Two Fiddy

Mark - Minecraft style.

I have a very short blog post today - but a very important one to me.
I hit my first major long-term goal on this plan, this morning.

250 pounds. :)

Since embarking on this change, I have therefore dropped 71 pounds - but it's more like 90 since I really started attempting to lose weight by joining my sister at a local gym way back in January of 2010.

It's been quite a journey the last four and a half months.  I've had so much support from friends, family and co-workers and I can't thank people enough for all of it.  I am feeling very good and looking forward to the rest of this year, and hopefully achieving my next big goal - losing a full 100 pounds on this new plan, which I'll do when I hit 221.  I'll call it 220 just to round things off.  That won't be the end, but it'll be what I initially set out to do.

Apart from numbers on a scale, I have learned to respect food in a new way, and to be selective when shopping, snacking and going out to eat.  With a better understanding of nutrition I don't feel like I am 'on a diet' any more.  I feel like I am in control of my eating habits, for the first time in many years.

This is the last blog post I am going to be making for awhile, too.  Dawn and I are off to Maui this Sunday and gone for a week.

Anyone who wants to see where we'll be can check this out:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=221+S+Kihei+Rd,+Kihei,+HI+96753&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=54.621153,113.818359&oq=221+S&vpsrc=0&hnear=221+S+Kihei+Rd,+Kihei,+Hawaii+96753&t=h&z=17

Aloha.  I'll be back with more recipes, inane antics, and such when we return.

I never made a blog post about Christmas day, even.

Such a slacker, sheesh. ;)

-Mark

( -__- )

Pre-Vacation Weigh In

Click for Ze Beeg Version™

I can't claim to have been particularly attentive to my diet the last few days - I had french fries a couple of times, and some biscuits the other night, and even munched on some french toast with syrup. Somehow, I've still managed to lose a couple of my holiday pounds and that's a good thing.  Down to 252 this week, lowest I've managed to get yet.  That puts me one pound shy of losing 70 pounds since the start of my Dukan-based diet.

Next Sunday, we're headed out to Hawaii.  It's the first time we've been and we're both super excited about it and making all sorts of plans.  I'm sure while I am there, I'll sample assorted foods and do some drinking, but hopefully the damage will be minimal. We'll see.  Leslie was all excited about trying 'Loco Moco' which is a dish they have all over that sounds like someone's focused, deliberate attempt to put every single thing I have avoided eating on this diet onto one delicious, fat, carb and calorie-clogged plate.

I'm so looking forward to it.

Here's the first image you get from google if you look for "Loco Moco"

Eggs, Beef, Gravy, Rice, noodles, mac salad... and red dye #3

Apparently in Hawaii, everything you eat also comes with a scoop of macaroni salad.  I was somewhat familiar with this thanks to the local presence of L&L Hawaiian BBQ in Lynnwood, which has very tasty mac salad.  Curious about this, I tapped into the mighty power of the intertubes and asked, "why is macaroni salad so popular in Hawaii".

This is what the intertubes taught me.

I'll sum up for you though. As with most comfort foods - that shit was easy to make, and cheap, and abundant, so now it is everywhere.

Alrighty, over and out.

Time to fess up

Alrighty, it's time to put this up here so I can move forward.  December was awesome - tons of fun stuff going on - but it really marked a halt in the battle of Mark Vs. Mark.  A cease fire.. a lapse.. a... well...

I like to think of it as a momentary truce time for the holidays.  I neither gained nor lost weight, and the Germans had time to retrieve their dead from the battlefield.

I've got a vacation looming mid-January which is going to be awesome, too - but probably a serious food temptation. And while I have noble goals of exercising while in Hawaii...

Yeah. ;)

So my current battle plan is to come back from that action and dig into things again. I've let off on the throttle a little the last month to see what happens.  I'm actually pretty psyched to see that I will be able to maintain my weight level.  That said, I've got 50 or so pounds to go still on my weight loss and they are going to be much harder to shed than the ones I've already dropped.

This is just a short, start-of-2012, here we go - motivation time sort of post!

One more thing. Here's me in September 2011 - versus January 2012. 

42.3 BMI

33.6 BMI

Since starting this lifestyle change, I have been out walking and seen more of the world, I've participated in a charity 5K, I've been able to fit into chairs and booths at restaurants, I've had enough energy to feel antsy and want to get off my ass and do stuff on the weekend, and I have learned to cook a bunch of really awesome, tasty, healthy food.

I am excited to see where I can go next and very thankful for all of the support from people in my life, and for the small but mighty few of them who read this blog I've been writing.  If you are one of them, why not leave a comment on this post and tell me to get off my ass and back in gear for 2012. I could use the motivation. :D

<3

Mark

Minestrone, homey.

We ate at Olive Garden recently and Dawn had the minestrone and commented she'd like to try making some at home.  I mentioned I've seen plenty of websites out there which clone the recipes from popular restaurants and in minutes, she'd found one for the minestrone.

It had a couple of questionable aspects which we altered (namely, not much in the tomato department, which was odd considering minestrone is a tomato-based soup usually).

It was fun to make, and delicious. We added on some pepper-jack grilled cheese sammiches, which of course, you should skip if on a diet.  Yeah, I know. But it was good! Stop looking at me like that and eat this good soup, dammit.

I'll give you the ingredients in groups, and you'll see why. It's OK to put all the ingredients from each group in separate big bowls.

Group 1: Veggies

• 1/4 cup minced onion (preferably white)
• 1/4 cup minced celery
• 2 Tbs finely minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
• 1/4 cup chopped french or green beans (frozen OK)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped zucchini

Group 2: MOAR veggies

• 4 Cups vegetable broth (Swanson, low sodium)
• 1 28oz. can low-sodium diced tomatoes (and juice)
• 1 14oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained
• 1 14oz. can white kidney beans, drained
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 1/2 cups hot water

Group 3: Spices

• 2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme

Group 4: Finishers

• 3 cups fresh baby spinach leaves, whole
• 1/3 cup uncooked small pasta, such as shells (we used tri-flavored elbow pasta. Whatever makes you happy. But 1/3 cup goes  along way.)

And of course...

Cooking:

1. Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large soup pot

2. Cook Group 1 veggies about 5 minutes (until onion is translucent)

3. Add Group 2 veggies, pouring in the broth last. Also add Group 3 (spices)

4. Bring to boil, then reduce to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes.

5. Add group 4, stir in, and simmer another 20 minutes.

Grilled Cheese Sammich:

If you don't know how to make a grilled cheese sammich, don't worry. I've hired Odlug Spleenripper, the notorious chaos marauder, to help:

1. GET BREDS
2. GET HOT ROCKS
3. GET CHEESES
4. GET BUTTERS
5. SLATHER BUTTERS ONTO BREDS AND ATTACH CHEESE
6. GLORY IN THE SOUNDS OF ENDLESS BATTLE
7. WASH HANDS IN HEARTBLOOD OF GAROK VAROKROKSENROK
8. Enjoy with minestrone, homey.

©Games Workshop 1987... ish