Woke up at 4:30 to ride my bike over the GWB, down Jersey to Staten Island and did a loop. Was a bit slow going due to highs in the 90s and thick humidity. I have a cyclometer that calculates calories on order, but for now I used this website to come up with the figure for how many calories I expended.
Nutritionally, not a spectacular day -- where are the fruits and veg? But what I ate got me through. If I wasn't counting calories, I probably would have ate another 1000+ calorie meal where I have an evening snack, but was able to think about the hunger I was feeling and go smaller. So I guess that makes this effort good for something, no?
THE COUNT: 4,230
BIKE CREDIT: +/- 4,600
Does this mean I'm in deficit by 370 cal, or do I include the 2,500 I'm budgeted to live a normal day, making it a deficit of 2,870? That would result in almost a pound of fat in one day, which strains credibility. I'm sure the answer is complicated and somewhere in the middle.
BREAKFAST: 4:45am, iced green tea, homemade granola with whole milk, 850 cal
BIKE SNACK: 7:45am, 20oz Gatorade, 3oz fritos, 590 cal
BIKE SNACK: 10:45am, 20oz Gatorade, 2oz potato chips, 420 cal
BIKE SNACK: 12:15pm, Drakes apple pie, 470 cal
Was shocked how many calories in this rather small treat. Tasty, but so not worth the calories if I wasn't in desperate need of a kick to keep going.
PM SNACK: 3:15pm, handful of tortilla chips, fresh salsa, +/- 100 cal
LINNER: 4pm, roast beef sandwich on brioche, handful of fries, handful of cheesy spatzle, water, +/- 1000 cal
Out with B&E and friends at Prime Meats in Cobble Hill.
PM SNACK: 5pm, small cherry Italian ice, +/- 150 cal
PM SNACK: 6pm, 8 oz Nesquik chocolate milk, 170 cal
Got this free sample from a street fair. Chocolate milk is supposed to be a good recovery drink. Think I should just get some real chocolate syrup and make it with my whole milk on demand, as this stuff is weirdly industrial.
EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, hotdog with mustard, another Nesquick, 480 cal
Friday, June 22
Thursday, June 21
Ready, set....go?! Yeah, go!
Part of me says, "Oh, I'll start restricting my calories next week" but there is a part of me that needs to be early -- on time is the same thing as late. So without totally thinking it through, today I'm going to try to keep my intake during the week to under 2,500 or so. It's not as low as the nutritionist recommended (2,200-2,350) but for now I think it's a reasonable goal.
Lifted weights in the morning, still feeling the stress of just bumping up the amounts. Still, it's great that I can do 20 push ups without pausing -- in high school, my peak push-ups was 10. Rereading that sentence, yes, midlife crisis! Gonna ride this crisis to my advantage, dang it.
THE COUNT: 2,420
AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 10:15am, steel cut oats, a banana, 520 cal
AM SNACK: 11:30am, momma salad with ranch, 145 cal
LUNCH: 1:15pm, health salad, chicken nuggz, whole wheat spag with homemade sauce, 800 cal
For the first time eva, I prepped and ate 1 official serving of pasta: 2oz, 210 cal undressed. I guess in the scheme of a meal as a side dish, it makes sense. Edie's whole-grain breaded chicken nuggets are not the greatest source of protein, but it's what I have on hand.
PM SNACK: 2:45pm, 21 oz diet coke, 0 cal
This was a small fountain drink, for f@ck's sake.
DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 ears corn with butter, roasted brussel sprouts, 1 pancake, 8oz beer, 930 cal
Originally it was going to be 1 corn, but as I was taking my broiled cod out of the oven, the sizzling juices spread enough to the cooler part of the glass pan that it made it shatter, -sigh-. I guess this is why people use broiler pans, will note that for the next broil-a-thon.
EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, 8oz diet sprite, 0 cal
Hmmm. Not a great habit to get into, diet soda. Am I on a precipice?
Lifted weights in the morning, still feeling the stress of just bumping up the amounts. Still, it's great that I can do 20 push ups without pausing -- in high school, my peak push-ups was 10. Rereading that sentence, yes, midlife crisis! Gonna ride this crisis to my advantage, dang it.
THE COUNT: 2,420
AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 10:15am, steel cut oats, a banana, 520 cal
AM SNACK: 11:30am, momma salad with ranch, 145 cal
LUNCH: 1:15pm, health salad, chicken nuggz, whole wheat spag with homemade sauce, 800 cal
For the first time eva, I prepped and ate 1 official serving of pasta: 2oz, 210 cal undressed. I guess in the scheme of a meal as a side dish, it makes sense. Edie's whole-grain breaded chicken nuggets are not the greatest source of protein, but it's what I have on hand.
PM SNACK: 2:45pm, 21 oz diet coke, 0 cal
This was a small fountain drink, for f@ck's sake.
DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 ears corn with butter, roasted brussel sprouts, 1 pancake, 8oz beer, 930 cal
Originally it was going to be 1 corn, but as I was taking my broiled cod out of the oven, the sizzling juices spread enough to the cooler part of the glass pan that it made it shatter, -sigh-. I guess this is why people use broiler pans, will note that for the next broil-a-thon.
EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, 8oz diet sprite, 0 cal
Hmmm. Not a great habit to get into, diet soda. Am I on a precipice?
Wednesday, June 20
Accidental Onion Stock & a Visit to the Nutritionist
So I visited a nutritionist for the first time since about 5 years ago, when I briefly consulted a nutritionist-in-training and started this blog because of it. I'll skip the flighty talk and abstract impressions and cut to the chase. This was the take-away:
The nutritionist gave me a list of recommended foods, many of which I will eat perhaps when I'm dead. (Egg white omelet? Turkey bacon? No fat yogurt? Uh, no.) I've never thought in terms of carb/fat/protein before, as the fact is a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
HOWEVER. The nutritionist did point out that if I get my sources of calories into line, I will feel fuller on less calories. I will consume less calories and NOT be equivalently hungrier. This evening, for dinner I made two sides in about equal amounts -- mac n' cheese out of the box, and quickly sauteed chopped spinach. They looked equal on the plate, but one had about 700 calories and one had about 150. In the future, I'll half the mac and double the spinach and get closer to my calorie goal....without suffering...too much.
Starting ASAP, probably with the next food shop, I'm going to get more lean meats and fish in, more vegetable salad options, more cooked veg and start focusing on fruit as a snack. I'm not going to try to restrict (the bad, non nutritious) carbs so much as crowd them out.
Fact is, I'm starting to see results of my weight training that I amped up since getting sick around New Year's. Hopefully by this coming New Year's, I'll see results from this revised approach to my eating.
Mid July, this blog is going to undergo a revamp. Watch for it!
TODAY'S COOKING:
Onions: Making a batch of caramelized onions for knish making either next week or the week after that. Did the calculations, the whole batch will be about 9,400 calories. However, in the interest of accuracy, after the onions came out the oven, I reserved the liquid that I take off the onions and put it in the fridge. The next morning, the fat had hardened on the top -- almost 3,000 calories worth! And the fat-free brown liquid.... oh my. Concentrated caramelized onion flavored water! Gonna go into the making of my next batch of rice.
TODAY'S COUNT: 3055
AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:15am, full fat fage with honey and almonds, 380 cal
A full serving of honey is a teaspoon, but halved that because it seemed too much.
LUNCH: 11:30, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 860 cal
Ironically, due to the fact I needed to rush to get out the door to see a nutritionist, this was my lunch of convenience...
PM SNACK: 2:15pm, large chocolate chip cookie, +/- 400 cal
DINNER: 6:45pm, sauteed fillet of turkey breast, cooked spinach, whole grain kraft dinner, 8oz beer, 1265 cal
My not-so-big serving of the boxed mac n' cheese was over 600 cal! WTF!
EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, watermelon, 125 cal
Felt like chocolate and nuts, but knew I was already passing 3000 with this snack...
- I eat too much. To lose about 2 lbs a week, I need to restrict myself to a goal of 2,200-2,350 cal/day.
- I eat too many carbs. Based on review of the my eating Sunday-Tuesday, I'm eating 75-80% carbs, the balance in fat and not enough protein. I need to aim for a 40/30/30 balance of carb/protein/fat.
- I'm scared of being hungry. I should never let myself get so hungry that I lose control, but learn to listen to hunger to allow it to prompt my eating.
The nutritionist gave me a list of recommended foods, many of which I will eat perhaps when I'm dead. (Egg white omelet? Turkey bacon? No fat yogurt? Uh, no.) I've never thought in terms of carb/fat/protein before, as the fact is a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
HOWEVER. The nutritionist did point out that if I get my sources of calories into line, I will feel fuller on less calories. I will consume less calories and NOT be equivalently hungrier. This evening, for dinner I made two sides in about equal amounts -- mac n' cheese out of the box, and quickly sauteed chopped spinach. They looked equal on the plate, but one had about 700 calories and one had about 150. In the future, I'll half the mac and double the spinach and get closer to my calorie goal....without suffering...too much.
Starting ASAP, probably with the next food shop, I'm going to get more lean meats and fish in, more vegetable salad options, more cooked veg and start focusing on fruit as a snack. I'm not going to try to restrict (the bad, non nutritious) carbs so much as crowd them out.
Fact is, I'm starting to see results of my weight training that I amped up since getting sick around New Year's. Hopefully by this coming New Year's, I'll see results from this revised approach to my eating.
Mid July, this blog is going to undergo a revamp. Watch for it!
TODAY'S COOKING:
Onions: Making a batch of caramelized onions for knish making either next week or the week after that. Did the calculations, the whole batch will be about 9,400 calories. However, in the interest of accuracy, after the onions came out the oven, I reserved the liquid that I take off the onions and put it in the fridge. The next morning, the fat had hardened on the top -- almost 3,000 calories worth! And the fat-free brown liquid.... oh my. Concentrated caramelized onion flavored water! Gonna go into the making of my next batch of rice.
TODAY'S COUNT: 3055
AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:15am, full fat fage with honey and almonds, 380 cal
A full serving of honey is a teaspoon, but halved that because it seemed too much.
LUNCH: 11:30, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 860 cal
Ironically, due to the fact I needed to rush to get out the door to see a nutritionist, this was my lunch of convenience...
PM SNACK: 2:15pm, large chocolate chip cookie, +/- 400 cal
DINNER: 6:45pm, sauteed fillet of turkey breast, cooked spinach, whole grain kraft dinner, 8oz beer, 1265 cal
My not-so-big serving of the boxed mac n' cheese was over 600 cal! WTF!
EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, watermelon, 125 cal
Felt like chocolate and nuts, but knew I was already passing 3000 with this snack...
Tuesday, June 19
Hunger Game
Woke up nicely sore, particularly in my upper back and shoulders from the 3 negative pull-ups -- hopefully a month or two of these will actually lead to one unassisted pull-up?
Went out for a drinks thing for E's birthday, then a late night food shop to restock the house. Chocolate that late gave me horrible insomnia, -sigh- when will I learn?...
THE COUNT: 2700
Then again, I was surprisingly hungry after my last snack, and was so until I finally got to bed, Perhaps that was related?
AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, 300 cal
LUNCH: 12:45pm, 6" veggie burger hero, chips, diet coke, 650 cal
At Subway. Last time I had the foot long and was shocked the meal was over 1000 cal, even with diet soda. This was a perfectly reasonable fast-food meal, however.
PM SNACK: 5:15pm, pancake, buttered ear of corn, 300 cal
Got really hungry, out of a lot of food, veg or fruit would have been ideal.
PM SNACK: 6pm, whole wheat pretzels, 110 cal
DINNER: 6:45pm, sushi deluxe platter with salad, water, +/- 800 cal
Out to dinner by myself waiting for the drinks thing to start. Really guessing just how many calories in this meal, but guessing low because I rolled out of there satisfied but just barely.
EVENING SNORT: 7:45pm, 12oz of Six Point Brownstone, water, 175 cal
I ordered one small glass and had water for the rest of the 3 hours I was there, but man, it would have been easy to put down 3 pints, which would have been +650 cal...
EVENING SNACK: 11:45pm, almonds & chocolate chips, 340 cal
Got hungry when I got home from the supermarket. Only 30g of each ingredient, which was smaller than the portion I usually make myself by about half. Still, a whole lotta calories.
Went out for a drinks thing for E's birthday, then a late night food shop to restock the house. Chocolate that late gave me horrible insomnia, -sigh- when will I learn?...
THE COUNT: 2700
Then again, I was surprisingly hungry after my last snack, and was so until I finally got to bed, Perhaps that was related?
AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, 300 cal
LUNCH: 12:45pm, 6" veggie burger hero, chips, diet coke, 650 cal
At Subway. Last time I had the foot long and was shocked the meal was over 1000 cal, even with diet soda. This was a perfectly reasonable fast-food meal, however.
PM SNACK: 5:15pm, pancake, buttered ear of corn, 300 cal
Got really hungry, out of a lot of food, veg or fruit would have been ideal.
PM SNACK: 6pm, whole wheat pretzels, 110 cal
DINNER: 6:45pm, sushi deluxe platter with salad, water, +/- 800 cal
Out to dinner by myself waiting for the drinks thing to start. Really guessing just how many calories in this meal, but guessing low because I rolled out of there satisfied but just barely.
EVENING SNORT: 7:45pm, 12oz of Six Point Brownstone, water, 175 cal
I ordered one small glass and had water for the rest of the 3 hours I was there, but man, it would have been easy to put down 3 pints, which would have been +650 cal...
EVENING SNACK: 11:45pm, almonds & chocolate chips, 340 cal
Got hungry when I got home from the supermarket. Only 30g of each ingredient, which was smaller than the portion I usually make myself by about half. Still, a whole lotta calories.
Monday, June 18
Got-R-Dun
Spent the day until having to leave to pick up Edie making knishes, juggling a Milli, lifting weights, making a smoothie (and making a cal count on a new bag of frozen fruit mix), trying to clean up to my wife's exacting specifications AND do the laundry. The fact that
was pretty satisfying. I'm a good house-husband (well, most of the time.)
WEEKEND REPORT
My bike broke a spoke when I was in Lynbrook at 6 in the morning and was forced to leave the ride. I made the best of it, and had an adventure walking 8.5 miles from there to the Jamaica subway station. It was beautiful weather, I never been in that part of the city, and had a nice break at Rochdale Village, which are sister coops to the place where I live, but is way too far out in deep dark Queens to ever visit. Legs were sore, but in a good mood. Eating was kept to a normal clip.
Sunday was Father's day, I did the fatherly thing and made pancakes in the morning (210 cal per pancake!) I rode the big bike with Edie up to Central Park, the other 2 joined us and we had a nice picnic of bagels and donuts in the Sheep's Meadow. It was a groovy father's day, my first with 2 rugrats and a beaming wife.
---
I think today's count is a little low because a) I was too busy to over-eat most of the day and b) my pm snacks and dinner were guess counts, and could be wildly wrong, though I don't think they are.
THE COUNT: 2,405
- Milli got fed and was smiley,
- the knishes came out all pretty-like,
- breakfast was more accurate than ever (and tasty),
- I organized and lifted the next weight level up with negative pull-ups,
- loaded and unloaded 4 dishwasher loads,
- got the laundry DUN,
- and got out of the house on time
was pretty satisfying. I'm a good house-husband (well, most of the time.)
WEEKEND REPORT
My bike broke a spoke when I was in Lynbrook at 6 in the morning and was forced to leave the ride. I made the best of it, and had an adventure walking 8.5 miles from there to the Jamaica subway station. It was beautiful weather, I never been in that part of the city, and had a nice break at Rochdale Village, which are sister coops to the place where I live, but is way too far out in deep dark Queens to ever visit. Legs were sore, but in a good mood. Eating was kept to a normal clip.
Sunday was Father's day, I did the fatherly thing and made pancakes in the morning (210 cal per pancake!) I rode the big bike with Edie up to Central Park, the other 2 joined us and we had a nice picnic of bagels and donuts in the Sheep's Meadow. It was a groovy father's day, my first with 2 rugrats and a beaming wife.
---
I think today's count is a little low because a) I was too busy to over-eat most of the day and b) my pm snacks and dinner were guess counts, and could be wildly wrong, though I don't think they are.
THE COUNT: 2,405
AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 10:15am, smoothie, 380 cal
PM SNACK: 12:30pm, kasha knish, +/- 150 cal
I really should get on doing counts on my knishes. I chose the smallest looking knish to taste, as it would of looked slightly out of place on a tray of knishes for sale.
LUNCH: 1:30pm, PB&J on whole wheat, baby carrots, water, 550 cal
PM SNACK: 4:30pm, slice of pizza, +/- 250 cal
DINNER: 6:30pm, eggplant hero with no cheese, garden salad with light dressing, 8oz beer +/- 1050 cal
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 8oz diet sprite, 0 cal
PM SNACK: 12:30pm, kasha knish, +/- 150 cal
I really should get on doing counts on my knishes. I chose the smallest looking knish to taste, as it would of looked slightly out of place on a tray of knishes for sale.
LUNCH: 1:30pm, PB&J on whole wheat, baby carrots, water, 550 cal
PM SNACK: 4:30pm, slice of pizza, +/- 250 cal
DINNER: 6:30pm, eggplant hero with no cheese, garden salad with light dressing, 8oz beer +/- 1050 cal
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 8oz diet sprite, 0 cal
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