Fat Guy in Little Coat.

Hello everyone. I’ve really been slacking on the posts, and I apologize. I’ll try to give you more regular updates this week. Anyway, on to the stats:

Original Weight: 297 lbs.
Last Week’s Weight: 224 lbs.
This Week’s Weight: 223 lbs.
+/-: -1 lb.
Goal Met? Not quite.
Weight Lost since 7/6: 74 lbs.

Well, not a great result, but not horrible either. Last Sunday and Monday, I’d put on quite a few pounds by eating just terrible. However, I managed to trim those off as well as one extra one, so I can’t be too upset.

We have been able to bust into some of our new appliances following Wendy’s shower, like making some homemade smoothies with our new blender (Thanks Aunt Jane!) or toasting up some delicious breads with the sweet new toaster (Thanks Jimmy and Donna!).

I’ve continued to run three miles every other day, and every time I do it, it sucks. No matter how long I run, it’s terrible every time. I’ll continue to do it, though…I can’t stop now…

It’s been a good week and a good weekend. Wendy and I attended a Bar Mitzvah for her co-worker’s son on Saturday, which was interesting. I’d never been to one before, so it was a new experience. We also hit the theaters for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was pretty good. It wasn’t great, but it was good. I’m a big Wolverine fan, and Hugh Jackman is a perfect fit for the character.

Anyway, we’re almost one month away from the big day, and it’s getting busier by the minute. I promise more regular updates this week, so keep checking in.

More tomorrow.

-Brett

Hello everyone. I’m literally struggling to come up with something to talk about, so like one of the greatest television shows of all time, I guess I’ll pretty much talk about nothing…

It was a pretty good day today, for me anyway. I was really busy all day at work, but I had a chance to step away for some thai food. It’s the Thai new year, so all the Thai restaurants in the loop (the St. Louis Delmar Loop, it’s where I work) was offering discounts on food this week. I had a dish of pat Thai, with rice noodles and chicken. Delicious.

For dinner, I finished the sushi I made on Sunday. Having said that, I realize I hadn’t talked about making sushi. I just used Alton Brown’s (of Good Eats fame) recipe for a California Roll. It’s a little complicated, but I’ve done it several time, so I’m starting to get my technique down. You have to make some sushi rice, which is a short-grain rice (no, you cannot use regular rice, sushi rice is sticky, ideal for sushi rolls), and add a mixture of salt, sugar and rice vinegar to it. When it’s cooled to room temperature, you take a half sheet of sushi nori, spread some of the rice on, flip it over and place a small amount of imitation crab and avocado in the middle and roll using a wooden mat. Once it’s rolled, cut into six pieces and serve. Also delicious.

Song of the Day: The Way You Make Me Feel - Michael Jackson. I was rocking this song this morning. It was awesome.

Sorry everyone. That’s all I’ve got…nothing.

More tomorrow.

-Brett

That’s right, everyone…it’s the sequel and thrilling conclusion to my paper saga. All of this took place on Saturday…all day Saturday…so I didn’t have a chance to talk about it, but I wanted to fill you in.

When we last left our hero, he had been on the phone with the owner of a mom-and-pop paper store, attempting to secure enough decorative paper for wedding invitations. He ordered half via the internet, and the other half awaited in a far away land known as Fairview Heights, Ill…

Ok, enough of that…anyway, Wendy and I had to make the trek to Archiver’s in Fairview Heights, Ill., Saturday afternoon to grab the stack of paper we had reserved. We set off, allowing Tom Tom (the GPS) to guide us on our journey…when it told us to get off of I-64 at Illinois route 3. Now, this was not right. I knew this was not right, but technology made me get off and waste time circling around in East St. Louis amongst a bunch of broken down warehouses.

Anyway, we got ourselves straightened out and headed back toward Fairvew Heights. We made the rest of the trip unscathed, and attempted to pick up our 11 sheets of paper. Well, apparently, they only had 10. The lady counted it twice, 10 sheets. Not a huge deal, as we had plenty en route from the mom and pop store. We also needed to get the non-decorative paper from Hobby Lobby to finish the invitations, so instead of going to the one across the street in Fairview, we decided to drive all the way back to St. Charles, so we could print off a coupon.

Now, this may not sound like a big deal, but Fairview Heights is about 40 or so minutes from our apartment…our apartment is about 15 minutes from St. Charles…so, it was A LOT of driving. Anyway, we get to Hobby Lobby, and Wendy cleans out the store…only, it’s not enough. We need more. Our quest continues, and takes us to the Hobby Lobby on Manchester road…another good 25 or so minute drive from St. Charles.

We weren’t sure exactly where it was, so Wendy called them, and they said they were at ‘Manchester rd. and hwy. 141.’ That sounds simple enough, but allow me to let you in on a little secret….NOTHING is at Manchester and 141. Nothing. It looks like there is stuff there, but there isn’t. Any time someone tells you something is a Manchester and 141, just assume it’s a mile east or west of there. It’s literally the St. Louis Bermuda Triangle.

So, once we turned around, went PAST Manchester and 141 for about a mile or more, we found it. We went in and cleaned out that store. Our quest was finally complete. We have the paper…now we just need to make the invitations, but that’s another story…

Song of the Day: Live your Life - T.I. and Rhianna. I can’t believe I didn’t use this last time, but I’m glad I had a part two, so I could slip this in. “Keep on chasin’ that paper…”

Also, I was able to get back on the treadmill for the first time in about a week and a half today, which was good…but it reminded me how much I hate running…

More tomorrow.

-Brett

Hello everybody, it’s weigh-in day. On to the stats:

Original Weight: 297 lbs.
Last Week’s Weight: 239 lbs.
This Week’s Weight: 238 lbs.
+/-: -1 lb.
Goal Met?: not quite
Weight Lost since 7/6: 59 lbs.

This weight-loss thing is very confusing to me. I can’t believe I lost four pounds last week, but then only one this week, when I felt like I had a way better week, complete with more exercise. At least I’m still headed in the right direction, and I’m happy about that. I need to work harder this week to make up.

Also, I played my first roller hockey game this morning, and unfortunately we lost 3-1. I had a blast playing, but I definitely need to keep working on my skating. Some of these guys have been playing for a while and were pretty good, but others were on my level, so it was pretty balanced. We kind of looked like the Mighty Ducks. The team we played all had matching jerseys and stuff, and we all had mismatched equipment. It was a lot of fun, though, and I can’t wait to get back out there next week.

Here’s hoping for more weight lost this week.

More tomorrow.

-Brett

Well, I’m just going to start out by saying I ate way too much,

Original Weight: 297 lbs.
Last Week’s Weight: 243 lbs.
This Week’s Weight: 243 lbs.
+/-: 0 lb.
Goal Met?: Again, not quite.
Weight Lost since 7/6: 54 lbs.

So yeah…I really felt like I was doing well this week, but when it came down to it, I made some bad choices this weekend and there you have it. I didn’t gain any weight, but I didn’t lose any either, and with time ticking away, I can’t keep doing this and hope to hit my goal.

I wish I could say that since I started weight-training, I was adding muscle, and thus slowed down my weight loss…but, after eating like 1,000 lbs. of sushi last night, I don’t think that’s the case. I just need to buckle down. I’m really enjoying the strength stuff, though, so I’m definitely going to keep that up.

I’ll be back on track this week…I have to.

More tomorrow.

-Brett

So, it was a week later, but the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, was finally released, and being the Bond fan that I am, you better believe that I was in the movie theater last night.

The movie was good. I wouldn’t say it was great, but it was good. Wendy really liked it a lot.

My problem is that I have to fight this internal struggle between the Bond purist and today’s film culture. You see, there is a typical formula for a Bond movie, a lot of which the filmmakers have continued to include. But they’re also doing some different things to make the franchise a little more modern.

The main thing is that you kind of had to see Casino Royale to understand Bond’s struggle in Quantum. Tying movies together really wasn’t something the franchise ever did. Bond also didn’t visit Q-branch and get a bunch of off-the-wall gadgets and he didn’t even mutter his signature “Bond, James Bond,” to introduce himself.

Now, some of these things you kind of miss a little bit, but I get it, and I think it works. They tried to do modernize the franchise before, using Timothy Dalton as Bond, and it went horribly wrong, creating two of the worst Bond movies in the franchise. Most Bond fans like to pretend that those don’t exist…I certainly do…

They went back to the standard of evil supervillan with some super-crazy plot to takeover the world, an attractive Bond girl, a flashy car (usually an Aston Martin…) and some cool gadets with the Pierce Brosnan movies. Personally, I liked the return to form, and I really liked Brosnan as Bond. He really embodied what Bond was supposed to be, much like Sean Connery who will always be the best, hands down.

So now they’re trying to reinvent the franchise once again with Daniel Craig, who is a much more realistic and physical adaptation of the British spy, but a pretty darn good Bond if you ask me. He’s a good actor and can pull off all the physical Bourne Identity-like stunts that they’ve added.

They’ve also kept in a lot of the one-liners, the attractive Bond girl and the Aston Martin, so it’s not a complete overhaul, which works out much better than it did in the late ’80s. So, like I said, there’s the Bond traditionalist in me that needs the villain bent on world domination and longs for a visit to Q-branch, but at the same time, I get what they’re doing, and I’m OK with it.

I guess since this blog is supposed to be about weight loss and all that, I should say that we dined at California Pizza Kitchen before the movie. I had a miso seafood salad, which was a cabbage based salad with shrimp and crabmeat. It was really good, and so big that even I couldn’t finish it all. I had the rest for lunch this afternoon.

Unfortunately, Wendy and I split some Junior Mints (”Who’s going to turn down a Junior Mint? It’s chocolate, it’s peppermint…it’s delicious! It’s very refreshing!”) and a soda at the movie…in our defense, it was a diet coke, so at least that saved on calories…right?

Wendy and I ran some errands this afternoon (she got a new leather jacket!), complete with a trip to Starbucks on an afternoon where it was snowing…yes, it was snowing today…and I did my stair run outside…I am all that is man.

Song of the Day: Izzo - Jay-Z. Great song from one of, if not the best rappers ever.

I’m not confident about this week. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

-Brett

Well, it’s day three o’ the blog, and I’d like to thank everyone for reading and for the support. I really appreciate it. Keep bringing the comments!

The countdown continues…only 248 more days to go. Today was a good one, and a successful one. I was pumped all day for the release of Iron Man on DVD (I’m a DVD freak for those who may not know me). I’m not sure how many share my sentiment, but Iron Man was one of the best movies that came out this year. Robert Downey Jr. is fantastic as Tony Stark.

Anyway, Wendy (aka the fiancee) and I watched Iron Man this evening after watching another movie we had from Netflix called “Pittsburgh.” It was recommended to me by my friend Alex, and stars Jeff Goldblum as himself, being completely awkward the whole movie, and starring as the lead in The Music Man in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Penn. It was a really good movie. Goldblum is insane and hilarious.

On to the actual progress. I ate pretty well today. I haven’t been able to drag my butt out of bed in the morning to eat breakfast, but hopefully I’ll change that soon…tomorrow would be good, since I’m taking my friend Ryan to the airport in the morning. I remembered my lunch at work today, a sandwich and grapes, and I had some almonds in the afternoon. For dinner, Wendy made pork steaks with potatoes and mixed vegetables. Not bad at all. Aside from a handful of candy corn, I’d say it was a successful day. What, I’m only human…or at least that’s what I keep telling myself…

I went back to the run, but I wasn’t feeling it this morning, so it took slightly longer than usual. I’ll be back on the stairs tomorrow morning, so we’ll see how that goes.

Song of the Day: Flashing Lights (Remix), Kanye West and R. Kelly - Ok, so I don’t have this song on my iPod, but I hadn’t heard it until I was driving home tonight, and it’s awesome. Flashing Lights is a great song to begin with, but putting R. Kelly on the beginning only makes it better.

Also, I’ve been in a very hip-hop mood lately. I’ll say that if you pick up my iPod, you’ll find just about anything (see yesterday’s song o’ day) aside from country, which I don’t really listen to. But, I’ve been listening to a lot of hip hop lately, especially during the workouts. Originally my song of the day was going to be Just Might Be Ok by Lupe Fiasco, but I had to change it up. Another side note, if anyone hasn’t heard of Lupe Fiasco, you should check him out.

Well, I’m going to finish watching Conan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus steal Tina Fey’s Emmy from her dressing room and call it a night.

More tomorrow.

-Brett

“Richard….fat guy in a little coooat…”

Yes, the title of this site is in reference to the hilarious line uttered by the late Chris Farley in “Tommy Boy,” but it’s so much more.

This site is about the quest of one man. That man is me, Brett Grassmuck, an overweight internet content writer from St. Louis.

This is my quest: to fit into a “little coat” by the time I get married in June. That gives me eight months.

Fat guy in Little coat.

(That picture is me the last time I had a tux on, my cousin’s wedding last May. I can’t have THAT guy in MY wedding pictures…)

Since this is my first post, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about me. I work for a small internet company in St. Louis, my hometown, where I am a content writer. I have a degree in print journalism from Missouri State University. (For all you St. Louisans, I went to Francis Howell Central High School…)

On June 6, 2009 I will be marrying my fiancé, my high-school sweetheart, who I’ve been together with for seven years. It’s been a long time in the making, but I can’t wait. I can’t imagine my life without her in it.

I can, however, imagine a life where I’m not plus-sized. I’ve imagined it my entire life, pretty much, because I’ve almost always been overweight. It could be hard at times, but I’ve never really let it bother me. I’ve also developed a pretty good sense of self-depreciating humor, which I’m sure you’ll see throughout this process.

As most of you know, it is certainly a process.

Just like pretty much everyone in the continental United States, I’ve dieted…and failed…many, many times.

Not this time, though. This time it’s different. This is a quest, a journey. I’m about to take a life-altering step, so I might as well start making some lifestyle changes to go along with it.

At my peak, I ballooned up to over 300 pounds, which I still can’t wrap my mind around. I couldn’t fit into anything less than a 3XL shirt and my pants looked like Jared’s from Subway (you think I’m kidding…).

Something had to be done, and thus my quest began. It officially began July 6, exactly 11 months before the wedding. My starting weight was 297 pounds. I need to lose just two pounds per week to be at my goal weight of 200 pounds by June 6.

And I have to mention that I’m trying to do this the old-fashioned way. No books, no cards, no shakes, just will power and exercise.

As of this morning, I was 280 pounds. I’m down 17 pounds in 12 weeks, not too shabby….but not two pounds per week, either. Also, I’ve been 280 for the past couple weeks. I’ve strayed from the beaten path a little, and I’ve hit the dreaded plateau.

That’s where the blog comes in, and my hope is that it will be two-fold. I need you to keep me accountable and help me achieve my goal, and I hope that you will see me, watch my progress and realize that if this fat guy can do it, anyone can.

So please come along with me on my quest, make comments on the posts, and we’ll have some fun as well. I can’t always talk about me, I’m not that interesting of a guy, so we can talk about movies, TV, music, sports and anything else.

It’s time for a change, and it’s a change we can all believe in.

Welcome to Fat Guy in Little Coat.