Harpua's Journal- from fat and lazy to Super Dad page

[Harpua]

Hello All,
I've been floating around here for a couple of weeks after finding this site through NerdFitness. I guess it's now time to start my first journal ever! I've never had any interest in writing, especially about myself, but maybe this will help me stick with it this time.

Like a lot of people, I never really ate well for most of my life. I was an athlete since the age of 6 with wrestling being my main sport. One of the things I learned with wrestling is how to lose weight quickly without any real health concerns. Throughout most of my teen years I stayed very lean during the winter, spring and summer but I would balloon up a little in the fall for football. Typically, I would lose 20-30 pounds in about a month for wrestling. It wasn't until after I was done with high school that my weight really started to creep up. I got up to about 225 in my early 20's and went on the Atkins diet and a heavy dose of Xenedrine and lifting to get myself down to about 185. I maintained around 200 for a couple of years but slowly crept up past 225 and got to about 250. Around this time I was getting married and started losing weight for the wedding. Atkins again, down to around 210 in a couple of months. I didn't last long there and it was only a few months more before i was now at 275! disgusted with myself, I go back onto Atkins, lost about 20lbs, quit and all of a sudden I'm flirting with 300. Yo-yo diets, fad diets and starving myself kept me bouncing around until I topped out at 325 this past summer.

September 7th my little girl was born. I decided then that I didn't want to hold her back from life. The last few years I've been a shell of what i used to be. I used to hike and mountain bike; ski and ice skate in the winter. I was always up for anything, now i just sat on my fat ass, miserable. The big change with this diet is that I'm not trying to rush it and lose weight fast b/c I know I will just gain it back again. Since September, I've mostly been living a paleo life without even realizing it. I had cut my breads and pastas out but i still ate a lot of legumes and dairy. I managed to get my weight down to about 285 before relapsing during the holidays and getting back to about 315. I've now cut out the legumes and almost all dairy, and as of this morning sitting at 299. One of my big problems is beer. I don't drink at all during the week, but on the weekends all bets are off. Also, I'm a homebrewer so beer is a big part of my life. I have cut down a ton since September, but i don't see any scenario where it is out of my life entirely.

I'm a reluctant exerciser but I've been working out a few times a week. I'm hoping to get up to doing something every day. Hopefully keeping this journal will help me with that goal.

Heaviest weight:325
Current weight:299
Goal weight:180

More important than the weight is my attitude. I have already noticed a change. Hopefully, that will continue and my daughter will get the father she deserves.

[Harpua]

My first day of keeping a journal and I screwed up at dinner. It was Valentines day so i just said, "screw it". I wasn't as bad as i could have been but i definitely ate some tortillas(got corn instead of flour) and rice.

breakfast:
hard boiled egg
banana
apple

lunch:
left over roast beef
steamable bag of asparagus

dinner:
steak with mexican rice
3 corn tortillas dipped in red chili sauce, green chili sauce, guacamole
huaraches w/ chicken, oaxaca cheese, lettuce, onions, tomatoes

I actually didn't eat all of the rice that came with my meal, and there were several tortillas left over. That is huge for me! I was brought up with the "always clean your plate" mentality. Throwing out food was a definite no-no and it still bothers me when I do it.

[Harpua]

Yesterday was a good day. I didn't get in any exercise,but I ate well.
Breakfast:
3egg omelet w/ 2strips of bacon 1slice of provolone cheese

Lunch:
Skipped it due to meeting,never got around to eating it. Had a small bag of almonds around 3:00

Dinner:
Grilled chicken breast w/ 1 slice of provolone, mix of veggies(green beans,carrots,squash,zucchini)

I did have 3 Troegs Nugget Nectars during and after dinner. They were fantastic.

[teach2183]

Slow and steady. Don't beat yourself up for a minor slip here and there. What's important is to keep on going at the next opportunity. What's great about this lifestyle is that you will still improve your health even if you aren't 100%.

Perhaps cut back on the amount of beer you're consuming if you're not losing fast enough. If it's your indulgence then make sure it's that and not just out of habit - truly enjoy it!

[Harpua]

296 this morning! not too bad. my usual routine is to lose 4-5 lbs during the week and gain 3-4 back on the weekend. i managed to drop a pound this weekend. I kept my beer count low, Only 3 on Fri and 1 on Sat. Other than that I ate great, protein and veggies with very little fruit and no grains or legumes. still didn't really exercise but i walked around a few stores both days. I'm going to start a body weight program tonight that i saw on Nerd Fitness.

3 cycles
20 squats
10 pushups
20 lunges (10 each leg)
20 bent over rows (10 each arm)
15 second plank
30 jumping jacks

This looks like a good plan for me to start with. i plan on switching out the rows for pullups once i'm able to do some.

[Harpua]

good eating day yesterday
Breakfast:
smoothie- frozen berries,banana, spinach, greek yogurt, coconut/almond milk, chocolate whey protein

snack:
2 hard boiled eggs

lunch:
salad(spring mix w/ onions, tomatoes,cucumbers,green peppers,carrots,celery) with chicken, a little blue cheese and a balsamic parmigiana vinaigrette that i made

dinner:
chicken breast w/ butternut squash, broccoli,cauliflower,carrots

I've now gone 5 days without coffee. i wasn't planning on cutting it out, but I really don't like it without any sweetener and I'm finding the protein shake is giving me more energy in the morning anyway.

[Harpua]

today
smoothie- same as yesterday but with less berries

2 hard boiled eggs

same salad as yesterday

i have a roast beef going in the crock pot for dinner. probably going to do some mashed cauliflower and green beans with it. i will also have some sharp provolone and horseradish. it's going to be pretty good. I'm going to force myself to do some exercise tonight. Last night, I fell asleep while rocking the baby to sleep and that killed my momentum. we have one of those glider chairs in her room, it is so damn comfortable. We went in around 7:30 I woke up in the chair around 9:00. no exercise for me..

[Harpua]

Been a couple of days, thought i would check in.

293lbs as of this morning!

Not too shabby. I have been eating great all week, but I'm still not exercising. I made a change to my morning protein shake and cut out all of the fruit. It's now Whey protein powder(120 cal, 32g protein, 8g carbs) coconut/almond milk and a tablespoon of plain greek yogurt. I've been averaging about 3 eggs a day, usually 2 hard boiled for a mid morning snack. But i have also had a couple of omelets mixed in. For Lunch i have been bring salads and topping them with whatever protein i have left over from the night before( chicken a couple of days roast beef another). Dinners have just been meat and veggies.

On a good note, i think my wife is about to go all in and join me on this adventure. She's not much of reader, even though she's almost done with her 2nd masters degree?? So, i just bought her a copy of The 21 Day Transformation. I'm hoping it's smaller size will keep her from being scared off. Having her on board will be a huge help. she relies on me for most of her meals, so she hasn't been putting up a fight. But, it will be nice to have an ally and someone to bounce recipe ideas off of.

Now, for the bad part. I had a vendor take me to the local brewery for lunch today. I had this really good cheeseburger salad but i also had 2 beers and this amazing chocolate creme brulee. On top of that, i have a benefit to go to tonight which is open bar and going to have a ton of non-paleo food. I've already told myself to just have fun and get back on the horse tomorrow so that is what i'm going to do. I'm making a decision to let go for one night. I will avoid all of the breads and pastas, but it will definitely be a heavy drinking night. Hopefully, the guilt won't be too bad tomorrow.

Other than that, it's all good. Maybe i'll start exercising this week. It will be much easier once the weather starts to warm up and i can get outside. I freaking hate the cold!

[Harpua]

Damn, last night was a total shit show. I made a huge smoothie this morning to help rid myself of the poisons. Almond milk,frozen berries,banana, a ton of spinach and protein powder. It's not that good, too much spinach, but it will do the job.

[specsAreGrok]

Now, for the bad part. I had a vendor take me to the local brewery for lunch today. I had this really good cheeseburger salad but i also had 2 beers and this amazing chocolate creme brulee. On top of that, i have a benefit to go to tonight which is open bar and going to have a ton of non-paleo food.

IronHill by chance? That's my 20%. Good beer, you can eat fairly primally there. they are happy to make substitutions.