Friday, August 31, 2012

Payback

Friday, August 31, 2012

Struggling this morning.  I didn't get much sleep Wednesday night and then last night I stayed up way way way too late watching some of the football games.  It was a struggle dragging myself in to work, thank goodness it's the day before a holiday weekend and it should be fairly quiet.

Not sure what the evening holds.  Could be laundry and grilling at home, could be golf and pizza, could be anything in between.  Gotta get through the day first though.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, coffee

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

Snack:  ~ 2 oz CF cajun beef jerky

Dinner:  1/2 deluxe pizza, salad with italian, ~ 24 oz Miller Lite

Snack:  1 bag Meijer Naturals butter popcorn

Exercise:  9 holes with cart, not much extra walking

I was actually hungry come dinner time.  Huh.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Extra Vegetation

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Eating salads for both lunch and dinner (as I did yesterday) just feels weird.  I'm no scholar when it comes to the evolution of the human diet, but somehow I doubt that our ancestors spent a lot of time cramming the leaves of weeds into their mouths.  Then again there were no Pop Tarts in the old days, so ... no there is no point to that comment, I just like to describe junk food as one of the crowning achievements of modern man.

Going to be another busy day today.  Blister on the sole of my foot hasn't changed.  It doesn't hurt a great deal (thankfully) but I should still probably baby it.

On a related note, going forward (and this is subject to change of course) I have gotten into a bit of a routine this week where I get the post started in the morning, post these thoughts and breakfast, and then come back  later or the next day to fill in lunch and dinner and evening thoughts.  I don't always note what is posted when ... I think I'll put evening thoughts at the bottom just so I can distinguish when I was thinking what.

Not that it will matter.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, coffee

One more block that I bought quite a while ago that I need to eat since it expires in a month or so.

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

Dinner:  Taco salad with steak, no shell or beans, hot sauce and salsa

Snack:  1 bag Meijer naturals butter popcorn, 12 oz Shiner Ruby Redbird beer

Exercise:  9 holes with cart

It was too nice so I did go out to the course.  I took the cart mostly as a precaution but my foot didn't bother me much.  It was definitely helpful in getting in the full nine ... the days are so short.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Dunno About The Fail

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Or maybe I should say I do know the what, when and how, just not so sure of the why.  I probably could have made yesterday borderline OK if I'd just eaten the meat with a bit of sauce and some salad, but I didn't.  Not real sure why I haven't maintained consistency.

Anyway, back at it.  I'm hoping to get in a nice walk this evening as the weather is nice.  Supposed to heat up over the next few days and who knows if we'll get rain from the hurricane.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, coffee

Today's piece was a bit bigger than yesterday's but the average is still the same.  4 days out of an 8 oz block.  2 oz is a bit much and I shouldn't be so cheese heavy, but it's something that I can eat in the morning that has protein and fat and keeps me happy until lunch.  If get back to cooking more I should sub in more leftover meats.

Lunch:  Chef salad with ranch, coffee

Different place today, no breakfast option.  Salad is decent.

Dinner:  Taco salad with spicy pork, no beans, no shell; hot sauce and salsa

Snacks:  1 bag Meijer naturals popcorn

Exercise:  9 holes walking

Super nice evening.  Walked the longer nine which has a real steep hill in the middle.  Flew right up it, no problem.  Made it around in about an hour and fifteen minutes and it was no problem ... except ...

I noticed some minor pain from my feet, it felt like the nubs on the bottom of my shoes were forcing their way through the sole.  Got home and discovered that I have a lovely blister (a big one) on the sole of my foot.  There's a hole in the insole in that spot, so I assume it's a high friction area.  Fortunately it doesn't hurt a lot but it's probably going to cut into my golf the next couple days.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Needs More Pictures

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Just a random thought for today.  The blog could really use more pictures of what I eat.  Of course those pictures might not be real exciting since I tend to eat the same things over and over again, even when failing.

Anyway, today is another day.  I didn't get to sleep as early as I would have liked and I spent another morning hitting the snooze button repeatedly.  That's a habit I'd really like to break, I don't think you get proper rest when a big chunk of your sleep time comes nine minutes (or less) at a time.

Tuesday is golf league night which inevitably means a few beers.  We'll see if there is something edible on the buffet tonight, otherwise I might be able to talk myself into a chef salad.  I just don't love the weird lettuces like some people do.  (On that note, I sampled a leaf of mesclun at the farmer's market the other day, wow does that stuff pack a punch!)

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz of extra sharp cheddar cheese, coffee

I've definitely been drinking more coffee in the morning.  Funny that I've gone decades without drinking it at all and I'm still not anything of an addict -- I might be the only person in the US who has never knowingly been to a Starbucks -- but it's growing on me.

Lunch:  3 egg omelet with bacon, sausage and ham; coffee

The usual was not available.

Dinner:  A couple gyros with cucumber sauce and a bit of tomato and onion; greek salad; a couple rosemary rolls with butter; 4 x 12 oz Miller Lite

Oops.  Overdid it a bit.

Snacks:  ~ 2 oz CF cajun beef jerky, popcorn

Yeah, didn't really need the popcorn.

Exercise:  9 holes with cart.  Took forever.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Cut Here, Cut There

Monday, August 27, 2012

Even less ready than usual for it to be Monday today.  I am just so far behind at work and at life, it's really frustrating.  I want to just avoid it all but I can't.  It is just super, super, super frustrating right now and it's not helping my efforts to fix my diet, exercise and food spending issues.

Breakfast:  2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, coffee

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

Dinner:  Taco salad, spicy pork, no beans, no shell.  Hot sauce, salsa

Snack:  1 bag Meijer naturals butter popcorn

Exercise:  6 holes walking.

On the positive side, I closed out the day strong.  Dinner was good - I liked the salad without the beans, will have it that way again to see if it's consistently that good.  I probably could have done without the popcorn.  It turned out to be a beautiful evening, I only wish I could have gotten in some more holes.

Weekend Slack

Sunday, August 26, 2012

I'm close.  I know I'm close.  I'm just not mentally all there.  It doesn't help when I'm on the go all weekend, but I can still make better choices given what's available to me.  Need to do better, I just do.  I have noticed that I've been snacking a lot more too -- that's something that can go, although to be real honest about it I have a few bags of microwave popcorn that I will probably eat.

Breakfast:  1 package peanut butter crackers

Lunch:  2 double cheeseburgers, 2 small fries

Snack:  Chips and salsa

Dinner:  2 brats with bun, no condiments.  1/2 hot dog with bun, no condiments.  A little salad with ranch.

Snack:  Microwave popcorn

Exercise:  18 holes with cart


Saturday, August 25, 2012

Breakfast:  Western omelet, 2 slices raisin toast, coffee

Lunch:  Corned beef reuben, french fries.  A little ketchup before I caught myself.  2 x 12 oz Miller Lite

Snack:  Popcorn

Dinner:  Little Caesars sausage pizza

Exercise:  18 holes with cart

The pizza wasn't notably good but it was hot.  Burned the roof of my mouth.  Doh.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Disposal

Friday, August 24, 2012

It's amazing what a single good day will do for you.  I, uh, disposed of an enormous quantity of water weight and some other waste and what do you know I'm looking a lot better on the scale.  Just goes to show that scale watching is pretty much a waste of time.

Breakfast:  2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese.  For some reason I gagged on my ham this morning and ended up not eating it.

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

Dinner:  Chips and guacamole

Exercise:  None


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Interim Posting

Thursday, August 23, 2012

I've had mostly good starts of late that have ended in pizzas and junk food, so I can only hope that my posting this in the middle of the day proves to be motivation to finish well.  I don't know why my motivation has been shaky lately but it sure has.

Breakfast:  ~ 2 oz Creswick Farms sliced ham, 2 slices swiss cheese

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

Dinner:  Creswick Farms smoked jalapeno sausage with a little mustard, sliced heirloom tomatoes with serrano peppers and a little olive oil, 1 small red potato cut into french fry pieces and fried in a little lard with some minced onion.  12 oz Shiner Ruby Redbird beer.

Exercise:  None.  Tired.

While I have definitely put on a few pounds this month with the repeated fail, the consequences have not been drastic.  I've been able to get my exercise in and I've felt okay while doing so.  I haven't moved down any more clothing sizes.

One additional thought for the day, I need to (and due to need WILL) cut the food budget.  Axing pizza is one obvious thing to do, but I'm going to need to cut back on eating out at lunch as well.  Fortunately that shouldn't be too incredibly difficult as I can make breakfast foods (my favorite lunch) at home without great difficulty.

A Few Words on Pizza

From time to time I read other stuff on the internet.  (you:  "Really?").  Yesterday I read a post on tendergrassfedmeat.com, the blog of Stanley Fishman, that included this:

So, last Friday night, we dropped off the real food wagon and ordered a pizza from a large chain that we used to frequent before we switched to real food. We got our old favorite toppings, though I could not bring myself to order a topping that contained feedlot beef.

After I took the first bite of pizza, I was astonished at how I immediately wanted to eat more and more and more of it. The taste was mediocre, yet I wanted to keep eating and eating it, to wolf it down as fast as I could cram it into my mouth. Normally I prefer to eat slowly, thoroughly chewing my food before swallowing it. I was astonished by how strong the desire to wolf it down and eat more was. As we continued to eat the pizza, I became aware of an overwhelming thirst, something that never happens when I eat real food. When I discussed this with my wife, she also had the desire to eat more and more of the pizza, and she also got very thirsty.

While I have no scientific proof of this, I am convinced there was something added to the pizza to make me want more of it, and something in it that made us very thirsty, perhaps so we would order factory soft drinks.

We finished the pizza, and still felt hungry and unsatisfied. Yet we wanted more and more of the pizza, an urge we resisted. I also felt bloated and uncomfortable, a feeling I never have when I just eat real food. There were other uncomfortable digestive consequences, as my body tried to get rid of the chemicals and toxins in the pizza. I also had some headaches, something that I normally never get. And I was low energy and tired. After two days of just eating real food, I was fine. Since then, we have tried to eat one hundred percent real food, and we have been fine, without any of those unpleasant symptoms. It is clear that the “you can eat twenty percent junk” rule did not work for us.

 Pizza is like kryptonite for me.  I have the a similar experience -- if I eat some, I want to eat more.  I will generally eat all the pizza I have access to, even if I'm full.  I can't say that I find it tastes mediocre (only the worst frozen pizza accomplishes that).  If I haven't been eating starchy stuff regularly I also get very thirsty.

I have no reason to believe in the additive theory -- I'm the same way with pizza from any source -- but there are definitely side effects such as lethargy.  Darn you pizza for being delicious while also being toxic.

Two Weeks of Even MORE Fail

Friday, August 10, 2012 - Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Forget the day counts

I've been slacking.  Not recording, not posting, eating all kinds of garbage.  Breakfast and lunch have been pretty decent for the most part but dinner has involved lots of pizzas and there has been snacking of the fast food and chips variety.  Bad.  Bad.  Bad.

On the positive side, I had a medical checkup and things there look good.  My doctor was happy with some progress on the weight front and with the amount of exercise I have been getting.

Exercise has been great, in fact.  A string of days with mild temps and low humidity have lead to a lot of walking -- I've put in six or seven rounds of 9 holes and one of 18 holes on foot.  I haven't been able to play every single evening but I've only missed a few this month.  Too bad the days are getting shorter.

Need to do a hard reboot.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

No Theme Here

Monday, August 6, 2012 - Thursday, August 9, 2012
Days 217-220

Better, but ending with massive fail.  Standard.

I weighed in Tuesday or Wednesday (I forget which) after pissing (sorry) like crazy for a couple days due to lack of starch.  No big surprise I dropped several pounds, obvious water weight.

Monday:
Breakfast:  1 oz hard salami, 2 slices cheddar cheese
Lunch:  3 egg omelet with bacon, cream cheese, avacado; sausage; coffee
Dinner:  Taco salad with steak; salsa
Exercise:  9 holes walking

Tuesday:
Breakfast:  1 oz hard salami, 2 slices cheddar cheese
Lunch:  Same as Monday
Snack:  2 oz CF cajun beef jerky
Dinner:  Chef salad with ranch, 4 x 12 oz Miller Lite
Exercise:  9 holes with cart

Wednesday:
Breakfast:  2 oz CF cajun beef jerky, 2 slices cheddar cheese
Lunch:  Same as Monday
Dinner:  Taco salad with steak; salsa
Snack:  12 oz Founders Red Rye PA; 1 bag Meijer naturals butter microwave popcorn
Exercise:  None, except I did my grocery shopping.  Rain.  :(

Thursday:
Breakfast:  1 oz hard salami, 2 slices cheddar cheese
Snack:  Gas station popcorn
Lunch:  Bob Evans 2 eggs over medium, 3 sausage links, 2 slices bacon, 2 hotcakes, 1 tub "butter", coffee
Dinner:  Jet's small super special pizza, turbo stix with sauce
Exercise:  None.  Rain.  :(

Yeah, FAIL.  Can't wait to see the damage tomorrow.

Kinda Consistent

Friday, August 3, 2012 - Sunday, August 5, 2012
Days 214-216

Yeah, consistent fail.  Sigh.  At least it was a conscious choice.

Friday:

Breakfast:  2 salt bagels with veggie cream cheese
Lunch:  Wendy's W cheeseburger, jr cheeseburger deluxe, 5 pc spicy nuggets
Dinner:  Ham and meatball pizza, side salad with ranch, 2x12 oz Miller Lite
Exercise:  9 holes with cart


Saturday:
Breakfast:  2 McDonalds sausage burritos
Lunch:  Ham bacon swiss on croissant with chipotle mayo, fries, 2x 12 oz Miller Lite
Snack:  Chips and dip
Dinner:  Little Caesars pepperoni pizza
Exercise:  18 holes with cart, plus about 3 miles of walking later


Sunday:
Breakfast:  Mcdonald's bacon egg cheese biscuit, 2 sausage burritos
Lunch:  2 taco bell chicken burritos
Dinner:  2 BLTs, some Lays chips
Snack:  Brat, 12 oz Miller Lite
Exercise:  18 holes with cart

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Better Track

Thursday, August 2, 2012
Day 213

Caught up on my posting and happy about that.  Crushed at work but I'm not getting anything else done at the moment, so why not do this.  I'm a little hungry at the moment - not surprising given what I've been eating lately - but nothing I can't handle.  It's just a little encouragement to help me decide what I'm going to have for dinner tonight.  Taco salad?  A steak that's been chillin in the fridge?  Hmm.

Edit:  After I typed this, I realized that this weekend was going to be a problem, so I went to plan B, which is get square later.  Doh.

Breakfast:  1 oz hard salami, 2 slices sharp cheddar
Lunch:  3 egg omelet with bacon, cream cheese, avacado; sausage; coffee
Dinner:  Ham and meatball pizza
Exercise:  None

This weekend may be a little screwy, depending on what I do on Saturday.  If I'm away from home in the afternoon and evening my food options will be quite limited.  On the plus side, if that happens I'll be getting a ton of walking in.  We'll see.

Appetite Unrestrained

Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Day 212

"Breakfast":  A bit of leftover chips and onion dip
Lunch:  Wendy's W cheeseburger, jr cheeseburger deluxe, 5 pc spicy chicken nuggets
Dinner:  Deluxe pizza
Exercise:  None

Vegged at home.  While it was relaxing, it really wasn't what I should have been doing.

July Wrap and August Goals

About July:  FAIL.

Seriously.  FAIL.  Worst month by far.

I was doing quite well for a while there, and was down a good chunk of my monthly goal.  And then I went on a rampage, the worst one this year.  I'm still not completely clear as I write this, but I'm getting back on track.

I ended the month with a gain of 6 pounds.  Yuck.

I did well on the exercise front, although that faded a bit the last week of the month.

I still don't sleep well and my life is not close to under control.

Need to do better than this.

August Goals.

1.  Get back to dropping 15 lbs this month.  To reach a major goal, I need to lose just barely more than that each month through the end of the year.  This should be especially attainable this month, since much of what I gained is probably just water retained due to a sharp increase in starch intake.

2.  Consistent exercise.  With the days getting shorter and 8:30 pm trips to the golf course no longer feasible, I need to start doing something different.  Not sure what it will be.

3.  Bump up the initiative level.  During my rampage here I really haven't done much of anything.  I go to work, I eat, I do nothing, I sleep.  It's not like I suddenly feel the need to learn Swahili or visit the rain forest -- I just need to do MORE of *something*.


Ending Downer

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Day 211

I almost got back on track today.  Sigh.

Breakfast:  1 oz hard salami, 2 slices sharp cheddar
Lunch:  3 egg omelet with bacon, cream cheese, avacado; sausage; coffee
Snack:  2 oz CF cajun beef jerky
Dinner:  Fajita bar - 4 tortillas, steak, toppings; 4x12 oz Miller Lite
Snack:  Chips and onion dip
Exercise:  9 holes with cart