Day 39 - Exercise - Who'da Thunk It?

The green is "protein." This is the breakdown I aim for daily.
This is a Livestrong.com chart, btw.

I'm starting to think all these so-called experts that talk about eating right and exercising to lose weight might actually be on to something.

That was sarcasm, by the way. It's a second language.

As I continue on this journey, I'm partially excited and partially embarrassed. The secret to weight loss has never been a secret. Eat right and exercise like a beast and the weight will come off.

I'm excited because I continue to be able to do the right things. The surgery has allowed me the right tools to be successful. But at the same time, I'm embarrassed that I couldn't do this on my own. The lack of discipline I had is still astonishing when I think about it. I'm not doing anything different NOW than I could have done without the surgery. I'm having to eat foods that are high in protein and low in fat. I'm having to limit my carbs and bust my ass exercising.

That's all something I should have done previously. Unfortunately I just didn't have the discipline to stick to eating right.


The most important thing this surgery has done for me is help establish and maintain portion control. I still have to make the right decisions on what to eat and when to eat it. So anyone that thinks having this surgery makes losing weight "easy" is an idiot.

With that being said, let's take a look at what I'm doing these days:

The Food
This is my standard diet these days:

Breakfast - A protein shake
Lunch - Chicken breast and a few bites of a baked potato
Mid-Afternoon Snake - 2 cups of 1% milk
Dinner - Chicken breast and a veggie

Needless to say I imagine I will get tired of the chicken breast soon enough. I'll have to start incorporating some fish and other foods that are low in fat into the diet. The problem that I'm facing right now is that I don't do well with foods that are rewarmed (typically the dryer the food, the harder it is for me to swallow). So that means when I'm at work, I have to eat something freshly cooked. And that means eating out each day, which is expensive. So I'm still working on this issue and trying to figure out how to "do" lunch cheaper and still eat quality foods that fit into diet plan.

The Exercise
My goal was to walk 1.5 miles each night this week. I ended up walking over 8 miles this week, but stopped shy of 1.5 miles last night (Friday) due to some tired muscles. Thursday night I walked 1.7 miles and then spent 30 minutes leisurely shooting some hoops with my big brother and awesome niece and nephew. They took it easy on me, thankfully. It felt great to once again enjoy one of my favorite childhood past-times.

An 8-mile week eclipses my previous record 5-day total, which was 6 miles. So I'm really excited about where I'm at physically. Just 9 weeks ago I was having a hard time getting out of bed. And now I'm walking 8 miles a week with an episode of hoops thrown in for good measure.

With that being said, I feel like I've reached my limits right now. By the end of the week my legs were weary and I was beginning to feel some shin splints that I couldn't stretch out. My feet were sore for the first time. So the two day rest arrives at a perfect time.

I continue to be blown away with all the messages of support that I receive. I'm so thankful for great friends and family.

Weight this morning: 384.2 (-57lbs)

Regards,
The Vanishing Taylor