less of me - 257.8
I'm consuming enough of this now that I should be able to burn hotter than the sun for a few seconds. No one light any matches.With all the video posts lately I bet you forgot that I’m actually the “Wordslinger” and not the “Videoslinger,” didn’t you? Yes? No? It’s no, isn’t it.
Well, it’s been over a week since my big announcement that I’m making less of myself, and that means I owe you an update of the updatiest variety.
So last week, I weighted in at a hefty and bulging 265. I was getting out of breath just typing that entry, and I had the aroma of chicken wings about me. Today, though, I can proudly proclaim that I am at a still-slightly-bulgy but working-toward-dainty 257.8. I’m throwing the “.8” in there in the interest of honesty, but the truth is I just drop that tiny little sucker altogether in my head, so I can go around saying, “Yeah, I lost 8 pounds this week. Yeah. I’m that guy.”
Whew! To be honest, I was half afraid when I posted last Monday that I would end up GAINING weight. After all, Kara and I flew to Colorado on Friday for a weekend full of family fun and food frolicking. I was worried that after a few days of travel-eating I’d put back any weight I had managed to shed. But I did try to keep to things like chicken and fish while I was away, and even though I overdid it a couple of times, I more or less kept the calorie count down. I had just one measly mojito in the booze column, too, and I’m pretty sure that helped.
Oh … and the Aztec Quesadilla Burger. Yeesh. That little beauty was about 1,600 calories all by itself. For those who may be Kevin Spotting, that’s as many calories as I tend to eat in a day right about now. Luckily, I had that huge hunk of deliciousness on a day when I hadn’t had much to eat for breakfast and zero to eat for lunch. Besides, it was Saturday. I’m retroactively making Saturdays my “day off.”
So here’s what I’m doing so far:
- Light breakfast, usually a banana and an orange
- Plain ol’ coffee (regular brewed most of the time, an Americano if I’m hitting an espresso bar)
- Keep my calories under 1,600 per day
- Exercise (which lets me buffer some “extra” calories), mostly hitting the bike every morning for about an hour and taking a walk in the afternoon for about 40 minutes
- Drink more water
- Eat less sugar
- Eat lots of fish, chicken, and vegetables
- Take magnesium tablets
That last one probably begs for some ‘splainin. I read about the benefits of getting enough magnesium in your diet, and some of those are pretty relevant to me. Muscle cramps are something I tend to have an issue with, for example. It also helps “alleviate heart disturbances,” which is kind of vague, but considering my ticker has it’s own backup battery I’ll take any help I can get. It lowers high blood pressure (another Kevin need). It helps cut down cravings for sugar, booze, etc. It helps calm anxiety. And it helps regulate insulin, sugar levels, excess sweating, cortisol levels, and a bunch of other stuff.
Basically, I don’t get enough of this stuff in my diet, so I suffer from about 2/3 of the things it helps prevent.
Magnesium gets depleted from your body thanks to stress, high sugar intake, and (wait for it) … coffee. Dammit. I probably chug down enough brew to keep my magnesium levels at effectively zero. And that stresses me out. I’m going to eat this entire box of candy bars.
Anyway, I didn’t mean for this to become the “all hail magnesium” entry, but there it is for ya. Magnesium. It fixes you.
So the weight loss thing continues. The first ten pounds are usually “easy” to lose, so I’m not going to get all hyper about it or anything. But know that I am dancing the happy dance of pantslessness on the inside. I anticipate that many more pounds will fall screaming into the abyss. And those that don’t will wish they had never been born.