Days 17-18

The weekend with Devin was lots of fun and I went over both days.  The first day I ate 2,500 calories and the second I had 2,700.  There were lots of temptations and I caved at the end of the day both times.  I started out strong then failed.  I know I lost weight because I burned more but I still went over my 1,500 calorie requirement.  If I can't control myself better in these situations I won't succeed.  As I write this I know today is a new day and I just need to move on and keep trying.  I just need to keep in mind that I'm not perfect and I can't expect perfection and if I do I will fail entirely.

-Michael

Day 16 Logans steakhouse=YUM!!!

Well today I went to Tulsa to see my friend Devin.  We ended up going to Logans steakhouse and I got the "Santa Fe" tilapia.  I must say it was so amazing,  I have never had grilled fish with such a great texture. They had skewers off veggies as a side, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions.  I also had a fairly small rice pilaf and I mixed it with some sliced mushrooms.  Overall I had about 1,550 calories and it was so nice to finish the day off with a few almonds and pecans.  As for exercise most of what I got was walking from my apartment to the bus terminal which is about 1.2-1.5 miles.  The funny part is that I was carrying about the equivalent weight of what I had lost.  It was difficult!!!  But I burned about 300-400 calories doing it! :D

Day 15 Weigh day!

Today is the big day, the day to see how well my habits are working out for me.  Well here is the verdict.  14 days ago I weighed in at 315.2 and today I weigh 307.8 which comes to a weight loss of 7.4 lbs!  I'm going to be honest with you guys, I weighed in and I had a number in my head I wanted to weigh, 305 lbs.  I looked at the weight this morning with a twinge of disappointment but then I remembered what my friend said at the Colvin "you will never have to tell people you weigh that much again" I smiled and stepped off the scale.  He is right, I weigh 307 and 315 is just a thing of the past and good riddens too.  My total weight loss to date is 42.2 lbs.  My next weigh day will be the 8th of March, My goal is to be anywhere under 300 so 299.999999 would be just fine with me!  :D

Day 14 The day before the weigh in!

Well today my strategy is simple, I want to eat most of my food before 5 so that I can have an accurate amount of weight for the weigh in and hopefully to cut down on inconsistent weight.  I ate 1,550 calories today and I'm happy with that.  I really need to try harder to get my calories below 1,500 without fail.  I didn't get to workout today because I still feel sore from monday!  I burned 3,648 calories today just doing my day to day stuff.  I am walking to class now everyday instead of riding my bike because it burns more calories.  I do love riding my bike though but I'm sure I can get in quite a bit of riding at lake boomer soon (one of my favorite things to do is bike around the lake).

Tonight I was talking to a friend about my food consumption and why I think my plan is optimal.  When I get to my goal weight (currently 180 lbs) I don't plan to change anything.  I plan to eat what I'm eating now, somewhere around 1,500 calories a day to maintain weight with exercise.  From what I understand about genetics when you grow obese you gain fat cells, when you lose weight those fat cells never go away, they just shrink.  If you have lots of fat cells you can gain weight very quickly.  When I lost weight for the first time I lost 62 lbs.  I was down to 288 lbs and feeling great!  Well I took an 18 hour semester and was obsessed about getting a 4.0.  I spent countless hours in the library studying and stopped working out completely.  After 3 months or so I had gained it all back.  I didn't feel that I was eating crazy amounts of food either,  I was just sitting there and eating.  The first time I lost weight was dependent on my exercise and never my food.  I hadn't learned any good portion control I was just burning everything extra off at the gym. 

I want to live a lifestyle now that I will be living when I get to 180 lbs.  There won't be any adjusting just feeling better and living large but for once not literally just figuratively.

-Michael

Day 13 Another successful day

I have eaten 1,555 calories today and I am so satisfied.  Today was a day that is dangerous because I had a test but I pulled through without overeating.  I polished the rest of my calories off with 2 turkey guacamole sandwiches which totaled 405 calories.  I think I should look up the benefits of guacomole to see how great it is for me!  I didn't workout today because of the test but I'm looking at a 3,700 calorie burn today which is great for a non workout day.  The 24th is getting soooo close! :D 

Keep it healthy,

Michael

Day 12 Elepticals and Studying =Awesome

I did great on calories today and it was so satisfying.  I ended up eating 1,510 calories and it was so satisfying, I had a delicious salisbury steak meal with macoroni and cheese (Lean Cuisine) for just 260 calories to top off the day.  This weigh in coming up (2-24-11) is something I am looking forward to so much.  I know that I have been doing well in regards to eating an exercise.  I broke a record today for calories burned, 5,773 calories in just one day.  I fully expect to weigh in and to have lost 6 lbs in two weeks.  I just want to tell you guys that this whole blogging thing is working!  Everytime I want to go over I think...I'm going to have to squeal on myself!  Honestly though since I've been restricting my calories 1,500 seems like more than enough.   I'm actually having to plan to eat even when I'm not hungry just to fulfill the 1,500 for the day!  Something new I've been trying recently is to drink something when I eat,  what I drink doesn't really matter for the most part.  I drink lots of sugar free tea at my place and lots of water and afterwards I'm stuffed with a 250-300 calorie meal!  Eating healthy can be so satisfying because so many healthy foods are so low low in a calorie/mass ratio. 

I've been watching a new show on A & E called "Heavy" and its just so inspirational to see those people work so hard. 

My workout included some walking and running with my friend then I got on an eleptical for about 1.5 hours then walked a bit.  When I was on the eleptical I studied so much!  I want to keep combining my stuyding and working out because when I'm on an eleptical I can do something useful with that time. 

I know I'm writing my blog the day after and thats because I've been busy studying for a test! 

I also want to encourage you guys to possibly start blogs of your own if you are trying to lose weight!  If you already have a blog hit me up and I will totally follow you!  :D 

Day 11 Sundays post

I spent some time with devin in the morning and burnt some major calories playing kinect.  I was burning around 20 calories a minute!  I headed to my brothers house and ate a banana for breakfast and avoided all the delicious looking cake!  At the end of the day I ended up eating 1,754 calories which put me over a bit because I wasn't writing stuff down throughout.  I need to really work on writing everything down immediately or I will run into this again.  Yesterday I burned almost 4,200 calories with just a little kinect and some laundry done!  I'm so excited to weigh in this week! :D

Day 10 Saturdays post

I ate quite a variety of food today.  I went bowling with my nephew and brother then after that we ate at panera.  I had a delicious bread bowl (780 calories) with broccoli and cheddar soup in it.  After that I had 2 hotdogs with cheese for supper (560).  Overall I have eaten 1,610 calories today and I'm very satisfied :D  I'm in Tulsa with the fam and right now I'm at Devin's house hanging with him and his family.


Toodles.

Day 9 Ferrigio Friday.

Yesterday I had to leave stillwater early so that I could get to Ponca in time to leave so that I could ride with my parents to Tulsa.  On the way there we went to that evil restraunt that flaunts their convienience such... McDonalds!  It strikes fear in my heart to return to that place where I used to get 6 double cheeseburgers 2 apple pies and an Ice cream cone for dessert.  I had eaten about 485 calories so I decided to get a regular cone (150 calories) and it was delicious and so worth the calories.  We went to a play called "The taming of a Shrew" my brother was Father Baptista Minola in the play.  He did a great job and we all had a great time.  I felt a little cultured after I saw the two hour performance.  Well after the show we were all starving so we headed over to Applebees and I had a delcious 7oz sirloin topped with garlic shrimp,steamed broccoli, potatoes and splenda sweetened tea.  My only complaint was I found a fly in the second cup of tea!  The whole meal was 650 calories and so worth it.  I consumed a total of 1513 calories for the day.  My calorie burn was 3,838 (I think my basal metabolic rate is higher from the workouts) and I was very happy with that. 

-Michael

Day 8 Thursdays post

Today I walked with a friend then had an awesome chat at the Colvin.  The walking was great for us but the thing that was the best was the chat we had after.  I was talking to my friend about my relationship with food and how important that is to me maintaining my weight loss.  I then told my friend that I was afraid I would just fail at this weight loss.  He then told me something that I needed to hear.  He told me "You need to get excited about losing weight, if you lose two pounds next week you will never weigh that again." He really is a great workout partner, its nice having someone to workout with that understands what I'm going through. 

The burn today will be about 4,900 and I consumed about 1,498 calories! :D  Another day of success!

Also I have been making these Guacamole/Turkey sandwiches that are so amazing!  2 tablespoons of Guacamole and about 6 thin slices of turkey(oscar meyer oven roasted turkey breast) between two warm sandwich rounds.  Its an amazing 205 calorie snack that is so healthy and delicious!

Day 7 Will travel Wednesday.

So yesterday I didn't workout because its one of my busier days.  I had a french test that I took in the middle of the day that I was stressing over.  I'm happy to say that recently when I get super stressed I stop looking to food.  I just studied more lol...maybe a little more than most and that relieved my stress very well. But yeah I had some delicious food yesterday!  I a "pizza" that was so huge and satisfying that was only 380 calories a person. It had 2/3 cups skim mozzeralla(160), 1/2 cup ragu garlic and italien spice chunky sauce(80), 2 oz of boneless skinless chicken breast(50), 1/8th cup onion, some basil leaves and oregano all under a flatbread that was only 90 calories "flatout flatbread" and oh I forgot!!! Mushrooms! After that and my other meals I had about 1,080 calories consumed at 4 o'clock.  There was a French cultural dinner on campus and it was pretty great.  There was a salad with rasberry dressing (didn't get much), a piece of pork (110 cals at most), a piece of chicken (this one was covered in a mystery sauce, I should have just eaten a bit of it) and peas with onions(40 at most) but what killed my calories was this lemon tart stuff they had for dessert.  I should have just eaten a bite of it and been satisfied.  I let myself open up on a train of thought like this "this only happens once a year man!  eat some more lemon tart stuff!) and so I did.  I had 2 slices of it.  I would say yesterday I consumed about 2,000 calories.  I'm embarrased to say that but its true.  I failed on another day.  Its very difficult to write this to you guys because admitting my failures has never been my strong point.  Overall though its best I write about how I fail because I'm typing this on tuesday and I am sure motivated to keep it to 1,500 today! 

-Michael

Day 6 Thunder Tuesday

Well it looks like I get to go to a Thunder game for FREE today!  My friend Alan recieved four free tickets from his valentine so he gets to take 3 friends.  Well I have had to be strategic with my eating today to be able to eat with my friends tonight wherever we go.  I've eaten just over 500 calories so far today and I'm planning on using the remaining 1,000 or so tonight at some restaurant (hopefully Cracker Barrel!).  I don't really have any time to workout today so keeping my calories down will be especially important.  I'll update you guys later about how my food intake went. 

Au revoir!

Update:

I ended up eating a delicious burger which was topped with an o so generous portion of Guacamole!!!  I had a salad before the burger (house) and very little low cal rasberry vinagerette dressing.  Right before we went to Bricktown Brewery we saw a redbull car and they hopped out and gave us free energy drinks!  I opted for the sugar free version :D (good choice eh?!).  After purchasing and devouring that delicious burger I promised myself I would buy some Guacamole which has about the same calories as low fat cheese and substitute it for cheese on sandwiches for example.  All in all it was a 1,535 calorie day :D 

Day 5 Monday fun-day.

Today was an amazing day on the whole in terms of exercise.  I kept my calories down to 750 until after I went to the Colvin.  I got to the Colvin around 6 o'clock then ran about 9 laps on the third floor (they are about 1/11th of a mile each).  I was running one lap then powerwalking 2 laps, running kills my ankles and knees so I'm trying to hold off from doing too much of that until I'm at a lower weight.  After that my friend and I jumped into a cycling class that was about 20 minutes in (out of 45 minutes) and that was a workout! After running my legs were already beaten up but overall it was a great experience.  When that whole deal was over we headed to Zumba.  Zumba is one of the best classes for me because I'm constantly moving and I can burn 600-900 calories in about 50 minutes.  I finished off my calories for the day at subway with a footlong turkey sub with tomatoes,lettuce,pickles,onions and about a tablespoon of mayonaise.  The whole sub was about 700 calories and I am satisfied.  I have about 60 calories left but I don't need to eat anymore today :D  

There is nothing like blogging after a great day of work!  my calorie burn will break 5,000 today because of the awesome workouts.  I know that the first thing that I need to conquer is my addiction to food and that will determine if I can keep a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life.

I'm always looking for others blogs to read!  Encouragement is a great tool for anyone!

Day 4 Sunday's Post

I didn't work out because I'm still on the whole healing phase thing until Monday.  I found a couple friends who will hopefully come to my Thursday class to get a good workout!  My calories were great going into supper but I miscalculated on the fried rice.  I was part of the way through eating it when my friend asked me how many more calories were in fried rice.  I was assuming about 20% more.  WRONG!  Steamed rice is about 200 calories a cup and fried is about 331 calories a cup!  My friend offered to eat mine.  Luckily she likes fried rice.  I ended up consuming about 750 calories for supper (the average of fried and steamed rice with chicken) which put me over.  My grand total for the day was 1,700 which is ok.  I'm not perfect but I can keep on trying!  The calorie burn for the day was 3,600 so I'm alright!

Day 3 Studying some fish and fun!

Last night I decided that I will not workout today (saturday) because I'm overdoing it and getting a little sluggish because of it.  Last week I took 3 one hour classes and I worked out about 10 hours outside of that, couple with 1,500 calories a day that can wear a man down.  Also I'm planning to post my new weight every two weeks so in 11 more days I will update you guys!  I used to weigh in everyday but at this point that is just not a great idea because if I don't lose what my expectations dictate I get frustrated. 

Today I had a friend call me and she told me that she was going to make a meal and told me all of the calories for the meal!  418 calories for 2 fish fillets(baked) and 3 perogies(baked)! I came right over and had a very flavorful satisfying meal and I still have 1,012 calories for the rest of the day!  Tomorrow I'm mostly likely going to a fitness class called Zumba to dance away some weight!  Zumba is a Latin American form of dance that basically keeps you moving and doing crazy fun stuff for about 50 minutes.  I usually burn 880 calories in just one class!

Today is going to be a bit trying because I'm planning to study most of it away at the library and when I get bored I usually like to snack.  I might bring a couple apples(70 calories) or cheese sticks(50 calories) to munch on.

The study session went alright and I got some things done.  After that I watched "When Harry met Sally"  It was not my kind of movie...  But yeah then I went to Panera with a couple of friends and I made a good choice.  I purchased a bread bowl and I got a to go box because I only had about 300 calories left for the day. They have some pretty delicious side baguettes. I dipped it into a little bit of the soup and voila!

Day 2

Well yesterday everything was great for the most part!  I was at the gym for over four hours and I went to a Colvin class!  At the end of the class I had about a 4,300 calorie burn for the day and I was ravenous so I went home and had a fish dinner from lean cuisine which put my calories at 1,400.  I was doing great then a friend called and we went to the Stonewall Tavern which is about 100 feet from my apartment.  I had a couple drinks which put me at about 2,200 then I had the bright idea to go to Ihop.  I must say that place is my weakness.  I ended up consuming around 1,600 calories in one sitting.  I am telling you this with shame because even though I still lost weight yesterday because I burned 4,454 calories yesterday and I consumed around 3,800.  I know that my addiction to food is still a problem in my life.  Drinking and binge eating will stop me from ever maintaining a healthy weight for the rest of my life.  The next time I go to Ihop diet coke or a salad will be on the menu.  As for the wall...I may just do something my friend Matt does and get a water or diet coke.  Drinking isn't worth the calories for me.  I have fun with or without the drinks so its no big sacrafice. 

Today I'm planning to study after my class for about four hours with Carly then head to the gym to burn off those excess calories I had yesterday!  Oh and today I want to eat 1,500 or bust!  I'll let you know how many I have!

Well I had a bowl of Honey Nut Spooners that consisted of 2 cups of Spooners and one cup of 2% milk.  It was 350 calories total with the milk making up a whopping 130 calories of the whole thing.  I purchased the 2% on accident my intention was to buy skim.  1 cup of milk is too much for 2 cups of ceral too.  I can easily cut it down to 3/4 a cup of milk or even half.  My friend Jeremey eats his with just 2oz per cup of cereal! I'm making some food for my friend Carly before our study session at the library.  Here it is!

Chicken with Red onions in chive and butter sauce:

8oz chicken breast (skinless boneless) 220 Calories
1 package of Birds eye steamfresh Roasted Red Potatoes with Chive Butter Sauce. 280 Calories

I used a frozen chicken breast to make this meal so I popped it in the microwave for 5 minutes to defrost it then threw it on my nonstick pan.  After browning the chicken breast I opened the steamfresh package and cooked the potatoes and in with the chicken.  The result will be pictured shortly.

The whole meal is just 500 calories and so satisfying!

Well today I worked out and some stuff caused that to be interrupted, I had a friend in need so I had to leave early.  I have a calorie burn of 4574 as of right now and I've consumed 1408 calories today.  I think I'll leave the rest out though.

Day 1 The first day of written progress.

My name is Michael Ennis, and today is the first day that I am planning to keep a blog to keep myself accountable.  I have been attempting to lose weight since the 8th grade of my middle school year. The tools that I will be using to lose weight and keep a healthy lifestyle are portion control, exercise and daily meal logging.  I have been using a BodyMedia armband to determine how many calories that I burn a day and I have been using the online food journal that they provide. 

My starting weight was 350 lbs as of July 2010.  I am now down to 315.2 lbs as of today. My goal is to keep this blog updated on a daily basis to discuss things happening in my life and to discuss my weight loss and exercise. 

I started reading Sean Andersons weight loss blog in December and my weight loss really took after that.  Sean doesn't even know me, I found out about his lifestyle change via the Ponca City newspaper and have been trying to follow the same life choices he made ever since. 

The most difficult part of losing weight for me is the fact that I am addicted to food and I have been limiting myself to 1,500 calories a day.  I have always failed at weight loss because I went on strict diets that cut out foods that I loved. I would stick to the diets and miss the foods I loved then fail because I would end up cracking then binge on the food I loved.  I eat what I want up until I reach the 1,500 calorie mark and I'm usually satisfied because I've learned to eat foods that arent extremely dense in calories. 

I hope that you readers can go on this journey with me!  I will try to post a healthy recipe once in a while if I can!

One of my favorites: 4oz Boneless skinless chicken breast and 3 cups of mixed stir fry veggies(Sold at walk mart with sauce inside) with 1 tablespoon of olive oil used to cook the chicken and veggies.  The whole meal is 350 calories and delicious!