At home day 16, Treading again, and figuring out that we eat out a ton!

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Comments/Thoughts:

It is weird how you can see yourself and your life one way and then notice you were pretty far off.  I have noticed that since I have been home and blogging that we eat out a ton.  I mean I knew we ate out a decent bit, but I always felt that I cooked quite a bit at home and that was the bulk of it, but today we ate out for two meals.  I think a large part of it is being social.  For example the second time I went out today was to do kids night at Fazolis where they have someone to color with the kids and you can hang out with your friends with kids.  I was there with my friends Zack, Laura and Kevin and we had about 5 kids with us.  It was nice to have adult time and kid time and a good dinner.

I have made mostly good choices when I went out to eat, but for me it is like taking an alcoholic to a bar 3 to 8 times a week.  I am in recovery and a great way to relapse is to constantly surround myself with temptations.  Tonight I ate my dinner which was already a big plate of spaghetti, but within my calories for the day, but the next thing I knew I was helping the kids finish off their pasta dishes.  I did not even know I was doing it and stopped it once I did, but then I took all of their food to go.  Big mistake...  I knew they were not going to eat it rewarmed, and guess who ate it?  Me!  Argh!  I know better than that, and I still messed up.  I really need to work on modifying my behavior if I am going to be in these situations so much.  It is one thing to go out for a cheat meal, but another to choose to surround myself with the temptations.

Today was also the first day I did treading again.  A quick treading recap is 5 minutes as hard as you can go, 5 cool down, 4 hard, 4 cooldown, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1.  It felt good to push myself again.  Hopefully it balanced out my mistake.  I do not want this to be a lost week.  My body needs to understand mistakes vs. normal.  Normal is healthy eating and I expect my body to get to a healthier weight.

Statistics:

I walked 8,948 steps and 4.4 miles and burned 3,639 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch calories burned: I did not have it for my workout, but good news I found my heart rate strap!  Watch will be back tomorrow.

Exercise:

Today I did a treading workout and it felt great to push myself again.  I am going to try to do kettlebells on Friday, and get back into them.  I feel like I am losing muscle as I type this!  It needs to warm up so I can start hiking around here.  Silly 20 degree weather!  We looked at bikes today too, anyone have a recommendation for a bike for a 265 pound guy?  Needs to be sturdy I imagine.  That is what I get when I reach that goal weight.  We are going to get some pull behinds for the kids.  We will see how that goes, sounds like quite a workout.

Food:
Breakfast was eggs and toast with bacon once again.  For lunch we went to the cafe that is attached to our gym called the Greenway cafe.  I had the Mediteranian wrap which had some great chicken in it.  No idea on calories, but I would say 400-600 and within my range for a meal.  Dinner I went to Fazoli's with friends like I mentioned above and had a spaghetti with meat sauce and then went on to eat half a kids spaghetti and fettuccine.   I just looked the Spaghetti I had up and it was 680 calories, not a deal breaker until you add in that I ate extra!  Here is the Fazoli's nutrition (or lack there of) web page.   ACK ACK ACK!  This is a teachable moment is what I would say if I was a politician...  Let us all remember to not take food home for the kids we know they will not eat.

Slideshow/Pictures:

By the way if you do not see the slideshow below or in other posts, they are flash applications so complain to Steve Jobs about your Ipad and Iphone not loading them.  Sorry!

At home Day 14, Challenges and being a binge eater...

Comments/Thoughts:
You did not think I was just going to drop another 100 pounds without a speed bump or two did you?  I know I was pretty sure there would be some bumps in the road and today was definitely one.  I ended up having a mini binge today after I got a bit stressed out over a random argument with my wife.  It was your typical little disagreement that did not get resolved because she had to go to work and so as I sat and stewed over it I started getting this crazy urge to eat.  I had eaten about 300 calories of pop chips and two large scoops of peanut butter with two glasses of milk before I even really knew what hit me.  At that point I knew I was in some serious trouble as I was already self-rationalizing about how it would be ok to take the kids on a drive to some nice drive through windows I have not seen in awhile.  Luckily as I was getting them ready I decided I was going to get a coke zero and go to a subway drive through and get a turkey sub.  I cemented this in my mind that I was going to do that by calling my wife at work and telling her about my eating at home and that I was going to get a sub and askeds if she wanted one.  She did and I brought her one to work and we had a nice chat about our argument and misunderstanding and I felt better overall.  It was not a crisis averted moment because I did end up emotionally eating, however getting control before I went out and had another three to four thousand calories is an accomplishment.

I am not sure how many people that read this blog can actually relate to what it is have a binge eating issue, but it really does put your body on autopilot, or that is what it feels like.  It is something I am going to be dealing with for life and I was lucky to meet my counselor at the resort (Essara.)  She gave me some techniques to distract myself and I believe that those helped today.

Anyway, tomorrow is a new day, and I am hoping to get back into more challenging workouts.

Statistics:
Well I forgot to wear the fitbit today, DOH!

Worst yet... I can't find my watch heart rate strap!  Did I leave it at the gym!?!  Grrr

Food:
Breakfast was 50 calories of bacon on two pieces of whole wheat toast and some egg beaters.  Lunch was a turkey club with creamy tomato soup.  I loved the soup, it was Pacific brand creamy tomato organic soup.  At about three I had my mini bing episode.  I at a bag of pop chips and about 4-5 tablespoons of peanut butter.  Worse yet I had two glass of skim milk.  For dinner I had a 6 inch subway turkey sub on whole wheat with lite mayo and no cheese.  Overall a bad food day, but not as bad as it could have been.  Tomorrow is a new day right?

Exercise:
This morning my wife and I went to the gym.  I am still taking it light on strain so I did a one hour walk at 3mph and a 4.0 incline.  Since I forgot the fitbit and the watch I have to go by what the treadmill read which was 700 calories.  I bet it was more like 400 to 500.

No new pictures or slideshow entires.

At home Day 13, Childrens' Museum plus cheat day aka unhealthy choices day...

Comments/Thoughts:
I was really happy on the ranch that in their diet plan and at home plan workshops they talked about the need to allow yourself room for unhealthy food choices in your life.  They operate on the 90/10 rule where you are health 90% of the time and unhealthy on 10%.  I have incorporated cheat days in several diet plans I have done over time, and really do believe if you can control yourself for it they are great.  I really enjoyed my cheat meal this week and even allowed myself an extra treat at the movies the day before.  Last week I had a nice off meal day and still lost 4 pounds this week.  Not sure that I mentioned it yesterday but I had lost another 3 pounds which brought my total to 4 for the week.  Only 4.8 pounds to go and I am in the 200s!  That is very exciting for me since at 280 my suit will fit for the derby!  Good stuff!

We went to the childrens' museum today and there were some drama on the way there with our convoy.  We were going with another family and their two children, and as we pulled in to a random rest stop they were pulled over with their hood up.  Their car was overheating and no long starting.  Needless to say this threw a wrench in things, but luckily we have a big Honda Odyssey swagger wagon and took my friend's wife and two kids into our van and I dropped them off 30 miles away at the museum in Indy, and came back and picked him up as AAA was towing his car the 40 miles back to Richmond.  Needless to say the guys showed up to the museum after getting stuck in traffic and we only got the end of the museum time.  All and all it was a great experience and afterwards we with to the Spaghetti Factory and had a great meal and pleasant time with  our families.

Statistics:
**Will update this in the morning when the fitbit pushes it's stats to twitter and facebook.**

Watch calories burned: N/A walked around the museum only a little

Exercise:
Minimal walking around the children's museum in Indianapolis.  Tomorrow it is back to the gym!

Food:
Breakfast was the old standard eggs and toast.  Lunch was me grabbing a chicken taragon sandwich at Starbucks (420 calories) and getting to the museum as quickly as possible.  Dinner was my unhealthy meal allowance and it was amazing.  Baked Lasagna, side of meatballs, spumone ice cream and followed by a peanut butter mountain when we got back to Richmond at Ritters.  I was s t u f f e d.  The ironic thing is I probably only ate 1000 calories above my maintenance levels.  The theory is it also stokes the metabolism by changing up the calorie intake levels.  Yeah that is the ticket right?!  It makes it much easier to get my 90% and the gym I tell you that much.  Doing a full day of meals like that still seems excessive, but doing it for one meal seems to be all I need.  Of course that one meal should have been 2 at least!

Slideshow/Pictures:
Added in some pics of kids and the museum along with foods eaten.  Beware the lasagna pictures!

At home Day 12, Gym, mexican food, and the movies...

Comments/Thoughts:
Well again it was a movie night for me, and we went to see the new Liam Neeson, Unknown and I really did not expect too much and it delivered slightly more that I hoped for.  That being said it was only a semi decent movie.  It was definitely not Taken, which I was very suprised by.  Anyway, since the movie was at 10pm and we were out past midnight I started my "unhealthy" eating day a little early and had some M&Ms.  I did not really feel bad about it and enjoyed them at my second movie night of the week.

My wife called me about one hour before she was getting of work and said she needed an emergency date night because work had been terrible and luckily enough I got a sitter for the kids.  We went out the El Rodeo and I had chicken fajitas with 3 corn tortillas.  I actually love that meal, and to know I can eat it with out all the extra fixings and still be on my meal plan really helps.

Statistics:
I walked 11,035 steps and 5.4 miles and burned 3,971 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6
Watch calories burned: 347 calories burned


Exercise:
I went to the gym but still have an injury that keeps me from straining too much so I did the treadmill at 3mph, 2.5 incline for an hour.  The treadmill told me I burned 600 calories, however the heart rate monitor I wear says it was more like 347.  I think my cardio endurance is better than the strict calculation that is used by the treadmill now.  Or at least I am going to tell myself that.  I sweated a decent bit and felt good to make it to the gym.  Monday it is going to be on like Donkey Kong again.


Food:
Standard egg and muffin breakfast.  For lunch I had leftover chinese turkey lettuce wraps and creamy butternut squash soup.  The soup was from a box and it was great and only 100 calories for a full cup.  Good stuff, and very little prep work for a good meal.  Dinner was the "emergency" date night out at El Rodeo.  I had fajitas with corn tortillas and no chips, sour cream or cheese.  Good work if I do say so myself.  We went home after dinner and I met a few friends for a movie and ate a big bag of peanut M&Ms.  Bad Dwayne?  I felt like it was part of my unhealthy 10% I am allowed.  I usually only do one cheat "meal" on my cheat day so I am not too worried.

Pictures/Slideshow:
Added some pictures of the soup and El Rodeo meal to the slideshow.

At home Day 11, At least I got a workout in today.

Comments/Thoughts:
Well as mentioned earlier planning my next trip is on my mind quite a bit this week and today especially.  I have some time to decide so no worries.  Today was a pretty good day all in all, I still am not able to push myself too hard.  I did a fast walk today on the treadmill which burned a decent bit of calories.  I weighed in this morning and lost another pound.  It keeps on going down so that is a good thing.

Statistics:
I walked 12,163 steps and 5.8 miles and burned 4,140 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch Calories Burned: N/A

The treadmill claims I burned over 600 calories in 55 minutes walking at 3mph at a 2.5 incline.


Exercise:
Today I took it easy and still burned my minimum 500 calories.  I walked on the treadmill, but forgot to wear the heart monitor strap.  I had to take the "word" of the treadmill and it read 600 calories.  I was told that the minimum I wanted to shoot for was 500.  I am looking forward either tomorrow or the next day of taking the intensity up again.  I want to be back on kettlebells by Monday.


Food:

Breakfast was egg beaters, turkey sausage on an english muffin yet again.  Lunch was leftover turkey chinese lettuce wraps, and the soup I was was Muir Glen Organic Chicken Tortilla.  The soup was amazing and it was two 1cup servings for 130 calories, which was perfect for Jen and I.  I put some avocado in it and did not add any other seasoning and loved it.  For dinner Jen had a cornbread request and since my son loved it so much I went ahead and made it.  I did some pictures of ingredients and what it takes to cook it.  It is very easy and if I get permission I will post the recipe.  We had leftover chili with it and I made the kids some fruit, cheese, and veggies with organic fish sticks.  They ate very well.  I need to get them used to some new foods.  I feel a little guilty because after dinner I had a huge urge to binge on peanut butter and I ended up having a bag of pop chips and about 4 or 5 chocolate covered strawberries.  Much better than a jar of peanut butter or running out for fast food, but still a slight let down.  All told it cost me 350 calories or so, but even with that I am still at around 1600 for the day.


This is the fat free krusteaz corn bread mix that is the base.  Just get it and add in the fixings you want in your cornbread.  Add those calories up though!  It is great and only takes about 20 minutes.  The bread is sweet and kids love it too.



Slideshow/Pictures:

A question for readers and an update to yesterday...

   Well I have a question I am going to put out there for my readers/friends.  I am faced with a tough decision coming up in April, and I need a little help deciding what to do.  My son is going to be gone for a week at his fathers, and my mother has offered to watch my daughter for the week.  This gives myself and my wife the opportunity to have a week without the kids and it is a fairly rare thing to happen with no vacation planned.  So, I could go out to the Biggest Loser Resort in Malibu for that week and work my tail off which I would love, or I can stay at home and attempt to bust my hump part of the day, and blog/work on my web site/iphone apps.  The cost involved in going is quite significant considering we want to pay off our minivan, and if I choose to go I will be using savings to do it which I do not like to do.  Is it worth the cost for just one week when I know my family has agreed to let me go either this coming late fall or winter?  Time to do some cost/benefit analysis I guess.

Pros for going to the resort:
- Amazing trainers
- No thinking about food
- Beautiful weather and hikes
- At least 2 weeks worth of results crammed into one week
- Gives my blog readers so more interesting things to read =)
- Total focus on my training and weightloss

Cons for going to the resort:
- Cost at a bad time
- Already know the program very well, both exercise and diet
- A two week stay is really preferable to adjust
- Little to no time to work on other web related projects

I think the pros and cons for staying home are obvious.  Any votes either way?  I still have a little time to think on it so I am going to not rush it.



Onto some more updates from yesterday:
I ended up going to a movie at night with my friends Zack and Kevin.  We went to see The Eagle, and it was much better than I thought it would be.  However, it still left quite a bit to be desired and had some fairly large plot loop holes in it.  I had a nice Coke Zero at the movie but no snacks so I am moving in the right direction.  Considering how many movies I see the no snack thing is a big deal.


The picture above is of the meal I had after the movie when we all went to BW3s to catch up and hang out.  I used my Livestrong.com app to look up the grilled chicken tenders and I had my wild sauce on the side.  Each tender is 43 calories, and thanks to Zack I ordered the sauce on the side and hardly used any since it was so hot.  The meal came with fries, but I let the guys have them.  They had some fried chicken tenders, but I feel like I did well.  An extra 160 calories was not really that bad for the day I had.  Oh and this morning with I woke up I had lost another pound.  Getting close to those numbers that begin with a 2...

Also, my fitbit stats for yesterday were:
I walked 9,814 steps and 4.6 miles and burned 3,968 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


I have found some great twitter feeds and blog sites I plan to add here in a little bit, more on that later.  Hope everyone is doing well today,

Dwayne

At home day 10, Another day of rest that I do not want...

Comments/Thoughts:
Well today was great in the sense that the kids were occupied until 12:30 and 3pm respectively, so I was able to go and do some research at Starbucks.  I spent a decent bit of time reading blogs and looking for health resources online, as well as pricing plane tickets for my possible April trip back to the resort.  I really want to go back, but paying for it out of savings is not sitting right with me right now.  I still think I am going to do it, I may get some birthday money to throw in on it.  It is tough to pass up an opportunity where both kids can be watched and it is easier on my wife when I go.

The downside of my day is that I did not go to the gym today to rest myself.  I have had a mild reoccurring injury and my wife tells me the only way to get rid of it is to relax and not do anything too strenuous.  I think I am just going to try to get to the gym and just walk on the treadmill.  I am really upset about my lack of kettlebell training.  I went and bought some mats for the floor to protect them if I drop my new weight, and I still am unable to use them.  Very frustrating!  I did go on a walk around the neighborhood with the wife, dog and kids today so that is something at least.  I am going to see a movie tonight, so it will be a Coke Zero night, yay!

Statistics:
*Will add fitbit tomorrow, 8793 steps premovie*


Watch Calories Burned: N/A

Exercise:
Just a simple walk around the neighborhood. =/

Food:
For breakfast I had some oatmeal at Starbucks with some Truvia to sweeten it.  Good, and I avoided the nuts, berries and brown sugar toppings.  Lunch was a Turkey club sandwich and a bowl of roasted red pepper soup.  Dinner was turkey chinese stir fry lettuce wraps and Miso soup.  I just threw together turkey, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, peppers, water chestnuts, and some chinese flavorings + liquid aminos.  It turned out great and my wife liked it as well.

Slideshow/Pictures:
Added pictures of my meals:

At home day 9, Jen goes skiing, and the kids and I play

Comments/Thoughts:
It was a fairly average day.  I woke up with the kids and Jen and she got ready and went off to go ski at Perfect North.  Looks like she had a great time, and the kids and I got dressed and went to the gym.  We are so lucky to have a gym that has child care in our town.  The gym I go to is Family Fitness Works and it is a new local gym.  They have converted an old warehouse into a great gym and are building a pool on site as well inside.  I am wondering what kind of water classes they will have.  I really enjoyed my water classes at the resort, and would love to find some similar workouts.

Statistics:
I walked 12,152 steps and 6.4 miles and burned 4,270 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch Calories Burned: 970 calories burned!


Exercise:
I did another double treading workout and burned a ton of calories.  It really seems to be an effective way for me to workout.  I want to be doing my kettlebells, but I have an injury that may stop me from both kettlebells and other strenuous exercise for a week.  It sucks to want to workout and your body stop working the right way.  


Food:
I was fairly unimaginitive today with my food choices.  With Jen being gone for the day I was able to just have the same thing for lunch and dinner.  My breakfast was eggs, turkey sausage on an english muffin.   My lunch and dinner were turkey chili and cornbread.  I did have leftover hot and sour soup for lunch and roasted red pepper soup for dinner.  After dinner I was still pretty hungry and had about 3 chocolate covered strawberries and a bag of pop chips.  


Slideshow/Pictures:
No new pictures unless you just want random pictures I took of the kids all day. =)

At home day 8, New week, valentines day, eating out and life in general...

Comments/Thoughts:
It was once again special event kind of day, a "Hallmark" holiday of sorts... valentines day!  So we went to my son's school with my daughter and ran some events and played with all the kids.  At the end of the day I had a babysitter scheduled and so we went out for a nice dinner at O'Charley's.  I did not really stray, but I did have red meat which was a first in a long time.  It was really a great day, and we ended it by shopping for a new coat for me which I needed since I have lost so much weight.  I love clothes shopping now.

So good news for my blog today, I was told that my name and a link to my blog I would be added to the front page at http://blog.biggestloserresort.com and I am hoping I get some new readers.  I find that this blog and knowing that people are reading it helps me feel accountable.  I plan to do a post soon about things to know before you go to the resort.  There are many little things that can help out there.

Statistics:
I walked 14,438 steps and 7.2 miles and burned 4,516 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch calories burned: 900 calories burned

Exercise:
Today was a good workout day, I did a double treading class on the treadmill at the gym.  My shirt was a big wet mass, which is a good thing after a hard workout.  My definition of double treading is 5 minutes at an uncomfortable pace (this week it is incline 15 and speed 2.7, 3.2 for the last minute) then a 5 minute rest, then I add on another 5 at the uncomfortable pace, and 5 at a slow past to recover, then I do the 4, 3, 2 and 1 intervals all twice.  I burn through about 750 calories on the machine and by the time I am at home I am over 900 calories from carry over.

Food:

I had a 200 calorie lara bar for breakfast and a small glass of skim milk.  For lunch I had the great meal you see to the right of your screen.  I made fat free cornbread and turkey chili from the great recipe book I purchased at the Biggest Loser Resort.  I love the cornbread, and I found out that the kids do as well.  Jen loved this meal, and I think it is a definite go to.  For dinner I had an 8oz filet, asparagus without butter and chicken tortilla soup.  My calories for the day did not exceed 1600 so it was still counted a good day.  I also had a chocolate covered strawberry with my wife for valentines day.

Slideshow/Pictures:

At home day 7, Lazy Sunday, Valentine day prep..

Comments/Thoughts:

It was a pretty good food day, I did go a little above and beyond on making chocolate covered strawberries.  We had to do something for the teachers at my son's school so I made some milk and dark chocolate covered strawberries, some with pecans, some peanut, and some macadamia nut covered.  Also, I did do a little white chocolate drizzle on some of them.  When my wife got home from work we did some sampling...  Not too much, but more than I should have had by a couple of strawberries.  I hope the teachers like them because
I know we did!

I drove to Cincinnati today and was happy I avoided the temptation of drive through food.  It is a big step for me because I usually use the excuse of meeting at McDonalds to grab a burger, and that did not happen today.  I guess I should explain why I drive to McyDs, my son (step son) goes to visit his father who lives in Kentucky every other weekend and I am usually the one who drives and does the exchange.

Statistics:
I walked 4,363 steps and 2 miles and burned 3,440 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch calories burned: N/A

Exercise:
I took the day off again, not because I wanted to but because of a small injury.  I will start back up again tomorrow.

Food:
Breakfast was great, I had almond butter and organic honey on an english muffin and put bananas and blueberries on it.  I also drank a small glass of skim milk with it, and thoroughly enjoyed the meal.  Lunch was leftover meatloaf sandwich as well as hot and sour soup.  I also had a 100 calorie bag of popchips and they are fast becoming my goto snack for crunchy needs.  Dinner was all natural turkey, 50 calories of bacon, olive oil based mayo, mustard on a arnold slim bun with veggies and brown rice.  It was good and very filling.  That being said I ended up eating a few of the chocolate covered strawberries I was making so I was a little naughty.

Pictures/Slideshow:
Once again they are added on to the end of the week album.  That does it for this album, one week down!

At home Day 6, Unhealthy/Cheat day and going to a private moving screening with friends!

Comments/Thoughts:

Well it was a great day!  Getting ready to go to Indianapolis to see one of my good friend's movie was so much fun for a change.  When you gain a ton of weight you end up having to get new clothes, but you leave behind some of your favorites.  Well I was lucky enough to do a fashion show for me wife before I left and happily fit into some clothes we both really love.  They are actually looser on me then when I originally bought them which just feels so great.  I have dreaded having to wear anything except my usual jeans and polo when we go out for so long that I just felt amazing free being able to get into a nice button up shirt and smaller pants and be comfortable.  Also, to know my wife loves my outfit just makes things better too, I hate how my weight impacts her sometimes, and last night we were both just amazingly happy.

The movie was great!  I am so happy for Zack (and for us since we were investors) and even though I know there were some technical things he wanted to turn out better the movie was just fantastic.  My wife was so nervous because she played a doctor in the movie for a scene and it was great seeing her up on the IMAX screen at the Indiana State Museum.

A ton of our friends went and we were able to have dinner with some before the movie.  We went to an upscale American cuisine type place called Palominos in downtown Indianapolis.  The food and company were great even though we were a little stressed about making the movie on time.  None of us knew it could take over 15 minutes to get out of a parking garage in Indy.  What made us even more nervous was that we had Laura Parker with us who not only was the wife of the director, but also had his pre-

movie speech with her.  We had given her a ride so that Zack could spend time working his magic on the IMAX projector and getting things perfect.

.
Luckily I was able to get there just in time and let these beautiful ladies out and they got in just in the nick of time.  I made it in and got myself some naughty little M&Ms and a diet coke.  I mean it was cheat day!

Though this was one of my worst meal and exercise days, overall it was an amazing me day, and great date/friends day.  We did get a call during the movie that our babysitter had locked herself out of the house with our little girl in there, but with some quick calling of a person with the key in town the crisis was averted.

Statistics:
I walked 5,012 steps and 2.3 miles and burned 3,513 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6 #fitstats

Watch calories burned: N/A since I did not go to the gym.

Exercise:
Walking around Indianapolis, and vigorous fashion show movements?

Food:
Woo boy!  So breakfast was turkey sausage, one whole egg with 2 egg beaters on a whole wheat english muffin.  Lunch was a bowl of leftover hot and sour soup, veggies with 1/2 cup brown rice, and an orowheat bun and meatloaf sandwich.  Dinner is where things went "unhealthy."  My counselor at camp Essara always said that it wasn't a "cheat" that we just choose to eat unhealthy sometimes and that is just part of your life.  I think it is actually a great way to look at it.  I do not feel guilty about the food I ate as now I am going back to eating well the rest of the time.  One unhealthy choice does not have ot mean a series of them.  Bad foods are a part of life and to be enjoyed in moderation.  Cutting them out completely would be to give them too much control over me.  Anyway, onto the food I ate...  First I had an amazingly creamy portabello mushroom soup!  It was crazy thick and amazing!  Next came a Sicilian meatball appetizer which had marinara and pistachios in it and was surprisingly good.  Last but not least was the chicken parmesan!  It was great, not the best I have ever had, but still really good.  I actually did only eat half of the chicken and pasta because I was stuffed, but when we got home at 2am I finished it (oh how naughty!) and now there is nothing in the fridge to cheat with, that is good right?  I had one bourbon and diet coke with dinner as well and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Last but not least at all for my cheating was a medium sized bag of peanut M&Ms at the movies.  I think Jen had 6 and I ate the rest.  Bad bad bad, but so good good good.  There are some pictures of this stuff at the end of the weekly album if you are interested.

Pictures/Slideshow:

At home Day 5, eating out and not cheating!

Thoughts/Comments:
Today was a great day for food considering two of my meals were eaten at two of my favorite restaurants and with great company.  To cap the day off I took my wife shopping for her birthday/anniversary/valentines day present at the Kenwood Mall in Cincinnati and she got a purse she absolutely loves.  The cherry on top was that we came to an upgrade agreement on on Iphones that allowed me to get an Iphone 4 at the Apple store!  I am pretty excited, and played with the silly new device all the way home.  We also went Whole Foods and I got some great stuff to take home and cook.  We have no Whole Foods or Fresh Market in Richmond so it is always great to get some quality groceries when we can.

I got to catch up with some friends I have not seen since before I left for camp and that is always great.  Today was an amazing day, and tomorrow is "Unhealthy meal day" which means I get to actually indulge in some nice things in Indianapolis.  We are going there with a fairly big group to see the private premiere of my friend Zack's new movie Scalene (which was filmed here in Richmond.)  Full disclosure my wife and I are investors in it, and she actually got to do a little on screen work as a doctor in it.  Fun stuff!

Statistics:
I have lost my fitbit and worry for it's safety...  Come home little guy!  We miss you!

Watch Calories Burned: 690 calories for a treading class and dynamic stretch class

Exercise:
Today I was lucky enough to do a little training for my wife.  We did a treading class today, and she did incline instead of speed for difficulty.  She can job 5ks now, but the incline really helped challenge her today I think.  Also, I took her through a stretch class I would go to on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays at the resort that Sam taught.  I burned 690 calories and she seemed to be pretty close to that as well.

Food:
We were running very late today getting the kids ready for school so breakfast for both of us was a Lara Bar.    I also had about 8oz of skim milk, so it was all good.  Lunch was at El Rodeo mexican, and I was proud to not eat the chips and salsa!  I had 3 corn tortilla shells and chicken and veggie fajitas with some salsa on them.  It was great and I got to catch up with my friends Zack and Kevin.  Dinner was amazing at PF Changs, I was suprised to find so many good options calorie wise.  The sodium content is too high, but the taste to calorie ratio is off the charts.  I had 3 small cups of the soup (120 calories total,) and 1 serving of shrimp with lobster sauce on brown rice (315 calories.)  Splitting the dinner with Jen turned out great for both of us.

Pictures/Slideshow:
Added some more pictures to the weekly album!

At home Day 3, hump day and still going...

Thoughts/Comments:
It was a decent day except for the fact that my foot is a bit hurt.  There is a crack in the bottom of my foot that is quite painful, and amusing that I am home and not walking 6-12 miles a day and now my foot gets hurt.  Very annoying, but I am sure I can get past it.  I still managed a good workout today.

It was nice to have the kids in school and at parents morning out.  I was able to go to Starbucks and catch up on some reading after the gym and that is always nice.  I love going there and people watching and missed it quite a bit while I was at the resort.  I have switched drinks from coffee with cream and splenda to green tea and less splenda.  I think less calories and less caffeine will help me out.  It worked at the resort so no reason to rock the boat too much.  I also have not been drink diet cokes/coke zero except on my less healthy day of the week, and perhaps when I go to the movies.  I have been drinking plain water and crystal lite pure fit in my water as well.

Statistics:
I walked 7,045 steps and 3.3 miles and burned 3,443 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch calories burned: 615 during workout session


Exercise:
At the gym today I did a treading class, and then afterwards a did a Sam style dynamic stretch session.  For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about it is a session that first starts out warming muscles by using them (think lunges, squats, kicks etc etc) and then goes back through and stretches the warm muscles with typical stretch poses.  It is both a good stretch and workout.  I can get it mostly done in 30 minutes and it is 45 minutes at the resort.  My total calories burned was 615, and I did not get to my kettlebells since I woke up late and was beat after the kids went to bed.  Perhaps less Starbucks and more swinging is in order?

My foot is bothering me pretty bad and I may have to take it easy on the treadmill for a day or so to heal.  It is an open cut/sore on the foot and it hurts bad.

Food:
For breakfast I had a egg and turkey sausage english muffin, lunch was a turkey burger and veggies with leftover mushroom soup, and dinner was chicken bbq pizzas from the resort cookbook with chocolate covered strawberries as a dessert.  Have you noticed a theme for desserts?  I still think the resort should offer them as an option every night.

Slideshow/Pictures:

Day 25, Zumthru (Zuma straight through) accomplished, rest of the week is gonna be cake!

Thoughts/Comments:
Today was a tough but rewarding day.  My big goal for the week was to do the full Zuma hike straight through.  We finished it at 10:30 which was plenty of time to spare!  It has been great setting and making goals while here.  I feel like I have accomplished everything I set out to do so far while here.  I am so ready to go home right now to see my wife and kids though.  I thought at the beginning that I would wish I had another 4 to 8 weeks so I could get much more of my weight goal out of the way, but at this point I think I would go crazy without my family.  I really want to come back, but I will need to prove I can be successful at home to get green lit on that.

I really can't thank the staff here enough.  Everyone from the front desk staff, kitchen staff, housecleaning, to the trainers, hiking guides, dietitians, and life coaches are just the most supportive people I have ever run into.  I think no matter what your fitness level there is something to be gained from being in such a positive atmosphere.  No matter how fit you are you can challenge yourself here and get your mind in the right place for your goals.

Statistics:
I walked 23,164 steps and 11.4 miles and burned 5,258 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B
6S6


Watch calories stats: 4050 calories burned!


Hike/Exercise:
The hike today, as I mentioned above, was Zuma straight through.  Zuma is usually split up into Zuma Ridge and Zuma reverse.  They are out and back hikes and are two of the toughest here in my opinion (and others.) Starting last week they have been doing a straight through hike where you start at Zuma ridge and go all the way to the end of Zuma reverse.  They actually have to leave a van at a different place to get us back.  It was so awesome to conquer that hike and to keep up with so many quick hikers today.  I last did Zuma reverse my first week and it nearly killed me.  


I had a personal training session with Michael and 3 other people today.  I am getting very comfortable throwing the kettlebell around and I think that the other people there were impressed by it, and hopefully motivated.  Michael has taught me so much so quickly, and I am very appreciative for it.  Again I recommend a personal training session to challenge yourself here.  It really does take you to your limits.

The rest of the day was pretty normal.  I did a stretch class after the hike, then treading class after lunch.  For my last two classes I did two water sessions, one with Sam and the other with Megan and they really kicked our collective butts in the water.  Good stuff, and some great calorie burns.

Food:
Breakfast was an egg and bacon sandwich which was good as usual.  Lunch was a greek pita with a side salad and french onion soup.  That lunch is awesome! Dinner was stuffed chicken with marinara, rice and broccoli.  Very tasty, and once again I added a little ketchup and pretended my broccoli were fries.

Pictures/Slideshow:

Day 22, Last Monday and last assessment hike of my stay

Thoughts/Comments:
It is weird starting out the last week for a few reasons.  The first being that 44 people left last week and only 53 (of 80 possible) people are here at the resort this week.  So many new faces and small classes.  Though I have lost many of my friends here through attrition my bonds with others are growing stronger so all of that works out.

For people that are reading this and are planning to come out here a few things I recommend you try before you leave.  A personal training session with someone that will push you past your comfort zone.  Try a difficult hike so that you go home knowing you can do it.  Also, I recommend at least one 2 minute cardio session on the Jacobs ladder in the gym.  It is this crazy 45 degree infinite ladder that moves at your speed.  It is intimidating, but as with all things here you will discover that you can do more than you imagine.  It is amazing what the body gets used to.

Statistics:
I walked 20,986 steps and 12.6 miles and burned 5,395 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch Calories burned: 4300 calories!


Hike/Exercise:
The LAST assessment hike today was Newton Canyon.  Sorry I didn't take many pictures but I have taken them there before and I was really hoofing it today.  I kept up with the front guide and was rewarded by backtracking up hills to make the hike last longer. Also, I was informed I was in the "fast" van this week.  I am pretty nervous about that since I know how fast some of the hikers here are.  This week there will only be 6 of us in that van.  I know we are doing the FULL zuma hike this week which I actually am sort of excited about.  It is one of the few things I have not done here that is still intimidating.  I will feel complete leaving here with that crossed off.  It is also cool to think that someone will have to drive a van around a few mountains to pick us up.  Who would have thought I would be doing this week 1?


As far as classes went I had stretch with Sam in the morning and ended up burning 400 calories (that is more than my pool and some cardio classes.)  After the hike I went to stretch, then the afternoon classes were,  core with Megan where I had a great core workout and will be sore today I bet, then the last two were water classes, and finally circuit training.  In circuit training I did my last two - two minute intervals on the Jacobs ladder.  It was crazy hard and my heart rate was 170 most of the time but I did it.  I plan on doing more this week since it is really challenging and yet still less intimidating now.


Food:
Well breakfast was turkey sausage, eggs and soy cheese on an english muffin.  It is so much better than it sounds!  Lunch was tortilla soup, which is thick, rich and full of flavor and a turkey sandwich with a dressed salad.  Finally, dinner was chicken, polenta and asparagus which was decent and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.  


Pictures/Slideshow:




Here are three from yesterday I did not post:

Day 5, a walk on the beach

Well on an annoying note I got a splinter in my hand from the handrail on my cabin.  There actually were two splinters but with a push pin and plastic tweezers I got one out.  I am worried about the other one, and it hurts my palm to do quite a bit now, but I can suck it up for the most part.  Jen says it may get infected, but lets hope to not cross that path.

So the day started with a great stretch class.  This one was taught by Sam again.  His classes are good because they have the right balance of relaxation and core work in the stretching.  That set the day up for a good breakfast, which was a veggie fritata, mixed fruit and a hard boiled egg I took with me on the morning hike.  We found out that our hike was going to be the beach hike so I was excited to be on a scenic hike I could actually enjoy this time.

Here is the link to pictures and the slideshow.  I still haven't had time to work on image integration like I want:






Here is a link to the gallery.

The hike was great, and it was a good workout.  I actually signed up for a Saturday hike to do this one again. We walked the street on the first beach because there were two sets of guests doing the hike (they took the sand) and then it was up and over a huge ridge and down it to the next beach.  There was a nice shipwreck on the next beach, as well as some cool tide pools.  One of the guides was swinging around off the mast of the leaned over shipwreck.  I have a video and some pics taken of it above.  The walk back was not so great at the end since on the beach closest to our van was had to do the sand walk and it was much looser than the sand on the far beach.  I was dragging behind, but I finished it at a run as my fellow guests made a nice tunnel for me to run through at the end.

The class after the hike was H2O intervals, and then it was onto lunch.  Lunch was vegetable soup, which was good by itself, but I added some rooster hot sauce and mung beans to and that turned out even better. The main course was a sloppy joe and salad, and it was pretty tasty.

The first class of the afternoon was cardio disco jam which is apparently many of the women's favorite class.  It was actually pretty fun and a good workout.  It invovles dancing to disco music, and our trainer John dressed up as a crazy disco man.  I wish I had my camera for that.  Next week I will get a picture.  He did a great job teaching the dance moves and we burned a ton of calories.  There was even a disco circle which everyone had to do a solo in...  Pretty embarrassing, but all in good fun.

The next two classes of the afternoon went by surprisingly fast, and those were Liquid Moves and Circuit Training.  I got a good calories burn, but was glad those were two of my last ones of the week.  I am ready to get my rest on.

Dinner was a salmon pattie sandwich and veggies.  I had to get some ketchup out.  It was my least favorite meal for dinner yet.  It was edible though, not poisonous.  The dessert was a fruit skewer with raspberry sauce.  Not as good as grilled pineapple, but decent enough.

After dinner I was invited to go to Target by a fellow guest and so three of us set out to buy some stuff we wanted to make the stay a little more comfortable.  I have to say driving by all the great restaurants was hard, but passing up the Starbucks in the Target was INCREDIBLY difficult.  I did it though, and now I have some cheaper flavored water here on campus.  Target charges 3.49 for 6 bottles of propel, camp charges 2 dollars per bottle.  Do the math on that one.  I loaded up!

That was the end of the day.  Now I am getting ready for breakfast and a good beach hike.  Hope everyone is having a great day!