Day 27 of a 10 week weight loss challenge. The last time I did this I was 31… that was 10 YEARS ago! So, like last time, I spent my last week of 2017 packing on the pounds. I tipped the scale at 237.8lbs (I was shooting for 240lbs). I’m down to 214lbs as of this morning. I plan to beat my previous best of 196lbs by 1lbs; 195lbs is my target. I still have 6 weeks to go to drop 19lbs, which isn’t that impossible. How am I doing it this time? Well, it’s pretty simple:

• Weights, Running, Cardio, Activity that is tracked on both my Watch and Calorie tracker app
• Consume around 1500 calories a day
• Stop Drinking
• Stop Junk-food
• Stop Soda
• Stop Snacks
• Portion Control
• Eat Breakfast (that was a hard one)
• Get the Flu (already recovered from it)

I didn’t take any “before” pictures but I’m definitely going to take an after.

Almost 7 days in and I’m not dying from lack of junk food (maybe). My body is less than happy with me, but I have been feeding it copious amounts of butter, steak, eggs and water (with veggies and fruit, relax). This diet experiment is different than the pervious ones; I’m only limiting things that “I” precieve as bad. I don’t think sushi is bad, so rice can’t be bad, so I’m fine. It all shakes out. I must be getting older because by this time LAST time I did this I was down 15lbs. I’m only down 10lbs, but progress is progress. I’m not at the point where I’d sell off an appendage for a burger, but I’m getting close.

I’ve found a new podcast to get addicted to. Of course it must have something
to do with technology, cars or food… food. Maangchi is promoted on Boxee Cooking, which has a whole slew of cooking podcasts. Hers, however, is so addictive due to her bubbly personality and very straight forward food prep techniques. I need to talk to my butcher and get some pork belly with the skin still on (of all her receipies, the ones that use pork belly look amazing to me). At an average time of 7min per podcast, you can’t beat a dose of Korean Cooking a night.

Breakfast: Banana, water
Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwich, UTZ plain ridged chips, grapes and water
Dinner: Pasta with mussels in a marinara over angel-hair (sm), shrimp & scallops in a white sauce over angel-hair (sm), water
Snack: UTZ plain chips, bourbon, 1 Pepsi Throwback

EXERCISE: 30 min run, 30 min weights (full-body/clean-jerk, arms, chest, shoulders)

I haven’t used this blog in years. I was locked out of the admin for while due to some ugly code. Thanks to the interweb I was able to globally fix and gain access once again. I have multiple other sites I use to share thoughts and ideas, but I really don’t have a “casual” place that allows me to ramble about, well, food intake. Take it for what it is I guess. This is also the least trafficked site I have currently. And so it begins. Still sick, still feel like crap.

Breakfast: Airborn, Banana
Lunch: Grapes, leftover steak in brown sauce (couple bites), leftover pork shoulder with rice (couple bites), water
Dinner: Half small frozen pizza with red pepper flakes, bourbon, 1 can Pepsi Throwback
Snack: Handful wheat thins, bourbon on ice

EXERCISE: 20 minutes basketball, 20 minutes run, 30 minutes weights (shoulders, arms, chest, abs)

Sick. I’ve been sick with a cold for the past week or so. It has worked it’s way into my stomach. I’ve found myself ingesting more crap as of late, so I am going to start tracking like I did years ago during the weight loss contest. No goal, just me trying to eat better by publicly documenting what I put into my body.

Breakfast: Special K cereal bar, water with lemon
Lunch: Baked tilapia on 12 grain bread (one slice) with mango hot sauce, water, grapes, banana
Dinner: Steak in brown sauce, sun-dried couscous, water
Snack: Natural lemon lime soda (real sugar) on ice, Premium Saltines

EXERCISE: 30 minute run, 30 min weights (arms, chest)

After 90 days of strict eating, almost all water, fruits, veggies, whole grains, no fast food, natural root beer and no cool-ranch chips I have dropped 32.6 lbs. The “official” weigh-in for the groups in Friday, but 90 days is today, and I’ll be damned if I have to wait till Friday to eat some cool-ranch and Wendy’s Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers.

With a week to go (technically Wednesday is the official LAST day of the competition) I’ve successfully dropped from 228.6 to 202.4 – a total of 26.2 pounds off. Taking into account I’ve stopped smoking, stopped drinking (last 2 weeks), stopped being able to run (pulled my hamstring), and have continued to not eat ANY fast food or Cool-Ranch Doritos. I’m down 4.4 lbs from last Fridays weigh-in. This last week will be rather strict after the weekend. I’ve been doing a lot of stretching and core workouts every night for the past week and it seems to be helping the inability to run. My goal has always been to be down 30 lbs by the last day (eventhough I assumed I would have hit the 190 lbs mark already and plataued till the end; I must be getting older). 198.6 is the goal for next Friday. That’s 3.8 lbs down in a week… shouldn’t be a problem. I never did take a before picture, but I bet i could find a real flattering one and pose it against the 30 lbs lighter me. We’ll see.

Well, as you may have noticed, I’ve stopped logging all my food intake. This isn’t to hide anything, I’ve just been busy. I’ve also lost a total of 24.4 lbs. according to last Friday’s weigh-in, and I’m set to actually get below 200 lbs. by the time we are done with this thing (which I haven’t done in years). One of my teammates asked me “how did you do it?”

Breakfast: eggs, steak, water, fruit, combination of all…
Lunch: soup, noodle bowl, steak, seafood…or…what ever is in front of me I cut it in half and only eat one half. and water
Dinner: meat, seafood, vegetables, rice, roll, small amount of bread, light butter/oil if any, water
Snack: pretzel rods, wheat thins, chips & salsa, fruit, bourbon & ice
RARE: fresh fruit juice (orange juice, lemonade), gin, fat free milk, popcorn

On a non-food note, we had our first soccer game today in 30 degree weather… 2-3 loss. They played their hearts out. Was a good game. Horrible refs, but at least both teams agreed that they were terrible.

I’ve just received notice from my team member that today marks the half way point in our weight loss journey. I’ve been a real slacker as of late keeping my diet record, but I assure you if I had cheated I would have noted. Just the same boring food as always.

CORRECTION – today is day 41, not mid-point of 45

Breakfast
Water
Banana
Flu Medicine

Lunch
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
Water
Saltines

Dinner
TBD

Breakfast
Water
1 Clementine

Lunch
1/2 Chipotle Steak & Beans Burrito (light sour cream, light cheese)
Water w/ lemon

Dinner
TBD