• 31Mar

    Progress Report: Let Me Eat Cake

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    That’s right, ladies and gentlemen….tonight, I feasted on one of my favorite things in the world: cake.

    OK, well, feasted isn’t the right word….sampled is more like it, but still, I had cake, and I loved it. Wendy and I had an appointment to meet with a lady running her bakery out of her house, called Cakes By Elaine. Yes, she was Elaine, and yes, her cake was phenomenal. I really enjoyed it. While we have one more stop to make before we book the cake, I’m a fan of Elaine. Her butter cream frosting was absolutely money.

    Also, I have to mention that this may have been the best wedding meeting we’ve had so far. Wendy knew exactly what she wanted the cake to look like, I knew what I wanted it to taste like, and we were in and out in about 20 minutes. Perfect.

    Of course, that gave us time to knock one more thing off the wedding list as we were able to pick up our wedding rings from Helzberg Diamonds. Wendy was surprised because her ring was supposed to go off to be sized, but when it came in, it was already the right size. Mine was perfect. Obviously.

    Anyway, it’s been a good day, very productive. I got my workout in this morning, knocked down a turkey sandwich for lunch…on one of those new Arnold Sandwich Thins, which are really good. It’s like the combination between a pita and a wheat bun. Very tasty. I had a mini pizza for dinner after we got back, with chicken and mushrooms on a wheat pita. Also delicious. However, not as delicious as the cake I devoured just an hour earlier.

    Song of the Day: Ain’t No Sunshine - Bill Withers. Yeah, I’m going back to American Idol, but one dude did an awesome rendition of this song tonight. Plus, it’s just an awesome song.

    Selecting the perfect wedding cake required a necessary, and delicious, sacrifice. Let’s just hope I didn’t sacrifice too much.

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  • 30Mar

    Progress Report: Jack Bauer

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    Hello everyone…I wanted to deviate from the usual path of health to talk about something else, television.

    As you all know by now, Monday night is one of the greatest nights of television ever. Three hours of awesomeness, thanks to the DVR, from 7:00-10:00 p.m. starting with Chuck, followed by Heroes and then Jack Bauer and 24.

    This season of 24 has been absolutely outstanding. Jack Bauer is one of the greatest characters on television, and he’s back partnering with Tony Almeda, who is also awesome, but was supposedly dead. Of course, he’s way too awesome to die, so, there you have it.

    I’m typing this as I watch the latest episode, and something occurred to me that I hadn’t thought about for a little while…there’s another hardcore bad ass amongst the ranks of Jack Bauer and Tony Almeda, and that’s Secret Service Agent Aaron Pearce. Pearce has been an integral part of Jack Bauer’s life over the past seven seasons, and he’s been shot just about as much as any of the bad guys, but keeps on going.

    I also need to give props to Chuck. I feel like this is a show that nobody is watching, but I still really, really like it. It has everything, action, humor, romance. It really is a great show. If you have the opportunity, you should catch up with episodes online or grab the DVDs.

    I can’t leave out Heroes, though. Many, many people have given up on this series. I call those people quitters, and I feel sorry for them. The show is about as good as it’s ever been right now. Combined with Chuck and 24, it makes for one heck of a night of television.

    Song of the Day: Polyamorous - Breaking Benjamin. I love this song, and this band. They’re one of, if not, my favorite band ever.

    Tomorrow, let us eat cake.

    -Brett

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  • 29Mar

    Weekly Weigh-In: Sunday, March 29, 2009

    Progress Report 1 Comment

    Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of posts, but it’s been a busy weekend. On to the stats:

    Original Weight: 297 lbs.
    Last Week’s Weight: 237 lbs.
    This Week’s Weight: 232 lbs.
    +/-: -5 lb.
    Goal Met?: Yes!
    Weight Lost since 7/6: 65 lbs.

    That’s more like it. I had a really good week this week, eating-wise. I’m proud that I was able to rebound after last week.

    Yesterday was a pretty jam-packed day, more so for Wendy than for me, but I did my fair share also. Wendy assembled her bridesmaids and started putting together our wedding invitations while I aligned and printed the envelopes. It turns out that they ran out of a few things, so the Father of the Bride and I had to make a couple runs for ribbon.

    The invitations are assembled, and I’m continuing to slim down. We also picked out the music for our ceremony. I call that a successful weekend.

    More tomorrow.

    -Brett

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  • 26Mar

    Progress Report: Calories

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    Hello again everyone and happy Thursday to you all.

    For those of you that have been reading this since the beginning, you know my plan when I started this was to just kind of…wing it, I guess. I hadn’t really read any weight loss books or guides or anything, and although I watch a lot of TV, The Biggest Loser isn’t in my catalog of shows. I was just going to eat better and work out regularly.

    This plan has worked quite well, if I do say so myself. I’m on my way to hitting my goal, but I feel like over the past couple weeks, I’ve hit the infamous plateau (aside from the horrible gain last week…). So, while my original plan worked up until now, I’ve changed it up a little bit and started doing some research. I got a new workout from a coworker, which I really like, and another thing came to light that I didn’t realize. While I was watching my calories the whole time, I never realized that there was a certain number of calories that I needed to eat every day to keep my body from entering starvation mode and storing the calories it was getting.

    This explains why some weeks when I felt like I had eaten barely anything, I wouldn’t lose any weight, but weeks when I only thought I did OK, I’d drop five or six pounds. While I’m not going to count calories, it’s good to know that I do need to eat more than I thought to lose weight. I like that.

    Today, I had lunch across the street at St. Louis Bread Company, a roast beef sandwich with an apple, and for dinner I made some nachos, but not traditional nachos. I baked a sliced pita and layered it with some shredded cheese, chicken, salsa and spinach. Delicious.

    Really, the only way this affects me is when it comes to snacking. My meals will remain the same, but I was trying to stick to a strict breakfast, lunch and dinner plan. Sometimes I’d grab some almonds out of the break room in the afternoon, but I was always mad at myself for snacking. Somehow, though, those were the weeks I ended up losing more weight. It makes a little more sense now.

    Now, I can’t go around stuffing my face and acting like I’m doing something, I realize that. It was just interesting to learn that the amount of calories I need each day is way higher than I thought. That’s a good thing.

    Song of the Day: Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson. This song rolled through on the shuffle this morning. It’s a good one.

    So, technically I need to eat more…but not too much more…

    More tomorrow.

    -Brett

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  • 25Mar

    Progress Report: Penguin Suits

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    Hello everyone…Sorry I missed yesterday, but I was hanging out with Dr. Asian Snake. We may or may not have been playing video games all night….I’ll let you decide…

    Today was a big day, wedding-wise, as Wendy and I went to Men’s Warehouse after work and placed the order for the groomsman’s tuxedos for the wedding. We went with a nice two-button tuxedo with an ivory shirt and a teal vest and tie. No bow tie, just the regular tie. I like it better than the bow tie.

    I originally wanted to do a tux with tails…and a top hat…and a cane…but that was quickly vetoed. I can’t see why…

    Also, we have an appointment to check off the last major item on our list, a cake (thanks, Jen!). So, tonight tuxes, next week…cake tasting! It’s the day I’ve been waiting for, as I am a huge fan of cake. Let the countdown begin. I’ll let you know how it goes.

    That’s the big news of the day. Wendy and I stopped at St. Louis Bread Company for dinner, where we both dined on turkey sandwiches and soup. It was a delicious dinner, following a successful evening.

    Song of the Day: Champagne - Cavo. Another St. Louis alternative rock band, Cavo, had a story in today’s Post Dispatch about their upcoming album. I’ve heard this song on the radio a few times, but I listened to more of their stuff today. It was really good. I enjoyed it.

    Hopefully I can avoid empty calories before the cake tasting…

    More tomorrow.

    -Brett

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  • 23Mar

    Progress Report: Plateau Buster…

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    well…I WAS going to talk about the workout I started doing at the end of last week that I started calling the ‘plateau buster.’ But, if you read yesterday’s post…I’m certainly not on a plateau anymore…

    Well, now I’ve started to call it ‘the redeemer,’ because I need it to help me bounce back. I’m confident that it will. It’ll probably seem very familiar to most of you, but I heard about this workout from a coworker that has a brother who is an amateur boxer. Instead of running, at least two days per week, I’ll undertake the redeemer instead.

    The redeemer is a mixture of jogging and running. You jog for one minute, run for 30 seconds, jog for another minute, run for 30 seconds, lather, rinse, repeat, for 20 minutes. It’s pretty intense, but I really like it so far…hopefully, it will help me redeem myself after last weekend.

    It was a good weekend, however, complete with a bonfire at my friend Josh’s place, which is where all the eating went down. As usual, there were chicken wings, sub sandwiches, cookies, chips and plenty of beer. Basically, everything you can eat that will make you gain weight…and I ate it all. I also paid for it. I just hope I can get back on track enough to him my goal. I’m only 75 days away from goal date, and I have about 40 lbs. to go…

    Today was good, though, I got back on track with a good workout this morning, and I slapped on the skates and played some solo hockey when I got home because it was so nice. I made a wheat wrap with turkey, cheese, spinach and a little hummus for lunch with some rice cake chips. For dinner, though, I made a patty melt. Yeah, that sounds really fattening, but it wasn’t too bad. I made a turkey burger, but instead of a bun, I sprayed two pieces of bread with zero calorie butter and put the turkey burger, a slice of two percent cheese and some mushrooms on before browning both sides of the sandwich in a pan. It was incredible.

    Song of the Day: Ode to Kevin Arnold - Ludo. I had to go with the St. Louis rockers, because I was talking with my friend Mike about them this weekend. I mean, how can you go wrong with a song about The Wonder Years?

    I had a good start to the week…let’s hope for a good finish…

    More tomorrow.

    -Brett

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  • 22Mar

    Weekly Weigh-In: Sunday, March 22, 2009

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    Original Weight: 297 lbs.
    Last Week’s Weight: 234 lbs.
    This Week’s Weight: 237 lbs.
    +/-: +3 lb.
    Goal Met?: No
    Weight Lost since 7/6: 60 lbs.

    I had a really good week going, and I completely ruined it last night by eating way too much terrible food.

    That’s all I can really say about it.

    More tomorrow.

    -Brett

  • 19Mar

    Progress Report: Madness

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    That’s right, everyone today was the big day…the start of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament…March Madness. Can you feel it? I certainly can.

    I love the NCAA tournament. It’s a great time of year. Unfortunately, I haven’t paid that much attention to college basketball this season, but it doesn’t really matter. As soon as the tournament rolls around, I’m sucked in. It doesn’t matter what game is on, I’m going to watch it…or listen to it, depending on where I may be at the time.

    I’ve done well so far, right now I’ve hit the first nine on my bracket. I think I made a good call taking North Carolina to go all the way, as they dominated Radford University this afternoon.

    Anyway, when I wasn’t watching the tournament, it was a pretty average day. I used my last slice of corned beef for a sandwich for lunch along with some rice cakes, and I took down a plum as a snack later in the day. For dinner, I stopped at the grocery store to grab a few things, and I picked up a fillet of white roughy and some asparagus. I used a little too much pepper on the fish, but otherwise, it was delicious.

    Song of the Day: One Shining Moment - David Barrett. I had to go with the college basketball anthem today, for the start of the tournament.

    Well, that’s really all I’ve got for today…

    More tomorrow.

    -Brett

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  • 18Mar

    Progress Report: One, Two, Cha-Cha-Cha…

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    Hello everyone, and happy Wednesday to you all. Yeah, I said that like Andy Bernard in my head…so what?

    Wendy and I had our dance class again tonight, and it was our second-to-last one for this session, which means it was the last class where we would actually learn a dance. As you can guess from the headline, tonight was the Cha Cha.

    This was good, because it was the one dance Wendy wanted to learn, so we finally got to it…and we were good…obviously. It’s actually a really fun dance to do, probably the best one we’ve learned so far.

    I’ve really enjoyed these dance classes more than I thought I would. Hopefully, we’ll be able to retain some of this information for our first dance come June, but even if we don’t, it’s still been fun. It’s also been a great way to get a little added exercise, and that’s always a plus.

    Speaking of exercise, I ran outside this morning for the first time since, I don’t know, September probably. It was awesome. I forgot how much more I liked running outside than on the ’80’s treadmill. It was a little chilly, but still very nice.

    Sunday, I had made a corned beef brisket and some cabbage in honor of St. Patrick’s day (yeah, I know it was Tuesday, but a corned beef brisket takes about three hours to cook. YOU try doing that during the week..). I had some left over, so I knocked that out for dinner when we got back from dance while I watched our recorded American Idol. Man, Alexis totally shouldn’t have gone home this week. That was BS! She was really good. I mean, uh, whatever….

    Song of the Day: Wild Thing - Tone Loc. So, for some reason, the song our dance instructor picked for us to Cha Cha to sounded like the beat from Tone Loc’s Wild Thing. I just kept singing this song in my head while it was playing. It also reminds me of the time we saw Tone Loc live. That’s right, Missouri State got Tone Loc to perform. It was awesome. His music cut out before he did Wild Thing, so he had the drummer from the opening act (I don’t remember who it was…) come out and play the main beat on the drums. It actually made for a better performance than if the rotund rapper would’ve done it how he planned.

    “Workin’ all week, nine to five for my money…so when the weekend comes, I go get live with the honeys…”

    Well, that’s half true…as my friend Nick says, I’ll let you decide which half. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

    More tomorrow.

    -Brett

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  • 17Mar

    Progress Report: Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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    Hello everyone, and a very happy St. Patrick’s Day to you. Like most, I spent my St. Patty’s day drifting in and out of consciousness…

    Oh, no, I wasn’t drinking…I was just at work, staring at a flashing cursor in Microsoft Word all day…it’s very hypnotizing. Yeah, I didn’t do anything special to celebrate my Irish heritage today, aside from get up and go to work like every other day.

    I did, however, hit the gym for a nice lift before work, and I made sure I got some added exercise after I got home because it was 80 degrees outside. I slapped on the skates and headed over to the other side of the apartment with my stick and puck and shot at an imaginary goal for a little while. I did, however, fall down once…the first time I’ve fallen since I started skating again. One of the drawbacks to skating in the parking lot is the hazard of rocks and sticks. I totally got caught on a rock and went down.

    Like a 10-year-old, I came back with a scraped up elbow and knee, but nothing a little antibiotic ointment and a band aid couldn’t fix. At first, I was worried that I looked like an idiot, but then I realized that I didn’t really care. Like Happy Gilmore, I have to get ready for the next round of hockey. Thankfully, though, my next round isn’t 364 days away…

    A group of us went out for lunch today to Kayak’s Coffee, which isn’t too far from the office. We were able to sit outside and eat, so that was nice. I took down a turkey sandwich and a side salad with balsamic vinaigrette. It was delicious. I also went to The ‘Bucks and got an iced coffee…just because it was nice outside, and it sounded good.

    Wendy made some chicken strips for dinner with potatoes and green beans. It’s become one of our standard dinners, and it’s delicious. she breads the chicken in Italian bread crumbs and then lightly pan cooks it in some olive oil…Good stuff.

    Song of the Day: Drunken Lullabies - Flogging Molly. Well, I had to go with this song for a couple of reasons. One, because it’s St. Patrick’s Day, and two, for my friend and college roommate Ryan Kuhles, who would’ve celebrated his 26th birthday at the beginning of this month.

    It’s also funny to me how songs can take on certain meanings. I used to get SO sick of Flogging Molly during college, because Kuhles used to blare it…constantly. He and his irishness loved the stuff. He couldn’t get enough. But now, I have it on my iPod, just because it always makes me think of those times. Even though it was so annoying back then, it’s really meaningful to me now, if that makes sense.

    Anyway, that’s all I have for today.

    More tomorrow.

    -Brett

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