Nothing too exciting today. I did get to wear my medal from the 5K to work today. Would have been funnier if everyone else wore theirs, but a morale boost is a morale boost regardless. No major challenges for the day, as I'm really looking forward to next weekend. With the last few thousand points to go I'm already hoping to have everything done by Saturday.
So a couple thoughts for the next challenge. I've been debating cutting the daily calorie allotment, since I never had a negative point day on the diet. The extra points though did allow for a bit of cheating now and then, and over the course of the whole diet added up to almost 75,000 points by itself. Cutting them out would probably result in making it more challenging, but I'm not sure that's really something I want to do. One of the advantages to this plan was the daily sense of accomplishment. Cutting several hundred points a day out would likely reduce that feeling.
Of course as the heart of the challenge is competing against myself for a prize I've been giving that a bit of thought as well. One potential idea I had was turning the prize into a new car. I don't actually need a new car, as my old one only has around 70,000 miles. But the car is starting to get old (I bought it in 2005) and I wouldn't mind having something newer. Anyone have some other suggestions for prizes?
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar and some peanut butter (200 calories), dinner was the other half of yesterday's cheese pizza (800 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1800
Total Points Earned: 193954
Points to go: 6046
Showing posts with label 200000 Calorie Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 200000 Calorie Challenge. Show all posts
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Day 4
Had friends over to play games today, and so was faced with the challenge of snack food at the table. In the end it mattered less than I was worried about, as the snack food ended up filling the role of lunch. Didn't get a chance to get out today though.
Food for the day was an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (500 calories), snacks during gaming (400 calories) and whole wheat penne with 4 cheese sauce and garlic toast (900 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 5500
Points to go: 194500
Food for the day was an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (500 calories), snacks during gaming (400 calories) and whole wheat penne with 4 cheese sauce and garlic toast (900 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 5500
Points to go: 194500
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Day 3
So I've started reading a diet book that was recommended to me: "The Dark Side of Fat Loss: Lessons from the Underground."
I haven't finished the book as yet, but it has an interesting theory behind it. At it's most basic level it challenges the whole calories in vs calories out weight loss plan. A little difficult for me, since that's the whole strategy I'm basing this challenge on. The basic concept seems to be that the key to fat loss is the foods you're eating rather than the calories you're bringing in. The book gets a little holistic as well, focusing on organic foods, grass fed meats, and largely avoiding grains and oils altogether. The author calls it his "Just Eat Real Food" strategy. Primarily this means eating the types of food that would have been available before the rise of agriculture.
I'm not sure how much I believe it. The book makes its case by focusing on the science of human body chemistry. I don't know enough about that subject to make an objective opinion of the science they're using. I can say that I lost 50 pounds on a diet based on calorie counting and exercise in the past, so calorie counting can work. Whether it would work as well as this strategy I don't know.
I think I'm going to give it a try when my current groceries run short. I'm still going to count the calories and earn points using my system, but I may see how this new strategy interacts. I'll let you know how I did.
No real breakfast today. For lunch I had a grilled cheese (500 calories), for dinner it was Chicken Tenders with Fries at Ikea (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1500 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 4300
Points to go: 195700
I haven't finished the book as yet, but it has an interesting theory behind it. At it's most basic level it challenges the whole calories in vs calories out weight loss plan. A little difficult for me, since that's the whole strategy I'm basing this challenge on. The basic concept seems to be that the key to fat loss is the foods you're eating rather than the calories you're bringing in. The book gets a little holistic as well, focusing on organic foods, grass fed meats, and largely avoiding grains and oils altogether. The author calls it his "Just Eat Real Food" strategy. Primarily this means eating the types of food that would have been available before the rise of agriculture.
I'm not sure how much I believe it. The book makes its case by focusing on the science of human body chemistry. I don't know enough about that subject to make an objective opinion of the science they're using. I can say that I lost 50 pounds on a diet based on calorie counting and exercise in the past, so calorie counting can work. Whether it would work as well as this strategy I don't know.
I think I'm going to give it a try when my current groceries run short. I'm still going to count the calories and earn points using my system, but I may see how this new strategy interacts. I'll let you know how I did.
No real breakfast today. For lunch I had a grilled cheese (500 calories), for dinner it was Chicken Tenders with Fries at Ikea (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1500 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 4300
Points to go: 195700
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Day 1
So a lesson you'd think I'd already know: don't try and start a new diet when you have no food in the house...
It was a tough start to the challenge when I realized this morning that I still needed to go to the grocery store. Went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast instead. My breakfast was deceptively unhealthy. A corn muffin and a bottle of 1% milk actually adds up to 700 calories! Of course today at work we had a meeting with free pastry, which I was able to avoid.
No lunch (which is not a recipe for success I know, but I didn't feel like going out), and I had a couple pieces of candy (probably 200 calories worth).
Got to the grocery store, and made an old stand-by for dinner. Salmon grilled with olive oil, whole wheat noodles and green beans (600 calories, give or take). I didn't get to exercise today, so some time in the next couple days I've got to decide what I'm going to start doing with that.
For everyone who's been so supportive since yesterday: thanks a ton. Not sure if I'll succeed but at least I know other people think it's a good idea.
Total Calories for the day: 1500
Total Exercise performed: 0
Points earned for the day: 1500
Total Points earned: 1500
Points to go: 198,500
It was a tough start to the challenge when I realized this morning that I still needed to go to the grocery store. Went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast instead. My breakfast was deceptively unhealthy. A corn muffin and a bottle of 1% milk actually adds up to 700 calories! Of course today at work we had a meeting with free pastry, which I was able to avoid.
No lunch (which is not a recipe for success I know, but I didn't feel like going out), and I had a couple pieces of candy (probably 200 calories worth).
Got to the grocery store, and made an old stand-by for dinner. Salmon grilled with olive oil, whole wheat noodles and green beans (600 calories, give or take). I didn't get to exercise today, so some time in the next couple days I've got to decide what I'm going to start doing with that.
For everyone who's been so supportive since yesterday: thanks a ton. Not sure if I'll succeed but at least I know other people think it's a good idea.
Total Calories for the day: 1500
Total Exercise performed: 0
Points earned for the day: 1500
Total Points earned: 1500
Points to go: 198,500
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The 200,000 Calorie Challenge
So I was sitting at 5 Guys tonight, eating way too much food and thinking about how I wish I could lose some weight. I've been heavier than I am now, in the past, but my weight has been slowly climbing since I got another office job. My unplanned attempts at diet and exercise just haven't been working.
A few years back (following a friend's surprising comment on my weight) I sat down, started tracking my food intake and exercising. I lost 50 lbs. Then I started to regain that lost weight. I've never really been able to be that effective since then. I've counted calories in the past, I've exercised. Hell, last summer I ran/walked a half-marathon. I've just never been able to discipline myself enough to actually lose weight, even when working at it. I just like large amounts of junk food too much.
So here's the challenge. I'm not shooting to lose a specific amount of weight. I'm not swearing off a particular type of food. I'm not suddenly going to start a crazy exercise plan. Instead I'm going to cut, or burn, 200,000 calories!
The rules are relatively simple. Based on some basic review of my eating habits and exercise, I currently average somewhere around 3000 calories taken in, per day. I also walk about 1.25 miles per day to work and back. So that's my baseline of exercise. For every calorie I eat in a day less than that 3000 per day, I get one point closer to my goal. Also for every calorie burned through additional exercise beyond the walk to and from work, I get one point closer to my goal. When I reach 200,000 points I win, and get myself an overpriced, fancy toy of some sort as a reward (haven't exactly decided that, once I do it'll get posted here).
Of course if I eat more than 3000 calories in the day that gets subtracted from my total points. A trip to 5 guys could cost me days worth of work. Also to make this interesting I'm setting myself a time limit of 9 months to do this in. That's enough time that I can cheat every now and then, and don't have to cut my diet down to potentially dangerous levels to win.
This blog is primarily intended to force myself to track this stuff, and to keep thinking about the goal. If anyone ends up reading it though, I'm more than happy to listen to some suggestions on strategies, meal plans or anything else. Otherwise it'll just go off into the ether of the internet, and that's fine too.
Tomorrow's day 1, which means that I'll have until July 19th of 2012 to score 200,000 points. Let the games begin.
A few years back (following a friend's surprising comment on my weight) I sat down, started tracking my food intake and exercising. I lost 50 lbs. Then I started to regain that lost weight. I've never really been able to be that effective since then. I've counted calories in the past, I've exercised. Hell, last summer I ran/walked a half-marathon. I've just never been able to discipline myself enough to actually lose weight, even when working at it. I just like large amounts of junk food too much.
So here's the challenge. I'm not shooting to lose a specific amount of weight. I'm not swearing off a particular type of food. I'm not suddenly going to start a crazy exercise plan. Instead I'm going to cut, or burn, 200,000 calories!
The rules are relatively simple. Based on some basic review of my eating habits and exercise, I currently average somewhere around 3000 calories taken in, per day. I also walk about 1.25 miles per day to work and back. So that's my baseline of exercise. For every calorie I eat in a day less than that 3000 per day, I get one point closer to my goal. Also for every calorie burned through additional exercise beyond the walk to and from work, I get one point closer to my goal. When I reach 200,000 points I win, and get myself an overpriced, fancy toy of some sort as a reward (haven't exactly decided that, once I do it'll get posted here).
Of course if I eat more than 3000 calories in the day that gets subtracted from my total points. A trip to 5 guys could cost me days worth of work. Also to make this interesting I'm setting myself a time limit of 9 months to do this in. That's enough time that I can cheat every now and then, and don't have to cut my diet down to potentially dangerous levels to win.
This blog is primarily intended to force myself to track this stuff, and to keep thinking about the goal. If anyone ends up reading it though, I'm more than happy to listen to some suggestions on strategies, meal plans or anything else. Otherwise it'll just go off into the ether of the internet, and that's fine too.
Tomorrow's day 1, which means that I'll have until July 19th of 2012 to score 200,000 points. Let the games begin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)