Good Day

And I'm feelin (ooooo hoooo)
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good good night


I like that song by the Black Eyed Peas.  It was going through my head this evening as I ended what was just a great day.  I have no idea how the night is going to go, but today was just super.  I have hit the point where I am just doing my thing and moving along.  The food stuff isn't really an effort any more.  It has become my way of life.  Every so often I get a twinge of desire for something.  But it isn't enough to do anything about it.  (For example, today I saw Virgil's Root Beer at a specialty store.  That was my favorite root beer and I haven't seen it in literally years.  But there was no way I was buying it.)  I get little bumps of excitement every Friday and Monday when I weigh.  However, it really has become a long process.  It has moved past the rush of the beginning and past the challenge of my body's rebellion.  Now it is lasting for the long haul.

Well, today was different.  Heather has Spring Break this week.  Due to financial constraints, we have basically been under house arrest for four days.  So, today, I said we needed to go and do . . . something.  Just get out of the house.  So after we dropped the kids off and got ready, we went out to find some adventure.  First, we stopped at Goodwill to see if they had anything good - games, kids' clothes, clothes for me that were in the sizes I would soon be dropping into.  It was a big whiff - nothing useful at all.  Then we went to Crispers for lunch.  For those of you unfamiliar with Crispers, it is owned by Publix grocery stores.  It is very good - salads, flatbreads, soups.  They had changed the menu since we last went (about a year ago down in Orlando).  They now had a cool thing call "Side Salad Sampler."  You could pick three side salads - or two and a soup.  So I got Chicken Pecan Salad, Fruit Salad, and Tomato Bisque.  Heather got the Chicken Pecan salad on a half sandwich and a bowl of Butternut Squash soup.

I really enjoyed my food.  And as is my new thing with food - I tried to figure out how to make the meal at home.  The chicken salad was yogurt based, which is right up my alley.  I will probably be replicating that soon.  The tomato soup was great - mine tastes just as good.  I would just need to add cream to make mine tast the same.  And if I had an immersion blender, it would be easier to get mine to be the same consistency.  But it was Heather's soup that really struck me.  It was unbelievable.  Tasted like Thanksgiving.  So, I immediately decided that my project for the day was to come up with butternut squash  soup at home.

Right after lunch, we went next door to New Leaf Grocery.   We had never been here, but I WILL go back soon.  It is a co-op natural store.  It was amazing.  I snagged three butternut squash in their produce section.  And I forced myself not to buy anything else.  Even though it was a glorious place.  They had every flour you could imagine - rye, semolina, rice, tons more.  They had raw nuts of so many types.  Peanuts, macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, filberts.  Pumpkin seeds, black sesame seeds.  I just stood there and stared at the wall for five minutes.  "You will be mine.  Oh yes.  You will be mine."  I wasn't as impressed with the meat section - it was nice, but expensive.  But I had scored my butternut squash.

Next we went to Walmart - because in Tallahassee that is just what you do when you have nothing else to do.  We got some cheap Veggie Tales candy for the kids' Easter baskets.  And then we wandered the store and ended up at the men's clothing section.  I noticed they had $8 jeans and thought maybe I could find a pair to help me in the weight loss stage.  Here's how I am handling my clothing at this point.  I am working my way down through what I have.  I had a set of 4XLT shirts that never shrunk in the wash.  That was the first set I dropped out of and have now gotten rid of.  Then I had a set of 4XLT shirts that had shrunk in the wash.  These are now starting to get too big.  Today, I got one of my older 3XLT shirts that had shrunk in the wash.  It fit perfectly.  So now I have dropped into that group.  Once I am through those shirts, I will be in trouble.

The same goes with pants.  I have some 50 inch waist pants.  (What?  You knew I was big.)  Those are out of the picture.  Then I had a pair of 48 jeans and a pair of 46 jeans.  They have become so big it is ridiculous.  They pucker all up inside of my belt.  When I got the smaller 40-44 belt the other day, it made the jeans situation worse.  I don't have pants much smaller than that - maybe a 44 here or there.  I don't want to buy a bunch of clothes in the 2XLT or 40+ pants range because they will be useless within a few months.  So I am trying to just get through until I am closer to a set weight and size.

But the pants were just ridiculous - huge and billowy.  So we checked the jeans.  I went to try on a 44x32.  I came out of the dressing room and showed Heather.  "They are loose - they'll be falling down in a month."  So she went and grabbed me a 42x30.  I put them on and they fit perfectly.  What!?!?  A 42?  I can't even remember the last time I was in a 42.  It may have been six years ago, but it probably was before that.  I almost cried in the dressing room.  In 7 1/2 weeks, I had not only lost 41 pounds.  I had dropped EIGHT INCHES off my waist.  I've dropped two shirt sizes, four pants sizes, and 41 pounds!  It just felt so amazing to realize that.  We got two cheap pairs of jeans.  So with my new jeans and new belt, I'm looking pretty fly for a white guy.

After we got home and got the kids, I started on dinner.  I roasted the squash and began the soup making process.  I tweaked the recipe I had found, added pumpkin to the soup, blended it all up.  Dang was it good.  I was eating butternut squash soup!  I told my mom and she couldn't believe it.  She was probably thinking, "Is this the same kid that wouldn't eat veggies without griping?  He's making veggie soups?"  So for dinner, I had a bowl of butternut squash pumpkin soup, a stuffed pepper (oh yeah, I made those last night - freaking unbelievable), an apple, and a glass of water.  Total calories: 500.  Heather and I looked at each other and said, "Man, our food sucks around here.  Poor us."

So, I was singing as I put the leftover soup into containers to freeze.  I just am enjoying this so much.  I always thought I was a good cook - and others have concurred.  But, since I started this new way of life, I feel like I have gotten better.  I am more creative.  I don't have to find ways to stick cheese into everything.  I don't have to make sandwiches out of meals.  I just make food.  So far, since this whole thing started, I have made Southwestern Chili, Italian Chili, Tomato Soup, Butternut Pumpkin Soup, Yogurt Tuna Salad, Yogurt Chicken & Grape Salad, London Broil, Mexican Stuffed Peppers, Pork Chops, Yogurt Veggie Dip, Yogurt Chicken Dip, Pork Roast, Turkey Breast, Peanut Butter Fondue, and Sauteed Spinach.  Those are the meals that I had NEVER made before this started that I have made now.  That doesn't include the numerous chicken variations, salads, and stir fry dishes that I have come up with.  My creativity has exploded.  I'm not afraid to try new foods.  And I'm finding out that they are really good.

I am going to start updating an online photo gallery with my journey.  Here is the link, if you are interested.  I take a lot of pictures of my food, along with some pictures of me as I shrink.  I don't know how often I will update it, but check in from time to time.  Thanks again for being so supportive of me and putting up with my ramblings.