Woke up 4.30am, got up at 5am. Some CPH forum admin. By 8.30am caught up with all emails (audio periodically). Played my hypnosis for the first time in a while - took some doing to get up after that but managed to make Step. The bit of studying I'm stuck on, remembering the Origin and Insertion attachments of the 20 or so 'main' muscles, is not something that has stuck either with Jo (who has done the Aerobics course 4 years ago, and trained to be a nurse some time before that).
Back home and back into audio again. My 'OA email loops' backlog is about 736MB (say 12 hours of listening) due to me generating the mp3 files but not listening to them. Going on the assumption that I'm going to let these go for now, I have unsubscribed from 9 loops: (12step4coesLOOP 12step4TODAY Abstinent4Today BigBookWorkshop Lets_get_real LoopMeeting4coes Oa4Today Oa overeaters_anonymous). I'm also making a 'soft' commitment to ignore any scientific papers that come through the Calorie Restriction lists - restrict myself (pun intended) to stuff written in plain English. My hard drive is almost full because of my audio back-log which is currently 5.3GB as a result of 'demand not keeping up with supply'.
My lift asked me to wait somewhere a bit inconvenient, had to leave at 5.50pm yet he was late, picking me up around 6.20pm. By 6pm, 1,226 calories and 2,790 grams (44 kcal/100g). Still easier than cycling in this weather. Once all latecomers arrived we numbered 12. We had a chair from a birthday girl celebrating 4 years. When she arrived almost 2 years ago I felt she was a bit cold towards me but I like her a lot. After the chair only myself and 3 others shared. My share was about my orphan addiction that doesn't quite fit into this fellowship and I had a useful post-meeting chat about time-wasting and audio (with someone with 8 years of recovery spanning two fellowships).
Snacking from 8.40pm, under half an hour: 'beetroot salad' (lettuce, beetroot) with 'turkey ham', avocado, dried TVP bits sprinkled on top and a slice of wholemeal bread. 374 calories and 335 grams (112 kcal/100g). Computer was turned off at 9.30pm but loud gusts of wind kept me up till 10.30pm (and indeed made for a disturbed night's sleep).
Up at 7.30am. Coffee and apples for breakfast. Walked over to gym via indoor shopping centre instead of cycling because of strong winds - simultaneous studying. Enjoyed combat. At pump Angela was teaching all tracks up to and including biceps (the first 6 tracks) from the new release - apparently she also did this on Tuesday but I wasn't there. The first song is Perfect Day which I really liked when it was revived in 1998 (wow, 10 years go so quickly). Afterwards coffee with Dave and Rob - Dave still doesn't like my squat technique, but I know Jo thinks I'm squating low enough so I'll be asking her to expand on that when I next remember. Some audio on the walk home.
Did very little that can be characterised as useful in the afternoon - lost to food, online and audio. I keep going online even though there's little to do - need to work on that. Ditto eating when not hungry. By 6pm, 1,350 calories and 2,869 grams. Went for a nap. Woke up just before 7pm decided to skip AA. Final snacking 7.10-7.40pm: bread, avocado, oats, figs: 850 calories and 384 grams (221 kcal/100g). Computer off by 9pm but stayed up for perhaps 2 hours with my thoughts.
Up at 8.15am. A useful start for a change: for the first 3 hours minimal food (coffee and apples), no laptop or audio, directing my attention to the 'mail pile' - the overflowing box where unfiled mail and things that need attention have sat since I moved into this bedsit about 4.5 years ago. Had a first pass at the pile - disposing of some things and dividing into about 20 categories.
At 11.30am turned on laptop and noticed internet not working (light on ADSL modem doesn't stop flashing) - additionally phone line is giving engaged tone (as if I'm dialling out) rather than dial-tone. After some initial self-diagnosis I was trying to get my providers to help. This involved two long periods of being on hold. At 1.25pm the 2nd converstaion (broadband technical support). Tried again at 2.35pm and I'm onlihe and able to receive calls.
By 5pm, 972 calories and 1,581 grams (62 kcal/100g). I side-stepped the issue of listening to the MP3 player to and from the gym by chatting to Nash and Majhid on the phone. Jason fluffed two Step warm-ups before hitting his Mojo on the third and we got the track 4 (first peak) and track 8 (party step) from the new release). Kelly and Nina ran away after shoulders to get more time in the sauna - I stayed for abs and stretching, finding them hiding in the steam room, At home found that mum took away the pile of papers with my name and address that she'll feed through her shreader and left me a gift of lots of sweetcorn-on-the-cob from Wednesday's shop that she decided is too much for her. She correctly remembered that I used to shun sweetcorn for being a higher-calorie and starchy vegetable, but (like potatos) it beats grains in the nutrient density stakes.
sampling session 8.37-9.50pm corn on the cob, avocado, dried figs, popcorn, bread, muesli, goji berries and raisins. 1228 calories and 654 grams (188 kcal/100g). A bit heavy for a final meal on this lighter-than-average day. After eating continued the pre-gym filing project. Bedtime 11pm.
Hey Nir, thanks for the link to the podcasts at the top of the page. I had to close it after 5 minutes of scanning the titles, as I just knew i would be 'engaged' on it listening for hours if i didn't and should be going to sleep to catch up on some well needed rest.
Nir wrote: I always seem to have an excuse for side-stepping healthy eating in favour of whatever comes along. Maybe logging my mistakes here will help me, one way or another!
Yeah, i think we should stop eating all stuffs and try to control.
We should do it if we don't want to be overweighted :)
Im considering diet and fitness exercise since i want to lose 10 pounds in 2 months..possible?
sryk wrote: Im considering diet and fitness exercise since i want to lose 10 pounds in 2 months..possible?
It should be - assuming you have 10lb to lose. Check out the tutorial for good advice. I do think I've come a long way since I wrote the introduction almost 3 years - at least as far as my ability to stick to healthy eating is concerned. angel, yes it is a great resource. Right now I am trying to narrow my focus, so I have a few of those lectures downloaded as a reminderto come back to this if I ever get the time. Sure, I have lots of time but if I spent all day listening to lectures I'd feel bad about myself afterwards!
Up by 6.30pm. Food from 8.30pm. Morning 'project' was a sweep of the unrefrigerated potatos to see which need attention. There's quite a lot of them and they're covered in mud so afterwards I found the pan-and-brush effective at getting rid of the mud-dust which covered the carpet (ok, too lazy to get the vacuum cleaner out). Online 9-9.30am.
A large box which narrowed the enterance to my bedsit ever since I moved in has been eliminated, its contents finally dispersed. I have reviewed the already-used envelopes I keep for re-use in my various filing systems. It seems pointless to store them at 3 different locations. After aggregating them I rationalised them from about 300 to around 100. Still excessive but normal standards I'm sure but I'll take the small victories. At dad's request I scanned them for stamps (he collects) and collected those displaying an address for later shredding. I stopped being useful around 2.30pm.
By 4.30pm, 1,164 calories and 1,981 grams. Took out another heavy bag of paper to the recycling bin (a measure of my productivity today - I'm pleased). Walked to gym whilst re-reading 'The CR Way'. Brief chat with a girl (well I don't know her name but she does Combat, Jam and Aerobics) until Shay turned up. Jam was challenging my co-ordination and memory - I'd get a move then lose it before the end of the song. Shay tried giving the 4 of us (no one knows about this class yet...) nick names - I got 'Jam-Bat' on account of coming to both classes (but of course that applies to all 4 of us). The girl got 'Barbi-something' (not sure what something was but supposed to embody the Real or Scarey part of her). Combat wasn't bad (turnout better than last week). Shay took requests and I was surprised no-one went with my request of Hairspray for track 5 - no matter. Didn't feel like reading on the way back so chatted with Majhid then mum.
Home for an hour of snacking done at 8.30pm, finishing the rest of mum's cobs of corn and topping with a small apple: 436 calories and 465 grams (94 kcal/100g). Apart from the 6 calories relating to my 6 cups of decaff, all of today's calories came from fruits and vegetables (by calories and weight mostly starchy ones: corn and potato). On some low-calorie days (Mon/Wed/Fri) I resort to meat to supplement for protein but high protein vegetables did the trick today. Like yesterday another lighter day where the focus was mostly not on food. I was thinking about having a decadent audio-filled night but ran out of steam half an hour later at 9pm.
Hay! Many thanks and I hope yours works out well too . There was more talk of food scales wrapped with cling-film today. I've not made a final decision yet. I'll keep everyone updated.
Lyle wasn't able to convince me to go high protein. On the one hand there is science that shows that extra protein might be useful for body recomposition. On the other hand, the science that high protien isn't harmful is hardly something I want to risk, for myself. I've asked him to elaborate on where he was coming from, and that he has. Meanwhile I have been able to re-ground myself by reading my health and longevity sources (for example right now I am re-reading the book The CR Way which suggests restricting protein to 45..60 for a man to keep IGF1 firmly in check). I do well with weights (for a guy who only does muscular endurance workouts, never periodising for strength or hypertrophy and is often in a calorie deficit). If I increased protein I might do much better or I might not. At this time I am comfortable with my choice. My intake works out at 1.3g per kilo of LBM which is still somewhat higher than RDA. I have struck a middle-ground.
Got up at 2.20am and couldn't fall asleep. I think the light pollution from the indoor shopping centre ('Mall') 100m in front of my window may be to blame. Perhaps I need to be less lazy about drawing the curtains. Didn't feel useful enough to read or tackle any projects so instead did some food - another sweep on the unrefrigerated potatos to tackle slightly-soft potatos (the really soft ones were dealt with yesterday). Went to bed again at 6am, waking up just before 9am and managed to make Pump just in time. Jo said that how low you squat can depend on the weight you use, effectively giving me the go-ahead to use a reduced range of motion. Nevertheless saw sence and went back down from 32.5kg to 30kg to focus on technique. She did new stuff - like Angela did on Saturday but one more track. In the new lunge track we also do a 'barbell front squat' - a brand new exercise for me and indeed everyone else in the class, I should think. I already had a musical riddle for Jo but the class brought up a second one. I ended up solving those just before 3pm: Extreme Ways - Bourne's Ultimatum – Moby which is currently Track 7 of Body Balance (number 42) was Track 9 (the Abs track) in Body Pump 66
Also, Listen To Your Heart - the lunge track (7) in the brand-new Body Pump 68 was the warm-up in Body Combat 28.
I cycled on (in silence, in cold conditions) on to my last counselling session of 2008. Afterwards I was in a cubicle in the loo and someone senselessly kicked the door of my cubicle in just before running out of toilet. If I was standing any closer to the door I would have been hurt. I said the serenity prayer and cycled back home. 12.30-2.30pm were lost to online and audio. It wasn't pre-meditated it crept on me.
The BBC's version of Perfect Day http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=d8OfKdOFR_c (embedded in the previous post) is pure gold and is absolutely nothing like the version we use in the new Body Pump - a remix from Indigo http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=P0yeHk9vipQ (which only really starts at time index 01:45) but at least I got the opportunity to indulge myself.
The afternoon was a mixture. I cooked myself some wholewheat pasta (calorie-dense food at 4.25pm - much earlier than usual in the day) but went back to water-based things like apples. Mum came over with allotment produce some of which I prepared ready for tomorrow. We called two mobile phone-related companies: once about an unexpectedly low bill (a one-off artefact of changing tarrifs, apparently) and once about cashbacks (cheques have already been raised, apparnetly). Earlier in the afternoon I learnt from dad of the latest security threat affecting IE users and both myself and mum had follow-on stuff to do (though I'm being lazy and not installing an alternate browser: will I be one of those paying the price?). I listened to a one-hour Dr Mercola thing about Vitamin D. I reviewed my affirmations, asking myself if each one was actually true, or if not whether I feel it is a goal I honestly want. I revised my muscle Origin and Insertion points and made some short-form notes.
Red apples featured heavily from 3.47pm: a dozen of them in 5 hours, with some TVP and peanuts to get protein to hit its target. Finished eating by 8.10pm. I guess 2157g (4.7lb) of apples took their toll - a heavier day: 3939 grams (8,7lb) and notably low fat (5.8% of calories). Perhaps how useful I am is inversely proportional to the weight of the food I consume.
After a 10pm bedtime I had to get up at 11.13pm and 0.52am thanks to the heavy day (so heavy that the 7pm cut-off didn't make a difference) before getting a good 6-hour stretch. I also closed the curtains and used an extra-heavy blanket to hide under, minimising the affects of light pollution. Got going at 8.15am and although tempted to go online kept it sane and silent until it was time to head out to the gym. In the studio read a little before the Step class (where I fluffed up the pre-cueing I often do in a particular old track 5: twice no less). After the class memorised the names of the 9 reindeer - Rudolph Comet Cupid Donner Blitzen Dancer Prancer Dasher Vixen - and down at reception exchanged this knowledge for a free guest pass which might go to Majhid, Nash or Phil.
Unusually took a china cup of coffee with me on the second outing, which took in the library (for photocpying), Kelly's workplace for a brief chat and then queueing at the post office to send a cashback claim: having already finished the coffee I was assembling my letter with the stapler, tape and scissors I was carrying with me and then moved on to reading my book. Next on the agenda was the weekly tip from MSE (Money Saving Expert). Audio then featured and some time got away from me. Caught up with online by 2.25pm. Felt tired at 3pm and tried for a nap. At 3.45pm mum called so I chatted to her and ate some food. At 4.15pm headed towards online/audio land - but only for a bit.
By 4.40pm, 561 calories and 1,931 grams (29 kcal/100g). Headed out, caught a bus (audio until I got a seat - then read my book for a while - then audio again as I needed to be vigilant making sure I didn't miss my stop). Session was in a different room with computers - doing PowerPoint-based quizes for revision. I was still there after everyone left and just before 8pm the teacher asked me to leave so he could go home. Mum came to collect me and drop me off at Tesco where reductions had been made long ago. Dad gave me the stuff mum didn't want. I couldn't believe that the Muesli we bought for 46p last week has now jumped up to 61p (a 33% hike - perhaps to do with the recent plunge of the pound against other currencies?). I was home by 9.20pm.
I was catching up with radio comedies but Nash called to distract me as I was putting away some shopping (the same old game of musical chairs - green veg in, potatos out). Late-night snacking 9.30pm-11.15pm: bread, avocado, peas, muesli, dried figs, sunflower seeds, raisins: 1039 calories and 545 grams (191 kcal/100g). Bedtime was midnight. I was quite 'liberal' with audio. I installed the patch Microsoft released for the Internet Explorer security threat which wanted to restart so I turned the computer off and decided to continue in the morning.
nir, I have two questions for you; 1 how does one deal with all the flatulance from following the ETL WOE? It is realy bothering me. and 2; why are you trying to keep your wieght so low for a man? JUST WONDERING
If you're following the challenges you'd know that I'm 124.5lb at the moment, and at 5.5" that gives me a BMI of 20.8 which is actually quite high (the recommended BMI range for longevity (long life) is 18.5 - 22, and I'm currently above the halfway point of that range). Also check out the various options at the calculator here: Calculating Ideal Weight
The advice coming from a variety of sources is to ease into high-fibre gradually. There are olso specific foods that give more (for exampe cabbage, cauliflower). To be honest I don't think it ever goes away completely - for me more a case of realising that it's an unfortunate side-effect of caring for my body by eating healthy foods, which I accept.
Thursday
I clumsily lost today's entry and had to recreate it - I wonder if it is noticable.
A 6am start including a computer session - trying to make Windows XP start up faster by disabling non-essential things, followed by an online session. Pump and Balance at the gym - highlights were doing the new Pump choreography all the way through, seeing Marie who has been away ill for a while and losing my water bottle (Marie handed it in at reception for me).
Afterwards spent ages on the phone explaining to mum and dad that if update 960714 is on their computer then they are protected from the Internet Explorer nasties. Mum then picked me up and drove me to the dentist who placed a crown on my teeth and after that did some reading whilst mum completed her shopping at nearby Netto before dropped me off back home with 240 cathethers (my supply for the Christmas and New Year period). I was eating from 4pm - the earliest I was allowed to post-crown. By 4.50pm, 1,112 calories and 2,373 grams (47 kcal/100g).
Gym for step and aerobics: picked up my water bottle at reception, slightly late for step, Nina braved a sore throat to do her classes, went on my own to sauna and jacuzi. In yesterday's college session we were provided with online revision resources and I finally got around to tackling those just before and just after the gym.
Final snacking 7,55pm-9.42pm notably featured double popcorn and lots of dried figs as well as staples like my almost nightly avocado and bread. 1088 calories and 396 calories (275 kcal/100g). Much of the day featured audio. At one point today my hard drive only had 3GB of free space and part of me reasons the more I'll listen the emptier it can get. 11pm bedtime.
Got up at 8am. An hour on food then an hour online, audio throughout. At 10am mum showed up selling on satsumas and delivering allotment kale. Slightly late for Step and taunted by a large round tin of chocolates on the stage so I moved to the other side of the room. At around 1.15pm I came off the computer, stopped eating and stopped the audio - and rested for about an hour. Spoke to mum, did some food rescueing and started tackling a new project: re-arranging my clothes. Discovered my regular OA lift isn't coming this week and asked mum for a lift.
By 5.50pm, 995 calories and 2,807 grams (35 kcal/100g). Dad drove me to OA. One member stopped by to share something but were off before the meeting started, which it did with just me and another person. 20 minutes in we were joined by a 3rd person. We read from Step 3 and the three of us shared twice. I got a lift back to the town centre and made an impulse decision to also attend AA (to make up for the numbers lost in OA). Spoke to mum on the phone whilst walking home - got in by 9.20pm.
At 10.20pm dad showed up with shopping, much of which I put away immediately. Snacking: 9.31 - 10.48pm, 605 calories and 343 grams (176 kcal/100g). Bedtime around 11pm.
Got up at 4.30am and stayed up for a while but eventually went back to bed, struggling to get up again at 8am for the gym. My santa-style hat was only feasable for one track. Angela played a mix of old songs for Combat with Hairspray as a Bonus replacing the floorwork (compare this with Monday's gym notes). For pump we did new stuff all the way to the end. Managed to get another guest-pass when I got in and sent Marie (once I trained her on the 9 reindeer) to get one for me. I joined Dave and Marie for coffee and later on we were joined by Sam, Sam's mum, Corel and her children too. Afterwards called mum back - apparently yet more vegetables from yesterday shopping will follow.
1.45pm nap for an hour. Some productive book reading. It fell apart for a while: too much eating, listening and online. Some sanity returned (perhaps around 5pm). By 6.20pm, 1,556 calories and 3,269 grams (48 kcal/100g).
At 6.30pm began getting ready for the AA meeting, which I was glad to make as for me there was a surprise chair (a person who I know from OA for over 2 years). Instead of the traditional story-of-his-life he mostly did a stream-of-conciousness which was well received. On the way back first listened to my MP3 then tried riding in silence then tried phoning for company - got hold of Majhid.
Thanks for your answers. Now I have two more for you; one is, couod you help me figure out wjat my caloric intake would be fpr a 150lb, 44 yr old female who ismoderately active? Ican not access the calculatore from my phones browser and am currently without anpther source. Also would you mind posting it in my jourmal as it os the only ome Iam able to read the most recent post of? THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for your help in advance.
Got up at 9am. Had a breakfast of vegetables and caught up with online. After 10am cycled to the Bletchley AA meeting, using audio on the way. It was a great meeting. Afterwards I said hello to someone I've never met before but frequently heard about (and it turns out they heard my name too). On the way back I discovered that raisins are up from 40p to 65p - a 62% price hike! I didn't check tinned beans but I expect a similar story. I cycled in silence for a bit, later calling Nash. When I got home around 1.30pm I returned mum's call (she was talking about currency exchange rates). I had some food and then went for a rest/nap, getting up again at 3.15pm. I wasn't feeling useful - did food (focus was potatos) and online (in silence) until 5pm. By 5.10pm, 870 calories 2,463 grams (35 kcal/100g).
We had a new person - a middle-aged guy - join us for step and pump. I helped with a couple of tips (initial step height and warm-up weight, for example). Joined Kelly and Nina in the sauna for a few minutes before we got kicked out. On the way home peered into the Salsa Christmas party for a few seconds as it looked interesting. Listened to audio on the ride home at 8pm - first time since the ride to AA at 10am - forced myself to turn it off when I got in.
8.23pm-10.12pm: 1330 calories and 592 grams (225 kcal/100g) including two avocados, 4 slices of bread, two bowls of popcorn etc. Avocados contributed to fat intake - 24.6% of calories (higher than typical). 10.30pm bedtime.
Woke up a couple of times in the night before finally getting up at 9am (that's a lot of rest). Quickly collected my dirty washing and got over to mum's where she performed this service for me and in exchange I re-installed Ad-Aware for her as the previous installation was crashing, and installed file converters for her version of Office so it can read files generated by Office 2007. Dad offered a sweetned granola bar and I instinctively accepted even though my rule for rubbish is supposed to be to only eat if it is 'extra special' and this was nothing but. Mum had me measure some trousers I bought a while back to see how much they need shortening.
When I got back into town I gathered assorted proof of address and headed into the civic offices so they can issue me with a parking permit and popped into the bank to withdraw £40 of coins which I will use for 12-step tradition 7 donations (easier than using a note and hoping for change).
Online from 12pm for an hour (in silence). The silence persisted but I wasn't particulary useful. 1-2pm was lost to food. 2-4pm back online (some reading). 4pm food again. By 4.25pm, 786 calories and 1,924 grams (41 kcal/100g). Left early for the gym, walking to encourage myself to read. Continued reading during the time I would have done Jam (class cancelled). Huw covered Combat which was a lowish turnout. Tracks 1-4 were the brand-new choreography. Walked back - again, slow walking encouraging me to do more reading. One hour of snacking 7.50pm-8.48pm: 814 calories and 466 grams (175 kcal/100g). Then tried to get back to more reading. Mum and dad arrived at 10.30pm, waking me up from a 'nap'. Shortly afterwards I got up, hanging out wet washing and looking at the shopping. Bedtime was 11.30pm. As I'm procrastinating about other useful projects I should actually be doing, I'm trying to get myself reading in the gaps - better than anything else I'd be doing!
Up during the 'night shift' (3.10am-7.10am, this period featured fruit and potatos and banning our friend Ball / BFB / The Converter from terrorising us once more on the forums) before getting up again at 10.25am. Around noon came out to deposit a cheque at the bank and caught up with Kelly (who is not well). Called up with Kirsten to alleviate anxiety I have about an appointment I have next week. Explained to Majhid that he can have his 'right of reply' here in my diary so perhaps he'll appear here if he figures out how to Register. I'm reading my book, The CR Way, from both directions and today there are less than 20 pages remaining which makes me feel uneasy as this task which is a displacement from whatever it is I am supposed to be doing is going to be a non-task shortly. When I am focused and I do stuff I can be a truly dangerous weapon. Before 6pm mum and dad showed up and I collected more of yesterday's shopping some of which I ate immediately.
By 6.20pm, 1,782 calories and 4,320 grams (41 kcal/100g). At the gym, Ryan who we've met at the Sauna (and who normally squats 120 kilos) made his first pump class. Talked mainly to him and to Nina at the sauna/jacussi afterwards. Eventually made home at 10pm. 10.14-10.56pm: 418 calories and 359 grams (116 kcal/100g) - dinner was slices of bread, bananas, half an avocado and a satsuma. Instead of a strict 'no vegetables fruits and legumes after 7pm' my rule currently seems to be 'Last meal to be 400 grams or less' this worked well as I only had 418 calories to play with but would be something of a constraint if I had 1330 calories (like on Sunday) but I'll see how this goes. Was speaking to Nash for an hour which was useful in cancelling the anxiety of the 'audio experiment' on the cycle ride home. Put most of the shopping away. Overall it was a heavy day, a 'fruit day'. Almost 3 kilos (6.4lbs) of fruit. Altogether 4679 grams (10.3lbs) - I did however make up for it by not drinking any coffee. Bedtime was after midnight and I lasted 6.5 hours which is good after recent days.
7am start. Got immersed in an online session. Headed to gym for step - told Marie I was reading the soup recipes in my book (The CR Way) and got her soup-for-dummies tips (and also from Jane). Wore my green Christmas hat for part of the class (just in case anybody contests whether it is valid for a Christmas hat to be green I haven't taken off the tag which says 'christmas hat'). Got to be on stage for tracks 1 and 5, which of course is a buzz. Christine was on for number 7.
Afterwards got caught up on the phone with Jon (my friend from the old gym - but based on his attendance in recent months - my friend of no particular gym) and also with Nash.
Soup-making was a 2+ hour afternoon project. This initially involved some pre-cooking experiments to see compare raw and cooked weights of a few vegetables. Main mistake was not giving the potatos a head-start. Once everything was cooked I mashed the veggies in the food processor, added back the reserved water (making a very thick, almost solid, mud-coloured soup) and after eating about half of it 'natural' I added cayenne (chili) powder. Doing the soup math is not something I was looking forward to but it wasn't too bad.
Behind the scenes I noticed the MySQL database supporting the forum software is behaving oddly. Did some post-soup potato cooking. At 3.30pm dad offered to take me Christmas Eve shopping and my alternative was time-wasting (I was already knee-deep in audio) so I said yes. There was hardly anything for me at Tesco or at ASDA (I got one bag of potatos at 12p per kilo which I'd jump at in a potato shortage but right now I have more than plenty and that's why most remain unrefrigerated). Bad news was that 200g of salted peanuts, normally 21p have now jumped up to 30p, a reflection of the Pound dropping against the Euro with most (but not all) of our food coming from the Euro zone. Got home, did more potatos. By 6.45pm, 917 calories and 2,230 grams (41 kcal/100g). Note: weight does not include the liquid in the soup, which could have been one or 1.5 litres of water.
At 7pm went for a nap. Woke up at 7.45pm and inertia was calling me to do nothing - but I dragged myself to the nearby AA meeting and as ever was glad that I did. 12 step meetings are some of the most positive associations I have with fellow human beings, accessing the best part of them the way I can only hope to do with friends and family at the best of times, what a hidden resource. Why do I assume that whatever rubbish I have planned instead of a meeting is going to come close? sheer madness. One twist: I couldn't find my artificial sweetner in AA, presumably losing it the meeting I made on Sunday. Had two issues: how unappealing black coffee is without the sweetness and grieving about my sweetner and the money I lost which is rather stupid given that I was planning to donate a similar amount to the AA meeting as a matter of course. Silly attachment to material possessions. The sweetner is less than £1.50. Found it at the bottom of the bag when I got home.
Back at home switched on the audio and snacked. Snacking 10.13pm-11.07pm: 683 calories and 303 grams (225 kcal/100g). Last 2 hours of the day wall-to-wall audio. I'm also doing CPH forums again but not using the digest 'method'. Midnight bedtime.
Many thanks - and a belated Merry Christmas and an early Happy New Year to everyone reading!
Thursday - Christmas Day
Got up at 7am and turned on audio straight away. Tried drinking coffee without sweetner but gave up on that. Had a go at making my precision scales more presentable and put them by the front door so I don't forget them. Looking through the window and it is earily quiet as of course no-one goes outside and this is one of two days in the year that the shopping centre across the road is closed. With less than one gigabyte left on my drive I fired up my external drive and started transferring some non-essential files to make room. Got all caught-up with Suenos diary.
Started with coffees at 8am, first food at 10.50pm. Went on IRC to chat to other OA people in a non-meeting setting. Spoke to little sister on phone for an hour. Got picked up around 1.25pm. My defensive breakfast 10.50am-1.16pm: 117 calories and 664 grams (18 kcal/100g).
Mainly chatted to dad before the meal. The table was rocky and my 0.01 gram precision scale said 'UNST' (unstable) so did a mixture of weighing on the slightly more stable the chair beside me and using mum's 1g scales. I passed on a couple of items from the main meal but mostly ate everything - just in different proportions to other people. Presents were dished out and I got a bunch of functional items - mostly clothing. After a suitable period and an enormous sweet potato for the amatuers to recover from being stuffed from their over-eating we resumed with desserts. I regreted having the one piece of chocolate I had almost immediately (a needless blot on my percentages). No regrets over the roasted almonds though. There were at least 3 other desserts I didn't touch completely. I was able to obtain apples and clementines to keep me occupied. Was home within 2 hours.
Data entry was something I dreaded but all done by 4.17pm. Christmas meal 1.45pm-3.08pm: 820 calories and 1568 grams (52 kcal/100g). I cooked and ate the enormous sweet potato. The post-meal snacking was 250 calories and 297 grams (84 kcal/100g). Overall stats for the day to 6pm: 1187 calories and 2529 grams (47 kcal/100g). After 6pm I tore myself away from audio, a bit of a struggle. Rested in the dark for a while. Called parents to cancel lift I arranged for AA. Got up and (finally) finished the last few remaining pages of 'The CR Way'. Ate the rest of my calories, mostly a small loaf of bread, 7.03pm-7.51pm: 713 calories and 324 grams (220 kcal/100g).
Went to bed at 8pm but got up again at 10.30pm. Read 1.5 pages of volume two of Eat For Health and the words motivated me to do preparatory work for a soup, instead. This is the second time I'm at it and there is a recurring theme: I pick vegetables but they cannot all fit in the sauce-pan. My largest sauce-pan measures 3 litres so logic dictates I'd be able to fit in 3 kilos of vegetables in there (vegetables being mostly water and thus presumably having density of one) but that's not how it works - on this ocassion 812 grams of raw veggies pretty much fill it up, awaiting some cooking action tomorrow. Bedtime ended up around 2am.
Light woke me up at 8.40am. Lots of cars outside - the world is moving again. Started the soup-cooking process. As the vegetables slightly reduced I decided to add carrots in the space made and extended the cooking time to make them soft. Meanwhile made a salad but then decided to convert it to a green smoothie by adding an apple and (cough, cough) a teaspoon of Whey powder and 3 artificial sweetner tablets dissolved in a bit of boiling water. Went online too (with some audio).
The original idea was to only transition from the 1600/2200 calorie split to a constant 1900 for the two days with no gym availability (Christmas Day and Boxing Day) to avoid having three low (1600) days in a row but am now thinking of continuing this for a while. On a typical week the previous split averaged 1943 calories and has occured at the same time as some weight gains. So I'm changing what I'm doing to see if something else happens.
Out for 50 minutes. Holland and Barrets were closed for the day so I couldn't see their new sale prices. Similarly for Julian Graves though from the outside. Woolworth who are closing down have reduced all products to 50% - many lines already sold out.
Started to research how to cook chick peas but mum promised she'll do it for me. I find myself calculating price-per-100-calories on various calorie-dense foods - grains, legumes and nuts. For example salted peanuts are now 30p for 200 grams, and 600 calories each: 30/200/600*10000 = 2.5p/100kcal. Muesli looks better. Part of my plan though is to wait things out in case prices will fall again by eating my existing stocks (oats, muesli, bran, popcorn etc.). I even found a packet of Pearl Barley which I've never had before. Barley (the non-pearl variety) gets quite a few mentions in 'The CR Way' as a very low-glycemic grain. I do still have two small loaves of bread from Monday which I don't have freezer space for (11/400/220*1E4 = 1.25p/100kcal).
Having just moved from one book to another it strikes me how different the recommendations are. The CR Way and McDougall advocate more grain and starchy vegetables, less fruit and fewer calories from protein. Dr Fuhrman doesn't have a problem with high protein so long as it is from unprocessed plant sources, nor does he limit fruit but on the other hand he wants grain and starchy vegetables to be limited. Fuhrman is a fan of fat from avocados, seeds and nuts and in the other corner we have Esselstyn. One common thread is that snacking and frequent meals are on their way out - no one recommends them. If I get my hands on Tom Venuto's new book it'll be interesting to see what he says, but the book might be more on psychology than food (suggested the library to buy it via their online form, fingers crossed).
My brother wanted to get connected to the internet and to get the required drivers onto his laptop he needed a memory stick so mum came over to collect the MP3 player she lent me in October. This she did just after listened to my hypnosis audio for a bit because I'm not at one with my goal of only eating when hungry.
I got as far as I could reading Volume 2 of Eat For Health without boring myself by actually reading the meal plans and recipes, so about 30 pages. Tried to understand ANDI and MANDI scores. ANDI is straightforward but MANDI seems to be inheritently biased towards small-calorie-amount servings (break up one serving into two halves and you'll end up with a higher MANDI score!). This reminds me of the way a person could get around Weight Watchers points (eat more calories on fewer points) by optimising the exact amount of each food eaten to not go over a point boundary (never mind eating the 0-point foods). The Eat-To-Live scoring system of 0-100 was simple in that each food category had one value wheras with ANDI each food has its own score, and green vegetables win by a mile. I guess I'll get used to it if I look at it more frequently. Apart from the useful bits of reading I also wasted plenty of time on audio, online and food (what's new).
By 7pm, 1,322 calories and 3,236 grams (41 kcal/100g) - weight doesn't include soup liquid (nor coffees for that matter).
The AA meeting was interesting. Two 'pitches' were set to polarise by saying that most members don't practice the program and in turn don't stay long. Afterwards I shared on the theme of not being desperate enough to do the program (and the financial amends this would necessitate according to my understanding). After the meeting someone approached me and we talked further, he suggested getting a sponsor. I've heard it before - the idea of just getting on with it and hoping things will work out ok by the time I get to Step 9. I'm not sold at this point. Noticed mum called and returned the call. It was my brother using her phone, still trying to connect to the internet. I said I'd come - mum came to get me. Mum's computer developed a problem, unable to recognise the USB hub or the MP3 player, both of which it has previously had drivers for. We first used my laptop to connect to the internet and obtain the required 8MB file. Then I fixed mum's computer. Finally we used the file to install required drivers on brother's laptop and he was then able to go online - and I got my lift back home. Almost 2 hours from the end of the AA meeting to being safely back home. Not sure I'd have done anything more positive with my time otherwise, though.
10.52pm-11.37pm: 578 calories and 268 grams (216 kcal/100g), mostly bread and avocado. Bedtime around 0.30am.
Funny you mention that about the increased frequency of meals being "on the way out"...after practically being one of the great commandments of weight loss/body recomp for the last couple of years, turns out that pretty much NONE of the recent, well structured studies support the idea that there is any significant metabolic advantage to higher meal frequency.....seems it's the amount rather than than the frequency after all.....I was reading your comments about the different nutrition reccomendations by the various "gurus"....the thing is, they all (not just the ones you cited, but pretty much every tom/dick/harry with a book or and/or website) make valid points - but they also tend to be a bit (or a lot) misleading because they cherry-pick their resources (or what they chose to highlight from those resources) based on their own partcular personal leanings...sometimes it's a major eye-opener to read a conclusion they've drawn from certain studies and present as carved in stone "facts" - and then personally read the study yourself.....it's amazing how many times the studies themselves are either pure schlock (poor methodology/outdated with more recent studies showing radically different results/a single study with results not duplicated elsewhere/etc.), irrelevant to the material itself or (and I've seen this more than once with one of the authors you've noted) the actual conclusion of the study doesn't actually match up with the author's claims......honestly, with the exception of Lyle McD., I have very little "trust" anymore in pretty much any of these "my way is the healthy way as backed up by science" guys....hmmm, and now that I think of it, Lyle doesnt even say his way is the healthy way...simply that it's the "effective" way - more honest I think
p.s. glad your Christmas this year was less drama filled than last!
Thanks for your observations. Quite a mine-field of science-like opinions. I guess I need to find my own leanings.
Saturday
Got up a 5am and by 5.30am it was clear I wasn't getting back to bed so I got up - reading from Eat For Health, periodically putting the book down and thinking about how procrastination continues to stand between me and my goal of becoming a Body Combat instructor. Switched books to Nutrition Almanac. Unwelcome tiredness overwhelmed me after 7am and I was concerned as I could have easily gone back to sleep and missed my workout which I was really looking forward to after 72 hours of inactivity.
On the way to the gym at 8am spotted hundreds of people outside a still-closed John Lewis department store where some clearance stock would go for half its original ticket price. Had a shower and a quick sauna. At the studio I put the instructor's microphone headset on my head for a couple of seconds, playing make belief. I was momentarily confused when I saw Jo - surely she can't be covering for Angela, she's not a Body Combat instructor! No, she was just an exercise junky looking for her fix (and playing the part of a participant for the first time in a long while for her). Angela brought her team (husband and son) to install Christmas lights and give glow-in-the-dark bracelets to everyone (she meant to do this last week but was unable to due to a crisis in her home). Combat was the festive mix she compiled for last week. Just before the class I had a salsa dance with somebody (she was doing a basic step to whatever music was playing in the background, and I know she does salsa) - probably the first time in a year that I've danced. Ryan showed up for pump (possibly in the hope of catching up with Nina) and notably used a 20 kilo bar for biceps with dubious technique. Marie suggested I was cheating in the squat track and Dave took the piss out of my timing. Jo who teaches Pump was able to merge into the background whilst I did my usual of cueing sequences with my fingers just to test my memory - if you're used to talking non-stop during a class it must be odd to be silent for an hour.
Once we dispersed I got some raw redskin peanuts at the Julian Graves sale (working out just 25% more expensive than the Tesco roasted ones at present) - everything else was too expensive even in the sale (where only a few lines I'd consider were at half price, but after recent price hikes and taken together with my shift into being more accepting of the usually cheaper whole-grains they seemed rather extravagant). I browsed the John Lewis sales for a while - any hope of finding a laptop for half-price were quickly dashed. Then on to Holland and Barrett where Whey powder is again down to £15 though at current minimal usage levels I probably don't have to worry about stock for another year. Kelly was very busy with customers so I left her to be.
Majhid called reporting security problems with his computer - apparently a trojan was trying to access his (non-existent) credit card details. I smelt a rat and found a description of the malware he was infected with together with a free anti-spyware program recommended to kill it with a Google search of choice keywords http://www.snafu-comics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38260&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a - Meanwhile Rob called to invite me to the pub so I was multi-tasking eating some lunch, calling brother and sister and eventually cycling to pub with talking Majhid through a scan to cure his system. I arrived at 1.50pm and had a chat with Rob and about half an hour later my brother and sister arrived, seconds later followed by Matthew. A pleasant time was had. At perhaps 4.40pm they all started walking to the centre to do some shopping and I made my excuses and rushed homeward. After an hour of cooking Dean called and kept me company while I ate some more.
By 7pm, 1,208 calories and 3,135 grams (39 kcal/100g). Careless storage of my headphones over the last few days (haphazardly chucked into my bag) meant they were destroyed (the cord subtly broken somewhere along its length) and whilst I had spare headphones it took a long time to untangle everything so it was 7.15pm when I left and I was a minute late to the AA meeting. I didn't share but the gist of my share would have been that I use meetings to show myself what is possible in terms of a high quality experience. Even though I spent a fair amount of time today with people (at the gym, on the phone and in the pub) I so value the no-nonsense delving right into the heart of what matters - and I presently need the reminder of what is possible often for otherwise I will forget. It is useful to put it side by side with the time I wasted and got nothing out of. I used audio for the cycle ride in the cold, both ways. Home by 9.05pm.
Another blast from the past (21 years ago) contacted me via FaceBook. Final snacking 9.08pm-11.25pm: 692 calories and 394 grams (176 kcal/100g). Caught up with online backlog till midnight then spent an hour on the official FitPro (BTS) website. Bedtime after 1am.
My diary was working fine an hour ago but now I cannot access the last few pages of my diary so I have moved all of the 2008 posts into another topic where I'll continue for now. If the forum shows signs of getting fixed I might merge everything back at a later point.
Long time no write. I'm pleased to see that you're still wowing everyone with your nutritional naughtiness...
I found Suenos' mentioning that the 'frequent meals' approach is 'on the way out' tricky to understand.
Either it works (in which case it should stay) or it doesn't - and didn't - (in which case it should never have been recommended).
I can state (although without any scientific backup) that it worked for me, and for most of those to whom I showed my method. In the few instances where it didn't work, most of them admitted (reluctantly, and much later) that they hadn't really followed it all of the time. And that - inconsistency - is the reason that most weight loss programs fail over time.
As noted before, most of the testing that's done for diets or weight loss programs is flawed, because the stats quoted rely on 'self-reporting'. And since most people are secretive when they're 'cheating', the self-reporting is bordering on the worthless.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I should report that I had 3 digestive biscuits (cookies) last night after a curry meal with wine. Since I'd spent the afternoon moving 1.5 tonnes of gravel from my drive onto my garden, I didn't think I'd overshoot my calorie expenditure!
There is no denying that for some people, having multiple small meals helps them with compliance (able to stick to their diet) - it is a matter of personality.
What we're looking at is whether, in the absence of compliance issues, multiple meals (and protein at every meal) leads noticably less catabolism compared with more spaced-apart eating, and also how health/longevity is impacted.
One extreme example: in the body-building world you get the people getting up in the middle of the night to ensure they're always eating. On the other hand even in that arena some people working on their body composition are practicing 'intermittent fasting' (the fast being anything from a few hours to say 36 hours depending on what they're doing).
In the 2003 edition of his eBook BFFM, Tom Venuto was adamant that 6 meals per day (5 for women) was the way to go.
Now things are just not as clear-cut.
Whilst I still eat far too many times a day for my liking, if I were to succesfully switch to 3 or even just 2 or one meals per day, I do not believe there will be the significant downside I once believed there would be.
Got up at 8.15am. Did a 'potato scan' (checking the unrefrigerated potatos) with audio in background. Then breakfast+audio which mutated to online+audio. After posting yesterday's diary entry noticed I couldn't access my diary. Started a continuation which looked a bit lonely so I moved all the posts for 2008 into the new topic (using lots of SQL 'magic') and now I can access all my posts, by this point it was 11.10am. Continued online for a while. At 12.40pm attention turned to food again.
I phoned the phone company to cancel my contract (so I don't end up with two mobile phones) and they tried to make me stay by giving me a 'free' deal. Well it isn't a hassle-free deal, it requires three meticulously executed claims. I don't want the hassle and I don't need a second phone. I received the instructions for cancellation (naturally, further inconvenience and expense at the Post Office). The guy suggested I transferred my contract to someone who wants it. I am dreading the hassle it represents. I will offer it to a few family members but I hope they don't want it as it'll be easier and simpler for me to just cancel - rather than go together to a shop to sign a 'transfer of ownership' form, worry about changed Direct Debits and later on get the blame if anything goes wrong with their cashback and they end up £420 worse off. By 4.20pm eliminated 2 people from my 'enquiries'.
Focused on 'veg-care', identifying what needs to be consumed first, ending up with a bunch of tupperware containers containing some raw but mostly cooked veggies - and then managed to put almost all of my unrefrigerated potatos into the fridge.
I got a kick out of knowing that my audio backlog was shrinking as they day progressed.
By 5pm, 838 calories and 2,081 grams (40 kcal/100g). Just before step I thought I heard one of our gym members telling the instructor she is pregnant but couldn't figure out if it was a joke. She lowered her weights at Pump (I know her weights because I have previuosly felt I 'had' to increase my weights to keep up with her...) and did alternative exercises when we were doing a plank and crunches. I have a pair of new-to-me trainers courtesy of Jason. The sauna was unusually quiet just me and Nina. At 7.55pm started ringing around, eventually finding Matthew's location. I knew most people around the table. My brother and sister showed up half an hour later. Altogether I stayed for 3 hours, primarily speaking to my siblings and a guy called Mark I can't remember meeting before. Home shortly before midnight.
11.56pm-2.12am: 1062 calories and 400 grams (266 kcal/100g). Bread, peanuts and oats. Extended my spreadsheet to solve simultaneous equations for eating two foods hitting calorie and weight targets, to maximise the 400g of food I'm letting myself have at night. Bedtime 2.45am.
Whilst I still eat far too many times a day for my liking, if I were to succesfully switch to 3 or even just 2 or one meals per day, I do not believe there will be the significant downside I once believed there would be.
But then, you're not at the beginning of a potentially long and arduous weight-loss process... Yours is a 'work in progress' so to say.
True, but the mini-meals approach has been recommended as a universal solution to everything: losing fat (whether from high numbers or cutting for a show or contest) or building muscle
Just to re-interate, I'm not saying it doesn't work, just that you won't fail if you don't implement it
I feel compelled to take a break from my non-stop regiment of eating to point out that whilst I no longer believe in advantage to frequent eating, I find it difficult to live food alone and therefore I am still conforming to this pattern. I post a log of the food I eat each day and each food has a time-stamp, so you can see not just what I eat, but when I eat it. For example, yesterday http://nirmk.byethost13.com/staticfood/day.php?dayid=487
What we're looking at is whether, in the absence of compliance issues, multiple meals (and protein at every meal) leads noticably less catabolism compared with more spaced-apart eating, and also how health/longevity is impacted.
(My italics). I forgot to mention that, if you're monitoring the health/longevity thing, then this could turn out be the longest forum thread ever.
Yes very good. I think I win the prize in the 'My Diary' section but if one ventures out to the FL4I sub-forum all bets are lost.
Monday
Got up at 9.30am (unless you want to count my waking up at 4.30am and apparently having a violent need to be sick - though in terms of volume it was not much worse than a single spit, no idea what that was about).
After noon went out to the Post Office to send my phone cancellation, caught up with Kelly, helped Majhid further with his malware program using logmein.com to remotely take over his computer which is a lot less frustrating than having him describe what he's seeing on the screen.
I tried to renew a remote friendship that broke down back in August. The person has decided to move on and it is my job to let it affect my self esteem. Writing this down to be accountable to myself. Accept the things I cannot change. Life is often not about facts but how we relate to them. If we parted for good, at least we parted as grown-ups, not kids.
Ate some food, read less than half a page of my book, and then continued eating. By 5pm, 962 calories and 2,009 grams (48 kcal/100g). It was mostly an audio afternoon, right up to the workouts. I arrived, making it 4 people and Shay decided to run the Jam class (she made a comment about it being a class of 30 the last time she was teaching Jam over here - I think that the people doing Jam on Tuesday are unlikely to also come on Monday, 5.15am is too early for some people, and for a while the class wasn't even listed on the timetable - never mind being well publicised). Today was the first time Kelly agreed to do Combat at the same time as me (because I have made fun of her in the past!) and afterwards we went to the Sauna. We also tried the Jacuzzi but due to technical problems the water was quite cold. If she hadn't gained a stalker today, certainly she met someone who was eager to persue her - on a day where she unfortunately forgot to wear her wedding ring. The man presented himself around 1pm just as I was leaving but the story took quite a twist after I left, with security staff getting involved. Phoned back Nash who was with Phil, having just arrived at a salsa party - chatted for a while but could hardly hear anything. Then bumped into instructor Jo on my way out and asked her for tips and help with my ambition to actually become an instructor. Then spoke on the phone with dad who was at Tesco about what bargains I'd be interested in. Home after 8.30pm.
When I split my diary I synchronised the page view count. For some reason, my old diary is still receiving more hits than my new one. What is that all about?. Audio from 9pm. 9.04pm-10.15pm: 938 calories and 410 grams (229 kcal/100g). Bedtime 10.45pm.
You're welcome, and Happy New Year to everyone reading. Ever since I split the diary I'm getting fewer daily hits so there are fewer of you than I originally thought (but still more than 100).
Tuesday
Woke up 4.50am got up 5.20am. Audio straight away. Silence for a while from 7am. 8.30am mum arrived with shopping and also jerusalem artichokes from the allotment (audio whilst putting it away). There are 4x200g tubs of Houmous to consume today but shockingly I don't have 2000 spare calories for this purpose so immediately froze two of the tubs - divided into 'coins' or medallions. Alternated between reading/eating and online/audio/food-preparation.
Left at 10.40am, first headed to the bank and then on to a phsychological assesment. Afterwards stayed on to fill in a questionaire. Finally home by 2pm. Spoke to Nash.
Went to the library looking for a specific book recommended to me ('overcoming OCD'). The online catalogue suggests the item is in stock but I spent at least 30 minutes looking for it on adjacent shelves and the overflow trolleys. I've reserved it, so perhaps I'll get it when they find it. Meanwhile I took out a book 'Break Free From Addiction' with a view to making it my primary reading project for now (not that it means much given the number of pages I've read over the last week). When checking the book out I discovered I'm in trouble with the library as I've renewed my books 8 times over the phone. They said I have to return them. I hope they just meant they want to physically see them and will let me have them out again. If only I used the self-service desk to issue my book I would have not had this interaction.
By 6pm felt wound up. Turned everything off and lied down in the dark for a while before heading out. By 6.45pm, 1,243 calories and 3,467 grams (36 kcal/100g). At the gym joined Kelly and Nina for a busier-than-usual-for-a-Tuesday Pump class and then relocated to the sauna and jacuzzi (they've fixed the Jacuzzi since yesterday, it is hot again). Was going to put audio on for the ride home but dad cornered me (calling from Tesco on a 1% day - naturally I want everything).
Snacking was houmous and bread (and spinach to increase the weight of the meal and ensure satiety - probably not really necessary). 9.38pm-10.07pm: 657 calories and 401 grams (164 kcal/100g). Asleep by 11pm.
Thanks Scoobees! and welcome on board to Majhid, the first person from my real life ever to ever hit the Reply button, though obviously not the first one to visit.
Wednesday - New Year's Eve
Mum dropped off shopping without waking me up - found them when I got up at 2.30am (staying up for 2 hours and dipping into Wednesday's calories to eat some fruit salad). Back to sleep 4.30am. Got up again at 6.46am and then finally 2 hours later - rushing to make the Step class which was well attended. It seems to be 'New Year Resolution' season with newbies and long-time absentees making for a full class with people struggling to find room for their step. It was like that in yesterday's class too. I started my journey in January. In my case it was mid-January but perhaps I was influenced by the phenomena (guilt about holiday over-indulgance). Calls from Nash and Majhid. Decided to be lazy and brought laptop into bed with me. The afternoon wasn't very structured. Was invited to spend New Year Eve pubbing in London but declined. My brother also invited by my friends to go out in London but didn't want to go without me. At around 5.15pm turned everything off and rested in the dark for a while.
A heavy day (mostly because of the perishable items received this morning). By 6.25pm, 1,686 calories and 4,630 grams (36 kcal/100g). Compensated by not having a hot drink at the AA meeting, which was cut from 90 minutes to an hour on account of the low turnout. I did still get something special out of the meeting as another person sharing seemed to be telling part of my story (ex computer programmer, moved on to disability and this served to further facilitate their addiction, recovered from major surgery in the recent past). Home by 9.15pm and called mum regarding the chick peas she was cooking for me. Apparently the cupboard I stored them in isn't ideal for humidity and some were thrown away as they appeared mouldy. At 10pm dad dropped these off: (less than) a kilo of dry making 2.36 kilos of cooked chick peas (garbanzo beans). I divided into 9 servings of approximately 300 calories in tupperware boxes with an overflow 10th box. Mum had also let go of more stir fries and avocados. I guess I do change the way I eat too quickly for her to keep up - she still thinks of me as someone who eats avocados sparingly but I'm happy to spend my calories on them.
My plan is to gradually reduce the weight of my last meal and the first step, today, is to aim for 350g rather than 400g (and stick with this for a few days before going to the next level). 9.17-9.57pm: 214 calories and 350 grams (61 kcal/100g): stir fry, banana, lamb liver, houmous, guacamole and raisins. The stir fry was 255 grams, making the bulk of the meal (three quarters by weight) but only 56 of the calories (about a quarter). Online till midnight, having used metaphorical matchsticks to stay up this late for no particular reason.
As usual, you've made me think. I've been thinking for a long time that maybe eating all the time (mini meals throughout the day) might be stressing me out. Seems like I meticulously count my calories and then get stressed because I don't have many calories left for the day.
Maybe I just need to eat a little bit a few times a day and try to stay busy and forget food as much as possible.
I'm still trying to get to Overeaters. So far I haven't made it. It's on the other side of town (road trip) and I can't find but one day meeting a week. I definitely think I need to go as I am definitely a food addict. I wish the food issues were like trying to stop smoking and I could just walk away from food, period. Since that is not reality, I guess I'll just keep struggling.
I am curious. How hard do you think the daily food struggle is for you compared to a couple of years ago?
Not wasting time on eating can at times be a struggle. However, not overeating (calories) is no longer a problem as I have that habit dialled in. I am a habitual creature: what I do now seems easy and doing anything else is hard (whatever I do). I also pick up habits that are hard to shake off. For example I am not 100% sure I'm going with my new idea of engineering my last meal of the day to be a certain weight. The problem, 2 years ago, was that I suddenly lost my healthy eating habit and replaced it with a binge-eating habit and it was very hard to flip back to normal. It was scary a time.
. There was more talk of food scales wrapped with cling-film today. I've not made a final decision yet. I'll keep everyone updated.
toolbar button is for.
featured heavily from 3.47pm: a dozen of them in 5 hours, with some TVP and peanuts to get protein to hit its target. Finished eating by 8.10pm. I guess 2157g (4.7lb) of apples took their toll - a heavier day: 3939 grams (8,7lb) and notably low fat (5.8% of calories). Perhaps how useful I am is inversely proportional to the weight of the food I consume.
....hmmm, and now that I think of it, Lyle doesnt even say his way is the healthy way...simply that it's the "effective" way - more honest I think
