My blog - my thoughts - my opinions
It’s been a “blah” week…lots of stress at school, and lots of time at school. One trip to the gym. (I’m not going to make 12 trips to the gym this month for the health care discount.)
I haven’t eaten totally well, but I haven’t gone off the deep end, either.
Resulting weight: 248. That’s down 1.5 pounds, and I’ll take it. Next week better improve–in quality of life!
Just a bad week. Didn’t pay much attention to what I ate, eating at ofd times, eatin out (pretty much neber good for me), and ate lots of bad things. It’s been really busy and quite stressful, I’ve been to the gym once, and there have been two games on TV that I just plopped down and watched after long days. So a gain of two pounds to 249.5.
No worries, back on track today–a good reminder to fix the problem and go back to my normal patterns.
Good news. Down to 247.5 this week, even though it has been a week of few trips to the gym and three nights with ice cream–and I think 3 beers in that time, too (I don’t drink much alcohol at all).
We have been working on the house…especially last weekend when I leveled our old lilac bed and then laid sod…that was seven straight hours of perspiration.
And otherwise my eating has been okay, and I’ve been able to stop snacking after 10. My body is finally adjusting to 11.5 hour days at school (due to the musical) and I’ve even (it’s a miracle) started to get caught up with many of the things I have to do at school (all the filed music so far is in Finale and also in my new Freehand tablet). So life is good this week.
Our house hits the market on Friday. I have some things to work on by then!
It was an interesting week. The previous weekend, we had stopped by a family’s house on the way back from Crystal Cave in Spring Valley, Wisconsin. They had moved this past summer, so we checked out their (beautiful) house and jokingly said, “Any other houses available around here?” They pointed (literally) across the street. When we looked at the house, just from the outside, we realized that it seemed to be every bit of a house that we’ve talked about. Type of house, things the house offers, location, direction (driveway facing the sun) and so on. So we called on Sunday night and visited the house last Tuesday night. We were right…the house was perfect for us. We have one concern, which is that it overlooks a steep ravine, and we have a nine-year-old and a sixteen-month-old. But there are other families that live on the ravine, and their kids are surving. Plus the backyard was built up a little to make more of a yard.
So we fell in love with the house, and then made plans to start the process, meaning putting our house on the market. So we worked our tails off, getting the house ready enough to show our realtor. We basically spent the entire week and weekend cleaning…my wife upstairs, me in the basement. And that included a lot of work in the (formerly nasty) downstairs basement, which is looking presentable now. There is still a bit of work to do, but our house goes on the market this coming Tuesday. It’s exciting.
Meanwihile, last week was audition week for the musical (long days), and the musical is fully underway.
And with all this other stuff, I haven’t slept very much, nor have I gone to the gym a lot. And over the past two days (prior to this evening…so Monday and Tuesday) I’ve eaten poorly at night (Grilled KFC on Monday and Culver’s fried Cod yesterday), plus I’ve had the munchies later at night while I’m up doing other things (probably a sign I should go to bed, but there has been too much to do).
So I report a one pound gain for last week. I had cereal right before bed (a healthy dose), so realistically if I weighed myself tomorrow, I’d be back at 251 or perhaps 250. But I’m counting the pound gained and trying to be okay with it after a week of little sustained cardio (although a lot of energy used cleaning) and some poor choices in eating. Statistically, a gain of one pound is nothing, as we can vary in weight 3-5 pounds throughout the day. I can’t let weight gain continue, however. I have to be on track…ultimately, that’s more important than anything other than my relationship with God and my family. My health has to come number 3 on that list…I’m learning that as I get older…so I can get older (if that makes sense). Even my job has to come in at number four.
So here’s the image of this week’s situation. 252. 77 pounds to go.
YOAD v. 2.0 Week 7
Another good week! Down 2.5 pounds to 251 (down 22 overall in 6 weeks). Still haven’t broken that 250 barrier…but it will come. Whenever I’ve been in the 240s (on the way down) while dieting, it has been a mental “goal” to hit…because it really signals to me that I’m achieving my goals. Here’s the latest chart from the iPhone program Lose It!
YOAD v 2.0 Week 6
And if you’re wondering how I’m doing versus my original journey with YOAD:
YOAD v 2.0 vs. YOAD (Week 6)
I’m actually surprised that the results are so similar. Remember in YOAD (original), I followed a type of diet and tried to get 30 minutes of exercise a day. In YOAD 2.0, I’m still trying to follow those dietary principles, and I do try to exercise each day, but I’m also limiting calorie intake, with a goal of a loss of 2 pounds a week (at least that’s how the calculator works on Lose It!).
Good news, down two pounds, even though I missed a couple days of exercise and also had two days I was well over my calorie limit (still nearly under 1800 for my limit for the week). I expected a lower weight loss, so I’m pretty happy right now.
My daily calorie budget is now 2027 per day. Again, that’s more incentive to exercise if I’m hungry.
A good week. Here are the results:
YOAD version 2.0 Week 4
Just a couple of thoughts this morning before the hectic nature of the day starts to take over. First, I’m not starving myself, and many days I’m actually over my calorie limit…until I exercise. Exercise is going well. Right now I’m still doing all aerobic/cardiovascular exercise (elliptical, running, biking, walking), and I haven’t started the anaerobic exercise yet. I will, in time. I want to get a little more weight off before I jump to that next step.
Do I crave certain foods? Of course! I did when I was over 300 pounds, I do at 255.5. I never met a pumpkin pie (even the bad ones) I didn’t like (and the season’s almost here). However, part of the whole YOAD idea is to automate as many meals as possible, so I basically eat the same breakfast and lunch every day. There are exceptions, but not often. This was even true when I wasn’t “dieting” over the last year or so. My variety comes at dinner. Last night, I had a salad from Chipotle (Chicken). The previous night I had Pizza (a good Boboli crust last night…best I’ve ever made) and fries (home made, in peanut oil). I eat things I want to eat, and things I have been eating. But I count every food item I eat…which is made pretty easy with Lose It! (The iPhone App I’m using to track calories with YOAD 2.0). Lost it allows you to copy meals from one day to another, so if you have “automated” meals, you’re quickly taken care of.
I still need to grow in the area of getting more sleep. That’s the next major hurdle…but my time to exercise occurs after 8pm…not to mention the majority of my time to relax, watch TV, read a book, or whatever. So it’s difficult to get into bed at 10 to get up at 6, when I’m often on the treadmill at 11:30. I need that “personal time” each day (I know my wife does, too, but I’m not sure she’s able to get it these days watching three kids all day) as an introvert or I burn out…much faster than if I don’t sleep.
I don’t expect a big weight loss next week…I’ll be pleased with a small loss, as I’ve had some pretty good four pound weeks. At some point soon, my body’s going to plateau for a while (even though I’m counting calories) as I’ve already lost 6% of my body weight. We’ll see…I’ll take anything I can get!
A good week. Good progress, making up for one pound last week. Not a lot of noticeable difference in my body so far…I’m still quite a few pounds (and weeks) away from being able to wear my “skinny” suits again, and I may need to buy a dress shirt or two (perhaps even pants) to start the school year until I’ve lost the weight I need to lose to fit into my existing dress shirts and suits.
But no worries. I’m 13.5 pounds down, back into the 250s (barely, but there), and making progress. That’s what this is all about.
YOAD 2.0 Week 3 Results
Here are the results from YOAD this week. Honestly, not that great. There are a few reasons, however. First, I had pasta the past three nights, and pasta really tends to stick with me. That sounds gross, and it probably is, but it’s a fact. Second, the last of the pasta days was last night at Olive Garden’s “all you can eat” pasta feed. Never good for me…I had two bowls of the mushroom marinara (new choice) with whole wheat linguine, one breadstick, plus a lot of salad. The pasta wasn’t so bad, the salad is awful. I looked it up online and it has a ridiculous amount of calories. The next time I go, I’m asking for salad without the dressing (and croutons) and bringing my own dressing. I worked out like crazy that night to make up for some of the damage…didn’t go the whole way, though.
So here are the charts this week (remember, we’re Wednesday to Wednesday here)…
YOAD v. 2.0 Week 2 Calorie Count
And here’s the slightly depressing weight loss total for this week:
YOAD v. 2.0 Weight Loss
And just a comparison from my own YOAD v 1.0 program, two years ago:
YOAD v. 1.0 vs. YOAD v. 2.0 (Weeks 1 & 2)
I’m keeping with it, no worries.
Have you heard of Roku? If not, how about Netflix? Netflix is the largest DVD rental by mail company, and some time ago, they started offering movies through streaming video. Not only can you watch movies on your computer, you can purchase external devices which also show Netflix movies, such as certain Blueray players and the Roku box set.
When the Roku player was released, it only played Neflix, later added Amazon On Demand, and this week announced MLB.TV capability (requires premium subscription, $34.95 for the remainder of the season). It’s a small box, perhaps five inches wide and three inches tall. Basically, it has a small indicator light on the front that tells you it is on, a Roku label (I need to see if that can be removed), and then a multitude of ports on the back, including composite out, S-Video, and true HDMI (video & audio).
Roku Video Player
I ordered the Roku last week, as we knew that we would be taking care of my niece and nephew, and my niece is a Dora addict. In addition, my stepson has been watching a lot of Netflix since we canceled cable, saving over $50 a month on that bill. It turns out that most of the shows we used to pay for (most in constant re-run status) are on Netflix…all for the basic $9.99 1-dvd-at-a-time plus streaming video subscription. That include shows like Spongebob, the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Suite Life on Deck, Jonas, Hannah Montana, and iCarly. The problem was that we lost use of a computer when he was watching video (all the time). I considered buying a Blueray player with Netflix capacity, but we already have a decent DVD Recorder, and no Blueray discs. So I went with the Roku. $99 plus $14 shipping. Were I to order again, I’d order from Amazon instead of Roku directly. I think it might arrive sooner.
I installed the box today, and quickly connected wirelessly to our network, set up the Roku box with Netflix, and we were watching Dora in no time (I used the easy HDMI connection, which I had a cable for). I think the box has been on since it was installed today.
How is the picture? At the least, no worse than “old” broadcast television, at best, hard to tell the difference between HDTV and the Roku picture. More than serviceable. And the $10 versus over $50 for cable (particularly Nickelodeon and Disney) is very much worth any loss of signal. I guess we’ll see if we have truly “unlimited” internet with Comcast now.
At any rate, I see this service from Netflix as the death knell for the movie rental industry, and perhaps even for other media industry. Why would you ever rent a DVD if you can simply pay a standard fee each month and watch free? Why subscribe to anything but basic, basic cable (local channels only) to get a discount on your internet, when most of the shows you watch will be streamed in the future? I like the idea..it guarantees that you have access to a huge catalog of movies (12,000 and growing), and it makes sure that you have legal access to those movies. No need to pirate. And you can watch on multiple devices on your account. There’s a rumor of a coming iPhone app, which I would also like to see.
The bad part? You can’t just walk into a store and buy a Roku. You have to order online. The good news? It really works, the box is unobtrusive (some media reviewers want it to be “more stylistic” and I have to wonder why), and it is saving us money. Maybe it can save you money, too.
