SBD: Attempt 2, Day 2...then more crap about riding my bike

I'm happy to report that day 1 of my second South Beach diet attempt was almost completely on track. There was the oat bran substitution after my egg mishap, and a couple squares of dark chocolate after dinner, but everything else I ate was South Beachy-keen. (I'm so sorry.)

Day 2 has been a little more rocky. I didn't buy eggs last night and slept in this morning, so breakfast was from that place with the big red and yellow sign. I minimized the damage by throwing away the hashbrowns and barely sweetening the coffee, but still. I thought I'd last more than ONE DAY before hitting a drive-thru.

Anyway, to look on the bright side, the day from that point onward has been right on track. Also, I worked out at lunch today, and plan on going for a ride after work. My goal is to do my 16-mile after-work loop in under an hour. With stop signs and traffic lights, that means a 17-18 mph moving average...which is pretty much a sprint speed for me, at this point. If I meet that goal and don't die, I'll be very happy. I won't be wearing the heart rate monitor, as those numbers would only kill my buzz. :)

So, what lit a fire under my ass today? Well, since I set up a timer to record the Tour de France last month, my DVR has been capturing anything with "Cycling" in its title. Since every bike event on Versus has "Cycling" as the title, it's caught a variety of cycling events that I never would have watched otherwise. I don't even watch them now, usually, but last night I turned one on thinking it was the abbreviated coverage of the last week of the tour. Instead, I found myself watching summary coverage of the women's field in the Nature Valley Grand Prix. It's the first time I've ever seen women's racing, and I was pretty much riveted. All those tiny little bikes, and those girls are fast. And tough! There was this one girl that crashed three times in one of the crit stages, I think, and just got up and kept on going. I think she ended up in the top 10 overall. Now, I'm not saying that the men aren't tough...but it's just different. I expect men to be tough, hardcore, "it's just a flesh wound" sort of people. But these women...too cool. Plus, it was nice to see some other women who probably have trouble finding jeans to fit their waist and their thighs. (For totally better reasons, but you know.)

Now, that's not to say that I want to get out there and race, because I don't. I'm not sure I have the heart or the fearlessness for road racing, even if I do finally lose 60 lbs. I also have no head for tactics, and racing is all about knowing when to attack or form alliances or whatever, and also about working with a team. I've never been good at team sports, or with other people depending on me for anything. But I do want to be fast, and watching these badass women made me believe that maybe I could be. Not, you know, world-class fast, but maybe fast enough to not totally embarrass myself in an amateur race someday, if I ever screwed up the courage to try. Does that make sense? Maybe, maybe not.

So anyway, I watched women race last night, then I read 3 chapters of Floyd Landis's book, and now I'm going to take the world by storm. Or, you know, try to ride 16 miles at 18 mph without passing out. Everybody's gotta start somewhere, right? :)

UPDATE: 15.56 miles in 1:01, according to the display. And that includes a stop to take a phone call. It also includes some wind, which I think helped more than it hurt, though I can't really be sure. I'm happy with it overall.

UPDATE #2: Training Center and Motionbased both agree that the ride was 15.63 miles. Motionbased says that I was stopped for 4:41, so my time was 56:25, moving average was 16.6 mph. My overall average was 15.4, so eh...not even a personal best. But it is nearly 2 mph faster than the last time I rode this course. :)

a few announcements

1. I didn't intentionally neglect my musical duties. In fact, I even copied some files to my hard drive for posting "later". Then the holiday weekend came and went, and "later" didn't end up being anytime soon. Better late than never, though--they're in the extended entry.

2. I have a teammate for the Urban Assault Race! While I'm kind of sad that Noah didn't want to do it again, I'm excited about racing this year with someone who likes to ride as much as I do. I still don't have any delusions of winning, but I think we may be able to make a middle-of-the-pack showing in the women's division. Let the route-planning begin!

3. I know that I'm, like, a week late to the party on this, but you know what sucks? Watching 2 hours of boring, bloated crap, only to miss the two minutes of the Idol finale that I really wanted to see. And the official apology with the line comparing the live Idol finale to sporting events...please. A sporting event's run time is far less controllable than a variety/entertainment show. Most of the stuff in this show had zero effect on the outcome, and could easily have been cut when it looked like they were running short on time. I understand that they paid the artists to be there, even if they were horrible (I'm looking at you, Midler), but the Golden Idols? They were stupid and unfunny last year, too. Why give more airtime to the audition freak parade? It only encourages more of the crazy next year, and the audition episodes take up way too much time the way it is.

   That said, the episode may remain on my DVR for all time, just for that Doug E. Fresh/Blake performance. Awesome. I'm a little embarrassed to admit how many times I've watched it.

4. I've been very good with the food/exercise for about 4 days now. I probably shouldn't say that I have a handle on this again, because history has shown that such pronouncements are generally followed by an epic screw-up. However, I'm going to chance an "I might". Today, I even ended with my calories under 1500 (barely--1497, per sparkpeople)!

5. Inspired by this book (which I'm really enjoying, though the constant pop-culture similes are starting to wear on my nerves a bit), I've started walking for 30 minutes every day, whether I feel like it or not. I didn't today, however, because I went to my old sculpting class this afternoon instead. OH. MY. GOD. I was shaky from the neck down for about an hour afterward, and I didn't even use any weights over 5 lbs. During the lunges, the instructor walked by and said to me..."I think it's been too long since I've seen you in here." I was like, "yeah, me too." Dude...I am weak. I'm not at all sore right now, at least, but I see it coming in a day or two.

6. My left ankle is getting better, but it's a two steps forward, one step back sort of healing. The daily walking isn't doing it any favors, but it's not hindering enough that it's worth breaking the habit. The lunges were a little rough today, and I had to be really careful to skip/go easy on any stretches that caused any kind of discomfort for the Achilles. I think in another couple weeks, or maybe a month, it might be back to pre-running condition.

7. Of course, you know the reason I'm so gung-ho about the food and the strength training and the walking, right? I want to build my damned bike already. The Pilot is working fine, of course (except for a vexing issue with the front derailleur hitting the chain in the bigger gears...it's a cable adjustment thing, and while a kind soul at the club ride did fix it for me Sunday, it's back), but as it nears the 5000-mile mark, I'm starting to get antsy. I want to ride the Orca in the duathlon in October, and I have to lose 1.5 - 2 lbs/week in order to make that happen. Which means no more Ms. Nice Joy...if I have to kick my own ass every single day for 4 straight months, I am going to lose those 30 lbs. God as my witness and whatever.

UPDATE: Music links removed.

And here it is--the music I was going to post 4 days ago. As threatened/promised, it's all Idol-related. I tried to find one from every season I've watched (4, 5, & 6), but couldn't find any mp3s from the Taylor year. Mostly because I could not stand his spastic ass. So anyway, here you are...

Independence Day - Carrie Underwood

Within a Dream - Bo Bice

Somewhere Only We Know - Keane (yeah, not an Idol...but downloaded because of one)

You Give Love a Bad Name - Bl@ke Lew1s

Right-click, save-as, see you tomorrow.

I've been trying to write this for days

Okay, here's the thing.

In the beginning, this was a weight-loss blog. I did well with it the first couple years, lost over 40 lbs at one point, and was just a pound or two away from my lowest weight since before Noah was born. Then Christmas happened. Then the Elephant happened. Then something else, and something else, and before I knew it, I was up 25 lbs and holding.

I've had several fits and starts since March, trying to get my groove back. Since I haven't had much success, I found it difficult to come up with ways to talk about it here without sounding like a 24/7 failure-fest. So I just didn't talk about it at all, choosing instead to talk about vacations, or bikes, or music. The less I talked about my weight here, the less weight I lost, and the less I did about it. Occasional half-hearted efforts were the best I could muster, and they were usually cancelled out immediately by some spectacular weekend indulgence.

In the past few weeks, I've started pulling my life back together. The junk removal was part of that...it's been a major source of frustration for years, and I feel a lot calmer overall now that I'm not tripping over things that we don't need. I've also started back on a couple long-delayed home improvement projects. I finally got around to mounting curtain rods in the dining room and putting up drapes. With last quarter's fitness incentive certificate, I bought a deck chair for reading in the back yard. I'm shopping paint colors for the kitchen and living room. These seem like little things, but they're pretty big. I've lived for over two years in a house that hasn't seemed like my own. It's not that I wasn't comfortable...there was just no place in the house that felt right. It was a place cluttered with pending projects and white TV noise, with no room where I could really relax. I'm finally taking steps to change that, a couple little things at a time.

I've also been working on establishing a daily routine, which has always been helpful for me in sticking with any plan. Way down beyond the surface chaos, I'm a creature of habit. I like doing the same things at the same times, having everything in its place, knowing what's going to happen next. With a routine in place, sticking to a diet is easier.

And we're trying to conceive again. I waffled on whether or not I was really ready. On the one hand, I wanted to conceive again as quickly as possible, so that I could give myself a reason, however weak, that the earlier pregnancy failed. On the other, what if I miscarried again? I don't know how women survive through more than one, and I don't want to know. I do know that if we manage to conceive again, I'm going to be a wreck until around week 20. So, yeah. I need to make an appointment with my doctor, see what the best way to make this happen. I'd rather not get to the point of ovulation testing and charting and whatnot, but I'd also rather not wait another year. My cycles have been normal, at least, even with the weight gain. We'll see what happens, I guess, take it one month at a time.

With all of these things falling gradually into place, I think it's time to get back to concentrating on weight loss. None of my pants fit except a couple pairs of my "fat pants"...I tried putting on a pair of jeans the other day which used to be loose, and I couldn't button them without sucking in. It's time to stop fucking around here. Buying bigger pants is not an option.

Here is the plan:

Food

1. Three meals, two snacks. Also, vending machines will be avoided, and breakfast cannot come from Starbucks. I also plan to limit my latte consumption to twice a week. This will have the added bonus of making it more likely that I'll get to work on time.

2. 1400-1700 calories, though I'll only be counting for the first couple weeks. After that, it's all about portion sizing and food group choices. I'm still planning to follow the Portion Teller plan...beyond buying smaller dishes and eyeballing portion sizes for cereal, I haven't gotten very far with it yet. Lazy, lazy, lazy.

3. Only one lunch out per workweek. The rest of the time, it's salad or a Lean Cuisine. Or both, if the salad is all veggies.

4. No eating after 8 pm. Much like nothing good happens at high school parties after midnight, very seldom does anything healthy go into my mouth in the evenings.

5. Take a multivitamin every day. This is more about the TTC than the diet (Dr. recommended 400mcg folic acid, and why not get the rest while I'm at it?), though it helps both.

Exercise

1. Exercise every day. While I don't think exercising every single day is an absolute must for weight loss, I have to do it this way. Procrastinator + Underachiever = "I've still got time to get 5 workouts in this week...I'll do it tomorrow."

2. Bike-commute to work at least twice per week, weather permitting. This is an easy way to guarantee 90 minutes of exercise in a day. Like with the Starbucks thing, I've also found that it gets me to work on time more often.

3. Ride to the start of the Saturday club ride at least once a month. Adds at least 20 miles to my total distance, AND frees up a parking space at the Y for someone else.

4. Strength & flexibility workouts. I've been neglecting these things, because I sort of hate them. I don't know exactly how I'll work them in, but I'm sure I'll detail that later. Rob and I had talked about trying a yoga class together, so maybe that's part of the answer.

5. Get my work fitness incentives for Q3 and Q4. Mama needs some more deck chairs.

Goals

1. Lose an average of 1 lb. per week through the end of the year. That's 23 lbs (24 if I count the week that ends January 5th), which would bring me down below 175 again. Though honestly? With the way I've been clinging to 195-196 lately, I'll be happy just to finally get out of the 190s.

2. Fit back into my size 14s by the end of the year. #1 begets #2.

3. Get the odometer on my bike up to 4000 miles by the end of the year. Right now, I'm at 2150ish (happy birthday, Amelia! Didn't quite make 2200 in her first year, but I got close). If I put 44 commuting miles and 20 club ride miles on per week, I'll be nearly there. Throw in a few extra miles on Saturdays and a couple long charity rides, and 4000 is totally within reach.

4. Ride a damn century at the Space Race next year. The course is super flat, and it's in the spring, so weather shouldn't be an issue this time. Plus, I promise not to be a dumbass who slacks on the training till the last minute.

5. Have a baby. Not by the end of the year, obviously. Any time after April 2007 would be nice. Of course, achieving this goal might prevent me from pursuing the others, but that's totally fine with me. :)

Tomorrow is Day 1. Again.

*********************************

And on a side note...how AWESOME was stage 17?! I think Landis may be my new favorite cyclist (sorry, George.) I mean, seriously--how does he walk around...?

Food/Exercise log,11/23

I've been thinking again. Looking back on my weight loss over the past 3 years can be slightly depressing. The first year, I lost 26 lbs. The second, 6 lbs. That's a pretty drastic decline. This year, if I let things go on in their typical holiday way, my loss will be even less. It's a trend that I want to stop, as I mentioned in the last post.

In order to find out what works for me, I figure I need to review what worked in the past. I briefly considered doing a true analysis, charting weight trends and correlating them with whatever data I had recorded during that timeframe. Then I remembered that I am not a mathemetician, and in fact I failed college statistics that one semester because it was so insufferably tedious that I quit showing up for class. Anyway, point being that I have no clue how to create a reliable algorithm or logarithm or whatever sort of rithm to calculate which factors most affected my weight loss or lack thereof. So I decided that the best I can do is chart my losses from the weigh in posts, find the times I lost the most weight, and determine what I was doing then that I am not doing now. Essentially, go back to the beginning.

I have not done this yet, as it sounds like a lot of work, and anything that sounds like a lot of work is best put off until I have nothing better to do. However, one thing that I do know always makes me a better loser is to document my food and exercise. Because I have a tendency to lose interest in these logs about halfway through the week, I've decided it would be better to do daily log posts rather than one big weekly one. So, this is the first.

Oh, and in the spirit of audience participation...I encourage everyone to hound me in the comments on days when I don't post a log by noon, or if a log does not have a dinner entry by the next morning. The one exception to this is Saturdays, when I won't record anything and you can't make me. Girl's gotta have a free day, and anything I eat is counterbalanced by the long morning ride anyway.

Since I know that these things are generally boring to read, I've put it in the extended entry. I'm doing core, so points values are only included for non-core foods and those are bolded. Activity points are italicized.

Aaaand because I never follow any plan exactly to the letter, my core list includes low-fat dairy and flavored non-fat yogurt. Also, when I make a recipe that includes core and non-core items, I only count points on the meal for the non-core ingredients. And finally, I consider all meats core, so long as the fat is trimmed off or drained, and the skin is removed.

Food/exercise log for 11/23

Jimmy Dean skillet breakfast, 1/2 cup
2 egg whites
1 c. orange juice: 2

venti non-fat latte, w/2 splenda and cinnamon

walk: 3

caesar salad w/ff dressing & salmon: 2
bread: 4
diet coke

cheese & crackers: 5
almond granola bar: 3

rotisserie chicken

Total non-core points: 16
Total activity points: 3

Weekly point balance: 22

and lo, the earth split and the sky fell, and the world pretty much stopped spinning

After much deliberation over these past few days about the state of my diet situation, I've decided to...

...wait for it...

...go to a Weight Watchers meeting. There's one sort of near my house tonight at 7:00, so I'm going to go check it out and see if I can stand the people. If I can, I'm going to start going to meetings again for a while.

With my general dislike for chirpy women and meetings of any sort, you'd think that this would be a catastrophically bad option for me. However, I've decided that I'm just too prone to cheating when I'm doing everything by myself. If I have to go in at 7:00 pm every Thursday and step on a scale in front of other people, I may be more inclined to ease back on the sumo wrestler-esque diet "plan" I've been following lately. This meeting also has the advantage of being about halfway between my house and the gym, so I can stop on the way home and get a workout in.

This probably goes without saying, but if this meeting exhibits any signs of giggling, squealing, or group cheers, I am so out of there.

Review: Kraft To Go!

Some people would look at this product, which is essentially a serving of Kraft cheese and crackers packaged in a plastic tray and sold for $1, as a product for someone too stupid and/or lazy to slice cheese. As someone who regularly brings cheese and crackers to work, and as a fiend for single-serve packages AND wee things of all types, I look at it and say, "Geeeenius!"

I first saw them at Target last night, and as soon as I spied the baby triscuits, I knew I must try them. Not wanting the baby Ritz to feel neglected, I bought a 2-pack of each variety, for $1.89 each.

I brought one of the triscuit & co-jack packs to work today, and they were nearly everything I hoped they would be.

Pros:

They're fast. I'm perpetually running late, so it's nice to take the prep-work out of one of my favorite snacks.

They offer built-in portion control. With its relatively high fat content and small serving sizes, cheese is one of those foods that it's very easy for me to overdo. Hell, I could eat a whole box of triscuits and a block of cheddar in a single evening (and maybe even call it dinner). Having these in the house instead keeps me from doing that.

The triscuits are sealed off from the cheese, so the crackers don't get soggy or rubbery (like they do if I bring crackers and cheese in the same baggie). Both the crackers and the cheese tasted reasonably fresh.

The cheese was all the same size, and the crackers were all intact, which satisfied my more OCD tendencies.

The pieces are teeny. In addition to being cuter that way, it's somehow more satisfying to eat 20 mini-triscuits with cheese than to eat 7 big ones.

At 170 calories per serving, it's a sensibly-sized snack.

Cons:

At 11g of fat (6g saturated) per serving and only 1g of fiber, it's not exactly weight-watchers friendly. I don't know the points value since I don't do it anymore, but it's probably 3-4.

There was one more cracker than there were cheese bits, which aggravated my aforementioned OCD tendencies.

And finally, if you bought a box of triscuits ($3.75) and a block of cheese ($3.15) and made your own equivalent packages of cheese and crackers, you'd save about a quarter per serving* and possibly the Earth or something (plastic packaging, etc).

Overall, though, they get the Joy Seal of Approval.

*Of course, that could be said of a lot of things...If I bought my yogurt in 16 oz. tubs it would save money and packaging, I suppose, but it would go bad uneaten in the fridge much more often than my individual Yoplait Lights. I'm just sayin'.

today's accountability menu

Since the posting of my menu worked so well for me yesterday, I thought I'd do it again. Here's the plan for today:

Morning:
Fiber 0ne Honey Clusters w/milk
coffee
apple w/peanut butter

Afternoon:
Caesar salad w/low-fat dressing and salmon (L@ M@deleine, takeout on the way back from the gym)
strawberries
pistachios

Evening:
No idea, but I'll come up with something. Right now I'm leaning toward some variety of beef.

Calorie count, pre-dinner: 1162
Protein: 46
Fiber: 31

So, I need something pretty high in protein for dinner, around 400-600 calories. Any ideas?

The road to hell, revisited

let's talk about food, shall we?

If you've been watching my daily stats posts (which, you know, are ooooh so riveting), you may have noticed that I can't seem to keep the calories very low. While I'm not exactly mystified, I'm getting a little frustrated by this.

Take yesterday, for instance. Yesterday, my planned food was a completely acceptable 1533 calories. I had absolutely no problems following this plan until about 12:30. I walked into the lunch room after my run, grabbed my lean cuisine, started to nuke it, and then the trouble began. The trouble spoke in the voice of the office caterer.

"Do you want one of these salads? I'm not going to sell them, and I'll have to throw them away otherwise."

Apparently, she had seen me give the salads a once-over as I walked by toward the microwaves. They had caught my attention because they used different packaging this week. I didn't have any money with me, so I had no intention of buying one. But if they were giving them away...that grilled chicken one looked pretty tasty. And my protein count was low for the day...

"Sure." I chose the grilled chicken salad, thanked her profusely, retrieved my fully-cooked Lean Cuisine, and went back to my office. Once there, I dutifully entered the salad into fitday. Hey, it barely brought me up to 1800! I can totally handle that. And if I ate it right before I went home, I wouldn't need to eat dinner! I deleted my planned dinner from fitday and commenced to feeling smug.

Then came the training class. There was cake at this training class. Cake! I ate some cake. And then I sampled from the candy dish in the middle of the table, thinking, "well, now I won't need to eat my apple and peanut butter. I'm not hungry anymore."

The training class was over by 4, I resisted the apple with peanut butter, and packed it into my bag to go home. Soccer practice and a trip to the store later, we were running through the McDonald's drive thru...it was nearly 8:00, and American Idol!

I wasn't going to get anything at McDs. But then, I was a little bit hungry and I thought maybe a burger. But I don't like the regular burgers, so what the hell...let's go for the quarter pounder! But just the sandwich. After all, I didn't eat my apple & peanut butter.

Of course, you have to sample the fries on the way home, even if they're not YOUR fries, right? So I had a couple fries. Then a couple more at home. And the burger, of course.

Oh, and did I mention I bought cake at the store? No? Well, I bought cake at the store. After the burger, I ate a small slice of cake.

By the time I got back here this morning and totaled up the damages, my 1500 calorie day had morphed into a 2000+ calorie day. My 22g of fiber were reduced to 13g, my 54g of fat became 77g. My ratios turned out okay, but it was sort of in spite of myself.

I understand the reasons this sort of thing happens--disorganization, rushing from one place to the other, eating at irregular times, shopping while hungry, my aversion to saying no to anyone (including myself), my affinity for chocolate. Still, knowing why doesn't change the fact that my planned menu seldom matches my actual menu. If it did, I'd probably be at goal by now. If not for the amount of working out that I'm doing, my current eating habits would have put the first 30 lost lbs back again.

I've decided to concentrate all my efforts toward sticking to my plan today. Part of this is going to be listing my planned menu here, and reporting back tomorrow on how I did in sticking with it. So, here it is...the ones in italics are things I've already eaten:

Fiber One Honey Clusters w/1% milk

Pistachios (single serving packet)

Snickers Marathon low-carb bar (I'm not doing a low carb diet, and usually don't like to buy into the whole low-carb, low-fat, fake-food thing, but these energy bars are tasty, and have a decent amount of healthy packed into them...beats an actual Snickers, nutrition-wise)

Balsamic chicken w/mushrooms (I totally love this, make it once or twice a week.)

asparagus

1% milk

jello sugar-free pudding cup

Total calories: 1427
Breakdown (c/p/f): 38/27/31
Protein: 98g
Fiber: 39g (all hail Fiber 0ne)

I contemplated adding a can of tuna to this menu to get my protein up, but decided against it. I may still do it, though, so that would be an acceptable variation if it does show up tomorrow. The calorie count would go up by ~200 calories in that case, which is still in the good range.

snooty cheese

You know...I don't understand what all the fuss is about with Brie. I mean, I guess it's a decent cheese, but I can't see anything special about it. It's smooth, it's white, creamy, eh. Whatever.

I don't know if it's just my perception or what, but it always seems that brie is held up as some kind of highbrow cheese...the cheese you say you eat when you want to impress people with your sophistication (by your cheese choices? Yeah, I don't know where I'm going with this either). How did it get there? Is it because it's a French cheese? Because $10/lb or not, it still tastes like $1.95 processed cheese spread to me. Which, you know, nothing wrong with that...I just don't get it.

Maybe I've just never had a good Brie-ing. The only Brie I've eaten has been supermarket, or (in the case of today's sampling) part of a fruit and cheese platter.

So, Brie lovers...what's so great?

a survey

I didn't bring a lunch today, because the office caterer is serving barbecue sandwiches, and I like those. The whole meal looks like this:

BBQ chopped beef on bun
potato chips
baked beans
cookie

Very school lunch, I know. :) But they do make it well, sell it cheap, and offer unlimited pickles.

My question, though, is about my chip and bean eating methods. You see, the meal comes with a fork, but I don't like to use it. I use my potato chips to scoop up the beans like a dip.

So, nutritional values and calorie counts completely aside, is this gross? Not something a 31-year-old woman should be doing in public*? What's your take on it?

*Though, for the record, I'm alone in my office...I'm just feeling a little self-conscious all of a sudden. And not just because I dropped a chipful of beans on the floor just now.

they're poison...from Mexico

I love fresh strawberries. If I posted my diet logs, you would see them in alarming quantities in my daily menu, especially when they're in season (and therefore cheap). Strawberries with breakfast, strawberries for dessert, strawberries as a snack, waffles and strawberries, eggs with sausage and strawberries, strawberries and bananas, strawberries with strawberry topping, etc.

So you can imagine how happy I was when, during my last stroll through the produce section of my local grocery store, strawberries were on sale for 97 cents a lb. I bought 4 lbs. In the two days since, I've gone through nearly two of them, mostly a cup at a time, washed and cut in half. It's been all strawberries, all the time around here.

So, I'm sitting here eating my 6th or 7th cup of strawberries in 48 hours, and I remembered a story. It's not my story, so I might get it totally wrong. I'm definitely taking creative license with it, anyway. It's maybe one of those "had to be there" things, too. If you still want to read it, click OPEN WIDE.

In February, we took a weekend trip to visit my family in small-town Wisconsin. As you may remember from previous posts on the subject, these trips are usually stuffed so full of dinner invitations and Midwestern hospitality that we practically have to roll ourselves back onto the plane at the end of them.

One of the chief providers of said hospitality is my dad's girlfriend. Most trips we end up at their house about 60-70% of the time, and there is always food. She loves to cook, and she does it well. I'm pretty sure Rob has a little bit of a crush on her.

So anyway, one night we were scheduled to eat dinner out at their house, and we got there a little early. Erin wasn't there yet, since she had run to the Walmart to get some last minute stuff. We talked with Dad for a while, and then she came home. We helped her unpack the bags, including strawberries for the fruit salad (You knew they were going to factor somewhere in this story, right?)

So, we were just talking about the hazards of going to Walmart and how Walmart seems to attract all the trailer-park/freakshow customers (I'm paraphrasing). And that's when Erin told the strawberry story.

Apparently, she had been standing in the produce section looking at the strawberries when a woman came up behind her.

"Oh, I love strawberries." This total stranger then got a wistful look on her face, "But these are poison."

Erin's curiosity was piqued. "Why are they poison?"

"Well..." The lady leaned in, looked around, and broke out the conspiratorial whisper, "they're from Mexico."

Erin, now realizing she's dealing with a total nutcase, whispered back, "How do you know they're from Mexico?"

The lady pointed to the word "Fraises" on the label, and whispered triumphantly, "See...Spanish."

Hell, what more proof do you need, right? I mean, except maybe actual Spanish.

Erin considered for a second, nodded knowingly, then put a box of strawberries in her cart. "I'll take my chances."

Then she backed her cart away politely and made her escape.

I'm happy to say that we ate our Mexican death strawberries without any ill effects. But now every time I buy strawberries I can't help but whisper "...from Mexico" under my breath.

a survey

Um, does anyone else accidentally eat the produce stickers on their fruit about half the time?

Apples are the worst for me...I wash them, then cut them up with one of those apple corer things. By the time I think to remove the produce sticker, I've already eaten the piece (or pieces) it was on.

I wonder what's the nutritional info for adhesive plastic?

Dear Weight Watchers: it's not you, it's me

Dear WW 1nternational,

This is so hard for me to say.

You've helped me a lot over the past couple years, and don't think I don't appreciate that. However, it hasn't felt right for a while now, and I think we both know that. I'll always hold a special place in my heart for you, but I think it's best we part ways now, before things just get ugly and strained. I just need some space, to get my head sorted out, you know? It might not be forever, but I think it's best if we start to see other people plans. And, to be completely honest, I already have.

I've been seeing fitday for 2 weeks now, and it has been the happiest two weeks I've had since you've known me. You've probably noticed that I haven't checked in with you at all in those two weeks. Things are going so well that there's no reason to keep making the monthly investment to keep my relationship with you alive.

I'm sure you'll make a great plan for someone else...for plenty of others, actually. You're going to make someone millions of others very, very happy someday. We're just not right, and I think we both realized that a long time ago. At this point in my weight loss, I want to concentrate more on the details of what's in my food. You do that for me to some degree, but knowing how many points something is doesn't always give me the information I want. Fitday gives the information up for free. I like free.

I hope there are no hard feelings, and that we can cherish the memories we've made together. It's just time for me to be moving on.

I'll always remember you,

Joy

upping the limit

I've been mulling over the results of my vacation for the past few days, as well as going over past diet logs and early documentation (you know, back when this was actually WORKING) and researching calorie recommendations on various sites...including the one for the SELF challenge which I just joined. I've come to the conclusion, perhaps wishful-thinkingly, that the reason I've been plateauing so badly, even though I'm doing everything "right", is that I need to eat more. This is not really a new revelation, but something I'm revisiting.

In the beginning, I was eating 1200-1500ish calories per day, walking 3 miles per weekday, and losing like crazy. Things started to taper off, I joined WW, and have been struggling for every pound for over a year. A couple times in the last 2 years, I've noted that on weeks I ate more, I lost more.

Three times in the past 2 weeks, I've seen articles stating that an average woman needs approximately 12-15 times her body weight in calories in order to maintain her current weight. The multiplier is determined by her activity level--more active, higher multiplier.

Let's run those numbers, based on the past month. Right now, I weigh 187. Before my vacation, I was working out 4-7 times per week, about 30-60 minutes per day. Per the suggestion on the SELF challenge site, my multiplier would be 15. I'm going to dial it back to 14, just to be conservative. That puts my maintenance calories at 2618. So, to lose 1 lb per week, I'd need to reduce that by 500 per day--2118. Now, I know from experience that this is WAY high if I hope to achieve any kind of results. However, my WW POINTS target is about 1000 calories lower than that per day. Even if I eat all my flex and activity points, I'm still averaging about 1620 calories per day*. According to nearly every RMR calculator I've used, my body burns more than that sitting on the couch all day. And yet, my weight stays within the same 5 lb range.

So, here's what I'm going to try for the next month. Since I've joined this SELF challenge anyway, I'm going to follow their 90/10 plan and calorie recommendations. Since I still pay $15/month for WW online, I'm going to keep recording over there. However, I'm raising my personal daily target to 30, with 35 flexpoints and any activity points I may earn along the way. So, in a week earning 24 activity points, I would average a high of 1921 calories per day if I ate every point available. By SELF's recommendations, this would earn me about 1 lb. lost per week. Which, at this stage of the game, is completely acceptable to me.

Will this work better? Only time will tell, but it will certainly be easier. All I know is, what I've been doing for the past month isn't working as desired, and taking a vacation had some unexpected results. I'm willing to roll with it and experiment a little.

*Depending on fat and fiber content, WW points are roughly 30-50 calories per point. That puts my target of 24 in the 720-1200 range. I consistently hover around 26-35, which would put me at 780 - 1750. Average number above is based on 24 activity points + 35 flexpoints + 168 target points * 50, divided by 7.

I'll take "Where the hell did THAT come from" for $200, Alex

And the answer is: "Sit in front of the computer at midnight eating half a pint of Ben & Jerry's."

Question: "What is something I thought I would never do again?"

"What the fuck is the matter with you?" also would have been accepted.

In my defense, I've been very good for the past 3 days, using less than 5 flexpoints. Usually by this time in the week, I'm running a negative balance, so even with the ice cream I'm still doing better than most recent weeks.

As for the why, I think I can narrow it down to two reasons...frustration, and the notion that junk begets junk.

As I mentioned, I've been eating beautifully for the past few days. I've also been working out every day since Monday. And every day since Sunday, I've been heavier. 186.5 on Sunday, 187 on Monday, 188 on Tuesday & Wednesday, and a terrifying 189 this morning. (Yeah, weighing every day = bad, blah-blah, don't care.) This during a week that I've eaten less and exercised more than any other week in the past two months. I know I said that this was about getting healthier, and less about the scale, and I do mean that...but damn. Could the scale maybe validate me just a little bit, please?!

And the second reason was sort of a re-revelation for me. It's something I've noted before, but it seems that what I eat for breakfast determines how the whole day's eating will be.

On Monday and Tuesday, I started with cheerios. Cheerios begat salads and Lean Cuisines, which begat healthy recipes cooked at home. Yesterday I started out the day with coffee and a Kashi granola bar (which is not bad as a snack, and not unhealthy...just not breakfast material). By 11 am, I was seriously hungry, so I went to Chipotle. I skimped on the rice and ordered chicken, but it still was a good 15-20 point meal. On the way home, fish sounded like a good dinner, but then Rob didn't want fish. So I bought hot dogs. And chips. And baked beans. And, of course, a pint of Primary Berry Graham. By the time dinner was over, the damage was mostly done. Ice cream at midnight just seemed like a natural progression.

So, what have I learned? a) As much as I would like to be able to ignore the scale, it matters to me, and b) eat a decent breakfast, fer chrissakes.

speaking of food...

...I am totally in love with Lean Cuisine's new chicken in peanut sauce. And this from a girl who didn't really care for their old chicken with peanut sauce. Maybe it's just in my head (probably...the nutritional labels for them are exactly the same), but this one tastes considerably better to me. Maybe it's the new packaging. :)

I can't wait to try their other "spa cuisine" varieties (this was the only one the HEB had in stock--damn those New Year's resolutions people!).

WW Recipe: Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

Okay, that chicken I made last night? Best 3-point recipe ever. It was super easy, and a big hit with all three of us (and the cat who stole the 4th piece of chicken before I remembered that I left it on the counter--grr). The original recipe can be found here, or see my edited version below. My changes are indicated in italics.

Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

POINTS Value: 3
Servings: 4
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 25 min*
Level of difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

2 tsp vegetable oil
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 large garlic clove(s), crushed
1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast(s), four 4-oz pieces
2 cup mushroom(s), small, halved
1/3 cup canned chicken broth
1/4 tsp dried thyme, crumbled

Instructions

1. In a nonstick skillet, heat 1 tsp of oil.

2. In a medium bowl, mix 2 tbsp vinegar, mustard, and garlic. Add chicken and turn to coat.

3. Transfer chicken and marinade to skillet. Saute chicken on medium to high heat until cooked through, about 10 minutes on each side. Transfer chicken to a platter and keep warm.

4. Heat remaining teaspoon of oil in skillet. Saute mushrooms for 1 minute. Add broth, thyme, and remaining tbsp of vinegar. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are deep brown, about 4 minutes longer.

5. Serve chicken topped with mushrooms.

*Note: The original recipe allowed about 6 minutes for the chicken, 3 minutes for the mushrooms, 10 minutes total. For whatever reason, (thickness/size of chicken, level of heat maybe) my version took 3 times as long, and the mushrooms about twice as long. Maybe if you're a better saute-er than me, or you have flatter chicken, it will be closer to the original times.

I served it with a green/wax beans, steamed and lightly seasoned. If the weight watchers numbers are to be believed, the whole meal was 3 points. The mushrooms were my favorite part, but the whole thing was wonderful.

Diet & Exercise log, Week 103 (12/20 - 12/26)

I'm going to try, try, TRY to complete a whole week. I ate way too much last week, and I think it was because I stopped keeping track. So now I start keeping track again.

It was also at least partly because my appetite has been weird for the last 4 days or so. I haven't been waking up hungry, but really thirsty and sort of nauseated. I drink some water, try to wait out the nausea, and then about 30 minutes later I'm totally starving. I eat, and it doesn't seem to make a difference--the hunger doesn't go away. So I eat more, wait, eat more, and then all at once I feel like I've stuffed myself (which I guess I have--5 pieces of toast in 20 minutes is probably not recommended). Repeat in 3 hours or so. I'm either slightly sick, overfull or famished all the time, and my body goes through those like there's a three-way switch. My stomach's never happy anymore, and I don't understand it at all.

Hopefully I can get a handle on it this week, especially with the holiday coming up. I'd like to be able to say I lost 10 lbs. this year, and I'm going to need to lose 4 more lbs in the next 2 weeks in order to make that goal.

Points eaten: 47
Points earned: 4
Flexpoints balance: 16

MONDAY

honey nut cheerios: 4
toast: 2

latte: 3

salad: 2
strawberries: 1
bread & butter: 3
sandwich: 12

walk/run, outdoor track, 3 miles: 4

cheetos: 3

meatloaf: 4
mashed potatoes: 4
green beans
biscuit: 3

Dove bar: 6

Food: 47
Exercise: 4
Flexpoints used: 19

TUESDAY

biscuit: 3
venti latte: 4

Diet & Exercise Log - Week 102 (12/13 - 12/19)

Points eaten (starts Wednesday): 37
Points earned (starts Monday): 8
Flexpoints balance (probably inaccurate): 25

MONDAY

sugar-free vanilla non-fat latte, grande: 3
cranberry muffin: 9
(410 calories, 20g fat, but man--do I ever love this muffin)

chocolate: 1

salad w/chicken and italian dressing: 10
water

45 min. Precor: 5

<>

WEDNESDAY

gingerbread latte: 5
muffin: 9

cookies: 5

La Madeleine chicken caesar salad w/low-fat dressing: 12
light lemonade
bread: 3

walk/run, treadmill, 3-5 mph, 25 minutes: 3

cookie: 3

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of chocolate

oh, how it pains me to be this honest. It confirms a pattern I already knew, though--I start out with good intentions every morning, and it all goes to hell about mid-afternoon.

I really need to start focusing on preparation v. planning. It's one thing to say that I plan to do a certain workout later in the day, or that I'm not going to have any snacks in the afternoon. It's quite another to actually do those things. The key is going to be actively preventing myself from veering off the plan.

Take yesterday, for instance. I didn't make the best choices for breakfast, but I made up for it at lunch. Everything was going swimmingly...until the dude from purchasing brought me a gift from one of our vendors. A coffee cup full of chocolate. I hadn't planned on a snack, but the candy was hard to resist. Before I stopped myself, I had eaten two Reese's trees, a chocolate santa, and a kiss. Eight points, taking me into flexpoints for the day.

How could I have prevented this? I could have refused the gift. I could have thrown away the candy and kept the cup. I could have dumped the candy into a bag and taken it home to Noah. Hell, I could have put the cup in my desk drawer--out of sight, out of mind. But instead of doing any of those things, I set it directly in front of me on the desk. And ate 8 points worth of candy.

That wasn't even the end of it...I got home, and there was nothing to cook at the house. I didn't really feel like going to the store and then coming home to cook...besides, it was almost time for Lost. Rob suggested Outback after the show was over, and I jumped at it. Then Noah wanted cheese fries, there was bread, salad, steak...even making some wise choices (dressing on the side, easy on the cheese & croutons, small helping of cheese fries, barely-buttered bread, steamed veggies instead of potato, only eating half the steak...), I had a 17-point dinner.

What could have prevented that? Having a dinner planned in advance, and having groceries on hand. Also, having a healthier snack in the afternoon so that I wasn't so hungry when we went out. As much as I hate big shopping trips, I need to start shopping for more than two days at a time. That way, when I come home from work, all I have to do is thaw something and steam some veggies. Better for all concerned.

I also had exercise planned for last night, but didn't actually do any. It didn't even require going anywhere--just pop in a DVD, and put up with Leslie Sansone for an hour. And yet, by the time we got back from dinner, I had put exercise completely out of my mind. It was 9:00, I reasoned, and by the time I let my food settle, it would be time to go to bed. So instead of working out, I read a book.

How could I have prevented this? Well, I could have cooked and eaten at home, thus finishing much earlier. I could even have worked out BEFORE going out to eat. I could have changed my plan to a 1 or 2-mile DVD instead of the 4-mile, and still gotten some kind of workout in after dinner. It would have been better than nothing. The key here is making workouts a priority, rather than an afterthought.

So yeah...I really need to start preparing for these late afternoon derailments, since experience has shown over and over again that they're going to happen. It just comes down to making the right choices just as easy as the wrong ones.

Diet & Exercise Log, Week 101 - 12/6/04

Seriously, week 101--I counted. Holy shit.

Points eaten: 127.5
Points earned: 9
Flexpoints balance: -11.5

MONDAY

sugar-free vanilla nonfat latte, grande: 3
bran muffin: 7

burrito: 22
diet coke

pria bar: 2
diet coke

.5L water

Precor elliptical, interval course, resistance level 4, 50 minutes: 6

Culver's sourdough turkey BLT: 15
pepsi: 3

Food: 52
Exercise: 6
Flexpoints used: 22

TUESDAY

coffee: 1
pria bar: 2

pork chops: 7
rice: 2
broccoli
fruit salad: 2

sculpting class: 3

trail mix: 6

chicken breast: 4
asparagus
1/2 avocado: 4.5
cake: 5

Food: 33.5
Exercise: 3
Flexpoints used: 6.5

WEDNESDAY

non-fat gingerbread latte, no whip, grande: 5
bran muffin: 7

LC Margherita pizza: 5
diet pepsi

Reese's christmas trees: 5
Hershey's mini santa: 2
Hershey's kiss: 1
(Damn vendor gifts!)

5ish oz steak: 6
steamed veggies
salad: 4
bread: 3
cheese fries: 4
iced tea

Food: 42
Exercise: 0
Flexpoints used: 18

THURSDAY

grande sugar-free vanilla non-fat latte: 3
banana: 2
peanut butter: 3
clementine: 1

Food:
Exercise: 6
Flexpoints used: 0

God bless Quakers

I'm hardly an oatmeal connoisseur...I was more of a cream of wheat girl as a kid, and I don't really enjoy plain oatmeal. I'm strictly a microwaveable & flavored oatmeal eater, and I usually dress that up with sugar and a little milk. That said, this may be the best oatmeal I've ever eaten.

The one I tried was the apple raisin, nuked with water and then cooled with 1/4 cup of milk after cooking. It was sweet enough on its own that I didn't need to add sugar. Nice texture also, not terribly gluey like some instant oatmeals. No weird saltiness that you sometimes get with the flavored packets. At 150 calories, 2g of fat, and 3g of fiber, it weighs in at just 3 points, and has kept my hunger away for 3 hours and counting.

P.S. My post yesterday was right...the weigh-in yesterday was the top of the hill. I was down 1.5 lbs. this morning. I think it's a combination of my body getting used to the new pills and also finally growing convinced that I'm not going to dehydrate it on a whim (I'm sometimes bad about drinking water. Or drinking anything, really. I'm not much of a drinker).

one of these kids is doing his own thing, one of these kids just doesn't belong...

One of the other nice things about taking lunch to work is that I can eat at my desk while I work, and use the free time in the middle of the day for other things. Like, for instance, going to the grocery store to replenish my snack supply.

$22 later, I'm back at the office. See if you can spot the impulse purchase:

bag of granny smith apples
apple slicer/corer (I have a really badass one from pampered chef, but it stays at home. Needed one at work)
small jar of peanut butter (for apple dipping)
3 microwaveable soups
Reese's inside-out peanut butter cups
3 pria bars
fat-free pudding cups
Keebler pretzel and cheese snacks
Cheese Nips 100-calorie packs

If you guessed the Reese's, you're right! But, in my defense, the peanut butter is on the outside, people. I've only ever had the ones where the peanut butter was on the inside. Would it taste the same, I wondered? Curiosity overcame my better judgement. It could happen to anyone. :)

And, while I know that the other snacks aren't exactly stellar nutritional choices (except the apples), they're all 2 points or less except the peanut butter and the soups. I bought the soups as a meal for those days when I eat my sack lunch at 10:30 or something, and need something more substantial to tide me over till dinner.

I'm also happy to say that I only ate one peanut butter cup. And yes, it does taste basically the same, but has a slightly more peanut-butter-baking-chips taste to it. I prefer the original.

I do this every day

Me, taking a $5 out of my wallet to go to the office cafe: "Five dollars, five dollars..."

Inner fat girl: "But what if I want a cookie?"

Inner schoolmarm: "Young lady, you have about 16 fruit cups in your desk drawer, and an apple on your computer, in plain sight. You are about to go buy quesadillas from the cafe, which are SO SERIOUSLY NOT CORE. Are you really thinking about buying a cookie too?!"

Inner fat girl, hanging head and pouting: "I guess not."

[30 seconds pass, in which my hand hovers over the change pocket of my wallet and visions of cookies dance in my head]

Inner weight watcher, as I walk out of my office with only the $5: "Woohoo! I won!"

Inner child, upon discovering that the quesadilla meal includes a cookie: "Woohoo! I won!"

Inner schoolmarm and inner weight watcher: Sigh.

getting better, sort of

I've been going through a serious dry spell where motivation is concerned. I haven't been to weightwatchers.com in about a week, and I haven't exactly been missing it, Bob. Though I'm pleased to say that I've been eating sort of healthily. Sort of. There's been some truffles and cheese enchiladas (not in the same meal). Still, I haven't put on any weight, and the majority of my food has fallen into the "everyone thinks this is healthy" category. Fruit, lean meat, whole grain things. I'm doing well, even though I can't seem to give an ounce of flying fuck whether I am or not. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

The gym is another matter...I'm not even sure where my card is. I had it the last time I went, and then put it somewhere. That was a week ago. (Again with the not caring.) I do intend to get back with the running in the next week or so, because I think I can do it without hurting my knees now and it's starting to get cooler outside.

The whole gym-missing problem is not entirely due to my zero-motivation problem. I mean, it is, but it's also influenced by my 3-days-driving-home-from-the-Galleria-during-rush-hour problem, my church-meeting-every-night problem, my fresh-hell-of-Rob's-cluster-migraines problem (now with harrowing trip to the ER action!), my it's-been-six-damn-months-since-the-wedding-and-the-thank-yous-aren't-out-yet problem, and my holy-shit-is-my-bank-account-balance-depressing problem. I expect these things to be clearing up, though, since my Galleria training class is over, there are no more meetings till Sunday, Rob's migraines seem to have tapered off to once a day, I finally started on the thank yous at least, and I just got paid. Now, if the house would magically clean itself, and the laundry was self-folding and putting-away, I could officially declare myself out of chaos territory.

So, today I've been trying to turn the diet trend around. Everything I've eaten except for a lean pocket for lunch and a handful of M&Ms has been on my core list. I've planned a meal for tonight (this--I love you, foodfit--and possibly corn on the cob, if the HEB has nice-looking corn when I go to get the tomatoes and cilantro) that is totally core, and it actually sounds appetizing to me right now. This could change at any moment, but for right now things are looking up. I don't have any meetings or crises or horrendous traffic to deal with tonight, so I might actually make it to the gym too. Maybe while the chicken is marinating.

So, you folks on the weight loss wagon--see that speck on the horizon behind you, staggering all over the road, looks like it's maybe waving at you? That's just me trying to catch up again. There's still a lot of road between us, but I'm gaining on you.

The Question

This weekend wasn't really a food nightmare, but it wasn't good. Even with all my talk of recommitting to this healthy lifestyle, and meeting challenges, and seeing size 12 by 2005, I still ate myself sick 2 days out of 3. And even as my body screamed for something outside the grease, starch, and sugar food groups all day yesterday, I stuck my fingers in my ears and chanted "la, la, la...I can't hear you!" until dinner. Even then, I gave it the grilled salmon grudgingly (and with cheese fries).

Today, I woke up feeling capable, and ready to do this for real. I have focused a ridiculous amount of energy on The Question:

Am I hungry?

It's a simple question, really, and I always know the answer. In the past, the answer was almost always one of two options--"OMG, I'm starving!" or "eh, I could eat". Today, however, I replaced those answers with "YES" and "NO". My biggest struggle is believing myself when the answer is NO...which, unsurprisingly, is most of the time.

So far, it's going well. I've given in to three dark Hershey's kisses and a piece of whole wheat toast, but everything else I've eaten has been Core. And even though I really, REALLY wanted dessert at lunch, I didn't order it even when the waitress asked me again. Because the answer to The Question was NO.

I also went to the Kroger and picked up an insane amount of snacks to keep at my desk--fruit cups, applesauce (no sugar added), plain yogurt, string cheese (it's on my core list), apples. I have enough noshing supplies for a couple weeks, so long as I'm able to listen to my body, and stand by its answer to The Question.

two words...

...never again.

I mean, I love me some Culver's, but I think in the future I'm going to have to plan for it a little differently. I ate my salad at about 11:15, and then didn't eat anything else until 7:30. By then I was absolutely ravenous. It was one of those times when it actually felt like my body was trying to eat itself. My cheeks and elbows (Elbows?! what's that about?) got hot, and I started getting a little woozy. The plan to go to the gym before I ate was thrown forcibly aside by 6:30, and I swear last night was the longest commute ever.

I know what you're thinking, because I was thinking it too--it had only been EIGHT HOURS since lunch. I'm not sure what was going on with my body, but I guess it's been a pretty long time since I've forced myself to function on 300 calories for most of a day. If I actually stayed on plan consistently I'm sure it wouldn't have been that much of a shock, but I've gotten used to eating every 2-3 hours, and consuming 600-1100 calories before 3 pm. Cut that in half, and my body starts having a panic attack. What can I say--the body's a drama queen. I've got it so trained to never be hungry that if it goes eight waking hours without a snack, it thinks it may never see food again.

The lesson in this is that if I'm going to save most of my points for the evening, I need to either spread out my meals better, or I need to bring no-point foods for snacks.

The good news is that even though I was so hungry, I still ordered exactly as I planned. I did order fries, but I only ate about half of them, and I ended up throwing away half my frozen custard, too. Then we went straight from Culver's to the gym, where I burned off those fries. I ended up with a 28-point day and 6 activity points, which is the best WW day I've had in a loooong time.

discovery of the day

I like coffee.

I like yogurt.

I do not like coffee-flavored yogurt. In fact, it may be the nastiest substance known to man. Ugh.

diet gourmet reviews, meals 2 & 3

Well, here we are on day 3 of the Diet Gourmet food experiment. I already reviewed the herb-rubbed salmon on the first day, so let's go ahead with the next two meals...Buffalo burger and Santa Fe chicken dippers.

Buffalo Burger

I've never had buffalo before, but the burger's texture was suspicious...reminded me of those fake generic pressed-meat-product burgers that you can buy in the freezer aisle for a buck and a half ("now with more smoky flavor and realistic grill marks!"). I'm sure this was not helped by the fact that two minutes (the instructions indicated 1-2 minutes) in my microwave was way, WAY too long. Smooshy bun and sticky cheese everywhere after 1:08, at which time I took it out and cursed profusely.

Once it had cooled to a temperature less than the surface of the sun, I did layer it with the supplied veggies, a scosh of mayo, and some mustard and pickles from my fridge, and lo, it was good. Except for the aforementioned texture problem, that is.

Like with the salmon meal, the best part of this one were the side items. The little bag of baby carrots was pretty standard, but the apple-pineapple salad was awesome, and the dill cucumber salad was pretty good too. Even with the high acid content and my split lip (I haven't been drinking enough water), I ate them to the last yummy--if painful--bite.

The calories on this meal were a little higher--over 400 calories. Since I am a dolt and threw away the container before jotting down the exact numbers, I don't remember the fat content. I think it was around 10g. At 425 calories, 10g of fat, and oh, let's say 2g of fiber, it's still only a 9 point meal. And it kept me full for about 8 hours, so I guess it was worth it.

Santa Fe chicken dippers

Though the package did not indicate any cooking instructions, I threw the chicken in a coffee filter and popped it in the microwave for 30 seconds. (I only find cold chicken edible if it's fried and/or on a sandwich.) Thirty seconds were really just long enough to make it not-cold, but I was still too wary from the buffalo incident yesterday to stick it out for a full minute. Besides, I had to eat this with my fingers.

Even after the warming, I wasn't crazy about the meat. Again, texture (I'm beginning to think this is a recurring theme). The flavor was fine, and the lime-cilantro dipping sauce was excellent.

Alas, not as much luck with all the sides this time. There was this cup of coleslaw or something...to me, it tasted for all the world like someone had peed on some cabbage. Once I torpedoed that into the trash, the rest of it was okay. The wheat crackers and baby carrots were nice (and good with the dipping sauce!), but the highlight of the meal (besides the dipping sauce!) was the gold kiwi.

I didn't know such a thing existed. I've had (and loved) the green kiwi, and that's what I expected this to be when I spied it through the package. The produce sticker said "New Zealand GOLD", but I thought that was the brand, like Sunkist for oranges, or Chiquita bananas. When I peeled the thing, I was surprised to find that the inside was yellow. What the hell? Had my kiwi gone bad?! It didn't smell bad, or feel bad.

Being a geek at heart, I googled "new zealand gold kiwi" and got the scoop. Tropical, eh? Sweet, eh? Let's give this bad boy a try.

Best. Fruit. EVER.

It's got the basic awesomeness of a kiwi, but it's less tart. It reminds me a little of berries, and something else that I can't quite put my finger on. Whatever--it rocks. You should go buy one right now!

Ahem. So, anyway, the entire meal was 385 calories, 11.6g of fat. WW tells me this is 9 points at 0g of fiber. I'm guessing it actually has at least 2 grams, but possibly closer to 4-5g. Any fiber at all brings it down to 8 points, so that's what I'm going with.

So, 3 days into this experiment, things are going pretty well. The pickup was easy, despite the fact that they forgot my cooler. And while I have had texture issues with every one of the main courses so far, I think this is a factor that can be safely ignored by anyone who doesn't have bizarre food-feel issues. The taste of everything has been good (with the exception of the pee-cabbage), and the food seems to keep well in the fridge for at least this long. I still have pot roast and turkey chili on the menu for the next two days, so I'll let you know what I think of those on Friday.

and speaking of diet gourmet...

I went and picked up my first week of Diet Gourmet meals today. What an adventure.

when I signed up, my home zip code wasn't in the list of places they delivered, which is really just as well. They charge by mileage for delivery, so I imagine that going from SW Houston to the far NW suburbs would be pricey. So instead of having the meals delivered, I chose a pickup location that was semi-close to work and had workable hours. Never mind that I've never been down there before--how hard can it be, right?

I clicked on the map link for my pickup location, and made a note of the address and its relation to the major highways. Then I wrote the name of the place and the street address on a post-it and hopped in my car for what I thought was going to be a pretty straightforward trip.

Alas, no. First, I missed the exit from the beltway. Then I missed the next two good places to turn around, because I thought they were going to take me onto another tollway. Then I turned around, got honked at a bunch of times because apparently, waiting an extra 15 seconds in order to not get T-boned by a truck is considered waaay too cautious down there. I managed to get back to my road, and (miracles!) turn the right direction, but then (despite watching the numbers on the signs like a hawk) I overshot the shopping center by 3 blocks and had to turn around again.

By this time, I was totally starving, having worked out for 40 minutes on only an Egg McMuffin (shut up, I was running late) and an orange juice before 8 am. It was now noon, and I was contemplating how well I could drive with just my right hand if I decided to go ahead and gnaw off my left one. Thankfully, it didn't come to that, since I managed to locate the teeny-tiny store that was holding my food hostage.

The pickup was mercifully easy, except that despite paying $5 for a cooler, the DG folks did not send one. According to the clerk, they almost never do, even when a customer asks for one. Other than that, the pickup was lovely, and I was out of there in about 2 minutes. Once in the car, I looked at the food...not too shabby. Everything looked at least sort of appetizing. All the dishes were clearly labeled with the dish's name, and cooking instructions if needed. The bag was sturdy.

After an agonizing 30-minute trip back to the office, I took out the meal with the shortest shelf life (they have A, B, C, and D meals, and you can choose from all of the categories, multiple meals from one section, etc. They recommend you eat them in alpha order for maximum freshness), which turned out to be "herb-rubbed salmon". It was one of those meals that was technically a dinner, but chosen because the description sounded yummy.

It was attractively presented, with baby carrots in one compartment, broccoli in another, and the salmon in the middle sitting on top of a bed of white beans with a lemon wedge (that I wish I would have taken out before I microwaved it). I popped it in the microwave for the recommended 2 minutes, and it was ready.

I wasn't crazy about the herb rub, since refrigeration and reheating had turned it into a sort of green slime. The texture wasn't bad and the flavor was good, but it was hard to look at it and still want to put it in my mouth. The steamed veggies were good and firm, unlike other lunches-in-a-box that I have tried. I particularly liked the white bean stuff under the salmon. Even with the entree from the 1100-calorie menu, it was a lot of food.

According to the nutritional information, the whole meal was 343 calories, 12.6g of fat, and some stats on protein and carbs that I don't really care about (they were both around 30g). My one gripe is that they don't include fiber grams on their nutritional info, which makes WW points more difficult to calculate. I'm ballparking this meal at 5g of fiber, since beans are pretty high-fiber and the other veggies carry a decent amount too. With that, it comes to 7 points*. Not too bad for what was listed as an evening meal, which tend to be higher calorie for most people.

I'm withholding my verdict until I get through the entire week, and I'm still kind of pissed that they didn't send my cooler (and that I have to call them to tell them not to charge me for it--I hate calling people), but so far this is looking like a good option for me.

*If there was no fiber at all, it would be 8 points.

and in other news...

...I signed up for this today.

I only got 5 meals (3 lunches, 2 dinners), and I'm going to eat them all as lunches M-F. I just chose the items on the Monday pickup menu that looked most appetizing, and went from there. With 3 people at the house for dinners, it's just not practical to make individual evening meals. I can handle those on my own.

Mostly I just decided to do this to eliminate a variable. I go out to lunch just about every day, ranging from $4 at Jack in the Box one day to $14 (with tip) at Applebee's the next. The points range varies just as wildly--5 one day, 14 or (gasp!) 20 another. With both my weight loss efforts and my budget a little unstable right now, I think it will help to know how much lunch is going to cost from day to day, both financially and nutritionally.

Of course, this all hinges on the taste of the food, and the customer service at my first pick-up. If the people are rude or the food tastes like ass warmed over, then it will just be an experiment gone bad. There's no contract or anything, so I have nothing to lose for trying, right?

I'll let you know Monday.

ooh...cookie chips!

Sometimes, you just want cookies.

Last night, walking the aisles of the grocery store, I had one of those times. I stood there in the cookie aisle, box of chocolate creme store-brand Oreo knockoffs* in hand, when I remembered the 100-calorie packs of cookies that Nabisco just started selling. Once I found them hiding at the end of the cookie aisle, I picked up a box of Chips Ahoy and a box of Oreo crisps.

I haven't tried the Oreo variety, but the Chips Ahoy are really good. Since they're so thin and crunchy, they're almost like chips. Also like chips, they're not much good for milk-dunking. This is a little disappointing, since that is one of the defining characteristics I look for in a cookie. However, there are soo many cookies in each pack that for 100 calories (2 points), I feel like I'm totally cheating. Which I guess I am, since 20ish cookie crisps are not exactly the healthiest way to spend 100 calories...but they do take care of the average cookie craving quite nicely.

I'll have to be careful, though...if I ever bring more than one packet to work, it could get ugly. The "only 2 points" makes it so easy to justify an entire box in one day. :)

*HEB--unlike that Randall's knockoff with the penguins on the bag and the ass aftertaste, these could actually pass for Oreos. I still bought them as a fallback, but I don't think I'll need them.

Food/Fitness log, 7/17 - 7/23/04

Once again, starting this late. I should have recorded food this weekend, because I'm curious whether I broke even with all the activity points.

UPDATE: Hey, whaddya know--I did! (with about 6 to spare on Sat.)

Food points: 157
Activity points: 40
Flexpoints balance: 6.5

SATURDAY

running clinic (~4 hours of drills, running): 20

3 mini muffins: 4
2 pretzels: 0
trail mix: 5

2.5L water

cheesecake: 7
ham sandwich: 6
cupcake: 3

cheese enchilada: 5
chips: 6.5
1/2 beef enchilada: 3
diet coke: 0

pistachios: 2

Food: 38.5
Activity: 20
Flexpoints used: 0

SUNDAY

instant oatmeal: 4

30 mile bike ride, 4 hours with stops: 17

2 big pretzels: 3
1 oreo: 1
an orange quarter: 0
a slice of watermelon: 0
some powerade: 1

McDonald's quarter pounder w/cheese: 13
fries: 8
coke: 4

sleeping all afternoon....

cheesecake: 7

Food: 41
Activity: 17
Flexpoints used: 0

Note to self: Get the cheesecake the hell out of the house. Now.

MONDAY

pistachios: 2
lemon berry coffee cake: 6
latte: 3

Panera 1/2 ham & swiss: 7
1/3 classic cafe salad: 4
diet pepsi: 0

caffeine-free diet coke: 0
(because I couldn't find any water in the 1st & 3rd floor fridges, and the thought of walking out to the trunk of my car on my sore leg makes me want to cry)

a whole lotta crap (I threw away the leftovers): 21

Food: 43
Activity: 0
Flexpoints used: 19

TUESDAY

honey nut cheerios: 3
banana: 2

1L water

turkey burger: 11 (it's huuuge)
salad: 4
diet coke: 0

.5L water

--planned--

chicken breast: 4
broccoli: 0
milk: 2

cheese: 2
apple: 1
peanut butter: 2

Food: 31
Activity: 0
Flexpoints used: 7

WEDNESDAY

30m elliptical: 3
.5L water

latte: 3
LF blueberry muffin: 6.5
(dammit, I would have been better off with the coffee cake)

1L water

Applebee's sizzling chicken skillet: 7
diet pepsi

1L water

Wendy's Jr. bacon cheeseburger: 9
chips ahoy 100-calorie pack: 2
milk: 2

Food: 29.5
Activity: 3
Flexpoints used: 2.5

on food

I realized on the way back from lunch today that I forgot to journal two things I ate yesterday--cashews and 1/2 an avocado. That's 8.5 extra points, yo.

That makes 48.5 points yesterday, total. Yowsa. And then I whine about not losing anything.

Also, instead of having the Jack in the Box SW chicken pita, I went to Tortuga today. They have this chicken veggie quesadilla that they make with whole wheat tortillas, chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers, mushrooms and low-fat cheese--so good. When I ran my estimation of the ingredients through the pointifier, I got 5.5 points for half the entree (which is how much I ate). It's a little bit more of a drive, a little more expensive, and I have to consciously tune out the siren song of the chips and salsa, but it was a 1000 times better than the SW pita. And it's not really more expensive when you consider that I'll be eating it the other half for dinner tonight.

Food & Fitness log: 7/10 - 7/16

Since I said I was going to start doing these, and I was in MT anyway deleting spam comments and banning IP addresses (note to self: MT-Blacklist), I figured I may as well start this week.

Since I have no idea what went on earlier in the week (other than that I worked out some and ate a lot), let's just start with today.

Food points: 72.5
Activity points: 6
Flexpoints balance: -21.5*

*I'm pretty sure I used all of them (and then some) this weekend.

WEDNESDAY

vitamins

.5L water

walk/run, 2.5 miles, ~32 minutes: 3

SK small blueberry heaven smoothie w/extra protein: 7

1L water

Applebee's citrus chicken salad: 5
lemon berry "cheesecake": 5
iced tea: 0

pria bar: 2

cashews: 4
1/2 avocado: 4.5

*cough*6 oreos*cough*: 10
chicken with bacon, tomato and thyme: 9
asparagus: 0
milk: 2

Total food: 48.5
Activity: 3
Flexpoints used: 21.5

THURSDAY

latte*: 3
Low-fat lemon raspberry coffee cake**: 6

1.5L water

1/2 Tortuga chicken veggie quesadilla: 5.5
iced tea

1L water

-----planned-----

sculpting class: 3
.5L water

other 1/2 Tortuga chicken veggie quesadilla: 5.5
.5L water

2 mcnuggets (we had nephews at the house): 2
1/2 bag of smart pop popcorn: 2

*My usual: Grande sugar-free vanilla non-fat latte
**Starbucks provides no nutritional info on this guy, and neither does Dotti. I'm ballparking it at 6 points, since that's what the other low-fat coffee cakes are.

Total food: 24
Activity: 3
Flexpoints used: 0

FRIDAY

apple: 1
peanut butter: 4.5

2.5 mile walk/run, 30 minutes: 3
.5L water

pria bar: 2

1L water

chicken mcnuggets*: 6
french fries*: 5
diet coke*: 0

*McD's Mighty Kid's Meal...not terribly healthy, I know, but since eating the nephews' leftover nuggets last night, I've been wanting some. It's 11 points, I'm not going to sweat it.

Dear Starbucks,

I totally love you for this.

Yours,

Joy

(grande mocha, no whip--3 points, as opposed to the 6-point original. Rock. On.)

Review: McDonald's Fiesta Salad

When I got in my car at 11:30, I was on my way to Boston Market for their classic rotisserie salad. I was even looking forward to it, though the nearest Boston Market is about 10 miles away. But then, right about the time I approached the McDonald's, a McDonald's commercial came on the radio. I took this as a sign from God that I should try that new Fiesta Salad.

And lo, it was good. I was a little concerned about the meat, since we are talking McDonald's here...would it be seasoned well? As it turns out, it was pretty tasty. No less taco-ey tasting than, say, Taco Bell meat. The tortilla strips were sufficiently crunchy, the salsa not overly mushy, the lettuce looked fresh and varied, lettuce was more plentiful than the cheese, and the long wide strips of carrot made them easy to pick out and throw away (not a big fan of the carrots).

Overall, the salad was no better or worse than the average taco salad that you would get anywhere else, but at least the nutritional values on this one are good--With the salsa and sour cream, it weighs in at 450 calories (10 points). The fat content (27g) is a little high for people who care about such things, but I am not one of those people (at least not until it gets to 50g or more, and/or is swimming in grease). I also don't like sour cream, so my salad was less 5g of fat, and my calories were reduced to 390 (9 points). Considering that the Boston Market salad I was planning is 11.5 points with dressing (and half the provided dressing at that), I actually made a better points choice by going to McDonalds. Not necessarily a better nutrition choice, but again--as long as it's not heart-stoppingly unhealthy, I'm not too concerned. Also, since I got the happy meal, it came with a toy! Excuse me, "stepometer". I got a red one. :)

Overall, 2 thumbs up.

update on the stew

Forgot to mention...the crockpot stew turned out really good (caro, you were right!). If I had it to do over again (and I will in the near future), I would put in less onions and more water. After sitting on warm for 2 hours until we got home, the potatoes were sticking to the side a little, and the sauce wasn't quite as liquid as I would have liked. The flavor was very good, though, and it's a recipe I will definitely try again.

Next on the crockpot agenda--shepherd's pie. Then, on a weekend, I am going to try this turkey chipotle chili. (I can't do it during the week because it only has a 4 hour cook time.)

Lovin' that crockpot. :)

update on the stew

Forgot to mention...the crockpot stew turned out really good (caro, you were right!). If I had it to do over again (and I will in the near future), I would put in less onions and more water. After sitting on warm for 2 hours until we got home, the potatoes were sticking to the side a little, and the sauce wasn't quite as liquid as I would have liked. The flavor was very good, though, and it's a recipe I will definitely try again.

Next on the crockpot agenda--shepherd's pie. Then, on a weekend, I am going to try this turkey chipotle chili. (I can't do it during the week because it only has a 4 hour cook time.)

Lovin' that crockpot. :)

surprise, surprise...

...I'm abolishing the diet logs. I keep track of the same stuff at eTools, so I'm getting tired of writing it down twice. Instead, I'll just put my food total on the last post of the day. Like now:

Daily Stats 6/2/04 - Food: 29 Exercise: 4 Flexpoints used: 1

surprise, surprise...

...I'm abolishing the diet logs. I keep track of the same stuff at eTools, so I'm getting tired of writing it down twice. Instead, I'll just put my food total on the last post of the day. Like now:

Daily Stats 6/2/04 - Food: 29 Exercise: 4 Flexpoints used: 1

crockpot madness

We got a really pretty crockpot for a wedding gift, and it's been decorating our kitchen ever since. This week, I decided to actually use it, so I went to barnes & noble for a slow cooker cookbook. I think I looked at about 17 before settling on this one, because it had a good-looking beef stew recipe. (The amazon reviews don't look too promising, though, do they?)

So, last night I bought all the ingredients for the beef stew, and I followed the recipe exactly. Except...well, it said to put in the meat, then the liquid, then the veggies, put the cover on, and leave it for 8-9 hours. It didn't say anything about stirring. In our 6-quart oval, the liquid doesn't cover any of the veggies. I'm a little worried that I'm going to have beautifully stewed meat, topped with raw, dry vegetables.

So, to stir or not to stir, that is the question. I looked at the other stew recipes in the book, and they have directions to stir if stirring is required. So for today, I'm just going to leave it alone, but I just know I'm going to be nervous about it all day long.

UPDATE, 20 minutes later: Okay, I feel a little better...the steam is starting to rise up to the lid, so I think that might be what is going to cook the veggies. Man, I hope this doesn't suck.

crockpot madness

We got a really pretty crockpot for a wedding gift, and it's been decorating our kitchen ever since. This week, I decided to actually use it, so I went to barnes & noble for a slow cooker cookbook. I think I looked at about 17 before settling on this one, because it had a good-looking beef stew recipe. (The amazon reviews don't look too promising, though, do they?)

So, last night I bought all the ingredients for the beef stew, and I followed the recipe exactly. Except...well, it said to put in the meat, then the liquid, then the veggies, put the cover on, and leave it for 8-9 hours. It didn't say anything about stirring. In our 6-quart oval, the liquid doesn't cover any of the veggies. I'm a little worried that I'm going to have beautifully stewed meat, topped with raw, dry vegetables.

So, to stir or not to stir, that is the question. I looked at the other stew recipes in the book, and they have directions to stir if stirring is required. So for today, I'm just going to leave it alone, but I just know I'm going to be nervous about it all day long.

UPDATE, 20 minutes later: Okay, I feel a little better...the steam is starting to rise up to the lid, so I think that might be what is going to cook the veggies. Man, I hope this doesn't suck.

mmm....assy

I tried that KFC oven roasted strips meal today. In the immortal words of Mr. Horse on Ren & Stimpy: "No sir, I didn't like it."

I'm not sure which was worst...the shake-n-bakeish outer coating of the chicken, the gluey texture of the rice, or the--brace yourself--PIMENTOS IN THE GREEN BEANS.

THEY PUT PIMENTOS WITH THE BEANS. People, my hatred of pimentos runs deep. So deep that I don't even care enough to look up the word to see if I'm spelling it right (it's either pimentos or pimientos--those noxious red things with which green olives and lunch meat loaves are ruined). Those of you that know my spelling-bee-winning history know just how deep that is.

The biscuit was the best thing about the meal, and I had to pay extra for it. Sigh. I had such high hopes. At least I only wasted 8 points on it. Probably closer to 6, since I could only stomach about 1/3 of the rice and none of the beans.

(It should be noted that this was just one KFC, and the last time I had beans at a different KFC, they were pimento-free. That's still no excuse for the rest of the meal, which I'm sure is universally ass-tasting. But, your mileage may vary.)

mmm....assy

I tried that KFC oven roasted strips meal today. In the immortal words of Mr. Horse on Ren & Stimpy: "No sir, I didn't like it."

I'm not sure which was worst...the shake-n-bakeish outer coating of the chicken, the gluey texture of the rice, or the--brace yourself--PIMENTOS IN THE GREEN BEANS.

THEY PUT PIMENTOS WITH THE BEANS. People, my hatred of pimentos runs deep. So deep that I don't even care enough to look up the word to see if I'm spelling it right (it's either pimentos or pimientos--those noxious red things with which green olives and lunch meat loaves are ruined). Those of you that know my spelling-bee-winning history know just how deep that is.

The biscuit was the best thing about the meal, and I had to pay extra for it. Sigh. I had such high hopes. At least I only wasted 8 points on it. Probably closer to 6, since I could only stomach about 1/3 of the rice and none of the beans.

(It should be noted that this was just one KFC, and the last time I had beans at a different KFC, they were pimento-free. That's still no excuse for the rest of the meal, which I'm sure is universally ass-tasting. But, your mileage may vary.)

D&E log, 5/26 - 6/1

Can we make it two full diet logs in a row? Maybe, maybe not.

Points eaten: 99
Points earned: 5
Flexpoints used: 25

WEDNESDAY

low-fat granola w/milk: 4
grande mocha frappuccino, no whipped cream*: 6

banana: 2

J@son's deli turkey wrap: 8
fruit salad (strawberries & cantaloupe): .5
single-size box of Junior mints (4 pieces): .5

fried chicken-in-a-box: many
mashed potatoes: 4.5
corn: 1

Points eaten: 41 (the number that eTools gave me)
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 17

THURSDAY

2 egg whites, one whole egg (to cut the slimy-ness factor): 3
diced tomatoes
low fat cheese: 1
latte: 3

1.5L water

KFC roasted strips meal (roasted chicken strips, green beans, seasoned rice): 6
biscuit: 4
diet coke

1.5L water

pretzels: 2
peanut butter: 2

tilapia: 2
asparagus

yogurt: 3

Points eaten: 26
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 2

FRIDAY

honey nut cheerios: 3
latte: 3

chipotle burrito: 17
diet coke

1L water

hamburger on bun: 8
lettuce
tomato
mustard
pickle
chips: 4

1-hour walk: 5--DO IT OR DIE, JOY

Points eaten: 35
Points earned: 5
Flexpoints used: 4

*In the future, this will be listed as "mocha frap", and everyone will know what this means. (The description noted above, that is, not "a moment of weakness". But yeah--that, too.)

D&E log, 5/26 - 6/1

Can we make it two full diet logs in a row? Maybe, maybe not.

Points eaten: 99
Points earned: 5
Flexpoints used: 25

WEDNESDAY

low-fat granola w/milk: 4
grande mocha frappuccino, no whipped cream*: 6

banana: 2

J@son's deli turkey wrap: 8
fruit salad (strawberries & cantaloupe): .5
single-size box of Junior mints (4 pieces): .5

fried chicken-in-a-box: many
mashed potatoes: 4.5
corn: 1

Points eaten: 41 (the number that eTools gave me)
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 17

THURSDAY

2 egg whites, one whole egg (to cut the slimy-ness factor): 3
diced tomatoes
low fat cheese: 1
latte: 3

1.5L water

KFC roasted strips meal (roasted chicken strips, green beans, seasoned rice): 6
biscuit: 4
diet coke

1.5L water

pretzels: 2
peanut butter: 2

tilapia: 2
asparagus

yogurt: 3

Points eaten: 26
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 2

FRIDAY

honey nut cheerios: 3
latte: 3

chipotle burrito: 17
diet coke

1L water

hamburger on bun: 8
lettuce
tomato
mustard
pickle
chips: 4

1-hour walk: 5--DO IT OR DIE, JOY

Points eaten: 35
Points earned: 5
Flexpoints used: 4

*In the future, this will be listed as "mocha frap", and everyone will know what this means. (The description noted above, that is, not "a moment of weakness". But yeah--that, too.)

superfish

I'm a fish person. I like fish, any variety, anytime. Tuna sandwiches, fishsticks, baked cod, grilled snapper, grilled salmon...oh my god, salmon.

Today, though, I sing the praises of my new favorite fish--tilapia. I bought some on sale a couple days ago, and we broiled it last night. It would have been better the first day, but one of our (five!) cats got a little excited about the grocery bag o' meat, and stuck a paw through the plastic on the ground beef before we could get to it. So we had to bump the tacos up the schedule. The fish was still pretty damn good the second day, though. It's firm, not terribly fishy-tasting, doesn't flake apart when you try to take it off the pan. It also isn't filleted and sold with the skin on (the thing that grosses me out about cooking salmon at home).

I had around 5 ounces, and WW tells me that's 3 points. Three. I love tilapia. The only things I don't love about it are the price (about $8/lb.), the hit-and-miss availability at my local store, and the name. Tilapia is one of those words that gets stuck on my tongue, and no matter how many times I ask the guy, I can never remember how to pronounce it. I go into a panic at the seafood counter, trying to decide whether I should ask for a pound of till-a-PEE-a or ti-LA-pia. Then I figure that they're both wrong, and before I know it the butcher guy is rolling his eyes and fetching someone else some shrimp. Most of the time, I just point.

But other than that, it's nature's perfect food.

superfish

I'm a fish person. I like fish, any variety, anytime. Tuna sandwiches, fishsticks, baked cod, grilled snapper, grilled salmon...oh my god, salmon.

Today, though, I sing the praises of my new favorite fish--tilapia. I bought some on sale a couple days ago, and we broiled it last night. It would have been better the first day, but one of our (five!) cats got a little excited about the grocery bag o' meat, and stuck a paw through the plastic on the ground beef before we could get to it. So we had to bump the tacos up the schedule. The fish was still pretty damn good the second day, though. It's firm, not terribly fishy-tasting, doesn't flake apart when you try to take it off the pan. It also isn't filleted and sold with the skin on (the thing that grosses me out about cooking salmon at home).

I had around 5 ounces, and WW tells me that's 3 points. Three. I love tilapia. The only things I don't love about it are the price (about $8/lb.), the hit-and-miss availability at my local store, and the name. Tilapia is one of those words that gets stuck on my tongue, and no matter how many times I ask the guy, I can never remember how to pronounce it. I go into a panic at the seafood counter, trying to decide whether I should ask for a pound of till-a-PEE-a or ti-LA-pia. Then I figure that they're both wrong, and before I know it the butcher guy is rolling his eyes and fetching someone else some shrimp. Most of the time, I just point.

But other than that, it's nature's perfect food.

D&E log, 5/19 - 5/25 - Recommit week #4

Seriously, why do I even try to do these logs anymore? I never finish them.

(Well, because when I do, it works. When I try and fail about halfway through the week, it still kind of works. So I soldier on.)

I'm abandoning the Wendie plan, though, in favor of a meal plan. I don't have anything against Wendie, but history has shown that I don't do very well following it. I mean, I have no doubt it would work if I did. I just don't.

Instead, I've planned everything I'm going to put in my mouth and how I'm going to move my body from here until Sunday (by the time I planned Sunday, I was completely braindead and nothing sounded appetizing for Monday...I'll pick that up on Friday or Saturday). My points values still vary day to day, and they still fall within the limits of the Flexpoints plan. However, I'm not worried about hitting a specific target each day, or varying my numbers in any particular order. Saturday is still my highest day, but the other days vary. On my current plan, I use only 18 flexpoints between now and Sunday. To some, that seems like a lot...to me, it's a miracle.

Shutting up now.

Points eaten: 212.5
Points earned: 5
Flexpoints used: 42.5

WEDNESDAY

a NF-SF vanilla latte so badly prepared that I could only drink 2/3s of it: 2
scrambled eggs w/low-fat cheese and onions: 5

1L water

Boston Market classic rotisserie salad (no egg, no garbanzo beans, 1/2 the dressing): 11.5
big chocolate chip cookie: 5

1.5L water

1 hour walk: 5

1L water

broiled tilapia: 3
broccoli
brown & wild rice: 4

Points eaten: 30.5
Points earned: 5
Flexpoints used: 1.5

THURSDAY

NF-SF vanilla latte, grande: 3
banana: 1.5
vanilla la creme yogurt: 3

1.5L water

rotisserie chicken salad (lettuce, tomato, low-fat cheese, avocado, light dressing, chicken): 8

1.5L water

homemade pizza (boboli personal-size crust, sauce, turkey pepperoni, 1/2 c. mozzarella, green olives, onions, mushrooms): 15

Points eaten: 30.5
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 6.5

FRIDAY

egg white omelet: 3
coffee: 1

grilled chicken sandwich w/lettuce & tomato, a little mayo: 8
potato chips: 4
fruit salad: 1
cookie: 3

1L water

spaghetti tossed w/diced tomatoes & mushrooms: 4
.5L water

Points eaten: 24
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 0

SATURDAY

2-egg omelet (2 egg whites, low-fat cheese, pepperoni, onions): 4

1L water

popcorn: 3
diet coke

1.5L water

steak/chicken/shrimp kabobs from Pappasitos, and possibly a margarita: 25

Points eaten: 32
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 8

SUNDAY

coffee w/creamer & sweetener: 1
doughnut: 6

rotisserie chicken: 4.5
rice: 4
broccoli

6 oz. sirloin: 11
brussels sprouts

coffee w/creamer & sweetener: 1

Points eaten: 30*
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 6

MONDAY

honey nut cheerios: 3
SF-NF vanilla latte, grande: 3

1L water

apple: 1
peanut butter: 4.5

2L water

rotisserie chicken: 4
green beans w/almonds: 1
yogurt: 3
milk: 2

Points eaten: 21.5
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 0

TUESDAY

2 eggs: 4
low-fat cheese: 1
tomatoes
onions
pepperoni: .5
latte**: 3

1.5L water

jerk shrimp kabobs (10 shrimp): 5.5
fries: 6
iced tea

treadmill, random hills, 45 minutes @ 3.4 mph: 4

yogurt: 3
banana: 2

Chili's fajitas: 20 (shut up--I KNOW)
diet coke

Points eaten: 45
Points earned: 4
Flexpoints used: 0

*I know these (and possibly other) numbers don't add up right. What happened was, I updated at ww etools, then took the totals and dumped them over here without changing the food listings. I did not eat what I planned, but I ate mostly on plan. If that makes any sense.

**I only drink one kind of latte, in one size. Grande, sugar-free vanilla, non-fat. With a dash of cinnamon. I got tired of typing all that every day. :)

D&E log, 5/19 - 5/25 - Recommit week #4

Seriously, why do I even try to do these logs anymore? I never finish them.

(Well, because when I do, it works. When I try and fail about halfway through the week, it still kind of works. So I soldier on.)

I'm abandoning the Wendie plan, though, in favor of a meal plan. I don't have anything against Wendie, but history has shown that I don't do very well following it. I mean, I have no doubt it would work if I did. I just don't.

Instead, I've planned everything I'm going to put in my mouth and how I'm going to move my body from here until Sunday (by the time I planned Sunday, I was completely braindead and nothing sounded appetizing for Monday...I'll pick that up on Friday or Saturday). My points values still vary day to day, and they still fall within the limits of the Flexpoints plan. However, I'm not worried about hitting a specific target each day, or varying my numbers in any particular order. Saturday is still my highest day, but the other days vary. On my current plan, I use only 18 flexpoints between now and Sunday. To some, that seems like a lot...to me, it's a miracle.

Shutting up now.

Points eaten: 212.5
Points earned: 5
Flexpoints used: 42.5

WEDNESDAY

a NF-SF vanilla latte so badly prepared that I could only drink 2/3s of it: 2
scrambled eggs w/low-fat cheese and onions: 5

1L water

Boston Market classic rotisserie salad (no egg, no garbanzo beans, 1/2 the dressing): 11.5
big chocolate chip cookie: 5

1.5L water

1 hour walk: 5

1L water

broiled tilapia: 3
broccoli
brown & wild rice: 4

Points eaten: 30.5
Points earned: 5
Flexpoints used: 1.5

THURSDAY

NF-SF vanilla latte, grande: 3
banana: 1.5
vanilla la creme yogurt: 3

1.5L water

rotisserie chicken salad (lettuce, tomato, low-fat cheese, avocado, light dressing, chicken): 8

1.5L water

homemade pizza (boboli personal-size crust, sauce, turkey pepperoni, 1/2 c. mozzarella, green olives, onions, mushrooms): 15

Points eaten: 30.5
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 6.5

FRIDAY

egg white omelet: 3
coffee: 1

grilled chicken sandwich w/lettuce & tomato, a little mayo: 8
potato chips: 4
fruit salad: 1
cookie: 3

1L water

spaghetti tossed w/diced tomatoes & mushrooms: 4
.5L water

Points eaten: 24
Points earned: 0
Flexpoints used: 0