I've been around :) I'll give a basic fleshing out of what I've been up to but I'll really need to take the time and give a proper update on some certain things.
So from June 13th to 25th was 1 week of preparing for Boys' State and one week of actually being there. This year was a super super busy and I took on a whole lot more responsibility than I have previously and I feel like I really really helped to make a difference. After 8 years of volunteering for the organization I was eligible to become a trustee in the New Jersey Boys State Foundation a 501(c)(3) charitable not-for-profit organization working in partnership with the American Legion Department of New Jersey to maintain American Legion Jersey Boys State tuition-free to its delegates by helping off-set the escalating costs of running the program. I've been working with the foundation since my first year on staff and I managed to be voted in as a trustee in my first year of eligibility. This is a huge deal to me and really encourages me to work harder for both organizations than I have before.
The week was pretty standard over all. However this year in particular the food was worse than I've ever seen, and especially given my new no-grains policy it made it nearly impossible to eat anything other than salad and deli "meat"! So naturally I ended up cheating.... but not with grains! My go-to meal was a huge plate of broccoli, some balsamic.... and ICE CREAM. I probably had a pint and a half of ice cream a day. Despite all this and the cheating that I ended up doing (I was in no way perfect and still had a cheat day friday) 2 days after the session I was right back to 223.6 and only just .6 lbs above where I started.
It's taken me a good bit of time to get my wits back about myself, trying to catch up on the food shopping I missed and all of the cleaning that needed to be done. I did manage to complete two outstanding projects in this time away as well. I now have a water filter on the whole darn cold water line to my kitchen sink, so all of the nice cool water coming out is filtered of all the nasty nasty yuck yuck that it used to have!
In addition to the cold water filter I also put in a bath fan which ended up being a bit more of a project than I planned where I found out that my soffit vents are fake and just covering up shitty wood that should have been yanked to give my attic worlds better air flow.
I'll add a short post with pictures of these two projects at a later date.
Today however, was a lawn day. I have been terribly remiss in mowing and it had become nearly un-manageable. I usually like to just leave the clippings where they lay but I would have had to mow at least 3 or 4 times to have that work out so I decided that I would just bag, overall it worked out pretty well but took about twice as long and I still had to go quite slow. While I was just finishing up the back yard Dom came home and was playing around with her new camera (sadly ended up being defective). She grabbed some shots of me trying to jump and reach a toy of Herbie's a got stuck in some branches. Naturally that turned into me being a quick model and I've attached two other shots that I think came out well below. I'm amazed at how much weight I've lost.... looking back at pictures of myself from January it's super hard to believe!
Before Photos for comparison.
I'll be trying to catch up on reading blogs tomorrow and I'll try and get some comments in as well.
Lookin' good :) Also... that was one hell of a jump. Even Herbie has her jaw on the ground. You should post before photos for comparison.
ReplyDeleteGood point. I have now added them :)
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! That's impressive! Is this just from following the primal diet?
ReplyDeleteAlmost all from diet. I did some exercising following simplefit.org for a few weeks and a good bit of walking in there, but I didn't kill myself with exercise and I'm only now going to start P90x because I have energy and have always wanted to try it. I spent the first month doing the 4 hour body diet but I switched to primal because I found it much easier to sustain in the long term.
ReplyDeleteGrains were clearly ruining my body and so I figure I'll never go back to eating them on a daily basis so I eat primal blueprint style for 6 days a week and take one day to eat pretty much whatever I want. It works out really well. :)
That's awesome! I need to do something. I don't need to lose more than a few pounds, but my energy level is horrible.
ReplyDeleteI looked into following the primal diet, but it looked like a lot of recipes and recommendations are dependent on coconut or coconut derivatives which I am incredibly allergic to so it kind of put me off. Its otherwise pretty attractive though.
I totally understand. I like a little coconut here or there but they can go a bit overboard.
ReplyDeleteI usually just leave the coconut out most of the time and things end up tasting great.
I stick with alot of basics. Salt and pepper steak, paprika & dill pork chops, lemon pepper chicken, and just add on some large assortment of frozen veggies doused in butter. There are some veggies I can't do frozen, like Kale, that's a fresh only and cooking that up with some walnuts and dried cranberries is just amazing.
The basic premise is just ditch sweeteners(real and fake), starches, and grains and replace with meat and veggies. After about a week of your body getting used to it you'll feel fantastic. The hardest part is that there is just so much sugar and other carbohydrates in foods you can buy ready made that can sabotage you.
Candy, I hate coconut. Every now and then I'll use coconut oil, but other than that, I've been primal for over a year without eating the vile stuff. It's totally doable.
ReplyDeleteBryce, I really think grains are worse than sugar! I've noticed the same thing as you - I balloon if I eat grains (oh pizza, I will always love you) but I can handle the occasional ice cream, chocolate bar, etc. You look awesome!
Funder I totally agree that grains are wayyy worse than sugar. I'm at the point where If I'm feeling like I need some sort of carb after some serious exercise I'll go with ice cream or rice! Those two seem to work quite well for me. I will have my kidney beans every now and again. But after pizza or pasta or some sort of grain my stomach protests quite loudly. I do still have my pizza every now and again and I just accept that I'm going to feel like crap the next day. Thanks for the compliment :)
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know. Its not just a question of not liking coconut, its an I land in the hospital because my throat swells shut kind of thing. I actually quite like coconut the few times I've eaten it accidentally - and then paid the price. Try white rice cooked in coconut milk (it comes in cans usually in the baking aisle) instead of water sometime. Its sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! My friend from Colombia made it and it was really good - until I, you know, almost died...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I may have to try this. I know I need to do something!
WOW! Phenomenal change Bryce! You have undergone an amazing transformation. I have come to the conclusion that I simply cannot eat bread. I bloat too much and it makes me feel REALLY uncomfortable. I am thinking that I may also have to go primal.
ReplyDeleteBTW, awesome post and welcome back!
Thanks so much Daff :)
ReplyDeleteIt's such a shame that bread has to be so darn yummy! Going primal is quite the adventure. It takes a few weeks to get into the groove but it's totally worth it.
Thanks :) Now I just need to really catch up on my to-read blogs and get some more posts going on.