Long term dieting

20200814 Daily report quickly

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Caption

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – xxx (00)

  • 00 calories

Lunch – yyy (00); zzz (00)

  • 00 calories 

Dinner – bbb (00); ccc (00)

  • 00 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80); ddd (00)

  • 80 calories

Total for the day: 000 calories (limit 1800 + 500 bonus from swimming, total 2300)

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I won’t talk fast, but I don’t have time to say a lot today.  It’s already 10.30 and I do not think staying up late helps people who are trying to control their weight.  There’s some connection between eating and staying awake that I don’t need!  And I had such a nice dinner, too.

I did not eat the whole pizza! Just about a quarter, though.

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Bagel (330); salami (140); cheese (70);

  • 540 calories

Lunch – Lasagna (300)

  • 300 calories 

Dinner – Pizza (700); 

  • 700 calories

Snacking – Snickers ice cream bar (180)

  • 180 calories

Total for the day: 1720 calories (limit 1700)

Don't worry about tomorrow until tomorrow

It’s one thing to know that tomorrow is my weigh-in, and it’s another to speculate and worry about it.  The week’s work is done and I have eaten everything I am going to eat until I get on the scale tomorrow morning.  I am just thinking about the week that has gone by.  I have been very busy and I have kept my focus on eating just enough food, most of the time.  That’s good and fulfilling in its own way.  Now, I will go to bed and let my body do its work.  There is a whole new week starting, a week that I can try to make the best of.   

See you next week!  

-The Doctor

20200813 Daily report – slipping or skipping

I didn’t post yesterday!  I am skipping days.  Or maybe I am slipping – no longer able to post due to lack of nourishment!  My calorie total yesterday was 1535, so that’s not a lot.  But considering how sedentary I have been the last few weeks, it may be just right.  

I had a Russian friend once, and she was ferocious.  I told her I was thinking of going on a diet (this in my 20s when I was just a bit overweight).  Two years later, she wrote me an email asking if I could still cast a shadow.  Ouch!  Abraham Lincoln once described an argument that had gotten so thin it was like soup made from the shadow of a pigeon which had starved to death.  It was that kind of a situation. Obviously I could still cast a shadow.  Two shadows, in the years to come.

Caption

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Beef and broccoli with rice (200)

  • 200 calories

Lunch – 2 pieces Spanish tortilla (333); Lavash wrap half (60)

  • 400 calories 

Dinner – Lasagna (500); salad (30)

  • 530 calories

Snacking – Pretzels (200); Cheddar cheese (100); Snickers ice cream bar (180);

  • 480 calories

Total for the day: 1610 calories (limit 1700)

Guesstimating the portions

I didn’t make the lasagna and didn’t measure the serving.  I am guessing 500 calories but don’t know for sure.  It felt like that.  

Normally I like a bit more control in my food portions (OK, I am a bit extreme about it) but my priority recently has been work.  One thing that has had to give is food preparation.  So I am just rolling with it.

It’s been interesting to devote the last year and a half to losing 100 pounds and I want that to go further.  But maybe it’s time to change my focus a bit. I have been blogging for a while now about making a transition from losing weight to maintaining a weight and I will be thinking a lot more about that, even though I still have a way to go.  A weigh to go, haha.  My original goal was to lose 120 pounds, ending at 205.  Probably I will end up going for a lower number even than that.  But for now, 205 is still a good goal – I haven’t gotten there yet.  I am at 225.  

It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?  I used to weigh 325 pounds and have weighed around 300 for maybe 10 years.  Now I weight a good bit less.  I am a different person now and that person won’t gain back the weight.  I am aware that the old me is still in there somewhere and he has had a lot of practice being in charge.  I will always have to make sure my new life is attractive and that I will have to do some work.

What have you learned?

-The Doctor

20200811 Daily report and darkwalk

My wisdom will be extra pithy today.  I don’t have a lot of time!  I haven’t been walking in several days, but I took a darkwalk tonight – started just before dusk and it was full dark by the time I got back from the three miles.  Exercise seems important and worth sacrificing for.  Good food, likewise.

Colorful Spanish tortilla

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Bagel (330); salami (100); 80g ham (130);

  • 560 calories

Lunch – chicken enchilada (300); watermelon (25);

  • 325 calories 

Dinner – Spanish tortilla (500); mayonnaise (50); watermelon (25);

  • 575 calories

Snacking – pretzels (100);

  • 100 calories

Total for the day: 1560 calories (limit 1700)

...and I fell fast asleep

It’s good to work hard, then you are tired afterwards. And hungry.  Physical labor is better for hunger than mental labor, that’s well known.  While keeping busy keeps your mind on non food things, another essential is getting enough sleep.  People don’t always think about that.  Without enough sleep your ability to keep your mind on the job and stay away from the kitchen will be severely compromised.  

Tomorrow I have another busy day.  That means sleep, bed for me!  Sleep well, everyone.  Dream of a life you want to live, where your weight is under control.  But it’s not just weight, is it?  It’s being in control of your life.

-The Doctor

20200810 Daily report: inside edition

By “inside edition” I don’t mean inside my belly!  I mean I was sitting inside all day working.  For all of that, on a day where I got a lot of activity, I had plenty to eat.  

Enchilada time!

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Bratwurst (260); 1/4 Lavash wrap (30)

  • 290 calories

Lunch – Sandwich with salami (140); cheese (70); and bun (170); chicken soup (30) with 2oz noodles (100);

  • 510 calories 

Dinner – 2x chicken enchiladas (300); sour cream (60)

  • 360 calories

Snacking – tea with half and half (80); blueberries (50); crustless fruit pie (150); coffee cake (150);

  • 430 calories

Total for the day: 1890 calories (limit 1700)

Catchup/Ketchup

It had to happen, right?  I have been very calorie restricted for weeks and I was starting to feel it.  So I had a day with nearly 1900 calories!  Last year that would have been a routine day.  Now my past is catching up with me.  

I don’t see this as a setback.  1890 is not extravagant and I won’t gain weight that way.  But it does feel unusual, being full. 

Counting calories has worked for me.  But now I know my body needs exercise too, or weight loss will be slow.  I didn’t get to walk today, but I will tomorrow.  

Weight control is a long term game.  Today someone was talking about the TV show Biggest Loser, where people lose all kinds of weight.  It’s no surprise to me that many of them gain it back, though.  The weight control is outsourced to coaches and aides who tell the person what to do and how much of what to eat, and have them exercise.  When the coaches go home, the person who gained all that weight is still there, unchanged.  The relationship with food and the reson for eating are unexamined and still the same as before.  That person will almost certainly gain the weight back, and feel bad about it too.

Don’t be in that position.  Change your mind and learn to think like a thin person.  It’s possible to do that and still enjoy your life.  It does take some thinking, and some changing, though.

Change your mind first.

-The Doctor

20200808 Saturday weighing less

Every Saturday, I weigh myself in the morning, before breakfast.  It is important to know how much you weigh.  The lifestyle I am building is an information-based way of life.  I count calories and keep a food journal and weigh myself.  Even if you had a bad diet week, or a bad day Friday, you should still get on the scale because you need to know the effects of a bad week or a bad day.  It’s taken me a while to figure that out.  I have been too embarrassed or too ashamed to get on the scale before.  But it’s just between you and the scale.  Not everyone is putting the results up on the internet!  Talking of which, I did weigh myself.  How did that go?

Red toe from walking so much! Good number though.

I forget, how much weight have I lost since I started living the weight control lifestyle in January 2019?  Oh yes, it was…

Pounds!!
0

Hooray!

I have to admit I thought I would first get below 330 pounds and then a week or two later get to this level.  This is amazing and a bit weird.  Losing 5 pounds in one week?  That can’t be real or healthy, right?

Ordinarily I would just say no, it’s not real.  But I have data from my food journal and I have been walking a bit more, about three miles a day most days.  According to my food journal this week I averaged 1444 calories per day.  That’s pretty low. Under normal conditions I aim for 1850 per day and expect to lose 1-2 pounds, so in deficit between 3500-7000 calories.  But this week I was in deficit a bit more.  About 400 calories per day more!  2800 calories more is just about a pound.  Maybe the walking made a difference?  I won’t know until next week.

Interestingly weighing myself with clothes on put me up about 1.5 pounds.  That’s good to know, too.  

And from an online calculator I see that walking doesn’t burn that many calories. Maybe 110 per mile, so if I walked 10 miles we can estimate a further 1100 calories were burned.  That’s just not enough to lose 5 pounds.  So there is something unusual going on with my body.  That’s ok, I will find oud out next week when I get on the scale again.  That’s the beauty of the system – there is always more data.

As a reward, the Olive Garden is out, due to Corona Virus.  What kind of reward should I have?  Today’s dinner is a top candidate.  I had home-grilled steak, potato, and salad.  Nearly 900 calories just for dinner!  I haven’t done that in forever.

Have a good week!  

-The Doctor

20200807 Daily report

Yesterday, someone asked me what my system I was using to control my weight.  Well, I am not using any famous (yet) system, like low carb, keto, paleo, South Beach, Atkins, low fat, or seefood.  (Seefood, you know: you see food, and then you eat it.)  What others?  Weight watchers and Jenny Craig are popular too.  Those are probably closest to my system in because they involve calorie counting and portion control.  But for me the essential part isn’t the mechanism, it’s getting your mind right.  If you get your mind right, then your body follows.

Mark Twain had a system that he liked to call starvation.  In his day people complained they had no appetite and he advised starving yourself until you were good and hungry for dinner.  I’ve used that one a lot on my weight control system.  

Good and hungry for nachos and chips!

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Last of the veal cannelloni (200)

  • 200 calories

Lunch – 7oz pulled pork (340); Ole wrap (60);

  • 400 calories 

Dinner – 10oz nachos (450); 1.5oz chips (200); sour cream (60);

  • 710 calories

Snacking – Snickers ice cream bar (180); 

  • 180 calories

Total for the day: 1490 calories (limit 1700)

It's been a lean week

By keeping my mind on work and away from food – which has taken a lot of concentration – I have not felt hungry enough to eat as much as usual.  That’s part of getting your mind right.  But it starts with something else.

It starts with figuring out what is your reason for eating.  Are you eating in order to feel different emotionally?  Boredom, tiredness, frustration – those are not the right reasons to eat.  It’s hard to be honest about that.  If you are overweight, first look to your reason for eating.  Maybe you are avoiding problems in your life.  Maybe you are using food for comfort.  That’s a terrible trap.  Then every time you try to eat less, it’s like you are withholding comfort and happiness from yourself….but not in a healthy way.  By eating food.   

You must learn to reconnect to simple physical reasons for eating.  You should be eating because you are hungry and that hunger is starting to dominate your thoughts and keep you from doing your work.  As Twain wrote, there’s nothing wrong with regularity in your meals as long as your appetite is calling the shots.  OK, maybe he said it using different words.  Look up his short story “At the Appetite-Cure.”

Another part of getting your mind right early on is to relearn the truth: that hunger is a good thing you can use to your benefit.  I never enjoy a meal so much as when I am very hungry for it.  Twain said your stomach should call with a shout!  So you can get to a place where you are not punishing yourself by withholding food, but rewarding yourself for getting properly hungry.  Then you can learn to be careful about not eating too much, so you are hungry for the next meal.  See how that works?

Let’s see if it worked for me, tomorrow.

-The Doctor

20200806 Daily Report double quick time!

11PM and where did the time go!  I was so busy today and I didn’t prepare a lot of the food I ate so there was a little guessing involved in counting the calories!  I will have to do calculations later.  I had veal cannelloni for lunch and dinner because they were so good – sheets of pasta stuffed with veal, spinach, and ricotta, and covered with bechamel and cheese.  Yes, I did have one little, little piece of fudge that came with a tremendous price tag!  Did you know that 36g of fudge is about 150 calories?  Now you know.  That’s just over an ounce.  

Canneloni! I should have cut it open first for a better view of the layers.

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Costco pizza half slice (380)

  • 380 calories

Lunch – 2x Canneloni (200); baguette piece (50); 36g peanut butter fudge (150);

  • 600 calories 

Dinner – Canneloni (200); 5oz pulled pork (250); broccoli (25);

  • 475 calories

Snacking – None today

  • 0 calories

Total for the day: 1455 calories (limit 1700)

No time today for chitchat

I did walk today – just a mile or so.  Every little bit helps.  I am pretty sure I am going to have a negative experience on Saturday when I weigh in.  Negative is good in this case, I am saying I will weigh less than last week!  I don’t want a positive experience on my scale.

Tomorrow I will calculate how many calories were actually in those Cannelloni.  It will still be a bit of a guess, though.  Keep busy!

-The Doctor

20200805 Daily Report and not much else

When you are trying to lose weight you can lose balance quickly.  A few days ago I was amazed at how busy I was and how little time I had to think about food, and really how little I needed to. Then, on Monday, I accidentally skipped lunch.  That’s unusual.  I can set the clock by my interest in lunch at 11.30.  Anyway, I just ate dinner that day.   Instead of my typical 1500-1700 calories, Monday I had….1030.  I didn’t think much about it then, but ever since Monday I have been feeling extra hungry.  Not all the time, I’m not gnawing on the table or anything.  But near mealtimes I am definitely noticing it now.  And my meals have to be bigger than usual.  Mind over matter only takes me so far.

I had to make myself stop after 2!

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – 4oz meatloaf (320); Ole wrap (60); mayo (50); 

  • 430 calories

Lunch – bagel (330); salami (140); olives (20);

  • 490 calories 

Dinner – Costco cheese pizza (760); 

  • 760 calories

Snacking – Nada

  • 0 calories

Total for the day: 1680 calories (limit 1700)

I am thinking about it right now!

A third slice, I mean.  I didn’t starve today, but my body is thinking about that missed meal.  The danger is, that part of me will get resentful about that lost meal and start complaining: why are you punishing me?  I don’t mean to.  But there is a temptation for me to see it that way.  Then the discipline will break down and I might have a bad diet day.  

The principle is: every day is a new day.  If you overate yesterday, don’t try to fix yesterday by eating less today.  The other side is, if you under-ate yesterday, don’t overeat today to make up for it either.  That principle is being tested right now.  I may have to spend a little time thinking of a reward for myself – this has been a tough couple of weeks.  For one thing, I have not lost any weight from December 2019-June 2020.  Now I am losing again, and that has to be rewarded.  I started doing more exercise (walking) and that has changed things too.  When I get under 230 pounds (milestone!!!) I will have to be very good to myself.  Oh yes – Olive Garden it is!  

Time for bed.  If you don’t get enough sleep you will never have the time or energy to control your weight and do all your work.  Take care!

-The Doctor

20200804 Daily report, lost day edition

Part of controlling your weight is developing a lifestyle you want to be living.  I have gotten much happier since I started walking (most days) for 3 miles at a time.  I like exercise more than I thought!  At the same time, I have always believed that the food I prepare (and carefully portion) had to be the best and most appealing I could make, or else it wouldn’t be worth waiting for.  But these days I am busy from morning till night and have no time to worry about all that.  I am having food that I like but not always favorites that I have been looking forward to with anticipation.  

OK, dinner tonight was great.  But I didn’t think about what I was going to eat until 6PM.  So I am working on a new idea.  Read on and see.

Vegetable curry. Choose your curry powder well!

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – bagel (330); 3oz ham (130);

  • 460 calories

Lunch – 5oz meatloaf (400); Ole wrap (60); 1.5tsp mayonnaise (50);

  • 510 calories 

Dinner – 5oz rice (160); 12oz vegetable curry (330)

  • 490 calories

Snacking – Fruit of the Forest pie (no crust, 150); 

  • 150 calories

Total for the day: 1610 calories (limit 1700)

It may not mean anything to you yet

The advice to “keep busy” is sometimes given to people who are on diets.  But keeping busy is not always good competition for eating.  I know one woman who kept busy counting her chewings; she had been taught to chew each bite of food 30 times!  She did not have a weight problem and no wonder.  It would take all day to eat breakfast. But there are other ways to keep busy.  I have been very occupied with work and career matters, and have hardly thought about what I want to eat.  Tomorrow will make two weeks without a gryos from Big Greek Cafe, and I have hardly noticed.

If you can find part of your life and responsibilities to throw yourself into and dedicate yourself to them, you will be amazed how the focus comes off when and what you will eat.  

Short writing tonight – busy days here.  Keep striving!

-The Doctor

20200802 Daily report, cool edition

As much as I have been enjoying the heat resistance that comes with being a bit thinner, it is always nice when the hot summer weather breaks.  Today was that day.

To control your body’s weight, weight control itself has to be one of your top priorities.  You should be a bit obsessed!  Whatever diet experts tell you about not obsessing is a bit wrong, I think.  You aren’t going to lose a lot of weight and keep it off by tinkering around the edges of what you were doing before.  

Gaining weight actually takes effort.  But you don’t think about it.  Let me explain, after dinner.

Didn't wait to take a picture before starting!

My food intake and calorie count

Breakfast – Large pancake (120); syrup (60);

  • 180 calories

Lunch – homemade pizza slice (300); 5oz chili (175 ); 1/2 oz tortilla chips (80);

  • 555 calories 

Dinner – 5oz Meatloaf (400); potatoes and carrot (100); brussels sprouts (40);

  • 540 calories

Snacking – Fruit of the Forest pie for dessert (250)

  • 250 calories

Total for the day: 1525 calories (limit 1700)

1700 is still new

Formerly I was limiting myself to 1850 calories per day and losing 2 pounds per week.  Then I suddenly got less exercise (thanks Corona Virus) and I was losing less than a pound per week.  I lowered my calorie intake a bit in response.  Meeting that new stricter limit has not been too difficult so far.  I have been concentrating so hard at work that my eating has gotten very connected to my physical hunger.  That is a good thing.  That is, I am only eating when I am really hungry!

But what did I mean when I was talking about how it takes work to gain weight?  Well, it does.  You have to convince yourself to eat more and that takes some effort.  Physically, eating more than you really, really want to does also take some push.  You have to learn to ignore phyiscal hunger and physical satiety – that feeling of having eaten just enough.  It is there, somewhere.  If you pay attention to the next time you eat you will find you aren’t nearly as hungry after the first few bites.  Sometimes, you don’t really need any more after that.  

Learn to pay attention to hunger.  It can be your best friend in ways you didn’t know.

-The Doctor

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