I was worried about over eating on Memorial Day weekend, and I was right to. I ate a lot.
I don't regret breaking my diet on a holiday. I do regret overdoing it by as much as I did. Did anyone else know that a large cookie dough blizzard has 1300 calories?
The difference between my current weight loss effort, which has spanned the last 15 months now, is that I've always been able to recover after bad days or weekends. In the past if that would happen I'd give up and go back to my old habits. Yesterday I managed to get back into the swing of things, consuming about one cookie dough blizzard's worth of calories for my day.
Did anyone else know that a large cookie dough blizzard has 1300 calories?
I did, but I worked there for many years.
So did I...put on 15 lbs in 4 months my first summer working there.
I wasn't weighing myself when I started, but eventually during my reign I was at my slimmest because I finally spent a summer after my sophomore year in college getting serious about the shape I was in. Of course, a diet consisting of regular DQ meals put that weight back on until the next summer...
and thats only if you follow corporate procedures. I know there was more dough and sauce in the larges in real practice.
I can't deny that this sort of thing happened often.
Especially if you were more than a mere acquaintance and I was running the blender.
I had frequent smaller indulgences over the weekend. I'm feeling bad about it.
But I'm running a 5k on Saturday, so that's good... We'll see how it goes...
I've biked about fifty miles since Friday trying to final my prep for the MS 150. I would like to have ridden a lot more, but the weather has been really crappy (I don't want to get stranded 20 miles from home when it looks like it could start raining any minute) and I was at Soundset all day Sunday.
Weighed in at 214.1 this morning. I haven't gone to the gym since I got home -- I have a hip that is bothering me and I thought I'd give it some more rest. Feeling much better today. I was thinking about how much thinking about what I eat has impacted my life. My breakfast used to be a couple of breakfast sandwiches (basically sausage-egg McMuffin style) picked up at the grocery store. Now, it's bran cereal with a glass of milk and a banana. That simple change has made weight loss and maintenance so much easier. I'm sure that's 300 or more calories saved every day right there. Plus, not eating a (big) bag of potato chips with my lunch? Huge caloric savings. Staying away from the big blizzard and the big bag of chips is nothing more than thinking about what you eat. Plus, actually looking at the nutritional value of food served at restaurants (google it) -- I travel a lot and eating in restaurants is unavoidable makes smart choices a lot easier.
Starving is not a good long term option. Knowledge about food is very important.
I'm down to 239. That's six pounds in three weeks. Let's keep it going!
I had a small M&M blizzard the other day, 640 calories. I managed to stay under that day. Thankfully, a small size satisfies me fine.
I've only had two days since I started my diet 30 days ago where I went over my calorie allotment. One was a party, and just the alcohol sent me over, and I had to eat on top of that. Bad day. The second time was going to a restaurant with family this weekend, but I only went over by 200 calories, and I made up for it the next day by being 900 under thanks to walking a few miles.
I love sandwiches, and found a bread by Sara Lee that is only 40 calories per slice, and it tastes fine.
I haven't done a lot of "catching up" on calories before and after a big event. I'm not sure if I want to go there. Interesting to hear your experience. Also, I have friends who swear by cheat days one time per week. Of course they read something about "if you go 6 days w/o, your body will reject most of the excess food you eat on that 7th day." Sounds like BS, and definitely not a sustainable habit. I've watched them fluctuate. 🙂
Incidentally, we've started eating sandwiches on this sort of roll:
http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/ProductDetail.aspx?catID=994
Our supermarket has a few different brands. I had no idea they existed until a couple weeks ago, but some of them are quite tasty.
on this theme, Orowheat sandwich thins are excellent.
How many (identical?) brands does this company have? It's Brownberry here and I've seen the Arnold brand, but Oroweat is new to me.
Bimbo Bakeries owns Orowheat, Sara Lee (!!!), and all of the following:
also, I love Brownberry, but rarely see it out here.
It would appear that Bimbo no longer has its well-endowed bear mascot.
I don't think one "cheat day" a week will hurt you. The biggest problem, for me at least, is that one "cheat day" a week becomes two, and then three, and then the whole idea of watching what I eat becomes a thing of the past.
I've been getting Udi's Millet-Chia bread for making work sandwiches. Whole grain, and something different.
Coming up to about a month of tracking calories. I hope I never have to drastically reduce my salt. A couple restaurants and snack foods a week and it's impossible. Alarming.
Before the weekend I suggested if I finish within 1.5 pounds of my low weight I'd be happy. I think I finished within 1.6 pounds. I'm happy! Especially because this morning I was down a half pound.
SBG's breakfast thoughts are very interesting. I've never eaten a ton for breakfast, though I do love breakfast foods. (I wonder how much weight I've saved working non-brutal hours and from home?) A month ago I'd generally be hungry before lunch. This is a testament to my body's overall adjustment to reduced caloric intake. My breakfast is usually Kashi cereal with skim milk and coffee. Sometimes I make a massive smoothie with 3.5 servings of fruit, a serving of yogurt, a splash of milk and ice. (Occasionally I'll add Agave syrup as a bonus. And flax seed if I'm thinking about it.) I'll share some with my wife and kids, but I'm eating 2-3 fruits easy and it's a real energy boost.
I was able to indulge in some hometown favorites over the weekend, but I'm very happy that yesterday I finished a few hundred calories under my daily goal. And of late I've actually been finding myself coming up "short" on calories most days, sometimes looking for something that interests me. I generally look at the former "go to" items like chips and so on and think "meh, I'll have an apple." Feels great!
It would be awesome to be down to 185 sometime in July. And if I could get to 190 before my work trip to NYC in a couple weeks, I would be well pleased.
my dad is on a 2,000 sodium restriction but he made a choice to keep it under 1,500. There are so many things he just cannot eat anymore. Olives, Fritos, and soup pretty much send him to his limit instantly, and he can't go to his favorite restaurant anymore either. When he does go with us to places, it's usually salad for him. His body has gotten so used to his low sodium that he said he never feels dehydrated anymore. One day he had one piece of some lasagna I made and he felt miserable for about 24 hours afterwards.
This is something I should probably be better about. I'm 450 calories into my day and already at 2400mg of sodium.
Yeah, it's tough. Most of low-calorie foods I love are loaded with salt. I'm 795 calories into my day and just hit 2000mg. And I can guarantee you I'm not eating just raw fruits and vegetables the rest of the way out
Can you eat too little salt?
I read before this, I think in an NYT piece, that the 2400 mg salt limit might be arbitrary and you're fine at double or maybe even higher. I doubt I will be able to find it.
the Bittman piece in the link has a link to the underlying IOM consensus study that says there's not really any evidence to support a general prescription to go below 2400 mg per day.
You're thinking of this one?
I haven't read that one. The Times loves writing about salt.
That was easier than I thought: Salt, We Misjudged You.
NOT worrying about salt is hipster.
That reminds me of this article on diet I read yesterday. I think that someone who had high blood pressure, reduced the salt in their diet, and saw their blood pressure drop would be skeptical of claims that salt isn't that important, but since basically paying more attention to your diet in any way seems to improve health, I'm inclined to agree with Bittman that salt has gotten a bum rap.
I'm usually around 3500 per day. I drink plenty of water and haven't felt any ill effects so I'm probably not too bad off.
Yeah, things like pickles that I love as zero-calorie options just kill a day. If I were forced to stick to 2000mg.
I made it to the gym all three days over the long weekend. Partial compensation for pigging out on sunday with friends. He and I split a growler of local IPA, while he grilled chikin, "meat" (beef -- he's Guatemalan, which may have something to do with that description), lamb, and veggie kabobs to go with freshly-grilled flat bread, greek salad, and tzatziki.
also, I decided to conduct an experiment on myself by buying a big bottle of fish oil capsules. I'm trying to wean myself off of NSAIDs, and the literature I've read suggests that EPA and DHA from oily fish, in sufficient doses, have significant anti-inflammatory effects, without the gut-destroying and kidney-damaging effects of NSAIDs. So, I've started with two capsules per day (300 mg of Omega-3s each) and will ramp up from there. The literature seems to suggest that a higher dosage may be required for significant anti-inflammatory effects.
and, it seems, omega-3 fatty acids have been pretty thoroughly studied in recent years, although that 2006 study I linked to above is still the premo citation. Looks like it takes about a month of steady supplementation for a steady-state to be achieved in human tissues.
I've been using Krill Oil pills for my heart. I can't handle fish burps, and they're so nice and small in comparison. They are a bit more expensive but I think I got three months worth at Costco for ~$20.
Fish oil pills from Trader Joes don't cause the fish burp - got that tip from Dr. Fear.
My wife was telling me the other day that some studies have shown good quality olive oil is as effective or more effective than fish oil in terms of anti-inflammatory properties. I don't really know, but it's worth considering.
I think the answer on that is "not much,"* although olive oil has other salutary properties.
*or rather, "yes, but". You'd need a LARGE dose to get any theraputic effect. A 1990 double-blind study published in an arthritis journal found that "Dietary supplementation with olive oil is also associated with certain changes in immune function, which require further investigation." Which are weasel words for they didn't find any significant results.
Pubmed reference
I gave the "Scientific 7-Minute Workout" that bS(?) linked to a while back a try this morning. I did it twice (so, ok, it was more like the 15-Minute Scientific Workout) and I was left out of breath and with muscles that felt worked, so I think this will be something very useful when I'm off traveling and can't get to a hotel gym. Eventually, I hope to be able to do it three times instead of just two.
cool.
This makes for a convenient point to link to a critique of that workout.
also interesting, and reasonably persuasive.
There is a lot of good information there, though I think the author misses the boat by not proposing a better alternative. Also, while deadlifts are a great hip-dominant exercise, so are low-bar back squats, so limiting that whole category to "lower body pull" is pretty ridiculous.
Here is the crux of the problem, buried in the comments:
Unfortunately, that's not as sexy as "Should you do a newspaper workout?" And of course the personal trainer's answer basically boils down to "well, it all depends on the individual, everyone is a special snowflake and their workout should be designed accordingly."
To be fair, I think she did bury an couple alternative in the comments. It looked like one was with equipment and one was without. Of course, its not in the main body and so will probably be missed (and judging by other comments, was) by most.
Both her "Circuit A" and "Circuit B" options require additional equipment. It may be fairly nominal, but it's still additional equipment.
yea. It is almost impossible to do any sort of "pulling" exercise without some equipment.
also, ubes, you scored at least a wgom buck with the snowflake comment. I snorted in appreciation.
http://7-min.com/
[wrong spot]
This weekend I did a pull up for the first time since I was in third grade (17 years). It appears my weight training is paying off.