Week one is in the books and according to the scale I’m down around 8lbs. Pretty good I think; now this week hockey is starting and I'm going to start doing some work on the elliptical too. Hopefully week two will be just as good. Adding in a short workout everyday should really help with the overall loss of weight (duh). A few check points for the first week: Loss of weight - Check, No carb withdrawal - Check, Like what I’m eating - Check...Excited about the weeks ahead - CHECK.
It's really funny, I would always talk about food with people at work or wherever, but now I find myself talking about food and really thinking about what I'm actually putting into my body. Erin and I have picked out our menu for week two and BOY do we have some good ones coming up! Breakfast should also be a little easier too with Erin cooking some delicious turkey sausage and mushroom egg cups. They look good, smell good and I have no doubt that tomorrow morning when I have breakfast that they will taste good too. Dinner tonight was Fajita-less Chicken Fajitas! Not to be confused with my famous (LOL) chip-less chocolate chip cookies. We wrapped the tequila-lime flavored chicken and peppers w/onions into some lettuce; added a little cheese, salsa and some sour cream...and BAM...awesome dinner. Yet again a keeper to the list.
Now to talk about a few non-food related things. So today is Tuesday and of course you know what that means...Rock Band download day! And boy what a day; and 8 pack of Ozzy! Next to the Pantera downloads from earlier this month it has been a great May for music. Some of the solo's...insane and of course a lot of fun to play. Also coming up in the first week of June, I think, is the new Def Leppard album. A bunch of live tracks, a DVD of some performances and 3 new songs. Definitely looking forward to that! Finally America's Got Talent is back too. Love that show, seeing all the moronic people with "talent" sometimes basically fall of stage LOL. A lot of cool acts got through tonight, but the real test is when the acts go to Vegas.
Anywho...1 week done, another one started and baby steps to losing 30ish pounds. Night all.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Time to wind-down
The long holiday weekend has come to an end, and unfortunately work begins again tomorrow. Luckily it will be a short week and I have another dentists appointment on Friday so that should make the week go a little quicker. The weekend however was great! Yesterday we had Laura's wedding and other than myself being all hot and sweaty it was a beautiful day. Now Erin and I said in the beginning of this whole diet thing that we would splurge a little at the wedding, but luckily enough we didn't really have too.
The food was spectacular! Cocktail hour (or two) had some awesome shrimp cocktail, mini crab cakes, shrimp and octopus cups, lamb chops, mini fillet burgers with onions, rice & potato pancake...and probably a few other things I can't recall. Dinner started off with a romaine lettuce and endive salad. The main dish was pretty much South Beach approved even too. Beef tenderloin topped with some crispy onions, grilled pesto shrimp, roasted asparagus and potato and sweet potato au gratin. Now yes...I know the potato isn't technically approved, but I had it anyway. The funniest thing though, after eating some carbs for the day, I didn't really miss them. Everything was finished off with a sponge cake and a little platter of cookies. The night was fun, drinking and dancing and pictures. It sucked that Chris, Beth and Izzy couldn't be there for it, but they were there in spirit and of course Laura was thinking of them too.
Today we went to see the Hangover 2; definitely funny movie! Not sure if it was better than the first, since the first movie was just epic. Same premise as the first, someone gets lost...etc etc etc I won't ruin it for people who want to see it, but I definitely laughed heartily. Since we had our 1 day off (kinda) from the diet, we had to get back on the horse today. Omelet for breakfast again...i may turn into an egg LOL and of course no food at the movies since we can't have popcorn yet. I had a quick bite to eat before we left and was pretty good all the way through.
Dinner tonight was quite possibly the best so far; in my opinion. Creole Shrimp! I would recommend this for anyone. Pretty simple to make - some Canadian bacon chopped up, sauted onion, green pepper and celery. Add in some diced tomato's (w/juice), hot sauce, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and reduce. Add the shrimp at the end and bam! That's it, so good. It would be great on top of some rice also. I can always look forward to Phase 2 LOL.
Crazy enough, I think I could do without the carbs for longer. Reading the South Beach book earlier today, there was an "article" of a guy who did Phase 1 (no carbs) for 4 weeks instead of 2. I think I could do it, but Erin is really looking forward to some more variety. I can't complain adding in fruits, and some carby-bread/pasta items will be good, but like I said I think i could do it. Anyway...that's about it for me, it's muggy as hell in this place tonight. Time to put the AC's in.....probably.
The food was spectacular! Cocktail hour (or two) had some awesome shrimp cocktail, mini crab cakes, shrimp and octopus cups, lamb chops, mini fillet burgers with onions, rice & potato pancake...and probably a few other things I can't recall. Dinner started off with a romaine lettuce and endive salad. The main dish was pretty much South Beach approved even too. Beef tenderloin topped with some crispy onions, grilled pesto shrimp, roasted asparagus and potato and sweet potato au gratin. Now yes...I know the potato isn't technically approved, but I had it anyway. The funniest thing though, after eating some carbs for the day, I didn't really miss them. Everything was finished off with a sponge cake and a little platter of cookies. The night was fun, drinking and dancing and pictures. It sucked that Chris, Beth and Izzy couldn't be there for it, but they were there in spirit and of course Laura was thinking of them too.
Today we went to see the Hangover 2; definitely funny movie! Not sure if it was better than the first, since the first movie was just epic. Same premise as the first, someone gets lost...etc etc etc I won't ruin it for people who want to see it, but I definitely laughed heartily. Since we had our 1 day off (kinda) from the diet, we had to get back on the horse today. Omelet for breakfast again...i may turn into an egg LOL and of course no food at the movies since we can't have popcorn yet. I had a quick bite to eat before we left and was pretty good all the way through.
Dinner tonight was quite possibly the best so far; in my opinion. Creole Shrimp! I would recommend this for anyone. Pretty simple to make - some Canadian bacon chopped up, sauted onion, green pepper and celery. Add in some diced tomato's (w/juice), hot sauce, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and reduce. Add the shrimp at the end and bam! That's it, so good. It would be great on top of some rice also. I can always look forward to Phase 2 LOL.
Crazy enough, I think I could do without the carbs for longer. Reading the South Beach book earlier today, there was an "article" of a guy who did Phase 1 (no carbs) for 4 weeks instead of 2. I think I could do it, but Erin is really looking forward to some more variety. I can't complain adding in fruits, and some carby-bread/pasta items will be good, but like I said I think i could do it. Anyway...that's about it for me, it's muggy as hell in this place tonight. Time to put the AC's in.....probably.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Throw your devil horns in the air! It's all metal to me!
Man, I'm telling you; nothing gets me more pumped than listening to heavy metal music! Just got done watching the Revolver Golden Gods awards show on VH-1 Classic. Awesome! Love watching this channel. That Metal Show, Metal Mania and all the documentary/movies - perfect! I really wish they made it a little more robust though. They give out like 3 or 4 awards and about 4 performances and thats it. It's in a way kind of cheesy, and those of you who listen to metal music know that it ain't cheesy! The show is only an hour, so its short, but extend this thing to two hours, give out like 10 awards and have about 7 or 8 performances. Alice Cooper opened the show with School's Out for Summer, but what was even more awesome than that was Vinny Paul playing with Avenged Sevenfold rocking out on Mouth of War by Pantera!!!! Just gets my blood flowing, makes me wanna headbang. Speaking of headbanging...can't wait till September when I get to see the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium!
Also on a metal note..best thing I found out was that 11/11/11 is National Metal Day!!! I'm sick and tired of everything and everyone getting a month or week or day for whatever...but this was pretty awesome. If you can't figure out why that date is National Metal Day...then you aren't METAL!
Other than that, a pretty much uneventful day today. First day at home though while doing the South Beach thing and it went pretty well. Breakfast was a veggie omelet for myself (Erin was out running errands) and lunch some turkey on romaine lettuce leaves and a pickle (DAAAAHHHH LIKE A PICKLE...inside joke). We switched up dinner though, originally we were going to do a Creole Shrimp dish, but I forgot to take the shrimp out to defrost earlier in the day. Luckily we still had some chicken thawed in the fridge. So instead we had Chicken Capri; Chicken breast topped with ricotta cheese, diced tomato's and mozzarella cheese. The ricotta (part skim) was blended with some salt, pepper and oregano and I didn't haven any mozzarella slices, so instead I used some of the low fat string cheese we had. Since we couldn't have pasta, Erin made a side salad with some balsamic vinegar dressing.
The chicken was really good. No breading, just a little garlic powder on top. This recipe is definitely a keeper! And will be even better when we can have pasta with it...although it'll be wheat pasta :-(
Wedding tomorrow for Laura Laura. Heading down with Mike and Coleen for the shindig, should be good times!
Also on a metal note..best thing I found out was that 11/11/11 is National Metal Day!!! I'm sick and tired of everything and everyone getting a month or week or day for whatever...but this was pretty awesome. If you can't figure out why that date is National Metal Day...then you aren't METAL!
Other than that, a pretty much uneventful day today. First day at home though while doing the South Beach thing and it went pretty well. Breakfast was a veggie omelet for myself (Erin was out running errands) and lunch some turkey on romaine lettuce leaves and a pickle (DAAAAHHHH LIKE A PICKLE...inside joke). We switched up dinner though, originally we were going to do a Creole Shrimp dish, but I forgot to take the shrimp out to defrost earlier in the day. Luckily we still had some chicken thawed in the fridge. So instead we had Chicken Capri; Chicken breast topped with ricotta cheese, diced tomato's and mozzarella cheese. The ricotta (part skim) was blended with some salt, pepper and oregano and I didn't haven any mozzarella slices, so instead I used some of the low fat string cheese we had. Since we couldn't have pasta, Erin made a side salad with some balsamic vinegar dressing.
The chicken was really good. No breading, just a little garlic powder on top. This recipe is definitely a keeper! And will be even better when we can have pasta with it...although it'll be wheat pasta :-(
Wedding tomorrow for Laura Laura. Heading down with Mike and Coleen for the shindig, should be good times!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Sportsmanship
There is absolutely nothing like the ending of a playoff series in hockey. The class and sportsmanship that is displayed by these warriors on the ice is THE best in sports. You battle 4-7 games, overtimes, injuries and all in all at the end the team moving on and the team falling just short shake hands. Nothing like it in sports! Great game 7 TB vs Boston. Should be a pretty awesome Stanley Cup even though the "casual" fan probably won't watch at all. It's a travesty that people in the US don't get behind this sport more. Bruins vs Canucks in the final...want to root for the Canucks, but Boston is the "home" team (US). Think I'm gonna root for Timmy Thomas and the Bruins even though I think the Canucks will inevitably win the series.
Anyway, told ya I'd talk about everything on here. So tonight's dinner was fairly lackluster. I love salmon, but this poached salmon with a cucumber dill cream sauce. Just didn't do it for me. The sauce was pretty good, had a nice flavor for using low fat plain yogurt. Had my favorite side dish with it too; roasted asparagus! I'm telling you, if you don't typically like vegetables, roast em' with a little olive oil and seasoning...fantastic!
Well the long weekend has arrived and thank the lord. Needed a break from the daily grind. Weekend should be pretty fun a relaxed Saturday followed by, what should be a fun filled Sunday with the wedding and all. Good news on the car crap front...the guy who hit myself and Erin on the Merritt last week is sending his info over to the body shop so we can get everything fixed. I was a little worried about it for a second, especially when I talked to my mom about it yesterday. I got so frustrated with what she was saying, that it totally threw off the whole night and of course my "Chuck" rage took over and made Erin miserable. I kind of took it out on her a bit.
Anywho, that's about all for tonight! Next Dragons hockey season at Plainville starts on Wednesday night; pumped for playing again. Stanley Cup starts Wednesday night too...I expect you all to be watching NBC 8pm!
Anyway, told ya I'd talk about everything on here. So tonight's dinner was fairly lackluster. I love salmon, but this poached salmon with a cucumber dill cream sauce. Just didn't do it for me. The sauce was pretty good, had a nice flavor for using low fat plain yogurt. Had my favorite side dish with it too; roasted asparagus! I'm telling you, if you don't typically like vegetables, roast em' with a little olive oil and seasoning...fantastic!
Well the long weekend has arrived and thank the lord. Needed a break from the daily grind. Weekend should be pretty fun a relaxed Saturday followed by, what should be a fun filled Sunday with the wedding and all. Good news on the car crap front...the guy who hit myself and Erin on the Merritt last week is sending his info over to the body shop so we can get everything fixed. I was a little worried about it for a second, especially when I talked to my mom about it yesterday. I got so frustrated with what she was saying, that it totally threw off the whole night and of course my "Chuck" rage took over and made Erin miserable. I kind of took it out on her a bit.
Anywho, that's about all for tonight! Next Dragons hockey season at Plainville starts on Wednesday night; pumped for playing again. Stanley Cup starts Wednesday night too...I expect you all to be watching NBC 8pm!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
No "real" food makes Chucky cranky
Apparently no "real" food makes me cranky and tired!
Work today was a little annoying and I'm not going to really talk about it because one of the rules I had with myself in the beginning of starting this was that I wasn't going to bitch about work. So onto the dentist; lord almighty I hate the dentist. A number of years ago I had a real scary situation while in the chair and it pretty much made my decision to not really go back. As many of my close friends know, I'm not one to really go to the doctor, but this time I had to so I could get a root canal. Whatever, this time really wasn't that bad, no pain before or after so I was pretty happy. But now after I get my crown put in, I have like 15 more things that are recommended to be done. Recommendation noted... LOL
After the dentist I was in a cranky mood and slept through dinner. So unfortunately no recipe tonight what we had for dinner. However (and I know you were all worried LOL) the recipe for poached salmon with a dill cream sauce will be up tomorrow night.
Even though I didn't have dinner, I kind of had to throw something together real quick so I had a piled up veggie omelet with ham and pepper jack cheese. Sauted onions, green peppers, portobello mushrooms...yum! Now even though I haven't had what I call "real" food, I have actually found myself to be more full after my meals. The hardest thing so far has been lunch. I was all about sandwiches; rolls, rye bread, subs...love it. Now with the first two weeks having no carbs and all in all we're trying to cut out white flour products...I've been having my lunch as lettuce roll-ups. First day was turkey, thinly sliced cucumbers and balsamic dressing; today I had tuna salad with onions and celery. Good stuff!
Long weekend coming up, work tomorrow shouldn't be too bad, but most of my production staff will be out on vacation. We'll see how it goes. Can't wait for Laura's wedding on Sunday! Till next time America! (Remember where that's from?????)
Work today was a little annoying and I'm not going to really talk about it because one of the rules I had with myself in the beginning of starting this was that I wasn't going to bitch about work. So onto the dentist; lord almighty I hate the dentist. A number of years ago I had a real scary situation while in the chair and it pretty much made my decision to not really go back. As many of my close friends know, I'm not one to really go to the doctor, but this time I had to so I could get a root canal. Whatever, this time really wasn't that bad, no pain before or after so I was pretty happy. But now after I get my crown put in, I have like 15 more things that are recommended to be done. Recommendation noted... LOL
After the dentist I was in a cranky mood and slept through dinner. So unfortunately no recipe tonight what we had for dinner. However (and I know you were all worried LOL) the recipe for poached salmon with a dill cream sauce will be up tomorrow night.
Even though I didn't have dinner, I kind of had to throw something together real quick so I had a piled up veggie omelet with ham and pepper jack cheese. Sauted onions, green peppers, portobello mushrooms...yum! Now even though I haven't had what I call "real" food, I have actually found myself to be more full after my meals. The hardest thing so far has been lunch. I was all about sandwiches; rolls, rye bread, subs...love it. Now with the first two weeks having no carbs and all in all we're trying to cut out white flour products...I've been having my lunch as lettuce roll-ups. First day was turkey, thinly sliced cucumbers and balsamic dressing; today I had tuna salad with onions and celery. Good stuff!
Long weekend coming up, work tomorrow shouldn't be too bad, but most of my production staff will be out on vacation. We'll see how it goes. Can't wait for Laura's wedding on Sunday! Till next time America! (Remember where that's from?????)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
All of my love!
There are a few things that I truly love in life; music, hockey, food and of course Erin (not in any particular order). One of the sit down visits with our fertility doctor lead to a discussion on what can we do to help all this baby stuff along. Well one of the things he mentioned was diet. As we continued talking (which was mostly Erin) they were mentioning eating better...OK no problem, I can do that, did it before. Then the conversation went sour...no white bread, real pasta, potatoes and stuffing! I love food! Although I love Erin more, but GOD DAMN-IT, i'm fricken Irish...no potatoes, I was saying in my head "kill me now".
Since her and I are in this together and I love her more than anything, I wanted to be supportive and do this "diet" thing together. The last time I was eating well and working out I had teammates, two of my best friends Chris and Mike. We didn't really do much on the diet side, but we all worked out together a few months before my wedding and in that time I lost a good 30 pounds. However with 4 years of marriage under my belt, I have unfortunately put that 30 back on.
Our first goal is to get down to our "wedding" weight. I'm going to be Erin's teammate in this and we will definitely get it done!
So on the food front, last time I hinted at the South Beach diet "mashed potatoes"...well its actually cauliflower and it really wasn't that bad. We used a full head of cauliflower, added some salt, pepper, a little butter and some fat free half and half. It kind of has the texture of grits, but was actually good. Now I wouldn't eat it every night, not my favorite thing, but it will work. I've started a food log so that will help me too. 2 days in...tomorrow is either salmon or shrimp.
Also thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement, it really helps and is much appreciated!
Since her and I are in this together and I love her more than anything, I wanted to be supportive and do this "diet" thing together. The last time I was eating well and working out I had teammates, two of my best friends Chris and Mike. We didn't really do much on the diet side, but we all worked out together a few months before my wedding and in that time I lost a good 30 pounds. However with 4 years of marriage under my belt, I have unfortunately put that 30 back on.
Our first goal is to get down to our "wedding" weight. I'm going to be Erin's teammate in this and we will definitely get it done!
So on the food front, last time I hinted at the South Beach diet "mashed potatoes"...well its actually cauliflower and it really wasn't that bad. We used a full head of cauliflower, added some salt, pepper, a little butter and some fat free half and half. It kind of has the texture of grits, but was actually good. Now I wouldn't eat it every night, not my favorite thing, but it will work. I've started a food log so that will help me too. 2 days in...tomorrow is either salmon or shrimp.
Also thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement, it really helps and is much appreciated!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The first step
So I figured I would try to do something that would help myself talk about and share things that I find interesting in life and about myself. I'll talk about my journey into fatherhood (hopefully), issues with dieting/weight/exercise, a place to put up some recipes, talk about sports and music a little and just BS lol. Who knows where this will go, who knows if anyone will even read it, but I will hopefully keep true to it and post everyday. I guess this is my way to keep myself honest with my new life choices and the long journey ahead.
Here we go...things have been a little crazy lately and I feel like nothing is going right. Tax crap, work, car stuff, health crap (stupid root canal), babies...etc. Erin (my wife) and I have been trying for quite some time to have a baby. Essentially after numerous tests (luckily most not for me LOL) and a few doctors visits we finally have a plan in place! I'm really excited about it because even though I can be a pain in the butt, I really love kids and think/hope I'll be a great father (more to come on this in the future).
First step of this whole baby thing is to try to get our diet under wraps...so in effort to do this we are doing the South Beach diet. UGH...no carbs for 2 weeks...kill me now. We haven't officially started yet since we have our friend Laura's wedding on Sunday, but we really have.
So my first recipe/food journal type entry is what we had for dinner tonight. When I looked at this recipe I was very worried, basically plain chicken and veges. But as everything was cooking I was pleasantly surprised with the aroma coming from the kitchen. The recipe (to follow) was very simple; all in all with prep and cooking time it took about 30 minutes for everything. Dinner tonight came out pretty darn good. Hopefully this whole South Beach thing won't be too bad, but we have to start eating better not just for ourselves but for our kid(s). I'd like to be around for a while ya know.
Tonights Dinner - Chicken en Papillote with a side of steamed green beans
4-Boneless chicken breast halves (seasoned with salt & pepper)
2-Scallions chopped
1-medium Carrot
1-small zucchini (sliced in 1/4" pieces)
tarragon (even though I used a spice I had called Northwind)
grated orange zest.
Basically mix the veggies/zest and seasoning in a bowl and place on top of seasoned chicken. Bake in little foil pockets for 20 minutes. 1 serving (1 breast and 1/4 of the veggie mixture) is 144 calories.
Tomorrow is some marinated flank steak and "South Beach" mash potatoes (cauliflower). This one will be a test. Till next time people!
Here we go...things have been a little crazy lately and I feel like nothing is going right. Tax crap, work, car stuff, health crap (stupid root canal), babies...etc. Erin (my wife) and I have been trying for quite some time to have a baby. Essentially after numerous tests (luckily most not for me LOL) and a few doctors visits we finally have a plan in place! I'm really excited about it because even though I can be a pain in the butt, I really love kids and think/hope I'll be a great father (more to come on this in the future).
First step of this whole baby thing is to try to get our diet under wraps...so in effort to do this we are doing the South Beach diet. UGH...no carbs for 2 weeks...kill me now. We haven't officially started yet since we have our friend Laura's wedding on Sunday, but we really have.
So my first recipe/food journal type entry is what we had for dinner tonight. When I looked at this recipe I was very worried, basically plain chicken and veges. But as everything was cooking I was pleasantly surprised with the aroma coming from the kitchen. The recipe (to follow) was very simple; all in all with prep and cooking time it took about 30 minutes for everything. Dinner tonight came out pretty darn good. Hopefully this whole South Beach thing won't be too bad, but we have to start eating better not just for ourselves but for our kid(s). I'd like to be around for a while ya know.
Tonights Dinner - Chicken en Papillote with a side of steamed green beans
4-Boneless chicken breast halves (seasoned with salt & pepper)
2-Scallions chopped
1-medium Carrot
1-small zucchini (sliced in 1/4" pieces)
tarragon (even though I used a spice I had called Northwind)
grated orange zest.
Basically mix the veggies/zest and seasoning in a bowl and place on top of seasoned chicken. Bake in little foil pockets for 20 minutes. 1 serving (1 breast and 1/4 of the veggie mixture) is 144 calories.
Tomorrow is some marinated flank steak and "South Beach" mash potatoes (cauliflower). This one will be a test. Till next time people!
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