Down only 1/2 lb this week but have been getting comments that I'm looking good. Have also needed to cinch the belt another notch.
Went out on a date night with my wife Saturday night and was thinking "oh well, there goes the diet for today". Was pleasantly surprised when I was satisfied after having a half "serving" of the jambalya. Took the other half home and had it for lunch on Sunday. The second half filled a large soup bowl at home! Last time I was at Buzzard Billy's, about a year ago, finishing the dish was not too much of a problem. Feeling good about focussing on reducing portions, it's starting to become a habit.
Picked up a music stand from the band leader of a band I was in 8 years ago. He is starting a new band but already has a bass player. Anyway he was auditioning for singers and contacted one of them about singing with our uke group. Jeff called me last night, he didn't quite have the chops to be the lead singer, and the stage lead, for a Tower of Power revival band but maybe it will work if we decide to put a small uke group together and play coffee houses? Will talk with the other uke players in our off-night jam sessions and see if they're interested in bringing in a person devoted to vocals.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
It's Monday
My personal computer croaked Friday, need to to do a little catch up...
It's Monday and I'm back down to 220.4. Starting to get the hang of smaller portions. Only a sample of the foods Friday night at the party, shared a bottle of wine instead of a beer binge, kept the brownies down to only having 1/2 piece. I enjoy chocolate in many forms.
Saturday night went to see an acoustic guitar player who writes his own music. We played in a band together in the mid-80s, haven't seen much of him since then. Anyway, he pulled out a ukulele and did a few songs with it. First time to bring it on stage which made some of the gruesome "killer ballads" humorous. Remember one of the lines being "she gave me that look so I shot out both eyes". Kept portions down there too, one latte, no dessert.
Sunday played disc golf at our local course for a few hours during leagues with temps in the mid 40s, then at night we got an inch of snow. For dinner we had a family pizza night and got the taco pizza. It's basically a beef pizza with taco sauce in place of tomato sauce, then after baking some lettuce is placed on top. Had two slices of the taco pizza. Typically I have three or four, along with cheese bread, and used to have ice cream after that. Ugh! Yes, reduced portions is the way to go for me right now. Can work on better food selections along the way too.
Monday morning I woke up a little late, then scooped the snow from the driveway which took up the time spent to make breakfast. Stopped at McDonalds and got one egg McMuffin instead of the "meal" which adds 12oz of OJ and the hash brown patty. Reducing portions. They had a buy-one-get-one free deal so there's breakfast for tomorrow too.
It's Monday and I'm back down to 220.4. Starting to get the hang of smaller portions. Only a sample of the foods Friday night at the party, shared a bottle of wine instead of a beer binge, kept the brownies down to only having 1/2 piece. I enjoy chocolate in many forms.
Saturday night went to see an acoustic guitar player who writes his own music. We played in a band together in the mid-80s, haven't seen much of him since then. Anyway, he pulled out a ukulele and did a few songs with it. First time to bring it on stage which made some of the gruesome "killer ballads" humorous. Remember one of the lines being "she gave me that look so I shot out both eyes". Kept portions down there too, one latte, no dessert.
Sunday played disc golf at our local course for a few hours during leagues with temps in the mid 40s, then at night we got an inch of snow. For dinner we had a family pizza night and got the taco pizza. It's basically a beef pizza with taco sauce in place of tomato sauce, then after baking some lettuce is placed on top. Had two slices of the taco pizza. Typically I have three or four, along with cheese bread, and used to have ice cream after that. Ugh! Yes, reduced portions is the way to go for me right now. Can work on better food selections along the way too.
Monday morning I woke up a little late, then scooped the snow from the driveway which took up the time spent to make breakfast. Stopped at McDonalds and got one egg McMuffin instead of the "meal" which adds 12oz of OJ and the hash brown patty. Reducing portions. They had a buy-one-get-one free deal so there's breakfast for tomorrow too.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Andy Gains Weight
Got on the scale this morning, 223. Gain of 3 pounds since Saturday. Ugh... gotta stick with reduced portions and stop dreaming of potato chips!
"Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin" is an article shared with my boss this morning. She's a bit of a masochist in my opinion and ran her first marathon two months ago, on an injured hip bone and after her Dr said "no". She flew to Texas for the run, complained it was poorly organized, very hot, not nearly enough water, and one person died during the race. She invited me to a boot camp training on Saturday morning at 7:00am about 25 miles from home. No thanks. My focus is to reduce portions, and mildly increase movement throughout the day. We are built to continue to move through out the day as oppossed to sitting at a desk then have a huge burst of physical exercise. There will be setbacks, as with any endeavor. Keeping my hopes up, and drive.
Tonight is a party with old friends, food will be served. Tend to have a great time at these gatherings, hang around and be one of the last to leave, and snack plenty during the evening. Going to hold it down to smaller portions. Realize that inhibitions creep up when with the old friends, the enablers. If it gets difficult I can leave after 60 - 90 minutes. Got places to go, people to see... books to read, and ukes to practice. :)
"Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin" is an article shared with my boss this morning. She's a bit of a masochist in my opinion and ran her first marathon two months ago, on an injured hip bone and after her Dr said "no". She flew to Texas for the run, complained it was poorly organized, very hot, not nearly enough water, and one person died during the race. She invited me to a boot camp training on Saturday morning at 7:00am about 25 miles from home. No thanks. My focus is to reduce portions, and mildly increase movement throughout the day. We are built to continue to move through out the day as oppossed to sitting at a desk then have a huge burst of physical exercise. There will be setbacks, as with any endeavor. Keeping my hopes up, and drive.
Tonight is a party with old friends, food will be served. Tend to have a great time at these gatherings, hang around and be one of the last to leave, and snack plenty during the evening. Going to hold it down to smaller portions. Realize that inhibitions creep up when with the old friends, the enablers. If it gets difficult I can leave after 60 - 90 minutes. Got places to go, people to see... books to read, and ukes to practice. :)
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Another Good Day
Had a dream this morning about eating Ruffles potato chips and French Onion dip. WTF?!
Breakfast smoothie: Hand full of frozen berries (Sam's Club assortment), 1/3 cup Greek style plain yogurt, scoop of protein powder with whey, table spoon of wheat germ, 1/2 cup 1% milk, hand full of ice cubes, blended with the Ninja blender in the 16 oz attachment cup, and eat it right out of the cup.
Went home yesterday for lunch and started the crock pot, it had a roast, sliced potatoes and carrots the wife put in the refrigerator the night before. Showed restraint and only had one slice for dinner, along with about 1/2 of a potato and equivalent of one carrot.
Oh yea, and lunch was the left over chicken soup made from scratch on Sunday.
Breakfast smoothie: Hand full of frozen berries (Sam's Club assortment), 1/3 cup Greek style plain yogurt, scoop of protein powder with whey, table spoon of wheat germ, 1/2 cup 1% milk, hand full of ice cubes, blended with the Ninja blender in the 16 oz attachment cup, and eat it right out of the cup.
Went home yesterday for lunch and started the crock pot, it had a roast, sliced potatoes and carrots the wife put in the refrigerator the night before. Showed restraint and only had one slice for dinner, along with about 1/2 of a potato and equivalent of one carrot.
Oh yea, and lunch was the left over chicken soup made from scratch on Sunday.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Day 3 of Week 2
Met two other local uke players to watch/listen to a the solo performance of "All Young Girls Are Machine Guns" last night at a small coffee shop. It was in the neighborhood of where I went to Jr High. When leaving I had a good memory of being dropped off by Dad with my Peavy T-40 electric bass guitar at the bakery a block away, buying a donut and sometimes a brownie, then walking about 5 blocks to school lugging the bass along for first period Jr High jazz band. Who knew that would turn into a career, then fall away. Playing has again returned in my life as a hobby.
Oh yea, it's a "losing weight" blog. Breakfast was one cage free chicken egg cooked over-easy, sprinkled dried parsley flakes and a dash Louisiana Hot Sauce, one slice of whole grain toast with chunky peanut butter, and about 8 oz of 1% milk. Only 10:00am and I'm not feeling satisfied, but it's plenty of food for breakfast... just need to adjust.
Oh yea, it's a "losing weight" blog. Breakfast was one cage free chicken egg cooked over-easy, sprinkled dried parsley flakes and a dash Louisiana Hot Sauce, one slice of whole grain toast with chunky peanut butter, and about 8 oz of 1% milk. Only 10:00am and I'm not feeling satisfied, but it's plenty of food for breakfast... just need to adjust.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
End of Week 1
Dropped from 222.8 to 220.4 so that's 2.4 pounds. Seems like such a small amount but I hear that can be a good thing. At least it's in the right direction especially considering my weight was 224 two weeks ago when first cutting back portions.
Made chicken noodle soup from scratch for the family for dinner. New experience to boil a whole chicken in the stock pot. Never made chicken soup from scratch, was actually pretty easy and everyone enjoyed it. Chicken, natural broth (strained), carrots, celery, onion and spices. Sounds wholesome.
Spent a couple hours in the afternoon playing in disc golf (Frisbee) leagues. It's a great sport, that's part of the reason we moved to this location. The course is only 6 blocks away from our home. And by the way there's a Professional Disc Golf Association and I am the State Coordinator to the group for Nebraska. Whooo. lol...
Tomorrow we're going snow skiing all day, that will burn plenty of calories! There is actually a ski run about 70 miles away called Mt Crescent. Not much of a place, but it is exercise and good practice for the kids to get accustomed to the ski equipment before going to the Rocky Mountains.
Tomorrow night a group from Omaha with a ukulele playing lead singer will be performing at a coffee house only about 6 miles from home. The group is called "All Young Girls Are Machine Guns". Heard them last fall at a uke fest in Omaha. The bass player was using an acoustic uBass too! Other performers at the Ukulele Hoopla were Pops Bayless, Brook Adams, Kimmo Hussey, and as if that is not enough the local group 4 Strings of Swing were stunning (especially the female singer/violinist).
Made chicken noodle soup from scratch for the family for dinner. New experience to boil a whole chicken in the stock pot. Never made chicken soup from scratch, was actually pretty easy and everyone enjoyed it. Chicken, natural broth (strained), carrots, celery, onion and spices. Sounds wholesome.
Spent a couple hours in the afternoon playing in disc golf (Frisbee) leagues. It's a great sport, that's part of the reason we moved to this location. The course is only 6 blocks away from our home. And by the way there's a Professional Disc Golf Association and I am the State Coordinator to the group for Nebraska. Whooo. lol...
Tomorrow we're going snow skiing all day, that will burn plenty of calories! There is actually a ski run about 70 miles away called Mt Crescent. Not much of a place, but it is exercise and good practice for the kids to get accustomed to the ski equipment before going to the Rocky Mountains.
Tomorrow night a group from Omaha with a ukulele playing lead singer will be performing at a coffee house only about 6 miles from home. The group is called "All Young Girls Are Machine Guns". Heard them last fall at a uke fest in Omaha. The bass player was using an acoustic uBass too! Other performers at the Ukulele Hoopla were Pops Bayless, Brook Adams, Kimmo Hussey, and as if that is not enough the local group 4 Strings of Swing were stunning (especially the female singer/violinist).
Friday, January 13, 2012
Day 6
Had a good time with a fellow ukester coming over last night for a couple hours. First time we got together. We chatted a lot about the local group and played quite a few songs. The two hours went by way too quickly. Will probably get together again next week. Seemed my kids didn't quite know what to think... yea, we can actually make some descent music with these things!
Had several hoppy beers too, and that can't be good for the biggest loser contest. Consider it a compromise in meeting a new friend.
Had several hoppy beers too, and that can't be good for the biggest loser contest. Consider it a compromise in meeting a new friend.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Day 5
Got on the scale this morning, up a half pound. Arrgh.... Must have been the increased water consumption?
Heard something interesting on the radio this morning from somethingyoushouldknow.net, exercising makes you hungry. Eating less makes you lose weight. Most of us tie the two together and assume that any weight loss regiment must include exercise.
Discussed The Daily Ukulele book at our jam last night. Only our group leader was not interested, several others already have the book and are using it. One guy got the book shortly after getting his uke a year ago and was intimidated by it, which I find odd because many of the songs we play are written in "short hand" and are also in the book. Bottom line, our jam session host CGS Music will be ordering 6 copies for the 6 people that want the book (including the leader who later changed his mind). Folks were talking about ordering it online, I pointed out it would be nice to support Bob since he stays open late allowing us to play there twice a month. People decided to pay full price and support Bob. Keeping some money local, and a sign of support for our host. Yeah!
Heard something interesting on the radio this morning from somethingyoushouldknow.net, exercising makes you hungry. Eating less makes you lose weight. Most of us tie the two together and assume that any weight loss regiment must include exercise.
Discussed The Daily Ukulele book at our jam last night. Only our group leader was not interested, several others already have the book and are using it. One guy got the book shortly after getting his uke a year ago and was intimidated by it, which I find odd because many of the songs we play are written in "short hand" and are also in the book. Bottom line, our jam session host CGS Music will be ordering 6 copies for the 6 people that want the book (including the leader who later changed his mind). Folks were talking about ordering it online, I pointed out it would be nice to support Bob since he stays open late allowing us to play there twice a month. People decided to pay full price and support Bob. Keeping some money local, and a sign of support for our host. Yeah!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Day 4
That's right, I'm LOOSING weight to lose weight. Either that or it's a common typo.
Watched the college football championship last night at the bar with my wife. Gin & tonic is not a recommended dinner but I do think it's less calories than a few bottles of Bush Light. Had a breakfast bagel this morning from Brugger's Bagels. Chose the whole grain for more fiber, sausage, egg and provolone cheese. Kind of makes up for the missed dinner last night, maybe?
I'll get the hang of this thing. Need to muster up more determination.
And tonight is the uke jam! Will talk tonight a little about everyone getting The Daily Ukulele. Currently the group only uses pdfs.
Watched the college football championship last night at the bar with my wife. Gin & tonic is not a recommended dinner but I do think it's less calories than a few bottles of Bush Light. Had a breakfast bagel this morning from Brugger's Bagels. Chose the whole grain for more fiber, sausage, egg and provolone cheese. Kind of makes up for the missed dinner last night, maybe?
I'll get the hang of this thing. Need to muster up more determination.
And tonight is the uke jam! Will talk tonight a little about everyone getting The Daily Ukulele. Currently the group only uses pdfs.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Day 2
Day 2, had a good out doors time picking up trash in Tierra Park for an hour then hosting and playing in a disc golf fund raiser for the Food Bank of Lincoln. We had 13 participants and raised $168 with registration and raffle prizes.
Had a single bowl of cereal (honey nut cherios) for breakfast, along with several cups of coffee. A single chicken burrito and iced tea for lunch. Tammy made tacos for dinner. Using the giant "stand up" hard shells I only had three. Those things are huge, will limit it to two next time. And then of course a Paczki which Eli brought home from Russ's this afternoon. A Paczki is known as a Berliner in German, which reminded me of President Kennedy saying "Ich bin ein Berliner." The use of "ein" changes the meaning of Berliner so that he basically called himself a jelly donut. Americans think this is funny, Germans don't care and are just glad the USA stepped up to help keep Berlin from being overcome by communism in the early 1960s.
Had a single bowl of cereal (honey nut cherios) for breakfast, along with several cups of coffee. A single chicken burrito and iced tea for lunch. Tammy made tacos for dinner. Using the giant "stand up" hard shells I only had three. Those things are huge, will limit it to two next time. And then of course a Paczki which Eli brought home from Russ's this afternoon. A Paczki is known as a Berliner in German, which reminded me of President Kennedy saying "Ich bin ein Berliner." The use of "ein" changes the meaning of Berliner so that he basically called himself a jelly donut. Americans think this is funny, Germans don't care and are just glad the USA stepped up to help keep Berlin from being overcome by communism in the early 1960s.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Day 1
A group of people at ukuleleunderground.com have a Biggest Loser contest which starts today and runs for 12 weeks. There are weekly prizes and a grand prize of a new fancy ukulele.
The prizes are nice, the goal is to lose weight. I'm currently 223 pounds and have oscillated between 210 and 220 for at least the last 5 years. Could loose weight by dropping one product, beer. I like to hang out with my friends for a little while after work to converse and such. We always drink beer though. For twelve weeks I can drink something else such as coffee, tea, or water.
Second area to reduce calories is a smaller lunch. I eat out for lunch nearly every day and feel compelled clean the plate. Bringing a lunch to work will help reduce calories, and reduce spending.
Third idea is to follow the advice of a smart women, my Grandmother. She said to "walk a mile a day", and she lived by that. Commuting on the bicycle to and from work is acceptable too, it's 5.5 miles each way and takes about 30 minutes.
Ok, now get out there and MOVE.
The prizes are nice, the goal is to lose weight. I'm currently 223 pounds and have oscillated between 210 and 220 for at least the last 5 years. Could loose weight by dropping one product, beer. I like to hang out with my friends for a little while after work to converse and such. We always drink beer though. For twelve weeks I can drink something else such as coffee, tea, or water.
Second area to reduce calories is a smaller lunch. I eat out for lunch nearly every day and feel compelled clean the plate. Bringing a lunch to work will help reduce calories, and reduce spending.
Third idea is to follow the advice of a smart women, my Grandmother. She said to "walk a mile a day", and she lived by that. Commuting on the bicycle to and from work is acceptable too, it's 5.5 miles each way and takes about 30 minutes.
Ok, now get out there and MOVE.
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