Day 131: 231 pounds

Happy Halloween!  Dawn was a cooking machine today in honor of this spooky holiday (haha).  She made same pumpkin bread (amazing) and chili.  Chili is a yearly tradition in our house on Halloween.  I love it when she makes chili because there will be leftovers for the week! 

As she was working on that stuff, I was working on gutting the pumpkins for all the seeds.  After I had all those set aside I cleaned them off, mixed up some seasoning and baked them.  Nothing better than fresh pumpkin seeds out of the oven.  Then of course came the candy, lots of candy.  Dawn took kids trick or treating while I stayed home and handed out candy (80 bars to be exact).  They came home with 3 over flowing buckets of candy.  I think we need to donate most of it.

So as we see October come to an end with chili and candy, we see the start of November and pretty much the start of the holidays.   I will say that these are the best months of the year when you have kids.  I love them!  I'm also setting a new goal with hopes to get things going.  I have been in a slump and think that if I set a goal by a deadline I will hit it.  So I'm giving myself 24 days (Thanksgiving) to lose 10 pounds.  If I can get back out there and exercise daily and start doing situps, squats and lunges again I should have no problem hitting this goal!

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Coffee
• Morning Snack:  String Cheese
• Lunch:  Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich with some Cheez Its
• Dinner:  Chili (over Frito's)
• Dessert:  Pumpkin Bread (1 slice) and a Kit Kat (bite size)
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  231 pounds
• Grade:  D+

Day 130

It was awesome out today and what better way to spend it than going golfing.  I even got a sun burn in the process!  On my way to the course I stopped and got an ice coffee from Dunkin and treated that as my breakfast.  Since we started at 10:30am, lunch was going to have to wait till after we were done.  There was a birthday party at 2pm today for London (cousin) so Dawn took the kids to that while I finished up my round.  After golf Brett and I headed over to the party and got busy eating!  They had one of those huge party subs, so that was perfect for me!  I had two small pieces of that with a few snack meatballs and a few bottles of water.  I ate it so fast I don't think I even tasted it.  Since it was a late lunch (4pm) I didn't find a need to eat dinner again.  However I did sneak a few yogurt covered pretzels in while putting away the groceries.  Yum!

As for exercise, well I went golfing for 5 hours so there ya go.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Ice Coffee
• Lunch:  Turkey & Ham Sandwich and some snack meatballs
• Dinner:  n/a
• Exercise:  Golf (5 hours)
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  B+

Day 129

It was a pretty nice Saturday, no Bed Bath & Beyond or Home Depot, but still pretty nice (haha)!  A normal Saturday morning has me taking Brady to baseball practice and Lily to dance.  However this morning was different as Brady had a birthday party to get to at 10am for one of his cousins.  He was spending the night as well so it was just me and a house of girls till tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

As for my eating and exercise.  Well, my eating was not the greatest, but I knew when to stop and not over due it.  Exercise, didn't really do any of that other than walk around the mall for a few house if that counts.  I did have to carry Lily a few times and I'm sure that burns extra calories.  Yeah I know I'm trying to talk myself into thinking I did good (haha).  I am golfing tomorrow so that will help a little bit.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Bagel
• Lunch:  Leftover Pizza (2 slices) & Wings (3)
• Dinner:  none, I was not hungry at all after lunch and didn't feel I needed to eat.
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  D+

Day 128: 230 pounds

What another crazy and busy day it was for me today!  Friday's should be easy and non stressful, well not this one.  The pile of work I had yesterday rolled over into today.  Friday's the girls don't go to the sitters so getting that work done with no interruptions was not an option.  On top of that Lily was still not feeling good and I had decided it was time to make a Doctors Apt.  The boiling point was the round of throw up last night mixed in with her yelling that her ear hurt.  When they say their ear hurts, its a no brainier, time for the doctors.  The good news is I was down another pound since Wednesday! 


Charlie went down for a nap around 10:30am allowing me to get some work done in a quiet house (Lily was playing in her room).  Today was also the day Dawn got home, so that made things easier come the time I had to get Lily to the doctors.  Mixed in among all of this was me having to eat some food.  The nice thing about being busy like this is you don't really thing about food, you just go go go.  So my breakfast and lunch we easy quick meals at home.  However then came dinner!  We had some guests over so it was Friday pizza and wing night while watching game 7 of the World Series.  I have the rest of the weekend to make up for what I ate tonight, and I plan on doing just that. 


Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Bagel & Coffee
• Morning Snack:  Celery & Peanut Butter
• Lunch:  Frozen Lean Gourmet meal
• Dinner:  Pizza & Wings =(
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  230 pounds (down 1 pound)
• Grade:  F

Day 127

It was a very busy day for me today.  Not only did I have a ton of work to do, but it was Thursday meaning its cleaning day.  On top of all that I had Lily home sick again.  So of course to get the day started I had to get an iced coffee in me.  Works every time!  Normally on Thursdays I will get all the cleaning done between 10am-12pm, or in that ballpark.  I have found that getting it all done during the week makes for a much easier and laid back weekend.  Plus the house is normally empty so it goes quicker.  However today was a it different.  I had a ton of work so I cleaned the house little by little as I found time.  I think I started around 11am and put the final touches on it around 4pm.  Talk about multitasking! 

Of course between work and cleaning I found time to get some food in my system.  Lunch was quick and easy as I heated up the left overs from dinner last night.  I did manage to get a few small snacks in as well, on top of lots of water!  Before picking up Charlie I looked at the "meal plan" list Dawn left for us.  Tonight it said "pickup/take out"!  This was perfect as I didn't want to cook anything because that meant I had more cleaning to do.  No thanks!  So after picking up Charlie the kids decided on Wendy's for dinner.  I think they only picked that because they know they have frosty's.  Of all the fast food joints, Wendy's is my favorite because of their grilled chicken wrap.  I got two of those and that was it.  No fries, soda or frosty for me.

After dinner came a little more work and some baseball watching.  I will say what a great game!  Not the outcome I wanted, but none the less an amazing game!  Texas will get their title tomorrow.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Lunch:  Leftover Meat & Pasta meal
• Afternoon Snack:  Grapes & String Cheese
• Dinner:  Grilled Chicken Wrap (2)
• Exercise:  House cleaning (2.5 hours)
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  B+

Day 126: 231 pounds

I weighed myself this morning and was down a pound and half from Monday.  I will take it as its back in the right direction on where I need to be.  It really stinks to know that I was once at 226 pounds (62 days ago when I left for Vegas), and have gone back up a few pounds.  However I'm using that as motivation to get back down.  I wont let the "weight" win!  The good news is I'm far away from where I once peaked at.

Lily was not feeling that good today so she stayed home with me.  She was such a good girl and allowed me to get some work done.  Come lunch time she wanted to share some chicken nuggets and I couldn't let her down so we dug in.  After lunch came more celery and peanut butter, but just for me.  In case your wondering it was chunky peanut butter.  Yeah that's the only kind that matters!  Getting little chunks of peanuts mixed in with the creaminess is simply brilliant!  Its really starting to turn into a favorite snack of mine.  Its quick, easy and somewhat healthy.  I have enough peanut butter to last a few years (thanks Dawn), but do need more celery.  Cheap! 

Come dinner time Brady headed to the "list" Dawn left us that had dinners outlined for the week.  Tonight was...brace yourself....Chef Boyardee Ravioli, Hot Pockets and String Cheese!  Yes that is no typo.  She must have forgot this is a family house not a frat house!  So I scratched that and made a Velveeta Cheese Skillet meal and mixed in some veggies.  It was a big hit.  Not to say that mini raviolis and hot pockets wouldn't be =).

After dinner came game time for Brady.  It was an awesome game with them winning 13-5.  He got the start at pitcher and only 13 pitches to get out of the inning.  He walked one, got a ground out and then two strike outs.  As for hitting, he was 2-4 (triple & single), 2 runs, 1 RBI and a strike out.  Great game buddy!

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Bagel
• Lunch:  Chicken Nuggets with my Princess
• Afternoon Snack:  Celery with Peanut Butter
• Dinner:  Meat & Pasta Skillet meal and some mixed veggies
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  B+

Day 125

What a better day today was and its all because I had some coffee.  Monday was a killer because I passed on the coffee and had the caffeine with drawls big time.  I had one of the worst headaches ever because of it and I was a bit grumpy.  Well not today, I was full of energy!

Before getting deep into work, I enjoyed a bagel and some grapes for breakfast.  This held me over till about 1pm when I decided to eat lunch.  I'm out of my grilled chicken breasts so it was a frozen Lean Gourmet meal.  They were recently on sale and Dawn loaded up on them.  She has been hooting and hollering about the lasagna so I decided to give it a try.  She was right as its pretty good for a "lean" meal!  I later enjoyed a mid day snack that consisted of a bowl of grapes and some celery with peanut butter.  Come dinner time the house was crazy with all the kids running around and me trying to get things in order.  Dawn left us a list of possible meals for each night and it was frozen pizza and corn night.  They kids loved it!  After dinner I gave them all baths and we headed  out to my work as I needed to pick up a few things that have been in the office.  I told the kids if they were good I would get them some ice cream on the way home.  They were so they got to enjoy a hot fudge Sunday from McDonald.  I had will power and got nothing!  By the way a Sunday from McDonald's is only a dollar.  What a smoking deal! 

After the kids were in bed it was time for me to relax and watch some TV.  As for exercise, well I didnt get to do any running or biking because its just me this week.  I did however get out and do the yard work on my lunch hour, so that counts for something.  Also being a single parent for the week will keep me very active and get me plenty of exercise in other ways.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Bagel & Grapes
• Lunch:  Lean Gourmet Lasagna (frozen meal)
• Afternoon Snack:  Celery with Peanut Butter & Grapes
• Dinner:  Frozen Pizza & Corn
• Exercise:  Yard Work (1 hour)
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  B+

Day 124: 232 pounds

Back to work and back on track with my diet and exercise.  I decided to pass on coffee this morning for the first time in a while.   Boy was that a mistake!   By mid day the caffeine withdrawal was killing me as I had one of the worst headaches ever.  I don’t think I can deal with that again, so it’s back to coffee I go!

Dawn made cottage cheese and noodles; yes I said cottage cheese and noodles for dinner.  Her mom makes it and it’s another huge favorite of ours.  Mix in some green beans and some rolls and your all set.  Trust me and try it.  Brady had a game tonight so there was no time for exercising. 

Daily Recap:

·         Breakfast:  Cereal

·         Lunch:  Cheese Crisp & Grapes

·         Dinner:  Cottage Cheese & Noodles with green beans and rolls.

·         Exercise:  n/a

·         Weight:  232 pounds

·         Grade:  B+

Day 123

Woke up early and went golfing at Kokopelli.  It was a really good round as I shot a 79!  On the way to the course I stopped and got some coffee to help kick start my day.  The round came with lunch so after we were done I enjoyed a Cheeseburger with Fries.  I love me some Golf Course food!  After golf it was straight home to relax and watch some football before heading out to Schnepf’s Farm in Queen Creek.  It’s a yearly thing that we all do with Dawn’s family.  They have all kinds of things to do for the kids, good food and a haunted train ride.  Good times!  However I didn’t really dig into all the food they had because I had what everyone was saying is gas.  Yeah me having gas, no big deal right, I have it all the time.  This was not that type of gas.  It was the internal kind and I will say that its some of the worst pain I have ever had to deal with. 

Daily Recap:

·         Breakfast:  Iced Coffee

·         Lunch:  Cheeseburger & Fries

·         Dinner:  Hotdog (I wasn’t that hungry)

·         Exercise:  Golfed and walked around a farm for 4 hours!

·         Weight:  n/a

·         Grade:  C+

Day 122

Dawn was watching 4 of the cousins, so that meant it was up to me to get Brady to practice and Lily to dance again.  Thanks goodness for coffee!  Lunch was chicken nuggets, grapes and some chips.  Hey, what else are you going to feed 7 kids on a Saturday afternoon?  After all the kids were picked up we left to go run some errands and to put the final touches on the kids Halloween costumes.  When we got home Dawn cooked dinner, it was her Chicken Ranch Pasta.  It’s a huge favorite in this household.  After dinner we took the kids to Bahama Bucks for some shaved ice.  Awesome!

Daily Recap:

·         Breakfast:  Iced Coffee

·         Lunch:  Chicken Nuggets & Grapes

·         Dinner:  Chicken & Pasta with Peas and Carrots

·         Dessert:  Shaved Ice

·         Exercise:  n/a

·         Weight:  n/a

·         Grade:  C+

Day 121

It was an ok day for me.  Started off good with an bagel for breakfast and then some celery and peanut butter with grapes for lunch.  Yeah I know that's an odd combination, however I ate them separate not at the same time.  For a Friday I was really busy with work, bummer.  Then came dinner time.  It was family game night so we ordered a pizza, some wings and then played a game.  Lily fell asleep so it was just me, Dawn and Brady.  He really wanted to play Monopoly, we warned him that its not a quick game.  I have the Golf one so rather than buying Boardwalk you are buying Pebble Beach.  Its pretty cool.  After 3 hours we all decided to call it a game.  I was kicking major butt!

No exercise other than going to the park and pitching some balls to Brady. 

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Bagel
• Lunch:  Celery with Peanut Butter and Grapes
• Afternoon Snack:  String Cheese Stick
• Dinner:  Pizza & Wings (yes bad!)
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  F (thanks to Dinner)

Day 120

It was a solid day yet again for me.  Surprise surprise that it started off with an iced coffee from DD's!  I run on Dunkin!  Dawn and I cleaned the house before getting Brady on his half day.  After picking him up we went to taco bell for lunch (yummy).  Dinner was some leftovers and then it was game time for Brady's baseball game.  No exercise because of the game, didn't have time.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Lunch:  Taco Bell (2 tacos)
• Afternoon Snack:  String Cheese Stick
• Dinner:  Leftover Lasagna (small)
• Dessert:  Granola Bar (at game)
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  B+

Day 119

It was another decent day for me.  I started off with an iced coffee after taking the kids to school.  Its really the best and only way to start any day!  My eating was good and I didn't snack at all.  High Five to me!  Dawn made a homemade lasagna for the first time, so dinner was a special treat!  Oh and the results were simply amazing!  No exercise tonight as I was tired and just didn't feel like getting out.

Daily Recap: 

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee & Raisin Bran Cereal
• Lunch:  Nachos (Chips covered with shredded cheese and than baked)
• Afternoon Snack:  String Cheese Stick
• Dinner:  Lasagna, Broccoli & Garlic Bread
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  B+

Day 118

It was a much better day today after what was one of my worst days ever on Monday!  I ate good and didn't snack!  Brady had a late game (7:30pm) so there was no exercising, maybe tomorrow.  That's pretty much all I have to report on for today.  Short post!

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Raisin Bran Cereal
• Lunch:  Leftover Chicken Enchiladas
• Afternoon Snack:  String Cheese Stick
• Dinner:  Grilled Chicken Sandwich with some baked beans
• Dessert:  Granola Bar (at Brady's game)
• Exercise:  none
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  B+

Day 117

It was back to work today, oh how fun!  I have not been in the office in 3 weeks and now have 100% no desire to ever go back in.  But I know I need to at some point.  Working from home makes me feel like I'm my own boss.  I really like that feeling!

As for the rest of today, well it started off good, but went very south after that.  It started off with a bagel and coffee.  However a few hours after breakfast something must have clicked or turned off because I went on a bender and started to snack on just about anything I could find in the house.  After lunch (leftover spaghetti) it happened again and it was then it hit me what was going on.  At that point the day was lost and there was no hope of having a good, healthy and uplifting day.  So I decided to not care for the rest of the day.  Maybe having one really bad day where nothing matters would make me sick to where I would not want to do it again.  Call it a relapse of some sorts.  That was the plan I was going with and I'm pretty sure it worked. 

Dawn made Chicken Enchiladas and we had those with some beans and rice.  They were so so good and I couldn't help myself going back for seconds.  Oh and there was one leftover for me tomorrow!  To end the night I had a few mint cookies, small ones.  

So on that note the day is over and I wont forget it.  No daily recap today!

Day 116

It was just another Sunday!  I don't feel like writing much so I will keep this short and to the point.  I woke up early and went golfing with Dawn's dad, brother and uncle (shot an 80).  Our tee time was at 640am so on my way to the course I stopped and got an ice coffee.  Whats better than coffee and a golf on a early Sunday morning?  Nothing! 

After golf I came home and watched some football.  I was hungry so we all heated up some Pretzel Dogs.  That's a hot dog wrapped in soft pretzel for those that are lost.  It was good.  After eating that I just sat around and did nothing productive.  I did snack a little bit here and there on some chips.  When your watching football its hard to say no. 

Dinner was spaghetti with Italian sausage, garlic bread and broccoli.  Oh yeah that means leftovers for me!  After dinner the kids of course wanted ice cream.  Dawn took Brady and Lily to our new favorite place and brought me home one scoop (pineapple/coconut). 

Next came clean up the house, sit on the couch and watch some TV.  Oh and write this blog.  So that's about it for today.  Pretty easy and simple.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Lunch:  Pretzel Dog
• Afternoon Snack:  Chips (just a few)
• Dinner:  Spaghetti, Broccoli & Garlic Bread
• Dessert:  Ice Cream (1 scoop)
• Exercise:  Golf??
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  C+

Day 115

Woke up this morning and had to take Brady to baseball practice.  Before heading out I enjoyed a bowl of Raisin Bran.  I bitched about it because there didn't seem to be enough raisins, two scoops my ass!  So it was off to practice with a bunch of bran in my stomach and very little raisins.

I helped out the team with operating one of the pitching machines.  All the kids were hitting the ball good and putting it in play.  It was a very productive practice.  After practice we cleaned up and all headed out for some shopping.  Dawn, of course had a coupon to Children's Place (kids clothing store) for one day only.  Its starting to get cold here and Charlotte doesn't have any warm clothes so we needed to load up on some things.  On our way we stopped at Wendy's for a quick lunch.  I got a grilled chicken wrap.

Dinner was just me, Brady and Charlotte as Dawn went to a birthday party with Lily.  This worked out great because there was one piece of chicken left, some potatoes and broccoli from last night.  It was all mine!

No exercise tonight as I had a really bad stiff neck.  The kind where you cant look one way without having to completely move your body in that direction.  Yeah those suck.  I figured going out to run or ride a bike would not be comfortable.  So I decided to give it a rest and hope that it feels better in the morning when I go golfing.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Raisin Bran Cereal
• Lunch:  Grilled Chicken Wrap (1)
• Dinner:  Chicken Breast, Potatoes & Broccoli (leftovers)
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  C+ 

Day 114: 230 pounds

I guess it goes as figures that I didn't drop any weight since Wednesday based on what I ate yesterday (Thursday).  However the good news is I didn't gain either.  I took today off so no work from home, just relaxing with the family.  I had a doctors appointment at 830 (normal checkup) and didn't want to eat anything before hand just in case they needed to do blood work.  I have not taken my blood pressure medicine in a long time mainly because I didn't like the side affect it gave me (dry cough).  It sucked.  Yeah I could have gone in and got a new kind, but I have been lazy.  However I knew that with going on a diet and getting more exercise I might not need it anymore.  Well I wont lie, I was worried what it was going to be and what the doctor was going to say.  Well it was 120 over 80....perfect!  Looks like my change in diet and exercise has worked!  He said to keep an eye on it and if it starts to increase then I can go back to taking it.  No thanks!  After my appointment I had to go pick up some milk.  Dawn told me it was on smoking sale at Albertsons this week.  This was great news because Albertsons is in the same parking lot as Dunkin Donuts.  Coffee time! 

We all hung out at home and were nice and lazy today.  So lunch was a frozen pizza we all shared.  I love those kind of days, simple and easy!  Come early evening Dawn sent me to Safeway with a list and pile of coupons.  She was cooking dinner tonight and needed a few things and figured since I was going to Safeway I could get their sales/coupon things for the week.  I got a bunch of stuff and saved $40, so only spending $30 total.  When I got home the house smelt amazing.  She was cooking Parmesan crusted chicken breasts with some seasoned roasted potatoes and broccoli.  It was amazing!  I could not stop talking about it all night, seriously one of the best tasting meals I have had in a long time.  I cant wait for her to make it again. 

After dinner we told the kids they could get ice cream from the new local neighbor ice cream shop.  It was the same place we went the other night.  They have dollar scoops the month of October.  I couldn't say no and got one scoop of their Coconut Pineapple.  It was so good!  When we got home and both girls were already sleeping in the car so we put them to bed and watched a movie.  No exercise tonight, it was in house date night. 

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Lunch:  Frozen Pizza Slice (2)
• Dinner:  Parmesan Chicken, Roasted Potatoes & Broccoli
• Dessert:  Coconut Pineapple Ice Cream (1 Scoop)
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  230 pounds (same as previous weigh in)
• Grade:  C+

Day 113

It was an ok day for me, not bad but not a super duper great day either.  That's ok I cant be perfect everyday!  However it still was still good.  After dropping the girls off Dawn wanted a cup of the oatmeal from McDonald's, so Brady and I swung thru and picked one up.  I did have to add a coffee to the order in order to make it complete.  McDonald's coffee is not just for old people, its actually really good.  Good as Dunkin, umm not even close but its still good.  Tha was breakfast

We had sandwich's for lunch, not via the store deli and our house, but Jason's Deli.  Brady and I went to pick them up for the 3 of us.  I went with Pastrami and Swiss on wheat.  Talk about a good sandwich, and throw in the pickle spear and you have yourself a quality lunch.  Probably not the best, but still better then a greasy burger. 

Dinner is where it went a bit downhill.  When we picked up the girls we had to go drive around and scope out some places where Dawn could do a photo shoot for her friends brother and family.  They want some family holiday photos taken next month, so Dawn is on a mission to find the right place.  So after driving around for over an hour and having Charlotte screaming for food we had to make it a McDonald's dinner night.  I went with their Chicken Sandwich that compares to the Chick-Fil-A Original.  It was not as good (Chick-Fil-A rules), but it was still good and I would get it again sometimes.  Just not anytime soon as I can only allow myself to eat McDonald's every once in a blue moon!

It was my running night so I headed out for a little jog.  My feet and knees were still feeling a little weak so I did plenty of walking tonight.  I just wanted to get out and do something so I could stayed focused.  It was another nice night so I didn't mind at all being out there. 

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Coffee
• Lunch:  Pastrami Sandwich with Pickle
• Afternoon Snack:  Beef Jerky
• Dinner:  McDonald's Chicken Sandwich & Fries =(
• Exercise:  Run/Walk (30 minutes)
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  C-

Day 112: 230 Pounds

Yup, down 3 pounds since Monday, awesome!  As for today well it was another kick ass day for me.  Of course it had to start with some coffee, I mixed in a bagel with it!  Its starting to become one of my favorite combos.  I did some work for a few hours and then found myself bored.  So what did I do to kill some time......cleaned the house!  This gave me a good 2 and half hours of something to do.  Call me crazy, but I like to clean the house!  Its a really good way to get some great exercise without leaving the house.

Dawn made dinner again tonight, this time it was a chicken and broccoli casserole.  It was awesome!  However I cant say the same for the side of rice that we had with it.  It was brown rice and to me tasted like I was eating cardboard.  Don't worry, I'm not blaming this on Dawn and her cooking because in the bowl it looked amazing.  I blame it on the fact that its brown rice in general.  There is a reason I don't eat it and that's  because it tastes like garbage.  Dawn also agreed that it tasted funny.  It didn't take anything away from the chicken and broccoli meal, that was great.  Another awesome home cooked meal by the wife.  After dinner and clean up came time for more exercise.  Tonight I went out for a bike ride as I figured I would give my feet and heals the night off.  It was another perfect night to be outside. 

So like I said, it was another kick ass day for me.  My eating was good and I did lots of exercising.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Bagel & Coffee
• Morning Snack:  Crackers
• Lunch:  Grilled Chicken Breast with Spaghetti Meat Sauce on it (sounds weird, but was good)
• Afternoon Snack:  String Cheese Stick
• Dinner:  Chicken & Broccoli Casserole
• Exercise:  Bike Ride (30 minutes), House Cleaning including Mopping (2.5 hours)
• Weight:  230 pounds (3 pound drop since last weigh in)
• Grade:  A

Day 111

It was a good day for me making it two days in a row where I have been happy with my results.  I don't have much to share about my day because it was pretty boring.  The biggest thing I did that wasn't work related was taking Brady and Lily to the dentist.  Other than that it was a boring day of just work. 

Lucky for me the kids dentist office is just down the road from Dunkin Donuts meaning iced coffee for breakfast.  Awesome!  We still had some left over salad from last night so I got to enjoy that for lunch.  You see normally after dinner its my job to clean everything up and do the dishes.  Because of this I'm able to save the leftovers.  If it was up to Dawn they would go in the trash as she is not a fan.  So last night I made sure to save the little bit we had left so I could have it today.  I will say that it was just as good, if not better a day old.  As for dinner, that was a home cooked meal....spaghetti!  We still have not made a dent in all the spaghetti sauces we have in the pantry.  That's a good thing because I love spaghetti night!  After dinner we all had a piece of this yogurt cheesecake pie we got at Costco.  Its not normal cheesecake, but tastes like it however is made from yogurt.  So one little piece with the family would be ok with me. 

After everything was cleaned up and Charlotte was in bed I went out running.  It felt so good outside that it made running easy. 

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Morning Snack:  Crackers (few)
• Lunch:  Asian Chicken Salad (leftover)
• Afternoon Snack:  Grapes
• Dinner:  Spaghetti, Corn and Garlic Bread
• Desert:  Yogurt Cheesecake Pie (1 small piece)
• Exercise:  Running (20 minutes)
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  A

Day 110: 233 pounds

That's no joke, my weight has gone up to 233 pounds.  NOT GOOD!!!  This was enough motivation to get me back on track and focused again.  I don't feel like I have really gained weight, but understanding how your weight works is a mystery!  I have also decided to going back to weighing in every few days.  This forces me to keep a closer eye on it.  Seriously cant believe that I was 233 this morning.  Dumb!

So this week is fall break for both Brady and Lily meaning we have Brady hanging around all week.  Lily still goes to the sitter with Charlotte but Brady can stay home because he understands how to be quiet when we are working or are on the phone.  Lily still doesn't fully understand this, but is getting better.  So after we dropped the girls off I went and got a coffee and called that breakfast.  I got back to the house did some work for a few hours before heading to the small garage to finish cleaning it.  It looks so good that when I walk in there it feels like I'm in a different house.  I love it!  After cleaning the garage I took a quick shower and then made some lunch.  We still had a piece of left over chicken from the crock pot the other night.  I heated that up and a can of green beans.  I washed it all down with a nice big glass of H2O!  After lunch I did more work and mixed in a little afternoon snack consisting of beef jerky.  Hey its fat free and full of protein. 

Before having to pick up the girls we had to go pick up the van.  It has been at the Honda dealership the past few days having the wheel bearing replaced.  At first they said it was the drive shaft bearing, but that was wrong and it really was the wheel bearing.  Dawn dropped Brady and I off so we could get the van as she went to get the girls.  Before picking up the van we walked around the show room floor looking at the new cars.  I want a new Odyssey, they are amazing! 

Dinner was a salad that Dawn made from scratch.  It was an Asian Chicken Salad that had lots of good stuff in it.  It was awesome and a perfect dinner for me.  After dinner I cleaned up the kitchen, did the dishes and played with the kids for a little bit while we watched football.  Dawn is doing another photo shoot tomorrow taking photos of baby Carsyn.  So she had to go out tonight and get a few things meaning I didn't have time to go exercise.  But cleaning the garage was a good workout, I worked up a good sweat!  Tomorrow I will for sure get out and go for a run or bike ride.

Overall I feel like today was a good day!

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Morning Snack:  Grapes
• Lunch:   Baked Chicken Breast & Green Beans
• Afternoon Snack:  Beef Jerky
• Dinner:  Asian Chicken Salad
• Exercise:  n/a (garage cleaning)
• Weight:  233 pounds
• Grade:  B+

Day 109

Today sucked, well from a fantasy football standpoint.  I'm in 3 leagues this season and got my butt kicked in all 3!  On top of that I'm also in a pick'em league where you pick one team each week.  If that team wins you move on to next week, if they lose your eliminated.  The other catch is you cant pick the same team more than once.  So here we are in week 5 and everything is going good.  Both Dawn and I picked what looked to be the only lock of the week with the Giants beating the Seahawks.  Well we were wrong and so was 13 other people.  Oh and the Cardinals got killed by the 0-4 Vikings!

There was some good to come from the day.  My coffee this morning was amazing.  We had family dinner night at Dawn's parents house (Donna made french dip....awesome) and we found a new ice cream place.  It's not a chain, but independently owned and has dollar scoops.  You cant beat that when your a family of five! 

That's about all I have to say about today.  I have let myself go with my lack of exercise and bad eating habits the past few days.  But here me now when I say....tomorrow it starts full focus and full speed ahead. Its on!

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Bagel & Coffee
• Lunch:  none
• Afternoon Snack:  Beef Jerky
• Dinner:  French Dip, Mashed Potatoes, Noodles with Cottage Cheese
• Desert:  Ice Cream (1 Scoop)
• Exercise:  n/a
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  D 

Day 108

It was another amazing day of weather for us today.  I took full advantage and got out in the garage for more cleaning.  We are planning to have a garage sale in the next few weeks, so I cleaned out big garage, backed out my car and then started to move stuff over to that side that we are going to sell.  Within no time my small garage was starting to empty out and look good again.  Its amazing how much crap you can find to sell that you didn't really know you had.  After spending most of the morning working on the garage we had to leave to go drop Dawn's car off at the dealership.  It had been making this loud humming sound when driving and have been told it could be a possible wheel bearing issue.  Sure enough it was, well kind of, it was the drive shaft bearing.  After dropping the car off we all headed to Costco for some quality family time and lunch.  Nothing better than walking around Costco on a Saturday.  They have tons of free samples and all their Christmas stuff out.  Yes Christmas stuff already!  Dawn was cooking dinner and making an apple pie so I went easy at lunch and had just a hot dog. 

So dinner time finally came and I was starving and couldn't wait.  The house was smelling so good from the chicken in the crock pot and the apple pie in the oven.  Dinner was great, but it was the pie that stole the show.  This is the first time Dawn has tried to cook an apple pie.  It was 100% homemade including the crust and top.  She was nervous and was afraid to cut it open thinking it would look like the turkey on Christmas Vacation.  I got the honor of cutting into it and boy oh boy did it look good.  It tasted even better.  I have included a photo so everyone can droll over it like I did!  I was so full after dinner and desert that I think tomorrow it will be an ice coffee for breakfast and then nothing the rest of the day.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Raisin Bran Cereal
• Lunch:  Hot Dog
• Dinner:  Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
• Desert:  Warm Apple Pie!!!
• Exercise:  Garage Cleaning (no physical working out)
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  C+

Day 107

***I just noticed that I didn't publish this post last night.  Sorry about that.  Here's what I had to say.

I love Fridays!  Not only is the week over, but you don't have to think about work for two days.  Plus this time of year is the best if your a sports fan, with baseball playoffs, college football and NFL football.  After taking Brady to school I went and got an ice coffee.  Its becoming something that I have to have in my system in order to get going.  Maybe I'm at that age now where coffee is a required item every morning.  I love it so I will take it! 

After getting home I got to work but didn't have a ton on my plate.  I took the extra free time and went out to start cleaning my garages.  I love having a clean garage, however with the summer heat there is no way I'm stepping foot in there when it feels like 150 degrees  But our temperature has been in the 70's the past few days, so it was a perfect day to get out side and putz around. 

Brady had a half day of school and we were planning to go see our new niece.  It was going to be the first time that I and the kids were going to meet her, so we all couldn't wait.  Lily was counting down the minutes until Brady got out of school knowing it was when we could go see baby Carsyn.  So the second we got there I quickly grabbed her and didn't let go until it was time for her to eat.  She is so beautiful!  You forget how little a newborn is and that 6 pounds feels like nothing in your arms.  Brady and Lily got to hold her and they loved every second of it.  Brady even said "mom can we have another one, I like holding babies".  We both replied with "then you can come over here and hold her whenever you want".  While we were there we watched the Dbacks game and unfortunately watched them lose and their season come to an end. 

The day ended with a baseball game for Brady.  They lost, but he played good going 2-3 with an RBI.  As for my eating, it was ok.  Its been a rough and busy week so my head has not been in the game. 

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Lunch:  2 Cheeseburgers (McDonald's)
• Dinner:  Leftover Mini Chimi (1) & Mexican Rice
• After Dinner Snack:  Popcorn (Brady's game)
• Exercise:  none
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  C+

Day 106

Today started off so good.  I woke up with a positive outlook and felt like it was going to be a great day of dieting and exercise.  Well it didn't turn out that way, sucks!  I dropped the kids off at school and went to get a bagel and coffee.  Yes I know I have a problem and addiction when it comes to coffee and bagels.  However I have done the math and its actually not that bad for me.  Its much better then putting down a #1 breakfast meal from McDonald or any other fast food place.  Plus its the first thing I'm eating every day, not the last meaning there is plenty of time during the day to work it off.  Well at least that's how I'm looking at it. 

So once I was home and had enjoyed my bagel and coffee, I got to work.  It was a busy morning on the work front so I had not thought about anything other than work.  After a few hours I was caught up and knew I had a little bit of time to make myself useful around the house.  So I pulled out all the cleaning stuff and got to work.  Two hours later and the entire house was clean, vacuumed and floors mopped!  I was pooped.  I think I get more of a work out doing a full house clean then when I go running. 

So up to this point everything was going good.  I had a good breakfast, got some good exercise by cleaning the house and had drank lots of water.  But it then started to go south.  Next came lunch and considering it was later than normal and that I had to go pick up Brady I opted for something quick and easy.....Hot Pockets.  Yes I said pockets, with an S.  I ate both of them in the box.  I'm sure I could have stopped at just one, but for some reason I wanted both and didn't have any will power to say no.  Bad Bryan!  I had more work to do after getting Brady, so that kept me busy up till dinner time.  I was bad at dinner, very bad!  We didn't feel like cooking, so it was ordering out and bring home.  As a group we decided on Mexican food, but not fast food, restaurant style.  I enjoyed a big chimichanga with beans and rice covered in green sauce.  It was the first time in 106 days that I have had such meal.  I finished every last bite because I knew it was bad and might as well finish it off.  When I was done I couldn't move I was so full.  I felt miserable and was very mad at myself for eating it.  I could have easily had one taco or something small, why did I have to order one of the biggest meals on the menu! 

After dinner I sat down because I felt sick and watched the Tigers close out the Yankees ending their season.  Great game, great win!  So with that said I look to put this day, mainly dinner behind me and be perfect tomorrow.  I hope I can do it!  I need to do it because if this lack of will power continues it could get ugly.  I cant let it get that way.

Daily Recap: 

• Breakfast:  Bagel & Coffee
• Lunch:  Hot Pockets (2)
• Afternoon Snack:  Cheese It's (crackers)
• Dinner:  Beef Chimichanga with green sauce.  Beans & Rice on the side
• Exercise:  House cleaning, Mopped floors
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  F (because of dinner)

Day 105

Yeah it was Wednesday and I didn't weigh in.  Like I said in yesterdays post I was thinking about not weighing myself until next Monday.  Well I decided to go with that game plan.  I like weighing myself every other day, however the up and down between a few pounds is a killer to see.  I will give a run at this for a week or two and see how it turns out.  I'm still going to be posting a new blog every day recapping that days journey. 

Today started off with a "free" iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts.  I love those punch cards, 7th one is free!  After picking up my coffee I made a Home Depot run to pick up a new sprinkler, grass seed and some starter fertilizer.  Its been a few days since the grass was scalped down to next to nothing so today was the day the seed went down.  The nice part is we don't have a ton of grass and its only in the backyard, so I only needed one small bag and it only took about 30 minutes to complete.  The next challenge will be keeping the birds away. 

There was still a few slices of pizza left over and everyone knows that I don't like to waste food, especially when its pizza.  I got back to work after lunch and stayed busy up till it was time to get ready for the Dbacks game.  Since its a playoff game, there is no press lounge food.  However they do offer up some pre made sandwich's for everyone.  I went with the turkey and cheese.  By the time I got home I was still hungry so I had a bowl of Raisin Bran.  Cereal late at night is awesome.  As for the game, well it was AWESOME!  The Dbacks needed to win in order to stay alive and keep this awesome season going.  Four home runs (1 grand slam) & 10 runs later and we are heading to Milwaukee for game 5.  Go Dbacks!

Today was great just because of the dbacks win.  

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Lunch:  Slice of pizza (1)
• Afternoon Snack:  Crackers
• Dinner:  Turkey sandwich
• After Dinner Snack:  Bowl of Raisin Bran
• Exercise:  Yard work (if that counts)
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  C+

Day 104

I'm happy its a new day and yesterday is behind me.  I ate bad, but it was all for a good cause!  I started this morning off with a bagel and coffee and it got me going full speed!  I think just walking in and smelling the coffee got me going.  Oh how I love my coffee! 

Around 11am we got a call from Ashley that she was going to the hospital to have her baby today.  This was great news.  However it also meant that I was on my own for the rest of the day with the kids.  I also watched Aidyn this afternoon so I was a busy man.  Let me give you the run down.  Charlie was at home again today fighting what is called Croup.  Its affects her voice and gives her this cough that sounds like she just smoked a pack!  Its funny because I get the same thing after I get a cold.  Sorry Charlie!  So I had her at home, Aidyn got dropped off around noon, they played (Aidyn was awesome).  I loaded up the van and we went to get Brady at 330, then directly over to pick up Lily.  Once I got home we had about 10 minutes to get Brady dressed and round up Aidyns things and pack a few things for the girls.  It was then time to head over to Dawn's parents house so Uncle Billy could watch the girls so I could get Brady to his game.  We picked up McDonald's on the way, dropped them off and then on our way to the fields for his game.  After the game I picked up the girls and went home to get them to bed and clean up the house.  Finally the night was over and it was time to watch some TV!

I'm not going to lie, my eating today sucked, it sucked big time.  It might have been related to just being stressed out with work, a sick kid and coming up with a game plan for the night.  So as I stated above I had a bagel and coffee for breakfast, but lunch was 2 slices of left over pizza and dinner was a McDonald chicken sandwich.  Yeah I ate the fries as well.  Bad Bryan, very bad!  I might just not weigh myself the rest of the week and hope by next Monday I'm at a number that makes me happy.  I know tomorrow's weigh in is not going to look good so I don't even want to do it! 

Tomorrow is a new day, but another busy one.  I'm working the Dbacks game 4.

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Bagel & Coffee
• Lunch:  Leftover Pizza (2 slices)
• Dinner:  McDonald (Chicken Sandwich and Fries)
• Exercise:  none
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  F

Day 103: 230 pounds

I was not that happy this morning with seeing the 230 number again.  However based on the weekend I had with date night, etc its to be expected.  During the week I'm very strong and stick to my guns when it comes to eating and exercise.  However my weekends have been where I'm getting killed.  I need to change up my game plan and attack the weekends different.  I can do it!

As for the rest of today, well it wasn't bad until dinner time!  My breakfast and lunch were simple and easy, however dinner was a different story.  See one of my life long best friends (Donny) is moving away.  They have decided to give it a run in Iowa as that's where his wife is from and still has tons of family.  They leave this weekend, so before they left we wanted to host a dinner night with them and the Trurans.  We ordered pizza's and wings and made a fresh salad.  All the kids ran around and played so good with each other while the girls talked and the guys watched the football & baseball games.  I know I should not be stuffing my face with pizza and wings, however for this type of thing I wanted to be myself and enjoy the last bit of time with my buddies.  My diet can be put on hold for a night and resume tomorrow. 

So overall it was still a good day.  Yes my weight was up, my eating was bad, but what made it good was the time I got to spend with my  buddies and their families.  I told Donny that life long friends never go away regardless of where they live.  He will continue to be one of my closest friends even from Iowa!

Daily Recap:

• Breakfast:  Honey & Oats Bar
• Lunch:  Grilled Chicken Breast and Wheat Thins
• Afternoon Snack:  Crackers
• Dinner:  Pizza, wings, salad (bad, bad, bad)
• Exercise:  Mopped the entire house, but that's about it
• Weight:  230 pounds (up 3 pounds since previous weigh in)
• Grade: F

Day 102

I woke up this morning with the intentions of going to the park and pitching some baseballs to Brady, however that didn’t happen.  We made it to the park with all our stuff, but were missing one key thing…..the bucket of baseballs.  At this point we just went home because we only had a little time before we all needed to pile into the van and go on our Sunday morning newspaper run.  Dawn likes to load up on the Sunday newspaper because it has tons of coupons.  I guess today’s was extra loaded on top of it.  We go to the dollar store right around the corner because they are a dollar, even on Sunday’s.  The problem is if you don’t get there at least 15 minutes before they open to get in line you will never get one.  So we arrived about 9:45 but didn’t see anyone standing outside.  It turns out that they changed their hours to open at 9am.  Dawn was not happy as all the papers were gone.  Next stop was Fry’s to get them at normal price.  Oh and a Dunkin run for some coffee!  It was then time to return home for some football!

Come the afternoon Dawn and I got to building the patio set while watching the Cardinals game.  I had finally cleaned and hosed off the patio so it was ready for the new table.   While doing this we heated up a frozen pizza for everyone as we didn’t feel like cooking or going anywhere.  We are running low on freezer space so cooking one of the 8 pizza’s we have will help out. 

Because Brady didn’t get to hit any balls this morning I told him we would go back in the evening when it was a little cooler.  So we headed up about 4:45 and spent just over an hour hitting balls.  Good times!  When we got home dinner was ready, Spaghetti with some veggies and garlic bread.  We eat spaghetti a lot, however this time it tasted so good.  After dinner came baths and then bed time.  However we all shared some popcorn before bed

Daily Recap

• Breakfast:  Coffee & Bagel
• Lunch:  Frozen Pizza (2 slices)
• Dinner:  Spaghetti, Veggies & Garlic Bread (2)
• Dessert:  Popcorn
• Exercise:  none other then playing some baseball with Brady
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  C

Day 101

What a crazy and busy day it was today.  With last night being date night and our movie not getting over till almost midnight, we ended up just having the kids spend the night at Dawn's parents.  No problem by us, we have not been able to wake up on our own terms in years!  However it wasn't like we got to sleep in because we had a busy morning ahead of us.  I had to pick up the kids by 8:45 in order to get Brady to practice at 9:30 and Lily to dance at 10:00.  Dawn stayed home with Charlie because we were getting the carpets cleaned.  So I got Brady to practice at 930 and then left to take Lily to dance.  I got her there by 950 and once in her dance room I left to go back to Brady's practice to get him.  On the way back I stopped and got an iced coffee.  By this time it was 10:30, however Brady was not done yet and per the coach they still had another 30 minutes or so.  This meant I had to leave again and go pick up Lily because her dance ended at 11am.  So I got her and then we headed back to get Brady.  He was done when we got there so it was finally time to head home!

After home I had no desire to leave even if the carpets were wet.  Luckily for us and our hard berber carpet, it was dry in minutes.  So we all hung out at home and watched some playoff baseball.  After a few hours the door bell rang and it was some yard guys wanting to know if we wanted our palm trees trimmed.  Umm, yes please.  I have been wanting to hire someone for a while to get those cut and do a one time pass of the yard include trim down the grass to get it ready for the winter rye.  They spent at least 2 hours on the yard and it looked amazing when they were done.  Money well spent!  Once they left it was my turn to head out into the yard to put the final touches on and spread some ant killer because we have tons of ants right now.  Sucks!  Before putting that down I ran the mower over the grass to suck up any loose grass.  This was a bad, very bad mistake.  It was blowing everywhere including right up my nose and in my eyes.  I have been suffering all night because of it. 

So that's about it in a nut shell.  It was busy, crazy and painful but I survived.  The good news is I got one heck of a work out doing the yard.  I was dripping wet.  As for my eating today, well it started with some coffee during all my stops this morning.  I enjoyed lunch at home from the couch while watching the Dbacks lose.  Dinner was a home cooked meal complements of Dawn.  After dinner came time for some Red Box movies.  Of course we had to make some popcorn. 

Daily Recap

• Breakfast:  Iced Coffee
• Lunch:  Bologna Sandwich & Wheat Thins
• Dinner:  BBQ Chicken Breast, Mashed potatoes and some Broccoli Rice mix.
• Desert:  Popcorn
• Exercise:  Yard work (2 hours)
• Weight:  n/a
• Grade:  B-