Days 135-149: Gone At It Alone

Remember how excited I was to have others dieting with me? How it was sooooo easy because we were all in this together encouraging one another? How sharing food helped to eat the right things and not take a lot of time?

Well, after Christmas most of my fellow dieters dropped off to pursue other diet plans or just to drink more beer. I'm passing no judgement. I'm just saying that the "this is hard to be disciplined factor" went up exponentially!

I've overall been keeping to the principals that started me on this fat-loss adventure and I am keeping the weight and body fat off but it's been much slower and I feel that I've hit a wall. Last week I was in Florida and had too many cheats! The upside is that I got lots of sun and exercise, so maybe the two canceled each other out!

The banana gelato milk shake that accompanied the burger and onion rings!

This weekend I was determined not to go too crazy and as a result I didn't gain too much weight but I think I did get the metabolism reved up for this week of clean eating.

My birthday is coming up in March and it's been my goal to hit the 12 percent mark by that point. I'm worried that there is not enough time to do it. So here's my plan: kick up the physical exercise to get some burn going (not sure what that will look like yet) and be super disciplined in my eating. Simple, right?! I'll let you know!

Days 132-134: Second 5 is harder than the first!

Last week I was hopeful to shed my ten pounds from Christmas over-eating. I lost five of it fairly easily, but as I got into the second half of the week, the next five didn't come off so easily. I hit a plateau at six and was stuck there. I ate very cleanly and said NO to lots of goodies at work. It was back to sauteing veggies with my eggs and eating beans at breakfast for the week!

(Here's a super easy breakfast: fry green peppers, onion and a few pieces of bacon together, when soft, dump your eggs over top, stir a pit in the pan and your done!)

Yesterday was cheat day for me but I didn't want to go too crazy. I had some pancakes with my eggs and sausage for breakfast....I had some bread on a sandwich for lunch with chips...I had pasta with my dinner. Then while watching Pirates of the Caribbean in the evening I had my biggest cheat with a bowl of ice cream, Oreo cookies and caramel corn!!! Come on, I couldn't disappoint you! :-)

When I weighed in I was up two pounds from yesterday  morning, but as we know the point of this is to get the metabolism moving again and my guess is that by Wednesday of this coming week I'll have lost it plus those other "Christams pounds!"

Days 128-131 Down 5, 5 to go!

I've been using one of my Christmas presents to track my slow, but steady, weight loss this week. Deanna got me a digital scale, so no more jumping on the old one until I got the reading I liked! ha!

I'm telling you, this diet works. Once I started back to the simple principles of eating protein, beans, and veggies and NOT eating any grain, dairy, or sugars the weight comes off! I'm back to drinking only water (and coffee) and I'm back to my regular work out routine. This week we went at it Mon, Tue, and this morning.

So in the spirit of starting to choose the "right" foods, I've posted this picture to show the foods I was eating over Christmas. Can you identify the ones that I could STILL eat today? There are more than you may think!

Days 118-127: TEN in TEN

Flew in last night from out family vacation in Maryland. This morning I reluctantly stepped on the scale. We were gone for ten days and I managed to gain TEN POUNDS!!!

This should not come as a surprise as Deanna's mom likes to cook and we spent a lot of our time gathering as a family and EATING! I had told myself I just wanted to "maintain" through the holidays, but it looks like there was WAY to much cheating!

Given my love for sweets, it's no surprise that once I allowed myself daily (each meal even) sugar cheating that the pounds, and I'm sure body fat to move in the opposite direction of 12 Percent! I never thought that in just one week that I would be able to put on that much weight!

I worked out three times while away which is lighter than normal. There was plenty of sitting around playing games, talking, laughing, and eating! All good things...but as a result I've got my work cut out for me!

But I'll end on some perspective. This is a picture of Deanna and I with Deanna's 92 year old grand mom. She had us over for lunch before we left. She drives, shops, cooks (she's responsible for a least 2 of my 10 pounds!), has her own home, and has a sharp mind. I guess all this "march to 12percent" is only a blip on the screen of life. This women has eaten butter and bacon fat most of her life! Maybe she doesn't have "abs of steel" but she's doing pretty well!

That said, today is January 1 and I'm BACK ON TRACK!!! Protein and beans for breakfast! Look out 12percent - here I come!!!

Days 109-117: UP and DOWN

Once back from Thanksgiving I've been back to high protein, veggies, and BEANS! Hummus is my best friend these days as even opening a can of beans seems to take too much time and effort! We've been very busy with work and rehabbing a rental that we wanted to lease by January 1! When all margin in life goes, guess what? So does food prep! So the days of making dishes and sharing have gone by the way side and it's been every man for himself. I can tell you that has made it harder to stay on the diet and to eat well.

Yesterday I came unprepared for lunch and ended up eating a brownie for lunch! oh my, how far I've fallen! Well, the house is now completed and rented so no more excuses!!!

I have had some good days too. My wife and daughter are now eating along with me and that has helped to have another cook contributing to the meal offerings. This is a salad Deanna put together for us that we've eaten off of breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Usually for breakfast I'm solid. I feel as though I singularly support the egg industry! Pulling some turkey sausage from the freezer is easy, and if we've made some bean and veggie salads ahead then grabbing a cup of that is easy as well. I made up the broccoli-bacon-slaw last week. That is definitely a winner for all - healthy and really tasty! I believe I've blogged that recipe in the past and if I was a really good blogger there would be a link (HERE) for it...but since life is full, you'll have to use your imagination! :-)

And finally, just so I don't disappoint my "Cheat Day" fan club, even though I've been cheating during the week, I somehow still feel that I deserve a major cheat on Saturdays! A few days ago that meant I started at Juicy-Os and had my fill of donuts, a skillet and pancakes. Christmas cookies were sprinkled through the day and a treat-filled Christmas celebration with my sister and her family. So no fears, I kicked that metabolism way up!

Days 97-108: Hanging In There

The last few weeks have been hard. Coming back from thanksgiving vacation with sugar coursing through my veins made for a very hard return to a strict "no sugar for 6 days diet." That coupled with the increase of Christmas goodies around the office and house has led me to a new concept of "cheat hours."
It hasn't all been bad. I've had moments of sheer low carb genius like the 3-bean salad below made in the time it took to open the three cans!

Of course on Saturday I enjoyed cheating, despite the fact I had been doing so the whole week prior! I enjoyed my French Toast layered with peanut butter and bananas...Elvis would have been proud!

Starting last Sunday I did get back on track and for the most part have eaten well. My weight is up about 3 lbs from my lowest (now at 162) and I still have to use the lowest notch on my belt...so all in all I think I've kept the body fat percent pretty close to my last BodPod measurement.

I'm expecting that from now until the New Year there will be intermittent cheating...but I'm OK with that. If I can maintain where I am I'll get back to taking off the last few percents in January. So Happy Holidays to all!!! (Note the very small serving size! ha!)





Days 87-96: Thanksgiving Vacation

But first a confession to my faithful blog flowers (yes, all three of you!), the last two weeks have had more packed into them than should be allowed by one human being. Mostly all good things mind you, but nonetheless, things that took my attention away from posting on 12percentJohn. And I wonder if not having to sit down and really think about what I was eating, showing you pictures, telling you stories about my journey made it easier for me to cheat.

And cheat I did on Thanksgiving vacation.  That wouldn’t have been so bad if the vacation had been a few days, but our entire family went to Florida to spend a week at my parents home. Dad decided that he was tired of 80 degree weather and casting into the surf, so he had headed to the cold North and went hunting for turkey, deer, and bear – oh my!

John, Katherine, Deanna on the water

They say that when you go back to your family of origin you also go back to old habits and patterns of relating. Well in my case that means back to old habits of having dessert after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I’m not joking. The first night we arrived we went to a great deli called TooJays. www.toojays.com after consuming a piece of killer cake for dessert we took home a box of Rugalach to have for breakfast.

Ben with his Nan at TooJays

That set the tone for the week and I mentally threw in the towel and decided I was on vacation, I had good food available to me, I wasn’t going to stress about it, and I’d still control how much sweet I ate. Hmmmm, well that last point didn’t happen. To say that sugar is a drug is no exaggeration. Man that stuff gets in my system and I just crave more of it. You know I’ve been really good on this diet in that regard, but not Thanksgiving week!!!

The Pumpkin Chiffon Pie I made for Thanksgiving Dessert

I came home with 8 more pounds than I’d left with and because I was not working out as actively I’m sure that weight gain was both muscle loss and fat gain. The fun was over…it was time to get back on track! And finnaly a picture to leave you with that will paint the picture...

lunch dessert! Chocolate Ganache filled cupcakes and more!