"The fog is getting thicker. And Leon Hoff's getting larger." Points to anyone who can name that reference. And yes, Hoff has been getting larger.
Look! A real post! And it isn't even cross-posted over at The Randomness (which isn't illegal, RiverDriver…besides, I changed some of the poker discussion in the one here because my readers at The Randomness understand how the games work)! Anyway, this past week and a half has not been good. DAPGF and I have been house and pet sitting for some friends. Half the time I would go over in the morning to release the creatures into the backyard before work (GF went the other half of the time). Unfortunately, that early morning route took me past my most evil nemesis…McDonalds! And not for something relatively harmless like coffee, not even the most safe of breakfast sandwiches, the Egg McMuffin with Canadian Bacon. No, the Sausage Egg McMuffin. And not just one, because they have a deal going. A single McMuffin is typically $2.49 or so. They had a deal for 2 McMuffins for $3.00. I couldn't bring myself to just order one…it wasn't cost effective (thus proving the theory behind SuperSize Me!). So I'd order two. And I'd eat two. 900 freaking calories consumed by 7:30 a.m. Normally, 900 calories would cover breakfast, lunch, and a mid-morning snack! And this happened several times during this period. I never went there to snack at any other time of the day, just breakfast.
I spent my 2/3 of my potential gym time during this period either trying to revive my currently dead computer, or getting things together for Easter. This past weekend also…Saturday I went to a memorial service for a friend, in keeping with his "religious" convictions, held at an Irish Pub in Orange County California. So no working out and Guinness beer. Yeah, that's an effective combination. Easter Sunday. Up for 6 a.m. sunrise church services, so no shot at the gym there. Then the Easter buffet that DAPGF and I typically attend. Then over to my parents' house for an early birthday celebration, complete with chocolate cream pie. So Monday morning I hit my heaviest weight that I've ever (knowingly) been. Two hundred and eighty-eight pounds! Holy gastric bypass, fatman! And yes, I did cave in and have my McMuffins. Fortunately this was the last day, so no more driving past McDonalds. I did eat relatively sensibly for the rest of the day…Lean Cuisine and some soup for lunch; reduced fat Wheat Thins as a snack; and a BBQ Chicken Wrap from Red Robin. No real exercising beyond a short dog walk in the morning and a 30 minute dog walk at 11:00 Monday evening.
Tuesday morning (today) I was down a whole 4/10 of a pound! Woo hoo!! So far I've eaten relatively sensibly. Oatmeal for breakfast, some Wheat Thins for a snack. I made a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches from leftover Easter ham, and had some soup to go with them for lunch. And I'm going to the gym after work. Of course after that I'm going to attempt to buy a new motherboard for my poor computer, and hopefully install it. The plus to that, I'll probably not get much chance to snack at home, which is a good thing. Too much Easter candy sitting around, waiting to melt in my mouth, not in my hand.
As I mentioned earlier, my birthday is approaching. I will be 36 this week (laugh it up, little sister, your early 30s are slipping away just as quickly!). I started this here blog a few weeks before my 35th birthday. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of turning 35, and how getting older is affecting me (metabolism most of all…I don't seem to have any anymore). I had started to make some progress, and unfortunately The Troubles (getting laid off) hit me a month after my birthday, and proceeded to utterly destroy not only any progress I had made, but also any motivation I had for just about anything. It was most decidedly not fun, and probably the worst period of my life. As part of this whole rededication of What Happened, I've been trying to improve various parts of my life. I've actually made some progress in a variety of ways.
Now that I'm working again (it's amazing what a steady paycheck can let you do), I'm starting to get my bills under control. The Troubles really put me in a bind, and it's rough trying to dig out. I was even in this weird position where I wanted to file bankruptcy but couldn't. The way the new bankruptcy laws read, I made too much money recently to qualify for a Chapter 7, which would've eliminated my debts (they average your income over the previous 6 months, so it didn't matter that I didn't make any money, my average income was too high), and a Chapter 13 was pointless, because all it did was reorganize my debts…I was still obligated to pay them and the whole freaking point of the exercise was THAT I HAD NO INCOME AND COULDN'T PAY MY DEBTS!!!! When I finally got to the point where my average income would've qualified me for a Chapter 7, I didn't have any money to pay the legal fees to actually file the bankruptcy! And since a Chapter 7 eliminates all debts, nobody (especially the attorneys) was going to extend me credit for the $2500 in legal fees that it would've taken, only to have $2300 of it eliminated as part of the bankruptcy settlement.
I'm also getting control of my personal sense of organization (which somewhat ties into the financial aspect of Hoff). I went thru all of my financial files, and got rid of (to quote Joe Speaker) a metric-ass ton of old credit card statements, bank statements, insurance premiums, car service records, pay stubs, etc. Besides taxes, I had documents that went back to 2002, and in some cases were car registration materials that covered a car I had 2 cars ago (the Integra). A clean environment has the potential to be self-fulfilling, and I'm trying to make it so. And as my financial environment comes together, I lose the stress that went along with it. And as my physical environment comes together, I am visually inspired to make sure that I am compatible with it. This, combined with my newly lessened stress, is giving me the motivation to…
Get back on track for weight loss, which was the original point of this here blog anyway! I've gotten way too fat. Many of my clothes no longer fit me. And to top it off, my dear brother in law has been extremely successful at losing weight. AND HE DID IT ALL WITH WILLPOWER!!! How dare he do it without a support group, or diet supplements, or Oprah, or whatever. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he dropped something like 50 pounds over the past 6 to 8 months. Now I really have no excuse. So I'll see you at the gym. And if I can get my computer working again, I can reload my mp3 player with more workout-appropriate music. Come along for the ride.
2 comments:
I did lose a bunch in a 6-8 month time frame last year. It wasn't 50 pounds, but it was about 40. Unfortunately, I have sort of fallen off the wagon on the exercise and eating. I have been doing enough to stay fairly steady. Don't feel too bad. It is not an easy thing to do, especially when dealing with 10-14 hour work days and trying to spend time with your loved ones whenever possible.
The trick to it for me was to make the weigh in the most important thing I did all day.
Try to record it, graph it, whatever it takes to get motivated to work out, whether it is at home or at the gym. I found it more effective to weigh in at night, as it made me eat a better and earlier dinner, which seems to be a big key for me. I could eat a bit of junk for breakfast and lunch and still lose weight (assuming I was working out), but dinner is the one that sticks with me the worst. Anyway, the night weigh-ins are a little less accurate, as they can include some food weight, but the body fat % whould be more accurate as you are much less dehydrated.
J should be supportive of you on this one, even if it means that you spend a little less time together. She needs to understand that you are trying to do this for both your sakes. Eating less should save money and getting in shape should help you be able to be better arm candy for her, feel better (both mentally and physically) and be more motivated (possibly in more ways than one). I found that i frequently got more done even though I took the 1.5 hours out of my day to work out.
Man, now I am making myself feel lame for not sticking with it like I should. I guess I need to get back on it too. It won't be tonight though... I have to work late again. Oh, and tomorrow, I need to go home and pack for a kayaking trip.... And Friday is no good either. I have to work at 6:30AM and then we leave on our trip... Man, what a slacker.
P.S. Sorry I can't be there with you guys next week. My thoughts and prayers will be with all of you.
They had a deal for 2 McMuffins for $3.00. I couldn't bring myself to just order one…it wasn't cost effective
Man, I SO relate... lol
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