Return of the Jedi

Haven't updated in forever. RL gets in the way and all that. Still on Atkins, still losing. Had a couple of set backs where I went overboard on the carbs and then the calories and didn't lose. But back in the groove now. I fit into my black pants and my jeans again thus doubling the number of pants that I own/can wear. I still can't tell any difference in my face but I've been told it's there by my sponsor. (CB) Also waiting for the fateful day when someone sees me and asks, "Have you lost weight?" I'm so irrationally excited for that I'll probably pee myself a little when it happens so that "Have you lost weight?" will immediately be followed by "What's that on your pants?"

Current weights for us
LB: 260lbs. -6lbs.
BS:270lbs. - 22lbs

Atkins Tuesday 9/1/09

Skipped breakfast cause I woke up too late. Lunch was chicken with cream cheese sriracha sauce, cucumbers with dill dip, 6 stalks of olive oil sauteed asparagus, lemon perrier water. Dinner was three deviled eggs, 6 stalks of asparagus in olive oil, diet rite diet cola, 2 macaroons for dessert and some dried coconut. Total of 19.2 carbs.

Wednesday:

Skipped breakfast. Must stop doing that. If the stuff I ordered from Atkins.com would ever freaking get here that would be easier. Weighed myself again today cause I like doing it. 280.2lbs. !!!

Atkins weekend

Friday's dinner was a weird one. I tried a recipe from the Atkins cookbook for tuna pate. (Not because it sounded that great but because I had all the ingredients on hand.) It called for (and I'm not kidding) 2 cans of tuna in oil, lemon juice, parsley, and 1 full stick of butter. Blend and serve with vegetables. Well, I ate it, and it was weird. I don't even know that I can describe the taste other than to say it was like eating fishy butter. Don't recommend that one.

Saturday: I had breakfast on the road to the lake. 2 bacon, egg and cheese bagels from McDonald's minus the bagels. No idea on the carb count but I estimated it at about 6 carbs. Lunch was a beefstick for 1 carb and a piece of pepper jack cheese with no taste for 1 carb (also half a L&M beefstick that I stopped eating because it tasted too sweet for there to be no carbs - we'll say it was 2), dinner was delayed but was two burgers and a piece of round bacon. Unfortunately the burgers were prepared with something that upped the carb count and I suspect the bacon was smoked with maple because that shit tasted sweet. Being conservative I'd say that burgers were a carb a piece and the bacon was 3 carbs. Came home and had some celery and dip for 3.7 carbs. All told it was probably about 19 carbs for the day.

Sunday: I didn't get up til like 6:45 pm. Went shopping for the week and proceeded to bake like a mofo. Made a crustless quiche, a whole roasted chicken, some deviled eggs, and some low carb macaroons for when the sweet siren call must be answered. Ate a piece of quiche w/a dab of cream cheese flavored with sriracha - 5.5 carbs, 3 macaroons - 6 carbs total, celery and dip - 3.7, some of the roasted chicken - 0 carbs, and a deviled egg - 1 carb. About 16.2 carbs for the day. Also found a diet cola that I can drink. At this point with all the sugar I cut out it even tastes like real Diet Coke.

Atkins Day 7 - Monday:
Breakfast - crustless quiche - 4 carbs.
Snack: 1 piece of quiche is plenty of carbs but not enough to fill me up so I had a snack of a deviled egg and a pat of cream cheese with sriracha. - 2 carbs.

Don't remember all of the rest of the day. The total carb count was under 20 though.

Monday Weigh In:
BS: 282.4lbs. -10lbs total.
LB: 262 lbs.

Crazy Ass Things You Can Eat While on Atkins #1

Pork rinds smeared liberally with cream cheese.

Wow. Tried it last night. Pork rinds are really not that great, you'd think it would be something that people love and say "Wow, I get to have these? That's amazing because they're so delicious!" Not actually the case. They taste like slightly musty, smoke flavored packing peanuts. Though when you put cream cheese on them they become much better. (This of course follows the equation [(anything) + (cream cheese)] = delicious and the greater the cream cream, the greater the taste.)

Atkins Day 4

Weighed myself again today for s & g's and figured I ought to start putting the actual weight instead of up this or down that so I can keep track. As of this morning - 285.8. Yesterday was somewhere in the 286 range. Seems to be working. Worried that I overindulged last night at dinner with the sour cream dip, will have to measure that this evening. Need to use hamburger by the end of the day today. Chicken will need to be used by tomorrow night. Remaining shrimp? Perhaps a mustard dip of some kind, cocktail sauce has carbs. Boo. I like cocktail sauce.

Breakfast: Atkins daybreak bar - 2 carbs. Total 2 carbs. 18 available for remainder of the day.

Lunch: Large Chef's salad and celery with dill dip, 1 cup baby spinach - 1 carb, 1 hard boiled egg - 0.6 carbs, 1 chicken breast - 0 carbs, 1/2 cup cucumber slices - 1 carb, 1/3 cup gruyere cheese - 1 carb, 2 tablespoons ranch dressing - 2 carbs, 1 stalk of celery - 0.7 carbs, 1 tablespoon dill dip - 0.6 carbs, 1 glass of water. Total carbs in lunch, 6.9. Total for the day, 8.9. Remaining for the day 11.1.

Atkins Day 3

I'm super psyched to report that the headache is pretty much gone today. Just a minor one that occurred after about 4:30pm taken care of with some tylenol.

Breakfast: Atkins Daybreak bar - 2 carbs. Total 2 carbs.

Lunch: Two bacon cheeseburgers + salad, two hamburger patties - 0 carbs, filled with 2 oz. pepper jack cheese - 1.4 carbs, 3 strips of bacon - 0.1 carbs, 1 cup of baby spinach - 1 carb, lemon juice dressing - 1 carb, Atkins dessert bar - 2 carbs. Total of 5.5 carbs. Daily total 7.5 carbs. 12.5 carbs available for rest of day. Total of five glasses of water thus far.

Dinner: Shrimp with homemade alfredo sauce, 6 pork rinds with cream cheese - 1.8 carbs, 1 stalk celery with homemade dill dip 4.4 carbs, 1 glass of water. Shrimp - 0 carbs, alfredo sauce (4 tablespoons heavy cream - 1.6 carbs, 1/3 cup gruyere cheese - 1 carb, 1 clove garlic - 0.9 carbs, 1 tablespoon butter - 0 carbs, sprig parsely - 0.1 carbs) and Atkins daybreak bar for dessert - 2 carbs. Dinner total - 12.5.

Daily Total: 20 carbs.

Oh yeah and I weighed myself today, down 4 lbs!!! Woo-hoo and all that.

Side Effects

I have a headache that has not gone away for a day and a half. This is supposedly the by product of Atkins and of flushing all the sugar out of my system. The worse the withdrawls the better you'll feel when you are finished with the withdrawing apparently. It still sucks. A lot.

Atkins Day 2

Breakfast:
3 hard boiled eggs w/pepper and salt - 1.8 carbs, half an avocado - 1.7 carbs, one ounce of cheese - .7 carbs, three glasses of water. Total carbs in breakfast - 4.2. 15.8 available for the rest of the day.

Lunch:
Chef's Salad, 1 cup of baby spinach - 1 carb, 1/3 of a cucumber - 1 carb, 1 chicken breast - 0 carbs, 1oz. of cheddar cheese - .4 carbs, 2 slices of crumbled bacon - .1 carbs, dressing of lemon juice - 1.3 carbs, mayo - .1 carbs and raspberry vinegar - 2 carbs. 1 glass of water. Total carbs in lunch - 5.9. Total so far today 10.1. 9.9 available for the rest of the day.

Dinner:
Shrimp Scampi + salad, 1 cup of baby spinach - 1 carb, lemon juice dressing - 1 carb, shrimp - 0 carbs, 2 tbls. butter - 0 carbs, garlic cloves - 1.8 carbs, chicken broth - 2 carbs, 2 oz. pepper jack cheese - 1.4 carbs 1 glass of water. Total carbs in dinner - 7.2.

Total carbs for the day - 17.3.

Atkins Day 1

Atkins Day One:
Breakfast: Woke up too late and didn't eat, oops.
- had a headache, took aspirin, imitrex
Lunch: Mixed nuts - 6 carbs, Hamburger w/cheese, mayo, lettuce - 1.6 carbs, caesar salad w/o croutons - 3 carbs
Dinner: chef's salad with baby spinach - .8 carbs, 2 hard boiled eggs - 1.2 carbs, chicken breast - 0 carbs, 1 oz. cheddar cheese - .4 carbs, 2 oz. muenster cheese - .6 carbs, mayo and olive oil for dressing - 1 carb.

Total - 13.6 carbs

Also have had 4 large glasses of water thus far and you're supposed to drink 8. Yike. Thinking of shrimp for dinner. Shrimp with olive oil and garlic. Mmmm.

We're off to see the brother, the wonderful brother of I couldn't think of anything clever that rhymed with Oz

The bet continues. I'll be paying LB a visit this week and weekend and no doubt wacky hijinks will ensue. That and a lot of eating. Food is such a together activity in a lot of ways. People get together, the dine, they sup, they chat. We're social animals and it's an intensely social activity. I shudder to think exactly what my diet is going to be while I'm on vacation. But what's the saying, if it's in a different zip code it doesn't count? (They were talking about cheating on your diet right? Right?) After the vacation I'm starting the induction phase of Atkins so that's likely to suck major balls. You can write that phrase at work without getting fired I'm sure. Maybe?
Monday Weigh In:
BS: 287lbs
LB: 260lbs

An approximated convo

So LB read the blog yesterday. I must say, I was quite pleased that he took the time. He wanted me to post a text conversation we had regarding what we really missed and what was different now that we've started the bet. The texts were deleted by my stupid phone but the message was thus. I miss the sensation of eating, of actually making the repetitive motion of putting food in my mouth. Not to get all Freud on you but I've always had an oral fixation, I bite my fingernails, I chew my lip and the inside of my cheek, etc. So the motion of eating is something that I miss because when you eat smaller portions, you just don't get the same feeling. LB mentioned the feeling of being full. Of feeling satisfied and actually full rather than just the feeling of having eaten. I hear ya. Hopefully with the Atkins thing I'll be able to alleviate that a bit but who knows? I also miss sweet things. There aren't a whole lot of really sugary things that are good for you and so I miss them. Things I don't/won't miss. Feeling so full/bloated that I think I may explode. Having my stomach revolt in the middle of the night. (too graphic?) Hang-y arm flab.

Atkins

So I'm gonna do Atkins. The first phase "Induction" is incredibly carb restrictive and I would imagine nearly impossible to maintain when away from home so I'm starting it when I get back from visiting LB in 2 weeks. Til then the thought is that I'll be watching calories, portion size, etc. and getting off of caffeine before I start. When I was on the Atkins web site I saw some crazy stuff and I think the newest feature I'll add to this is "Crazy Ass Things You Can Eat While on Atkins". This won't start until I actually start on the 25th, but I anticipate this to be quite entertaining.

Text Exchange #1

LB: "I have no bad food in my apt. right now. I could kill to have some junk food lying in wait. But it won't happen. Just turkey sandwiches and light yogurt."
BS: "Nicely done. They were going around with ice cream today for a fundraiser. Not even just plain stuff. Snickers bars, Drumsticks, and Dove Bars."
LB: "I would punch someone if they offered me a Snickers Ice Cream bar."
BS: "I was like, 'You bastards!' I paid em a dollar and passed on the ice cream. I dined on my smug sense of self righteousness."
LB: "And was it delicious?"
BS: "So tasty, but not very filling."

In movie form:
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090811210615755

Second Week

So work's been kicking my ass and I haven't updated but here goes. LB is rapidly becoming a weight loss rock star while I am dragging ass because well, it's hard. He's at 260lbs. down 9lbs already. I simultaneously hate him and am proud of him. Not so much hate as envy. At this rate I'm going to have to buy him tix to the 2010-2011 season rather 2011-2012. I am at 290lbs. Which doesn't really surprise me as I fell off the wagon a bit last week. Discouraging but not the end of the world.

Things that are difficult about this entire process:
-Food is a comfort thing, I've never been more aware of that than now.
- I love food. It's frickin' delicious, let's be honest.
- I have shitty work hours that prevent regular eating times.

Monday Official Weight:
BS: 290lbs, -2 lbs, -.68% of total body weight, 2.2% of goal achieved
LB: 260lbs, - 9lbs, -3.46% of total body weight, 13.04 % of goal achieved

Bit & Pieces

Some semi regular features I hope to have on this blog (That I don't expect anyone to ever read.) include:
- weekly weigh in with progress, percentages, to go weight
- reviews of various Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice and other purported weight loss meals that I, BS, will no doubt be eating a lot of.
- an as yet unnamed thing where I'll feature some of the amusing text conversations that LB and I have regarding the bet
- and more! But seriously, there might be more, I just have no idea.

First week

So last week was the first week of the bet. LB is doing exercise and a diet and so far I'm just doing the diet part. Which sucks plenty. The week before we decided to eat whatever we wanted to prepare for eating nothing but healthy food. Delicious and damning. We compared notes about of caloric intake and the various ways we inadvertently tried killing ourselves with food. (3600 calories meals! 10 different kinds of meat on sticks!) The weekend really screwed me over. I had a wedding on Saturday and of course ate like a pig, went to a movie Friday night and convinced myself I could have some popcorn while watching. Some turned into a bucket. Damnit. Sunday I said screw it and ate kettle corn, a blizzard from Dairy Queen and two hogs dogs with relish and ketchup, chips and beans. It was like a carbo-holics wet dream. So restarting this week. Not a happy weight when I weighed in this morning. 287.7. Which is actually a helluva lot better than I thought it would be. The scale originally said 307 and I freaked and kept getting back off and on and it kept going higher and higher until it was at 350. It was like a living nightmare, every time I got on it was more. Thankfully I figured out that the scale had to be on the flat board provided or it would be off. Thank Jesus. LB was in town and said all bets were off for him since he was on vacation at another wedding in town. Poor boy had a 12 hour drive that he started at 3pm yesterday and he's helping a friend move today. I expect I'll be able to update his weight tomorrow.
Monday official weight:
BS: 287.7
LB: tbd

Let the Games Begin

The Bet
The terms:

Runs from 7/25/09 - 7/25/11

For LB: Get down to 200 lbs. and if that is achieved before 7/25/11 then it must be maintained for at least 1 month. This involves a loss of 66lbs.

For BS: Get down to 200 lbs. and if that is achieved before 7/25/11 then it must be maintained for at least 1 month. This involves a loss of 92lbs.

The Reward:

If LB achieves his goal, BS will purchase 2 half season tickets to the Kansas City Royals for the 2010-2011 or 2011-2012 baseball season.

If BS achieves her goal, LB will purchase her a 52" 1080i HD TV.

The cash equivalent of $1600 dollars may also be taken as an option.

Side bet: If BS can get CB to lose 50lbs, LB will also throw in a Blu-ray player.