On Vacation !

I'll be away on vacation through 7/7...so I probably won't be updating my blog until then. I'm at 170 pounds today (down another pound!) - but let's see if I can keep it going while I'm away! I actually lost a couple of pounds back in January during the week I was at Disney World...so it CAN be done!

Talk to you soon!

Thursday's Menu

B - Atkins Bar (I normally don't each a whole lot of processed food - but we're leaving on vacation this weekend...so I don't have any eggs in the house right now!)

L - WaWa Roasted Chicken Salad w bacon, tomato, grated cheese, & Ranch

S - 1 oz Swiss cheese

D - Chicken Cheesesteak Wrap w/ mayo on low-carb tortilla, Spinach

Wednesday's Menu

I lost another pound in the last week. My weight loss has slowed considerably to an average of 1-pound per week for the last couple of months. I'm extremely happy to be losing at that rate - even though it would be considered "slow" by many people's standards. I only have another 13 pounds to go, so they're not going to come off as easily. I'm down to 171 now!

B - Atkins bar

S - 6 small WaWa meatballs (yum!)

S - Strawberries, 2 servings whipped cream

D - Blackened chicken breast, Salad with Ranch

S - 2 oz Swiss cheese, handful of mixed nuts

Lotsa water!

Tuesday's Menu

B - Atkins Bar

L - Salad w/ roasted chicken, tomatoes, bacon, grated cheese, & Ranch dressing

S - 1 oz Swiss cheese

D - Steak, Caesar salad

S - Strawberries

What I Ate Monday

Not the best day of eating today. I definitely came up short on the veggies...but at least I kept my carb count very low. A big part of being successful on ANY eating plan is to plan ahead. I forgot to bring lunch to work today...so I was stuck with the pizza we had in our staff meeting and an Atkins bar I had in my drawer. Here's the recap for Monday:

B - 2 eggs, 1 sausage patty

S - cheese off two slices of pizza

S - Atkins bar

D - chicken steak, salad w/ bleu cheese

Sunday's Menu

Beautiful Sunday in South Jersey...before it gets REALLY hot tomorrow! Here's what I'm eating today:

B - 2 eggs, 1 sausage patty

L - My Low-Carb Caesar & Swiss Pizza (7 net carbs) , sauteed spinach

S - Handful of peanuts

D - Blackened chicked, salad w/ Ranch

S - Strawberries, 2 servings Redi Whip (less than 1 carb each)

Saturday's Menu

Eating according to plan is always more difficult when you're not at home. Today I did a WAYV event at the Harris School in Linwood and they were nice enough to offer me and the crew some of the Emma's Rotisserie food that they were serving during their open house. There was a complete spread of pulled pork, chicken, & brisket smothered in barbecue sauce, plus potato salad, cornbread, and mac & cheese. Hungry yet? Well, knowing that everything there was high in carb and/or sugar content, I decided to just have a little taste - one forkful of each of the bbq'ed meats. Let me just tell you - they were DELICIOUS! So kudos to the folks at Emma's - now we just need to get them to offer up a sugar-free low carb sauce to use on those meats! Hopefully my couple of bites of BBQ won't reflect on the scale tomorrow...


Here's my eating for the day:

B - 2 eggs, 1 sausage patty

S - 3 forkfuls of BBQ (1 pork, 1 chicken, 1 beef)

S - Handful of blueberries, 1 serving of whipped cream (1 carb)

D - 7oz rib steak, caesar salad

S - Strawberries, 1 serving whipped cream (1 carb)

Water! Water! Water!

What I Ate Friday

B - Atkins Bar

L - Leftover broccoli with very little sausage

D - Crabcake, Asparagus

S - Strawberries, blueberries, a little Redi-Whip

About 80oz of water today which I'm very happy with - and I'm proud to say I passed on birthday cake at dinner and went with the much healthier strawberries & blueberries..two of the lowest carb fruits around!

Menu For Thursday

Here's what's on tap for today...

B - handful of blueberries, Atkins breakfast bar

L - Wawa Roasted Chicken Salad (lettuce, tomato, chicken, bacon, cheese) w/ Ranch

D - Italian sausage with broccoli cooked in olive oil & topped with grated parmesan, Caesar salad

Wednesday's Menu

I'm going to try and keep up with this on a daily basis so I have a written record of what I'm eating! So far, so good...

B - 2 fried eggs, 1 sausage patty

L - Ground beef w/steak seasoning, spinach w/ grated parmesan cheese

D - Chicken cheesesteak, sweet peppers, salad (l,t) w/ Ranch dressing

64 oz. water

My Weight Loss Journey

Since January 2007, I've made a renewed commitment to myself to get in better shape. Like a lot of people, I've had my weight go up and down quite a bit over the years. My problem has always been sticking to a low-fat diet for a long period of time. Enter Dr. Atkins! I decided to try the low-carb approach to weight loss and health management, and so far I've been very very happy with the results.

The low-carb lifestyle has been very easy for me to adjust to because the bulk of my favorite foods are no longer "off limits" the way they were on a low fat diet. Foods like steak, cheese, nuts, and eggs are now a regular part of my life again - without the guilt. Who knew you could eat rich, luxurious, satisfying food and still lose weight?! Apparently lots of people - because the more I continue to learn about this healthy way of eating, the more people I find who are living it too!

I'm by no means a low-carb or fitness expert of any kind. I'm just a regular guy who has finally found a way of eating that allows me to be happy, full, and healthy all at the same time! I'm going to us this blog to chronicle my journey as the pounds continue to come off. I'm going to log what I'm eating each day as well. Not so much as an example to anyone else of what you should eat - but just to keep a log of what is and asn't working for me.

Here's where I am right now. I started at 212 pounds in January, and I'm now at 172 pounds. That's 40 pounds of weight off my frame in six months. I know many people who have dropped weight much faster than that, but I'm VERY content to just keep losing at a steady pace. As I approach my goal weight of 158 pounds (I hope I can get there) the pounds are peeling off a bit slower now - but that's to be expected.

Are YOU "Livin' La Vida Low Carb" (to borrow a phrase from low-carb icon Jimmy Moore)? I'd love to hear from you. Maybe you're thinking about trying it out? I'd be happy to share my experience with you. Click on "Comments" below!

Tuesday Morning Musings

Just sitting at the computer - checking out the Mike & Diane morning show on my little transistor radio (yes - I'm old). My girls are in the room watching Tigger & Pooh on TV while we all eat our breakfast. Cereal & milk for them...fried eggs for me.

-I came to the realization last night that now that the May sweeps are over there is NOTHING on prime time network TV that's really worth watching. Is there some show I'm not aware of that's worth watching this Spring/Summer?

-Speaking of prime-time TV - WAYV is giving away free tickets for Dancing With The Stars: The Tour @ Boardwalk Hall every day this week between 9am and 5pm. Good luck!

-Have you heard that phone conversation Mike & Diane had with the guy who held someone's cell phone for ransom? They're airing it now. Yikes! Maybe we'll post it in our WAYV On Demand section of the website.

-After all that rain Sunday all the lawns in my neighborhood look considerably greener.

-Pics from our two Memorial Day Weekend WAYV concerts are now posted at www.951wayv.com.

Fergalicious!

We had our free WAYV concert with Fergie at the Atlantic City House Of Blues Memorial Day Weekend. Hopefully you were there!

As one of the better perks of my job, I got to spend a little time with Fergie before the show. We had a rather large meet & greet session with about 1oo WAYV & Verizon winners and Fergie before the HOB doors opened - and after that was over, Heather DeLuca and I had the very rare opportunity to hand with Fergie on her tour bus for a bit. Very cool - just the three of us. The bus was incredible in that it had an entire recording studio right on it. She told us she actually put together quite a bit of The Dutchess on that bus! Fergie was a very gracious host - totally normal and really sweet to us. I've also got to say that I thought Fergie was even better looking in person than on TV. Sometimes when you meet someone in person, they just have that special quality that says "star". Fergie has it.

After our time on the tour bus, I was really looking forward to her show, and she certainly did not disappoint anyone in the House. Best song of the night for me had to be her brand new singe "Big Girls Don't Cry". In my view, this is one of the BEST songs of 2007...and should be a big big hit for Fergie for a long time. Wanna hear it? Put on 95.1 WAYV!