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!
