Feel The Lean

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Early wake up this morning, beat the alarm by a good half hour.  Didn't really do anything for me, just wasted the time.  Managed to boot myself out the door for a walk, not a bad morning.  The snow kicked in after I went to work so I didn't have to worry about footing.

Of note I definitely felt a little leaner this morning and that my appearance reflected that.  Of course the scale wasn't so sure, it made sure to remind me that I haven't undone the weekend damage yet in full.  But how I look and how I feel are important, it's not just 100% scale.  And feeling leaner is nice ... yes, even though I'm still incredibly fat.

I tried on the smallest pants last night and you know what?  I could get away with wearing them.  I'm still not planning to break them out for about another 15 pounds, but they're doable now.  Which is not a complete surprise, but it's still cool.  I'm going to have to retire some more of the top end pairs soon, it's getting so they won't come close to staying up without the suspenders.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:  Hamburger soup, raisin toast w butter

I think both were from the prior batch.  I'm definitely on to the current week's soup for tomorrow, still have a couple slices of bread left.

Dinner:  Taco bowl, 12 oz All Day IPA

Standard.  Also had a bowl of popcorn w butter:

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, about 41 minutes.  Usual loop, usual pace.  Pretty steady, no major issues.  Can't say I felt great at any point but at least the achilles never barked too loud.

52.2

Rapid Rise

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Stress levels rising rapidly.  Way too much work to do.  Paying for not working this weekend.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:  Hamburger soup, toast w butter

From the new batch of soup, tasty.

Dinner:  Nacho/taco bowl, except with leftover chuck roast, 12 oz Miller Lite

Guac, sour cream and cheese make pretty much anything good.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, 41 minutes.  Not windy as was forecast so it was fine out there.  I can deal with 18 degrees if it's not blowing too hard.  Pace was steady and no strain on the first hill which was encouraging.

53.0

After The Blow

Monday, December 6, 2021

Consequences.  Ate way too much yesterday.  Scale, up.  Expected.  Not as expected:  I needed more sleep.  I crashed at a very reasonable hour and still was definitely not getting up when the alarm went off.  Slept two more hours.  Felt decent then, but already late morning I'm tired again.  We'll see how I react to lunch.

Anyway, it's cold and super windy and generally not very nice outside.  Stupid winter.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:  Leftover wild rice and ham soup, toast w butter

Yuge bowl of soup, really it was two servings.  Just ate what I had left.  Toast was from this weekend's baking, very good of course with lots of butter.  Well sated.

Dinner:  4 tacos mexican style w hot sauce, 12 oz Miller Lite

Taco Monday.  Good, if not quite great.  Back to eating at home tomorrow ... I don't mind spending $5.30 on dinner once in a while, that's for sure.

Exercise:  Nope.  I had kinda pre-talked myself out of it before I went to bed, turns out it would have been marginally OK -- breezy, not the howling winds of mid-morning.  But still not very nice.  We'll call it a rest day.  

52.2

Return To Expectations

Sunday, December 5, 2021

A pleasant if pretty routine morning.  Didn't sleep well for some reason, so I got up early.  Didn't do anything until the regular time, got in a regulation walk and it's time for some coffee.  All good.

Weather looks dismal for the next couple days, walking chances TBD.

Breakfast:  2 egg cheese and onion omelet, raisin toast w butter, 1/2 grapefruit, coffee

Cleaned up an open package of shredded cheddar.  Pretty tasty.

Snack:  Oscar Meyer naturals roast beef

Cleaned up an open package, wasn't looking like I would eat it any time soon and I wanted to wait for my soup to finish before fixing lunch.

Lunch:  Rotel dip (sausage, cream cheese, Rotel) w Siete lime grain free tortilla chips

Ate WAY WAY WAY too much of this.  First time in a while for a blowout.  Just kept eating.

Dinner:  Chuck roast, box potatoes, carrots, gravy, butterflake rolls w butter, peaches

The ol' Sunday dinner problem.  /shrug.  I'll be up tomorrow but back at it.  Was all good and few regrets.  More lunch regrets than dinner regrets.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, about 41 minutes.  A shade faster, no knee braces today.  Felt pretty good, for the most part.  Was peppy going up the first hill until the very end, which is both good and bad.  We'll see if that continues to get better.  I don't have trouble with the distance or duration, I just struggle a bit with hills.

50.6

Getting Close To A Goal

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Not *the* goal, of course, but an interim goal.  Another nice little drop going into the weekend, happy about that.  Just hoping to keep it together through the end of the year without too much holiday damage.  So far I'm pretty optimistic.  Maybe I'll hit this interim goal this week.  Let's hope.

Breakfast:  2 egg omelet with bacon, cream cheese and guac, 2 strips bacon, 1/2 grapefruit, coffee

My omelet game is getting stronger.  Very tasty and also pretty easy.   I didn't bother flipping it but would have if the photo were important to anyone.

Lunch:  Ham and wild rice soup

Same recipe as last week but I made the OG version with ham instead of chicken.  Good stuff and I ate plenty.  Forgot to take a picture (oops) so here is one from last week.

Dinner:  Culvers mushroom and swiss burger, 12 oz Miller Lite

Late quick dinner.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, about 42 minutes.  Usual route, usual pace.  Loosened up pretty readily, struggled a bit with the first hill but otherwise felt fine.  I do think the knee braces slow my pace, some day soon I may try without just to see if I'm faster.

50.4

Always A Good Thing

Friday, December 3, 2021

Ahh TGIF.  Thank goodness.  It's been a long week and it's not the end of the day yet. 

Nothing much interesting.  Routine is pretty good right now.  I did talk myself out of walking due to rain - I would say I need to get that sorted out gearwise (cold rain is just not something I'm settled on how to deal with) but it shouldn't be too much of an issue for a few months.  Had a small drop on the scale to another new low.  Which I like, of course.  Had a couple more random favorable comments this week from people that know me.  

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:  Soup and toast

Standard.  Figured I can save some words in the description.

Dinner:  Nacho/Taco bowl, 12 oz All Day IPA

Also standard, just have to decide what to call it.  Last of the ranch Siete chips.  I bought lime and nacho for next week.  Not getting the photo to work for some unknown reason, will try again later.  (Edit:  Got it now)

Exercise:  Nope.  Got up at the usual time and I did go to the grocery store before work but that doesn't count.  I was even in and out in just about 30 minutes which never happens.

51.4

Course Comma On

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Nothing much exciting.  Moved the alarm up a half hour hoping to get to work super early.  The super part didn't happen but I was early, early enough I guess.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.  Had a third plus cup out too, it was a bit too much coffee.  Two is the sweet spot.

Lunch:  Hamburger soup, HSCR toast w butter

Standard.  Still good.  Probably fine with dropping the toast descriptor -- if I'm eating bread at home it's some that I made.  Exceptions, if they happen, would probably be easier to note.

Dinner:  Steak nachos, 12 oz All Day IPA

Same as yesterday except with guac.  And no pork rinds.  Decided I like the nacho flavor better than the ranch flavor Siete chips.  Haven't tried the hint of lime kind yet, maybe next week.

Exercise:  1.8 mile walk, 43 minutes.  It didn't take as long to loosen up a little this morning, only six or eight blocks.  Not real fast as there was a pretty good breeze in my face for a long stretch but whatever, it was nice out there, almost 50 degrees.  Pretty great for December walking.  Too bad it's not a weekend, I defnitely would have liked to have fit in 9 holes or more.

52.0

Dozy December

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Tired again when I got up this morning and I've started to notice a trend - on days I get my walk in, like today, after sitting for a bit in the recliner I want to doze.  And I have been.  Got at least a half hour in today and even had to set an alarm to make sure I woke back up.  I could have stood to sleep a bit earlier last night (though I wasn't sleepy much before I did crash) and there was a bit more snoring but still, it should be enough.  Oh well, didn't hurt much of anything.

November in the books and it was fairly successful, with a nice drop on the scale even with the holiday jump and other assorted blips.  The post holiday readings appear to be legit as there hasn't been a rebound yet.  Happy about that.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup

Lunch:  Hamburger soup, HSCR toast with butter

Standard.  And I still look forward to eating it.  

Dinner:  Steak "taco" bowl - CF ribeye, extra sharp cheddar, sour cream, ranch Siete grain free tortilla chips.  Also had a few pork rinds and 12 oz All Day IPA

Didn't feel like cooking, so I improvised based on what could be heated quickly.  I cooked the steak last night so I only had to reheat for a few minutes in some beef stock and it was dinner time.  It was ... OK.  Probably going to have the exact same thing tomorrow night.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, 42 minutes.   Again pretty slow early as various leg parts were kinda cranky.  Never really felt strong or great or loose but I made it through without incident other than a little struggle on the uphill.   No worries.  Even thought some after I finished about where I could add a little distance without losing the gist of this which is to stay in relatively clear and lighted areas since I haven't been wearing glasses.

52.2

Powered By Tacos Again

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

It was a pleasant visit to Taco Monday yesterday and I didn't pay for it, which wasn't a huge surprise given my past musings about the power of tacos.

Definitely sluggish again this morning and it wasn't hard to talk myself into dozing.  Had a stressful morning and the anticipation really did not help.  Nor did the prospect that I may have been exposed to COVID yesterday.  System failure on that.  I'll be watching for any symptoms and I'm sure that even the slightest dip in how I feel will be concerning.  As of lunchtime I don't feel great but I can't point to anything in particular that would make me run out and test.  Temp was normal.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:   Hamburger soup, HSW toast w butter

Standard.

Dinner:  Oscar Meyer naturals roast beef, leftover TCD style mashed potatoes, Epic salt and pepper pork rinds, 12 oz All Day IPA

Didn't have the patience to wait for my steak to cook.  So I scrounged.  Singed the inside of my mouth after heating the potatoes to nuclear hot.

Exercise:  Nope.  Rest day.

52.2

Happy Kind of Confusion

Monday, November 29, 2021

I really didn't know what to expect this morning.  I anticipated that the scale would be up - it wasn't a great weekend of diet-friendly eating.  There was a holiday, after all.  Yesterday had lots of suboptimal stuff.  I didn't get any notable exercise other than a few flights of stairs and a computer install which no I do not count.  And yet ... a big drop.  To a new low.  WHAT.

That's a great way to start what will undoubtedly be a very Monday kind of day.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:   Leftover chicken and wild rice soup, HSW toast w butter

Happy with the soup.  Will make again, probably, since I have ingredients including most of a bag of wild rice.  Might do ham next time since I have that on hand.

Dinner:  4 ground beef tacos, mexican style w hot sauce.  12 oz All Day IPA

Pretty wiped out tonight so I went with Taco Monday.  Still darned good for $5 plus tax.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, 44 minutes.  Slow today.  Very gimpy for the first mile or so - tight achilles, cranky feet, legs not really buying in.  Eventually loosened up some and the home stretch was at a much more normal pace.

52.8

Lazing About

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Lazy start.  Got up but didn't feel great - scratchy throat appears to have been due to some overnight drip.  Shower and coffee appears to have largely taken care of it, but it was enough to keep me from going outside and walking.  I might also need a nap as I'm relatively tired.

Pleasantly surprised by the scale, still up for the weekend but OK.  Definitely let go of a little water, which is weird especially after eating a bunch of potatoes for dinner.

Breakfast:  Omelet with bacon, cream cheese and guacamole, 4 strips bacon, 1/2 grapefruit, glass of whole milk, coffee

Very tasty, if a bit much.  Okay, a lot much.  Didn't really need the glass of milk but I had it to clean up the half gallon.

Lunch:  Homemade chicken with wild rice soup

Knockoff of a recipe from Byerly's in Minneapolis.  Quite tasty, though I think it'll be better on reheat.  Ate an extra couple ladles too.

Dinner:  Culver's mushroom and swiss double burger

Needed to keep working so I went with something relatively quick.

Exercise:  Nope.  Rest day.

56.0

Not In The Face K

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Expected much, much worse than I got from the scale this morning.  Not sure why it was as benign as it was but hey I'll take it.

Reasonably happy with what I got accomplished yesterday.  I didn't go anywhere and unfortunately I didn't make myself go to the office, but at least it's notably cleaner in some places around here.  Plenty more to do, of course.

Breakfast:  Leftover sausage strata, medium avocado, 1/2 grapefruit, coffee

Yum.  That strata reheats so well.  Alas I am now out of it, I only made a half pan.

Lunch:  Spicy bean bowl with nacho Siete chips

A clean out the fridge concoction.  I had a smaller quantity of beans leftover after filling my jars, so I threw that in with the rest of my leftover turkey and half can of Rotel.  Cheese on top.  Turned out pretty decent.  Lots of beans went into the freezer so I may be eating them fairly often.

Dinner:  Rotisserie chicken, TCD style mashed potatoes, jello and cranberry.  12 oz All Day IPA

Barely held off the urge for a pizza.  Didn't feel like cooking but I managed to do it.

Edit:  Add a few more Siete nacho chips.  Doh.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, 42 minutes.  A couple of icy stretches meant I had to be a little cautious.  At least most of it was clear and dry.  Tested out my new hat and it was toasty warm.

58.0

Questions Of Worth

Friday, November 26, 2021

Ahh, the morning after a binge errr feast.  More eating to come today (leftovers!) but I have mostly convinced myself to cut it there and eat more normally on the weekend.

Did some wondering this morning if it was worth it.  I was quite tired last night and went to bed about the normal time.  Woke up with a foot cramp about midnight (at least that was the only time).  Looks like I had a couple fierce rounds of snoring.  Not super rested this morning and I dozed for a couple hours in the recliner.  Obvious weight gain, though my prediction was wildly pessimistic and I overshot the mark by a full three pounds.  At the end of the day, though, I think my answer is still yes.  I do love a good turkey feast, I enjoyed making it and I enjoyed the company.  Once or twice a year.  Worth it.

Breakfast:  Leftover sausage strata, 1/2 grapefruit, coffee

Yum.

Lunch:  Rotel sausage dip, Siete nacho cheese grain free tortilla chips, slice of pecan pie, glass of whole milk

I might be up five pounds tomorrow.   

Dip was great, used cream cheese instead of my usual cheddar cheese sauce and the Siete chips were on sale so I bought them to try.  Delicious.  And the pie is great.  Working on cleaning up the milk, I had too much since I ended up doing less cooking than expected.

Dinner:  Leftover feast - turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry, jello, rolls w butter, glass of Pinot Grigio, 12 oz All Day IPA.  Will have the rest of the pecan pie later.

Yummo.  Stuffed.  Fat.  Happy.

Last of the pie.

Exercise:  Nope.  Rest day.  I didn't check to see if it was still snowing.

59.0

Thanking

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Thanksgiving Day

Giving thanks today for a little progress, another trip around the sun, continued health of family and friends, thinking of those we have lost.  

It was a very pleasant morning out there, mid 40s and no wind is so nice for this time of year.  Quiet, too, with almost nobody out.  It did mean that I didn't get to smell bacon frying when I went past the breakfast place downtown, but so it goes.  Peaceful.  I don't quite have the same love for the morning walk that I found all those years ago but it has become more routine and it can be enjoyable.

Lots of eating to do, lots of cooking too.  Pleased that I wasn't up after yesterday -- It didn't feel like I ate to excess, more the fact that I had a fast food burger plus dairy and ate late.  Didn't even trigger lots of snoring.

Breakfast:  Sausage strata, 1/2 grapefruit, coffee

Best one I have ever made.  SO good.  Wow.

Lunch:  Taco bowl, 12 oz All Day IPA

Oh, and I ate a caramel while making the pecan pie.  Decided not to wait until dinner since it's going to be at you know dinnertime.

Dinner:  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, cranberry, jello salad, rolls with butter, 24 oz All Day IPA, a glass of pinot grigio, caramel pecan pie with vanilla ice cream

All turned out fantastic.  10/10.  Stuffed.  Probably 10,000 calories, zero regrets.  And I have leftovers.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, 40 minutes.  A hair faster but my pace is my pace.  No struggles today, just a steady march.  It does help, I think, to have a regular route and a podcast to listen to.

56.8

Oaktowns

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Lots of leaves blowing around this morning.  Still some on the trees, too.  

Expected but still disappointing jump on the scale.  Definitely retaining water.  Which is a bit odd because I do not feel puffy and it's not especially notable.  Legs have actually been less puffy.  But it's definitely true and something to deal with after the holiday.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:  Hamburger soup, HSW toast w butter

Thawed some regular bread given that I may have a need for some this weekend.

Dinner:  Culvers mushroom and swiss double burger, sugar free butterscotch pudding

Very late dinner.  2 servings of pudding (1/2 small box), cleaned up what I didn't use for the pie.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, 40 minutes.  Usual loop, usual pace.  Felt OK.  Not peppy but more steady on the uphills.  Maybe a little tight in the achilles but not enough to be a concern at all.  The first few blocks were dead into a stiff wind, not looking forward to days when it's way below freezing and it blows like that.  Brr.

57.2

Rice Hangover Possibly

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

I noticed this morning (and thinking back to last evening) that there is some water being retained.  Ugh.  Hard to figure, I mean the only notable thing yesterday was having a slice of keto pie.  I suppose that could have tipped the balance but it just doesn't feel likely.  Oh well.  It's a small thing, I just get cranky when I get home from my 0-dark-30 walk and the scale shows higher.

I really shouldn't obsess, this week in particular.  I have lots of holiday eating planned.  Weight will be gained.  It just needs to be transitory.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:  Hamburger soup, HSCR toast w butter

Yup.  I'm so verbose.

Dinner:  Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, roll with butter, 12 oz All Day IPA, last slice of keto pie

From local BBQ place I hit a few times this summer.  Was going to get this tomorrow night, but since our family meal is in serious jeopardy I figured why wait.  It was quite good, even if they forgot the little tub of cranberry.  I even watched the worker dish it up, it just didn't make into the big container.  Oh well.

And yes I'm fully aware of the irony of getting this carb bomb after whining earlier about water retention.

Exercise:  Walk, 1.8 miles, just over 40 minutes.  Same route, which I like because it's not as dark as some of the alternatives.  Went without my glasses for the first time today, on this route I can get away with it.  On some others the risk of tripping and falling would be way too high.

55.8

Rest From Walk Weekend

Monday, November 22, 2021

Pleased that I tolerated yesterday's walking quite well.  I never got notably tired -- we played in 4 hours and I never sat down or stopped for more than a minute.  I wondered about a couple late hills but they were no issue at all.  And I burned off lots of calories including all that rice.  Good times.  Got a solid night of sleep and had a planned rest day this morning.  Thanksgiving week is off to a pretty good start.

Breakfast:  Coffee

Yup.

Lunch:  Hamburger soup, HSCR toast w butter

Slices were a bit bigger in this batch (which means the non-CR bread will be smaller).  Good as always.

Dinner:  Taco bowl, 12 oz Miller Lite, slice of keto butterscotch cream cheese pie w whipped cream

Duplicate of yesterday.  One fat slice of the pie left for tomorrow night.

Exercise:  Nope.  Rest day.  I did look a little and I think yesterday was the first time since 2013 that I walked 18.  Happy it went as well as it did.

54.0

Eating Isn't Everything

Sunday, November 21, 2021

I was not real sure what I was going to see from the scale this morning.  Felt a little bloated and definitely backed up.  At the same time, I got a lot of walking in yesterday and the eating wasn't as awful as last weekend.  And ... it was not great bob.  Like I said yesterday, weekends need to look more like the weekdays since those, for the most part, are going well.  Oh, and I should add a couple bites of bread -- had to test the new batch of homemade bread as I bagged it up for the freezer -- and a bit of butter to last night's eating.

So it goes.  May be able to get in some more golf this afternoon, we will see if the weather holds.  They've backed off the forecast of meaningful snow tonight into tomorrow so maybe there will be a chance over the holiday too.  Who knows.  I definitely don't bank on what the long term forecast says.

Fun with numbers:  Just for entertainment I made a spreadsheet of scale results for days where I eat breakfast for dinner versus taco salad versus taco bowl.  It's not perfect, since there is some variation in exact composition (especially of breakfast) but I'm not trying to prove anything in particular.  The results were interesting -- taco dinners resulted in between 3 and 4 times the average loss the next day compared to breakfast.  Bowls were no worse (slightly better in fact) than salads.  Only one day was a gain out of 12 for tacos.  3 out of 9 (plus a zero) for breakfast.  I tried to be as consistent as possible, which was relatively easy given that I've had soup and toast every single one of the sample days for lunch I think -- I didn't tabulate days with a weird lunch.   Kind of eye opening!  I should also do a sheet of what my awful weekends are doing to my progress sometime.

Breakfast:  Pancakes w/ butter & maple syrup, bacon, coffee

Freezer cakes, leftover bacon, easy five minute meal on the griddle.  Carby but delicious.

Snack:  A few Epic salt and pepper pork rinds.  Finally finished this bag, spread out over ~ 4 snacks I think.

Lunch:  Yellow rice with diced ham

Carb loading before golf.  SMDH.  At least I cleaned up the open package of ham.

Dinner:  Taco bowl, keto butterscotch pie, 12 oz Miller Lite

Standard bowl with the Siete chips.  A very fine dinner and I'm glad I had it handy so I could talk myself out of getting takeout.

I made a half pie this morning - it's an almond flour crust, filling is cream cheese and sugar free butterscotch pudding.  A little whipped cream on top.  Not bad.

Exercise:  18 holes walking.  I need to try and figure out if it's the first time I've walked 18 holes since Thanksgiving 2012.    15k steps and it went just fine.

54.8