Slimdude

Well, BSers, here I am at 11:30pm at night. And I’m just sitting here watching SNL and reading Blogs. I knew I was going to end up waking up so before I went to bed I made a plan in my head that if I got up I would only eat “good” things if I wanted to nosh, and walk on my Gazelle.

And I did that. I had two stalks of celery with salsa and then a sugar free Creamsicle and then I just didn’t feel hungry at all. I did one mile on the Gazelle before I decided I just feel too tired to continue. I’ll do some more in the morning. I think SNL is a re-run and really I should just get to bed.

Today went well. I did The Biggest Loser DVD… the resistance parts with weights and I can only do about 10 pounds in each hand and I went for about 30 minutes before I was just too uncomfortable to continue. I looked on Amazon.Com for some Pilates DVDs. I am familiar with the concepts of Pilates but I have never done a Pilates DVD before. I wonder if it would give me good training without the pain of straight-up weight training? They have two DVDs marketed especially for men that I am considering. I think that something that combines the Core Type training and flexibility and all of Pilates might be really good for me at this point in my life.

After the Boy woke up, we had a snack of celery and salsa ( i know it sounds weird, but I love to dip fresh veggies like celery, cucumber, broccoli, and cauliflower in salsa) and some microwave popcorn… you know, the 100-cal packs… oh and he had some yogurt but he started rubbing it in his hair which he has never done before. It was funny but messy.

Then we danced to videos on YouTube. His favorite artist is Gwen Stefani by far. He loves the song she does with Akon, “The Sweet Escape”. Also we heard the new Britney Spears song, “Gimme More”… and it is pretty good.

Hey ya’ll remember that Kimkins Diet plan thing that was so popular in low-carb arenas? Well she’s all up in controversy now because they say her pictures are not really her, and she was giving bad diet advice, like eat only 900 calories a day, and crazy stuff like that.

Well I had some Rum and Crystal Lite lemonade today. It’s my own version of a margarita. If you have never even thought of it but you like to have a drink or two in moderation like I do, try using clear rum like Bacardi and measure out 1 oz and mix it with a pack of Crystal Lite-to-Go lemonade (or really any flavor you want) and enough water and ice and you will feel like you are on a cruise! Rum is very low in calories but high in alcohol content so each drink is only about 70 calories and you get buzzed easily. I had two drinks but even with that I think my calories are about 1600 today.

I do not believe in depriving myself, I just find creative ways to get to indulge in things I enjoy, like an occasional drink. I won’t go out and have a 500 calorie margarita, I’ll have 2 fake ones instead for about 140 calories. It’s about making lifestyle changes, my friends.

Oh and The Wife is so excited. She has decided she wants to become a Dental Hygienist. I think that is how you spell it. She wants to go back to school full time in  2008. My wife has sort of floated from one thing to another ever since she left The Navy in 2005. She currently bakes but I guess now she wants to Clean Teeth.

Whatever she does, I support her. I wish she’d consider being a nurse. Nurses are hot. But they don’t wear that cool white thing with the white hat any more. They just wear green scrubs.

oh well.

—Matt

have you ever seen SpongeBob the Movie? It’s a favorite around here. Bizarre enough for me to enjoy and The Boy certainly loves it.

It’s been a great Saturday so far. I’m psyched about my weight-loss this week. My wife is at work so I took the Boy to the park for a while… and I’m glad I’m one of those parents who gets up and chases him around the equipment. It does get tiresome, especially with my pain stuff going on and I do have to take a break after about an hour or so.

Yeah… I would say about an hour is my max for chasing him all over the park and then I need a rest. But at least I’m up for that hour. Listen to me, BSers… I read your Blogs and I am so proud of all of you who have kids and grandkids and still try to eat right and exercise and be active with them. I know it’s hard because there is only so much time in the day… but the example you are setting for the kids is so worth it.

So after the park we went to Wal-Mart and I donated a buck to these middle school cheerleaders out front and they insisted on giving my son a cookie which he loved but he already had some cookies earlier today. I really like that my son, who is 21 months old… he does eat veggies like green beans and broccoli and carrots and he loves bananas and applesauce and yogurt. So I do let him have little treats like animal crackers or cheese goldfish or ice cream but not all day long. It’s maybe one small treat per day if that. I don’t want him to grow up eating potato chips and ravioli but I don’t want him to obsess about food either. Just be balanced.

My son loves to eat whatever we eat. I tried making him a tuna cheese thing for lunch which I thought he would like because he likes “gloppy” food that he can feed himself and he likes melted cheese and fish and everything… but I guess he wasn’t hungry after the cookie he just wanted to take a nap.

Maybe I’ll try it again for dinner and if he won’t eat it, I’ll mix it into my vegetables tonight. It’s just like a tuna cheese casserole soup thing. But he has weird moods. Some days he won’t eat anything but like… sliced bread. And then one day all he wanted to eat was green beans. He ate like four cans that day. Everytime I tried to get him something else, he just kept pointing to the canned green beans in the cupboard.

My little weird-O kid.

I talked to my Mom this morning… she lives on the Other Side of Florida, and we talk almost every weekend over the phone for about an hour or two. It’s a ritual that I miss greatly when a weekend passes and we don’t catch up. My mom recently had that thing where you get your female stuff removed… like ovaries and such, I don’t know… I’m a dude give me a break… and so she is still healing from that and she has a tendency to want to do too much too soon. She is on pain meds and she also struggles to stay active while she is healing. My mom tries to eat right and stay pretty active so she and I talk about diet stuff… she asked me today about the “steroids” I was on to treat my pain, and I’m like “uhhhm I’m not on any steroids… both my meds are Non-Steroidal” and she was like “Oh I thought that is why your face was swollen…”

and I had to laugh and tell her my chubby cheeks are because she was used to seeing me at 140 pounds not 160 pounds. 20 pounds has to go somewhere and part of it is in your face! So that is funny. Kind of like if you mess up and ask a lady when she is “due” and she isn’t preggers at all…

 OOPSIE!

Oh and I tried some new foods for lunch. I always have an apple. Every day. But I tried the new South Beach Frozen Chicken Wrap thing and it was really good. A little fat free sour cream would have been good on it. Oh I should have used fat free mayo. That’s almost the same. Maybe next time… and I bought this drink called FUZE Low Carb. It was pretty good too. And I bought those little chocolate mini-cakes from weight watchers. I know it is junk food but it is portion controlled and that helps me. But, really for 80 calories that thing is TINY TINY TINY. What is much better is the VitaMix in chocolate flavor from Vitalicious.Com  . If you don’t know what I am talking about, head over to that site and look around. You can order treats pre-made and freeze them or make them yourself. Each has only 80-100 calories, plus lots of fiber and a little protein and they taste GREAT and it is a generous portion (50g!). With a squirt of fat free reddi whip on top you feel like you are cheating on your diet but it’s barely 100 calories. Or instead of the Reddi-Whip, take a scoop of frozen fat free Cool Whip and it’s like chocolate cake and ice cream but you are still only looking at maybe 120 calories.

Talk about a deal! Now that’s a diet lifestyle I can live with!

—Matt

I was reading some Blogs this morning on BS while having my breakfast (oatmeal… the Quaker Oats “weight control” variety… which I love because it is no-sugar added, it uses sucralose and has protein added. and it tastes AMAZING and it is easy and convenient in those little envelopes — a cup of fruit, some Boca Sausage and a cup of coffee with sugar-free CoffeeMate)

So yeah is that weird posting my breakfast? Well folks, that’s what about a 400 calorie breakfast is for me. Okay then … I was reading some blogs and I noticed a lot of folks want to exercise and be active but we have all these pain issues and joint issues. Well…

I used to be a real gym rat. I was never ever big but I loved to weightlift and I used to do a lot of HIIT (High intensity interval training) cardio and all that. These days, I am telling you it is enough of a challenge if I can do a couple of light weightlifting circuits or a low-impact aerobics DVD. I have pain in my neck and back and blah blah blah my feet hurt often and it’s all this crazy arthritis crap that I thought only affected senior citizens but since researching on the web I found out that basically many many people have chronic pain issues and back issues and arthritis.

 SO! How are we to incorporate exercise into our lives if activity hurts so much?

I am telling you, there is a way. There are many ways, probably. But I’m just going to plug one little product here and I hope you will consider it if you like to exercise but it hurts your muscles or joints :

The Gazelle. You may have seen Tony Little hawking these on late-nite informercials. And maybe you thought to yourself it does not work. Well, let me tell you it does. In combination with a healthy, calorie controlled diet… the Gazelle will get you the activity you need and want without stressing your joints. Plus, I believe the gentle gliding motion works the smaller muscles around your knees and ankles and helps them become stronger which will support  your joints and help inflammation.

I will tell you the first week you might be a little sore in places on your legs if you are currently not active at all. The gliding motion is not something the human body normally does so your muscles have to adjust to that. But let me tell you, on mornings or nights when  you feel so stiff but you need to get in your exercise it is a lifesaver. Just glide and watch a TV show or two and before you know it you will have done a good thing for yourself.

You don’t have to get in the gym and pound out a kill-your-body workout to reap the benefits of exercise. I think you can easily Google up the Gazelle and find where to get one.

 —Matt

I was so excited this morning about the house and everything else I just could not sleep any longer. I was laying there at about 3am and I decided to just go ahead and get up. And do my “Official” Weigh-In. You know that this week I vowed to stay off the scale and not peek at all. And that was really really hard for me.

But when I stepped up on that digital scale and it read “154″ pounds I could not believe it.

Step down.

Step up.

“154″.

Wowza. And here I was worried a little that all my hard work would be for nothing. Of course, when I entered this number into the BuddySlim Weight Tracker, it advises me that I am losing weight too quickly. Well… I didn’t intend to lose seven pounds in one week. But you have to remember my body is used to these large binges and everything so this week when I did so well in cutting those off of course I lost weight. I don’t think week after week I am going to lose seven pounds. That would be ridiculous.

No, I reset my “Mini-Goal” to 150 pounds, which I believe is achievable by the end of Sept. And my goal for this week is just two more pounds to put me at 152 by next Friday morning. ( I will not be able to weigh-in next Saturday).

I think the thing that makes me the happiest is the WAY that I lost weight. I never felt over-whelmingly hungry. Even Friday when I woke up and binged, the feeling wasn’t hunger so much as an urge to eat to relieve tension and stress. I ate three meals of about 400 calories each and two snacks totalling 300 calories plus whatever calories are in gum and Crystal Lite and all that. I don’t count every little swipe of mustard or fat free mayo that passes my lips. Life is too short. But ballpark estimate of about 1500 calories a day and I exercised every day and stayed active. I didn’t resort to any Fad diet or Extreme Routines. And I ate my fruits and veggies and I didn’t take any shortcuts.

So hooray for me, I lost seven pounds this week, my little green car is moving closer to that goal weight.

Now let’s see : plans for today. I know the Mommie has to work both days this weekend, which means it is a Guys Weekend. Me and my son. I think I’ll try and walk about 7 miles this morning while watching a movie… then when he wakes up maybe we’ll watch a video. Then have a snack. Then I’ll take him to the park and the grocery store. I need more Diet Soda and Gum. Quick Trip. I may or may not go by the new house. My wife bought a ceiling fan she wants me to put in. The house isn’t actually “new”… but it’s new to us. You know?

Then we’ll have lunch and he’ll nap and maybe while he naps I’ll do some light weightlifting. The Biggest Loser DVD. perhaps clean up something? I dunno…

I hope you all have a great weekend and keep making healthy eating choices and stay active. I am proof that you don’t have to go to extremes! Just cut back on calories and increase your activity level and the weight will come off!