Day 8: 240 pounds

Today was day 8 and my 7th full day on this journey.  With it being one full week in the books I decided to weigh myself.  As the scale read 240.0 I thought geez only one pound since my list weigh in (3 days).  This was discouraging at first, however its progress in the right direction.  I'm very happy to know that I have lost 5 pounds in one week.  If I can repeat that in my second week I will be half way to my first goal.  Lets keep it going!

I woke up at 5:45am, not by choice but because I couldn't breathe.  I knew when I went to bed last night that it was going to be a rough night and more so a rough morning.  The sore throat I had started to get the day before moved to my nose and chest.  Awesome!  Once the girls woke up I made them some oatmeal and two egg whites for myself.  I did have a few bites of their oatmeal just to make sure it was not to hot to eat.  As a side note, I'm pretty sure they would both eat that for every meal if giving the chance.

On a daily basis my work has a different breakfast and lunch vendor on site.  This makes it very convenient for people to grab a quick lunch without having to leave, etc.  Well on Thursday's the vendor for lunch is Macayos Mexican food.  The room they serve from is about 15 feet from my desk and the smell just lingers for a few hours.  On top of that I have to watch people walk by with amazing looking plates of food.  Not fair!

By the time lunch came around I could not smell anymore, my throat felt like I swallowed a handful of screws and my nose was running down my face.  Boy was I glad that I brought a can of chicken noodle soup for lunch.  I could have cared less that it was 115 degrees outside and I was eating soup.  It felt amazing on my throat.  After finishing that I ate an orange and got back to work.  I will also add that up till that point in my day I had probably already drank a gallon of water.  Gotta love being sick!

I wonder how many calories one can burn when blowing their nose, because I must have done that well over 1000 times today!

Dinner, oh dinner!  Yes that's right, I didn't do so well at dinner time.  However there was no saying no to what Dawn cooked.  As I have stated in previous posts, Dawn is becoming quite the cook.  Like I said, she is becoming my master chef.  Tonight she made a homemade vodka sauce with chicken and put it over tortellini pasta.  There was a side of veggies and garlic bread.  It was so so good, thanks babe for making such a great dinner.  Now as much as this dinner was bad for me on my diet, I'm still not that upset at myself.  Main reason is I only had one plate and didn't go back for seconds.  Trust me it would have been very easy to go back a few times as it was that good!  Baby steps, no one said this was going to be easy.

As for exercise yeah that didn't happen.  I had to take two breathing treatments tonight because of the pressure in my chest and lack of breathing.  This cold kicked in full speed this afternoon, so all I wanted to do after dinner was go to bed!  Yes I know, I'm a slacker and need to suck it up.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  2 egg whites
• Lunch:  Chicken Noodle Soup & Orange
• Afternoon Snack:  1 Hard Boiled Egg
• Dinner:  Vodka sauce with Chicken over tortellini pasta with veggies & Garlic Bread (with water)
• Exercise:  none
• Bonus:  No coffee, soda for 7 full days now!
• Grade: C

Day 7

Today the letter of the day was W.  W is for Wendesday and Work from home!

So it was just me and the girls this morning as Dawn headed out to work about 6:30 and Brady was out working with Poppy.  Because they get up and out so early he spent the night last night.  I cant wait to hear how many pool's he "accidentally" fell into while helping Poppy clean.  Before sitting down and really getting into work I cleaned up the house, made some beds and of course made some breakfast.  This mornings menu was two egg whites, an apple and bottle of water.  Breakfast A+!

My morning snack consisted of doing a 100 crunches.  Its great when you work form home and can take a few minutes to do whatever, in this case situps!  I'm pretty sure I would get funny looks if I dropped to the ground at work and started to do situps.

For lunch I made another Chinese Chicken salad as we had some left overs form last night.  I ate right about the time the DBacks game was starting.  Whats better then working form home, watching day baseball and eating a great salad!  I then had a hard boiled egg for my afternoon snack and did another 50 crunches.  As I was doing my situps a Jack-In-The-Box commercial came on for a new "Big Chicken" sandwich combo with curly fries.  I wanted to eat the TV screen!  I could not stop thinking about their food, tacos, egg rolls, jumbo jacks, breakfast jacks, iced coffee the list goes on.  I thought about going and letting the air out of my tires just in case I felt the urge to leave. 

Dawn went to pick up Brady from her parents after she got out of work and had to help them with some computer stuff so they ate dinner there.  So I got to host a dinner date for my girls!  It was awesome and let me tell ya very gourmet!  Lily wanted a peanut butter sandwich.  It had to be chunky (takes after me) and no jelly.  Charlotte had some chicken and cheese and both girls had some fruit.  As for me, I made a turkey sandwich with cheese, lettuce and onion.  I held back from putting any mayo or mustard on it as well.  I washed it all down with water.  I was hoping to get out and go for a walk and possible light run, however I started to get a sore throat this afternoon and my nose was getting plugged by 7pm.  So I decided to just relax on the couch the rest of the night.  I promise to everyone and myself that my exercise will get moving.  However aside from the lack of more exercise I'm very happy with how my eating habits are going.  This is for sure not easy, but I'm getting used to it more and more every day.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Two egg whites & Apple
• Lunch:  Chinese Chicken Salad & Orange
• Afternoon Snack:  Hard Boiled Egg
• Dinner:  Turkey sandwich on wheat bread with cheese, lettuce and onions (no mayo, etc)
• Exercise:  150 crunches
• Bonus:  No coffee or soda.
• Grade: B (need more exercise)

Day 6

I woke up extra tired this morning as we had a long night at the baseball game.  I don't even remembering hearing my alarm go off.  However I think I have permanently zoned that out as I never here it.  But the funny thing is I still hit snooze somehow (haha).  I wont lie the thought of coffee from DD's was the first thing in my mind when I stood up.  But once I got going I felt fine.  I did however found myself behind schedule yet again this morning but did have time to pack my lunch and grab an orange and watter bottle before leaving.  Dawn made it to the store yesterday so she stocked up.  We buy those small cuttie oranges, the kids love them and they are very easy to eat on the go and are great for you.  I ate that and drank the water on my way to work.

With only 3 days left in the month/quarter it means busy days for me at work.  Again this keeps my mind focused on work and not snacks!  When its a slow and boring day you can easily find yourself wanting to snack on anything in sight.  Today was not one of those days.
Lunch came and went pretty quickly.  Around 2pm I looked at the time and said "wow, its already 2pm, I need to eat".  I heated up my grilled chicken breast, filled up my water, went back to my desk and inhaled it!  It hit the spot and did the trick.

I got home from work about 6:15pm and Dawn had dinner ready to go.  She made home made Chinese Chicken Salads.  They were great!  Dinner was that, another orange and water.    After dinner I had more work to do, but did get some time to relax on the couch for an hour.  I watched Master Chef and wanted to eat everything they were cooking.  I am glad they were cooking dinner meals not deserts.  Because I had more work to do I was unable to get out and do some good exercising.  I did however do 125 crunches, hey I'm improving little by little.

Overall the day was awesome.  I ate great all day and didn't have nearly as many cravings as in the past.  I will add that its starting to get easier when at work to not want to snack.  I will face a huge challenge tomorrow as I work from home on Wednesdays.  With a freshly stocked house of food I will for sure be tested to stay strong.  Wish me luck.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Orange & Water Bottle
• Lunch:  Grilled Chicken Breast & 1 Orange (Small).
• Afternoon Snack: None
• Dinner: Chinese Chicken Salad (home made) & water
• Exercise:  125 crunches
• Bonus:  No soda, coffee or beer.
• Grade:  B (could have been an A had I done more exercising)

Day 5: 241 pounds

Monday, June 27th and day 5 of my journey.  I felt good when I work up, so decided I would get on the scale to see what kind of damage I had done.  Now I didn't except to see a huge drop just because I still have not caught full stride with my eating and exercise.  However I did think I would see some results.  Sure enough I was down 4 pounds since day one (4 full days).  Going forward I will for sure update my weight every Monday if not more.

We didn't get a chance to get to the store this weekend nor did I get more protein powder, so breakfast was whatever I could round up really quick on my way out.  There was still one hard boiled egg in the fridge so I went with that (egg white only) before hitting the road and dropping the girls off.  Now for at least the past 2 months every Monday I would stop for an iced coffee.  It had been become part of my daily routine more so then any other day of the week.  It had got to the point that the girl working the drive thru on Monday's knew me by name.  Well I'm proud to say that I didn't even think about it today.  I'm sure one of these days I will treat myself, however for right now I don't need it.

Around 11:30am I was really starting to feel my stomach talking.  With only eating one egg white and two glasses of water up to that point I didn't know how I was going to make it two more hours.  See I like to eat lunch between 1pm and 2pm when I'm at work.  It makes my days seem quicker, and when you have no desire to be there it really helps.

I was able to make it till one o'clock before heading out for lunch.  Since we didn't get to the store this weekend I didn't bring anything with me.  When this happens the best solution is the grilled chicken wrap from Wendy's.  Not only is it somewhere good for me (no tortilla, chicken and lettuce only) its also the closest place to my work.  When you have dress pants and a shirt on, the goal is to spend the least amount of time possible in the 110 degree heat.

Baseball time!  We dropped the kids off and picked up the Babcocks and headed to Chase Field.  Upon walking into the ballpark and smelling all that great food, seeing people carrying beers I got worried.  There was so many bad things around me that I could easily give into.  Brett and I made our way to the concession stands around the 2nd inning.  Now one great thing about Chase Field is they have value menus that consist of Lil Slugger Hot Dogs (these are the size of a Slim Jim in a bun), Corn Dogs, small drinks, pretzels, popcorn and a few other items.  I got two of the Lil Slugger Hot Dogs and one small diet Pepsi.  Yes I know two hot dogs is not good on a diet, but it was about the best I could do for the environment I was in.  I was not about to leave the line I had waited 15 minute in just to hope and find something better.  I will also add that two very and I mean very small hot dogs is much better then a basket of chicken fingers and fries or pizza.  So I was still holding my head high.  Oh and also, no beer!  However that's probably more because I didn't want to pay $9 for it.

Overall I think the day was good.  It started out great with me being down 4 pounds since I started.  I had a good breakfast and lunch.  And even for going to a baseball game I think I did pretty well.  We didn't get home till about midnight (that's why this post is coming out this morning) so there was no exercise.  However we did park on level 5 of the garage and used the stairs both ways and we walked around the game a lot. 

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  One Egg White
• Lunch:  Grilled Chicken & Lettuce
• Afternoon snack:  None
• Dinner:  2 Hot Dogs (Kid size) & Small Diet Pepsi
• Exercise:  Nothing really.  However did lots of walking at the baseball game.
• Bonus:  No coffee, soda or beer.  Lots of water!
• Grade:  C

Day 4

Its day 4 and I have yet to weigh myself since day one.  I’m not sure when it will come, but it could be soon. So stayed tuned!

I woke up just before 9am and was starving.  Could it be a result of being up till 1am last night?  I did think about making more hard boiled eggs, but ended up going with some Oatmeal with fresh fruit (apples, raisins and craisins).  It was yummy.

I ate a quick lunch at 1:30 before heading out to my in-laws (I love Sunday dinners and family time).  The egg salad needed to be finished as it really only can last a day or two before you have to toss it.  I only had ½ a sandwich, and it was a perfect fill till dinner.

We hung out at Bill and Donna’s for a few hours before heading out to Joe’s BBQ with all the family.  I did however enjoy two bottles of water while watching Teen Wolf and Swingers.  We ended up eating dinner around 5:30pm and I had a nice big plate of protein.  Grilled chicken breast and pulled pork with just a little bit of sauce on it (no bread).  My side dish was their awesome baked beans.  Tasty beverage you ask, yup water again.

Tomorrow night the Indians come to town to play the DBacks and we will be going to game to watch Louis.  Of course I will be pulling for the DBacks to win, however it will be awesome to see him have a few good games.  Aside from the game, the challenge will be just being in the ballpark surrounded by all that great food. I should be able to hold off on having beer, but nachos, oh man thats going to be tough.  

Daily Recap:

·         Breakfast:  Oatmeal with fresh fruit.

·         Lunch:  ½ egg salad sandwich

·         Afternoon snack:  none

·         Dinner:  Grilled chicken breast and pulled pork with baked beans (Joes BBQ)

·         Exercise: Only 100 crunches

·         Bonus:  No coffee, soda or beer.  Lots of water!

·         Grade:  B

Day 3

Its day 3 and I’m still not ready to weigh myself, maybe on Monday! 

So the day started off with my alarm going off yet again at 5am.  I thought to myself “wait its Saturday morning and I’m trying to get up before 7am for something other than golfing, yeah not happening”. 

Around 7:30 Charlotte started yelling for me to come get her, so I figured it was time to get up.  The important question was what I was going to make for breakfast.  It was just me, Brady and Charlotte as Dawn was taking Lily to dance and gymnastics.  I gave the fridge a quick look over and at first glance I didn’t see anything that will work for me.  Left over pizza from the other night, barf!  Dawn’s left over chicken sandwich from lunch yesterday, negative!  Left over Orange Chicken, umm maybe for lunch.  So I took my eyes to the pantry but had the same results.  Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks, Foot Loops, pass!  As you can tell we don’t really like cereal in this household (haha).  We have lots of bread so I could have made some peanut butter (chunky or course) toast, but still was not feeling it.  (Wait, we have Clam Chowder and Mini Ravioli’s, hmm interesting!)  Next up was the freezer and I the first thing I see is some Linguica. You might be wondering what the heck that is.  Well it’s a Portuguese type sausage from Fall River, MA.  I grew up on the stuff and it’s awesome.  Come on by if you want to try some, I have a freezer full.  So anyways, back to the subject.  The Linguica would need to be thawed out and I didn’t want to wait.  However the idea of Linguica got me thinking about eggs (its good with eggs).  I didn’t even look for eggs the first time I was in the fridge and sure enough we had a new dozen.  So I ended up boiling 9 of them and ate 3 (egg whites only).  So overall breakfast was a huge success for me.  I was tempted by lots of things, be settled for something very healthy. 

After eating my egg whites and putting Charlotte down for a nap I got surprise attacked by Brady with his Nerf dart gun.  Now I know I can’t really call this exercise, but I ran around the house for 15 minutes chasing him as we shot each other.  I was sweating!  I then had to put my focus on cleaning our bedroom and bathroom.  To me this is a form of exercise; however it’s nowhere near the same as running, hiking, biking, etc.  

I had a nice good sweat going when I was done cleaning our room.  One would think it’s a result of our room having five windows and the sun/heat pumping in, nope I’m just a sweaty beast!  Just walking to take out the garbage will result in me looking like I just got out of the shower.  Sorry for those details.  Now during this entire time I was not tempted to snack at all since I was so focused on cleaning.  I did however chug down two water bottles in the process. 

Egg Salad was on the lunch menu made from the left over eggs I cooked for breakfast.  Dawn is a big fan of my egg salad, so I figured I would put good use to the eggs.  We didn’t really have any other options so I went with a sandwich.  I told myself “one small sandwich on wheat bread won’t be bad.  Could be worse, I could be eating a Green Chili burrito from Filbertos!”  However that did sound really good.  In my eyes lunch was a success as well.

We headed over to Ashley and Brett’s around 5pm for some swimming and dinner.  I was hoping and praying that it would be something grilled out rather than ordering pizzas.  We even brought some steaks from the house with hopes of hinting the idea.  Once we got there we quickly got in the pool and boy was it enjoyable.  The kids had a blast.  I told Brett that we brought some steaks and he said “cool because I’m going to make some kabobs”.  Awesome!  After about an hour or so swiming, Brett and I headed into the kitchen to prepare the food.  As he was precooking the chicken and steak I was working on cutting up the veggies (Green & Red Peppers, Red Onion and Pineapple).  Dawn worked on husking the corn for corn on the cob.  We did have to take a quick time out before eating so Dawn and Ashley could play doctor as all the kids had cuts on the bottom of their feet from the pool.  Poor Jake was the worst; he literally had holes in each toe.  However it did make for an awesome limp walking around the house.   Once all that was all behind us we got to eating around 6:30pm.  All the kids’ plates were made so it was my turn to dig in and I must say I went to town.  Grilled chicken and steak with veggies and corn is a perfect dinner loaded with protein and of course the fresh veggies are a huge plus. 

After dinner came more swimming, just for the adults this time.  I jumped in about 8pm and didn’t get out till 11:30pm.  Yes I was a prune, but when you’re floating around, relaxing and having awesome conversations about the Ninja Turtles and their weapons you quickly lose track of time.  Another big conversation point was my diet and this blog.  Brett said “if you get under 200 pounds you’re going to look like an dork”.  We shall see my friend =).

Bed time at 1am..wow!

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  2 Hard Boiled Eggs (Whites Only)
• Lunch:  Egg Salad Sandwich
• Afternoon snack:  None
• Dinner:  Grilled Chicken & Steak Kabobs with peppers, onions, pineapple and Corn on the Cobb. 
• Exercise:  Cleaning Bedroom/Bathroom (1hr), Swimming (4 hrs)
• Bonus:  No coffee, soda or beer.  Only water!
• Grade:  B+

Day 2

Its day 2 and I’m not going to weigh myself because I don’t want to see the results after my dinner from last night (stupid Bryan).

My cell phone alarm went off at 5am and sure enough I hit snooze the first time, and then the second and third.  I guess I’m not cut out for waking up earlier then I need to.  Sleep = awesomeness!  We will try it again tomorrow. 

I arrived to work around 9:15am and had not eaten or drank anything up to the moment.  I know this is not good as breakfast is the most important time of the day to eat something.  However I didn’t have much time this morning as I was running a bit behind schedule, or maybe I was just being lazy and taking my sweet time getting ready because I didn’t want to go to work.  I had finished all my protein powder yesterday so that was not an option and as much as I love me some frosted flakes, I decided to pass on those as well.  Needless to say I was starving by the time I got to work.  However missing breakfast probably wasn’t a bad thing considering what I ate last night for dinner (stupid Bryan), so I knew a few tall glasses of water would hold me over till lunch time.  I did however fight off the temptation of stopping to get coffee again (High Five!).

It was a busy morning of work so I didn’t think about food at all till about 1pm.  I like it when that happens.  I also didn’t bring my lunch as again I didn’t have the time to prepare it this morning (lazy me).  I knew it was about 110 out and didn’t really want to step foot outside of my building, but knew I needed to eat something so I had to suck it up.  I decided to go to Wendy’s and get a grilled chicken wrap and only eat the chicken and lettuce.  They actually grill the chicken fresh when you order it, so it wasn’t too bad and was a good source of protein.  My lunch did get postponed till about 2pm because when I went to leave I noticed that I was the only person in my department.  I thought it might not be a good idea to leave when the owner and CEO of the entire company was walking around.

I do think that the Zingers winked at me from within the vending machine when I went to fill up my water.

Dawn cooked dinner tonight and we are around 6:30pm.  Orange Chicken and Broccoli over white rice was on the menu.  I was very hungry and couldn’t help but sneak a few “samples” as Dawn was putting on the final touches.  I normally choose the large dinner plate, but went with the small one.  After I cleaned the plate I was still hungry and did go back for a few more pieces of chicken and broccoli.  I feel that dinner was a success and I didn’t go over the top.  I could have easily gone back a few times and polished off the rice and chicken, but I stayed strong.  Everything was washed down with water only!

After dinner we decided it would be a good night for a Red Box movie.  Dawn headed up to Walgreen's and returned with “The Dilemma” (Vince Vaughn & Kevin James), a box of Snicker Ice Cream bars and one Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich for me.  She is so awesome to think of getting me something that might fit into my diet.  She is the best!  However I passed on it tonight because I knew I had that extra helping of chicken at dinner.

We finished the movie around 10:30pm and I didn’t snack at all during it.  However because of our family “in house” date night I was unable to get any exercise in yet again.  This is not good and I know I must do something about it.  There is no way I’m going to hit my goals by just adjusting my diet.  Yes I will lose weight, however adding regular exercise will make it drop even faster.  Come on Bryan!

Its 11pm and as I’m finishing this post I noticed that the food network is on in the background and it’s the show Unwrapped.  They are showing how they make Fritos Honey BBQ Twists chips.  Seriously, I want some.  I quickly turned it to Quick Pitch on MLB network for some baseball highlights.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  None
• Lunch:  Grilled Chicken over Lettuce and Water.
• Afternoon snack:  None
• Dinner:  Orange Chicken and Broccoli over White Rice with Water!
• Exercise:  None!
• Bonus:  No soda or coffee.  Only water.
• Overall Grade: C+

Day 1: 245 pounds

Today is day one of my journey to lose 46 pounds (or more) and break the 200 pound mark.  There are two main reasons why I’m doing this.  One is that a long time friend I have known since moving to Arizona is getting married and will be having his bachelor party in Vegas for a small group of long time friends.  Now normally this would not be an issue, however the guest list for the party consists of not one person over weight and everyone being in great shape.  Well everyone except me and the extra 45+ pounds I carry in my back pocket!  So my first goal in this process is to lose 20 pounds in two months.  Well really it’s 65 days that I’m trying to make this happen.  There will be some hanging out pool side and I don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb.  The other reason for this is simple; it’s time to make a change!  My ultimate goal is to “Break 200”.  The last time I can remember being less than 200 pounds on a regular basis was my high school years and the few years after.  Ready for this, I graduated at 160 pounds!  Yes that’s correct I’m currently 85 pounds heavier then what I was when I graduated.  Granted it’s been 16 years and it’s normal for people to pack on some extra pounds after high school, however not 85 of them!  I don’t need to get that low again; however in the 185-190 range would be great.  If I can weigh what my driver’s license says (190lbs) I will be one happy camper. 

In case you’re wondering when and how this weight gain started, well I can almost pin point the moment it all started to go downhill.  I don’t remember the exact date, but it was the winter of 1995/1996.  I had gone skiing with my dad, Justin and his brother Lance.  This was the first time I had ever been on a set of skis.  The day went well all up to the last run of the day when I decided to try a little harder of a run.  I will spare the details, but let’s just say that my upper body and legs didn’t go in the same direction.  The result was a partially torn ACL in my right knee!  From this moment it was all downhill. 

I never had surgery as per the Doctors it would heal itself since it was not 100% torn.  Now up to this point I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted as I was very active, exercising daily, played men’s league baseball 2 nights a week, basketball multiple nights per week, etc.  However because of the injury to my knee I found myself not able to do any of this stuff anymore or at least on a regular basis.  As my knee continued to heal, I continued to eat the same stuff (lots of eating out) and not be as active as I once was.  This continued and continued as time went on.  Now I didn’t become a complete couch potato and let myself go to waste, I’m just saying that I was not as active anymore and didn’t have the same passion to exercise.  A few years down the road and I added in a serious relationship (that lead to marriage, love you Dawn), a desk job and eventually 3 kids (Brady, Lily, Charlotte).  The result of this is no free time, lots and lots of eating out and sitting around.  I have joined the gym a few times on and off over the years, however never sticking with it!  I also started playing softball a few years after the injury and have continued to play on and off to this day, however one day a week and barley moving (its softball people) is not the best form of exercise.

So I’m hoping it all ends today.  It’s not going to be easy as this is a major change in lifestyle that I need to brace myself for.  Not only will I be forced to exercise daily, but most importantly I will have to change my diet and make sure that I stick with eating healthy foods and smaller portions.  As a family we don’t eat out that much, maybe on a Friday or Saturday, but other than that we cook at home.  Dawn is turning into the Next Food Network Star and has been making some great meals.  My problem is I have multiple helpings because they are so good (it’s hard to stop)! 

I won’t be going under the knife, taking weight loss drugs, staving myself or anything of that nature.  I will continue to eat, it’s just how and what I eat that will be getting changed.  I know there will be days when I slip up as staying perfect is not possible.  Its how I rebound back that’s important.  So with that said I hope you follow me during this journey and root me on!

Now as for today, well it began well.  I did face a big challenge this morning on my way to work.  There is place called Dunkin Donuts, maybe you have heard of it.  Well they have the best coffee and as everyone knows I have a serious problem and addiction to their iced coffee.  Their iced French Vanilla with cream and sugar is like crack.  Just typing that made my mouth water!  However I didn’t cave and settled for a vanilla protein shake for my drive into work.  Now when you’re used to such greatness in a drink and you go to drinking flavored water on the rocks, well it’s a big shock!

I started to think about lunch around 12pm and knew it was going to be tough.  I have been used to going out to eat while at work, however I did bring my lunch (broccoli and grilled chicken) and was looking forward to it all morning.  When heating it up I was challenged yet again.  This time it wasn’t a store or restaurant, it was the vending machine.  I could feel it glaring at me saying…you know you want some chips! See chips are another huge weak point for me.  I could sit down and kill an entire bag in no time.  Lately I have been hooked on the Cheddar Cheese flavored Sun Chips, can you say awesome!  So as the microwave was running I was thinking “they would make a perfect side dish to my chicken and broccoli”.  I even reached into my pocket and pulled out a dollar bill.  However at that moment I told myself “don’t do it Bryan, be strong it’s only day one”.  I didn’t get them and returned to my desk to enjoy my chicken and broccoli.  I chased it down with some awesome H2O!

Around 3:30 I started to get hungry again and stated to think about dinner.  I had no clue what the Iron Chef was cooking, however didn’t care based on how hungry I was.  I was also starting to feel the lack of caffeine as my head was starting to pound.  To hold me over till dinner I made another Vanilla Protein shake.  It tasted way better this time.

Dawn called me when I was on my way home wanting to know what I wanted to do for dinner.  That was not good news for me as I knew it would more than likely result in eating out.  Sure enough we did and drove around for about 30 minutes trying to decide on what to eat.  We ended up trying a new place called “Sal’s Gilbert Pizzeria”.  We have seen this place many times and have always wanted to try it just never have had the chance.  I know what you’re thinking; eating pizza on day one of a diet is not the route to go.  However I didn’t care at that point.  We had thrown out tons of suggestions that all got shot down because the place was either too busy or one of us didn’t like it.  Joe’s BBQ was the first one we agreed on and I was really looking forward to their grilled chicken sandwich and backed beans, however the line was out the door and for those that know where Joe’s is knows why.  For those that don’t, well the front door faces dead west and at 6pm standing outside when it’s still 100 out is not the best idea.  So pizza it was.  However Lilly was very set on going to “John’s” as she kept calling it.

Upon sitting down at Sal’s and them giving us free garlic knots, I quickly knew it was going to be a bad dinner for me.  Yes I then caved at that moment and gave into everything that I shouldn’t.  Boy this diet thing is not going to be easy.  So we ordered the Thursday family special, large pizza, 20 wings and salad.  Yeah I know what everyone is wondering, what flavor wings did I order.  Do I really need to answer that?  The look I had when they brought them to the table could only be compared to a small child’s on Christmas morning.  I was that excited!

2 garlic knots, 12 wings and two slices of pizza later and I was spent!  I felt like I just competed against Adam on Man vs. Food!   I even told Dawn that I need to get up and walk around because it felt like I had a bowling ball in my stomach.  Now I know that I blew my entire day with this dinner, however I’m chalking it up to an experiment for not having eaten there before.  You can’t go to a new restaurant for the first time and order Soup and Salad.  You need to see what they have to offer.  We highly recommend this place to anyone who might live or be in the area of Gilbert and Warner.

As for exercise, well I couldn’t even start to think about that as I was still trying to come out of the food comma from dinner.  So I parked myself on the couch and watched So You Think You Can Dance.  Yeah that’s right I watch that show and love it.  At least I watched people exercise!

I decided to set my alarm for 5:00am the next morning with hopes of getting up early and exercising.  Dawn does this a lot during the week and says it’s so nice to get up and exercise at that hour.  We will see!

So that’s it for my first day and post.  I know it was a lot to read and I thank you for sticking it out through the entire thing.  I promise I will try and cut them down in size as I go forward. 

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Protein Shake (12oz)
• Lunch:  Left over steamed broccoli mixed with grilled chicken!
• Afternoon snack:  Protein Shake (12oz)
• Dinner:  Pizza (2 slices) and Chicken Wings (12)
• Exercise:  None.  Dinner kicked my butt and I still had a pounding headache (thanks no coffee).
• Bonus:  No soda or coffee, only water!
• Overall Grade:  F