Day 19

The slow points week, otherwise known as "rest the knee so I can go on my trip in May without problems" week (less catchy), continues on pace.  Despite doing the math at the end of the last challenge, I hadn't realized how significant the nearly daily exercise really was towards my point accrual.  More importantly, this week's lack of exercise is really bringing down my daily average.  I'm still netting points, but I'm just not feeling productive.

On an unrelated note.  I know there's a lot of tasty healthy food out there, but sometimes switching from the junk food I love to a healthier version just doesn't work.  At lunch today, instead of the traditional bag of normal Lay's chips (240 calories) I got a bag of Baked Lay's (120 calories).  Unfortunately they do not taste even close to the same.  Maybe it's the salt, maybe the lack of deep frying, but the Baked Lay's did not satisfy my chip craving at all.  What they ended up seeming like was a thin, kind of disappointing, cracker rather than a chip.

Food today:  egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (300 calories), 6-inch meatball sub and a bag of Baked Lay's (600 calories), snacks were a few little pieces of chocolate and jelly beans (100 calories), dinner was pasta, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  No exercise again.

My meals have been repetitive lately, but I am still trying to load up on more fiber than protein.  So lots of pasta.

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2000
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1000
Total Points Earned:  24785
Points to go:  175215

Day 14

Well I had at least one reasonably healthy snack today.  While going through the cupboard I found a package of diced pears.  I do like those, and each cup is only about 70 calories.  So I've got that at least.

Beverages.  For anyone who's read my meal menus, most of the time you'll notice that I'm not putting in calories for beverages with most of the meals.  Mostly this is because I've either been drinking water, or diet beverages with 0 calories.  I've read in a few places that diet sodas, etc, are bad for dieting though there doesn't seem to be a great consensus on why they are.  I'm enough of a caffeine addict to recognize that a lot of my reluctance to give up soda is due to my addiction, but part of it is also that a lot of the other non-sodas, and particularly the non-diet sodas, are loaded with calories.  They may have vitamins and minerals, and not have aspartame or equivalent chemicals, but they're usually loaded with sugar and other calories.  If I start plateauing, then I may need to change that policy, but for the moment I think I'm going to drink the calorie-free drinks and see what happens.

Food today:  Cheerios for breakfast (300 calories), Turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), snacks were a cup of diced pears and a snack sized peanut M&M's (150 calories), dinner was penne with sauce and garlic toast (900 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  1850 calories
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  1150
Total Points Earned:  18970
Points to go:  181030

Day 13

Snacks.  They're both great for holding off the hunger and preventing me from feeling like crap.  They're also incredibly easy to overindulge in, without realizing quite how many calories you've eaten.  Today I had three different snacks with wildly different results.  I took a mini-Hershey's bar (Halloween candy size), which was tasty and not too bad (about 50 calories or so, though I rounded up to 100 for the count), that's probably the best of the snacks I had.  I also had a banana that I brought to work with me.  I got halfway through that before I remembered, "I don't actually like bananas."  An entire banana is around 100 calories, and is actually very filling and healthy.  It would make a great snack.  Unfortunately I just don't like them.  So 50 calories from that.  Then while hanging with my friends tonight everyone else was eating Dorito's.  I didn't even have to look at them to know they shouldn't be included in the diet.  However one friend had brought a bag of Twizzlers, surely I can have a couple of those without a problem, there's just nothing there.  After having three, I discovered one serving is three Twizzlers, and a serving is 180 calories!  Luckily I stopped there.

So what's this mean, pretty much I've got to keep looking around for a good snack that's also healthy.  Not sure what to go with next.  Probably apples.  I think I liked those as a kid.

Food today was a little different anyway.  Egg and cheese on an english muffin for breakfast with milk (300 calories).  Turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories, and yes I know that one in particular is repetitive).  Dinner was grilled pork loin with noodles and green beans.  With a half-pound pork loin, that equals about 900 calories combined, which is another reasonable dinner.  Those 3000 calorie 5 guys trips just seem even more ridiculous in comparison.  Also went to the gym after work and did a half-hour on the treadmill (350 calories).

Today's Results:
Daily Food Total:  2030 calories
Exercise:  350
Points Earned:  1320
Total Points Earned:  17820
Points to go:  182180

In case anyone wonders, my calorie estimates are calculated using the labels on whatever box, plus weight measurements of meat.  The calorie values for any unlabeled foods usually come from http://caloriecount.about.com/.  All estimates are then usually rounded up to the next 100 or so, in order to provide a cushion and help counter any underestimating I'm doing.

Day 2

The big challenge with a diet at any time is the shift in how I eat, particularly between meals.  I'm used to simply grabbing snacks at work, like chocolate, or chips.  If I get hungry I don't worry about it.  As a result of that I tend to eat my lunch a little earlier in the day.

Going into the diet though, means cutting back on that a lot.  I did go grab a snack size Hershey's bar from a co-worker today, but I limited it to just the one snack.  Even so I was very hungry when I finally got home (had to do some stuff at my parent's house before making dinner).  As a result I was tempted on two levels.  The first was simply to stop at a McDonald's or some other fast food.  Getting home, I was tempted to make a really big meal and pig out.  Luckily I'm only two days into the diet, and was able to maintain the focus.  Going forward though I do need to identify some healthy snacks that I can have that satisfy the cravings, without adding to calories.

Cheerios for breakfast (300 calories with milk), a turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), a chocolate bar and a slice of cheese for snacks (call it 200 calories again), and whole wheat penne with four cheese tomato sauce (Classico brand) and two slices of garlic bread (Pepperedge Farm) (about 900 calories total).  I also took a walk at lunch time, and then later took my sister's dog for a walk (the online calculators vary, I'm guessing 200 calories of exercise).

Daily Food Total:  1900
Bonus Exercise:  200
Points Earned:  1300
Total Earned:  2800
Points to Go:  197200