Post holiday stuff

I've hit this rut where I have found a routine of what I like to eat, and I just keep cooking that, so that is why there has been a lack of content on here.  I did the broccoli tofu chow mein again, it's still fantastic.  I did the hopping john bean salad for christmas dinner, and it's still great. 

I am going to do a Black Eyed Pea recipe for New Years, so that will be a new bit of content. 

I've actually not been eating a ton recently, my appetite has been awful recently, and nearly everything I eat makes me ill. 

tuesday meals

Since I am apparently the only one eating in the house right now, instead of cooking something new, I went ahead and had leftover soup and lemon tofu. 

I am cooking a chow mein today I think. Either that or some pad thai noodles. 

Dinner Monday Night

I made a lemon marinade for a couple of blocks of tofu and served some white beans to go along with it. 

• 2 blocks firm or extra-firm tofu, well pressed
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

I drained the beans and cooked them in this extra marinade.  It was quite delicious. 

Recipe came from http://vegetarian.about.com/od/tofurecipes/r/lemonbakedtofu.htm

Refried Bean Soup. Dinner Tonight!

I have Cassius for the weekend, and when that happens two things happen, I eat poorly and I miss my exercise goals.  Like clockwork, it happens every time, I swear I'm not gonna eat any pizza, or candy or junk food, and it happens anyways. 

Did I mention that Nintendo of America sent me a gift card to Pizza Hut today? 

Thanks Nintendo! 

Anyways, I needed to eat something good, some vegan, something that would stick to my ribs, and make me feel full. 

I found this recipe from sparkpeople.com  It's for refried bean soup.  The original recipe makes 12 servings, which is what I am presenting to you all on the blog, but I halved it since it is only me and mom eating it. 

2 large onion, chopped



4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable broth
(2) 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (fire-roasted)
(2) 15 ounces fatfree refried beans
(2) 15 ounces black beans, cooked
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup Western Style Vegetables
2 teaspoon cumin



3 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
salt and pepper, to taste

I removed the hot sauce, the chili powder, and the oregano (used regular in it's place) did not want it to be overly spicy since I have a delicate palate.  It was pretty amazing! 

I recommend this soup a lot. 

Two days

It's been two days since I last published anything.  I'm sorry for that.  I've been caught up with work stuff, and with toothache stuff that has really killed my appetite.  On top of that we've had plan food still battling leftovers, and last night was spaghetti. 

Not too interesting to talk about.  Right? 

I just made a new menu list for next week, so hopefully we'll get some grocery shopping done, and have some wonderful new recipes to share with you all!  Looking forward to getting my son tomorrow and having a great weekend with him! 

thanks for putting up with my lack of updates, I've just had nothing to write about. 

food for 12-10-13

I ate a burrito that I made with the leftover tofu, black beans and salsa.  I've not felt well all day, I did my exercising and kept hydrated, just felt awful. 

Here is to hoping that tomorrow is a better day.

Post snow and ice storm.

Friday, I got my exercise in, the same for Saturday and Sunday.  I ate a ton of the quinoa and black bean soup that I posted earlier. 

Tonight I am cooking the ginger tofu with brown rice.  My house smells insane.  

The ginger tofu recipe was posted earlier as well. 

I'll have my weekly weigh in later on tonight, i've been extremely busy trying to get as many projects done as I can before I have to sell my MTGO collection.

12-5-2013

Have not had to cook still.  Have plenty of chili and quinoa black bean soup left.  I also finished my burrito bowl stuff, with a little bit of chili.

I walked 2.2 miles in an hour yesterday. 

Friday i have to deal with a winter storm so I have already completed my outside cardio for the day.  I feel like there will be a lot of inside exercising this weekend thanks to two winter storms. 

I may not post much, I'm supposed to get my son, but who knows?  If it is icy I'd rather he stay safe. 

yesterday 12-4-2013

Was too busy to blog, had a paper to write, have not cooked since my last two soups (because that was a ton of food!) and walked 1.6 miles. 

Just treading water, preparing for my son this weekend and the snow/ice storm. 

Yesterdays lunch and dinner and todays food.

I got so busy last night with moving furniture that by the time I was done with all my exercising I was just too tired to write.  I owe you all a recipe, but first let me tell you my house smelled amazing yesterday.  I ran back the chili, added 3/4 cup of veggie broth, to please my mother who likes a weirder chili, and cooked a Quinoa and Black bean soup. 

Quinoa is awesome, and more people should eat it. 

Here is the recipe for it. 

Quinoa and Black Bean Soup. 
Credit to thegardengrazer.com

1 1/3 cups dry quinoa, rinsed well
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
6 oz. fresh baby spinach
3 carrots
15 oz. can diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. chili powder
Cilantro for topping

Directions
Cook quinoa in a small saucepan according to package directions.
Meanwhile, dice onion and carrot. Mince garlic and roughly chop spinach.
In a stockpot over med-high heat, saute onion, carrot, and garlic with cumin, chili powder, oregano and salt for about 7 minutes.
Add vegetable broth, 4 cups water, and tomatoes with juice. Cover and bring to a light simmer.
Reduce heat to med-low, add cooked quinoa, spinach, and black beans. Let heat through for about 5-10 minutes. Season well with salt.
Serve topped with chopped fresh cilantro.

Weekly Weigh in for 12/2/2013

I've been averaging a 1.4 miles walked a day since I got the wii u fit meter.  It's a fancy pedometer, but it can measure calories burned, altitude, steps walked temperature, and time.  It's pretty fancy and at 19.95 made the free download of wii fit u unlock.  That is a savings of 30 some dollars. 

Anyways, I love this device because it shows me progress while I am sweating it out.  It shows me the work I am doing, and it shows me how I am doing. 

With this purchase I have made it through a full week of daily challenges, and I am pretty much exercising 1 full hour a day now, 30 minutes inside and 30 minutes outside. 

It's working. 

When I started my blog, I was at 296.  I had lost 4 pounds in the two weeks before then so let's just say on October 15th, I was an even 300 pounds. 

Four weeks later on the 12th of November I was down to 288.  That's 12 pounds since October 15th.  To me and the medical professionals I know this is a healthy pace of weight loss.  Let's get to the good news. 

Last week, these were my numbers:

Weight 285.4 
BMI 36.64

This week, my numbers are the following:

Weight 278.7
BMI 35.76 

I'm 8 pounds away from my first mini goal which is 270.  At 270 I am going to start the Couch to 5k program. 

I'm proud of this loss and progress.  Thank you to everyone who sends me a supporting message or reads, here. My cigarette goal is slowly going, but as long as this weight loss keeps happening, and my pain keeps lessening, I'll be fine with that. 

Dinner tonight.

I crave taco bell more than I should. 

Lunch was leftover rotini and veggie crumbles.  That's nothing new. 

Dinner, I wanted something besides leftovers.  We still have plenty of rotini, plenty of lo mien, and plenty of last nights tofu. 

I took some of that tofu, and cubed it, true it has an asian sauce on it, but whatever, I'll get over it.  I drained and rinsed some black beans, and I heated those up with some chili powder, red pepper flakes and garlic powder.  I cooked some more brown rice, mixed the tofu bean mixture together with a 1/2 cup of brown rice, added some salsa, and I had a burrito bowl. 

It.

was. 

Amazing.

Saturday

Yesterday I walked 1.6 miles.  That is a new best since April.  I am trying to stay close to home because I do not want to be stranded somewhere and then get a panic attack, so the route is boring. 

Food yesterday was exciting. 

I made a tofu and brown rice bowl teriyaki bowl.  I prepared the the tofu like the ginger soy bake, then cubed it and tossed it in some rice. 

Thats about all there is for that. 

Sunday is going to be a left over day, cleaning out the fridge before things spoil, and try to walk two miles kinda day. 

I'd cook but I have to make a lot of content for magic sites, so in order to stack that paper to ceiling, I need to stay in front of my computer today.  :( 

Weigh in tomorrow around 730 am est.  Progress is still looking good! 

Black Friday

First of all please excuse my errors.  I'm legally blind without glasses and they kinda broke today.  It ruined an otherwise good day.  I woke up did my stream, cooked a delightful lunch, with mushrooms. 

I hate mushrooms, but I figured if mom would give tofu a try I'd try them out as well.  It seemed fair. 

Anyways I take a bit with a mushroom in it, and I hate it.  It's the worst thing I've ever eaten, so I go to spit it out in my toilet, and when I lean over to spit my glasses fall off my face.  No big deal.  It happens.  I fish them out of the crapper, and did not notice that a lenses had fallen out until after I flushed the toiler.  hoping that the lenses was still there was stupid, it is gone now, deep in Vine Groves sewage system.   so I have a half pair of glasses, I wear them every so often but they fall off my face because I was dumb and mad and threw them across the room, breaking them further. 

I'm still pretty much homebound, so I am looking for an eye doctor that can do a house call, or barring that, I am going to walmart under the influence of my panic disorder drugs and my promethazine to hopefully get a new script, since lenscrafters refused to give me my script from 2008. 



Anyways I ate half my lunch, became depressed because nothing ever seems to go right for me, and slept all of my day away.  I got my exercise in though, and I did wash the dishes so it was not a complete waste of a day. 

This is what I cooked.

Ingredients
8 oz. lo mein noodles (or spaghetti, linguini, etc.)
1 small red onion
1 yellow bell pepper
1 carrot, julienned
8 oz. mushrooms
5 green onions
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil, more for drizzling

I added tofu.  Mushrooms are gross.

Directions
Cook noodles according to package instructions. Drizzle with sesame oil to prevent sticking, and set aside.
Meanwhile, slice mushrooms, red onion, bell pepper, green onion, and mince garlic.
In a wok or very large pan over med-high heat, add sesame oil.
Once oil is hot, carefully add mushrooms, red onion, bell pepper, and carrots. Sauté for about 4-5 minutes, or until veggies are crisp-tender.
Add green onions and garlic. Cook 1 minute, stirring continuously.
Add noodles, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce. Stir well to combine and heat for 1-2 minutes.

Thanksgiving food!

Celebrating Thanksgiving for me is not a thing I do anyways. 

So I do not miss out on the gluttony and overeating and feeling awful. 

Lunch today was a simple roasted cabbage, roasted in olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic. 

Tonight's dinner will be the rotini I made a few days ago. 

I managed to walk another mile again today without feeling sick, so progress is being made. 

Happy Thanksgiving for those that celebrate it!

dinner tonight

I had taco bell with substitutions. 

7 Layer Burrito - cheese and sour cream + Potatoes and red sauce

black bean burrito - cheese. 

Whatever I was lazy. 

Tonight's Dinner, tomorrow's lunch 11-26-2012

Today for the first time since April I walked a mile without getting sick. 

That is progress. 

Anyway here is tonight's recipe

Rotini and Veggie Crumbles

4 oz Whole wheat rotini
1/2 cup chopped onion
6 ounces TVP
14 oz can diced tomatoes
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Dash Salt and Pepper
4 oz sliced ripe olives. 

Process

cook the pasta, the box tells you how to do it. 

Drain the pasta, because I am lazy I used the same pot, used a little evoo to soften the onions, over medium heat, than add the TVP and cook for about 2 minutes. 

Add the tomato products, the W Sauce, and the salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 13 minutes. 

throw in the olives and the cooked rotini, warm that stuff up and it's ready to eat. 

I feel like the recipe lacked in the aromatic veggie department.  I would recommend garlic and bell pepper to go along with it.  Other add ins would be mushrooms but those are gross! 

Today's lunch and dinner. 11-25-2013

It's cold outside in Kentucky.  I woke up, did my stream, and just wanted something to warm me up and stick to ribs. 

I wanted chili.  I had a bowl, and missed the cheese and crackers, but outside of that, I dare anyone to fix this recipe and think it tastes any different than a meat based chili

Ingredient List

2 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
16 ounces of frozen veggie blend.  Supermarkets sell a frozen onion, celery and bell pepper mix.  Use this. 
12 ounces of Textured Vegetable Protein.  Crumble this stuff up good and you'll never know it's not ground beef. 
14 ounce can of diced tomatoes save the liquid.
15 ounce can Dark Kidney Bean drain and rinse, get all that nasty stuff off of there. 
15 ounce can Black Beans.  Drain and Rinse these guys as well.
1 ounce package low sodium chili seasoning mix. 

This took seriously 15 minutes to cook,

take the oil and the frozen veggies, put them in a large pot, over medium heat.  Cook these guys until they are tender.  when they are tender, add the TVP.  Crumble it up good!  Cook that until it browns, and get ready for the awesome parts!. 

By now your house smells amazing.  It smells like sweet onions and celery and peppers.  But you want it to smell better.  

Add those tomatoes!  stir it a bit, throw in those rinsed and drained beans!  Stir it a bit!  Add the chili seasoning mix, and stir it well enough to where it is properly blended! 

Bring that stuff to a boil!

Then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for ten minutes. 

Put this stuff in a bowl, take a spoon and put it in your facehole.  Get the itis, maybe take a nap after, wake up from post chili bliss and realize you have other stuff to do, get that stuff done, exercise and eat it again for dinner, when the sun goes down and it the winds are bitter (we're supposed to get like 2 inches of snow tonight.)  

There is like 262 calories in this recipe.  3 grams of fat, and enough protein to shake a stick at! 

Weekly Weigh in for 11-25-2013

Real talk, I've not kept up with my exercising challenges, not that I have been lazy, but I've been relying on the wii too much to get my work done.  I have a white board hanging on my door so I can write down my to do list, and erase things as they get done. 

I'm so driven to lose this weight and become healthier, I need this for me, and for my son.  I want to get to 250 and take him to Blazers, a local bouncy house place, and go nuts there with him, yeah it would be lame for a 33 year old to be chasing around his son in the bounce castles, but damnit, if I work this hard to get to their weight limit than I'm gonna celebrate and act the fool. 

When I weighed in last week I was at the following numbers. 

Weight:  286.4
BMI 36.75

This week my numbers are

Weight 285.4 
BMI 36.64

That's a pound loss.  That's fine by me.  This is not a race to get to 200, that will just lead to rebound weight gain, and I want this to be a new healthy lifestyle, where I am active, keeping the weight off by eating right and resisting temptation.  I want to do so many things, and I know it's been 11 pounds since I started, but this is a good healthy weight loss. 

I am pleased with my progress so far. 

Todays lunch and dinner. 11-24-2013

Finishing out my menu for the week we have Curried Spinach and Potatoes.  I had a hard time convincing mom that this would not be a terribly spicy dish, and it turns out I was right.  The potatoes and spinach really balance out the spices and give you a nice base to fight against the acidic spice. 

Here is the recipe. 

2 lbs. new potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
I used two pounds of yukon gold potatoes, because that is what I had on hand.  
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. curry powder
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
Salt and pepper, to taste

•Place the potatoes in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until just tender. Drain and set aside.
•Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the cumin, turmeric, and curry powder for 1 minute. Add the cooked potatoes and sauté until toasted. Add the spinach and, once wilted, season with salt and pepper to taste.

To me the dish was tasty, I'm not a huge fan of spinach (unless it is paired with feta or on a pizza) so I found that part of the dish fibrous and hard to swallow.  Using Frozen spinach may not have been the best idea. 

Highly recommend this dish though, maybe serve it over some brown rice? 

Yesterday.

I ate poorly.  I thought I had vegan snacks, but in my rush to get ready for commentary for commoncause.com s pauper open I missed buttermilk in a bag of funyuns.  I crushed that bag.  After 11am I did not eat again until 6, when I had a small serving of pistachios, did my exercise, watched day of the doctor, and started to play Hearthstone.  I just was not hungry much yesterday, so I did not eat much, I listened to my body, and it never really told me I was hungry.  Shrug. 

The Day of the Doctor was amazing, I'm glad I watched it twice.

Dinner tonight, Lunch tomorow 11-21-2013

Having Hoppin John Salad!  Black eyed peas are wonderful!

1 15-oz. can black-eyed peas, drained
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 green onions, sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed

• In a large bowl, combine the peas, rice, green onions, celery, tomatoes, and parsley.
• In a separate bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic. Pour over the salad and toss to mix.
• Chill 1 to 2 hours before serving.

snack tonight

While waiting for my public relations professor to get back to me, I decided I want a small snack, something outside of the sunflower seed variety, so I made vegan buffalo wings. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup water or soy milk
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped into pieces (I used frozen because the local stores looked awful)
• 1 cup buffalo or hot sauce
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Combine the water or soy milk, flour, and garlic powder in a bowl and stir until well combined.
3. Coat the cauliflower pieces with the flour mixture and place in a shallow baking dish. Bake for 18 minutes.
4. While the cauliflower is baking, combine your buffalo sauce and olive oil in a small bowl.
5. Pour the hot sauce mixture over the baked cauliflower and continue baking for an additional 5 to 8 minutes.

Pretty sure that without a vegan blue cheese dressing I am going to hate these things, but I might as well try them right?

Tonights Dinner Tomorrows Lunch 11-20-2013

The Lima Bean soup went about as well as I expected it too.  I need to find a Vegan ham flavored bouillon cube or something for it next time.  It really would have kicked up the flavor, as it was it tasted like onions and lima beans.  It just needed something. 

Tonights dinner is a ginger baked tofu with brown rice. 

After I got as much moisture out of the tofu as I could I sliced each block into 4 pieces, and made a marinade that I got from a website. 

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. sesame oil

Mixed that all together soaked the tofu in it, and then baked it for 45 minutes, served over hot brown rice, this seems really tasty. 

This is also going to be my lunch today, it makes 8 servings if you use two blocks of tofu, so I guess you could halve the marinade ingredients if you have one block of FIRM tofu hanging out in the fridge. 

Tonight's Dinner and Tomorrow's Lunch 11-19-2013

I'm awfully busy with school this week, so I need quick easy to prepare dishes.  Tonight's dinner is a lima bean soup. 

I love lima beans but I'm not sure how awesome they are gonna be in soup form

Here is the ingredient list

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup water
2 cups frozen lima beans
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp. sliced chives

Small list, seems simple enough right? 

Here is how to cook it. 

• In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft.
• Add the broth, water, and lima beans and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the beans are tender.
• Pour the mixture into a food processor or blender and purée the soup. Add additional water for a thinner consistency.
• Return the soup to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and heat over moderate heat until hot.
• Garnish with the chives and serve.

First thing, I am not going to puree the entire soup, I want to actually have some bite in my soups, and I think leaving some whole beans in there will be neat, and still give us an awesome green color that not really seen in soups outside of a split pea. 

There is a part of me that thinks a holy trinity (Carrots, onions and Bell Peppers) would go fantastic in this. 

Weekly weigh in for 11-18-2013

Last week my weight was 288.1

Last week my BMI was 36.98

This week my weight is 286.4

This week my BMI is 36.75

When I started my weigh ins I was at 296 even.  My BMI was at 38.  That first weigh in was October 28th, 2013. 

That means in three weeks I have lost ten pounds, and two points from my BMI. 

This weigh in is weird, because I have not done my exercise for the day, but I am going to start scheduling an alarm on my phone like I do for my medicines so I do not miss a day of exercise outside of a break day.  Sometimes I just get so busy and forget. 

But we're making progress in the weight loss and the quitting of smoking, so things are going well in both areas!  Can not wait for my next blood work to come in so I can see hopefully healthier numbers! 

Tonights Dinner and Tommorow's lunch

This is a new thing I am going to do on the blog.  Every time I cook I am going to show you all the recipe that I made.  tonight's dinner was a vegan fried rice, and it was inspired by the recipe on the forks over knives website. 

• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 medium red onion diced
• 2 stalks of celery diced
• 3-4 cups cooked organic brown rice
• 1/4 cup of spring or filtered water
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1/8 cup chopped parsley or sliced green onions
• sea salt

I used tap water.  Next time I am going to use a low sodium veggie broth. 
Instructions:

In a cast iron skillet over a medium to high flame, add half the water, celery, carrot and onion.
Sprinkle with sea salt and sauté 2-3 minutes.  (When this mirepoix is cooking the house smells amazing!)  

Spoon cooked rice evenly over vegetable mixture to cover, and sprinkle with the soy sauce and water.

Cover with a lid, turn flame to low and cook for 10 minutes.

When done, gently stir the vegetables and beans on the bottom into the rice.

Top with garnished parsley or green onions.  This time I actually just cooked the green onions in with the rice, it added a touch of sweetness for some reason, and this dish turned out delicious. 

I also made to much brown rice, so tomorrow's breakfast is gonna be a brown rice, black bean, and  salsa I guess hash would be the word for it, but I'm just gonna put it all in a skillet stir it together, and heat until hot.  It's gonna be great.

My weigh in post will be later on tonight.  I've been busy with house and school work, plus work work has decided today was answer email day. 

Weekend.

Cassius was here, I did my normal exercise on Friday, before he got here, then as you know from the previous post ate some pizza. Saturday mom took my nephew out while me and Cassius hung out at the house, even with my klonopin, which I do not want to be on, I am not really ready to go on trips to the mall yet.  It's scary out there, and I'm afraid of getting sick in public.  I did have a bowl of black bean soup for lunch, I've shared the recipe before, and had dinner from taco bell, because I spent most of my Saturday cleaning out my boys closet.  I figured the lifting of heavy objects and cleaning would be good enough for my exercise yesterday and it was. 

So I had taco bell.  What did I get from there? 

A Taco Salad.  I had them remove the meat, cheese, and sour cream.  I added potatoes, rice and red sauce.  According to PETA that makes the taco salad a vegan meal.  Was it the best vegan meal filled with whole grains and stuff that is good for my body?  No.  It was not.  I did not pig out on it, I ate smart, saved the rest of it for today, and enjoyed a treat for myself. 

Todays meals were sparse to say the least.  My area of kentucky was under the gun in regards to severe weather, and I did not eat much.  I had a 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds, than after the threat passed I had the rest of my taco salad. 

I also got my exercise in, and I am doing a great job quitting the cigarettes as I am down to 11 a day. 

Tomorrow is my weekly weigh in, but to tide you over I am going to leave with two ingredients on my shopping list from tonight. 

1 head of cauliflower
1 bottle hot sauce. 

Food for 11-15-2013

Still fighting off depression from yesterdays events.  Rejection is not something I am used to, but thankfully i've stopped using food as a cure for depression.  I ate smart today.  I had a serving of vegan refried beans, a quarter cup of nuts and an italian ice.  That all came to around 350 calories. 

Then Cassius came over and wanted our normal pizza for dinner, which is a traditional thing.  I ordered the cheese pizza for him, and found out that the gluten free crust from Dominos was Vegan.  It was a small, the only size they have, and was 8 dollars more than a regular small.  So I did not order that.  Instead I had a bread stick and two pieces of his cheese pizza. 

It's been a while since I had animal products in me, and it made my stomach churn a bit, but not to badly.  on top of that, it was fairly calorie light, the three items came to 510 calories. 

While I was eating it though, I had wished I had picked something I had already cooked.  The food just tasted less than what I was expecting.  Yes I want a burger, or a taco salad from taco bell, but cooking and eating better has made me feel better about myself.  I know it's ok in moderation, but I think next pizza night, I am going to buy some whole wheat pitas, some marinara sauce and some veggie toppings, and just make my own pizzas while Cassius has the name brand.  Heck maybe he would like to make little pita pizzas with daddy. 

Exercise goals were met, when I am depressed and upset I am not channeling that energy into exercising and talking to a really good friend. 

I'm down to 11 cigarettes a day, I think Monday, I am going to try to go cold turkey.  I'm done with being a fat unhealthly slob.  I want to be around people again.  I want a job to go on top of my already awesome work from home gig.  The sooner I quit smoking the sooner I can start 5k training. 

food yesterday 11-14-2013

I was depressed yesterday, I had plans with a friend to hang out and watch Doctor Who with, and she bailed on me, so I cried a lot and and only ate a half of a cup of nuts. 

I then turned her rejection of me into an hour worth of exercise, and a klonopin fueled stream of consciousness phone conversation with her where I let her know she broke my heart but I was not mad at her. 

Weight loss goal is still on pace, I have cassius and my next post will show a mistake I made today.

Today's exercise.

I'm not quitting smoking just because of the bad health effects, but because I want to run every 5k in my area next year.  I want to start training for it using the couch to 5k program, It has been successful with a lot of my friends, and I figure I'm not trying to win these things, I just want to participate and make myself healthier.  Who knows maybe running is fun.

Here is an update to my challenges.

30 day Wall Sit challenge.  I'm up to 50 seconds, the burn in my thighs when I am done is magical.  It hurts, but it feels good.  The 30th day is a five minute wall sit.  This challenge helps to boost my leg muscles strength and tone, and help to improve my butt muscles and core and back strength.

30 day Ab Challenge.  40 situps, 20 crunches, 20 leg raises, and a 30 second plank.  The end goal here is 125 situps, 200 crunches, 65 leg raises, and a 2 minute plank.  This is toning my abs and stomach area.  Since I'm losing so much weight, I do not want to be a bunch of skin hanging around whatever is left.  It's worked, the burn in my abs is wonderful.  I can feel the fat leaving and tightening up. 

100 pushup challenge.  I'm up to a max of 30.  That is more than what I did in high school. These of course help my abs, chest, torso, triceps and shoulders.   I am adding wall pushups up this as well, as they have helped with my back and are a bit easier on my knees. 

These challenges take about 15 minutes of my time a day and I add cardio in walking every day (even if I am at home on my wii) and another 15 minutes of yoga.  I'm up to 1 hour of exercise per day with a rest day every so often.  It's not seven straight days of exercise, I want to fix myself, not break down. 

After these challenges are done, I am going to start couch to 5k.  My goal is the first 5k in March.  I should by that time, be down to around 260, smoke free, and ready to get my run on. 

sh ups are not only great for your chest, but do a tremendous job of defining your abs, triceps, shoulders and torso. - See more at: http://www.hundredpushups.com/why.html#sthash.ycQYmBi7.dpuf

Push ups are not only great for your chest, but do a tremendous job of defining your abs, triceps, shoulders and torso. - See more at: http://www.hundredpushups.com/why.html#sthash.ycQYmBi7.dpuf

Push ups are not only great for your chest, but do a tremendous job of defining your abs, triceps, shoulders and torso. - See more at: http://www.hundredpushups.com/why.html#sthash.ycQYmBi7.dpuf

food for 11-12-13

Lunch was a serving of black bean soup, then a snack of Blood Orange Sorbet.  A quarter cup of nuts for my snack was followed with a serving of whole wheat spaghetti and marinara sauce for dinner.  A few bites of sorbet later I was done eating. 

Little nausea today. 

Did an hours worth of exercise.  Doing to do as much tomorrow, then skip Thursday.  My hips, knees and back are hurting so it's time for a break.

So far tapering down my cigarette use, I started today with a goal smoking no more than 15, I have smoked 12 so far. 

Things are happening and they are amazing. 

food for 11-11-2013

Fairly easy, still have plenty of left overs so I have a serving of the potato soup and a serving of the black bean soup.  Hit my exercise goal, and am currently eating todays lunch, which includes a vegan sorbet made out of blood oranges. 

Seriously this good is tasty. 

Weekly Weigh in for 11-11-2013

I know I did not publish any posts yesterday, but I got involved in football, cooking the black bean soup, and talking to a close friend.  I missed all my exercise goals for the day and you know what, not gonna beat myself up over it, I've done really good so far,

Yesterday i had a serving of the potato soup, and the black bean soup.  That was it, still trying to get my appetite back.  Eating has not been something I have been interested in since every swallow leads to a gag or a bit of nausea. 

On top of my ab, pushup and wall sit challenge, I have picked up a new challenge. 

By April 25th 2014 I will be smoke free.  No more cigarettes, I figure if I am going to start training for a five k, than I need to have better lungs for it.  The side effect of that is I'll have better lungs for tuba playing and for singing, so this battle will be just as hard as breaking the terrible eating habits and exercise habits. 

Last Week my weight was: 293.2

Last Week my BMI was: 37.63

This week my weight is: 288.1

This week my BMI is:  36.98

I had to make an edit, I fat fingered my current BMI

Sick again

Very little appetite again recently.  I had a serving of pad thai, some pistachios, and ended up suffering through my 45 minutes of exercise last night. 

11-8-2013

Yesterday was kinda ok.  I head pears for breakfast, a 1/4 cup of nuts of lunch and a veggie soup that was awesome (recipe follows, it's from the forks over knives cookbook) Calorie count was well under 1000 and fat was something like 6 grams with proteins being around 10g

Potato, Corn and Bean Soup

simple soup to put together, and it’s best made when green beans and corn are ripe in the garden. Vegetables that are in season, fresh from the garden, taste far superior to those that travel across the country, or the world, to get to your table. If you don’t have a garden, check out your local farmers’ market instead. You will quickly become a fan of the remarkable difference in flavor.

  SERVES 8

  1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced

  3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

  1 tablespoon minced thyme

  8 cups Vegetable Stock, or low-sodium vegetable broth

  1 pound red-skin potatoes (about 7 to 9 small), scrubbed and cut into ½-inch cubes

  1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into ½-inch pieces

  6 ears corn, kernels removed (about 3½ cups)

  4 cups cooked navy beans, or two 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

  Place the onion in a large pot and sauté over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time to keep them from sticking to the pan. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for another minute. Add the vegetable stock, potatoes, green beans, and corn and cook, covered, over medium heat, for 15 minutes. Add the navy beans, season with salt and pepper, and cook for another 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

Still gagging whenever I swallow, got my exercise goals easily gained a little bit of weight back from when I was sick, but let me tell you, this swallow, then feel nauseated thing makes me not want to eat at all.

November 7th 2013

Slowly my appetite has come back, it's not where it used to be but yesterday I was able to eat two servings of the Happy Herbivores cheater pad thai, each serving had 283 calories and 4.3 grams of fat.  Also 7.9 grams of protein. 

I was also able to exercise again, I got through my little yoga routine, all my challenges for the day and added a 20 minute walk while the vikings were playing. 

I'm still having some gastro intestinal distress, and I still gag every time I swallow, I do not think any one believes me, but it's whatever.  Hoping for a better friday.

food for 11-6-2013

Still sick,

But I made progress.  Exercised for 20 minutes, ate two pieces of toast, a handful of pistachios and a fork full of cheap pad thai (from the hungry herbivore cookbook.) 

I've had about as much promethazine today as I have had food, but the nausea is coming and going in waves.  I've slept a ton, kept on top of medicines, and still feel like I've been hit by a truck.  I have no fever (or if I do have one, its very very low grade) my bottom right abdomen kinda hurts, but I'm attributing that to my liver and not to my appendix, as I feel if I were dealing with appendicitis the pain would be unbearable.  The pain is manageable, so I am not panicking about that quite yet. 

I have an appointment tomorrow, I hope to make it to my doctors, if not, I think my mom is gonna bring home the stuff I need for my blood work. 

Outside of being sick, I've accomplished some things, my exams, my editing work, a ton of sleep and a ton of water.  I cooked for the first time in a while. 

I want to not be sick :(

11-5-2013

I've been to sick to do much of anything yesterday.  I was awake long enough to eat a a quarter cup of pistachios.  160 calories, 14 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein. That was it.  The rest of the time I was awake I was trying my best to be comfortable and not be nauseated.   i got no exercise in, and i am about to go back to bed after another dose of promethazine. 

Food for 11-4-2013

Monday was neat, I got 45 minutes of exercise in, made my weight loss goal, and answered a ton of work emails.  I was lazy, and decided that I was not going to cook but still managed to do ok I think,  In fact over the three meals I had today all three of them were bean and tortilla related. 

I ate a can of Vegetarian Refried beans from Old El Paso, the whole can was 360 calories, 2
grams of fat, and 20 grams of protein. 

I had three wheat tortillas.  390 calories in them, 9 grams of fat, and 12 grams of protein. 

I also had a quarter cup of pistachios.  160 calories, 14 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein. 

Totals for today

910 Calories

25 Grams of fat

38 grams of protein. 

Weekly Weigh in for 11-4-2013.

YES! 

My weight last week was 296.1.  I thought after my weekend of temptation with my son would ruin me, but I still managed to find time to exercise and to eat better than I normally would have on my weekends with him. 

I get on the wii fit balance board, load up the game, and go through the motions expecting to be a bit fatter, but still within reach of my weight loss goal for the week. 

Today, I weigh 293.2!  I lost almost 3 (2.9) pounds in the week!  Eating right, and exercising seem to be paying off!  I also guess doing the 100 push challenge and 30 day ab thing is working as well. 

My BMI last week was at 38.00, it is currently at 37.63. 


I'll have updated blood work later on in the week, I'm just really excited with this progress! 

Bad Weekend.

I'm afraid that I may have blown my diet.  My son was here this weekend, he's six and healthy so I'm not gonna make him eat plant based food.  We were able to keep the junk food down to a reasonable level but I still snuck a piece of pizza, a hand full of pringles, and some halloween candy.  I'm disappointed with my lack of discipline, and even more so that I missed my time of exercise. 

Last night was just not a good night, Cassius left in a foul mood, refused to give me a hug or a kiss, or say I love you.  I was calm, not demanding things, kids do that kind stuff when they are mad.  I came in raging, and started to punch things that I should not have.  I hurt both my wrists.  Then I get a text message from my ex wife that accused me of letting him watch family guy, which was just not true.  I accounted for all the tv that he watched over the weekend with the exception of an 18 minute period I was out at noon.

So after being called a liar, I decided to just go to sleep.  forget eating, forget drinking the water I needed to, just sleep, and I did, I slept from 7pm to 230am.  My wrists don't hurt anymore, so Monday is going to be crushed. 

I may or may not have ruined my diet, I'm not sure but I'm not even mad at myself for it, it's not like I gorged on junk food or fast food all weekend long, I had made enough leftovers to make sure I could still eat plant based, and papa johns sells vegan breadsticks, so I think did ok. 

I have my son

Every other weekend is weird for me, at least internet wise, I am rarely on it because I want to spend time with my son, so my update will be quick. 

I've made it to day two of the push up challenge and day three of the ab challenge.  I hurt in places I forgot existed in my body.   I pushed myself while walking and exceeded my 30 minute goal by two minutes, but felt very bad afterwards. 

I'm still eating well, but I did sneak a piece of my sons halloween candy.  And a piece of pizza.  :(

I'll have an update again on Monday when it is time to weigh in again.  Hoping for a good number! 

Another weird day, spent most of it fretting about the weather, when the weather is bad my stomach hurts and I get anxious so I rarely eat. 

I ended up having a bowl of the black bean soup, and a bowl of the cashew pasta.  Two minute maid popsicles, and a can of chilled pears, which was an awesome idea from my buddy jam.

No exercise, I'm sore from the challenges I started yesterday, and afraid that I may hurt myself.  Also it was to rainy to walk. 

November is gonna be awesome!

Food for 10-30-2013

Yesterday was weird, again.  I some pretty bad news in regards to my job search and other things and I just let it get the best of me.  I became depressed, and ate rarely.  In fact I had a banana, a half cup of the navy bean soup, and a full serving of the Kale pasta I made and a bag of bugles, because they are vegan and had 160 calories. 

I'm too lazy for a calorie count tonight. 

While I spent most of the day in a depressed sad for me pity party daze, I did at least finally hit my exercise goal of 30 minutes.  I got through day one of the ab and pushup challenge and finished it up with a walk. 

Some days are worse than the others, let's hope halloween and the threat of storms is better. 

Tuesday 10-29-2013

I overslept, woke up at 1130 missed something I wanted to do, not a big deal but it put me in a bad mood and set the tone for the rest of the day.

I had a bowl of the black bean soup for lunch. Calories for this were 74 with 3 grams of fat.

Then I pigged out and had three Minute Maid Juice bars, 180 calories total, a bowl of cashews 320 calories total 26 fat,

For dinner I cooked a Pasta with Kale in a Cashew lemon sauce.  It came to 440 calories and 10 fat. 

Totals for today was a butt load of a fat (39g) Thankfully it was low in saturated fat (Something like 3 grams) and 1014 calories. 

I slept for most of the day.  I noticed when I take my klonopin that I am getting tired now, and that bothers me a bit. 

time to exercise, at least that will not be a blow out :(

Weekly Weigh In

I do not actually own a scale, so my weight and BMI figures come from Wii Fit + .  Take that for what it is.  This is a weekly thing.

Weight 296

BMI 38.00

Blood Work

This is as of 9-26-2013

Cholesterol, Total 168
HDL  31 (this is low)
Triglycerides 208 (This is high)
LDL 95  (This is high)

Blood Pressure 130 over 90.  This is high. 

I can lower all of this. 

Food for Monday 10-28-2013

Today was a weird day.  I woke up at an unlike me time of 530 am, just starving, so I fixed a bowl of oatmeal to charge me up for the day with my nephew.  Oatmeal, maple syrup and half a banana with a cup apple juice, seemed like a great way to start my day, low in calories and helps clean up my cholesterol.  My breakfast was 306 calories. 

I logged on to MTGO because my nephew was asleep, and decided that I would stream it.  I played mono black, and in round three I had my snack, a Minute Maid Juice Bar with  60 calories 0 fat.  Christian was up he did not want breakfast but wanted lunch at noon which is good because I was ready for lunch. 

I had the rest of my black bean burgers, to clean out some left overs.  I ran back the black bean burger.  Again with a tortilla, this time I went with hummus in place of the salsa, and it was 210 calories and 3 grams of fat. The oil in the hummus added a gram. 

Christian and I went on a walk at 1, which was kinda of him because he was playing his video game, but it was a short lived walk, maybe I ate to much, maybe I was anxious about the job possibility I got called about while walking, but we quickly made it home after 12 minutes. 

About 18 minutes short, but I need an exercise plan, when to do it, where to do it, what to do.  So for three days a week I am going to follow the couch to 5k plan  there was an ab challenge that a friend posted that I am going to do and the push up challenge that I am going to do.  I figure I have so much free time, that I have the time to do the ab and pushups around the house whenever I am not cleaning or cooking. 

I had another snack after christian left.  strawberry ice (Luigi's italian ice is vegan btw.) 100 calories, 0 fat.

Then I cooked dinner, a nice black bean soup, comparable to Panera breads in taste but not in sodium or calories.  It was by far, the best soup I've made so far, and I'm glad to have it as part of my lunch and dinners for the next week (I still have tons of the navy bean soup as well)  Calories for this were 74 with 3 grams of fat. 

Feeling tired, I took a nap, intending it to be for an hour or so, but that backfired, but thankfully I still have time in the day to do my homework, answer my work emails, follow up on conversations with my friends and my exercise for the day. 

So total calories for today are 750, fat for today is 6.5.  So far my chest hurts less and my liver hurts less.  I also had 6 cups of water which is a huge number for me, and close to what I drank in sugary drinks per day.

I have my weigh in post to make and my blood work will go with it, so I'll be back in about 40 to get that done!

Food for Sunday, October 27th 2013

I went to bed around 5am, with reruns of Married...With Children playing thanks to TBS.  I woke up around 11, was hungry and had a can of pears.  They were packed in water instead of the gross sugary syrup.  while that can may have been 3 servings, I ate it all. 

It was worth 120 calories and 0 fat. I'll take it. 

Lunch rolled around soon after.  Mom took my nephew to the mall for something or the other, so I took the opportunity to make black bean burgers.  Fairly simple.  6 ingredients, but I was missing two of them.  They came out pretty good, but they might have been better with ketchup and onion powder. 

Regardless, I got the recipe from here http://www.forksoverknives.com/sample-recipes-from-everyday-happy-herbivore/  Scroll down a bit, that's a sampling from the Happy Herbivore. 

I took a wheat tortilla for my black bean burger, warmed it up added some salsa, and had lunch! 

Lunch was 190 calories a majority of those coming from the tortilla and 2 fat grams.  All from the wheat tortilla. 

After I got in from my exercise, I rested for a bit, mom came home with an eggplant, and it's been a while since I had that, she was craving eggplant parm, and while it sounded good, I just had eggplant and marinara sauce.  The skin was extra chewy, so I ate around it, but with the sauce it was quite good. 

That meal came to 90 calories and 0 fat.  (I am being awfully generous with the definition of meal here.)  70 of calories were from the serving size of sauce that was used. 

Dinner came, I ran back the black bean burger.  Again with a tortilla, this time I went with hummus in place of the salsa, and it was 210 calories and 3 grams of fat. The oil in the hummus added a gram. 

Desert was a strawberry ice (Luigi's italian ice is vegan btw.) 100 calories, 0 fat. 

It's 9pm est, baseball is on, and I am going to try to create an article for the magic site I write for. 

Todays totals are 710 calories, 5 grams of fat and 6 cups of water.   Had a nap and have felt full all day. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a weigh in (those will be weekly) and my meals for monday! 

Exercise Goal

I made 30 minutes my daily exercise goal, and today I tried.  I tried hard.  I ended up getting ready, going out in the nice 60 degree temperature, and walked around.  I made it about ten minutes before I queasy.  Instead of just coming home and laying down though, I fought through it.  I made it to twenty minutes before it became too much and I wanted the comfort of home. 

After not being active for months, (remember I was walking 3 miles back and from a day, to and from work or to and from a friends house), my knees ache.  My legs are killing me, and my chest burns.  It's a good feeling.  I like it, something like pain is weakness leaving the body or what not (I saw that on a taxi in Louisville years ago.)

Progress was made, but it may be better if I do my thirty minutes in a lower impact setting, perhaps the wii fit + I have at home. 

I need to mix things up to where I do not get bored and lose motivation, that is for sure. 

I'll be back tonight with a recap of what I ate today.  So far so good! 

Sweet Treat for tomorrow

Two ingredients, Peanut Butter and Bananas! 

Frozen banana peanut butter guilt-free ice cream recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 4 frozen bananas
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1. In a food processor, add frozen bananas and start processing.
2. Stop after a minute or so to scrap down sides if you see it starting to stick.
3. At first you will notice the bananas start to resemble small dots and chunks. Keep processing and stopping to scrape until the banana comes together and resembles soft-serve ice cream. This whole process should take between 3 and 5 minutes.
4. Add in peanut butter and blend for 30 seconds to combine.

Meals for Saturday October 26, 2013

Lunch:  A salad.  The dressing was fatty, a chipotle honey mustard.  I hate having stuff in the fridge and not using it.  Next salad will use a simple vinaigrette. 

Snack 1:  Strawberry Italian Ice.  No fat 100 calories. 

Dinner.  I made a navy bean soup.  http://www.forksoverknives.com/white-bean-and-vegetable-soup/

It was quite delicious.  Easy to make, like ten minutes of prep, 30 minutes of cooking.  151 calories.  1 gram of fat. 

Snack 2.  1/4 cup of sunflower seeds.  163 calories, 14 grams fat

Totals (Not adding the salad)

15 grams of fat

700 calories (Estimated with salad)

700 is a very low number, but let's add my sugary drink to it to get 980 calories.  Most people would eat this much and still feel hungry, the soup though, was loaded in fiber, whole grains and veggies.  the salad was the same way.  I've not felt hungry despite not eating since 6pm. 

Good Start right? 

Some words about me.

If you're here you can see that my name is Joshua Claytor.  Most of you already know me, and I wanted to thank you for coming and visiting my project.  I've always had issues with my weight, it fluctuates greatly, and my confidence and self worth are tied to that.  When I weigh 200 pounds, I am a world beater.  Filled with confidence and energy.  Getting things done.  When I'm at my current weight of 296, I am beaten by the world.  I hate myself.  I hate that look like a ball and not a person.  I hate that I have moobs that should probably be supported by a rather strong bra.  Most of all I hate the pain that I have in my right abdomen whenever I am super fat.  Right now, that pain is unbearable at times, and makes me feel sick to my stomach.  It has gotten so bad that I would get panic attacks while driving because I thought I was going to vomit.  I've stopped traveling to events.  I've lost my big boy job.  I have stopped seeing my friends, and that hurts because I love my friends.  I should have been around to celebrate Susan's birthday, or Nate's purchase of LegitMTG.  I should have been able to be best man at my brother's wedding, but instead I sat in the back stomach churning, side hurting, looking for comfort so I could out of there as soon as possible before I made a fool of myself. 

Two years ago, I was in a stellar relationship.  I was happy, I was out of pain, I was down to a manageable weight, and then I got scared and left her.  I'm suddenly eating to dull my pain, and ballooning in size. 

Three years ago I was married, was kinda happy, did not communicate and had gotten huge.  I had a ton of pain, rarely left the house and when I did it was an uncomfortable drive.  We thought losing my gallbladder would fix it, and it kinda did for a while at least.   

Then she left, said one of the reasons was I was no longer attractive to her.  That was not the only reason, we stopped communicating, we fought silently.  I lost weight again, and the pain stopped. 

This newest cycle, tons of pain, thinking I am going to vomit, is the 4th time it's happened, and each time I can tie it to me being severely overweight.  This time though, it was the worst.  Getting sick while walking, being in so much pain I could barely move, taking tons of anti emitics while my son was here and sleeping away his visits. 

It ends now. 

I have the best 6 year old on the planet. 

I have the greatest friends on the planet. 

I have the greatest job I have ever had. 

I have 100 extra pounds of weight on me that makes me feel like a worthless human being, unable to catch the attention of any woman. 

I have terrible cholesterol levels.

I have a fatty liver, and that's what is causing my problems. 

There is no cure for a fatty liver.  It of course can be reversed with slow gradual weight loss.  If it does not reverse, it slowly turns into cirrhosis.  That means I need a transplant.  I'm 33 years old and I am much to young to need a transplant for anything.  I can not keep up with my son when we go out and play.  Everything hurts, and I can blame that on being fat. 

When I am at a correct weight the pain goes away, the digestive issues go away, and I can keep up with my boy.  I can travel, I can be confident. 

So here is my plan.  My current weight is 296.  I've lost 4 pounds in the two weeks since I have been diagnosed with a fatty liver. 

1.  Exercise at least 30 minutes a day.  Be it a short walk around my block or sit ups or Wii Fit, I need to get up off my butt and do something. 

2.  Remove all sugary drinks from my diet.  I've all but stopped drinking soda already, but I have been drinking lipton teas and snapple punches.  In fact the Lipton Brisk I have in front of me is a liter.  I've been drinking it all day long.  There were more calories in the liter of Lipton than what I have eaten today in meals.  280 calories.  76 grams of sugar.  That's unneeded and complicates my digestive track.  More water, less crap. 

3.  Stop eating ice cream whenever I can just because I want ice cream or something else sweet.  I have replaced my ice cream with sorbets.  They are lower in sugars, lower in fat (generally have none) and lower in calories.  I've also started to freeze bananas and make ice cream out of that and peanut butter. 

4.  Change my diet.  I eat a whole pizza every other week when my son is here.  Its full of fat and is not doing anything to help me.  In fact when I am at my healthiest, I am eating a plant based diet.  I'm going back to that.  There is little fat in a plant based diet, and my liver needs to heal.  It's also really tasty! 

So this blog is going to show off what I am doing in an effort to heal myself.  In a years time, I should have lost 100 pounds.   That will put me at 196.  My goal for this is 220.   That was my weight when I got married and when I was with Brittany.   I do not want to balloon back up when I am done.  I want to travel I want to play magic with my friends.  I want to cuddle with girls again.  I want to do the color run, because it looks fun. 

This blog will show off the recipes that I use.  They will be 100% animal free.  I will keep track of my weight, and my blood work numbers here.  I believe that I can be pain free again.  I believe that I can get my cholesterol in check and under the high risk for heart attack numbers (I believe in the China Study, google it)

For once, I believe in me, and with work, discipline, and luck, I can make myself into the person that I want to be. 

Also I need to not ignore my duties as a student, a father and as an employee of PureMTGO.com.  I'm scheduling my time out to make sure I have time for that, and time for me. 

In fact a MTGO tournament is about to start.  Wish me luck! 

Joshua Claytor