THE RANGERS WIN THE PENNANT!!!

Last night I watched a bit of history take place, as my local favorite team finally made it. They won the ALCS and are now headed to the World Series to represent the American League. THE RANGERS WIN THE PENNANT!

"Win the Pennant," is a phrase you hear from time to time from Radio and TV Announcers this time a year and is a phrase I thought I'd never hear tied to the Texas Rangers. Until last last night happened that is and its so great that it is true.

This ball club showed something very early on this season and it was destined to make it to Playoffs I think. Something told me around the first few games of the Playoffs, they were destined to do much more as well. Now I'm getting the feeling that they are destined to Win the World Series as well.

Next week they'll start their quest to make History once again and they only need 4 more wins to reach that mark. History is about to happen once again for the Rangers and I love it!

Dual Fandom
OK, its not a secret that I've been a Yankee Fan over the years and its something of a nostalgia for me and this very historical team. Just the same I've always supported and pulled for my local team to do well. Over the years I've liked a few teams from the locals to outside my area in professional sports. Drives my friends and families crazy at times.

This latest Championship series happened to pit my local Texas Rangers against the New York Yankees. This was the one time I wanted the Yankees to lose now. In regular matches I had more of a its OK with WHO ever wins, but not this time around. I actually think I might have hated the Yankees more if they'd beaten the Rangers. I'm really glad it worked out this way amd the Rangers beat the Yankees last night.

I'm sure this is not the last time the Yankees will make it to the ALCS and I'm sure they'll go on to play in other World Series games and even win it. But this is the one year I'm happy to say and respectfully that I don't support the Yankees. There is always next year for them right? Then again the Texas Rangers look very strong and might need to make history just repeat itself.

Not a bad start at all

So after a full week of sticking to the diet I've managed to drop 11 pounds so far. I'd have to think that is pretty impressive to say the least. I even feel a bit better than before and being lighter must add to that.

Now I'm not suppose to be weighing myself every day and I'm stopping now and sticking to the original plan. That means I'll weigh at the 4, 8, and 12 week marks. I'm expecting to notice things over the next few weeks in my looks at least.

I found it funny that my 8th week weigh in lands right on Thanksgiving Day, what a way to really keep me on the path I'd have to say. This will be one of the hardest days of the whole program I think. I so love Turkey and Dressing and eating at my in-laws, but hopefully I'll be tons lighter and will feel tons better, giving myself something to truly be thankful for.

The Last Temptation and then another...

Well I managed to make it through the Seafood Boil celebration today at my in-laws. In fact I made it through the whole day of temptations. What was really hard was walking in and seeing the Cake Balls that my sister in-law made to start with.

Then I spied the Cupcakes over in another location of the kitchen. Finally my mother in-law asked about an ingredient for a recipe that was up on her laptop. No, it just had to be Neiman Marcus Cake that she was making.

Now, its not like I sit down with every meal and have a desert. I'm not always eating stuff like this and its not like they always have this type of stuff, but during this time of year is when it ramps up a bit and I know this will not be the last temptation.

Oh well, in a year from now I'll have my shot at trying something small and sweet once again. I've just got to keep at this diet, stick to the program and burn this fat away. The grape fruit I had with some splenda made up just a tad, but it was not the same.

This week we have an employee luncheon at work and all kinds of Sporting Event type foods will be prepared. In fact I get to help with the cooking of some of the stuff. But I will not be eating any of the food and stick to my meal plan alone. I think I might be safe until Halloween time at least.

Welcome to Hell week

Ok, its not that bad really. It is a challenge though and like most stuff can be looked at as an addiction. Eating all kinds of crap can put you in the same boat as an addict. So to suddenly jump ship and swim towards a more healthy life style can be a real challenge.

Once you break the habits and start new habits its really easy. I've been here and done some stuff like this before to tell you the truth. Cutting sodas out all together can be done and after you make it through the first week, it gets easier for the following weeks.

For me its most of the other stuff I'm cutting out that seems to be harder right now. For example a simple glass of milk. Ok I love to chase it with a cookie at times or the other way around. But a simple bowl of cereal and milk is not allowed right now. Same goes for a warm bowl of Oatmeal in the morning. After a week though I'll be fine and not even miss it.

See right now my body is telling me it wants more food, but I'm training it to eat healthier and less. So its starting to burn off some of the fat and that is when you feel that little sign from below that it wants more.

Trouble is that sign then says, I'd like to have a cookie or something sweet. You just have to break that chain of thinking and after a week of eating the other stuff and building the habit of health eating, it will start to get better and you'll not even miss the other stuff.

I only hope at the end of the program I can reintroduce a few things and in a smart way of course and don't find that I don't care for a glass of milk. But we are not anywhere near that stage here and have a lot more to go. I mean its only day two and we still need to reach at least day seven I'd say.

I'm confident that I can make it happen though and I'll make it through this week and keep heading towards the twelfth week.

New diet begins now

Well I'm back at it again... the weight has come back over time and now its time to get rid of those extra pounds. Those EXTRA, EXTRA Pounds to be clear here. The last time I dropped the 60 lbs was over a 12 week or so period and it simply involved me dropping the sodas, eating a lot less, and moving my ass more.

This time around I'm looking at a new diet plan by Dr Cohen's called 1st Personal Diet. So what's so different about this diet? Do you have to eat all meat or count calories? Nope! I just have to eat regular food and the same stuff you buy at the local stores. No crazy pre-packaged meals or funny shake drinks to be on this diet at all.

This diet is built off my personal blood work though. I went to a lab and gave some blood and based on those results, they tell me what kinds of foods and how much of each to eat per meal. The next step is to then work on eating only these certain types of foods for the three meals per each day and I can also have some crackers (7 @ 5.85 g) and fruits (3) between meals as snacks.

The kicker... oh yes, every diet plan has a kicker now. You have to weigh out a certain portion of your food before cooking or prepping it. We are talking about raw item weights here and that makes up your meal totals. Who knows what the calories are, that's not important here. Its only eating these certain amounts of Meals 1, 2, and 3 for each day.

Now each persons personal diet is suppose to be different, its based on their blood work and all the stuff that shows up inside it. So what I'm suppose to eat and what amounts will not work for YOU. I mean sure it might help you drop the weight and I'm willing to bet it surely will, but you might need to eat different types of foods and certainly different amounts to do this the right way.

Heck, anyone can play their own version of Survivor Island and only eat rice for each meal and drop a lot of weight (no rice for me). In other words, its not about starving yourself and dropping the weight fast with this plan. It's about dropping the weight safely and by eating only certain foods and amounts and then later you'll switch into a re-feeding phase to help introduce other foods back and keep the weight off (See you in 12 weeks).

Well what about exercise? You pretty much don't have to do that really, in fact you should do what you did before you went on the diet an keep that up. So that means I can sit around quite a bit I suppose. The problem is if you go on this diet and start to work out, your going to burn off stuff on both sides here, from eating and working out and this can mess things up quick. If you work out normally, then keep doing just as you are doing and follow the plan.

During the plan, which is all online as far as support goes, you'll track your progress every 4 weeks and they'll monitor and perhaps adjust things. So if I start this and begin a heavy session of working out as well, I'll more and likely burn off to much, to fast, and not have enough Food to keep me going. So I plan to just make the food and eat the food for now.

Am I pumped and excited about this new diet plan? Yes and No. I'll do it and make it work, but the truth is I couldn't have picked a worse time of the year to start this Damn Diet. Oh, but it never would be a perfect time, wrong. For me, this is the time of the year I like the most, its the Fall and its a time that the family gets together even more and over the holidays we eat some pretty good stuff as well (not healty really). So I've picked the Fall & Holidays it seems to do this... simply a brilliant idea I have to say.

So I'll get to make my simple Meals 1, 2, and 3 for each day that total in at about 240 g (.50 lbs of food) for each meal. Remember its only certain types of food, so I can't weight out the Turkey & Dressing and then chase it with a slice of Pecan Pie. No, I can only cook and prep the right amounts foods and based on my personal diet plan for selected items. For some reason, I'm just not looking forward to Thanks Giving at all this year.

You know how it feels to bring a lunch to work and a co-worker pulls out a slice of Pizza that smells oh so good and you only have a sandwich to eat? That's what it will be like for me these Holidays, they might as well be eating Pizza.

What's up for this weekend? The Family is gathering to celebrate my brother-in-laws Birthday and will be having a seafood boil. I'm not sure what I'm eating just yet, but I know what it will weigh to start with.