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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 June 2007 02:37 am |
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| I've also posted graphs of how my weight responded to calorie intake during the Memorial Day Challenge
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 June 2007 03:41 am |
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Ok, according to the weighted moving average calculations, my maintenance calories work out at 2150. That's 150 calories less than I previously thought  A calorie-cycling scheme based around this newly-discovered number would look like this: 2150, 1950, 1550, 1750 (daily average: 1850. daily deficit: 300 or 14.0%) or alternatively 2150, 1750, 1750, 1750 gives the same results. Not sure which one I'd like more.
EDIT: chart shows unadjusted RMR (below) and my apparent maintenance calories (as calculated from entered weight data)
Last edited on 1 June 2007 05:25 pm by Nir
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Frankie
Senior Member
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Posted: 1 June 2007 03:46 am |
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| Wow, talk about taking something and running with it!!!
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Frankie
Senior Member
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Posted: 1 June 2007 08:11 pm |
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Nir wrote: I've been doing some data-entry and whilst there are still months of data to enter I can now show off the impact that my September-October 2006 binge has had on my weight:
I want to see the recent stuff, where you've turned it all around!
Actually, checking out the graph you so kindly added to the JUDDDD thread, it looks like it's automatically updated. So cool!
Frankie
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 June 2007 08:50 pm |
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Frankie (and anyone else with an interest), if you click on Nir (on right hand side) and then click Home Page from the menu, you can visit my Physicsdiet.com public profile and play with the data. Click on any of the graphs to display them in their own window and then change the start and end dates (in the address bar). If I think of any more interesting graphs I'll add them here.
Thursday
I was invited to the town's civic offices to hear more about The Decent Homes Standard. They are replacing tenant's kitchens and bathrooms, but only if in bad condition, which does not apply to me. I stopped for coffee and a biscuit though. This was on the way home from AM visit to the gym.
Spent most of the day inputting data (weight, body fat and calorie intake) starting on July 15th 2006, so 10.5 months of data.
I seem to be using a lot of TVP these days to prop up protein values. Decided to drop protein target back to 103.5g from Friday onwards.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Pump, [PM] 30 min Body Step, 60 min Body Jam. 2.5 hours.
Shopping: 0
Nuts: peanut224 =224 11.5%
Animals: 0
Rubbish: civic-offices:chocolate-digestive-biscuit63 Sainsbury-sample:cheese48 wafer-cone12 =123 6.3%
Totals: 1950, 114.1g protein. 123 is 6.3%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 2 June 2007 04:50 pm |
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Friday
On way home from gym workout discovered a temporary 'Italian Market' at Queens' Court. Generally speaking samples have to be asked for, so I only had two small samples. Other market types are more generous with samples. Got home, packed 750g of prepackaged salads and emerged out again to enjoy the sun at Queen's Court. Took 40 minutes to eat those salads.
OA was a small meeting. Prior to OA I used my recently-entered data to establish the number of binge-days in recent months: September 2006: 11; October 2006: 25; November 2006: 6; December 2006: 3; January 2007: 1; February 2007: 2. Actually these might be slight underestimates because days where I didn't weigh cannot be entered, and might also be binge days.
Finally got around to 'process' and freeze some fruits: pears, tomatos, honeydew and galia melons. All are now washed, frozen (and peeled/cubed if appropriate).
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Fab Abs Killer Butt, 45 min Body Step, [PM] 45 min Cycle to OA
Shopping: 20p Chicken-flavour Quorn (vegeterian). £0.20
Nuts: peanuts135 =135 8.7%
Animals: Sainsbury-sample:pork-leg58 =58 3.7%
Rubbish: Waitrose-sample:choritzo41 italian-market:cake-with-nuts9 italian-market:chocolate-chip5 =55 3.5%
Totals: 1550, 103.8g protein. 113 is 7.3%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 June 2007 03:25 am |
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Saturday
The Sun is a welcome novelty, even on the second successive day. Ate more prepackaged salads in the sun. Nash turned up. Basically I 'chilled' in the sun - not something I do often. I'm usually "doing something" rather than relaxing. Original plan was to go to ASDA with mum, but she was too busy and skipped it - just as well, I have plenty of time-sensitive produce. Didn't stop me from buying some tomatos though.
Exercise: [AM] 45 min Body Combat, 60 min Body Pump. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: £1 cherry-tomatos. £1.00
Nuts: peanuts160 =160 9.1%
Animals: chicken-liver50 Sainsbury-sample:chicken-korma37 Sainsbury-sample:pork-leg37 banana-flavour-whey-powder26 =150 8.6%
Rubbish: sf-jello25 wafer-cones24 Sainsbury-sample:naan-bread19 Italian-market:chocolate-chips8 =76 4.3%
Totals: 1750, 103.8g protein. 226 is 12.9%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 June 2007 01:57 pm |
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Looking at my physicsdiet profile, the Weekly Summary (at the bottom) has:
1) Predicted TEE (this is just my RMR multiplied by 1.5, nothing clever). Earlier this week when I observed that my maintenance calories are around 2150, I think I was just looking at that - doh!
2) Weekly Effective TEE (this appears to be calculated based on my weight gain/loss combined with my declared calories-eaten). You can navigate to 'previous week' to examine various time periods. My calorie-intake figures have gaps during binge-days, so I have limited my analysis to recent non-binge weeks (last 15 consecutive weeks). Looks like this:
2196,1923,2086,2002,2076,1838,1913,2151,2136,2291,2190,1996,2164,2285,2272
by no means uniform. mean is 2101 (even less than I expected ). On the other hand, the figures for the last 3 weeks are higher (mean 2240).
On balance, I shall continue to assume that my Effective TEE is around 2150 for now.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 4 June 2007 12:40 pm |
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Sunday
Time to work out my 7 day shopping total. Less than last week. 0 + 4.10 + 0.15 + 0 + 0.20 + 1.00 + 0 = £5.45
Antagonised brother on the phone by daring to suggest (regarding his new gym membership) that he might like to claim his free 'Induction' and/or ask for a Programme, and that he might like to design a program for himself rather than randomly "using machines". Oh well.
Air conditioning wasn't working particularly well at the gym today. Struggled through the Jam class; later on was exhausted and cramped after Step. Decided not to bother with Body Pump (no panic, that just means I get 2 rest days, Sunday and Monday, between the Saturday and Tuesday classes). Partly because I didn't want to be rushed from the gym to the salsa night - instead managed to briefly go home and chill for 20 minutes between gym and salsa. My penultimate meal was 66g of peanuts - measured beforehand and consumed whilst at Salsa. Salsa was OK. It was warm but rained moderately  on the way back and I had no jacket - opted to cycle home (about 8 minutes) without my shirt, in preference to getting it wet.
On my way home around 2pm I scavanged a small part of a large Starbucks chocolate-chip cookie abandoned on a a table (it was in two bits, I took the much smaller part). Put it in my pocket and forgot all about it. Discovered it a few hours later, finally ate a small bit of what I had after midnight and discarded the rest.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Jam, [PM] 45 min Body Step. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: £0
Nuts: peanuts399 =399 18.6%
Animals: 0
Rubbish: starbucks-cookie29 =29 1.3%
Totals: 2150, 103.5g protein. 29 is 1.3%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 5 June 2007 05:57 am |
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Monday
current produce situation: all produce can comfortably fit in the freezer and fridge (even the potatos). I need to prioritise the green peppers, lettuce and marrow which are likely to go off next.
Skipped AM workout. Made the 6pm BOSU class I often skip though felt sufficiently knackered afterwards and decided to pardon myself from the follow-on Body Step. This meant that I was at the right moment to benefit from bargains at Sainsbury's - yipee (ate some curry whilst waiting for the reduced veg to come out from behind the scenes where they were being re-priced)
Instead of spending my online time continuing with the ific.org website I received a tip-off about richardherring.com/warmingup - I can really appreciate his dark humour.
Exercise: [PM] 45 min BOSU. 0.75 hours.
Shopping: 60p organic green lentils 30p brussel sprouts 20p carrot+cauliflower 15p broccoli 10p swede 10p salad. £1.45
Produce: orange-pepper prepackaged-salad romaine-lettuce green-beans baby-corn yellow-peppers cucumber leek green-pepper broccoli cauliflower carrot swede brussel-sprouts grapes =949 48.7%
Legumes: borlotti-beans168 green-lentils133 =301 15.4%
Grain: alison-wholemeal-toast73 =73 3.7%
Nuts: peanuts588 =588 30.2%
Animals: Sainsbury-sample:chicken-jalfrezi38 =38 1.9%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1950, 103.5g. 38 is 1.9%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 6 June 2007 02:59 am |
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Tuesday
Dad answered the phone (too ill to work today) and we chatted (which in itself is unusual - I can go for months without talking to him). Mum arranged to take me to the allotment where we dug up two carrier bags' worth of broad beans and two of leeks. Shelling borad beans represents a lot of effort - ouch. I guess I regret not making better use of the sunny weather. I think I got a good workout out of Circuits - I was certainly fatigued and glad I didn't have any follow-on classes to attend. Sister called up for a nice chat too.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Pump, [PM] 45 min Circuits. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: 0
Veg: green-pepper brussel-sprouts prepackaged-salad =171 11.0%
Fruit: galia-melon363 pear154 =517 33.4%
Legume: broad-beans547 green-lentils50 =597 38.5%
Nuts: peanuts203 =203 13.1%
Animals: banana-flavour-whey-powder37 Sainsbury-sample:ham25 =62 4.0%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1550, 103.4g protein. 62 is 4.0%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 7 June 2007 05:20 pm |
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Wednesday
Did another mock test at the course. Teacher said I may receive a certificate for achievement and listed some characteristics of merit. Some didn't seem important (like always turning up, or cycling there), others, like helping other particpants, seemed more valid for recognition. (a day later, I am invited to an event. "refreshments" will be available. Well, I'll be bringing my scale and will not allow myself to be side-tracked!).
Counselling was the first encounter in 2 weeks so I had plenty of 'news' to go over, by the time I was finished the session was over. But it did seem like a good session anyhow. At that point (2pm) it was already 5 hours since I ate - contemplated stopping to eat but decided it would be more efficient to go to LIDL first and then eat once I got home. LIDL didn't have any well-priced produce so I emerged with chewing gum (it is an expensive habit) and treated myself with Dry Roasted Peanuts (which for some reason work out double the price of regular roasted peanuts - next to chewing gum they don't seem as expensive though). Finally got home and got around to eating at 2.55pm. (6 hours without protein - not ideal!).
Passed the time largely online until it was time for Body Combat. The leek from mum's allotment was so hard that even once cooked only the outer edges were edible. I wish I had more of her broad beans though.
I'm wondering whether, instead of calipers, one can assess leanness based on how uncomfortable it is to sit on an unpadded surface. I guess it is quite a useful indicator as this is a function of how much 'padding' remains in that particular area. Simultaneously both slightly unpleasant and rewarding as it indicates progress.
Exercise: [AM] 45 min cycled to course/counselling, [PM] 60 min Body Combat. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: 360p chewing gum 29p dry-roasted nuts
Veg: green-pepper91 tomato73 leek66 prepackage-salad38 chineese-leaf-lettuce28 cos-lettuce22 =318 18.2%
Fruit: pear152 honeydew137 grapefruit128 galia96 =513 29.3%
Legumes: green-lentils250 broad-beans43 =293 16.7%
Nuts: dry-roast-peanuts307 peanuts98 =405 23.1%
Animals: banana-flavour-whey-powder141 =141 8.1%
Rubbish: course:cadbury-highlight-orange-chocolate-drinks80 =80 4.6%
Totals: 1750, 103.8g protein. 221 is 12.6%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 8 June 2007 04:13 am |
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Thursday
Started the day by calling Nash, curious to know why he didn't call me last night (he had an early night) and then quickly ingested 370 calories (a fantastic shake made with frozen white grapes and banana-flavour whey powder) before heading over to Body Pump.
In the afternoon I was napping when Rob invited me to come out to the pub so I declined. Later I was calling back to enquire about a mobile phone deal. The deal seems great but unfortunately (1) it requires cashback redemption claims, which are a real pain (2) for some reason my browser (IE6) can't load their website without crashing (3) I already have 3 mobile phone contracts. That's right, I'm mad.
Mum arrived. Both her and dad aren't eating very much at the moment so she gave me some of her excess produce which would otherwise eventually go to waste. my loot comprised: 1425g cherry tomatos, 975g broccoli, 750g carrots, chineese leaf cabbage, 4 x little gem lettuce, 6 peppers (3 colours).
We then went over to the allotment and she helped me pack 2 carrier bags' worth of broad beans (spending literally hours shelling one bag's worth in the evening - it takes so long!)
I rushed over for a short body step class - I knew I wasn't in the mood to do anything else so tried to push myself to get the most out of it. Later I found myself at Sainsbury's at the right time to benefit from reductions in the refrigerated section - bagged some chicken breast pieces and a 9" pizza, which was easy to fit into this high day (used my 'microwave browner' to prepare it - one third (about 200 calories) at a time).
I'm still reading the richardherring blog. I'm just about done with 2003. At this rate it will be a week before I'm caught up with this comedian's blog.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Pump, [PM] 30 min Body Step. 1.5 hours.
Shopping: 50p pizza express (hot spiced beef, green peppers, onions). 30p chicken breast (sweet chilli)
Veg: carrot120 leek116 cherry-tomatos75 broccoli39 little-gem-lettuce26 =376 17.5%
Fruit: grapes415 grapefruit147 pear70 raisins29 strawberries14 =675 31.4%
Nuts: dry-roasted-peanuts325 =325 15.1%
Animals: banana-flavour-whey-powder131 =131 6.1%
Rubbish: pizza609 Sainsbury's-sample:brie-cheese34 =643 29.9%
Totals: 2150, 103.6g protein. 774 is 36.0%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 8 June 2007 05:10 pm |
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I meant to share that I could have had up to 10 reduced-price pizzas yesterday, but I deliberately picked just one because I expected that it is one of those foods (like the jelly beans a month or two ago) that I would try to use all my calories on. At the end of the day that pizza had low nutrient density, seeing as it is made with refined wheat flour (2), cheese (3), beef (8) and oil (1).
Every night, when I run out of calories and then abruptly stop eating (usually putting a piece of chewing gum in my mouth), I am reminded that I am a compulsive overeater. That if I was not a calorie-counter I would continue eating until either I was too tired or too stuffed, regardless of any feeling of hunger (which I generally never get around to feeling). That being 'too busy' to eat is the only 'natural' thing that ever stopped me from over-eating.
Three weeks ago (May 18th) I signed up to ht tp://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/12step4coesLOOP/ and every day I get an e-mail 'digest' which I go through. It is like an OA meeting. People in the loop are in different stages of recovery. I find it very theraputic just to hear about people's progress. I haven't written in that loop at all so they are not aware of me but I still get quite alot from what they share.
I planned to skip tonight's OA meeting in favour of an opportunity to visit a different gym. As it happens that plan will now be postponed, but I was feeling a bit guilty during the time I thought I wouldn't be attending OA.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 9 June 2007 03:49 am |
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Friday
Matthew was in town to visit his mother, who was briefly over from Spain where she lives. He had a small amount of time to kill and so announced his presence and I was available to meet him briefly, which was nice.
At OA I made a mental note that the 7 other people attending were all older than me and in OA for longer than me. One person (who I hold dear as they welcomed me warmly at the end of my first ever meeting) pre-announced that they'll be abstinent for a year next month. This does put my less-than-4-months achievement into perspective. My share was cut at the 5 minute mark - I had more stuff I planned to say, but never mind.
My blog-reading commitment multiplied today. (Emma Kennedy.) Oh dear.
I do hope that several people currently away from the forums will make their come-backs. And no, I'm not referring to pudgy-poodle.
Foodwise I was eating plenty of fruit, which are low in protein, to balance with the high-protein things I wanted to eat, such as the chicken breast, the broccoli and the broad beans. Unlike yesterday, my 'ETL compliance' percentage was easily in the 10% bracket.
My brother, who tends to be using calorie-dense foods to top-up his calories toward the end of the day, has decided that peanuts are proving too much of a temptation for him. He is planning to give the unfinished packet away later in the week. I have experienced lack-of-control around peanuts and indeed other nuts, seeds and dried fruits several times since I started this diary, but I think they don't hold a particular power over me these days (and I need them as an affordable source of healthy fats). I wanted to suggest that his peanut excesses might be a sign of over-eating but I know he won't be particularly open to that suggestion.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Fab Abs Killer Butt, 45 min Body Step, [PM] 45 min cycling to OA. 2.5 hours.
Shopping: 60p artichoke. £0.60
Veg: red-and-orange-peppers146 broccoli88 marrow57 green-pepper33 artichoke33 =357 18.3%
Fruit: pears703 banana168 galia-melon111 raisins105 =1087 55.7%
Legumes: broad-beans350 =350 17.9%
Animals: chicken-breast-sweet-chilli156 =156 8.0%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1950, 104.0g protein. 156 is 8.0%
Last edited on 9 June 2007 03:52 am by Nir
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 10 June 2007 03:38 am |
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Saturday
Body Pump was cut short because our studio was being used for something else directly afterwards. Indeed I hovered around the gym after my workouts so I could witness the BTS training event which happened to be held in our studio. I think I recognised some instructors from previous gyms. I was there whilst they were going through Body Attach (which we don't have at our gym). I didn't stay there long so I don't know what Body Pump / Body Combat / Body Jam will hold for me in the weeks to come.
I was reading John Berardi's 'Get Shreaded Diet' article on the T-nation website (use Google). It is a pre-competition diet. The macronutrients are Atkins (30% protein, 10% carb, 60% fat) but low in saturated fat, emphasis on supplements and calories are sub-unadjusted-RMR (9-11 x weight-in-pounds). You're only supposed to do this diet for 6 to 12 weeks. You start this diet when you are already quite lean (e.g. 10% for men). There is a re-feed day every 2 weeks.
Mum gave me some unwanted mange-tout. she also bought stuff in the market on my behalf.
Received a letter telling me somebody attempted to impersonate me, using my name and address to apply for credit. I have to deal with this on Monday. I am not looking forward to this  .
Exercise: [AM] 45 min Body Combat, 45 min Body Pump. 1.5 hours.
Shopping: £1 spring greens £1 celery £1 leeks 40p courgettes. £3.40
Veg: mange-tout127 cherry-tomato116 spring-greens100 leek87 little-gem-lettuce50 marrow47 iceberg-lettuce14 spring-onion11 =552 35.6%
Fruit: galia-melon241 pear127 =368 23.7%
Legumes: broad-beans359 =359 23.2%
Nuts: dry-roasted-peanuts249 =249 16.1%
Animals: banana-flavour-whey-powder22 =22 1.4%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1550, 103.4g protein. 22 is 1.4%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 10 June 2007 01:33 pm |
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SouthernGirl81 wrote: "I've decided to make a journal on a different site .. It's the same site that I have my main journal on"
Recently I was thinking about become more active on an e-mail loop, which might involve detailing my life there as well. But to be honest I am turned off by the duplication. This diary first started as the place for me to announce my "dieting mistakes", but as I don't keep a blog or journal anywhere else, it has grown to be the place to write-up my life, and it is theraputic. I would not enjoy doing it twice. I guess it wouldn't make sense to have my blog over here if I evolved into the kind of person who wasn't concerned with food intake - but I don't see that happening.
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 11 June 2007 02:49 am |
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I rarely feel hunger, either. It has little (more like nothing) to do with my eating.
Just curious... do you ever phone OA members? That's what we always did, but this was before the internet.
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 11 June 2007 03:22 am |
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| Peter, the answer is no. I guess I feel a bit isolated from them on account of being the only person there who is not following the steps. I would also feel self-concious about encroaching on their time. I don't know if I'm right. I understand that there is a lot of phone-number-swapping happening. I'm just not involved.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 11 June 2007 03:52 am |
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Sunday
At Sainsbury's there were 10 clementines for 50p - but the packets were marked 'buy one get one free'. I got 16 packets, which worked out £4 (2.5p per fruit).
Time to work out my 7 day shopping total. 1.45 + 0 + 3.89 + 0.80 + 0.60 + 3.40 + 4.00 = £14.14
It was sunny so I used about a kilo of tomatos and made a large batch of Tomato Ice Cream. I took the entire food processor jug with me to Queens-Court (an outdoor garden at the shopping centre). As I was finishing it a teenager walked some distance to ask me "why are you eating this out of a blender?". I replied: "I made this in the blender and didn't want to transfer it". He clealy asked the wrong question - it would have been more interesting for him to learn about tomato ice-cream, I would imagine!
I've used the free demo of NaturalReader for a while. It is a bit of a pain though because it keeps switching the window focus to the NaturalReader window. I've decided that I'm worth the luxuary of the 'professional' version, which costs about $40. In the end it turned out that I had about that much forgotten in my PayPal account, so it feels like it didn't cost me, even though clearly it did. I have now switched from Microsoft Mary to 'Paul'. I'm happy with my purchase. A future project will be to use the software to create MP3 files and then play them when I'm cycling!
Today ended up lower-carb than usual. This wasn't intentional.
Exercise: [noon] 60 min Body Jam, [PM] 45 min Body Step, 45 min Body Pump, 90 min Salsa. 4 hours.
Shopping: £4 clementines. £4
Veg: tomato242 leek93 mange-tout92 marrow65 courgette45 =537 30.7%
Fruit: honeydew-melon151 pear17 =168 9.6%
Legumes: TVP144 =144 8.2%
Nuts: peanuts809 dry-roasted-peanuts45 =854 48.8%
Animals: banana-flavour-whey-powder30 Sainsbury-sample:gammon17 =47 2.7%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1750, 103.6g protein. 47 is 2.7%
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clarinetgurl
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 11 June 2007 06:08 am |
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I love Clementines!!!
Do you get to count tomato ice cream as a fruit?  I will have to check that recipe out for curiousity's sake. I do like tomatoes...and ice cream...
Have a nice night!
CG
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zenobia
Moderator
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Posted: 11 June 2007 08:22 am |
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hey nir! just wanted to say that i love the idea of your ice cream and mousse projects. have you ever tried using egg whites? i know those are used for meranguese (i know the spelling is wrong...) i don't know how that would work in a milk and fruit concoction, but it might make the texture different, as well as add some protien? i am also wondering if sugar free pudding would work as well, to give it a creamier texture? just some ideas. i was thinking about the sf pudding one, then read back about your experiements with frozen fruit. or maybe even fat free whipped cream? very low cal, though there really isn't much for nutritional value. maybe i could try them out and let you know. if you decide to and get to it before me, please share your experiences! i love your experiments!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 11 June 2007 01:54 pm |
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Looks like I'm selling 10 clementines on to mum - leaving me with 150 for myself. Today I'll be peeling and freezing them, so there will be some clementine sorbet or ice-cream somewhere down the line.
Even though blenders and food processors were mentioned on this site many times, I finally took my cue from ETL's Dr. Fuhrman, who always talks about smoothies, including green smoothies as a way of eating more vegetables. I do those too. I noticed it makes certain cooked vegetables more edible - thus making it easier to eat larger quantities. I've come to the world of cooking (or semi-elaborate food preparation) relatively late in life, but my food processor is definitely well used [ more frequently used than my 1) kettle 2) frying pan 3) wok 4) steamer 5) george-foreman 6) toaster 7) convection oven/grill/hob ]. Dr. Fuhrman recommends a very powerful one called VitaMix (I think). I have a run-of-the-mill Kenwood but it does the job.
I count the tomatos as vegetables. I know that technically they are fruit, but I'm using colour-coding to seperate foods into the different Eat-To-Live pyramid classes (vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole-grain, nuts/seeds, animal products, and lowest-of-the-low (cheese, refined flour, oil, sugar)) and I noticed that Dr Fuhrman lists tomato as an example of non-green non-starchy vegetables (with nutrient density 50), so I'm therefore listing it as vegetable in my log.
What have I used in conjunction with frozen fruit (and tomatos)? [nutrient density in brackets]
hard-boiled egg whites (11)
milk (13)
powdered milk (13)
whey powder (13)
soy protein isolate (48)
TVP (both dried and hydrated) (48)
You'll probably a pattern there - all of the above are protein sources. I guess some obviously-missing options are cottage cheese, quark cheese, philadelphia-type low-fat soft cheese and yogurt.
The truth is that, although I am not vegan or even vegeterian, I have an obscure purchasing policy: I tend not to buy eggs or dairy unless they're available at a substantial discount. [I guess rarely I also relax my rule and buy some low-fat cheese].
As for whipping raw egg-whites - I guess that would make a mousse (same or better than dairy products like milk) better than hard-boiled egg-whites, but there is supposed to be a safety issue with raw eggs (salmonela).
The SPI (Soy Protein Isolate) experiement was a bit of a disaster - tastes of flour. TVP (not-hydrated) can add a welcome 'crunch' feeling but obviously won't make it creamy.
The only things I have in stock are 1) Whey 2) SPI 3) TVP. I'm trying to develop a subsistence lifestyle and both Whey and SPI are expensive (at least £10 per tub) so once they're gone I'm not planning to replace them.
As for corn-starch, apart from having an appealing nutrient density (2 - refined flour), I believe it would only work as an effective thickener if heated up first. I believe the ingredient used in commercially-produced puddings is modified starch with the emphasis on 'modified'. [I could be wrong.]
I've definitely had a few surprises and revelations in my time:
- how creamy frozen pineapple becomes once properly food-processed
- how creamy milk becomes
- how effective whey powder is at thickening, making creamy and for satiety
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 12 June 2007 03:56 am |
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Monday
Got invited to participate in the exam for a student aerobic instructor (i.e. the same exam I took in January). It is this Saturday and should be fun. Found out that the night out (in 3 weeks) involves a Pizza restaurant called Zizi and researched the menu. I'll just have to eat defensively during the morning - may chop and change my zig-zagging nearer the time to ensure it falls on a high day.
Skipped morning gym. Got going at 9.15am and only had breakfast at 11.10am. Arranged to meet Rob near the gym about an hour before my class, so I could make a quick getaway. He did 'get' me though, because he was still around 2.5 hours later when I was finished with the gym and food shopping, and I gave him another 1.5 hours of my time. Mind you conversation was slightly higher quality than before so I guess I didn't suffer much. Actually for about 5 minutes towards the end of the BOSU class I thought I was sufficiently exhausted, but somehow motivation returned to me and I was keen to stay for the follow-on class.
I mentioned NaturalReader to Matthew and he directed me to gutenberg.org, where many free books can be found. I also spontaneously decided to catch up with a Cambridge-based bulletin board I've been absent from for a while. Rob suggested I look into a website called secondlife.com . I'm being stretched in many directions all at once.
Speaking of motivation, John Berardi has an interesting 8-part quiz. The first page is precisionnutrition.com/course/day-1.html (just change from 1..8 to access the different pages). I got 'grade A' for day 1, and 'grade B' for day 2. I'll do the rest later on.
Look at those percentages! 0% of rubbish and animal products - but look at the peanuts. Am I on Atkins?
Exercise: [PM] 45 min BOSU, 60 min Body Step. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: 60p iceberg. £0.60
Veg: leek155 spring-greens142 peas126 courgette70 marrow48 iceberg-lettuce25 celery13 =579 26.9%
Fruit: apple224 clementine54 =278 12.9%
Nuts: peanuts1293 =1293 60.1%
Animals: 0
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 2150, 103.5g protein. 0 is 0.0%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 13 June 2007 04:14 am |
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Tuesday
Annoyingly I've lost ALL of my Internet Explorer favourites - but the process of rebuilding them will show me which ones I'm really using.
Skipped the Circuits class. I watched the film preview (Paris Je T'aime). I don't speak french so I had to read the subtitles. It was worth it anyhow - had tears in my eyes at times. Rob wasn't answering his phone so I went in anyhow to watch the film on my own. Later on I found out that he was unwell and stayed home. Unexpectedly I was provided with a bag of free bag of popcorn at the cinema (I picked the salty option). I also scavanged half a bag of the sweet variety on my way out.
Having paid for NaturalReader, I was a bit miffed to discover I could have pirated it at no charge from bhgoodsco.com/speech/ . My Google skills are clearly laughable.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Pump. 1 hours.
Shopping: £1 tomatos £1 pears. £2.00
Veg: spring-greens142 garden-peas81 iceberg-lettuce56 =279 14.3%
Fruit: clementines399 pear120 honeydew-melon110 raisins28 =657 33.7%
Legumes: green-lentils163 red-lentils50 TVP47 =260 13.3%
Grain: film-preview-freebie:salt-popcorn199 film-preview-freebie:sweet-popcorn47 =246 12.6%
Nuts: peanuts348 =348 17.8%
Animals: banana-flavour-whey-powder108 =108 5.5%
Rubbish: Sainsbury-sample:chicken-chilli-roll37 Sainsbury-sample:chicken-mushroom-curry15 =52 2.7%
Totals: 1950, 103.5g protein. 160 is 8.2%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 14 June 2007 03:46 am |
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Wednesday
Was late for my Numeracy course because I was fiddling with my mobile phone which doubles up as a very low capacity MP3 player, trying to put a few minutes worth of computer audio. Counselling allowed me to review recent events and emotions and other bits of my former life.
After an afternoon online I fell asleep and missed my Body Combat class. My last combat was on Saturday, and I'm due to miss the next couple of Saturday combats due to my commitement to do Aerobics, so my earliest combat is next Wednesday, which will then be 10 days after my previous combat. [did I mention it is my favourite class?]. I haven't figured out how long since my last gym rest day...
Exercise: 45 min cycle to course/counselling. 0.75 hours.
Shopping: £0
Veg: iceberg-lettuce115 onion109 garden-peas93 brussel-sprouts60 chineese-lettuce56 celery10 =443 28.6%
Fruit: clementine184 raisins74 =258 16.6%
Legumes: red-lentils200 TVP171 green-lentils163 mung50 soy-protein-isolate47 =631 40.7%
Nuts: peanuts48 =48 3.1%
Animals: 0
Rubbish: Numeracy-course:biscuit90 Numeracy-course:orange-chocolate-cadbury-highlight-drinks80 =170 11.0%
Totals: 1550, 103.6g. 170 is 11.0%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 June 2007 04:08 am |
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Thursday
Stayed in for most of the day because my smoke alarm was due to be professionally tested (why?) yet the contractor never showed up!
Decided to skip the afternoon visit to the gym and go shopping with mum instead - the trip spanned ASDA, IKEA and TESCO and took almost 4 hours. Mum initially was in a panic when her wallet was missing but we phoned dad who was able to locate it at home, so the crisis was resolved. Before this trip I was almost out of peanuts and raisins. I got plenty of milk for the freezer as it was reduced to less than half price (I'm a pragmatic vegan - and I'm now looking forward to some creamy frozen-fruit milkshakes). The rest was reduced-price fruits and vegetables. We stayed in IKEA for 4 complimentary coffees (2 of mine were decaff).
My post-shopping meal of 782 calories spanned 10.10pm to 0.20am (whilst listening to the computer and putting the shopping away).
Over half my calories for today are from fruit. ETL compliance percentage is good (well under 10%). Monday's fat percentages were positively Atkins-like, but Wednesday and Thursday are very low fat (like Dean Ornish). I need some balance, that's for sure! For tomorrow, which is my high-calorie day, I predict
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Pump. 1 hour.
Shopping: 252p peanuts 165p skimmed-milk 50p spinach 45p red-grapes 41p mixed-dried-fruit 40p prepackaged-salads 35p asparagus 30p pickled-beetroot 23p cottage-cheese 20p pepper+olive 19p parsnip 16p chopped-onion 15p sharon-fruit 15p mango. £7.66
Veg: broccoli182 iceberg-lettce107 asparagus89 onion65 tomato-sauce50 red-pepper48 green-pepper34 =575 32.9%
Fruit: clementine640 sharon-fruit126 mango116 green-olives24 =906 51.8%
Legumes: TVP197 =197 11.3%
Nuts: peanuts21 cocoa-powder11 =32 1.8%
Animals: cottage-cheese40 =40 2.3%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1750, 103.5g protein. 40 is 2.3%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 16 June 2007 09:25 pm |
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Friday
After the gym Visited a number of shops looking for an MP3 playing-type device. A 1GB iPod is almost £50. The cheaptest non-Apple 1GB unit is £28. There were cheaper units at 512MB, 256MB and 128MB but I wasn't interested. Got home and got online (and got Nash on the phone and asked him to search online as well). I found a 4GB unit for £32(+delivery) and a 2GB unit for £27.50. He found a 1GB unit for £17.50 which I eventually decided to go for, so that's a project for next week when it arrives.
I was about to enjoy some food, I was already 4 or 5 hours due but then Matthew telephoned to advise of his presence, so off I went to meet him in the pub. I took some prepackaged salads with me to snack on (also had 1 Quaver from Matthew's packet and one chip ('a fry') from Rob's plate, but declined Matthew's offer to buy me lunch). Whilst in the pub with Matthew and Rob I discovered that my mobile phone MP3 player does indeed have a Search function after all (one of the reasons why I 'had' to buy an MP3 player). But that doesn't change the fact that my phone is only a 70MB device, so I'm still glad I've ordered a larger MP3 player.
Got home, had some food, went over to OA. After the meeting got into a difficult conversation with a couple of people. They are both working their steps now for OA (and have previous experience of working them previously at AA). I tried to explain why I wasn't doing the steps (i don't want to, and i am not at a desperate state at the moment) and they suggested that I'll never know peace and serenety and that OA is just for those doing the steps. I had tears in my eyes. I think they are wrong on both counts: the only requirement to be a member of OA is the desire to stop compulsive over-eating (it is one of the OA traditions!) and whilst I could see someone being driven out if they tried to undermine those following the steps, I don't think I did anything of the sort. Also, to suggest that all the people in the world who are not following a 12-step program of some sort cannot have found peace and serenty is a bit presumptuous. In any event the situation presents me with the opportunity to deal with life in a grown-up way, which is what I interpret the Steps to be a guide to - I just chose to go it alone at this point. The grown-up thing would be to let this matter go.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Fab Abs Killer Butt, 45 min Body Step [PM] 45 min cycling to OA. 2.5 hours
Shopping: 0
Veg: prepackaged-salad196 pickled-beetroot160 parsnip99 broccoli69 spinach54 green-peppers32 =610 28.4%
Fruit: clementine487 =487 22.7%
Nuts: peanuts790 =790 36.7%
Animals: skimmed-milk205 cottage-cheese18 =223 10.4%
Rubbish: Matthew-pub:fry25 Waitrose-sample:date-bread11 Matthew-pub:Quaver4 =40 1.9%
Totals: 2150, 103.6g protein. 263 is 12.2%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 17 June 2007 03:32 am |
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Saturday
For those of you closely following my daily calorie targets (presumably that will be none of you  ), I've been on a 4-day cycle (2150,1950,1550,1750) for a little while. Today I've decided to change this as follows: there will be variable-length cycles which are either (2150,1550,1550,1550), (2150,1550,1550) or (2150,1550), which therefore average at 1700, 1750 or 1850 respectively (calorie deficits of 20.9%, 18.6% or 14.0%). This should give me the flexibility to have a high day at the forthcoming night out at the end of June. Repeated low days should also allow me to develop some better coping skills than the mish-mash of late.
How did this particular low day go? Well it was full of rubbish food (at Aerobics, on the way home from Bletchley and at the festival). Just look at the shocking compliance percentage!
Had an early night on Friday to ensure an early start which was necessary in order to get ready and cycle to Bletchley to take part in an Aerobics Instructor's exam. I knew some people there (for example some of those on the Theory course last semester were now on the Aerobics course). One of the students distributed cereal and chocolate bars - I accepted a 'Chunky Kit-kat bar', eating half of it at that point (finishing it later in the day). On my way home I stopped at both IKEA (where there were 3 types of biscuits to sample) and ASDA, which had a wide variety of samples, including: chicken curry with rice, soya-based yogurt, white chocolate buttons, salami and choritzo.
My trip to Bletchley exhausted my limited-capacity MP3 player so I stopped at home to transfer more files and then headed off to the festival, where Matthew and Rob arrived a good 2 hours earlier. The weather wasn't great (alternating between sunny and showery). The bands didn't captivate me. I was interested in my friend's bag-of-snacks more than anything. I skimmed a prospectus of college looking for ideas of what course(s) to enroll on in September and wrote up last week's Salsa routine. Yes, I was bored. After 2 hours or so I decided I've had enough and went home.
Met up with mum who got good stuff at the market and sold some on to me (everything she bought was in lots of £1 - the amount I paid reflects how we split it).
I figured that NaturalReader's mp3 encoder isn't very efficient and found some freeware that would do a better job. Using variable-rate encoding files are now almost 4 times smaller, which makes much better use of the 70MB available on this mobile phone. I don't think I'll be running out of audio on my next outing.
Exercise: [AM] 90 min cycling to Bletchley, 45 min Aerobics exam, [PM] 60 min cycling to festival. 3.25 hours.
Shopping: £1 cauliflower £1 spinach 75p baby-corn 50p asparagus 50p courgettes 50p marrow 50p japanese-pears 50p red-onions 50p carrots 40p broccoli £0 iceberg. £6.15.
Veg: baby-corn204 asparagus151 beetroot81 parsnip71 iceberg-lettuce52 spinach32 =591 38.1%
Fruit: clementine110 =110 7.1%
Legumes: TVP164 =164 10.6%
Animals: beef-medalian50 skimmed-milk42 ASDA-sample:peach-flavour-soya-yogurt10 =102 6.6%
Rubbish: Aerobics:kitkat-chunky259 IKEA-sample:biscuits89 ASDA-sample:chicken-tikka-masala-with-rice65 festival-matthew:Nobby-brand-spicy-coated-peanuts54 festival-matthew:chocolate-biscuit43 ASDA-sample:salami30 ASDA-sample:choritzo21 ASDA-sample:milky-way-white-chocolate-buttons13 Sainsbury-sample:empandas9 =583 37.6%
Totals: 1550, 103.5g protein. 685 is 44.2%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 18 June 2007 03:50 am |
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Sunday
I've been trying to figure out my high/low day combinations some more. It makes sense to have Sunday and Wednesday as low days as I'm usually quite busy and don't have much time to eat on those days. One possible pattern is to have Tuesday and Saturday as High days, with all other days low. This gives one cycle with 2 low days (Sunday, Monday) and one with 3 low days (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday).
My first meal featured a tomato-ice-cream made with 600g frozen cherry tomatos and 250ml skimmed milk. I was only half-way through eating this when I developped an unsightly and uncomfortable red rash all over. This is the 3rd or 4th time this happened to me this week (one time it was with Whey powder, the other times with milk). I have to question the sanity of someone who is becoming increasingly aware that they are experiencing this rather predictable and repeatable reaction to dairy products and yet persists in consuming it. I was also a little bloated. I think the rash disappeared within 45 minutes to one hour.
The new body jam is a lot of chroegraphy to take in. It will take a while to get it. It was sunny on the way back so I decided to stop at Queens Court (public gardens) and sunbathe. I'm now listening to internet stuff (blogs I'm reading) whilst cycling to the gym and back and also whilst sunbathing. The sun went away so I went home. Cooked some broccoli and took it with me to eat between the gym and salsa. Also ate some peanuts for that meal. At my workout ran into someone from OA and tried to explain what happened on Friday, only to get into another difficult conversation about The Steps. At this rate I may not be going to my OA meeting this coming Friday. Salsa is enjoyable in parts but isn't quite as fan as it used to be. I can take it or leave it - that's what it feels like.
7 day food shopping total: 0.60 + 2 + 0 + 7.66 + 0 + 6.15 + 0 = £16.41
For my last meal (11.48pm onwards) I didn't want to eat heavy foods so I opted for the end of a tub of cottage cheese, some TVP with Morocan spices, some dry cereal (Shreddies-type) and some raisins. Meal was 389 calories and weighed in at just 214 grams. If it wasn't near bedtime I would have probably gone for frozen fruit, milk and vegetables.
Exercise: [noon] 60 min Body Jam [PM] 45 min Body Step, 45 min Body Pump. 1.5 hours salsa. 4 hours.
Shopping: 0
Veg: cherry-tomatos159 broccoli157 baby-corn92 =408 26.3%
Fruit: rasins264 grapes181 clementines79 =524 33.8%
Legumes: TVP79 =79 5.1%
Wholegrain: shreddies29 1.9%
Nuts: peanuts186 =186 12.0%
Animals: skimmed-milk192 cottage-cheese82 beef-medalian50 =324 20.9%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1550, 104.4g protein. 324 is 20.9%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 19 June 2007 03:33 am |
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Monday
Last night stayed up till 1am and this morning didn't feel like going to the gym (not the first time, on a Monday morning). Indeed it was a very slow start, first thing eaten at 1.15pm. Does that mean I skipped breakfast? Not sure. I was sufficiently tired to rest again by 4pm.
Dragged myself to the gym (leaving at 5.50pm for a 6pm class). The class didn't start on time as despite 10+ people ready and waiting in the Studio, I had to find a substitute instructor and ask her to instruct us - no-one else wanted to get involved. Felt this was an effective class but nevertheless twisted my own arm to stay for the next class (all-new body step tracks). Got into a panic 10 minutes from the end as I suddenly realised my mobile phone wasn't where I left it. Ran out of the studio and asked reception for assistance. Later on came back to the studio, located the phone (someone moved it - but not very far) and resumed the class.
At Sainsbury's, got two packets of poached salmon which where individually priced (reduced) at 80p and 449p respectively, yet buying them together meant I only had to pay 29p for the pair.
Animal percentage is running high for 2nd consecutive day. Today was a 3rd consecutive low day.
When devising my new diet I imagined it would be difficult to justify having 3 low days in succession as it only speeds up my projected fat loss by 10% (cpmared with 2 low days) which doesn't sound much compared with the pleasure of having a high day (which has 600 more calories, or 39% more calories). But a 1550-calorie-day isn't really a hardship.
Had a fair amount of milk today, but no more than 150ml at one time. I didn't experience any noticable rash. My current conclusion is: either it takes 200ml or more milk to get a rash, or the milk only causes a rash if first ingested after a no-dairy period of 48 hours or so.
Exercise: [PM] 45 min BOSU, 60 min Body Step. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: 29p poached-salmon(540g) 25p carrots 20p mushrooms. £0.74
Veg: cauliflower259 tomatos216 spinach156 iceberg-lettuce42 mushrooms14 =687 44.3%
Fruit: pear167 grapes151 clementines130 =448 28.9%
Nuts: peanuts60 =60 3.9%
Animals: skimmed-milk267 poached-salmon88 =355 is 22.9%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1550, 104.4g protein. 355 is 22.9%
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ObsessedwithFitness
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 20 June 2007 01:53 am |
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Hello Nir,
Just stopping by cause I have been away for a little bit. Thanks for the link in my diary to that website. I hope my pain goes away soon and I suspect its from running outside and uphill-combined with high impact aerobics and waitressing on my feet all day-I am a glutton for punishment this way! 
Anyway. I am so sorry to read about both of your encounters with OA people. How dare they?? They should know better, if its working for you, who are they to say when or if you will be at peace with yourself? Different things work for different people. I hope they come to learn that, and yes, its a grown up way to look at it. You should be very proud and I am sorry you must miss the meeting because of your feelings. I know how you feel. It stinks to be judged for ANY reason and yet, we all go through it and we all, On SOME level (if even small and harmless) do it too. Well, you are making huge progress, just know that! I mean, look at all you've accomplished JUST in the year I have read your diary! Lost bodyfat and weight! Toned muscle, felt better, delt with Nash on several annoying occasions that I would'nt have patience for (especially the phone situation a few months back) and your family (helped your brother turn a new leaf) read a million books, got certified to TEACH!!!!!!! Not to mention ALL THE PEOPLE NEW TO CPH that you helped point in the right direction -including me, more than a few times!!! For that, I thank you. 
I mean, come on, you have come a LONG LONG way!! Be proud, we are proud of you! 
OWF
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 20 June 2007 03:44 am |
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ObsessedwithFitness wrote: you are making huge progress, just know that! I mean, look at all you've accomplished JUST in the year I have read your diary! Lost bodyfat and weight! Toned muscle, felt better, delt with Nash on several annoying occasions that I would'nt have patience for (especially the phone situation a few months back) and your family (helped your brother turn a new leaf) read a million books, got certified to TEACH!!!!!!! Not to mention ALL THE PEOPLE NEW TO CPH that you helped point in the right direction -including me, more than a few times!!! For that, I thank you.
Thanks for writing, very sweet of you!
Tuesday
A high calorie day, a novelty after 3 low calorie days. Started the day with parsnip, courgette and peanuts to the value of 400 calories and headed to gym for Body Pump. Due to lateness decided to take my jacket and small backpack into Studio. Afterwards decided to take advantage of 'Personal Trainers Open Day' to have a chat with one about body fat %. I first asked him what I should aim for and was surprised by the high answer he suggested (14-15%). I asked if he was able to measure - he produced a caliper and we went searching for some privacy (as the consulting room was taken). The following were measured: Triceps: 6mm; Subscapula: 10mm; Biceps: 3.5mm; Suprailiac: 5mm. We then added these up (24.5mm) and inputted into ht tp://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/fatcent.htm which gave the answer as 14.2% (it seems to give that for any readings in the range 22.5mm .. 27.4mm). The trainer suggested I explore that website. It was then that it occured to me that I forgot my bag and jacket in the Studio. I was told off for entering in the middle of a Yoga class (and in any event my posessions have been taken downstairs, where I then collected them). On the way home got 6 punnets of cherry tomatos. Made note of the sunny weather  .
After going home for slightly longer than planned I ventured out, using my time in the sun to phone Tracy for a chat and then listen to a blog on my MP3 phone. The postman attempted to deliver my new MP3 player whilst I was doing Body Pump so I have to ask for it to be redelivered (bother). Mum showed up to sell me 4 green cabbages she got at the market and collect my sister's mobile phone (which I was unable to repair). I decided to skip the afternoon visit to the gym (it was pouring ) and had a nap instead. I've been taking my time putting away the vegetables I've purchased on Saturday but the job is now almost complete. Last meal (lightweight by design  ) was mung beans with Morocan spices (150 calories), squirty-cream (105 calories) and peanuts (87 calories). 342 calories and 16.6g protein in just 200g. Dairy consumption did not result in any rash.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Pump. 1 hour.
Shopping: £1 cherry-tomatos £1 green-cabbage. £2.00
Veg: courgette169 parsnip141 baked-potato110 cauliflower101 tomatos80 green-cabbage74 iceberg-lettuce68 =743 34.6%
Fruit: grapes258 clementines67 =325 15.1%
Legumes: mung-beans200 =200 9.3%
Nuts: peanuts676 =676 31.4%
Animals: skimmed-milk101 =101 4.7%
Rubbish: squirt-cream105 =105 4.9%
Total: 2150, 103.6g protein. 206 is 9.6%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 21 June 2007 04:59 pm |
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Wednesday
Food preparation is usually stressful on a Wednesday morning, when I have to get up early enough to make my course. I woke up at 4.30am to use the toilet and decided to go online instead of going back to bed. I don't know what it about me hating to waste food, there were some outer leaves of iceberg lettuce that I should have thrown away rather than washed and served to myself.
On my cycle ride to the course, Nash annoyed me by calling. This meant that I couldn't hear my interesting MP3 files which I planned to enjoy. The annoyance was compounded by the realisation that this was a conversation about nothing [and not in the good Seinfeld way]. I decided to fill the void by having a go at him for not having any interests. He suggested that he does have an interest, Salsa. I disagreed, suggesting it is an activity or a pass-time - he is not interested enough in Salsa to read an article about it etc. It is difficult to have shared interests with someone who has no interests. I was further frustrated when the conversation was over to discover that my MP3 player device (a mobile phone) badly handles MP3 files which are encoded with variable bit rate by jumping several minutes back. This is a problem because it also refuses to fast-forward these kind of files. I gave up and rode the rest of the journey in silence.
At the numeracy course, numbers are down from 5 to 3. The instructor decided that this would be our final encounter (the original scheme called for 3 more meetings) arguing that he cannot justify the cost given the low numbers. I guess I would have been upset if I relied on this course for learning. So that's probably the last time I'll see people from that course. I guess it means next Wednesday I get to do Body Step in the morning instead (unless that's when my test is scheduled - that has yet to be determined). On Friday I have a hospital appointment and subject to it not overrunning I may go to the nearby course location for a get-together I was invited to. It is catered so I hope I behave myself!
Spent much of my counselling session making sense of recent experiences with OA people, and feeling like an "outsider".
At around 4pm Nash called again, for his customary "I'm leaving work" announcement. Again I stopped what I was doing and what I was listening to in order to answer the phone for this non-conversation. I vowed not to initiate more conversations with him. I therefore did not call him later than evening. [as I write this, at 2pm on Thursday, it has been 22 hours since our last conversation - he didn't call me at 8.15am like he normally does]. I wish that like OWF I could "upgrade my friends". I guess I could scale down my association with Nash to the point where it is sufficiently rare that we have something to talk about every time we talk. Talking 5 times a day is certainly not conducive to that objective.
Combat was my first in 10 days, so there was no question of me making it. The instructor made the joke that my Kia is as loud as anyone else's put together. In the final power track (the one just prior to conditioning) there's a sequence that goes "R hook, L hook, R jab, R jab, L cross", where everyone is supposed to Kia on the "L cross". I Kia on the double R jab instead. There was a guy in combat who was obviously new to choreographed dance as he was all over the place in terms of timing, being on the wrong foot etc. After the class I saw him looking at the class timetable on the wall so I went over to have a chat with him (and we talked about what other classes were available).
At one point in the evening I was slightly ahead on protein and decided to have some cheese from the freezer (it is a kind of blue cheese, a bit like stilton. I forget its name). I had about 20g (80 calories). I've been thinking about that cheese for a while (cost me something like 60p - 80p at the time, weighs over a kilo, nutrient density 3, full of saturated fat, and because it is the kind of cheese that is mouldy to begin with, difficult to say whether it was getting worse whilst frozen). I thought about it when I came across precisionnutrition.com/course/day-2.html "If a food is in your possession or located in your residence, you will eventually eat it. (Whether you plan to or not, whether you want to or not, you’ll eventually eat it).". With the knowledge of how pathetically unsatisfying my 80-calorie serving was fresh in my mind, I decided to do The Right Thing - which for me was to dispose of the cheese. There will be more cheese in my life, I'm sure - but I don't need it to be in my home. I'm less scared of the squirty-cream because there is only 1/2 a can left - I'll just avoid buying more [again, it is all saturated fat].
Exercise: [AM] 45 min cycling to course/counselling, [PM] 60 min Body Combat. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: 20p pointed-cabbage. £0.20
Veg: cauliflower186 iceberg-lettuce156 tomatos130 carrot129 courgett117 green-cabbage20 =738 47.6%
Fruit: raisins110 pears88 clementines44 =242 15.6%
Legumes: mung-beans200 =200 12.9%
Animals: poached-salmon150 skimmed-milk94 =244 15.7%
Rubbish: blue-cheese80 squirt-cream46 =126 8.1%
Totals: 1550, 103.4g protein. 370 is 23.9%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 June 2007 03:30 am |
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Thursday
Bought tomatos and sharon-fruit on my way back from morning Pump and didn't feel as though much time passed before I was out to see Rob for a couple of pints (he was drinking, I wasn't). There was then less than 1.5 hours for me to enjoy on my own before my second visit to the gym. I was fine with the Body Step class but after half an hour of the Jam class I decided my heart wasn't in it and left. Snapped up some Broccoli at Sainsbury's and arranged for mum to pick me up in a bit. Got home and was surprised to find that the computer has crashed whilst I was at the gym - I guess I'll never figure out the how and why. Mum took me to the allotment and 10 minutes later dad showed up too. Yet we all had our own projects - if I wanted broad beans I had to 'harvest' them myself (and I did - getting two carrier bags' worth whilst mum was tending to lettuce plants nearby). I also got a small number of strawberries into the equation. Luckily mum reminded me I have a hospital appointment tomorrow - or I might have gone to the gym on auto-pilot!
There were no calls from Nash today. Mum thinks I've been, er, too direct, with him. Assuming he does not call me first, how many days will I survive before picking up the phone?
EDIT: I'll add that I had a skin rash in the morning after eating just these foods: cauliflower, wholewheat roll, peanuts. Now I've got no idea what that's about!
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Pump, [PM] 30 min Body Step, 30 min Body Jam. 2 hours.
Shopping: 50p broccoli(1.2kg) £1 tomatos(1.4kg) £1 sharon-fruit(9). £2.50
Veg: broccoli171 cauliflower100 tomatos68 iceberg-lettuce51 carrots48 green-peppers25 raddish1 =464 29.9%
Fruit: sharon-fruit224 clementines131 strawberries25 =380 24.5%
Legumes: mung-beans50 =50 3.2%
Grain: wholewheat-roll59 =59 3.8%
Nuts: peanuts297 =297 19.2%
Animals: skimmed-milk150 poached-salmon100 beef-medalian50 =300 19.4%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1550, 103.5g protein. 19.4%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 23 June 2007 03:05 am |
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Friday
Woke up early and packed some food as I was going to be away. Cycled to the hospital where I waited for a while whilst they were frantically looking for my notes, which they misplaced. I was seen by a consultant who, having seen my ultrasound was concerned about the long term prospects for my kidneys and has decided to go for a diagnostic procedure to be undertaken under General Anethstetis (first time for me). Also, I'll be required to learn some new self-administered skill that I'm not going to describe here just yet (I'll be taught this skill on Monday). So, I'll be in hospital on both Monday and Wednesday of next week. (I was also given lots of reading materials I have to go over before my procedure.)
I then crossed over the road and heads for the awards ceremony which had an attendance of about 50 people. After a relatively boring and longish ceremony (over an hour) the food was unveiled. I had three plates at the buffet. My digital scales prompted a pleasant conversation with an interested party. Later on I would add up the buffet foods and be shocked to discover they added up to 1058 calories (and 48.9g protein), leaving me with precious little for the rest of the day (but still recoverable!). I helped myself to the last nut on the plate so the organiser mentioned there were plenty more and showed me the container they came from. I put a couple of handfuls in a plastic bag which will no doubt feature in tomorrow's eating.
I bumped into mum by chance on my way home and had a brief chat. I then relaxed for an hour and headed towards mum's gym to use up a Guest Pass that is only valid in June. I was to surprise Jason, the instructor, who wouldn't expect to appear in the gym as he knows I'm a member of the other one. I had to be quick on my feet as he wanted to know why I left in the middle of the class yesterday and I didn't want to own up to being bored - I blamed mum. In this gym he does not teach a Body Step class, instead he teaches his own choreography - a more complex routine that challenges your memory. I think it is much better than Body Step (and given his skill and creativity, he is wasted on BTS where everyone is doing the same choreography!).
I wanted to experience the Power Plate equipment, which I've never used before, but no-one was available to demonstrate it for me so I headed away. As expected, it was unpleasant at that point (rain). At Sainsbury's I got some turkey thighs for mum (they didn't fit my criteria for lean protein, but I know mum works to slightly different objectives). Called Nash several times today. We did not speak of the missing days. I didn't appologise and he wasn't moody. Quality of conversation a bit higher than usual.
Having analysed the calories from the buffet, it appears the nuts accouted for 545 calories (52% of total calories for the buffet). If there were no nuts, I would have come in at 513 calories. Looking at the servings sizes for plates 1, 2, 3, they were generally escalating by the serving.
Food eaten after 2.45pm i.e. after the buffet: poached-salmon (50 calories), TVP (182 calories), cashew nuts (13 calories). Altogether, 245 calories and 33.7g protein.
Exercise: [AM] 45 min cycling to hospital/awards, [PM] 45 min cycling to mum's gym, 60 min Step. 2.5 hours.
Shopping: 0.
Veg: iceberg-lettuce58 tomatos58 cooked-carrots13 =129 8.3%
Fruit: buffet:pieapple84 buffet:red-grapes66 buffet:galia-melon33 buffet:cantelope-melon17 =200 12.9%
Legumes: TVP257 =257 16.6%
Nuts: buffet:cashew-nuts212 buffet:walnuts135 buffet:hazel-nuts114 buffet:almonds97 =558 36.0%
Animals: buffet:smoked-salmon90 buffet:roast-beef81 poached-salmon50 skimmed-milk43 =264 17.0%
Rubbish: buffet:mini-quiche68 buffet:danish-pastry33 buffet:coctail-sausage32 buffet:pringle9 =142 9.2%
Totals: 1550, 103.5g protein. 406 is 26.2%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 23 June 2007 03:14 am |
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| Today's reading materials were diseaseproof.com and foodrevolution.org
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 24 June 2007 04:53 am |
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Saturday
Another opportunity to re-visit the aerobics instructing course and participate in exams. Both girls were nervous but Sarah covered it up a bit better than Rachel. I was pleased that both passed their practical. The third examinee shared some cookies (I took two small ones) - however, she didn't want us (me and Mandy - who volunteered for the first 2 exams) to participate as she was shy/uncomfortable and wanted a small group of people she knew well. I won't find out how she fared until next week.
At IKEA I sampled some crisps but gave the cookie a miss. No samples at ASDA. Passed through market and got cauliflower. Briefly sampled a music event which I believe is staged to celebrate the birthday of Milton Keynes - my town (it is 40 years old - though it incorporates some rather ancient bits. Great Linford has houses that are 300+ years old; Wolverton was busy when railways first began; Bletchley is home to code-breaking of the Germans' Enigma machine at Bletchley Park and so forth.) Anyhow the event wasn't interesting enough for me so I headed home.
At 5.40pm mum asked me to get ready in a hurry for a shopping trip. We covered NETTO, ASDA and Sainsbury. I can now source 42 ice-cream cones for just £1, which is 2/3 of the price at ASDA and 1/2 of the price at Sainsbury, so I'm pleased. I did get some low-nutrient junk foods at ASDA too: falafel is a fried food, I believe; pizza is refined flour and cheese; and pork is - well, pork. Found some good podcasts and videos, for example:
ht tp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4562599795253377644&q=label%3Aidiot&pr=goog-sl
ht tp://www.diseaseproof.com/mp3/Healthy_Food_for_Your_Family.mp3
Well, a lot of calories (37% of total) from rubbish and animals today - primarily displacing fruits legumes and nuts (not that nuts are under-represented). So it is just as well that it was a high day. It'll be more of a challenge to integrate the left-over pizza on my low days but I'm unlikely to ignore the pizza unless I actually forget that it is there.
Exercise: [AM] 90 min Aerobics, 90 min cycle to Bletchley. 3 hours.
Shopping: £1 cauliflower(3) £1 ice-cream-cones(42) 60p peppers-courgette-onion 40p green-cabbage 40p apples 39p falafels(180g) 38p pork-kidneys 29p pizzas(315g) 20p chineese leaf lettuce 20p carrot,baby-corn,mange-tout 20p cabbage-carrot-broccoli-pepper-onion 20p kale 20p savoy-cabbage 20p watermelon 15p fennel 15p mushrooms 15p white-cabbage 10p blueberries 10p oyster-mushrooms. £6.31
Veg: cauliflower177 tomatos133 pepper-courgette-onion98 cooked-carrots96 carrot-babycorn-mangetout70 iceberg-lettuce52 chineese-leaf-lettuce28 celery20 oyster-mushrooms9 pickled-onion2 =685 31.9%
Fruit: blueberries63 watermelon17 =80 3.7%
Legumes: broad-beans19 =19 0.9%
Nuts: cashew-nuts299 walnuts85 almonds70 hazelnuts62 brazil-nuts55 =571 26.6%
Animals: skimmed-milk114 poached-salmon50 pork-kidney43 =207 9.6%
Rubbish: falafel242 cheese-tomato-pizza224 aerobics:cookies64 ASDA-sample:cheese43 IKEA-sample:sour-cream-and-chives-crisps15 =588 27.3%
Totals: 2150, 114.6g protein. 795 is 37.0%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 June 2007 03:14 am |
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Sunday
How predictable, if I have certain foods in my home, I will not rest until they're gone (i.e. eaten). In the most recent past this applied to the Falafel (which whilst are mostly chick-peas, which are healthy, also no doubt involved deep frying in oil) and those 3 pathetic mini-pizzas, notable for being rather poor (nutrition and taste). I wish I did not bother buying them - they weren't a patch on that tasty Pizza Express pizza I got the other day, which was at least tasty. Less predictably, the take-home nuts from Friday's buffet also got a similiar treatment. I mean, what is the urgency? I have plenty of nuts and seeds here (sesame, sunflower, flax, peanuts) and I don't behave like that around them, yet I just _had_ to find a way of fitting the last of my almonds into my day. Well, these 'unfamiliar foods' are now gone.
I got going at 7am for no particular reason (despite a 2am bedtime). I tentatively discussed the possibility of going to mum's gym but this seemed unlikely as it required some co-ordination between us. At 8.30am I got the call: the opportunity was there if I wanted to act quickly. I decided to go for it and by 9.15am I had eaten breakfast, packed, got dressed and cycled over. Mum got me into the gym (it was a special weekend) and showed me the Power Plate (a new piece of equipment) and then left me to play with it. I then did the Step class (with Jane) which was the reason I came - the choreography was ridiculously complicated and I was lost many times. It was really challenging for me, and I consider myself quite co-ordinated. So just as I remembered Jane's class, then. Apart from being quite expensive, the main reason I'll never join mum's gym is that cycling home is uphill and takes ages.
There is a Farmer's Market on the last Sunday of the month. I spent 10 minutes collecting 9 different samples, weighing and recording them as I went along. I took one sensible-sized sample from every stall that offered samples. Got into a bit of technical dificulty as the mobile phone I use for this purpose decided it was 'full'. It turns out that the Calander application only has room for 200 'events', and, unaware of this limitation I had some old notes hanging around that needed deleting. For example, there were some notes relating to a binge in late May 2006, specifying the weight of 4 large chocolate-chip cookies I consumed. I spent some time clearing things up and ended up with over 70 free slots, so problem sorted. It was then time to do Body Jam, which is exciting as it is only the 2nd time I'm doing the new choreography so I'm still fixating on the instructor rather than being in my own little world. Afterwards I joined the instructor for a shared moan about the 'state of things' in the world of the studio instructor (but the twist is that she doesn't know that I am probably a never-going-to-be-instructor, due to those issues). Later I would be delighted that I did much better than Friday. Friday's buffet (with 3 plates from the buffet and then some extras) worked out at 1058 calories. My 10 minutes at the Farmer's Market were a snip at 166 calories (dwarfed by my pizza/almond consumption today).
I wanted to chill. Unusually I didn't want to read or listen to anything challenging. Nash called and I didn't mind. Mum showed up to deliver 3 heads of iceberg lettuce and some cooked beetroot that she decided were surplus to her requirements. Quite how does someone know that they will definitely not require beetroot that has more than 1 month left before its best before date? I then managed to get ready just in time to only be slightly late for my afternoon workouts. Decided early on in the afternoon to skip salsa tonight. It felt like I'm falling behind on my BBC Radio 4 comedies, so I did some catching up.
7 day food shopping total: 0.74 + 2.00 + 0.20 + 2.50 + 0 + 6.31 + 0 = £11.75
Exercise: [AM] 45 min cycle to mum's gym, 30 min power plates, 45 min Step, [noon] 60 min Body Jam, [PM] 45 min Body Step, 45 min Body Pump. 4.5 hours.
Shopping: 0
Veg: cauliflower315 cabbage-carrot-broccoli-pepper-onion100 kale61 savoy-cabbage52 white-cabbage42 mushroom17 farmer-market:pickled-garlic4 =591 38.1%
Fruit: sharon-fruit63 red-grape3 farmer-market:raspberry2 =68 4.4%
Legumes: broad-beans150 =150 9.7%
Nuts: almonds86 =86 5.5%
Animals: poached-salmon50 =50 3.2%
Rubbish: cheese-tomato-pizza445 farmer-market:muffin44 farmer-market:cheese30 farmer-market:beef-lamb-sausage21 farmer-market:scotch-egg19 farmer-market:custard-tart17 farmer-market:honey-fudge16 farmer-market:brownie13 =605 39.0%
Totals: 1550, 103.3g protein. 655 is 42.3%
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trimB
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 25 June 2007 02:37 pm |
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If you ever get the urge to make your own falafel, you can bake it in the oven instead of deep-frying. Healthy chick peas without the fat!
I'm with you as far as compulsively eating "naughty" things if they are in my house. The best I can do is never to bring them there in the first place.
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voodoodoll
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 25 June 2007 07:28 pm |
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hey nir, i've been reading your diary for a while now and just thought i'd let ya know how great i think you are doing. i wish i had the willpower and the patience to count the calories in everything i eat (i'm terrible for inaccurate approximations). also , you must be so fit, 4 1/2 hours of exercise yesterday - wow!
just a little question actually, the gym I go to (banatyne in barnsley) does those Body Step and Body Pump classes, and i really want to go, but im not sure if im fit enough yet. the last thing i'd want is to run out of steam halfway through! could you give me an idea how strenuous they actually are? although i am quite overweight i think im pretty fit, i go to the gym about 5/6 times a week and can swim 100 lengths and row 10km in one go. guess im just asking so i dont make a fool out of myself!
Anyway, sorry for hijaking your diary! Good luck with your goals!
Bev
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 June 2007 07:57 pm |
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hi Trim,
you're right I should be more inventive with my legumes. I hardly ever grind them into a dip or try to bake/grill them anymore. Usually I feel acomplished if I bother to reheat them and/or mix them with spices. I should be a bit more adventurous.
hi Bev,
Body Pump is a really cool class because you are introduced to free weights without the expense of a personal trainer. There are lots of techniques to learn. The difficulty is completely dictated by the weights you chose. A one-hour class has 10 songs: (1. warm up 2. squats 3. chest press 4. back 5. triceps 6. biceps 7. lunges 8. shoulders 9. abdominals 10. stretching). When you enter the class you get yourself a step, a mat, a barbell, clips, weight-plates (and in some gyms also dumbells for the shoulder track). In most (but not all) gyms the plates are in kilos - there are 1.25kg, 2.5kg and 5kg plates. I recommend you do your warm-up with a 1.25kg plate on each side, possibly swapping to 2.5kg plates for the heavier tracks which are #2, (#3?), #4, #7. Feel free to stay with the lighter weights for the entire workout - don't be swayed by what other people are doing as they may have been doing the class for a while. Focus on learning the techniques - try to get a spot near the front where you can clearly see the instructor and they can see you. It is one of the best classes there is.
Body Step can stetch you in one of two ways: first it is an issue of co-ordination - doing moves in time, using the right foot. Don't expect to get everything right first time. It helps me when I do the same song as last time as I already know what is coming up. The idea of a body step class is that moves are not as complicated as some other choreographed step classes. Physically, you can vary the height of the step (most people start with 2 risers - you are then told to remove 1 riser, then remove to 0 risers for the various tracks - but you could do the entire class at the lower level if you wanted to!). There are also opportunities to increase intensity by jumping certain moves. So you could start your first class with 1 riser rather than 2. It is a good idea to be able to see the instructor - but just as good to be able to see experienced participators. This is because the instructor will be doing a "mirror image" of you, which can sometimes be more difficult to translate in your head to what steps you should do. Easier to simply copy another participant, who is doing the same as what you are.
You'll probably have more fun than you think. When I participate I can make both classes challenging for me - but that's because I use challenging weights and push myself. You can take the classes at your own fitness level.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 26 June 2007 10:49 am |
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Monday
Postman came early but did not deliver my parcel. Grrr. Then hospital told me they could only fit me after 1pm yet weather forecast website predicted poor weather (20mm rain and 25mph winds) for the afternoon so I asked for an appointment on a different day. I went for a fun Jam class. On way back got some mushrooms and unsuccesfully tried to do some research at the pharmacy (but failed because it turns out the item I wanted to learn about is prescription-only and therefore not on display - who knew).
Somebody sent me a link to xa-speakers.org/pafiledb.php?action=category&id=14 which has OA members speaking about their recovery. I downloaded them all and am listening to them sequentially. Felt lazy and skipped afternoon gym visit (what is it about Mondays?). Tomorrow is a high day.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Jam. 1 hour.
Shopping: 35p mushrooms(575g). £0.35
Veg: carrots125 tomatos54 mushrooms46 iceberg-lettuce25 =250 16.1%
Fruit: watermelon256 clementines180 sharon-fruit140 grapes11 =587 37.9%
Legumes: broad-beans435 =435 28.1%
Nuts: peanuts29 =29 1.9%
Animals: skimmed-milk175 banana-flavour-whey-powder74 =249 16.1%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1550, 103.5g protein. 249 is 16.1%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 27 June 2007 10:55 am |
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Tuesday
Still no MP3 player in the post (but postman did deliver a FRUTASIA apricot bar - 51% of it is dried fruit, by weight - the rest is mostly sugar (nutrient density 0  )). Body pump is supposed to be instructed by Michele, instead it was team-tought by Laura and Jo (both of whom have covered for her on their own in the past) and it was quite a full class - there was hardly any choice about where to stand when I arrived slightly late. In the afternoon went back for a much-needed nap. Missed the warmup for the circuits (just as well, I dislike it), ended up scraping my knees on the floor on the repeated 'obstacle course' challenge. One good thing about Circuits is that it is over before you know it. Last meal at midnight was Mackerel(50 calories) and peanuts(410 calories) (weight: less than 100g, calories 460) - I guess I shouldn't have saved so many calories for late at night. This shouldn't be a problem on Saturday when my high day coincides with the pizza night out. My plan is to eat 950 calories and 63g protein util 5.30pm (emphasis on vegetables), then meeting at Zizzi pizza restaurant at 8pm: order one pizza and tap water (nothing else), [weigh pizza, if no calorie info (which is likely) assume pizza is 250 calories per 100g and 10g protein per 100g] and then complete to 2150 calories and 103.5g protein when I get home.
Watched this program on the internet (requires broadband): charlierose.com/shows/2007/06/25/1/the-charlie-rose-science-series-obesity-nutrition
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Pump, [PM] 45 min Circuits. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: 0.
Veg: beetroot224 onion110 iceberg-lettuce94 marrow78 fenel37 green-cabbage36 celery28 =607 28.2%
Fruit: clementines263 sharon-fruit109 pear44 =416 19.3%
Legumes: broad-beans279 =279 13.0%
Nuts: peanuts621 =621 28.9%
Animals: skimmed-milk56 mackarel50 =106 4.9%
Rubbish: FRUTASIA-bar121 =121 5.6%
Totals: 2150, 103.4g protein. 227 is 10.6%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 June 2007 12:56 pm |
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Wednesday
As my numeracy course finished last week it was my first chance to do Body Step on a Wednesday morning since regular instructor Michele came back from her post-operation recovery. So whilst she has instructed me many times at Body Pump, I was looking forward to seeing what she was like at Body Step and conversely having never seen me there, she assumed I was new to stepping - SHE WAS soon be proved wrong .
The next part of my day involved counselling, a hematology appointment at the hospital and a gym workout and I predicted a long absence from home, so it was important to pack food for a long absence. So I came home to have lunch and pack food. My counselling session is now a bit of a haze to me but I never stopped talking and it was the end my time-slot before I realised. I got to hospital and was catching up with my food in the waiting room. This time I was seen by the most senior expert in the department rather than their collegue. She reviewed my case. I will continue to be monitored (blood tests in 2 months). She requested 3 stool samples for a test. A dietitian will also take a look at my diet in due course, which will no doubt be interesting.
Mum called to say LIDL are having their half-price fruit and vegetable sale so decided to cycle back from hospital via LIDL (despite it raining and LIDL being out of my way). I got some very reasonably-priced things. At this point I knew that if I cycled home I would be unlikely to want to venture out to the gym so cycled on towards the gym. I stopped at Sainsbury where I got lucky as produce has just been reduced (earlier than usual). I even found someone else's reciept which I used to credit my Nectar card with 66 points and claimed a free packet of toilet rolls (they were doing a toilet roll promotion to raise awareness of recycling). I spent the next half-hour in the gym changing room catching up with food. Body Combat was enjoyable (instructor said something to the effect she's noticed my recent absences). I wasn't expecting anything from my visit to Sainsbury on the way home but out of no-where they had a large amount of pickled-herring-with-onion to dispose of. Each jar was reduced from 189p down to 15p. I needed mum's help transporting my loot home.
I got home just before 9.30pm. I was tired and had plenty to do, including dividing the large quantity of herring into 50-calorie portions for freezing. It took longer than expected. I finally went to bed at 4am! This hopefully explains my absence from the forums.
Exercise: [AM] 60 min Body Step, [PM] 60 min cycle to counselling/hospital/LIDL/gym, 60 min Body Combat. 3 hours.
Shopping: 300p herring+onion(20x280g) 39p tomato 37p cauliflower 32p broccoli 32p celery 23p mango 19p sweet-potato 16p prepackaged-salads(4) 5p aubergine 4p passion-fruit(4) 4p carrot/baby-corn/mange-tout 4p rocket 4p celery 4p squash. £5.23
Veg: sweet-potato54 marrow49 pickled-onions48 prepackaged-salad43 iceberg-lettuce35 carrot/baby-corn/mange-tout31 broccoli30 rocket29 chinese-lettuce27 =346 22.3%
Fruit: clementines163 mango160 apple94 pear75 passion-fruit25 =517 33.4%
Legumes: TVP33 =33 2.1%
Nuts: peanuts253 =253 16.3%
Animals: poached-salmon150 skimmed-milk70 beef-medalian50 pig-kidney50 pickled-herring49 =369 23.8%
Rubbish: DISCOVERY-mexican-promotional-trailer-sample:tortilla-cheese-fried32 =32 2.1%
Totals: 1550, 103.5g protein. 401 is 25.9%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 June 2007 07:20 pm |
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Thursday
Woke up before 8am with less than 4 hours sleep and tried to get ready. Missed my regular Body Pump to make my 10am hospital appointment but there was some confusion as the nurse wrote it down in her diary as 1pm (I'm certain it was 10am - this is what I was oferred after I declined the 1pm appointment for Monday. she obviously got confused). Anyhow after a delay I was seen anyway. I was shown how to use a catheter. 29cm of tubing is inserted through the eye-hole in my penis. Mind you, this is nothing compared to my surgery under general anathetic which now has a date - it is scheduled for this coming Tuesday. I will receive a quantity of catheters for daily use in a shipment tomorrow. Cycled home for lunch and much needed rest (not a nap, but a lie-down).
At 2.30pm had more food and cycled to college to take my numeracy test. This was a multiple choice exam taken online. There was some initial confusion as the guys looking after us didn't realise that we would be using paper for our arithmetic "oh, you won't need that". Don't you just love those curves life throws. That got sorted quickly. Anyhow I got 40 out of 40 (100%) as I expected. I had 45 minutes and decided to squeeze another visit to LIDL (with their current fruit-and-vegetable sale) before making my afternoon workout. Normaly I do step and then jam. On this ocassion I went for the afternoon Pump. Got some pork kidneys on the way home. Got some cooking and eating done. I had a small fire inside my microwave which was annoying as I had to throw away both the sweet-potato I was looking forward to, and a lightweight and durable red plastic container that originally housed a 'Christmas Pudding' which I've been using regularly since Christmas 2002 or 2003. I've grown quite attached to the red container which was now unfortunately melted and had to be discarded. It is funny what we get attached to. Nice to know my smoke alarm is working. Had an early bedtime (11pm) to catch up on Zzzz. Had no time for CPH today either!
Exercise: [AM] 45 min cycle to hospital, [PM] 45 min cycle to test/LIDL/gym, 30 min Body Step, 60 min Body Pump. 3 hours.
Shopping: 62p pork kidneys 32p broccoli 29p cucumber 23p mango 17p swede 12p sweet-potato. £1.75
Veg: broccoli140 cauliflower138 pickled-onion110 prepackaged-salad90 mini-pumpkin48 sweet-potato28 swede18 =572 36.9%
Fruit: clementine205 mango164 grapes83 =452 29.2%
Legumes: TVP10 =10 0.6%
Nuts: peanuts151 =151 9.7%
Animals: pickled-herring140 poaced-salmon100 skimmed-milk82 pig-kidney43 =365 23.5%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1550, 103.8g protein. 365 is 23.5%
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Sassykat
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 29 June 2007 11:37 pm |
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You are always helping out others Nir (including myself) and so I just wanted to stop by and wish you all the best in your health endeavors and I will say a prayer for you for your upcoming surgery, that you may be safe, have a good outcome and that you feel as little anxiety over it as possible. Take good care Nir, and know that you have helped many people and affected their lives for the better!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 30 June 2007 04:47 am |
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Sassykat, thanks for your wishes and prayers!
Friday
For the second time this month someone has (unsuccessfully) used my name, address and date of birth in an attempt to impersonate me and obtain credit and this is unnerving. I tried to make a phone call about this but I'll have to follow it up on Monday as they didn't get back to me during the day. Despite the postal strike my batch of urinary catheters did arrive (because they used a private courier firm to deliver it).
Decided to skip the first class (a 'toning' class - infinite repetitions with hardly any weights) but make the second one (choreographed aerobic dance: body step). Unusually I decided to stay on 2 risers for the entire workout, ignoring the instructor's suggestions to take things down. I felt justified in doing so as someone else (another exile from the gym I used to belong to, incidentally) routinely does without victimisation. (Assuming one does not fall down and injure themselves, the higher step makes for a more effective workout for those who can handle it, and the choreography is hardly complicated here.) I hope I don't get into too much bother with the instructor though because I like her.
Mum took me to LIDL where 60% of my spend was on produce, the rest was a last-minute decision to expand my stock of nuts.
I spent perhaps an hour catching up on the phone with a friend from my old gym. Definitely one of the highlights of my day. Finally had a moment to briefly look at CPH, though I'm not finished yet.
I was tentively going to OA provided the weather wasn't too off-putting, yet when mum made the call I decided to tag along with her to ASDA, where I was rewarded with some bargains, notably apples. Between ASDA, IKEA (where I scavanged a sweedish meatball and drunk 6 complimentary filtered coffees) and Sainsbury I spent almost 4 hours with mum - in this respect I'm luckier than my other siblings. In addition to my shopping mum gave me some spare garlic. At ASDA we wasted 10 minutes attending a live knife 'informational' (you know the kind: "I'll also throw in X, Y and Z") - I was rewarded with a take-home 'juicer' (2-inch piece of plastic you apparently insert into a ripe orange and hope for the best) and a 'spiral garnisher' novelty knife which screws in and slices a fruit/veg as it rotates. Mum almost spent £23 on the elaborate knife set but decided against it and left it in the shop. There was news today that my brother may be going to Denemark. About OA: I've been involved with all things OA now for 8.5 months and on balance I am grateful for the experience. If I had nothing going on I would have liked to attend the face-to-face meeting, despite my multi-dimensional involvement elsewhere (online loop daily reading, ocassional online meeting and my daily use of the tool of physical abstinence). Yet there are definitely some non-trivial issues that are more likely to come up in a face-to-face meeting, such as where do I fit into OA given my current attitudes towards tools vs steps, of my desires for emotional and spiritual growth and my self-will and lack of desperation. Am I up to addressing such issues head-on or would I prefer an easier life.
Technically Quorn is a fungus, not a legume, but I seem to want to classify it as such. Search me for a good reason though. Tomorrow is a high-calorie day but as I'm reserving the calories for my evening pizza, I must pretend it is a low-day for most of the day. Making this a 4th low day in a row (until the evening!).
Exercise: [AM] 45 min Body Step. 0.75 hours.
Shopping: £3 apples(10kg) 159p pistachio 99p walnuts 96p broccoli 74p cauliflower 69p aubergines 60p pointed-cabbage 41p courgettes 30p strawberries(227g) 30p peppers/beansprouts/carrot/chinese/broccoli/bamboo-shoots/cabbage/onion(600g) 29p swede 29p dry-roasted-nuts 23p mango 20p quorn-chicken 17p avocado 14p sweet-potato. £10.90
Veg: broccoli131 peppers/beansprouts/carrot/chinese/broccoli/bamboo-shoots/cabbage/onion103 cooked-carrots102 swede64 cauliflower52 prepackaged-salad45 sweet-potato43 cooked-marrow28 aubergine23 chinese-lettuce22 DISCOVERY-trailer-sample:jallapeno1 =614 39.6%
Fruit: mango222 strawberries60 apple35 =317 20.5%
Legumes: quorn-chicken-style102 DISCOVERY-trailer-sample:refried-beans13 =115 7.4%
Nuts: pistachio-nuts248 =248 16.0%
Animals: pig-kidney50 pickled-herring50 beef-medalian50 IKEA:coffee-with-skimmed-milk30 IKEA-scavange:sweedish-meatball26 =206 13.3%
Rubbish: DISCOVERY-trailer-sample:tortilla-chips25 ASDA-sample:bread-mayo-sandwhich25 =50 3.2%
Totals: 1550, 103.5g protein. 256 is 16.5%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 July 2007 12:34 pm |
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Saturday
Got up early and had a 200-calorie breakfast before my workout. Then had a long shower (on account of my night out). Bumped into Eve (who still works at the gym I used to go to in 2005-6) and we had a long chat. I then so a money-van which was playing the 'under-attack-call-police' alarm, so I called the police for them. At the market bought a huge pineapple for £1. I weighed the 2 halves separately and it came to 3.7kg! Tended to fruits and vegetables that still needed storing after yesterday. Some potatos had to come out of the fridge to make room. Had an afternoon nap. In a last-minute change of plan decided that my pre-restaurant-meal calories-and-protein allotment could be manipulated to also accomodate some alcohol. I had 4 shots of vodka  (that's 4x25ml=100ml, i.e. 222 calories).
Technically none of the people who did my course when I did it were there, but I knew a surprising number of people - too many to count, including people who volunteered, people who were my gyn instructors past/present, those on the current course (that I therefore met in the last couple of weeks), even a current member of my gym who I didn't know was a fellow instructor [ps my unusual being-unable-to-recognise-faces issue cropped up again].
I am a compulsive overeater, so undue attention was on the food aspect, naturally. I visited the restaurant at noon to check their policy on toppings (you can swap a veggie topping for another one at no extra charge, or pay 80p/120p for additional veggie/meat toppings). Based on this I spent some time in the afternoon researching my choice. When I walked into the restaurante I already knew what I was ordering: a Napoletana (Tuna, smoked salmon, anchovies, olives, capers, dill, motzerella and tomato) with the dill substituted for green chilies. It weighed 446.9g so I estimated it at 1117 calories and 44.7g protein (leaving me with 80 calories for the rest of the day). I divided it in 4.  It took around 15 minutes to consume. The entire meal/social experience was 2 hours 45 minutes. I was amazing that some people did not finish their foods - some only appeared to have eaten about 1/5 of their plate of pasta!
I spent a large proportion of the day thinking about food, but precious little time actually eating (relative to a normal day). With the exception of alcohol drinking (1 minute) and pizza-eating (15 minutes), the rest of the day was eating nutrient-dense foods very similiar to a low day. So it feels like I've had quite a long run of consecutive "low days" (Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) and of course Sunday will also be a low day - so I feel a little cheated. I was relieved that alcohol did not lead to a food binge on this ocassion. This is the first time I risked alcohol since December 31st (making it 6 months without alcohol). Ironically, for the 'social' effect provided, those 222 calories of alcohol were more 'value' than the calories I devoted to the pizza or indeed the pistachio nuts - so long as I don't get drunk to the point my abstinence means nothing to me perhaps alcohol can have a place in my food plan. I rounded the day off with 80 calories from pistachio nuts and was in bed by midnight. What an ugly compliance percentage (ironic really, because my food for most of the day was a picture of compliance).
4th consecutive day where I'm not up-to-date with CPH
Exercise: [AM] 45 min Body Combat, 60 min Body Pump. 1.75 hours.
Shopping: £1 pineapple. £1.00
Veg: broccoli206 cabbage83 tomatos80 courgettes77 aubergine45 cauliflower44 =535 24.9%
Nuts: pistachio-nuts206 =206 9.6%
Animals: skimmed-milk70 =70 3.3%
Rubbish: Zizzi:Napoletana-with-chillies1117 vodka222 =1339 62.3%
Totals: 2150, 108.3g protein. 1409 is 65.5%
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 2 July 2007 02:10 am |
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Sunday
Lazy start to the day. Chatted to instructor after jam class. Mum took me to LIDL and ASDA. I didn't want to go to Waitrose but relented. Later on this detour would mean I would be running late in my preparations for the afternoon gym visit - and then decide to skip it altogether (thanks mum) and instead finally caught up with CPH forums.
7 day food shopping total: 0.35 + 0 + 5.23 + 1.75 + 10.90 + 1.00 + 4.35 = £23.58 (higher than I expected!)
Bother, an arithmetic error caught too late in the day meant I consumed 1621 calories instead of the 1550 target. Oh well. Incidentally if I didn't do the extra work to do my percentage breakdowns (below) I would never have noticed my mistake.
Exercise: [noon] 60 min Body Jam. 1 hour.
Shopping: 171p apple-blackcurrant-sugar-free-squash 96p broccoli 37p cauliflower 35p pears 29p swede 24p sweet-potato 23p mango 20p courgettes. £4.35
Veg: potato256 cauliflower115 sweet-potatos90 broccoli82 courgettes59 swede56 =658 40.6%
Fruit: pineapple407 mango90 =497 30.7%
Legumes: quorn-chicken92 TVP33 =125 7.7%
Animals: skimmed-milk141 pickled-herring50 pig-kidney50 mackerel50 beef-medalian50 =341 21.0%
Rubbish: 0
Totals: 1621, 103.6g protein. 341 is 21.0%
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