Excitement!

I am so excited about some things going on in my life right now and I would like to share them with you.

After having officially finished three personal training with nine more to go I am so happy with it.  I am proud of myself for keeping up with it and I am so thankful Michelle decided to give this gift to me.  Obviously I can’t expect my body to look different after only one week of working out hard.  But I can feel a difference in my body and that is great motivation to keep going.

For 2011 I have made the decision to really focus on the kinds of foods I consuming.  Too often I choose the easy way out of preparing a meal by going out to eat or having a frozen vegan pizza.  While it is possible to have healthy meals out I have the ability to create wonderfully healthy meals at home for much less money.  Timing has always been the issue for me, “if I only had enough time” I keep telling myself, well enough of that.  One of the things we are doing to help us eat more veggies and whole foods is getting local organic fruit and veggies delivered to my office every other Tuesday.  A local company called Boston Organics will be delivering them and I will take them home and I will have to cook them or they will go bad, so it is sort of a way of forcing me into cooking more at home.  My first box should be delivered today and I am super excited.  I will let you know tomorrow what was delivered.

The last thing that I am excited about is something Michelle and I are doing in February.  In the most recent edition of VegNews, a vegan magazine, there is an interview with Kris Carr.  Kris made a documentary a couple of years ago called Crazy Sexy Cancer, has released several books and currently runs the website CrazySexyLife.com.  She is an amazing individual who has learned first hand about the healing power of foods and nutrition.  Anyway, because of that interview we checked out her website and it turns out she is hosting a retreat in Stockbridge, MA which happens to be about two hours from us. It’s called Crazy Sexy Life: An Adventure in Health, Spiritual Wealth, and Happiness.  We will be learning about nutrition, meditation, how to lower stress, and we will be eating some amazing wholesome vegan food while we are there.  It is a whole weekend!  We really can’t wait.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading.

Personal Training Revisited

This is what I looked like after my second personal training session.  I was sore all over and wanted nothing more than to just lay in one position for the rest of the night.  Even though I was exhausted I was really proud of myself.

Heading to the gym last night I was a bit concerned because there was still a lot of soreness from my previous workout.  It didn’t matter though, I even got to the gym early and worked out on the elliptical for half an hour before my actual session.  To be honest I was kinda hoping that this 30 minute warm up would mean we could move right into the resistance training, not so much.  We started on the treadmill, switching between jogging and walking, I kept pushing myself and was jogging much faster than I thought I would be able to, we did that for 10 minutes to get really warmed up.

I enjoy resistance workouts more than cardio, it’s just more interesting.  Yesterday we were doing 3 sets of 15 reps on various different machines to get a full body workout.  It always seems that the weight I start with is lighter than it should be, but by that last rep on the last set it becomes clear that it is usually just right.  On a couple of the exercises I pushed myself a little further and did an extra rep or two.  I am trying to prove to myself and my new trainer that I really want this, that it is finally time.  In addition Beth seems to think I have excellent form when working out, which makes me very happy.  I have always heard that it is more important to have good form than to do a lot of heave weight.

Today I am much less sore than I was after my first session so I guess my body is getting used to the idea of a Tom that works out.  My third day to the gym this week will be Friday and then I am meeting with Beth again on Sunday morning at 7:00AM (I can’t believe it either).

2011 Has Begun

I have already started this new year off with a bang.  While I may of drank too much and eaten too much over this past holiday season I am making some very important steps to getting back on track.  On the first Monday of 2011 I had an appointment with a personal trainer, my first of 12.  These 12 appointments are a gift from my wonderful wife Michelle.  For the next 6 weeks I will be getting my butt whipped into better shape 2 times a week, and I will go by myself for a 3rd day that week.

Last night we did a light warm up on the treadmill and then moved quickly onto the free weight and body weight exercises.  Bent over rows for back strength, bench press, push ups, sit ups, and squats were all on the roster, among others.  To be honest I was a little surprised that I was not stronger.  After doing a few of each of the exercises it became clear how out of shape I am.  Beth, my new awesome personal trainer, was very encouraging though.  She said that most people would be surprised how out of shape they are and that I will get stronger fast.

With one personal training session done I woke up less sore this morning than I expected.  My triceps were killing me but the rest of the muscles we worked were not so bad.  As the day has gone on that has changed, my muscles are now sore even when doing simple tasks like opening a door or scratching my head.  I like the feeling though, (for the most part) it reminds me that I did some work and that it’s good for me.

Weigh In, 12/3/2010

Thanksgiving did a number on me.  For quite a few weeks now my weight has remained pretty stable around 243 and I was content with that for a couple of reasons.  Today though I weighed in at 248.4, I am not content with this.  248 is dangerously close (I know 243 kinda is too) to my first big goal of 250.

Over the years I have become quite an expert at being able to ignore certain problems; like my weight, eating habits or lack of exercise.  Since hitting 250 and congratulating myself I have sort of been ignoring the fact that I still need to loose a serious amount of weight.  I feel kind of like a broken record writing this lately, blah, blah, blah I am slacking off; blah, blah, blah I can’t get motivated.  In a way this here blog has kind of backfired a little bit.  I created it, in part, to have some accountability with friends and family and now I don’t write when I think it will be boring to read.  But, this will change.

I have started doing some small things to get back on track with my weight loss and fitness.  First of all I have been walking to the T stop from work everyday (unless it is rainy).  The walk is a little over a mile and according to an application on my phone a leisurely walk burns almost 150 calories, which I know is not a lot but it adds up write?  In addition I have gotten back onto green smoothies for lunch and breakfast.

My big problem lately is hunger.  I get home from work and I am so hungry that I go on these binges and it seems as though I can’t stop myself.  Sometimes I will do awesome at work, drink lots of water have my smoothie for lunch and then I get home and it all goes out the window.  This has been the hardest thing for me to tackle of late.

I am planning on getting my butt to the gym this weekend and I have found that the more I work out the more I am willing to make better food choices so hopefully that will help.

True Bistro

Michelle and I had a chance to get brunch at a brand new vegan place in Teele Square, Somerville this past weekend.  It’s called True Bistro and it’s safe to say that we finally have decent upscale vegan dining in the Boston area, thank god.

The decor is simple, but elegant.  Black and white are the primary colors that will greet you as you walk in.  We were there around noon on a Saturday and at first we thought they were closed because all of the lights were off, but there are huge windows that let in so much light they didn’t need to be on.  When we first arrived it was pretty slow but it very quickly filled up and there were soon people waiting to be seated.  The wait staff was super friendly and polite.  Overall it has the feel of a really nice dining experience, to be honest I felt a little under dressed in a t shirt.  They have a vegan beer and wine list that we will surely try when we go back but we didn’t on this visit.

We happened to be there for brunch and while I immediately spotted burgers Michelle pointed out the amazing looking breakfast options.  They were also offering Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s but I just went for orange juice.  After much contemplation I decided to go with one of their tofu scrambles which included house made seitan sausage, grilled onions, bell pepper, and Daiya mozzarella cheese.  On the side was a salad and hash browns.  Everything was amazing.  I don’t know what kind of tofu they used but it had a creamy texture that melded well with the onions and pepper.  The seitan sausage was really tasty as well, it was in pretty big slices and had a distinct flavor.  The side salad wasn’t particularly special but it helped mix it up and the potatoes were great, brought back memories of hash browns at a diner but with (a lot) less grease.

I decided to get dessert as well which was coffee cake.  It too was delicious, dense, crumbly and topped with a cinnamon sugar.

Overall everything was very impressive and we will definitely be back on multiple occasions.  It’s so nice to know that this place is here now, a nice upscale vegan place with good food and drinks.  It is even assessable by the T.  They are located in Teele Square in Somerville, MA which is just a short walk from Davis Square on the Red Line.  So there is nothing stopping you, just go.

The Stats:

1153 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02144

617-627-9000

www.TrueBistroBoston.com

Weigh In, 11/19/2010

This morning I weighed in at 243.8 not much change from a couple of weeks ago.  I may be a little too optimistic for my own good but I’m kinda happy that I have stayed at 243 for some time now.

Unfortunately staying at 243 is not my current goal though that would be nice.  My goal for now is to weigh 199 pounds and if I am going to get there I need to get to work, I need to find motivation, I need to pay more attention.  I also need to forgive myself and be able to move on from my mistakes.

It seems like every week I plan to start fresh on Monday and then Monday comes along and it life gets in the way.  This needs to become a priority in my life, it needs to become part of my life.  It’s on my mind everyday, I just haven’t been putting it into practice.

There’s always tomorrow.

Boston Vegetarian Food Festival

This past Halloween weekend Michelle and I took some time to go to the annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival.  We missed it last year for the first time we have lived in the Boston area and made it a point to go this year.  This is the second year that they have spread the event over 2 days.  Previously it has only been 1 day and it was crazy, so many people that it was literally hard to walk.  Thankfully having the event spread over 2 days made it a little better, there were still some rude pushy people, but I suspect you’ll find those folks anywhere there are free samples.

Free samples are one of the main reasons to go to an event like this.  From small local companies to international ones there were a bunch of companies there to offer up samples.  Cafe Indigo, a New Hampshire company, was there selling some of their seitan products and giving out free samples of their amazing Carrot Cake.  We also got to try a bunch of different teas, drinks, peanut butters, crackers, chips, cheeses, ice creams, and faux meats.  After you leave it feels like you have just eaten a full meal.  There was even a specifically vegan BBQ sauce that was so good I bought a bottle.

A lot of non food companies were there as well, sometimes these are the most exciting cause we find out about new places close by that specialize in vegan products or services.  For instance we discovered a new Vegan Bed and Breakfast on Cape Cod that we are super excited about trying out next spring.  A new vegan shoe and accessory store was there was well, Sudo Shoes, they are based out of Central Square in Cambridge and we will definitely be checking them out.  In addition we renewed out subscription to Veg News magazine which we have missed very much for the past year.

I also got to meet one of my inspirations, Robert Cheeke, vegan bodybuilder and writer.  He was there selling his book, Vegan Bodybuilding and Fitness, and Vega products.  I’ve posted about Robert before and I was more than a little nervous.  I don’t know the exact stats but standing next too him he seemed at least 6’2 and he is ripped.  And, here I am still overweight and going up to this guy and telling him he is one of my inspirations.  I don’t know why I was so nervous, guess I was just wishing I had lost more weight than I already have, but I was so nervous that I forgot to introduce Michelle to him.  He is such a nice guy he thanked me for keeping up with him and for the kind words and we made some jokes.  He was also selling Thrive, a book by Brendan Brazier, a vegan professional tri-athlete and inventor of Vega.  Anyway, I’ve been thinking of buying Thrive for a while and who better to buy it from than Robert Cheeke and he even through in a ton, I mean a ton of free Vega samples.  It was awesome meeting him and I had no reason to be so nervous.

Leaving the food festival Michelle and I stopped by the Vegan soft serve ice cream truck that was parked outside.  It was called Like No Udder and they are based out of Rhode Island, a business built from the ground up.  We both got a cup of chocolate and vanilla swirl soft serve with chocolate syrup.  Even though it was the end of October it was so good, we might have to go down to Rhode Island and seek them out.

Well that was our experience at the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival in a nutshell.  Looking forward to next year already, maybe Robert Cheeke will be there and I will have lost the weight I want to.  It would sure feel nice to shake his hand next year and say now I’ve lost 100 pounds.

Weigh In, 10/29/2010

I tweeted last night that when I weighed myself this morning I would have gained weight.  After all I ate out quite a bit this week and was not always in control of what I was eating.  But, I did do some calorie counting and I have not had any soda this week, just all water all the time.

So, what did the scale say this morning?  243.2, that’s right a whole .6 pounds less than last week.  I was pleasantly surprised this morning considering I was sure I was going to gain weight.  Let’s be honest though, it’s only .6 pounds.  I have a long way to go and I am all starting fresh.  I love making excuses for things like this.  I’ll say to myself oh I’ll start on Monday or I’ll start next month.  Well November is coming up and the 1st of the month also happens to be Monday, how much more perfect can I get?

I will report back on Monday with my plans for the week.

I’m Coming Back

It’s been almost a month since my last post and that was just a picture of a gym visit.  After ending my September raw food thing early I went through kind of a bad period with food.  It backfired, I was too rigid and I was too constrained and when I admitted to myself that I could not do it for a full month I broke down and started eating with reckless abandon.  I would go on binges when I got home from work.  I started to drink a lot of soda again and began eating really crappy things for lunch, like fries from the cafeteria or whole bags of pretzels (which contain way more than one serving by the way).  I stopped getting on the scale for fear that I had just eaten myself back up in weight.  A couple of weeks in a row of not getting on the scale allowed me to continue to eat carelessly because there was not going to be any consequences.  Of course I wasn’t posting on the blog at all, what would you all think of me.  But, I am coming back, with my tail between my legs.

Slowly, I have begun to emerge from this black whole of food and I am struggling again to make healthy decisions each day.  Today is Friday, my normal day to get on the scale and check my progress but I am gonna put in hold for one more week.  Next Friday I will get on the scale and we will assess the damage together.  I am going to begin counting calories again and even though each food choice will be a chore I will get back into the rhythm of things.

I hope you will continue to join me on this journey.  Sorry that I left you hanging for a while.  My big goal right now is to weigh less than 200 pounds, no matter how long it takes.