Food Bits

10:00 am - yogurt - 110cal
boston cream pie yoplait light. om nom NOM.

12:15 - mashed taters - 90cal
single serving of KFC mashed taters. I wanted warm comfort food. I haz it. :D

3:30 pm - arbys jr roast beef, sans bun - 180cal
so the jr roast beef is 300cal. a standard hamburger bun is 120cal. so i figure that's what's left

4:00 pm - sugar free caramel italian soda - 0cal (hee)

7pm - dinner - 470
1 C HH (330cal)
1/2 C corn (80cal)
1 berry munch GS cookie (60cal)

Daily Total: 850cal

the last few days I've sucked quite a bit.

In fact, my weekly weigh in puts me at 253.8. I've gone UP. Bad me. :(

So trying to be better.

9:00 - yogurt - 100cal
had the red velvet yoplait light. Not all that. It tasted OK, but not awesome.

12:30 - mexisoup - 96cal
sauteed: onion (44cal), 2 bell peppers (66cal), and 1/2 a cucumber (22cal)
added in a can of chicken broth (20cal), some garlic (free), some taco seasoning (free).
added in some salsa (20cal) and some bean dip (70cal)
added water to make soup.
my whole pot is 242 calories
I portioned it out into quarters - about 2 cups/portion - so each portion is roughly 60.5 calories. i'm going to count the first two i eat as 61 and the last two as 60, just for rounding.
To my two cups of soup i added 1/4 C cottage cheese (fat free). that's 35cal. total is 96. I went with cottage cheese cause i was contemplating adding either cheese or sour cream. This feels like a combination. Plus, it's in the house.

I'm seriously proud of myself for going back on the diet when I don't HAVE to. Also, I'm pleased because I used up stuff that needed to be used: cottage cheese, bean dip, cucumber, bell pepper, and onion, were all going to be approaching expiration shortly. There's still some cottage cheese and some bean dip, but it was USEFUL.

I don't want to be on as strict a diet as I was. I don't believe it's long-term healthy, and as of now, there's no real need to be. So I'm going to change the daily calorie intake to approx 800. That's the goal.

Dinner's always hard for me, and I tend to overeat, so I'm limiting my earlier intake a LOT to adjust for it.

Opinions?

3pm - snack - apple slices (35cal)

4:30 pm - pizza - 740cal
I had two slices of pizza. I assumed, like most pizza, they'd be 300cal each. WRONG. 370. Ouch.

Then I got depressed about being over my calorie limit. And about not working. And about not being able to control pain. And about being physically limited. And I cried.

And I ate some ice cream.

Then I was over sugared and loopy from THAT, so I had some ham.

I have no idea where I ended up.

Took the weekend off the diet again. It was a nice change. And apparently boosts my metabolism so during the week I lose the maximum. Neat trick.

9:30am - soup - 140cal

12:10 - tater - 175cal
i took one red potato, golf ball size (100cal?)
i nukerwaved it
i buttered it (1 tbsp at 50cal)
then i cooked up some mushrooms in water, added garlic & a bit of worchestshire for flavor. 25cal
PILED the mushrooms upon the tater and ATE it. mmm!

2:00 - coffee - 10cal
i made my usual 20cal mocha. I also learned something, causing me to only drink half of it.
Don't stir your mocha with the same spoon you used earlier to add garlic to mushrooms.
The end.

5:20 pm - sammich -335cal
1 piece of bread (110cal)
1 tbsp mayo (100cal)
3 slices ham (45cal?)
1 piece cheese (80cal)

Daily Total: 660.

before you think that's high - i got taken OFF the starvation diet. I'm still needing to lose weight, but omg-lose-now-surgery-imminent alert is GONE.

WOOT

The HARDEST thing for me to work around is the weekends. This one's no exception. I have plans!

Tonight: After PT, I need to grab food, then go to the gaming store for some D&D.

Saturday: Have a meeting to plan for Orycon (Sci-fi/fantasty con in November). Takes place at Round Table (Pizza Buffet joint). We need to all buy meals as a thank you for using the space.

Sunday: Have a meeting to plan for Gamestorm (Gaming Con in March). Takes place at Burger King. Again, need to buy food. Immediately after, have to go back to the gaming store to help Jason run some Game demos.

See? Busy! And everything happens around meal times! Jeepers.

So, plan it out ahead of time, right? OK, tonight, we have the time to stop and EAT, so we're going to AppleBees. They have a selection of 550cal meals. I'll be over my desired cal count for the day, but I'll still be in the 'weight loss' category. Plus, I'm going to drink LOTS of water today, and see if I can manage only HALF of my meal. Save the other half for another day.

Tommorrow, there's not much I can do. It's a pizza buffet. Not a lot of options. There IS a salad bar that comes with it, so I'm going to try to fill up on that. But I know pizza is my weakness. Luckily, it's mid-day. I'm going to TRY to cut tmw down to just one meal.

Sunday, I'm going to try and stick to coffee at the BK. They have decaf, and I can 0-cal it easily enough. That leaves me with the problem of food. I may go home after BK instead of the demos, depending on pain level, so I need TWO options - one for there, and one for home. I'm thinking about bringing my left over applebees in the car, and eating it between meetings - or right b4 BK.

So, I have plans. Not hard and fast rules, but plans. I know I'm going to go over, I'm just trying to manage by how MUCH.

Note: also going to review the BK menu for some low-cal options in case my applebees doesn't survive til sunday.

Hunger Happens.

10:45 am: veggies & bacon - 110cal
1 piece of bacon - 50cal
crumbled up and mixed in w/ my grilled veggies (60cal)

bacon's not much food for the calories - but it's so tasty it's worth it.

3:15pm - 92cal
1 medium sonic diet cherry limeade (10cal)
1 cheddar pepper (330 for 4, so 82cal)

5:30pm - applebees - 550cal
I ate teh whole thing, but DAMN was it good. I had the asiago steak. MMMM.

Daily Total: 752cal

12:00 - yogurt - 110cal
I had a pineapple upside down cake yoplait light yogurt. I love this line of yogurt. MMMMM.

2:00pm - veggies - 95cal
So, I sauteed me up some veggies:
1/2 cuke (45 per 1) - 23cal
1 bell pepper - 33 cal
1 onion - 40 cal
1/2 my mushrooms - 25cal
That totals 121cal. I took half of it: 60cal
then i added in 1/4 C of fat-free cottage cheese (35cal)
mix it up and YUM.

6:00 - HH/salad - 156cal
so, i made hamburger helper. The flavor I made says it's 310 cal / C, but i don't make it by pkg directions. So I did some math.
What's in the box is 5 servings of 120 each. that's 600cal
I added 1 lb of meat, and i did the drain & rinse thing, so that's 155cal/quarter lb, or 620cal
i also used 1 3/4 C milk, using fat-free at 80 cal/cup, so that's 140cal
the entire dish is 1360 cal.
That makes 5 servings of 1 C each
so, a cup of *my* HH is 272cal. I didn't shave off much, but I did some.
My serving is a 1/2 Cup, just to be safe (and leave room for food later if I want it!) - 136cal
Now, because HH is tasty but not very bulky, i added on a simple side salad. 1 C of lettuce (8cal)
and some spray ranch (12cal)

Daily Total: 361cal

11:00 - egg & salad. - 88cal
I wanted that herby spinachy flavor you get in some omelettes/fritattas. I had no spinach, so I kinda...made this up as i went.

I wouldn't do it again, for the record. It's not all that.
Fried an egg, over-medium (80cal)
took 1 C of my salad mix, and heated it up on the grill just a BIT (8cal)
put egg on top of salad mix, broke yolk, tossed.

Meh.

12:00 - MOCHA - 20cal
took 1 C of coffee (0cal)
added 2 tbsp of splenda (0cal)
added 1/4 C of fat free milk at 80cal/8oz, where 8oz appears to equal a cup, so (20 cal)
1 tbsp of sugar-free torani's choc syrup (0cal)
ice to fill glass.
this is SUCH a treat for me. and low calorie too!

3pm - ham - 30 cal
i had 2 slices of ham. I have no idea what the calorie count is, but based on what my turkey was, i'm assuming it's about 30cal.

6:30 pm - soup - 140cal
i had 1/2 a can of campbells chicken & sausage gumbo soup. mmm.

8:00 pm - popcorn! - 100cal

10:20pm - tea. with splend 0 cal, but getting a mention cause i'm HAPPY.

Daily Total: 378cal

The way I've ate the last few days I was tempted to 'forget' this...but I didn't. And I'm glad.

Me on 2/17/2010
Wearing these clothes, per the bathroom scale, I am 251.4lbs.

Another 3 lbs, bringing the total to 7. Yay!

Starting over is hard. But I'm doing it.
Rather than trying to remember what i've eaten, we're just going to start over.

Breakfast: 1 egg - 80cal
I got an over-medium egg. I finally got it cooked right! well, it's a little over done, but i'm still very happy. YAY!

Lunch - salad - 68cal
2 tbsp bean dip - 35cal
heat it up & mix in
1 tbsp lite ranch - 20cal
1 tbsp salsa - 5cal
add 1 c salad mix (8cal)
toss

Dinner - not counting this.
a burgerville yukon & bean basil burger
1/2 order of burgerville waffle fries.
some ham.
an entire box of mac and cheese.

I got HUNGRY. and I ATE....and ate....and ate....

10:30 - arbys - 150cal
arbys jr chicken sandwich
just the patty - no sauce, no lettuce, no bread.
their site doesn't list nutritional data, but i found an online estmiate at 250cal. I skipped the sauce and the bread (and the lettuce, but who cares) so i'm going to assume that's at least 100 off.

12:00 - Baskin Robbins - 320cal
1 scoop apple pie a la mode ice cream. w/ whipped cream on top.
i'm assuming a 4oz scoop, i'm not really sure. that's 270 per their website.
i don't know what their whipped cream is but i had less than 1/4 C, and i found something online stating that whipped cream's about 150/cup (wow! i had no idea it was that high, i eat whipped cream all the freaking time. I love it. going to have to look into the sugar free varieties!). I figure B&R probably adds extra sugar, so assuming 50.

11:00 - veggies & egg -161 cal
1 veggie 'pack' - 66cal
1 egg - 80cal
1 tbsp ketchup - 15cal

2:00 - veggies - 106cal
1 veggie pack - 66cal
small amount of pepperjack - 20cal
1 tbsp light ranch - 20cal

6:00 - taco bell - 915cal
1 soft taco supreme 240cal
1 burrito supreme 420cal
1/2 steak quesadilla. (510/2) 255cal

SO FULL. also...calorie overload. ugh. i felt so sick.

daily total:1182
*cringe* yet, the amusing part of this is, were I on a STANDARD diet, not a crash diet....i'd have been within limits. even pigging out. wow.

6am - hot dog - 180 calories
morning food for pain pill. Whee? Now I have to be extra careful all day. Also, am i the only one that nukes a hot dog, then wipes it off with a paper towel? I never noticed how greasy they are before! Even after I did that, it turned my tummy when I ate it. UGH!

1pm - veggie mix - 66cal
I chopped up and mixed:
1 onion - 44 cal
1 bell pepper - 33 cal
the rest of my mushrooms - 37 cal
a red potato - 150cal
assorted spices.
that totals 264 calories
I divided it into 4ths and put the other 3/4s in 3 seperate lil containers. there we go. Pre-made 'meals' (or starts to them) of 66cal each

6pm - veggie wrap -251cal
1 of my veggie mixes (66cal)
a very teensy amount of cheese (20cal)
2 tbsp sour cream (60cal)
1/2 a tortilla (105cal)

daily total: 497 cal

So...I did okay, but i was REALLY disappointed with dinner. I wanted (omg wanted) a taco. This...not a taco. It tried, but...failed. boom. crash. Not. A. Taco. and no olives. OMG i want olives. The tortilla crumbled. It was not a happy wrap. I'd have been much happier setting aside the tortilla, using half the sour cream, and having something else. bleh.

4am - cereal - 60 cal
woke up in pain. UGH. needed food to take a pill, so cereal it was.

1pm - salad - 71 cal
2 cups of salad mix (15cal), my left over veggie bits (26cal), and dressing
dressing is 1 tsp vinegar (0cal), 1 tbsp sour cream (30cal), and some taco seasoning (0cal)

4pm - coffee - 250cal
jason brought me home a drink. A venti starbucks. omg. yum! it's a venti carmel mocha. the carmel syrup is sugar free and the milk in it is fat-free. and no whip. I looked it up on their website. Yowza. but SOOOOO good.

7pm - egg - 80cal
I had some mushroom and onion in the egg. Jason took over making it for me though, before I could measure out, and didn't put in enough for me to even guess at a calorie count. So when i use up the rest of my onion and mushroom, i'll just count them as not having any removed.

Daily Total - 461

Me on 2/10/2010
Wearing these clothes, per the bathroom scale, I am 254.4lbs

4 lb loss. You can already see a small difference. Look at the cheeks.

5:30am - cereal - 60cal
I woke up in OH MY GOD PAIN. I just wanted food so I could take a pill
1/4 cup cereal (110 for 3/4 a cup so 37)
1/4 cup milk (90 for 1 cup so 23)

1pm - potato -179cal
I nukerwaved my red potato (150cal)
I took half of my left over fajita veggie mix and put it on top. (26cal)
I drizzled 1 tbsp of sour cream over that (30cal)
I was originally going to use butter instead of sour cream, but it turns out butter's 50cal for 1 tbsp and my sour cream is 60 for 2. So sour cream it was.
Lunch was a bit high, but tasty. And I'm still OK for the day

6pm - 3oz pork steak - 141cal
47cal an oz

Daily Total: 380cal

11:35 - 'fajita' veggies - 61cal
1 small-medium onion (44cal), half a large bell pepper ( 1/2 * 33 = 17cal), 1tsp taco seasoning (0cal), 1/4 C water (0cal)

This is REALLY yummy. I was going to go with 1 onion & 1 pepper but the onion was so small 1/2 a pepper worked out better.

4:30 - salad - 216 cal
2 cups of lettuce (15cal), 1/2 chicken breast (110cal), 1/4 onion, if that (11cal), sprinkling of cheese (i estimate just under 1/8th of a string cheese in size, and those are 80cal, so 10cal) 1tbsp sour cream (30cal), 2 tbsp light ranch (40cal) - i found out my salsa had gone bad!!!!!

7:00 - taco salad - 106cal
I was hungry. All sorts of food options ran through my head. I almost grabbed my go-to snack...100calorie bag o popcorn. Instead, I cooked, and used up my leftover onion & bell pepper
2/3 onion - 44cal for a full one, so 29cal
the other 1/2 of my bell pepper - 16cal
1/4 of my box of mushrooms (2.5 servings in the box, 20cal a serving, so 50 cal for the box) - 13cal
i sauteed those with a bit of taco seasoning, deglazing with water.
Then, I took 2 slices of turkey (using up leftovers!), sliced it up and tossed it in too - 45cal
my dish was 103calories

I took 2 cups of lettuce (15cal)
and drizzled 2 tbsp of light ranch (40cal) - i REALLY want to mix sour cream & salsa for this. it'd be WAY better. sadly, my salsa turned FUZZY. :( i wonder what sour cream plus vinegar plus taco seasoning does? hmm..an experiment for tmw, perhaps

Then, I took HALF my fajita veggie mix and piled on top. Ta da! And I have 52 calories of veggies to use later or tommorrow for a snack! WOOHOO!

Daily Total: 383 calories

Yes, I have 383 calories, and have had ranch, sour cream, cheese, and chicken, all in the same day. BOOYAH!

7:30 am - cereal - 191cal
I hadn't intended on this much, but Jason made my bowl of cereal and handed it to me before I could protest.
1 C cereal (3/4 cup is 110, so 147) & 1/2 C milk (45cal)

9:30 am - burgerville breakfast sandwich -480cal
I knew it was a mistake. But it sounded wonderful. It smelled better. It tasted lovely. Will Power Roll FAILED. I didn't realize it was THAT high in cal. Well, no food til dinner. at all.

3:30pm - leftover soup - 75cal
so much for that. needed pill, which requires food. grumble.

Total: 746cal

11:00am - egg & bacon - 130cal
1 egg at 80cal and one piece of bacon @ 50cal.

2:30 pm - half an egg roll - 90 cal
i needed to take a pill for pain, which requires food. So I split an egg roll with jason.

6:30 pm - soup and salad - 233 cal
the salad was 1 cup of lettuce (7.5cal), 2 tbsp salsa (10cal), and 1 tbsp sour cream (30cal), totalling 48ish calories. I threw some worchestshire pepper on it too - 0 cal.
the soup was a can of chicken broth (20cal), a can 0f mushrooms (60cal) and a can of green beans (70cal). That comes out to 150calories. I used half of it, so 75cal.
I also added half a chicken breast to my soup, so another 110calories, bringing me to 185 cal.

Daily Total: 453calories

AND I have pre-made soup for tommorrow! woot!

Today started early for me - well, on 'not working' time. It would have been sleeping in on 'working' time. At any rate.

Physical Therapy - 7:30 in the morning. I slept like crap last night. Fell asleep around 1am (mind you, i was in bed by 10). woke up at 3:30. Fell back asleep around 4. Alarm goes off @ 5:30. Groan. Jason left house at 6, and I fell asleep again shortly thereafter, and got up at 6:40.

Not hungry though, which surprised me. Thirsty. Oh My God thirsty! I drank an entire glass of water (20 oz) before my appointment.

Physical Therapy was, as usual, painful. However, there is a cheer. I made it all the way from the PT exam room to the front of the building without needing my cane. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! First time I've walked without it (except little bits in the house) since the year started. I was super-happy with that. I have new exercises I have to do too. Whee.

After PT my plan was to come home, have a bowl of cereal, take tram. However, such was not to be. See, there's a McDonalds between PT and home. Like, practically in the same parking lot as PT. And as we're pulling out Jason nods to it and says 'wanna sandwich? or going to go home, eat cereal, and be good?' I hesitated. Yummy, fatty, salty, tasty badness...or cereal. Then, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and said 'cereal.' Jason laughed at how long it had taken me to respond and took me to mcdonalds.

I love this guy. He knows what I want, even when I try not to want it. Sadly, this left me staring at the MCD breakfast menu trying to determine what would work best for my diet. I had a (very very very yummy) sausage burrito off their value menu. I looked it up. 300cal. So we'll have to be VERY careful today. Yes indeedy.

8:30 am - MCD sausage burrito - 300cal

I was very very careful afterwards. There was serious discussion of pizza for dinner, which I managed (narrowly) to avoid. I skipped lunch to try to compensate.

6pm: salad - 160cal
2 cups lettuce mix (15cal), 1/2 burger patty (w/ sister's help, calculated 1/2 patty at 125cal), 4 tbsp salsa (20cal)

7pm: popcorn - 50cal
A bit later, watching tv, i wanted a snack. I felt the need for something salty. I split a 100cal bag of popcorn with my friend who's visiting this evening.

Total: 510 calories

I woke up with the same headache I went to bed with at 6am. UGH. I did my usual call-in to work, used the bathroom, and then went back to sleep.

I woke up at 9:30 with the same god-awful headache. However, I also noticed the clouds had come in and the temperature had dropped outside. Weather changes, says I! Pressure changes, say I! Sneeze, said my nose. I took some sudafed (fake over-the-counter sudafed, but that's what i had). And a couple ibuprofen for good measure.

Here we are, two hours later, with headache all but gone! So I don't think headache was caused by lack of food but rather by the weather going wonky on me. I get headaches when it does that, but I didn't notice the changes last night.

The dizzy spell was still lack of food. I have to be CAREFUL. Ugh.

However, in what I'm assuming is a show of support and thanks, my back hurts less today than it has in WEEKS. I've done a load of laundry and loaded the dishwasher - without tramadol! Now, it's possible the Ibu is responsible for part of that, and I do feel SOME pain, so I'm not all better. But I'll take it.

10am - 1/2 can of soup (finished off that minestrone) - 100cal

I've decided upon a challenge. I need to create a 100cal grilled cheese sandwich. mmmmm.

1:30pm - 1/2 chicken breast - 110cal

right on target for lunch. Yeah! Back started hurting about then too. bugger.

4:30 pm - cheese - 80cal.

Jason handed it to me. He said we needed to eat it before it went bad. I ate it. It was a hunk of cheddar, about the same amount as is in a string cheese. so 80cal.

5:00pm - salad - 95cal
2 cups of lettuce at 15cal, 5tbsp of salsa at 10cal/2tbsp = 25cal, and 2 slices of turkey lunch meat. I have no idea how many calories in a slice. the package indicates 1/6th of the package is 90cal. there are at LEAST 24 slices in there. so we're going to assume 2 slices was 45cal.

5:30pm - cereal - 96cal
1/2 cup of cereal. 3/4 = 110cal, so 73cal. plus 1/4 cup of milk (fat-free). 1 cup is 90, so 23ish.

I got HUNGRY tonight. Wow. Tummy hurts. I hate crash diets. I really do. Stupid surgery. :(

8:49 pm - cereal 60cal
1/4 cup of cereal (37 cal) plus 1/4 cup of milk (23)
not all that hungry, but hurt, and need food for pill. Stupid back.

Total: 551 calories.

It occurs to me there should be some basic rules about weight loss. Or dieting. Or whatever you want to call it. So I'm going to try to list some. These can be adjusted, edited, killed, added to, whatever. Just sort of thinking out loud here.

Do it now.
How many times have I thought "Yeah, I should do that...I'll start tommorrow." Whatever it is - cutting out the fast food, weighing yourself, going for a walk...just do it now.

Admit it.
It's never easy to admit faults. Ever. Especially with weight. But admitting it helps. Whether you're looking in the mirror saying, "Ok, I am NOT a size 16 anymore." or looking at the fridge saying "I really have a weakness for ice cream." Case in point - I admitted that I had a weight problem and was trying to fix it to my friends before a game session. They didn't laugh at me or judge me. They brought veggies instead of chips. This applys to everything. Write down everything you eat, if you're keeping a food journal. Sure, it was one cookie. Still, admit it.

Fill The Void.
You're eating less. You're going to feel like something's missing. This is perfectly NORMAL for a human. So fill that void. Exercise is often recommended. Get a hobby. Learn a craft. Learn how to cook more healthy. Do something.

Me on 2/3/2010
Wearing these clothes, per the bathroom scale, I am 258.4lbs

My doctor has informed me that, to prep for possible surgery, I need to lose as much weight as possible. Apparently it's putting pressure on the spinal column and is being ooky. A crash diet, while normally not a good thing, is approved in this instance. *sigh*

Problem: I have to eat every time I take tramadol or I get very ill.

Jason's going to be buying lettuce tonight, but in the meantime, I'm making due.

Today:

6am: 1 hot dog. 180cal.

no, it's NOT good for me. But it was quick and available. This is a problem. When I hurt, I just want the pill in me asap, which means quick quick food that I don't have to stand long to make. Nuking a hot dog is quick. It doesn't require a lot of thought at 6am either.

11:20 am: soup. 1/ can campbells healthy request condensed minestrome. 100cal

so, a can has 2.5 servings @ 80cal each. 80*2.5=200cal, 200/2=100 cal
mixed with a can of water, adds no calories. this is more filling than i expected.

note: i had cans of non-condensed soup that had 2 servings per can...but the calories were 140 or 160 each (depending on flavor). So I went with condensed.

4:30pm: salad & chicken - 163 calories

1/2 chicken breast was 110calories
3 cups of salad, at 15cal/2 cups = 23cal
6tbsp of salsa, at 10cal/2tbsp = 30 cal

daily total: 443 calories
I also have a terrible headache and managed to survive a bad dizzy spell. :(

Jason's daily total is 1020calories.
10 kfc boneless buffalo wings (80cal each)
1 chicken breast (220cal)