Day 35 - First day fully back

So while I gave myself a day off from exercise (since it rained part of the day), I still ate pretty lightly today.

Breakfast was an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), while dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Snacks included some peanut butter out of the jar (150 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  1450
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1550
Total earned:  34550

Days 31 to 34 - Continued vacation

So being on vacation gets a fair amount of exercise, but equally results in unhealthy eating.

So from Wednesday to Saturday I generally ate 2000 calories a day (which admittedly was my target), and while individual days may have gone over that mark, I also walked a ton through various museums, etc on the trip.

So here's the totals through Saturday:

Totals

Total earned:  33000

Days 29 and 30

Th first two days of vacation were mostly good.  I had big breakfasts but then spent the day running around without getting lunch.  So following up with unhealthy dinners didn't boost the calories to high.

Food Sunday:  pancake, 2 eggs and bacon (800 calories), chicken tenders and fries (1200 calories)

Food Monday: 2 pancakes, 2 eggs and bacon (1100 calories), cheeseburger with fries (1250 calories) from TGI Fridays.

Totals
Food eaten:  2000
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1000
Total earned:  27350

Food eaten:  2350
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  650
Total earned:  27000

Day 28

Slightly bad dinner, but otherwise a reasonable day (though snacking is high due to a trip to the movies).

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), no lunch, snacks were movie popcorn and a granola bar (600 calories), dinner was leftover hotdogs and some left over frozen french fries (1200 calories).

Exercise today:  25 miles on the bike, completed in 1 hour and 50 minutes (estimate of 1700 calories burned).

Totals
Food eaten:  2100
Calories Burned:  1700
Daily Points:  2600
Total earned:  26350

Day 26 and 27

Two fairly reasonable days.  Nothing particularly special happened on either day.  Though yesterday I did skip a bike ride for no real reason.

Food for each day: 
Thursday:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), chips and granola bar (300 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).

Friday: egg and cheese (300 calories), Subway meatball sub (500 calories), two granola bars (200 calories), two hot dogs (600 calories).

Exercise for each day:
Thursday:  lunch time walk (100 calories)
Friday:  bike ride on the trainer (500 calories)

Totals
Food eaten:  2100
Calories Burned:  100
Daily Points:  1000
Total earned:  21850

Totals
Food eaten:  1600
Calories Burned:  500
Daily Points:  1900
Total earned:  23750

Day 24 and 25

So these two days have been a mix of mediocre and good as far as the diet goes.  Tuesday was mostly on track, but we had pizza for dinner for game night.  Not bad in and of itself, but I probably ate two slices too many.  I did however get my 35 minutes of biking on the trainer in, so I at least had that.

Wednesday was actually very good as far as food went, but it was my designated day off from biking and I was busy at lunch so didn't get in a walk either.  Nothing too bad really for either day, but it slows the process down a bit.

Food Tuesday:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), chips (250 calories), pizza (1500 calories).

Food Wednesday:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), granola bar (100 calories), chicken, rice and green beans (800 calories).

Exercise Tuesday:  lunchtime walk (100 calories), half-hour on the bike (500 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  2550
Calories Burned:  600
Daily Points:  1050
Total earned:  19550

Totals
Food eaten:  1700
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1300
Total earned:  20850

Day 23 - Cupcakes are evil!

They're not really...but when you work with a really great baker it's a little awkward.  They keep bringing in delicious cupcakes!  So I had one of those.  Otherwise the day was both fairly standard and fairly reasonable.

Food:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), cupcake and granola bar as snacks at different points of the day (400 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk and a half-hour bike ride (600 calories total).

Totals
Food eaten:  2200
Calories Burned:  600
Daily Points:  1400
Total earned:  18500

Day 22 - Long Bike Ride

My long ride today was 20 miles in 1.5 hours.  Otherwise the rest of the day was reasonably uneventful.  After a slightly high caloric day yesterday, I cut it shorter today.

Food today:  english muffin with peanut butter (300 calories), 2 hot dogs (600 calories), snack was a granola bar (100 calories), dinner was a grilled chicken breast, whole wheat noodles and green beans (800 calories).  Exercise was the ride (1500 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  1800
Calories Burned:  1500
Daily Points:  2700
Total earned:  17100

Day 21 - Another cookout

Another weekend, another cookout.  I intentionally took Saturday off from exercise in order to give my legs a bit of a rest.  Unfortunately I did end up overeating a little bit for the day.

Food:  english muffin with peanut butter (300 calories), two hot dogs for lunch (500 calories), dinner ended up being a couple hamburgers and hotdogs with some chips and corn (1400 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  2200
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  800
Total earned:  14400

Day 20 - Good and Bad

So today was both good and bad.  On the plus side I had healthy meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner while still managing to get 35 minutes on the trainer.  On the downside I definitely had too much in snacks today, thanks in part to cupcakes that my boss brought into work.  So it was still a positive day, and I'm on track to at least get under 260 this week, but it could have been better.

Food today:  english muffin with peanut butter for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), dinner was a grilled chicken breast (cooked on the grill) with rice and green beans (800 calories).  Snacks included a granola bar, chips and a small cupcake (500 calories).

Exercise today was 35 minutes on the bicycle trainer (500 calories estimated).  I'm trying to stretch it past that point but it is very hard to do.  Which suggests I may be burning more than I think, but I'm still going to use the 500 calories per half hour estimate for counting points.

Totals
Food eaten:  2100
Calories Burned:  500
Daily Points:  1400
Total earned:  13600

Day 19 - Still on Track

Hey I'm considering five days in a row a victory.  If I can keep this up through next week, then it might become my "habit" again.  That's really all I need to get back to being in shape.  It worked once after all, I'm pretty sure it will work again.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks were a fruit cup (50 calories), and part of a marshmallow chocolate treat (another 50 calories for the part I ate), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast again (1000 calories).

Exercise today:  lunchtime walk (100 calories) and a half hour on the trainer (500 calories).  Really having a hard time stretching past the half hour though.  Hoping that as I get used to it, it won't be quite as exhausting.

Totals
Food eaten:  1900
Calories Burned:  600
Daily Points:  1700
Total earned:  12200

Day 18 - Cookout Evening

So I ended up home so late last night that I decided to take the day off from work.  That let me eat a little healthier during the day and get some exercise that I wouldn't have otherwise.  The downside of the day was that I was hosting a cookout tonight for some friends, which essentially washed out some of the advantages.

Food today was an egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), a chicken patty for lunch (300 calories), a granola bar for snack (100 calories), and several burgers and hotdogs for dinner (1400 calories).  Exercise was a half hour on the cycle and trainer again (500 calories).

Not sure if I'm improving with that or not, but I seem to be doing a bit better.  The end of that half-hour is pretty exhausting however.

Totals
Food eaten:  2100
Calories Burned:  500
Daily Points:  1400
Total earned:  10500

Day 17 - Up to 3 days in a row...maybe a whole week might be possible

Yesterday was a little unusual.  I had a concert in the evening, and a bake sale at work.  I kept the unhealthy eating down to a minimum.  Plus I'm proud of myself for not grabbing McDonalds while waiting for the train at South Station.

So calories were high for the day but not as bad as they could be, plus I got a little extra exercise from all the walking around.

Food:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), a cookie and rice krispie treat (300 calories) and fish and chips for dinner (1200 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk, and then walking around to get to the venue etc (200 calories total).

Totals
Food eaten:  2300
Calories Burned:  200
Daily Points:  900
Total earned:  9100

Day 16 - Two days on track at least.

Today worked out mostly.  I had egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), a turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snack was a granola bar (100 calories) and dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast again (1000 calories).

Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and 40 minutes on the bicycle trainer (500 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  1900
Calories Burned:  600
Daily Points:  1700
Total earned:  8200

Day 4 to Day 15

Once again I lose track of the diet within the first week.  Really going to try and get back on track.

Today at least it worked:  food was a couple cheeseburgers off the grill (800 calories total) and penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories) with a granola bar as a snack (100 calories).  Exercise was 45 minutes on the bike while it was set on the trainer (500 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  1900
Calories Burned:  500
Daily Points:  1600
Total earned:  6500

Day 3

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), chips (300 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Exercise was a mile walk at lunch (100 calories)

Totals
Food eaten:  2100
Calories Burned:  100
Daily Points:  1000
Total earned:  4900

Day 2

Today's Meals:  egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks included a small bag of chips and a granola bar (300 calories), dinner was chicken tenders and fries at the ballgame (1000 calories).

Exercise today was a lunch time walk (100 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  2100
Calories Burned:  100
Daily Points:  1000
Total earned:  3900

Day 1 - Starting over again...one of these days it will work right?

Honestly I'm simplifying my posts for this.  Some folks at work are tracking my current diet and exercise plan...so this will give them something to look at.  Will mostly be just the food and exercise.

So today's meals:  breakfast was a bowl of Frosted Mini-wheats...more calories than I expected (450 calories) based on weighing the bowl.  For lunch I had a couple Eggo waffles dry (as in no syrup, butter, sugar, etc) (250 calories).  Dinner was a grilled steak, whole wheat noodles and green beans (1000 calories).  Snacks ended up being two granola bars (300 calories).

Exercise was a 27 mile bike ride.  Myfitnesspal estimates the calories burned at 1900.


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/531394583

Totals
Food eaten:  2000
Calories Burned:  1900
Daily Points:  2900
Total earned:  2900

Days 6-9: The weekend of cheating

So this weekend was kind of tough.  Saturday was PAX East, which in the end translated into me eating way too much food on the day.  On the other hand, I also got a fair amount of exercise just from all the walking around I did on the day (probably at least 6 miles of walking or running).  So that day resulted in essentially 0 points.  Friday was an average day, not too much food, but no real exercise (so 1000 points).  Sunday was a positive day, but I made the mistake of snacking on chips for a chunk of the day, and that cancelled some of the benefit of the long bike ride (37 miles this week).  Finally, Monday mostly went well, but I overate on the snacks a bit again.

Basically, after a tough weekend I'm going to have to get back on track this week.  Easter's coming up, so it won't be easy, but hopefully by next Monday I'll feel like I'm trending the way I want to.

Points earned:
Total Food: 
Exercise: 
Points: 
Total Points:  16450

Day 5 - Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is the key to the start of a diet.  I've been lucky so far.  The weather's mostly been good (which makes going for bike rides more appealing).  The food I had in the house was both reasonably healthy and something I wanted to eat (as opposed to having bags of chips or cookie dough sitting in the closet or fridge).  Lastly I've been feeling good about the diet.

The key is going to be to make that last.  I've had other enthusiastic starts to a diet over the last 6 months.  But they all fell apart after a few days.  This weekend is going to be critical.  I know I'm going to be eating unhealthy foods on Saturday, but I'm also going to be walking around a ton.  So hopefully that will at least let me break even on the day. 

Friday and Sunday are key.  We're having pizza at lunch, so I just have to keep it a bit under control.  Friday evening will be spent hanging with my sister.  Even if I eat a little unhealthily it shouldn't be too bad.  Sunday is the long bike ride.  As sad as it is, that'll pay for quite a few "sins."  We're shooting for 37 miles.  If I can do that, and eat reasonably healthy for the day, then it shouldn't matter too much how the rest of the weekend goes.  If I can't...then I might be in for some trouble to start the next week.


Food today:  pancakes (500 calories), meatball sub and chips (750 calories), dinner was salmon, rice and green beans (1000 calories).  Exercise was another 15 mile ride (1000 calories).

Points earned:
Total Food:  2250 calories
Exercise:  1000 calories
Points:  1750
Total Points:  10750

Day 4 - Potato Chips are Evil

Ok...the title might be a little overboard.  I went to Subway for lunch again, only this time I couldn't quite walk by the bags of chips sitting by the checkout.  So my lunch was slightly unhealthy, which I expected honestly.  Cutting potatoes out of my diet entirely would go a long way towards making me lose weight.  Unfortunately they're also my favorite food.

Today ended up as something of a compromise.  A little too much food, but "paid for" with some exercise.  I'm planning the same exercise plan for tomorrow...but I'm hoping to avoid the potato chip temptation.  Particularly since Saturday is scheduled to be a bad diet day (I'm going to a convention and am likely to eat junk food for my meals).

Food today:  pancakes (500 calories), meatball sub with potato chips (750 calories), snack was a slice of cheese before my ride (100 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Exercise was an hour and 15 minutes of biking at a 13-14 mph clip (1000 calories).

Points earned:
Total Food:  2350 calories
Exercise:  1000 calories
Points:  1650
Total Points:  9000

Day 3 - Relaxing

So after two relatively intensive days on the diet I wanted to make sure to "relax" a bit.  Now the danger with that is "relaxing" turning into "pigging-out" or "being a lazy slug."  All in all though it was reasonably successful.  Because of the weather I didn't end up getting any real exercise (beyond walking to work), but I did manage to eat healthy.

One thing I did realize:  pancake mix actually doesn't have a ton of calories in it.  The dangerous part is the syrup.  So for breakfast this morning I made pancakes with just enough syrup to sweeten them.  It made a nice change from the more traditional egg and cheese, without adding any complexity to the morning routine.  Lunch was a trip to Subway, but I successfully broke my bad habit of too much food, and just grabbed a reasonably sized sandwich.  Even dinner I successfully kept under control.

If I can keep doing this I should be able to hit my goal.

Food today:  pancakes (500 calories), Subway 6-inch meatball sub (500 calories), dinner was two chicken patties on "light" whole wheat rolls (600 calories).  Shockingly no snacks today either.

Points earned:
Total Food:  1600 calories
Exercise:  0 calories
Points:  1400
Total Points:  7350

Day 2 - Forcing myself to exercise

So over the last couple months my biggest problem has been my inability to exercise.  In general I couldn't get myself to actually go out and do anything other than my weekly bike ride.  As such, my fitness in general has continued to crash. 

So tonight I forced myself to go out for another bike ride.  And it was more painful than I wanted.  I was still kind of worn out from yesterday, but if I let that be my excuse every time, I'll never get back to where I was.  So I got home, changed into exercise gear and went out for another 15 miles of riding today.  My current plan is to rest for the next couple days, then go back out for another long ride on Thursday.  In addition I also went for a walk at lunch, yeah it's nothing major, but it keeps me active in the middle of the day.

Food was reasonably healthy for the day, though I'm going to need to hit the grocery store soon.  Egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), PB&J for lunch (500 calories) and pasta with garlic toast for dinner (1000 calories).  Snacks were a couple pieces of cheese before going for the ride (200 calories).

Exercise was the 15 mile ride (900 calories, due to a slow average speed) and the lunchtime walk (100 calories).

Points earned:
Total Food:  2000 calories
Exercise:  1000 calories
Points:  2000
Total Points:  5950

Day 1 - the new challenge

So in October of 2011 I started my first challenge diet.  It was kind of great, and I lost more than 50 pounds before all was said and done.  In the past I've talked about what constitutes failure on a diet.  Unfortunately the most basic definition is regaining the lost weight.  Over the last year, that's happened to me.

I have a lot of excuses, not least of which was a knee injury last summer that largely stifled my exercise and kept me from keeping in the habit of diet and exercise.  Realistically though my excuses don't matter.  I did a great job of getting in shape, and at my peak of fitness I broke a 2 hour half-marathon time and was floating around 210 pounds.  For me that was as close to ideal as I was likely to see.  Since then though I've let myself fall back into old habits, and my weight this morning was 262.2.  Essentially I've regained everything I've lost.

It's not all bad of course.  For all that I'm back to being morbidly obese again, my fitness hasn't vanished.  Even more, I know I can succeed again, I just need to get back to it.  So I'm currently training on a bike, figuring it will be easier on the knees and today I biked 36 miles.  That's a level of activity that would have been unimaginable 3 years ago.  With that I can get ahead of this.  But I'm going to need the help of my friends and family again.  I know I can count on Erin and Hannah to keep me on track, and I'm sure others will help out too.

So starting with today:  Food was an egg and cheese sandwich (300 calories), two chicken patties for lunch (600 calories), penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories) and some Gatorade chews (150 calories).  Exercise was a 36 mile bike ride which took a little more than 3 hours (3000 calories).

Points earned:
Total Food:  2050 calories
Exercise:  3000 calories
Points:  3950
Total Points:  3950