Day 689–Keeping Perspective

So…we lost. It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but we played hard and there’s definitely room to grow.  I’m feeling good about tomorrow’s game two.

I found myself reviewing the game all day today…individual plays, sections of movement, bounces that could have gone our way…kind of drove me nuts.  I kept wavering back and forth between the idea that we were three feet away from winning and three feet away from being completely blown out.  It can be stressful to harp on so many things that just don’t matter in the grand scheme of…life. Kind words from my dad, an encounter with someone at church, even a completely random tweet from a former student all helped to set me straight about what really matters.  It’s a lot easier to approach soccer, class, relationships, everything when you’ve got a better bird’s eye view of what we’re doing.  I appreciate the lesson in humility.

Breakfast–A homemade cranberry-vanilla muffin.  Awesomeness.

Lunch–1.5 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Jenna and Seth gave us some strawberry-rhubarb jam from Memphis, and it made EPIC PB&J.  I loved it.

Snack–Some peanut butter M&Ms leftover from our road trip to Dallas.

Dinner–Genghis Grill before church.  My bowl had beef, shrimp, celery, mushrooms, peppers, onions, edamame, pineapple, and some spicy soy sauce.  It was great.

Dessert–Another muffin.  Good for breakfast AND dessert!

Game #2 tomorrow…feeling good.

Have a good one.

Day 687–Game Time

This is a random tangent that doesn’t have much to do with today’s “theme” but I had to get certified in First Aid before the season started. I searched online for a cheap-ish alternative to sitting through a four hour class, and sure enough…for twenty dollars, I’m now certified.  It took me six minutes. SIX MINUTES. I do not feel comfortable with that, even if most first aid is just common sense and calling 911.  On to more important things…

First game tomorrow.

It’s bizarre being on the sidelines for once…this is kind of the culmination of what I’ve learned over the years.  The one reason I always sucked at soccer is that while my brain knew exactly what to do, my body refused to cooperate or I just wasn’t good enough to pull it off.  Tomorrow at 7 pm against Lutheran South that’s going to repeat itself on a much grander scale…my mind in the form of one team. 16 student athletes. And I really believe we’re going to win, probably in spite of my coaching.  Stay tuned for results.

Breakfast–Chocolate Lucky Charms.  Cleaning out the fridge and pantry becomes a theme for the day.

Lunch–Spinach salad with bacon, roasted pumpkin seeds, crispy jalapeno strips, and a small dose of cherry almond-jalapeno vinaigrette.  Wonderful.

Dinner–Leftover skirt steak and onion/pepper mix diced into a two-egg omelette.  Pretty nice way to empty out the chill chest.

Dessert–Ice cream.  Again…cleaning things out.  And I love ice cream.

Wish us luck tomorrow! 7 pm. COYC! (Come on you ‘cats!)

Have a good one.

Day 685–3500

I learned something today (probably should have already known this, but whatever…not like I have a biology degree or anything) that will help in my weight loss efforts.  You have to have a calorie deficit of 3500 calories in order to lose a single pound.  Rough estimation says that someone my age, size, and activity level burns around 1800 calories naturally throughout the day.  That means if I wanted to lose a pound tomorrow I would have to workout to the tune of 1700 calories AND not eat.  Yikes.  The good news is that it doesn’t all have to happen in one day…that’s why we spread it out over a week or two.  It also means I have a more manageable and controllable goal to aim for instead of the slightly nebulous 1820 calories a day I have to eat, not counting exercise and trusting the MyFitnessPal database.  If I’m under by 500 calories a day, however I do it, I’ll lose a pound over the course of a week.  Totally doable.

Breakfast–Thomas’ English Muffin with apple butter.  And oh yeah…the English Muffin was CRANBERRY. It was AWESOME.  I’m totally over cinnamon raisin breakfast products, but cranberry? I’m on it.

Lunch–Blue Goose for Jenna and Seth’s going away soiree.  I had pork tamales and more chips and salsa than I should have. Really good stuff though.

Dinner–Arby’s.  Once again, my dreams of going to Five Guys went by the wayside, but once again the replacement was totally worth it.  Large roast beef sandwich and medium curly fries. Boom.

Going back to Houston tomorrow…had a great time with the family over the holidays.  And yes, I mean holidays.  We did Thanksgiving on Thursday and Christmas on Friday due to our limited time together this year.  I hope you all were able to relax and enjoy the weekend like I did!

Have a good one.

Day 681–Joyful Joyful

One of the things we talked about at Fall Retreat was the difference between happiness and joy.  Happiness, in my definition, was a fleeting sense of pleasure–the Cowboys winning a game, a good meal, a funny TV show.  Joy, however, is a feeling deep within your soul that gratifies on a completely different plane.  Seeing my wife enjoy and excel at her job brings me joy.  Cooking for other people brings me joy.  Watching the proverbial light bulb go on about Christ in someone else brings me joy.

I say this because I experienced two different sources of joy today.  The first is one I relish because it reminds me of how fragile I am and by proxy how unimportant this life truly is.  Casey’s great-grandmother passed away this morning at the sterling age of 99.  Casey said it was a time of sadness as well as a time of joy–joy because there’s no more sadness for her, no more pain for her, just the eternal bliss of being with Christ.  So often we, as Christians, get caught up in the here and now–sometimes for completely legitimate and important reasons like the loss of a loved one or helping a friend through times of sorrow–but we can’t ever forget this is not our true home.  If this is all we have it would be a great gift, but a fleeting one.  The promise of something better is the ultimate motivator.

The second form of joy came in the guise of dinner with a good friend.  I felt compelled, for whatever reason, to forgo the HBU game (which was apparently ridiculous…they lost in OT) to spend time with Abby.  However, we already had plans to take the Toys to the airport so they could go to Denver (lucky!) for Thanksgiving.  And Abby had made plans to have dinner with Kimberly.  Thankfully, Kim and Abs were kind enough to let me crash their party.  We had good food, great conversation, and lots of laughs, including a better understand of family dynamics (you may think your family is weird, but trust me–they all are).  Don’t even know if you read this Kim, but I appreciate you and your friendship!

Breakfast–I promised yesterday that I would eat before practice, and I delivered.  Fiber One bar. Boom.

Lunch–Wendy’s.  I was craving Dr Pepper and didn’t feel like bombing the grocery store with my post-practice stank.  Spicy Chicken Sandwich with half the bun removed, fries, and a large DP.  Scrumptious.

Snack–I know this isn’t how exercising works, but since I worked through practice I rewarded myself with some ice cream.

Dinner–Lupe Tortilla.  Carnita tacos, which in my experience with food, that wasn’t carnitas, but whatever. It was still good.

One more airport note: remind me to never fly on Thanksgiving.  Wow.  Hobby was a mess.

Dallas tomorrow!

Have a good one. Or better yet, have a joyful one.

Day 680–Playing With a Full Deck

For the first time this season, I had a starting XI to work with in practice today.  There were a few bad things about this…A) The football team lost their playoff game, which is why my football players were back.  I wish for their sakes they could have moved on and played some more games.  B) It was a morning practice.  So…my teenage boy players were a bit zombie-ish. C) We are THIN. Some injuries, some academic issues…going to be stressful.  But we can handle it.

A couple of days of practice together and we just might be able to make some noise. Feeling good.

Breakfast–Yeah…about that.  I woke up too late to eat before practice.  Physically I was okay…mentally I was a mess.  Not doing that again.

Lunch–Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  This time it was peach jam from Lone Prairie Farms.  Not as good…needed more acid.  Kind of overpoweringly sweet, and because it was a jam and not preserves, there wasn’t even anything textural to break it up.  Might have to add lemon juice or something to it next time.

Dinner–Homemade fajitas.  Skirt steak with a rub of adobo seasoning from Penzey’s spices, sauteed onions and peppers, all on corn tortillas.  I think I’m going to switch back to flour tortillas from now on…the corn just don’t have any structure to them and fall apart everywhere.  And the Penzey’s spice blends usually have no salt added, something I always forget. So it needed more seasoning as well.  But they were delicious nevertheless, and I have leftovers for tomorrow.

Dessert–Since I didn’t eat breakfast, I had some calories to spare.  And it was almost 80 in Houston today, so I found myself craving ice cream.  About a cup and a half of chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream hit the spot quite well.

Practice tomorrow and then Thanksgiving break for real!  Oh, and HBU vs. Pepperdine.  It’s going to be crazy.

Have a good one.

Day 679–Accountable

Today was one of those where the best laid plans of mice and men couldn’t have prevented the inevitable caloric disaster that ensued.  We tried. We really did.  Although I did have help from my friends, which I greatly appreciate…like I’ve said multiple times, I couldn’t do this without you.

Breakfast–A Fiber One bar.  I had every intention of eating something more substantial, then slept in a bit, followed it with a cold shower, and barely made it to church on time.  Whoopsies.

Lunch–This is where things get wonky.  We had planned on coming home for lunch so I could sear off a flank steak, made some nutritious salads, and enjoy a healthy and cheap lunch.  Then, halfway through service a craving for Five Guys hit me like none other…specifically their fries. Sweet sweet cajun fries.  So we changed plans to that, only to be invited to lunch with the Smiths from church, which was awesome because I love their family.  We ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings, which I LOVE, and I threw down twelve wings and some buffalo chips.  According to my handy-dandy MyFitnessPal, that came out to around 1400 calories.  I get 1820 on my plan.  Whoops.

Dinner–Homemade gumbo, courtesy of Mrs. Cheryl Britt and her awesomeness.  I’ve actually never had gumbo before…not sure why, because it was AMAZING.  I limited myself to a small helping (again, the benefits of MyFitnessPal…I knew I was creeping on my limit) and a “serving”–whatever the heck that means–of her Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. Wowza.

Dessert–See…this shouldn’t be happening. I already had dessert! Its right there on the line above! You can look! So I had the ice cream out, the scoop ready, and then the voice of reason stepped in through the form of Evan St. Germain. “Is this one of those times where I should stop you? Because we have apples in the fridge…”  Yes Evan, you should.  And thank you for doing that.  One cup of Blue Bell Cookies and Cream is 360 calories, 18 grams of fat, and 34 grams of sugar.  The apple had 40 calories, no fat, and 9 grams of sugar.  Easy choice.  Thanks for holding me accountable Evan.

Practice tomorrow, working out tomorrow (Whaaaaaaa?!), and no class work this week…its Thanksgiving silly.

Have a good one.

Day 678–Huskies FIGHT

So I went to the HBU Huskies/Dallas Christian Crusaders basketball game tonight with Jason, Evan, Joel, Kim, and one of Joel’s students.  It’s the first college basketball game I’ve ever sat all the way through, and only the third non-professional game I’ve ever seen.  The ACU games were…rough, although they did have some good high school playoff games at Moody Colosseum during my time at my dear alma mater. Anyways, we had a great time.  They won (although not convincingly…that part of it was kind of weird) and of course the company was great.  I just might have to go again throughout the season.

EDIT:  I was just reminded by my lovely wife that we watched the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight in Houston a couple of years ago.  The lesson, as always, is that I’m an idiot.

Breakfast–More of the cranberry-pistachio bread.  Awesomeness.

Lunch–One peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some sweet potato popchips.  I used strawberry jalapeno jam from Lone Prairie Farms in Grandview, TX.  This is awesome because A) its cheap, B) its local, and C) they have scripture on their labels.  I support locavore dining!  The jam, however, was SPICY.  I love a little heat, but dang…it made the sandwich intense.  Who knew PB&J could be such an experience?

Dinner–Chick Fila. A little pre-game snack.  I had four chicken strips, large waffle fries, and of course their awesome lemonade.  I still like the nuggets and sandwiches better though…I was trying something new.  Oh well.

Snack–At the game I had Starburst.  Better than a stick in the eye.

Church and life group tomorrow! And the Cowboys will continue my weekend of sports torment.

Have a good one.

Day 677–Cranberries Aren’t Good

There are certain foods that I often ponder about…mainly the question “Why? Why do we eat that?!” Most dairy products fall under this umbrella–“That milk seems to have developed mold, hardened, and changed color…lets eat it!”–as well as the literal Russian Roulette of mushrooms.  You have to think the first ones tried weren’t fatal and it got worse from there.  Cranberries definitely fit this mold…a strange, hard berry floating in a bog that tastes like absolute death unless doused in copious amounts of sugar or some other substance to make it behave.  I once ate a raw cranberry while walking through Central Market and almost collapsed at how bad it was.  But I’d seen a lot of great-looking recipes recently, calling for fresh, raw cranberries baked into goodies that popped with flavor and color.  So I made one of those tonight, some apple-cranberry cookies, and thought something was wrong with the dough.  Nope…turns out the cranberries just tainted everything they touched.  The apple-y bites were awesome.  The red-stained morsels?  The kiss of death.

Breakfast–Cranberry-pistachio bread from HEB.  I think they soaked their cranberries in sugar water beforehand…either that or I just got a bad life’s worth of cranberries so far.

Lunch–Leftover Pei Wei from last night.  It was goooooood.

Dinner–Mexican Pot Roast.  I’m still acting like its Autumn here in Houston, even if its in the 70s again.  It turned out really well–thank you Crock Pot–and there’s enough leftover for one or two more meals.  Boom.

No practice tomorrow, but lots of cleaning. And maybe an HBU game?

Have a good one.

Day 676–Intentions Versus Reality

In practice today one of my captains (MS) very deftly drew a foul on contact that wasn’t there.  One of the things my dad hates about soccer is all the flopping, complaining, and play-acting that goes on (looking at you Italy) on routine plays, disrupting the flow and causing the grown men playing this game to look like complete morons.  I, on the other hand, hate it but I respect that its part of the game whether I like it or not, so I just move on.  Kind of like traveling in basketball…its not going to change anytime soon.  Therefore I commiserated with the player committing said foul (MF), because he got his elbow up around the captain’s shoulders, and the next thing I knew he was on the ground.  See, MF didn’t mean to foul MS.  I’m not even sure he did foul MS.  But he got his elbows up, MS hit the ground, and it sure LOOKED like he had committed a foul.  Unfortunately, in soccer and in weight loss, intentions don’t matter as much as what actually happens or what looks like happened.

I have grand intentions for my weight loss journey, not the least of which is #213by2013.  But talking about it and then eating a giant bowl of ice cream tonight, which I did, is kind of like putting my elbow in someone’s chest playing soccer–more often than not, its going to come back to burn me.  But just like the aforementioned “foul,” the ice cream serves as a teaching moment for me.  I have to back up my words with action–disciplined, careful action–or I’m going to end up in a place I’m not happy with.  To that end, I started using MyFitnessPal again today, and was (as always) blown away by the results.  I just don’t eat that well anymore.

This needs to change.  I know a lot of you read this and see me every week.  I appreciate how many readers I do have, regardless of the stats that show up on my homepage or whatever.  I need you, I BEG you, to hold me accountable.  Ask me how I’m doing.  Push me to be honest.  I have to lose weight…I’m killing myself with bad choices, and it needs to stop.

Breakfast–Chocolate Lucky Charms.  Here’s where a lot of my sugar intake for the day was, over 3 times as much as recommended. Go me.

Lunch–Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Here’s where more sugar (the jelly) and lots of fat (peanut butter) entered the picture.

Dinner–Half of a chicken fried rice order from Pei Wei and half of a Chicken Lettuce Wrap order.  Probably didn’t actually eat half of either, but its the easiest way to guess.  This was, by far, the healthiest thing I ate all day.  Which is just SAD.

Dessert–Big bowl of Butter Crunch Blue Bell while getting my tail handed to me by Evan St. Germain in Risk.  My winning streak is over with a big thud.

Time to get back on track here.  Practice tomorrow, some grad work, an HBU basketball game this weekend, and then Thanksgiving break.  You know, if I had a job.

Have a good one.

Day 675–What’s In A Number?

Handed out jerseys today at practice.  I’m amazed/impressed how attached high school kids can be to a number on a jersey, although I have to admit I remember my football numbers from middle school (85 and 83 I believe…I preferred 85) and I’ve worn the same number in basketball, intramurals, and “life” for the last 15 years.  I chose my number because it was my dad’s number…I’m not nearly the athlete he was, but I felt like I was continuing what legacy there was by honoring him with the good old 34.  I think we grow attached to numbers and teams as talismans of sorts, like the number 34 is going to make me a better athlete or wearing burnt orange is going to somehow make the Longhorns not play like, well…the Longhorns.  I wish I had as much faith in myself to lose weight and live healthier as I do in a simple two digit number…its the three digit number of my weight that seems to be controlling things though.  227 and going up…not okay.

Breakfast–Chocolate Lucky Charms.  I just wanted something sweet, ya know?

Lunch–Oriental Ramen with broccoli, orange bell pepper, and a squirt of sriracha.  It’s such a great, cheap, filling meal for the cooler months…whatever that means in Houston.

Dinner–Whole wheat penne pasta with orange bell pepper, broccoli, garlic, red pepper flakes, and some lardons.  Really great meal.

Dessert–Leftover cake from Ooh La La bakery last night.  Abby and I went to see Skyfall last night (which was…entertaining?) and got incredible cake beforehand.  So I finished it off today.  Boom.

Fun times with the St. Germains, Toys, and Gutowskys tomorrow night.  I’m pumped.