Breaking 200

Day 258: 230 pounds

2012-03-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

Well I was down another pound this morning, so that was a great start to the day. As for the rest of my day, well it was pretty basic and simple. Nothing big happened other than work and baseball practice for Brady. I will add that Dawn didn't cook anything for dinner since Brady had practice and we (Brady and I) were at the fields till about 8pm. So she ordered a pizza and we enjoyed some leftovers once we got home. I love me some pizza!

I didn't get out and exercise mainly because of Brady's practice and because it was freezing out. Half way through his practice I had to go sit in the car because I was so cold. Yes, its me complaining about being cold.

Well that's about all I have to say about today.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwich
Dinner: Pizza (1 slice) and 4 Boneless Wings
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 230 pounds
Grade: B+

Day 257: 231 Pounds

2012-03-06T19:12:00.005-08:00

It was a pretty good day! It started with me being down two pounds since yesterday, so right there I was off to a good start. I think my eating was ok, it could have been better, but it still was not that bad. We did reward the kids with some dessert because they were so good tonight. We took them to get some ice cream, well it was frozen yogurt from one of those soft serve places. I did get a small cup of fat free Coconut yogurt. The rest of my meals are listed below in the recap.

Other than that there wasn't anything special or different about today. Tomorrow is another baseball day for Brady, so it will be a busy one.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwich
Afternoon Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: Chicken & Veggies (on pastry puffs) & Salad
Dessert: Fat Free Coconut Frozen Yogurt (small cup)
Exercise: Run (2 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 231 pounds (down 2 pounds since yesterday)
Grade: B+

Day 256: 233 pounds

2012-03-05T19:45:00.000-08:00

Yes that weight number is no joke! Well yes its a joke, its a joke that I allowed myself to gain 4 pounds since Friday. I was a pretty rough weekend starting Friday night when we had friends over. Not only did we have pizza and wings, but there were plenty of snacks to pick on while we were all playing games.

Heading into Saturday I had planned to keep it easy and not over do the eating. However I didn't succeed at all. I had to work a Diamondbacks spring training game, so on my way to the stadium I picked up a coffee. So my breakfast was via a straw. I was really busy up till game time so I didn't get the chance to eat anything. Yes I know this is bad. When the game was over I headed home and sure enough it was leftover pizza and wings for dinner. I didn't want to eat this again, however its free food and hard to pass up. So my Saturday looked pretty much like my Friday.

Next came Sunday. Dawn's uncle is in the process of moving, so I joined forces with the other guys of the family to help him load everything up and move it to the other side of the valley. It took all day so I know that I got plenty of exercise in the process. Probably the best exercise I have had in a long time. However just like any more there comes a time when everyone needs to eat. This normally means someone picking up lots of food for everyone. This is exactly what happened. Wendy's cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets is what we got to choose from. I was so hungry that I ate two cheeseburgers and 5 nuggets. Yeah, I pigged out! Once we were all done moving me and Brady headed out to Dawn's parents house for dinner. She was already there with the girls. Her mom had made spaghetti and meatballs and had some fresh Italian bread to go with it. After a long day of hard work it was the perfect meal. When I got home I jumped in the shower, put on some comfy clothes and passed out on the couch.

So again heading into today I was not sure what to expect when I got on the scale. What I saw did not make me happy. So the plan was to get back on track with at least my eating today. I think I did pretty good. For breakfast I had some toast and coffee. I had made some egg salad with some eggs that needed to be used, so for lunch Dawn and I had a sandwich. Granted I know egg salad is loaded with mayo, but its still better than eating fast food. Next came dinner, and unfortunately that was a meal on the go. Brady had baseball practice that lasted till 7pm, so on our way home we stopped at Jack-In-The-Box and picked up some food. The good news is I had their grilled chicken salad. Its so so good! I didn't go out and run tonight just because I helped again today move more stuff for her uncle. So that was my workout. Overall I think today was a pretty good day to start the week. Hopefully I can keep it going and get back those 4 pounds!

Wish me luck!

Day 253: 229 pounds

2012-03-02T20:21:00.001-08:00

Well as of this morning I was back under 230! I'm not sure if that will be the case after today, however I hope so. See we had some friends over tonight for game night and in the process we ordered some pizza and wings. I think pizza and wings are a must when you have friends over to play games. On top of that there were also some drinks involved. However it was an awesome time and I would not trade it for anything.

I really don't have much else to say. It was a normal Friday in my world with exception of tonight. Tomorrow I will be heading out to work my first spring training game of the season. Its the Dbacks vs the Rockies. Its the spring opener and since they share a training complex (best in AZ) they always play each other in the opener. There is nothing better then spring training baseball in Arizona!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Ham & Turkey Sandwich with a pickle wedge
Dinner: Pizza & Wings
Dessert: Some drinks....=)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 229 pounds
Grade: D

Day 252: 230 pounds

2012-03-01T23:09:00.005-08:00

So maybe eating the peppers is not that bad after all. Yesterday I had two of them and did no exercise and yet lost a pound. Its crazy how your body works sometimes. Either way the loss of a pound was a good starting point on what was a great day for me. As everyone knows Thursdays is the day the Campbell house gets cleaned. I think I get a better workout cleaning the house than I do running. Its easier on my knees that's for sure!

My eating was good as well. I had a salad for lunch and then some BBQ chicken that was cooked in the crock pot. Dawn made some mashed potatoes and corn to go with it. Hopefully I didn't enough to get back into the 220's. I know I could probably be pushing it harder this week, but its been tough. Its taking time to get back up to full speed after the weekend I had last week. Not to worry, I will get there!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad
Dinner: BBQ Chicken Breast, Mashed Potatoes and Corn
Exercise: House cleaning (3 hours)
Weight: 230 pounds
Grade: B+

Day 251: 231 pounds

2012-02-29T23:58:00.005-08:00

Well it looks like maybe the lack of exercise the night before resulted in an extra pound coming back on. Bummer! However I'm not going to let it get to me and will keep working hard. Other than that I really don't have much to say about today. My breakfast was the same it has been the past few days. I went the leftover route for both lunch and dinner by having a stuffed pepper. They might be packed with carbs, however I cant let them go to waste. Besides eating those is still way better than eating some fast food burger or something of that nature.

I didn't get the chance to do any exercise due to a busy afternoon and baseball practice with Brady at night. I will for sure be hitting the streets tomorrow!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Stuffed Pepper (1)
Afternoon Snack: Wheat Thins (few)
Dinner: Stuffed Pepper (1)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 231 pounds
Grade: B

Day 250: 230 pounds

2012-02-28T20:36:00.003-08:00

I was back down a pound today from yesterday. Good way to start the day! I'm hoping that I continue to trend in that direction. However it was going to be hard today because of what was on tap for dinner. I don't really need to speak much to my breakfast or lunch (it’s outlined below in the recap). But dinner, well that was a treat for me. Dawn told me early in the day that she was making stuffed peppers. When I got the news I was like a kid on Christmas Eve! Stuffed peppers are one of my favorite meals and I could probably eat 6 of them with no problem. However for those that have had them know they are stuffed with rice which means lots of carbs! It wasn't going to matter; I had been looking forward to dinner all day and knew I was going to enjoy myself.

They do take a while to cook, so finally around 7pm we sat down to eat. We had some dinner rolls and a salad to go with the peppers. I didn't go overboard and had one and a half to go along with my salad and roll. This worked out because now I have 4 leftover I can enjoy this week for lunch.

After dinner I put on some comfy clothes and relaxed on the couch until I fell asleep. I didn't go out for a run because Tuesdays are normally a day I give my legs a rest, but I have a feeling that I should have gone.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Lunch: Cheese Crisp (1)
Afternoon Snack: Wheat Thins (few)
Dinner: Stuffed Peppers (1.5), Dinner Roll and Salad
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 230 pounds
Grade: C+

Day 249: 231 pounds

2012-02-27T23:07:00.006-08:00

I'm sure glad that weekend is behind me. The wedding on Saturday was so much fun, but it kicked my butt! You know you're in trouble when there is a full open bar and you're surrounded by a bunch of long time friends. I'm pretty sure the food was good as well, however I don't really remember. The weekend also had me going back up 2 pounds and back into the 230's. However I think that's to be expected because I put everything on hold Saturday so I could have a good time. The good news is I got back on track today and know those 2 pounds will be gone soon.

I resumed breakfast with my normal of the past few weeks. A bagel and coffee, yummy! For lunch I heated up a chicken breast that was left over from last night's dinner. I ate that with a few sticks of celery that had some peanut butter on them. Again yummy! I will also add that before my lunch I went out for a run (2 miles) and then returned home and did some sit-ups. I added a protein shake to the mix as well. Brady had baseball practice tonight, so after that was over we stopped at Safeway and picked up a rotisserie chicken to take home. Dawn and I cut up the chicken and made some chicken nachos. They were so good.

So overall it was a good day. I got back on track eating good and went for a run. Good times!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel and Coffee
Lunch: Chicken Breast, Celery with Peanut Butter
Afternoon Snack: Protein Shake
Dinner: Chicken Nachos (Homemade)
Exercise: Run (2 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 231 pounds
Grade: B+

Day 246: 229 pounds

2012-02-24T21:25:00.000-08:00

Well I dropped more weight, but it was only half pound this time. None the less it was a half pound in the right direction. As for the rest of my day, well it was great yet again. I didn't go get a bagel this morning so I had to enjoy my coffee all alone. Its pretty much a meal in a cup, so I think I'm ok. Dawn had to go run some errands this afternoon to get ready for what is a very busy weekend. On her way home she stopped and picked up some Wendy's and got me a grilled chicken wrap and side salad. Just like the other day I cut up the chicken and made a killer salad. However before eating lunch I had spent a good 3 hours out in the yard getting it all nice and clean. You could eat off the porch if you wanted to!

Brady had baseball practice tonight so dinner had to wait till about 8pm when we got home. I made both of us PB&J's with a few Wheat Thins on the side. Yes that seems like something you would eat at lunch, however it tasted darn good for dinner.

I hope that I was good enough to get down another pound or so, but who knows. One thing I know for sure is that tomorrow night everything diet related goes in my back pocket. Its my buddy's wedding (Nick Cassaday) and I will not be worried about what I'm eating or drinking. Its a full open bar, so watch out. The good news is Dawn and I got a room at the resort (Gold Canyon) so we both can really have a good time and not worry about driving home. Its going to be so much fun!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad
Dinner: PB&J with some Wheat Thins
Exercise: Yard Work (3 hours)
Weight: 229 pounds (down half pound from yesterday)
Grade: A

Day 245: 229.5 pounds

2012-02-23T21:43:00.000-08:00

Another great day is in the books! My weight was down another 1.5 pounds from yesterday as I now sit at 229.5. Yes! I have made it back into the 220's and couldnt be happier. I just hope I can keep it going and it keeps dropping off.

I kept my breakfast to the same as the past few days. A bagel and coffee seem to be working so I dont mind rolling with it for a while. I enjoy it and I guess thats all that matters. For lunch Dawn brought me home a Grilled Chicken Pita from Pita Jungle. She went to lunch with a co worker and was super awesome to bring me home something. She's the best! While she was at lunch I spent the time cleaning the house and doing work.

For the past two weeks Brady has been having baseball practice on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Then he has football on Saturday mornings. So we really look forward to Tuesday and Thursdays. However today we didnt have the night off. Now that Brady is 8 he can start to be looked at for club baseball. So Dawn and I have done some research and found a club team in Gilbert. I emailed the coach for some info and he invited Brady to come to their practice tonight. So off we went. Dont get me wrong, playing baseball every night is not a bad thing. I wish I could be a kid again. So when all said and done, it was dinner time. So this meant eating something out yet again. I let Brady pick and of course he choose McDonalds. I got the Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad and enjoyed every bite of it. Its very, very good.

After dinner I went out for a run and then returned home to do some sit-ups. I then called it a nigt! What a great day!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Pita
Dinner: Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad
Exercise: House cleaning (2.5 hours), Run (3 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 229.5 pounds
Grade: A+

Day 244: 231 pounds

2012-02-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

So it looks like my weight number yesterday was not an error by the scale. This morning I was down to 231 pounds, losing a half pound from yesterday. I will take it!

The rest of the day was great yet again, heck it was even better than yesterday. For breakfast I went with my "norm" of recent that being a bagel and coffee. I ran to Wendy's for lunch for both Dawn and I. I tried something new this time, well not really, but kind of. I ordered a grilled chicken wrap and garden side salad. When I got home I opened up the wrap, cut up the chicken and put it in the side salad. I will for sure be doing that again, probably in the near future. Actually my dinner was very similar to that of lunch. Brady had baseball practice tonight meaning no dinner till at least 7:45. This also meant it was going to be a meal on the go. I let Brady pick and he choose Jack In The Box! Now I could have easily got a few tacos, maybe some curly fries or even an egg roll. However I got their Grilled Chicken Salad. It was awesome as well.

On top of my great day of eating, I also got in a run this afternoon. I have really enjoyed running during the day around my lunch time. Its one less thing I have to worry about after dinner. Plus it allows me more time to relax and watch TV. After my run I did my daily sit-ups and hit the shower.

So yeah it was a great day!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salad
Afternoon Snack: Thin Mint Cookie (only 1)
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Salad
Exercise: Run (2.5 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 231 pounds (loss of half pound)
Grade: A+

Day 243: 231.5 pounds

2012-02-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, by far the best morning ever! When I weighed myself I was shocked to see that I was down to 231.5 pounds. That was a 4 pound drop in one day. It must have been a bunch of water weight or something. Granted I did stick to 3 meals with small portions and cut out a good amount of sugar. Hopefully it wasn't just an error on the scale. We will see tomorrow when I weigh myself again.

So aside from the great weight number, the rest of my day was pretty good as well. I kept my breakfast pretty simple with a bagel and coffee. I didn't really get the chance to eat lunch because I was asked to go golfing. I was bus with work up till I left, so I grabbed a granola bar on my way out that I would eat on the course. Once golf was over I rushed home so Dawn could get to the Little League team mom meeting. This meant I was feeding the kids and myself tonight with whatever we had in the house. I made Lily and Charlie a small frozen pizza that they shared and Brady wanted some leftover pasta. I had one small piece of leftover Chicken Parm and a very small portion of pasta. I didn't really want pasta for dinner, but there was no other options. I kept it small and when done I didn't feel full. After dinner I did more jump roping and sit-ups before calling it a night.

Great Day!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Granola Bar & Water (yes I know it should have been more)
Dinner: Leftover Chicken Parm and Pasta (Very small)
Exercise: Golfing (4 hours), Jump Rope (5 minutes) and 100 sit-ups
Weight: 231.5 pounds (loss of 4 pounds)
Grade: B+

Day 242: 235 pounds

2012-02-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

Not much to report on from today other than it was pretty good. The weekend was flat out horrible that left me 2 pounds heavier than what I was on Friday. That is not good! So now I'm left with just one week till the wedding and I really want to be under 230 by that time. I'm going to do everything possible this week to make that happen.

I'm tired and really not in the mood to type anymore so I'm going to end it like that. Wish me luck again tomorrow.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Eggs/Peppers/Cheese with a coffee
Lunch: Leftover Chicken Parm (Very small piece, it was homemade)
Dinner: Southwest Style Salad with Grilled Chicken
Exercise: 4 mile Bike ride, Jump Rope (5 minutes) and 100 sit-ups
Weight: 235 pounds
Grade: C+

Day 239: 233 pounds

2012-02-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

Yet again the same weight as the previous day. One of these days I will snap out of it and actually drop some weight. Its not that I have not been trying. I feel like I have been eating decent and I have been exercising daily. Granted I have been snacking on valentines candy and girl scout cookies here and there, but I have not over done it by any means. I guess I just need to try harder to avoid the sweets!

The rest of my day, aside from the weight in went good. Breakfast was the norm, toast with a coffee on the side. Before eating lunch I needed to finish cleaning the house as I didn't get the chance to do our bedroom or mop the day before. So I took an hour to get that done and then while the floor was drying I headed out for a mid day run. When I got home I made some chow mien noodles with gravy for lunch. Now that I think of it, that was probably not the best of choices since the noodles are fried. But it tasted so good! Brady had baseball practice from 5:30 to 7:30 so dinner had to wait till we were done. Once it was over we picked up a pizza and took it home. Again probably not the best of choices, but it was a Friday night.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Morning Snack: Protein Shake
Lunch: Chow Mien Noodles
Dinner: Pizza
Exercise: Run (2.5 miles), 100 sit-ups, 1 hour of house cleaning/mopping
Weight: 233 pounds
Grade: C

Day 238: 233 pounds

2012-02-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

Yup, I weighed myself again this morning and it was yet again the same as yesterday. I need to do a better job laying off the sweets as I think that's the reason I'm not losing anything day to day. Its either that or the unnecessary carbs. So my approach today was to be stong and lay off the sweets in the house and not eat as many carbs. So for breakfast I did have some carbs, but it was in the form of some toast. Toast can be good for you, it just depends on what kind. We eat wheat bread, so thats ok. I did have a Starbucks coffee with it thanks to my sister-in-law Ashley. She came over this morning as her and Dawn were going to see their cousin in the hospital who just had her second baby. So that ment I got to watch my neice Carsyn for a little bit, all to myself! Awesome!

So with breakfast behind me I focused on cleaning the house. However I didnt mop today and will get that done tomorrow. After I was done Dawn went and picked up some lunch for us. Yeah, we need to make a strore run and load up again! So for lunch we had grilled chicken sandwichs from McDonalds. We all went out for dinner to California Pizza Kitchen, but we didnt get pizza. Dawn and I each had a salad (they have good ones), mine was the BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad. It was the first time I have tried it and was not disappointed at all. It was awesome! After dinner was over we went home, got the kids ready for bed and then relaxed on the couch watching TV.

Overall I think it was a great day!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Iced Coffee
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Dinner: BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad
Exercise: House cleaning (1.5 hours)
Weight: 233 pounds
Grade: B+

Day 237: 233 pounds

2012-02-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

So after the day I had yesterday I wanted to know how much weight I had put on in one day. I was fully expected to see a few pounds, however it was only one. I will take it. So as of today I was back up to 233 pounds. I headed into today with the game plan of eating light meals and drinking lots of water. This was the plan because I was hoping to flush my system of all the sugar I had ate yesterday. You don't want to keep that stuff in your system long and you really don't want to add more on top of it. That will just make it harder to lose and more than likely make you gain weight. Darn you sugar!

So for breakfast I made a slice of toast and ate that with some home made ice coffee. Before lunch I had decided to go out for a run. It was a nice day again and figured I would get it out of the way early yet again. I followed up my run with a tall, cold protein shake. For lunch Brady and I got Subway. He had a half day at school, so I let him pick what he wanted and of course he choose Subway. So it was a roasted chicken breast sandwich with lots of veggies for me. Dinner came a little later than normal for me and Brady just because he had baseball practice from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Once we got home I made us each a cheese crisp and called it dinner. I did however sneak in a few girl scout cookies after dinner. Dawn ordered some from a co worker and they came in today. So needless to say we now have a few boxes of cookies in this house on top of all the candy. The next few days could be rough.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Iced Coffee
Morning Snack: Protein Shake
Lunch: Roasted Chicken Breast Sandwich (Subway)
Dinner: Cheese Crisp (1)
Dessert: Girl Scout Cookies (3)
Exercise: Run (3 miles), 100 sit-ups
Weight: 233 pounds
Grade: B

Day 236: 232 ponds

2012-02-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

I went for back to back weigh in days just so I could see if I did any damage yesterday. The results were positive as I dropped 1.5 pounds yesterday. Hopefully that's signs of good things to come. Its been a long time since I have dropped into the 220's so I would really like to get back there this week. But of course its going to be tough.

Since today was Valentines day and there was going to be tons of sweets around me, I had decided to give myself a "pass" day so I could enjoy it with Dawn and the kids. However this didn't mean I was going to pig out and eat everything in sight. It meant that if I wanted to enjoy a few "not so good for me" things that I could. So with that said here is a quick recap of the day.

For breakfast Dawn and I had bagels. We then went out for a lunch date to Pita Jungle. I had a grilled chicken pita with lots of veggies and humus inside. My favorite. After lunch upon returning home is when I went for a few of those "not so good for me" things. Just like any Valentines Day, there is going to be chocolates. I was lucky enough to have received a heart box full of them. Another favorite of mine. I had a few of those after lunch while doing some work. For dinner we picked up a Papa Murphy's Pizza (cook your self at home) that was in the shape of a heart. The kids loved it! Then for dessert we all enjoyed Rice Crispy Treats that Dawn made in the shape of hearts with a tint of red. Again the kids loved it. So after all that I was ready to just relax on the couch and fall asleep. No exercise due to it being very cold, rainy and windy outside. I will resume tomorrow.

Happy Valentines Day!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Pita (Pita Jungle)
Afternoon Snack: Chocolate Candy
Dinner: Heart Shape Pizza (2 slice) & Salad
Dessert: Rice Crispy Treat
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 232 pounds

Day 235: 233.5 pounds

2012-02-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day for me, even the weekend I had wasn't that bad. So I started my day off by getting on the scale to see what damage I needed to do going forward. Surprisingly I was happy to see the 233.5 number.

After dropping the kids off at school I stopped by and picked up a bagel for Dawn and I for breakfast. I love me a nice fresh bagel in the morning! It was such a nice day today that I decided to mix things up a little bit, and went for a mid day run. I didn't just do this because of the weather, but Brady had baseball practice tonight and knew I wouldn't have time. I will say that it was nice to get it out of the way early. After my run I did my sit-ups, jumped in the shower and then had some lunch. Lunch was very simple, it was a PB&J day for me. I enjoyed that with a protein shake and called it a meal. Since Brady's practice was from 5:30 to 7:30, dinner was on the go. We decided to stop at Wendy's on the way to the fields and ate in the car. I had two grilled chicken wraps and nothing else, well I did have a bottle of water to help wash them down.

That was about the extent of my eating for the day. Now with tomorrow being Valentines day, I'm sure there will be some chocolates in front of me at some point. Its only one day a year, so I plan to enjoy a few, but not a full box. Maybe give myself one or two per day as a reward if I do good. We will see.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel with low fat Garlic/Herb cream cheese
Morning Snack: Protein Shake
Lunch: PB&J sandwich
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Wrap (2) form Wendy's
Exercise: Run (3 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 233.5 pounds
Grade: A

Day 231

2012-02-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

I really need to kick myself in the ass and get back on track. Its starting to become easier to not be focused than be focused. This is not good and I really need some motivation to head back in the right direction. Now granted I have not been feeling that good and Dawn was out of town, so my focus level has been about zero. On top of that today was Dawn's birthday so as a family we went out to dinner. Then tomorrow we are going out to eat with no kids and probably a movie. So tomorrow is going to pretty much be a wash as well.

Serious, I need to get it going again. I will be going to a wedding on the 25th of this month for Nick Cassaday and all the guys I went to Vegas with. I would like to look and feel the same as I did on that trip with those guys. I don't want to look like I let myself go once we got back. So I have two weeks and one day to drop just 8 pounds. Its going to be tough, but I can do it. However it can only be done with some serious focus and motivation.

Lets do this!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel and Homemade Iced Coffee (it was pretty yummy)
Morning Snack: 4 Ritz Crackers
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Wrap
Afternoon Snack: 8 chips with salsa
Dinner: Pizza from Grimaldis (the best pizza place on earth!)
Dessert: Small slice of ice cream cake for Dawn's Birthday
Exercise: House cleaning 2.5 hours
Weight: n/a
Grade: C-

Day 229

2012-02-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

Its been a few days since my last post. This is not because I have forgot, but because I have been either busy or not feeling good (currently). In my last post I mentioned that I was due for a big weekend. Well that was the case. On Saturday we had a surprise 80th birthday party for Dawn's grandma and Sunday was of course Super Bowl. Between the two events its safe to say that I didn't eat that good. On a positive note I didn't drink any beer (I was the driver), so that helped. However all the food was not good.

Coming out of the weekend I had fully planned to get back on track and put the weekend behind me. However Dawn left for Cleveland Monday morning and the rest of us have been a bit under the weather. So with that said I have had no motivation to really do anything. When you don't feel good you cant get your mind focused. Hopefully within the next day or two I will start feeling better. If this runny nose/throat thing goes in the wrong direction then it might be a few weeks of dealing with it. Lets hope that's not the case.

I will keep posting daily and hopefully starting tomorrow I will resume my daily recaps. I'm also planning to get on the scale in the morning. Not looking forward to that!

Day 225: 232 pounds

2012-02-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

After what I thought was a good day yesterday, I decided to get on the scale this morning. I was hoping to break the 232 pound lock, however that didn't happen. I'm still the same weight I have been for a while. I cant seem to get past this number. I remember a while back I was stuck around this same number and then all of a sudden I dropped into the 220's getting down to 225. I know I will get back there again soon.

As for today, well it started off with me writing a post about yesterday. Yes I know I am a slacker. The rest of my day was very busy, but I did manage to have a good diet day. Since I enjoyed the toast so much yesterday, I decided to go with that again today for breakfast. Since I enjoyed my burger last night for dinner, I decided to go with a leftover one for lunch and eat it with a small side of Mexican rice we had the other night. A 100% leftover lunch = awesomeness! Dinner was on the go for me tonight because I had a few things to get done before tomorrows big event. I didn't want any fast food, so when looking in the fridge for something quick, the only thing I could go with was another burger. It was the last one! I heated it up, put it on a bun and headed out. Dinner done!

No time for exercise tonight, but I was on the go so much that I think I had a pretty good day. This weekend is sure to be another busy one filled with lots of good food. Sunday is Superbowl Sunday, its going to be hard to watch what I eat that day.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Wheat Toast (2 slices)
Lunch: Cheeseburger and some Mexican Rice
Dinner: Cheeseburger (on the go)
Dessert: Granola Bar
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 232 pounds
Grade: B-

Day 224

2012-02-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Yeah, its Friday morning and I'm writing something about yesterday. As I mentioned in my other post, I'm working on this video project where I'm creating a movie from photos and inserting music throughout the entire thing. Its been a huge project that I have spent close to 30 hours on over the past few days. It needs to be done by Saturday morning, so needless to say this is why I didn't get time to write my post last night.

So here it goes. Yesterday (Thursday, February 2nd) was good. I stuck to my diet really good and didn't eat anything that was going to hurt me. Breakfast I had two slices of wheat toast, lunch was some leftover spaghetti from the night before. For dinner I grilled out some burgers and we cooked some sweet potato fries in the oven. The burgers were amazing and tasted so good! I'm not a huge fan of sweet potato fries, so I only had a few of them. After dinner and while working on my movie project I enjoyed some reduced fat kettle corn pop corn. Yummy.

I was planning to go running right after dinner and even gave myself a 45 minute window to do so. However the weather was not that good, it was cold, very windy and it looked like rain was on the way. I think I could handle running in a light rain fall, however running when its windy is not fun at all. So I passed on the run. I cleaned the house in the morning, so I got a good 2 hours of "exercise" in.

Hopefully I get time tomorrow to post something, but since its a Friday and we have lots to get done before Saturday, I would not bank on it.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Wheat Toast (2 slices)
Lunch: Leftover Spaghetti (small bowl)
Dinner: Cheeseburger with a few sweet potato fries
Dessert: Pop Corn
Exercise: House Cleaning (2 hours)
Weight: n/a
Grade: B

Day 223

2012-02-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

It was a decent day for me today. I ate good, however didn't get the chance to exercise. I'm trying to take a night off between running and having done 3 miles on Tuesday, today was my night off. I will more than make up for it tomorrow since its cleaning day.

For breakfast I had a bowl of Raisin Bran and a cup of coffee. For lunch I got out of the house and went to Subway for a sandwich. I had a 6 inch roasted chicken breast with tons of veggies. I did however have a bag of sun chips with it. Dinner we cooked at home and made chicken quesadillas and had a Mexican style rice with it. It was a very good dinner.

After dinner I got back to working on this movie/photo project I have been working on for the past few days.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Raisin Bran Cereal and coffee
Lunch: Subway chicken sandwich and chips
Dinner: Chicken Quesdillas with rice
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: C+

Day 222: 232 pounds

2012-01-31T20:42:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the few day delay in posting something. It was a very crazy weekend filled with non stop action. The good news is in a weekend that had a birthday party, Monster Truck Jam event and a round of golf, I didn't gain any weight. I'm very happy with that!

I forgot to post something yesterday, but not to worry, I did good. The only thing I lacked yesterday was exercise. As for today, well it was great! I started off my day with a cup of Fruit & Oatmeal from McDonald's and enjoyed that with a cup of their iced coffee. If you have not tried the Fruit & Oatmeal from there, I suggest you do, its amazing! For lunch Dawn and I were bad, we had Taco Bell. I had a few crunchy tacos and they tasted awesome. Hey, its Taco Tuesday who can pass up on that! For dinner I made spaghetti with corn and garlic bread. It was a great meal mainly because we all sat at the table and talked about out days. The kids love doing this. After dinner came exercise time, so I laced up my shoes and hit the roads. I didn't go as far as last time, but went farther than my normal distance. Tonight was just over 3 miles. After my run I did my sit-ups, jumped in the shower and then watched Glee. Yes I'm a Gleek!

So in my mind today was a good day. I feel good with how it turned out.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Fruit & Oatmeal Cup, Iced Coffee from McDonald's
Lunch: Taco Bell (3 crunchy tacos)
Dinner: Spaghetti, Corn and Garlic Bread (1)
Exercise: Run (3 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 232 pounds
Grade: B- (Because of lunch)

Day 218: 233 pounds

2012-01-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Well somehow I gained a few pounds over the past few days. Bummer!! As much as that sucked, it didn't get me down because today was all about Brady and his 8th birthday. Being it was his birthday it made today a great day. I cant believe he is 8 years old already. WOW!!

As for my eating and exercise today, well it was ok. I went to pick up donuts for Brady's class for his birthday. He choose donuts over cupcakes, smart little guy. So this meant coffee for breakfast for me! Come lunch time it was another lunch date, this time with Brady. I picked him up from school to take him to lunch for his birthday. He wanted Subway and that was perfectly ok with me as they have lots of healthy options. I got the oven roasted chicken breast with a bunch of veggies on top. Yummy! For dinner Dawn made Brady's favorite meal that being a chicken pot pie type meal. Its super good. For Brady's birthday we had some cupcakes for dessert. I had to have one and only one!

No exercise tonight as my legs were still feeling it from the 2 miles I did yesterday.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee
Lunch: Subway Roasted Chicken Breast Sandwich & Chips
Afternoon Snack: Wheat Thins
Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie meal
Dessert: Cupcake (1)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 233 pounds
Grade: B-

Day 217

2012-01-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

Well as promised today was much better than yesterday. It wasn't perfect, however it was much better. The reason it was not perfect was because I had a slice of pizza leftover for lunch. It was just once slice so I was ok with it. I had just got done cleaning the house, so after a good two hour workout I figured a slice of pizza wasn't going to hurt. What would have hurt more would be knowing I had a great slice of pizza sitting in the fridge. Other than that the rest of my day went great!

Since tomorrow is Brady's birthday and a Friday night we asked him where he wanted to go to dinner. He said he wanted to go to BJ's Brewery but also wanted Dawn to cook his favorite meal. So we decided on going out to dinner tonight and then cooking his meal on his actual birthday. It worked out great because we had a gift cad to BJ's from Christmas (thanks April & Justin). If you have never been to BJ's I highly recommend it! They have a very large menu with all kinds of things to choose from. However the best thing on their menu is by far the Sesame Chicken Salad. Its amazing! Both Dawn and I had the same thing and both cleaned out plates.

After we got home I helped get the kids ready for bed and then went for a run. Tonight I pushed myself a little harder and was able to extend my distance to 2 miles. I was super happy with that. Mix in the two hours I spent cleaning the house and the 125 sit-ups with the run and I had one hell of a day on the exercise front.

Now its time to go sit on the couch and watch Baseball IQ on MLB Network. Its the best trivia show on TV and its all baseball related. The format of the show is each MLB team held their own trivia challenge and one winner was sent to the MLB Network studios in New Jersey to compete against the other people form all the other teams. Its a head to head single elimination challenge with the winner moving on to face another winner. When all said and done there will be just one winner. You might be wondering why I'm writing so much about this, well the cool part is my boss with the Dbacks Josh Defamio is the person representing the Diamondbacks. His match up airs next Thursday when he goes up against someone from the Houston Astors. I know alot about baseball, but he makes me look like an idiot, no joke. We do trivia all the time during the season and its not even fair when he plays. He could tell you every player to win the NL MVP in order back to probably the 60's and their positions. Yeah he's good! So I think he has a really good shot at winning. Make sure you watch if you get the channel!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Coffee & Bagel
Lunch: Pizza (1 slice)
Dinner: Sesame Chicken Salad
Exercise: Running (2 miles), 125 sit-ups, 2 hours of house cleaning
Weight: n/a
Grade: A+

Day 216

2012-01-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

Not much to say for today, it was a bad one. It started of good with a decent breakfast, however it went down hill after that. Brady had a half day school meaning no lunch for him. When I picked him up I let him pick lunch, he choose McDonalds. Then for dinner we ordered a pizza because we still don't have anything in the house. We have not gone to the store in a while. We are making a full load tomorrow (thank goodness). I will say that the pizza place we tried was awesome. It's right down the street and is a true New York style place. Amazing pizza. I wanted to go running, but since my day was crappy I figured it didn't matter if I went or not. It was not going to do any good. Had I had a great day of eating then a run would have really helped burn extra stuff and made a difference.

Well these things happen and need to be expected. I need to stay positive and keep my head up. Tomorrow will be, I repeat will be an awesome day!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and coffee
Lunch: McDonalds Cheeseburgers (2) and a few Chicken Nuggets
Dinner: Pizza
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: F

Day 215: 231 pounds

2012-01-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

So I got on the scale this morning after taking yesterday off from weighing myself. As you know I didn't have the best of weekends when it came to my eating. So I was hoping to see something around the number I previously was. Im very happy with the 231 number. Let's hope I can get back into the 220s this week. Keep your fingers crossed.

The rest of my day was pretty laid back as I kept it easy. I made some toast for breakfast after getting home from getting coffee. For lunch I had a date with Lily after she was out of school. Of course she picked Paradise Bakery, it's her favorite place. I love their chicken walnut sandwich, so I was ok with going there. One word for dinner....tacos! Yeah I love me some tacos and can't just eat one. Oh well, I enjoyed them and that's all that matters.

I didn't go running tonight in order to give my legs a rest.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Wheat Toast (2) and Coffee
Lunch: Chicken Walnut Sandwich
Dinner: Tacos (a handful) :)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 231 pounds (one pound gain from previous weigh in)
Grade: C+

Day 211, 212, 213 and 214

2012-01-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

Monday is here yet again, so that means its time for a weekend review. Sorry its long! I promise the rest this week will all be short! So....It was one very busy weekend for us. We had a funeral and wedding on Saturday and then family photos on Sunday. So in order to get everything in place for those events I had a list of things to do on Friday. The good thing is I was very active and did plenty of moving around. However the bad side of it was my eating. After the funeral we went to lunch with Dawn's close friends and enjoyed a Mexican restaurant in north Scottsdale called Ajo Al's. I had the chicken taco and chicken enchilada combo, and it was amazing! Then after lunch we had to hurry home to get ready for the wedding where there was of course more great food. I don't recall the exact stuff they served, but it was chicken, steak, veggies, mashed potatoes and salad. It was buffet style so I had a little bit of each. I also had plenty of drinks and I mean plenty so my calorie intake was off the charts. But it was a great time! I got to hang out with Donny and that was awesome.

So heading into Sunday I was drained and possible hung over (haha). But we had family photos with all of Dawn's dad's side, so I had to shake it off and get ready to put my smile on. We took the photos at 3pm at the Scottsdale Arts Center in old town, so by the time we were done it was dinner time. Dawn's dad favorite restaurant is Los Olivos (Mexican) and its walking distant from where we were. So it was back to back days with Mexican meals. I had the same thing again, chicken taco and chicken enchilada. After dinner I headed home to change and then went to play softball. I played extra hard because I wanted to burn off all the bad food I had this weekend. When I got home from softball I managed to get some sit-ups in and then called it a night/weekend.

As for today (Monday), it was great! It started with me passing on weighing myself just because I knew the type of weekend I had. I really didn't want to see a large increase in weight from last seeing the 230.5 number. I will push the weigh in back a day and post about it tomorrow. The rest of my day went great as well. The good news is I got back on track with eating better and exercise! Because of the long and draining weekend, I was in major need of some coffee this morning. I enjoyed a bagel along side the coffee as well. Come lunch time I was pretty hungry but having not gone to the store in a very long time my options were very limited. Dawn and I decided to get some grilled chicken wraps from Wendy's because it was quick, easy and healthy. Those held me over till just around the time I picked up Brady. On my way out the door I grabbed a protein bar and ate that on my way over to the school. They make for a great snack as they give me energy and fill me up in between meals. I was able to round up a few things in the house for dinner avoiding having to eat out again. I grilled out some steaks, made a rice a roni package and cooked some green beans. I will say that it made for a very yummy dinner that everyone enjoyed. After dinner we took the kids for ice cream, but I was strong and said no. I opted for a nice run in the cold once we were home!

So yeah today was a good day.

Daily Recap:
Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Wrap from Wendy's (2)
Afternoon Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: Steak, Rice and Green Beans
Exercise: Run (1.5 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: n/a
Grade: A+

Day 210: 230.5 pounds

2012-01-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

Coming off what I thought was a good day and having felt great running I decided to weigh myself again this morning to see if I had broke the lock on the 232 mark. Sure enough I did and I was now down to 230.5. I was so excited that I almost did cart wheels in my bedroom! Hopefully I can keep going in the right direction.

The rest of the day was another great showing on my behalf. After dropping the kids off for school I went and got a coffee and headed home to work. Once home I made some ever so tasty and popular wheat toast. Oh how I love me some wheat toast. Today is Thursday so you know what that means. I spent a solid 2 and half hours cleaning the house and was 100% drained when finished. I was ready for a nap; however I had to get back to work.

Come lunch time Dawn wanted to go try this place in Gilbert called Flancers. It’s this sandwich/pasta place that gets amazing reviews. We both shared a turkey sandwich and oriental chicken salad. It was very good and we will for sure be going back. Now as for dinner, well that’s where I went bad, not horrible, but bad. Dawn had game night tonight with her cousin, so dinner was something quick. Everyone that follows me knows that Thursdays have been turning into pizza night. Well it was again tonight. But like I said, I was not horrible with it. I had only one slice and 4 small boneless wings. I felt pretty good with myself after.

Since Dawn was out I had to pass on going running, but that was ok with me. Last night when I went running my legs felt fresh and I was able to push it harder than normal. I think this is because I had a night off from when I last went. So by skipping tonight hopefully I can go tomorrow and will feel good in the process. I did however get my sit-ups in while watching American Idol so at least I did something. Wait, I cleaned for 2.5 hours, that’s something!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Lunch: 1/2 Turkey Sandwich and 1/2 Oriental Chicken Salad
Dinner: Pizza (1 slice) and 4 boneless chicken wings
Exercise: House cleaning (2.5 hours), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 230.5 pounds
Grade: B

Day 209: 232 Pounds

2012-01-18T21:43:00.000-08:00

I normally start my morning off with a nice cup of cold ice coffee, however this morning I started it off with a dentist appointment. Who doesn't love those! It was the first time I have been to the dentist in a while, so it wasn't pretty. Once I was done, it was straight to Dunkin Donuts for that coffee! The rest of my day was pretty normal. I weighed myself and was still 232 pounds. Looks like I might be stuck in one of those funks where its hard to break free from one set number. I will keep working hard at it.

Overall, It was a good day in my books!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Ice Coffee
Lunch: Leftover Spaghetti (1 small plate)
Dinner: 2 plain Cheeseburgers (McDonald's)
Exercise: Run (1.4 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 232 pounds
Grade: B+

Day 208

2012-01-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

It was a back to normal work from home day today. The kids were back in school after the MLK holiday, so Dawn and I had a quiet house to get some work done. Aside from work it was a pretty simple/normal day in my world and in my diet/exercise journey.

I ate good all day, however didn't get the chance to go for a run because I was watching The Help. We got it on Red Box the other night and I have been wanting to watch it. Boy am I glad I did, great movie!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Wheat Toast (2) & Coffee
Lunch: Leftover Chicken, Potatoes and Broccoli
Dinner: Spaghetti & Veggies
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: B (no exercise)

Day 205, 206 & 207: 232 pounds

2012-01-16T20:36:00.000-08:00

Yes I know I have not posted something the past two weekends. Its not that I'm forgetting, its just not easy. Our weekends have been super busy and I don't see them slowing down anytime soon. So its much easier for me to hold off on posting something till Monday and then do a weekend recap mixed in with my Monday posts. So here it is!

Day 205 and 206 (Saturday & Sunday):

Busy, busy, busy! Dawn dropped Brady and I off at his football game Saturday morning at 10am and then took Lily to dance class. Once she was done she met us back at the game. It was the first game of the season for his flag football team and they won 35 to 6. The coach has him playing Quarterback and on the first play of the game he unloaded a 50 yard TD pass. The pass itself was probably about 10 yards, but the kid hit the corner and never slowed down. He also passed for a few two point conversions. They also lined up at wide receiver a few times and caught each pass that came his way. He's got Larry Fitzgerald hands =). When the game was over I told Dawn "man he had like 20 fantasy points today". She called me a nerd! After football and dance I had to get Brady over to his cousins house as he was spending the night. So the rest of Saturday it was just me and my girls. That's always nice for a change.

As for Sunday, well the highlight of my day was my round of golf. It actually was the highlight of my weekend next to watching Brady play great in his game. I play at Starfire Golf Club in Scottsdale (Hayden & Shea). Its an Arnold Palmer design course, so by no means is it a walk in the park. When all said and done I came in at a 77. Its my lowest score ever on a full size course! My next best is a 78, twice on the Phoenician and a 79 at Kokopelli. You probably don't have to think to hard to know how I know this. Yup, I have an awesome spreadsheet with all my golf scores dating back to August of 1999. I keep my scorecards from every round and log them into my tracker file. Its awesome! I know I have lots of other rounds before 1999, however I'm still looking for those scorecards. So until I find those, this round of 77 goes down as my best.

As for my diet and exercise on the weekend, well I don't really remember everything I ate, but I know I did good because I watched what I ate at every meal. I didn't really get to exercise because I didn't have enough time. I'm sure I burned some good calories golfing yesterday.Day 207 (Monday):

I started off my morning by getting on the scale. I was hoping to see the same number if not lower than what I was on Friday. For the past few weekends it seems that I come out of the weekends having gained a few pounds. Well not this time! This morning I was 232, the same as I was on Friday! I should be able to get back into the 220's this week for sure!

Brady was out of school today because of the MLK holiday. However the girls still went to the sitters because Dawn and I had to work. Brady played legos most of the day and kept quiet. For breakfast I went back to an old favorite, wheat toast and coffee. For lunch I kept it easy with a PB&J sandwich (chunky PB of course). After lunch I got back to work but did find some time to take Brady to the batting cages. Once I got home it was time for an afternoon snack so I mixed up a protein shake. Dinner, well it was awesome! Dawn made Parmesan baked chicken with roasted potatoes and broccoli. Its one of my favorite meals that I could easily eat four helpings on. But I kept it to just one in order to have some leftovers for tomorrow. I cant wait. I then went running after dinner and did my normal route.

I feel that I started off the week with a great day. Lets hope I can continue to build on it going forward this week.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Wheat Toast (2) & Coffee
Lunch: PB&J
Afternoon Snack: Protein Shake
Dinner: Baked Parmesan Chicken with Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli
Exercise: Running (1.4 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 232 pounds
Grade: A

Day 204: 232 pounds

2012-01-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

I decided to weigh myself in back to back days for the first time in a while. I was very happy to see that I didn't gain anything and that I was the same from yesterday. The main reason I did this was so I could know what I weighed on Friday so I could compare it to Monday. These darn weekends have been a thorn in my side lately, hopefully this one is better.

The rest of my day was pretty simple. I worked (of course), did some much needed yard work and took over some yard sale items to the Babcocks. My food choices for the day probably could have been much better, but some times there just are no options. That time is right now as we are in major need of a store run to load up on just about everything. That will be happening this weekend, so next week I will have plenty of home cooked meals, both lunch and dinner. For lunch I was really craving a burrito, but knew I had to avoid Filbertos. So Dawn and I went to Baja Fresh and I got the Burrito Ultimo. Its the first time in a long time we have gone there. I forgot how good they are! For dinner we just grabbed some cheeseburgers from McDonald's on our way to drop off the yard sale stuff. We like to keep it easy sometimes!

I put off going for a run tonight because I hurt my calf last night running. I was on my final stretch and could see my house when I felt something pop/pull in my left calf. It didn't feel good! I walked the rest of the way home. It was still a little sore this morning so I decided to take it easy today. I did still get a good work out in doing the yard work. That was a good 2 hours.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Coffee & Donut (1)
Lunch: Burrito (Baja Fresh)
Dinner: McDonald's Cheeseburger (2)
Exercise: Yard Work (2 hours)
Weight: 232 pounds (same as previous)
Grade: C (when looking at it, my eating really sucked today)

Day 203: 232 pounds

2012-01-12T21:28:00.000-08:00

I was a bit worried to weigh myself this morning after having ate pizza for dinner last night. However I did get a run in and did some sit-ups last night, so I was hopeful it would not be bad when I stepped on the scale. Looks like the decision to go running in the cold paid off as I came in at 232 pounds this morning.

It was a rough morning for Lily as she didn't want to wear the jeans we picked out. If it was up to her she would be in a dress with leggings or tights 100% of the time. However she is not the parent. With it being pretty cold out we told her she had to wear pants today. This lead to her throwing a fit for a good 25 minutes. Finally she got dressed and was off to school. I needed some good coffee after that!

After enjoying my bagel and coffee I did some work for a few hours. Once I had some free time I picked up the cleaning supplies and got to work on that. Thursdays are my slowest day of the week at work, so finding time to clean the house is easy. It works out nice this way, plus its a really good workout. Once the cleaning was all done it was back to work before getting some lunch. Dawn and I had a lunch date and tried this new little independently owned bakery just down the road. We love to give back to the little people trying to succeed at their own business. We didn't get there till about 1pm and they close at 2:30pm, so our options were pretty limited. We both had a chicken salad sandwich, and were very happy with it. I will for sure be going back.

We had to do dinner on the go tonight because we needed to go to Walmart after picking up the girls. Lucky for me there is a Wendy's in the Walmart parking lot. So it was a grilled chicken wrap night for me. After getting home and everyone in bed I headed out in the cold for my normal run. One of these days I will look to increase the distance, but for now I'm happy with what I do. It makes me feel good and its about all my knees can take.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Chicken Salad Sandwich with a pickle
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Wraps (Wendy's)
Exercise: Run (1.4 miles), 125 sit-ups, House Cleaning (2 hours)
Weight: 232 pounds
Grade: A

Day 202

2012-01-11T23:23:00.000-08:00

I don't have much to report on for day 202 (Wednesday) so I will keep this short. It was an ok day for me on the diet/exercise front. After getting the kids to school I got my coffee and headed home for some toast and to get to work. Lunch time was leftover time for both Dawn and I. The meal was so good that even Dawn enjoyed some leftovers.

Dawn had somewhere to go with her parents and sister so that left me in charge of dinner for me and the kids. We are in need of a big grocery run so our options are pretty limited. With that said I decided to do the next best thing and get a Little Cesar's $5 Hot and Ready pizza. Cant beat a large pizza and bread sticks for only $7! So that's where I did bad, the pizza. However I only had two slices and one bread stick so there was plenty left over.

After Dawn got home I was still a little upset with my dinner choice so I attempted to go burn it all off with a run. It was pretty darn cold out, but I sucked it up and got my normal run in. It made me feel good and I ended the day on a high note. Tomorrow morning (Thursday) I will weigh myself with hopes of seeing the 232 or lower number again.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Wheat Toast (2) & Coffee
Lunch: Leftover Pork Loin & Broccoli
Dinner: Pizza (2) & Bread stick (1)
Exercise: Run (1.4 miles) and 125 sit-ups
Weight: n/a
Grade: C

Day 200 & 201: 233 pounds

2012-01-11T06:48:00.000-08:00

Yet again I skipped a day of posting yesterday. However not to be worried it didn't mean that I was not good on my diet. I ate good, but didn't get the chance to do any exercising. After dinner I was pretty tired so I called it a night by falling a sleep on the couch at 9pm. It was nice. One huge highlight from yesterday, not diet related, was Brady got his second report card for Q2. He got all A's! This is the first year (second grade) that they give letter grades in three areas. There are also scores of E (excellent), S (satisfactory) and NI (needs improvement). In all those areas he got E's! The last section of grades are numbers, 3 (exceeds grade level standards), 2 (meets grade level standards) and 1 (does not meet grade level standards). He got all 2's and had two 3's. Dawn and I are so so so proud of him. It was the highlight of my day!

Keep up the good work buddy!

As for today, well it started very early, like 4:30am early. Charlotte has been dealing with some asthma issues the past few days and it this morning seemed to be the worse. She woke up at 4:30am coughing really bad so we knew it was time for a treatment. However we were out of the medicine for the treatment machine (not good). So Dawn did the next best thing and got in the hot shower with her. Luckily Dawn's dad had some extra medicine, so while she was in the shower I headed out to pick up the medicine. Its kind of nice being up that early for a change. I just wish it was because of something else, not because my little princess was sick. So of course the early rise meant I needed coffee even more. After dropping the kids off at school I went and picked some up along with a bagel.

Lunch today was leftovers from dinner last night. We had Pei Wei (Chinese Food) last night because we allowed Brady to pick since he got all A's on his report card. Leftover Chinese food is the best. Dinner was an amazing home cooked meal. Dawn made a pork loin in the crock pot that's seasoned with garlic and a bunch of other good stuff. Its so good! We had that with some roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli. It was a perfect dinner and even better we have leftovers for tomorrow.

Oh I also weighed myself this morning and was 233 pounds. The last time I weighed in was Friday and I was 232 pounds. So the one pound gain from the weekend and yesterday is I guess ok. I will get it back by the end of this week.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Morning Snack: Protein Bar
Lunch: Leftover Chinese (white rice, beef & chicken)
Dinner: Pork Loin, Roasted Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli
Exercise: 125 sit-ups
Weight: 233 pounds
Grade: B

Day 198 & 199

2012-01-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

I didn't get the chance to post anything about Saturday and Sunday because I didn't have time. However there really wasn't much to talk about on the diet/exercise front. The weekends are hard because we are all together all day. So yeah its hard to find time to exercise and sometimes eat good on the weekends.

I will resume posting tomorrow about my day.

Day 197: 232.5 pounds

2012-01-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

I didn't get the chance to post yesterday because it was a non stop night. We had Lily's party from 4:30 to 7pm. When that was over just the girl cousins came over for a sleep over. Since it was girls night I decided to go over to my brother in laws and sleep there. So yeah it was a busy day.

The best part of the day was weighing myself and seeing 232.5 pounds. On Monday I was 235 and I had worked hard all week, so the 2.5 pound loss was great. Let's keep it going!!

Till tomorrow....

Day 196

2012-01-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

Happy 5th Birthday to my little princess Lily. I don't think she really understood what a "golden" birthday was, however today was hers and we made sure to let her know many times. Its crazy how fast she has grown up. It seems like just yesterday she was being born. But to think that she's 5 and the middle child of 3 is crazy. Before I know it she will be a teenager asking for the keys. Yeah I got a good 8 years before I have to deal with that.

As for me and my diet today. Well it was another great day. This week has been awesome to me so far. I have been able to stay focused, not over eat and lay off the sweets and snacks. As normal I enjoyed some wheat toast for breakfast, washed down with some coffee. After breakfast came house cleaning time (it's Thursday). After everything was cleaned came lunch time. Dawn heated up the leftovers from last night and I enjoyed a bowl of that. It was just as good as yesterday! The decision for dinner was up to Lily. Since it was her birthday we wanted to let her pick. Of course she picked Paradise Bakery because of their Mac-N-Cheese. I went with my normal, the Chicken Walnut Sandwich.

Once we got home the kids had baths and it was then time to sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles. We didn't have a cake, but had cupcakes so luckily 5 candles fit on one cupcake. I'm proud to say that I didn't have any (high five), but rather went for a good bike ride. Yeah it was a good day!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Wheat Toast (2) & Coffee
Lunch: Chicken over Pasta (leftovers)
Afternoon Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: Chicken Walnut Sandwich
Exercise: Bike Ride (30 minutes, aprox 4 miles), 125 sit-ups, House Cleaning (2 hours)
Weight: n/a
Grade: A

Day 195

2012-01-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

Another great day in the books! I started off my morning with two slices of wheat toast before sitting down to work. Work kept me busy up till lunch time when I made a very tasty Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. I recently got more chunky peanut butter, so I have been in the mood for it. I'm sure it will blow over at some point, but in the mean time I will keep enjoying them. Besides I don't think its really that bad for me. Its much better than a Big Mac and Fries!

I had a few errands to run after lunch and before I knew it, it was dinner time. Dawn had been making a chicken dumplings meal in the crock pot all day so the house was smelling very good. We put the chicken over some egg noodles and had a side salad to go with it. The best part of making meals in a crock pot is that it makes a lot. So we have plenty of leftovers for a few days. I know whats for lunch tomorrow.

After my dinner settled I put on my exercise clothes and headed out for a run. It was a little chilly, but once I got going it didn't bother me.  So overall it was another great day for me! Till tomorrow....

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast (2)
Lunch: Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich
Dinner: Chicken Dumplings over Pasta with Peas, Corn and a side Salad
Exercise: Running (1.4 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: n/a
Grade: A

Day 194: 233.5 Pounds

2012-01-03T21:42:00.000-08:00

So I don't normally weigh myself in back to back days and post about it, however after the great day I had yesterday both eating and exercise I figured I would give it a go this morning. I was very happy to see that I had dropped a pound and half in one day. I will take it!

As for today, well it was another good one! I know I should be eating a decent breakfast, however this morning all I had was a large coffee. I really was not hungry and didn't feel the need eat anything. While enjoying my coffee I did some work and then headed out to the front yard to take down the Christmas lights. For those that know me, I'm very detailed, so taking down my lights is no quick process. I spent about 3 hours taking them down, why you ask? Well I label everything so I know next year exactly where each thing goes. It makes putting them up so much easier! Yes I'm a nerd! During this time Dawn and Brady ran up to get some lunch. I was just going to go with a PB&J again, but we didn't have any bread Left so it was a grilled chicken wrap day for me. Yummy!

Next came dinner, and boy was it a special one. Tonight it was Breakfast for dinner at the Campbell house. I love it when this happens. Its like a special treat! The menu consisted of eggs, bacon and pancakes. Everyone one of us ate very good. I think the kids ate more then if it was served in the morning. See its something about breakfast food for dinner.

After dinner came another night of exercise. Tonight was a bike ride as my knees were still sore from the run last night. Its good to mix it up every other day. Tomorrow I'm sure my quads and lower back will be hurting. On top of the bike ride came my 125 sit-ups. It was a good night!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee (large)
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Wrap (2)
Afternoon Snack: Protein Shake
Dinner: Eggs, Bacon and Pancakes (one plate)
Exercise: Bike Ride (30 minutes), Sit-ups (125) and 3 hours of taking lights off the house!
Weight: 233.5 pounds (drop of 1.5 pounds from yesterday)

Day 193: 235 pounds

2012-01-02T22:46:00.001-08:00

Im back!!! It's been a while since I have posted, but it was no secret that I pretty much took the month of December off. It was fun and I sure did enjoy some good food during that time. However as promised today was the day I got back on track.

Today also was the first day I have weighed myself in a few weeks. I knew based on what I had been eating that I didn't want to see the scale. I had told myself last night that it wasnt going to be good and I needed to be prepared for the worse. So I braced myself for those two steps on to the scale this morning, closed my eyes and stood there. I slowly opened one eye at a time until I saw the damage. Now don't get me wrong I'm not happy with being 235, however am at piece with it. After all it could have been much worse.

So with that out of the way it was time to get focused on my day. The girls returned to the sitters today, however we still have Brady home till Thursday. My breakfast and lunch were both from the kitchen, so that was a big win. This afternoon Brady and I got time to go to the driving range and shared a large bucket of balls (good exercise). Come dinner time it was again another home cooked meal, this time steaks with baked patatos and some corn/peas. Talk about awesome!

Now for what I think is the best part. Exercise! Yes not only did I go to the driving range, I also went running and did sit-ups. It had been a while since I ran so I for sure was feeling it. But im a tough guy and sucked it up. I was very proud of myself for getting back out there. I don't plan on slowing down.

So with that said I will say it again, I'm back and ready to win this journey.

Breakfast: Wheat Toast (2)
Lunch: Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich
Dinner: Steak, Baked Patato, Corn & Peas
Exercise: Golf driving range (2 hours), Running (1.4 miles), 125 sit-ups
Weight: 235 pounds (not for long)
Grade: A

Day 185 through 188

2011-12-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

As you can assume the past week has been crazy. Everyone in our house has come down with a major stomach flu that has you out of commission a good 24 hours. On top of that there was this thing called Christmas. But through it all we have hung in there and all been at each others side. Aside from the sickness, Christmas was great. Everyone was healthy for the day and everyone had a great time. The kids live for Christmas, just seeing their faces on Christmas morning is all that matters. However once It was all over it was back to sickness, this time Dawn. She had it rough or at least it seemed like it. Good news is come today she is much better. Being sick sucks, but when it's only 24 hours it's not as bad.

As for my eating and diet, well I'm not going to go there. It's been very hard to stay focused over the past few weeks. January 1st it's back on! I also promises to get back into writing a post everyday.

So till next time...

Day 182, 183 & 184

2011-12-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

As you have noticed I have not posted anything from the past two days (Wednesday & Thursday). Like I mentioned in my last full post, its been a very busy week. I simply have not had the free time to sit down and write something up. The reason I am right now is because Brady and I are pretty much locked in my room with a case of the stomach flu. Lets just say that last night was not fun. Brady very rarely gets sick so to see him throwing up non stop was sad. This darn thing started with Charlotte and Lily on Wednesday and now looks to have moved to us. The good news is they only had it for a day! So Dawn doesn't want us coming out of the room to prevent anyone else getting sick again. Plus she was up all night deep cleaning the house. I pray that she doesn't get it as its not fun! Looks like I will get plenty of internet time in today!

Till next time......

Day 181

2011-12-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

Busy, busy, busy day yet again for me. I have a feeling that its going to be like this for the rest of this week and into next week. If I cant keep up with it, might just shut it down for the next week and say my blog is on vacation until the holidays are over. However I will try to keep up on it.

I had today off from work so I used the time to get some shopping down for Dawn. Like my previous posts mentioned I have slacked off in shopping for her. I got a little bit done and hopefully can finish everything up tomorrow or Thursday.

Tonight we met up with Ashley, Brett and kids at the Zoo for some Zoo Lights. Its a yearly tradition for us that the kids live for. We were lucky that it wasn't that cold, however because it was pretty nice out I think everyone in the valley had the same idea. It was packed, but still a lot of fun.

That's about it for today.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Cereal & Coffee
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Pita Sandwich
Dinner: Cheeseburger (1 - McDonald's)
Exercise: Lots of walking via shopping and at the Zoo
Weight: n/a
Grade: C+

Day 180

2011-12-19T20:31:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty boring day for me today, then again Mondays are always boring. There is only one good thing about Mondays this time of year and that's Football. I was looking forward to tonight's game all day because in both my fantasy leagues I was winning heading into the game. Sure enough I held on to win both games so I will now be playing for the Championship in both leagues. I'm like a kid in a candy store with excitement! Wish me luck!

Other than football, the only other thing on my mind is that we are only 6 days away from Christmas. I have not done any shopping for Dawn, but know what I need to get. I have tomorrow off so I plan to get as much done as possible if not all of it. As for the kids, well Dawn and I have done really good about getting everything done with time to spare and we are almost there. There are still a few things left that we need to get that I should be able to get tomorrow. We will then be done.

I tried to really watch what I ate today mainly because the past weekend was a bad one and plus I'm getting sick of eating out. I know its that time of year and I'm sure there will be more nights when we eat out, however I wanted to prevent it today and we did.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Cereal & Coffee
Lunch: Hot Pocket (love them)
Dinner: Cheeseburger (1) and Hot dog (1) - I grilled out!
Dessert: Few Holiday Snacks =)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: C+

Day 178 & 179

2011-12-19T10:47:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was a busy one for me and the family that I didn't have time to post anything for Saturday and Sunday. Here is a summary of the weekend.

Saturday we had our Christmas with Dawn's grandma and Dad's side of the family. We used to do this on Christmas Eve, however with all the families growing over the years it was moved to a week out. It has been so much easier doing it this way. Plus it also gives us something fun to do the week before Christmas. Just with any family holiday party I'm tasked with making my devil eggs. Its a good few hour project based on how many I have to make, however I don't mind because they are always a big hit! At the party we do a white elephant gift exchange where everyone brings one thing and then picks from the pile. You can also steal someones gift if you want that more than picking one. Dawn and I made out great, she got one of those drink dispensers that you can fill up and keep on your counter. They are perfect for parties, but I'm thinking it will be used all the time come summer when I make ice tea. I got a giant clock, however traded that to Cori for a box of golf balls and some tees. It was a perfect switch! By the time we got home all the kids were sleeping. We put them to bed and just relaxed. As for my eating on Saturday, well it was ok. I didn't pig out, but also didn't starve myself. The food setup at the party is like a buffet and there were tons of good things. I will leave it at that!

Sunday, busy again, but so much fun. From the second we woke up the kids were asking to go to the movies and see the new chipmunks movie. So the plan was Dawn was going to take Brady and Lily while I stayed home with Charlie and watched some football. I was happy with this because it was the first week of my Fantasy Football playoffs and I wanted to keep an eye on the scores/games. However quickly there after our plans changed. I received a call from my boss with the Dbacks offering me his two tickets to the Cardinals game. I gave Brady the option of movies or football game and before I could finish he was starting to put his jersey on. So we headed out to Glendale and Dawn took the girls to the movies. The game was awesome, they won in overtime and Brady had a blast. It was his first ever Football game and it couldn't have been better. As for my eating on the day, well I took my buddy to his first ever football game so I was going to enjoy eating anything he wanted. It was a Hot Dog for each of us and then we shared some nachos. Great Day!

There is now only one week left till Christmas and two weeks left in the year. This means that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter for getting back on my diet journey full speed!

Day 177

2011-12-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

I had today off and boy am I glad as it was a very busy day. From the minute I woke up till about 4pm I was going full speed. We needed to get our stuff mailed out to our out of town families and today was the cutoff with hopes of getting it there by Christmas. Getting everything wrapped, boxed up and going to the UPS store was very time consuming that I took the day off.

Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas with Dawn's grandma and her Dad's side of the family. We used to do it on Christmas Eve, however with all the families growing over the years it has been easier to do it the week before. So needless to say Dawn and I had plenty of stuff to do tonight to get ready for that like make devil eggs, wrap gifts and do laundry to name a few.

Well that's about it for today, it was a crazy one!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Leftover Chinese Food (Small plate)
Afternoon Snack: Peanut Butter-Scotch Square (1)
Dinner: Pizza (2) and Chicken Wings (3)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: B-

Day 176

2011-12-15T23:26:00.000-08:00

It was another simple non exciting day for me (Thursday). Dawn was working in the office today so I had the house all to myself! It makes for a nice change every once in a while. We all know that Thursdays are clean day, so with the house to myself I was able to get everything cleaned pretty quickly with no interruptions. Once I was done cleaning I laid on the couch in the clean/quiet house and did nothing. It was awesome!

We did get a package from Grammy that had some of her peanut butter-scotch squares in it. I have not had those in probably 5+ years so it was an awesome treat. They kids loved them as well! Thanks Grammy!!!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: PB&J Sandwich
Dinner: Mongolian Beef and White Rice
Dessert: Peanut Butter-Scotch Squares (Grammy sent some)
Exercise: House Cleaning (2 hours)
Weight: n/a
Grade: C-

Dy 175

2011-12-14T23:39:00.000-08:00

I don't really have anything new and exciting to talk about from Wednesday. I worked and went out to do a little shopping. Other than that it was a normal boring day for me. Hopefully tomorrow (Thursday will be better).

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel (1/2) & Coffee
Lunch: Del Taco Tacos (3)
Afternoon Snack: Peanut Butter Cup (2, Small bite size)
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Wrap from Wendy's (1)
Dessert: Popcorn
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: C+

Day 174: 232 pounds

2011-12-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

Yup I'm still at the same weight I was last time I weighed myself. I guess that's not a bad thing considering the time of year it is. Just being able to maintain my weight during this time of year should be the goal.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that one year ago today, December 13th 2010, I started a diet because I was sick of my weight. Dawn and I started it together and were focused on making it work. We did great at it for a few months, however it then slowed down just like any diet does. It was then on June 23rd that I started this Journey to beak the 200 pond mark. Because I'm a huge nerd I still have the details from that day in a spreadsheet. I weighed 255 pounds! With what my current weight is I'm proud to know that I have been able to keep off the 23 pounds during the past year. However since I started my current diet/journey I have currently lost 13 pounds. It was at one point 20 pounds, but I have gone back up by 7 pounds over the past few months. I don't plan on making this a habit and know for a fact I can get to my goal of breaking 200 by my 35th Birthday!

As for today, well it rained all day long! I'm not kidding, I think it might have stopped for about 10 minutes but that's about it. My yard looks like a flood zone and all the streets look like mini lakes or running rivers. its crazy! Its kind of hard to get outside and be active when its raining non stop. I hope it clears up soon.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast (2) & Coffee
Lunch: Tamale (1)
Dinner: Chicken Sandwich & Fries (from Chick fi A)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 232 pounds
Grade: C-

Day 173

2011-12-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

Nothing exciting to come out of today. It rained all day long so I didn't really do anything. However the garage door got fixed so we can get in and out again! So yeah that's about it.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast (2) and Coffee
Lunch: Tamale (2)
Dinner: Cheeseburger (1) and Chicken Nuggets (4) from McDonald's
Dessert: Popcorn
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: B-

Day 172

2011-12-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

I again forgot to post this yesterday. Yes I know I have been slacking off of late, here is what I had to post about.

I started off my day by picking up some coffee before heading to Kokopelli for a golf tournament. We were not starting till 8am, however that was pushed back about 30 minutes to do frost on the course. It was freezing for the first hour, but after that it started to warm up and turning out to be one of the best days in recent weeks. As for the golf game, well as a team we shot 4 under par. We could have done much better but I was fighting a very sore back where I could barley bend over and walk. I pulled something on Saturday and had hoped it would be better by Sunday but it wasn't. So with every swing and put I would feel a sharp pain and pull. It sucked, but I'm a competitor and didn't let it stop me. I still had some great shots that left my team saying "how you can hit shots like that in that pain is amazing".

Oh yeah the tournament was sponsored by Hooters, so after it was over we all got a free buffet style lunch at Hooters in Mesa. I had a burger, pickle, some potato salad and a few wings. They were hot wings so I could only put down about 3. All the food was great!

After Hooters I rushed home to pick up the family so we could head over to Bill and Donna's. They got their Christmas tree and it was time for all the grandkids to help decorate it. After the tree was all decorated it was time for dinner, meatloaf! I was still full from lunch but it was meatloaf, I don't pass up meatloaf, ever! I had a small piece, some green beans and a little bit of mashed potatoes. It was a prefect dinner!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee
Morning Snack: Granola Bar on Golf Course
Lunch: Hamburger, potato salad and chicken wings (3)
Dinner: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes & green beans
Dessert: Sugar Cookie (made by the kids)
Exercise: Golfed
Weight: n/a
Grade: C

Day 171

2011-12-10T23:01:00.000-08:00

I got lots done today so it was a great day. The only bad thing to come from the day was our garage door breaking. The kids all wanted donuts for breakfast and I knew that meant I could get some coffee so I went to pick some up before Lily's dance class. Brady and I took Lily to dance while Dawn stayed home with Charlie. I wanted to take her so Brady and I could go to Dicks Sporting Goods to check out a few things. So right after we left the house Dawn called me to tell me she heard a loud noise in the garage. When she went out to check she saw that the spring/coil had snapped. When this happens you cant even manually open the door because its to heavy. At least my car was outside because the van is stuck till it gets fixed. Speaking of getting it fixed, that's the best part. I don't have to pay for it! I called my buddy/landlord Gary ("Hello Bryan!") and he came out this afternoon to take a look. He said he would have someone come fix it asap. He's an awesome landlord!

Since my car was going to be the main car of the family for a few days I decided to clean it up really nice. It had been a long time since I cleaned it. I take it to the car wash place down the road because they can get it done pretty quick. However it needed a Bryan clean this time, inside and out. I spent a good 3 hours on it. It was awesome, and it was some great exercise. During the process I had to eat some lunch and went with a slice of leftover pizza.

Since we watched our friends kids last night they were taking ours tonight so we could go out and get some Christmas shopping done. It was perfect. Before we got busy with shopping we got some dinner at Paradise Bakery. I had the chicken walnut salad sandwich and a side of broccoli & cheese soup. Its one of my favorites. It hit the spot.

Tomorrow morning I'm playing in a golf tournament so you better believe it that coffee will be on the menu.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee & Donut (1, Maple Frosted)
Lunch: Pizza (1 slice)
Dinner: Chicken Walnut Salad Sandwich and Broccoli & Cheese soup
Exercise: Cleaned my car of 3 hours
Weight: n/a
Grade: B+

Day 170

2011-12-09T23:31:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this yesterday because I fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up till 1:30am. Here is what I had to say....

It was a pretty busy day for me today, Dawn and the girls were off (Friday's) and I had work to do. Its always a nice challenge to get work done when I have two kids running around the house. The good thing about today was Dawn had a lunch date with a friend from high school, so her and the girls left the house for a few hours allowing me to get some stuff done. I went with some toast again for breakfast and enjoyed every last bite. The beginning of the week I was enjoying eggs, however needed a break and toast was the perfect fit.

I had some things I needed to do this afternoon so I used my lunch hour to get them done. It took a little bit longer than an hour, but that's ok I will make up the time at some point. Before heading out I put down a tamale as a quick lunch.

Dinner was not good, but I kept it under control. We were babysitting a friends two girls so it was going to be a pizza night. So like I said I kept it under control and only had 2 slices of pizza. Yes two slices is pretty normal, however when you have a full box in front of you it can easily go from two to three or four. So I think I did good. The other good part is that since we watched their kids tonight, they are going to watch ours tomorrow night so Dawn and I can go out. We would like to have a date night and do dinner and a movie, but need to take the time with no kids and go shopping. We are getting closer to the big day and still have tons to do.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast (2) & Coffee

Morning Snack: Orange

Lunch: Tamale (1)

Afternoon Snack: String Cheese stick

Dinner: Pizza (2)

Exercise: n/a

Weight: n/a

Grade: C+

Day 169

2011-12-08T20:51:00.000-08:00

Normally on Thursdays the highlight of my day is cleaning the house. However not today, it was Brady's holiday musical and play. He played Thomas Jefferson and had a few lines. All the kids were dressed up and did great. They also sang a handful of songs and did some dancing. Brady was great, really getting into all of it. We couldn't have been more proud. It was awesome!

Oh but not to worry I still cleaned the house and of course worked. I normally clean the entire house including mopping in 2 hours, but today I got it all done in an hour and forty five minutes. I was moving and sweating pretty good. Good exercise!

As for my eating today, well I think it was pretty good. Details below.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast (2) & Coffee
Lunch: Tamale (1)
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Wrap (2)
Exercise: 1.45 hours of house cleaning
Weight: n/a
Grade: B+

Day 168

2011-12-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

I was running a bit behind this morning and didn't have the time to cook eggs, so I decided to just make some toast. Lunch was very small and easy as I made just one tamale. Oh how I love those!

Brady had a half day at school so I had to pick him up at 12:30pm. Normally on half days they can purchase a Jamba Juice (fruit smoothies) on their way out. Brady lives for these half days because of these smoothies. However today he came walking out with nothing but a sad look on his face. He said that Jumba Juice didn't come today so I had to do something and that something was getting ice cream. With that said my diet had to be put on hold for a few minutes so I could enjoy some ice cream with my buddy. Oh and just for the record it was Baskin Robbins Winter White Chocolate. The best!!

For dinner I made spaghetti with a meat sauce and we all enjoyed that with some corn and garlic bread. Boy did that hit the spot, and I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. That's of course if I don't go with a tamale again. After dinner the kids wanted to watch Home Alone 2 so I made some popcorn and we all shared it during the movie.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast (2) & Coffee
Lunch: Tamale (1)
Afternoon Snack: Ice Cream (1 scoop)
Dinner: Spaghetti, Corn and Garlic Bread (1 slice)
Dessert: Popcorn
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: D (Thanks ice cream, but it was worth it)

Day 167

2011-12-06T22:27:00.000-08:00

I woke up determined to have a good day today and to stay focused on my eating. I really want to be back under 230 by the end of this week and in order to do that I need to stay focused. I'm not going to lie, its not easy this time of year to diet.

Just like yesterday I made two eggs for breakfast and enjoyed them with some coffee. I had a busy morning so I didn't get around to eating lunch till about 1pm. For lunch I heated up some leftover buffalo chicken from last night and made one small sandwich. The good thing about eating that is it forces me to drink a few water bottles because of the "heat" factor. After lunch Dawn and I headed over to her work so she could pick up some fresh tamales from a lady she works with. Her mom makes them this time of year and sells them so we got 2 dozen.

As for dinner, yup tamales, two of them.

I did sneak in a few oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. We do a family Secret Santa thing and last night ours delivered some homemade cookies. I could easily eat all of them, but will be limit myself to one or two per day.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: 2 eggs & Coffee
Lunch: Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (leftover)
Dinner: 2 tamales
Dessert: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (few)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: B+

Day 166: 232 pounds

2011-12-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

So I got on the scale this morning or the first time in a while and I was expecting to see a bad number. However seeing 232 made me a little bit happy. I'm not super happy but it is what it is, I will deal with it. Plus its only 2 pounds away from getting back under 230 again. I really want to see the 220's again and am going to try very hard to get back there this week. Can I do it, yes I can!

I started off my day by cooking two eggs and enjoying them with some coffee. Eggs are a great source of protein and are low in calories, carbs and fat. I might have to roll with that for a few days, change it up a bit. Dawn and I both took a little bit of an extended lunch so we could go get some things done without the kids. On our way home we ran through Taco Bell for something quick, easy and more importantly cheap! I went with two tacos and a bean burrito. I know its not the best of lunch, but it could have been much worse.

Dinner was some home cooking, well home crock pot cooking. I had asked Dawn this morning I wanted her buffalo ranch chicken sandwiches. I know what your thinking, Bryan eat something that's buffalo flavored! Well I like these so much that I suffer through the "hot" factory. The chicken cooks in a crock pot with a pack of dry ranch dressing and a bottle of Frank's Red Hot. When its all done you shred the chicken, put it on a roll and enjoy. I enjoyed one of those and a salad. Dinner was awesome! After dinner we packed up the van and went to look at Christmas lights. Good times!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: 2 eggs & Coffee
Lunch: 2 Tacos & Bean Burrito (Taco Bell)
Dinner: Buffalo Ranch Chicken Sandwich & Salad
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 232 pounds
Grade: B-

Day 165

2011-12-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

I got to spend most of the day in a quiet house with just me. It was awesome! Dawn took the kids to watch Rylee's cheerleading performance over in Glendale at 9am. After that was over they all went out to lunch and didn't get home till about 1:30pm. After they left I went and got my self a coffee and bagel and returned home to watch some football.

It was freezing out and I was sick of eating out, so for lunch I headed to the freezer and got me a hot pocket. It was some turkey, cheese and bacon in a pretzel type bread. Surprisingly it was good. I continued to watch football while enjoying my very gourmet meal. I was also flipping back and forth to the golf tournament with hopes of seeing Tiger Woods win for the first time in over a year. Sure enough a bride on the 18th got him that win. It was pretty awesome to see him pumped up after #17 and then winning on #18.

Not to get to far off subject, but in case your wondering, yes I'm a big fan of Tiger Woods. I have been a fan since the day he came into the PGA tour. There are lots of great players out there, but in my opinion there is no one better then him when he is on his game. Now I don't agree at all with all his personal issues and what he did a while back. However that's his personal life and his business and besides I don't watch his personal life on NBC every Sunday. I watch and care about what he does on the golf course and for the game of golf. Everyone deserves a second chance and I'm glad to support him in his journey back to the top.

So now back to me. After lunch we all just sat around the house and relaxed. Dawn made dinner about 4:45pm because I was playing softball tonight at 6pm. I was able to get a quick small plate down before having to leave. It hit the spot! As for softball, well it was about 45 degrees out with a lite breeze, but it was still a lot of fun because we got the victory. However I'm pretty sure I wont be able to feel my legs tomorrow form all the running I did. Running on dirt in softball shoes when its freezing out is not a good combo.

I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow morning and really have no idea what its going to say. I know that I have not been very good with my eating habits and lack of exercise. However I also know that I have not been that bad. So we will see, but either way tomorrow will make the start of a new week.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Coffee & Bagel
Lunch: Hot Pocket
Afternoon Snack: Popcorn
Dinner: Hamburger Helper Meal (Italian Pasta Shells), Green Beans and Biscuits
Exercise: Softball (1 hour)
Weight: n/a
Grade: C+

Day 164

2011-12-03T23:04:00.000-08:00

I took Lily to dance this morning so my breakfast was just an iced coffee from Dunkin on our way. Trust me, this is a perfect breakfast in my books just because I love their coffee and could probably have it for ever meal. After getting home from dance I did some laundry (folded and put away) and then relaxed and watched some golf on TV.

Our supply of food is getting thing and I was to lazy to make any lunch so I went and got some cheeseburgers and tacos from Jack In The Box. Not healthy, but quick, easy and yummy. After lunch came time for a Christmas movie so I put on Home Alone. The kids love it and so do I, it never gets old. Gotta love Christmas movies!

We got a few hours off from the kids tonight as Dawn's parents watched them so we could get some shopping done. Its always a nice break. Dinner was a quick drive thru at Wendy's between stores. Gotta love this time of year, always on the go.

Next weigh in day will be Monday.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Coffee
Lunch: Tacos (3) from Jack In The Box
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Wrap (2) from Wendy's
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: C+

Day 163

2011-12-02T23:31:00.000-08:00

Friday was a pretty crazy day for me mainly because on Friday's the girls are off and don't go to the sitters. Normally Dawn is here as well to help out with them as she has Friday's off, but she had some things to do and was not home. This left me with two kids that were out of control all while trying to get work done. It was tons and tons of fun!

After Dawn and Brady were home the idea of going out to dinner came up and I quickly said YES! I needed to get out of the house for a few hours. We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Chandler. Its attached to the mall so after we were done we went inside and walked around for a little bit. We spent most of our time in the Lego store. I, I mean the kids love that store!

Once we got home we made some popcorn and watched some TV before falling asleep on the couch.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel
Morning Snack: Protein Shake
Lunch: Cheese Crisp
Dinner: Spaghetti with meatballs and sausage
Dessert: Popcorn
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: B-

Day 162

2011-12-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

Nothing major to report on today so I will keep this nice and short. I worked, cleaned the house, went out to lunch with Dawn and did some shopping at Costco. I love Costco!

Other than that it was a normal day in the life of Bryan. I think tomorrow I might go out and put up more lights in the yard, just depends on how much time I will have...haha!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Lunch: Pita Jungle Grilled Chicken Shawarma (they are awesome) and some Hummus.
Dinner: Pizza =(
Exercise: House Cleaning (2.5 hours)
Weight: n/a
Grade: C-

Day 161

2011-11-30T19:48:00.000-08:00

It was a fun day for me today, yes fun. Why you ask, well I spent a good chunk of the day playing with Lego's. Brady has a pretty good collection of Lego's, some small some big. However only a few of them are fully built. The rest were just in piles like a tornado rolled through. He is asking for more for Christmas, so I told him that I wanted everything re-built before Christmas otherwise all the new pieces would be lost in the mix. He asked me if I could help him and I gladly accepted! I don't think playing with Lego's will ever get old, I love it. Dawn even said at one point today "I know what I'm getting you for Christmas"

As for my eating today, it was good. However I did have a donut for breakfast, just one! I made a coffee run and Dawn wanted just one donut so I got the #1 (coffee and 2 donuts) as its cheaper. Yes I know donuts are not good for you, however just one is not going to kill me. For lunch I heated up some leftover turkey, just turkey. It might be a week old, but it tasted good! Dinner was similar to lunch, but this time it was leftover chicken, green beans and a little mashed potatoes. The fridge is officially empty of all the leftovers. I did good!

Tomorrow is clean day so I will get plenty of exercise doing that, and maybe I just might go out for a bike ride or walk. I still have a cough hanging around so I don't want to push running.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Donut & Coffee
Lunch: Turkey (plain)
Dinner: Chicken, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: C+

Day 160

2011-11-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

I did better today in regards to my eating. I say better because I didn't snack on junk food like I did on Monday. Breakfast was yet again toast and coffee. I know its nothing fancy, but I like toast and we all know I love coffee, so why not stick with it. Now as for lunch, well I did slip up a bit as I had some pizza. We had a few things to do on our lunch so Dawn suggested we do a lunch date before heading to Walmart and the Post Office. She wanted to try this place called Sauce that's located just down the road at Dana Park. Its been there a long time, however we have never tried it. All I can say is we will for sure go back. It was awesome! We shared a small salad and a small pizza. The pizza is brick oven thin crust and they have tons of different kinds, however we couldn't seem to go away from the normal peperoni. I look forward to going back.

Once we got home we both got busy with stuff and before we knew it we had to pick up the girls. We had not even thought about dinner nor did we really want to cook anything. This means only one thing....McDonald family chicken nugget meal here we come. Yes I know its fast food and not good for you, but for $8.99 we can feed our entire family of 5. You cant beat that! After dinner the kids all took baths and we then headed out to look at some Christmas lights. The kids watched Elf in the car and ate popcorn that we pre cooked before leaving. They thought it was the coolest thing ever. I just wish there were more lights to look at. Hopefully more go up after this weekend.

I will say that trying to stick with a diet during this time of year is not easy. There are going to be many days when we are on the go and cooking wont be an option. There are also going to be lots of holiday goodies just about any place we go. I really need to lock it up and get focused. Last year around this time Dawn and I both started diets and it was tough, but we really stuck with it for a few months before slipping up. I know I have that info somewhere so I will dig up and write a post about it. Till tomorrow....

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Lunch: 1/2 Salad and Pizza
Dinner: Chicken Nuggets
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: C-

Day 159

2011-11-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

The Monday after a holiday weekend is never fun, but its something we have to deal with. Not really much to say about today. I did some work and put up more Christmas lights. I'm almost done putting them up, however I think I could keep adding more and more if Dawn didn't tell me to stop. I cant help it, I have some Clark Griswold in me!

I will say that my eating today was not good. It started off good with some toast, but for lunch I heated up a small piece of lasagna that was leftover from Thanksgiving. Dinner was homemade taco night and anytime we do that I tend to put on a eating display. I love homemade tacos! After dinner the kids wanted Dawn to make some cookies, so she made a batch of those pre packed ones you get in the store. Unfortunately I had a few of those (peanut butter & chocolate chip) as well.

So on that note I'm looking forward to getting this day done with and putting it in the past. I'm going to really focus hard tomorrow on eating right, small sizes and no snacking on junk. I can do it, its time!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Lunch: Lasagna (leftovers)
Dinner: Tacos (homemade)
Dessert: Cookies (3)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: F

Day 158

2011-11-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

We woke up to only one kid this morning as Brady and Lily went home with Rylee and Jake for a sleepover last night. Its crazy how only one kid life feels like. Dawn was taking Ashley & Brett's family photos this morning so Brady and Lily just came with them. We hung out there for about an hour and then headed to get some lunch. Of course the kids wanted Red Robin.

After lunch we headed to Home Depot so I could get some new Christmas lights for the house. It seems like everything is going to LED now a days, however I'm not a huge fan of the color some of them give off. So we went with the old school big clear bulbs. Plus they are way cheaper then LED lights. I'm sure at some point in the future I will have to buy LED because you wont be able to find the other ones anymore, but until that day I'm sticking with old school style.

Once we got home I got to working on the lights. What a big project it is just to get them up on the house. The peaks of our roof are much higher than our old house so I have to extend my latter all the way out and even then its almost not enough. I felt fine up on it, however Dawn was freaking out! I finally ran out of day light but did get all the lights up on the house. The small lights in the trees will have to wait. It was then time for dinner, leftover chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans from last night. Yummy!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee
Lunch: Chicken Caesar Wrap (with fries)
Dinner: Chicken, Mashed Potatoes with Green Beans
Exercise: Putting up Christmas Lights (I was sweating more than if I went running)
Weight: n/a
Grade: C-

Day 156 & 157

2011-11-26T22:24:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post something on day 156 (Friday) because I was invited to the ASU game that started at 8pm and didn't get over till midnight. By the time I got home I was in bed within minutes. Other than that Friday was pretty laid back. We put up our Christmas tree as a family and it took about 4 hours. We took our time and enjoyed it. As part of the tradition we watched Christmas Vacation and Elf in the process. Good times!

As for today (Saturday), it was great. After back to back nights of not getting to bed till well after midnight I was hoping to sleep in just a bit this morning. However having 3 kids kills that possibility. Dawn was taking some photos for a friend this morning so it was me and the kids. After my long night I was in major need for coffee. So I told the kids it was time for donuts and I think they beat me to the car. When we got home the kids ran into the house to start munching on their munchkins and then as I was walking it, I bumped the wall and my coffee went flying landing upside down shattering on the tile. I slipped out a few lets say not so good words. I then told the kids "come on, get back in the car we are going back. I need coffee". When I pulled back up to the drive thru window the girl said "hey your back"! I told her the reason why and in return I got a free coffee and she gave me an extra punch on my loyalty card. So it all worked out in the end.

The afternoon was a busy one as we were getting things ready for Dawn's family who was coming over for dinner for her Mom's birthday. As Dawn started making dinner for everyone I went out to do the yard work and start putting the Christmas lights up. I didn't get that far in putting up the lights because each set that I had on the house last year, more than half of them were not working. Only one strand was fully working. I guess its time to upgrade to some new lights. I'm glad I tested them before hanging them on the house!

As for dinner, it was awesome. We had a house full of people and kids and everyone was having a great time and all the kids were playing great. Always a good time. Oh and the meal Dawn made was so so good! It was a good day!

On a separate note, once this weekend is over I plan on getting back to the diet and exercise routine 100%. I had a feeling that once Thanksgiving was here that the few days following it would be a rough one. But don't worry I will get back on track.

Till tomorrow.....

Day 155: 229.5 pounds

2011-11-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I had no time to get this posted yesterday, and that's ok because I was just a little bit busy. I woke up about 730am and from that minute it was non stop till about 3am, yes 3am. Its a bit long of a post, but worth the read!

I had a plan to not eat that much for breakfast and lunch because I knew that our Thanksgiving dinner (4pm) was going to be massive! So for breakfast I had an iced coffee and piece of toast. That got me going and boy did I need it as I had to make my devil eggs. I boiled 4 dozen the night before so all I had to do was cut them and make the filling mixture. That took about 2 hours, but I had the football game on so that helped. I was getting hungry while making the eggs, so when I was done I made a protein shake to hold me over. We headed out to Scottsdale about 3:30pm and ate around 4:30pm. I cant begin to tell you how much food there was. I was in heaven! This is the one day a year that I don't hold back and eat anything I want, and I did just that. I had one full plate of all the normal Thanksgiving items and when that was done I went to get a plate of lasagna. Lasagna is a fixture at every holiday event, its awesome! After that was done I rested up for about 20 minutes and then tackled the dessert table. Everything was so so good. Thanksgiving was a success!

After eating everyone just hung out, talked and watched some football. Other than the food, visiting with family is the next best thing. It also gave Dawn time to put the final touches on our game plan for Black Friday shopping. Based on deals we had decided to go to Walmart first and then Target. Walmart was starting their deals at 10pm for non electronics. All electronics were not going on sale till midnight. So we got there about 9:45pm and what I witnessed after that was like nothing I have ever seen, nor wish to ever see again. All of the big sale items that were going on sale at 10pm (so 5 minutes after we walked in) were lined up in the isles with tons and tons of people just waiting for the green light. Finally at 10pm an announcement came one that Black Friday was officially starting. It then turned into a full on war for those items. We were looking at one of them, however when seeing people jumping over other people and diving into piles of boxes, throwing elbows, pulling on each other, we decided it was not worth it and headed to the toy area. It took me at least 30 minutes to get there and it was only about 200 feet. It was wall to wall people, and these were people who had no concern for the people around them. At one point I was stuck in the bike section or about 20 minutes without moving. At least the people around me at that time were nice. We finally got to where we needed to be and were able to get a few things on our list. The next challenge was making our way to the checkout and then waiting. I have never been to New York City on New Years Eve, however I'm pretty sure it would be just like my experience at Walmart!

Once we left Walmart we headed to Target. They were not opening till midnight and we got there about 11:30pm. The line outside was probably a few thousand people deep, no joke. However Dawn found a way to sneak into the line up near the front. Target had it going on and was very organized. They made announcements outside that they were only going to let groups of 30 in at a time every minute or so. Once in the store they had tons of employees guiding people in certain directions. There were lots and lots of people but since they were so organized and had a plan, it worked out and was not that bad. We got a few more things that were a smoking deal before heading home about 2:30am. Dawn's parents were at the house watching the kids so we needed to get home. Once at home I stayed and Dawn then headed back out to another Walmart. She was hoping that since it was a few hours into the morning that it would not be that bad. It was a smart move as she said it was not that busy.

Finally we both called it a day/night/morning at 4am and got some sleep. What a day! The good news is I have tons of leftovers that I get to enjoy over the next few days. I cant wait!

Again Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee & Toast
Lunch: Protein Shake
Dinner: A FEAST!!!!!
Exercise: Lots and lots of walking all day and night!
Weight: 229.5 pounds
Grade: n/a (it was Thanksgiving)

Day 154

2011-11-23T22:25:00.000-08:00

Only one more day till I can sit back, eat, relax and of course watch some football. But first I had to get through today, that being Thanksgiving Eve. It was a very busy day for me however not so much on the work front. I took a 1/2 day today because I had some other things to take care of, the biggest being a round of golf.

So to recap today's events, it was like this. I dropped the kids off at school and the sitters. After that I headed down to get a nice cold cup of iced coffee from DD's. I returned home and did some work for a few hours and then started to clean the house. As everyone knows I normally clean the house on Thursdays, however this Thursday is Thanksgiving and there is no way I will be cleaning the house. It was nice because Dawn helped out this week, however we both had to stop after getting about 3/4 of the house done as she had some work to do and I wanted to get a hair cut before playing golf. So I headed down to Supercuts and got a trim and then headed to the course. I played Greenfield Lakes with my father in law, brother in law and one of Dawn's uncles (Uncle Marty). The course is small with lots of par 3's some par 4's and two par 5's. I shot a 68 (par is 62) and was happy with it. After golf I was instructed to pick up some dinner as both Dawn and I didn't feel like cooking (McDonald's it was). Once dinner was done it was back to finishing cleaning the other 1/4 of the house (our bedroom & mop). After all of that was done it was time to boil and peal some eggs in preparation for tomorrow. I'm in charge of making Devil Eggs for the big family dinner and to save on time I like to boil and peal the eggs the night before. When your cooking 4 dozen eggs it makes it a ton easier. Once that was done it was time to just sit down, write this post and then call it a night!

Oh and the highlight of my day was that I got my photo from the Diamondbacks from when I was the employee of the month. I took a photo of it the best I could and put it below. Geoff Blum is on the left and the team President Derek Hall on the right. Its pretty awesome and will be framed and mounted next to my bat.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Morning Snack: Celery & Peanut Butter (1)
Lunch: Hot Dog (1, in the car on my way to golf)
Dinner: Cheeseburger (1) and 4 chicken nuggets from McDonald's
Exercise: Golfed, Cleaned House, Mopped
Weight: n/a
Grade: B+

Day 153: 231.5

2011-11-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

With only a few days left till the biggest eating day of the year, I made the decision to go very easy on eating the next few days. I need to make sure that I'm 100% prepared for the task at hand =). Really I need to do this every day again so I can get back to losing weight at a quicker rate!

I had another day with a good amount of work on my plate, but of course its never a problem to get it all done. Working from home gives me the flexibility to get stuff done at my own pace but more important I don't have any distractions holding me back. I love it! I did sneak in few snacks while working, but they were good and healthy snacks in celery with peanut butter.

After picking up Brady we headed out to some sport stores to do some "window" shopping. Its one of our favorite things to do, it never gets old. After getting home I fired up the grill and cooked some hot dogs and made a broccoli and rice mix to go with them. It was one of those quick and easy meals tonight. Works with us!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Toast & Coffee
Morning Snack: Celery & Peanut Butter (1)
Lunch: Tamale
Afternoon Snack: Celery & Peanut Butter (2)
Dinner: Hot Dog with broccoli/rice mix
Exercise: n/a
Weight: 231.5
Grade: B+

Day 152

2011-11-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post something yesterday due to the fact that it was a very busy day and night and I ended up passing out on the couch about 9pm, so here it is.

For some strange reason I like to fall asleep on the couch every now and then, but only for an hour or so. What I dont like is waking up at 2:30am with the TV still on and having a stiff neck. It drives me nuts when this happens becasue its time I could have been in my comfy bed.

As for the rest of the day and why it was so busy. Well it was a Monday and I had plenty of work to do. Dawn and I took our lunch break and went to do a little shopping for some pre Black Friday deals. We then had to pick up Brady from school and go in and pickup the candles he sold in his fundraiser. After that I had more work and had someone coming over to the house to buy an old home stero system I was selling on craigslist. I also worked with Lily on riding her bike with no training wheels. I'm very proud to say that she has it down now, its so awesome! Then came dinner and we all went out for some Mexican food (yummy). After we got home it was kid clean up time and then we helped Brady and Lily with their Christmas list. Lily did her's pretty quick where as Brady is still working on his. He's nuts!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Tamale
Dinner: Tacos (2) with beans and rice
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: C-

Day 151

2011-11-20T21:02:00.000-08:00

Not much to report on for today. The good news is today was not as busy as yesterday. We had another birthday party this afternoon for my nephew (Jake). Before going over there we all just hung around the house and watched some football. It was a perfect way to start my Sunday. Once at the party I resumed my role of watching football and doing nothing.

When we got home, yup you guessed it more football. I love Sundays! No time for exercise today and even if there was I don't think I would have done it. I have been feeling great of late, I don't want to do anything to go south again. Maybe in a few days I will resume.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Iced Coffee
Lunch: Subway Sandwich, Potato Salad and some chips
Afternoon Snack: Birthday Cupcake
Dinner: Pizza (2)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: D

Day 150

2011-11-19T22:01:00.000-08:00

Finally, it was yard sale day! Both Dawn and I set our alarms for 5:30am so we could get up, get the signs out and pull everything out into the driveway. However we didn't wake up till 6:30am. If it was the summer we would have lost a good hour already, however with it not getting light out till about 7am, we were still ok on time. Our first guest showed up about 6:45am and purchased a few items. So it was official, we were in business. After a few hours and almost all our stuff gone, we called it a day. We were pretty happy to see most of our big items gone, however our computer hutch was still standing. We were asking $200 for it and were told many times today that was a super steal given its condition and quality. But every person that said that of course was not going to buy it. So after calling it a day I counted up our money and it was a $420 profit. How awesome is that! Dawn had also put the computer hutch on Craigslist, this time for $300 and within an hour we got a call and sold it for $265. I was shocked that it sold so dang quick. So we post more stuff on craigslist and within 20 minutes I had someone lined up to purchase an old surround sound system for $60. So now our $420 profit is up to $745 and we are not done. Its been a great day, I love yard sales!

So yard sale aside I did ok today. My breakfast was a coffee and a donut during the yard sale. I think its almost standard that you eat donuts during yard sales. Its quick and easy! As for lunch, well that was something special. During the yard sale some lady came by and asked if we wanted to buy some Tamales. Umm, yeah I would, I love tamales! So I heated up two of those and relaxed on the couch for a little bit. Dinner was at Peter Piper Pizza for my nieces (Aidyn) birthday party. I love their pizza, I was hungry and was around family, so I ate up. It was good times!

Now its 11pm and I'm very tired and ready for bed. To recap today was very busy yet again, oh and we have made over $700 selling random crap we no longer wanted or needed.

So till tomorrow....

Day 149

2011-11-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

Its not that I forgot to post yesterday, its just because I didn't have any time. Yesterday (Friday) was a very busy day for me. After getting done with work it was all me and the kids for dinner as Dawn went to the movies. After dinner (hot dog) was over and the girls to bed, me and Brady headed to the garage to get stuff in order for the big garage sale today (Saturday). I finally called it a night about 12:30am and headed to bed.

As for the rest of my day, it was good. I don't really recall what I ate, but know I didn't do that bad. I was so active that I'm sure I burned more than I ate.

So with that said I will now start to work on my post for today.

Day 148

2011-11-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

It was another busy day for me, both work and personal stuff, more so on the personal stuff. I started the day off with a nice refreshing cup of iced coffee. Perfect way to start a Thursday. Speaking of Thursday, I spent a good chunk of my morning cleaning the house and getting more stuff set aside for the yard sale this weekend. We have a good amount of stuff so it should be a success.

Dawn and I went to Pita Jungle for a lunch date today. It was very nice to spend some alone time with just the two of us. Plus the food is amazing there so it was a huge win. After lunch we walked over to the self serve yogurt store. I got a small cup of non fat min yogurt and it was awesome! Once we returned home I got back to cleaning as I still had to vacuum and mop. After picking up Brady from school, we went outside and played some football and enjoyed that awesome weather.

We all went to get the girls and then stopped and picked up a Little Caesars Hot and Ready pizza for dinner. Cant beat a $5 meal for a family of 5! After dinner came time to relax and watch some Thursday night football. I was looking forward to watching Tim Tebow play. He's not the best quarterback in the league when it comes to standard NFL QB skills, actually he might be the worst. However he has more heart and passion than any quarterback in the league. After watching the game tonight I would put money on that statement. The guy is a winner, a big time winner! Who wouldn't want to be around a guy like that.

So on that note I will be done for the day. So till tomorrow....

Day 147: 232 pounds

2011-11-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

We are looking to have a yard sale this weekend, so I spent a good chunk of my day getting stuff in order for that. Of course I did all of this on my down time with work (ha ha). We have a good collection of stuff that we will hope to sell. However knowing how our yard sales go, I don't think we will have any issues getting rid of most of it. I really hope so because I don't want it coming back into my house/garage. It also makes for good timing because Black Friday is next week and we like to get a lot of our shopping done on this day. So having the extra money in our pocket will help a ton.

As for my eating, well it started with bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and boy were they good. That held me over till lunch time when I heated up more of the leftover baked spaghetti. My afternoon snack was a nature valley peanut butter granola square. They are only 90 calories, 100% natural and a perfect snack. Dinner was some good ole home cooking. Dawn made BBQ chicken breast in the crock pot with some mashed potatoes and green beans. This meal is always a big hit in our house, therefore I don't have any leftovers for tomorrow.

So overall it was a good day and I got lots of stuff done around the house. So till tomorrow.....

Day 146

2011-11-15T23:07:00.000-08:00

Today was a rough one for me. Not with my eating and exercise, but my work. I had to let someone know that they no longer had a job after this Friday. For those that have done this, you know how I feel. If you have never done this than trust me when I say that its one of the hardest things you will ever have to do. It makes you sick to your stomach almost to the point where you want to throw up. However its part of my job and as much as it hurt to delivery the message, I'm just glad it was me delivering it, not getting it delivered to me.

After taking the kids to school this morning I made a coffee stop before heading back home to work. Once I got the news that today was the day to communicate the "news", I got busy preparing for it. Because of this I didn't get the chance to eat lunch till about 2pm. I heated up some leftovers from last night. That bakes spaghetti meal Dawn made was almost better leftover. After that I got back to work and stayed busy up till I had to get Brady from school.

Once he got home he wanted to go throw the football around and I sure could use the break so off we went. While playing in the backyard we saw a hot air balloon fly over the house, and it was pretty low. It was pretty cool because we could hear the people talking and hear the hot air being blown up into the balloon. Since it was so low I told Brady that it must be landing somewhere nearby. So we jumped in my car and started to follow it around the neighborhood until we finally found where it was going to land. It was this park area in the neighborhood just north of us. It was crazy to see this large balloon come down in the middle of this neighborhood park. There were lots of people running up to watch it land. Once it was on the ground the guy flying it told everyone they could help jump on the balloon part to get all the air out. It looked like tons of fun. I told Brady to go out there and play, but he didn't want to. I think the size of it kind of scared him. I don't blame him, the thing was huge!

Once we got home it was time for some dinner. After the day of work I had I didn't feel like cooking and just wanted some quick. We all agreed on Taco Bell. A few taco's later and I was ready to call it a night and watch some TV.

So overall today was a crappy one! So till tomorrow.....

Day 145: 232 pounds

2011-11-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

I weighed myself this morning for the first time in over a week. I was not sure what to expect since I was sick all last week, but figured I would be about the same as last reported. Am I happy with that number, of course not. However I am happy knowing that I have been feeling better and know that I can slowly start to get back on the diet track. I had set a goal a few weeks back of hitting the 222 pound mark by Thanksgiving. I'm still aiming for that, however missing a week and now not being able to really exercise has me thinking that it might not happen. However you never know, 10 pounds in 10 days could happen.

Today also marks day 145, that's 55 days away from 200! I started to think the other day that I should aim for breaking my 200 pound mark by day 200. That would be fitting don't ya think? In doing the math it would mean that I would have to lose just about a half a pound per day. It might be a reach, but I think I'm going to give it a try. At least it something fun to work for!

As for my day today. Well being a Monday and me being back at work, I started my day off with a nice cup of hot joe! A Chipotle just opened down the road at Dana Park, so that meant I was going out to get lunch today. I went with a Grilled Chicken burrito bowl, a personal favorite of mine. Having this just down the road is going to become a favorite of mine for lunch, however I wont over due it. Dinner was a home cooked meal. Dawn made this spaghetti meal that baked. It was awesome and of course plenty of leftovers. Overall it was a good day.

Till tomorrow....

Day 144

2011-11-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

Another day in the books and with exception of a head ache, probably lack of coffee, I felt great. I only coughed a few times! It rained all night and a little bit this morning, however that went away and it turned into a beautiful day.

Dawn made pancakes for breakfast so we enjoyed those before sitting down to some football. We pretty much did nothing the rest of the day. I did take some time out of my football watching to make a PB&J for lunch, but returned quickly to the couch to finishing watching the Cardinals take down the Eagles. After the game was over we cleaned up the house a little bit and all headed out for a family walk. Like I said above, it was so nice out. Brady and Lily both rode their bikes while Dawn and I walked pushing Charlie in her little car. It was good family fun! Dinner was some hot dogs (Chicago style), yummy!

Tomorrow is Monday and the start of a new week. I think it will also be a good morning for a cup of coffee, but we will see.

Till tomorrow.......

Day 143

2011-11-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

Things are starting to look up for me as it was another good day on the health front. I was tired most of the day, but that was not because of being sick, but because of only getting a few hours of sleep last night. Night time is still a bit rough for me with my coughing. It seems that I'm up every few minutes drinking some water to stop the cough. However last night it was not only the cough, but it was Charlotte. She has not been feeling good and last night it really showed. She went to bed around normal time (7:30pm) however woke up about 11:30pm coughing and screaming. She looked so tired but would not stop crying and would not go back to bed. Finally at 2:30am I decided to take her out for a drive. After 30 minutes she was sound a sleep and I returned home. So when all said and done Dawn and I got to sleep from 3:30 to 7am. Yes it sucks, but I would do it every night if it meant taking care of my little princess! It's what we do as parents. So yeah I was tired all day, but still felt good.

We had a family out day and went to the mall this afternoon. We ate some lunch, walked around and got the kids some "Christmas" clothes for the upcoming big day. It's always a good time walking around the mall, especially this time of year.

As for my eating today. For breakfast I enjoyed two bowls of Cheerios. Lunch was at the mall and I had a footlong Subway Roasted Chicken breast sandwich covered with veggies. Dinner was 3 tacos from Jack in the Box. Yeah I did! So that was it on the eating front today. No hard exercise other than walking around the mall. I'm not going to be in any hurry to push exercise because I don't need to get sick again.

So till tomorrow.......

Day 142

2011-11-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

I felt really good today. I still have a pretty bad cough that comes and goes at random times and I still don't have my voice back, but other than that I feel good. I might not sound it, but inside I feel it. Based on history the cough will probably hang around a few more weeks, but I should start to get my voice back in the next day or two. So things are really looking good on the cold/sick front.

I'm also aiming for Monday with getting back on a normal diet eating schedule/plan. Like I said in previous posts, this week has been far from normal so I cant really count it.

However I will mention that I have hit a milestone that I have not been able to do in a long time. Today marked the 5th day in a row without coffee! That's huge for me as I have been getting it every day for the past few weeks. However I wanted to stop drinking it daily for a few reasons the main one being I was not liking how it was making me feel of late. The caffeine high was starting to go away sooner making me want more or other sugar items. This is not good! When I started this journey 142 days ago I quit coffee cold turkey because I knew it had lots of extra un-needed sugar and this was not going to fly on my diet. It was very hard, but I got through it and started to feel so great. However over time I started to drink it again leading up to every day. Then this past Sunday after dropping Dawn off at the airport I stopped and got a large iced coffee (french vanilla flavor and cream/sugar) from Dunkin. It was very tasty! This was also the day I started to get really sick. So as I'm sitting on the couch starting to fall apart and get weaker and weaker by the minute all I could think about was the coffee I just drank. I started to think me not feeling good was related to it. It was not till a few hours later when I started to shake from being so cold that I knew I had the flu coming on. But still it was the coffee that was fresh in my mind. I'm sure everyone has a story like this where they eat something and get really sick and its that one thing they can only picture, taste, smell making them never want it again. Well that was me last Sunday. I couldn't even watch a DD commercial when it came on without wanting to puke. Crazy!

So I'm hoping by quiting again that it will not only save me money every day, but get my body free from a good amount of un-needed sugar. Remember sugar is carbs and those are not good carbs meaning they can turn into fat. It all really makes sense that my little bit of weight gain over the past month could be directly related to drinking coffee every day! It would probably be different if I drank it black or with just cream, but I cant. I have to have cream, sugar and vanilla flavor. It was also good timing for me to quit again because when you quit you get major headaches from the caffeine withdrawals. The good news is my head was already pounding from being sick that I didn't feel it at all. However I did today, but got past it. There are still going to be days when I get a cup, but those will be very spaced out. After all it is the holiday season and the peppermint mocha at Starbucks is back!

That's the post for today. "And as always stay classy San Diego!"

Day 141

2011-11-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

It was a much better day today. I didn't sleep good at all last night, coughing every 2 minutes. I also was up most of the night with Charlotte who was also having some coughing and breathing issues. So it was a few rounds of treatments, etc for her. I gave myself a treatment and was finally able to get about 2 hours of sleep and don't recall waking up during it. So that's a good sign. I also had enough energy to get my Thursday cleaning done. It felt good to be up and moving around at a pretty normal speed.

I'm not really focused on my diet and exercising this week just because of my health. I cant exercise and I have not been eating normal so there really isn't a point. I think that's understandable!

Lets hope that I feel even better tomorrow and into the weekend.

Till then......

Day 140

2011-11-09T23:54:00.000-08:00

Another sick day, but the good news is Dawn came home! Not much else to say, everyone seems to be feeling ok. Brady is getting a little cough but nothing serious. Charlotte is a little worse than Brady with some breathing issues but always has a huge smile! As for Lily, well she seems to be perfect (so far) and is having no issues. We will keep our fingers crossed!

Till tomorrow!

Day 139

2011-11-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

24 hour flu my ass! I'm going on 3 full days of this crap! I really hope it starts to let up tomorrow. As for my eating, well it wasn't a ton. I had lots and lots of water, chicken noodle soup, crackers and some ginger ale.

That's about all I have to talk about today. Till tomorrow...

Day 138

2011-11-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

I just noticed that I never posted yesterday. I didn't have much to say as I'm still super sick. So on that note I'm taking another sick day!

Till tomorrow!

Day 137

2011-11-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

Sick, very sick! Yes I'm fighting what I think is the flu. It came out of nowhere and has it me big time. I have not felt like doing anything all day. My body is weak, every bone hurts, I go in and out of the cold/hot phase. It sucks! Its also not the best of timing. Dawn left this morning for Florida till Wednesday, thank god I have Brady to help me out. He was such a good boy today taking care of me and doing anything I had asked. Maybe I should pretend I'm sick every day so he acts this way =).

So with that said I'm done typing. As I'm sitting here typing this I have pants, shirt, jacket and a snuggie on and am still am freezing! Its time for bed! I don't think I will be doing much work tomorrow as I can see lots of rest in my future.

Bye!

Day 136

2011-11-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Its late and I'm to tired to really type anything. So with that said here we go. Dropped Dawn and Lily off at dance, went and got a coffee, walked around Dicks Sporting Goods, picked Dawn and Lily up from dance, ate leftovers for lunch, watched some football, put kids in time out, made frozen pizza for dinner, played Sorry for game night, watched some TV, typed this post! Now its time for bed as I have to get up early to take Dawn to the airport. She is heading to Florida tomorrow for a few days for a huge conference. She is very excited that she was picked to go because the key note speaker is Bill Clinton! I would be excited as well, its a former US President. Plus its being held at Disney World. I'm calling it a vacation more than a work trip.

Football Sunday tomorrow!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bowl of Cheerios & Coffee
Lunch: Leftover Chinese food
Afternoon Snack: Mini Candy Bar (2) =(
Dinner: Frozen Pizza (3 slices)
Exercise: n/a
Weight: n/a
Grade: C

Day 135: 231 pounds

2011-11-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

Well it was another weight in day and my weight has not moved at all. I guess this is a good thing, yet still drives me nuts! I have been trying to do so much better this week and yet I have not seen any results on the scale. However I will say that I can feel it. The scale might not be showing it, but I just have that feeling like I'm a bit lighter than I was last week. That's a good thing as it builds confidence.

The rest of today was pretty normal. I did manage to get to Discount Tire to have my tires rotated. Lily got a huge kick out of the tire shop and watching my car go up on the lift. All she seemed to care about was how black their hands were getting from touching the tires. How cute! Dawn went to a boutique with her cousin so dinner was just me and the kids. Earlier in the day I was watching Triple D (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) and they were at an Italian restaurant and it made me want....Chinese food. Yeah I know weird to get Chinese form seeing Italian. There is this place just down the road that has some decent Chinese so we ordered from there (its no Green Leaves). It has been a very long time since I have had Chinese food and boy was it great. It hit the spot and I have plenty of leftovers. I don't know about you, but left over Chinese is the best.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Morning Snack: Grapes
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Breast
Dinner: Pork Fried Rice & Chicken Chow Mien
Exercise: 100 sit-ups, Squats (3 sets of 15), Lunges (3 sets of 12)
Weight: 231 pounds
Grade: B-

Day 134

2011-11-03T23:06:00.000-07:00

Cleaning Day! I spent two and a half hours this morning cleaning the house as I normally do on Thursdays. I think if I try hard I can get it down to about 2 hours, however that would be cutting is close. Its no worries with me as I enjoy doing it because one I love a clean house and two its good exercise.

Brady had a game tonight so we were at the fields from 7 till almost 10. Late games are the pits when its a school night, however to a kid they don't care about the time, to a parent we care! It was a good game, they played really good, but came up short by one run. Brady grounded out in his first at bat, walked in his second and singled in his 3rd. He also played catcher for an inning and did great. While all of that was going on Lily was running around playing with some girls (twin sisters) from a boy on Brady's team. She had a blast.

Among all of the fun things from today was some good eating by me. I went with a bowl of cereal for the second day in a row. Heated up some left over grilled chicken for lunch and had a grilled chicken wrap from Wendy's for dinner. Dinner had to be quick tonight because of Brady's game.

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Cheerios (1 bowl)
Morning Snack: Grapes
Lunch: Grilled Chicken Breast
Afternoon Snack: String Cheese & Yogurt
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Wrap (2)
Exercise: House Cleaning (2.5 hours)
Weight: n/a
Grade: A

Day 133: 231 pounds

2011-11-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

Well my weight didn't move any from the other day, no worries it will at some point. The rest of my day was pretty simple yet again. I went with cereal for breakfast, more leftovers for lunch and some home cooking for dinner. Dawn made another first time meal in Chicken Piccata (grilled chicken & pasta with a cream sauce). It was awesome and of course there are leftovers. So not only do I still have leftover chili, but I now have left over chicken and pasta.

Tomorrow will be a little more exciting as Brady has a baseball game, oh and its cleaning day!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Cheerios & Coffee
Morning Snack: Yogurt Cup
Lunch: Leftover Chili (bowl)
Afternoon Snack:
Dinner: Chicken Piccata with some Pea's & Carrots (Jenny!)
Exercise: 100 situps, Squats (3 sets of 10)
Weight: 231 pounds
Grade: B

Day 132

2011-11-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

Nothing major to write about today as it was a pretty basic day, work from home (blah, blah, blah). I did manage to get the yard work done today. Its starting to look like Tuesdays are my yard work day while Thursdays continue to be house cleaning. It seems to be a good game plan so I will stick with it, or at least try.

I also got in some exercise tonight (aside from the yard work) and it felt great! One day at a time!

Daily Recap:

Breakfast: Bagel & Coffee
Lunch: Bowl of Chili (leftovers)
Afternoon Snack: Kit Kat (Bite Size from the kids basket)
Dinner: Pretzel Dog
Dessert: Pumpkin Seeds (few)
Exercise: Yard work (1 hour), Running (30 minutes), 75 situps
Weight: n/a
Grade: B+

Day 131: 231 pounds

2011-10-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-29T21:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

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+