Day 50 - Easter

Holidays are tough on a diet.  Family gatherings always have a ton of food and more specifically a ton of desserts.  Easter is no exception and today went mostly as expected.  After the long run yesterday I thought it was best to take a day to rest.  Coinciding with Easter meant today's points would be lower but long term health is probably more important.  I had a normal breakfast and intentionally skipped lunch to "make room" for the additional calories I expected.  It worked but I still ate more sugar than I should have.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), some ham, mashed potatoes and green beans for supper (1000 calories), and some pie and cookies (700 calories).  No exercise.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned:  84453
Points to go:  115547

Day 49 - Training For A Half

So today was the 80K weigh in so I thought I'd get to that first.  I've lost a couple more pounds and seem to be doing okay, even if it is weird that the last few times I recorded my weight have ended with .8.

Weigh-in Result:  215.8 pounds

That's 4 pounds since the 60K weigh-in and most of the difference is probably due to my continued running.  I've decided to work my way back up to a half-marathon distance again.  There is a local race in May and I think I'm going to shoot for that.  My treadmill running has obviously gone well, but today was my first attempt to push up the distance past what one hour on the treadmill gets me.  What was awesome though was across 8 miles I set a personal best for real-world running.  I'm going to have to keep upping the distance in the coming weeks but at least through 8 miles I'm doing well.

Going forward I'm going to keep up with the treadmill, since that both helps me push my speed but also is a more consistent means of exercise (plus gives specific calculations of calories burned as opposed to the averages that websites provide).  For distance running though I'm going to have to move outside, as the treadmill limits what I can do in any given session.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), english muffin with peanut butter for lunch (300 calories) and dinner was lasagna and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Exercise was an 8 mile run at an average speed of 6.3 mph (~1300 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1600
Exercise: 1300
Points Earned: 2700
Total Points Earned:  83453
Points to go:  116547

Day 47 - Rest Day With Too Much Food

So today turned into a bit of a rest day for me.  I was originally slated to go running in the evening, but rain killed that plan.  Instead I took a bit of an advantage of the free time to just relax.  Unfortunately my food total for the day ended up being a bit higher than I would have liked.  Nothing too bad, just generally a few hundred calories over my target without exercise to balance it.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), lunch was a Subway meatball sub, chips and lite lemonade (750 calories), dinner was some lasagna (1100 calories) and snacks were some M&Ms during the day (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2250
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 750
Total Points Earned:  78748
Points to go:  121252

Day 47 and 48 - Good Friday

So I made the mistake of missing my first actual post of the current diet.  I tracked everything in my spreadsheet, but apparently forgot to actually post anything.  So that's one error.  Last night wasn't a great day diet-wise.  I ended up eating too much, partially due to making a lasagna.  It also made for a poor day because I took the night off the rest after several days of running.

Today though was Good Friday and in my family that means a couple of traditions.  Basically we go to an evening mass and then a late dinner at a local restaurant (usually for fish and chips).  Knowing that though I planned for it on the day.  I intentionally kept my meals smaller for the day and after work had a small english muffin as a snack to hold over for the later dinner.  It worked out today.  In previous years what might have happened was a big lunch and then the bigger dinner.  I also got an hour at the gym in.

Points for Thursday:  750

Food today:  english muffin with peanut butter (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (500 calories), snack was an english muffin (100 calories) and some candy (50 calories), dinner was fish and chips (1300 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (1155 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2250
Exercise: 1255
Points Earned: 2005
Total Points Earned:  80753
Points to go:  119247

Day 46 - Outdoor Running

So I wanted to post the map of my run today, but my watch is interacting weirdly with my computer at the moment.  Hopefully I'll be able to put it up again sooner rather than later.  On the plus side I got out for an outdoor training run tonight.  A little over 4 miles of running but at an average pace over 6 mph.  So as the outdoor training starts I'm on my way to a goal.  There's a nearby half-marathon in May which I may shoot to participate in, and get the first one of the year over with.  All in all I'd really like to make my personal best if possible.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), M&M's for snacks (200 calories) and two hotdogs for dinner (600 calories).  Exercise was the lunchtime walk (100 calories) and the 4 miles of running (700 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1600
Exercise: 800
Points Earned: 2200
Total Points Earned:  77998
Points to go:  122002

Day 45 - Quick Post

Nothing significant today, so I'm going to go right into the food.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), salmon, noodles and green beans for dinner (900 calories), snacks were some M&Ms (200 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1200
Total Points Earned:  75798
Points to go:  124202

Day 44 - Running Dreams

The last few weeks have seen more nights with dreams about running.  That's not really a bad thing, if I do any activity a lot I tend to dream about it and I certainly have been running.  It does sometimes feel weird however to wake up from a dream about running and feel kind of exhausted by all that "exercise."  Other dreams involving it are just weird (one where I thought I'd forgotten how to run outside comes to mind).  It does provide a bit of weirdness in my life, but honestly that's hardly the first weirdness I have there.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), M&M's and peanut butter (250 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk and then running at the gym (1265 calories total).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 1265
Points Earned: 2215
Total Points Earned:  74598
Points to go:  125402

Day 43 - Running Outdoors

So there's definitely a world of difference between running on a treadmill and running outdoors.  Even more so when your GPS watch isn't working so you have no idea how fast you're running.  Today was a reunion run for Team Challenge, and so that meant running out in the "real world."  Nothing overly challenging, just a mostly flat stretch of sidewalk in Boston.  The total run I did was somewhere between 4 and 5 miles, but I'm not exactly sure how fast I went.  I'm guessing I was at least at a 10 minute mile pace, at least in part because I was outpacing other runners on the stretch.  The next time I get out though, I definitely need to have the watch working because otherwise it's very hard to get a sense of what I'm doing.  That is one of the nice bits of the treadmill, it always tells me what it thinks I've done at least.

Food today:  egg and cheese for both breakfast and dinner (300 calories each), lunch was a bacon cheeseburger with fries (1300 calories) and snacks on the day included some popcorn (300 calories).  Exercise estimate for the run today (500 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 500
Points Earned: 1300
Total Points Earned:  72383
Points to go:  127617

Day 42 - Usual Saturday

The weather is definitely getting nicer, so before too much longer I'm going to have to start running outside.  But for this Saturday at least I was back at the gym.  Running alone without the TV or something to distract me is just not as relaxing as running with the TV.  Even so, if I want to stretch out the distances it's something that will need to be done, particularly since the treadmills at the gym shut down after an hour.  Otherwise nothing all that critical happened today.  A couple reasonable meals and a lot of water and light lemonade made up the day's food and drink.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), hot dog (300 calories), snacks were a granola bar and then some turkey at the deli counter of the supermarket (300 calories), dinner was steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories).  Exercise was the hour on the treadmill (1167 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1900
Exercise: 1167
Points Earned: 2267
Total Points Earned:  71083
Points to go:  128917

Day 41 - Getting Back

So one of the big dangers to a cheat day is letting yourself fall off the diet after you cheat once.  My second 200k Challenge eventually fell apart precisely for that reason.  Even with me doing well on it, I just got bored and wanted to eat junk food instead.  After falling out of the habit of dieting I started to slip back into my old patterns.  Needless to say, today was kind of critical.  I'd skipped running despite having opportunities to do so and I'd gone out to feed my weakness.  Today though I got back on the treadmill and actually stepped up my performance.  I actually ran at a 7 mph pace for a half-hour, and mostly a 6.5 mph pace the rest.  I still need to start working on distance eventually but I plan to start doing that this week if I can get outside to do it.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), a couple of cheese pizza slices for lunch (600 calories), snacks were some M&Ms and a piece of cheese (150 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (1168 calories).


Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2050
Exercise: 1268
Points Earned: 2218
Total Points Earned:  68816
Points to go:  131184

Day 40 - First Cheat Day

So after feeling like crap most of the day, and having a dentist's appointment today turned into my first cheat day of the diet.  As I mentioned yesterday, I'd been feeling a bit burned out.  Today that carried over and while I was able to catch up on sleep I finally decided I wanted a trip to 5 Guys.  So the only positive was I stuck to my guns and avoided soda while there, but still ended up having a bad calorie day without exercise.  Probably not a huge problem long term, but I probably caused a few extra days of work to hit my goals.

Food today:  english muffin with peanut butter (300 calories), 5 Guys cheeseburger with fries (2000 calories), egg and cheese sandwich for dinner (300 calories).  No real exercise on the day.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2600
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 400
Total Points Earned:  66598
Points to go:  133402

Day 39 - Feeling Burned Out

Today started out promising but ended up disappointing.  I was realizing today that I've been feeling a bit burned out over the last week or so.  I'm not sure if it's an illness or just general exhaustion but by the end of the day today I was barely able to keep up.  Even the bike ride home didn't really get me active again.  As such, I took the night off from exercise.  I'll probably "make it up" by going back tomorrow, but even so it was a little disappointing to let myself skip it.  As long as it's not an illness though getting some rest should put me back on track.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories), and some M&Ms as a snack (100 calories).  Exercise was a longer lunchtime walk (150 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1900
Exercise: 150
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned:  66198
Points to go:  133802

Day 38 - Routine

I am starting to settle into a bit of a routine, though it doesn't take too much to implode that.  Today was fairly ordinary.  I got up late, so the morning turned into a bit of a rush but otherwise everything proceeded fairly typically.  There were a couple temptations at work, and I gave into some cookies.  The weather also kept me from doing my walk but even so the day wasn't really a negative.  Just an average day.

Food today:  english muffin with peanut butter for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks were a couple shortbread cookies (200 calories), dinner was a cheeseburger and a hot dog left over from Sunday (900 calories).  No exercise for the day.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1900
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned:  64948
Points to go:  135052

Day 37 - Average Day

So today was a fairly average Monday.  For this diet though that's actually a pretty good thing.  I ate a reasonable day's worth of food, got to the gym and otherwise was pretty productive in terms of my goal.  We had some candy things passed out at work which was a little bad for me, but not terrible.  Otherwise I kept on track, avoided any temptation to cheat and ran for an hour.  All in all a good day, for a Monday.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), salmon, noodles and green beans (900 calories), and snacks were some pieces of candy and a spoonful of peanut butter (250 calories).  Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (1141 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1950
Exercise: 1241
Points Earned: 2291
Total Points Earned:  63848
Points to go:  136152

Day 36 - Grilling and Baking

So after yesterday's very productive day, today was more of a wash.  I had decided to grill up some burgers when friends came over which mostly worked (I am pretty much incompetent in lighting charcoal, I do not understand why).  I also baked some fresh rolls that went nicely with them.  As far as food went it was a pretty satisfying day.  I didn't get any exercise today but that was somewhat intentional.  I really felt like I needed a real recovery day, hanging with friends was also more fun than the gym.  All in all today wasn't really productive as far as the diet but it's not one I'm unhappy with.


Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast and dinner (300 calories each), lunch was a couple burgers and a hot dog (1200 calories).  No exercise on the day.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned:  61557
Points to go:  138443

Day 35 - Recovering from the Bad Days

So one of the challenges I've always had with diets is recovering from the bad days when the diet falls apart a bit.  Even looking back on this blog there are a couple incidents that jump out.  The 2nd challenge fell apart, and a 3rd one never even really got started because after set-backs I quit rather than stepped back up.  This week I had a couple bad days.  It's possible I even underestimated just how bad they were (I guessed high on calories, but maybe not high enough).  At the same time however I did stick to my goal.  In the end what the bad days have done is keep me from losing weight week to week, but they didn't kill the diet.

One of the reasons I set up the challenge like this is because of that weight-loss "failure."  If weight loss is the only way to measure success, then a week or two without weight-loss is a failure.  For me, success is measured in points over a 4-5 month period.  Shorter-term, success has been as much about little accomplishments (not going to 5 guys, running at a faster pace for an extra minute a day, completing a treadmill 10K in less than an hour, etc) as weight loss.  That's not to say that I'm not disappointed when I weigh myself and don't see a big positive change, but not seeing that isn't enough by itself to kill the diet.  In the end, it's not just about weight loss, it's about being healthier and every little bit helps with that goal.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), grilled cheese (600 calories), pancakes with milk for dinner (750 calories), peanut butter as a snack (100 calories).  Exercise was an hour on the treadmill and stepping up the speed a little each day (1139 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1750
Exercise: 1139
Points Earned: 2389
Total Points Earned:  60557
Points to go:  139443

Day 34 - Getting Back On Track

Well after two days where the negatives piled up a bit, today worked out mostly as a good day.  It wasn't perfect but I kept to the diet and went running.  Beyond that there isn't a heck of lot that's negative about the day.  Work was a little more stressful than normal, but the combination of a lack of candy in my immediate area and a continued commitment to avoid drinking soda meant I didn't feel a strong need to cheat.  In the end I even managed to keep my lunch reasonable rather than going nuts.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), cheese pizza at lunch (600 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories), and snacks were a little peanut butter before running (100 calories).  Exercise was an hour on the treadmill again (1135 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2000
Exercise: 1135
Points Earned: 2135
Total Points Earned:  58168
Points to go:  141832

Day 33 - A Bad Day

So no question today turned into a bad day by the end.  It started as usual, but my plan for dinner had been to make a burger and use one of the rolls I made the night before.  That wouldn't have been a problem, the problem was I talked myself into going to the store to get some lemonade and chips to go with the burger.  What had been a nice relatively light meal ballooned.  Maybe not a huge deal, but I ended up eating way too many of the chips.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), a couple pieces of chocolate (100 calories), and a cheeseburger with chips (1500 calories).  Exercise was only a lunchtime walk (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2400
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 700
Total Points Earned:  56033
Points to go:  143967

Day 32 - The Full Plate

So I took my mom out for dinner tonight, which was nice.  Unfortunately my eyes were a little bigger than my stomach, and I ordered too much food (I partially blame the special, I wanted a smaller meal, but a larger size was cheaper).  As is so often the case with food though, I'll eat what's on my plate and be content.  So if my plate had held a small steak and a few noodles and veggies (like I'd make at home) then I'd eat that and be full.  Going out though meant a bigger steak and a stack of fries and some bread.  So of course I still ate what was on my plate (the only positive, I didn't eat the extras from my mom's plate).  I followed it up by going running and ran into an old problem.  Running on a full belly is just unpleasant.  All in all it was a great meal followed up by a bit of regret...so my normal mode of eating out.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), some chocolate (200 calories), and steak and fries (1500 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk and 6+ miles on the treadmill (1228 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2500
Exercise: 1228
Points Earned: 1728
Total Points Earned:  55333
Points to go:  144667

Day 31 - One Month In!

Woohoo.  One month without cheating!  Oh I'm also down 14 pounds or so too, but since I'm just losing weight I'd regained that's less fun.  The last time I was down here I kept having "Lowest since UPS" or "First since college" moments.  "Lowest since August!" just doesn't have the same ring to it.  On the other hand there are a few positive highlights to note.  One month without cheating is actually a pretty big deal.  I haven't reviewed my old posts but I'm guessing I cheated at least once in the first month last year (admittedly I think the first month included Thanksgiving so that's not hard to guess).  Another highlight of the day, I completed a 10K on the treadmill today in under an hour, and got up to a 7 MPH pace for a little while (only 5 minutes, but that's hopefully just the start).

So it's a great start.  After one month, I'm a quarter of the way to my goal.  Hopefully I can keep up this pace (both in terms of the diet, and in terms of the running).

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), roast beef sandwich (500 calories), snacks were some peanut butter and a few Kisses (250 calories), dinner was the usual pasta night (penne, sauce and garlic toast:  1000 calories).  Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and a treadmill 10K (1129 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2050
Exercise: 1229
Points Earned: 2179
Total Points Earned:  52505
Points to go:  147495

Day 30 - Avoiding the Cheat

So another weekend gone, and I've once again avoided a cheat day.  So the question of whether cheat days are good or bad is kind of irrelevant to this conversation.  A Cracked writer recently did an article on weight loss that I kind of liked (http://www.cracked.com/article_20307_5-diabolical-ways-your-body-tricks-you-into-being-fat.html).  One of the lines I liked pointed out that if I was trying to quit heroin, nobody would ever say "Hey you've been clean for a month, it's probably okay to have a cheat day and just take all the heroin there is."

Nonetheless it's almost guaranteed that I'm going to give into cravings at some point.  If so the weekend is probably the best time to do it.  If I go to Pizza Hut or 5 Guys or something and eat 2000 calories in one sitting then at least I can usually make that my one meal for the day.  Combined with going to the gym, it might not even be that bad a day points-wise.  On the other hand, if I give in during the week I've likely already had breakfast and lunch and now I'm using this giant meal as a dinner instead.  So I've been lying to myself during the week, telling myself that if I'm going to get junk food it will be on the weekend.  So far that's worked. 

Weirdly the double withdrawals that I'm dealing with (food and caffeine) are also supporting each other.  If I go out, I know I'd be more likely to get soda, so I talk myself of going out in order to preserve the elimination of caffeine.  Then when I consider buying some soda at work or at the store, I tell myself that if I'm going to blow the caffeine thing it would be better to do it on a really good meal out.  It's stupid, but it's working.  So 30 days and 50K in and I haven't convinced myself to break the diet yet.  Hopefully I can keep it up.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), a roast beef sandwich for lunch (500 calories), dinner was salmon, noodles and green beans (900 calories).  Snack for the day was some peanut butter (100 calories).  Exercise was an hour on the treadmill (1058 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1800
Exercise: 1058
Points Earned: 2258
Total Points Earned:  50326
Points to go:  149674

Day 29 - A Minor Cheat Day

So I've been really focused on not letting myself have a cheat day so far.  There's no guarantee that I'm going to stick to that (heck, having now drawn attention to it I could end up at 5 Guys tomorrow).  So far though I have been mostly successful with that.  However I've had a couple days, including today the ended up as minor cheat day's instead.  Days where I ate a bit more than I needed, or didn't exercise enough.  Today was a little of both.  I ate a bit too much thanks to some pizza at lunch, and then got only half my normal time at the gym due to showing up late.  It's not a failed day (even a full-scale cheat day might not be if I hit the gym first), but I didn't end up with the points I had planned on.  Still a fun day, and still somewhat productive.

Food today:  egg and cheese at breakfast (300 calories), pizza for lunch (900 calories), snacks included a granola bar and a handful of chips (200 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Exercise was only a half-hour on the treadmill (556 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2400
Exercise: 556
Points Earned: 1156
Total Points Earned:  48068
Points to go:  151932

Day 28 - Starting to Run Better

So one thing I've been starting to notice is that I'm definitely getting my wind back and I'm starting to push my training runs as well now.  Admittedly this has all been on the treadmill, but even so I'm pushing my speed up a couple notches.  It's still not fast in comparison to some of the runners I know, but if I can keep it up I might be able to finish a 10k in under an hour.  Not a huge accomplishment but a nice round number to shoot for.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), cheese pizza for lunch (600 calories), broiled swordfish, noodles and green beans for dinner (1000 calories), snacks included a couple granola bars and some Hershey's Kisses (300 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2200
Exercise: 1083
Points Earned: 1883
Total Points Earned:  46912
Points to go:  153088

Day 27 - Routine day

So as is so often the case, today was a pretty routine day as far as the diet went.  I'd been hoping for a big snow-storm, and instead got an unpleasant walk to work but otherwise nothing significant.  Work went well and I mostly avoided any unusual snacks.  Still clear on caffeine, and stuck to the diet pretty well.  Other than that, not that much in the way of excitement today.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich at lunch (500 calories), snacks on the day included two granola bars and a couple Hershey's kisses (250 calories), dinner was a small chicken breast, rice and green beans (900 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1850
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned:  45029
Points to go:  154971

Day 26 - Bargaining with myself

So as I said yesterday, I'm getting some pretty strong junk food cravings.  I've avoided most of them (I bought a bag of chips today at lunch but avoided the worse cravings I had), but I have noticed myself trying to "make deals" about junk food.  Once I finish a month of the diet I'll go to 5 Guys.  Once I hit 220 pounds I'll get some fried chicken.  If I hit 50K in points I'll reward myself with a treat.  Now on the one hand, to some degree I'm using these to convince myself to not go out when I get a craving.  On the other hand it's probably not a good sign that a lot of these "goals" are coming up soon.  I'm not really bargaining in that case, just trying to make excuses to pig out.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories) and a turkey sandwich (500 calories), as usual.  Snacks were a bag of chips and a granola bar (400 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (1079 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2200
Exercise: 1179
Points Earned: 1979
Total Points Earned:  43779
Points to go:  156221

Day 25 - 5 Guy's Cravings

Weigh-in result for the morning was 224 pounds.  A bit higher than I wanted, but still trending down.

Well today I had what was certainly one of the strongest cravings for cheating on my diet since I restarted it.  The last couple years I've had a semi-tradition.  When a new book in one of a few favorite series arrives, I take it out to 5 Guys with me and have a burger, too many fries and spend a while just sitting and reading.  When a new book arrived today, it was very hard to resist the temptation, particularly as I had to run out to the grocery store anyway (snow storm expected tomorrow night, needed my bread and milk).  I was able to overcome it, but I will admit that had more to do with not wanting to get soda there rather than wanting to stick to my diet.  I almost broke both challenges at once.  On the other hand, I did manage to overcome it so I guess we can count that a minor victory.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories), and snacks was a small piece of birthday cake at work (200 calories).  Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2000
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned:  41800
Points to go:  158200

Day 24 - Feeling the Caffeine-Free

So I'm definitely noticing the effect of being caffeine-free.  I'm actually sleeping better and my energy at work has been better without too much of a crash.  So that's the positive.  The negative is that I'm crashing a bit once I get home, particularly if I hit the gym after work.  Today 7:45 rolled around and I was already trying to figure out when I could go to bed.  All in all it isn't a bad thing, but I think I need to try and get my body used to it.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories), snack was a piece of cheese (100 calories).  Exercise was a lunch-time walk (100 calories), and an hour on the treadmill (1080 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1900
Exercise: 1180
Points Earned: 2280
Total Points Earned:  40700
Points to go:  159300

Day 23 - Not-so-homemade Pizza

So today was a day spent hanging with friends so I decided to get some pizza for us.  Not really much difference from yesterday.  I may have eaten a bit more pizza, but my commitment to avoid soda and caffeine at least stuck which was more challenging than it could have been.  For one thing, my friends brought soda over, so I know it's in the house now.  All in all it was a good day.  I took the day off from running, keeping to my four days a week schedule. 

If I'm going to do longer distances I need to start that in the next few weeks to ensure that I can do some kind of half-marathon this spring.  Otherwise I'm just trying to focus on getting back into shape.  One of my goals this time is to get below 200 and finally get the "giant-pants" picture that I didn't bother getting last time.  I've got an outfit I saved from my old XXXL clothes, specifically to get that picture.  I could take it now of course and it would still be impressive, but I'm looking for something a little cooler.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), pizza for dinner and lunch (1600 calories).  No snacks and no exercise.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1900
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1100
Total Points Earned:  38420
Points to go:  161580

Day 22 - Homemade Pizza

So today was a pretty good day for the diet, and just in general.  My tooth is feeling a lot better now (I'm starting to wonder if the problem was the tooth at all) and I got to sleep in a bit.  The two big moments of the day for the diet were going to the gym for an hour and then making a homemade pizza.  I didn't make everything from scratch, using some pre-made dough, some sauce and cheese and just putting it all together.  On the other hand it came out reasonably well, so I'm content either way.  I used the pizza as a combination of lunch and dinner as well which helped keep my calories down for the day.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), cheese pizza for lunch/dinner (1400 calories), and snacks on the day was peanut butter again (100 calories).  Exercise was an hour on the treadmill (1005 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  1800
Exercise: 1005
Points Earned: 2205
Total Points Earned:  37320
Points to go:  162680

Day 21 - Fish and Chips

Another Friday, another week to get fish and chips.  I do think it's a little funny that I've had it three straight weeks but got it from three different places.  So there's some variety, just not in the food itself.  Otherwise today wasn't too bad.  My tooth is still sore, but seems less painful when I eat.  On the other hand I've mostly been eating stuff that is a little bit softer.  We'll see how it is by the end of the weekend to be a little more sure.  I've also continued to steer clear of caffeine (got water at lunch instead of soda for example).  Except for the mild headache the first few days I really haven't noticed withdrawal which is a little weird.  All in all it was a pretty good day, and I got to the gym as well.

Food today:  breakfast was an english muffin with peanut butter and milk (300 calories), lunch was fish and chips (1200 calories), dinner was another english muffin with a little extra peanut butter and milk (400 calories).  I also had a bit of bread as a snack (100 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories), and an hour on the treadmill (weirdly 1000 calories exactly according to the treadmill).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total:  2000
Exercise: 1100
Points Earned: 2100
Total Points Earned:  35115
Points to go:  164885