August Summary

Warning: Ridiculously LONG post!!!

i.e. the one where I explain what's going on in my head, rather than what I'm putting in my face.

Pretty good first month.  I feel pretty happy with the results and pretty confident I can continue.  At this point, it feels virtually effortless.  Having the food provided is 90% of the game for me.  I like the food and don't feel tempted to eat excessively at fast food places when I have good food waiting for me at home.  I already feel like the meals are changing my portion and food selection habits.  I know losing will get harder.  For now, I'm just enjoying the fact that it's been pretty easy.  (Please don't let that jinx me!)  The other 10% of the effort has been a mix of staying prepared with snacks/water and tracking a variety of stats. 

August Stats

Goal Tally

$ at grocery = $45, planned $20

$ at restaurant = $111, planned $80

fast food trips = 0, planned 2

pounds lost = 21, planned 10

walking days = 3, planned 20

I didn't include in my goals anything about drinking water, but it happened anyways.  I didn't really even think about it, but I've had less than 5 sodas this entire month.  I can think of days past where I've had 5 sodas in a day.  I've been prepping and taking water bottles to school and carrying one with me at all times.  This water thing has been a big, though unintended, step.  As for the planned goals, I'm actually prouder of the lack of fast food trips than the extra 10 pounds lost!  This is a HUGE change for me.  In fact, though french fries still sound amazing, a burger sounds eh, kinda greasy...  I considered stopping one afternoon to get a plain burger because I'd forgotten my lunch, but it didn't even sound that good.  Plus, I didn't want to have to include that one trip in the tally. 

The monthly tally has actually helped modify my behavior a lot.  I don't eat or spend without thinking about how it will look on the site.  I eventually started to really think about the money I was spending because I didn't want to have to post it in the tally.  I don't feel bad about the extra money I spent in August because I didn't spend it without thinking about it first.  Also, the goals were pretty arbitrary numbers.  Ultimately, I know that I'm going to be spending extra on food - the Bistro plan is not cheap - but it's totally worth it at this point.  I can see that in the future I may be able to skip a delivery here or there since I already have a number of unused meals stored up.  I do worry about maintaining weight loss after I quit having meals delivered (look at me, already planning for failure when i haven't even lost the weight yet.  That's another symptom of the perfectionism that keeps me from even trying.).  But I realized today that I don't have to get food every single week.  I could get 1-2 boxes a month for awhile and work around them.  I feel better knowing that that's an option - I don't have to stop cold turkey.

The first month has been sort of like a science experiment for me.  I've been posting religiously about what I eat each day, and this has been incredibly helpful.  I've tried to keep food diaries in the past, but it's working better this time for two reasons.  One is that the Bistro food comes with nutrition info, I don't have to spend a lot of time weighing and looking up foods.  Second, keeping track online is very helpful.  I can access it anywhere and I know there's a possibility that someone is reading it.  Keeps me more accountable. 

Going back to the science experiment, I also have Excel charts that track current weight and predicts future weight loss.  I'm aiming for a 1% loss each week until I get to 200lb, then I dropped to 0.5%.  This represents a 2+ pound loss per week for a while, then 1 pound a week after that.  I think this is incredibly reasonable.  I don't want to lose too fast and I wanted to be accepting of the fact that I might have a setback or two.  This isn't failure.  Not unless I let it completely derail me.  My ultimate goal is to reach goal weight of 175lb by the end of 2011.  I picked 175lb because it puts me just on the right side of "normal" for the BMI.  I reserve the right to change it in the future when I can better see what 175lb looks/feels like.  :D  It's been motivating to look at the charts and see what weight I plan to be at for different events or times of the year. 

Also, I've been tracking my daily calorie count and creating a monthly average to follow too.  I want the individual days to bounce around a little.  I don't want my body to think it's going to get exactly 1450cal every single day.  The days bounce around from 1200 to 1600.  I've been aiming to keep my overall average for the month around 1600 cal.  This accounts for the fact that there were 5-6 days that were high, a couple were WAY high.  All involved going out with friends/family and seem to fit into the schedule okay, for now.  The average for all the "good" days is around 1450cal.  When I see the aggregate average start to trend up, I can adjust the next few days and get it back down.  It may seem like I've been spending TONS of time on this, but really it hasn't felt like it.  It may be a bit obsessive, but maybe that's what I need to be right now.  It isn't going to happen on it's own.  Not for me.  Besides, I've just been watching less TV!  Actually, that's TOTALLY true.  :D  And I find that I'm more mindful of the food when I'm writing about it in front of the computer, than when I'm eating in front of the TV.

September Goals:

I need to start exercising more.  At this point, it's not about burning calories.  In fact, I'd have to eat a bit more to balance out the burned calories in order to stay at around 1500 calorie net.  I do however recognize that there are other benefits to exercising.  Healthwise, I know it makes a huge difference to blood pressure and cholesterol.  I also vainly hope that exercising now will help my body recover better from losing so much weight.  Additionally, part of why it's so important to me to lose weight is so I can actually do more stuff.  Being thinner, but still out of shape won't cut it. So September will be a month of baby-step exercising. I have to get over the idea that it's not worth walking a mile because "it's just a mile." This is a HUGE step in correcting my personal mindset that avoids "maintenance" activities.  I've always preferred to do big things all at once; I like to see BIG changes.  I think it's an instant gratification thing.  I write papers all at once, I clean in big swooping stabs, I read books from start to finish in days (sometimes hours).  I always marvel at magazine articles that promise things are sooo easy if you just do 15 minutes of x each day.  I have to learn to perform scheduled activities that promote maintenance, rather than a panicked big fix.  If I only walk a mile in a day - it's still worth doing - it's still better than nothing.  So that's the plan - one mile a day, 5 days a week.  Goal is 20 miles for September.  If I beat that, great, but 20 miles is a definite, attainable minimum.  It's a must-do.

Day 30

Breakfast(645AM):  Berry Crepes. (365cal) Love these.  The cream cheese filling is really good, I like the texture of the crepes, and the sausage is a little bit spicy.

Snack (1030-1130AM): Banana (100cal), Started snack early.  Hungry today.  Didn't get super hungry after the banana - wonder why I got hungry quicker today. I was hungrier than usual last night too, though if I'd gone to bed before 1215AM that would have been less of an issue.

Lunch (145PM):  Beef Tips in Red Wine (390cal).  Probably should have picked a different lunch since I'm going over to parents to have steak for dinner tonight.  But I didn't.  Tastes good - like pot roast.  The meat is good quality (and I'm pretty picky) and tender.  The veggies are crisp and there's potatoes!  I love potatoes.  This meal is filling. 

Snack(500PM): Half serving Popchips (50cal)

Dinner(745PM): Data to plan on:
Top round steak: 3.5oz cooked = 186cal/6gfat/0gcarb
Brown Rice: 2/3 cup cooked = 145cal/1.6gfat/31gcarb
Green beans, fozen: 1cup = 44cal/0gfat/9gcarb
Salad = pretty much free w/o dressing
Brownie = will have to ask about prep.
Ended up eating 1/3 cup of Rice Roni (100cal), 1.25 cup green beans (54 cal), iceberg salad with balsamic vinegar (30cal), steak sauce (10cal), and like, 9oz of steak? (estimate 450cal?), one brownie (100cal). Dinner total: 744cal Measured the rice out, tried to weigh the meat, but not sure the scale was right. And then I ate I little bit more... Didn't eat bread or butter. Well, the butter in the Rice a Roni, but... Purposely put salad and beans on plate first. And I was pretty hungry by the time dinner got on the table. Picked at the lettuce while I waited.

Unnecessary snack (1030PM): Ate the other half of the Popchips, for no good reason. Not even hungry. (50cal).

Daily Total: 1699cal Not bad considering.

Day 29

Breakfast (645AM):  Protein Bagel with egg and sausage (157cal)  I emailed Bistro and asked for the calorie counts for the few items that come without nutirtion info.  They very promptly provided it -- I' will try to post to this site.  I added 60 cal cheese.

Snack (1200PM):  Pretty hungry by now today.  Sesame rice cake (70cal) with 1tsp peanut butter, plus a bit, (75cal)  Good!

Lunch (215PM): Curry Chicken with cous cous. (380cal) I remembered this being dry and bland, so i brought a half apple (leftover from last night),chopped up (40cal), a few extra dried cranberries(30cal), a few frozen red pepper strips (so few - basically free), and some chopped green onion (ditto). Liked it much better this time. Also dumped much of the shredded carrot - it's just too dense and crispy!

Dinner (615PM): Turkey Meatloaf with cauliflower puree and broccoli. (430cal) Still like this. And it's still better than the cheeseburger meatloaf. The cauliflower is actually a pretty good recreation of mashed potatoes. Not as good as the real thing, but WAY better than the time I tried to mash cauliflower myself. Remembered to wash the broccoli off after I cooked it. That "seasoning" is ridiculous!  I will say this is absolutely one of the ugliest looking meals...

Snack(730PM):  Out with friends.  Planned ahead to get a mocha.  Wanted to up the 1225 calories, felt a little bad about the empty sugar calories, but oh well...  It was either this or part of a dessert.  At least this had some milk.  Got low-fat milk and a tiny bit of whipped cream.  (estimate 270cal) and a piece of bread (50cal), no butter.  I guess I have to add the $3 into the count, even though I didn't pay for it...  Also, I had a little surprise when the waitress asked me if I wanted the small or large and I didn't even think twice - small.  Later she asked if I wanted another and in my head, I was sort of horrified.... "there are people that drink multiple mochas???  Don't they know they could eat an entire meal for that many calories???" Such a change in my mind set, being conscious of what I'm eating and whether it's worth spending a portion of my calorie budget.  (If only I could be so disciplined with my actual budget :D).

Daily Total: 1562 cal

Grocery Shopping

Quickest grocery shopping trip EVER.  Like 15 minutes.  And cheape$t too!  I bought 4 tomatoes (looked for small ones), 2 yellow nectarines, 2 Braeburn apples, 1 avocado, 1 pkg frozen peppers, 1 pkg frozen green beans, celery, roasted almonds and some sesame tamari rice cakes (70cal each).  Spent $20 for these as snacks and add-ins; will add to September food bill since it will be eaten in September.

Day 28

Exercise (730AM):  Walking 0.6mi to drop off dogs and then riding bike home.  I feel like I'm overstating it to head this section as "exercise", but I guess I have to start somewhere.  I hate to exercise.  I was in 8th grade before I realized that people actually went to the gym simply to exercise.  I never realized that there were people who exercised because you were supposed to; I thought skinny people all really liked playing some sport!  The only form of exercise I knew of was related to competitive sports - and I was bad at them, so I never did it.  I remember being really shocked when I found out there were people who would go outside and walk - just to walk, with no need to go somewhere.  Anyways, I'm off! ..........
I'm back! The whole process took about 25minutes, including a little talk time.  I estimated that I burn about 135cal in the 15minutes it takes to walk there and the biking for 5-7 minutes (no idea, guess) burns about 50cal.  Which is odd, cause the biking was waaaay harder.  However, it was easier with properly inflated tires - I feel a bit better about that.

Breakfast (820AM): Buckwheat Pancakes with Berries (320cal)  Had this on Day10.  I still like it.  I like these blueberries better than the last breakfast that had blueberries - the stuffed french toast.  Here they taste more like a sauce.  Not sure why.  The pancakes are delish and the ham is good too.  Oh, and I ate 50 cal of a trail mix before I left on my bike ride.  BTW, 50 cal of nuts and fruit is like 2 almonds, a walnut, 3 dried cherries and 4 dried cranberries.  :0 A ridiculously small handful!

Snack (1130AM):  Sundays will be a bit dufficult now that summer is over.  I won't be free to have a proper lunch until about 130PM.  Planning to take a snack. 

Ate 100cal of Popchips.  Successfully avoided the cookie/pastry table at church.  Even said "no" when offered one.  Actually, that's never been a problem - I always eat better around people.  It's when I'm alone that things take a wrong turn.

Lunch (145PM):  Steakhouse Wrap (305cal) - which is really more like a burrito.  Ground beef, rice onions, cheese in a totilla "skin".  Had this on Day 3 too.  Still like it.  Still think the creamed spinach is odd (though better than I remember - maybe I'm just getting used to it?  Or maybe it is better when compared to the foul broccoli souffle).  Added a small chopped tomato and some green onion. (10cal)  Also had a Diet Coke today, 12oz.  See Day#3 for official nutrition info.

Before

After

Dinner (600PM):  Allow me to introduce one of my top three favorite meals so far...  Chicken with Spinach/Feta Stuffing with Wheat Penne and Eggplant (410cal) See Day#4 for full nutrition.  I still love this meal.  Maybe it's the tomato sauce, maybe it's the eggplant, I don't care why... I just love it.  It seems to fall into the looks-ugly-but-tastes-fantastic category.  Very satisfied.  Picked this instead of the planned meal because the planned meal was only 300cal and I wanted to save it for a day when the -100cal would be critical.  I'm a happy camper. 

Snack(900PM): Took a half an apple and a rice cake. Wasn't very hungery at all until I got home.  The Braeburn apples aren't as good as the Pink lady.  Took a bite of hamburger meat Mom made, thought about eating the rest.  Looked it up online and decided to eat the rice cake (70cal) with a tsp of peanut butter (60cal).

Daily Total: 1325cal

Day 27

Breakfast(800AM): High Protein bagel (140cal) with Justin's Maple Almond Butter (90cal)  Perfectly toasted! And i actually cut the pkg of almond butter open to scrape it all out. :)

Snack/Lunch(1230/130PM):  Tried very hard to get friend to plan for lunch - nixed the hotdog idea (a plain Costco hotdog is 555cal), but left open to many other things.  Brought a 70 cal WW bar (Choc.Mint - Yum!) to eat (around 1230M).  Then found myself in CostCo with a friend who was suddenly starving and had to have a hotdog.  Dang.  Pretty frustrating.  I made do with selected samples.  Will now attempt the feat of estimating their calories.  Pop Chips - 50cal, Chips with salsa - 25cal, potato salad - 25cal, turkey burger - 15cal, Ciao Bella blood orange sorbet - 8 calories, virgin strawberry margarita - 25cal, tri tip - 20cal, chinese chicken salad - 40cal, ham and cheese sandwich - 60cal,  raspberry tea - 60cal, bite of a hotdog - 35cal, (363cal total) 

Of these, I loved the PopChips and bought a bag which I partitioned into servings that were a bit smaller than suggested (17servings per bag, instead of 15), to get a 100cal snack - 105cal, 3.5gfat, 220mgsod, 17.6g carb.  I also really liked the Ciao Bella Sorbet bars - only 60cal for the whole bar.  The turkey burger was served with a bit of Worcestershire, which i really liked as a condiment - would be good to have in the house.

Dinner (630PM):  Salmon with spinach, wild rice, almonds, and cranberries (435cal).  I think this is pretty decent.  Not a huge fan of fish, but salmon is okay.  Put a bunch of lemon juice on it.  Added 1/3 cup of peas (35cal).  Didn't seem filling as I was eating it, but by the time I got done I was pretty full.  One of the few meals I've eaten in front of the TV - which used to be a common occurance - but now I'm all caught up on MadMen. :D

Snack(1100PM):  Feeling a bit hungry and I don't want the calorie count to be too low for today - at 1133 right now.  Plus the cupcake is calling to me.  Going to eat 1/4 of the cupcake (105cal) and also 100 cal of something healthier.  Will report back.  Maybe I'll make a little 200 cal burrito...  Reporting back - I did eat a mini-burrito, simply because it sounded healthier than eating sugar calories right before bed.  I had half a large tortilla (100cal), 5/12 of an avocado (55cal), 1/8 cup pinto beans (25cal), bit of cheese (25cal), and some salsa.  (205cal total) 

On a side note, as I was moving things around the fridge, the cupcake box fell out - in my head it was like one of those slow-motion scenes, with the hero shouting n-o-o-o-o-o-o! and trying to catch something valuable.  Turns out the cupcake made it through the fall undamaged, but I realized I'm probably a little too into the cupcake.  :D  I'll probably end up saving it until it goes bad...

Daily Total: 1338cal

Rode bike 0.7 mi to pick up dogs, then walked 0.6 mi home.  Tomorrow morning, I'll do the opposite.  It's not much exercise, but it's a start.  The walking was fine, but the bike-riding was embarassingly difficult.  I hope part of that was due to under-inflated tires.  I'll find out if that's true tomorrow when I ride home.

Weigh-In #4

Officially down 3 more pounds - a total of 20 pounds total. :) That means I've met my first of seven mini-goals! Yay!

Day 26

Breakfast (645AM):  Stuffed French Toast - soooooo good!  And filling.  The sweet potatoes are good with the veggie sausage.  The strawberries are amazing with the bread/cinnamon/creamcheese combo.  The blueberries were okay.  Loved it.  (350cal)

Snack (1200PM): Planters Nut/Granola Bar (180cal) Don't love this, it's a little sticky, but I do like the almonds an awful lot. Decent snack considering I forgot my lunch AGAIN!

Lunch (200PM): See above, no lunch, but fortunately I get to go home today. Pretty starving and scrounged in desk. Ate 1 PB cup (left from student prizes). (105 cal) Figured that was a better option than being STARVING as I drove by all the fast food places. Just realized Box#5 should be here - gotta get home quick! It's still kinda exciting!

Real Lunch (330PM): Cheeseburger Meatloaf (450cal). Like this better than last time. Remembered to take the yucca fries out early and actually had to finish cooking the meat by itself. Even then, it was a little under. The meal was frozen still though, when I started cooking it. Added a TBS of ketchup. (20cal)

Snack(800PM):  Took a nap until 730PM.  Ate 1/2cup chopped peaches (35cal), a sliced strawberry (6cal) and half a light peach yogurt(45cal). 

Dinner (1200AM): Still hungry when I got home, hadn't eaten a dinner yet.  I kinow I shouldn't eat this late, but whatever...  I ate the other half of my Subway sandwich (6"), but I took off the soggy bottom bun. (265cal)  I added a 5/12 piece of an avocado (yes, I'm just that compulsive - it was exactly five-twelfths!) for 55 cal. 

Daily Total: 1511cal

Day 25

Breakfast (700AM):  Omelet with ham and apples.  See Day#1 for pic.  Put on BagelThin with 50cal of cheese.  Didn't cook the egg long enough - super watery, so I took it off.  (est. 260cal)

Snack (1200PM): 0.8 oz of Pirate's Booty (104cal)

Lunch (215PM):  I forgot to bring my lunch!!!  I have to stay late, so I have to eat something...  Choices of McDonalds, KFC, Subway or chinese.  Got a chicken sandwich at Subway on wheat with mustard, onion sauce, a tiny bit of swiss cheese, spinach, tomato, cucumber and olives.  A basic chicken sandwich is 320cal, I'm estimating 375cal.  No chips or soda.  Though I definitely looked at calorie counts for chips. :)  Counted this into the $ spent at restaurants, but still don't consider it a "fast food" trip -- no french fries!  :D

Dinner (6300PM): Decent, but not great. I love asian food, so a frozen approximation is iffy. I don't hate it, it's just not amazing! The beef is good, the noodle aren't gummy, the veggies are crisp. Sauce is okay, but I also stirred in a tsp of crunchy peanut butter(45cal). Would have used plain nuts, but I don't have any in the house. Liking it more and more as I eat it.

Snack (830PM): Half of a Lemon Cupcake. (210cal)  Actually emailed the bakery to get the calorie count.

Daily Total: 1384 cal

Bed at 115AM :(

Day 24

Breakfast (630AM): High Protein Bagel with sausage patty (veggie, I think.), egg and 1/2 oz cheddar. (est 260cal)

Snack (1230PM): 0.8 oz Pirates Booty (104cal)

Lunch (200PM):  Veggie Chili (290cal) with half a tomato (7cal).  Really liked this.  The corn pudding mixed in with the chili again.  The veggie chili has a lot more chili flavor than the Turkey/Beef/Chipotle one.  Lots of green pepper, which I normally hate, but was pretty good here.  Liked the extra beans and veggies too.

Dinner(600PM):  Soooo good.  It's seems to me that the meals that look ugly taste the best.  The mushroom and gravy was yummy.  And I like the carrots cooked like this - not so much the shredded carrots.  Excellent and very filling.  Added 1/4 cup edamame. (60cal)  I do think the meal looked better after I fixed it up.  Some better.  This would have been better if I remembered to defrost it first, the mushrooms got a bit rubbery.  I really like the risotto too - reminds me of cream of mushroom and rice casserole! 

Snack(730PM):  Wasn't hungry, but the 1/2 a cupcake I'd saved was screaming at me.  So I ate it.  Had already planned to eat it as a snack around 8pm...  It was fantastic.  :D  (est. 200cal)

Snack (920PM):  Celery with just under TBS of peanut butter (140cal)

Daily Total: 1471 cal

Bed at 1215AM :(

Day 23

Breakfast (700AM):  Spincah Mushroom Crepe - Really like this one.  See Day #8 for pics.  The filling is good, the sauce is decent and the sweet potatos aren't over seasoned. (330cal)  Ate bites throughout the morning. 

Snack (1200PM):  0.8 oz Pirate's Booty (104cal) 

Snack (330PM): 1/2 a bakery cupcake (Dulce de Leche) (200cal)

Lunch (415PM): Vegetable Chili -   (290cal)  Left the meal at work on accident.  Home and looking at a quickly ripening avocado... Decided to make a burrito.  1 large flour tortilla (210cal), 1/3 cup of pinto beans (70cal), tomato (15cal), 1/3 of avocado (90cal)  Total = (385cal)

Dinner (845PM):  Chipotle Chili (440cal).  See Day #8 for pics.  Added a tomato, green onion and a ring of avocado (50cal).  So good!  Didn't realize I was hungry till I started eating.  Odd.

Daily Total: 1509 cal

Day 22

Breakfast (645AM): BagelThin toasted with omlette and ham.  Side of baked apple. (180+110cal)

Snack (1200PM): Small homemade cupcake - no icing. (200cal?)

Lunch (130PM):  Pesto Chicken - Chicken good, green beans good, shredded carrot not so much, and beans okay.  Beans still have a odd taste, think it might be the red pepper garnish?  sort of vinegar-y sharp.  Decent overall (310cal).

Snack(500PM):  Meeting - ate one mini Snickers(70cal) in meeting and a one point Mint bar(50cal) on the way home.

Dinner(800PM):  Okay.  The pork was decent.  THe rice was not mushy.  The mustard/apricot sauce was pretty tasetless.  Added 1tsp of jam.  THe spinach is basically inedible - super tough.  May not have cooked it long enough?  Not my favorite meal... (270cal)

Accidentally took an evening nap, woke up at 945PM - needed to work a bit, ate a bagel and artichoke dip (200cal)  Bed at 100AM  :(

Daily Total: 1390 cal

Box #4 arrives!

Still not old!  I'd sorta forgotten about it.  As I was driving home, I remembered and I actually smiled and got a little excited!  Such a dork :D

Day 21

Breakfast (800AM): Bagel THin with 1.5 TBS cream cheese (est 200 cal)

Lunch(100pm?): Rafting on South Fork, lunch provided.  Two pieces of wheat bread, mustard, 4oz lunch meat, tomato, lettuce, 1/4 avocado, 2 servings potato chips, 2 oatmeal cookies, 1/2 orange, 1/3 cup potato salad.  Will calculate later if time.

Snack (400PM):  Pepsi - first soda in the last 16 days - and full sugar too!

Snack(600PM): Granola bar

Dinner(730PM): Lasagna and water.

Daily Total:  maybe later...

Definite need to have a good week this week!

Day 20

Breakfast (830AM):  Added a chopped up Roma tomato.  Was apprehensive about this one -- last time it had a TON of rosemary or something that threw it off.  But this time it's great!  A bit too much pepper in the veggies for me and took longer to cook because both sides were a little watery.  But still, a good meal! (270cal)

Lunch (115):  Liked the puree.  The cranberry was good with the meat, not too "chutney-y".  The couscous was a bit mushy, but not terrible.  Overall good and colorful! (400cal)

Snack(??): None

Dinner (700PM):  Family Dinner - Spinach salad, lasagna, garlic bread, small piece of carrot cake.  May try to calculate calories later if I find time.

Weigh-In Week #3

Down 5 more pounds this week -- that's a total of 17 pounds!