Averaging Two Days

So I had my first real missed post yesterday.  I guess that's a milestone.  Just not a great one.  Because of that I'm combining two days of posts into one...unfortunately it was only sort of two good days.

Food-wise and exercise-wise the days were complete opposites.  Friday was pretty great on food, as I kept under my 2000 calorie goal for the day.  However I didn't really do any exercise, and I may not have even hit 10,000 steps.  Saturday basically turned into a cheat day thanks to breakfast with my mother and going out to dinner with my father.  I ended up eating a ridiculous amount of food...but I also went out on the bicycle for an hour and forty-five minutes at around 13 mph.  So even though I ate like a pig...I still won a bunch of points for the day.

Friday Food:  egg and cheese sandwich with multivitamin and soda (257 calories), lunch was a hamburger and cheeseburger on the grill (570 calories), dinner was a thin crust frozen pizza with a multivitamin (910 calories).

Saturday Food:  breakfast was a Hungry Man combo at the diner (1287 calories estimated), dinner was a trip to 5 guys and a cheeseburger with fries (1460 calories).

Exercise:  the only real exercise was today's 23 mile bike ride (1681 calories).  The two days did score a fairly large number of steps.  Friday had around 9,000.  Saturday had 19,000.

Totals
Food eaten:  2747
Calories Burned:  1681
Daily Points:  1934
Weekly Points:  8813
Total earned:  46864

Back on the Exercise Schedule

I was a little concerned at skipping my bike session yesterday.  The every other day schedule is a good habit to be in, so taking a night off worried me slightly.  I didn't want to end up skipping another night and then falling out of the habit.  Instead today worked pretty well, apparently the extra energy ended up giving me a bit of a boost as I managed to do 20 miles on the bike in an hour (at a level 6 resistance...not that I have any idea what that translates to in the real world).  All in all it was a reasonably productive day.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich with a lemonade and a multivitamin for breakfast (262 calories), chicken tenders with tater tots for lunch (651 calories), dinner was a steak, no yolk noodles and green beans with a multivitamin (792 calories), snack was a bit of peanut butter (100 calories).

Exercise today:  In addition to the hour on the bike (638 calories) I managed to get 11,000 steps.

Totals
Food eaten:  1805
Calories Burned:  638
Daily Points:  1833
Weekly Points:  5616
Total earned:  43667

Routine Day

Nothing particularly special about today.  I had a Revolution game this evening which provided some uncommon temptations at the concession stand.  Otherwise it was a pretty standard day.

Food today:  Wheaties, milk and a multivitamin for breakfast (305 calories), lunch was a cheeseburger and a hamburger (570 calories), dinner was Simply Smart Chicken Tenders with tater tots and a multivitamin (710 calories), the only snack for the day was some peanut butter (100 calories).

Exercise today:  I made it to 10,000 steps, but the usual bike ride had to be postponed due to the Revs game.

Totals
Food eaten:  1685
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1315
Weekly Points:  3783
Total earned:  41834

Doctor's Visits

Apparently my steady weight gain over the last three years is at least somewhat responsible for me delaying going to the doctors.  I literally had my first physical in more than four years today.  As expected, the doctor noticed I'm overweight (shocking I know).  On the plus side though, my blood pressure was excellent and an EKG cleared my heart.  I won't know my blood test results for a couple days, but for the moment at least I seem reasonably healthy.  Now I just need to make the current diet plan into a steady habit.

Food today wasn't great:  wheaties, milk and a multivitamin for breakfast (305 calories), lunch was chicken tenders and tater tots (624 calories), dinner was a Newman's Own pizza (900 calories), snacks included a very small piece of cake at work and some wheaties as a snack in the evening (200 calories).

Exercise today:  13,000 steps, but nothing that counts towards points.

Totals
Food eaten:  2029
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  971
Weekly Points:  2468
Total earned:  40519

Four weeks in the book!

Today is the 29th day of the diet.  A couple more days and I'll cross one of the major thresholds (namely a month without breaking the diet).  There's a stat that says habits start to form after six weeks.  I'm hoping that will happen for me.  After the busy weekend it was very difficult to force myself onto the bike today.  I'm proud of myself for managing to accomplish that though.  Otherwise it's been a routine monday.

My weekly total for last week set a record with: 10,764 points.  I cleared the water balloon mark by more than 3000 points.  It set a record for this diet (older diets involved a lot of long runs, so I'm unlikely to break any records overall any time soon).

My weigh-in result:  257.4 pounds.  Only 1.8 pounds off of last week...but it's still trending down.

Food today:  a bowl of Wheaties for breakfast (305 calories), lunch was a Subway meatball sub with chips and diet coke (690 calories), dinner was whole wheat penne, sauce and garlic toast (1020 calories), snack was a serving of Wheaties after exercise (100 calories).

Exercise today:  13,000 steps, plus an hour on the exercise bike (612 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  2115
Calories Burned:  612
Daily Points:  1497
Weekly Points:  1497
Total earned:  39548

Minor variations

One of the consequences of my "system" is that round numbers end up feeling like more of a big deal then normal.  Scoring 1000 points for a day is the "goal" and so any day that doesn't happen always leaves me feeling a bit like a failure.  In the end it shouldn't...the difference between 850 points and 1000 points for one day is negligible over the length of the diet, but it feels like an important difference regardless.

One other aspect of that is the difference a few minor choices can make for meeting or failing to meet that artificial goal.  What if I'd decided to work out as originally planned...well then I'd have another 500 points and wouldn't be having this conversation.  What if I'd decided to skip the mid-afternoon snack?  Or skipped the fries with dinner?  These minor choices are the difference between what my mind classifies as a failure vs what it would classify as a success.  Tomorrow I'll likely work harder to reduce calories solely because of today's weakness.  In the end it will all balance out but the day to day accomplishments are still a big motivational factor.  It's also why nothing is quite so fast to destroy a diet as one really bad cheat day.

Food today:  egg and cheese with multivitamin and soda for breakfast (257 calories), chicken patties on whole wheat rolls for lunch (640 calories), dinner was a hamburger and cheeseburger with some leftover french fries (950 calories), the snack that put me over today was an english muffin with peanut butter (300 calories).

Exercise today:  10,000 steps, but otherwise a rest day.

Totals
Food eaten:  2147
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  853
Weekly Points:  10764
Total earned:  38051

Meal Scheduling

It's always a little interesting to me how much my eating habits depend on a schedule.  If I eat breakfast too early in the morning, then I'm wandering around the office by 10am looking for snacks.  On the other hand if I eat too late, then often times lunch might easily be forgotten.  Today was one of the latter.  I got up late (after 9am), then took the dog to the park.  By the time I got home it was after 10.  Eating breakfast then meant I wasn't shooting to have a lunch time meal.  A long training ride for the bike race and errands all afternoon further delayed the possibility of lunch.  By the time I was finally home and ready to eat, it simply made more sense to have a little snack of peanut butter and wait for dinner time.  Yet on another day I would have been craving even more food by mid-afternoon.  Not really sure there's a point here, other than a lot of my cravings seem to have a lot to do with looking for a distraction rather than actual hunger.

Food today:  egg and cheese with a mountain dew and a multivitamin (257 calories), snack was a bit of peanut butter (100 calories), dinner was fish and chips and another multivitamin (1130 calories). 

Exercise today:  Exercise was an hour and forty five minutes on the bicycle at about 11 mph (1200 calories) with 12,000 steps on the day.

Totals
Food eaten:  1487
Calories Burned:  1200
Daily Points:  2713
Weekly Points:  9911
Total earned:  37198

Favorite Restaurants

Restaurants are dangerous for any diet, but for me there's nothing so likely to kill a diet than a trip to a favorite restaurant.  Whether it's ordering too much pizza, eating a 5 Guy's large fry, or simply going to a pasta place and eating a crapload of spaghetti my favorite restaurants have a lot of ways to cause me to overeat.  I mention this because I went to Saki's today.  It's a reasonably good pizza place in Providence, but it's main claim to fame (personally that is) is that they have a really tasty steak and cheese sandwich.  Getting that with french fries is a weakness (their fries are also good).

Fortunately, after going through My Fitness Pal and finding a similar sized meal, it turned out the meal was unhealthy but not horribly so.  It basically translated into a dinner meal.  What makes it most dangerous for me is that I have it at lunch, but then turn around and still have a full dinner.  Today I was able to control that, and I consider that an accomplishment.  A really minor one, but still significant.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich with multivitamin for breakfast (257 calories), steak and cheese sandwich and fries for lunch (930 calories), dinner was chicken tenders and steak fries as well as another gummi (555 calories), snack was a half-serving of Honey Nut Cheerios after exercise (165 calories).

Exercise today:  in addition to 18,000 steps I also did an hour on the exercise bike (599 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  1907
Calories Burned:  599
Daily Points:  1692
Weekly Points:  7198
Total earned:  34485

Nutrition

Nutrition is always going to be a challenge for me on a diet.  My focus on diets is almost always the calorie math problem.  So far at least I haven't had any chronic medical conditions that have required a specific construction of meals (in that I'm very lucky).  So without specific concerns related to cholesterol, blood pressure, digestive reactions or anything else I've been largely free to focus on the math problem.  I do have a couple minor issues (I try and eat a lot of fiber to head off hemorrhoids for example), but specific nutritional goals have generally escaped me.

Lately I've started taking some multivitamins with fish oil to at least give me a nutrient framework.  In particular it helps on those days when the foods I eat are a little lacking (for example, today).  I've certainly looked at other meal plans, but the need to make the diet something I want to eat rather than something to suffer through tends to defeat a hunt for the perfect diet.  All in all I keep focusing on the long term goal.  Hopefully it keeps working out.

Food today:  honey nut cheerios, milk and a multivitamin gummi (395 calories), lunch was a burger and cheeseburger on light wheat buns (570 calories), dinner was a Newman's Own thin crust cheese pizza and a multivitamin gummi (910 calories), snacks were handfuls of cheerios (110 calories)

Exercise today:  13,000 steps, but no extra exercise.

Totals
Food eaten:  1985
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1015
Weekly Points:  5506
Total earned:  3279

A quick post

No major thoughts today.  Realized I've stayed up to late messing around on the computer.

Food today:  Honey Nut Cheerios with milk and a multivitamin gummi for breakfast (395 calories), lunch consisted of chicken tenders with a few steak fries and diet mountain dew (490 calories), dinner was a steak, whole wheat noodles, green beans and a diet mountain dew with a multivitamin (950 calories), snack was a few handfuls of cheerios (110 calories).

Exercise today: Exercise ended up being another hour on the treadmill.  This time I stepped up the resistance a level though (625 calories).  Additionally I covered 10,000 steps today.

Totals
Food eaten:  1945
Calories Burned:  625
Daily Points:  1680
Weekly Points:  4491
Total earned:  31778

Crossing Thresholds

One of the interesting things about any long term project are the milestones along the path.  For my diet I've got quite a few interesting ones.  This past week I crossed two of the early ones.  In terms of weight, I got myself back under 260.  That's an important threshold because it means I'm back below the starting weight on the diet five years ago.  Back in October of 2011 I was at 265 pounds and feeling kind of bad about myself.  Getting below 260 was that first step on what was a mostly successful plan to change my life...up until I spent the last couple years wasting all that hard work.  The driving force to get back to it was the realization that I'd drifted back above that mark, which once again made 260 a good first step.

The second milestone was crossing 25K for points on the diet.  It's only an eighth of the way to the goal of course, but it's an important round number.  I crossed that mark about three days ago.  Much like breaking 260, it's an important early milestone.  It means I've kept things honest for several weeks now.  That in turn means the diet is starting to become a habit again.  Today is the 23rd day of the diet.  At this rate I will complete the diet on day 153.  It probably won't happen that precisely.  If I start getting my exercise numbers up, or my foods down that will change the averages.  Plus vacations are coming up, and those are almost certainly going to mess with things.  But the first two big milestones have been passed.  Onward to 250 pounds and 50K for points.

Food today:  breakfast included a multi-vitamin gummi, honey nut cheerios, milk and light lemonade (395 calories), lunch was another Subway day, with a meatball sub accompanied by chips and diet coke (690 calories), dinner was two grilled hamburgers (one with cheese) and some steak fries (950 calories) along with the day's second multivitamin.  No real snacking today.

Exercise today:  no point scoring, but I did walk 12,000 steps.

Totals
Food eaten:  2035
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  965
Weekly Points:  2811
Total earned:  30098

Three Weeks Done!

So the vast majority of my "diets" over the last couple years have been lucky to last a week.  This one's up to three weeks and I'm doing pretty well.  The combination of a big reward (I'm starting to settle on a home theater system) and the potential penalty of water balloons is really keeping me on track.

For those hoping to water balloon me, my weekly total for week three:  8711 points.

Better luck next time.  It was my lowest total so far (the other weeks each broke 9000), and looking at the numbers I can see why.  The exercise schedule only allotted three bike rides, and four of the days broke the 2000 calorie mark for food for the day.  It's those bad food days I've really got to get a handle on, subtract the exercise days and I'd be getting hit with balloons.  Admittedly, going over that mark by 100-200 calories isn't a big deal, but it's still not a recipe for maximum scoring.

Now for the weigh in result:  259.2 pounds.  I've lost 14.2 pounds since the start of the diet!

Today was otherwise a pretty good day.  I kept to the diet well.  I rode the bike for an hour.  I even ate a particularly healthy dinner (though lunch was a little sketchy).  All in all it was a pretty good day.  If I can keep up this rate for another few months, I might be finally back to where I was before my injury.  Though my running's still going to need a lot of work.

Food today:  breakfast was honey nut cheerios, milk and light lemonade (390 calories), lunch was the Subway 6-inch meatball sub with chips and diet coke (690 calories), dinner was grilled sockeye salmon (from the outdoor grill), butter noodles and green beans (544 calories), snack was some random handfuls of cheerios (110 calories).

Exercise today:  an hour on the bike again (580 calories), plus 12,500 steps.

Totals
Food eaten:  1734
Calories Burned:  580
Daily Points:  1846
Weekly Points:  1846
Total earned:  29133

A Bad Snacking Day

Today was a bit of a bad snacking day.  I was playing boardgames with friends, and one of them pulled out a bag of chips ahoy cookies.  They're never a snack I'd buy myself but when placed in front of me, I have a hard time saying no.  Ended up eating around six of the cookies as best I could keep track.  Otherwise the day was fairly standard.  I did make the mistake of making a little too much food for dinner, when it probably would have worked better to eat something small.

Food today:  Honey Nut cheerios with milk for breakfast (385 calories), a cheeseburger and a hamburger off the grill for lunch (570 calories), dinner was a pair of chicken patties and some tater tots (920 calories), snacks were the aforementioned cookies (320 calories).

Exercise today:  14,000 steps, but nothing to count towards the diet.

Totals
Food eaten:  2195
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  805
Weekly Points:  8711
Total earned:  27287

Ahh...pizza!

I have a few foods that regularly compete for the title of "favorite."  French Fries are often in the lead...and burgers go so nicely with fries that they are always part of the conversation.  A variety of meats are always in the mix too, so steak, bacon, meatballs, etc.  If pressed though pizza might well win the argument...but pizza has one major problem.  I'm never all that satisfied with a little.  If left to my own devices I will almost always order too much if I'm getting it from a pizza place.  Even making it at home, I can pretty much guarantee that I'll eat too much.  Today I was craving pizza, and was really worried about how to address it.  In the end I compromised and got a frozen pizza from the supermarket.  It's not nearly as satisfying...but a Newman's Own thin crust cheese pizza doesn't have too many calories (about in line with most of my dinners), and at least I can more easily control the "portion" size.  I don't precisely know when I'm going to have a "cheat day," as the fear of water balloons is high, but when I do there's a good chance pizza will be involved.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich with diet mountain dew for breakfast (247 calories), two burgers (one with cheese) on reduced calorie wheat rolls, with diet mountain dew for lunch (570 calories), a Newman's Own thin crust cheese pizza with more diet mountain dew for dinner (900 calories), snack was some random peanut butter during the day (100 calories).

Exercise today:  the nice weather got me out walking with the dog again (12,000 steps) but for the purposes of the diet, I did another hour and 19 miles on the exercise bike (572 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  1817
Calories Burned:  572
Daily Points:  1755
Weekly Points:  7906
Total earned:  26482

Forgetting Posts (4/15)

When starting the new diet I almost made a penalty to forgetting to post.  It would have made vacations more "dangerous" but would have solved one of the bigger problems with the blog as a structure on my diet.  Namely that forgetting to post the daily results gives me excuses to cheat.  Then once I cheat, the whole thing falls apart.

There are no obvious cheat days on the horizon (other than 4th of July, but I tend to not do much special on that day anyway).  Most of the upcoming holidays are cookout days, but overeating on those has more to do with attending or hosting parties.  There's no reason I have to eat a ton just because it's Memorial Day.  In that regard getting a gas grill was a major boon.  When starting up a charcoal grill takes an hour, you want to cook more than a couple burgers on it.  A gas grill isn't too much different than cooking on the stove, it's just outside.

So missing a post still doesn't have a penalty, but I wanted to make sure I got yesterday's results in.  Not least of which because the week started slow and I need to figure if I'm falling into Balloon range.

Food today (4/15) - breakfast was light wheat bread with peanut butter and light lemonade (265 calories), lunch was fish sticks, tater tots and light lemonade (621 calories), dinner was a steak, no yolk noodles with butter and green beans while the beverage was some diet mountain dew (880 calories).  There was no snacking during the day.

Exercise:  quite a bit of walking (16000+ steps), but all of it was part of the standard dog walking structure.  So no points awarded, but I took a commanding lead in my weekly Fit Bit challenges.

Totals
Food eaten:  1766
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1234
Weekly Points:  6151
Total earned:  24727

So with two days to go in the week I still need 1400 points to avoid the water balloons...I'm probably making it, as long as I don't screw up.

Improving Weather

What a difference even a couple of weeks makes in the changeover from winter to spring.  Two weeks ago we were getting snow on the ground.  Now it's sunny and gorgeous.  Still a little cool (ie jacket weather) but really nice to walk in.  Unlike in February when taking the dog for a walk was a chore, now it's something to go out and enjoy.  Traditionally everyone starts their diets in January as part of a New Year's Resolution, but I can't see how that works well for most people.  You end up having to force yourself out into the cold, often with snow or ice on the ground.  Even with a gym, it still becomes a hassle to exercise.  Come the spring though and all of a sudden it's actually pleasant to go out.  Definitely recommend starting a plan now.

Food today:  light wheat bread, peanut butter and light lemonade for breakfast (265 calories), a grilled cheese on light wheat with light lemonade for lunch (460 calories), dinner was the traditional whole wheat penne, sauce and garlic toast with more of the light lemonade (1030 calories)

Exercise today:  another hour and 19 miles on the exercise bike (561 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  1755
Calories Burned:  561
Daily Points:  1806
Weekly Points:  4917
Total earned:  23493

Limited Menu Choice

My sister has made any number of sarcastic comments about my menu choice.  It is honestly pretty limited, as I've discussed here before.  I've been starting to go through cook books looking for some alternative recipes, but in the end I just don't care strongly enough.  Since I live alone I don't really have anyone with a discerning palate to challenge my meals.  It's definitely something I need to work on.

Having said that...my food today had some minor variation, but is otherwise the usual slew of controlled calories.

Food today:  peanut butter on light wheat toast with light lemonade for breakfast (260 calories), lunch was fish sticks and tater tots with light lemonade (606 calories), dinner was lasagna with two pieces of garlic toast and light lemonade (1214 calories).  No snacks on the day fortunately.

Exercise today:  walked the dog and did some walking on my own, but nothing that counts for the points calculations.

Totals
Food eaten:  2080
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  920
Weekly Points:  3111
Total earned:  21687

A More Challenging Day

Overall there ended up being very little difference between yesterday and today.  The overall meals ended up being the same.  Snacking was a problem today.  For whatever reason, my breakfast and lunch didn't satisfy as much and so I turned to snacks to fill the "void."  Not a huge problem, but I am starting the week a little slowly (despite today's bike ride).

Food today:  egg and cheese with light lemonade for breakfast (240 calories), lunch was a Subway 6-inch meatball sub with chips and a diet coke (690 calories), dinner was lasanga with a slice of garlic toast (1064 calories).  Snacks were a slight problem with two munchkins in the morning, and light wheat toast with peanut butter for the afternoon (280 calories total).

Exercise today:  another hour on the treadmill (559 calories)

Totals
Food eaten:  2274
Calories Burned:  559
Daily Points:  1285
Weekly Points:  2191
Total earned:  20767

Week 2 Weigh-in

I've continued a downward trend...though I'd be disappointed if I hadn't.

Today's Weigh-in:  262.5

So that's down 2.9 pounds from last week.  Not the 5+ pounds I was hoping to lose...but a respectable number.

Otherwise today was a pretty routine "rest" day.  I ate a bit more than I wanted thanks to a craving for some peanut butter after dinner, but I stayed fairly well on track.  Additionally while I don't count it for the challenge, I also walked 17,000 steps today.  So I'm pretty sure an extra 100 or so calories isn't going to be too big a deal.

Food today:  egg and cheese with lemonade for breakfast (240 calories), a Subway 6 inch meatball sub, sea salt Lay's chips and diet coke for lunch (690 calories), lasagna and one (rather than two) piece of garlic bread with light lemonade for dinner (1064 calories), snack was some peanut butter (100 calories).

Exercise today:  nothing "extra"

Totals
Food eaten:  2094
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  906
Weekly Points:   906
Total earned: 19482

Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my favorite meals to make for a period of dieting.  On the one hand it doesn't seem like it would be all that effective a dish. Meat, cheese, sauce and noodles all mixed together seems a high calorie recipe.  However what I do like about it is that it's one of the few dishes I really like leftovers of.  You'll notice in most entries that most of my handful of recipes are very much one and done foods.  Even if I have the same meal two or three days running, each meal is a distinct entity.

An old roommate used to call it "the taint."  For a lot of meals there is a mild sensation that old food is rotten food.  This is crazy of course, but it tends to be my perception nonetheless.  Lasagna being a food I can eat over a week though makes the recipe into a good diet food.  It's a fairly controlled set of calories in an organized meal, but it's also "special" enough that I want to eat it over those several days.  Lasagna defies the "taint," if anything it's better the second day.  Plus it's remarkably easy to cook in those later days in the week, since a few minutes in the microwave has it ready to eat.  All in all you'll probably see two or three more days of lasagna this week...though by the end of the week I'm probably going to be sick of it.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich with light lemonade for breakfast (240 calories), two hamburgers (one with cheese) on light wheat rolls with light lemonade for lunch (585 calories), lasagna with garlic toast and diet mountain dew for dinner (1204 calories)

Exercise today:  another hour on the exercise bike and another 19 miles (562 calories)

Totals
Food eaten:  2029
Calories Burned:  562
Daily Points:  1533
Weekly Points:   9453
Total earned: 18576

A Fairly Good Day

Today was reasonably busy and I was able to stick to the diet.  I did have a bit of a craving to go out to brunch...but that was at least in part because I walked the dog past the diner.  In the end I kept from eating anything too unhealthy, even if my totals went a little over the daily goal.

Even though I didn't formally exercise today, I kept moving for a large chunk of the day.  Between multiple walks for the dog, and going to Gillette for a Revs game I kept busy.  Hopefully that will help pay off for Monday's weigh-in.

Food today:  breakfast ended up being light wheat bread and peanut butter with milk (483 calories), lunch was two hamburgers, light wheat rolls and light lemonade (545 calories), dinner was a steak, egg white noodles, green beans and lemonade (1062 calories).  No snacking.

Exercise today:  no "extra" exercise for the day.

Totals
Food eaten:  2090
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  910
Weekly Points:   7920
Total earned: 17043

Lame definitions of "Treating Myself"

I had a craving to eat out today so I decided to "treat" myself.  Fortunately rather than going fully unhealthy I went with a lame takeout dinner.  I decided to go to Subway and get myself a meatball sub for dinner.  Providence has one of the best collections of restaurants in the country...and I went to a generic fast food sandwich place.  I really need to work on my dining palate.

The rest of the day was pretty good.  Took the dog for several walks.  Ate a little more at lunch than I should have, but kept it reasonable.  Made time to exercise in an otherwise busy schedule.  With the weather finally turning to Spring (fingers crossed) I'm hoping to be in the exercise habit again.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich with light lemonade for breakfast (248 calories), lunch was a chicken patty on light wheat roll with tater tots and diet coke (780 calories), dinner was 75% of a large meatball sub from Subway (Phoenix had the other quarter), along with some Lay's potato chips and a diet coke (852 calories).

Exercise today:  another 19 miles in an hour on the exercise bike (545 calories)

Totals
Food eaten:  1880
Calories Burned:  545
Daily Points:  1665
Weekly Points:   7010
Total earned: 16133

Bad weather

When you're trying to stay active bad weather is a particular challenge.  Today's downpour left me mostly wanting to sit on the couch and watch TV.  Sadly I had to work, walk the dog, etc, instead.  I kept reasonably active but I did have a bit of a problem this afternoon when a sudden craving for pizza kicked in.  That desire to be lazy combined with the pizza craving, and for a few minutes I was getting ready to order some pizza delivered.  There's definitely something about cold and wet conditions that leaves me craving junk food.

Fortunately I resisted the urge, and it wasn't so strong it overcame my "fear" of water balloons.  Instead I made use of the rest of the pork ribs I'd had earlier in the week to make a tasty meal.  I did give into a minor after dinner craving though and had a slice of light wheat bread with peanut butter on it.  An unnecessary waste of calories...but kind of worth it.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich with light lemonade for breakfast (252 calories), Perdue Simply Smart chicken strips and tater tots for lunch (528 calories), boneless pork ribs, rice and green beans with light lemonade for dinner (910 calories), and peanut butter on a piece of toast for snack (200 calories).

Exercise:  nothing beyond the normal dog walking

Totals
Food eaten:  1890
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1110
Weekly Points:   5345
Total earned: 14468

A standard day

Today turned into the kind of day I'm hoping will become standard for me.  I had a couple minor cravings, but resisted going nuts.  The food I ate wasn't universally healthy, but it wasn't awful either.  Plus I got in a workout.  All in all it was a pretty good day.  If this can really become my new normal, then I might be able to finally get back into prime fitness.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich with light lemonade for breakfast (242 calories), lunch was a grilled cheese sandwich on light wheat with tater tots and a diet coke (695 calories), dinner was whole-wheat penne, sauce and garlic toast with diet coke (1020 calories), snack was a little peanut butter from the jar (100 calories).

Exercise today:  another hour on the exercise bike for 19 miles (542 calories)

Food eaten:  2057
Calories Burned:  542
Daily Points:  1485
Weekly Points:   4235
Total earned: 13358

Pizza Parties and other workplace events

As much as I have been killing previous attempts at diets by succumbing to cravings a few days in, the biggest threat to staying on a diet is work.  The number of food based events we have at work is really surprising.  Particularly with the migration to work from home, those days when everyone is in the office become dominated by meetings and social events.  Today it was the Employee Association membership drive, next week it's likely to be a going away party.  In a few more weeks we'll probably have another party.

The parties in turn are dominated by food...usually unhealthy food.  Today's was pizza, but cake, waffles, candy and baked goods are commonly found.  Each of these events becomes a challenge to eating healthily.  Not participating isn't just a matter of going somewhere else for lunch, it can often be a social faux pas that isolates me from the rest of the staff.  Add in mid-afternoon cravings for leftovers (the "I'll just have one cookie" problem) and an office event can easily turn into 3000 calorie day without trying to hard.

Today I was reasonably successful.  I had pizza, but kept it limited in terms of size.  I also avoided any additional snacks...though I definitely wanted them.

Food today:  breakfast ended up being too big today (another problem with the pizza at work was I had fewer calories to work with).  I ended up overfilling my cereal bowl in order to finish off a box of cereal and had it with some light lemonade (555 calories).  Lunch was the aforementioned pizza (700 calories).  Dinner ended up being two chicken patties on whole wheat rolls with diet coke (640 calories).  No snacks on the day.

Exercise:  none beyond the usual walking to work and walking the dog.

Totals
Food eaten:  1895
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1105
Weekly Points:   2750
Total earned: 11873

Snow Days and the Weigh-in

So to start off, Monday morning is going to be weigh-in day for this diet.

Weigh-in Result:  265.4

Still way higher than I want (basically the first Challenge started at this weight) but more importantly, I'm 8 pounds down this week.  Yeah these are the water weight weeks...but still it's always nice to see the big numbers come off.

Today was a snowy miserable day...but I still had to hike into work unfortunately.  Unexpected snow days are always a challenge to a diet.  If I haven't stocked up on healthy foods then I'm looking through the fridge for whatever is left over.  That's part of why I had ravioli yesterday.  There was some leftover in the freezer and I decided to treat myself.  Fortunately I did hit the supermarket on Sunday before the snow rolled in.  So I actually had some healthy foods for dinner tonight.

Food today:  Crispers cereal with milk and a light lemonade for breakfast (335 calories), a 6 inch meatball sub from Subway with sea salt potato chips and a diet coke for lunch (690 calories), dinner was two boneless pork ribs grilled in olive oil, rice and green beans (900 calories).  There were no real snacks for the day (mostly due to lack of availability).

Exercise today:  an hour on the exercise bike, but at 19 mph instead of 18 (570 calories).  I'm hoping that will continue to creep up.

All in all a good start to another week of avoiding the water balloons.

Totals
Food eaten:  1925
Calories Burned:  570
Daily Points:  1645
Weekly Points:   1645
Total earned: 10768

First Week Done

So the first week is complete, and I've generally stuck to my diet every day.  I've had a couple "borderline" days where my food total is a little higher than I'd like, however I've had no actual bad days where my food total went horribly high.

Week 1 Total:  9123

It's not quite the 10k I was kind of hoping to hit, but it's close enough.  More importantly it's above the 7500 point threshold to avoid being water-ballooned.

Today was a fairly conventional diet day.  I didn't get any major exercise done, partially due to laziness and partially due to the weather.  I also ate a little more than I probably needed.  On the other hand it was all in all a decent day.

Food today:  a bowl of crispix cereal and a light lemonade for breakfast (335 calories), a grilled cheese sandwich and a diet coke for lunch (530 calories), dinner was some ravioli, sauce and garlic toast (1170 calories), snack was a single serving of the crispix cereal (110 calories).  No exercise today.

Totals
Food eaten:  2145
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  855
Weekly Points:   9123
Total earned: 9123

Weekly Goal is in the bag

Well for those of you who were hoping to hit me with water balloons on Tuesday...you're out of luck.  Today was another good day and I blew past the weekly 7500 goal with a day to spare.  Of course this doesn't mean tomorrow turns into a junk food day.  I'm going to have to keep up the trend tomorrow.

Today did involve a trip to the grocery store.  My one major problem with dieting is that I'm a picky eater and variety is hard to come by.  A look at past entries shows the same basic meals over and over again.  Heck, when I fell off my diet I ran into the same problem.  I just kept eating the same unhealthy meals.  So shopping for groceries is a little challenging, if only because I want it to be at least a little original.  I did get something a little different today, but in general the food all falls into the same basic categories.

Food today:  peanut butter on whole wheat bread for breakfast (500 calories), lunch was two chicken patties on whole wheat rolls (640 calories), dinner was a small ham steak, rice and green beans (560 calories), snack was some peanut butter (200 calories).  Exercise was another hour on the exercise bike (510 calories)

Totals
Food eaten:  1900
Calories Burned:  510
Daily Points:  1610
Weekly Points:   8268
Total earned: 8268

Treating Myself While Staying On The Diet

Figuring out how to eat something "special" while also sticking to the calorie goals is always tough.  Even worse is figuring out how to have that on a day without exercise.  While it's true that the diet is built on averaging out my diet savings, I also usually want to hit that 1000 points each day.  So today I treated myself to going out for lunch, but balanced that by going to Subway and eating a fairly defined meal.  Was it the big burger and fries I really wanted.  No, but it was still pretty good.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (247 calories), lunch was a 6 inch Subway meatball sub, a bag of potato chips and some diet coke (720 calories), dinner ended up being some chicken tenders and tater tots (732 calories).  There was no real snacks for the day.

No exercise today.

Totals
Food eaten:  1699
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1301
Weekly Points:   6658
Total earned: 6658