Log My Loss

Another long day and another short post.  My South Beach Diet meal journal for the day is as follows:

• Breakfast - One cup of steel cut oats and one small turkey sausage.  I also mixed 2/3 cup of mixed frozen berries in with the oats.
• Mid-morning snack - One apple and three tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• One can of tuna, 1/2 cup of green peas, 1/2 cup of brown rice, and 1/2 cup of cauliflower.  I also had three hot peppers.
• Mid-afternoon snack - One apple and two boiled eggs.
• Supper - A mexican mix of meat, cheese, and vegetables.
• Mid-evening snack - One cup of ff, plain yogurt mixed with flax seed and butterscotch Jello pudding powder.

It has been another good day on the diet, but another busy day as well.  I am so ready for things to slow down a little.  It has really been chaotic for almost six weeks!

My South Beach Diet meal journal for the day is as follows:

• Breakfast - One cup of steel cut oats and one small turkey sausage.
• Mid-morning snack - One apple and two tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Lunch - Chicken (white meat with a little dark mixed in), lima beans, kidney beans, and brown rice.
• Mid-afternoon snack - One apple with two tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Supper - Two small pieces of fried chicken (white meat) with a pecan and crushed triscuit crust, and a very large salad (lots of iceburg lettuce).  I made a homemade dressing from olive oil and vinegar that came from a jar of very hot pickled peppers.  This was exceptionally good.
• Mid-evening snack - One cup of ff, plain yogurt with a little Uncle Sam cereal, flax seed, and butterscotch Jello pudding mix mixed in.

I thought things were supposed to be slowing down for me!  That has certainly not been the case, although I hope today is a little slower than yesterday, which was a madhouse.  The good news about being extremely busy is that you don’t have time to think about food, huh?  Anyhow, I had a great day on the diet, other than I missed my first snack.  I also gave blood yesterday and did not drink enough water, which is probably not a good combination.

Oddly enough, when I was preparing to give blood, they took my blood pressure, which was higher than it has been in some time (140/90).  I am sure that was because of the stressful day at work and the anxiety of giving blood, but I am not thrilled about that.

My South Beach Diet meal journal for the day is as follows:

• Breakfast - One bowl of cauliflower salad, six triscuits, and one small turkey sausage.
• Mid-morning snack - nothing.
• Lunch - One can of tuna, 3/4 cup of green peas, 1 cup of cauliflower salad (the leftovers are all gone now), and an apple.
• Mid-afternoon snack - One apple and two tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Supper - Chicken (I am not sure how much.  Most was white, some was dark), 3/4 cup of lima beans, and 3/4 cup of kidney beans.
• Mid-evening snack - one cup of ff, plain yogurt mixed with flax seed and lemon Jello powder.

I did sneak a peak at the scale this morning and if what I saw was any indication, this is going to be a good week.  I gotta keep it up though.

I am running tight on time tonight, so it will just be a diet journal update.  My South Beach Diet journal for the day is as follows:

• Breakfast - Two cups of cauliflower salad and a small turkey sausage.
• Mid-morning snack - nothing.
• Lunch - Roast beef, a sweet potato, a few pieces of celery, a few carrots, and a small bowl of cauliflower salad.
• Mid-afternoon snack - One apple and three tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Supper - A small piece of roast beef, a few pieces of celery, a few carrots, and a small bowl of cauliflower salad.
• Mid-evening snack - One cup of ff, plain yogurt mixed with flax seed, Grape Nuts, and butterscotch Jello pudding powder. 

This week has been much kinder to me than last week with regards to weight loss and measurements.  It is still not where it should be this week though.  I am choosing to ignore that because of Thanksgiving this week.  Here goes:

My neck and chest both went up 0.5″.  They were the only two measurements to go up though.

My weight went down a pound to 232.5.  My body fat percentage went down 0.2 to 27.1%.  My BMI fell 0.1 to 33.4.  My stomach and my waist both went down 0.5″ to 45.25″ and 40.5″ respectively.  My forearms went down 0.125″ to 12.5″, my thighs went down 0.375″ to 24″, and my calves went down 0.5″ to 17″.

My biceps stayed the same.

Not a great week, but I think most everything went in the right direction.

Finally, my week of Thanksgiving feasts is over.  I always enjoy these meals, but I also tend to overeat.  As I have already said, I think I have done pretty good this year: not a single dessert, not a single white potato, essentially no bad carbs.  I did, however, eat some fatty foods, which I am sure I paid for, and I did overeat some.  It is over now, and it is time to move forward.

A recent post on South Beach Friends Forum by my buddy Mark has made me stop and think.  Mark asked the question, “What do you do when you hit that wall???”  You all know the wall he is talking about.  The one where the weight loss stops, or slows, and the motivation goes down the drain.  I know this wall all too well, and fortunately, I have not hit this wall (with staying on the diet) this time.  I do know where Mark is coming from though.  I have hit a wall with regards to exercise.  I keep telling myself I am going to start again, and I keep talking myself out of it when the time comes to do it.  I think it all goes back to the decision.  The decision is what gets us through it all.  Sometimes, the decision can be influenced by outside influences though.  For me, I got sick and felt like I couldn’t exercise.  After a few weeks of that, the habit was broken.  I think Mark might be able to trace his troubles now back to a couple of things: slowing weight loss and getting out of his daily habits.  I’m not trying to speak for you Mark - just thinking this out. 

All this being said, I am still not sure what the answer is.  I think I have not lost my motivation on the diet because I see the health benefits it has given me, and I know the path I was going down was disasterous.  Why then, do I not have the same motivation for exercising?  Maybe I haven’t realized (or have forgotten) how important it is to my health.  For me, it seems to help if I go back to the basics.  The basic steps for getting a healthy body include both diet and exercise.  It doesn’t have to be four miles a day of walking or a hundred push ups.  Two miles a day of walking, five days a week, is sufficient.  I have to quit looking for an immediate benefit to the exercise and start looking at the long-term benefit.  This isn’t about today - it is about my health in 30-60 years.  I also have to quit making excuses.  It is time to refocus on the goal.  If I intend on achieving my weight loss and health goals, I have to use every resource available to me - including exercizing. 

Mark, I don’t know the answer for you, but I suspect if you will look at the two paths ahead of you, you will find one is easy, but it keeps you right where you are at.  The other, while harder, takes you to the place you really want to be.  Remember the decision you made some months ago and get back on the right path.  I am here with you, so no matter how hard it is, you aren’t alone.

My South Beach Diet meal journal for yesterday is as follows:

• Breakfast - One serving of Uncle Sam cereal with a cup of ff milk and one small turkey sausage.
• Mid-morning snack - One apple and three tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Lunch - I have no idea what the portions were, but I had turkey (white and dark meat), green beans, baked sweet potato, cauliflower salad, cole slaw, baked apples, and several hot peppers.  I also had a few whole grain crackers, one of which had cream cheese and pepper jelly (I know how this sounds, but it is great).  I think that is it.
• Mid-afternoon snack - I don’t think I had anything, but I am not sure.
• Supper - A few slices of ham and cauliflower salad.
• Mid-evening snack - One cup of ff, plain yogurt with butterscotch Jello pudding powder and flax seed mixed in.

My wife and I went out and braved the crowds of Black Friday today, and I am glad we did.  I was able to get four new shirts, a new suit jacket (matches the pants I bought a month or so ago), and a new pair of pants for a very, very good price.  I am extremely happy.  These are the first shirts I have bought in quite some time and I ended up getting 18.5 inch neck shirts, which are 1.5 inches smaller than I have worn for years.  I am so happy.  In addition, I got some walking in today as a result of the shopping.  I am not sure how much, but it was better than nothing.

My South Beach Diet Meal journal for the day is as follows:

• Breakfast - One serving of Uncle Sam cereal with a cup of ff milk and one small turkey sausage.
• Mid-morning snack - One apple with three tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Lunch - Chicken Monterey with sauteed vegetables.  I also added some cheese on top of the cheese that came with this at the restaurant.  This was not as good as normal - a little too greasy.
• Mid-afternoon snack - Way too much popcorn!
• Supper - Leftover ham, leftover green peas, and a baked sweet potato.
• Mid-evening snack - One cup of ff, plain yogurt with chocolate Jello pudding powder, flax seed, 1/4 cup of Grape Nuts, and powdered cayenne pepper.  I know this sounds crazy, but it was really good.

I have one more Thanksgiving feast tomorrow, but I think there will be a lot of South Beach Diet friendly food there.  I seriously doubt I will lose any weight this week, but I think I can hold steady, which is okay by me for the week of Thanksgiving.

Well, Thanksgiving Day has come and has almost passed, and I don’t think I did too bad.  I did overeat, but I didn’t do too bad on that either.  The worst thing I ate today was some dark meat turkey and some ham.  I had lots of vegetables and fruits though.  I actually probably overdid it on the fruit too, but that is much better than dessert.  I am not going to be able to list portions on what I ate at the feast today, but I will list what I ate.

My South Beach Diet meal journal for the day is as follows:

• Breakfast - One serving of Uncle Sam cereal with a cup of ff milk and one turkey sausage.
• Mid-morning snack - raw fruits and vegetables
• Lunch - Turkey (dark and white meat), ham, green beans, green peas, broccoli salad, deviled eggs, and shrimp.  I think that was it.
• Mid-afternoon snack - nothing.
• Supper - Turkey (dark and white meat), ham, green beans, green peas, and deviled eggs.
• Mid-evening snack - one deviled egg, one cup  of plain, ff yogurt with chocolate pudding powder, flax seed, 1/4 cup of grape nuts.
• I had several glasses of diet DR Pepper and almost no water.  I also had some roasted chic peas.

My wife and I decided to take a walk after lunch today.  We walked three miles.  We may also get some walking in tomorrow.

As I was getting dressed to go to the Thanksgiving meal, I realized that I no longer have any bluejeans that fit.  I had some that I could wear, but they were very baggy.  Not only that, but all my kaki pants were also too big.  So, I had to head out to Wal Mart and get a pair of jeans.  I ended up buying 38X30s, which is much smaller than the 44×30z I was wearing when I began this way of eating back in July.  It won’t be long until I am in 36s - I can’t wait!

So far I am feeling pretty good about how I am doing this week.  I have stayed on track reasonably well and haven’t overeaten too much. Of course, today, Thanksgiving Day, will be one of the greater challenges.  Yesterday went very well though.  I was so busy at work I didn’t hardly have time to think about food.  I also worked over some, so that meant I was extra hungry when I got home.  I still did pretty good though.  While I probably ate too much, it was a lot of vegetables, so it probably wasn’t too bad.

My South Beach Diet meal journal for yesterday was as follows:

• Breakfast - One cup of steel cut oats, one small turkey sausage, and one cup of ff milk.
• Mid-morning snack - One apple and two tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Lunch - One can of tuna and three cups of steamed broccoli and cauliflower.  I also had two pickled cayenne peppers and one jalapeno.
• Mid-afternoon snack - One apple and two tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Supper - One and half pieces of sirloin steak, a few pieces of asparagus, a salad, and a large serving of green peas.  I also had a can of diet coke.
• Mid-evening snack - One cup of ff, plain yogurt with chocolate Jello pudding powder, flax seed, and a little Grape Nuts mixed in.  This wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be.  I may try it again tonight with a little more pudding powder.
• Miscellaneous - I had two cups of coffee and plenty of water today.  I also ate a few handfuls of corn nuts.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those in the United States.  In fact, happy Thanksgiving to all those everywhere.  We all have good things to be thankful for.

The feast has begun.  Tonight was our first Thankgiving meal of the season, and I did well.  While I overate just a little, I only ate acceptable foods.  Now if I can just do that for the next two of these meals (Thursday and Saturday) I will be doing good.  I have given everyone fair warning that I am staying on my diet, so hopefully there will be no human pressure.  Unfortunately, there will be food pressure.  I know some of my favorite foods will be at both the other two meals, but I am preparing myself early, so I think I should be fine.

My South Beach Diet meal journal for the day is as follows:

• Breakfast - One cup of steel cut oats and a small turkey sausage.  I also drank a cup of ff milk.
• Mid-morning snack - One apple and two tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
• Lunch - One can of tuna, three cups of steamed broccoli, a pickled cayenne pepper, and a pickled jalapeno pepper.  I am sure I should not be eating these peppers as they are canned with a little sugar, but I think it is a small enough amount it will not be disasterous.
• Mid-afternoon snack - Two lf cheese sticks and one apple.
• Supper - I have no idea on portions.  I had ham, turkey, green beans, lima beans, some crazy slaw-like stuff, black-eyed peas, and one deviled egg.
• Mid-evening snack - One cup of ff, plain yogurt with some crushed pecans, flax seed, and pistachio Jello pudding powder.