So no one realized that I did not blog last week, So I guess that’s a good thing. I think. Who knows. But the truth is that on Father’s Day weekend I did a carb re-feed and the scale definitely was not where I wanted it to be. And I just really didn’t have anything to say. So much stuff going on here at the ranch and with my family and extended family that I just didn’t even know where to start. So I will apologize in advance for slacking. Even looking back at my Instagram from the last two weeks things have been slow.
Just so you know in the end that I have been working hard. That I can’t stop. Some days I have more motivation than other days. Some days I have to fight through it and some days I’m just fighting. In the end we all fight for the same 4 Square feet of land to put our box inside. That is, unless you are me and you want to be cremated and spread across the Jersey shore. Preferably off the back of a WaveRunner in the middle of a bunch of dolphins. But that is a story for another time. A lot has happened since I last wrote so let’s try and catch up a little bit before I give you this weeks weigh- in etc.
Father’s Day weekend at the shore came and went and I had a really nice time. Amber and I were so excited that I could eat whatever I wanted with-in reason and of course the dinner sucked. It was the first time that Nino’s in Wildwood would let us down. And to be honest I probably won’t go there again. There are plenty of other places at the shore to get chicken Parm. I don’t need an excessive amount of food on my plate, I just need a small amount of good food on my plate. But I did get my ice cream in. The next day Amber took me to Steve’s to get cheesesteaks when we got home from Brigantine. Not that she had to make up for anything but yummy cheesesteaks.
We spent the day after Father’s Day in Brigantine with my parents. If you have been following me for a while you know that my Parents and my grandma bought a house and Brigantine in 1976. They had a little rancher built. And from that day forward we have been beach bums every summer in one way or another. It is where I fell in love with the ocean.
20 years after that my parents moved a lot further away with my brother and sister and I stayed here in the Philadelphia area. 10 years ago this September my grandma passed away and left her half of the house to my siblings and I. A few months after that my sister moved in with her family for the next six or seven years. My nieces got to enjoy the crazy winters and amazing summer that this jersey shore has to offer. Two years ago they moved to Orlando and the house is sat empty. Hurricane Sandy did a number on the house and we weren’t smart enough to really capitalize on anything like many of our other neighbors. The house was up for sale for over year without a nibble. We changed the real estate agents and pulled it off the market for a little while and someone came along who wanted to make memories like ours. So it was time to say goodbye.
Somehow my frail little 82-year-old grandma lugged over 200 pounds of lumber under the house. I am not sure if she was trying to build an ark for the next flood or what the hell she was trying to do but the new buyer was not going to settle on the house because of termites in the wood if we did not make sure that we pulled it all out of there. Amber, Dad and I hauled it out… of course we had to go off the island 25 minutes because Brigantine would not take it. And had to pay by the pound. But it was actually kind of fun to do that with my dad.. A few days later my family and I met At the title company and sign our house over. Final settlement is tomorrow.
My grandma came to America with A 16-year-old daughter and a suitcase. When she left this world she left the loves of her life the one thing that was a slice of her American dream. I really wish that I could have afforded to fix it and hold onto it. It will forever hold a special place in my heart. Now it will help another family make memories like ours.
On Father’s Day I was able to get on the waverunners for the first time. They are now set up for the summer and it was awesome. I wasn’t out long but I had a blast. And I look forward to getting out there again on vacation.
So Loading all that wood in the back of my truck I screwed up my tailgate. I tried to close the tailgate and there was a piece of wood there and it jammed it in a weird way that a bunch of the plastic that makes the gate go up and down and lock smashed into pieces. Couple hundred dollars to fix it and I just kept thinking that this is one of the first and only times I ever used my truck in eight years for anything other than band equipment. Last week in Wildwood we actually use the Mazda CX5 to get around. There was plenty of space. So I did a thing this week in all the other chaos and bought a 2018 Subaru outback. I put enough money down and they gave me $14,000 for my truck which was the high-end of the Kelley blue book number so I could not pass it up. And trust me after six hours of hell I got to where I needed to be. And no I did not spend any money for my grandmother on it. That money is going into my 401(k) and retirement fund since I don’t really have one. I got along fine without it and don’t need it.
If you have been reading along you know that I have a lot of loose skin on my legs. And after fighting with the insurance companies for over year they only approved one leg being fixed. One plastic surgeon told me to go back and lose 50 more pounds and then he would try again. Blue skin is not the only problem with low weight loss. It takes a brutal toll on your teeth. After being butchered by a bunch of different dentists over my lifetime, my current dentist decided to fix everyone else’s mistake and ended up giving me really nice front teeth. I didn’t think I was going to have them before the weekend but I got a call yesterday that they were in and after an hour and a chair they look great. I have been making jokes about new teeth but no one seems to believe me. The four across the front are new, and the ones on both sides of them we’re lightened and the crappy feeling was changed. After vacation is going to do for other ones in the back so I am going to look like a model. lol. Not even close but at least my mouth will be much more healthy. Ironically the new teeth were not done to be a cosmetic thing, he fixed a lot of bad fillings and cavities and everything else underneath them. So let rot in the mouth 🙂 Who wants a kiss?
SOOOOOOOO……
Being at the shore every weekend makes my diet an even harder thing to handle. Everything good at the shore has carbs in it. Jason, my coach and I had set a few goals for 2018. The first goal was to get to where I was at the end of last June. It’s a few days before I realized I had a really bad hernia and then had surgery. If I hit that goal then I would be under my original goal of 100 pounds lost.
My next goal would be to get 11 more pounds off to get under a milestone weight. And then finish up the 50 pounds for 2018. Well when I got on the scale this morning, the keto diet must be working because I did hit my goal for June and I am at exactly what I weighed on June 30 of last year. I have lost 100 pounds in the last four years and Can now say that I have kept it off. I am down 23 1/2 pounds since April 13. I have 27 more pounds to go to crush my goal for 2018. I will get there before New Year’s Eve. #50lbsin2018. I FUCKING HIT MY GOAL! 3.5lbs down since last week and about 4 total in the last two so that is keeping me pretty consistent with losing 2 lbs a week, dropping fat and keeping some strength and muscles 🙂 BOOM!
I leave for a working vacation on Saturday morning and will really have to do my best to not fly off the handle since I am at the shore till July 9. I can do it. I know I can.
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Fourth of July holiday. Follow my Instagram for updates. I will be doing a better job of keeping anyone who cares up-to-date with what’s going on.
Keep the fire burning,
Franco
