Day 33 Go Ahead Make Your Best Guess

Day 33

Go Ahead Make Your Best Guess!

First of all let me say thank you to all that responded by leaving a comment on the myspace.com/comedyboy version of this blog or calling me today about last night's blog. I sincerely appreciate all of the kudos and kind words for Irene, because she really deserves it! Rach made a good point that really sums up the first part of last night's blog. She said (and I'm paraphrasing) that you have to know who or what is your enemy before you can battle that enemy. Understanding what makes us over-eat is a vital part of conquering the problem. Understanding and admitting our bad habits is key. I've been in denial for many years. I've said so many times before “when I'm ready, I'll do it, no problem.” I wasn't admitting my addiction. That would be admitting I was out of control. And “out of control” isn't easy to admit. Without fully being honest with myself and opening my mind to understanding my bad habits, I was making it much harder to stay with the plan. I remember when I started falling off the wagon in 2004, we would still go weigh, and when the scales didn't go down, or would even go up, I would act all disappointed. But I knew why, deep down I knew exactly why the results were not happening, I was 100% off the plan, but still pretending to be in control. Not only was it deceptive to everyone around me, I was seriously lying to myself. After a few weeks of keeping up the charade, I faded into all of the old habits that made me 500 pounds to begin with. And the weight came back all over again. If you've ever lost a considerable amount of weight, then gained it back...you know that the weight doesn't go back exactly where it was. My wrist and my ring finger are still the size they were when I got down to 385. My belly came back bigger and better. “Better” isn't the right word. You know what I mean. It probably sounds like I'm over analyzing myself, but really it's crucial to my success. Understanding and identifying the enemy is critical to winning the battle. We'll call it Weight Loss Intelligence. My W.L.I. is helping me police my habits and change them.

Last night after writing my blog I caught part of a show called “Super Obese” on Discovery Health. I really think the title is all wrong. There's nothing “super” about obesity. I've caught these kind of programs before and they serve to remind me how lucky I am. There are people that weigh 500 pounds and they are completely bed ridden. There was a guy on there with lymphedema so horribly bad that his lower left leg was just a giant mass. He couldn't wear pants at all, he couldn't walk, he couldn't do much of anything. And he weighed just over 500 pounds. My problems are so minor in comparison and my blessings are so many. I've been given every opportunity and ability to change before I ever become bed ridden. It's a scary thought, and I'm guessing it would happen to me somewhere between 600 and 700 pounds. I'm going the other way! I don't want to ever be in that unimaginable condition.

I'm very fortunate in that I've never looked my weight. My entire life I've heard “you carry it well”. I guess I have, and I've never had someone correctly guess my weight. You know those people that work at the fair guessing peoples weight and age? They never guess right. And you would think they would get close, but I remember one time one of these “professionals” guessing my weight 100 pounds off. Too bad you can't make money on that, because I could just travel the country having people guess my weight and they would lose every time. I know, I could travel around to all the state fairs challenging the guessers and winning in every state, but it only pays in stuffed animals, and cute and cuddly doesn't fill the tank. I think I'll stick with losing weight.

I made a trip to Wal-Mart today. I parked far away from the front doors, and you know what? The walk into the store was so easy! I wasn't hobbling in, I was walking confidently and swiftly. I was there to get all the ingredients I needed to cook beef lasagna. My plan was to use the same tasty ingredients, just scale down the amount, thus trimming the calories per piece. I ended up using 1/3 of the ground beef I normally use, 2/3 the cheese, 1/8 the cream cheese, and half the sauce. I still made a delicious pan of beef lasagna but with a drastically reduced calorie count. Each piece totaled 290.4 calories! The way I use to load it up was probably 450 to 550 a piece, so this was a big change. And everybody agreed it was fantastic! It wasn't as heavy and filling as the original recipe and if you ask me, that makes it even better! Who wants that heavy bloated feeling anyway? After Oatmeal and a banana for breakfast, A grilled cheese sandwich (made without butter on the George Foreman Grill—and with light wheat, it was an awesome sandwich for a measly 130 calories) and a rice crispy treat for lunch I still had 940 calories left for dinner. I normally don't have that much left by dinner time, but I was making sure I was prepared just in case the calorie count for the lasagna came out too high. At 290 a piece, I could afford two pieces of lasagna, a 150 calorie piece of garlic bread, and a good serving of green beans. Look at that picture below, can you believe that's the plate of someone who's serious about losing weight? It is, because that was my plate tonight! The entire plate was 760 calories. I still had enough calories to enjoy a soft serve ice cream cone from McDonalds, and after a 50 minute workout at the YMCA and a mile walk at the trail, I did enjoy that cone! Yes! We did the Y and we walked tonight. I'm very happy about that. Tomorrow we're having family up from Stillwater for a cookout. It'll be a great time. Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean

Sean and Irene's Beef Lasagna with garlic bread and green beans
This entire plate weighs in at 760 calories.