Day 512 That Early Morning Hunger, Who Are You? and Get Here

Day 512

That Early Morning Hunger, Who Are You? and Get Here

From the second my feet hit the floor this morning, I decided that this would be a productive Monday. It was simply a choice, an attitude, a matter of fact belief: It was going to be a good Monday.

I immediately started doing my warm up exercises. I’m just now able to do the push ups again. My left arm injury is back to 99%, and I’m thrilled about that! I finished three sets of each movement before pouring my first cup of coffee or fixing breakfast. It’s amazing what this routine does for my attitude early. 4am isn’t the most pleasant hour for me to wake, but it’s much easier to handle after getting the blood pumping like this.

I very rarely feel hungry. I’ve said this before, and it might irritate some, but seriously---almost never, except first thing in the morning. When I’m down in that floor doing those sit-ups and I feel that hunger, it makes me feel so thin. It’s like I can feel myself getting smaller. I might be a little loopy. That doesn’t look right on the page, but you know what I mean, don’t you?

Breakfast was simple. I prepared three whole eggs over easy atop a warmed 60 calorie pita flat bread. What about the egg whites? You know I love ‘em and their incredible calorie value, but sometimes I feel it good to go ahead and have the yolk. The entire breakfast was still only 270 calories. The egg whites are a wonderful strategic calorie move that totally rocks. But since I increased to 1800 per day, I’ve been bumping up my calories throughout the day. I made it 400 for the day with a cup of yogurt, strawberries, and blueberries about three hours later. I packed some cooked shrimp and some more fruit for lunch. I was good to work until late in the afternoon.

When I’m in the middle of a busy production day, I feel good, I feel confident. I might be frazzled and on edge, but I feel good about getting it done. It’s the same feeling when I’m working out. I’m doing it, I’m progressing, I’m getting stronger and burning more fat…Any apprehension or lazy hesitation is immediately gone once the sweat starts coming down, then it’s eye of the tiger baby! Let’s rock this!

Krisha has been a longtime reader of this blog, although she’s been absent recently for some time. She was one of a handful of readers early on, from somewhere a couple of months into this road. I was delighted to read her comment on yesterday’s post!

Krisha wrote: I found my way back to my blog & my weight loss journey. I'm back & I'm here to stay! I'm just so upset that I stopped. I see you & all your weight loss accomplishments and can't help but wonder where I would have been if I kept at it. Since I've been back at my weight loss journey, I have lost 2 lbs and work out a lot more than I have been in the past. I've gotten back on my calorie counting and have been ok with 1500-2000 calories a day. I mainly try to keep at 1500 but right now I'm comfortable where I'm at so I'm not going to change anything at the moment. Stop by....

What a delight Krisha, thanks for coming back to the DDWL! Listen---lose that calendar regret, put it behind you my friend and get ready for a most wonderful transformation! Congratulations on the 2-pound loss and getting your groove back! You know you can do it. Remember the most important elements we’ve talked about from the beginning: Self-honesty about our food habits and calorie budget, consistency, keep it very simple, more consistency, steel curtain zone, set your importance level super high, and rock this thing every single day! You have the power Krisha, you know you do my friend! Visit Krisha’s blog if you have the time, just click here: http://journeytolosingweight.blogspot.com

I arrived home late afternoon and decided that it indeed was a productive Monday. I felt accomplished from all the work I completed. And then I decided that I wasn’t going to fight the urge to take a nap. I needed a refresher nap really bad. I told a friend of mine of my napping plan and received a “talk to you in the morning.” You know me so well! I do have a bad history of turning hour naps into three or four hour snooze fest. My hour did turn into an hour and a half, but I jumped up quickly and hit the YMCA for another great workout before heading home to meet Courtney for dinner.

A good friend of mine is traveling to New York City to be featured on the Dr. Oz Show! Ann, aka Pretty Woman, has had a remarkable transformation. I’m very happy for her success and this opportunity to share her story with the world on Dr. Oz. She just started reading my blog a couple of months ago. The two of us relate on many different levels, I guess that’s why we’ve gotten along so well. She understands, as do many of you reading, all of the physical and mental changes that go into a dramatic transformation. As much as I talk about simplicity in the process of gradually improving choices, some of this road is intricately complicated---self-image being a big one. And by understand, I don’t mean figured out, I just mean can relate well. I’m really looking forward to seeing her and many others on that episode along with the one and only Richard Simmons! From what I understand, the episode will air on the 16th, check your local listings as they say!

The Who performed “Who Are You?” at the Super Bowl, and that song made me think and really wonder about something. There are some long time readers from near the beginning that I have never identified. I have no idea their name or if they have a blog. All I know is a location. Riga, Latvia. It’s shown up consistently on my map from nearly the very start and I’ve never identified them. I’m just curious. If you’re the longtime reader from Latvia, please speak up! And thank you for reading! There’s also a regular reader on a US Military installation on the Western Coast of Africa. Or how about the reader that occasionally checks in from Iceland, or St. Johns, or Paris, France? Who are you? I really want to know! But I understand if you wish to remain anonymous. Regardless---I sincerely appreciate your readership and support!

Courtney declined dinner tonight because she had a little something earlier at her mom’s place and she wasn’t feeling so good tonight. I decided to prepare an omelet, I did---again with whole eggs. Hmmm…I know it’s nutritious to occasionally have a whole egg, but I’m not sure about six in 24 hours. I was calorie boosting to hit 1800, I’ll admit it. I added a couple of ounces of cheese too. It was a big hearty omelet, I mean---filling!

Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this transformation is all real. I hold my jeans up and think those are way too small, and they’re not, they are perfect. I look in the mirror and think are those my cheekbones? And what is that bump on my wrist,? oh---my stylus bone. And this? Oh—the base of my sternum. And when I lay on my side, I can’t help but pinch my skin just millimeters from my lovely protruding hipbone, did you read that??? My hipbone! I have two of ‘em! I pinch myself when I realize that I can sleep anywhere at anytime without the assistance of a C-PAP machine, I can breathe again. I don’t have to worry about taking medications anymore---those days are gone. Yeah—dang it, get here my friend. I want you to feel what I'm feeling. Please get here. Because it’s the most beautiful feeling, it really is amazing. Thank you for reading. Goodnight and…

Good Choices,
Sean