Everything ended up a little inverted today. It was a Halloween party at work today so the managers bought pizza, and everyone else brought in potluck including a very large number of deserts and candy. On the plus side I was able to donate the bottle of Mountain Dew out of my pantry, removing some temptation from the house. On the negative side, that was a lot of temptation at work!
I'm kind of proud of myself actually that I was able to restrict myself to two slices of pizza and a handful of tortilla chips. Then, despite the leftover pizza calling out to me, walk away. When they make the movie of my life I hope they put in a Sarah Mclachlan song at that point for the soundtrack. Maybe the one with the abused dogs.
Food for the day ended up shifted around. Breakfast was an egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories). Lunch was the aforementioned pizza and chips (not precisely sure on the calories for that, I used nutritional info from a couple chain pizza places to guess on the pizza, the chips would be about 300 calories, pizza about 700). Dinner ended up being the turkey sandwich which would have been lunch without the Halloween party (I'd already made it that morning, and was lazy when I got home, 500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 16500
Points to go: 183500
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Day 11
First day actually back at the gym since starting the diet. I went for a little bit more than a half-hour on the treadmill. What was nice to discover was that I haven't lost everything I'd gained from my half-marathon in June. I was able to do a half-hour at 4 mph and 4.5 mph. Had I just stayed at 4 without bumping up to the higher speed I probably could have run for a even longer, but I started to wear out a bit.
Food for the day was: an egg and cheese sandwich with a glass of milk for brunch (slept in today), and salmon with noodles and green beans for dinner. Brunch was probably around 400 calories, dinner was probably about 1000 calories thanks to a large piece of fish. Exercise was approximately 300 calories burned (the online calculators all seem to jump around on the number, this seemed to be the average).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1400 calories
Exercise: 300
Points Earned: 1900
Total Points Earned: 15300
Points to go: 184700
Food for the day was: an egg and cheese sandwich with a glass of milk for brunch (slept in today), and salmon with noodles and green beans for dinner. Brunch was probably around 400 calories, dinner was probably about 1000 calories thanks to a large piece of fish. Exercise was approximately 300 calories burned (the online calculators all seem to jump around on the number, this seemed to be the average).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1400 calories
Exercise: 300
Points Earned: 1900
Total Points Earned: 15300
Points to go: 184700
Day 10
Went grocery shopping today. I think I'm going to hold off on the JERF diet for a little longer. What I'm doing now seems to be working out. The only other diet related weirdness today came with dinner. I hadn't been feeling great, so I lay down for a nap. Didn't wake up until 8pm or so, and wasn't particularly hungry. Not sure if it's really a good idea to not eat regularly just to score some more points, so I made myself a real meal for dinner. Probably was the safer plan.
Cheerios for breakfast again (300 calories), lunch was an egg and cheese sandwich on an english muffin (300 calories). Dinner was steak with noodles and green beans (I'm calling it 1000 calories, but it was probably a little less than that). No snacks today.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 13400
Points to go: 186600
Cheerios for breakfast again (300 calories), lunch was an egg and cheese sandwich on an english muffin (300 calories). Dinner was steak with noodles and green beans (I'm calling it 1000 calories, but it was probably a little less than that). No snacks today.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 13400
Points to go: 186600
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Day 9
Forgot to do a post last night, probably because the day was so routine. Only thing of note on the diet is the dwindling supply of groceries. Always makes things a little more complicated (particularly since the groceries were bought before the diet plan was enacted).
Breakfast was still Cheerios (300 calories), lunch was peanut butter and jelly (600 calories), and dinner was penne with garlic toast again (800 calories). There were no snacks on the day. Monday may end up being my first cheat day as we're having a pizza party at work. I'm going to try to keep the portion size under control but who knows what will happen.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 12000
Points to go: 188000
Breakfast was still Cheerios (300 calories), lunch was peanut butter and jelly (600 calories), and dinner was penne with garlic toast again (800 calories). There were no snacks on the day. Monday may end up being my first cheat day as we're having a pizza party at work. I'm going to try to keep the portion size under control but who knows what will happen.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 12000
Points to go: 188000
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Day 8
Another fairly routine day. One thing I did notice today was that I got hungry a little later in the day then usual. I'm hoping that means my body is starting to get a handle on the new eating habits (though that's unlikely this quickly). Today had no major challenges, though after getting home I did start craving a burger and fries (a big burger and a lot of fries to make matters worse). It's too early in the process to start cheating.
My plan had been to not weigh myself again until I hit some kind of significant round number (25K, 50K or 100K), but I've been hearing from people that that is a bad strategy. My thinking is that doing so refocuses the game onto pounds lost rather than on calories saved. Other people tell me that regular weigh-ins keep you focused and let you track what is, and isn't, working. If anyone's reading this, what do you think?
Another standard day for food. I think this weekend I might try and find something different. Cheerios for breakfast again (300 calories), Turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), and chicken breast tenders grilled in olive oil with whole wheat noodles and green beans (700 calories). No snacks today, though somebody brought a cake into the office and I came close.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1500 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 10800
Points to go: 189200
My plan had been to not weigh myself again until I hit some kind of significant round number (25K, 50K or 100K), but I've been hearing from people that that is a bad strategy. My thinking is that doing so refocuses the game onto pounds lost rather than on calories saved. Other people tell me that regular weigh-ins keep you focused and let you track what is, and isn't, working. If anyone's reading this, what do you think?
Another standard day for food. I think this weekend I might try and find something different. Cheerios for breakfast again (300 calories), Turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), and chicken breast tenders grilled in olive oil with whole wheat noodles and green beans (700 calories). No snacks today, though somebody brought a cake into the office and I came close.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1500 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 10800
Points to go: 189200
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Day 7
One week is now in the books. The only really dangerous part of the day was when a co-worker brought in home-made chocolate chip cookies. I was weak, but I only had one. Thanks to that snacks crept up to 200 calories today. Otherwise it was a fairly standard day.
Cheerios for breakfast again (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500), penne with garlic toast for dinner again (900 calories). Is it a boring combination? It can be, but they're reasonably tasty and filling and it helps get me through the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 9300
Points to go: 190700
Cheerios for breakfast again (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500), penne with garlic toast for dinner again (900 calories). Is it a boring combination? It can be, but they're reasonably tasty and filling and it helps get me through the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 9300
Points to go: 190700
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Day 6
Going out to eat with people without going off the diet. Not difficult necessarily but not exactly easy either. At lunch today I went to Subway with friends, which ran the risk of eating way too much (if I got the meatball sub I'd usually get), even more so since I'd already eaten the lunch I brought with me. Luckily, nobody thought it was weird that I just hung out.
I think the real tactic for going out is to generally know what you're ordering and trying to pick a dish with a fairly controlled amount of calories. At most restaurants the salads are as unhealthy (or occasionally more unhealthy) than any of the other dishes on the menu, so it's not as simple as that.
Eat what will be satisfying rather than what looks to be the "healthy" choice, just try and maintain the portion control. At a place like Subway, go with the 6 inch rather than 12 inch. At a Red Robin or equivalent, get a simple burger rather than crazy toppings. At 5 guys don't get the large fries. Looking at the nutritional information they post shows that the average meal is still going to be too big, but it'll be 1300 calories rather than 2000.
I'm sure there's other choices (don't eat the bread, ignore the fries, get the cup of soup or the side salad), but for me I think there's not much point to going out someplace if you're not really going to enjoy what you eat.
Cheerios for breakfast (300 again), Turkey sandwich for lunch (500), Salmon, noodles and green beans for dinner (900), plus about 100 calories worth of snack.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 8200
Points to go: 191800
I think the real tactic for going out is to generally know what you're ordering and trying to pick a dish with a fairly controlled amount of calories. At most restaurants the salads are as unhealthy (or occasionally more unhealthy) than any of the other dishes on the menu, so it's not as simple as that.
Eat what will be satisfying rather than what looks to be the "healthy" choice, just try and maintain the portion control. At a place like Subway, go with the 6 inch rather than 12 inch. At a Red Robin or equivalent, get a simple burger rather than crazy toppings. At 5 guys don't get the large fries. Looking at the nutritional information they post shows that the average meal is still going to be too big, but it'll be 1300 calories rather than 2000.
I'm sure there's other choices (don't eat the bread, ignore the fries, get the cup of soup or the side salad), but for me I think there's not much point to going out someplace if you're not really going to enjoy what you eat.
Cheerios for breakfast (300 again), Turkey sandwich for lunch (500), Salmon, noodles and green beans for dinner (900), plus about 100 calories worth of snack.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800 calories
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 8200
Points to go: 191800
Monday, October 24, 2011
Day 5
Relatively standard day. No major changes or challenges for the day. Probably just means there will be more tomorrow.
Breakfast was a bowl of Cheerios (300 calories), lunch was a turkey sandwich (500 calories), dinner was chicken breast (two tenders) with whole wheat noodles and green beans (600 calories). Also had two snack size chocolate bars and some cheese today as snacks (200 calories). For exercise, I went for a walk at lunch around downtown Providence (call it 100 calories in exercise).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600 calories
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 7000
Points to go: 193000
Breakfast was a bowl of Cheerios (300 calories), lunch was a turkey sandwich (500 calories), dinner was chicken breast (two tenders) with whole wheat noodles and green beans (600 calories). Also had two snack size chocolate bars and some cheese today as snacks (200 calories). For exercise, I went for a walk at lunch around downtown Providence (call it 100 calories in exercise).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600 calories
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 7000
Points to go: 193000
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
Friday, October 21, 2011
Day 2
The big challenge with a diet at any time is the shift in how I eat, particularly between meals. I'm used to simply grabbing snacks at work, like chocolate, or chips. If I get hungry I don't worry about it. As a result of that I tend to eat my lunch a little earlier in the day.
Going into the diet though, means cutting back on that a lot. I did go grab a snack size Hershey's bar from a co-worker today, but I limited it to just the one snack. Even so I was very hungry when I finally got home (had to do some stuff at my parent's house before making dinner). As a result I was tempted on two levels. The first was simply to stop at a McDonald's or some other fast food. Getting home, I was tempted to make a really big meal and pig out. Luckily I'm only two days into the diet, and was able to maintain the focus. Going forward though I do need to identify some healthy snacks that I can have that satisfy the cravings, without adding to calories.
Cheerios for breakfast (300 calories with milk), a turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), a chocolate bar and a slice of cheese for snacks (call it 200 calories again), and whole wheat penne with four cheese tomato sauce (Classico brand) and two slices of garlic bread (Pepperedge Farm) (about 900 calories total). I also took a walk at lunch time, and then later took my sister's dog for a walk (the online calculators vary, I'm guessing 200 calories of exercise).
Daily Food Total: 1900
Bonus Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1300
Total Earned: 2800
Points to Go: 197200
Going into the diet though, means cutting back on that a lot. I did go grab a snack size Hershey's bar from a co-worker today, but I limited it to just the one snack. Even so I was very hungry when I finally got home (had to do some stuff at my parent's house before making dinner). As a result I was tempted on two levels. The first was simply to stop at a McDonald's or some other fast food. Getting home, I was tempted to make a really big meal and pig out. Luckily I'm only two days into the diet, and was able to maintain the focus. Going forward though I do need to identify some healthy snacks that I can have that satisfy the cravings, without adding to calories.
Cheerios for breakfast (300 calories with milk), a turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), a chocolate bar and a slice of cheese for snacks (call it 200 calories again), and whole wheat penne with four cheese tomato sauce (Classico brand) and two slices of garlic bread (Pepperedge Farm) (about 900 calories total). I also took a walk at lunch time, and then later took my sister's dog for a walk (the online calculators vary, I'm guessing 200 calories of exercise).
Daily Food Total: 1900
Bonus Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1300
Total Earned: 2800
Points to Go: 197200
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.
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