We Are The Littles

It’s painful to look at, but the weight-loss button on the right-hand side is back up to where it was at the beginning of my last hitch, minus 1lb. I fell off the wagon when I got home last time and gained it all back in one fell swoop! Sucks to be me. Now I have to do it all over again. Guess that’s what happens when all you do is sit there and stare at a tiny baby for hours on end. This time it’s not MBM’s fault… It’s Gabby’s!

However, I did come more prepared this time. I have my trusty GPS watch to track my runs. I have my trusty iPod and Nike+ Sports kit for music motivation. I have plenty of water flavor packets to keep off the Diet Coke (not high in calories but bad for you nontheless.) and my cook has started right with no instruction. See picture below for what was cooking tonight. Doesn’t look too appetizing, but nothing a little salt, pepper, and Louisiana Hot Sauce couldn’t fix.

To top it all off, I’m going to try my hand and the newest exercise craze that has taken the internet by storm. It’s a training program designed to take you from 0 push ups to 100 push ups (consecutively) in 6 weeks. I’m going to do the initial test tomorrow night and get started on it on Saturday. Who wants to join me? You can check out the program at One Hundred Push Ups. If you’re lucky I’ll capture it on video for all you stalkers to see.

Finally, I do have pictures of the adventure Justin and I went on last weekend at the Houston Aquarium. Hopefully I’ll get those up sometime tomorrow.

Port Harcourt out!

Well, the run I had tonight was probably the best I’ve had in almost a year. We got home from work late and I talked to MBM for quite a while and I almost didn’t go but of course I got to feeling guilty about it and took off. I did a little over 4.5mi in 45min - around 9min 45sec per mile and didn’t stop once. When I get my total time up to 60min and my speed down around 9min miles I’ll be close to the old days. I figure by the time I get back for my next hitch I’ll be there… Assuming I can keep it up while I’m home!

As you can see from the title, I’ve been eating as healthy as ever and that probably has a lot to do with my runs getting better. Yea yea yea MBM, I know you told me that many moons ago. Go ahead and say it, “I told you so!” After many buttchewings the cook has done away with the butter, mayo, most of the oils, and I’m pretty much on a grilled chicken and veggie diet. Today for lunch I had a grilled chicken breast and a pile of spinach and onions. I’m sure my breath was SAAMOKIN! Tonight I had another grilled chicken breast with green beans and one of those big white things that some folks call a leek and others call a Nigerian radish. Either way it was pretty tasty. POTD #12 is a picture of tonights dinner. POTD #11 was from Saturday night.

In other news, the boss is leaving for Lagos tomorrow so I’m back in command for a while. Not something I’m looking forward to. This hitch has gone by easier and faster than any of the others, I just hope it doesn’t get to crazy for the next few days.

And finally, there is a slideshow below of MBM’s thrifty finding’s of late. She’s taken thrifty to a new level by spending all of our money on cheap things. I don’t know how well it’s working though. When we bought a few expensive things we didn’t have any money. Now she buys a bunch of inexpensive things and we still don’t have any money! Something is not right here. (That’s a joke mom, don’t get your knickers in a twist. Nobody is going hungry.)

To end it all, it’s 10:30pm and I just had a guy call and holler and scream at me over the phone about one of our compressors going down. Guess my last few days are going to be fun filled after all.

Later.

So, I signed up for the one week trial on Weight Watchers.com. Things here are bad enough and the patented Gabe Little Diet doesn’t seem to be an option. Not only did I sign up, but I had a talk with my cook about how I wanted him to cook and I gave him 7 recipes (one for each day of the week) and told him he was not to deviate from the plan one bit. No extra butter, mayo, oil, etc… If it ain’t on the list it ain’t in this house. I was told yesterday where I could find decent boneless chicken breasts here so all of my recipes are of course chicken-based. They also had to be Port Harcourt ingredient friendly (which means stuff available here and that’s not much) but I think I found 7 that will do. Wanna see’em? Of course I put them on line for your perusal.

As for the family, MBM is on her way back home from Oklahoma City, Savannah is getting ready (I assume) to leave for Florida tomorrow, James is living it up in Wichita Falls, and poor Justin was left behind in OKC to spend some quality time with Weezer & Poppa before hammin’ it up with the Manthei’s in Texarkana. O’yea, I’m still stuck here in Port Harcourt. All alone. With nobody to keep me company. All alone. Woe is me. Woe is me.

One more thing… The POTD! I thought this would be a nice touch on the outside of Brenda’s Bar. Kind of matches the joint and gives it a little character. Who knows, might actually keep some of the drunks from peeing on her asthetically pleasing welcome mat.

Oh, and another one more thing… It rained pretty much all day yet again. The jump rope is looking better all the time. If it rains again tomorrow I guess I’ll have to give it a shot.

From Picture of th…

There’s nothing like a crappy observation from an old friend to help you realize you need to get off your butt and get it in gear. One of my old buddies from Cape Town is in Port Harcourt and he made several comments about my expanding waistline! So, just like the days of old, I’m putting my progress up for all to see. If you look on the right-hand side you’ll see the Traineo.com buttons (familiar to my faithful longtime readers) that will keep you updated on my progress. Have a gander… That’s right, I’m going for another 39lbs! I’m trying to get to my original goal weight that I had many moons ago which is 185lbs. I was within 5lbs of that weight early last year, now I get to do it all over again. I’ve come to the conclusion that the USA is not good for my health because I like to eat too much!

It shouldn’t be difficult to stay on track here in PH because I no longer have a cook. He was fired while I was gone. It’s a long drawn out story that includes resignations, firings, and death threats (none made to me so don’t worry) but since I don’t have a cook fixin’s could be slim around these parts for a while. We’re supposed to get a new guy from Cameroon sometime soon. Hope he knows how to cook healthy.

So, that’s all I have for now. PH is the same as it was 5 weeks ago. Like I always say, it never changes. I was here 5min and people started driving me up the wall as usual. They don’t waste any time. Now it’s time for my healthy breakfast (oatmeal) and then I have to hit the showers and get ready for my first day at work.

Adios.