1/26/25 Update
Weigh In - Down 17 pounds since January 1 (25 days)
**Check out the difference in the face. The first photo is from 1 month ago at the Devils game. 2nd photo is from this morning:
How have we gotten here, you ask? Very simple. I have, for the most part, followed the rules I gave myself. Let's get to it:
BREAKFAST: My old breakfast included Taylor Ham and 2 scrambled eggs with a hash brown on a plain toasted bagel with salt & pepper and a Red Bull. I banned Bagels and Red Bull from January 1-29 (rules go away for my birthday on 1/30). So, my typical breakfast over at Griddle This includes Taylor Ham and 2 egg whites on whole wheat toast with salt & pepper with a can of diet orange soda.
Weight Watchers points-wise, that cuts about 23 points out of my breakfast 7 for the red bull, 7 for the fried hash brown and approximately 9 for the switch from bagel to wheat bread). Now, I'm not doing weight watchers, but it's good to refer to it. I was allowed about 40 points a day, so cutting out more than half of my allowance for the day before 8am is a huge upgrade. I have also had other breakfasts, here and there.
- Waffle - sometimes when I make waffles for the kids, there is an extra one for me
- Sausage, Pepper and potato omelet (no cheese)
- Turkey Sausage and 2 eggs on a 647 roll (home made)
- Grilled Chicken with Buffalo sauce and 3 scrambled eggs
- I also make my own fries/potatoes/etc fairly often if I eat at home.
That being said, I probably eat the sandwich on toast 5 of 7 days.
*I am happy to report that I have been 100% successful with the Bagel and Red Bull Ban, as I have broken that rule exactly ZERO times so far.
LUNCH: For lunch, due to the fact that we have been cooking more, I have had lots more leftovers to bring with me. So often, I have leftovers. The leftovers are not always the healthiest thing, but they are always portion controlled and home made, so it's good. There are a number of precautions I have taken to make sure I always have stuff at school in case I forget my lunch.
Back in early January, I hit up the CAN CAN SALE at Shoprite and absolutely made that sale my b*tch! :-) The Progresso soups were 12 for $15, so let's just say I know have over 40 cans of Progresso soup. Half at school and half at home. Also, the SmartOnes were 4 for $4, so I grabbed a bunch of those. To add to that, I grabbed an incredible amount of Zero Calorie Gatorades, 12-packs of Seltzer and Coke product cans (4 twelve-packs for $17 - which is NUTS) for some diet sodas. I have them at school and at home - always have 2-3 in the fridge. There was more, but I can't remember it all.
In my effort to avoid school lunches, I have all of those things available at school. BUT it's not enough. Soup every day would be quite boring. The leftovers are great, but it's nto every day. So on occasion, I still go out to Griddle This for lunch. I'll often have grilled buffalo chicken. Occasionally, I'll add fried. Once, I actually got Chicken fingers and fried. I had a hot turkey sandwich once. . . . mix it up. But what I'm not doing is having pizza 6 times a week or eating the trash in the school caf.
**I am happy to report that I have been 100% successful with the SCHOOL LUNCH Ban, as I have broken that rule exactly ZERO times so far. I have not even gone in there for a cookie or a pretzel.
***I was ALMOST perfect with the pizza ban. In spite of being presented with pizza in my face many many times, I staved it off until Friday, 1/24/25 when I ordered pizza for the ski club. There were a couple extra tiny slices and I threw them down before getting on the bus. It was a moment of weakness, but I'm ok with it. The pizza was decent, but it was really just a grab of convenience. Wish I hadn't done it, but I am good. I had to go into a pizza shop 4 times to get pizza for my kids. I had to watch everyone else eat pizza at the upstairs restaurant at Mountain Creek 3 times on the school ski trips. I went to pizzerias and ate something else 2 or 3 times. I was asked to have pizza 4 additional times in which I had to turn it down. I really worked hard on this one. My wife even ordered a delivery pizza for dinner and I skipped it.
DINNER: This has been nice. Been cooking more often. Not always because it's the #1 healthiest thing in the world. Just portion control, choosing what I 'm putting in, and of course, sometimes I certainly make it healthier. Have made a number of chicken things, turkey meatballs, taco night with ground turkey, SmartOnes, VERY FEW times did I eat out. Nothing too memorable, but I will say the retraining of myself to eat at home has been great. The rules served their purpose.
Below, you can see a few dinners:
1 - Drunken Chicken Parm & Spaghetti with Vodka Sauce (home Made)
2 - Chicken Sandwich and chips from Mountain Creek
3 - Chili - Home Made (Kristyn made it)
4 - The steak at the Writers Dinner in NYC on 1/25/25
LATE NIGHT: The one rule I consistently sort of screwed up was the no eating after 10pm. I screwed that one up 5 times in 25 days so far. I guess that's not "Consistently" screwing up, but it is the rule I had the least luck with. Usually it was within a half hour of 10pm, but I sort of binge when I'm really hungry. I will say that the days where I lost the most were the days where I stopped eating before 7. The days I ate after 10 - always maintained or gained. Never lost on a late night bender night. I hit up Griddle This twice after a ski trip for an empanada - SO GOOD! I also went to Grants twice after the ski trip and had a few beers. The other issues were just little candy and/or ritz bitz late night binges. Overall, MUCH better. Not allowing the ice cream made a HUGE difference. I didn't break that rule even once. I mean, I had 1/2 of a fork full of ice cream cake the day my mom brought it over. but that was IT. And so I give myself a full win on that. I also stayed true to the no donuts rule. Didn't have a single donut yet.
Another rule I crushed was everything in regards to 7-11. No Slurpees and No "Heat Lamp of Death." The Key to this is that this is what I would be getting at 4pm - sort of a pre-dinner snack that is bigger than most people's dinners 2 jamaican beef patties (or buff chix taquitos), a slurpee and a glazed donut. No need for that at 4pm just because I'm passing by. This was huge. I miss my slurpees, but what a change.
Sooooo, add it all up - and we are looking at 17 pounds. I must say, I'm pretty please with myself. The next 3 days I have to stay on track and then after my birthday binge, I have to come up with a new set of adjusted rules to keep my own attention. I have to change it up if I want to keep it going. I have smoe thoughts. Will unveil them on February 1. The bottom line is that It's been a good start. Retrained the brain. now I have to stay with it. That's the hard part. 17 pounds down, but I had gained 10 pounds last year, so only 7 pounds down from what I was in January 2024. Ideally, I'd like to hit the 30 pound mark by March 1 . That would put me where I was on Feb 1, 2024 after I had a good month to start last year. I was feeling REALLY good at that point, then I just gave up.
TO RECAP: I had 9 rules. I was 100% on 7 of them. Ate pizza once. Ate after 10 five times. NOT BAD AT ALL, if you ask me. :-)
CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL THURSDAY. I have it all set. Bagel sandwich and Red Bull for breakfast. Pizza dinner and ice cream dessert with family at night. Gonne be a SOLID birthday. :-) Until then - let's see how close I can get to 20lb before 1/30.
No comments:
Post a Comment