Took the train out to Montauk in the morning, dropping me off at 11:30am. A cool ocean breeze made the heat tolerable, and made it to Babylon at the sun started to set around 8pm. Funny how the idea of keeping track of my calories keeps me to large chains or prepackaged food, so I have an idea of what I'm taking in. I guess when I ride on weekends, I'll try to eat a bit more locally and naturally.
THE COUNT:4029
BIKE CREDIT: 2,200
According to my new bike computer, I burned 2200, but according to an online bike calorie calculator, it was more than double that. Hmmm. If I include my daily 2,500 budget, I'm about 700 calories in deficit. Maybe on-line is including the calories I use just by living, and the bike just calculates the energy needed to propel the bike and my weight?
BREAKFAST: 6:30am, 4 mini pancakes, iced green tea, 325 cal
AM SNACK: 8:15am, large chocolate chip cookie, +/- 250 cal
BIKE SNACK: 11:15, granola, 855 cal
BIKE SNACK: 12:45, Gatorade, 130 cal
BIKE SNACK: 2pm, 6" veggie burger sub, potato chips, diet coke, 630 cal
BIKE SNACK: 3:45, Gatorade, 130 cal
BIKE SNACK: 5pm, 2 donuts, 590 cal
BIKE SNACK: 6:45pm, twix candy bar, 250 cal
BIKE SNACK: 9:30pm, slice of pizza, +/- 200
DINNER: 11pm, pint of chocolate milk, roti canai, singapore rice noodles, water, +/- 1200
Friday, July 6
Thursday, July 5
Corny
Slept in and woke to a sleeping baby and an empty house. Nicely sore from yesterday's work out, particularly in my shoulders and chest -- my negative pull ups are becoming noticeably slower, which makes me think I might actually be able to do a pull up in my life time!
At the end of the day, I was surprised how close I came to my budget. I made a technical mistake by eating corn, rather than something like a string bean. Corn is considered a carb rather than a vegetable, and I think stuffing myself with Brussels or cabbage would've made me feel a lot less hungry in the evening. So I drank a quart of water and I was able to get to sleep at a good time, lesson learned.
THE COUNT: 2395
AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9am, steel cut oatmeal, 400 cal
LUNCH: 1pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat, momma salad, kimchi, 700 cal
DINNER: 6:15pm, grilled chicken breast, 2 ears boiled corn, kraft whole grain mac n' cheese, glass of beer, 8oz diet sprite, 1270 cal
At the end of the day, I was surprised how close I came to my budget. I made a technical mistake by eating corn, rather than something like a string bean. Corn is considered a carb rather than a vegetable, and I think stuffing myself with Brussels or cabbage would've made me feel a lot less hungry in the evening. So I drank a quart of water and I was able to get to sleep at a good time, lesson learned.
THE COUNT: 2395
AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9am, steel cut oatmeal, 400 cal
LUNCH: 1pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat, momma salad, kimchi, 700 cal
DINNER: 6:15pm, grilled chicken breast, 2 ears boiled corn, kraft whole grain mac n' cheese, glass of beer, 8oz diet sprite, 1270 cal
Wednesday, July 4
4th o' July
B had the day off, Edles was home from summer camp. In the morning took Edie to the supermarket to do a full shop, right after delivering the groceries we two went to the public pool for an hour, so much fun. Cooked up in the afternoon, the fam went to a nice party in a garden in the early evening.
After hours and when every one was asleep, took the big bike to Brooklyn to the HVS's pad and we rode bikes with a book case attached to me. For the record, every single time me and the HVS have rode across the city hauling furniture by bike, there has been fireworks.
Today's count is a bit of a guess, but I did have a noticeable pang of hunger as I was going to sleep, which was encouraging.
THE COUNT: 2380
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, kolon bloe with whole milk, 300 cal
PM SNACK: 12:45pm, watermelon, 130 cal
LUNCH: 1:30pm, homemade pizza, small scoop of cherry sorbet, diet sprite, +/- 900 cal
B had some good friends over who rarely make an appearance, so did the full court press with pizza. Brussel sprout/scallop/no cheese is a slammin' combination, sooo much better than that mess of a pie I got at Motorino. Too hands on to count calories, but limited myself to two tiny scoops of sorbet, though I felt like eating 4x more than that. When those desires go away some day, I'll know I've achieved something, though I accept they may never.
DINNER: 6pm, mystery meat hot dog, 3 jalapeno poppers, some tortilla chips and avocado & bean salsa, small cub of noodle kugel, 1 1/2 small berry cheesecake cupcakes, water, +/- 900 cal
At a really nice 4th of July party in a Greenthumb park in Alphabet City. Never had a "jalapeno popper" before -- a jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, grilled. Kinda gross, but I was hungry and it was the first thing out. Fortunately, there was no good beer available so I easily avoid 300 cal or so there. If I wasn't watching what I was eating, I easily would have eaten a 2nd hot dog and more desserts, but I left feeling satisfied but not full.
EVENING SNACK: 11pm, watermelon, 125 cal
I realize why watermelon is so satisfying: I can eat a very large, outsized wedge and only consume the calories of a dainty 1oz bag of chips.
After hours and when every one was asleep, took the big bike to Brooklyn to the HVS's pad and we rode bikes with a book case attached to me. For the record, every single time me and the HVS have rode across the city hauling furniture by bike, there has been fireworks.
Today's count is a bit of a guess, but I did have a noticeable pang of hunger as I was going to sleep, which was encouraging.
THE COUNT: 2380
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, kolon bloe with whole milk, 300 cal
PM SNACK: 12:45pm, watermelon, 130 cal
LUNCH: 1:30pm, homemade pizza, small scoop of cherry sorbet, diet sprite, +/- 900 cal
B had some good friends over who rarely make an appearance, so did the full court press with pizza. Brussel sprout/scallop/no cheese is a slammin' combination, sooo much better than that mess of a pie I got at Motorino. Too hands on to count calories, but limited myself to two tiny scoops of sorbet, though I felt like eating 4x more than that. When those desires go away some day, I'll know I've achieved something, though I accept they may never.
DINNER: 6pm, mystery meat hot dog, 3 jalapeno poppers, some tortilla chips and avocado & bean salsa, small cub of noodle kugel, 1 1/2 small berry cheesecake cupcakes, water, +/- 900 cal
At a really nice 4th of July party in a Greenthumb park in Alphabet City. Never had a "jalapeno popper" before -- a jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, grilled. Kinda gross, but I was hungry and it was the first thing out. Fortunately, there was no good beer available so I easily avoid 300 cal or so there. If I wasn't watching what I was eating, I easily would have eaten a 2nd hot dog and more desserts, but I left feeling satisfied but not full.
EVENING SNACK: 11pm, watermelon, 125 cal
I realize why watermelon is so satisfying: I can eat a very large, outsized wedge and only consume the calories of a dainty 1oz bag of chips.
Tuesday, July 3
Crappy Eating
Not a good eating day. Stayed with in calories, but ate for convenience at McD's then some frozen pizzas. Thought I was going to get a bike ride in in the evening, but again, felt tired from the kid thing. Biking is definitely a morning thing for me. Maybe the lack of energy is from eating the wrong foods...
TODAY'S COOKING
Pizza dough: Did Jim Lehey's no-knead dough again, rising room temp over night. The 4 pizza batch has 1820 cal, or about 60 cal of dough per small 1/8 slice. My sauce is easily 20 cal or so a slice, so I imagine the load will be coming from toppings like cheese n' shiz...
THE COUNT: 2465
AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9am, steel cut oatmeal, 400 cal
LUNCH: 12:45pm, quarter pounder with cheese, fries, diet coke, 890 cal
DINNER: 5:45pm, Stouffer's french bread pizzas, baby carrots, 8oz diet sprite, 900 cal
EVENING SNACK: 8:15pm, popcorn, 240 cal
TODAY'S COOKING
Pizza dough: Did Jim Lehey's no-knead dough again, rising room temp over night. The 4 pizza batch has 1820 cal, or about 60 cal of dough per small 1/8 slice. My sauce is easily 20 cal or so a slice, so I imagine the load will be coming from toppings like cheese n' shiz...
THE COUNT: 2465
AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9am, steel cut oatmeal, 400 cal
LUNCH: 12:45pm, quarter pounder with cheese, fries, diet coke, 890 cal
DINNER: 5:45pm, Stouffer's french bread pizzas, baby carrots, 8oz diet sprite, 900 cal
EVENING SNACK: 8:15pm, popcorn, 240 cal
Monday, July 2
Weights & Measures
229.8--->225.4--->223.4
This is how I used to express my month to month weight measures, looking at the trend over 1/4 of a year. It is much more informative, however, to look at the trends over 2 years....
Ah, OK then. Seems I dip in the summers, expand in the winters. This time last year I was actually 2.5 pounds lighter, but truth be told, I was under duress because of leaving the restaurant, and I literally was barely eating due to the big knot in my stomach. Not a healthy eating plan. Why the mountains and valleys? I think despite my big eating after bike rides, I still burn more than I take in, and the valleys kind of look like how much I get to do big bike rides.
WEEKEND REPORT:
Ate awfully. Or more precisely, bounced back to the old normal. Kinda needed it, like when you need a break from a hard job, but still, I look forward to getting back to the new way of eating. I kept the amounts under control, except Saturday night, when momma-in-law come over to help out, we ordered in Chinese, I finished up other left overs and had a triple portion of my cherry sorbet.
----
I measured myself on Sunday, nice it's going down but feels less impressive in the context of the data. My goal, I suppose, to to make break the cycle and get close to the bottom of the graph and stay there.
I originally intended to do a 30 mile bike ride out to Coney after dinner, but had a wave of tiredness once I ate. I helped look after another 3 year old for a few hours after school, which was surprisingly exhausting, plus I lifted weights in the morning. Hopefully tomorrow...
THE COUNT: 2385
TODAY'S COOKING
Pancakes: Didn't get around to this over the weekend, so ripped off a batch. Light butter milk in addition to whole milk, doubled the eggs to six, and split the 24 oz of flour between half white and half whole wheat. Got 55 small pancakes out of the batch, for 75 cal each.
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, fruit smoothie, 320 cal
LUNCH: 12:45pm, broiled cod, pancakes, baby carrots, 900 cal
Broiled in my caste iron grill pan. Forgot it's a bad idea to do fish in caste iron, unless you plan to use it for only fish. Had to smoke up the house to get the fish off.
DINNER: 6pm, whole wheat pasta with sauce & shrimp, slightly steamed string beans, watermelon, glass of nut brown beer, 890 cal
Huge pile of string beans, only 90 cal. Funny, haven't eaten string beans in years but I remember loving them as a kid because my dad loved them. He'd steam them in a steamer basket with thin slices of garlic, then dress them with a little melted butter and salt. Maybe I'll do that when I serve them to others, but for myself, just trimming, cleaning, putting in a plastic bag then zapping for 2 minutes gives it the right amount of 90% snap to 10% cooked. Don't need salt as long as I mix mouthfuls with other things on the plate, the slight carry over salt gives it all it needs. Wow, I'm really looking hard into my belly-button now...
EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, glass of chocolate milk, 250 cal
EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 8oz diet sprite, 0 cal
This is how I used to express my month to month weight measures, looking at the trend over 1/4 of a year. It is much more informative, however, to look at the trends over 2 years....
Ah, OK then. Seems I dip in the summers, expand in the winters. This time last year I was actually 2.5 pounds lighter, but truth be told, I was under duress because of leaving the restaurant, and I literally was barely eating due to the big knot in my stomach. Not a healthy eating plan. Why the mountains and valleys? I think despite my big eating after bike rides, I still burn more than I take in, and the valleys kind of look like how much I get to do big bike rides.
WEEKEND REPORT:
Ate awfully. Or more precisely, bounced back to the old normal. Kinda needed it, like when you need a break from a hard job, but still, I look forward to getting back to the new way of eating. I kept the amounts under control, except Saturday night, when momma-in-law come over to help out, we ordered in Chinese, I finished up other left overs and had a triple portion of my cherry sorbet.
----
I measured myself on Sunday, nice it's going down but feels less impressive in the context of the data. My goal, I suppose, to to make break the cycle and get close to the bottom of the graph and stay there.
I originally intended to do a 30 mile bike ride out to Coney after dinner, but had a wave of tiredness once I ate. I helped look after another 3 year old for a few hours after school, which was surprisingly exhausting, plus I lifted weights in the morning. Hopefully tomorrow...
THE COUNT: 2385
TODAY'S COOKING
Pancakes: Didn't get around to this over the weekend, so ripped off a batch. Light butter milk in addition to whole milk, doubled the eggs to six, and split the 24 oz of flour between half white and half whole wheat. Got 55 small pancakes out of the batch, for 75 cal each.
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, fruit smoothie, 320 cal
LUNCH: 12:45pm, broiled cod, pancakes, baby carrots, 900 cal
Broiled in my caste iron grill pan. Forgot it's a bad idea to do fish in caste iron, unless you plan to use it for only fish. Had to smoke up the house to get the fish off.
DINNER: 6pm, whole wheat pasta with sauce & shrimp, slightly steamed string beans, watermelon, glass of nut brown beer, 890 cal
Huge pile of string beans, only 90 cal. Funny, haven't eaten string beans in years but I remember loving them as a kid because my dad loved them. He'd steam them in a steamer basket with thin slices of garlic, then dress them with a little melted butter and salt. Maybe I'll do that when I serve them to others, but for myself, just trimming, cleaning, putting in a plastic bag then zapping for 2 minutes gives it the right amount of 90% snap to 10% cooked. Don't need salt as long as I mix mouthfuls with other things on the plate, the slight carry over salt gives it all it needs. Wow, I'm really looking hard into my belly-button now...
EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, glass of chocolate milk, 250 cal
EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 8oz diet sprite, 0 cal
Friday, June 29
Kolon-Bloe
Today was to be a bike day, but last night as I was installing my new calorie-reporting cyclometer, I noticed my rear was flat. Three tubes and three instant flats later, I realized something was wrong with the rim and have to take the wheel in for professional intervention -- no way I want to be out by Montauk, catch a perma-flat, and have to spend $$$ getting home. So Montauk hopefully next week, and I'm gonna try to get a night ride to Coney in early next week, if not sooner.
Felt a bit pent up while staying in this morning and did a few negative pull ups and a few assisted pull ups, hopefully I'll feel them tomorrow.
Not tracking protein and fat vs carbs, but was aware of it today. Maybe I should dig deeper and go there?
TODAY'S COOKING:
Whole rice blend with lentils & TVP: Cup of rice blend (brown ice, wheat berries, wild rice, rye berries), cup of red lentils, cup of dried textured vegetable protein. 5 cups of water, tbsp of butter, tsp of salt, a sachet of bay leaves, a small pack of dried morels ground up, corriander, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, a few turns of fresh pepper. Idea is a big taste, but also a high-protein low-fat side dish.
AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
New batch, "Dragon Well" green tea. Nice, suble, a little nutty. Again each gallon sweetened with 1/4 cup sugar for just the removal of any bitter notes created by my clumsy American method of brewing and steeping, he he.
BREAKFAST: 9am, "Muligrain Oatbran Cereal" with whole milk, 300 calories
New cereal for me, tastes surprisingly good, like cornflakes with a broad grainy flavor. On the edge of sweet, sweeter than I though a hippy-dippy cereal packaged in a big bio-degradable plastic bag would be, but OK with high amounts of protein & fiber, and comparatively little sugar. They do have to do something with that name, call it "Healthy-Os" or "Kolon-Bloe" or something.
LUNCH: noon, wholegrain rice blend with lentils and tvp, turkey meatballs, baby carrots & kimchi, 12 oz diet sprite, cherry sorbet, 795
Turkey meatballs are a frozen pre-packaged thing I'm experimenting with, up the protein while keeping fat in check. I checked out all the different kinds of pre-made meatballs, drawn to beef and pork, and found surprising the fat and calories in the red meat. So THAT'S why people have an issue, he he!
Thought I was going to eat half the batch of rice, but as I'm filling up the bowl on the scale, realized it would be way too much food. So that gave me some calorie room for 40g of cherry sorbet (90 cal), which is a shockingly small portion, he he.
PM SNACK: 6pm, watermelon, 260 cal
DINNER: 7:30pm, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 860 cal
EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, tortilla chips and homemade salsa, 250 cal
Funny, I measured out only enough to meet the budget, and it was enough.
1380
0860
2240
Felt a bit pent up while staying in this morning and did a few negative pull ups and a few assisted pull ups, hopefully I'll feel them tomorrow.
Not tracking protein and fat vs carbs, but was aware of it today. Maybe I should dig deeper and go there?
TODAY'S COOKING:
Whole rice blend with lentils & TVP: Cup of rice blend (brown ice, wheat berries, wild rice, rye berries), cup of red lentils, cup of dried textured vegetable protein. 5 cups of water, tbsp of butter, tsp of salt, a sachet of bay leaves, a small pack of dried morels ground up, corriander, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, a few turns of fresh pepper. Idea is a big taste, but also a high-protein low-fat side dish.
THE COUNT: 2490
AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
New batch, "Dragon Well" green tea. Nice, suble, a little nutty. Again each gallon sweetened with 1/4 cup sugar for just the removal of any bitter notes created by my clumsy American method of brewing and steeping, he he.
BREAKFAST: 9am, "Muligrain Oatbran Cereal" with whole milk, 300 calories
New cereal for me, tastes surprisingly good, like cornflakes with a broad grainy flavor. On the edge of sweet, sweeter than I though a hippy-dippy cereal packaged in a big bio-degradable plastic bag would be, but OK with high amounts of protein & fiber, and comparatively little sugar. They do have to do something with that name, call it "Healthy-Os" or "Kolon-Bloe" or something.
LUNCH: noon, wholegrain rice blend with lentils and tvp, turkey meatballs, baby carrots & kimchi, 12 oz diet sprite, cherry sorbet, 795
Turkey meatballs are a frozen pre-packaged thing I'm experimenting with, up the protein while keeping fat in check. I checked out all the different kinds of pre-made meatballs, drawn to beef and pork, and found surprising the fat and calories in the red meat. So THAT'S why people have an issue, he he!
Thought I was going to eat half the batch of rice, but as I'm filling up the bowl on the scale, realized it would be way too much food. So that gave me some calorie room for 40g of cherry sorbet (90 cal), which is a shockingly small portion, he he.
PM SNACK: 6pm, watermelon, 260 cal
DINNER: 7:30pm, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 860 cal
EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, tortilla chips and homemade salsa, 250 cal
Funny, I measured out only enough to meet the budget, and it was enough.
1380
0860
2240
Thursday, June 28
Shoveling into My Mouf
I knew I was eating a late dinner this evening, it was a little difficult to hold off until then. The diet soda and the watermelon did it's job in holding me down, but looking back, maybe I should have filled up on vegetables -- sweet was my go-to when getting that hungry, but may not be the best choice for longer-term satiety.
Another thing is getting used to the anxiety of just not knowing how many calories are in the food in front of me. I could spend an hour on the internet and calorie-count books to try to get a rough estimate of what today's dinner was, but in the end, I know I did not pig out and the portions were small. I got to bed again not feeling stuffed but with space to eat more, so that feeling has to be an answer to my anxiety for now.
THE COUNT: 2685
AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:15am, Fage full fat yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla, 460 cal
LUNCH: noon, PBJ on whole wheat, fresh salsa with chips, 800 cal
Salsa made yesterday is pretty good. Funny how 135 cal (1 oz) of chips is barely enough to shovel 60 cal worth of salsa into my mouf.
PM SNACK: 4:30pm, 12 oz diet sprite, 0 cal
PM SNACK: 5:45pm, watermelon, 225 cal
DINNER: 8:30pm, bean salad, squid and beet on flatbread with a white sauce, frito pie, mussels, fried potato cubes, small quennelle of almond ice cream with mascerated cherries and almond cake, water, +/- 1,200 cal
Hadn't seen E one on one in quite a while, and I'm her maid of honor at her wedding in a month, so there had to be some good eatin' going on. Went to a resto with small plates, the portions were reasonable but definitely highly caloric. I'm guessing a high number simply because it feels guiltily like I went over my budget, though maybe I didn't -- the portions were really restrained.
Another thing is getting used to the anxiety of just not knowing how many calories are in the food in front of me. I could spend an hour on the internet and calorie-count books to try to get a rough estimate of what today's dinner was, but in the end, I know I did not pig out and the portions were small. I got to bed again not feeling stuffed but with space to eat more, so that feeling has to be an answer to my anxiety for now.
THE COUNT: 2685
AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:15am, Fage full fat yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla, 460 cal
LUNCH: noon, PBJ on whole wheat, fresh salsa with chips, 800 cal
Salsa made yesterday is pretty good. Funny how 135 cal (1 oz) of chips is barely enough to shovel 60 cal worth of salsa into my mouf.
PM SNACK: 4:30pm, 12 oz diet sprite, 0 cal
PM SNACK: 5:45pm, watermelon, 225 cal
DINNER: 8:30pm, bean salad, squid and beet on flatbread with a white sauce, frito pie, mussels, fried potato cubes, small quennelle of almond ice cream with mascerated cherries and almond cake, water, +/- 1,200 cal
Hadn't seen E one on one in quite a while, and I'm her maid of honor at her wedding in a month, so there had to be some good eatin' going on. Went to a resto with small plates, the portions were reasonable but definitely highly caloric. I'm guessing a high number simply because it feels guiltily like I went over my budget, though maybe I didn't -- the portions were really restrained.
Wednesday, June 27
Trashy Shoppin' & Big Gay Dessert
When out with the kids, did a small food shop: diet sprite, big bag of tortilla chips, jug of beer. One would not think the consumer of these things was on a big ol' life-altering change of eating style that would hopefully transform his life in a huge way. OK, also got a pound of string beans....
Got a work out in this morning, amazes me that my muscles feel bigger all over now -- just need to lose some weight so someone other than myself can see! Still no successful pull ups, thinking of adding a few one-legged assisted pull ups to the negative pull ups to help get a little more sore. M & W were work outs, F will be a bike ride.
THE COUNT: 2,425
TODAY'S COOKING
Cherry Sorbet: Didn't whip up in the ice cream maker, so I put the maker into a colder freezer, and set a cube of the stuff to freeze, too. Take another crack at it tomorrow.
Tomato Sauce: Onion, olive oil, carrot, thyme, oregano and garlic cooked to a good base, deglazed with a cup of white wine, added 4 cans of milled tomato and let a stringed bunch of basil and a cheese-clothe bag full of hard-cheese rinds simmer for a few hours. Calculations came to 1,200 cal for the whole batch, so when I way it, I suspect this will be pretty light stuff.
Fresh Salsa: Basic stuff: chopped roma tomatos, minced onion, minced garlic, small can of V8, 2 tbsp of olive oil, splash of red wine vinegar, minced bunch of cilantro, salt. Caluculations got .4 cal/g, which means a large 100g bowl of the stuff will be only 40 cal. Need to get some baked chips and get on that!
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:30am, brown rice cereal with whole organic milk, banana, 430 cal
LUNCH: 12:30pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat bread, baby carrots, water, 620 cal
DINNER: 6:45pm, Bahn Mi sandwich, 2 summer rolls, large soft serve ice cream with chocolate dip, water, +/- 1,350 cal
Meeting up with Y to eat. Old friend, haven't seen her in forever, and our thing when we get together is we EAT. We love to eat together. This was actually a reasonable meal together, at a Vietnamese sandwich shop then the Big Gay Ice Cream shop for dessert. Calories are a guestamation, based on similar foods listed on dark corners of the internet. Judging from my saiety, I think I'm close to my daily budget...
EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, 12 oz diet sprite, 0 cal
Got a work out in this morning, amazes me that my muscles feel bigger all over now -- just need to lose some weight so someone other than myself can see! Still no successful pull ups, thinking of adding a few one-legged assisted pull ups to the negative pull ups to help get a little more sore. M & W were work outs, F will be a bike ride.
THE COUNT: 2,425
TODAY'S COOKING
Cherry Sorbet: Didn't whip up in the ice cream maker, so I put the maker into a colder freezer, and set a cube of the stuff to freeze, too. Take another crack at it tomorrow.
Tomato Sauce: Onion, olive oil, carrot, thyme, oregano and garlic cooked to a good base, deglazed with a cup of white wine, added 4 cans of milled tomato and let a stringed bunch of basil and a cheese-clothe bag full of hard-cheese rinds simmer for a few hours. Calculations came to 1,200 cal for the whole batch, so when I way it, I suspect this will be pretty light stuff.
Fresh Salsa: Basic stuff: chopped roma tomatos, minced onion, minced garlic, small can of V8, 2 tbsp of olive oil, splash of red wine vinegar, minced bunch of cilantro, salt. Caluculations got .4 cal/g, which means a large 100g bowl of the stuff will be only 40 cal. Need to get some baked chips and get on that!
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:30am, brown rice cereal with whole organic milk, banana, 430 cal
LUNCH: 12:30pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat bread, baby carrots, water, 620 cal
DINNER: 6:45pm, Bahn Mi sandwich, 2 summer rolls, large soft serve ice cream with chocolate dip, water, +/- 1,350 cal
Meeting up with Y to eat. Old friend, haven't seen her in forever, and our thing when we get together is we EAT. We love to eat together. This was actually a reasonable meal together, at a Vietnamese sandwich shop then the Big Gay Ice Cream shop for dessert. Calories are a guestamation, based on similar foods listed on dark corners of the internet. Judging from my saiety, I think I'm close to my daily budget...
EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, 12 oz diet sprite, 0 cal
Tuesday, June 26
Bag o' stringy beans
I am enjoying the budgeting aspect of keeping to 2500 calories. A light lunch and a 4x vegetable serving at dinner allowed me two relatively satisfying evening snacks. It's satisfying know despite the questionable accuracy of some of my calorie counts, when I'm ready for bed I feel un-full, not so much hungry but can definitely eat a meal if presented. Hopefully this level of hunger will be enough to lose weight, for now.
TODAY'S COOKING
Cherry Sorbet Components: Got a mass of cherries from the CSA, which I combine with the cherries I got from the market yesterday. Pitted, simmered, blended for about a quart of pulp. Made a quart of sorbet syrup, which is water, sugar, corn syrup, gelatine and some sour salt. Also made some cooked merengue out of egg whites and sugar. After chilling all over night, will combine tomorrow and churn.
TODAY'S COUNT: 2490
AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, smoothie, 390 cal
Kinda thought this would be more calories, it seems kinda decadent, sweet, fruit punchy, cold, thick and smooth.
LUNCH: 12:45pm, shrimp patty, vegetable patty, 690 cal
Tasty fast food from Golden Krust. Could easily down a third. Vegetable party suffers from canned peas and carrots, should have gotten the soya or spinach.
DINNER: 6:15pm, chicken garlic & herb sausage, turkey Italian sausage link, 1.5 ears of corn, steamed bag of string beans, 8oz of beer, 970 cal
Got a bag of string beans, as the loose stuff at the market looked a bit sad. The whole 12 oz bag was 4 servings, but I ate the whole thing, only 100 calories. Just zapped it in the micro for 2 minutes, came out perfectly just slightly steamed.
EVENING SNACK: 7pm, watermelon, 175 cal
EVENING SNACK: 10pm, popcorn, 16oz diet sprite, 240 cal
1/4 cup popcorn kernels, 1 tbsp peanut oil, dash of salt, actually makes for a satisfyingly large bowl of popcorn.
TODAY'S COOKING
Cherry Sorbet Components: Got a mass of cherries from the CSA, which I combine with the cherries I got from the market yesterday. Pitted, simmered, blended for about a quart of pulp. Made a quart of sorbet syrup, which is water, sugar, corn syrup, gelatine and some sour salt. Also made some cooked merengue out of egg whites and sugar. After chilling all over night, will combine tomorrow and churn.
TODAY'S COUNT: 2490
AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, smoothie, 390 cal
Kinda thought this would be more calories, it seems kinda decadent, sweet, fruit punchy, cold, thick and smooth.
LUNCH: 12:45pm, shrimp patty, vegetable patty, 690 cal
Tasty fast food from Golden Krust. Could easily down a third. Vegetable party suffers from canned peas and carrots, should have gotten the soya or spinach.
DINNER: 6:15pm, chicken garlic & herb sausage, turkey Italian sausage link, 1.5 ears of corn, steamed bag of string beans, 8oz of beer, 970 cal
Got a bag of string beans, as the loose stuff at the market looked a bit sad. The whole 12 oz bag was 4 servings, but I ate the whole thing, only 100 calories. Just zapped it in the micro for 2 minutes, came out perfectly just slightly steamed.
EVENING SNACK: 7pm, watermelon, 175 cal
EVENING SNACK: 10pm, popcorn, 16oz diet sprite, 240 cal
1/4 cup popcorn kernels, 1 tbsp peanut oil, dash of salt, actually makes for a satisfyingly large bowl of popcorn.
Monday, June 25
Keeping the Bugdet
Pretty much kept to the calorie budget today. At the end of the day, noticed I only had 80 calories left, so I had a very small evening snack -- made me appreciate just how calorie dense nuts & chocolate are. No wonder they taste so great together in a candy bar....
WEEKEND REPORT
Felt hungrier than usual on Saturday, I suspect the calorie deficit was larger than just a few 100. Didn't officially count calories, but was aware when possible -- breakfast of two pancakes (420 cal) instead of three, replacing a third with 4 slices of bacon (200 cal) which soon became six (for a 720 cal breakfast, with a skew to fat and protein rather than just carbs) Spent the day with Edie, riding up to the Little Red Lighthouse, and scarfing a plate of salmon and rice from a food truck for lunch. Made homemade pizza for dinner with MAP as a special guest.
Did Jim Lehey's no-knead 24 hour room-temp rise pizza dough, shockingly good and flavorful. Why haven't I been making this version of pizza dough forever? The dough uses 1/8 the amount of yeast I'm used to, so when left out at room temp for such a long time it only doubles, not a big overblown airy mess. The depth of flavor made by the fast fermentation is a revelation.
Sunday was chill. Had tea then rushed out to get Edie in the open air before going on a mass run of destruction. Ended up at the local diner for breakfast, shared a corn muffin and some bacon and a diet coke for me, and lunch at home -- 4oz of whole wheat pasta, 4 oz of shrimp, home made sauce, about 550 cal or so. Single serving of shrimp, double serving of pasta, hmmmm. Had a nice snickledinner with HVS & the fam with rice & beans, some CSA salad and some vegan sweets trucked in from HVSland....
THE COUNT: 2580
WEEKEND REPORT
Felt hungrier than usual on Saturday, I suspect the calorie deficit was larger than just a few 100. Didn't officially count calories, but was aware when possible -- breakfast of two pancakes (420 cal) instead of three, replacing a third with 4 slices of bacon (200 cal) which soon became six (for a 720 cal breakfast, with a skew to fat and protein rather than just carbs) Spent the day with Edie, riding up to the Little Red Lighthouse, and scarfing a plate of salmon and rice from a food truck for lunch. Made homemade pizza for dinner with MAP as a special guest.
Did Jim Lehey's no-knead 24 hour room-temp rise pizza dough, shockingly good and flavorful. Why haven't I been making this version of pizza dough forever? The dough uses 1/8 the amount of yeast I'm used to, so when left out at room temp for such a long time it only doubles, not a big overblown airy mess. The depth of flavor made by the fast fermentation is a revelation.
Sunday was chill. Had tea then rushed out to get Edie in the open air before going on a mass run of destruction. Ended up at the local diner for breakfast, shared a corn muffin and some bacon and a diet coke for me, and lunch at home -- 4oz of whole wheat pasta, 4 oz of shrimp, home made sauce, about 550 cal or so. Single serving of shrimp, double serving of pasta, hmmmm. Had a nice snickledinner with HVS & the fam with rice & beans, some CSA salad and some vegan sweets trucked in from HVSland....
THE COUNT: 2580
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9:15am, steel cut oatmeal, banana, 500 cal
AM SNACK: 11:30am, momma salad, 85 cal
Knew no veg was going to come with lunch, so threw down some carrots to help with the feeling of fullness.
Knew no veg was going to come with lunch, so threw down some carrots to help with the feeling of fullness.
LUNCH: 12:30pm, pork katsu with curry, shredded cabbage, white rice, pork gyoza, water, 1 bite of a mochi, +/- 850 cal
Out in midtown with an old friend, at Sapporo. Total guess on the calorie count, but skipped 2/3 of the huge lump of white rice on the plate, and left feeling not that crammed up.
DINNER: 5:45pm, grilled chicken breast, sauteed spinach, gnocchi with homemade sauce, water, 960 cal
Large piece of thin cut chicken breast, 4x the suggested serving of spinach and 1x the serving of frozen potato gnocchi. Despite that, the gnocchi had 3x the calories of the spinach, but on the plate, it was a huge cover of chicken, a big-ass pile of spinach, and a quite little lump of potato dumplings.
EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, peanuts & chocolate chips, 160 cal
There are not very many peanuts or chips in a 160 cal serving, but I ate it slowly and in 15 minutes it felt like enough. It was maybe 1/4 what I'd usually eat as an evening snack, but I was aware it was pushing me over my 2500 cap.
EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, 8oz diet sprite, 0 cal
Out in midtown with an old friend, at Sapporo. Total guess on the calorie count, but skipped 2/3 of the huge lump of white rice on the plate, and left feeling not that crammed up.
DINNER: 5:45pm, grilled chicken breast, sauteed spinach, gnocchi with homemade sauce, water, 960 cal
Large piece of thin cut chicken breast, 4x the suggested serving of spinach and 1x the serving of frozen potato gnocchi. Despite that, the gnocchi had 3x the calories of the spinach, but on the plate, it was a huge cover of chicken, a big-ass pile of spinach, and a quite little lump of potato dumplings.
EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, peanuts & chocolate chips, 160 cal
There are not very many peanuts or chips in a 160 cal serving, but I ate it slowly and in 15 minutes it felt like enough. It was maybe 1/4 what I'd usually eat as an evening snack, but I was aware it was pushing me over my 2500 cap.
EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, 8oz diet sprite, 0 cal
Friday, June 22
Biking on calories
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
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
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
Friday, June 15
Prep for ride
Woke up at 5 after only 4 hours of sleep, got to prepare for the shock of waking up at 2am tomorrow, hopefully will be able to get to bed early tonight. Shoulder/neck surprisingly sore -- on my last weight lift at this current level, I couldn't help but do a few negative pull-ups to see what they were like. Start on a stool from the top position, then (try to) slowly lower yourself. I dropped like a stone, but used everything to slow the descent. Boy, I feel it this morning. It's good, it'll help move things a long, but I hope I'm not sore tomorrow on my ride out to Montauk.
THE COUNT: 3200
AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 7:45am, hardcore oatmeal, 415 cal
AM SNACK: 10am, popcorn, +/- 450 cal
LUNCH: 12:15pm, small green salad, half a pizza, water, +/- 800 cal
PM SNACK: 1:45pm, cup of ice cream, 300 cal
DINNER: 6pm, pint of pork fried rice, saucy stringbeans, shrimp toast, water, +/- 1,100
EVENING SNORT: 7pm, 8oz of beer, 110cal
THE COUNT: 3200
AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 7:45am, hardcore oatmeal, 415 cal
AM SNACK: 10am, popcorn, +/- 450 cal
LUNCH: 12:15pm, small green salad, half a pizza, water, +/- 800 cal
PM SNACK: 1:45pm, cup of ice cream, 300 cal
DINNER: 6pm, pint of pork fried rice, saucy stringbeans, shrimp toast, water, +/- 1,100
EVENING SNORT: 7pm, 8oz of beer, 110cal
Thursday, June 14
A Sweet Day, in a bad way
Looking at today's eating, sweets really got me. One by spontaneous compulsion, the other by familial togetherness. A solid +1/3 of my calories came from sweets: when I think of it that way, well, that's kinda messed up.
TODAY'S COOKING
Birthday Cake: Made a cake for B to come home to, a square one-layer with simple butter cream frosting, vanilla flavor all the way through. I did the math -- the whole shebang is about 2,900 calories, and assuming it's cut into 12 pieces, each is about 440 calories.
THE COUNT: 3225
AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good yogurt with honey, almonds & vanilla, 410 cal
AM SNACK: 10:45am, momma salad, 90 cal
No dressing, just a little salt.
LUNCH: 11:15am, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 860 cal
PM SNACK: 1:30pm, Jaques Torres chocolate ice cream sandwich, +/- 700 cal
At a Jaques Torres store, picking up a gift for Betsy, couldn't resist the pull of this special treat.
DINNER: 6:15pm, broiled cod, brown rice, brussel sprouts, birthday cake, water, 990 cal
Interestingly enough, the slice of cake is almost half the calories of this otherwise rather healthy meal.
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, watermelon, 150 cal
TODAY'S COOKING
Birthday Cake: Made a cake for B to come home to, a square one-layer with simple butter cream frosting, vanilla flavor all the way through. I did the math -- the whole shebang is about 2,900 calories, and assuming it's cut into 12 pieces, each is about 440 calories.
THE COUNT: 3225
AM SNACK: 5:15am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good yogurt with honey, almonds & vanilla, 410 cal
AM SNACK: 10:45am, momma salad, 90 cal
No dressing, just a little salt.
LUNCH: 11:15am, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 860 cal
PM SNACK: 1:30pm, Jaques Torres chocolate ice cream sandwich, +/- 700 cal
At a Jaques Torres store, picking up a gift for Betsy, couldn't resist the pull of this special treat.
DINNER: 6:15pm, broiled cod, brown rice, brussel sprouts, birthday cake, water, 990 cal
Interestingly enough, the slice of cake is almost half the calories of this otherwise rather healthy meal.
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, watermelon, 150 cal
Wednesday, June 13
Batting 3000, it seems
Stayed indoors most of the day-side, took the kids out to play in the rain after school, fell asleep on the couch around 6:30 and transferred myself to bed a few hours later.
THE COUNT: 2,980
Notably, this is the first day where all food has been counted (relatively) accurately without any guesstimates. Around 3000 is where I tend to fall on a normal day, it seems.
AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9am, granola with milk, 850 cal
Not even a very big bowl, a little less than what I'd normally eat. This is definitely now my go-to the morning of bike rides.
LUNCH: 11:45am, herring & avocado on whole grain pumpernickel toast, health salad, 8oz can of diet sprite, 725 cal
Out of sardines, can of herring in the back of the cupboard. Tasty, a little too salty, definitely prefer sardines.
PM SNACK: 4:45pm, 2 frozen waffles, whole wheat pretzel sticks with nutella, 500 cal
Started to feel weak, low blood sugar. Didn't realize how tired I was.
DINNER: 5:45pm, black beans & brown rice with sauteed zucchini, 880 cal
Beans are good, a really big flavor from the sofrito. Boiled up some rice with a butt-load of bay leaves, a good base. Had some zucchinis from the CSA, cut up and sauteed in olive oil on high heat to get a little color on them. Relatively innocuous.
THE COUNT: 2,980
Notably, this is the first day where all food has been counted (relatively) accurately without any guesstimates. Around 3000 is where I tend to fall on a normal day, it seems.
AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea, 25 cal
BREAKFAST: 9am, granola with milk, 850 cal
Not even a very big bowl, a little less than what I'd normally eat. This is definitely now my go-to the morning of bike rides.
LUNCH: 11:45am, herring & avocado on whole grain pumpernickel toast, health salad, 8oz can of diet sprite, 725 cal
Out of sardines, can of herring in the back of the cupboard. Tasty, a little too salty, definitely prefer sardines.
PM SNACK: 4:45pm, 2 frozen waffles, whole wheat pretzel sticks with nutella, 500 cal
Started to feel weak, low blood sugar. Didn't realize how tired I was.
DINNER: 5:45pm, black beans & brown rice with sauteed zucchini, 880 cal
Beans are good, a really big flavor from the sofrito. Boiled up some rice with a butt-load of bay leaves, a good base. Had some zucchinis from the CSA, cut up and sauteed in olive oil on high heat to get a little color on them. Relatively innocuous.
Tuesday, June 12
Granola is a serious energy food.
Lifted weights in the morning -- one rep of 10 at the current weight is not getting me very sore -- next week I'm going to go to the next level of weight at 5 reps, plus rethink my pull-ups. I still have not done one, and haven't really improved. I consulted this rather butch website, and will start doing assisted and negative pull ups on a step stool. Hopefully as the weight comes down, my pull ups will go up. I'm not going to start the heavier weights this week because I'm riding a century on Saturday, don't want to be sore for it.
TODAY'S COOKING
Olive Oil Granola: Today's total batch came to 13,000 calories. Thirteen THOUSAND. Holy moly, I knew this stuff is energy dense, but wow. I think I'm going to skip making bars (which add a whole bunch more calories and just eat it loose per gram. Nuts and seeds have just as much calories as candy, chocolate, sugar n' shiz. Regardless, it's much more nutrient dense and unlike candy, this stuff actually makes you feel better after gobbling it, not worse. Still, 110 grams (1 dry 8oz dry cup) is 850 calories, jeebzuz. I can see why the HVS is addicted to this stuff, it's probably the most calorie-dense vegany thing she allows herself!
Health salad: With most of the recipe being cabbage, the oil and sugar take a back seat, and the vinegar and salt has negligible calories. The whole batch is 950 cal, which makes a solid 150 g serving only about 150 cal. Healthy, indeed.
Sofrito beans: Roasted 3 green peppers on the stove top, put it in the blender with 2 scoops of caramelized onion, 2 heads of peeled garlic, 1/3 cup of olive oil, and fennel, cilantro and scallions from today's CSA drop. Blended until smooth, then put in a pot with 56 oz of canned black beans, salted a little, then set on low fire to simmer away for 5 or 6 hours, until all the beans kinda lose their identity and join in a nice beany mass. Won't be able to weigh to get a serving reading on it, but the whole pot is 2,325. I think their is at least 10 servings in there, so not bad, and it's smelling up the kitchen something amazin'.
THE COUNT: 2960
AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, 25 cal
Sweetness is right, but tastes a little plasticky -- I think I put the tea in pitchers when it was too hot. Will let it go for another day or two before deciding to keep or toss it.
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, hardcore oatmeal, banana, water, 525 cal
LUNCH: 2pm, quarter pounder with cheese, 20oz diet coke, medium fries, 890 cal
It's kinda obscene that one of the things that attracted me to lunch at McDonald's today was the calorie counts provided. It was raining, I had a baby strapped to me. Comfy padded seat at a dinette, Mil put in a secure, heavy baby seat right next to me. On the flip side of the paper place mat was nutritional info to everything sold in the store. Interestingly when I order the meal, the person behind the counter said, "Large?" Not "supersize", f@ckers. I said, "No, medium, please". Medium is still a 20oz drink -- a small is a full 16oz pint, ridiculous.
DINNER: 7:15pm, whole wheat rotini with a little sauce and parm, 1 baked fillet of sole, momma salad with ranch, 1020 cal
EVENING SNACK: 8pm, homemade fudge brownie, +/- 500 cal
TODAY'S COOKING
Olive Oil Granola: Today's total batch came to 13,000 calories. Thirteen THOUSAND. Holy moly, I knew this stuff is energy dense, but wow. I think I'm going to skip making bars (which add a whole bunch more calories and just eat it loose per gram. Nuts and seeds have just as much calories as candy, chocolate, sugar n' shiz. Regardless, it's much more nutrient dense and unlike candy, this stuff actually makes you feel better after gobbling it, not worse. Still, 110 grams (1 dry 8oz dry cup) is 850 calories, jeebzuz. I can see why the HVS is addicted to this stuff, it's probably the most calorie-dense vegany thing she allows herself!
Health salad: With most of the recipe being cabbage, the oil and sugar take a back seat, and the vinegar and salt has negligible calories. The whole batch is 950 cal, which makes a solid 150 g serving only about 150 cal. Healthy, indeed.
Sofrito beans: Roasted 3 green peppers on the stove top, put it in the blender with 2 scoops of caramelized onion, 2 heads of peeled garlic, 1/3 cup of olive oil, and fennel, cilantro and scallions from today's CSA drop. Blended until smooth, then put in a pot with 56 oz of canned black beans, salted a little, then set on low fire to simmer away for 5 or 6 hours, until all the beans kinda lose their identity and join in a nice beany mass. Won't be able to weigh to get a serving reading on it, but the whole pot is 2,325. I think their is at least 10 servings in there, so not bad, and it's smelling up the kitchen something amazin'.
THE COUNT: 2960
AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, 25 cal
Sweetness is right, but tastes a little plasticky -- I think I put the tea in pitchers when it was too hot. Will let it go for another day or two before deciding to keep or toss it.
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, hardcore oatmeal, banana, water, 525 cal
LUNCH: 2pm, quarter pounder with cheese, 20oz diet coke, medium fries, 890 cal
It's kinda obscene that one of the things that attracted me to lunch at McDonald's today was the calorie counts provided. It was raining, I had a baby strapped to me. Comfy padded seat at a dinette, Mil put in a secure, heavy baby seat right next to me. On the flip side of the paper place mat was nutritional info to everything sold in the store. Interestingly when I order the meal, the person behind the counter said, "Large?" Not "supersize", f@ckers. I said, "No, medium, please". Medium is still a 20oz drink -- a small is a full 16oz pint, ridiculous.
DINNER: 7:15pm, whole wheat rotini with a little sauce and parm, 1 baked fillet of sole, momma salad with ranch, 1020 cal
EVENING SNACK: 8pm, homemade fudge brownie, +/- 500 cal
Monday, June 11
Not too full
A lot of guestimates on the calorie count today, but I feel good about it -- I was not full at all at bed time, and sweets were kept to a bare minimum. Did the food shopping in the evening, so tomorrow's eating should be a little more fruit n' veg friendly.
WEEKEND REPORT
A weird eating weekend. Saturday I oversaw the catering of an event for 200, with my students, and in the evening baked off a couple of cake layers, from a c-school recipe. Sunday morning was compiling the cake, cutting fruit and cheese, reheating knishes, making pitchers of drink, for Edie's 3rd b-day. Took the kids out for an hour in the morning, grabbed a slice as I found myself just eating whipped cream for breakfast, oy. Party went well, ordered in Thai food as I was a weird kinda hungry, from not eating much all day, but had a few alcoholic beverages.
TODAY'S COOKING
Iced Green Tea: Made a couple of gallons, each sweetened with 1/4 cup of sugar. That's 190 cal per GALLON, making each gallon the equivalent to a 12oz can of soda.
THE COUNT: 2,810
AM SNACK: 5:45am, 7oz diet sprite
Out of tea, had to get rid of a half pitcher yesterday to make room in the fridge.
BREAKFAST: 6:30am, organic whole grain chex with organic dead milk, 300 cal
LUNCH: 11:45am, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 740 cal
No toppings, just cheese, a solid three or four hundred calories less, huh. Not as tasty.
PM SNACK: 3:15pm, spinach whole wheat empanada, +/- 300 cal
PM SNACK: 4pm, 3 mini potato knishes, +/- 150 cal
DINNER 1: 5:45pm, 1.5 slices of pizza, 5 falafel balls, a little seltzer, +/- 600 cal
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 2 homemade brownie rounds, +/- 300 cal
DINNER 2: whole grain chicken nuggets and ketchup, 420 cal
WEEKEND REPORT
A weird eating weekend. Saturday I oversaw the catering of an event for 200, with my students, and in the evening baked off a couple of cake layers, from a c-school recipe. Sunday morning was compiling the cake, cutting fruit and cheese, reheating knishes, making pitchers of drink, for Edie's 3rd b-day. Took the kids out for an hour in the morning, grabbed a slice as I found myself just eating whipped cream for breakfast, oy. Party went well, ordered in Thai food as I was a weird kinda hungry, from not eating much all day, but had a few alcoholic beverages.
TODAY'S COOKING
Iced Green Tea: Made a couple of gallons, each sweetened with 1/4 cup of sugar. That's 190 cal per GALLON, making each gallon the equivalent to a 12oz can of soda.
THE COUNT: 2,810
AM SNACK: 5:45am, 7oz diet sprite
Out of tea, had to get rid of a half pitcher yesterday to make room in the fridge.
BREAKFAST: 6:30am, organic whole grain chex with organic dead milk, 300 cal
LUNCH: 11:45am, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 740 cal
No toppings, just cheese, a solid three or four hundred calories less, huh. Not as tasty.
PM SNACK: 3:15pm, spinach whole wheat empanada, +/- 300 cal
PM SNACK: 4pm, 3 mini potato knishes, +/- 150 cal
DINNER 1: 5:45pm, 1.5 slices of pizza, 5 falafel balls, a little seltzer, +/- 600 cal
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 2 homemade brownie rounds, +/- 300 cal
DINNER 2: whole grain chicken nuggets and ketchup, 420 cal
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