I Survived Thanksgiving

Well, I made it through the official pig-out day of the year, without pigging out.

Breakfast: The following is our traditional Thanksgiving breakfast. I updated it this year using low calorie choices.

2 eggs
3 pieces of turkey bacon
hashbrowns (no oil)
cinamon roll (icing used Splenda instead of sugar)
coffee

Thanksgiving dinner:
Turkey (white meat)
small helping of mashed potatoes
yellow squash
small amount of dressing
cranberries
green beans
gravy (just a smidge)
roll
salad
thin slice of pumpkin pie and berry cobbler with whipped cream for dessert

That was the last meal of the day.

Late night snack: 6 triskits crackers, slice of swiss cheese.

Onward through the fog!

Lord, I Love Rings

Most people think that Eve gave Adam a bite of an apple when the original sin was first committed. I challenge you to find the word apple anywhere in Genesis.

I think it was an onion ring. Onion rings are of the devil and fried in the fires of hell itself! Delightfully crispy and greasy, the heavenly bouquet of freshly fried onion rings verily wafts up my nostrils and straight to the "sin" center of my brain when I am within sniffing range of a Burger King!

I ordered a Veggie Burger at Burger King on the way to band rehearsal last night. As I was placing my order through the little speaker outside, I heard another voice come out of my mouth. “I’d like to order a BK Veggie Burger and LARGE ONION RINGS.” It was one of Satan’s demons talking. He also made me drive to the takeout window and greedily grab the bag as the startled cashier handed it to me.

Waves of guilt swept over me. Then a little demon appeared on my left shoulder and said, “Well really, how many calories can a large order of onion rings have? Just a few onion rings won’t hurt you. And besides, think how good you’ve been lately. You deserve it!” A little angel who had floated down from heaven and landed on my other shoulder said, “Try somewhere in the range of 500 calories. Don’t do it Randy. You know how dirty you’ll feel if you give in to this temptation.”

I was soon consumed with a ravaging desire to eat the onion rings. I NEEDED these onion rings. I wanted these onion rings. One pack of onion rings wasn’t going to be the end of the world! Just this one time wasn’t going to hurt. Then the takeout demon from hell pried open my mouth and force fed me the onion rings. One, two, three onion rings slid down my throat like some kind of wildly evil (and slippery) amusement park ride.

Then it was over. Everything was quiet. Pleasure turned into guilt. I had been defeated by a bag of fried vegetables.

So I had a little stumble. Nothing to get real upset about. Next time just don’t listen to that little guy with the pointy tail, OK?

Less and less of me

Thanks to all the folks who send in their encouragement to me on a daily basis. I appreciate it.

Things are looking up. I’m down to 303.8 pounds (the “old” scale would read 297.8) since the last post. Clothes I haven’t been able to get into in ages are starting to fit. It’s very encouraging and keeps me motivated.

The old face is starting to look a little thinner. I started wearing a belt again since some of my pants started falling down in public. I’m eating probably half of what I was eating before I changed my eating habits. I’m amazed when I think back to what I could put away at a meal.

Dawn and I have been sharing most meals out. We went to a Mexican restaurant yesterday after church and split the “Grande.” Grande is an understatement. That baby was huge. We split a couple of enchiladas and the beans and chips and stayed away from the rice for the most part. I’m not really that fond of Mexican rice to begin with. The worst (most calorific) part of the meal was the Chimichanga. A deep fried, bean, chicken and cheese delight with sour cream and guacamole. We just kind of nibbled at that one.

And so it goes. I’m eating sensibly. I’m not depriving myself and I’m no longer stuffing myself silly. I started working out on the cross trainer at the gym last week. Seems to be much easier on my knees. I think I can keep that one up.

Thanks again to everyone who has provided me with some much needed encouragement.

Houston...we have a problem.

Houston…we have a problem.

My wife and I went to Target over the weekend to get some stuff for our new house. While we were there, I found a weight scale that I really, really wanted. I have had some suspicions that the weight scale at work that I weigh on was off.

The scale is made by Health-O-Meter, so it was a good one. I took it home, put in the batteries and weighed. The total weight it gave me was a good 7 pounds off from the scale at work – and it wasn’t in my favor! Sucks big time.

This means I am now at 308 instead of under 300 as I announced. Very disappointing, but will not slow me down. I have still lost the same amount of weight, I'm just not under 300 like I thought. But hey, it sure felt good thinking I was under 300, so I’ve got to get back to that feeling!

On the menu today:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with a tablespoon of peanut butter and cinnamon.

Midmorning snack: 6 triskets and an apple

Lunch: leftovers from last night- Italian sausage, zucchini, tomatoes and low carb soy pasta.

Afternoon snack: yogurt

Dinner: ? I have to rehearse with my band tonight so it will probably be a veggie burger at Burger King. Those things are pretty durn good.

I broke the 300 pound barrier

Lord have mercy! I broke the 300lb barrier. I weighed in yesterday at 297 lbs. I don't know what to do. I can't celebrate with food. I'm still too damned heavy to jump up and down. I guess I'll just give myself a high five and leave it at that.

I can't believe I am losing weight. It's slow, but I'm doing it. I'm not starving myself. I am eating smaller portions and I really think that splitting my food into six small meals is the trick. I went to dinner tonight with my wife and my friend " the Vonster" at the Olive Garden. I ordered pizza, ate half of it and boxed the rest. I also had a bowl of soup. I'll still lose weight, because I'm keeping my calories and portions under control.

Here was the menu for the day:

Breakfast: bowl of oatmeal with 1 teaspoon of peanut butter
Snack: 4 Triskets
Lunch: 2 lean lunch meat sandwiches on Orowheat "light" bread.
Snack: Yogurt, apple
Dinner: 3 pieces of pizza and soup.

I looked back through an old food diary. In July of 2003 I weighed 340 lbs. So really, I've lost over 40 pounds in 2 years and have kept it off. That's equal to the weight of a couple large turkeys and a pound of hamburger. That's a lot of fat!

This day has been a long time coming. Only 80 more pounds to lose by July 9, 2006!