Traveling Day

As Kurt said, I left for Florida today.  I know that being good is going to be difficult this week, but luckily there is a fitness center on site as well as beautiful grounds to walk on.  

Today was a hard day to eat well.  I tried to have a granola bar at 6am this morning, but when I travel, I typically lose my appetite, so I only had half of it.  For lunch, I ordered a grilled southwest chicken caesar salad, which came coated in the dressing, but was one of the better meals on the menu.  And once we arrived to the resort, we went to dinner...which I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with swiss...and a raspberry colada...which the drinking may be the worst thing I do on this trip. 

My stepmom and I walked around the Dallas airport so we could try to get a little bit of exercise in today...especially with all the sitting on the plane.

So not horrible considering that finding good for you food while traveling is difficult...but luckily I have very supportive people who are also looking for good healthy food. 

My biggest challenge is to drink more water when I am traveling, because I hate having to use the restroom repeatedly when in an airport and on a plane.  But, especially with how humid it is here, I need to remember to get over that issue on the trip home, as well as while I am here.

So I am attempting to get up at 6am tomorrow (or today for me since it is almost 12:30am) to walk since it is so freaking humid here.

Time for sleep.

What a walk

I took the three crazies on a 2.58 mile walk today in 40 minutes.  It was at a nice brisk pace, perhaps a little to brisk for Schroeder, poor little guy was definitely trailing at the end of the walk.  I was happy though, it wasn't that hard to walk the three of them at once.  I made the choice of letting them go potty a few minutes before we left so that way I didn't have three doggie bags to carry through out the entire walk.  Buttons and Oreo were still wanting a little more walk, unless until I got them in the house where they promptly layed down after drinking.

I got a few weird looks from people because I had a triangle of dogs in front of me.  Maybe I will be a dog walker while I attend school. Only if the dogs are as good as Oreo, Schroeder and Buttons are tho.

I am off the movie store now to watch horror movies I can't watch with Candace. Until tomorrow...

Will the mouse play when the cat goes away?

Candace has left to go to Florida today(I guess it was day when we got up at 4:00 a.m.) so the question is will I go off and have a bachelor diet of pizza, wings and beer while she is gone or I will I continue with my diet and exercise plan? As I drove back from taking Candace and her parents to the airport, I really wanted go to Jack in the Box (JB) for breakfast, but I realized the 2 pounds that I lost this week would come back after 1 meal at JB.  Looking at the fair at JB in the past I think a breakfast sandwich has some 1000 calories in it. That is almost half of what I should eat in a day.  Totally not worth it.

I have yet to go on a walk today, After I got home I fell asleep and woke up to a call from our landlords who said they were on there way to fix up our little house.  I really like our landlords so much more than the people before. Anyways, I will be walking three dogs today since I watching my Father and Step-Mother in laws dog, Buttons, for the next week. The dogs get along fine in the house, we will see how they behave on a walk Fingers crossed.

We had a granola bar for breakfast and some coffee. Since then I had a bowl of honey nut cheerios. I keep forgetting how hard it is to make the right choices, but I want to get thin again so I drive by the fast food chains with a tear in my eye, but my waist and heart applaud me. I know Candace will be trying while she is away, so I need to do the same.

Anyways, will let you all know how the walk with 3 dogs go, until then Ciao.

Damn allergies

Having every intention of going to the gym today, we woke up early.  However, given the weather issues we've been experiencing lately, I woke up congested and sneezing galore (although we were feeling better than we did last night from the pizza consumption).

I thought I'd try getting up, having a cup of coffee and see how if my congestion would lessen, but being up and awake almost seemed worse.  So we decided to walk the dogs instead, and I took a benedryl.  Stupid little air particles...WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GO AWAY?!!?

We didn't walk far today...a little over a mile in 25 minutes.  My congestion wasn't allowing me to breath through my nose very well and as we picked up the pace, I felt I wasn't getting enough air...so we decided at about .5 mile to turn back.  

We returned home, did some Wii Fit aerobic, balance, strength training and stretching...and of course by the time we were done, the benedryl had kicked in.  

Afterword, I made some oatmeal and cut up some apples for us.  Its just the regular rolled Quaker Oats (I can't eat the stuff in the little baggies and I'm a little too impatient for the steel cut to cook.)  I had this great idea that I would use the apple juice concentrate we had in the freezer instead of water for the oatmeal.  It is 100% juice...no added sugar.  And it would have been much better if I had really thought about the fact that it was concentrate and that I needed to dilute it with water.

So we ate some very sweet, viscous apple and cinnamon oatmeal and some apple slices, which I had to give half to Kurt because it was too much apple for me.  It was a great idea, and I think I'll try it again...remembering to cut it with water next time (in case anyone is interested, using some concentrated apple juice with water to mix pancake batter is really great too.)  Usually I try to eat my oatmeal with just some cinnamon, but oatmeal is a hard thing for me, because I don't like the texture...so I'm trying to look for ways to "spice" it up so I can get past that and eat it more often.

I have to go run some errands before I leave tomorrow, and clean the house a bit, but then I think we might try to get another ±1.0 mile walk in later this afternoon.

Our first failure

It came much sooner that we thought it would.  But we will work hard to make it our last.

So this morning was good...after we came back from the gym and had breakfast, I did a little Wii Fit Yoga to stretch, got ready, took Kurt to school about 11am and then went to hang out with my brother Ryan and his boyfriend Aaron.  Of course as we left, neither of us thought about the fact that we would be gone for several hours and need at least a snack.


Temptation...its a nasty thing.  As the day gets later, Ryan and Aaron get hungry...want to know if I want to go with them to Taco Bell...   .....   .... no.  Aaron points out that there are things on the menu that Weight Watchers gives low points for....   ....  ... no.  So then, what do they start talking about...wanting to get a pizza from Costco for dinner.   Ahhhh!!  Pizza!!! So now all I can think about is pizza.

So I leave and I am hungry, and I have to pick Kurt up from school...and I know he is hungry, especially when he gets in the car because he is such a cranky butt when he is hungry.  And our conversation goes something like this...


C: Are you hungry?
K: Yes. Are you?
C: Yeah. What do you want?
K: I don't know. What do you want?
C: I don't know...it should probably be something light...I know we were only going to make Cobb Salad for dinner tonight, but I was thinking of making a smaller side salad to go with Chicken Burgers.
K: That sounds good...so what do you want?
C: Pizza
K: That sounds good to me.


Lesson:  Don't choose food on an empty stomach.

So that was about 4:30pm...and neither one of us has any plans to eat for the rest of the evening. I actually think that we might take the dogs on a short walk to offset at least a bit of our meal, and just try again tomorrow.

By the way Tom, I think I might need to wait to start that food journal until tomorrow (hahahahaha).

Gym - Day 1

Kurt and I were given the generous gift of a 6 month membership to the gym yesterday...so we were excited to start putting it to good use this morning.  Well...it was great and its a nice small gym which is not too crowded (Eagle Fitness - if anyone is shopping for a new gym).

So we got up, went, filled out the paperwork and got right down to it.  We each did about 20 minutes on the bike and moved on to the treadmill. Well I found my walking shoes last night, but they were not really my friends today.  I bought them specifically when I was seeing a trainer at the gym about a year ago...and I don't know what it is...maybe my feet are fatter...maybe they need to be broken in again...I don't know.  But while the blisters I got yesterday are fine (thanks Aunt Karen, the Epsom Salt bath worked wonders), I got a new one that rubbed at the back of my foot.

So after about 10 minutes on the treadmill, I decided that I was done for today.  If I let my feet get worse, I'm not going to want to keep doing it.  I can't decide if tomorrow I just want to go back to my regular tennis shoes, bandage my feet and continue with my walking shoes, or actually go out and get new shoes...because it was really so hard to find that pair to begin with (10w).

Kurt was good...he was on the treadmill for 15 minutes...he would have been on for longer, but I had stopped by then.  I think it was a good beginning gym experience.  With our membership, we got one free training session.  Kurt is going on Monday while I'm away, and I am scheduled to go the following Monday when I get back.

Time for breakfast :P (Also, Aunt Carol [or anyone who has anything] feel free to send any articles you think are good.  We would like to be able to read a variety of published advice so we can make informed decisions about the path we want to take)

My day at the hospital

As Candace mentioned earlier I got up at 6 this morning to make certain that I got up early enough to make it to Carson City for a day of being a welcomed shadow at Carson Tahoe Hospital.  After driving for nearly an hour in wonderful late April weather in Northern Nevada (still convinced that it will never warm up here. Checked the weather in L.V. its already 90.) The purpose of what is to see if seeing what a Radiologic Technologists does still interests me after watching actual professionals do it all day. After spending 8 hours with them I realize that it is really freaking cool work and I will continue giving my full attention to my school work so I can do this as a career!

While getting to see what Radiologic Technologists, CT and MRI techs do all day, I also learned that a lot of them have many temptations to eat poorly. There was a near constant supply of cookies, chocolate and other sweets running around in the backroom. I was proud of myself by resisting all the treats, even though I swear the cookies were chanting my name Eat Me Kurt Eat Me Kurt.

Besides I knew that Candace was back home walking the crazy dogs and eating well, I would be a cheat and quitter if I did.  Thats all I have today, maybe more tomorrow.

My feet hurt

I need to go find where I have my walking shoes packed away in the garage.  Walking in my regular tennis shoes is giving me blisters...so now I need to research what I can do to cut down the inflammation so I can walk relatively pain free tomorrow...or later today.

This morning Kurt got up very early to go to Carson City to work at the hospital for one of his classes...so while he gets to play with x-ray toys all day, I got to take dogs on the walk this morning.  Yippeee. :( Not the walk, but having both dogs.  

We walked a different direction this morning because as we walked out the gate there was a huge rottie sitting on the sidewalk, off a leash, whose owner was using a whistle from 15 feet away, so I guess he was training him. Anyway, Oreo would have tried to play bite and the rottie would have eaten both him and Schroeder, so we went the other way.

So I'm walking...I got off of Sparks Blvd because the traffic annoys me after a while and I started walking through the neighboring development.  I figure that the road must go through because  I am seeing a few more cars than normal and also posted speed signs, so I keep going.  About half way down the road I wonder if I am going to end up at a dead end and think whether I should turn back...but I kind of recognize the street name...and I have my phone if I really need a map.  However, the hill where the Rock Church on Vista is keeps getting closer...so I really don't know where I'm going to end up.

Finally, I see the end of the road...and know exactly where I am. Half way between Sparks Blvd & Vista Blvd on the road I take to get to my dad and stepmom's house (when it isn't closed due to the widening of Vista).  At this point I know I will have walked further than I did yesterday...which is good...but my feet are really hurting now...plus my dogs, God love them, are crazy with new smells and the need to pee on everything in sight. I got home...did a little Wii Fit aerobic, strength training, balance and yoga stretching...and then started the turkey chili for dinner.

Long story short.  Today's walk was 1.87 mi. in 40 minutes...so my time is still about the same, but there is really only so fast that you can go when your dogs need to constantly relieve themselves (or in Schroeder's case phantom mark territory).  One complaint.  Why is there never garbage can on a walking path?

An end to a decent day

Thanks to all of you for you good thoughts and bits of advice.  We know that the only way we are going to be successful is with support.  

Today was a great day and we tried to take all of the advice and begin incorporating it into our day.  We tried to eat dinner earlier to give time to digest before going to bed...it didn't work out as well as I wanted...but maybe we just have to go to bed a little later than planned.  The five small meals a day will be hard.  Distraction usually gets the best of me, and sometimes Kurt.  When I am doing something, now (like today making the new logo for the blog) or even when I was working, I get so distracted, forgetting to eat something until I am so hungry that I want to eat everything.  So that is something I will have to put a lot of effort into.  

For dinner tonight, I made tuna casserole, salad and we had twice baked potatoes that we bought before we decided to do this blog...I thought we should get rid of them now. 

One of the biggest problems we have is in portion control...so we are trying to be better about adding side dishes to our meal so we don't eat so much of the entree.  The tuna casserole isn't great for us...but it isn't that bad either.  The tuna incorporates a lot of protein, but the offset is that the cream of mushroom soup adds a lot of sodium.  Each serving had 8g of fat, 369 calories, 109 mg of cholesterol (which is another down side - primarily from the soup and noodles), 955mg of sodium, 48g of carbohydrates and 30g of protein.  From tracking this we are realizing that to make this meal healthier, we should look at the low sodium cream of mushroom soup (although we have 6 cans of the regular stuff in the pantry) and consider whole wheat noodles (which I've never been the biggest fan of...but its for a good cause).

The other problem is salad dressing...I've never enjoyed a vinaigrette dressing...but we did get a really good light asian sesame seed dressing that is decent...and because its thin like a vinaigrette, a little goes a long way.

I was thinking that it might be a good idea to post some recipes that are good and fairly healthy...but I am hesitant with this one...and its really not that hard to make all things considered.  

Now its time to see if I can find the Wii Fit disk so Kurt and I can do some balance exercises...and some stretching...so the walk comes a bit easier tomorrow...that is if it isn't freezing in the morning.

My wake up call.

Like the last 12 tuesdays I had my Anatomy & Physiology class and lab at TMCC. I showed up a little later than I have been mostly because I can't wait until the end of semester. I know, I know I am to old for schoolitis but some things seemingly never change.  Anyways I have been hearing about how bad excess weight is on your body for numerous reasons that both Candace and I have heard through most of our lives. 

I went to lab expecting to do finish our pig dissection from last thursday, however it seemed like my instructor knew that Candace and starting this journey to better health because he decided to do cadaver work today instead. I don't normally mind doing cadaver work, just a bit of Vick's vapor rub and I am good to go.  At the beginning of the semester they received a new female cadaver but it wasn't prepped for education until recently.

The cadaver was a 65 year old woman that passed away a few months ago.  By looking at the condition of her internal organs it was seemingly a miracle that she lived that long.  It was obvious just by looking at her skin that she was morbidly obese, the adipose tissue was at least 1 inch thick over her entire body, her heart had a much thicker than normal layer of fat covering her heart.  Her stomach was much larger than it should be, her heart was much larger than it should be and the instructor was able to make her arteries "crackle" for the lack of a better term from the atherosclerosis she was suffering from. 

It was a rude awakening to me, realizing what is going on to both my new wife's and my own body right now.  I don't want to imagine what her quality of life was like being as obese as she was.  I want to be active and healthy with my lovely new wife for a very long time. I want to be in my 50 and 60's and still be reasonably active and not need a oxygen tank to go out of the house.  

I knew all this information back when Clinton was still in office, but as the years have gone on I forget it. This day made me relearn this information in a rather shocking way. Now I don't want all of you to think that I will always be this graphic or overly serious but it reminded me why I really want to live better.  I have married a wonderful woman that I want to spend many years with, preferably more healthy than sick.

Morning came too early today

We decided that we would start walking today...we'd get up at 8am and walk for at least a half an hour.  Kurt's alarm clock went off and kept ringing, of course, because my love does not know how to use his alarm clock...looked outside and it was such a "beautiful" day.

Just the kind of day that you want to think ... nevermind, I'll start walking tomorrow.  Luckily, or not, for me, Kurt has decided that he is going to be the nagging person that makes me do stuff I don't want to do...so we went for a walk.  While it was windy and unpleasant, the walk was nice, woke me up and I feel better for it.  

According to the path I drew on www.mapmyrun.com, we walked 1.55 mi in 30 minutes.  Not a bad way to start the morning. Going to the gym would be nice, if we had the money (speaking of which, I may have an interview later this week [woohoo]) but walking outside is not only a good way for us to start out, but is beneficial for someone else we love who's got to lose some weight...

So we haven't yet decided if we are going to post as we go, or do one post a day...so for the first couple days it might be a little disjointed...but we'll get a rhythm down eventually.

Day 1 ... starts tomorrow

How many times have you said that?  Us? We've lost count.  But today Kurt and I went clothes shopping for my trip to Florida...and it wasn't a great experience.  Everything that is cute won't...seemingly will never...fit me.  Size 26...has nothing cute...or maybe just not cute on me...or as Kurt says "unless you think a circus tent is cute." :P  Kurt really isn't a pig...he's just joking - but some might say he isn't that funny.  [Love you Bubba]

The weekend before last we went to visit our parents...and my mom was guessing how much I weighed.  Let's say this much...the scale was yelling at me to get off.  275 lbs...25 more than I weighed a year ago when I made the attempt to go to the gym and see a trainer twice a week.  Kurt too has gained weight since we've been together...from 230 lbs to 258 lbs.  We were ... well at least I was ... desperate to look anything but fat in my wedding dress...but my problems are, and always have been, procrastination and instant gratification.  I don't want to do the work, and when I do it, I want results now.

So as we sit here writing today's post and eating our ice cream (hahahaha) we know we need to do something in order to take our 2 months of marriage into many years to come.  When my friend was losing weight, she took pictures in a bathing suit to show the progress she was making as well as her change muscle tone...but really you don't want to see us in bathing suit attire.  You might not continue reading if you do.  But to motivate ourselves, below is what we look like to the random person walking by:

Kurt says "No fat jokes please!!"

So this blog will be a chance for us to document our progress while you see if it really works.  In the coming weeks, we hope to share with you recipes that we've found that create edible but healthy food [no cabbage soup diet here], exercise tips that we've found beneficial [I'd like to be able to feel my arms and legs at the end of the day], and any other fun stuff we think you'd find inspirational.  

So day 1 really starts today...I wish I knew that yesterday.