Consider Me Pickled

The title this week has nothing to do with dieting, but rather a fun activity that I got to participate in this week.  I will get to that in a couple paragraphs.  Enjoy the boring part of the post first. :)

I managed to have the self propel function on my lawn mower completely go out this past week. It had been on the fritz previously, but after a little detective work (aka taking the thing apart) it was found that the cable had snapped clean through.  As this isn't really a necessary item on a push mower, I am holding off on ordering the replacement and figuring I will get a better workout mowing now anyway.  Let me tell you, it's hard to push all that weight around when there isn't anything helping you, but then I think about pushing around the 25 pounds that I have lost and figure I am just fine.

I was also able to hit up the pool this week with some friends.  We were welcomed over to hang out and spent a good couple hours playing games with the kids while spending a little time in the water ourselves.  It was great to relax and we enjoyed ourselves greatly.  However, what I consider to be the best part of my week was yet to come.

Recently, we had been invited to hang out with friends on Friday evening to participate in riding The Pickled Pedaler.  This fantastic contraption is a group party bike that has ten people pedaling while a few people can take a break on the bench at the back and yet another person can pass out a few drinks while you are taking a tour of downtown.  It is GREAT!!  It's not that often you can have a couple drinks while you are working out.  I think most gyms frown upon it.  I guess I could ask my friend that works at the local YMCA, but he does tend to follow most rules.

We spent a couple hours on Friday night riding The Pickled Pedaler around Indianapolis and introducing some people to the finer parts of Mass Ave.  We even got to see where Andrew Luck lives.  If you think this sounds like a great time, you should totally check it out.  A two hour ride cost around $300 that you split between everybody that rides.

So, how about the weight loss?  Again this week I had an off week.  Again, I think it is due to lack of consistent rest as I was having trouble getting to sleep earlier in the evening to allow me to wake early for my meetings.  I am working on getting my body back into the school year schedule.  When I weighed in on Sunday morning I was at 269.8 lbs.  That puts me with a 0.1 pound increase this week, or what amounts to the same weight as last week.  I have decided that workouts must make their way into my schedule on a regular basis.  I am also considering signing up for a 5K in the fall to give myself a goal to hit during the first semester of the school year.  We will see what happens.  I am still staying positive.  I even got a couple compliments this week about my weight loss from people that hadn't seen me in a while.  Until next week... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.

Vegas, Baby!!

The past week has been quite an enjoyable one!  In January, myself and Mrs. Re-Dan-imation, along with a group of friends decided that we would be making a trip back to Las Vegas.  After our wedding and honeymoon 5 years ago we took this same trip with the same group of friends.  We all get along well, except for decision making sometimes, so we figured we should go again.

Let's just say I was a little excited to go.  I LOVE VACATIONS!!  So, the day before I decided to try to go to bed early and get at least some sleep as we were to head to the airport at 3:30 Monday morning.  After struggling to get to sleep for roughly 6 hours, I gave in and just stayed up the entire night.  Probably not the best idea, but I made it through.  Our flight left at 6:30 on Monday morning and I was lucky to get  maybe 45 minutes of on and off sleep on the plane.  In total, I spent roughly 40 hours awake.  Thankfully, our first night in Vegas we went to bed "early" by Vegas standards.  I managed to get in a good 8 hours of sleep (the most I would see for the rest of the trip).

There was a ton of opportunity to overeat while in Vegas.  There is a buffet in every casino, a Starbucks in every hallway, and a deal to be had on just about anything involving food.  Even more, there is the chance to over indulge on alcohol.  Now, I am not an angel.  Of course I took part in some of these activities.  We spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the pool, drinking Bud Light Lime or frozen sugary drinks and having some snacks.  However, I tried not to completely over do it.  I think getting a sunburn the first day helped remind me to keep hydrated.

On the food front, I did have a couple trips to the buffet.  I tried not to go back to the line more times than necessary.  The food was great, so I grabbed smaller portions or took just a piece of the huge prime rib slice they cut for me.  I attempted to stick to iced tea instead of pop (i may have had some mixed with drinks though).  I honestly think I didn't do too poorly considering the plethora of choices and temptations in front of me.  I am sure I could have done better, but I am not going to kick myself over it either. (P. S.  check out the great burger I had at the Burger Brassiere in Paris.)

Being in Vegas resulted in me increasing my step count this week to just over 83,000.  That's pretty good considering the amount of time I spent in an airport or on an airplane.  I loved walking the strip especially the time we actually got to walk leisurely instead of being in a rush to head somewhere.  Seeing all the lights and watching all the people jut makes me happy.  You get the people watching where we live, but the lights and the activity is something you only find in Las Vegas.  The gambling is fun too.  We didn't win, but we had a great time.  I am sure you can tell by all the pictures.  I even finally got to witness the Bellagio fountains!

So, how about my weight.  Well, even with the good decisions I made I still weighed in at 269.7.  That's a gain of 1.8lbs., but I am going to take that.  I honestly thought it was going to be much worse than that and I am still under 270 which is what I was really hoping for when I got on the scale.  So, after a well deserved vacation, I am back on the plan.  Until next time... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.

Too bad none of us came home with this pile!!

Cinco de Miller

Welcome back, and happy Cinco de Miller!  This has been quite an eventful week, considering I have spent much of my time around the house and sitting outside with friends.  I hope you enjoy celebrating this week as much as I have.  Spoiler Alert: you'll be reading mostly about food!

To start the week, I was able to catch up with a friend from college that I haven't seen in two years.  She was in from Arizona to visit her family and took time out of her busy schedule to catch up with me.  We decided to meet for lunch at the Hamilton Town Centre and both had our first experience at a Brazilian grill.  I'll be honest, when I looked up Tucano's, I was a little scared because it is basically a buffet of meats with a salad bar included.  However, I made one trip to the salad bar and only had about 2 complete servings of meat.  If you haven't been to a Brazilian grill before, I suggest you try it.  It's nice to be able to have all the different meats and the pricing at Tucano's is pretty reasonable.  

The next couple days were supposed to be set aside to help some friends of our move.  However, there have been many set backs because of the person purchasing their home and it has been driving them nuts.  We decided to head out to visit with them for the evening.  We ended up hanging out for quite a while and the ladies even headed out to buy some fireworks to set off for the kids.  It was a great night and I am glad we were able to spend it with them one last time in their current house.  

As the week was coming to a close, we were anxiously awaiting our upcoming vacation.  We deserve it and are taking it as a celebration of our 5th (cinco) anniversary.  We hadn't planned on doing much else for our anniversary, but decided to treat ourselves to a dinner out together at a restaurant we have never visited (something we like to do when we get a chance).  After asking friends for ideas and doing a little research we decided on Seasons 52 at the Fashion Mall.  The name for the restaurant is a nod to the fact that they change some of the menu seasonally, occasionally weekly, based on what is in season.  We could not have made a better choice.  

After taking a seat in the bar we told our waitress that we had never been to the restaurant before and that we were celebrating our anniversary.  Her attitude totally brightened up and she was super happy to be helping us.  She asked if we were interested in a toast to start things off with (uhhh, yeah) and she brought out a champagne toast.  The champagne was great and a welcome surprise.  Next came an Amuse-bouche compliments of the chef.  A little one bite appetizer consisting of a slice of Ahi Tuna and some corn salsa. 

As we arrived during happy hour, some small plate appetizers were available for great money so we decided on the duck lollipops and the Ahi tuna.  Both were good choices and it was the first time either of us tasted duck.  For our entrees, Mrs. Re-Dan-imation chose some wild caught Alaskan Copper River Salmon and I chose the caramelized sea scallops.  They both were served with a sweet corn risotto and fresh snap peas and tomatoes.  The meals were fantastic and we finished every bite...along with a couple dessert shooters.  If you ever have the chance to go to Seasons 52, jump on it (Tell Deanna we said hi).

So, with all of this food being talked about, how did the weight loss go this week?  It went Fan-freaking-tastic!  When I stepped on the scale Sunday morning I saw 267.9 lbs.  I made sure to check it many more times to see if it was correct.  That gives me a loss for the week of 5.7 (another cinco) pounds this week and 26.4 pounds lost overall.  I may not have made my 30 pounds lost goal for this week, but I sure got a lot closer than I anticipated when I weighed in last week.  Don't forget to subscribe!  Until next week... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat.

Boom Squad

What an exciting week it has been!  The past week has been a whirlwind of preparations for America's birthday!  To start the week, we again completed a full day of yard work. 4 more of our bushes have made their way out of our backyard and our view has been greatly improved.

As for the rest of the week, I have been completely engrossed in the fireworks process. As a part of the Frankfort Indiana Jaycees we put on the largest hand fired fireworks show in the state of Indiana. On Wednesday, we found ourselves sorting through $13,000 worth of fireworks to set up the show. We sorted the shells by size, prepped them for firing, and sorted them into tubs for the night of the 4th. The biggest she'll is the size of a basketball and costs $500 on its own!!!

On Friday, 20+ Jaycees met on hole 11 of The Golf Preserve at Frankfort to begin sledging rebar into the ground to secure the mortars out of which the shells are fired. This process took a total of 2 hours, our quickest yet, and required quite a lot of physical labor (definitely a workout). A few of us headed out to Applebee's after to catch up and have some dinner. 

Saturday consisted of us meeting early for lunch at the TPA park to have some of the best Mexican food you have ever had. After a torta and a taco we had the afternoon to relax. We met back up at the Jaycees hall to have a pitch in dinner followed by last minute setup before the show. After a couple test shots we had to make some final adjustments to an entire row of mortars. We got it done and headed down to the hall to change clothes and prepare for the shoot ( hard hat, eye and ear protection, etc. ). 

Finally, the show began and for the next approx. 24 minutes I got my only adrenaline rush for the entire year. Running back and forth carrying live shells in your hands with burning ash falling around you is an experience like no other. We don't see a single firework go off until the finale when we are done loading our own shells. But, we wouldn't have it any other way. We feel our show is full of heart and love putting it on for the people of Frankfort.

Getting to bed at 4:00 am on Sunday morning didn't give my body enough time to recover and my weigh in resulted in a loss of only 0.1 lbs. I weighed in at 273.6. That puts my total weight loss at 20.7 pounds total. I don't think I will make my 30 pound goal by next week but I am still headed in the right direction. Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my blog this week. Until next week... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat