Golf Fitness: Journey To 100 - Week 4

Falling short of a goal. It's something we all do, but it hurts to have to confess to others that we have failed. Fortunately, that's why we have second chances, and third chances, and fourth, and, well you get the idea. This weeks was one such week for me on my journey to lose 100 pounds. As week three ended, I came in at 295.2 pounds, or a total loss of 28.8 pounds since this little session began. As week four ended (or 28 days for those following along at home) I was - gasp - UP. Yes, this morning I was dreading the scale after a weekend away of dance competition. In fact, I almost faked it and "forgot" to weigh in. I knew it was going to be awful. As I climbed on board, fully expecting to see a number starting with a 3, I was almost pleasantly surprised by still seeing a 2 at the front. While I squeaked in with a 299.0 weight, I didn't return to the 300's like I had worried so much about. Let me just tell you a few things about this weekend, then talk to you about how lucky I feel about this number...

Friday afternoon started out with an exit from work at noon, followed by a rapid packing of the van and a quick clean up of the house. We were hitting the road for a two day dance competition in Tacoma! I packed all the good foods I could have on my diet and even scouted out a few good food options for dinner out if we wanted to do so. I was all set. The we hit the road and were off to T-Town for the weekend.

The first night was nice enough with just a nice Panda Express dinner - lots of salt, but no big deal on the calorie count. Especially since I had eaten so well the rest of the day. From there, it was a relaxing evening at the hotel knowing we had a 4:30 AM wake up for competition the next morning. A bit of movies and a few thin mint Oreo's and I was ready for a nap, but for some reason, I didn't sleep until quite a bit later.

Saturday morning arrived early, but I was ready to roll. I made breakfast for the wife and kiddo, but somehow forgot about myself. No problem, it was early and I didn't have to be back stage so I can sneak out to the car and much a bit while they get ready back there. Well, I forgot that part. I just got a cup of coffee at the refreshment stand inside the venue and watched the dancing. About 6 hours later, awards were done and someone mentioned lunch... Then it hit me, I didn't have any food yet and I was beyond hungry. We hit an Asian diner for a quick lunch where I had a pork sandwich (which except for the bread was a good choice) and a walnut and feta salad. Again, not terrible, but then I added an egg roll to it - and that was the end of being good. I held back at the donut shop that became our next stop, only getting one small, tiny, little donut (good job me!!!) and then made it back to the hotel somewhat intact. We met up with a few other dance parents who decided it would be fun to go to dinner - at the Olive Garden...

The Olive Garden, land of mounds of bread, pasta and sauces. Oh man, did I fail miserably here. I ended up getting the 5 cheese sauced, rigatoni with soup and bread. I killed myself and I just didn't care. As I cleared my first bowl of soup (on the plus side, I only had one bread stick with it) they brought me another. Again, the soup was delicious and before a third could arrive, the entrée was served. This ginormous bowl of pasta was more than enough for me - and probably another person, but I just didn't stop eating it until it was gone. Then, another smaller bowl arrived and that one disappeared as well. I then ran for the door before they could hit me with anything else. It was a race to get out of there before any more damage could be done and I made it. Fortunately, there wasn't a scale at the hotel, because that Sunday weigh in would have been TERRIBLE.

Sunday was better, but not much. The day started out with the hotel breakfast of some scrambled eggs, potatoes and 2 little sausages. It was a great start and kept me going for a while. We actually had the food we planned on for lunch that day, heading back to the van for some veggie crackers, pepperoni and trail mix. I also felt the dehydration mode setting in and had a few mini-bottles of Gatorade to fend that off, which were a few calories more than water, but when you screw yourself up too badly, sometimes it's better to recover quickly than try and make the usual thing work. From there, it was a very long afternoon of sitting and waiting for things to happen. When we eventually exited the building and headed home, I had once again set myself into "way too hungry mode" and we stopped at McDonald's to grab some to go food. A fried fish sandwich and some chicken nuggets were not the greatest end to a recovery day, but at least I didn't drink much of the root beer that my sad butt ordered.

Anyways, despite the best intentions of the weekend, I have to chalk this one up to a failure. I know how to plan better and how to make things work better for the next round, which funny enough will be this Saturday at another competition, but at least this is only one day. So, to cap off week number 4, I'm up 3.8 pounds to 299. I'm climbing back in to this full steam today with a calorie cut breakfast and lunch. Dinner should be interesting since I may be manning a girl scout cookie booth tonight, but we will see! 

Playing A Round: The Golf Club At Echo Falls–Snohomish, WA

A day that will live in infamy… The follow up round to my best round ever played. The follow up to my 5 under, 65 at The Golf Club at Echo Falls. Previous to this, I had only made it out for a quick 9 hole round and shot a two under, 34 at this layout that fits me so well. Today was the day that I was going to see if I could chase down glory once again and finish two consecutive 18 hole rounds under par. The day started off well enough, with a brilliant par on the par 4 first, and a second on the par 4 second. I moved to the par 4 third, and the round began to get interesting. I hit driver to clear the 260 yard carry distance to the green for the first time and actually nailed it. It landed just to the right of the green for an easy chip on and one putt – birdie. I was striking the ball well and rolling at one under par after three holes. The par 5 fourth played equally well for me as my drive found the left center of the fairway, but I missed the easy approach short right in the bunker. I will call it like it was, a brilliant lob wedge from the bunker settled about 4 feet from the cup and I one putted for my second birdie. I was rolling.

After moving to two under through four, I ran together a string of pars that lasted for a good 8 holes. A 166 yard 7 iron into the par 3 fifth was the first. That was followed by a driver, 7 iron, lob wedge play into the par 5 sixth. On the long, par 3 seventh, I slightly misjudged the distance and came up at the front edge of the green. A great first putt left me an easy tap in for par and allowed me to quickly move on to the par 4 eighth. I decided to go driver on eight as well, differing from my normal 17° hybrid choice on this hole. The course was very wet, the weather was sloppy and the extra carry that the driver would give me was going to be a great help on it. A great drive found the left center of the fairway and a wind-deterred 60° wedge found the front of the green, but left me a long 85 foot putt for birdie. A solid first putt left me about 3 feet for par and I moved along to the ninth. On the 9th hole, the weather began to get interesting again. The clouds became a bit darker, the wind picked up a bit more and there was a bit of frozen rain or sleet falling from the sky. Nothing major, just something to watch out for going forward. On the ninth, a good driver, no I’ll say it, a great drive was followed up by a not so great lob wedge. My 36 foot putt was terrible, but I made up for it by draining the 8 foot comeback (somehow) and still managed to walk away with a par. Probably the best and worst shots of the round on one hole – the drive and the first putt. As I left the 9th green, I noticed that the sleet was starting to stay on the green there, but it was still not really coming down, so off to the tenth I went at 2 under par.

The 10th played interesting to say the least. Normally, a perfect 56° wedge for me, the 10th is one of the easiest holes on the course. That was not the case on this day. Between the wind coming straight back at me and the sleet falling from the sky, the 10th played about as hard as it possibly could. Still, a good wedge found the green and a two putt par from 30 feet was good enough to move along. The dreaded 11th was up next. The weather let up at this point, the winds died down and the sleet stopped falling. It looked like a good time to race through the final holes and see how low I could go. Then, I came up on the threesome in front of me, and they were playing SLOW. I hit driver off the 11th tee, finding the left center of the fairway. A solid 56° wedge found the green about 20 feet from the flag. I missed the first putt by inches before tapping one back in for another par. The 12th played pretty similarly, but with the drive going to the right side of the fairway, then a gorgeous 6 iron towards the green. A horrible 60° wedge pitch to the green left me 90 feet down the hill through the collar of the green to get to the pin placement. It’s amazing how much difference 10 feet can make on a shot. Had the wedge carried that extra 3-4 yards, it would have caught the downhill and rolled to the hole. Instead, I had nearly 100 feet to cover and some mid-level grass on the correct line. I hit the shot and found myself with about 2 feet left for par. Another hole, another par. A great round so far, but then something happened.

As I teed off on the par 3 thirteenth, things got crazy. I hit my nice 7 iron into the green, but the wind suddenly picked up and knocked the ball short right, leaving about 25 yards to the green. Then, after another rough 60° lob wedge pitch, I missed the 30 foot putt for par and made my first bogey of the round. Still, I was clinging to a 1 under par round in some pretty tough playing conditions. From there, it was a short drive over to the next par 3 and that is where this story really starts getting interesting. I love the design of the 14th hole. It’s a short, challenging par 3 with trouble short and right, OB left and back and a green that can really mess with your mind if you hit the wrong spot. That said, it’s not a hard hole and is usually just a wedge or 9 iron from the middle tees. Today, well, today the hole had an all new defense that I had never seen before. I’m going to include a few photos of this hole as I couldn’t believe what happened on it. I hit my standard pitching wedge into the green with the front pin placement. It landed me a bit longer than I thought, but as I returned to the cart, I noticed that it was getting a bit ugly in the weather department.

The play by play follows…

I lifted the club cover off my bag only to notice that the sleet was starting to pile up on there and it was coming down at a pretty good clip. I popped my wedge back in the bag and hopped in the cart to get up to the green to check out the results of my shot.

When I arrived at the putting surface, there was definitely a tinge of white to be seen. It almost looked a bit like a frozen lake, or maybe just a chemical covered green that you shouldn’t walk on, but as I got closer, you could see that it was nothing to worry about. Keep in mind, that 2 minutes earlier this thing was totally normal looking. That was not the case anymore.

Fortunately, the green wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t putt out, so I reared back with my putter and tried to get enough on the putt to make it the 30 feet through the sleet pellets, but I muscled up so much that this ball was going places and those places were far away. That was until the sleet built up on the ball and slowed it down perfectly to where it bounced off the back of the hole and fell in the cup for a birdie. Ooops, but I’ll take it. Off to 15!

As I pulled away from 14 to move to the par 5 fifteenth, I looked back at the green that was now completely white. It was looking less like a green and more like a skating rink. Still, I only had four holes to go and I was two under, the show must go on. As I pulled up to 15, the reality hit…

The cart path on 15 was completely covered in a snow/ice mix. The grass was quickly becoming enveloped in the same mixture and the threesome in front of me was not moving fast enough to even give me a shot of finishing this round with the weather doing what it was doing. I was stuck. This is when I took 10 minutes to shoot my “Welcome To Back In The Fairway” YouTube video while I waited for them to get moving.

By the time they had moved along, the tee box looked like this and I had switched up to some old Nike One Gold balls that I had in my bag as I didn’t want to lose a good one in this stuff. It was a good thing I did. I hit a stellar 5 iron off the tee to the left center of the left turn on the hole. It was perfect and it was solid. I got back to the cart, tossed the 5 in my bag and got ready to go find that ball.

And then this reality hit. The snow was falling so quick that the entire hole was covered except for the tall grass. The path was so slick and icy that the cart was spinning it’s tires when I pressed the gas pedal. It was not a good hole to be on at this point in time. I managed to get unstuck from the tee box and rolled out slowly down the path. As I got to the corner, right before the big downhill on the hole, I had thoughts of going out to play my ball. Those ideas were quickly squashed when the cart didn’t stop when I pressed the brake. It continued sliding for about 15 feet before it stopped completely. From there, I decided that some lucky fan from Echo Falls could keep my Nike ball and I was going to try and get this cart down the hill, slowly, hopefully. As I maneuvered the cart, forwards, backwards and sideways down the hill, getting stuck here and there but not tipping over or getting completely stuck, I realized that I may have to abandon this thing and walk in.

 

I managed to finally get off the hills of 15 and navigate 16 (which, for the record, that little hill you need to climb to get to that tee box isn’t so little in the ice and snow) and get over to 17 where I knew there was a cut off to the parking lot. I was able to get across the fairway to the parking lot and back to the safety of the van.

So, as I left the course, I realized that I was pretty lucky to get a solid 9 holes in before my Winter Membership expired. I was also pretty lucky to have a GREAT 9 holes on a day where I didn’t expect to play. I also had one of the most fun times on the course ever with the snow falling and just watching it while I pondered if I was going to be able to finish my round. There’s no final score to post today, but there will always be the great story of the heroing journey down the 15th in the cart where I had no control of where I was going or how I was going to get there. Of course, if you want to see the weather in action, make sure to check out my “Welcome To Back In The Fairway” YouTube video  right away.

Golf Fitness: Journey To 100–Week 3

Ack! How the time gets away from me on Monday's! I can't believe that it's already the end of week three and I'm already a few days into week 4. Still, I must give my weekly update (based on Monday which is when I changed the posting date to) to keep myself on track here. Plus, I'm really enjoying sharing the success I'm having, even if it's starting to slow down. Let me just get straight to the point though.

Week two ended with me coming in at 297.6. That was a total loss of 26.4 pounds since the journey began. I stuck to things pretty well this week as well, and reached a low of 292.6 before creeping back up to 295.2. There were a few meals out last week that were unplanned and that led to an up and down week. I also think my scale has a pretty serious issue going on, so I'm about to get a new one and 'calibrate' my loss to that one to see if it starts to make a difference. The one I am using now used to have the same measurement constantly. I could get on it 5 times and see a .2 pound difference over the 5 weigh in's. Now, I can get on it 5 times and see a 5-6 pound swing pretty easily. I hoped it was the batteries going, but that didn't seem to help. 

So, to wrap up week number 3, I ended up being down another 2.4 pounds. That brings me to 28.8 pounds total and making good headway to 100. I should hit 294 this week and clear the 30 pound mark and be good to go from there. We will see what the new scale says when I get it, and I need to make sure to keep the water intake up and the calorie intake down. I also need to watch the sodium levels of what I eat as the two days where I had some “out foods” I did just fine on the calories, but really terrible on the sodium levels. I guess I have to live and learn on this one. Also, I need to get going on that exercise bike. It’s time to start putting in a bit more effort on dropping this stuff before it becomes stubborn.

Five Golfing Websites That You Should Bookmark

If you’re a golfer, chances are you’ve already found so many sites on the internet that your head is probably spinning. Over the last few years, I’ve found a few gems that I think are completely worth following and saving to look at regularly. I’ve broken them into five categories below, along with my favorite and a few others you should take a look at before letting my favorite have a place in your daily schedule. If you have any others that didn’t make the list, make sure to leave them in the comments below. Besides this site, here are my four favorite sites for entertaining myself when I can’t go out and play, or when I need something at a great price.

Best Equipment Site: Budget Golf - https://www.budgetgolf.com/

For some strange reason, this online store seems to have deals on things that nobody else does. Many of the ‘steals’ are on last year’s models, but when you can pay $300 for a set of irons that were $1000 a month ago, there’s something to be said for sticking with last year’s front runners. Probably the only draw back to buying off the rack stuff from last year is the fact that it won’t be custom fit for you. Still, if you need some new tech, balls or just about anything else, Budget Golf has you covered for pretty amazing pricing.

Honorable Mention: Rock Bottom Golf - https://www.rockbottomgolf.com/  -  Edwin Watts – http://www.edwinwattsgolf.com  - 

Best Instruction Site: Mark Crossfield (4golfonline) - https://www.youtube.com/user/4golfonline

Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t a billion instructional sites that are good out there, because there are, but Mr. Crossfield is the first “coach” that I’ve seen that works the issues backwards from fix to correction. What I mean by this is that he starts by fixing the shot, which usually leads to an over correction, and then he comes back to the root of the problem to fix the actual cause. He’s funny, brilliant and quite frankly, one of the most entertaining golf personalities around. His course Vlogs are hilarious. His instruction is simplistic, yet effective. His opinions, well are very well guided to say the least. Best of all, he’s nominated as a best vlogger as well. So, check him out and see what he can do for your game in just a few videos.

Honorable Mention: Rick Shiels - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFHZHhZaH7Rc_FOMIzUziJA  -  Me and My Golf - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTwywdg9Sw5xs4wdN-qz7yw  -  Dan Whittaker - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMVcZ1pOSRtYRErmYQtNCcQ  -  Peter Finch - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFoez1Xjc90CsHvCzqKnLcw  -  PGA Golf Academy (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/user/PGAGOLFACADEMY 

Best Online Statistics Tracker: Golf Pad GPS – http://www.golfpadgps.com

I’ve been personally using Golf Pad for two seasons now. While it isn’t the flashiest or most in depth option available today, it does give the average player plenty to work with – and does so for just $20 a year. 

Most Entertaining Golf Vlog: Mark Crossfield (4golfonline) - https://www.youtube.com/user/4golfonline

Mark is making his second appearance on this list, mainly due to the fact that he is playing online game at a level that most others could only dream of. I have to admit that Rick Shiels was a very, very, very close second on this one, but the fact that he spends huge chunks of his channel on reviews and then chunks playing and then a few instructional videos, just leaves me wishing that he would spread out the content like Crossfield does. Crossfield has set days where he releases course vlogs, then instructional videos, then his daily vlogs… He keeps the content rotating and it never gets too heavy in one direction or another. But this is all about the course vlog and there is nothing better than watching a few low handicappers hack their way around some of the best courses in the world. They are hilarious, fun and make up for not having access to something like the Golf Channel or other outlets for watching regular tour golf.

Honorable Mention: Rick Shiels - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFHZHhZaH7Rc_FOMIzUziJA  -  Peter Finch - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFoez1Xjc90CsHvCzqKnLcw  -  ImproveMyGolf - https://www.youtube.com/user/AndyCarterPGACoach  -  Golfholics - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliskiVzccS700jUPAJaSIg

Golf Fitness: Journey To 100–Week 2

Week #2 on my Journey To 100 is now in the books. Overall, it has been a great week, though I was up slightly on my weigh in this morning. I want to keep everyone up to date on my progress, but I don’t know if I will get quite as in-depth with the play by play as I did in week one. If you want me to, you can let me know in the comments below if you are interested in knowing more about the diet and calorie intake or not.

Week 2 began with me hitting 302.6 on the scale and a drop of about 21.4 pounds on the first week of my journey. I was more than happy with my loss in week one, and more than happy is a complete understatement. I knew that the pace I was on would not continue, but I was hopeful that I would be able to drop at least 4 pounds in week two. I was really hoping to see that magical 25 pound mark at the end of the second week.

My first weigh in for the week pinned me at 301.8, or down .6 pounds. Day two showed another .6 pounds, dropping me to 301.2. That first little goal of seeing a “2” as the first number in my weight was right around the corner. Day three continued the sub-one pound losses with a .8 pound loss and a weight of 300.4 pounds. From there, it was only a matter of time before true happiness happened and I hit that stop along the way to 100 pounds.

As day four rolled around, the scale finally fell below that 300 down to 299.6. First goal down, and only a half pound from a full 25 pounds in 12 days. Day five saw me drop an additional 2.2 pounds down to 297.4. Day six then pushed me down even further to 296.6, bringing my total to 27.4 pounds in just under two weeks.

Yesterday was a tougher day for me as we were out and about from breakfast time onward. I was good with the calorie intake, but I had far too much sodium in my Jack in the Box salad and Ikea soup and salad combo. This spiked me up a pound this morning to 297.6, but kept me from seeing 300 again! It’s a positive week. Week 2 ends up with a 4.6 pound drop and puts me at a total of 26.4 pounds total. Week 3 is coming up and I’ll be hitting things pretty hard again as I’m back to work tomorrow and back on the normal program.

Advertising Links for the products that are helping me lose my weight are listed below – these are paid affiliate links.

SlimFast Milk Choclate Shakes – Amazon Prime Pantry

SlimFast French Vanilla Shakes – Amazon Prime Pantry

Ready For An OnCore!

I’m so ready for an OnCore. No, not an encore, but an OnCore, like the golf ball. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to test out the OnCore golf Avant and Caliber in 2016 and was really impressed with them. While neither one fit my swing and performance needs perfectly, it was obvious that OnCore golf knew what they were doing with those balls. The Avant, their distance ball, was extremely playable for a “rock ball” which is typically what I call a distance ball. The Caliber was nice as well, but I just felt that it was a bit off for me.

In early 2017, OnCore finally released the ELIXR, their softer covered, higher spin ball that would rival the best of the best on the market. The good part of the ELIXR is that the price point had it pinned at a 3 dozen to 2 dozen ratio with all the other “tour balls” on the market. To say the least I was intrigued by the new offering. Unfortunately, 2017 flew past me with home buying, dance competitions and just life in general and I didn’t get a chance to test out the new ball. 2018 I starting out a bit different as I won an 18Birdies App giveaway of the ELIXR and have the box in hand ready to go on my next round of golf.

Now to be honest, I won’t be able to get a serious look at the ball until we get some drier weather in the Seattle area, but I have to say, after testing out the Snell Golf MTB again in my last round and shooting a 65 with it, I’m more than excited to get the OnCore ELIXR out there to see what it will do. If it plays anything like the Snell, I should see my driver yardage up about 20 yards over my standard Wilson Zip (about 10 yards over the Wilson Duo) and much better stopping power on the greens. Let me leave it at that for now, and stay tuned for the play by play of my next round with the OnCore ELIXR.

Find out more about the OnCore ELIXR at www.oncoregolf.com.

Golf Fitness: Journey To 100

As you take two seconds to glance over at my smiling face, you can tell that fitness hasn't been a concern of mine for quite some time. In fact, my last major "fitness goal" that I had on the books came nearly 7 years ago when I started riding road bikes to ride from Seattle to Portland after a challenge from a friend. Well, that was long ago and far away, but the last time I was actually in shape, the second Bush was in office and Bad Day was rocking the Billboard Music Charts. I tipped the scales at a low of 190 pounds that summer and was playing golf once or twice a week. 2006 was a long time ago, and life has done everything it can to get in my way between now and then, but last week started a new commitment to getting back to a being a bit healthier. Here's my week one recap.

Working out isn't a huge option for me right now. Being upwards of 300 pounds really limits what you can and can't do as far as gym activities go, but the first step is reeling in the nutrition aspect of my life. I began using the FatSecret App on my phone last summer when I made my umpteenth stab at getting healthy in the last 2 years. It worked so well for the week that I tried it that I kept it in my memory banks. As I started back on this journey, it was easy to pick it back up and start rolling with it.

The App tracks food intake, calories, and has a social community that is building each other up on their weight loss journeys. If there is something that works, it's seeing positive reinforcement from other people who are doing what you are doing. Think of it as playing 2 shots better than you ever have before and having your playing partners comment all round long about how well you are putting and how sharp your approach shots look. It really builds your confidence and keeps your focus going to try and do even more with the next shot. It's the same thing here. Losing weight is like a round where not everything clicks. Some times the scale goes up - you hit a shank, but sometimes the scale drops more than you expect - like hitting a green from the trees. It's not a pretty thing, but it's the truth.

So, here's where this gets really personal and I hope you (or anyone that this gets shared with) can find it helpful. If you are 10 pounds overweight or 100 pounds overweight, it all starts with small changes. My 2018 reboot of my "getting in shape" plan, I officially started the process last Monday morning. On February 5th, I woke up to a scale that read 324.0 pounds. Not a number that made me happy at all. Actually, in all honesty, it was about 20 pounds more than I thought it would be. My Goal in this was to lose 100 pounds to reach a weight of 200 pounds. Seeing that number made me move the needle to 225 for a primary goal, with a secondary goal of coming in for the last 25 pounds to come down to 200 even. This is just the beginning stages though, so let's not put the cart before the horse.

The Beginning: 324 pounds. Again, not what I was expecting, but not the most horrible news on the planet. At least I haven't had a stroke or something debilitating happen to me yet. Let's get this party rolling before something does. I decided to start off with a similar approach to my 2006 successful run with using Slim-Fast style shakes as a supplement to a big calorie cut. My target intake is 1800 per day, but I'm more concerned with the quality of those calories than the quantity at this point. For those wondering, no, I don't think the shakes do anything to help me lose weight, nor do I think they suppress hunger, but what they do offer is a great way to get needed vitamins and minerals that may not be included in what I'm eating. In other words, they offer a nice balance of nutrients for when I cut them out from not eating so many calories.

Day One: 314.2 pounds. Yep, there goes that water weight… I really hate the first day of a diet. You get that huge drop from your body reacting to water weight and having to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes. Eventually, everything starts to calm down, but there is always day two. The scale showed a nice 9.8 pound drop today and that was after a 1400 calorie day that included a shake and a banana for breakfast; a shake and ham for lunch; and a dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. It was a good day one start, and maybe tomorrow will go almost as well. Hopefully that water drop won’t come back on day three.

Day Two: 310.8 pounds. Well, that was fun. I managed to rally another 3.4 pound drop today. It was good to see the progress even after a huge day two. I kept on track with a 1500 calorie day that included 2 shakes; ham and eggs for breakfast, ham, sweet peppers and celery for lunch; and then a hamburger patty, a few fries (since when is 18 fries a serving???) and some cooked green cabbage. I am working hard on tracking what goes in and out so I can get adjusted properly and watch what trigger foods set me up for bad days.

Day Three: 308.4 pounds. Well this is getting good isn’t it? It’s the third day and I’m down 15+ pounds already. At this pace, I should be done by the end of the month. Well, I know it won’t keep up at this breakneck speed, but I’m very happy with how it’s going so far. I kept on going with the shake and eggs today, but added a few slices of pepperoni instead of ham for breakfast; for lunch, I had chicken breast, mini peppers, dill pickles and a shake; and dinner was a Taco Time “Fit Hit Bowl” and a cup of corn chowder. Again 1300 calories and a very solid feeling day in the loss department.

Day Four: 306.8 pounds. Hitting the scale today was actually a bit of a gamble. I knew I made a good calorie choice for dinner, but I was worried about the salt content leaving me up for the day. Instead, it was another 1.4 pound drop. Bonus! I kept on keeping on with the solid breakfast of 2 eggs, but tried mixing in the chicken breast instead and it was a nice flavor change. Keeping it interesting keeps things moving forward, right? It’s also worth noting at this point, I’m only taking in about 200 calories at 6 AM, then having the 200 calorie shake at 8 AM after I’ve been at work for a bit. I count that as breakfast, but it’s really breakfast and a snack. This passes me easily till noon where lunch kicked in again with more of the oven roasted chicken, some sweet red pepper, the left over cabbage from burger night and a shake. Dinner was an awesome adventure of flavors also with a burger patty, a cooked mashed potato patty and a veggie mix of Brussel Sprouts, onion and mushrooms. All in all, I pushed in just over 1700 calories for the day, but they were good, clean calories. I’m feeling good about this week.

Day Five: 304.6 pounds. Clean eating is paying off. Another 2.2 pounds gone. I had so much fun with the eggs and chicken yesterday, I did it again today. Had the shake at work and then had a nice lunch of chicken, sweet peppers and another shake. The day was going well, but then came the news of – we needed to go to the mall to get a present for someone. Uh oh… I quickly searched for good eats and found Panda Express would be the best option. I actually got more food than I needed and kept the total calories under 700 for the entire meal. I skipped out on the rice and went with the mixed vegetables. I stayed way from the fried bases like Kung Pao Chicken and went with broccoli beef. I had some mushroom chicken and black pepper chicken to finish it up – and again, it was more food than I needed. The funny part, it was fewer calories than the fried rice and an 1/4 serving of what I was getting the week before when I’d head out to dinner. The day finished up at just under 1600 calories and I felt fantastic about my choices.

Day Six: 303.8 pounds. Not even Panda Express salt could slow down this train! Better not think too hard though, because I have a weekend in front of me now. Kept breakfast consistent with the eggs, but flipped back to the ham for today. I like to cook the ham to give it a crisp like bacon when I can, so that’s a good weekend thing. I skipped the shake this morning because I just didn’t need the extra boost as I slept in a bit. Unfortunately, I was home for lunch. I was hoping to be on the course, but a tweak in my hand kept me off the course this weekend. Instead, lunch was ham, celery sticks and snap peas with a shake. After lunch, we dropped the kiddo off at a birthday party and headed out for a date night. We hit the Asian market for dinner and I had spicy pork with about a cup of rice. It was the largest calorie content meal I had all week, but it was so good. I also was smart and took about half of it home. After dinner we perused Target for about 40 minutes looking for movie snacks. I finally found Oh Snap! products (they are AWESOME) and some Skinny Pop popcorn. I’ll fully admit to sneaking them into the theater, but I still bought a $5 coffee from them so I don’t feel too bad.

Day Seven: 302.6 pounds. Even with a dinner out and a late night movie, I woke up another pound lighter today. Eggs, ham and coffee were on the breakfast menu. The leftovers from dinner were lunch (did I say I saved half of it? It was more like 1/3 I bet…) I added some snap peas and celery sticks for filler. From there, it was off to a party – I was good, just having coffee – and then a quick visit to the south end. It was another dinner out (How did this happen three times in the first week starting this???) at Taco Time where I had my chowder and Fit Hit Bowl again. The day clocked in at just under 1100 calories, which was dangerously low, but I had to make something work being on the road for most of the day. Overall, I’d say it was a good end to the week.

Week One Weigh In: 302.6 pounds. I couldn’t be any happier with how week one went. Hopefully I can keep up the pound plus a day loss for this week before slowing to a more normal couple of pounds a week. I do love seeing the double digit losses for week one though. It’s already starting to feel different, but I can’t wait to clear that first 25 pounds off myself. Make sure to stay tuned next week for the week two update!