Slimdude

you know, BSers… after having such a fantastic week, the last thing I wanted to do was crawl on here on Sunday afternoon and have bad news on the diet front.

Long story short, I had the grand-daddy of all binges last night. I can’t even explain why. I got up at maybe 11pm or so… I was not even that hungry. A diet soda and some Saturday Night Live would have easily satisfied me. And yet… I gave in… in a major way. I know I was not hungry because I did the “hunger test”. That’s where I ask myself if I could eat some celery or carrots or even fruit. You see, my theory is, If I am really hungry and it’s not just a craving you’ll eat those things. But no… I started with some OREO crisps and it was a massive downhill slide from there.

The scale numbers were incredibly cruel this morning and I am extremely dissapointed in myself that I blew my streak.

BUT! I refuse to let it get me permanently down for the day. I was too full to eat breakfast so I just had some coffee with some sugar-free creamer and for lunch I had a spinach salad with tofu which was very good. I have also Gazelled ten miles today. I have to do some things for “damage control” and also the exercise makes me feel better in mood.

I’m watching The Truth About Food on Discovery Health.

You know what? Taking it one day at a time again, and I’m going to see if, just one day at a time… October can be a completely binge-free month!

BTW, had a great time yesterday with my parents and when I took The Boy to the store to look for CDs, he walked right up to the display of “Best Sellers” and picked out the last copy they had of Kanye West’s “Graduation”, which I did not even see!! He grabbed it and held it up to me and so I let him play extra long in the toy car things in front of the grocery store.

Gosh it was so hard to get on here and admit to that terrible binge last night… I was riding such a high and I was so damn proud of myself. I always think I’ve got that habit licked and then… gee… you know… the kind of things I was telling myself last night : “I’ve been so good this week, I deserve this.” <—  That is the thought that triggered it. And then once I started, it was “Oh heck, I’ve already eaten three bagels, cookies, etc… might as well have some peanut butter and waffles…”

I’ve got to learn not to listen to that kind of thing in my head. And I’m not gonna let it keep me down. I refuse to do that!

—Matt

I have decided that since I have done do well this week and dropped to 151 pounds I get to buy Timbaland’s Album “Shock Value” and Kanye’s new one, “Graduation”.

I am very excited this morning because I did my 4 Mile “fast walk” DVD with Leslie… my Dad and Step-Mom are here visiting. Today we are going to the Zoo. I did not binge all week long and tonight will make seven days in a row.

Last night I even had some Rum and Low-Carb Full Throttle… I just worked it into my calorie budget for yesterday, which was pretty generous considering I lifted weights AND walked 8 miles in all. Not counting the chasing around my son in the backyard.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

—Matt

So this morning the scale said “151″ pounds. I am really happy that I have been able to resist binge-ing at night. I had one little incident with a bagel earlier this week but at least it ended there.

 Yesterday after work I Gazelled for five miles and I told myself I could have two “No Sugar Added” fudgesicles as a reward. That’s about 80 calories when the walking itself burns off about 100 per mile. That’s my rule of thumb no matter what the read-out says. Also we did a Flight-Line F O D (foreign object) walk yesterday that covered a lot of ground.

I saw some video this morning on MTV where the Marines in the video loaded the casket into a hearse with the head (stars) first. That’s not right and I’ve never seen that ever. You always carry and load FEET first. But whatever. Would not be the first time music videos had something jacked up.

Last night my son woke up at about 10:30pm and wanted us to let him sleep in our bed with us. We have done this a few times since we moved into the new house because he was sick so now he’s starting to get used to going to bed in HIS crib and then waking up and crying until we let him sleep in our bed. So I just stood in there with him hugging him and all that mushy Dad stuff while he cried and I just kept telling him he had to sleep in his own bed. My wife kindly offered to stay up but I wanted her to get some rest because all I did all evening was sit on my ass and watch TV and play with my Python (heh heh heh) while she was putting together all this cool stuff she got from Wal-Mart for the house.

So I finally picked him up and held him and he cried less and less. I considered taking him into the living room and watching TV with him until he fell back asleep, but I was worried what kind of habit THAT would form. When he stopped crying and got really tired I finally asked him if he wanted to lay back down in his crib and to my great surprise, he gestured towards the crib and I layed him down and he fell asleep! Wow!

I really do have such a good son I am lucky he gives us almost NO trouble at all. Sometimes when he doesn’t get his way he pitches a little “mini-fit” where he cries a bit and falls to the floor face first and kicks. Which I think is so funny and when he sees that I just laugh and smile at him, he just stops and finds something else to do. I usually just tell him “Look, you Can-NOT play with this, it is not for you… find us a BALL instead or a BOOK, okay?” and he does. I consider myself very patient with people and I think that extends to my son as well. Even at his worst, I never lose my temper with him. And that is something I am really proud of. I’m not saying I’m like the best Dad in the world, but I’ve seen the way some fathers interact with their kids… and some of them seem really detached from their kids and really act like their kids are such a hassle. Maybe it’s just me?

Okay so then late last night I woke up again and I REALLY wanted to eat. I thought about all those “mini-packs” 100-calorie this and thats like cookies and even those teeny weeny cupcakes they have… oh man I wanted to go nuts, but I KNEW if I started I would not stop. So I forced myself to have a Diet Rite soda and watch a little MTV (”Next” was on) and the craving went away.

You bet your ass I am proud of myself. This morning I did my circuit weight routine and Gazelled 3 miles and had a decent breakfast and today I am off, 3 day weekend. I plan to go over to my friends’ house and swim. We are all best friends and we are considering dressing up like The Flintstones… they would be Fred and Wilma and their 20 month old could be Pebbles and we could be Barney and Betty and Bam-Bam.

And then my Dad and Step-Mom are visiting this evening. It’s going to be a great weekend, hope all of yours is equally great.

—Matt

I had a few commenters who were concerned that I was not eating enough, and I do appreciate the concern. I guess what got confusing is me saying I only ate 600-700 calories in my last post. But that was a the END of a Graveyard shift Cycle.

 In a normal 24 hour period, I do eat about 1500 calories. Sometimes it’s probably a little less and sometimes a little more, but I aim for 1500 calories. I eat 3 meals of about 400 calories each and then two snacks that total somewhere between 150-200 calories each.

And then sometimes I’ll splurge and have a low-calorie treat or Rum and Diet Coke and that might bump me up to around 1700 or 1800 for the day.

But again, I do appreciate those who commented… that’s why I joined BS in the first place. BTW, I have been scale-hopping a lot this week and it will usually show “151″ in the morning and about “154″ in the evenings. So I’ve done well this week. I’m having many many more “good nights” than bad ones in terms of the binges and snacking. In fact, I’m pretty sure last saturday night was my last binge.

So yesterday was “one of those days”. I ended up with a job that totally kicked my ass all day. I was supposed to be training two new people on how to fix a certain software problem on the plane and it was being a royal you-know-what. And since it was parked waaaaaaay out on the line we did A LOT of walking. I’m sure we met our “10,000″ step mark easily. And it was hot, too.  I mostly really enjoy what I do but dang, yesterday was just…

My wife is working more and more at her job, and now she is not liking it as much but she made a commitment to stay thru the holidays and she is trying to honor that. She has also started adding in exercises to her daily routine about 3 times per week and she is learning to eat every three  hours or so. Oh yes and she wants to add one piece of fruit to her day.

Seriously my wife eats NO fruits or vegetables at all. It concerns me a little because she is becoming “calorie-conscious” and eating at proper times but what she eats is stuff like Lean Pockets and those 100-calorie snack packs. Which is fine from a weight-management aspect but still… you are eating 100 calories of cookies… anyway, I’m proud of her everybody has to start somewhere.

Today my meal plan is to have egg whites, a Boca patty, fat free cheese and salsa… some fruit and some coffee for breakfast.

For snacks I am packing South Beach cookies and some sugar free pudding. And then later some popcorn and a cheese stick. Lunch will be a South Beach Chicken Salad Kit and an apple, and dinner will probably be fish and veggies. And maybe some Sugar free Gelatin.

Exercise for the day is Power Yoga DVD and maybe tonight some Gazelle action.

—Matt

… Watching the Biggest Loser is always so much fun. Today after I got home from work I went to sleep and then about an hour later I woke up with a weird urge to eat and eat. But instead I had one bagel with fat free cheese melted on it… Calories: 280 and I told myself I would work it back off when I woke up.

 So first thing this afternoon I did 4 miles to burn that 400 calories…

Then this evening after the boy went to sleep I did a weight lifting circuit routine for the first hour of Biggest Loser and then I Gazelled 4 more miles during the secong hour of BL.

Yes I did have a normal “dinner” of egg whites, Boca Burger, cheese and salsa and some fruit and coffee. Then while I Gazelled I had two sugar free fudgesicles.

So even with that bagel, I took in about 650 calories and expended probably 1000.

The scale says “152.5″ pounds.

I’ll take it. Wish I had more time but I need to go to bed I am finishing the week on DayShift which means I am waking up tomorrow at about 4:30am.

—Matt

…Um… I guess that’s not a really great Title but it’s all I had on my mind.

 So did I tell you all I keep having intermittant problems with the whole “eating at night” thing. What I try to do is ask myself “Am I really hungry or is this a craving?” and usually if I just drink some water or have maybe a diet soda or some gum it goes away. That, my friends is a craving.

Let me assure you, I do not believe in depriving myself. You have seen from previous posts how I will modify certain things to get what I really enjoy without the calories. I try to eat an average of 1500 calories every day. And in all likelihood, I will have to eat a lot more once I am trying to maintain my weight.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that the binges and the night eating are not from hunger. There was a period in my life where I ate whatever I wanted to during the day AND I would still binge at night and that is what lead me to having this weight to lose IN THE FIRST PLACE.

So I did make the switch to a healthier, calorie / portion control lifestyle and it needs to be a lifestyle change. Just like I need to make a lifestyle change to end this habit. Right now my “night” is actually 9am until about 4 or 5pm. So it’s like a reverse dayshift. I try to eat my last meal or snack at about 6am and then no more eating until dinner… er… breakfast… ???

And so far I am doing well. In fact, the scale said “154″ this morning so I’m already on my way. I am sick of this last 15 pounds. Damn, I want it gone so badly.

 Today for breakfast I had a Boca Burger and some egg whites and some fat free cheese, along with yogurt and fruit. Then after my Yoga X workout, which went very well. I am very out of practice, but I am trying to see if yoga will help me or hurt me more. So far so good…

Anyway, after Yoga X I had a South Beach wrap kit, an orange and some sugar free chocolate pudding. Oh yeah and I’m drinking a Monster Lo-Carb energy drink. No coffee today although it says on the can “Only drink 3 cans per day” THREE CANS??? Holy crap! Each can is TWO servings, after that much caffeine you’d be flying!!

My wife has really done great as far as the house goes. The rooms are slowly coming together. Also, I;m so proud of my wife, she has decided to start living better so she’s trying to exercise 3 times per week and she started doing the Jorge Cruise 3-Hour diet. Basically, like a lot of nutritionists and trainers out there, he advises you to eat every 3 hours. I have done this for years and years ever since I read it in Bill Phillips’ Body For Life years ago… and it really does help. Sometimes you might have to skip a meal or snack if you get super busy and sometimes you might have to eat… say… 2 hours or 4 hours, but the idea is the same… just a little planning and almost every single day you can eat about 3 hours apart.

Today for instance, I ate breakfast at 5pm, “lunch” at 9pm… I’ll have a snack at work at about midnight, dinner at about 3am and then another snack at 6am and then I should be done for today.

Tomorrow is The Biggest Loser on NBC! and my weight workout. Circuit routine with Power 90. One thing that is good about me continuing to push myself to do weights, even if they are lighter than what I used to do… I never get any Muscle Soreness. Like from moving boxes or having to be in weird positions while fixing the planes. I never wake up with soreness in my back or arms or anything. My pain is all tingliness up to stabbing (on very very bad days) in my shoulders and neck mostly. And then sometimes my feet really hurt. I try to wear cushiony shoes and insoles and all for my boots but sometimes they just throb and throb. Ah well. Such is life I suppose.

We tried to feed my snake today and he would not eat. But they say not to worry, Pythons are like that and he’ll eat when he is ready.

Hope you are all doing great, wish I had more time to visit all my favorite Blogs but I really really don’t. I only get on the computer now if everything else is done, that includes house chores, exercise, work stuff, and my son and wife and so I just really can’t be on the net surfing for hours. But I will get over to the Forums to post my latest 8 miles walked. I did 4 on the Gazelle sunday and then I did the 4 miles DVD today before I picked up my son from Daycare.

Later, BSers.

I’ve had “good diet nights” and “bad diet nights” and last nite was yet another “blow it” kind of night. WHY DO I DO THAT?

 Eat healthy all day long, and it’s not like I’m eating seaweed or something (although I’m sure there are folks who love it…). I’m eating delicious healthy food that I enjoy and yet at night here I am polishing off Danishes and fried chicken at midnight?

So. Enough is enough. I stepped on the scale this morning and it says “156″ pounds. Not too shabby but not where I want to be.

So I tell myself, “Matt, if you ever want to get your flat abs back… if you ever want to see that thin 140 person again, you have got to get serious here!”

So I am. And I’m laying it out for you BSers. If I calculate a modest weight loss of 2 pounds per week I should be able to lose this last 16 pounds in 8 weeks. That is SUNDAY, November 18th, 2007.

The week before Thanksgiving. I will exercise, I will eat healthy foods and I will stop bingeing at night! And I will meet my goal by then or before.

REWARD : a Nintendo Wii!

I will continue to use BuddySlim to find support and motivation. Also, I have decided to keep on walking in order to meet that 300 mile challenge by Thanksgiving. In addition, I will start doing the Ashtanga Power Yoga routine in P90X. It is about an hour and a half. The first 45 minutes is the tough part with the vinyasas, and then it is more stretching and balance postures and also some pilates type core work. Pretty intense. I will also do the P90 Circuit weights routine with Abs 2x per week and then the Leslie Sansone Walk DVDs 2x per week. I think this will give me a pretty good fitness mix.

Also I continue to work on my push-ups and sit-ups. Sometimes I can do as many as 30 but sometimes I can only get to 15 or so. I want to be able to do 50 of each in a minute…

It’s a lot of fitness goals but I think I can handle it.

In other news…

Still organizing the house. It’s getting better and better. We got such a great deal on this place I hope nothing starts falling apart! I think the previous owner had to sell in a hurry due to bad circumstances, that was the Vibe I got. Because everything else around here is about $30,000 more than this place and even our place was appraised by multiple sources at about $30,000 more than what agreed to pay.

I hope it’s not “The Money Pit”. remember that one?

I’m on Graveyard Shift this week. That is always weird. Working out and eating right is more of a challenge because of the wonky schedule.

My wife bought me a snake for our anniversary. He’s cute. He is a baby ball python. He’s about 2 feet long now but he’ll get up to five feet. He just sits in my hand and watches TV with me.

I have to go now and mow my lawn for the first time. And no, I’m not counting the miles for the mowing towards the challenge.

Well, as many of you know, I’ve moved into my new house. We are still unpacking everything and organizing, but I am very happy to be a home-owner. My son is still enjoying DayCare, although we are thinking of moving him to a closer one. And my wife wants to go back to college full-time in the New year.

We had a wonderful time at the AF Ball.

I am considering giving up weight lifting in favor of a three times a week Yoga practice. I’ve been considering this for a while now. I want to experiment and see if yoga will help my back and spine feel better. I have 3 different Yoga DVDs right now, the P90X one, one by Rodney Yee and one by Shiva Rea called Yoga Shatki.

I think tomorrow morning I will do the Rodney Yee one since it is only an hour. I will let you know. My concern is that I don’t want to do anything to make my back and shoulders hurt worse. But what if, by doing Ashtanga Yoga three times per week it actually helps? I still want to do the Leslie Sansone walking DVDs just because I love them so much. And the Gazelle…

What about you guys? Any really positive feedback about yoga? I want to do something that will make me strong and flexible but doesn’t stress my joints the way weight-lifting does. We’ll give it a shot tomorrow…

—Matt

Well, BSers… we finally got our internet connection UP and Running at the New Place. There are boxes everywhere and we have so much to do. I think it may be a month or more before everything is fully in place. If then. Which is fine because we are planning a Housewarming Halloween party near the end of Oct.

As far as diet and exercise news, I have stayed on my plan to eat about 1500 calories per day… sometimes it is 1400 and sometimes maybe as high as 1800, I don’t count every little piece of gum or swipe of mustard, ya know.

But what I really wanted to work on was that pesky eating at night. So starting last Saturday when we spent our first night here I ended it… or so I thought… I went 5 nights straight and the most I ate was a few pieces of gum and water and some diet soda. And you know what I found? It IS hard but it really is some kind of behavior thing, it is NOT a hunger issue. I am thankful for that but also it annoys me to think I have such a hard time breaking the habit.

Last night at about 1am I just gave in and had a huge snack attack that started with an ice cream sandwich and went downhill from there. And the whole time I was telling myself “Okay we’ll stop with this cookie… okay with this bowl of cereal…”  but I should know by now that if I start I won’t stop until I am just too stuffed to continue. That is whyI MUST make myself do the gum-water-soda thing. Well, hell… I did it for five nights in a row surely I can make it 7?

Starting today!

More later, perhaps…

Well, BSers… the results are in, and I gained four pounds this week to put me back at 158. Now, I could choose to be all broken up about it, but instead I am pushing forward with a positive mindset.

I tell myself all I have to do is get back on track this week, and for me that means I have to “Just Say No!” to raiding the kitchen at night. And I will. I think I can shave this four pounds back off in a week.

And then it’ll be just four more pounds to my mini-goal. 150.

I had a blast last night at the AF Ball and today is going to be super-busy in terms of moving all the furniture. I’m still going to sneak in some Gazelle-ing before we start, though. I’m thinking of doing six miles.

Tonight will be our first night in the New Place and I think it’s a great time to face down that Night - Time Binge Goblin and start fresh. But I won’t have the internet again until Tuesday or Wednesday. So this might be my last post for a few days.

Take care of yourselves!

—Matt