Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Four - For the Most Beautiful Woman on Earth

Today is my seventh wedding anniversary.  Eight years ago I had just had reconstructive jaw surgery, and I was on my way back to Life Action Ministries to serve with them as a missionary for a year.  I was as single as single could be.  Then, on August first, I met the most amazing woman.  While I don’t remember details about a lot of things, I can still remember when I first saw her.  I can remember her smile, and even the hat she was wearing.  She was beautiful.  Fast forward seven years, multiple moves, and two children, and I can honestly say that she has only gotten more beautiful.  She brings a calm word and so much wisdom to our home.  Her nurturing and loving of our children is inspiring.  Her forgiveness and grace when I make mistakes is more than I can ever ask for or expect.  I’m grateful for a loving, caring, thoughtful, patient, beautiful wife who makes each day better.  I know I should have started this journey years ago, but I'm excited to be doing it now.  I'm so grateful for her help, encouragement, and support during this past eleven months.  So today it is for my lovely bride that I am losing my butter half.

Being that it is my anniversary, maybe we should skip the part where we talk about calories.  Actually what I ate today wasn't that bad, except for the large amounts of bread.  From the sandwich at lunch to the french bread at dinner.  Just not my best day in that regard.  I will say that dinner was AMAZING!  Bekah's salmon is one hundred and fifty percent delicious.  I had another great workout this morning!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Three - Asian Stir Fry

So far I'm failing at keeping my focus from last week.  These past three days I've had ice cream, pizza, and then today I had Asian stir fry (it was amazing!!!) which was loaded with calories.  I know I have to do so much better Monday-Wednesday, but the problem is that tomorrow is my anniversary.  We are planning to have Mediterranean for dinner.  I'll just have to cut my portion size down a bit.  I am a bit worried that I may have shot myself in the foot for this upcoming weigh in.

Today marks the two year anniversary of us moving into our house.  This home has been a huge blessing to us, and we have already made so many memories here.  I saw a few picture from the day we moved in.  The change is ridiculous!  It's hard to believe I was that big.  But I know that I was, and I know that I can never go back to that again.  We hope to remain in this home for at least three to five more years.  I can't wait to see the changes and live the memories that we are going to have in here.  I can't wait to see how much different life is in this house because I lost my butter half.

Not my best day.  As I mentioned above, I've kind of wasted the first half of this week.  I really need to refocus and work hard to at least be down a little this week.  I'm ready to get back to my daily workout also.  I'll be up first thing in the morning to sweat it out!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-Two - Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mother's birthday.  So before I say anything else, I want to say Happy Birthday to the best mom I know!  She's raised five kids and now she's the most amazing Granma to nineteen grandchildren.  She celebrated today by going white-water rafting.  How awesome is that!  So thank you, Mom, for all you do for all of us.  We love you.  Happy Birthday and thanks for being a huge encouragement as I'm losing my butter half!

I really don't know how to count my calories from today.  We went to Larry's Pizza at E's request (we were supposed to go for her birthday, but Bekah was sick), and their slices of pizza are very small on their buffet.  So I think I had around three slices of normal pizza.  I was very full from that, so I just had some yogurt and a zucchini brownie muffin for my dinner (I know, not a healthy day at all).  I did get a full workout in this morning.  I added a six inch leg left to my routine.  It's only thirty seconds, but it kills!

Day Three Hundred and Thirty-One - Staying Determined

So after having a great week and losing five pounds, I allowed myself an ice cream cone tonight (with ice cream inside, lol).  Now it's back to limiting my sugar each day.  It's so easy to slip up after having a successful week.  I have to maintain the focus and determination that I had this past week.  It's been a long day, and I'm beyond exhausted so I'm going to cut this post short and get some sleep.

My calories today were within the right amount, but I did have a few too many snacks.  My workout this morning was really good.  I should be back to running at night sometime next week.

Day Three Hundred and Thirty - Weigh in #47 - Success!

Let's have a brief recap of the past month.  Going into July I weighed 231.4 lbs.  I was really excited that I was ahead of schedule on hitting my September 1st goal.  Then I went through a horrible three weigh ins of 0.2 lbs. up, 0.4 lbs. down, and then 1 lb. up.  It was terrible.  The whole time I felt strange, almost bloated (thanks to too much sugar and an antibiotic).  So this week I realized that I  needed to be very conscious about what I put in my body.  I really felt great about my caloric intake this past week.  I stuck to my processes, and for the most part (E's birthday party being an exception) kept away from extra sugar.  I made sure I exercised and got better sleep.  I also took my supplements each and every day.  Thankfully, my results were much better this morning.

When I stepped onto the scale this morning, I was excited to be back on track.  After three weeks of frustrating weigh ins, I was excited to see that I was down 5 lbs.  This brings my total weight loss to 139 lbs., with a current weight of 227.2 lbs.  While I would have loved it if I had lost 8 or 9 lbs. and made up for the past few weeks, I know that would be a little unrealistic.  So, I am extremely grateful to have lost this week, and I am encouraged and motivated to stay on track and hit my September 1st goal.  I'm back on track, and I'm losing my butter half.

Today was a great day.  My calories were in check, and I had a really good workout this morning.  I'm still not back to running, but these next few days are supposed to be a lot cooler (like upper 80s!).  I am hoping to get at least two runs in over the weekend.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Nine - Right When Things Were Getting Back to Normal

Things have been interesting this past month.  I had an infection back at the end of June and had to use an antibiotic for a while.  Following that, E got strep throat and then we had the family stomach bug.  It seems like some cycle of sickness for our family.  I'm completely ready for it to end.  While I didn't have the normal side effects from the last antibiotic, I have felt a little backed-up and bloated ever since taking it.  Just this week, with the help of my Plexus products I have finally begun to feel like my old self again.  Then today I get another infection that is going to require another antibiotic.  How lame is that?!  I finally get back to normal, and I have to start back over.  It isn't as heavy of a dose, so I'm hoping this one won't be as bad.  Regardless, between this and the excessive heat advisory, my hope to get out and run tonight isn't happening.  Depending on how I'm feeling in the morning, we'll see if I get to work out or not.  I have a weigh in tomorrow morning, so we'll see if my hard work this week has paid off.  I'm losing my butter half.

I've been extremely careful with my calories today.  I did realize that with my trip to the doctor and then a busy afternoon, I didn't eat as many calories as I needed.  However, my water intake today has been great!  I am excited to see how I've done tomorrow morning.  My workout was great this morning.  I can't wait to be able to get back out and run.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight - Determination

I am less than twenty-four hours from my next weigh in.  I feel like I'm very determined to have a great weigh in this Thursday.  I don't think I have felt a drive like this in a few weeks.  The only downside is that I have been extremely worn out (from not getting enough sleep) and not able to run at night.  Plus it's been way too hot.  I have done much better with my calorie intake than in previous weeks.  Now I need to start getting sleep, and making great calorie choices.

de·ter·mi·na·tion

dəˌtərməˈnāSH(ə)n

noun

1. 1. 

   firmness of purpose; resoluteness.

   "he advanced with an unflinching determination"

   synonyms:

   resolution, resolve, willpower, strength of character, single-mindedness, purposefulness, intentness;

When I think about determination, I always go back to the definition.  I love that it is defined as "firmness of purpose."  It makes perfect sense when you are determined to reach a goal that you can define what it takes to reach the goal as firmness of purpose.  If the goal does not give a purpose, then why are you even striving for it?  I am committed to reaching this goal.  It has purpose (health, quality of life, showing that I think more of my family members than my own selfish sins, etc).  Now I need to remain firm in my fight to reach that mark.  Whatever your goal or wherever you are on your quest to reach it, don't lose your firmness of purpose.  Resolve to never stop fighting to reach your summit.  I'm not giving up.  I am as determined today as I was when I started (and in some ways even more so).  I'm losing my butter half.

My calories today were really good.  Bekah made an awesome veggie fried cauliflower "rice" with chicken for dinner.  It was really good.  I easily could have gone back for more.  My workout was great this morning.  I'm really looking forward to being up to running again.  In order to do that, I have to start getting more sleep.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Seven - The Simple Joy of a Popsicle

I know it's cliché to say "I hate Mondays," but today I really felt like that.  I wanted nothing more than to be at home with my wife and kiddos.  That really wouldn't have done much good, because Bekah had the kids at the yearly checkups.  I'm amazed how much these children grow and change each year.  I love that they are healthy and growing while I'm losing weight.  I never would have imagined the joy children bring to your life.  I love it every time Bekah sends me a picture of their daily shenanigans (and cuteness).  Today it was some of the most adorable pictures of these two blessings enjoying some popsicles out in the back yard.  The joy of something so simple reminds me to appreciate the small things in life.  I want to see more and more of these happy looks.  It's for them that I'm losing my butter half.

My calories today were good.  I went back to my normal daily meals.  I did have a small bite of ice cream tonight, but overall I am very happy with today's food.  I got a full workout in this morning, but I just don't have the energy to run in the heat this evening.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Six - Family Day

We had a really awesome weekend as a family.  We had E's party yesterday, which was a "blast" (in her words).  Today we spent the morning as a family recuperating from being sick much of the week and having the exciting day yesterday.  We all slept in, and then had a late breakfast together.  On our trip to Kroger Bekah found a killer deal on a small backyard fire pit (70% off!).  I also finally put E's bunk beds together.  She is ecstatic to have the big girl set of bunks beds, and B was equally or more excited about them (even though he won't sleep on them for at least another year)!  I really can't complain about this weekend, I just wish it was longer.  I really enjoy spending time with my family.  They are a huge motivation for me losing my butter half.

So today wasn't a great day for my calories.  We had a really big breakfast this morning that included pancakes (with syrup, whipped cream, and chocolate chips), breakfast burritos, sausage patties, eggs, hash browns, and more.  I ate more than I meant to, but it was delicious.  I then proceeded to eat a couple bites of E's leftover birthday cake.  Dinner was much better.  We had chicken wraps for dinner, so that wasn't a terrible choice (other than the fact that Bekah and I ate at eight thirty).  My workout today went really well.  Having taken a few days off didn't seem to set me back at all.  I'm ready to hit it again first thing in the morning.