Fat Guy in Little Coat.

• 28Feb

  Progress Report: 100…or so…

  Progress Report 1 Comment

  Hello everyone, I’m really sorry for the lack of blog posts, but it’s been a really busy past couple days with work, wedding and everything else we have going on right now.

  Anyway, the first thing that I wanted to talk about on Thursday of last week is that Wendy and I reached a milestone in our wedding planning/countdown. We’re now less than 100 days away from our wedding date. That’s pretty exciting. We got engaged in June of 2006, and two days shy of two years later we’ll be getting married. We’re now 98 days from June of this year, and it’s pretty exciting…but also pretty scary. We’ve gotten a lot done, but we still have plenty to do…

  I’ve been pretty busy at work the last couple days, trying to wrap up our end of the month goals, but Wendy and I have had some time to get some wedding stuff done. We got our engagement pictures back on Thursday, and Wendy finished putting together our save the dates, which are being printed and will go out pretty soon. We also knocked out the rest of our registry at Target today. We also tried to get some cake information, but apparently you can’t even get prices without an appointment…

  Also, I’m getting ready for tomorrow, when I’ll begin playing some roller hockey. I landed on the ‘Essential Fitness’ team at Midwest Hockey in Queeny Park. We kick off our session tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. I’m really looking forward to it, and I’ve been trying to skate around outside as much as I can to get ready. I’ll let you know how it goes.

  Last night, Wendy and I went out with some of my co-workers, first to dinner and then to a nice, sketchy bar in South St. Louis. We began the night at an old staple, Olympia Kebob House. I decided to deviate from my usual deluxe gyro and go with the deluxe lamb kebob. It was fantastic. It came with rice pilaf, some pitas, some grilled veggies and a little feta cheese.

  We then made our way down to Friendly’s, the neighborhood hangout of my coworker, Russell. He talks about it all the time, so we decided we had to go down there at some point. Last night was the night. It was kind of a sketchy bar, but it was fun. They had the standard bar games, which were fun. Alex and I killed some water buffaloes in Big Game Safari, and I lost a game of shuffleboard. It was a really fun night.

  Like I said, today Wendy and I were busy running around doing wedding stuff, so we just hung out and relaxed tonight after this busy week. I made a Tilapia fillet and some asparagus for dinner, which was fantastic, and then we watched Tropic Thunder. It’s a hilarious movie, and Tom Cruise steals the show. Yes, that Tom Cruise, the jumping-on-the-couch, married to Katie Holmes Scientologist.

  Song of the Day: Gifts and Curses - Yellowcard. Great song off the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. I hadn’t heard it for a long time, but I found it on Grooveshark, the music-streaming service I use at work, the other day.

  It’s been a long week, but I hope a good one. I got in some extra exercise on top of my normal routine, so I’m looking for good results tomorrow.

  Weigh-in tomorrow.

  -Brett

  Tags: Exercise, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, Friendly's, Gifts and Curses, Katie Holmes, little coat, Midwest Hockey, Olympia Kebob House, Queeny Park, Target, Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder, weight loss, Yellowcard

• 26Feb

  Progress Report: Man v. Food

  Progress Report 1 Comment

  Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s guest blog from The Fiancee, but now I’m back, and I wanted to talk about a show that I’m becoming a huge fan of: Man v. Food. Yep, based on name alone, this show is right up my alley…

  I hadn’t heard of it until my brother mentioned it to me, and ever since, I can’t stop watching it. It’s on about 20 times every Wednesday night on the Travel Channel, and features a random dude traveling around to different cities and tasting the local cuisine. Sounds like a pretty standard food show, right? Well, add to that a food challenge in every city, and now you’ve got a show. At the end of every episode, he takes on a food challenge, along the lines of John Candy with the Old 96er in The Great Outdoors.

  Tonight’s episode featured the host, Adam, traveling to various spots around St. Louis and ending by trying to drink five 24-ounce malts from Crown Candy Kitchen in under 30 minutes. Needless to say, he didn’t make it, but he gave it a heck of a run. I’d never even heard of the Crown Candy Kitchen until I worked for the Rams and had a lunch meeting there. It’s a great place, very old-fashioned diner.

  Anyway, if you get a chance, check it out. I’m a big fan of cooking shows and pretty much anything on the Food Network (Good Eats!), so I really enjoy it. I also realize that I used to eat like this guy, as much as possible at every meal and not good food either, total garbage. Not anymore my friends, not anymore…

  Song of the Day: Dead and Gone - T.I. and Justin Timberlake. I certainly hope that “old me is dead and gone.” I think he is.

  More tomorrow.

  -Brett

  Tags: Crown Candy Kitchen, Dead and Gone, Exercise, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, Food Network, Good Eats, Great Outdoors, John Candy, Justin Timberlake, little coat, Man v. Food, Old 96er, T.I., Travel Channel, weight loss

• 25Feb

  Guest Blogspot: The Fiancee

  Guest Spot 1 Comment
  Tonight’s post is the first of what could become a regular happening here on Fat Guy, the guest blog. Tonight’s post is brought to you by my lovely fiancee, Wendy. Also, props to Emily for dragging her butt out of bed this morning for a workout. I bet you felt pretty good about yourself today, as you should.

  Anyway, take it away Widge…

  We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post for this important message…

  Okay, maybe it’s not that important, but I am very excited about doing my first guest blog spot. Brett decided to let me hijack the blog tonight because I was so excited about our dinner. In fact, I had been thinking about it since Sunday when we bought the whole grain pitas for our pizzas. We were looking for something we could use for crust that was (a) whole wheat or whole grain and (b) not Boboli brand (yuck). After a few laps around the store we settled on the pitas which have 0 grams of fat and only 140 calories each (I may or may not have “woo-hooed” in the store when I saw that…). The pizzas were great but the problem then was figuring out what we could do with the remainder of the pitas.

  I knew tonight was probably going to be the only night this week that Brett and I would get to have a real dinner together (for some reason I decided to schedule something for every single night this week and almost all of next), so I wanted to do something different, but it still had to be fast. Well we accomplished that, and I am very happy to introduce to you the Bordogna/Grassmuck Greek Nachos!

  Now I know we aren’t the first people to make Greek Nachos but we were both really impressed with the recipe we came up with. I have been asked by some of the blog readers for recipes Brett has mentioned (okay only two readers…but still), so I thought I’d throw this one out there for you.

  First we took the pitas and baked them for about seven minutes at 350 degrees until they were nice and crispy. While the pitas were baking, I took about one half tablespoon of Sabra Roasted Garlic Hummus (BEST FLAVOR EVER) and whisked that together with about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and the juice from one small lemon.

  Brett and I took two different approaches to assembling our nachos. For mine I took another tablespoon of Hummus and mixed it with about half a cup of shredded chicken. Brett, on the other hand, decided to spread his shredded chicken onto the pitas and put about a tablespoon of Hummus in the center of his plate for dipping.

  Anyway, chicken goes on the pitas, and then we added tons of baby spinach leaves, cucumber and some reduced fat feta cheese (Brett also added olives and tomato while I threw some chopped carrots on mine). Then we drizzled the lemon/evoo/hummus dressing across the top. Seriously, seriously delicious!!! It tasted very light and fresh but still managed to fill both of us. I am sure you will hear Brett mention it in a dinner recap again soon. It literally took about 15 minutes total.

  In other news, Brett lifted weights this morning, had a whole grain pita with turkey, pastrami, hummus, spinach and 2 percent mozzarella cheese for lunch. He also roller bladed for about 20 minutes after work.

  Wendy’s Song of the Day: Superhero - Jane’s Addiction. After I saw Kevin Connolly in He’s Just Not That Into You last night, I can’t get the Entourage theme song out of my head.

  Thank you and goodnight!

  -Wendy

  Tags: Entourage, Exercise, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, He's Just Not That Into You, Jane's Addiction, Kevin Connolly, little coat, Superhero, wedding, weight loss

• 24Feb

  Progress Report: Rollin’ Around

  Progress Report 2 Comments

  Hello everyone. We’re fresh off the 2009 Academy Awards that saw Slumdog Millionaire take home eight, including Best Picture and Best Director. I only saw a couple of the movies, and this year, most of the ones I actually wanted to win failed to do so. I liked Benjamin Button, but seriously, how does that beat out Iron Man and the Dark Knight for visual effects? They made a dude look old. Awesome. The Muppets Take Manhattan had better visual effects, and that was made in 1984. Also, Sean Penn over Mickey Rourke? Really? I’m sure Sean Penn was great in Milk, but give Mickey some credit.

  Anyway, today was a pretty solid day. I was very busy at work, because we’re winding down and trying to hit our goals!!! I actually prefer being busy, because it makes the day go by much faster. Anyway, nothing exciting to report there, really, it’s just work. I did, however, take a new turkey sandwich today. It was half of a wheat pita with smoked turkey and a little pastrami as well as some of the best store-bought roasted garlic hummus ever.

  I have to preface this next part by saying that I’ve been trying to get back into roller hockey for the past couple weeks. I played one season when I was a freshman in high school, but haven’t played since. I’ve been hankering to get back into some sort of a team sport, and it just so happens that my brother, Joe, is getting back into ice hockey. We pulled out some of the old pads when he was home last, and I found out a lot of my old stuff still fit. Unfortunately, it was pretty dated, so I needed some new pants. Also, I was without a stick.

  I called the closest rink to my house over the weekend, and their leagues apparently start Sunday. I’m trying to get thrown on a team, and I needed some stuff. So, after work today I rolled down to the Total Hockey store in St. Peters to pick up some new pants and a new stick, which I got. Since I haven’t skated forever, I threw on my old outdoor skates and took to the streets for a little while after I got back. It was really fun. I didn’t need to, I did run this morning, but if I’m hopefully going to be playing on Sunday, I need to get all the skating in that I can now.

  After I got done, I recreated the mini-pita-pizzas that Wendy and I had on Saturday, except in sandwich form. I used some grilled chicken, a little tomato sauce and some two percent mozzarella cheese in 1/2 of a pita. I cut the other half into triangles and dipped them in the delicious hummus. It was a great dinner.

  Song of the Day: Of All the Gin Joints in All The World - Fall Out Boy. I heard this Casablanca-titled song earlier, and it’s been stuck in my head ever since.

  Hopefully I’ll hear back from the hockey leagues tomorrow, and I’ll land a spot in one. Either way, I’m going to keep rollin’ around my parking lot.

  More tomorrow.

  -Brett

  Tags: 2009 Academy Awards, Benjamin Button, Casablanca, Dark Knight, Exercise, Fall Out Boy, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, Iron Man, little coat, Mickey Rourke, Milk, Muppets Take Manhattan, Of All the Gin Joints in All The World, Sean Penn, Slumdog Millionaire, wedding, weight loss, Workout

• 22Feb

  Weekly Weigh-In: Sunday, February 22, 2009

  Weekly Weigh-in 2 Comments

  Hello everyone, it’s that time again. Let’s go to the stats:

  Original Weight: 297 lbs.
  Last Week’s Weight: 243 lbs.
  This Week’s Weight: 239 lbs.
  +/-: -4 lb.
  Goal Met?: Yes…finally…
  Weight Lost since 7/6: 58 lbs.

  Well, there we go. That’s what I’m talking about. I’ll take a four-pound loss anytime, but especially after a giant steak, cupcake, pasta and plenty of other goodness. I guess my body knows that it could’ve had a bunch of sweet treats at the office, and rewarded me accordingly. In your face, Little Debbie!

  Anyway, I promised to talk about Benjamin Button, and it’s a fitting time as it’s nominated for the Best Picture Oscar tonight. I really enjoyed the film, more than I thought I would, actually. I was afraid it was going to be like either of the Robin Williams movies Jack or Bicentennial Man (side note, Bicentennial Man is the only movie that’s ever made me leave a theater. Atrocious.), but it wasn’t at all, it was more Forrest Gump-ish. Brad Pitt was great as the aging-in-reverse Benjamin Button as was Cate Blanchett as his love interest. I suggest checking it out when you get a chance. It’s really long, though, so be prepared.

  Pitt is also up for the Best Actor award, but I’m hoping that one goes to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. I love the Oscars, as does Wendy. We watch the entire show every year. I’m excited for tonight’s show. I only saw a couple of the movies nominated this year, but it’ll still be fun to watch.

  Anyway, good week this week. I need to keep it going.

  More tomorrow.

  -Brett

  Tags: Bicentennial Man, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Exercise, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, Forrest Gump, Jack, little coat, Little Debbie, Mickey Rourke, Oscars, Robin Williams, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, weight loss, Workout

• 21Feb

  Progress Report: Pizza and Pasta

  Progress Report No Comments

  Hello everyone, sorry for the late post, but it’s been a pretty good day in terms of the wedding as well as food intake. Yesterday was solid as well as delicious, but we’ll see what the scale has to say about it.

  This is the first weekend in the past couple weekends that Wendy and I haven’t had really any plans at all, which is nice. Last night, we had dinner with Emily and Alex at The Olive Garden. I decided, for calories sake, to go against my usual fettuccine alfredo and instead get the not-completely-terrible-for-you shrimp and asparagus risotto…of course, that came with plenty of salad and breadsticks, the only reason to go to the OG, really…

  We really didn’t do much of anything else, aside from watch Conan O’Brien’s last show on Late Night before he heads to the Tonight Show. It was a solid show, featuring Andy Richter and Conan playing old-time baseball. Hilarious. I loved Conan’s Late Night. It was fantastic. I remember, back during Christmas a long time ago, my brother and I used to sleep on a pull-out sofa bed on Christmas even when we’d have family over. I don’t know why this sticks out in my mind, but I remember watching Conan on this old TV we had in the basement one Christmas eve a long time ago, right after the show started in the early 1990’s. That always sticks out to me for some reason, I have no idea why, but it’s my earliest memory of seeing Late Night.

  Anyway, today was a pretty lazy day for me, but a big day for Wendy. She went and took care of the flowers for our wedding and got a fantastic deal on really nice looking bouquets and boutonnieres. Also, and I think I forgot to mention this last week, but Wendy and I had an engagement photo session as part of our wedding picture package. We took the photos last Sunday, and they showed up online today for us to view. It was definitely a pretty exciting day for us, wedding-wise. For anyone that wants to check out the pictures, they can be seen here. If you need a password to get in, just type in grassnuck…Yes, with an ‘N’ and not an ‘M’. They spelled my name wrong, and it definitely caused some problems when Wendy and I were trying to get to the pictures today…

  Tonight was pretty relaxed. We made some pizzas that were healthier than normal pizzas. We used some wheat pitas as the crust with some ground turkey and turkey bacon…a homemade bacon-cheeseburger pizza. It was very tasty and not bad at all for me. I did, however, have a beer with it…there is no healthy form of beer.

  We also watched an Academy Award screener of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, that Wendy got from her co-worker Karen. Also, quick shout out to Let’s Bake Cookies, Karen’s cookie-creation website. She makes some great baked treats, so check it out and learn a thing or two about the perfect cookie.

  Anyway, I’m not all the way done with Ben Button yet, so I’ll give you a review tomorrow on it.

  Song of the Day: Put It On Me - Ja Rule. I heard this song in the car today randomly, and it’s awesome, a great shout out to like 2000-2001, somewhere in there.

  I’ve had an up and down week, including a giant steak, so we’ll see what the scale has to say about it tomorrow morning.

  Weigh-in tomorrow.

  -Brett

  Tags: Conan O'Brien, Exercise, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, Ja Rule, Late night, Let's Bake Cookies, little coat, Olive Garden, Put It On Me, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Tonight Show, wedding, weight loss

• 19Feb

  Progress Report: Dancing Away from Little Debbie

  Progress Report 2 Comments

  Sorry everyone, I had a lot to talk about yesterday but I completely forgot to write about it. Anyway, here it goes…I hope i can remember all of it.

  Anyway, I have to go back to Tuesday. I wanted to devote Tuesday’s post to the anniversary (and the anniversary dinner…) but Tuesday was a big test for me, even thought I completely failed that night. But, anyway, Tuesday morning was the usual office Sam’s Club trip to replenish the snacks. I don’t have to shop, but some of us do have to help carry the snacks/drinks into the office. Some snacks are standard, so those don’t even really bother me, but this time they got all kinds of stuff that they’ve never had before, like six boxes of Oatmeal Cream Pies and a couple boxes of Nutty Bars. Now, I have Little Debbie’s stupid face staring at me, telling me to indulge in her sweet baked goods every time I walk into the break room. It’s awful. I have not, however, let Little Debbie get the best of me. While the pies and bars are going quick, it’s not due to me.

  So, later that day, it was someone’s birthday at my office. We’ve never celebrated birthdays ever, but for some reason, as if to continue to tempt me, they had a giant sheet cake and sang happy birthday and the whole nine. I love cake. I love it. But I knew I had to be strong, because I had a big meal ahead of me. So I was. It’s too bad you can’t lose weight based on what you don’t eat, because I would have been WAY down this week.

  Last night Wendy and I started our next dance class. This time, it’s not just one dance, it’s a combination of several dances, so we’ll be very well-rounded come June. Last night we started with the East Coast Swing, which was really fun. There was lots of twisting and turning and whatnot. It was fun.

  Today, we went out to lunch at Fitz’s to celebrate the addition of another person to our staff. Usually, we go to Mi Ranchito, a Mexican restaurant, when this happens, but Fitz’s is better for the health conscious. I took down a Mediterranean wrap, which had lettuce, black olives, tomato, onion, feta cheese and a little greek vinaigrette dressing. I also had a side salad with some raspberry vinaigrette. It was very delicious and not too bad calorie-wise either.

  Song of the Day: Bowie’s in Space - Flight of the Conchords. I listened to a bunch of FotC today at work, so I’m going with them for today’s song. Great band. They’re hilarious.

  I hope I didn’t leave anything out. I feel like I did, but I have no idea. Anyway, it’s been a good week. I hope Sunday agrees.

  More tomorrow.

  -Brett

  Tags: Bowie's in Space, Exercise, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, Fitz's, Flight of the Conchords, little coat, Little Debbie, Sam's Club, wedding, weight loss, Workout

• 17Feb

  Progress Report: Ocho

  Progress Report 1 Comment

  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it has been eight long years since that fateful night, February 17, 2001, the night that Wendy and I officially got together. Yes, we were seniors in high school, but pretty soon we’re going to be husband and wife. Pretty cool.

  How exactly do two people celebrate their last “anniversary” before the real wedding anniversaries begin? By eating exactly one ton of food, of course! Tonight, in celebration of eight years of “tolerating each other,” as Wendy so lovingly put it, we went to one of, if not my favorite restaurant in St. Louis, Citizen Kane’s Steakhouse.

  This place is a little pricey, but incredible for anyone that likes steak…and who doesn’t like steak? No one, that’s who. Well, these steaks aren’t steaks…they’re more like sides of beef cooked. I took down a New York Strip that was about as big as my face..and I ate the entire thing, because I was starving, along with a baked potato and a Rosebud salad (Citizen Kane’s, get it?) with this fantastic mayfair dressing. Wendy was more excited about the salad than the steak, honestly.

  We also had dessert in the form of two cupcakes from the Cupcake Bar at Pastries of Denmark. This was a surprise from Wendy, and it was very, very delicious. I really enjoyed it.

  Was it a healthy night? No, not at all. Was it delicious? Absolutely. Worth it? Totally.

  Song of the Day: Always - Bon Jovi. I had to go there. This was Wendy and my song back from when we first got together. We must’ve put it on about 17 billion CDs is the past eight years.

  Here’s to our first eight years and to another happy 80 to come.

  More tomorrow.

  -Brett

  Tags: Always, Bon Jovi, Citizen Kane's, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, little coat, wedding, weight loss, Workout

• 16Feb

  Progress Report: Honoring the Presidents

  Progress Report 2 Comments

  That’s right, everyone, I spent today maxin’ and relaxin’, much like the Fresh Prince, in honor of the Presidents. I didn’t have to go to work, so I was able to sleep a little later, get my run in and basically relax. Wendy had to work, but it was payback for her getting Martin Luther king Jr. Day off.

  The only thing I really have to report, other than it was a really lazy day, was that I had lunch with Alex at Chipotle. This is a place that can really get out of hand fast, but I think I did a good job of keeping the calories down. I opted to go for the ‘burrito bol,’ which is a burrito without the wrap. I basically had a pile of rice, steak, black beans, pico de gallo, salsa and a little cheese. No chips or sides for me, so I think that was good.

  For dinner, Wendy cooked up her special stir non-fry, with some brown rice, veggies and chicken coated with some soy and ginger. It’s really delicious and very healthy. After that, it was on to the like nine hours of TV we have to watch on Monday nights.

  We had 24, Chuck and Heroes, all in one night. It’s pretty much the greatest TV night of all time, ever, and the DVR makes it all possible. I don’t know how I could ever go back to being a slave to regular programming. I couldn’t do it. There’s no way. I’m a slave to the DVR now, and I’m proud of it.

  I will say this, I did have a little sugar-free ice cream during these shows…just a little, and it was sugar-free.

  Song of the Day: I’m On a Boat - SNL Digital Short. Hilarious clip from Saturday Night Live, featuring Andy Samberg and T-Pain. “Never thought I’d be on a boat…”

  Well, tomorrow it’s back to the grind…and then off to one of the best restaurants in St. Louis. That’s for tomorrow, though.

  Eight years, tomorrow.

  -Brett

  Tags: 24, Andy Samberg, Chipotle, Chuck, Exercise, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, Fresh Prince, Heroes, I'm on a boat, little coat, SNL, T-Pain, wedding, weight loss

• 15Feb

  Weekly Weigh-In: Sunday, February 15, 2009

  Uncategorized No Comments

  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

  Tags: Exercise, fat guy, fat guy in a little coat, Fat Guy In Little Coat, little coat, wedding, weight loss

« Previous Entries