I’m Stuck

I weighed in today at 224 lbs. That’s a total weight loss of 17lbs since I started. However, I have been stuck at 224 for a week. I’m still eating pretty good - a few starches here and there but sticking to the whole wheats. I think I’m stuck because I have not been excercising. My knee has been sore for the last week. I finally got to walk yesterday but now that I am at SMX West, there will be no time for a daily walk.

Maybe when we get to San Francisco after SMX West, I’ll be able to do some walking around the city and see some more weight loss - that is if I don’t blow it in my eating this week. Original Joe’s is calling my name.

Week-End Recap

As I weighed in today, the scale read 225 lbs. So, after the first two weeks of the South Beach diet and some moderate exercise, I am down 16 lbs. My clothes feel better and the pot-belly is shrinking.

I am going to continue to eat lean meats and vegetables all this week even though I can start to incorporate whole grains (whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc.). I am also going to stay away from sugars with the exception of red wine but even in drinking red wine, I will do it moderately.

SMX West is next week so I’d like to drop an additional 5-10 pounds if possible before the conference.

I’ve lost this kind of weight before. In fact the last time I went on the South Beach diet, I got down to about 210. The problem is that I didn’t stick with it. However, at almost 41 years of age (my birthday is next Wednesday), I need to stick with it this time. Even when I get to my ideal weight which is 190 - 200 lbs., I need to make sure that I don’t go back to my bad eating habits. Heart disease runs in my Dad’s side of the family so I need to maintain a health physique unless I want to start experiencing heart troubles.

Hopefully I can get back to walking today but I think I have some torn ligaments underneath my left knee. It has been about 4-5 days now since I did any real exercise.

That’s all for now. I’ll most likely start doing weekly updates now as opposed to daily unless I see some more drastic weight loss or I fall off the healthy eating wagon and then I’ll have to”blog my sin.”

Day Twelve Recap

I was really busy trying to wrap up work projects before the weekend and as such did not have a whole lot of time to be distracted by the necessity of eating. This was a good thing seeing that I had somewhat cheated on my diet the night before. Would this light diet pay off? You’ll have to read what I weighed in the day after (below) to find out.

Here is what I consumed on Day 12 (Friday).

Breakfast:

Grilled Canadian Bacon w/ Cheddar Cheese (6 slices)

Lunch:

Salad w/ Feta and Italian Dressing
Broccoli (1 small serving)

Dinner:

Hamburger Patty w/ Cheddar Cheese (1/3 lb.)
Black Beans garnished w/ Cheese (1 serving)
Salad w/ Feta and Italian Dressing

Other:

Coffee (1/2 pot)
Oolong Tea (1 cup)
Water (64 oz.)
Pecans (handful)

Exercise:

Did not walk again today as my lower left calf is still bothering me.

As I weighed myself today (Day 13), I weighed in at 226 lbs. That’s 2 more pounds for a total loss of 15lbs. so far. I was afraid that the wine I drank from the night before would hurt me but as you can see from what I ate above - it wasn’t much.

Day Eleven Recap

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day which not only means gifts and romance but an elegant dinner as well. Irma and I decided to stay home rather than fight the crowds by trying to go to a restaurant. I cooked her a nice Valentine’s Dinner which included New York Strip, Long Green Beans in my own special sauce and a nice Salad with Romaine Lettuce, Feta Cheese and Newman’s Family Italian Recipe dressing.

Even though I am not supposed to have any alcohol the first 2 weeks of this diet, I decided, “What the heck - it’s Valentine’s Day!” Just one bottle between the two of us. That one ended up being three so I don’t know how that is going to help the diet much but we sure had fun drinking them.

Here is what I consumed on Day 11 (Thursday).

Breakfast:

Grilled Canadian Bacon w/ Cheddar Cheese (6 slices)

Lunch (Dara Thai Cafe):

Salad w/ Feta and Italian Dressing

Dinner:

New York Strip (12 oz)
Polish Sausage (actually grilling for dog but I had a couple of bites)
Long Green Beans (1 serving)
Salad w/ Feta and Italian Dressing
Red Wine - Petite Sirah, Syrah and Red Table Wine (bottle and a half)

Other:

Coffee (1/2 pot)
Oolong Tea (1 cup)
Water (64 oz.)

Exercise:

Did not walk today as my lower left calf is bothering me. Got plenty of Ben Gay to sooth it.
As I weighed myself today (Day 12), I weighed in at 228 lbs. No loss or gain from yesterday. I’m stuck!

These Are a Few Things I Miss

Although I am doing pretty good with this diet, there are some things I am starting to miss.

• Rice in my Tom Ka Gai Soup.

• Donuts from a new gourmet donut shop we have in Anthem.

• Red Wine, especially today on Valentine’s Day.

• Pizza

• Pasta - Angel Hair, Fettucini Alfredo, Bowtie - it’s all good.

• Ice Cream - I love Breyer’s Vanilla Bean w/ no sugar added which I could probably have but I am resisting for the 1st 2 weeks.

• Peppermint Lifesavers, Fire Jolly Ranchers and Jaw Breakers - yes I’m a sucker for these three hard candies.

Okay, got that off my chest. Now to go get a celery stick. :p

Day Ten Recap

You may getting a bit bored with these “Daily Recaps” but honest, I am going to stop after two weeks. The idea of the first two weeks of the South Beach Diet is to cut out all starches and sugars and stick to moderate portions of lean meat, vegetables and dairy products. No fruits (meaning no wine), no alcohol of any kind, no potatoes, rice, breads, etc.

Therefore it is beneficial to me and possibly those reading to chronicle daily eating and exercise habits to show that you can survive for two weeks on this kind of diet and actually lose a good amount of weight.

After the two weeks when I begin to incorporate whole grains again, I won’t be doing daily recaps but rather will most likely update on a weekly basis (unless I see some drastic change or fall off the diet wagon). Now, back to your regularly scheduled daily recaps.

Here is what I consumed on Day 10 (Wednesday).

Breakfast:

Grilled Chicken Breast (5 oz.)

Lunch:

Caesar Salad w/ Grilled Chicken Breast and Feta Cheese

Dinner:

Hamburger Patty (1/2 lb.)
Steamed Broccoli (1 serving)
Caesar Salad w/ Feta Cheese

Other:

Coffee (full pot)
Oolong Tea (1 cup)
Water (64 oz.)
Pecans (handful)

Exercise:

My dog is still limping (poor thing) so she is scheduled to go to the vet on Friday. Therefore I walked alone today. I felt kind of naked walking without the dog. Maybe I should have done the treadmill instead? It was such a nice day, however - 68 degrees and overcast.

As I weighed myself today (Day 11), I weighed in at 228 lbs., the same as yesterday.

Day Nine Recap

As I weighed in this morning, I lost another pound. If you read yesterday’s post I had stayed at the same weight so it is nice to be losing weight again. At 228, I have lost a total of 13 pound thus so far in 9 days.

Here is what I consumed on Day 9 (Tuesday).

Breakfast:

Canadian Bacon Grilled and topped with Cheddar Cheese (6 slices)
Spicy V8 Juice (6 oz.)

Lunch:

Bag of Smoke Almonds [I was out running errands and didn’t want fast food]

Dinner:

Sirloin Steak (10 oz.)
Black Beans garnished with Cheddar (1 serving)
Caesar Salad with Feta Cheese

Other:

Coffee (3/4 pot)
Oolong Tea (1 cup)
Water (64 oz.)
Iced Tea (24 oz.)
Late Night Caesar Salad w/ Grilled Chicken and Parmesan Cheese [Applebees after band practice]

Exercise:

None - had to head out to band practice.

Day Eight Recap

I was so busy trying to catch up on work Monday, that I really didn’t concern myself with food that much. By the time I finished answering emails, catching up on Twitter tweets as well as unread blog posts in my RSS reader and putting together this post, it was lunch time. Maybe that is a good thing?

Here is what I consumed on Day 8 (Monday).

Breakfast:

Skipped as I was too busy.

Lunch:

Buffalo Patty w/ Cheddar (1/3 lb.)

Dinner (Dara Thai Cafe):

Tom Kai Gai Soup (2 bowls)
Cashew Chicken (1 serving)

Other:

Coffee (full pot)
Oolong Tea (1 cup)
Water (64 oz.)
Salad w/ Cilantro Caesar Dressing & feta (2 bowls)

Exercise:

Our walk was cut a bit short as my dog started to limp. We walked about 30 minutes total as she braved it out. Sadly, she is still limping today. I’m going to have to see if I can find out what is ailing her - probably a sticker or something. Otherwise, she’ll have to go to the vet.

As I weighed myself today, I weighed in at 229 lbs. which is the same as yesterday. This is the first day I haven’t seen any loss.

Week-End Recap

I try to stay off the computer over the weekend, so now that it is Monday, I really cannot remember in detail what I ate. I know we had Mahi on Saturday and some left-over London Broil on Sunday afternoon. Oh, yeah - Sunday night I had Buffalo burgers (without the bread). Other than that, sticking to the usual - no breads or starches of any kind and no sugar!

I did not exercise this weekend but will pick that back up today.

When I weighed in this morning - 229 lbs. That’s 12 lbs loss since I started which is exactly where I assumed I’d be. I feel better. My wife says my stomach looks smaller (yey!).

One more week of proteins and veggies while avoiding starches and sugars and then next Monday I can begin to incorporate whole grains such as whole wheat breads, brown rice and the like. I can also have my red wine again. However, I think I’m going to continue on the proteins/vegetables and only take advantage of the whole grains and wine once, maybe twice a week.

Day Five Recap

The big temptation over the last two days for me was three super-sized chocolate and maple long johns from Lamar’s Donuts. We bought them for our daughter who turned nineteen on Thursday as she just loves their donuts. She ate one right away. However, the other two sat around for the better part of Thursday and some of Friday. I kept opening the box and looking at them, thinking to myself, “just one.” Fortunately for my diet’s sake, I resisted. Now they are gone (thank God).

I was going to take a picture of them sitting so pretty in the box and post it here, just to tempt my fellow contest competitors. Lucky for them, I am not that cruel.

Here is what I consumed on Day 5 (Friday).

Breakfast:

Leftover Black Beans (1 serving)
Salad with Italian Dressing (1 serving)
Spicy V8 Juice (6 oz.)

Lunch:

Thom Ka Gai Soup from favorite Thai restaurant (3 servings - no rice)

Dinner (Outback Steakhouse):

London Broil Steak (10 oz.)
Steamed Broccoli (1 serving)
Grilled Zucchini and Yellow Squash (1 serving)

Other:

Coffee (3/4 pot)
Oolong Tea (1 cup)
Water (64 oz.)
Pecans (handful)

Exercise:

45 minute walk with the dog (Jodi). She’s happy again as she missed her walk on Thursday.

As I weighed myself today, I weighed in at 232 lbs. That’s a total loss thus so far of 9 lbs. If I would have given in and eaten that Lamar’s Donut, I’d probably be back to original weight. Can’t tempt myself like that again.