Things To Figure

Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Day 149

I need to find a little time to reshuffle the eating plan.  I need to find something more dependable (read:  EASY) for lunch.  Having time to cook stuff is so hit or miss -- that's a life FAIL, not so much a diet FAIL.  And I'm struggling a bit with dinners now that I've kind of burned out on the taco salad.

Breakfast:  ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch:  Wendy's spicy chicken guacamole club sandwich

Dinner:  Pizza, again

That's probably the last spicy chicken for a while.  It was nothing more than mediocre.

Going To Snap Out Of This Soon

Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Day 148

Back to work.  Boo.

Breakfast:  ~ 3 oz ham

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

Snack:  ~ 2 oz spicy peanuts

Dinner:  Buffet - salad with ranch, steak, chicken, mac and cheese, misc toppings like jalapenos, ham, bacon;  3 x 12 oz Miller Lite

Ate too much.

Exercise:  9 holes with cart

Memorializing

Monday, May 28, 2012
Day 147

Catching up...

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham

Snack:  Hot dog with bun, mustard, onion

Lunch:  14 inch meat pizza

Dinner:  Grilled steak, salad with ranch, sugar free jello, 4 Lay's potato chips

Exercise:  18 holes with cart, moved some stuff around at home.

Holiday Coming

Sunday, May 27, 2012
Day 146

Getting closer, I guess.

Breakfast:  3 egg omelet with bacon, avacado, cream cheese; sausage; coffee

Lunch:  ~ 2 oz CF beef jerky

Snack:  Brat with mustard, onion

After golf:  12 oz Miller Lite

Dinner:  Jet's small deep dish super special pizza

Yeah, oops.

Got in 18 holes of golf with cart and mowed the lawn.  Hot today so that's about all I'm going to do.

About Enough

Saturday, May 26, 2012
Day 145

Hopefully this stops here.  I've been doing OK until I get to dinner time, then it's fail-a-palooza.  No more.

Breakfast:  None

Snack:  Bratwurst, no bun, mustard and onions

Lunch:  Chef salad with ranch, 12 oz Miller Lite

Dinner:  14 inch pizza, ham bacon and onion

Snack:  Popcorn

Managed to get in 18 holes with cart in between the raindrops.

May exercise days count:  18

Pizza Week Rolls On

Friday, May 25, 2012

Day 144

Yeah, more catching up, more FAIL.

Breakfast:  Same flatout wrap except with shredded cheddar

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

Snack:  2 oz Creswick Farms beef jerky

Dinner:  1/2 of a medium deluxe pizza, salad with ranch, 2 glasses Miller Lite

Nine holes of golf with cart, modest amounts of extra walking

May days with exercise count:  17

Continuing Fail

Thursday, May 24, 2012
Day 143

Catching up, this week has been, um, not so good.

Breakfast:  Same flatout wrap

Lunch:  12 frozen meatballs

Dinner:  Little Caesar's hot and ready pepperoni pizza

After eating way too much PIZZA for dinner, I went out and made myself walk 4.5 holes, so at least there was that.  Needless to say, I was pretty sluggish.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  16

Sadness Equals Weakness

Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Day 142

Yeah, I had a very down day today.  Really fed up with that I do for a living, the hours that I work and my bad financial situation.  This evening, I cracked.

Breakfast:  Flatout wrap with ham, cheddar and chipotle mayo as before

Lunch:  3 eggs scrambled with cheddar, several strips of bacon

Dinner:  14" meat pizza (minus sausage)

Um, yeah.  FAIL.  And no exercise, either.  I puttered around for an hour picking up before my motivation flagged.  Still pretty down, can't afford another bad day tomorrow.

Too Much Temptation

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Day 141

Urgh.

Breakfast:  Flatout wrap with ham, cheddar and chipotle mayo, same as before

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

Snack:  ~ 2 oz Creswick Farms jerky

Dinner:  Chef Salad with ranch, 3 x 12 oz Miller Lite, Wendy's spicy chicken guacamole club

Exercise:  9 holes with cart, almost no extra walking.  Thinking about whether to count it.

Sigh.

As If More Proof Were Needed That This Isn't Science

Monday, May 21, 2012
Day 140

Getting an early jump on the post today, just because.  I took a short break and walked down the hall - it was nice to feel light on my feet.  That's a rare feeling.  I also have pretty good energy today after a very sluggish (and late) start.  I had fewer cramping issues last night but my sleep situation remains well below optimal.  I need to do something about that but really don't know how I can.

It's kind of funny, after Saturday's failfest I had a pretty decent day yesterday and when I weighed myself this morning things were good, a new low achieved.  I'm still not doing great this month but I'm happy that the numbers continue to inch downward.  I do think a periodic "cheat" is a good thing -- it keeps the metabolism guessing -- but I really don't need to do the all day blowout thing.  I'm sure I'll get another test this upcoming weekend since it's a holiday.

Breakfast:  ~ 2.5 oz ham, 1.5 oz jalapeno white cheddar, chipotle mayo on a light italian Flatout bread

Decided to try something different for breakfast and this was quite good.  The Flatout added nice flavor, albeit at a modestly high (~ 7g) carb count.  I don't know that I'm going to make them a regular part of my diet since I truly don't need the starch and they contain (ugh) soy, but for this week at least I'm going to be eating them.

Lunch:  Wendy's spicy chicken guacamole club

Dinner:  About 2/3 of a taco salad, spicy pork with salsa;  flatout wrap with ham, cheddar and mayo just like breakfast

The taco salad just wasn't right tonight.  I might be burned out on it.

Exercise:  Tested out a new basketball (needs more inflation) for a few minutes, but not enough to count.  Likely to try and go to bed early.

Right Back At It

Sunday, May 20, 2012
Day 139

Pretty smooth sailing today, foodwise.  I hurt pretty bad this morning but by the time this afternoon rolled around I had plenty of energy.  No major temptations (I did pass on mint chip ice cream, alas) and no major concessions.

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

Lunch:  Brat with mustard and onion

Dinner:  HUGE salad with lettuce, tomato, shredded cheddar, 2+ oz ham, 4 strips bacon, ranch dressing

Exercise:  18 holes with cart, quite a bit of extra walking.  Moved a grill.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  14 (Really?  Great!)

This Is What A Total Meltdown Looks Like

Saturday, May 19, 2012
Day 138

It hardly seems right to increase the date count after this.  It started out with a little cheat and then snowballed completely out of control.

As I write this on Sunday morning, I can say that I paid for it.  I woke up twice last night (at 1:00 and again at 2:30) with bad leg/foot cramps that really didn't want to go away.  It had been several weeks at least since I'd had an episode and I really don't know what could have triggered them other than the dietary change.  At least when I stepped on the scale this morning the damage wasn't too brutal (less than half a pound) -- it's still been a disappointing month and it's all on me to fight back and stop the starch.

On the real life front the A/C in my car died as I was out getting the pizza, so I wouldn't rule out karmic payback for this episode of epic fail.

Breakfast:  Western omelet, 2 slices raisin toast with butter, coffee  ($1 toward tip)

Lunch:  Corned beef reuben with onion rings, 2 x 12 oz Miller Lite  ( ~ $15)

Snack:  Popcorn

Dinner:  Jet's Pizza small Super Special, deep dish Detroit Style pizza ($10.59)

It was a warm day and I didn't sleep well Friday night so I didn't get in a ton of extra walking.  18 holes with cart.  I puttered around the house mostly working on grills, no yard work.  I did go to Meijer in the evening and spent about 45 minutes walking around the store and getting groceries and stuff (~ $35 on food).  Totally wiped out when I finished about 10:00.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  13

Thin Blood, Thick Body

Friday, May 18, 2012
Day 137

Glad that it was the end of the week.

Breakfast:  None

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

Snack:  1.5 oz Creswick Farms jerky

Dinner:  A little less than 1/2 of  a deluxe pizza, salad with italian, ~ 20 oz Miller Lite

Yeah, not a great eating day.  Skipped breakfast due to some early blood tests.  Then went out for pizza.  So good.  I don't crave much but yeah, pizza.

Got in 9 holes with a cart this evening.  Didn't do a ton of walking, it was slow going.  It was enough.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  12

Even More Fail

Thursday, May 17, 2012
Day 136

Went out to lunch today, out of town at an unfamiliar restaurant.  I didn't like the salad descriptions, so I ended up with a burger and fries.  Yeesh.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham

Lunch:  Cheeseburger with bacon, grilled onion and mayo, onion rings

Dinner:  2.5 oz Creswick farms jerky

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

Tried the "cajun" flavor jerky, I think I like it even better than regular.  Ate that before going out to the golf course, where I got in 9 holes walking.  I'm sure going to miss this 65 degrees, no humidity kind of weather.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  11

Wrap Fail

Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Day 135

Backsliding some in the food selection.  So busy.  Getting a drive through lunch was so convenient.  Ugh.  I really ought to buckle down some.  On the plus side, it was such a beautiful evening I was determined not to waste it.  So I didn't.

Breakfast:  ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch:  Wendy's spicy chicken guacamole ranch sandwich

Pre-golf snack:  ~ 2 oz Creswick Farms beef jerky

Dinner:  Club sandwich wrap, side salad with ranch

I ordered the low cal wrap but I think I got the regular kind which was an awful lot like a tortilla.  Not that it will kill me but I definitely overdid the carbs today which is surprising.  I was worried about yesterday but the scale was kind this morning -- tomorrow might be a different story.

On the exercise front, I walked 9 holes, carrying my clubs, in a little less than 2 hours.  A lesiurely pace.  I think golf season is going to help my chances of reaching exercise goals, albeit at the expense of a few beers.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  10

Buffet'd

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Day 134

Ate too much tonight.  Other than that, busy.  So very busy.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham

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

Golf snacks:  ~ 2 oz Creswick Farms beef jerky, ~ 2 oz spicy peanuts

Dinner:  Buffet - roast beef, chicken breast, redskin mashed potatoes, carrots; 2 x 12 oz Miller Lite

Like I said, ate way too much at dinner.  It was quite good though.

Exercise:  9 holes with cart, not all that much extra walking.  Qualifies, barely.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  9

Watching For Potential Burnout

Monday, May 14, 2012
Day 133

Tired.  Not rested.  Really wanting a new mattress.  I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning so I did not get in to the office as early as I would have liked.

I'd also like a 36 hour day.  Get on that, will you?

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham, 0.75 ounce jalapeno white cheddar

Lunch:  ~ 4 oz leftover rump roast, 6 oz can of V-8

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

No exercise.  All work.

Happy Mother's Day

Sunday, May 13, 2012
Day 132

Lots of Mother's Day related activity, but it will be a pretty standard day for me.

As hard as I pushed it yesterday, I still barely touched the surface of my to do list.  That was the only discouraging thing about the day, otherwise I was quite pleased that I was able to sustain effort nicely.  So much to do, so little time.

Up again today about 6:00, I lazed about for a bit since the muscles were still pretty tight and stiff.  Getting a jump on this post since I happen to be online, so far I've discovered that before 8:00 am is a good time to go out for Sunday breakfast and I've been to the grocery store.

Breakfast:  3 egg omelet with bacon, avacado and cream cheese; sausage; coffee

Lunch:  ~ 3 oz rump roast

Snack:  2 mini-brats with mustard and onion, no bun;  ~ 2 oz spicy peanuts

After golf:  12 oz Miller Lite

Dinner:  1 hamburger patty, 1 bratwurst, 1 bite pasta salad, 1 baked lays chip

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

Guess I ate more than I thought.

Exercise was 18 holes with cart, some extra walking especially early.

May days with exercise count:  8

Testing The Limits

Saturday, May 12, 2012
Day 131

I pushed myself really hard today.  I mean, it would be nothing for most normal people, but when you're toting around lots and lots of extra pounds it's work.  Got in 18 holes with cart in the morning with the most extra walking I've done in a while -- plus lots of searching in the woods for lost golf balls.  I surely got in a couple extra miles.  Then I went directly to buy some mulch, came home and mowed my lawn.  Weedwacked, weeded , unloaded the mulch, all sorts of stuff.  Other than a quick trip to the store for trimmer string and the twenty minutes it took to eat dinner I was at it until dark.  When I went to lay down I knew getting back up before morning wasn't happening.  Physically beat but not sleepy -- I was a little late getting up this morning but it was still shortly after 6:00.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham

Mid round snack:  Jalapeno brat with mustard and onion, 1 bite of bun

Lunch:  Chef salad with ranch, 2 x 12 oz Miller Lite

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy pork; salsa

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

Exercise:  Uh, yeah.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  7

Early Mornings Mean Productive Days

Friday, May 11, 2012
Day 130

It might be time to audit my day count, since I have a hard time remembering what it is.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham

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

Dinner:  Side salad with ranch, light club wrap (~ 300 calories)

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

Last night's excess had what could be a positive impact -- I crashed super early.  I was out by 9:30 and I woke up slightly before 4:00 a.m.  I got up shortly thereafter, felt relatively decent and got down to the office just after 6:00, making for a good day.  I could get used to that.  Never felt fatigued either.

Got in 9 holes with cart this evening, some extra walking.  Enough to count even if not super stellar.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  6

Kids

Thursday, May 10, 2012
Day 129

You have to love kids.  I picked up my niece from school this afternoon, and another kid was sitting there.  He was probably 3 or 4 years old.  He looked up at me and asked "how you get so fat?".

Funny, yes.  Positive reinforcement, not so much.

Anyway, that had nothing to do with today's fail.  I had a super late lunch and had no time to run home for anything.  Dinner was a birthday party and was not something I had planned around.  Not so good, but it should just be a temporary blip.  I'm much better this time around at not letting a stumble turn into a rout.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham, ~ 1.5 oz jalapeno white cheddar cheese

Lunch:  Wendy's spicy chicken guacamole club

Dinner:  1/2 of a 14" ish pizza with meatballs, ham, green pepper and onion;  salad with house dressing;  garlic bread with cheese;  2 x 12 oz Coors Light

Yeah, not so much diet food.  FAIL.

No meaningful exercise.

If This Were A Movie It Would Be...

Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Day 128

... I dunno.  I can think of a few possibilities.  But it's hard to reconcile the progress on losing weight with being completely overwhelmed in every other aspect of life.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham, ~ 1.5 oz jalapeno white cheddar cheese

Lunch:  Chef salad with ranch;  coffee

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

I think it's the hot sauce that's getting me.  I have no idea why it takes three hours to impact my stomach, but it does.  It's not real bad tonight but it's there.  Irritating.

I had planned to cook a rump roast tonight, but I just have way too much to do.  I'm not sure I'm going to get to it tomorrow either -- thank goodness it's vacuum sealed and will last a couple days in the fridge.  Yeesh.

No exercise obviously. 

Possible Optimism

Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Day 127

I felt a little bloated yesterday, I assume the potato salad in particular didn't help things.  Today has been better, I can feel some extra water weight leaving the picture, so hopefully things are back on track.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz ham, ~ 1.5 oz jalapeno white cheddar

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

Snack:  ~ 2 oz spicy peanuts

Dinner:  Chef salad, 3 x 12 oz Miller Lite

Meaningful exercise, I guess.  9 holes with cart but I did manage a bunch of extra walking.  It would be nice if I could just walk but it doesn't work so well.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  5

Flipped

Monday, May 7, 2012
Day 126

Reversed the usual menu today due to an early matter followed by down time.  Time for breakfast!  There was so much, I really didn't need much lunch.

Breakfast:  Western omelet, 2 sausage patties, coffee

Lunch:  ~ 2 oz ham, ~ 1.5 oz jalapeno white cheddar cheese

Dinner:  Taco salad, steak

They were out of spicy pork.  Yikes.  The steak was pretty good though.  It's usually hit or miss.  I did overdo the hot sauce a bit and my stomach got cranky a few hours later.  I'm going to have to stock some Tums or something to deal with that.  Or just not eat nearly as much hot sauce.

Enough exercise to count, spent two plus hours moving stuff around.  Moving.

May days with meaningful exercise:  4

7 and Out

Sunday, May 6, 2012
Day 125

A rainy gloomy day.  Got in 7 holes before the lightning and thunder came.  Boo.

Breakfast:  3 egg omelet with bacon, avacado and cream cheese; sausage; coffee

Lunch:  2 Creswick Farms garlic kielbasas, 12 oz Miller Lite

Dinner:  Chef salad at home, homemade potato salad

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

Enough exercise to count, I guess

May days with meaningful exercise:  3

Not Stopped By Rain

Saturday, May 5, 2012
Day 124

Another super busy day.  I should have accomplished so much more.  As it is, I got in a round of golf, did some house cleaning and did a major grill revamp.  It rained too much for yard work.  Shucks.

I forgot to mention that I got some effusive praise from a client I hadn't seen in a while yesterday.  Like I've said before I really don't see it as much as others apparently do, but it was certainly nice to get the additional positive feedback.

Breakfast:  ~ 3 oz ham

Snack:  Deluxe brat with mustard and onion, about 1/6th of a bun; ~ 2 oz spicy peanuts

Lunch:  Chef salad with ranch; 1 x 12 oz Miller Lite

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy chicken

Yeah, that's right, spicy CHICKEN.  Tried it just to be different.  It was good but not as good as the pork.  Stomach is okay at the moment but I haven't taken the blood thinner pill yet, dunno if that's a factor.

Exercise:  18 holes with cart, did pretty well on extra walking except when it was raining.  Lots of running around.

May days with meaningful exercise count:  2

Losing Count

Friday, May 4, 2012
Day 123

Okay, I think it may be the taco salad causing late-evening discomfort.  Could be too much hot sauce.  Will need to experiment.

Breakfast:  ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch:  Western omelet, 2 slices rye toast with butter; coffee

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy pork

Exercise:  None

The latest thing I'm giving up on is tagging my posts.  New blogger interface makes that unnecessarily annoying to accomplish.

Ship Me Some Zip Please

Thursday, May 3, 2012
Day 122

Keeping on.  I really wasn't super motivated today and have just been lazing about this evening.  It's really not good but whatever.  I have just an absolute ton of stuff to do between house projects, yard work and the office.

Breakfast:  ~ 3 oz ham

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

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

They saw me coming at lunch and started making my food before I even sat down.  End result:  Fastest service ever.  It happens at dinner sometimes as well but not today.

No meaningful exercise, I'm falling behind.  This weekend will feature lots though.

Intentionally Intestinal

Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Day 121

Breakfast:  ~ 3 oz ham

Lunch:  Omelet with bacon, avacado and jack cheese, fruit (1 strawberry, 2 chunks of fresh pineapple, 1 chunk of cantaloupe);  coffee

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy pork

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

No exercise.

I've noticed that lately I'm having some late evening intestinal discomfort.  Like right now, it's almost 11:30 and my gut isn't especially happy.  This has happened several times over the last week or two.  The obvious contenders for cause are the pudding and the taco salad and I really have no idea which (if either one) it is.  I suppose it could be the coumadin but that seems unlikely.  I may have to tinker with what I eat a bit - this isn't super painful but it's definitely a bit annoying.  It seems to go away overnight.

I should also tinker with my diet to see if I can generate some more energy.  Some days I have a ton but I've been dragging this week.  I know stress is a big part of it but come on.

Got another positive comment yesterday, someone I hadn't seen in a few months said I was "wasting away".  Pretty funny since I'm still very very large but a nice compliment none the less.

A May Day

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Day 120

Catching up...

Breakfast:  ~ 3 oz Dietz & Watson oven roasted turkey, 0.75 oz jalapeno white cheddar

Lunch:  extra big 3 egg omelet with bacon, cream cheese and avacado; sausage;  coffee

Snack:  ~ 2 oz spicy peanuts

Dinner:  Chef salad with ranch (and a few croutons);  3 x 12 oz Miller Lite

Dessert:  NSA rice pudding cup

Exercise:  9 holes with cart, a decent amount of extra walking

May days with meaningful exercise:  1

April In Review

A quick look at April's results and May goals:

I didn't have a lot of time when I put together goals for April, so they were short and simple.  Lose 15 lbs, 15 days of meaningful exercise, make some kind of improvement in sleep schedule and being on top of things at work.

Suprisingly, there was more success than there was FAIL.  I weighed in this morning and thanks to a last day drop of most of a pound I ended up down 15.2 pounds in April!  That is, assuming that I trust my scale, which I don't, at least not fully.  But I'm going with it -- except I'll round it off so I don't have to remember fractional pounds.  15 even it is.

On the exercise front I think I hit exactly 15 days, which is good, but it required a vacation which is not sustainable.  So it's a success but I have not made any progress in figuring out how to work exercise into my workday routine -- other than golf league starting up.

As for goal #3 I made no improvement in sleep schedule and on balance I would say that I'm less on top of things at work than more so this goal is a FAIL.

May goals:

1.  Again, lose 15 pounds.  I've been pretty consistent the last 3 months and I hope this continues for a few more.  I'm roughly 1/3 of the way to a longer term goal weight, so there is plenty to go.

2.  15 days of meaningful exercise.  Same story, if I can figure out weekdays the weekends take care of themselves.

3.  Broadening this goal to make some kind of improvement in work/life balance.

4.  Renewing the improve sleep schedule goal.

5.  Adding a catch up on yard maintenance goal.  My yard looks bad and it makes me unhappy.

6.  Insert amounts paid for food into posts.

More specific goals would be better but I am out of time.

Mondays: Not fun.

Monday, April 30, 2012
Day 119

Crashed out early after a stressful day.  Work isn't getting better.

Breakfast:  ~ 1.5 oz jalapeno white cheddar cheese

Lunch:  Wendy's spicy chicken guacamole club sandwich

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy pork  ($7.90 + tip)

I went to Meijer after dinner and spent $25.98, the biggest items being breakfast meat and lol pudding.

Exercise:  LOL no.