Week 5 - "The Change Up"

Hey all! It has been a rough couple of weeks but I have learned a lot. And basically what I have learned is that I need to change some things up. So basically as you all know my ultimate goal is portion control. This is definitely the route I want to eventually take because I want to ingrain this in my kids down the line. BUT I do think for right now as I am trying to get a ton of weight off of me, I need to change my diet because the weight is not coming off fast enough doing portion control.

Doing portion control will definitely help me maintain once I am where I need to be, but for now, I don't think it is practical. So what I want to do is eat 1800 calories a day and also exercise. I will do this 6 days out of the week and have one off day where I do not count calories. I know even sticking to this does not mean the weight is going to all fall off in a month, however I think it will help me mentally once I do start seeing 10 lbs here and there.

I did not weigh in yesterday because I know I did not lose any weight. I may not post my weight again until the following Saturday. I will just have to see what I weigh in this Saturday to see if I feel like sharing or not.....it never feels good to go backwards but I am not giving up.

Stay tuned for some stories of success from me. I know that I can do this because God's Word says I can. Philippians 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Week 4- Epic Fail

Hey What's up guys? So I have some good news and some bad news.The good news is that I lost weight this week. I weighed in this morning at 273.8 lbs. The bad news is that I have not been doing well on the portion control. This thing is a lot harder than I thought.

I think the problem starts out on the weekends. Weekends seem to always be the wrench in the machine because it messes up your routine. I tend to be one of those folks who gets in a routine and then when it changes, everything goes crazy. Since I have been messing up I have balanced it with a couple days of fruits and vegetables only which is the only reason I am still losing weight. It would be ideal for me to do 2 or 3 days of fruits and vegetables only on top of portion control to make sure I am getting in my fruits and vegetables every week. The problem is on the days I do not do fruits and vegetables....I am over eating.

I think doing my blog once a week instead of everyday has allowed me to slack off if you will.....there is not as much accountability doing it once a week.....I mean the main reason I have done fruits and vegetables a couple days is because I do not want to report back on here that I gained weight. In my mind it is easier to justify what I am doing if I am still losing weight.....but it is not how I want to live my life.

So I guess I am going to have to go back to daily blogging. Even if no one reads it......at least it is in writing and I am sure at least one person will read it a day which is really all I need. So....here's to portion control and success moving forward into week 5!

Week 3 - Weigh In

Check Out my page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Reprioritize/282466561766628

Hey what's up guys.....this week has gone by really slow for me. I started the week off very well.....Saturday and Sunday were great. My wife made some amazing food and I did great on my portions! She made some bow tie pasta with mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and chicken mixed in some white sauce. She also made some homemade bread twists and some brownies and cheesecake. Despite all the wonderful yet highly caloric food, I managed my portions very well. You can see a pic below of one of my meals.

After the weekend.....Monday rolled around and I had caught a stomach bug......the same one my wife had. It was really bad and I basically ate some broth and some chicken noodle soup. I was pretty much starting to feel better midway through Tuesday however on Tuesday and Wednesday I had gotten off track. I decided to go ahead and weigh in to see what damage I had done.....Thursday morning I weighed in at 277.6. I was pretty upset with myself but I was determined to fix it. I decided to do fruits and veggies only for Thursday and Friday. Thursday I did some ab work outs and ran 3 miles and Friday night I did some work at the church such as digging some holes and carrying tables and chairs.....granted this is not near the equivalent of running 3 miles....but hey it is better than nothing.

So this morning I get up and I weigh in at 275! I know getting excited over only losing 1 pound in a week is kind of sad....but being that I had gotten off track this week and was able to come back in the green is a win in my book. So now I am starting a new week and will be able to apply what I learned this past week and move forward. I honestly think that losing at least 2 lbs a week is a good goal. This will truly give me time to get my eating habits in check without feeling the pressure of having to lose crazy amounts of weight in short periods of time like I have done in the past. 

I can't tell you how many times I have lost 20 and 30 pounds in short spurts.......only to gain in right back in short spurts. I will give you a perfect example....Right before Christmas 2010 I had done Atkins and got down to 253lbs in a pretty short period. I had decided to "take the holidays off" and then pick back up after new years. Well....after new years I weighed in and I had gained every pound back that I had lost! I was so mad. In about 30 days I had gained about 30 pounds.

I was just telling my wife the other day about how I cannot wait until Christmas this year because I will be able to enjoy all of the great desserts and dishes without going over board. If I maintain portion control through the Holidays I can still enjoy myself fully AND lose weight doing it. Stay tuned until my next post and be sure to visit my facebook page to share your own weight loss stories, frustrations, successes, goals, recipes, etc. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Reprioritize/282466561766628

Week 2 - Weigh In

What's up curious peeps? So as you know (or you may not know?) last week I did a popcorn experiment......I don't technically hate popcorn but lets just say I probably won't have any next week. I made it Monday through Thursday just fine but last night I was actually not hungry until really late and I did not want popcorn. My wife was cooking a small portion of chicken and sauteed mushrooms and onions for a pasta dish to sample to see if it would be any good to make the full meal. So I was craving some sauteed onions and mushrooms. I did taste a tiny bit of chicken, but once she was done cooking I cooked up some sauteed onions and mushrooms. They were really good. So basically instead of popcorn I had some vegetables.....mostly onions, the pic is below:

I know I went off my experiment one day....but hey that's life. So I weighed in this morning at 276......so I only lost 2 lbs. This is actually really good considering I did not exercise at all last week! I am not going to do any more retarded experiments....I am just going to stick to portion control but I know I definitely need to exercise more. My problem is exercise is such a chore and I need to find something I actually like doing. I believe once I am in better shape it will not feel as much like a punishment.

I would really like to be in the 260's by next weigh in which is in 7 days. I know it is totally doable but at the same time I know I am not in a race. 6.1 lbs can be accomplished by a lot of exercise. I know if I am not there by this Saturday, I will definitely be there the following Saturday. I am feeling really good, but I know I would feel even better getting more exercise into the mix.

So far I only know of one person I have inspired to make some health changes. Has anyone else been inspired to make a change in their life to better their health? Is anyone thinking about it but needs some support? Comment on my blog or my youtube channel if you want to talk about it. I know there are a lot of people out there that are starting to make some changes. Our country has gotten so fat and unhealthy it is ridiculous.....at some point it has to stop.....for me my stopping point was "Day 1" August 31, 2011.

I am thinking about starting a facebook account for support for people who are struggling with weight. Stay tuned for updates on my weight loss journey....260's here I come!

Week 2 - midweek update on popcorn experiment

Ok so I wanted to go ahead and write something before Saturday because I have really been feeling disconnected from my Blog peeps. I am so stinking hungry right now it is not even funny. So to recap, basically what I have been doing this week is portion control and then after 5pm all I can eat is one bag of popcorn. Technically I had a little more popcorn at the ranger game.....but still......bottom line, popcorn is not filling.

I have no clue if I will weigh any less on Saturday. I have not really exercised at all this week so far but I do want to run at least one day. I did do some "shufflin" today as I watched a tutorial on youtube....lol it was fun. You can see the link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zbh4bMK3PQ

My stomach does feel a little smaller each day I get up but I do not know how that will equate on the scales....only time will tell. I have been feeling really good though as it has been really nice not overeating. I absolutely do not miss the feeling of being stuffed. As you all know it is so uncomfortable when you eat too much food. I am definitely getting used to it.

Well I just wanted to give y'all guys a quick update. I am doing well and only 2 more days of this popcorn experiment! I hope I do not end up hating popcorn after this. Later guys and gals!

http://www.youtube.com/user/nra4him

Day 10 & Day 11 - Weigh-In & Popcorn Experiment

Ok, so I decided to do day 10 and 11 together. Day 10 (yesterday) went really well. I had a ham and cheese tortilla fro breakfast, hot pocket for lunch a hot dog in a tortilla for a snack and a hot dog at the rangers game with a little bit of popcorn. I did run yesterday but not as much as I normally do because I was getting burned in the sun without my hoodie. I did a few more things at the house with the punching bag and dumb bells. All in all it was a nice day.

Today (day 11) I weighed in.....I was actually not expecting much based on the way I was feeling. Obviously was hoping for 275 but I knew I was not that low because I did not exercise much this past week. When I got on the scales I was at 278. Honestly I am okay with it because this is the first full week of my life I have done portion control and eating whatever I wanted. I still lost 2 lbs by not really doing a whole lot above just watching my portions. Yes I did some exercise but it was not much compared to the 9 miles I did in three days last week.

Next week I am actually wanting to try an experiment. I am wanting to try doing portion control but after 5pm the only thing I can eat is one bag of Orville Redenbacher's movie theater butter popcorn. I know this is kind of weird but I thought it would be fun to see the results. So my exercise next week would be the same and the only thing I am changing is the popcorn for Monday-Friday. When I weigh in next Saturday, we will see if I lost more than 2 lbs or if I turn into a popcorn kernel. Hopefully after next week I won't hate popcorn.

The following week I hope to step up the exercise a little bit. I need to do the type of exercise I actually enjoy like bike riding and basketball. Again I know I am not in a weight loss race but obviously the faster the pounds come off the better I will feel. Keep watching and don't forget you are allowed to leave comments......so tell me what you think of the popcorn experiment. See y'all next Saturday!

www.youtube.com/user/nra4him

Day 9 - Success!

What is up everyone? So I know I am late posting day 9....I ended up realizing I forgot to jot down my day before I was already in go to sleep mode and was too sleepy to write. But another thing I was thinking about as well was I think I am going to start doing weekly updates instead of daily updates. I do not want to bore everyone with what I am eating everyday. So what I will do is write my blog every Saturday which is weigh in day. I will go ahead and write about today (day 10) as my last "daily blog." Obviously if you want a daily update you can post a comment and I could definitely write out my day for you. :-)

So yesterday day 9 was a success! I actually substituted my little debbie cakes with fruit.....holla! I started out the day with a ham and cheese tortilla. I had a spicy pepperoni hot pocket sub with some fat free pringles for lunch and dinner.....because those stupid hot pocket subs are so lousy good! A little while after lunch I had a fruit cup of peaches. A little while after dinner I had one granny smith apple sliced up with some peanut butter. Oh my goodness.....granny smith apples are so sour! If I did not have some peanut butter there to help me out I would have had to throw it away. My wife said granny smith apples are sour because they have less sugar in them......I think I will stick with red apples.

I did do some exercise yesterday.....no cardio.....but I did do some work with dumb bells doing some curls and working on lats and triceps. I also did a little work with the punching bag. I do plan on running today as I would like to get some cardio done before I weigh in tomorrow.

That's all I got for now, stay tuned for my last "daily blog" day 10! Technically Day 11 will be the next day but  it will be the start of my "weekly blog" :-p

www.youtube.com/user/nra4him

Day 8 - I quit!

Hey what's up guys.....no I did not quit.....just figured it would make for an interesting title.....lol. Today has been a great day.....except for when I was awoken to a phone call. Don't you hate being woken up by a phone call? It is not subtle.....it is loud and makes your heat race.....I call this a heart attack wake up.

Anyway after I got up I had another turkey and cheese on a tortilla. I am really liking tortillas.....it is the new bread for me. Tortillas are super easy and go with everything! Just a heads up....it is really late and I am watching the Republican Candidate Debate so I apologize if I am boring or short on this post.

For lunch I had a hot pocket and about 6 chips again. I keep saying hot pocket but technically that is just the brand name. The kind I have been eating the last few days is the spicy pepperoni subs.....they are killer! A couple hours later I was hungry and grabbed a pack of little debbie white fall cakes......yum.

I did not run today but I did about 1000 crunches. I almost got out and ran because it was nice out today but I had some stuff I had to take care of with a new job offer I just got....praise the Lord for that! I think it is important to get some type of exercise in at least 6 out of the 7 days a week....although I would like to do something active everyday. This is a lot easier said than done. I definitely am not going to feel bad if I do miss some exercise as long as I am doing good on my portions.....that being said after my next weigh in I may be pressed to step it up a notch.

Before I went to church tonight I was a little hungry so I wrapped a 40 calorie hot dog in a tortilla and ate it. It was not a huge snack but it was substantial enough to where I knew it would last a few hours. After church I was hungry about an hour after I got home. I went ahead and had one hot pocket...this kind was a pepperoni crispy crust.....it was good but does not hold a candle to the spicy sub kind. My wife loves the crispy crust so I will leave those to her and get some more spicy sub kind.

That is about all I have for today. Thanks for reading.....until tomorrow.....

www.youtube.com/user/nra4him

Day 7 - First day of fall!

Day 7 is winding down. It has been a pretty successful day. I started off the day with a turkey and cheese tortilla.....technically not a breakfast burrito but it tasted amazing. I was trying to change it up a little bit because I would hate to get tired of the breakfast burrito because it is so good. 

I did not exercise much today. I did a little work with some dumb bells. I intended to run this evening but I could not talk myself into it......I hate running. I would much rather do something fun like play some basketball or something to where I am enjoying it. My wife says once I get used to running it will be fun but I don't know. It would make sense that once I get some of this weight off me I might enjoy running.

I went and got a hair cut today. Right before I left I was really hungry. I was not ready to eat lunch yet so I grabbed a pineapple fruit cup. When I got back I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch on some really healthy bread. The bread has like 12 grains and a lot of fiber. The good thing is that I am hungry a lot more these days. I am only eating when my stomach tells me I am hungry and I am not going overboard on the intake. For example, instead of eating two sandwiches with a ton of chips, I am only eating one sandwich by itself.

A couple hours after I ate the sandwich I was hungry again. This time I treated myself to a little debbie brownie. It was very good.....it may not have been the healthiest thing but it is nice to have sweet things if you are not over doing it. I will be able to better gauge things as I go. I am monitoring my weight loss to see how my body reacts to the things I am eating mixed with the exercise I am doing. I am not sure what my body will do if I throw in some unhealthy foods mixed with little exercise. We will see if I gain any weight, stay the same or lose a little. I am not in a race to see how fast I can lose the weight. I am trying to live a normal life. But at the same time I know I will have to do extra until I get down to where I want to be.

For dinner I had a hot pocket with about 6 chips and it was very good. a couple hours later I was hungry again and had a turkey and cheese sandwich. I am not sure if me being hungry more often means my metabolism is a lot faster or what. I am waiting until Saturday morning to weigh in so I guess we will just have to wait and see. It would be nice to be at 275 lbs. 5 lbs a week would be really nice but I do not know if that is practical. I want to find a happy medium to where I will not get burned out. I know it is going to take some guess and check. That is part of the excitement about this thing though....I am making up the rules as I go and I will learn to adapt to how my body reacts to the different things I try.

My main thing is that I do not want to over eat. If I watch my portions and one week I do not lose any weight....I would not call that a failure.....it just means I may need to adjust what I am eating as well as maybe add more exercise. I will just have to see as I go......it is only day 7 of a long journey ahead. Stay tuned! I will see y'all tomorrow!

www.youtube.com/user/nra4him

Day 6 - Labor Day

Hey what's up guys and gals? Today was labor day and I took it pretty easy today. I had planned on running this evening but ended up being lazy today instead......which is okay sometimes. The main thing is that I did very well on my portion control.

I started out this morning again with a breakfast burrito. I am really digging the breakfast burrito for two reasons.....1....because it tastes really good!......and 2....because it stays with me a lot longer than say some cereal. There is nothing wrong with cereal but I would probably want to eat something again pretty soon.

For lunch I had a tuna sandwich. I am really enjoying eating the smaller portions and taking it slow because I can actually taste the food. I am still learning how to react to this new lifestyle. I have experienced more taste these last two days than probably the last few weeks combined. It is amazing all the flavors God has put on this planet and how enjoyable they are if we take the time to slow things down and not go overboard with them. If you take something like Pizza for example which tastes really good, but you eat like 4-6 slices and eat them fast, you have most likely not gotten a chance to enjoy the flavor and before you know it, you are not feeling good because you are stuffed.

I can't tell you how many times I have felt so terrible after overeating.....and even though I know how bad I will feel I am still even now tempted to over eat. It is almost funny how much sense that doesn't make. How can it be that something that will make me feel miserable to my stomach and also make me feel miserable at the way I will feel about myself be tempting? I am reading a book called "The end of overeating" and it talks a lot about the things I have been through and why I am drawn to things even though I already know the outcome if I do them. There are so many factors involved, habits, dopamine, memory triggers, etc that play a part. 

It takes a lot to break the cycle. Different things work for different people. I for one have tried so many different things but I have to say, this blog has already helped me a ton. I know it is going to take a while for me to get into the shape I want to be in, and it is also going to take a while for me to get into the habit of portion control. The problem with portion control is that it takes a conscious effort. You have to actually pay attention to everything you put into your mouth. This is a problem in the U.S. because we move so fast and do not think about half of the stuff we eat.

I went to the store today and actually came back with a lot of junk food.....sugary cereal, pop tarts, cookies, little debbie cakes, ice cream........now I know what y'all are thinking....heck yes! No, I know y'all are probably thinking this guy is not going to last too long on his journey, but in all fairness I am working on portion control and not how few of calories I can eat. Now I know if you consume more calories than you burn you will gain weight so I am not being stupid about it. But at the same time, I am trying to lead a normal life which includes all of the goodies, but instead of 4 scoops of ice cream I will have a half a scoop.

Now I did get some other stuff at the store (I am not going to give you the entire grocery list) so for dinner I had a hot pocket and like 6 chips. This kept me full until about an hour or so ago and I had a little peanut butter. It is currently 12:44am...technically already into day 7. I have not let you guys know what I have been drinking so here it goes.....I have been drinking water, splenda tea and some diet soda here and there. Okay I am getting kind of random and it is getting late so I am peacing out for the day. No video for today...I know y'all are disappointed but that is life. :-) See y'all tomorrow!

http://www.youtube.com/user/nra4him

Day 5 - Still going strong!

Hey What's up guys? I finished up strong yesterday with a Tuna sandwich for dinner and later, a little bit of crunchy peanut butter to quiet my loud hungry stomach. Day 4 was a complete success. I cannot tell you how great it was to eat normal again!

It is about 10:30pm and I am winding down my Day 5. I am going to try to post at night so that I don't confuse y'all or myself on which day is which. This morning I started off with a breakfast burrito before church, which again was amazing! I did not eat any donuts at church or drink any sugary drinks. I knew if I did not eat a breakfast burrito which actually has some sustenance, I would have ended up eating an empty donut or two.

By lunch time I was really hungry. My mother-in-law made some meatballs, hash brown casserole, beans and homemade rolls. It was very good. I ate a very small portion of each. (See picture below...sorry if it is blurry) She also made some peach cobbler and had blue bell homemade vanilla ice cream. I did have some but I had such a small portion....but I ate it very slowly and it was very delicious and I did not feel cheated. I would have normally had 4 scoops of ice cream and a huge spoon full of cobbler.....which usually makes me feel miserable because I am so full.

For dinner I basically had the same thing as I did for lunch except I had corn instead of beans.....and I skipped the peach cobbler. :-( When I got home my wife and I ran 3 miles.....actually what I have been running has not been quite 3 miles. I forgot the last time it was measured there was an extra block that we ran so I will have to measure it and post in a future blog how far I have actually been running.

Since it was after dark and the wind was blowing hard and I ditched my hoodie, it was so nice and cool.....I still sweated like a pig but it was a much nicer run.My wife is in way better shape than me so she did not even break a sweat.....in fact she was skipping and doing calisthenics like it was a breeze......I was like....really? I know once I get about 40 lbs off of me, what I have been running will be a breeze as well.....until then I will have to put up with the skipping when my wife runs with me. (I love you babe! ;-) I am not sure if I will eat anything else this late or not. If I do, it will probably be a little bit of peanut butter.

I don't know if any of you have dealt with this or not, but the problem I have had with food is that I could not get enough of it. I don't know what was going through my mind when I would pile on too much and scarf it down like there is no tomorrow. To be honest I don't even remember tasting the food as much as just focusing on getting to the next plate or putting more on. It seemed like I was never focused on what I was eating as much as thinking about the next thing I was gong to eat. Yesterday and today have been nice because I have actually been able to slow down and taste how good the food is. I hope as I "reprioritize" and reprogram my mind, I will learn to enjoy food one little bite at a time. This way you can savor and and actually enjoy it without the repercussions of being fat.

That is all I have for today. Check out my crazy video from first thing this morning below. See y'all guys tomorrow!

Day 4 - Weigh In Time!

Good Evening All. Today is Day 4 of Project Reprioritize and I feel amazing! I finished up yesterday with a can of fruit cocktail (no sugar added) for lunch and some beans and vegetables at on the border for dinner with some fresh pineapple for dessert. I did not eat after 9pm again and was absolutely starving but pulled through just fine looking forward to a breakfast burrito in the morning.

First thing when I got up this morning I weighed in. My weight was 280......I was so mad!.....not 279.9.....280!!! I refused to eat any breakfast until I saw 279.9 or less. I spent some time with God in my daily devotion and weighed in again about an hour later and no change on the scales.....I was so hungry that I said forget it and made me a really nice breakfast burrito. I cooked 2 eggs, 3 slices of turkey and some cheddar cheese in a skillet and scraped it onto a Marquez Bakery tortilla (the best tortillas in the world!) and topped it off with some Pace picante sauce. I don't know if it was because I was so hungry or that I had not had regular food in 3 days, but it was the best breakfast burrito I had ever had.

I ate about 10:30am watched Power Block (the manliest show you can watch aside from UFC) and then went outside to work on putting a lot of dirt around the foundation of the house from about 12pm-3pm. I had to do this because the dirt was separating from foundation since we have had no rain and 100+ degree weather. The breakfast burrito kept me going the whole time. 

After working outside I weighed in again when I got out of the shower. My weight showed 276.6! Now I know most of this is water weight but it still felt amazing to see it. If I stick to my portion control and daily exercise I hope to weigh in next time a little less than this. I am still debating on whether to weigh in weekly or mid-weekly.

About 4pm I went and got one 5 layer burrito (1/2 lb) from Taco Bell. Now usually I would get 3 burritos from Taco Bell and sometimes some chips and cheese so this is a lot less food. I got about 1/2 way through the burrito and felt full......which I thought was weird because I was starving. I went ahead and did some push ups and sit ups because I thought there was no way I was full. After I did that I felt like finishing the burrito......and again this was the best burrito from Taco Bell I had ever had....probably because this was my first day back to regular food.

It is now about 6:30pm and I am feeling really good. I am definitely excited about what the future holds. Check out today's video below. See y'all tomorrow!

Day 3 - Feels like day 50

Good Afternoon All. So yesterday ended well. For dinner I had a can of pinto beans and then about 8:30pm I had two plastic containers of mixed fruit. I was pretty hungry again about 9pm but I decided I was not going to eat anything else because it was later at night. I had some major hunger pangs but asked God for strength to hang in there. I was able to pull through.

I was so hungry when I got up this morning however, that I ate a whole can of pinto beans instead of the usual fruit cup.....I was perfectly fine with this because I was about to go for my run in a little while. When it came time to run, I ran in my black hoodie. It was even hotter than yesterday because it was absorbing more heat than my light grey hoodie.

I started off the run great. I was able to run a lot longer than I had been able to do the last two days and my legs were not nearly as sore.......but the heat was sucking the life out of me. Even though I probably ran more today than the last two days, I ended up having to walk a lot more the final stretch. I could deal with that though because this was still a major accomplishment for me.

I absolutely can not wait to weigh in tomorrow! I am really hoping to be in the 270's. I know the weight will probably not come off as fast once I start doing portion control (or maybe it will if I keep running), but the 270's would be a huge jump start. It is always easier to keep going when you have a big momentum moving forward already.

I have been feeling really good and I am excited about what the future holds. I really appreciate all of those who are reading and watching my progress. Please spread the word about my blog, I would love to hear of some stories where people that are suffering from the same thing I am, make some changes of their own.

Check out my youtube channel below where I will post more videos along the way. See y'all tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/user/nra4him

Day 2 - This is only the beginning.....

What's going on guys? So......Day 1 complete......Day 2.....over half way through. Day 1 was not too terribly bad. I definitely modded my "raw" fruits and vegetables plan in a hurry. After I tried to eat my disgusting fruit smoothie, I threw pretty much all of it away. I am not sure why it was so gross....it was only a little different from the ones I had made before. 

The fruit smoothie that I was making I got from www.fatsickandnearlydead.com which was 1 apple, 2 pears and a thumb size of ginger root.....they say to juice it but I blended it instead with some crushed ice and a dab of splenda. I had used a red apple in the above smoothie, however in my smoothie I made yesterday, I was out of pears so I used 1 red apple, 1 green apple and the ginger root, crushed ice and a dab of splenda.......oh my goodness, it was so nasty.

Anyway, after I threw out the smoothie, I decided I was going to eat a raw cucumber. I washed it really well and then cut a few pieces. (Keep in mind I always dip cucumbers in ranch.) So I took a bite and pretty much gagged. My plan was to have some cucumber and some celery....but after almost gagging on the cucumber I was even more sick to my stomach when looking at the celery and thought......oh boy I am in trouble.

The only way I was going to get through this was with some green beans and then I thought about regular beans because I had one can of pinto beans in the pantry. I looked it up and beans are considered a vegetable.....boy was I happy to read that. So I ate one can of pinto beans.......they were incredible. I am not sure if they tasted so good because I was so hungry or what but they were good.

After that I went to the store and got some more cans of pinto beans(I also got 1 can of Jalapeno pinto beans to try out), some green beans and some canned fruit. The canned fruit has no sugar added and is all natural....some of the fruit are in the individual sized plastic containers and they are very good.

I had one more can of pinto beans which was dinner, some green beans for a snack and one plastic container of fruit to finish off the day yesterday. I was not counting calories but did add them up out of curiosity and I only consumed about 900 calories yesterday!......granted I did go to bed pretty hungry but I did not want to eat anything else right before I went to bed.

 Today I woke up and had 1 plastic container of pineapple......it was very good except for the first couple bites because I had just brushed my teeth. I ran later today because I had some stuff to take care of this morning.

I made a pretty big mistake because right before I went on my 3 mile run (really its like 3.3 miles) I ate the can of Jalapeno pinto beans. It actually wasn't too bad. Right when I started running I was regretting not waiting a little while to run but after I got going it was fine.

I forgot to stretch after I ran yesterday so my legs are so sore today. My legs felt like 100 lbs each when I was running so it was very difficult to run.....not to mention the 102 degree heat......see my video below for more details on the heat and leave a comment about my question in the video.

I am feeling great so far other than the sore legs. I am not going to weigh in again until Saturday which will be after the first 3 days are done. Also(ladies please settle down) I am taking a picture with my shirt off every week but this will not be revealed until I reach my goal weight. At that time I will put a compilation together of all of the pictures. I have not yet determined what I want my goal weight to be yet. I would like to stay around a toned 195 lbs.

I just finished a can of green beans. I am definitely ready to start incorporating some regular foods.....only a little more than a day left on the first 3 days of this journey. I appreciate all of you who will be watching me and supporting me. It looks like 21 people so far have looked at my blog. I hope to get like a 1000 people to help support me and keep me accountable.....a lot easier to keep going with some support. I know all to well how easy it is to slip back into the unhealthy routine.

See ya'll guys tomorrow!

Day 1 - Introduction

My name is Nathan Arthur and I have decided to undergo some changes in my life. I have decided to call this adventure of mine "Project Reprioritize." The reason I chose this name is because there are some priorities I need to get in order which I will explain  shortly.

I am currently 27 years old, 285 lbs and about 5' 11".......so basically I am fat....technically I am obese. About 6 years ago I had reached the largest that I had ever been and at that time it was 274 lbs. I had had enough and I was serious about getting the weight off of me. It took me about a year but I did very well. I switched between weight watchers and atkins and lost 70 lbs. I looked pretty good and felt amazing.

But then like so many others have done, I started going crazy with my eating and did not exercise and over about a 2 year period I had gained it all back. I have tried several things and would get back down into the 250's but then I creeped back up into the 260's. I stayed in the 260's in 2009, creeped up into the 270's in 2010 and have been hanging in the 280's this year in 2011.

My weight is not the only thing that has bothered me. Carrying the extra weight itself is a pain as you are slower and get out of breath easier, but also the health risks are not good. Diabetes and heart issues are a risk that I run into being in the shape I am in. Beyond that God has called me to take better care of my body and this has been burdening me as well. The scripture that comes to mind is 1st Corinthians 6:19-20 which says: 

(19)What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (20)For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

So basically I have decided that I need and want to take better care of my body which belongs to God. For the first 3 days I am eating raw fruits and vegetables. I am not using any dipping sauces or extras such as ranch and peanut butter. I am also running 3 miles while praying for the first 3 days. The prayer is to gain strength from God as the first 3 days will be very challenging.

After the 3 day mark, my goal is to start eating a balance of things while monitoring my portions and slowing down my eating as well as get in some exercise. I have a tendency to eat a lot of food and quickly. So what I am going to do is wait until I am actually hungry to eat. Then when I eat I need to eat slow and put smaller portions on my plate. After I eat the smaller portion it would be best to wait at least 10-15 minutes to see if I am still hungry. Sometimes I am actually full but do not stop long enough to realize it.

Anyway enough of my rambling, I can talk more about my plans and track my progress and give more details along the way. Below are 2 videos I made today. See ya'll tomorrow!

Before my 3 mile run:

After my 3 mile run: