Memorial Day Quick Update

Holiday thoughts:
This is a bittersweet holiday that we acknowledge. Cookouts, fun in the sun and being off work are all great benefits of this day. We also though take the time to think of my cousin who passed away on Memorial day a few years back. Then when we decorate family graves during the weekend, memories of our loved ones who aren't with us fill our hearts. We take a moment to reflect on those who gave all for this country and for those still in uniform. Thankful for them all.

How it went:
This holiday weekend was absolutely beautiful. My sister and nephew arrived Saturday and we had a great weekend hanging out with my mom. There was no big cookout. Instead, mom made her chili for chili buns and we had melon and strawberries for dessert. I used my Myfitnesspal app to figure the calories and serving size for her chili. Turns out was just about 280 calories for a bowl full. Unfortunately, I let old Mike make 4 chili buns with it and some chips with dip. By Saturday night I was about 536 calories over. Not bad, considering I still was under 2150 calories for the day. Chloe did just as average for that day too. Little over her limit, but not much.

Sunday we met up with my sister and nephew at a little Italian restaurant. This place has an awesome assortment of cakes in a big glass case right in the middle of the dining room area. I made sure to sit with my back to it. Poor Chloe was staring right at it and my sister made sure that we knew she would be trying a piece which then got Austin fired up for it too. We stayed strong through the lunch. I ordered a grilled chicken salad with dressing on the side and avoided breadsticks. Chloe had a turkey sandwich melt on rye along with steamed veggies.

Then came dessert...

Now usually we NEVER get dessert. This time though, my sister and nephew ordered a piece (which are gigantic pieces) and the dad in me took over instead of the dietician. I figured that they are kids and it's hard to just watch someone eat that stuff especially when you are a kid. I let them split 1 piece. I think it may have lasted 9 minutes before it was devoured. Again, they could have did much worse and they both got their dessert on without gorging on a whole piece each. I didn't have any, so I felt really good. Chloe got the regrets, but Austin was perfectly content with eating his half.

For dinner Sunday, my sister made a Mexican dinner for us. Long story short, it turned on my carb cravings and by 11pm I had consumed just under 2000 calories. This was 400 over my goal of 1600 calories. Chloe was also over her calories, but those pretty much left when the cake came to lunch.

Other stuff besides food:

Per my FitBit info collected, we walked an average of 3 miles both Saturday and Sunday. Today we have not did anything to get any calories burned. The "too hot outside" excuse was handed out today. We also have drank a ton of diet soda this weekend, so tonight I am struggling to get my water in. With weigh in at work tomorrow, I am not too excited about seeing the scales. While I didn't do terrible, I sure didn't do good this weekend. It's all good though, two bad meals aren't going to send us on the wrong path. One meal at a time and we will reach our goals. Have a great week friends.

A family affair

This post is long, but I have to share:

My daughter Chloe has always taken after my side of the family in regards to size. She is tall and unfortunately has a slower metabolism like me that makes it easy for her to gain weight. My 10 year old son Austin has always seemed to be more like my wife in terms of size. He is on the shorter side and always was little. Since my wife is all of 5'2" and 120 pounds, I just assumed he would luck out and not have weight issues. I was wrong. Over the last couple years he has steadily gained weight. He has many of the traits of a condition that naturally leads him to not like many different foods. So his diet for the past several years has been composed of mainly processed foods. Plain cheeseburgers, cheese pizza, mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs and pizza rolls pretty much summed up the only main foods he would eat. Mixed in through the week, we can get him to try a few things here and there, but not as much healthy stuff. He once went almost 2 days without eating when I told him eat some veggies and chicken breast or nothing...for fear of him collapsing, I gave in first.

It was our fault for feeding him this crap, but we really just didn't know how to get him to eat better. We did get healthier varieties at least. Reduced fat, no sugar added, sugar free and reduced calorie options were the priority, but it was still processed crap. Thank God that yesterday Austin had an epiphany about his weight gain!

After seeing that none of his jean shorts or khaki shorts fit anymore (he has been wearing out those grow with ya gym shorts), we had to go clothes shopping. It was such a defeated look on his face when I told him that the pair of shorts he was trying on was the biggest size in the boys section. Moments later, he had one of his rare asthma attacks. It had been years since he had one, but he has had two within the last month. When me and him got by ourselves, just us men you know, we had a talk. I told him that the recent rapid weight gain can cause his breathing issues. I also told him that all the sugary foods he should lay off on could eventually make his blood thick like jello and hurt his heart and body over time (Yes, two scary bold things, but 100% true). I asked him if he would be willing to not go on a diet, but just start eating a few more good foods and a few less bad ones. He started asking about what foods so I knew he was close to agreeing. For the first time he talked to me about his weight. He said he knew he was bigger because one of the parts of his playground he now has to turn sideways to fit inside. He also said he didn't want to be called fat in middle school. That killed my soul just knowing my shy little boy had been called fat no telling how many times and just had kept it bottled up. I kept my composure though, and told him that by August he would be much healthier and feel better if he followed our new habits. Austin agreed to do what me and Chloe (and the wife since she is supporting us too) are doing.

Today he ate carrot sticks, fruit packed in water, reduced fat string cheese and every other healthy food he could. So tonight he is going to bed full and only had about 1300 calories! I don't have him on a strict calorie count as he is only 10 and I am not 100% on recommendations for that age, but he is on a common sense food total. I couldn't be more proud that he is wanting to get healthier too, along with the rest of us!

Tonight we went on what probably was a 3 mile walk. It was so great that all of us were like ducks in a row walking around the neighborhood. We about killed ourselves on big hills, but feel all the better because of it. The lady at the gas station bragged on us for trying to get fit as a family and wished us luck. That made me even more proud of how we are living now as opposed to just a few weeks ago. If we can make these positive changes, anyone can. Don't wait for tomorrow, or Monday or the first of the month or whatever your excuse is. Start now! If you need support or encouragement to get started, but can't find anyone to talk to about it, we are more than happy to be there for you...just email me at pusserwade77@yahoo.com or find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/friendsoflosingit.

I'm backkkkk...- Chloe's post

Hello! I know, "Chloe posted?!?!" (btw: sorry its been a while). Anyways, I've (surprisingly) did pretty well. I started somewhere in the 190's and as of this morning I'm 185.3! I can honestly say I'm pretty proud of myself. So Sunday dad and I went a a 1 mile walk around the neighborhood and today, while dad was at work, I played Just Dance 2 on the Wii (no I didn't cheat and use just the required arm) for almost an hour and a half. Today I was at my Mamaw's house and I almost did really bad... She decided for breakfast she'd make eggs, sausage, and cinnamon toast and for lunch she made egg noodles in chicken broth, boneless, skinless chicken, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Luckily, I didn't! I made sure to measure out and stick to a single portion. Let's just say after eating a bowl of egg noodles in broth for dinner, I have 33 calories of 1600 left. Sooooooo that's about it! Oh wait, one more thing; I promise to post more often!!! Okay, now that's it :)
Thanks for supporting my dad and I through our weight loss journey! More posts to come soon!!!!

Better to slip than fall

Weight loss update

Tuesday's work weigh-in found me up almost 1 1/2 pounds. Obviously, I was not happy considering in my head I was eating very well and at least moderately exercising. Than last night I looked at my food journal I keep on MyFitnessPal.com and seen the issue. There is too much of a good thing. Too much lean protein, fruit and portions in general I am sure led to the hidden calories. Maybe the estimation of 6 ounces of chicken breast was off by a couple. The one cup of frozen mixed fruit that I eyeballed possibly could have been close to two cups. So today I broke out my digital food scales to weigh my proteins and my measuring cups for my fruits. Problem solved.

Now about that slip/fall title...

Let me be honest, when I first seen I gained I was ticked. I was not thinking of poor measuring or too much food on my plate. I was thinking about the breadsticks, pizza and other "good" foods that I passed on and thinking how I should have just ate them.

So in my frustration I had a mini meltdown in the kitchen yesterday evening...before the epiphany of why I gained. I must have thought I worked at a restaurant as I grilled out chicken breasts, smoked sausage and turkey burgers. Enough food that I will have chicken for work lunches for 2 more days. My dinner consisted of 2 chicken breasts (probably 12 ounces total), about a hot dog length section of sausage and a 6 ounce turkey burger with reduced fat cheese. No buns, bread or anything else. Had I stopped there, it would have actually been a good day and I would have been under my calories, the fat content for the day not too bad and my carb intake great considering the small amount of food consumed for breakfast and lunch. Of course I didn't stop there. Later on I had another chicken breast, about 2/3 cup of peanut butter (my food drug of choice) and about 4 bites of pasta salad I had gotten for the wife. That took me to over 2300 calories instead of my self imposed 1600 calorie limit. My carbs were well over my limit, as I am trying to only get my carbs from fruits, veggies and brown rice/whole grain foods. After chilling out and seeing the error of my previous week, full guilt set in. Chloe was especially disappointed as she was the one pleading with me to stay out of the kitchen and put the food down. Ignoring her support made me feel like a huge turd.

But as I stated, it is better to have slipped than to fall. Today has been great. Had the day off to take the wife to get dental work done. She couldn't eat this morning, so I didn't either out of support. It was 1pm before I had a 6 ounce turkey cheeseburger and 6 ounces of chicken breast. Nothing else to go with it, so have to have some fruits/veggies tonight. Small slips are going to happen, but I feel good knowing I can shake it off and keep going.

Chloe's update

Chloe is down 5 pounds as of this past weekend. This week she is attending the school district's Gifted and Talented Camp, so still more school work for her. She promises to add her two cents soon.

Have a great rest of the week. Our next post will be after I do my bi-weekly weigh-in for the city wide contest on Saturday. Take care!

Quick post

Brilliant idea today to take the family out to eat. Not brilliant when we ended up at Pizza Hut. So my typical internal battle began. The old me ordered the four of us cheesesticks, hot wings and a large supreme pizza. Thankfully the new me skipped the cheesesticks and pizza, and ate a salad with 400 calories of wings along with water to drink! Chloe did well too. She ate 1 slice of pizza and a few wings. More calories than she'd like, but much better than the old Chloe. So Crystal has plenty left for dinner and tomorrow since me and Chloe won't be partaking in it.

More awesome news came today. Chloe has lost 5 pounds since the may 1st! To add to that, my scales at home now register my weight! I am 30 pounds less than I was March 1st. I am so proud of me and Chloe. We have a long road ahead still, but we can already see progress.

Thoughts from a proud daddy

The reflective daddy stuff:
Today I seen my 13 year old, Chloe, get her 7th grade awards AND my 10 year old, Austin, graduate from 5th grade and get his awards. He will be at the middle school next year. My school system was K-6th grade and then junior high....but not this school system. It just feels so weird that my kids are both going to be in middle school. Where did the years go?!

Oh what wastes of time!
This reflection of time flying by leads perfectly into our weight loss, or more specifically mine. For years, about 30 of them, I have dieted in some form. This will be redundant to those who read my history of diets in my old blog, forgive me...got go with the flow. At 4 I was put on a diet by my pediatrician. This led to my mom packing my lunches, not letting me partake in the ice cream truck, going to Weight Watchers and even hypnosis. With the exception of one summer when I was about 12 or 13, I stayed fat. Between high school and now, about 17 years, I have did many things in an effort to lose weight. TOPS weight loss club, supplements, shakes, no carb diets, no fat diets, low calorie diets, cabbage soup diet, ear staple, self help books, prescription appetite suppressants and flipping myself with rubber bands when I wanted to eat. None worked. 17 years wasted, along with probably thousands of dollars. The reason they didn't work is because the only true solution is to eat healthy, move more and not pig out. Even with that solution, the old me still fights to eat the old way.

I have wasted so many years being overweight. So many times I could have been outside playing sports with the kids gone due to my lack of fitness. So many amusement park rides not ridden with the family due to not fitting. So many years of not feeling good enough due to the lack of self confidence from being so big. I could go on, but you get the point.

It is my pledge to use this year to lose my weight and live healthier. The second half of my kid's school years will be remembered as the time when their dad did more than ever before with them. Time is short and I refuse to waste anymore being overweight.

Now for the good stuff! 

On May 8, 2011 I weighed in at 389.6 lbs, which is about 24 less than the 413.## lbs I weighed in early March! This was 6.6 pounds less than last Tuesday's work weigh in. Keep in mind that these scales weighed me 6 pounds higher than the city's scales used for the contest, so this was even more encouraging.

Okay, I've went on long enough. I appreciate all those who read this and comment, but this is also my place to vent what's on my mind...so forgive me if some of the posts seem long, boring or all over the place. Take care friends.

Contest weigh in results

At a little after 10am I registered for the local contest. As promised I am posting my weight. First off, their scales weighed me about 6 pounds less than our work scales. As nice as that was, I have to prepare for Tuesday's work weigh in showing me a little higher because of the scale difference. I am posting my weight just to keep track of it and have some accountability. I know anyone reading this will be allies of weight loss and friendly, but if any haters give me any crap on my weight, I will hunt you down lay on you with dead weight until your scrawny lil butt is writhing in pain. Okay, now where was I? Oh yeah, my starting contest weight for 5/5/12 is 389 lbs. Much better than 413 lbs that I weighed the beginning of March. Chloe was too young to join, but will be posting her weight (maybe) on here tomorrow. I can't weight to see the number next Saturday!

Pre-TGIF!

It has been a tiring, but productive evening. Made a low calorie french onion and mushroom soup along with baked chicken breasts on the side. I also made my very first smoothie (I know, way behind on that one) with lowfat soy milk, frozen unsweetened fruit and lowfat plain yogurt. Chloe thought it was too thick, so gotta tweak it a little. Total calories for the smoothie was under 110 so I was pretty happy with that. I ate all but 45 of my self limited calories today. Eating too far under my calories usually turns in to me wanting to binge eat. All is still going well with the eating, but didn't get any exercise.

The Facebook like page is somewhat Greek to me. I am trying to wrap my head around how I would like it to look, but can't figure out a couple things. Give it time and I'm sure it will be worth a couple seconds spent on it. Have a great Friday friends!

I promise this is the last time!

Okay, I realized I should have made a Facebook "like" page instead of a regular page. So please bare with me, and visit http://www.facebook.com/friendsoflosingit# and like it.

This way we don't have to look at each others non-weight loss posts from our regular Facebook pages. Like it and then add some posts to help out on ours and other folks weight loss journeys. Hopefully we can make it a great place to go to for support.

Take care,
Mike

Find us on Facebook

I have started a Facebook page for this blog in hopes to build a friendly space to add tips, recipes, encouragement and a place to share laughs, successes and slip ups and have support and friends to help everyone's weight loss journey.

http://www.facebook.com/mikeandchloeloseit

Friend us and spread the word to others who want to lose weight or just get/stay healthy!

Smiling tonight...

The end of the small weight loss contest at work was today. It began in mid March, but I really was on again and off again during that time. The lack of carbs over the last week helped me shave 6 pounds since last week and 14 pounds overall. That was 3.5 percent and enough for 5th place. Since we immediately started a new contest, my current weight of 396 pounds will be my starting weight. That is much better than the 413 pounds I weighed at the beginning of March. Without a doubt, I feel like I am on the right track! I am not doing a Atkins or other low carb diet, let me be clear on that. I simply have focused on produce, lean meats and avoided chips, crackers, cookies and enriched bread.

Biggest Loser just announced the winner on TV. Even though they had personal trainers, 12 hour workouts and no stress of everyday life, I am still encouraged to see a person my size become that size. I may not be competing for thousands of dollars, but I am competing for a longer life. If I can keep that thought in my head when I am tempted to eat stupid, than I will overcome my cravings. I will say it until everyone is sick of me saying it...ONE HOUR AT A TIME is what will get us there. Yesterday is proof that all it takes is one split second to eat a trigger food and start a binge. Today was a good day and God willing tomorrow will be too!

Also, in case you are wondering, Chloe is bogged down with school work so she hasn't had time to put in her 2 cents. So be ready for her 25 cents worth once school is over. Take care friends.