Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Brief update

Far too long since my last post, but it was a busy weekend. We did get to have dinner at two of our favorite places over the last four days, Sapori Trattoria and Rollapalooza, so we didn't do so well on the weight reduction side of things.  I did briefly dip down to 184.1 yesterday, but spiked up after sushi and wine at Rollapalooza last night. Last Friday, we enjoyed a very nice Italian dinner with Mokena Terry and Sandie. They are good fun to hang out with and we ate too much. Oh well.

Our wedding album is done!! Holy crap does it look awesome. Here's the cover, but the pictures inside steal the show. Unfortunately I couldn't do them justice with my phone. They are glossy and go seamlessly across the binding in places and to the edges of the pages in other. Just an awesome book to remind us of an awesome day.


Time for pictures of Marissa!

Here she is post bath on her changing table. So cute when she's getting toweled off with her ducky blanket.

LL and Marissa heading out for a walk!
 Marissa sitting up her high chair with a cute look on her face.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Before and After

My man Joisey Ken asked for before and after pictures of my weight loss. They took them at Jenny Craig actually, but they don't have them digital (go figure). So here are scans of the printed pictures. I think you get the picture though (pardon the pun). By the way, or weigh, I've hit my revised goal weight of 185 (revised down from 195 after I reached that pretty quickly). In total I'm down 23 pounds or 11% of my total body weight. 


The Before


The After (notice the sign change)



Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Softball win and a tough loss

Over the weekend my softball team had a big tournament down in Joliet, very near where LL's parents live. Though I got stuck in traffic on the way down there and was almost late for the first game, I hit well and the team did outstanding going 5-0 to win the tournament. It's good to be playing well at this time of year as the big national tournaments are just around the corner. 

But all was not great as we had to make the tough decision to put down LL's dog of 14 years, Molly. Yes, she could be a pain in the ass some times, but there were plenty of good times too. In the last year or so she really went downhill being unable to move well, bark and developed some OCD combined with going to the bathroom in the house far too often. During one stretch we even had doggie diapers on her, but her OCD wouldn't let that stand. 

I'll remember her as a feisty dog who would go after any other dog while she was a leash, regardless of size and temperament. If left to her own devices in the wild, she wouldn't have lasted a day. She was also fun to play with as she ran around the house or in circles as fast as her little paws would take her. Sure, her breath smelled like ass (a product of poor teeth not uncommon in her breed) and, when groomed and wet, looked much like a T-Rex victim, but she was a pretty good pooch and she'll be missed.



Friday, July 19, 2013

Steam of conscious

I saw this article today about Detroit. The guy in the article espouses leveling a good chunk of Detroit and rebuilding. If done right, this could be a very compelling proposition. You level a bunch of properties which will create jobs. Make sure those jobs go to city dwellers. Then you have to plan how to rebuild. Rebuilding though is not just putting up homes, it's incorporating public transportation (forget that you were the auto capital of the world at one time as it's no longer relevant) and retail spaces, public parks and places for larger businesses. It's all about the planning. All of those jobs have to go to city dwellers in my mind. You want a job rebuilding? Then get your ass inside the city limits and support it. Chicago does that to some degree as all public employees have to live within city limits (police, fire, teachers, etc.) I believe.

Business is the key though so think about the future and what type of jobs will be "good" jobs. Maybe to start, you even build a refinery or something that's NOT so great, but employs a bunch of people and you can make tax revenues off of. Maybe a refinery isn't the way to go, but you know what I mean. And develop the lake front area! It has to be much better than it is today. It has to be a destination.

Would love to hear your ideas. There's no reason Detroit can't be a Milwaukee or a Pittsburgh. It doesn't have to descend into being a Cleveland.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

More weight info

Today I reached another new low for my weight at 187. That puts me two pounds away from my revised goal weight of 185 (which is 10 pounds under my initial goal weight of 195) as we enter our last month of Jenny Craig (by choice). According to another calculator, I'm in a sweet spot for ideal weight, but other tables show my ideal weight for my height to be anywhere from 136 (WTF???) to 189. Anyway, I feel good about being down under 190 and having lost 20 pounds. Plus I don't want to risk losing muscle during this whole weight loss exercise. It's all about feeling good and being healthy!

****Update****
Today at the gym, as I was getting ready to leave, I walked by a trainer whom I know and who has worked there for years. He said I looked like I had lost 20 lbs. I told him I've lost almost exactly 20 lbs and that it was a great guess.  "How could you tell? " I queried. "Well, your head is half as big as it used to be!" Too funny. It's nice that someone noticed though.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

More Weight Loss Info

I read an article the other day that mentioned "ideal weight". While I'm not sure of everything that goes into it, there's a basic formula for your ideal weight. If you're a guy, it's 106 lbs plus 6 pounds for every inch over 5' in height. That puts my ideal weight at 172. Yikes!! That's another 15 pounds down from where I am now. I don't think I can get there without lipo.  I'm not sure if the recommendation takes into account muscles and such.  We've all seen guys who have less than 5% body fat at the gym who are shorter but definitely weigh more than I do now. Are they at their ideal weight? Well, they aren't fat, but it may not be an issue of weight when you get very physically fit.

For women, the ideal weight measure is 105 lbs plus 5 pounds for every inch over 5' in height. Just FYI.

LL and Marissa are back from San Diego. They arrived home last night and Marissa was in her car seat chatting up a storm. She doesn't cry, but sort of squawks and is super cute. Here are some pictures and a cute video of LL tickling Marissa.








Sunday, July 14, 2013

Just some pics today

Just a few pictures today and a short movie. The 11th was Marissa's 4 month birthday which she spent flying to San Diego with her mom and grandma. LL had to go for work and wanted to bring Marissa. Babysitting for six days didn't excite me too much, especially when it's summer in Chicago, but LL's mom was more than happy to go. 

Marissa's first flight went very well and she hardly made a peep! She's such a good baby!!




Styling in Cali.




She decided it was time to make some noise. She's going to be a talker I fear.

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Sneaky, Sneaky Fat

Disappointingly, I've been reminded by some online articles that while you can burn fat, you can't get rid of fat cells unless you have liposuction of some similar process done. The fat cells shrink and release the fat they store, but they don't go away. They sit there....waiting....just waiting for you to slip up and eat too much so they can store your weakness as a constant future reminder.  Obviously it's a system that has worked well for our species through time, but when you're trying to lose weight, it's a bit disconcerting to know that they are out there lurking.

As we embark on our third and final month of Jenny Craig, I've broken through the 190 barrier and dropped to 188.7 this morning, a new low! That puts my loss at just over 19 pounds, but more importantly, it reinforces my desire to make it down to 185.  While being stuck at 190 for the better part of a week...or more, I was beginning to think that was it for weight loss unless I tried something knew. Looks like I'm back on the weight loss train though!! LL is doing even better than I am and has to be down 25 pounds plus now. Yay Team Sutton!!

Interestingly, this week, at least three people have asked me if I had gotten my haircut. I find this interesting because if you recall, I have very little hair to begin with! When I get my haircut, it's not like I'm going from some Fabio wannabe to a GI Joe action figure. I'm basically going from a mostly bald guy with a little bit of hair to a mostly bald guy with a little less hair. Why would people even guess "a hair cut" as something different about me?? Half the time I get it cut, LL doesn't even notice and she sees me every day!  Too funny.

Little Marissa is an adorable bundle, but that's nothing knew. She has been rolling over in her sleep though, ending up on her tummy, and is unable to roll back. She struggle for a while and then start crying when exhaustion sets in. If you're quick and quiet enough, you can turn her back over before she really even wakes up (even though she's crying!).  We're trying to teach her how to roll back over by bringing her knees up to her belly and using the weight of her butt to offset the weight of her noggin. She has a natural desire to pull her knees up (to crawl), but then shoots them back out instead of rolling. She'll get it eventually.

Today was Marissa's four month checkup, which means three shots and an oral vaccine. At her two month checkup, the vaccinations really hurt her and it was almost as hard on myself and LL to watch her cry with a look of betrayal. Today though, we each had our hands on her, caressing her and trying to keep her calm as the nurse did a very quick job of injecting our angel. She wailed right after the injections, but then calmed down fairly quickly due to an impromptu feeding from LL. Before we left the office Marissa was periodically smiling even. Such a trooper and a huge improvement over the two month checkup. Yay Marissa!!

Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Happy Fourth!

It's been a while since I posted some Marissa pics so here they are...along with a video!

This is when she had figured out how to roll over, but wasn't comfortable putting her head down. Now she rolls over onto her stomach (can't roll back yet) and is fine with putting her head down for a bit.


We took the little sweetie out on a walk. Since it was sunny, LL insisted every square inch of Marissa be covered by cloth. We have the whitest baby on the planet.



I just wanted to capture a little film of Marissa waking up in the morning being cute. This seems to do the trick!  BTW, last night she slept all night until LL woke her up at 7. LL has a little schedule worked out now on work days where she gets up at 6, showers and has breakfast, wakes up Marissa at 7, feeds her and they play until a little after 8 or so when Marissa is ready for a nap. Then LL takes off for work. Normally Marissa will nap for an hour or two, but today she slept for 4!!! 8-12!! Sweet.

LL and I are still losing weight, though it seems to be getting more difficult, at least for me. I'm down to 190 now, briefly going under 190 the other day. Getting to 185 might prove more difficult, but we'll see. 18 pounds and counting....so far, so good!