Feb 14

Feb 14 Counterintuitive...Weekly Weight Update

As you may recall at the end of last week's update I had gained a very slight amount of weight which was essentially maintaining. As you can imagine, the best thing to do when you gain weight is to make some delicious food and go out to dinner for the largest, most fattening meal you can possibly imagine. That is exactly what I did.

Our lunch for this week was a baked pasta that was absolutely delicious. Consisting of rigatoni, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, and just a few red pepper flakes to give it some flavor. I had been in need of some pasta for a while so I'm glad we landed on this dish for the week.

Pasta can be a dangerous dish when trying to watch or lose weight. For me, pasta is one of the easiest meals to overeat without even feeling full. I'm not a nutritionist or a doctor so I don't know if it is a matter of the chemical makeup of a pasta dish that makes it so easy to slide down my gullet. I do know that I could have easily consumed the entire dish of pasta faster than Walt Flanagan's dog. As in all things, moderation is key, and the above pictured dish represents 12 servings which is exactly how many were consumed.

After baking the lovely pasta dish Rizzo and I went out to celebrate at our favorite dining establishment, Spacebar, in Falls Church. If you haven't been to Spacebar you need to stop reading this blog immediately and walk, run, drive, bike, swim, fly, or teleport yourself there immediately. While not a fancy place, Spacebar serves three of the greatest things on Earth; gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, tater tots, and craft beer. The food is without compare. There is a wide variety of options (all grilled cheeses, of course) that is made with expert precision and the rotating tap list always has something new that I want to try. Be wary if you are thinking about taking your kids because you have to be 18+ to get in and the place doesn't open until 5pm. I'm not kidding when I say that you should make the trip because it is well worth it.

Last week the blog was all about going in blind to Weight Watchers without checking my weight during the week hoping that following my plan would result in success. I simply maintained, which is OK, but I was hoping for more so this week I've been keeping tabs on my weight. This week has been a week of playing catch-up after chowing down on the massive meal at Spacebar pictured above (by the way, that was the second basket of tater tots that Rizzo and I crushed. Big mistake!). I started checking my daily weight on Wednesday after seeing an interesting picture in the most current issue of Men's Health.

Sure, this is covering an entire year but it made me think that keeping regular tabs on my weight level isn't such a bad idea. The key is knowing and understanding that weight will fluctuate from day to day. I went in knowing that I couldn't turn into Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire just because I went up a 1/2 a pound. Sure, I went up a bit from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning but I also went down more from Thursday morning to Friday morning after my Thursday evening workout. What keeping tabs showed me was that by monitoring my weight during the week I would feel more comfortable with my progress and help to lay off the stress eating (because I didn't know how I was doing) or the binge eating (because I had already blown the whole week so why not go all out).

The weekend brought bitter cold to the area. Even so cold that I didn't take the risk of running outside so I spent Saturday and Sunday in the basement getting in my workout. I've said it multiple times in this blog but running on a treadmeal (yes, that is how you spell it if you say the word properly) is awful. I get so bored that I can only last 20 or 30 minutes without losing my mind. Running on a treadmeal is like an "in case of emergency, break glass" type of workout. It keeps me moving but I don't move very fast or very far. I move just enough that my muscles don't dissolve into nothingness. Really the only thing that running on a treadmeal does is prevent me from sitting on my ass eating an entire bag of chocolate chips while drinking beer and watching the entire series of Frasier for the seventh time.

Tracking my weight daily this week had me feeling pretty good going into the Weight Watchers office. I had weighed myself at home in the morning and was fairly confident in what I saw. I just hoped the scale at Weight Watchers would hold true to the scale at home. I wasn't disappointed and was able to drop .8 lbs this week bringing the current weight down to 208.6 and a total weight loss of 58.8 lbs. I can only imagine what I would have been able to do if it wasn't for the crazy Spacebar adventure (still worth it!). I'm so close to that 60 lbs mark I can taste it. Of course, I just plan on giving it a taste. I won't really eat it. That would pack on too many unneeded pounds.

On Friday night I got to cash in my January victory in the Bring It On! challenge with a solo trip to the movies to see Deadpool. It was a glorious evening of sitting back and relaxing in a recliner while the merc with the mouth entertained me for about two hours. I wouldn't say the movie is amazing. I don't think it changes the game like an Iron Man did or what I anticipate Batman v. Superman will do, but it was 100% entertaining and worth every bit of the R rating it received. Ryan Reynolds is perfect as Deadpool and the constant references to other movies in the comic book universe were just what a nerd like me wants.

The February Bring It On! challenge is getting close. Rizzo had herself quite a week racking up 40 total miles which beat my 38 miles. That puts me ahead just 1 mile for the month at 59.3 to 58.3. I'll need to pick up the pace if I want to make sure to see Batman v. Superman on opening night. Otherwise I'll be stuck at home while Rizzo goes to the spa. Time for this weather to break so I can get outside and go running for real.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!