After working out with U.S. Pizza Team member Jamie Culliton last week at what has to be the best hotel gym in the South, I was hooked. I’ve been successful working out at home, but on my 120-day pizza diet, I wanted more variety in workouts and equipment. I looked up local gyms and found a great one, Anytime Fitness. It's open 24 hours, has a wide variety of equipment and even tanning beds. Score!

Keeping up my forward momentum, I finally created a pizza at home for the diet. The first pie in my recipe book was inspired by the breakfast pie Matt McLellan showed me at Tour De Pizza. I modified his recipe to suit my tastes, and my tastes thanked me! I dubbed my version of the breakfast pie the "Omma-Lotta-Goodness." Utilizing the flavors of an omelet, I really didn't have to invent a recipe. I started with an eggbeater base for the sauce, then added  traditional omelet ingredients, diced tomatoes, diced white onions, green peppers, turkey bacon, and sliced ham. I topped off the pie with Mexican cheese. The hardest part in creating the pie was actually weighing out all the ingredients first, then computing the macro numbers for the entire pie, then dividing that by eight. So much math! This was a delicious way to start the day and well worth the number crunching.

After hitting the gym four times this first week, my muscles are recalling hints of their former glory. My arms are already firming up nicely, my lower back isn't hurting as much from all the excess front weight, and darn it, it just feels good to be drenched with "hard-work" sweat. Physical activity is also an important aspect of this diet, as it is in any diet. Don't think you can just eat pizza and the pounds will drop. You have to portion, track your numbers and exercise. My nutrition just happens to be coming from only pizza.

So with the breakfast pie nailed down, I needed to come up with a lunch or dinner slice. I was having a hard time hitting my fiber requirements, so I thought creatively about how I can add this particular nutrient to a pie. The answer came in the form of a Mexican pizza. I started with a green Chile sauce base, followed by black beans, tomatoes, onions, corn seasoned with a little cumin, Mexican cheese and some minced garlic. I sprinkled on cheese after every couple of ingredients to hold the whole package together. After I cooked it, I added some diced avocados seasoned in lime juice and salt. I put these finishing items on after cooking to prevent browning of the avocado, plus the chilled avocado nicely complements the hot pie.

So here are my week-one results, I am down from 286 pounds. to 277.4. My navel measurement has decreased from 49.25 inches to 48 inches. Now week two is upon me, and I want to come up with at least one new recipe. I will post these recipes in the www.PMQ.com/recipe-bank/ for anyone who wants to give them a shot. The first two are listed under Omelet Pizza and Black Bean Avocado Pizza. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to join me on my quest. I will keep everyone posted, but in the mean time, slice it up!