Weigh-In Wednesday Week 24!!!

OK I'm Back. 


One day late due to a magnificent bowl performance by my beloved WVU Mountaineers last night in their 70-33 victory over Clemson in the Orange Bowl. 


I do have a ton to report. and I'm going to do a full-blown report with pictures etc on Saturday. 


The good news is I'm down to 243.5. So I've lost 40.5 pounds total so far! 


January 20th will make my 6 month mark on this weight loss journey. I've got some work to do to catch up to my 8 pounds per month goal. 


The Holidays are officially over. The stomach flu is officially over (hopefully). And I'm still going strong! 


Knocked out another 5k tonight :-)

Weigh-In Wednesday Week 19!!!

19 Weeks Completed 

133 Days Down 

Starting Weight -- 294

Week 18 Weight -- 259

Today's weight -- 2-5-8! So that's another 1 pound down!

Total Weight Loss to date = 36 pounds !!!

First off, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! 

Before Pic (this is actually my picture After 4 Weeks into this lifestyle change) 

After (look, I'm smiling this time!)

And from the side ... 

So. The questions I've been getting the most are ... "Did you totally ruin your diet over Thanksgiving?" "How much weight did you gain?"  "Was it miserable?"  LOL!  The answer is No , No, and No.  I had a great time and survived. Whew. 

I came in to Thanksgiving with a few goals: 

1) Don't Gain even one pound

2) Work Out every day, no matter what's going on

3) Enjoy the home cooking and meals with friends

Check, check, check.  

Jaimie and I flew home to the family up in West Virginia for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We had a great time. I'll walk you through the trip...

We got to see some great friends have a game night at our Friends Todd and Jess' house. This was also the first night we had a fire pit, which ended up happening alot on this trip. Jess made some awesome homemade BBQ's. I had one. It was delicious. 

On Thanksgiving Day we had a GREAT meal! We also got to spend with almost 20 family members. We have such a great family and it was so much fun seeing everyone. Here are a few pics of the yummy food etc.

 Jaimie and baby Coop

 Cool name plates

As for my workouts during the week. I managed to get out every single day. Wed-Thurs-Fri-Sat. The run on Thanksgiving morning really helped prepare me for the day of food ahead. Here are some pics of the awesome views I had around town while I was running. 

 View from our Backyard

 Ready to put the smack down on Pitt

 Celebratory Fire PITT 

Some of the lights we put up for Christmas

Anyways, it's getting late so I'm gonna wrap this up. This week I was able to recover from a flat week of maintenance during Thanksgiving, and lose another pound this week. Thanks to all for your constant love and support. It's been a great journey so far these past 4+ months, and I'm looking forward to meeting my New Years Goal.

Bye for now ..... 

“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.” ~Brian Tracy

Weigh-In Wednesday...Week 10!

10 Weeks Completed 

70 Days Down 

Week 9 Weight -- 274

Today's weight -- 2-7-1.5! So that's another 2.5 pounds down this week.

Total Weight Loss to date = 22.5 pounds !!!

Before (last Christmas) ...

After ...

And from the side ...

WOW what a busy busy week! I just realized I haven't had any posts since last Wednesday. 

Part of the reason for this is the spontaneous trip I took to go see my beloved WV Mountaineers play on Saturday against the LSU Tigers. 

The game was Saturday night. My schedule went like this: 

Flew out Friday night after work and landed in Charleston at 12:15 AM. Todd picked me up and we drove to Morgantown and arrived around 2:30 AM. 

Woke up at 8 AM the next day and took in ESPN's College GameDay on the campus. Awesome.

Here's a video of the scene when we arrived at Gameday!

And here's the crowd singing country roads :-)

After this we went back  to my brother Patrick's apartment (thanks for the place to stay!) and rested and moved on to the gigantic tailgating festivities at about 2:30 PM and stayed there till we went into the stadium at 6:30PM when they opened up the gates. 

This gives you an idea of how massive the tailgating area is... 

And some pics from the stadium ...

And one last video to show you how LOUD it was in the stadium... 

I have lots more pics and video and I'll be posting those on Facebook later, probably tomorrow. I'm sure I'm leaving out a ton of good stuff, but I'm afraid this post is getting way too long.  

I also was very glad to be able to spend some time with my parents and Popsy on Sunday afternoon. I had time just to relax with my family. My workout Sunday was with my Mom, which was really fun. We walked up and own the hilly streets of Montgomery and got some calories burned before leaving for the airport back to Tampa. 

FOOD TRAPS:

Part of a great trip home and great football is inevitably GREAT FOOD :-). Ah man, there was just an array of great food all around at the tailgate on Saturday. Todd Wilson brought some KILLER pork. We also sampled Pepperoni Rolls, Chicken, Turkey Wraps, Shrimp etc etc etc whatever you can think of it was there. It seems like every tent and RV you pass has some good food to offer. We even had some nice LSU fans give us some of their real Jambalaya. YUM. 

We saw lots of great friends and family at the tailgate and overall just had a wonderful time. I managed to enjoy a bunch of different food, and still stay within my goals by planning ahead and making sacrifices in other places. Special thanks to Todd Wagner's wife Jessica, for packing me some healthy snacks and Sobe LifeWater. That made it much easier to stick to the plan!

My biggest splurge was a DUKE biscuit  Sunday Morning at Tudor's Biscuit World. LOOK AT THESE BISCUITS lol. They are the BEST! 

I was actually a little worried about the weigh-in this week. But I think because of consistent exercise and not "over-doing it" I was just fine and still lost over 2 pounds this week. Well on my way to the 60's!

Thanks to all of your encouragement this week. It was cool to have so many of you back in WV tell me you could see the difference. My buddy Luke picked up from the airport back in Tampa, and told me he almost didn't recognize me. NICE. 

"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves." - Thomas Edison 

Happy Labor Day!

Enjoy the Holiday everyone!

We've been busy furnishing and setting up our library/office. I'll have lots of pics up later once we finish everything today.

Things are looking good for weigh-in Wednesday, so I should have some good news for you coming up this week as well.

For now, Enjoy your day off of work!

Be back later....

FYI for all of you who watched the WVU vs Marhsall season opener yesterday. Here is some cool video of the big storm that called the weather delay.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!

Happy Long Weekend Everyone,

We get an extra bonus with College Football kicking off this weekend. The highlight of course is WVU's first game in the coal classic against Marshall. 3:30 PM EST on ESPN. Be there. 

We all know that one of the greatest and best things about Football season is the food. Yum. However, I'll have to pass this year lol. There are lots of great options out there though and I got this recipe emailed today by the biggest loser emails I get. It looks pretty good. I'll let you know how it goes. Gonna cook it up for the game on Sunday I do believe.

Biggest Loser Best-Ever Barbecue Chicken:

1/4 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons low-sodium ketchup
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast

Coat a grill rack with nonstick spray. Fire up the grill and heat for 20 to 30 minutes. Place the rack on the grill.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, mix the chili sauce, ketchup, honey, vinegar, ginger, mustard, black pepper, garlic powder, and red pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, then remove from the heat. Set the sauce aside.

Place the chicken on the rack over the heat. Grill, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over and brush with the sauce. Grill until the chicken is no longer pink, 5 to 10 minutes. Brush with the remaining sauce before serving.

Yield: 4 Servings

Per Serving: Calories 120, Total Fat 1 g, Sat Fat 0.3 g, Cholesterol 48.7 mg, Sodium 233.4 mg, Total Carb 6.6 g, Fiber 0 g; Sugars 2.5 g, Protein 19.4 g

Have a good weekend. I'll be back before it's over. 

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."
Abraham Lincoln

Weigh-In Wednesday --- Week 5!

It'ssssssssssss Wednesday! And you know what that means...time to weigh-in. 


I know you've all been sitting on the edge of your collective seats waiting for this moment.


This week was filled with new challenges, tactics, and victories. 


Week 4 Weight -- 285.0
Today's weight -- 2-8-3.2 !


So that's another 1.8 pound loss. Almost two more pounds this week. 


Total Weight Loss to date = 10.8 pounds


Below is a picture of Pat, Me, Jaimie , and Dad in Bruges when we were visiting Belgium in July. 

This is me today at end of Week 5. Can you see a difference? 

I actually saw an even lower total a couple of days ago at 282.8. I know things flex up and down though. Part of what I've been reading has been telling me that as you start increasing the intensity of your workout, then you actually add on muscle which weighs a bit more than fat. So this can result in a slow down or brief up-tick in weight, but it makes your body burn fat and calories much more quickly. 


I've had lots of really great encouraging moments this week as well. Thanks to all the friends and family for your support and constant vigilance lol. I love the accountability. 


The cardio class is still kicking my butt, and I'm able to do more each and every time. I am really loving working out in a Tae Kwon Do studio again. What I really like about the class is that there is room to push yourself further and further every time.


In Food News:
I had a great salad at Mo'Ziki tonight on the way to church. It's on Starkey and Bryan Dairy in Largo. Check it out it's pretty good. Also shout out to Fiber One Snack Bars . Really, really good. And filling. There are a few things I crave from time to time like Delco's Cheese-steaks and the Wendy's Double Stack for lunch lol. Honestly though, this is totally worth it, and I'm committed to seeing this through. 


In other random news. I am so ready for WVU Football Season! Let's Go..........


Continuing on the sports theme, Here's a really great quote from legendary basketball coach John Wooden


“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”