Day 71-76

So I've continued to keep track of what I'm eating in these few weeks of no exercise.  It's not a perfect system since I'm certainly starting to get careless on that as well as my posts.  I'm still mostly keeping to the diet, and that should start to sharpen again now that things seem to be getting back on track a little.  Knee feels a lot better, but tomorrow's run is going to be something of a test.

Six day Results:
Points Earned:  5300
Total Points Earned:  85967
Points to go:  114033

Day 70

So today was the 80k weigh-in at it was somewhat disappointing, but not unexpected.  As I've been saying, I'm short on exercise and eating too much junk food lately.  As such I ended up having lost a little bit of weight since 60k, but not really an amount I'm glad to see.  Honestly, much of the variation within the past couple weeks is clearly within the margin of error.

Weigh-in result:  204.0 pounds.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast and turkey sandwich for lunch (800 calories for that).  Dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Snacks were dangerous today though due to a party at work.  Had some cake and a mini-smores cupcake (600 calories).  No exercise again.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2400
Exercise:  0
Points Earned: 600
Total Points Earned:  80667
Points to go:  119333

Days 66-69

So I'm continuing to have a hard time remembering to post.  As I've been saying for days, I need to get back into the habits of daily exercise.  Nonetheless, I'm still picking up points, even if it's slowly.  If my knee feels okay next monday I'm going to restart the exercise plan again.

Four day Results:
Points Earned:  3200
Total Points Earned:  80067
Points to go:  119933

Days 63 - 65

Hey it's another 3 day post.  Why, mostly because I continue to be distracted by books to read and video games to play.  Not really good excuses at all for skipping posts but, eh at least I'm being honest (though I did consider a story about being kidnapped and held for ransom).

Pretty good set of three days.  Not necessarily great points-wise, but a fun enough weekend anyway.  Friday was another work day which meant a little too much snacking.  But the rest of the meals on the day kept things close enough to 1000 points for the day.  Saturday featured a 9 mile run, so really whatever I ate that day wasn't going to be bad.  I finished the day with about 2000 points after eating the usual peanut butter sandwich and egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast and lunch, plus a medium sized pizza for dinner.  Sunday wasn't a great day as I had a craving for 5 Guys and so ate a bit too much on the day.

All in all the weekend was a lot of fun.  I'm going to be trying to schedule a doctor's appointment though to look at my knee.  While it hasn't been a major problem, if I'm going to train for another half-marathon I want to make sure the knee is healthy.

Three day Results:
Points Earned:  3650
Total Points Earned:  76867
Points to go:  123133

Day 62

I think the thing that I most miss about being the kind of person I was before the diet started is not having to think about food.  Yes I ate complete junk, and didn't exercise nearly enough, but I also really wasn't that aware of it.  Sure I knew that if I went to Pizza Hut or 5 Guys that I'd end up eating way more than I should, but I didn't really need to think about what that meant.  Unfortunately now I do think about that.  When I grab candy at work, or eat chips when hanging with friends, or otherwise "cheat" on the diet I know what I'm doing and it bums me out a bit.

It's not really a major problem, and I definitely like the positives of my current lifestyle.  On the other hand I miss the guy who didn't need to think about this kind of stuff.  He was fat and lazy, but he knew how to enjoy destroying an all-you-can-eat buffet.  Not sure I could really do that any more (destroy the buffet:  yes, enjoy it afterwards:  probably no). 

It's another melancholy post, but I've been cheating a lot more in the last few weeks with increased access to junk and a decreased amount of exercise.  Honestly, if you read these you'd probably think I was depressed.  I'm honestly not, but I do miss some aspects of my old life.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich (really tasty for 300 calories, hence why I eat it every day), turkey sandwich (500 calories), candy (250 calories), salmon, rice and green beans (900 calories).  Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1950
Exercise:  500
Points Earned:  1550
Total Points Earned:  73217
Points to go:  126783

Day 61

I wish I had a good excuse for why I haven't gotten back to the gym this week.  Sadly I don't.  I mean I have excuses:  resting my knee, going to run 9 miles on Saturday, just relaxing a bit before training for the next half-marathon, etc.  Unfortunately the real reason is that I've just gotten a ridiculously addictive computer game and exercise time is time I could be trying to conquer the world instead.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included some candy and granola bars (250 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  No exercise again.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2050
Exercise:  0
Points Earned: 950
Total Points Earned:  71667
Points to go:  128333

Day 58 through 60

I continue to have no good reason for missing posts.  I did so well on the first challenge that I'm surprised at how many breaks I've been having.  This week I've been partially distracted with a new, highly addictive, video game but even so it shouldn't keep me from writing something up.

The last three days have been relatively straightforward.  Sunday I had friends over and grilled a few burgers.  Monday I had a normal lunch, and a burger for dinner.  Yesterday's dinner was homemade fish and chips (had seen the perfect sized piece of fish while at the market).  There was a bit too much snacking, between chips on Sunday and the candy bowl at work on Monday and Tuesday but otherwise everything seems routine.  No exercise though as I've continued to rest up my knee.  Planning to go to kickboxing tomorrow, and running on Saturday to see how it's feeling.

The results below are for the three days:

Today's Results:

Points Earned:  1000
Total Points Earned:  70717
Points to go:  129283

Day 57

There's definitely a connection between sitting at my desk at work and snacking.  When I'm home on an average weekday I tend to eat incidental snacks significantly less.  Now some of that is just a matter of what's at work versus at home.  On those occasions when I've bought a bag of chips, I have managed to destroy those in a day without noticing.  Still, when I'm at home there's just a little bit more variation in the day and I don't go looking for short-term distractions like a piece of candy.

Today was fun though, had a fundraising cookout to go to for people from kickboxing.  They're doing the MS 150 bike ride.  I ran 13 miles last week, I'm kind of glad I'm not biking 150 kilometers though.  Cookouts are always fun, though they tend to be a bit more calorie intensive.  I had four small burgers, and some chips, but justified it by calling it a combination of lunch and dinner.  Otherwise I mostly hung out around the house.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), the aforementioned burgers and chips (1500 calories probably), some later snacks on the day included some cheese slices and some peanut butter (200 calories).  No real exercise again as I was taking the day off.  Still debating whether I'm going to do the Rock and Roll Half in Providence in August.  If I am though I'm going to have to get back into training next week.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2000
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1000
Total Points Earned:  67717
Points to go:  132283

Day 56

I was finally able to get to the supermarket again on Thursday, which opened up some options other than buying lunch at Subway.  Admittedly it's still the same old options that I always eat, but still tasty and not something I have to go out for.  Wasn't perfect on the day for avoiding snacking though, snacks crept up a bit again, though more of that was at home than at work.


Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), turkey sandwich on sourdough (500 calories), pork loin, rice and green beans for dinner (900 calories), snacks included a couple granola bars, some cheese and some candy at various points of the day (300 calories).  No exercise on the day however.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2000
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1000
Total Points Earned:  66717
Points to go:  133283

Day 55

Getting back into the routine is very important, not just because it will hopefully get my weight loss and the Challenge in general back on track.  It will also help me get back the fitness I've lost over the last couple months as I've been on vacation, half-marathon trips and nursing my knee.  Kickboxing tonight was exhausting!  As I've been discovering over the last week, being able to run does not really contribute much at all to upper-body strength.  Add in most of a month and a half without kickboxing, and I was wiped out by the end of class.  Clearly I need to start working on a plan to build some muscle in the upper body.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), a meatball sub for lunch (500 calories), some candy and a granola bar as snacks during the day (300 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).  Exercise was an hour of kickboxing (500 calories)

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2100
Exercise:  500
Points Earned:  1400
Total Points Earned:  65717
Points to go:  134283

Day 54

Not much happened on Wednesday, which combined with having people over meant the post got kind of delayed.  Despite saying that I wanted to start refocusing on the diet, I haven't quite been able to do it yet.  I'm expecting things to start picking up slowly over the next week as I slip back  into a routine again.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub with chips for lunch (700 calories), a cheeseburger on a fresh sourdough roll (700 calories) for dinner, snacks included some candy and a small sourdough roll (400 calories).  Exercise included a lunchtime walk (100 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2100
Exercise:  100
Points Earned:  1000
Total Points Earned:  64317
Points to go:  135683

Day 53

Over the weekend I crossed the threshold for a weigh-in, but didn't notice it as I was away.  So instead I did the weigh-in this morning instead.


Weigh-in result:  205.6 pounds

So for the first time on the diet I've seen my weight climb in between weigh-ins.  Technically the 40k weigh in was 206.8, but I intentionally weighed myself following my vacation and was significantly below the current mark at 202.4. 

So what does this climb of 3.2 pounds mean?  Part of it is certainly due to eating too much over the past couple weeks, with a corresponding reduction in exercise.  While I did run a half-marathon on Saturday I also ended up eating a lot of higher-calorie foods over the weekend.  Part of the weight gain may also be a sign that I'm finally hitting a weight-loss plateau, and so I can't be as careless with my eating habits.

The simplest remedy is to simply re-concentrate on the diet.  Avoid unnecessary snacks, recalculate exactly what I'm eating with meals, and start back with a more focused exercise plan.  Some of it won't be easy to immediately implement, my knee is still a little sore, I've got to go grocery shopping again, and I've gotten into bad habits with snacking.  In the end though, those are just excuses and I know I can get the weight loss restarted.  After all, I've already lost 60 pounds.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub for lunch (no bread in the house, 500 calories), pasta, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).  Snacks included some candy and bread (200 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk and sit-ups, push-ups and leg raises (100 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2000
Exercise:  100
Points Earned:  1100
Total Points Earned:  63317
Points to go:  136683

Day 52

So the first day back from race weekend was supposed to be the start of my full-scale re-commitment to the diet and exercise plan.  Unfortunately it didn't work out precisely as intended.  Food was pretty much on target.  Unfortunately the plan was to hit the gym after work and run on the treadmill.  When I got to the gym they were having their monthly pizza party so I grabbed a small slice before working out (which boosted the day's snacks up a little).  Unfortunately it took about two minutes to realize that both my knee and ankle hadn't fully recovered from Saturday's run.  I was sore!

It shouldn't be a long term problem of course, but it was a little disappointing nonetheless.  I don't have any major complaints on the day, but I do wish it had gone slightly better.  Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub for lunch (500 calories), snacks included a few chocolates and the slice of pizza (300 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  No actual exercise on the day.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2100
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  900
Total Points Earned:  62217
Points to go:  137783

note:  edited to correct the total points earned number

Day 47 through Day 51 - Race Weekend!!!

So this past weekend was race weekend.  After six months of prep for a half-marathon I was pretty excited to finally get to race day itself.  We lucked out on the weather, instead of the 90-100 degrees I was worried about the temperature was only in the 70's.  The course this year was a lot more consistently hilly, with no real flat stretches of any length.  On the other hand there also weren't any really big or steep hills either.  I finished with a time of 2:26:20, which is about 44 minutes faster than my time last year.

The GPS data for the race can be found here:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/185368916

The rest of race weekend was a lot of fun as well.  I didn't have a real computer on the trip so I wasn't able to post daily.  I decided to do one big post for the weekend.  Wednesday I crashed at my sister's before leaving the next morning.  Unfortunately on Wednesday I also ate a bit too much and didn't exercise.  Thursday we flew down to DC, and then hung out by the hotel pool before eventually going out to dinner.  Friday morning we had a team run (only 1.7 miles), and then went into the city for a few hours of museums and monuments.  That night we had the Team Challenge pasta party and bed.  Saturday was the race, followed by a cook-out, wine-tasting then a dinner concert at a vineyard.  Sunday we had brunch, then flew home.

The only real defining factor of the weekend was eating a little too much.  No single meal was all that bad, but I had more "full" meals than I normally would in the same situation.  Kept active the whole weekend obviously, but wouldn't be surprised to net very little in the way of weight.

Points for each day:
Wednesday:  400 points (too much food, without much exercise)
Thursday:  1350 points (balancing the day before, light on food with a little bit of exercise)
Friday:  650 points (too much food, decent amount of exercise)
Saturday:  1500 points (too much food, but a ton of exercise)
Sunday:  400 points (minimal exercise, with high calorie foods)

Weekend's Results:
Points Earned:  4300
Total Points Earned:  61317
Points to go:  138683