Blowstorm

Friday, January 6, 2017

Sigh.  Busy day.  Lots of driving on bad roads.  No excuse for the blowout.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Lunch:  McD 2 cheeseburger meal with Hi-C, Mac Jr

Snack:  McD Grand Mac

Dinner:  Sack o' Taco Bell

Exercise:  Nope.  Glad this week is over.

151.8

Horrendabulous

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Just hoping to reboot come the weekend.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, sausage mcgriddles (BOGO coupon)

Also:  Coffee.  First run with the Keurig at work.  Seems to work just fine though the quantitiy isn't huge.

Lunch:  Grilled ham and cheese sandwich, fries with ketchup, coffee

Diner life.

Dinner:  2 Culvers double deluxe (BOGO coupon), fries w ketchup, chocolate shake (free)

Yikes.

Exercise:  40 minutes, lots of everything.  Great workout and it felt decent.

152.0

Flail

Wednesday, January 4, 2016

Busy.  Scrambling.  Not on top of things at all.

Leads to bad eating.

Breakfast:   Egg McMuffin, coffee

Lunch:  Wendy's double w cheese, sm fries, sm lemonade

Dinner:  Pizza (pep/bacon and ham/meatball), coffee

Exercise:  Nyet

152.6

Is Losing Battle With Inertia

Tuesday, January 3, 2016

Back to work, back to struggling.  Too bad, I always have hope that I'll break through and lose the HUNGER.  Mornings aren't a huge problem.  I'm ready to eat come lunch but not ravenous.  Today, when I left work, I was famished.  Didn't want to wait, even for ten minutes of reheating on the beans.  So bad habits won.  Sigh.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

New photo.  Not any more interesting than the old photo.

Not their finest effort, call it 4/10.  Just not well prepared.  Still edible and a fine breakfast.  I might have to go back to salami and cheese though, I'd save money.

Lunch:  Jimmy Johns #5 (ham, cheese, LTMayo), salt and vinegar chips, pickle

No photo, forgot.  Lunch at the desk.

Dinner:  Taco Bell beef quesarito, chips and queso

Sorriest chips ever, hardly got any.  Not even enough to finish the queso!  No photo, devoured.

More dinner:  Spicy beans with a bunch of leftover ham

I've missed you spicy beans.

Even with 6x jalapenos they aren't real spicy.  I may have to try some hotter peppers or add a bunch of cayenne or something.  Still pretty good.

Exercise:  40 minutes, cardio, arms and shoulders.  Solid workout.

153.4

Simmering, Boil Unlikely

Monday, January 2, 2016

Final day of the holiday season.  As usual I am going to run out of time before even coming close to accomplishing everything on my "to do" list.   Oh well, that's how it goes.  I want stuff to be done NOW, but when you work at a decidedly leisurely pace like I do things take a while.  It's no wonder that I'm lousy at long term stuff like diet.

I have a pot of spicy beans underway, I guess that means I'm going to stick around home today.  I debated doing them in the slow cooker, but decided to stay with the tried-and-true method.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium in butter, 4 strips Wright applewood smoked bacon, Alexia hash browns in butter, coffee

Still using the lower res, seems to make no difference.

The gold standard.  If yesterday was 11/10, today was only 9.9 - the eggs may have been on for ten seconds too long.  I'm satisfied that this is the Cadillac of bacon, two days in a row it's been perfectly crisp-tender, the flavor profile is right, it's just delicious.   Of course I need to cut back to 2 strips (or maybe 3 if go easy on the butter) since it's twice the thickness and twice the calories of regular bacon...

Lunch:  Leftover deluxe pizza, some cheezits

Cheezits not pictured.

Done with the cheez its.  The bad stuff is getting weeded out.  Slowly.

Dinner: Ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, roll with butter, pecan pie with vanilla ice cream, 12 oz Miller Lite, mini chocolate haagen dazs cup.

Not all of the damage.  

Excessive.  Quite so.

Exercise:  Puttered around a lot, but not really.

---

New Year Not The Same As Old Year

Sunday, January 1, 2017

How long will it take before writing "2017" becomes a habit I wonder.

Despite a so-so night of sleep (and I didn't even have a drop of alcohol) feeling pretty good this morning.  I wasn't up early enough to get in a pre-dawn walk, I may need to go walk around a mall or something for a while.  Anyway, starting resolutions on January 1 has always seemed pointless - there are always parties and bowl games and other nonsense that make it seem like suffering.  And I'm (duh) not into suffering.

Some squad goals for January:  Down 15 pounds.  Ambitious, but eminently doable given the weight I've picked up the last couple weeks.  A good flush of excess water is probably good for half of that.  Also, get in some sort of movement every single day.  Even if it's just a 15 or 20 minute walk.  Every day.  Coincident to the first goal is to eat out less.  I'm not going to stop entirely, just less.  It would be great to shave a hundred bucks off my monthly food budget.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium in butter, 4 strips Wright applewood bacon, Alexia hash browns in (measured) butter, coffee

What perfection looks like, pre-seasoning.

If I could give this an 11/10 I would.  Absolutely NAILED it.  Eggs perfect, just on the easy side of medium.  Bacon superlative, crisp-tender.  Hash browns seasoned up and A++.

Something super random:  I used a christmas gift card to buy a Keurig for the office, which should come next week.  I think I'll probably end up using that during the week (instead of having coffee at home) and just use the drip pot when I have time to have a couple of leisurely cups.  It will be interesting to see if I get addicted to the convenience to the point where I think I should have one at home too -- I hope not, since I just bought this new drip machine!

Lunch:  Five Guys little cheeseburger, little cajun fries with ketchup

Testing a lower resolution photo, this is a much smaller
file when I email it to myself.

Least busy I've ever seen 5G.  I guess lots of people resolve not to eat as many burgers and fries.  And they start January 1, not later!

Dinner:  Half of a 12" deluxe pizza, garlic bread with cheese and pizza sauce

Caloric.  So very caloric.

Tried a new place.  Good but not great.  Still delicious.  Still not going to be happening after the weekend.

Also:  Some cheez its.

Exercise:  Eh, not especially.  Did a bunch of shopping and moved around a bunch assembling a furniture item.  I guess I'll count it, though it's pretty weak.

155.4

Happy End of Year!

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Welp.  2016 wasn't awful, but it wasn't great.  I'm settled on the home front.  I've been lazy as hell on the diet and exercise front.  Work was busy and a bit more profitable, but I'm behind.  I have had neither the inclination nor the game to date.  So it goes.

Bring on 2017.

Breakfast:  Coffee.

I slept in and decided to get an early lunch.

Lunch:   5 Guys little cheeseburger all the way plus jalapeno, little cajun fries with ketchup

Quite tasty.

Tasty indeed.  Like those cajun fries.

Dinner:  Qdoba chicken bowl with chips

I think I'm not as enamored with Qdoba and will eat it quite a bit less in 2017.  I thought I took a picture, but I guess I did not.

Also:  Almond pastry, a small simply lemonade, some cheez its.

I have some cheez its plus a single serve ice cream left for the rest of the weekend.

Exercise:  Nope.  I did a bunch of shopping and therefore a bunch of walking, but since I'm not hurting I guess it doesn't count...

Overage

Friday, December 30, 2016

At least it's almost over.  The week is, that's a plus.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, sausage biscuit, coffee

Lunch:  Olive burger, fries with ketchup, coffee

Diner Food 4 Lyfe

Quite good.  Burger better ordered medium well.

Dinner:  Pepperoni and bacon pizza

Exercise:  Nope

More Limping

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Getting there.  Sore knees and all.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, sausage McGriddles, coffee

Hungry after working out and I had a coupon.  Stupid BOGOs and hunger.

Lunch:  Corned beef reuben, fries with ketchup, coffee

Diner time.  Pretty good.

Dinner:  Taco Bell (again) - quesarito, fritos burrito, habanero double taco, chips and queso, empanada.

About six zillion calories.  Few regrets.

Also:  Some peanuts.  I seem to have largely lost my taste for these.

Exercise:  40 minutes lots of movement, arms and shoulders.  Good pace.

Limping

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Ready for the weekend to get here.  Soon please.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

Lunch:  12" ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, jalapeno, southwest Subway on italian herbs

2andahalfmeal:  BK cheeseburger, cheesy tots

Dinner:  Taco Bell beef quesarito, habanero taco, empanada, chips and onion dip

Exercise:  Nope.  Knees are very sore still from Monday.  And super tired and late this morning.

154.8

Let's Wrap

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

I'm ready for the week and by extension the year to be over.  I don't really know how I can expect to make a serious change in how I eat just because the calendar changes, but at least many of the temptations will be removed and I can get back on a regular schedule.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

Lunch:  Corned beef reuben, fries with ketchup

Dinner:  Taco Bell quesarito, double stack taco.  Chips and onion dip.

Also:  Some peanuts, a little caramel corn.

Exercise:  40 minutes, arms and shoulders.

152.4

Keep Feastin

Monday, December 26, 2016

Soon.  And pictures later.  Probably.

Breakfast:  Leftover sausage strata, coffee

Lunch:  Five guys little cheeseburger, little cajun fries

Dinner:  4 mexican tacos.  Also some caramel corn, almond pastry

Exercise:  A lot of shopping, plenty of walking.  I'm counting it.

Merry Christmas aka Feastmas

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Whew!  All the feasting and festing is making me tired.

Breakfast:  Almond pastry (I forgot, I had some yesterday too), coffee

Later breakfast:  Sausage strata, 1/2 grapefruit, pumpkin/banana bread with butter, small glass of OJ, slice of cinnamon streusel pecan coffee cake, decaf

Lunch:  A few Cool Ranch Doritos

Dinner:  Ham, cheesy potatoes, a roll with butter, some other stuff, sheet cake and ice cream, a cookie.  A glass of merlot.  12 oz Blue Light

Exercise:  Nope

152.4

Excuse List Down One

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Up and at 'em for a day of festivities and really, really bad eating.  So it goes.  I had a really hard time getting to sleep last night, so I'm functioning on 4 or 5 hours.  Feel better than I expected given that.  On the plus side, I'm largely prepared for the holiday - all the gifts are wrapped and packed up, I have only some minimal food preparation duties to handle, it's mostly an easy day.

As for the excuse list, I picked up a cheap pair of bluetooth headphones on a deal this morning, so I can cross off "no because I need music and I haaaate earbuds and cords" off my list of reasons not to get out there and walk.  I'd actually have time to get going this morning, but it's icy and slickery.  Hopefully it all melts today.

Breakfast:  2 bagels with cream cheese, coffee.

Forgot to take a picture.  Oops.  Lots and lots of carbs and calories though.

Lunch:  Sausage and pepperoni bread, cheese and crackers, a few nuts, candy, a swig of lemonade

No photos.

Dinner:  Beef tenderloin, romaine salad with ranch, french bread with cheese fondue, a little merlot, 2 x 12 oz Labatt Light

Exercise:  Nope.

147.4

One More Day Closer Etc

Friday, December 23, 2016

It's a strange day, with some parts of the world working and other parts having the day off for a long holiday weekend.  I enjoy having time off, but at the same time it is quite strange being out of the usual routine even for a day.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

I remembered about halfway through that
I wanted to take a photo.  Oops.

I could have come home and fixed breakfast, but I decided to do a little shopping after working out instead.  Solid as usual and still 290 calories.

Lunch:  Patty melt on sourdough, fries with ketchup, coffee

Making a great patty melt is part art, part science.
This kinda failed on both accounts.

Went to the diner for lunch.  This wasn't their finest effort.  Lots of calories.

Snack:  Cool Ranch Doritos.  Ohhh, yes.  JUNK.

Dinner:  Domino's thin crust pizza with pepperoni, ham and onion.

No photo.  Desperation move as I was in the middle of project hang TV on wall.  Which is now done, yay.

Exercise:  45 minutes, lots of core stuff.  Some arms, some legs, a real mix.  Solid workout.

147.0

Holiday Backsliding In Full Effect

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Seriously.  Just overwhelmed with junk food options.  And the next three days will be more of the same.  If I'm lucky I'll be done with the junk by New Year's Day.  I should have more resolve.  Really.  But I don't.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

Stock photo, actual EMM of the day not pictured.

Hey, what do you know, the same thing every day this week.  Still 290 calories and just fine.

Lunch:  Grilled ham and cheese sandwich, french fries with ketchup, dill pickle spear, coffee

Not healthy, no.  Tasty, yes.  Fatass.

I was going to order the chef salad, but the special of the day sounded too good.  FAIL.

Dinner:  3 mexican beef tacos, 1 mexican pork taco

Sometimes they come with limes.

The pork was meh and I would have been plenty satisfied with the 3 beef tacos.  Next time maybe I'll remember that.

Also:  Some caramel corn.

Exercise:  Nope.

146.2

Dinner Options Need Upgrading

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Honestly I'm starting to think I'll be glad when the holidays are over.  Too many temptations, delicious treats etc.  Discipline is woefully lacking.  I'm way over on calories today.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

Usual.  I'll skip the stock photo today.  290 calories.

Lunch:  Jimmy Johns #5, salt and vinegar chips

No picture, office holiday party.  790 calories.

Also:  A small bag of homemade chex mix, some cookies, a couple nut bars, etc.

No clue on calories.  Call it 1000.

Dinner:  2 Culver's double deluxes

One would have been a satisfactory meal.

Excessive.  Very excessive.  Darned BOGO coupons.  1620 calories.

Exercise:  Nope.

144.0

Shoulder Fatigue

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

We're getting there.  Two more workdays to go, though I do have a couple of things to do on Friday.  I'll settle for a 3 1/2 day weekend.

Didn't sleep real well last night so this morning was a struggle.  Felt fine after working out though.  Just fatigued!

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

Stock photo.  Could have taken a new one today.  Didn't.

Standard.  Still 290 calories, still good.

Lunch:  Can of Bush's Cocina Latina frijoles a la Mexicana, several ounces of deli roasted turkey

One of the goals for the holiday weekends is
to conjure up a big pot of real spicy beans

The beans were disappointingly bland.  They needed a bunch of jalapenos, but I didn't have any on hand.  Still it was edible.  Didn't quite finish it.  500 calories.

Dinner:  Five Guys little cheeseburger all the way plus jalapeno, little cajun fries with ketchup

All calories estimated.
All food delicious.

It's been a few months.  Still tasty.  And highly caloric.  The basic burger and fries is about 1100, add a couple hundred for toppings and ketchip and we'll call it 1350.  And because I can, I think I'll have a PBR now that I'm home.  144 calories.  (EDIT:  Never did have the PBR, so delete those calories!)

Exercise:  45 solid minutes, emphasis on arms and shoulders.  Worked hard.  Also got in a bunch of shopping, ugh.

146.2

Mondayne

Monday, December 19, 2016

Whew.  I didn't have all that many things scheduled today but they all took much longer than anticipated.  I hate being late.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

Stock photo.  I have no patience, plus driving.

Standard.  290 calories.

Lunch:  Nope.

Never had time.  Not even close.

Dinner:  5 mexican style ground beef tacos

I think 4 has been my previous limit.  And 4 would be plenty.

Thank goodness for dollar taco day.  I was QUITE hungry by the time 6:00 rolled around, so it was taco time no doubt.  Call that 1000 calories.  I'll almost certainly have a PBR later too for another 144.  I think I have fewer than six left.  Also considering some peanuts.  Edit:  Yes, peanuts.  360 calories.  Not really needed.

Exercise:  Nope.  Slug.

147.6

Provocative Post Title

Sunday, December 18, 2016

It's curious to me what posts draw an unusually large number of views.  I mean, I have no idea why anyone but me views any of this stuff, but some posts get quite a few hits.  Is it the post title?  The photos?  The inane banter?  Who knows?  I certainly don't.

Happy to have survived another holiday party without a massive blowout last night.  I think that I'm pretty much down to one office party and a couple of family get togethers.  December is tough, man.

Grand plans to do some shopping and house projects today.  To be honest, the couch is way more appealing at the moment.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium, 4 strips thick cut Meijer bacon, Alexia hash browns in (measured) butter, coffee

So pretty.  So tasty.  With Tony Chacheres and hot sauce of course!

So close.  I was having a little too much fun with trying to get the eggs perfect for the camera and the whites are just a hair overdone.  I was also a little short on butter in the pan which probably didn't help.  Otherwise, nailed it.  Bacon was crisp-perfect.  600 calories.

Lunch:  Half corned beef reuben, dill pickle spear, cup of pozole, slice of rye bread

Does pozole usually have corn in it?  

Hit up a different local sandwich place for a light lunch.  Quite good.  Also quite expensive, but a worthwhile treat.  WAG of 800 calories.    Edit:  Oh, yeah.  Hominy.  Not corn.

Dinner:  Meatloaf, 4 cheese potatoes, cheesy green beans, rolls with butter, 12 oz Miller Lite.

Finally some comfort food that photographs decently-ish!

Tasty stuff.  I did have seconds, shouldn't have.  Pretty full.  Lots of calories, no WAG.

Also:   Christmas cookies (4).

The cookies were a little on the thick side.

Tis the season.  Oof.

Exercise:  Nothing formal.  Pretty active today though.

145.2

View Own Post

Saturday, December 17, 2016

I might look forward to winter weekends just as much as summer weekends.  While I admit that I should be more active and get more things accomplished, it's awful nice to have at least one day where you can just sleep in, relax and unwind.  I'm not even going to leave the house until after noon, guaranteed.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium, 4 strips Meijer thick cut bacon, 2 servings Alexia hash browns in (measured) butter, coffee.

That yolk is just about ready to give way ... cooked perfectly.

Today's experiment was to cut down the butter from 2T to 1T in order to accomodate the additional calories from thick cut bacon.  Worked fine, in part because I use a fairly small skillet to do the hash browns.  Anyway, I didn't really notice a difference and I still got plenty of fat from the bacon.  If I were thrifty I'd cook everything in bacon grease, but I'm not.  And I like the flavor of butter.  I wasn't real impressed with the bacon, the Wright brand is better.  600 calories.

Lunch:   Salami, white cheddar, giardiniera and dijon mustard on a brioche bun, pickle spear

A little greasy but SUPER delicious!

Sandwich of the day special from a place I hit on the way to do some shopping.  Fantastic!   I think this is the first time I'd stopped in to this place, they have a nice menu.  I almost switched away to half a reuben and a cup of soup but I'm glad I didn't, because this hit the spot A+ perfectly.  Not even going to try and guess calories.  Ok, I am.  800?

Dinner:  2 cocktail shrimp with a dab of cocktail sauce, a bleu cheese stuffed olive, 8 or 9 crackers with tiny cheese cubes, pastas with sausage and cheese, salad with vinagrette, 2 slices of crusty bread.  12 oz Founders All Day IPA, 2 x 12 oz Coors Light

I tried to get a photo of the dinner portion but it was too dark.  I'm not doing flash photography at a sit down holiday party dinner!  Anyway, I overdid it of course but not too awful.  No sweets helped.  I'm going to WAG this as 1,700 calories.

Exercise:  Well... not that it's formal, structured exercise but I did spend a couple of hours playing actively with kids 7 and 8 so I'm counting it!  Lots of moving, bending, that sort of thing.

145.6

Workdays Are The Worst For Fast Fooding

Friday, December 16, 2016

At least it is Friday.  TGIF.  It's been a long week and I'm just about out of gas.  I'm looking forward to a Saturday of not doing very much at all.  I do have a holiday party to attend, but that's about it.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

Stock photo.  As usual, I ate while driving.
Whenever I get a new vehicle, that will stop.

Even though the closest McDonalds is usually terrible and deservedly gets flak, today's effort was very good.  Well done terrible local McDonalds!  290 calories.  I may just punt on plans of eating breakfast at home during the week and make this a standard go-to.

Lunch:  Arby's chicken bacon swiss, corned beef slider, 1 pc chocolate candy

Candy consumed hours earlier and not pictured.

Late lunch on the go.  I panic-ordered, being way out of date on Wendy's menu.  The chicken sandwich was fine, but it would have better without the honey mustard sauce.  I also thought the slider roll was unnecessarily sweet.  Oh well.  I probably will go a couple more years without eating Arby's now.  Calories 650 + 220 +80 = 950

Dinner:  Leftover hamburger patty, 2 mashed potatoes with (measured) butter, hot sauce

Possibly one of the WORST food blog photos ever taken!

This was ... mediocre.  I mean it was fine.  But it really wasn't well done.  The potatoes really needed some milk, next time I think I'll sub out some of the butter for milk.  The reheated burger was fine, just bland.  I kicked it up with some hot sauce and that helped.  825 calories or so.

Even though I probably shouldn't add the calories, I think I'll have a PBR as part of the ongoing effort to kill that 12 pack.  144 calories.

Exercise:  Nope.  Sleep schedule has not been adjusted sufficiently, had to leave early for work and I just have nothing left tonight.

146.6

Holidays Are The Worst TIme For Binging

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Whew!  I wonder if I'll ever truly squash my inner glutton.  Show me a Christmas buffet with a bunch of stuff I love and self-control just goes out the window.  I have to admit, I could have just eaten the crudites and cheese and salami and it would have been just fine.  But to pass on the good stuff ... too much of a challenge.

I am expecting the scale to go up the next couple of days as a result.  Sigh.  It's a tough time of the year to be good, but I am going to be realistic here, I'm not far enough along and not strong enough to resist ALL of the seasonal goodies.  I'll be happy if I can avoid what I can.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

I would need to recycle a photo, since I was in a hurry after my workout.  It was also cold.  290 calories.

Lunch:  Oh my word.  I'm not sure I'll even be able to list it all.  2 slices of pizza, 2 party ryes.  Meatballs.  Celery sticks with ranch.  Cheese.  Breadsticks.  Brownies, haystacks, chocolate covered pretzels.  Also not pictured another haystack, a cookie of some sort and a cookie ball.

Two trips and I don't regret it.  I could have done without the second slice of pizza and maybe a few of the sweet treats but it was all delicious.  The party ryes are like crack, so are the haystacks.  I can't even begin to guess how many calories this was.  3000?  4000?

Dinner:  Nope.  Not hungry, even hours later.  I did eventually have a PBR.  144 calories.

Exercise:  35 minutes, lots of core.  Got in a planned 45 minute workout in 35 so I kept a pretty high pace.  Feels like I worked pretty hard without going overboard.  Pleased.

146.8

Failed to Get Post Options

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Whew.  Long day.  Lots of running around, lots of dealing with bureaucrats.  Not good times.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, coffee

This is not a recycled photo.

I didn't get the dishes done last night and I was late this morning, so I had an on the run breakfast.  Unusual for me was that I didn't eat right away, it was a good hour into the day before I had the chance.  290 calories.

Lunch:  Qdoba chicken bowl, same stuff as last time.

Not as good as the brisket bowl, but
certainly less caloric!

Could not decide what to have and I was a good 30 minutes away from home.  This was convenient.  Last time I calculated it out at 680 calories, this wasn't any more generous so I'll stick with that.

Dinner:  4 ground beef mexican tacos

I have to admit, they're even better
on dollar taco day.

Meeting meant no dinner until 7:30.  Quiiiiite hungry by then.  Since I still haven't caught up dishes I went easy and got tacos.  Good as always.  I figured 800-900 calories on Monday, I think I'll go with the high end of that range.  As it turns out I would have been content with three.  I'll have to remember that for next time.

Also think I'll have another one of the PBRs, so assume another 144 calories before I'm done.

Exercise:  Disappointingly, no.  Moved some stuff but it turned out to be almost nothing.

149.8

Putting The Wonder In Wonderland

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

December continues to zip on by.  It's remarkable how fast it is going, and it's only going to get quicker given the looming onslaught of holiday parties, gift buying and other end of the year stuff.  Yikes.

Borderline didn't eat enough today.  I was a bit hungry before lunch and again come dinner time.  I may need to stock a few low calorie snacks to cover those situations.

Breakfast:  Egg McMuffin, large coffee

This picture was never going to be a beauty, eh?
Still, one of the better ones I've had lately.  Solid.

Of all the fast food items that I don't feel that bad about, the humble Egg McMuffin might be at the top of the list.  No, it's not idea.  But it's a real egg, real canadian bacon, processed cheese on a buttered english muffin.  And it's not super caloric.  It'll do on workout days.  290 calories.

Lunch:  Chef salad with ranch, coffee

Lettuce, ham, turkey, roast beef, an egg, half a tomato
and some sliced cheese.

Hard to say what to put for calories here.  A Cracker Barrel chef salad has about 400 calories according to MFP, plus dressing, no way to know what kind they use at this restaurant.  So I'm guessing here:  Let's call it 700 calories.  Good but overly expensive.

Dinner:  8 oz grass fed ground beef, pan fried, 2 medium potatoes boiled and mashed with measured butter

If that looks like a lot of potatoes, it is a lot of potatoes.
I didn't think 2 medium potatoes would make that much.

Turned out quite tasty.  Didn't have any milk for the potatoes but I didn't really miss it.  Just used butter and a bit of water for the mash.  Sprinkled with some Tony Chacheres creole seasoning and it hit the spot.  825 calories.

I might have to have a PBR here in a minute.  144 calories.  Still have eight or nine of these left.  They're ... mediocre.

Exercise:  Yes!  45 minutes of arms and cardio type stuff.  Good workout today.

152.8

With Awakedness Lacking

Monday, December 12, 2016

I realized yesterday that I really could dispense with the date line in my posts if I just post on the date in question, since the date is indicated two whole lines up.  Yeah, I'm sharp like that.  It also took me a while to figure out why it was darker than usual this morning.  Burned out light bulb.  Yup.

Otherwise feeling decent this mornnig.  Which is nice.

Breakfast:  1 eggs over medium, 4 strips regular bacon, 2 servings Alexia hash browns in butter (measured), coffee

Every bit as delicious with one egg.

I only had one egg left so I had one egg.  Used up the bacon, too. A rare luxury to take the time (and be late as a result) to cook breakfast during the week.  Call it 600 calories.

Lunch:  Leftover spiral ham and leftover beans

Mostly ham yo.

Didn't measure the ham, but it was a lot.  Going to call it 9 oz, since it was clearly more than the 6 oz portions I've had previously.  Estimated 700 calories.

Dinner:  4 ground beef tacos, mexican style

Yeah, these are def like crack.

Cracked, a bit.  Tired.  Hungry.  Handy dollar tacos, which happen to be delicious.  I did skip the cheese, which I usually add for max deliciousness.  Caloies on MFP are all over the board, I'm thinking about 800-900.

Also, and not pictured, 12 oz PBR.  144 calories.

Exercise:  Nope.  Starts tomorrow.

152.6

An Odd Source of Inspiration

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Memory is a funny thing.  I went back through the archives last night trying to figure out when the last time was that I had weighed myself.  Turns out that it's been nearly two years (at least that I could find upon cursory examination).  I knew it had been more than a year, since in the last year and a half I've moved twice and I never have gotten my old scale out of storage.  I recently bought a new one, it was easier to do so.

I kept going even after finding the weight and it was interesting to see what a struggle it was even when things were going well on the diet front.  There are a lot of bumps and stumbles, even in the good times.  I guess you could say that says some unflattering things about my willpower, but it's the truth.  This is hard.  And realizing that was actually kind of comforting.

What wasn't so comforting was how little effort I've made the last two years.  It's really pathetic.  I really hit my stride four years ago, was in a good routine, eventually let myself get sidetracked by some relationship issues and I just never got back on track for any meaningful period of time.

I was surprised to see that I've only (yeah, I know, "only") gained 20 pounds in the last two years.  It feels like I've gained that much in the last month.  I've been feeling noticeably lousy and bloated.  And even with the years and major weight regain I still haven't lost everything I had in terms of conditioning.  A couple weeks ago I went out and walked a few holes of golf.  When I started, I couldn't have done that.  The couple exercise sessions I've managed most weeks lately help.  But what would really help is getting back to walking an hour every day and eating modestly.  It's not rocket science.

Anyway.  Day 1 was pretty decent.  Let's see how Day 2 goes.  I have a birthday party to go to tonight, so that won't be pretty, but we'll see about the rest.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium in butter, 4 strips Meijer regular bacon, 2 servings Alexia hash browns in butter (total 2T, measured), coffee

Pictured pre-seasoning for variety.  For whatever
reasons creole seasoning plus hot sauces is just perfect.

Only 8/10 this morning, the bacon was overcooked.  I prefer not-crisp, a reason to go with the thick cut stuff.  Still delicious.  Rounded calories = 650.

Lunch:  6 oz leftover spiral ham, 1/2 can Bush's frijoles charros machacados

One of those meals that looks awful on camera ...
but tastes good anyway.

I was pretty sure that any spicy pinto beans I had left in the freezer would be inedible, so I went with the canned stuff.  And I pulled out all the old stuff from the freezer to throw away.   530 calories.

Dinner:  Hamburger patty with slice of colby on a bun, 1/2 brat with bun, mashed potatoes, salad with ranch, 12 oz Miller Lite

Taken on the sly.   Bad guest.

Party theory, you eat what you have to in order to not be rude.  So much starch though.  Oh well, at least I got away with declining the cake and ice cream.

Exercise:  Nope.  Pretty active today but nothing that qualifies.

153.2

Today Is (The) Day

Saturday, December 10, 2016

I know, it's crazy to start an effort to be good during the holidays, but today is the day.  It was a rough week.  By Thursday I was completely out of gas and Friday was dismal.  Lousy sleep, lots of stress, terrible eating.  Sick and tired of being fat and tired.  I slept a little better last night and managed an extra half hour or so and so I feel relatively good.  Let's do this.  Perfection may not be possible but I've got so much weight to lose that even being better I should have no trouble dropping a bunch.

And go.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium, 4 strips Meijer regular bacon, 2 servings Alexa hash browns cooked in butter (total 2T), coffee.

Perfect.  As always.

The only thing I didn't measure was the potatoes, I'm pretty confident though.  MyFitnessPal rings this up as 630 calories, a very reasonable total to start the day.

Lunch:  Qdoba chicken bowl.  Half white rice, half pinto beans, TL chicken, queso, fajita veg, pico, hot, light cheese, guac.

Qdoba keeps removing things I like from the menu....
and their new rewards program is much less favorable.

Estimate from Qdoba site is 680 calories.  Should be in the ballpark anyway.  Not the greatest effort ever by the Qdoba team, but in fairness it was like 3:30 pm.

Dinner:  6 oz spiral ham and 1/2 C green beans, 12 oz Pabst Blue Ribbon (not pictured)

This is what you call picture FAIL.  This is the part
of dinner that I *didn't* eat.  Same stuff though.

Meijer had a big sale on spiral ham, but the smallest one I could find was ~ 9 lb (for a half ham).  I forsee a LOT of ham in my future this week!  Meal, with the post-food beer, clocks in at under 500 calories.

So total calories for the day is just over 1,800.  If I eat that much consistently, I'll lose steadily for quite a while!

Exercise:  None, unless you count walking around the grocery store, which I don't.

154.6

Posttrackin

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Let's at least get back to regular posting, huh?  Even if the eatin and exercisin are less than ideal.

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium, 3 strips bacon, 2 pancakes with butter and syrup, coffee

Good stuff but in hindsight I would have preferred
the breakfast I make at home.

Lunch:  Pretzel sticks with cheddar cheese dip, a slice of banana bread with butter, root beer

Just some junk.

Dinner:  Baked chicken, stove top stuffing, green beans, cheese sauce, roll with butter

Exercise:  Nope.

155.6

Decembrish

Saturday, December 3, 2016

As indicated in the most recent post, I'm feeling pretty ready to buckle down.  It's needed.  That said, I'm still doing things indicative of fail.  I need to push harder.  And I need to weigh in.  I bought a new scale so I'm equipped, I just haven't done it yet!

Breakfast:  2 eggs over medium in butter, Alexia hash browns, 5 strips thick cut bacon, lots of coffee

Add an avacado and this might be my favorite meal.  Okay,
not quite, but it's still way up there on the list!

Just the best breakfast.  Add a little cajun seasoning and some hot sauce and enjoy.  I really slept in today - for the longest time in a long while - so this was really lunch.

"Lunch":  Some Lay's potato chips and root beer, a couple of slices of banana bread with butter

I'm impressed that the chips are still fresh, since the bag has been open and sitting for a good week.  The root beer is different -- it had been years since I'd had soda, but a local place offered a combo with a root beer float and it was delicious.  I will kill the bottle today, though, and be done.

Dinner:  Qdoba chicken bowl, chips and queso

Excessive.

Exercise:  Nope.