The saga of Guy and Martha
THE COUNTER
Starting weight: 299 pounds
Last weigh-in (Sunday): 281.2
Total pounds lost: 17.8
Pounds until 240: 41.2
WHAT I ATE TODAY
The quick rundown -- A bowl of corn chex with skim milk (the milk is still holding on....thank God), 1 footlong Subway veggie, 1 footlong Subway club, 2 fat free yogurts, 1 turkey sandwich on wheat with three pickles.
Total calories: 1,910
Total fat: 21.5 grams
My thoughts: Funny thing here: I went to Subway before work, but forgot my debit card and only had $6 in cash, so I had to order the much cheaper veggie sub instead of the usual club. Then on my lunch break, I still wanted the club, and I just said "fuck it", and went to a different Subway.
It was there that I had a nice little fight with the "manager" of the Subway, who always charges me for extra cheese, despite the fact that I don't actually order any cheese on my sandwiches. His sordid reasoning is the extra pickles and olives that I always get. This was a bad fight because A) I couldn't understand his broken English. B) He didn't seem to understand my rationale that the cost of extra pickles and olives are balanced out by the fact that I don't get the following items: Cucumbers, Jalapenos, cheese, mayonnaise, ranch, parmesan cheese, southwest sauce, sweet onion sauce, oil, vinegar, or any other complimentary item on their menu. I think it is safe to say that I will not be patronizing that Subway again.
Anyway, the two subs led to a higher than normal calorie intake, but also provided me with much-needed vegetables since I am out of salad fixings until Monday. So I am ok with all that. No exercise today, as I went the last two days, and plan on going twice before Sunday. Also, I should say that on Monday, I did not go out to eat with anyone, as was originally planned. That excursion was pushed back until Sunday, which will be the next planned off day.
So there!
ANSWERING YOUR COMMENTS
Just one today, and it comes from Bryce Thornton, another old college roommate.
From: Bryce
Comment: Please explain your thoughts on walking to work. I sent you that suggestion a while back and haven't heard anything back. Have you ever considered it? You don't live too far away and you live in frickin' California. It seems to be a perfect situation for getting some good exercise every day.
I wanted to answer this because Bryce seems pretty impatient, and because it is a good suggestion. I might not have mentioned that I live a half mile from my office. That is one of two perks of living in Vallejo, Calif. (The other being that I don't have to pay $4 bridge toll to get to work every day). However, the walk to work is kind of tough for two reasons. First, I have to admit that I kind of live in the ghetto. I mean, it's not like my neighborhood was featured in Training Day or anything, but the chances of shit going down in this neighborhood are far higher than in any others I have lived in. It's odd, really, because all of my neighbors are nice, upstanding citizens, but we get crackheads strolling down the street way too often.
In fact, I pulled up to my house today for lunch, and this gangster-looking girl was eyeing me up with a glazed glint. As I got out of my car she just say "hey boy". I suppose I could have invited her in for a drink, but instead I just said "hey", and scurried on into the house. Now, that girl doesn't live in my neighborhood, but she apparently walks through it. That's the kind of place I live in.
Though I am 6-foot-3, 281.2 pounds and a former bouncer (though not a very good one) in college, I would rather avoid problems when I get off of work at 11 p.m. every night. I am not saying shit is going to go down, but if it does, I'd rather not be walking through it.
The other problem, at least currently, is that it is winter here in the Bay Area. Many of you might think that in California the winter isn't much different than the summer. But in Northern California, that isn't exactly true. We just got done with two straight weeks of heavy rain. A month ago, a storm knocked out power for up to a week in some places (ours was out for about 13 hours). Yes, as a born and bred Midwesterner (Detroit), I know how to make it through the cold. I walked to school for years in the snow, and it never really bothered me. But I should admit that living out here for a year and a half has turned me into something of a pussy. So when it gets down to the 40s at night during the winter, I would rather stay in my car.
But maybe when it warms up a little bit, and I can find a well-lit route back home, I might try it.
THE REAL REASON I BROUGHT YOU HERE TODAY
So I spoke with my friend Guy and his lovely fiancé Martha yesterday. (Guy, by the way, has been lobbying for more mentions in the blog, so this is his shining moment.). As soon-to-be-married couples often do, Guy and Martha are trying to lose weight in anticipation of the August wedding.
I hadn't totally kept up with their quest, but I knew they cook much more than I do, and have turned to The Biggest Loser for inspiration. All good things. Of course, they don't have a blog and are not publicizing their weight loss to the world.
It should be noted that Guy is a former addict of the Atkins diet, and tried that at least 10 times going back to our sophomore year of high school (1995) when he recruited me to try it with him and got violently angry when I showed up to school on the first day with a ham sandwich for lunch.
But Guy and Martha have foregone the Atkins fad in favor of a low-fat, low-calorie diet, somewhat similar to my method. Guy is about 5-foot-8 and probably weighed 220 pounds when he began. Martha is a very attractive girl who, if you ask me, doesn't need to lose weight (I am trying to gain points with my best friend's future wife here). Again, that's all good and I fully support their efforts.
But it turns out that Guy, according to Martha, has lost about 20 pounds since early January. Martha, meanwhile, has lost 12 pounds, and uses the Biggest Loser workouts religiously.
As an egotistical asshole who has only lost 18 pounds so far, these numbers trouble me. These people are stealing my thunder, and I don't take kindly to that. I am the one that is supposed to have the life-changing transformation. Not my two friends. These two are piggybacking on my success. Shamelessly, I might add. And they are actually beating me at my own game.
I mean, 20 fucking pounds? He's barely got 20 pounds to lose. The dynamic between me and Guy has always been this: He was the short, slightly chubby, sarcastic, sharp-witted asshole while I was the big, dumb lout who smiled innocently at big boobs and bright lights. (At least until people got to know me and realized I am only a dumb lout only 70 percent of the time.) And my whole fucking quest was to change that dynamic. I will admit that I've even had ideas of getting my weight down below Guy's just to fuck with his head.
But here he is, losing weight at the same time as me, and doing it under the very flimsy guise of a wedding that is still seven months away. Asshole.
When I asked Martha about Guy's weight loss, she said something to the effect of "He'll never cheat. He is on a mission."
Who the hell does he think he is?
Actually, Guy and Martha's weight loss make it a little easier for me. Lately, when I call Guy, our conversations turn to the blog, the method and the exercise. He's been one of the more dedicated readers of these entries, and that's pretty cool.
But there is the motivation of wanting to find your perfect girl and have her think you are perfect too. And then there is motivation of beating your best friend to a common goal. The latter is much more powerful, because it is much easier to foresee and much more real. I'll be damned if I let that little Italian beat me to my goal. When I go back to Detroit for his wedding, and I am standing at the altar in whatever color tuxedo they pick out for me (one request: Powder blue with ruffles. Make this happen, Guy), I want people to say "You know, Guy looks good, but Dan looks fantastic."
Yep, that's the kind of prick I am. I want to be the star of his wedding.
Hey, you've gotta take the motivation wherever you can find it, right?
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