Mid March can't come soon enough

Easy going Saturday. Took a walk into Soho with the fam in the morning, took my road bike up to a shop in midtown for a full tuneup for the upcoming season in the afternoon. Riding it up 1st Ave made me a little excited for all the riding we're gonna do together come mid-March! Stayed home in the eve while B went out with friends. B brought me home some food from her night out, which was nice.

AM SNACK: 10:15am, iced green tea


PM SNACK: 1pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK 3:45pm, handful of cashews


LUNCH: 4:45pm, 2 large fishsticks, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 8pm, peanut butter, cashews, chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10:30pm, 2 steak tacos, rice, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Full day

Busy body Friday. Went up for a lunch at the Food Network with MAP while Edie slept through most of it. After hitting up home, went to a playdate in the East Village with some sinful snacks. In the afternoon, out with Y and Baby Giraffe to a nice dinner at Frankies, a snack at the Dessert Truck outpost, then a movie. A very Edie-centric and full day.

Tomorrow, refocus on eating a bit better. Social things tend to knock me off the horse, time with the HVS excepted.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5


LUNCH: 12:15pm, sausage and cheese crepe, orange soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, small piece of chocolate cake, small piece of lemon meringue pie, cookie, small amount of champagne, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:15pm, papardelle bolognese, antipasto, bread pudding, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, popcorn, water

Lunch smoothie

Supermarket in the morning, assembling some dishes in the afternoon, off to the restaurant for a wine tasting in the evening.

TODAY'S COOKING
Green Salad: For the week's health.
Quinoa Salad: Out of the Veganomicon. Made more for Betsy, but actually tasted OK.
Smoothie: Wanted this for breakfast, but chores prevented me. So I went nuts and had it for lunch instead.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, brown rice California roll. .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, quinoa salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5 

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, sips of 8 different wines, 2 slices of pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, wholewheat mac n' cheese, breaded flounder, Jaques Torres dark chocolate cornflakes, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Need more doohickies

I guess it's normal not to be hungry when you just wake up, I need to work harder to accommodate my body's cycles. For a second day in a row I have packed the oatmeal and brought it to work. Maybe I should devise a series of containers (aka doohickies, as my mom called them) to bring other breakfasts to work, like milk and cereal, smoothies, fish n' bagels, etc.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
 BREAKFAST: 10:15am, the good pinhead oatmeal, water, 75 bowl, hunger 4/5
 LUNCH: 12:45pm, 3 slices Sicilian with mushroom & onion, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, large green salad, fried shrimp, 8 oz Sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, 1 slice pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

DINNER: 10:30pm, burger, fries, apple pie, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
No comment.

No Breakfast Pizza

Woke up a bit sniffly and stuffy and very unhungry. The iced tea helped me wake up (maybe I should fresh brew hot tea on a day like this?) and zapped a container of oatmeal to take to work. Good thing, as riding the bike in this "wintery mix" of snow, rain and ice took twice as long as usual, with twice the exertion. By the time I went through my morning opening routine, the oatmeal hit the spot much better than a late morning pizza.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 11am, pinhead oatmeal, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1pm, 3 slices super thin pizza, small amount of freshly roasted potatoes, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 3:30pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:15pm, shrimp in garlic butter, garlic bread, water, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, chocolate chips
Looked for something to water this down with and add to the nutrition, but didn't have anything. Will remedy that on my next shopping excursion.

Fatty Thoughts

Woke up with a croaky throat and a veil of tiredness, but got up and pushed myself to eat a good, healthy breakfast to avoid a lunch-binge later on. Due to the MLK holiday, B had off but the restaurant was open.

Been thinking about dramatic weight-loss recently, and the options available. It's easy to say "eat less-do more", but the longer I live, the longer I realize that the psychological, physiological, biological and sociological all team up in a wicked brew to take the teeth out of this simple credo. My body mass index is 35.4, and over 30 is considered "obese". I'd have to be 163 lbs (a loss of 70 lbs) to be official "normal weight". I know I'm a bit of a chubster, but I never saw myself as a superfatty "obese" person.

Trawling Amazon under a "weight loss" search, a lot of books came up. A drug, "Alli" came up a lot, which seems to be the same stuff they put into "diet" potato chips in the 90s that made people shit a lot and soil them selves. My quick research made me conclude that it is not a magic weight loss pill, so much as a harsh stick that makes people afraid to eat fatty food, lest they let loose farts of indeterminate nature. A bunch of other pills looked like either snake oil or straight-up scariness. Speed-like drugs aimed at weight loss will make you lose weight, sure, but it'll make you lose sleep, lose focus, eventually lose your mind.

Then there are the surgeries, I've been reading up on lap-band technology. A band is inserted through a small incision in the belly button around the top of the stomach and through injections, can increase or decrease the size of the band. It's considered the safest of bariatric procedures because their is no actually cutting up of the corpus - it's a same day procedure. Still, a) your still getting hacked up, b) it required regular needles and c) in the end you have a lot less control of what you can and cannot eat, and what portions. Eating well is important to me. I would like to eat less, but do I really have to go under the knife to do this?

Am I content to be an obese person for the majority of my life? Two things make me think not: As I push into my 40s, my health will suffer more from excess weight. And secondly, if I could drop 70 lbs from what I have to carry around on a bicycle, oh my GAWD how much faster I could be!!

"Diets" are false, because they end. For Edie's and my family's sake, I need to take a good hard reevaluation of what I'm doing, or surgery will be in my future, minus the choice.
BREAKFAST: 8:30am, iced green tea, toasted pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 small slices of Sicilian, 2 small slices of white Sicilian, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 3:45pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:30pm, a few experimental "garlic crisps", roast potatoes, 8oz sprite, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, pint of pork fried rice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Stupid Hippies

Spent a day in (mostly) motion. Woke up late, got out quick with the gals to C's house in Brooklyn to cook and prep then scurry out before Edles could have a melt-down. By the time we got home with a blissfully sleeping baby in the carriage, I took off on the tandem and picked up T and squired her to a movie. Surprisingly, I did not fall asleep!


TODAY'S COOKING:
"Mexican" cornbread: We were over at C's house early to help set up for the party, I ended up making this out of some hold hippy vegetarian cookbook. I just followed the recipe, but while making it I saw it would not have a lot of flavor -- not enough salt, not enough sweet. It had whole corn kernels and some cheese in it, but how that makes it "Mexican" is beyond me. Stupid hippies!! :)


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 1pm, beef chili over brown rice, corn bread, 1 piece of shortbread, diet coke, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLESNACK: 4pm, popcorn, chocolate vegan cookie, lemon soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Spent the afternoon at the movies with the HVS.



DINNER: 8:15pm, green salad, hot dog, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, smal amount of peanut butter with chocolate chips
B made me, she made me watch the damn Golden Globes!

Main-line Chocolate

Tried to eat well today, started right with a good breakfast, hungry for a nice vegan lunch, whole wheat and green salad for dinner, but then I was just....hungry. Finished the cocoa-infused pancakes in the fridge, but they weren't....sweet enough. So rather than main-line chocolate, I sprinkled some chips on top of the good peanut butter, but....I was still hungry. Some cereal put me away. What could I have done better? Probably more snacks during the day.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Wholewheat Mac n'cheese: Made it for C's daughter's 1st birthday, with whole wheat elbow macaroni at her request. I made a bit extra and had a reasonable portion for dinner, surprisingly the whole wheat element was actually really nice. The slightly gritty texture that can work against whole wheat pasta was totally overwhelmed by being baked in tons of cheeses and bechamel!


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, pinhead oatmeal, iced green tea


LUNCH: 12:30pm, various vegetarian dim sum, tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5:30pm, fresh homemade whole wheat mac n' cheese, green salad, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7pm, 5 buttermilk red velvet banana pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 9pm, peanut butter and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 10pm, organic chex with organic dead milk, 75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Norbert Saturday (Nutella Whispers)

Intense Edie day, with getting to the Museum of Natural History in the morning, and a playdate with a bunch of local moms in the afternoon. A nice chill evening with the missus.



BREAKFAST: 8am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, large green salad, hot dog, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:15pm, 1 piece of hazelnut shortbread
Everyone liked it at the playdate, and I hadn't tried it yet. Definitely a step up from pistachio shortbread. With the layer of chocolate, there is a whisper of nutella...

PM SNACK: 5pm, pretzel with a little herbed goat cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Better to snack a little through the day, to prevent a feeding frenzy later. We were walking by Sigmund's on B and they're such great, artisinal, thoughtful pretzels.


PM SNACK: 6:30pm, 6 chocolate truffles, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Betsy sprung these on me when she got home, and they jumped out of the box and down my throat before I could object...


DINNER: 9pm, tofu pad thai, shrimp rolls, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Nutella Whispers

Intense Edie day, with getting to the Museum of Natural History in the morning, and a playdate with a bunch of local moms in the afternoon. A nice chill evening with the missus.


BREAKFAST: 8am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, large green salad, hot dog, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:15pm, 1 piece of hazelnut shortbread
Everyone liked it at the playdate, and I hadn't tried it yet. Definitely a step up from pistachio shortbread. With the layer of chocolate, there is a whisper of nutella...

PM SNACK: 5pm, pretzel with a little herbed goat cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Better to snack a little through the day, to prevent a feeding frenzy later. We were walking by Sigmund's on B and they're such great, artisinal, thoughtful pretzels.


PM SNACK: 6:30pm, 6 chocolate truffles, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Betsy sprung these on me when she got home, and they jumped out of the box and down my throat before I could object...


DINNER: 9pm, tofu pad thai, shrimp rolls, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Fneh food

Had dinner out with E at Hecho en Dumbo on the Bowery. Curious about this place, the rare full-throttle Mexican fine-dining place. Unfortunately, the food was surprisingly not that great. Just because the portion size is small and the presentation neat and orderly, doesn't make up for unremarkable plain ceviche, a mini burrito filled with chorizo, potato and oddly dusty flavored paprika and little else, and deserts whose Mexican influence seems to not get along with the French training of their pastry chef. Oh well, still had a great time because I don't see E often enough.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Iced Tea: 10 bags of jasmine green tea, 5 bags of Himalayan green tea, 3/4 cup sugar.
Pinhead Oats: Made it wish a dash of vanilla sugar, salt, scrapings of a few vanilla beans, cinnamon and a tiny bit of cardamom. Skipped the milk because will add it when it's reheated to serve.
Green Salad with Shrimp: Cooked the shrimp unadorned with a little peanut oil in a caste iron skillet. It's been a while since I've eaten properly cooked shrimp.

Hazelnut shortbread: Invited to a playdate tomorrow, wanted to bring something other than booze. Had some hazelnuts left over from my failed nutella experiment, gonna dip in chocolate tomorrow morning.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, brown rice California roll, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:45pm, green salad with a little Italian dressing and 6 large shrimp, 2 buttermilk red velvet pancakes,  1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, multigrain tortilla chips with a little salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:15pm, ceviche, chorizo burrito, acorn squash tart and chocolate mushy thing with icecreams, 1 pint of beer, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

2% evil and destructive

The storm prevented some staff from coming to work, so I served by myself all day, busy enough to keep me busy but not so busy I couldn't handle it comfortably.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Oatmeal: Oat of pinhead oats, had to use rolled. 3/4 cup oats, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup whole milk, 3 pinches of vanilla sugar, 1 pinch of salt, 1 shake of cinnamon, a few drops of vanilla extract, mix and microwave in glass bowl for 4 minutes. Came out pretty perfect.

She who shall be nameless(hint: not Edie) complained that it was indulgent and unhealthy, which is wrong on so many levels. The presence of a small amount of sugars, fats and salt in something otherwise overwhelmingly virtuous does not automatically make it 100% evil and destructive. Making a tasteless, unappetizing bowl of 100% healthy mush into a delicious, appetizing and soulfully satisfying 98% healthy dish should be celebrated and replicated, not shunned with a false sense of heroism. That same someone can eat 2 teaspoons of lunch and feel great about herself, then when she gets home, she's so hungry and scarf a pint of ice cream, the fat equivalent of about 1/2 gallon of whole milk. 2% of decadence upfront sure helps cut the need for 98% decadence on the back end.

BREAKFAST: 8am, oatmeal, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up early and fed the Edie, good time. Nice to have hunger just naturally come up an hour after waking and being able to satisfy it with something healthy.

AM SNACK: 10:30am, 2 small pieces of bread, mise cup of olives, handful of cucumber slices
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 4 slices super-super thin pizza, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Experimenting with lightening toppings, thinning crust. Got it to the point where toppings could not spread enough to protect dough and had a few burnt spots. Still delicious, very cracker-like.

PM SNACK: 4pm, green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, roasted potato and onion, ice cream cup, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, beef lomein, cheese danish, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
No comment.

The Appetite Returns

Back at work, my appetite is returning mostly to normal. Was it a bug? Usually that means my guts are tied into a not and I have an intimate relationship with the toilet, but that did not happen, this was of a different order. Well, I ate less and didn't really NOT do anything due to sickness, so I'll take it.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I was planning to eat pinhead oats, but my wife seems to have decided she liked them too and made them disappear.

AM SNACK: 11am, pint of apple juice
Meeting someone for lunch, so drank this to keep my appetite in check.

PM SNACK: 12:15pm, snippet of fresh bread, olives
LUNCH: 2:45pm, 2 slices super thin pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 5:15pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 6:45pm, 3 slices Sicilian, 8 oz sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, small ice cream cup

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, small cup of chocolate chips

Appetite returning

Spent the morning with Edie at the community center drop in and then some food shopping. Too cold so we stayed in in the afternoon. Betsy came home and we three ate pretty much the same dinner at the same time, it was really nice, can't remember the last time that happened during the week.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 2pm, baby carrots, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:15pm, 2 buttermilk red velvet pancakes


DINNER: 6:15pm, shrimp saag & basmanti rice, pakora, naan, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, small cup of caramel ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cheeky monkey!

A bit of a rough day, with me & the fam taking a train up to Albany in the morning, spending the afternoon with my brother and his family of 6 and a half, and a train down in the evening. Edie managed to be wide awake and in need of entertainment for the trips, and asleep for most of the time in Albany. Cheeky monkey!

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


AM SNACK: 9am, 2 donuts, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 11:30am, weird "vegan burger", potato chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 2:30pm, half a onion bagel with cream cheese, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, cheeseless eggplant hero with green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Still not much hunger

Slept from 6:30pm to 7:30am. Stomach still tight, but getting a little better. Cooked breakfast for the fam and MA & D, was able to eat a full portion. Took the afternoon easy, bed by 9pm

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, 4 red velvet buttermilk banana pancakes, 2 slices bacon, 1/2 a donut, water, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5


DINNER: 5pm, pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese and sable, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

A day with out appetite.

Stomach still kinda tight and sour. Spent the day indoors doing chores with Edie while it snowed out, and met up with B in the afternoon at her brother's house. Chill. Gotta kick this thing.


AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


LUNCH: noon, 2 small burritos with a little salsa, quart of water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5:15pm, 1 slice streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Premature Breakfast

Woke up out of sorts with a sour stomach, probably after eating too much the night before. Met Cousin J at Katz's for pastrami -- normally not what I'd eat on a day like today but I only see her once a year nowadays and this is our tradition. It was fantastic to feed Edie a few little bites of pastrami, pickle and fry after her nap and before going home to give her a proper nutritious meal.

Half was more than enough, I don't know why they don't sell half portions. Who am I kidding, of course I know why they don't -- they don't have to, most people assume one sandwich and one order of fries is a single portion.

Spent a drowsy day with Edie and J, and when  B got home, road J her to her next destination on the tandem then popped over to Marlow & Daughters for some good but incredibly expensive freshly cut bacon for breakfast on Saturday with a few friends.

Fortunately, the pastrami sat well due to it's limited amount and had  a momma-style salad in the evening, before finding my appetite and eating a premature breakfast.

LUNCH: 12:15pm, half a pastrami sandwich, half an order of fries, a few pickles, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, chunks of cucumber, carrot and red pepper with a light sprinkling of salt, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, toasted pumpernickel bagel with sable and cream cheese, water

Work Work

Felt ill last night, but extremely tired, got to bed around 2ish, up at 8:30, stomach feeling tight. Could only get tea down, but knew if I didn't eat, I'd regret it later and eat poorer than my stab at eating healthier would permit. So I packed some oatmeal after zapping it for a few minutes, and ate it at work after the bike ride over.

Seasoned perfectly. Not salty, just enough for the grain flavor to pop. Not sweet, just a rounded note to cover the bitterness. A true pleasure, oatmeal exactly as it should be.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, pinhead oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 2:15pm, large green salad, bread, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:30pm, meatballs w/bread, 8oz sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, pork fried rice, shrimp roll, quart of water, donuts, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ugh

228.4---->232
Finally remembered to weigh in this moring, depsite the delerium of not enough sleep and feeling off. Heavier than expected, but it's still hovering around where my body's metabolism has set it.

I've become addicted to a television show, and I finished watching the last DVD around midnight, a huge cliffhanger, and I looked on netflix and saw the next season won't be on disc for another 6 months minimum. Then I realized I had the pay station it appears on, and they have on-demand....at midnight I continued to watch two more episodes of the new season. The lack of sleep and my body dealing with the recent super-healthy food, along with the soreness of lifting weights, has sent me in for a little bit of a tailspin this morning, but the bike ride over the bridge helped clear my head and start my heart a bit.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pinhead oats: 1 1/2 cups dry steel cut oats into 6 cups of boiling water, with a teaspoon of salt and 1 ounce of white sugar. Turned off heat and let soak overnight. Unfortunately, was too tired and rushed to eat a bowl this morning.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea
LUNCH: 12:15pm, 2 slices super thin pizza, falafel sandwich, 8oz sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The tiredness and lack of breakfast making me feel hungover. A friend of the restaurant brought in falafels, very appreciated.

PM SNACK: 2pm, Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:30pm, 2 slices white pizza, green salad, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, small cup of almond ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5