This weekend has clearly been about healthy activities but not healthy eating. Yesterday I did 17 miles on the bike, today I ran a 10K. So in terms of an accomplishment I finished the 10K in 1 hour and 5 minutes which compares very favorably to my 5K time as well (a little bit slower as an average pace, but not too bad). Unfortunately the unhealthy eating reared its head after the race when I went and got pizza for the day. Not really too bad of course, and while I did eat a little too much on the day it was certainly balanced by the run.
Of course what's worse is that I completely recognize that my craving pizza after the race is due to the race organizers having pizza available, but only for a subset of participants. Since I didn't want to eat the food they did have for runners (some sort of crappy pasta dish), and wasn't allowed to have pizza, I was both very hungry and craving pizza on my way home from the run. There wasn't much chance of eating healthy after a 45 minute drive of that combo.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), pizza and breadsticks for lunch (1500 calories), dinner was another couple slices of pizza (500 calories). Exercise was the 10K run (800 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 800
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 42935
Points to go: 157065
Monday, April 30, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Day 35
20K to 40K took 19 days. It's not surprising that I've slowed down over the last month in terms of scoring points. I haven't been exercising much and I've had a few days of eating badly (today's kind of another one). As such the points have slowed down. What is shocking though is that I've continued to lose weight. I honestly expected to have stagnated over the past few weeks. Instead I've continued to maintain my average loss.
Weigh-in result: 206.8 lbs.
As I mentioned a bit ago 200 pounds has become a bit of a target for me, now it looks like I might be able to hit that target without a ton of trouble. Of course as I do so, my nice new clothes will start to become baggy instead. Who would have believed I'd be considering getting rid of the X's on my sizes (honestly getting down to only one X is nice).
Today I ended up doing about 17 miles of biking with people from work (well 14 miles with them, another 3 getting from my house to the bike path and back). The day was perfect and I was able to keep up with everybody (though fortunately no one was on a pure street bike or racing bike). What has become a lot of fun for me though is that I regularly have the ability to do these sorts of things without really feeling a ton of after-effects any more. A 20 mile bike ride used to wipe me out, now I got home and was ready to do more stuff.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), piece of toast with peanut butter (200 calories) and a 5 Guy's trip (2000 calories). Exercise was the bike ride which I'm estimating at about 700 calories.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2500
Exercise: 700
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 41435
Points to go: 158565
Weigh-in result: 206.8 lbs.
As I mentioned a bit ago 200 pounds has become a bit of a target for me, now it looks like I might be able to hit that target without a ton of trouble. Of course as I do so, my nice new clothes will start to become baggy instead. Who would have believed I'd be considering getting rid of the X's on my sizes (honestly getting down to only one X is nice).
Today I ended up doing about 17 miles of biking with people from work (well 14 miles with them, another 3 getting from my house to the bike path and back). The day was perfect and I was able to keep up with everybody (though fortunately no one was on a pure street bike or racing bike). What has become a lot of fun for me though is that I regularly have the ability to do these sorts of things without really feeling a ton of after-effects any more. A 20 mile bike ride used to wipe me out, now I got home and was ready to do more stuff.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), piece of toast with peanut butter (200 calories) and a 5 Guy's trip (2000 calories). Exercise was the bike ride which I'm estimating at about 700 calories.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2500
Exercise: 700
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 41435
Points to go: 158565
Day 34
Today was supposed to turn into a slightly higher calorie day, but it never really appeared. Had lunch with folks from work, and was going to go out to dinner with my sister. Still expected to make the necessary points to cross the 40K mark but it was going to be close. Unfortunately Erin got sick and we had to go to the hospital (check out http://www.active.com/donate/virginia12newengland/VASDwyer for more on that). Between spoiling her dog with three different walks, and eating lightly for dinner the day turned out to be quite reasonable.
Food for the day: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), burger with fries for lunch (1200 calories), various snacks on the day covered dinner as well (500 calories). Exercise was a few walks with the dog (200 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 39035
Points to go: 160965
Food for the day: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), burger with fries for lunch (1200 calories), various snacks on the day covered dinner as well (500 calories). Exercise was a few walks with the dog (200 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 200
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 39035
Points to go: 160965
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Day 33
Well today I was back on track a bit. Ate a few too many little snacks during the day (particularly jelly beans) but still got exercise and generally kept myself on the diet. Two weeks off from kickboxing though definitely left me a little bit out of fitness as far as that went. Got a bit more tired than I would have during today's class. All in all no major challenges, but I am worrying a bit about my growing tendency to snack during the day.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), small PB&J (500 calories), snacks included jelly beans, a granola bar and an english muffin (300 calories), dinner was salmon, noodles and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 39035
Points to go: 160965
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), small PB&J (500 calories), snacks included jelly beans, a granola bar and an english muffin (300 calories), dinner was salmon, noodles and green beans (900 calories). Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 39035
Points to go: 160965
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Day 32
Today was a lot more challenging, but more because of a lot of snack foods rather than for a particular challenge with the diet. Lately I've definitely been snacking more than I should, and it's tied in a fair amount with my lack of exercise. I have more time to snack, and am getting more free with the snacking even though I should be controlling it more. Once the trip is over, I'm hoping to get back on track and leave some of these bad habits behind again.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), small PB&J for lunch (500 calories), dinner was the leftover pizza from last night (500 calories), snacks included some clam cakes at lunch, and candy when hanging with friends (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk again (100 calories)
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 800
Total Points Earned: 37535
Points to go: 162465
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), small PB&J for lunch (500 calories), dinner was the leftover pizza from last night (500 calories), snacks included some clam cakes at lunch, and candy when hanging with friends (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk again (100 calories)
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 800
Total Points Earned: 37535
Points to go: 162465
Day 31
Tuesday wasn't particularly challenging though I did eat a little bit
too much on the day. Luckily it wasn't too bad a day as far as that
went.
Food: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (500 calories), some jelly beans for snacks (150 calories), homemade pizza for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1150
Total Points Earned: 36735
Points to go: 163265
Food: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (500 calories), some jelly beans for snacks (150 calories), homemade pizza for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1150
Total Points Earned: 36735
Points to go: 163265
Monday, April 23, 2012
Day 30
Well today ended up quite a bit more on track than is usual for me. Still took the day off from exercise, but I went through the full day without more than a couple minor twinges in my knee going up and down stairs. Even got out for a walk at lunch and didn't have any major problems. The knee isn't healed, and I'm not pretending it's not going to be sore next weekend after my 10K, but hopefully it's tracking closer to healed.
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), pasta with garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included some jelly beans and other candy (200 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 35585
Points to go: 164415
Food today: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), pasta with garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included some jelly beans and other candy (200 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 35585
Points to go: 164415
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Day 29
Yesterday's post was a little bit negative in nature, in part because I'm still peeved that my knee hasn't magically gotten better. One positive fact that I was able to take from yesterday though, was that even without much exercise to maintain my fitness over the past two to three weeks, I was still able to pretty much run most of 8 miles. I did slow down to a walk twice during the run (once to go up a steep hill, once to give my knee a rest). Still, it's not something I would have even imagined doing two years ago.
One thing I have noticed over the last few days though has been a trend in my thinking about the diet. A lot of my plans now start with, "once I cross 200 pounds." It's become something of a mantra in my head for future planning. On the one hand, it shouldn't be too hard since it's only 10 pounds or so away. On the other hand it represents a change in my thinking as my diet has stagnated a bit in the last few weeks.
One of my keys to success on these Challenges has been the fact that I don't "care" about my weight. Obviously weight loss is the goal (and fat loss even more of the goal), but none of the actual diet goals or signposts are really weight based. It makes something nice to post to Facebook, and put in the sidebar here, but not something that actually "matters" for the success or failure of the diet. Now that seems to be changing a bit, and the fact that I haven't seen the weight loss through the first month of the new Challenge that I hoped, has put a weight goal into my head. Success is now more and more based on that 200 pound threshold.
Once the knee gets better, and once my vacation is done, and I'm free to go back to my established patterns of diet and exercise I suspect that I'll be getting back to a point where it's points that matter not weight. But as the last few weeks have made clear, weight does matter, I just didn't notice it when I was losing it so easily.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with extra cheese for breakfast (400 calories), homemade burger and one potato's worth of fries (1200 calories), a roll and some cheese for dinner/snacking (400 calories). No exercise today again as I was once more resting my knee.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 34585
Points to go: 165415
One thing I have noticed over the last few days though has been a trend in my thinking about the diet. A lot of my plans now start with, "once I cross 200 pounds." It's become something of a mantra in my head for future planning. On the one hand, it shouldn't be too hard since it's only 10 pounds or so away. On the other hand it represents a change in my thinking as my diet has stagnated a bit in the last few weeks.
One of my keys to success on these Challenges has been the fact that I don't "care" about my weight. Obviously weight loss is the goal (and fat loss even more of the goal), but none of the actual diet goals or signposts are really weight based. It makes something nice to post to Facebook, and put in the sidebar here, but not something that actually "matters" for the success or failure of the diet. Now that seems to be changing a bit, and the fact that I haven't seen the weight loss through the first month of the new Challenge that I hoped, has put a weight goal into my head. Success is now more and more based on that 200 pound threshold.
Once the knee gets better, and once my vacation is done, and I'm free to go back to my established patterns of diet and exercise I suspect that I'll be getting back to a point where it's points that matter not weight. But as the last few weeks have made clear, weight does matter, I just didn't notice it when I was losing it so easily.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich with extra cheese for breakfast (400 calories), homemade burger and one potato's worth of fries (1200 calories), a roll and some cheese for dinner/snacking (400 calories). No exercise today again as I was once more resting my knee.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 34585
Points to go: 165415
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Day 28
So over the last few weeks I've developed a pattern of carelessness, both for the diet and for the blog. Partly I think it has to do with my knee injury limiting my exercise. Posting to the blog is fun when I'm doing well, and scoring points. When I can't do that it becomes something that I think about less. Then the next thing I know I've missed two days worth of posts in a row.
Carelessness with what I eat has also played a roll. I always have a good reason for eating more than I should (ran 8 miles today, too hungry to cook, or I don't feel like what I have defrosted). But in the past week there have been a few nights that felt more like old Seth rather than new Seth. Now on the plus side, after 6 months of dieting when I overeat it's uncomfortable. Rather than being an enjoyable experience, eating too much leaves me unpleasantly stuffed. Of course my brain hasn't entirely picked up on that change yet so I eat too much before realizing that I'm not going to like it.
Today was a bit of an overeating day, but as I mentioned...I did run 8 miles. Breakfast was an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), lunch was a burger and too many fries (2000 calories probably), dinner was a hot dog on a sourdough roll (500 calories). Exercise though was 8 miles of running (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2800
Exercise: 1000
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 33585
Points to go: 166415
Carelessness with what I eat has also played a roll. I always have a good reason for eating more than I should (ran 8 miles today, too hungry to cook, or I don't feel like what I have defrosted). But in the past week there have been a few nights that felt more like old Seth rather than new Seth. Now on the plus side, after 6 months of dieting when I overeat it's uncomfortable. Rather than being an enjoyable experience, eating too much leaves me unpleasantly stuffed. Of course my brain hasn't entirely picked up on that change yet so I eat too much before realizing that I'm not going to like it.
Today was a bit of an overeating day, but as I mentioned...I did run 8 miles. Breakfast was an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), lunch was a burger and too many fries (2000 calories probably), dinner was a hot dog on a sourdough roll (500 calories). Exercise though was 8 miles of running (1000 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2800
Exercise: 1000
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 33585
Points to go: 166415
Day 27
Continuing the quick posts for the missed couple days. More to talk about later on.
Food Friday: corn muffin and 1% milk from Dunkin Donuts (700 calories), some candy as snacks (150 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Lunch time walk for exercise (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1850
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned: 32385
Points to go: 167615
Food Friday: corn muffin and 1% milk from Dunkin Donuts (700 calories), some candy as snacks (150 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Lunch time walk for exercise (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1850
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned: 32385
Points to go: 167615
Day 26
A couple quick posts for the missed days.
Thursday's Food: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), spaghetti and meatballs for dinner (1200 calories), snacks included some candy (100 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 31135
Points to go: 168865
Thursday's Food: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), spaghetti and meatballs for dinner (1200 calories), snacks included some candy (100 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 31135
Points to go: 168865
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Day 25
So 25 days into the new diet I'm definitely not doing as well as I did on the last one. Now this diet's been complicated quite a bit with health issues which has limited how much I could do at times, but I'm really going to need to refocus. I have two weeks before I go on my vacation and I'm still debating what I'm going to do to track food on that trip. Since I won't be able to post on a daily basis as much, I'm thinking I may simply put the diet on hold for the two weeks I'm gone. Not sure if it's the best idea though, so I'm still considering.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich and some grilled chicken for lunch (800 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). No exercise for one more day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 30135
Points to go: 169865
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich and some grilled chicken for lunch (800 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). No exercise for one more day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2100
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 900
Total Points Earned: 30135
Points to go: 169865
Day 24
Missed the whole day on Tuesday for a post. Just simply forgot to do one. No real need for commentary on that day seperately so I'll just go right into the food.
Food: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), a granola bar and some pieces of candy (150 calories), fish and chips for dinner (1200 calories). No exercise on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 850
Total Points Earned: 29235
Points to go: 170765
Food: egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), a granola bar and some pieces of candy (150 calories), fish and chips for dinner (1200 calories). No exercise on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 850
Total Points Earned: 29235
Points to go: 170765
Monday, April 16, 2012
Day 23
There's no question that right now I'm at the point where dozens of my diets have died in the past. The knee injury (which fortunately seems to have gone away today) gave me the excuse not to exercise, and between hanging with friends and feeling kind of crappy (again due to the knee injury) I've been eating a lot more junk than normal. If this were two years ago the diet would be falling apart. Yesterday or today I would have "forgotten" to update my calorie counts. I would have decided to "take a day off" from the diet.
The one thing keeping me honest at the moment is the blog. Even with the blog, it's possible I undercounted calories on the last couple days. Never the less, while I'm planning to rest the knee for another couple days before experimenting with running again, I think when the time comes to pick it back up later this week I should be able to get back on track without too much difficulty. I've probably gained back a couple pounds, but the trend should start going back down again.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), a cheeseburger for dinner (800 calories), and chips as snacks during the day (800 calories probably between all the chips).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 600
Total Points Earned: 28385
Points to go: 171615
The one thing keeping me honest at the moment is the blog. Even with the blog, it's possible I undercounted calories on the last couple days. Never the less, while I'm planning to rest the knee for another couple days before experimenting with running again, I think when the time comes to pick it back up later this week I should be able to get back on track without too much difficulty. I've probably gained back a couple pounds, but the trend should start going back down again.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), a cheeseburger for dinner (800 calories), and chips as snacks during the day (800 calories probably between all the chips).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 600
Total Points Earned: 28385
Points to go: 171615
Day 22
One thing I've already noticed about taking the last week off from exercise, is that my excitement about posting the day's results has declined dramatically now that I'm not putting in big point days. Going off the diet all together would be a lot worse of course, but it's harder to remind myself to calculate the points when the day's only going to be worth 500 points towards the goal.
Food for Sunday: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), lunch/dinner was a hamburger and hot dog on the grill with fresh sourdough rolls (1000 calories), snacks were the potato chips with lunch as well as from the afternoon with my friends (1200 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2500
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 500
Total Points Earned: 27785
Points to go: 172215
Food for Sunday: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), lunch/dinner was a hamburger and hot dog on the grill with fresh sourdough rolls (1000 calories), snacks were the potato chips with lunch as well as from the afternoon with my friends (1200 calories). No exercise.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2500
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 500
Total Points Earned: 27785
Points to go: 172215
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Day 21
Well Saturday was a generally crappy day. The knee injury I'd been nursing for a week seems to have flared back up, and prevented me from finishing my run. Instead of 8 miles and change I got 4 miles done, and had to ride back in a car the rest of the way. I'm hoping it's not serious, and I'm probably going to head to the doctor's on Monday to get checked out, but it's still very irritating. On the positive side, I got to see a couple Team Challenge folks I haven't seen since January. Getting compliments on my weight loss from the folks who haven't seen me in a while is always nice.
Decided since my day was crappy to treat myself to something for food. Ended up going to 5 Guys. Not a healthy choice of course, and afterwards I regretted it a little, but good while I was there. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), Burger and Fries at 5 Guys (2000 calories). Exercise was four miles of running (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1300
Total Points Earned: 27285
Points to go: 172715
Decided since my day was crappy to treat myself to something for food. Ended up going to 5 Guys. Not a healthy choice of course, and afterwards I regretted it a little, but good while I was there. Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), Burger and Fries at 5 Guys (2000 calories). Exercise was four miles of running (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1300
Total Points Earned: 27285
Points to go: 172715
Friday, April 13, 2012
Day 20
Lately I've been noticing what may be a sign of the economy turning around. Namely a lot of new restaurants are opening in the downtown Providence area. A new place called Roi opened a month or two ago, and today some friends from work went there at lunch. Nice place, though kind of funny as it was a bar/concert venue in the past which I've been to once or twice.
We went a couple weeks ago, but it had been Lent so I was trying to be good and avoid eating meat. Even so, their burgers looked tasty and I was craving them. This week we went back and I got a burger. Relatively conventional burger, though very tasty. What was kind of neat was that their standard cheeseburger comes with Mozzarella instead of American or Cheddar cheese. Made an interesting change from the usual burger.
Most of the restaurants downtown are a couple blocks away, and the ones that are closer than that tend to be sit-down only. Sometime next month though a new pizza place is opening right across the street. Not sure what coal-fired pizza is, but it could be a whole new challenge.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), burger and fries at Roi (1200 calories), and dinner was another egg and cheese (300 calories). No exercise today, but hopefully I'm all healed up for tomorrow.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 25985
Points to go: 174015
We went a couple weeks ago, but it had been Lent so I was trying to be good and avoid eating meat. Even so, their burgers looked tasty and I was craving them. This week we went back and I got a burger. Relatively conventional burger, though very tasty. What was kind of neat was that their standard cheeseburger comes with Mozzarella instead of American or Cheddar cheese. Made an interesting change from the usual burger.
Most of the restaurants downtown are a couple blocks away, and the ones that are closer than that tend to be sit-down only. Sometime next month though a new pizza place is opening right across the street. Not sure what coal-fired pizza is, but it could be a whole new challenge.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), burger and fries at Roi (1200 calories), and dinner was another egg and cheese (300 calories). No exercise today, but hopefully I'm all healed up for tomorrow.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 25985
Points to go: 174015
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Day 19
The slow points week, otherwise known as "rest the knee so I can go on my trip in May without problems" week (less catchy), continues on pace. Despite doing the math at the end of the last challenge, I hadn't realized how significant the nearly daily exercise really was towards my point accrual. More importantly, this week's lack of exercise is really bringing down my daily average. I'm still netting points, but I'm just not feeling productive.
On an unrelated note. I know there's a lot of tasty healthy food out there, but sometimes switching from the junk food I love to a healthier version just doesn't work. At lunch today, instead of the traditional bag of normal Lay's chips (240 calories) I got a bag of Baked Lay's (120 calories). Unfortunately they do not taste even close to the same. Maybe it's the salt, maybe the lack of deep frying, but the Baked Lay's did not satisfy my chip craving at all. What they ended up seeming like was a thin, kind of disappointing, cracker rather than a chip.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), 6-inch meatball sub and a bag of Baked Lay's (600 calories), snacks were a few little pieces of chocolate and jelly beans (100 calories), dinner was pasta, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). No exercise again.
My meals have been repetitive lately, but I am still trying to load up on more fiber than protein. So lots of pasta.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 24785
Points to go: 175215
On an unrelated note. I know there's a lot of tasty healthy food out there, but sometimes switching from the junk food I love to a healthier version just doesn't work. At lunch today, instead of the traditional bag of normal Lay's chips (240 calories) I got a bag of Baked Lay's (120 calories). Unfortunately they do not taste even close to the same. Maybe it's the salt, maybe the lack of deep frying, but the Baked Lay's did not satisfy my chip craving at all. What they ended up seeming like was a thin, kind of disappointing, cracker rather than a chip.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), 6-inch meatball sub and a bag of Baked Lay's (600 calories), snacks were a few little pieces of chocolate and jelly beans (100 calories), dinner was pasta, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). No exercise again.
My meals have been repetitive lately, but I am still trying to load up on more fiber than protein. So lots of pasta.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 24785
Points to go: 175215
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Day 18
So today was the follow-up to yesterday's level testing. As I've mentioned, part of my plan this week is to let my knee rest a bit. When I got up in the morning it had gotten a bit sore, due to overuse during the testing yesterday. I iced it down for a half-hour and was mostly fine by the time I went to work (part of the reason for the lack of a post for yesterday was the decision this morning to lie down and ice it). For the rest of the day it didn't really bother me, even with the bike ride into and home from work. Hopefully by Saturday the strain should mostly be healed, and the run this weekend can go off without a hitch.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub and chips from Subway (750 calories), a cheeseburger on a sourdough roll for dinner (800 calories). Snacks included some easter chocolate and jelly beans during the day (200 calories). No exercise again.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned: 23785
Points to go: 176215
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub and chips from Subway (750 calories), a cheeseburger on a sourdough roll for dinner (800 calories). Snacks included some easter chocolate and jelly beans during the day (200 calories). No exercise again.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned: 23785
Points to go: 176215
Day 17
Missed an update for yesterday. Wasn't a difficult day, and I intentionally kept my meal calories a little low since I knew snacks were going to creep up. The big activity yesterday was level testing in Kickboxing. As your skills improve you undergo testing to demonstrate that you've reached the next level of mastery. Until yesterday I was a level 0. The testing was difficult, and involved a lot of skills I don't usually use. Jumping rope was far and away the toughest, though sit-ups and the speed bag were also difficult. Running and punches weren't particularly tough. All in all, I'd gone in expecting the testing to be lighter impact than a normal training session. I was very wrong, it was tougher. In the end though, I made it to Level 1. Officially I'm now an Amateur Kick-boxer.
Food yesterday: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included chips and a roll (400 calories), dinner was a cheeseburger on a sourdough roll (800 calories). Exercise was the level testing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 22835
Points to go: 177165
Food yesterday: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks included chips and a roll (400 calories), dinner was a cheeseburger on a sourdough roll (800 calories). Exercise was the level testing (500 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1500
Total Points Earned: 22835
Points to go: 177165
Monday, April 9, 2012
Day 16
0K to 20K took 15 days. Not a great showing, particularly considering how well I was doing in the first few days of the new Challenge, but steady progress nonetheless. The next month or so is probably going to be a little slow. I'm planning to take most of this week off of exercising to rest my knee and give it a chance to heal. That means my next big bit of exercise may not be until next week's run. Then in a few weeks I'm going away, and while I expect to be very busy on my trip, I probably won't try to hard to eat healthy.
Weigh-in result: 211.8 lbs.
Now from the start of this challenge, that means I'm down 4.4 pounds. More importantly though I'm down 1 full pound below my weight at the end of the last challenge. Once again I'm hitting the lowest weights I've had since high school and college.
Food today wasn't great: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), a small donut for snack (300 calories) and pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). No exercise as stated.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 800
Total Points Earned: 21335
Points to go: 178665
Weigh-in result: 211.8 lbs.
Now from the start of this challenge, that means I'm down 4.4 pounds. More importantly though I'm down 1 full pound below my weight at the end of the last challenge. Once again I'm hitting the lowest weights I've had since high school and college.
Food today wasn't great: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), a small donut for snack (300 calories) and pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). No exercise as stated.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 800
Total Points Earned: 21335
Points to go: 178665
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Day 15
So today was Easter and that meant eating a lot of desserts. Since my most consistent readers happened to be at the same meal as me, there's not much use to trying to undersell how much of a pig I was today. The only advantage I had as far as earning points on the day went was that since dinner occurred during the middle afternoon I ended up combining two meals into one. Still was a big pig though, and when combined with no exercise to nurse the knee it meant a low scoring day.
Food today: breakfast was the usual egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), dinner was ham, some green beans (I think that's what they were) and some bread (800 calories), dessert though was a big piece of chocolate cream pie, some cookies and part of a cupcake (1200 calories total). No exercise though to balance it out.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 700
Total Points Earned: 20535
Points to go: 179465
Food today: breakfast was the usual egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), dinner was ham, some green beans (I think that's what they were) and some bread (800 calories), dessert though was a big piece of chocolate cream pie, some cookies and part of a cupcake (1200 calories total). No exercise though to balance it out.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2300
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 700
Total Points Earned: 20535
Points to go: 179465
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Day 14
Knee injuries, even minor ones, aren't fun. As I've mentioned before I twisted my knee a couple weeks ago. It's mostly not a problem, but after the long run today it got very sore. Iced it down and rested it for most of the day after the run, but it's still a matter of concern. Today we did 7.8 miles, give or take, up and then back down Heartbreak Hill. Now one nice benefit of running there this time of year is that everyone always seems to think we're actually training for the full marathon, and are very complimentary. I went a little slower than I liked, particularly at the end, but I still ran the entire distance, though I had to stop twice to tie my shoes. Running the full 13.1 miles in June is looking more and more doable.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), no real lunch but I ended up eating 6 rolls during the cooking process (600 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was the 7.8 miles of running (900 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 900
Points Earned: 2000
Total Points Earned: 19835
Points to go: 180165
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), no real lunch but I ended up eating 6 rolls during the cooking process (600 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories). Exercise was the 7.8 miles of running (900 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 900
Points Earned: 2000
Total Points Earned: 19835
Points to go: 180165
Day 13
Holidays remain a source of serious challenge to any diet. For obvious reasons, and no doubt based on thousands of years of tradition, holiday gatherings seem to revolve around food. In my personal case, Easter weekend ends up having two food based traditions. The obvious one, Easter dinner, is largely similar to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Simply a day where a ton of food is available, at a huge family gathering.
Good Friday is a little more difficult, simply because of timing. The day itself is a normal workday, and so requires breakfast, lunch and snacks as normal. Church is then at 7 or so. After church our tradition is to go out and get either dinner or desserts. Unfortunately, since that means not eating until 9 or so there's a need for a pre-dinner. In the end it all just simply means more calories, without corresponding exercise. Not an excuse of course, just an experience. Holidays are a challenge, but really should only represent slowing down on the diet, not stopping. Their advantage is simply that they are special events. Come Monday, I don't have any reason to be overeating.
Food for Friday: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), granola bar as snack (70 calories), egg and cheese sandwich for pre-dinner (300 calories), fish and chips for dinner (1200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2470
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 630
Total Points Earned: 17835
Points to go: 182165
Good Friday is a little more difficult, simply because of timing. The day itself is a normal workday, and so requires breakfast, lunch and snacks as normal. Church is then at 7 or so. After church our tradition is to go out and get either dinner or desserts. Unfortunately, since that means not eating until 9 or so there's a need for a pre-dinner. In the end it all just simply means more calories, without corresponding exercise. Not an excuse of course, just an experience. Holidays are a challenge, but really should only represent slowing down on the diet, not stopping. Their advantage is simply that they are special events. Come Monday, I don't have any reason to be overeating.
Food for Friday: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), granola bar as snack (70 calories), egg and cheese sandwich for pre-dinner (300 calories), fish and chips for dinner (1200 calories). Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2470
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 630
Total Points Earned: 17835
Points to go: 182165
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Day 12
So there was one new challenge I had to deal with today. I volunteered to make dinner rolls for Easter dinner, since we're looking at having 40 people there I need to find a way to maximize my baking. Tonight was a test batch to see how they'd come out. On the plus side I think I've got a strategy that should make sufficient baking only partially difficult. On the downside, as tonight's test batch showed, that means a lot of extremely tasty fresh baked bread suddenly appearing in my house. Needless to say, I had to sample to make sure it was good.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories), snacks included some chocolate and the aforementioned sourdough rolls (450 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk and an hour of kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2350
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned: 17205
Points to go: 182795
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories), snacks included some chocolate and the aforementioned sourdough rolls (450 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk and an hour of kickboxing (600 calories).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2350
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned: 17205
Points to go: 182795
Day 11
No major challenges on the day. Fortunately, while I ended up going to get a snack during work I kept it smaller than earlier in the week and got the small bag of chips. I did have a special kickboxing session on the day, as next week we're level testing and I needed to go through some of the moves that we don't do routinely in class. The real challenge of the testing though is going to be jumping rope for 2 minutes. Not 100% certain I'm coordinated enough to do that.
Food for the day: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), small bag of chips (160 calories), steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk, and a light session of kickboxing (400 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2060
Exercise: 400
Points Earned: 1340
Total Points Earned: 15955
Points to go: 184045
Food for the day: egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), PB&J (600 calories), small bag of chips (160 calories), steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories). Exercise was a lunchtime walk, and a light session of kickboxing (400 calories total).
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2060
Exercise: 400
Points Earned: 1340
Total Points Earned: 15955
Points to go: 184045
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Day 10
Well it's no question that today went better than yesterday. Though really, considering how much of a pain yesterday was, that's not too surprising. Got out for a walk at lunch, and to the gym afterwards. Even avoided the strong temptation of walking behind someone carrying a box of fried chicken at lunch time (the temptation: knock him down and steal his food, the chicken place is a little too far away to conveniently go at lunch). If the goal is to keep on track with the diet today was a success.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), a granola bar and a couple mini-reeses as snacks (150 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a walk at lunch and 45 minutes on the treadmill (810 calories total). The treadmill should have been longer but I hit the kill switch again.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 810
Points Earned: 1760
Total Points Earned: 14615
Points to go: 185385
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), a granola bar and a couple mini-reeses as snacks (150 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories). Exercise was a walk at lunch and 45 minutes on the treadmill (810 calories total). The treadmill should have been longer but I hit the kill switch again.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 810
Points Earned: 1760
Total Points Earned: 14615
Points to go: 185385
Monday, April 2, 2012
Day 9
All in all today generally sucked, though it wasn't due to dieting or exercise. Killed my phone last night and had to run around replacing it after work, but that meant no running or kickboxing. Also managed to forget my ID for work, which pretty much meant no leaving the building (it's relatively easy to go through security in the morning, it's a pain any other time). So instead of a nice productive day of exercise, I ended up doing everything but.
I've seen days like this a lot since October, but there's no question they're discouraging. Instead of getting ahead, you feel like you're treading water at best. None of it really represents a long term trend (unless a few crappy days roll out in a row) but the challenge becomes getting back on track. I'm not expecting it to become a problem. After five months I think I've settled into the groove a bit, but if I don't think about it then that trend might start to form.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich at breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), a larger bag of chips as a snack (300 calories), pot roast, potato and carrots for dinner (800 calories). No exercise today.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 12855
Points to go: 187145
I've seen days like this a lot since October, but there's no question they're discouraging. Instead of getting ahead, you feel like you're treading water at best. None of it really represents a long term trend (unless a few crappy days roll out in a row) but the challenge becomes getting back on track. I'm not expecting it to become a problem. After five months I think I've settled into the groove a bit, but if I don't think about it then that trend might start to form.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich at breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (600 calories), a larger bag of chips as a snack (300 calories), pot roast, potato and carrots for dinner (800 calories). No exercise today.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned: 12855
Points to go: 187145
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Day 8
Took another day off from exercise to rest the knee. It's definitely feeling better, but I'm still getting some twinges when I go up and down the stairs. Otherwise today was mostly about hanging out with friends. All in all a fun day, but not incredibly productive as far as the diet went. One positive that I first started noticing today has been a little bit of definition in my arms. I think my kickboxing is starting to pay some dividends as far as upper body strength is concerned.
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), homemade pizza for lunch (700 calories), snacks included some cookies and jelly beans with friends (500 calories), and an egg and cheese sandwich for dinner (300 calories). No exercise on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 11855
Points to go: 188145
Food today: egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), homemade pizza for lunch (700 calories), snacks included some cookies and jelly beans with friends (500 calories), and an egg and cheese sandwich for dinner (300 calories). No exercise on the day.
Today's Results:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned: 11855
Points to go: 188145
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