Day 76 Shane -1 The Desktop-0

Good fine Wednesday my bloggers and bloggerettes! I am so happy for me! I just keep on burning it up this week! 1280 calories for the day! And the strange thing is, not a lot of effort being put into it. I actually just ate some yogurt just to get to 1280. So if this trend continues, wow, Hot 100 is gonna be rocked! I had not one but two veggies for supper, I took a banana to work, I am eating almonds for snacks etc. However, I do have sad news. I had to drop one of my Hot 100 goals. I don't think the no bread is going to go over well with me, so I am taking advice of my homies and have decided no white bread or the bread that is colored to look like wheat bread but ain't. In fact, I hardly ever eat those anyway, I eat Joseph's Pitas for my bread and it doesn't seem to be bread per se. So I don't think that is catastrophic to my goals, but with my stomach getting pissed at me so much lately, and it all started after I was successful in cutting out the pitas and cereal that I have with breakfast. So hey, I still have my weight goal, my 5k goals and my veggies and fruit goals. It is on like donkey kong folks!

I am too lazy to go find the post, but I did set a goal of making the space between me an my student desk in Sociology increase. Well folks, I saw some daylight today!! Not a great deal, but there was light and it was good. NSV extraordinaire after the last two years of being scrunched into those damn things!!!!

Folks we got a new guy here that I would like to have ya'll welcome into the folds and swing by to give him some encouragement. His name is Tony B. and he hangs out at this place right here. He has already started to drop the lbs, but is new to blogging and is wanting to use it like we all do, as a motivator and a source of support from the only people who will truly get what he is saying. So drop on by and leave my guy a comment, please.

Day 75 The Minds Eye

Hey guys, I finally remembered what my stomach problem was called. It is gastritis and it reared its ugly head today. I had such high blood pressure my vision was compromised. I had a spicy dinner and then went out and was bent over putting my signs in the ground for my campaign when suddenly I started getting a funny feeling and then my vision got crazy! I Immediately thought stroke and got home as fast as I could. WEll when I got home, my stomach was doing flips and I could feel the GERD so I figured it out and calmed down. I am all good now thank God and his grace.

Today was great! I am at day 3 of below 1500 calories. The only real issue was that I was hungry all day. Not starving but hungry. I had all my snack a bit earlier in the day than I usually do but I didn't have class tonight either so I knew I would be ok. Today was family fun night at Lauren's school, so Kathy picked me up and we went. We stopped at a little mom and pop and had supper. I wanted the chicken salad but they were out of the chicken, so I finally settled on the chili. I was not prepared for what happened next. The served it in a bowl that I had to guesstimate would be around two cups worth of bowl. I got our tray, brought it back and when my eyes met my bowl of chili, I automatically though, wow, that is a big bowl of chili...... I knew right off I would be able to finish even half of it! Holy crap, is it even possible that I thought that? I mean PJS (Pre-Journey Shane) would have never said that to this bowl, EVER!! I would say that this event shows me that a corner has been turned, that hope has held true and I do have new thought processes when dealing with portion sizes. I am so pumped to be writing about this! My brain is rewired folks! I just can't fathom it! Has anybody else experienced this and if so, did you get nearly the charge from it that I did?

It is pretty cool to be sitting around done with food for the day and be at 1385 calories! I am gonna give Christine a run for her money calorie count wise at this rate!!

I am gonna get off here and get my behonkus in the bed. Oh and for the record, no no jump rope this morning, but now that it has been talked about so much, I guess I will get it in tomorrow dang it! Thanks for keeping me on my toes guys.

Day 74 Anyone For A Veggie Burger?

Hey guys, if I was not put on the I am committed to this journey list by ya'll before, I have to be put on there now! As I have mentioned, I am in the Hot 100 Challenge and one of my goals was to go breadless for that 100 days. Well I failed on the first couple of days, but in the spirit of the challenge, I decided that since I am not sure if the Joseph Pitas are bread or not, I decided to change my routine lunch. I was doing my Wal Mart laps this morning and trying to think of an alternative and I came up with it..... veggie burgers! So when I finished up the laps, I walked to the frozen section and found them. Only 130 calories per pattie! I hate to buy things without knowing, but I bought the 4 pack and had my first one at lunch time today. Frikkin yummy! I loved it! So there is one day with a victory of no bread! I also had a salad for supper and have kept my calories to 1310 for the day, for two days in a row I am under 1500. Not so shocked about that part as I am that I am not hungry.

Have you guys ever been around that person that was able to eat a piece of this, a nibble of that and never really eat much at a sitting? I have a bunch of those people in my life. I used to hate them for having that ability. Hey, guess what, I am becoming one! I went to Jason's for the game Sunday and we had Taco Bell, I had a fresco burrito (did not think about the tortilla being bread, until Kathy told me) and then they had some grapes out. I took about 15 of them and called it good! Not my usual 100 or so, just 15 at most. So, anybody else getting to that point?

Becky was awesome enough to say some nice things about me in the comments and in an email. And get this, she invited me to guest blog on her blog! I am sincerely touched and honored to get a request like that! So I will be doing it for sure. I am going to revisit an old post that got me churning early on in my journey. I think it bears repeating. Hopefully, I will get it to her this weekend and it will be up by Monday.

I am curious if anyone knows how those blog awards are made? I want to make one for some of my favorite people, but mine will be just a way to say hey I think you rock and that is all. I will not put any kind of you have to's on it. Just there ya go awesome person. Any help on designing one?

Who thinks I should jump rope for my workout tomorrow? I am leaning that way, but i am thinknig more like the garage this time. It was freezing this morning! I stayed in the workout room in the house and got me some curls and some crunches. I am getting strooooong!!!! Anybody for arm wrestling? haha.

Day 73 Oh There Is the Track! I Am On It!

Well given Saturday, day 72's events and all that could have happened, day 73 was a rousing success. I got up for my walk, got it in, had a low cal breakfast of turkey bacon and eggs, got a lot of homework done, watched the Cowboys with the Hunters while eating a fresco burrito from Taco Bell. Even went to Target with Kathy and didn't whine to leave after 15 minutes. I had a heat and eat for dinner and my snacks were 6 microwaved small portabella mushrooms, the usual celery and peanut butter, and a yogurt cup. I pulled in the station at 1280 calories for the day. I figure I am going to try to keep in in that area for the week so that I can at least somewhat atone for the Saturday debacle. If it works out for me, I may try to keep my calories more like 1500 from then on! I may well be turning a negative from one day of this journey into a positive till the end! Wow, wouldn't that be cool?

Day 72 Crash and Burn X 2

Saturday was both a great day and a terrible day. The dichotomy of this day is just amazing and unfathomable. Just wow.

I had a mission when I woke up today. I was determined that today would be the day I got under 45 minutes on my 5k. I started off jogging lap 2 around the block and got all it in a fairly easy manner, and I jogged lap 4 as well, though not quite as easily. On lap 6, I determined I was at a pace that I could make the 45 minutes by only jogging the last straight to my house, and that was my plan. Well when I got to the hill on the other side of my block, I could tell I was about to crash and burn, possibly pass out, and nobody was up yet to see me do it, so I got an anxiety attack and cut across yards to get back to my house. I did not finish the 5k but got a half a lap from it. I will finish it in 45 minutes next weekend though! So I chalked that up to a victory in that I was able to push myself to that wall.

But the next crash and burn is not quite as happy an ending. Without going into too much detail, yesterday was a rough day family wise. It just seemed like for the second weekend in a row, things were just going wrong with family life and it seemed like some of stemmed from me being on this journey and having such a commitment to it. It finally got to be too much for me to deal with, so I ordered a six meat pizza from Simple Simons down the road and ate all but 2 slices of it, then I had some skittles and finished off my mini candy bars. I could not even begin to give you a calorie count for yesterday. It was only at like 900 up to 6 o clock but I wouldn't doubt it was more in the 3000 range or higher by the end of the day. Can't fix that now. But what I can do is pick myself up, dust myself off, and get moving forward again with a new conviction. I will not fall off the wagon, I will not go backwards from here. I will be the Shane of days 1 through 71. Not day 72 Shane. Ooo rah.

Day 71 How Can This Be?

Once again, I got busy on Friday and am posting on a Saturday morning. I remember when I was 'sit around Shane' and that would never have happened! Haha.

So day 71 was a good one. I got some homework done. I really am getting senioritis guys. I just need to get this LSAT taken and get into law school where rather than taking things I give not one rip about, I have only classes that are about what i want to do for a living! But it all will come with time. I just need to work on being patient about it.

I am having an issue that I believe I have seen just about all of us talk about on our blogs. I spoke to Kathy about it today and it just keeps coming up for me. I have clearly lost weight. Apparently my physical form has changed fairly significantly. I can't put on my 3X shirts anymore with out seeing them hanging oddly on me, can't tuck my polos in enough to make them look ok, my 40 inch waist slacks all look weird on me, etc. Or for that matter, my steering wheel test where I stack my hand on each other and slide them between my belly and steering wheel to see if I can get both between without hitting the steering wheel, it is impossible to do know as the gap has widened so far I can no longer even MAKE my belly pooch out to touch the steering wheel. So how is it that when I look in a mirror, when I see myself in a picture, when people tell me how crazy it is that I lost so much weight so fast, I just don't REALLY see it in my mind's eye? I look in a mirror at least 10 times a day, and I see it but I don't "see" it. Does that make any sense? And thinking back, in 2000-2001 I knew I had lost a lot of weight, but I never made the mental adjustment. One of the things i used to think is when I get skinnier, I am gonna just make myself more confident with women and get me a girl. I was skinny back then, but in my head, still that fat shy guy that could never hit on an attractive woman! So I have to wonder, when I do get thinner, and when I have maintained it for several years, even then will my mind accept it? I mean as is often the case with these weight loss efforts with me and a lot of the bloggers I have read, our successes in the past have been short lived, so who really has an accounting of such question? Ok enough on that.

Saturday morning, I have a goal in mind. I am gonna try to get my 5k time down to 45 minutes. I got 47:30 last weekend. I may be shooting a little too far a little too fast, but that is how I roll. I will say this. My back is sore as all get out after the jump rope episode from Wednesday, so I make no promises, warranties or guarantees on that time!! Haha. One of my favorite blogger buddies, Christine has roped me into doing a 10k in December. I have to admit the very idea scared me when she asked me to participate with her. But the more I have thought about it, the more I like the idea. I have to admit I get a charge or some sort of spiritual lift out of spending the time out walk/jogging. It is some reflective time, it helps me get in sync with me. It also is when I feel the most aware of my body and how I am more in tune with it now. I was once told by a guy that our bodies are capable of so much more than our minds realize. It is often you that stops your body from reaching its potential. I believe he had it right. I was dead tired long before i stopped jogging on lap 5 last week. I got at least another 500 yards before I pooped out, but I wanted to stop long before that. So be mindful in your work outs. Just when you think you can't go anymore, dig a little deeper, see if you can't get two more reps, see if you can't go five more minutes on the treadmill/bike/pavement.

Okay I am gonna get off here and start practicing as I preach. Ya'll have a great weekend!

Oh wait, one more thing. We at the Hot 100 Challenge are trying to get just a few more people in it to try to get to an even 100. So click that link there and go check it out and see if you may be interested in doing this. Thanks!

My Weigh In and a great message buy South Beach Steve

Ok, the weigh in is done, and I am down another 5 pounds this two week period!! I am a little shy of what I hoped but here is the thing. With a little grit and determination, I am within striking distance of my next goal weight, 249 pounds! Yeah baby! I honestly believe my participation in the Hot 100 is just what I need to get my focus on and get that goal met!

Speaking of the Hot 100, South Beach Steve, who hosts the challenge, has a great video posted today with a message tailor made for me. It is about finishing projects. I won't summarize it cause he does the message much better than I could. I will just leave the link with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9aTSh778Vc&feature=player_embedded