Sunday, November 27, 2005

Write It Off

OK, this whole week has been a complete write-off as far as diet and exercise goes. I'm back on the low carb diet starting today, but I probably gained 5 pounds since Tuesday. I'm still below 300, so the battle was not completely lost.

We had a good Thanksgiving meal, with only a few heated arguments amongst the in-laws. The Honeybaked Ham was excellent as always, and I finally finished off all the dressing yesterday morning. We still have half a turkey breast that hasn't been touched that I'll eat on early this week.

I did enough hits on MTurk by last Tuesday that I ordered my Petzl helmet with no money out of my pocket. I'll be working on earning some Christmas presents next so we can save on spending that. Our 13 year old dryer finally gave up the ghost last night, so we had to order a new one from Home Depot today. Thankfully Marissa's grandmother gave us some money for the holidays to spend on the house so that didn't bite us too bad.

We're still planning on pulling up the carpet in the basement and getting the concrete stained. I'm going to try to initiate that this week to see if we can get it finished before Christmas. Sir Blubbly better prepare himself for some heavy lifting soon.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Thanksgiving Bloat

I really wanted to go below 290 before Thanksgiving got here, but I seem to be on a plateau again. I've slacked off a little on the walking in the last week, so that would most likely account for the fact I haven't lost as much. I'm thinking it might be time to move the weight bench down into the basement soon and start throwing some plates up. When I was at the House of Heff last I lay down on his bench and did one rep of about 140 pounds. I used to work out regularly with more than that, so I probably need to add some more muscle to keep the calorie and fat burn going. The good news is that Paul Clemmons let the Big Tobacco Lobby influence him yet again and has chosen to completely go off his diet for the last week or so. I'm sure Sir Blubbly is packing on the weight even as you read this.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Shame on Heff

Well apparently Heff sent me a heavily modified copy of the group shot of the Hatchers and the Heffers taken at his house last weekend. I accidentally discovered his shenanigans and I've carefully restored the photo to its original format, which I present to you below. I just think the truth should always be first and foreskin when it comes to photography.

Must Catch Paul

Fellow fat boy and low carb enthusiast Paul Clemmons, who as far as I know is still closely affiliated with the Big Tobacco companies, has a different approach to the low carb lifestyle than I do. He likes to cook more and have a greater variety of food, while I like instant gratification and can eat the same stuff for weeks on end.

I've been trying to avoid eating mostly fatty foods this time around on the diet, so I don't go for the chicharrones too often. This week however, while getting a diet coke at the local Mapco I noticed a new offering from Golden Flake which was hot pork rinds with Louisianna Hot Sauce. I bought a bag and they were good. Very good. I know any yankees reading this are recoiling at the thought of eating deep fried pork skins, but hey, you shouldn't knock it til you try it.

I also tried the new low carb version of Reese's Cups last night at the basketball game when I was working the concession stand. Two cups has 1 net carb and they didn't taste too bad. The peanut butter is drier than the normal ones, but it was nice to have taste of an old favorite without feeling guilty about it.

I'm down to 290 pounds this morning, so the combination of sticking closely to the low carb diet and doing a lot of walking is really paying off this time. I'm actually considering skipping the dressing and potatoes for Thanksgiving this year, but honestly I don't see it happening once the meal gets here. The best I can hope for is to only blow it out on the carbs for one day and then get right back on track.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Quick Update

I'm down to 292 pounds this morning, so the extra walking and sticking firmly to the low carb diet is paying off nicely. I only walked 1.5 miles yesterday at lunch, but I had to help some friends from church move last night so that made up for it. Since the wife is going to be busy at a shower this weekend I'm thinking about hitting a trail somewhere around Nashville on Saturday. Maybe one of the Warner parks or an extended trip on the greenway.

Here's a picture of the Hatchers and the Heffers from this past weekend at the House of Heff. I still definitely look fat in that picture, but you should see the picture from 32 pounds ago. I apoligize for the crappy orange and blue stuff Heff and Donna are wearing. Some people just weren't raised any better. Check out that beautiful pregnant woman, though.




Monday, November 14, 2005

24 Hours in Bama

We drove down Saturday afternoon to Columbiana for a baby shower that was held Sunday afternoon. We ended up taking Marissa even though we originally didn't think she was going to make the trip. She did good on the way down, and spent most of the trip laying in the back of the Montero listening to me cuss at the Alabama/LSU game on the radio.

That evening I walked from my brother's house to Heff's house and back, which brought my weekly walking total up to 12.6 miles. This is the most I've walked in one week since I started tracking it 6 weeks ago. My next goal is to get to 14 miles a week but it may not be this week since my legs still feel like they're shot.

We visited with Donna and the Heffer for a few hours and when Heff forwards me the photos I'll post a group shot. I was disappointed a little since there was no cheeseball awaiting me and the grill was never fired up. There was chili but I was a little afraid of the possible carbs so I passed.

On Sunday we went to church with my mom, ate at Bernie's as is the required tradition, and then showed up at my cousin Sam's house for the baby shower. The loot was plentiful and the Montero was so stuffed that Marissa couldn't lay down in the back for the return trip to Tennessee. Highlights of the gifts include a Diaper Genie, the swing Marissa was craving, and lots of diapers and wipes and other needed baby equipment. Even my old Tuba buddy Dick Sturm showed up and I got to catch up with him for a while.

It was a good weekend but we were all really tired when we made it back to the house. I'm still dragging this morning and I'll probably try to go to sleep early tonight. Time to go get more coffee. I'm at 296 lbs this morning, so no major weight changes over the weekend.

Friday, November 11, 2005

The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

I wanted to take a minute to thank all of the veterans I know for their service. That list includes Jerry and Alison Morris, Mike Ray, Chris Whitworth, Bill Wilkins, Jimmy Disney, my dad James Hatcher, my uncle Eugene Hatcher, my cousin Keith Wortham, and anyone else that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

If you're interested in learning more about the history of Armistice Day, or Veteran's Day as it's now known, check out the article at Wikipedia.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Hatch Goes Round the Block

I did my long route today at lunch. It's 1.7 miles and there are a few hills on it. It's funny because when I start walking most days I'm a little stiff. By about the three minute mark the joints and the muscles get unkinked and things start feeling pretty good. The first leg of my walk is slightly downhill so by the time I cross Natchez Trace I'm feeling pretty good.

That's where the first uphill section of this particular route starts. About halfway up the hill I start cussing myself for deciding on the longer route today. About one hundred strides later I'm cussing myself for even walking today. Then I switch gears and start cussing myself for becoming such a fat slob and I make myself go a little faster. Finally I finish the loop back to Natchez Trace and it's downhill for a little while.

By the time I start going up the second hill, I've burned out most of the anger and I can just concentrate on finishing the walk. The only time this section is bad is when the grandmother with the cellphone catches up to me from behind and blows past me while talking the whole time.
Alien

I had read and heard it said before, but I guess I never really understood it until now. If you've had kids you surely know this, if you haven't you too won't understand until you do. The experience of laying in bed next to your wife with your hands on her belly and feeling your unborn child kick and move and wiggle around is one of the most profound experiences I've ever been a part of. I know it makes my wife uncomfortable, especially when the baby is moving around so much it looks like an alien is about to burst through the skin, but to me it's simply amazing. All the worries, fears, and trepidations that go along with being a husband and father disappear for those few moments and I find myself grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Night Shift

I signed up for Amazon's new program Mechanical Turk last week. My goal is to make enough to pay for the new Petzl Ecrin Roc caving helmet I want. Since you can never have enough blogs I also started a new blog called Turk Lurker to chronicle my experiences and observations.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Walking Update

Here's the graph for the last five weeks of walking. This past week wasn't so great since I only walked 3 days, but I actually got more mileage in than in two of the previous weeks. At least Bill the Blister is gone this week, replaced by the Callous Heff.


Four Days Later

So it's been four days since I last posted. In that time a lot has gone on. I blew the diet out and I'm back at 300 lbs this morning. No worries though, since I'm starting back on the low carb train until Thanksgiving. I think this time of year gives me too many excuses to cheat a little on the low calorie diet, and cheating a little leads to cheating a lot.

Despite this recent setback, I'm still happy with my progress. Marissa commented yesterday morning when I was getting dressed about how my legs and butt were looking much more muscular and well formed, so all the walking I've been doing has started paying off.

Speaking of walking, I got some funk on the top of my left foot which I ended up having to put a large bandage over for the weekend after I scratched it so much it started bleeding. I get lazy in the mornings and wear the same socks another day or three. Getting a few more pair of Smartwool should help out with that a good bit since I'm rotating between two pair right now.

Last Thursday night I joined the Nashville Grotto, which is a club affiliated with the National Speleological Society, which I also joined last week. I got several offers from people to go caving this past weekend and next, but I had to decline for now. I'm not going to disappear in a cave for several hours cut off from all communication until after the baby is born. I also want to get my own helmet and light gear before I start deep delving so I won't have to borrow from anyone.

My Mom was in town since Friday night so we enjoyed having her with us along with Prissie Sue the dachshund. Prissie is about 14 years old so she has no patience with Annie our dachshund who still acts like a puppy. Prissie just ignores her for the most part which drives Annie insane and she hops around barking at her.

Mom is going with Marissa this morning to her OB/GYN visit. Marissa has been going through a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions recently and she was up late last night with those. My wife is a worrier by nature, so I try to get her to relax more and I've been doing a lot of back and foot massaging to help her do so.

My sinus problems have finally cleared up and I'm sleeping much better as a result. I only slept about 6.5 hours last night since I stayed up late watching TV and talking to Marissa, but I feel pretty good this morning. Compare that to last week when I could sleep for 8 hours and still feel like nodding off at lunch time.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Thanksgiving Ahoy!

I reserved a nine pound Honey Baked Ham for Thanksgiving. The lady asked me how many people I was trying to feed and I had to tell her that the number of people being fed is meaningless since the real objective is to get a ham big enough that there's enough left for Thanksgiving Day after my wife and I pick at it for two days. Now I just need to find a turkey that weighs at least 25 pounds and the feast will be coming together nicely. Everyone come on over for supper at the Hatcher house!

Menu So Far:
Honey Baked Spiral Sliced Ham (probably down to 4 lbs by this point. Heh.)
Big Honking Turkey (we rub it down with butter, olive oil, and stick an orange inside it)
Homemade Mashed Potatoes (Marissa's mother makes about 10 lbs worth)
Dressing
Giblet Gravy
Sister Shubert rolls
Macaroni and Cheese (A requirement from my wife and kid.)
Cranberry Sauce
Lots of Desserts (Pumpkin pie, ches pie squares, etc.)
Subtraction

After I got home last night, I ate my supper which finished up a 960 calorie day for me. While my meal was cooking I asked Victoria if she had any math homework for me to check. She made a D in math on her first report card this year so now I want to see every piece of homework she has for that subject. She told me that she had already done the homework in class so "I know they're all right."

I told her to bring down to the kitchen table anyways and let me have a gander at it. The homework dealt with adding and subtracting negative numbers, so the first problem was something like 4+(-6) and she had written an answer of 2. Wrong.

The next one was -6-(-6) and it was wrong. I went through all 16 problems and 14 were wrong. Thanks for playing! Next, please!

So I stood in front of the chalkboard we have in the kitchen and taught a math lesson for 30 minutes then she had to do every problem over again while I ate my 300 calorie TV dinner.

In other math news, thanks to walking the dachshund an extra mile last night and staying under 1000 calories for the day I weighed in at 294 this morning. For those of you not keeping up that's a total of 30 pounds lost, or 324 +(-30) if you're in 7th grade math at MJCA.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

One More Time!

One more Happy Birthday that I completely forgot about. My friend Paul's little brown woman's birthday is today, so happy birthday Ferlie! Paul's child bride is finally a teenager now I think. Heh.

I think I'm done with birthday's for a while, but I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody.
Stalled

So I've been stalled at about 298 lbs for about 2 weeks or so now. My low calorie regimen is working to maintain me at this weight, but since I've cheated every few days lately I haven't lost anything. Last night for example Marissa and I went to a Japanese steakhouse for her birthday dinner. I had the filet and scallops along with some sushi to start things off, plus I ate Marissa's vegetables and some of her chicken. Ugh. Hatch stuffed. I was at 296 yesterday morning and today I'm at 298 thanks to that meal.

On a positive note, I am still walking, but I won't get as many miles in this week as I did last week due to my blister and still having sinus problems. I ended up naming the blister Bill and I curse him constantly while I'm walking and I also make fun of his spelling skills.

Anyway, things will get better soon and I've still lost 26 pounds. I did the 1.7 mile walking route at lunch today and no blisters or joints complained too much. I'm contemplating trying a new route tomorrow which includes a pretty steep hill. I need to get serious for the next 3 weeks and peel off some more weight before Thanksgiving, and hauling 298 lbs up and down a few steep hills is a great way to do it.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Happy Birthday!

My beautiful and very pregnant wife Marissa has a birthday today. She's 29...again! Happy birthday baby! Even if you were like 32 or something I couldn't love you more! Can you imagine a woman putting up with me for almost 4 years? I know plenty of people are shaking their heads in disbelieve right now.

Oh, and a certain dillhole in Columbiana turns 38 today as well. He may be skinnier than me, but I have all my hair and I'll always be younger. Heh.