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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 12 July 2006 09:50 am |
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I've just restocked on sodium sacharin (erm, not that healthy, I know). The date is April 2009 (why? the store is conveniently near my workplace, which won't be my workplace for much longer). The quantity I have is 8 x 1200 pills. 9600 (that doesn't include one at-least-half-full container I'm using at the moment). I've just realised that's roughly 10 a day. I'm now wondering whether I'll have any left over in 2009. Oops.
Monday Yesterday (Monday) was fishcakes 12.4g protein, 222 calories. On the face of it, 22.3% protein is ok by me (I would accept this rate from veg/legumes) but actually what they've done is started with perfectly good fish 40-80% protein, then coated it in batter (=empty calories). Of course it is all relative. It wasn't a flapjack.
Some other forum members are counting their calories and I've been moved to do something in that direction. Using my approximate 25-calorie point system, my pear this morning was 5 points. Yikes. I will not get obsessive though. I'm not going to count it if I have one nut here or one teaspoon of that there. But I'm not going to eat 75 calories of something and pretend it has no calories. ETL is not magic. My aim is still to have minimal administrative burden though - I hope this doesn't take too much of my time!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 13 July 2006 11:46 am |
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Yesterday (Wednesday) was a rest day (after 15 consecutive workout days). Tomorrow will also be a rest day unless I can motivate myself be at the gym for a 6.45am cycle class. Tomorrow (Friday) is my trip to London which involves alcohol and food swimming in fat.
Wednesday's non-plan foods: Bamba snacks, wheat crackers ("ingredients: wheatflour, water" - a very simple list. 2 points if you can guess exactly what those are.) 75 calories organic Salmon, 50 calories Haddoc, 63 calories Trout.
Salad for today and tomorrow (made 7 x 1lb portions this morning):
raw: (iceberg, romaine, endive, green pepper, cucumber, tomato, satsumas)
cooked: (stringless beans, red cabbage, mushrooms, swede, potato)
Thursday's plan: 3 x 1lb of salad; some oranges; 4 x 60g chick peas; 4 x TVP (each is 50 calories 7.2g protein); 100 calories sardines; 75 calories smoked salmon.
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Skipperdox
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 July 2006 10:13 pm |
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My "Nir" moments don't usually occur with food items. I have a lot of these moments with clothes or little junk items. Target stores have a whole section of $1 items in the front of the store. I frequently find myself grabbing 8 pairs of flip-flops (or thongs to the Aussies), or citronella candles, or mini first-aid kits, or bicycle reflectors. Then I look at my cart and think "what in the world am I doing?".
Fortunately, my local supermarket does not seem to have a discount food section, or I would do the same for food. They do have a section of seasonal items that will be discounted towards the end of the season. I have bought flower pots, picnic dishes, Christmas decorations, etc. always in greater quantity than needed because they're such a deal. Actually, none of the above items are necessities, so buying a single item means I am buying more than needed.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 14 July 2006 12:36 am |
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Thursday went mostly to plan. I did get two small chocolate bars on my way home through the bus station: a Fudge bar (15p, 110 calories) and a Caramel Fredo (15p, 95 calories). I was 'overdue' on calories (assuming that I intend to feed them evenly throughout the day) but the clever thing would have been to have brought more fruit along with me. I craved chocolate, I did the clever thing of only buying a small quantity, and let's face it - if I got 100g of chocolate I would have eaten it, so I was saved by the the small portions. I don't think I'll ever be ok with chocolate.
I get my vegetables relatively early in the day. I had 3lb of salad: at 8am, 12pm and 2pm. Nothing particularly 'heavy' since then. At 9pm I weighed 58 kilos. I was weighing 60.5 kg a matter of days ago - I think it is all about how many water and vegetables are in my system rather than any remarkable fat loss. I won't be counting calories tomorrow evening but I'm expecting to put on a pound (3500+2000 = 5500) or perhaps 1.5 pounds (3500+1750+2000=7250) - which will then take a small number of weeks to shed. Hopefully it will be worth it. One way or another, I'll be recording the experience.
Nir Moments - I like that. Got 6 heads of broccoli, £0.15 each. And 18 x packs of 6 eggs, also at £0.15 each. (That's 108 eggs, 2.5p per egg.) I guess I'll once more be going vegeterian and have a lot of egg whites for the next couple of weeks.
Friday's food plan: 3 x 1lb salad, probably some egg whites. Oh, and let's not forget this:
The Grand Reception Room of Scott's Reception Suite is now the Locarno Suite. Its modern name derives from the formal signature and sealing here of the Locarno Treaties, initialled at Locarno in Switzerland in 1925 and designed to reduce strife and tension in Europe.
As you walk up the Grand Staircase to enter the Locarno Suite, piano music will welcome you to the Annual Robinson Reception.
Canape Menu
Mini red onion and goats cheese tartlets
Honey mstard and rosmary sausages
Smoked chicken and lemon muffin with tarragon mayonnaise
Chive pancake with creme fraiche and onion confit
Fresh salmon tartare croutes
Homemade raisin bread with gorgonzola, fig, rocket & pesto
Mini fruit kebabs with chocolate sauce
Seasonal fruit crumble with creme anglaise
Champagne
Veuve Delaroy Brut NV, Champagne, France
I'll probably check in again on Saturday. Hopefully this is a one-day thing and not the beginning of binge-mode!
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trimB
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 July 2006 02:11 am |
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| That's great that you have the menu in advance. I've found advance planning helpful for events like this. For example, you could plan to fill up on the fruit kebabs (without the choc. sauce) first... then get some nibbles of the salmon... then hopefully you'll be tapering off enough to be satiated by just a bite of everything else. Of course too much champagne causes one to forget the plan altogether. We're rooting for you!! :)
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 July 2006 03:28 am |
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| It is 4 hours since I stopped eating and drinking. I'm home and the scale says 59.5kg. At this point I'm still too drunk to decide whether I regret the extravagance!
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 15 July 2006 11:07 am |
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Sober enough to type and spell. Or did you use the spell check feature? ;)
Peter
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zenobia
Moderator
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Posted: 15 July 2006 05:46 pm |
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i hope you had a good time! sounds like the champaigne treated you well! it must have been all kinds of lovely and posh! so cool, so so cool...
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 16 July 2006 06:17 am |
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Lots to say but not much time. This morning I clocked a new low record of 57.5 kilos. Most interesting. Did my evening of posh food and drink (which was rather enjoyable) unwittingly a foray into Zig-Zag territory? or are my recent fat-loss efforts simply chosing to catch up with me now? And an additional alternative: we all know that alcohol dehydrates. Perhaps this is what happened?
I was allowed to take one guest. I took my friend Philip (I mentioned him before - he has no food or weight issues because he generally has absolutely no interest in food unless he's hungry. His food choices are generally not particularly healthy, but he only eats when he's hungry. He doesn't know how lucky he is.) I asked him wanted to do in London - he was interested in Greenwich - so we went there, first to the Maratime Museum (everything about boats/ships/travel at sea/exploration) and later to the Royal Observatory (everything about timekeeping, clocks, lontitutde etc.). I packed food "defensively". In 14 hours prior to 6.30pm (a rather long day) I consumed 1000 calories (low number to allow for more calories in evening - but not too little that I'd be hungry), 32% from protein (because I didn't trust them to supply enough protein), about 4lb of vegetables and fruit altogether (fibre and stomach-stretching effects).
Saturday: felt energised (full glycogen stores? enthusiasm about number on scale?) and got a good workout. Feasted on relatively more freebies than usual around the town centre shops (including a Krispy Kreme); Cycled to see a friend (spending time in a pub, a food store, an outdoor music festival, and another pub where I was gathered with 3 friends and introduced to a new one). In the food store, made the most significant mistake of the day - almost 600 calories of Bombay Mix! I also drunk alcohol - vodka. That's twice in as many days, the last time I drunk before this was April 28th (2.5 months ago). Did not get drunk though. New person is a girl - she is my (male) friend's sister's new (lesbian) girlfriend. She appeared to share more interest in food with me than with anybody else. We played a rather fun game where I'd present a food item to her and she'll have to guess what it was. I was carrying a rather impressive array of foodstuffs:
wheat crackers (special brand), rye crackers, brazil nuts (chopped into small pieces), sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, wheatbix cereal (broken into powder), Textured Vegetable Protein (dried - not hydrated), golden pork crunch (lower-fat high-protein pork rind snack), small amount of vodka without mixer, egg white omlete. On many ocassions one of the 'clues' involved her tasting the food item (she got a shock tasting what she thought was "water" :-) ).
It wasn't an ideal diet day. I'm more concerned about the bombay mix than the vodka, or the freebies - but I'm glad it wasn't really a binge day. Tomorow _should_ be even better - I expect I'll be back on track. With it being 3.19am I might be a bit tired at the gym, if I make it. My workout starts in 6 hours. eeep!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 16 July 2006 10:28 pm |
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Sunday. Today is not yet over, yet it is probably worse than the last two days! First of all, I have become rather good at scoring freebies around town. Salad is never a freebie - the most healthy freebie I ever see (on ocassion) is fruit, followed by lean-ish meat. But most of the time it is sweets, cakes, doughnuts and sugared drinks I'm talking about.
Secondly, I did buy a lot of sandwiches, salads and other things. I don't know why I "treated" myself. I could have just bought one thing but I wanted the variety. Clearly this 'variety' was more important than whatever "goal" I usually have for myself.
Thirdly, even though immediate consumption of the food in "Secondly" was expected and inevitable, something THEN occured which upset me, so I also saw myself using those foods, which were to be an indulgence, also used as "comfort foods". It was classic.
I'm not impressed.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 17 July 2006 12:18 am |
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It is warm today (despite being 9pm) and barely tolerable with the window wide open. Band UB40 is playing in a park a mile away and the sound is drifting in this direction. I was thinking about listening to my hypnosis CD - but how?
On the plus side, today's binge didn't include the 15 or so bananas I purchased. Instead I froze them (as per Dr Fuhrman's suggestion) so we'll see how that goes in the days ahead.
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suenos
Moderator
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Posted: 17 July 2006 12:52 am |
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Nir wrote: ...scoring freebies around town. Salad is never a freebie - the most healthy freebie I ever see (on ocassion) is fruit, followed by lean-ish meat. But most of the time it is sweets, cakes, doughnuts and sugared drinks I'm talking about.
That reminds me of one of my mother's "drug awareness" lectures during my teens. "First", she'd say, "they'll offer you free drugs..then when you get hooked they'll start charging you":) It does sound like your event was awesome. Now that it's over are you still planning on your vegan experiement?
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 17 July 2006 01:25 am |
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| The Vegan Experiment is currently side-tracked given that I've purchased 108 eggs on Thursday night, so I see lots of egg white omelets in my immediate future. Mind you, Dr Fuhrman has a 90% Rule. So if I were to aim for a 2000-calories-per-day diet, that's 200 calories - or 15 omelets, 50g of pure protein. (No, I don't think I'll even reach half this level on a daily basis!.) Textured Vegetable Protein is one of the cheapest (concentrated: over 50% of calories) sources of protein. That is probably going to have more impact on whether I'm vegan than Dr Fuhrman, at this point. But I think I'll keep animal protein as a low % of my overall intake - for one thing, because it is low in fibre and is "low nutrient density". When Broccoli or Cauliflower are plentiful, it is always a non-brainer. So I guess the answer is: it isn't happening as envisaged, but it is there in spirit.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 17 July 2006 10:30 pm |
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at 50p ($0.90) McDonald's ice-cream cone is hardly a bargain in the world of ice-cream, but if I'm trying to avoid a binge, it seems worth the premium. 157 kcal, 4.4g of protein and that's it.
There were no bargains at the supermarket so I grabbed a jar of sliced beetroot for 20p and ended up eating it on the way home (100 kcal).
Oh, let's not forget 8 x 10g praline cream filled heat-shaped chocolates (£0.30, 320 kcal) on the way home. For no particular reason. I guess I'd better stop eating if I'm hoping to hit my calorie limit for today.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 18 July 2006 12:27 pm |
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As I've been recording my weight in the morning for the last few days in order to see how my Friday evening outing will affect affect my Weight (Fri 58.0 Sat 57.5 Sun 58.0 Mon 59.0 Tue 58.0) I guess I can't really conclude anything too meaningful - except that I'm clearly no longer reading 60kg in the mornings anymore!
I observed that wheat bran has 1 gram of fibre per 6 calories. That's more calorie-efficient than any vegetable I can think of (and I looked up a few). That doesn't necessarily mean I'm switching away from vegetables and onto wheat bran, but...
Today (Tuesday) started with a wheat-bran egg-white tandoori flavoured microwaved 'bread' (25 calories, 4.2g protein), a 130g red pepper and... a McDonald ice-cream cone (157 calories, 4.4g protein).
The guy at McDonalds told me that the ice-cream machine wasn't working yet as he had only just switched it on, and would I "come back in 10 minutes". I literally couldn't as my coach was due in 7!. I tried my luck again 5 minutes later and sure enough the machine was working. I got my cone and hid it in a tupper-ware box placed deep in a carrier bag so I could get onto the coach (I'm 100% sure the driver would have refused me entry if I was holding the ice-cream cone in my hand) - and then proceeded to eat it, sitting on my seat on the coach.
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suenos
Moderator
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Posted: 18 July 2006 07:39 pm |
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| Forbidden salads in the sauna, hidden ice cream cones on the coach...where will you strike next:D?
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Corina
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 July 2006 10:18 pm |
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| Nir, you're SO bad! Luckily you can get away with it, because I always manage to get scolded at the library just for carrying a water bottle! Jeeze!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 19 July 2006 12:03 am |
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I spent my lunch hour thinking about ice-cream. I went to a "Tesco Express". A very small version of a much larger supermarket, which therefore only seems to have the expensive lines and not the budget ones. Ice cream started at £2 etc. Ended up at the trusted large supermarket. In a logical extension of yesterday's Beetroot jar, I grabbed a tin of chopped tomatos (hoping that there was still a functional tin-opener in the cutlery drawer: because I've already taken my personal one home). For an extra indulgence I was toying with the following ideas:
- buy one litre of ice-cream (68p, 760 calories) divide it into 5 portions and only consume one [but can I trust myself?]
- buy one packet of basic choc-ices (37p, 10x87 calories), eat 2 (2x87) and throw the rest away immediately
- buy a peach-flavoured yogurt (8p, 80 calories).
I was leaning towards the yogurt, but there were some cut-up Ginger-Bread Men that got in my way (estimate: 100-150 calories). I ate three fragments and decided that this was enough "treats" and put the yogurt back.
Back in the office the tin-opener was present and correct. The tinned chopped tomatos (15p, 400g, 80 calories, 4.8g protein) seem like a good buy in terms of saved labour, all-year-around availability, protein content. I should use them more often [I've had several tins at home and not got around to opening them!]. Ideal for making salsa, I guess. I blended in some Mustard and some Tandoori spice and it was lovely.
Going through bedford on the way home, another McDonald ice-cream cone (157 calories). And a Caramel Fredo (95 calories). It was easy to contrast the two. The ice-cream was so much more worth it than the filled chocolate bar!
At the supermarket on the way to the gym I picked some medeterenian vegetables. 480g so how many calories do you think? I was thinking 150 and I was way out. It was 300 calories. The ingredients suggested that 2% of the product (by weight) was olive oil! So that's about 10g or 90 calories. Still doesn't quite explain it.
At the gym, a free muffin! (estimate: 400 calories).
At home, frozen banana (those are great straight out of the freezer, especially today. basically it is banana-flavoured ice-cream but non-fat. - at lunch it was 32 degrees celsius in the shade). Let me convert it... 89.6 farenhight. Ah, that's what you lot mean by "90 degrees".
I haven't added it all up but I guess I should go easy for the rest of the day. Maybe a few egg-white omletes if my protein is low.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 19 July 2006 12:00 pm |
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Wednesday
Somewhere along the way I finished all 15 frozen bananas. Yummy but dangerous in their own "Dr Fuhrman said I can have as much fruit as I like" way.
McDonald's ice-cream machine wasn't ready this morning. No matter. Instead I got one litre of Neopolitan ice-cream and managed to not touch it for 10 minutes, until arrived in the office and divide it into 10 portions (each is 100ml, 46 grams, 75 calories, 1.2g protein). Had two portions already.
Despite availability of ice-cream, I'd like to see myself ration my calories (it should be 88 calories per hour until around 5pm) and no, that doesn't mean one portion of ice-cream per hour, because I also want to see myself eating my 3lb of veggies and egg-whites. (the protein target is 5g per hour)
15-ingredient salad mix for today, Thursday and Friday:
raw: round lettuce, little gem lettuce, green pepper, red pepper, mushrooms, aubergine(eggplant), apple, kiwi, pear, grapefruit, pickled onion, olives; cooked: broccoli, red cabbage, celeriac
Last edited on 19 July 2006 12:20 pm by Nir
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 20 July 2006 06:34 pm |
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Of my 10 x 75 calorie portions of ice-cream, I had 7 of them (more than 500 calories) yesterday (Wednesday), leaving 3 (225 calories) for today. Today was challenging because I woke up and had a meal at 3am [an orange, a grapefruit, a boiled egg (white only) and a tin of tomatos - altogether 200 calories. Yet I didn't want to adjust my formula for "feeding in my protein/calories evenly throughout the day" - so that meant having to be a bit more patient until lunchtime when things evened out.
Having to 'fit' those 750 empty calories into my eating yesterday and today has reminded me that ice-cream, calorie-for-calorie, does not fill you up when compared with (say) salad.
On a positive note, yesterday made friends again with my favourite wholegrain (yes, airpopped popcorn!) we've been strangers since around the end of may - almost 2 months!
Yesterday I could have had one of two muffins. One was 400 calories, the other was 488 calories. Both were reduced to just 9p. I walked away!
I contrasted my old food processor and my new blender by putting 60 grams of cooked chick-peas (garbanzo beans). To be honest not too much difference. The blender let a few get away, the mixture came out a bit more 'wet' out of the food processor. I suppose not a fair test because blenders are best with 'wet' things. I then mixed in some lemon juice for a Humous-like result.
I have a 3-tier steamer, so I hard-boiled 18 eggs in much less time than it usually takes me to make "microwave omeletes". And let's face it, I always tend to lose a bit of egg white when I'm separating eggs, so that takes care of that problem too. Nice change anyway, haven't had boiled eggs since March?
I'm excited about the possibility that I might be into making healthier food choices again, rather than trying to see how much ice-cream and chocolate I can fit into my day. Time will tell.
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trimB
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 20 July 2006 11:04 pm |
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Nir wrote: Yesterday I could have had one of two muffins. One was 400 calories, the other was 488 calories. Both were reduced to just 9p. I walked away!
HOORAY for baby steps! Here's hoping it's a new habit for you...
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 July 2006 11:44 pm |
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Saturday
Well I've had a few good days in a row, but today I slipped again (an unintentional Zig-Zag or Lapse day, I guess). It was salad-assembly-time again this morning, a time-consuming yet necessary task. Then off to the gym for the morning workout. Body Pump (weight training class) was good (managed to use 25 kg in the back track). My friend has been absent for almost 2 weeks now - he's spending more time with his wife - this means I don't hang around for a chat in the Sauna so have more of the day to myself. The next class was Cycling - I took it easy. Perhaps because until that point in the day (10.45am) I've only had 200 calories? (or looking at it another way, 300 calories - I had 100 calories overnight, though I counted the 2am-4am feedings as yesterday, with 7am onwards as today.
Well, if it was the calories, shame the cycling class didn't come later on in the day after I've eaten everything.
//www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2006/06/29/big_dance_event_feature.shtml
//www.bbc.co.uk/lifestyle/tv_and_radio/dancinginthestreet.shtml
After the gym I was off to participate in "BIG DANCE CLASS". I knew I was late and didn't think I'll be allowed in, but I was. This is an attempt to break the Guiness world record for number of people in a dance class. I missed most of the class so had to pick up some moves on the fly. There was a stand selling Beligian Waffles with syrup nearby. While I was there I grabbed 3 free samples worth at least 100 calories (not all at once).
At the nut stand I grabbed various samples of cake. These were amazing.
At Krispy Kreme I didn't make an attempt to pretend to be a customer. So I was turned down: "you don't get a doughnut unless you make a purchase". Never mind - I still had too many calories regardless.
Nothing at Millie's or at M&S. Came back via nut stand for more cake. (I've written these as 50 calories altogether - I think I'm deluding myself!).
Then some shopping: tomatos, apples, seedless grapes, canned fruit. Went past Holland & Barrat to see if my Soy Protein Isolate was on sale (as I missed it the last time that it was). Unusually for them, they were doing samples: Glazed Ginger (dressed up as a dried fruit, full of sugar), some snack food I don't know the name of (I think of them as japaneese crackers but could be way off) and a generous portion of Bombay Mix. I estimate 250 calories for all 3.
Then mum oferred to take me to some stores I can't walk to. I have an interest this week in stuff in jars and tins. I got back with quite a selection:
fruit things [tropical fruit coctail, fruit coctail, pineapple pieces, peach slices]
vegetable things [gherkins, pickled onions]
legume things [garden peas - going by their shape and their protein content, I think they qualify. I prefer to buy them from a particular store, where the nutritional info on the tin reads: "per 100g drained weight: Energy 49 kcal, Protein 4.6g, Carbs 7.0g of which sugars 3.6g, Fat 0.3g of which saturates 0.1g, Fibre 5.1g, Sodium 0.2g". I've looked at other tins of Peas elsewhere and they're never as low as 49 kcal. Perhaps the numbers on this tin are completely wrong? Perhaps the manufacturers looked up cooked peas in a 'standard book', forgetting that the tinning process is different to home-cooking. Compare this with calories for Broad Beans - freshly cooked vs tinned/frozen to see what I mean. Anyhow when eating these peas I'll assume the tin is correct]
grain things [sweetcorn - the grain that people like to think of as a vegetable. Well, they're wrong aren't they]
Right, so I've been thinking about Tiramisu for a few days. I was eyeing it up earlier in the week, but instead got some Custard Tarts (eating the custard and discarding the pie crust - just 36 calories per small tart this way!). Well, one of the shops I visited had Tiramisu on special offer (49p instead of 79p for 2 x 80g pots). The box didn't have calorie information. Decided to treat myself.
Ate one when I got home. Then calculated the calories (250 calories per pot.) Then couldn't stop myself from eating the other one too! They were nice but 500 calories!! If the lesson earlier in the week was that ice-cream wasn't worth it (value-per-calorie) then Tiramisu is even harder to justify!
Finally walked to the supermarket to see if any produce was available at a bargain. Nothing was. But there was a Chicken & Stuffing Sandwhich. I could probably have resisted most other sandwiches but I love stuffing. Yes, it had mayonaise. Well, I only ate 1/4 of the bread, but the total calories in that sandwich are 437 - must have eaten at least 200 calories.
It all adds up. If I assume the cake bits were 100 calories (still probably a low estimate) I have mistakes totalling 100+100+250+500+200 = 1150. The last two things (500+200=700) were not even freebies, I paid £££ to over-consume those calories. Contrast that with just 525 calories of food I ate "intentionally" (and even then not all of those are nutrient-dense) and a picture is emerging!
Mind you, the big picture is: if I can stop eating now, I've only eaten 1675 calories on paper (there are some scraps of fruit/veg omitted and soe low estimates, so could be as high as 2000) so provided I stop now not all is lost.
I think this has something to do with it being a weekend.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 24 July 2006 01:51 am |
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Sunday
Woke up and weighed myself at 57kg. Haven't seen a number this low since the end of May. The scale certainly plays with my mind, rewarding me for yesterday's mistakes with an apparent loss!
Called mum to say that her favourite wholegrain bread was 1/2 price. She asked me to guard the 3 loafs until she was able to drive over. She treated me for my compensation with a 33g slice of cheesecake. It was a bit like a Strudel, with Quark cheese filling and a very flaky outside. I estimated 125 calories (which is a low estimate).
I didn't know the cheesecake was coming. While hanging around I was intrigued by the smallest 'cake' in the bakery. It only costs 15p so I decided to try it. Weighing 10.7g and made from nuts stuck to each other with chocolate covering, so I'm estimating it as 50 calories.
1pm - 3.15pm. There are three branches of Millie's (soft-dough cookies) within 1/2 a mile of each other in the shopping centre (mall). I was checking them out during the week and there were no freebies since last Sunday - but today they all had baskets with cookie fragments. Each of my units approximates to 25 calories. My estimates were: 4+4+4+4+2+4+3=25 (25*25=625). Of course, I'm probably understimating on each ocassion so it could be a lot more calories than that. I was doing it by sight, assuming each large cookie is just 200 calories / 8 units. (Not all at once - there were 4 identifyable journeys. All more or less on my way.)
Majadra? That's what it sounds like anyhow. Mum gave me something she cooked made up of rice, lentils and vegetables. The frozen 'block' was 400g. I broke it into 4 pieces and refroze 3 individually. Heated and ate one block (estimating at 100 calories) which was quite nice (but had to spice it up a bit).
Seedless Grapes - one of today's bargains. 350 grams so lets say 200 calories. Banana - another of today's finds. So far managed to only eat one of the three. The other two are in the freezer.
It is coming up to 11pm and calories stand at 1900 (but the nature of my estimates means it could be a lot higher). I've spent the last 5 hours keeping out of harm's way by cooking and preparing vegetables and eggs for the next few days - so it'll be relatively easy to stick to The Plan if I'll "let myself" be sensible. Protein total is still pathetic (65.7g: I usually aim for 90g - 120g) so may eat a few more eggs later on. Apart from the 18 I hard-boiled this evening, there are only 6 uncooked eggs remaining from the batch of 108 I got last week. That means the "egg vacation" is almost over - I'll probably be done by Tuesday.
50+125+625 = 800. At least 800 calories from cakes and cookies today!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 July 2006 12:46 pm |
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Monday
Day went quite well until 8.20pm and then it took just 30 minutes and 40p to ruin it. I must keep vigilant, must be aware of my goal, and I need some sort of "this is worth it" pyramid memorised, too. Ok, here it is:
Did very well in the morning. At 12.25p opened a tin of Tropical Fruit Coctail which was only a problem because the calories from the fruit (140) and then an hour later the calories from the juice it was in (75) meant that I wasn't supposed to eat again till 3pm (and there was only 0.8g of protein in the whole tin). Lovely array of fruit and I'll have it again - though probably divide it into sub-portions and put a little in each salad, or something.
4.45pm on way home, chocolate shop 'Thornton' seemed to have a tray out. I have one. It is a chocolate with orange cream filling (I estimate 40 calories). Which then led me to make an unscheduled stop at another shop where I found a box of raisins for 25p. This isn't a bargain as such, 41p buys me 500g of raisins (1500 calories). But 25p buys 42g of raisins (125 calories) which is handy because I don't have to worry about the danger of 1500 calories in my house! I also reasoned that this gives me plenty of energy for my gym workouts.
8.15pm I'm out of the gym, and can eat again if I like. I go to the supermarket on the way home. In the refrigerator there are Smoothies for 20p (down from £1.99). Not seen them before. 104 calories per pot and there's 4 pots in the pack. Ingredients all seem ok - fruit juice, fruit concentrate, fruit, yogurt. Shame about the calories and the low fibre content, but I want to try this product whilst it is cheap. I also go the bakery. They have pairs of Danish Pastries down from 79p to 39p - but they have a deal which means buy two packs and instead of the regular price of £1.58 you pay just 20p (1/8 of the price). I get one pack of Apple pastries and one of Apricot pastries. No information on the packets (calories or weight) but I estimate 400 cals per 100g and after paying I weigh and it turns out each pastry is about 100g, so total damage would be 1600. I break off a small sample of each. I then have another fragment of each. At this point I'm disatisfied with the dryness of the pastries contrasted with the calorie level. I'm not sure how strong-willed I'll be, so I leave approximately 1 1/4 Apple pastries and 1 1/4 Apricot pastries in the shop and walk away as quickly as I can. Damage there was just over 500 calories. Smoothies are more "worth it" by comparison, though obviously it would have been better if I didn't have them (or had less). Total damage in 1/2 an hour is 950 calories, and I end up having over 2400 calories that day - well over "calories out", however optimistic I am about calories expended through activity.
The pyramid idea: cookies are more worth it than pastries; ice-cream is more worth it than cookies; smoothies are more worth it than ice-cream; low-fat yogurt is more worth-it than smoothies etc.
I was 57.5kg on Monday morning, so naturally my body plays with me again by letting me be 57.0kg on Tuesday morning. Arghhh!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 July 2006 04:01 pm |
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New salad mix:
raw: romaine lettuce, round lettuce, little gem lettuce, red pepper
tomatos, gherkin*, pickled chilli pepper*, satsuma, apple
cooked: broccoli stalk, white cabbage, red cabbage, swede, beetroot*, potato, chick peas*, sweetcorn*
* means it came out of a tin, jar or (in the case of the beetroot) a packet. That's 5 out of 17 ingredients.
With 17 ingredients, calories per 100g for some is in the teens (swede, lettuce, cabbage) and some around 100 or more (chick peas, sweetcorn) it can be tricky to estimate calories and protein. I reckon my 400g serving of salad is 100 calories and 5g of protein.
I last reviewed my calorie-counting system around mid-June. So how has it evolved in the last month and a half? About 4 days easily fit on an A4 page, as I'm using a compact system. Let's take a look at what I've written up to now (12.30pm):
Tue 25-7-06 550 [weight=57.0] 645 3.3g egg(0.5) 1g veg(1) apple(2.5) 750 5g salad(4) 840 1g hotChocolate(0.5) 1005 3.3g egg(0.5) 4g majadra(4) 1220 5g salad(4) [22.6g (10:31) 17 (11:06)]
What does it mean? First the date (obviously) and my weight (if I remembered to weight myself - I don't always). The underlined numbers are times in 24-hour format. Calories are written in (brackets), rounded to the nearest 1/2 unit (a unit is 25 calories), if I'm counting the food towards my protein intake, I estimate the protein in front of the food, so "3.3g egg(0.5)" means I've eaten some hard-boiled egg-white which I estimate at 12.5 calories and 3.3g of protein. "1g veg(1)" is rather non-specific nibbling at assorted vegetables while preparing a salad, which I'm estimating to average at least 17% of calories coming from protein. Periodically throughout the day I calculate statistics to see how well I'm doing. I put them in [square] brackets. At this point I've eaten 22.6g of protein, and 17 units (17x25=425 calories). Today is a bit unusual, usually I compile statistics a bit more frequently. The numbers in brackets indicate what time the figures take me up to, assuming a constant rate of feeding.
Protein: as I don't count all protein in all foods, I go for a minimum amount of protein (90g - about 1.5g per kilo of body weight), allowing myself to eat more but trying to track at least this amount. I stay awake for about 18 hours (6am-midnight) so I use the formula: P/5 + 6. P=22.6 gives 10.52, which converted to (hours:minutes) is (10:31)
Calories: my calories are just estimates, I don't count condiments and other small bites and I probably underestimate at other times. So I'm just going for a minimum number of calories. I was going to use my "unadjusted RMR" (1460) but I've changed to using TomV's formula of (12 x pounds) which gives me 1507. I always go over my minimum figure - it is just a guide to help me not undereat or overeat by much during the day. The formula, therefore, is U/3.33 + 6. U=17 gives 11.11, which converted to (hours:minues) is (11:06).
At 6am in the morning, before I've eaten anything, P=0 and U=0, and the formulas both give (6:00). I can eat something sensible to take me through to my next mini-meal. Well, that's the idea anyhow.
When I'm going to the gym for a workout, I eat enough so that my proteins and my calories are both eaten-up until a time _after_ my workouts are expected to finish: so I've given myself enough energy for the workouts.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 26 July 2006 01:45 am |
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4.45pm McDonald's Ice-Cream Cone 175 kcal (yep, more worth it than yesterday's pastries). {No freebies at Holland & Barret or Thornton's}
8.30pm Supermarket: Celery was cheap so got some. Sampled tiny amount of free cheese. Discounted cakes luckily weren't cheap enough to tempt.
So, after dodgy Saturday, Sunday and Monday, I'm finally back on track (or am I at the mercy of those setting prices of discount items at the supermarket?)
Shame the Body Fat Analyser at the gym is out of paper. At the weekend my body fat% was reported as 11.4% but today it thinks I'm 9.6% (Woohoo, single digits again!) - a printout would have been nice :-)
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 26 July 2006 09:52 am |
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Nir wrote: The pyramid idea: cookies are more worth it than pastries; ice-cream is more worth it than cookies; smoothies are more worth it than ice-cream; low-fat yogurt is more worth-it than smoothies etc.
All very logical, but useless to someone like me. I either eat healthy foods and wouldn't consider cookies, pastries, ice cream...
Or I would eat cookies, pastries, ice cream... without such considerations.
I've never known moderation though it's always been my goal.
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 26 July 2006 11:38 am |
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Moderation is a virtue I also strive towards.
You can eat carrots with raisins, but I'm not sure I can trust myself around dried fruit. I can buy a 1/2 kilo bag of raisins for 41p but I'm not sure having 1400 calories of raisins at home is a good idea. I've been burnt too many times.
What is more "worth it" calorie-per-calorie, raisins or low-fat yogurt? I can currently get 75-calorie servings of both. Of course there will be more low-in-calorie, more nutrient-dense options that win hands down over both of these, and I won't have to worry about quantity.
For me I think raisins are more "worth it". Not entirely sure though.
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 27 July 2006 10:08 am |
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If it's a draw, choose plant kindgom over animal.
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 27 July 2006 11:51 am |
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Wednesday ended up OK but there were a few blips.
6.45am pineapple juice 75 calories. At 50 calories per 100ml, this is a lot of calories for sugared water. Sure it tastes very 'pineapple-y' but seriously, next time I need to drain the tin over the sink rather than reserve the juice!
5pm detour to LIDL to stock up on Garden Peas, a new favorite vegetable protein source. One 19p tin provides approx 125 calories and around 12g of protein. About 37% of calories from protein. I'm not 100% sure whether peas technically fall into the "legumes" category, but if they are then protein-wise they're very good compared with other legumes! Bought 24 tins, so I was carrying around 24lb of extra weight on top of my normal bags!
6.25pm mum offered a lift due to my heavy load. We ended up touring the supermarkets together and I skipped the gym (this time, breaking an 11-day straight run of gym attendance)
7pm snapped up a 1/2 price custard tart, but ate some of the crust (the idea is to only eat the custard - watch it!). Only 25 calories, but when the custard is 100 calories per 100g and the crust is 500 calories per 100g it sure skews the figures.
7.30pm apricot pastry again! Remember when I got 4 pastries for 20p and ran out of the shop leaving about 2 1/2 of them? Well, mum has bought a 'job lot' of 60 pastries (for £3.00): 40 apricot, 20 apple. Evidently she has room in the freezer and dad likes them. We shared one apricot pastry (I got half, eating most of it - damage was 175 calories). That was today's biggest mistake. Drill this to yourself: PASTRIES ARE NOT WORTH THE CALORIES! When will I learn?
Held back on eating for a few hours, passing some of that time preparing food. Finished the day eating (at least) 1750 calories and (at least) 96g of protein - day successfully rescued.
Thursday plan
Salad mix:
raw: romaine, celery, eggplant, tomato, carrot, orange, apple
from prepackaged salad: red cabbage, white cabbage, other leaves
cooked: swede, sweet-potato, potato
from Jar: gherkin, pickled onion, chili, black olives
from tin: pineapple
I also have Garden Peas, Red Kidney Beans, Chick Peas, Boiled Egg Whites and Popcorn (and back-up tins of Peach and Pineapple).
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 28 July 2006 02:44 am |
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Thursday continued
Exceptionally good workout: Body Combat followed by Body Pump. Eaten about 500 calories (and 26.5g of protein) between 3.40pm and 6pm (because at that point I was "3 hours behind" on my eating) - chick peas, peaches, red kidney beans, popcorn, garden peas and a small piece of bread. This probably gave me the exceptional energy I had for my 6-7.45pm workouts. And/or perhaps having had a rest day helped.
Around 5ish was thinking about buying a small amount of chocolate but I 'crushed' that thought. There were no discounted cakes. My total is 1600 calories (98.5g protein).
The only non-ETL food were 9 hard-boiled egg whites. At no more than 125 calories, they make less than 8% of total calories, so I guess I can invoke the "90% rule"!
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ObsessedwithFitness
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 28 July 2006 10:39 pm |
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Nir,
Hey. Your diary is so entertaining and hilarious!!:D It's awesome! Thanks for reminding me that weight loss can be fun and not OCD style! Also, what is a chomp? Is it chocolate? I LOVE PUDS-they are to die for and are made by Cadbury-and I can no longer find them anywhere but Aruba!:(
As for my pyramid-as I have always thought of foods in "is it worth the calories for the taste?" and for me-Black Raspberry chocolate chip Frozen Yogurt beats everything else in the dessert world with chocolate a VERY close second.
Also, I see you have been taking Body Pump classes, they are killer! Thats great to hear! Have you tried Body Attack yet? I remember you said your gym wont get certified for that-why is that?
I am dying to know what a CHOMP is
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 July 2006 12:29 am |
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Hi, I'm glad you've enjoyed the read - I aim to please :). A chomp  is apparently (having done some research) a chewy caramel bar, chocolate-coated. It is mostly interesting to me because it has the retail price printed on it, so opportunistic shop-owners cannot jack up the price. It is not worth the calories though.
As far as my pyramid goes, I keep coming back to popcorn and how it often seems to beat fruit in the worth it stakes. There is just so much of it, and it takes a while to eat - wheras fruit seems to be gone just like that. So I guess my 'worth it' isn't just about a divine taste experience, but also whether the food satisfies in a practical way, or whether it leaves me hungry.
Today I've been thinking about high-calorie foods in terms of time  : If I'm going to allocate myself 1500 calories over 18 hours (don't worry, I always eat more than that when all is said and done) that works out 83 calories an hour (250 calories for 3 hours). So I can look at this 125-calorie chomp and say: Oh dear, if I eat this tiny chocolate bar, I can't eat anything else for 90 minutes - is there something more satisfying that I'd rather eat instead?
A friend asked me today why I don't become a fitness instructor to which I replied that the courses to do so are rather overpriced. She suggested I was wrong and gave me the phone number of the local college, where the first couple of courses, leading up to Exercise To Music qualification cost about £370, which is between 1/2 and 1/3 of what I thought the cost was. So I might enroll - I'll think about it next week. I don't anticipate making a career out of it, but it might be worthwhile.
Why does my gym not have Body Attack? Well, there are other gyms in the area that have Body Step and Body Jam, and my (low-cost) gym saves money by not paying the license to run these, so I guess a similiar rationale applies. Mind you, in that respect my gym has more in common with the other gyms in the area - I don't think a single gym in my town runs this program! It was fun to do it (the one time that I did it).
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 July 2006 12:43 am |
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Friday
No gym today: that makes no gym twice in 3 days. I do have an excuse though: my coach home was delayed by traffic. Additionally (and this may or may not be related) I came to Bedford bus station to witness a traffic accident scene: a double-decker bus had hit a 2-door car. There were 2 or 3 Ambulances at the scene. The enterance to the bus station was almost entirely blocked - which made it difficult for buses to keep running.
Mum was going shopping and offerred a lift. I got 112 satsumas for 2p each (bargain!). 36 tins of Garden Peas and 12 tins of Chopped Tomatos. Then I got home and realised that, given that 2 days ago I got 24 tins of Garden Peas, I don't actually have very much storage room! Only just managed to squeeze these items into the cupboards.
Foodwise, I'm doing well. Non-ETL: 55g of yogurt and 5 egg whites (non-ETL total is under 100 calories). I have about 300 calories to enjoy before bedtime, I'm sure I'll be sensible.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 30 July 2006 06:22 am |
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Saturday
Day started on a positive note, with protein-rich nutrient-dense foods. My breakfast at 8am was around 300 calories, designed to keep me energised till past my workouts (Body Pump and Spin classes). Freebies at the weekends are my weakness so I tried to avoid them. I didn't walk around looking for them - instead did my chores (queueing at the Post Office to send a Recorded Signed-For letter; shopping for fruits and vegetables at the outdoor market: got Kiwi Fruit, Green Peppers, Cauliflowers, Tomatos, Yellow apples).
At the supermarket, got 300g of black cherries reduced to just 40p, though some were overripe. I found somewhere to wash them so I could tuck into them almost straight away. One of the supermarket employees approached me. "I do favours for you, will you do a favour for me? Could I have £5000 on Monday?" WHAT THE F*** !!! It took me a short while to figure this out: the guy wasn't just anybody, he is the guy who is going out with my ex-girlfriend (we split up July 2005). I'm kind-of supposed to know what he looks like but I actually identified him from the Name Tag. Still, in what world do you ask a stranger for money? There were even bits I'm missing out that make it possible it was a threat. Hmmm.
Got home with limited damage (cookie: 75 calories). My brother is working in Paris and I haven't seen him or talked to him since my birthday 3 months ago. He called and we had a nice long chat. He started a diet today. His weight gain for the last year has mostly been the result of a free canteen at his workplace (deliberately pigging out there). He still intends to eat there at lunch but asked me what foods to pick.
My day was fine up until this point!
Then, at 3.30pm my mum shows up (I've seen her more often than usual this week). I hadn't noticed what a bad influence she is on me. Given that I wasn't going to go out of my way looking for freebies: _She_ mentioned M&S - but then instead she took me somewhere even worse: Hotel Chocolat. As we arrived at this chocolate shop, somebody has just paid for chocolate and were presented with a tray, asked to pick a free sample of chocolate. We were nearby and also oferred. I weighed my free sample. OMG it was 80g! That is a minimum of 400 calories. Hello? Since when are free samples offerred in these sizes? It is criminal. I don't think I've ever eaten that much chocolate so quickly.
Could it get any worse? Sure can. Mum was struggling to finish her's, so I offerred to help (another 100 calories), it was then my turn to show mum a source of freebies she wasn't aware of (cookies 75 calories). We then happened by a brand-new unopened box of Jaffa Cakes! Is someone trying to test my resolve? I decided to show mum what my gym looks like. Whilst there we had complimentary coffees. I opened the box and had 2 Jaffa Cakes (about 100 calories) and left the rest of the box for the gym staff (2 Jaffa Cakes in less than a minute, there were 46 more (over 2100 calories I really didn't want to take home with me). Mum is unable to calculate her BMI as she has no idea what her height is (people do shrink as time goes on) so I used the gym equipment (she's 1.56m). Went home - it isn't really possible to avoid cookies on the way though (another 75 calories).
Adding up the damage: 75+400+100+75+100+75=825. Oh dear!
Napped (my strategy to avoid eating); walked again to supermarket buy 90 eggs (I had a hunch they'll get stuck with a quantity); listened to my Hypnosis tape; napped again; started eating again (healthy) after midnight. Total now stands at 1825, so I have managed to rescue the day. Protein is a pathetic 65.1g though.
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 30 July 2006 08:10 am |
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I remember a candy bar called Picnic. I brought 13 home from England to enjoy one a week for 13 weeks! (Don't think they lasted 13 days.)
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 31 July 2006 01:18 am |
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Sunday
Relatively uneventful for most of the day. 300 calorie breakfast and some good morning workouts at the gym (saw my box of Jaffa Cakes - staff have demolished over half of it already. Didn't have any more). My resolve to eat healthy was strongest in the morning and slowly eroded throughout the day. Only picked freebies that were literally on my way. First cookie fragment was 125 calories but I wised up and threw half of it in the bin. A small piece of chocolate at Hotel Chocolat. A sample of a chocolate-chip Brownie at Starbucks. By 4.30pm I was an hour behind on my calories, so not too much damage.
Bought lots of fruits and vegetables at a reduced price in the supermarket (spent more than I usually do). I have pears, nectarines, grapes, bananas, brussel sprouts, pak choi, chineese leaf lettuce, spring onions, red and yellow peppers, strawberries, apricots, green apples [plus everything I had before]. Froze grapes and bananas in 50-calorie portions in the ice-box at the top of the small fridge.
Things started to go wrong at 6pm: I was at The New Inn pub (the Local of the friend I was visiting). The landlady Diane was celebrating her 40th birthday and the festivities included complimentary food. I had a Beef Burger with BBQ sauce and some Roast Pork with Apple sauce. Both were served in buns but I threw away most of the buns. I didn't weigh the food so I have to go with a very rough estimate that these two cost me 500 calories altogether.
On the plus side, in order to visit my friend I have taken my bicycle for its 3rd outing this year (btw, I cycled more often in 2005). 15 minutes one way and 18 minutes back. Mind you the route is not flat, sometimes you climb and other times you're free-wheeling downhill, so unlike my early-morning 45-minute RPM class (riding much of it at 80-90%, a rather impressive record for me, for which I credit my breakfast and my 22 minute warm-up on the stairmaster), I did not break out in a sweat - not even a little bit.
I know I need to come up with some good affirmations - I can then repeat them. Something about mainly eating nutrient-dense foods would be good. Anybody want to lend me their 2nd-hand affirmations?
It's 10.15pm. Not sure if I'm done eating yet. Total is approx 1713 calories. Protein target has been met with aid of burger and roast pork.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 31 July 2006 06:10 pm |
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| Only 2 more hours and I'm officially unemployed. Can't wait, really. I was given a 400-calorie "caramel cookie" or whatever by boss. Had 25-30 calories and then effectively gave it away.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 August 2006 10:13 am |
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Monday continued
Freedom. So far so good. At 4pm co-worker asked if I wanted my caramel-cookie back, I resisted. Freebie at Thornton chocolate shop was same as last Wednesday so I turned it down. Turned up for the Parish Council Meeting but it was cancelled. So I missed my weight-training class (Reebok Deck) but I still managed to squeeze in an unexpected Cycling class - heart rate mostly at 80-85%. Did have supermarket freebies: 25 calories of Pate-on-cracker and 75 calories of chocolate-chip cookies. Bargains included vegetables and fish. I cooked, portioned and frozen the fish (plaice haddok and salmon), eating the 'leftovers' that didn't make whole portions. Day summary: protein good, calories ok (did run out of calories around 11pm).
Tuesday
I have a blood test today, to see whether 2 months of Iron supplementation has restored my Iron levels to normal. Am also likely to try some daytime gym classes if time allows.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 2 August 2006 06:01 pm |
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| There were some desserts at the gym. Cakes swimming in cream and/or ice-cream, that sort of thing. Two types. I'm guessing 75 calories - a taste of each. I spotted them at 7pm (after Body Pump but before Body Combat). It was distressing how much of Body Combat I spent thinking about those desserts. Will there be any left by 8pm? I'm glad I didn't have any more though! Day ended on target. Decided to boil fewer eggs as hard-boiled eggs are not their best on the 2nd day. Will now just boil 12 at a time rather than 18. I'm going to have to be strict with myself about how long I spend on the forum - can't let it take over my entire day. Made a batch of 12 salads instead of 9 - so I can have 4 portions a day. They roughly weigh 325g each (not including the box).
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 August 2006 04:51 pm |
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Recent body fat% readings have had me anywhere from 9.6% and 10.9%, all acceptable values. I still want to see better values. I'm sure I'll encounter them when I get back down to magic number 55kg.
I've been 56.5kg (about 125lb. Those thinking in Stones: I'm now under 9st) every morning since Saturday (Sat,Sun,Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu) so I don't have to worry about it being a temporary blip. (I was 55.0kg at the nurse's office on May 26th just before binging my way back to around 60.5kg (about 133lb) and this is what I've managed in the last 2 months or so). This is good progress - better than the 1/2 lb per week I was prepared to accept. This period even included the London outing on July 14th and other not-quite-to-plan days.
I don't think I can lose weight on ETL as specified in the book ("unlimited fruit, unlimited legumes") unless I combine it with some calorie-counting. I eat when I'm not hungry (1) if I just ate when truly hungry I might eat less than my RMR, and eat rather infrequently (2) once I start eating I enjoy it - I need something, a system, to make me stop.
It is a fine balance - I want to keep my calorie-counting system simple to administer but I want to have more confidence that I'm not under-estimating my intake, because I want to reduce my calorie deficit (= enjoy eating more  , ensure I have enough energy for my workouts) without risking having no deficit at all. I need to figure this out if I am ever to transition from 'cutting' to 'bulking'. Right now I always know for certain that I'm eating more than my unadjusted RMR but sometimes I don't know quite how much more.
On Wednesday no 'bad' foods came my way, so I didn't have any  realistically I know I'll always take advantage of opportunities it is just a question of making them a small % of my total intake. Non-ETL foods included yogurt and egg whites, well under 10% of calories.
Summary: Overall I'm doing well, I'm making progress, those late June/early July days when I was standing still or moving in the wrong direction are behind me. Main challenge as ever is to remain focused.
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ObsessedwithFitness
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 3 August 2006 05:31 pm |
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 I think you are doing wonderful Nir!!!!
You have survived hot cross buns, free samples galore,  discounted cakes and caramel cookies from the boss and still managed to lose alot of weight and keep it off!!! You should feel great about that!!!
Did you say you were officially unemployed awhile back? Is that because you quit your job? Sounds like the best thing for you!!!!! I am kinda in between gigs right now myself (which explains why I am able to workout 4 hours a day) I am going for an interview at 2pm today.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 August 2006 05:55 pm |
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Good luck with your interview. Today's my 3rd day without a job. I was thinking of quitting (almost 2 years ago!) but never quite got around to it - my employer, a small company (sandiforduk.com), has beaten me by ceasing trading and my job no longer exists. I shall be looking for alternative employment in due course...
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 5 August 2006 04:04 am |
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Typical. After making that announcement I was back to 57.0 the very next morning. No panic though.
One thing to watch out for is that I seem to be doing more calorie counting and portioning of fruits and veggies. This is a bit anti-ETL (which preeches that these are 'free' foods). Hope this doesn't bite me back i.e. too much effort leading to me rebelling later on. Assembled a salad from 20 ingredients, each of them was a 25-calorie portion of something. So I have 10 identical poritions of salad and I know that each one is 50 calories and 2.7g protein - no more guessing. Don't know if I'll use this particular salad-assembly method again as it was somewhat time-consuming.
Thursday and Friday have also both been completely clean, no cookies etc. I didn't look too hard for these.
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trimB
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 5 August 2006 09:23 pm |
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| That's two days with no freebies! Congratulations!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 6 August 2006 01:09 am |
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Thanks
Saturday - lots of freebies to make up for this week. Onion Bhajis (deep fried indian dish), ham, cookies, Moroccan pastry cakes ,  ice-cream cone (two), Brie cheese, Choritzo, pork. Total: 400 calories. [at least I kept portion small, no single serving was over 50 calories]
I was even eyeing up some  pizza but it turned out to belong to a manager at the gym, and she was still going to eat it later on.
At 10pm I've still only eaten 1425 of today's target of 1750 (but already eaten 82.6g of protein so well on the way to my 90g minimum target), so no biggie.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 6 August 2006 06:39 pm |
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| picked up two cookie fragments on way home from gym, threw away the less impressive flavour. Total damage just 50 calories, an improvement on yesterday (didn't go to M&S, didn't go to nut/cake stand ). (lots of produce at bargain prices: strawberries, plums, cherries, pears, beansprouts, yellow peppers, carrots, broccoli)
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 6 August 2006 06:52 pm |
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One thought about fluctuating weight.
When I said I weighed 56.5 for a few days, actually I did once see 56.0kg. This morning by contrast I saw 58.0kg. Now, if I was in the 350lb-pound area, this 2kg fluctuation (about 3.5% of my weight) scales up to about 5.7kg/12.5lb. Yet psychologically I can just about deal with a day-by-day 2kg fluctuation wheras Dondi is getting really demotivated as a result of seeing her 10lb fluctuation.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 7 August 2006 11:58 pm |
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I listened to my hypnosis CD today. Twice. Just felt like it - it wasn't as if I was in a terrible bind. One thing that stuck in my mind was that it was pushing the dual concepts of 1) only eat when truly hungry 2) stop eating when full. Now, I'm considering writing down some goals, so I thought these would come in handy. Of course, within the hour I had to ignore both of these directives. Here is why: I hope all the members on this site know that the most common fat-loss pitfall after eating too many calories is not eating enough calories. My unadjusted RMR is currently 1458. I don't go below 1500 calories and towards the end of the day I top-up to ensure I've eaten 1750 calories (which is just over 1458 x 1.4 (active) x .85) but conveniently is also the maintenance amount for 1.2 ('bed rest'). So if I have a non-exercise day I'll be at maintenance, neither gain nor lose, but any calories I burn through exercise are "mine".
I'm aiming for 1750 calories during the day, but I also aim to 'feed' at least 1500 of those calories evenly throughout the day. If I'm planning to be awake for 18 hours, that means 83.3 calories an hour. This becomes even more important if I have a workout planned. Before the workout begins I want to already have eaten all the calories (and protein) I'm due until the workout's end-time. I don't want to under-perform due to lack of glycogen or protein - that would be pointless!
Additionally, only eating when hungry is all very well, but if I wait too long, I'm "behind" my eating (as defined by my idea of feeding calories/protein throughout the day) and also my metabolism will slow. Got to eat every few hours!
So these days I tend to never "eat when I'm hungry" - it is always "mealtime" or a "must eat before workout" time first. As for stopping when I'm full: when I'm eating "Eat To Live" style salads and vegetables, I am feeling very nicely full (and certainly not hungry) and I continue to eat (towards particular calorie/protein targets).
So I still have to work on the phrasiology of that goal...
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 9 August 2006 01:57 am |
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My early workouts were 9.30am till 10.45am, so my breakfast (9ish) covered my protein and calories till 11am. Mind you by 2pm I was a bit behind on my calories (despite eating a bit more around noon) and I reasoned that, as it was a hot day, there's no reason why I can't have a McDonald Ice-cream Cone (160 calories). So I did. Shortly afterwards I grabbed a small flapjack as a freebie (weighed 17 grams, estimate is 75 calories) from a man that was trying to engage me about a summer camp for the performing arts (I was hanging around to watch the street-dancing, but I'm clearly outside their 8-19 age-range). No biggie, but ice-cream was more worth it than the flapjack, oat cookie dough would have been better than both, and fruit or popcorn would have been better still. After half an hour I had some egg-whites to bring my protein in line with my calories and was back on track.
Incidentally, my current targets (90g of protein, 1750 calories) mean I'm aiming for a rather modest 20.6% of calories from protein. This should be quite easy to achieve on a vegan diet, with enough focus on vegetables and legumes (to balance the relatively low-protein fruit, grain and nuts). But at the moment I'm lazy, so I'm using hard-boiled egg-whites to allow myself to do anything from 'outright mistakes' (as above) to indulging in more fruit and grain. (Lots more eggs to go. I expect I'll use something else to prop the protein up when they're gone - though I don't know if it'll be TVP or Smoked Salmon  ).
The silly Tanita thing in the gym told me I was 11.2% today. Wasn't I 9.6% the other week?
Goal: I'd like to reach and maintain 7.0% body fat.
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