Adios Pansa #5 (Jan 6)

So, I'm feel like I'm really get back to feeling good again after my massive cheat days over New Year's. Also, I really think I'm starting to lose weight again. I won't be weighing myself again until Saturday AM before I leave for Hamburg (Yes, it's going to be a challenging trip) but it will be interesting to see how strong my will power is. Back to the weight loss.

Yesterday, I felt it was time to reload on the jeans, as my others were about 2 years old and just not looking good, and the running shoes. This is where it's really nice to live by the outlets. You think the sales are good during the holidays? Try after. I went into Lucky Jeans and got 4 pairs of jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt for St. Paddy's day for 200 bones. Yep.. that's right. They had a ridiculous sale going on where you could buy 2 pairs of jeans for 79 bucks. If you don't know Lucky jeans, they are right on the cusp of ridiculous prices. It's really hard to pull the trigger on a $100 pair of jeans. It's much better when they are $40. So, of the 4 pairs of jeans, I wanted to buy a pair of "inspiration"jeans, the pair I want to be able to put on once I lose a good amount of weight. These are size 34 and Vintage Straight. I'll let you know when I can get into them. The big surprise came when I need a 4th pair. The relaxed in 36 are too baggy and don't look that great so I figured I would try a 34.... and they fit! A bit tight yes, but they fit. WOOHOO! I'm wearing them today actually and feeling great!

I hope you're all feeling great today as well.


Breakfast:

- Vegan Mac & Cheese Leftovers with salsa verde
- really small bowl of Quinoa

Snack:

- Tangerine

Lunch:

- Whole foods vegetable soup
- Whole wheat roll
- Vegan chocolate chip cookie (What? It was calling my name)

Snack:


Dinner:

- Soba noodles with Bok Choy, broccolli, kale, mushrooms, carrots

Water:

- 120 Oz

Exercise:

- Stair Climber for 7 mins on 8
- Circuit Training - 7's Curls (21 reps)+Dips+Incline Bench, LatPulldowns+Pushups+Shoulder Press)
- Eliptical for 20 mins on 10

Adios Pansa #4 (Jan 5)

Ok, that was a lengthy post yesterday. I'll try to keep it a bit more succinct today.

Water. It's really damn important. Especially with how much sodium is in our diets these days. Want a fun article to read? Check this out:

http://nyti.ms/ceMfIn

and then this:

http://bit.ly/hJVbs6

The only real way I know how to combat unnecessary sodium, other than eating it, is to drink lots of H2O. We don't get enough already so what's it going to hurt. Just don't try drinking a gallon in a hour... you could hurt yourself or worse:

http://on.msnbc.com/hEtsXW

Anyways.. here's what I had:

Breakfast:

- Left over E2 Macaroni and Cheese. (When it's fresh, it's kind of weird how it actually kind of tastes like cheese)
- 1 Large Banana

Lunch:

- Vegan sandwich (Tofu Chicken, lettuce, tomato, pickle, bbq sauce, and soy cheese)
- 1 Tangerine
- 1 Bosc Pear
- 1 Cara Cara Orange (Like a blood orange and super good)

Dinner:

- Taco Salad (Cabbage, tomatoes, soy grounds, guac, lime, salsa verde)
- 2 vegan tacos
- Half a HUGE Fuji apple
- 2 pieces chocolate (Dark Ritter with Hazelnuts)

Exercise:

-Stair Master (1 hour on level 8)

Water:

- 120 Oz

Adios Pansa #3 (Jan 4)

Ok, so if you take a look at my previous posts, you'll notice that I dallied with the Engine 2 diet over the holidays. I was pretty good, only cheating on major days (Xmas, Xmas eve, New Years Eve, New Years and Xmas Dinner with Moms). Dont' worry, I ate really well over these cheat days, cooking too fantastic bone in prime rib roasts and fantastic garlic mash potatoes. I would gander a guess that most people gain, on average, 5-10 lbs over the holidays. For you metabolic freaks, you're probably not reading this anyway so you're not counted... smile. For me, my score was -5. Yep. I lost 5 pounds over the holidays. It gives me a good starting point.

Jan 2 and 3rd were cleanse days and I will mark Jan 4th as the 3rd day of Operation Adios Pansa (Pansa is Mexican for belly, usually mentioned in regards to animals but comes from my favorite Mexican saying "Pansa llena, corazon contento" (Fully stomach, happy heart))

I've had some time to really think about my goals and the reasons for taking this new path. Let's start with the reasons:

- First, I don't know why I allowed myself to get to almost 250 lbs. It just doesn't make sense. I guess I hide it well, or that's what people tell me when they're trying to be nice. I do know, however, that I don't like my weight. I can't wear the clothes I want to, look the way I want and I don't have the physical confidence that I think I should have. You just feel better about everything in life when you're happy. To me, the way I look plays a part in that.

- Next , I'm not ok with my general fitness. I used to be able to jump in and compete when playing any sort of sport, but now it just doesn't happen, especially playing soccer. I hate sucking wind after 5 minutes of playing. I really look forwarding to being able to bench my weight 10 times, squat my weight 10 times and run a 10k in under 50 minutes.

- Lastly, my health. It seems like cholesterol and heart related issues run in the family. My latest cholesterol count was 255, which just isn't good. I can already tell my energy level and general alertness is much better, but I look forward to being able to feel great throughout the whole day.

Goals


- 1st: 229 LBS
- 2nd: 219
- 3rd: 209
- 4th: 195-205 depending on my fitness goals

Six Pack - Sure, we all want six pack abs. I'm not sure if my skin and body type will allow this, but let's go for a 4 pack. This will be my "millionaire" goal.

Starting Weight: 243 (December 2010)


Food for Jan 4th

Breakfast:

- Black beans with bell pepper, onion, tomatoes and Red Quinoa

Lunch

- Black beans with bell pepper, onion, tomatoes and Red Quinoa

Dinner

- 2 Tacos (Corn Tortilla, meat less grounds, cabbage, tomato, guac, green salsa)
- Edamame

Water:

120+ Ounces

Exercise:

- Bike 7.5 miles in 30 minutes
- Heavy Weight Lifting (DB Curl+Pull Down Tri+Bench, Assist Pull Up+PushUp+Curl Bar, Squat+Calf)

Engine 2 Diet - Day 11

It feels like I've already been doing this for weeks upon weeks. I'm not sure if it's because of all the temptation of cheating of the holidays, or just the holidays, but I can't wait until I stop noticing "how long" it's been since I started. Perhaps it's the daily blog. If that's the case, maybe I'll change the labeling up a bit so as to not count the days.

I weighed in this AM again and am now down to 236.6 on my scale here at the house. By my calculations, that's about 7 lbs dropped. You have no idea how surprised I am to see this work the way it has. I'm not sure how much of this is water weight or not, but who cares. It seems to be working. Also, I'm quite surprised after all the food I ate last night. Loomi and I walked around the mall for a couple of hours yesterday and when I got home, I was ravenous!

Breakfast:

• Burrito left overs (whole wheat tortilla, meatless ground, cabbage, tomatoes, guac, green salsa, peppers and onions)

Lunch:

• Pinto beans and brown rice with flax seed tortilla chips
• 3 cuties
• Honey Crisp apple (very nice apple BTW. I recommend it)

Snack:

• Two slices of whole wheat bread from Boudin's at the mall

Dinner:

• 2 burritos (See above)
• Chips and Guac
• 4 pieces of chocolate
• Honey Crisp apple
• 1 banana rolled in crushed cashews

Exercise:

• 45 minutes on stair stepper
• 5 minutes on stair stepper talking to Brother in Maine ;)

Engine 2 Diet - Day 10

As we get closer and closer to Christmas, I find myself with less and less time. All of sudden, there are tons of things that need to get done but it's nice to have focus on the diet. It's really becoming quite easy, but I'm definitely going to have to start trying more combinations of different veggies... and get to the store more.

I've notice Breakfast is the hardest meal to eat lately. The mornings have been quite jammed pack with work and house work. We'll definitely have to fix that.  

Breakfast:

• Handful of Almonds
• 1/2 of a fruit leather

Lunch:

• Brown rice and pinto beans
• Apple
• Handful of flax seed veggie chips
• 4 cuties

Dinner:

• 1 Burrito (Whole wheat tortilla, guac, refried beans, cabbage, meatless ground, tomatoes)
• 2 vegan Cookies

Exercise:

• Circuit Training (Curls + Dips, Assisted pull ups + push ups, squats + side lunges, medicine ball situps + back extensions)
• Cardio 15 minutes

Engine 2 Diet - Day 9

Ok, so kind of cheat day #2. I knew coming into this week that it was going to be really tough. As with all cheat instances to come, I went forward with just cause, X-mas lunch with Mom. I guess I could have selected a Vegan restaurant but let's just say an Indian motif doesn't really scream Christmas. Instead, I opted for the very super delicious Reposado in Palo Alto. Great mexican food, mexican beer and a nice chat with Mom made it all well worth it.... or I could just blame the cheating on the lunar eclipse. It makes us all do crazy stuff right?

Breakfast:

• An Orange

Lunch:

• Chips & Guacamole
• Red Snapper Ceviche
• 1 Camaron Empanada
• 1.5 Carne Sopes
• 2 Vegetarian Street Tacos
• 3 Bohemia Beers

Dinner:

• Whole Wheat Pizza (Half of the dough from Trader Joes's) Vegan pizza sauce, soy cheese, bell peppers, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives
• 2 Vegan Oatmeal Rasin cookies
• 1 fruit leather

Exercise:

• It just didn't happen today... :(

Engine 2 Diet - Day 8

So the new week brings a new week to start again. As I said yesterday, I really over did it on Sunday... but it was so much fun! What more, it made me really appreciate the way I was feeling last week. Going vegan really isn't that bad and you feel really awake!

I would say, the only drawback to eating vegan is how much cooking and shopping you have to do. This day and age, there's really no getting around it as there aren't a lot of options when eating out. 

FYI, did you check out the Lunar Eclipse? Here are my photos: http://bryanpurdy.posterous.com

Breakfast:

• PB&J

Lunch:

• 1 & 1/2 PB& J sandwiches

Dinner:

• Veggie Burger with guac, tomato, lettuce, pickles
• Pinto Beans & Rice
• 2 Vegan Oatmeal Rasin Cookie

Exercise

• 3.3-mile run with Cooper