Panic Shift!

Tip Of The Day

You need to stick with what works but you also need to learn to adapt and make changes to things that don’t work.

My panic weight has been 175. When I hit 175, I slam on the breaks and get back to work. The problem is that by the time I get all the way up to 175, I’m spiraling too far out of control. So as of today, I am lowering my panic weight to 170. That way I won’t get quite as out of control as I have been since Easter.

175 was leaving me too much rope to hang myself. So 170 should help me stay a bit more in control. If something isn’t working, stop being stubborn. Adapt!!!

Weight Statistics

323/176.2/159.9

I think I will be considerably lower tomorrow. Atkins is kicking in.

I made quite a few trips down the hallway today so I am pretty sure I dropped a considerable chunk of water weight today. I’m still over my old panic weight and WAY over my new panic weight. My new panic weight should help me have a tad more resolve to keep away from the Wednesday lunch.  Well, unless it is the seafood feast. We have only had that once in 5 months so I am not going to skip the seafood feast if it appears. I’m thinking this week will be poboys or maybe even healthy chicken week. We haven’t had the healthy chicken meal in a while.

Biking Update

Had I known how windy it was going to be up on the levee, I might have come up with a good excuse for not riding. Wow, that ride beat me up. Well, the first part beat me up, then the rest was pretty easy once I wasn’t riding directly into the heart of darkness!

Road Marker 410 – 10 miles

I already have the last two weeks beat. Not hard since I didn’t ride my bike at all over the previous two weeks. I’ll rest my legs today and probably get back up on the levee either tomorrow or maybe Wednesday. I guess I’ll check the forecast for wind and pick whatever day looks like it might be better.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – Turkey burger with cheese

Lunch – None – Finally kicked the fruit habit.

Dinner – Chicken with salad

Snack – Turkey burger with cheese, cheese

Calories – 1,200

My body has become accustomed to a much higher calorie level for the last several weeks. It was NOT HAPPY with my abbreviated menu today. I hope Ketosis kicks in fast so the hunger will dissipate a bit.

GAUNTLET

I’ve been having a tough time and a few of my long time friends have also been having a tough time. I am tossing down the gauntlet. Time for all of us to get back to work. Enough playing around.  I dare any of you to try to lose more weight than me in the month of May. 😛

Oh yes I did!

I can whip you all. 😀

You get a break because I already know I am going to drop about 2 to 3 pounds tomorrow and that won’t count since the CONTEST starts with the weigh-in on the 1st. Good luck, you are going to need it. 😀

Happy Dieting, see you tomorrow

 

Back To Work…..

I really do mean it this time…….

NOT!!!

I’ve had a tough time with motivation lately.

Not quite that bad, but my motivation has been lacking for the last couple of weeks. After a little break, I’m recharged and ready to get back to working on that goal of mine.

The last few days have been a blur of…..

and

and

with a side order of

and a sprinkle of….

I broke one of my cardinal rules and used the old “I’m already cheating so I might as well just roll with it” excuse. And I broke another rule, hiding from the blog so I didn’t have to post my cheats thus making it easier to keep rolling along downhill.

 So here I am. Trying to right the ship before I do any additional damage. The good news is that I can’t think of any dangerous eating events in the near future. I have at least 2 weeks without any planned outings. Time for bunker mode to kick in.

No….wrong Bunker.

That’s better. Time for me to move to bunker / hermit mode until I can get back down below 170!

Weight Statistics

323/178.5/159.9

Almost 4 pound OVER my panic weight!

Some of that is water but a LOT is real solid gain. I need to get back to what works for me which is low carb. I also need to get back on that bike. Hopefully I will report a ride tomorrow. I’m just waiting until 6:30 for things to cool down a bit then I will head up to the levee.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – Oatmeal – apples and cinnamon, maple sugar

Lunch – Chicken with salad

Dinner – Turkey burger with cheese

Snack – Oatmeal

Calories – 1450

The oatmeal was my last carb hurrah for a while. It will be dropped from the menu starting tomorrow. It’s pretty clear that I stink when it comes to controlling carbs. I need to learn to eat better while eating carbs but so far I haven’t been able to control my eating while eating a full carb menu. Heck, the fruit basket at work is just about as evil as the donuts on Friday.

Oh just so you see a REAL picture of what I have to deal with at work, here is a picture of one of the birthday cakes that sent my weight SHOOTING up a few weeks back.

That is one of the two grazing tables with 1 of the 3 cakes they had for the group birthday party a few weeks ago. 😛

Tip Of The Day

Don’t be stubborn.

If you are on a long-term diet at some point you are going to get SICK OF IT and you will rationalize mixing things up a bit. I guess in some cases this can work or in most cases it will lead to a little 18 POUND GAIN!

Stick with what works. Yes it is boring and monotonous and drives you bonkers but it works. I have a few friends that should take this advice to heart. I certainly need to get back to what I know works for me. 😀

Happy Dieting, see you tomorrow

The Grumpy Man

Sneeze!!!

I’ve been a bit under the weather since last Friday. My allergies were driving me bonkers so I took some antihistamine and it knocked me out. I slept just about the whole day on Friday. I felt fine on Saturday and Sunday and then BOOM, I was miserable on Monday.

I wasn’t sure if I was sick or if it was my allergies acting up, but either way, I decided to get some extra vitamins by chowing down on fruit. That kicked me out of ketosis and sent my weight up on Tuesday even though my calories were fine.

YOU ARE WELCOME. For what, you ask? For not posting the animated picture of people sneezing. Yuck! 😀

Tuesday, I was even more miserable so I kept chowing down on fruit and taking cold meds.  Once again my calories were fine but the carbs were high.

This morning…

Weight Statistics

323/170.4/159.9

 I knew I would be up a little today with the fruit entering the rotation. I was feeling MUCH better today and didn’t want a relapse so I kept eating more fruit. Plus I was hoping that the fruit would stop me from eating any of the free lunch.

Hope disappeared and meatballs somehow found their way into my belly. I did pass on the bread pudding, lasagna, garlic bread and spaghetti. I ate 2 and then grabbed a 3rd an hour later. It could have been worse.  I had my normal dinner, so with the fruit and meatballs, I am pushing 2100 calories. Not a terrible Wednesday but not good either. I will be up tomorrow no doubt.

It shouldn’t be a large gain like most Thursdays. The meatballs were super salty so there will be some gain from the salt and from falling off the Atkins wagon. I’m feeling much better so I may skip the fruit tomorrow and get back to Atkins.

Just in time for……

I have another crawfish boil to attend this weekend. I should be able to keep the calories in check, but 20,000 mgs of sodium is enough to send my weight through the roof.

 

I don’t behave at crawfish boils nor should I even try. 😛

I will try to stick to the crawfish and not any chips or dips or any other tasty treats. It is a birthday party so there will be cake. I guess it depends on the cake as to whether I will scarf down a piece or not.

Tip Of The Day!

FIND A PLACE TO VENT AND GET SUPPORT!!!

I can’t overstate the importance of having a strong support group.

I’ve been part of a Diet Thread on a sports site since September of 2010. It has been a tremendous source of encouragement and inspiration. I was 248 back on the first page of the thread and here I sit at 170. One of the guys on the site lost his mother about 2 weeks into his diet. As of today, he has dropped about 100 pounds and I think the thread is what helped keep him on track during a horrible time in his life.

It may seem hokey, but finding the right support group can be the difference between success and failure.

GET SOME HELP!!! 😀

Weekend Report Card!

I think I did pretty good this weekend, especially given the fact I had 2 dinner outings.  Friday I ate the GIANT steak but I still lost weight on Saturday. I went a little crazy late Saturday night but still pulled out a loss on Sunday. I think some of the sodium caught up with me this morning because I didn’t budge an inch on the scale.

Saturday’s Menu

Breakfast – Turkey Burger with cheese

Lunch – Avocado salad

Dinner – Grilled chicken, creamed spinach and smothered green beans

Snack – Turkey burgers!!!!!

Calories – 3,000

I did a great job ordering the chicken and veggies considering the menu at Copeland’s is full of high calorie, giant-sized portions of unhealthy food. In fact, that has to be the first time I have EVER ordered spinach and green beans. I don’t mean at Copeland’s. I mean at ANY restaurant.  The second my plate hit the table I tossed my buttered biscuit on my friends plate and told him to lick it so I wouldn’t take it back. 😛

So I did a great job at dinner but then blew it around midnight when I raided my stash of turkey burgers and cheese. I was famished for some reason and it took about 1000 turkey burgers to quench my hunger. Okay, maybe not 1,000.

Weight Statistics (Sunday)

323/170.00/159.9

Even with the late night turkey burger rampage, I somehow managed to drop some weight. I guess I still had some water weight that needed to drain off as I kicked into full Atkins modes.

Rampage!

Sunday’s Menu

Breakfast – Turkey burger with cheese

Lunch – Avocado salad

Dinner – Chicken with salad

Snacks – Turkey burger with cheese

Calories – 1,300

 Weight Statistics ( Monday)

 323/170.00/159.9

The scale is lying. I refuse to believe that it is possible to be the exact same weight.  😛

I’m happy about the reading, but I just don’t believe it. I had a good Sunday and now a great Monday so I am expecting a drop down tomorrow.

But in all probability, I might get a visit from…..

I’m past due for a visit from The Phantom Weight Gain. I’m down 9.2 pounds in less than a week, so I wouldn’t be surprised by a bounce up in the next couple of days. Surprised, no. Angry, yes. 😀

Stay away Phantom!

My Allergies have been off the charts the last couple of days. I rarely take anything, but the allergies bugged me to the point I took some medicine. I took some medicine about an hour ago and YAWN, it is making me sleepy.

Monday’s Menu

 Breakfast – Turkey burger with cheese

Lunch – None

Dinner – Chicken with salad

Snack – Turkey burger with cheese

Calories – 1200

I’m expecting a loss tomorrow or I will be very very very GRUMPY. 😀

I figure I have about 2 months to go to hit my temp goal of 159.9. I guess I could hit it sooner if I stayed away from the Wednesday lunch at the office but I don’t see that happening. My willpower has been a bit of a struggle lately.

Tip Of The Day

I actually used this tip Friday and Saturday night.

Before you head out to eat, look up the menu online and make a healthy choice. I always plan to do this but once I hit the restaurant my willpower crumbles. Not this weekend. I had both meals all planned out and I stuck to them.

Check for healthy options online and then stick to that selection once you are seated in the restaurant. It might be a good idea to KEEP THE MENU SHUT!!! Once you start reading all the delicious items on the menu, you might not stick with the healthy option.

I wavered and almost ordered something FULL of carbs because I started reading the menu in the restaurant. Don’t Do That!!! Make a selection at home and then don’t even touch the menu in the restaurant. 😀

Happy Dieting, see you tomorrow…

PS:

Yes, I am avoiding writing about the bike!!!

The Grumpy Man

The Terrible Truth!!!

My last post mentioned a bad week but I kept the numbers to myself. Now that I have dropped some, I can post the evil numbers. My walk of shame…..

Weight Statistics

Wednesday – 323/179.7/159.9 – Ouch, and after I said I would never get near 180 again! How did I get this high? Popeyes, Pizza, and Chinese Food were the culprits.

Thursday – 323/179.3/159.9 – I seem to have peaked at 179 because I had a bad eating day on Wednesday but still lost a little Thursday morning.

Friday – 323/173.7/159.9 – Boom. I did a 24 hour fast to clear out the carbs and I started Atkins. Whoosh goes the water.

Saturday – 323/171.5/159.9 – Safely back below my panic weight with room to spare.

I was actually surprised to see the numbers drop this morning because I had a GIANT birthday steak for dinner.

I finally got together with my Mom for my B-day dinner for my March birthday.  Everything I ate was Atkins approved but I figured the sodium might get me some. It didn’t. Or I guess I should say it didn’t, yet. 😛

Sometimes the gain from sodium comes the day after you eat. I actually did pretty good last night. The rest of my family devoured a plate of onion rings.

I avoided those as I also avoided the AuGratin potatoes. I stuck with a wedge salad and the GIANT steak. I had my normal turkey burger with cheese for breakfast and I had an avocado salad for lunch. I am sure my calories were probably close to 2k which is why I was surprised to see the scale drop. Further PROOF of the water weight that is flushed out when you are on Atkins in Ketosis. 😛

The Bike

Terrible riding week to go along with the terrible eating week. A few days this week it was raining and one day I worked late so I couldn’t get home in time to ride before dark. I was a tad under the weather yesterday. I slept most of the day after taking some allergy medicine that knocked me out. At the moment it is raining so it isn’t looking good today. If it clears up, I will get out there so I can get at least 1 ride this week.

Tip Of The Day

Don’t set specific time goals. I see people do this all the time and I have done it too but you set yourself up for failure and missed goals can lead to guilt and anger which can lead to quitting the diet.

You are already under enough pressure just doing the things you need to do to lose the weight. You don’t need to set an arbitrary date to add even more pressure.

Just do the best you can each day and at some point in the future you will hit that goal weight.

Heck, my original goal deadline was March 16 2011. Ha!

I’m still at over two years from when I started.

Just lose the weight and don’t worry about racing to the finish line.

Sl0w and steady wins the race. 😀

Happy Dieting, see you tomorrow