324.0 This morning . . .

Which would put me 3 lbs below what I weighed Tuesday before I weighed in "officially". So far I'm pretty happy about that this week. I had a couple of bad days, of course Teri and I went out Tuesday night for dinner after weighing in, then I had a HORRIBLE day on Thursday. I got into a shouting match with the superintendant out here in Yelm. So Thursday night, all bets were off and I stopped by and picked up Thai food for Teri and I. That meal alone was easily my whole points total for the day. Since then though, I've been back on plan. My normal cereal breakfast yesterday, with a couple of WW meals for lunch and my left over pasta from Tuesday night for dinner with a WW Fudge bar to top it all off. That should have been pretty dang close to my points for the day. Started today by having cereal again. Fixed a couple of sandwiches for lunch with an apple and some carrots. Teri is cooking a WW chicken meal this evening, so should be OK for today. Tomorrow I have a listing appt. out in Gig Harbor, so if you know of anyone looking on Peacock Hill under $250K, let me know! I may have an offer coming in on my Yelm Terra listing today, which will be a serious relief. My clients have been getting very antsy and I just want to do a good job for them.

Monday though, Teri and I have a big dinner to go to at the Canlis restaurant in Seattle. SOOOO, I've really got to do good tomorrow and Monday morning to even have a prayer of seeing a smaller number on the scale Tuesday evening. Guess I'll have to schedule a nice long bike ride in for Tuesday morning. :-)

The official Tally . . .

So last night Teri and I weighed in for our 1st weigh in after starting Weight Watchers. We were both starving since you really don't feel like eating anything the day you've got to weigh in. So all yesterday all I had to eat was a bottle of Odwalla Orange juice, a Lean cuisine Salisbury steak lunch entree, and some zero point veggie soup. I weighed myself again in the afternoon (told you I was going to obsess for awhile) and was at 328.0 . . . I had a couple of hours before Teri got home and had all my work done for the day, so I hopped on the bike for a quick ride just for good measure. :-) I did a quick 5.1 miles around the neighborhood. It was good though since our neighborhood is moderately hilly. I tightened up my pedals a bit, put air in the tires (Oh, Steve, I bought a new floor pump) raised my seat post ever so slightly and straightened my handlebars. Then headed out. Was about 20 minutes or so on the ride.

Teri called me about 4:30 and said she was almost home, so I jumped in the shower and we headed out almost immediately after she walked through the door. We got to WW a little after 5 and waited in line. Teri weighed in and lost 2 pounds! I am very proud of her! Way to go honey! Then I stepped on the scale and the official reading was 330.9, or translated, 11.6 pounds. I certainly hit my 10 pound goal and then a little bit. AWESOME! We headed out to Mama Stortini's for some dinner and while the portions are WAY too big to even be considered WW portions, I held off and only ate 1/2 of my caeser salad and only 1/2 of my fettucini bolognase. It was still probably a failry high point meal, but only 1/2 of the points it could have been!

So here we go . . . week 2! I'm hoping for another 3 - 5 pounds this week. 3.4 would put me to an even 15, so I think that's a reasonable goal for this week.

I think I've got a shot!

So last week at my 1st official weigh in at WW, the scale read 342.5. This morning I got up and weighed myself and my scale read 328.0. Of course there is the whole clothes thing and I think the WW scale weighs heavier than our scale anyway . . . BUT, I do think I have an outside shot at weighing 332.5 or less on the WW scale sometime today. Which would hit my goal of 10 pounds for the 1st week. AND really gets me started towards my 10% goal for the rest of the year. I figure there are roughly 10 weeks left in the year and with a "normal" 1 - 2 pound loss per week, should roughly put me around 308 - 315 by the end of the year. Of course the dreaded Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are smack in the middle, but I will persevere! I will start adding gym workouts back into the mix here shortly and that will help overall as well. Wish me luck tonight!

Another Day on WW . . .

Yesterday I think I ended up going over my points by about 0.5 . . . which makes that a VERY good day. I am obsessing over the scale. I will relax in later weeks, but it's really fun to see the changes your body makes when you shake it up a bit. So yesterday morning I weighed in at 334.0 . . . last night after eating dinner, etc. I weighed myself again . . . still at 334.0 lbs. So after a day of eating, etc. I ended up even. Then sleep came . . . and took another 1.5 lbs away from me . . . SWEET! This morning I weighed in at 332.5. I'm REALLY hoping that by the time I "officially" weigh in on Tuesday that MY scale reads below 330. That should pretty well assure me of losing 10 lbs. the first week. I KNOW this is going to slow down as my body adjusts to my new caloric intake, but it's still cool to watch.

On another note, I'm sick. I had hoped to ride 20 - 30 miles tomorrow, but A) it's looking like rain (which isn't that big a deal) and B) I'm sick. So I don't know that it's the best idea. I was going to take my bike up to Steve's in Kent and ride the Interurban trail, but I don't think that's gonna happen. If I'm feeling better tomorrow, I may just hit the Orting trail again for 10 or so miles. Don't want to push myself too much and get more sick . . .

Day 2 on WW

So yesderday was day 2 on the Weight Watchers plan. I woke up starving (apoligies to those in 3rd world countries, I use the term starving loosely). I had my normal breakfast of Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds (1.5C) and fat free milk (2C). On the way out to site, I ate an apple. I had two WW meals in the truck for lunch, but while at Safeway, I picked up some baby carrots for good measure . . . I ate both WW meals and the whole bag of carrots (1 pound!) while at site. At home, Teri had made turkey meatloaf with some Rice A Roni spanish rice and some broccoli. I had 3 slices of the meatloaf, about 2C of the spanish rice and a whole pile of broccoli before I felt satiated. I finished it all off with a WW Giant Fudgecicle (1 point). I was feeling like crap all day, sore throat, stuffy nose, headache so I'm betting that had something to do with it. By the time I figured out all my points for the day I had gone over my daily point allowance of 33 by 16 points. However, this new "flex" plan gives you 35 points to use or not use throughout the week, so I'm still technically on plan. I have 19 flex points left for the week, which should get me through the weekend with no issues.

Now for the cool part . . . yestereday when I weighed in at home, I was at 337.0 pounds . . . today when I weighed in the scale read 334.0 pounds. 3 pounds gone. I knew this first week would be a good one if I stuck to the plan. I think part of the reason I was so hungry yesterday was that the day before, day 1, I was almost 5 points under my daily allowance. Today I'm not feeling nearly as hungry as yesterday. I had my cereal for breakfast. Now I'm out at site and I'm fine. Still kinda feel like crap, but hunger wise, I'm feeling OK. I have two WW meals again today, both 5 points instead of 6 like yesterday and an apple. So I should have 13 points to use for dinner, which even if we head out to Applebees or something, should be enough to tide me over.

I'm hoping to get another ride in this weekend. Maybe 30 miles or so. That would give me back 10 or so points for the week too. I need to find a good course with some moderate hills . . . the Orting trail we did last weekend was cool cause it was all uphill out and all downhill back . . . but I need some ups and downs throughout the course to really train appropriately. Especially if the goal is to do a Tri next year or even maybe the STP . . .

Anyway, I'm still standing . . .

I survived day 1!

So yesterday was the first day Teri and I were on Weight Watchers. I survived! I started the day by having a large bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds. Then I was busy most of the day and didn't have time to eat anything else. That's probably not so good, so by the time dinner rolled around I had a ton of points left for the day. (24) I went to the store and picked up the fixings for dinner and Weight Watchers Zero point soup. I fixed Teri and I a Turkey Parmesan meatloaf with some roasted asparagus and peppers on the side. Both of the recipes were out of the WW New Complete Cookbook that we had picked up at Costco some time ago. I have to say the meatloaf was OUTSTANDING! It made 8 slices and each were 4 points. I had 4 of those, plus some veggies for another point and some zero point soup. Believe it or not after all that, I was still somewhat hungry, so I added an apple for another 2 points and a WW sherbert ice cream bar for dessert. 20 points for dinner all tolled. So I ended up 4 points low for the day.

Also, while I was at Fred Meyer picking up groceries, I picked up some soda for a little taste test. See, I love Coke. But I absolutely detest Diet Coke. So I wanted to find something that could be a sometimes substitute for Coke. So I picked up three products: Coke Zero, Diet Coke with Splenda, and Sprite Zero. Then while I was making the soup, I did a little taste test. I put 4 ice cubes in each of three small glasses and poured one of each of the sodas into each glass. First up, Sprite Zero. It actually wasn't bad. Actually tasted a lot like sprite and only a mild aftertaste. Next up, Coke Zero. Again, not bad. It's definitely NOT Coke, but it is drinkable and tastes mildly like Coke again with only a mild aftertaste. Last was diet Coke with Splenda. AWFUL. So I think I found 2 diet sodas that I can at least stomach to get me through my soda cravings for the mean time.

I weighed myself in this morning. 337 according to the home scale. Of course add 2-3 pounds for clothes and we're probably like 240 . . . but I think definitely lower already than weigh in on Tuesday. I'm going to take a couple WW meals and some fruit for lunch today. Breakfast was the same as yesterday. We'll see what Teri has in store for dinner. After spending 4 hours in the kitchen yesterday, it's her turn! :-)

Expect me to be cranky the next couple/few weeks . . .

So last night on my way to Fry's to return my TiVo Series 3, Teri and I stopped at Weight Watchers in downtown Puyallup and joined up. So I've got two reasons to be cranky. 1) I took my Series 3 back. After 24 days, I just could NOT get it to work. TiVo is supposed to be following up with me today, so we'll see how that goes. And 2) I'll be eating significantly less food than I have been. It'll take me 2 weeks or so to "train" my stomach to survive on what I'm giving it and I'll be fine after that. I've been on WW before and had some success. Not necessarily success in keeping the weight off, but success in losing the weight initially. So I have a bit of trepidation going into this endeavor again as I'm not sure how I'll handle the plateaus again.

In 1991/92 ish . . . I weighed 250 pounds and joined WW and lost 30 pounds, plateaued, gave up resumed normal eating habits and then . . .

In 2001 . . . I weighed in at 317 pounds and joined WW at Adobe and lost 51 pounds, platueaued, gave up, got laid off and now here we are in . . .

2006 . . . last night I weighed in at 342.5 pounds. Holy hell. Now, this wasn't as much a shock as you might think. You'll remember earlier this year, I weighed in at 344 and lost about 13 pounds and then moving day hit and we've been back to normal ever since. So I'm still not back up to where I was . . . but a good distance towards it anyway. Now one point (and sorry for the visual reference) but weighing myself at home, I'm not clothed and at WW, of course I am. So I'd put realistically my weight at 339 ish.

BUT the first goal they always have you set at WW is your 10% goal. So here it is . . . I get to lose 34.25 pounds for my first goal. This will put me down to about 308 pounds. Now if I can do it by the end of the year (Likely to lose about 10 my first week) I'll be awfully damn close to the goal I set at the beginning of the year to be under 300. I will feel good at or below 310 by the end of the year.

My mind is going to be my biggest challenge. Got to turn that negative thinking around and realize that this is just now who I am and be OK with that. I need to align my habits with my Top 10 goals. It's keeping me out of integrity with myself and I want to get back into integrity. I don't know why, but 186 has been stuck in my head since August. That's my 10 year goal. To be at 186 pounds. Let's get going! Thanks everyone for your help and support!

Had a GREAT day today!

So Teri has been out of town since Friday (NO, that's not why today was a great day!). When she heads out, I try to schedule some time with the boyz and do something fun. So a few weeks ago, I sent a note out to everyone inviting them to come hang out for a day. I only got positive responses from Brandon and Steve. Which really worked out well. Now that I have my new bike, I've been wanting to ride more and more . . . and of the boyz I hang out with Steve and Brandon are the only two that have bikes or rather that have bikes that they ride somewhat frequently. So they planned to come down around 8AM this morning and we would head down to the Orting Trail. (Click link for map). They arrived around 7:45 and we got the bikes loaded up, changed clothes, etc and headed down. I forgot my helmet . . . oops . . . but decided to head out anyway. We hit the trail just after 8. This was also my first time using my clipless pedals and shoes. As we got going, I felt the burn in my legs and we cruised up to about 14 - 15 MPH. This was a comfortable pace for me and allowed us to chat as we rode. After a couple miles, my legs started to really burn, but I knew I was good for more than that! So we kept going . . . along about 5 miles, Steve and Brandon asked how I was doing and I said "fine, but I'm re-evaluating every 2.5 miles" . . . so we kept on going to 7.5 miles . . . at about the 6 mile mark, I was thinking that 7.5 miles would be a good point to turn around. However, I caught my 2nd wind at about 7 miles and at 7.5 miles, said we'd press on to 10 . . . Well that 2.5 miles was a gradual climb and at the top of a short hill at 10.1 miles, I decided that rather than push myself too hard, that would be a good midway point.

So we dismounted and had some pulls on our water bottles and tried some Clif Goo Cubes . . . Strawberry. They weren't bad, actually pretty tasty. We hung out for about 20 minutes and headed back. Boy coming down that small incline made quite a difference and we were probably going 20 - 21 MPH down . . . towards the bottom of the hill, Steve showed me what drafting was all about and the three of us were easily able to maintain 17 - 19 MPH on the flats. The ride back seemed a LOT easier than the ride out, so I suspect the whole ride out was at a very slight incline. When Steve posts the ride details on his blog it will be interesting to see the elevation profile of the ride. (UPDATE: I just checked Steve's Profile at MotionBased and he's already uploaded the results of our ride, so here they are: RIDE RESULTS)
We ended up back at the parking lot at about 10:20 . . . 20.21 miles in all according to my cycle computer. It was awesome! I was really wishing I had pushed on for another 5 miles out to the end of the trail . . . but I'll save that for next time. This was a good ride to REALLY get used to the bike, shifting, drinking while riding, and above all my clipless pedals. I do need to raise my seat up just a bit more, and probably increase the tension on the pedals a bit as I was popping out just about anytime I stood up.

After the ride, we grabbed some breakfast at Ma's place. Came back to the hosue and napped a bit while watching football. Hopped in the hot tub for awhile, and ordered some pizza while watching Snatch. GREAT relaxing Boyz day. I had a BLAST! Can't wait to get on the bike for some more miles . . . and hopefully make it back down to do the whole trail! My initial goal is to ride out to Yelm in the next few months. Assuming the rain isn't horrible and it doesn't get too awfully cold, I should be able to make it by the end of the year. It's about 34 miles and relatively flat depending on the route I take. I'll have Marcus give me a ride back home however. I'm definitely not in 70 miles biking shape! :-) But I WILL get there!

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the support today! It was great!

Cowboys in a Kia?

You remember those Reeses Peanut Butter commercials that had the tag line "Two great tastes that go great together"? I'm pretty sure this does NOT qualify. But this morning I think I saw one of the funniest things I've seen in awhile. I saw two cowboys in a Kia Spectra. I'm heading out to Yelm and on highway 507, I end up behind this car. On the back of the car are West Coast Chopper stickers and F**** You stickers and all sorts of other things. There is also a sticker with the distinct outline of a cowboy hat. Upon closer inspection, the driver is wearing a cowboy hat . . . as is the passenger . . . In a big ol' Ford truck, yeah. But in a Kia Spectra? Wouldn't you get your ass beat if you showed up to a rodeo and pulled your saddle outta the back of a Kia? I was cracking up . . . so I had to snap a photo . . . sorry it's from my phone and the quality isn't that great, but if you look close enough, you CAN make out the driver's hat . . .