one day off track never hurt anyone... dark chocolate and red wine, in moderation, are good for the heart

Tuesday wasn't too bad, but not too good either. I ended up having around 2000 calories and not working out. Wednesday was my Birthday and I had at least 2000 calories, the unhealthy way with cheesecake and Americanized-Chinese food. I did workout Wednesday. Since I hadn't ran in two days and my eating was crap the day of the workout, my HR was high without much in speed. Maybe I pushed my workouts too much before yesterday... Regardless, I'm going to start back at the slower speed with the right diet and sufficient water and see what my HR is throughout the workout.

I'm even more determined not to have cheat eating days because I can see plainly how it can spiral out of control and generally leads to lack of exercise as well.

Been sick recently and using it as an excuse to not workout (probably a good idea) and not track my eating (probably NOT a good idea). My nose has been running like crazy or itching like crazy. Weather here in Indiana went from 5 degrees on Thursday (which triggered the cold, maybe) to 65 degrees today, Monday.

Eating today: 300 calories for breakfast, 13 almonds (100), 2 chicken breast (320), 2 high fiber bun (160), 2 yogurts (260), medium apple (100). Total so far: 1240.

Gonna revise my calorie goal to 1560 until I plateau. Did 1400 and had good success but allowed myself to stray during the holidays and going out with the girlfriend, Little Brother (I'm a Big Brother in Big Brothers Big Sisters), and family. Need to set myself up for success and not let either being sick or eating out knock me off track.

PRIOR NOTES: I have not been sticking with 1500 calories per day and working out daily (or 5 times per week). So I am going to go with 1800 calories intake. BMR x 1.2 is currently 2330. Deficit will be 530 daily plus whatever workouts I do. I will reevaluate after the next month.

NUTRITION:
Chicken Caesar Wrap: 450
2 yogurts: 260
WW ice cream bar: 130
13 almonds: 100
toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter: 300
chicken breast sandwich: 250
WW ice cream bar: 130
chicken breast sandwich: 220
TOTAL: 1840

WATER:
80/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
250 calories, treadmill jogging
negated by: 1.5 glass wine, 1 tbsp peanut butter. =250 calories

AFTER THOUGHTS: Have peanut butter & toast for breakfast. Limit WW ice cream bar to 1 per day, if that. Be sure to eat some fruits and spinach. Today's deficit was 500 calories.

WEIGHT LOSS:
Dec 4th. Weight: 202.6
Wednesday Jan 9th. Weight: 198.8
~1 month loss: 3.8 pounds

PRIOR NOTES: I am having significant second thoughts about my goal of limiting weight loss to 1 pound per week. The reason being is that one of my goals for this year is to create a costume for this year's GenCon convention in Indy. GenCon is a gaming convention that draws folks who are into board, computer, and role-playing games.

People might dress up as their favorite RPG character or a character that is popular on Sci-Fi TV shows. I think it'd be fun to create a costume for a character illustration that is either in an RPG book or from the computer game Mass Effect... and I'd like to be at my goal weight when I wear it at the convention which is around the middle of August.

Mid-January to Mid-August is about 30 weeks, and I have 42 pounds to go to get to my goal weight, so I need to do a pace of 1.5 pounds per week... I'm doing a weekly deficit of 3500 calories with my eating and 1750 calories with my workouts. Yesterday, I ate food to negate the workout (thinking I would do a 1#/week pace), but going forward I won't be doing that unless I have trouble sticking to the plan.

WEIGHT LOSS:
Dec 4th. Weight: 202.6
Wednesday Jan 9th. Weight: 198.8
Thursday Jan 10th. Weight: 198.4
~1 month loss: 4.2 pounds

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300), 2x coffee (0)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), orange (60), 32 oz water (0)
Lunch: 13 almonds (100), chicken breast sandwich (250), WW ice cream bar (130)
Mid Day: yogurt (130), apple (100), WW ice cream bar [doh!] (130)
Dinner: chicken breast sandwich (250), 1 glass wine (100), 1/2 avocado (100), spinach (60)
TOTAL: 1840

WATER:
48/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
300 calories, treadmill jogging

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Today's calorie deficit was 750.

Levels of Commitment:

1) Committed, Whatever It Takes!
"Nothing will stop me from my commitment. All circumstances are handled. I am responsible for my circumstances."

2) Committed UNLESS something happens
"I will let circumstance dictate my level of commitment. I am victimized by my circumstances. I am not prepared to pay some of the prices of the commitment and will bail out if those prices become a reality."

3) Wanting, Wishing, Hoping, Procrastinating
"I wish I could make the commitment. I am inspired by the idea of the commitment, but I don't want to pay any of the prices of commiting."

4) Not Caring
"I don't care enough to commit. I do not feel inspired enough to commit."

You CAN make the commitment to be healthy TODAY, right now. It's OK to not be inspired enough by something to commit to it, or to be unwilling to pay the prices of the commitment. It's OK to fall short from time to time and then accept the past (not judge yourself) and then move forward again with the commitment.

Once you make the commitment, the frame of mind becomes. "I am healthy, this (one thing) is the next step I need to do toward that commitment." Another tripwire is people thinking of all the steps or all the time required. Take it one day at a time. One step at a time.

PRIOR NOTES: Do not buy WW ice cream bars as a regular course.

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300), coffee (0), WW ice cream bar (130)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), apple (100)
Lunch: 13 almonds (100), chicken breast sandwich (250), WW ice cream bar (130)
Mid Day: yogurt (130), orange (60)
Dinner: chicken breast sandwich (250) 1/2 avocado (100), spinach (60), 1g red wine (100)
TOTAL: 1840

WATER:
32/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
300 calories, treadmill jogging

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Today's calorie deficit was 750.

PRIOR NOTES: Need to drink water in the morning.

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), eng muffin (120)
Lunch: 13 almonds (100), chicken breast sandwich (250)
Mid Day: yogurt (130), eng muffin (120), 2 tbsp peanut butter (200)
Dinner: chicken breast sandwich (250), 2g red wine (200)
TOTAL: 1800

WATER:
32/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
I did not end up exercising. I hung out with friends from 430p to 830p and once I was done hanging out and relaxed 30 mins later, I felt it was too late to exercise.

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Need to purposely get myself to the gym before I do other less important things. I played video games in the afternoon until 430p and I could have gone to the gym as a break from the game playing. Today's caloric deficit was 500.

PRIOR NOTES: Priority: drink water, exercise early

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), orange (60)
Lunch: 13 almonds (100), chicken breast sandwich (250)
Mid Day: yogurt (130), toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300)
Dinner: yogurt (130), chicken breast sandwich (250), 1/2 avocado (100), spinach (60)
TOTAL: 1810

WATER:
48/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
300 calories, treadmill jogging

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Good job! Today's calorie deficit was 750.

Great job on the pounds lost so far!

The levels of commitment are indeed interesting. I fall into the second category most of the time.

PRIOR NOTES: Definitely pumped up by the ever shrinking weigh-ins! My daily weight is bound to go up a given day, but the weekly weight should keep coming down.

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), orange (60)
Lunch: 13 almonds (100), chicken breast sandwich (250)
Midday: Lean Mac & Cheese meal (270) yogurt (130)
Dinner: apple (100), chicken breast sandwich (250), 1/2 avocado (100), 8 oz fruit smoothie (110)
TOTAL: 1800

WATER:
32/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
HIIT treadmill running. Did 10 (?) intervals at 10 mph. Did not puke. Each interval was 12-15 seconds and breaks of 40-50 seconds between intervals. I will go for 11 intervals next time. It's hard to count intervals because the workout is intense and it is hard to keep track. It also freaks me out that the treadmill is going so fast.

Over the near term, my goal is to alternate days between HIIT and weight-lifting. I wanna preserve muscle mass as I lose weight (new intentional goal), so I may avoid straight cardio workouts for a little while.

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Today's calorie deficit was 650. 150 of the calories burnt were HIIT calories.

PRIOR NOTES: Today's weigh-in was a spike mostly because of bowel rhythm. I usually poop after my weigh-in and today's poop was a big one (but was after the weigh-in). I felt hungry after my supper last night so what I'm going to do is have a bigger dinner and a smaller lunch. Maybe I will get some dark chocolate (high cocoa counts) and eat a third of one at night (100 cal) and pair that with some red wine. I am prepared to feel hungry from time to time and I was able to ride it out last night (called a friend and talked for a while).

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300), 2 tbsp flax meal (60)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), 5/6 orange [was somewhat bitter] (50)
Lunch: 13 almonds (100), chicken breast sandwich (250)
Midday: yogurt (130) apple (100)
Dinner: 1/3 dark choc bar (170), 1g red wine (100), chicken breast sandwich (250), 1/2 avocado (100), spinach (30)
TOTAL: 1800


WATER (straight):
16/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
DID NOT EXERCISE. Did not make it a priority. Instead cleaned the house because I will have company over for the weekend. Vacuumed 1st & 2nd floors, stayed up late organizing.

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Today's caloric deficit was 500. Frozen spinach can be very hard to get down if it isn't of good quality. I will continue to buy fresh spinach.

PRIOR NOTES: Need to go workout after I've let the dogs out twice after coming home from work.

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), orange (60)
Lunch: 13 almonds (100), chicken breast sandwich (250)
Midday: yogurt (110), chicken breast sandwich (250)
Dinner: 1/3 dark choc bar (170), 2g red wine (200), 1/2 avocado (100), spinach (40)
Party: wine (100), light beer (100), 2 slices ice cream cake (400)
TOTAL: 2310

WATER:
00/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
HIIT treadmill cardio, 13 intervals, 10mph 15sec intervals, let HR get to 160 before next interval.

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Today's caloric deficit was 250.

PRIOR NOTES: Did a good job at the party of avoiding food until near the end of the party (late last night). I wonder if I should have left once I started to eat at the party. Dunno.

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), orange (60)
Lunch: 13 almonds (100), chicken breast sandwich (250), yogurt (130)
Dinner: 1/3 dark choc bar (170), 2g red wine (200), spinach (20), 1/4 rotisserie chicken (200), 1/4# potatoes with butter (150)
After: 2 light beers (200)
TOTAL: 1910


WATER:
64/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
REST DAY.

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Today's caloric deficit was 400.

NUTRITION:
Morning: toast w/2 tbsp peanut butter (300)
Mid Morning: yogurt (130), banana (80)
Lunch, chicken breast sandwich (250), 1/3 dark choc bar (170), 1 regular beer (150)
chicken leg no skin (180), 0.75 glass red wine (75), 1.5 Negro Modelo [beer] (225), 3/8# carrots (60), 13 almonds (100), yogurt (130)
TOTAL: 1850

WATER:
00/96 ounces.

EXERCISE:
Did not exercise.

AFTER THOUGHTS:
Today's caloric deficit was 500.