Hitting the Trifecta

Monday, January 30, 2012
Day 28

Four weeks in. Coming up shortly, a one month review.

I hit all of the major non-fish meat groups today - pork, beef and chicken. Wheeee. Not many veggies, though. I thought about a salad for dinner but didn't make one. My sleep schedule is still wonky and I was a little tired. Going to try to sleep earlier tonight.

Breakfast: 3 oz. ham

I think this is the best deli ham I've tried so far -- Dietz & Watson Virginia brand. I had been going through the various smoked hams and this morning at least I appreciated the milder flavor of a virginia ham.

Lunch: 3 homemade meatballs, dressing made of chipotle mayo and Heinz low sugar ketchup.

Some years ago I picked up a copy of Alex Haas' Everyday Low Carb Cooking. I have to admit that I've only made a handful of recipes, but one that I keep coming back to is his meatball recipe. He comments that he used to frequent a buffet that served cold meatballs with thousand island dressing and that they were delicious. I had to try it, and he's right. Yum. The chipotle mayo added a nice kick to my dressing. I made a half batch of 9 meatballs so the three I ate totaled 6 oz of ground beef pre-cooking. I forsee the same thing on my plate for lunch tomorrow and Wednesday!

Dinner: About half a Meijer deli roasted chicken.

Relatively quick and easy. I'll eat the leftovers tomorrow, which pushes the pork chops back to Wednesday I guess.

Dessert: Fage plain 2% yogurt with about 8 frozen strawberries.

I let the berries defrost a bit more this time. Yum.

Schedule FUBAR

Sunday, January 29, 2012
Day 27

Today was not a notably successful day. Since I didn't go to sleep until extremely late, I had a very hard time getting up this morning. I snoozed about a million times, finally dragging myself out shortly before noon. Ugh.

I didn't get a great deal accomplished after getting up either. I did manage to make some meatballs so I have some lunch food for a couple days. Wrapping up some laundry. I didn't make it in to work. What worries me the most, though, is tonight -- will I be able to sleep?

Breakfast: None, slept in

Lunch: 1/2 grapefruit

I was going to go back and eat more but I just plain forgot until I was making the meatballs and at that point it was getting close to dinner.

Dinner: Bacon-topped meatloaf, ~ 3 spoons of box potatoes, green beans with sharp cheddar cheese, sugar free Jell-O.

Not the greatest dinner. There were breadcrumbs and tomato sauce in the meatloaf. I had a little more potato that I wanted. But not too bad. It was hard to resist the roll and butter, I really like the french hard rolls. I did get in quite a few calories by having seconds on the meatloaf and the cheesy beans.

Time to go fold some laundry.

What To Do With These Legs

Satuday, January 28, 2012
Day 26

Terrible night last night. I went to sleep about midnight and promptly woke up at 1:00, 2:00 and sometime after 3:00 with leg and/or foot cramps. The first one wasn't any big deal, it was the back of the leg behind the knee and I just went back to sleep. The second and third were a bigger deal and I had to get up and walk them off. After the third one I took a potassium pill. Had one more and then finally slept the rest of the way. My schedule has been messed up anyway so I expected to sleep until 9:00 or so, I ended up getting out of bed after 11:00. So glad it was Saturday. And now my schedule is even MORE screwed up. Sigh.

Other than that it was a pretty good day. I had a taco salad for lunch and while it wasn't up to the usual standard it was still just fine. Dinner was outstanding.

I went to the grocery store this afternoon and managed to spend $46, although some of that was on a couple of toiletry items. Probably about $35 in food. I did splurge on a couple items. Bought some olive oil for cooking and some mini cups of sugar free rice pudding. I shouldn't have -- I'm not a big fan of sucralose -- but they'll give me something manageable if I get a dessert craving in the next few weeks. I didn't buy a lot of meat -- some ham for the week and a package of meatballs for the freezer. I still hope to make homemade meatballs tomorrow. Oh, and I bought a calcium/magnesium/zinc supplement. I will have to watch carefully to see how these things interact with my medication.

Menu:

Breakfast: None. Slept in.

Lunch: Taco salad, spicy pork.

Same as always. This wasn't one of the better ones I've had. Used lots of hot sauce. I think the beans were a little different -- since they're at the bottom I didn't have much trouble not eating them.

Dinner: 8 oz boneless ribeye from Creswick Farms, cooked with about 1T of extra light olive oil. Some asparagus tips with a pat of butter. Small glass of red wine.

It's a terrible picture but holy cow was it good!

I've been reading up on how to cook a good steak and this was one of the best ones I've ever had. Start with a good piece of meat - this was a nice grass-fed ribeye from a local farm. I let it come to temperature with salt and pepper, then foiled it and cooked it in the oven at 185 for 15 minutes. After that, it got 2 minutes a side in a hot cast iron skillet. Rested it while I made the asparagus, then it was time for delicious!

I'm definitely buying more stuff from Creswick next week. I still have pork chops to eat this week, hopefully I'm ambitious enough to do them one night.

Much happier with what was eaten today. Yes, I went out to lunch. Yes, I had a steak (which was less than $7 but that's still expensive given my food budget). But I had no cheese, got in a good quantity of veggies and didn't have anything notably processed.

Since it's 2:00 am I should probably try and sleep. This will not end well.

Get To The End

Friday, January 27, 2011
Day 25

It's been a long week. My sleep schedule is all screwed up. At least I feel mostly better. I really need to kick it into a higher gear this weekend -- my house is a mess and I have boatloads of work to do at the office. Hoping for energy.

Today was relatively very high in carbohydrate. Too many processed things. Need to eat more basic stuff. Toward that end, I got the steak out of the freezer for tomorrow. That reminds me, I need to season my cast iron pan. Also took out some ground beef to hopefully finally make some meatballs!

Another weekend task: Think about reformatting these posts.

Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit

Got up super late. Even managed to forget to grab the ham going out the door, oops.

Lunch: 4 sausage patties, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 4 oz V-8

Snack: 2 oz hot n spicy peanuts

Hungryish but totally indecisive on dinner. Going to the store tomorrow.

Dinner: 2 oz ham, 2 slices sharp cheddar

Just couldn't decide. Too much dairy.

Dessert: Fage plain 2% greek yogurt with about 6-8 frozen strawberries.

I rather like the greek yogurt. This is the plain kind. No sugar, no flavorings, just yogurt. The strawberries would have been better if they'd been more thawed and mashed. I might have to see if it's possible to get them in a state like they would be if you sugared them and let them sit -- where they're nicely mashable and would mix in splendedly.

Going to the grocery store tomorrow. Need to remind myself not to buy so much food.

Vitamin K Sounds Like a Joke But It's Serious Biz

Thursday, January 26, 2012
Day 24

Pretty decent day. Only traces of the cold linger and at this point it could pretty much just be allergies. Throat's a little raw. Nothing too awful.

If I'm up to it, I'll try again this weekend to get a regular exercise program underway. I've been feeling fairly good (cold aside) but haven't had a real burst of energy yet. I suspect that if I start adding a little exercise -- it'll be low impact, probably just walking -- and maintain the reasonable calorie intake that the weight loss will accelerate. Hopefully the combination will spark a little more energy. I know from past experience that I don't have to lose a ton of weight to get that energy burst. I guess I should start wondering if I need to tweak what I'm eating further. Too early to say.

Today's research project was to find food and drug interactions with anti-coagulation medicine. I learned that avacados are rich in vitamin K. So are leafy greens. Perhaps I can't dramatically increase my intake of those kinds of veggies. Hmm.

Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, 2 oz ham

Lunch: Cold leftover chicken (breast plus some misc pieces, ~ 6-8 oz, no skin), 2 Kraft big slices sharp cheddar cheese, 8 oz V-8

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork, 1/2 grapefruit (later)

If At First You Don't Chicken, Try Again

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Day 23

Feeling somewhat better today. Not 100%, but better.

Random gripe: I never feel like making dinner. I usually work until 6:00 and by the time I get home I'm wiped out. I also have this horrible need, born out of years of bringing home fast food or pizza, to eat right away when I get home. I have not found a food that I can eat immediately and then want to fix dinner (in fairness, I haven't tried much beyond peanuts so far). I'm seriously considering allowing my dinner rotation to continue to contain taco salads and takeout roasted chickens, so that I can just deal with the "need" to eat right away. Obviously it's not as much of a problem on weekends although I've been going out on Saturday and Sunday is a family dinner so maybe it is.


Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, 2 oz ham

Lunch: 4 sausage patties, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 1.5 oz Jif peanut butter, 8 oz V-8

The peanut butter was an impulse decision. A while ago I bought a package of individual cups. Probably good, because I could eat 1000 calories of peanut butter without batting an eye. One cup has 250 calories and it's about 3 good spoonfuls.

Dinner: Good portion of a rotisserie chicken, 1/2 grapefruit (later)

I had to go to the store to pick up some more grapefruit anyway so I decided to pick up a chicken. Good plan, thwarted by my going too late, they were out. Had to go elsewhere to pick one up. It was $2 more but at least it was good. I saved one of the breasts and a few ounces of stuff that I picked but otherwise demolished it. Didn't eat any of the skin, it wasn't crispy anyway. I need to roast my own chicken.

Trying to make more of an effort to eat fruits and vegetables. I know the results don't show it yet, but I am. I am definitely struggling with it because nothing is in season and I've never been a big fan of stuff shipped in from Mexico or beyond.

In Which I Consume All Go-To Meals

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Day 22

Continuing with the head cold. Still annoying. Very annoying. It's hurting my productivity at work and I haven't done a thing around the house.

Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, 2 oz ham

Lunch: 3 egg omelet with bacon, avacado and cream cheese, 2 sausage patties, coffee.

Man that is a great omelet combination.

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork. 1/2 grapefruit (later)

Different cook tonight so it wasn't quite as good as usual. Still very solid. Should have gone with the HOT hot sauce to try and clear out the sinuses!

Probably a little higher on calories today but I still think it's probably under 2000. I should eat more for breakfast but I'm not really all that hungry most days.

If I'm going to buy dinners I need to cut back my grocery purchases quite a bit.

It Is Not Humanly Possible To Dodge Head Colds

Monday, January 23, 2012
Day 21

Ugggggggggggggh. Knew it before I went to bed that I was coming down with something. And it's here. Just a mild head cold - sinuses, mostly - but it's enough that I feel kinda lousy. Not much to do about it other than try and up the Vitamin C intake and soldier on.

Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, 2 oz ham

Lunch: 9 Meijer frozen meatballs, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 8 oz V-8

Dinner: 1/2 of a Meijer deli roasted chicken, 1/2 grapefruit (a little later)

It's been a long time since I'd picked up a deli chicken and it was pretty good. Will do it again, $5 is pretty reasonable. There was a little breading on it or something but I didn't eat it or the skin. Just a lot of white meat and some dark. I really need to try chicken thighs again, the dark meat is definitely tastier. Every time I've made thighs in the past they've been awful though.

Standard Sunday

Sunday, January 22, 2012
Day 20

Getting an early jump on this today. Been screwing around with some technological stuff last night and this morning. It would be a lot easier if my internet connection were not being flaky.

Menu:

Breakfast: 1/2 of a large grapefruit.

Seriously, this grapefruit was enormous. Not only bigger than a softball but well along the way to volleyball size. Also, for the record I did not eat any grapefruit last night.

Lunch: 4 oz Creswick Farms beef jerky

Yeah, I didn't really mean to eat that much. But it's so good. And no wacky ingredients at all. Beef, sea salt, black pepper, garlic, celery powder and hickory smoke. Yum.

Dinner: Sirloin steak, 5 Lay's potato chips, salad (lettuce mix, tomato, bacon, cheddar cheese) with italian dressing.

Yeah, I know. 1/3 of a serving of potato chips. I'll live. That was all I really wanted.

Food Runs

Saturday, January 21, 2012
Day 19

It was a quiet day on the food front. Okay maybe not that quiet but still. Not very exciting. I cleaned out the fridge and got further reinforcement that I'm buying too much food.

I made it to the farmer's market this morning, not long before it ended. I didn't have much of a list, just wanted to get some of the locally raised clean meat from Creswick Farms. Ended up with a small ribeye steak, a couple boneless pork chops and a package of jerky for $16. If I'd planned ahead I could have gotten other stuff but I was kind of winging it. I learned today that you can also call/email ahead and they'll have it all bagged up and ready. Also avoids the risk of them being sold out of something.

I also went to Meijer this evening after dinner to get a few other things. I even took a picture while I was patiently waiting for the person ahead of me to scan her 13343343 bottles of baby food.

I'm not entirely sure how I managed to spend $32, will need to look at my receipt.

Menu time.

Breakfast/Lunch: 5 sausage links. Finished this just before noon after sleeping in 'til 10, so you can call it whatever you want.

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork. New picture!

(not pictured: hot sauce)

I did have an early dinner so I'm thinking I might have half a grapefruit for "dessert".

TGIF For Certain

Friday, January 20, 2012
Day 18

Starting this post late afternoon. I am most eager for the conclusion of the workweek. I got late starts all week -- today being the worst by far. I am a little burned out after working three nights after dinner. I need: A weekend.

Time for a wedge pillow update: So far, I like it. I haven't had any particular problems adjusting to it. I'm not sure it's magically fixed all my issues but I'm certain it hasn't hurt. I have had sound sleeps this week and it feels like the reflux symptoms are diminishing. Now what I'd *really* like to do is get a new mattress as well. Current one is 15+ years old and has taken a lot of abuse in its time. A new one is not in the budget, I'm afraid, though I might go look at some closeouts.

Another ongoing challenge is dealing with leg and foot cramps. That's an issue that first cropped up for in 2006 -- I got one for the first time while on vacation. Had no idea what it was or what to do. Since then they haven't been a regular problem but I have had one from time to time. I had them a couple nights last week. To counter that I've been taking a potassium supplement for a few days. Hopefully that will help. I'm thinking about switching to something with magnesium in it as well or possibly a multivitamin ... if it doesn't present a problem with other medication. I'm NOT getting enough fruits and vegetables. I know that and will continue to try and improve in that area. It's a process.

Breakfast: 2 slices sharp cheddar, 4 oz V-8

Lunch: 9 Meijer frozen meatballs

I really hope to have some inspiration to cook this weekend. I can make meatballs that are tastier than the frozen, precooked ones and won't have any soy or TVP.

Dinner: Pizza bowl with 6 meatballs, pepperoni, diced ham, bacon, mushrooms, green olives, mozzarella cheese and spaghetti sauce with sausage, onion, peppers.

Lots of calories, so-so on taste. Would have been better with fewer ingredients.

Also had a glass of wine, same red as last week.

And Again With The Too Much ... Taco Salad?

Thursday, January 19, 2012
Day 17

Again catching up so little commentary. I've been working a lot of late hours and have not felt motivated to cook. I hope to get a little more square this weekend.

Breakfast: 2 slices cheddar cheese

Lunch: 3 egg omelet with avacado, bacon and cream cheese, 2 sausage patties, coffee

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork. See Tuesday, last Saturday ....

It's huge. It has beans. But it's so good.

This is what the taco salad used to look like. I need to get an updated picture. They don't put avocado on it any more, and it doesn't look like this particular salad had tomato. Anyway, it's good.

Again With The Too Much Cheese

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Day 16

Putting this up late, so not much in the way of comment.

Breakfast: 2 oz ham

Lunch: 9 Meijer frozen meatballs, 2 slices cheddar cheese, about a dozen dill hamburger chips

Snack: 1.5 oz hot & spicy peanuts

Dinner: 5 sausage links, 2 slices pepperjack cheese



I had scrambled two eggs to go with this and added salsa but I couldn't eat them. No real explanation why. It's pretty hard to mess up scrambled eggs.

Not impressed by the Spartan pepperjack cheese, although some of that is definitely just that jack cheese is inherently bland.

Yeah This Ain't Right

Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Day 15

Pretty much a screw up today. I had a small, hurried breakfast. And then I talked myself into not going out in the lousy weather for lunch. End result: Quite hungry come dinner time. It wasn't all that bad, but I was definitely hungry.

I haven't done much of anything this evening. Starting to look forward to trying out the wedge pillow.

Breakfast: ~ 2 oz ham

Lunch: None. Oops.

Dinner: Taco salad (same as usual from my favorite mexican restaurant) with no shell, spicy pork, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, beans, cheese and hot sauce.

This might have been the best one yet. So good. I do wish I had, you know, nutrition information, but seeing as I had maybe 70 other calories today (ugh) I needed a decent meal.

This Was Not a Holiday

Monday, January 16, 2012
Day 14
Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday

I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I had to wait 24 hours for the wedge pillow to air out, so trip report on that will have to wait.

No holiday where I live. It ended up being a long workday, I took a half hour for lunch and went back after dinner for another 3+ hours. It's nice to get the hours in but it does take a toll.

Breakfast: 2-3 oz ham, coffee

Lunch: 3 Johnsonville jalapeno and cheddar smoked sausages with jalapeno mustard

Snack: 1.5 oz Meijer hot 'n spicy peanuts

Dinner: 2 eggs scrambled with 2 slices american cheese, 2 spoonfuls salsa. 4 slices bacon, 1 large avacado

I was going to have half a grapefruit but I forgot. Not the best day.

Wanted: Wedge Pillow, Stat.

January 15, 2012
Day 13

As a random aside, I will kill the day count once I hit 30 days. This isn't a short term thing but I thought that keeping track of days on for a bit might be motivating.

Another very slow start to the morning. I didn't fall asleep right away last night, but the real issue is that I seem to be deathly allergic to something around here. I wake up with a scratchy throat, almost no voice, and a fair amount of mucus. I really have no idea what it could be.

Actually, after doing ten minutes of Googling, I think there is a very good chance that I have LPR, a form of acid reflux. Hopefully I'll remember to talk to my doctor about this next time I'm in. Fortunately, the treatment is largely behavioral -- lose weight, less caffeine, that sort of thing. I'll add something that's not on the list -- spend less time lying down!

Edit: And after doing some more looking and thinking I'm off to try and find a wedge pillow.

Another edit: Bought one. It's supposed to air out for 24 hours before deployment so it'll be a couple days before any kind of trip report.

Anyhow, on with the menus.

Breakfast: 4 sausage patties, 2 slices american cheese, 4 oz V-8

Basic 500 calorie breakfast. Really could use an egg or two scrambled with some veggies to make it better. Lame excuse: Didn't feel like messing up my beautifully tidy kitchen that much. Anyhow, with the last start and family dinner tonight I didn't want to load up too much.

Lunch: None. Late breakfast, never got around to lunch. Not hungry. Could have used more water though. Went out looking for wedge pillow.

Dinner: 1 chicken breast, served salad style with lettuce, a roma tomato, some diced jalapeno, a little sharp cheddar, 1 T (more or less) of prepared spanish rice, 1+ T of black beans, salsa. Sugar free red jello.

I was cooking tonight and it was a birthday meal. Tequila-lime chicken, rice, black beans. Turned out very good. I managed to mostly skip the beans and rice -- I took a spoonful of each, they were a nice complement to the lettuce, tomato, jalapeno salad I made for myself. Broiled the chicken, basted it with the marinade and it turned out very nice.

No birthday cake, which was fine. I would have like to have had the peanut butter cup ice cream though!

Feeling relatively good. I was able to do all the cooking and all the cleanup including a bunch of hand washed dishes without any trouble. That makes me happy. I've noticed that I've been a little extra winded when climbing stairs (which isn't good -- I worry about a return of blood clots in the lungs) but otherwise have felt noticeably better!

Living For The Weekend?

January 14, 2012
Day 12

Saturday. Joy. Slept in. Went in to work for a couple hours. Did some grocery shopping. Cleaned out the fridge. Came to the conclusion that I'm buying too much food. Force of habit, I guess.

Breakfast: None. Still feeling the effects of yesterday.

Lunch: 4 sausage patties, 2 slices american cheese.

Had lunch before getting groceries.

Dinner: Taco salad, no shell, with spicy pork, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, beans, cheese. Hot sauce.

Same mexican place as last week. I do like their taco salad and once a week is probably just fine. Shouldn't eat the beans but there aren't that many so I don't worry about it.

After dinner: 1 glass of red wine (Reserve Perrin cotes du rhone 2007) so far, might have another. There are smallish glasses, probably in 4-6 oz range.

Catching Up

They say confession is good for the soul, so here goes: I not only am four days behind in posting menus, I stumbled tonight. If I'd looked at a calendar I could have pinpointed the day. Family dinner out, happens every year on this date, they chose an italian place. Right back on top of things though.

January 10, 2012
Day 8

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham, coffee

Late again. This is a recurring theme this week.

Lunch: I actually forgot to eat lunch.

Snack: 2.6 oz Spanish peanuts.

Finished off the can.

Dinner: 2 beef brats with jalapeno mustard, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 2 pickle spears, 4 oz V-8

January 11, 2012
Day 9

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham, coffee

Uh oh, that's the last of the ham, what am I going to do?

Lunch: ~ 4 oz Armour roast beef, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 2 pickles, 2 carrot sticks, 2 celery sticks

Dinner: 3 eggs scrambled with 3 strips bacon, jalapeno, 1 slice American cheese, 1 large avacado, 1/2 grapefruit, 4 oz V-8

January 12, 2012
Day 10

Breakfast: 2 big slices sharp cheddar cheese, coffee

Lunch: 1 Slim Jim (large size), water

Dinner: 3 beef brats, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 2 pickle spears, 4 oz V-8

January 13, 2012
Day 11

Breakfast: 2 slices American cheese, coffee

Lunch: 1 beef brat, ~ 6 oz Armour roast beef, 8 oz V-8 juice

Dinner: 1/2 of a 14" pizza, thinnest crust, pepperoni, meatball, green pepper. 2 servings of salad with house italian, roll with garlic butter, 16 oz Miller Lite

Yeah, there is the stumble. To make it worse, I ate a piece of pizza after my stomach already said "enough".

OK, self pep talk time. It's a fail. But it's not the end of the world. Don't compound the fail. Stay on track and in a year's time you won't even think to have that 3rd slice of pizza. You're still early enough in the process that this is still a lot better day than you had a month ago. Other than the roll and the pizza crust, the rest of it was OK.

Also: Remember how awful you feel right now. Ugh. Again thinking positive -- a long week with more than 60 hours in so far and all that food has me tired enough that going to bed early is sounding mighty appealing. That could be helpful in one of the next phases of this project: Getting up and going to bed early! (... and at consistent times)

Picture Blogging

January 9, 2012
Day 7

One week down, a lifetime to go. It's gone reasonably well. The first couple days were a little rocky, which I especially attribute to giving up (large quantities of) regular soda at the same time I dramatically reduced other carb intake. System shock. But I have to say that I haven't had any kind of problem with cravings which is great. "The thirst" has taunted me in the past. So far so good.

I'm not weighing myself at this point because I'm probably too fat for my scale. I'll worry about that in a couple of months assuming that things progress.

On with the food stuff.

Menu:

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz Meijer smoked ham, coffee

Total fail. I was really pushing it on time this morning and just grabbed the fastest thing I could come up with. I didn't even take the time to open a new package of cheese, just a few slices of deli ham. This is fail all around but thankfully it didn't cause any problems. I was able to eat lunch a little early to compensate but really wasn't extra hungry.

Lunch: 6 oz Armour roast beef, 2 big slices Kraft cheddar cheese, 2 dill pickle spears, 2 carrot sticks, 2 celery sticks, trace amount beef boullion.

Oh hey look, it's a picture.

This is probably a bit more than I needed, really, but I wanted to be sure to fuel up in anticipation of a long time until dinner. I was planning on 6 hours, it ended up being 7 until snack time and barely under 8 until dinner. In hindsight, good planning!

Snack: 2 oz. spanish peanuts.

I probably could have skipped this and gone directly to dinner. I was waffling on what to have for dinner, so instead I had a snack and read the paper while thinking about it. It ended up being late enough that I went with the easy preparation option.

Dinner: 3 eggs over medium, 4 strips bacon, 4 oz V-8 juice, 1/2 grapefruit

Yes, another picture.

This is probably one of my all time favorite "diet" meals. Breakfast for dinner. In another life I would add a slice or two of toast with butter and/or jam but I'm OK with skipping them for the foreseeable future. Let's break it down:

3 eggs x 70 calories, according to carton: 210 calories
4 strips bacon, according to carton: 70 calories (actually this may be a bit higher, I may have the portion size wrong, I thought it was 4 strips, the website says 16g)
4 oz V-8: 25 calories
1/2 large grapefruit: about 80 calories (web range is from 60-84)

So a total, accounting for error, is about 400 calories. Probably a little light in that department, actually. If my avacado was ripe I'd probably eat that too.

Avoiding Memory Fail

January 8, 2012
Day 6

It was a little harder than it should have been to recall exactly what I ate on Friday when I got around to updating yesterday. I did get it figured out but good grief. I'm not ready for memory loss.

The fridge is beautifully loaded with lots of good stuff to eat this week, especially more vegetables. I should take a picture. I'm still going to be a overly dependent on prepared meats -- very much so in fact --- but that's something I can work on next week. While I know that sausages and deli meats aren't close to the best, I've been buying good quality stuff and other than some unnecessary additives in the brats they're relatively clean. Not to justify the shortcut but one reason for not doing as much serious cooking is that I've been reorganizing the kitchen. I'm just about done and by next week should be a position to cook more. Looking forward to that!

Menu:

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, 4 strips bacon, ~ 4 oz V-8

Got a late start after inexplicably staying up past 3:00 a.m. I was working on stuff until past midnight but the last couple hours were just not being able to shut the brain off.

Lunch: 1 Jack Links beef stick (1.5 oz)

Hunger is fully under control and I just plain forgot to eat lunch. Grabbed a snack stick at the grocery store as a total impulse purchase. Not a big deal as Sunday dinner is a little early and is a big meal.

Dinner: Several slices of beef roast with gravy, 1 spoonful 4 cheese box mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, sugar free Jell-o, 1 serving sugar free Jell-o pudding

There is definitely a little fail here. The gravy was flour-thickened but only a little. I did have the one spoonful of potatoes. Ate lots of carrots. Had a couple servings of Jell-o and dessert. Ate more than I really needed. Still, it wasn't all that bad. I skipped the bread, and didn't eat that much of the truly bad stuff. Sunday dinner will always be a problem, since I don't have full control over it, but if I can do at least this well I'll still make progress.

Non-Dietary Wins

January 7, 2012
Day 5

It's amazing how much joy I get out of stupid things. I got a new dishwasher today. I've wanted one ever since I bought my house more than 10 years ago. I went to the local appliance store about 1:40. I picked out two options and asked how they were running on delivery. It was delivered and installed by 3:00. That's running gooooood.

While I was looking, a guy walked in and purchased a closeout range hood that was hanging above the dishwashers. Color me jealous, it was a screaming bargain for a beautiful unit. Most of the range hoods were at least 3x what he paid. One little scratch was all I saw. I don't have a range hood and it frustrates me to no end when I generate smoke or a lot of steam in the kitchen.

Anyway, lots of running around today. Did a bunch of shopping, a little cleaning and some grocery-getting.

Menu:

Breakfast: 4 sausage patties, 2 slices american cheese, 1/2 grapefruit

Lunch: 3 oz Dietz and Watson corned beef

I was scrounging for something to eat and remembered that I had bought a small quantity of deli corned beef to sample. It was OK but really, corned beef is useless without kraut and dressing!

Dinner: Taco salad with spicy pork, lettuce, tomato, cheese, cilantro, some refried beans and hot sauce.

Decided to eat out before going to the store this evening. Was getting pretty hungry and didn't want to shop on fumes. I was pretty tired as it was. I guess I could have asked for no beans on the salad but since it was the bottom layer I think I kept my intake to a reasonable level. Besides, they already thought I was kooky because I declined the free chips and salsa.

Lots of win today overall.

I Eat Too Much Cheese

January 6, 2012
Day 4

Title says it all. Fridge getting a little low.

Menu:

Breakfast: 2 big slices sharp cheddar cheese, 4 oz V-8, coffee

Lunch: ~4-5 oz Dietz & Watson peppered turkey, 1 big slice sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: 2 oz spanish peanuts

Dinner: 3 eggs scrambled with jalapeno peppers, 4 slices bacon and 1 slice american cheese, 4 sausage patties, ~ 8 oz V-8

That's probably my favorite way to eat eggs. Adding some green pepper and onion is another option, also delicious.

It Gets Easier. Really.

January 5, 2012
Day 3

Today was better in many ways. Getting a jump on things, though, was not one of them. Thankfully I didn't have any early meetings and could sleep in a bit. Other than being slow getting out of bed - a problem I have always had* - I felt pretty good today. I would even say I'm a bit energetic this evening.

On the food front, smooth sailing so far. I did go out to lunch today unexpectedly but fortunately my lunch companion is on a similar program and we just went to a place that does breakfast anytime.

Menu:

Breakfast: 3-4 oz. leftover sprial sliced ham, ~ 4 oz. V-8, coffee

That was the last of the spiral ham. My dad got it for new years and it was a crazy good bargain, marked down something like $33 to $10. It's been a good quick breakfast. I realize that my diet is a bit on the salty side, but I'll worry about that later.

Lunch: 3 egg omelet with bacon, avacado and cream cheese, 3 slices of bacon, coffee

Tried something new, it was very tasty. I absentmindedly ordered the side of bacon, forgetting that I ordered an omelet with bacon in it. Oops. Good thing I like bacon.

Snack: 2 oz. spanish peanuts

Not nearly as hungry this evening but it was still pushing 7:00 by the time I got home and I ate lunch earlier than usual so a bit hungry.

Dinner: 3 beef brats with jalapeno mustard, 2 big slices sharp cheddar cheese, small lettuce salad with Kraft zesty italian dressing

All the lettuce (all bagged preshreds) I've purchased lately has tasted chemical-y for some reason. I think I'm going to get plain old head lettuce, organic if I can find it, for next week, and also try and work in some other veggies.

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

Probably just a touch high on the calories - dinner was probably pushing 900 by itself -- but it's still a lot less than I had been eating.

Planning on hitting the grocery store tomorrow assuming that I have the energy. I have a surprisingly long list, considering that I have a lot of stuff in the fridge yet. Probably going to open a bottle of wine too!

* There was a time 10+ years ago where I lost a lot of weight on this sort of diet and was even getting pretty regular (mild) exercise. One day I woke up well in advance of my alarm, completely refreshed and actually sprung out of bed to tackle the day. Pretty much a once-in-my-lifetime event.

Waiting for the Burst!

January 4, 2012
Day 2

There's a common theme in carb-restricted diets that it takes a couple of days for your body to stop assuming that you're going to keep shoving starches and sugars down your piehole ... and once that happens you start to feel great. That waiting period feeling is aptly called the 'induction flu'.

Holy hell did I feel awful this morning. I did stay up way too late watching a bowl game last night, but I was still not prepared to bolt awake at 8:30 and say "holy **** I have to leave for work in 10 minutes". A little coffee did nothing for a dull headache and I just generally felt off. So I took a nap after doing a couple hours and felt much, much better this afternoon. Not energetic, but better.

So it goes. Feeling fine now, hoping for more energy tomorrow though.

I didn't have enough fat with my lunch yesterday and was ravenous by dinnertime. Much better today and from past experience I know that after a week or two I will have fully adjusted and will never be hungry.

Menu:

Breakfast: Coffee. Too late for food, should have at least grabbed cheese. Dumb.

Lunch: About 4-6 oz of leftover spiral ham, 2 big slices sharp cheddar cheese. Rushed.

Snack: 2 oz spanish peanuts. Need to have a better snack on hand after I finish the can.

Dinner: 3 Johnsonville beef brats with jalapeno mustard, small salad of lettuce, american cheese, green olives, ranch dressing. "2" avacados.

I didn't like the taste of the salad so I only had a few bites. Trying a different lettuce mix next time (or maybe I'll just get head lettuce). I had a couple overripe avacados sitting around -- was going to make guacamole for new year's eve but didn't -- so I ate those instead. I say "2" because I didn't eat anything that possibly could have been less than 100% tasty.

Speaking of avacados, that was the first time I've ever "prepared" them myself! I only discovered last year that I reallllly like avacado and I've never been motivated to eat them at home, I just get avacado as a burger topping or on a taco salad.

Thought about having a half grapefruit for dessert but never did.

Dude, Where's My Carbs?

January 3, 2012
Day 1

Rebooting for the millionth time. 2011 was awful in every respect. Just awful. Despite a major health scare I managed to gain weight and limped through the holiday season in terrible condition. Stress is a contributing factor but really, it's just me. I eat way too much of the wrong stuff.

Thinking back, of all the different approaches I've tried the one that produced the best results, both in terms of weight and in how I feel, was the Protein Power plan. That experience has really framed how I think about 'diet' these days -- I have no interest in a low fat starvation diet.

For now, I am going to see how I do without slavishly following that plan or any other. I simply want to greatly reduce my consumption of wheat, corn, soy and sugar. Don't eat those things. Less processed food. More real meat, lots of fresh vegetables, reasonable quantities of fruits, eggs and some amount of dairy. I would like to find myself in the 1800-2000 calorie per day range but probably won't track that real closely either. I did buy a food scale not too long ago so I will likely make at least a half-assed effort at measuring quantities.

I am also a little underprepared. I did get some stuff at the grocery store so it's not like I have no food, in fact I'm in pretty good shape there. I just haven't tossed everything I need to yet. I tried to make a beef roast over the weekend and overcooked it badly. A rare but annoying screwup.

The hardest part of all this may be giving up soda yet again. I've been drinking a ton of Coca Cola and am determined to stop that immediately. That's priority number one. Lots of water on hand and I have to say coffee tasted unusually good this morning.

Perfection will not be accomplished. But any sort of honest effort will be rewarded -- of that I have no doubt.

Menu:

Breakfast: 4 oz. leftover spiral ham, small glass ~ 4 oz V-8 juice, coffee

Lunch: 6 oz. Dietz & Watson peppered turkey, 2 big slices Kraft sharp cheddar, ~12 dill pickle chips, trace amount chicken bouillon

Snack: 2 oz spanish peanuts

Dinner: Bunless big macs. 4 x 2.0 oz (precooked) burger patties made from 80/20 ground beef, shredded lettuce, pickles, 3 slices american cheese, a little onion and a sauce of mayo + jalapeno mustard + a dash of ketchup for color.

Quite good actually. Would eat again.