Day 57

1. Coffee Cake
2. Pumpkin Mufffin
3. Tuna Sandwich w/lettuce, tomato, pickle, pepper, and mustard on wheat
4. pasta w/tomato sauce, parmesean, and garlic bread
5. water
6. powerade

Excersize: 1500 yards swimming

Tommorrow's gonna be a 10!

Day 56

Today I had:

1. Apple
2. Orange Juice
3. Graham Cracker
4. Cottage Cheese
5. Ramen Soup
6. Ham and Turkey sandwich on wheat w/lettuce
7. nonfat yogurt
8. vegitable pizza

Today I excersied: 2000 yards freestyle swimming! thats 40 laps!

Day 55

Today I managed to eat pretty well within my plan, plus I started off the day with swimming right away in the morning. Now thats what Id call a successful day.

1. Apple
2. Orange Juice
3. Granola Bars 3
4. Tuna Sandwich w/light mayo, lettuce, and pickle relish
5. Yogurt
6. 3 Graham Cracker Sheets
7. Top Ramen, Chicken
8. and of course, lots of water

Im starting to participate in the Lake Tahoe Swim Challenge - basically I have until december 2 (which happens to be day 100 coincidentally) to swim the course of 22 miles. I don't know If I can quite get there, but im sure gonna try. Im going to start beefing up my morning swims with 40 laps instead of 30. This morning I could have done that but I had some work to get done. Tommorrow, we'll see. Today I swam 30 laps for a total of 1500 yards. I swam a total of 3.5 miles this week!
Here we go! 45 days 'till 100!

Day 54

Today I had:

1. Apple
2. Orange Juice
3. 2 Graham Cracker sheets
4. 2 Chicken sandwhichs w/jalepeno pepper, cheese and lettuce and tomato on a wheat bun
5. Water

Excersize: 1500 Yards swimming

Day 52 and 53

I had a good start with these days, while I didn't make it to the grocery store yet, Ive still managed to eat right!

1. Chicken
2. Steamed Veggies
3. Mashed Potatoes
4. Scrambled Eggs 2
5. Bagel
6. Protein Bar
7. Lots of Water

day 52:

1. Chicken Pesto Sandwich
2. Salad
3. Chicken
4. Steamed Veggies
5. Brown Rice
6. Lots of Water!

Excersize: day 53, 1000 meters freestyle, day 52 I had to cancel swimming because of rain and thunder!

here we go tommorrow! 8am class and swimming at 5:30! Cheers!

Day 51

Well, a bit of a rough start - but its all good - Ive got my whole week planned out. Today I didn't get to excersize and I didn't eat a well-balanced meal. So there you go, day 51!

But I had a great rehearsal with the guitar quartet and I got organized for my week of work, Im ready to go now!

The Grinder Week! Days 42-50!

Here I am at day 50 ending a 9-day long losing streak with my diet! My excersize prevailed the past week, but in terms of my food choices, I made quick, lousy decisions based on the intuition of my instant gratification. However, even though I had a weaker than normal week, I still made better choices in comparison to how I used to eat. Regardless, Im back on board now and still at a manageable weight! In fact here's the 50 day mark for me:

Started: August 29, 2005: 290 pounds
Today: October 15, 2005: 268 pounds
Total weight loss to date: 22 pounds

Goal: January 1, 2006: 250 pounds
Days till goal: 77
difference: 18 pounds

The only way ill be able to get there is if I follow my diet plan the next few weeks, which is going to be tough considering I have several late night gigs (about 5 total) and Ill be studying most of the time preparing for a few exams.

Im on track in terms of getting to my goal by the end of the semester, now I just need to buckle down and really stick to my plan!

This week was difficult for me because of many outside factors which I had little control over. I did lousy on a test (got a D) which is extremly abnormal for me, and I just seemed to be overwhealmed with the prospect of having to catch up in school. Right now Im studying my ass off, and not really getting much playing time in. As a result, Ive been a bit down, as I usually get when I go days without playing guitar.

Today, I cleaned up a bit, got my room in order, organized my schedule, and practiced for 2 hours. This coincided with the fact that I swam 1500 meters as well as studied for about 4 hours. Funny how things seem to brighten up after I do all of those.

Tommorrow, Im going to rehearse with New West for 3 hours in preparation for our Jazz Bakery gig. It should be a wonderful show and you can find out more about us at www.newwestguitar.com

I guess what I have learned this week is that is really easy to break away from discipline when you are feeling stressed out. Hopefully Ill get better at managing this, but as for the past 9 days, Its been almost a total loss. I had gained a few extra pounds as two weeks ago, I was on my way to being in the mid 260's.

I know I can get to my goal in time so here I go! I guess I just need to keep listening to Grant Green and hopefully that will insprie me to reach to greater heights!

PS. Our football team is incredible here at USC!!!! We win even when we loose! Check out today's game against Notre Dame - man we kick butt!

Day 41

Today was a great day of music! A long gig with the TJO in the morning, but a great afternoon with Anthony Wilson! Tommorrow is gonna be great also, Im playing with my guitar quartet in the afternoon followed by a concert with Ramsey Lewis in the evening! Should be interesting!

Today:

1. Orange Juice, Graham Cracker
2. Turkey Sand w/lettuce wheat bread, cheese
3. carrots
4. Orange
5. Chicken Usanza (Chicken Breast w/artichoke)
6. some pasta
7. 1 roll
8. water

Excersize: 30 minutes biking - 11.9 miles

Day 40

Im starting to get used to the weights this week. My lower and upper body workouts have been a bit easier for me. Now I am finding that I need a bit more structure. While Im already following a pretty strict routiene in terms of my lifting, lower and upper body workouts, I still need to go that extra step of writing down my records right after the workout. Maybe in another week Ill have memorized my current routine and then Ill be able to keep better track of my routiene and my times. In terms of my food choices, I could have used more vegitables today. Here's what I had:

1. 3 Graham Cracker sheets
2. Peach non-fat yogurt
3. turkey sandwich w/cheese, lettuce, and mustard
4. bagel
5. blueberry muffin
6. apple
7. orange juice
8. water

More veggies, and I wish I could have packed my dinner. Then I probably wouldn't have had the muffin. But I almost made the choice to have pizza at dinner with my buds, but instead I decided to go with a bagel and an apple. Im glad that these choices are getting easier to make.

Now at day 40, I have learned a lot about myself. I have learned that I don't really miss my old eating habits as much as I thought I would. I have also learned that exersize is just as important as my eating and even sleeping habits. While my guitar playing may be suffering while I get things straight in school and in my wellness, I know that down the road the benefits will come back two-fold. Still, its a struggle. I have found myself looking in the mirror the past few days wondering how much improvement I can see in myself. Its a hard question to ask, sometimes I feel like Im going in circles and not making any improvement. ll feel like Im stuck and bound to stay in my old physique for the rest of my life. However, there is still that sparkle of imaginiation that always seems to interject. I find myself saying NO - I CAN make a difference in my body, and I CAN become the person I have always thought I couldn't be. Thats one my my major motivating factors right now. I want to prove myself wrong. Ever since I was 13 I always have figured that I was stuck - I would always be "bigger" than everyone else and for that reason I can even make fun of myself. This was all a fact of life. Now, 8 years later, I am finding myself questioning my naive vision. I don't have to be that person anymore. The fact is that people are starting to accept me as a person who is concious and aware of their wellness. And as a result, I feel like I can permit myself to move on with my silly excersize and eating plans. Comparing this journey I am on to a long car trip, right now, I am well out of town. While I am not quite half way there yet, I at least am in the mind frame of the traveler. The hard part can be considered overwith. Sure Ill have rest areas along the way, maybe even some small detours. But the fact of the matter is, I will eventually arrive at my destination.

I just want it so bad. I want it for so many reasons. It would probably be a good idea for me to weed out the right reasons from the wrong reasons. Still, they're all motivating factors that get those carrots in my hand, or my flimsy round body into the pool everyday. As long as I have a reason to continue, then Im sure Ill be able to stay on course. This should become an interesting journal come my 100th day. We'll see - December 4th is just around the corner!

day 39

Today was the norm:

1. chicken
2. turkey sandwich
3. carrots
4. apple
5. oranges
6. granola bars
7. yogurt
8. graham crackers
9. lots of OJ
10. lots of water

excersize: 1250 meters swimming freestyle

check

Day 37 & 38

I had been a little lax on writing my journal for these two days, usually I do it in the evening, but I just forgot on sunday and monday. Regardless, I have good news to report with regards to my excersize and eating. I would give these two days an 8 or 9 in terms of meeting my daily goals. Here's a rough outline of what I had to eat:

1. Carrots
2. Apples
3. Graham Crackers
4. Chicken Breast
5. Turkey Sandwich w/lettuce and dijon (one day I had a cheese)
6. Rice Cakes
7. Nonfat Yoplait Yogurt
8. Water

On sunday I utilized my lower body workout, doing 45 minutes of incline and decline leg presses at various weights of upwards 250 pounds. Yesterday, I worked on my upperbody doing dumbell presses (seating and standing) dumbell flies and seated dumbell pullovers. Right now I can only really use up to the 25 pound dumbells. Hopefully in a few weeks Ill be able to work up to 35 pounds.

Day 36

Wow, another great night of music by the Benny Green Trio! (Benny Green, pno; John Weber, bs; Rodney Green, dr). I loved their rendition of "Spring can really hang you up the most" as a medium tune. Man Benny has such a great vibe when he playes, and as Gerald Clayton and I were talking about tonight, nobody plays like that anymore! That reminicent style of Amad Jamal and Phineus Newborn Jr, man Benny sure captures that. We have a lot to learn from players like Benny Green

As for my food plan, today was my free day so I had a burger, some nachos, and some pasta. Now the key words there was SOME. Good news for my portion control, cause I think I was in a pretty positive range. Plus, I did 1500 meters of swimming this morning. Man, by the 20th lap, the next 10 come so easy. That neuromuscular junction kicks in and it becomes so easy to get the job done. Regardless of my eating today, I know tommorrow, Ill be able to be on track because I have a busy day of work. Here we go!

Day 35

Well today I had a bit of everything! Excersize, splurge, and my usual routiene. Here's what I had:

1. Graham Crackers
2. Apple
3. Chicken Breast
4. 2 pieces of wheat bread
5. Carrots
6. Scallops, Shrimp, Mussels, and Lobster in a Lobster broth
7. two chicken tacos (flour tortillas, w/tomato, onion, basil, pepper)
8. half a cheeseburger
9. half a rasberry tart
10. Lemonade
11. Water

Well I figure it won't hurt me. Plus, I excersized a good 1500 meters of swimming! Thats what I call a good day.

But even better, I finally weighed in and im 25 pounds lighter than I was 35 days ago! I think this blogger thing has really helped me! We'll see what happens . . .

Tonight I saw Jim Hall and Scott Colley duo, wow!! What a musical night. September was the month of great music for my life, thats for sure. Here comes October!