Phat Alba…and that’s why I will never have sex again!

Having basically binged for my birthday, I had to get back on track for eating. The problem was that I was going to be heading out of town with the family for a weekend camping north-east of Brainerd, MN. And to top it off, it was Fourth of July weekend. I could already imagine my pant button pressing into my belly.

Before the trip my wife and I decided to map out our meals. We knew that my in-laws were making dinner for us on Friday, so that left just Saturday and maybe all of Sunday for meals for us to plan. I first suggested that we have tacos in a bag as it would be easy to make, but knowing that we would be diving two or more times on Saturday, I then asked my wife about Spaghetti. I knew that if we made it with the whole grain noodles and no cheese, it would not be much for points. I also knew that after a two dives, it would be filling.

My wife agreed with me and Saturdays meal was set. We decided to do the rest of the shopping in Brainerd so we wouldn’t have to haul it in a cooler all the way from home.

Upon arriving in Brainerd, we went shopping for our meals. I found some great cherries, strawberries and plums for snacks. My kids call me a “fruit freak” because I have been eating so much of it lately. Wanting a replacement for chips, I found some “smart food” popcorn that was in individual servings and healthy to boot.

For lunches, I decided to get some Black Forrest ham and low fat provolone cheese. While cruising down the aisles, I found some good honey-Dijon mustard that was a good condiment to the sandwich.

Before we left, we picked up about 6-8 gallon jugs of water. Of course my in-laws thought I was crazy buying so much water, but we only left with one jug of water. I have gotten into the habit of drinking close to or more then one gallon of water every day.

The trip I can say was great. I had three nice dives with my son and in-laws and the weather could not have been better. We listened to the Twins on the radio (Friday night was the 16 inning marathon game) down by the water or around the camp fire all three days.

I packed up the family and we headed back to the in-laws lake cabin. We ended up eating some Turkey brats that evening for dinner. I am not a big fan of Turkey anything, but these were good and about 2-3 times healthier then regular brats.

I got home before 9:00 PM on Sunday and after unpacking everything, decided that I didn’t want to get on the scale until the morning (just in case what I thought was good eating, was all for naught).

Bright and early the next morning I got up and before hopping in the shower, I stepped on the scale. The results… well they were good. I was at 238.8 which is a weight I have not been at in several years. Here it is two days later and I was happy to see the scale is still trending down in my favor as I was sitting at 237.0. Of course I moved the scale to about three different parts of the floor to confirm that weight, fearing it was just a fluke. Thankfully it read the same thing every time.

So the saga continues and the goal for the end of July is to be at or under 230 pounds. I have already gotten three pounds down, but I know the next seven will take some hard work. I am helping a friend work on his new house so I won’t get a lot of time to exercise this week and I am fearing the weekend as it is my BIG baseball trip. I have already bought my snacks and will only need to make sure I watch what I eat and drink at the ballpark. I am going to eat as best I can while gone, as I don’t want to undo the hard work so far, but I also want to experience some different food and atmosphere. Here is to towing that line this weekend!

Peace, out!

Popularity: 100%

Got you with that headline I bet.

It was several months ago since I last posted. Since then, I lost all my “phatalba” database and had to start over. But within that time frame, there was change. A change in attitude towards my health. I decided to eat better, exercise more and make better decisions.

So far the changes have been positive. I started really dieting on June 1, 2009 and it wasn’t that difficult. I also made the choice to use my YMCA membership. I have used it more in the month of June then I have used it in the total 5-6 years I have had the card (very sad I know).

I have used the WeightWatchers points system that my wife if familiar with. It is fairly simple algorithm that uses calories, fat and fiber to determine a food/meal score in points. Each person is alloted a certain amount of points based on their age, weight, height and sex.

I was between 256 and 260 pounds for weight when this started (assuming the heavy amount as the start). In the first week of diet and exercise I lost 10 pounds and so I set a goal of 20 pounds total for my birthday.

I am happy to say I was 240.6 for my birthday. So what did I do, I went out and celebrated by eating at Paradiso and gained back 4 pounds

All is good now though. This morning I got on the scale and the scale was very nice, giving me a reading of 237.8  pounds. That means with my age and weight I am down to 35 “points” a day.

My new goal is going to be to get under 230 pounds by the end of July. It is only another 8 pounds but it will be challenging. I am hoping to increase my workouts to include more cardio and start lifting some weights.

I have done some free weights at the fire department, but I have never really liked lifting to much. I prefer running over everything else I do.

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