So Far So Good

The back-on-track day is going well thus far. Healthy breakfast. Healthy lunch. Sucking down water like it's my job. Keeping myself busy. Dinner is already planned for tonight, and it sounds like it will be healthy, so I anticipate a good food day.

Since I'm away from home during the day today, I have to exercise this evening, probably around 8:30pm. I'm not a huge fan of working out at this time, but if I have to exercise late in the day in order to get my activity points, then so be it. I've heard that exercising late in the day can cause you to have bad sleep...personally, I haven't had that problem yet. Also, if I had to choose morning or night for working out, I would choose night, because I am definitely not a morning person. But...I really like working out in the morning after I've been awake for an hour or two...but that doesn't really work out with a work schedule.

A new study says that meal replacements aid weight loss. Good to know, actually. During previous diets, I used to eat just Slim-Fast bars and shakes for breakfast and lunch, and it seemed to work. In fact, I think I did this when I lost a lot of weight in 2001. I've thought about buying these again, because they are major time-savers, but I will probably lose out on some nutrition. Tough choice...save time or maintain nutrition?

Chugging on toward dinner time...I have good vibes that this will be a good day.

Another Bad Day

Another healthy breakfast and lunch, but a terrible dinner. I don't know if it was stress this time...I think it was more "I'm lazy, I don't want to be healthy today" sort of thing. Argh...I'm totally battling my old self these past two weeks. I'm totally fighting the diet thing this week, and I know I shouldn't be. I'm stuck in a major funk right now. I'm funkdafied, and I want to be de-funkdafied. At least I worked out on the elliptical today...

I gotta have a good rest of the week and weekend, or else I'm predicting a bad, bad weigh-in on Monday. Gotta brainstorm about how I can fight the funk.

I'm A Maniac...

...and I'm eating like I've never eaten before. Stress got the best of me today...I ate a healthy breakfast and lunch, but dinner was a disaster. At 2:30pm today, I decided I was too stressed out to care about eating healthy and exercising for the day. I shrugged my shoulders and basically said, whatever...I simply do not care about being healthy tonight.

Of course, I'm totally regretting it now. I went out to eat at a restaurant, I stuffed my face with buffalo tenders, and I chowed down on a bacon cheeseburger and fries to the point where I felt my belly was going to explode all over the bar. Not good. I've been told that it is OK to have one bad meal per week...but I don't think overeating to the point of exploding was what they had in mind.

Stress eating has always been a problem for me. It's almost like I spend all my energy being stressed that I simply do not care about anything else for the rest of the day. No matter how much progress I have made thus far...it all vanishes when I become stressed. I'm not entirely sure what to do to combat stress...I know a lot of people use exercise for that purpose, but it hasn't done the trick for me yet. Some people use therapy...not sure if I'm ready for that. What else is there?

I think I need to keep my goals in perspective when I encounter these problems in the future. I know I can't use food to deal with stress...I have to combat stress in a more conducive manner. I'll probably be wracking my brain for the next week because of this night. Argh.

Weigh-In Day #5: A Week-Long Relapse

I knew I was going to go up this week. No doubt about it. I didn't work out for a week and a half. I didn't track Weight Watchers points for a week, which resulted in me eating rather badly. I haven't blogged in a week. I basically jumped completely off the weight loss bandwagon for a week. I think I needed a break...things seemed a little overwhelming all of a sudden. Plus, I felt a sudden need to be SUPER lazy before I can't be lazy anymore...the school year begins in just two short weeks.

I think I should be thanking my lucky stars that I only gained 1.6 lbs. I'm looking at it as a minor setback on this journey...I knew things wouldn't be perfect, and I am going to learn from my mistakes. I ate healthy today, and I worked out on the elliptical.

I think I'm going to give up the Wii for a little while...I got a little bored with it, to be honest. I'm also considering joining a gym sooner rather than later...probably in the next few weeks. I feel that I'm missing something in my workout, and I think that something is strength/resistance training. I was sort of getting that with the resistance band that came with EA Sports Active...but I'm not sure it is enough. It also got a little monotonous. I think the strength training machines at the gym are useful...but I don't think I know how to use them, or at least use them properly. I'm hoping that my gym gives a free personal training session or a basic workout plan, because I really don't have any sort of workout routine. Anyone know whether gyms will give out basic workout routines?

I apologize to all for not updating, but I'm back and ready to start losing weight again. Let the daily updates resume. :-)

Weigh-In Day #4: Small But Sweet

Yikes, I've been on my longest hiatus yet...I haven't updated since Friday, when I promised all of you that I would update this weekend. And I totally broke my promise. I had one of those really really lazy weekends, where I didn't really want to do anything except relax and enjoy a quiet weekend. I think it is because law school starts again for me in a few weeks, and I'm trying to enjoy my free time while I still can.

Unfortunately, that laziness resulted in some hiccups this weekend with food and exercise. I didn't exercise the entire weekend, and I ate slightly larger dinners. But things are OK...I lost 1.3 pounds this week, coming in at a weight of 294.7 pounds. Honestly, I think I would have lost more if it wasn't for this weekend. But it's OK...I remain fully on the weight loss bandwagon, and I'm still very much energized and excited about exercising and eating healthy.

I'm still trying to enjoy these last few days of freedom, so I probably will not exercise today. However, I am getting back on track tomorrow. I will be away from home, but I have decided to find a way to exercise at the hotel I am staying at, either at the on-site gym or by walking around the premises for an extended period of time. I would be content with doing either option.

I want to thank everyone again for your continued support...you guys are the best!

It's Friday Night

Go enjoy yourself...it's the weekend. No blog post tonight, but I promise I will make it all up to you this weekend. Perhaps with a double dose of blogtastic action IN YOUR FACE tomorrow. We shall see.

I'm the fat guy. You stay classy, San Diego.

A Traveling Conundrum

Next week, I will be traveling to and staying over in Connecticut. I will be staying at everyone's favorite tribal land. This will be the first time that I will be away from home since I started the diet and exercise routine. I'm not so worried about the diet...I'm definitely more worried about exercising. Here are my options:

• Work out at the on-site gym. The gym apparently has a full range of cardiovascular equipment, including an elliptical and a treadmill, which is all I really need. But it costs $15 to use, and I'm not sure I am ready to exercise in public yet. Plus, I think I will feel guilty if I don't check in with my Wii workouts on a daily basis. I might be afraid of the Wii yelling at me for cheating on it.

• Bring the Wii with me. Why not? It's easy enough to bring along, and it can probably be plugged into the back on the TV in the hotel room. But there's a chance that the TV won't be compatible with it, and I would have to lug along the balance board. Plus, I should probably not be so crazy about having to check in with it every single day. I just don't want it secretly hating me.

• Skip a workout day. I haven't skipped a workout since I started officially trying to lose weight in late June, so I suppose it would be good if my body and its muscles got a rest. But exercise has been a good way to beat stress and avoid hunger, and I get nervous that a day of no exercise will result in less weight loss when I weigh-in. If I take a day off and end up not losing any weight, then I will immediately point the finger at the day off.

I'm interested to hear what your thoughts are. I'll decide by Monday.