There have been a lot of signs of how well I've done on my diet, and some have been very obvious (such as losing 60 pounds). Others are a lot subtler though, and one I caught myself looking at was how much I've improved my running times. Last night I ran at 6.5 miles an hour for most of an hour, before picking up the speed a bit at the end. Two years ago, my first treadmill attempt last 10 minutes or so at 4 miles per hour. It's not just the distance/time that has improved, it's also been the speed. Those 2.5 mph don't seem like much, but they translate to quite a few calories, and quite a bit of work.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), small burger with fries (1100 calories), steak and homemade fries (1100 calories), no snacks on the day. Exercise was an hour on the treadmill (1039 calories).
Daily Food Total: 2500
Exercise: 1039
Points Earned: 1539
Total Points Earned: 5821
Points to go: 44179
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Day 3 - Back to Kickboxing
So just a quick post about Thursday. I was so wiped after kickboxing that I pretty much crashed after getting home. Otherwise, nothing really major happened on the day. Fortunately the candy bowls have been empty at work for the last couple days, so my willpower hasn't been tested. I did manage to avoid any other snacking though while at work, which is nice to see.
Kickboxing was definitely tough though. While my basic cardio stamina is still reasonably high after the last six weeks, my ability to do repetitive punches and kicks clearly needs to get back into shape. We'll be seeing how that goes over the next few weeks.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), Subway 6-inch meatball sub for lunch (500 calories), snacks were an after work english muffin with peanut butter (300 calories), then dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a kickboxing class (500 calories)
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 4282
Points to go: 45718
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Day 2 - The danger of leftover junk food
I think I've mentioned it before, but it's always dangerous to start a diet when you've still got junk food left in the house. I had half a bag of chips leftover from having friends over on Monday. After getting back from running though, I was craving a snack and happened to notice the bag of chips. Before long I was sitting on the couch, watching some Hulu and snacking on chips. I did cut it short of eating them all, but I still picked up a lot of extra, unnecessary calories because of it.
It's not the first time that's happened to me over the last six weeks, and I'm sure others have had a similar problem themselves. It ties a bit into the discussion of diet failure as well. A lot of times in the past I've ended saying, "Oh darn, I've pigged out too much today. Guess I'll start the diet tomorrow instead." Of course as everybody knows, when you think like that, tomorrow never actually comes. Instead, the next day you grab five Reese's Peanut Butter Cups out of the candy bowl at work, shrug and say, "Tomorrow's when I'm really going to start the diet."
So just like success and failure can't simply be a matter of how much weight you've lost or gained in comparison to an arbitrary reference, a diet can't fail just because you've pigged out on a day. This isn't to say it's okay to got to 5 Guys three times a week and still claim to be on the diet, but there's no point in losing hope just because you've given into a craving a time or two. The next time I go to the supermarket I'll pick up some healthy snacks, and I won't buy any more chips. The diet didn't fail today just because I ate some chips, but it will fail if I lose hope about what's going to happen "tomorrow."
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), granola bar, a hershey's kiss and some chips as snacks (600 calories), lasanga and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).
Exercise was a 3 mile run around Roger Willams Park (400 calories).
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232168763
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 400
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 2882
Points to go: 47118
It's not the first time that's happened to me over the last six weeks, and I'm sure others have had a similar problem themselves. It ties a bit into the discussion of diet failure as well. A lot of times in the past I've ended saying, "Oh darn, I've pigged out too much today. Guess I'll start the diet tomorrow instead." Of course as everybody knows, when you think like that, tomorrow never actually comes. Instead, the next day you grab five Reese's Peanut Butter Cups out of the candy bowl at work, shrug and say, "Tomorrow's when I'm really going to start the diet."
So just like success and failure can't simply be a matter of how much weight you've lost or gained in comparison to an arbitrary reference, a diet can't fail just because you've pigged out on a day. This isn't to say it's okay to got to 5 Guys three times a week and still claim to be on the diet, but there's no point in losing hope just because you've given into a craving a time or two. The next time I go to the supermarket I'll pick up some healthy snacks, and I won't buy any more chips. The diet didn't fail today just because I ate some chips, but it will fail if I lose hope about what's going to happen "tomorrow."
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), granola bar, a hershey's kiss and some chips as snacks (600 calories), lasanga and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).
Exercise was a 3 mile run around Roger Willams Park (400 calories).
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/232168763
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 400
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 2882
Points to go: 47118
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Why does a diet fail? Day 1 of a new diet
So the question I've been asking myself for most of the last six weeks is "Why Does a Diet Fail?" Unfortunately there's not really any single, simple answer. Most importantly of course, before we can ask that question we have to determine what constitutes failure.
6 weeks ago my diet wasn't struggling, but it wasn't exactly succeeding either. I was maintaining my weight, and exercise plan, but I wasn't actually trying very hard either. Then I went on a three day vacation during which I couldn't post, and the entire process fell apart. So over the last 6 weeks I've eaten at 5 Guys multiple times, I've grabbed true fast food for dinner, bought pizzas, ate a lot of candy at work and generally ate junk food.
Some of the changes I've made over the past year did stick. Pasta used to mean a half pound of ground beef in the sauce and two plate-fulls of food. I've eaten a lot of pasta in this diet Interregnum but have kept it to what's become my current pasta dish (1 plate-full of penne and sauce). While I've skipped six weeks of kick-boxing, I've managed to at least keep running at least twice a week for most of it. Most importantly though is that my weight hasn't drastically changed in this time. As of this morning I was at 205.6 pounds. It's gone up from my personal best a bit, but it's still mostly within reason.
So have I failed? Not exactly, I've binged a bit in the last month and I've gotten careless about exercise, but I haven't seen any drastic changes in either behavior or weight gain as a result of it. In fact as Team Challenge training has picked up, I've actually been working towards a new personal best for my next half-marathon in December.
Failure can't just be falling off the specific plan of your diet. We're all going to do that eventually, it's inevitable. I like my diet, and I don't have any strong opposition to eating healthier but as any basic review of my last year's worth of posts will tell you, I have plenty of cravings for things that are "bad" for me. Failure needs to represent an inability to change behavior, or a return to older behaviors.
I structured my diet plan around cutting the amount of food I ate, and increasing my exercise, but I didn't drastically change the specifics of what I ate. One of the numerous articles on dieting I've read over the years pointed out that people who've used Jenny Craig or some of the other products that provide pre-prepared diet meals have had some of the highest "failure rates" of any diet plan. They defined failure as regaining the weight lost on a diet. By the same token Weight Watcher's had a significantly lower "failure rate" (though it should be noted that it's still very high by those standards).
One of the main points the article made was that one of the reasons for failure on the part of those who used the pre-packaged diet meals, was that they never actually learned how to eat better. I've seen it with one of my friends as well, who went on a medically prescribed diet, lost a great deal of weight and has promptly put it all back on. In his case, his doctor pretty much prescribed shakes for two meals out of the day, and then a small dinner. However once the diet ended, he just went back to his old eating habits because he hadn't learned how to eat what he liked in relation to a healthier lifestyle. Weight Watchers has had a higher level of success, because even though they provide pre-packaged foods, and other branded merchandise, they also train their members to think of foods in the context of their quirky point system. Even after a member leaves Weight Watchers, they're still looking at food in that context. With my diet I've changed the volume of food that I make. It doesn't help a ton out at restaurants, but I've managed to change my behavior at home and it's sticking.
So I haven't failed, even by the standards of regaining lost weight (I don't consider regaining 5-7 pounds a failure when I've lost 60 more, obviously). But the specific challenge failed. I didn't make it to a second 200K before coming off the diet. The biggest reason for that though is that it failed because it succeeded. When I started the first diet, it was a huge challenge and an even bigger accomplishment. When I started the second challenge, it was kind of old hat. Yeah it would have been nice to get down to 180 or something, but I knew I could complete it. So when it became a struggle to post, and dull to keep track of, it was really easy to quit.
So why am I restarting it? Mostly because I want to set my personal best in Vegas. To do that I want to also lose a bit more weight, since it would be easier to carry 190 pounds 13 miles rather than 205. The challenge and the blog gives me something to track my progress. So you'll probably see a few more posts about running in the next few weeks. I'm also not shooting for 200K this time. I'm just going to aim for 50K, and then get myself something small but rewarding, maybe a new game or something.
All in all, it's good to be back. Let's see if I can keep at it.
Food today: skipped breakfast due to a large dinner the night before, candy at work though accounted for probably 500 calories, lunch was a meatball sub and chips (750 calories), dinner was some lasagna and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was an extra 2.5 mile bike ride, and a shorter lunchtime walk (100 calories), along with an hour on the treadmill mostly at 6.5 mph (1032 calories).
Daily Food Total: 2250
Exercise: 1132
Points Earned: 1882
Total Points Earned: 1882
Points to go: 48118
6 weeks ago my diet wasn't struggling, but it wasn't exactly succeeding either. I was maintaining my weight, and exercise plan, but I wasn't actually trying very hard either. Then I went on a three day vacation during which I couldn't post, and the entire process fell apart. So over the last 6 weeks I've eaten at 5 Guys multiple times, I've grabbed true fast food for dinner, bought pizzas, ate a lot of candy at work and generally ate junk food.
Some of the changes I've made over the past year did stick. Pasta used to mean a half pound of ground beef in the sauce and two plate-fulls of food. I've eaten a lot of pasta in this diet Interregnum but have kept it to what's become my current pasta dish (1 plate-full of penne and sauce). While I've skipped six weeks of kick-boxing, I've managed to at least keep running at least twice a week for most of it. Most importantly though is that my weight hasn't drastically changed in this time. As of this morning I was at 205.6 pounds. It's gone up from my personal best a bit, but it's still mostly within reason.
So have I failed? Not exactly, I've binged a bit in the last month and I've gotten careless about exercise, but I haven't seen any drastic changes in either behavior or weight gain as a result of it. In fact as Team Challenge training has picked up, I've actually been working towards a new personal best for my next half-marathon in December.
Failure can't just be falling off the specific plan of your diet. We're all going to do that eventually, it's inevitable. I like my diet, and I don't have any strong opposition to eating healthier but as any basic review of my last year's worth of posts will tell you, I have plenty of cravings for things that are "bad" for me. Failure needs to represent an inability to change behavior, or a return to older behaviors.
I structured my diet plan around cutting the amount of food I ate, and increasing my exercise, but I didn't drastically change the specifics of what I ate. One of the numerous articles on dieting I've read over the years pointed out that people who've used Jenny Craig or some of the other products that provide pre-prepared diet meals have had some of the highest "failure rates" of any diet plan. They defined failure as regaining the weight lost on a diet. By the same token Weight Watcher's had a significantly lower "failure rate" (though it should be noted that it's still very high by those standards).
One of the main points the article made was that one of the reasons for failure on the part of those who used the pre-packaged diet meals, was that they never actually learned how to eat better. I've seen it with one of my friends as well, who went on a medically prescribed diet, lost a great deal of weight and has promptly put it all back on. In his case, his doctor pretty much prescribed shakes for two meals out of the day, and then a small dinner. However once the diet ended, he just went back to his old eating habits because he hadn't learned how to eat what he liked in relation to a healthier lifestyle. Weight Watchers has had a higher level of success, because even though they provide pre-packaged foods, and other branded merchandise, they also train their members to think of foods in the context of their quirky point system. Even after a member leaves Weight Watchers, they're still looking at food in that context. With my diet I've changed the volume of food that I make. It doesn't help a ton out at restaurants, but I've managed to change my behavior at home and it's sticking.
So I haven't failed, even by the standards of regaining lost weight (I don't consider regaining 5-7 pounds a failure when I've lost 60 more, obviously). But the specific challenge failed. I didn't make it to a second 200K before coming off the diet. The biggest reason for that though is that it failed because it succeeded. When I started the first diet, it was a huge challenge and an even bigger accomplishment. When I started the second challenge, it was kind of old hat. Yeah it would have been nice to get down to 180 or something, but I knew I could complete it. So when it became a struggle to post, and dull to keep track of, it was really easy to quit.
So why am I restarting it? Mostly because I want to set my personal best in Vegas. To do that I want to also lose a bit more weight, since it would be easier to carry 190 pounds 13 miles rather than 205. The challenge and the blog gives me something to track my progress. So you'll probably see a few more posts about running in the next few weeks. I'm also not shooting for 200K this time. I'm just going to aim for 50K, and then get myself something small but rewarding, maybe a new game or something.
All in all, it's good to be back. Let's see if I can keep at it.
Food today: skipped breakfast due to a large dinner the night before, candy at work though accounted for probably 500 calories, lunch was a meatball sub and chips (750 calories), dinner was some lasagna and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was an extra 2.5 mile bike ride, and a shorter lunchtime walk (100 calories), along with an hour on the treadmill mostly at 6.5 mph (1032 calories).
Daily Food Total: 2250
Exercise: 1132
Points Earned: 1882
Total Points Earned: 1882
Points to go: 48118
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Day 131
Today was an okay day. One thing I've noticed is that in the past week I've cut down on my caffeine intake a little bit (more due to having some bottles of soda rather than cans, so I drink a little less as the cans are "easier" to drink multiples of). Unfortunately I noticed today that I'm crashing a little faster in the mornings, feeling more tired, etc. I think I might be going through withdrawal a bit, which worries me as it must mean I have been drinking way too much caffeine lately. Not sure if it'll play much of a role on the diet, other than tempting me to snack a bit more.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich again (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), snacks included some chips with a couple Rolo's (200 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast again (1000 calories), exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and 50 minutes on the treadmill (718 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 818
Points Earned: 1718
Total Points Earned: 153396
Points to go: 46604
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich again (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), snacks included some chips with a couple Rolo's (200 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast again (1000 calories), exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and 50 minutes on the treadmill (718 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 818
Points Earned: 1718
Total Points Earned: 153396
Points to go: 46604
Day 130
Tuesday was a pretty good day, but I ate a bit too much as the day wore on. It was another stair-climbing day and I did 187 flights of stairs (split between up and down). The best part is that meant I was number 1 in the office for the second day in a row. My standing still has more to do with one of the top people not participating, but still...number 1! That evening I hit the gym, and then went out to a Team Challenge info meeting. Afterwards we got dinner out, and that's when I had a bit too much to eat.
All in all a pretty positive day. Food: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), some chips and candy as snacks (250 calories), fish & chips for dinner (1200 calories). Exercise was stair climbing (160 calories), a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and running for 45 minutes (640 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2350
Exercise: 900
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 151678
Points to go: 48322
All in all a pretty positive day. Food: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), some chips and candy as snacks (250 calories), fish & chips for dinner (1200 calories). Exercise was stair climbing (160 calories), a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and running for 45 minutes (640 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2350
Exercise: 900
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 151678
Points to go: 48322
Monday, August 20, 2012
Day 127 to 129
This past weekend ended up being a little bit bad for me. Not so much on the food eaten, but because I didn't exercise for three days. Obviously not a recipe for success, and it may get worse over the next two days as well. One thing I did do successfully however is make sure to mostly keep the food I ate balanced. So while I had big lunches on Saturday and Sunday, I also had correspondingly small dinners. That kept things on track, even without the exercise I should have made time for.
Food on Saturday was an egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), fried chicken at lunch (1200 calories), and another egg and cheese for dinner (300 calories), snacks added up to another 200 calories. On Sunday I slept late, then went out to 5 Guys for lunch (2000 calories), later in the evening I had a granola bar as a snack (100 calories). Monday wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. I had egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories) and PB&J for lunch (600 calories), snacks were bad though with 300 calories of candy, and pasta and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).
Results:
Total Points Earned: 150128
Points to go: 49872
Food on Saturday was an egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), fried chicken at lunch (1200 calories), and another egg and cheese for dinner (300 calories), snacks added up to another 200 calories. On Sunday I slept late, then went out to 5 Guys for lunch (2000 calories), later in the evening I had a granola bar as a snack (100 calories). Monday wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. I had egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories) and PB&J for lunch (600 calories), snacks were bad though with 300 calories of candy, and pasta and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).
Results:
Total Points Earned: 150128
Points to go: 49872
Friday, August 17, 2012
Day 126
Friday was a little less intense, but I was a little proud of myself at dinner time. Every other Friday we get a 45 minute lunch instead of the usual half-hour. Largely unofficial of course, but it gives us time to go out and have a sit-down lunch rather than running out, grabbing a sandwich and bringing it back. Today we picked a decent place we've eaten at before called ROI ( http://theroiprov.com/ ). The food's decent, the atmosphere at lunch is nice, and it's in a different direction than most of the restaurants near work which means we don't often have to see co-workers. All in all I had a bigger lunch than normal. However at dinner time, I was able to choose to eat a small meal instead. Two years ago I would have simply eaten something big and not worried about it. Now I actually thought to balance out the big meal. A small accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), burger and fries for lunch (1200 calories), snacks were some M&M's (150 calories), dinner was another egg and cheese (300 calories). Exercise was 50 minutes on the treadmill (701 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 701
Points Earned: 1751
Total Points Earned: 147428
Points to go: 52572
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), burger and fries for lunch (1200 calories), snacks were some M&M's (150 calories), dinner was another egg and cheese (300 calories). Exercise was 50 minutes on the treadmill (701 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 701
Points Earned: 1751
Total Points Earned: 147428
Points to go: 52572
Day 125
Thursday went pretty well for the day all things considered. In the morning I did my Thursday stair-climbing for the contest at work. My department won the day as a whole, but even cooler, I was the day's #1 participant. Admittedly that was partially because the other folks who had scored the highest for the last three days all ended up missing their stair climbs for the day. Still I'm willing to take the win. In 15 minutes I went up and down 184 flights of stairs! That's a total of 2024 stairs, split evenly between going up and down.
Food for the day: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories), snacks included some chips and M&M's (250 calories). Exercise was the stair climbing (160 calories), a lunch time walk (100 calories), and a kickboxing class (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 760
Points Earned: 1610
Total Points Earned: 145677
Points to go: 54323
Food for the day: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories), snacks included some chips and M&M's (250 calories). Exercise was the stair climbing (160 calories), a lunch time walk (100 calories), and a kickboxing class (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 760
Points Earned: 1610
Total Points Earned: 145677
Points to go: 54323
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Day 124
Well, on the one hand today wasn't a great exercise day. On the other hand that was largely because I had our first informational meeting for Team Challenge after work. We've started a Rhode Island chapter for the fall season and we're going to be running a half-marathon on the Strip in Vegas! So while I didn't get exercise myself, I'm getting set up for a lot more down the line.
Getting back into the swing of weekly long runs is going to be nice. Even nicer is going to be the fact that I won't need to drive an hour to and from practice every week. Team Challenge remains one of the best experiences I've ever done, and I'm really excited to be a mentor this season. Of course I'd also like to cut some more time off my half-marathon pace. We'll have to see how we do with that.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), snacks were some chips and a few cheese-its (250 calories), dinner was a steak and cheese with the leftovers from yesterday (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned: 144067
Points to go: 55933
Getting back into the swing of weekly long runs is going to be nice. Even nicer is going to be the fact that I won't need to drive an hour to and from practice every week. Team Challenge remains one of the best experiences I've ever done, and I'm really excited to be a mentor this season. Of course I'd also like to cut some more time off my half-marathon pace. We'll have to see how we do with that.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), snacks were some chips and a few cheese-its (250 calories), dinner was a steak and cheese with the leftovers from yesterday (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned: 144067
Points to go: 55933
Day 123
Tuesday was a great day for exercise, though that came with a few more calories than needed. I've mostly settled into a groove, and that's showing in my weight measurements. I didn't lose weight since the last weigh-in, but I also didn't really gain weight either. I seem to mostly be settling into this weight. So since my goal is to keep losing it, I may need to make some more significant changes for the first time on the diet.
Weigh-in result: 199.8 pounds
Food today: peanut butter and toast for breakfast (400 calories), a PB&J for lunch (500 calories), snacks were a few pieces of candy and a Capri Sun juicebox after stair climbing (300 calories), dinner was a homemade steak and cheese sandwich (1000 calories). Exercise was stair climbing at work, a walk at lunch and 45 minutes on the treadmill (873 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 873
Points Earned: 1673
Total Points Earned: 143117
Points to go: 56883
Weigh-in result: 199.8 pounds
Food today: peanut butter and toast for breakfast (400 calories), a PB&J for lunch (500 calories), snacks were a few pieces of candy and a Capri Sun juicebox after stair climbing (300 calories), dinner was a homemade steak and cheese sandwich (1000 calories). Exercise was stair climbing at work, a walk at lunch and 45 minutes on the treadmill (873 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 873
Points Earned: 1673
Total Points Earned: 143117
Points to go: 56883
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Day 122
Monday got me back on track again, though it's pretty obvious I still have a lot of work to do if I want to hit my stretch goal of 180 pounds. I seem to have settled into a weight range and I will need to figure out ways to get ahead. There's obvious changes that could be made (in other words, not going to 5 Guys or other restaurants), and I could cut portion sizes a bit. Unfortunately at some level that requires as much a change as the entire diet has done up until now. The one thing I do know is that exercise by itself is probably not going to be enough, as I already have stretched out my workouts and while I will continue to do so there's only so much free time to spend on it.
Food today: skipped breakfast as I didn't have a complete meal in the house, at work I had a 6-inch meatball sub for lunch with chips (750 calories), snacks through the day involved a few M&M's and a granola bar (200 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise on the day was an hour at kickboxing, plus some push-ups and weight work at various points during the day (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 141444
Points to go: 58556
Food today: skipped breakfast as I didn't have a complete meal in the house, at work I had a 6-inch meatball sub for lunch with chips (750 calories), snacks through the day involved a few M&M's and a granola bar (200 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise on the day was an hour at kickboxing, plus some push-ups and weight work at various points during the day (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 141444
Points to go: 58556
Monday, August 13, 2012
Day 121
Today really wasn't a good day. I let myself get careless this week, and thanks to a busy schedule, didn't even exercise on the day. Starting on Monday we're going to have to get back on track. Food today: peanut butter and english muffin for breakfast (300 calories), burger and fries for lunch (2000 calories), pizza at dinner (700 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 3000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 0
Total Points Earned: 139894
Points to go: 60106
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 3000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 0
Total Points Earned: 139894
Points to go: 60106
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Day 120
Saturday was slated for hanging out with friends all day, and as such resulted in a little higher calories than I would have wanted. Pizza and chips were the main meal of the day, but I did get to the gym and keep the rest of my food for the day on the light side. So no major challenges, but also no major successes on the day. The important point though was that I was able to keep up the focus on the diet. Even if I didn't gain much ground, I also didn't really lose any either.
Food: english muffin with peanut butter and milk for both breakfast and dinner (600 calories total), lunch was some cheese pizza (1000 calories), snacks were several handfuls of chips during the day (700 calories). Exercise was 50 minutes on the treadmill (682 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 682
Points Earned: 1382
Total Points Earned: 139894
Points to go: 60106
Food: english muffin with peanut butter and milk for both breakfast and dinner (600 calories total), lunch was some cheese pizza (1000 calories), snacks were several handfuls of chips during the day (700 calories). Exercise was 50 minutes on the treadmill (682 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 682
Points Earned: 1382
Total Points Earned: 139894
Points to go: 60106
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Day 119
It's always funny how little things can throw off your diet and exercise plans. In my case yesterday we got hit with a major rainstorm right as I was leaving work. My plan for the day had been to go to the gym, then head home and try and make a dinner with a slightly smaller calorie count than normal. Instead having to bike home through a monsoon wrecked that. I was soaked to the skin within a few moments, and I simply skipped the gym as a result (my gym clothes were also soaked, though slightly less so, in my backpack). After getting home I needed comfort food so I made pasta rather than the smaller alternatives I'd been considering.
The day wasn't really a total loss. After all, a year ago comfort food meant burgers and fries, a 2000+ calorie portion of spaghetti and meat sauce, or some other equally unhealthy food. The fact that comfort food now means, "carbs, but not a ton of them" is almost certainly a good thing.
Food on Friday: english muffin with peanut butter and milk (trying to make some alternatives to the egg and cheese sandwich, this one I kind of like, 300 calories). Turkey sandwich (500 calories), snack was a homemade cupcake that someone brought to work (250 calories), and dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). I did manage to get two walks in at work (200 calories total) for exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1150
Total Points Earned: 138512
Points to go: 61488
The day wasn't really a total loss. After all, a year ago comfort food meant burgers and fries, a 2000+ calorie portion of spaghetti and meat sauce, or some other equally unhealthy food. The fact that comfort food now means, "carbs, but not a ton of them" is almost certainly a good thing.
Food on Friday: english muffin with peanut butter and milk (trying to make some alternatives to the egg and cheese sandwich, this one I kind of like, 300 calories). Turkey sandwich (500 calories), snack was a homemade cupcake that someone brought to work (250 calories), and dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). I did manage to get two walks in at work (200 calories total) for exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1150
Total Points Earned: 138512
Points to go: 61488
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Day 118
So we've started a new wellness challenge at work. It's a competition between the two main divisions at work to see who can climb the most flights of stairs during a 15 minute break. It's a fun event, and a significant portion of the office is participating but climbing stairs is exhausting. By the time I was done with my 15 minutes I was soaked in sweat. The disappointing part though is that 15 minutes only tracks out to around 160 calories. During that time though I did 159 flights of stairs (a flight is about 11 stairs at work).
Food today: toasted roll for breakfast (200 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks were a few mini-peanut butter cups and a slice of cheese at points in the day (250 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was the stair climbing, a lunch time walk and kickboxing (760 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 760
Points Earned: 1810
Total Points Earned: 137362
Points to go: 62638
Food today: toasted roll for breakfast (200 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks were a few mini-peanut butter cups and a slice of cheese at points in the day (250 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was the stair climbing, a lunch time walk and kickboxing (760 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 760
Points Earned: 1810
Total Points Earned: 137362
Points to go: 62638
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Day 117
After Tuesday turned out to be pretty bad, Wednesday's focus was on being good. It mostly worked, though I did end up getting an unnecessary snack at one point in order to break a $20 bill. No major challenges on the day, but still am going to need to make some changes if I want to start doing more with my diet.
Food today: toasted roll for breakfast (200 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), and a smaller portion than normal of salmon, rice and green beans (700 calories). Snacks included a bag of chips and M&M's (300 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and 50 minutes on the treadmill (762 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1700
Exercise: 762
Points Earned: 2062
Total Points Earned: 135552
Points to go: 64448
Food today: toasted roll for breakfast (200 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), and a smaller portion than normal of salmon, rice and green beans (700 calories). Snacks included a bag of chips and M&M's (300 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and 50 minutes on the treadmill (762 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1700
Exercise: 762
Points Earned: 2062
Total Points Earned: 135552
Points to go: 64448
Day 116
Tuesday was just a bad day. Felt like crap most of the day, then had errands and stuff later in the day. I also ended up eating too much as I chose to go to 5 Guys both to feel a bit better, and to celebrate the success of the 21 day challenge. Unfortunately that ended up with the worst day since October.
Food on Tuesday: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a roll and some chips (700 calories), dinner was 5 guys (2000 calories). There was no exercise unfortunately on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 3000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 0
Total Points Earned: 133490
Points to go: 66510
Food on Tuesday: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a roll and some chips (700 calories), dinner was 5 guys (2000 calories). There was no exercise unfortunately on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 3000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 0
Total Points Earned: 133490
Points to go: 66510
Monday, August 6, 2012
Day 115
So as planned, I got the reward for the second challenge a little early since the mini-challenge (oddly appropriate name, since the prize was a Mini Cooper) worked out so well. All in all it's been a pretty awesome run, and I still have two months or so to go before I finish this challenge. I'm really curious where I'm going to be at on October 19. That's going to be the one year mark and is going to really be an interesting chance to see how much has changed. That's probably when I'll end up doing the always fun "look at the clothes I used to wear" photo.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), pasta and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Snacks were a little high again with some M&M's and a granola bar (call it 250 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 133490
Points to go: 66510
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), pasta and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Snacks were a little high again with some M&M's and a granola bar (call it 250 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 133490
Points to go: 66510
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Day 114
So with the 21 day challenge done, I wouldn't be surprised to have a bit of a cheat day come along. Technically today involved a bit more food than I should have eaten, but as is often the case on Sundays that had to do with baking bread. I've had a few cravings this summer, and it's actually kind of impressive to me that I haven't gotten caught up in them yet. Other than an ice cream bar at work one day I've had no ice cream. Some of the other summer foods have had little or no play in my eating habits this summer (frozen lemonade, clam cakes, grilled foods, etc). Part of it is lack of opportunity, but in a real sense a lot of it has come from a change both in my habits but also my cravings. So in that regard I should probably thank 5 Guys. If I wasn't so busy craving their food, I might be having a harder time resisting other stuff.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), a cheeseburger on a homemade roll for lunch (700 calories), steak, noodles and green beans for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included a couple other rolls (400 calories). Exercise was 45 minutes on the treadmill, with the speed starting to edge up (611 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 611
Points Earned: 1211
Total Points Earned: 131940
Points to go: 68060
Three Week Challenge (Day 21) Final Results:
Average Points: 1501
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), a cheeseburger on a homemade roll for lunch (700 calories), steak, noodles and green beans for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included a couple other rolls (400 calories). Exercise was 45 minutes on the treadmill, with the speed starting to edge up (611 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 611
Points Earned: 1211
Total Points Earned: 131940
Points to go: 68060
Three Week Challenge (Day 21) Final Results:
Average Points: 1501
Missed Posts: 1
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Day 113
So for all intents and purposes I locked up the 21 day challenge yesterday. As a result today was the day I went out to get the new car. It's pretty awesome. The craziest part, five years ago I probably wouldn't have fit comfortably, now I totally do. This weight loss really has brought a lot of changes to my life and this new car is one more positive.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), no lunch as I was busy all day, dinner was at Gilette and I got chicken tenders and fries with a soda (1200 calories), also had some cheese as a snack at home (100 calories). Exercise was a 2-3 mile round trip walk into and out of the stadium (200 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1600
Total Points Earned: 130729
Points to go: 69271
Three Week Challenge (Day 20):
Average Points: 1515
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), no lunch as I was busy all day, dinner was at Gilette and I got chicken tenders and fries with a soda (1200 calories), also had some cheese as a snack at home (100 calories). Exercise was a 2-3 mile round trip walk into and out of the stadium (200 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1600
Total Points Earned: 130729
Points to go: 69271
Three Week Challenge (Day 20):
Average Points: 1515
Missed Posts: 1
Friday, August 3, 2012
Day 112
Was watching the Olympics today, and it's always fascinating to see how different Olympic caliber athletes perform compared to the rest of us. I can run at a reasonable clip, for a reasonable distance, but watching Olympic sprinters is something completely different. Fortunately, since they're so good I don't compare myself to their performance at all. But it's fascinating to imagine myself even at 10 percent of their ability.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), a 6 inch turkey wrap (500 calories), half a Caserta's cheese pizza (around 1200 calories), with some M&M's as snacks during the day (200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and 45 minutes on the treadmill (697 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 697
Points Earned: 1497
Total Points Earned: 129129
Points to go: 70871
Three Week Challenge (Day 19):
Average Points: 1510
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), a 6 inch turkey wrap (500 calories), half a Caserta's cheese pizza (around 1200 calories), with some M&M's as snacks during the day (200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and 45 minutes on the treadmill (697 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 697
Points Earned: 1497
Total Points Earned: 129129
Points to go: 70871
Three Week Challenge (Day 19):
Average Points: 1510
Missed Posts: 1
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Day 111
Today was pretty typical, but I ended up a little proud of myself again. After staying up too late the night before I was exhausted. That combined with the heat today wiped me out by the time I left work. The excuses on why I wanted to skip kickboxing started a couple hours before then. Even so, once I got home and had dinner I got my second wind and pretty much headed straight out to class. I've mentioned it a few times before, but that's a complete change in my life. Two years ago there's no way I would've made it back out for exercise. Now there has to be a good reason for me to skip.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), meatball sub from Subway (470 calories), chips and some M&M's as snacks on the day (300 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a walk and kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 127632
Points to go: 72368
Three Week Challenge (Day 18):
Average Points: 1511
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), meatball sub from Subway (470 calories), chips and some M&M's as snacks on the day (300 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a walk and kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 127632
Points to go: 72368
Three Week Challenge (Day 18):
Average Points: 1511
Missed Posts: 1
Day 110
It's really easy to forget how much I've accomplished since October. In a real sense a lot of the changes in my life have sort of blended together. In addition, I still have a ways to go to hit my new goals. So I've sometimes been a little hard on myself. On the other hand, every so often I run into someone who reminds me that "oh my god, I've lost almost 70 pounds." Those are the days when I end up feeling incredibly proud of myself.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), no actual lunch today as I was too busy to go out and get food, snacks filled in the middle of the day a little too heavily, a variety of candy was had instead throughout the day (400 calories probably), dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). I did 45 minutes on the treadmill, and have started stepping up the speed a little bit (601 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600
Exercise: 601
Points Earned: 2001
Total Points Earned: 126132
Points to go: 73868
Three Week Challenge (Day 17):
Average Points: 1512
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), no actual lunch today as I was too busy to go out and get food, snacks filled in the middle of the day a little too heavily, a variety of candy was had instead throughout the day (400 calories probably), dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). I did 45 minutes on the treadmill, and have started stepping up the speed a little bit (601 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600
Exercise: 601
Points Earned: 2001
Total Points Earned: 126132
Points to go: 73868
Three Week Challenge (Day 17):
Average Points: 1512
Missed Posts: 1
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Day 109
Another day, another almost missed post. It's not like I don't spend way too much time on the computer, but I always remember to do the post after shutting everything down. Another mixed bag of a day yesterday. Ate too many chips as snacks yesterday, but also worked out a little harder than before as well. All in all it balanced out to pretty much the minimum needed. Planning to get back on track now.
Food today: egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), chips as snacks (400 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and a faster 45 minutes on the treadmill (597 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 697
Points Earned: 1497
Total Points Earned: 124131
Points to go: 75869
Three Week Challenge (Day 16):
Average Points: 1481
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), chips as snacks (400 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and a faster 45 minutes on the treadmill (597 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 697
Points Earned: 1497
Total Points Earned: 124131
Points to go: 75869
Three Week Challenge (Day 16):
Average Points: 1481
Missed Posts: 1
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Day 108
Not much happened today. Having chips in the house meant my willpower breaking down a bit and me snacking a bit more than necessary, but not bad enough to endanger the challenge. Otherwise, everything pretty much went as normal.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar, some jelly beans and some chips (350 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk, and kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1450
Total Points Earned: 122634
Points to go: 77366
Three Week Challenge (Day 15):
Average Points: 1480
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar, some jelly beans and some chips (350 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk, and kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1450
Total Points Earned: 122634
Points to go: 77366
Three Week Challenge (Day 15):
Average Points: 1480
Missed Posts: 1
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Day 107
After yesterday's really good day, today turned into a bit of overeating thanks to the baseball game and a trip to the grocery store. Even so, it was still a successful day for a different reason. Today was the 120k weigh-in.
Weigh-in result: 199.6
I broke the 200 pound wall, and lost around 8 pounds since the last weigh-in 13 days ago. That is what I call a successful two weeks. In that regard at least it allowed for a small scale poor performance day. The day didn't need to be, but since I was making bread tonight I ended up swinging by the supermarket and made the mistake of picking up some chips and some burger patties. Ended up eating a few too many of the chips with dinner. Not really a big deal, and I still went to the gym. Just not as good a day as it could have been.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), chicken tenders and fries at the game (800 calories probably), dinner was the burger and chips (1500 calories). Exercise was 45 minutes on the treadmill (594 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2600
Exercise: 594
Points Earned: 994
Total Points Earned: 121184
Points to go: 78816
Three Week Challenge (Day 14):
Average Points: 1482
Missed Posts: 1
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Day 106
Well there's pretty much one week left to go on the 21 day challenge, and I just crossed the 120k mark on the diet. Both are really nice accomplishments. I'm not precisely sure what my weight's going to look like tomorrow, but I doubt I'll have broken 200 pounds (can anyone say reverse jinx). As strange as it seems, that weight's really become a wall for me. I keep getting close, but can't quite break the threshold. I'm not too concerned about it, since I'm sure the weight will come off eventually, but it's a little frustrating not to break it.
Today was a day of exercise, followed by laziness. I did a two hour bike-ride, but then just fiddled around the house the rest of the day. I am also on day two of a push-up challenge that some friends at work roped me into. Neat app on the phone that is supposed to work you up to doing 100 pushups at a time. I think that sounds ridiculous, but then again I said the same thing about a half-marathon once.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast and lunch (300 calories each), lunch also included some snacking immediately after the bike ride with an extra slice of cheese and some turkey (200 calories), snacks later in the day included a little more cheese and a granola bar (150 calories), dinner was lasagna and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was the bike ride and the push-ups (only really counting the bike ride at 1250 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 1250
Points Earned: 2300
Total Points Earned: 120190
Points to go: 79810
Three Week Challenge (Day 13):
Average Points: 1520
Missed Posts: 1
Today was a day of exercise, followed by laziness. I did a two hour bike-ride, but then just fiddled around the house the rest of the day. I am also on day two of a push-up challenge that some friends at work roped me into. Neat app on the phone that is supposed to work you up to doing 100 pushups at a time. I think that sounds ridiculous, but then again I said the same thing about a half-marathon once.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast and lunch (300 calories each), lunch also included some snacking immediately after the bike ride with an extra slice of cheese and some turkey (200 calories), snacks later in the day included a little more cheese and a granola bar (150 calories), dinner was lasagna and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was the bike ride and the push-ups (only really counting the bike ride at 1250 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 1250
Points Earned: 2300
Total Points Earned: 120190
Points to go: 79810
Three Week Challenge (Day 13):
Average Points: 1520
Missed Posts: 1
Friday, July 27, 2012
Day 105
Nine months ago, when the diet started a trip to the gym was a chore. Five years ago and a trip to the gym was either unheard of, or worse in some ways, a special event. In those days the idea of going home after work but still going to the gym simply wouldn't have occured to me. It's not even that I was lazy about it, once I made it home that was the time to eat dinner, watch TV and otherwise be a bit of a slug. So when I first started losing weight going to the gym meant scheduling and building a day around a 20 minute trip to the gym. I'd go in the morning before work, or on my way home from work.
Even last year, while training for a half-marathon, if I didn't stop at the gym on my way home then I didn't go. The gym may be five minutes from my house (by car or by bike), but there was no way I was going back out after I got home. I mention this because that trend has definitely changed for me. This week alone I've "skipped" the gym on the way home twice, but talked my way into going later in the evening. Both times it was for a good reason, but I almost felt that going out to the gym in the evening was more of an accomplishment than running for 40 minutes or so when I got there.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), Subway 6-inch meatball sub and some potato chips (750 calories), a few jelly beans as snacks (100 calories), lasagna and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was 45 minutes on the treadmill (591 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 591
Points Earned: 1441
Total Points Earned: 117890
Points to go: 82110
Three Week Challenge (Day 12):
Average Points: 1455
Missed Posts: 1
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Day 104
Another pretty good day. Snacks have continued to be just a little bit high on the day, but not really too bad. Kickboxing wore me out today, so I ended up grabbing a sourdough roll to snack on after class, which combined with the usual snacks went up just a tad. On the other hand I also worked out quite a bit. It's always a good sign when you burn through more than one bottle of water during training. Says you're working out, as long as you remember to drink enough. I did get briefly light-headed at one point but recognized the problem right away. All in all, it's another good day.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), granola bar, some jelly beans, and a small sourdough roll for snacks (300 calories total), dinner was lasagna and some garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was lunchtime walk (100 calories) and kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 116449
Points to go: 83551
Three Week Challenge (Day 11):
Average Points: 1457
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), granola bar, some jelly beans, and a small sourdough roll for snacks (300 calories total), dinner was lasagna and some garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was lunchtime walk (100 calories) and kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 116449
Points to go: 83551
Three Week Challenge (Day 11):
Average Points: 1457
Missed Posts: 1
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Day 103
My sources of candy at work were empty for most of the day. Depending on what I'm working on, I may not notice that I'm craving something. For the first half of the day I didn't even notice I was hungry. By the second half of the day however, when my tasks changed I definitely noticed the cravings. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, one of my friends sent me a message that she'd restocked her jelly bean supply. At that point the cravings really kicked in and I went and grabbed some. Admittedly it was only a handful of jelly beans, and that's actually a surprisingly small amount of calories in comparison to other candies, but it's disappointing that I still give into cravings too easily.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks were granola bar and jelly beans (200 calories), dinner was some lasagna I made and some garlic toast (1100 calories tonight, due to a little additional snacking during the cooking stage). Exercise was the lunch time walk and 40 minutes on the treadmill again (621 calories today).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 621
Points Earned: 1521
Total Points Earned: 114949
Points to go: 85051
Three Week Challenge (Day 10):
Average Points: 1452
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks were granola bar and jelly beans (200 calories), dinner was some lasagna I made and some garlic toast (1100 calories tonight, due to a little additional snacking during the cooking stage). Exercise was the lunch time walk and 40 minutes on the treadmill again (621 calories today).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 621
Points Earned: 1521
Total Points Earned: 114949
Points to go: 85051
Three Week Challenge (Day 10):
Average Points: 1452
Missed Posts: 1
Day 102
Almost missed a post today. Luckily I remembered getting distracted last night. No major challenges on Tuesday, though it's been a tough week at work. As a result I've been continuing to snack a little bit more than I probably should during the day, but not as bad as I used to.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar, some candy and an after-dinner roll (300 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk, and an after dinner trip to the gym (607 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 607
Points Earned: 1507
Total Points Earned: 113428
Points to go: 86572
Three Week Challenge (Day 9):
Average Points: 1444
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar, some candy and an after-dinner roll (300 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk, and an after dinner trip to the gym (607 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 607
Points Earned: 1507
Total Points Earned: 113428
Points to go: 86572
Three Week Challenge (Day 9):
Average Points: 1444
Missed Posts: 1
Monday, July 23, 2012
Day 101
There's definitely a danger on low-energy days at work. When it's already hard to get through the day without a boost of caffeine and/or sugar on an ordinary day, it becomes even worse when you're pushing through a low-energy day. In general I just felt unproductive today, and ended up snacking a bit more than I should have. I expect I'll probably get back on track soon enough as far as avoiding snacking goes however.
Food today: egg and cheese on sourdough for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich on sourdough for lunch (500 calories), snacks included some chips, a granola bar and some candy (350 calories), dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and 40 minutes on the treadmill (490 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 590
Points Earned: 1540
Total Points Earned: 111921
Points to go: 88079
Three Week Challenge (Day 8):
Average Points: 1437
Missed Posts: 1
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Day 100
Spending time with friends always makes the diet a little harder to maintain. I was able to make time for the gym this morning, but I ate too much during a day spent hanging with my friends. Of course I further complicated it by baking bread for the week today (and therefore needing to try it out, right from the oven).
All in all, kind of a mediocre day but it shouldn't hurt the average too much. Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), homemade pizza for lunch (1000 calories), dinner was more pizza as well as some bread (800 calories), there was also about 100 calories of snacks on the day. Exercise was 40 minutes on the treadmill (483 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 483
Points Earned: 1283
Total Points Earned: 110381
Points to go: 89619
Three Week Challenge (Day 7):
Average Points: 1422
Missed Posts: 1
All in all, kind of a mediocre day but it shouldn't hurt the average too much. Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), homemade pizza for lunch (1000 calories), dinner was more pizza as well as some bread (800 calories), there was also about 100 calories of snacks on the day. Exercise was 40 minutes on the treadmill (483 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 483
Points Earned: 1283
Total Points Earned: 110381
Points to go: 89619
Three Week Challenge (Day 7):
Average Points: 1422
Missed Posts: 1
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Day 99
The weekends always end up playing out a bit unusually. Part of being at work is a need for those little bursts of whatever that comes from snacking, or even just eating my lunch. I tend to get hungrier, earlier, at work than I do on the weekend. Of course, on a day like today, when I get to sleep in until 9 or 10 it's a bit easier to eat less since I'm starting later.
Today I also planned on a bike ride. It was supposed to go down the East Bay bike path, but I had missed the note that the bridge from India Point Park to the rest of the path was closed. So instead my ride ended up a little shorter, but took me all over the east side of Providence.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/201549612
It was a fun ride, and I did get to see some sections of the city I don't usually go to, but still a little disappointing. Have to drive over to East Providence to do the bike path at some point.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), toast with peanut butter and some milk for lunch (600 calories), a granola bar for a snack (100 calories) and penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was the aforementioned bike ride (about 650 calories probably).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 650
Points Earned: 1650
Total Points Earned: 109098
Points to go: 90902
Three Week Challenge (Day 6):
Average Points: 1445
Missed Posts: 1
Friday, July 20, 2012
Day 98
Well with one work week down, I'm doing pretty well on this little concentrated challenge. Today at work we had a lunch and learn on cross-fit. An instructor came in and gave a little presentation on the program. It was kind of cool, and if my schedule weren't already kind of full I think I might sign up for it. While their exercises focus more on weight work, in a lot of ways it works a lot like my kickboxing classes. Relatively short bursts of exercise, done repeatedly. So I do get some of the benefit of that style of exercise already.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a 6-inch meatball sub from Subway (500 calories), snacks were some candy at work and some popcorn at the movies (600 calories total), dinner was another egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories). I'd eaten more snacks than normal, so I intentionally scaled back dinner. Exercise was about 40 minutes on the treadmill, and biking to and from the movies (597 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1700
Exercise: 597
Points Earned: 1897
Total Points Earned: 107448
Points to go: 92552
Three Week Challenge (Day 5):
Average Points: 1404
Missed Posts: 1
Puts me ahead of my target point production for the first time. Now I just need to maintain this average for two and a half more weeks.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a 6-inch meatball sub from Subway (500 calories), snacks were some candy at work and some popcorn at the movies (600 calories total), dinner was another egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories). I'd eaten more snacks than normal, so I intentionally scaled back dinner. Exercise was about 40 minutes on the treadmill, and biking to and from the movies (597 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1700
Exercise: 597
Points Earned: 1897
Total Points Earned: 107448
Points to go: 92552
Three Week Challenge (Day 5):
Average Points: 1404
Missed Posts: 1
Puts me ahead of my target point production for the first time. Now I just need to maintain this average for two and a half more weeks.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Day 97
So the Wellness Committee's focus for the next quarter is effectively Whole-Life Wellness. Effectively, rather than just focusing on diet and exercise, we're also promoting finding a balance in life between work, exercise, social and mental stimulation and spiritual activities. While a lot of the literature on this subject ends up sounding kind of wacky and granola-ish, looking back over the last few years kind of bears it out a bit in my own life.
Five or six years ago, when my health was at its worst it carried over into a lot of other areas. I didn't particularly like my job, and the nature of the job and the stress it brought carried over into my physical life. As my weight scaled up, and my activity diminished that in turn kept me from wanting to push my social boundaries. That fed back to my work, making me more unhappy, which caused more stress which in turn carried back into the social and physical aspects.
In contrast, over the last 9 months as I've focused on getting healthier the positive feedback has carried over into other areas. My circle of friends has grown, I have more responsibilities at work, I'm trying new things and I'm generally happier (despite what some of my posts would indicate). So I guess I probably shouldn't dismiss the idea out of hand, just because it sounds kind of touchy-feely.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), granola bars and some jelly beans as snacks (200 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk and kickboxing (600 calories total)
On another milestone note. 9 months ago I started the first challenge. Today was the deadline to get to 200,000 calories saved. I seem to have picked up about 100,000 more than that since then, and lost 60 pounds.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1600
Total Points Earned: 105551
Points to go: 94449
Three Week Challenge (Day 4):
Average Points: 1281
Missed Posts: 1
Five or six years ago, when my health was at its worst it carried over into a lot of other areas. I didn't particularly like my job, and the nature of the job and the stress it brought carried over into my physical life. As my weight scaled up, and my activity diminished that in turn kept me from wanting to push my social boundaries. That fed back to my work, making me more unhappy, which caused more stress which in turn carried back into the social and physical aspects.
In contrast, over the last 9 months as I've focused on getting healthier the positive feedback has carried over into other areas. My circle of friends has grown, I have more responsibilities at work, I'm trying new things and I'm generally happier (despite what some of my posts would indicate). So I guess I probably shouldn't dismiss the idea out of hand, just because it sounds kind of touchy-feely.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), granola bars and some jelly beans as snacks (200 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk and kickboxing (600 calories total)
On another milestone note. 9 months ago I started the first challenge. Today was the deadline to get to 200,000 calories saved. I seem to have picked up about 100,000 more than that since then, and lost 60 pounds.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1600
Total Points Earned: 105551
Points to go: 94449
Three Week Challenge (Day 4):
Average Points: 1281
Missed Posts: 1
Day 96
Today turned out a lot better than it might have. I went for a walk at lunch, but as the day was winding down a major thunderstorm hit. I was a little worried that the weather was going to prevent me from going to the gym (as I was going to be biking home in a torrential downpour). Instead the weather broke just in time for me to leave.
Running on the treadmill also went better than I expected. I intentionally didn't go up to my fastest pace, but after 30 minutes of running my knee wasn't hurting at all. Hopefully this means it's going to be better in time for the next season of Team Challenge to start. Also, with luck I'll be able to maintain this pace for the next three weeks to make up for the weak first two days of the three week challenge. Nonetheless, for the first time in several weeks I feel like I actually accomplished something with the diet today.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), granola bar and a couple munchkins (200 calories), salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and a half-hour on the treadmill (524 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 524
Points Earned: 1624
Total Points Earned: 103951
Points to go: 96049
Three Week Challenge (Day 3):
Average Points: 1175
Missed Posts: 1
Running on the treadmill also went better than I expected. I intentionally didn't go up to my fastest pace, but after 30 minutes of running my knee wasn't hurting at all. Hopefully this means it's going to be better in time for the next season of Team Challenge to start. Also, with luck I'll be able to maintain this pace for the next three weeks to make up for the weak first two days of the three week challenge. Nonetheless, for the first time in several weeks I feel like I actually accomplished something with the diet today.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), granola bar and a couple munchkins (200 calories), salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and a half-hour on the treadmill (524 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 524
Points Earned: 1624
Total Points Earned: 103951
Points to go: 96049
Three Week Challenge (Day 3):
Average Points: 1175
Missed Posts: 1
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Day 95
So on the second day of the three week challenge (which admittedly I only really invented today, so I have no one to blame but myself) I had a weak day on food. Today though that had more to do with participating in an event that's going to be healthier in the long run. Had a bit more snack food today than I liked, but after work I met up with the new Team Challenge Rhode Island for our official welcome event. Great fun at Dave and Busters, but I probably ate a bit too much.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included some chips and a granola bar (300 calories), dinner was a burger, fries and some nachos at Dave and Busters (1300 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 700
Total Points Earned: 101627
Points to go: 98373
Three Week Challenge (Day 2):
Average Points: 950
Missed Posts: 1
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included some chips and a granola bar (300 calories), dinner was a burger, fries and some nachos at Dave and Busters (1300 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 700
Total Points Earned: 101627
Points to go: 98373
Three Week Challenge (Day 2):
Average Points: 950
Missed Posts: 1
Day 94
So, first thing's first, the weigh-in results. As expected I've gained weight back. Not quite as much as I feared, but still more than I wanted to see.
Weigh-in result: 207.7 pounds
That puts me up over 5 pounds from my former low point. Why did this happen? Because I stopped exercising and started eating badly again. Not as bad, obviously, as I did before last October but still badly. The solution is pretty simple, get back on track. I've been saying that for weeks though and it hasn't been working. So in order to refocus the diet and put a goal more specifically in mind I'm going to institute a short-term goal in order to make my diet goal. Over the next three weeks my goal is to average 1400 points per day, and miss no more than 5 posts (a missed post being defined as not updated by noon on the following day).
If I do that successfully I'm going to allow myself to buy the new car earlier than planned. Rather than waiting until the completion of the challenge, I'll shoot to get the car at the end of that period instead. The hope being that if I get back into the swing of diet, exercise and posting it will be easy enough to remain on it for the few months until I complete this challenge.
Food for Monday (which is obviously already one of the late days I'm allowed): egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included some candy and a granola bar (200 calories), dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories)
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 101627
Points to go: 98373
Three Week Challenge:
Average Points: 1200
Missed Posts: 1
Weigh-in result: 207.7 pounds
That puts me up over 5 pounds from my former low point. Why did this happen? Because I stopped exercising and started eating badly again. Not as bad, obviously, as I did before last October but still badly. The solution is pretty simple, get back on track. I've been saying that for weeks though and it hasn't been working. So in order to refocus the diet and put a goal more specifically in mind I'm going to institute a short-term goal in order to make my diet goal. Over the next three weeks my goal is to average 1400 points per day, and miss no more than 5 posts (a missed post being defined as not updated by noon on the following day).
If I do that successfully I'm going to allow myself to buy the new car earlier than planned. Rather than waiting until the completion of the challenge, I'll shoot to get the car at the end of that period instead. The hope being that if I get back into the swing of diet, exercise and posting it will be easy enough to remain on it for the few months until I complete this challenge.
Food for Monday (which is obviously already one of the late days I'm allowed): egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included some candy and a granola bar (200 calories), dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories)
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 101627
Points to go: 98373
Three Week Challenge:
Average Points: 1200
Missed Posts: 1
Monday, July 16, 2012
Day 93
So there have obviously been a few problems with my diet over the past couple months, which I've already discussed ad nauseum. One of the subtler difficulties I've noticed however is how my time off has taken me out of my state of fitness. A couple months ago a run for an hour on the treadmill was nothing particularly significant. Now I'm forced to stop after half an hour.
Fortunately fitness is fixable merely by continuing to get back to the gym. The knee is feeling a lot better, though still gets sore if I run too fast for too long. Hopefully that's a sign that it will get back to 100 percent eventually. Otherwise in order to get back on track I need to keep the junk food down and increase exercise. The next weigh-in is Monday. Unfortunately I suspect it's going to reveal that I've gained weight back.
Food today: some leftover pizza for breakfast and lunch (500 calories each), and penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a half hour on the treadmill (410 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 410
Points Earned: 1410
Total Points Earned: 100427
Points to go: 99573
Fortunately fitness is fixable merely by continuing to get back to the gym. The knee is feeling a lot better, though still gets sore if I run too fast for too long. Hopefully that's a sign that it will get back to 100 percent eventually. Otherwise in order to get back on track I need to keep the junk food down and increase exercise. The next weigh-in is Monday. Unfortunately I suspect it's going to reveal that I've gained weight back.
Food today: some leftover pizza for breakfast and lunch (500 calories each), and penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a half hour on the treadmill (410 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 410
Points Earned: 1410
Total Points Earned: 100427
Points to go: 99573
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Day 92
So Saturday was both a very good day, and a very bad day as far as the diet went. On the plus side, I ended up biking a total of around 33 miles. On the negative side, I had both a cookout early in the day and dinner out with my family later in the day. That meant eating a lot of food.
On nice thing about the day though, was the realization that biking a 16.6 mile leg of the trip really wasn't that tough. I can recall some other bike rides where after that much distance I ended up collapsing back at home. Admittedly I had a cookout in between the two legs, but when I got home from the second ride I was able to hop into the shower and head right back out. So the 33 miles of biking on the day, while long, wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 3000
Exercise: 1600
Points Earned: 1600
Total Points Earned: 99017
Points to go: 100983
On nice thing about the day though, was the realization that biking a 16.6 mile leg of the trip really wasn't that tough. I can recall some other bike rides where after that much distance I ended up collapsing back at home. Admittedly I had a cookout in between the two legs, but when I got home from the second ride I was able to hop into the shower and head right back out. So the 33 miles of biking on the day, while long, wasn't as bad as I was expecting.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 3000
Exercise: 1600
Points Earned: 1600
Total Points Earned: 99017
Points to go: 100983
Day 91
Not a great day on Friday. Ended up with another food heavy function at work. So my day included pizza and cookies, without much exercise. Hoping for a better week, next week.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2450
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 550
Total Points Earned: 97417
Points to go: 102583
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2450
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 550
Total Points Earned: 97417
Points to go: 102583
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Day 90
So during the hiatus I mostly stuck to the diet, and did get some exercise but I also ate more junk food than I probably should have. I didn't track the points all that well in that time. So while I should have gotten a bit better result if I had tracked it, I'm penalizing myself by awarding 800 points per day. I wasn't bad, but I wasn't good. The only exception is yesterday where I ate like a huge pig, so I gave myself 0 for that day.
Of course now I'm trying to be back from hiatus full scale. So today we did have a pizza party at work, but I balanced it out by pretty much a hour and half at kickboxing. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), pizza and chips for lunch with some other odds and ends (1000 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was an extra long session of kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1300
Total Points Earned: 96867
Points to go: 103133
Of course now I'm trying to be back from hiatus full scale. So today we did have a pizza party at work, but I balanced it out by pretty much a hour and half at kickboxing. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), pizza and chips for lunch with some other odds and ends (1000 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was an extra long session of kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1300
Total Points Earned: 96867
Points to go: 103133
Hiatus (days 77 to 89)
I honestly hadn't realized how long it's been since I've posted. I've still been mostly sticking to the diet, though without much exercise in order to rest the knee. This week I got back to exercise, though thanks to some parties at work, my actual diet has been a little off track (particularly yesterday).
As for why I haven't been posting, I think to some degree after the success of the first diet I got careless. On top of that, the reward for this diet ended up being something I'd already decided to buy but just was waiting for the right moment. Since I was going to get it anyway it didn't seem to matter as much.
So I'm going to try and be back, but it's hard to say how well that'll work. More posts to follow...hopefully.
As for why I haven't been posting, I think to some degree after the success of the first diet I got careless. On top of that, the reward for this diet ended up being something I'd already decided to buy but just was waiting for the right moment. Since I was going to get it anyway it didn't seem to matter as much.
So I'm going to try and be back, but it's hard to say how well that'll work. More posts to follow...hopefully.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Day 71-76
So I've continued to keep track of what I'm eating in these few weeks of no exercise. It's not a perfect system since I'm certainly starting to get careless on that as well as my posts. I'm still mostly keeping to the diet, and that should start to sharpen again now that things seem to be getting back on track a little. Knee feels a lot better, but tomorrow's run is going to be something of a test.
Six day Results:
Points Earned: 5300
Total Points Earned: 85967
Points to go: 114033
Six day Results:
Points Earned: 5300
Total Points Earned: 85967
Points to go: 114033
Friday, June 22, 2012
Day 70
So today was the 80k weigh-in at it was somewhat disappointing, but not unexpected. As I've been saying, I'm short on exercise and eating too much junk food lately. As such I ended up having lost a little bit of weight since 60k, but not really an amount I'm glad to see. Honestly, much of the variation within the past couple weeks is clearly within the margin of error.
Weigh-in result: 204.0 pounds.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast and turkey sandwich for lunch (800 calories for that). Dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Snacks were dangerous today though due to a party at work. Had some cake and a mini-smores cupcake (600 calories). No exercise again.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 600
Total Points Earned: 80667
Points to go: 119333
Weigh-in result: 204.0 pounds.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast and turkey sandwich for lunch (800 calories for that). Dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Snacks were dangerous today though due to a party at work. Had some cake and a mini-smores cupcake (600 calories). No exercise again.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 600
Total Points Earned: 80667
Points to go: 119333
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Days 66-69
So I'm continuing to have a hard time remembering to post. As I've been saying for days, I need to get back into the habits of daily exercise. Nonetheless, I'm still picking up points, even if it's slowly. If my knee feels okay next monday I'm going to restart the exercise plan again.
Four day Results:
Points Earned: 3200
Total Points Earned: 80067
Points to go: 119933
Four day Results:
Points Earned: 3200
Total Points Earned: 80067
Points to go: 119933
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Days 63 - 65
Hey it's another 3 day post. Why, mostly because I continue to be distracted by books to read and video games to play. Not really good excuses at all for skipping posts but, eh at least I'm being honest (though I did consider a story about being kidnapped and held for ransom).
Pretty good set of three days. Not necessarily great points-wise, but a fun enough weekend anyway. Friday was another work day which meant a little too much snacking. But the rest of the meals on the day kept things close enough to 1000 points for the day. Saturday featured a 9 mile run, so really whatever I ate that day wasn't going to be bad. I finished the day with about 2000 points after eating the usual peanut butter sandwich and egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast and lunch, plus a medium sized pizza for dinner. Sunday wasn't a great day as I had a craving for 5 Guys and so ate a bit too much on the day.
All in all the weekend was a lot of fun. I'm going to be trying to schedule a doctor's appointment though to look at my knee. While it hasn't been a major problem, if I'm going to train for another half-marathon I want to make sure the knee is healthy.
Three day Results:
Points Earned: 3650
Total Points Earned: 76867
Points to go: 123133
Pretty good set of three days. Not necessarily great points-wise, but a fun enough weekend anyway. Friday was another work day which meant a little too much snacking. But the rest of the meals on the day kept things close enough to 1000 points for the day. Saturday featured a 9 mile run, so really whatever I ate that day wasn't going to be bad. I finished the day with about 2000 points after eating the usual peanut butter sandwich and egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast and lunch, plus a medium sized pizza for dinner. Sunday wasn't a great day as I had a craving for 5 Guys and so ate a bit too much on the day.
All in all the weekend was a lot of fun. I'm going to be trying to schedule a doctor's appointment though to look at my knee. While it hasn't been a major problem, if I'm going to train for another half-marathon I want to make sure the knee is healthy.
Three day Results:
Points Earned: 3650
Total Points Earned: 76867
Points to go: 123133
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Day 62
I think the thing that I most miss about being the kind of person I was before the diet started is not having to think about food. Yes I ate complete junk, and didn't exercise nearly enough, but I also really wasn't that aware of it. Sure I knew that if I went to Pizza Hut or 5 Guys that I'd end up eating way more than I should, but I didn't really need to think about what that meant. Unfortunately now I do think about that. When I grab candy at work, or eat chips when hanging with friends, or otherwise "cheat" on the diet I know what I'm doing and it bums me out a bit.
It's not really a major problem, and I definitely like the positives of my current lifestyle. On the other hand I miss the guy who didn't need to think about this kind of stuff. He was fat and lazy, but he knew how to enjoy destroying an all-you-can-eat buffet. Not sure I could really do that any more (destroy the buffet: yes, enjoy it afterwards: probably no).
It's another melancholy post, but I've been cheating a lot more in the last few weeks with increased access to junk and a decreased amount of exercise. Honestly, if you read these you'd probably think I was depressed. I'm honestly not, but I do miss some aspects of my old life.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (really tasty for 300 calories, hence why I eat it every day), turkey sandwich (500 calories), candy (250 calories), salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 73217
Points to go: 126783
It's not really a major problem, and I definitely like the positives of my current lifestyle. On the other hand I miss the guy who didn't need to think about this kind of stuff. He was fat and lazy, but he knew how to enjoy destroying an all-you-can-eat buffet. Not sure I could really do that any more (destroy the buffet: yes, enjoy it afterwards: probably no).
It's another melancholy post, but I've been cheating a lot more in the last few weeks with increased access to junk and a decreased amount of exercise. Honestly, if you read these you'd probably think I was depressed. I'm honestly not, but I do miss some aspects of my old life.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (really tasty for 300 calories, hence why I eat it every day), turkey sandwich (500 calories), candy (250 calories), salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 73217
Points to go: 126783
Day 61
I wish I had a good excuse for why I haven't gotten back to the gym this week. Sadly I don't. I mean I have excuses: resting my knee, going to run 9 miles on Saturday, just relaxing a bit before training for the next half-marathon, etc. Unfortunately the real reason is that I've just gotten a ridiculously addictive computer game and exercise time is time I could be trying to conquer the world instead.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included some candy and granola bars (250 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). No exercise again.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned: 71667
Points to go: 128333
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included some candy and granola bars (250 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). No exercise again.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned: 71667
Points to go: 128333
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Day 58 through 60
I continue to have no good reason for missing posts. I did so well on the first challenge that I'm surprised at how many breaks I've been having. This week I've been partially distracted with a new, highly addictive, video game but even so it shouldn't keep me from writing something up.
The last three days have been relatively straightforward. Sunday I had friends over and grilled a few burgers. Monday I had a normal lunch, and a burger for dinner. Yesterday's dinner was homemade fish and chips (had seen the perfect sized piece of fish while at the market). There was a bit too much snacking, between chips on Sunday and the candy bowl at work on Monday and Tuesday but otherwise everything seems routine. No exercise though as I've continued to rest up my knee. Planning to go to kickboxing tomorrow, and running on Saturday to see how it's feeling.
The results below are for the three days:
Today's Results:
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 70717
Points to go: 129283
The last three days have been relatively straightforward. Sunday I had friends over and grilled a few burgers. Monday I had a normal lunch, and a burger for dinner. Yesterday's dinner was homemade fish and chips (had seen the perfect sized piece of fish while at the market). There was a bit too much snacking, between chips on Sunday and the candy bowl at work on Monday and Tuesday but otherwise everything seems routine. No exercise though as I've continued to rest up my knee. Planning to go to kickboxing tomorrow, and running on Saturday to see how it's feeling.
The results below are for the three days:
Today's Results:
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 70717
Points to go: 129283
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Day 57
There's definitely a connection between sitting at my desk at work and snacking. When I'm home on an average weekday I tend to eat incidental snacks significantly less. Now some of that is just a matter of what's at work versus at home. On those occasions when I've bought a bag of chips, I have managed to destroy those in a day without noticing. Still, when I'm at home there's just a little bit more variation in the day and I don't go looking for short-term distractions like a piece of candy.
Today was fun though, had a fundraising cookout to go to for people from kickboxing. They're doing the MS 150 bike ride. I ran 13 miles last week, I'm kind of glad I'm not biking 150 kilometers though. Cookouts are always fun, though they tend to be a bit more calorie intensive. I had four small burgers, and some chips, but justified it by calling it a combination of lunch and dinner. Otherwise I mostly hung out around the house.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), the aforementioned burgers and chips (1500 calories probably), some later snacks on the day included some cheese slices and some peanut butter (200 calories). No real exercise again as I was taking the day off. Still debating whether I'm going to do the Rock and Roll Half in Providence in August. If I am though I'm going to have to get back into training next week.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 67717
Points to go: 132283
Today was fun though, had a fundraising cookout to go to for people from kickboxing. They're doing the MS 150 bike ride. I ran 13 miles last week, I'm kind of glad I'm not biking 150 kilometers though. Cookouts are always fun, though they tend to be a bit more calorie intensive. I had four small burgers, and some chips, but justified it by calling it a combination of lunch and dinner. Otherwise I mostly hung out around the house.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), the aforementioned burgers and chips (1500 calories probably), some later snacks on the day included some cheese slices and some peanut butter (200 calories). No real exercise again as I was taking the day off. Still debating whether I'm going to do the Rock and Roll Half in Providence in August. If I am though I'm going to have to get back into training next week.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 67717
Points to go: 132283
Day 56
I was finally able to get to the supermarket again on Thursday, which opened up some options other than buying lunch at Subway. Admittedly it's still the same old options that I always eat, but still tasty and not something I have to go out for. Wasn't perfect on the day for avoiding snacking though, snacks crept up a bit again, though more of that was at home than at work.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich on sourdough (500 calories), pork loin, rice and green beans for dinner (900 calories), snacks included a couple granola bars, some cheese and some candy at various points of the day (300 calories). No exercise on the day however.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 66717
Points to go: 133283
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich on sourdough (500 calories), pork loin, rice and green beans for dinner (900 calories), snacks included a couple granola bars, some cheese and some candy at various points of the day (300 calories). No exercise on the day however.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 66717
Points to go: 133283
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Day 55
Getting back into the routine is very important, not just because it will hopefully get my weight loss and the Challenge in general back on track. It will also help me get back the fitness I've lost over the last couple months as I've been on vacation, half-marathon trips and nursing my knee. Kickboxing tonight was exhausting! As I've been discovering over the last week, being able to run does not really contribute much at all to upper-body strength. Add in most of a month and a half without kickboxing, and I was wiped out by the end of class. Clearly I need to start working on a plan to build some muscle in the upper body.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), a meatball sub for lunch (500 calories), some candy and a granola bar as snacks during the day (300 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories)
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 65717
Points to go: 134283
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), a meatball sub for lunch (500 calories), some candy and a granola bar as snacks during the day (300 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories)
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 65717
Points to go: 134283
Day 54
Not much happened on Wednesday, which combined with having people over meant the post got kind of delayed. Despite saying that I wanted to start refocusing on the diet, I haven't quite been able to do it yet. I'm expecting things to start picking up slowly over the next week as I slip back into a routine again.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub with chips for lunch (700 calories), a cheeseburger on a fresh sourdough roll (700 calories) for dinner, snacks included some candy and a small sourdough roll (400 calories). Exercise included a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 64317
Points to go: 135683
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub with chips for lunch (700 calories), a cheeseburger on a fresh sourdough roll (700 calories) for dinner, snacks included some candy and a small sourdough roll (400 calories). Exercise included a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 64317
Points to go: 135683
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Day 53
Over the weekend I crossed the threshold for a weigh-in, but didn't notice it as I was away. So instead I did the weigh-in this morning instead.
Weigh-in result: 205.6 pounds
So for the first time on the diet I've seen my weight climb in between weigh-ins. Technically the 40k weigh in was 206.8, but I intentionally weighed myself following my vacation and was significantly below the current mark at 202.4.
So what does this climb of 3.2 pounds mean? Part of it is certainly due to eating too much over the past couple weeks, with a corresponding reduction in exercise. While I did run a half-marathon on Saturday I also ended up eating a lot of higher-calorie foods over the weekend. Part of the weight gain may also be a sign that I'm finally hitting a weight-loss plateau, and so I can't be as careless with my eating habits.
The simplest remedy is to simply re-concentrate on the diet. Avoid unnecessary snacks, recalculate exactly what I'm eating with meals, and start back with a more focused exercise plan. Some of it won't be easy to immediately implement, my knee is still a little sore, I've got to go grocery shopping again, and I've gotten into bad habits with snacking. In the end though, those are just excuses and I know I can get the weight loss restarted. After all, I've already lost 60 pounds.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub for lunch (no bread in the house, 500 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Snacks included some candy and bread (200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and sit-ups, push-ups and leg raises (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 63317
Points to go: 136683
Weigh-in result: 205.6 pounds
So for the first time on the diet I've seen my weight climb in between weigh-ins. Technically the 40k weigh in was 206.8, but I intentionally weighed myself following my vacation and was significantly below the current mark at 202.4.
So what does this climb of 3.2 pounds mean? Part of it is certainly due to eating too much over the past couple weeks, with a corresponding reduction in exercise. While I did run a half-marathon on Saturday I also ended up eating a lot of higher-calorie foods over the weekend. Part of the weight gain may also be a sign that I'm finally hitting a weight-loss plateau, and so I can't be as careless with my eating habits.
The simplest remedy is to simply re-concentrate on the diet. Avoid unnecessary snacks, recalculate exactly what I'm eating with meals, and start back with a more focused exercise plan. Some of it won't be easy to immediately implement, my knee is still a little sore, I've got to go grocery shopping again, and I've gotten into bad habits with snacking. In the end though, those are just excuses and I know I can get the weight loss restarted. After all, I've already lost 60 pounds.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub for lunch (no bread in the house, 500 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Snacks included some candy and bread (200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk and sit-ups, push-ups and leg raises (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 63317
Points to go: 136683
Monday, June 4, 2012
Day 52
So the first day back from race weekend was supposed to be the start of my full-scale re-commitment to the diet and exercise plan. Unfortunately it didn't work out precisely as intended. Food was pretty much on target. Unfortunately the plan was to hit the gym after work and run on the treadmill. When I got to the gym they were having their monthly pizza party so I grabbed a small slice before working out (which boosted the day's snacks up a little). Unfortunately it took about two minutes to realize that both my knee and ankle hadn't fully recovered from Saturday's run. I was sore!
It shouldn't be a long term problem of course, but it was a little disappointing nonetheless. I don't have any major complaints on the day, but I do wish it had gone slightly better. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub for lunch (500 calories), snacks included a few chocolates and the slice of pizza (300 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). No actual exercise on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 62217
Points to go: 137783
note: edited to correct the total points earned number
It shouldn't be a long term problem of course, but it was a little disappointing nonetheless. I don't have any major complaints on the day, but I do wish it had gone slightly better. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub for lunch (500 calories), snacks included a few chocolates and the slice of pizza (300 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). No actual exercise on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 62217
Points to go: 137783
note: edited to correct the total points earned number
Day 47 through Day 51 - Race Weekend!!!
So this past weekend was race weekend. After six months of prep for a half-marathon I was pretty excited to finally get to race day itself. We lucked out on the weather, instead of the 90-100 degrees I was worried about the temperature was only in the 70's. The course this year was a lot more consistently hilly, with no real flat stretches of any length. On the other hand there also weren't any really big or steep hills either. I finished with a time of 2:26:20, which is about 44 minutes faster than my time last year.
The GPS data for the race can be found here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/185368916
The rest of race weekend was a lot of fun as well. I didn't have a real computer on the trip so I wasn't able to post daily. I decided to do one big post for the weekend. Wednesday I crashed at my sister's before leaving the next morning. Unfortunately on Wednesday I also ate a bit too much and didn't exercise. Thursday we flew down to DC, and then hung out by the hotel pool before eventually going out to dinner. Friday morning we had a team run (only 1.7 miles), and then went into the city for a few hours of museums and monuments. That night we had the Team Challenge pasta party and bed. Saturday was the race, followed by a cook-out, wine-tasting then a dinner concert at a vineyard. Sunday we had brunch, then flew home.
The only real defining factor of the weekend was eating a little too much. No single meal was all that bad, but I had more "full" meals than I normally would in the same situation. Kept active the whole weekend obviously, but wouldn't be surprised to net very little in the way of weight.
Points for each day:
Wednesday: 400 points (too much food, without much exercise)
Thursday: 1350 points (balancing the day before, light on food with a little bit of exercise)
Friday: 650 points (too much food, decent amount of exercise)
Saturday: 1500 points (too much food, but a ton of exercise)
Sunday: 400 points (minimal exercise, with high calorie foods)
Weekend's Results:
Points Earned: 4300
Total Points Earned: 61317
Points to go: 138683
The GPS data for the race can be found here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/185368916
The rest of race weekend was a lot of fun as well. I didn't have a real computer on the trip so I wasn't able to post daily. I decided to do one big post for the weekend. Wednesday I crashed at my sister's before leaving the next morning. Unfortunately on Wednesday I also ate a bit too much and didn't exercise. Thursday we flew down to DC, and then hung out by the hotel pool before eventually going out to dinner. Friday morning we had a team run (only 1.7 miles), and then went into the city for a few hours of museums and monuments. That night we had the Team Challenge pasta party and bed. Saturday was the race, followed by a cook-out, wine-tasting then a dinner concert at a vineyard. Sunday we had brunch, then flew home.
The only real defining factor of the weekend was eating a little too much. No single meal was all that bad, but I had more "full" meals than I normally would in the same situation. Kept active the whole weekend obviously, but wouldn't be surprised to net very little in the way of weight.
Points for each day:
Wednesday: 400 points (too much food, without much exercise)
Thursday: 1350 points (balancing the day before, light on food with a little bit of exercise)
Friday: 650 points (too much food, decent amount of exercise)
Saturday: 1500 points (too much food, but a ton of exercise)
Sunday: 400 points (minimal exercise, with high calorie foods)
Weekend's Results:
Points Earned: 4300
Total Points Earned: 61317
Points to go: 138683
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Day 46
Nothing particularly significant happened on Tuesday. Had some friends over which made it difficult to get a post up on time. No major challenges during the day though, and I had a bit of success avoiding snacks on the day.
Food: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar and a few jelly beans (150 calories), dinner was salmon, noodles and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1850
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned: 57017
Points to go: 142983
Food: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar and a few jelly beans (150 calories), dinner was salmon, noodles and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1850
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned: 57017
Points to go: 142983
Monday, May 28, 2012
Day 45
With all the exercise from this weekend, I decided to give myself a bit of a rest today. I didn't just crap out on the couch or anything, but I also didn't try to get out to exercise at any point either. My plan for the day was to hang out with friends and go to a Red Sox game. On the positive side, it was a fun day and the Sox won! On the negative side, I probably ate a bit too much. Today at least, I'm not really concerned with scoring a little low thanks to snacking. Going forward, that's going to be an issue, but today was something of a special case.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a hot dog at the game (400 calories and $5), snacks included a cookie from a bakery and part of a bag of popcorn (500 calories), dinner was pasta, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). No actual exercise on the day, though I walked around Boston a bit.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 800
Total Points Earned: 55767
Points to go: 144233
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a hot dog at the game (400 calories and $5), snacks included a cookie from a bakery and part of a bag of popcorn (500 calories), dinner was pasta, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). No actual exercise on the day, though I walked around Boston a bit.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 800
Total Points Earned: 55767
Points to go: 144233
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Day 44
Two years ago a three day weekend would have been spent with a mixture of reading, playing video games, going to the movies, and of course going out to eat unhealthy food on all three days. What wouldn't have been included in those plans...exercise of any sort. In reality I might have ended up taking some sort of exercise (20 minutes at the gym, maybe a short bike ride) and using it as an excuse to eat even more unhealthy food.
This weekend, it was running on Saturday followed by biking on Sunday. Monday may include a trip to the gym or kickboxing depending on when I get back in the evening. I've said it before, I'll say it again, it's weird to have a whole series of healthy hobbies. Still managed to get sunburned today, which is at least a little unhealthy.
For my bike ride I rode the Blackstone River Bike Path for about 17 miles:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/182672733
Beautiful ride along a great path, but it did start to wear me out. I've got no idea on how many calories I actually burned on the ride. The Garmin projection seems really high, but a search online gave me some estimates that seem more realistic (about 600 calories per hour).
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), no lunch but I did have some cheese, a small sourdough roll and a granola bar as snacks during the day (300 calories), dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise ended up being about 900 calories worth.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600
Exercise: 900
Points Earned: 2300
Total Points Earned: 54967
Points to go: 145033
This weekend, it was running on Saturday followed by biking on Sunday. Monday may include a trip to the gym or kickboxing depending on when I get back in the evening. I've said it before, I'll say it again, it's weird to have a whole series of healthy hobbies. Still managed to get sunburned today, which is at least a little unhealthy.
For my bike ride I rode the Blackstone River Bike Path for about 17 miles:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/182672733
Beautiful ride along a great path, but it did start to wear me out. I've got no idea on how many calories I actually burned on the ride. The Garmin projection seems really high, but a search online gave me some estimates that seem more realistic (about 600 calories per hour).
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), no lunch but I did have some cheese, a small sourdough roll and a granola bar as snacks during the day (300 calories), dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise ended up being about 900 calories worth.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1600
Exercise: 900
Points Earned: 2300
Total Points Earned: 54967
Points to go: 145033
Day 43
So Saturday was the final training session before next weekend's half-marathon. It also presented a bit more of a challenge than most of our training sessions, as it was hot and humid. We've been training for a June race in Virginia, but most of our training has been in the cool winter and spring weather of New England. Needless to say, everybody's a little concerned about what the weather's going to be like next weekend. I haven't decided when my next half-marathon is going to be after this one. In the short term I know I want to run some 5K and 10K's and focus on getting those times down. A half-marathon is a long term commitment for me, whereas a shorter race can be run on the spur of the moment if necessary. I've said it before, but who would've imagined that I'd be running 6+ miles at a stretch at all, let alone planning to run the entire 13.1 next week.
Food: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was some scrambled eggs and toast (650 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast again (1000 calories). No real snacks on the day however, was a little too busy. Exercise was approximately 700 calories, for 6.1 miles of running.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 700
Points Earned: 1750
Total Points Earned: 52667
Points to go: 147333
Food: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was some scrambled eggs and toast (650 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast again (1000 calories). No real snacks on the day however, was a little too busy. Exercise was approximately 700 calories, for 6.1 miles of running.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 700
Points Earned: 1750
Total Points Earned: 52667
Points to go: 147333
Friday, May 25, 2012
Day 42
Erin's challenged me to find some new types of snacks, and she's right that I need to do so. Planning to hit the grocery store this weekend and part of the process will be to find some of the alternatives to what I've had at work. Today was both bad and good in terms of snacking. My snack calories are still pretty high for the day but most of those came from a small piece of cake someone brought in that I tried (a chocolate chip cookie cake). Random snacking during the day was way down however, and the rest of my snacks largely count towards a couple little chocolates before going running and some small sourdough rolls after dinner.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), pizza for lunch (800 calories), a turkey sandwich for dinner (500 calories), and the aforementioned snacks (600 calories total). Exercise was an hour on the treadmill (894 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 894
Points Earned: 1694
Total Points Earned: 50917
Points to go: 149083
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), pizza for lunch (800 calories), a turkey sandwich for dinner (500 calories), and the aforementioned snacks (600 calories total). Exercise was an hour on the treadmill (894 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 894
Points Earned: 1694
Total Points Earned: 50917
Points to go: 149083
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Day 41
So over the last week or so, as my diet's restarted I've run into one challenge that I've been failing at. Namely avoiding overly-snacking, particularly on junk food. Unfortunately one of my co-workers brought in a bunch of really good candy, including Reese's cups. I haven't been able to effectively resist the temptation. Today got even worse as I was baking bread tonight, which ended up with even more unexpected snacking. I have got some exercise over the past few days, but this is not a recipe for continued weight loss. In the end I'm going to need to refocus my diet, but I'm still a bit uncertain on how effectively I can do that.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories), snacks included candy and some freshly baked bread (600 calories). Exercise was an hour at kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 49223
Points to go: 150777
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories), snacks included candy and some freshly baked bread (600 calories). Exercise was an hour at kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 49223
Points to go: 150777
Day 40
Just a quick post for yesterday, since I didn't have a chance to post it then. No major events happened, though we did have a big office-wide walk with the boss. Got me a bit more exercise than I would have had otherwise. Unfortunately I ruined that by having a bit too much in the way of snacks for the day.
Food: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included some candy and snacks (300 calories), dinner was pork loin, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunch-time walk (200 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 48123
Points to go: 151877
Food: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included some candy and snacks (300 calories), dinner was pork loin, rice and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was a lunch-time walk (200 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 48123
Points to go: 151877
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Day 39
Nothing particularly significant happened today. The only mild challenge is that one of my managers has restocked her candy jar with all of the candy that I like best. Makes for a more difficult time when it comes to avoiding temptation on the day.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), candy and a granola bar as snacks (250 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned: 46923
Points to go: 153077
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), candy and a granola bar as snacks (250 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned: 46923
Points to go: 153077
Monday, May 21, 2012
Day 38
And we're back from the hiatus for two days running. Honestly when I decided to put the diet on hold for my vacation I honestly thought there was a good chance the full Challenge was going to die. While I think enough of my behavior has changed to make maintaining the current diet and exercise plan in some fashion relatively simple, the daily tracking and posts are a different matter. I like sharing this stuff here, but it does require a bit of effort to come up with something to say. Also I've been a bit careless lately, letting posts slide and then doing my best to catch up later.
If the blog had died though, the success of the plan wouldn't have. With my vacation weight loss I've passed the 60 pound mark. In the next couple weeks I may finally cross that 200 pound threshold. My friends continue to be complimentary. One nice benefit of the trip was getting to see one friend who hasn't seen me since Christmas. When we met at the train station I walked right up to him, and he still didn't recognize me for a moment. All in all, while I sometimes miss going out and getting a chocolate cream pie and eating it, the rewards have definitely been worth it.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), routine here of course but I hadn't had one in a couple weeks. Lunch was a turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar and a few pieces of candy (250 calories), dinner was steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (888 calories). One downside to losing weight, I burn less calories doing the same exercise. Oh well.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 988
Points Earned: 1938
Total Points Earned: 45973
Points to go: 154027
If the blog had died though, the success of the plan wouldn't have. With my vacation weight loss I've passed the 60 pound mark. In the next couple weeks I may finally cross that 200 pound threshold. My friends continue to be complimentary. One nice benefit of the trip was getting to see one friend who hasn't seen me since Christmas. When we met at the train station I walked right up to him, and he still didn't recognize me for a moment. All in all, while I sometimes miss going out and getting a chocolate cream pie and eating it, the rewards have definitely been worth it.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), routine here of course but I hadn't had one in a couple weeks. Lunch was a turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included a granola bar and a few pieces of candy (250 calories), dinner was steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (888 calories). One downside to losing weight, I burn less calories doing the same exercise. Oh well.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 988
Points Earned: 1938
Total Points Earned: 45973
Points to go: 154027
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