Food Rut

I'm going through one of those "lazy food" periods where I don't try many NEW things.  I don't know if it's 'I like these 5 or 6 things and that's it' or 'not enough time to try cooking something new' or a combination of both.  But here's what I'm diggin' right now:


Traditional rotisserie chicken (Walmart)
Ground chuck taco meat (with Goya Sazon low sodium spice)
Grilled sirloin
Egg whites
Black Beans
Baby spinach salad (I eat about 2 to 3 cups of this a day)
Kemps Light Lemon yogurt
Grapefruit
Fuji Apples


For the last 3 weeks I just keep rotating those foods.  And then every 10 days I have a Treat Day!!!


Dr. Savic gave me some food rules to follow to get this weight down and get rid of my Type 2 diabetes.  

1 slice of whole wheat bread per day a sweet potato every 3 days, pasta every 10 days and rice or pizza once a month.  Also, no more than 150 grams of carbs per 24hr. period.

These foods make it simple to follow these rules.  Most days I never have the bread and I haven't had pasta in over a month.


And I LOVE THESE... The Atkins Peanut Butter Cups!!!!

From Boobs To Pecs To A Pumpkin Peel

So the 'man-boobless' part of Tuesday took another exciting turn while at Dr. Savic's office on Roxbury (Yes!  You should make an appointment!!  815-381-7005).  She introduces me to a rep from Dermaquest Skin Therapy and she asks if I'd like to lay down on the table behind me and get a Pumpkin Pulp Peel.  I have limited knowledge on the purpose of a peel, so I asked; "what will it do?"  The Dermaquest rep said, "it will reverse some signs of aging and it will tighten your skin."  "Heck Yeah... put it on my Man-boobs"; says the man with limited peel knowledge.  Let's just say my peel knowledge had an 'up-tick.'


20 minutes and 5 face products later I was out the door with a youthful face tighter than a snare drum and tits that are now pecs!  Start feeling sorry for my wife, Mary Beth, because I'm feeling "Lenny Kravitz/Brad Pitt" sexy and instead of 43 years old, I feel like one of Justin Bieber's classmates. She's not going to be home from work for 5 hours, which means I will have had a lot of time to stare at myself in the mirror.  By the way, do you know how many times you can flex your chest and stare at your face in the mirror in 5 hours?  I stopped counting when my daughter said; "you're not Lenny Kravitz", while I was singing in the mirror.


Sure she's right, but one day he may need a NEW drummer, and I need to be ready!!!  Here's Lenny's new single, Stand.




My Peel & Pec day was amazing until...........

Something Good Has To Happen To Me Today!

Who's alarm goes off at 3:30am...?  Come on, show of hands!  This morning was one of those mornings where, as a husband and parent, you don't want to leave the bed...EVER!  But I had to, and I couldn't help but feel something good better happen to me today because I did.  Here's how the day started:


3:30AM - WAHH!!  WAHH!!  WAHH!!  WAHH!!
(that's the ridiculously loud sound that comes from my Bose Wave radio, which is the only alarm that can get loud enough to pull me out of Stage 5, rapidly eye-moving, massive eye-booger making state.  Did you know all that REM is what makes your eye boogers?)


3:40AM - WAHH!!  WAHH!!  WA - BAM! (sound of hitting snooze)
...yes I'm going through a 'sound effect' stage right now


3:50AM - WAHH!!  WAHH!!  WAHH!! - BAM!!  Ok... I'm up!!


3:50:30 - Scowl at wife because she gets to sleep some more... but wait!


3:50:35 - Look who came in to sleep with us in the middle of the night... my baby girl!  I still love it when she does that!!


3:50:45 - Scowl at both my girls because they BOTH get to sleep some more.  Then BOOM!!


3:51 - Something good better happen to me today for having to leave this bed AND my girls!


Mind if I skip ahead a bit?  Cool!


4:45 - 8oz. Vanilla whey protein w/ skim milk


6:30 - Phentermine pill (37.5mg)


7:30 - BREAKFAST
1 sm. Organic Fuji Apple
1 Kemps Light Non-fat Lemon Yogurt (39 cents @ Woodmans)
1 Multi-vitamin (NOW brand Adam)


10:15 - Pre-workout snack
1 Atkins protein bar


11:00 - Gym
10 Minute treadmill warmup
3-Chest Supersets (2 different exercises in a row)
A sweet abdomen exercise taught to me by this guy


Escape with Bobby Momenteller: Trailer from Jim Spelman on Vimeo.


I'm going to record myself doing it because it's too hard to explain (promise me that when you see it, you'll pretend you're looking at Bobby from the video above!)


And I finished with...


12 minutes of interval cardio on treadmill (I should have done more, but I had an appt. with Dr. Savic at 12:15.


Do you remember what I was in search of today...?  Probably not, since I see you wiping up drool from that video.  I'll refresh ya...Something good has got to happen to me today in exchange for leaving my beautiful girls in that comfy bed!


And 10 minutes into my appt. with Dr. Savic it happened!!!!!  I ask Dr. Savic how she thinks I look.  And yes, I was fishing for a compliment not gonna lie... it feels REALLY good right now.  And then Dr. Savic says one of the few things I've been waiting to hear....


"YOU HAVE PECS NOW!"  I ask, "so you don't think I need a bra anymore?" And she says "sure!"


You know what that means... not too long before No Shirt At The Pool!


P.S. Just wanted to share the song that played in my ears when I started my cardio today.  It made me feel like I could run for hours!!!

This time it worked... I'm as surprised as you

I am NOT an expert on weight loss or fitness. But I listen to those that are and have applied what works for ME. Nothing is more important than doing what works for YOU. Maybe we'll have some things in common, maybe we won't, but we'll never be able to help each other if we don't share. Good food, awful food, workout ideas, music to motivate, good days, bad days...everything!


Counting calories, fat grams, carbs, getting on a scale everyday and everything else that goes with a cumbersome, time consuming diet is EXACTLY WHY I'VE FAILED BEFORE!  In some way, I'm sure those types of things help other people, just not me.  I like to think of myself as being organized, but I don't carry a man-purse so I'll misplace a 'food journal.'  That 'lost' journal turns into writing things down on small pieces of paper and that turns into my wife telling me to "pick up my s#!@."  Once I get to a weight I like, I really need to work on not leaving my stuff everywhere... at least the clothes I might leave lying around are smaller now.


Friday, March 4, 2011 was my first appointment with Dr. Lydia Savic and I told her about my Type 2 diabetes and that I wanted to lose some weight.  The diabetes was first on my list of things I wanted to change about myself.  The only reason I have it is because I put on too much weight.  When I got married in 2001 I weighed 350lbs. and shortly after that I got the news that I had to start taking pills for diabetes.  Although I'm on the right track now, I wish I would have taken it more seriously then.  Not only do I want to be here for a long time but I don't want to spend over $200 a month on meds and testing strips.


Dr. Savic discussed a plan with me that she thought would work.  First, I had to start eating breakfast (I'll  tell you what my breakfast's are later).  I need to exercise regularly (more on this later) and she prescribed a pill to help with my appetite, Phentermine.  She made the food choices easy to understand AND to keep track of:  1 slice of whole wheat bread per day, a sweet potato every 3 days, pasta every 10 days and rice or pizza once a month.  Also, no more than 150 grams of carbs per 24hr. period.  I eat greens beens and spinach like crazy and I use Atkins brand protein bars and EAS protein drinks as needed.  As far as proteins (meat, chicken, fish & eggs), I eat as much as I feel like eating.  Remember, this is what is working for ME, Dr. Savic can find a way that works for YOU.  When I started changing my life on March 4 I weighed 287, today I weigh 248 and I've gone from a 44" waist to a 38".  To no longer take diabetic meds I need an A1C score of 6.5, my latest is 6.7.  I can't wait to share more of how I got here and where this can go for all of us from here!  See ya soon, at The Pool With No Shirt