Variety

Variety they say is the spice of life... I tend to agree. It is to easy to fall into a rut when you are focused on a new way of doing things (like this diet) so I am spending more time, planning, thinking about and preparing my meals.

I have decided that I am fat because I am lazy. I am always looking for the shortcut, the easy path, the one that offers least resistance. The problem is that path is boring, full of ruts and leads to a dead end. So I am taking the path less traveled, for me at least, and committing to long hike this will be.

When I was healthy enough to hike, I would spend days planning the next trip, checking elevation, distance, points to place caches (or meet up with resupply), places to rest, camp and finally the end point my goal. I would prepare myself, check my gear over and over, repair or replace items as needed, load and unload my pack and get the best load out. I did this all so my time on the trail wasn't consumed by wondering where I would find a spot to stop for the night, or sitting by the side of the trail mending a broken pack or boot. I did all this so I could enjoy myself and the hike.

So, enough rambling, if I can be that committed to a hike I figure the least I can do is be that committed to my health, my life.

Todays food choices:

Breakfast - Oroweat Double Fiber English Muffin, with peanut butter (still need to make my own) and a small banana sliced up.

Snack - Celery stalks with a tbs of penaut butter (all hail the peanut)

Lunch - Repeat of yesterday Sesame Noodle salad, with an asian inspired cucmber salad (1/3 english cucmber sliced, 1 carrot sliced, 1/4 cup of red bell pepper slices, 1tbs rice wine vinegar, 1tbs sesame oil, 1tsp fresh ginger (grated) and 1/2 crushed red pepper flakes. the noodle salad recipie is out at The Full Plate Diet (TFPD) website.

Snack - 1 pear, sliced.

Dinner - Tofu, peanut and green bean stir fry, also a recipie from TFPD.

Note: from here on out I will refer to The Full Plate Diet as TFPD I am getting tired of writing it all the time :) (and yes I know it's lazy)

Time

My weekend was consumed by guests and activities that kept me on the go, only now that it is Tuesday do I feel like I've caught my breath.

The weekend went well, even though I BBQ'd for everyone on Saturday I was still able to hit my goals of my diet that day and one of the easiest ways to do that? I didn't BBQ hungry, instead I made sure I had eaten an excellent lunch and a filling snack so I wasn't revenous by the time I had meat on the grill. Instead I satisfied my self with a single kosher hot dog, and a great cucumber salad.

Sunday rolled around and my parents wanted to get together, they've moved to the sticks so it isn't as convienent to meet up, since they were in town. This meant going out to eat, I tried to pick a place I was familiar with knowing the menu and feeling confident that I could order and still stay on track. Instead my mom was concerned about having shade for their car as she had her baby with her (baby in this sense is her dog Mercy who is great but yeesh she goes everywhere my mom and dad go) . So instead we ended up at a Mexican food restraunt (I love the tex-mex) but that presents all kinds of conflict for me. Free bowls of chips, free salsa, wonderful grilled everything slapped between tortillas and fried with... ok you get the idea this was exactly not the first dining out experience on my new diet I wanted to go toe-to-toe with.

I'll claim success I ordered vegatarian fajitas with black beans, I choose corn vs. flour tortillas and I only ate about 2/3 of my meal before I called it quits. I took my time, listened to my body and stopped when I was full. I also portioned out 10 chips on a little plate in front of me and then turned my back on the baskets of chips :) in my previous incarnation I would have wiped out a basket of chips and part of a second basket (with my sons help but seriously way to much) before dinner arrived. Instead I drank a full glass of water before I ate chips, had a second glass before dinner arrived ad part of a glass during dinner. All in all a decent strategy.

Sunday weigh in? I've lost about another 2 pounds since my mid week weigh in last week. I'd call that progress.

Yesterday was a crazy day at work, but I made a point of turning off my monitor and paying attention to my meal at lunch rather than working or reading while I ate.

I have been working the breakfast menu around to try and include more than just Kashi GoLean and some fruit, or a Double fiber muffin with peanut butter and a small banana on it. So tonight I am going to make some polenta rounds and try the Polenta scramble recipie out at the Full Plate Diet website.

I'm having the Seaseme Noodle salad for lunch with grilled veggies and I think I am going to go all summer tonight and make a toasted vegitarian sandwhich. Toast 2 Oroweat Double Fiber slices of bread, layer 1/2 avacado (smashed into a paste to spread on the bread). 1/2 cup fresh spinich, 1/2 cup romaine, 1/2 medium roma tomato, 1/3 english cucumber sliced, bean sprouts, 1/4 cup sliced red onion and 3 pepperocini sliced, drained but leave the seeds. I add a bit of dijon mustard to top it off and this looks great. For a change up add a slice of thin cut turkey if you want some extra protien. Calories w/out the turkey about 315.

Caffeine a-go-go

So blah. So I went cold turkey on no caffeine (iced tea and Earl Grey for the mornings), trying to set the slate clear and I had already removed all of the diet pop, sugar free candies and other sugar free junk food from my diet 3 weeks before and that part was easy. Caffeine, not so much.

Headaches not so good, third day now, so instead I am lowering my tea intake to my morning cup of Earl Grey and see if that takes the edge off.

Now the good news, I know it has only been three days since I began the new diet but as I had said above I was already removing the sugar free crap a few weeks ago and I finally got the courage to step on the scale last night (three weeks since I got the 440 news). 428lbs. How is that good news you ask? 428 is south of 440 and anything moving south is good news for me :) I'll weigh in on Sundays from now on but I had to set my mark and start tracking this honestly.

Menu for the day.

Breakfast - Kashi GoLean 3/4 cup, 1 small banana and 1/2 cup 2% milk = 330 calories.

Snack - Pink Lady Apple 130 calories

Lunch - Vegetarian Torta 5" baguette (with the bread scooped out leaving just the crust) 1/2 a medium avacado, 1/3 of an English cucumber (seeded), dozen grape tomatoes, 1/4 sliced onion, 1/4 cup red bell pepper, 2 pepperocini (the veggies are tossed with yogurt dressing 1.8 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt, 1tsp lemon juice, 1tbs rice wine vinegar, 1tsp pepper, 1tsp minced garlic) calories = 354

Snack (if I'm hungry) - 1oz Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Chips and 1 serving of The Zesty Bean Dip (see The Full Plate Diet for the recipe) = 210 calories (my choice of chip bumps the traditional recipe by 20 calories)

Dinner - Baked Sweet Potato with warm Black Bean salad (see The Full Plate Diet for recipe), Greek cucumber salad (left over from the veggie torta at lunch) = 373 calories.

More later today (so long as my cuppa keeps the headache at bay, so far so good).

Planning is the Key

Two days down!

I made a menu/recipe book that I can keep in my kitchen to better plan out my meals. I am finding myself thinking about food the way you should think about a household budget, plan, measure out and balance.

What this all = is me thinking about my food rather than just mindlessly eating, grabbing the quick fix/meal. Now I have to plan ahead, gather my resources (shopping) and prepare it. This all eats up time but it also means I am engaged in the process rather than just being a consumer of food.

So the menu for the day,

Breakfast - Kashi GoLean 3/4 cup, 1 small banana and 1/2 cup 2% milk = 330 calories.

Snack (if I'm hungry) - 1oz Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Chips and 1 serving of The Zesty Bean Dip (see The Full Plate Diet for the recipe) = 210 calories (my choice of chip bumps the traditional recipe by 20 calories)

Lunch - Mediterranean  wrap (LaTortilla Factory EVOO Whole Grain soft wrap, 2tbs of plain hummus, 3oz broccoli, 1/2 cup of diced cucumber, 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper, 1/8 cup chickpeas, 1/8 cup Greek Gods plain yogurt, 1/2tbs lemon juice and 1tsp pepper) = 290 calories

Snack - Pink Lady Apple = 130 calories

Dinner - Sesame Noodle Salad (see The Full Plate Diet for the recipe) = 340 calories.

Thats it for now.

Keep moving Forward,

Mike

Here is what I miss. Being so heavy has made it impossible for me to enjoy what used to be my favorite past time, hiking around Rainer and the Cascades.

I moved to Washington because it reminded me of Lake Tahoe and all the camping trips I'd ever been on. I used to spend my summers in the national parks of California and Arizona. I love the outdoors and I have denied myself that joy.

So being fat sucks, I mean really sucks. Try going to Disneyland and being to big for your favorite ride, but not knowing that sad fact until you try to ride it and can't.

So I'll write a few times a day to keep myself honest and well its kind of cathartic writing in such a public fashion about something so... personal.

Keep Moving Forward...

Mike

First day down! So far the process seems pretty straight forward, get tons of fiber into your meals. I spent a bit of time last night doing food prep for today making sure I had lunch and a mid morning & late afternoon snack ready.

Breakfast was easy (for the first time in a long time) 1 cup of Kashi GoLean, 3/4 cup of berries (Blue,Black and Ras) and 1/2 cup of 2% total calories = 337

Lunch is Brocolli salad (Brocolli, Chick peas, red pepper a little crumbled parm with a plain 0 fat yogurt (Greek Gods) , lemon and taragon dressing. I am also adding a 3 oz portion of steak to all those veggies. Total calories = 245 (edit: I choose not to eat the meat and it was a good choice still have tons of energy)

The snack is pretty simple I took a 1/4 cup of no fat refried beans mixed it with a 1/4 cup diced red onion, 1/8 sliced olives and a tabelspoon of salsa with 2oz of Multigrain "Food Should Taste Good" chips. I'll split this between morning and afternoon total calories = 320.

Going at this pace I should be hovering around 1500 - 1600  more like 1300-1500 calories a day.

Keep Moving Forward...

Mike

Here is my "a-ha moment" I had an illness at the beginning of 2010 that sent me to the doctors office, someplace I had been avoiding, and I had to step on the scale... my weight? I figured no more than 375 I had been stuck there ever since I took up swimming to lose weight (and had to quit in 2009 because of 10 months without work)... it was 395lbs.

That scared me I promised myself I'd never get this big (yes I would never step on a scale or look in a mirror) and so I started Atkins again (it had been most effective before, until I got bored with it) and I did Atkins for about 8 weeks before I got lazy and let it slide again.

Fast forward to two weeks ago I went to the doctors for a pulled muscle in my back, go figure, and again with the putting me on the damn scale, this time it was 440.

So I spent a week to deal with my shame and anger at myself and then spent a week really asking myself why I kept failing. All I could really point to was myself and the habits of 45+ years that taught me "if it isn't fun why are you doing it". Atkins was a cheat for me I think, yes it does work but it really had me convinced I could eat all that fat and protein and so long as I was eating all those veggies I was doing OK. The problem was/is that I still was cheating, snacking and not thinking when I ate food.

That was my a-ha moment, why was it so hard for me to care about what I was doing, when I was doing it? Food was my unconscious master, I would snack when I was bored, eat without thinking and that was the problem. I no longer respected the bounty that came from my kitchen.

So I asked myself how do I change that one thing? What is it I am good at? I love games, I mean I really love games, so how could I leverage that? I remembered a TED conference speaker, well actually a friend remembered her for me and posted it to Facebook, that I had seen awhile back who talked about using games to get healthy. She had created a site called SuperBetter that uses gaming as a away to get us to engage and she had partnered with a weight loss group called The Full Plate Diet.

Wait a minute a diet that is a game too? It had to be to good to be true, the game is probably lame. The reality is, for me, it is exactly what I needed. I've been playing for 2 days now and restarting my blog is one of the exercises the game has me committing to.

I'll be wrting each day and for now it is just for me, but we'll see where this goes.