Day 12 - Driving, Snacks and Pizza!!!!!

Weigh-In - Total down 5.9 lbs.  (-0.8 from yesterday)

I did not get my run in this morning.  I tried eating nice and early but I actually felt kinda full all morning.  So I need to try to run first.

Breakfast of Champions: (8:30am) - Cheerios and 2% milk.  Actually, it was shoprite brand "toasted O's."  Same thing.  :-)

Lunch - (12:00pm) Leftover steak and broccoli and yes . . . . . . . you are reading it here . . . . . . . AN APPLE!   I was not actually ready for lunch but I had to leave and wanted to eat well before I went out for the afternoon, so I went for it..  That apple was DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

Snacking - In between Lunch and Dinner, I ahd a whole lot of driving in traffic and baby crying in the back seat.  Went to see my dad.  Yup, drove down the shore and back on a Friday in the summer.  What am I nuts?  Anyway, I had a pack of fruit snacks, a rice krispie treat and a granola bar.  I know . . . . . 3 snacks?  was that necessary?  Maybe, maybe not.  BUT I will say that usually on a trip like this, I'll stop at the rest stop exit 131 and get Reese's big cups and a red bull and on the way home, I'd usually stop and grab an Auntie Anne's pretzel or something at Burger King to hold me over until dinner.  So my 3 little packaged snacks - - -- - pretty good!  AND I turned down a creme filled coffee cake too!

Dinner - I have had some pork marinating in Cajun sauce all day and that was supposed to be dinner.  BUT I had my pizza craving.  SOOOOO, I made some pizza at home.  Grabbed a dough from Zizia.  (Sorry, Mike and Richie, I just couldn't do any more driving, otherwise I would have come and gotten it from you!)  I made a cheese pizza, a cheese with ricotta, a sausage, a hot sauce, and a sausage w/hot sauce.  All pictured below.  All this was made with just 1 crust, which you can get for $3-4 at most pizza shops.

The pizzas on the left came out much better in the end.  I think I needed to cook the ones on the right a little longer.  PLUS, the ones on the left - I had initially not put enough cheese on them, but then halfway through, i added more cheese.  It came out AWESOME!!!!! 

I probably ate a little more than I should have, but to be honest, it was hard to measure really.  I feel like I ate a lot, but while I think about it, it doesn't really seem like I had all that much.  I have no measure but I will say that we did not finish everything there between us, so I didn't quite eat half of what you see.

**A little tip for those of you who have tried to make pizzas at home but they always come out soggy (This used to be a problem I had until someone set me straight)

You need to heat the pizza stone up for 30-60 minutes prior to making the pizza.  THEN build the pizza on top of the hot stone.  It heats up and cooks the dough just a little bit before it goes in the oven with all the ingredients on it.  Comes out perfectly crisp on the bottom.  So glad that I was set on the right path!  I had been really frustrated about this issue the first few times I made pizza.

Day 11 - Did You Say "STEAK?"

Weigh in: Down 5.1 total.  (-0.9 from yesterday)

Exercise: Run 1.87 miles,  22 minutes

Breakfast (late.) Peanut butter sandwich.  It was weird because I have not really gotten used to the timing of trying to let Kristyn sleep whenever possible, me waking up with Joey and eating breakfast.  I don't want to eat too close to the run because it had a negative effect on me the other day.  BUT If I eat early enough, it should be ok.  Maybe I'll try eating as soon as I get up tomorrow.  We'll see.

By the way, I'd like to point out that I went to Home Depot again and did not get my Red Bull!

Lunch: Leftover Pork + Egg noodles, 1 pack of fruit snacks.  This was not the most sizable meal I've ever eaten.  Let's see how long it holds me over for.  :-)  Good thing breakfast was late (11:15) and so was lunch (1:15!)

Snacking: Rice Krispie Treat - really love these when I'm dieting.  It feels like I'm breaking the rules.  hahaha.  But it's like 90 calories and so worth it!  I feel like I had something else but I really can't remember.  It I did, it was very small.  I still have not been able to dive into the fruits as snacks yet.  I have to try to force myself tomorrow!

Dinner:  For dinner tonight, I marinaded some shoulder steak in a steakhouse marinade and grilled it with a baked potato.  Also boiled up some broccoli.  This was a great meal!  Really enjoyed it and looking forward to it again tomorrow for lunch (minus the baked potato.)  The photo is missing half a potato and half the broccoli. Kind of forgot to take the photo and just threw the extra piece of steak on the plate with whatever I had left.  :-)

Snacking:  Italian Ice!  The red one.  I feel like I'm back at Surgent Park playing little league and getting an ice from the field house after the game.   :-)

**Special Note**  At this point, the last meal that I ate out at all was some pizza on the Tuesday night while in the hospital - the day after Giuliana was born.  I had to get out and get a slurpee and some pizza.   That makes today the 9th day that I have not only eaten all my meals at home, I have not even so much as bought a bottle of water at a CVS or a soda from a vending machine.  I must say, the money savings is pretty incredible!

My last Red Bull was Monday morning on the way to the hospital, so that has made me 10 days Red Bull, Dunkin and 7-eleven free.  I've replaced my morning breakfast - Donut, Bagel + Red Bull with water, eggs, bagel thins, cheerios, things like that.

And the god-forsaken "heat lamp of death" which is what I call all of the hot food at 7-eleven - that has to be a thing of the past! Wings, bad pizza, taquitos, jamaican beef patties, oh it keeps going!  I know it's nasty, but I really like those horrible foods.  BUT, I feel much better physically and I'm feeling really good about staying away from all of that so far.

I have to be honest - I'm not sure I have EVER in my life - even as a 6-year old kid - had a 9 day stretch of 100% home owned and prepared meals.  Not gonna lie, I'm kind of impressing myself!

Day 10 - Newborn Photo Shoot Day!!!!!

Starting weight - Down 4.2 total (-0.8 from yesterday)

So today, we had out newborn photo shoot.  It was pretty awesome!  Can't wait to show everyone the results.  I know that has nothing to do with dieting, but it was the most memorable part of the day.  :-)  Now on to what you've ALL been waiting for - the food!

Breakfast - 2 eggs, 1 egg white on toasted everything bagel mini.  Basic breakfast.  Doing me well so far, so I'm gonna stick to it.  Although I did buy some turkey sausage links, so I think I will be supplementing the sandwich with that once in awhile to treat myself.  :-)

Lunch - Leftover BBQ chicken on 14 grain bread.  This was damn good!  I sliced the chicken breasts in half and added some fresh BBQ sauce.  Toasted the sandwich in the george foreman grill like a panini and went to town.  WAHOO!  Great leftover lunch.

Snacking - about 2 servings of Baked Ruffles chips.  Yes, out of the bag.  There was not a ton left and it was a lot of tiny pieces - crumbs almost toward the end.  Bad habit, but I knew there was an end to the bag, so I allowed it.

Dinner - Pineapple and Bacon Sausage with white rice and carrots.   This was a good one!  The sausage came from Costco.  Sliced them and cooked on stove top.  Looking forward to lunch tomorrow to finish this one off!  DAMN! I thought I took a picture of this but I guess I did not.  :-(  Oh well, nothing too crazy looking but it was very good!

Snacking -Throughout the course of the evening:  Frozen Minute Maid Lemonade Ice (70 calories,) Rice Krispie Treat and a pack of race car fun fruits.  Yes, 3 snacks.  That sound like a lot, but really - compared to an entire bowl of goldfish or eating ice cream from the tub, pretty good!  Below is a photo of how I used to deal with late night snacking . . . . .

All in all - I think it was a good day.  I went shopping for the next wave of food and made some better choices.  Picked up apples, grapes, strawberries, broccoli . .  . .. Now i just have to make sure I actually eat that stuff!  I needed to find some better stuff to snack on.  I hope I eat them!  Wish me luck.

PS - yes, I weighed in down the next morning!  Check out tomorrow to see how much!

Day 9 - Out All Day - What Will I Do?

Starting weight: -3.4 pounds total.  (-0.2 from yesterday)

Today is going to be rough because I have to go down the shore to help out my dad and I will be out basically from when I wake up until a late dinner.  Let's see how this goes:

Breakfast: 6:00am - Cheerios and 2%  Milk - at 6am.  BTW, I gotta get some new cheerios.  These are kinda stale and it was not really enjoyable. 

Ya know, I forgot how unsatisfying some cheerios would be 3 hours later.  I was STARVING by 9am.  Somehow, I pushed through without anything else though.  Mostly because there was no food where we were  and we had no time to get more!

Lunch:  11:30am - Leftover Pork and egg noodles from last night.  Yup, I actually brought lunch with me to my dad's house.  We had a break in between doctor appointments and everything else we had to do and I actually ate the food I brought.  Now this was a much smaller portion than I had eaten the night before.  Again, I underestimated how much of a struggle that would be!  I should have brought some snacks!

Snacking:  At 2pm, I had a granola bar.  At 4:30pm I had a granola bar.  :-)  I had to!  I couldn't go any longer and I knew I still had to drive home in Parkway traffic before eating dinner!

Dinner:  8:00pm - So as i cooked dinner, my stomach was eating itself.  I ended up having 4 chips and a rice krispie treat while I was waiting.  :-) 
For actual dinner, I made some food on the grill.  This was our big anniversary dinner! 
I ended up having 2 chicken breast w/Guy Fieri bbq sauce, a baked potato with butter and corn on the cob with salt & pepper.  It was pretty awesome.  First time I ever actually let some chicken marinate over night in something and it really paid off!  I guess I'll be doing that more often!

Snacking: For the rest of the night, since dinner was a little late, I was a good boy.  I had 18 goldfish, which is 1/3 of a serving.  Believe it or not, it was just enough to get me through. 

So today was a real test!  I had no idea if I was going to make it through a day like this without completely blowing my plan.  I had SERIOUS thoughts of stopping for pizza at least twice and I was ready to go out to eat for lunch with dad - I guarantee I would have eaten something healthy, but it still would have broken my streak, so I'm glad that he decided/agreed to eat at home.

Tomorrow should be easier since A) I'll be home and B) I have leftover BBQ chicken to eat!!!  WAHOO!

Catch you then.  Thanks for reading and sorry if this post was not as entertaining as the others.  I gotta go get ready for newborn photo shoot in an hour!!!!!

Day 8 - First full post for a day

Today's starting weight - (-3.2 pounds)

I type this edition of J-DOC at almost 2am before I go to bed because I will not have time tomorrow morning and I know you are all waiting with baited breath to see how I did.  I have to say it's staggering to see how much Social Media has picked up over the past few years.  I will use this blog's stats to explain:

In the history of this blog, which has had many versions over many years, no single post has ever gotten more than 93 views.  Most were in the 40-60 zone and there was a stretch of time where no one was really looking at all.

My opening post from yesterday got 214 views.  And today's post - a ridiculous 384 views!!!!!  All I can say is (in the voice of Janice from Friends) - "OH. MY. GOD!"

This is unbelievable and exciting.  I NEED to do well, so the more people who read, the better!  Feel free to comment on Facebook if you are keeping track of me. I find it motivating.  Thanks to those who have reached out already with words of encouragement.  I feel good so far, and today was a good day!  Let's check it out.

BREAKFAST - 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites - scrambled - on an everything bagel thin.  This is the best possible breakfast sandwich option, and it was delightful!  I also had a bottle of water and a large swig of apple juice.  Not a glass, a large swig.

LUNCH - I had a cold cut sandwich on an everything bagel thin.  This included Turkey, Pepperoni and Yellow American Cheese.   It's my usual "go-to" cold cut sandwich.  I know cold cuts are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but trust me, it's much better than the alternative that I would have had! I also had 4 baked ruffles chips and water.

SNACKING - Now this is where I know I mean business.  I had about a 3-hour stretch where I was hanging out at someone else's house.  I was offered chips, cookies and then my wife showed up with Burger King for Joey III.  It was as if the universe was just teasing me.  In this time, while I watched everyone else eat (including my son, who I was holding at the time, All I had was this:

• 1 chicken nugget
• 2 doritos.  Yes, 2 doritos, not to bags of doritos
• 1 small bite of a cookie
• 2 french fries - not to small fries,or 2 medium fries.  Literally 2 french fries.  

I have to say, my will-power was on point.  If I didn't know I had to face you all tonight when I got home, I would have had 2 bags of doritos, finished the last 3 nuggets my son left + all the fries and eaten 2-3 of those glorious Costco chocolate chip cookies.  This was a test, but I passed!

DINNER - For dinner, I cooked.  We had pork, corn on the cob and egg noodles. I treated myself with some flavorful diet orange soda.  Check out this lovely meal.  

Now, I ate a few more noodles than that and a few more pieces of pork than shown.  BUT in the end, I left enough pork and noodles for Kristyn and I to each have lunch tomorrow.  Very often, I darn near finish the pork and noodles that night. 

LATE NIGHT SNACKING - NOTHING!  I had nothing after dinner.  Dinner was a little late.  Probably finished around 8:30, so that had to be it for the night.  Just some bottles of water to hold me over.  I think I'm gonna be happy with the scale tomorrow morning.   :-)

EXERCISE - I went for a run - 2nd day in a row.  Added 1/2 mile and 7 minutes to yesterday's run.  Very happy with this.  I'm feeling it today in the ol' legs.  It's good pain.  Not really pain - just fatigue and some soreness.  It's good to have that soreness that says "I actually did something physical today!"  Here is the screenshot of the tally from this run. 

Ok, that's it for today.  I feel good about today.  While still part of STAGE 1, it was better than last week.  Tomorrow is going to be tough because I will not leaving the house at 6:20am and coming back in time for a late dinner.  I have a plan.  I hope I can stick to it.  Wish me luck!

OH - - - - it's the next night right now and I think I forgot to write that I had half a cucumber yesterday!  I think I need to get credit for that!  :-)

Week 1 is already in the books . . . . . . .

Hello everyone!  I have an update on week 1 of J-DOC.  I did not officially start the blog back up, but I did make a decision that Monday, June 18 would be the day I turn it around.  Why June 18?  Well, that was officially the first day of my summer, which was brought on 4 days early due to the arrival of this little nugget.

So for about a week leading up to the birth, my first matter of business was to break up with my Dunkin' Donuts people and with my Red Bull guy at the convenience store next door to Dunkin.  I informed them that we can't be friends anymore and that "It's not them, it's me!"  But the days of a toasted bagel with extra butter, a chocolate frosted donut and a Red Bull for breakfast have to be a thing of the past.  That meant that this crew below - they had to get the boot.  :-(  They took it well, but I think secretly, they may shed a little tear around 7:08 every morning.  Maybe one day, we can reunite again - on a very limited basis.

What happened next was interesting.  2 1/2 days of hospital food.  Now I can't say that it was terribly healthy food, but I will say that it really set me on the straight and narrow in terms of portion size.  I ate burgers, fries, stuffed shells, whatever they had on the menu.  But a typical stuff shells meal for me would be 6-8 shells + meatballs.  I made it through this meal with the TWO stuffed shells they gave me, and I was fine with it!  It really reminded me that I don't need to eat as much as I usually do!  It was a helpful couple of days.

Then we came home on Wednesday.  

I set a goal to not eat out (not even 1 time) for the rest of the week, and I succeeded!  I cooked pretty much all week.  Wednesday night, I made breaded chicken in the Air Fryer (which is AWESOME!)  Shared this meal with Karen and Zoe.  Thursday was Manicotti and meatballs.  Shared with Julie and Wes.  (They also brought over RIDICULOUS CUPCAKES that I definitely ate.)  Friday night we did leftovers.  Saturday also leftovers and Sunday I made a home-made pizza.  For breakfast, I have stuck to breakfast sandwiches on bagel thins.  1 day with sausage and the other days with no meat.  For lunch - it was all leftovers, cold cut sandwiches or peanut butter sandwiches.  For snacks, I had a few of those cupcakes.  One night I had a piece of cake with some ice cream.  Other than that, a slice of cheese here, a small serving of goldfish there, a rice krispie treat here, a couple of crackers there.  Nothing "healthy" but definitely a considerable amount less than usual, that's for sure.  

As far as the exercise, I went for my first jog on Sunday.  It was only 1.07 miles and about 13 minutes long.  It spent some time jogging, some time walking.  I need to get my legs under me again, but the important thing is that I got out there and did it.  Back when I last was running a lot, I had my mile down around 8.5 minutes, and a treadmill 5k down to about 28 minutes.  My longest run/walk was about 6 miles at that point.  I've got a lot of work to do, but I'll get back there, in time. 

Now for the immediate results:

My weigh-in on Monday, 6/25/18 put me down 3.2 pounds from the weight I was at just before we left for the hospital on 6/18/18.  I think that's a fair amount for the first week.  Back in the day - I may lose 10 pounds in the first week!  I have to say that I didn't make as significant of a change this time around.  As I said, stage 1.  Slow and steady - change the brain around.  I didn't eat 1 single thing since coming home on Wednesday that was not already in the house.  That was HUGE!  And I started the running.  I'm happy so far. 

The other successes of the week:  I definitely had to exercise serious will-power, because as I said, my brain is trained poorly right now.  I have triggers that throw me into bad habits.  Somehow, Home Depot became a trigger for Red Bull because they had a red bull fridge on the way out of the store.  Going to TD Bank on Bloomfield Ave was a trigger for a slurpee and a taquito because of the 7-eleven across the street from it.  I even found it hard not to stop for a slice of pizza every time I went to ShopRite, as I passed multiple pizzerias on my way to and from.   I avoided ALL of these things and reminded myself that I can wait until I get home for a bottle of water or whatever meal was ready to be made for lunch or dinner.  

Well, that's all I have for now.  I am feeling decent about the first week.  Now this week, I have to do even better.  I can be better with the portions.  I can avoid the sweets that I had the first week.  I need to drink more OJ and have some more vegetables this week if possible.  Maybe a fruit smoothie 1-2 days for breakfast instead of the breakfast sandwich.  We'll see.  Regardless, I'm working on my head right now and so far, It's been a good week.  I'll check in again soon. 

Joey V

I'M BAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back everyone.  It's time for the J-Doc Monoblogs to make it's triumphant return.  It's been almost 3 years since we have been together and I have decided I need to try to hold myself more accountable since I have blown up like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man since we spoke last.

So here's the deal.  As you get older, it becomes harder and harder to change.  It also becomes harder and harder to lose weight.  I've learned this the hard way.  I used to pride myself on the speed with which I could lose the first 10 pounds, etc.  I still maintain that if I actually start TRYING, I'll drop some serious poundage because I'm so off the wagon, it's not even funny.  That being said, I am going to try to do this in stages.  There is no rush this time.

STAGE 1: 

 - Food Plan: Retraining of the mind.  My mind has developed the concept and habit of eating out all the time.  I'll have perfectly good food that I can eat at home before work, but I'll still walk right by it and go to Dunkin.  Perfectly good food to cook for dinner, yet I'll get in the car and go get some pizza.   There are a number of issues with eating out that are negatively affecting me.

• When I pay for a meal out, I want it to really "enjoy" it.  Therefore, I usually won't get something healthy.
• When I pay for a meal out, there is usually too much food and I don't leave food on my plate.  There is absolutely no portion control on my end.
• When I pay for a meal out, I almost always drink soda
• When I eat out, it's MUCH more expensive.
• When I eat out, I usually get appetizers and desserts I don't need, just because it looks good.

Stage 1 of my food plan is simple.  To retrain the brain to stop eating out!  Even eating the same exact meal at home is healthier than eating it out.  The other part is to portion my snacks at home and try to limit intake after 9pm.

Take a breakfast sandwich, for example.  I eat Taylor Ham and Scrambled Eggs on a Toasted Bagel.  Typically accompanied by a Red Bull or Gatorade.  At the deli or diner, I'm assuming there is sometimes butter or something in the eggs (which I won't even count against them) and they use all whole eggs.  Taylor Ham is Taylor Ham - at home or out.  And then a whole big-ass bagel.  At home, I'll use 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites - scrambled.  I actually like the taste better this way.  I'll use the same Taylor Ham,  but I could change it to sausage links or no meat at all.  .  For bread, I'll use the bagel thins (about 1/3 of the size and calories) or 2 slices of whole wheat toast.  Let's calculate:

• Breakfast Sandwich at Deli or Diner:  2 whole eggs (144 Calories) with taylor ham (260) and a big deli bagel (350) = over 750 calories.  
• Breakfast Sandwich at home w/Taylor Ham: 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites (108), taylor ham (260) and bagel thin (110) = 478 calories
• At home w/2 Sausage LInks: eggs (108), Sausage (120), Bagel Thin (110) = 338 calories
• At home with no meat: eggs (108), Bagel Thin (110) = 218 calories

Additionally, for drinks - at home I'll drink either apple juice, orange juice (Trop 50), water or seltzer, which is MUCH better than a Red Bull.  

So this sheds some light on the theory of eating home being better than eating out in terms of knowing what's going in my food and also naturally eating healthier options in the process.  This is more of a time and effort commitment than anything else, but you can not discount the time and effort part of changing your food intake.  

The other main cog of re-training to eat at home more often is limiting the portion control.  This is all about will-power.  I need to make sure that I'm eating normal portions, that a functional human would eat.  That is on me!  BUT if I'm cooking for myself, I'm much more likely to want to have the food for leftovers the next day for lunch.  I also don't feel the insane internal "pressure" to clear my plate, because I didn't spend $16 on freaking chicken fingers and fries that I would never eat left over.  I probably spent $8-$10 to make a meal for my Kristyn and me, which will also get us through tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch!  

Lastly, I need to slow down on the snacking!  I have a tendency to eat right out of the container.  Ice Cream, Chips, Goldfish, Cookies - you name it.  Who needs a plate!  Well, we all know where that can bring us.  I need to limit the snacking.  1 serving of goldfish is 55 pieces.  I probably eat 150-200 goldfish in a sitting.  There's no need!  I blow through a 1/2 gallon of ice cream in 4-5 sittings.  I can probably make it last 10-12 if I just scoop it out and limit to 2 scoops.

Oh - 1 more thing.  WATER!  LOTS OF WATER!  That's self explanatory.

 - Activity Plan: Light Exercise - 

I have not been to the gym, running or done any athletic activity in quite awhile.  I find myself so much more out of shape than I could have ever imagined I would be 5 years ago.  It's a lack of effort that's holding me back.  I can't jump right back in the tank full force, but I need to start slowly and build up.  I'm not setting specific goals and deadlines.  Rather, I want to start with some jogging for now.  The main thing holding me back from exercise is that it's such a huge time commitment.  Going to the gym means scheduling it, getting ready, driving to the gym, getting a locker . . . . . you get it.  With jogging, there is no prep work, outside of some stretching.  I don't have to drive somewhere in order to do it.  I can go for my run right before I'm about the shower for the day.  I think this is perfect for Stage 1 because it's a 20-25 minute commitment and it can be done at any time.  After the run, I jump right in the shower, as I was going to anyway.  Once I get in the habit of doing the work, I can spread it out to other activities and locations. 

SOOOOO, to recap - Stage 1 of the eating plan is to try to eat at home and limit the portion size.  Once I get that under control, I can work on adjusting the diet more.  Stage 1 of the activity plan is to get some light jogging in to remind my body how to not be lazy.   Stage 2 - - - - - - we'll talk about that once I feel good about Stage 1.

I'll keep you updated - hopefully daily - on my progress.  I know this may not be the exact strategy you all would take and that there are/will be flaws in my approach.  BUT I'm trying to be realistic.  Not set myself up for some sort of quick fix weight drop that will end up all coming back due to an unrealistic plan/expectation.  WISH ME LUCK! 

JOEY V

btw - notice I'm not giving you my starting weight this time.  It's too embarrassing.  I'll let you know what the starting weight WAS, once I get about 20 pounds off.