Not As Bad As I Thought

In the time that I was off of the diet and exercise, I only gained back 2.2 lbs.  I am now at 226.4 lbs and I am okay with that, I honestly expected it to be much worse.  I have been very busy after my vacation and I will get back to writing more soon!  Don't give up on me yet!

Daddy Weight Loss Resumes Tomorrow!

After Tobias was born I took a brief hiatus from my weight loss journey to concentrate on my family.  I am now back to work and getting back into the swing of things.  I will try to weigh myself tonight and I will start back on the diet tomorrow.  It might be harder, seeing as I have less free time, but then again I am also home a lot more.  Wish me luck and I will see you all tomorrow!

Daddy Weight Loss is on Hold

I am finally a father!  Tobias Edward Thornton was born at 4:44PM on April 11th, 2012.  I am taking a brief hiatus from Daddy Weight Loss to concentrate my attention towards my new family of three.  I will keep you all updated. For baby news, please head over to my other blog:

http://daddytobe2012.blogspot.com

Baby on the way

Wont be blogging for a few days.

Back on Track!

As of yesterday, I am back on track with the weight loss.  I ate healthy throughout the day and only ate about 1600 of my 1710 calories.  I also rode the exercise bike at low intensity for 30 minutes.  It is amazing that I feel much better already today.  I took a fiber supplement and a men's vitamin this morning and I have been drinking a lot of water.  My body really needs a good flush after that weekend!  Tonight I will try to squeeze in another 30 minutes, but we will see how I feel by the time I get home.

I'm Off My Game

Sorry that I haven't been around much, I was just enjoying my Easter vacation.  My calories and exercise weren't the greatest over the vacation, but I won't let that slow me down.  The only exercise I did over the vacation was 60 minutes on the exercise bike on Saturday morning.  My calories were over almost everyday through my vacation, but I am back on track starting today.

I used to let myself give up after holidays and bad days, but not anymore.  It just gives me even more motivation to push on.  I did allow myself to skip weighing in this weekend, but I just don't want anything else to discourage me.  We all deserve a little break sometimes and I felt that I got a good break this weekend.  Tonight, I am going to try my hardest to get 60 minutes in on the bike.  It is amazing how much distractions help, I played Mass Effect on the Xbox while riding and never noticed how hard I was working.  After riding for 60 minutes I got a phone call and then I realized I was tired and out of breath.  The bike was soaked with sweat and my heart rate was elevated.  During the exercise, I never noticed these things because I was too distracted by my game.

I feel terrible today, which I can certainly blame on overeating and under exercising.  I will see you all tomorrow when hopefully I will be back to my normal self.

Getting Stronger Everyday

Recumbent Stationary Bike

Thanks to my wonderful grandfather, I will have an exercise bike tonight like the one shown above.  He is letting me borrow it for as long as I need it.  This will be great to have on days when for one reason or another I can't go out on my real bike.  My plan is, as funny as this sounds, to put the bike in the living room so that I can ride while playing video games.  This will make it convenient, so that I can't make excuses to not exercise but still play video games.  It will also be nice once Tobias is here, on days when I need to stay in the house and keep an eye on him.

I did a session of weight lifting last night and I pushed myself a little harder this time.  I was completely wore out after I was done, but started to feel better after a little cool down and rest. My routine last night was:

• 40 jumping jacks
• 10 push ups (regular)
• 25 crunches
• Stretching

• Bench Press (shoulder width) - 12, 10, 10 repetitions - 60 lbs plus bar
• Lat Pulldown (wide grip) - 12, 12, 12 repetitions - 60 lbs total
• Barbel Curl (shoulder width) - 8, 8, 8 repetitions - 50 lbs plus bar

•   40 jumping jacks
• 10 push ups (regular)
• 25 crunches

If you notice, I did raise my bench press and Lat Pulldown by 10 pounds each.  My Lat Pulldowns were still fairly easy, but my shoulders started to go into failure on the bench press.  My barbel curls are getting better, but are still tough to do.  The push ups before and afterwards were easier than last time and I didn't have to put my knees down.  My crunches felt like they weren't doing anything, but my jumping jacks tore up my calves.  I did skip deadlifts this time because I had done some lifting at work and my back needed the rest.

I feel stronger than I ever have before, which is odd because I have done much heavier lifting in previous weight loss attempts.  To me it isn't how much I can bench press, but real life situations that I use to gauge my strength.  I lifted a ladder today that I have lifted a handful of times before, but today I didn't struggle to carry it like I have before.  To me my biceps and triceps feel bigger and stronger and my weak shoulders are starting to carry their own weight.

The greatest part is that people have started noticing the changes in my body and I am more than happy to accept the compliment.  What I love is when people ask how much I lost and I saw just a little under 11 pounds, they stare and can't believe that is all I lost.  It really feels good to surprise people!  With the countdown to Ashley's due date just under a month now, the Daddy Weight Loss journey is still going full speed ahead!

Weigh In?

Don't get excited, I am not weighing in today.  Someone very special to me is weighing in today and I hope that he is gaining weight.  I am talking about my son Tobias, Ashley is having a sonogram today to weigh him and see how big he is.  Usually we all talk about losing weight, but it is funny to think that we want him to gain weight.  Throughout the whole pregnancy, all of the doctors have claimed that he is a big boy.  Today we will find out and it will be the last time I see him before he is born.  I am doing good on my diet, but every time I get anxious I want to eat.  Thank god for self control!  I hope you all understand, but I won't be writing a long post today.  See you all tomorrow!

Another Huge Milestone!

I had an absolutely fantastic weekend!  Friday night after work I weighed in at 224.4 pounds, which is 2.2 pounds down in 10 days.  I was very happy about that and headed home to eat dinner.  After dinner we went out and visited family and bought some Mega Millions tickets.  We sold our TV that was replaced by the projector to Ashley's grandma and I got it all set up in her bedroom for her.  Now she doesn't need glasses while in bed because the TV is big enough to see.  We headed home before the lottery drawing and had some fruit as a snack.  We didn't win the jackpot, but we won $6 dollars and broke even.

Saturday morning I made bacon and eggs for Ashley and I and then we had my grandfather over to see the new house and he really liked it.  After he left we headed out to a friend's house to sell him one of my old Xbox 360 games because his infant daughter broke his disc.  We then headed up to GameStop and traded in some old games so that I could buy Skyrim, which is something that I have wanted to do since November.  After GameStop we went and did some grocery shopping and then went home.  I made hamburgers and corn on the cob to help feed one of Ashley's cravings.  

After dinner I played Skyrim until it was time for bed and then fell right asleep.  On Sunday morning, I made bacon and eggs again and made myself a delicious omelet.  I  put a few pieces of pepperoni, cheese, hot sauce, banana peppers, and sweet pickles with 2 eggs.  Ashley laughed at the sweet pickles, but they ended up making the omelet amazing!  Ashley went to run a few errands and I went on what was supposed to be a very long bike ride.  I only ended up riding for 20 minutes because I got hurt, but I am okay just a little sore.  

When Ashley got home Ashley made chicken nuggets and tater tots.  We ended up hanging out while I play my Xbox in the living room.  I talked Ashley into finishing the blanket that she started crocheting for me a few years ago.  Then we made hamburgers and fresh asparagus.  It was the best asparagus I have ever had and the best burger Ashley has ever had.  After dinner we got showers and gave Gizmo a bath because he got into some stuff and was very dirty.  I did a few sets of push ups and crunches and I am now proud to say that I can consistently do 15 push ups at a time rather than 10.  I feel like I am gaining a lot of strength and my fat is starting to be less noticeable.  We took out the garbage and headed to bed to watch some TV.

Overall it was a great weekend and we wanted to "live it up" because our lazy weekends will soon come to an end.  Below is a little timeline of some of the key events in my Daddy Weight Loss journey.  See you all tomorrow!

February 15th, 2012 - Starting weight

February 16th, 2012 - First day of running

February 29th, 2012 - Started counting calories (MyFitnessPal.com)

March 7th, 2012 - First weigh in, 228.6 pounds (-6.4 lbs.)

March 19th, 2012 - Started bicycling

March 20th, 2012 - Second weigh in, 226.4 pounds (-2.2 lbs.)

March 29th, 2012 - Started weight lifting

March 30th, 2012 - Third weigh in, 224.4 pounds (-2 lbs.)