I had a few comments from people today that I might need some new clothing. Admittedly I was wearing some older clothes (in particular a 3XL shirt), but it was still nice to hear. Of course it begs the question as to when I should actually go out and start replacing my wardrobe. As I see it I've got a couple choices. The first is to go out short term and get some stuff now. Theoretically then I'd have stuff that fit better now, but would be loose in a couple months when the diet ends (assuming I don't plateau between now and then). The second is to wait the two more months or so until the diet's officially complete. At that point the goal is going to be to maintain the weight loss, and so while the clothes might get a little looser it shouldn't be too bad.
Not really sure what the right answer is, but it's something to think about this week anyway. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), snacks included some pieces of candy and a sourdough roll at home (350 calories total), dinner was steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise was an hour on an elliptical machine (the treadmills were all being used) and a walk at lunchtime (655 and 100 calories respectively).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2250
Exercise: 755
Points Earned: 1505
Total Points Earned: 134613
Points to go: 65387
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Day 102
One obvious thing to remember when exercising is the advantage of having sufficient water. As I've stretched out the distance on running I've generally satisfied myself with getting a drink of water before and then after the run. Today I actually thought to bring along a water bottle to the gym with me, and there was a noticeable difference. I didn't get worn out as fast, and was able to run for a lot longer without thinking about the difference in time. I also stretched the time by another 5 minutes, bringing my total to 55 minutes of running with 5 minutes of cool down.
It's an obvious sort of thing to do but the change provides enough of an advantage to make it worthwhile. Now I just need to add a water bottle to my usual gym equipment and keep stretching out the distances. I have a half-marathon to do in June after all.
Food today: was feeling crappy so I slept late this morning, that meant breakfast and lunch became one meal, an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories). Later in the day I had just a random slice of cheese as a snack (100 calories). Penne, sauce and garlic toast was dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was an hour on the treadmill (816 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1400
Exercise: 816
Points Earned: 2416
Total Points Earned: 133108
Points to go: 66892
It's an obvious sort of thing to do but the change provides enough of an advantage to make it worthwhile. Now I just need to add a water bottle to my usual gym equipment and keep stretching out the distances. I have a half-marathon to do in June after all.
Food today: was feeling crappy so I slept late this morning, that meant breakfast and lunch became one meal, an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories). Later in the day I had just a random slice of cheese as a snack (100 calories). Penne, sauce and garlic toast was dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was an hour on the treadmill (816 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1400
Exercise: 816
Points Earned: 2416
Total Points Earned: 133108
Points to go: 66892
Day 101
Just a short post for yesterday. Was busy all day and so kind of forgot to do a post before heading to bed. I had friends over for the day yesterday, and as is typical when hanging out like that all day we had a lot of snacks. As such the day kind of turned into a cheat day. Because of the scheduling I wasn't able to get to they gym either which also leaves the day as reasonably low scoring.
Food yesterday: breakfast sandwich with milk (300 calories), some pizza strips for lunch (500 calories), potato chips as a snack (300 calories), and for dinner I used some leftover ground beef and a potato to make a burger and fries on a sourdough roll (1200 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 700
Total Points Earned: 130692
Points to go: 69308
Food yesterday: breakfast sandwich with milk (300 calories), some pizza strips for lunch (500 calories), potato chips as a snack (300 calories), and for dinner I used some leftover ground beef and a potato to make a burger and fries on a sourdough roll (1200 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 700
Total Points Earned: 130692
Points to go: 69308
Friday, January 27, 2012
Day 100
I feel like today's post should be a celebration of what I've accomplished so far, but I'll admit that has more to do with the round number of days rather than any actual sense of completion or anything like that. Even so it's kind of crazy to realize that I've completed 100 days of the diet (and even crazier to realize I've lost almost 40 pounds during that time). One nice thing that 100 days points to though is that success at the diet is more than possible. At this point in the process it would be hard to fail (not impossible, just hard).
One thing I have noticed over the last 100 days though is that as I've progressed along the diet, and my success has become more visible, I've also earned a bit of a reputation among my circle of acquaintances. It's always nice to hear compliments on how I'm looking better or how much weight I've lost. The best compliment though is when friends, or even people I barely know, come up and ask my advice on weight loss or general wellness. I'm still overweight (technically obese, but that BMI chart is insane) but people seem to think I know something about being healthy, and want my advice. And that's nice to hear.
Food today: breakfast sandwich (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), salmon, noodles and green beans for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included a couple small candies at work and a roll from Batch 2.0 of my sourdough rolls that I made tonight (200 calories). Exercise included a lunchtime walk and hour on the treadmill (835 calories total).
On an unrelated note Batch 2.0 is much better than 1.0. Still needs some work, but these had the rise as well as the flavor.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 835
Points Earned: 1735
Total Points Earned: 129992
Points to go: 70008
One thing I have noticed over the last 100 days though is that as I've progressed along the diet, and my success has become more visible, I've also earned a bit of a reputation among my circle of acquaintances. It's always nice to hear compliments on how I'm looking better or how much weight I've lost. The best compliment though is when friends, or even people I barely know, come up and ask my advice on weight loss or general wellness. I'm still overweight (technically obese, but that BMI chart is insane) but people seem to think I know something about being healthy, and want my advice. And that's nice to hear.
Food today: breakfast sandwich (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), salmon, noodles and green beans for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included a couple small candies at work and a roll from Batch 2.0 of my sourdough rolls that I made tonight (200 calories). Exercise included a lunchtime walk and hour on the treadmill (835 calories total).
On an unrelated note Batch 2.0 is much better than 1.0. Still needs some work, but these had the rise as well as the flavor.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 835
Points Earned: 1735
Total Points Earned: 129992
Points to go: 70008
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Day 99
So for the last year my primary form of exercise has been running. I've done a little biking, and used some free weights occasionally, but for me it's all come down to running. I've shown a lot of improvement in that. The first time I got on a treadmill I lasted 10 minutes. Now I can go for an hour without too much difficulty (as long as something fun is on TV). I'm talking about trying to cut 25 minutes off my half-marathon time this year, and actually thinking it's a plausible goal.
On the other hand I haven't found myself doing much else as exercise. Biking can be fun, and I ride the bike to work every day, but for any long range riding conditions need to be perfect before I get out there. Swimming's a similar problem (even more so without a handy pool anymore). So for the last couple weeks I've given kickboxing a try in order to vary my workout, and it's kind of grown on me. I've signed up for a membership with the kickboxing studio I've been going to, and down the line I think I'll probably do some fight training as well (right now I'm just doing the work-outs). It's actually kind of fun, and it's a whole new school of training which will hopefully keep me on track down the line.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), snacks were a couple mini-peanut butter cups (100 calories) and dinner was lasagna with garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 128257
Points to go: 71743
On the other hand I haven't found myself doing much else as exercise. Biking can be fun, and I ride the bike to work every day, but for any long range riding conditions need to be perfect before I get out there. Swimming's a similar problem (even more so without a handy pool anymore). So for the last couple weeks I've given kickboxing a try in order to vary my workout, and it's kind of grown on me. I've signed up for a membership with the kickboxing studio I've been going to, and down the line I think I'll probably do some fight training as well (right now I'm just doing the work-outs). It's actually kind of fun, and it's a whole new school of training which will hopefully keep me on track down the line.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), snacks were a couple mini-peanut butter cups (100 calories) and dinner was lasagna with garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 128257
Points to go: 71743
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Day 98
I've mentioned before that food is one of my outlets when I'm feeling down or stressed. That's been a challenge on the diet in the past but I've started to notice a trend moving away from my old pattern of junk food first when it comes to using food to treat it. Pasta isn't really the healthiest option available to me, but it's really become my go-to meal when I'm down and want a pick-me-up.
Probably part of it is the garlic toast I make with it, some of it is the ease and familiarity that pasta brings, and some of it is probably my addiction to grains (or so several diet books would have me believe). The last two nights have involved meals that are at least a little unhealthy, and as such are occasional treats at best. Pasta doesn't have to be. I'm hopeful that one consequence of the diet is that I'll continue to treat pasta the same way, and won't go back to burgers and fries as the primary go-to for stress and depression.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J sandwich for lunch (500 calories), no snacks at work today thanks to the candy being gone and me being out of granola bars, and dinner was the aforementioned penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1300
Total Points Earned: 126757
Points to go: 73243
Probably part of it is the garlic toast I make with it, some of it is the ease and familiarity that pasta brings, and some of it is probably my addiction to grains (or so several diet books would have me believe). The last two nights have involved meals that are at least a little unhealthy, and as such are occasional treats at best. Pasta doesn't have to be. I'm hopeful that one consequence of the diet is that I'll continue to treat pasta the same way, and won't go back to burgers and fries as the primary go-to for stress and depression.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J sandwich for lunch (500 calories), no snacks at work today thanks to the candy being gone and me being out of granola bars, and dinner was the aforementioned penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1300
Total Points Earned: 126757
Points to go: 73243
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Day 97
Short post today as it's kind of late. Nothing very interesting happened during the day as far as the diet. We've started a weight loss challenge at work, a group of us effectively representing our office in a nationwide contest (with an unspecified prize at the end). Kind of interesting, but I wish they'd caught me at the start of the diet rather than 40 pounds later.
Food today: breakfast sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), a couple mini-candy bars (100 calories), a steak and cheese sandwich with fries for dinner (1200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 125457
Points to go: 74543
Food today: breakfast sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), a couple mini-candy bars (100 calories), a steak and cheese sandwich with fries for dinner (1200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 125457
Points to go: 74543
Monday, January 23, 2012
Day 96
Well my running shoes finally fell apart. I bought new shoes last winter in preparation for training for the half-marathon last summer. I was told at the time that they'd be good for about 300 miles, and they lasted significantly longer than that. Honestly I probably should have replaced them months ago, but I'm cheap and lazy. Unfortunately, they've been getting less comfortable for the last couple weeks and I noticed a more significant hole in them today than I was expecting.
So luckily I had ordered new shoes last night, but those won't arrive until Wednesday. That meant no running at the gym today. Might not be a bad idea though, I'd been feeling a little run-down and I had a bunch of different errands to do this evening (taxes, talking to Geek Chic to finalize the plans for my table, ordering a ticket to a show in Stratford when I'm there in May). So hopefully I'll be able to get to the gym on Wednesday, with my all new shoes.
Food today: breakfast was an egg and cheese sandwich with one of my sourdough rolls rather than an english muffin (400 calories), lunch was a turkey sandwich (500 calories), and dinner was home-made fish and chips (1200 calories, and a more complicated recipe as I don't have a deep fryer in the house anymore). No exercise on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 124457
Points to go: 75543
So luckily I had ordered new shoes last night, but those won't arrive until Wednesday. That meant no running at the gym today. Might not be a bad idea though, I'd been feeling a little run-down and I had a bunch of different errands to do this evening (taxes, talking to Geek Chic to finalize the plans for my table, ordering a ticket to a show in Stratford when I'm there in May). So hopefully I'll be able to get to the gym on Wednesday, with my all new shoes.
Food today: breakfast was an egg and cheese sandwich with one of my sourdough rolls rather than an english muffin (400 calories), lunch was a turkey sandwich (500 calories), and dinner was home-made fish and chips (1200 calories, and a more complicated recipe as I don't have a deep fryer in the house anymore). No exercise on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 124457
Points to go: 75543
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Day 95
100K to 120K took 17 days. At the last weigh-in I said I wanted to pick up the pace again going into the second half of the year. Technically I did, but I went from 18 days during the holiday season to 17 days for the last 20K. I've been having a few too many days where I either come up with excuses not to exercise, or overeat a little bit on junk food.
Weigh-in result: 226.6 lbs.
That's 4.6 pounds lost since the last weigh-in. As I mentioned, I've had a lot of different days without exercise, or without really sticking to the diet very well. Today's going to be one of them as you'll see below. So the weight loss is really good to see, but I'm a little concerned I'm starting to get sloppy. It's not necessarily going to improve dramatically in the short term (as I'm hoping to make a few meals that are a little higher in calories going forward) but I'm hoping I can get a little bit more on track once I get past the next few days.
One weird concern that's started becoming an issue is that I'm beginning to worry that I'm exercising too much. Not because I'm in any danger of hurting myself, simply because it's using up a lot of my free time. It's harder to find some time to do stuff. Stupid I know, but still an issue to think about for the future. Finding a better balance is important.
Today I made my first batch of sourdough. The flavor came out perfect, but I don't think I let the dough rise enough as the rolls I made were a little denser than I wanted. Breakfast/lunch were a couple of those rolls (500 calories combined). Dinner's where things went off track. I made a steak and cheese sandwich, and bought a bag of chips as a side/snack for the football game. Unfortunately I didn't pay too much attention to how many I was eating and ended up eating most of the bag. Dinner ended up being very high as a result (800 for the sandwich, 1500 for the chips probably). I did get to the gym for an hour, so I at least have that as a way to score points (849 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2800
Exercise: 849
Points Earned: 1049
Total Points Earned: 123557
Points to go: 76443
Weigh-in result: 226.6 lbs.
That's 4.6 pounds lost since the last weigh-in. As I mentioned, I've had a lot of different days without exercise, or without really sticking to the diet very well. Today's going to be one of them as you'll see below. So the weight loss is really good to see, but I'm a little concerned I'm starting to get sloppy. It's not necessarily going to improve dramatically in the short term (as I'm hoping to make a few meals that are a little higher in calories going forward) but I'm hoping I can get a little bit more on track once I get past the next few days.
One weird concern that's started becoming an issue is that I'm beginning to worry that I'm exercising too much. Not because I'm in any danger of hurting myself, simply because it's using up a lot of my free time. It's harder to find some time to do stuff. Stupid I know, but still an issue to think about for the future. Finding a better balance is important.
Today I made my first batch of sourdough. The flavor came out perfect, but I don't think I let the dough rise enough as the rolls I made were a little denser than I wanted. Breakfast/lunch were a couple of those rolls (500 calories combined). Dinner's where things went off track. I made a steak and cheese sandwich, and bought a bag of chips as a side/snack for the football game. Unfortunately I didn't pay too much attention to how many I was eating and ended up eating most of the bag. Dinner ended up being very high as a result (800 for the sandwich, 1500 for the chips probably). I did get to the gym for an hour, so I at least have that as a way to score points (849 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2800
Exercise: 849
Points Earned: 1049
Total Points Earned: 123557
Points to go: 76443
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Day 94
Snow makes for both a challenge and an unexpected opportunity for my diet plan. It's a challenge because it makes it more difficult to go to the gym and generally makes it necessary to eat what I have in the house rather than going out to get something potentially healthier (more of a danger if I actually had junk food in the house). Of course the unexpected opportunity is shoveling. Spending an hour and half shoveling snow first at my house, then at my parents, burned quite a few calories even if the snow was reasonably light and fluffy.
I'm not sure I really believe the website estimates for shoveling. They predict an hour and half of shoveling to burn 1000 calories. That seems high, but I'll admit I don't really know the answer. I'm going to use it as the estimate for today (which does mean a big point scoring day), but I'm still not convinced.
One danger to a snow day which didn't really apply to me today, was the risk that I'd use it as an excuse to do nothing. Sitting on my couch watching movies seemed very attractive as I put on winter clothes to go shovel. Hibernating for the weekend might also have been a lot of fun. I'm taking it as kind of a positive in terms of behavior that I find it hard to just do nothing anymore.
Food today: slept late so breakfast and lunch were the same, an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), had a granola bar as a snack in the afternoon (100 calories) and dinner was grilled pork loin, noodles and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was 1.5 hours of shoveling (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1300
Exercise: 1000
Points Earned: 2700
Total Points Earned: 122508
Points to go: 77492
I'm not sure I really believe the website estimates for shoveling. They predict an hour and half of shoveling to burn 1000 calories. That seems high, but I'll admit I don't really know the answer. I'm going to use it as the estimate for today (which does mean a big point scoring day), but I'm still not convinced.
One danger to a snow day which didn't really apply to me today, was the risk that I'd use it as an excuse to do nothing. Sitting on my couch watching movies seemed very attractive as I put on winter clothes to go shovel. Hibernating for the weekend might also have been a lot of fun. I'm taking it as kind of a positive in terms of behavior that I find it hard to just do nothing anymore.
Food today: slept late so breakfast and lunch were the same, an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), had a granola bar as a snack in the afternoon (100 calories) and dinner was grilled pork loin, noodles and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was 1.5 hours of shoveling (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1300
Exercise: 1000
Points Earned: 2700
Total Points Earned: 122508
Points to go: 77492
Friday, January 20, 2012
Day 93
Just realized that we just finished the third month of the diet yesterday. I've slowed down a bit in terms of points accrued, though not by much. I should cross the 80K threshold tomorrow, which means the next weigh in day is probably Sunday (barring any crazy pigging out tomorrow). It's kind of weird to realize that I've been at this for three months. That both seems like a really short time, and a really long time simultaneously. On the other hand I've still managed to lose more than 30 pounds in three months, so I can't complain too much about the process.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), granola bar for a snack (80 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1200 calories tonight, as I added a little extra pasta to the normal serving). Exercise was 50 minutes on the treadmill for 769 calories.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2080
Exercise: 769
Points Earned: 1689
Total Points Earned: 119808
Points to go: 80192
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), granola bar for a snack (80 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1200 calories tonight, as I added a little extra pasta to the normal serving). Exercise was 50 minutes on the treadmill for 769 calories.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2080
Exercise: 769
Points Earned: 1689
Total Points Earned: 119808
Points to go: 80192
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Day 92
So today was my second kickboxing class, and I have to say it went generally better than expected. Last week I ended up not drinking enough water and definitely got worn down because of it. This week I ended up drinking plenty, and ended up staying relatively active the whole time. My partner and I were definitely a little slower than most of our classmates (it was his 1st class), but all in all it made for a fun work-out. I certainly felt less awkward than I have previously.
Otherwise the day was mostly conventional, but less blah than it's been for a few days. Hopefully I'm getting over whatever has been bugging me. One slightly unusual occurance on the day was messing up my lunch. It was supposed to be a turkey sandwich, granola bar and diet soda. Somehow I packed everything else, but left the sandwich at home. So for lunch I had to go to Subway for the first time since the diet started. I got a much smaller meal than I might have in the past (having looked up the calories before going), but it was still a little irritating.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), 6-inch meatball sub (470 calories), a bag of chips (250 calories) and a granola bar (80 calories), dinner ended up being two larger snack/meals before and after class, toast with peanut butter and milk (700 calories) before class and another egg and cheese sandwich after (300 calories). Exercise was kickboxing for an hour (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 118119
Points to go: 81881
Otherwise the day was mostly conventional, but less blah than it's been for a few days. Hopefully I'm getting over whatever has been bugging me. One slightly unusual occurance on the day was messing up my lunch. It was supposed to be a turkey sandwich, granola bar and diet soda. Somehow I packed everything else, but left the sandwich at home. So for lunch I had to go to Subway for the first time since the diet started. I got a much smaller meal than I might have in the past (having looked up the calories before going), but it was still a little irritating.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), 6-inch meatball sub (470 calories), a bag of chips (250 calories) and a granola bar (80 calories), dinner ended up being two larger snack/meals before and after class, toast with peanut butter and milk (700 calories) before class and another egg and cheese sandwich after (300 calories). Exercise was kickboxing for an hour (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 118119
Points to go: 81881
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Day 91
I'm suddenly finding myself on a bit of a downward spiral. Nothing too extreme of course, but I've gone three days without exercise and have been eating a bit too much in the way of junk food. I'm still getting positive points but it's a bad trend. Tomorrow I'm going to go back to the kickboxing class from last week so with luck that will get me back on track, but there's no guarantees.
One part of the problem I've noticed in the last couple days has been a lack of sleep. Haven't gotten enough, and that's been leaving me feeling kind of blah all day (I know it's not a very descriptive term, but still that's the best description I can come up with). That kind of feeling has also left me looking for pick-me-ups, and sadly that means junk food on a lot of occasions. So far I've avoided deciding to say heck with the diet and going to pig out someplace, but I came very close tonight. Barely talked myself out of fried chicken or hamburgers.
Food today was still not great: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories) and dinner was lasagna and garlic toast (1000 calories). Snacks are where the problems come in, I had a one or two mini-Butterfingers, a granola bar and some cookies (total was probably around 350 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 850
Total Points Earned: 116719
Points to go: 83281
One part of the problem I've noticed in the last couple days has been a lack of sleep. Haven't gotten enough, and that's been leaving me feeling kind of blah all day (I know it's not a very descriptive term, but still that's the best description I can come up with). That kind of feeling has also left me looking for pick-me-ups, and sadly that means junk food on a lot of occasions. So far I've avoided deciding to say heck with the diet and going to pig out someplace, but I came very close tonight. Barely talked myself out of fried chicken or hamburgers.
Food today was still not great: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories) and dinner was lasagna and garlic toast (1000 calories). Snacks are where the problems come in, I had a one or two mini-Butterfingers, a granola bar and some cookies (total was probably around 350 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 850
Total Points Earned: 116719
Points to go: 83281
Day 90
Well if today's any indication, bad weather has the potential to really mess with the exercise plan on my diet. We had snow, ice and rain today so at lunchtime I decided to skip walking. As such I got no real exercise today, but still ate the usual amount of food for a Tuesday (which includes some snacks while hanging with friends). As such, today's probably going to be a low point day. Hopefully tomorrow will work a little better, though there's no guarantee. Worse case scenario, I end up having a bad few days and getting back on track at the end of the week.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included some cookies and pieces of candy (300 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 115869
Points to go: 84131
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included some cookies and pieces of candy (300 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 115869
Points to go: 84131
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Day 89
So I missed a post completely for the first time yesterday, so here's the quick hit for Monday. I'll do a real post later tonight.
Food yesterday: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), several barbecue chicken wings for lunch (600 calories), steak, noodles and green beans for dinner (1000 calories). No snacks and no exercise (I was visiting friends and didn't have time to go to the gym as planned).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 114969
Points to go: 85031
Food yesterday: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), several barbecue chicken wings for lunch (600 calories), steak, noodles and green beans for dinner (1000 calories). No snacks and no exercise (I was visiting friends and didn't have time to go to the gym as planned).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 114969
Points to go: 85031
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Day 88
So this week I've begun seriously planning the big vacation I'm going to take in May. Two weeks in Europe is sounding more and more exciting, and assuming I stay on track with the diet I should have hit 200K long before then. From the beginning of the diet though I've been hoping to make this diet over into long term changes of behavior. In particular, controlling the quantity of what I eat, cutting out the significant portion of fast food, and exercising more.
So whether it's during an active diet, or even just trying to maintain the behavior changes, this vacation planning raises one key question. How do you stay on the diet when you're traveling? Here at home I can control both what I eat, and what goes into my meals, myself. If I'm traveling though I'm going to eat at restaurants, or grab snacks during a day filled with activities. If the average meal at a lot of those places is 1400 calories or more, it makes it a bit harder to eat sensibly.
Exercising is also more of a challenge. Luckily my primary form of exercise is running, which you can generally do everywhere, but I won't necessarily have a gym to use if the weather's bad or other problems arise. Also, on vacation it's a lot easier to come up with excuses to avoid the exercise.
The obvious answers are simply to maintain self-discipline. Don't eat an entire giant meal just because a waiter puts it down in front of me. Get out and run wherever I end up on this trip, heck it's a great way to really see another city. Another option is to simply not worry about it. It's a couple weeks, and an exceptional circumstance. Getting back on track afterwards shouldn't be a huge problem.
So what's the right answer? I'm not really sure, I think it's going to depend on circumstances a lot. I also get the feeling that people with a wider range of taste in foods might be in better shape than me. The food I eat on vacation is probably pretty bad for me.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), a piece of toast and peanut butter (300 calories), and then I made a lasagna for dinner (the piece was a little bigger than normal, so I'm calling dinner as 1200 calories). Exercise was 50 minutes on the treadmill at the gym (762 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 762
Points Earned: 1962
Total Points Earned: 113869
Points to go: 86131
So whether it's during an active diet, or even just trying to maintain the behavior changes, this vacation planning raises one key question. How do you stay on the diet when you're traveling? Here at home I can control both what I eat, and what goes into my meals, myself. If I'm traveling though I'm going to eat at restaurants, or grab snacks during a day filled with activities. If the average meal at a lot of those places is 1400 calories or more, it makes it a bit harder to eat sensibly.
Exercising is also more of a challenge. Luckily my primary form of exercise is running, which you can generally do everywhere, but I won't necessarily have a gym to use if the weather's bad or other problems arise. Also, on vacation it's a lot easier to come up with excuses to avoid the exercise.
The obvious answers are simply to maintain self-discipline. Don't eat an entire giant meal just because a waiter puts it down in front of me. Get out and run wherever I end up on this trip, heck it's a great way to really see another city. Another option is to simply not worry about it. It's a couple weeks, and an exceptional circumstance. Getting back on track afterwards shouldn't be a huge problem.
So what's the right answer? I'm not really sure, I think it's going to depend on circumstances a lot. I also get the feeling that people with a wider range of taste in foods might be in better shape than me. The food I eat on vacation is probably pretty bad for me.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), a piece of toast and peanut butter (300 calories), and then I made a lasagna for dinner (the piece was a little bigger than normal, so I'm calling dinner as 1200 calories). Exercise was 50 minutes on the treadmill at the gym (762 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 762
Points Earned: 1962
Total Points Earned: 113869
Points to go: 86131
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Day 87
I'm kind of exhausted today so I don't have much to add. Had to work in the morning, then had friends coming over for the afternoon. Thought ahead a bit and decided to skip lunch in favor of some extra snacks on the day. Seems to have worked pretty well.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), a couple cookies and some Smartfood popcorn (600 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 111907
Points to go: 88093
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), a couple cookies and some Smartfood popcorn (600 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 111907
Points to go: 88093
Friday, January 13, 2012
Day 86
A new form of exercise, when you've never done it before, always seems to take more out of you than you'd expect. Kickboxing is no exception. I was at least mildly sore the whole day, and I ended up treating myself to a little extra food as treatment for that. On the other hand, it was the good kind of sore, when you know you've worked out and actually accomplished something. A day later I think I will plan to try kickboxing again, though I'm not sure precisely when.
Weirdly, what ended up making me feel better was going for a run at the gym. I did my usual Friday trip to the gym and got on the treadmill for most of an hour. I was tired at the end, but my muscles seem to be a little less sore. Hopefully I'm still saying that tomorrow.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch but I also had a couple slices of pizza (1000 calories total), snack was a granola bar (70 calories) and dinner was some of the lasagna I saved from my last batch with some garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and 55 minutes on the treadmill (757 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2370
Exercise: 857
Points Earned: 1487
Total Points Earned: 110807
Points to go: 89193
Weirdly, what ended up making me feel better was going for a run at the gym. I did my usual Friday trip to the gym and got on the treadmill for most of an hour. I was tired at the end, but my muscles seem to be a little less sore. Hopefully I'm still saying that tomorrow.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch but I also had a couple slices of pizza (1000 calories total), snack was a granola bar (70 calories) and dinner was some of the lasagna I saved from my last batch with some garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and 55 minutes on the treadmill (757 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2370
Exercise: 857
Points Earned: 1487
Total Points Earned: 110807
Points to go: 89193
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Day 85
So I think my diet may be getting a tad too predictable. My sister was able to guess what I'd defrosted for dinner without any hint from me. It's possibly a sign that I need to identify a few other choices of food.
The other big event of the day was my first kickboxing class. I'm probably going to go again, but boy does running 3 or 4 times per week not prepare you for punching and kicking for an hour. I haven't been this exhausted after exercising in a very long time, possibly ever. The class was a lot of fun, even if I felt insanely awkward and slow. If I'm going to keep it up though I think I'll need to work in some more weight training. My noodle arms aren't going to be able to handle it.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), snacks included a granola bar and a piece of toast with peanut butter before the class (250 calories total), dinner was a smaller piece of salmon with noodles and green beans (900 calories). Exercise for the day was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and the kickboxing class (I'm going to call it 500 calories, could be more though).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 109320
Points to go: 90680
The other big event of the day was my first kickboxing class. I'm probably going to go again, but boy does running 3 or 4 times per week not prepare you for punching and kicking for an hour. I haven't been this exhausted after exercising in a very long time, possibly ever. The class was a lot of fun, even if I felt insanely awkward and slow. If I'm going to keep it up though I think I'll need to work in some more weight training. My noodle arms aren't going to be able to handle it.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), snacks included a granola bar and a piece of toast with peanut butter before the class (250 calories total), dinner was a smaller piece of salmon with noodles and green beans (900 calories). Exercise for the day was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and the kickboxing class (I'm going to call it 500 calories, could be more though).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1550
Total Points Earned: 109320
Points to go: 90680
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Day 84
It's my least favorite time at the gym once again. The always irritating first couple weeks after new year's when everyone and their grandmother gets to the gym. Wouldn't be a problem normally, the more the merrier, but it means competition for the machines I like and that just won't do! I lucked out today and one of the ones I like was open, but there's never really a guarantee of that. On the plus side, this will all be over in the next couple weeks, if the past is any guide. On the plus side, I upped the speed and time a little bit today (went 50 minutes, half at 4.5 and half at 4.8). After doing so well over the weekend I decided it might be time to push a bit.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), a granola bar for snack (100 calories), and penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was the lunchtime walk (100 calories) and the 50 minutes on the treadmill (757 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 857
Points Earned: 1857
Total Points Earned: 107770
Points to go: 92230
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), a granola bar for snack (100 calories), and penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was the lunchtime walk (100 calories) and the 50 minutes on the treadmill (757 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 857
Points Earned: 1857
Total Points Earned: 107770
Points to go: 92230
Day 83
Another fairly generic day today. No major challenges, but it was nice to be able to simply go home and have dinner at a more conventional time. The last few days I've been eating at weird times, and that's left me feeling a little out of sorts. Hopefully now that I'm getting back on track it won't be as easy to fall into eating snacks and junk food.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich again (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories), and for snacks I had some cookies while hanging with friends (200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk again (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 105913
Points to go: 94087
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich again (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories), and for snacks I had some cookies while hanging with friends (200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk again (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned: 105913
Points to go: 94087
Monday, January 9, 2012
Day 82
Nothing major to post today. I did have one reasonably major moment of weakness, when I grabbed some more leftover cake at work. I don't regret eating it, I just wish it didn't have quite so many calories. It was very tasty though.
Food today: breakfast sandwich and milk (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snack was a piece of cake, and a granola bar earlier in the day (500 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was just a walk at lunchtime (100 calories). Between errands in the evening, and running on Saturday and Sunday, I decided to give myself the day off from the gym.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 800
Total Points Earned: 104813
Points to go: 95187
Food today: breakfast sandwich and milk (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snack was a piece of cake, and a granola bar earlier in the day (500 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was just a walk at lunchtime (100 calories). Between errands in the evening, and running on Saturday and Sunday, I decided to give myself the day off from the gym.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 800
Total Points Earned: 104813
Points to go: 95187
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Day 81
So I've been putting off a cheat day for a while. Early on, I planned to do within a few weeks. Then I was pushing it off until after Thanksgiving...then Christmas...then New Year's. The most recent target date became "after my first team run" for the new Team Challenge season. Effectively that first run was today, so I decided to use my cheat day today as well.
So what makes a cheat day for me. It has less to do with the amount of calories that I ate, as it was the chance to indulge by going to a restaurant that I otherwise would avoid while on my diet. For today that meant 5 Guys. As I've mentioned before I had been going to 5 Guys a lot before starting the diet, and beyond any other factor I suspect that was a major reason my weight started creeping up.
The fact that thanks to the diet I can pretty much count the number of days since my last trip did start to make me sound like an addict when talking to people about the burgers. So I still had positive points for today, but I indulged my "addiction" as well. Now if I can make another 80 days without going back I may be able to make this diet work.
Food today: breakfast sandwich with milk (300 calories), a little granola bar after running (70 calories), a cheeseburger and large fry with diet soda at 5 Guys (2200 calories). No dinner as the lunch was late enough, and large enough to last the day. Exercise was about 4.5 miles at Carson Beach (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2570
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 930
Total Points Earned: 104013
Points to go: 95987
So what makes a cheat day for me. It has less to do with the amount of calories that I ate, as it was the chance to indulge by going to a restaurant that I otherwise would avoid while on my diet. For today that meant 5 Guys. As I've mentioned before I had been going to 5 Guys a lot before starting the diet, and beyond any other factor I suspect that was a major reason my weight started creeping up.
The fact that thanks to the diet I can pretty much count the number of days since my last trip did start to make me sound like an addict when talking to people about the burgers. So I still had positive points for today, but I indulged my "addiction" as well. Now if I can make another 80 days without going back I may be able to make this diet work.
Food today: breakfast sandwich with milk (300 calories), a little granola bar after running (70 calories), a cheeseburger and large fry with diet soda at 5 Guys (2200 calories). No dinner as the lunch was late enough, and large enough to last the day. Exercise was about 4.5 miles at Carson Beach (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2570
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 930
Total Points Earned: 104013
Points to go: 95987
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Day 80
I wish I had a good way to judge how many calories I burn doing household tasks, I could build a whole exercise plan on cleaning sections of the house. I had to do some overtime at work this morning and went to the gym afterwards. 45 minutes worth of jogging didn't even elevate my heart rate all that much, which is kind of impressive now that I think about it. I got home and was ready to get on with the a variety of other activities.
A couple hours later after picking some furniture up from my parents, and then cleaning a bunch of junk out of the aptly named "junk room" I was exhausted. Sure it involved carrying any number of things up and down stairs, packing up boxes, and then cleaning up and throwing away trash. On the other hand I totally didn't expect to feel more exhausted doing that than by jogging at 4.5 mph for 45 minutes. Of course, if it ever snows I'd imagine that's going to be an even better source of exercise (and equally impossible to quantify).
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), no lunch but I had a piece of leftover cake and some potato chips as snacks while working (700 calories), dinner was steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise was jogging on the treadmill (685 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 685
Points Earned: 1685
Total Points Earned: 103083
Points to go: 96917
A couple hours later after picking some furniture up from my parents, and then cleaning a bunch of junk out of the aptly named "junk room" I was exhausted. Sure it involved carrying any number of things up and down stairs, packing up boxes, and then cleaning up and throwing away trash. On the other hand I totally didn't expect to feel more exhausted doing that than by jogging at 4.5 mph for 45 minutes. Of course, if it ever snows I'd imagine that's going to be an even better source of exercise (and equally impossible to quantify).
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), no lunch but I had a piece of leftover cake and some potato chips as snacks while working (700 calories), dinner was steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise was jogging on the treadmill (685 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 685
Points Earned: 1685
Total Points Earned: 103083
Points to go: 96917
Friday, January 6, 2012
Day 79
80K to 100K took about 18 days. That represents a relatively significant slow-down in comparison to the previous periods, but it includes my birthday, Christmas, New Year's and an illness so we'll see if we can't pick up the pace going into the second half of the diet.
Weigh-in result: 231.2 lbs.
So that means I've lost another 5.2 pounds since the last weigh-in on the 20th. What's been interesting with the diet so far is that I have maintained a general average of approximately 5 pounds per 20,000 points rather consistently. In the first 20,000 points I lost just about 13 pounds, but from then on it's been just about 5 pounds at every 20K weigh-in. I do think that's a meaningful figure since it means that I haven't plateaued anywhere along the process either.
Going from a 3000 calorie diet to a 2000 calorie diet should probably have resulted in my body responding by trying to preserve the fat. Fortunately that doesn't seem to have happened. What I'm most hopeful about though is that if my body doesn't go into "starvation mode," it may help prevent regaining all the weight when the diet ends.
I'll try and post a bit more analysis tomorrow. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), lunch involved the usual turkey sandwich, but ended up including a small piece of pizza and some chips (900 calories), dinner was another egg and cheese sandwich as I was planning to go out (300 calories) and snacks were a bag of popcorn at the movies (700 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk again (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 101398
Points to go: 98602
Weigh-in result: 231.2 lbs.
So that means I've lost another 5.2 pounds since the last weigh-in on the 20th. What's been interesting with the diet so far is that I have maintained a general average of approximately 5 pounds per 20,000 points rather consistently. In the first 20,000 points I lost just about 13 pounds, but from then on it's been just about 5 pounds at every 20K weigh-in. I do think that's a meaningful figure since it means that I haven't plateaued anywhere along the process either.
Going from a 3000 calorie diet to a 2000 calorie diet should probably have resulted in my body responding by trying to preserve the fat. Fortunately that doesn't seem to have happened. What I'm most hopeful about though is that if my body doesn't go into "starvation mode," it may help prevent regaining all the weight when the diet ends.
I'll try and post a bit more analysis tomorrow. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), lunch involved the usual turkey sandwich, but ended up including a small piece of pizza and some chips (900 calories), dinner was another egg and cheese sandwich as I was planning to go out (300 calories) and snacks were a bag of popcorn at the movies (700 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk again (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 101398
Points to go: 98602
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Day 78
I passed 100,000 points today. I am now literally over halfway to my goal. The weigh-in is tomorrow morning, so tomorrow's post is going to take a look at some of the weight loss results from the diet, but I figured I'd just look at some of the data on diet and exercise today.
So of the points scored so far (100,498) exercise accounted for 17,048 (17% of the total) and limiting calories accounted for 83450 (83% of the total). The worst scoring day on the diet was December 18, when I scored only 350 points, thanks to a holiday brunch and then a holiday dinner. My average calorie intake per day was 1930 calories per day. It's pretty obvious that going from a 3000 calorie diet to a 2000 calorie diet has been primarily responsible for my weight loss, though the exercise has obviously helped.
In terms of exercise, during the first 17 days of the diet I only exercised 4 times. I also went a week without exercising due to illness in the week around Christmas and New Year's. Otherwise, I only missed points for exercise a total of 10 days. A lot of that exercise came from my lunchtime walks but not all of it by any stretch. There were only 10 days out of the 48 days with exercise where I only took a single lunchtime walk. The remaining days included at least some additional exercise.
What does all this mean? Absolutely nothing! Since I have a spreadsheet for all of this I decided to make use of it. What it does point to though is that the difference between a 3000 calorie diet and a 2000 calorie diet is tremendous and knowing that, I may just be able to keep a lot of this weight off once the active diet is over.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), grilled salmon with noodles and green beans (1000 calories), and a granola bar (100 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 100498
Points to go: 99502
So of the points scored so far (100,498) exercise accounted for 17,048 (17% of the total) and limiting calories accounted for 83450 (83% of the total). The worst scoring day on the diet was December 18, when I scored only 350 points, thanks to a holiday brunch and then a holiday dinner. My average calorie intake per day was 1930 calories per day. It's pretty obvious that going from a 3000 calorie diet to a 2000 calorie diet has been primarily responsible for my weight loss, though the exercise has obviously helped.
In terms of exercise, during the first 17 days of the diet I only exercised 4 times. I also went a week without exercising due to illness in the week around Christmas and New Year's. Otherwise, I only missed points for exercise a total of 10 days. A lot of that exercise came from my lunchtime walks but not all of it by any stretch. There were only 10 days out of the 48 days with exercise where I only took a single lunchtime walk. The remaining days included at least some additional exercise.
What does all this mean? Absolutely nothing! Since I have a spreadsheet for all of this I decided to make use of it. What it does point to though is that the difference between a 3000 calorie diet and a 2000 calorie diet is tremendous and knowing that, I may just be able to keep a lot of this weight off once the active diet is over.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), grilled salmon with noodles and green beans (1000 calories), and a granola bar (100 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 100498
Points to go: 99502
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Day 77
There are dozens of different ways to lose weight. One of my goals for this blog was to talk about some of the different strategies, and maybe even use some of them myself. Of course part of the reason for that plan was that I have kept expecting my diet to stall somewhere along the line. That hasn't happened for me, so the only real strategy I've advanced here has been the traditional calories-in/calories-out approach.
For me that strategy has worked pretty well, but it comes with some caveats that wouldn't apply to everyone's experience. First, and most importantly, I started off with a lot of spare weight and a lot of extra daily calories in my diet. Cutting 1000 calories out of my diet didn't require a major sacrifice, and increasing my exercise wasn't going to be all that hard. For someone who's eating a 1500 calorie diet, and is looking to lose 10 pounds there may not be as much slack in the diet.
Secondly, I'm okay with a "boring" and limited food selection. As anyone can tell going through my posts, I tend to eat the same meal over and over. For my friends who cook and bake, giving up on their favorite meals is going to make the experience harder. For me, other than some junk foods, I haven't had to give up my favorite meals. I've just had to modify some portion sizes, and limit some ingredients. I've found some dishes that work and I'm able to stick with them without feeling limited.
Thirdly, I live close to my work and gym and don't have a family that I have to cook for or take care of activities for. I can walk, or ride a bike to and from work. After work I can stop at the gym when I want to, without worrying about schedules. I'm not running kids all over the place and grabbing fast food to serve as a meal in between. I'm not cooking for anyone else who's not on the diet and wouldn't appreciate my limited palate.
So this plan works for me, and for people in a similar position it might very well work for them. However there are a lot of other strategies out there. The one thing they all have in common though is that they're not quick, and they're not easy. Plus, they all never let me eat an entire chocolate cream pie in one sitting.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), a cookie and a granola bar (200 calories), and penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a walk at lunch (100 calories) and 45 minutes on the treadmill at the gym (660 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 760
Points Earned: 1760
Total Points Earned: 99298
Points to go: 100702
For me that strategy has worked pretty well, but it comes with some caveats that wouldn't apply to everyone's experience. First, and most importantly, I started off with a lot of spare weight and a lot of extra daily calories in my diet. Cutting 1000 calories out of my diet didn't require a major sacrifice, and increasing my exercise wasn't going to be all that hard. For someone who's eating a 1500 calorie diet, and is looking to lose 10 pounds there may not be as much slack in the diet.
Secondly, I'm okay with a "boring" and limited food selection. As anyone can tell going through my posts, I tend to eat the same meal over and over. For my friends who cook and bake, giving up on their favorite meals is going to make the experience harder. For me, other than some junk foods, I haven't had to give up my favorite meals. I've just had to modify some portion sizes, and limit some ingredients. I've found some dishes that work and I'm able to stick with them without feeling limited.
Thirdly, I live close to my work and gym and don't have a family that I have to cook for or take care of activities for. I can walk, or ride a bike to and from work. After work I can stop at the gym when I want to, without worrying about schedules. I'm not running kids all over the place and grabbing fast food to serve as a meal in between. I'm not cooking for anyone else who's not on the diet and wouldn't appreciate my limited palate.
So this plan works for me, and for people in a similar position it might very well work for them. However there are a lot of other strategies out there. The one thing they all have in common though is that they're not quick, and they're not easy. Plus, they all never let me eat an entire chocolate cream pie in one sitting.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), a cookie and a granola bar (200 calories), and penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was a walk at lunch (100 calories) and 45 minutes on the treadmill at the gym (660 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 760
Points Earned: 1760
Total Points Earned: 99298
Points to go: 100702
Day 76
I don't think I've ever gone 76 days without some obscenely unhealthy meal or another. Heck even as a kid I would've had some big snacks which were semi-healthy enough to pass muster with my parents, but with a ton of calories. I've had a couple days on the diet which came close, but nothing like a trip to the Pizza Hut buffet, or 5 guys while getting extra fries. It makes everything I've gone through even more of an accomplishment.
In the next couple days I should probably hit the 100,000 calorie mark. When I started this I honestly expected I'd be able to reach that mark, but certainly not this quickly. I also didn't expect anything remotely like the level of success as far as weight loss (and shrinking my gut) that I've experienced. At the core, I guess it's surprising how much of an affect going from a 3000 calorie diet to a 2000 calorie diet can have.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories), some cookies and a granola bar during the day as snacks (250 calories). Exercise was a walk at lunch (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1050
Total Points Earned: 97538
Points to go: 102462
In the next couple days I should probably hit the 100,000 calorie mark. When I started this I honestly expected I'd be able to reach that mark, but certainly not this quickly. I also didn't expect anything remotely like the level of success as far as weight loss (and shrinking my gut) that I've experienced. At the core, I guess it's surprising how much of an affect going from a 3000 calorie diet to a 2000 calorie diet can have.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with milk (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories), some cookies and a granola bar during the day as snacks (250 calories). Exercise was a walk at lunch (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1050
Total Points Earned: 97538
Points to go: 102462
Monday, January 2, 2012
Day 75
Today was my first full-scale return to the gym. Got my favorite machine, got to watch Sam Waterston play extremely loose with the law (seriously how has that man never been disbarred), and got right back up to 45 minutes without too much difficulty. As the week progresses though I'm expecting it to be hard to find an open treadmill, may have to move to the elliptical instead.
One thing I've noticed in the last week though has been the weird inconsistency in how often I feel hungry. On a work day I start getting hungry by 10 or so. On a day off I can have breakfast at the same time, and still make it until the mid-afternoon before I get hungry. Not sure what it means, but it definitely makes all that candy and junk food at work more dangerous.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with an extra slice of cheese (350 calories), no lunch but I had a small popcorn at the movies (600 calories), dinner was grilled salmon with noodles and green beans (1000 calories). The trip to the gym got me 657 calories worth of exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 657
Points Earned: 1707
Total Points Earned: 96488
Points to go: 103512
One thing I've noticed in the last week though has been the weird inconsistency in how often I feel hungry. On a work day I start getting hungry by 10 or so. On a day off I can have breakfast at the same time, and still make it until the mid-afternoon before I get hungry. Not sure what it means, but it definitely makes all that candy and junk food at work more dangerous.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with an extra slice of cheese (350 calories), no lunch but I had a small popcorn at the movies (600 calories), dinner was grilled salmon with noodles and green beans (1000 calories). The trip to the gym got me 657 calories worth of exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 657
Points Earned: 1707
Total Points Earned: 96488
Points to go: 103512
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Day 74
So it's a new year. Most years in the past I've at least had a diet and exercise plan as part of my New Year's resolutions. This year one isn't really required, since I'm clearly already on a reasonably successful plan. Starting a diet as a resolutions always seem to be both a bad and a good idea. On the one hand, using the resolution to review your life and find some positive changes to make is a good thing. On the other hand, nobody ever really thinks about a resolution as something they expect to actually fulfill. Going into any change in lifestyle expecting to fail, particularly when there's no real penalty for failure (or reward for success) is a recipe for that same failure.
Still a little tired here from last night, so I'm not sure if there is a lesson that can be taken away from this point. I've had some success after starting a diet in October, but I can admit that at least some of the initial drive to start this challenge was seeing myself at my sister's wedding (and noting how heavy I'd gotten). I'm not really sure that that is any different from realizing you've eaten too much during the holiday season, and wanting to start a diet. At the very least, starting a diet at some other point of the year spares you from having to fight for space with all the other new dieters at the gym.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with an extra slice of cheese for breakfast/lunch (350 calories) and then penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). No exercise today.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1350
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1650
Total Points Earned: 94781
Points to go: 105219
Still a little tired here from last night, so I'm not sure if there is a lesson that can be taken away from this point. I've had some success after starting a diet in October, but I can admit that at least some of the initial drive to start this challenge was seeing myself at my sister's wedding (and noting how heavy I'd gotten). I'm not really sure that that is any different from realizing you've eaten too much during the holiday season, and wanting to start a diet. At the very least, starting a diet at some other point of the year spares you from having to fight for space with all the other new dieters at the gym.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with an extra slice of cheese for breakfast/lunch (350 calories) and then penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). No exercise today.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1350
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1650
Total Points Earned: 94781
Points to go: 105219
Day 73
A late post for day 73, but since it was New Year's Eve and I was out well past midnight I'm going to give it a pass. New Year's Eve was fun, but relatively uneventful from the dieting standpoint. One thing that I did find funny though was the reminder that this is the time of year when everyone else starts their diets. Last night, in the run-up to the ball drop in NYC the advertising was almost entirely Weight Watchers ads. At one point I'm pretty sure I saw three ads back to back.
No real point to this observation other than the fact that Weight Watchers knows how to target its marketing. As for food yesterday: an egg and cheese sandwich with milk for breakfast (300 calories), no lunch, dinner was some pizza and breadsticks from Pizza Hut (1000 calories total). Snacks at the New Year's party included another slice of pizza, some crackers and some cream-puffs (totaling about 500 calories). I also took my sister's dog for two walks yesterday (200 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 93131
Points to go: 106869
No real point to this observation other than the fact that Weight Watchers knows how to target its marketing. As for food yesterday: an egg and cheese sandwich with milk for breakfast (300 calories), no lunch, dinner was some pizza and breadsticks from Pizza Hut (1000 calories total). Snacks at the New Year's party included another slice of pizza, some crackers and some cream-puffs (totaling about 500 calories). I also took my sister's dog for two walks yesterday (200 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1400
Total Points Earned: 93131
Points to go: 106869
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