A Straigthforward Day

Today was a pretty good day for the diet.  No weird cravings or unplanned activities.  An adequate amount of food in the house.  Plus actually getting some exercise in.  These are the days that used to be routine for me, but have become so rare.  On more than one occasion I would do quite well until dinner...then I'd get a craving for pizza or burgers or something.  Next thing I know I'm eating a two thousand calorie meal.


Today at least it didn't happen.  Food today:  an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast (225 calories), lunch was some chicken tenders and tater tots (727 calories), dinner was whole wheat penne, sauce and garlic toast (1020 calories).  No snacks today.

Exercise today:  another 18 miles on the exercise bike (520 calories)

Totals
Food eaten:  1972
Calories Burned:  520
Daily Points:  1548
Weekly Points:   5357
Total earned: 5357

Social Eating

Today was a good example of one of the hard parts of dieting:  being social.  Friends went out after work to go see a movie.  Ideally of course I would still stick to a specific series of calories while eating my meals at home, and skipping out on unhealthy snacks.  Unfortunately a trip to the movies while not getting popcorn just seems wrong.  Then it's easier to get dinner out rather than make something at home before going to the movie.  The calories have the potential to build up from there.

I was fortunate enough to know I was planning on popcorn, so I was at least able to plan for it.  Some of the other meals were less certain.  I went over my normal calorie goal (and the movie ate up otherwise ideal exercise time), but it wasn't as bad as it could be.  As long as I get back to it tomorrow, I should be good.

Totals
Food eaten:  2187
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  813
Weekly Points:  3809
Total earned: 3809

Resisting Temptation

The first couple weeks of a diet are the hardest.  Resisting the temptations that, just a few days ago, you happily would have given in to is not easy.  Today was definitely defined by that struggle.  Between a work lunch and a party with cake in the office, the temptation to pig out was very high.  Fortunately I was largely able to resist (and by the time I wasn't able to resist, all the cake was gone).  So instead of steak and cheese, I ended up having a couple slices of pizza.  I avoided pure junk food altogether.

Now I just need to string that kind of dedication together for a few more months.

Food today:  Special K and milk for breakfast (350 calories), two slices of pizza and a diet coke for lunch (460 calories) and chicken tenders and tater tots for dinner (928 calories).

Exercise:  none

Totals
Food eaten:  1738
Calories Burned:  0
Daily Points:  1262
Weekly Points:  2996
Total earned: 2996

Three Years Lost

Three years ago I ran my best half-marathon ever.  I was in excellent shape and I was seriously trying to pick out what full marathon I wanted to do next.  All in all, my health was probably as good as it had ever been.

Unfortunately, I went out the next weekend and hurt my knee.  I have a lot of excuses for what came next but a lot of it boils down to my treatment plan for the injury:  sit on my couch and eat pizza.  Sadly that's not a really good recipe for staying healthy.

Since that time I've had a few attempts to get myself healthy again.  Unfortunately, every time I've gotten started it's fallen apart on me.  A review of my "recent" posts here can show a lot of those starts and stops.  This past winter I trained up for another half-marathon, but it was basically like starting from scratch.  I finished the race, but it was also my worst time since I first started running.  Just looking at my finishing photo shows the changes wrought by three years of unhealthy eating.

I've gained back far too much weight.  I held off a bit on my plan to restart my diet plan until after Easter, but as of this morning I weighed in at 273.4 pounds.  Since that race in 2013 I've basically regained 70 pounds.  So I'm restarting the 200k challenge.  I've got a few ideas for rewards during the course of the diet, and I think I may buy a fancy home theater system if I complete it.  However I'm also going to institute a penalty to help keep me honest.

Any week in which I don't accrue at least 7500 points will result in my co-workers pelting me with water balloons.  That particular penalty is subject to change...but I'm hoping their glee to penalize me will help keep me honest.

So today's food and exercise.

Food today:  breakfast was a bowl of Special K (2 cups of cereal and 1 cup of 1% milk) for 350 calories.  Lunch was a 6 inch meatball sub from Subway, a bag of chips and a diet coke (720 calories).  Dinner was a hamburger and a cheeseburger on whole wheat hamburger rolls (600 calories total).  Snack included a little bit of peanut butter (100 calories).

Exercise:  one hour on the exercise bike traveling a distance of 18 miles (504 calories).

Totals
Food eaten:  1770
Calories Burned:  509
Daily Points:  1734
Weekly Points:  1734
Total earned: 1734

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