Yes, a smidge. After 2 straight weeks of the scale numbers climbing instead of dropping, I finally had a week where I lost weight! Ahh, but what, exactly, is a smidge? In this case, a pathetic 0.2 lbs. Yes, on 1/23 my weigh-in was 288.8 lbs, and this morning it had dropped all the way down to 288.6 lbs. Granted, yesterday's weigh-in was a flab-tastic 290.0 lbs, so being somewhat careful on Thursday along with getting a quick gym workout in melted off 1.4 lbs. But all things being equal, this ain't working for me.
When I started the latest round of weight-loss efforts on January 2, the scale rung up 289.0 lbs. After the first week's loss took me down to 286.4 lbs, the scale has been going in the wrong direction. I have nobody to blame but myself. Really. I may claim torpedoes here and there, brought on by my father, DAPGF, or coworkers, but I'm the one opening my mouth and shoveling food into it. So I'm going to take the nuclear approach. Starting on Monday (because the weekends with DAPGF and others are too hard to control to the level I'm aiming for), I'm actually going to set up a meal plan ahead of time. I'm not sure where I'll find the time, but each night I'm going to attempt to blog what I actually consumed, and lay out what I'm going to consume on the following day. So each day I'm forced to not only admit to what I'm going to eat, but admit to what I ate in addition to what I said I was going to eat. Hopefully the structure alone will motivate me to comply, but the shame of admitting that I swung through the Burger King drive-through for 2 cheesy bacon wraps on my way to Wildomar will hopefully prevent a large-scale pile of fail. I don't want to be sadistic to myself, and I am a realist with how much I have a compulsion to snack. So here's a rough outline of what I expect to consume on a random weekday (calories are estimated based on data I found in My Fitness Pal and Calorie King):
Breakfast: Bagel with fat free cream cheese - 290 calories
Morning snack: reduced fat wheat thins - 130 calories
Lunch: Assorted Healthy Choice/Lean Cuisine/Smart ones - 300 calories
Lunch: Campbells Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup - 180 calories
Lunch: 6 Hershey's caramel kisses (lowest calorie ones) - 135 calories
Afternoon snack (for gym energy): assorted 100 calorie snack pouch/granola bar - 100 calories
Dinner: 2 assorted Healthy Choice, etc. meals - 600 calories
Dessert: Weight watchers Giant Chocolate Cookies & Cream ice cream bar - 140 calories
This generic meal plan rings in at 1875 calories. That may seem like a lot, and it is. However, looking over My Fitness Pal, my daily food intake has been ranging from 2300 to 3300 calories (which explains my weight!), so if I can even come down to a steady 2000 per day and get a decent workout in, I should start making some downward progress. It will be difficult...I know how much I like to snack, especially while sitting at the computer, so I'll make efforts to control things. I've got a 32 ounce sport bottle that I fill up from our water purifier (our coffee maker is pretty bitchin', including giving us a separate tap for ice cold filtered water), so I'll start there. I'll also get back to keeping gum at my desk. It's never the same, but if I can chew on something in between meals, I might be able to avoid unauthorized snacking. And as I noted previously, the weekends are hard to control. I'm out with DAPGF, and occasionally others, and we're at nice restaurants where they serve booze, crab and mushroom potstickers, and other assorted goodies. We attempt to select meals on the healthier side of things (split a salad with the vinaigrette dressing on the side, and split the ahi tuna sandwich), but portions being what they are, I'm still consuming waaay too much food. I'm going to try to minimize the damage (not eating so much bread would be a start), but I offer no guarantees on weekend food consumption.
So there we go. All in black and white (so to speak). My weigh-ins are going to remain on Friday mornings, but I'm not going to kick this off in earnest until Monday the 2nd. Granted, I may get torpedoed on the first day if I have to go to a jobsite with my boss and he treats for lunch. Last time we wound up at Rubios and had a couple of beers, so who knows what might happen. But be that as it may, I should be able to guarantee at least 3 days during the week on my program completely, with the other days at least partially complying. Combine that with a renewed effort to work out (go to sleep earlier so that I'm able to get up and run in the morning, and suck it up and go to the gym after work, regardless of how late I get out of work), and I should start seeing some major progress. Thanks to the explosion of Facebook, Hoff is approaching his 20 year high school reunion. I'm not entirely sure how much I weighed when I graduated from high school, but it was somewhere around 210. If I could get remotely close to that, I'll be happy. Beyond that, the goal is still to get down to 240, by the end of June. I want to get back to surfing regularly, and having a more beach-friendly bod wouldn't hurt. 22 weeks to drop 48 pounds. That's 2.2 pounds per week. Not sure I can pull that off, but I'm going to try. Wish me luck!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
More like "what's wrong with me?"
Well, this past week was a big steaming pile of poo. After last week's 3 item combo plate of fail, I followed it up with a dessert of fail a la mode! In short, I gained another pound-ish, going from 287.4 lbs last Friday to 288.8 lbs this Friday! It could've been worse, though...I actually got as high as 290.8 on Tuesday, which is pretty effin' ugly unto its own. I could've been better at the exercise thing, but mainly it was dinner that stuck to my ass. Last Friday night was restaurant week in San Diego, and DAPGF and I went out with friends for a bitchin' steak dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, so that was bad. Both Saturday and Sunday mornings I made it to the gym, but I got such a late start both days that I had to do a shorty workout. Because I'm with DAPGF all weekend, my meals are anything but minimalist. Monday I managed to go running in the morning and made it to the gym after work, but I stopped at the grocery store on the way home (before dinner), and bought a bunch of stuff that I shouldn't have, and then ate most of it in one sitting! Stupid. Tuesday I made it out in the morning to run, but had to work late and couldn't hit the gym on the way home. Wednesday I overslept and missed the run, but I did make it to the gym. Thursday it rained, so no morning run, and I worked late so no gym. And Thursday was capped with the neighbor asking if I wanted to go out for Mex food and beer. Hmm, let me think about that. So here we are.
I'm not going to the gym Saturday morning, because DAPGF and I are going up to Pomona to look at a rescue Dobie. Who knows if we'll come home with her or not, but I'm going to try to at least run in the morning. I should make the gym on Sunday, and then I should be in a good position to run every morning of next week and hit the gym at least on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. But as I said, the exercise is not as much of a problem as the need to feed the face is. Despite the obvious failure on the food intake, I at least felt good that I was making progress on the exercise angle. I can't guarantee anything this weekend, but for meals that don't involve DAPGF, I'm going to do everything I can to control myself. A 1.5 lb drop from 1/23 would bring me down to 287.3 lbs. I can do better than that, so despite the official goal of 287.3 lbs, I'm going to shoot to get under 286. It won't be easy, but I think I can. Wish me luck.
I'm not going to the gym Saturday morning, because DAPGF and I are going up to Pomona to look at a rescue Dobie. Who knows if we'll come home with her or not, but I'm going to try to at least run in the morning. I should make the gym on Sunday, and then I should be in a good position to run every morning of next week and hit the gym at least on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. But as I said, the exercise is not as much of a problem as the need to feed the face is. Despite the obvious failure on the food intake, I at least felt good that I was making progress on the exercise angle. I can't guarantee anything this weekend, but for meals that don't involve DAPGF, I'm going to do everything I can to control myself. A 1.5 lb drop from 1/23 would bring me down to 287.3 lbs. I can do better than that, so despite the official goal of 287.3 lbs, I'm going to shoot to get under 286. It won't be easy, but I think I can. Wish me luck.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Ummm...
So, umm, yeah. Hmmm. Last weigh-in was 286.4 lbs, with a goal for this morning of 284.9. In short, I didn't make it. Spectacularly! As a matter of fact, I ultimately GAINED a pound!!! WTF?!?!!? Unfortunately, I know exactly WTF. TF was that I still eat like a pig, combined with a laziness that caused me to miss out on 3 morning runs out of 5 this week and 2 of 6 gym opportunities. The laziness, what can I say? I'm lazy and find it more and more difficult to get up early in the morning. Staying up late to dink around on the computer doesn't help and certainly could be avoided, but it is what it is. Food is my kryptonite. I'm a sucker for food, and my current life obligations and activities don't do much to discourage the cravings. Growing up, I was always either reading something or watching TV. And along with that, naturally, came the nibbles. Oreos, string cheese, pseudo pizzas made with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella on english muffins, whatever. Now I spend several hours per week driving from one place to another. And magically, visible from the freeways and surface streets are signs from these places...these places that allow you to drive up and they give you food! And when I'm not sitting in the car, I'm sitting at my desk, inevitably reading some document or other. And inevitably the compulsion to nibble surfaces again. I try to distract myself or fake myself out with gum or hard candy, but that never lasts enough and never has quite the taste I'm looking for (think Oreo Cookies or French Fries, not spearmint).
Now, as bad as this is, it was worse just a few days ago. Sunday evening, DAPGF and I went out for Mexican food with some friends. Of course I picked the anti-good food and had a 3 enchilada combo plate. Yeah, not exactly slimming, and combined with not running that morning, I had hit 288.6 lbs. I did hit the gym on the way home, but I also hit the store. Shopping while hungry...not the best thing. Still, I managed to slip back down to 288.0. Things went a little better in the food department...I did a much better job of controlling what I ate. I didn't make the gym that evening, but still managed to drop back to 286.8 on Wednesday morning. Wednesday was a bad day. I ate bad and didn't run or make the gym. Thursday morning I did go for a run, and it was probably a good thing, because the evils of hump day ballooned me back up to 288 lbs. I finally made it to the gym after work, and tried to control my eating. The only place I really stumbled was after DAPGF came home. She got a half of a ring cake (Bundt-type cake) from the grocery store, and we proceeded to have several slices while watching the tube. Friday morning I did make it out for a run, and the weigh-in had me down to 287.4 lbs. It would've been a lot better without the cake, but I'm weak and my progress (or lack thereof) attests to that. Still, I noticed that the trend was generally moving in the right direction, particularly in my habits, as the week progressed. We're out to dinner with friends again tonight, but I will get to the gym Saturday and Sunday mornings, so hopefully I can build some positive momentum. My 1.5 pound goal for next Friday is 285.9 lbs. Unofficially I'm going to try and beat it. Wish me luck!
Now, as bad as this is, it was worse just a few days ago. Sunday evening, DAPGF and I went out for Mexican food with some friends. Of course I picked the anti-good food and had a 3 enchilada combo plate. Yeah, not exactly slimming, and combined with not running that morning, I had hit 288.6 lbs. I did hit the gym on the way home, but I also hit the store. Shopping while hungry...not the best thing. Still, I managed to slip back down to 288.0. Things went a little better in the food department...I did a much better job of controlling what I ate. I didn't make the gym that evening, but still managed to drop back to 286.8 on Wednesday morning. Wednesday was a bad day. I ate bad and didn't run or make the gym. Thursday morning I did go for a run, and it was probably a good thing, because the evils of hump day ballooned me back up to 288 lbs. I finally made it to the gym after work, and tried to control my eating. The only place I really stumbled was after DAPGF came home. She got a half of a ring cake (Bundt-type cake) from the grocery store, and we proceeded to have several slices while watching the tube. Friday morning I did make it out for a run, and the weigh-in had me down to 287.4 lbs. It would've been a lot better without the cake, but I'm weak and my progress (or lack thereof) attests to that. Still, I noticed that the trend was generally moving in the right direction, particularly in my habits, as the week progressed. We're out to dinner with friends again tonight, but I will get to the gym Saturday and Sunday mornings, so hopefully I can build some positive momentum. My 1.5 pound goal for next Friday is 285.9 lbs. Unofficially I'm going to try and beat it. Wish me luck!
Friday, January 09, 2009
The one in which we assess our progress...
Greetings and salivations, party peeps! Here's hoping that you all are sticking to your New Year Resolutions, and that you haven't fallen off the wagon just yet.
Me, it's sort of a mixed bag, but I've got an excuse (don't I always?). First, the good. On January 2, 2009, for the first weigh-in post New Year's Day buffet orgy, I rang in at a blimp-tastic 289.0 lbs! Now, because I knew I was going to the buffet, I knew that the 2nd would produce a somewhat artificially higher weigh-in than would otherwise normally occur. Obviously I was right. And here we are a week down the road. Given my 1.5 pound per week goal, I was aiming for 287.5 lbs. Lo and behold, stepping on the scale this morning showed a weight of 286.4 lbs, for a loss of 2.6 lbs!
Yay me, but with an asterisk. You see, secretly I had hoped that the drop would be in the three to four pound range, because the buffet was only a short-term food condition (obviously I don't eat like that every day), and with DAPGF starting her new teaching quarter, I was going to have several evenings of gym action. Plus, as we continue through life temporarily without doggie, I have stated that I intend to use the former dog walk/dog feeding morning time to go for a run. What I didn't count on was a wicked cold to envelope my head and chest. Get up early and go for a run? Hell, I could barely breathe, so let's just stay in bed for another 45 minutes. Hit the gym after work? One night DAPGF needed me to come home and help her out with some prep work for one of her classes, one night I left work 2 hours late, and one night I just wasn't feeling in the mood.
But as the week went on, I started to feel better. Thursday morning, I managed to make it out for 10 minutes of running, just to try and get back into a rhythm. Friday morning I did it again. Saturday morning should be a gym trip, so hopefully I can build on the momentum, and keep shedding the pounds. My 1.5 pound goal for the week would get me down to 284.9 lbs. Wish me luck, and good luck out there to all of you!
Me, it's sort of a mixed bag, but I've got an excuse (don't I always?). First, the good. On January 2, 2009, for the first weigh-in post New Year's Day buffet orgy, I rang in at a blimp-tastic 289.0 lbs! Now, because I knew I was going to the buffet, I knew that the 2nd would produce a somewhat artificially higher weigh-in than would otherwise normally occur. Obviously I was right. And here we are a week down the road. Given my 1.5 pound per week goal, I was aiming for 287.5 lbs. Lo and behold, stepping on the scale this morning showed a weight of 286.4 lbs, for a loss of 2.6 lbs!
Yay me, but with an asterisk. You see, secretly I had hoped that the drop would be in the three to four pound range, because the buffet was only a short-term food condition (obviously I don't eat like that every day), and with DAPGF starting her new teaching quarter, I was going to have several evenings of gym action. Plus, as we continue through life temporarily without doggie, I have stated that I intend to use the former dog walk/dog feeding morning time to go for a run. What I didn't count on was a wicked cold to envelope my head and chest. Get up early and go for a run? Hell, I could barely breathe, so let's just stay in bed for another 45 minutes. Hit the gym after work? One night DAPGF needed me to come home and help her out with some prep work for one of her classes, one night I left work 2 hours late, and one night I just wasn't feeling in the mood.
But as the week went on, I started to feel better. Thursday morning, I managed to make it out for 10 minutes of running, just to try and get back into a rhythm. Friday morning I did it again. Saturday morning should be a gym trip, so hopefully I can build on the momentum, and keep shedding the pounds. My 1.5 pound goal for the week would get me down to 284.9 lbs. Wish me luck, and good luck out there to all of you!
Friday, January 02, 2009
I guess I should look at the bright side of things...
So January 1 came and went. As expected, DAPGF and I attended a very nice, very caloric buffet at the Hotel Del Coronado. We attempted to offset this by going to the San Diego Auto Show and spending 3 hours walking around looking at things. If it was an offset, then I am afraid for what might have been.
My New Years, New Hoff weigh-in on 1/2/09 rang in at an unbelievable 289.0 lbs! 5 pounds heavier than January 1, 2008, and 5.8 pounds heavier than when I started this blog back in 2006! Yeah, losin' wayte...I'm doin' it rong. But the bright side is that the weight had some unusual help in the food consumption area, due to the buffet. That and because I've been fighting off my annual Christmas cold, I wasn't feeling motivated enough to go to the gym this morning. After that weigh-in, bet your ass I'll go tomorrow morning. So what I'm ultimately saying is that, for at least this first week, it should be pretty easy to meet my weekly goal of 1.5 lbs by 1/9. The target is 287.5 lbs. If I can't make it, I'm in pretty serious trouble. Good luck, peeps!
My New Years, New Hoff weigh-in on 1/2/09 rang in at an unbelievable 289.0 lbs! 5 pounds heavier than January 1, 2008, and 5.8 pounds heavier than when I started this blog back in 2006! Yeah, losin' wayte...I'm doin' it rong. But the bright side is that the weight had some unusual help in the food consumption area, due to the buffet. That and because I've been fighting off my annual Christmas cold, I wasn't feeling motivated enough to go to the gym this morning. After that weigh-in, bet your ass I'll go tomorrow morning. So what I'm ultimately saying is that, for at least this first week, it should be pretty easy to meet my weekly goal of 1.5 lbs by 1/9. The target is 287.5 lbs. If I can't make it, I'm in pretty serious trouble. Good luck, peeps!
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