Losing it One Snow Man and One RC at a Time

As some of you may know, I have been trying to lose weight.  I have to say it has been tough, but not that tough...so far.

I haven't been doing a lot of exercise. I've just stopped eating snacks, drinking soda, and over eating.

Seems kind of simple right?

A little too simple...

Well, that's because it is.  The philosophy of weight loss is extremely simple and we all know how to do it.  The problem is it sucks!

If you're like me you like to eat.  

I get bored...I eat.  

I see food...I eat it.

So, to keep losing weight, and, to continue to not constantly eat, I use a distraction technique to keep my mind off of it.

What do I use as a distraction?

My Brats!

What could possibly be more distracting than bratty kids all amped up for Christmas?  They constantly want to play and horse around, so I join them.  I have a great time,  they have a great time, and I am losing weight!  It's a win for everybody.  

But, this begs the question of what do we do?

Well, as all you with kiddos know, kids like to do crap that drives parents crazy, like tea parties and screaming and laughing just because and playing toss the toys about to make Daddy pick it up and all sort of other things of that annoying nature.  

Luckily, my boys and I have also found a metric crap ton of stuff that we like, equally, to do together.

Like, Snowmen!

We've built a number of snow men, and love it!

Granted, they are all uglier than sin, but that just gives our snow people character!

The ogre looking guy behind the Pizzmeister is one of our latest creations.  He's a hard working landscaper with two little ones, which you can't see, who are swinging on our swing set and sliding down our slide! 

You know, we're lucky to have that landscaping snowman around.  We make him pick up after us when we're done playing and making a mess.

**Silly grin**  

But, snowmen can only be built when there is snow.

What do we do when there is no snow?

As evidence of my weight loss, I'm wearing a shirt in this
photo that was too small for me to wear last winter!

Well, as the title to this post suggests, RC's are a large part of our diet regime too!  

Ever since the boys and I stumbled onto Djmedic's videos on Youtube, we've caught the "RC Bug,"  meaning we're obsessed!

The boys love their little rc's, and, truthfully, I do too!

We have a tremendous time driving them around, chasing them like maniacs, jumping them, getting them filthy, tinkering with them, and, above all, UPGRADING them!  

And, it's all thanks to this DjMedic guy, a complete stranger we've been cyber stalking on youtube, who makes videos that my brats thought were so cool we had to watch every single one at least thrice. 

Anyway, since the boys and I already have these cool toys we love, I thought I'd use them as a distraction from food, and as a means for a little exercise, as well.

So far, it seems to be working.  I've lost about 30 pounds in the last month, around 14 kg's for those of you who don't use pounds and what not, and I feel like I have a little more energy, or at the very least I feel less like a slug than a month or two ago.

A few of my readers asked how I'm doing it, and that's the answer. I'm learning to not eat all the time by focusing on snowmen and rc's.  

Here's to hopefully losing 30, and then some, more pounds!

P.s.  Here's a few more photos of the brats because I love showing them off. 

P.p.s.  Oh what the hell, I'll throw in some photos of our Rc's because I love showing them off too, even when I epic fail in modifying them.  

The Pizzmeister helped build and paint a trailer for his tiny truck to
haul an even tinier truck around in.

Tire Chains!  That Same DjMedic guy did a vid on making them.
The Pizzmeister watched it and begged to make them with me.
Of course, I was quite eager unwillingly obliged
*wink*

Our first project truck we bought used off of e-bay!
It's almost complete.  We just need a new body...maybe

Yes, that is packing tape on the tires because it's great fun to make it slide all over the house.  The pizzmeister also painted it with finger paint, and, no, that isn't the original shell.
We thought it would be cool to toss that body on and paint it up.
We were right!  The Pizzmeister thinks this is the coolest car he has.

And, this is "rescue mountain" built as a crawling course for a tiny
matchbox sized rc, complete with a launch pad on top for
the rc helicopters, and a tunnel for the trains to go through.

Week One: The Path to a Different Me

Ok.  So, One week ago I decided I was going to shed a few pounds, and let me tell you it ain't easy.

First of all, I love food!  

Other than playing with my brats, being in the woods, and, of course, spending time with Mama Bear, eating is my favorite thing to do. There are just so many recipes to taste and enjoy, and so many dishes to prepare and taste. Just the thought of it gives me tingles and makes me smile. 

But, there is a problem.  I haven't just been tasting.  I've been gorging.  

Not Good!

So, last Tuesday I decided today is the day I am going to make a change, and I'm starting right now by going on a diet.

Yuck!

Sounds like no fun right?

Well, it isn't any fun, but I'm not really doing it for me.  I'm doing it for my brats and for Mama Bear.  For some reason, they seems to love me, and I love them very dearly, so I'm going to try and get a little healthier for them, and I am not going to do it with any pills or fad diets.

I'm just going to do it the plain jane, old fashioned way of cutting caloric intake and exercising.  

To be honest with you, I am not enjoying it all that much so far.  

I'm used to eating until I am stuffed, which is no good, so getting used to putting the fork and spoon down while I am still peckish is kind of rough.

Eventually, I am sure I'll get used to it.  Just like, eventually, I won't see food that needs "tasting" all around me all the time.

The other thing that makes my dieting kind of hard is the fact that my bratty boys eat all day.  I am constantly preparing snacks for them.  There is always a temptation to just take a little bite of what they are having, but we all know what that will lead to.  

Let me tell you, breaking the habit of snacking all day is a hard habit to break, but I am going to do it. 

What really helps me is redirection of attention.  

Instead of thinking about food, I focus on other things.  Sometimes, I make up stories while the boys are having one of their hundreds of snack times through out the day, sometimes I play my guitar, sometimes I sit and tune up one of the radio control cars, sometimes I get an early start on dinner, sometimes I have even resorted to doing dishes, but the important thing is I am doing something other than eating.  I figure that once I break that habit of wanting to sit and snack with them all day things will be much easier.

Anyway, for those of you that are curious, my starting weight is a heavy 300 pounds on the dot.  Yes, I am counting calories, and I am aiming for around 2,000 a day, which I have been told is very reasonable.  

And, most importantly, I am not denying myself any of my favorite foods.  I am just limiting how much I eat.  I am doing my best to stick to recommended serving sizes and all that rot.  I find that having actual numbers to go by is very helpful.  I am shooting for a 2 pound loss each week with the eventual end result of being around 200-220 pounds.  I'd be pleased with that.

So far, I have screwed up my first week.  My portions and variety need a little fine tuning because as of this morning I have lost ten pounds. I am a little perplexed by this.  I just hope it doesn't all come back next week.

Also, I am teaching myself to prepare meals healthier, which doesn't mean less flavorful, but it does mean more work a lot of the time.  It's worth it though.

Here's a quick for instance.  The other day I made one of my favorite foods in the world, Chicken Wings! But, I changed up my method of preparing them.  

First thing I did differently was to remove the skin from all of the wings, which, admittedly, was quite labor intensive. Then, I pulled off any remaining fat, again labor intensive.  

After that, I mixed some garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, chile powder, and salt into a mixing bowl and dropped the wings ontop and then mixed them well, took them out, put them on a baking sheet, and popped them into the oven at 350 degrees until they were 180 degrees internally. 

Yes, it was quite a bit of fuss, but, in the end, the wings tasted even better than usual, and they were a little healthier.  

Well, that's it for week one.