Weigh-In - As stated yesterday, Down total of 14.8 pounds. (Up 1.4 for the weekend)
Breakfast - I don't think I had breakfast yesterday. NO reason in particular. Just never got around to it.
Lunch - I took my chances and cooked some of the chicken from the weekend that I never cooked. Now there is a chance I'll catch Ecoli or Salmonella and this will be my last post. :-) BUT I think I'm in the clear. I had marinated some chicken - some in Cajun Sauce and some in BBQ. Never made it Saturday. I had a chicken sandwich today on a long roll. It was quite good BUT I could not shake the fear that maybe the chicken was going to make me sick, so I immediately threw out the rest of it.
Fast forward - it's now the next day and I'm fine. Should have saved the chicken. haha
Snacking - well, today was National Cheesecake Day. This present a little bit of a problem because at Cheesecake Factory, they are having 1/2 price cheesecake all day. Now I don't go there all that often because it's kind of expensive to have a piece of cheesecake. BUT for $4.25? it's on!
Kristyn and I happened to be heading to the mall so I reminded her that it was National Cheesecake Day and we decided to go. It was about 5pm. I got the brand new Cinnabon Cheesecake and Kristyn got the Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake. We basically split both slices. Check out the amazingness . . . . . .
My god, the Cinnabon Cheesecake tasted just like a Cinnabon, but cheesecake! Well worth it!
Dinner time - Met up with a few friends to discuss the plan for a jazz camp I'm teaching at next week in New Milford. This took me back to the ol' Shannon Rose in Clifton - wow this brought me back to some old memories! Just had a couple Bud Lites. Kept it simple. (As much as I wanted to eat some awesome Shannon Rose food.
Actual Dinner - Came home and grabbed some leftover ziti to get me through the night.
General Thoughts - I'm definitely WAY out of the mode of cooking because last week was weird. With mom making ziti SUnday for Zack's birthday, then all the BBQ prep, more ziti on Thursday and then the weekend out and with leftovers, I'm definitely not "on point" right now. I still have a full refrigerator of leftovers and will likely work through more of the today before ditching it and emptying the fridge and starting over. All that being said, I've maintained fairly well and I'm well on my way to Stage Two - which I have decided I will unveil when I hit the 20 pound mark. (which may or may not come Before we go on Vacation next week . . .. . . . . ) Likely after.
Forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned. It has been 3 days since my last confession. . . . . . . .
Ok, So Game/BBQ weekend was pretty crazy, busy, awesome, fun, etc. BUT I had no time to even consider writing, so I'm gonna loop back and do it all in 1 post. I think it's fair. Weigh-in - Start weight (Friday Morning) - Down 16.2 total
End weight (Monday Morning) - Down 14.8 total
Total movement over the weekend - Gained 1.4 pounds. Of course, this was QUITE a roller coaster and I don't REALLY know where I am. Will get a better idea by the middle of this week, but I think this is a pretty good number, all things considered!
Now, as Peter Livera would say,
"In the city of Clifton, NJ, summer hangouts fall into 2 categories. The mundane, status quo get togethers, and the always epic Joey V's Yankee Game and BBQ. This is the latter . . . . . Bum Bum!
DAY 40 - FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2018 Breakfast - well, after a few hours of yardwork and baby stuff, I finally grabbed a peanut butter sandwich at 10:45. :-)
Lunch - For lunch, I had been out shopping and getting lots done for the BBQ and it was getting close to time to leave for the tailgate, so I got my annual tailgate sandwich from Petracco's. It was Turkey, Pepperoni and Yellow American on a long roll. a VERY long roll. But instead of totally gorging at the tailgate later, I ate half of it for lunch around 2pm. Take a look at this thing and you'll see WHY I decided to split it in half. IN all reality, I could have split it into 4 and been ok, but the fact that I split it up at all is a victory!
Tailgate - So at the tailgate, I was not really hungry yet so I ended up not having my second half of the sandwich. I did, although, have some drinks. I decided to try not to fill up on beer today so I brought a 2L bottle of Coke Zero and a bottle of Jack. Had a few Jack and Coke Zeros. I did end up having 2 bud lites also before all was said and done. Pictured below are the 3 first arrivals to this year's tailgate. Great times!
Yankee Game - So I've been to many Yankee games in my life and really enjoyed the concessions. I have enjoyed many things from the chicken fingers to the dumplings, spicy Premio Sausage, fried chicken and waffles, Nathan's fries, buffalo wings, chicken sliders, General Tso's Chicken, various forms of ice cream, churro's, Dippin Dots, Hot pretzels, well - I can go on and on.
This Friday, I had 1 thing at the game. 1 singular item. But I have to tell you, it trumped everything I've ever had there. I have seen it, but the line is usually WAY too long. We arrived at 7pm, in a rain delay and I was searching for an entrance that may still have a bobble head (ridiculous to even think they would still have any) and we ended up entering in gate 2 (left field.) We passed the Ben & Jerry's stand and the Yankees Grandstand Shakes. There was no line! I could not believe it. So Julie, Wes and I went for it.
I had the "All-Star Shake" as I'm sure any of you who know me already predicted. This thing was a object of perfection. It was also probably one of the most unhealthy things I've ever eaten at the stadium. It was a huge cup (souvenir cup with Yankee logo, I must say) filled with basically soft chocolate ice cream then topped with M&Ms and crushed oreos, whipped cream and I think some chocolate sauce if I had to remember/guess. Then on top was an actual brownie and a full chocolate chip cookie. This was 100% a spoon meal. Milkshake - I think now. Ice cream amazingness - YES! Now there is another part to it that I have not explained yet. On the rim of the glass, there is about 3/4 inch of a crusted coating. It was seemingly melted and goo-ified oreo creme with crushed up oreo's stuck to it. Eating this part as the final few bites really topped off the experience.
I do think it is important to share the entire experience because I expect everyone who is reading this to eventually get one of these. If you are from out of town, when you eventually go to a Yankee game (as every American should at some point,) then you will remember this!
Here is Julie and Wes preparing to eat their shake. I thinj they got the "Celebration"
The full menu and then photos of each of the 5 options:
And of course, all 3 of us. Julie and Wes had intended on sharing theirs until they saw mine and Julie decided to change her mind. Our night was complete! :-)
Post-Game - So the game got rained out. Complete bummer, but we still had a good pre-game tailgate, I got my milkshake and I ended up getting my bobblehead, believe it or not! There was only 1 thing left to do - post-game tailgate (since it actually stopped raining for about an hour just after the called the game. So after chasing a few cars down to try to get some autographs, I went back to the car and ate the 2nd half of my sandwich finally!
Some of the crew came over afterwards to hang out for a bit and then we parted ways to get some rest before said "Always epic Joey V's BBQ" the next day.
So to recap - Friday - Peanut Butter Sandwich, big cold cut sandwich from Petraccos, milkshake, Jack & Diet, and 2 beers. Listed this way, doesn't seem to bad. The "failure" today would be the portion control. The good news is that in spite of my transgressions, it was a good day for me being at a Yankee game.
DAY 41 - SATURDAY, JULY 28, 2018 Breakfast - I spent a heck of a lot of time setting up today. Still had some shopping to do, had an exterminator come over, it was a busy morning. I don't remember if I had anything at home or not but I do remember that I went for a Slurpee. My first slurpee in over 41 days! It was one of those situations where I just needed one. It was a nice warm morning, I had lots of work ahead of me and I wanted a Slurpee, so I got one. :-)
Rest of the day - ok, this day is very impossible to actually give a play by play about. Since I was cooking, I didn't want to put out food so I was CONSTANTLY heat taste testing food. I was also just constantly picking.
The only "real" meal I had was when I grabbed a freshly grilled hamburger with taylor ham on it. In my cooking exploits, I taste tested ziti, meatballs, mac & cheese, bacon, taylor ham, mashed potatoes, Shrimp and Rice and chicken nuggets - and probably more. I can't quantify how much of each I ate since I really don't have any clue. But my food was spread out all day and I never really had a lot of anything.
For dessert, I had a piece of Aunt Shayne's amazing crumb cake.
Throughout the day, I was drinking Bud Lites, eventually switched over to Sam Adams and finished with Miller Lite.
We also had a firepit and I had 2 smores. WOW I forgot how much I liked making Smores! :-)
If you can believe it, I have no food photos from the BBQ. I was so busy running around that as usual, I never thought to take any pictures. Also, the food was coming out so randomly at various times, it was very disorganized on the tables, so a photo would not have looked good anyway.
DAY 42 - SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2018
Aaaahhh, the post-BBQ day. What will this be all about?
Breakfast - Sleep. I slept until noon. Kristyn was awesome and just let me sleep. We were up until 3:30am (so was Kristyn) but I think it's likely I had a lot more beers than she did. :-) She identified my need for sleep and let me go. Rock Star!!!!!
Lunch - well, I had my first run at leftovers which was some Shrimp & Rice and some Ziti. Let's call this breakfast AND lunch. :-)
Dinner - I never got around to dinner. I got a second weekend wind and decided to finish the garage by getting 2 huge shelving units and a took chest. Rented a truck, picked them up, put together and loaded them all up. I really didn't get to thinking about food. Plus lunch was pretty big. I did stop at 7-Eleven and grab a Slurpee and a donut. I figured that this weekend was just weird already so why not book end it with some junk food and get it out of my system.
WRAP-UP:
So after all is said and done, the weekend was up and down in terms of eating. I made some poor choices but I really will say that compared to some other BBQ weekends (such as the first 16 of them,) this was not all that bad. It could have been much worse. That being said, the stomach was not happy with me early Sunday morning. After 39 days of eating properly, I actually can't handle eating like that anymore. I'm sure that if I did for a week, my body would slip right back into being able to eat like that again, sure. BUT at this point, I didn't love the way it felt and I'm glad that innards are speaking to me and saying "DON'T DO THIS AGAIN!"
Thanks to everyone who came out and spent the weekend with us. We'll be back next year for the 18th annual weekend of shenanigans! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. :-)
Snacking - 2 pieces of yellow American cheese, cucumbers and chick peas and some goldfish
Dinner - mom brought over ziti! Best week ever! Ziti Sunday, Ziti Thursday and Ziti at the BBQ this weekend! Plus likely leftovers too! It's a beautiful thing. I also had a small meatball with dinner. I had a good amount of ziti. Could have probably done without the last scoop for sure. BUT you saw what I ate earlier in the day. I was STARVING!
The day's Roundup - Spend the day preparing for the weekend. Lots to do including getting the house ready - especially the yard. I don't really do much yardwork typically, so I had some catching up to do.
Also had a nice visit from Jack and Karen Kupp and their granddaughter Amalia. Was very nice to catch up with them!
Sorry for the short post today. Lots to still do before I go to the game tonight, so I gotta go!
(posted 10:18am on Friday)
weigh-in - total lost - 14.4 pounds (even from yesterday)
breakfast - 4 hours into my day, I finally had a protein bar.
Lunch - I had this glorious Salad. Yes - a salad!!! It's happening! I'm getting really close to stage 2. I know this because I had a salad! It had lettuce, chick peas, cucumbers, shredded cheddar, sunflower seeds and red wine vinegar. That is my salad. Since i was about 15 years old. AND I LOVE IT! CHeck this out . . . . .
Hell yeah for lunch!!!!
Dinner - so tonight was a test. I purposely decided that I was going to get pizza tonight. Went to Dante's in cresskill for a slice. Literally a slice. Now I have planned before to get a slice and failed. Tonight, I was really motivated to stick to it. Had dinner with VG, Jack and Erich Roberts ( a couple of alums from work) and my willpower combined with good company led to only 1 slice and a diet soda! I made the best of it and grabbed a ziti slice!
Before you say "oh of course you had 1 slice, it was huge and had ziti on it" - please realize that a typical lunch was this slice + a BBQ chicken slice + 4 garlic knots. SOOOO, this was a monumental victory for me. Not to mention that I was one of 3 people who had this slice and I was the last to finish it! That's gentle eating for you!
Snacking - so I did not snack tonight BUT Fernando came by to get some Yankee tixx from me and we had a few beers. When I say a "few," I mean I think I ended up having 5. I intended to have 1-2 since I did not get home until 10:15. but we ended up chatting and all the sudden it was 1AM and we were almost a 6-pack deep. It's been literally YEARS since we hung and i hooked him up with some awesome tixx so it was a nice hang.
Today's apologies . . . . . . .
Sorry to Frank O and the crew that I did not make it out to hang for a late night snack. I intended to stop by on the way home. I ended up stopping at a friend's house to look at a treadmill and ended up chatting for a long time. But in the end ,they are giving us a free AMAZING treadmill since they are moving and that is going to go an extremely long way in my diet as well as Kristyn's efforts to work out post-baby without having to leave the house. This was a time-sensitive move, so I am sorry I could not make it, but i hope you understand!
Shopping for the day - Today, I did my first round of shopping for the BBQ Saturday. If you have not considered coming, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?
So Today, in terms of the food, I picked up 8 pounds of dry rub ribs, 10 pounds of chicken that we will season as cajun and BBQ, 7 pounds of nathans hot dogs, 20 hot premio sausages, 5.5 pounds of london broil, 2 pounds of taylor ham, 3 pounds of bacon , 7 pounds of mac & cheese and 2 huge boxes of chicken nuggets for the kids. Still waiting on 60 fresh burgers, mom's ziti, Also making pizza dip and got everything we need for s'mores and the late night firepit.
Need liquor - we had vodka, gin, rum, tequila, triple sec, bourbon, scotch, peach schnapps, watermelon and apple puckers, Soco, captain, fireball, jack, sweet tea vokda, red wine, white wine, macchu pisco, black spiced rum, soju, bud lite, yeungling, sam adams, miller lite, corona and much more.
Not liquor person - we have coke, diet coke, sprite, diet sprite, orange, diet orange, root beer, dr. pepper, seltzer, tonic, ginger ale, cherry coke, water, pineapple juice, cranberry juice, Orange juice, apple juice, iced tea, lemonade, milk.
Need chips - we have pretzels, potato chips, veggie straws, doritos, popcorn, tostitos and chips along with hummus, pizza dip, macaroni salad and potato salad.
I hope that is enough for you vultures! COME PARTY SATURDAY! The above list is incomplete. :-)
Weigh-In - Total Lost - 14.4 pounds (-1.6 from yesterday)
Breakfast - Today's meal was another breakfast sandwich - made at home of course. 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg scrambled with 3 turkey sausage links on a whole wheat bagel thin. Yummy yum yum!
Lunch - hmmmm, I have to remember .. . . . . . .Oh yeah, it was a peanut butter sandwich. You'd think being home all day I could be a little more creative for lunch, but somehow I still feel like I have no time when I'm home alone. Today I was home with both Joey and Giuliana for a chunk of time.
Snacking - a piece of yellow american cheese, a rice krispie treat, an ice pop and 3-4 strawberries. Yup - washed and cut the strawberries so hopefully I'll eat those. Gotta get into thinking of those as snacks and not as many rice krispie treats. (This may be a part of stage 2)
Dinner - Tonight I made shrimp parm and breaded buffalo shrimp with some rotini as a side. I think this came out very good! I did not actually make quite as much as I thought, OR Kristyn and I are 2 little piggies. Something like that. Please note that I had already taken my portion of the shrimp parm prior to this photo. The parm is on the plate and the buffalo is on the bowl.
**Side Note** - yesterday, Kristyn was at the store and we were on the phone and she asked me if I wanted ice cream or not. I declined. That was a big step! :-)
Story of the Day - This morning, I started off my day by going to visit a friend who has been sick. He is someone that has been a part of my band for a bunch of years now and has had to take off this year due to health issues. Thankfully things are looking better for him right now and he's hoping to get back on the bandstand with us in the near future. The only reason I mention the part about coming back to the band is because I see that as a VERY positive sign. It was a nice visit and I'm glad we got a chance to catch up. In fact, it may be the longest conversation we have ever had, 1 on 1. I only wish I would have made the time to visit sooner. Wishing him the best of luck in his continued recovery.
Weigh-In - Down total 12.8 pounds (-0.8 from yesterday)
Breakfast - I THINK I forgot to eat breakfast today so I ended up having a protein bar around 11am. Glad that I am liking those again. A good substitute for my morning donut. :-)
Lunch - Leftover pork, green + yellow beans and carrots. DELICIOUS!!!!!
Dinner - I had intended to make a hamburger on the grill. I popped open the package of burgers and there was quite a potent scent. I thought it was a coincidence and brought the burger out to the grill. Kristyn then came into the kitchen and when I came back she asked if I farted in the kitchen. I exclaimed "NO!" as if that was a ridiculous possibility. Anyway, I asked her to smell the remaining hamburgers and tell me if that was what she was smelling. She said that was DEFINITELY it. So I chucked the burgers and moved on to plan B.
Black Bean Burger on a potato roll. That was dinner. And it was very tasty.
Snacking - Throughout the day, I ate 2 pieces of yellow american cheese and a rice krispie treat. I think that's it. Tried to really take it easy today following up the weekend of non-healthy fooding. I think I did a pretty good job.
At night, I had an ice pop. :-)
Something about my day - I was home all day with just Joey. Kristyn was out with Giuliana. We barely did anything but we really bonded. Had a great time just hanging out. He did not cry, whine, complain, pout, etc. He just chilled and hung with me and we had a lot of fun. It was pretty cool. Will miss this when work starts up again. I feel very lucky to have this time at home right now. Usually my summers are much more busy than this but I have sort of purposely tried to take it slow this summer to be home more and it's awesome!
**note that this photo is not from today, but it's me and my little buddy and I like it**
Weigh-in - Total down 12 pounds (+3.0 from yesterday) EEK! Gotta work hard today.
Breakfast - had a breakfast sandwich - turkey sausage with 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg scrambled on a whole wheat bagel thin.
Lunch - For lunch, I had gotten some ready seasoned honey something or other pork. Cooked it on the BBQ and had some steamables Green + Yellow Beans + Carrots. First time I ever got this pork and it was REALLY GOOD! I think I found a new item for next weekend's BBQ. :-)
Dinner - Welp, Mom made ziti! What an amazing surprise. If you know me at all, you know that the only thing that may rival pizza is Mom's ziti. So for Zack's birthday, we had ziti!
I had 2 plates (not FULL plates. Just average plates) and 3 of those meatballs. Also had 3 pieces of garlic bread. Actually, maybe it was 4. And YES . . . . This was as good as it looks!
Snacking - for dessert, Karen made a cake. I had 2 very small pieces. Very small for my size expectations, I don't know about yours!
This was a VERY fun day with the family, capping off a great weekend. And how can you do any better than family and ziti on a Sunday afternoon?
Late Night Snacking - I had an ice pop late at night while doing some work. No big deal.
**Side note - if you want a piece of Mom's ziti, come to our BBQ Saturday! In addition to all the great grill food we'll have, there will definitely be ziti from mom, as always. And I promise, it will not disappoint. :-)
Weigh-In - Total down - 15 pounds! (down 2.1 from yesterday) I'm sure the eating pattern yesterday was a big part of this weight in, so I expect that tomorrow will not be as favorable, but we'll see!!!!! Gonna try to counter my hunger with tons of water today to see if I can stay here.
Breakfast - Dark chocolate and peanut butter protein bar. It was a good start to the day. Unfortunately, that's where the "good" part ended (in terms of food!)
Rest of the day - Ok, so we went up to Pawling to see the Martin, Maguffin and Carey families. It was a great day. Lots of fun, everyone got to meet Giuliana and the food . . . . . . . oh the food . . . . it was glorious! So I'm not going to sugarcoat this, in spite of my currently sugarcoated stomach after dessert .. . . .. . it did not go very well for me. Here's the play by play.
First came the light snacks. There were chips (ridgies, which are really the only chip I can't stay away from.) There were awesome salty tostitos. Then the cheese, crackers and pepperoni came out. I typically go to town on these. I didn't completely overdo it, but I basically ate enough of that stuff to equal some full meals that I have eaten in the past month. I also had a Bud Lite.
Then came the buffet. This was a great buffet. I started off with a scoop of mac & cheese (with bread crumb topping,) 5 swedish meatballs, a little chicken park and 4 wings. Pictured below
At this point, I felt kinda good about myself. I mean you can still see parts of the plate there! That in and of itself is an improvement. BUT. . . . . it was sooooo good, so it was not over. Meal was accompanied by my 2nd Bud Lite.
I grabbed a roll and plopped 5 swedish meatballs on it and that was the next part.
About 45 minutes later, I came in to watch the Yankees and the mac & cheese was screaming for me. I had 2 more scoops.
A little while later, some mini cupcakes came out. I had 1 of them and another one about 2 hours later.
Then came the cake. Since a big part of the reason we got together was to celebrate Kristyn's dad's retirement, we got this amazing cake! Of course, I had a piece of that with some ice cream, because who can turn down Breyers chocolate ice cream?
Now considering this was lunch AND dinner, for me - not so bad - if it was 35 days ago. BUT the way I have been eating lately, this is a colossal failure. I'm not too upset about it because in the end, it's just one day and I'll overcome it. BUT it's annoying when you are doing so well to have 3-4 days of progress shot to hell in one day of gluttonous bliss. I will say that I really really really enjoyed my food and the day. So at least it was an enjoyable way to blow the diet! Back to the grind tomorrow, the best I can. Dinner at mom's for Zack's birthday.
PS - I ended up having an ice pop when I got home.
PPS - weigh in tomorrow is up 3 pounds. Figured I would just tell you this now and as one of my 10th grade drummers says - spare you the dramatics.
Weigh-In - Total down 12.9 pounds (-0.6 from yesterday)
Today was a very strange schedule for eating. It was a little crazy because Kristyn had lots of work to do and I had the gig at night to get ready for. Weird day.
Breakfast - Peanut Butter Sandwich - It was just calling my name! :-) This was pretty early. Probably around 8am. Maybe a little before.
Lunch - Raviolis (7) and little turkey meatballs (4) This was an interesting one because we made just 1 bag of ravioli. This had 12 in it. 5 for her, 7 for me. Which is PLENTY! But in the past, I always insisted that we make 2 bags and I'd probably eat 10-11 and then have a bunch for lunch the next day. But it was great to realize that we can get away with just 1 bag. No need for 2. (by the way, speaking of 2, it was after 2 when we ate lunch! :-)
Dinner - well, I had a late lunch and had to leave pretty soon after for the gig, so I never really ate dinner. I was STARVING by the time I got home around 10:30. Grabbed a peanut butter sandwich, a frozen lemonade pop and 2 pieces of yellow american cheese. Also chugged, and I mean CHUGGED 2 bottles of water.
Random Snacking - I really was on such a strange schedule today that I was just popping snacks whenever I had a chance to. I know I had 2 pieces of cheese somewhere in the late morning. I'm sure I had a rice krispie treat at some point, since I ALWAYS do! and I'm sure there was something else in there at some point, but I really just didn't have the brain to keep track as I was going yesterday. Regardless, in spite of the weird schedule, I think I ended up doing as well as I could.
Proud moment of the day: After the One More Once show, which was awesome if you wanted to know, there were lots of people there to say hello to. It was great to see so many familiar faces in the crowd! The last men standing were VG (choral teacher at Cresskill) and 3 alums - Jack, Sal and Furry James. We hung around and chatted for quite awhile. Jack and James were actually on the payroll for the day. VG and Sal came to watch and hang. Anyway, they were lingering around and we were chatting and then it came out that they were waiting out 10pm because that was when the 1/2 price appetizers start at Applebees down the road. Now if you know me, you know I can HOUSE the 1/2 price apps and tall beers at Applebees, Fridays, Uno's, anywhere that offers that. Many a late night were spent there.
Back in the day, it was a NORMAL week if I did something like that at least 1-2x a week. Now let's talk about the damage I would do there. Let's take TGI Fridays for example. Typical night there would include Boneless Buffalo Wings, Fried Green Beans, Triple Chocolate Meltdown and 2-3 tall beers. now just how bad is that? Let's put it into perspective. When I was doing Weight Watchers, I was allowed 42 points on my diet plan. That combination (including only 2 beers) was work 86 points!!! (And that was all as a late night snack!) Below is the usual Applebees run, back in the day.
So When I got the invite to Applebees, I had to decline. When asked why, the simple answer was "I can't handle it yet!" After my experience at Bruno's the other day, I know for a fact that I'm not ready for late night Applebees. I could do a meal there. They have their low calorie options and "Guiltless" options or whatever, but I CAN NOT handle a late night yet. So I came home and had a freaking peanut butter sandwich and 2 pieces of cheese.
I must admit, I did regret for a hot second, not getting boneless buffs and mozzarella sticks (my favorite Mozz sticks around) but when I hit the scale in the morning, it was all worth it!!!
Stay tuned tomorrow. It's going to be a tough day to diet. Another test for me. . . . . family outdoor BBQ + Pool party. Still debating if I will go swimming or not. After all, I don't want to scare the dogs by taking my shirt off . . . . . .
Weigh-In - Total loss - down 12.3 (+0.5 from yesterday) All things considered, not too shabby, considering t he celebratory breakfast and the 10:30pm dinner!
Breakfast - Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter protein bar
Lunch - Can of Progresso Pasta Fagioli - The whole thing is 320 calories and 7 grams of fat. A lot of sodium though. I know that this is not a perfect option, but ya know, there is something bad about everything! So I'll take the portion control with the high sodium here and there to limit the intake. Again, the usual option would have been 1 slice of BBQ chicken pizza, a slice of ziti pizza, 4 garlic knots and a root beer at Dante's, so I'd say my wallet, belly and arteries are all ahead. My heart though . . . . . . still belongs to pizza.
Snack - Rice Krispie Treat - I have to tell you - these things keep me going!
Dinner - Made Steak Fajitas tonight. Steak strips, peppers, onions, carrots, lots of spices, cheddar cheese and corn tortillas. Pretty darn good! I was happy that I tried this because it did not include RICE! Usually I make burritos and that has lots of rice, so this was an improvement.
That's all folks! Not a terribly exciting day here in terms of the ol' food intake. I was very excited to finish up my summer jazz class at Cresskill today. We only had 3 kids - a 6th, 7th and 8th grader, but they did great! They learned a ton, listened to lots of great music from Dixieland to Maria Schneider and everything in the middle while getting a small taste of the history of the art form! The improvised, learned new scales, how to read chords (basics,) Bb and F Blues, ear training, trading 4s and some basic jazz style. We ended with a small performance for their parents playing "Bag's Groove." They seemed to love it.
Got a lot done at home and at work the past 2 days. Feeling good and ready for the weekend, which by the way - is 6 days long! Not going back to work until Wednesday.
Hope to see you all tonight at One More Once gig in Northvale!
Weigh-In - Total loss - 12.8 pounds (+0.2 from yesterday)
Ok, so it's officially been 1 month. AND I feel like I'm going pretty strong, believe it or not. I'm not bored yet, I don't really miss eating like an idiot (for the most part) and I'm very happy with my progress. At this point I feel strong to go for at least another month.
At this point, I have lost the equivalent of my daughter + a quart of milk. For visual reference, that would be the combination of these 2 items below:
I'd say that's a pretty successful month!
Breakfast - So in honor of my 1 month anniversary, I decided to basically be bad this morning! And I sort of had this planned for awhile now in my head. I went to Dunkin. I got my old breakfast. Chocolate Frosted Donut, Plain Bagel with extra butter and a Red Bull. Here are my thoughts on this. A month ago, this was my breakfast every single work day. It was a habit. I don't even know that I really liked eating it every day, but it was the usual. After a full month off from it, I REALLY enjoyed it BUT I have no desire to have it again tomorrow. It was a reward for a job well done . . . . . so far. I told all the Dunkin workers that I'll see them again on August 18. :-)
Lunch - For lunch, I had the leftover pork, egg noodles and green beans from yesterday. Snuck that meal in real quick during a busy day.
Dinner - well, i didn't really get a chance to eat dinner. I overbooked myself, PLUS had issues with printers, copy machines and organization of drums at work which held me back a ton. Thankfully I had Louie there to help me with the drums! Anyway, I ended up eating at home around 10:30 at night. I normally don't like to do this BUT I am not going to go with no food from 1pm until the next day. I had 4 small turkey meatballs with some tomato sauce. I also had 8 ritz crackers with peanut butter. Quick and easy. It did the trick.
Snacking - I finished up the ice cream that was in the freezer. There was not much there at all. BUT as much as I enjoyed it, I'm glad that there is no ice cream in the house again. :-)
Thoughts for the day - today was not only my 1 month anniversary, but more importantly, my daughter's 1 month birthday! (Easy way to keep track, huh?) I was at work from 8:30am until about 9:30pm. Got a lot done. Marching band sectionals finally got started up. Had our first section leader meeting. 7th of 8 days complete in the summer jazz class I'm teaching. Taught 3 lessons. Organized and gave all drummers marching drums to take home for practice as well as drums to keep at school. I felt like I finally got this next season rolling today. BUT I wish I could have been home for the baby a little bit. Tomorrow I'll be home much earlier and then I'm back to only Wednesdays for the next few weeks. I can get back to doing more cooking! This week has been a little busy (For this summer, anyway.)
Thanks to everyone for the support so far on this journey. According to the web stats, between 150 and 450 people look at this every day! That makes it VERY motivating for me. BUT as you see with my breakfast today, I will not tell a lie! I'll be 100% honest, even if I know it's a failure. Luckily this time - there has not been much failure yet.
Weigh-In - Total Down - 13 pounds (-1.7 from yesterday) (told you yesterday's weigh-in would just be a quick hiccup!
Breakfast - Today, I made breakfast for Kristyn and I. It was nice - we actually ate breakfast together, at the table, before work! Nice when work begins at 9am! I had a whole wheat bagel thing with 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg scrambled + 2 slices of turkey bacon. (260 calorie sandwich)
Lunch - Leftover Chicken Pad Thai. YUM!!!!!
Snacking - around 3ish, I had a Rice Krispie Treat and 1 little mini pizza bagel.
Dinner - Kristyn made dinner tonight. We had cracked pepper flavored pork with egg noodles, carrots and green beans. I forgot to take a picture! ARGH!!! Good stuff. Very enjoyable.
Snacking - after big band rehearsal, I had a rice Krispie Treat and an ice pop. Also had a couple bottles of water to stay awake for the all star game on DVR and then I fell asleep in the 9th inning. ARGH!!!!!!!!!! BTW, the bottles of water was not to give me the energy to stay up. It was just to give me something to do. :-)
Entertainment for the evening - tonight, we had our first meeting with One More Once Big Band since our last gig of the school year with Slide Hampton on May 6. Was great to get back together with the guys. We were preparing for our 2 summer shows we have scheduled - the first being this Friday night at Hogan Park Gazebo in Northvale - 7pm. Hope you can come out and see us play! It's going to be a fun show and a great band. Really nice to get working again after a 2.5 month break.
Weigh-In - Total down 11.3 pounts (+0.7 from yesterday)
Breakfast - Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter protein bar
Snacking - I had a rice krispie treat at work.
Lunch - Grabbed these turkey meatballs from Shadybrook Farms - they are small and I used to eat these all the time. ALL THE TIME. I made 4 of them, which is 253 calories, and cut them up in 3rds. Heated them up with some leftover tomato sauce and put it on an everything bagel thin. Good, quick, easy lunch. (at 2:00pm)
Snacking - Just a couple spoonfuls of chocolate peanut butter ice cream to hold me over.
Dinner - Kristyn hit the stovetop today to make one of her favorites. Chicken Pad Thai. It was DELICIOUS! And I didn't have to make it! :-) That was a party bonus. Of course, I'm actually having a lot of fun cooking, but yesterday was a perfect day to take off. This meal is really a carnival in the mouth the way she makes it. I don't even know everything that is in it, but it was awesome! Check this out:
Late Night - Went to J.R. Cigars in Whippany with some friends to watch the Homerun Derby. Ended up having 1 bud lite and some Glenlivet on the rocks, along with a Nat Sherman Cigar. Always good to hang out with these guys.
Snacking - I was kinda hungry when I got home so I ended up having an ice pop and a Rice Krispie Treat.
All in all - a good day. Got a lot done at work, got a quick Home Depot and Supermarket run, a nice dinner, Kristyn and the babies had a visitor and I got a night out with the guys. If only work could be only 5 hours all year!
Weigh-In - total down 12 pounds (-0.9 from yesterday)
Breakfast - 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg on everything bagel thin Lunch - Leftover Santa Fe Chicken and Rice. :-) WAHOO! Snack - Kristyn's friends came by and there was a bag of Doritos. I had exactly 13 chips, which is 1 chip more than a full serving. This is 160 calories. Usually I'm good for about half a bag! Proud of myself. :-)
Dinner - The triumphant return to Bruno's!!! I have not been there since before Giuliana was born - except to pick up a dough to make my own pizza with. I'll tell you what, after eating all this healthy food and all, it really wasn't all that good. I now know that I don't really need Bruno's pizza to make me happy in life. April Fool's! It was amazing. I hope never to have to go an entire month without Bruno's again in my life! Although I learned one important thing. I AM NOT READY TO EAT OUT YET!
I got my usual 2 Sicilian slices, one of them with meatballs. And it was glorious. Had a birch beer with it, because - well - let's be serious - that's really the only option! :-) But then we had a slice for Joey and I ate a part of it (not a huge part, but unnecessary for sure.) And Kristyn had a stromboli and I was going to have just a small piece of it and by the time it was all said and done, I had eaten a little less than half of it. This proves that I am not quite ready to be eating out yet. Back to eating at home. BUT we got some really good photos with the kiddies.
Snacking - There was certainly no snacking at night when I got home.
