July 31, 2009 Last day of the first month of newness!

Hello all. It's the end of July. I started this blog last month and I am pretty proud of my progress. Was I perfect? no. Did I get back on the "bike" after falling off? yes. I made much smarter choices, fought temptation, got busy, made changes, started living right. I want to thank Lisa and all of my new friends on the internet that let me watch there own personal victories! I will be one of the winners!!
Thursday was almost a carbon copy of Wednesday. Fiber one bar, bag of pretzels, Subway for supper. Today I had a fiber one bar for breakfast, bag of pretzels for lunch (all this while watching my girls at work eat and entire Rocky Rococo's pizza) They offered me some, I declined. Suprisingly, it wasn't that hard to resist. I stopped at Target on my way home and ended up getting low fat Maine/crab soup, carrots, mushrooms, pretzels, salsa, yogurt and some school supplies for my friend Leah. The soup was really good. I put some raw mushrooms in to give it some texture. I got some baked Lays (it's so amazing how much less fat are in these). That still doesn't give me the right to eat the whole bag :-) My calorie count it still pretty low. I saved room for some pretzels and salsa when I got to my brother's house for the weekend to dog sit.
Tomorrow my dad is making the spaghetti that he is famous for. It is made with wheat noodles, turkey sausage and lean ground beef. I will have a small plate I'm sure. I just won't go back for seconds!

Have a great weekend.
Better tomorrows
Scott

July 29, 2009 Wii-endsday

Hello all!! It's Wednesday and I just got home from Subway (oven roasted chicken breast/no cheese/yellow mustard on 9 grain wheat. 670 calories. I opted for the baked lays chips (140 calories) Along with the Fiber one bar I had on the way to work, that puts me at 950 calories for the day.
Yesterday I was greeted at work by a friend that has been off sick since March 1st. It was really great seeing her back. I was also greeted by (you guessed it) tons of "welcome back goodies". There was donuts, cake, ice cream, home made pies and cookies. I am lucky that I don't have a sweet tooth. I didn't touch a crumb. I am also lucky that it wasn't welcome back pizza, chips, dip, cheese, nachos..etc. I am getting better at the temptations. I could have probably gone for a bowl of ice cream :-). I went to band practice after work and up to that point I had just had a Fiber one bar for the day. It was about 9:30 and altho I wasn't really hungry, I knew I should eat something. I stopped at the Pick N Save on the way home and walked to the produce department. I picked up a pint of cherry tomatoes. I thought I should get something with some protein, so I headed to the lunch meat area. I ended up with 3.5 oz of Oscar Meyer Natural Turkey Breast. There were 210 calories in the whole package. I was trying to find the one with the lowest sodium as well. I also bought a 46 oz low sodium V-8 juice. Total calories for that "meal" was 510 calories. It might have been more, I don't know the calories of the tomatoes, if any. I was surprised at how good the meal was. The only thing I would have changed would be the time that I ate it. I am trying not to eat anything past 6:00. That's when I used to eat my first meal.
Today Lisa and I met up after work at the Best Buy. Lisa ended up getting a Wii system and the Wii fit game. I am going to get one as well. (I need to make some room first :-)

Better tomorrows!!
Scott

July 27, 2009 A new week begins

Hello all. Another week has begun. My day started great with no pain. I had a Fiber One bar on the way to work and another one for lunch. At 140 calories a piece, I didn't feel I did too bad. On the way home I decided to stop at the new Target and Pick n Save. I bought 5 more boxes of Fiber One bars and a 8oz pack of raw mushrooms. For dinner I had a salad. I decided to go back to Target to get some more bars. They had 4 boxes left, so I bought them all. I figured this would be a good breakfast. I have went many years not eating breakfast, so this would be a good way to get the fire burning. For dinner I had 2 bean burritos at 350 calories a piece, I was up to 1300 calories for the day. It's getting easier to stay on this "diet" over other time I was on one. I think it has alot to do with all the wonderful bloggers and also Lisa being on the "diet" with me. I just need to incorporate more after work exercise in my daily routine.

Better tomorrows
Scott

July 26, 2009 Fun Weekend

Hello all. Had a real fun weekend. Went out to my parents place with Lisa for a weekend of fishing. On the way we stopped so Lisa could get her license and pick up some odds and ends for the weekend. We both avoided the salty treats aisle. I picked up some mushrooms to munch on later and some lite lemonade. We got to my parents and we decided to go to the Family restaurant in Delavan. I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs. I knew before I started that I was going to take half of it home. Funny thing is, I was full after half of it anyways. Went back to the cottage, went fishing until about 9:00. My mom had chips and dip out and neither Lisa or I had any. I got out my raw mushrooms and proceded to eat those while we watched Gran Torino.
This morning I woke up and had a Fiber 1 bar and a yogurt. At about 2:00, I had the rest of my dinner from last night. We did some more fishing, and came back in. I made salads for everyone, and my mom made lean turkey burgers on wheat buns. I chose to just eat one and skip the shrimp salad. For dessert we had some frozen fruit with lite yogurt on top. Over all it was a pretty good food weekend.

Better tomorrows!!
Scott

July 24, 2009 Part 2

OR

Hello all. Tonight was a pretty good night. I kept myself busy and wasn't hungry. At about 9:00 I started getting "Old Habit Hungry" That means my habit of eating at night was starting to kick in. I went upstairs to see if there was something healthy I could eat. I didn't want a shake. Last time I was on a diet of just shakes, I lasted 2 weeks and couldn't take it. I went off of them and didn't touch them for 18 months. Its just going to take me a little longer I guess. Anyways, I was going to make some spaghetti with wheat noodles and low calorie sauce. It was a little more calories than I wanted to eat this late at night. I opened a can of tuna in water (100 calories), ate that, and was still a little hungry. I was really fighting the old habit of just going to Wal Mart and getting pizza or chips and dip. I was allowed a bad night....right? WRONG!!! I drove to Wal-Mart anyways planning on getting some salad fixin's. Thank the lord that the Papa Murphy that is conveniently located inside the store was closed. I might have caved. Not for the Cowboy, but one of there De-Lites. They are still too much. I went over to the produce area (I used to walk past there on the way to the chips) I am lucky that I like all vegetables (no onions). I bought 2 bags of lettuce/carrots/spinach mixes, mushrooms, 2 tomatoes and some fat free peppercorn ranch. I went right to the checkout. I didn't want to make the familiar trek down to the salty treats. I am eating my salad as I write this blog. Not bad if I do say so myself!!

Better Tomorrows!!
Scott

July 24, 2009 Finally Friday

Hello all! It's finally Friday! I have 2 days to report on, so here we go. Thursday I woke up with no pain. I went to work and had a shake at lunch (the girls had McDonald's). Had another shake at 3:15 and made sure to take a packet with me to the fair. We got to the fair about 5:30 and we walked around before we were to set up the band equipment. Once again I was greeted with the aroma of carnival food. Everywhere you looked deep fried this, deed fried that...cheese curds, fries, burger, gyros...you get the picture. I was determined to have my shake so I had to find some water. I did find a seller that was also selling nuts and candy. I almost bought some soy oil baked sunflower seeds. I just went with the water ($1.00 was the cheapest I found). Went back to the car and had a strawberry shake. We had a great showwith a great crowd. Dropped Lisa off at 1:25 and was determined to get to bed by 2:00. I was starting to get dizzy from not eating. I wasn't hungry tho which was a good thing. There was a Taco Bell up ahead, so I decided to go through the drive through and see if there was anything lite or low in calories. The old me would have bought a whole bunch of stuff, ate it, drove home and went to bed. I saw the new grilled chicken burritos for .89. I bought 2 of those and ate them on my half hour drive home. The funny thing is, I was about as full eating those, as I was at the all you can eat chinese buffet I went to last Sunday.
Friday I woke up from the little sleep that I got. I was in a little pain. I don't think it was from the burrito's, I just think it's the way that I sleep that determines if I will be in pain. Went to work and the pain went away. Had my shake at noon (I bought the girls Wendy's). It was my first Friday after work without buying pizza or something like that. It also helped that I left my wallet at work. I have a $100 bill that I hope to have unspent when I go back to work on Monday. This will keep me from eating out (I don't want to break that Benjamin) Lisa and I are going to my parents cottage, so all I need is my fishing license for the weekend. Luckily that wasn't in my wallet.

Time to upload the pics from last night's show.
Thanks for reading!
Scott

July 22, 2009 Wednesday...back to Cardinal

Hello all (3 of you). Today was a great day of dieting (I hate that word). I should say this was a great first day of the rest of my life. I woke up not hurting (yay). Work was busy and physical (getting paid to workout is always a plus). I had decided last night to meet Lisa and Cardinal Fitness for a workout after work on Tuesday. I normally would have blamed my work workout as the reason that I didn't go to the gym. It's been awhile since I've been to the gym altho I have been a member for about 2 years. I think they should thank me for the new carpet that my monthly payments have provided :-) I started off riding 5 miles on the bike. It took a little under 15 minutes. I would like to see that number go down, or see the distance increase. I then went over to the eliptical for a 10 minute .5 miles workout. I was actually sweating...thats a good thing. I went out to the car and had my 4th shake of the day. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought Lisa and myself a calorie counter book. This book has almost every fast food restaurant that I have visited and then some. WOW.... I knew I was eating bad, but I didn't really know how terrible some of this food was. I like Papa Murphy's Cowboy pizza. The book lists 1/12th of a pizza 345 calories. WHAT??? That's like 4,200 calories for the whole thing. Geez!!! So many foods that I have eaten are in there...I can add up a normal bad day calorie wise and its totally disgusting. I blame no one but myself. It's not even tempting knowing how bad that stuff is. I can see how moderation lets you eat anything. It's the over indulging that hurt me. As the days pass, this is all getting easier. I even went to the Big and Tall mens store and just walked around. I told myself that I will never buy from this store again. I held up a 6xl shirt and just smiled. Thats where I was headed. I can wear a 3xl from there, but I have like 200 t-shirts waiting for me at home calling my name. I have about 10 shirts right now that I rotate between and a closet full of someday clothes. Time for bed. Big show at Washington County Fair tomorrow!!!

Goodnight and better tomorrows
Scott

July 21, 2009 Tuesday

I tried this it really works!

Hello everyone (ok...the 3 that are reading this, hopefully more will!) It's Tuesday July 21, 2009. I woke up today without pain YAY! I know that doesn't sound serious, but it really does tell me how my day is going to be. I got to work, drank 2 of my required 5 shakes. I got home at 3:30 and had another wonderful strawberry shake (I have to fool myself into thinking they are from McDonalds). I had alot to do tonight, so I am going to try the "keep busy and you won't think about food". It really works. I have tons of projects that I am working on and as long as I stay busy, I don't think about food or eating. I'm not saying that if someone walked in with a pizza it wouldn't be hard, I'm just trying to break the habits. I rarely eat because I am hungry.

My band The Rabid Aardvarks have 4 shows coming up in August at our annual State Fair. I have a small personal goal to lose 20 pounds by the time of the show. I have already lost 8 since I started this blog, so I think I can do it. Especially if I stick to the shakes religiously.

Might write more later...gotta see what is wrong with cable (gotta watch my Brewers!!)

July 20, 2009 theanitjared blog

This is a great blog that I read on theantijared.blogspt.com

I also felt this way.

I will always be fat
And I refuse to believe that
I can lose this weight
I do
I realize that isn’t the way most people think but
“Eating to live instead of living to eat”
That’s just not working out, and I truly believe
Eating what I want will make me happier in the end
It’s just a big fat lie, thinking
Being fit the most important thing in my life
Now I understand that
Making myself happy with food
Is more important than
Making myself healthy with food
And this much is true:
People are succeeding at losing weight every day
But I know in my heart this will not be the case for me
This could wind up killing me
Doctors tell me
I will shorten my life and steal time away from my family
Right now it doesn’t seem possible that
I can change my ways and be fit for the rest of my life
This is what I believe:
This journey is just too tough for me
I don’t want to even consider the fact that
I can control the causes of my shortcomings and my failings
It’s just a fact of life that
People like me are weak-willed and lazy
And it’s ridiculous to believe that
I will lose weight and be healthy

Now read it in reverse!
Awesome!

July 20, 2009 Good Monday

Hello all.... My day started out really good. There was no pain!! I knew that whatever job they had me do today, it was going to be o.k. I arrived at work and I was immediately handed a sausage and egg McMuffin from one of the girls at work. I shook my head no, kindly said "thank you" and watched her give it away to another co-worker. I am already challenged at 7:45 in the morning!
I did have a cup of coffee to help me wake up. I forgot my fat free creamer at home so I had to settle for real sugar (WOW..was that sweet!!) I know that I should have something for breakfast. After all it is the most important meal of the day. It starts the fire burning. I will do better tomorrow. It is now 4:00 and I have yet to eat anything. This is how I have slipped in the past. Not eating all day, eat at night, go to bed. I am going to try to eat 1500 calories today. The doctor has me on Medifast to get me to lose weight for a hernia operation that I need to have. I know that Medifast is not a good way to learn how to eat right, but it does help you lose weight fast, which is what I need to do. The doctor says I need to lose about 75 pounds to do the operation. The more I lose, the easier it is to operate. My plan is to drink 5 shakes a day and thats it. Thats 500 calories a day!! I did it in 2007 and lost 40 pounds fast. I went off the shakes and gained it all back and then some. If I can just suffer through the shakes, I can lose the weight, have the operation, and get on with my life. I know that I need to lose weight anyway, but mine is a health issue not just a cosmetic reason. I just need the willpower!!!!! I have to fight the habits!!!!! I have no choice.
I'll post later my history of my hernia's (Yes that is plural)

July 20, 2009 Diet Ticker

July 19, 2009 Another weekend over

Hello all.. Another weekend is over and it wasn't as bad as I thought. My brother asked me to dog sit/house sit for the weekend so I knew that I would have to get some food for the weekend. Lisa and I went to Wal-Mart to get the goods. We chose food that were "good" for us. We went with orange sherbert instead of the cookie dough that I knew we both would have gotten. I walked down the chip aisle and didn't even get any. Lisa did get a canister of chips and that was also much better than we would have done. We did opt to go with some breakfast sandwiches that were probably the worse thing we bought. As long as we didn't eat all 8, we would be all right.
Saturday we were going to go out to my parents cottage. We woke up and had one of the breakfast sandwiches. We went to a few rummages, got lost (thanks GPS) and decided to stop for lunch. Our choices were slim. We could have gone to Taco Bell (didn't), Subway (should have) or Dairy Queen. Dairy Queen has a 4 for $5 deal. A chicken wrap and cheeseburger was what I chose. Much better than what I would have had months ago. For some reason, I thought "lets get a Blizzard" . Not just a Blizzard, a LARGE Blizzard. I'm sorry Lisa for getting that. We had about a half hour drive ahead of us so Lisa ended up holding and eating most of it (Sorry again)
We got out to the cottage and started to prepare supper. We were having hamburgers (my favorite), potato salad and chips. I had 2 hamburgers on wheat buns, a hand full of chips and a small scoop of potato salad. We ended up going back to my brothers house and had a bowl of orange sherbert, (Probably more that I should have).
Sunday we woke up and my parents met us at my brother's house. I asked them and Lisa if they wanted to go somewhere for lunch. We decided on a local Chinese place. They have a lot of good food to chose from. An all you can eat buffet was probably not the best choice. I did fill my plate up pretty full, but I had decided not to go up for a 2nd or 3rd plate like I would have in the past. I did go up for dessert which consisted of pudding, pineapple and banana's and strawberries. I wasn't really hungry for that, but wanted to get my money's worth.
I spent the whole night with stomach pain. I read some real inspirational blogs tonight (thanks everyone). I wonder if I will wake up in pain. That is really going to suck!!

Goodnight and better tomorrows!!

July 15, 2009

Hello everyone. It's been a few days since I wrote on my blog. The thing that is helping me the most is reading all the great blogs that are posted. I need to write in mine every day!! I have been doing pretty good with the eating. At work I have chosen not to participate in the brownies, donuts, cakes and daily fast food lunch runs. I just have to make sure I have something sensible for lunch.
Congrats to you Lisa for continuing on your journey of weight loss. You are an inspiration as well. I know its hard for you to tell me what you think I should and shouldn't be eating and I know I get a little crabby, but I need you to continue that. It kept me from eating all that great looking carnival food at the Jefferson County Fair. Lord knows, I could have and would have eaten the wrong stuff. I need to get back to going to Cardinal. Work has been a real workout for me, but that is really no excuse not to go to the gym. It can only help. Maybe going to the gym will make work seem less of a workout in the long run. It could be more of a workout for me because I am overweight.

It's midnight. Time for bed. Promise to write more tomorrow. Thank to everyone that is sharing their journey's with me!

Better tomorrows~~!!

July 13, 2009 Monday Monday....So good to me!

Hello all... New post coming up tonight. I tried making this a daily blog, but this weekend was rather busy.

Stay tuned!

July 08, 2009 great day!

Hello all!! Just got home from a Milwaukee Brewers game (they won 5-4) Woo Hoo!! Lisa surprised me by having my name on the scoreboard. She also got me a Brewers backpack, birthday baseball and a Bernie Brewer Bobblehead (in Milwaukee these bobbleheads are real popular). I had the day off today. I woke up with my stomach hurting and decided to call in. It hasn't hurt in awhile, but I'm not too worried about it. I didn't do the shakes today. I don't want to get sick of them so I decided to do a 1500 calorie day. I had some pork and beans for lunch and Lisa and I stopped at Subway before the Brewers game. I ordered a foot long Oven Roasted Chicken Breast with no cheese, lots of veggies and yellow mustard. I used to get them with extra cheese and southwest sauce. The sandwich calorie total was 690 calories. It didn't help that Subway was right next to Papa Murphy's (my favorite!!). During the game the high prices of all the food made it easy to fight the desire to eat. I can't see spending a small fortune on hot dogs and nachos. Being cheap can come in handy :-) After the game I jokingly said, I could really go for Taco Bell. Funny thing is, last week I probably would have stopped there on the way home. I remembered that I still had a 4lb can of peanuts in my trunk that I won a few weeks back at the fair. The old me would have popped them open and placed them right next to me on the seat.
Tonight I wore a Brewers shirt over a longer shirt that I had tucked in. This enabled me to wear the smaller Brewer shirt without a possibility of having my stomach hang out. I will wear that shirt by itself someday soon!! I did a small inventory on t-shirts today. I must have about 150 in the "someday" pile and about 10 in the "this is all you have to chose from" pile. I have some really cool shirts that I am dying to wear. I want to take a picture of myself trying on one of the smaller shirt as a before picture.
I know there aren't alot of followers on my blog yet, but I want to mention a man that is a true inspiration. My mom turned my on to his blog last week and I have been using it as a "if he can, I can" wakeup call. His name is Sean Anderson. I suggest to anyone trying to lose weight or not to read his blog. The address is http://losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com/
It is getting easier everyday. I am trying to picture the person that I am going to be. The person that I want to be. The person I deserve to be!

Peace and happiness!
Scott

July 07, 2009 still going!

Hello everyone!! It's Tuesday (actually Wed. its after midnight) I'll make this a short blog because I better get to bed. Today was a good day for the diet. I had a orange medifast shake at 9:30. I am allowed 5 servings of medifast so I still had 4 more to go. I went to return my DVR after work and stopped at Best Buy before band practice. I suddenly realized that I had nothing with me to eat for supper. I knew I wouldn't be home until at least 10:30. I ended up drinking 2 Coke zero's for dinner. I know that I could have stopped for fast food, but that wasn't in my plans. The old me would have had any number of no-no's. As soon as I got home, I had a medifast oatmeal bar. I know that I have 3 more things I can eat, but its too late. At 100 calories each serving, I know that I have to eat all of them every day. I am only hurting myself if I don't. I was asked today by my co-workers what I wanted to eat for my birthday lunch. I told them to get whatever they wanted, I'll just have my shakes. They said 1 day won't hurt. I said it won't help either :-) The more days I have on these shakes, the easier it will get. If I cheat this early, I will just make up another "start date" ex. I'll start after my birthday....
In 3 days I will be 42. I keep thinking of all the years that I threw away. Not that they weren't good years, I just know they could have been happier. I am 8 years away from 50 (jeez that sounds close!!!). I would like to have at least a few happy/healthy years in my 40's. For some odd reason, I feel more focused than ever.

July 06, 2009 vacation in over

Me at Summerfest (7-2-2009). Is this what I looked like up there?? YIKES!!

Hello! It's Monday July 6, and it's back to work today. I started my weight loss blog July 1st and was excited about keeping a DAILY update. I knew that the 4th of July weekend would be tough, and I don't think I did too bad. Thursday my band played at Summerfest. After we played, Lisa and I walked around with her brother. I knew that I had to get something to eat. I decided to try the Jumbalaya. It was a pretty good helping, and tasted great. After walking for about an hour, we decided to get something else (it was a festival remember?) I ordered a 1/4th spinich and cheese pizza. That was really good too. I even had one of Lisa's chicken fingers. Not the best/worse thing I could have eaten. We did do quite a bit of walking, so I wasn't too upset. I did buy three Summerfest t-shirts. They will be hanging next to the ones that I've bought the last 2 years. I will wear them someday soon.
Friday Lisa and I went to Omega for dinner. I got the gyro platter with french fries. I noticed that they had Turtle Delight as their flavor of the day. I could probably talk my self into saying that any flavor was my favorite. I got the single scoop waffle cone.
Saturday we had a show at Trinity Three in downtown Milwaukee. Show was a lot of fun. I told Lisa not to take any pictures of me because I knew that I wouldn't look how I wanted. It didn't help that I was one of the oldest people there. It was a real wake up call that my life is passing by right in front of me, and I don't like the way that I look in public. I even thought it was maybe time to retire from the band. I know it would be more fun to be up there looking better. We're finally getting some real good shows, and I actually hate being on stage. I have a month until State Fair, so I will see how these shakes pay off. If I stay on them religiously, I know that I can lose about 25 pound by then.
Sunday night I went to my friend Kyle's house to watch movies. It was about 9:30 and he still hadn't eaten yet. It used to be a Sunday ritual by his house. Pizza and ice cream and a movie. He decided to go to Little Ceasars for their $5 pizza and wings. I had already eaten dinner so I was just going to go along. Yeah right! I ordered a pizza too. I did only eat half and let Kyle have the rest for today. On the way home I was more scared than upset. I just kept asking myself what made me order that. I wasn't hungry. Maybe it was habit. They say that the habit is the hardest thing to change. I totally agree with that. I am always eating, not from hunger, but from habit.
October 16, 2007 I went on Medifast. I lost about 45 pounds. I know that it works, I have seen the results and I have liked them. What possesses us to go back to the life that we hate so much? I just don't get it. Do we like being miserable? Are we afraid of compliments? Losing weight is the hardest and easiest thing I have ever done. In my case, I have to lose for health reasons, not just cosmetic reasons. I'll get into that in my next blog. Time for a shake!!!

July 01, 2009 How did my 1st day go?

Today I woke up knowing that today is the first day of the rest of my life. Upon entering work, I saw my supervisor with a giant box of donuts heading to the work stations. The day before, we got out the most orders that we ever got out in one day. The owner rewarded us with donuts. The old me would have had one or maybe two donuts. It was kind of rewarding watching everyone else filling their faces just because they were there. I even got a few "wow, you must be strong" comments from a few co-workers. At lunch time, I was tempted by my lunch mates. They were going to make a run to the local McDonalds. To be nice, they always ask if I want anything. Lately I have been declining (I'm not really a fan of McD's, so it was easy to say no). Tonight I am having a low fat hamburger for supper.

July 1st, 2009 Weight loss ticker

Here is a cool Weight loss ticker that I found on the web. We'll see where we are August 1st