Weekend Warrior

The weekend was tough but I did pretty well. There were lots of temptations but I handled portion control about as good as I ever have. We'll see what the scale says tomorrow...

Tracking my intake was the only reason I was successful. I stopped drinking beer or eating Friday, Sat and Sunday when I hit my limit. I also planned out my day to account for social activities later in the day. Weigh in tomorrow morning, a few more temptations to clear tonight... we'll see what happens!

How is everyone else doing? Max, did you find diet soda?

Getting back to the big questions...

- Did I exercise today? No, I aim to get back to the gym next week. It is not nearly as important to me as diet at this point. I've heard, and based on personal experience believe, that weight loss is 85% diet [citation needed].

- How did I do on portion control? Excellent, I've weighed, measured or counted everything that I've ate or drank for the past few days.

- Was my food today healthy? Tricky question. Portion control and calorie counting doesn't make food healthy. I've eaten 100 calorie packs of cookies and chips, they are still junk food. Overall my food has been healthy.

- How was my hunger level today? Under control. I have been hungry before meals which is expected.

- Did I control my alcohol consumption? Yes, I measured 1.5 oz. servings and counted points. Even though under control I'd rather not drink on school nights. I'll work on this.

- What was my favorite rationalization today? I had an apple for breakfast to shave a few points to help offset lunch. I had plans to meet a friend otherwise I've been packing my lunch. I will research where and what I eat before I leave my desk to avoid menu temptations.

- Am I closer to my goal today than I was yesterday? Yes, I don't count mid-week weigh ins as anything but motivation but I'm down 2 pounds since Monday. If I can keep my stuff together for the weekend there is no reason to believe I won't lose 3 pounds by weigh in on Tuesday.

Eating what you want on a diet

I've been hungry for falafel a lot lately. The only way I could eat store bought or restaurant falafel and stay within my caloric limit for the day unless I ate nothing else. I looked at some recipes and identified the worst aspects and tried to eliminate them (tahini, flour as binder, frying!). AP flour would work but I saw the chickpea flour while walking through the grocery store. It wasn't very expensive for a specialty flour and helped add flavor back that had been cut out elsewhere.

1/4 cup(s) chickpea flour

15 oz canned chickpeas

3 clove(s) garlic clove(s) (medium)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 item(s) egg white(s)

juice of one lemon

1/2 cup(s) onion(s)

1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp table salt

1/2 cup(s) parsley

Instructions: Chop up all the veggies and parsley and throw in a food processor. Pulse until smooth (I ALWAYS process too much, it never has that falafel stand grittiness, maybe that's good?). Form into small patties or balls and throw in a non stick skillet with a touch of no stick spray. Brown on each side and transfer to a sprayed sheet pan and throw in a 350* oven for about 30 min or until firmed up. It's important for the onion to get enough time to mellow out.

I've tried different baked falafel recipes before but I think this is the closest I've come to the real thing. Goes great with home made fat free tzatziki (spell check anyone?).

I had three patties for dinner with some braised radishes and lemon steamed summer squash with herbs de Provence.

I ate exactly what I wanted yesterday, wasn't hungry, and still lost weight.

I can do this.

Thursday, Feb. 24th

I am currently at something like 255 and want to get down to 220 by the end of the year (the theme: "30 for 30").  We are starting Weight Watchers @ Work on Monday, but I am not sure that I will be able to do it - too much time off from work already.  Once I am off restrictions for exercise, I am going to start going to our company gym in the mornings, modulo chemo side effects.

Basically, I am going to have to start this off with just diet modification, and that's tough for me. Especially since in our lab we have a snack table where people bring in food. Someone brought in one of those 5 lb bags of M&Ms... that plus bored equals waaaaay too many M&Ms consumed.

Breakfast this morning was Cinnamon Life cereal. Lunch will be taco soup (decent chili analogue) and cornbread, and we'll see about dinner.  Portion control will be clutch - I will let you know how I do.

Return to accountability

I've decided to start tracking points according to the weight watchers plan again. I had great success with it when I took it seriously a couple of years ago. I went from about 250 to 230 (where my weight has hovered since) in a few months.

Since I did weight watchers I've thought of everything in terms of points. When I participated in a chicken nugget eating contest (more of a showcase) I turned some heads when I quoted the amount of points I just consumed. When you get into it you can't help it, even if you are eating like bull moose in mating season, everything becomes points.

I can't finish up my thoughts at the moment but...

A rough approximation of the old point system would be to find the calorie content of everything you eat. Divide that calorie number by 50 and call those points (the real formula penalizes fat and rewards modest amounts of fiber but more on that later...). Since we aren't taking fat into account on that simple approximation try to keep that number around 30. I think I used to get 32-35 points per day.

If you can't find the calorie content of things like arabic bread try to find a good proxy. I bet naan would be close. I googled store bought naan nutrition info and see that a piece of naan would be about 6 points (289 calories).

Food for thought (oh, that's funny)

Wednesday back in the UAE- Max

Good posts Adam..... My goal is 215 by October 1.

I agree about the food as reward for losing weight. I have to find another reward.
After 20 Hours of airports and airplanes it was good to get back the apartment. I slept most of the way and missed all of the food offerings. Not a great loss. Got to the apt and ordered pizza. ate too much but not to excess.

Today is the start of the routine. Apple for breakfast and an arabic bread with a T of peanut butter... Light lunch, and then hot pot with Butch, Fong, Cindy and Gwen.

I had a great rationalization last night I had three cocktails and decided to have a soft drink rather than alcohol. No diet soda so I looked at the cranberry juice and decided that the juice and the vodka had the same calories so I had a cranberry juice and vodka.

My resolution is no more than 1.5 oz of liquor during the week

Max





- Did I exercise today?- How did I do on portion control?- Was my food today healthy?- How was my hunger level today?- Did I control my alcohol consumption?- What was my favorite rationalization today?- Am I closer to my goal today than I was yesterday?

This recipe looks light, easy and tasty:

http://www.kitchendaily.com/recipe/grilled-harissa-chicken-with-cucumber-yogurt-dressing-151501

I would do this without the lengthy marinade and just rub the breast with everything but the yogurt.

If Greek yogurt is too pricey, get some cheesecloth and strain store brand fat free unflavored yogurt for a couple of hours (line a colander or large mesh strainer), no one will know the difference.

What do you all weigh? What is your goal?

I tipped the scales at 228.8 this morning. I was bout that before Thanksgiving but started the New Year at a husky 232 or so.

My goal is 210.

One thing that will be different this time? I won't reward myself with food. In the past I've used 5 pound milestones as excuses to hit the buffet or indulge. There are enough temptations, special occasions and nights out that are set to undermine my success as it is!

This weekend was a disaster in terms of health. Not much more to say about that.

The following is what I typically eat during the week. When I stick to this and don't ruin it on the weekends I can loose a few pounds easily. If I get exercise in and don't try to impersonate Dylan Thomas on the weekend I can do far better. Weekends are my weakness.

I'm back on track this morning with my usual breakfast of a special-k bar (100 calories). I typically will eat one of those or an activia light yogurt and a third of a cup of special K, total or some other light cereal.

Lunch is a turkey sandwich (a few slices. I weighed it and it is less than the serving size, that is rare) on light bread (45 calories per slice) with one slice of fat free american cheese and mustard. Along with that I'll have a 100 calorie pack of reduced fat cape cod chips and a handful of baby carrots or an apple.

Dinner will be leftover casserole, salad, veggies or some combination thereof. The only meat I've been eating during the week lately is boneless, skinless chicken breast.

After a weekend of hedonism I expect to be hungry through mid week until I readjust to regular human portions.

Weekend Report

This weekend was mezzo-mezzo on the food front. I am starting to feel a lot better, so it's easier to eat more, but I am still not very active, so I don't need to eat more.  I have been taking my vitamins though, and other than the horrible stomach aches they give me, that's going well.  To sum up: not much activity, too much food, but good on the vitamins.  And I am starting to feel much better, so that's good.

Saturday 19 Feb - Max

- Did I exercise today?- I my heart rate up moving firewood thru the feet of snow.

How did I do on portion control?- Pretty poor as the three fay guys had 2 inch ribeye steaks for dinner. The grill went out and it was kind of baked. and ed had to finish it off in the skillet. Adam over cooked it HA!


Was my food today healthy?- Not really I smacked a lot but other than the size of the steak the food was of high quality and god for you (yes beef is good for you)

How was my hunger level today?- I was not hungry


Did I control my alcohol consumption?- Well it is the weekend so for the weekend not too bad

What was my favorite rationalization today?- It is the weekend, I never get steak like this. any more to say?

Am I closer to my goal today than I was yesterday? If my goal is death by cholesterol yes

Sunday will be another day of decadence but I have resolved to lose 5 pounds a month from March through September and that will put me at 215 pounds before Adam gets married.

A worthy goal

Max

Friday 18 Feb

I did better today than yesterday
I controlled my portions.
It was Friday
I got my heart rate up by shoveling snow to get to the grill at Alex's house for the steak fry tonight (Saturday) Not likely to blog on Saturday we have a half of a cow to grill for rib eyes.
I did better Friday than I did on Thursday

Max

Friday, Feb. 18th

Today has started off mediocre on the fitness front. Seeing as I am on bedrest, the exercise is a no-go. But as far as food goes, I have not pigged out too much.  Still kind of nervous about eating, especially given how hard it is to get up and go to the bathroom...

Anyway, have not had lunch yet, but had some toast for breakfast, and some string cheese and an apple for a snack (plus peanut M&M's...).

Mentally, I am still hanging in there. There are a lot of challenges coming, but my plan is to take them one at a time and beat them.

Checking in...

This is Alex, and I want to get healthy for a lot of different reasons:
- I am about 40 to 50 lbs overweight
- My family has a history of weight-related health issues
- I want to see Rachel and the new baby get old
- Recent health issues have scared the heck out of me
- I get really tired shoveling snow, and that's pathetic

Hopefully, this blog will help me stay motivated and accountable.

Questions to answer:
- Did I exercise today? no
- how did I do on portion control? the second beer was not neccessary and the large size is cheaper by the ounce
- Was my food today healthy? the beans and slaw were, the ribs had more fat than.....
- How was my hunger level today? hungary twice
- Did I control my alcohol consumption? after 1:00
- What was my favorite rationalization today? the beer is cheaper by the ounce if you get the big one
- Am I closer to my goal today than I was yesterday? 1 out 7 not too good

Senior Fat guy reporting in

Well this is a first and it seems to be harder than it should be.

Mt reationalization of the day was, I don't pork ribs in Abu Dhabi like this and the beer is very cold. I did feel hunger before lunch and I feel hunger now. wow twice in one day

So, you want to get fit?

So, in early 2011, we decided that we need to lose some weight and improve our overall fitness. This blog is an attempt to do that, by providing some accountability, some ideas on how to help each other, some support, and a place to bitch.

Questions to answer:
- Did I exercise today?
- how did I do on portion control?
- Was my food today healthy?
- How was my hunger level today?
- Did I control my alcohol consumption?
- What was my favorite rationalization today?
- Am I closer to my goal today than I was yesterday?

This probably won't be very interesting to read, but hopefully it will help us stay on track and get closer to our goals.