Food

So The last little while I have been trying to transition regular foods into my diet so that when I get to my desired weight I can maintain. The key has been eating less. Last night we went to the Cheesecake Factory. A trick that I have learned is to check out a restaurant before I go so that I can check the menu and find something that is low in calories/fat and that I would still want to eat. Sometimes that can be hard I couldn't find anything on the regular menu that was in my desired calorie range and still sounded good, until I discovered they have a Skinnylcious menu. where everything is under 590 calories. I got a Turkey burger, it was good but small. I ate it kind of fast and then realized if I am going to make this thing work I need to slow down and take me time eating. I've heard it said that it takes 20 minutes for you brain to realize that your stomach is full. I'm pretty sure I just experienced that. Right after I was done I looked around on the table to see if there was any bread left, there wasn't any, but after a few minutes I realized I wasn't hungry any more. I was satisfied, and I need to stop and wait when I am done eating so I don't over eat. With the realization when dessert came I know I didn't need it or really even want it, so I only took one bite of each kind and that's it. I was done. 
   Now as far as my exercising...my 2 times a week stair/run is going great. The other things like push-ups and weight lifting has kind of stopped. So I need to get motivated and start up again.

My 1st Milestone

One of the first goals I set for myself was to lose 10 lbs by Sept 1st.

I DID IT

That's Right I weighed in this morning at 238.6. I am very happy about the work I have put in, but I know I still have a long way to go. My next goal is 225 by October 1st. Actually I want to do it by Sept 29th, 4 weeks away. 

Still a long way to go.

I am trying not be be discouraged and frustrated because I feel like I am making some good progress, but my body is getting sore. I can still only run for about a mile and then I am so winded I feel like I am going to suffocate.

 I guess I have to look at the big picture and my overall goal. Baby steps is the only way I'm going to get this done. Today I ran (jogged) up and down 484 stairs in about 10 minutes that's not to bad. I want to be able to look back at this in 6 mo. and know that I did my best and it paid off.

One thing that has helped me over the last week or so is the My Fitness app that I downloaded. I am able to enter all the food I eat and keep track of my calories and fat. Right now my goal has been to stay between 1500 and 1800 cal. per day. It had been hard to do some days but I have done really well and stayed under 1800 for 6 of the 8 days I've done it.  

241.6

That's right 241.6 lbs is what I weighed  this morning. That is down another 3 pounds since last week.
I don't know if I feel any different, but hopefully soon  I will have more energy and feel stronger.

I have started doing push-ups a few times a week I hope by the end of the week I can do 100 push-ups 3 times a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays I am still running over to  the Cultural center and running up and down the stairs.

September 1st is coming up, on Saturday. That is my first goal  milestone and My goal was to  be under 240, I think I am looking good for that. I will actually weigh in on Sunday the 2nd.

1st Week

So the first week was tough. It seems like all I'm thinking about is what I have eaten or what I was going to eat. I don't really like that feeling but I guess it's what I need to get back in shape.

My exercising went well for the week I run stairs Tues. and Thursday. On Wed. and Fri. I decided to work my upper body more every other day I was going to lift some weights. The weight lifting is going to have to progress slowly though.  The most difficult part of the week was carrying Amelia on my back for a 4.5 mile hike on Antelope Island in 95* heat.

My Diet went really well. After all I was thinking about it all the time. I don't think I exceeded 2000 calories on any day and I think most days were around 1500. We even got Ice Cream and Wendy's on Saturday. But I was good and kept my portion sizes down.

All in all I did well, and the results of the week...wait for it...244 that's right I lost 4 pounds.

My Goal for this up-coming week is much the same 3 lbs.
- Running stairs 3 times and lifting weights the other 3
- Eating the same as last week or better :)

Daily Exercise

So today I woke up and went out for my first work-out in a long time. Amy came with me we jogged (ok I walked a little) to the cultural center near our house, It's about a mile away. We then ran the stairs. We tacked three different  flight of stairs. One set of  stairs had 16 long steps, one had 10 steep steps and one had 8 long  steps. We did each set of stairs 10 times for a total of 340 stairs. Then we jogged back, I was pretty winded so I probably did more walking than jogging.

I hope to be able to do this 3 times a week increasing my stair count each time.  

What to eat?

My old diet usually went like this:

No breakfast or some thing crappy like a bagel or sausage sandwich that I pick up on my way to work.
Fast food for lunch (most days) I just run across the street to Arby's or get a burrito or something.
Dinner is usually pretty heavy. Amy makes great food but I usually eat to much. Sometimes we are in a hurry so we just get Burgers or something else greasy.
Dessert, more often then to we eat ice cream or cupcakes or something after the kids go to bed.

My new diet goals:

-A healthy breakfast (the most important meal of the day) This week it is bananas and oatmeal. I want to mix things up though so I don't get bored.

-No more fast food lunches. If I don't bring a lunch from home, I will go the the fresh "A" market and get  fruits and veggies.

-I need to limit my portion size. Only one serving that can fit on an average size plate. No fast food dinners, at least for now.

-I need to limit my desserts to one day a week.

I am going to use this diet for the next 3 weeks and then hopefully fine tune it so it can be adapted as my long term eating plan.

Goals

So to start off this blog I am going to write the reasons I created it.

 -Right now I weigh 248 lbs. I never thought I would weigh this much. The thought of 250 lbs seems so scary to me.

 -I need to lose weight. When I graduated from High School 14 years ago I weighted 190 lbs. This is my "dream goal" weight. When I got married 11 years ago I weighted about 205lbs, this is my Jan 1st 2013 goal weight. My more immediate goals are; September 1st my target is 240. My goal for October 1st is 225.

 -I need to eat better. I eat way to much fast food and not enough fruits and vegetables. so one of my goals is to not eat any fast food for the rest of August. After that I will evaluate where I am at and see about fast food in the future. I am also going to eat more fruits and veggies for my snacks at work. If I get hungry I will "first go for fruit". 

-Exercise, I am going to implement a regular exercise program. At least 3 time per week. With all these goals I need a way to keep track of them. So here it is: "250 lbs Joe" so to be "205 lbs Joe"