Day 77 Burgers, Fries, and Ice Cream Oh Yeah!

Day 77

Burgers, Fries, and Ice Cream Oh Yeah!

Another day is coming to an end. Amber is headed back to school, and although I know she's coming back home on the 26th, I still hate to let her go! Now we'll sit back and worry for the next three hours while she drives all the way back. Before Amber and KL (her boy-man-friend) left, we all enjoyed dinner together at Braums. I shot down the Chinese buffet idea when I proclaimed that I wouldn't be eating there. I would just drink water and visit, then have something later at home. Now Braums can still be a tricky choice, after all their name is Braums Ice Cream and Dairy Store. They have amazing hamburgers there, and I have to say their ice cream is incredible. We all had burgers and fries and ice cream. You read that right, we all did! Of course my burger was a junior size loaded up with veggies. And I didn't order fries for myself, I just stole a few from every one else at the table. It was a very satisfying 550 calories. I really didn't know the calorie count of the burger, because Braums doesn't provide nutritional information on anything from behind the counter except the frozen yogurt. So I compared it to the Whopper Jr and added 60 calories to it, the fries were probably less than 200 calories, but I counted them 200 anyway. I'd rather over estimate than under estimate. Of course a meal at Braums doesn't end when the last bite of burger or the last fry is consumed, you have to do desert, it's Braums. Kind of like the Thanksgiving over eating excuse... “But it's Thanksgiving!” I selected a small Frozen Yogurt Twist on a regular cake cone. “Cake” cone sounds really loaded, but it's not! The sugar and waffle cones are the ones you have to watch out for. The cake cones are really low in calories. Pick up a box at the grocery store and read the calories on the box, it's like 15 calories for one cone. Then look at the Sugar Cone calories. Anyway, Braums has the best soft serve in the world. It's creamy goodness is slightly higher in calories over McDonalds soft serve, but McDonalds doesn't have live enzymes in theirs. I really don't know what they do for me, if it's good or bad, but it sure is creamy. A small cone at Braums is about 210. They list it with a waffle cone at 230, so I subtract 20 because of the cake cone. I always drink water when we go out to eat, I didn't always, but get this: Now that I don't drink pop out, Braums finally has changed to free refills! They were just waiting for me to stop drinking pop out! Braums was one of the last to offer free refills, I use to dislike that, but now that I'm losing weight and relearning how to eat and drink, my attitude has changed. A listener of mine recognized me and asked “are you still on your weight loss thing.” I guess seeing me at Braums maybe made him wonder if he was about to witness a meltdown. I told him yes, then showed him my food and explained how I was doing it in such a tempting place. While we were there I looked at the Braums Pecan Pie in the freezer section, one piece of that pie is 490! I'm still not over the pecan pie calorie sticker shock from Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow will be the first day I add weight training to the workout menu. I'm not lifting to gain muscle right now, I'm just doing it to burn fat. That'll be a nice addition to what we're already doing. I'd love to add swimming eventually. Swimming is an amazing calorie burner. If I can get over the embarrassment of wearing a bathing suit, then I think I would enjoy it. I may have lost 67 pounds so far, but I'm not in swim suit shape just yet. I wonder if I could find one of those old time full body bathing suits. You know, the kind that basically covers you from head to toe. Not a wet suit, a full body bathing suit. Big difference! I'll still wear a “swimming shirt”, probably will until I reach my goal and get a full body tuck. I haven't a clue how much or how we'll afford the body tuck, but with as much skin as I'll have to remove, it's gonna get done! We'll figure it out later! I do need to check with the burn centers across this region and see if they take donations, and if so, will the body tuck to harvest the donation still cost me? OK, enough of that talk. I will need one...OK enough of that.

I was thinking about how much I use to love riding my bike as a kid and how I haven't been on one since I was a kid. I'd like to get a bike in a few months and actually ride. Maybe we could all get one and ride around just like the Brady Bunch. In the Living XL catalog they have bicycle seats that are extra wide and can support 700 pounds. Is this really necessary? Are there any 700 pound people riding bikes? Anyway, they have smaller versions too, like the 500 pound capacity model. Good thing they have these. I've never broken a bicycle seat, but I imagine it could be very painful. Of course I haven't been on a bike since I was, wow...uh, maybe 12 or 13? Something like that. At 13 I had a little moped scooter. I was a really big kid, probably too big for that moped, but I rode it, much to the amusement of passers by, and I never burned calories on a bike again! I'll add recreational bicycling to my list of things to do when I lose enough weight. Wait a second, I think I already put it on the list. Cool.

I talked to my mom today about staying focused. I told her that the rewards are just too great to pass up. If you really stop and think about all the positives to staying true to the mission, then it really becomes very clear. The rewards are so tremendous, too numerous and far reaching to even count or list, that's what you have to focus on. And we concluded our conversation with the old cliché, “Nothing worth having comes easy”, it is work, it is a job to learn how to function with food in a healthy way and to exercise and take care of ourselves...but the rewards are “beyond our imagination” great. I'm keeping my eye on the prizes my friend. Good night and...

Good Choices,
Sean