Trudging the Road of Happy Destiny

[JohnLarson]

Hi John, maybe a silly question but how do you make the buffalo fries? Do you put the hot sauce on after baking or before?

We have a french fry cutter, I use the large option. After I cut them, I microwave them 5 minutes. Then I sauce them, rolling them around. I then sprinkle them with Mrs. Dash extra spicy spice. Air fry at 400 for 15 minutes, then pull them out (they stick), put them in the bowl, add a little more sauce. Air fry for another 15 minutes, pull out again, no sauce but shake them around, then 5 more minutes. I like them almost burnt and chewy.

[JohnLarson]

No gym this morning.

Yesterday's food:

L - salad, steamed veggies, Italian rice, field peas
D- salad, steamed veggies, Italian rice

I am almost out of the Italian rice, it is mushy. The sauce was great, I should have just kept them separate. Late last night I was really wanting something sweet. I thought about making something to eat as a snack, but I told myself it would pass. It did. There is no reason for me to be eating at 10 pm. I am thinking I am not eating that much starch these past two days as my serving size of rice has been small. I have greatly increased the size of my steamed veggies as I really like them. I have been buying the Birdseye brand Broccoli, California Mix, and Normandy Mix. I basically use one of the mixes and add more broccoli.

[JohnLarson]

Slept in, no gym. I signed up for a 5k that is Saturday morning. I think I will be walking lots of it. We shall see.

Yesterday's food

L - salad, steamed veggies, rice, field peas
D - big pile of buffalo fries!

I still have some rice left. I just wasn't in the mood for it and made some fries. I also felt lazy and was crazy busy last night and didn't make a salad. I am going to go back to my spicy rice next week. I might figure out a way to meal prep my salads.

I have avoided the scale the whole week, I am going to step on it on the 1st, which is one week from today. I am hoping to be under 220. We shall see. I am getting more and more people mentioning my weight loss. This will just increase. It is funny how our bodies change as the weight goes. I lost a lot in my face and what is strange is that my gut seems larger because it is more in front of me and not beside me. It is hard to explain. At 220, I will no longer be obese and will just be overweight.

This is a dangerous time for me. I don't feel as fat as I did. I don't look as fat. But I am still fat. I can't revert to SAD. Last night was a busy night and I considered driving through Hardee's to pick up a couple of burgers. I didn't really consider it, but it did come into my mind that I was hungry, tired and Hardee's has a 2 for $4 mix and match deal, besides I am doing good, plus my rice is mushy and not that good. blah, blah, blah. That is what inspired the eating of the fries, even though I was doing rice during the work week. It is nice to "slip" and still stay on plan. I still have some field peas left, but am a little burned out on them also. I might just mix them in some spicy rice. I miss my spicy rice. I might eating it this weekend. I do have some big baking potatoes bought just for the weekend. I will figure it out.

[JohnLarson]

Just checking in here. It has been a busy weekend. I participated a 5k on Saturday. I made it under 40min, which was my goal. I am going to run another one in a month. My goal is to finish under 36min, so there will have to be more running and less walking.

Saturday was a buffalo fry day. Had them lunch and dinner. I did make some spicy brown rice and will return to my mini mini with salad, veggies, and brown rice. My jeans are starting to look baggy. I am going to wait until the scale is under 220 before messing with my jeans. I fully expect to be under 220 on the 1st of March. I have been slack on going to the gym. Going out on the 5k has me motivated.

[JohnLarson]

Didn't make it to the gym, my wife wasn't feeling good and the bed was nice and warm.

Yesterday's food:

L: salad, steamed veggies, spicy brown rice
D: steamed veggies, spicy brown rice

I made a batch of spicy brown rice up that I will be eating all week, at least until Friday. I also will weigh myself Friday and I am fully expecting to be under 220 and no longer obese. I need to make sure I eat on plan and if I want to make sure I meet this next goal, then following my mini mini will help. I don't foresee any food challenges coming up in the next week. On Saturday, there is a Chili cook-off, that I will be attending. I will donate. I am not sure what my level of participation will be.

[bunsofaluminum]

Hi John!

I was thinking about you when planning my menus for the week...the simplicity you've chosen is SUCH a wise thing. Easy, no big decisions to make. Well done on your 5K!

[JohnLarson]

Hi John!

I was thinking about you when planning my menus for the week...the simplicity you've chosen is SUCH a wise thing. Easy, no big decisions to make. Well done on your 5K!

It is basically my take on the concept of doing a Mary's Mini. It is also inspired by a guy I used to rent a room to who had the same thing everyday for lunch. It looked so boring. What is crazy is that I went a few days without my spicy rice and I missed it. This batch had some left over field peas in it also and a tiny bit of corn.

[JohnLarson]

I meant to post this earlier, I posted it in a Facebook group.

"I am getting more and more comments about me losing weight. I am down around 30 pounds in the last three months. I like hearing the comments. I just need to keep them in perspective. I still have much to lose and it doesn't take much SAD to bring it all back. Soon I will be no longer obese, but overweight. Most everyone I know is overweight. Heck, most of the country is. Soon, I will start to get the "don't lose too much" comments. This time around I am more prepared for those. Also, right low when people mention the weight loss, I just acknowledge them and thank them for noticing. I don't tell them what I am doing. I have given a few people links to the Color book, but they don't care. I am not doing this to change the world. I just need to change me. Maybe I will be able to help others, but I need to get where I am headed first."

This was an issue six years ago. It got really old. I think my wife was fairly insecure about my weight loss before, even though I got off all of my medications. She is still not on board with this WOE and doesn't even want to talk about it. I will say she is now eating less dairy. She drinks almond milk and is eating almond ice cream. She also eats almost no cheese at the house. She just started making smoothies and even bought kale, spinach, and avocado for her smoothies. I will have to deal with this as I get closer to better health. I am not going to let the comments of others impact what I am doing.

I am very happy on my progress in just 90 days. I haven't been 100%, but I have been pretty good. I think being focused on MWL and keeping my meals simple has helped.

[Lyndzie]

John, I think you have done SPECTACULAR. You managed traveling out of town and stressful life events and didn’t get derailed. Your commitment really shows. Well done!

[JohnLarson]

John, I think you have done SPECTACULAR. You managed traveling out of town and stressful life events and didn’t get derailed. Your commitment really shows. Well done!

Thanks, there are a few situations where I wish I could have been stronger. This way of eating gets easier as we go.

[JohnLarson]

Yesterday's food:

L - salad, steamed veggies, spicy brown rice
D- steamed veggies, spicy brown rice

Should be pretty much the same the rest of the week, except for an additional salad here and there. I have upped my vegetable serving size to match my big salad. I am running low on Mrs. Dash, I think I am down to two different bottles. I will be stocking up on them this weekend.

At work we are running some sort of on-air (I work in radio) promotion with a donut place called Duck Donuts. About twice a week we are offered a donut (or more). We also are close to a Krispy Kreme donut shop, so there is normally a few boxes of donuts from there around the office. Yesterday was someone's birthday, so there was cake. I have not participated in any of it. I still get offered the hot Duck Donuts, but they don't even come into my office, they just sort of acknowledge me from the hallway. The person whose birthday it was has tried to lose weight before and jokingly stated that birthday cake was zero calories and was taking the remainder home to eat for breakfast the rest of the week. Saying no to these sweets is not as easy on some days as others. Luckily I am not hungry in the morning anyway. At times I have blamed my job for my weight gain and return to SAD eating. I put in 20 pounds my first three months working here. That is why I have so many dress pants waiting for me.

Men's dress pants make almost no sense. Besides width and inseam, there are different styles of fit. Right now I am wearing a pair of 36" waist, 32" inseam, flat front, classic fit dockers. They fit great. I have two pair of 38" waist, 32" inseam, flat front, slim fit dockers that are tight around the thighs. One of the pair might be athletic fit. I might already have been wearing the athletic fit pants. I think I have a six more pairs of 36" waist, 32" inseam pants that are more of a slim type fit. Then I have some 34" waist, 32" inseam pants. I bet there is eight pairs. I know when I first started I purchased some really nice dress pants that we even a little loose and I figured they would just get more loose as I continued to lose weight. I fully expect to be wearing those pants first purchased for this job by the summer.

While on the topic of pants, my 501's are fitting a little loose. I have even been drying them. I have six pairs of 34" waist jeans waiting for me. At one point, they were fitting loose, sort of like the 36" ones I am wearing. I did have some 38" 505's that I wore, but those have been put in storage. I have really tested the limits of these jeans and I am glad they are fitting loose, they were crazy tight not that long ago. Them fitting tight is one of the main motivators for me returning to this WOE. It is strange how big of a deal pants and jeans are to me. Years ago, like 20 years ago, I remember buying a pair of 38' waist 501's on sale that were way too small for me and just wanting to be able to wear them. I never even got close. I was able to wear other style of 38" waist jeans, just not that pair. Most of my jeans were 40". My dress pants were 42". All those clothes were donated. I have been instructed that all of my "big" clothes will not be donated and kept in storage this time. I don't plan on ever wearing them again, but I understand my wife's point.

[JohnLarson]

Yesterday's food:

L: salad, steamed veggies, spicy brown rice, buffalo fries
D: steamed veggies, spicy brown rice

It is a crazy world when your food cheat is air-fried french fries.

I am in my "slim" dockers today. Feeling pretty good. I have stayed away from the scale. Friday is weigh-in day, but I might wait until Monday. I behave more when I wait. I don't want to celebrate any goals with food.

[Ejeff]

Way to stay focused John, and thanks for taking the time to tell me how you make your fries, I will try it!

[JohnLarson]

Weigh in Day!

218.8.

I am not getting on the scale again until April 1st.

Next goal is 204. I can't remember what day I wanted to reach that. I know I was a little behind.

[JohnLarson]

I have not been as active on here and that is normally not a good sign.

Ate off plan a few times last week. On Sunday I decided to get back on track. It is amazing how quickly I can fall into full SAD eating. The last two days have been good. Last night I thought I was hungry and had a few on plan snacks.

Here is what I posted on Facebook on Monday:

I am in dangerous ground. I have lost enough to feel better and people are noticing, but I have a long way to go. I have lots of goals in front of me, all which are perfectly reasonable. Saturday was a SAD eating day. Not a few bites, not just one item. My wife was in shock. I rationalized and justified my action.

Here is what I have not been doing:

1) Praying about my eating
2) Writing in my journal
3) Logging and sharing meals
4) Exercising,
5) Reading about this WOE
6) Helping others

Today, I recommit to 100% following MWL. Since pasta is now okay, I can't think of anything I might want to even eat that isn't on MWL. I made a batch of brown rice. I have 15 lbs of potatoes at home and plenty of frozen vegetables. There is no logical reason for me to eat anything non on MWL.

On a side note, I did have to add another hole in my belt. So that is a good thing. I just know I am on a slippery slope.

/end facebook quote

Last night I went to a meeting and was looking at some of the snack items and a woman came up to me and mentioned my weight loss. I didn't eat a snack there. Later last night I did eat a few snacks.

Yesterday's food:

L - salad, veggies, spicy brown rice
D - veggies, potatoes
S - apple, peach
S - air popped popcorn
S - oatmeal

I feel I am back on track.