Thursday, September 24th

Morning weigh-in: 206.2

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and 2 slices of bacon

Snack: 1/3 cup mixed nuts.

Lunch: leftover Chicken and Apples with sage and dried cranberries.  canned peas.  peach carbmaster yogurt

Dinner: leftover pork roast.  broccoli

Snack: brownie crunch think thin bar

More Snack: 1/2 southwestern egg roll. pint of Bob’s 47.

Dessert: vanilla mousse (made with sugar-free fat-free pudding mix and heavy cream) with sliced strawberries.

Fluid Intake: 132 ounces H2O.  24ish ounces of diet pepsi.

Reflections: Even after yesterday morning’s m&m/cookie binge the scale was down a bit this morning, which was really nice.  The same m&m’s and cookies were waiting for me this morning, but I was able to resist that temptation today, which felt good.  My schedule was pretty odd today, left one part time job in Lawrence about 2:45 to get to the other part time job in KC.  I ate a very early dinner of pork and broccoli in the car on the way to KC and had the protein bar about 6:15.  This was my first night working back at Kite’s since deciding to refocus on my eating routine and it was tough.  I resisted the urge to snack on any fries or chips of wings, though.  I was glad to manage my eating the way I did even with the funny running around, it felt really good.  However, when I clocked out at work this evening the bartender said, “you look like you could use a beer.”  I couldn’t argue with that and though a lower carb option would have been a glass of wine or a michelob ultra, I went for the Bob’s 47 and I wasn’t sorry in the least.  Hopefully I won’t be in the morning either.

Wednesday, September 23rd

Morning weigh-in: 206.6

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and 2 slices of bacon

Snack: a hefty handful of dark chocolate peanut m&ms and 2 chocolate macadamia nut cookies. 1/3 cup mixed nuts.

Lunch: leftover Chicken and Apples with sage and dried cranberries.  Raspberry Carbmaster Yogurt

Snack: creamy peanut butter think thin bar

More Snack: summer sausage and cheddar cheese (3 slices of each) and a bite of banana.  (Heather and I were again slated to have a late dinner tonight and I was feeling a bit hungry while Hannah had her dinner so I decided to eat some proactive protein.

Dinner: pork roast in the slow cooker.  fresh broccoli.  1 glass red wine (Bluesman again).

Dessert: vanilla mousse (made with sugar-free fat-free pudding mix and heavy cream) with sliced strawberries.

Fluid Intake: 128 ounces (it’s been a long time since I got my full gallon in!)

Reflections: It felt really good when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw a noticible difference over the past two days.  When I eat the way I know I need to eat I see results.  It really is that simple.  Why then, is it, that before 9:30 this morning I had grabbed a handful of m&ms and a couple of cookies?  I ate them thinking, “what are you doing? you know better than this!”  But, I ate them anyway.  It was a struggle for me to recover after that and to be good for the rest of the day.  Oftentimes when I lapse like that I adopt a “what the heck, I’ve already been bad today so I might as well indulge, I can be good tomorrow” attitude.  However, I wanted to avoid that today.  I knew that I’d be writing about my lapse and my (hoped for) recovery here and I found that helped keep me accountable.  Hopefully, in coming days I’ll let that accountability stop me from indulging in silly frivolous sugars in the first place.  I’ll be interested to see what the scale says tomorrow…

Tuesday, September 22nd

Morning weigh-in: 210.0

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with pepper jack cheese and 1 slice of bacon

Snack: Kroger brand Carbmaster yogurt (blackberry)

Lunch: 2 hamburger patties (1/4 pound) with pepper jack cheese and mustard.  1/2 can of green beans. No Sugar Added Fudge Bar from Popsicle.

Snack: 1 scoop EAS Protein Powder (chocolate), 1/2 cup decaf coffee, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup whole milk, 5 ice cubes.  (This was very tasty, will try with 1/2 cup of cream and no milk next time).

Snack: 1/4 cup mixed nuts (Heather and I went for a late afternoon run and I knew that we were going to have a late dinner so I added a little snack).

Dinner: Chicken and Apples with sage and dried cranberries in the slow cooker.  Bluesman, my new favorite wine from Davenport.

Dessert: Fresh strawberries with heavy cream and splenda.

Fluid Intake: roughly 86 ounces

Reflections: Needless to say I was a little dissappointed when my weight was a bit up this morning, but I know that it fluctuates a bit from day to day and still know that things are moving in the right direction.  All in all I feel really good today, controlling weight, going for a run, getting all of my systems as healthy as they can be.  Life is good!

Monday, September 21st – New Beginning

Today begins a recommitment to eating how I know I need to.  A little more than two and a half years ago I followed the diet advice of Dr. Mary Vernon, one of the country’s leading experts on carbohydrate restriction, and had great success.  To date I’ve kept most of the weight off, but have let some of my good eating habits slip over the course of the last year.  I want to again be eating correctly for the sake of my metabolic health as well as my weight.  I’m currently investigating the most inexpensive way to test my blood sugar and lipid panel and hope to soon establish some baseline numbers for my recommitment.

Morning weigh-in: 209.4

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs (scrambled with whole milk) and 1 piece of bacon

Snack: Peanut Butter Balance Bar

Lunch: Smoked Sausage from Vt. Street BBQ with spicy BBQ sauce.  1/2 cup cottage cheese. 1/4 cup coleslaw. 1 sweet potato fry (I had to try them).

Snack: 1/3 cup mixed nuts

Dinner: tuna salad (1 can of tuna, 1 TB mayo, 1 tsp sugar free pickle relish). 4 slices cheddar cheese. 1 strawberry.  small handful of grapes.

Snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 2-3 sliced strawberries with splenda.

Fluid Intake: roughly 74 ounces of water

Reflections: All in all I feel good about this first day back to intentionally focusing on my eating habits.  I made good choices at each of my meals and had good snacks.  I would like to drink closer to a gallon of water each day, but know that I’ll have to build back up to that.

New Direction

The last 3+ months have been a time of incredible transition.  I left my job at Resurrection and Heather and Hannah and I have moved into a new little home.  There has been stress, but there has been much joy.  There have been tears, but there has been much laughter.  It has been trying, but there is always hope.  Through it all it has been continually confirmed for me that Heather is a wonderful woman, that I have a great family, and that God is faithful and good.

I am planning to begin using Changing to Bring Change on a regular basis again.  I will from time to time share reflections on life and parenthood and such, but for the most part I’ll be heading in a new direction with it.  One of the projects I’ve recently begun working on is a start-up called Innovative Metabolic Solutions.  My work with them has sparked a desire within me to again pay attention to my metabolic health and to get back on track with some things that I have let slide.  I am still happy with my weight (about 210), but know that it could be less and that committing myself more fully to a high protein/low carbohydrate diet will help me shed a few pounds and, more importantly, get my metabolic health into peak shape.

Several years ago I read Atkins Diabetes Revolution and was inspired to change the way I ate.  I am currently blessed to be working with Dr. Vernon on IMS.  I’m currently reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes and would heartily recommend it already.  After having a chance to spend some time with Jeff O’Connell this last week I am also anxious for the release of his book, “Blood & Sugar: The Untold Story of America’s Diabetes Epidemic” set to release next spring.

Tomorrow morning I’ll weigh in and sometime in the next week or two I hope to get my blood work checked.  I plan to then use this site to track my daily food intake, my weight change, and my blood work from time to time.  I invite those of you who have traveled similar journey’s to provide support and encouragement.  I know I will need it.  I also hope that my story might be one that can provide support and encouragement to others who are looking to start a journey toward decreased weight and increased metabolic health.  As I reinforce these changes in my routines, I hope to bring inspiration to others to make changes in theirs.