Journal

Since Tuesday I've been sick; the kind of sick where you spend your days sleeping on the couch, nights sleeping also. So the diet has been off. I did manage to eat my eggs for breakfast. Back to it tomorrow.

Power!!

Without power at my home from Saturday-midday Tuesday. Did a pretty good job of sticking through the diet though. Binged over the weekend with excessive alcohol during candle lit board game parties. Haven't been eating lentils bc no microwave and now I'm going to the beach with mom for a bunch of days. Think it'll be mostly good and a great opportunity to really get used to the diet again.

Morning: pills, Earl grey, 2 eggs, 3 strips turkey bacon. 2 bacons are my new limit.

C.R.

wake time: 7:45am

bed time(last night): 9:30pm

outside: 8am with coffee

weather: 42 and drizzle

mood: optomistic

log

breakfast: yogurt wi/ cinn and vanilla

lunch: pea soup, white beans

dinner: pork and carrots

log

Due to the cheating last week i'm back to 160lbs. Oh well. Its good timing for a fresh update of the SCD.

today's food:

breakfast: leftover steak, kidney beans, spinach, coffee, pills.

lunch: split pea soup, pinto beans, chicken sausage, pills, tea

dinner: pulled pork, pickles, chili, tea, pills

C.R. update

well, im a slacker. i haven't been out in the morning. im on it tomorrow. also, my insomnia is quite bad this week. for example today:

wake time: noon

- very difficult to wake

bed time (last night): 2:30am

-difficult to sleep

log 4/15

breakfast: 3 hotdogs (i know. i usually have eggs but we are out, and i was so groggy i would have burned my self if i had cooked anything), pills, water, coffee

lunch: split pea soup with kidney beans, pills, water

How Far Ive Come

compared to this post in january.

More pics after the jump...

diet recap

over all this diet (scd) has been great. after the initial rapid scale weight decrease, im loosing 3-5 lbs a week. real cheating has been at a minimum (ie sugar, breads, and booze). things that aren't exactly cheating, but aren't in the spirit of things, have been happening more. for example: hotdogs. i also haven't been taking the pills regularly. it all ends now; friday before binge day.

while i think what i have been eating lately can easily be the way i eat in the long run to maintain my figure, the fact is that i havent yet reached my goal. i need to get back on the bigger horse, the one with the faster wagon.

what is my goal? really its a range; 135lbs-120lbs. thats my college weight. 135 was where i was when i left college, the weight that i think i can reasonably get back to. 120 was where i was at the end of my freshman year after 8 hours of dance class and eating veggie stir fry every lunch and dinner. not a goal i think is realistic, though i like to think about it anyway. i work better when challenged. like when an italian man said girls cant play pool, after which i ran the table on him twice. best pool ive ever played.

Back at it

Seeing some body transformation after only being halfway committed to the diet for the past week and a half. Binged all weekend, felt... not my best on Monday, but ate clean. Might have kept to the slow carb diet (henceforth SCD) that whole day. Mostly stuck to it Tuesday until I went to meet some people at a thai place in Cary. Had the house salad, but then got a spicy catfish, which ended up being fried. I devoured it, but avoided most of the delicious rice. Went to an Irish bar for trivia, where I am already recognized by two tenders as "JK, the pinot noir guy"... which is nice actually. Yesterday I did really good on the diet but ate some tortilla chips at the local Mexican place. Chicken breast, guac and beans were all SCD friendly. Drank some wine and watched some playoff hockey, then started feeling hungry. Ate some turkey slices and a few spoonfuls of almond butter and eventually had the last of my mocha protein shake.

Going to stick to the diet 100% today and used some previously successful methods to help me out.
1. Had a spoonful of almond butter shortly after waking before my coffee.
2. Ate breakfast. Well, breggfest. Not sure if I've eaten it all week. Lentils, spinach, 2 scrambled eggs and 2 slices of turkey bacon already in my belly. Lots of protein will keep me satiated for a while and I'm hoping the early fat will make it less likely that I have late night hunger.

I've been pushing around my hood the past two days because the weather has been phenomenal. 1.8 mile trek and 1.9 miles. Yesterday's came just a couple of hours or so after my arm and shoulder workout, which really had an impact on my fatigue.

Feeling pretty good about life right now.

Dinner

Tonight's treat:

Grilled Steak w/garlic & savory spices basting (from here)

Black Beans w/cilantro, tomato

Guacamole

Lunch

Today's lunch is actually borrowing from breakfast. For breakfast, I made cannellini beans with celery, garlic, and onions that were sauteed in bacon fat. I added cilantro, cayenne, and chili powder.

For lunch, I reheated the beans, adding about a cup of chopped baby spinach greens and crumbled bacon into it. Result: fantastic.

Lame!

I was doing so well! Then, last night, I got home, talked to my housemates and a neighbor for a while, went downstairs and... got a pizza. Argh, I'm really unhappy with myself.

1.) Cheating the night before binge day? It's like opening your presents two days before Christmas.

2.) I was at my lowest yet on this diet, and now I'm going to be working for the next week to get back there. That's dumb.

The good news is I understand how it happened. I had very little sleep the night before. I hadn't had any veggies during the day, and my stomach was rumbling and looking for them. When I got home, I didn't immediately attend to my appetite, and my energy went rapidly downhill, and there was nothing easy and satisfying at hand.

After the past two instances of cheating I've got a couple of ideas on how to prevent it from happening again:

1.) Always have something filling, on-diet, and easy in the fridge.

2.) Call a friend who is also on the diet and tell them that cheating is imminent.

It's made it a lot easier to stick to this diet since I have friends who are also doing it. I also realize that this pays off when I'm REALLY having a hard time doing it and I need some positive reinforcement. So that's something I'm going to keep in mind.

For today, I'm still going to enjoy binge day, but I'm going to introduce some of the mitigating factors I read about in 4HB: citrus (including grapefruit), caffeine, high intensity exercise. I'm going to have to save PAGG for another week. That week will be soon, though, because I've been rereading the chapter on it and I'm interested in seeing the effect it will have on my body chemistry.

Right, on with binge day! I've already had scrambled eggs and spinach with garlic and lemon. Let's do this.

Getting Ready For Binge Day...

Today I'm 203.6, which is fantastic. I'm well on my way to my goals for the month. I've had black beans with salsa and fresh cilantro for breakfast since I was unable to make time for eggs. I've also had some chai tea and plenty of water.

Tomorrow I want to try introducing grapefruit to my diet. Hopefully I can have some good grapefruit juice. My problem with grapefruit is that, unlike lemon, its bitter taste isn't offset by sweet. It's just an astringent taste to me. Devona says that I just haven't had good grapefruit. Any thoughts on where I can find good grapefruit/grapefruit juice?

Imortance of Regular Meals

I didn't eat in between my last log and when I got home late last night. Drank two glasses of pinot noir in between, then had a hard time feeling satisfied because my hunger had gotten out of control. Ate slices of turkey, shredded cheese, a few tortilla chips, a pickle and eventually a double serving of vanilla syntha-6 before I felt satisfied.

1. I kept to the diet all day, so it was a bummer to cheat on cheese and chips at the end of the day but I felt like I couldn't help myself.
2. Gross combination once I became burpy. Pickle + protein shake =/=goodness

Started the day with some black coffee. Ate spinach, lentils and two chicken and turkey sausages from TJ's for breggfest. Meat sausages are maybe less appealing to me than veggie ones.

Gonna do my best to really stick to the diet 100% today!

2 scrambled eggs, lentils and spinach for breggfest. I cup of coffee in the morning, one up a few minutes ago. Just warmed up lentils, eggplant & zucchini covered with tomato thing and 2 slices of turkey. So far today, so good. :)

Dinner-Now

Today feels much better so far, but it's early. Last night I went to Mura with Austin and Mom. It was awesome! $5 Martini's meant I got two of one that had New Amsterdam gin, lemon, lime and cucumber. Not sure if it'd be good with Hendrick's or if that would be too much cucumber. Shared some sashimi I ordered because mom wasn't sure if she'd like it. She did. She kept to the slow carbs, she does really great with that. Makes me proud. It was also buy one roll, get one half off night. I got a scalloppy one that was incredible and one that had soft shell crab, tuna and salmon, but was covered with seaweed salad. I didn't like it. Ate some brown sugar pecan granola the exgf left over while watching Scott Pilgrim v. The World. I think it'll be the last cheat meal I have for a while. I didn't sleep that great again last night, but better than the night before. Woke up sleepy, but after 15 minutes I forced myself to get up and start moving. Feeling optimistic. Fingers crossed.

Post-Monday's...Post Thru Pre-Dinner Tuesday

After my midday coffee (which has become too common of an occurrence) I ate asparagus, a eggplant and zucchini covered with diced tomato thing and a tiny bit of salmon and black bean, black eyed pea and corn mixture with mom and Jack at their place. Didn't have much of an appetite. Mom eventually followed me back to my house to work on getting things in order for her party this weekend. Mom, my new roommate Austin and I had some red wine before going out to dinner at El Dorado together. I cheated by eating lots of fried corn tortilla chips and two starchy corn tortillas with my otherwise healthy dinner of chicken breast and beans. Might have been some cheese in there somewhere, can't remember. Had a shot of Makers Mark 46 when I got home. I got more bummed out over my recent break up as the day went on and used it as an excuse to justify my cheating. Understandable, I guess.

Today has been sucky. Woke up to gross weather. Didn't sleep well. Had 2 slices of turkey, lentils and spinach for breggfest. Back strength training workout went okay, hard to get into it. Did some errands, came home. Ordered an ipad. Did some things around the house. Have been way more depressed today than yesterday, but I think that ought to improve for me soon. I hope. Ate some spinach and lentils around 3 probably. Couldn't bother with eggs and was out of turkey. Drank more coffee. Planning on going to a sushi restaurant that's supposed to be really good this evening. Can't imagine myself not cheating, but I don't have much of an appetite either, so maybe I won't do too much damage. I don't usually stay this depressed for very long, maybe tomorrow I'll force myself to stay true. Breaking up is hard to do. Alliteration makes me feel a little better. :)

Short Term Goal

I have a short term goal for the month of April: I want to be able to fit into my suits by the time I attend my friends' wedding at the end of the month. Additionally, I want to have more energy so that I can make it through the weekend, return to Boston, and not be too wiped to keep on top of the diet.

Back on Track...

Last week was craptastic for me. I cheated quite a bit- pizza was my primary sin. The key problem for me was a very low level of energy, making it difficult for me to want to cook.

Thankfully, not a lot of it stuck, and now I'm back to where I was exactly a week ago.

Even better news, I'm continuing to have a great time cooking. What I've been doing is finding a really good meat recipe on Epicurious, then coming up with some steam or sautee dish of greens. Beans are probably the most fun- I've been adding the holy trinity- either the French version or the New Orleans version. It helps that I have a grab bag of local, grass-fed beef and other meats in my freezer waiting to be turned into something fantastic.

I'll post next time I make a delicious meal. Hopefully it'll inspire y'all.

Back On the Wagon or (Diet) Regulators, Mount Up

Happy to see that there is some blog activity! I'll catch up on everything this afternoon, but in the meantime, my update.

Slow Carbs, logging, once a week binge day, etc worked for me really well. I was easily down to single digit body fat % for the first time in my adult life... maybe ever. I had my weight down to 115 lbs, which is kinda shocking, but not as much once you consider how little weight is carried in my lower body. The success of the weight loss and some recent depression lead to me going quite a bit overboard. Time to fix that.

Laid down last night around 12:20-12:30, probably fell asleep around 1. Got 6 hours of sleep. Took my morning medicine and BSN's Nitrix supplement. Started making breakfast around 8:10, finished around 8:30. Took AGG before breakfast. Consumed two scrambled eggs, spinach and lentils with a slice of turkey. I've been a regular bird eater for the past week or so. I like it, a lot. Lentils, eggs and spinach has become a staple meal. I've never been a huge breakfast food fan, so I like that I can skip straight to something lunchier. I call it "breggfest".

Today hasn't been the best. When I get depressed, I allow myself to justify destructive decisions, which leads to a cycle of negativity being created. I have great success with logs because they keep me honest.