Today for lunch, I still wasn’t feeling good so I wanted to eat in.  I’d brought in some Lean Pocket Calzones a few weeks back and decided they’d make a pretty good lunch.  Overall, they were pretty tasty and a lot more hearty than the standard Lean Pockets.

I was feeling bad last night, but today I couldn’t get myself going for the life of me.  I can definitely feel a flu coming on.  Unfortunately, I’ve got way too much going on in the office to take a day off, so I forced myself into work.  I didn’t want to have any dairy since I’m sick so I left the yogurt behind and went with just a Fiber One bar today.

By the time I got home from work this evening, I was feeling pretty miserable already.  I’m not sure where it came from, but it feels like I’ve got a full blown flu coming.  I wasn’t really hungry, but knew I had to eat something.  I decided to grill up two turkey burger patties and have some cheesy rice and broccoli to go with them.  Overall, it was a pretty good meal, but definitely no gym tonight…

That brings my total for today up to 1430 calories. A bit lower than I want to aim, but without getting in the gym visit, probably better to aim a bit lower.

Today for lunch, we went out with a client to Growler’s Pub.  Once again, I decided to go for the Cajun Turkey Burger with steamed veggies on the side.  This time, I opted to go with no cheese on the burger in order to cut back on the calories if even slightly.   Overall, the burger was great, but once again I felt as though the veggies were slightly undercooked.   Still, it was a pretty decent lunch and not too high on the calorie scale.

This morning, I decided to just go the same route as yesterday.  I had a Yoplait Light yogurt, this time Strawberry Banana.  Overall it was pretty good, but not nearly as awesome as yesterday’s choice.  I also brought in a Fiber One bar,  but I’m going to save that for a mid-morning snack.

For dinner tonight, I didn’t want to do anything too crazy.  I decided to go for two ham sandwiches and a apple parfait.   The sandwiches were pretty good and the parfait was great, but I did find myself getting hungry again no less than an hour afterwards.

That brings my total for today up to 1610 calories.

Last week, I ended up getting “Noodles & Co.” for lunch and was for the first time, not overly impressed with my meal.  I decided to give the red sauce on the table a chance.  My co-worker calls it “Rooster Sauce”, but I can’t remember the brand name off the top of my head.  Just a small taste of it brought my pasta with house marinara to a completely new level!   Since then I’d been looking forward to trying it with another dish, the Japanese Pan Noodles.  Today was my lucky day!  Once my meal arrived, I quickly gave it a nice helping of the pepper sauce.  It kicked it up several notches, almost to the point where it might have been too hot for me to eat.  Overall, it was great and it gave the somewhat spicy dish that needed kick.  The one thing I’ll keep in mind for future visits is to kill off the beef addition.  I keep getting it, though it really doesn’t add much to the dish besides calories, making this somewhat healthy dish into a calorie overload.  I’ll have to keep dinner pretty light this evening to make up for it.

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10 Days since my last post meal posting.  I’m not going to say what I say each time… that I’ll keep up and make up the lost days.  Trying to make up lost time is what keeps me from wanting to go forward… so I’m just starting today.. here.. from scratch!  It’s a new week and a new plan… yogurt!   This morning, I went for the Strawberry Shortcake, which sounded pretty awesome.  I’d never seen that flavor before and was really looking forward to giving it a try.  I did have another new flavor yesterday, White Chocolate and Strawberries, and it was pretty good.  Overall, I’ll have to give the Strawberry Shortcake high marks.  It was one of the better flavors I’ve had so far!  I also had a Fiber One bar to go with it as added filling and to get some fiber in to kick off the day.  It was my first time having the Peanut Butter flavor, and I did enjoy it quite a bit!

I’ve fallen off the wagon, at least as far as posing and keeping the updates flowing is concerned.  No, I have not given up or gotten off the diet.  You shouldn’t think such nonsense.  I’m still going, and officially, I’m at 286lbs!!  That’s a 1.2 lb drop from last week, and overall, 37lbs since day 1!

Last week, I had something wrong with my leg, and that put a crimp on my cardio.  In the end, I just switched over to swimming, and overall, I think I’m getting MUCH better cardio in the pool since it’s really working my arms and legs at the same time.

Also, last week, I started to doubt the path that I’m on.  Since the end of the month is near, I’m starting to ponder changing the current gameplan and going in a different direction.   Too many stalled weeks is really driving me crazy… putting in a ton of effort and get 0 change, especially over the course of weeks, was really wearing on me.  One idea that I was considering was switching over to Atkins and seeing where that took me.  That would mean dropping out the carbs and going heavy on the protiens.

Then late last week, I was doing some reading and came across this article about the benefits of having yogurt when dieting.   A group of people were put on a reduced calorie diet and given three 6oz servings of yogurt each day.  Over the course of the study, the ones having yogurt lost 61% more fat overall, and 81% more fat around their waist than the ones that were not having yogurt.  It then hit me.. when the pounds were shedding off, I was having yogurt almost daily.  Once I switched to breakfast bars and other “non-yogurt” breakfast items, things started to plateau.   As of today, I’m going to work at least one cup of yogurt into my diet each day.. sometimes for breakfast, sometimes for a snack, others for a dessert after dinner.  If I see a noticeable change, I might step it up even more and have additional servings.   I’m anxious to see if this does help with the weightloss, and I’ll report in with my findings.

I broke it!  The official weigh in as of this morning is 287.2, a 2.8lb drop from last week!  That’s a pretty good return from the extra effort I put in, and I’m really hoping I can keep up that level for at least a month or two.  I really would like to get down to about the 260 level for Christmas.  So, in 16 weeks, I’ve dropped 35.8 lbs.  I’m proud of that, though I’m aiming to lose another 25 in just under 10 weeks.  That’s going to be a serious push, and I’ll have to work hard in order to make that goal.  That would put me at about 2.5lb/week.  I know I can do it, and I’m sure the extra push at the gym will get me the results I’m looking for.  Once I get to that goal weight, I’ll continue the push into the new year.   Keeping up that level of loss, I should be able to drop 70lbs before my birthday.  That would get me a bit short of my overall goal, but still to a very respectable 190lbs, well within range to be able to ride a rollercoaster comfortably!  If I can do better, by golly that would be great.

I’m not sure if it’s even possible to hit my original target of 165-170… though it might be as I continue to push myself harder in the gym.  I just don’t want to set up unrealistic goals and then be dissapointed when I don’t even come close.   I know I can pull at least 10lbs a month… I will put forth the extra effort to see that it happens!!

Lately, I’ve heard about people looking to other methods of weightloss.  I’ve got friends that are looking to get the lap-band surgery, or that may be looking towards certain weight-loss medications to accomplish their goals.  While I cheer and applaud anyone that’s looking to lose weight, I truly don’t believe in the idea of taking a shortcut to get there.   If I had gotten lap band, I don’t believe I would have built up nearly the the level of willpower that I currently have.  It’s not unbreakable, but I’ve been able to resist some pretty major tempations over the last few months.   If I’d taken any shortcuts, I would feel that I’ve done less than I could have for the same results.   The weightloss would be amazing, but I wouldn’t feel as though I actually “worked” for it, almost as if it was a gift given to me.  I know if that was the case, I wouldn’t feel the need to stick with it nearly as much, and In the end, I would just end up being one of the people that puts it all back.  I cannot… I will not ever let that happen!  I’ve worked too hard so far to look back, and once it’s all gone, I will never get back to where I was previously.  What I’ve done is a lifestyle change, and it’s one that I’ve been completely happy with so far.   I love the fact that I want to get out more and experience the world.  I’m actually somewhat saddened that winter is soon approaching, and it will be too cold for most outdoor activities.  My patience will pay off though, and by spring, I should be more than ready to get out there and start finding everything I’ve missed.

I’ve also noticed that several others have started taking up the torch, either dieting or becoming more active in their personal lives.  Some have taken up tennis, started going to the gym, started eating healthier and living overall healthier lives.  I want to encourage them to continue on, as well as to look for other options to keep the energy flowing.

In closing, once again, I just want to thank everyone for their support.  Everyone has played a small part in my success so far.  I just want to encourage everyone to join me and live a healthy, active lifestyle.  The more people that join, the easier it is to stick together and work together to meet all of our goals for health.