Update

After two days I can say I have kept my carbs down.  Yesterday my carb count was about 100 and today it was 115.  It makes me excited to keep them under the low end of what my Dr. gave me as a low end.  It shows me I can do it.  I have also kept my food journal for two days.  My sugar consumption for two days is almost zero and I did not go to Walmart and check for candy that has been marked down after Easter.  I need to push a little more on my steps to get them going where they need to be and I am meeting a good friend at the pool tomorrow.  Looking forward to that because I enjoy swimming.

2017 All Over Again...................................

I guess this post could probably be labeled "same old story and why should this time be any different"?

Before I get into this post I need to post a couple of things.  First, I have been wanting to get back to my blog for quite some time and it is time to get off my butt and do it.  Second, I know I need to be watching what I eat but I will still be posting to my regular recipe page as well as my healthy recipe page.

Now to get into my post, which will possibly be a long one.

A few months ago I had another visit with my Dr. about the same old stuff.  He is concerned about my weight as always.  After some discussion we have come to an agreement that I have a food addiction.  I know I am addicted to carbs and sugar.  I know that there are studies both pro and con on whether sugar is addictive or not.  But for me, once I have some sugar, ie. a candy bar or jelly beans, etc, I have a hard time staying away from it.  As many who know me, know I have candy stashed every where, in my vehicles, by my computers, in my closet, in my cupboards etc.  When it goes on sale after Valentines Day, Easter, Halloween or Christmas I can't pass up the deals.  My grand kids even know I always have the sweet stuff around and they always ask for some because my daughter won't keep it around their house.  I have even had chocolate so long it has turned white but I eat it anyway.  Is that sad or what.  But I did make a small step today.  I pulled one of the storage containers down and cleaned it out and actually threw some of the candy out.

Another thing my Dr. is after me about is swimming.  He wants me to swim because it is a good form of exercise and not so hard on my joints because I am a very big boy.  I am paying membership to a gym with a pool and they love me because I don't use it.  I keep telling my wife I am going to but I don't.  In a couple of months I will be able to get my membership for free because of Silver Sneakers as part of my Medicare rider.  Vickie says she wont care then if I go or not.  I was talking with a friend of mine that says he needs to go and I said "I need to go and you know I need to go and you need to go and I now you need to go, so no more B.S. I will pick up up Monday morning but he has Dr.'s appt so I said I will be there Tuesday no excuses.  It will be for the best for both of us.

My Dr.  also wants me to keep a food diary.  I start off great but seem to lose the desire to track my carbs.  My Dr. says to track my carbs and not to worry about the calories.  He wants my carbs around 130 to 150 a day.  With the way I love bread and bread products it is hard to keep the carbs down because everything has carbs and when I get hungry my go to snack is toast with peanut butter and jam with a glass of milk.  That snack alone contains 60+ carbs and that is not a good choice at 10:00 at night when my carbs are usually above 150 by that point anyway.  So when I do things like that, I quit my journal because I don't want to write it down and I know if I am not getting results and my Dr. looks at my food journal and these type of things aren't recorded he is going to know I haven't been totally honest.

The other thing I need to work on is my steps.  I am not averaging very my 2500-3000 a day.  I end up using my cane a lot and that does not make me very happy.  That also means I am spending a lot of time not moving and consequently my weight shows it.  My goal is by the end of May to be at 10,000 a day.  That means I have to add about 160 steps a day to my average to make it.  I used to walk that without any problem.

Now for what I am doing that is different this time.  I am in an Addiction Class for my Food Addiction.  I am realizing this is going to take a lot of hard work to over come this addiction just as it would a drug or alcohol addiction.  There are several things I am doing in conjunction with the class. First, I got a mentor.  I have some one I report on a regular basis that is keeping an eye on me and not only gives positive reinforcement but is also not afraid to get after me when I need it.  I appreciate him and all he does for me.  Second, I am back on my blog.  I enjoy posting to the different pages on my blog.  Third, I am working on increasing my steps.  I hope to reach my goal early.  My mentor walks over 15,000 several days a week.  When Vickie and I went to dinner with him and his wife last Friday he was averaging almost 12,000 a day.  My ultimate goal is over 15,000 a day.  Fourth, tomorrow, my food journal comes back into play and this time for real,  This time everything passes my lips will be recorded daily.  My goal is 130-150 carbs daily.  Just what the Dr. ordered.  I am also headed for the pool this week.   Once I get there I enjoy it and it is great exercise for me.

I need to do these things this time.  My son-in-law lost his father recently to a heart attack and my grand kids are worried that they are going to lose me.  My lung function runs about 48% most of the time but it has been know to dip down to around 40%.  My pulmonologist says my lung function will never be 100% because of my allergy induced asthma but if I would lose some weight I could get get into the 60% range and that would be a great improvement.  And who knows, I may even live a little longer.  I have an appt. with my primary care Dr on the 7th of May and my pulmonologist on the 13th of June and I want to be headed in a positive direction finally for both appointments.

I owe a big thanks to my mentor Dave for his support and being there for me.  I also want my wife and family to know how much I love them and appreciate the support of me, no matter how many times I try this.   Until next time..........................................

Dr.'s Orders

Recently I received a call from my Dr.  He had been looking over some old notes and came across notes from a talk we had on my last visit with him.  Mind you it has been some time since I saw him last.

I knew this wasn't going to be good for me when he said I am a walking time bomb and he had a few questions for me.

His questions were as follows:

1.  Was I keeping my food journal?  Answer: No.  He again challenged me to get it out and use it.            He even suggested maybe I should use my phone and take pictures of what I ate every day for a          week and then review it.  Not sure I want to do that but I told him I would start my journal.

2.  Am I walking 10,000 steps a day?   Answer: No.  He challenged me to add 1,000 steps a day every     week until I reached a minimum of 10,000 or more.

3.  Am I keeping my carbs to between 160-180 daily?  Answer: No.  He told me using my food                journal should get me doing that.

4.  How many times am I swimming?  Answer: Not as much as I should be.  He told me to get my            butt in the pool at least 4 times a week and 5 or 6 would be better.

5.  Am I cooking healthy and posting the recipes to my blog?  Answer: No.  Do we see a pattern here?      Again, he challenged me to get back at it.

6.  Am I writing on my blog to become accountable to any one that follows me to be doing these              things?  Again I had to say no.  So now we begin again.

Then he added a couple of new things. Since I don't spend a lot of time outside he wants me to take Vitamin D every day and he wants my water consumption to be at least 150 ounces a day and no eating after 7 pm.

I told him these things are doable but I will also add recipes to my regular blog and I will still go out to dinner on occasion.  He said that was okay just watch my portions and maybe consider taking half my meal home.  He also told me to cut down my sugar intake.  Boy is he cracking down.  I laughed at the last suggestion because I do have a sweet tooth.  He said we have had this talk a number of times and since I know what I should be doing we shouldn't have to have this talk again.  I told him I know he is tired of wasting his time with me on this subject and he answer was I don't care how often we talk about it because he has to be there anyway but I need to quit wasting my money on co-pays and then not doing what he tells me to do.

I guess I better pull up my big boy pants and do it.  It seems my wife, daughter, grand kids and friends want me to hang around a little longer.  Watch this blog for updates

Follow up with the Dr.

I had a follow up visit with my Dr. yesterday.  Normally these will take place on a monthly basis.  In the ten days since I last saw him I am down 3 pounds.  I know this doesn't sound like much but he is happy with it.  He wants me down about 1-2 pounds a week because he says that is sustainable.  Most of that weight is going to be water weight because of the water pill I am on to reduce the swelling in my leg.  I will see him again the 20th of March and if all goes well I should be down about another six pounds.  that follow up is scheduled for three weeks because I have a Hernia repair surgery scheduled the following week.  I need to get on the stick with the swimming.  Dr. Hardman is going to chew me out when I see her in April, so better get busy.

We are trying to eat better and do the things we know we should.  We will see over time how it pays off.

Visit With My Doctor

Earlier this week I visited with my Dr. about the swelling in my legs and as always talk came around to my weight.  After much discussion about things like the four letter word diet and even bariatric surgery, it was decided that at this time surgery is not the answer for me.  Instead I have to start with another visit with Tyler this week, with my food journal in hand.  Then visits will be once a month. He wants to look at my journal and see what and how much I am eating, along with steps take and how much exercising I am doing.  So the journal starts in earnest tomorrow.  He also wants to check my blog once in a while to see what I am posting.  I know he will be looking at both my recipe blog and this one.  I do have a number of healthy recipes I want to try and if they are good they will be posted here.  I told him I will never quit cooking because it is in y genes and I have been cooking since I was about 12 years old.  And that was a long time ago.  I also told Tyler my 40th wedding anniversary is coming up and the entry for that day will probably be I ate to much and nothing else.

I will probably post recipes in the middle of the week and Sunday night will be a wrap up of the progress I made that week along with cartoons about weight loss.  The reason for this is I have a number of other blogs that need my attention and once a week or so is all I will be posting on those sites.

Hopefully in mid April I will be off the Warfrin and I can go back to my green smoothies every morning.  I wasn't doing them when I first started the Warfrin and so it would have screwed my numbers up to badly I didn't want to try and adjust them, I just wanted to get through this little adventure.  I have been told first blot clot is 6 months on Warfrin and the second one will mean Warfrin for life.  If that becomes the case I will make the necessary adjustments because I miss the green smoothies.  They gave me energy and I usually wasn't hungry.  I have been saving a lot of recipes that I want to try.  So mid April please hurry and get here.

With that being said, I think I will close tonight.

The Journey Starts Again.................

If you looked at my other page it now says that I am going back to my individual blog pages.  That page was not going to turn out like I wanted so we are back to individual pages.  I hope you will follow me on this journey and if needed hold me feet to the fire.

A couple of years ago I spent a lot of money to work with Dr. Scott.  He taught me a lot and I taught myself a lot during that journey.  I have talked with Dr. Scott a couple of times since than and his comment as to why I succeeded then was because of where I was at that point in my life.  He said I am at a better place now and thus it is hard for me to get my head in the weight control game.  I have gained back a little over half the weight I lost then.  That being said I am going to work at doing what I know and prove to myself that I can do as my sister says anything I put my mind too.

My friend Blake and I attended an informational presentation put on by St. Mark's Hospital for Bariatric Surgery last week.  Blake is seriously considering it but I don't get a warm fuzzy about it.  I guess that is because I know what to do and just need to get my head back in the game and do it. Having looked at a lot of options I think I will be following the plan put out by the Mayo Clinic.  It ranks number three on Web MD's list of top 15 Diets.  It doesn't  count calories but concentrates on portions.  My goal is to lose between 1-2 pounds a week.  I a a membership to a local athletic club with a pool.  I love to swim so I need to make use of my membership.  Dr. Hardman wants me working less and spending more time in the gym.  I go to see her in April and I want my weight down and my gym time up.  I will probably add walking into this exercise plan.  Part of my goal is to show myself I can lose the weight without the surgery.  

I will have at least 3 people I report to on a daily basis, 1. My good wife, Vickie, 2. my friend Blake and 3. my boss, Carri.  Carri is very concerned and wants me to succeed as do all of these people plus a bunch that are not on this list.  I may add my my daughter and sister to my reporting list as they are both nurses and aware of what this fat guy should be doing for a healthy lifestyle.

The journey begins tomorrow, January 12th.  I will be adding healthy recipes to this blog as well as regular recipes to my Favorite recipe blog.  I will also be adding healthy information to this site. These blogs are therapeutic for me even if no one reads them.

I will be posting a before picture in the next couple of days and hope to post to this blog at least three to four times a week.  With all that being said, I am signing off for the night. And the journey begins.....................

Giada's Chia Seed Breakfast Pudding

I have promised several people over the last couple of weeks this recipe would be posted.  I am sorry to be so slow.  This recipe comes from the Food Network web site and the link is posted following the recipe.  After doing yoga, Giada De Laurentiis eats this protein rich breakfast.  Chia seeds are packed with fiber, protein and antioxidants.
 

Giada's Chia Seed Pudding (4 servings)

Ingredients

1 cup vanilla flavored unsweetened almond milk
1 cup plain low fat (2 per cent) Greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup (preferably grade B), plus 4 teaspoons for serving
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Kosher salt
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 pint strawberries, hulled and chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Directions

In a medium bowl, gently whisk the almond milk, yogurt, 2 Tablespoons maple syrup, vanilla, 1/8 treaspoon salt until just blended.  Whisk in the chia seeds, let stand 30 minutes.  Stir to distribute the seeds if they have settled.  Cover and refrigerate over night.

The next day, in a medium bowl, toss the berries with remaining 4 teaspoons maple syrup.  Mix in the almonds.

Spoon the pudding into 4 bowls or glasses, mound the berry mixture on top and serve.

http://blog.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/2014/01/15/giadas-chia-seed-breakfast-pudding/

Eggs Baked in Avocado

                                                                                                                                   

This recipe comes from fitsugar.com  I am fond of eggs and avocado. The two togther are really good.  I don't eggs often, mostly egg whites. The thing I like is the recipe has a lot of protein and for two eggs and a whole avocado the calorie count is pretty good.      

INGREDIENTS:

2 ripe avocados
4 fresh eggs
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon chopped chives

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Slice avocados in half, and take out the pit.  Scoop out about two Tablespoons of flesh from the center of the avocado, just enough so the egg will fit in the center.   Place the avocados in a small baking dis, making sure they fit tightly.  Crack an egg into each avocado half. Try to crack the yolk in first.   Place in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes.  Time will depend on the size of the avocados and eggs.  Make sure the egg whites have enough time to set.  Remove from the oven, season with pepper, chives and garnish of your choice.  Makes two servings.

449 calories, 38.2 g fat, 137 mg sodium, 2 g sugars, 13.6 g fiber and 15.2 g protein.                  

Random Thoughts

I am working this year at continuing my weight loss.  I am part of a 28 day challenge through the encouragement of a good friend of mine.  She is concerned about peoples health and the company she works for (Medi-Fast) has organized a 28 day challenge.  At first I thought about getting back as radical as i was earlier last year to lose a bunch of weight and win a $1000.  But then common sense kicked in and I decided I need to do something that is sustainable for the rest of my life.  I am thankful to Sheila for helping me get back on track and get back to eating healthy and smart.  My goal is to lose between 1 1/2 - 3 pounds a week.  I eating smarter by watching portions, walking more, drinking more water and trying to get more sleep.  When I do these things I feel better and maybe this old dog can be taught some new tricks.

Another part of what I am doing to help me with eating smarter is being part of a weight management class offered through my employer.  I figure you can never have enough help as long as you stay focused and your help is teaching basically the same thing.  Last week I lost 4 lbs and hope to go at least another 3 or so this week.  The weigh in on Wednesday will tell.

Even though I am being a little more sensible this time I am still very thankful for Dr. Scott and the program I went through with him because He gave me my life back and going through his program showed me how much better I feel when I eat right and lose weight.

I will admit it is hard to be good when I stopped at 7-11 this morning to get a newspaper and they are selling their chocolate donuts 2 for $1.50 and the chocolate donuts from 7-11 are out of this world.  They are from Dunford Bakeries.  I am tempting myself right now and I am sitting at my computer.  Better reach for my water bottle and some celery.  Okay, not as good as a donut but it will due. LOL. Off to do other things for awhile.

Weight Loss Cycle

LOL

The following is a post from a Facebook post by a friend of mine by the name of Dave Taylor and the more I think about it, the more I may have to join his fitness regime.

"I am starting a new fitness regime called FitCross.  In a nutshell, iy utilizes muscle confusion by requiring a large variety of hydrogenated corn syrup distribution methods and nuanced cheese-based fondues.  This focuses greatly on the importance of social and emotional health through diet instead of exercise.  This is the best program out there, because we all know that exercise is highly over-rated and likely only to procrastinate your departure from this war prison work camp euphemistically referred to as "life".

Day Two of the New Beginning

It has been quite a day.  I cut my calories a lot.  In fact by the time I got home I figured I had only eaten between 450-600 calories.  I even bypassed the fresh rolls at the school today.  And that was hard.  I have also pretty much given up sugar. The following post gives some great tips for giving up sugar:  http://bit.ly/1d3S0qu.  I think that is going to be one of the harder things I will be doing, especially during the next 21 days.  I came home with a head ache today and I am not sure if it was from the lack of calories or the lack of sugar.  Though after eating two rice cakes with egg whites I did feel better.  At the school I work at they have installed a soda machine for the faculty and staff.  It is free and one of the drinks is a Sobe Life Water.  It is a berry pomegranate flavor.  It is sweet and I have drank a lot of it before the Christmas break.  I have decided to give it up even though it is supposed to be zero calories.  The label says it contains 32.5 grams of sugar, which is equivalent to drinking plain water and eating a Snickers bar.  I don't think it is worth it and I don't want the artificial sweeteners and other things it contains.  I even was enjoying the taste and I usually wont drink diet drinks, besides I would rather have the Snickers Bar.  I guess the best thing is to go back to drinking lots of plain old water and that I do enjoy.

Here are a couple of more links to articles about quitting sugar:  http://thedailylove.com/the-lowdown-on-quitting-sugar/ ,  http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-10492/how-to-quit-sugar-in-5-days.html ,  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-james/quitting-sugar_b_4116814.html

2014 - A New Beginning

They say "That confession is good for the soul", I know that is only part of the quote but that is the most quoted part and it fits for me at this point.  I do have a confession to make and it is hard but I need to say I have fallen of the wagon for weight loss.  I know that is very obvious because my posts have been very sporadic to non existent.  I have fallen to the point that I have not only quit losing but I have gained about 20 pounds back and that makes me very unhappy. I know I have no one to blame but myself and that I accept.
I had a meeting with Dr. Scott a couple of weeks ago and we talked about what is going on in my life and leaving out all the boring details he told me not to beat myself up but to start again with the first of the year. HE wants me back around the middle of February and he wants me to be down about 15-20 lbs by then. My goal is to exceed that number by at least 5 to 10 lbs at the minimum.  As I mentioned in an early post Dr. Scott told me I was doing well and could follow the 90/10 rule which is be good 90% of the time and go off the grid only 10% of the time.  I was excited but in going to the new program I went way off the grid and knew better.  I quit keeping my food journal and was probably only on the grid less than 5% of time. Combine those two things and that was the recipe for my total implosion.  Even when I knew I was failing and failing big time, I did not get back on track, but that is going to change starting Jan 2nd(tomorrow) morning.

I am going back to eating like I know I should and keeping my food journal.  Since I have picked up a steady job in the schools I need to watch what I eat while I am working.  The school I am in, a large portion of the food we serve is cooked from scratch not like the other district I was in where everything was heat and serve, I still need to watch what I eat.  If I eat what we serve the students, their portions, I will have eaten about 750 calories for lunch but my goal is to eat more fruits and veggies than anything.  I need to lay off the American cheese and fresh rolls.  Those rolls are good when they come out of the oven and I have justified eating them because they are 51% wheat.  Occasionally we make sweet treats and one of them was killer chocolate cupcakes with cranberry sauce in the mix.  Sounds weird but boy are they moist and I ate more than I care to admit.  The same with the cookies we bake.  In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas I bake several hundred cookies and ate more than I should have but those things are in the past.  It is time to look ahead and move forward.

People have asked if I will be posting to this blog as often as before and will be including recipes and the answer is yes.  I have picked up a lot of information in the things I have been reading about health and fitness and I have several recipes that people have asked me to share.  And I have several recipes that don't fit on this blog and I have been asked if I will be adding to my regular recipe blog (ricksfavortiterecipes.blogspot.com).  One of the recipes I will be posting on that blog is for the crock pot peanut clusters I made over Christmas.  I made them  three different times and some of the people I gave them to have asked for the recipe.  And again I ate more of them than I should have.  But that's another fall off the wagon.  I got to the point I didn't even try to get back on the wagon.

I also have an appointment with my Pulmonologist, Dr. Hardman, in a couple of weeks and she is not going to be happy with me and I will hear about it.  I need to be back on track and in a losing mode and I will be.

I am also going back to the gym.  I have been making it about twice a month except for the month of Dec and I don't remember if I even made it once.  I told my good wife I would go everyday after work because it will be on the way home and it would be easy.  If I go then I will not have to try and work it in some other time.  All of this start tomorrow and it is getting late so I better get some sleep because there are no more excuses for not doing what I know I need to do.  I have two friends that are also going to lose weight following a couple of other ways, on is going to do Medi-Fast and the other is going to do nothing but drink juice for 90 days.  So we are going to see where we are all at in 90 days and if we are all still following our diets.  I should say change of life not diet because diet is a four letter word.  I will check in tomorrow night.

Rest Stop - LOL

Rest Stop - Santa Fe Style Quinoa Salad

This Quinoa Salad Recipe comes from the web site Once A Month Meals.   http://bit.ly/18tpBnC   I made this for dinner tonight and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Vick is trying to eat better also and is trying to hold her calorie count to 1000.  I am having a hard time convincing her that is not smart and she should eat at least 1200 calories a day.  Any way back to the recipe:

Santa Fe Style Quinoa Salad

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup picante sauce

1 cup quinoa, well rinsed

1/2 tsp ground cummin

1/4 tsp salt

ground black pepper, to taste

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 1/5 cup fresh or frozen corn, cooked, drained and cooled

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

2 medium scallions, thinly sliced

1 small jalapeno chili, seeded and finely chopped

In a medium saucepan, stir together water, picante sauce, quinoa, cumin, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer until the liquid is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Uncover pan and toss quinoa with a fork.  Transfer mixture to a large bowl and let cool slightly.  While still warm, add the remaining ingredients to the quinoa mixture tossing well to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve slightly warm or let cool to room temperature.  

Here is a little food for thought:  I read a short article about nixing temptation.  It is titled  "Control Your Urges with a Ride on the Mind Bus".  A very interesting read.  I will have try to try it and post about how it worked for me.  The link is:  http://bit.ly/1dKPTbE

Rest Stop - Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

The recipe for these cookies comes from the http://www.welltraveledwife.com  web site.  I know they are technically not healthy but by using coconut oil in them I felt they fit on this blog in an obscure way.  Any way they were very good and even my daughter couldn't leave them alone and she doesn't care for coconut.

coconut chocolate chip cookies

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup + 1 Tbsp brown sugar, packed

2 eggs(room temp)

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 - 2 cups shredded coconut(optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray cookie sheet or line with a silpat.

In a mixing bowl, use a mixer to beat the coconut oil and brown sugar.  Add in the eggs and beat until fluffy.  Add in the vanilla extract.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder with whisk.  Mix the flour mixture into the coconut oil mixture a little bit at a time with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated.  Add in the chocolate chips + coconut and mix well.

Drop by small rounded spoons onto prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 8 - 9 minutes or until slightly browned around the edges.  They will be really soft and chewy, with a slightly crispy edge.  Let them rest on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to rack to cool completely.

ENJOY

Here is an interesting article  http://nydn.us/15rGCMQ   about the Mars Candy Company asking a small fish shop to post a disclaimer that deep-frying the Mars bar is not in line with company's supposed commitment to "healthy active lifestyle" and that Mars Inc does not endorse the deep frying of their candy bars. As if Mars bars are part of a healthy life style.  Who are they kidding?

Now the answer to the trivia question I asked in my last post.  To find the answer good to the Rest Stop - LOL from Aug 18th.  I posted the answer on that post because if I put it here you would read the answer before you rear the question.

Rest Stop - I Am Not Dead

I have asked by several people what has happened.  They want to know if I am still alive and kicking and how my weight loss is coming.  If you have looked at my weight loss tracker, you may notice that something doesn't look right and you are right.  My scale always weighed me a lot lighter than my Dr.'s scales.  I liked mine better but I have decided to get real and accept the weight that my Dr.'s show me to be.  If I moved my scale a fraction of an inch I could show a 20-30 lb loss or gain.  I have now figured if I set it on a tile I have it shows the same weight as my Dr and thus my weight now shows at over 340 lbs.  But that is okay because that means my beginning weight was about 411 lbs and up to this point I have still lost over 60 lbs and that makes me happy.  I have also set goals for weight loss for each week to be able to lose the 150 lbs I am striving to lose by the time I have been on this journey for a year, which will be April of 2014.  Vick and I have set up some incentives along the way.  They will be for every 25 pounds I lose.  One of the incentives is being in a commercial Dr. Scott wants to do but Vick and I have agreed that I need to be losing big time again before I can take part.  And he is talking about doing this commercial in the next couple  of months, so I need to kick it in gear.

My visits with Dr. Scott had been stretched out to every other week but he felt I had lost my fire and I have been visiting with him every week recently to get it back.  I had fallen to about 60-70 percent dedication to this journey and Dr. Scott was concerned I was slipping farther.  I know what to do, I just need to do it.  I am now at about 80-85 per cent back on track, with a goal of being back to about 95 per cent in the next couple of weeks. Dr. Scott says just take small steps.  He has me keeping a food journal and it includes how many times I go to the Gym.  He wants me going at least four times and preferably 5 to 6 time a week.  And I have to show him my food journal when we visit.  I know I feel a lot better when I eat smart.  I will also be blogging again because I have still been reading about nutrition and exercise and have several recipes to put on this site.

I am very thankful to Dr. Scott for all the help he has given me.  Because of his program and concern for my health and well being I have been able to lose 60 pounds, which is something I had been unable to do on my own.

On the lighter side. a little trivia and a couple of interesting observations from an errand I ran tonight.

First the observations: I went to put gas in my truck tonight at the local mini mart and noticed a couple of signs on the gas pumps.  First, I could get a two cent per gallon discount on my fuel purchase for buying a 44 ounce soda and the second was I could get a 3 cent per gallon discount for a purchase of two Red Bulls. The first one caught my attention because I heard earlier today that the American people consume over 5 billion gallons of soda which equates to over 50 gallons per person.  Since Vick and I drink almost no soda, somebody is drinking my share.  No wonder we have an obesity problem.

Now for the trivia:  What item has sold over half a trillion since it began being produced 100 years ago?

The answer in my next post, which will be posted tomorrow night.

Rest Stop - Sugar..Soda.................

As you can see by my last couple of posts, I am on an anti sugar and soda kick.  This is mostly due to my own experiences and the amount of sugar and soda I used to consume.  I have been known to keep a bowl of candy next to my computer.  I still have a bowl of Dum Dum suckers there but they are for my grand kids. I also have a gumball machine by my computer.  It was made by the husband of a good friend of mine and my grandson loves getting gum from it and I know in the near future as my granddaughters get a little older they will think it a neat thing also.  So those things will not be going away any time soon.  One of things I have learned through this journey is just how addictive sugar is and how much I was consuming on a daily basis.  For some reason, I think Sunday was my worst day.  I keep candy in the pockets of suit coats for the kids at church and I usually helped myself to more than my share of it.  In the last five months I have had less than 44 ounces of soda and my candy consumption is down by probably 90%.  Not bad for a sugar addict.

Now for a couple of infographics:

He is a link to a good story on "What Happens When You Drink Soda": http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1010&sid=24552939

Rest Stop - Cathi, This One Is For You..........

It is also for the girls at Dr. Scott's office. We have been having an on going discussion about caffeine and its effects.

Here is a link to an article in Web MD dealing with the facts and myths of caffeine:  http://www.webmd.com/balance/caffeine-myths-and-facts  My concern for you guys comes from experience.  When I was in high school I was addicted to caffeine.  My daily consupmtion added up to usually a pot of coffee in the morning while I was doing floors at a local grocery store, up to a half a box of no-doz through out he day and up to a gallon of Coca-Cola everyday.  When I finally crashed it was not a pretty thing.  I did not start out taking in that much caffeine daily, it grew to that because I needed more to stay awake.  One more article about caffeine addiction:  http://www.caffeineawareness.org/caffeineawarness4page.pdf

One last infograph for you Soda addicts and you know who your are.

Rest Stop - Crazy Week Last Week - This Week is Not Much Better

I have not posted for a couple of weeks, for no other reason than I have not wanted to take the time.  I know that is no excuse because I do better with my journey when I am posting because then I become accountable.

As you can see from my Weight Tracker, last week was not a good one.  Vick's birthday was on the 9th and I just didn't watch it as close as I should have.  Dinner out on Thursday, pizza, cake and ice cream Friday, dinner at Texas Roadhouse Sat, and dinner with friends Sunday kinda(really) wiped out the good I had been doing.  Monday is my birthday and my grandson says it is not a birthday without cake and ice cream.  HELP, I am in trouble.  Also we are supposed be going to dinner with the kids tonight and I let my grandson chose were we are going and he told me it will be surprise because I am not supposed to know where we are going.  He did say something about the Pizzeria.  I better get back on my game.

Vick is worried about how I am doing and I told her there are going to be times like this and I just need to be on my game.  I feel good about how things are going and I know there are going to be bad times but as long as I do not let the bad times become the norm I will be okay.