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

Day 2

Today was a busy day, but not quite a healthy one.  I was resting the knee in the morning after it swelled a bit after yesterday's run.  The rest of the day was spent working a grill for a church festival.  A lot of work (which probably burned some calories) but also resulted in me eating some of my cooking.  Ended up having a couple burgers and a hot dog during the day.  Dinner ended up being a bit too much pasta as well.  Not healthy exactly, but not completely unhealthy either.

Food today:  bowl of cereal (300 calories), grill food (1000 calories), pasta (1200 calories).  No exercise.

Today's totals:
Calories eaten:  2500
Exercise:  0
Points Earned:  500
Distance Run:  0
Total Distance Run:  6.87

Day 1

So yesterday's post was a little negative, but it's for a reason.  This past 5 months has been incredibly unproductive.  I went from breaking 2 hours on a half-marathon and planning to run a full marathon, to struggling to get to the gym.  On the other hand one big difference between now and two years ago is that I know I CAN lose the weight.  Two years ago I didn't really believe that.

Any rate, one day in I'm on track.  I did 6.87 miles today on Heartbreak Hill in Newton.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/382504702

Foodwise I was also good:  I had 1.5 cups of Life cereal this morning with a half cup of milk (300 calories), a turkey sandwich (500 calories), and chicken with noodles and green beans for dinner (1000 calories).  Snacks were some peanut butter and a few handfuls of cereal (200 calories).  Exercise was the run (1193 calories).

Today's totals:
Calories eaten:  2000
Exercise:  1193
Points Earned:  2193
Distance Run:  6.87
Total Distance Run:  6.87

Restarting Again

So all I've managed to do so far is fail on these attempts at rebooting the challenge every time I "start" them.  Well now I don't have a choice.  I just sent out an email to everyone I know letting them know both what I'm doing and why.

The why is two reasons:
1)  I've regained as much as 40 pounds from my previous best weight.
2)  I'm running a half-marathon in less than two months to support the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation
http://www.active.com/donations/fundraise_public.cfm?ckey=vegasNE13&key=Vegas13SDwyer&force_a2=y

So what am I going to be doing.  Well I'm going to try and take a walk at lunch time every day, as well as run at least 4 times per week.  It's going to have to "start small" for the weekday runs, but I don't have much choice.

Let's see how this goes.  I got used to not being fat, being back here kind of sucks.

Eating Habits

So this "diet" plan is less about the diet than my previous plans.  As I said yesterday, I'm keeping track of it a bit, but the main goal is to get myself moving again.  So on the positive side, I at least got out for a walk today.  On the negative, I also went out for Italian and ate too much.  As long as I keep running though I'm going to generally be fine with it.

So same lunch time walk as yesterday, but no running.

Distance: 0.97 mi Time: 19:39 Avg Pace 20:18 min/mi Activity Type: Running

Calories: 104 C Elevation Gain: 5 ft Event Type: Uncategorized Course:

Challenge Totals

Days:2

Daily Miles:  0.97

Total Miles:  7.96

Miles to Go:  492.04

The New Challenge

So why am I completely changing the direction of my weight-loss goals.  Well mostly it's because the old system, while successful, was also getting dull.  As it got to be "a hassle" it also became much easier to forget it.  I'm still going to keep track of food.  Since I have a spreadsheet, I'll probably keep using it and counting "points."  It's just that the points are meaningless now.  For the moment anyway my goal is miles.

It's a little more direct, and who knows it might be more fun for me to track.

So here's my walking and running totals for the day.  At lunch I took a walk which totaled 0.97 miles according to my watch:

Report a map error

Distance: 0.97 mi Time: 19:39 Avg Pace 20:18 min/mi Activity Type: Running

Calories: 104 C Elevation Gain: 5 ft Event Type: Uncategorized Course:

After work I went to the gym.  It was a gorgeous day, but running alone just isn't that much fun.  To really get back into the exercise habit I'm going to have to get back on the treadmill.  On the plus side, when it's beautiful out, the good machines are a lot more available.    It's good to know that I can just get right back to running for an hour.  Helps to have some fun TV to watch while I'm running. Challenge Totals Days: 1 Daily Miles:  6.99 Total Miles:  6.99 Miles to Go:  493.1

Day 94 - Pizza Day

So today kind of ended up as pizza day.  Wasn't really intentional but I ended up with pizza for lunch and dinner.  We had a going away party at work for lunch.  Someone brought in some pizza for that so I had a slice and a couple cookies at lunch.  Then dinner was pizza with friends as well as some chips.  Neither meal was really unhealthy exactly (lunch was kept intentionally smaller than it could have been) but neither meal was the best choice either.  In that regard it was probably a minor mistake to eat as much of it as I did on the day.  One day by itself doesn't really ruin the diet but I'm just about to get back to training (and I'm seriously looking at training for the full marathon) so I can't really afford to fall off the wagon right now.

As for the last important piece of info: I have to pick a full marathon to run.  It would probably be sometime this fall or winter (November to January-ish) which means a local one is out.  Anyone have suggestions for a full marathon to run?

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), pizza and cookies (500 calories), pizza and chips (1200 calories).  No exercise.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned:  149470
Points to go:  50530

Day 92 and 93 - Getting Back On Track

So the last two days have been moderately back on the plan.  I'm still giving myself a few more days before I start back with running, but otherwise I ate reasonably healthy and went for a walk at lunch each day.  Even mostly avoided unhealthy snacks.  It's not exactly a recipe for losing weight but it should keep me from regaining any more.  Otherwise things have mostly settled back into the routine. I did have a bit of a craving for eating out tonight but I kept it under control.  I'm figuring I'll be back to kickboxing on Thursday and start running again this weekend.

Food today (also yesterday):  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), turkey sandwich for lunch (500 calories), dinner was lasagna with garlic toast (1000 calories), snacks on the day were a handful of pretzels (100 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1900 and 1900
Exercise: 100 and 100
Points Earned: 1200 and 1200
Total Points Earned:  148470
Points to go:  51530

Day 88 to 91 - Cheat Week

So from a couple days before the half-marathon through yesterday I was really living the Cheat Week.  I ate too much and exercised too little.  Oh I had "reasons" for it, but they weren't good ones.  Even worse, for the last couple days I had even lost track of what I was eating and as a result ate too much.  So I'm uncertain of my calorie counts for the last few days (though I'm getting back on track today).  So since I lost track I awarded no points and also gave myself a 2000 point penalty.  It's possible if I had been tracking it the penalty would actually have been worse, but this is probably bad enough.

As I've said many times "cheating" on a diet isn't terrible as long as it doesn't become a habit.  This week was starting to become a habit.

So was there any positive this week (other than the half-marathon which went great)?  I did give in and have some caffeinated soda this week and discovered that I don't even enjoy it all that much anymore.  Plus I had clearly "gotten clean" as just a couple glasses of soda was enough to keep me up more than 5 hours later.  So while I decided to "cheat" on that goal as well, it's much easier to go back to cutting caffeine out.

Today's food:  left-pizza for breakfast (500 calories), and chicken tenders and fries for dinner (1500 calories).  No exercise though.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned:  146070
Points to go:  53930

Day 86 and 87 - Continued Bad Days

So yesterday I was mostly back on track, though I ended up eating a bit more snacks at work than necessary.  Today though I decided to grab food from the last of my main sources of unhealthy eating (a local Italian place called Angelo's).  My knee feels a lot better by this point though, so I'm hoping to get back to the habits that had been active up until the middle of last week.

I have also pretty much decided to start training for a full marathon.  I'm still not sure I really want to do it, but after breaking the two hour mark in the half I don't think I can say I can't do it anymore.  It's kind of late and I'm tired so that's all I've got for the moment.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1900 and 2500
Exercise: 100 and 0
Points Earned: 1200 and 500
Total Points Earned:  147070
Points to go:  52930

Day 84 and 85 - Half-Marathon and Junk Food Weekend

That's me with the Camelbak at around mile 4 or so.

So this weekend ending up being both significantly healthy and unhealthy at the same time.  First things first, I completed my half-marathon on Sunday in less than 2 hours.  That's both a major accomplishment all on it's own and a 27 minute improvement on my PR.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/308089819

The negative for the weekend (continuing into Monday) was my continued consumption of junk food.  After the race on Sunday I decided to treat myself one more time to 5 Guys before getting back to the diet.  Probably a mistake at the time (it left me uncomfortably full), but I convinced myself I'd just get back to eating healthy today.

So this morning I woke up with m knee feeling extremely sore (I'm guessing it's more likely my IT band that's hurting, but it feels like the knee anyway).  As it hurt to even walk around the house I decided to take the day off and rest and ice it for another day.  This wouldn't have been bad either, except I took advantage of the "weekday off" to feed one more of my junk food cravings.  The Pizza Hut buffet was a place I used to eat at weekly (sometimes more often) when I used to have weekdays off.  I haven't eaten there much in the last three years but it's still on my list.  Today was a chance to go and eat too much food again.  The only real positive to take from the day as far as my goals go is that at least I didn't give in on my caffeine/soda ban.  I was severely tempted when I got there (traditionally I'd down a bunch of mountain dew with the pizza), but stuck to some lemonade instead.

Going forward I don't have a choice, I've got to get back on the healthy eating track as I'm sure the weekend's junk food has probably cost me a couple pounds worth of weight gain.  Luckily I have sufficient groceries in the house.  Shouldn't be too hard to get back to it.  Just can't be careless.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2500 and 2300
Exercise: 1977 and 0
Points Earned: 2477 and 700
Total Points Earned:  145370
Points to go:  54630