Day Thirty

241 lbs. Ouch! I have learned that I know how to maintain, which is outstanding news. So now I have to regroup. I missed the gym twice this week. I did not make it yesterday. I think that bread of any kind is a big no no. And last night we took the kids to Pi (I can't type the math symbol for pi on this blog--don't have the font for it). For you non-St. Louisans Pi is a pizza joint which is really awesome. Even our illustrious Prez has had the local pizza and fell in love with it. So I had three pieces of thin crust sausage and red pepper pizza. And water. No soda or beer. And Emma & Henry ordered a peanut butter cookie dough shake............yuck! And then H, who is sick, came home and coughed until he puked it all up--in the toilet thankfully. Really.

It was a sign that now I have to take another strategy. The eating normal meals and cutting out the extra food plan worked for the first couple of weeks, but now I have to redial the plan. I will stay away from all bread/starch.

FLASH--Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs is a really good movie to watch that will help you stay away from junk food, and eating period. The mere thought of food falling from the sky sounds like a great idea at first but then it becomes disturbing. Nacho Cheese Hot Tub.....ugh! Just the image makes me never want to eat nachos again or even sit in a hot tub. Now a Jello Hot Tub---that one works for me! Of course I would not be alone.

Bkfst--cup of Fiber One with Vanilla Almond Breeze
Snack--two oranges
Lunch--Bandana's Turkey Lunch Platter, two slaws, no garlic cheese bread
Snack--none
Dinner-- salad of red peppers, green and black olives, mozzarella cheese, and small bread pcs(only one small bite). Three slices of thin crust sausage and red pepper pizza,
Dessert--Protein shake

Day Twenty Nine

I dedicate this blog to Mrs. Katie Jackson, who turned me onto protein shakes from her recipe. It is saving me from my food demons. I will share it with you:

1/2 Cup Fat free Greek Yogurt, Trader Joe's is the best that I have found so far.

1/4 oats (I like Bob's Red Mill Thick Oats).

1 16-0z Naked Juice, (Blue Machine, or any of the high protein ones)--this juice is literally liquid gold. SAMS has some good bulk deals on them.

1 large scoop of protein powder (I use vanilla, EAS gives me really bad gas (It would be ruled illegal if anyone in the public was exposed to it.) I did find a small container of one that I liked at Target but now the name escapes me. It made it super thick which I like. The EAS is more watery in its effect. I will try and find the Target one and tell you what it is.

1/2 a cup of ice, I do throw in a handful or two of fresh blueberries or strawberry's depending on my mood---just to mix things up.

Katie recommends 1/4 flax seed. I say do this at your own risk. The flax seed will certainly keep things running. Ha Ha.

And blend away in the blender. I usually give it at least 40 seconds or so.

I have had protein shakes before but I would just mix water with the powder and ice. But these shakes give me the shakes with excitement. Suzanne thinks they are horrible. But hey when you don't eat ice cream or candy anymore even dirt with sucralose sounds yummy. Ha Ha.

The fresh fruit really helps take it up a notch. BAM! And the shakes do create a lot of volume. I have a shake blender (Waring Commercial Drink Maker). So I get about 18 oz of liquid.

60 Min of elliptical
BRKfst--1/2 cup of scrambled eggbeaters
No snack (forgot)
Panera Greek Salad w/chicken. I had the sourdough baguette, Big NO NO but I was starving. And I had a small bowl of Fiber One for Dessert
No snack
Bison meat chilli leftovers that Suz made Sunday night.
And a Protein Shake for Dessert.

Day Twenty Eight

Work is crazy. I really focused hard today. And made it to the gym after work. Hit the gerbils for 50 mins.
Brkfast was 1/2 cup of scrambled Eggbeaters.
Snack was an orange.
Lunch w/client at Sqwires in Lafayette Square--Cesar Salad w/grilled chicken no croutons and dressing on the side. At this rate I should be able to review the best Cesar Salad w/chicken in St. Louis. This one was actually really good. Lots of chicken and fresh shaved parm.
No snack
Dinner-Sushi from Schnucks.....which was salmon roll with brown rice, wasabi and ginger, and a touch of lite soy sauce. And a quarter of an Idaho potato with broccoli and cheddar cheese.
Dessert was a protein shake. YUMMO!

I will put it this way----my body "rejected" yesterday's lunch in the middle of the day. I am really hitting a routine with all this heath conscious eating VS the mindless slop I kept shoving in my mouth.

Day Twenty Seven

I was really hurting last week. My knees, legs, calves were aching. I think that three weeks of 6 day per week work outs started to take a toll on my 46 year old body.

I struggled to sleep at night, tossing and turning, and even felt uncomfortable walking around during the day. This is a different kind of pain than what I used to get when I was younger, playing football. By last Thursday, the pain was constant during the day. Even when I wore knee braces on each knee during my workouts, they did not soften the contastant ache.

I am used to muscle soreness from physical exhertion and I actually enjoy it. I feel like I am doing something good for myself. But this pain last week was more bone and joint pain. I have never felt that kind of intensity. One night my right knee felt hot or burned on the right side of my patella. And I tried to sleep through the night with that sensation. I could not find a spot that made it subside.

Not pleasureable in the least. I dont want to think about how really old people feel. It is not fun. My mom has arthritis in her hips and knees. She rarely complains. I can't imagine.

I was pushing myself an extra 30 min on the elliptical for the last two weeks. Obviously that cannot continue. I think I might push myself once a week or on occasion depending on how strong I feel.

So I will be easing back to 5 days a week and staying with 1-hour aerobic, meaning elliptical, treadmill, bike etc in two 30 min intervals 3 days of the week and then the other two days will be 30 min weight training and only 30 min on the gerbils. Hopefully this routine will help the discomfort go away and return me to normalcy. I guess I had to find where my bodies limits are.

To me the episode of pain last week tells me how much I want to change my life and how serious I want this but I need to back off and not push so hard. Patience....Patience.

I did not get to they gym today. I am extremely busy with work. I left this morning at 7:15am and I worked Monday night after dinner until I went to bed. Then I worked again when I woke before I dressed and left on calls all day. I did not get home until 5:45pm. Ate dinner and then back on the computer. We lost a seller. He has been with us for 12 years and he is going to another industry so we are in the middle of transition calls. And things are really picking up too.

Food:
Bare Naked High Protein Granola w/Almond Breeze Vanilla unsweetened for Breakfast
Lunch Chicken Mellazane at Mineo's in Westport. I did eat some bread with olive oil and some of the salad. There was pasta with the dish but only had one fork full.
NO Snacks in the AM or afternoon.
Dinner: Chicken Parm, small portion of Mashed potatoes, and snow peas.
Dessert: two oranges.

Day Twenty Six

Here is another confession for you: I am a junk food junky. (You may have already figured that out.) But I am not a junky for HoHos, Ding Dongs or Twinkies etc. I have several passions. Popcorn is my biggest. Popcorn plain, popcorn with butter and salt, popcorn with parmesan. I love anything salty and crunchy. I do enjoy chocolate, too. I used to bake and invent things before I met Suzanne. For instance, I created pumpkin cookies and they weren't bad.

I told Suzanne that if I could fit my bed in the pantry and live in there, I would do it. Ha Ha.

I am changing. Suz made Jimmy Dean sausage patties the other morning and the odor made me sick. That is not like Eggnog Bill. I think my tastes are changing. I am noticing salt and sugar a lot more. I am repelled by the thought of putting processed food on my tongue. IT'S SO IMPURE! I am becoming a heath evangelist. Ha Ha.

Exercise: 30 min on the elliptical and 30 on the weights.
Protein shake for Bfast
Banana for morning snack
Client Lunch--Cesar Salad w/chicken, dressing on the side and no croutons, water w/lemon
Trader Joe's unsalted roasted almonds in a serving size pack
Dinner: Flat iron steak, veggie, water
No Dessert.

Day Twenty Five

One of the best gifts I ever received from an old friend was a compliment. At my 20th grade school reunion in 1999 I was chatting with my friend and fellow athlete from those days -- James Bommarito -- who went on to play football at Rice as a star running back in the mid 1980's. James was always an exceptional all-around athlete. So we are standing in my grade school cafeteria chatting about life today, etc., and catching up. We take a couple sips of beer and he looks at me and says, "You know, Bill, if you had not sprained your ankle, we would have had a real shot at the City Championship in basketball in 8th Grade. We had one heck of a team and you were really coming into your own."

Now I must admit I had these thoughts to myself for many years, but never shared them with anyone. And I was stunned to hear someone else say them. It is one of those things that makes you think of that Bruce Springsteen song, Glory Days -- we really did have a great team. I always felt that our class had great athletes and could compete with the cities' (St. Louis's)best teams on all levels for organized sports at our age level.

Come to think of it there have been several times where I received kind words when I least expected it. Rich Koster, who was a sports writer for the St. Louis newspapers, once told me that I had the potential to be another Jim Hornoff. For those of who dont know what I am talking about, Jim Hornoff, a DeSmet HS alum, played power forward for the Missouri Tigers when the legendary Steve Stiponovich, also a DeSmet alum, played at MU under Norm Stewart. See, I had a little chippiness to my play. I liked the physical game. Hornoff would create space for Stipo and the other Tigers.

My freshman year in high school we had a sports camp before school started. Rich Grawer was the basketball coach at DeSmet, where he won several state championships. In St. Louis, coach Grawer is a legend. He went on to coach at St. Louis University and he was an assistant under Norm Stewart at Mizzou. Well, we played in a one-on-one tournament.

I can't remember how many there were of us; I would guess at least 75 to 100 kids. I made it to the finals and lost to Jim Spencer who was a grade school rival. This was after I had messed up my ankle and pretty much stopped playing basketball. Jim had a great outside shot and that is what did me in. But the really beautiful gesture was that Coach Grawer came over to me and said, "Bill, you are a far better athlete than your three older brothers, and for a big man, you have a nice, soft touch (meaning a good shot). You should consider going out for basketball." That really blew me away. The thing is, I stopped growing. The doctor said I would be 6' 4" and they were way off. And I could not dribble, so playing guard was out of the question. Besides, I really liked the physical part of the game.

Day Twenty Four

Closed on Sundays---Come Back Tomorrow.