Starting Week #5: Weigh in & This Week's Challenge

Let me start off by saying i've been lazy. I haven't written an entry in a week! I have no other explanation besides sheer laziness. Well, I have been busy! I've been busy losing weight! Ok, I can hear the crickets on that one...

Anyways, today is Monday and that means the end of one week and the start of another. In terms of eating, it was awesome. I controlled my cravings (most of the time), ate healthy most of the time and drank lots of green tea and water. I had no real special events this week either which helped me out quite a bit. The weekend, once again, proved to be a little difficult but I made it through. Friday night we went over to a friend's house and of course she had some delicious sweets on the table. I did have the sweets and I didn't really hold back either. I didn't over exaggerate but I did enjoy myself. Saturday night I got together with some other friends and they also had some snacks on the table as we played board games. I had a few candies (2 or 3) and half a glass of cola. That's it! One thing that is important to mention is that to compensate for the extra calories I took in during those times, I took in quite a few less calories during those days.

So that bring us to the question, did I lose weight this week? The answer is simply yes.

Weight: 233.0     Loss: -2.8lbs

This brings my total to 12.4lbs lost! I am very proud of myself, and I will admit ti did take lots of hard work and effort. Is it worth it? Hell yea! I feel better, look better and I fit into clothes I didn't fit into before. I even have to get rid of some clothes because they are too loose on me now! It's a great feeling.

A couple of weeks ago, I also set my rewards. My rewards were set at 10, 20 and 30lbs. Well, I have surpassed that 10lb mark so that means its poutine time for me! For those who don't know, poutine is a Quebecois specialty which consists of french fries topped with cheese curds topped with gravy. DELICIOUS! I now know what i'm doing on Saturday night!

Last but not least, it's time to talk about weekly challenges. In this aspect, I was a total failure. I did not go to the gym at all. I wanted to, but my mind was simply not there. There is no valid excuse for not going so I won't try and make one up. The week has come and gone and I can't take back what's been done (or not done in this case) but I can set myself another goal for this week. This week's challenge will be not to add extra salt to any meals or snack food. If the meal has salt in it, then fine, but I will not add more salt to what is already in it. I love salt and I usually put more than I should but I know this is not good for water retention. Some may argue that it isn't good for blood pressure either but evidence is inconclusive. Either way, I am going to cut down on my sodium intake this week!

Hope all of you had a great Monday and i'll catch you guys later this week. Good night.

Starting Week #4 - Weigh in & This Week's Challenge

So another week has come and gone. This past week, again, has been a success. The challenge was extremely difficult as eating at night is so natural to me. However, I did stick to it as much as I could have. During the week, I did not eat at night at all. I stopped eating way before my 9 o'clock curfew. On the weekend however it was a different story. I did eat after 9 p.m. but there were good reasons for it. Well, for Saturday and Sunday at least. We'll start on Friday. My girlfriend and I went for supper around 7:30 p.m. We Finished eating at around 9:30 p.m. Right there, I broke my challenge. When we got home that night, i'm not sure what I was thinking (or not thinking), but I ate some more. I only realized what I had done the next morning! Oh well, mistakes happen but the beginning of the week went great. Now, Saturday and Sunday were a little more excusable: there were birthday parties both days. Both those nights included delicious birthday cake, one of which was made by my girlfriend! If you really wanna know, it was absolutely delicious!

When I got home on Sunday night, I stepped on the scale. I was horrified because I had done well all week and the amount the scale was showing me that I had lost wasn't doing it justice. Anyways, I decided to sleep on it. When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was jump on the scale. I had lost what I deserved to lose!

Weight: 235.8     Loss: -4.6lbs

I am not at my 10lbs yet, but hopefully I will be next week! I am currently at 9.6lbs lost. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm already feeling better in my body, i'm looking better and i'm starting to fit into clothes that didn't fit before. Losing weight is definitely a great feeling of accomplishment.

The last part of this entry will be my weekly challenge. As you all know, every excuses is a good excuse not to go to the gym. I'm tired, I don't feel well, i'm stressed, etc. Well, i've used all these excuses and more! Not this week! This week I will go to the gym at least 3 times and do a strenuous workout each time. Pretty simple and straightforward i'd say. Not much else to say about this!

Anyways, it's getting late and tomorrow is going to be a stressful day at work. Wish me luck. Good night.

5 Tips for the Weighing Process

Over the years, i've compiled a few simple tips that will help you monitor your weight loss better. Weighing in properly seems like a simple enough task, but many people do it "wrong". When I started weighing myself at home, I realized that I would get inconsistent readings and eventually I compiled a list of things that I can do to help that. Here is that list:

• Weigh yourself at the same time in the day. Do not weigh yourself at 6 p.m. one week and at 6 a.m. the next. I suggest weighing in in the morning as soon as you wake up.
• Weigh yourself with the same clothes every week. Weighing in with your underwear will give more accurate results.
• Try to keep your scale on the same part of the floor at all times. Put it somewhere that doesn't disturb others, but keep it there, in the same place at all times.
• Try not to weigh yourself daily as it can quickly become an obsession. In addition, weighing yourself everyday can give you negative feedback about how your week is going when in reality you might have just drank a little more water that day. I suggest weighing in once a week.
• Jump on the scale confidently! Own your weight. If you lost, great. If you gained, well let that be a motivator and think back at your week and where you could improve.

Just checking in

This weekly challenge is proving to be very difficult. It is currently 12:03 a.m. and i'm thinking about all the things I would eat right now... I still have not broken it though! Just thought i'd let you all know.

This week has also been great in terms of eating healthy and eating smaller portions. I'm hoping it will continue to be despite 2 birthdays on the weekend. I will indulge on the weekend, but not too much! I don't want to throw away all i've done so far!

Time for bed. Goodnight everyone.

Starting Week #3 - Weigh in & This Week's Challenge

This past week has been a success in general. There were some days I felt deprived, some days I felt excellent and other days where I gave in to cravings. However, most of my cravings remained cravings and I did not satisfy them! I also continued my habit of drinking lots of water and I also incorporated lots of green tea.

What about last week's challenge of eating breakfast every day? That was also accomplished 100%. I ate breakfast everyday, and healthy breakfasts at that.

That leaves me with one last thing: my weight. So, did I lose yet again, or did I pack on the pounds because of my rare evening binge? Well, once again, I lost weight!

Weight: 240.4     Loss: -1.2lbs

You think that I would be jumping up and down for joy right? Well, to tell you the truth, when I saw that number on the scale, I wasn't. I felt a tad discouraged because I felt that I did (almost) everything right last week. I thought I was going to lose at least 2 pounds. I was feeling happy, but kind of discouraged at the same time. Then I thought to myself, at least I lost! I turned my negativity into positivity and I let that motivate me to do even better this week! I will continue to eat well, drink lots of water and green tea and I know my hard work will continue to pay off. Hey, I am still lighter than I was last week at this time!

Training your mind to staying positive is extremely difficult for me. It is something I have dealt with all my life as most people around me would call me a pessimist. I would like to argue that and call myself a realist, but that is a story for another day. In this case, ONLY positivity will work. There is no room for negativity at all. Working harder and better is all I can do right?

This brings me to my last point, and that is my weekly challenge. I was thinking what can I do that will help me lose weight and correct my mistakes from last week? Well, last week, most of binging was done in the evening. I'm sure that this is what allowed me to lose only 1.2lbs (i'm not being negative here, just stating a fact). This is nothing new to me as I would go as far as saying that I am addicted to eating at night. Sometimes, I feel like I cannot control my urges, however this week will be different. I will not eat anything after 9:00 p.m. this week. This will be my most difficult challenge yet and I will give you updates during the week letting you know how it goes.

That is all for now, have a good night and stay positive. 

27 Fat-Fighting Foods

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Can someone please remind me why we work for 5 days and have 2 days off and why it's not the other way around?

Anyways, WebMD posted a pretty interesting link on Twitter today. Thought I'd share the article/slideshow with you guys in case you missed it:

Fat-Burning Foods by WebMD

Have a good night and check back tomorrow to see if I lost weight again this week!

In the Garden of Eden

I've been doing very well on my journey so far, i've given in to very little temptation if any at all. Today was no different! However, this morning I literally felt like Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. I felt like I was being tempted to eat the forbidden "fruit". In this case, the so-called fruit was a Mars bar.

Let me start from the beginning. I'll try to keep it short. So it's 10:30 a.m. and it was time to open the restaurant. My first customer was a cheery old man. He was quite talkative and polite. All he wanted was a bag of chips and a pickle. So I serve him and he goes and sit down right in front of me. It took him about 20 minutes to eat what he bought. As he was getting ready to leave, zipping up his coat, he says "That was delicious!". I thought that was a little weird since it was just a bag of chips and a pickle. But anyways, he then approaches the counter where i'm standing and says "Now here, take this, a little treat from me to you". I saw him whip it out from the inside of a drug store bag. Its black wrapper glistened in the light. He laid it down on the counter and I stared at it for a moment. It was right there that I got this feeling like I was in the Garden of Eden. I was being tempted!

Coming back to reality, I didn't eat it! I took it and gave it to my first employee that walked in. She ate it thankfully so I didn't have to look at it all day. I felt great when all was said and done! Success is the greatest drug!

This week i've been having a few cravings. Some I gave into and most I didn't. The ones I did give into, I did so in moderation. Keeping at this journey is definitely difficult but I know that in the end it will payoff!

Keep sending me positive vibes!

Out.

Rewards are Important

Today I realized I haven't set up any rewards for myself. To tell you the truth, I never rewarded myself in the past when I had lost weight. Maybe, it happened a few times when I lost a bunch of weight on Weight Watchers, but i'm not even sure. Anyways, this time I decided it would be a good idea and a good motivator to do so. Since I like to eat, I decided to make all my rewards food. Fast food! Greasy fast food!! Hey, don't judge me! It's my rewards damnit! Just kidding, well here they are:

235.4 lbs: My 10 pound reward will be a delicious poutine. If you have no idea what a poutine is, click here. I will not have just any poutine, but I will reward myself with one of the best poutines in town from La Banquise

225.4 lbs: My 20 pound reward will also be a Montreal staple. We are known for our Smoked Meat here and what better place to have it them the world renown Schwartz's Deli. We are lucky to have such great food in this city. Their smoked meat is to die for by the way, so if you're ever in the city, it's definitely worth the calories!

215.4 lbs: My 30 pound reward will be a big one. 30 pounds will be the most amount of weight I lost since my Weight Watchers days so I want to celebrate that with a nice evening out. There is this high end buffet restaurant in downtown Montreal called The Tour de Ville that I love but haven't been to in a while. It is a panoramic, revolving restaurant sitting at the top of a beautiful downtown Montreal hotel. Every few months they change their theme (country) and serve traditional foods from that country. I would like to celebrate this evening with my wonderful girlfriend who must deal with me during this journey! Hehe

If I do plan to lose more weight after this, I will rethink more rewards. Have a good night all.

Starting Week #2 - Weigh in & This Week's Challenge

Week number 1 is behind me. Overall, I think it was a great success! I won't make this entry too long since I am kind of busy today but I still figured it was important to share my progress with you all. So the big question is, did I lose weight or not? The answer, I am happy to report, is YES! I lost a total of  3.8lbs. I am extremely happy with this number as I did work very hard this past week. I don't say this very often but I am proud of myself.

Weight: 241.6     Loss: -3.8lbs

This week's challenge will be to eat breakfast every single morning, no excuses. This won't be too difficult even though I rarely eat breakfast. Everyone says it's the most important meal of the day but I usually skip on it anyways. This is why I chose this challenge. Not because of its difficulty but because it will allow me to feel more full for a longer period of time and will dissuade me from eating cookies, brownies and other junk items at work. I don't give myself enough time to prepare something to eat in the morning but this week, I will wake up a few minutes early and do it!

I'll be back in a few days with some news and maybe something interesting to share with you all.

Successful Weekend

When i'm watching what I eat, I usually fear the weekends. Friends, fun and unhealthy food are usually the way my weekends go! I usually eat much more when i'm having a good time, so being around friends and having chips, cookies, beer and all those delicious things around me is dangerous. Now, i'm not saying I gave all those things up. That would be just stupid. The point is not to deprive yourself and rewards are definitely necessary, but in my case I know what when i'm in a good mood and having fun, I no longer have control over what I eat and how much of it I eat. So that's why, at least on the weekends, I want to try to stay away from junk food as much as I can.

Last night my girlfriend and I went over to a friend's house. It was a chill night watching hockey, playing games and conversing. There was obviously food around, however, to my surprise it was almost all healthy stuff! We also brought a bag of pretzels (replacing the chips) and my girlfriend decided to bring some candy. For the record, candy is something I have no problem avoiding. I do no crave it, nor do I really like it. Anyways, our friends had prepared a beautiful veggie platter with a yogurt based dip. There were carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes and green peppers. My routine was the same: I was having a good time so I just kept stuffing my face. (I know this is something I should work on in the near future but one thing at a time). I just kept eating these veggies and these pretzels all night and I felt guilt free after all was said and done!
 

Pretzels are a delicious alternative to chips and other salty no-no's. They are crunchy, salty and take a while to chew and completely swallow so in the end you eat less of them. My brand of choice are the Rold Gold Sticks (See image). Per serving size (about 90 pretzels), they contain 190 calories, 0 grams of fat, 2 grams of fibre and 4 grams of protein. During the times when I had lost a large portion of my weight, these were a staple in my pantry. They were a quick, filling and satisfying snack. I definitely reccomend keeping a bag or two close by. If you really want to control your portions, you can also measure out portions in small, resealable bags.

All in all, this weekend was successful in my eyes. Were there things I could've changed? Probably, but right now i'm concentrating on the good and this weekend there was lots of that! Here's to ending the week a few pounds lighter!

Have a great rest of the weekend and make sure to check back tomorrow for my weigh-in!

Let your Haters be your Motivators

Everyone who has ever struggled with weight loss knows that there are haters all around them. We like to think that everyone is giving us a pat on the back and some inspiration but that is simply not true. Haters are all around and these are the people who like to discourage us from achieving our goal. These people either have a lack of confidence or they do not believe in us.

What I will say next will probably be of some shock to you but it is the truth: These "haters" are usually the people closest to us. Yep, just think about it for a second. Did someone come to mind? Chances are they are a coworker, a friend or even a close relative or family member. My haters come in the form of family members. I know it sounds ridiculous, but from experience, this is what i've noticed. Like i've said in a previous entry, i've been on a yo-yo for a while. Maybe it's all those times that i've gained back weight that makes them doubt me and send negativity my way? Fair enough I guess.

So what are some options on how to deal with this? Basically, the way I see it you've got 2 options. 1) Accept it, let it fester inside and eat you from the inside out, or 2) Turn that hate into MOTIVATION! I definitely prefer option number 2. Show them you can! Prove them wrong! Turn the negative words into positive actions!

Don't let it get you down. Haters will always exist. There will always be someone who will not believe in you, no matter what aspect of your life. It's up to you to deal with it in the right way. Who knows, maybe one day you will thank those people for saying all those negative comments because they will be the reason you stuck to your goal.

A Slight Change

Today was my first real day of starting my weight loss journey. My weekly challenge was to not eat food from work (I work at a restaurant). I already broke it, HOWEVER, I realized that it is not realistic, nor is it wise. I would like to make a small change to that challenge and say that I will not eat any unhealthy food from my work such as cookies, deli meats, soft drinks and fatty sauces. This, I did keep on track with. I had a vegetarian whole wheat wrap. The veggies are all fresh and nothing is processed. My choice of sauce was delicious dijon mustard. Also, I drank LOTS of water. I must've been in the washroom at least 6 times.

Tonight will also be a challenge as I usually eat uncontrallably at night. Eating at night is my single biggest problem. I will still eat but try to eat healthier things such as maybe a fruit, yogurt and some nuts. I will also gradually decrease my portion sizes.

Let you all know how this works out!

So it starts

With the holidays over, it's time to get on track. Like I said, my goal is to lose some weight and keep it off. This blog is actually one tool that i'm using to help me achieve this. Every Monday I will be weighing myself and posting my progress right here. I will also be posting about my weekly challenge. Let's get right to it.

This week, my challenge is to eat no food from the restaurant I work at. This will prove a little difficult since i'm there for most of my day but i'm sure I can achieve it with a little will power.

Weight: 245.4