A Tired Wednesday

Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Day 58

Not enough sleep last night. Up early preparing today. Going to hit the sack early.

Tomorrow is March (gulp) and I have a million things to do. Among them are a weigh-in (yay) and a recap of February. I'm hoping that the scale will be kind.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch: 9 meijer meatballs, ~ 2 oz Sargento mild cheddar

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert: NSA rice pudding cup (probably)

If I decide to go to bed even earlier than planned I may skip the pudding.

No exercise again today. FAIL. I was on my feet a lot but that wasn't enough to count.

A Tired Tuesday

Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Day 57

Actually, I'm much more rested today. It's not going to last, though, as I will be working into the night to try and prepare for tomorrow. Big day at work, doing something I haven't done before, lots of pressure. I will be fried when it's over.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch: None

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert: NSA rice pudding cup

I had to work through lunch today - back to back rough days - and I had no breaks until about 4:00. I just decided to tough it out, I wasn't too terribly hungry. I was tempted for one of the rare occasions to cheat and just get some takeout but beat it pretty easily. It's good to have a go-to meal. And man, what a difference 99 cent taco night makes - I was the only customer last night, it was a full house tonight. Tuesdays, go figure.

A Tired Monday

Monday, February 27, 2012
Day 56

Almost ready to turn the page on another month. I have an idea how I have done over the last four weeks and I'm actually looking forward to weighing in on Thursday. Yeah, I know the number is still going to be huge. It's going to be months before I get anywhere close to my target. If I don't pick up the exercise it's going to be even longer. But it will still be nice to put a number on the progress.

Since my sleep schedule has been horribly messed up (I stayed at the office until 2 last night) I went to bed early. 8:30 pm bedtime ftw.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch: 9 meijer meatballs, ~ 2 oz Sargento cheddar cheese

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

I was going to have V-8 for lunch but decided I didn't want to keep drinking the old bottle. So instead I just swapped the new one into the fridge for next time.

Not Yet A Full-Fleged Cleaning Machine

Sunday, February 26, 2012
Day 55

It's late, I'm not entirely sure I have the date count right. So be it.

Another late night followed by sleeping in. Tomorrow is going to be fun. Otherwise, it was a pretty good day. I had a nice breakfast, spent the afternoon doing laundry and cleaning, went and fixed the family dinner which was quite good, cleaned it all up and then went back to the office.

Breakfast: LOL no

Lunch: 2 local farm eggs over easy cooked in a bit of butter, ~ 3 oz of Creswick Farms chorizo, 3 oz V-8.

The chorizo was pretty good. I have about 5 oz left (I cooked it all) so tomorrow some time for a meal I will probably have it with eggs again, maybe this time I'll add some peppers and onions. Also, I need to switch to cans of V-8, the quality in the bottle definitely degrades after more than a week open in the fridge.

Dinner: 1 "slider" (small ground beef patty with cheddar cheese and onions on a potato roll), probably a good 6oz more ground beef with cheddar cheese and jalapeno mustard, salad with italian dressing, 1 Lay's potato chip, 1 peach slice.

I made mini hamburgers for the family tonight. I ate one of them -- I wanted to see how they turned out. Obviously the bun isn't cool but since I was good otherwise today no worries. And yeah, they were very good and super easy. For the rest of my meal I just ate the meat without the buns. I used new Sargento super thin cheddar cheese so I didn't get cheese overload.

On the exercise front, I was very active today, up and down stairs, steady effort. Energy level is definitely continuing to improve -- very few breaks. If I can get the house into some kind of base level of cleanliness I do think I can do the weekly stuff in less than 3 hours. When I'm less fat this won't count as exercise, but when you're me it does. I worked up a pretty good sweat by the time I was done!

February days with meaningful exercise: 10.5

Ongoing Scheduling Fail

Saturday, February 26, 2012
Day 55

I stayed way way way too late once again. I knew I was in trouble when I wasn't in bed in time for the 1:30 a.m. replay of the local news. Ugh. So I ended up sleeping in very late, lazed about reading the paper and the next thing I know it's noon.

Not a very eventful day as a result. I didn't get much cleaning or laundry done, which was the primary goal. I don't know how much I will get done tomorrow either as I really need to spend a bunch of time at the office and have the Sunday family dinner to prepare.

Breakfast: LOL no

Lunch: ~ 2 oz ham, 2 oz Cabot seriously sharp cheddar

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert: NSA rice pudding cup

Pretty standard day foodwise. I'm starting to look forward to the end of the month -- I'm going to weigh in and post how much I've lost so far. I felt like it was more noticeable this morning which was a great feeling.

On the exercise front, the pedometer said I did 1.75 miles during this evening's shopping trip, so I will reluctantly count it. I'm also giving myself a 0.50 for yesterday since I did manage about 20-25 minutes of hoofing around Walmart. I really wish I had better ideas.

February days with meaningful exercise: 9.5

Another Lucky Day

Friday, February 24, 2012
Day 53

I won another random drawing, that's two this week! I never win stuff so it's pretty exciting. Granted the field of entrants wasn't huge but it was still fun to win. It remains to be seen if I can use the prize.

Otherwise: TGIF

Breakfast: ~ 2 oz ham

Lunch: 7 meijer meatballs, 2 oz Cabot seriously sharp cheddar, ~ 3 oz V-8

Dinner: 2 x 1/4 lb Creswick Farms hamburger patties with jalapeno mustard, a few green beans

I was going to have a yogurt with strawberries but I think I'm just going to go to bed.

Way Too Lazy

Thursday, February 23, 2012
Day 52

Not so good, slacking. I mean I'm not doing horrible in terms of what I'm eating but I am spending too much money. I need to cook. Didn't have anything out of the freezer so I didn't. That and I crave the taco salad (lol).

On the positive side, I've had 3 people comment this week that I look like I'm losing weight. Unprovoked. Not even a topic of discussion. So that was nice. I don't really see it -- I mean the clothes are fitting better and I know it's true but I still look like just a fat guy to myself.

Breakfast: 3 oz ham

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

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert: NSA rice pudding cup

Probably could have gotten in some exercise. Convenient excuse that we have weather moving in and I had a bunch of stuff to do on the computer. Bad. Just bad. Need to improve this weekend while also putting in a bunch of hours at the office. Ugh.

Wednesday Shorts

Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Day 51

More of the same.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch: 3 meijer beef hot dogs with jalapeno mustard, 2 oz Cabot seriously sharp cheddar, ~ 3 oz V-8

Snack: 2 small Slim Jim sticks

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert: NSA rice pudding cup

A Pretty Good Tuesday

Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Day 50

Today was a good day. I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted but managed enough to avoid the horrible fatigue of Monday. Actually, after lunch I had some pep! Real energy. A bounce. It was fantastic. And it continued on into the evening. Very excited about this.

I also won a raffle and found 3 pairs of pants in my closet the next size down which I can now wear, saving me money. Today was a good day.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz meijer black forest ham

This ham is OK. It's not great, but not bad. I'm definitely becoming a deli ham expert though!

Lunch: 3 meijer all beef hot dogs with jalapeno mustard, 2 oz Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar, ~3 oz V-8

I like the meijer hot dogs well enough. These are the premium ones, they aren't totally clean (for one thing, they're still hot dogs, you know?) but at least they don't have corn syrup. They aren't cheap (6 dogs for $3.19) but I can live with that. I have noticed that Meijer is stocking more premium hot dogs which seems ldo obvious as a profit center. Also tried the Cabot cheese I've had in the fridge for a while, it's quite good. The sharper the better in my book. I like that the package is marked for serving sizes so I didn't have to weigh it (not that I've bothered much).

Snack: 2 small Slim Jim sticks.

I bought a 4 pack of these (each one is 40 calories) and dipped into them today on the theory that it might help stave off late afternoon crashes. Seemed to work, although getting adequate sleep would probably be a much better way to deal with them.

Dinner: Precooked chicken fajita strips, green pepper, a small onion, plain Fage 2% yogurt with about 8 frozen strawberries

This turned out OK. I couldn't eat it all -- I used a whole package of chicken strips (2.5 servings), a medium pepper and a small onion. It was easy and relatively quick.

No exercise again today, went back to the office and was there until 1:00 am. FAIL.

7 Weeks

Monday, February 20, 2012
Day 49

7 weeks in the book. It's been pretty easy I guess. Of course I wish it were faster. I could be stricter. But so far it's been just fine.

Awful day at work today in terms of productivity. Couldn't sleep so I got maybe 4 hours and just dragged all day.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz meijer black forest ham

Lunch: 9 meijer meatballs, 2 slices sharp cheddar, ~ 3 oz V-8

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

LOL, way too many taco salads. It's pretty funny.

Cleaning (almost) Frenzy

Sunday, February 19, 2012
Day 48

Another day of sleeping in. At least I had some energy and motivation this afternoon. I worked a ways through my weekly cleaning list and was able to check off a couple things more than in previous weeks. If I can just get the rest of the place picked up and base level clean then I should be able to do the weekly cleaning in two or three hours. That's the goal anyway.

Breakfast: lol no

Lunch: A little salad with blue cheese, 4 oz Creswick Farms beef jerky

The salad didn't taste quite right so I gave up after 3 or 4 bites. No idea what it was. It was one of those Meijer premade ones that I bought yesterday. Oh well.

Dinner: Sunday dinner with the family. Busy day casserole -- pork cooked in cream soup with celery and (ugh) minute rice. Green beans with cheddar cheese. An excessive helping (probably 2 servings) of vanilla Jell-o instant sugar free pudding.

I tried not to eat much of the rice but I'm sure I had too much since it sticks to the meat pretty well. I managed to avoid the crescent rolls. I overdid it on the pudding and it was my fault since I made it (lol). Not too worried though since I didn't have much else today.

Not a good day on the veggie front, need to try and do better.

I guess I got sufficient exercise to count today. I didn't have a dedicated session but I was on my feet moving around for a long time cleaning today, including tonight we're pushing 4 hours. I'd like to have a walk to point to but I don't.

February days with meaningful exercise: 8

Not Terribly Painful Revelations

Saturday, February 18, 2012
Day 47

I was looking back at my menus for the last week or so after I posted last night and I came to a shameful realization -- I've been slacking. Too much eating out. Too careless with what I'm eating. Not nearly enough exercise. Not working hard enough either at home or at the office (which is not the same thing as not spending enough hours at the office). I need to re-focus.

I got off to another late weekend start today after being awake far too late last night. Just wasting time, not even doing anything productive. C'mon, dummy, this house isn't going to clean itself.

On the plus side, I did make it to the farmer's market and to Meijer. Smaller meat order this week -- I picked up 1 lb of ground beef patties, 2 packages of jerky, a NY strip steak and 1/2 lb of chorizo. First time for all of them other than the jerky, it should be a nice assortment. I do still have a pork chop from last time in the freezer as well.

Breakfast: lol no

Lunch: 6 Meijer meatballs, 2 slices sharp cheddar

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork.

I had dinner a little early, about 5:30, on my way back from running some errands and shopping. I was the only customer. WTF. One other table came in before I left, but I think my bill was more than theirs was. Man I hope they make it.

On the exercise front, I guess today qualifies. I wore the pedometer and did about 2 miles between going to Meijer and shopping about five other places. Total time on the pedometer was about 45 minutes of activity. Not great but I'll count it. I would like to know why my shoulders hurt though.

February days with meaningful exercise: 7

Gotta get going to hit my goal. Come on.

Edit: Add a NSA rice pudding cup as a late night snack. Like I said, need to buckle down some.

Leaving The Starch

Friday, February 17, 2012
Day 46

No zip today. Another late night at the office. I did have a checkup with my doctor, all good news there. Blood work is all good and he's happy with my progress. Hopefully when I go back in 6 months I'll be down at least another 50 pounds (or more).

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

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

Dinner: Chicken fajita plate with salad, some beans, a little rice

I went to a different Mexican place for dinner. This place has very good food but very slow service. I was disappointed they didn't have anything resembling a taco salad or a fajita salad on the menu -- everything was super starchy. I went with the fajita platter because it was the best option I could find. I didn't eat the chips, didn't eat the tortillas, tried to go easy on the beans and real easy on the rice. I did eat a bit too much of both, but it wasn't too awful. The chicken with onions and peppers was fantastic, unfortunately it was only a little over a 1/4 of the plate!

Uneaten chips, uneaten tortillas, somewhat uneaten beans and rice...

Like I Said, Slacking

Thursday, February 16, 2012
Day 45

Slacking.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch: 3 Meijer beef hot dogs with jalapeno mustard, 2 slices sharp cheddar

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert: NSA tapioca pudding cup

Get More Sleep and Exercise Dummy

Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Day 44

I got about four hours of sleep so I've known all day I need to go to bed early. And here I am on the internet, fighting it off. My third wind should kick in any minute and keep me up until midnight. Sigh.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

It's probably been closer to 2 oz each day, I bought 3/4 of a pound and still have quite a bit left.

Lunch: leftover chuck roast, something like 6-8 oz, 2 slices sharp cheddar

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork.

Very good as almost always. The cook suggested I try having the onions grilled and that was a tasty variation.

Dessert: Tapioca NSA pudding cup

Not the greatest day nutrition-wise, but I'm pretty frustrated about the lack of exercise. I felt kinda bloated this morning (too much salt last night?) and I know that I need to sleep more and exercise more to really crank up the weight loss.

That's a problem for tomorrow, though. Now, it's time to sleep.

Fast Food Makes a Cameo

Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Day 43

Not much to report, throwing this up a day late.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch: Culver's double bacon deluxe, plus mustard, no bun

First fast food in six weeks. I watched my niece over the lunch hour and wanted something fast. It would have been faster to go home and cook some hot dogs. Oh, well. It was OK.

Dinner: a lot (12 oz+) of Creswick Farms chuck roast, cooked with a can of Ro-Tel.

Threw this in the crock pot in 1 minute flat, left it all day and it turned out very tasty. A little roast by roast standards (2.4 lbs) but enough for several big meals for me.

Went back to work after dinner and worked until after midnight, so no exercise.

Work Blows Up From Here

Monday, February 13, 2012
Day 42

I made it through the day OK on about four hours of sleep. Stupid schedule. I'm really going to try hard to go to bed shortly and get back on track.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

Back to the Dietz & Watson Virginia, sugar or no sugar. Sugar. Sigh.

Lunch: Taco salad, spicy pork.

I was convinced to go out to lunch and my companion picked the mexican place. Solid.

Dinner: 3 beef hot dogs, 2 slices sharp cheddar, ~ 3 oz V-8

Picked up some Meijer all beef hot dogs this week. No corn syrup (iirc) in these, they were pretty decent. Expensive but less so than the kosher dogs.

Dessert: Kozy Shack NSA tapioca cup

No meaningful exercise tonight, tired. Try again tomorrow.

Walking the Mall

Sunday, February 12, 2012
Day 41

Slow start to the day. I stayed up way too late last night and since I was sleepy I just shut off the alarm. Oops. Woke up about 11:45, didn't really get moving until almost 1:00. It's a curious side effect of feeling better that I have a harder time going to sleep - I just haven't been tired. I know I have too many distractions in the bedroom and need to go back to it just being me, the bed and darkness, but good grief.

Pretty uneventful day so far. I puttered around for a bit, then I went to the mall for exercise. I was there for over 2 hours and the pedometer says I walked about 2.5 miles. I intentionally parked at one end and walked all the way to the other end and back including shopping in a half dozen stores. I'm not sure it counts as highly aerobic but at least I'm not sitting around blogging. In other news, I really was impressed by the re-done JCPenney. I haven't shopped there in years but I will be going there again, they had some nice prices on things in my size.

Breakfast: LOL no

Lunch: 4 oz Creswick Farms beef jerky

Yeah, not the greatest lunch, I started snacking and then just decided to have it be the meal.

Dinner: Birthday dinner for my niece -- 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 deviled eggs, some ham, turkey, salami, cheese, 1 forkful Kraft dinner, 2 cheez curls, celery sticks and 1 baby carrot with ranch, carbonated water

Big spread, I just tried to stick with OK stuff. Did have one bite of mac and cheez and 2 cheese curls (1 each of puffed and crunchy). How much trouble can you get in only having 1 of something? Yeah, don't answer that. Anyway, I did eat a bit too much but it was mostly OK stuff.

Quite thankful that nobody is giving me a hard time. I didn't have the slightest desire for birthday cake but could have probably been talked into a couple spoonfuls of ice cream.

February days with meaningful exercise count: 6.

Show Day

Saturday, February 11, 2012
Day 40

A snowy Saturday. Winter is back, but only temporarily. It can leave any time.

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

Finished the cheese before going to the store.

Lunch: 9 Meijer frozen meatballs, salad with blue cheese dressing

The salad was about 1/3 lb by weight and was a Meijer pre-assembled job with lots of different stuff. It was pretty good and a little over $1.00. It filled one of my larger cereal bowls. Will eat again.

Dinner: 8 oz Creswick Farms ribeye, mashed potatoes, asparagus with a pat of butter

I learned that my stove is hotter than at least one other stove, the steak was not as done as I would have liked. In fact it was pretty darn rare. Still good though. I had a couple spoonfuls of mashed potatoes, maybe the equivalent of 1/2 of a potato. I fixed 2 potatoes for 2 of us and ate way less than half. A little butter and milk in those. Had quite a bit of asparagus and two hours later I'm still very full.

Got in enough exercise, I guess. Went to the golf show this afternoon and walked around for about two hours. According to my pedometer it was only about a mile, which isn't real surprising, there were a lot of people there and it was hard to move around. I figure with the stopping and starting and bending that it was intensive enough and I was on my feet the whole time. It counts. I'm not tired at all but I did notice that my shoulders (of all things) hurt. Weird.

February days with meaningful exercise count: 5

Two Much

Friday, February 10, 2012
Day 39

Bizarre food day. I didn't eat breakfast because I had to fast before having some blood work done mid-morning. I was out driving around for work and stopped at a greasy spoon I like for lunch (the weather was terrible and it's the only place around). In a prior year I would have had a burger and fries. In 2012 I went with a salad. Mentally flipped a coin between the chef salad and taco salad. It came up tails.

Breakfast: None

Lunch: Different restaurant's taco salad with ground beef, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheddar cheese, sour cream and beans.

Different in every respect other than the LTO. It was OK but it wasn't ...

Dinner: regular taco salad with spicy pork

I hadn't thawed anything for dinner and need to go to the store. Or something like that. I decided I didn't feel like eggs and sausage so I went out which means ... taco salad. They definitely know me at the restaurant and the last few taco salads I've gotten have been great. This one wasn't quite as big as the last one but still was more than I could eat -- I'm getting better at just stopping when I don't feel like eating any more. I do wish satiety would kick in sooner but it's improving.

I walked around some at the dollar store after dinner but didn't really get in enough walking to call it exercise. That's 3 days of fail in a row there. I know I'll succeed tomorrow, just have to plan the time to do something on Sunday. Viva la weekend.

Feasted

Thursday, February 9, 2012
Day 38

Just look at the dinner menu. That is all. Oof.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

This was the end of the Sara Lee honey ham. Not a big fan. About ready to find a new breakfast food.

Lunch: 4 Meijer frozen meatballs, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 1 slice bacon, 4 oz V-8

Decided that I'm not a big fan of the Creswick bacon. I have half of a package left so I'll try it again (less cooked), but meh.

Dinner: Firecracker shrimp with citrus slaw, 10 oz prime rib, garlic mashed potatoes, salad with bleu cheese, 2.5 smaller slices bread, glass of Pinot Noir

A good friend of mine invited me out to dinner, and when I'm to be a guest at one of the finest steakhouses in the region, who am I to say no? I could have passed on the appetizer, which would have been hard because it's fantastic. I definitely could have skipped the potatoes and the bread. I didn't and I don't especially regret it since each was delicious. Bottom line: I ate too much and will pay for it, but if it's just one meal it's not a big deal. Feasting is normal, it's just not something that should be every day.

Nothing But Standard

Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Day 37

Not a special day in any way. Had trouble getting up again - I am sleeping well and do OK once I'm up but getting going is proving to be difficult. The biggest issue is going to bed earlier. I also need to cut down on the distractions, once I go to bed, I go to sleep.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz Sara Lee honey ham.

Standard grab n go.

Lunch: 9 Meijer meatballs, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 4 oz V-8

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork. Hot sauce & a little salsa.

One of the better taco salads I've had and it was huge with tons of pork. I couldn't eat it all. Still very full 4 hours later (but never uncomfortable).

Didn't get in my planned exercise today. I was going to go to the mall and to Best Buy for my shop around walk but went back to the office after dinner and stayed later than I'd planned. So much work to do.

Not entirely satisfied with the number of food crutches, but I'll work on it.

Cost Avoidance

Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Day 36

I was worried for a minute there. I went to Wal Mart tonight for a walk and I had a list of things to look at. A long list. It kept getting longer as I thought of more things to add. Fortunately, it all turned out OK. The desk I was looking at wasn't long enough. The cloth napkins didn't feel right. I decided to wait on a phone item. Passed on the better quality cookie sheet for now. Even the stuff I added - I saw they had tennis shoes in my size (!) - I ended up passing on. The shoes were exactly what they were, cheap Chinese imports. I don't have a pressing need, so I'll save my money and buy something better. I did pick up some drinking water, as part of my ongoing quest to find out whose is the best. So far Country Fresh is leading.

I really need to get my fridge filter replaced. Anyway, it was another pretty good day.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz Sara Lee honey ham

Not a big fan. It's OK but not especially good. At least it's not super sweet.

Lunch: 9 Meijer frozen meatballs, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 4 oz V-8

Dinner: 3 eggs over easy, 6 slices Creswick Farms hickory bacon, asparagus with a pat of butter

This could have been better. I tried oven baking the bacon and left it in a bit too long. Otherwise, it was fine.

Dessert: 1 Kozy Shack NSA tapioca pudding cup

Also fine, although I definitely like the rice pudding better.

I got a walk in this evening after dinner and before dessert. I tried out the new pedometer, I have no idea how accurate it is. I walked around Wal Mart for about 40 minutes but did stop for a couple minutes to try on shoes. The readout says I walked just under a mile at a leisurely 2.8 mph. The good news is that it says the 300 lb version of me (lol) burned 162 calories. Yeah, you can't set it any higher than that, so I'll be 300 for a while.

February days with meaningful exercise count: 4

It Appears I Need A New Arena

Monday, February 6, 2012
Day 35

I was not ready for a new work week. I had a hard time - surprise, surprise - falling asleep last night. Could not shut off the brain. I think I finally zoned out about 3:00, only to wake up at 8:00. Late for work but thankfully I didn't have anything too hot this morning. It would really be nice to get on a regular schedule.

Breakfast: 1.5 oz Creswick Farms beef jerky

Glad I had this, I forgot to buy ham this weekend so I didn't have my usual grab and go ready.

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

Went out to lunch. This is such a good meal. Too bad it runs $13 with tip, otherwise I'd probably get it three times a week.

Dinner: 8 oz. grass fed Sirloin from Earthscape Farm, asparagus with a small pat of butter

Not the greatest picture. I blame the lighting.

Sirloin isn't the most outstanding cut, but this was quite good. Searing it on a cast iron pan on the grill worked quite well -- even though it was about 35 degrees out there. My "new" grill put out 500 degrees without a problem. It was cooked exactly the way I like it.

After dinner I went and walked around Meijer for about 40 minutes. Not the most strenuous exercise, but it was decent. Apparently I should stop walking around stores -- I buy stuff. Tonight's impulse buy was a pedometer. I kind of want to be sure that my evening jaunts are at least a mile and hopefully increase to three miles by the time spring break rolls around in April. I know I walked a few holes on Saturday but I want to be ready to walk a few nines come spring. Maybe even some 18s by fall, weight loss and physical condition willing! Oh, and I did also buy some ham, the deli does 1/2 off on the stuff they pre-cut at closing and so I bought a small package of Sara Lee honey ham. I'm hoping it's not too sweet -- finding nutrition information online for it was surprisingly difficult. I'm not going to sweat it, I only bought a half pound.

Time to crash, I think. I have lots of stuff to do -- I didn't make any meatballs tonight so I just put the ground beef in the freezer. I'll get by for a day or two on the stuff I have. Still want to keep working on the transition to real food.

February days with meaningful exercise count: 3.

Super Sunday

Sunday, February 5, 2012
Day 34

Super Bowl Sunday. People all over the place feasting while watching the big game. No exception here, I went to a party and enjoyed a nice spread ... even if I didn't eat the bread.

Breakfast: LOL no

I went to bed early last night, woke up on schedule about 6:00, puttered around for a half hour or so, and then went back to sleep. Woke up at 11:45. Oops. It could be an interesting week.

Lunch: Leftover pork chop (~ 6oz), 2 eggs over easy, 3 oz V-8

The chop was OK. I think I overcooked them a bit the first time around, but it was still OK. The eggs, however, were fantastic. I took the time to look up how Mark Bittmann suggests preparing them -- his book "How to Cook Everything" is my go-to source for a lot of things. The combination of lovely eggs and proper technique produced a very tasty result.

Dinner: A healthy quantity of deli ham, turkey, salami, cheeses, ~ 2.5 oz Creswick Farms beef jerky, a mini carrot, couple celery sticks with ranch, a couple red pepper slices, half a Labatt Blue Light beer.

Probably would not have been my first choice but it was just fine.

Dessert: Kozy Shack NSA rice pudding cup

I forgot to mention that I did buy another set of pudding cups. Tapioca this time.

On the exercise front, I got in enough. I was pretty active around the house and for lack of better ideas I walked around Wal-Mart for about 40 minutes this evening.

February days with meaningful exercise: 2

Market Bonanza Day

Saturday, February 4, 2012
Day 33

Today was a pretty good day. I slept in a bit, getting up about 8:30. More on that in a bit. Went to the farmer's market and got a BONANZA:

Here's what I got -- From Creswick Farms, 2 ribeyes, a pork chop, a chuck roast, a package of hickory smoked uncured bacon and two packages of jerky. From Earthscape Farm, a small sirloin steak (look at that fat cap!) and a dozen eggs.

Yeah, I got a little carried away and I exercised a little restraint - the Creswick lady forgot to grab a package of chorizo, I with great hesitation passed on merquez lamb sausage from another vendor -- it looked incredible, but at $15.00 a pound I just couldn't pull the trigger this time. Maybe in two weeks. So much good food and it's not even veggie season (although there were some darned good looking carrots and hoop house greens).

I also managed to get in a trip to Meijer for stuff I can't get at the farm market and a few other things. I spent twice as much at the market, lol.

Also picked up a couple of items I purchased online this week, including an older Weber grill. I have one I'm working on restoring but I think I might just give that one to my Dad. I need to refill the propane tank, clean it up a little and maybe just maybe grill that Earthscape sirloin!

In exercise news, I got some, hooray. In addition to running around all day, we got in 6 holes of golf, walking and carrying clubs. I figure it at about 2 miles of walking, spent about an hour and a half out there. Yes!

Breakfast: scant 1/2 grapefruit

This grapefruit had some issues. No idea why. There wasn't much edible stuff.

Lunch: 9 Meijer frozen meatballs, 2 Kraft Big Slice sharp cheddar slices.

A quick one, need to eat before hitting the course. I continue to buy the cheddar slices for no good reason. Just buy the block, dummy.

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork. Hot sauce.

I know I eat this a lot, but this was seriously the best taco salad I have ever had. Unbelievable how good it was. Plenty of meat, every flavor was dead on, just fantastic.

Anyway, on the subject of sleep and stuff -- I was slow getting up this morning, lazed about, didn't feel real energetic. But, and this is a BIG but: Mid-morning I felt a surge of energy. Like I could run or move faster. I've been waiting forever for that! I even made it through the golf without any real trouble - just a little pain toward the end in the very upper leg muscles near the hip. I'm pretty sure it was just that they were tight due to lack of use and the fact it was cold. Not even real tired. Happy.

Today was a good day and it's time for a new counter:

February days with meaningful exercise: 1

Remember: Buy Less Food

Friday, February 3

Day 32

It really wasn't a good week on the energy front. I didn't get proper sleep again. Need to fix that.

Breakfast: 1.5 oz cup Jif To Go peanut butter

Ran late for my doctor appointment this morning and didn't want to eat beforehand. This is what I ended up with from the grab and go selection.

Lunch: 4 sausage patties, about 1 oz pepperoni, Fage yogurt with about 8 strawberries

Thought about going out to lunch but decided against it. Had the yogurt instead of opening a new package of cheddar cheese.

Snack: About 1 oz of Meijer hot n spicy peanuts.

Finished the can, just something to tide me over while waiting for dinner to cook.

Dinner: ~ 6 oz Creswick Farms boneless pork chop with nominal amount of cream of celery soup, 2 servings canned green beans


I finally was able to eat one of the pork chops I bought two weeks ago. I went with an old favorite cooking method - brown the chops in butter, then bake in a casserole under a can of cream soup. Very tasty. My enthusiasm for this method has been reduced after reading the soup can label though. I did not eat much of the soup gravy, so whatever. I guess I need to learn a different method. The chop itself was quite good.

Dessert: 1 Kozy Shack NSA rice pudding cup.

This is number three of four. Going to try not to buy another pack at the store this week.

Overall, I ate too many things that came in plastic cups today. Grocery shopping tomorrow and more importantly farm market day. I took out a little extra money to buy more Creswick Farms meat -- need to not get too carried away though. Not too many things to buy at the store. Note to self: BUY LESS FOOD.

At Least Rested, If Not Refreshed

Thursday, February 2, 2012
Day 31

Maybe I'll keep the day counter. It would be pretty neat to get it over 365.

As noted in the conclusion to yesterday's post, I zonked out about 7:00 and slept straight through until morning. I did not get up early, instead lazing about until well after 7:00 a.m. I am notably more rested but not especially energetic. When I sleep that much it can be hard to shake the tiredness, but I think at some point today I will probably snap out of it.

I have felt relatively bloated the last couple days and don't really have an explanation. It's not reality - checking coats and things I've definitely lost some weight - but I'm not thrilled anyway.

Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, ~ 3 oz ham

Last of the ham for this week. I will be trying another kind next week.

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

Dinner: Taco salad, steak. Salsa.

Decided to try the steak instead of the spicy pork. A nice change of pace. I think I like the spicy pork better though. I used some salsa in addition to hot sauce.

Dessert: Cozy Shack NSA rice pudding cup.

Blood test in the morning, we'll see what it says.

January In Review

January 2012

Months completed: 1

Weight lost: TBD. I have a pretty good guess at what the starting weight was. I have what I believe is an accurate measurement of how much I weighed at the end of January. I'm keeping that under wraps for now and I'm not claiming a specific loss. I will say that it was substantial and I think it's backed up by the loss of some inch(es) around the belly and chest. Shirts and coats are fitting notably better.

The reason why I'm not posting weights at this point is that I want to be sure that they're right. The end of month weight is almost right at the capacity limit of my scale and it would be fairly disheartening to have to retract what I posted, weight wise. Once I have some confidence that it's right I will post it.

Heath status: Feel pretty good overall. I have a checkup with my doctor scheduled for mid-month and I think he'll be pleased, especially since I've been following his key recommendations: No soda, no fast food, fewer empty carbs.

Eating habits: I will give the eating an overall grade of C+.

I did a good to very good job of avoiding major stumbles. I had one and it was entirely predictable. I'm pleased that it did not escalate or result in abandonment. There were some minor issues with Sunday dinners, but nothing out of line. I've had too many taco salads, where I don't have good nutrition information. There is also a relative lack of vegetables, which will be an ongoing issue, and an excess of dairy. I'm never going to be an herbivore but I really should make an effort to eat more servings of veggies. Doing OK with fruits, I think. I'm not setting too many specific goals in this department but I do want to eat more real meat (less processed stuff, less supermarket meat), less dairy.

Exercise habits: Easy. Overall grade of F.

Complete fail in this department. I knew the first week or two would be useless due to the dietary change and they were. Had a minor cold toward the end of the month, just enough to sap the enthusiasm. Too much work and too little self-discipline and I really never got anything underway. Let's see if I can at least get in 15 days of exercise in February -- I need to be in better physical shape before a trip the first week in April.

Life habits: Hmm. In other areas I'll give myself a C-.

I made some progress toward getting organized at work. Reducing stress will be a work in progress. At home, I got a new dishwasher and have done pretty well in terms of keeping the kitchen cleaned up. I made some progress toward establishing a regular cleaning routine, really need to push that. On the down side, I struggled with maintaining a consistent and sufficient sleep schedule. I didn't make nearly enough progress with the housecleaning. I'm still behind at the office. Lots of work to be done, here's hoping for more energy.

February goals:

1. Lose 20 pounds. I'm male and extremely fat. This should be doable.
2. At least 15 days of meaningful exercise. 30 minutes+, less if I get real tired. Yes, walking counts.
3. Follow the weekend cleaning routine at least 2 of 4 weekends.
4. Get the back part of the house (bedrooms and baths) detail cleaned.

Let's Do Month Two

February 1, 2012
Day 30

Okay, that's one month in the books. Review post coming separately, I think.

Today's goal is to hopefully get a little bit of a start on some kind of exercise program. When I had my most successful weight loss many years ago, I had a health club membership. I would go after work, walk a mile, maybe do a little random weight lifting -- on machines, just a few things I remembered from high school like bench, military and leg presses -- and most importantly go up to the gym and shoot a basketball until I was tired. I managed to get in quite a bit of exercise that way and it wasn't drudgery.

I don't really have that option today. I live in a different state. The local YMCA is expensive, busy and crowded. I can't really afford it. Even if I could, I wouldn't have access to the open gym time to just shoot until tired. So I have to come up with something else. For lack of better ideas, it has to be walking. This is a good week to start, the weather will be favorable. We'll see what happens. Ideally I can back it up with a good night's sleep since I only got about 5.5 hours last night.

Breakfast: ~ 2-3 oz ham

I'm obviously going to finish what I bought this week but I'm still a little mad at myself for not doing my homework.

Note: Wrote the above on 2/1, had to add the rest on 2/2 for reasons which will become obvious.

Lunch: 3 homemade meatballs, same dressing as last two days, 2 slices sharp cheddar

"Dinner": ~ 1.5 oz Meijer hot n spicy peanuts

Oops. Had a snack, stretched out to relax and read the paper before fixing dinner, and boom, out like a light. I hardly even fought it. So no dinner.

I must have needed the sleep, as I didn't wake up for a long time. Ended up with almost 10 hours of good sleep, plus a couple more of lazing about. The exercise plan gets delayed and might end up pushed back to the weekend depending on how things go today (Thurs) and Fri.

Read the Labels Dummy

January 31, 2012
Day 29

Like the title says, read the labels. I commented yesterday on how I was liking the ham I bought this week. Well, I happened to read the label that Meijer printed out and it has sugar listed as a non-trivial ingredient! I looked at the Dietz & Watson website and yup, there it is. Sheesh. I understand the use of sugar in a ham cure but come on, it doesn't need to be an actual ingredient.

Back to the drawing board on that. Or maybe I can find something else I can eat for breakfast that takes zero prep time which is what I have been leaving myself lately.

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch: 3 homemade meatballs with dressing (chipotle mayo & low sugar ketchup), ~ 3 oz V-8

The dregs of the V-8 bottle were not enjoyable. Blech.

Dinner: Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert (much later): Kozy Shack no sugar added rice pudding.

Very, very tasty. Not exactly healthy - 8g net carb and with artificial sweetener - but good. As long as I don't eat them too often probably OK as a treat.