Day 363 Should Sean Really Eat That? and Some "Lost" Before Pictures

Day 363

Should Sean Really Eat That? and Some “Lost” Before Pictures

Irene and I worked on lines into the early morning hours of Saturday, fueled by coffee and the pressure of me being “off book” by Monday. We made some considerable progress until I absolutely hit a wall around 4am. We decided to go to bed and work extra long Saturday night instead.

I had to go to the pharmacy this morning to pick up my prescriptions from the doctors visit the day before. The pharmacist I frequent has known me for some time. I got to know him several years ago on a station sponsored trip to Pasadena to watch the Cowboys open the season against UCLA. We stayed in Vegas on that trip and chartered a bus to the Rose Bowl for the big game. The return trip found me sitting right next to Ron and we talked all the way back to Vegas. He's been there around me at my highest weight. He's quietly filled every prescription I needed along the way, dispensing the medications and offering advice like any good pharmacist would do. He's also noticed my dramatic weight loss, how could he not? But today was different. Today, he started talking to me about something unrelated to my prescriptions and then he stopped mid-sentence. It was like, all of a sudden he didn't know who he was talking to. He gave a me a blank stare and then he said “I'm just not use to your face looking so thin, you look completely different. You must feel amazing.” I told him thank you and that I did feel amazing. He just added to that wonderful feeling with his mid-sentence pause and blank look. These are the reactions that leave no doubt about their sincerity. It's completely natural reactions that can't be helped or prompted, they just happen---and they happen all the time. If you're working on your journey, I want you to get to this place too, you'll love it just like I do...It's like the most amazing feeling that's unexpected, coming out of nowhere.

After enjoying another good night of rest, I started to feel that game day excitement. It was time to put on the orange and head to Stillwater for the big game with Houston. I met up with Neal, Rachel's husband, and we quickly headed to Anson's tailgate party across the street from Boone Pickens Stadium. The menu for this tailgate was barbecue beef sandwiches with chips and several other goodies. I was really hungry because I was sitting at 200 calories for the day, all I had until that point was an amazing omelet, the best omelet I've had in a long time, but still, only two hundred calories. Today my ticket wasn't the Club Level, so the “free” food with great choices wouldn't be available to me today. I was just grateful that Anson had an extra ticket for me inside the stadium, I didn't really care where I sat. I decided to enjoy one of these barbecue sandwiches. I knew my calorie counting experience would have to assist me in guesstimating the calories of this sandwich. The bun looked slightly bigger than the 110 calorie hamburger buns we normally purchase, so I counted it as 150. Then I made my way over to the grill where a large container of the beef mixture was warming under the lid. I dolloped a responsible portion on the bun, pressed it down, and was satisfied that the beef couldn't be more than two hundred calories worth. So, with the bun, my sandwich was 350 calories. I threw a small handful, maybe four or five Sun Chips on my pate for fifty calories---bringing my tailgate total to 400 calories. That brought my running total for the day to 600. I ran into Anson's college age son Cavett, the kid hasn't laid eyes on me in over a year easy. His reaction was “Oh God...” coupled with wide eyed amazement. Never get tired of those “Wow” reactions, never ever!

I felt a few awkward looks come my way as I enjoyed the sandwich. Nothing too much, just a look of oh my, what's Sean doing? Should he be eating that? Yes, I should have, I could have, and I did! But it was in a responsible way, and that's the difference. You see, the old Sean wouldn't have stopped at one sandwich. He would have piled at least two of them really high. The old Sean would have made each sandwich at least five or six hundred calories easy. The old Sean would have needed some Tums or Rolaids afterwards. The new Sean hasn't had an antacid in 363 Days, no need, ever. The new Sean appreciates and enjoys making good choices of what's available, with smart portions and self-control. I didn't walk up to that tailgate with the attitude of lets see what they have good to eat, I'm ready to load up! I walked up with the attitude of you know, I am hungry and this looks good, maybe I should enjoy one before we get inside the stadium. The focus wasn't on the food, the focus was where it should be: On the atmosphere and friends outside the stadium of a team ranked 5th in the country, who's star player graced the cover of Sports Illustrated just a few days before. Sadly, that top 5 ranking will be long gone now after the disappointing Cowboy performance witnessed on this day. I guess we can still frame the cover, right?

After the game I quickly made my way over to see my mom and everybody at grandmas house. There's no way I could ever make a trip into Stillwater without seeing my mom. Oh, I guess I have before, but only under special circumstances where time is critically out of my control. Time was still short. Irene was waiting for me back in Ponca City, ready for a long night of memorizing scenes and lines from the play. I cut my visit with the fam short and hit the highway north out of Cowboy town. But before heading out I stopped at McDonald's. Why? If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know exactly why! I grabbed a 150 calorie low-fat vanilla soft serve cone of course! Those things have kept my ice cream cravings at bay so many times. I love ice cream, that's something I've talked about in these writings from the earliest days. These 150 calorie cones from Micky D's fit perfectly into my calorie budget.

I arrived back in Ponca City about 8:30pm for a quick dinner and then it was time for more lines, lines, lines! We discovered something very tasty, filling, and low-cal. You see, Arby's is having a special on their regular roast beef sandwiches, five for five dollars. We can't cook for that cheap! I grabbed some on the way to the house. For twenty cents more each, they put lettuce, onions, and tomatoes on them. Here's what we discovered: A regular roast beef sandwich is only 320 calories from Arby's. The bun makes up 177 of those calories, the beef only 143 (they neatly show this on their nutrition information). So we thought, what if we replaced the bun with a sixty calorie pita? It was incredible. You just warm the pita and the meat, then toss the bun and place the meat and the extra veggies I ordered on the pita. You fold it over like a taco and “blammo,” you just saved 117 calories!

Irene noticed how tired I was looking. She encouraged me to get a workout in, even though I really didn't feel like moving...once you start moving, it feels good! I even tried to rationalize not getting additional exercise, “but we took the stairs at the stadium, instead of the escalator!” Irene knew that we were not going to be working on the script any time soon, she knew I needed a nap after my workout. I didn't dare say it, but she said it for me, I was so relieved. “Why don't you take a nap before we get started on lines, we have a long way to go, and you've got to be rested.” I love that girl! I slept until midnight and then we started a marathon seven hour session of memorizing lines. That's right, we didn't fall into bed until 7am Sunday morning! What a Saturday! Not enough hours in the day, so it had to steal seven hours away from Sunday!! It was a busy day filled with living life, family, good friends, good food, and memorizing a bunch of lines for this play I'm doing. Very busy, and very worth it.

Below you'll find several “Lost” before pictures. I had planned on taking and also posting some current “in progress” pics for contrast, but we haven't had the chance. We will take some on Monday for the official one year anniversary of this transformation. It's certainly been magical. A true blessing. Thank you for reading. My apologies for the horribly late posting of this Saturday edition. Goodnight and...

Good Choices,
Sean

The “Lost” before pictures. The scary thing is---there's plenty more where these came from!!


Irene about 142 pounds heavier and me about 210 pounds heavier!


Amber a little over 60 pounds heavier and Courtney well over 80 pounds heavier! Pictured
with our cousin "T."

Me with my youngest in the 500 pound days.


Irene at her heaviest. The decorative border courtesy of my Aunt Kelli!


Grandpa, My uncle Keith, and me at IHOP in Stillwater. I was wearing my favorite “Big Daddy” jersey type shirt. I wore that thing until it became ridiculously too big. Actually, it stayed the same size---I'm the one that became comfortably smaller!