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
Monday, April 14, 2014
Thursday, April 10, 2014
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
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
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
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
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
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
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
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
Monday, April 7, 2014
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
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
Sunday, April 6, 2014
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
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
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