A quick hello...

Let me give a quick update on how crazy it has been lately for me (and Chloe):

My mom is having medical issues which is requiring me to be her health care person twice a day. Long story short, home healthcare is not covered to administer IV's twice a day and bandage her diabetic ulcer on her foot each day. Instead, they showed me how to do it. So each day at 5am we wake up to be at her house by 6am. From 6 til about 7:15 I wait with her while her IV does it's thing. By 7:30 I drive to work. I put in my 8-4:30 M-F and head back to my mom's to bandage her foot and give second IV. Usually we get home about 7:30 just in time to cook, eat and go to bed. Meanwhile, Chloe is her helper/assistant while I am at work. Of course we don't care a bit to do all this, but it is only a 5 days in and we are getting pretty tired. This is why our blog will be neglected for about another 25 days.

Weigh in stuff:

Awesome news this week, Austin has lost about 5 pounds since he started being more conscious of his eating. Chloe has lost, but not weighed in a few days. Her clothes are looking baggier though. I ended up gaining 6 pounds from the 5th to the 12th, but from the 12th to this past Tuesday I have lost 10 pounds! (I did eat a high calorie/fat meal for dinner tonight, but no biggies...I won't let it carry into tomorrow).

So that's all for tonight, and possibly a few days. Schedule is busy, but at least I'm usually too tired to snack late at night or even want to eat much when I get home. Have a great rest of the week friends.

Mike

Epic Fails...

Last week my post touched on my "cheat days" and how I credited them with keeping my cravings low which in turn aided in my success. I retract and denounce those statements. Since my two days off the plan last weekend, I have only ate right for two days. Chloe was at church camp all week and did equally bad on her food plan, but at least she moved around through the day. I am so ticked at myself and feel like such a failure. For the better part of 3 months I did the right things and lost 35 pounds, so it really sucks realizing that these past 7 out of 10 days has probably killed much of that success. Yesterday I would have actually been in my calorie range, but I had a 560 calorie coffee drink, 380 dessert treat and some nacho chips. Just reckless, stupid and old bad habits. Tuesday I will find out what the damage is on the scale.

Tomorrow is Austin's birthday. I will enjoy seeing my son blow out his candles on the cake, but will not be eating any. I have got to get back on cutting out bad carbs, watching my portions and walking more again. Tomorrow I will get my fresh start. It would be so easy to keep going down this lazy road, but I refuse to lose this battle. It's one bad week out of my life and will not derail me from future success.

I think that is all I got to share tonight. I could write a book on how I feel, but I think I will sum it up by saying that we are not giving up and will work even harder than before to reach our goals! Take care friends.

Cheaters never win...or do they?

Hello again friends:

Today is kind of a so-so day for me. Chloe went off to church camp for the week, so kind of lost without my girl. Thankfully I got my boy and the wife to bug so I won't be too bummed. Anyway, let me bring you up to speed on the weight loss stats. I weighed in yesterday at the city biggest loser contest 6 pounds lighter than two weeks ago. Was great to be in a new weight range. It would have been better to be at 10 pounds lost, but slow and steady wins the race.

As mentioned in this post's title, I am cheating. By cheating, I have been letting myself have a Saturday or Sunday to eat what "bad" food I want, just not go crazy. So far this has not hurt me at all as I had kinda feared. Last month I was discouraged when I had a bad day on Saturday, but ate well the rest of the week. Once I seen that I still had a good loss and virtually no cravings that week I kept the experiment going. What I have found is that by having that extra 1500 calories (or more) that one day, the rest of the week I eat my 1600 calories without being hungry or craving any junk. In fact there have been several days where my calories only totaled about 1100. So I'm thinking the weekly calories in, even with my cheat day, are still averaging about 1600 a day and with my activity increasing it is keeping me on the right track.

Today though I have to confess my bad bad sinful ways from this weekend. I have cheated yesterday and today. Due to some health issues of my mom, I was at her house caring for her from early Saturday morning until about 3pm. I had ate nothing the whole day and was really hungry. So I figured my cheat meal would be a Chinese buffet. Fast forwarding to keep this brief, from Chinese on Saturday up until right now, I have ate like a madman. Chinese, pizza, ice cream and cheeseburgers n fries. Overboard much? Absolutely. Feeling bad for it? Yes, but not that bad. I know the rest of the week I will be back to packing my lunch and eating healthy dinners. I will also be back to walking at work and after work. These two days got my pizza, Chinese, fries and ice cream desires out of the way so I can be cool with my regular M-F routine. Tuesday will be a disappointing weigh in, but I will regroup and have a good loss by weeks end. Next weekend I will just have to get back to have a cheat meal, not an entire weekend.

Let me wrap this up:

I had mentioned getting my Fitbit last week...LOVING IT! It is giving my steps and distance walked, my activity level. little badges of encouragement and it communicates with MyFitnessPal.com perfectly. Even on my off days, I wear it and it keeps me aware of how lazy or ambitious I have been. It is also showing me how unproductive some of my sleep nights are allowing me to realize I need to be going to bed much earlier. I highly recommend getting one if you are trying to get/stay active.

Lastly, for those who like to watch weight loss shows on television, like Biggest Loser or Heavy, tonight is the season premier of Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition on ABC at 9pm eastern time. Last season was very inspiring, so I expect the same for this season.

Take care and have a great week!