6.23.2011

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

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for telling me about your blog. I will support you and read about your progress everyday...you can do it Bryan!
    Love, MOM

    ReplyDelete