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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 20 January 2006 11:29 am |
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| I always seem to have an excuse for side-stepping healthy eating in favour of whatever comes along. Maybe logging my mistakes here will help me, one way or another!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 20 January 2006 11:32 am |
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[150 kcal]
Thursday mid-morning. The boss popped out and came back with a small cream-cake, one for me and one for my collegue, from the local bakery. The boss had already paid for it. I estimated it at 450kcal per 100g and it weighed 63g. I decided to allow myself no more than 150 so I cut it roughly in half, had 33g and stored the rest in a drawer in an office which is not mine. It was nice to eat, but hardly worth those calories. Bet I got an unwelcome spike too.
[80 kcal]
Thursday, just before 10pm: popped into Sainsbury's (a large supermarket). As soon as I walked in (i.e. in the produce section) they had "Hot Crossed Buns". They were 79p for a pack of six, or two packs for £1 (which is a saving of 58p). Except that they had to be sold in the next 10 minutes, so the packs were reduced each to 15p. This was a clerical error made by a junior member of staff which meant that if I bought two packets, not only will they be free but they'll _give_ me 28p to take them away. Very seductive. To make this work I picked up a couple of tins of tuna (protein always comes in handy). Normally these cost 29p each. This way I was paying 29p+29p+15p+15p-58p = 30p. Resisted the urge to open the packets on way home. Hoped I would run into a homeless person or my neighbour to offload at least one of the packets. No such luck. At home painstakingly cut each of the 12 buns into 4 servings. The buns are 229kcal per 100g and almost entirely carbohydrate (refined flour and sugar). I created 48 servings - each is 40 kcal. 46 went in the freezer (danger for later). Heated my two servings separately to prolong the experience. Still felt short-changed. 80 kcal of airpopped popcorn would have gone further.
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fatso
Member
| Joined: | 7 January 2006 |
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| Posts: | 25 |
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Posted: 20 January 2006 11:58 am |
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gotta love your british sense of humour :)
Last edited on 20 January 2006 11:58 am by fatso
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 20 January 2006 02:46 pm |
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It does seem an elaborate way to eat rubbish, Nir.
As I'm into energy saving (mental energy anyway) I'd have left the buns on a park bench and scoffed the protein.
Still, it must be admitted, when it comes to excuses, you're probably a black belt! :P
NevD 
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 20 January 2006 07:42 pm |
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I don't think we should be poking fun at Nir. If it helps him to log his activities, we don't want him to feel he will be made fun of.
BTW, I tried contacting Sainbury's MANY times to get permission to list the nutrition data from their website... to add more British foods to my list. They never had the courtesy to reply.
Peter
P.S.
I'm running out to by some donuts for the homeless. If I don't run into any on my trip home, I guess I'll have to eat them. Waste not want not.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 21 January 2006 01:43 am |
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Don't worry, at least I know someone's reading. Yes NevD, throwing them out would have been the way to go. At least now I get to find out if I'm strong enough to only eat one portion (of the hot cross buns) at a time.
[220 kcal] Friday 9.30am
Is it Easter already? My collegue was buying herself a Cadbury's Cream Egg (41 grams, I'll estimate as milk chocolate i.e. 535kcal per 100g) and apparently felt guilty so bought one for me too. I moaned that it was too large a serving so they suggested I could still cut it in half. I managed to wait 6.5 hours before scoffing the second half too. In the intervening period I did at least have a constructive conversation asking her not to buy me any more gifts if they are of the unhealthy type, and pass the message along to my boss too. I even got her back a little by passing the 2nd half of yesterday's cake. She ate it so now there's no danger of me doing so.
[100 kcal] Friday 11pm
Do you know what "Angel's Delight" is? basically you whisk a bit of powder with some milk (skimmed in this case) and you end up with mousse-type thing. The idea was to only use 1/4 of the powder (14g of the 55g sachet). Er, not sure where the idea came into my head from but I was plotting to do this hours before I came home. 1/3 of the calories come from SATURATED fat, the rest is refined carbs, protein is negligible.
On the upside, my calorie deficit is closer to NevD's recommendation than to my plans...
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 21 January 2006 03:35 pm |
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I don't think we should be poking fun at Nir.
I'm sure he'd realise that I was laughing with him, not at him, Peter. (It's that British SOH thing).
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personsmom
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 21 January 2006 06:04 pm |
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Nir wrote: At least now I get to find out if I'm strong enough to only eat one portion (of the hot cross buns) at a time.
And if not are you willing to put them out for the wildlife to eat and not sabatoge yourself. Consider it, Please! Baby steps to a better you. :) It won't cost you to feed the animals, it might if cost you if you don't
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 21 January 2006 07:38 pm |
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Ah. Someone else (my sister) also mentioned that the ducks  at the nearby Willen lake might be grateful. Allowing myself a 40 kcal serving of a sugary bun (lets describe it as a roughly equivalent to the damage inflicted by half a slice of white bread) is
- an exercise in self-control: can I be happy with just one serving and leave the rest alone (let's just say that I _know_ I can't trust myself with ice-cream in the freezer - the whole tub will be gone)
- it represents unhealthy eating i.e. 10g of glucose making their way into my bloodstream all at once, an 'anti-nutrient' (eating it may remove some vitamins/minerals from my body) and puts me in the dangerous frame of mind of Peter's all-cheesecake 'low calorie diet'.
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Chocoholic
Senior Member
| Joined: | 29 April 2005 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 341 |
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Posted: 21 January 2006 10:29 pm |
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This is undoubtedly the most entertaining diary on this site. I will definitely be reading daily. As for the food, I understand. If I put 1% of the energy I spend concocting excuses for eating/ways of getting the most out of the least calories into my classes, I would probably have graduated in like a year! Good luck!
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 21 January 2006 11:07 pm |
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Update:
I didn't see any homeless people on my way home. ;)
Peter
P.S.
Nir, that graphic is a chicken.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 January 2006 01:40 am |
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What was the damage, dougnut-wise?  (yes, the bubble did say chicken but I thought it was close enough. Perhaps the next version of WowBB will feature a duck)
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 22 January 2006 02:07 am |
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Actually I just "found" those graphics on the web. Let me know if you come across a duck and I'll coax it in with some sugary buns.
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 January 2006 02:46 am |
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[100 kcal] Saturday 8.50am
Er, the butterscotch-flavour (fake) Angel's Delight dessert from last night didn't come out quite right because I inadvertantly poored too much milk relative to the amount of powder I was using, and although I whisked it but didn't stir it first so some powder was left at the bottom and never incorporated. So it didn't set properly and I wanted to do it right. So I did and it was quite yummy. Incidentally Butterscotch is not my favourite flavour of whisked milk-based dessert, but the packet had a Best Before date of April 2006, earlier than the dates of the other flavours. I've been known to follow a "Best Before" diet before, which involves eating my larder quickly enough to avoid foods expiring. This doesn't work well if I over-buy nuts, seeds or chocolate products. I currently have no chocolates/biscuits/sweets/nuts. I have a single 100g packet of sessame seeds - to avoid accidents.
[120 kcal] Saturday 5pm
DIY chocolate milkshake: I get my UHT skimmed milk in 1 litre cartons. I think it is only good for 3 days once you open it, and I haven't made much headway just using it for desserts and the odd gulp, so decided to use 300ml of it. Mixed it with a generous heaped spoon of cocoa powder and 4 spoons of granulated artificial sweetner and then whisked it a bit for good measure. It did contain a 10g serving of protein (which, together with two pots of sugar-free jelly at 2.5g each made for my 15g serving of protein) and a useful source of CALCIUM - but the rest of the 80kcal was essentially rubbish. There's still over 400ml of milk to use up - probably tomorrow.
[40 kcal] Saturday 7.25pm
Yes you guessed it. Though it rightfully belongs to the homeless, some ducks, or some homeless ducks, I helped myself to another serving of Hot Cross Bun today (perhaps HCB from now on?)
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 22 January 2006 03:11 am |
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Yes, I shall watch for a "homeless duck" and coax it in with a sugary bun.
Peter
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 22 January 2006 02:15 pm |
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I had a bun lying around doing nothing, so I saved you the trouble...
And yes, I know it's as scruffy as my 'avatar' image, but that's how annoyingly unkempt my life is.
Attached Image (viewed 1299 times):
 Last edited on 22 January 2006 02:17 pm by nevd
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 January 2006 07:04 pm |
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[200 kcal] Sunday, 2.45pm
Delicatessen counter at Sainsbury's had samples of Ritz-like circular crackers (diameter ~1.5") spread with Pate. I had one and then quickly another. Walked away and then swung by less than five minutes later to take a third. I don't know if my estimate is close. I do know that crackers are loaded with trans fats and Pate with saturates. Yes, I am indeed a sucker for freebies!
On the plus side, I know that my mum (who only lives 1.5 miles away from me) is making my favourite dessert (basically a hollow Choux pastry ball filled with a mixture of Angel Delight and fresh cream (so nicer than a usual cream cake) and topped with melted chocolate which results with a solid chocolate topping - not just icing. These are large profita-rolls about the size of a clenched fist. This afternoon she was showing my sister how to make them. I was going to get involved as well but decided it was too dangerous. Told her to leave me out of it and not make me any!
[140 kcal] Sunday 7pm-midnight (project)
200ml skimmed milk, heaped teaspoon cocoa powder, 2 spoons artificial sweetner, 15g cornstarch. This was another attempt to make Chocolate Blancmange. Did I succeed? Well, it didn't taste of cornstarch (like last time) or had lumpy bits. It did remind me of a dish mum used to make simply referred to as "chocolate pudding". I lack the actual reference point though (never had a blancmunge). Still I was expecting it to taste different. Er, I didn't follow the receipe either (receipe says mix cornstarch with _some_ of the cold milk, bring rest of milk to boil, carefully mix together off heat, return to boil, simmer for few minutes stirring constantly. _I_ mixed everything cold and tried bringing it to the boil while stirring. Maybe overcooked it? Maybe it never boiled properly?
[120 kcal] Sunday 11.30pm
More milk to get rid of. Could have simply drunk it. Chose to make more Butterscotch "Angel Delight" with it instead. Still, I'm not planning on opening another carton of milk for a while (seeing as I mainly use it to make desserts!)
[100 ?] Sunday 10pm
After salsa class, one of the teachers, Tony Austin, was having his birthday dance as he's one year older. I clocked a cake. Some time later a woman holding a plate with small slices on it approached me. I took a slice (they were small but covered in icing sugar). Normally I'd have taken several slices!
[40 kcal] Sunday 11.50pm
H.C.B. - why oh why? have I not had enough calories already? it seemed especially wasteful as it was in my mouth in one easy gulp
[40 kcal] Monday 6.30am
A very productive H.C.B. - writing this diary I got the urge to have another one (my excuse is now the diary???) so I took the bag with the remaining servings out of the freezer. Put one portion to heat in the microwave, opened the window (I live on the 2nd floor) tied the bag close and tossed it outside so it'll be out before the HCB reaches my mouth. Problem solved.
Last edited on 23 January 2006 08:48 am by Nir
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Chocoholic
Senior Member
| Joined: | 29 April 2005 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 341 |
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Posted: 24 January 2006 05:01 pm |
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Nir wrote:
Put one portion to heat in the microwave, opened the window (I live on the 2nd floor) tied the bag close and tossed it outside so it'll be out before the HCB reaches my mouth. Problem solved.
For you maybe... never mind about that poor dieter out for a nice healthy jog only to be hit on the head with a bag of hot cross buns from on high... ;)
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 24 January 2006 05:24 pm |
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| Yes Chocoholic, and obviously the British don't worry about the environment. Where they throw their trash, recycling, and other responsible activities Americans consider second nature.
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Be A Cow
Senior Member
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Posted: 24 January 2006 09:57 pm |
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| Can I say, Nir, that I'm really entertained by your diary? I don't mean this to sound evil, or make you feel bad--but it is indeed a diary of shame :) But, it's funny, and mine is boring as heck (and really, a diary of shame as well). Are you going to acknowledge the good things you do too? :)
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 24 January 2006 10:08 pm |
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Yes Chocoholic, and obviously the British don't worry about the environment.
Okay - I've finally cracked....
I admit Nir's discarded bun was a sin against Nature, but what about all those HUMVEEs (or whatever) that you guys drive about on the other side of the pond?
(We probably would, too, but our Treasury prevents that by charging about $4.50 tax for every gallon of gas).
Last edited on 24 January 2006 10:10 pm by nevd
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Chocoholic
Senior Member
| Joined: | 29 April 2005 |
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| Posts: | 341 |
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Posted: 24 January 2006 11:01 pm |
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Peter wrote:
Yes Chocoholic, and obviously the British don't worry about the environment. Where they throw their trash, recycling, and other responsible activities Americans consider second nature.
Yes, Americans care so much about the environment that they drive miles and miles to recycle... in their SUVs. They even admitted this year that climate change might possibly be a problem that perhaps they should look into someday... really, what more could one ask? 
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 25 January 2006 01:24 am |
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Nevd, better stick to weight loss as you ARE showing your ignorance about the environment. I wasn't concerned about the biodegradable bun, it was the bag it was in!
Chocoholic, however deserving, I will not allow Americans to be bashed in my forum. Only the British.
Now let's get back to the serious matter of weight loss.
Peter:D
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 January 2006 03:35 am |
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No animals  where harmed during the HCB-removal scene. I collected the buns and integrated them with the other rubbish, which I was carrying downstairs in the more conventional method, on the way to work. The buns just had to be thrown away that second, in that dramatic way, before I changed my mind!
recycling: I guess I haven't taken up recycling, yet. I don't recycle plastic bags but I do re-use them to death, if that counts. I also use the other side of paper which is blank on one side.
Be A Cow: thanks for the compliment. I do acknowledge when I've successfully avoided a mistake (only having ONE slice of Tony Austin's cake, having none of my mum's dessert which is my all-time favourite, walking away from those Hot Cross Buns...). I've been doing healthy eating of the type described by the FAQ for ages though, so describing what I eat day-to-day might be a bit boring. Basically I pre-plan a bunch of protein snacks, each of them is a lean source and provides 15g of protein - I take them every 2.5 hours whilst awake. In the recent past these portions included: chicken breast (cooked,frozen,thawed), smoked haddok (cooked,frozen,thawed), skate (cooked,frozen,thawed), low fat cottage cheese, TVP(rehydrated), 5-egg-white-omlette(microwaved), Golden Pork Crunch.
On top of that, I eat plenty of fruit, and even more vegetables. The latest on that is that I'm running out of those at the moment so I'm having to go shopping again and in the meantime I'm using frozen veg to augment my eating. I don't plan too many servings of grain or pulses into my day just yet (due to the quantity of veg and fruit, and due to my tendency to make the ocassional mistake).
I'll be sure to shout and scream if I make any progress, though.
Chocoholic: I'm still trying to figure out whether you're American or British...
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 January 2006 04:12 am |
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[90 kcal] Tuesday 10.30am
Chicken soup. I didn't have many fruits at work today. My target calorie intake is 1600-1800 so my carb allowance is 800-900 and I knew that I'll be lagging behind due to lack of fruit/veg. So I treated myself to the kind of soup where you pour some powder into 190ml of boiling water (always 190ml, isn't it?). Trouble is, I'm pretty sure 99% of the powder is "Modified Maize Starch" - refined grain if I'm not mistaken, pretty much like spooning sugar directly. Now, learning how to make my own soup is on my "to do" list (and I may even let you know how it goes) and I am toying with the idea of using cornstarch as a thickenner for my home-made soup. But my DIY cooking projects are more desserving of calories than a bit of manufactured tat. [Call it half a mistake?]
[110 kcal] Tuesday 5pm
I wanted a Fredo but I ended up with a Chomp. On my way home from work I have a few minutes to kill at Bedford bus station. The newsagent has a rip-off policy and everything is more than it should be - except for items that have the price pre-printed on the packaging. Cadbury's Fredo is a 20g milk chocolate piece set in the shape of a frog, and the 10p price is printed on the packet. Suddenly I was waying all sorts of possibilities: a bag of Skittles? Haribo sours? or the Fredo I came in for? Eventually I settled on a Chomp as it was 24g and so I was getting more for my money and calories. Trouble was, when I started eating it I realised it was very chewy and not at all like the piece of chocolate I originally had my sites on. A waste and not even what I wanted.
[100 kcal?] Tuesday 10.15pm
Potato Crisps (American: "chips"). I don't really consider potatoes a worthy vegetable. High GI and all. The only reason that sack is in my fridge is that I couldn't pass up on the bargain (20p for 5 kilos - and they've kept fairly well since OCTOBER). So, time to try out that rarely-used Grill again. I used the cheese-grater to slice the potato (thinner and more consistent than I can do with a knife), set the Grill to maximum setting (6) and off we go (no oil or flavouring) and flipped them to grill on the other side too. They only burnt a little bit. [Call it half a mistake?]
Oh my, it is time for bed! luckily I'm on holiday tomorrow, but I may have missed the 7am gym class
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 January 2006 09:21 pm |
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[300-400 kcal] Wednesday 5.45pm
I usually consider fruit a good choice, but I'm best kept away from bananas. I was shopping with mum, who has a similiar weakness. A bag of 8 bananas was reduced to 40p. We agreed to go halves on it - each taking 4. I was tucking into the first banana when I was still standing by the checkout. In the car, having travelled less than a mile away, I had already finished the other 3. I don't see myself going through 6 apples this quickly. Bananas are dangerous - or rather, I'm dangerous around bananas.
[900 cardio, plus weights]
I'm one of those people who books a day off work and spends the majority of it in the gym. I forced myself to attend a 7am class called "Fit and Functional" - and for the first time used 6kg dumb-bells (for those exercises requiring dumb-bells, it is a general toning class). I then burnt 450 calories - I kept alternating between the Stair Master and the Treadmill but also rested and had a herbal tea. at 9.30am I did "Body Pump" - if it wasn't for this class, I wouldn't be able to say that I do weight training. An instructor earlier told me that flexibility was my weak point so reluctantly I put myself through Yoga at 10.30am - not planning to do that again in a hurry. When I was done I hopped on a treadmill and busied myself with reading a book - and before I knew it, over half an hour had gone past and I'd burnt 450 calories in that session two. The day was definitely slipping away from me though, it was 1pm when I finally left the gym! (I did plan for this and brought two protein snacks and some veg)
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 25 January 2006 10:04 pm |
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I have 12 monkeys so I have to keep a lot of bananas around the house. But as you can imagine, they keep me from eating more than my share.
Take a monkey with you next time you buy bananas.
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 27 January 2006 12:32 am |
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[100 kcal] Thursday
Everyone goes on about Wholewheat pasta as the way to go. I've had it in the cupboard for ages and finally had a go last night, carefully dividing the result into 100 calorie servings (71g cooked). Technically it may not be a nutritional mistake, but it certainly clocked as a mistake in my book as you get such a meagre amount. Give me 100 calories of fruit or veg any day - or if I must have whole-grain, air-popped popcorn!
[? buffet ?] Thursday 8pm
It wasn't part of the plan. I was actually planning to give the gym a miss and go dancing instead, but wasn't feeling up to it as I have an early appointment at the dentist so took the 'easy' way out. After two hours of workout ('Body Combat' = aerobics, 'Body Pump' = weight training) I was surprised to find a "GYM MEMBERS AWARDS CEREMONY AND CHEESE-AND-WINE BUFFET". These are supposedly monthly but there wasn't one in November or December (but then again how would I know - I didn't spot the posters which announced this one either). Had one of everything and there were about 10-15 different things to have. There were cheeses, crackers, coctail sausages, tortilla chips, four dips (3 were mayo based), sausage rolls - and of course red and white wine. For contrast I then retrieved from my locker the planned snack: 50 grams of chicken breast and a handful of cherry tomatos. They were MUCH more filling and less than 100 calories, it was such a contrast (I augmented my snack with the only OK thing on the buffet - the low-calorie salsa dip). Originally planned to go straight home but instead burnt 450 additional calories on the treadmill, out of guilt!
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 27 January 2006 02:01 am |
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I get it. Once a month they serve you fattening foods so you need to keep coming back!
Peter
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 27 January 2006 02:43 pm |
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I'm best kept away from bananas
They sell banana cases (plastic) that protect the individual fruits from damage, I note. Perhaps there's a model available that sports a time lock mechanism?
Might help you to make them last longer...
NevD
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 28 January 2006 12:29 am |
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[200-300 kcal] Friday 10pm
Two cooked chicken thighs, complete with skin. After my workout (40 minute cycling class, half an hour of Abs and then 700 calories on the treadmill) I stopped off at Sainsbury's to see if they had any deals on produce. They didn't. I successfully avoided doughnuts, pastries and cream-cakes - all at silly prices. But the chicken thighs count as protein, and they were only 20p for 2. Mind you they tasted quite fatty, even though I assumed they were not fried. Ate them as soon as I left the store. So I got my protein, but not in my self-prescribed 15g portions, and with a whole lot of fat besides - and just because it was a 'bargain'.
At around 4.30pm I was going to hydrate myself some Dried Soya Mince (Textured Vegetable Protein) for my protein portion and then had a second thought and tried eating it dry. Well, I'm still alive 6 hours later so there's no short-term health risk.
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 28 January 2006 01:46 am |
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Once I tried grape juice instead of milk on my bran flakes and I did die. 
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 January 2006 07:10 am |
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Saturday 4.30pm
Duram Wholewheat Crisps/Chips? Remember those 100 calorie portions of wholewheat pasta shapes I put in the freezer? well I fancied trying something different, so I defrosted a portion and then put them under a medium grill (3.5 on the 1..6 scale) for a while (more than 20 minutes I guess - I suddenly remembered them and they were just slightly overdone. I'll watch them more closely next time). I wonder if I should have them longer at a lower setting, or less time at a higher setting. Can anybody tell me what difference that would make? They seem to have lost 1/2 their weight as they dried (water loss) and became crispy, which was the idea. Next time I might flavour them with a spice first. They still don't "touch" popcorn, but it is nice to have variety.
Continuing my journey of exploration of wholegrain foods, got myself a packet of Ryvita Dark Rye. 28 calories, 0.8g protein (11%), 1.7g fibre. Again, all in the name of variety.
[340 kcal] Saturday 8.15pm - 10.30pm
Alcohol is prettty dense and ultimately not worth the calories. Had 4 shots of vodka before I came out (100ml of 37.5% by volume vodka, approx 60kcal each) and as we moved from busy pub 1 to quieter pub 2 I downed my friend's discarded 2nd half of a pint of Guiness-like beer (estimated at 100cal). Despite taking in 5 "units" didn't feel under the influence "enough" to justify the calories. Should have still gone but braved it sober!
[120 kcal] Saturday 11.30pm - 0.10am
Potato crisps revisited. This time used the food processor instead of the grater, to get a thinner slice. Rubbed with tandoori seasoning before grilling. Changed grill setting 4 instead of 6 (that's probably a mistake) and checked up every 5 minutes. Got bored after 35-odd minutes. Higher setting next time!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 30 January 2006 11:30 am |
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Sunday
Soy Protein Isolate: failed to make pancakes with it (it sticks), failed to hide it in a hot chocolate drink (it tastes like flour).
Grain: continued sampling grain products, generally trying to compare 50-calorie servings of each. There's 450-odd calories spent on this game...
- Ryvita (dark)
- popcorn
- Wheatabix-like (actually this turns out to be a cheap immitation that is from refined wheat, not whole wheat! Still has 8g of fibre per 100g, compared with 10g of fibre for the original)
- Spicy Grilled Pasta Crisps [100 calories] I continue to tweak the receipe. Started with cooked wholewheat pasta. Sprinkled "spica - mama", my mum's signature spice mix (made from garlic, cumin, corriander, chilli and salt) and grilled at 6 (highest setting) for about 5 minutes
- Oats - tried it dry, then mixed it with a little boiling water, rolled (well tried to) into 3 small balls and refrigerated. Sprinkled with artificial sweetner. This is a very simplified variation on my mum's "Quaker Cookies", (her recipe calls for sugar, margarine, cocoa poweder and instant coffee).
- Muesli - tried it dry, and also mixed with water. When contrasted with Wheatabix or Popcorn (or Bran), a 50 calories portion is rather pathetic in size! To an extent the same is true of Oats, but I'm beginning to get a (hopefully mild) Oat-cookie-dough obsession
- Breadcrumbs - ok I admit it, I was just looking for an excuse to eat these. I mixed half the quantity with a salad, which was rather pointless as they got soaked in liquid. Should have probably fried or grilled them first?
- Coffee Oat Cookie Dough - Mark #2: disolve instant coffee and a couple of tablet artificial sweetners in tiny amount of boiled water, mix with oats, eat the resulting cookie dough.
[up to 100kcal] Sunday 4.20
Sunday shopping at ASDA. I was busy grabbing bargains at the produce section (a lot of work but well-rewarded) while mum disappears and then reappears, evidently having been to the bakery area and has about 8 packets, each has a pair of Danish Pastries for a bargain 10p. I take a pack off her but after a few minutes decide to return it to her. Once we've gone through checkouts she opens one of the packs and I'm treated to a 1/3 of a Pastry. It is lovely and momentarily I wish I wasn't committed to healthy eating! I soon regain my composure though.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 31 January 2006 02:28 pm |
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Monday
lots of vegetables;
fruit: 8 (sometimes I eat and forget to record);
grain (50-calorie servings): 6 (most questionable/shameful: ASDA 'Good For You' vegetable soup, high GI as mainly maize starch and only 0.6g fibre. also has hydrogenated vegetable oil!); to my disappointment discovered Wheatabix disolves into unpleasant slush under hot water;
grain (25-calorie servings): I transitioned to the smaller serving size half-way through the day;
high protein foods (10 grams, so 45-70 calories): 6. A new twist on Dried Soya Mince (Textured Vegetable Protein) is to eat it dry (i.e. not hydrated). This saves time and also means this food is now very transportable! Also adds crunch when mixed with vegetables.
Soy Protein Isolate corner: Fajita flavour pita bread. Weigh 11.5g of powder (that's 10g of protein) and add a tea-spoon of Discovery's Fajita spice mix (which is quite strong!). Mix with a spoon. Add 6-7 tea-spoons of water and continue 'kneeding' with spoon. You should now had a dough of sorts, but not very good for kneeding. It helps if you have the option of grilling on a flat surface (instead of a wire-rack). I placed the dough on the flat surface and used my fingers to flatten the 'patty'. I grilled at setting 5 (grill range is 1-6) for about 13 minutes, though grill wasn't pre-heated. a little over halfway I loosened it and flipped it over. The grilled/baked flatbread was nice and spicy. I'll do it again.
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 31 January 2006 09:34 pm |
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to my disappointment discovered Wheatabix disolves into unpleasant slush under hot water;
You should have asked... Quite pleasant if you used warm skim milk instead.
I placed the dough on the flat surface and used my fingers to flatten the 'patty'.
Kneading for how long? Does it count as part of your workout?
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 February 2006 08:48 am |
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kneeding for a very short amount of time, as the dough can't really be kneeded at all...
Tuesday
the great news is that my Soy Protein Isolate last night was a successful soft-dough (in the UK we sometimes refer to it as 'American-Style cookie' don't know what they'll make of this) chocolate cookie or brownie! Basically same concept but mix 2 slightly heaped tea spoons of cocoa powder into dry mix, meanwhile dissolve about 5 tablet artificial sweetners in a tiny amount of boiling water, mix into dough and grill.
This was my best result yet - and it is "guilt-free" baking as I don't use flour! Next time I'm trying coffee flavour and seeing what happens at grill setting 4 (instead of 5).
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 1 February 2006 09:35 am |
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Ah, you are finding a better grill setting. Now I can sleep.
Night night,
Peter
11:35 pm myTime
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 February 2006 10:22 am |
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More Tuesday
The final tallies of 25-calorie servings were: fruit 15, grain+carbs 22. Highlights included
- a Leek & Potato Soup (taking up 2 servings, potato startch and hydrogentated oils)
- 2 servings (8.7g each) of Mixed Dried Fruit - a recent purchase. It is mostly raisins and currants. Low in fibre, low in protein, high glycimic index. Basically almost as bad as sweets.
- 6 servings (total 42.3g, i.e. 150 calories) of oat coffee cookie dough oats, instant coffee, artificial sweetners, a little boiling water. That was a treat to soak up some exccess calories at the end of the day.
Purchased some Cod Liver Oil capsules - so I can have Omega-3 without giving myself an excuse for eating fatty foods. Got some Sainsbury's Basic Soya (milk) which I'll experiment with at some point.
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 February 2006 12:17 pm |
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Whatever happened to the 'shame' in this diary. It was much more thrilling back then!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 February 2006 02:07 pm |
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It is right there, honest! Those dried fruit (raisin etc) are 287 calories per 100g. I mainly bought this 500g bag because it was such a bargain (41p) compared to sweets. But they're sweets by any other name. I looked at the GI value beforehand and I know it is high. (Only discovered this weekend that my mum's family has had 3 cases of Diabetes (both types) so I really pay more attention to this sort of thing!)
The ready-made soups, again: I know I should learn to make my own soups, and meanwhile I'm using pre-packaged foods with hydrogenated oils...
I'm striving for a bit better than this, honest
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 2 February 2006 11:09 am |
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Wednesday
Curious to discover if my vegetable consumption was as per my 1.2-2.4 Kg prediction, I weighed my plates, which came in at 320g 445g 450g 330g (not including nibbling while cooking), so around 1.6 Kg
Operating my recently-introduced system of 25-calorie servings covering all foods except vegetables and high-protein-foods (i.e. fruits, pulses, whole grains and mistakes) I can have 36 of those per day, that's 2 per hour (as I get up at 6am and go to bed around midnight) yet I find myself slow to use up my allowance! At 11.30pm still only had 22 of those servings! So had 10 more (i.e. 250 calories) in the next hour. (1) I love food (2) I want to consume enough calories to loose fat not muscle.
Why did I not have the last 4 servings (100 calories)? I suspect that mistakes here and there in my rough-and-ready 25-calorie-servings could introduce errors. Also, I'm not factoring in the various 3-calorie chewing gums and 13-calorie spoons of cocoa powder, spices, coffee etc - I'm sure they all add up to something!
At a shop at bedford bus station I very narrowly avoided buying some Poppets - 41g of chocolate mint balls, 185 calories, for a bargain 25p.
So todays actual mistakes: not feeding myself gradually, and a brocolli and chicken soup. (sorry NevD)
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 February 2006 02:53 pm |
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You want mistakes?
[100 kcal] Friday 12pm
I was getting a haircut at an old-style barber shop. It was then time to pay. I've been going there for over 10 years (it is 100m from my workplace) but today I noticed they do sweets. I was paying for my £6.40 haircut with £6.50 and decided to spend the 10p change on 5 x 2p jelly sweets. By the time I got back to my office I only had 2 left, which weighed 10g so I guess I had 25g of sweets so something like 100 calories. Totally not worth it - what was I thinking???
In general I'm feeling that reducing my protein intake might not have been the best move. Not sure which way to go, yet.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 4 February 2006 10:44 am |
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Friday 6pm
Buses running late, I was very tired through lack of sleep the last 3 nights, I knew that (for a change) I'd be dancing the night away tonight, so decided to skip the gym. My records ( http:// nir.org.uk/downloads/fflog.rtf ) show I've worked out every day since January 5th - that's quite a long continuous stretch so I'm not beating myself about it yet
Friday 7.30pm
Nash was born in the UK but his mum is from East Africa and he must have some roots in Indian/Pakistan subcontinent. He fancied a drive 1.5 hours before we set off for Salsa (my first time in 2 weeks - woohoo!) so he picked me up early and I was hanging around his house. I know what he has every Friday night so I packed my own (fruit, vegetables, protein, various carb-dense snacks in 25-calorie bags...) changed my mind and had his mum's cooking, which was nice. I passed completely on the mountain of rice and only had 1/2 a chapati bread, but I did have a couple of small (5" radius) Naan breads, and about 5 large scoops of the curry - main calorie-dense ingredients of the curry are minced ("ground" for you Americans) lamb - which probably wasn't vegetarian - and vegetable oil. A large serving scoop was used and I think I had about 5 scoops! Lots of calories. We set off at 8.15pm.
1-2am
By 1am we were back in the car and on our 50min drive home. I was tired and more bored than hungry, I had my packed snacks and I knew I wasn't following my plan today as I've already messed up with the curry. This seemed to give me license to keep being silly! Had most of my calorie-dense stuff, all without logging it: raisins, ryvita, wheatabix, popcorn, kidney beans, oranges, dried soya mince and chicken - just gorging. Also finished my veggies in the hope it would be a distraction. It wasn't bad food but ALL the calories were excess to my daily needs and I didn't even stop to log them in the food diary. I completely "fell off" my plan. When I got home I made it worse by having extra helpings of raisins and Muesli - pooring without even measuring. Would have been much worse but was tired and eventually went to bed.
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 4 February 2006 06:55 pm |
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Truly shameful... a good entry into your "Diary of Shame."
Now do better.
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 4 February 2006 11:09 pm |
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[800 calories] Saturday 4.30pm-7.30pm
Saturday afternoon: a visit to Sainsbury's: a pack of 8 Clementines reduced from £1.69 to 89p, but buy two packets and get £1.38 off. In other words just 40p for 16 fruit (2.5p each). I got 6 packs and gave one to my friend. Of the 47 fruit, 16 now remain, so I must have scoffed 31 clementines. That's 2.17 Kg of clementines and 803 calories. Lots of fibre and vitamin C. and fructose.
I was visiting a friend. She is following Paul McKenna's "I can make you thin" (http://www.caloriesperhour.com/shop.html and click Amazon etc.) basically there are 4 rules: 1) eat when hungry 2) eat what you want 3) eat conciously (and slowly) 4) stop when you think you're full. (Plenty more of this on the internet e.g. http://www .skyone.co.uk/mckenna/webchat/). Rule 3 is the key. I don't think I would have had 31 fruit if I was savouring every bite!!! I don't know about a diet that encourages you to eat chocolates, dougnuts etc (Rule 2) but there's obviously some lesson to take away here. Also ties in somewhat with Peter's recommendation for Self-hypnosis approach.
Last edited on 5 February 2006 12:12 am by Nir
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 6 February 2006 02:10 am |
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I was getting a haircut at an old-style barber shop.
Not a good weight-loss ploy...
..and decided to spend the 10p change on 5 x 2p jelly sweets
...and even less so.
I'm glad this diary of shame is back on track!
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 6 February 2006 03:05 am |
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Sunday
Don't know what to make of today. Started off following Paul McKenna's method. Took about 3 ahours to eat my first 15g serving of protein (smoked haddok) and the banana I picked from gym reception lasted me about an hour. There were a couple of unhealthy freebies at Sainsbury's and ASDA (crackers and burger-bun-with-margarin) and I took my time to consume them. My shopping trolly comprised 49 fruit/vegetable items, but a few suspect items also:
- chocolate sponge cake with choclate icing (gave half to mum; had a few spoons of chocolate icing and threw the rest of the cake in the bin). This cake usually retails for £3.97 but I got it for 10p
- bramley and raspberry pie (gave half to mum; had a couple of bits of pastry, retrieved pie filling, tried some of it as it was then washed the fruit to rid it of sugar)
- chicken and mushroom pie (had a bit of pastry and some of the filling)
- cornish pasty (had a bit of pastry and most of the filling, which was largely onion)
- leek and cheese bake (pre-heating baking and cooling took almost an hour. had a few spoonfulls then threw the rest in the bin)
- pitta bread (divided into 9.7g = 25 calorie servings, bagged and frozen)
- rice noodles (divided into 18.8g = 25 calorie servings, bagged and frozen)
so have had a whole bunch of stuff that's bad for me, but feel I've kept within my calorie limit :D
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 7 February 2006 07:06 am |
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Monday
Today ate without maintaining a food diary (but most likely didn't go over my calorie limit) and without being driven by the 6-meals-a-day principle (but grazed through most of the day and never went hungry). Did add up my protein-high food portions in my head (about 55g) and most nutrition-dubious choice was a non-diet packet-soup. No, not 45-55 calories for |
