other day and we have lots of food in the house.  If I order a pizza, I will eat 4 slices.  If i get BBQ, it will be a pulled pork sandwich - large, fries, boneless buffalo wings and a soda.  if I get a Burrito, well, it will be a huge burrito from Panchos.  So I stopped myself and said, "I am going to make a cold cut sandwich so I don't overeat."  WHO AM I?!?!?!?!?!  I think Kristyn and I were both sad about the food choices, but our stomachs were happy that we did well and our scale will thank us tomorrow.

That takes care of the "what I would have eaten" for lunch.  For dinner - I would have had more chicken and more pasta, for sure.  And less broccoli.

Daily Wrap-up - Definitely will be back down tomorrow after yesterday's somewhat of a rough day. Tomorrow, I go to work.  It's the day before band camp!  Lots to do.  I will bring all of my meals from home and I will not stop at Dunkin on the way in.  I'll try to stay away from the Red Bull in the morning, but I may get it just for fun. . . . . . . . we'll see.

Fact of the day:
I decided to go back and check out my first J-DOC blogs from 2010.  I must say, they were just filled with excuses and horrible eating.  Here's to making this round better than that one!  Make sure to let me know if you are reading!  It will keep me on track better, I think!  I don't want to have lots of bad days, and I don't want you to all think I'm a dumbass, any more than you already do!

Day 3 - Paul's Birthday BBQ

Total Weight: (-)  3.6 lbs.

Today's Challenge - It's my cousin Paul's 50th surprise birthday and these type of parties are tough for me because I just want to pick and eat ALL DAY!  This will be a challenge, but i'm up for it I think.

Exercise - went for a short morning run. 3 days in a row.  I hope I can keep this up. 
1.3 miles
13:40

Breakfast - 2 egg whites + 1 egg white + 2 slices of taylor ham - on a bagel thin - home made.  Also a small glass of TROP 50 (no pulp)  :-)  This meal was not actually until about 12:45pm.  Was running around all morning.

Snack - When we got there, there was chex mix and Philadelphia Pretzel Factory pretzels.  they are so good!  They are soft pretzel sticks.  Throughout the day i picked at 4-5 handfuls of chex mix and 4-5 of the pretzels.  Not great.  DEFINITELY better than I would normally do. 

Lunch - Below is my lunch.  I had a rib, a meatball, a chicken leg, a small piece of sausage and a little pulled pork.  I also had a piece of cinnamon bread because its AWESOME from this place they catered from.  This may sound like a lot, but believe you me - I normally would fill up this plate twice as much, and then get a second plate of equal or greater value on the 2nd round.  I also stayed away from putting any of these things on a roll :-)




Dinner - Throughout the day, I picked a little more and had 1 more piece of chicken, 2 little sausage parts and another rib.  I'll call that my dinner.

Drinks - I drank water most of the day.   I think I ended up having like 5 bottles + a diet soda or 2.  Toward the end of the night, I played 2 games of beer pong with my cousin, so clearly I had to have a little beer there.  Probably added up to about 1-2 beers when you figure I had 10 beer pong size beers.  We also had 2 shots of fireball to celebrate Paul's birthday.  Pretty good i'd say.


Joey V's "A-HA MOMENT" of the day:
We are having our sun room worked on right now and the guy had a red bull on the table.  We ended up talking about how much I LOVE Red Bull and drink it every morning during work (when I'm failing dietarily, anyway.)  I was saying how I haven't had many over the summer because I'm not working every day.  But all the while, i was thinking about how I needed to go to CVS, and that is one of the places I usually get a Red Bull.  I spent the next 30 minutes planning to reward myself for not drinking lots of Red Bull this summer but getting one when I went out.  I started to walk out the door and realized that if I had a Red Bull right now, on only my 3rd day, I would have to write about it and then you would all think i was a moron.  So I opened up the fridge and grabbed a freaking bottle of spring water instead.  YUMMMMMMMMM . . . . . . . . . . .

Joey V's "A-HA MOMENT" #2:
We were driving down the Parkway when we passed the rest area by exit 131.  Last time we drove by there, Kristyn informed me that it was the first time we ever drove down there togehter that I did not stop for a Red Bull :-)  So as we drove by again, I of course got  a little twitch in my neck and almost naturally turned on my blinker to pull over and into the rest stop, but I did not.  I thought about it for awhile.  "hmmmm, self. . . . . . If i got the Red Bull at CVS, would I still have stopped here to get a 2nd one??  yes, I think I would have.  Muscle memory makes me get Red Bull when I pass there because my brain tells me I'm likely on a long car ride if I'm passing exit 131.  So, that is TWO RED BULLS, AHH-AHH-AHH that I ignored today.

Joey V's "A-HA MOMENT" #3:
We were heading home for the evening and we got on the main road leading to 195 which leads to the parkway.  Usually, it's been a long and fun day when I'm leaving Paul and Terri's place, so I hit the Quick Chek and grab a . . . . you know what . . . . . . Joey V's favorite Energy Drink. (I should really buy stock in this company!"  This was an easy one to ignore.  I was a little full from the day and I had gotten used to telling myself NO twice already today.  But I got to thinkging again . . . . "hmmmmm, self . . . . . . if i got the one at CVS, and then at exit 131, would I still want to get one now??"  As I drove past the store and thought about it, I decided that I'm not exactly sure whether or not by body would have wanted a 3rd one.  I have only had 3 or more in one day about 3-4 times in my life and they were extremely tired times in my life - I may also say that it has been many years since that has happened.  So I'll assume that I would not have let myself have 3 in a day, but who knows. . . . . . . . .

What I probably would have eaten if i was not trying at all:
Breakfast - no change, but I would have had a red bull at CVS and probably a Reese's Big Cup or 2, my favorite complement to a CVS bought Energy Drink.
Lunch -another plate of food and lots more pretzels
Dinner -probably would not have had room for more food, but I likely would have had some cake.
Evening -I would have been in a food coma by now and regretting everything I ate that day. 
Snacking -  I would have probably had about 5 beers if I was not trying to make better choices.


Spoiler alert - I went back up a pound today, but i'm confident it will be gone tomorrow. 

Daily Wrap-up:  I feel like I actually did quite well today, considering my track record.  Was I successful by a general dieting standpoint - NO.  Do you all think I overate?  YES.  Was I better and at least making SOME effort to be a normal human being and have  a LITTLE willpower?  YES.

See you tomorrow!

Day 2 - Lazy Friday

Total weight:  (-) .9 lbs

Today's Challenge - Grocery shopping today.  This is a good thing because I can choose all good things to have in the house.  The only problem with grocery shopping is that I will end up wanting to eat EVERYTHING that I bought!  Not a big deal.  Just a little bit of willpower needed.

Exercise - went for a short morning run.
1.2 miles
13:07 minutes

Breakfast - I actually ended up skipping breakfast.  For no good reason.  Just happened.  We also didn't really have ANYTHING in the house.

Lunch - Cold cut sandwich - this includes Low sodium turkey, Pepperoni and Yellow American cheese on a bagel thin.  Now - let's talk about this, because many of you will say that there is something bad with cold cuts.  I understand that they are not the healthiest thing in the world.  But let's face it, I will be eating cold cut sandwiches on this diet.  I always have, and I still lose weight when I do.  I will not eat one every day.  That would be silly and unnecessary.  But I will not waver on this.  It is a MUCH better lunch than my usual 2 slices of pizza, garlic knots and root beer.  And it's a lot cheaper too!  Bottled water was the drink of choice.


Snack - Sobe Lifewater ice pop - good deal on these at Pathmark, so we tried them.  only 40 calories each, and a nice alternative snack when i want something good.  I also had a 60 calorie no sugar pudding pack.

Dinner - Kristyn made a great meal for me tonight!  It was a steak stir-fry.  Rice, green and red Peppers, steak with soy sauce.  She did GREAT!  It was awesome.  Had some water with it.

Snack - 1 serving of  goldfish.  This little bowl is approximately 1 serving of goldfish.  When I use the bowl, it's ok.  When I get a cereal bowl and fill it up - that's when I'm in trouble.  Little bowl = success.

Snack #2 - I am craving a little snack at this point and I'm thinking that it's going to be some cheddar cheese and about 6 ritz crackers.  That should be it for the night, except of course, for some bottled water or seltzer.  Hopefully I will not be checking back in later!

OOPS - I had a handful of goldfish.  probably about 1/3 of a serving, before I went to bed.

What I probably would have eaten if i was not trying at all:
Breakfast - Taylor ham + Egg on a bagel from Petracco's Deli in Nutley
Lunch - Likely a trip to Zizia Pizza in Bloomfield.  There i would get 1 chicken parm slice, 1 plain slice and 3 big garlic knots with a diet coke
Dinner - Pretty sure that even if I was not trying, Kristyn would have cooked, so that would have been the same.
Evening - Not really sure

Good day overall I would say.  Keeping a little active by getting a short run in.  I plan to increase the run another tenth of a mile each day for the next 4-5 times I run and then work on increasing my pace for 1.75 miles before extending the run any more.  Gets me to listen to some jazz while I'm running too, which makes the run more enjoyable.  Pretty happy with my food intake.  Probably could have had a few less on the cold cuts - snacked on a few slices before I made my sandwich, but really not bad in the end.

Looking forward to a good scale reading tomorrow.  Yes - I check every day.  It's not bad for me.  Keeps me in check if I realize i had a bad day, it motivates me to do better that day.  The first week, I am capable of dropping 5-7 pounds if I do it right.  Then it slows down considerably, so I need a good jump start before band camp starts on Tuesday!

See you all tomorrow!  Thanks for reading.

Spoiler alert - results in the morning:
(-) 3.6 lbs

Day 1 - Tim's Wedding

 DAY 1 - TIM AND LISA'S WEDDING DAY!

Total Weight - +/- 0 lbs.

Today's Challenge - It's Tim Hayward's wedding day.  Weddings are tough for me usually, well always!  But I'll do my best.  Not an ideal first day of dieting, but it's urgent that I make some sort of attempt.

Exercise - went for a short morning run.
1.2 miles
13:30

Breakfast - 2 eggs + 2 slices of taylor ham - made at home.

Lunch - 2 slices of plain pizza - 1 was quite small.  Yes, I already broke 1 of my rules by having 2 slices, but I had not actually read through my own rules yet, so I am giving myself a pass.

2 beers and a small amount of Brandy with the guys as we got ready for the wedding with Tim's dad, brother in-law and best friend from Paris.  1 more beer before the wedding at the venue.

Dinner - They served some pasta beforehand and I had 2 slices of bread with butter.  Main course was chicken and some mashed potatoes.  Not the best, but I must say that for me being at a wedding, I am pretty happy with the amount of food I ate.

The evening was celebrated with lots of white wine.  Comes with the territory of being at one of my closest friends weddings!

So - on my first day, I broke a few rules, but all with good reason.  Spoiler alert - I still lost weight after today, but you'll learn about that with tomorrow's post.  My official following of the rules will happen starting now, since I have officially posted them and reminded myself of many of my rules.

What I probably would have eaten if i was not trying at all:
For breakfast, i probably would have still had that, since it's all we had in the house
Lunch - MORE PIZZA and MORE BEERS
Dinner - probably more bread
Evening - most likely would have had a snack when I got home.

OH NO!!!!! I GOT FAT AGAIN . . . . . . . . . . .

 It's August 14.  Wedding - Check.  Honeymoon - Check.  Letting myself completely go after the wedding in terms of eating - CHECK. 

The honeymoon was absolutely awesome.  As predicted, it helped me reach new heights.  Yes, heights never previously attained.  Unfortunately, this is not a good height.  It's a height that is only reached by stepping on the scale.  Yes, I have reached new heights in my weight.  Re-outgrown many of my shirts, and am in desperate need of getting back on track with my food intake and exercise.

This time around, i am not posting my actual weight.  I'm going to only post the weight gain/loss day to day until I can be proud of some amount of weight loss.  Just know it's higher than it has been in any of my previous blogs. If you really care that much, you can go back and look at former posts to find out, and add 1 pound to the highest listed weight total.

My overall goal for life is to drop 50 pounds.  Believe it or not, that would put me at CLOSE to a decent weight for my height.  It may seem like too much, but it's really not.  I was half way there in February when I got pneumonia, but it's been a slow incline since then.  I will take it 5 pounds at a time though and not do anything ridiculous.

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 SHOULD 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 - get back to running, find more people to play tennis and 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: Really no reason to buy one.  If I really need to, I can make my own taylor ham or turkey sausage, with 2 egg whites, 1 whole egg and a bagel thin at home.  This is a very reasonable breakfast made at home.
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, nature valley protein bars. 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 9:00. 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.  Wedding cocktail hours do not count.
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.  Fries kill!  Small fries if needed.
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.  
14. Carbohydrates:  Sorry, i'm not going on a no-carb diet. not going to happen.  But there are ways to limit it.  There is no reason to ever have a full bagel (360 calories) when I have bagel thins (110 calories) at home.  Taco night at home - no need for the tortilla.  Just have all the stuff i usually put in it.  Try to make choices when out to eat that do not include large rolls or amounts of bread.  Moderation is the name of the game.  not completely cutting it out.

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

Back?!?!?!?!?! - Well, not really . . . . . .

In the world of dieting, there are cheaters who never get anywhere and there are winners who actually do what they are supposed to do.  Joey V has been both.  Here's his story: 

So, I have been secretly trying to get back into shape a little bit, "shedding for the wedding" I guess we can say.  I wanted to give a little post/update since I hit my first goal today - I lost my first 10 pounds.  I think I will celebrate by having a donut, a bagel and a red bull for breakfast!  (no really, i did, but don't worry.  It's ok!) 

So on November 22, Kristyn and I decided to start doing the Focus T25 workout. We had done P90X before, but the workouts are a little too long for us to commit to doing every day.  These are about 30 minutes, with the end of workout stretch/cooldown included.  When we have time, we hit the gym (well, for the first bunch of weeks, SHE did that.  This week, i started doing that too.)   It took us 7 weeks to get through the first 5 weeks of the workout, and on Monday, we got to the Beta Phase finally, with some new workouts which was a nice change.   I have also gone skiing a few times, done up to 45 minutes of cardio at the gym, and I think I found a new racquet ball partner, which will help me get in the box a little more often if our schedules work out.

As far as the eating thing, Its been up and down.  Since November 22, we have hosted Thanksgiving and been through tons of December holiday things.  Socially we had the Cresskill Holiday party, Don's going away happy hour and the Christmas Happy hour - all within 1 week.  The Thanksgiving Happy hour was pretty big too. We also had Racquel's wedding and 2 christenings (buffets for both) in the past month.  The marathon continues with Christmas eve at Paul and Terri's, Christmas day at the Martin's, The day after Christmas with my mom, Oppys wedding the next day, and Julie and Wes's Christmas party the day after.  We followed that up with a trip to Cooperstown and then 1 day off before New Years.  Now I don't use the holidays as an excuse to eat like a pig from November through January, but it certainly does make it tough with all the great food and drink opportunities that you get.

Daily life eating has been decent, and that is where I have made my improvement.  Since we started working out, the amount of cooking we do at home has grown a ton.  The Crock Pot is our best friend, and we have been bringing lunch (and often dinner) to work almost every day.  The weekly fanduel victory lunches during NFL season are over, so that helps me not overeat.  I bought a new microwave for my office, so that helps me be able to throw some food down if I'm in a rush, instead of waiting until period 7 and just going out for pizza when the day slows down.  I have had trouble shaking the morning run to Dunkin for my donut, bagel and red bull, but the way I look at it, if I continue at a pace of 10 pounds every 7 weeks, then I guess I'm doing just fine.

I've tried to lower my amount of total food per meal, consider calorie intake at times, just for a reference point, adding veggies to the diet whenever possible, limiting pasta and bread, etc.  The biggest thing is that when I eat out, i blow up.  when I eat homecooked food, I obviously get smaller! We've spent many days getting home between 7-8pm, and then by the time we workout and eat dinner, 9 or 10pm is here, and the day is over.  Not a great way to be, but if it can help me get a lot healthier, its worth doing.  Trying to make it a lifestyle change, and not just a temporary diet,. but we'll see.  I don't smoke, I only drink socially, but when I'm stressed (or bored) I eat.  That's my go-to.  So I'll try to fight through and control it more.  Its important not to completely take away all the stuff I like, because that will just lead to binging.  I don't have any rules this time around.  I'm not in a rush, not trying to break any weight loss speed records.  Slow and steady.  I have 5 months before the wedding.  Another 25 pounds would be awesome, and is attainable.  Then the real work comes - keeping it off and not getting lazy.

I will post at times for fun.  People constantly ask "when are you going to do your blog again?" so i figured I'd give a little update.  I don't have the patience to do it every day at this point.  Too much work.  But I'll give you some updates.   Not looking for advice on how to do it.  I know how to do it.  But if you have any good healthy recipes to share with Kristyn and I, we are up to trying some new things!  We have experimented and learned some new great meals the past few months.

Hope everyone is doing well.  Let me know if you are reading.  The more people who are reading, the more I will post!

PS - Its January 17 and I have only had 3 slices of pizza in the new year . . . . . . 1 of which I should have just never had last night while skiing!